Fall Pictures- Part 1

So I got a late start this morning and by the time we starting taking pictures it was 10 am and in Texas that is just too late to start taking "FALL" pictures.  It was actually cloudy but of course the minute we started shooting the sun popped out and 5 minutes later we were all sweating!  So here's a couple from part 1... hopefully we can try again tomorrow and get an earlier start :)

Even with Carley's messed up hair and sweat running down Colton's face.... and a 3 year old that had to pee... I must say, my kids are pretty darn cute if I don't say so myself  :)

Rocket Science Project with Daddy!

 Sean decided today that he would do a project with the kids. Colton had gotten a rocket for his birthday but I guess he needed a launching pad.  He  took the boys to Hobby Lobby and got what they needed as well as a couple extra rockets, since they had to buy a whole kit. Here are some pictures of the excitement!

(click on pictures to enlarge)

and just a side note (Sean is the best teacher ever)

 

 He even had Carley's interest!

 Colton is telling us where it's going go...

 Stetson says,

 " it's going to shoots up high, like this "

 setting up the smaller one first...

 Dad is showing us where it may go with the direction of wind etc..

 Get ready..............for

 take off.....

and yes, way to fast for me to catch on camera!

 we were able to see where it landed pretty easily.... so everyone 

ran to find it!

This last one was pretty large. But I didn't get a picture of it on the stand.  

Although the take off was super cool we didn't see where it landed cause it went way to the 

right of where we were standing and we never saw the

parachute.  We did go look for it but there is no telling exactly where it went. 

We have one more rocket with two engines that we are waiting to set off until we are near a much larger and more open area. It's the actual one that Colton got for his birthday from Jaelynn and Kylee.

Change... is it ever easy?

I really use to enjoy blogging but lately I feel like my mind is so dead from being around talking, screaming, chaotic and sometimes really sweet children! I wish my mind had time to clear and think of nice poetic sounding stories to post.  Maybe I am just NOT a writer and maybe I'll just stick to short, simple and straight to the point!  

The time is drawing near!  I can not believe it's been three years since our family began the adventure of ARMY LIFE and now it's all about to come to an end! Three LONG years ago... I was 6 months pregnant and for some CRAZY reason when Sean mentioned joining the Army I was excited! Yes, scared but also excited, excited to serve our country and have a steady paying job with FULL benefits. Not so excited to go through childbirth without my amazing and loving birth partner!  Going through childbirth, many birthdays( including my 30th), two anniversaries, moving, several long distance trips and not to mention many sleepless nights with sick kids ALONE!  Excited?? why?  OH almost forgot.. countless tourterous trips to the grocery store with three children three and under.... with every passing month... and every month of added age... shopping strips did eventually get better!!!   Of course I'd do it all again.. because I love my family and I love my husband and oh yeah.. I love my country :) To keep it all in perspective, I wasn't really alone... I had my kids, my family, my friends and most importantly my Jesus! Sean was alone and lonely A LOT during those first two years as well. I must say though, that absence really does make the heart grow fonder!  We are more in love today than ever before! He truly is my best friend and the one I long for each and every moment of every day!  

 As I type this, Sean is in the garage packing up all his gear to turn in for good!  It seems so surreal. It was only 12 months ago that Sean stepped off the plane and back on US soil from his year long deployment to Iraq! This year has flown to say the least.  WE are so excited to move on to our next life adventure in Arizona, where we will continue raising our children!  Yes I said A-R-I-Z-O-N-A one of the other hottest states in the nation!  Sean got new orders and I can't say a date but the move is very soon and I will be spending the next few weeks packing and preparing for the the long haul. 

The next couple weeks are going to be spending a lot of time packing of course but also spending as much time with our friends here as possible!  We have really made some of the best friends while in Texas! Mostly of whom go to Skyline Baptist Church!  They are truly our family! If ever I need anything... there are countless people I could call at any given time! We plan to keep in touch with everyone. We love you ALL!  If any of y'all are reading this, please try to keep in touch with us as well. Continue to follow my blog.  I will definitely be posting a lot of pictures from our move and new home and of course the kids and horses :)  

Ooops... that wasn't short... I should have known better!

