Saturday, September 5, 2015

Hooks World Series

This year Matt's baseball team went to the World Series in Gulf Shores, Alabama!! This is a really great group of kids and it was exciting that they got to play in a World Series together...well and play a little on the beach too! 7 of these kids spent the previously week together at camp so they definitely got a lot of bonding time at Carolina Creek. 

The boys had a great time at the opening ceremonies but mostly enjoyed the pin trading.  We also took the time to take a few beach pics and these are by far the best team pics of the boys!! 
The boys played well. One day it was so hot I kept shoving ice cubes down my clothes and I was standing in the shade!  I'm not sure how they managed to play through it but they did.  They made it all the way to the semi-finals.  My #27 played well at several different positions and made us proud.   
We had fun in the evenings at places like Lulu's and The Hangout! The siblings were always up in the mix too. 
The kids really enjoyed boogie boarding at the beach and the boys threw footballs, frisbees and whatever else they could get their hands on. 
It was nice to spend our World Series with this group of families below. The parents, siblings and the boys had a great time!! Congratulations Hooks to a great year with lots of championship rings!!
 

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Marlie's 8th Birthday

My youngest baby is 8!! It seems like yesterday that we went to the hospital so excited for the arrival of our little girl! This little one is nothing like I ever imagined she would be and I thank God because he created her way better than I would have!! I never imagined my little girl with the most beautiful red hair and freckles.  I never imagined my little girl would be nothing like me. She's so brave, not shy at all, loves to perform in front of crowds and is great at sports that involve a ball!! She loves her brother Matt the most of all and although Matt doesn't always show it, he's one of her biggest fans.  She says she's "Daddy's girl" and I'm completely fine with that because what a blessing to have such an amazing Dad. I love to sing out loud with this girl, take long naps on the weekend and watch silly made for TV Disney movies! Marlie we all love you more than you know!!

We celebrated Marlie's birthday this year at Painting with a Twist.  Marlie picked the cutest little snail to paint and the girls all had a blast!! She was excited this year to include her dance friends too!  She'll be dancing with these girls for years to come!
Nene and Matt were our extra helpers!!
They all did a really good job! It was fun to watch each of them paint and see how they used their creativity to personalize their painting. 
One of our favorite charities in Houston is Star of Hope. So Marlie asked that instead of gifts to please bring socks and underwear for the children at Star of Hope.  When we got home she had so much fun going through everything the girls brought!
Thank you, thank you to everyone for your generosity!! Marlie was so excited to take several boxes of socks and undies to Star of Hope.  We are so blessed to know you all!

Saturday, July 25, 2015

Carolina Creek Christian Camp

This summer Matt and Marlie both spent a week at Carolina Creek!  This is by far the most special week of the summer for the kids and although we missed them terribly, Doug and I really enjoyed spending time together kidless! 

This year was particularly special for Matt...there were 7 kids that attended camp from his baseball team and his good friend Cole joined as well. Another teammate invited a friend so they filled the bottom floor of the tiger cabin!
Marlie's best friend Khloe came to camp for the first time and I think the girls had just as much fun as the boys!  Marlie got the top bunk and as crazy as she sleeps, I'm not sure how she didn't fall off? Ms. Meagan was one of her counselors and she was so wonderful! 
Throughout the week we stalked the Carolina Creek website to see if the kids were having fun. We got this series of pics of the boys from the first night.  Looks like they're off to a good start.  Matt has his back towards the camera in the orange hat!
Looks like the first day was headband day...
 I didn't see any pics of Matt on pirate night but saw lots of cute pics of Marlie! Although Khloe's Mom and I were worried because Khloe wasn't in any of these and we didn't see any of her!?!
 Saw some cute cabin pics on plaid day...these zebra girls are looking tired!
I love the pics on orange day!
 I really like this one of Marlie singing at Chapel!  At this point I was missing this girl terribly! 
These were on the last day of camp.  Kids look really tired but they've had smiles on their faces all week long! 
The kids said their favorite night was pioneer night.  I have to say trying to find easy things for the kids to wear for pioneer night was not very easy!! I was wondering...what kid wants to dress up like a pioneer??? but I can tell from the pics that it was lots of fun!! Proves I am completely wrong sometimes!  Ha!
 Yea!! Cute pics of Khloe and Matt!
 I love this pic too of Cole, Logan and Dylan in their teepee!
Saturday morning we were ready to pick the kids up!  We went to Matt's cabin first and the first kid I got to hug was Logan. He told me that he wanted to stay and live at camp so I knew then the boys had a blast! I got a huge hug from Matt which made me super happy! 
I went to find to my little zebras and Marlie ran across camp and hugged me!! The girls were beyond tired and looked like they might need their Mommas to do a good brushing of the hair!! But they were happy and excited about their plants and the creatures they met and named at camp.
I always enjoy the camp awards.  The counselors do an amazing job of finding the kid's God-given gifts and poetically relate it to a bible verse. The boy's counselors related their awards to sports too since he knew they were off to the World Series the following week. Matt got the "Initiative" award and Marlie got the "Enthusiasm" award.
Closing ceremonies is a great chance for the parents to get a glimpse of some of what goes on at camp during the week.  They learned some great songs, played some great games, but most importantly learned about being ALL IN for God!  Since the kids spent a week at camp this year it was a little tougher to say good-bye. Marlie absolutely loved Ms. Meagan and Ms. Brooke. Just yesterday Marlie was talking about needing to pray for Ms. Meagan's grandmother who doesn't believe in God, so we did. 
On the boys side Matt's counselors from all the years he's attended camp are still working at CCCC.  Below are Matt and Dylan with Trevor and Nate.  The boys fell in love with Nate last year and were hoping he would be their counselor again.  Trevor was in their cabin last year but on a different floor and the same happened again this year. But he remembered these boys from last year and the boys bonded with him quite a bit. His back must be blown out because I think he carried these kids around all week! Thank you guys for making this week so special for this awesome group of kids!  The last picture says it all!!!!