Wednesday's Picture

Emma joined the Running Club at Haude.  I am such a proud mommy who runs!  I had to get her this shirt!!

The ZOO

I am not a big fan of the zoo, but my kiddos love it.  I could look at all the animals in about 30 minutes and be ready to go.  Saturday we were at the zoo for five hours!  Granted, some of that time was spent eating, visiting with Drew co-workers (Swift's annual company picnic is at the Houston Zoo), and getting little body parts painted.  Still, five hours is a long time for me to be at the zoo.  Thankfully, I had the pleasure of watching four adorable faces light up in amazement at the crazy animals all day long.  It was worth being there for so long.

Elena, who slept through most of our visit to the zoo last year, spent most of the day with this look on her face...absolutely precious!  She also said good-bye to every animal.

Face painting was fun for the boys.  They wanted dinosaurs, but I think they looked a little like alligators.  They are very ferocious!

The girls got their arms painted.  Elena was in awe of this new thing known as painting on the body!

I liked taking pictures with the animal statues and cut-outs!  Samuel enjoyed talking about the animal poop all morning.  He said the word 9 times in the first 20 minutes!  It was very funny!!

The carousel was a big hit.  Unfortunately I could not get any pictures of Emma and Jonah because of where they were riding.

It was a glorious day.  Sweatshirts were needed in the morning...shock I know! We did have a wonderful time and we had some very tired kiddos at the end of the day!

Birthday Party (s)

Jonah is one lucky 6 year old because he had two birthday parties!  On his actual birthday the poor sweet boy did not feel well.  Thankfully his ice cream cake was so yummy that I enjoyed enough for him!!

Jonah received lots of fun and thoughtful gifts and cards from our loving family.  I do think he was most excited to receive his waterproof watch.  Jonah asked for one all summer.  He has not taken it off since he opened it!

This past Friday we had a birthday party with Jonah's friends.  Our theme was FOOTBALL!  We asked each guests to wear a jersey or sports shirt.  Everyone looked so cute...even our awesome friends (the parents).  Our original plan was a no go, so we decided to have it at the park in our subdivision.  It was perfect!  The weather was cooler than 100 degrees.  The boys and girls loved playing at the park.  Because the park is nice, but not amazing, the kids played football with the dads.  Well, they kind of played football.  It was more like throw the ball around and run, but everyone had fun.

Jonah finally had his tacos (he was not feeling well enough to have them on his birthday).  The cake was super cute and most of it was eaten...thank goodness!

It was a wonderful, carefree party.  We and Jonah are so blessed to have wonderful friends!

Being Thankful

The Mom's group at our church has a 15 week challenged entitled "From Stressed to Blessed".  This week's challenge is to list 25 things I am thankful for and to try to add at least five things to that list daily.  So, here is my list:

1.  Drew who works so hard and loves us all so much
2.  Emma who is so helpful and loving
3.  Jonah who is crazy, loving, and fun
4.  Samuel who is a pickle, but I love him dearly
5.  Elena who is so sweet and a joy to watch learn something new each day
6.  My family not listed
7.  My friends near and far
8.  The recent cooler weather
9.  Hot chocolate...yum!
10.  Sweaters
11.  Hair color...could not survive without it
12.  My clean kitchen because nothing else is clean at the moment
13.  The smells of fall
14.  Homemade soup
15.  College football
16.  Going to the zoo yesterday...tons of fun!
17.  Getting my treadmill
18.  My church and the wonderful people that serve
19.  Running
20.  My fun E-bands
21.  When my children are in bed and I get some quiet time
22.  Watching Emma and Jonah learn and perform their gymnastics skills
23.  Emma, Jonah, and Samuel's school teachers
24.  The devotions I receive online each morning
25.  Ice cream and milkshakes
26.  Grocery shopping without children
27.  Watching the earth come "alive" as I run in the mornings
28.  Playing outside with my kiddos when it is not 100 degrees
29.  My DVR or I would never get to watch television
30.  The pictures Kelsey takes of my kiddos