Friday Favorites...

This week my Friday Favorites are "Brought to your by the Letter F!"...

First... We FOUND Christian the Run-away calf and Abbey couldnt be happier! Abbey and her daddy were quite the cowgirl and cowboy pair horseback. It took them a couple of hours, but they FOUND the calf in with the neighbors cows in the next pasture. My next Favorite is FRIENDS! The girls each had a FRIEND over after school...

And man, did they have FUN!

Lastly, on this FRIDAY, I am just thankful for FRIDAY! I am FLAT out FRIZZLED, FRIED, and FAR FROM being rested... I am in need of this weekend!
Happy FUN-Filled, Family Weekend!

Finally...

We FINALLY got all the calves off of the bottles and one of them got out today. Abbey and Will are out horseback as I type looking for her calf, Christian. Abbey is heartbroke... I hope they find him. We FINALLY have a night at home!

We FINALLY have a rope swing for the girls to enjoy and they LOVE it!

My rose bushes are FINALLY blooming!

My kids FINALLY think I am COOL... at least they wrote it on my car!

Happy HUMP Day, FINALLY!

2010 County Art Show...

Last weekend was the county art show, so before we headed to Abilene we stopped by the local Fine Arts Building to see how Abbey and Lainey's entries had done!

Let me just SAY... I am SO PROUD OF MY GIRLS! They are so BRAVE! I dont think I would have EVER had the guts to enter art shows or talent shows or dance contests or anything else that my kids do, but I am so proud of them for entering and giving their ALL in EVERYTHING they do!

Having said that, Abbey and Lainey entered the art show this year. They both entered two pieces of art. This is Abbey with her koala... And Abbey with her calf and Lainey with her flowers. Lainey received a "Nice Job" ribbon for her flowers! Abbey did not get a ribbon for either one of her entries but she was fine with that... Once again, I was just proud of her for participating!

Lainey received "Honorable Mention" for her Puppy! There was some really tough competition this year! The age group was 1st-4th grades!

So proud of you girls! Your art helped make a great art show for our little community and helped improve our Fine Arts Center!

Once again, I am one proud Momma!

Telling on Myself...

Yep, these signs are FOR REAL! So take notice of them when they are on display! Today there was one such sign in our school cafeteria. I had my plate (yes, a glass plate from home) with my baked potato on it and a full cup of water in hand... and WIPED-OUT!

Luckily, all the Kindergarteners and First Graders were genuinely concerned about me, but let me tell you I am going to have a LARGE, HUGE, GIANT bruise on my tiny-hiney (hip bone) and maybe even one one my knee and elbow.

My fourth grader was just glad she was not in the cafeteria because she said she would have been "totally embarrassed for me!" Thank goodness my first grader is not that cool yet.

Happy Monday...

Saturday Softball...

On Saturday, Abbey, Lainey, and I headed over to Abilene to watch a little ACU Wildcat Softball! We had talked about going to a game all year but had had conflicts and THIS Saturday finally worked for us... so we loaded up the car and headed to ACU for the day, just us girls! (Minus Miss Emiley who opted to stay with a friend instead.)
The girls decided an ACU t-shirt was a MUST for the game so we went to the bookstore, got new ACU shirts and these cute "under the eye decals!" We were set! ... Well, we were set after we learned that the noon and 3 o'clock games had been moved to 3 and 5 o'clock! My heart has never dropped so much in the last few months as it did when we pulled up with a VERY. EXCITED. SOFTBALL. GIRL at 12:15 and there NO SOFTBALL going on. The man working the field told us the games were postponed due to the rain the night before so we headed for lunch at Red Robin and a bit of girly shopping! That made our day COMPLETE! We really wanted a shot with all three of us, but Lainey moved at the last minute! Notice where Lainey was SUPPOSE to be in the picture!

The games were so much fun! We sat right on the third base line and Abbey chased every foul ball that was hit out of the park. She would then go take it back to the ACU dugout. She was so EXCITED that this was her job for the DAY!

Abbey LOVES the games and stood watching every play! The mommy in me cant help but fall in love with whatever it is my kids are in love with, too... Abbey wore her glove and watched intently at every play!

Abbey loved all the players and was amazed at how fast the game moves. She was also impressed with ACU's shortshop (one of the positions Abbey plays) who was 6 foot tall and really GOOD!

It was a GREAT mommy/daughter day! Abbey kept saying over and over "Thank you mommy for taking me! Thank you SO MUCH!"

Anytime, my dear! I had a BLAST!

The Winning Art...

Lainey received her prizes from the Texas General Land Office this week! Here is a picture of her "Official" certificate that has a reprint of her winning picture on it! We were all really excited to see her picture again. Everyone has been asking her what it looked like and if we had a copy of it... HERE IT IS! Lainey's award was announced at school today and she had her picture taken at school with her principal and her wonderful art teacher. Lainey was so happy to tell me she got out of class twice because they wanted to take her picture FOUR times! She even wore her "Be Kind to the Sea" shirt for the big day!

Lainey now is the owner of tickets to Schlitterbahn and the State Aquarium and we cant wait to go see her original piece of artwork hanging in the TEXAS STATE CAPITAL South Central Gallery (that is what her official winning letter said!) May 27th- June 2nd.


So proud of you, sweet girl!

