every four years...

it has been a very long time since our little family of four

hung out in front of the tv together...until now.

the olympics got us watching tv together again.

most things on tv are not appropriate for our children to watch

(including the commercials at times)

and they have finally outgrown the disney channel.
dvr was created and now we view our shows when they aren't around.
that leaves very little time with the tv on.

cari drawing the swimming relays (notice chad lounging in the background :)

cami drawing the medals

four years ago....

we had just moved into our home.

cami was about to start kindergarten and cari was about to turn three.

we kept track of the usa medals on our chalkboard.

we cheered usa on all the way!

cari is always wanting to perform with the best

today...

cami will be starting 4th grade and cari 2nd grade.

we still keep track of the usa medals on our chalkboard,

but also on our iphones and ipod.

we still cheer them on together nightly just as we did 4 years before.

 

looking to the future...

 the simple chalkboard will still be there unchanged

but i can hardly imagine my kids in junior high...

(a very super scary and saddening thought)

i sure hope we get to spend the next summer olympics together again.

2012 summer olympics

moody gardens all in one day

during our stay at my parents,

we ventured off one day and experienced moody gardens.

we did everything you could possibly do there.

we first experienced the aquarium pyramid (the blue one).

i remember going with my cousin as a young girl,

but is was like i was experiencing it again for the first time.

(excuse the quality of pictures...we forgot our camera and used only our iphone)

we loved the seals the best

the were so large and graceful

a very sweet rescue turtle with only one arm

sea horses are such amazing creatures & we were fascinated by them

the girls entering the shark tank

 once we viewed everything there we took a lunch break only to 

discover that it was raining outside. 

luckily, that didn't matter because there was a

covered walkway that directed us to our next destination,

which was the rain forest pyramid.(the one with windows)

it was kind of fun to walk over to it while it was raining

and pretend we were really entering a rain forest. :)

can you see the bright orange birds below to the left of the girls? these were our favorite!

he was a cute bird with lots of character

cami and cari are walking through the cloud

apparently it is the year of the bat and there were several flying around in the cave

all the birds were brightly colored

behind us are two large beautiful blue birds like seen in the movie rio

after we were done exploring the rain forest,

we shopped and watched a 3d, 4d, and film ride.

 we also took a look at the bodies revealed exhibit,

which did not allow photos to be taken.

it was very interesting, but a bit too revealing for my two :)

my 3 in the imax ready to watch to the movie

did you know momma polar bears defend their babies to death. this was a very interesting film.

this experience had several surprises in it

by that evening we had seen just about everything

and were ready to put our swim suites on and head over

to palm beach. the weather was perfect by then.

this was a great way to relax, eat dinner, and let the kids play.

they had a band playing some great hits from our

teenage years, which helped to make chad and i feel young again :)

they were both pretty eager to hit those slides

the rain from earlier in the day actually made making sandcastles a breeze

cari having fun in the wave pool

this is their silly pose

 we had heard that they were planning to shoot fireworks later 

that evening and decided we would end the night

on the colonel cruise ship.

we walked over the paddle wheel boat from the beach

it was the perfect way to end the evening

 we spied different fish in the water, 

disused our favorite moments of the day, 

and had a great view of the fireworks while cuddling close together.

summer at my parent's

two weeks ago we went to visit my parents.

(off of my parent's pier looking down the canal)

they live 15 minutes from galveston beach.

now, i realize that galveston gets a bad rap, but i grew up going there as

a child and my children think it is a very beautiful place :)

we also like it because it is, as mentioned before, 15 minutes from my parent's home and

we use their house like a hotel...but with free food and board :)

for us, that is a great deal because you can't imagine how much

my two dainty girls can eat these days!!! it would amaze you!!!

*

we planned the whole weekend well in advance,

but didn't plan on the weather being so temperamental.

 we still got to do plenty and had a great time together as well as

visiting with my parents and grandmommy, who lives with them as well :)

chad and i left sunday afternoon, but left the girls to enjoy a full 

week with their nana, poppy, great grandmommy, and hope (their dog).

