threesixfive, days 146 thru 152

we had a great week at the beach!! each year we offer the senior trip to those who have 80% attendance or better in sunday school. this year 14 qualified, and 9 went, plus the 12th grade sunday school teachers, and the frans clan. colby and molly had a great time, and allen and i enjoyed watching them soak up the experience. you get a few extra pictures on our "beach days" this week.

sunday, day 146
we went to a graduation party for one of our seniors, who was in the tenor line in the marching band. he brought his set out and let colby play on them.



monday, day 147
we left for the beach around 1 and got there shortly after 5. after some dinner and a trip down to the water just to make sure it hadn't gone anywhere since last year, we went to play putt-putt.



tuesday, day 148
after a full day on the beach, we went for a sunset dolphin watching cruise. there was a touch tank on the boat where colby got to hold a stingray. we saw probably 20 dolphins, and the kids made friends with the captain, who let them drive the boat! molly spent most of the ride right there with him, and he put her to work. she loved it!

wednesday, day 149
another full day down by the water. can't wait to back next year!

thursday, day 150
on the way home from the beach we got a call that my dad was in the e.r. waiting to hear if he might have to have his appendix removed! he had surgery that evening, so we went to visit him and were able to spend about 10 minutes with him before we had to head home to get the kids in bed. even coming out of anesthesia he was just as goofy as ever. I love my dad.

friday, day 151
as if we weren't in the water enough this week, we met some friends at the pool for a couple hours. this is molly and her buddy, addie.

saturday, day 152
this picture isn't very exciting. but it's the only one I have. molly went to a birthday party at chuck e cheese for a friend of hers from school. she, addie, and wynter discovered the screen that makes it look like they're on tv, and they were hooked.




this week we have vbs in the evenings, then we leave friday morning for youth camp where we'll be till tuesday, so I'll have to post my week a few days late unfortunately. or maybe I'll make it one long post the following weekend. to be determined....

have a good one!!

threesixfive, days 139 thru 145

this week wrapped up the birthday festivities. sunday i spent the afternoon shopping and eating with my best girlfriends. my mother-in-law was here visiting for a few days,so we did some fun things with her. we had some college kiddos over for game night after youth group on wednesday, and then allen and i left thursday morning for a few days away together (what i asked for from him for my 30th). it was a fabulous week! lots of pictures, so you get multiples on some days.

sunday,day 139
this is the drink I had at brunch. soda water, apple juice, mint leaves, and lemons. so yummy and pretty enough to take a picture of!

me and katie. love her.

monday, day 140
not very excitng, but it's the only picture I have from monday. i took it while we were out shopping. she sure is cute.

tuesday, day 141
we took the kids to a childrens museum, and molly got all her messy out in the art room.

wednesday, day 142
wrapping up game night. this is a tradition we've been doing with this particular group since they were seniors in high school 4 years ago. when they're home for christmas and summer break, they still use our house as a meet up. we love it!

thursday, day 143
the place allen and I stayed had a lot of, well, dead animals. the wolf was the first thing I saw when I opened the door to the lodge. I almost peed my pants.

the cave pool. yes we swam in it!! ok, so i only got in up to my knees; that water was cold!

the door into our room. so pretty.

friday, day 144
we were about half a mile down from enchanted rock, a huge and very popular hiking area. we hiked thursday evening, as well as friday and saturday mornings.

saturday, day 145
i spotted this taxi limo on our last day at the resort, and had to grab a picture of it.




we get the kids back from mimi tomorrow (they went back with her while we were away), then leave monday morning for senior trip to the beach. im ready for some sun and sand!

things I don't do

today the kids and I took my mother in law (visiting from houston) to the domain, a cool shopping area ive mentioned on here before. there are only a couple stores down there I actually shop at, because it's mostly very high end, and the further down the strip you go the more expensive the stores get. at any rate, I drove down the strip just so mom could see all the stores and get a feel for the place. as we're driving....
me: down here it just gets fancier and fancier. michael kors, tiffany & co, louis vuitton. I don't ever come down to this end.
colby: you also don't ever talk in a british accent.
me: yeah.....that's true. colby, when have you ever heard me talk in a british accent?
colby: I haven't. that's why I said that.
me: hmm. ok.