Stay tuned.... 

Birthday Boys!

God has blessed us so much with the most incredible children!  They are such a special part of our lives.  We love and cherish them every day! Make sure you scroll all the way down.. I wrote a little about each boy and then more pics from the party are at the bottom!  If you want to click on one picture, blogger now made it so you can quickly scroll through larger pictures! :) YAY for cool updates!

Colton(6) Is such a wonderful young man. He is really into playing hunting games 

and games on our iphones.  But he also LOVES the outdoors. He got some money for his Birthday and plans to save it up for a Wii. Daddy got him his first BB/pellet gun for 

for his birthday and he will be trying it out once we get to the farm on our vacation (only with Dad's supervision and safety gear)   He looks forward to our move to Arizona where he'll be able to explore and maybe go to work with Dad on occasion. He loves going to church and spending time with friends.  Seems like there is always a little drama but he's learning how God wants him to be around his friends. He likes talking to his friends about Jesus and he loves to pray on his own. He's always quick to remind me when I forget to say prayers at bedtime :)  He loves his mommy and still gives her hugs and kisses... (hoping he never stops :o)  He is also very independent and loves to try new things.  This last year was his first year at Upwards Basket Ball.  He wont be joining the team this  year as it starts around the time we move. So, we are looking forward to finding a new church and some new activities for first his first grade year.  He makes us very proud. We pray every day that we can be the parents God wants us to be and that he gives us strength and wisdom in all area of teaching our children. We try to lead by example but fail sometimes. We have to humble ourselves constantly and know that we aren't perfect nor will we ever be perfect parents. We pray for God's grace to help us through whatever parenting issues come our way. We pray God's hedge of protection around our children and know that HE is our children's true Father and only HE- Jesus Christ can be the ultimate example!

 Stetson (3) is our baby and everyone knows it :)  He is by far the most "mama's baby" out of all three. He follows mommy everywhere and just recently becoming more independent.  Sean says he's perfect when I'm not around!  He is a jabber mouth and never and I mean never stops talking!  If we are watching a movie he has to know everything that is going on and asks a million questions!!!   Carley is his little second mom. She takes care of him and helps him so much!  At this very moment she is teaching him how to say "mother may I.."  lol they are so cute together I love listening to their little conversations.  He seems to have a really good bond with Kenai (our dog)  He likes to cuddle and lay on him all the time!  Stetson is huge into bugs! Sean and I laughed so hard the first time he tried to say "cricket" cause it sounded something like a cus word... and he said "Frickets" .... we are still trying to get him to say it correctly and he can as long as he says it really slow but when he's not thinking about it.. Frickets, still comes out!  If you live in Killeen Texas you know why crickets are his favorite bug!  The Daniels got him the most appropriate present and it was a bug vaccuum that has a magnifying glass to he can take a good close look with out having to hold them! We will be old enough to start Cubbies this year at AWANA. He has lots of little friends at church.. and I just can't believe he's old enough to start already!  He's been out of diapers already for a few months.  later than my other two but I am just so glad to be over that stage. He seems so grown up now... going everywhere in his big boy underwear.  He hasn't wet the bed either in several weeks!  He is also looking forward to living in the country and being able to explore more as well.  He loves all animals... and like Carley want's to ride horses!  Which they get to do next week back on the Hewitt farm!

so on to the party and more pictures! :)

 We decided to have another party at the bounce house like we did for Carley a year ago when Sean was gone.  For one thing our military housing is really small with a really small yard so this just worked better and also I didn't have to worry about having a perfectly clean house :) YAY for me!!   I am not one to go ALL out... this was such a simple way for me to get it done and hopefully give a fun time to all who attended.  I also felt like I could spend the money since it was for two kids and not just one. Now we don't have to have a party in September.. maybe just take Stetson out for Ice Cream or something to make him feel special on his day~ 

  My wonderful Friend Stay Hay makes cakes.. so I had her make two.  A big one for Colton and a small one for Stetson.  So when it came time to blow out candles we sang to both boys at once and both could blow out their candles separately! It was so nice having Sean here for their birthdays. I guess he was here last year but since we waited for him to get home and didn't have much time before going on another trip... we just did a small family one and didn't make a big deal out of it. So, they both seemed to have a great time as you can see by the pictures. 

