Our little artist.....

Ellie loves to paint and today she enjoyed painting her arms along with her paper! It was washable so I let her have some fun. Her teacher said that anytime the easel is open during center time it is immediately the center that Ellie goes to. I am so not artistic, but I love that maybe she has a love for artistic things! I haven't ever let Anna paint. I'm not sure that is a disaster I am ready to conquer!

It's just a season.....and I'm lucky!

Well, the school year has for sure begun and we are at that point where Mike says "It is just a season" which means we are really busy where we are passing each other in and out of the door. It is really just a week where there seems to be a lot and a big retreat is coming up for student ministry. It also happens to be a week where Anna does not feel well and is fussy cause of having allergies/cold. I feel so bad for her cause she is congested and actually asked for medicine. Tomorrow night we are hosting the 9th and 10th grade leaders for a leaders mtg. We have them every other Thursday and this semester they are doing something different where they divide us up by grade rather than us all meet as a big group. We are excited to have them over, but with pre-school tomorrow it is going to be a really busy day. I am refusing to clean my house till tomorrow afternoon so the girls will not mess it up. They seem to be pretty good lately at making messes!
Tonight, I got to lead my 10th grade girls group for the first time. My co-leader was out of town and it went well. They are so sweet and really stand up for Christ at their school. We went out to dinner before and then did our small group. I am really excited to get to spend the next 3 years with them. I did feel a little old when we got on the subject of text messaging. I asked them how many they sent/received a day. They said most the time it is close to 200 a day! One girl said she for sure uses her 6,000 messages a month. I still don't understand why you would want to have a conversation by text rather than over the phone?
A big highlight of the week was I put my name in a drawing at our salon and I won! I get $450 worth of services of $37 a month for 9 months. I am pumped and know I will look forward to this monthly pampering session. Anyways, I hope you are all enjoying your week and you can slow down in the midst of busyness.

Are they twins....

I get the question "Are they twins" almost everyday? It is normally when they are in the double stroller and you can't tell that Ellie is a few inches taller. They are startng to look alike and can share most clothes and Anna's foot is growing like crazy so I am guessing that she may be a little bit taller than her big sis. They are so alike and so different in so many ways. It was so sweet this morning cause in the middle of the night Anna woke up screaming so I moved her to our guest room. Ellie woke up this morning crying and saying "where's Anna"? She was kind of panicking and when I told her that I moved Anna to the other room she said " I was really nervous, mommy!" Anna always wakes up and her first words are "sissy, bed". They play together almost all day and then share a room most nights. However, they are different in many ways. Here's a few I want to remember:
*Ellie was a paci girl and loved it so much. Anna sucks her thumb to go to sleep.
* Ellie is very independent and has never cried when she gets dropped off anywhere. She runs to the church nursery. Anna takes awhile to warm up and normally cries for a minute or two.
* Anna is a momma's girl and loves to sit in my lap or me carry her everywhere. Ellie loves whoever and will go to almost anyone.
* Anna is a great sleeper. She never misses a nap and will go right to sleep at night. Ellie would stay up till midnight if we would let her and never have a melt-down. She has an abundance of energy.
* Ellie loves movies, tv, etc.... Anna has never watched it for more than 5 minutes.
* Anna is obsessed with things like shoes etc.. and loves to carry them around all day in her hands. She would also love to have a blankie, but I try to limit our time with it so I don't have to keep up with one more thing.
* Anna has done everything early and amazes me at her lack of fear. Ellie has taken awhile to figure things out. However, once she does she loves it!
* I don't think either one is going to be a girly girl. They might surprise me, but so far they are not interested in princess or baby dolls. They love to play outside and with their friends.

I am so thankful for my girls today. We've had a great day in the "cool" weather (low 80's) just being together. I know God has great things in store for them and I am blessed to sit back and watch!

#200.....

It is my 200th post and since I have nothing important to write I figured it was exciting enough to have written 200 posts! We had a good weekend that was filled with the following.....
*Mike spoke at a retreat for home-school seniors at Pine Cove Camp. He enjoyed it and quite a few of our students were there.

