Noah's Ark Water Park

We took a day and went with our friends the Pace's to Noah's Ark Water Park in Houston.

First, Brady

 Brady sliding down the rainbow

 Brady sliding down the ark.

 Brady and his friend, Zachary Pace playing in the water

 Eli

 Zach, Brady, and Eli

 Eli's turn down the rainbow

 Eli down the ark slide

 Zach, Brady, and Eli

 Lunch break! Eli, Brady, Zach, and Allison Pace

Basketball Camp

Someone at CCA was so kind as to allow the boys to go to basketball camp the week of June 10-14.

Here are Eli and Brady playing knock-out against each other.

 Brady and Eli (in the back) showing off some of their new basketball skills

Eli with his best buddy Max Granville.  They've been best friends since they were 18 months old.

 

 Both boys got camper of the day on the same day!  None of the coaches knew what the others were doing, it was purely coincidence!  Love it!

Good Friends

We closed on our Texas house June 3rd, and wouldn't close on our Alabama house until June 17th, so we had 2 weeks where we stayed with Bill's parents while we waited for it to be time to go.  During those two weeks, we also spent lots of time with good friends.

 

First is Brady with his t-ball trophy.

 We spent a lot of time at Jack and Kate Gowens' house.  Here are the kids playing dress-up.  First is Brady...

 Next we have Kate and Brady battling

 Eli and Jack

 The Fantastic Four! Jack, Eli, Kate, and Brady

 Major had such a great time he fell asleep on the way back to Bill's parents' house...with his hand still in the snack box!

The next day we went over to the Gage's house to play with our friend, Ashley.  It rained the whole time we were there, so what else could we do but play in the rain?

Here are Eli, Brady, and Ashley

 

Moving Out

We moved everything out of our Texas house on June 1st, cleaned on the 2nd, and closed on the 3rd.  I didn't get any pictures of the moving or the cleaning (I was working too hard!), but I took the boys by on the 3rd to say good-bye to our house.

 We lived here for exactly 6 years.  We brought two babies home here and experienced 3 different jobs for Bill.  This home has a lot of good and happy memories.

 My poor, sweet Brady.  He laid on the floor in his room and cried and cried.  He was positively inconsolable.  He has such a sweet and sensitive heart.

 Brady took this last picture of our house number.  He wanted to remember our house.

 I also had to get one last shot of my kitchen.  I spent a lot of time in here!

Eli's 7 Year Old All-Star Game

We are so proud of Eli for making this year's all-star team!  In fact, we were told that he was the first over-all pick in the draft!  That is why he wasn't able to be on his coach's team; the other coach got to pick first and he chose Eli!  So even though we were disappointed he didn't have Coach Mark, we were proud of him for making that kind of impression on the other coach!

 If you look closely at this last picture, you can see the ball coming in on the far right.  I think he only struck out once or twice this entire year!  He did a great job!

Astros Game and other Random Photos

Ahhh, the start of summer!  And only a few more days of getting to be in our house!

 

Sweet boys watching a cartoon

 Playing in the sprinkler...we won't say anything about the destruction of the backyard. :-)

 Brady reading

 Brady playing some baseball.

 At the end of May we were given some really nice tickets to see the Astros.  They were right behind the dugout with a buffet and all you can eat food and snacks.  I have never been so stuffed in my life!

 

Here is a picture of the room where the buffet dinner was served.  This is the big screen where they played the game.

 Rachel and Bill

 This is how close our seats were.  Amazing!  I'm so thankful to the people who gave us the tickets.  It was a really great time!

 We were also given tickets to see the Sugar Land Skeeters, our independent semi-professional baseball team.  I got some precious pictures of my boys after the game!

Last Day of School at Cornerstone Christian Academy

Thursday, May 23rd 2013...the last day of school for us at Cornerstone Christian Academy in Sugar Land, Texas.  I was all set for us to be there for a long time, for Eli to have Mallory Mitchen as a teacher (whom I taught when she was in 9th grade at Northland, and I was her class sponsor for 9th-12th grade!), and for me to go back to teaching.  I had been asked to start up the Advanced Placement program for the high school and be head of the AP department, as well as the history department.  I was also very involved in research and ordering for curriculum.  We were very much involved...then it turned out God had other plans.  Thanks for the memories, CCA!

 

First is Brady all ready for his last day!

 One rule we had this school year was that there were no "screens" (TV, iPad, computer, anything electronic with a screen) on a school day.  So after school I allowed them some playtime on a screen.  It was their treat for finishing the school year strong!

 Eli's class had an awards assembly.  They all wore their tie dyed shirts that the teacher made for them.

 Eli's star

 Eli with his teacher, Mrs. Blumberg.  He received the "Reading Rockstar" award.  Mrs. Blumberg said that in all her years of teaching, she never had a student to reach as far in a reading level as he did.  Way to go, Eli!