Summer fun

Just a nice summer evening at home... Hadley and Lance played out on the trampoline together tonight--sort of a dodgeball game. Of course, David had to join in. I tried to get some shots, but the net, poles and trees made it a little difficult--not to mention that it was getting dark! Anyway, it was a fun time, so I thought I'd share a couple of pics.

Tyler is on a float trip with the youth group--he's been gone since early Tuesday morning. He should be home tomorrow night. They were floating the Guadalupe River and doing Schlitterbahn. I'm sure he's having a blast! They were camping 2 nights--TENTS!- and staying in a hotel 1 night. Don't you wish you were a kid again?? Ha!

BTW... What do you think of the new look for my blog? I actually love it! I had fun taking that pic for my header--it came from my junk drawer! I have this drawer that I keep odds and ends that I don't want to throw out for whatever reason. The magnifying glass I used in college geology (a class David and I had together) is there, a keychain from my volvo, a dragon figurine given to me when I got my first teaching job (that was our mascot), an oldie but goodie family pic, suitcase keys, a hard rock pin, old dog tags, the burt's bees WHITE lip balm--that's why it's in the drawer!... just fun stuff. I liked how it turned out so much that I'm planning to use it for my POTD. If you check that one, you'll see it for tomorrow! Have a great evening....

cookin' out

Yummy! David cooked up quite a feast yesterday--chicken quarters with butter garlic seasoning, smoked ribs--2 racks, and smoked tenderloin for sliders. It was delicious!! We ate the chicken for lunch and that's what I shot here. The rest was for supper when Bj, Ginny, Jim and Jen came over. It was a beautiful day...

Sum-sum-summertime...

Summer is finally here. Can you believe it??This year literally flew by. Tyler was actually through with school yesterday. So, here you see him in his swim trunks--a little sunburned from yesterday-- because he was going to check out the pool with H &L. He actually let me take a pic, can you believe it?? The middle pic is of Hadley also in our front yard. I didn't catch her as she came out from school because she went to lunch with friends. I took the picture of Lance as he walked across the crosswalk to the car when school let out for the last time this year. Notice the swim trunks and towel? He dressed for the pool instead of school! (I knew he wore the trunks, of course, but the towel, hat and sunglasses were tucked away in the backpack. Little sneak!) It officially opens today and he and Hadley are already there enjoying it. The weather isn't really cooperating--it's very cloudy and a little cool, but he wanted to go anyway. What a kid!

I also thought I'd share the sweet note from Lance's teacher on his report card today. You should be able to read it by clicking on the pic to enlarge, but if you can't let me know and I can translate. And, he won lots of awards this year--spelling bee contestant(was an alternate), outstanding science student for 4d!!, top math league contest!!, caught being good award, super knight--for behavior all year,presidential excellence award--for straight A's all year and high TAKS scores, and UIL participant. Cool, huh?? The outstanding science student means he had the highest average for science in his class. The math league award is a contest in which the students are given VERY DIFFICULT math questions (the teacher stressed that) and given a time limit to do them. Lance and another boy in his class received top honors--I believe it is ranked using a national scale. Those are really awesome awards...(And, he only missed the commended attendance award by one day--he only missed 4 days this year!!)

David and I were just talking the other day about how blessed we are. Really blessed. Our kids are SO good and SO smart. Happy Friday!

Can't seem to get him in front of the camera. If he even sees me with it, he turns away. Tonight, he was TOTALLY enjoying listening to his IPOD--thanks to BJ and Ginny!--and I caught him as he rounded the corner.

Edited to add the top pic. It was bugging me that the doorway wasn't straight in the other one so I tried to fix it. I also did a slightly different conversion. Which do you like better?? ended up taking down the other pic to conserve space...

Team Lance

Here are a few pics from the walk. It was a great success!! Thanks to all of you who helped out. We truly appreciate it! AND, Team Lance has raised over $2700!! Way to go...

A few of Lance's friends couldn't walk with us, but he still wanted them to have shirts. The boys decided to wear them on Tuesday to school. David took him to deliver the extras and when Lance got back in the car from doing that, he said, "Team Lance. I rock sooooooo hard."!!!!!!! He is loving the whole shirt/team lance thing. Really cool!

Magnificent Mustang of the Year!

Hadley's school had an awards ceremony for the sixth grade today. She was awarded "Magnificent Mustang of the Year"!! Each six weeks they choose a boy and a girl who exhibit leadership and other desirable qualities to be "magnificent mustang" and then from those students, they choose a boy and a girl to be mustang of the year. Yay Hadley!! They gave her a plaque for that award. We received a letter in the mail saying she would get an award, but had no idea which one. It was to be kept a secret from her, too. And, she got a certificate for A honor roll. Whooo-hoooo!