* I spent the night with some friends while he was away. We took the kids to CiCi's which is always a huge success cause of the games, pasta, and lots of loud children. Ellie had a sleep-over with her friend Caleb. They actually fell asleep in his twin bed and slept the whole night. It was pretty sweet.

* Saturday night we watched football and hung out with our friends Russ and Amy. We don't get to see them to often cause of work etc... However, we always have so much fun with them and can't wait for their baby to arrive in February!

* Sunday was a busy day as it kicked off student ministry on Sunday nights! Our church started a Sunday night service to ease the crowding on Sunday mornings. It is at 5:30 so I decided to take the girls at night then go to Shoreline (h.s. weekly event) at 7. It was really fun and we ended up going to the zoo for the morning. They loved it and it was like an extra weekend day. I won't always go, but Mike was busy all morning so I thought it might be a nice change of pace. It was really fun for Shoreline to start again and we are so excited to see what God is going to this school year. Mike's passion gets me excited and it is so neat to see him exactly where he is supposed to be in ministry.

* I am doing better this week as far as not feeling overwhelmed and on a routine. Last week was really rough with all the changes for school, small group, etc... We were all so exhausted by Saturday that we all took a 3 hour nap. It was so nice!

Sorry for the boring 200th post! Have a great night!

School Days....

Well, we started school on Tuesday and I must say I think the girls look so cute and so much older in these pictures! It has been a really different week than we've ever had. Ellie is in the young 3's class and Anna is in the 18-24 mos. class. I am teaching the older 2's class. Ellie has loved it and runs into her room everyday. They are there from 9:30-2:30. Anna has done so good and has the sweetest teacher. I cannot imagine having 6 18mos. old children in one class. Wow! She has taken a nap everyday on the floor with her mat. Ellie has learned a lot already and gets to go to Spanish, Music, and Bible. Anna goes to Music and Bible. I am co-teaching the 2 year old class with my friend LeeAnn. We've had a lot of fun together figuring out how to teach pre-school. The teaching part is easy it is the management part that can get a little interesting. However, today we had all 11 children asleep at the same time on the floor. It just shows me that all children need a nap at this age. I've enjoyed being on a routine and seeing the girls grow apart from each other and me. I am learning all about little boys as I have 5 each day with only one girl. The whole p.t. thing is way different with boys! I am really thankful for this job as it is perfect for me and our stage of life. The only challenging thing is since Anna takes a nap at school she didn't take one today after school so it made for kind of a long afternoon. However, she did on Tuesday so we will see how it goes. I haven't really tried putting Ellie down so that she will go to sleep at 7:30. I do make them have room-time so that they can play by themselves for a little while after school and I can take a little break from toddler world!

Labor Day in Lawrence....

Mike and I got to go to the Kansas football game!

We went to the Topeka zoo and it was so much fun!

We are so glad that we got to see Momma!

Ellie and Granddaddy on the train!

Mike and his grandmother! She's almost 91 years old and so sweet....

Ellie and Daddy on a fun train ride!
We went to Lawrence, KS for the weekend to visit Mike's parents. We had such a great time and the girls loved it. It is always so nice to get out of the city and go back home. We got to do so many fun things while we were there and it was so fun for Mike and I to go to the KU game. Mike's mom got us 2nd row tickets right behind the Kansas bench. We went to Buffalo Wild Wings on Mass Street right before the game and after the game. It was such a fun date night. Thanks so much Mimi and Granddaddy!

Life this week....

