Well, summer was great here in Texas for our family! I cannot believe it has come to an end, but we are excited to have started the new school year, all the sports that have come along with it, along with all the other activities that have started back up again!
A recap of our summer before moving on to current events:
Some trips we took....
We went to Arkansas in May to see my sister graduate college and also got to spend the day with Zach's grandparents, his aunt and uncle, and cousin. The kids and I went to the beach with Zach's family in June, although Zach sadly stayed behind in Texas. All of us went to Oklahoma the following weekend for a family reunion and had an amazing time reconnecting with people. Zach and I got to take a trip to San Marcos and Austin in August and had an amazing time getting away! I think this covers all the "trips" :)
Savannah and Mason both got to go to 2 different Vacation Bible Schools together over the summer in the evenings and they had such a good time. They actually were asking me what the next one they could go to was, ha! I wish there was more that I could send them to that they both could go. Unfortunately, the two they went to (our church and a church down the road from us) were the only two that Mason was able to go to as well, not just Savannah. I'm thankful for those two they got to go to as they learned so much and really were just like sponges absorbing everything around them while they were there.
The kids had a blast playing in the freshly sodded backyard over the summer, particularly playing in all their water toys. Zach and I had ordered them something that hooks up to the water hose, both of my aunts here in Texas bought them something similar, and then Zach's parents sent them something as well. They loved interchanging the water toys and deciding which one to play with each day! The boys' hair got even blonder and all 3 of them had some tan lines going on! It was good, simple fun.
Both Savannah and Mason did the summer reading club at the library. Savannah read over 80 hours by herself and to Mason (she's such a good big sister!) and Mason was read to over 56 hours collectively from Savannah, Papa, Zach, my aunt, and myself. Savannah is blowing through chapter books and making her Mommy so proud! Chapter books she was reading at the beginning of summer and finishing in 2-3 days, she is now finishing in a couple hours. Seriously, we went to the library yesterday and she read 2 chapter books in one evening. Zach and I both were like, "it's time to move up to even bigger chapter books now!" Mason enjoys picking out all kinds of different books and actually picked out some really neat ones. One in particular that we all enjoyed reading to him (literally Savannah, Papa, Zach, and I all read this one to him while we had it checked out because it was SO good and interesting.), was called Otto and was about a teddy bear during WWII that was passed around from a Jewish boy to his German childhood friend, then ending up in the hands of a US soldier, in an antique shop, and back in the hands of its original Jewish owner years later!
Savannah had cheer camp in August and loved it! She has her first game coming up and has been practicing weekly since July.
Both kids are now in soccer full swing and have both had games! Zach is assistant coaching Mason's team. Savannah is back on her old team the Fireflies and Mason's team is the Jets. Mason LOVES his time to shine. He wants to play t-ball too!
Awana's just started back tonight and both kids were SO excited! I am thrilled that they get to go and get to learn all they learn in Awana's. It is such an amazing thing. They both finished their books last year and memorized so many verses and Savannah also memorized all the books of the NT. I am so excited for them to do the next book this year.
We just got done doing some rearranging at Papa's house this past week and Savannah now has her own room again and the boys have their own room. Savannah took the room that she was sharing with the boys and the boys new room is so awesome. Zach says it is the coolest and perfect boys' room. They love it and Savannah loves her room. She was such a trooper sharing with her brothers up until this point, literally never once complaining or anything. I was so happy to be able to tell her she was getting her own room because she was just so sweet. We love the change too and think to ourselves, "now why didn't we do this sooner?" The only bad thing is when we went to get Savannah's bed and nightstand out of storage (we already had her dressers here at the house), we realized that ALL her bedding and room decor didn't make it on the trailer load here to storage, which means it is still in NC at Zach's old work. Again, Savannah was so understanding about it and hasn't complained at all. I told her we would find a way to get it down here as soon as we could and she was just so complacent and collected. This Mommy is proud of her girl if you can't tell :)
School started back for Savannah on August 24th and she absolutely loves first grade and her teacher! She has told me that her teacher is the best teacher ever! I am so happy she loves her teacher! I got to go to curriculum night at her school this last week and I am even more pleased than I already was with her school. We are so blessed to live in such a great school district (#8 in the state of Texas).
Mason's preschool starts back this coming Tuesday (day after Labor Day) and we got to go to meet the teacher this past week also. He is THRILLED that he gets his same teachers again! They loved their particular class they had last year for the 2's that they requested they move up to the 3's to get that same class again! Mason was on cloud nine when he found out and even more so when he got to go see them! It was so sweet! Mason learned so much last year in their class and I cannot wait for him to start this school year and see how much he grows.
I got to drive Papa about an hour to Kaufman this last week to see all of his siblings (he is one of twelve) and eat lunch with them! It was so nice to be able to get to see all of my great aunts and uncles again and spend some time with them. The boys just loved it too. Gavin went to all of Papa's sisters and was just letting them take turns holding him! Papa loved showing them off too ;)
Speaking of Gavin, he has been talking up a storm!!! He can basically say anything you tell him to say now. We multiple times a day will just roll off a list to him to repeat and he'll say 99% of it. Today he said, Mason, bath, juice, milk, among other first time words nonchalantly and easily. He's also getting even more of a personality than he already had- it's just so cute! He is just in a big developmental overflow stage and we are eating it up!
Business has been growing and we are so thankful. We gained several more private resident customers over the summer, along with a couple new golf course customers, and a community customer. God is certainly blessing and enlarging Dallas Aeration's territory and keeping His hand on Dallas Aeration, so we will be free from pain. (Prayer of Jabez) He is such a good Father and we are so continuously amazed to watch His faithfulness even in ways we didn't foresee or imagine. There are so many things that have happened since we have been in Texas that there is nothing we can say about it other than "God did it."
