Rangers game

Last night we drove into Arlington for a Rangers game. This was our first game since moving here.

Globe Life Park. It's really a nice stadium. So it's no secret that we are Astros fans and we still follow them very closely, but I do like the red, white and blue colors of the Texas Rangers. And the only reason that we have Rangers gear is that Jase has been the Rangers for the past two years.

I love that Ally still likes to match her sister. I do it as often as I can!

Seating shenanigans. They were restless most of the game and wanted pizza, nachos, cokes, ice cream and to go home. Little Mae was a handful, but I love being with them and making memories.

Beltre hit a walk-off homeroom to end the game. The place exploded. I didn't catch the HR, but here is the stadium celebrating!

Lastly, our crew. I'm thankful for my little family. What a great ending to my 36th birthday!

Oh and this was Sunday night...more ice cream. I think we have an ice cream streak going...and I need an ice cream strike!!

Finn is 4

Our little Finn Michael is 4 years old! We celebrated him ALL day long on Saturday and had fun doing it. He woke up to donuts and presents!

Then he requested to play golf in the backyard! It was the sweetest thing!

We drove up to Aubrey and ate at Mom's on Main. It is super yummy and this was only our 2nd time to eat there. Even though we've lived here for nearly two years, we are constantly discovering fun little gems!

This sandwich...so good. Shawn and I will be sharing it next time.

Since our little man has been on a golfing kick, we thought that putt-putt at Main Event would fun for our him. We all had fun and Finn actually did great! And even Ally got a hole in one!

The plan was putt-putt, but I'm not sure how you get out of there without playing other games!

Finn loves ice cream, so this day would not be complete without it. This is another fun place I have heard of in Frisco and we were close by, so we tried it out: ICream! They make the ice cream with liquid nitrogen which freezes the cream really fast. We had fun watching them make it.

There are hundreds of combinations you can try and now that we understand what is going on, we will be prepared for our next order.

Everyone loved it, especially Ally. Watch this video of her, she was cracking us up!

Walking out of ICream we saw this guy with a huge bird {Hybrid Macaw} and dog. We stopped and spoke with him for a few minutes. The dog and bird are mascots for a pet shop around the corner.

We finished up the day at home. I made my little man a birthday cake. He requested chocolate with sprinkles and he got it! Yellow cake with homemade chocolate buttercream icing. It was pretty tasty if I do say so myself!

Academy Fun

Tuesday evening we took this little guy to Academy to pick out his birthday present. Finn will be 4 on Saturday! Cannot believe it! He is a fun one to be around. He loves baseball and I bet between Shawn, myself and Jase he gets pitched to every single day. He is constantly swinging that baseball bat. He has his indoor set-up, backyard routine and tee workout in the garage. He is super excited to start t-ball in the fall!

I remember being pregnant with him and at my baby shower with my friends and family on Saturday, July 21st. Then on Sunday I remember going to Taco Bell that evening after church with some friends of ours, the Pope's and Teekel's. That meal must have kick started it all! Monday morning I woke up in labor at 37 weeks and 5 days. I started monitoring my contractions and they were getting closer. We called my sister over to sit with the other two kids while Shawn took me to the hospital. And boy oh boy do I remember that ride to the hospital! I felt every single bump! We arrived at the hospital at 8:00 am and I delivered Finn at 11:28 am. He weighed 8 lb 5 oz and was 20 3/4 inches long.

Finn has such a sweet spirit about him. And it has been such a blessing to watch him care for Maebry as her big brother. And Finn and Ally really play well together too. And little Finn wants to be just like big brother Jase! He has a special bond with each of his siblings and I love taking the time and watching all of their relationships develop. Pure joy for sure.

We had such a fun time at Academy. We let the kids roam wild and free and the store was pretty much empty so it wasn't a big deal. Although I must say that we did not get too far from the baseball section, and if we did we ended up coming back to it!

Here are a couple of clips of the kids shopping! Never a dull moment with this crew.

