Frio Trip

We took the kids to the Frio with Josh's family for the fourth of July.  :)  The river has been a bit low this summer, but that just makes for more relaxing river sitting time!  As long as there is water flowing through it, and quite possibly even if there isn't, I think we could have a great time there.

Josh's family said they've seen it even lower than this before, but I hadn't.  I'm not really sure why people were attempting to tube...there was just a lot of walking involved.  

There was still a small pool near our cabins with a rope swing above it, so kids were still lining up for it.

I hadn't seen so many canopy tents in the river before.  At the road crossings you would see 10-20!  

I was really looking forward to an opportunity to just relax and take photos of my kids doing a bunch of nothing, and that's just what I got!

I think I need to build this kid a rope swing...  It's all she wanted to do.

To be fair though, all the kids loved the rope swing.  They would line up for it!

The annual face painting!

Even Josh was a sport this year.

My personal fav.

And Wallace and Meredith each caught their first fish!

He was excited, trust me!  Just very tired.  This was our last evening there.

Meredith deiced to just pose up a storm for me one day.

It's usually quite difficult to get that level of coorperation out of her.  

Thanks for having us out again Big Momma and Joe-Joe!  We loved it!

Summer Fun

Well, summer so far has been awesome!  We haven't been going to anything in the evenings after work.  No practices, no nothing!  I didn't realize how much I would appreciate that after how busy things were this past school year.  

We've spent a lot of time in the pool.  :)  So glad we finally got it fixed!

I tried to start this new thing where I would give the kids ice cream when it was time to get out of the pool in an effort to avoid temper tantrums, but we have an ice cream will power issue in this house...so this little tradition didn't last very long.  lol

This unicorn has been an awesome replacement float from my sister.  :)

And not long after this the kids basically stopped swimming and started posing for the camera, begging me to take a picture of every little thing they did....

Then we had Anna's birthday, which happened to fall on the same weekend as The Incredibles 2 release, so we all got to go see a movie.  And she asked for a cheese cake this year.  It was so much work, and then in the last 5 minutes of making it I managed to smoke up our whole house horribly.  It was probably one of the best cheesecakes I've ever had though!  I just might take the time to clean out the butter on the bottom of the oven the next time I make one.

These particular candles were a bit challenging to light.

You might have noticed the table covered in stuff behind them.  That's because Anna left for a 2-week sleep-away camp the day after her birthday.

I was a bit of a mess in the days leading up to her leaving.  Josh's family is very gung-ho for camp, but I never went to one that was quite so long.  In fact, I think the longest one I went to was just a few nights.  Anna was so excited about it she could hardly sleep.  Her cousins were going too, so it was comforting to know she'd have them there with her if she got homesick at all.  I really didn't think she'd have a problem with that though.  She was so ready to test out this whole being on her own thing. 

So, while she was there the camp posted a daily blog and hundreds of photos.  I would comb through it all every day and send copies of the blog and photos to Josh, my Mom, and my sisters.  We were pretty sure from the photos that she wasn't going to want to come home.  I was so worried I might somehow screw up her camp experience by not sending enough letters, so I sent one daily, or had the kids write one to her, or Josh.  And she sent a few home too!  It was really hard to be apart that long!  And as a family we were literally falling apart back home.  The dogs got into a fight with a porcupine one evening!  And then Meredith swallowed a coin, which I can only laugh about now because it finally passed through her system.  Took it 8 long days though!  We already had an appointment scheduled with a GI doctor to talk about going in to fish it out. Thank goodness that wasn't necessary.  And Josh, my Mom, and I are all glad for the whole ordeal to be over.  No more combing through poop looking for a coin!  Turns out it was a penny.  And it was in her stomach for so long that it had some acid damage on it.  "/  So...it appears Anna is the keystone to our family.  Lol

Anyway, I completely forgot my camera when I went to drop Anna off at camp.  I was like a numb zombie that day though, so I'm not too surprised I did that.  I was much better at pickup.  I actually spoke to other parents and stuff.  Haha.  And, as it turns out, Anna did want to come home after all.  

She was looking at all of the photos that I'd screen grabbed of her at camp, and the craziness that had ensued at home without her.  

We watched the war canoe race.

Then they had awards and stuff.

These were the girls in Anna's cabin with her.  

She got reaquainted with my camera.  :)

She made some good friends that she's already facetimed with since returning home (yesterday).

And she still wears her glasses on the tip of her nose.  Haha.  So, she's basically the same girl.  

