"Saw You At The Pole" Rally

Wed. night we had a rally during youth(I help with the youth at my church)and saw pictures of see you at the pole when we arrived.
Here is our youth pastor-Pastor Mike-he rocks!-making announcements.

Here are some of my dorks-I love them none-the-less!!!
Couple of my sweeties.

Some other leaders.
Here are a couple of are guys playing a game-who can eat a frozen Snikers the fastest-Skyler on the right won!
Here is Pastor Mike praying before praise and worship.
Praise and worship
Alter Call-a very powerful time this night!

ROCKN' C RANCH ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!

When I arrived on Wed. the kids were about to go swimming-just about everybodys favorite time of day!
Here is Mr.Griffin(principle)talking character talk to the kids-it was very inspiring.
The first night we had a campfire with hamburgers,hotdogs and smores.It was yum,yum!!
Marion and his buddies.
The night ended with an awesome hayride-the boys went first and us girls stayed back while Mr Matt had a character talk and then we went on our hayride!!!

Here we are at aquatics and fishing-the kids are taking samples of the lake water.
Here is my group on the trail ride -they practiced in the arena for about 10 minutes and went on the trail and road for about 45 minutes -so i was so proud of my babies!!!!!
Love this picture of my Mar!!
They got to brand a piece of wood with the Rockn'C Ranch brand.
My group !!!Yea-they will always always have a special place in my heart!!!!

Me and my girls!!We will forever be bonded!!!!
First thing every morning we gathered around the flagpole-Mr.Matt shared a character story,did the pledge,prayer and then went to eat.
Kinda scary!!The kids loved me anyhow!!!!
My group #3!!!I was in charge of this group for all three days.I took them to all of the activities and I was their lil' momma while we were out there. They were the best!!I fell in love with each of them!
Our last challenge-to make a raft and to see if it would float-no it did not--but it was fun watching.

IKE

So what do you do doing raging hurricane,Ike? Go to Dairy Queen and eat ice cream and build forts,of course!!!!
Friday night,we kept our friend's son-Tommy and we went to DQ and saw evacuees there watching the weather channel.
Then all day on Saturday-Gray built a fort and had a blast while we were glued to the television.
Gray and all -well,some of his stuffed animals.
Grayson's masterpiece!!

Off to go camping!

I am heading off today to go with Marion's homeroom teacher and two other classes to Rockn' C Ranch! I am so excited!!!We will spend Wed,Thur,and Fri there.It will be great interaction with the great outdoors and hands-on for the children as far as animals and the country environment.I will have great pictures to come!!!!Grayson is pumped because he going to spend the night with a friend tonight-so he will have a blast,and Jason will have some quiet r&r!!!!!!!!Catch ya later!!!!

This is for you Maw Maw!!

Maw Maw let us bring home the jeep she has had at her house for years-and Gray has been enjoying it sooo much!!! Thank-you so much Maw Maw and we love you bunches!!!!

4 Things

I was tagged a long time ago but just now getting around to doing this because i dont like doing this type of stuff-so here it goes...
4 Things about me:
4 things to do today:
1:laundry 2:prepare for Ike 3:paint toenails 4:pay a bill
4 things I like about my hubby:
1:hard working 2:great daddy 3:handy-man 4:not afraid to clean house
4 places I have lived:
1:Connecticut 2:Dallas 3:Navasota 4:Lindale
4 places I have been:
1:Caribbean 2:Jamaica 3:Maine 4:Colorado
4 places I want to go:
1:BoraBora 2:Hawaii 3:Across the USA
4 things you don't know about me
1:When I was young,i jumped into a pool and almost drowned but my brother jumped in and saved me.
2:I have 6 sisters and 4 brothers-a blended family yet a very close family!!!
3:I was the homecoming queen of my graduating class and when i went back to crown the next years queen-Chuck Norris was there watching the game and halftime(he has a ranch in our town)
4:I had natural childbirth with Grayson.The reason I chose to go without the drugs is because I had the drugs with Marion and it was horrible!!So -if i ever did it again i would go with a midwife and forget the hospital altogether!!

Guard Dog

Snuggled in the hole that Samson has made-filled with toys of every kind and a bright colored chair to make a lovely umbrella,Samson looks on and watches- making sure all is well with the one he looks after.

"Are you ready for some football?!!"

