Summer Visit to Houston

My sister and her family were in Texas for over two weeks so we took the opportunity to spend more time with them and headed down to Houston! It also gave my parents and my grandmothers time with ALL the kids! It was a lot of fun! We were all able to spend some time with both my grandmothers and even were blessed to be able to see my aunt and two great-aunts! The kids enjoyed playing together, no matter where we were, and even did a pretty good job enduring all the photo opps! ;)

Sisters! My sweet nieces, Kaitlyn and Rebekah!

Pop (Russell Arnold) and his namesake (Samuel Arnold)!
Best buds!

My granny with all 5 great-grandkids!

My aunt Judy and my big boys!

My 2 great-aunts (Aunt Betty & Aunt Doris)
with all 5 sweaty kiddos! That's love!

My MeMe with 5 of the 16 great-grandchildren she has! Wow!
She moved the next week to Georgia, where 8 of the others live!
We miss & love you MeMe!!!

My sister, Alicia, and I with our MeMe!

my trip to oregon...

As I mentioned in my last post, last weekend I headed to Oregon (with Asher) to visit my sister and her family! They have lived there for nearly a year and a half now, so I was thrilled to finally get to see their "new home"! I also wanted my sister's husband, Stephen, to meet Asher Stephen, since we named him after him!
It was a sweet reunion with them and I had a great time! Asher did amazing on the plane rides, both there and back, and was a trooper on a couple long days of outings and sight-seeing!
It was also a joy to see my two nieces and how much they have grown since I saw them at Christmas! Kaitlyn is quite a big girl now (in first grade) and reads like a pro! She was always sitting and trying to read to Asher every chance she got; it was very sweet, especially since Asher was not always the best audience! And Rebekah, age 4, is addicted to animals, especially dogs and horses. She is quite the expert on dog breeds and knows all the dogs in their apartment complex! Oh, and she definitely has "dog radar", as I came to call it....she could spot a dog before anyone else and at quite a distance too!

I arrived Thursday evening and then Friday was a day out! We went to the Tulip festival and then to Silver Falls (which I think is a state park). Both were breathtaking and spectacular! I love tulips so seeing fields full of them was amazing! And seeing a waterfall upclose and personal was a taste of God's handywork I had never beheld before...absolutely beautiful!
Then on Saturday we headed to downtown Portland to take in the "sights" at the Saturday market and see what local treasures we could find! It was quite an interesting place, to be sure, but all I kept thinking was how much the many dirty, unlovely, and obscure people we saw needed Jesus. He died for them and loves them. I certainly was tempted, at first glance, to judge them, but then the Lord helped me put on "gospel-colored" glasses and see them a little more like Jesus does.

The last two days we were there were quieter, but fun just to be together. We went to church on Sunday and then out to eat (which is a huge treat in my life these days!), and then just hung out at their apartment. Monday we ran to Trader Joe's (one of my favorite places that I miss since leaving MD) and then headed to the airport around 2.

Overall I had a fabulous time and am so thankful the Lord made it possible for me to go! Thank you, Stephen and Alicia for opening your home to me, sacraficing time (Stephen took all 4 days off!) and money to "entertain" me and especially for going out and buying that new air mattress! ;) No really, I had a great time and I love you guys a ton!

Enjoy the pics everyone!

Rows and rows of tulips!

Me and Ash by the mulitcolored section!

Sisters... sisters... (can you hear the tune from White Christmas?!)

The cutest little boy in a shoe; he had so many admirers,

he didn't know what to do!

Just beautiful!

Me and Ash again.

Sitting on a rock behind the waterfall...so cute!

Kissing cousins!

Love from Aunt Lecia!

Playing with Uncle Stephen! They were enjoying a little "man time"!

More fun with Uncle Stephen!

They all look a little hungry to me...with the open mouths and all! ;)

Cutie Rebekah!

Kaitlyn...smiling between bites of dinner and

a bit like her Daddy!

thanksgiving...a bit late

Well, I'm finally finding the time to update my blog about Thanksgiving! Sorry for the delay! We had a great time at the Tombrella's and the boys really loved playing with their cousins! Debbie, my mother-in-law, made an amazing spread of all the traditional foods...enough to feed an army, to-be-sure! I told her with all these boys I've got, she's going to have to teach me how to cook like that!...for an army, that is! ;) The highlight of the week was all the girls, compliments of my in-laws, had a night out on the town with dinner and the Houston Nutcracker Ballet!! What a great time we had! And all the daddies stayed behind to watch the boys and little Cate! Thank you, Debbie, for a funfilled memorable night! What a memory!
Now enjoy the pics!

Asher and his Grandma!

Chillin' at Grandma's after our big meal (which they hardly ate)!

Sweet Cousin Cate and Asher! Oh how she was taken with him! So cute!

Grandpa (after turkey?) (Sorry Robert!...I couldn't resist!)

I can't imagine where Rob gets his obsession w/ coffee...

All the girls before we headed out on the town!

At Birra Poretti's Italian restraunt...delicious!

Debbie up front with our carriage driver...Rachel treated us to a ride!

"The Michelle's" with beautiful grown up Faith!

The biggest gingerbread house I've ever seen!

Yummy!

Waiting for the show to begin...

Faith with Minnie Mouse (or so her autograph said...)

Oh, and remember my post on Dollar Store toys...

well here is one of the pictures of sad Sam with the pieces stuck on his finger.

Visitors and Halloween!

My Granny w/ all her grandsons!

The newest grandson w/ his great-grandma!

My MeMe w/ her 16th great grandchild!!! Wow!

Checking out an I Spy book w/ their Nana and MeMe!

Our little Pumpkin!

Too cute to only post one picture of him!

My sweet Asher!

Our timid little trick-or-treaters!

Checking out Cody's loot!

"Can we fix it?!"

"Ahoy Matey!"

Playing marbles w/ Pop...their FAVORITE passtime!

This week was very busy...my Granny stopped by on the way home to Houston from Oklahoma to meet our sweet little Asher, and then on Friday my parents came up and brought my MeMe to visit and meet Asher as well! They were sweet times with all of them and so great to see each one of them meet, hold, love on, and enjoy little Asher!

Halloween was fun this year...the boys were actually into it! Sam was a pirate and Joel decided on Bob the Builder at the last minute (he didn't like the fireman cosutme I bought, of course). Only 5 minutes into the night though, they weren't recognizable b/c they had shed most of their costumes (ie. Sam's eyepatch and hat and Joel's hardhat). We timed our trick-or-treating just right though and the boys ended up getting to go along with their little friend Cody, our neighbor, to ring the doorbells (he's the spiderman in the pics)! I think the boys just ended up having more fun running on the sidewalk with their friend in the dark, than actually doing the trick-or-treating! Ahhh, the joys of boys! :)