first day of kinder, 3rd and 4th grade!!!

this was a major milestone year. all three boys in school. people keep asking me what i'm going to do with my time... i have considered getting a part time job...i love to work, and i like to stay busy...but i wanted to wait a little while to see what my schedule is like first. i've always been very involved with andy and our family's ministry to youth and our youth leaders...and recently i have been going into the office with him, and handling other odd jobs at the church.  the fact that it's thursday, and i'm just now having time to put these pictures up, pretty much sums up my week. i'm not sure i will have time to have a part time job. the beginning of the semester is always busy, so we will see how things pan out.

i'm just so proud of these guys. the boys have had a great first week so far!!!

this guy. 4th grade. super weird to think about him being in our youth group in only 2 years!

dude. 3rd grade. he is so young at heart...but growing up so fast!

yes. bunny ears on himself. this is tysen. the picture speaks for itself.

he is by far the most excited child to be in kindergarten. people keep asking me if he did ok. i say, definitely. they ask if i cried....and then i laugh. tysen has been ready for kindergarten for about a year. i have been ready as well...more for his sake!!  pre-k was good for him...but he wanted more. he LOVES school so much, and really needs to be active and busy...this kid talks so much...he tells me detailed reports of what he did, his new friend's names, sings the songs he learned...i love it. to say he has transitioned well is an understatement. just look at that smile.

this photo

i just love how this photo encompasses each of their personalities...

ian's 8th birthday

this is a little early...but we decided to celebrate ian's upcoming 8th birthday the week before...since his bday falls on the first week of school, which is always crazy. i love that they are older, and we can just grab a few buddies and keep it simple. this year, he wanted to go to the movies...so the boys came for pizza and cake, then we loaded them up and went to see "percy jackson: sea of monsters"... 

tysen was working on the photo bomb non-stop, so i just let him join our traditionally birthday picture!

these are his best buds (except for his cousin zach-he is always clear about that)...

tj wright, tyler prince, and luke braswell

happy birthday big "e"...what proud parents we are! he loves Jesus and is the most kind hearted little man. when he and his brothers get in trouble, he is the first one to apologize... he STILL loves to cuddle...and actually calls himself the biggest cuddler in our family. he is tall...and his feet are a full size bigger than logan's...he loves legos right now...loves cheese pizza....and anything sweet. he can still sit for hours and play alone...in fact, he needs that time alone here and there. he is still my sweet little boy who loves to play guys...but he is closing in on the "cool" factor of his older brother. he loves basketball and drawing...and is the only one who will willingly go to garage sales with me!! :):)

love you buddy...

the last week of july...

this had to have been one of our craziest weeks yet. sunday, we left after church and headed to van, tx to drop off logan for his first week of camp! our dear friend, kyle atwater, worked it all out for him to be able to go...we are so grateful for him making it all possible!! logan had a BLAST.

logan's counselors, jared, michael, and korey

kyle was able to come hang out with logan here and there, but one morning he took him on a special fishing trip. just so thankful for this guy who pours into my son...

right after we dropped off logan, we headed out to cleburne to have quality time with the sisters and cousins! stacy came with aubren and milia, mom came one night, and karis came 2 different nights...its always special to get that kind of time...chaotic at times...and stressful when all the kids are tired and you're trying to get 9 kids in bed...but totally worth it!!! making memories that they will all remember!!

i had to get my girlie time in...this time, instead of doing hair, we did make up!!!

at the same time we were headed to sky ranch and cleburne...andy was headed out to oklahoma...taking the youth kids on a mission trip. i've heard such amazing stories from that trip. God is good.

i got home with ian and tysen on thursday, and andy got home friday night around 10:30....the next morning we headed out at 6:30am to go back to sky ranch and pick up logan. after all the closing stuff, we were able to go to lunch with kyle and his mom...well worth the trip!! but we were exhausted by the time we got home...ian asked if we could just stay home for awhile and not go anywhere...i'm with you, buddy!

camp zephyr

camp zephyr. what a fun week! joey was asked to come lead worship for their kid's camp...and he asked andy to come along to play bass. the camp is super accomodating to families, so they brought all of us and encouraged us to participate and just made us all feel so welcome! the boys were able to do a lot of the activities...and it was really fun for them to get to spend a week with their cousins! i decided to make a little book of all the pictures...but here were a few of the highlights...