threesixfive, days 195 thru 201

so...i didnt do a midweek post like i said i might, but theres always next week. :-/
we've been super busy! we missed allen while he was in new orleans on mission trip, but we did plenty of things to keep us busy. lots of pictures this week; i couldnt pick just one for each day. if you hang in till the end, you get extra brownie points! :-)

sunday, day 195
i started colbys room saturday, and did pretty much nothing but paint thru monday, with the exception of church. but i got it done! it looks great!!




monday, day 196
the finished product...
my mom painted three canvases of colbys choice (he couldnt decide on one theme, so we settled on this idea); batman and angry birds, and aliens. the alien canvas is all drawings that colby did, and then my mom painted them, except the flying saucer. that ones from a library book. can you believe she did those just by looking at a picture?!? especially the angry birds one. shes awesome.

tuesday, day 197
we spent the day in austin doing "austin-y" things.

molly got feathers, and i actually got more myself. the ones i got back in march are still in, and i had some light blue and lavender ones put a little further back.

then we decided we'd go check out the capital. the kids had a great time walking around, looking at pictures, and seeing all the different rooms. this is the committee room, whatever that is. colby looks good behind that podium.

wednesday, day 198

we met april, tate, and adler at a new splash park about 15 minutes away that i didnt know about!! we will definitely be going back!!

thursday, day 199

the dell diamond (the texas rangers triple a team, where allen is chaplain) hosted a vow renewal ceremony at the stadium before the game. it was sponsored and organized by intimate life ministries, and they asked allen to officiate it. he told them he would if theyd fly him in from new orleans and back out there friday morning, and they agreed! so allen got to 're-marry' 225 couples. my parents and grandparents participated, as did allens mom and step-dad. i couldnt get a picture of allen parents, though, because they were at the end on the back row. i didnt get a good picture of allen either, because i was standing right behind him. but here are a few of my parents and grandparents.

friday, day 200

my mom and i took the kids to san antonio on kind of a whim. i was teaching colby about the alamo earlier in the week, and i figured, 'lets just go see it!' so we did!!

i had a hard time getting both of them to look even halfway decent for a picture. here are a few attempts...

the sun was in colbys eyes, and molly i guess is too good to even look at the camera

molly was just about to pick her nose in this one. too bad i missed it....

colby had just tried to put his arm around her, and she protested.

hes drunk on starbucks vanilla milk. im just sweaty.

finally, a silly one on purpose.

we had dinner at the magic time machine. molly had her picture taken with several of the waitresses, i mean....princesses. this one was her favorite. its rapunzel in case youre wondering.

colby flagged the riddler down and asked him if batman was working. he wasnt, so the riddler had to do for colbys picture.

saturday, day 201

when molly saw the bright new colors in colbys room, she decided she needed a room makeover, too. we're almost done. my mom will paint a few canvases for her room as well, and i'll post pictures when its all put together. the walls were green (with that little strip of pink on top). she wanted a 'rainbow room', and i managed to talk her into that meaning only two more colors besides the pink, which will stay. she picked light blue and a lilac purple.



allen is done traveling for the summer! hooray!!

i look forward to routine and eating dinner together again this week!

hope your week is blessed!

threesixfive, days 188 thru 194

ok, im starting to feel completely lame again at the fact that im only posting my 365 project pictures and nothing else during the week. this happens every year, and i'll hopefully snap out of it eventually. i actually have a couple pretty good stories to share, but i dont want to combine them with my pictures this week. maybe i'll get around to coming back later in the week and posting them...if i still remember them at that point.

we had a great week. allens birthday was thursday, and it happened to coincide with his day off, so we had a great family day together. the kids both moved up a level at swim school, and the kids spent a night away in waco where they went to the circus with their mimi and great aunt, so allen and i got a date night!

here are the pictures:

sunday, day 188

colby picked this up out at camp when we were there a couple weeks ago, and wears it at least 4 days a week. its usually around his neck like a cowboy, but he put it up around his face for the picture.

