Oh no.......Chicken Pox!

Yes, it is true the first case of chicken pox has hit our family. Olivia's torso has red pox scattered all over. She was not interested in having a picture of her stomach put on my blog she said, so you will have to take my word.
She spotted the the red bumps as she was changing into her bathing suit. Her friend just had shingles so I thought it might be shingles. I had her friends mom look at Olivia and she thought it was either shingles or chicken pox.Of course the emotion starts flowing as soon as the diagnosis was made! So off to the doctor we went,were more emotion flowed, not to mention she kept going to the bathroom because her stomach was more than nervous. Of course the first thing she says is I don't have to get a shot do I? Of course I say no, because who gets shots when they have chicken pox! Well the first thing the nurse does is look to see if she has had her varicella vaccine, to which she says, "she only has had one she needs one more shot! More emotion, but momma quickly said well if you have chicken pox then you won't need the shot. Olivia was happy to learn from the doctor that she had chicken pox, which quickly turned to emotion again when the doctor said she couldn't go to her last day of science camp. One thing that I learned from the doctor is , you can't get shingles unless you have already had chicken pox!
So we shall see if the sisters get it?????? They have had their two doses so it should be pretty mild if they do get them.

Oh My Word......

To quote my sweet little girls, "oh my word", I can still fit into my wedding dress!!!!! It is a bit snug in the waist area but it zipped all the way up and I was still breathing. For some reason I started trying on all these clothes I hadn't worn in forever and the girls were all into that. Having fashions shows is just about one of their favorite things to do.
Of course they are in the closet with me, Olivia asked where is your wedding dress? Why don't you try that on. at first I said I don't think so, then I though hey why not! So we put the dress on and then they wanted me to attach the train, which daddy had to help us do. Once I had the full garb on the girls were having a ball, singing, "here comes the bride all dressed in white...... Actually they were wondering where the thing was that goes on my head.....I had to tell then I had no idea what happened to the veil!
They were having fun playing under the train and being silly.
Olivia says she wants to were the dress when she gets married, then her other sisters chimed in saying the samething.....we shall see. That is why I am blogging this. Proof that Olivia once said she wanted to wear her mother's wedding dress. Not that I will hold her to it, just noting it for history's sake! Abby and Emily have know idea what they are committing to, but I think Olivia is old enough to know.
David wanted to take a picture of me in the dress with the girls, but I said no, I had no make up and a greasy ponytail in my hair. As I was taking the dress off, I then wished I would have let him take the picture. What a precious picture that would be. Me ten years later wearing my wedding dress with my three precious little girls that were only dreams at the time I first wore the dress. A priceless picture....and I passed......
One other note......David informed Olivia she could not wear this dress for another 20 years! Time will tell......

The Butler Girls!!!!!!

Today we had our annual summer visit with the Butler girl's. Unfortunately this year Hattie couldn't make it. We meet at the Galleria did a bit of shopping then headed to Pappasito's to meet the men for dinner. The Simpson girls just love the Butler girls and always look forward to seeing them. Sheri has been my friend since college. We were roommates our last year of college and then moved to Houston together and were roommates after graduation. She got married way before me and had three girls and then 10 years later I got married and had three girls. She is blazing the trail ahead of me and her insight will always be helpful. She and Bob have raised three beautiful girls that love the Lord and they are awesome examples for my girls to see!!!!! I wished they lived closer, they would be awesome babysitters!

4th of July fun........

We had a great fourth of July weekend. Starting with Daddy being home for 4 days in a row, the girls were in heaven. Add cousins and some aunts and an uncle and great memories were made.
We were heading over to Aunt Ruth's on Friday but the awful rain and traffic made us turn around and go home, but that gave us the chance to finally eat at Cheddar's and then we went home and decorated our bikes for the bike parade in our neighborhood Saturday morning.
That night, Uncle Robert and Aunt Becca come over with Colton and Cameron and spent 3 nights with us. Though the weekend started out with a lot of rain it finally cleared up and Saturday morning we headed out for a parade in our neighborhood, which daddy organized by the way. The fire truck and firemen made the event special. You guys tried to go to a water park in The Woodlands but the rain came back in the afternoon and sent you packing, of course it was when Olivia was at the top of the slide and ready to go down that they heard the thunder and closed the pool! That night we went to the Pavilion in The Woodlands for a patriot concert with the Houston Symphony.....surprisingly enough you guys made it through the whole thing. Though by the end of the night it was a mud pit out there, that Abby slipped in and had a hiney coated in mud. Thankfully Aunt Ruth had extra clothes. Emily and Abby were not too happy about the cannons that were to go off at the end of the concert, but when they finally did they decided they weren't too loud and they actually liked them. It was a very fun event and we look forward to being able to do it next year. After the concert we walked over to the fountains to let the kids play in the dancing water.
Sunday morning was church, which Cameron and Emily could not make it through the entire service....imagine that. After lunch we headed back out to the water park to try again.....lots of sun and people this day. Everyone had a good time and got to go down the slide lots of times. We headed home for an early supper and to put the kids to bed early so the adults could have some play time.....we failed think about the barrage of fireworks that would go off when darkness came.....so it was a bit tedious putting kids to bed with fireworks going off all around us! Of course Cameron and Colton were out quickly and then there were our three. I had to bride Abby with 2 bucks if she stayed in her bed and didn't get up until morning which she did and first thing in the morning she was asking for her money. Emily and Olivia were hopeless but at least for the most part they kept quite.
Morning came and it was time for the cousins to head back to Louisiana. Everyone was sad the party was over....but great fun was had, that is for sure.

