An "All Together" Celebration

Grammie and Grandad were so gracious and planned a wonderful visit for our family to see lots of the extended family! 

When we arrived at Grammie and Grandad's, they were all ready to have the girls "clean-up" the cupcake batter mixing bowls. 

Then we went outside to enjoy the beautiful weather out on the porch. 

Each of the girls felt very special they had their own chair to sit on.

After the cupcakes came out of the oven and cooled off, it was time to decorate them with jellybeans and sprinkles.

Anna did a little more sampling then decorating....

but Faith worked hard at decorating her yummy cupcakes.

The afternoon passed quickly with activities (swimming for the girls and lunch out for Brad and me) and before we knew it, the whole family had arrived. Leigha, Mimi and Grandad came in from Houston for Easter weekend, Kristin and her boyfriend Derek drove in from Oklahoma, and Daniel and his wife Rebekah live locally. That evening, we all enjoyed pizza for dinner together.

Anna and her Daddy

Jillian, Aunt Leigha, Grandad, and Faith

After dinner, it was time for dying Easter eggs. 

Every one of us got in on the action. 

Even little Anna dyed the egg (and her hand) orange.

Great Mimi and Great Grandad

Anna, me, Aunt Rebekah, and Uncle Daniel (who was trying to do something fancy with his egg)

Faith told Grandad how to spell her name and together they successfully created a personalized "Faith" Easter egg.

Jillian wrote her name on the her egg all by herself with the magic white marker.

Anna's orange egg! :-) She was so excited when it came out a different color. 

Our family's collection of Easter eggs.

Auntie Kristin played "Ring-around-the Rosie" with Faith and Anna before it was time to go outside for a game of bean-bag toss.

Every one of these people were VERY competitive in the game! It was super fun to watch and participate in.  In the end, everyone was a good sport and some of us even improved our skill a bit.

My Mimi and me, I am blessed to have such a sweet, sweet grandmother! 

Grammie entertained the girls as they explored the park together.

A photo of Great Mimi and Great Grandad with their three great-grand-daughters.  

Another photo of Mimi and Grandad with one of their grand-daughters. ;-)  I was so happy to see them during our visit to Texas. They have been going through a lot of transition recently. They just sold their beautiful home of 44 years in Houston and are moving to Senior Apartments in Conroe.   I admire them so much for their faith in God and amazing attitudes as they embrace this huge change in their lives.

I, for one, am not a great person at adapting to big changes.  I will never forget the summer before my first year at A&M going to Freshmen Orientation and staying in the dorm for the night.  I had an entire room all to myself as my dad stayed at a local hotel.  It was a cold, cold room (even though it was in the middle of the summer they had the air-conditioning cranked up as high as it could go).  The floors were tiled, the mattress was plastic (with no mattress cover) and they only provided me a small blanket to go along with the summer pajamas that I had packed.  There was no source of entertainment (books, television, etc..) and there was the incessant sound of a shower dripping in the bathroom.  I was miserable and I had a super hard time bringing my mind to a resting place.

Thankfully, I had my cell phone with me and knew my grandparents phone number by heart.  So I called them up.  My Mimi answered the phone and listened to me with a heart full of love as I expressed to her some of my anxieties. She was so reassuring, understanding, and encouraging.  While we were on the phone she read to me some of her favorite comforting Scriptures (and later wrote them on notecards for me); she also prayed for me during that time.

Even though my transition to college was a difficult one initially, those years turned out to be some of the most precious of my life. I am thankful for the many lessons I learned, the friendships I was given during that time, and also being able to live closer to my grandparents. I have many sweet memories of my Mimi and Grandad opening up their home to me, my friends, and later Brad.  They would always spoil me with lots of home-made goodies, great food, and time for talking and card-playing!  It was a wonderful lesson in me learning to have full dependance on God and realizing that He knows how to perfectly meet my needs.

Right now, I am praying God will give my grandparents comfort as they need it and will bless them in many unexpected ways in this new season of their lives.

Update: This last weekend my grandparents made their move.  This is the last photo of my grandparents in front of their home.  We praise the Lord for the wonderful 44 years He gave to them in their Houston home and are excited about all God holds in store for them at their new Conroe home. :-)

Jillian, Grammie, Anna, and Aunt Rebekah watching the bean bag toss game at the picnic table.

After the two grown-up rounds, it was time for the girls to have a trip at tossing the bean bags.  