It has been a good week so far and kind of busy. I had "inservice" day at the preschool yesterday and tomorrow is "meet the teacher" day. My friend LeeAnn (co-teacher) and I have been getting everything ready and I think it is all done! I have 7 children now in my class and it just so happens that each day there are 6 boys and 1 girl. I don't think I will know what to do with myself and all these boys! Ellie will be so excited about starting school next Tuesday, but I haven't really talked about it cause if I do it will be the only thing we talk about! Ellie's teacher asked if I thought she would need to meet her and get used to the room. I told her I thought she would be okay. There will be no tears from that child only sprinting into her room with much joy! Anna might take a few minutes, but she is normally okay. We've had some fun things going on lately such as:

Outside the Camp Leaders Retreat- Every year the student ministry takes the leaders away for a retreat right before school starts. I got to go on Friday night and stay in the bunk room with all the girl leaders. It was so much fun and I kind of felt old as I met the new 6th grade leaders who had graduated last year from Baylor. We have awesome leaders and I am so excited to start my new small group this year. I am joining an existing group of 10th grade girls who have been together since 6th grade. Their current leader just needs a co-leader as she recently got married. It will all start next Wednesday.

80's Skating Party- It was the high school ministries kick-off night. It was super fun and there were some great outfits that everyone put together. I wore many of them during my elementary school years.

Gloria's- Last night we went out with our friends Cory and Jamie to a fun mexican restaurant called Gloria's. I really liked it and I loved the fact that I didn't see one high-chair the whole night. Ellie and there little boy had a great time together. They love to have a sleep over and they actually went to sleep.

Clothes- Our wonderful cousin brought over 3 trash bags full of clothes from her little boy and daughter. I was able to give away all the cute boys clothes to two different friends who are now set for the whole winter. I was so jealous of all their cute gap khaki cargo pants and long-sleeved t-shirts. I have 2 bags full of girls clothes that I am saving for the girls for when they get a little older. We are stuck in our 2t and under clothes! However, they loved playing dress-up in the tinkerbell and snow white costumes.

Lawernce, KS- We are so excited to get away this weekend to visit Mike's parents for Labor Day in Lawrence. The girls will love it. Mike and I are going to the first Jayhawk football game on Saturday night!

Anna- My incredible sleeper woke up early for the first time in forever during her nap today. It was so strange to hear her early as she normally sleeps for a really long time. It just so happened to be on a day where Ellie is taking a nap. They are so different!

I'm off to figure out what to cook for dinner... Hope you are all having a great week!

Highs and Lows....

*The picture above was taken after I wrote this post. Ellie was really quiet after her nap in her room. The crayons were in a pencil bag that has a zipper pretty high up in her closet. I threw those crayons away and I tried to clean up the toy box with no success? Any suggestions? There was also a p.t. disaster in the room, but I won't share a picture! I am so glad we are going out to dinner tonight. We all need a break!

It seems like the girls and I have had lots of these this week. Although, I know that each day with them is precious and a gift from God. We've been kind of busy this week with things to do at night to where Mike has watched them the past couple of nights. I get home and we are just wanting to lay around and watch gymnastics. I'm still wondering if the drama is ever going to end, but I just saw that Nastia is flying home today to DFW! I've been reading in my Beth Moore book about perspective and I have really been challenged to be careful of my thoughts and words. She is teaching on the Psalms and the verse that struck me is:
" I lift my eyes to You, the One enthroned in heaven." Psalm 123:1. She says "I'd like to suggest that an entire chain reaction begins with our eyes and ultimately affects our hearts, souls, and minds. Where we look-Where we ultimately fasten our gaze amid continual life challenges has a tremendous impact on how we feel. God is worthy of our fixed attention. Everything else will downsize into its proper place when we look to God alone."
I've thought about this a lot this week during this very short season of having two toddlers and feeling stretched in so many directions. It is so easy to feel sorry for myself or make excuses. When I think about this is exactly where God has me and He wants to use me here with Ellie and Anna it makes such a difference. I read a friends blog the other day whose stage of life is just like mine except she is pregnant with her third and her husband is an attorney. He's about to start working really long hours and often times she feels like she is doing a lot of the work. Her desire is to always have a big family (5 kids) and she was saying how easy it would be to say I think 3 is enough, but she knows she would regret not having more children just cause of the current stress level. It really encouraged me to think through this short season and enjoy it. I know it will only get more difficult, but I don't want to let the daily craziness of p.t., naps, working, laundry, crying, tantrums, etc.. bring me down to where I just give in to my attitude. I want to thrive during this season in the highs and lows. I hope you all have a great day!

