Jonah is 7 years old!!!

Jonah's 7th birthday was on February 7th...making this his GOLDEN birthday! :)

We knew it had to be special. We've been hearing that this one was coming up for a looooong time. Jonah woke up to a smiley face of fruit on his special birthday plate...

...followed by chocolate chip pancakes that he helped make. So fun!

We had a great morning. A little while after breakfast, Kelly and Jordan and Matthew came over, we all piled into the van, and we headed to Dallas. The first stop was for lunch at a mall. The kids picked McDonald's and Kelly and I ate from Chick-fil-A. I loved having a food court and options...the kids loved having a 3-story mall!

Our next stop was this place:

Great Wolf Lodge (a really fun wolf-themed hotel with an indoor waterpark)! Jonah had asked if we could go there for a night for his birthday, and since it was his golden birthday and all...of course we said yes.
The first thing we did was toss our stuff into our rooms, slip on swimsuits and head to the water park!

After a couple hours of fun swimming, slides, and playing in the water, we were ready to dry off for a little bit. Grandma Austin and Jim had bought Jonah a magic wand and a magiquest game (which is an interactive game played throughout the entire hotel). We played for a while and finished a number of quests before realizing it was time to start thinking about dinner.
So Kelly, the kids and I headed down the road to a Steak and Shake for dinner. It was a fun place to eat, with paper hats and cardboard cars to entertain the kids while we waited on our food. The kids were a little disappointed that we wouldn't order them the huge, fancy, signature milkshakes, but we had a special surprise waiting for them back at the hotel.

Sam and Jon had worked that morning, met up and drove together to meet us at the hotel! They had stopped at Costco on the way and grabbed an ENORMOUS (no joke, it weighed 10 pounds!) chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream. YUMMY! Jonah was super excited.

We sang to him, tried our best to finish off big pieces of the yummy cake and ice cream, and then opened presents. It was SUCH a fun time.
By the time we were done it was really too late for more swimming, so we played a little more magiquest and then headed down to the lobby for storytime. The hotel puts on a great show with singing and moving trees, then the story teller tells a fun adventure story--although these guys might put on a slightly better show...

After the story hour, one of the wolves came out to take pictures with the kids. Of course, ALL of the kids wanted to have their picture with her:

Henry and Jonah were a little concerned that they might not be able to handle sharing a bed, since they usually don't sleep together. Turns out they didn't have a problem with it at all!

The next morning we had bananas and instant oatmeal, and watched cartoons during breakfast! It was Jonah's ideal morning.
We had lots more fun swimming, sliding, tubing, playing, and exploring the waterpark. We also took time to finish the magiquest game and thought it was one of the most fun parts of the visit.

One of the best things Jonah got for his birthday was a shaving kit...which altered Jonah's mornings dramatically. Now every morning, the first thing Jonah does is head into Sam's bathroom so he can shave with his Dad. (This might be my favorite thing!)

We got to celebrate with Grammy and Grandpop a few days later too. Grammy knew how much Jonah loves to help in the kitchen and had made him his very own apron! She also made him a photo book from his time at Grandkid's Camp last summer...both gifts were so special and are treasured by our little Bear.

Happy Birthday Jonah! We are so thankful that God gave us you. You are a special boy with loads of creativity, gentleness, compassion and friendliness. It is so fun to have you in our lives. :) Love you! :)

Kids (the baby goat kind)

2012 started out with some exciting news at home...our goats all had kids!  We suspected they were pregnant but we weren't quite sure when they would give birth.  So imagine our surprise when the kids and I came home one afternoon to find this in our front pasture:

 We were so excited!  The mama (named Nancy) was standing kind of nearby, making lots of grunting noises and half-heartedly licking her new babe clean.  I wasn't sure what to make of that. 

  I immediately texted Sam to tell him what was going on, and then I called my friend Robin.  (She lives nearby and I knew she and her kids would enjoy the miracle we were witnessing.)  Sam suggested I grab some towels and try to clean the kid, and Robin said she would be right over.

