Park with a View

A cool morning at the park with the Stata cousins, with sidewalk chalk, swings, and a beautiful view!

Rock Climbing in the Rockies

A beautiful day in Colorado Springs to soak up the Colorado sunshine, try rock climbing, and play with cousins!

With the help of Grandpa Stata on belay, the kids scampered up the beginner slab...

...and the grown-ups somehow made it, too!

Remembering Mom

Grandma Boaz is with Jesus, her savior, after a battle with Alzheimers.  With sad but hopeful hearts, we remembered her life and celebrated her Home-going.

On the memory table, we remembered her ministry as a Christ-follower, wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, hospice nurse, and pastor's wife.

Her service was at the Stone Chapel, and it was a beautiful time of honoring her memory.

Happy Birthday, Abby!

It's Abby's second birthday!  Her birthday morning began with our family tradition of opening little gifts in her birthday stocking.  She was intrigued and excited to get little books, bubbles, and other fun goodies.  And she got plenty of help learning about how to be the birthday girl from her older siblings.

At age 2, Abby is a highly energetic, inquisitive, talkative little girl.  She is done being a baby, and strives to everything that her older siblings get to do.  She is building a big vocabulary, loves to sing and listen to books, loves shoes, going outside, and pushing her babies in a stroller.  She dislikes holding hands in the parking lot, being left out or left behind, or being strapped in!

We had one important person who couldn't be there on Abby's birthday.  Daddy was in Colorado, spending a few final precious days with Grandma Boaz.  So he watched Abby open her stocking via Skype.  And we saved the rest of her celebration until a few weeks later, when we were all home together again.  I don't think Abby really minded - to her, it probably seemed like she had at least 3 birthdays this year!

We finished off her birthday with some chocolate sheet cake, and Mommy and each of her siblings had their own quarter of the cake to decorate.  Happy 2nd birthday, Abby!

Pictures with Momma

Posing with my babies for Mother's Day!

Sunrise on Mustang Island

Sunrise on Mustang Island, with a little visit from a Great Blue Heron.

Camping on the Beach

"Never leave home without a tent and sleeping bag" might be one of Grandpa Stata's unspoken mottos... At least not if there's any possibility that you might get to camp!  He just happened to pack a small tent and sleeping bag in his suitcase for this trip to Corpus Christi, so he and Johnathan decided that a night on the beach was in order.

Of course, they weren't very far from civilization.  Our neighborhood was just over the boardwalk!

Though they didn't necessarily have a quiet evening (as a group of campers pulled up next to them in the middle of the night), they had a fun adventure camping on the beach!