Galveston 2012

We are very blessed to have taken our summer vacation for last three years in Galveston with our good friends, the Whitakers.  They are friends from church and we get such a kick out of telling people that we are going on vacay together.  Chad and Tessa have 6 kids....so people think that we are crazy to vacation together.  10 kids and 4 adults.  In reality, we have a grand ole time, our kids are all very well behaved and they get along great.  Here is a picture of the Whitakers.

Anyways, the 5 or so hour drive to Galveston is not bad.  Our car is completely packed for a week away as you would expect.

I don't think Halle was prepared for the drive, do you?

Here is the picture of the first house...I'll explain in a minute.

When we arrived, we thought it was a bit smaller than we expected, but that we would make it work.  We hung out on the deck while we waited for the Whitakers to arrive.  All of my boys in one sweet picture.

After the Whitakers got there, we started noticing some things that we didn't like so much.  In addition to the fact that the dining room table was on the 3rd floor in a very hot room, we also noticed that it wasn't as clean as we would have liked and the worst part...let's just say we had some uninvited guests.   But, here is a picture of all 0 out of 10 kids sitting quietly watching TV.  And people thought our trip would be chaos. lol

So the next day, the men when to the rental agency to either get our money back or move us to another house.  We did not want to spend one more night at that house.  After a couple of hours, we got the news that not only were we moving, but we were getting a HUGE upgrade.  The house that we were moving to had great amenities.  It had an infinity pool, a kiddie pool, a lazy river and many more things that we did not have time to use.  It was also right on the beach, we just had to cross the dunes!

SO, we had to pack up all 14 people again and the food and unpack it at the new house.  That is not fun, by the way!  It was definitely worth the work though.  This is the house we spent the rest of the week in.

 I took over 300 pictures so it will be hard to choose which ones to post.

We spent most of our time at the beach...

and the beach club...

We also went to see the movie, Brave.  We took up two rows of seats.

Then we tried to find a good place to eat for 14 in a reasonable amount of time.  We were not lucky enough to find that, but we did get a picture of all 10 kids.

We also went on a boat to see dolphins.  We loved it and learned alot from the captain of the boat.

Afterwards, we had a great meal at Olympia on Pier 21.

On our last night there, we took family pictures.

And one last picture of all of the kids happy and smiling at the camera.

This trip is the highlight of our summer!

Kaden and Halle's Swimming Lessons

The Callaway kids have taken swimming lessons with Ms. Laura for several years, but she did not offer lessons this year.  This year, Ms. Brenda did lessons with Kaden and Halle.  They had a great time and did awesome!

Kaden absolutely loves the water and has NO fear.  He did great the last few years in swimming lessons and this year was no different.

Halle took lessons for the first time last year and pretty much cried the whole week.  This year, she cried the first day, but I think it was because one of the little boys taking lessons with her cried and she had to follow suit.  By the end of the week, she was doing awesome!

End of the Year

Connor and Jaxson were both blessed with GREAT teachers this year.  I could not of been more happy!

Connor was in 4th grade this year and I am blessed to say that he had my best friend as his homeroom teacher.  Debbie is an incredible teacher and I am so happy that he got to experience her love for reading! It just so happens that Debbie and I team teach, so he was also in my class for math and LA.  It was definitely different having my son in class, but it is an experience that I will always treasure. 

I am so proud of the young man he is developing into.  I was pleased several times with the way he handled different situations in class with classmates and making sure that he was nice to kids that not everyone is nice to.  I am very proud to call him my son!

He got several awards but a few of them were A Honor Roll and the Husky Award!

Jaxson was in 1st grade this year and he also had a wonderful teacher, Mrs. D'Alessio.  She was wonderful with him.  She loved him, but she also knew when to lay down the law with him.  He showed tremendous growth this year and I am insanely proud of him. 

God has blessed our family with Hays Elementary.  I love going to work each day, my school, my students, my team, all of the teachers, the principal.  I cannot think of a better place for my kids to go and for me to work!

Jaxson's First Grade Program

If you know my kids, you know that they are all wonderfully different.  While Connor never wants to perform in front of a group or be a part of the performances at school, Jaxson is very different.  The first grade teachers at our school put together a program at the end of the year for the parents.  The kids sing a couple of songs for the parents before awards.

Jaxson was very serious about all this.  He sang his songs all the time and I would find him practicing his moves in the shower.  He was very excited.  Jax was by far the most animated kid up there performing.  I had so many teachers and parents come and tell me how much they enjoyed watching him perform.  It was great!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnSTq-CRqVo&feature=colike

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBi_oU1Whk4&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On-Yn0ZvlEo&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TCYxdOulrQ&feature=relmfu

(Sorry about the links.  I spent 30 minutes trying to upload them from Brock's YouTube account.)  Go watch them.  If you love Jax, they are worth it!

Calendar Girls

This was the day that I had waited for all year. Halle's very first dance recital.  I really thought for a long time (with just 3 boys) that I would not get to do dresses, bows, dance class, etc. When I got the news that I was getting my little girl and not having a 4th boy, I was elated!!! So when I found out that Halle's school offered dance classes, I was very excited and ready to enroll her! Halle looked forward to class each Monday. 

We got her all dressed up and she looked so precious!

 Papa, Nana, Aunt Tracie, Briona, and Charlie even came to see her dance!

So, we wait through 11 dances and it is finally my little girl's big debut.  Unfortunately, the little girl in front of her decided not to dance and to stand right in our line of sight of my little girl...I didn't get to see her dance...at all.  This is what I saw...

.

Halle would be the one in green on the second row that you can not see.

Oh well.  She looked great and had a good time! Maybe next time! Love my little girl!

Jaxson's 7th Birthday Party

My sweet, second born child is 7! Seriously, where does time go.  He is growing into such a good little boy. I will post about him later.  Here are a few pictures from his birthday party.

Pretty Day Pictures

The kids love to go outside and ride their bikes.  Last Sunday we went outside and play for quite awhile.  Here are a couple of pictures from that day!