The Fall.....

It feels cooler here today in Texas and I thought today wow the summer is almost over. All the pools are now closed except for on the weekends and I noticed today that teachers went back to school. It is our last week without student ministry weekly programs. We don't have normal Sunday night program in the summer or small groups. I am looking forward to our normal routine and seeing what it will look like this year as it will be way different than last. We are now in a community group so that is one night a week and we each co-lead a student small group once a week. I am excited to meet my new group this year. I know it will be an awesome opportunity to invest in these girls and learn so much from them.
The BIG change for us will be that I got a job at Ellie's mothers day out program. I had signed her up to go one day a week. I knew that I wanted to get a p.t. job and really had been praying for the right one. I had shared with some of our comm. group girls about this need. The next day I bumped into a friend at the gym who also has her boys at this MDO. She said the director had called her to see if she knew anyone who was looking for a p.t. job. She gave her my name and it worked out perfectly! The other great thing is that they needed one more teacher and my friend who lives in our neighborhood got that job! We will be co-teaching the 2 yr. old class on Tuesday's and Thursday's. The girls will both go for free and I get paid! I am really excited for them as well. I know they will love it. Anna really needs to gain some independence from me as I am her favorite person at all times. I love it, but it can get so exhausting. Ellie is very ready with her backpack and she thinks every school we drive by is "her" school. I know our lives are about to pick up a lot and I hope I can balance it all with a great attitude. We've been so blessed by such an incredible summer and I now think I am ready for the Fall.

Ellie's Birthday

Thanks for making the incredible cake Amy!

What else do you do for an August birthday in Texas?

Ellie loves all of her new presents!

The care bear went everywhere with Ellie

Sweet girls loving their cake

Fun in the bounce house

Fun Cupcakes
The Yummy Cake!

Early Morning Birthday Picture

Amy is running today....

I think I have it figured out that my friend Amy is running this morning which is Friday night Beijing time. They just mentioned it on the today show and I think it will be on around 11:00 tonight. Set your tivo if you can't watch it. I know you will enjoy it. There are 32 women in the 10k and her goal is the top 10. She will be running against many ethiopians etc....Her teammate Kara Goucher has a chance to medal. Go Amy!
* She didn't do very well... I'm wondering if she didn't feel well. Her teammates both did incredible and one got the bronze which an american has never done in this event.

Growing like crazy....

So we went to the doctor today for Ellie's 3 year old appointment and Anna's 18 month old appointment. It was quite the experience and we were there for almost 2 hours so you can only imagine the fun we had in our little room! The girls are actually catching up on height. They are both at the 50th percentile. We've never been above the 25th percentile so I was a little shocked! However, they are looking like they are going to be tall and skinny! They are both below the 5th percentile for weight. Ellie weighed 24 pounds and Anna weighed 19 pounds. I got the questions on are they eating enough etc.... It seems like that is all they do is ask for a snack or more food! However, she is not worried since they both follow the exact same curve which will be great for the clothes situation. I think Anna will be a little taller as they get older cause her foot is growing all the time compared to Ellie's. They both got shots which went really well and of course we had a little potty adventure. We were almost to the car and Ellie starts pulling down her pants on the sidewalk. I caught her and we ran back into the dr.'s office for her to go potty. While we were in there Anna got into the open trash can and found a urine sample cup and put it up to her mouth. SICK! Those little hands can find anything it seems these days! The doctor was not worried at all about Anna's motor skills as she was pushing a chair around and crawling up into it. I almost laughed when she asked if Anna could climb, run, or throw things? ha ha! She get to go to timeout numerous times a day for these three things! Ellie is off to the dentist on Friday. I'm already looking forward to it.....

The weekend at Possum Kingdom Lake...

