Thursday, June 26, 2008

Weekend on the River

We spent a fantastic four day weekend on the Llano River this past week. The house we stayed out sat right on the edge of the river, about 2 miles upstream from Lake LBJ. We were quite a crew with my five, Brian's 3 oldest, and Mimi and Hobby in tow.

One of our days we drove a couple of miles into the hills to the Longhorn Caverns. They are a system of caves carved by rushing river water. It was fascinating to see the amazing sites that God has carved into our world. There were several things, such as the Queen's Watchdog, which left us in awe. This is a naturally occuring formation, it's been examined by geologists who confirm there are no human tooling marks on it. The picture is from a single angle which makes it hard to see the perfect tail and hind quarters. It has been confirmed that it was created purely by rushing water.The water was a perfect temperature and we lived in it whenever possible. The kids loved the dock which had a diving board from it, and a perfect area to swim and float and watch the boats and jet skies go by. We took turns going out on the boat. The kids loved the new floating chair, as well as the classic tubing. Jason tried out wakeboarding, a complete dissaster, but loved the knee boarding.

Hobby helping Natalie and Brooklyn prepare for their ride.


The house Mom and Bill rented was wonderful. It had original 60's-70's decor, with Gold fleck countertops and a range oven that was hilarious! We enjoyed cooking all of our meals in, and Emily was a huge help with her puff pan and her culinary skills. She taught Brooklyn a thing or two also so maybe I can get some help out at home too!

Although they had their own room with bunk beds and full size beds for plenty, they had the most fun camping out together in the living room. The kept begging Uncle Jason to let them camp outside with the lake, but their offers of $5.00 and foot massages obviously couldn't compete with Aunt Gina's offers in our own room ;).
Jason hadn't had much experience with boats, but became quite good at driving by the end of our trip. Our last run out he did his dogdess to knock me off the tube, which he accomplished twice after exhausting me up and down the river. The last time off I flew on my back skimming across the water for what seemed an eternity. It was a blast!


Corban, Ridge, and Nathan fresh from a dive in the water!

The kids loved cruising on the boat for awhile, and then parking it in a cove and diving off and swimming around. The all love horsing around with Jason. Natalie and Emily we're easily scarred by rumors of fish swimming by or Uncle Jason dissapearing under the water. No littering!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Victory Camp




Our church finished up our Sports and Art Camp tonight. The kids had an absolute blast learning how to be UNDEFEATABLE with the love of Christ. Brooklyn participated in art camp and had her friends Bailey and Emmy from the neighborhood join her. I was in charge of coordinating the projects for the art department. They did pointalism pictures, stain glass looking journals, a large canvas art piece with acrylics, and tonight had fun sculpting with clay. Nathan has been begging to play basketball for almost a year now, and finally got his chance. Finally a SPORT he loves! He did really great. Look at this action shot!Corban was in his last year of mini-camp along with all his friends including several from our neighborhood. Jason and I led praise and worship on stage and went wild and crazy worshiping with the kids. We have an absolute blast and sweat like crazy bouncing and being loud and silly. I had fun designing the marketing for camp this year, and especially loved designing the tshirts. It was really cool seeing everyone walking around in something that God gave me the vision for and I created.


Remember, Victory does not depend on the length of the battle, Victory depends on Jesus.

We are more than conquerors through Him who loves us. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ! Romans 8:37

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Bye Bye Albatross

Our Expedition Sold!
Seven years ago Jason and I just about hung ourselves financially by walking into Park Cities Ford and getting royally scr**ed by a lying salesman and our own stupidity. We prayed for forgiveness many years later when we realized how ridiculous we'd been, but continued to make serious mistakes when it came to decisions around the truck. Finally, we knew God was telling us to dump it, and we acted on faith. I prayed for 3 responses to our Craigslist ad yesterday and we got 6, but each person replied twice, so we truly got exactly three responses! Nathan and I prayed this morning for God to send someone who wouldn't be financially burdened with it and who would be able to handle the problems that might come up mechanically in the future, and we sold it to a mechanic! Praise the Lord.
So at the moment we are a one car family. We are trying to decide what to do about a second transport thingy, so please pray that we will make a wise purchase that is squarely in the middle of God's will and plan for or finances and future.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Little Fishies

Thought I would share some photos from the kids at Swim Lessons. Their teachers were incredible. They loved going and are so confident in the water now. It's so nice to be able to sit by the pool and read a book while they play instead of having to keep my eye on Corban and Nathan every second. Every other second is so much easier!

