The Hinckley Family

Story time!

2009-07-22T21:39:00.001-05:00

The Amon Carter Museum here in FW has a wonderful FREE kids story and craft time every Wednesday morning and we LOVE it! We had the pleasure of taking Aiden with us this week (not exactly what he was wanting to do today) and I’m pretty sure he enjoyed it too, well at least the craft part. After we were all finished in the Museum we headed outside for a little running around time and I took just a few pictures ;) Aiden wasn’t really fond of me taking pics, so I didn’t get too many of him, but the girls were pretty into it. Unfortunately you won’t see Addison in any of the pictures, although I’m sure she was having way more fun with her Nini, we missed her tremendously!

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We’re goin’ to the zoo!

2009-07-22T20:16:00.001-05:00

We took Aiden to the wonderful FW Zoo yesterday and had a blast! We didn’t get to nearly all the animals, so we’ll just have to schedule another visit with Aiden in the not to distant future. But we sure did enjoy the animals we did see, especially the Reptiles…well at least Aiden did :)

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Cousin time!

2009-07-20T07:56:00.002-05:00

Yesterday afternoon we were graced with the presence of our nephew, Aiden! Greg’s parents brought him over and they even stayed for dinner! It was wonderful to get to spend some time with them and the girls are absolutely eating up their time with Aiden. He gets to spend three nights with us! We had been planning on having him over for a few days this summer, and time was quickly escaping, but now with his mom in the hospital it forced me to get off my rear end and get the time scheduled. He is such a sweetheart! Having a boy in the house is a little different and a bit of an adjustment for all of us, but luckily he is a very calm boy so we’re not too overwhelmed :)

Last night we got out the kiddie pools and ate pizza while watching Star Wars, Episode 1. Luckily Aiden brought two light sabers with him, so the kids have been able to have duals!

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I can’t wait for all the memories waiting to be made this week!

Prayer request:

2009-07-19T20:14:00.002-05:00

My sister-in-law is due with her second baby on September 3rd and it’s a GIRL…my first niece!!!! They currently have a wonderful son who just turned 6. Anyway, a couple of months ago she was put on bed rest because of incredibly high blood pressure, then a couple of weeks ago she found out she has gestational diabetes, not a fun combination! She has now been hospitalized for the remainder of the pregnancy due to additional complications. Oh, she also has two tumors, the size of the baby (Ashlyn) sharing the uterus with Ashlyn. They have been lovingly been named “baby Tumey”. She had one of these tumors when she was pregnant with her son, so they weren’t totally surprised to discover it again this go around. We are praying Ashlyn is able to stay put as long as possible to finish cooking before the world is graced with her presence!

Celebrating Mimi’s birthday

2009-07-19T19:56:00.001-05:00

Last night we went back to our old stomping grounds to celebrate Greg’s Mom’s birthday with her. I think that drive gets longer every time, and it’s only an hour. We got over there in time to enjoy snow cones from our favorite snow cone stand by our old house, then headed to the park we used to walk to from our old house, it was just like being back home! We drove past our old house on the way to one of our favorite neighborhood restaurants for a yummy tex-mex dinner. It was kinda strange to be back. I had a lot of great memories there and I miss our friends, but I am more and more grateful every day for the move we made last summer! The best part of last night was not only getting to spend it with Mimi and David, but also with two of our nephews, Clark and Oliver! That was a surprise treat, apparently Mimi double-booked herself with grandkids :) Thank goodness for Facebook so Greg’s sister knew we were with their mom and how to reach her! Crazy!

So, you know me, I just took a few pictures for us to enjoy…hope you enjoy them too.

This is our precious nephew Clark:

And his adorable little brother, Oliver

(or as Addison says, “Ahver”):

Mimi and all her precious grandbabies that are stateside:

Trinity, Emory, Oliver, Addison, Clark

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It’s okay for you to go ahead and admit that I have the most adorable nephews on the planet!

Also very exciting news on the nephew front, we are having the pleasure of another nephews company for three nights, starting tonight! Be prepared for a number of posts in regards to Aiden’s visit with us!

I love our nephews!

Hope you had a great time celebrating your birthday, we had a great time with you! We love you Mimi!!!!!

Log Cabin Village

2009-07-19T15:25:00.001-05:00

This week the girls and I had the pleasure of visiting Log Cabin Village with my mom and had a blast! We learned a lot about how people lived in the 1800’s and even got seeds to plant in the spring.

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2 1/2, Seriously?

2009-07-17T21:31:00.002-05:00

Addison's half birthday was yesterday! Wow, where has the past 2 1/2 years gone? Just like we do birthdays up big around our house, we like to celebrate the girls on their half birthdays as well. It's a long time between holidays and birthdays for a kid to go without having a special day! This year our celebrations were simply reminding them about it all day long, and by making a special desert for them and the rest of the family to enjoy. Recently Addison has become quite fond of Rice Krispies and Rice Krispie Treats, so I thought that would be something different for her to enjoy this time.

Wow! What a blessing she has been! One of my nicknames for our baby girl is "Ham Sandwich" because she is such a ham! The child has never met a stranger and keeps everyone around her laughing non-stop. We talk about how she is going to be the class clown when she gets older, and she already has the crazy hair to go along with it:) I just can't get enough of this precious girl!

She had a pretty good run

2009-07-17T21:10:00.002-05:00

Trinity will be 7 in less than two months and she has NEVER been sick! Well, okay so she's had a few colds, a couple of stomach bugs, Roseola once and a week long fever/yuckies (not flu), but she's never ever had to be put on antibiotics! The only prescriptions she's ever had were for diaper rash! Well a couple of weeks ago she started this thing on her toe, her toe nail tore down deep, then it got infected was pretty disgusting!

So, I broke down and took her to the doctor. Well, technically it was a nurse practitioner (and trust me that difference is HUGE to a 6 year old who is TERRIFIED of needles!) and she had to prescribe her an antibiotic to get rid of the infection. *Sigh* The streak is over, hmph. Well, it was at least fun while it lasted!

And, along the same lines, Trinity actually had perfect attendance at school this year and last year she only missed one day! Wow!

We’re going on a train ride!

2009-07-16T17:51:00.001-05:00

Here in the greatness of Funkytown there is a wonderful little train to ride through the parks along the Trinity River. Mom treated us to a ride on this train today and we had a blast! I guess, in all my years in FW I’ve never had the pleasure of riding on it…and man have I been missing out! I had no idea there was so much park land in our wonderful city! We will definitely be taking advantage of this beauty in the future! I took just a few pictures :)

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Thank you Mom/Gaga/Gommy/Gogy! What wonderful memories we are making this summer!

Is it just me?

2009-07-16T16:19:00.001-05:00

Okay Moms…please tell me it’s not just me! I have a constant struggle with my girls during quiet time and it’s about to drive me nuts! First, let me lay out the scenario: Addison lays down to sleep in her room, she’s exhausted and ready for a nap, so it’s not usually too much of a struggle; the two big girls are given the privilege of spending their quiet time in my room watching their shown on TV. I HAVE to have that downtime, especially during the summer when we’re all pooped from the heat and they’re all three home with me. They totally get that it’s a privilege and they respect that, but they don’t act like they do…and it’s maddening! Every day they get up just to ask if quiet time is over, if they can get up, if time is up yet…UGH!!!! They know full-well it’s not up because what we agreed upon as the signal for the end of quiet time (whether it’s the time on the clock, timer on the oven, the end of a show, etc). EVERY time they get up I get extremely frustrated and it’s like the calmness of quiet time is gone, then I have to start my decompression all over again! Seriously…why do I get so frustrated, why do the girls not obey, why do I so desperately need this quiet time, and why, oh why do I feel the need to hit the pantry every single time they disrupt my quiet time?!?! Total frustration!!!!!

