This morning Jeremy and Bailey woke up early to help the food ministry at our church. They sorted groceries and then helped load them into cars. When Riley woke up he realized there was no milk, so he called Jeremy to ask him to bring him breakfast but Jeremy and Bailey already had breakfast plans. He and I decided to spend a little one on one time together so we headed to the Snooty Pig (a small diner in Keller). We're on a new budget so we went dutch:-)
Jeremy and I decided to go to the Melting Pot for our date night. I've never been to a fondue restaurant before, but I thought it would be a lot of fun and we had a $25 gift certificate. Our waitress was a bit eager and I felt really rushed into a decision so when she showed up with the cheese fondue I was a little surprised because it was not at all what I was expecting. I thought they would bring us cheese to dip into something which Jeremy thought that was quite amusing. Anyway we had a fun night and I enjoyed the experience, but I wasn't all that crazy about the food. We passed on the chocolate fondue which is apparently pretty uncommon but I really wanted a Nestle cookie! After a cup of Starbucks, a cookie and a little window shopping we headed home. Bailey told Riley she'd play two games of his choice if he'd play two games of her choice ~ smart girl! Riley quickly agreed and after playing his two games there was no turning back and this is how we found them. As you can tell from the picture Riley was a little less into her "games" than she was!
The kids have been waiting for this. Last week the park by our house flooded so bad that they had to close the road. The flood water destroyed wood fences as well as wrought iron fences and brick columns. Well, Jeremy told them the next time it flooded they'd get their bikes and explore. So sure enough tonight when we were coming home from Jesse's the road was closed again. So "the plan" was about to be put into action. I think the whole family was surprised that I was willing to tag along, especially since I was the only one who wasn't willing to swim earlier (I'm a baby when it comes to being cold). Some of the water was at least three feet deep. Bailey and I bailed a little sooner than the boys and went straight home to take a nice hot bubble bath!
Fabian, my older sister's son, flew in today from New York. He'll be visiting all summer. To welcome him home we all met at Jesse's for a pool party. Sounds great so far...well it is still raining here almost everyday. That didn't stop the kids though and they were able to swim for a couple of hours before it started thundering. I put a picture of three of my siblings: from the left there's Natalie (the baby), Jesse (he's younger than me but the oldest boy) and Bille (who's the oldest). Then there's still Justin and Eric. So in order from oldest to youngest it's Billie, Jill, Jesse, Justin, Eric and Natalie! I think there's only one time that we've all been in the same location at once.
The month of June is super busy in our family. All three of my brothers and my father have June birthdays plus Father's Day, Jeremy's late May b-day and Bailey's in early July. So anyway last night we went out to eat with Jesse to celebrate his 31st! After dinner we all headed back to our house to eat cake and hang out. We've been seeing a lot more of him lately and the kids just love it.
Last week we all went to Children's Camp. This is the only year that Riley and Bailey will be able to go to the same camp, so Jeremy and I decided to go also. Monday morning we were packed and ready to go. We headed to the church around 7:15 and after registering all the campers and checking for head lice (fun times) we were ready for Glen Rose. It was time to load the busses so naturally I grab the handle, turn and nothing! I locked us out of the bus. We had to call the mechanic to unjam it and just in case you're wondering never turn the round knob next to the door handle. That was a little embarassing. We had a really great week as you can tell from the pictures. Bailey made lots of new friends, learned new worship songs, did the blob, the zipline, hiking, diving and swimming contests, made smores by the campfire, and of course most importantly spent the majority of the week focusing on the Lord! Her only complaint was having to rush through the lunch line in front of her friends to secure a seat by me and Jeremy:) Every day after lunch each of the teams competed in various activities to earn points. The winning team got to leave early for lunch, which is a pretty big deal when you're camping with over 300 kids! Jeremy was chosen to compete in a pie eating contest. He didn't win, but he gave a great effort.
We have these really great friends, Greg and Becky, who gave us their tickets to the Friday night Rangers game. Now this is really saying a lot about our friendship because I don't think I've ever met another die hard fan like Greg ~ well maybe his mom. We're not exactly huge baseball fans, but we enjoy going to at least one game a year. Anyway here we are at the game. Bailey had her heart set on getting some cracker jacks at the game so how could we refuse the low, low price of $5.00!! We had a really rowdy bunch sitting around us who provided quite a bit of entertainment for us. After 6 whole innings the Ranger were up 7-1! What could go wrong right? It was late and we'd already promised the kids some ice cream on the way home so we decided to pack it up and head home. Within 5 minutes Greg calls ~ oops!! Apparently the Brewer's scored 5 runs in the top of the 7th closing the lead to only one run. Maybe next time we'll stay. But not to worry the Rangers still pulled off a 9-6 win.
Because we live in Texas we swim just about all summer so on Wednesday we went to NRH2O, a local waterpark, with my friend Becky and her two kids Reese and Abby. She has all of the pictures on her blog so check it out at becstamps@blogspot.com. Then on Thursday Bailey and I met with my Mom's Group for more swimming. Riley was all toddlered out so he stayed home to read. I was really sunburned (apparently you have to put sunblock on all of your body for it to actually work) from being at NRH2O the day before so I sat in the shade with my feet in the water:-) 
I think it's a great idea for kids to work so they can learn the value and reward of tithing, hard work, saving and of course spending. So I was really excited when my friend, Anglea, asked if my kids would babysit during our Bible Study. She started a mom's group for a small group of women. While we meet in the study all the kids hang out with Riley and Bailey ~ today they had 6 kids. It was really cute to see them "in charge". At one point Charlie and Abby got into a little spat so I could hear them telling Riley what happened. He handled the situation all on his own. I wondered if the other kids would see them as bigger kids who they didn't really have to listen to, but that didn't seem to be the case at all.
Earlier this week Riley delivered the flyer's he'd printed to start mowing lawns. He has been practicing since last summer and now he feels comfortable doing it on his own. The same day he sent out the flyer's he actually got a call which was very exciting for him. So off he went to mow his first lawn, well his first paying customer anyway. Things didn't go exactly as planned and he had to come home and get the mower fixed. For some crazy reason the mower just wouldn't start. He's never had a problem with this before so naturally he was disappointed. After Jeremy looked at it later that evening he was ready to finish, but it was raining. The next morning around 8:30 he was up and ready to go, he headed out again. This time I had to call him home because severe weather was heading our direction and was scheduled to arrive in the next 5 minutes. It was raining a little as he pushed the mower back home and before he was even in the house it was pouring! The sun actually came out after the storm, so he was finally able to finish this lawn and get paid. It may not have gone exactly as planned, but I am super proud of him! And the lawn looked great when he was all through.
