'AWANA' be a child of God!

The Commander (the leader of AWANA)

Receiving his award bag from Ms. Melanie

Tyler saying the bible pledge!

Tyler on the back row with the older class...he wanted to be middle center!

Tyler completed his first year of AWANA this past Sunday! For those that don't know, AWANA is a children's ministry designed to teach children to know, love and serve the Lord! And if your curious about the name it is derived from the first letter of the following:
'Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed as taken from 2 Timothy 2:15 of the Bible.' So every Sunday at 4:30, Tyler and I have learned to memorize bible verses through crafts, games, story time, and puppet play! He has absolutely loved it and has made many friends.

Going to the big D, and I do mean Dallas!

Ah...Lala arriving!

Prom pose...before the rehearsal dinner



The dance floor lights

Toasting after his brother's speech

The groom and some of his groom's men...BJ's one of them


A shot of us...wow, that never happens

so let's do it again. :)


Crazy, funny Sterling thinking this is awkward...
They had a photo booth that had props in it...hence the wig.


'He's a hard working man...' Taking a break to check the markets

'Lala a train is coming...'

Well...the Dart...

They love Lala

and are sad to see her go!

Fun weekend, one that makes you feel young again. We arrived in Dallas and literally handed the kids over to Lala. She was the center of their entertainment as she bounced them from visiting Uncle Jeb and Aunt Kay, to Target for toys, to the mall for some shopping, and nature walks. They had a blast and she allowed it so that we did too! Thanks for coming down and loving on the boys!

The wedding was one of BJ's good friends and it was fun to hang with them (and see Kelly too). Too many funny stories to tell... They are definitely the only guys I know that know the Baylor Line song...and oh yeah they sang it and did the 'sic 'em bears' as the bride and groom where leaving! So funny! But nothing was funnier than BJ's rehearsal dinner speech (can't share it here). :)

Slip n' Slide

All smiles :)
Not into it last year...couldn't get enough of it this year!

No assistance!!

While the pool is fun, the slide is a blast! Two summers ago, Sarah and I decided to go in on a slide so they could bounce and slide the way through the heat. Friday we popped it up for a playgroup. They got a 30 minute play in, before heading to Dallas for a wedding. The drive was spent talking about how their birthday should be together, be on the slide, and have pirates (Tyler) and dinosaurs (Drew)!

By the hair of his chinny chin chin...

Tyler's scrape from the pool

But it didn't slow him down! Practicing his swing for tee ball...check out how

fast those arms are moving!

Drew resting on 'home plate.' It's serious!

This is how Drew plays...'knock, knock, TIMBER!!'

...it was only a scrape! We had a bit of an accident today at the pool. Hopefully it's our last, but due to their rough and daring personalities it's probably the first of many! Tyler was rushing in and out of the shallow end, jumping off the side. He slipped on the way out and his chin hit the edge of the pool! It really looked painful...and then blood started to drip! Little guy was tough and brave, and after a popsicle he was back in the pool. Drew was too funny...when Tyler got hurt, he ran out of the pool and just stood on the side, as if to say 'this is dangerous, I'm out.' Which is what he must have thought since he spent the rest of the day jumping into the pool with his 'boat.' The boat is his safety net...smart guy.

5 Stars!!!!!

Drew telling me 'Happy Mother's Day to you'

Tyler showing off his twisting skills

BJ's mother day dinner!

What an awesome day. The pastor started it off with how men are to honor and appreciate their wives as the example for their children. After that we had a swim picnic at Mimi and Papa's house. This evening BJ made a spectacular dinner for mother's day. He is an amazing cook, but tonight was 5 star quality...Peppercorn beef tenderloin in a brandy cream sauce with a side of parmesan corn bowtie (from scratch and with no recipe). SO GOOD!! Definitely missed his calling, but as I told him tonight, when he retires we will eat in slender! Happy Mother's Day!

Now this is water you swim in!

Erin

Brooke in the beach entry! This entry is the best for this age!

Kam

Tyler

Drew in the boat he didn't like to share

Crying while watching Brooke in the boat...

If it's warm enough for mommy to swim in Lake Woodlands, well by golly it's warm enough for the boys to swim in parents pool. They had a great time...as long as they didn't have to share. The boys are really looking forward to the Woodlands 13 pools opening soon. Pre-season is this weekend for those that don't know. :) We got our passes, so call us if you are heading that way.

1 hour & 28 minutes!

Our tri team...looking fit!

My first triathlon...my future triathlete!!

So I have to start with the practice swim in Lake Woodlands last Saturday...as my close friends know, we were given a chance to get into the water (the nasty lake water) and see what it's like to swim open water. Well, after 3 strokes where I landed on top of someone and took down a route 66 drink of the lake water, I throw my dark blue goggles on my head and breast stroked the entire course. I was convinced I was sick from the water the next morning when I woke to a sore throat. A day later I realized, oh no, it was from holding my head out of the water and breast stroking. So the past few days it's been a build up of anxiety! And terror creeping in about the water leg of the course. But, give God the glory because today was a different story!

In order to put 1,000 competitors into the water, you go in 3 minute waves. They line you up by age group that is color coordinated to your swim cap. Imagine bald heads (swim caps on), form fitting attire, arms crossed in prayer position, eyes wide with nerves/fright, huddled in groups, taking little steps forward...to me, it looked like the lines to the concentration camps-and that is how it felt-I was freaked about finding my coffin out there and so was everyone else! But, by God's grace I was able to find my 'spot' knock around a few people, remembered that it is a contact sport (dude the water polo people would be awesome at this) and relax enough to swim...and that's what I did. As I can out of the water, I heard Sarah call my name! Awesome to get out at the same time, cause in the water anything can happen! 500 meter swim done...

The bike...EASY...minus my gu (energy pack) falling off at mile 4. The phrase I kept repeating the whole morning was 'geez these people are serious.' Well that came out on the bike. People had aero-dynamic helmets and were speeding past me going 100 miles an hour (not really). Sarah and I were riding at 18.8 mile pace...which is not bad. A comic relief half way through the bike was when we came up on a mom that looked like she was on her little son's bike (not kidding-it was a youth looking bike and she was working HARD and going no where). Having no hills and a spin class a week made this leg a breeze. 15 miles done...

Run...this is my groove...this is what I do. Smooth and nice. And it was the greatest part...because this is where you saw all the people that had come out to support you. My engineer dad did awesome and parked the whole family in a spot where we got to see them twice. What a boost!! 3.2 miles and DONE!!

It was so fun to do it with Sarah & Becky. What an accomplishment by them! Seriously! Both of them have a baby under a year old. Congrats!