Well, I thought that Nancy was ignoring her new baby, so we got him all cleaned up.  We were all just amazed by this new little critter, helplessly trying to stand up.  Meanwhile, Nancy was giving birth to a second kid!  Just moments before Robin showed up, the second one was born, looking a lot like his brother but with spotted ears. 

Nancy took turns cleaning up her kids and was quite protective of them.  She actually turned out to be the best of our mamas, and her babies were the sweetest of the bunch!  We named the first one "Don" and the second one "Diego."

It was such an incredible day!  When we got up that morning we had not idea we would get to see the miracle of birth...in our own front yard!  What a special surprise.

Our kids and the goat kids had so much fun together...the goats liked to suck on Bridget's hair (I think they thought they could nurse that way!) and they loved to climb up on the kids backs.  Having goat kids was one of the best experiences we've ever been a part of.  :)

 

Upwards Basketball

Henry played on his first ever basketball team with a local Upwards group this year.  It was so fun!  He had a great team and a nice coach.  He already knew some of the kids and made friends with the others...they had a great time together. 

Upwards is a great league for those that want to focus on learning the game as well as sportsmanship, teamwork and godly principles.  

Sam spends lots of time shooting hoops with Henry out in the yard.  It is so fun to have boys take after their daddy!  

Henry scored quite a few goals and really improved on offense this year...way to go, Henry! 

Christmas 2011

Last year Henry expressed his great desire to have "Santa clothes". When asked to explain that, he said, "you know, the clothes that Santa wears!" It was so sweet. Not being any sort of seamstress myself, I found a cute pair of red plaid pajamas and sewed white fur around the arms and leg cuffs. He thought they were great but couldn't quite get past that they were actually pajamas.
For Henry's birthday last year, my wonderful sister-in-law (who happens to be a really great seamstress!) made Henry real, true, Santa clothes. She completed the package with a hat and Santa bag to carry around his goodies. Henry was so thrilled! By that time of year, though he had really gotten over wanting to dress like Santa every day. So they were pulled out a few times to dress up, but mostly stored away. However, at Christmas time they came back out! Henry was so happy to have the outfit and wore it throughout the season. He doesn't like to draw attention to himself, so it made him a little self-conscious when he was out of the house dressed like Santa...but he sure brought smiles to the people we met!

Last year we started a tradition of seeing a movie at Christmas time. It's kind of a dangerous tradition to start because you never know if a good, family-friendly movie will be out at the right time! Luckily, "Alvin and the Chipmunks, Chipwrecked" was still playing in our theater. Kelly and I took all the kids to see it on Christmas eve. Santa was at the theater too, so we got to have pictures taken with him and he gave each of the kids a free bag of popcorn! :)

Christmas eve, another of our traditions: We always open one gift, usually something small and fun. This year all the kids got new pajamas!

The kids put out plates of cookies and milk, along with last-minute notes for Santa.

I stayed up late and sneaked a picture of Santa at the tree delivering goodies!

Christmas morning the kids awoke to find that the Twinkie Tree had mysteriously changed this year...probably due to the severe drought we experienced this past summer. Instead of producing the twinkies and cupcakes that it has been known for, it bloomed chocolate candy bars and bubble gum this year! Craziest thing.

Later in the morning, Dave and Mary Beth came over to spend some time with our family. We enjoyed a break from all of the gift opening chaos and had a cup of coffee with them. We always look forward to Grammy and Grandpop coming over and we got to exchange gifts with them outside of the big, entire-family gathering that was to come later.

Henry's greatest treasure...his brand new Bible! He also got a brand new hunting knife (Bear Grylls brand!) that he is super excited to have.

Jonah loved everything, especially his new scooter and the knife/flashlight combo that he got from Henry.

Bridget's treasured items were her new baby doll stroller and the battery operated toothbrush that Jonah got for her.

Sam was completely spoiled, as usual. Christmases are best when Sam gets more presents than anyone else. ;)

We had a wonderful Christmas and were able to slow down from the busyness of the season and focus on Christ and His sacrifice for us. We spent really fun time together as a family and enjoyed baking cut-out cookies many times throughout the season...more than we have ever made in the past. I'm so thankful for my sweet family!!!

