Geese and Ducks

Today we went to Boerne River Park to meet a friend and feed some ducks. At first I thought it was a good idea and would be so fun for the kids. Then, we get there. There are SO MANY ducks and GEESE, my fear of Geese, ducks, chickens swam to the top! I seriously thought about not getting out and suggesting a different playdate, that's how much I don't like them. (side note: I was chased by Geese when I was 3 and remember it still and still have a FEAR of them!) Our friends weren't there yet when we arrived, so I found a little table away from most of the action and set our snacks on the table. I didn't want the kids feeding the ducks yet because all of our supplies would be gone by the time our friends arrived. I got out and gave everyone a cheesestick. BAD IDEA! Those ducks and geese flocked on us in no time. Ezra and Emersyn  had been sitting at the table, but Elynn was walking around with her cheesestick. She is exactly the ducks height! Two geese cornered her against a rock and were trying to peck her snack right out of her hand! She was screaming/crying, Ezra and Emersyn jumped on TOP of the table and started crying. Ezra was crying, 'I just want to go home. This is NOT FUN. Can we please go home." Emersyn was crying, "Mom, get her. Mom you have to get her!" (talking about Elynn.) I was screaming, "i know, i know!", while my fear was staring at me face to face. I had a moment of thought.. are you going to let your fear be bigger than you, or are you going to help your child!!? Ha! So, I stepped up, kicked the goose out of the way (well, used my foot to get the goose away), grabbed Elynn and calmed the other two down. Ha! I almost packed us all up and left. The only thing that made me stay was, well, 1. I was meeting someone there and 2. I don't want my fear to be passed to them. So rather than leaving on a sour note, we met up with our friends and ended up having a good time feeding the ducks! Not sure if we will go back, but I am glad it ended on a good note. Ha!

Wish I would have been able to capture the whole scene!

Alyssa Grace

Her first day with us!

On the 12th of July our family became a family of 6! Ha! Well, at least 10 days it was a family of 6. Brent's cousin, Alyssa, who is 10, came to stay with us from the 12th to the 22nd. Her parents, along with her two older brothers, went to the Bahamas for a mission trip. Alyssa lives in Frisco, so for the 1st time, she flew by herself to come stay with us. We had such a great time with Alyssa here. The kids LOVED having her here. She rarely got a break from the kids wanting to do this and that with her. She was such a BIG help with all of the kids, but especially with ELYNN. She LOVED carrying her everywhere, helping her eat, getting her dressed and getting her from her crib whenever she woke up. Elynn loved it too! When it came to quiet time and bed time, Alyssa was more than ready to go to bed! Probably from all of our craziness!

While she was here, we swam a lot:

We got to go to Sea World:

splashing at Bay of Play

Looking at the Dolphins

Shamu

Azul

Sweet Elynn was worn out

 We even made a trip to Fredericksburg. In Fredericksburg we visited my grandma at the Wildseed Farm and went to Oma and Opa's to see Grandma Lindig, Michelle and her family and Oma and Opa. It was such a great time:

Only picture I could get from them.. it was HOT

We loved having Alyssa here with us! I think she even had a good time! Thanks for coming to visit Alyssa.  We love you and miss you! Hope to see you soon.

DON'T GO!!

But, we love you and will miss you!!

Baseball Par-Tay

When asking Ezra what he wanted to do for his birthday, his only answer EVERY time was, "I want the boys from life group and their dads to come over and play baseball." I was bad and even threw other fun ideas out to see if he really wanted to just play baseball. He never wavered! So, I talked to Brent to see what he thought. He, of course, was on board. It was the most simple, easiest party. The best part, Ezra was in HEAVEN! He loved every single minute of it and wanted to do it again the next day. Ha! On a side note, I am pretty sure the dads were in HEAVEN also. You should have seen them out there. Competitive and hilarious! 

We celebrated with pizza, fruit, cake, cupcakes and cookies! It was such a great party!!

The cake and cupcakes

I always try to put a picture of each year up..

Family picture

the game..

so serious.

The crew

One more time!

make a wish..

PIZZA

Aren't they so cute?!

The next Michael Young, and Ezra..

My big 5 Year Old!

I cannot get over that Ezra is 5! He LOVES that he is 5! Not sure if it's because he gets to hold up all 5 fingers, if it's because he is going to start Kinder, if it's because it is one year OLDER (he is always trying to be older..) or if it's because I always tease him that I want him to stay 4 and to stop growing. (when i tease him, he will say "but, God wants me to get bigger. You will see, you will like me being 5." ha!)

I love this boy with all of my heart. He is my one and only boy, and let me tell you, he is ALL BOY! He loves all things boy: fishing, hunting, sports, legos, bikes, balls, wrestling. He is so full of energy. He doesn't really stop until he is asleep. It's not a bad full of energy though. He is easily entertained and very easy to do things with. He has such a tender heart, loves to snuggle and is my biggest helper.

The thing that gets my heart strings the most is..He LOVES His JESUS! He constantly talks about God and Jesus, asks good, meaty questions and does not have a problem calling you out if you are not shining your light for Jesus. He loves to sing about Jesus, pray, learn and go to bible class. He grows me in my walk in ways I wouldn't have thought possible. One special thing about his 4th year of life is that he asked Jesus to live in him and his heart. And let me tell you, he is living it. So sweet and special to this momma.

Some things Ezra has conquered in his 4th year is:
-riding his bike
-being the youngest on swim team and doing well
-tying his shoes
-writing his first and last name by himself
-knowing his birthday (month and date)
-knows all his letters and sounds
-can spell a word by sounding it out

I copied this from Pintrest and my friend, Allison, just did this on her blog and I loved it. I thought I would do it too.

