Photots with Caressa...

Here are all of the photos from our photo session with Caressa girls at ages 5 and 2:

March,April & May 2012

So, I finally got an iphone. Welcome to new technology that I love when it works and the user does it correctly. Here are a couple of photos I took with it.

Sweet sisters

I love coming home to roses, I do feel sorry for the neighbor that is slowly losing the big roses. Kennedy and August love to get flowers...and Daddy enjoys cutting them for the girls.

The girls and I went to Temple to visit the grandparents. We stopped off and played at the playscape in Mel's neighborhood for a break. You can tell the girls were enjoying themselves.

These are what Kennedy drew on herself saying they were here tattoos.

I thought it would be fun to make sugar cookies with the girls. Here they are helping. Yes, there was alot of licking of the ingredients going on.

August still loves on her sister even with flower on her face.

Yummy! Yes, we share our germs.

If you ever eat our food and have hair in it you know why!

I think August looks so pretty here

We had never been to Wonder World in San Marcos, so we packed the girls up and went. It was a pretty cute place. I know my father would of enjoyed the cave with all of the different rock formations that you could see and take pictures of. We rode the train over to the petting zoo to see a couple of the animals they had there. The girls got to feed some deer so that was pretty neat. We went inside the cave for a thirty minute tour. You could see that Balcones fault line and a well where the owner had got water from the Edwards Aquifer. It was hard keeping August from climbing on the walls. We saw many fossilized animals too. Once out of the cave we got to experience the Gravity room. Before we left, we tried out a machine that was suppose to simulate the winds of a hurricane. Here are the photos:

On March 31, Trey, Kim Hill, Erica, and I participated in the Tough Mudder in Worthom. The nerves were high before the event, but once we got started that was replaced with lots of laughter. Erica made us some adorable shirts. Tough Mudder benefits the Wounded Soldier Project. At the beginning, a motivational speech and the National Anthem to get you started to remember what great sacrifice our soldiers make for us. The course was supposed to be 10 miles of fun, but apparently each course they change up a bit, so ours ended being 12 miles. The most difficult obstacle for me was the Berlin walls, 12 ft walls that you had to be hosted up to the top and drop yourself over. Then of course there was Mt. Everest which I attempted but ended up having to walk around cause there was no way Trey could pull me up by myself. Trey however ran up it and reached the top with no problems. There was tracking through a creek of mud, as Kim Hill said “ it started out as chocolate milk and ended in chocolate pudding.” Other obstacles included The Artic Enema-basically a tub full of ice that you had to dunk your head under a board to get out of the tub, jumping mud trenches-Kim and I fell a lot in, and the Jump the Plank – a 15 ft jump off a platform into a pond.  At the end was the dreaded electrical shock. How I didn’t get shocked I don’t know. Trey was going full speed ahead and was zapped with one of the 10K volts which made him fall face first into the ground. I’m going to try to attach the video of Erica getting zapped while she did it. The sound of her voice is what cracks me up so much.   We finished as a team and received our orange headbands to prove it.

The bruises quickly appeared...here is one on my hip that took awhile to heal. Poor Kim Hill is still limping from spraining her ankle.

Mom watched the girls for us so we could stay the night in Dallas to do the Tough Mudder. They had the annual Easter Egg hunt at the VFW so her and Jim took the kids to it. Along the way, they spotted the Easter Bunny along the road and had to catch a photo.....the girls loved it!

Trey helped Frank move his grandfather into an assisted living. He is enjoying it so far, so that is good news. Hopefully, we will take a trip to visit soon.

Easter weekend we went to Mathis. The boys caught a lot of fish. The biggest one weighing 13 to 15 lbs dependent on who you ask. The kids loved playing down at the sandy shore and playing in the lake. Friday, we had a scary experience that I hope we don’t have to experience ever again. Kylie, Kennedy, August, and Payton were playing in the water. Payton was playing in the sand but the other girls were jumping up and down in the water. I just went to sit down . Laura and I started to visit when she says “ oh, there is only three. “  We looked and you could see Auggie lying on her back behind Kennedy and Kylie paddling her legs and arms, her head in the water. Laura and I dashed out to the water to save her. Kylie was clinching on to Kennedy and I grabbed August who proceeded to cough up some water. I thank God daily for her being o.k.  When I close my eyes I can still see her paddling and hear her saying after she was retrieved  “I sorry mama. “ I held her a lot that weekend and gave numerous kisses to the kids.

The Easter bunny came and visited the kids too. They got goody baskets and went Easter egg hunting after church.

Yes, it was hot, and August insisted she be wrapped up in this blanket. She went into church with it!

Fun around the house, playing in the water and getting the plants ready to plant. I found an apricot tree, big blackberry, and blueberry bush all for $5 each at Lowe's. I'm hoping they were a great find!!

Taken care of her baby, in her rain jacket

We went to Sherri and Clifford's place out in Medina for Katie Jo's 2nd birthday. It is so beautiful out there you could get lost in the silence and zone in to the beauty of nature. The girls loved running up and down the big hill by the side of their home. Katie Jo got several ducks for her birthday that the kids nearly choked to death, but they are still alive. The boys had a good time putting the pinata up. Kendal ended up having to try his hand at the pinata to break it open. One last smack and the goodies fell out. We had a great time there!