Nathan's a Graduate!

Kindergarten Graduation
June 2, 2008

Nathan graduated from Kindergarten last Monday and we are all so proud of him. He is the only one from his Kindergarten group that was in Gifted and Talented this year, so he's looking forward to First grade when he hopes there will be others that join him. He's been selected to be in Looping next year, which means he will have the same teacher for 1st and 2nd grade, as well as the same classmates and classroom. It helps heighten the learning environment for this age by providing stability, and shortening the relearning curve at the beginning of the 2nd year. Brooklyn was in Looping and it was an absolutely invaluable experience for her. Nathan's teacher will be Ms. LaDonna who I taught with at SCPreschool, and who was Brooklyn's teacher when she graduated from Preschool. It should be a great year. We are so proud of you Nathan!

End of the Year Bash

The kids school had a full day of fun planned for the kids on Friday the 30th of May. Brooklyn's class room had 50's Day. They had ice cream sundaes, Sonic, and took turns singing Karaoke. The week before they also had 60's day, which I just had to show you Brooklyn's silly face in her getup. The read poetry they had written and snapped in applause for each other.











Kindergarten had water day. They all wore their swimsuits and went outside to the huge water slide, pools, water gun fights, and other games. Since Corban was a head taller than over 80% of the Kindergartners, he fit right into the crowd and I let him!



I know the boys are best friends at home, but I was concerned about how Nathan would treat him around all of his friends from school, and I was so honored. Everywhere Nathan's buddies ran, Nathan would make sure Corban went too! Once, they all took off before Corban came down the slide and as I watched Nathan run off, he suddenly stopped and said, "Oh! Wait for my brother!" and he turned, ran back to the slide, grabbed his hands and took off to catch up with his friends. It was fun watching them together. Corban can't wait to go to Kindergarten now, I hope he realizes they don't have waterslides everyday!

The Crazy Roots and The Woods Gang Gone Wild

Cousins Unite
May 17-18th
My brother Brian took his wife on a much needed weekend of rest and relaxation which meant we got to have his 4 kids to play with. We went to Mainstreet Days in Grapevine, took our first official party of 7 pictures with the ducks, enjoyed dinner and games at Chuck E Cheese, and giggled over Sno Cones. It was an amazing time to have Adiah and get to bond with her. She is an amazing sweetheart and Jason and I laughed till our sides ached at her hilarious expressions and games she plays. We love having all 7 chattering all at once, and we are so blessed that they are such good friends.


Time with Dad

Father Son Campout
May 9-10th
The boys had a blast on Callendar Lake with their dad and other men from church at the annual campout. The boys love sleeping in tents, fishing, boating, and climbing trees. It's a great time for them all to bond.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Memorial Day on the Lake

We spent a relaxing and fun day boating on Possum Kingdom lake with my mom and Bill. The kids practiced their open water survival skills they learned in swim lessons this week and then had a blast tubing and diving off the boat. They could go for hours. Not me though, I felt, and looked, like a beached whale trying to haul my big ole bum up onto that huge tube. Poor Bill had to keep heaving me out of the water to try again! Afterward we sat down for dinner at a Mexican resteraunt and had to endure the worst mariaci band I think I've ever heard. They had a clarinet player that I would have sworn was a bad trumpet if I hadn't seen it for myself. We're proud of all of the servicemen and women who have served us and given us the opportunity to live in freedom, listen to horrible music and enjoy a beautiful lake.