monday, day 189

we went to the library to see dino george. he was fantastic; very funny and entertaining, and i actually learned some stuff about dinosaurs i didnt know. the kids loved him.

tuesday, day 190

spent the afternoon at the pool.

wednesday, day 191

molly had been resisting bedtime, to say the least. she usually ends up sitting at her door, or just inside where we cant really see here from the couch. this is how i found her before i went to bed wednesday night.

thursday, day 192

happy birthday, allen! a trip to the fro-yo shop was of course on the agenda.

friday, day 193

i've been taking golf lessons (you may have read that last week), so for our date night we went to dinner, then to the driving range where he got to see me hit for the first time. it was a fun thing to do together, especially because i know he really enjoys it, too.

saturday, day 194

i started painting colbys room this weekend. he picked turquoise and yellow. Lord, have mercy.

allen leaves early tomorrow morning for a week in new orleans with 40 youth and sponsors. they'll be serving there all week, and doing some katrina relief projects.

i'm hanging out here with the kids, and have some stuff to keep me busy. i know i'll be ready for him to come home, though!

have a fantastic week!!

threesixfive, days 181 thru 187

it was soooo nice to have a somewhat normal week, and just be home!

we were still pretty busy, but thats not terribly out of the ordinary for us.

heres the week!

sunday, 181

we're home to the rangers triple a team (the round rock express), and i was asked to sing God Bless America at the ballgame during the 7th inning stretch. it was a lot of fun!

monday, 182
happy 4th of july! we did our usual 4th festivities. it was a great day.

tuesday, 183

the kids and i went to the library, then walked up the street to a tea house to sit and read some of our books, and have a snack. two pictures, because my kids are so darn cute.

wednesday, 184

i had my first golf lesson! my mom bought me a few lessons for my birthday back in may, but we've been gone so much, im just now getting a chance to take them. i think im going to really like it!

thursday, 185

the kids had an impromptu afternoon in the sprinkler.

friday, 186

speaking of sprinklers, i've watering like crazy. we put some sod down a couple months ago and have to water it so it will grow into the other grass. that spot in the picture was just dirt up until may.

saturday, 187

sorry. another yard picture. with all the watering, we're having to mow a lot, too. i've been the one mowing for the past 3 or 4 weeks. allen does the edging and weed-eating while i mow, and the yard gets done in half the time. and i feel super productive. :-)

we get another glorious week home! allens birthday is thursday, and then he leaves next sunday for mission trip. we have a lot going on this week, too, but im not complaining. at least i get to sleep in my own bed every night!

have a blessed week!

threesixfive, days 167 thru 180

another two week post! sorry. this will be the last one like this i think.

allen and i left two weeks ago on sunday to go down to a small town about an hour north of corpus christi where he directs two weeks of youth camps down there. this is his third year to be their camp director. last year i took the kids and went for one week, and had a great time.

this year, allens mom watched the kids the first week so i was down there with allen and was able to do some things around the camp to help allen and the staff. it was really cool to be a part of the team in that capacity and see what goes on behind the scenes. its a lot of work! the second week the kids joined us, so i wasnt near as much help, but we had a fun time swimming and hunting for bugs.

heres some of what i got...

sunday, day 167

we had to take jake to the snake sitters for the two weeks we would be gone. i think he enjoyed the car ride.



monday, day 168

my home away from home for the next two weeks!

tuesday, day 169

the camps not terribly spread out compared to some others ive been to, but we did a lot of running back and forth and it was pretty darn hot, so it was nice to have this to scoot around in.




wednesday, day 170

love to see teenagers worship!

thursday, day 171

thursday night we do something called extended worship. there are stations spread around the cafeteria that give the students different ways to express their worship to the Lord. butcher paper with markers laid out, and play-doh are a couple. its amazing to see what they come up with.

friday, day 172

allen and i rigged up a ghetto sun shade so we could sleep in saturday and sunday morning. duct tape+foil=complete and awesome darkness.

