May Fun

 We have had more fun in May playing outside on most days and burning off energy in the warm Texas sun!  

We went to the Stillhouse Hollow beach to play in the lake and look for seashells.  The boys had fun and didn't mind the chilly water! 

Cheeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!

 Working together in the sand

 Daniel running!

Seth playing with his Elmo furry "gloves" -- they sing little songs and he dances and laughs!

Belly shot -- baby Abby growing... ~27-28 weeks

The boys all playing together -- building with Legos and Playmobile toys!  I love that they play together and entertain each other! (sometimes, anyways!)

May has been another busy month -- not too many pictures this time, I guess we are too busy having fun!

Yard Work

We have finally gotten around to doing some yard work in the front of the house!  We moved in back in December, so it seemed silly to do anything then, plus we have been pretty busy with indoor projects.  So now that the weather is consistently warm, and not too hot yet, we decided to start with some landscaping and planting grass seeds.  The previous owners didn't do ANYTHING at all -- it was all just bare and over-run with weeds, so we knew we would have our work cut our for us!  

So some of the things we have done so far... (I say "we" but honestly, Robert has done the bulk of the hard work, I have just helped along the way, and the boys try to pitch in and help too!)

• Robert sprayed  weed/plant killer to everything first -- there really wasn't anything worth saving!

• We brought in 7 truck loads of compost and raked it on the ground.

• We marked out a "flower/shrub" bed around the house -- front and side.

• We planted several shrubs -- abelias, boxwoods, Texas sage, esperanzas, and crape myrtles.

• We brought in 3 truck load of mulch for the flower/shrub area.

• Robert planted seeds in the compost dirt.

• Oh, and down the hill from here, we planted 2 "baby" pecan trees -- it will probably take 5-7 years before they are big enough to even start producing any pecans, but they are set to be ~50-70 feet tall!!!  Maybe our grandchildren and great-grandchildren can enjoy them!

So overall in the past 1-1.5 weeks our yard has had a major face lift!!!  It already looks SO MUCH better, and as everything starts to grow and fill in and bloom it will look amazing!  I am excited to watch it all progress!  It is hard work doing landscaping -- now I know why they charge an arm and a leg to have it done by the pros!  Thankfully the area that we are concentrating on is relatively small!  

Here are some pics of the progress so far...

compost

 Front of the house, from the bottom of the steps

 Flower/Shrub beds (pre-mulch): Left Side

 Right Side

Mother's Day 2012

I am one blessed Mommy!  I just love the job of being their mom -- each and every day, I am thankful for this opportunity.  

It has been a busy and fun-filled 5 years of motherhood, and I am excited for all of the many more Mother's Days to come!

Luke - 5 yrs, Daniel - 3.5 yrs, Seth - 22 months, Baby Abby ~ 27 weeks

My 3 little handsome guys!

 Luke -- our big boy, a first-born for sure... adventurous and helpful!

Daniel -- our middle man, a bug-loving, out-doors exploring kind of guy!

Seth -- our littlest guy, always smiling, happy and entertaining!

Psalm 127: 3-5,

“Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,

The fruit of the womb is a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,

So are the children of one’s youth.

Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;

They shall not be ashamed,

But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.”

My silly boys!

My 3 guys,

just sitting on the front porch,

holding hands,

being sweet little boys --

sweet brothers!

 

 

A little silly,

a little crazy,

a little mischievous.

A lot cute,

a lot funny,

and a lot LOVED!!!!

Spring 2012 Soccer Pics

The whole team:

Back Row: Coach (Daddy),  Andrew, Tabitha, Morgan, Max

Front Row: Gabe, Kendall, Luke, Jett

(Michael not pictured)

Luke Bennett -- 5 years old

Luke and Daddy -- 2 soccer-loving guys!!!

We had another fun season playing and watching soccer!  These little boys are girls are super cute playing, as they are learning all about the game.  They don't seem to take it too seriously and don't really care if they win or lose.  They are entertaining and keep the parents on our toes... never a dull moment watching them play!  Good season to everyone!!!

A Special Blessing (MWS)

I was listening to a podcast of Focus on the Family featuring Christian singing artist, Michael W. Smith today.  He was talking about his career, his family and marriage, and his new album.  He mentioned that he started doing a "Special Blessing" for the audience members at his concerts a few years back, and then he read it.  I thought that it was great, and wanted to pass it along!

Here's a link to the website with the broadcast too.

http://www.focusonthefamily.com/radio.aspx?ID={5AFE8C9D-D367-444C-9C9D-E3A12632990C}

"In the name of Jesus Christ, I bless you with all the promises of God which are "Yes!" and "Amen!"  

May the Holy Spirit make you healthy in body, mind, and spirit to move in faith and expectancy.  

May God's angels be with you to protect you and keep you.  

Be blessed with supernatural strength to turn your eyes from foolish, worthless, and evil things and to shut out the demeaning and the negative.  

May God bless your ears to hear the lovely, the uplifting, and the encouraging.  

May your mind be strong, disciplined, balanced, and faith-filled.  

God's grace be upon your home that it may be a sanctuary of rest and renewal, a haven of peace where sounds of joy and laughter grace its walls.  Where love and unconditional acceptance of one another is the constant rule.  

May God give you the spiritual strength to overcome the evil one and avoid temptation.  

May God's grace be upon your to fulfill your dreams and your visions.  

May goodness and mercy follow you all the days of your life.  

And may the Lord bless you and keep you, may His face shine upon you and may His favor be upon you, all the days of your life."

Michael W. Smith

 

Playroom Bookshelves

We love books at our house -- the boys each enjoy reading and it has become a part of our daily life since Luke was little.  I have always enjoyed reading, and now I love that they love it too! So we have a TON of books -- and I am always adding to the collection.  

The 2 tall and skinny bookshelves that we had in the playroom just weren't really working for us... the books on the lower couple of shelves would get taken out and then randomly put back -- sometimes falling back behind the bookshelf, or just getting stacked and overall looked pretty messy.  Plus it made it hard to find a specific book when we wanted it.  And the books up on the top shelves were a little out of the boys' reach (for them to safely get), and therefore they were read much less frequently.  

So, I was wanting something different... lots of space, but also storage areas, but lower to the ground, and more accessible to the boys.  So I saw some shelving that I really liked at IKEA and decided to make a new little sitting area, bookshelves/storage area near our big back wall of windows.

Here are a few BEFORE pics:

Toy storage to the far right side of the playroom

2 tall and skinny  bookshelves on the left side of the playroom -- wall of windows in between

Here's Luke and Daniel "helping" with the shelving assembly (really just playing in the little cubbies!)

 And here are a few AFTER pics...

 We are still going to use at least 1 of the tall bookshelves for storing games and some of the tall books that won't fit in the cubbies -- not sure if I will leave them there or not

 The middle (lower) shelf for sitting and reading by the window -- I sewed a cushion cover for the padding -- it has greens, browns, and tans

 And a completed pic with the big throw-pillows

 Overall I am happy with how it came out -- it provides us with a TON of storage for books and other smaller toys (Legos) in the bins.  And the boys really seem to like having the place to sit and read by the window!  Success!