1st Day of SUMMER!!!

The kids and I are sooooo glad summer days are here again. We've been enjoying sleeping later in the mornings and just taking it easy around the house. We also have been loving our pool...we swim every afternoon and evening!! :o)

Memorial Day

Ricky and a few guys were up early working on the entrance this morning while Pat and I got things ready for our hamburger lunch. Ricky's cousin David's wife, Catherine, and their cute little girl, Raelyn, joined us around mid morning then Brad and Damary came soon before lunch. We all enjoyed the company and eating hamburgers of course! Some of us girls went swimming after lunch then the guys joined us not too long afterwards. The water felt s-o-o good with it being so hot outside...especially for this pregnant momma! Kalyn and Sheldon came home from a good weekend at their dad's and jumped right into the pool with us too! We are so thankful to all the men and women in our armed forces who have fought and are still fighting for our country. God has blessed our country so much and I pray that He will continue to protect our military and their families. God bless the USA!

Catherine, Pat, and Raelyn

Pat and Raelyn

Cute little sassy Raelyn!!

Pat and Ricky watchin' the swimmers

KalynSheldon

Swimmin' fun

LAST day of school...yippeeee!!!!

The day is FINALLY here...the last day of 1st and 3rd grade. What an awesome year Kalyn and Sheldon had!! They both had wonderful teachers and learned so much. Sheldon made several new friends and is reading so amazingly well. Kalyn did awesome for her first time on the TAKS getting "Commended" on both tests. SO proud of both kids! Both classes had their end of year parties today and boy, was I tired running back and forth to be with both of them...at least they were BOTH at the school this year!! Sheldon's class had fun watching movies, playing "Minute to Win" games, and eating hamburgers. Sheldon had fun with the games and did very well! Kalyn's class had a huge water slide and bounce house out on the playground then a hotdog lunch. It was fun to watch Kalyn enjoy the festivities with her good friend from church, Abigail. Mrs. Ramsey, Mrs Brown, and Mrs. Gibson, thank you for a WONDERFUL year and for all your attention, love, and patience for my kids on a daily basis. We will all miss you all! Have a wonderful summer!

You will see from the slideshow below how I was running back and forth all morning...whew!! :o)

Setting the stage...for our pool!

We have always had a hard time keeping our pool level throughout the summer. The pool always seems level in the beginning but then starts to slope as the water splashes out or when it rains. This year we decided to pour concrete to make a slab to set the pool on. Ricky's brother and a few of his friends came out to help with the project since they do quite a bit of construction work. The kids loved watching the whole thing...especially Sheldon! Thanks guys for all your help!!

Here comes the truck!

waitin' for the cement to come down

here it comes...

just watchin'

there was enough left over to do part of a sidewalk...yeah!

Ricky helped out some...

Putting handprints into the cement before it dries

now Kalyn's turn

now Sheldon's name...

and Kalyn's...

all done...now it just needs to DRY!

Pretty toes to kick off SUMMER!!

Kalyn and I went to Giddings for our annual end of school pedicures this afternoon. We both had been looking forward to having this special mother/daughter time for several weeks!! I chose to get a french pedicure and Kalyn picked out bright pink polish with zebra on her big toes. SO cute!! We absolutely love the people who work at this place and felt so pampered by the time we were done. I especially enjoyed the massage chair...I definitely needed it! Kalyn, I am so proud of you finishing 3rd grade this year and know you will do awesome in 4th grade next year. Now, let's have some summer FUN!!!!

Pictures below were taken with my phone so the quality isn't the best...oh well!

Awards Assembly

The end of year awards assembly was held at school this morning. Pat went with me to watch Kalyn and Sheldon get their certificates in two different ceremonies. It was a long morning, but it was wonderful to hear what all the kids accomplished this year. Sheldon got certificates for AR Goal, AR Goal plus 25%, and Top 15 STAR Math scores . He was so proud of himself and looked way too cute (I might be biased-ha) and grown up standing up there. Kalyn got certificates for All A Honor Roll, Excellence in Reading, Excellence in Math, Extra Effort Award (100+ Points in AR), and Young Reader Award . She did so well as always and it just blows my mind how FAST she has grown up right in front of my eyes. I mean I remember watching her very first awards assembly just a few years ago!! As soon as Kalyn's ceremony was over I signed the kids out early and we all went out to eat at Granny's to celebrate their achievements this year...so proud of my babies!!

