Western Day 2010

Today was Western Day at school.  We always have a blast on this day with all the western games, but most of all with the REAL live mini horse!  Each year we bring in a real mini horse and the kids get to sit on it and pet it.  This year the horse's name was Ginger and she was a complete sweetheart!  Here's Kinsley LOVING it!!!!

Mommy and Kinsley

We had fun...and that's no bull:)!!!

One of the many game stations - this one was actually western tattoos for the kiddos:)

Kinsley at the horseshoe game!  YEEEEHAW!!!

Game Night!

We love game nights at our house!!! After mom's church's tea we invited some friends over for a few exciting games of Uno Attack and Apples to Apples! We had great snacks, great conversation, and A LOT of FUN!!!

Cindy, Jae, and Stephanie playing Uno Attack!

Me and my sweet momma!

John and baby Kai! She was soooo cute and cuddly!

Curtis with Kaden and Kinsley - Kinsley is wearing an adorable dress made by my friend Angie, more pics to come on that!

David and Stephanie!

Curt, Kaden and Colton

Stephanie and me - love that girl!!!

Prayer Partner Tea

My home church (the church I grew up in), which is still my parents church hosts a tea every year where they exchange tea cups and prayer partners! I LOVE this idea, it's so feminine and girly, yummy, and a wonderful way to see God's handiwork put to use! It's fun to see who gets paired with who, and my sister Jae and I love to be a part of it - we are always prayer partners since we live a little far from this church, but its still fun to go and participate in the tea!

Here's my mom, me, Jae and Kai - at one of her first teas!

These are our good friends Cindy and Stephanie! They both have amazing eyes - Aren't they beautiful?!

And this is Michelle and Julie - Julie was one of my great friends as a newlywed, and during my pregnancy with Kaden! Its always good to see her and catch up!

The only thing I regret is not getting pictures of the decorations! My mom is the Women's ministry coordinator and she decorated for this tea, it was a snowflake theme and she read this amazing poem about snowflakes! It was beautiful!!!!

Lunch with Kaden

I'm off on Wednesdays and Fridays, so sometimes Kinsley and I surprise Kaden at school and have lunch with him! He always gets to bring a friend with him to the table, this time it was Gage, I didn't take any pics of him because I wasn't sure if that was okay or not, but here we are!

They love to act very silly at the table, and often there's not very much eating going on, although by this pic you couldn't tell!

Here's my attempt to get a pic of all of us!

Picnic Perfect

My sweet hubby called me today to see if we wanted to meet him at the park for lunch, its a beautiful day here in Texas! So of course I said, "YES!", because who could resist using this cute little picnic basket? It was a wedding gift to us 10 years ago, and who could resist spending time with my three most favorite people in the world???

My three most favorite people in the world!

Me with my favorite boy and favorite girl! ...and crazy windy hair:)

My favorite man and daddy, and fave girl! How cute is this, I'm sure she was talking her head off about something, and he just smiles:) - I love that man!!!

All three again, sooooo cute!

And what would a picnic in the park be without a nature walk? Kinsley was digging the acorns out so the squirrels would find them easier:)

Sweet little nature boy!

This one I just love! Why are bridge pictures always so cute? We had a really good, and fun day!

Weekend Recap!

Friday night we had our friends, The Thompson's over for dinner, here's there three adorable boys with Kade and Kins! The kiddos had and awesome time playing while the adults ate and played Uno Attack and Apples to Apples! We had so much fun!

Saturday, we headed over to TCU for Kaden's PIPS performance, here's Kinsley and I in our PIPS shirts cheering him on! We sat right by the band so it was VERY loud, but VERY fun - Kinsley danced the whole time:)

Here's Kaden doing his tricks! He's pretty good, in my un-biased opinion of course:)!

Then we came home to just relax a little:)

We all got a lot of art materials for Christmas, so today I was feeling a little inspired!

So were the kids, this is Kinsley's masterpiece...

...and here's Kaden's - I can't wait to hang these in the playroom! They both kept saying, "Momma, this is sooo fun!"

And here's my work, inspired by a blog friend of mine, Sara Mincy, check her out on my links under Sara's Art House. I am making this one for my friend, Lindsey, who took our pictures a while back, it's not finished so check back for the final product!!! This is just a sneak peek!

All in all, it was a GREAT weekend, hope yours was just as good!

Snow Day/Ice Day

So today was a snow day for school here, actually it should be called and ice day. Texas had some wintery weather last night and I guess people were worried about driving in it this morning. Needless to say, we had the day off from school so we made the best of it. Kinsley dressed up like a princess going to a ball! - she really cracks me up:)

And what's better on an icy cold day than chicken noodle soup for lunch?:) Mmmmmm!