Our Community Group took this weekend and went to Possum Kingdom Lake. With 10 adults and 9 kids there was never a dull moment. The weekend was filled with 4 wheeling (apparently people from Arizona call it "quading"), water skiing, wakeboarding, tubing, cliff jumping, napping, grilling on a big green egg, hanging out by the pool, and encouraging each other to grow closer as couples, and closer to the Lord. You may be thinking, how could you do that much with that many kids running around? We're just that awesome.
I was reminded this weekend of what the new testament church is really supposed to look like. We experienced community in a great way, and I'm now trying to convince everyone to sell their houses, and begin the search for a house that's big enough for all of us here in Dallas. It's taking some work to convince them...-Mike

My friend Amy...

Here's a little spotlight on my friend Amy who runs on August 15th at the Olympics...

Run Away....

Anna is for sure an 18 month old in its fullest! She is so different than Ellie was at this age.  Ellie had barely been walking and she also had a new baby sister. Wow those were the days. I am uncertain sometimes how to handle certain situations cause I really didn't face them with Ellie. Anna is everywhere and exploring everything. I know some of this comes with her age. However, I think she is starting to understand boundaries. I was wondering how my blogging friends with toddlers would handle these situations. Tonight, I took the girls to the mall playground to play. Anna loves it and is very good at climbing on everything. She is always content just playing there. However, tonight she was intrigued by something outside of the playground or wanted to play chase with me. I'm not sure which one was going on in her mind. However, she ran out of the playground about 5 times and then a few times kept running away from me down the hallway. She seems to do this a lot even at home when I am trying to change her diaper etc....I was firm with her each time tonight and spanked her hand/thigh in private! I made her sit by me in t.o., but this doesn't really work at her age. I eventually told them we had to leave cause Anna was being disobedient. I can see this needing to happen more in the future. I don't want to stay and reward them if they are misbehaving. She also loves to try and get out of her high chair. It is another situation I don't know how to handle. I know that I have about 3-4 months until she will really get it. She is such a sweetie and I love her lack of fear. I can sense that she will be a leader with lots of determination and I don't want to hold her back. However, I need her to listen to mommy! Do you all have any suggestions? On a more funny note...we've had some more adventures in potty training. We were out somewhere yesterday and I already had Anna in the car seat. Ellie told me she needed to go potty and there was no way I was going to get Anna out along with the stroller and go back into the bathroom cause that is a 20 minute process. I let Ellie go potty on the ground and she loved it! Tonight, at the mall once again Anna was in her car seat and Ellie had to go potty so she got to go on the ground again. I'm wondering if she is just tricking me cause she thinks it is fun to go on the ground. Life is funny these days......

Colorado....

                          At least a two of us are looking at the camera!
                            Anna had to spend some time in the bjorn again!
                               Ellie conquered her fear of the big swings.
                                    A beautiful river along a hike we took.
                                      Family picture on another hike.
                                     Ellie and Ellis at a horse stable. 
                                 Ellie: "Why does daddy make me do these things?"
                               Best friends! I love Ellie's legs in this picture.

We had a great time on our vacation to Pagosa Springs, Colorado. It is near Durango and such a beautiful place. I think it is my favorite in Colorado. We met our friends Cassie and Trevor there. They have two children close to the same age as ours. It was so fun to have another family with us. Our kids are on the same schedule and really play well together. Ellie loves Ellis. They have known each other since birth when we both lived in Virginia. Our timeshare was in a beautiful area with a lake and incredible views. We did lots of swimming, playing, hiking, and ice cream trips! Mike and Trevor played golf a few times. We traded off on baby-sitting so we each got to go out without the kids. Mike and I went to hot springs in Pagosa. There were 20 different hot springs that you got to soak in while overlooking the down town river. It was really neat and so fun for us to be away! We had many funny memories and I'm glad we ventured a road trip to get there. The girls did really well and it wasn't so bad. I loved the weather since it is 100 degrees here everyday!

Almost 3.....

Ellie turns 3 in two days. Where has the time gone? I've been so remembering her early days this weekend. She is so sweet and this morning ran up to me saying "I love you mommy"! I got a little teary eyed knowing that her little heart is full of so much emotion and kindness (most the time)! More to come.....

A little dirty....

Here's a little video of Ellie playing at a river in CO. She loved throwing the rocks and could care less about getting muddy. Sorry about the camera action. I guess you can tell who shot the video?

