Happy Birthday Honey!

For Ian's birthday I attempted to surprise him with a family outing to the Ranger's game. He figured it out before hand but it was still fun getting out all together. Here are a few pictures from our night. It was pretty out!

T-ball and Softball

This is the first year that Izzy has played T-ball and Courtney's first year in kid pitch soft ball. They are loving it and having a blast. I am one proud Momma! Below are a few pics from the start of the season.

Busy, busy, busy....

So, anybody that knows us well knows that the Spring is a crazy time of year for us. It seems like we are constantly on the go so why should this year be any different right?

Ian started playing softball on St Patrick's day and this past weekend we officially kicked off the t-ball/ softball season for Elizabeth and Courtney. Our first games fall on April 7, of course a Thursday, the same night Ian plays. That said we are very excited. This is the first season that Elizabeth is participating in any sport and I am so proud to say that she is definitely breaking out of her shy little shell that I was afraid she would hide in the minute she hit the field. Saturday at the opening day ceremonies she got to be the VERY FIRST PLAYER out on the field! More exciting news this Spring, Courtney is moving up to 10 and under kid pitch softball and she is learning to pitch! It is very exciting yet very scary at the same time, I squirm at the idea of the ball coming straight back at her off the bat. :/ Ashley isn't playing any sports this year but she has been busy doing the normal teenager stuff, hanging out with friends, always talking/texting on the phone, etc. She has also been very busy with Ag stuff, she wants to be a vet when she gets older so she has been getting involved in some of the extra stuff there. A couple of weeks ago she did a road trip 2 days in a row to Tarlton State University for vet tech stuff. I am so proud of all 3 of my girls!

We started our birthday season this week, Ian celebrated his 36th birthday. Monday, I tried to plan a little surprise family outing for him. He figured it out but we had a blast anyway! The 5 of us went to a Texas Ranger's game! This was the first time that we have been as a family and everyone loved it. Of course about an hour into the game Elizabeth wanted to know if I had brought the portable DVD player with a movie for her. Nope honey, this is your entertainment, the little micro players down there on the field! LOL

Coming up in the next few weeks we will be playing lots of softball games, celebrating Easter, celebrating Courtney's 9th birthday on April 26th and celebrating Ashley's 15th birthday on May 5th!

I will be back soon with pictures of the games, hopefully do posts for each birthday event and over all just doing more blogging in general!

New Pics of my beautiful girls

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and is enjoying their new year so far. I know we are.

Thankful

Wow, I can not believe that it is Thanksgiving already! Where has 2010 gone to?

In my Wednesday night Rainbow's class our memory verse for November has been Psalm 107:1. The version that the kids have been learning is simply "Give thanks to the Lord..." however when I look up the entire verse it reads "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever." As I look back over this past year, I have been thinking about how I can apply this verse to my life.


I was unemployed for March 2009 until October 2010 but God provided for my family during that time. I spent most of the year getting to be home with my beautiful girls, getting to spend extra time with Elizabeth, getting to drop the kids off at school in the mornings and be there when they got home. In addition to the extra time with my girls I also got to keep 2 other beautiful little girls in my home and watch them grow and learn. I am so thankful that I was able to do this for almost an entire year.


This year we celebrated birthdays #14 for Ashley, #8 for Courtney and #4 for Elizabeth, we also celebrated our 5th anniversary. All milestones to be thankful for!


One of the biggest happening in my family this year, also one of the hardest things to find the thankfulness in was the passing of my dear PaPa. When I visited Willis in September 2009 I can say that I honestly did not think that he was going to make it thru the holiday but when I returned in March 2010, my last blog, he looked healthier again, was out and about, talkative and seemed back to his old self in most regards. In June we got the news that his cancer was beginning to grow again and was more aggressive. I visited 2 more times this summer and saw him get progressively worse each time. The sickness took over his body and his mind very quickly and eventually took him away from us on August 5. I know this may seem like an odd subject in a blog about being thankful but I am thankful that he is no longer suffering, I am thankful for the 34 years that I got to spend knowing him, both as a child and as an adult.
Most of all I am thankful that he is no longer sick and sufferin, that he is in a better place and that I know that I will see him again someday.

Tomorrow we will have Thanksgiving at my house with my family, including my dear MaMa, I am thankful to be able to spend time with all of them, I am thankful that we are all so close. I am also thankful for Ian's family, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving on Saturday and I am so happy to be so accepted by a family who I know loves me like their own.

I am looking forward to the last few weeks of this year and to starting a new one, to seeing what the future holds for me and my family. I am thankful to have a God that I know loves me and will always be with me even when I can't see the good in the situation at the time.

I hope that all of you have a blessed Thanksgiving!

Weekend in Willis

This past weekend Izzy and I loaded up and headed south for a little visit with my grandparents. We haven't been down there since September and since I had a 3 day weekend from babysitting we decided it was the perfect time. We headed out Friday evening and surprised them, they had no idea that we were coming so that was fun! My MaMa and PaPa are so special to me and I love the fact that my baby girl loves them so much too!


One this is for sure, Izzy loves to play in the dirt and be outside so being out in the country is right up her alley.


Aunt Paula has a new little baby that was a big hit with Izzy immediately! I thought she might be a bit scared but nope, she walked right up and started petting it. By the end of the weekend she was even feeding him his bottle.

She picked me a few flowers out in the yard.

One of Elizabeth's favorite things she did this weekend was ride the lawn mower with PaPa!

I did a little cooking for them while I was there, Saturday night I made enchiladas and then on Sunday I cooked a roast with potatoes, carrots, etc and rolls. My MaMa made this beauty to go along with it. I just had to take this picture and send it to my brother, Pumpkin pie is his favorite and Sunday was his birthday so I told him we made it in honor of him! Kind of mean huh?

I know these pictures are blurry but they still crack me up, after a day of playing outside with my cousin's boys Izzy came in with a toy gun but she was still prissing around in her Cinderella shoes. Just the way she was walking made it funny. Such a little diva!

We had a great weekend and hope that we will make it back down there again soon. Hopefully next time we can take the whole family.

Not sure how well this blogging thing is going

I am really feeling like there isn't much of a point in me having a blog, I can't think of much to blog about. Sure, we are super busy, with 3 kids ranging from 3-13 and babysitting an almost 2 year old and a newborn you would think I would have lots of materials but nothing seems like it would be interesting. Plus, I still have to figure out the whole picture thing on here, I had a heck of a time getting all the pictures to where I wanted them when I did the Christmas picture post. I know I will get better. :)

I do know one thing, it is only March 4th and I can already see our crazy busy spring/ early summer schedule setting in. Currently or in the next couple of weeks in addition to our normal stuff we will be adding Ashley's track meets, Courtney's softball games and practices, Ian's softball games and spring choir. I guess it's a good thing that Izzy and I aren't really involved in anything because this already takes up pretty much every night of the week. Courtney has practice on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays plus games, Ashley has a track meet each week, usually on Thursday or Friday, and Ian's softball is on Thursday. Besides just these every week activities, in April we have Ian's birthday, my brother's wedding, Easter, Courtney's birthday and then May 5th is Ashley's birthday! So, we will be on the run!