Colten as Davy Crockett

Colten did an awesome job reciting his Davy Crockett speech. He said he was nervous, but I think he was one of the best presenters. Here's a video:

Almost Summer!

Colten was insistent - he wanted to sleep in the tent in the yard with his buddy Jason. So we set up the tent and then Ashlyn wanted in on the fun, too, so we found her tent and set it up as well. Jason's sister Kayla was going to stay with her. I knew it wouldn't last long, though, and around 11pm the boys came in and said the cats and the bugs were too loud and they couldn't sleep. The girls said they came in around 3am when they couldn't stand the hard ground any longer. Looks like we need a bit more practice before going on a camping trip further from home ;)

Here's our tent city:


John & Colten found two toads in the yard the other day and Colten really wanted to keep them as pets. So, John went and found an old fish tank that we had and he set up a toad house for them. Colten so far is very enthusiastic about finding bugs for them to eat and cleaning out their water. Hopefully it lasts.

Here's the fish tank. You can see a frog profile in the far left corner.


Here's one of the toads eying a fuzzy caterpillar before devouring it:

It's actually pretty interesting to watch them eat.

This is the last week of school for the kids and it's a busy one! Tuesday is the Notables presented by Colten's class where Colten will dress up as Davy Crockett and recite a speech about his life. Wednesday, Colten's class is going on a field trip to the state capitol and the Imax at the Bob Bullock history museum. Wednesday evening is the 8th grade dance/graduation party. Thursday, the 8th grade is going to Schlitterbahn. And Friday is the 8th grade graduation. Whew! I will hopefully have lots of pictures to share once this week is over!

Mother's Day Weekend

Hope all of you mothers had a Happy Mother's Day! We had a good weekend. Friday, we took the kids to play mini-golf. They had been begging to go for some time and we decided we should go before it gets too hot. It was a nice evening and we were able to meet up with some friends, so it was especially fun for the kids. The boys lapped the girls, but they weren't keeping score ;)

Here's Colten with his friend Jason, way far ahead of us:


And here's Ashlyn just hanging out:


Saturday, Ashlyn went to Fiesta Texas with the band and it was actually kind of cold that day compared to how it was the whole previous week. She still had lots of fun, though. She was getting back around 11pm, so we went to the Peanut Mill's crawfish boil and planned on waiting there until it was time to get her. Unfortunately, John got one of his cluster headaches while we were there, so we ended up leaving early and waiting at school. He's been getting at least one a day for the past week or so. Hopefully they go away soon - not fun!

Sunday we had a nice lunch with our Mom's, Dad, Oma and Danny & Lyla and then went home and relaxed. John got me a water fountain for mother's day - very nice :) He also fixed my broken bench and it looks almost like new - in fact I thought he'd bought a new one!

Here's the fountain - I didn't get a picture of the bench:

Warm Weather

The fishing derby was canceled at the last minute - Thursday night to be exact - which I wasn't too happy about, but at least we had decided not to camp and weren't all packed up already! I was glad we didn't camp anyway b/c some storms came through Friday night and that would not have been fun in a tent! Anyway, that left us with a very open weekend.

Sunday afternoon was very nice so I banned the kids outside all afternoon. I checked on them once to find the scene in the picture below:
Ashlyn was drawing/writing and Colten was reading - not that I'm complaining, I just thought it was funny :) Later on they played with the kittens and made a potion out of random things in the yard.

Monday night was the Spring Band Concert, which was also Ashlyn's last band concert as she decided to opt out of band next year. They really have improved a lot. It was a nice treat! This weekend they will be going to Fiesta Texas to compete and I'm sure play a little, too.

Here's a picture (I ran out of batteries before I could get any video) of Ashlyn playing her trumpet in the concert (below the standing girl's shoulder):

Mason County Cancer Benefit & Family Visit

The Mason County Cancer Benefit was this past Saturday and once again we all participated. Ashlyn was in the Kids Against Cancer team and they raised the most money of all the teams there. I was so proud of them! This year, we raised the most money since we started these 4 years ago. I was amazed! It was a beautiful day and I was glad we could be there to remember our loved ones affected by cancer.

Here are some photos from the day:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=205988&id=755340907&l=51c3817d65

Sunday we had a surprise visit from some of our East Coast family - Marissa, Drew & Reagan came to Fredericksburg and we got to have lunch with them and visit with them at Oma's house. The kids had fun with their cousin Reagan - she was sad when we had to go.


Here is a pic of the kids playing with Colten's airplane that he won at the cancer benefit:

 

Here they are helping Oma bottle feed her lamb, Blacky:

 

This weekend, we are planning on camping out with the Cub Scouts for a fishing derby that our district is having on Saturday. The forecast is looking iffy, though for Friday night - I'm pretty sure we won't be camping if there's a good chance of rain. Hopefully the weather is good Saturday and we'll be able to go for the day at least. Wish Colten luck in the derby!

Bluebonnets!

Have I mentioned how gorgeous the wildflowers are this year? Well if not, they are wonderful & I am enjoying every drive to Fredericksburg and Mason lately due to the colorful roadsides. It's something you can't capture with a camera, but I've tried! Our neighbors were so gracious to let us check out the amazing scenes in their pastures and I captured this pic of the ranch house from their road. The blueish tint in the center is ALLLLL bluebonnets.

Here are some more pictures I took during our sightseeing this weekend - this is all in Mason County and not far from the ranch:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=201421&id=755340907&l=039bbf31a8

Easter

Hope everyone had a Happy Easter! Ours was busy as usual, with Mom and Dad bringing their camper over Friday night, a BBQ with friends and neighbors Saturday and Sunrise Service Sunday Morning. We had Easter lunch with Oma Reeh, Danny and Lyla, and Carol (missed seeing the other side of the family due to a misunderstanding) and then went driving around looking at bluebonnets. The wild flowers really made a showing this year so I had to get the quintessential spring Texas picture:

I had to bribe the kids with Sonic treats to get them to cooperate without too much complaining :) and they did finally give me a good picture!

We took a jeep ride to look at the bluebonnets, too. Here we are on Loeffler Ln:

Here's a link to more pictures from the weekend on Facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=199466&id=755340907&l=c5ea04f9a0.

I hope you can see them - I'm starting to run out of space on picasa (where I had been putting albums) and facebook doesn't have a limit.

This Thursday, I'll be going with Ashlyn to pick out her classes for high school next year... yes HIGH SCHOOL!!!! I'm freaking out a little bit about that!
 
--
 
On a more somber note, I want to ask a favor. My manager (the one who so generously lets me work remotely 4 out of 5 days of the week) has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Fortunately, due to a bout with jaundice that it caused, it has been diagnosed in the early stages, giving him a much better chance of survival than usual. He's in his 40's and has two kids close to Colten's age. Please pray that his treatments go well and is able to recover completely from this. I appreciate it.