Ice Cream and The Pool.....

It seems like most of our summer days involve both of these at some point. It is still very hot here almost to where I am used to seeing 100 degrees at some point during the day whether in my car or on a bank sign. We cannot play outside or go on walks. I guess we could at night, but I normally go to the gym in the morning. I think we've almost visited all the city pools in our area. We have our favorites and all of them are very fun. The girls are becoming little fish and even Ellie is overcoming her fears of the water. Anna is crazy and loves the water. I hope to get a video of her soon in the water. We bought her some sort of floatation thing that is amazing. It is a little shirt that comes half way down with an tube going around her. It is so nice cause I don't have to hold on to her the whole time. We always see people we know at the pool which is fun or I meet my play group girls there. I love to get ice cream in the summer so I thought I'd give you a list of our faves.....

#1- Braum's:it is mainly only in the south (OK, AR, TX).... I love a single dip sundae of german chocolate ice cream with caramel topping and pecans! It is super cheap and where we go the most. We can also buy our milk there so that is nice since we are always almost out!

#2 TCBY: White chocolate mousse in a cone and Mike loves the raspberry sorbet. Wednesday is 99 cent cone day.

#3 McDonald's : Ice Cream is the only thing we get there. However, they have a fun play area and I can get a sundae for $1 while the girls play.

#4 DQ: Dipped cone yummmyyyy.

#5 Cold Stone: Mike's favorite, but I don't like to pay $4 for a dip of ice cream. We only go there on a date.

What are your favorites? I hope you are enjoying this last day of July.....

Bye Bye Diaper Day!

Well, I feel like we have been saying this oh since about April! We traveled so much this summer that it was nearly impossible to stay consistent with p.t.. Ellie has her own little personality and for sure her own time table of when she is ready for things.  I can say that we enjoyed the paci till she was 2 1/2 and diapers till she is almost 3 (next week)! We just got her big girl bed and she never has tried to climb out of her crib. However, I can tell that now she is totally ready for both. She stayed dry all morning and was very excited. When I tried before she screamed every time I tried to sit her on the potty when we were out. We still enjoyed quite the experience of going potty in Target, but it was cause Anna is pulling everything out and touching who knows what while I was holding Ellie. Anna is a totally different personality. She's fearless and has done everything very early. I'm hoping it will be the same with p.t.. This morning Ellie said "Anna go potty to" and Anna always is pulling on her clothes when she sees Ellie. I put Ellie on the big potty and Anna on the little potty. Anna went right away and immediately started clapping. She also requested and m&m like her sister. She's one smart girl. She also has figured out how to climb up onto a chair and then onto the table. These girls are keeping me busy, but I love to see them grow. God is so good to me for their health and sweet spirits. Tonight, is bye bye crib night! More to come.....

Road Trip Conquered....

Well, we did our road trip to and from Colorado. We all survived and it went really well. I have to admit in the past I would always be so confused when people would say their children traveled so well. I always was a little jealous and thought I can honestly say our children do not travel well either by car or plane. They've traveled so much and it has never been easy to this point. I was really nervous about this drive to Southwest Colorado. I was praying so much the week before for them to enjoy it and for us to have patience etc... The way there we drove straight through and it took us about 14 hours with all the stops. We watched many movies and had many snacks etc... I knew if we could get to dinner time that we would be fine cause they always sleep really well at night in the car. I couldn't believe how well it went and there were no major stressful things that occurred. We had such an awesome time in Pagosa Springs, CO. Our friends joined us and it was so fun. Our kids played so well together and our girls slept well the whole time. Ellie has never been a fan of sleeping in new places, but now that her and Anna can share a room they do great! They shared a bathroom together this week it was pretty funny, but it worked really well! I will post more pictures from our trip when I get them uploaded onto the computer. We split the trip up on the way home and it was so nice. We drove about 9 hours yesterday and did the rest today. The girls did great once again. Mike did such a great job driving us on this journey and solving all of our electronic problems. Yesterday, our radio/cd/dvd outlets all would not work. We had to stop at an auto zone to get a new fuse. We are now home and it is time to get caught up on laundry. It was our last trip of the summer and I am a little sad. We've had such a fun summer and I am looking forward to the fall. However, this week I think we will be spending lots of time at the pool cause they said tonight a slight cold front would move through Dallas this week and drop the temperature to 102 degrees! Colorado was so nice in the summer with highs in the upper 70's!

