Devo night!

We had a devotional at church tonight, complete with hot dogs, banana splits, games, and a water gun fight afterwards!

Before the water gun fight...

Every time I looked at Nathan, he was getting the girls!

In action....Nathan annoying his sister with a devilish grin!

They started attacking daddy for some reason!

And after the water gun fight....soaking wet!

The water gun fight was a hit...they had so much fun!  Lots and lots of giggles and screams!  We also enjoyed the devo...learning about how we're all different, but great when we work together.  It was a good night with our church friends!

First day of school!

Well, the day has come....first day of 7th grade (officially in junior high) and 3rd grade!  Madison was tired, but semi-excited.

Nathan wanted nothing to do with waking up early or talking about school!  He was a little upset with me for waking him up during his dream about finding a book on plants at the library.  Thinking about school in his sleep?

I did manage to get a few smiles out of him though!

First day of 2nd grade...and now!

Funny thing, Madison always likes wearing bright shirts on the first day instead of the normal boring polo colors.  We got some new shirts for this year, but apparently, she had the same idea last year!

Nathan has two teachers this year...one for ELA/social studies (Ms. Wheeler) and one for math/science (Ms. Rios).  I think he'll really like them - we've heard good things about both teachers!

Nathan wanted me to include one picture on the blog showing how he really felt about the first day of school...my goofy child.  He's a mess!

I told Madison that we were leaving early so that we could make it around the school to get pictures of all her teachers, and she looked at me with total fear!  I told her I was joking, and she was VERY relieved!  Although it's much easier not to worry about getting pictures with teachers, I sure miss those days with her.  She's definitely growing up.  Can't believe my baby is in junior high...it just doesn't seem possible!

I'm sure both kids will have a great first day and a wonderful year!

Bye bye summer...

We have to say goodbye to another great summer.  Goodbye to sleeping in, laid back schedules, care-free days, lots of family time, etc.  It's amazing how fast these summers fly by, but we made a lot of good memories!  I'm not going to lie and say the summer was perfect with no fighting, but looking back, these two really did have fun together!

We started off our summer by visiting Lacey and Cody in Tennessee!  We were VERY blessed and were able to take two vacations this summer, and we headed to Pensacola Beach that next week.  The kids had a fun weekend at Gaga's, they had friend sleepovers, sleepovers with mommy and daddy, they went swimming, night swimming, and more swimming!  Madison went on her first week-long mission trip to New Mexico without us, and loved every minute of it.  Nathan turned 9 this summer and developed a new love for Nintendo 3DS!  We had VBS, finished the summer reading log at the library (with a lot of reading this summer), went to Jump Mania, Urban Air, roller skating, and jump night at Metroplex Gymnastics!  We saw Finding Dory, The BFG, and Secret Life of Pets.  Madison attended a few of the Summer Youth series devos and has found that being in the older youth group is a lot of fun!  She also had band rehearsal for a week this summer, and then attended a band party at Main Event!  She's excited and ready for symphonic band this school year!  We had our hotel getaway and went to Bahama Bucks (which is always on the bucket list).  This was the summer of Go Fish, Clue and Old Maid, and we found a new family show we all LOVE - The Middle!  We had some lazy days, did lots of organizing, and just enjoyed the down time that we only get in the summer.  It was a great time off, but now we're headed into a new school year!  I know we'll all get into the groove quickly, but there's just something so great about summertime.  Regardless of the stress I sometimes feel with the kids, I feel so incredibly blessed to be able to stay home with them.  Good or bad, I love our time together and I'm thankful to have this time with them.

Roller skating...

Well, it hit me today that we have completely failed as parents...we never taught our kids to roller skate!  They have never gotten the hang of it and dread going, so we just don't go very often.  We had a get together with church friends at Thunderbird rink today, and despite the many falls and huge workout for mommy and daddy, I think they had a little fun.  We took a group picture, minus a few boys and some other kids who left early.  Nathan was standing on his toes to keep from falling, and Madison was holding onto the wall!  We need to take them skating more often!

Jump night!

Tonight, the kids went to Metroplex Gymnastics for open jump night.  They had a lot of fun, despite having to eat cold pizza at 8:45!  It was still a fun night with friends, and they were able to finally get some energy out since it's been raining so much lately.

Glow bath!

One thing that is always on our summer bucket list is a glow bath.  Since today is the last day of summer vacation, we had to fit it in!  They have so much fun, and can play in the bath forever.  Today, they got creative and played 'go fish' with the glow sticks over and over and over!

Hotel getaway...

This is another fun, yearly, family tradition that we always look forward to...our hotel getaway!  Rain was in the forecast both days, but yesterday turned out to be really nice and sunny!

They love getting slushies!

Goofy kids!

We had a great time, and we left with no broken toes this year!  I just love our family time...it's worth the money to be able to make these great memories.

Jump Mania...

Since it's almost the end of summer, we thought we'd get together with some friends and jump!  These kids had so much fun together, and never got tired after 2.5 hours of bouncing and climbing and sliding!

A homeless man and two caring kids!

Today, we saw a homeless man with a sign while we were sitting at a light.  We drove off and the kids were appalled that we didn't do anything to help!  I will admit that I get a little iffy and unsure of what to do when I see people like this at lights.  The kids asked why no one helped him, and I explained how there are people who abuse it and fake being homeless just for money.  I think this is why a lot of people don't stop and help.  Nathan replied with, "Who cares if he's lying, we would be doing the right thing by helping!"  The kids were dying to help him, and wanted to bring him food.  So we turned around and bought a big combo meal at McDonald's for him.  He seemed grateful, and whether or not he was an honest man, that one deed gave so much joy to Madison and Nathan.  They couldn't stop smiling or thinking about him all evening!  My kids taught me a little something today...do the right thing regardless of what is in the other person's heart!  I love these kids....their sweet hearts really came out today and I'm proud of them.  Their love for God shines bright!

Police department...

Today, some of the kids in our youth group met at the building to write cards of encouragement for the Wylie Police Officers.  We brought a big basket of goodies, along with the cards, and delivered to the police station.  They are in between buildings and don't really have a place we could meet, so we met at the old station outside.  I think the heat fried our brains, because no one thought to get a picture with the police officer!  I'm really sad, but I'm sure all the kids will remember.  He was very grateful for the goodies, but he said the cards were what they really loved.  He said some of the officers keep cards from kids/people in their cars while they work throughout the day.  In light of what's going on in our world, we just really felt that we needed to lift them up and show our appreciation for all they do!

Rainforest Cafe....

I'm pretty sure this is our 8th year of going to the Rainforest Cafe with Nana, possibly more.  This is a fun tradition that the kids have always loved!

The waitress asked if there were any birthdays we were celebrating, so all the summer birthdays had to get up and act like animals (Taylor, Nathan and Chance)!

We got a blue frog, a blue monkey and a pink tiger.  Imaginative kids!

They always have to throw pennies to the alligator!

And, of course, our annual photo booth pics...they love doing these!

We had a good time and ate way too much!  I never got a picture, but their favorite part is the volcano for dessert...they love it!

Failed attempt at curls....

Madison has been wanting to braid her hair in lots of braids so it will be curly the next day, and last night she finally did it.  She had it in about 12 different braids!  This morning, she took them out, and made the mistake of brushing through her hair.  We were laughing so hard at this frizz!  Didn't quite turn out like she had envisioned, but we had a good laugh about it.  These pictures don't really do it justice!