Anna's First Communion

What a day.  Anna's first communion was a couple of years in the making.  All the religious education, parent prep, weekend retreats, videos, time spent learning prayers...all worth it!  Anna looked beautiful this morning, and she seemed genuinely moved by the whole experience.  I know I was.  

A lot went into getting her prepared for the big day, but the process of outfitting her was a bit comical.  

A few months ago my sister was sending me links to dresses for her on Zulily.  I'd never shopped on Zulily before, and I found a dress I really liked at about 11:00 at night.  I was all nervous they'd be sold out in her size by morning that I ordered it right then without even talking to her about it!  So that totally screwed me on the Zulily flat rate shipping thing since I ordered it like one hour before my grouped shipments would be finalized for the day, but oh well.  If you haven't shopped Zulily before, I recommend at least trying it.  But try it early in the day.  :)

The next morning when Anna and I were eating breakfast I told her I'd bought her a dress, showed her a photo of it, and she had a look of mild disappointment on her face.  "/  I was a little devastated and asked what was wrong with it.  She just says, "Well....why isn't it red?"  Haha!!  "Anna!  You can't wear red to first communion!!!"  Once I explained to her that red would be a bit unacceptable, she seemed much happier with the dress, and I was relieved.

Then when it came in I was the one freaking out.  I'd just assumed from the photo online it would be a brilliant white color...turns out that was just bad lighting.  The dress was ivory!  I had a quick powwow with my Mom and sisters trying to figure out the acceptability of an ivory dress, and we all decided it would probably be fine.  But I was still silently sweating it.  Anna decided she loved it and wore it around the house for about an hour.

I told her we'd probably just do a headband for her headpiece, and she seemed fine with that.  I told her a few girls would likely be all decked out in ball gowns with veils and gloves, but I was sure most of them would be in simple dresses like hers.

Boy was I wrong....A couple of weeks ago we had our First Communion Dress Rehearsal.  I would say easily 85% of the girls were decked out with veils!!!  Even the most tomboy girl that Anna played basketball with had a veil!  We go to a big church, so they were doing the first communions over about 8 masses, with about 10 kids at each mass, and the 3 other girls going on Anna's day all were in veils.  So, my big concern about the ivory color ended up being no big deal.  Even though she was the only one in ivory, it was barely noticeable.  

Here she is on the night of the rehearsal.  Cute headband, right?

Yep....the headband was no longer acceptable.  Anna now needed a veil and a tiara!

Guess what, it's first communion and wedding season all around the world right now!  Good luck finding a veil on Amazon.

So, last weekend, in a last ditch effort to find one, I packed up the kids and took them around town.  First we went to Sam Moon to find a tiara.  All three of my kids were super mesmerized by the store.  I didn't think I'd make it out of there as cheaply as I managed to, but they all seemed pretty content getting to pick out scarves (even Wallace, he wears his wrapped around him like a ninja!).  I ended up getting one big tiara, and 2 smaller comb tiaras.  I didn't really have a clue how to get one to actually stay on her head, and I wanted to have options.  Oh, and Meredith got a big pack of bows.  

Then we went to a couple of bridal shops to look for a veil.  The first one was a total dud with jerks for clerks.  So, I googled a discount shop nearby and they treated Anna like a princess.  She put on her dress just like the two brides that were in there, stood on the podium in front of the mirror, and tried out several veils.  She picked a beautiful veil with little drop pearls on the end.  When we got home I watched a few you-tube videos and we did some practice hair, and even Josh was impressed!  

Today, I got her all dressed and ready to go, picked up my camera to take her outside to get photos, and the bottom dropped out!  Stupid rain storms!  Ugh.  And I broke my flash a few weeks ago, so I couldn't get crap for photos in the church (we weren't allowed to take them during the service anyway though).  So, when we got back home, there was a break in the storms for a minute, and I had her run outside to take a couple of quick photos.  It was still very overcast, but apparently it was just too dang bright for her.  Lol.

At least you get a good view of the headgear.  You can even see some of the pearls on the end.

We compromised and agreed upon a holy pose with her eyes closed.  "/  

I'm a little bummed the weather was uncooperative today, but the whole experience was still very special.  Almost magical.  Meredith came in the bathroom just as we were finishing up getting Anna all dressed, and she was like "Oh Anna!  You look beautiful.  Like a princess!"  That's quite a mouthful for Meredith.  

