You will never guess....

Okay so guess what I did for Memorial Day weekend.... Went to a Bull Ride! My sister turned 40 last week, and as her birthday present, my mom, sister-in-law and I went with her to Decatur, TX for a bull ride. She loves the PBR so this was a real treat for her. It was actually not a full scale event, and when we got there she was a little nervous that no good riders would be there. But it ended up that all but one of her favorites were there and rode. The even better part was that because it was such a smaller scale we got to get her picture with the guys. It was fun to watch her get excited and enjoy herself. If you don't know anything about my sister, she never does anything for herself. She has three VERY active children of her own, and then for the past few years she has had at least 2 foster children in her care as well. Right now she has twin girls that turned 1 two weeks ago, so to say she needed a break is quite an understatement! It was a good time. Here are a few pictures.

Happy 40th birthday Sheila!

To My Military Friends

This weekend our Nation will take a slight pause to pay tribute to the amazing group of men and women who have dedicated their lives to our country. To many who have paid the ultimate sacrifice, but none have died in vain. I don't have the words that will fully explain how much I admire and appreciate you for what you have chosen to do. You have given up you freedom so that my children can grow up knowing what it is. You sleep in a tent in Iraq, half a world away from everyone that you love, so that my children and I can rest in peace. You eat meals that are only half way considered food, so that I can feed my children every day without wondering where or when we will have our next meal. You are the reason America is the nation we are, not the movie stars who collect ridiculous paychecks or the Politicians who ride around in pomp and circumstance. You are the heroes I tell my children about, and today I say thank you. If you have a friend in the military make sure they know how much their sacrifice means to you.

Mike if you see this, you are in our prayers! I am praying that you will get home soon! Be safe!

Derek, thank you for giving up a year with your family for the rest of us. We are so glad you are home now.

Camping Fun!

Last Friday we had the fun time of camping out with some of our very favorite people in the whole world. It was a "beautiful night"! We had so much fun and the kids are begging to go again. It was truly a night when memories are made. I think I am still tired from sitting around the campfire all night betting on when logs would split, laughing and listening to Tim Coyle's ever so eclectic IPOD music! My hair still smells faintly of fire wood smoke, but that is okay. My hamstrings are still tight from the hilarious kick-ball game! Good friends and good times are things to be treasured!

The kids had fun playing in the back of the truck

Ballards

Coopers

Bowmans (minus Cade)

Coyles (minus Parker)

Joellyn, Claire and Caroline enjoying the hammock

Everyone is looking at the river

Colin Chillin by the River

Reid and Brock picking up rocks

Claire watching the action

Brock's Preschool Graduation

Thursday May 15th Brock graduated from 2nd Presbyterian Preschool. It was a sad day for me since it marks the end of a his preschool years. I am a bit emotional about it so we will stick to the high points. The program was adorable and was all nursery rhymes. Brock was the king from "Sing a song of Six Pence". My dear friend Linda Smith sewed him a robe and made a Burger King crown look amazing so he looked official. It was a great night.

In Full Costume!

Receiving the diploma

With Mrs. Susan

Carter and Brock have been inseparable for the past two years. We are really going to miss this sweet little boy next year. He will not be going to the same school for kindergarten.

Brock is the 7th grandchild in our family. All 7 grandchildren have gone to 2nd Pres for preschool. His graduation marked the last program we will have there. (so sad!)

Sweet Claire

Well most of my post lately have been about Brock. He is the one that takes up most of my time because Claire, bless her heart, is just easy 90% of the time. She is finishing up 1st grade, and has had a wonderful year. She has had a fantastic teacher that she absolutely adores, and classmates that you can only dream about. They are such a great group of kids, and I have had so much fun being around them. You don't get to say that about a group of 7 year olds very often. I am going to miss this little group if they are not together next year. The last two Tuesdays we have been on Field Trips. The first trip was to the IMAX theater and then to the Clinton Library. Their favorite part of that was playing on the grassy hill while we waited for our turn to go into the library. They were exhausted by the time we got in and were nodding off on the bus ride back to school.

This is Claire and her best friend

Group Shot at the IMAX

Fountains are too much for 7 year olds to resist!

Waiting for our turn...