What a fantastic day!

2009-07-15T09:07:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was my birthday and it was a great day! I guess it was my first birthday since reconnecting with a bunch of my friends on Facebook and man it was AWESOME!!!! I stopped counting after about 80 sweet wishes, and they kept coming long after that! I have never felt so loved from so many people on my birthday as I did yesterday! Not to mention, having the most amazing family and wonderful friends and neighbors who went out of their way to make sure it was a perfect day for me!

I AM BLESSED AND I AM LOVED!!!! What a great feeling!

July 4th

2009-07-15T08:06:00.002-05:00

This year the 4th of July was a big change for us! Greg has spent every single 4th of July of his life going to or participating in the parade in he neighborhood he grew up in. That's also how I spent the past 13 years of celebrations as well. Since we no longer live there we decided to embrace the traditions of our new neighborhood and what a learning experience it was! We look forward to many more years of our new traditions and spending them with our new friends! I only took a million pictures, so I put them in a slideshow :)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Night #3

2009-07-14T06:46:00.002-05:00

Night three (Sunday night) was quite a bit better in our new sleeping locations. Trinity was asleep very quickly! The other two took a little while, but they did finally go to sleep without too much trouble. When I woke up Monday morning Emory was sound asleep in my bed! Not sure when she got there or why she was there, but regardless, she was there! This is not unusual for her though, she has done this for a year and a half or so. My original theory was she is such a snuggle bug and has a snuggle quota she has to meet every day, if this isn't met then she will sneak it in during the night...I'm not buying that anymore. It's just a habit and I try to break the habit, but so far haven't been successful.

It looks like we've started the new arrangements being a routine and we're on our way to a "normal" bed time!

Weddings with children...

2009-07-12T17:13:00.004-05:00

Yeah...weddings and children don't really mix well. Or at least MY children don't really mix well, especially when they're completely sleep deprived! They talked during the entire service, asked to sit in the aisle so they could see, begged for gum, threw fits...and anything else annoying you could possibly imagine! It was quite emberassing! Of course they were given a strict talking to afterward and were on MUCH better behavior at church this morning!

They did have a great time at the reception though:

Can you tell she was a bit sleepy?

And then she gets cake and is all smiles!

Two-year-olds and cake...always an entertaining combination!

Let's Dance!!!!!!

Addison and her Gommy

Trinity and Emory decided to dance too, but they did Ring Around the Rosy :)

And then London Bridges.

Thank you Anne and Dan! Beautiful wedding and wonderful friends to celebrate with! We wish you the best on your life together!

Night #2

2009-07-12T15:23:00.002-05:00

Well, last night was a little bit better with our new room arrangements. The two little girls had great naps yesterday that didn't end until a little after 5, so when I tried to put them to bed at 8...it just didn't happen! They fussed, cried, talked, played, fussed, cried, talked, played...and got up a couple of times too. Once they passed out from boredom they stayed in their own beds all night long!

Trinity was quite nervous to sleep alone and got up a few times to complain about noises she was hearing (our neighbors were outside) so I turned on her MP3 player and convinced the dog to lay down in there with her. She was exhausted after a full day, so she did fall asleep pretty quickly once the noise was controlled and she had a "guard".

They say it takes three days to form or break a habit, so hopefully tonight will be a little more calm, then tomorrow night will be routine! I'll keep you posted!

He made it home!

2009-07-12T15:21:00.004-05:00

Greg officially survived his first encounter with Annual Training with the Texas State Guard. He's worn out, but not exhausted and he seems to have had a great time! He's got some funny stories to share and enjoyed doing just that right up until he passed out :) I'm sure he will be good to go with normal life after his nap! We are so glad to have him home!

Breakthrough!

2009-07-11T19:50:00.002-05:00

Potty training. I don't know about you, but that's one word I can't stand! Or, maybe it's not the word I don't care for but the whole process that just wears me out! With Trinity we tried and tried to get her potty trained starting at about 18 months. We were all three stressed, none of us enjoyed it, we ran out of ways to make it fun and exciting, and she is WAY smarter than the two of us combined, so she outsmarted every thing we came up with! We finally just gave up on it all together and decided it could wait and wasn't worth all that stress. Then about a week before school started and she was to be in the big 3's class, I found out she was supposed to be potty trained in order to start...UGH! I shared this frustrating bit of information with her, she wouldn't be able to go back to school and play with her friends or see her favorite teacher unless she was in big girl panties and was going peepee and poopoo in the potty. Well, that's all it took! Ten minutes later she was done with diapers and never looked back! Seriously?...that's all it took?!?!

Then along came Emory's turn. This time I knew it would be different! The girls had such different personalities, this was gonna be a breeze! Well at 18 months we jumped in with both feet and put her in big girl panties for all day. I just knew that after one or two days of this she would be done! Yeah right...that was wishful thinking! We struggled for a few days, then I decided to wait a little while. A few months later we tried again, no further success than the last attempt. UGH! Finally, one day right after she turned three she just decided to do it. She put away her diapers and never looked back!

Now, it's Addison's turn. I have learned my lesson, no stressin about this, they'll do it on their own, when they're ready! After all, they're not going to go to Kindergarten in diapers, are they?!?! She started expressing interest in it a few months ago and would take herself in to sit on the potty multiple times a day, but never ever had any success. We (mostly Addison, but I was a willing and supportive participant) decided we would try a day in big girl panties. Within the first two hours she'd had three accidents and was DONE! And by done I mean she demanded a diaper and wanted nothing to do with all that mess!

Well, today she had stayed dry from about 9:30am till about 5pm (yes, I know that means she hasn't had enough to drink), but I told her if she would sit on the potty and go peepee then she could put on Elmo panties when we got home. Now, keep in mind, she has NEVER, EVER had any success on the potty! Well, the Elmo panties thing was all it took. She took her lollipop in and sat down and within a minute she was going! There was a huge party, we all celebrated, and as soon as we got home she grabbed her panties! Woo hoo!!!! This of course does not mean we are any where near potty independent...but it is a breakthrough of massive proportions and I'LL TAKE IT!

Our first night...

2009-07-11T07:54:00.002-05:00

Well, the first night in the new rooms didn't exactly go well. About an hour and a half after I put them to "bed" (which was actually a slumber party in Trinity's room) they were still playing and talking, so I had to go be Mean Mommy and put them all in their own beds. About twenty minutes later I still heard voices coming from Emory and Addison's room. When I went in to shush them I found Addison climbing the slide to climb in Emory's bed. Not good! Until last night she completely fell for the rule of: Once you're in bed and it's lights out, you don't get up till Mommy or Daddy comes to get you. Oh well, so much for that! I fussed at them, read them the riot act and within three minutes they were both completely passed out!

Trinity was a little aprehensive about sleeping in her own room, alone, for the first time in almost three years. She put her night light on the floor next to her and snuggled down tight into her sleeping bag (I haven't bought her a new mattress yet...hopefully we'll get to that today). She finally passed out about the same time the other two did.

With Greg being gone, I don't really sleep well either. I finally drifted off a little before midnight (which is REALLY late for me...10 is late for me!) only to be awakened by Trinity at 12:30 because she couldn't sleep. I walked her back to bed, then tossed and turned to go back to sleep.

Then, about 2:15 Emory climbs in my bed (this happens several nights a week) and instead of carrying her back to her bed I just moved over and let her finish the night with me. She slept sideways the whole time! I finally just got up at 6, only to be followed at 6:30 by Emory and 7 by the other two.

Yeah, it's gonna be a long day with fussy children! Luckily we have a wedding this morning which we are all four attending, Trinity has a birthday party to enjoy this afternoon and we have errands to run after! Oh yeah...this is gonna be FUN!!!! Pray for me!

