Mason's field trip

Mason's class went on a field trip to the Renaissance Festival in Plantersville. The weather was great and everyone seemed to have a good time. My pictures are in reverse order but you get the idea. The kids rode on the bus and the parents followed. Kristi and I rode together. When the field trip was over we let Kayci and Mason stay a little longer and they rode home with us. They decided to ride the teacup ride. I think it was the highlight of the day for Mason!

Group picture at the end of the field trip. Mason's class is so sweet and well behaved.

A close up

Mason was checking out the elephants

$5 for a ride in a circle. No thanks!

Here they had a stick with rubber stoppers on each end. You used two wand type sticks to flip the stick with stoppers around. Great for hand eye coordination, but not for $44! It was neat to try it out though!

Jousting gone tame for the audience full of kids.

Bird show. This vulture ate the meat off of a huge turkey leg in 8 seconds.

Orange eyed owl- probably not the official name, but I couldn't remember it!

The bird man and his bird.

Mason and Kayci getting ready to watch the bird show.

When I first found out Mason's class would be going to the Renaissance festival for a field trip I was a little concerned. I have only been once, in college, but I remember it being very...um....eye opening! I was afraid I would have to hide Mason's eyes from naked women and half horse, half man type people. But yesterday was "School Day" so the attendees were all from schools. It was much more tame then what you would find on the weekends. People were still dressed in their mid evil attire but it was much calmer. Mason seemed to have a good time. We did LOTS of walking. I went to bed at 9:30 last night! How sad am I?!

Pumpkin carving

Tuesday night the guys did some pumpkin carving. We each have a pumpkin that we painted earlier this month. This week we are carving them. So far we have only carved one. Hopefully, pumpkin #2 will transfer into a jack-o-lantern tonight!

The finished product

Halloween week (so far)

Alex had his school Halloween party on Tuesday. His chose a Pirate costume this year but Tuesday morning it was cold, so he went as a Doctor (his costume last year). I didn't get a picture of his entire outfit.

Here are the costume choices for Halloween 09! So cute!

Random Pics

This is Mason's attire when he goes to play in the backyard now.....ready for snakes!

This is the view out of my passenger window as I wait in the car line to pick Mason up from school each afternoon. This is my favorite cow (did I just say that?!). She has black and white spots on her head.

This is what Alex does when we wait in line to pick up Mason. He finishes his nap in the back of the car!

This is some land a few miles from our house that flooded after the big rain this week. It borders a creek that overflowed.

Happy Birthday Mom

Happy Birthday to my mom! We celebrated this weekend and had a great time. Saturday morning the two of us did a little shopping (we only bought things for the boys, go figure!). Then we went to lunch at the Cotton Patch which was very tasty. Then we went to get a pedicure. It was nice and relaxing. Saturday night we went to Casey and Heather's house for dinner. Heather made her amazing enchiladas and wonderful homemade cupcakes. Casey stirred the ingredients together for the beans! ;) After dinner my parents took the boys home and the "middle sized kids" played games. Heather & Casey, Cara & Tanner and Andy & I played Cranium. It was a lot of fun.
Thanks mom for being such a wonderful mom, Gammie and best friend! Thank you for everything you do for us. I hope you have a wonderful day. We love you!

Our evening

After finding our 3rd snake in the yard the other night the boys were scared to go outside without a defense mechanism! So Mason decided to wear his boots and bring his BB gun. Pardon the Walmart cowboy hat. He definitely needs an upgrade!

Mason aiming at the target Andy set up for him. This was his first shot in about a year. I'd say he is pretty good!

The "M" identifies Mason's shot. Almost on target!

The makeshift target!

Nothing like a "Red Ryder"!

We had a "little" campfire in our backyard tonight. We even roasted s'mores. Yum!

Sweet Alex

I couldn't get Mason to smile for the camera, but he is still so handsome! (Excuse the red eye, I need to get a program that can fix that!)

Another view of the fire

We have had some great family time the last few nights. We have eaten dinner together as a complete family every night this week. I can't tell you the last time that has happened. Last night we played Candyland as a family. It was so much fun. I have enjoyed time with my girlfriends everyday this week as well. Overall, it's been an awesome week! This weekend we go to Austin to celebrate my mom's birthday. Looking forward to that too.

Pumpkins

We painted some pumpkins the other day (there is one member of the family that hasn't painted his!) Since I don't have decorations for the mantle yet, it was the perfect place to display them. I am ready for Halloween to be over so I can stop eating all of the candy! I have no will power!

Happy Birthday Granna

Happy Birthday Granna! I tried to find a picture of you smiling for the camera but you do such a good job of dodging the camera I couldn't come up with one! But this is a perfect picture because it's how the boys see you. You are always willing to play whatever game they come up with at the moment. Like Chinese Checkers inside of a tent! Thank you for everything you do for us! We love you!

The Monster

Mason had an assignment from school to create a monster. Their class is having a unit on fantasy vs. reality soon. Mason and Andy worked on this today and here is the finished product! All materials were found around the house. Pretty creative, I think!

Mason's Post

Mason has been working very hard on his reading and writing. He has basically had to learn everything he should have learned in Kindergarten last year in the first 6 weeks of school. We are very proud of his progress. The other day I went into his room and he had this on his white board. He originally spelled allergic something like "ilurgik" so we made that correction.

