Love them more than anything

Oil

It rolled in this afternoon. You could see it in the surf. The beach and water emptied. Instead of jumping the waves Wednesday evening,
our environmentalist kids got to work and picked up tar.

I've had enough of this say Ryan & Campbell. Let's see who can eat popsicles the fastest!

Sunset Fun on the Beach

Just another day in paradise...Destin

Wake up leisurely.
Hit the beach about 9:00am
Long walk on the beach.
Ride the waves of the clear blue sea.
Watch the kids play in the sand and find sea shells.
Walk to the pool.
Play in the pool.
Lunch.
Nap.
Visit.
Snack.
Watch kids play in the pool.
Surf (the internet).
Dinner.
Beach play.
Pool Play.
Dippin' Dots.
Bed.
Just another day in paradise.

Transformation

I only post the above picture so you notice the terrible window coverings, the too small rug and the red couch that my parents bought for me in 1994. The cute boys are just playing Wii. This picture was taken in September 2009 of our 'front room.'

I'm excited to announce that I think our 'front room' is almost complete...FINALLY. We have lived in our house about a month shy of five years. Hard to believe. Last November, we finally bought a nice couch for the 'front room.' It really is the front room of our house. We don't have a foyer. When you walk in the front door, you are in this room. The kids watch TV in here and Alex plays Legos and Wii in here. They eat snacks in here. This room is used a lot!
In January, we had all the windows replaced and trim put around the windows. We even had two windows removed and now have a whole wall in the front room. Sounds strange, but there wasn't a single full wall in the room. Now there is and it is wonderful.
Late spring I found a rug with red in it. Red is my favorite color and I want to accent the room with reds. My awesome "H" find goes along with the red idea.
Recently, I got wood blinds for the windows and am so pleased with how they look. And, we moved the giant armoire that has stored games and toys, took the doors off and are using it for the TV. There is a little work left to be done on the armoire, but overall it is great!
And, just last week, my $8 craigslist ottoman find was back from the upholsterer in a great red leather. Here are a couple of views of the room.
For 4+ years, I despised this room. From the day we made an offer on this house, I wondered how we would use this approximately 400 square feet of our home. Now, I go in there & sit and hang out, and it just makes me really happy.

Signs of Love

Conleigh & Alex made these signs for Campbell on her birthday. We decorated the entrance to the party with them. Top pic by Conleigh. Title: Princess on her birthday. Bottom painting by Alex. It is of he and Campbell with trees, and of course he wrote I love you.

Funny stuff

The scene. Mommy goes swimming with make-up on.

The comment from Conleigh: "Mom, you look like Lady Gaga."

Swim Meet, Take 2

Conleigh finishing a race.
A donut and a smile (occupies her for a little while).
We really enjoyed the swim meet yesterday. The weather was overcast, a babysitter arrived after two hours to relieve Campbell of her misery, and the kids did great.

It was the only home meet we'll get to attend this year, but it was a great one! Conleigh won two heat ribbons with her relays and Alex won one with his relay.


Conleigh really made her free relay. She was the first leg and clearly swam 4 seconds faster than the competition. One of her teamates, Eve, gave her the nicest compliment afterwards. She told Conleigh, "I'm glad you swam that fast because otherwise I wouldn't have this ribbon." Conleigh liked that compliment and the whole team did great! Go Sharks!
Alex improved his backstroke time by almost 20 seconds. Doing it one arm at a time makes a big difference. He loved running around with his friends when he was done.

Last night Peter & I went out with our Sunday school friends to a comedy club. It was a nice change of pace. Today was get-ready-for-VBS-day. Tomorrow the Galactic Blast off begins!

Harvest

Peter harvested some of his first veggies from our garden this evening after we closed the pool.
Here he & Conleigh proudly hold some onions and carrots. Alex ran into this picture. His poor eyes. He is wearing his goggles so tight that it looks like his eyes are going to be sucked out of their sockets. He doesn't look like himself after he's done swimming.

And a cute picture of Miss 4 year old!

Extra! Extra! Campbell Turns 4!