On to the next chapter

2009-07-10T22:20:00.005-05:00

Today was bittersweet for me. I officially closed a chapter of my life, but the next one will be exciting too.

It actually started yesterday about 3pm when I dropped the girls off with my mom. See, Trinity's been asking for her own space for a while now. She's been sharing a room with Emory since Addison was born, and it just really doesn't work well for her. She has been good about it most of the time, but she is the type of person who just needs some alone time regularly. She likes her space. Over the past few weeks we've been talking to the girls about making the change of Trinity moving into Addison's room and moving Addison in with Emory. They've all accepted that and have made suggestions on how they would like things to be. Trinity picked out her paint color and a basic theme, etc.

I've found it is so much easier to tackle projects like this solo. I know it sounds kinda crazy, but then I can work at my own pace, take breaks when I want to, get my quiet time in (wonder where Trinity gets it from), and not worry about anyone else's opinion...I've got the picture in my mind and I'll just work from that. So, with Greg out of town and the girls with my parents, I decided this would be the perfect time!

Yesterday I came home, moved all Addison's furniture to the center of the room and started painting. Now...I can't turn back!

This whole project was a much larger undertaking that I had realized it would be! My girls have a ton of STUFF (and that's putting it nicely)!!!! I stayed up till about 1am, then got up early this morning and was back at it by 7. I got all the furniture moved around, painting done, walls decorated, clothes switched and more organized, Emory's stuff moved to the top bunk, shelves hung, hooks hung, etc, etc, etc, all by 5 this evening! Wow! I got rid of a dumpster full of trash, a box of books and I took out two bags of clothes that don't fit the girls anymore...that's a lot of extra stuff!

I still have several things to do (including buy a mattress for Trinity to sleep on), but all three girls were thrilled with the results when they got home this evening!

Trinity's room:

Emory and Addison's room:

So after I get all this finished and I'm finally sitting down I realize this is the first time in 7 years I haven't had a crib/toddler bed or a changing table in my house. I also realized this means Trinity is growing into a Tweenager. I'm not sure how I feel about any of these changes, but I do know I don't have control over them, so I might as well embrace them, enjoy them and make the best of them! My girls are growing up, that's just the way it works. No more babies, but that also means no more babies! Bittersweet!

It is time to move on and enjoy the adventures of this chapter we have opened today :)

Oh, and just so you know, the girls had NO idea I was working on their rooms while they were gone, it was a total surprise for them when they returned! They LOVED everything! Trinity said, "Oh Mom! It's absolutely gorgeous! Thank you so much! It's just like I wanted it!!!" That's all a Mommy needs to know all the hard work was worth it!

I put them to bed at about 8:30, they finally fell asleep about 10:15...they were excited!

Annual Training

2009-07-10T22:00:00.004-05:00

Greg left yesterday for his first Annual Training weekend with the Texas State Guard. He was really excited to really get into deep training. He is gone for four days. Four days of HORRIFIC Texas heat and all kinds of interesting training. When I talked to him yesterday evening they had just ended all their meetings and it was about 10:30. He was put on "Fire Watch" from 2-4am and was to get up at 5:30 for the day.

I'm sure you're curious what "fire watch" is, I know I was! Apparently they don't have smoke detectors in the barracks, so they rotate on two man shifts to watch for fires. If you ask me, I think it's just a way to make them get up in the middle of the night and do something :) But, they only have to do it once all weekend, so he's glad to have it out of the way.

Tomorrow they are being visited by the Officer over all of The TXSG, who report to the Governor, so after their 14 hour day of training (with two very sick from heat exhaustion) they have to prepare their barracks for inspection.

Yeah, he's gonna be exhausted when he gets home on Sunday! But he's really enjoying it, and that's what's important!

He looks good, doesn't he?

Girls...where are you?!?!?!

2009-07-10T21:33:00.002-05:00

The other night Greg and I were going about our evening routine...he was watching TV while I was getting things ready for the next day. The girls had been in bed and quiet for about an hour, so they were fast asleep. We heard a door close, not an outside door so we didn't panic, but we were curious. After a few minutes of continuing on with our routine (I guess we weren't all that curious), Greg got up to see what door was closed and how one of our pets managed to do it.

First he stuck his head in Trinity/Emory's room, only to find no one there. We know they had to be asleep, they were too quiet to be playing! So, he started looking around the house for them. They weren't in Addison's room...not in our room...not in our bathroom...not in their bedroom...we knew they hadn't ventured into the common areas, so where could they be?!?!

Okay, a little panic starts to set in about now. Are we sure that was not an outside door we heard? Surely it couldn't have been, we were right there with the doors. But, where are Trinity and Emory?

So we go on the search again, still no sign of them and no noises from them! This is starting to get serious! At what point do you call the police?

...Wait...what was that? Did I hear a whisper? There it is again...

Oh my gosh! We found them...laying on the floor of their closet! Well, not really laying because their closet isn't that big, but they were both in there, along with all their "snugglies"!

Their story was something like this:
Emory couldn't sleep because she didn't like the dark (they keep the closet light on and Emory wants the door open, Trinity wants it closed, so they compromise. Then I go in and push it all the way up when I go to bed...but shhhh, don't tell them that!) so she decided she would just sleep on the floor of the closet. Trinity felt bad, so she decided to climb in there and keep her company and they could have a slumber party in the closet. Lovely!

Once our adrenaline slowed down and we knew all was well, they were tucked back in and fell right to sleep!

Outdoors with Addison

2009-04-25T09:20:00.004-05:00

Addison has been slightly under the weather this week, so I kept her home while Greg took the big girls to their final choir practice/party of the year. She was really wanting to play in the water in the kitchen sink so we decided to get out our old sand and water table for her to play in outback. She had a BLAST!

Emory's new friends

2009-04-25T09:13:00.003-05:00

Emory has an insane fascination with Rollie Pollies! She spends every spare second she can find searching for and playing with them! I've taken a few pictures of her in our backyard over the past few days...

That white pocket on it's belly is babies! We've done quite a bit of research on them in hopes we don't kill every single one of them we find:)

You can't see it, but she is focused very intensely on a baby she has in her hand.

This was our find in about 10 minutes, then we had to pick Trinity up from school.

Today it really begins

2009-04-25T09:07:00.003-05:00

The girls and I sent Greg on his way to his first day of training for the TXSG this morning. It was awfully difficult to get up that early on a Saturday, but I am sure grateful he doesn't have to spend the night away, so I'll take the early mornings! Luckily we have super busy day ahead of us, so we won't be able to stop and think about what he's up to.

He was really excited and just a little bit nervous when he left. I think the nerves were just the unknown of the day, but the excitement was everything! I cant' wait to hear all about it when he gets home this evening!

Here are a few pics I took of him when we got his uniform home:

Surreal

2009-04-20T20:48:00.003-05:00

Today we went as a family to the Army/Navy store to buy Greg's uniform for him for the TXSG. Being in there brought back a lot of memories of being a care-free kid trying to look cool for the party/dance/musical coming up where the theme was something having to do with Camo. The girls LOVED the place! The begged for pink or purple camo shirts, hats and canteens! It was like they were in a toy store! Once I let it sink in that we were there, not to play, but to purchase a uniform for my wonderful husband to wear while he works (volunteers) to defend and protect our wonderful State of Texas...it was a bit surreal!

He walked out of the dressing room in his fatigues and thank goodness we had three exhausted and (by this point) bored little girls or I'm not sure how I would have reacted.

