Spring 2013

Since I went to Laredo over Spring Break, we didn't spend as much time at the rodeo/stock show as we usually do.

We did get to go one night though, and saw Restless Heart.

Danny and I love watching the "older" bands and Ruston loves the bulls!

We participated in Elgin's Relay for life again this year.  This is such an amazing event and I am so thankful for the experience.  We joined our church's group again and had fun playing with the other members (like Gavin and Pastor Travis) throughout the night.

Unfortunately, we have had many family members affected by cancer.

I'm happy to do anything I can to raise awareness and fund research for this deadly disease.  Even if all I'm doing is raising money and walking around the track.

The luminaria ceremony was incredibly moving, just like last year.  We couldn't hear as well this year, because we were further from the stage.  That was probably a good thing... I cried, but didn't bawl like I did last year. ;)

My kids did a research project for one of our end of year activities.  They used books, the internet, and educational videos to find out about different community helpers.  Their final research piece was an interview with actual workers!  They had so much fun and did an excellent job of coming up with questions.  Danny and his partner, Matt, were interviewed for the police officer project.  The kids really enjoyed them and they ended up coming back again to teach them about safety.

For Mother's Day this year, Ruston picked out a bunch of different sun catchers from Hobby Lobby and painted them.  It seriously took forever, because he wouldn't paint more than one a day. :)

 

My mom came to church with Ruston and I on Mother's Day, then came over to the house for lunch with Adam, Audrey and me.

At the end of April, Disney on Ice came to the Cedar Park Center.  Megan and I took Ruston and Kenzie, but didn't tell them where they were going.  We just kept telling them it was a surprise.  When we got there, they were convinced they were going to a movie.  haha  (We didn't mean to dress them both in Toy Story shirts! But they looked super cute. :) )

 

 I had the camera right on their faces when the first characters came out.  They were so excited!

 

The Cedar Park Center is awesome.... there is seriously not a bad seat in the entire building.  It felt like we were front row!  The show had characters and performances from Cars, The Little Mermaid, Tinkerbell, and Toy Story.  I think I enjoyed it just as much as the kids did. ;)

Showing off their new hats after the show. :)

Diesel's steadily showing his old age. :(  He's having real trouble getting up on his own. We have to pick him up most of the time because his back legs just won't cooperate with him.  Ruston and I have been giving him lots of extra cuddles lately.  You just never know how much time he's got left, want to make sure he knows we love him. :)

 

 

Ruston is in my Sunday School class.  I am so proud of how polite he is and how well he listens.  Proud of my big boy. :)

Ruston and I were out of school the Friday before Memorial Day, so we made a date day out of it. :)  We started off at DPS renewing my drivers license.  I swear this kid gets free stuff wherever he goes.

Next up we went to a little ceramic store to paint.  Ruston's teacher, Miss Jamie, is an ice cream fan and I thought it would be sweet for him to give her a bowl.

He painted the outside, then made a "cookie monster" on the inside.  We used his thumbprints to make different animals around the outside.

Next up was lunch at Chuck E Cheese!

I went and picked up his bowl the next week.  It turned out so great! I should have had him paint something for me too. :)

On Memorial Day, we went to Danny's partners house for dinner.  The kids took turns riding on a pony.  It was the perfect end to a great, long weekend.

Easter Day

We started our Easter morning at church!  There's nowhere else I'd rather be than worshiping the risen King! Easter eggs and bunnies and candy sure are nice, but they don't compare to the gift He gave us on that very first Easter.

Danny had to work that day, but he came home to watch Ruston hunt eggs in the yard.

I had planned on "planting" jelly beans earlier in the week and then letting them "grow" until Easter, but I forgot. :/  So we planted them right before Ruston hunted.

The eggs started in the front yard, and then went in a trail into the backyard, and up his playscape.

At the top of his playscape, the Easter bunny left him some goodies.

In the 10 minutes it took to scoop up eggs, Ruston's jelly beans magically sprouted lollipops! haha

He thought it was so cool. :)

Easter being in March really threw me off this year.  It just snuck up so quick!  Just like I had planned on planting the jelly beans, I had also planned on making this cross craft.  Better late than never though.  I taped a cut out cross and hill to a canvas and then Ruston used his finger to paint little lines of around it.

We went over to Pops and Mo's house while we waited for it to dry.

Ruston and Adam played bubbles outside while we waited for the food to finish up.

After dinner, Mo helped Ruston finish up the eggs we never completed the day before. :)

The finished products!  Spiderman eggs!!

When we got home, we pulled the stencils off and were left with this awesome picture.  Straight to the mantle it went! :)