Happy Easter!!!

This is the only picture I took all day.

The boys said they looked like rugby players.

Our Easter Rocked!!!

The End.

A little bit of Easter

You know you have all boys when the theme of your eggs are:

1. Superheros

2. Sports

3. Camo

FYI: We have never, I mean ever, in the 10 years that I have been a parent dyed eggs at our house. I am not so much of a paint, play dough, sand art, dye eggs kind of mom.

These two boys did wonderfully dying eggs and to my surprise it didn't end up being a disaster!

Today...

Tyler got a haircut. Have I mentioned my hairstylist comes to my house to do our hair?I love it.Blake has Pioneer Day!
Blake lost his 3rd tooth. Tyler is 10yo in the 4th grade and has only lost 6 teeth. Blake is in 2nd grade and almost 8yo and now has only lost 3 teeth. To put it in perspective, a girl in Blake's class has braces and almost all the kids in Ty's class have permanent teeth and some have braces. And while we are mentioning braces, I get mine off in about 7 weeks. So happy!

Servolution

Every year the week before Easter Free Chapel participates in Servolution. We get out and serve the community! Jeremy, the boys, and I look forward to it each Spring.

I made Nest Egg Cookies and boxed them up to invite our neighbors to Easter Service.

Saturday we gave out cold water bottles at the City of Lakeway's Easter Eggstravaganza! We also did a little egg hunting as well.

Parker and Gray trying to be patient as possible to grab some eggs.

Don't you love my child with no shoes and a Dillard's bag for an Easter basket.

Here are my excuses why: 1. I need Jeremy to grab our lovely Pottery Barn Easter baskets from high up in the garage. 2. We had 4 parties this weekend. 3. I can't do everything.

The Blakester who loves any type of competition. He really wanted the Golden Egg.

Thumbs Up

This is Sam. My third born. Happiest child ever. Should get in more trouble than he does because he is always smiling. Thumb sucker.

Sam has been sucking his thumb since he exited the womb. Seriously. He doesn't have to have a lovie or a blankie. He is a solo thumb sucker. Tyler was also a thumb sucker, but totally stopped when we took his blanket away. Jeremy and I decided not to push it, even though we wanted to so badly. Sam started Kinder this year and we thought he would stop once he started school. Not so much. Sam is a SUPER CONFIDENT kid. He could care less if someone makes fun of him.

Out of the blue a couple of weeks ago he wanted to make the chart below, wear a reminder bracelet, and put tape on his thumb. He has had a hard time, but for the most part he has completely stopped sucking his thumb on his own.

Here is the funny part. We promised him a toy if he could go all week without sucking his thumb. Of all things....Lots-O-Huggin Bear. Really??? $54.00 Really??? Smells like strawberries???

He loves it!

Hands Down

Hands down this is my favorite veggie mix. I eat it all the time.

red/orange/yellow bell pepper

onion

1 can of pineapple, drained

garbanzo beans, drain

olive oil

400 degrees until roasted

You gotta try it!

This is a before shot and I forgot the after shot :(

Spring

It doesn't get much better than Tulips and Easter!

Project Mode

I saw this awesome photo collage on Under the Sycamore blog. I think hers looks better, but she is a professional photographer and I am clearly not.

I have been looking for something really big to go over this black piece of furniture in my dining room, but everything big cost some major bucks. I loved this because it was super easy and inexpensive. The boys actually LOVE looking at all the pictures. Now I am searching for a pair of turquoise lamps to go on each side. I followed Ashley's directions: 111 photographs cut 4x4, hot glue them to your wall (yes, you read that right), start with the middle photograph and eyeball your rows.
I wish their wasn't a glare. It looks a lot better in person.
I will make sure to take a picture of the finished product once I find my lamps!!

Have a great Monday!!

Hello Houston

Well, it was a short hello and then good bye. We drove 4.5 hrs to Houston today for Jeremy's Papaw's family reunion and back. Let's just say I was glad to get home just a little while ago, not because of the reunion, but because of being in the car with our sweet, precious, loud, whiny, and sometimes stinky B.O.Y.S.

Here are some highlights:

1. Gray (3yo): "You just got owned!" "My bottom hurts." "I'm thirsty" x 100.

2. Tyler (10yo): trying to lay down in the back seat which he shares with his brother. And lets not forget all of the Justin Bieber quotes.

3. Jeremy (33yo) Singing 90's worship music at the top of his lungs. I actually said "you like this because this is when you came to know the Lord" which he responded "they didn't have music this good then, this was way later."

4. Sam (5yo) Has spent all week trying really hard to quit sucking his thumb. We had a little regression. My mom said "Maybe he splurges on the weekends!" Maybe so!

5. Blake with his favorite food of all time!!!

Here Goes...

I really want to start blogging again, 3-5 times a week. I have plenty of excuses why I have been so terrible lately, but I will not even bore you with those. Hopefully I can branch out from just blogging about the boys (whom I adore), but I have other interest also. I know its hard to believe, but I do! I like to run, shop, decorate, and steal other peoples ideas from their blogs on anything and everything from crafting to parenting.

