Summer Flashback

More summer pictures filtering in...We were so busy living it up that I never made time to document our fun. So here's a summer throwback. We've got a while til it rolls back around!

FBC VBS was incredible this year. We had lots of kids hearing the Gospel through Bible stories, crafts, and awesome awesome music by my friends Jessie and Joy!

My posse...pre-k for yet another year!

Jesus is our guide!

"This is the way, walk in it." (What do you think about my jeep?)

Journey off the Map!

My Godly, Godly friends...a major blessing in my life.

"It's brighter when we shine together!" Prayers that these girls will always uplift each other as they grow through school together starting this year in Kinder.

Girls' Night Out after a full week of Bible School :)

My first time eating sushi...not bad!

Family Time...can't beat moments with my nephews!

We had a special, unexpected afternoon visit with Aunt Sydney in Coleman!

Audrey learned to ride her bike this summer without training wheels. One incentive was that she could ride around the block with her friend Paisley who lives down the street! And she was ok with her tag-along sister and paparazzi mom :)

Fun night of Comanche Rodeo and watching our friends in the mutton bustin'!

 Summer evenings at our friends' houses, just eatin' and visitin' and chasing chickens on occasion!

 And then lots and lots of swimming!

It was a short RIP for these cute goggles between an afternoon of chewing enjoyment for Pidge and the moment Daddy produced new shiny ones!

 Mimi and Pop gained even more brownie points with the girls/less with Josh with this little gem of a pool! (But don't let him fool you...I caught him hanging out in the pool by himself one day after mowing lol!)

Thankful for the pure joy and simplicity of a summer in Comanche, Texas, with so many people we love.

Audrey, our artist

Audrey definitely has great artistic ability.

This picture is turned sideways, but it is a great example of how she looks at a picture on the ipad and easily recreates it on paper. This was a squirrel she painted for her "Squirrelly Pop!"

Brenna is sharpening her skills, too. This is her version of a skunk for "Stinky Pop!" (Inside grandpa/granddaughter jokes ;)

This was a fun peacock she recreated for her friend. She definitely has an eye for good art!

I have always loved doing projects with her. I think it is fascinating how God gives us different skills to use for Him!

Laugh-A-Day

Brenna has a funny story daily.

The night before she started school, she sprinkled her magic confetti from Mrs. Hicks under her pillow and prayed for her first school day....and then she wanted to practice Spanish in case she had a new friend who only spoke Spanish!

One thing she is teaching kids to do at school is to fish kiss. She and I have a fish kiss/eskimo kiss/butterfly kiss ritual that she made up. She wants to teach kids to fish kiss "so they can kiss their mamas, too."

She takes a frog ice pack in her lunch box every day. One day she came home with bread smashed all around the frog. She had apparently made a frog sandwich at lunch instead of eating...but it was ok because Garner thought it was very funny too.

She informed her long time friend Danica that Garner is her BFF. She then told Danica not to worry because she is her PFF. She could not tell me the difference but she knows it is basically the same thing.

We went to Home Depot the other day, and after reading the sign, she said, I bet alot of people get confused if they don't know the "t" is silent. They think it says, Home De-Pot!

Another honest reading mishap...Why is the shampoo called Hairball Excuses?! (Herbal Essence)

Just a few funny snippets I don't want to forget about our clever, honest, inquisitive little girl :)

School Girls

We are off to a great 2015-16 school year!

Audrey is in 2nd grade and Brenna has started Kindergarten.

I am still in Pre-K, and this is my first year without Brenna by my side!

Audrey's teacher is named Mrs. Plumlee, and we are looking forward to her classroom moving to the new school in about a month! She is very sweet and fun!

Daddy did a great job dropping our girls off on the first day and taking pictures for me!

Brenna is in Mrs. Hicks' class. Both girls are excited about their sweet teachers (and the feeling is mutual from their teachers, too!)

I do not have many pictures of Audrey throughout the day. Second grade gets busy with more seat work and harder concepts. She is doing wonderful in her work as it has stepped up in difficulty from 1st grade already! Coach Ferrell paid her great compliments, too, telling me that she is always working very hard in PE and has a great attitude! So proud of our big girl!

Thankfully, Mrs. Hicks posts pictures on a FB page, and I get to run into Brenna throughout the day still. Basically, Brenna is turning heads left and right in Kindergarten. Teachers are impressed with her reading skills and overall maturity. She brings home the teacher's books for homework instead of the normal ABC sounds flip cards. Her first homework assignment was to read the words "red, blue, me" until Mrs. Hicks decided to increase the difficulty :)

 She is loving all of the fun activities of Kindergarten: acting out a nursery rhymes book...

 green day snacks...

 math and literacy stations...

 feeling comfortable and proud of school along with friends...

 meeting new classmates and helping them learn how to do school...

 ...and just being 5! So many kids from Pre-K are a little bored right now reviewing letters and basic sight words, but they are loving the pure joy of Kindergarten!

She spends her days with her best friend, too. Yep, Garner is in her class! Danica, Savannah, Noah, and Weston are also across the hall and luckily not far away!

My days are spent with these 12 friends. I have 6 from last year and 6 new to my class. We are off to an amazing start, and I love them all!

 We are blessed with an incredible school, teachers, and friends!

Labor Day

I view Labor Day as a real American holiday. It warrants the closure of most businesses and schools (not just the post office, bank, and Josh!) So here are some red, white, and blue, real American pictures to help celebrate the day. (It is also a great chance to slip in the 4th of July pictures I never got around to posting!)

Enjoy your Labor Day and relax with family for always working hard for your American dream!

Pretty Pagosa

I'm reminiscing on summer tonight, and look at these pretty pictures of Pagosa I found. We had another excellent trip in August just a couple of weeks before the start of school.

Apparently there were hot springs around this spot but we missed them! We will visit again to discover them.

Piedra River Photo Ops

Pop and his sunglasses choices???

Alpine Slide at Durango (Brenna pushing the 'turbo' button)

No it wasn't a race...we enjoyed the scenery ;)

Silverton from the highway driving into the valley

We took a mine tour at Silverton at the Old Hundred Mine.

This was an informative, damp, cool, interesting, fun experience!

Old Miner's quarters high above the mine

Straight into the mountain

The girls did not have any luck panning for gold, but Mimi 'mined' two bottles worth and shared it with two very excited little girls!

Lunch and exploring at 11,000 ft

No city sites or sounds for miles and miles...

A cold, clear mountain stream...Ozarka, eat your heart out.

The trip wouldn't be complete without rocking on the deck.

Scenic ride at Echo Canyon Reservoir...learning to ride without training wheels has certainly paid off this summer!

Brenna stumps everyone at memory games. No lie, she beats everyone fair and square.

Mountain flowers and a bone in the background

Someone learned how to whistle on the trip :)

Riding up the lift at Durango

About to tear up the alpine slide on turbo

Pack mules at Silverton (after playing on the random small playground that they remember every year)

Golfing in the mountains

We traveled through Ruidoso to see our old friends the Weavers on the way back. They pastor a country church there, and we were blessed to worship with them that Sunday.

Our girls had a blast together, and I got to hold baby Eli alot!

It was so sweet catching up after so long. Didn't realize how much I missed them.

Piedra Falls

Pictures can't capture the beauty (of the falls or the girls!)

We love our beautiful family trips to pretty Pagosa...and just our wonderful family, period.