Football season is under way and it is awesome-I love watching the games and yelling from the stands-especially when my baby gets the ball.It will be very hard this year with so many wedding planned,but I will do the best I can.
Here they are running onto the field-yes,Marion is always the first one out-everytime.
Here is the head coach talking to Marion and one of Marion's best friends Cody about being strong leaders during the game.I didn't get any of the game-I zoomed in for these pictures on my point and shoot and they were bad enough.
Here is another one of Mar(on the left) and Cody(on the right)getting ready to go onto the field.
THIS IS MY FAVORITE!!! Is this not adorable?! -Grayson looking up at his Bubba!!He adores Marion and wants to be just like his big brother!!He always puts on Marions football uniform.

Cooking!

Gray LOVES to cook and I let him help me more than I would like.It takes so much longer and makes such a bigger mess but I know the joy he gets out of helping me and that overrides any of the other!!Here we are making gravy.

Grayson and Blake

So here is the story of Grayson and Blake...........
They are cousins-Jason and his brother Darrell's sons.They are about two months apart and they are best friends.They have been since they were born.Grayson has four cousins that are close to his age that he is very close to and Blake is one of them.Darrell,his wife Nicole,Blake,and their youngest son Landon moved from Lufkin at the beginning of this year to be missionaries to Mons,Belgium for two years.We are so very proud and honored--yet in the same breath very sad and our hearts are heavy to hold them,love them,and laugh with them.We are so confident in the lives that are being changed through our Lord Jesus Christ by them following their calling-this is what we fall on when we become sad.Grayson talks about Blake alot and every so often he will say "Lets go see Blake!!" Wow! Easier said than done.I do my blog,not for people all around the world to be amazed by my blog and to hand out advice they will use for years to come-but for my family--like Darrell and Nicole to be connected to us and a chance to grow with them in our own little way.
What is so significant about Grayson drawing the balloons is because Blake's birthday is Set.3-four days before he drew the picture.Grayson had no idea it was close to Blake's birthday!!So Nicoley,we didnt send any gift or card,(no I dont have my act together!)-so consider this Graysons gift to Blake because I feel this is truely from God!!!!!I love you all so much!!!ENJOY!!!!!

Happy Birthday Blake!!!!!!!

A couple of days ago, Grayson walks into the kitchen with an unusual site.He is holding a piece of sage paper covered with balloons that he just finished drawing.Having held a drawing of his is not the unusual site .The balloons-Yes.He was so excited and I was somewhat surprised because he had never before drawn balloons.In his 5 years he has never drawn a picture of balloons.They weren't just plain Jane balloons either-they had sweet smiley faces on them.I was pleasantly surprised.He left the room with me not thinking much about it.I went about my business......
Grayson came back into the room about 3 minutes later and handed me the same piece of sage paper decorated beautifully with smiling balloons folded with this stamp EXACTLY like this.I said "Grayson!-you can't use stamps as stickers!They cost money!!" He replied "I want to sail it to Blake"-I paused,not understanding for a second-then it donned on me--he wants to mail it to him!! Then I said "OK!" He quickly said "I want to put 'I love you' on it!" "I think that would be wonderful" as I smiled. "How do we put his name and a heart on it?" I affirmed him "I will help you sweetie."--As he ran down the hallway he yelled "I'll get the markers!!!"
Here is Grayson singing Blakes name as he is situating his markers.
The scribble by the heart is his version of a heart-he asked me if it was a heart-I said I would help him out.The one he is coloring is the one I did for him.
After he colored the heart,he said "I want to put his name beside it!" So i did and he wasn't real happy because it wasn't close enough to the heart-

"OH No! Blakes name isnt by the heart!!"Grayson said. "Thats ok Grayson",I said,"I can put one by his name."(I proceded to do so and the heart wasnt big enough for him , so I had to make a bigger heart.)

Here is Grayson coloring both of the hearts I drew.The one he didnt think was big enough and the one he thought was just right!!!
He was proud after he colored in the hearts!!
What I didn't get a picture of-was Grayson coloring the last of Blake's picture-He drew Blake and a puppy dog(Samson I am sure)The scribble on the far left is Gray's first attempt at a heart by himself.
Blake,we know we can't be near you to hug you and to sing Happy Birthday to you but do know that we love you soooo very much and we hope you have the most wonderful 5th birthday in the whole wide world!!!!!!You are very special to us and you will forever be Graysons's best friend!! God Bless you Blake and Happy Bithday!!!!