Rock Solid

Jase attended a choir camp the last week of July from 9 am - noon. They learned a full choir performance {including drama} during the week and had their performance this evening. Each day I would pick Jase up, and he would get a little bit more excited about it. Today he told me that next year he wanted to audition for a drama part. We had originally signed up to audition, but he was not showing much interest in it and we did not study the lines to audition. So, maybe next year.

Each day during the camp they had snack, games and craft time. He brought home some really neat crafts throughout the week.

Group picture of the kiddos. Finn wasn't feeling it very much! Ha!

Performance time! All of the kids did a great job singing and performing. I'm so glad he participated. And next year Allyson will be old enough to join in the fun.

What a great message they presented: The Gospel. It's not about us and what we can do. It's about Jesus and what He has already done. And He did it because He loves us that much. We don't have to be perfect to follow the Lord, we are sinners, we fail, we mess up. And that's ok. God gives us grace and mercy, and oh boy do we need it. The Christian life is not about following a set of rules. We live in freedom because Jesus has set us free. Do you truly know Him?
"If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9

Finn is 3: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Party

While we were in Deer Park, our little Finn turned 3 years old!! He has grown up so much this past year. He is really a sweetheart who loves baseball, Whataburger, enjoys to color, and Peter Rabbit. We thank the Lord for loaning us Finn for the time being. He is a such a delight. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is such a fun and colorful theme and he likes it, so we went with that for his party. It's funny that he likes Peter Rabbit so much, but I didn't want to do that theme since we did that for his 1st birthday party. I must have known!

Party Prep Party...back in business! My mom and sister helped out with a few things on Friday night. They are troopers. I know they miss me! ;-)

 

I had this sign on the front door, greeting our guests.

I ordered this print off of Etsy and I think it is just precious. They send you a file and you can print it yourself.

I ordered some cookies and they turned out super cute. The sets that I have ordered, she has done a great job on them.

Since I was not at home, I was trying to keep everything as simple as possible, relatively speaking. Haha! I ordered cupcakes from Sam's and bought some chalkboard toppers and decorated them with a chalk pen. I also bought some mini Oreos and stuck two in the back for Mickey ears.

 

The cake. Wow. Michelle did an awesome job. {And it was dairy-free for Jase.}

A-W-E-S-O-M-E, Awesome, Awesome, Awesome is She!

If you know the song, then you just sang along. And if you don't then you must not have played softball growing up! Gotta love those chants! We still sing many of them here around the house!

Ok, so I saw these cups below on Pinterest {of course}, so I thought I would replicate. I went over to a friend's house and cut out Mickey heads using a Cricket and black vinyl from Hobby Lobby. The intent was to use the chalk pens to write their names on them, but when I tested it just minutes before the party, they were sweating off. So, we had to break out the sharpies. If I would have tried it out in advance, I would known and bought some silver sharpies to write on the Mickey. Oh well. Still turned out super cute and the colors fit right in with the party. {Cups are from Walmart.}

We grilled hot dogs and brats right before the party. Since we wanted to maximize our time with friends, we decided to put all of the dogs into buns and then wrap them in foil and put them in a cooler. That worked really well. I loved it because Shawn was not out there cooking while we had people over.

Finn LOVES Play-Doh, so I thought this would be fun to have set-up {in the shade} for the kids to play with.

My in-laws graciously let us borrow their outdoor water slide and jumpies {and home}, which was perfect on a hot summer day.

So it's no secret that I have saved most of the kids' clothes and passed them down to Finn and now Mae. Below Mae is wearing an outfit of Ally's from when she was this age. And Ally even wore it to Jase's 3 year old Mickey Mouse Clubhouse birthday party! How about that!?!

I did a little reminiscing and found some pictures of Allyson at the party.

Group picture of Jaes's 3rd birthday. There are even some of the same friends at Finn's 3rd birthday party. :-)

It was great to catch up with friends at the party. Not only was it Finn's party, but it was my birthday {same as last year}, and Shawn had all the guests sign a card for me. They ended up surprising me and signing happy birthday to me. It was super sweet.

Here is the party favor I picked up for our guests. I found them at Dollar Tree {score} and they were perfect. Two of Finn's favorite things are puzzles and coloring!

I had this sign hanging on the door as people exited. What a great time it was for all.

Our Hometown

We took a trip back home to Deer Park at the end of July and it was a good time. It was great to catch up with friends and family.

Our old lab, Jet, now belongs to Shawn's younger brother, David and his family. The kids enjoyed seeing Jet again.

Cousins play!{Oh Finn!}

On Monday we caught up with my best friend from junior high and her family. They had us over for a swim and lunch. It was super fun to catch up with them.

We took the older three kids to the Astros game; Mae stayed back home with Nanny. With Finn's birthday coming up this week, we knew he would enjoy it. And I think the kids like to go to the game for the food! Haha

Here is a little clip of the kids running a base at Minute Maid Park. They've done this a million times and it never gets old to them.

My younger brother and his girlfriend, Jessica, hanging out poolside at Alisha's place. The kids enjoyed swimming and the older 3 ended up staying the night over.

So hard to believe that Finn is 3 years old.

Whatburger...what he requested on his birthday! Ok, I can do that.

Finn opened up his present from us on his birthday. He was super excited, and so were the other kids! He is really appreciative and it is super sweet to watch. I want to bottle him up!

That evening we had some adult time!! It was a great time of catching up, laughing and dessert!!

Another good friend from junior high, Holly, stopped by with her daughter, Finley, to play and visit. She lives in Austin now and it just worked out that we were both back home visiting. Maebry and Finley are only 10 days apart! Sweet girls!

Before leaving on Sunday morning, PawPaw and Nanny stopped by for one last hurrah before we headed out of town. Shawn's parents were out of town, so we missed seeing them. They were kind to let us stay at their house while they were gone, which was perfect.