Sweet Sweet Summer Time.

We decided at the last minute to take the girls and some of their friends to the lake. My brother and sister in law have a lake house and they graciously let us have for the weekend. The lake was just beautiful the water was like glass. If you are a skier than you know this is the perfect combination to ski. Most of the crowds had left after Memorial Day weekend so we basically had the lake to ourselves. On Sunday we took the boat to Lake LBJ. This is the lake I grew up on and feel that it is superior to ANY other lake for various reasons. My parents had a lake house here for many many years. It was sad to see the house and the new owners had built on to it and had closed in the patio that looked out on the lake. What are they thinking??

Anyway it was a fun time just relaxing on the boat. I was praying and asking Jesus please let there be lakes and boats in heaven, because that is heaven to me on earth. There is such a calmness watching the sun go down on the lake. I know heaven will be more than I could ever imagine.

I was wishing my brother Tyson was here to enjoy it. I think he loves it as much a I do. So Tyson these pictures are for you.

Peyton's Silver Stars Banquet and Awards Night

Well this is really out of order. This banquet was really before the sweet 16 party. It was that week but with all the planning and planning and planning again for Madeline's party I did not have time to post these pictures. I appreciate all the comments about how I am so behind on the life and times of "the poormans". It keeps me determined to finish any and all major family events. The banquet was bitter sweet. This is the last year Peyton will dance with the Silver Stars and SBMS. She will be cheering for Bracken Christian school in the fall. She absolutely loved being apart of this group of girls. God truly had his hand on Peyton being apart of this group. The director is a christian and was a source of comfort for me when we first moved here. She put all my fears to rest about Peyton going to a new middle school. Peyton received many awards for her character and most importantly the award for the best splits of all time!!! This was her favorite recognition of the night.

Madeline's Super Sweet 16

We had Madeline's 16th birthday party at our neighborhood Pavilion. She shared the big day with her BFF Payton. No not our Peyton her best friend at school is also named Payton. Are you completely confused? We had a DJ and served hamburgers and danced the night away. She invited the entire high school. That really is only about 120 kids so we needed a big place. Several parents stayed and got the dancin' going. The girls had a great time. It was the perfect place to have a dinner and dance. It was a great night with a good breeze. I have never had so much fun at a kids birthday party EVER. I love these kids they are so much fun to hang out with. Lots of them are seniors and that makes me sad. The best part of the night is finding out that Madeline and Peyton made cheerleader for the 2009-2010 school year. They both worked so hard all year to get ready for the tryouts. I was just beaming all night. The girls could not stop smiling all night Nelson is thinking what I am going to do with 2 cheerleaders in the house. We thought it was loud before. We had NO IDEA.

The Swine Flu

OMG!! The kids are out of school until May 11th. When I wanted to move to the hill country I did not factor into the equation that living close to Mexico would have so many issues. I think the county is over reacting a bit, but what do I know only that I have to find creative ways to keep these kids off the computer and their life lines(the cell phone).

Comal county is a BIG place full of a zillion schools so to close all of them for 14 days has got to have a price to pay. I have included pictures of Peyton and Madeline and a neighbor entertaining themselves doing what they do best. Taking vain pictures of themselves for HOURS.

AND THEN THERE WERE 4.........DRESSES

We survived coronation 09 or prom as it was called back in the day. Boy did I learn a lot from this experience!!! Life lessons...... probably not, but valuable ones indeed. The process started out with shopping for the perfect dress that of course had to be an original. Because according to Madeline Paige getting caught wearing the same dress as another classmate would be punishable by death and death only. All was well, we happen upon a beautiful dress that was definitely in the budget and some what easy to find. That alone should have been my clue that it just couldn't be this easy could it? The following week at school a classmate of Madeline's decided to bring her dress to school to show a friend and low and behold it was OUR dress and wait it gets worse. It was on THE NEW GIRLFRIEND. For those of you that do not live in the teenage world as I do this is Jason's AKA Madeline's once intendeds new gal. Madeline text me from school which by the way is 5 demerits if she gets caught I am sure she weighed the consequences before she pulled it out and determined, that this indeed would count as an emergency wouldn't it?

We decided this time to go a different route and look for a dress at the designer discount places and hopefully find a one of a kind dress. We bought a lovely floor lenght gown that looked fabulous on her. Of course this dress was slightly over the budget(Nelson if you are reading this you can stop now). Several weeks have past by now and all the girls at school started to describe their dresses and the majority of the girls were wearing short dresses. I am thinking great you will stand out isn't that the goal? I guess I am so out of touch with teenagers because Madeline said "No mom the goal is to fit in". So you guessed it, we returned are you keeping up with me? yet another dress. We set out to find the perfect short dress. We found one the Madeline liked I thought it looked to old for her. It did not show the 3 b's which are (boobs,butt,belly) but it was black lace with a pink slip underneath. I thought it was not my choice but if she felt beautiful in it and it did not break the modest rules then that was enough for me.

Now we are days away from the big night and Madeline decides to try on the dress with the new shoes and accessories to see how it all looks. I am unaware she is doing this, All I can hear is sobbing from her room. I ran up there and my sweet baby is in tears. She is not happy with her choice once she got it all on. She was so sweet to me and apologized profusely for not heeding my advice in the dressing room. She was the new girl and with that comes a lot of pressure in such a small school. She did not want the parents at the coronation to look at her in anyway other than pure innocence. And with her choice she felt like that would not be the case. Thank you Jesus for giving me a daughter that truly loves you and wants nothing more than to please you!! As tired as I was I threw on my shoes and we headed out to find yet again another dress. If you are counting we are at # 4. The pictures below show the final selection. She looked absolutely beautiful and had the time of her life. Thank you Jesus for these small trivial trials it sure makes it nice to reflect on them when we are in the pit of a big one.

Easter...........It is all about The resurrection!!!

This year we had Easter at Nelson's sisters house in Waller. They have a beautiful house with lots of land to get lost on. We hunted eggs, sat by the pool and outdoor fireplace because it was cold and windy. We had our annual horseshoe contest. Ronnie and I are the reining champions but this year we were teamed up with different people and did not do so good. Madeline took my spot she really wanted to play. We were surround with family making the day perfect. The best part of the day was watching Steven and Peyton getting each other with real eggs. I have not laughed that hard in a long time.

Madeline and her new glasses

Well just wanted to post a picture of Madeline Paige in her new glasses. She is not thrilled with this picture but I thought it was good enough. She is not that excited about having to wear glasses and braces in high school. I am over the moon with the new look. Anything to keep the boys at bay!!!!