Father's Day Essay

During the month of June our church held an essay contest entitled "I Love my Dad". It was open to grades kindergarten through 6th. Katie told Don she wasn't going to enter, but secretly wrote an essay. I received a message from our children's minister last week notifying me that Katie won in the 4th-6th grade division. She and I were so excited!!!! Don and Sarah were in San Antonio last week with our church on Mission Trip.

Katie and the two other winners were presented in the 2 worship services at church this morning. They each read their essay and then were given a gift to present to their dads. Katie did great!!! She was nervous about reading in front of so many people, but courage and prayer pulled her through. It was so sweet and such a blessing for Don. He received a $50 gift card to Lowe's and 2 tickets to the Texas Rangers baseball game (ground level behind homeplate). What a Father's Day to remember.

Soooooo............here's the winning essay in its original unedited form!

My dad is great, and I love him very much. He is careing, nice, playful, and joyful. He tries to help me out through problems. He goes out and does stuff I want to do even if he doesn't want to. He makes the best of my days. I love him because he loves God and he puts Him first, and I'm proud of him. He is there at almost every one of my events. He is truthful and never lies to me. He is thoughtful for me and everyone in our family. He has many talents and uses them for me. One is patience. He has lots of it. He always tries to keep his cool. I'm grateful for that and I love him for trying. He is also good at surprises. When he does do them he thinks of whats best for the family. I love him very much and I'm proud to call him my father.

What more can I say? Katie has such a tender heart and she made her daddy get teary eyed today. I'm very proud of both of them.

Family Photos

I had mentioned in a previous post that I won a drawing for a free photo session along with a cd of the pictures and rights to them. What a blessing that was to our family. We haven't had a professional family photo in about 3 years. My girls have grown up so quickly and I am so happy to have their personalities captured by these pictures. There are too many good ones, so I will just put in the link to my Facebook page for those of you not on that website. And if anyone is interested in using Sassafras Photography, then please mention our names. You will receive a free 8x10 and we will receive a credit towards a future session.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2064154&id=1467193434&l=b430e1960d

End of Year Pics......

Here are a few pics of the whirlwind of May activities in the Riley house. Only a few more days of school left and then the fun of summer begins!!!! Katie's 5th grade graduation and end of the year party is this week, so that's why not too many of her right now. Also, Sarah had a guitar recital and voice recital that I forgot to take pictures of . I need a professional to follow her around and capture all that she does!

Katie and friends at Field Day.......last one for elementary school.

Sarah and her friend Erin at their spring choir concert. The 7th/8th grade Varsity Choir sang 80's music so that explains the accessories! Sarah was recognized for making All-Region Choir (3rd chair) and also received an award for outstanding leadership.

Sarah's 8th grade school spring picture......Katie didn't like hers so that's why you don't see one :)

8th grade awards ceremony......Sarah and friends.

Sarah and 6 other choir girls were selected to sing the National Anthem. It was amazing!!! No picture since I couldn't get close. But of course I ordered one that the professional took.....$10 for a 4x6! Oh well, you have to have a picture to mark such a special honor. Don got video and will try to get it posted.

Both girls are part of the Puppets for Christ team at church. This past weekend they did shows on Friday night for children with special needs, a show for church family on Saturday night and 2 shows during the children's services at church on Sunday morning. The shows are black-light which is why they are dressed in black.

Texas Bluebonnets

The bluebonnets in Texas are in full bloom and plentiful thanks to our wet winter. Don spotted an area off the highway on his way to to work everyday and wanted to take the girls for pictures. We headed there on Saturday afternoon for a few shots. Katie is suffering really bad from allergies (another product of the wet winter), so she didn't get in as many pictures because she felt bad. It's been several years since we've gone picture taking in the bluebonnets, so here are a few of the family.

On a side note, I won a contest on Facebook for a free professional photography session. The photographer is a former member of our church and her family moved to Oklahoma a few years ago. Now they are back (her husband is a pastor) and she held a contest to promote her business. I was one of the 2 lucky winners.....really it's a blessing from God! We are hoping to have family pictures made in May. It's been about 3 years since we've had a professional family portrait....so really looking forward to that!

