Lunchtime with Dad

This would be one more perk of the older kids being back in school:

the occasional lunch date with Dad.

Peter and I started doing lunch with one another back before Lily was born. We were so crazy busy with work, church and life that we rarely went on a date or even had time to watch a show together at night. So, we started to do lunch. Even if you have one or two kids along for the date it is better than all 5 and good for your marriage. 

Oh I love that man!

The 3 of Us

Me and these 2 little ladies are getting used to it just being 

the 3 of us during the day.

 Somedays, like the ones after I have worked all night, I let Lily stay in her pjs almost all day.

 And a few times we have met dad at this splash park for lunch. He watches the girls while I go to a gym that I bought a groupon for. It is a boot camp thing and each workout is 30 minutes long and it is close to his work. It has worked out so far. 

I hope we are able to make some great memories together, just the 3 of us. 

Camping At Murrell Park

We fit in one last camping trip before summer was over.

 I love how if my kids had the room they would sleep all over the place.

We invited the Barrett's, Miller's, Ostermiller's, and Thompson's.  It was a great time for all. 

That night we went to dinner with some friends to celebrate their birthdays. I love to watch a tepanyaki show! We decided as friends that we needed to do this more often- here is to hoping  it actually happens. 

School Year 2014-2015

The most exciting part of this school year is that Arabella is starting Kindergarten!

 Arabella and Ms. Taylor

 Joseph and Mrs. Brooks

Jon and Ms. Rucker

Here they are on the first day of school! I love these kids so much and I know they will make the most of this year and learn so many things. 

Austin- the end

We headed home on Wednesday morning so we could be home for Arabella's first day of ballet.

 This was Lily after we had swam at the pool on Tuesday and she slipped in the shower scraping her cheek on the shampoo bottle. 

 Peter and I have recently observed that travelling with large families is tricky. There are not very many hotels that have rooms that connect or that have 2 beds and a pull out (or maybe just in Austin and Washington DC where we have been trying to find them). Large families are becoming a thing of the past. I watch a fair amount of HGTV and have noticed lately that many of the young couples that are purchasing homes talk about having room for their dogs or a bedroom to use as a dressing room. But, there are not very many that talk about the desire to have room for a family or future kids. One even said that they had been married for a few years and had not intention of having children for at least 5 years. There is nothing wrong with having pets or waiting to have children but it does make me sad that more men and women do not possess "parent hearts". They are seeking the things the world offers and are not as concerned with what our eternal destiny is and that is to have a family. 

 Anyway, we finally settled on a hotel that was closer to Peter's job site and had 2 full beds. So, the 3 middle kids slept on one bed, we put Joseph on Peter's camping cot and Lily was in her box again (you can see it in the bottom R hand corner).

And we will end on this sweet note! Oh and that we did not make a single stop on the way home- it was wonderful!

Austin Anniversary Edition

Tuesday was our Anniversary- Happy 14th!

We went to the park across from the job site and played in the water. Joseph went to the site for a few minutes so he could pass off some scout stuff. 

Peter took this picture in an effort to capture the adorable way Lily was running with all of her might swinging her little arms to get to the splash park as fast as she could. It was adorable. 

This was when he was returning Joseph to us. Doesn't he look so official?

Peter had been told about a great BBQ place in Austin and so we decided to try something yummy for dinner! It was delicious! Countyline BBQ you have stolen my taste buds and it will be hard for any other bbq place to compete. 

Plus we had this awesome chicken-e-lope watching over us while we ate. 

Even better was that the kids were really well behaved. That may have had something to do with the 2 hours at the park and another 1 1/2 in the hotel pool. 

Oh how I love this man! Thanks for so many wonderful times! I look forward to an eternity of more of them!

Austin Day 2

Monday, I survived getting everyone fed at a hotel continental breakfast (each day went a little better).

Then we headed to the capital and a museum on the University of Texas campus. 

Somehow my pictures have become all jumbled and I don't want to fight to fix them so I will just give captions. 

 Arabella loved the Agates at the UT museum.

 Lily posing as the Goddess of Liberty which is the name of the statue on top of the capital building.

The Texas capital building is the tallest in the country including the US capital in DC. Yes, apparently everything is bigger and better in Texas.

 Arabella learning all about how the capital and it's statues and grounds are maintained and preserved. 

 A picture of part of the UT football stadium. To say it was huge, seems like an understatement.

 I can not remember the name of this dinosaur but Joseph liked it and so we took a pic.

 I am thinking that one day I may need a skillet this size to cook for our family. 

 The boys staring up in awe at the ceiling in the capital building. 

 It is beautiful!

We found some bugs for Jon to pose by.

The kids were troopers because we walked ton and it was 101 that day. They were rewarded with ice cream at the end of our long walk. If you ask Jon about that day, he will tell you that the best part was eating at the Capital Grill - the cafeteria in the basement of the capital building where we ate lunch. He told me he knew why it was called the Capital Grill - because it was the best! What a funny kid. 

Peter met up with us for dinner at Fazoli's and then we surprised the kids by taking them to a discount theater to see How to Train Your Dragon 2. We all loved that!