Beach Retreat 2012

Beach Retreat was an amazing week this year.  We took our High School students to Gulf Shores/Orange Beach, AL and our JHigh students went to South Padre, TX.  This was Jonathan's first year as Student Pastor to go to both weeks of camp.  I was so glad that, even though I was pregnant, I was able to be at High School Beach Retreat again this year.

Evening Worship

Dr. Young bringing the message at Evening Worship

The view from our condo tower at HS Beach Retreat

Silent Sounds: Each morning and evening, we head

out to the beach, and we get 30 minutes of time with God.

It's such a powerful time of just being still and quiet before

the Lord - Bible and devotion in hand.

Afternoon free time at the beach and pool...

Me and my condo girls

So glad my sis, Amy, was able to come down

and be a leader for the week!  So fun!

Jonathan on stage at JHIGH Beach Retreat

Some of the student pastors went Bunjee Jumping

one of the nights after the kids were all in their condos.

Jonathan had a blast, although I was a nervous wreck

while I knew he was doing it.  I'm just glad he is alive.  Ha!
See video HERE

The guys right before jumping...

...They made it!

While we were at Beach Retreat, Brayden had fun 

at Mimi and Papa's in Oklahoma.  Here he is representing

the Oklahoma City Thunder with his James Harden beard.

It was a fun week(s), but we were both glad

to see this little man when we got done!

It's a Girl!

We are so excited to be expecting a baby girl in October!  We found out this past week on our ultrasound that it is a girl...we are SO excited!  Now I just have to restrain myself every time I walk through a store with adorable little girls' clothes!  So much fun!!!

Rocking Out

...and I thought I made up words to songs!

Quite the Racer

This past weekend, Brayden got to race in a derby car race at our church.  

Jonathan races in the leader race every year for our children's ministry, so 

Brayden helped him out as he raced it.  He came away with 2nd place for speed

and 3rd place for design (the car has a Second Students logo on it).  Great job boys!

Easter 2012

We had a great Easter remembering the death and resurrection of Jesus.  It was an amazing weekend at church and so great to see so many people worshipping the Lord.

At preschool, Brayden had an Easter egg hunt

with his class.  They each got to find 6 eggs.

At the Easter party at preschool with my boy

Brayden and one of his preschool buddies

Our neighborhood also had an Easter egg hunt.  

There were 3,000 eggs scattered around.  Not much of

a "hunt," but he stuffed as many as he could in his basket.

Here he is trying to decide which ones to drop back on the 

ground so he could put more "cool eggs" in his basket.  Ha!

(After the hunt, every kid had a basket full, and there were still

probably a couple hundred eggs on the ground!)

Lead Retreat 2012

A few weeks ago, we had a leadership retreat with our students in our Student Ministry. We got to go away for the weekend to a great retreat center a couple hours away. We had a great time with our students, but it was especially fun, because all the youth pastors from every campus also brought their families up for the weekend.  We don't get a lot of chances to all hang out, so it was a great time together.  

Here's a pic of all of the kids together crammed on the couch.

Brayden is the 2nd from the left on the couch.

He was NOT in the mood for a picture, but he hung in there

and happily sunk into the comfy couch behind everyone for the picture.

Feeding Giraffes

The Houston Zoo has a relatively new exhibit that they've built for the giraffes.  One of the cool features is a feeding platform, and twice a day, you can come and feed the giraffes.  I think I was just about as excited as Brayden was for it all!

Heading up to the feeding platform...

...well, hello!

They gave us 3 big pieces of lettuce to give the giraffes.

Their tongues are SO long that they snatch it out 

of your hand from pretty far away!

He was SO excited and amazed at it all!

 Finger lickin' good!

Afterward, they had a giraffe pelt that the kids could feel.

It was such a fun experience!

Good Ole Family Time

This morning, we woke up and headed to Cracker Barrel for breakfast together as a family. It was such a nice and relaxing time together.  Afterwards, Brayden had begged us to play Checkers, so the boys stopped outside for a quick game.  It was so cute seeing Jonathan teach him how to play.

After breakfast, Jonathan headed out to play golf with some friends on his day off. Brayden and I went and had a Mommy-Son date at an early movie - The Lorax in 3-D.  It was a cute movie...we pretty much had the theater to ourselves.  During the songs, he'd try to sing along with them...it was cracking me up!  We had quite a good time.

20 Questions to Ask Your Kids Each Year

I saw this great idea of asking your kids the same 20 questions each year to keep track of some of their favorite things as well as seeing how their answers change over the year. Brayden's birthday isn't for awhile, but I wanted to get his answers as a 3-year-old.  I love that I have these memories of him recorded now.  These were his exact responses...

1. What is your favorite color? Red
2.  What is your favorite toy? Cars and Music Stuff...Jingle Bells
3. What is your favorite fruit? Banana
4. What is your favorite TV show? Dinosaur Train
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Peanut Butter & Jelly or Honey
6. What is your favorite outfit? My Spiderman Outfit
7. What is your favorite game? Sports
8. What is your favorite snack? Caramel Rice Cakes...Under the chips in the pantry
9. What is your favorite animal? Hippopotamus
10. What is your favorite song? “Trust and Obey” & “Holy” (“Holy, Holy, Holy”)
11. What is your favorite book? Toy Story book w/ character mat & characters...from Lowe’s
12. Who is your best friend? Christopher (at Preschool)
13. What is your favorite sport? With Daddy...football
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Playing with the Spiderman web & water thing
15. What is your favorite drink? Milk, Apple Juice, Orange Juice, & Capri Sun
16. What is your favorite holiday? Trick-or-Treat
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Ruffy & Woody (Dog & Toy Story Woody)
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Candy & Cracklin Oat Bran (haha!)
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Cupcakes
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A Stegosaurus Conductor from Dinosaur Train

Ice Skating

Awhile ago, we went ice skating down at Discovery Green in downtown Houston. Originally, it was going to be a date, but then I decided Brayden might really enjoy it too. He did...for about 2 laps.  I know now to wait 'til he's a little older to try out skates again.

 Brayden sported 'double blade' ice skates, which is supposed 

to help with little kids' balance.  Um, didn't quite work as I had hoped.
Ice is quite slippery...go figure!

The best way we made it work for Brayden was to stick him 

in between our skates and just pull along the side.

Sandwiched between Dad's skates

 It's been awhile since I've been ice skating.  It was fun!

 With my little man...

We ended up taking turns skating on our own (romantic, I know!), 

while the other skated with Brayden.  I was proud 

of his effort and trying so hard to make it work.  

He was quite a cutie slipping and sliding around on the ice!