The Hat

The other day we were at Gymboree buying a gift for the girls baby cousin who was turning 1. Olivia brings over this sparkly pink hat and gives me the " I want this hat" look. I asked her how much it was and she said there wasn't a price on it. I told her to take it to the register and ask how much it was. She comes back and says, "It's 1.99", well how can you say no to 1.99? The girl didn't take the hat off for two days, make that three days! Friday night when we went to VBS family night she wanted to wear it in. I told her the hat had to stay in the car. As soon as church was over she wanted to go get it out of the car and put it on, as we stayed at the church long after the service was over. She wanted to be seen in this crazy looking hat! No doubt....this hat has Olivia written all over it!

Abby's last swim meet of the year

It's no fun for a 5 year old to wake up at 6:45 on a Saturday morning, but this was Abby's last time to do that for a while. Today was her last swim meet and she did a great job. She has come a long way since the beginning of the season.....practicing in those frigid waters! That quickly ended. She swam hard today and I was very proud of her. She is a little competitor and next year she will be a very strong swimmer. Until next year......

From Vacation to Vacation Bible School

Yes, it is that time again....VBS and I hit the ground running as soon as I unpacked the suitcases and washed the clothes....off to the Saddle Ridge Ranch to decorate my room......
Now unfortunately I started this entry the week of VBS and now July 21 I am just now coming back to it......it is a well faded memory now, as we have been so busy this summer with fun fun fun.....undocumented fun at that. And I told myself I was going to blog everyday this summer....oh well.
VBS was a lot of fun for the kids.....myself and my kindergarten art partner.....well let's just say we have decided next year all crafts will be crafts where GLUE is NOT needed!
The message this year for VBS was an awesome one James 1:5

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

The music and the bible verses were simple and fun and really stuck with the kids.
Olivia brought a school friend with her this year,the day they ask the kids if they wanted to accept Christ as their savior this sweet little girl raised her hand. Later that afternoon when I talked with her and Olivia about it (because I was thinking she had done this before) I asked her if she had been to VBS before and she said she had with another friend a couple of years ago, then I asked if she had asked Jesus into her heart before, she said, yes, but she had forgotten. At this point Olivia chimes in.....yah, I kept forgetting too until I got baptised! Out of the mouth of babes.....very interesting statement that had me thinking for days and I will leave it at that for now.

Now on to our next adventure of the summer!

Last day of fun in the sun

We weren't racing out to the beach this morning....the girls and myself were a little tired of that green stuff in the water. So we spent the day at the pool hanging out and being lazy. We didn't go to the beach until 7:00 pm. You would know the green stuff had finally gone away and the water was clear. We walked along the beach, tried to play volleyball with a beach ball. Olivia had been wanting to play all week but never remembered to bring a ball down to the beach. She loves elimination volleyball at school and she wanted to play volleyball on the beach, though the nets looked a little high. We took pictures and played in the sand. We stayed out until it was dark and walked back and got into the lazy river and floated the river until it was time for the pool to close 10:00.
So we made it a week with no oil.....thank the Lord the oil didn't make it to Destin while we were there. It is a beautiful place and we definitely want to come back. We were able to spend time together as a family and just relax and enjoy each others company...gotta love that!

We don't want to leave this place.....

Another great day in Destin......we ate a late breakfast at the Donut Hole then went and packed up our things for a day on the water. For Father's Day David wanted to rent a pontoon boat to cruise around in while we were here. Those 4 hours went too fast, next time we want it for the whole day. We went to Crab Island and just hung out and swam for a bit then headed off to find a deserted beach. There the girls found crabs and hermit crabs and tried to catch the fish that were too fast for them. The girls all took turns driving the boat. It was another great day. We ended the day eating dinner overlooking the beach at The Black Pearl where David and I celebrated our 10th anniversary!

Many more deposits in the memory bank today....

