G-pa and G-ma Visit!

We celebrated Grandma and Grandpa Maupin's birthdays a few weeks ago when they came to visit. So, why are the boys blowing out the candles on their cake?






Grandma and Drew ready to eat cake and open presents!













Grandpa and the boys acting crazy like they always do!









That night, we decided to have the boys read all the adults bedtime stories. So, they got Brooke's little folding chair and read away. I love how Jackson is sitting just like a teacher.....and reading to us in his boxers...

Drew's turn....he was very proud to read to G-ma and G-pa after a great year in kindergarten. We were all impressed and asleep by the time they were done :)

Lost Pines 2010

We spent the 4th at Lost Pines Resort in Austin. What a great trip! We stopped at the Cracker Barrel and here are the old folks taking a break on the rockers......

Getting ready to head to the pool in her tu-tu bathing suit!

Waiting....waiting....for the horses to arrive for our wagon ride.

Jason organizing a game of horseshoes before heading to the fireworks.

Some of our good friends were also at Lost Pines that weekend, so here is Drew and Jade hanging out before the fireworks.

Miss Independence!!! (literally)

Drew doing a patriotic march to the songs during the show!

Brooke was not scared of the fireworks and loved them!

Good ol' American boys!

At Sandra Bullocks restaurant in Austin. Amanda and I stalked the restaurant for her, but no sign......

Just Because

Back to the End of the Year

I realized I hadn't posted pictures of the last day of school events for the boys, so here they are!
This was Jackson's 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Bowden. She was awesome! She was young, energetic, and was even known to play basketball with the boys at recess, which is pretty impressive. Jackson had a great year with her and we will miss her :)





Brooke attended the party with me and made herself at home. She sat at Jackson's desk and helped herself to his snocone.







I love Mrs. Cato!! She and Drew "clicked" from the beginning. I was so thankful that she could understand and even appreciate his love to talk. She was the kind of kindergarten teacher we all would of loved.









We surprised the boys and took them to the Rangers game to celebrate the last day of school. It was really fun. They were super excited and Jason got great seats, so all was well. This is the boys in the "kids zone" where they have all sorts of games for the kids to play.

Awwww.....brotherly love :)

All Things Kari!

The brunch bunch strikes again....this time, for Kari's birthday!
We planned a night of surprises starting by showing up at her house with sushi, petifores, and lots of gifts!





Kim, Susan, and Renee' just looking cute.









One of our activities was a game..."Kari's Life in Jeoprady" We had 3 categories to choose from. Family Ties, Life and Leisure, and Fashion and Decor (she is our in-house fashion consultant). So, we had a tough competition between the girls to see who could answer all the questions. JA took home the prize with the final jeoprady question....


On to the singing....we made up a song for Kari to a Madonna song and another to Garth Brooks. This is becoming a BB tradition. We take things from their lives and make it into a song. Kim is really getting into it....

Just me and Julie-Anne posing after a night of fun!

Next year, I hope we just do simple dinners for each others birthdays because I don't see how we can out do ourselves!! Happy Birthday Kari!

Flower Mound Champs!!

What a season! Jackson's team, The Storm, were undefeated this season. To top it off, they won the town championship!

The boys went crazy celebrating!

All the boys proudly showing off their trophies. In the winning game, Jackson was 4 for 4. Three triples and a single.

What a great game and a great season!

Gum for everyone!

So, the end of the school year is wrapping up and the boys are getting a lot of their work sent home with them that they worked on throughout the year.
I found this in Jackson's papers.....apparently, it was a persuasive paper they were to write. It's just cute, I had to share....punctuation (or lack of) and all......

GUM CHEWING

I believe that children should be able to chew bubble gun in Liberty elementary school and through out the world. First of all, there are three very good reasons for children doing such a thing.

First, at recess when there is nothing to do, they can play games with their gum like who can blow the biggest bubble and how sour it is according to their faces and stuff like that.

Second of all, every body loves a good piece of gum when they are exercising. Like when they are playing basketball and baseball and football and a lot of other things like that.

Best of all, kids won't be hungry so you won't have to take them to lunch.

So I think you should root for it too!

Keeping up...

I feel old...maybe it's the 100 degree weather here in Texas, but I'm tired just trying to keep up with my kids! They have a lot of energy!

