Colin's Baptism

On Monday, February 28, 2011, we experienced another awesome parenting moment. Colin had been asking questions for months about being a Christian and finally asked to become one. We were a little concerned because he's so young, but after talking with him at length, we felt confident that he had a good understanding of his decision. And he finally told us, "I just know God really wants me to ask Jesus in my heart and be a Christian!" Well, you can't argue with that! So once again, I had the amazing experience of listening to my husband lead his child in the prayer to become a Christian. I'm so thankful for 2 unforgettable experiences!

On Sunday, March 6, 2011, Colin was baptized. His was a little different from Andy's because there were many others getting baptized that morning also. So it was a crowded little pool that morning! Made it harder to take pictures, but I guess that's not really so important. We took pictures with 2 cameras and of course I only have the pictures from one of them. The funny thing was that Colin couldn't swim so well at the time of his baptism and the pool was deeper than his head. The church has a stool for the little kids to stand on so their heads can be seen above the water. But when he was done, the minister forgot he wasn't tall enough to touch the bottom and just kind of pushed him toward the stairs. Next thing we know, poor little Colin is dogpaddling to the stairs and unable to keep his head above water! Thankfully, the pool is small and he reached the stairs before anyone had to jump in and get him. The whole thing lasted maybe 3 seconds, but for a parent who can't reach him, it was a long 3 seconds! Definitely memorable! :)

Patiently waiting


It was crowded in there!


The moment he's been waiting for!

Andy's baptism

Saturday night, January 8, 2011, was definitely one of the most exciting nights we've had as parents. Andy told us that he had been thinking about being a Christian and felt it was time for him to become one. We talked with him for awhile about what his decision meant and why he was doing it. And then Kyle led him in a prayer. It was definitely one of the sweetest, most precious moments we've had with him. Seeing him grow and make adult decisions is so rewarding. We pray that he'll always make such wise choices! He was baptized on Sunday, January 16, 2011.

Andy with one of our pastors, Dr. Jon


Listening intently


I love his little feet in this picture, reminds me that he's still so young


Gotta get the water out of your eyes!

Easter 2011

Dressed in our Easter clothes for church


Cousins!
Back row: Melaina (11), Morgan (10), Andy (7), Jackson (9), Ben (10)
Front row: Micah (4), Kathryn (14), Elizabeth (3 and wanting to get down), Ryan (3 and NOT wanting his picture taken), Kaytlin (16 and bless her for wrestling with Ryan), Shane (2), Colin (5), and Claire (7)

Colin's Graduation

Colin's school had a little graduation ceremony for everyone going into kindergarten. He even got to wear a cap and gown, making the event that much more thrilling. He was chosen to lead the Pledge of Allegiance for the whole assembly and did a wonderful job! Some of the pictures are a little blurry...I'm blaming it on the camera and sitting so far away.

Walking to the front, with his teacher Ms. Sackett, to say the Pledge


Saying the Pledge, he's on the far left. The other kids recited the Texas Pledge and the school pledge


Family picture, minus Andy because he was in school



And a few days later, we registered him for kindergarten! Yes, he has a blue tattoo on his forehead, exactly what you want your child to have when you take him into a school to register him as a future student. But in his defense, he had field day at preschool and the teacher said he could have a tattoo on his forehead. He loved it, of course!

Fun Memories!

Last night after the kids had a bath, they attempted wheelbarrow races. I got a few pictures but everything was blurry because I couldn't get them to sit still. Here's the best of the bunch!

Summer Fun!

First, let me say how sorry I am that I don't have pictures to go along with this post. Sad but true. However, since the whole point of my blog is to eventually print it out as a memory book, at least we'll have a written account of our activities this summer.

And we've been pretty busy this summer! To help keep us entertained and to help out my sister and brother-in-law, I've been keeping Ben and Claire on the days when Jennifer works. It gives them a little summer break from day care and we certainly enjoy the extra company and playmates. So many days this summer, I've been up at 6am to greet them! That's really early for summertime! But we've enjoyed having them. Ben, Andy and Colin love to play the DS and Wii together (and occasionally get upset when I limit their electronics time) and Claire has thoroughly enjoyed leading Elizabeth and Ryan around in various forms of pretend play (school, mom and dad and baby, or whatever camp she puts on for them that day).