"I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you." -Psalms 32:8
Stay tuned for more updates soon ;)
Showing posts with label library. Show all posts
Showing posts with label library. Show all posts
Monday, September 7, 2015
Friday, April 10, 2015
SO many Updates//Easter
Now for some updates... We have a ton this time!
Savannah:
Savannah was on the announcements at school this past week leading the Texas pledge. She was so excited about this!
We got her first progress report sent home this last week also. She was considered "at grade level" for everything, except reading, which she was way ABOVE grade level! I was surprised at her level and SO immensely proud of her! She really is so smart and has such a love of books. I'm so grateful.
Soccer is going great! She is adjusting to participating in a team sport, having done gymnastics for 4 years. They won their first game 6-1 and their second game 11-0! The team is really good and I'm glad she's getting the experience!
Mason:
Mason had his bikeathon at school this week and did 3 laps around the track! They said he did absolutely amazing! He is still loving preschool!
Savannah & Mason:
The kids had a Pinewood Derby race at Awana's! Zach made them both some really sleek cars and they were on cloud nine! Can you say, best daddy ever??
Gavin:
Gavin had his 15 month doctor check up last week and is doing great! He weighs 21 lbs exactly and is 32 inches long! He's in the 20% for weight, 75% for height, and 75% also for his head (thanks Daddy!!) :)
Gavin has had a bump on the size of his eyebrow that I've been concerned about for a while. I finally asked his pediatrician here in TX (who was Savannah's when we lived here before and also was my little brothers' and who literally saved my life at the age of 10 when I had appendicitis (already ruptured) and had been misdiagnosed by 2 major and reputable hospitals.) at this appointment. It turns out it is a dermoid cyst, which is dead skin cells entrapped under his skin (something that likely happened in pregnancy) and he will have to have surgery most likely the end of this year (possibly very beginning of next year). A great and reputable plastic surgeon in Dallas will be doing the surgery and thankfully, it will just be day surgery, although he will have to be put under. Although I absolutely hate the idea of my sweet baby having any surgery, I'm incredibly thankful for the overwhelming evidence yet again of God's hand on Gavin. This bump could have been a lot worse things, yet it is this, something very fixable with no lasting repercussions or effects. Hallelujah to The Great Physcian, my King, my Jesus!
Gavin is loving outside and tries to ride Mason's bike. He's just so cute and sweet.
Bella:
Bella had her puppies 2 weeks ago. The first one was the biggest one and was her color. He unfortunately was stillborn. He was stuck in her birth canal for roughly 36 hours. He was literally nearly twice the size of all the others and was a beautiful puppy.
The second one was a black and white girl who looks identical to her border collie dad! She was the runt of the litter, although you would never know that now! She came out squeaking and squeaking loud (although she doesn't anymore surprisingly) and so we call her Squeaky Wheel! Her eyes just opened yesterday and she's now walking!
The third was a blonde boy who we called Butterball. He was my favorite! He sadly died when he was 6 days old. We were told that when mutts breed, it's not uncommon for several of the puppies to be born with genetic defects (weak hearts, weak livers, etc.) and therefore die at just a few days old. We were still sad though.
The fourth puppy was a beautiful gray girl who we called Little Lady. She died 36 hours after birth. She was very very weak from the start. Again, we were so sad. She would have been a beautiful delicate little pup!
So now we have Bella and her lone survivor, Squeaky! They enjoy each other and Squeaky has more than doubled in size since birth. Bella gets jealous when we give Squeaky more attention than her too. It's quite humorous!
Bella's third pup. He was way lighter after he got cleaned up.
Family updates:
Our new favorite thing is the Allen Public Library! It is seriously so awesome! It's 2 story with everything you could imagine... Books galore... DVD's and BlueRays for both adults and kids galore... Audio books galore... They even have an app for members that you can download books and audiobooks for free to your iPhone or iPad! We have been almost every day since we got our cards (a little over a week ago) and the kids just love turning their old books in and getting a new book. I checked them out The Flinstones DVD so they could watch a cartoon Mommy and Daddy used to watch! (I plan to find the Jetson's next ;) )
Zach found some great business books; I haven't gotten anything yet, but plan to check out Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers just as quick as I can!
All in all, GREAT free entertainment! And that is always a good thing!
We also went to Gateway Church's Saturday night service last Saturday and took my Papa. We were still going to our church Sunday morning/night and Wednesday night, but had really been wanting to visit this church on a Saturday night. We all (including Papa) loved it! The worship had me literally in tears and we were all so overwhelmed by the presence of The Holy Spirit during worship! My Papa just had a huge smile on his face the whole time and you could tell, just thoroughly enjoyed it! We plan to start going there Saturday nights, primarily for the worship, in addition to our regular church services. It is a satellite church, so the campus we went to had a live band, but the pastor wasn't physically on that campus. It was very good though! We would like to one Saturday night also visit Matt Chandler's church, The Village, as it is very close to us!
After we went to that service, we went by the mall to see the Easter bunny! Papa really enjoyed watching the kids and told them after, "you know I met the Easter bunny a long long time ago, before your Mommy was even born, when my kids were little!" The kids thought that was SO COOL! :) It was a really special time for all of us!
I think I mentioned in the last post, but Zach is going to start playing drums for our church! He's very excited!!
We got to see my cousins from Tennessee last night and were so happy about that. They are going back Saturday and it's always so good to see them. They have a big church in Tennessee and are actually the ones who recommended Gateway to us because they attend there whenever they are here. Very thankful for the recommendation! Fun fact they shared with us last night: Kari Jobe actually came from Gateway church and was leading the band live at the main campus the night we went! How neat, huh?
Stay tuned for more next time... It seems to be never ending here :)
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