Family Retreat

We had an amazing time at our church family retreat last weekend. I was able to take some time off of work and spend special time with my little family. We went to a church retreat in Glen Rose with several other families and teens. The kids had a great time playing outdoors...and there was no tv! The purpose of the retreat was to reconnect with our kids and tell them how important they are to us and how important it is to keep God first in their life.

First up...the zip line! We all encouraged each other to fly down this zip line. I had no intention of doing it but I wanted to show Ethan that it wasn't scary...and it was! My friend's 5 year old did it so surely I could do it! It was a last minute decision. I'm glad I did it but it sure was terrifying being way up there on a swaying platform! Mondo did it too. There are two videos at the bottom of us going down the zipline!

Holy cow! Getting all geared up! I went down with the youth minister's wife.

Do I look scared?

Mondo and Scott (Summer's brother) getting all geared up.

Mondo waving before jumping off.

He's alive!

The kids played with rocks for entertainment while we were zipping.

Ethan made a new friend. That's not sweat on Caleb's shirt...he spilled water all over it...and had a huge fit about it!

Probably not the best thing to be playing with!

The view from the back of our cabin. It was way more breathtaking in person!

The kids singing "Jesus Loves Me" during one of our classes.

Mondo and I wrote a letter to each kiddo telling them our hopes for their future. Mondo read it to them separately. It was a sweet moment.

I can't believe Caleb actually sat and listened to it! We listed our favorite things about each of them. When we told Caleb that we will always remember his love for chicken nuggets he got all excited and said, "Yes! Chicken nunnets!"

We took our own family photo. Turned out pretty good.

After we read our letters, we had some family alone time. We threw football passes and chased the kids. It was a great time of just being outside together.

Caleb emptied his bag of toys and played. He was so content with his "guys".

There was a pirate ship...(ok Kristy...it was Noah's Ark!) that the kids LOVED. That plank that Caleb is sliding on was responsible for lots of ruined clothes for everyone's kids. They kept getting caught on the nails.

All of the families got together to play a game of kickball. Ethan joined right in. Caleb played with Mommy on the bleachers.

There's little Ethan in the black shirt.

I can never get a good pic of these two! They're too busy. They were both covered in cheetos. That's Maddie, Tyler's little sister.

If there's a dirt pile my boys will be in it!

One of our best memories was the "snipe hunt". Jace Hockaday leads the BEST snipe hunt you've ever been on. Ethan is still asking to hunt snipes. He's ready to go to my parent's house at night so he can hunt in their backyard. So cute!

Aww...melt my heart! That's Tyler in the red.

There's Jace and his daughter. It was pitch black out there...and Ethan was covering his eyes.

At the end of the snipe hunt we ended up at the campfire to roast marshmallows. Ethan was a little sad that there weren't any smores...just marshmallows. Mommy was sad too!

After the campfire, we showered the kids and met up in the middle room of our cabins for some game time. Ethan joined right in with the teens. Caleb soon followed after he saw they were passing out chocolate chip cookies!

Caleb playing Connect Four by himself...or maybe he was just stacking them. :-)

We might have taken them for a little spin around the camp site to get them to sleep. They were exhausted!

The next morning Caleb was up bright and early at 0630! He and Daddy went into town and got us some Sonic for breakfast. Ethan was so cute wearing Mondo's hat.

Ethan doing a little dancing on the way home.

Aunt Lou

I have been putting off writing this post because it is just so hard to see pictures of Aunt Lou and know that she is gone. Aunt Lou was my great aunt. She passed away a few weeks ago at the age of 87. I know she is so much happier now than when she was here stuck in and out of the hospital and not being able to live on her own.


I still think about her every day. There are so many things that remind me of her. She was a huge Cowboys fan. I saw a Cowboys Snuggie the other day and thought "I just have to buy that for Aunt Lou for Christmas!" then I realized that she is gone. She was OBSESSED with butterflies. We all looked forward to getting a card or present from her that had a cut out picture of a butterfly on it. She also loved to buy the craziest gifts. We lovingly called them "Aunt Lou specials". One of our favorites was a dancing flower that sings "You are my sunshine." My kids still play with it even though it is held together with duct tape. She will definitely be missed this Christmas.

Since all of my grandparents have passed away, she was like a grandmother to me. She kind of took on the grandmother role for everyone in our family. She used to pick me up from school when I was in middle school and I would get to stay at her house until my parents came home. We always had a coke together and talked about Days of Our Lives. She was a huge fan with me.

She had such a great personality. So funny. One of my favorite semi recent moments was when she was at my parent's house for lunch and she accidently knocked over her drink at the table and let out a cuss word nice and loud for all to hear. She wasn't phased by it but we were all ROLLING.

I'm sad that my kids won't really remember her. Ethan took her death so much easier than I thought he would. I told him she got really sick and went to heaven. His biggest worry was wondering if Nana and Papa would be going to heaven soon. He hasn't asked about her since. I guess the smallest amount of info was good enough for him.

For those of you who don't know, I created a blog for her a year or two ago that talked about her journey through all of her sicknesses and recoveries. Go check it out to find out more about our sweet Aunt Lou! www.lovingauntlou.blogspot.com

Fair Day!

