Fireworks...finally!

Saturday we had a pretty busy day.  Addison and I went to celebrate Kinsley's 3rd birthday.  Tim and Glade got to hang out together.  They went and got some new earplugs for the kids.  The bright orange ones just weren't lasting long enough with our swimming every day.  We knew that Saturday was Celebrate Freedom at South Fork so we decided to go and watch the fireworks. We assumed, since the website didn't give a time, that the fireworks would start at dark...we were wrong! We found a great spot, a neighborhood behind South Fork and we parked the car and got the chairs out. We were close enought to see the jumbotron TV. We listened to Third Day's performance. Addison used her first port-a-potty! (It really wasn't that bad, probably because it is only used by men who are building the houses.) We thought for sure after Third Day the performance would start...nope. Next up was Hawk Nelson. A little to rocker/rapper for my likes, but we danced around with the kids anyway. It was 11 before the fireworks started. Addison was saying she wanted to go home, but we had waited two hours and we were going to see the show! It was well worth the wait! Addison and I sat in the chairs behind the car. I think this was the closest I had ever been to a firework show. They were huge. Addison kept reaching up trying to grab them, it felt they were that close. Glade did not like how loud they were, so he watched from the safety of the car. It was a great night with my family. I loved to watch through their eyes. It was so much fun, but also a little sad as I remember to this time last year, when we were planning for the arrival of a precious baby. The next week will be difficult for me I am sure, but we have some great things planned and I am hoping that will help!


Glade "driving" the car while we waited.


Daddy and Addison


Mommy and Addison

Our family

The big moon, it was so pretty!

Still waiting!

Finally they started.  Look at Glade's face, I think he liked them once he got in the car!

Mommy and Addison watching the fireworks

Playdate with Andrew

Jana and Andrew came over last week.  The day before they came over I had told Glade and Addison they were coming and we needed to  clean up the toys.  They helped a lot and we got the playroom picked up.  Later in the day Addison got in trouble for something.  She started crying and said in all her 3 year old drama, "I want Jana!"

Here are Andrew and Addison hugging.

Andrew was a little timid in the water, so we didn't swim too long.  He liked swimming until he realized he was in the pool without his momma.

Andrew was introduced to Calliou, all three kids sat in the chairs and watched the show. It was so sweet!

Fun with friends

Sorry, I have been in a blogging slump lately.  I have been meaning to post some pictures from the last few weeks, but everytime I sit down to do it, I just can't get the motivation to do it.  There has been a lot going on in our little world and I just couldn't do it.  But that is a post for my other blog...

Two weeks ago we had AJ and Mantha over to give their mommy some time to rest before Baby Lily arrived.  Glade and Addison love to play with these two kiddos.  They together after Bible Class on Wednesday nights.  They were so excited when I told them who was coming over.  They played in our bounce house, and played outside on the trampoline.  I didn't mention for them to bring their swimsuits, but they swam anyway...clothes and all!

After swimming they watched a movie upstairs while I made some cookies.  After they cooled I colored some icing and let them decorate the cookies.

This is AJ's cookie. 

Addison spent more time licking her fingers than she did decorating her cookie.

The boys enjoying their masterpieces.

We had a great time.  I am so glad that Glade and Addison have such a good time with these sweet friends.  We are also so happy that Lily Kate will be hanging with us once school starts again!  Glade and Addison will love spending time with her!

Swim Lessons

This year we had swim lessons with our favorite Bible teacher from Preschool- Ms. Laura. This was Glade and Addison's first time to have swim lessons without me being in the water with them. I was so worried that they would cry or be scared, but they walked right into the water. Ms. Laura did such a good job of making learning fun for them in the water. Addison was fearless in the water. The first day she wanted to jump off the diving board. She got to jump off the side though. Then on the last day she was able to enjoy the diving board.

I don't know why the video is sideways.  I am not going to take the time right now to fix it.  You can still see how good they did!

Sea World

We took the opportunity on Memorial Day weekend to head to my parents house and take the kids to SeaWorld.  We went down to Austin on Thursday night and then got up Friday and went to Sea World.

First up was Shamu! 

We got to meet Shamu and give him hugs.

We also got to see lots of Shamu's do some good tricks.

Next we headed to the beluga stadium for the Azul show with the dolphins and divers.  We loved this show.  The kids were watching the whole time, unlike Addison saying she needed to potty all through the Shamu show.

Having some fun before the show starts.

This poor guy was part of the show.  He did a funny performance before the show started.  He tried hard to stop the water works, luckily we didn't sit close to where he was or we would have gotten wet too!

Glade showing off.  Can you tell it was hot?

I love this picture of the dolphins.  At this point the water looked so inviting.  It would have been great to get to jump in too.  We were hot!

These guys did some really neat tricks.  They dived into the water from the roof and then used the swing to dive into the water.  Very impressive!

After the Azul show we took the time to ride a rollercoaster with the kids.  They both loved it!

Next we walked over to see the dolphins.  It just happened to be their feeding time.  So we paid $12 for 8 fish, but we got to touch the dolpins too.  It was well worth it to see the excitement on the kids faces!

After feeding the dolphins we headed over to the Shark and Coral Reef Exhibit.  This was nice because it is inside and semi cool.  They had air on, but it sure could have been cooler.  We walked around and looked at all the fish and sharks.  We sat on the floor and had a snack while we waited on the feeding time.

After the sharks we walked all the way back across the park to see the sea lions, otter, seals and penquins.  We were beyond tired and really hot.  Then we headed out to the car.  It didn't take long for this to happen!

We had a great time with our kids and enjoyed seeing their excitement for new experiences.  They did so good and have grown up so much.  We have committed to purposefully having fun with our family for the next year without worrying about the events of this past year.  I am excited about this and hopeful that we will grow stronger as a family.  I know that God has great things in store for us and can't wait for those plans to be made known for us.