Labor Day Fun!

We crammed as much fun as we possibly could into Labor Day. We got up pretty early and arrived at the Dallas World Aquarium around the time it opened. It's such a cool place which is actually more like a mini-zoo than just an aquarium. Marty's dad bought us all season passes to the aquarium which was so generous and now we can go whenever we want and just stay for a little while instead of feeling like we have to stay all day because it's so expensive. Marty parked the car and the kids and I hung out for a few minutes.

And while we were waiting, Lauren noticed a peace sign (she's slightly obsessed with them) carved in the concrete. So she had me take a picture of her foot by it.

The first thing we came to in the aquarium was this cute little bird perched on a sign just looking so friendly. He was just hanging out with all of the people. And then Lauren decided to pet him and he bit her! So we moved on!

And here's just a bunch of random pictures from the aquarium. The jellyfish were really cool. (Has anyone seen 7 Pounds with Will Smith? AWESOME movie! If you've seen it, you'll know why I made that reference here. If not ... rent it!) The walk-through shark tunnel is neat, too. And the penguins are cute but they stink!

After the aquarium, we headed over to Spaghetti Warehouse in the West End. Surprisingly it wasn't busy at all. Guess we got there early enough and we got to sit in the trolley which the kids love. As a side note, I was a hostess at this Spaghetti Warehouse off and on for a year or two when I was home from college in the summers and holidays. When I told Lauren that, she asked why no one recognized me. And I'm thinking ... because some of them weren't even born yet when I was working there!

And here's a picture of the kids after lunch in the arcade at Spaghetti Warehouse.

On the way home, we were driving through Duncanville so I called Mom to see if we could stop by for a little while. It's always nice to see Grandma Rilla!

It had already been a long day and Marty and I were trying not to fall asleep on Mom's couch! But there was no time for sleeping. We had to get to the grocery store because we had company coming to our house.

My friend Claire and her kiddos came over for dinner. We grilled chicken and hot dogs and the kids played and we hung out and chatted. It's always fun to have Claire over.

And at about this time, Lauren took control of the camera. Here is a sampling of the nearly 50 pictures she took! The cute brown dog is Happy (she's making herself comfortable on Claire's lap in the second picture of her). The skinny black dog is Lucky. And the ugly fat Chihuahua is Taco. He's so sweet!

And then it was eatin' time. Mmmmmm ... MEAT!

And that concludes our Labor Day fun. Well, actually it doesn't. Marty and I watched Grizzly Man and then went to sleep. (I may have slept a little during the movie but what else is new?) And that brings us to our music for the day. This is the closing song in the aforementioned movie. It's another movie you should see if you haven't. This is Don Edwards: Coyotes.

Happy 11th Birthday Austin!

Ahhhh ... check it out ... fun times just 11 short years ago. Let me tell you, I'm so glad it's today and not 11 years ago. I got out our old photo albums to scan some pictures from the day Austin was born and these two pictures caught my eye right away. I forgot how painful and stressful childbirth was. The first picture is me having a not-so-fun moment before my epidural. The second is before they let me hold Austin. He gave us a little scare for the first few moments of his life. He wasn't breathing right away and the doctors wouldn't let Marty cut his umbilical cord. They suctioned him out and everything was fine. But it scared us to death!

And then they handed me this perfect little angel. This is just a few minutes after he was born and this remains one of my favorite pictures of Austin. He's just so sweet. I fell in love with him immediately. He is probably our sweetest kid. And he's always been really affectionate.

Here are a couple of pictures of the proud mama and daddy. We were both crying from a combination of being so happy that we had another son and then being terrified that something was wrong to being thankful that he was perfectly healthy.

As I was digging through some old pictures I found this one from 2000. It's another favorite of mine. So I scanned it and then made Austin take another just like it today. Cracks me up because to me he looks just the same. You can even see the scar on his forehead that he had gotten just a few weeks before the first picture was taken (he learned that it was NOT safe to run with a metal spoon!).

Tonight we had a little family celebration. We're going to have Austin's party with his friends in a few weeks. But tonight we gave him his big present. Oh yes ... an electric guitar. We must be crazy! But he is so excited. And the amp has a headphone jack so maybe it won't be THAT loud at our house! RIGHT!

And that's all for now. I just wanted to post a few pictures of my sweet little guy. It's hard for me to believe he's 11 already! I love him so much and I'm so proud of him! I asked Austin to pick out the song for today's post and he has chosen Guns and Roses: Welcome to the Jungle. He says it has an "awesome guitar solo!"

Heritage Scrapping

I just felt like doing some heritage scrapping yesterday. I got this picture of Marty's grandma a couple of years ago and really love it. So I scanned it and then digitally colored it. Then I used a bunch of my friend Christine's goodies (along with some Weeds & Wildflowers designs) and just went for it. (See full list of credits here.)

And here are a couple other heritage pages I have done sort of recently that I know never made it on this blog. Have I mentioned how much I miss scrapping (especially heritage pages)? Just feels good to create stuff!

That's all for now. We had a fun weekend. Went to a party at a neighbor's house last night and stayed up way too late. Then I ran this morning, Marty and I went on a bike ride this afternoon then I took the kids to Hawaiian Falls this evening.

Just random music for today. This was the first song that came on my iPod while I was running and I played it several times cause I like it. This is the Flys: Got You (Where I Want You).

Back to school!

'Twas the night before school and all through the England house.....