Vacation in Colorado Part 1...

I took this picture with my iphone this morning around 6:30 a.m. from my balcony in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. We (my wife and 2 kids) arrived last night around midnight, so we had no idea what to expect when we woke up. Pagosa is in the Southwest part of the state near Durango. This may sound crazy, but I actually like it better than the rockies up in Estes Park. There's a lot more color here. And I can promise you this, after living in Dallas for a year I was ready for some color (anything other than concrete). That's not a bash on Dallas, but bragging on God's handywork here in Colorado. It truly is beautiful here. I've only been here for about 18 hours, and I can already say this is going to be a place I'd like to come back to every year. One of the reasons is there's not a lot of people here. You can truly have sabbath here, and practice the presence of God a lot easier than our busy lives in whatever city we live in. Most of our blog readers should appreciate this since most of you are in decent sized cities (yes, I am watching you :) This morning we went to Centerpoint Church in Pagosa and worshiped with the folks there. It was pretty similar the church I worked at in seminary, so it gave my wife and I some fun flashbacks to our days in North Carolina. I actually contacted the youth pastor there ahead of time and asked him if he had any good babysitters. Is that weird if I'd never met him? David will probably think so.
Our friends the Oakes are going to be coming in tonight to stay with us for the week, and we are so pumped to see them and get to spend our vacation with them. I'll update more soon!!!

I love my Anna....

I took this video the other day and I love Anna's little voice. Ellie had to be in the video as well. She is very in to wearing "unique" clothing for nap time, but it helps her take one so I am all for it. She found one of Mike's old student ministry shirts and she loves to wear it. 

Texas Friends

Ellie and Caleb on the 4th of July. I love their faces!
Sweet friends! They are about 7-8 months younger than Ellie.
We often join others for lunch and it is always "interesting"!
A few of our play group friends waiting for the train.

We've had a fun summer with our little Texas friends. It is neat to finally connect with other moms and our kids enjoy playing together. I am so thankful for this blessing of friendship. It means so much to me and is a real answer to prayer. Ellie loves to see her friends and talks about them all the time. I look forward to seeing them all grow up and we all pass through these trying days of tantrums, picky-eating, paci's, potty training and naps.

"Mom, I want a bath...."

The other day I couldn't find Anna anywhere. I went into the bathroom and found her in the bathtub sitting in her bath seat. She climbs on everything and can get pretty high. She is giving me quite a few scares these days, but I try not to hold her back. She is hilarious to watch at the mall play ground cause she thinks she can do anything and is not afraid to try! I love her spirit and determination. She is still so sweet and mommy's girl most of the time!

"It's a Bad Night to be an Atheist"

Last night Josh Hamilton set a record during the Home Run Derby. He hit 28 home runs in the first round of the competition. After all the greats that have ever played; Ruth, Mantle, Sosa, etc..., Hamilton beat all of them. I just kept saying one word last night; "unbelievable." The greatest thing about Josh is his story. If you haven't heard it, you can read a great blog post by Peter Gammons here. He was addicted to Heroine, was a bad husband, father, and God completely turned his life around. The commentators last night couldn't stop talking about his story, and how he had found God, and then one of the guys made a pretty interesting comment; "it's a bad night to be an atheist." Josh chalks everything up in his life to God. His story is God's story. Josh is just happy to be a part of God's story, and He's doing something very unique with him. While experience (stories) is never the first thing we would use to argue for the existence of God, it's hard to deny the turn that Josh has made and who the author is behind it all. On a personal note, the last church we worked at is the church that Josh attends when he is home in Raleigh, North Carolina. He got baptized there, and is very close with many people in the church. I got to meet him a little over a year ago, and I can say that he is completely changed, transformed, and his story is legit. He is an amazing guy, and a big congrats to Josh and his family.