Group shot at Clinton Library

Still waiting

Having fun!

The second field trip was to Phifer Camp and River City Gymnastics. At Phifer Camp, they hiked in the woods, made name tags out of tree slices and played with the parachute. We ate lunch out there and then headed to River City Gymnastics. Claire and I are not really the "outdoorsy" type, so the first part of the day was close to misery for us. The bugs were everywhere and then when we got home we each had a tick. Ticks freak me out, and I was horrible when I found one on her. I did nothing to help calm her down bless her heart. I decided that if they do this field trip when Brock is in 1st grade, Tim can go! The second half was great! The staff at River City did a fantastic job! They were so prepared and did a great job of having different things for the kids to do. They all loved it! This was also Miss Fields birthday, so I left there and went back to school and set up her birthday party. It was nice to end the busy day with a piece of cake, literally. Here are the highlights from that trip. Notice how Claire looks none to thrilled! She is my child after all!

Finally having fun!

The Cutest Catcher I have EVER seen!

Tonight Brock and the Cardinals had a ballgame, and it was Brock's best night of baseball yet. He played with a total intensity that I have not seen out of him up to this point. Here is why... last game he got tagged out at 1st base, which was bad, but it was only made worse because it was a girl 1st baseman. Ouch! Tonight he wasn't going to play because he didn't want to get tagged out again. He loves the movie The Incredibles, so I told him he need to run fast like Dash and then he wouldn't get out. He wanted to wear his Incredibles tshirt under his jersey, but we forgot to bring it, whoops! However, I improvised and drew/"tattooed" the Incredibles "I" on his chest which worked for him. He played Incredible. He was lead off batter, and he had instructed me in what to say, which I did. This is what I yelled to my son, "Lets go Dash, hit it and run!" So he got a good hit and tore it up on the way to 1st. Then on his way to 2nd the 2nd baseman got the ball and chased him to 2nd. He saw him trying to tag him and put it into another gear and beat him. His face was hilarious! He had great satisfaction from knowing he beat him in the "race".

See the resemblance? Look close and you can see the I on his chest.

Then when it was their turn in the field he got put in as Catcher, which in Rookie 5 league is a BIG deal to the kids. He was so cute! I hope that you will indulge me because I am putting 100 pictures on here. He was so excited and totally engaged and you could tell he was having fun. He even had a great play at shortstop after he was through at catcher. Tim and I both had so much fun watching him realize he is good at this game, and figuring out how to manipulate him to play well. Parenting 101 right there!

Beware of the boogie man at the Ballards!

Did you know that the Boogie Man draws on walls?

Precursor to the story...Brock has been sleeping on a blow up mattress in Claire's room for the last month. He isn't in my room, so I could care less. She seems to like having him there anyway.

So last Monday I was cleaning up her room and realized that there was a picture drawn on her wall with a Doodle Bear marker (that was still laying nearby). Knowing that my daughter would NEVER do such a thing, I immediately called my youngest child upstairs. He came in the room and I pointed to the wall and asked the question "Brock, do you have anything to say about that?" He looked at the wall and back at me & in 1.2 seconds said "Yes I do!, Last night, I was laying there asleep, and I woke up, and the Boogie Man was sitting there drawing on the wall. But, I was too scared to tell him to stop so I just laid back down and went back to sleep." All of this was said with a straight face and off the top of his head.

This leads me to a few thoughts:

1) I am very impressed with his ability to think on his feet

2) Oh my word he is 5 and can come up with that in the blink of an eye, what is going to happen when he is 16?!?!?!?!

3) HE IS SO MY DAD!

Anyway, I went on to tell him what the consequences of drawing on the wall again would be to which he added over his shoulder as he was walking away..."I will let the boogie man know"

I wish I was making this up, but I am not.

Kelly's Kids Sale - Spring 2008

I wanted to let you all know that I have bought my Kelly's Kids kit from the Spring/Summer collection. If you are interested let me know and I can tell you what I have in the size you are needing. There are still lots of cute things available. You can check www.kellyskids.com to see the line.

Also, I was elected PTA President on Tuesday night. I am excited but it is a daunting task! I hope that I am able to do a lot of great things for Baker over the next 2 years. Wish me luck!