A Study In Sleep

I don't want to forget how sweet they are at this age...

...when they are asleep

A Boy's Best Friend

Seth LOVES our dogs.  He calls Jake his best friend.  Nothing better than a boy and his dog.

This is Sadie.  Sadie might look like she is barely tolerating this.

When in fact, Sadie looks like she barely tolerates most things.

Jake is our happy go lucky, smiley, tongue flapping, tail wagging excitable dog.

Sadie is just our big grizzly teddy bear.  

Mellow.  

Lethargic.  

Those kinds of dogs make the best pillows!

Girls Weekend

I have a group of girlfriends from college that I get together with a couple times per year.  As we have added husbands and children throughout the years since college, it has been increasingly more difficult to get together.  But we still make it happen because these relationships are a priority to us!

Cindy, Amy, me

It is so refreshing to be with people who have known you many years and through many seasons of life.  We always rehash old memories, tell new stories, and shake our heads at some of the decision we have all made in our lives!  But the best part of our time together is knowing that there are people who have seen you at your best and at your worst and still unconditionally love you.  

We have all had significant challenges in our lives to deal with - things we didn't expect back in college as we were looking forward to what our lives were going to be like.  I can definitely say we are all better people for those challenges, and that we have chosen not to let bitterness take root in our spirits.  And there is one simple reason for that, and we all share it in common - we recognize that we are loved completely by Jesus, the one who proves strong and unchanging in our times of weakness and despair.

I love you girls.  

(Sarah, we missed you!  Can't wait until the next get together when we can meet your new little one.  New York City anyone??)

Seth's Birthday(s)

Happy 5th Birthday Seth!

Our sweet son has turned 5, and we had his party last week.  His actual birthday was June 11, but we were on vacation at the time and had to wait until we got back to have his party.

This was his invitation:

We had the party at our house, and Seth said he wanted a cake with blue water on it. So we had a beach party theme!

For the cake, I made the sand out of crushed Nilla Wafers, and then just dyed some icing blue for the water.  I made the dock out of pretzel sticks, and the palm trees were actually drink stirrers that I found at a party store.  All of the ocean creatures came in a little set from the toy store.

I poured real sand on the center of the table and added some seashells.  I thought I might regret this later if the kids started playing and got sand everywhere, but they were busy enough that they never even touched it!

Sand on the smaller table:

Playing with party favors!

About to sing Happy Birthday!

Opening presents...

Then we headed outside.  My brother owns a cool new franchise called Games2U. It is a mobile game theater truck that they take to birthday parties, community or corporate events, church functions, etc.  They also have portable Laser Tag and a human Hamster Ball!

How fun is that???

Here is what the Game truck looks like inside:

Some of the "older" boys playing Guitar Hero on the outside of the truck...

Thanks, Neal, for bringing the truck and the ball for the party!!

Then the boys headed over to the pool:

Thomas and Seth

Cousin Austin and Seth

Seth and one of his three girlfriend's, Maggie.  Maggie was such a trooper to come and bring her 3 week old baby Eve!

Seth's other two girlfriend's, Mindie and Molly.  Thanks so much for coming girls!  Seth was so happy, as you can see :-)

Christian...

Jack...

Leah and Mark, parents to 5 adopted boys! (including Christian, Thomas & Jack)

Steve's artsy picture of Seth with Janessa and Mike.  Guess whose birthday it was the day of Seth's party and yet he STILL came?  Yes, that is right.  The man with the new guitar.

They brought Seth some shakers for his birthday!

Thanks to everyone for making Seth feel so special!  (And thank you to my Mom and Dad for watching Caleb during the whole party so I didn't have to worry about him!)

2009 Horvath Family Pool

So we went big time this year.  

This was our 2008 Horvath Family Pool:

It was great! The boys had lot's of good times in that little pool with the slide.

When it started getting hot this year, Seth asked for his yellow pool.  Unfortunately, it didn't make it through the winter.  It had cracks in it, so it would no longer hold water.

We went to look for a pool, and this same pool at Wal-Mart costs $30.  Not bad for a summer of use and helping to keep cool in the hot, humid Texas summers.

But then, I started thinking.  What if we got a bit *bigger* pool, one that we could all occasionally get in together?  Like this...

(Oh my gosh.  Someone get me a bag.  I am hyper-ventilating just looking at this picture.)

So I went to Academy, and found this little gem for $48.99.  

We did have to buy a tarp to put the pool on ($14), and also some chlorine ($5) and a little frog holder ($7) that floats and holds the chlorine tabs.  Still, overall, a great deal!

If you consider this pool, however, I would warn you that you have to position it close to an outlet because it has a pump with a filter that you plug in.  And the cord to the pump is black, so it sort of blends in with the ground.

So when you mow, you have to remember to unplug the pump and pull the cord out of the grass.  Or you MIGHT just run over the cord and rip it to shreds.  I'm not saying this from experience...I am just saying that I could see how it could very easily happen to a totally competent person.

(And if this did happen to you, wouldn't it be amazing if a friend had just recently come over and given you a brand new pump that they never got around to using last summer with the pool that they no longer have?)

See?  You could fit like 14 more people in there!

Seth practicing his mad swimming skills for swim lessons in two weeks.  The only problem is he won't take his feet off the ground.  He is pretty much walking in this picture :-)  But his head is under water!!

Seth + Daddy + Pool = Serious Happy Place