April

Well, this has been quite an eventful month! Probably the biggest news of the month, is that I am working as close to full time as I did before the kids were born! Several therapists in our hospital network have left (moving, babies, etc), and I am filling in for them. I have absolutely loved working, and am finally getting used to the new work load. Bryon and the kids have helped out so much around the house, and I have much more of an appreciation for working moms!

Here are some Easter pics of the kids. ...






Mary Beth's field trip to Homestead Heritage....

Diva Dash weekend

Last weekend was a wonderful girls' weekend in Austin! Several of us decided to brave a 5K race full of obstacles in the first annual Diva Dash in Austin. Some of us are very athletic, and some of us (me) never exercise. There was lots of (well, some) preparation involved in training for the big race. Here is a picture of us the night before the race. Instead of getting a good night sleep before the event, we stayed out way too late eating a fabulous dinner at La Condesa. Not the best way to prep for a race the next morning, but too much fun to pass up!

We made it! There was lots of running, and quite a bit of walking involved, but we did it!
After a day of shopping at the Dominion on Saturday, we had a fun night in downtown Austin, then capped off the memorable weekend at the Gospel Brunch at Stubbs Barbeque. I'm so blessed by these girls' friendships and look forward to making this an annual event!

JDRF Gala

We had a fun date night a few weeks back at the JDRF Gala at the Anatole in Dallas. We have dear friends, whose daughter was diagnosed with diabetes when she was 11 months old, and we have watched her grow up for the past 12 years with the disease, so it is a cause near and dear to our hearts.

My wonderful friends, Martha Kate, and Sherri. We had a wonderful evening together!

There were a few celebrities at the event. Many former Dallas Cowboy players. The one I was most excited to meet was Lee Roy Jordan, who was one of Bear Bryant's all time favorite Bama players in the early 60s. He was such a sweet heart!

I also met Brett Michaels, who has lived with juvenile diabetes since he was a child.

A few March things...

March Madness has begun! While our men didn't make the tournament (a disappointing change from last year), our Lady Bears are a #1 seed in the tourney! Baylor also was chosen to host the first two rounds of the tournament, and we wouldn't be anywhere else but in the area to support them!

Our star player, Brittney Griner is amazing. Check out her stats! Wonder if MB will catch her someday?

Enjoying the game from the TOP! We usually sit courtside for the Lady Bear games, so this was a change, but I loved having no one behind us, and we had a perfect view of the action!

Brittney at tip off. The other side didn't even attempt the jump ball. We held our opponents to a NCAA tourney record of 8 points in the first half,and won by 35 points!




In other March news, we had one of the best Spring Breaks in memory. The kids got along perfectly, and we had a nice balance between fun outings and rest. We took a trip up to Frisco to see Michael, Jilinda, and Lydia. Here is Matthew with one of his favorite people on earth.
Lydia has perfected the fake smile! ;)

Mary Beth informed us, while we were at the play ground, that she could do monkey bars now. Who knew?


We also took a trip to Dinosaur Valley State Park to see the dinosaur tracks in various creek beds. We enjoyed the day with Lauren, Jack, and James, and just loved being outside on a gorgeous Spring day.
Love Mary Beth's expression!





What a fabulous few weeks! So happy to welcome Spring!

Mary Beth version 6.5

Mary Beth turned 6 1/2 last month. Here are a few things about our little girl:

*She continues to be such an easy child to raise. She almost always has a huge smile on her face. Mary Beth cannot stand for anyone to be upset with her, and I can count on my hand the number of times she has been in trouble in years.

*She is full of life, joyful, hilarious, dancing, singing. Mary Beth's deep throaty laugh is infectious. Other than her immediate family, her two favorite people are her best friend, Whitney, and her cousin, James.

*A new trait that has emerged this year is a desire to be helpful. She anticipates needs and will pop up to help whoever is in the room that is in the middle of a task. Her room is the cleanest of the kids' rooms, and you never have to tell her more than once to clean up any mess. Yes, our little Mary is turning in to quite a Martha!

*Mary Beth is as tough as nails. I'm sure some of this can be attributed to having two older brothers, but she can fall down and skin her knee, be at the bottom of a wrestling pile, get kicked in the shin at soccer, and take it all in stride. She is a VERY low drama little girl.
*Her hair is usually a mess after school. She is a halo of curls that pop up all over her face. She loves for me to flat iron her hair, which I try to do during the low humidity months. I still love her messy curls. They seem to suit her best!
*Mary Beth has gotten a lot taller recently. Her legs and arms have grown long and thin. Those long legs have helped her get quite a bit faster. She is definitely faster on the soccer fields this spring!

*Mary Beth loves to draw. She has gotten quite creative this year. She has beautiful handwriting and has improved so much with her drawing. She loves to write poems and most things she draws has the word "Love" on it. Hearts, flowers, and peace signs are usually all over her work as well!

*She continues to have very mature tastes in food, and likes everything but potatoes! Yes, she can eat oysters, mushrooms, tomatoes, guacamole, every veggie presented to her, etc, but will balk at eating mashed potatoes!

*Mary Beth loves school. I have never heard her once ask to stay home. In fact, she has been so healthy that she has only missed one day of school this year (the day we went to Alabama)! Her favorite part of school is reading. Her favorite book at the moment is Miss Daisy is Crazy.

*She had never wanted to pray out loud at home until this year. She always remembers to pray for three of our friends who have cancer.

*Pedicures are the greatest thing ever for Miss Mary Beth. I made the mistake of getting a pedicure while she was in school a few weeks ago. It was a rare showing of tears when she found out I had gone without her. It was so upsetting, that her Nana took her to get a pedicure last week. All is now right in the world again!
So that is our ray of sunshine at 6 1/2! What a blessing she is to us!