The Simpson's are still having fun in Florida. We didn't rush out to the beach today, we headed out later to the Splash Pad but it was closed for repair, so we headed to another pool. Emily is getting very good at staying afloat all on her own. We went back to float the lazy river and the girls signed up for pool games and all the other children's activities at the resort for the day.
But the best part of the day was heading further east to SandDestin. The Baytowne Wharf was a lot of fun for the girls. Olivia did a zip line across a lake, Abby bungee jumped(which Olivia then decided she wished she would have picked that to do)and Emme road the carousal. They fed the fish, danced with Daddy and ate snow crab and lobster for the first time. We had on the deck of this restaurant that had a band playing and the food was served in buckets. The buckets were full of fresh steamed seafood! We walked down a pier after dinner and then checked out some of the shops, got candy of course and bought a big seashell to remind us of our trip. Shortly after that the fireworks started. Mommy LOVES fireworks. Emily and Abby say they hurt their ears, but Emily really doesn't like them. Such a shame.....it was a great night and we had many nice people take pictures of us together, so we have great photos to remember the evening!

A great first day of fun.....

The day started and ended with fun. David and Abby were up early waiting for the rest of us to get up so we could go to the beach. They were at the beach by 9:30 and Emily and I were down there by 10:30. It was a beautiful sunny day and we had a blast on the beach. The white sand and green water is a fantastic contrast to the brown waters and sand of Galveston that we are used to. The current and winds were very strong today so you could only go waist deep in the water. David is the only one that cares to go further out.
We came back for lunch and a nap for David and Abby. Later we headed down to the pool and lazy river, which is very nice and a lot of fun. After dinner we drove into Destin to check it out and had to make a stop a one of the touristy beach shops. The money that nana gave the girls for the trip has been burning a whole in their pockets. Olivia had already talked to Allison after they got back from their trip to Florida and had gotten the scoop on where to shop and what to buy. So Olivia had a list and was ready to shop. The girls got t-shirts and postcards. Olivia got a necklace, Emily got a flip flop zipper pull with her name on it and Abby got a live hermit crab!!!( Of course, that is so Abby)....though apparently she is sharing it with her sister. Of course they have already names the hermit crab and her name is Audrey.....such a pretty name to give to a crab! Then we walked along the boardwalk at HaborWalk and had a great evening. We LOVE this place.

Let the vacation begin..........

We made it to Okaloosa Island today....finally after driving through rain on and off the entire time and several little traffic delays. It rained pretty much the rest of the evening, even started hailing as soon as we took off for WalMart to buy our groceries. David and the girls were so excited to see the beach they took off in the rain to see it while I unpacked. The rain stopped long enough for them to actually play in the water and then go check out the Lazy River.
Everyone loves the condo and we are looking forward to lots of good times while we are here. Let's hope the oil doesn't show up on our beach. We haven't bothered to check the news to see where it is today. We planned this trip last minute (6 days before we were to leave and then of course two days later they say the oil will be in Pensacola Friday. What are the odds? So to arrive to rain was also a bit disappointing. Let's also hope the rain stops along with no oil on shore!!!
I will attempt to blog everyday so we will remember this vacation ten years from now! This is our first family vacation with just our family.....let's see how long it takes before we are bored and wishing the rest of our families were here?

Olivia's Last Day of Third Grade

Today was Olivia's last day of school. I let her sleep until 7:35 and woke her up to a video camera recording her first words of the morning on her last day of school! Of course I forgot to take a picture except for the one a snapped on my phone as she got out of the car.
The girls and I went and had lunch with her on her last day and we were very late getting there. Fortunately there was no recess today so she had extra time too eat. She didn't want me to leave when lunch was over. As we were throwing our trash away she had her arms around my waist hugging me the whole way through the cafeteria. My first thought was I hope these days last forever. That is the days when she is not afraid to hug her mother at school! Some days it is crazy and she asks me to come eat lunch with her.....I never want to say no because I know one day she will stop asking.
Olivia had a great teacher this year. Her dad and I LOVE Ms. Alexander. She was the perfect teacher for Olivia. Olivia grew by leaps and bounds this year. Making straight A's and really loving school. She loves to read and write. She loves science and art. It has been a joy to drop my child off at school each day, I know she is in a great environment surrounded by teachers that care. I pray the same for next year!
As I was cleaning out Olivia's backpack this evening I came across some papers she was working on these last few days. One was a page were she was to complete the phrase.....there were 20, I will only highlight my favorites.
I like to eat at......Texas Roadhouse....(we do enjoy that place, the girls love the peanuts and dancing waitstaff.
In my free time I like to .......play
I am really good at.....drawing and school
It bothers me when .....my sisters wake me up
Five years from now, I will.....be in 8Th grade
What I want most in the world is.....an IPhone...(keep wanting girl, why couldn't that have been world peace!)
My favorite person is.....God and Jesus
The best thing about me is......all of things. (I would say she has plenty of self esteem!)
Well I guess that is it for 3rd grade. It has been a good year!