Summer Reading Program

One of our favorite summer activities is the library's Summer Reading Program. Every Thursday morning there is a fun program to attend. Here are some of the programs we enjoyed:

A magic show with Ronald McDonald

A marionette production of Hansel and Gretel:

An educational program about animal rescue 

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A fun musical/comedy with The Pipdilly's

 And Mig's favorite - the Mobile Dairy Lab!

The presenter asked the kids if they were strong. Mig promptly stood and displayed his muscles for all:

I am so thankful for our library and the staff there! 

More Belton Pictures

Here are some more pictures from when we were in Belton.

On our way to Georgetown to go to church with my sister, we spotted some celebrities!! Of course we had to stop and take a picture with them!

Mater:

And Lightning McQueen! Mig was SO excited to see them (as you can tell from the hugs)! The Cars movies and the Toy Story movies are his favorites right now!

Selah has been wanting "real" cowboy boots for awhile now and decided that when she got money for her birthday, she would use it to buy boots. So, while we were in Belton, I took her to Cavender's Boot Store and she found the perfect boots!! She makes such a cute little cow girl! 

While we were at the boot store, Gabe decided to spend the last of his money (after buying his geode) on a toy arrow. Mig decided that he wanted a toy rifle. As I was loading the boys into the van, I realized that Mig's rifle came with a face mask - just like the Lone Ranger! So, for the rest of the week, Mig and Gabe played the Lone Ranger and Tonto in GiGi's backyard. They even watched an episode of the old Lone Ranger with Papaw - and LOVED it!!

We had a great time in Belton. Besides the fun stuff I got pictures of, we also saw Despicable Me 2 with the triplets, went swimming with the big cousins and had an ice cream making contest with GiGi and PopPop! The kids are already looking forward to next summer's trip to Belton!

Inner Space Cavern

While we were in Belton a few weeks ago, I took the kids to Inner Space Cavern in Georgetown.

I have been to Inner Space so many times, but it was the first time for the kids. I am always amazed at this whole - completely different from the surface above it - world God created underground. Selah was really nervous about going into the cave until PopPop gave her a flash light to take with her. She used the flashlight to light up anything that seemed a little scary to her and she ended up loving the trip!

At one point the guide even let her use her flashlight to shine on a formation so that we could see how transparent the formations really are. 

For the past few weeks, Gabe has been interested in crystals and especially geodes. He went around finding rocks and trying to break them open to see if they were geodes. He was so excited to see that Inner Space sold geodes you can break yourself!

He used his own money to purchase a geode. Then, he put it in this vise and cranked it with a little help, until it cracked open.

He was so excited to see it when it was open! It was such a fun trip for everyone!! 

Side By Side since 1953

My grandparents are celebrating their 60th Wedding Anniversary tomorrow. We went down  to the Stage Coach Inn in Salado to celebrate them on Saturday. While there my grandpa told this sweet story about their drive to San Antonio for their honeymoon. I'm sorry in advance about the blurriness. I have an awesome new camera that also has video capability, but I am still learning how to use it. Anyway, enjoy a sweet moment of celebrating 60 years of marriage:

And here are a few pictures from our lunch as well.

Happy 4th of July!

We had a fun 4th of July! We woke up and Byron had brought donuts home after an early prayer meeting. Then we headed out to watch the Denton parade with some friends.

The parade was really neat. Most of the entries threw candy or prizes to the kids so they each ended up with a bag full of goodies. There were floats, marchers, old cars, horses, dogs and motorcycles. Something for everyone!

After the parade we had a little impromptu playdate with some sweet friends at the courthouse. 

After the parade we had lunch at Fuzzy's (YUM!). Everyone had a little quiet time and then we grilled some hot dogs and ate some home-made ice cream. When it was dark enough we went outside and did some sparklers. The kids LOVED the sparklers! They were a big hit!!

I had fun with a little sparkler/camera "magic"!

 I love this one of Mig:

 It was a fun filled day! We hope all of you had a safe and blessed 4th as well!

Can You Believe This Girl is 5!?!?

It is hard to believe that Selah turns 5 years old today! She is teee-iny! She weighs in at only 30 pounds and is still wearing a size 3T in most things (though if she knows it is a 3T she won't wear it.). She is a sweet, sensitive girl. She loves everything girly, pink, sparkles, flowers and jewelry. She practically lives in a tiara and is super smart!! What a blessing she is to us!!!

Happy Birthday, Princess! We love you!!!

A Fancy Nancy Birthday Party

 This year Selah decided to have a Fancy Nancy birthday party. In case you don't know about Fancy Nancy, they are picture books about a little girl who loves everything fancy. The great thing about the books is that they use a very extensive vocabulary! Selah LOVES theses books and has learned a lot of "fancy" words from them.  

The Birthday Girl in her Fancy new dress.

Daddy even dressed fancy for the party!

And of course, I did too. 

The guests were invited to wear their fanciest ensemble. We had fancy accessories for them when they arrived: ties and fedoras for the boys and tiaras and beads for the girls.

We had a fancy lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with sprinkles and chicken salad sandwiches with fancy toothpicks.  

Selah LOVES story time at the library and so she decided that our first activity would be to have a Fancy Nancy story time. She even helped read!

We played a few rounds of hot potato and then had lunch. After lunch Selah opened her presents. She received some great gifts!

One gift was an American Girl Doll. Some of our friends have daughters that decided to give away their dolls to kids in need, but saved one for Selah, knowing that she had saved for one for awhile, but decided to spend that money on Target's version of the American Girl Dolls. 

After the gifts, we had cake.

Selah decided on a strawberry and chocolate zebra print cake! It turned out so beautifully! (And is a lot easier than it looks to make!)

We had a pinata filled with candy and had such a fun time partying! Here are some of the guests (a few had to leave before the picture). 

Such a sweet and fancy crew!!