So, it's now a day later and I realized I forgot to post this, so I'll update it:)
I picked up Greg's uniform today, with the assistance of my two littlest girls, two baby dolls, one baby blanket and one Mister Frog. Greg was soooo excited to actually have it in his posession! He tried it on, not long after getting home from work...all I can say is wow! Thankfully this time, we not only had our children, but also two visitors from across the street playing so I was a little distracted from emotion. He looked amazing, it fit him just right, like he was supposed to be wearing it all along! Of course it probably doesn't hurt that we all but shave his head these days (yes, I said "we", he has me give him hair cuts these days), but from head to toe it just looked "right". He was so handsome! Now we just have to wait for the patches and it will be complete!

I'll post pics as soon as I get them off my camera.

Nervous

2009-04-19T19:56:00.000-05:00

I am a little bit nervous about being without my hubby for any time at all, much less the possibility of several weeks! I haven't spent one night in our new house without him and I'm not looking forward to the first, but I know I will adjust quickly. Between the girls and the animals I will most definitely not be lonely!

I am a bit nervous about being without him during times that might also be times of need for our own family. We discussed the idea of our own neighborhood being an emergency area and him being called to serve somewhere else. Fortunately we are blessed enough to have my family just a few miles away. They are always, always, always there when we need them and I know they would be more than happy to help fill any needs he leaves behind! Most people aren't as lucky as we are to have a huge family/friends close by to lend a hand. We felt because of the amazing people we have been blessed with, the girls and I would be okay without him in such a situation.

One more, of many things, that makes me a bit nervous is his safety. It will be extremely rare for his life to be put at risk, but any risk at all makes me nervous. I don't know what I would do if something happened to Greg! That's all I can say about it right now, I can't stand that thought!!! However, I do know that whatever cards we are dealt we will be able to handle as long as we have God on our side :)

Pride!

2009-04-19T19:52:00.000-05:00

I am soooo proud to have a husband with a desire to help other people! Through the TXSG he will be given the opportunity to help people when they have no where else to turn, when they are probably the most desperate they've ever been! I know everyone he helps will adore him and his wonderful sense of humor. He will surely bring a smile to many, many faces during his times of duty!

I am proud of him for putting his own time and desires aside to give time and attention to something bigger than him and our family!

I am proud of him for wanting to serve our country and the great state of Texas!

I am proud of him for too many more reasons to list...

then it's on to Pappy and Gommy's

2009-04-19T17:12:00.004-05:00

After church and the great butterfly release we headed to my parents house for a wonderful meal and more egg hunting! Man, how in the world did the Easter Bunny make it to so many houses in so little time?!?!

This is how Addison spent dinner time. Thanks Yo Gabba Gabba for teaching us "COOL TRICKS"

Trinity tried to trick her Pappy, but I'm pretty sure he ended up getting her, just like always!

Addison and her Nini sharing some sugars :)

Emory was all too proud to show me the egg she found with Ariel on it!

Is that not the look of pure joy on Addison's face?!?! Love it!!!!!!!!!!!

The great butterfly release

2009-04-19T17:01:00.003-05:00

Our church, like many others, had a butterfly release on Easter day. The girls have loved watching the caterpillars go through their life cycle and turn into butterflies and couldn't wait to see the big finale on Easter!

We found one that had escaped from it's habitat early that morning. Trinity got to play with it till it was ready to fly.

Addison LOVED holding them, as long as thy didn't move! The second one would move she would throw it :) Precious!

Emory, who lives to fine rollie pollies, was a little more timid about the butterflies for some reason.

Trinity couldn't get enough of them!

Happy Easter everyone!

Easter with the Hinckleys

2009-04-19T16:49:00.004-05:00

We had a blast dying our eggs for the Easter Bunny to hide! All the girls got to wear our matching aprons from Valentine's Day!

Unfortunately the weather was not so great, so we settled for allowing the bunny to hide eggs inside this year. We still had a enjoyed the loot!

Trinity LOVED the duckling figurine Mommy and Daddy gave her :)

All dressed up and ready for church...along with the rain :(

Those are my goofballs! Wouldn't trade them for the world!!!!!!!!!!

His motivation

2009-04-18T21:32:00.002-05:00

In case you don't know my husband well I will fill you in on a bit of his life and his dreams. Since he was old enough to show a preference to toys or themes for toys he has shown a strong interest in the military. From playing religiously with G.I. Joes, to begging his mom to read to him about military and military equipment from the encyclopedia...the interest has always been there! I think he always expected to graduate from college and begin a career in the military, a lifetime career in the military. When college wasn't going so well for him he decided to go ahead and enlist as a reservist to both take some time off and get someone other than his parents to pay for the remainder of college. He chose the Marine Corps for his career path. I remember him being so excited and so proud of this decision! He lived and breathed this decision from the second he made it (he did a lot of research and soul searching before he settled on a military branch) until the second things changed.

On the evening he reported to his assigned hotel room for his testing the following morning he was anxious and excited. I talked to him several times that evening and the following morning. He woke up, when they woke him, and he reported to his aptitude test (not sure if that's the right name, but you get the idea) and totally kicked butt on it! His recruiter told us his was the highest score their office had ever turned in! They were stoked to have someone so intelligent and wanted to get him started right away! They told him he would report to boot camp in a few days, instead of a couple of months like they had previously agreed upon. Needless to say that change made him REALLY nervous. They gave him this piece of information as he was proceeding to his physical exam! They started the exam with blood pressure testing. I'm sure you can guess it was off the charts! They kept testing it and it remained high as he was becoming increasingly nervous about the change of date and the fact that his blood pressure was high. They turned him away based on the blood pressure readings! What a loss for the USMC, but what a blessing for me!

This was spring of 1997! Can you just imagine how much his life would have changed being a reservist in the USMC post 911? Wow! The lord works in mysterious ways!

Greg's never really gotten over this urge to have a career in the military, I think he's always felt like this was missing. Now that he's too old to enlist in the United States Armed Forces he found the Texas State Guard; they have completely different requirements :)

Just this week we were watching an old movie TAPS (I think that's the name of it) with Tom Cruise, Sean Penn, and many other now famous actors. The movie is about a military academy and the young men who attend it. During the movie Greg made the comment to me that he should have gone to a military academy and said it kind of longingly. Obviously he is glad he didn't go to one and had the chance to grow up with his sisters and all the friends instead, but it is evidence of a strong calling he has to the military.

That's Coropral Hinckley to you!

2009-04-18T21:18:00.002-05:00

My wonderful and amazing husband has decided to enlist in the Texas State Guard! I am so very proud of him and this decision! Just in case you don't know what the TXSG is, just like we didn't about a month ago, here is a brief description taken from their website:
The Texas State Guard (TXSG) is one of three branches of the Texas Military Forces (TXMF), reporting to The Texas Adjutant General located at Texas Military Forces HQ, Camp Mabry (Austin), Texas. The Commander in Chief of the Texas Military Forces is the Governor of Texas. The other two branches are the Texas Army National Guard (TXARNG) and the Texas Air National Guard (TXANG).

I have been wanting to post this for several weeks now, but have not really known what to say. There is such a range of emotions and a wealth of information... so for this post I'll just stick with the facts as best I know them:

This is a volunteer group, so unless he is called up to active duty there will be no pay
He will report for his first day of training and be sworn in next Saturday, the 25th of April
Almost all training takes place on the weekends, so it won't interfere with his paying career too much
He has already been rewarded the rank of Corporal. We're not sure what exactly that's based on, but know his college degree and Eagle Scout rank have something to do with it.
he is a part of the 2nd (something...battalion, platoon, unit....????) based out of Arlington
He WILL NOT be assigned a weapon, unless on active duty and absolutely necessary. He will be trained on a 9mm (I think)
Most often he will be called to active duty as a result of a natural disaster (flood, hurricane, tornado, etc)
Last year they were called to active duty three times. Two of these times were just for a couple of days and the third was for two weeks...Hurricane Ike. Most years they are not called this often and most times they will not stay two weeks.
They report to the State, so it is not likely for him to be sent out of state, much less out of the country...but the TXSG does reserve that right.
From the sounds of it when he is on active duty he will be running storm or medical shelters or assisting in securing areas. I'm under the impression he will be working closely with the Red Cross and with the National Guard...but that's just an impression.
He will be required to wear military uniform. We have not yet purchased this (they're not supplied to them, can you believe that ?!?!) so I don't have any pictures...but trust me, they will be coming!

