2012 Family Photos

Photos by my sweet friend Sarah during Spring Break 2012

Anthony 7 years old, Isabella 2 years old 

Big Grandma’s 93rd Birthday

I love my sweet Grandma so much. She is such an amazing woman. At 93 years old she still does her own house cleaning, cooks dinners, makes the best buttermilk pie in the world, takes walks with her dog, drives where ever she needs to and picks up the younger ladies for church. Amazing! I am so blessed to be called her granddaughter.


Happy Birthday Big Grandma!

Here is a picture of my dad, Big Grandma and my two kiddos.


Grandma, I love you with all my heart!!~Rhonda


(It was 3 years ago on a Saturday when we were trying to celebrate my grandma’s 90th birthday that the rains never stopped until our house was flooded.)

Easter 2012

On Saturday we went to my sister's to

dye eggs...

After a wonderful church service, we gathered at my parents with family and friends for lots of food, egg hunting and swimming!

    

    

Put some money in the eggs and everyone will hunt... 

my nieces both found the golden and silver eggs!

It's been a long time tradition that Easter "opens" the pool... crazy kids!

Swimming with friends.

           

    This is as far as she went and I don't blame her...it was cold!

Glad he remembers what he learned in swim lessons last year…saves me a lot of money this year!  

Ok, just a few more pictures...real life, no pretending to be sweet here... 

I just had to add these because they cracked me up. 

Thanks Kimberley for catching them in the act!

   

Here is Isa tattling...but for good reason...

  

...be nice brother...oh those eyes! 

(don't have a clue why A is in the baby swing?!!?)

Guess I'll end with the sweet one...

    

Happy Easter everyone! 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; 

do not depend on your own understanding. 

~Proverbs 3:5

2 years today...

 

Today the three of us spent the entire day together. This evening we went to dinner with a sweet friend of mine, Erin & her adorable daughter. Then met up with Grandma & Grandpa at the church that hosted Upward Basketball for this season and enjoyed the End of Season Celebration for Anthony's 2nd fabulous year. 

Crazy timing, we did this same thing last year when we had to move past the "1 Year" milestone. 

All I really know is that God has taken very good care of the 3 of us these past 2 years. I know for a fact that I am stronger in many ways. My kids are such blessings. They are two very strong kiddos in their own ways (many will even say they both are "strong-willed"...and yes they are! Oh my!) 

After taking that trip to Dallas with Anthony this past December-I have had a lot of momentum. I believe God did some work on me through that trip and I feel more confident and trusting in Him for today and tomorrow...not looking as much in the past as I have.

 I truly feel like I am not just surviving any more but living. 

And I think/know that Dario is proud of us. He was always our free spirit, crazy, jump and go. I miss that but now its my time to be trusting in what tomorrow holds and not worry so much about yesterday or today.

HOPE

This has been my word. It is on my wall. It is in my heart. But it has meant many different things to me throughout this new journey. Today it truly is HOPE for the future, here on Earth and the promise of eternity in our Heavenly home. If you look up Hope in the beautiful Word of God you will find many verses and many are perfect to me. But still my favorite continues to be 

Jeremiah 17:7

which is listed on the top of my blog. 

Here are a few more

Romans 12:12, Romans 15:13, Isaiah 40:31

 

I love this picture because it has HOPE moving FORWARD. 

One more thing...This is quoted from a book Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, January 8th. 

"Hope in Me (Jesus), and you will be protected from depression and self-pity. Hope is like a golden cord connecting you to heaven. The more you cling to this cord, the more I bear the weight of your burdens; thus you are lightened. Heaviness is not of my kingdom. Cling to hope, and My rays of light will reach you through darkness."

This so has been the case for me and my life. Anthony now 7 1/2, Isa 2 1/2, Me...well 2 years older...We are good. We are strong. We are trusting. Doesn't mean I have it all together...oh man to I struggle with my many responsibilities but...we are strong...we are trusting...we are full of HOPE. 

Love you and thank you for your many well-wishes and especially your prayers today.

 

Awards Program 2nd 9 weeks

Super proud of my big boy!

A/B Honor Roll and Good Citizen Award 

2nd 9 weeks of 2nd grade! 

Way to go, Anthony!

Road Trip 2011

 It was time to do something we had not done. It was time to take a road trip. It needed to just be Anthony and Mommy this time because Lego Land was not the place for Isa right now. So we did it...bought our tickets for Lego Land online, reserved a hotel and got in the car to head to Grapevine, TX.

 Lego Land in Grapevine, TX is not much bigger than a Chuck E. Cheese but it was really not about the place but the time together. Anthony had a blast and that is ALL that mattered! It was so worth it.

 He built a car and raced it down the ramps. He played on the indoor playground.
The two of us rode the two rides...

 ...enjoyed the mini Dallas all of Legos, specially the Rangers' Stadium!...

....watch a 4D movie...

 ...Then we met up with Craig, a long time friend from our Galveston days, and had dinner at the Rain Forest Cafe. This was Anthony's first time and he loved it. He was able to name a handful of the fish in the exhibit.

 Then insisted on getting his picture taken with a stuffed alligator since one of his favorite shows is Swamp People!

 THEN...we headed to Build A Bear to use Anthony's gift card from Christmas. I know some of you are not too excited to see a Longhorn Bear but to be honest in Dallas there is only Cowboys or Longhorns...since Cowboys is totally out of the question the only logical choice was the Longhorn...mommy doesn't mind since I'm a graduate!

Staying at a hotel was fun because Anthony did not have a memory of doing this when he was very little. So we watch the Longhorns play football (and win), played Battleship (Anthony sunk my ships fast!), put his new Lego together, then played Uno. 

This was all in one day! Whew...

 

The next day we headed to Cliffton, TX and visited with some sweet friends, The Brunos! I'm so sad that I forgot to take pictures while we were there. But it really was a great visit.

At last, it was time to head home. Here is my traveling companion after a fast trip to Dallas and home! Sweet Boy!

 Isa stayed with my parents and when we got to their house that evening she was so excited to see us. She screamed with joy and gave huge hugs. I love that girl! :)

 Finally, the next day Anthony wanted to take Isa to Build A Bear to use her gift card from Christmas (Thanks, Craig). She had a blast. And I will say she totally picked out her bear and outfit on her own. I really tried to get her to like the princess outfits but she insisted..

Well to wrap things up, we had a great road trip. I am so proud of us (me) for following through with this idea and doing it. I'm excited to see what 2012 has in store for us. We have been blessed through so much...the good, the bad and even the ugly. I know God has bigger things waiting for us.

Another tooth gone...

Last night Anthony pulled another tooth! I'm so proud of him for being brave enough to this! So far he has pulled 3 out of 4 of his teeth. The only one he didn't pull so far was one at school...he wanted the nurse to pull it so he could get a special necklace to put his tooth in! :) Silly boy!