Grateful Sunday

Today was beautiful, this weekend has been pretty easy going. These photos are of our evening at our neighbors' house. They had a blackberry-picking and s'more-making party. Right up our alley.

Today, I'm grateful for:

• our pool
• our air conditioner
• our friends
• our washer and dryer (Puppy. Enough said.)
• a good book
• family history research! It's keeping me up at night, but it's so fascinating. If you're part of my P* side of the family, you really ought to be checking out the Big Tree that Elliott has created at Ancestry.com. Click on James R. P* for an especially interesting story!

Recital

Here are the kids with their wonderful piano teacher, Ms. Ruby. I love her for lots of reasons, one of them is that her hair is just the same color as my Grandma B's was. And the video below. I played duets with both of the kids, per Ms. Ruby's request.

Grateful Sunday

Audrey and Parker after their piano recital this afternoon.

Today has been really nice, our whole week was full of blessings. Today I'm grateful for:

• the kids' preparation in advance of their recital. Parker has only been taking lessons since January, so he was nervous today, but did a great job. And Audrey always wows us with her talent. I'll try to post video links tomorrow.
• Neal, and his willingness to do just about everything for our family. I am so lucky to have him as my husband.
• some girl time with Audrey this weekend. The boys went with Neal on the Fathers & Sons campout, so Audrey and I had fun, spending time with each other and with good friends, late into the night. And a quiet Saturday morning reading our books at home.
• a beautiful spirit in Primary today. The stars aligned: the children were reverent (bonus because the Stake leaders were visiting), the music was heavenly, and the message was simple. I love it there.
• a chance to be involved in a feedback session for new.mormon.org. It's really exciting what our church is moving forward with as far as its online presence goes. I hope you'll take a look!

thursday night

These last few weeks before school gets out are always crazy, filled with activities that are just too fun to pass up. So we spend a lot of time running around! Miles and I had a relaxing morning though: took care of my speeding ticket at court, returned some library books, checked out a new candy store. But once the kids got home, it was pretty much nonstop action.

Audrey's aboriginal dot painting of a dingo was in the school district's art show, so she and I went over to City Hall to see it.

Meanwhile, Parker had his last in-season baseball game with the Yankees, or, as Miles thought we were saying for a few weeks, "the slinkies". He got two hits and played catcher, "pitcher", and left field.

And when we got home, we gave the puppy a bath. Why are wet dogs so funny-looking? The kids were cracking up.

i shed a few tears.

Miles had his last day of Museum School today in Fort Worth. I like to refer to it as "pre-preschool" since it's only 2 hours a week. The curriculum is nature-based and the campus is at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, which is awesome.

As I was hugging his teachers goodbye, they kept telling me what a special boy he is and when I said, "I know," I almost lost it. I don't know if I can handle this whole idea of the baby growing up.

Sorry for the lousy picture via my Blackberry.

Grateful Sunday

Taking a walk in Daddy Jeff and Gail's neighborhood this evening. It was a perfect end to a Sunday.

Today was beautiful, and it was a great week. I'm grateful for:

• my time in the temple with Neal last night. We were able to complete over 40 sealings for our family members. That feeling is indescribable.
• Elliott's hard work on Ancestry.com and the family history blogs I created a few years ago. That boy has been so busy, I love hearing about all of his discoveries!
• happy children
• only three weeks left of school!

life with puppy

Meet our new little Australian Shepherd puppy, Trooper.

We finally made good on our promise to get the kids a dog. After months of debating and communicating with breeders, Neal drove to Lubbock and picked him up yesterday. He's cute and soft and pretty calm (right now anyway). But I'm more thankful than ever for our large yard.

Grateful Sunday

Mother's Day has been beautiful. The weather cooled down, we had some rain last night, and the day was peaceful and calm. I hope yours has been the same!

Today, I'm grateful for:

• my own mother, that I get to see her so often and that she makes me and my children a priority in her life. She has given me so much, and if I become more like her as I mature, I will count myself lucky. I talked more about her on my blog a couple of years ago, when I did a Moms of the Week feature. You can read that, here. Love you Mom! Sorry you missed your card. :(
• Neal's mom and all that she meant to me as her daughter-in-law. We miss her so much today. Read more about Mama, here.
• that my friend Christine (also a super mom) heard Parker crying at the zoo on Friday. Oblivious me didn't notice that he wasn't with us at the elephant enclosure. Neal quickly ran to the rescue and we held Parker's hand the rest of the day. Thanks, Christine, for hearing his sad cries.
• Neal, for letting me take a nap and for cooking dinner today. Love Mother's Day!
• Miles' safety after a dresser fell (we guess nearly on top of him) in his room the other day. He must have moved quickly to avoid it, and I was so grateful that he wasn't hurt.
• a successful primary activity yesterday. The kids did a fun run to earn items for hygiene kits. I'm always happy when I can find a way for kids to serve (it's hard!).
• This sweet little baby below, born to my sister, Stephanie, on Wednesday. Baby Elliot is so cute, I can't wait to hold him in June!

man on first and second

When we were kids, my brother Matthew would often stage one or two person baseball games in our backyard. I seem to remember him being the batter most of the time, and the designated sibling would be the fielder. He'd always envision an entire team out there with us, and call out who was on what base and how many runs were batted in as he whacked the whiffle ball all around the yard. Sometimes the whole family would get in on the action, and we really would have a full-fledged game.

Those were the days.

Well, Happy Birthday to Matthew today! Surely he's staging the same kind of game for his own little boys these days.

We've been playing lots of ball lately, too. Parker has gone back to batting right (he started out the season right, then switched to left, now he's back right). He really can't determine which one feels better, so we'll have to keep it up as the years go on. We were talking last night about what a rarity Parker is: a left-handed redhead. He added, "with a freckle in my eye." I added, "and no teeth."

Miles and Audrey like to play, too.

How is her hair really that color? Seriously. Post rainstorm cloudy sunsets really bring out the red. :)

Batter up.

Grateful Sunday

Miles at the Rangers Ballpark kids' area, last week.

Today, I'm grateful for:

• our bank, which noted suspicious activity on our account after Neal's debit card was used at a rental car outlet in France. Neal happened to catch it, too. Oh, I wish I were renting a car in France, but alas, someone else was, but with our money. They were quick to refund it, and now we're in the claims process.
• Skype. It's fun to talk to Julianne in Germany just on the spur of the moment in the middle of the afternoon. Love you, Jooj!
• prayer and fasting. I've had some family members in my thoughts and prayers this week, and I'm grateful that I can use the power of prayer to let Heavenly Father in on those thoughts.
• Elliott and new.familysearch.org. We have made some strides in Neal's family history work since Elliott has gotten us all riled up with all of his discoveries. I'm excited to get to the temple when it reopens next week. We have some work to do.
• our last dog-free week. We're getting a puppy on Saturday, and though it has been years in the making, I still am just pretty fine without a dog. I know the kids will be SO happy, though. And tally that up to just another sacrifice in the mom department. It's going to change my life. And my life is pretty awesome right now.
• great friends. Our weeks are always full of fun, planned and spur-of-the-moment get-togethers with friends here in our town.