On the other hand, when she found out that David and I were attending the ceremony, she said,"You're not gonna sit with me, are you?"!!!! I guess we are officially her LFP-least favorite people! Ha! I know, I know, Mom--this is payback and completely deserved...

***ETA the top pic. The plaque has her name engraved on it even! Cool!

More from the trip

"I saw some people driving almost that fast when I was coming back from my buy in SF yesterday. Whew!" IS THAT IT???? You're not gonna say anything else?? What do we have to do to get a rise out of you people... Sheesh!

No, we were not driving that fast. Our speedometer wasn't working. Again. On that piece of junk suburban. That we pay a fortune to drive. At that time, it showed us going between 30-40 when we were sitting still. Most of the time, it messes up the other way and shows us going 0 when we're traveling about 30-40 mph. Makes driving fun.

These are some other pics I wanted to share. The first is Hadley and one of her awesome kicks. She really has some power in those legs...

Notice the next one... David was holding our place in line while we looked around and took some pics. H & L were looking in the moat and I took this one. Didn't notice the "bonus" until I loaded them onto the computer. David looks nice holding a purse, eh?? :)

The next one is in the huge foyer area inside the castle. There were several gift counters, two bars, a small museum, etc. Then, we have Lance getting "knighted"--love the look on his face!! Worth every penny of the $20 it cost. Every penny.

The next 2 shots are looking down our table. The flags were in our mugs and we used them to wave and cheer for our knight. (The red and yellow knight.) He ended up being the hero of the day! **ETA: Hadley wanted me to say that we all thought our knight was a loser because he didn't do well in any of the competitions. He really only came back in the end to save the day...Ha!

No silverware here. We ate everything with our hands. Lance kept burping out loud--I think he thought bad manners were called for... Fortunately it was extremely loud in there and I think I'm the only one who heard. LOL! We saw lots of hand-to-hand "combat" and some jousting. It was pretty cool. Lance, especially, loved it. Afterward, he got a sword and had all of the knights autograph it. Here he is with our knight.

All in all, it was a nice trip. David and I were both exhausted going into it, but we were still able to enjoy the fun. Great to be home, though... I wish Tyler had been with us. I know he would have been bored stiff during the soccer tournament, but I think he would have enjoyed Medieval Times. Maybe next time.

Speed and Curls....

I'll have more pics to share from this weekend, but I thought I'd share these for now.

Do you think David was in a hurry to get home today??? We made it home from Fort Worth in record time. Hmmmm...

Lance was looking down at the moat at Medieval Times last night and I noticed just how curly the back of his hair was getting... Crazy! Dad--have you noticed his new favorite hat? It's the one you got him in Seattle. Lately, he wears it all the time!!

2nd Place!!!

Had to brag on Lance a bit... He was in a UIL competition last week doing oral reading. He read two really cute poems for it. I got to watch. He was fantastic! Anyway, he was competing against 15-20 other fourth graders and made it to the final six. They competed again, but we didn't find out the results until this week. He got second!! This is the medal he won. We are very proud. He was full of great expression and was just wonderful. We played a bit on the trampoline to get the top pic--I wish you could see all of him, but I had the wrong lens on for that... Anyway, it was fun. Yay Lance!

SCORE!!!

WOOO--HOOOO! We played the other contender for first place in our league today. We beat them 1-0. This kick you see is the 1! As most of you know, Hadley plays sweeper--the last defender before the goalie. She is REALLY good at it, but she misses scoring so much. If we play a weaker team and we're winning, occasionally the coach will let Hadley play up. But if it's close--like today--she only plays in the back. Well, there was some sort of penalty in the middle of the field and he called for Hadley to take the kick. See the blue lines near the bottom of the pic? That's midfield. Anyway, she launched it--right into the goal--and it's a LONG field. It bounced once right in front of the goal and over the keeper's head and in. Sweeeet! It was pretty exciting. Of course, we were really proud. She played great defense, too, so she really did her part today. Yay Hadley! (All results aren't in yet, so we are not certain we won the whole league, but think we did.)

The second pic is of Hadley and Gigantor. She is huge... and has a twin! (We not-so-lovingly call them the "twin towers") They both play on this team, but the other one wasn't at the game today. And, actually, this pic is a little deceiving. Hadley probably comes to her shoulder, but wasn't standing straight up. I wish you could see Hadley's face in these, but... anyway, it's a funny shot.

***For all of you at the reunion... I'm a little jealous! I hope you're all having a wonderful time and all arrived safely. We love and miss you all. Take lots of pictures so we can see the fun times!