This one is of Maebry. She was shopping for Finn! She is 20 months and is Miss Independent for sure.

This last one is from yesterday. We had just gotten home from running errands and I asked Finn what he wanted to do on his actual birthday. {We are giving Ally and Finn a joint pool party in August.} I couldn't believe what he told me he wants to do! He said he wants to play with his friends Louie and Nicky. He has been talking about these kids for well over a year. And he has another friend, Nickel too. All of them have a Mii character on our Wii. I mean these boys are his buddies, he talks about playing baseball with them and they are going to be on his team this fall. Only thing is I do not know how to set-up playdates with them because they are his imaginary friends.

Vacation Bible School

Vacation Bible School was last week and I think I am just now recovering! It was a great, but busy week. I volunteered in Preschool Crafts again this year and it was a fun time. The sweet ladies I work with are great and the kids are so much fun too! Plus I got to see my little Finn each day!

My sister came up a couple of days and I put her to work as well! Ha! She enjoyed it too!

We took Jase's buddy from our street to VBS all week and he loved it! So glad he could join us.

On Monday afternoon, I took Jase and Ally back up to church for Choir Camp tryouts. The kids will be participating in Choir Camp later this month and they had the opportunity to try out for speaking and singing parts. Both of them did great during the audition and Jase even had to learn a British accent for his part...he did so well. Ally nailed her lines too and at the end they asked if she wanted to tryout for a solo singing part, she said yes! My eyes were probably as big as half dollars. She had only been practicing the drama portion and not a song. She did great though and knew all of the words, which doesn't surprise me with her, because her memory is crazy good. Ally also tried out for a dance part. I was super proud of them, I couldn't stop smiling. We found out later the next day that they did not get any of the speaking parts, so they were bummed, but we reiterated how proud we were and to God be the glory! Ally will be dancing with a group to one of the songs during the play.

Day 2 and we are back at it! Maebry loved the crown I made her. And then she pulled all the jewels off and tore it up! Typical. Ha!

Our church has a community garden. In fact it is the largest community garden in the U.S. and it helps feed the less fortunate who are in need a good, healthy meal. The man who runs the garden, Farmer Gene, came and spoke to the kids on Tuesday during VBS and ended up giving every child in attendance free ice cream cones from Sonic. Come to find out he owns a couple in Denton and his son owns one as well. So, we pulled in and the kids got their free cone! It was just what they needed on this hot day!

Ally lost the other front tooth Tuesday night of VBS week. It was time for it to come out, so she let me pull it!

Our little baseball player working on a craft with Mrs. Barb. Mrs. Barb teaches Sunday School with the 3rd graders, so she has Jase every week.

The last day, the preschoolers got together and sang "Jesus Loves Me" and they sent it to some of our missionaries in France. Maebry's class came in there too and she spotted me from across the room.

 There she is...no shoes or bow...no problem! I'll take her!

Silly boys! "King Talan"

On Friday morning our pastor, Tom Nelson, came by and made the rounds to all of our groups. Here he is with our Preschool Crafts group. He also spoke to all of the kids that morning and I know that was a treat for them.

Our crew for the week! Kids were pumped and Maebry was worn out!

With all of the crafts the kids did all week, Allyson was still trying to get her fill. We made necklaces Friday afternoon while Maebry was napping and then on Sunday she painted in the garage while I painted a bench. She even turned down playing in the water in the backyard to paint! Us gals can always find time to craft!

Snaggle Tooth

Earlier this week I stopped Ally and had to take a picture of her. Both of her front teeth are loose, and one of them will be out any day now. 

On Thursday, Shawn and I were sitting in our bible study class and we both got a text from a friend of ours who was working in the childcare dept. It was a picture of Ally and she lost her tooth!! She said it just fell out! I love how she talks with a little lisp now with the missing tooth. :) She is getting so big and will be 7 years old in less than 2 months!

