The Graduate

The Graduate

Madison graduated from Preschool this week! I cannot believe it! She is getting so big too fast! She has loved going to school. She has that innate desire to learn. She would be a wonderful teacher someday.

Her teacher, Mrs.Juli, shared a sweet story with me about Maddie just before school got out. There is a little boy in her class that has had a rough year. His dad has been sick and he is struggling with both behavior and academics. Madison has prayed for this little boy all year long. She brings him up a lot at our Bible story time at night too. He is sometimes mean to the girls and we have talked about the importance of showing Jesus to everyone. Mrs.Juli has been working on teaching the children to spell all of their colors all year long. This particular little boy has struggled and has not been successful in spelling any color words. His favorite color is blue so Mrs. Juli had really targeted this word and worked on it with him everyday. The week before school was out, it was his turn to be the teacher helper. He stood before the class looking a little nervous. Mrs.Juli said she said a little prayer and then asked the little boy to spell blue. He hesitantly look a deep breath and said " B_L_U_E." Madison leaped to her feet and started clapping. The rest of the class followed suite. Mrs.Juli said that she had never seen this boy smile so big.

Madison's response was not planned out, it was impulsive. She has that natural desire to see others succeed. She saw the need in this little boy and was compassionate. On her own, she took the initiative to pray for this little boy and was overjoyed when she saw him accomplish the task he had struggled with so long. All qualities like our precious Savior, Jesus. I couldn't be more proud of her.

So, yes I was proud of her as she sang her heart out on stage at her graduation. I was thrilled to hear say that she wanted to be a "Princess Mommy" when she grew up. I was delighted to hear them call her name and see her receive her certificate. BUT my heart overflowed with joy, when I heard this story of what took place, not on stage, but in her day to day actions. I think she will make a terrific "Princess Mommy" one day!

More pictures from Great Wolf

Better late than never! I finally downloaded more pictures from our trip to Great Wolf Lodge. Madison wrote a story about our trip so I decided to include it. Here it is:

Well, we loaded up, packed our stuff, and went to The Great Wolf Lodge. Granna drove our car. Mommy, Kinley, Caden, and I rode with her. Daddy drove Granna's car. When we got there, we went to our rooms and jumped on our beds. It was fun that Daddy let us do that because we can't do that at home. Kinley and I slept in a room with Granna. Or rooms were cool and looked like a log house.
The next day we went on water slides. One time I flew up and Daddy caught me with his feet. It was kind of fun. On another slide, I bumped my head on Mommy knee when we were on a tube ride. It hurt but I didn't cry.
At the water park, there is a gigantic bucket that pours water over your whole body. Everyone would scream when that happened.
We also got a magic wand and played a game in the hotel. When you pointed at things that were like key words magic happened. Not everything had magic just some pictures, treasure chests, and diamonds. There was more but that is all I can think of right now. Daddy went on a bunch of quests with me.
At night, they had a special show in the hotel. Wiley the wolf came. He taught us to howl. Cade liked that part!
We went to breakfast with Granna. We ate bacon, eggs, biscuits, and chocolate milk. We colored pictures for Mommy and Daddy. They liked them a lot.
At the end of trip, we realized we were in the wrong room. Granna said we needed to start over. I wish we could. I brought home a wolf from the Build-A-Bear in the hotel. Caden and Kinley got one too.
We went to the Rain Forest Cafe on our way home. We saw a big alligator. Kinley was a little scared but I wasn't.
The bad parts of our trip were that I threw up in the bed at night. I think I ate too much ice cream. The other bad part was that we waited on Kinley a lot. She would look to the left and the right and behind her. She did not pay attention much but not every time.
When we came home, Woody was at our house. We dressed up our new wolves. It was a fun trip. Next time we want Abbie, and Uncle Reg and Aunt Andrea to come along. They would like it. I want Granddaddy to come too. I want to see him on the water slide. It would be fun!
written by Maddie- age 5 1/2

A picture of Rob underwater-cracks me up!

The kids posing on a jet ski- (notice Rob's head-he had a hold of Cade)

Madison loved shooting Daddy with water

Cade's first time in the pool
Me and Cade before going on the Lazy River

Me and Maddie underwater -a little scary!
Shooting hoops with Daddy

Madison posing outside of our room
Kinley looking sweet and innocent
Cade watching the water bucket pour all over everyone
Me and Madison just before a water slide
I took this one going down the slide- just before Madison bumped my knee.

Something is missing!

Missing Tooth

On Monday night, Madison and Kinley were playing like they were puppies. Madison was chewing on Kinley's PJ'S when all of a sudden, her tooth popped out! She wasn't sure what had happened! She was shocked that she lost a tooth already! The dentist told me that this tooth was a little loose and that she would probably lose it early especially since she got her teeth so early! We searched everywhere but we could not find the missing tooth!

Madison wrote a sweet note to the Tooth Fairy describing her dilemma. The Tooth Fairy wrote back a very nice letter and gave her a Susan B Anthony coin along with a dollar bill. She also found a trail of fairy dust leading to the window. (The Fairy dust was defintely her favorite!)

Our little Gymnast

For Kinley's third birthday, she requested swim lessons. We went for the first lesson and she quickly decided that she did not like someone forcing her to go under water so... we changed to gymnastics. She is such a little monkey that it is realy a good fit for her! They opened a new gym in Cedar Park called Zero Gravity. There are only four little girls in her class which gives Kinley lots of one on one. She is the youngest in the class. All of the other girls are 4 or 5. She had her last class day this week so Rob, Cade, Granna and I went to watch her ceremony. Here are a few pictures from the day. She even received a medal and certificate!