Easter 2010

Easter was somewhat low key this year in regards to activities.....no spring party and egg hunt at the elementary school (only for k-3rd grade), and we did not go to any other egg hunts. The one on Easter Sunday at our church was for 4th grade and younger. Poor Katie, she is still in that in-between stage and wanted to go to an egg hunt, but none for her age......guess that's why they're called "tweeners"! We did dye eggs on Saturday and some candy and a few goodies were left for the girls on Sunday morning. My Mom came over to go to church with us and then we came back to our house for lunch. Don wanted roast, so I got up at 5 am to put it in the crockpot. Katie likes ham so we had that too along with cheesy potatoes, green beans, corn, rolls, and the best lemon bars ever! It didn't take too long after lunch for Don to head off to a nap, my Mom left to go back home and then it was nap time for me. Don and I take resting on the Sabbath very seriously. Katie was suffering with allergies, so in the end didn't even mind that she didn't go on an egg hunt because she was feeling bad.

Church service was great and we're so thankful for Pastor Craig and his wonderful messages every Sunday. It was a beautiful day to celebrate our risen Savior. Hope your Easter was enjoyed with friends, family, and the assurance of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Family picture.....I won't post the one of Mom and girls because my Mom can never keep her eyes open. It's a running joke now that we're going to start taping her eyes open whenever we take pictures :)

Sarah 14 years old

Katie 11 years old

Sarah's first pair of real high heel shoes. She was so excited and practiced walking in them on Saturday. Don didn't quite care for seeing his "little girl" in heels....sorry dad, she's growing into a beautiful young lady.

Spring Time in Texas.....or is it????

Yesterday our family enjoyed the beautiful spring weather by spending time walking around downtown Grapevine, shopping in all the cute stores, and then stopping to enjoy the botanical gardens. Wonderful 70 degree spring weather.....sunshine, flowers, eating lunch outside with the trees in bloom. But wait, the forecast calls for a coldfront to move in Friday night and possibly snow flurries on Saturday. What??? That means my much anticipated garage sale will be postponed until next weekend. Can I live with all the STUFF that we've pulled out of closets and lined the hallways and corners with. Oh well, at least that part is done and Don is going to help clean out the garage today while we still have 73 degree weather. Here are a few shots of our day in Grapevine.

Clean House

Ok.. my house is not quite ready for the Clean House team to come visit, but I am planning a yard sale on Saturday. Do you ever watch Clean House on The Style Network? It amazes me how people live in such a mess!!! But based on the amount of stuff we've pulled from closets, I guess if you don't purge on a regular basis then you will end up on the episode "Messiest Home in the Country"!

Here are pictures of what the girls and I have been cleaning out so far (won't even show you the garage, but there is a washer/dryer and bikes out there). We're hoping to raise some money for summer church camps and Mission Trip. Things get expensive when you have teens/tweeners! Now if I could get Don to tackle his closet and the attic we would really be making progress.

This week is Spring Break and he's taking off on Thursday and Friday to have fun with the girls and help pull this sale together on Saturday. So if you're out and about on Saturday, come do some shopping....you'll be helping the girls go on their church trips this summer!

Sarah and Katie bagged sets of their Littlest Pet Shop critters.....they think about 75 of them!

Also included are several BIG playsets for the animals to enjoy!

Clothes, clothes, shoes, dress-up clothes, purses....everything a young girl needs.

Lots of "friends" are leaving their dark corner of the girls' closets. Many board games too.

Who doesn't need a monkey mug?? Where did this come from?

More stuff....Easy Bake Oven is back there! Purses, shoes, household stuff....

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Happy Birthday Don and a record snowfall!

Today is Don's 49th birthday....he's not real happy about being so close to 50. I told him this morning not many 49 year olds can say this....he still is about the same size as when we met 20 years ago, he still has hair and it's not gray, he has had no surgeries or does not take any medication, he can eat all the ice cream he wants and still has great cholesterol....so not fair. I can't say even one of those things at age 43 (well, I do have hair, but it's gray). So he has many reasons to feel blessed, including us girls who at times drive him crazy.

We woke up to a beautiful snowfall this morning. Don is such a good husband that he stayed home to fix my flat tire and be here when the repairman came to fix the heat pump. Maybe he just used those as excuses to stay home on his birthday. I had to go to work and the girls went to school. Just got an email that school is cancelled for Friday and President's Day holiday is on Monday.....yeah for long weekend! Don will be off work on Monday too.

Here are some pictures of the snow. At 3:00 this afternoon Don measured 7 inches in the front yard. It's now 4:00 and still snowing!!! The news says we've hit a record amount of snow for one day. We will postpone his birthday dinner at LaHacienda Ranch tonight and just stay in and keep warm. A Big Top Cupcake is in the oven.