A fun weekend with friends

Last night we went to Galveston to visit some friends. We got to have a wonderful dinner and then spent some time on the beach. So fun to see the kids playing together!

 Today we had the Taylor family over to swim. 

 Claire got a few rides high in the sky!

Raegan, Claire, and Karsen 

 Cool action shot!

 Some tired girls after swimming for 4 hours!!!

Schlitterbahn 2016

We got to take a short vacation to Schlitterbahn Waterpark in New Braunfels over the past two days. Claire brought her good friend Addisyn with and we all had a blast. We stayed until the park closed on the first night and by the afternoon of the second day, the girls were only interested in swimming in one of the pools. They had had enough of waiting in lines for rides! We definitely made some good memories, as you can tell from watching the video!

Our little scientist!

Yesterday we got to take Claire to Little Beakers for an hour. We had a blast making a mushy martian, fake snow, and goo. It was so fun to watch Claire do most everything by herself!

4th of July parade with friends

We got invited to a parade at my friend's house for the 4th of July. Claire got to spend some time with Avery and Sophie.

 Claire held Sophie the entire parade, except for when she had to run out to get candy!

Happy 4th of July!

We had some of our friends over on July 3rd to swim. We had a great time and even got to do some sparklers before they went home.

 Claire and Emily playing with princess dive dolls.

 We had a "make your own" ice cream sundae bar! Of course Claire's had many, many sprinkles on it! 

Chopped!

Claire has been very interested in the show Chopped lately. This past weekend she worked very hard to come up with a meal following the Chopped show! The first night she made a meal with Jeff which consisted of noodles, chopped pickles, jello, and strawberry wafers. Needless to say, we ended up going out for pizza! The next evening she worked with me to make a meal for Dad. She came up with everything and Mom was just the assistant. 

 Proud to display her finished product!

 We had noodles with cut up cheese and parmesean cheese covered with sprinkles. We had a bowl of cut up vegetables drizzled with ranch dressing and another cup of cut up mixed fruit covered with sprinkles. For dessert we had a part of a brownie covered with sprinkles. Can you tell sprinkles was the theme?! We might just have a budding chef on our hands!

Submerged! VBS at Houston NW Church

We had a wonderful time at VBS again this year learing about the love and grace of Jesus Christ! 

Jeff and I were in charge of a group of kids who just finished 2nd grade and Claire got to be with her close friends Karsen and Elliot in her group. It was a very busy and tiring week but we had a blast and enjoyed watching the kids learn and grow in their faith.

Claire and one of her best friends, Karsen

Claire and her neighbor friend, Elliot (and the shark!)

Happy father's day (posted just a bit late)!

I just realized I hadn't posted any pictures from Father's Day, so here they are! Jeff requested breakfast in bed and a huge homemade card. Claire was proud to make the breakfast all by herself. She even cracked the egg into the pan and fried it by herself, with mom right at her side of course!

 This is the card Claire made! It was all her own idea, including the sun at the bottom that is on a spring so it sticks up! 

 Inside she listed the 10 funnest things she likes to do with her Daddy!

 Since we play lots of card games, we thought he would like cards that have pictures of him with Claire. He was really surprised and enjoyed this gift.

 Finally, Claire made Jeff a pen holder for work. She glued popsicle sticks around it that have one thing she loves about her dad written on them. 

Claire's 7th birthday party!

We were blessed with wonderful weather and fun with friends on Claire's birthday party. The rain held out until her party was finished! The kids did lots of swimming, had a water balloon toss and fight, whacked a pinata, and of course had cake! Claire has made some amazing friends and it is so fun watching them grow up together!