Words of wisdom from Gibson

Gibson was giving me these words of wisdom as I was wiping his butt after he pooped...

G: You know what, Mommy?

M: What?

G: If you eat a poop, you'll be a poop.

M: Hmm...

G: Plus, they're really squishy!

I cried...

This last summer, Grace started asking lots and lots of questions about God, heaven, and Jesus and what it meant to have Him live in your heart. Her Sunday school had a special class for her age group that helped to answer a lot of the questions, but we talked about it alot this last summer. She said a couple of times that she prayed to ask Jesus into her heart, but she wasn't sure if He did. Finally, towards the end of the summer she came to me one day and informed me that she had prayed and she thought it was her best prayer yet, and this time Jesus had come into her heart. We, of course, were thrilled! At our church, children have to be 8 years old in order to be baptized. This is to make sure that they are mature enough to realize the weight and importance of their decision. So, with Grace's birthday, we met with Miss Laura, our children's minister, and she went through the pre-baptismal counseling. She was baptized this last weekend at church. We were so happy to be able to share the day with so many friends and family. I was surprised at myself. I didn't cry when she started kindergarten or 1st grade, but I boo-hooed when she was baptized. It was a special day for all of us and one that I hope and pray that she never forgets. There is no better place to be than the palm of our Saviour and my prayer is that she will continue to grow and mature in her relationship with Him.

I can't believe it's been eight years!

Well, Grace has turned eight years old! I can hardly believe that I am old enough to have a child that is eight years old, much less that she has been in our lives for that long. She has truly been a blessing and a joy. I think that we will always hold a very special place for her that the others may never have because of all of the life experiences that she went through with us. From finishing our undergraduate degrees as young parents, to traveling 1,000 miles away from any family in Illinois, to returning to Texas and adding on to our family, we grew up with her. I think that I feel a cry coming on... Enough of being sentimental!

Instead of planning big birthday parties for our kids, we let them invite a couple of friends for an activity, we pick them up, feed them, take them to whatever it is that we are doing and then deliver them home. It works out really well in that we don't have a lot of expense for a large party, they still get to hang out with their friends, and the parents don't have to come. It's a win win for everyone!

(Grace with her friends at lunch)

After our previous weekend, Grace decided that she wanted to go rock climbing for her birthday. (see the previous post) We took her and her friends to eat lunch and then went to a rock climbing place for the afternoon. I don't know what I expected, but I was really surprised by the hard core atmosphere of this place. It was located in a warehouse with at least 20 ft ceilings. The rock climbing stuff went all the way to the ceilings with some of the hooks and climbing stuff on the ceilings. There was no heating or air so thankfully it was a comfortable afternoon. When we got there, all of the adults present were outfitted with harnesses and we then spent the rest of the afternoon belaying girls up and down the walls. I was really impressed with Grace! She climbed those walls like a little monkey and had absolutely no fear. Her little friends did an awesome job as well and everyone agreed that they definitely wanted to come back!

No fear!

Right up the wall...

Grace and her bff.

Hunting, fishing and a little rock climbing...

A couple of weekend ago, we headed out to the Texas Hunting, Fishing and Outdoor Show in Arlington. Shane had to make a bunch of contacts for a big event that he has coming up and the rest of us tagged along for a little fun. The kids had a really good time! There was a guy there on a national tour with a whole bunch of "birds of prey" - eagles, hawks, falcons, owls, etc. Grace and Gib were both really into that. Landry and Hayden could have cared less. They had a fishing tank there and the kids all fished and got a trophy. They also had an archery range and Gib and Grace both shot bows and arrows. Hayden and Landry shared a popcorn and coke...

Then the fun began when Grace and Gib found a rock climbing wall. They climbed that bad boy over and over! Grace had so much fun with it she decided that she wanted to go rock climbing the following weekend for her birthday. She climbed the easy and intermediate side very easily. The vendor had posted a sign saying that if you could climb the advanced side and ring the bell at the top you could win a hundred dollars. There weren't any age restrictions on the sign, but once he saw Grace scale that wall several times, he told us that it was only for the bigger kids...yeah right! I thought that we were about to start making some money on one of our kids!

Landry with her popcorn.

Gibson and Grace heading up the wall.

I've been tagged...

Well, I've never done one of these before...I think that this is how you do it. Thanks, April, for the tag...hmmm...I tag Ashley and Stephanie.

8 TV shows that I watch:

1. The Office

2. Grey's Anatomy

3. The Practice

4. How I Met Your Mother

5. Numbers

6. Gary, Unmarried

7. (I'm reaching here...) Food Network?

8. Oh, I know! The Big Bang Theory

8 Restaurants that I like...

1. La Playa Maya (yummmm!)

2. Jason's Deli

3. Joes' Pizza and Pasta (We have found a special one in every Texas town, and yes they know our names!)

4. Whataburger (Does that count?)

5. Babes' Chicken Dinner House (fantastic!!)

6. Starbucks (a special treat)

7. uhh...Bamboo Garden

8. Chick-fil-a is always a hit around here!

8 things that happened to me today...

Where to begin...

1. Landry stained herself purple with jello.

2. I thought that Shane might have been dead on the side of the road when he was late coming home from work...

3. I made an enormous number of appointments today...

4. I burned my mouth with my dinner.

5. I carted around 4 kids and broke up 35 fights...

6. I listened to 28 5th graders playing the recorder at the same time...

7. Gibson insisted that he needed a shower even though the hot water was completely gone...

8. Grace visited the children's minister at the church as she is going to be baptized soon.

8 things I look forward to...

1. Our life group meeting from church on Friday

2. Grace's b-day on Sat.

3. Bedtime in just a few

4. My cup of coffee in the morning (I have finally gotten old enough...)

5. A hot shower.

6. Did I mention bedtime?

7. (yawn) uhh... scrapbooking

8. Family time

8 things I wish for...

1. A clean kitchen!

2. A housekeeper (boy, that would be nice! Although, I would probably stress myself out even more trying to clean everything before the housekeeper could...)

3. Children that could all potty and wipe themselves...(what a dream!)

4. A paid vacation to Disney World.

5. That the laundry would magically disappear from my couch!

6. That my children will grow to become productive and responsible citizens and children of God.

7. A FULL night's sleep without any children joining me in bed...

8. (I already have and pray that it continues...) A family that truly loves one another! 

All the Gibsons...

Gibson has cracked me up for the last couple of days. He keeps talking about "all the Gibsons." Then he assures us that he is the leader. We have asked him how many Gibsons their are and he just tells us that there are "lots." All of the Gibsons have gotten in the car with us for school, they all take a bath, eat dinner, go to bed, you get the idea. They even have fights that he has to break up. As Shane commented last night, "Good grief! Most kids have one imaginary friend, he has a whole army!"

An update on my sicklies...

I finally took my two youngest to the doctor this morning after a miserable day and night yesterday. Poor Hayden has a double ear infection and Landry has a single ear infection. Poor Hayden is a lot tougher than I give him credit for, I didn't even realize that he was all that sick. I knew that he was congested and had a cough, but he never said a word about his ears bothering him. Tonight, when I was putting numbing drops in Landry's ears,  Hayden came up to me and pointed to his ears and said, "Me too, Mommy, me too." He even let me put cotton balls in his ears and for those of you that know Hayden, that is a BIG deal! Hopefully, the antibiotic kicks in quickly and we are all better very soon!