I think that's all the facts I have as of right now. I will be writing posts about my feelings and his experiences as I am able. In the meantime...I'm very proud of Greg and his desire to serve others in this way!

April Fools!

2009-04-06T12:44:00.003-05:00

The girls are getting old enough to appreciate April Fools Day this year...and boy do they LOVE to tell you about the bug on your head or the spider on your back! I decided to take a bit of my day to plan a special April Fools dinner for the family! I found the recipe on FamilyFun.com, so unfortunately can't take credit for it...but I did the work and for that I will take credit! I served them "fish sticks", "peas", and "ketchup" for dipping.

In reality what they was on their plates was vanilla wafer cookies, coated in peanut butter and smothered in corn flakes, strawberry jam and green laffy taffy (the strawberries were real). I was so excited to see their faces when they bit into their tricks! I was thinking about it all day!!!! I was lucky enough for Trinity to have cheerleading class on Wed evening and convinced Greg to take all three girls so I was able to stay home and prepare "dinner". It took me every bit of the hour and a half they were gone!!!

When they walked in the door Trinity's first question was, "What's for dinner, I'm starving!". I proudly proclaimed "Fish Sticks". Well, Trinity threw herself on the floor and declared that she no longer likes them and she will not be eating dinner unless something else was prepared for her. After dealing with her misbehaving and attitude and getting her to sit at the table she started picking at the "peas". She immediately said, "Ewww Mom, this pea is stuck to my finger...gross!". I found myself quickly loosing enthusiasm for the trick I was attempting to play on the girls!

I did finally convince Emory to take a bite of her "fish stick" and the only thing she said was , "Mmmm, peanut butter". That was about the extent of the excitement I received from the dinner, but I still had fun with my attempt! I'm hopeful they will look back on that night with joy as they grow up.

As it turned out, I think the April Fools Joke was on me this year...*sigh*...just wait till next year! I'll get them extra good then!

My little models (and photographers)

2009-02-27T08:49:00.004-06:00

One day a few weeks ago Emory decided she and Addison should play dress up, but she didn't want to take off her regular clothes in order to do it. Emory looked so cute I asked if I could take her picture and she happily agreed. Well, when I got the camera out she just went crazy hitting poses and making sure each turned out okay. I really felt like I was photographing a model! Anyway...check out how cute she is!

Last night, after their pirate adventure, the girls decided they wanted to take turns being the photographer. As they photographer they felt it was their privilege to pose their subjects for pictures...check us out:

Trinity took her turn first

Then it was Emory's turn, but Addison was done...

Great, Fun times!

A'hoy there

2009-02-27T08:36:00.004-06:00

For some reason the girls have taken up playing "Pirates" on a regular basis. Each time they play the game is completely different, here are just a few examples...

One day (not the first time) they raided their underwear drawer so they could wear its contents on their bodies as their Pirate Gear

Pirate Emory

Pirate Addison

Pirate Trinity

Last night, after dinner they were all on the little trampoline and used the giant porch broom as their oar to row the boat, it was pretty funny! When they were too worn out from rowing Trinity, who had declared herself the Captain Pirate allowed her First Mate Addison and Second Mate Emory to take some time off from rowing to retire to their quarters for an evenings' rest.

It is wonderful when they have fun playing and being creative together!

I love my pirates!!!!!

Emory is 4!

2009-02-22T15:33:00.006-06:00

My sweet little Angel turned 4 years old on January 4th! I can't believe how old she is...but then at times I can't believe she's only 4. She is such a sweet girl (almost all the time), very helpful and understanding! She is still a giant and REALLY skinny, but the doc says she's just fine! She had her check-up a few weeks ago, and here are her stats:

height: 3' 6 1/2" (95th+ percentile)

weight: 36 lbs (50th- percentile)

To put her height in perspective, she is taller than probably half of the kids in kindergarten and several of the 1st graders at Trinity's school...and she still has 1 1/2 years left before she starts school!

We had a friend birthday party for Emory at one of her favorite places, Pump-it-up! It was a blast! Great group, not too big so everyone was able to relax a little bit and really enjoy themselves! Emory has been blessed with a great group of kids in her class at school, we really enjoyed them all interact with each other.

Waiting for the party guests to arrive

Birthday girl hitting the slide!

Jumping...her favorite thing to do!!!!!

Nini trapped the girls!

Emory is sharing with her friends:)

and helping them have fun at her party!

Greg and Emory pushing Addison and one of our neighbors/friends!

LOVE this picture of Trinity offering Addison a hand up the obstacle course!

Greg with Trinity and neighbor/friend...he had fun too!

Emory's party was Fancy Nancy themed. Since we coulnd't find any such a cake she HAD to have flowers!

Pappy with his two baby nerds! Check out Addison's face:)

So...I'm a little behind...

2009-02-22T15:26:00.002-06:00

Yes, I know I've been neglecting this whole blogging thing and I really do miss it! I have all these random thoughts and experiences that I think...oooohhh gotta blog that! You can tell, that hasn't been enough to get me on here though. I have many excuses...but they're just that, excuses! I've had a really hard time uploading pictures now that I have my super mega awesome camera that is 14.2 megapixels...I'm sure it's the way I'm saving them, but they shut down the website when I try, so that's my biggest excuse.

So, since last I blogged we've had a lot going on! I'll try to follow my list and get blogs written, even if I don't get around to posting pictures. Lets see...

~Emory turned 4!
~Addison turned 2!
~Trinity lost her two front teeth!
~We have had another nephew!
~Greg and I actually got all dressed up for a night on the town (well, sort of)
~Valentine's Day!
~lots of dress up fun...and just living the life we have been blessed with!

I appreciate your patience with me...and I promise to try harder to make fewer excuses to myself:)

My little gymnasts

2009-01-13T20:31:00.003-06:00

Today was a wonderful day! Trinity and Emory have been taking gymnastics classes at The Little Gym this year and have really enjoyed it! Today was the last class of the "fall" semester, so they had a "show" for the families to watch. Of course my girls were the best in their classes (and I fully expect each of the other parents to say the same about thing...about their own child/children of course). I got a milllion pictures of the girls that I will eventually get around to uploading (in case you haven't noticed, I'm WAYYYYYY behind in this blogging thing), but wanted to get the videos posted ASAP for the people who were only there in spirit:)

Emory
(she's wearing a pink leotard and black skirt...it's kinda hard to see her at first)

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Trinity

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I am so proud of my girls! I can't wait to see their performances from the next semester! Trinity is going to take a cheerleading class starting next week, instead of gymnastics and she's REALLY excited! Addison is even going to start a gymnastics class too!

Christmas with the Hinckleys

2009-01-04T20:27:00.000-06:00

Christmas was spectacular in our house! The whole family was full of the spirit and was extremely proud of the gifts they had purchased (or picked out) for others! We really tried to explain the spirit of "giving" as opposed to "receiving" and showed them many ways they can follow through with this. We also tried to keep the focus on the reason for the holiday...however with kids the Santa thing kinda overpowers:) The girls were so grateful for each and every little (or big) thing they received from us, each other, Santa and everyone else! Everyone was so generous and the girls got everything at the top of their lists!