I guess he was just taking note of things I don't do, and speaking in a british accent is clearly one of them.


later in the day, they wanted to get out and run in the sprinkler, so I told them to go get their swimsuits on.
I don't make a deal out of them seeing each other naked. maybe I should, I don't know. it's usually not even an issue, because they get dressed in their rooms and shower separately, etc. but with mimi being in town they both just want to be with her all the time, so colby brought his swimsuit into the living room to change.
colby: no one look at me. I'm changing into my swimsuit......(seconds pass) mommy, mollys looking at me! molly don't look at me!
me: colby, if you don't want her to see you, then go to your room. youre the one who chose to change in the living room.
he didn't. he stood right there by the couch and put his swimsuit on. then a few minutes later molly was ready to get hers on.
molly: mommy, will you help me?
me: sure. bring it here.
molly: no, come in my room. (as we're walking away) i dont want colby to see my vagina.
colby: and i definitely would have looked. you totally just saw my penis.

i just left that one alone. my mother-in-law on the other hand, laughed hysterically, which made me think, 'i probably need to blog about this.' :-)

threesixfive, days 132 thru 138

its been quite a week! my 30th birthday was monday, so there was much celebrating that day, then thursday colby completed the 10th and final step of swim school. he'll move on to the next level in june, and when he completes those 10 steps, he'll be able to be on the swim team. mollys first dance recital was this afternoon. SO. CUTE. we went to gattiland to celebrate the week we had. my in laws drove in from houston for the recital and my mother in law is staying with us for a few days.

heres some of the week...

sunday, day 132

saw this license plate at church, which was weirdly funny to me.

monday, day 133

my bestie katie took me for a birthday pedicure. me and my feet were super grateful.

tuesday, day 134

colby saw something that scared him today, and wouldnt sleep in his room. we finally talked him into sleeping on the floor in mollys room.

wednesday, day 135

colby learned about thomas edison today, and he painted this lightbulb as part of the lesson.

thursday, day 136

colby was given this shirt when he graduated to the next level. so proud of him!

friday, day 137

my new favorite band! they were at the conference allen and i went to last weekend. great lyrics, great sound, and theyre super cool. how could you not love a band that uses a melodica?

saturday, day 138

alright, i couldnt pick just one. here are a few of molly in her dance costumes and at the recital.

tomorrow is my annual birthday celebration with my girlfriends. we go to brunch and do a little shopping. im really looking forward to it. then allen and i leave thursday for a few days away for my birthday! we're going to a spa resort in the hill country. hiking and massages? yes please.

have a great week!!

threesixfive, days 125 thru 131

we had a great week! i hope you did too!!

allen and i were able to get away for a couple days to attend the catalyst conference in dallas. we heard from some amazing speakers and were really challenged in some areas. i also had a rude awakening and further sealed my frusteration with the english language on the drive home. you can read about it here.

heres the week...

sunday, day 125

happy mothers day! me and my momma.

monday, day 126

allens the chaplain for the round rock express, the rangers triple a team. monday they had an afternoon game, so one of the players, brad nelson, came over for dinner monday night. he brought me this bat as a thank you. its his bat from the breast cancer awareness game. it will be hung up next to a couple other autographed bats we have in our new guest room! :-)

tuesday, day 127

the newly redecorated guest bathroom! i couldnt get it all in one picture, but you get the idea.

wednesday, day 128

a sampling of the graduation invitations we've recieved. tis the season.

thursday, day 129

a group of street artists, i think they were called, were 'creating' in the foyer at the conference. i thought this one was really cool. they just had pieces of cardboard and some wire and a little paint.

friday, day 130

the theme of catalyst was 'take courage'. this wall was available for people to share a verse that gives them courage. some of my favorite quotes from the conference are...

"do you want to be safe, or do you want to be brave?"

"the purpose of life is not to arrive at death safely."

