Our Galveston Vacation

We spent our second week of summer on the beaches of Galveston. The boys LOVE the beach and we always have such a good time. We went again this year with The Whitakers and we had a great time. We have one thing in common with the Whitakers that is very important when vacationing. We both have a lot of kids. We share a kinship that one parents of 4+ share. A parent with only one or two children does things very differently than a parent with more than 3 children. You would think that 4 adults traveling and vacationing with 9 kids would be mass chaos, but instead it works perfectly for us. Their kids are our kids and visa versa for the week. We don't look for our 4 or their 5, we just count heads until we get to 9.

We drove down on Monday. We arrived in Galveston at about 2 or 3. I was really concerned because last time we stayed in a hotel and this time we rented a house. I was really scared that we would get there and it would be a dump or not as close to the beach as we thought. I was pleasantly surprised to get there and see that this was our view from the first deck....

And this picture was taken from the 3rd floor balcony....

The inside of the house was nice too and there was plenty of room for all of us! It was great being off the seawall because it wasn't busy at all and we were usually only sharing the beach with one other family.

Our plan was to cook two nights and go out one. We decided that we would each be responsible for one meal. I decided to grill chicken with some fresh shrimp and crab legs since that is Brock's favorite. The best place to buy the seafood was at the Strand so I decided to go get it for the Whitakers got there so that we could cook. Long story short, it took forever and we didn't end up cooking. Instead we ate hotdogs and took the kids to the beach.



On Tuesday, we got up and made breakfast...pancakes, eggs, biscuits, bacon and then we headed back to the beach! The boys LOVE the beach but Halle, not so much.
Here is a shot of all the kids except the two youngest, Halle and Koen. All of the kids shown LOVE the water. They were so excited for the first full day of beach fun.

It was hard to get pictures of Connor because he liked to go out far in the big waves.
Jaxson liked being out in the big waves, but he went back and forth.

Kaden was very brave and loved to dive into the wave. He didn't care whether he could swim or not.

Halle was not a fan of the beach and enjoyed the sand much more.
We played for 3 or 4 hours and then went back to the house to eat lunch and rest. We all took good naps.
After our nap, we made dinner (which no one really ate because we weren't real hungry yet and we were too excited to go back to the beach) and were back at the beach.

Like I said, Halle did not like the beach and cried for the first 10 minutes each time we went to the beach...but doesn't she look cute?
On Wednesday, we did pretty much the same. We ate breakfast and then off to the beach we went. After the beach, we went home, ate lunch and rested for a little while. Then we went to the Strand to go to the souvenir shop and to get some pictures of our families on the beach.



Then we made one more run to the beach. It was getting dark fast but there was a full moon so we had some light...it was beautiful!

The First Week of Summer

We have had a good first week of summer with just the right mix of fun and rest. I have wanted to lose weight for what feels like my whole life, but at least the last 10 years. I have been running (very slowly) every other day (that's my intention ;) any way) for a little while, but it isn't working. SO, I have decided to torture myself to make it happen. I have committed to getting up at 5:00 am three days a week to run the Hwy 66 bridge at 5:30 with some friends from school. It is 4 miles total and to say the least, it.is.not.easy....but, doing what is easy isn't working, so I am going to have to do what is not easy to reach my goal. I did it without fail this week and I also followed my calorie intake goal as well. I told some of the girls that I was giving this a few days and if I didn't see the weight dropping off that I was jumping ship and I was going to be real good at being fat. Well, I am down 4 pounds, so I will give it another week.

On Monday, we didn't do much of anything. The kids had a good time playing in the backyard on their "waterslide". We put a plastic pool underneath their slide and the kids have had a blast!


On Tuesday, we decided to go to the dollar theater (it isn't actually a $1, it is more like $1.75, but the $1.75 theater doesn't really have the same ring to it) to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Unfortunately, not only was it sold out, but so was Hop, Rango, and Gnomeo & Juliet. The only movie that we could see within the hour was Mars Needs Moms. We didn't really want to see that but we had 6 excited kids and there was no way we were getting out of there without seeing a movie.

The movie we were supposed to see started at 12:10 and our movie didn't start until 1:00. I know that doesn't sound like a big deal, but it is when there are only 2 adults and 6 kids under the age of 10.

We weren't too excited about seeing it, but it was pretty good! We were impressed! It had a good moral.

On Wednesday, we went to my parent's house to swim for the first time to swim. We had a good time, but the water was a bit cold. The kids had a great time! We went to church and then the Barineau girls spent the night.

On Thursday, the kids got up and I made everyone pancakes. They ate breakfast and then they went out to play with Jax's waterguns and the "waterslide". After the girls left, we just hung out for the rest of the day!

On Friday, I spent most of the afternoon preparing for the "Piggin Out Picnic for Hannah". Hannah is a little girl that is in my rotation that was recently diagnosed with Cancer. The city was hosting a "Family Fun Night" at our school with a bounce house, sno cones, and a movie. We added the benefit dinner to it. We had so many community members and businesses donate the food and supplies to this great cause! We raised alot of money for a sweet family and had a lot of fun doing it!

On Saturday, we didn't do much. Again the kids played outside and I shopped for our vacation next week to Galveston.

The one big project that I got accomplished this week was cleaning out the panty! I hope to complete several projects around the house that need to be done this summer...at least one a week.

Tomorrow, Connor and Jax are going with Brock and some friends to the Mavs watching party at the AAC. This could be THE game that wins it all.

On Monday, we are off to Galveston! We can't wait!!!

The End of a Great School Year

I can not believe the school year is over!!! I had a great year, but it was very tiring. I had so many sweet, sweet kiddos in my rotation this year and I am going ot miss them desperately....but they were just as ready for a break from school as I was.

The boys had a great year as well! Connor finished his 3rd grade year with all A's and E's in Citizenship. I am so proud of him, just like I have always been! I am so surprised by how much he has changed in just one school year.

Here is a picture from the first day of school...


and the end of the year....
Wow! It makes me a little sad! I have to add one more of Connor with his best buds!

Jaxson finished his Kindergarten year. We were so lucky to have Mrs. Swann as his teacher this year. Mrs. Swann was Connor's Kinder teacher and Julie and I did our student teaching together. It was a very different year than Connor's Kinder year because they are two very different kids. It was rocky at first and he struggled a bit. I believe that some of that was because of his illness back in October when he missed a lot of school and they learned some of the letter sounds. By the end of they year, he had really progressed and was doing great! I think that he will be ready for 1st grade in the fall!!!!

He also changed quite a bit. Here is a picture of Jax on the first day of school....

and the last day....
and a picture of Jax with some friends....he loves the girls!
We are ready for a great summer!!!

Jaxson's 6th Birthday Party

Jaxson had a GREAT birthday party! He got to invite all of his friends from school and from church.


Halle and Kaden thought they were big stuff because they could walk around the pool without my help!




Connor invited a friend to come keep him company and a sibling of one of Jaxson's friends was there to help entertain him!

Best Mother's Day Ever...Connor's Baptism

This year, I had the best Mother's Day EVER this year! Connor was baptized!! He had been asking for awhile and we just wanted to make sure that he was ready and knew exactly what he was doing. I was too busy taking a video of the baptism so I didn't get a picture! :(