Great Wolf Lodge

Great Wolf Lodge

We just got back from a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine. Granna went with us and was a HUGE help! The girls thought it was so cool that they stayed in a room with her!

The lodge just opened this year. They have an indoor waterpark inside the hotel. It was a very family oriented facility. The kids had a blast playing in the waterpark and playing the magiquest game. They have a computerized scavenger hunt for the kids to play that goes throughout the eight stories of the hotel. The kids use a magic wand to activate objects such as a painting may light up and talk. They have set quests to accomplish. Rob had a lot of fun taking the girls all over the hotel playing the game.

Kinley liked the waterpark best. There was a pool with lots of slides"just her size". She also loved the alligator at the Rain Forest Cafe. Maddie liked going on all the big rides. She rode everything she could! She loved the intertube rides. She also enjoyed the performance they had each night. She liked it when Granna went down several slides with her too! Rob and I took her down several rides and she laughed the entire trip! Caden liked the howling wolf Wiley- the hotel mascot and riding the lazy river. We rode it around 13 times in a row! He also learned how to howl like a wolf and he lets out a howl everytime he sees his beloved souvenir, a stuffed wolf.

Rob and I rode the tornado ride together and agreed that it was the best water ride we have ever been on! We also enjoyed having just one child in our room. That in its self is a vacation! Although we do love our children.

It was a great time for all! We definitely want to go back again soon.

Trip to The Country

Last weekend we went to see my Parents in Centerville. The kids LOVE to go to Gigi and Pappy's house. They live on 12 acres and it is a child's paradise! They rode the four wheeler with Pappy and the lawn mower. They went caught earthworms to go fishing and went out on raft "on the ocean" (the lake my parents live on). My Dad taught the girls how to bait a hook. We picked wild blackberries and wild flowers. We had a star gazing party where we saw a bat and an owl. The girls also started a feather collection, their first find was two owl feathers. We also went to a friend's ranch and saw tons of exotics and wild boars. The girls had such a great time that Kinley decided she wanted to move in. She wanted to trade me and Rob for Gigi and Pappy as her new parents!

Tanks A Lot

Madison and I were reading Clubhouse Jr. Magazine and came across a story about an orphanage in Uganda, Africa. After finishing the story, she look at me with tears in her eyes and said "What are we going to do to help these kids Mom?" We immediately starting researching this orphanage on the computer. They have a program called Tanks A Lot that collects tank tops for children in the Watoto Ophanage in Uganda. We wrote her classmates at High Hopes telling them about the program. Then we contacted our church and let them know that she wanted to include this project in the Faith in Action campaign. The results were astounding! We collected 107 tank tops! All of the kids in the children ministry donated change to this project. We collected a little over $1,000 worth of pocket change! I told Madison that it was like the miracle of God taking the fish and loaves and feeding the multitude! Madison's determination to help the less fortunate has really encouraged me! We contacted the orphanage to see what they wanted us to do with the donations. We are donating the money to buy formula for the babies in the orphanage. They have over 80 infants that require formula! We feel honored to be a part of God's work with this project. I would love to take Madison to Africa one day to show her how her eagerness to help others is so needed in a land of poverty. I thank God for her compassionate heart.

Great Release

We released our butterflies yesterday. The girls were really sad to see their pets go! As soon as we took them outside they started flying around like crazy. One of the interesting facts that we learned was that they are solar powered. They need the sun to fly. As soon as we let them go, they took off high over the fence. It was such a neat experience. We plan to raise some more next Spring.

We have Butterflies!

We have butterflies! On Sunday afternoon our butterlies made their transformation. The girls were so excited! I admit that Rob and I were pretty pumped ourselves. On Saturday night Madison prayed that the butterlies would one day reach their dream of becoming butterflies. She was thrilled to hear that God answered her prayer so quickly!
We have enjoyed watching them. The Painted Lady butterfly only has a two week life span so we plan to let them go today. We hope they can go reproduce before dying. I'll post some pictures of the kids with the butterflies later.

Welcome to Table Food

Table Food For Cade

We went to see Dr. Dan on Thursday. Cade is very healthy. However, he is in the 85 % in height and 15% in weight. So Dr. Dan gave me the go ahead on table food. He just requires more food than my lil' girls. We have been eating baby food but Caden started boycotting that a couple of weeks ago. We gave him his first bitter biscuit and he loved it! The next day we went on a picnic at Mimi's house and he was grabbing the girls' sandwiches right out of their hands! I think he is enjoying this new world of foods!

The caterpillars

Madison got a butterfly set for Christmas from Granna and Granddaddy. We sent off for the larve and received it within three days! When we first got the catepillars they were tiny, about the width of a pencil mark and about as long as my thumb nail. Within a week they trippled their size and they were crawling everywhere! They formed their cacoons on Sunday morning and we are watching them intently! They have been keeping a journal about their special pets.

Here are some interesting facts the girls have discovered:

* They form their cacoon using a hole below their mouth- the silk comes out of the spinneret similar to a spider.

* Only butterflies lay eggs

* When they are in the cacoon they shake to ward off predators

and Kinley's favorite fact to share..

* They have big poop!

Here are a few pictures of the girls watching their catepillars. They also used finger paints to paint a butterly scene.