"why do we live a risk averse life, if we truly believe that death has lost its sting?"

saturday, day 131

molly was practicing safe jumping.

another full week is upon us! tomorrow is senior recognition sunday. all the graduates will be recognized in the 2nd service tomorrow morning, then theres a big banquet tomorrow night for the seniors and their families. monday is my birthday! yay! well, maybe not yay. i'm hitting the big 3-0...eek.

thursday the kids and i are spending the day with my mom because allen and my dad will be gone on a church staff day retreat, and saturday is mollys dance recital and my mother in law is coming and staying for 5 days.

we keep right on truckin!

have a blessed week!

SHMILY

subtle hints

allen and i just got home from two awesome days at Catalyst in dallas. its an event for church leadership and we got to hear from andy stanley, matt chandler, donald miller, just to name a few. the band gungor was also there, and theyre pretty stinkin awesome. i encourage you to check them out if you like the new wave of folk-type music thats steadily growing in popularity.

anyway, on our way home, i was reading to allen out of jon acuffs book, stuff christians like. super sarcastic, super funny, and super up my alley. i had read several points, and the title of this one in particular was "developing subtle signals to let people know youre a christian."
i read, and have always (not that its a word i have cause to read on a regular basis) read subtle with the B sound. i pronounced the B. suBtle.
allen: "um...just for future reference, the B is silent."
me: "what?"
allen: (points to the word, and says it correctly, as in [suttle]) "subtle"
me: "really? thats [suttle]? i thought it was suBtle. you say the B."
allen: "no, the b is silent. you said it that same way a few pages back, but i didnt think anything of it. then you just read it with the B again, and i realized, 'wow, she really thinks suBtle is a word.'"
me: "its not?"
allen: "no!"
me: "why is that B there? thats just confusing."
allen: "i dont know. im not webster."
me: "i thought [suttle] was s-u-t-t-l-e. and this word was suBtle. "
allen: "you know what that word, or those words in your case, mean?"
me: "yeah. i thought there were just two words."
allen: "that mean the exact same thing...."
me: "but one of them has a B. [suttle] and suBtle. but that really doesnt make sense, does it?"
allen: (laughing, at my expense, mind you) "no."
me: "thats just retarded."

and after further review, this book utilizes the word subtle (with a silent B) several more times. he even uses subtly a few times, which really throws me off. i'm having to rethink everything.
i mean, why do we have so many useless silent letters hanging around, really?
knife? gnat? gnome? knee?
at first i was going to blame the english language, which i do still believe is the most confusing thing ever, besides perhaps algebra II, but even the bible does it with psalm.
what about you? have you ever found after years that you had been pronouncing a word wrongly?

threesixfive, days 118 thru 124

pretty good week around here. made some progress around the house with our updates we've been working on. molly got sent home from school with pink eye monday, so having to stay home all day tuesday gave me time to really get some good things done.

sunday, day 118

we got the kids an easel (chalkboard on one side, butcher paper on the other) and i walked in to see colby had written this. so sweet.

monday, day 119

when molly go sent home on suspicion of pink eye, i was in denial. i thought maybe it was just allergies. when her eye started oozing at 5pm, i called white gloves. its part of our insurance plan. they come to your house! from 8am to 8pm, 7 days a week theyre available for home visits, and they bring your prescription (if needed) to you! pretty awesome.

tuesday, day 120

i decided to redecorate the guest bathroom. it was 'ocean', so i had to paint over all the blue.

wednesday, day 121

race night at awanas. colbys car didnt win anything, and he was pretty upset, but he got a ribbon for participating, and some pointers for next year.

thursday, day 122

poupee? poopie? what? im confused.

friday, day 123

went to a birthday party for our friends caleb, jacob, and hannah (triplets!). each kiddo brought their favorite stuffed animal, and got to dress it up, and then 'show' it at the pet show. colby took timmy the turtle and made him into a super hero.

saturday, day 124

we had another birthday party this afternoon out at the city park. there were a few ponies and a full sized horse the kids (and some adults) got to ride. allen and chris gave molly and avery side by side rides.

i hope you have a blessed mothers day and week!!!