The Dallas World Aquarium

The kids and I had a long weekend this past July to get away. (Well minus Ashlee because she was visiting family in East Texas.) Darrell was busy with work so we called Aunt Wendy and Uncle Bill up to see if they wanted some company. Wendy was on vacation so we jumped into the car and took a short but sweet rode trip up to Dallas.

We hung out in their beautiful oasis of a backyard, swimming and having fun. Then on the weekend, Wendy and Bill took us to see The Dallas World Aquarium.

Toucans

HUGE Crocodiles

Mischief boy

Sydney took almost 100 videos with her new Flip camera

Seahorse- Syd's favorite

James' favorite

 The shark tank was amazing! So many different kinds and sizes of shark.

Flamingo

I Do... 65 years later!

This past July 2, 2012, we celebrated Roy and Margie Powell's wonderful wedding anniversary of 65 years. These two people are an awesome example of a loving Christian marriage that puts God first and each other next.

It's so refreshing to be with them because they truly love and support each other even after all these years. We spent the afternoon eating and dancing. The Powell's showed all of us up on the dance floor. 65 years later and they have still got it!

I wish I got more pictures of the family because all the Mercer's and Powell's plus tons of friends were there. Below are some of the girls, my sweet niece-in-law, Joanna with her precious two girls. The boys were running around like the crazy monsters that they are. :)

Here are two...

 Happy 65th Anniversary to the POWELL'S!!!

Blessing of Friendship

There's nothing in the world better than friendship in my opinion. Even when we haven't seen each other in ages, when we come together we have such a blast!

At the beginning of the summer, we went to Herman Park to celebrate our friend, Aidan's birthday. He's the first out of the 4 boys to turn 5. Aidan, James, Gregory, and Kenneth are the sons of my dear friends, Michelle, me, Melissa, and Becky.

Boys having fun with water guns

Aidan and James having a serious talk about life

Michelle had brought a picnic lunch and cake with all the fixings. The weather was beautiful and we hung out for hours under the shaded trees, catching up on life and enjoying each others company.

I love these girls!!!  Looking back, we have been through a lot in our lifetime of knowing each other. It's simply a blessing to know these beautiful ladies and to be able to walk the seasons of life together. It's hard to believe that we have a new little generation of friends (our boys) that we are raising, hopefully to love each other as much as we do.

Batter Up!!!

 

SO James is now our little Slugger!!! We just finished up quite an exciting season of T-Ball where James played with 6 other boys on a team called the "Warriors!"

In this picture (above), one of his teammates was a bit too upset to pose for the team picture and after this picture was taken the upset boy's parents decided to pull him off the team due to his crying episodes. Also, one teammate broke his arm after the first game and was out the rest of the season...so the "Warriors" actually consisted of a total of 5 boys. James ended up with a lot of play time!!!

For the most part, James kept his head in the game. He wasn't one of those kids picking flowers in the outfield. Outfielding wasn't the most fun for James, but he loved to get the ball. After playing football last season, we had many discussions on why he couldn't tackle his teammates to get the ball in T-ball.

Hitting was his favorite part of T-Ball and he was good at it. Coach Brent gave him a few pointers in the beginning but James soon earned his nickname, Slugger.  The other coaches grew to know him, stating "Spread out boys! He's a hitter!"

Look at that stance!

James takes after me...the tongue always makes you run faster!

His very first...first base hit was congratulated by Coach Brittany with a high five!

James' T-Ball league is known for teaching the kids good sportsmanship. After each game, the Coaches line their players up for the high five walk with their opponent team and then they sit down with their own team for a short "lesson of the week" touching base on the different aspects of good sportsmanship.

One, two, three!

 GO WARRIORS!

As you can see, James puts a ton of effort and power behind his swing.

 Trying his very best...

 In the outfield...not so much! Haha

Bloopers...I couldn't pass up posting this! I'm sure James will be super appreciative when he is older to see that he ran so incredibly fast that his helmet flew right off his head!

 "Thanks Coach!" Too cute!

I would like to say that in the end, James hit a Grand Slam and the Warriors went on to win!!! BUT they don't keep score in T-Ball...yes, bummer! However James did receive his first baseball trophy that he is extremely proud of...sleeping with it ever since.

Way to go, SLUGGER!!!

Birthday Sleepover Fun!

This past April, we celebrated Sydney's 11th birthday. She wanted to invite some of her friends from school over for a sleepover. Sydney has a sweet tooth that craves chocolate and peanut butter...so I found a simple but delicious recipe that the girls could hang out and make. We played games, watched movies, cooked, and giggled well into the night.

What goes good with Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls? Well, chocolate cake of course! Needless to say, we were on a serious sugar high that lasted into the wee hours of the night.

Long time friend of Sydney's is her bestie, Anna. Such a sweet pair of girls!

Sydney has become close friends to the Hart twins this year as they gave her a ride home from school every day. As you can see below these twins have so much personality and just are fun friends to be with! Such a blessing their family has been to us! 

Happy Birthday Sydney!!!