So, here goes....

Bring It!

This is Blake and his BFF Luke. Luke lives across the street from us. They are like two peas in a pod. They love to work out and play hard. This was after a Crossfit workout.

School Play

Back in September, Tyler tried out for his school play. I had no idea what a big deal it was to actually make the school play. This is very typical of me. I had people congratulating me, on Tyler, in Target. Again, no idea.
So from September to February, the cast has been practicing at least 3 times a week or more. They had three shows and we bought 18 tickets to spread between family and friends.
The play was set in the 1960's and had a number of Beatles songs throughout the play.
Tyler did a great job and he loved it. It was a great experience. Oh yeah, and please don't challenge us in Beatles Trivial Pursuit because we will win. :)

I heart Chick-fil-a!

I love Chick-fil-a for SO many reasons, but our favorite thing Chick-fil-a does is family night. Every Tuesday Night is family night. Kids eat free and they always have something fun for the kids to do. This is a product from the balloon guy. He can pretty much do anything with balloons.
On a side note, I wouldn't recommend going when Lowe's or Home Depot come. All you hear is hammering all through dinner. That is enough to send anyone over the edge.

Can you tell....

...I live in a house full of boys.

Honored

On Saturday, February 5, 2011, the Lake Travis Chamber of Commerce hosted their annual Awards Banquet.

Free Chapel was nominated along with 4 other local non-profits for the "Shining Star" category.

Chamber President Laura Mitchell announced that Free Chapel had received the award! She went on to read the following description of Free Chapel which is flat-out humbling:

"Free Chapel is a young church with a lot of heart that serves their community in radical and meaningful ways! In the past year Free Chapel has served breakfast to LTISD teachers and staff of Lakeway Elementary, assisted with the community Egg Hunt at Easter, joined with LT Love to distribute lunches to kids in need with the summer lunch program and hosted the inaugural Heroes Day for the Lake Travis Police and Fire departments and on their 2 year anniversary, Free Chapel hosted a food drive for Lake Travis Crisis Ministries. Lastly, the church supports Pastor Jeremy Self as he serves as a Director for the chamber Board. Free Chapel no only serves the community locally, but is intentional about making a global impact, as well. Congratulations to Free Chapel!"


We are so proud to be members of the Lake Travis Chamber of Commerce and are thankful to have received this very special award.

And, WAY TO GO, Free Chapel! You are doing what God called us to do...be a light to your community! I love being your pastor!

Ann Marie Mills

Ann Marie Mills
6lbs 15oz
20 inches long
4:30 p.m.
We are so excited about Ann Marie. It was a long day at the hospital, but totally worth it.
She is perfect. Lindsey is doing great.
Did I mention that I love having nieces?

Lindsey looked Asian when she was born and I think Ann Marie does a little also. :)

Papa and Mama Don! This is #10 for them. 8 boys and 2 girls.

One of my Favorites

This is one of my favorite Christmas presents I got.
An antique red door.
I love it.
(honorable mentions: kitchen aid mixer, kitchen aid food processor, and coffee mugs from Williams-Sonoma)

December

The picture we put on our Christmas card. This was one of the very first ones. Why we kept going, I have no idea.

Tacky Sweater Christmas Party! So fun.
Our friend Kenny totally had candy in the stocking on his sweater that he was handing out. And yes, that would be Wade in the background who wore a tree skirt and won best Tacky Christmas Sweater. Really?
Sam and Gray with Santa. Sam says every year that he is going to pull his beard. I would die.
All of my boys in plaid.

Oh yes they did!!

My dear parents, bless their hearts, took all 9 grand kids out for a Christmas celebration. We, as in myself and my siblings, couldn't have been more thrilled. Jeremy and I caught a movie and dinner with Wade and Kimberly. Linds and Derek had a Christmas party they had to go to.

We met the grands at the Galleria to take a few pics around 2:30 and then we picked them up at 7:30 from Papa and Mama Don's house. The first stop was Big Top Candy Shop, then pizza and a movie. Can you imagine? I think it wore my parents out, but the kids had a blast.

Did I say that they are 9, 7, 5, 4, 3, 3, 3, 1, and 1 years old?
Mom and Harley have to stick together since they are the only girls.
All in the back row.

Christmas 2010

Don't you just love how many pictures I have of this day? Jeremy took a lot of video and I need him to show me how to do it. We will be way into 2011 if I wait for that.
This first picture cracks me up, because the boys are struggling so much. They are so anxious to come out to their stockings and presents.


We did a very light Christmas this year and it felt so good. The boys got stockings and one "bigger" type gift and then a joint gift. They loved it. As a Mom I get wrapped up in the emotion of wanting to buy them everything. So, I had to ignore the emotion and welcome the logic. Jeremy was on cloud 9 and to be honest the boys didn't even know the difference.
Tyler was opening his "bigger" gift. An itunes gift card.

Around 10 we went down to Lindsey's for our big family Christmas. It was so much fun and crazy. I will have to put a video of the noise level when all the kids were opening gifts. It is comical. Also, I ate so much, bordering on gluttony.