My Little Reader

Nathan is reading more and more all the time. With books that we've read to him many times I always wonder if he's really reading or just reciting. Well, the other day we found this book when we were going through some things in storage. I handed it to Nathan and he read it. So here he is really reading - despite many distractions. I love how he is so on task about finishing his reading of the book to me - no dog or brother is going to stand in his way!

I'm so proud of him - he amazes me!

I've been asked what curriculum I used to teach Nathan to read and my only answer is that we (parents, grandparents, cousins) have always read to him. He also has some LeapFrog toys and videos which help with learning letters, sounds, and how words are put together. He's loved books his whole life - seriously - and he's been paying attention lately to the words when we read to him. The Lord has blessed him with a quick mind and eagerness to learn to read - so he has. We still have to help him with many words but as you can hear he is really doing great.

The MOPS Great Moms Walk

Last Saturday was our MOPS Great Mom's Walk. All the families congregate at Fort Imagination then walk down to Nelson Park. At Nelson Park there are all sorts of fun activities for the kids - bounce castle, train ride, etc.

Here the boys are playing around at Fort Imagination, each with a balloon of his favorite color, waiting for the Walk to start.
The balloons made it pretty easy to keep up with the boys throughout the fort.

Here's David and his boys (Benjamin is behind his Dad trying to not be in the picture just to mess with his mom).

You can see Benjamin a little more in this one as he peeks through David's legs.

Here are my guys strolling along. Though we brought the wagon both boys started out wanting to walk.There were some cute ducklings in the pond so the boys took a short break from the Walk to get a better look at them. Nathan decided he wanted to ride in the wagon the rest of the way down to Nelson Park.

Chick-fil-A is one of our favorite places to eat so both boys were super excited about getting to see the Chick-fil-A cow. He was handing out coupons for free food so Dad and I liked that part.

Anytime I lost sight of Benjamin for a second all I had to do was look for the big cow and it was a pretty sure bet Benjamin was hanging around him.

The little golf cart train's battery wasn't charged but the ACU volunteers were real troopers and pushed it around for the kids so they could still have a train ride.

Dad is sitting on the bench in the background of this pic.

The bounce castle was a hit as always.

They had a big inflatable slide for the kids as well. Here the boys are climbing up the stairs to it.

David was holding the camera up over the end of the slide and trying to aim it at the boys as they each slid down. There was also a glare on the display screen so it's a wonder he got any footage of them at all.

When we'd had about all the fun we could stand, it was time to head back to the van which was still parked down at Fort Imagination of course.

I'm really glad Dad could join us for the walk this year and not just because he pulled the wagon - though that did help a lot.

Look Who's In The News

David and several of his co-workers were mentioned in this article in the Abilene Reporter News a few weeks back. In case you missed seeing it in the paper I'm putting a link to it here. I'm so proud of my Sweetie! Of course we know that God is our ultimate provision - I'm just glad He's provided such a great place for David to work.

11Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as the one who is over all things. 12Wealth and honor come from you alone, for you rule over everything. Power and might are in your hand, and at your discretion people are made great and given strength. 13“O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name!
1 Chronicles 29:11-13 (NLT)

Happy Easter!

Here is my annual Easter pics with the big blue bunny. To see pics from 2005 to 2007 click here and for last year's click here.

Once again the bunny takes some pretty rough treatment but still seems to be fairing okay though I did find a couple of tufts of blue fur on the couch after this year's photo shoot. (He's already been stored away for next year's pics.)

The boys didn't want to sit in the chair together this year so Nathan stood next to the chair and the bunny sat next to Benjamin. It works.

Ah, brotherly love.

I like this solo shot of Nathan.

I tried to get a pic of Benjamin by himself too but it didn't go quite as well since he was not the least bit interested in being photographed alone and slid out of the chair as I was snapping the pic.
I took a couple of pics of them at their little table.

Silly boys - cute but silly.

Finally, I wrapped up the shoot with them and the bunny on the couch.
They were very glad when I told them I was done with the posed pics and they could "play" -which they of course translated into "wrestle with each other and the bunny."

Happy Easter!

A Fountain Of Fun

One day as we were meandering through HEB the boys spotted all the bubble making paraphernalia. There was a ton of stuff on an endcap - wands you swing around, bubble mowers, several different shapes of straws and pipes you blow through and then there was the thing that caught their attention the most, a bubble fountain. I told them that we didn't need to get it on that particular trip but we took note of the price and I told them that if they wanted to buy it with money from their piggy banks we could do that on our next trip - so we did.

We brought it home and set it up and let the fun begin. It worked really well and put out a ton of bubbles. I took pics - of course.

I also took a video.

We moved the fountain around a couple of different places to see where to bubbles would blow. There was a light breeze from the south on this particular day so if we put it at the curve in the driveway the bubbles blew behind the house but up between Dad's pick-up and the front door they swirled around and went out in front of the house.

So if you're looking for a way to show your kids wind flown patterns or just want to have fun with a ton of bubbles (bubbles you don't have to blow for them or let them get all sticky with the bubble solution doing it themselves) then I would recommend spending the $10 and buy a bubble fountain - or better yet let your kids spend their money on it.