We went to a golf store so Jackson could get fitted for clubs. I was in charge of watching Brooke. How hard can that be?

The child does not sit still for a minute! She picked up everything that she could within her reach. Anything on here eye level was fair game to her. I just wanted to sit on the nice benches that they have for the "non-shoppers." But, no.....up, down, walk, walk, sit down, stand up, run into the rack of clothes, wipe your hands on the mirror, let out a squeal, run into old men shopping for golf supplies. Some smile, some are irritated.....it goes on and on!

But.....take a look at this face. I'd follow her anywhere!

Field Day 2010

Brooke and I braved the heat and went up to check out the boys at their annual field day.
We caught up with Drew's class first at the basketball station. I was surprised to see how serious he was about the whole thing. He was very into it and wanted to win so he didn't have time to be his usual silly self at that moment.

At the basketball station....

I found Jackson's class at the Sno-Cone station?? I didn't know that was a sport?!? Anyways, all the boys had purple tongues and were ready to move on to the face painting station....

First of all, some kid like a year older than him is painting on his face and I can't tell what he's picked....

Ah-ha!!! It turns out a lot of the boys got mustaches and beards painted on. Here are the three amigos!

Geo-caching?!?

What is Geo-caching? Well, Auntie A introduced us to this fun game of treasure hunting. Basically, you download coordinates onto your GPS system and then when you get there, you search for the treasure.
Here is one called "baby back ribs" It was in the parking lot of a Chilis. We found it underneath the bottom of the lampost.

You have to use your GPS as well as the clues that are provided on the website. Here is one we found underneath a huge pole at Culvers. The paper Drew is holding is the "log" that everyone has signed when they find it. That one had been there since 2007! There are also little trinkets you can take, but if you take one, you need to leave one.
It was so fun and who knew that there were so many of these hidden treasures around here? This will be a new little hobby for us...thanks Auntie A!

Brooke Rules!

The weather has been so nice here, that Brooke and I like to go in the backyard and have our snack during the day. She pulls up her little red watermelon chair that Papa got her and attempts to drink out of a little juice box.
It is so funny.




She hasn't mastered the skill of the juice box. She squeezes the box, takes out the straw, or turns it upside down. She will NOT let you help her out of fear that she may not get it back. She's like a dog protecting it's food. I just sit there and let her pour it all over her and the ground. It buys me at least 15 minutes of sitting still.

This weekend, Auntie A came to visit (more pics. to follow) and she bought Brooke these sunglasses which she loved! She is always wanting to put mine on so now she has her own. How cute is that!

I just had to post a picture of her in this outfit that she wore to church. It is the first time she wore it and it is adorable.

I know the bow is almost as big as her head, but come on, we live in Texas!! Everything's bigger in Texas!!

What I love about Drew.....

So, when I came out for breakfast this morning, this is what I saw. A fully set breakfast table with silverware, glasses, and placemats....plus a lovely written note from Drew!! What a surprise!
Drew had gotten up early and done this....and it's not even Mother's Day!



Apparently, he got this idea from the radio show that he listens to at night. He likes to listen to this Christian radio station and they have callers that call in and tell their story. He reported to me that last night, a little girl had called in and said that she did this for her mom so he wanted to do that as well.

One of the things I love about Drew is his big heart. He definitely wears his heart on his sleeve. He is always thinking of others...when we are out and he sees something he thinks someone in the family would like, he wants to get it for them. I have a feeling he is going to be a romantic :) What a sweetie!

Baby, You're a Star!

So, it was my friend Kim's birthday, and we wanted to surprise her with a fun night to celebrate. Well, she loves all the celebrity magazines and we exchange our celebrity info. regularly, so last night, we made her the star! Renee's husband Jeff picked Kim up and brought her to the restaurant where we had the red carpet layed out and our flashed going. Look at her in this picture......just like the stars........saying, "don't take my picture!!" Throughout the night, awards were given away....Some she won, others she didn't. She won "Best body after 3 kids (she was up against Kelly Ripa and Heidi Klum), "Best crying at the drop of a hat"( she was up against Tammy Fay Baker)....just to name a few. We also made her her own gossip magazine all about herself! We all had written some things about her in there and why we thought she was a star to each of us.

All of our creative efforts and planning payed off....we had a great time and I couldn't think of any better way to celebrate than with these girls! I love them! Happy Birthday Kimmy!