our birthday celebration 2011

Every year Sammy and I get together to celebrate our birthdays.  We started this tradition in college since our birthdays are just three days apart. 

2010, 2009, 2008

 

This year we celebrated at Hula Hut.  Great drinks, food and conversation made for a perfect birthday celebration.

 

I had a wonderful time and I'm so grateful to have such amazing friends to celebrate with! 

Wordless Wednesday

 

Yogi Bear Lonestar 2011

Tuesday we loaded up the camper and headed to Waller for our second annual camping trip at Yogi Bear Lonestar Park. Last year we scoped out the best camping spots and secured them a couple months ago.  We had a great spot next to the craft center, Yogi stage, pond, water park and outdoor movie theater.   

We rented a golf cart again this year and the kids had so much fun going on golf cart rides.

 

The Kuenstlers joined us camping for the first time!  Madison was great with Lauren.  She brought books from home to read to her. It was so cute!

Matthew and the boys had fun playing with Legos.

It was nice to be so close to the outdoor movie theater.  We ate dinner every night outside while the kids stayed up late watching a movie.

The boys had fun painting ceramics in the craft center.  Ethan painted a horse to look like Cutter and Austin painted a colorful snake.  

Gege and Granddaddy joined us Thursday and brought Jake with them.  The kids were so excited to spend time with their cousin!

 The kids and I kareoked on Yogi's stage.  The boys were supposed to dance while I sang "No One Needs to Know", but only Lauren joined in.  At least they were up there with me for moral support.

The next night the kids had fun dancing on stage with Yogi and Boo Boo.

Gege brought birdhouses and wooden cars for the kids to paint.  She sure knows how to keep the kids happy!

We had the best time at the water park!  Even Lauren went down the twirly slide this year. 

The kids did great at swimming.  Lauren swam around in her awesome Puddle Jumper and by the end of the first day, they boys were diving underwater for torpedoes.  We were so proud of the kids.

The big slide was awesome.  The kids loved it and so did the adults.

Look how much air Eric caught!  Crazy!

We went fishing in Horseshoe Pond and caught a bunch of fish!

It's always fun to fish when the fish are biting!

We saw a beaver up close at Horseshoe Pond!  I'm not sure who was more excited, me or the kids.

Friday night the Millers and Simmons joined us and we celebrated Ryan's 6th birthday. 

We had jump rope contests with our makeshift glow stick jump rope.  Fun times!

It was a really fun trip and we are already looking forward to next year!

Lauren's photoshoot

 

 

 

Grandma's 90th Birthday quilt

Today is my grandma's 90th birthday!

When Grandma and I walked into a fabric store last summer and looked at fabric together, I knew instantly I wanted to make her a quilt.  She loved the beautiful fabrics and speculated on what her quilts would have looked like if she could have picked the fabrics and not used scraps from my mom's old dresses.  I love the quilts she made and they are so special to me.

I finished Grandma's quilt just in time for her birthday!  I can't wait until she sees it! 

 

For Grandma's quilt, I used some of the same Heather Bailey fabrics I used for my Picnic Quilt.  I added an aqua blue border since it's her favorite color.  

I completely quilted and finished this quilt all on my own!  In the past, I have sent quilts off to a quilter or done the fold over method for the binding.  This time I pieced the top together, basted the batting and backing to the top, stitched in the ditch around each 3 inch square, prepared my own binding, and hand sewed the binding on.  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

For the back, I chose one of my favorite zig zag fabrics.  The quilt is a good lap size quilt that measures 56" by 42". 

Happy Birthday Grandma!  I love you!

June Market Days 2011

We spent this weekend in Wimberley at Market Days.  Since my mom is out of town and couldn't babysit while we popped kettle corn, I got to take this month off and hang out with my kiddos.  The kids loved riding in the wagon, munching on kettle corn, dancing on a "stage" and picking out new marbles.  They have grown quite the marble collection since we always get some at Market Days.

While Eric popped all day, I kept the kids entertained with new bubble guns.  They blow the best bubbles, but are super loud.  I got stopped by at least 10 people asking me where I got them.  I soon realized you either love or hate the bubble guns.  If they keep the kids happy and entertained, I love them! 

My cousin Lori (Randy's sister) and her adorable daughter Mayumi were shopping at Market Days and stopped by our camper to say hi.  It was so good to catch up with her and let the kids get to know each other better. 

My attempt at a group picture this morning on our walk to breakfast was not successful.  Funny though!

Ethan's kindergarten graduation

Today Ethan graduated from kindergarten!  His school had a small graduation ceremony where they handed out dimplomas and celebrated with cupcakes.

Et

Ethan loves his teacher and so do we!  We are crossing our fingers Austin gets her next year when he goes to kindergarten.

We are very proud of our big kindergarten graduate!