Texas-Sized Hail

Two weeks ago we had a big hail storm and tornados. Luckily we only had some hail damage on Donnie's car because I know other places got it so much worse than we did. However, it was a big storm for us and what we are used to. After it was over we had the kids pick up the hail from our yard and we put it in the freezer. I have finally gotten around to posting about it and still can't believe how big the hail was.

Father/Son Campout

Last weekend Donnie took David and Joshua to a Father/Son Campout. They had a really good time. This was the first time that Joshua has ever gone camping and he loved being outdoors and sleeping in the tent. He was so excited to eat marshmallows.

Joshua also loved the chocolate bars that they brought for smores (as you can tell by the evidence on his face).

David and Joshua had a great time but I think they were ready to sleep the next night in their own beds.

First Swim of the Summer

We were so excited that it was warm last week and that our neighborhood pools were open. Everyone has been so excited for the first swim of the summer. The water was absolutely freezing cold but the kids didn't mind and had a great time.

Fun at the Zoo

I took Joshua and Elyssa to the Ft. Worth Zoo. It was lots of fun. It was one of my all time favorite zoos that I have ever visited. Joshua and Elyssa had a really good time and are already talking of wanting to go back.

On the way there all Elyssa could talk about was seeing the elephants. She had to have her picture in front of one (even though you can't see it very well).

Joshua loved that the zoo had a lot of robotic dinosaurs that moved and made noises.

They also had a place where birds flew in an enclosed space that you could go in. The fun part of it was that you could purchase a stick with bird seed stuck to it and when you held up the stick birds would fly up to you and land on the stick. Elyssa wanted nothing to do with it but Joshua tried it for a little bit until he had two birds on his one stick and they started fighting over the seeds.

Mother's Day

I had a great Mother's Day. I felt a lot of love and really enjoyed just spending time with my family. I feel so blessed to have the great husband and kids that I do.
I love getting flowers and especially when they come from my family and are different colors and styles. My wonderful husband always lets each of the kids pick out a different kind of flower for me so I see their different personalities come out in what they choose.

A couple of weeks ago Machella and I went to San Antonio for Time Out for Women and Time Out for Girls. It was so much fun. We stayed in a hotel for two nights and we both really liked the speakers and musical group. I am so glad I was able to share this with Machella and I hope we have a lot more opportunities to do things like this in the future.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter! We had a fun Easter and Elyssa and Joshua had a lot of fun putting the empty Easter baskets on their heads. Their baskets became empty very fast because of how quickly they ate up all of their candy.

I thought this would be a great chance to catch everyone up on what has been going on the last few months. The big thing was that we celebrated Donnie's birthday in March. He took the day off of work and we decided to do a little exploring around Ft. Worth and went to the Fort Worth Stockyards. It was a lot of fun. We are trying to get out more and see all the great things that living in Texas has to offer.

Elyssa has been taking a dance class every week that is offered in our neighborhood. She absolutely loves it and is doing great learning the different dances. Some time this summer they will be performing at some places around the communtity.

I took Elyssa and Joshua to the Ft. Worth Children's Museum. They loved it. It was very interactive for them. It made me wonder if what they liked to play with will be what they become when they grow up. If that is true then maybe Elyssa will be a doctor...

and Joshua may be an ambulance driver...

or Elyssa may be a cashier at a grocery store and Joshua may do the grocery shopping for his family ...

or Elyssa may be an engineer...

or Joshua may be a archeologist and search for dinosaur bones.

Whatever they decide to do I hope they are happy and enjoy life and always remember to laugh.

"Pretend You Are A Missionary"

Last night we had spaghetti for dinner. However, when I was making the noodles for some reason some of them burned to the bottom of the pan. The noodles smelled smokey and had a burnt taste to them. Unfortunately, I did not have a back-up plan for dinner and I figured it wouldn't taste too bad if we covered it with sauce. It definitely wasn't horrible but it wasn't the best tasting spaghetti by a long shot. As we started eating I told my two older kids to just "pretend you are a missionary" when eating it because when you are on a mission you have to eat everything put in front of you even if it is not something you would normally choose to eat. Not only did they eat it but they acted like missionaries and told me how wonderful it was (even though I know they were only being nice). I think I will use this phrase from now on when I want the kids to eat vegetables and other things they might not otherwise try. It is definitely good training for not only a mission but also any other situation they might be in where they don't like the food put in front of them.