Houston...

We got here on Friday afternoon after much driving in the pouring, and I mean pouring rain. And if you know me, you know that I really don't enjoy driving in the hard rain. I kept on driving pretty good until Aaron called and told us that there was a big front coming to where we were at the time (College Station) and told us to pull over. So, we sat for about 3o minutes, got some gas and took a little nap....then we got back on the road and made it to Houston before traffic got bad.

We have been spending the weekend at one of Aaron's college friends' house. He is actually the special guy that we named our Parker after, Brian Parker. He is great and has a great huge place for a single guy and just lets the kids have fun. We all went to the Natural Science Museum on Saturday and it was so cool. Grace loved the dinosaurs, of course, and Aaron and Brian really liked the Energy section of the museum. It was sponsored by Schlumberger and other oil companies and told all about oil and how they get it....Aaron was in hog heaven! I was pretty bored, but trying to keep up with 3 kids kept me pretty busy. We had a fun time out of the rain.

It has rained pretty much non-stop since we have been here. Brian is having a cook out today for the holiday with about 20 other people coming over and I know we are all going to get wet! Oh well, should be fun getting wet, anyway!

I'm off to check on Parker...we go back to our hotel this afternoon for the week and then back home on Friday!!

On the road again...

Yes, the clock is right on this computer...the kids got up at 6:30 because they were so excited to go and see Daddy. Would they ever get up this early on a school day? Heck, No, but on the day when Mommy has to drive 4 hours with little sleep, Yes, of course...I will be consuming much caffeine today for the drive to Houston. Oh well, it is now officially Summer Vacation so as long as they don't wake me up...yeah right!!

If you feel like talking, call my cell this morning...I'll be on the road about 9:30, I'm waiting for the traffic to clear and of course, Parker's morning nap time before we leave. The car is almost packed and I'm off to get dressed.

Can't wait to see my man and do some relaxing in the hotel pool for a week!!

Forgiving ourselves...

Last night in bible study we were talking about forgiving ourselves. Jill, who is usually our main moderater, was sick so somehow it fell to me (I guess because we were at my house) to lead the discussion....I don't mind if I have had time to prepare, but of course they told me this when we all got started last night. I'm fine, it all went well, I just felt like I was constantly looking for another place for us to go to after the next question...anyway, we were talking about forgiving ourselves and how we feel about it...There was a statement in our lesson guide and it says,

How do you feel about the forgiveness of your sins? (mark one)
__I believe that I'm forgiven.
__Because of things that I've done I sometime wonder if God really can forgive my sins.
__I sometimes try to work harder at "being good" to make up for my sins.
__There are some sins I don't think God can forgive.
__I really do want to believe that I'm forgiven, but I'm having a hard time accepting it.

I thought about this question and read the choices. As a christian, I really believe that I am forgiven. That is it. No questions asked. By my faith in Him, I am forgiven if I ask Him for forgiveness. I think that satan tries to get in our head and wants us to justify things and I think that is where he gets us sometimes.

Psalm 34:17 "The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles."

Our main problem is that we are human and we remember EVERYTHING. That is of course, until we get old and start to forget, but until then, we can't forgive ourselves because we keep remembering ALL the things that we have done that are wrong. I'm sooo amazed that God forgives and wipes the board clean. How awesome. We are clean because Jesus died for us. I know we don't deserve it what so ever and we will never be worthy of God's blessing and will never deserve the forgiveness of God...all we can do is accept his forgiveness and be thankful for His amazing and awesome love for us. God loves us so much....that is it.

Here is Grace's prayer from last night:
Dear God,
Thank you for a fun day at school. Thank you for my mom, my dad, my sister, my baby brother and my dog. Please Lord, forgive me for trying to choke my sister when mommy was downstairs and she didn't see me. I'm sorry.
I love you, God. In Jesus name, amen.

Even my 5 year old asks for forgiveness....and I guess I need to listen a little bit more for the whole "choking my sister" thing when they are upstairs playing!

More waterslide pics....

Jackson and Grace when it was time to get off the slide...look at the mud at their feet....Grace even had mud in her teeth!! What a fun time!

Parker was loving the clean up bath that night though...he really does love the water! He is a splashing machine!

Me and my babies on Sunday after church! We took the kids to see Shrek the Third right after we ate lunch Sunday and they all really liked it...I liked the first 2 better, but this one was still good. I'm off to get the kids ready for Grace's end of school party today. Only 2 half days left after today!!

