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!

Florida 2011

We had another fun vacation to Florida this past fall! We planned a fun stop along the way this time...in Mobile, Alabama. We always drive by a huge battleship as we zoom on by and we decided this year that we'd better check it out.

It was so great! When we first got there we let the kids out of the car to run around. There is a wonderful park area, with a pier, a rocky shoreline, and lots of tanks, helicopters, and airplanes that you can look at up close.

We would have enjoyed the stop if that had been all that we got to see, but there was SO much more!We bought tickets to board the USS Alabama and headed out. None of us had ever been on a battleship before. It was WAY bigger than we could have imagined. It's amazing that it can float! We followed the self-guided tours around and saw most of the boat...we actually got lost more than once.

It was a real treat and an eye-opener for all of us. We so appreciate the US armed forces and all who serve our country.

After touring the battleship we walked over to another part of the park where they have a submarine, the USS Drum. The kids really enjoyed walking through that...I think for two reasons it was their favorite part. (1) It's so compact and they make use of every inch of space, and (2) We met the man who is in charge of restoring the sub, a retired vet who had lots of fascinating things to share with us. Sam was anxious to get back on the road by this point, but we just couldn't tear ourselves away from this kind man and his vast knowledge. SO FUN!
After the battleship park, we headed on down the road...at that point we are pretty close to our destination, so the last part of the journey went pretty quickly. We finally made it to the house we rent (or as the kids call it, "our Florida house"), dropped off our things and the kids and I, along with Kelly, Jordan and Matthew, grabbed some buckets and headed down to the beach.

We slipped our toes into the warm water, dug in the sand a little, got wetter than we planned on, and enjoyed a beautiful sunset. What a perfect start to a vacation!

We did many of the 'usual' things that we do in Florida, since this is an annual trip for us. This year we decided to take the kids to see Dolphin Tale, as it had recently opened in the theaters. What a perfect movie to see at the beach, huh? :)

We spent some fun times shopping and even found matching sunglasses for all of the adults...

We spent many mornings and/or afternoons at this fun park that is just across the street from our house...and we even got a unique group picture!

Family picture time! We tried to recapture the colors from that first incredible sunset but couldn't quite get them.

The beauty of this vacation is that we all get time together, but as the kids get busy playing, Sam and I get time to talk and reconnect too. Such a refreshing time!

Of course there was lots of swimming...once they finally fixed the pool. The first few days we were there it was WAY too cold to swim, and the last day we were there it was actually too hot! There were a few days in the middle there that were absolutely perfect.

Vacations with family are the best!!!

I had high hopes for this next picture...it didn't turn out so great, but I just love all these little faces! :)

Last year Henry studied the Mississippi and was fascinated by it. He loved the idea of this HUGE river that flows so very far and was so very useful to the early American settlers. When I reminded him that we drive over the Mississippi every year on the way to Florida, he could not wait! Since we didn't cross it at a good time on the way there, we decided we would stop on the way back.

As we crossed over the river (on a bridge, high, high, high above the river) Sam pointed it out to Henry and told him to wave. Henry was devastated. He had thought we would stop and take pictures, and Sam had thought we would just slow down and look...different plans. So we drove on a few miles, and Sam looked for a place to turn around so we could go back across the river where the visitor center is and get out of the car. We enjoyed looking out over the river and walking around. For some reason there was an old cannon displayed on a hill overlooking the river. Sam thought it would be a good place for us to break out our inaugural 'family planking' and join the strange phenomenon. ;)

We are so grateful that we are able to take a yearly vacation. We love Florida: the weather, the beaches, the friendly folks and abundant shopping. But what we love most is a chance to spend time with family and enjoy time away together! Thank you Lord for the blessing of family vacations with extended family! :)

Ranger Plane!

My Grandma recently stayed a while in Texas with one of my Uncles. This was a great opportunity for me, since I haven't seen my Grandma in years (right after Jonah was born, so 6). She lives in Washington. I haven't seen my uncle in more years than I can count. I was quite young the last time I saw him.

Even though we live about 30 minutes from my Uncle, we hadn't found a chance to get together since we've lived in Texas. I think it was a mixture of he is really busy, and we don't really 'know' each other any more, and he works in Dallas. So I was thrilled at the chance to get to see him and my Grandma at the same time!

My Uncle Bill runs an airplane inspection company at the airport, so we met them there at his hangar. It was pretty cool to go through the security entrance, and drive out onto the tarmac to park near his hangar.

Once inside, my Uncle let the kids look at all of the airplanes currently in the hangar. The one below is his personal plane that he is restoring and fixing up. My mom with her brother Bill...

My Grandma doesn't really like having her picture taken, but I was able to sneak in a quick shot of her with my mom:

Sam and I thought the best part was checking out the Texas Rangers (think baseball!) team plane. It is really nice inside...they travel well, by my standards. :)

The Ranger plane was probably a highlight for the kids too...they thought the seating was so cool. There are chairs that face each other with a table in between, and they also really loved the phones. ;) There was a helicopter parked at the hangar that evening too, and the kids all really liked seeing that.

So grateful for a chance to see my Grandma and Uncle Bill and Aunt Chris! Family is so important to me, and I was amazed to see some distinctive character traits that so obviously run in my mom's family. My brother is so like my Uncle Bill in his mannerisms and speech that you'd think they grew up together. My Grandma is planning a trip back down here in the Spring, and I am looking forward to seeing her again soon! :)