Thank you Pat!

My mother-in-law came to stay with us for a few days not too long ago and she was a big help to me. She did some yard work and even did a little house cleaning as well...awesome! Here are some pictures of just a few things she did for me. I am so blessed to have her in my life..thank you Pat!

She made those pillows for my hammock...LOVE them!!

and she helped me fix my rose garden...looks pretty now!!

and she also dressed up my front porch by painting my rocker and adding a matching pillow for the seat

a close-up of the rocker

Accelerated Reading Picnic

Kalyn and Sheldon met their AR goal for the year so they were able to attend the AR end of the year picnic last Friday. It was held at the city park like usual and there were several water slides and bounce houses set up throughout the playground. I wasn't able to attend since I was in Llano getting ready for the church's Ladies' Retreat. Kalyn and Sheldon both said they had tons of fun and enjoyed themselves. I am SO proud of both them for reading daily and sticking to their goal!! A BIG thank you to Victoria and Mrs Ramsey for sharing the following pictures with me!!

"We all have something to SHARE"~ Ladies' Retreat 2011

Our ladies' retreat was held over the past weekend at our ranch in Llano. I was asked to organize it this year so I was very busy the last couple weeks getting things ready. It all turned out very well and everyone had a GREAT time! I decided to use sunflowers as the theme and had so much fun decorating...no surprise there, right?! :o) My mother in law and I headed to Llano on Thursday evening so that we would have all day Friday to set up. I was SO thankful to have all of my mom's and Pat's help with the shopping, set up, and clean up...thank you to both moms!!

The church van and a few cars showed up a little after 7ish on Friday evening and we enjoyed a light supper coutesy of Subway. Several ladies brought yummy side dishes and desserts to go along with the sandwiches and chips. My absolute favorite was definitely Pat Jackson's mint brownies...TO DIE FOR!!!! We kicked off the retreat with some good singing led by Mary McIntosh and had a wonderful session from Rebecca James, our guest speaker from Aledo, TX. She was our speaker last year and I was so fortunate to be able to get her to come again this year. She is so awesome and such an inspiration to many of us. The rest of the evening consisted of lots of visiting and laughter while working on our craft. Several of us staying in the hunting cabin (including me) didn't go to bed until after 1am!! The other ladies stayed in a motel in town for the night.

Saturday morning came quickly and we were all ready to get going again. After eating breakfast we had our 2nd and 3rd sessions with Mary and Rebecca. A lot of sharing about various things in our lives commenced and we grew closer as a group. My wonderful uncle catered our lunch...good old BBQ!! It was sooo yummy and we enjoyed every bite. Thank you Uncle Gary!! After lunch I announced the "Woman of the Year" winner which was a tie between two awesome ladies. The first was Dorothy Jenkins who was just recently killed in a plan crash along with her husband and son. She was a treasure to many of us and we miss her terribly. Sarah Lopez was the other winner and she is without a doubt what you would consider a "Proverbs 31" woman. She is a strong Christian example to many of us and we all love her so much. We also presented gifts to Rebecca and Mary for their hard work in all our sessions...those two did a terrific job!! The 4th session followed and since it was so H-O-T we moved the chairs outside of the barn and sat under the carport where there was a nice breeze. It was the perfect place to conclude our retreat surrounded by the beauty of the country and our sisters in Christ. God's presence was felt the whole time and we are so thankful to be so close to each other. I love you all!!

Timothy and Princess Class Promotion

Kalyn has been involved in the Princess class for three years now and she has learned so much! Sheldon started out in the Timothy class and enjoyed it for a little bit until the boys started standing up in front of the church to lead a couple songs and say short prayers. If you know Sheldon he has never liked having many eyes on him. He did lead a silent prayer once and verbally from the back of the auditorium with eyes looking forward. He did so well and we were so proud of him for doing that. However, it got to the point where he would worry about it all week and not want to go to church so Ricky and I made the decision to take him out of the class. We will let him join again when he is ready...and he has been so much better about going to church which is the most important thing right now. Anyway, the promotion service was this past Sunday and it was so good to see how much both classes have grown and how much the boys have matured. They led us in a short devo and did a great job!! God has really blessed our church with such wonderful, caring teachers... Phillip Lopez, Josh Lopez, Teddy Warren, Sarah Lopez, and Kay Hicks. Thank you for ALL you do for our kids!!