Some of our days have been full of fun and others have just been calm and relaxing. Well, is it possible to be relaxing with 6 kids in the house?! Actually more than you'd think because they get along fairly well and keep each other entertained. The kids have been to the park many times, had lots of picnics, gone to storytime at church, joined the library reading club, seen a magic show, gone to a new splash pad near us, seen lots and lots of movies (gotta love air conditioned activities!), and played with the rest of their cousins. And spent lots of time in the pool! That's what they beg for every day.

Andy and Ben attended a soccer camp and had fun working on their skills with "real" soccer players instead of just their dad coaches. Colin, Ryan and Elizabeth were able to attend a little arts and crafts camp at the community center where they enjoyed making fun crafts and eating fun snacks.

Ben, Andy and Claire enjoyed WinShape C3 camp at our church. It's a super fun Christian camp put on by Chick-Fil-A. It's an all day affair for one week and the kids absolutely love it. In addition to normal, high-energy camp activities, they choose 3 tracts of activities. This year, Andy did secret ops (learning to serve others in secret), fast food (cooking simple snack recipes), and soccer. On Friday we got to attend Family Fun Day and see what he'd been doing all week. There was also a car decorating contest and I'm proud to say we won 2nd place!!! Our car was pretty cute, but I think we won because we dressed all 4 kids in blue (Andy's village color), blue hair paint, and blue face paint. Bonus points for involving the whole fam! It's a super fun camp that's well worth the money! We highly recommend it!

We also had a fun vacation in July! First, we drove to San Antonio and spent the night with my college roommate and BFF, Jill. We had a great time catching up with Todd and Jill, but our kids thoroughly loved playing with all the Kobayashi kids! I see many more visits in our future. The next day we left for Wimberly, TX and joined our cousins at a little swimming hole called the Blue Hole. It's just a little spring-fed creek that has lots of rocks on the bottom (perfect for throwing!) and 2 rope swings (perfect for jumping!). Just a simple little activity that we loved! The following day we went to Schlitterbahn!!! We hadn't been since Elizabeth and Ryan were very little and the kids loved being there. Andy and Colin loved all the rides. Ryan and Elizabeth were drug crying onto some of them, but they eventually learned to love them (or tolerate them). :) It was a full day of fun there that they'll remember for awhile. Our last water day was spent on Lake LBJ. Along with the Milholland, Cook and Baggett families, we rented 2 pontoons boats, 2 inner tubes, and 2 jet skis...yes, we need 2 of everything to accommodate 21 people. We spent 8 hours having fun and swimming in the lake! And there's nothing like 3 days in the sun and water to completely wear out your children! Before driving home the next day, we took our crew back into San Antonio. They loved walking around our old college campus, Trinity, and seeing different parts of it. We showed them our old dorms, the dining hall, and the swimming pool where we met! Ryan and Elizabeth were a little confused because we called it our school but they couldn't find our classroom or teacher. They didn't quite understand all of it but they did love the tiger statue! Then we attempted to see the Alamo, but it was too miserably hot and we were too miserably exhausted by then. I think we stayed maybe 15 minutes before opting for snow cones instead. But it was a fun summer vacation for all of us! (Oh yes, and Ryan was quite the trooper, despite the 101 fever he kept developing...because it's never a Graham family vacation until someone gets sick!)

Since vacation, we've really just been hanging out trying to stay entertained. We've gone swimming, played with friends, gone swimming, made crafts, gone swimming, put on puppet shows, gone swimming, and taught the kids how to pull weeds outside. They actually get into it occasionally. And we've gone swimming some more. Seriously, when it's this hot outside, what else is there to do?!

Even though it's been a fun summer, I think we're all looking forward to school starting. The kids say they're not ready for it, but everyone is starting to argue more, they're bored with our summer activities because nothing is new anymore, and there are no more camps or vacations to anticipate. I can't say I'm ready for the scheduled life again or the after-school busy-ness, but new seasons are always exciting and we have lots to look forward to!

Hello again!

Hello blog readers! I usually have trouble keeping up with this blog, but I think I outdid myself this time. Wow, has it really been a year since I've been on here? Time sure does fly, doesn't it?

Speaking of time flying, where in the world has this summer gone?! Seems like just a few weeks ago we were celebrating the last day of school and the promise of many months of relaxation and fun. Well, 5 of us celebrated while Colin sat in my lap in tears...he was really sad about leaving his preschool and all his friends. It was very sad and very sweet. Our summer has flown by and we've been having a blast. Kinda sad to see it go but I know we're all getting ready for the next thing too. It's always fun to see what the next little season will bring into our lives.

