More January

First photo dump of 2015...

Here are a few more things we did in January.

 

Kinley had a playdate with her school besties, twins Erika and Claire. They are precious girls and such answered prayers for Kinley.

They had a princess tea party and put on a show for us.

Kinley and Ty had a fun date with Honey to Grapevine Mills one day to ride the train and the carousel.

Ty's cheesy smile right now gets me every.time.

Ben went out of town one weekend for guys weekend and I had lots of help getting through the weekend because I was also on worship team. Couldn't have done it without mom and Gary & Cheryl. Here we are on a morning donut date missing dad.

And here are Ali and I with the band Echosmith after one worship service. They sing that song "Cool Kids" and were in town to open at the AA center for Sting. Apparently their dad and Pastor Drew are buddies from back in the day and they come to Compass when they are in town.

Ali and I were hoping we were cool by association just by taking a picture with them.

Ben is a woodworking machine lately and he built a new rolling table for the miter saw that my parents got him for Christmas.

The weather has been so up and down.

Some days have been freezing cold and Ty needed to bust out his new spiderman mittens and hat he got from Bart & Olivia for Christmas.

And some days have been t-shirt weather where we can't get enough time outside.

That cheesy smile again

 

When the weather is nice, my kids beg for swimming or at least a turn in Honey's hot tub. When we don't have time to heat it up we settle for the next best thing which is a pretend hot tub in my bathtub...swimsuits and all.

This morning brother cuddle time is just the best.

I've been getting lots of good care from Dr. Ty lately. He's so dedicated to his practice that he even sleeps with his gear. It reminds me so much of this picture of Kinley that I loved.

We renewed our 2015 Artie's season pass and went to see Annie.

 It was such a good show!

They have a new director and it seems so much more professional already.

 

We had the best time with these three Booth girls this week.

Dylan got the black and white memo and loved matching them.

And Kinley got the best surprise ever when they came to lunch with her at school and she had no idea.

Ty had Western Day at school this week and I just love this kid in a cowboy hat and boots.

We had to bring our stick horse too because every boy needs a stick horse.

And lucky for us, we have plenty from the stick horse corral at Kinley's Cowgirl party.

Dylan's Baby Dedication

Dylan got dedicated at our church last weekend.

 I was glad I could complete the trio of having all three dedicated at Compass.

Kinley was dedicated by our sweet friend Matt Fogle on her own before they did baby dedication services at church.

Ty's was very similar to Dylan's.

We all went on stage in front of the crowd for them to pray over us and commit to supporting us while we commit to raise our kids to know and love Jesus the best we can.

There was a reception with light snacks, a slideshow and a gift after that we didn't really stay for. It was sweet but, we were hungry for dinner and not into the crowd by that time.

But, Dylan did get his My Faith Book that I am excited to fill out.

 

Thankfully mom and Mendy took a couple of pics on their phone for us.

There were so many babies this time! It is awesome to see our church growing with young families and what new friends that we will get to know better as our kids grow up together at Compass.

We got to stand right by our friends the Williams, with Ryder, and the Harigs, with Camdyn.

And we took just a few outside the sanctuary after the service.

 

It is just a privilege to dedicate Dylan to the Lord.

I pray that our house is a place where the Holy Spirit dwells and points Dylan to seek out Jesus. I pray for salvation at an early age for him and a lifetime of learning and growing to be more like our savior. I am thankful we belong to a church that recognizes the importance of the family unit and encouraging and supporting families to know Jesus. Thank you Lord for your ultimate blessing that you have given Ben and I in Kinley, Ty and Dylan.  We know what a high calling it is to be parents that are trying to raise Godly children.  It is not something we can do without God's continual guidance and provision.  It is a privilege that I am forever grateful for. 

birthday parties

We have been to some really fun birthday parties lately!

Right after Christmas we went to Shea's ONEderland and watched that angel dominate a smash cake surrounded by her sweet family and friends.

Ty loved the gingerbread house decorating / candy eating.

Right after the new year, we celebrated McKenna's 4th Birthday at the American Girl Doll store.

 

All the girls brought their girls and it was such a fun party. They all got to decorate a new shirt for their doll with fabric markers, play American girl bingo and order whatever they wanted for lunch.

The life-sized doll box was so fun.

Camyrn had a playgroup birthday celebration at Parr Park when Kinley was off for MLK day. She loved being able to go to playgroup again and the weather was awesome! We all wore the MendyKayeDesigns shirts Staci gave us for Christmas and it was so cute seeing everyone running around and matching. Wish I got a better group pic! They weren't into stopping playing to take a picture. This is seriously the best we got with us actually trying to get them to take a group pic. 

 Fail.

And no Happy Birthday picture...fail.

The spiderweb is always the most popular thing to do and I have a heart attack when they climb up so high!

Girls swinging...Leslie is constantly requested to do under-dogs :)

These boys are so cute. Can't wait to see how their friendships grow over the years.

Ty, Ryland and Sean Ryan are the younger version of Mav, Parker and Caleb.

It's pretty cute.

Dylan matched in his MendyKayeDesigns too :)

Beauty & the Beast at Bass Hall

For my birthday Ben got me season tickets to Broadway at the Bass.

We also were able to purchase tickets for two other shows, one being Beauty & the Beast.

Ben and I decided right away to purchase them and add a ticket for Kinley.

 It would be her first show at the Bass Hall and I just knew she would love it.

 It was such a special night.  She relished the undivided attention and peppered us with questions non-stop on the way to the show.

We grabbed a quick bite to eat across the street at Cheesecake factory.

The show was great! We weren't allowed to take any pics at all inside the theatre for this show, which is unlike the other shows.

So, we just took one in the entryhall.

We love, love, loved the alone time with Kinley.

She was so sweet and grateful and just a joy. I cherish time getting to pour into and just enjoy our only girl. She has two little brothers that adore her and will always be looking up to her. I pray that we can take more opportunities to just get a feel for where her heart is and love on and pour into her two-on-one more often.