VBS, Minus the Vacation Part

I taught VBS.... meaning I was surrounded by tired and cranky 4 year olds for 5 days straight from 8 am to 12:30 pm.  There wasn't enough coffee in the world to wake me up to deal with the screaming, running, arguing, tattling, kicking, and potty accidents.  Christian was in my class and I think that made it harder.  He is NOT a morning person, doesn't do good when he is tired, and is very cranky when he is hungry -  a lot like me.  Every day he had all of that working against him.  I may have been harder on him, too, because he is mine and I know what to expect from him. I am glad I did it though.  I feel like I did what God wanted me to do.  A while back, I filled out a very extensive survey to see what my gift(s) is/are.  Turns out, I am good with kids... so, I use that God-given where it is needed.

It was a great program.  There were lots of really fun and educational activities.  The only thing I would change?  The snacks.  Why serve super sugary snacks to kids with empty bellies?  The kids all went into sugar overload after their fruit snacks and CapriSun on Monday, rice krispy treats on Tuesday, brownies on Wednesday, ice cream Thursday, and bomb pops on Friday. 

The kids all worked on learning 4 new songs, complete with hand motions.  On Thursday, the parents were invited to watch the kids put on a little show.  It was absolutely adorable!  I wish I could've recorded it.  I had to sit down in front and go over the motions with the kids, so I couldn't hold a camera at the same time.  Ryan had to wrestle with Tay, so he definitely wouldn't have been able to do it. 

The theme was "Drive".  I printed these little cars and put a pic of each kid in the drivers seat, along with a pit pass for each.

 I couldn't have done it without these girls!  (I had one more helper, but she is MIA here)

 Ready to go!

 Lukas (CK's cousin) is all grinning it up.  Goofy boy.

Summer Things

All dressed up for church on July 4th.  Tay wore this dress last year, too!

 We went shopping and let CK pick out his own clothes.  He found this shirt at Gap and his shoes at Vans.  I think he did pretty good! 

 Taylor Rose can now climb the play thingy at Chick Fil A!  Its getting her to come back down when its time to go home that's the hard part.

 Ryan went to San Diego for a conference.  Christian had a really hard time without him, so we made this coundown chart.  I didn't have anything to put on Thursday, so we called it the boring day.

 Christian went skinny dipping at our friends pool.  My kids prefer to be naked 95% of the time.

 He has no hiney!  I love that little back crack.  Cutie pie.

 I mentioned before that Tay has an obsession with smells.  Here she is at a restaurant with her candle.

 And she has a new way of sporting her shades.

 Isn't she ADORABLE in her little panties?!

Dancing in the water puddle at Pop's house.

Decor Updates

This summer, I have taken on a few updating projects.  The major one we are working on is the back porch.  I have finished staining the concrete dark brown, stained all the concrete tiles the same, layed all the gravel between the tiles, transplanted our Crepe Myrtle, and painted the outdoor table and chairs white.  Most of the porch cover is painted, but we need to paint around the edges.  I rented a paint sprayer to help me tackle the job a bit quicker.  Boy, did that make a HUGE mess!

I was squinting the whole time, so the paint left wrinkle marks on my face.  This is a preview of what I will look like when I am 75.

 My old lady face to go with my old lady wrinkles.

Taylor Rose helped a bit.  I hope there isn't any lead in that paint!

I will post pictures of the porch makeover when it is complete.  The weather is hindering the project.  As soon as I get the paint brush from the can to the wood, its clumpy.  115 degree heat will dry anything up in 2.4 seconds. 

Another little update I tackled is our dining room table - I painted it stainless steel and restained all the chair legs.  Our table was a rustic light tan color.  You can see it in the background of this video:

Here it is disassembled and ready to paint:

It now looks like this (minus the chairs because they're still drying):

 A tad more modern, don't ya think?

The chairs have a nice fresh look to them.  See the after (left) and before (right):

Even Christian got in on the dirty work. He went along the entire perimeter of our house, dusting the baseboards with a microfiber cloth.

Texas Rangers Vs. Minnesota Twins

Ryan was invited to a Rangers game by a fellow oil and gas company, a company in which the CEO owns a personal island!!  No biggie, I am sure.

We had a great time in the suite watching the game, meeting new people, and cramming calories into our stomachs.  Shane, my brother, called me and said he was also at the game.  I spotted him in the crowd right behind the camera crew pit!  So, we went down to sit with Shane and Josh (aka Guff). 

Dude!  Those were some waaay aaaaawesome seats! 

These are from the suite:

 And theeeese bad boys are from the seats:

 Uh oh!  Who is that on the screen?

 Apparently, this dude is pretty awesome.

 I think he looks like Mr. Incredible.

 Well, there we are again!  The camera loves us.  What can I say?

 This dude has real antlers on his head!

 I guess Shane is trying a new do - inside out hat.

 Ryan said this guy is awesome.

Since we are celebrities now, like, everyone was taking our pic!  No autographs, please.