The day started out extremely early for me. I got up a few minutes before 5 so I would make sure I was ready for the day when the girls woke up and could spend the rest of our time before heading out to grandparents' houses playing with the girls. The girls chose this day, of all the days of the year to sleep in! We ended up waking them at 7 when we just couldn't stand the wait any longer!

Emory, not quite awake yet and trying to figure out which stocking was hers.

Check out the goodies from Santa!

Trinity was SOOOOO excited!

Addison, still a bit sleepy, playing with her new tricycle.

Emory couldn't believe Santa knew she needed a new Giraffe Blankie since she lost hers! She didn't even tell him she wanted one...Santa is so amazing! (We won't get into the fact that she lost this one before the day was done...ugh!)

Trinity opening one of her many gifts

Addison and her new baby

Trinity admiring the new Breakable Tinkerbell she received.

This is how Emory spent the rest of that day and most of the time since...feeding and snuggling on one of her many new babies (cause the 30 she already had weren't enough to keep her busy:))

After a wonderful Christmas morning at home we moved on to Greg's Dad's house, then to his Mom's...then a few days later to my parents house. The girls got more than they even have the slightest clue what to do with! Thank you everyone for making our Christmas magical once again! I can't get enough of the joy I see in the girls' eyes this time of year, it's contagious!

Christmas at Nana and Pops'!

2009-01-04T18:12:00.000-06:00

After a perfect Christmas morning at home we headed to Sachse to celebrate the wonderful occasion with Greg's family. We always have a great time with all the kids playing together. This year we decided to have a White Elephant gift exchange for our generation, the gifts were great and memories were made...that's the best part! I'm sure a few of the gifts will rear their ugly heads next year too:)

Here's Trinity Chillaxin on the couch and listening to her NEW MP3 player. She's so grown up!

Nana and two of my nephews...they're pretty cute, huh?

Emory was sure to get in her Nana nuggle time before gift exchanges commenced.

Addison loved this little ball thingy she got in the stocking (aka giant gift bag full of goodies)

Emory's favorite part of the stocking was the tiara and earrings...go figure

Trinity was so proud she could read Addison's new book all by herself!

Pops' gift from Sheridan and Matt...look really close at the picture of James Bond, does that face look a little familiar?

Trinity got Kit Kittridge! She couldn't have been more thrilled!!!!!

Thanks Nana, you always know what I really want!

Addison couldn't stand Trinity getting her picture taken without getting a turn for herself:)

Kit's hat didn't quite fit Trinity, but she still looked cute:)

Aiden got a lot of Star Wars stuff this year!

Jedi Master Aiden

Addison took his second light saber and gave him a run for his money! She was seriously good at this whole jedi thing! She knew exactly how to "swing" the light saber and always hit her target (and sometimes a few other things/people in the process

Each of the kids received a can of silly string in their "stocking". Nana was a great sport and allowed them to play with it in her yard...

and use her as the target.

Emory received a American Girl Baby double jogging stroller from Nana and Pops and she LOVES it! She still takes it EVERYWHERE with her!

Christmas at Mimi's

2009-01-04T17:22:00.000-06:00

Our final stop of Christmas Day was Greg's Mom's House...aka Mimi. We enjoyed yet another round of gift giving, white elephant and a yummy dinner of chili and tacos. The kids were pretty worn out by this point, but still so well behaved!

The girls were BEGGING Mimi to get started with the gifts while we waited on the rest of the family to arrive

Addison was just a bit sleepy...can you tell?

My absolutely adorable nephew. I think he was asking his daddy for something, thank goodness he wasn't asking me...I don't know how anyone can say no to that precious face!

Emory got a FANCY picture frame...she was soooo excited!

We were all playing with the camera while the kids were playing with toys, thanks Matt for taking a picture of the two of us.

Thanks Honey for showing your tonsils to Matt...lovely...

Matt and Sheridan...and you can't see, but Baby #2 is almost finished cooking! We can't wait to meet him/her!

We had such a wonderful Christmas! Thank you to all of our family who celebrated along with us. We are truly blessed!

Not so silent night...

2009-01-03T19:33:00.004-06:00

We love Christmas at the Hinckley house! There are so many things we try to cram in, so we start early! Christmas Eve is one of my favorite church services of the entire year...the spirit in the air is amazing! We got the girls all dressed up in their new skirts from Nini (my sister), fixed their hair and tried to get some cute pictures of them. Unfortunately...or maybe fortunately depending upon how you view it...Addison thinks the camera means make super sill faces! Not sure where she gets them all from, but she has quite a range and she will give all of them to you, but no simple smiles, no matter how many hundreds of times we try!

This is the best we could do:

What precious sisters! Is Addison a Ham or what?

Trinity thought maybe if we moved the photo taking outside it would help, so we did.

After church with some of our family we headed back to our house for a yummy dinner of pizza and salad! We had a great time being silly and visiting with everyone! Then came the usual opening of gifts on Christmas Eve. A tradition in our house is the girls always get new PJ's the night before Christmas and the night before their birthdays. They have really started looking forward to this tradition !

Trinity's new nightgown with Ariel- my favorite Disney princess!

Emory and her PINK princess nightgown!

Addison's first Princess PJ's!!!!!

Emory's new bunny house shoes

Addison knew it was almost bedtime...so she tried to hide from us:)

Time for bed! And still more silly faces from the littlest...

Merry Christmas to all

and to all a good night!

Doing it Victorian Style

2008-12-23T20:22:00.004-06:00

Every year our church has a Victorian Style Christmas Celebration and we actually got to go this year! We had a blast, doing arts and crafts, eating sausage on a stick, drinking wassil, going carraige riding and sledding down the hill. I think the girls' favorite part was playing with their friends though. It was all at night so it was hard to get pictures, but I did manage a few...

I think Addison ate three sausage on a sticks that night!

Addison LOVED being entertained by George and Ashley!

Nini with her "Pink Monkey" (aka Emory)

Me and my sweet honey who volunteered to be the keeper of fire...he had no idea how much work that would be!

The girls loved helping the magician with his tricks!

Candlelight Christmas at Old City Park

2008-12-22T08:19:00.006-06:00

We have an annual tradition of visiting Dallas Heritage Village's Candlelight Christmas along with Greg's family. We always have a great time visiting, looking at the old lights, enjoying the entertainment, eating kettlecorn and freezing to death. This year was no exception.

The kids visited Santa

They were very talkative with him, probably because he was wearing green instead of red...?

When Santa asked our nephew what he wanted for Christmas his reply was, "My turn!". He wanted to sit in Santa's lap, just like Addison did. Too cute!

I think Addison ate just about the entire bag of kettlecorn!

They have a really cool old Indian tent along with a true Native American telling stories and educating the visitors on the history of his culture.

The girls got ice cold Rootbeer!

Great times and wonderful memories!

Northpark at Christmas

2008-12-20T19:45:00.007-06:00

Last Friday we kept Emory home from school and took Trinity out of school extremely early and all us girls met Greg at Northpark mall in Dallas to take in all the wonderful Christmas activities and spirit that take over the mall this time of year.

We started out by watching their two wonderful puppet shows,

Trinity and Addison waiting for Scrooge to begin

The girls practicing protecting themselves from the Christmas gift Scrooge so generously shares with all the children in the audience...a squirt bottle of water

Scrooge picked Trinity out of the crowd for his target of the show

we then enjoyed a snack in the food court (took so many pictures in the beautiful and natural light that I will have to make a post from those alone) before heading over to the trains

and closing the day by sliding down the planter boxes...

and finally to throw penies in the fountain.

Cookies and Crafts with Nana and Pops

2008-12-08T10:43:00.010-06:00

Greg's Dad and Step-mom started a tradition a few years ago of a "Cookies and Crafts" day with all the kiddos. We were so excited when the day had arrived! We spent all day with them on Saturday doing lots of Christmas crafts!