1. What is your favorite color:  Red
2. Who is your best friend: Jackson and Cooper
3. What do you like to do with Jackson and Cooper: Play baseball
4. What is your favorite thing to do: Play baseball
5. What do you like to do with Daddy: Play baseball (apparently we love baseball)
6. What do you like to do with Mommy: Play games
7. What is your favorite food: Pizza
8. What is your favorite thing to do with Emersyn: Nothing, maybe color (what a brother)
9. What is your favorite thing about Elynn: hear her laugh. She is so funny.
10. What is your favorite movie: Kung Fu Panda
11. What was your favorite thing about being 4: being in the monkey class
12. What was your least favorite thing about being 4: that my fan broke in my room


All in all, 4 was a good year! I am excited about 5 and cannot wait to see what he learns. I love being his mommy and am so thankful God chose Brent and I for this precious boy. We love you with all of our heart precious boy. You will always be my BABY BOY.

5th Birthday party

1st Birthday

my big 1 year old

My two year old

My big 3 year old

My big 4 year old 

Westcliff, CO 2012

Do we have everyone??

Every 4th of July week, we travel to CO for a week with Brent's family. His family has a cabin in Westcliff that they built 23 years ago. It is a pretty rustic cabin (no electricity and true "running" water). We haven't been to the cabin since Emersyn was Elynn's age. I was pregnant with Elynn last time we went. So, we were excited to be able to go again.

The part I was not looking forward to was the 13-14 hour drive with 3 kids 4 and under! It ended up not being too bad. We took along Ezra and Emersyn's leapsters which were a big help when they were bored. Elynn on the other hand cannot be as easily entertained.  On the trip up, we drove about 8 hours and then stopped to stay the night in Amarillo. After a good night sleep, a free breakfast, we got back into the car for the last "leg" of the trip, 5 hours! We got to the cabin just in time for lunch! We were so happy to be put for a whole week. 

Sangre De Cristo Mountains

Buffalo ranch

View from the weather

Loving this weather

Saturday, the day we arrived, we unpacked and cleaned up the cabin. No one had been to the cabin for a year so there was some cleaning to do. Brent's parents, his sister Michelle and her family (husband and 5 kids) arrived shortly after. After unpacking and cleaning, we just SAT. The good thing about having a rustic cabin with no electricity is you have to go to bed when the sun goes down! We were ready for BED!

Sunday: After a good breakfast on the stovetop, we all got ready to head into town for mass and lunch. Sunday ended up being a day of rest for us. On Sunday, we were able to use a neighbors cabin that lives down the road for the rest of the week. That cabin has electricity and running water. Wahoo! FR. Brian (uncle Brian) flew in late Sunday night to join us.

Monday: Every year, there are projects around the cabin that need to be done. So, the boys set to work on doing some handy projects around the house. One of the projects included getting the water tanks hooked up and working so that the cabin can have "running" water. New kitchen and bathroom faucets were put in. That afternoon, Bradley (brent's other twin brother) and his three kids arrived. Everyone was finally there. The only three (and a baby) missing were Melanie and Kevin and Susanna (bradley's wife). Melanie and Kevin were expecting their first baby boy on the 11th of July so they stayed back. Good thing they did because sweet baby Andrew arrived on the 7-7-12 at 3:35 am!! Susanna stayed back with their sweet new baby boy, Johnathan, who is now 3 months old. 

Total adults in CO: 8 Total kids in CO: 11 And we are still growing!!

me and my horse Yarro

Most of the crew waiting to go

Oma and the kids ready for the wagon ride

watching them saddle the horses

Fr Brian and Brent

Brent getting ready

The dusty trail

Our group at the top of a mountain

Me and my love

Daniel and Juan Paublo

Soccer

Bubbles

Tuesday was a fun day. We had a planned horseback riding through the valley Westcliff. Only kids 8 and up could ride, so Brian, Brent, Daniel, Juan Paublo, Zachary and I went on a two hour trail ride. The rest of the crew went on a horse drawn wagon ride. It was such a fun time. The trail was Beautiful and the weather was AMAZING! I think ONE day it was in the 80's. The rest of the time it was in the 70's and 60's because of the cool afternoon rains!! LOVED IT!

After horesback riding, we all headed back into town to the park to eat sandwiches and play soccer at the soccer field. Every year, we have on day where we make sandwiches and play soccer. After we are done with soccer we usually go for ice cream at the local ice cream shop. A good ending to a great day. 

Wednesday: It was the 4th of July. The boys and older kids loaded up all of their camping gear and headed up the mountain. They hiked up mountain to the lake for some overnight camping and fishing. While the dads and older kids hicked and camped, the girls and younger kids headed in town for the Fourth of July parade. It was such a cool, overcast day. We enjoyed iced coffees, the parade, garage sales and good play at the local playground. That night, the girls had a sleepover at the other cabin that involved a movie and nail painting.

He caught his first trout in the mountains!

setting up camp

his trout

cooking breakfast on the stove top

I'm ready to go dad!!

Thursday: We enjoyed a hangout day while waiting for the boys to come back from their hiking. When they arrived we grilled up some fresh trout and veggies. Oh so delicious!

watching the chipmunks

boys playing legos

best of friends

Friday: This was finish the projects day and packing up day. We left CO after lunch and drove 8 hours to a small town outside of Ozona.

Saturday: Last leg of the trip. Everyone was really feeling being in the car by then. But, we only had 5 hours to go. We ended up getting home around 3. It was so nice to be home!! 

It was a really nice, relaxing trip. I always enjoy going and love getting to spend so much time with Brent's family. I am truly blessed with great In-laws!! Love you guys! Thanks for a great week!