Shy when  everyone was singing!

Thank you Stacy for the awesome cakes!

Stetson loves his friend Jesse!

We had a party helper and he even cleaned up and loaded our car!

Me and my girls! :) 

This isn't actually his gun.. had to take this one back.. the new on has a stainless steel barrel. 

July 4th 2012

way over due on blog posts. This summer has been a busy one.  It sure is nice to have my man here with me. I keep thinking about last year every time I do something that I had to do alone back then.  He is really busy with work but he hurt his back and has been having to do some other odd jobs.  Right now they are letting him build some neat structures for NCO ceremonies.  So at least he gets to work at home in his own garage.  I get to sneak in a hug and kiss now and then :)

We had some friends over for fourth of July.  Our little army house isn't big enough to host a huge crowd but we had some of our closest friends here and had a wonderful time!  I didn't get pictures of everyone though :(  Here is what I did catch.... (click the top picture and you can scroll the larger images)  We had the Dages family, Ladoshie, Luke and Christy Hearn and Caitlin Daniels with her two girls. After lunch we played games for a couple of hours and Luke and I kicked some butt in Spades!

Sean made a cool stump into a camp fire. (our grill was rusty) and then he made benches for all the kids to sit on :)  After cooking on the stump it burned all night!

Mod Podge.. my new favorite crafting supply :)

Christy and I made these last Wednesday and I finally drilled the hole for the nail head today and got them hung!  I can't wait to do more of these.  Total cost was about 5.00 each.  which.. Christy just gave me the boards that she bought half price at Hobby Lobby. The picturs were just ordered online through the one hour photo at Walgreens, I also used a 25% off on those.  So they were not Matt finish since it was one hour but with the mod podge giving it texture you do not need expensive photo paper.   Only thing I'll do different next time is maybe use a thicker board. I reall love this idea as it's so much less expensive than a real canvas print.

The only blue paint I had for the edge was childrens washable.. so that's what I used. I figured it would last for now as long as it doesn't ever get wet. I don't know. 

 I put the Mod podge on really thick and wasn't sure it would ever dry clear..... you also put mod podge on the wood board of course to stick the picture down.

 still drying.....

And ALL DONE!

These were pictures I took of Carley in the field behind our house when the Bluebonnets of Texas were still in full bloom.  I love evening sun light as it puts such a pretty color of light on the subject. I did lower the clarity on the RAW file to make the hair "glow" even more. Very Angelic. Love how this turned out! Can't wait to do some for my boys but I still have to take new pictures for them.

Christy Mod Podged her picture onto a Canvas instead of a board.

Weekly crafting...

Thank you Christy for this great idea!  Christy is my new crafting buddy. We get together once a week to do projects. Sometimes it's planned and sometimes it's just patching or fixing projects around the house.

 I have really liked the idea of doing project on one particular day of the week. Since I am a homeschool mom I don't like to get carried away on projects all the time.   This also gives me a week to decide what to do next and get the supplies needed in advance. It seems to be a great way for both us to spend time together and relieve any stresses that may have build up over the week.  Another plus is that our kids keep each other entertained very well while craft away! :)

Here are a few of the things we've made over the last month.


This blanket was a last minute decision. I ran across the squares at the local quilt shop.
www.quiltincountryonline.com It isn't a large blanket but I decided it was a good size for the kids. It's theme is Texas, which includes of course the Lone Star and the states bluebonnet flowers.

This Aron was a kit at Hobby Lobby that was normally about 18.00 but I used my daily 40% off coupon on my iphone. It came with the cute beads and pin on flower.  super easy any beginner could make this!

A friend at church asked me to make him three of these do-rags. My friend Christy found a link online to a great tutorial. They weren't as hard as I thought they would be. Each one turned out a little different. But he said they all fit well. 

 For this Pillow Case dress Christy and I both made two!  We found fat quarters at Quiltin Country as well, they were super easy, quick and fun!  I have yet to find her some red tights to go with this one.  

 Stay tuned for postings of new projects I have some exciting stuff coming up :) Can't wait to share!