A fun and tiring week....

So I've decided this has been the best summer we've had since seminary days or when we worked at kanakuk! I feel like we are always on the go or enjoying time at home. I had a great week this week with friends and Mike. Here's a random summer week for us. What's yours like?
Swim at a new city pool (Texans love their city pool!)
Ice Cream almost every day
Reintroduce potty-training to Ellie.
I did a garage sale today. It was interesting to say the least, but I got rid of lots of junk!
A trip on the city train with my play group girls to a fun shopping area with the kids.
Sweltering in the 100+ degree heat everyday. Tuesday night community group.
Many messes and meltdowns this week. I went to the gym consecutive days in a row.
I showered at the gym which was very peaceful. I ordered Ellie's big girl bed (yes, my almost 3 year old loves her crib!) Five Guys Burgers opened in Dallas yummy....
I went to a fun baby shower for my friend, Katrina.
Mike sold his old iphone for more than the new one costs!
Swimming twice in one day on Wednesday and more baby pool today.
A little worried about what our electric bill will cost this month?
Mike's Moonwalks is back in business ha ha... He's getting lots of calls lately.
Mike and I wishing we had family in town to baby-sit and cause we miss them.
I'm about to start a new Beth Moore study and I'm so excited!
My sweet husband watched the girls for 3 hours while I cleaned the house and did some errands. It is amazing what I can get done when everyone is out of the house!

I hope you all have a great Saturday!

Mike's blog...

Check out my sweet hubby's blog post about Camp Barnabas. He did such a great job!

Baby-Wise/Attachment parenting...

My good friend April just wrote a really interesting post on attachment parenting vs. baby-wise method. We did mostly baby-wise except more of the laid-back version of only keeping a schedule. Ellie had 3 paci's till she was 2 1/2 and it was so nice. I think the Ezzo's would have not agreed with that position! Anyways, I thought you all would enjoy reading her thoughts. I must say she has the cutest most well-behaved "Texan" children! I've only seen Anna Kate in the cutest dresses and a bow to match everyday! Here's the link to April's blog.

Ellie Grace....

Ellie has been making me laugh lots lately along with the frustration of becoming more independent. I love the way she just thinks out loud and says whatever she is thinking at the current moment. Here are a few of her new things.....
Mommy: Ellie we are going to see our friend Caleb today.
Ellie: What's his last name? What's my last name? She now likes to tell me her name is Edie Shelton. We started calling her "Edie" sometimes cause that is what she called herself for a really long time when she couldn't say Ellie. Today, we saw our friend Carsen and she immediately said what's Carsen's last name?

Ellie has always been a "tomboy" and loves Lightning McQueen so much more than Dora etc...
I love to tease her and say do you want to wear your princess pajamas or something and she said to me out of the blue "NO mommy, I'm a super-hero".

Ellie loves any kind of strange animal, reptile etc... so you can imagine yesterday as we were reading our children's Bible and we were reading Adam and Eve. She was only wanting to read about the serpent. I didn't quite know how to explain the snake to her so I just said he was a naughty snake.

We were driving the other day and she always asks me what every single place on the road is called. We drove past Wal-Mart and I said "Ellie that's Wal-Mart; we love to go there."
She said "No, that is Target"! I love to go to Target as well, but try not to as Wal-Mart is so much less expensive!

Anyways, I hope you all are having a great afternoon in nice, cool weather. Texas heat is crazy and I knew it would be like this I just have to get used to it. We've been going to the pool almost every night. I'm excited to try a new pool in the morning before it gets to hot! I think this weekend every day is supposed to be over 100 degrees. Enjoy!

Myrtle Beach trip...

Ellie loved the beach and playing in the sand!
                              We did lots of swimming and had so much fun!
                        Anna is now feeding herself!! Meals in peace!
               Ellie made a froggie at build a bear that she loves so much!
                      We went to eat seafood at Calabash, NC! Yummm!!
We went to a fun alligator/snake/reptile adventure!