Zen and the Art of Sprinkler Maintenance

We've had a fun week back at school with the added bonus of winning a big playhouse for the kids through a local raffle! Here's a picture of the "Zen Art Studio Playhouse" the kids won through Dallas CASA:




We didn't realize it would be delivered assembled, so it took a forklift to get it in the backyard! Unfortunately that resulted in lots of ruts and a busted sprinkler head, but the transport company discounted their fee and the kids and I have it pretty well back in shape :-)




A neat lesson in generosity came home with this house, since the kids gave up their playhouse and art desk during our move! They are pretty excited about this suprise blessing...

Late Summer Fun...

With schedules picking up, we've gotten behind on blogging, but I thought it would be a good time to post some pictures before school is back in session!

Several weeks ago our family from New York made the long trip to TX, so we had a fun time at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Houston followed up with time together in Keller! Here are a couple of many fun pictures we took while we were together:

(Fun times on the 1st day in Houston)

(The sweet girls and Josh)

(Cool Terracotta Warrior)

(The whole gang with Grandma)

We also had the chance to celebrate Papa's birthday in San Antonio with Granny, Uncle Russ, and Lindsay!

(Papa and the 'lil Mack's)

(Little G at breakfast)

(The Kids with Russ and Lindsay)

(Nana shows Gavin around Alamo Cafe)

We hope everyone has a great school year, and look forward to our next adventure together!

Painting

While Jen was going through tests and gall bladder surgery last week, Grandpa painted the inside of our house:-) Well...that's the story Gracie would tell you! We had planned on having painters come out on Friday, and almost cancelled them, but Steve was a good sport and volunteered to stay with the painters! We are excited about the way everything worked out, and I think it made coming home from the hospital a lot more pleasant. We have more decorating to do, but here are a few pictures to show the more complete rooms...

(Kitchen)

(Dining Room and Hall to Living Room)

(Dining Room)

(Master Bedroom Hall)

(Gavin's Room)

Jen's doing GREAT!!!

After a busy week, and lots of waiting on Dr.'s and test results, Jen is out of her gall bladder sugery and is doing GREAT!!! With little Gavin being only 5 weeks old, the timing isn't ideal, but thankfully we caught it pretty quickly.

Little Gavin slept the whole time Jen was out, and about the time she was waking up, he woke up as well! Here's a pictue of him taking it easy in his carrier:




The kids have been very patient, and are excited Mom is through this ordeal!



Thanks for your prayers, and thank God for Jen's way to recovery!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to the world's greatest...

Swingset Update...

Today we finished the swingset! It was really pretty easy to build, but took almost 3x as long as the manager at Academy mentioned :-) The good news is we were on the lower end of the 6-12 hrs reccomended by the directions, so I don't look like the slowest Dad ever!





The kids are really happy with it, but Grace mentioned it doesn't look like the picture in the directions. Emma (ever the optimist) explained, "It's because Dad built it with love!"

Rangers...

Josh and I had a lot of fun going to the Rangers game yesterday. We're Astro's fans, but it is good to see the Rangers playing some of the best baseball they've played in years. Josh went to a Rangers baseball camp last summer, so he was pretty content seeing either team win, and an extra inning was a bonus.



We decided to get to the game a little late, and lucked out to get seats behind the Astro's dugout. There were foul balls landing all around us, but not close enough to get to.




We're looking forward to taking the little G man next time!

Gavin's Two Week Checkup

Gavin had his two week check-up on Wednesday. He is doing great! He weighs 9 lbs even-which is the 60 percentile for weight. He grew an inch taller, so he is 21 3/4"-which is 70 percentile for height. Here are some of our favorite pictures of him.

Swingset...

The kids have wanted a new swingset since we moved into the house, and since Gavin is now here, we (I) thought it would be a great time to build one! The last set took about a week of evenings and help from family and friends to put together, so this time we decided to go with a smaller model.

All the kids were helpful, but Grace is especially dangerous with a hammer...




Josh had fun creating some shade for everyone out of the boxes too...




Josh is getting big enough to be really good with hand tools...




Here's our progress so far; not too bad for a few hours...

Botanical Garden

Today was Gavin's first big outing, which was pretty brief, but quite a bit of fun. We went to the botanical gardens in Ft. Worth to take a few pictures of the kids. They were great sports, considering the high humidity and heat!

There are quite a few pictures at the following website:

Botanical Garden Pics

...but I included a few of our favorites below!

Gavin Has Arrived!

We have a new little runt in our family, Gavin Nicholas, so it's an exciting time around here :-) The kids were mesmerized by their new little brother when they first saw him, it was really sweet to see them welcome him in:



Here's one of his first pictures, after he took a quick bath in the nursery:



Grandma, Nana, and Papa have helped a ton, and are proud of their new little grandson!

Welcome home Gavin!

Josh's Birthday!

Well, its official-my baby is 9. I don't know how that happened. I still remember the day he was born like it was yesterday. He is such a great kid, and we are so blessed that he is in our lives. We had a great time celebrating-perhaps too much fun-I think we spent a whole week celebrating!
Here are some pics. We had a little celebration at home, so Grandma & Grandpa could be there, and then we had Pappsitos (a tradition) on his birthday after Emmalynn's competition. Then we went to Carrabba's as a family, and then he had his birthday party at the Lego Education Center-lots of fun there too!

Birthday Week!

Last week was exceptionally busy with work and moving, but Jen and the kids made my birthday an entire week long celebration :-)  OK, OK, maybe we take birthdays a little too seriously around here, but they did go to extra trouble surprising me, and making things a lot of fun!  Jen even worked with the kids to make me some yummy birthday cupcakes, which were ready when I got home, so that made me feel really awesome!  I am very blessed to have such a wonderful wife and kids!

Here are a few pictures that I thought were cute from this past week...

(Jen, Josh, and Baby "M" Looking as Adorable as Ever)

(Emma and Grace Sporting their Balloon Art)

(No Birthday is Complete Without...The Volcano!)

As each year goes by, and things seem to keep getting busier, I really enjoy the chance to catch up with everyone around my birthday.  Yes, it sounds narcissistic to get psyched about people calling/emailing because of my birthday, but it's not that part that I think is cool...it's just a neat chance to chat for a few minutes with family and friends in the midst of our busy schedules.  That really reminds me what life is all about: looking out for each other, and slowing down long enough to enjoy the moments!

This is my prayer for my family and friends throughout the next year... "May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you."

1 Thessalonians 3:12