Texas Andersons

Wow! Since my last real update (August 1st), we have had some exciting things happen…

To kick-off the month was Madison’s 6th birthday party. We all had such a good time, especially getting to swim in their pool. Cousins Patrick and Karen were blessed with their first baby (Connor). We were able to make another three trips to Fiesta Texas. The first, I took the boys to the waterpark and had a great time watching Ben on the water slides. The second, we went with Madison, and the kids got to ride all of the rides. And the last, we went with Madison again, this time just to the waterpark, where they got to enjoy the pool for a few hours.

Also during the month, we got to go out to a nice dinner to celebrate Nathan’s awesome review at work and me winning Best of the Best, we went to Mystic Sister’s cd release concert, Nathan and I attended a session at Dream Dinners to put together some fantastic meals, and we enjoyed a delicious and scenic lunch from the Tower of Americas.

And I’m sure you’ve read all about Ben’s big deals lately. Over this past month he’s gotten really great riding his bike without training wheels. We’ve been taking him out just about every other night so he can ride around the neighborhood or the hike and bike trail. And he also started kindergarten! The first week went really well. He is just thrilled with getting to ride the bus every day. And seems to love his classroom and Ms. Bowen. While he did get a warning on Wednesday for not listening, the rest of the week he came home with stickers and some fantastic comments from his teacher. So far, so good!

And to finish up the month, we’re enjoying a fun Labor Day weekend. It started Friday with Larry and Debbie coming into town for a visit (and Granmom Debbie even went to have lunch with Ben at school). Yesterday we participated in the Kendall County Fair parade, with us having a cute float with a “backyard bbq” theme, throwing out candy, and handing out postcards, cascarones, and t-shirts. We then took our parade volunteers out to lunch at Cheesy Jane’s for burgers and milkshakes. And then we went to the fair last night to let Ben attend the carnival. And with a $20 wristband to ride all the rides he wished, he had a great time!

A few pieces of big news…

We want to extend a CONGRATULATIONS to cousins Patrick and Karen on their new bundle of joy. It’s a sweet little boy! Connor Aidan was born on August 1st, weighing in at only 6 pounds and 5 ounces, and measuring 19.5 inches long. He was born three weeks early, making him only a month and a half younger than Evan. I expect those two will be great friends. How blessed both our boys are to have cousins their ages.

And bravo to Nathan for being recognized at work for all the hard work you do. A great review is always well-deserved. You rock!

And a pat on the back for me too. If you haven’t heard by now, I won in The Boerne Star’s Best of the Best contest again. The readers voted and awarded me the silver medal as one of their favorite photographers in Kendall County. Yay!

It was a big day today! It was a big week last week getting ready for this morning. To prepare for the school year, last week we made some big changes to Ben’s grooming habits and schedule. And we had a very special day yesterday celebrating the start of school.

The changes? We had Ben start to brush his teeth every morning (in addition to every night like he’s used to) and we had him take a bath or shower every night (instead of every-other-night like he’s been doing). And then over the weekend we changed his schedule to start getting ready for bedtime over an hour ealier.

The special day? We spent the day celebrating Ben, playing tourists in San Antonio. We ate lunch up in the Tower of Americas, walked around downtown, and toured the Alamo. We spent time playing games. And there were lots of hugs and kisses at bedtime.

So, this morning… his alarm clock went off at 6:00. He was dressed and ready for breakfast by 6:05. He then pottied, brushed his hair, brushed his teeth, and was ready to go by 6:30. With 15 minutes to spare, he and Nathan played with monster trucks. Then we headed to the bus stop where he met a new friend and happily hopped on the bus to go to his first day of school. Hallelujah!

I hope the rest of the day goes just as well…

It started with a new loose tooth last week, then us registering him for soccer the other day, then buying school supplies for kindergarten yesterday. And the latest big deal (the latest sign he’s growing up)- he rode his bike without training wheels tonight!!!

Ben, Evan, and I went for a bike ride/ walk this evening after dinner. Just over half the way through, he hit the curb with his training wheel, completely bending the metal to where I couldn’t fix it. So I talked him into leaning on the one training wheel if he needed to, balancing the rest of the time. He did so well getting home like that, Daddy took the training wheels completely off and we headed back to the streets.

We both thought there would be lost of whining, lots of falling, with Nathan needing to hold the bike while trying to teach him. But all Nathan had to do was let go… and Ben was on his way, even trying to do tricks and pop wheelies! What a show off! What a big guy!

It has been crazy around here since the 4th of July weekend! We’ve been here, there, and everywhere (and Ben had a couple of sleepovers!)…

Our church hosted a “Wacky Water Wednesday” at the city pool, where all the kiddos got to go swimming for the afternoon. Ben, Morgan, Madison, and Landon had such a great time! Ben then went and spent a few days in Helotes with Granmom, Pawpaw, and Angie. He had a blast and wasn’t ready to come back home when it was time. But then we headed off to Enchanted Springs Ranch’s Wild West Fun Fest for an afternoon of covered wagon rides, wild west fun, and good food. Then the following weekend I got ten inches trimmed off my hair to donate to Locks of Love, Larry and Debbie came into town for a visit, and then Ben went back to Ft. Worth with them.

During his 8-day stay, they swam at the pool almost every day, went bike riding, visited Pawpaw’s work, went to the Ft. Worth Zoo, enjoyed the drive-through safari at Fossil Rim, checked out the dinosaurs at Dinosaur Valley, went camping and caoeing at Lake Bridgeport, got to go fishing with real worms (ew! but he thought it was so cool), and then headed to Austin to meet up with us.

We were in Austin for my annual Children and Family Photographers of America’s conference. I had a couple of great days of speakers. Then when Ben got into town, we met up for lunch, went swimming at the hotel, and then enjoyed dinner and then the bats at the Congress Avenue Bridge. The conference wrapped up the next day with one last speaker, print judging, and the awards dinner. I walked away with two prints receiving above average ratings (with one of those receiving the first place People’s Choice Award in the maternity category). And I had the last print receive merit from the judges. Then we all made it home safe and sound, and exhausted.