We started the day with each grandkid opening a special gift from Nana and Pops

They each received a carefully and thoughtfully chosen collectible tree ornament

My precious nephew, Clark, hid under the kitchen table to escape the chaos

Clark was told he could no longer climb on the table...he wasn't too happy with his Mommy!

I think he'd had 7 or so cookies by this point...

Greg was extremely proud of his work of art!

Our brother-in-law is a total goof ball!

At the end of the day, after dinner and baths, Nana played Christmas carols while we all sang along, then read a story to the kids.

Emory was getting really lovey on her cousin, Aiden. In case you can't tell, he wasn't too pleased with the affection :)

Night, Night Nana! Thanks for the fun day and wonderful memories!

Emory

2008-12-06T09:12:00.003-06:00

Now it's Emory's turn for a catch-up post. She has adjusted well to living in Fort Worth and made some really sweet friends. She is going to day school at our church two days a week and taking a class at The Little Gym. Several of the children that are in these classes she also knows from the other, or from church or from being the sibling of one of Trinity's school friends, so she is getting to know some of the children through multiple avenues. She has a serious crush on one of her Little Gym teachers and it's adorable! She always sits or stands as close to him as humanly possible, even if that means she's literally in his lap! He is extremely sweet and wonderful with the kids, at least she has good taste:)

Emory is STILL obsessed with clothes, shoes, makeup, purses...all the girly girl stuff. She changes clothes at least five times a day for one reason or another. I will do as much laundry for her as I do for the rest of the family combined! We're working on putting things back in their clean places instead of the hamper if they're not dirty...not there yet though:)

Emory has always been the sweetest and most snugly of my girls. On her first day of school when I went to pick her up she gave one of her teachers a giant hug and her teacher said, "She has got to be the most yummy child I've ever had!" I agree...she's wonderful! Don't get me wrong though, she does have her challenging times, but if she didn't then I would worry. We've decided that she's going to be a night owl...she stays awake (laying in her bed) half the night and still gets up at the crack of dawn! It's amazing, she was such a great sleeper as a baby and now she doesn't sleep at all!

She is doing so well with learning her letters and their sounds, and she is starting to want to learn how to spell things and write her letters.

I can't believe she's almost 4! Then again there's times I forget she's not already a teenager:)

Oh, and don't worry, she still has her daddy's dry wit.

sunset

2008-12-05T13:19:00.004-06:00

As I was making dinner the other night I noticed the incredible colors of the sky. I couldn't help but take some pictures.

GOD BLESS TEXAS!

Raking leaves

2008-12-05T12:43:00.005-06:00

We are so excited to have huge, gorgeous trees at our new house, just like we did at our old house! Of course you know what trees mean this time of year...leaves. Lots and lots of leaves! Greg and the girls decided they would rake them up last weekend. Actually Greg wanted to rake and bag, the girls wanted to rake in a pile and jump into the piles. They all got their way and I got some cute pictures.

Trinity...

2008-12-05T11:49:00.000-06:00

We have been so busy lately and I'm really far behind on posts. I've started several that I haven't had (or taken) time to go back and finish, but thought I would take a few minutes to update on the girls. I think I only have time for one today, so I'm gonna start with Trinity.

Trinity is really enjoying kindergarten at her new school! She's made a couple of good friends in her class and absolutely refuses to leave for the day without giving hugs and saying bye multiple times. There is one little boy she talks about all the time and his parents said she gave him a picture of a heart...go figure! There is another little boy that chases Trinity and two of her friends around the playground every day trying to kiss them. She says she won't let him...so that's promising! We're trying to convince her that boys have cooties...hopefully she'll buy it for at least another couple of years!

She has so many incredible opportunities at her school that most kindergartners aren't given and we are so grateful! She gets to go to either art or music every day (they alternate each week) and they are learning a lot in each class! She says her favorite part about school is art class and she likes art so much because they are learning HOW to draw! She has learned how to portray wind and so much more! They are learning about many artists and the history behind art...hello, they're in kindergarten! Every month they focus on a different artist and she has taught me so much about the two they've talked about so far. I LOVE IT! When she brings her depiction of Starry Night home with her I will try to get it scanned and post it for you.

She does miss her old school and her old friends, but is starting to question the move a little less every day. She did ask if we could put her back in private school so she can learn about God and Jesus while they're at school. I guess that's a pretty compelling argument for a 6 year old, but the answer was still no.

She brought home her report card from the second six weeks yesterday and each topic was marked as mastered except one and that was reading a short story. She is doing so well! The curriculum is different at this school than what she had last year, so she is not bored by having to repeat all the same activities. We have a parent-teacher conference scheduled for January and we plan on discussing the option of being GT tested (gifted and talented) at the recommendation of several folks. We'll see what her teacher's perspective on that is.

Trinity LOVES her gymnastics class! She looks forward to it all week! She practices every chance she gets! She has practically turned our house into a gym!

Sweet and Sassy

2008-12-04T20:16:00.004-06:00

Trinity's birthday was three months ago, but we decided to hold off on having a "friend party" until she knew some of the girls around here a little bit better. We recently decided if we don't get it done now it's never gonna get done, so we sat down to talk about it. Trinity decided she wanted to have her party at a place called Sweet and Sassy, so we (and by "we" I mean "I") sat to planning. She decided she wanted to invite all the girls from her class, a couple from church and our across the street neighbors...we required her to invite her sisters :)

The girls had a BLAST! They got to put on dress-up clothes, get their hair and nails fixed, a dab of make-up, then they danced their hearts out! They each "walked the red carpet" and received awards, then we all at pizza and cake! AWESOME PARTY!

Greg was our party photographer and took several hundred great pictures of the girls, I'm going to try my best to keep this post short:)

Emory getting all glammed up

This is ADDISON! I seriously didn't recognize her when I first saw her! Check out the wig...too funny!

Come on ride the train...

Trinity and Addison accepting their awards.

All the girls

Trinity blowing out the candles on her cake

School Carnival

2008-12-04T17:09:00.000-06:00

Okay, so I'm a little behind with my blogging...

One of the big reasons we made the move to Fort Worth was because the schools here are wonderful. We are blessed to be in the district for one of the two top elementary schools in FWISD and one of the reasons they are so great is they keep the families involved. Like a lot of schools do, her school had a carnival in October. This was wonderful! There were so many people there and so many things to do we ran out of time before even getting through half of them! I only managed to snap a few pictures, but they are pretty cute, so I wanted to share...

All three of the girls purchased angel halos...if you look really closely you can still see their horns sticking out from under their hair:)

Addison was incredibly proud of her tattoo! Her daddy picked out a butterfly.

This was the beginning of her "posing" for pictures. Here she is saying, "cheeeeeeeeeeee".

I have loved my first few months as a parent in this school and am really looking forward to all the awesome experiences we have to come!

Silly Faces

2008-12-04T16:54:00.002-06:00

One morning, a couple of months ago, Emory got herself ready for school and Greg thought she looked so precious he wanted to take a picture of her. In our house you don't just get to take one picture of one kid...you spend half an hour snapping shots of crazy poses. This is a glimpse inside such an event...

Greg was reading to Addison when the other two decided he should wear the crown that belongs to their Sleeping Beauty build-a-bear outfit. He was kind enough to keep it on for the evening. The girls sure did think it was hysterical! I'm fairly certain they thought he didn't know it was there:) The innocence of children is so amazing! It warms my heart and brings a smile to my face.

Addison is a little confused as to where the apporpriate places to color with markers might be. You see, her sisters were in the back of their aunts car one day and decided it would be funny if they colored all over themselves with PERMANENT marker. Addison was apparently just staring in awe. Ever since then she's been a bit confused...can you tell?