Day with Ally

This morning I got up early to do a little shopping and Ally woke up and said she wanted to join me. There are some outlet stores about 40 minutes from here and I haven't checked them out since moving up here yet.

Here is Ally in Children's Place acting like a mannequin! Lol! She was cracking me up!

We enjoyed some lunch at Firehouse Subs. It was her pick and I did not mind at all since we have not ate there in quite a while. 

We finished up our afternoon at Trader Joe's. I love this store! It is really cost efficient and I always find treasures there. 

When we got home Allyson told me "thanks for letting me go shopping with you, Mom." Anytime babe!

Happy 4th

This past weekend was a ton of fun. On Saturday, Shawn and Jase went out on a boat with friends and did some good fishing. Later that evening we went to a pool party down the street and we had fun in the pool and visiting with neighbors. I brought over this fruit pizza, which is probably my favorite summer dessert. It's not too heavy and has a freshness about it with the fruit. Even though I've made fruit pizza several times, this was my first attempt at our USA flag. Super fun!

And speaking of the USA, I was super convicted going into the weekend. Shawn and I watched "13 Hours" which is about the terrorist attack on US people {US Ambassador and CIA} on September 11, 2012 in Benghazi, Libya. It was hard to watch at times, especially since it was based on a true story, and it was very eye opening because let's just be honest, I live in a bubble here. Zero persecution, nice home, close to no poverty around. During my devotion time over the weekend, it was a time of repentance for me, for taking my freedom for granted. People have fought for my freedom and still are today; thank you for your sacrifice and dedication. And in light of the recent events this week, I am shifting my focus on praying for unity for our country. Super sad that the enemy is working in lives and turning us against one another. May God have mercy on us for our actions and may we turn to Him. Ok, I'll lighten the mood...how about that fruit pizza?! But seriously, I would recommend watching "13 Hours" if you have not seen it.

Sunday evening we had an impromptu block party in front of our house. We fired off fireworks and ate some yummy treats with neighbors.

Finn was not so sure of the fireworks, but Ally seemed to do better this year with the noise. And little Maebry, she was a champ. They did not phase her one bit; I was surprised!

I love that these ladies are my neighbors. They are great women to be around!

I got a selfie with Mae inside before calling it a night. Sweet girl.

The next morning, Jase and I woke up for a little exercise. We were back at it with another 5K. If you remember the one we did on Mother's Day weekend, he had a rough start, but he did so much better with this one. We kept a good pace and I was happy with how we finished. Of course I waited on him to at the end and what does he do, sprints to the finish line! LOL! He finished at 37:06 and I was 37:21. He was 4th in his age category and I was 18th in mine. I'm glad we did it together! This run definitely had more people running and we were running on concrete, which I like better than loose gravel as before. My time was nearly 3.5 minutes faster than the last one we ran, so I was excited about that! Now if I can just keep up the running at home, I can keep improving on my time.

After the race, Jase and I hurried over to the Denton Square where the Yankee Doodle Parade was going on. Ally was walking with her AHG Troop and she loved it! This was her first parade to be a part of and she was super excited!

Here is a clip of Ally with her troop. She was so happy to see us!

This group opened up the parade. Very lively!

After she finished, I brought her back to our spot and she got to see the last bit of it. Her troop was one of the first groups to pass by us. And little Finn was still not awake and he camped out in the back of the Suburban for the majority of the parade. However, as soon as we said donuts, he perked right up and said "I want donuts!" Of course!

We went to a hotspot right off the square that Shawn had heard about: Hypnotic Donuts. It was packed and by the time we got to the counter to order they were out of yeast donuts. I asked if this was the norm and the worker told me no, with the 4th it brought in a ton of people. The donuts we did order were tasty and Shawn and I split a honey chicken biscuit, which was good. It reminded me of Chick-Fil-A's chicken biscuit.

Here are our three oldest after dinner and baths. Shawn and I finished dinner and cleaned up and found them like this. We sure did soak up the fun!