American Idol

OK ... I am admitting something first ... Chris and I vote for our Aggie, Jason Castro, every week. I know, I know, an Aggie with dreadlocks, but we just love the idea of an Aggie being the Idol! All of that said, right now I am so dissappointed with him. Something many people may not know about me is my love for music, theater ... Broadway ... love this Andrew Lloyd Weber music tonight and Jason said on live TV that he did not know "that a cat sang this song". I was crushed ... I remember sitting on the third row in NYC watching the beautiful matriarch cat belt out this song (Memories) and crying! Jason, Jason ... not knowing it was from Cats, singing a song that was created for a big voice, singing a song that was written for an elderly female cat... I am just sad right now ... but as I was typing Brooke sang and had to start over ... maybe there is hope for you Jason. My hubby said he is going to have to sympathy vote at least 8 times tonight for our Aggie!

Mexico Monday -- No Worries!

This week our team has been finalizing the details of the carnival we will have at the orphanage the second night we are there. With so many families going this year I think our little carnival will be awesome!! We have field goals, face painting, cake walks, balloon launching, bounce house, snow cones, cotton candy, and tons of booths ... exciting! That night is the first true interaction we will have with the kids so my prayer for this week is for the carnival night.

I would love to see the American kiddos and the orphans connect at the carnival... a blessing for us last year was that my boys each found a friend to play with during the week (Ernesto and Caleb, Josue and Josh) on that night. This "connected" them for the week even though they did not speak a word of each other's language. I pray that each child simply has fun, can feel God's love through us, and can feel comfortable to relax. I truly cannot even begin to comprehend what terrible things these chldren have been through at such a young age ... to experience freedom in Christ must be a huge challenge! Please pray along with me that they find the freedom, safety among us to have a fun-filled evening with no worries!! I am praying for ear-piercing laughter to ring throughout the night!!

Homerun Hero

We are the proud parents of the Homerun Hero, Caleb. He hit the ball so hard it bounced off the fence ... at centerfield!!! I found myself jumping up and down, arms wildly waving in the air, yelling with pure joy ... oh, yeah, I was more excited than him or anyone else at the game as I looked around and noticed all of the polite clapping and cheering going on ... I probably looked pretty crazy but I got really excited and had to do a little jumping to show it!!!! I mean that was my baby that just hit the ball over, yes over, the centerfielder's head!!! We celebrated ... here's a pic!

Kate wasn't quite finished with the excitement because this morning as I was washing the dishes my sweet, little girl in her smocked dress came out of her brother's room looking like this saying "Play, play ba-ball!"

Yes, those are baseball cleats, a baseball hat, and a baseball ...

I mean, is she all girl or what?!?!?!

Mexico Monday

Ok ... I am totally "stealing" this idea ... thanks, Christa. I am going to try and have a Mexico Monday for the next 7 Mondays as my family and lots of others prepare to take a short term mission trip to a children's orphange in Matamoras, Mexico. This year I am organizing the Art rotation and my hubby is organizing a Recreation rotation for the VBS groups within the orphanage. We absolutely loved going on this trip last summer and my boys are getting excited after spending some time with some "Mexico buddies" last Saturday night as we were preparing.
My prayers for this week are:
for our trip to glorify God in all aspects
for me to think of the right art activities for each lesson (age appropriate, inexpensive, meaningful)
for our leader who is writing the curriculum this year,
for the moms of young kids who are beginning to get nervous and say "what was I thinking???"

This was a fast post ... I'll let you know more of the incredible plans for the trip next week! Thanks for joining my family in prayer.

Broccoli!!!!

On a grocery trip my 6 year old and I were cruising through the vegetables and our conversation was something like this:
"Mom, what is THAT?!?!"
"You know what that is ... we have it a lot ... broccoli!"
"Broccoli? Really? I thought broccoli was yellow?!"
"Yellow?"
Then the shame hit me ... we have NEVER eaten broccoli without melted cheese!
Oh well ...

Opening Day of Baseball Season

Opening Day of the season was Saturday.

Here is Caleb...

next, Josh on the pitcher's mound...

The boys did not let us down (not that they could) ... Josh played pitcher and first base for the Rangers tball team and knocked the ball all the way to the outfield! Caleb went 3 for 3 with a couple of singles and a triple for the Orioles. He played second base and his team won 15-8. We all got sunburns ... yes, even Kate :(. Several people approached me during the first game (before I had applied the sunscreen) and asked "Did you put sunscreen on that girl?" To which I proudly lied "Of course". It just rolled off my tongue; I mean what dumb mom wouldn't put sunscreen on her children who were going to be baking in the sun from 12:30 - 4:30?!?! I ran home in between games and slathered her up ... then, went out to bake some more and no longer fib about it!!! Anyway, I digressed from my topic, baseball. Why I love it ... the feeling when your child smacks the ball is downright exhilirating, the sno-cones and Big League chewing gum, the comfort of having my entire family all doing the same thing at the same time, watching Kate stay in her stroller for 2 whole games and actually cheer her brothers on -whew (we will save the number of sno-cones, suckers, smarties, etc. she had for another blog), being outside at night, and more! Take me out to the ballgame ...

Friends

Kate has had so much fun with her friends lately ... here are some pictures from the last few weeks ... zoo trip with the Adams over Spring Break, playing dress-up with Molly, reading books with Araiah and Olivia, and her favorite (I think) getting to feed a real-live-coos-out-loud baby, sweet Camden. She loves her friends ... not the babysitters so much ... but definitely her friends!!!

What a Birthday

April Fool's Day... who could have guessed it

could be this fun ... no joking!!

Aren't these absolutely beautiful?!?!

I started off my day (April 1st, yes I am an April Fool baby) with a phone call from my father-in-law who sang the entire bday song before 7 a.m., a second call from my MIL, a third call from my precious 3 year old niece who said "Aunt Shannon, Do you know there is a giraffe in my yard???" Oh, my brother never lets a birthday wish come before a good ole April Fool joke! I then got emails and more calls from my precious parents, college roommate, friends ... absolutely loved is what I felt!!

Then, the flowers arrived!! Wow ... no wonder I call him Superman!

And then ... dinner plans for my girlfriends and their hubbies all with babysitters (that's right, no kiddos) at a fancy new Mexican place ... forgot the name ... all planned by the hubby :). I laughed until I cried, relaxed, smiled, hugged, ate a lot, and truly spent the evening in my favorite way ... sharing time with my sweet friends.

Thank you so, so much for making my day so special!

I am unworthy ... but was happy to be a part!!!!

I love our school ...

Kite Day

Josh had so much fun with his 8th grade "buddy" flying kites, running, snacking, and sharing their school experiences. I laughed out loud when I heard Josh ask him if he had to ever sit on "the Rock" and he answered "a few times". Everyone at Grace, from Kindergarteners to high schoolers know the Rock!! When we left Josh said "I wish he was our neighbor and I'd have him run my kite everyday after school for me ... do you have his phone number?" Luckily for Brennan, I don't!

Cougar Dribblers

Caleb (with one of his classmates) absolutely loves Cougar Dribblers ... the coaches are high school athletes. They are so laid-back and just have so much fun. This was after Caleb's first game last Friday. Our school has given both of my boys wonderful opportunites to meet and get to know some true role models within our own school. We love you Grace Community School.