And then we cozied on down in our warm winter sheets to go to bed - isn't this cute of him holding onto his monkey - I couldn't have posed this if I tried!:) We LOVE our winter sheets, we all have some, they are flannel, most have snowflakes and/or snowmen, and are OHHH, so comfortable. Just curious, do ya'll do this too? An old friend of mine actually put some on her wedding registry and that's what got me started!

Re: Solutions!!!

Our church is about to start a new series of sermons called re:solutions! I'm excited about it and can't wait to report - our pastor has been "on fire' the last couple of weeks and his sermons have been challenging but VERY GOOD!!!!

So...what are your resolutions for 2010? What are your goals I should say???? You know, you can't ever reach a goal if you don't have some, right?

So here are mine for the year!

Be a better Christian: this is me challenging myself to dig deeper into the word, to make a list of things I want to learn about and then look for them in the bible, take bible studies to learn about them, etc. I also hope to pray more and write more in my "But God" book - my mom gave me this years ago, and it truly is one of my favorite things ever!!! You write your prayer requests to God, and then as they are answered, you record to show, "I asked for this, BUT GOD....". It's amazing how many times God has answered my prayers but in a totally different way then I expected and a totally MORE INCREDIBLE way than I ever dreamed! I also want to read the Bible to my kids more, I want to make it part of our before bed routine, along with another book of their choice:) - and make part of talking about God/Jesus part of our EVERY DAY routine - in all things!

Be a better wife: Curt deserves so much more than I ever give him, he's amazing and I want to be a better wife to him. I want to go back to that puppy love stage where I used to surprise him with silly notes, call him "just because", get excited about cooking him dinner, dressed up for date nights, etc. I also want to work to give him the wife he married back somewhat - that means getting myself to the gym. I say this for two reasons, I know I'll never be as small as I was when we got married, but I want to at least work on it - daily, even if only 15 min. a day:) I also know that when I feel better about myself, I'll be a happier person and therefore treat him better:)

Be a better mom: Leave notes in the kids lunches, have calm bath/bed times, not wait until the last minute and then yell and scream, "It's time for bed!", spend more time with them - actually being present, not just there physically but mentally as well, do more crafts, go on surprise trips, sit and talk, have dinner more often at the table and happy conversation, teach them to love eachother and not to fight so much, teach them to earn money and be appreciative of what they get, not spoiled:) Love on them, every day - find the things they LOVE to do and do those things with them or encourage them to pursue these things more.

Be a better friend: This one is hard for me, I LOVE my friends so much but often find myself putting them on the backburner to work, family, life, etc. I want all my friends to know they are incredibly special to me and I want to tell them this, in letters, by having them over for dinner, being there when they really need it, not just when its convenient, going out for coffee/or hot chocolate/tea in my case, being available to watch their kids if they need a break, a date night, etc. Just giving more of myself for them.

Be a better me: I want to take time to do the things that make me a happier person, bible study, working out, painting, crafting, cooking, loving, living, etc. I just want to take each day and enjoy it for what it is, praise God for it, and have no regrets. I am so blessed and this year I want to live that like I KNOW it! God truly is incredible and I thank him for my incredible life!

Now...how to get that all done in a year...I'm not sure, but one day at a time will be my motto: not worrying about tomorrow but living in the present - and looking upward and forward to all God has in store for me!!!!

Happy Birthday to Me!!!!!

Went here for my birthday today - YUMOLA!!!

I love the atmosphere of this place!

The people aren't bad either:) These are our good friends the Morriss's!

My beautiful sis Jae, her hubby John, and my precious dad!

Me, my sweet momma, Kai, and Kinsley - Mom, I LOVE this pic of you!

Adorable little Kayden Morriss!

Me with my incredibly handsome hubster!

Blowing out my candles - thanks for the cake mom and dad, and for the help Kinsley!

Opening my presents - mom gave me these boots I've been looking for for years, and Jae and John gave me a labeler - I've also asked for that for years, but everyone thought it was too boring to get me - I CAN'T WAIT to use it:) Thanks ya'll!

Is this not the cutest little snow bunny ever?!!!!

I'm always inspired to work on the yard after I leave here:)

I love my parents! Aren't they the cutest?!

Family shot, Kinsley is a goof-ball!

Jae, Kai, and John - how precious!

And another precious family - the Morriss's!

Thanks for making my birthday so special everybody! We had a great time! It was fun to be surrounded by those I LOVE on my birthday!!!!