Then at mass, they got to actually go up and stand around the altar for the consecration!  When it was time to take communion they lined up each kid with one parent behind them in the line for the priest.  The rest of the pew took communion en mass with everyone else.  So, what this resulted in (because there are so many communion servers and because it took the priest a little longer to get into position to start our line) was Anna getting back to the pew after everyone else in the pew was already back in their seats.  I was already getting a little teary, but watching her walk down the pew and get hugs and excited looks and congratulations from everyone was just so incredibly sweet.  And then when she got to Josh he picked her up in a big proud bear hug.  Heart melting...  Then because she was on the end of the pew, complete strangers stopped on their way up to take communion to congratulate her and tell her how beautiful she looked.  It was just a wonderful experience.  I was all crying.  She was a total champ.  I'm so proud of her.  She didn't trip anywhere, bowed at the right times, said what she was supposed to when she was supposed to, paid very close attention through the whole entire very long mass, didn't drop the Eucharist, didn't make a funny face at the wine, and just all around killed it.  

So...sorry for the long post, but I wanted to capture everything that happened.  I'm going to read back through this over the years, and didn't want to forget anything.  :) 

Thank you everyone that was able to make it today to be a part of her big day.  And thank you to everyone that helped us out along the way.  It feels like we finished a marathon this morning.  That may be an understatement.  It was probably even a little more exhilarating than that!

Shutting down for summer

Our spring soccer season is finally over.  And so is just about everything else for this school year.  Just a couple of more weeks of school left!  I think I'm looking forward to it almost as much as the kids are.  Looking back on it, this school year has been exhausting!  It's been a good year and all, but just a tiring one.  We never really got a break from sports all year, and I've got to be honest...I'm so tired of prepping lunches and backpacks and clothes and soccer gear, etc...  Ready to just be lazy for a couple of months and actually make dinner during the week again!  :)

I wasn't able to make it to their soccer games today, but I did get a few pics last weekend.  Meredith, believe it or not, actually started playing soccer this season.  But not much.  She was in frequent need of a sub because she'd just walk over to the sidelines and sit down when she'd decided she'd had enough (bear in mind they play in 4-minute intervals...).  So, once we got used to that, and I guess just let her play on her own terms, she was much happier, and even managed to score a goal this season!  

Photographic evidence of her playing this season!

I'm pretty sure the addition of the gear cart was her favorite thing about soccer this season.  :)

Candy and and iphone...she's in heaven.

Lol.

Haha.  Anna joined her.

So...here's to lazy days by the pool.  I need some of those!  

Wallace's Birthday

Wallace has turned 6!  He has become pretty obsessed with trains in the past few years.  So for his birthday, I bought him a lot more rail and some specialty pieces for his wooden railroad set, and quite a few more train cars.  And we took him to The Texas Transportation Museum so he could check out some real life-sized trains!  

Rachael and her kids came along for the day, and you know who had the most fun at the museum??  We all did!  This place was great!  

The first thing they did was run through (literally) a couple of passenger cars.  

And they all rang the bell on an old locomotive.

I had my long lens on all day, so I couldn't get the whole thing in one shot.  

They also have a train "garden" where they keep quite a few model trains speeding around.  It was super relaxing to just sit there and watch the trains while the kids ran around the garden keeping up with them.

They were especially enamored by the big bridge they would go over.

Wallace really liked the circus train!  It was pretty cute.  :)

They had actual train rides!  Wallace especially loved this part, but then again, we all loved this part.  :)

He spent a good part of the visit climbing over and under some of the trains just trying to piece together how it all works.

He's watched literally hundreds of videos about trains, and he kept correcting our terminology if we misidentified something about one of the trains.  "No!  It's called a locomotive."

There were more model trains in an indoor area!  And....my camera flash broke right before this trip, so I didn't bother trying to take too many indoor photos figuring they'd be all out of focus with the super low aperture. But, my camera surprised me and didn't back-focus for once!  

I was really pleased with how interactive the museum was for the kids.  Plenty of stuff for them to touch and climb all over. 

We stayed long enough that we got to ride the train a second time, and then we headed home for hot dogs, cake, and ice cream!

My Mom ordered the most adorable train candle holders for his cake....but they got lost in the mail.  :(   Good thing I hadn't told Wallace about them! 

After the kids braved the cold pool water, we sang Happy Birthday!  I'm pretty sure this is his make-a-wish pose.  Lol.

I don't know why he was wearing shades, but I think they look cute on him!

I don't think we've ever quite hit the nail on the head with one of the kids' birthdays quite like we managed to with Wallace's this year.  :)  It was a big success!  He's already trying to figure out how he can finagle more trains and another trip to the museum out of us for Christmas.