Family Reunion October 2008

Fall

Dectectives in the House!

Agent M. Cole (aka:party host)

You did a rockin' job directing all those little detectives, baby!

Happy Birthday Alexis! We love You!

Agent L. Cole

Well, we celebrated Alexis 9th birthday July 26th. I can't believe it! We had a detective theme party that was quite a success. We asked the kids to come dressed as detectives. There were about 15 kids which we divided into 3 groups. Each one received an Agent Badge (sticker w/their group # on it.) Michael made up the clues and did a fabulous job I must say. The final clue let the kids to turn on the TV where Michael had made a slide show which told them where to find the missing cake.

Here's part of the crew looking for the microwave clue. I had to help them. (including Michael) They looked everywhere for the clue I'd hidden so well on the bottom of the microwave door. I couldn't make it too obvious could I?

Here's the littlest group---w/Uncle Mark's assistance they found all their clues too!

Here we are putting all our clues together to find out what to do next. Oh the fun we had!

Our 5 suspects!

Keilah, LaVeda, Denise, Aunt Chelle, Aunt Margaret. Thank you to all of you.

We all had a great time. I have to say it will be tough to beat this party. We most certainly have set a high standard now. What were we thinking.

At the Ranch

July 4th, we went to Brownwood to our friends ranch. We had a great time riding 4-wheelers, watching fireworks at the lake, rock skipping, and just being outdoors. We also had the opportunity to ride some horses. I decided to take my horse on a little trot and got a little too close to a tree. I now have some awesome scars on my right arm to show for it.
Joshua had fun, at first we weren't sure if he was
laughin' or cryin'.

Throwing rocks in the water has never

been so fun. Lexi learned to rock skip and

was pretty good at it.

Gone to Camp Brookhaven

We sent Lexi off to camp for the first time. We'll let you know how she did. Michael is trying to not be to concerned about her. I'm confident she's having a wonderful time. We'll post some of her pictures when she returns. She'll be gone till July 2nd.

Fredericksburg

Well, we've returned from our yearly trip to Fredericksburg/San Antonio vacation. We started off swimming at the pool at LBJ and Lady Bird parks. We visited Enchanted Rock for the first time. I think it will be a while before we return there, the 3 hr. hike was a little much for my kiddos, but I'm proud to say we made it up the huge rock and all the way around. I think we'll pack more than 5 bottles of water if we ever do it again. The last 20 min. we prayed for God to send us a cloud, and He did. What a difference a little shade makes. Our last few days were spent at Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio. We were reminded that Fiesta ROCKS compared to Six Flags in Arlington. Hardly a comparison. Now, back to some sort of routine with gym trips and LOW carb diets.

Father's Day

Well, today was a fun day. We spent the afternoon in Aledo with my sisters, Mom, and Dad. We had such a good time. The kids enjoyed playing with their cousins. The boys made a mud mess of the pool and enjoyed making mud soup. Weeda has all the mud pics...I'll post them when I get 'em. Around 5:00 p.m., we headed home so we'd be ready for our Herrold friends to arrive. The kids planned a special meal for their dads. They served them with aprons on, taking orders from menus they'd created. It was so sweet.

Our latest

Well, I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post. Nothing really exciting to blog about. Joshua had swimming lessons this week and is doing quite well. He dove for his goggles in 5' deep water. Yeah! He's also learned free-style strokes. I'm so proud of my little guy. This evening we went to the Southlake Town square and walked around a bit. The kids got some choc. covered marshmellows with sprinkles on it to share. I can't believe we paid $2.68 for three marshmellows. I guess you could say we splurged. Amanda has and end-of-season softball swimming party tomorrow. Her dad will be taking her as I'll be at a baby shower. I think the other kiddos will be going to Michael's parents.

Our friends are coming home from the cruise from Spain tomorrow. With Michelle just returning from a Royal Carribean Cruise and now our friends too, we're thinking we'll need to check out the whole cruise thing for ourselves. We've applied for passports so we'll be ready when "some great deal" comes up. Probably during hurricane season--Sept.-Nov. We think we'll take the kids too. We'd like them to see some other places besides the Metroplex. We just studied countries this past year. I hope were able to take them to a few places we learned about.

Until then, we'll be having fun in the sun at the gym and down the street at our neighbors. We got invited to swim at their house whenever we want as of yesterday. Yippee!

