Hooray for Spring Break!

Spring Break is one of my favorite times of the year, I think. I absolutely love it! Usually the weather is fairly nice and it is a nice break from school and the normal hum-drum of life. We had a terrific Spring Break this year.

Our Saturday was filled with soccer games and soccer pictures. Both teams lost for the first time. Avery's team was undefeated last season (with two ties) and has been undefeated this season, so it was especially hard to watch them loose. Truthfully, I don't think the girls cared that much. I think it hurt us parents and the coaches more. I didn't think I would be so competitive when it came to 5 and 7 year olds playing soccer, but I am. In the Ponies' (Avery's team) defense, they were missing two of their best players. Avery played great! She scored a goal, dribbled the ball between the players all the way down the field several times, and had some great passes to the other players who would then score. It was probably her best game. Abby's team is still trying to get the hang of the game, I am afraid, which is normal for this age. Only one of the players on her team have ever played before. It is pretty funny to watch them run, dance, and pick their boogers. Most of our Saturdays for the next couple of months will be filled with soccer games. Does this mean I am officially a soccer mom?

On Sunday we went to church and then headed to Cracker Barrel with Dad, Gina, Aaron, Janet, Mylen, and Aivlyn. I love their breakfast! I could eat breakfast food for every meal, I am pretty sure. Thanks Dad for a fun treat! After lunch everybody headed to our house where we enjoyed watching all the cousins (and sometimes the adults) play in the wonderful weather. The cousins always have a great time together. I am thankful that they live close.

I think Aivlyn wanted to swing the entire time.



Grandpy's turn to push!




Mylen, ready to block a kick?



Janet and Wes soaking in the sun and watching the kids play.


Avery and Mylen trying to score on Uncle Aaron.



Uncle Aaron takes a turn.



Abby biking on the soccer field?

On Monday we drove down to Ft. Worth to go to the Ft. Worth Museum of Science and Natural History. We stayed for a good 7 hours and still did not see everything or do everything. It was so cool! There were all kinds of hands-on activities for the girls to do as wells as tons of kid friendly displays. We also watched Animalopolis in the Omni Theater. It was a very cute documentary. The narrating was right on the girl's level. Before each show they always run a short clip of the Ft. Worth sky from a helicopter view. After it was over, Abby said, " That was a short video." Poor girl was disappointed until she realized there was still a whole other show about animals. We also visited the Planetarium which wasn't that exciting, but oh well. All in all, it was a super fun outing for our family. We will definitely go there again someday.

The girls in a dino footprint.



Working a fun dino puzzle.



Don't worry girls, I will save you!


Trying their hand at junk art.



The sand wheel was very cool.



The Shadow Box was one of our favorites. You pose in front of a screen, it takes a shadow picture and then your shadow remains behind. We had loads of fun doing this over and over.

The plan for Tuesday was for me to take the girls on a picnic at the lake and park close by. Well, it turned out to be a pretty cold day, so instead we got all the art supplies out and transformed our kitchen into an art studio. We had lots of fun creating several different pieces of art.

On Wednesday the girls and I headed to the metroplex. The plan was to meet up with Debbie where she would then take the girls to the American Girl Doll Store, and I would then go on to Alexis's house for my girl time get-away. About 15 minutes down the road I began to hear a loud rumbling sound. I assumed it was a clunker I was about to pass. But then my steering started to feel a little weird. I thought I had a flat so I very carefully pulled off the side of the road. I was praying the whole time that the Lord would keep us safe. (We just had an incident in our area not too long ago where someone accidentally killed another person who was on the side of the road fixing their car.) I kept telling the girls to be sure and stay completely buckled up. I don't know why I kept repeating myself. They were happily watching the video, not noticing how nervous I was. I immediately called Wes, who was our hero, and he came right away. On his way he called a good friend of ours, David Pryor, who is the head mechanic at our dealership in town (the other hero in this story). He insisted on sending one of his guys out to help change the tire quickly. The jack in our car takes forever and wasn't safe on the incline on which I was parked. Anyways, that guy came right away and we were able to get on the road in Wes' truck. I am so thankful we were close to home and that Wes and David were available to help so quickly. Most of all, I thankful that God kept us safe amidst all the huge trucks and cars zooming by.

We finally met up with Debbie, her good friend Arlene, and her granddaughters, and they went on their way. I headed on over to Alexis's house. Once again, Alexis couldn't have explained our time together any better on her blog. So, I hope you don't care, Al, I am copying lots of what you had to say.

We had a little Girls Only trip ... well, not really a "trip" for Alexis, as Kendall & Alexis (and her husband, Ashley) who hosted my 3 best girlfriends from "high school-college-and beyond" for a little Girls Only time.

Two times a year, Alexis, Lauren & I (and Amy, when she's not being a medical missionary in Paraguay) get together for a few days ... one time a year, it's just us 3 (or 4) girls and the other time it's with all the kiddos, too. Amy (& her family) are here in the US for a year-long furlough (which is nearly over now ... sad), and we've really been trying to get together a bit more this year, taking advantage of getting to see her (as it has been 4 years since they've been home and it could be up to 4 more years until they come back)!

We spent Wednesday - Saturday together ... just hanging out, staying up each night entirely too late, laughing hysterically, shopping, shopping, & more shopping, and picking up right where we had left off the last time we'd gotten together! (Ashley was as sweet as he always is and took care of Kendall for Alexis once he got home from work each day!) I had fun feeding sweet Kendall, holding her, and playing with her. She is such a cutie pie!

Friday night ... the 4 of us girls spent the night in a hotel in Frisco ... ate dinner at Buca di Beppo's and had some great shopping time on Saturday at the Allen Outlets.

We only took these pictures of our time together ... We were too busy catching up and shopping I suppose.

at Alexis's house ... Amy, Alexis, Lauren & me

at Buca di Beppo's ... Lauren, me, Alexis and Amy (and baby McKissick)

When we were about to part ways and head to our separate homes I talked to Wes who informed me it was snowing back in Denison. What? Yup - snowing it was. We got about 4 inches. The girls loved playing in it after church on Sunday.

We ended our Spring Break on Sunday night with our small group. I am absolutely loving our group! It has been so encouraging and uplifting even if the material we are studying is tough to hear at times. I am so thankful for the relationshipshhh that are growing stronger in this group. Being a part of this group has truly been such a blessing from God for Wes and I. I look forward to growing even closer to God and bonding with each other even more. We are supposed to all go camping together soon. That will be an adventure I am sure.