We made it a "little bit easier" for the girls to the play the game and they had a super time. 

Then we captured this photo of the whole family together.  It was a very special time as one large family and a great "All-together" Celebration!

Everything Texas!

While we were at Brad's parents house, we experienced "everything" that reminds me of my beloved, home state, Texas.  

After our time with the great-grandparents, we came home and decorated cupcakes for the party the next day!  Then for dinner that night we went to our favorite BBQ place, Spring Creek! It was everything I remember and more, so yummy!

Then we came home, gave the girls baths and when the girls were ready for bed, they had the fun of opening a gift from Mimi and PawPaw! They each were given a cute new Gymboree shirt. 

The next day, Luke, Ruth Ann, Aunt Beth, and Uncle Nate came over to hang out with us.  Little Luke fell down 3 feet off the playground the day before and by doctor's orders couldn't run around.  So his parents were closely monitoring him during the day.  And let me tell you,  he was the absolute sweetest, most compliant child.  If his parents would let me, I would take him home with me in heartbeat! :-)  He was also super warm and friendly to his cousins.  He immediately gave hugs and wanted to hold hands with Faith! :-)

Mimi and PawPaw helped Faith and Luke blow bubbles in the back yard!  It was beautiful weather and all of the family relaxed and enjoyed the bubbles together.

After some time outside, we all came back inside and the kids enjoyed listening to Mimi read one of the many books in the house! :-)

One of my favorite things about our trip was all the fun things we discovered about our little niece Ruth Ann. For one, she LOVES to wear her mommy's shoes at home, and in this case, older cousin's shoes too!  Isn't she adorable?
(And I want to add, I have the sweetest sis-in-law who dressed little Ruth Ann in her birthday gift from us this last year!)

Ruth Ann has the most petite feet of a 2 & 1/2 years old; she wears a size 5 shoe!!  Jillian's 11 size shoes were GINORMOUS on her. 

Uncle Brad took little Ruth Ann and Anna on a bear hunt in the living room! The girls were both so cute as they focused on their mission to find bears. They crawled all over on the living room floor, and Brad would occasionally exclaim "Bear!" when he spotted an imaginary bear.  The little girls would sweetly echo "Bear!" after him. LOL! It was too funny and the two-year olds cousins had the best time together. 

Then PawPaw took us on a little adventure to show us some stables close-by their house.

One of the trainers introduced us to a beautiful, friendly horse who came all the way from Germany!

She was a feisty horse who enjoyed moving her head back and forth during the picture time. It's funny,  we were more concerned about getting the horse to stand still long enough to get a photo, then we were about getting the 5 kids to look at the camera. But thankfully, it was an all around success! Beth was awesome to send me these great photos. :-)

After the stables, we went to a nearby lake for a beautiful drive. While we were driving in a two-car caravan, I spotted these beautiful bluebonnets in a field.  I urged Brad, "Honk at them! Maybe they'll stop." But next thing you know, Nate had already pulled over into the parking lot because he had the same brilliant idea!!

These are the very first photos Brad and I have ever had taken of our kids in Texas Bluebonnets.  I love that they are with their sweet cousins.  

It was a sunny day, so this was as good as we could do, but isn't it adorable how little Ruth Ann and Faith are holding hands. :-) 

Brad and I couldn't resist getting a photo of us in the bluebonnets too.  This is the first time we have been back to Texas in the spring for 7 years. 

Beautiful bluebonnets

Uncle Nate with the two-year old girls walking back to the car! 

Afterwards, we came back to the house and the kids played some Connect Four together.

Then we had an outdoor picnic for dinner. 

Brad's dad created this batting contraption many years ago and the kids had such a good time "playing ball"!

Jillian here is rotating the stick and"ball", so Faith can hit it with the bat. 

Meanwhile, Anna and Ruth Ann were enjoying more bubbles time together.

While the dads were enjoying seconds of the yummy Chinese food. 

Then we all went back inside to sing "Happy Birthday" to Aunt Beth and have cupcakes and ice-cream and open presents! 

Then we enjoyed some more relaxation time together. Brad had fun introducing Luke to some new kids games on the iPad. 

And Uncle Nate read the kids some more Richard Scarry.  I was amazed by Luke, he was incredible at identifying every truck/car in the book!
Without a doubt, it was a super fun, memorable time with BBQ, horses, bluebonnets, and most of all dear family.