Every creature was stirring even the mouse (well ... the cat!). Switching from summer gear to the school year gets tougher every year. This summer the kids were staying up until about 11:00 so asking them to get in bed no later than 9:00 is no small task. But the night before school we had baths done and kids ready to hop in bed at 9. Lauren even had her whole outfit laid out and I had to run get my camera and take this picture. Sooo cute!

And then it was time to tuck them all in. We usually go to Lauren's room first because she pretty much has her own side of the upstairs. She sleeps with our dog Lucky. Then it was on to kiss Mackenzie, Austin then Nick. Good night little people! No radios, no texting, no DS's ... go to sleep!

And the rest of us have a little free time before bed. Even Eddie the cat got in on the photo action as did me and Marty. Had to get the whole family in there (with the exception of a couple of dogs).

6:30am came early for the younger 3 but they all made it out the door and in time for their buses. Don't they all look awesome? Left to right that's Austin, Mackenzie and Lauren.

And, of course, since it was the first day of school I had to go to the bus stop with them and take pictures (how embarrassing Mom!!!!). Here are my 3 waiting for the bus. Austin is in intermediate school and his bus stop is across the street from Lauren and Mackenzie's who are in elementary school.

Still waiting for the bus (we got there a little early). This is Lauren and Mackenzie with a neighbor friend Mitchell. And Lauren with her friend Markenzie who grew A LOT over the summer. Markenzie is just one grade ahead of Lauren! But she starts intermediate school this year so they are no longer in the same school. :(

Ahhh Lauren and Mackenzie's bus finally arrives and DRAT! ... it's the same crabby bus driver as last year. You regular readers may recall my Bus Drivers Are Mean post from last August. So I didn't attempt to get on the bus this year and these pictures are the best I could do without being on the bus. But the good thing about our stop is that we are first so the kids get the best seats!

Austin's bus is supposed to come approximately 2 minutes after Lauren and Mackenzie's. And right after they left Austin says to me, "Mom ... do I need my glasses?" Well yeah! I told him to run as fast as he could and get them. But you can probably guess what happened.... Yeah he missed the bus on the very first day of school. He seems to have a problem with buses and the first day. In kindergarten he got on the wrong bus to come home and the bus driver had to make a special trip to our house!

So since he missed the bus, we had some time to kill. The school is just down the road and if we left right away he would have been too early. So what's a kid to do while he waits ... hula hoop!!! It's ALWAYS a good time to hula hoop!

And then it was time to go. So here is Austin (glasses on) in the car ready for school. I didn't mind taking him and I think it made him happy on the first day anyway. He was a little nervous.

I know you probably are thinking ... what about Nick? Well ... he is going to a new school this year (middle school) and it starts 45 minutes after the other kids. So he gets to sleep in a little. So after I got back from taking Austin, I had to make Nick's lunch (Marty makes Lauren and Mackenzie's lunch and I make Austin and Nick's but Austin usually buys his so it's a good deal for me). Anyway, Nick has been taking the same thing for lunch since preschool. I can't count the number of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (one cut up and down, one cut sideways) I have made in my life. Although this year he said he didn't care how they are cut anymore but I still do it that way. Austin told me tonight that there are 180 days of school. So here are the first 2 of 360 pb&j sandwiches I'll make for Nick this year.

Nick actually woke up while the other kids were getting ready so he was ready early and had time to kill so he played with the cat for a while.

And then it was time for him to leave. He had to take all his school supplies and his clarinet so Marty drove him to school on the first day. Besides, it's a big adjustment for him. He's the only one who started a new school this year. But he's excited about it.

And that's it. All of the kids had a great day and they all like their teachers and their schedules. I have a hard time believing I have a 7th, 6th and two 4th graders. What happened to my babies?

Gotta think on the music for today. How about Young MC: Principal's Office

Nick met Josh Hamilton!

The Texas Rangers have a program called the Texas Rangers Kids Take The Field. It is sponsored by RaceTrac gas stations. At the beginning of the season we were at a Rangers game and noticed that they would be having a Kids Take The Field sign up at the RaceTrac by our house. So the day came and Marty took all of the boys and Nick got picked! He was so excited.

They gave us really good seats at the game and Nick got to go on the field before the game started. They pick 9 kids for each game to take the field and each kid gets assigned a position and they get to meet the player at their position and get an autographed baseball. But they don't tell the kids which position they will be at until right before they go on the field. Nick got center field. You don't realize just how big a major league ball park is until you see an 11-year-old kid run all the way out to center field! But he did great! Here he is hanging out in center field waiting to meet his player.

The Texas Ranger center fielder is Josh Hamilton. He's a pretty big name player so it was really cool that Nick got his position. Here is Nick meeting Josh Hamilton and getting his autograph.

Josh Hamilton is a great baseball player and has overcome some issues in his life to stay in the game. Mainly he overcame a drug addiction with the help of his belief in Jesus Christ. It's a very inspiring story. You should watch his testimonial on the I Am Second web site. Click here to see the video. Here is the baseball that Josh autographed for Nick. It has his signature and the verse 1 Peter 2:24. This verse reads, "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed."

Then we stayed and watched most of the game. As I said earlier, they gave us really good seats on the 1st base side. Pretty much right by the Rangers dugout. Here is Josh Hamilton warming up before it was his turn at bat.

And here is Nick back at our house with his autographed baseball. He is very proud of it and this is a day he will never forget.

And you know I had to take a video of this event. It's pretty long but watch it all. It's amazing how big that field is!! I'm so proud of Nick!

And here is some music. This is Josh Hamilton's walk-up music (the song that plays when he goes up to bat). It's Phillips, Craig & Dean: Saved The Day