Summer is flying by

I can't believe school will start back in just a month. This summer is going by way too fast. Hopefully we'll still have time to get a few more fun things in before it's over. Most of our time has been taken up by summer track...not the best idea I ever had. Guess I should have said to myself "Hey, if you do this you are going to have to sit out at a track meet all day in 100+ degree weather...think about it for a while." But I didn't have that conversation with myself, so there I was burning up for hours waiting for Jaden's two or three events to roll around...I guess at least I wasn't having to run in 100+ degree heat, I'm sure J doesn't think it was the best idea we ever had either. She toughed it out though, and we made it through. Had our regional meet this Fri. and Sat. and are now officially finished with track and track practices. :)

Logan and Rikki came to visit and got to bake with us at one of the track meets this summer too. Then they switched to some basketball for a little fun when we got home.

Logan got a little too much sun at the track meet. Hopefully she has recovered. They thought one meet was enough and didn't volunteer to go to anymore!!!

We've also managed to fit in two more trips to the lake so far this summer. Jaden always has a ball out on the water and is hoping we're able to squeeze in a couple more before the end of the summer.

Tubing is always her favorite part of the trip, and she doesn't think her turn is over until you manage to flip her out of the tube.

Jen and Caden invited us to hang out with them for a day at Turner Falls in Oklahoma, and we have definitely found a new fun spot. The kids loved it and Jen and I had a great time watching and playing with them in the water.

We also fit in a trip to the Panhandle for the 4th of July...it was freezing and rainy there but the kids did get a little break from the rain and a chance to put on a little fireworks show for us at the farm.

Hopefully soon I'll get better about updating here, but soccer practice starts tomorrow with the season soon to follow, so I'm not seeing a whole lot of free time in my future even though we've made it through our first...and last...track season!!!

A busy May

We've had a lot going on in the month of May so thought I'd take a few minutes to blog about what I remember...I'm old and there are times my brain doesn't like to function. For instance, I was showing Joey these pictures and he asked where they were from. I told him "wonderland." Then he wanted to know when we went there. I had to tell him "don't you remember Becca and the kids came down here the first part of May and we took them?" Then he looked at me like I was crazy until I realized these pictures are from Six Flags...close enough as far as I'm concerned...I knew what I was talking about. Anyway J and I had a good time with Becca and the kiddos at Six Flags even though we were hoping it would be less crowded than it was. Luckily the kids were very patient with the lines.

The week after this outing was field day at J's school. I had volunteered to help out the second half of the day. Field day was a whole new adventure this year though since it poured rain the whole afternoon. They decided to do the events in the school this year...not the most exciting of days since their races were limited to the space they had up and down the halls, but they made the most of it and still had fun...no school work still means a good day for the kiddos!!!

J on one of the obstacle courses they had thankfully set up in the gym.

Kangaroo hop down the hall.

After field day we came home and got ready to head out to another big event for the month...Logan's graduation. We loaded up and headed to Oklahoma in the pouring rain. It was raining there too so the graduation was moved to inside in their gym. We are so proud of what a wonderful young woman she has grown into.

Mom, Angie and her kiddos came to visit us the next weekend. We had a great time hanging out with them...got some good shopping in, and the kids had a good time playing with each other.

Last weekend we celebrated Memorial weekend with a lot of outside time. B-day party Sat. outside with water slides and then Sun. and Mon. at the lake. Jaden had a blast riding jet skies and doing some tubing.

She even tried a little knee boarding but wasn't quite strong enough to get herself all the way up.

Maybe that will change soon...she has also started track practices, and her at home assignment for the rest of this week is 25 push ups a day and some sprinting...she's not the biggest fan of the push ups at the moment, but hopefully she'll get stronger and they will get easier for her.


We still had to finish school the week after Memorial Day, so we hauled our tired selves out of bed Tues. morning and got through the week. For the first year J had perfect attendance for the entire year. She got to have a picnic with the principal for this achievement. She also did a great job on her TAKS test...100 on the reading and 98 on the math portion. I went to her awards assembly on Wed. to see her get all her awards for the year...so proud of my smart, thoughtful, caring little girl!!!

And finally...here is a picture from the last day of school!!! Summer has officially begun around here. Track meets start this Sat...say a little prayer that we survive traveling the metroplex and being out in the heat!!!

Finally a winning season!!!

J has been playing soccer since the spring of kindergarten and has never been on a team with a winning record until now...her team finished the year 9-1...so this was an especially fun year for her. She just joined the Mustangs last season when her team broke up and has really enjoyed being on this team having made a ton of new friends that she loves hanging out with. Thanks to them all for treating her like she's been with them from the beginning ;)

Here are a few pictures from the season. Can't wait to do it all over again next fall!!!

PIG and 21

J and Joe play at least one game of PIG and 21 every day. J loves it, and Joe really enjoys it too I think. I usually don't go out there...there's a lot of smack talk and rubbing it in to the loser, which is usually Jaden, but it sure makes it that much sweeter for her when she finally does win because she has all the smack talk down too. Joe doesn't cut her any slack...if she wins, she really wins...no pretending to miss a shot for Joe. He told me the other day that he is just trying to build a competitive spirit in her, make her want to win...and he's definitely succeeding at that. It would probably work really well if the little girls she played against treated her the same way. Right now she still saves most of her aggression for her daddy!!!

