Dance classes are going strong and we are all looking forward to the "Under the Sea" recitals in June.
Soccer
Jenni and her rosy cheeks after her last soccer practice!
Jenni was so proud she made it to her last game!
Love my boy and his adventurous heart!
Jenni has completed spring soccer! Hooray! Jenni has been counting down the weeks left of soccer and has made it to the end. She is thrilled to be done with this season. She thinks she might try soccer again when she's older but she definitely wants a break from it this summer.
Soccer cookies I made for the party! J was beyond thrilled with the outcome!
Cream cheese sugar cookie recipe found here
Royal icing recipe found here. Since I did not want to spend time piping and flooding the cookies, I used 6 T. warm water to make the royal icing rather than the 5 T. (pipe) and 7 T. (flood).
I allowed the iced cookies to set overnight and then used a black edible pen to decorate the iced cookies to look like soccer balls.
We wrapped up this season with a fun soccer party complete with friends, food and trophies!
Cream cheese sugar cookie recipe found here
Royal icing recipe found here. Since I did not want to spend time piping and flooding the cookies, I used 6 T. warm water to make the royal icing rather than the 5 T. (pipe) and 7 T. (flood).
I allowed the iced cookies to set overnight and then used a black edible pen to decorate the iced cookies to look like soccer balls.
BSF
We finished the study of Acts this month and are looking forward to start the study of Genesis in the fall! And we are really looking forward to our sweet baby J joining us in the fall so he too can join us at Bible Study Fellowship!
End of Pre-K!
Six Flags Over Texas
Notice Eric and Jenni's sweet smiles and Joshua's scared face :)
Jenni & Joshua's new favorite ride
I love this picture. Jenni is chatting away and Joshua's probably wondering when the ride is going to start. :)
The littles loved this ride.
Joshua's first time on the children's roller coaster!!
Joshua's first time on the children's tea cups! Blurry but sweet.
Jenni was puzzled that Bugs Bunny knew her name. She thought that Bugs Bunny remembered her name from a previous visit or that whoever was inside the Bugs Bunny costume went to the same Bible study as us. Funny. :)
Jenni's favorite moment of the night - she went to remeasure her height for one of the bigger roller coasters and she grew since our last visit!
Joshua and I taking a break while E & J rode the big roller coaster. Have to keep little man hydrated. :)
Boys :)
Joshua's main concern on the carousel ride was if Eric would be able to see him riding. Sure enough, Eric saw Joshua, Joshua saw Eric, and there were plenty of smiles and waving.
We had a super great time at Six Flags. The littles had grown considerably since our last visit so Joshua was able to ride more of the rides with Jenni and Jenni was able to ride one of the bigger roller coasters with Eric.
Joshua's excited face as we drove up to the park. :)
Jenni: "Do you mind if I sit down and give my feet a break?"
Jenni after her first water ride!
We had another enjoyable evening at Six Flags. The littles enjoyed riding a few new rides plus some of their regulars. Jenni enjoyed her first water log ride with E. And Eric enjoyed riding some of the bigger roller coaster rides while J1 & J2 watched from below!
Jenni: "I want to take a picture with my brother...I hope he's smiling in there!"
Joshua's thumbs up :)
Waiting for E to ride the roller coaster
Sweet Jenni and sleepy Joshie :)
Another fun evening at Six Flags! We haven't seen Sylvester the Cat (Joshie's favorite) the past few times at Six Flags. Joshua always thinks Sylvester is taking a nap. :)
Little man spotted Six Flags!
Jenni taking a picture by the flowers...
Joshua climbed up to be by Jenni. Jenni sweetly asked if Joshua wanted to be in the picture...
He didn't.
Waiting for his turn to ride with Daddy!
Lovebugs
Guess who loves Six Flags!
Another fun evening at Six Flags! We haven't seen Sylvester the Cat (Joshie's favorite) the past few times at Six Flags. Joshua always thinks Sylvester is taking a nap. :)
Hurricane Harbor
We had such a fun and relaxing day at the water park.. Joshua (being the relaxed boy he is) enjoyed floating in the lazy river with me for a number of hours. Jenni enjoyed the lazy river and then went on to have some fun in different areas of the park with Eric. Then we all got together to enjoy the rest of the evening in the pools. Joshua likes to float around without any one touching his floaties and Jenni enjoyed swimming and splashing.
Beginning of Kindergarten
Jenni started kindergarten! She is beyond thrilled!
Sweet Snapshots
Best friends
Jenni on the rock wall!
Me and my boy cheering J on at her last soccer practice
Joshua carrying his library basket :)
Joshua wanting to be a super cowboy with his jeans inside his boots
Sweet J in her summer shades. No problems of sun in her eyes with big sunglasses :)
Strawberry shortcake dessert!
