Uncle Ryan

Ryan was a huge help the week that Jace was born.  He entertained Jackson, which I think really helped Jack with the new arrival of his baby brother.  Not that it was too difficult for Ryan to "have" to play Wii, Legos, Cars and the occasional game of Race in the hallway.  They really seem more like cousins. :)  Jackson even learned a lesson that even Uncle Ry-Ry has consequences for his "bad choices"! 

"Uncle Ry-Ry" but mostly just "Ry-Ry" or "Ryan", Jackson and Jace

This is their "thinking face".

Ryan gets a turn on the IPAD "reading" Cars 2

Uncle Ryan and Jack playing with Daddy's legos.

Grandbabies

Jace Layne...8lbs 8oz. 

Arrived in this world on his grandpa's birthday

July 31, 2011.

Welcome Home, Jace!

(photo taken by Crosswhite Photography)

Uncle Ryan and his nephews, Jackson and Jace.

 

Moving On!

Jonathan is now a high school graduate!  Crazy.  He seems very ready for the next stage of his life...college at the University of Houston.  GO COUGARS. :)
He is part of the business school there and the honor's program, at least to start off with.  

Wasn't this just yesterday?  If you look closely you can see his "little teefies". haha













 A few more memories....

Jonathan and his cousins TJ and Brian

Jonathan and his cousin, Luke

 

 

 

 

TYFA Football

Tiger Basketball (9th grade)

Jonathan, Brian and TJ now! How they grow up!

 

 We are so excited to see what God has planned for this young man's life.  He is very interested in missions and we know God will guide him as he seeks His direction!  What a blessing it has been to raise this once little boy into the man he has become.  ;)

TAKS Test Time

Our year is almost over. Ryan only has Noah Webster to finish and a few "Read and Thinks" to do. He finished Language, Math, History, Science and Health. We do mostly ABeka curriculum. I try to add a few hands on learning things, but mostly we have done traditional classroom study. For most of the year we had an additional student, which Ryan really liked. Of course, they're favorite time is "break" and "lunch". Sometimes, Ryan finds it annoying when I go to the white board to teach a lesson. "Can't we just read it?" or "I get it, I get it." I have to often times remind him that I am the teacher and a teacher's job is to teach. :) He's a smart kid and thinks he can do it himself and "get it over with." Just love it when I can lecture him on how he needs to be excited about learning!

He puts his desk in different places...I did not make him face the wall. :)

Now that the year is almost over, he will take a Released TAKS test....just so I can say he did it.

If you are interested in giving your child a TAKS test, just to see where he is by state comparisons, check out this link.

http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index3.aspx?id=3839&menu_id=793

Graduation Just Around the Corner!

Forever 21-My Feet Wish They Were

Kaitlin is 16 years old.  We decided to do a little shopping before her band trip. Where did she want to go? Charming Charlie's (She had a gift card) and Forever 21. We were at Charming Charlie's for about 45 minutes and she did not look at one piece of jewelry! She did try on several tops and dresses. She came out of the store with just one item. A hat.

She absolutely loves it. She probably already has 20 pictures of it on facebook. :O) We then drove to Forever 21 at North Star Mall. Can I just say, "It's huge!" ?

Nothing is in any particular order...so you have to walk all over both floors to find a couple of pairs of shorts and tops. We were there for 2 hours and I was exhausted! I'm not one that just loves to shop for long periods of time. It was definitely a sacrifice of love for my feet.

The rest of me enjoyed spending some rare "girl" time with my youngest daughter!

Homeschool Easter Project

We had a little homeschool get-to-gether last week. Most of it was pretty typical...eating hotdogs and chips, decorating eggs and the traditional Easter egg hunt. We did do a little craft, making little paper Easter baskets. Each child did one and we had a total of 12 baskets. Each was filled with "grass", a decorated egg and a piece of candy. Sunday morning the kids delivered the baskets to the Senior Adults ladies' Sunday School class! There were many "aaaw"s and "thanks you"s. The kids came out of the classroom beaming.

Ryan said, "Those ladies were so happy."
"How did that make you feel?"
"Really good." :)

Get the original pattern @ http://www.bhg.com/holidays/easter/eggs/easter-baskets-and-bags/

The Monster Tree

We must say goodbye to the "monster" tree. :( Greg, Kimberly and Jonathan picked out this tree in 2004. I don't think they thought through how heavy it would be. I was so relieved when Jonathan was big enough to help Dad bring in the two big boxes that held the 5 parts that make up the tree. Kimberly was always the navigator, making sure A was plugged into A, B into B, etc. She also labeled everything so they knew what to do the following year. This year we did it without her and amazingly enough, we plugged everything in and it worked. There was a plug or two that we weren't sure about and just did it anyway. After Jonathan and Greg put the tree together and returned the boxes to the garage (Greg calls this their annual pilgrimage), I set out to get it decorated. Instead of going broke trying to buy enough ornaments to fill it up, I just filled in the empty spots with poinsettias. Since Jonathan will be in college next year, Greg decided this was the last year for the big tree. Even while putting it back into the boxes for the last time, the post on the base section might have bent. We may never know. We're thinking 8 feet at the most for the next tree....and much lighter!

A Star in the Making

Ryan was in the Christmas play this year as obviously a hippie. :) This was his first time with a part and he learned it very well. He said he was a little nervous, but you couldn't tell. He even lowered his voice to sound older. His lines were funny, and he had the crowd laughing. Good job, Ry!

30 Years!

On August 2, Greg and I celebrated our 30th year of marriage.  It seems so hard to believe!  God has taken us on quite a journey and continues to do so.  Sometimes He has taken us places I wasn't too excited about.  But since He is in total control of every situation, we have learned some very valuable lessons.  We learned some of those lessons easily, some lessons we failed and had to re-take them. Some we are still working on.

The blessings He has given us are truly amazing.  With each act of obedience, He has given us peace. Because of our very young age when we got married, we had an enormous task of maturing to do.  Our expectations of marriage were unrealistic, depending on each other for needs that only the Father could fulfill. As He grew us, we learned to lean on Him and not that of ourselves and our "own understanding". I learned being a submissive wife was more than an action, but that it came from the heart. Greg learned how to speak my "love language" and I learned to speak his.  I learned how important it is to give my husband respect and he learned the importance of not only keeping promises, but the importance of giving a promise.

We decided to celebrate our anniversary by going on a cruise to Alaska....our kids kind of pushed us into it.  Thanks, kids!  It was so fun to spend a week away from everything and just enjoy each other.  I'm so blessed that I can truly say that my husband is my best friend! It was an experience neither one of us will forget. 

Of course we just kept telling each other the whole time that we wished we could do it again with the kids! :)

 I am looking forward to where God will lead us next, for the journey is not over.  I pray we will weather the storms that come our way, trusting Him and allowing Him to discipline us and grow us. May we keep our eyes on Him!