Sea World

We had an entire summer vacation worth of activities in a week and a half. Sea World was first on our list. The family services group gave us free tickets because of the deployment. We had a great time. There was a new show called Azul, and it was awesome. (Shamu's show has been cut short with all the changes since Shamu decided to eat his trainers.)

We had a great family day. What a great family I have!

Memorial Day

My 5 boys!



We went to Canyon Lake for Memorial Day. It will be one of our favorite places. We only drove about 30 minutes and ended up at the Randolph AFB area. An area of the lake just for military-Thank you! The water was warm and the sun was hot. The boys had a fantastic time swimming and playing. Anya and I just sat under an umbrella and enjoyed the scenery. It was quickly determined that 1) We should have found this place last summer when we got here 2) We will definitely be buying watercraft/jet skis when Darin gets home and 3) We want to stay in the little shacks as soon as possible.

*On a side note: we will also be reapplying sunscreen at shorter intervals. Playing in the water with all that sun...bad news. My oldest 2 boys got their first real sunburns. They included blisters, crying, and eventually peeling. A bad mom moment, but hey I was worried about the little ones. I told them, they just didn't listen and I didn't push it. It was a lesson learned.


The boys

Sleeping beauty. She looks bigger than she really is in this picture.

Here is one of her feet compared to my thumb. She's a tiny girl.

The Last Week of School/The First Week of Life

The last week of school and the first week of Anya's life unfortunately happened at the same time. Darin was still wrapping up some last minute items at work and so little Anya and I were the cheerleaders for our boys and their activities. Noah tagged along as well, and was great at anything that required clapping. These are the last "Hoooraaah's " of the school year!


Davis and Mrs. Gaytan at the 5th grade honors night.
The spring band concert. Fabulous french horn action was going on. He even played a solo in between the 6th grade songs.

Kindergarten Graduation. Jag and Mrs. Dickson. She fought me for the entire year because I pulled him out 1/2 day. I let him go full time starting the end of April, I am sure she thought that she'd won the fight.


Third Grade Awards program. Christian got the Patriot Award for being nearly perfect in every way! He is a dream student (as are his brothers). He is in the front row, end, in the green shirt.
We also went to the Intermediate School talent show. Davis played his horn. I don't have a picture because he was so nervous I couldn't see his face. He put the music stand right at face height and hid behind it while playing "O, Canada!" Darin, who came straight from work and was in full USAF uniform... found the selection choice funny. Davis can play "America the Beautiful," but he loves his Canadian song. (Talent show was on Davis's birthday, double whammy.)

We also finished up the baseball season. It was a successful season. Davis was recognized for being the fastest kid ever. His coaches enjoyed having him steal bases at crazy times. Like right before the pitcher stepped on the mound to pitch... SAFE!


What a busy last week of school we had. Why did the school's save everything until the last week anyway? We're just really glad that it is all over. I kept saying that Anya needed to come out before the last week of school because there was just too much to do. Fortunately, she listened.

Birthday Stuff for 2

I've been away on a blogcation. I think that having a baby that screams a lot and losing a husband that helps a lot has made blogging more difficult to get to. I am going to quickly catch up with everything that has happened in the last month. Yes, one month ago my life changed and a beautifully loud little girl entered.
Before I get into the baby and life stuff, I must first start with the birthdays that happened.

Jag turned 6!! May 21st wasn't just Anya's birthday, it was my favorite little 6 year old's day too.

He had wanted a jungle cake. The night before his actual birthday, I'd gotten 48 cupcakes made with some ready for school and the rest to be made into his cake. I knew I should have stayed up and finished, but sleep prevailed and well the rest is history. My dad was great at frosting the cupcakes, singing, opening the gifts, and taking the pictures. I still have to get them off of my dad's camera. 6 days after Jag's day is Davis's birthday. I couldn't make Davis a cake if Jag still hadn't gotten his official celebration. So...here is his tiger cake. It isn't beautiful, but he liked it anyway.

Just as "Happy Birthday" was ending and Jag was gearing up for the big blow out the candles moment, Noah gave a big puff... Jag was heartbroken.

Round 2 was a success.
This is the only picture I have of Jag and his gifts. Thanks to a last minute gift from his dad. A headlight to read in bed.


On May 27th Davis turned 11! How quickly they grow. His birthday list was mostly a list of books. He put in his order for an OREO birthday cake. He wanted it to taste and look like a large OREO.
Davis declared it a success! Hurray, it tasted like an OREO.

Books, books, and more books. So happy and excited. (He seriously read at least 5 books in the following 2 days. That's my boy!)

2 birthday's down. 1 blogging baby step. It is going to take me a bit to catch up with the last 4 weeks. I now have a goal to be done with this by the weekend, so don't get too bored with us. I must catch up, it has been bugging me.

Out

Out. That is what I've been since the birth of baby 2 weeks ago. I've been out with the boys and their end of year school stuff. Out with my family making some last minute family memories while we can. Out with one thing or another. I have a billion pictures of the 3 birthdays and the traveling and the blessing. They will all be out of my camera and onto the blog soon. For now, here are a few photos.