I am so thankful the littles love each other dearly!
I had finished cleaning the kitchen and was looking for my little man. I found him relaxing quite comfortably watching a movie. Ridiculous, I know.
This is Joshua's excited face. His really excited face. And I adore it! After 4+ years of not having a babysitter, I found a lovely child care center that we can take the children for a few hours when we want to have a date night. The littles both love the place and Joshua gets so excited when we drive up to it.
Joshua was still excited after getting out of the car. :)
Girls dessert date :)
Sweet, sweet J doing her school work
She is just growing up too fast.
Jenni has been writing me little notes and cards for me to take to the hospital when Baby J is born. This note is supposed to say, "Mom, I hope you get better soon." :)
Swim night at the pool
Joshua enjoyed sharing cheerios with Gavin :)
Having some laughs
Such a cute little guy and sitting so nicely, too!
Joshua loved squeezing Gavin's cheeks. Gavin didn't seem to mind. :)
Aunt Andrea is so fun! She brought the littles confetti eggs. :)
Boys :)
Sweet Gavin Michael
Such a cutie pie!
Overheard
Jenni and I went out one night to get ice cream...
Jenni: "I really miss those boys. We have some great boys in our family.
(Pauses)
Jenni: "I just hope they never put snakes under our pillows..."
The things Jenni worries about with two boys (and a third on his way) in our family...
Joshua had just given Jenni a ton of hugs and kisses...
Jenni: "Joshua, you have just filled my heart up with love!"
Jenni: "Mommy, you are my best friend but Grandma is my super best friend!"
After asking many difficult questions that I couldn't answer about Heaven...
Jenni: "Is that a good question for God?...I bet God's a really good listener!"
We found some of my old pajama dresses at my parents' house and Jenni loves wearing them...
Jenni: "I really appreciate you saving your pajamas for me. I think I'll save my pajamas for my daughter, too." :)
Jenni: "You think it'd be okay if you saved all my school work for me so I can look back at everything we did when I'm older?"
An Update on Jenni
Jenni really enjoys writing and learning to spell specific words. Her latest dream is to be a mountain climber. :) The first step in mountain climbing is tackling the rock wall at the park, so Jenni set her goal on that this month and has successfully climbed the rock wall many times. Jenni loves to show her love to people and she is quite the helper and encourager. I was getting our school work ready for the week ahead while Jenni was secretly and quietly organizing Joshua's closet as a surprise for me. And what a wonderful surprise it was! Jenni considers herself an artist and enjoys drawing and coloring pictures for our family. Many days J and I will work on color by numbers together in her jumbo coloring book. And last but not least, my sweet Jenni J is a really sweet, sweet girl. Whenever Eric travels Jenni and I have "sleep parties" which are the best thing ever because right when Jenni is falling asleep she quietly says, "Mommy, falling asleep in your comfy arms is the best thing ever." And she never fails to wake up in the middle of the night to say something sweet while totally asleep and then lays back down. Melt my heart!
An Update on Joshua
Joshua is a sweet little man. He enjoys doing things by himself lately - like climbing into the SUV and getting up into his car seat without help and carrying his books at the library by himself. He enjoys wandering around outside walking through the grass and trees being a boy without a care in the world. Each morning getting dressed he asks to wear clothes that either make him look like Daddy (a polo) or Papa John (a button down shirt). It's very sweet and he's very serious about it. If I could bottle up Joshua, I would bottle him up at this moment in time. He has a charming little personality and is a loveable, cheerful, mischievous little rascal. He is still young enough that he will gladly give me a hug or a kiss throughout the day or hold my hand when we are running errands. This month we have been focusing on obeying the first time with a happy heart - a very important concept for our little one to know. Joshua enjoys "boy time" together with Eric doing simple things from running little errands to taking the trash out together. A new development this month is Joshua's sadness while Eric is traveling. He was a big ball of tears the first couple of days he was gone and then got better as time progressed, but Joshua still wanted to make sure he wore the same color of shirt as Daddy while Eric was traveling for work. Sweet boy. And last but not least, I don't remember the last time Joshua had donuts for breakfast but whenever we ask him if he has an idea of what we should eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner he always replies with a simple "donuts."
An Update on Baby J
Baby J is a movin' and a kickin' and a growin'! Jenni loves gently rubbing my stomach hoping to be giving the baby baby back rubs. She also really enjoys reading aloud because she hopes the baby is learning the sound of her voice. :) Joshua enjoys trying to share his snack or water cup with the babe in case he's thirsty. He also has started roaring at my stomach pretending to be a monster. (Joshua loves roaring and pretending to be a monster, dinosaur, lion, etc.) After he is done being a cute monster he kisses my stomach to let Baby J know that he really is going to be a sweet big brother.