Birthday party!

This weekend we went to a great birthday party for 2 of the girls that we go to church with and their family is also in our life group. It was soooo much fun! Our 3 kids played and played until I think they just wore themselves out! That Welch family can sure put on a fun party, for sure! They had a party for the kids and then when all the "school friends" left, we had a life group party and got to visit with all of Jill and Kevin's family.

They had a giant bounce house with a waterslide attached. It was so cool and the kids loved every minute of the time on the slide. Grace, her friend Jackson and the Welch's nephew had the most fun though. They win the prize for going down the slide the MOST times. By the time they figured out this move by linking on, there was a HUGE mud puddle at the end of the slide. They didn't care. They just plopped down at the end of the slide, got up and went again.

The sound that they made when they hit the ground, all 3 of them together, was terrible. But they kept doing it and they didn't get hurt. Kids are so amazing....Thud! Thud! Thud! Then they would get right back up and go down the water slide again!!

Oh, by the way, notice Aaron is NOT wearing an Old Navy T-shirt. I got him some Colts Superbowl T-shirts online last week to break up him wearing the Old Navy T-shirts all the time!!

Tagged

I have been tagged to provide you with seven random facts about myself or weird habits. At the end of the post, look to see who has been tagged to write your own facts/habits on your blog.

1. I take Grace to school in my Pajama's everyday. I also wear my glasses while doing this so I'm sure the teachers think I'm such a slacker, but I really don't want to get 3 children and myself dressed that early when I really don't have to...just don't ask me to get out of the car!

2. I try to sneak in a nap on my work out days. Yes, I know they say working out gives you more energy...No, I don't think so...lately all it has done is make me hurt and be tired! Of course, that just may be all the heavy weights that Jill and I have been lifting! I don't remember the last time I actually got to nap, but I have tried several times in the past 2 months since Aaron has been gone!

3. I love to watch the beginning of Sesame Street. There is a little dancing part that they do right after Matt Laurer says, "You'll never know who you'll meet on Sesame Street" and then they do this little song about using your imagination...it's my favorite. Parker is a great dancing partner, the little cutie!

4. My Tassimo coffee machine is my favorite addiction. After I get done dancing with Parker to the Imagination song, I hightail it over to my machine and pick out a flavor for the morning. Yum.

5. The people at Sonic know my name. Yes, that is bad. I love to get a large coke in the afternoons. I have been better since I started working out...I've gone 4 days this week with out a coke, but this afternoon I will get one before Grace's softball game, for sure.

6. I love to talk. I know that this is no surprise to ya'll, but I love my friends and talking (and listening and blogging) is like therapy to me.

7. One of the best compliments I have ever received also felt like a little insult...a girl at Wal-Mart said, "You know how to do this because you are a mom...." How did she know I was mom? My kids were not with me....do I have "mom hair" , wear, "mom jeans" or do I look "mom age?"....like I said, it was a complete compliment and then I thought about it....I do love being a mom, but sometimes I just still "feel" like I'm 21 and not 32....and then I realize, wow, I am a mom and I'm a GREAT one with awesome kids...yes, I'm a mom.

Okay, there you have it...I'm going to tag Laura, Reagan, Jamie,Ant, Dyane and Amber....

We LOVE this place!

Aaron got home really late Friday night because he had a test that afternoon and got stuck in rush hour traffic....but he got home and it was a great weekend. Saturday morning we got up and went over to Six Flags with our friends from church, Jill and Kevin and their sweet girls, Olivia and Elizabeth. It was so much fun, hot, but fun. They had season passes before so they showed us a few parts of the park that we haven't been to before. We even took Parker on 2 rides with us!! We took him on this little water ride (kinda like "It's a small world" with Loony Tune characters, but no singing) and on the log ride....it was so great! He just sat there the whole time, just swinging his feet, just a smiling!

Elizabeth and Susannah were too short to get on one of the rides so they sat out with the daddies and got their picture made in the big chair! Elizabeth and Grace are in the same class at church and are the resident memory verse girls. They know all of them for the whole year (yes, I know we have only lived here 5 months, but Grace does know the whole year's worth) and are going to say them in front of the church with the rest of their class on Sunday during both services! Smart girlies!

Jill took the girls to drive the cars while Aaron, Kevin and Olivia rode the Texas Giant....Grace said that there is "NO WAY I'm getting on that ride, Mom!"....maybe by the end of the summer! Parker took his normal, Six Flags nap and I enjoyed my Coca-Cola in the shade. Now that is a great Saturday!!