We debated on whether or not to take the kids to the Fair this year. They went with us the last two years and didn't really enjoy it and it wasn't very enjoyable for us. We decided not to take them this year...until Ethan randomly asked to go. He said, "remember that place we went and I got scared on the bumper cars? I want to go there again and I won't be scared." We took them after school on Wednesday and ended up staying for 5 hours! We were there from 4:30 to 9:30...and we had a great time! We took the wagon in case Ethan got tired of walking. That worked out well. We actually ran out of time and didn't make it to the petting zoo, the aquarium, and a couple of other exhibits. Luckily the kids didn't notice. :-)

This was what Ethan wanted to do first. He remembered driving the cars from last year. Poor Caleb wanted to do it too but he was too little. We thought he could ride next to Ethan but they wouldn't let him. He cried and I had to distract him with something else. Poor little critter. :-(

This was new this year...or I didn't remember it from last year. There were a bunch of tractors that you could climb in. The kids loved it!

It's hard to see but Caleb and Ethan are inside that tractor.

The usual picture of Ethan with a death grip on Caleb for a photo op.

They really enjoyed this. There was a giant sand box inside one of the buildings. Mommy and Daddy liked it too because it was nice and cool inside! They wanted to stay forever but we made them get out. Guess we need a trip to the beach!

They don't look as yummy as they are but these are "Tornado Tators"...the only Fair food Ethan asked for. Mondo and I love them too!

Chowing down on some Tornado Tators! I was suprised that Caleb wouldn't eat them. Instead he ate BBQ chips that I packed for a snack.

Ethan's attempt at trying a corny dog. I was shocked that he even tried it. Look at that tiny bite. He said he liked it and that he would eat it at home on another day. Silly kid.

We stopped by the stage and heard some country singing twin ladies. They were pretty good. The boys had a good time dancing and running circles around the wagon.

Don't let this pic fool you...they loved Big Tex! Ethan asked how he worked and where he was plugged in. Caleb was facinated. He didn't want to leave him. He kept saying, "No go! See Tex!"

Staring in awe at Big Tex. You can also see the fading bruise on his cheek. I've been trying for over a week to get a picture of that bruise. It was pretty impressive.

Ethan is obsessed with the feet massagers. Poor thing didn't have a quarter to put in it and he couldn't understand why it wouldn't work when he pressed his feet down. I guess Mommy needs to keep some change for little Ethan.

The LOVED this giant elephant. I don't remember seeing it before but I'm sure it's probably been there for a long time.

The climbed all over it and slid down it's tusks.

Ethan hanging on the elephant's tail.

Failed attempt at a photo op. The usual, Caleb is trying to escape and Ethan is trying to fake a smile while holding onto his wild brother.

We opted for one with the kid who would actually sit still and smile on cue.

Fried Frito Pie. Looks totally disgusting, I know. But it was WONDERFUL! It was a bit pricey for the few little pieces they gave you. It was served with a sour cream packet to dip them in. The crust was like the crust on the Long John Silver fish but tasted like fritos. I'm doing a bad job of explaining...if you go to the Fair and you like frito pie, buy it. You won't be disappointed.

The car show is always a big hit with the boys. They love to crawl through all the cars and push all of the buttons. They got a little crazy so we had to cut the car show short before they destroyed some cars! Mondo tried to find them the less expensive cars to demolish. :-)

The highlight of the evening: watching Ethan sing "God Bless the USA" at the light show. It was the last song. As soon as it came on he said, "I know this song from my school!" He was so excited. He put his hand over his heart and sang the whole time. Mondo and I were teary. Proud parent moment. :-) I would've videoed him but it was pitch black.

The good part of the light show. The show itself was kind of lame-o. The water was continuously spraying and lights would reflect off of it to the beat of the music. At the beginning and end of the show there was fire and fireworks. That was the best part. You could actually feel the heat everytime the fire shot out...a little scary!

The kids sat in on part of a cooking show. They didn't partake in the steamed vegetable tasting.

Fried butter. Not as tasty as I thought it would be. It tasted like bread. There were 3 different toppings: cinnamon/sugar, cherry, or garlic. I opted for cinnamon/sugar. I think the garlic would've been better. I was probably on sugar overload after the fried cheesecake and fried snickers. I know, I was a little out of control! The fried snickers was AWESOME!

The story of Tweety: Ethan saw a few people carrying around Tweety. He's never once mentioned Tweety but he just had to have it. We told him he could either ride one ride or play a game and he chose to play a game. We found a couple (probably in their 40's) who had a Tweety and asked what game they played to win it. They told us and we went hunting for that game. About 15 seconds later we hear a woman calling in our direction and turn around to see the woman with Tweety. She said she didn't have kids and wanted to give Tweety to Ethan. Mondo tried to talk her out of it or offer her coupons but she just handed it to Ethan and walked away. How awesome was that?!

The story of Ethan's trash: I took the tag off of Tweety and handed it to Caleb since it had looney toon pictures on it. We were walking around and I asked Mondo if we should get Caleb something since Ethan got something. He said "he's probably ok." We turned around to see Ethan holding this giant Tweety and Caleb with a scrap of paper. After hysterically laughing we decided that Caleb needed something too.

So...Caleb ended up with "Hulk Smash" as he calls him. Not a bad deal for $3 and Mommy and Daddy didn't feel guilty! Ahh, what a great evening at the Fair. Next year we will have to go all day!