On top of the mountain

We spent the weekend with Bunny and Pappy.  Pappy always has an adventure planned, and Saturday was no different.  He took Allie and Hubs hiking up Pinnacle Mountain.  Allie had never been, and she rocked it!  She loved every second according to the hiking report.  

Bunny and I and the kids stayed behind at the playground, and we found a nice FLAT trail to "walk" the younger kids.

Zach hung out with us all weekend, and he LOVES some cousins.  If he got tired of one, he would just go follow another one, and so on.

Ready for the hike..

Love this one!

After church pics.  I love this one!

It was so good to get out of the house and to spend time with the fam.  

Sweet Reading

What we are reading...

Mary, Garrett, and I laugh ourselves silly on a nightly basis reading this book.  Allie found it at the library a while back, and we just keep checking it out!  

Hubs found this book, and Garrett already knows every word.  It's so simply cute:)

Allie checked this one out at the library, reading most of it in a day or two.  She was so interested in this story of a child in a concentration camp.  She is also into the Narnia books right now.  

Mary has been asking for a while if I'd read the cotton candy book to her kindergarten class.  I found small containers of cotton candy at Sam's last week, so I decided to make a party of it.   

Garrett was SO excited to hang out at school with big sis.  He even wanted to take his back pack!  

They held hands walking down the hall:)  These two have been pretty tight for a while now.  I'm so glad because I'm not sure little brother is going to be impressed with littlest brother!

Mary's teacher totally included Garrett.  We stayed for a couple of hours, and he wanted to stay longer.  We had a "super duper ruper" (Garrett's phrase) sweet time.

Color Mamma Happy

Just to clarify the post title:  I did not set out to be "Mamma."  Just a preference thing.... nothing wrong with "mamma", but I wanted to be called "Mommy."  (I feel like I had some say in it:)  I was "Mommy" until Allie was exactly 4.  For some strange reason, (because kids are strange) she started calling me "mamma."  I fought it and fought it.  I asked her repeatedly to call me "Mommy," but before long Mary started talking, and what did she say?, "Mamma."  At that point..I quit fighting. 

Before you decide that this post is a total waste of time....

We've been fighting the "which cup is mine?" war for several years.  My MIL came up with a GREAT idea a long time ago.  When we come home, we all have a certain color cup which we are to use.  The rule has not been as strictly enforced in recent years because all the grand kids have taken over the place.  

The hubs and I decided with the upcoming arrival of another child, that we have reached the "color assignment" stage in our family.

I let them choose.  Mary is red, Allie green, Garrett blue, and CC is orange.   

It has worked like a charm!  I'm so happy.  You know how many questions kids ask everyday.  Well now, I have probably 12 less questions to answer each day and that is GOLDEN.  

Brace yourself

Easter Pics

The hubs was working on Easter weekend, so I took the kids to my parents since the kids haven't been since Christmas!  I apologize for bombarding with pictures!  

Easter was also my mom's birthday.  Happy birthday Nana!  

These are my SWEET grandparents.  Are they not good lookin'???  I showed Memaw the pic and she said, "Well we are starting to look old."  NOT SO!

My mom has the prettiest back yard!

My twin brother, sisnlaw, and nieces.  The kids had a ball!

This is Deda and T.J.  He is 8 weeks old and is jointly owned by my parents and grandparents.  Deda keeps him during the day while my parents work.  He is already spoiled ROTTEN!

And...by FAR my favorite pic from the week...

We are coming soon:)  I know you have no idea you even need a family because your foster parents have taken such incredible care of you.  For that we will forever be thankful.  But, God knew you did, and He has placed you with us.  We have prayed for many months for Him to prepare your little heart.  I can't even stand it any longer and am about to burst to hold you.  We already love you so much.

Wasted time

With all we have going on right now, every minute COUNTS!  Yesterday, I became frustrated to the point of tears over the silliest of things.  

All three kids had Easter parties, so I had about a one hour window to get us all packed to go see Nanna.  The hubs texted and said that I needed to call AT&T as soon as possible because he received an email saying he was accumulating international data.  

I called their international care hot line and explained to the operator the quandary.

Basically she said, "Ma'am your husband is in Turks San Cacos.  His cell phone is receiving data from a tower there so he must be there."  I argued with her and told her we were in Texas.  She explained that the border towns were bad about being picked up from Mexico.  

Oh good gracious!  I explained we weren't in a border town and that he was most assuredly at work.  She said well Ma'am I cannot verify that, and I only deal with international matters and told me to call customer service!

ARRRRRGGH.  That whole conversation including hold time took 15 min.  I was on the phone another 30 with customer service.  That poor woman received the brunt of my stress.  I did NOT want to be dealing with a NOTHING.  She finally explained that it was an issue on their end, to which I responded, "Then why didn't you send a follow up email?!!"

OH well.  

Garrett had a great time hunting!

Mary's sweet teachers washed the feet of every kindergarten.  They had gone over Jesus' washing of the disciples' feet and the significance of it.  It was so sweet to listen to them tell Mary how much they love her and all the positive things they see in her character.  I cried again!  It's like I'm about to have a baby or something!

Lighten up

Allie has spent the last 8 weeks taking an acting class with her friend "M."  They really enjoyed it.  Allie was all about it!

All the skits were funny and she is always a clown:)

She can't wait to do it again!