Fun in the wilderness

I know I post about it all the time, but we have so much fun venturing out our back gate and into the wilderness area behind our house. Our trip out yesterday was filled with crawdads, dragonflies, sunflowers, butterflies and Brandon says he saw a panda bear *LOL*
On our way back the kids saw a rope tied to a huge oak tree and of course they all had to take turns swinging on it!

Of course all of our walks usually end with someone being tired and grumpy!

Empty Me

I just LOVE this song! It really speaks to my heart that is often so involved in the busyness of life and myself that I don't stop to let God fill me up! I love the line that says, "Cause everything is a lesser thing compared to you." Definitely helps me to remember to keep my focus on the "One thing" that matters!! I was excited to see that it was sung by Chris Sligh too because I really liked him as a contestant on American Idol.

I've had just enough of the spotlight when it burns bright
To see how it gets in the blood.
And I've tasted my share of the sweet life and the wild ride
And found a little is not quite enough.
I know how I can stray
And how fast my heart could change.

Empty me of the selfishness inside
Every vain ambition and the poison of my pride
And any foolish thing my heart holds to
Lord empty me of me so I can be filled with you.

I've seen just enough of the quick buys of the best lies
To know how prodigals can be drawn away.
I know how I can stray
And how fast my heart could change.

Empty me of the selfishness inside
Every vain ambition and the poison of my pride
And any foolish thing my heart holds to
Lord empty me of me so I can be filled with you.

Cause everything is a lesser thing
Compared to you, compared to you.
Cause everything is a lesser thing
Compared to you so why surrender all?

Empty me of the selfishness inside
Every vain ambition and the poison of my pride
Empty me of the selfishness inside
Every vain ambition and the poison of my pride
And any foolish thing my heart holds to
Lord empty me of me so I can be
Lord empty me of me so I can be filled with you.
Oh, filled with you.
Empty me.

Our Birthday Bash

Well I must say that 31 feels much older than 30 for some reason! My mom got my sister and I a gift card to a local spa this year as a gift. At first I wasn't too excited because I had no clue when I was going to have the time to escape off to the spa. But my brother-in-law took the day off work so that my sister could have some kid free time and my mother-in-law came out to watch Brando and Brooklyn. We went on our actual birthday because you get in free! It was such a blast being able to get pampered and then hang out with my sister without kiddos constantly interupting! We had some lunch, floated in the pool, went in a mineral bath (stinky) and then covered ourselves in mud. It really was a fun and relaxing experience. Next time I'm grabbing my Diet Coke and floating in the pool all day....but this time we had to head back so I could pick up Melanie at school and my sister could get back to her kiddos!

My wonderful husband made a cake with the kids and brought home some ice cream and soda to top it off (we officially cut soda and ice cream off of the grocery bill). I'm so blessed by my family and friends who made my day so special this year :o)

My life...in a nutshell!

My little Diva

Melanie went to one of her friend's birthday parties where they got to dress up, get their hair done and have their nails painted. I think that it may have brought out the girlie side of her (I was beginning to wonder if she had one). She was the only little girl who chose not to get her hair done, but got to choose a wig...doesn't surprise me since she won't even let me brush her hair without tears and screaming! Thought I would share a pic of our girlie girl.

Fun at Nana's house

We headed out to Nana's house last weekend to celebrate Grandpa's birthday! The kids had fun playing in her trees and eating all the goodies :o)

Being the only boy...

My computer time seems to have dwindled, just like the summer!! We are up early to get Melanie off to school and then it seems like I'm running errands or doing laundry until we pick her up! It has been nice having one less Little Watson around for a few hours. The fighting seems non-existent from about 9am-2:45pm. I do miss having her around though and really wonder what goes on during her day. It's so hard to pull information out of her. I'm really hoping to learn more next week at Back to School Night!
Our weeknights and weekends have been filled with soccer lately. Here are some pics from the kids opening day last weekend. Brandon is feeling a little odd since he's the only boy on his team. Mom and Dad are a bit frustrated too. It gets old when everyone refers to the team and says, "come on girls", or when all the girls get matching hair ties and Brandon doesn't get anything, or when team mom tries to have Brandon take his pic with a pink ball...ARG! I suppose things could be worse *LOL* Brandon says he doesn't want to play soccer, but seems to have a blast at practice. I think we'll see how he does this season and let him make the choice to play again next fall.

My First Grader

We got up bright and earlier this morning and headed off to school. Before getting in the car Melanie wanted to take a picture by the roses. She had to show off her beloved backpack in the first one and then she smiled for me in the 2nd.

When we got there she took a quick peek at the kindergarten classrooms and then we breezed past them to the big kid gates. She was quiet at first, but then remembered that she got to play on the playground and there were monkey bars!!




Then we headed back to her line-up spot where she sailed off to first grade without us. This is a picture of her next to her friend Sophia from kindergarten (who also happens to be in her first grade class). I can't believe how little she looks next to her!! I wish I could be a fly on the wall in her classroom to see what goes on during her day. When I picked her up she did tell me, "we started school way too early today." I have a feeling the long days will be an adjustment, but it will be an adventure for both of us :o)

Time for Soccer too

Well I guess Fall is officially here since school starts next week and we started soccer too! Melanie played soccer last season and we signed Brandon up to play this season for the first time. He went to the first meeting last week and was a little disappointed that he was the only boy on his team. At his age the teams are coed, we were just hoping there would be another boy on the team with him. But we've been practicing in the backyard and bribed him to go to the first practice and it went great. I think that he's really going to like soccer.

Melanie had her first practice as well and she is excited to play again. They spent the first practicfe on a baseball field as the grass hadn't been mowed and was too long to play in! She is on an all girl team named "Shockwaves" and Brandon's on the "Blue Dolphins." He thought that the name was too girly, but we told him that Dolphins are pretty tough *LOL*

1st grade here we come...

Well I guess I'm not going to first grade, but Melanie starts on Wednesday! We got the call last night that she has Mrs. Stone and we meet her on Monday! I still can't believe that she is entering 1st grade. She still seems so little to me and being away at school from 8:30am-2:45pm seems SO long! I know that she is really excited and will do great, but I think I'm the nervous one!

Brandon won't start until September 2nd, so it will be nice to have a few weeks to get Melanie adjusted before taking him to school everyday too. They both start school at about the same time at different schools...should be interesting to see how I can get both kids to school on time! We've got backpacks and lunchbags and I think we're all prepared :o) Brooklyn won't know what to do since her "friends" will be gone at school everyday...but it will be nice to be able to just spend time one-on-one with her too!

We love our Uncle Mikey

I must start by saying that my kids are blessed with a bunch of GREAT Uncles and they don't have any favorites. But this is a post about their Uncle Mikey! He came out the other day to visit my sister while her hubby was out of town. the next morning I picked him up so that we could hang out a little bit too. I dragged him to church with me so that I could get some stuff done there and he could watch my kiddos. I'm sure it was terribly boring for him, but I tried to make up for it with some taco bell ;o) When we got back to my house he was on the laptop and all the kids wanted to watch what he was doing. Next thing I know they're all watching cartoons on youtube. It's so neat see my brother lovin on my kids and even greater to see how much they love him! Thanks for visiting Uncle Mikey, we love you!!