Happy Birthday Jackson!!!

Twelve years ago today, in a big pink hospital in Hawaii, my baby boy was born!! What an amazing day. Jackson, you have brought so much love to our family. You have such a kind heart and you are the sweetest boy I know!! :) I can't believe you are twelve. The years have just flown by. I love you so much!!
Since we haven't been here long and Jackson still hasn't started school, we had a family day.
Reyno and I took him bowling today and then we had dinner at home tonight. I made steak and baked potatoes (by request) and a cookie birthday cake..

I couldn't find the birthday candles, so we improvised.

Today was also Marisa's first day of school.

Every year I always take their pictures in front of a tree. This year it was in front of her car. And then it hit me, this was the first year of her life that I didn't drive her to school on the first day.

Wow, when did all this happen???

I am back from my blogging hiatus. We are almost done with unpacking. Normally we would have been done by now, but one of us (Reyno) had an accident that involved a big TV and the stairs!!! So we are on hold for awhile until one of us (Reyno) gets better.

It's good to be back!!!!!

Checking In

Well, me made it to New York. We have signed in and just waiting for our house to be ready. Should be some day next week. So in the meantime we are hanging out in the hotel and driving around post. Not much has changed in the last five years. The scenery is beautiful and the weather is nice.
So on to our road trip... I had every intention of blogging after every day on the road. But to be honest, it would have been a very boring post. For example... Day one: Drive, stop for gas and potty break, drive some more, stop for snacks, drive a lot more and stop for the night. It was brutal. I have never done so much driving in all my life. After three long days in the car, we made it to Philadelphia where we met up with Reyno. We spent the night at our dear friends' house. Got up the next day and made it to our final destination. 1650 miles!!!!! I can't believe we made it!!!!
As soon as I download the pictures, I will write about our last two weeks in Texas.

Moving Day

Today was moving day. The big truck came and it was loaded up with everything we own. Now I'm sitting in an empty room thinking back on the last four years. We've had some great times and some not so great times. We've made great friends who have become like family to us. We have been apart of an amazing church and our kids have accomplished great things. We have lived in a house that has felt like a home.
We are not strangers to moving. In fact this will be our ninth move. It's always hard to leave, but for some reason this is extremely hard. It's hard to explain the connection we all have to this place,but its a strong one.
The kids have been saying goodbye to their friends all week. It's been emotional to say the least. I'm trying to stay strong but most of the time I want to cry with them.
They are so strong and such amazing Army kids.
So now we look forward. And start a new adventure!!!

Baseball Bling and a New Look

Now that Jackson's team is World Series bound, we moms thought we needed to look good for the games. So like any proud baseball mom, we pulled out the glitter and bedazzler!!!
Marisa and I made these...

Marisa made the black one and I made the red. If you look closely, you can see that I put an H instead of an N. I fixed it, but I was very mad!!! :)

The back

We had these made.

If anything, we will have the best looking parents!!! :)

I've had a blog makeover thanks tohttp://scottandchristicopeland.blogspot.com/. Thanks Christi. I love it!!!!

June in Review

So here I am trying to play catch up. June has come and gone and to be honest, it was a blur. The month started off with Reyno and Marisa heading east to WP to get our house, check out the schools and to drop off one of the cars. The trip was successful. We got a house and registered both kids in school. Unfortunately they didn't take any pictures.
Jackson and I stayed home for, what else... baseball. We were lucky enough to have a few visitors.

Mom, dad, Camille and Jules came down to keep us company. We had a great time and had breakfast at one of our favorite places... Cracker Barrel.

We all took a trip to Dallas for baby Madeline's baptism. We love being in Dallas because there is so much to do. We went really wild and one night headed to Central Market!! :) We were fascinated with the exotic fruit section.

This was our favorite. I can't remember the name, but the nice produce man cut it open and let us try it. Yummy!!

But the highlight of the trip was the Baptism of this amazing little angel...

I LOVE this picture!!!! She is such a happy baby!!

Corey and Rosemary asked Reyno and I to be her Godparents. We were so honored!!

Proud parents and Godparents and very happy big sister!

All the girls!!!

Camille and I gave her a bracelet and we are putting it on her. I think she was asleep. :)

The rest of the month was spent at the baseball fields.

Jackson and his best friend, Ice

Coach dad handing out trophies.

All Star game. We won!!!!



Our travel team had a players vs parents game to end the regular season.

Jackson is very focused.

I wonder where he gets it... :)

Marisa and I had to get some shopping in. We love going to the bookstore. I love cookbooks and she loves...

This is not a joke. She actually bought that book...for fun!!! :) She is so awesome!!!

We ended the month with a combatives tournament. A very close friend of our family competed and won his weight class. It was very exciting and we are so proud of him!

Jackson and Jason!!

In the octagon. Jackson loved wearing Jason's championship belt!!

We had a very big month. Lots of ups and downs, but with lots of prayers and support, we came out on top.

We have one more exciting adventure before we leave Texas. Jackson's team is going to the Texas World Series!!! We have been very busy blinging shirts! (pics to come).

It's 3:00 am and the packers are coming in the a few hours. I'm not ready, but it's still going to happen because this is what they dropped off at our house..

Sweet Dreams!!!!!!!

Field Day and Last day of School

Jackson had field day on Wednesday. It was a fun, but hot day. Lots of games and lots of water.
My goal was to take lots of pictures of Jackson and his friends, but I did not take a single one!! I was so busy running one of the events and never even took my camera out. However, I did have pictures taken of us before and after...


Bright and early that morning

Back home, nice and sweaty. Notice that we both have matted down hair. :)

And it is no coincidence that we have burnt orange shirts!! Each class got a certain color and the mom ordering them knew just how much our class loves the longhorn!!! Except for our teacher...she is an Aggie. Sorry Mrs. L :)

Thursday was the last day of school for both kids. Again, my intention was to take tons of pictures. I was busy saying goodbye and trying not to cry. I couldn't even get a picture of Marisa and Jackson together!

It was a hard day. Even though we still have several weeks before we leave, just pulling out of the parking lot brought tears to my eyes. This is going to a hard place to leave.

I forgot to add this picture to the last post.

Marisa with her awards. So proud of my girl. I can't believe she is now a junior!!!!

Gotta get some sleep. We have three games tomorrow!!!

Our Weekend

This weekend, like most, we were at the baseball fields. This was for our tournament team, so we traveled. Not too far, but far enough that we were surrounded by wheat fields. This place was out in the boonies. I'm talking country baseball. Reyno kept saying it reminded him of the movie, "The Rookie". :) The boys did a great job!! I love to see them get so pumped up for the games. They are working really hard to make to the Texas World Series. It will be so fun for them and the parents. All the moms got together to discuss our tshirts and how we are going to bling the out!!!! I can't wait!!!!!!! :)

In other news... Marisa received two awards at the academic banquet. She received the English II award and the World History award. She was so excited and we were beyond proud!!!!! She has had such a great year!!! :)
One week til school is out!! Lots of finals for both kids. And then the fun starts....MOVING!!!!!!!!

I also wanted to add that every year at this time our church honors the graduating Seniors. This is one of my favorites Masses. I love to see all the kids in their gowns from all the different schools. This year we had two Valedictorians and one Salutatorian in the group. I think I cried the entire time. I am just so proud of them and their amazing parents. I love our church so much and the great sense of family I feel every time I'm in there.

Busy week ahead!!!!!!