Saturday, July 26, 2014

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEUCE!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEUCE!
This is Deuce's idea of a good time!
As a kid we camped at Ft. Cobb lake for
the week of his birthday and he
has continued to enjoy fishing! He now
takes a yearly trip with a really
great friend. 
When he's not fishing, he's either
working or hanging out with 
family and friends...
Or, entertaining children at
Kid's Church!
Deuce is overall, a pretty good guy!
I hope he has a SUPER HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Sunday, July 20, 2014

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HEATHER!!!!!!!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HEATHER!!!!
Heather's life has been such an adventure that one photo
is simply not enough!
She's been a blessing..... and she has been BLESSED!
She's seen and done more things than most people
do in an entire lifetime. 
As a little girl she was always ready to go.....
She was her Grandma's favorite little shopping companion!
She was my helper and since she had 
three little brothers, and we home-schooled, 
I always needed help!
Now, she's a wonderful home-schooling
Momma and I couldn't be happier.
 I am so, so proud of you, Heather! There is 
not ANYTHING you could be doing that
is more important than raising your 
children and teaching them to honor
God with their lives and deeds. You are doing
a great job and I hope you have
the Happiest Birthday ever!

(and it looks like we quite taking pictures of Heather, when Olivia came along. From that time on, I have lots of pictures... but they're OF THE GIRLS! I'll try to work on that)

Friday, July 18, 2014

Pool Party

This is the Big Pool in
my daughter's neighborhood. It is
paid for and ran by the
Home Owners Association,
so it is co-owned by the residents!
This is at the 4th of July Pool Party,
so it's super busy. Normally, it's 
not so crowded.
Anyway, there is a HUGE pool and a 
few  smaller pools and a couple of
really nice sized sand boxes,
Plus two water slides!
The girls like going down the white water
slide in someone's lap, so I had a chance to
go down it with each of them!
We also played in the sand!
See!
Grace and I made a Sand Whale!
And a Sand Mermaid!
And Olivia made a beautiful castle!
It was a great day!
Who doesn't love a day at the pool?

Thursday, July 17, 2014

So.... What Did We Do AFTER The Parade?

After the parade we went to the
Neighborhood Party!
 
 There were inflatables.... hot dogs.....
 and even a mechanical bull!
 The girls tried this ONE inflatable!
 It was a wet and wild 
obstacle course... which was great fun!
 They went all the way through and 
climbed to the top!
And really liked it UNTIL, they
could see over the other side!
 Where - there was a BIG, STEEP SLIDE!
 Grace does not like BIG, STEEP SLIDES,
so she turned around and climbed back
down and found the safety exit!
(safety exit aka Momma's arms)
 She wanted to do something else!
Suggestions were made. And the one she
okay-ed was showing Grandma
the garden we planted at Merry's farm!
 So - we went to see the garden
and ended up on a horse!
 Doesn't this girl look pretty on
a horse?
 Man-made fun vs. Natural Fun
 These girls prefer things natural!
 We went back later for the 
pool party, but our afternoon
was spent at the farm.
Where I finally got to meet Una!
She was born the evening of 
Olivia's Birthday Party,
which was held at the farm.
I've heard a lot about her and have
seen pictures - but this is the 
first time I've seen her in person!
Isn't she sweet!

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

4th of July Parade


The 4th of July Parade
was a fun and friendly neighborhood 
(a neighborhood/town near Aubrey, Tx - where my daughter lives)
 This sheriff lead the parade.
He was followed by kids on bikes 
and scooters - and they were followed
by the local boy scouts
who carried the flags.
 There were lots of golf carts.
Because in Providence, a golf cart is
nice to have. It can take you to the pool
and back or to one of the many
parks, ponds or the lake.
 But - my favorite attraction was this train!
 If you're RICH, you can go here
to buy one!
  I looked into it. But - storage would
be an issue and they are
way too expensive!
 But - when we went to get a closer 
look the engineer offered us a ride.
 The girls loved it!
I rode in the train car in front of them
so I could take pictures and that
is Heather in the van behind,
following along to pick us up! 
We had a great time at the parade.
The girls picked up candy and filled
their backpacks half full,
and Heather, Dustin and I all got
new t-shirts that were thrown out of
vehicles by the neighborhood association!
This neighborhood is sort of
like a resort. It makes visiting the
kids feel like a vacation.
Especially in the summer when the
pools and water park is open.

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Waiting for the Parade!

 Heather & Dustin's neighborhood does
a big parade and party on the
4th of July!
The parade goes through the neighborhood,
so Heather thought the park would be a good 
place to set up lawn chairs and wait.
 The girls played. Neither of them was
brave enough to go down the big curvy 
slide so they took turns sending this
beanie baby down. One would send
her off and the other would
catch her and then run to the top so
she could send her off.
 It was nice seeing them cooperate
and find a way to play with the same
toy at the same time without fighting.
 It rained just before the parade started
and the girls took cover inside the slide.
 I'm not sure whether waiting for the
parade was more fun or the parade itself.
 It quit raining just before the parade
came by so the girls didn't get at
all wet - just slightly cooled off.
And I'll share parade pictures, soon!
As well as other 4th of July festivities!

Monday, July 14, 2014

FUDGE FRIDAY!!!!!

Have you ever heard of
FUDGE FRIDAY?
 On my way to return Grace and Olivia
to their Momma, we found this!
 And in and around Nacona, Texas,
Friday's are known as FUDGE FRIDAY!
 During our visit the girls were given
samples of fudge, and of course,
we had to buy a box to take home 
and share with Mom and Dad!
And it was DELICIOUS!
 

Friday, July 11, 2014

The Joys of Winning!

Grace is developing a lot of
new skills. She likes to play games
and she LOVES winning!
 
 So this last trip to Chuck E Cheese
was extra fun for her!
 She can hardly contain her excitement
when she gets the ball in the 
5,000 point hole!
(which she did several times)
Olivia is happy to get her ball
into any of the holes. 
It's hard just getting your ball
up there!
But - Grace has a lot of power in 
those little arms of hers.
This is her ball. She missed
this time, but it's way up there.
She came really close and then 
the ball rolled down into the
1,000 point hole.
That ball probably thought
it belonged to me! LOL

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Hiking


 We had a cool, overcast morning while
the girls were here, so we decided
to go hiking!
(as soon as we got to the refuge, though, the sun came 
out and the summer heat came with it)
We saw something in the bushes!

 Of course, we had to get a closer look!
It was a lizard!
 Brilyn likes hiking with a stick, but
I don't think she ever found the right one.
 The three girls!
 A Mountain Boomer!
 We took a picnic lunch - which Asher enjoyed!
 Actually, I think Asher enjoyed the
whole hike!
 He actually was so relaxed he fell asleep.
 And look! Another lizard! It looks a lot
like the first one we saw, only
it's missing part of it's tail.
And look at this. A lovely wild flower!
We saw several wild flowers. 
We have been working on our wildflower
badge, but we didn't include these.
You are not supposed to pick flowers
on the refuge. We could collect 
PICTURES of them, though!
 And - since lizards are so plentiful, I
think we will try to learn about them
when the girls come back!