Weekend with Papa

Last Thursday, my Dad was able to get away and come visit us in Texas. He flew in Thursday evening and then went home Tuesday morning. It was so nice to have him come and get to know the kids a little better.

While he was here, we also had the start to the Fall Soccer season.

Bekah is playing with the same group of girls from the last two seasons and they are awesome (their Coach is pretty awesome too!!!)

Coop is also on a team with a lot of the same boys from last year, but this is his first season playing boys only and 4 on 4. One of our good friends, who is also the mother of a boy on the team, is coaching his team and she rocks. Cooper loves her and is really growing!


Papa's sight is getting worse, therefore, he has numerous pairs of reading glasses, which the kids thought were quite funny. It turned into a hilarious moment as each kid tried on the glasses and did their best "Papa" face!!



Nice one Brayd!


On another side note, Adam flew to Virginia Sunday, then back LATE Monday night. Left to Virginia again Wednesday morning at 6am and is still there. He has had numerous interviews, both in the DC area and Baltimore, and has another scheduled in Long Island, NY on Monday and possibly another in Philadelphia either tomorrow or Tuesday. The kids and I miss him terribly, but this is a big move for our family and we want to make sure he is accepting the BEST possible job for his career and more importantly, for our family. Do we want our kids to have Southern accents or sound like New Yorkers?????

The Primary Program

Today at church we had our yearly Primary Program, where all the kids ages 3-11 sit up on the stand, sing songs they have learned, and each take a turn speaking. Adam had to fly out to Virginia today for a job interview tomorrow morning, so he wasn't able to be there. My Dad was here and it was nice for him to see the kids in the program. They all did a really cute job. Bekah knew her part very well and spoke confidently. She also sang in a special musical number with the other girls her age. When it was Coopers turn, he looked like he was about to cry at first. He read his part and then the Primary president asked him to read another, which he did very well. Coop is becoming a great reader- but... he still reads in the characteristic monotone voice of a beginning reader and his chubby cheeks sometimes make it sound like he's got marbles in his mouth. With my "mothers ears", I understood him perfectly, I'm just not sure anyone else could! Emma was SO excited to get her turn, which came toward the very end. When she got up to the microphone, the line the Primary President was prompting her to say was different from the one we had been given and practiced. I could tell right away that Emma recognized that and I just felt relieved that she didn't argue and just said what she was told. Brayden was the last to go, from our family and from the entire primary. He had been asked to give a talk, "Because I believe in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, I will..." Brayden chose to finish that sentence with "make and keep sacred covenants." He did such a great job and I couldn't be more pleased. He spoke clearly and slowly, and made a special effort to look up into the audience as he spoke. He even bore a sweet testimony at the end. I'm very proud of all my kiddos today! It's so amazing to see them grow and learn and gain the confidence to speak in public- even at a very young age! Way to go guys!

For more information about the Primary Program of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, please click on the post title!

While my blog was sleeping....

It's been quite a while since I blogged and here's why-

Mini Golf with Mini Coop

Have you ever seen such cute Coopers????

Boarding up the house for Hurricane Ike

Evacuating our family to Dallas to avoid the storm

Finding out that the storm had turned....

Staying in Dallas for some family fun, anyway




A special Sunday meeting in Dallas with President Uchdorf speaking!!! Very cool!
Driving home and spending 3 days undoing the work we put in for the hurricane

Get me off the coast ASAP!!!

Great Expectations....

Tonight we had our PTA open house at our elementary school, Mireles. When I was in school, we would have called it back to school night. It started with a PTA meeting in the gym/cafeteria and then we had a chance to go to each child's classroom and talk with their teacher about expectations and how they are doing. When we got to Cooper's classroom, his teacher had a cute poem they had done on the first day of school and a little booklet titled, "All about Cooper". Coop had completed different pages about his favorite food, his family, his pet and several others. Imagine the feelings of pride when I turned to this page....

(For those of you who don't live in Texas, H.E.B. is a big supermarket chain in TX. Here in Corpus Christi, it is the ONLY grocery store chain in town.)
We've got Great Expectations for you Coop!

Broken Glasses

Having three kids and two adults in glasses/contacts can be a costly endeavor~ one with which we are well aware. Cooper recently needed a new prescription and thus new glasses for the start of the school year, so we just barely paid for those. We are always telling the kids to be careful with their glasses, don't play rough in them, don't take them off and sit them on the ground, and other such parental advice~
So every Wednesday night after Scouts/Achievement Days, all the kids begin a wild round of attack the older kids. Since Brayden moved from Cub Scouts to real scouts tonight, he also moved into the child being attacked category. Being the responsible 11 year old that he is, he took his glasses off and put them on the stage so they wouldn't get broken in the rough housing. Someone, however, must have stepped on them on the stage, because he came and found me in Young Womens. He was holding back the tears as he showed me his glasses- broken and bent. He just kept saying, "I can't believe this happened." He felt so bad and so did I. Especially since he'll have to go to school tomorrow with super glued glasses (or maybe to really embarass him, I could break out the tape!!)

Cousin Love- I mean Fun

This weekend as I traveled away to see my family and a friend, Tom (Adam's brother) and his 5 kids were able to come over for a visit! They had fun playing together, having a Wii fest, and going to up to San Antonio to stay in a hotel and hit Six Flags!
Hanging out with Dad is ALWAYS funner than being with Mom!

Emma and Max continued their love affair~ one which we hope to quench before they hit age 10! Emma told me this morning that Max asked her two times if she would "Go out with him". For a 3 year old boy and a 4 year old girl, they are quite advanced in their dating lingo!

With the approach of Hurricane Gustav, everyone was worried about Tom and kids making it back to Louisiana before the storm. It appears that the storm was not as bad as originally thought and they made it safe!

Thanks for the fun weekend.

Arrow of Light

Last Wednesday night, Brayden was awarded the highest honor and achievement in Cub Scouts- the Arrow of Light. It was a great way to end his Cub Scout career as he moves on to Boy Scouts. He is pretty excited to move on but sad to leave his friends. Here are some pictures of the event!