Summer Camp Fun

Where can you find Nat, La & Hud on

Tuesdays/Thursday mornings this summer?

Having fun at our preschool's summer camp session!

The kids are having a blast playing with their friends!

And they get to do crazy, messy things that would not happen at home! And I get to earn some money while playing with glue, glitter and play-doh!

It's a win, win!

Gibbs Family Getaway

How hard is it to get all 16 members of the Gibbs family together at the same time and place?

VERY!

In fact, it hasn't happened since last Christmas! We almost managed to do it this past weekend! 15 out of 16 (we missed you Eddie!) of us got together and spent a couple of days enjoying the pool and view of Lake Hamilton!

We had SUCH a good time!

We had a great time swimming, eating some great food (thanks mom, Ashley and Ashley's mom for feeding us SO well!), chasing kiddos, getting caught up with the latest on everyone's lives, laughing, and playing an unfortunate round of the game Catch Phrase (the boys somehow managed to beat us girls! We'll get ya next time guys!) Here are some other pics....

Here are all 7 Gibbs Grandkids!
Getting them all together and still for a picture is a pretty amazing feat!Left to Right...Hudon, Cannon, Griffin, Lawson, Palmer, Brooklyn, Reese Lawson's dream come true! She adores her triplet cousins! In fact, she has baby dolls at home named Palmer, Griffin and Cannon and tending to them is one of her favorite past times! Feeding the REAL Palmer, Griffin and Cannon was the highlight of her trip!

Sisters and Brothers!

Me and Steph (my sister) holding our nephews (Griffin and Palmer)

Have I mentioned that this is the life I was meant for?!

I LOVE to spend a summer day floating on a raft!

Lawson helps Aunt Steph re-live some of her cheerleading glory days!

(My two...Lawson and Hudson with Cousin Reese)

We had gorgeous weather! It was high 80s and breezy!

Such a nice break from the summer heat!

It felt like we were in a tropical paradise!

Aunt Steph and Brooklyn enjoying a poolside snack!

"Throw me higher, Uncle Brady!" Squeals Hudon.

The 3 Gibbs Grandsons hanging out poolside.

"Give me a goldfish, Hudson!"

Free Books!

FREE things will be a very common subject on this blog!

And you just can't beat FREE kids books!

If you are like me, you get really excited over your kids getting new books.....not because of their educational value....but because you can't read How Big is Baby Elmo one more time!!!!!

Half Price Books is offering a really great program this summer!

Kids 12 and under keep a daily log how much time they spent reading. Then they bring it in each week and each child is rewarded a $3 voucher to buy new books! My kids have each scored 2 new books each week! For FREE!

Here is their website if you would like to participate. There are still a few weeks left!

http://www.halfpricebooks.com/

Family Night @ Chick-fil-a

If you want to know where to find the Buies on Tuesday nights, its Chick-fil-a!

We started going EVERY Tues night back before Hudson was even born! What's crazy is that there are quite a few other family night regulars and we have all watched each others kids grow up! We are kinda a secret Chick-fil-a cult! We have even gotten to know many of the employees during that time. In fact, we used to joke that Hudson might think that a few of the employees there were his aunts and uncles because when he was a baby he would just light up when he saw them....sadly he saw them more than his real aunts/uncles!! Ha!

10 things that I LOVE about Chick-fil-A:

10. purell wipes outside the play area door

9. that you can get your sandwich on a wheat bun

8. family night every tuesday (you get a free kids meal with each adult combo purchased and they have FREE entertainment...face painting, balloon animals, craft, etc)

7. kids can trade in their kids meal toy for an ice cream cone

6. they are closed on Sunday (what a statement that makes....they value their employees more than their profits)

5. bend-y straws for kids (if you have ever set in a booth with a small child trying to drink through a non-bend-y straw you know what i am talking about)

4. lobby room attendant (visit McDonalds where they send some one out every half hour to clean and compare to a lobby that has some continually cleaning and you will see why you just feel better about touching the tables at Chick-fil-a.

3. they have fresh squeezed lemonade

2. they gladly offer to carry your tray to your table when they see you are holding a child

1. when you say thank to one of their employees, they answer "It's my pleasure." (makes you feel SO special!)

You can tell they really value the customer experience!

Here is one of our favorite Chick-fil-a face painters, Mrs. Shelly! She is incredibly talented....and such a nice person! She paints faces at our Chick-fil-a about once a month and so she has painted a rainbow on Lawson's face and something orange on Hudson's face about 30 times now...these are my kids favorites and they always request them...so Shelly doesn't really even have to ask what they want aymore! She has even brought small gifts to my kids....just because she ran into something she thought they would like. How nice is that?! If you ever need a face painter, she's your lady. You can book her at http://www.merrymakersclowns.com/

Here are some before and after shots from tonight...

Hudson's orange race car

Lawson's rainbow

Summer Bible Reading Challenge

The children's ministry at our church has offered a Summer Bible Reading Challenge to the kids.

They get rewards for reading their bible/bible stories everyday and an extra goodie for learning a bible verse each week. It actually was supposed to be for 4 yr olds and up...but as Hudson has heard Lawson practicing her verses each week he has learned quite a few of them as well!

There is nothing sweeter than hearing your children speak the word of God!

Belly Busters & a Chocolate Goatee

One of the members of our Worship Team from Church invited the Worship Team and their families over for a cookout and some swimming this afternoon! We thoroughly enjoyed our time there! They have a beautiful backyard and she must of spent hours preparing the food! It was quite a spread and hit the spot after a couple of hours of swimming! Thank you Hollinger family!

Here are some pics from the afternoon. Here is Lawson with a chocolate goatee!

Everyone told her she looked like her daddy!
Lawson wanted to make sure that we got a picture of the walrus' face....so everyone could see it she said! (and arn't you glad?!)

Hudson proclaimed that the hot tub was only for kids and that all grown ups had to stay in the pool. He stood guard over it most of the afternoon.

"She wore an itsy, bitsy, teeny, weeny"....well it's not yellow....but it is polka dot!
As I was taking this picture, I overheard her Daddy telling someone that she will not be posing like that when she is 15!
Lawson has pretty much mastered swimming this summer. We keep a close eye on her...but she doesn't need any help at the pool now. She's got it!

It was Hudson's first time to jump off of a diving board today! He is SO brave in the water and is swimming really well! (almost too well...if you know what I mean....NO fear of water!) He can swim as far as he can go on one breath...so now we are working on trying to get him to come up and take a breath . Evidentally belly busters don't hurt if you are 2....because Hudson did about 20 today and kept coming back for more!

Bubbles & Ice Cream

Today we went to a fun FREE family event at the Bob Jones Nature Center in Southlake (thanks to the tip from my friend Susan). The kids got to make their own bubble wands. Lawson's was in the shape of a flower and Hudson's was a turtle. Then they got to enjoy some home made ice cream! Bubbles and ice cream! You can't go wrong!