Devine Mason – Papawa Dodson received his 25 year Mason ring at the Devine Lodge. Frank, Kenneth and Our family were all there to watch this special event. Papawa stood up and said told some stories , my best short summary is “ Some fellow almost nailed his finger to the one of the boards when trying to build the new lodge, he told the his Mason brothers that he knows they he had gotten more from being a Mason than what he had given to the Mason’s, he thanked the family and said it meant a lot for us being there.  We really didn’t get to visit with him much, but he knew we were proud of him!

Earrings- Kennedy wanted to get her ears pierced for her 5^th birthday. As much as Trey and I didn’t really want her to do it this soon, she was admitted about wanting them. We told her that they might hurt getting pierced and that she would have to clean her ears daily, which she said she was o.k with. Trey, August, and I took her to Claire’s at the Outlet Mall to get them done. I was so impressed with how she handled the process. She picked out some pink earrings(October’s birthstone) with the guidance of us(she had wanted some Hello Kitty ones but we geared her in another direction since she has a wedding she will be in). She sat still and didn’t even flinch when the girl did each of her ears. I just remember the traumatic “bam” sound going in my ears as a child, which clearly they have improved the technology.  After wards, we went and ate dinner at Cracker Barrel, played a little checkers outside and enjoyed the rest of the evening.

Trey and Kennedy enjoy watching Davy Crockett together.

Birthday Party- We had Kennedy’s 5^th birthday party at the Jumpy Place in Kyle. This was the first time we had invited the kiddos from her school as well as family/friends. We had a great time. I was very proud of Kennedy for going up to John’s mom and thanking her for adorable teacher shirt (as seen in the photos). Kennedy and Augusta’s little faces were beat red from all of the running around. We ate pizza and cookie cake for the big event. Every day, I watch in amazement as she transforms in to a young women. The songs she sings, the shyness of speaking to adults and overcoming that, her love for her father and sister, and how she teaches August things and encourages her to use the potty(don’t get me wrong they still argue at times) . There are so many signs of her independence from needing her mom and dad to doing things on her own. I hope she will still give me hugs five years from now in a crowd without being embarrassed by her parents and will always know that regardless of her age she can still come to her mom and dad.  Happy Birthday, Kennedy Lynn!

Here are some planting of our new fruit trees, etc. in the yard . Lots of help from the girls. Maybe one day we will have fruit to share with all.

The big stick standing up is an Apricot tree that was on it's last leg at Lowe's, I know Trey can get it to come back to life!

Sherry had started given us a graft of this fig tree a long time ago and it's finally big enough to put in the ground.

Kennedy at DQ and seeing boys- I took Kennedy and August to DQ for an ice cream treat after school. We were sitting in our booth when I noticed Gus(the boy Kennedy has a crush on) and his mom in line. I told Kennedy Gus was here and she immediately asked if I could switch seats with her, so I did. She wouldn’t even acknowledge that he was there. The whole time his mom and I chatted she stared out te window eating her burger and drinking her shake. August said Hello. Gus’s mom ‘s middle name is Augusta so we thought that was cool. Kennedy backed out of the booth to exit DQ. Erin, Gus’s mom, said by Kennedy. Kennedy wouldn’t do anything so I convinced her to at least do a backwards wave. Man, maybe in the future she will be that way around boys too.


May.....and another month has passed. Can't believe the time, seems like before we know it Christmas will be here again.

Dad and Robin watched the girls for us on Saturday night so Trey and I could go with Mel and Kirk to the LBJ Jam which consisted of a lot of Texas Country Music singers. We had a nice time out and the girls enjoyed their stay with Papa Bill and Robin.

August is in a stage of dumping things out. This is a picture of Kennedy fixing to get her hair washed out after August dumped her noodles and some ketchup from fish sticks on her sisters head. Kennedy took it pretty good and gigled....Kennedy got August back by coloring all on August's back. Sisterly love!

 Kennedy had her five year check up on May 12. She did great, answering all of the nurses question. Her vision was 20/20, she weighed 47 lbs, can't remember the height, but overall she is growing as she should be.

The girls and I got to pick Joseph up from Rabbit Hill after school. What a big place! The girls loved all of the play equipment there. Joseph got to show us around. I love this little boy so much!!

Joseph and KiKi....Kiki goes everywhere with Jo.

Trey took the girls down to Fal with him. Spoke with Kennedy on the phone and can't get over how grown up she is getting. She talked to me on the phone explaining that she caught 7 fish, dad caught 6, and August caught 2. She caught them with her new fishing pole that her dad bought her. Sounded like they were having a great time. So, odd at home with none of the caus that children bring, but I'd welcome it anyday. I love those girls and my husband so much.

Trey and I went to the Rangers game on Tuesday, May 29. We had such a great time, despite their lost. We were on the jumbo tram twice, only kissed on the last time(they didn’t draw a heart around us).

Couldn't figure out how to flip this one. this is one of the family photos taken by Caressa. Can't wait to see the rest of them.