Sadly, I have not taken many pictures lately. I don't have an excuse for that.

So here's the update on us, from the past year, or at least what I can remember...

Kyle - Still our hero and champion! Works hard at taking care of us and does a really awesome job. Still works at Aster Group as a consultant and travels roughly 50% of the time. While we miss him terribly when he's gone, we're extremely thankful that his company believes in work/family balance and allows him to work in town or at home 50% of the time. It's unusual for a consultant so we're pretty grateful. He's also been busy co-teaching our Sunday school class, leading the 4-yr old children's church with me, and coaching whatever sport is in season.

Me - Well, pretty much the same old thing. I love staying home with the kiddos (something I never thought I'd do) and taking care of our little family. It's really such a blessing to me to have this opportunity. There are times when I wonder if I should be pursuing more of a career, but I know in my heart that these 4 little creatures are worth way more than any career. There are also times when I think I may lose my head, but we won't talk about that right now. :) My big summer project was to rearrange kids and redo their bedrooms this summer. I may eventually finish! Andy moved into the computer room and has a maps theme, Elizabeth moved into Andy and Colin's old room and now has a flower room, and Colin moved in with Ryan and they have a dinosaur theme. Pictures will follow (eventually!).



Andy - is about to start 3rd grade! Holy cow, that's like halfway through elementary school! What?! So hard to believe. He's thoroughly enjoying his summer and not ready to start waking up early for school again, but he also misses his friends and is excited to have his little brother at school with him. He's had a busy summer with soccer camp and church camp (seriously, check out Winshape Camps by Chick Fil A. HIGHLY recommend them if they're in your area!) and various activities. Was accepted into the dual language program at the beginning of 2nd grade and has LOVED learning Spanish. Most of the kids started in kindergarten so he had some catching up to do, but it has made school much more exciting more him. The school claims the kids will be bilingual by the end of 5th grade, so we'll see! Oh, and he's also growing about a foot a day. He's also looking forward to starting soccer again soon.




Colin - will soon be a very proud kindergartener! He was sad to leave his old school but is now very excited about learning "everything about reading and math and Spanish" in kindergarten. He will also be in the dual language program and we're thankful for another opportunity for the kids. He's thrilled to be going to school with Andy but can't quite understand why he won't be eating lunch or on the playground at the same time as Andy. He's also playing soccer this fall and he's very excited that his daddy is coaching his team. His summer has been a little more relaxed but he's gotten in lots of playing time, so he's pretty happy. Ryan is still his little shadow and Colin tolerates it fairly well, most days. Colin's major accomplishment this summer was learning how to take a breath while swimming! And once he mastered that skill, he quickly learned how to swim across the whole pool and become independent in the water. Yea!



Elizabeth - loves to talk! And talk...and talk...and talk! She's really a lot of fun but she certainly has a lot to say. She is thrilled with her new, very feminine yellow and pink room and loves to tell the boys that only girls are allowed in her room. They never listen to her but that doesn't stop her from trying. We were a little worried about how she'd do sleeping without Ryan since they'd always been together, but they've both done great. And without Ryan to wake her up the instant the sun rises, we've discovered that she can actually sleep late! She's quickly becoming my favorite child because she knows how to sleep past 7:15. :) She's still very girly and loves dancing, dresses, and painted toenails, but she's got quite a little competitive streak in her too. She hates for the boys to beat her at anything so she works hard at keeping up with them in all activities. She also is becoming quite the little swimmer...can take a breath sometimes but has trouble getting herself horizontal again to swim forward. But she's getting there!



And last but not least, Ryan - and he's still our little family clown! He's very much the baby of the family and plays his role well. Dutifully follows his big brothers around and takes every opportunity to make someone laugh. He's full of mischief and personality! He's also learning how to swim pretty good, but it's taken him longer. For most of the summer, he was more interested in jumping off the diving board and hanging out on the bottom of the pool until we went down and fished him out. You'd think it would scare him, but no, he loved being under water. But then Elizabeth started swimming and now he has to keep up with her. And like always, she did it first, but he does it better. He and Elizabeth start in the 3 year class at preschool in a few weeks and will no longer be in Mother's Day Out. Is it really possible...no more kids in MDO?! No more nap mats for napping because they've outgrown that (at school, definitely not at home!). So hard to believe.

And I'm sure there's way more than that to say about everyone! But that's enough for now and I hope you enjoyed it. So how's your summer? Are you ready for school to start?