 

watching a movie with their cousin chloe in their handmade fort

technology helps fill the gap while they were far away

ready for water sports

cari

cami

when we finally got them back, they had grown a 1/4 of an inch,

which can only mean my mom fed them pretty well.

later that night i had forgotten how loud my two children are.

i felt like the paparazzi were yelling at me...

"mom....mom....look here...mom...hey...mom!"

chad and i just smiled at each other and realized how 

great it was to have them back.

my mom, on the other hand, was sending me texts describing 

how they hated how quiet their home was now that the girls were gone.

they were missing them pretty bad.

*

mama bird

can you see mama bird?

this is our view outside our kitchen window.

we check on her several times a day.

her nest is right above an empty nest from earlier this summer/spring.

we so needed all the wonderful rain recently
but i was worried about mama during the thunderstorms.
she is a faithful little bird who loves her babies.
 i feel a small bond with mama bird.
being a mom isn't always easy,
but it is full of reward.

my kids have been visiting my parents this week so
we have had a small taste of what an empty nest might feel like.
chad and i have kept ourselves pretty busy
and as fun as it is to do anything we want at anytime,
i miss the energy that my kids bring.
i miss the smiles, hugs, and kisses.
i miss all the funny things they do and say on a regular basis.
i know they are making special memories with their grandparents,
but i am ready for our nest to be filled again.
i don't desire to be free as a bird,
not just any bird
but desire to be free as nesting mama bird.

i found this poem and wanted to dedicate it to all the other mama birds out there ;)

Mama Bird

a mama bird sits in her nest
her tiny eggs nestled beneath her feathers
whether rain, wind, or snow
she keeps them safe through all weather


she cares for them each day
keeping them both warm and cool,
both dry and safe
rotating them on cue


she nurtures and they grow
loves like mamas do
she waits for the day
that they can love her too


one day they'll hatch
and she'll still love like mothers do
protect and nurture them
they'll love her too

 Kellsey Hartmann

i realize that one day my little chicks will get too big for our nest
and will need to fly away and make little nests of their own,
but they will forever remain as precious babies in this mama's heart.

33 facts, to be exact, about my husband, chad

1. we met one another when we were 12 years old.
2. he can remember exactly what i was wearing the first time he laid eyes on me, but he can not remember what i told him 20 minutes ago.
3. he used to rock the "wave" hairstyle and rolled his t-shirt sleeves.
4. he has told me every single embarrassing thing he has ever done in his whole entire life.
5. he is nerdy-smart and that only makes him more attractive to me.
6. he makes me laugh every single day even when life is tough.
7. we met at church and still meet at church every sunday.
8. he is the best drummer i have ever known or will know.
9. he has the "jimmy legs" at night and it drives me crazy!
10.  we used to exchange handwritten letters every week.
11. our parents both found our secret letters and read them...which then lead to groundings. on a side note...never hide personal letters from your mother in your saxophone case because she will sniff them out, read them, and highlight embarrassing parts to later talk with you about.
12. i like all his friends and always have. (especially tim and bryan : )
13. he is never cruel to anyone and the most annoying person will feel special around him.
14. he can talk like donald duck, which is only one reason he is so popular with the kids.
15. he got me as his girlfriend on his 16th birthday..."your welcome!"
16. he makes me feel lovely and beautiful every single day, especially on my "bad hair" days.
17. he always takes the trash out.
18. he woke me up on my 29th birthday singing me a song he wrote that made us both cry...best gift ever!
19. he has never given up on me and i know he never will.
20. he thinks he still has blond hair even though his kids think it's black.
21. he is the "funnest" dad to our two girls and they think he hung the moon!
22. he makes his parents and my parents proud continuously.
23. he is great at his job and loves what he does.
24. he is some kind of spelling genius...and it annoys me!
25. he loves video games, games on his phone, and board games...he pretty much likes all games.
26. his favorite color is green.
27. he makes great salsa and enjoys eating salsa and chips...no matter what time of the day it is.
28. he is shorter than this older brother.
29. he doesn't like to kill animals.
30. he has the cutest lines around his mouth that i have always loved.
31. he likes it when i tap on his eye glasses the way i did when we were teenagers.
32. he brings me a cup of water every night before we go to bed.
33. today he turns 33 years old making it 17 years that we have been "boyfriend and girlfriend."

