Where have we been????

So,it has been a VERY LONG TIME since I last update the blog. Here is what we have been up to this fall and winter:

Grant played soccer at the local YMCA. He absolutely loved it and can't wait to play again this spring. He did very well. The first three games he scored 3 goals each time......of course there are no goalies at YMCA soccer.

This is David's flag football team at their end of season party. There was no coach for the team so at signups David volunteered to do it. It was alot of fun and they did really well!

Tate in action running the ball down the field. He really loved it!

Halloween 2012- we went with our neighbors, the Andresons, to a church carnival. Here is Meg as Daphne, Grant a ninja, Tate, a ghost, Zac, the man in Black, and Ava a witch stopping long enough to pose for a quick picture before playing more games.

Our wonderful friends, the Reaves, came up to visit us in Novemeber. We had a great time with them. Barrett and Tate went to a basketball clinic at our church one day.

And of course, we went to the aquarium and the Tulsa zoo while the dads went to Kansas to hunt.

One night we got a sitter and the adults got to go out to dinner. It was so fun!

Ladies and gentleman: We have a cub scout! He is really enjoying it, it meets each week and he loves getting to know more kids from his school through it.

Before Christmas we went to Rhema Bible College to see their lights. They were great! The boys really loved it, it rivaled trail of lights in Austin....sort of.

Tate at his school Christmas party, we made snowmen out of marshmallows and fruit by the foot.

Christmas in Weatherford with the whole family!

This year we also got to spend Christmas with Nana at her new house in Fort Worth. It was great to have her so close to Weatherford.

David and Lily looking at her presents.

We got free tickets to the Tulsa Oilers hockey game last week and the boys loved it!

Even though its January the weather has been nice. On MLK day I took the boys to Putt Putt for a mini golf game. They really liked it!

First Days of School

First day of Second grade at Andersen Elementary School.

.....walking to the classroom, he was nervous but pretended to be too cool for mom to take his picture in the hall so this is all I got.

Tate, sitting down and doing his wordsearch at his desk. He had a great first day!

Grant on his first day at Grace Church Preschool.

Grant is really liking his new school. He goes 9:30 -2:30 on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. He has made many new friends. His teachers are Ms Joyce and Ms Renee, he likes them alot!

Summer 2011

Grant "graduated" from the 3 year old class at Oak Hill United Methodist Preschool.

I tagged along with David to Los Angeles for a work trip the first weekend of June.

We had a great time and enjoyed looking at all the cool sites!

We had one last meal with our great friends, the Reaves, at Flores the week that we moved.

The moving truck arrived on June 14th to pack us up and move to Tulsa.

Boxes, boxes, everywhere! The house looked SO different with everything gone.......

The first week we arrived in Tulsa the boys and I got season passes to the Aqarium and the Zoo.

Needless to say we went alot and if you come to visit us, it is likely we will take you!

Over the 4th of July weekend we went to Arkansas because David had heard about the White River in Eureka Springs. We got a fishing guide ( a lady!) and all went for the morning. I didn't think I would like it much but it was so peaceful being in her boat early in the morning and it was quite chilly for the first couple of hours and we all caught alot of fish!

In Eureka Springs there is a train that takes you on a 1 hour ride through the woods and hills of the Ozark Mountains. The boys had never been on a train before so we thought it would be a fun experience. They let us all out half way and told everyone to put a penny on the track and the train would run over it and we could see what it does. Tate thought this was very cool but unfortunately Grant's fell off the track and we couldn't find it. He wasn't happy.

The highlight of our summer was Gulf Shores! We had so much fun with my family and our lifelong friends, The Mendrops. Alyson and I have kids that are roughly the same age and they play so well together, it is always so great to hang out with them. This is Grant and John Curtis probably trying to act out some sort of superhero stunt.

We went to Dallas one weekend and aunt Carol took us to the Lego Discovery Center.The last week of summer Tate went to Mimi and Daddo's church's Music Camp. He had alot of fun and at the end of the week they put on a musical for the parents. It was great!

Tate has been wanting a dog for some time so he finally got one for his birthday. Gracie is an 18 month old English Cocker Spaniel. We love her so much, she is so sweet and was a perfect way to celebrate the end of our Summer!

Send Off parties

Tate and Grant's friends from church- This is such a great group of kids. Most of this bunch we have know since birth. We will miss them so much!

Some of my beautiful girlfriends from church. We were so lucky to have such great friends at from Westover.

Some of David's friends- Jim, Danny, and Jon.

Brent, Mat, Jim, and Danny

Christy and Angie, loving on sweet Bailey.

Julie, Ashley, David R, Derek, Ryan, and Chris

Tate and his good buddy, Jackson Nettleton. These two have know each other for three years and play so well together.

Tate, with Chance and Lexi. We love these kids! They were great playmates for Tate and Grant! (Chance doesn't usually look this silly, he was making faces for me:) We could always count on them to be around when Tate got bored. They enjoyed riding their bikes and playing in the creek behind our street. Grant loved playing with their little brother, Carson, too.

My awesome neighbors and girlfriends! We loved hanging out together and watching the kids play on most days when the weather was under 100 degrees.

During the months of May and June we had a few different send off parties for out big move to Tulsa. We were so blessed in Austin to have the greatest friends! Our wonderful friends, The Reaves, hosted a care group going away party for us. We have know the Reaves for 12 years! They were some of our first friends we made at church. So many of our memories of Austin will involve them and their precious family. Our care group family continued to grow over those 12 years and we were blessed to meet so many different people from all over the country who chose to move to Austin and start their families. We loved that our kids had a great group of other kids to play with within our caregroup and alot of "second moms and dad" to love on them in the seven years they were there. We know we will probably never find another group like this and we miss and love them all so much!

Another sweet group of friends, our neighbors, also threw us a send off party. I felt so blessed to live on such a great street! Via Grande Dr was a great street to live on! There were alot of kids whom we loved playing with each day. Around 4:00 each day we would sit outside for about an hour and watch the kids play- sometimes with wine! Tate was never bored with Chance around. As soon as he was done with his homework he would ride his bike to his house and they would play and expore until dinner time. I loved that I could let him go out by himself to play if I had other things in the house to do and he would always be safe and have a great time.

A couple of weeks before we left I got to go out with some of my friends from the boys preschool. ( Wish I had a picture of this great group of ladies, too!) I have know most of them for the last six years when Tate started preschool with their kids. We used to go to lunch once a month or so and even when our kids weren't in the same school anymore we could always find a night to go to dinner or a CABI party! I will really miss them and know I will probably never find a group so close at Grant's preschool this year.

We loved Austin. However, we had felt a tug on our hearts for some time that God was calling us to do something different. We will miss that great city and all the fun things it contained but more than that we will miss the friendships we have made there over the last twelve and a half years. Tulsa is a good town and I am sure we will find ways to fit in and make friends but they can't compare with what we had in Austin. We can't wait to visit!