Eight Years Old

Eight years ago today our family was blessed by the birth of Joshua Matthew. We would have never guessed how funny, how tender-hearted, how dramatic, how smart he would be ... I thank God for him and for the joy he has brought to us! Happy Birthday, Josh!

We had a flag football with our classmate, Tyler! They had a blast.

Happy Birthday to the JTrain! We love you!

October ... already?!?

Kate got her face painted before an Aggie game.

Josh running out for a pass.

Caleb at quarterback.

with my boys on Game Day

Kate and Champ (her favorite part of the Grace games)

We have been so busy with school, flag football, dance, preschool, Aggie games, Cougar games and lots of volunteering lately. I had a blast meeting Dominique Dawes (Olympic gold medal gymnast) who was very inspiring and cute as a bug! The boys love football. Caleb plays quarterback for half of the game and loves it! Josh is loving defense and making tackles (pulling flags). They both claim they are ready for tackle football next year ... don't think so!!! Kate is thriving in school and dance! She loves dance more than anything she has ever done ... she is so obedient and pays attention to every move the teacher makes. So far we have learned to tick-tock (shuffle) in tap, a few positions and point in ballet and to bear crawl and roll in the tumbling portion. They have fun songs and extras like the parachute or bean bags during each class ... it is adorable!

to cooler weather and football season and family ...

Dance

Kate loves, loves, loves her dance class. Most of the pics are blurry because I take them through a glass window ... here is our trying everything on picture. She ended up wearing pink tights (instead of the nude tights) with this little purple dress because "it's pretty and matches!" I don't know about the matching portion but we had fun!!

Kate is the one in purple with her back to the camera ... a natural!!
She puts on "pretend" glue to keep her hands on her hips.
This sweet little class brought tears to my eyes ... these girls were so excited and tried so hard. I was really impressed by all that they can learn in 45 minutes!!
to tutus, to tap shoes, to ballet, to purple and to pink ... to all things Kate!!!

Aggieland

Caleb and Josh in the end zone after the game.

after the game fun

John David Crow (won the Heisman at A&M)

the Aggies never lose a halftime

before the game ... Kate bawled when she found out that she wasn't going to see the Aggies. She'll be there next time!!!!

We love football season and obsess over, adore, root for, cry for, pray for the Aggies! I know, I know ... we might be considered extreme fans! This past Saturday was the opening game! We have our traditions ... we wake up and march out the Aggie flag in our pajamas with Chris's Dad, we eat a huge meal before the game and everyone wears maroon from head to toe! Then, we leave for the game at least 2 hours early to watch the band march in, to get our face painted, to try and get on the Jumbotron (Caleb did last year), to watch the team warm up and sing the Spirit song with the Twelfth man (students) ... we reminisce our college days, our dates, we kiss on every touchdown (the kids already do this), we pile way too many people in our car and we pick up chips and queso for the after game celebration at the Glenney's house that lasts well into the night. We rarely have "visitors" outside our family group of 12 that goes together to the games. That makes for like-minded Aggie-loving fun!! After the game, some of us saw John David Crow (who won the Heisman trophy when he was at A&M) and took our pic with him. We also play on the field after the game and the boys love pretending to run the game winning touchdown into the end zone. Anyway, to one of my favorite places on earth and to my family who is just as brainwashed as I am about the Aggies ... Gig 'em!!

Catching Up

Homework Break at the Park after school

Caleb had a little sleepover. 10 year olds can eat!

4 dozen doughnuts were demolished!

What a precious crew!

Kate started preschool again and loves her new teacher!

She came home the first day singing "Today is Tuesday!" and "The Wheels on the Bus". And finally - there were no tears this year just smiles and hugs goodbye!!

Happy 10th, Caleb!

"real" cake to come at his party this weekend

Words do not express how much we love this guy! 10 years have flown. We wish we could just stop time because this is the perfect age! Independent in many ways but still loving Mom and Dad! Caleb's obedient heart, humble attitude, and love for others melt us every day! He is honoring God with his life and we could not be more excited and proud of him. I cannot wait to see what God has planned for him for the next ten years ...

New Dance Shoes

The boys had gone for the first day of school and Kate and I were a bit lonely in the quiet-for-the-first-time-in-three-months house ... so ... we went shopping! Kate needed her first pair of tap and ballet shoes. She starts a ballet/tap/tumbling class in a few weeks and is soooo excited. She even told the checker at the grocery store about it! I remember when the boys were 3 and started their first season of soccer ... they were just as excited about the shin guards, socks, cleats, and uniforms. When we got to the dance studio, I realized that I could outfit a soccer player, a baseball player, a basketball player and a football player from head to toe but had no idea where to start with dance attire!!! I was lost! Thanks to the precious Rameys and an excited little girl who was more than happy to try on shoes and outfits and to twirl and sing, we came home with new tap shoes, new ballet shoes, a new little leotard with a tutu (purple) and a new leotard with a little flower at the top (pink). She tried on her new attire for Daddy when he got home and stayed in it the rest of the night. The shiny black tap shoes already have scuffs around the toe ... you can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl!!

to a new adventure in dancing, tutus, tap shoes, and more ...

Kate was thrilled to try on her new ballet shoes!

She could not even close her mouth she got o excited ... here she was literally oohing and ahhing!