I am so glad he wants to write. We have worked hard to get to this point. We spend 30-45 mins a day/night on homework. I have tried to make it fun by having him practice spelling words in shaving cream, sand, finger paint, regular paint, fat markers, skinny markers, dry erase markers on my china cabinet, the oven, & the car window. We do magnetic letters, flashcards, rhyming games, and read books. Today in church he was interested in following along in the song book because he could read a lot of the words. It's starting to click for him now- reading can be fun! All of this hard work is rubbing off on Alex too. He can write all of his letters and is learning the letter sounds now. He can even sound out a few of Mason's sight words. If anyone has any other ideas to make learning how to spell & read fun, please pass them along. Thanks Kristi for all you have passed on! Keep the ideas coming!

Powerful stuff

Yesterday was not a good day for me. Nothing in particular happened to make it bad. I guess I just woke up grouchy and continued to stay on that path. Nothing seemed to please me and I couldn't crack a smile to save my life. All of this and Andy still took me on a date. After dinner we started talking about why I wasn't happy. Since we are still adjusting to our move Andy asked me if it was Brenham. I said no. He asked me if there was one thing I could change about my life right now what would it be. I said, I would like to have a job. For some reason having a job outside of the home fills me with affirmation, confidence, and drive. We started talking about the job I have today raising our two boys. I told him it was the hardest job I have ever done and I don't think I am very good at it. Lately I have felt that I don't add very much value to the lives of my family other than washing dishes, doing the laundry and occasionally cooking. Andy assured me that I was good at my current job and that I did add value to the lives of my boys, but I am not putting 100% into it. Later we started talking about ways to make our family happier. For example, we thought when we moved into a bigger house that would take some stress out of lives. The boys would have more room to run around, etc. That hasn't been the case yet. We threw some more ideas around but in the end we couldn't pinpoint what we needed to be happy. Then after a long silence Andy said, I think we need to go to church tomorrow. So we did.
Today we visited St. Mary's Catholic church. And let me tell you, God spoke to ME today. I was glad everyone else was there to hear it, but this mass was for ME! The scripture that was read was: Jesus summoned them and said to them, "You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt.
But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.
For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10,42-45)
The sermon focused on being humble, making a difference by serving others, ESPECIALLY CHILDREN. If we can make a difference in the life of a child, we will have a full life. We will glorify God.
I don't have to make $100K a year in a high profile corporation. I don't have to be an award winning photographer or a master seamstress. I don't have to be a gourmet cook or an author. But if I can make a difference in the life of a child, like my own two boys, I have done something great. I will have something to show for an eternity. The priest also said that everyone has a talent and some of them haven't even been discovered yet. But God will reveal those talents to us if we follow his plan.
I have always admired Andy for the vast interests he has. He has several hobbies and is good and everything he does. For 10 years now Andy has tried to get me interested in a hobby, with no restrictions. But even then, I haven't found something I like to do. But to be honest, I haven't really tried. When I went to see Beth Moore the message was about "delight yourself in the Lord and He will grant your heart's desires." When I got home I told Andy, I don't even know what my heart's desires are. I can't even pray that they come true because I don't know what they are. I was so focused on not knowing what they were. But I missed the beginning of the message, "Delight yourself in the Lord." I have to rebuild my relationship with Christ so I can figure out what my heart's desires are, so He can reveal to me my talents.
I know this post is jumping around from one thought to another, but really it all boils down to this. Andy and I need to put God first in our family and then we will find true happiness. He has a plan for us, we just have to be tuned in when he reveals it.
I received an email the other day from a friend from high school. We haven't seen each other in years but reconnected over facebook. I wanted to share part of her email because it really spoke to me. It sounds like you are doing well and adjusting to life in a small town. I know how hard it is to move to a foreign place and missing people. You mentioned your struggle with it, and your Beth Moore "experience". :-) It's funny how God takes you out of your comfort zone, puts you in a place where pity parties abound, to bring you closer to HIM....Yeah, He knows what He's doing...he's got it all planned out! :-) Later she says... I'm so excited for your new adventure there...with your family and the new ways the Lord is going to reveal himself to you!
I know I have a lot of work ahead of me to fix some things in my life that need improving. But it's nice to know I have such an amazing support group.

Furniture update

I am happy to post that Gage furniture sent a tech "ALL THE WAY" to Brenham on Friday to finally fix our furniture. The tech did a great job replacing everything that was damaged. I wasn't sure throughout this process if it would have a happy ending, but I am satisfied with the furniture now. Although, Andy did show me an ad in Sunday's paper for a furniture set nicer than ours for a MUCH better deal. That was a bubble buster but what can you do. At least our coffee table doesn't have a bubble in it and the support beam on the couch can actually provide support! It's the little things in life!

Turtle update

For those PETA members out there, we freed the turtle this evening. I think he enjoyed his little cage for awhile though. We gave him water, lettuce and carrots. But by this evening he was ready to venture on. Mason cried. We had to promise we would find another one eventually.
We had a fun filled day today with friends. This morning was MOPS and the topic was actually about friendships. We talked about friendships in our small groups and it was nice hearing how each person's friendships have grown, changed & developed since becoming moms. This afternoon we were invited to play at Kristi's house and the boys had so much fun playing with the other kids. Tonight we met Missy and her family for dinner at CiCi's. The boys had a blast playing with the Robinson boys and the adults enjoyed some grown up conversation time! Tomorrow I am headed to Round Top for the first time! Maybe I will get inspired to become crafty!

Turtle

On our way home from MOPS today Alex and I saw this turtle crossing the road. We picked it up and put it in a box with some leaves, water, lettuce and carrots. We are holding it hostage until Mason gets home from school. I know he would want to see it. The turtle has already turned his water bowl over, attempted to climb out of the box, pooped, and hissed at us every time we walk out onto the patio. Friendly pet!