i love you chad, shad, chad-a-burger, honeydew-melon, chaddy, sweetheart, babe!

happy "as old as jesus" birthday!

and sorry for any and all misspellings you  found... :)

bookworms

ever since my children were babies, we have read to them.

they have a deep love for books and i always make sure

we have plenty around for them to read.

kyle just opened a new library in town this year.

they allowed people in the town to purchase a personalized brick paver

if they wanted to. we decided to participate

thinking it would be fun for the kids!

we visited the new library for the first time this past weekend

and we found our paver :)

the kids also checked out some books and magazines and signed up for the 

summer reading program.

cari is reading about the beach which we will be visiting this coming weekend!

she loves animals so much :)

 cami started reading the series called 39 clues. 

right now i believe there are 15 or so books and

disney is working on a movie that will be coming out in a few years.

she seems to really like it so far. 

we are hoping that the library will carry more of them.

let me know if anyone has them and wants to lend them out.

maybe we can make a trade ;)

every year the kids like to stack up their books as they read them.

it helps to track them for school and summer reading programs as well as

showing them a cool visual of how much they read :)

cami has book chair in her room that is growing.

i'm sure my kids (or my kid's kids) will look back on this and think how 

funny it was to actually read paper and hard back books

since everything will be digital by then...

...or maybe not ;)

which do you prefer and which do your kids read?

don't die!

cari and chad  in the bean bag (cami is off to the left in the recliner)

this past saturday we had planned a whole day of activities

and we threw them all out the window to stay home.

we attempted to beat super mario brothers on the wii

and failed miserably!

we discovered that cari is quite the comedian while playing the wii.

she had us rolling most of the day.

it ended up being a great day and we surprisingly got a lot of things checked off our summer to-do list:

*we stayed in our pj's all day

*we had "christmas in july" by watching 2 christmas movies together and

*we attempted to beat mario

and yesterday
*we had breakfast for dinner and
*created a new game!

we are half way through the summer break and 

aspire to check off many more fun things off our list :)

i am going to leave you with a funny quote that happened on saturday...

picture chad trying hard to past the last level of world 8 while being chased by a huge fire-breathing bowser

cami being encouraging - "where there's a will there's a way"

cari confidently counters - "there's a will"
chad dies then yells out of despair, "no way!"
us three girls erupt with laughter!!!

dad...it's just a game ;)

swim lessons

cari spent this past week taking private swim lessons at our kyle pool.

in years past they have both participated in the group lessons,

but we decided to try something different this year because cami was not interested in taking any more swim lessons. she completed the highest level last year and she would just be repeating that same class or 

joining the swim team, which she has very little interest in doing.

cari can swim on her own, but we wanted her to learn some

new swimming techniques this year and then let this be our last year with swim lessons.

her instructor, nikki, was wonderful!

she is the actual manager at the pool and i was very impressed

with all that she taught cari.
 she was also very flexible with our schedules.

nikki was blown away when she realized

cari was only 6 years old.

she told me that she took instruction so well 

and was very mature for her age.

chad and i are very proud of cari.

it was funny to see her get so tired

after each lesson. she was worked hard

but enjoyed every minute of it!

she was disappointed that her time with nikki was ending.

after her last lesson, on friday, we stayed to swim

at the pool. chad surprised us and took off early 

from work and came to join us.

we were all smiles when he showed up :)

cari calls this her "snorkeler"

earlier that morning we got shipley's do-nuts (cari's fav color is red)

cami's fav color is orange and we had never seen a do-nut like this!

this is what cari spotted at the bottom of the pool before diving in!

needless to say, this got nikki out of the pool and rushing for a net :)
thank goodness it was dead!

happy 4th of july!



hope your 4th was as fun and relaxing as ours :)