These are some pictures from a game of 21 they were playing the other day...a game that Jaden won!!!

They kick back and throw a little fun into the competition sometimes too...no idea what sparked this little dance off, but glad I got a picture.

Joe trying to scare her on her last shot that was for the win...she's been here before though and knew it was coming.

And the final shot to seal a VICTORY!!!

Our Week

We've had a lot going on this week. Started off with an alignment and new tires for my car...needed to be done...hated paying for it. After we got that taken care of we had soccer practice and pictures for the girls. Their coach tried to get a scrimmage together with another team from the area but it fell through. The girls scrimmaged each other for a while and then thought it would be fun to play against the parents. I'm sure it was fun for them to see us all out there trying to run around with them. Even though I run several times a week, I found myself sore in several different areas the next day...plus they took my goal away because of some stupid rule they said we broke. All in all we had fun together and got a better idea of how much work these girls put in!!!



Monday after school Jaden had an orthodontist appointment. She was excited about it since she was finally going to get her bottom braces off and be free of them for a while...plus the dentist had told her a few weeks earlier that she had a tooth that was only being held in by her braces, so she knew she'd be getting a visit from the tooth fairy that night. She had been telling me for a while that her tooth that was going to fall out was cracked, but I didn't really believe that it could be...I mean the dentist didn't say anything about that and she never said it hurt. Guess that was because it didn't have any roots left because it was definitely cracked...



This is the piece we were left with when the braces came off. J said now she knows what the inside of a tooth looks like now. The poor ortho had to dig out the rest of the pieces...he gave J a prize for making her cry plus told her that the tooth fairy gives extra money for teeth with brackets on them. Guess he was right...she put it in her tooth fairy pillow from Great Grandma Conrad and ended up with an extra dollar!!!

She now is braces free but does have a retainer that she has to wear all night and during the day for at least one hour. Joe was excited since she can't talk for the hour she has it in during the day...it's just one piece and her top and bottom teeth both go in it so she has to keep her mouth shut to keep it in place. J has a hard time being quiet for that long though so now keeps a pen and paper handy to let us know what she's thinking.

Wednesday I went to have lunch with J and to take her to the book fair at school. I feel lucky that she enjoys reading...not so lucky when she finds tons of books she thinks she needs. We settled on three. I then had to head home and wait for the refrigerator repair man to make his way to our house...sometime between the hours of 1 and 5...don't you just love that four hour time frame they give you. He finally made it here about 4:30, tracked dirt and mud all over my floors and told me it would be $488 to fix the dang thing. Told him no thank you and paid him $65 for his 10 minutes of mud tracking. Wednesday was also the 14th so figured while I was shelling out money I might as well efile and pay my taxes...ugh...not a good day at all. By the way the IRS is way quicker about taking the money out of your checking account than they are about putting your refund in...not that I actually remember a time when we got a refund.

Luckily I found a good deal on a fridge at Sears on Thurs. and they could deliver on Fri. so I signed up. They even took my $65 service charge out of the price...definitely a better day. After that I had to hurry home...the little one had a soccer game that night. They played really well and I had a great time watching them and seeing how much better they are getting at passing and playing together. They won 5-0 and are still undefeated for the season!!! Here are a few pictures from the game...

J is really getting a lot better at controlling the ball, passing, shooting and knowing where she is supposed to be on the field...so proud at how much better she is getting this season.

Friday we got our new fridge, and they only gave me a two hour window that I had to wait at home for them. So very glad to have cold and frozen food again...guess I'll have to hit the grocery store this weekend and stock it back up...a little tired of all the eating out anyway!!!

Woke up to pouring rain last night...at least we weren't camping out for ESD this year...would have been even worse than usual, but Joe got his boss to work with him and make sure he would be off in time to pick J up from school this year so I was saved...YAY!!! All the rain from overnight made the fields too wet for soccer today, so we have a totally free weekend...another YAY!!!

Easter in OK

Jaden and I headed up to Oklahoma for an Easter celebration this year since she believes you need to be around as much family as possible on the holidays. Joey wasn't feeling good and so he stayed behind to rest up while we hit the road for a little fun. Two days with her sisters and grandparents plus some cousins thrown in equaled plenty of family fun time for the occasion!!!



Here is Jaden in her new Easter attire from MeMaw and Poppy Joe...she was very excited to see all the peace signs...her favorite!!!




Did a little egg coloring to prepare for the festivities.

Had two egg hunts...one in the early morning by herself...always a good way to make sure you get lots of eggs...

and one after our fabulous lunch with a little competition for the loot. She still ended up making out pretty good for the day!!!

Even Prince got into the spirit of the day.

Later J tortured her poor sisters until they "did something" with her. They were really good sports though and played soccer, jumped rope and also threw in a little Simon says and Yahtzee.

Couldn't ask for much more...heading back that way for Logan's graduation in about a month, I'm sure there will be more pictures to follow. Can't believe that day is already so close!!!