Campbell celebrated her fourth year with her friends a la Fancy Princess Tea Party. We painted fingernails, Daddy did a magic show and we had a tea party with orange and grape Kool-Aid, cake & ice cream. The time flew by and I hope everyone enjoyed themselves.
Campbell, you are such a joy to us. Sometimes I look at you and think about how you weren't part of our plan, but it was the best surprise to have you become part of our family. You are starting to write your letters, and still love to color and play with play-doh. You enjoy swimming and dancing. I think we'll start dance lessons in the fall. You like to play with your friends and have a strong personality with your brother & sister. You are completely potty trained and have been for over 6 months. You like to travel and be active. We love you very much Campbell. Happy Birthday!

Hill Country Community Ministries

Monday the kids & I helped count, load and deliver to the local food pantry all of the canned food that our church has collected over the past week. We take several cans of beans every week to church and recently one of them asked me where it goes, so when the opportunity to help stock the shelves came up, I thought it was a great chance for the kids to see how it all works.
The numbers came out to 309 total with 117 being rolls of TP, lots of mac & cheese, 10 cans of meat, and some fruit.
It was interesting to go into the food pantry and help put away all the cans. We saw so much mac & cheese!! We decided we need to continue to take beans. They didn't have many of those. We walked into the office and asked how many people they see each day. The administrator estimated 45 including the children of the families they help. While we were there, someone called to see if formula was available. Wow. We are blessed!

Bridging to Brownies

This morning we had a Girl Scout Daisy in the house, and this evening she is a Girl Scout Brownie. We had our bridging ceremony this afternoon with a swim party afterwards.
Conleigh is very excited about all the Try-Its she gets to work on starting this summer. She is ready to start on the Eat Healthy one (or something like that). >


Isn't this backyard over the top? Holy cow!

Swim Meet #1

Alex talking with Coach Zac before swimming his heat.
Enjoying some R&R between swims.
We made it through the first swim meet with mostly smiles. Alex fell off the block before he could even dive in to warm up, so he was a little tender emotionally. It was an indoor pool in Georgetown which rocked on the first of many HOT Saturday meets.
Conleigh & Alex both swam on the free relays. Alex's team which was co-ed came in 4th overall and Conleigh's was 7th. I must say Conleigh was dynamite. Her team was waaayyy behind after the first leg and she dove in and caught them up to the other team. She also swam the free leg on the medley relay. She wasn't scheduled for that but there was a no-show, so she was the lucky girl who got put into that spot. She swam five events including 25 free, back and butterfly and the relays, and her final verdict for swim meets was, "Awesome!"
Alex on the other hand is ready to quit. This is surprising to me, but I think once he learns the strokes, he will enjoy it because he was definitely enjoying the social aspects of it. Poor guy got in to swim the 25 backstroke and first of all it was cold. I could tell by the way he s.l.o.w.l.y. got in. Then there was a delay and he was hanging onto the concrete side of the pool with his little fingers. THEN, he attempted to swim the whole 25 in backwards butterfly fashion. He used both arms at the same time, the whole way. At about 20 yards, he started to crack and cry. He turned around to see how much further, and then went back to his back position and continued the backwards butterfly. Thankfully, Peter was able to be there right as he got out of the pool to comfort him. Like Peter said, "he did a great job for not even knowing how to swim the stroke."
Campbell hated every minute of it. She was bored out of her gourd. At about 10am, it was looking pretty gloomy regarding her making it to the end of the meet. A friend was leaving early to go home, shower and go to her daughter's dance recital. This is how it worked out. My friend drove Campbell (& Alex who was now done with his three events) to our hosue where a babysitter met her on the driveway. I had given my friend Peter's car key, so the babysitter could unlock Peter's car and open the garage door. It was so nice that that worked out. Conleigh enjoyed having mom and dad dote on her til the meet was over at 1:30.
After the early start to the day, Conleigh was still ready to head to South Austin and see Katie & Grace. We hadn't seen them in months and it was like it was yesterday when those three got together.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful:

for the rain,
that my mother-in-laws minor surgery and first heavy chemo treatment is done,
that my husband could be with her today for all of that,
that he should be home in Austin within the half hour,
that I got to go with my daughter's Daisy troop to Girl Scout headquarters to check it out and select their Brownie gear,
that I have wonderful friends who picked up and took care of my other 2 kiddos for longer than I expected,
for sweet children who are playing together,
for kids who care about others,
that we don't have anything on the calendar tomorrow except swim practice. Yay!