Visit to Corpus & Beach!

Our first weekend back in school brought the first Cross Country meet of the season. It was in our favorite place...Corpus Christi. This gave us an excellent reason to drive the 3 hours south to hit the beach for the day!

This was Katrina's first cross country meet. She did awesome. She set a personal record and placed 5th out of the seventh grade girls. She was glowing with excitement and we were so proud of how hard she worked!

After getting all hot and sweaty running - and standing in the blazing heat watching the run - what better way to cool off then head to the beach?

We met up at Mustang Island with Allen's brothers and their families. Going to the beach is great - going with cousins is WAY great. I love the top left photo - I took it right after rescuing Amelia from a "biiiig water" wave.

A day of sun, sand, and surf...what could be better than that.

Our cousins brought some boogie boards and were so nice to share...the kids all had a great time riding the waves!

Hanging out, chatting, laughing, snacking, swimming = tons of fun!

We started our day at 6 am to get to the cross country meet on time. (Of course Katrina and I were up at 3 am to get her to the bus on time.) We got a bit sleepy by the end of the day - especially since we still had a 3 hour drive home.

The kids always build these elaborate sand villages and pits surrounded by walls. Amelia so wants to help but often ends up destroying the creations - making the kids less than thrilled. Aunt Juanita kindly helped Amelia build her very own castle settlement. Funny, she didn't want to break this one.

Let the Band Play On

Gabriel is now in 9th grade (gasp...high school!) - and he has joined the HS marching band.

I had a chance to attend their first performance. Gabriel did a great job! Especially since he was absent for all but 3 days of summer band camp due to being in New Mexico.

I didn't realize what a time commitment HS band was. They practice each Monday night, play at all the football games on Friday nights, and have some Saturday competitions coming up. All this leads up to a spring trip to perform at Disney World in Florida. He's pretty excited about that!

It makes for one busy teenager. His schedule goes something like this:
- Early morning Seminary, each day
- Cross country training after school, each day (due to missing for seminary)
- Monday night - band practice
- Wednesday night - YM at church
- Friday night - Football games, usually from 4-11 pm
- Saturday morning - Cross Country meets, usually from 6:30 am - noon
- Sunday - Church, Firesides, FHE, meetings, home teaching, etc.
- Every other day - try, try, try to keep up on homework, chores, and sleep

...and it's only his first year in high school...

Back to School Bash

We decided to have a celebration to mark the end of summer vacation and the beginning of a new school year. (Hoping to get the excitement level up.)

We had an apple themed party. We ate apples, watched The Apple Dumpling Gang, and played Apples to Apples - one of their favorite games.


Setting up for our movie-picnic lunch.


The kids showing off their favorite treats. We had apples and celery with pb, "pencils" - cheese sticks with raisins, and sandwiches on a stick. Gabriel didn't bother to put his sandwich on a stick so he just showed off his sandwich pile. I love how the kids get excited over simple things that I do for them - 'cause I'm a simple girl and I don't get too fancy.


Abagail helped make our dessert - Smore's popcorn. She did a GREAT job. Now, it did have a good flavor but it was a really big mess to make and eat. It tasted like carmel popcorn with chocolate, graham crackers and a tiny bit of marshmallows. I think next time I would use less popcorn and more graham crackers.

Pretty as Two Princesses...

...and one peeping Prince.


Katrina loves to dress Amelia and herself up. She loves to deck Amelia out in jewelry and paint her toes. Now Amelia likes to wear her pretty-pretty dress all the time. So I have to set rules - like she can't wear it to sleep or go places. She seems to accept it for now. Right now she is upstairs looking for her dress, "Mom, where is it my pretty-pretty dress?" (over and over and over again...guess I should go help her look).

Celebrating 16 Years!

This year we had a special treat to celebrate our anniversary. (Actually it was to celebrate Allen graduating from college with his Bachelor's degree - but we used it for our anniversary.)

My mom set us up at a hotel on the S.A. Riverwalk and dinner at a very nice restaurant. The only time previously to this that we have been away from the kids for a night was when we were interviewing in S.A. for Allen's job - that was 8 years ago. So this was a HUGE treat for us.

We found a great babysitter, made all the arrangements, and had a terrific evening just hanging out, relaxing, eating really good food, and not having to worry about anything. The next day we walked all over downtown S.A. and checked out the Alamo - Allen has lived here 8 years and never visited there - guess he was always working when the kids and I have taken out of town visitors.

It was a really nice, relaxing way to be together. We decided that we needed to do it again sometime - before another 8 years goes by.

Wave Pool Party

Some friends of ours hosted a birthday party at the Seguin Wave Pool. They shared some photos of us from the event.



Of course the older kids were very independent. I expected that. What I didn't expect was that Simon and Oliver were also EXTREMELY independent. I could hardly keep my eyes on them. They hung out in their floaties out in the waves and had a ball. Amelia was also quite independent. I wasn't "allowed" to touch her floatie - she wanted to "swim a-by a-self". We reached a compromise where she would hold on to one end of a pair of goggles and I would hold the other end. She happily hung on while I toted her around the pool.
In the bottom photo you can see her little head barely bobbing above her floatie.

The Leper is Healed

The kids love to do plays. In August the kids found a dramatization of Naaman the leper and Elijah the prophet in the Friend magazine. They thought this would be a perfect FHE lesson.



They each played multiple roles...kings, narrators, Naaman, Elijah, servants, etc. They had a ball. Poor Dad and Gabriel were off camping in New Mexico so they missed out. However, knowing my kids we are not done producing FHE plays.

My Entrepreneurs

For Amelia's birthday she received a $2 box of play food. The older kids quickly confiscated it and set up shop...literally. Each child had their own store or restaurant. Then they would take turns making purchases from each other. This lasted for about a week - all day - every day. It was a great way to kill some of those long summer hours. Oliver and Gabriel got in on the action too...everyone but Amelia who wasn't too interested in her new toy.

Amelia's quip

Here is a new one from Amelia...

"Hey, somebody put a stinky in-a my diaper"



Funniest thing was she was singing along and just slipped that one in. Almost didn't even catch it - except I could smell it.

So fun to hear the things she comes up with.

My Little Angel turns 2 - July

Amelia celebrated her 2nd birthday in July. After singing multiple times to Oliver and then having her own song she became quite the fan of "Happy Birthday to you - me" as she sings it.


Enjoying her treat.


Some darling photos of my darling little girl.


The kids were putting on a play and I was taking photos. Amelia asked me to take her picture - about a million times. Each time she would pose by putting her head on her shoulder. I'm not real sure where she picked this up but it was pretty cute!

Oliver turns the BIG 6! - July

This year we were able to celebrate Oliver's birthday with two groups of cousins. First we celebrated with our Missouri cousins when they visited during the 4th of July. The first group of pictures is from this celebration. Later in the month we had a chance to go swimming with some of our Texas Coleman cousins. We celebrated again poolside with cupcakes and singing. Katrina tried her hand at making homemade fudge frosting for that occasion - she is becoming quite accomplished in the kitchen.




Some photos of my sweet, big boy. He is so spontaneous and full of life - it is hard not to smile when he is around.

Katrina's YW Camp

This was Katrina's 1st year at YW camp. They attended Camp Bovay in N. Texas. She had a great time and can't wait until next summer to go again!






Some random photos that one of the leaders took. I have no idea what the blue lips are about, but aren't they oh-so attractive? :)