An Good Old Fashioned Letter...

Yesterday we received a Good Old Fashioned Letter from our Compassion Child, Jose, in Hondorus. Isn't he the cutest? We were so excited! It was written in Spanish from him and then translated in English. The girls were so excited to try and read some of the Spanish words. Jose told of his Christmas vacation, what our money had bought him for Christmas (pants!), his love for school, and his plans for summer break. He drew us a picture that the girls were so proud of! Jose also shared with us his favorite scripture, Psalms 27: 1, "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" Powerful from a 10 year old! When I looked this verse up in my Bible I had written "Why should I worry?!?" beside it... Thanks for this reminder, Jose and God! You made me look in the right spot this week.

The girls got right to work drawing Jose pictures and writing their favorite scriptures for him. Abbey chose to draw a cross and included the verse Mark 10:15-16, "'Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little God will never enter it.' And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them." So sweet! I just love her sweet spirit these days.

Lainey chose the verse we all know, John 3:16, "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that who ever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life!" Lainey recited the verse! She is getting GREAT at memorizing scripture and learning all the books of the Bible!

Miss Emiley has a harder time settling on a scripture. She finally decided on the last verse of the Bible! Probably because she had sifted through all the pages and settled there, but it is a good one nonetheless. It is Revelation22:21, "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen!"

I am so proud of these girls! The were so excited to share their drawing with Jose. We finally sent him a family portrait, too. I think it makes it even more special since we have been to Hondoras. I encourage you to sponsor a child through Compassion if you dont already do so! It will be a HUGE blessing to you and to your sponsor child!

Friday Favorites...

Yes, I know it seems like my Friday Favorites are actually turning into "Something Special for Saturday" but that is just how my busy life is these days!

This week my Friday Favorite is my PINK Tool Kit my dad and Dee got me for Christmas! I have used this thing a 1,001 times since December! It has every tool you could possibly dream of in it including nails, an electric screwdriver, tape, and SO. MUCH. MORE! Will actually gave them the idea for the gift. I guess he was tired of me getting into his tools and never getting them back. Another good thing is that these tools are PINK so they are sure not to get confused with HIS tools! SO CUTE! And notice my sparkly initials on the right corner... just a touch of bling to make it all mine...

Happy Weekend!

Thursday Thoughts...

1. I love this little "Rockstar!" She sure keeps our family laughing. God sure blessed our family with this third little surprise.

2. This week has flown by!

3. A head check by the school nurse for hair "flies" as one child called them can sure mess up a math lesson.

4. Miss Lainey's Press Release on her big art contest win was made this week in news papers along the Gulf Coast. Pretty exciting to get that email with her name in it! The grand prize winner was from Brownsville and won two round-trip tickets to anywhere in the US and two tickets on a cruise... CRAZY. We cant wait to take the girls to the capital to view her art work and to go to Schlitterbahn and to the Aquarium. VACAY is SET!

5. Miss Abbey was given the game ball at her game on Monday night for stopping a line drive ball and getting the out at third. She actually three two girls out at first and got two others out at third. Their ENTIRE.TEAM played AWESOME! They won 12-1!

6. I was a bit thankful tonight's game got rained out! We got to stay home and rest... no dance, no softball!

7. TAX SEASON IS OVER!

8. The sixth six weeks is beginning at school... How did the year go by so fast!?!

9. I am trying to eat gluten free to see if it helps the way my tummy feels! We shall see!

10. Tomorrow is FRIDAY. That makes me smile because I get to wear JEANS to school. Its the simple things, Folks!

Wordless Wednesday...(sort of)

YAY! They are back! Our bluebonnets are finally blooming...

And my yard and I coundnt be happier!

Happy Hump Day...

Heritage Farms...

Last Friday, I took a personal day from school and took the day to spend with my fun, free-spirited middle daughter. The second grade was going on their field trip to Heritage Farms! We had been there before as a family so I KNEW we would have fun and I KNEW Lainey would love it! Lainey and her BFF Abby were so excited that they were in the same group so they got to spend the entire day together! It was a beautiful day! Let me just say if you are ever in the area (WACO, TX) you must check it out! My kids LOVE it and all the second graders had a great time! Our first stop was to pet and hold the baby goats!

Then we took our turns at the baby turkeys!

It is such a neat place. At one point some friends and I were considering finding a place like this to call "home." Some days I feel like I already live on such a farm!

Then we watched a dog gather goats. This was a border collie dog just like our "Jack Dog." It was so interesting to watch him obey his owners commends and listen to his owners whistles.

Lainey and her buddies, Abby and Cade were in her group and she could not have been happier!

Then it was off to make SOAP! Each child was able to make a soap ball and take it home with them. Lainey has taken a bath with hers EVERY.SINGLE.NIGHT! It smells so good and it makes her skin so soft.

Then we loaded up for a hay ride. Once again Miss Abby and Lainey were side by side!

The hay ride took us to a beautiful look-out point!

Next it was time for our picnic lunch and HOMEMADE ICE CREAM!!! Lainey said this was her favorite time of the day.

After lunch we watch a pottery making demonstration...

And a wood-working demonstration...

It was a marvelous day... with my WONDERFUL, middle child! We then hit up the gift shop and bought some more homemade soap and some honey! Then we enjoyed a quiet ride home, just the two of us!