The past five weeks ...

... have been absolutely insane, but SO fun! I'll need to refer back to the calendar to remember it all. Sorry for the delay in posting.

Way back at the end of March, the kids and I took John to the DFW airport on a Friday so that he could represent Clearly Vocal at the VoCAL Nation A Cappella Festival in NYC. While we were in Dallas for the day, the kids and I decided to go to the Dallas Arboretum. Oh, it was beautiful! All of the tulips were out, my favorite. Kate was just four weeks, but she did great!








That night, my brother Kreg, his wife Keleigh, and their son Westin came all the way from Colorado Springs for a visit over a weekend. My mom and her husband Craig drove down from Searcy as well. It was nice to have some help! The cousins had so much fun playing together. So wish we could see each other more often!

Westin meets cousin Kate. That face!


Nana and Pops and the grands.


Silly Uncle Kreg!


Sweet Kalleigh.


While playing on the Brookshire's playground, Keleigh and I were watching the kids play on the monkey bars. I was saying that I was getting so much more confident in Johnathan's climbing abilities and that I just didn't get as worried about him falling as I used to when he was younger. At that moment, Johnathan came running over to us, screaming, with blood dripping from his mouth. He had bitten his tongue--badly! Thankfully, he was missing his two front teeth already, so he didn't bite all the way through. He bit a nice chunk out, though. Sheesh. I felt so bad for him!


We got one last picture in the Texas bluebonnets.


The next couple of weeks, we spent getting ready to host the third annual East Texas A Cappella Celebration. It was on April 9th. We had four other groups sing in addition to Clearly Vocal representing choral music, contemporary Christian, gospel and barbershop. It was a great evening!

John always does such a good job making the programs. :)


I tried jogging some when Kate was 6 weeks. I made it a mile, then walked a mile. Then just gave it up for a while. What was I thinking?

Then began the craziest week of all. After the concert on Saturday my friend Chelsea and I began getting ready for Rodeo Roundup at Little People's School where Kalleigh and Jonas attend. I was in charge of the kitchen again this year, which means feeding about 300 people over two days. Oh, and my friend Stefanie and I were in charge of the Glenwood ladies retreat that was the following weekend. No bigs.

Monday was probably the most hectic day. I dropped the kids off at their respective schools, helped Chelsea decorate the gym for RRU, sent information letters out to all of the ladies telling them what to bring and how to get there, went to Sam's and bought the food for the 300 people and unloaded it into the kitchen, picked up K2 and J3 from preschool, got them plus K3 down for naps, assigned roommates for the ladies retreat and called the camp coordinator with my final numbers, got J2 from school, helped him with homework, loaded all four kids (that's Js 2&3 and Ks2&3, because John and I are J1&K1, of course!) into the van, picked up some Bueno and then went to Clearly Vocal rehearsal. Well, I left out feeding Kate every three hours, but that's a given. Whew!

So, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings were spent in boots and bandanas serving hot dogs and chili to the preschoolers of Little People's School and their parents. That's always fun! I had a good crew of parents helping me out, too!

Thursday was spent doing last minute ladies retreat stuff: buying & stuffing folders, making copies, and most importantly, preparing for the entertainment! I decided that I would do a presentation Saturday night before the bonfire on how to roast the perfect marshmallow ... as Beth Moore! It was too fun. Our Ladies Bible class had done her study on Daniel, so I spent one of the video sessions writing down all of her funny phrases. I incorporated them into some flowery instructions on roasting marshmallows that I had found online, and it was done. Oh, and I made a fill-in-the-blank handout. :)

The ladies retreat was Friday - Sunday. The theme was "Talk Amongst Yourselves," focusing on our speech. We brought in a group of five ladies from Abilene called The Coffee Group to be our speakers. I really appreciated all of the preparation they put into their lessons, and we had some GREAT discussion time in our small groups.

Saturday night for the Beth Moore marshmallow thing, I wore a blondish wig, a bright green jacket with a sparkly yellow scarf, khaki pants, and huge heels. It was so fun, and the ladies were in stitches! Wish I had a picture or a video!

Sunday morning, we had to do a sunrise service with breakfast following. Stefanie and I had to get back to Tyler to church because Ronnie White, our interim preacher, had asked Clearly Vocal to sing a special song after his sermon. I think many of the ladies, especially the elders' wives, enjoyed being back at Glenwood for services anyway.

Now we're caught up to this week-Yea! Monday, Kate had a check-up. She's up to eleven pounds! Such a cutie.


Tuesday was my first Tuesday home since January. I guess I was a little bored, so I made Kalleigh and me matching dresses. It was SO easy. I don't even have a sewing machine any more! I bought this bolt of dress fabric for $1/yd with the intention of cutting off the top and making a Moby wrap for Kate.


When Kalleigh saw it she asked, "Mommy! Are you making a dress for me?!?" She was just too excited, and I realized how easy it would be. So I did. And then I made one for me, too. And I still have enough fabric for the wrap.


Tonight, Clearly Vocal is singing for a local retirement center's Passion In the Park celebration. Then we're heading to a Mercy Me concert tomorrow night with friends while the three big kids spend the night with the Deans. And then it's Easter weekend and Kate will be eight weeks old!


Happy Easter!


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