4th of July Weekend

Friday we gathered with friends at Marci and Carey's new lake lot. There was plenty of good food. The kids swam and a few went water skiing while the rest of us visited. Then of course there were the fireworks. Thanks Marci!

Here are a couple of attempts at pictures:

Then on Saturday, we headed over to Stalkcutter Ranch for more good food and visiting with some new friends and seeing some old friends. Remember these two?


Georgia and Jerry!

It a has been over a year since we saw them. And they have a new granddaughter adopted from Russia. Congrats guys! After stuffing ourselves we went out to the front lawn and played wiffle ball. I haven't run that hard since forever. But it was great. Chris Riley and another guy named Blake picked teams. By the way men, don't pick your wife second. With most of the Ochoa clan there we had plenty of players. Now on Sunday, I am a little tired an a lot sore.

kids

Wet bar remodel

Yes we have have a wet bar, or actually had. We used it mainly for storage. I don't have any before pics so I will give you a mental picture of our 70's party haven. It had a working bar sink and a spot cut out for a mini fridge but it was gone when we bought the house. Then there was the beautiful gold foil wallpaper (you can see a bit of it in the first pic) on the side walls. The back wall was the marble, mirrored glass (very heavy and long gone in the dump). Also on the back wall were 4 rows of glass shelving. I put these on craigs and you would not believe the number of people who wanted them.

Bri helping peel some of the gorgeous foil paper off. She got to demo the white laminate counter top and cabinet. Also great therapy.

Trevor had to take out the plumbing for the sink and fridge and make it only for the washer, which meant cutting a hole in the dry wall.

I finally got around to screwing in the drywall pieces. The pipe connection Trevor used was wider than the 2x4 so the drywall wouldn't fit flush on the studs. I had to route out a big groove on the back side of the drywall to make it fit. What should have taken about an hour start to finish ended up being more like 3 hours.
And the joint compound finishes the patch work. Next step, wiring it for a computer desk.

More Favorite Pics

And reasons why I really enjoy living at the lake.

Being able to go fishing and catch an 8lb cat at night.

Seeing wildlife in our front yard. I never get tired of the deer.

And we can see this on almost any given summer night.

From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised. Psalms 113:3

We got a new dog

Not really. It just seems like we did. Spike went for his first grooming today. He really needed it. His fur is soo soft.

He doesn't look like the same dog. Here is a before shot.

18 months old today!

Not really a baby anymore, :( I guess more like a toddler. Where has the time gone? I remember taking him to get his 6 month pictures this time last year. We drove to Tyler and he napped on the way. Thankfully he woke up in a good mood, which made the session go quickly and smoothly.

And now at a year and a half, he still has dimples on his hands, and chubby cheeks.

He likes playing with blocks in his room.

And maybe even starting his own blog!

Favorite Pictures

Andi started a favorite pictures post and I love taking pictures, of my kids. Well, they are my main subjects. I do take other pictures though. Here are some of my favorites since we got our digital camera:Rance, 24 hours old.

Checking Rance's weight on our kitchen scale.

6lbs 3.85oz. at 5 days old.

Having really goods dreams.

Peak a boo!

More to come later.

Yeah!

Sanctuary is done!

Couldn't have done it w/o Kasey, Allison, and Trevor.

We came together and it looks great.

Nahtan's sister had the banner made up for her church and then sent it over to us. Wow, very talented people. Looks like it is going to be another great VBS.

White boy can dance?

If you notice in the close ups, Rance is really concentrating on turning off/on the baby doll swing. You can tell by his tongue sticking out. First it was head banging, now it's slam dancing.

Rance and Spike

In this video the dog was spazzing out and Rance was too when he saw Spike running around like crazy. It almost seems like they were "arguing" with each other. In the end, a few licks on the fingers and all is well.

Underwater scene: done!

Hallway: done!

Entrance: almost done, minus the 5 foot blow up pineapple.

Added a few paper boulders, seaweed, fishing nets, and a school of blow up fish and sea turtles. Allison, Bri and I spent about an hour airing them up, and Bri hung the fish from the ceiling. Now all we have left to do is the Sanctuary, but we can't get started on that till after morning worship tomorrow. Then it's crunch time. Thankfully we have a few people working on this. I just hope the kids will like it.

My boys

Brothers and best buds hanging out in their room.
Rance was left alone for only a couple of minutes. That drawer is just his size, after he cleared a few things out of the way.
Long day, and content in Daddy's arms.

Moving along

Mrs. LaNell was busy this week making cutouts of fish and seaweed. The phone picture does not do it justice. Everything is coming together.

Rocket

Rance rockin to some Def Leppard in his car seat. Sorry the quality isn't that great, I used my 3MP cell phone.

Off to camp

Bri has left for camp today and will be gone till Friday. How will I ever make it w/o my 24/7 babysitter? Will she be fine so far away from her baby brother? I miss her already and so does Colton. He got a little upset as we were leaving the church. I know she will have a blast at Trinity Pines. Madi Ann is filling in for the next few days. Thanks Madi. I need all the help I can get the week before VBS.

I did the unthinkable!

But it was to help the little guy see better.

Don't worry, I only trimmed his bangs. He still has his tons of curls. Yes, I will have his hair cut... someday. Just not right now. He is growing up to fast and I want to hang on to what babiness he has left. Especially since he is my last. :(

Slowly but surely

Decorations are coming along but it's a slow process. The coral is a three paint technique with a sea sponge and it's taking a toll on my hands. I got another texture roller and will try that. I think things are coming together though. It's just hard making time to go paint this stuff with other activities going on. Thankfully my kiddos are willing to paint.

VBS '08 Progress

One corner of the fellowship hall is being transformed into an underwater scene.
Starting with blue paper on the wall for the water effect, of course, and cut outs for coral. Colton knew right off that the drawing on the cardboard was coral. Probably from watching hours of Sponge Bob cartoons.

Nice hit!

and a 2 run RBI! Way to go Bri.

Briana made blueberry muffins from scratch and Rance thought they were de-lic-ious!