I had a wonderful Mother's Day with my sweet family that loves me. Aaron took me shopping for some new dresses and I love the stuff he picked out...now that he knows my size, he can do it without me around!! To take a phrase from Miss Beckie, "I love my life!"

My favorite Parker pictures..

These are a few of my favorite Parker pictures...so far!!! The last picture with his Gramps is similar to one I posted the other day, he just has a bigger grin in this one and it sooo made me smile!!

Happy Thursday....only one more day!!!

From my cousin, Bobby...

My cousin, Bobby, commented on my blog this weekend. I thought I would post it for everyone to read because I thought it was quite funny. Here it is:

Jen, your two year anniversary as a blogger is this month. I wanted to recap on some of my favorite posts, but instead I went back and looked at how many "Old Navy" shirts were worn by Aaron over the past two years. The total comes to a whopping thirteen times! (This is a poor reflection on your clothing aficionado sister.)

2005

Oct 5

Dec 13

2006

May 6

July 2

July 4 ****

July 22

Sept 22

Oct 23

2007

Jan 8

Mar 17

Apr. 4

Apr 23

Apr. 30

*****This one doesn't count because everyone wears this shirt on the Fourth.

What is even more funny is that on Saturday we were getting ready to go to Six Flags (yes, again, we love it and try to go every Saturday that Aaron is here) and Aaron was putting on his 2003 Old Navy shirt and I said, "Why don't you wear another shirt?" His response, "Why? This one is perfectly fine and feels good."

Yes, my husband is great and very low maintenance in the clothing department! I tried to get him to wear the new Old Navy 2007 t-shirt that I bought him last week, but he was perfectly happy with the old one. I love him.

Visit with the family....

Aaron's Dad and Mom came in for a short visit this weekend. We picked them up Friday night and I just got back from dropping them off at the airport this morning. The kids were so happy to see them both, but sorry, DD, they were more excited to see their Gramps. We haven't seen him since Parker was a little bit and we were so happy that he got to come thru for just a few days. Gramps and Parker are big buds now...Check out Parker's smile in this picture. He is just sooo cute!! I'm not biased or anything at all, either...he he he.

We got his mom to take a family picture of us and right when we were going to take the picture, Daisy dog jumped up in Grace's lap. She is a silly dog, but we all love her so...Oh, Jess, do you remember this dress? It's that Express dress that you gave me a few years ago and I'm back in it again (finally! ) Thanks for the old hand-me-downs. They are my favorite!! Got anything new for me?

We took DD and Gramps with us to Six Flags Saturday morning in the sprinkling down rain. It was fun and it was just the right temp. for going to SF. The occasional sprinkle kept us from getting hot, too!! Grace took her DD, Gramps and Daddy with her on the Judge Roy Scream roller coaster. I think she is ready to move up a coaster to the Texas Giant. We'll have to see for next weekend!! Anyone want to come for Mother's Day to Six Flags? We have free passes for Sunday!!!

Parker was having a great time riding up high with his Gramps. He is such a sweet and laid back baby. I am so thankful for his little toothy smile!!

Great night!

Last night we had our x-box wives bible study. We didn't get to have it on our normal Tuesday night meeting night because once a month the men go to "Letters From Dad" at the church. So we changed the day and it was wonderful. I just love our little group. There are 7 of us and I can already tell how it has changed my day to day happenings. "The Frazzled Female" is a great study for us all right now and I love the fact that we all seem to be going thru all the same (or close too) things. Friends are a great gift from God and I'm so thankful that we are here so I could meet this great group of girls (okay, I guess since we are all over 30 we can be ladies now, but I sure would rather be just a girl...he he he.) I woke up this morning ready to go with a smile on my face and a song in my heart. Thank you Lord for life and a healthy family!

The house is clean and I can't wait for my hubby to be home! Aaron will pull in around 7:15 tonight...he left early and beat the Houston traffic. His parents fly in around 8:30 tonight so we are going to have a full weekend. I think I'm going to take a little nap while Parker is taking his!!

This week's verse:
"Your heart must not be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me." John 14:1

Words to remember...

Here is my memory verse from last week, but I like it so much I'm still keeping it up on my mirror.

"Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones." Proverbs 16:24

Think of that every time you think you might be talking negative...it has worked this week for me with the girls, especially!!