"Mom, the ducks are probably starving..."

At the beginning of the summer I took the kids to the Duck Pond Park a lot. This afternoon Jessie found a half loaf of bread in the pantry and suddenly remembered we had not been there for a while. She is convinced that we are the only people who feed the ducks. Yea, right. These ducks eat better than most people, I am sure of it! So after school today, we headed over to make sure they had plenty to eat!

Grayson was more interested in catching a turtle!

Jason and Robin's Pool Party

Yesterday we joined some friends at the Lester's house for a little end of summer pool party. The kids spent the whole time in the pool while the adults just hung out and ate!!

Jessie decided to be Steve's friend once she realized he would keep pushing her float!!

Jessie and Carter

Me and Kimmie

Small Town Livin'??

I love Coppell. I love that it is a small town feel with 40K+ people here. I love the fact that they know me at the bank, the grocery store, the car wash...where ever we go, I know someone! We ended up at Fat Daddy's tonight with several friends for live music and good times. I felt like we owned the restaurant with all the people there that we knew!! Here are just a few pics of the evening!

Me, Sandy, Jill

Me and Charlie

Grayson, after David Flesher took him to the CHS football game - this was just before the grass allergies kicked in and his eyes swelled shut! David took 7 boys to the game while the rest of us hung out at FD!!

Claire and baby Isla...

Bobby and Britt...

Lanette, Carrie and Melissa

Jill with the baby...Hey Joe - Look out, she has baby fever!

Jacob, Jett, Grayson, Ian, Jessie

Happy Birthday to our CJ!

My nephew, CJ, turned 2 last week! These are a couple of pics my mom sent from the party! Seeing how big Natalie is getting is what is really alarming to me!! I just can't get my arms around the fact that my brother has big kids!! Weird...

The new big wheel...

OOOHHH. Presents....

One Day Down...

Grayson had a blast today! Said his favorite part of the day was going to art class. He came home with homework...nothing like jumping in with both feet! It's weird how different our routine will be this year since I am not working. I picked him up at 3:05, we came home, had a snack and got right to homework while I was cooking dinner. Sounds like something a "normal" family would do!! At this time last year we were just getting out the door to go to dinner (that is if I wasn't out of town). It's 7:10 pm and we have eaten, the kitchen is clean and he's about to take a bath! I know it won't be like this everyday, but this is kind of nice!

A New School Year - Third Grade!

Good morning third grade! Grayson woke up excited and ready to go to school this morning. He couldn't wait to see his friends and be in his new classroom - his classroom is upstairs (in the 5th grade hall)! His teacher seems really sweet, Mrs. Ali Sanabria. Before I could even get upstairs he was seated at his desk checking out all of his school supplies. I am sure it is going to be a good year for him even though my nerves say differently! After all, this is the year that TAKS testing begins! Ugggghhh, the anxiety! Oh well, one day at a time....right??

Jessie and I went home to make breakfast and have some girlfriends over for a little back to school celebration! She helped me make (I use that word loosely, we "warmed" them) quiche, cut fruit and put bagels on the tray. Stacy, Jeanine and Shari came over for a couple hours of girl time. It was fun! After they left we played a few games of farkle and now she is begging me to do puzzles! I'm loving my life right now! Maybe I can catch a nap before we head back to the school for pick up. I can't wait to hear how Grayson's day went!!!

What??

I guess this is what I have to look forward to when I have teenagers!! Kendall and I were invited to a last minute birthday party for our friend, Terry, tonight and this is what greets us when we came home! No doubt it was meant for the Bower's next door, but they used our tree to finish the job! I am a laid back kind of gal and can usually laugh at these kind of things, but I also take my yard seriously. So, if I am cleaning my yard after church tomorrow, I will be mad. Watch out Coppell teens...I will get you back!!!

The End of Summer Basketball

Saturday was the end of another basketball league for Grayson and Ian. We keep hoping that if this team stays together long enough, they will actually be good...we keep hoping! The main thing is that they have fun. Grayson keeps improving and is really good on defense now. So our Saturdays are free for a while and it's a good thing since college football is right around the corner! We can't have too many interferences from watching our SEC teams!!!

Practicing lay ups before the game

The "after" celebration at Dairy Queen

Cooking Out with Friends

Rob and Niki invited us over for burgers and fun in the back yard! When the kids were finished with the slip 'n slide, we headed inside for a friendly game of Farkle! (thanks to Eric and Ro for teaching us how to play!). It is so much fun catching up with good ol' friends and watching the kids play. I will never take for granted how lucky I am to have the friends and family that I am blessed with!! By the way...if Kendall doesn't buy me a new camera, I am going to kill him!!! These pics are horrible!!!

Lilly got in on the Farkle action...

Playing in Lilly's room...

Can we have dessert now...
Rob (our host) and Kendall enjoying the chips and dip...

Sand, anyone???

Robyn, Me, Niki

Brody, Lilly and Jess

They all played so great together!

Me and Niki!!

Jessie gets the camera...

Another Swim Day...

Old Friends...

Last Saturday night we got to have dinner with Lanny and Amanda Huggins. They were the first couple we really became friends with at FBC Coppell. We used to sit at Chili's in Las Colinas and talk about how we (Kendall and I) didn't want kids!! Funny how God takes over!! We had a great time catching up with them. I can't believe we usually only see them every six months when Amanda cleans my teeth!!

Our Little Patient

Jessie was a great little patient today for her renal tests. She did so great during the sonogram that the nurse let her choose a Beanie Baby before the anesthesiologist came in. She was soooo cute in her little hospital gown! Don't ya just love her?

More From the Beach...

I forgot to upload these in our vacation pictures. They were too cute not to post! This was our first night there while we were waiting on the condo to be ready. The kids were in their clothes instead of swim suits. Sand everywhere!!!

Family Night at FBC

Family night was tons of fun! Jump houses, face painting, water slide, sausage on a stick, roasted corn, spiral potatoes, popcorn, cookies, popsicles...what more could a kid want? I was EXHAUSTED when the event was over. It was my first time to coordinate and event this big and I think it went pretty well. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I have already started planning for next year if they let me do it!

VBS - Cosmic City

I didn't have time before we left for vacation to post any pictures from our superfantabulous VBS at FBC! Cindi, Courtney, Mary and Brenda did an awesome job coordinating the week. All the teachers were awesome and both of my kids had an out of this world experience! I had a great time hanging out with them everyday at the church. I'm not a teacher so I didn't really do much. I think I took the easy way out coordinating the family fun night on Thursday. Can't wait 'til next year!

Kyler, Grayson and Michael

Yes, that is my kid standing in a pew!
singing during opening ceremonies

Me and my buddy, Cindi

Jessie and Chase finishing up a project

Look what I made!