'Twas the night before school starts

It's that time again. Our summer vacation is over, the kids go back to school tomorrow.  We fit a lot into our break this year. We finalized David's adoption, celebrated birthdays, James Henry asked Jesus into his heart and James and I took a trip. Those were all big things that happened this summer but we had a lot of fun in the day to day and the smaller moments of summer vacation.

James, the older boys and Papa John went to WWE summer tour.

 One evening we up and decided to take the kids to the park and fish. It was a great time, we played Frisbee too.

 Makayla and I saw Mary Poppins.

 James preached his first sermon this summer at our church. I am so proud to be his wife.

 We spent a rainy summer day at the Discovery Center.

 We took our annual trip to Wonderland Amusement Park.

it was too much fun for some of us

 My mom bought us season tickets to Splash Waterpark as our Christmas gifts and it was a fantastic gift. We went all summer!

 We celebrated James at Father's Day. He got a smoker and focus mitts!

 James and Chris had a Father/Son fish day at Ceta Canyon.

 We did some lights off mini-golf....

 The kids made their own fun at home!

 We went to the petting zoo with our friends.

 James refereed a tournament at Extreme Martial Arts. He was one of two certified referees.

James Henry learned how to tie his shoes!

 There was that one night the air conditioner turned into one solid block of ice!

 Makayla took a two week course at Amarillo college on babysitting. She learned so much.

It was a great summer and I loved having everyone home and together for a few months.

Christopher is 11!

 Christopher turned 11 this week! It is hard to believe, we feel like he was born just yesterday when we were living in Virginia. He is as tall as me and skinny as a rail. He wears a size 5 shoe and I think he is constantly on a growth spurt.

We had a blast at his birthday party last Saturday at Western Bowl. He wanted everything camouflaged!

 Western Bowl was a great host, they did everything for us and kept the party going. We chose to bowl at the start of the party.

James Henry

Makayla

Deacon

David getting some attention and play time

Christopher

Christen

the whole party gang

final scores

 After bowling for an hour we went and had pizza and cake then he opened presents.

Dr Who book and coffee mug from Christen

GameStop gift card from Deacon

GG and Papa John gave him money and a recipe book with all the ingredients to make Snickerdoodles.
He loves to cook with his GG.

Legos from mom and dad

eating pizza

 Making a wish and blowing out his candles

cake time

 We also took the kids to the arcade and played video games.

 It was a really great party!
On his actual birthday on Tuesday we made him breakfast in bed.

 He opened his gifts from us..a Nintendo 3DS and a game.

 and his present from Nonna, 2 new DS games.

 He picked where we had lunch and he chose Sakuri, it's a hibachi where they cook in front of you.

mom and the birthday boy 

onion volcano

eating his yummy birthday lunch

We spent the rest of his birthday shopping for school shoes, spending his birthday money and that evening we actually went bowling again with our Buckner family.

PawPaw Roland and Grandma Dawn came by and spent some time with Chris and bought his gift since they were going to be traveling during his birthday.

more Legos!!

We sure love our 11 year old, he is a blessing!!