Pig Tails & More

The girls are constantly asked if they are twins. Today, they decided to dress exactly alike. They were so cute holding hands and skipping through the gym. I'm not a pro pig tailer, but they didn't care.

Joshua had his last end-of-year pre-school party today. He came home with lots of treasures. His last day is Thursday. He'll have a beach party if the weather cooperates.

Tonight, we'll head out to our weekly Chick-Fil-A Family night and Amanda will have her final softball practice.

Our dishwasher decided it's tired and would like some tender loving care. So far, Michael's been unable to rectify it. Looks like we may be getting a new one. Bummer, hugh. Mmm, what color should I get. Currently we have a white fridge, black oven, and almond dishwasher with almond counter tops. We'll see...

We've been made aware of a couple of kids this week who've died. Just cherish the moments with those babies. Remember, they're only on loan to you.

Mother's Day!

We had a great day out at Nina & Papaws. We had Papaw's Johnny Cakes and biscuits along with burrito wraps. Yum! Yum! We enjoyed being outside in the beautiful weather. Nina & Papaws neighbors have a horse that the kids enjoyed petting.








When Joshua gets tired, all he wants is his "bebe". Someday he'll give it up or I'll take it away!











Lawson (LaVeda's middle son) 3 yrs. old









Joshua is so proud of his nursery rhyme book from Circle of Friends. I think this was the third time we went through it today! He sounds so cute reciting them all.

Ft. Worth Water Gardens

Today we didn't really have anything planned. I went and took a core class at the gym and hung out awhile by the poolside for some "just me time to chill out". Then we headed to Pizza Garden for lunch. (Michael and I scrapped pizza tops!) Joshua can really pack those alfredo pizzas away. I think he ate 6. HELLO, I think we're in trouble. After finishing lunch, we headed to downtown for our Water Garden's excursion. The kids had so much fun and we do too.

Joshua couldn't wait to scoop water in his crocs and try to splash everyone.

Amanda and Joshua thought it would be fun to drench themselves. Oh to be a kid again!






I love you Baby! You're the Best. You take me as I am.

We Have a Graduate in the house!

Our Little Joshua has offically graduated Pre-School at Circle of Friends. I can't believe my last litte baby is headed for Kindergarten in the fall. I've started reading lessons with him this week and hope by mid-summer he'll be reading like a pro. We're so proud of our son. He has such an imagination.

Adventure World

Mommy with each one of her little blessings from God. I love them so much

April 25th, we went to a park called Adventure World. It's only about 5 min. from the house. Our neices and nephew and the kids grandparents were all there. We had so much fun. There's a little nature trail we thought we'd check out and see how many critters we could find, but we weren't gone 10 min. and it started sprinkling on us so we headed back and upon our return, of course, the rain had stopped. Probably for the best as I was taking this adventure alone with six kiddos.

Amanda & Britt

Joshua and Amanda (Josh majorly needing a haircut, I finally gave him one last weekend)


Amanda, Joshua, Lexi, Trent, Kenzie, & Brittany
We are family!







Mimi and Papaw with all their grandkids! Everyone of them is spoiled ROTTEN!








My sweet little Paigers. Oh how she was so enjoying her bicycle riding!

School's Officially Out!

Well, last Friday was our last day to finish our core studies. We are so excited and ready for a break. I'm not sure who's more ready, me or the kids. We'll still do some math, spelling, and general reading a few time a week, but for the bulk we're done. YEAH! We plan on spending time at the gym pool, park days before it's too hot, camping possibly at Turner Falls in Davis, OK, and a Fredericksburg/San Antonio Fiesta Texas trip in June. CAN'T WAIT. Today, we went to the gym and a couple of parks. We're off to the gym again so I can take a step class and then off to the softball fields. Gotta tone up these legs....

Softball 2008

The girls are both playing softball. This is their second year and they are both doing quite well. I believe Lexi is wanting to tryout soccer again in the fall. It's been several years since she's played so I guess it's time to check it out again. I keep telling her she could get a great scholarship for college if she can figure out what she likes best and really work at it. Joshua doesn't care to sit and watch the games too much. He'd rather wander around and eat popcorn! He says he wants to play soccer in the fall too. He played a year ago and it proved to be unsuccessful. He's a bit older now though so maybe he'll actually show some interest and run after the ball.