saturday, day 173

over the weekend, allen did a wedding about 30 minutes away from the camp (convenient!). it was one of the prettiest wedding ive been to. this is gaby, the flower girl. instead of throwing petals, she and the ring barer carried this sign. i love this idea!!

sunday, day 174

super cool old truck

monday, day 175

allen and i took a walk around camp and found some of these crazy thorn bushes on some back trails. made me think of the crown of thorns.

tuesday, day 176

one of the camp staffers has this nest in his front yard, on the ground! ive never seen anything like this before. if you got too close while the momma bird was around, she would try to lead you away and flop around on the ground like she was hurt.

wednesday, day 177

colby and molly helping collin out with the tape measurer

thursday, day 178

extended worship again tonight. i thought this was absolutely beautiful. this picture doesnt do it justice. one of the summer staff cut it out at the end of the night, and is going to frame it.

friday, day 179

on the way home friday we stopped at a cute cafe in new braunfels. they had lots of antiques and other cool stuff. i cant resist an elvis statue.

saturday, day 180

another wedding today! the grooms cake was a drumset! again, the picture doesnt do it justice. it was really cool.

we get to slow down a little bit this week. we're home for a couple weeks, then allen heads to new orleans for mission trip on the 17th. we've got a few things going on between now and then (allens birthday is the 14th!) but thankfully they're all in town and low key!

have a great week!

threesixfive, days 153 thru 166

two weeks of stuff! eek! i didnt get to post last week because we were at youth camp from friday to tuesday. rather than post late when we got back and not have anyone see it really, i decided to hold off and post the last two weeks as one entry. so this will be a long one!

sunday, day 153

we went to homefield grill for lunch after church. its a local place thats fast becoming one of our favorites.

monday, day 154

VBS week at church. monday night we went out in groups and hung hangers on doors in the surrounding neighborhoods to invite everyone.

tuesday, day 155

colby lost his other middle tooth. it wasnt quite ready to come out, but he was determined. lucky me, i got to be the one to do the dirty work. ick.

wednesday, day 156

i took the kids to the pool for a couple hours. no they are not laying out. theyre drying.

thursday, day 157

katie and i went to party city to get stuff for our rec team at camp. we had to try on a few masks while we were there. molly looks a little creepy in this one.

friday, day 158

me, april, and katie at dinner friday night. our first meal at youth camp!

saturday, day 159

kayaking during free time. i love it!!

sunday, day 160

representing the green team!!

monday, day 161

its our youth groups tradition to pray over the rec team, worship band, and speaker on the last night of camp each year. they give and give for weeks, and we want to be able to give back to them a little bit.

tuesday, day 162

about to head home! on the left is the cabin our group of girls stayed in. isnt it pretty! the view....not the cabin.

wednesday, day 163

i just realized i have a picture of each of my kids with a mask on. colbys is homemade, though. and he wore it all. day.

thursday, day 164

i took colby to the dr on thursday because hes been having frequent episodes of coughing and wheezing. they started him on asthma meds (daily inhaler and rescure inhaler for attacks). the kids were laying on the floor looking under the door while we were waiting for the dr to come in.

friday, day 165

molly and colby spent a lot of thursday and friday working on allens fathers day present. it involoved many colored pencils. thats all i can disclose at this time. :-)

saturday, day 166

we went to intimate life ministries family day this afternoon. the kids got to make fathers day trophies for allen, jump in a bounce house, get 'tattoos', and have a balloon creation made. molly chose a hat.

we leave tomorrow for two weeks down at a camp near corpus. allen is the director for their two youth camps they do each year, and the weekend between the camps hes officiating a wedding (that, thankfully, happens to be in corpus, so we wont have to go far). all that said, i'll probably have to post two weeks together again, as i dont think i'll be able to post my entry next weekend.

hope youre enjoying your summer. we'll be back july 2nd, and allen has one more week away for mission trip mid-july, which i'm staying home for that one. junes been crazy. its been great, but i'm looking forward to being home for more than 4 days!