Christmas Week Camping!

A few days before Christmas, we went camping. Cold, you say? Nope. We live in Texas. :)

Sam had the crazy idea that since he already had time off from work, we should go camping Christmas week. And Jon and Kelly were just crazy enough to agree to go along with us!Sam's first order of business was to put up the tree. I mean, it was Christmas week, after all! And nobody loves Christmas quite as much as my Sam.

We went to a very close National Park (15 minutes from our door!) and had a fantastic time. There were some great geocaches to be found by this crew:

Crafts, painting, and hot chocolate with marshmallows not too far from the fire:

We also had a few fun firsts: After much practicing (and lots of help from her big brother) Bridget learned to ride her bike with no training wheels! She was so proud of herself...and we were proud of her for sticking it out when it got difficult.

And the other 'first' was Jonah losing his second front tooth! It had been loose for a long while but his adult tooth is coming in funny and not pushing on the old one...the dentist had warned us that he may have to pull it...but on the first morning camping, it came right out! :)
Henry led many biking expeditions...
We had the coolest tree to climb around on right behind our campsite.
It was a really great camping trip and we all had so much fun! It was so nice to step away from the hustle-bustle of the season and take some time to just enjoy our families and relax.
I'm so glad I married into a camping family! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

We started Thanksgiving off this year with what I hope becomes a tradition for our family...we ran in the turkey trot 5K! I've always wanted to do it, but since I usually host Thanksgiving dinner at our house it just didn't seem feasible. This year I decided that we would just make it work. It was SO fun!

Jonah and Bridget ran in the kid's run. Six and under ran one lap around the building, seven and up ran two laps. Here is Jonah as he starts off his run (he's in the white shirt)...he was just SURE he was going to win. He finished strong, at the front of the second group of kids to come in.

And here is Bridget finishing up her race. She was so excited about the race, talking about it for a week ahead of time; but when it came time to line up at the start, Bridget wasn't so sure. She said she wasn't going to run, but Sam talked her back into it. She agreed as long as he would run with her. As soon as they started though, she didn't really notice whether Sam was there or not...she just RAN!

So proud of Jonah and Bridget...what great runners!

After the kid's race was the 5k (3.1 miles). Henry decided a while back that he wanted to run in a 5k with me, and this was this first one that we could work out. He has been training by running with me a few times a week, a mile or two at a time. Henry asked Sam and I to run with him during the race, so we all agreed to stay together. He was fairly nervous as we waited to start, but he found his groove once we got going.

I wish I had a picture of his face after we started and the people started to thin out a bit (it's always REALLY crowded right at the starting line)...Henry had the biggest smile on his face. He was loving it! After about the first mile, Henry looked over at me and said, "I really need to run faster, I've just got to go!" So we picked up the pace. I got stuck as the runners all funneled through a bridge and it took me at least a half mile to catch back up to Sam and Henry!

I finally caught up with them right at the 3 mile mark, just as Henry spotted the finish line and took off at a sprint. I couldn't keep up with him! Henry finished his race at 28:32 which was way ahead of the goal of 30 minutes that I had set for him. (He was so proud to find out later that he even beat his Sunday school teacher!)

Here are the three of us right after the race...

It was so fun! I hope that we will be able to run many more 5k races together as a family! :)

Thanksgiving was lovely, by the way. We hosted it here at our house, and we had Sam's folks and his brother Dave and family. The day was relaxing, yummy, and full of good conversation.

The day after Thanksgiving, Mary Beth and I headed out for a little shopping (we slept in and didn't go out for any of the crazy early sales, but we still found good deals) and Sam and his dad worked on splitting wood. Later in the day, we decorated the house for Christmas. I'm always a little sad to put away the fall decorations (I love the colors of fall!) but it's so nice to have the house decked out for Christmas.

And now we have entered advent and we are preparing our hearts for Christmas...what a wonderful season!