Of course when I'm giggling (not so under my breath) and snapping pictures of her I'm fairly certain I'm not doing a much better job of being a role model than her sisters were. Oh well...she'll figure it out eventually:)

Go Mean Green!

2008-12-04T16:54:00.000-06:00

Several weeks ago was the Mean Green homecoming game. We packed up our "Family Utility Vehicle" and headed north for the day (and by day I mean the ENTIRE DAY...14ish hours!!!) Here are photos of just a few memories from that day:

Wells Fargo Wagon in the parade

Trinity flashing her Scrappy Claw in hopes of receiving more candy

Once Emory realized the connection she frequently flashed the claw.

Addison was so adorable the people were leaving the parade to share candy with her!

The father of a NT freshman converted this 18 wheeler into an RV and a pretty comfy one at that! They are a very sweet couple, they even let our girls use their restroom instead of the port-a-potty!

SCRAPPY!!!!!

MC Addi-licious

2008-11-17T16:17:00.004-06:00

Addison is borderline addicted to a show called Yo Gabba Gabba. The show is quite obnoxious in my opinion, but she LOVES it and that's the important part. Once of the show segments is called Biz's beats and it is presented by a very well known rapper called Biz Markie (from such songs as You Say He's Just a Friend). In his segment Biz teaches the basics of rapping, or as my sweet sister-in-law calls it, Boo-Hiccups (that's what it sounds like when she tries). Addison is really taking to this rap education and I couldn't resist capturing it on video to share with the masses.

Just FYI- the man's voice you're hearing is Biz's, not Greg's.

Some precious pics

2008-11-09T11:24:00.007-06:00

Addison is growing and changing so much! I've decided her new nickname should be Ham Sandwich because she is constantly hamming it up and being a goofball. It's not like she has to try to get attention, she is constantly the center of it, but she sure does look for new ways to get attention...all the time! She has been chattering up a storm for quite some time, but we are now able to understand so much more of what she says. She is working really hard at communicating with us so she can get what she wants. She is such a blast! We've taken a few really cute and totally random pictures of her lately that I thought I'd share

She was sniffing the berries

the Itsy Bitsy Spider is climing up the water spout

Look at my lollipop!

She has really gotten into dressing up with her sisters, here she is Ro from Barbie, Island Princess

This is her "cheese" face

Yesterday she found the stash of kids makeup, grabbed a compact of it and had a seat in the hallway. Greg quickly grabbed the camera...

"Oops...sooooo busted!"

"Oh, hi Daddy! I was...uh..."

"just covering my face in this gooey, glittery stuff"

"and see, this stuff goes on your lips. Now smile..."

"No, you can't have this. It's mine and I LOVE it!"

Then, she disappeared into the bathroom. We assumed she was dipping into the makeup stash again, but this is actually how we found her:

I can't believe she is almost 2! What a sweetheart, a blessing and a joy she is!

Fall Carnival

2008-11-09T10:49:00.010-06:00

My sister is a Youth Director (that's probably not the right title...but you get the idea) of a Presbyterian Church here in the wonderful town of the cow and last Saturday they held their fundraising Fall Fest. Of course I took the girls (while Greg stayed home and watched the first Mean Green victory of the season) and we had a blast! Here are some pictures for you to enjoy...

They enjoyed the bouncy slide

Fishing

Face Painting

Games Galore

more arts and crafts then we have space for

Addison even went on a pony ride!

They did take an occasional break for a diet coke

or thumb sucking...

We had a blast the whole time! Thanks Nini for allowing us to participate with your church and thanks Pappy and Gommy for playing with us!

A beautiful fall day

2008-11-03T10:46:00.008-06:00

One of Greg's buddies from High School, Jamie and his wife, Sarah are in the process of adopting a baby. As a means of raising the money for the process they are putting together a calendar of kids they know...genius! So when Sarah asked for volunteers for models we were more than happy to help them out, we know they are going to be awesome parents and we want to do whatever we can to help them have that opportunity. Saturday was our big photo shoot...well, that's an exaggeration of sorts...Saturday we had the opportunity to meet a wonderful photographer and have the girls pictures taken at a beautiful park.

While we were in such an amazing place we took advantage of our new toy and took some pretty cool pictures ourselves...

These are the shots Greg took while the girls were with the photographer:

you really need to click on this pic to see what it is...

Then we took the girls on a walk and I took the camera...

I still have quite a bit of learning to do, but I am really enjoying playing with our new camera!

BOO!

2008-11-02T15:38:00.017-06:00

I can't believe Halloween has already come and gone! Where is this year going? It's gonna be 2009 before we know it...

Friday was Halloween and Halloween was awesome for the Hinckleys! We started the day with a parade at Trinity's school...

then moved on to a party at Emory's school...

Then, after a few errands, a short nap for a baby girl, and way too much sugar...we prepared for Trick-0r-treating! The girls looked adorable!

Trinity was Queen Amidala from Star Wars 1:

Emory was Giselle from Enchanted:

Addison was Minnie House (the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse version):

and Daddy was a goofball in Trinity's head dress:

We had such a wonderful time meeting more of our neighbors and getting tons of sugar filled treats the girls will never finish! We were greeted by my wonderful parents before we left to go trick-or-treating and by my sweet sister at both the parade and after we finished trick-or-treating. I think the girls absolute favorite part of the night, just like in every year past, was greeting trick-or-treaters at our house and handing out handfuls of candy. Each girl would grab as much as their hands would hold and drop it in the bag/bucket of each trick-or-treater...yes, that means every person got three handfuls! I'm also pretty much sure that means I bought WAY too much candy...especially since we still have like 1/4 of it left over!

I hope you all had a wonderful, fun and safe Halloween too! The girls are already planning next year's costumes, are you?

This brought a smile to my face...

2008-10-30T08:22:00.001-05:00

I got an email from my mother-in-law today and I love it! I just had to share...

REAL MOTHERS
Real Mothers do not eat quiche; they do not have time To make it. Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils are probably In the sandbox. Real Mothers often have sticky floors, filthy ovens and Happy kids. Real Mothers know that dried play dough does not come Out of shag carpets. Real Mothers do not want to know what the vacuum just Sucked up. Real Mothers sometimes ask 'Why me?' and get their Answer when a little Voice says, 'Because I love you best.' Real Mothers know that a child's growth is not measured By height or years Or grade... It is marked by the progression of Mama to Mom to Mother. The Images of Mother: 4 YEARS OF AGE - My Mama can do anything! 8 YEARS OF AGE - My Mom knows a lot! A whole lot! 12 YEARS OF AGE - My Mother doesn't really know quite Everything. 14 YEARS OF AGE - Naturally, Mother doesn't know that, Either. 16 YEARS OF AGE - Mother? She has no clue! 18 YEARS OF AGE - That old woman? She's way out of Date! 25 YEARS OF AGE - Well, she might know a little bit about It. 35 YEARS OF AGE - Before we decide, let's get Mom's Opinion. 45 YEARS OF AGE - Wonder what Mom would have thought about It? 65 YEARS OF AGE - Wish I could talk it over with Mom. The beauty of a mama is not in the clothes she wears, The figure that she carries, Or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a mama must be seen from in her eyes, Because that is the doorway to her heart, The place where love resides. The beauty of a mama is not in a facial mole, But true beauty is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, The passion that she shows, And the beauty of a mama With passing years only grows!

Hope you enjoy it too :)

Paschal Football

2008-10-26T16:53:00.005-05:00

For the past 13 years Greg and I have made a tradition of attending his High School's football games. We have all enjoyed them...Greg watching the football, the girls watching the dancers and cheerleaders and jammin with the band (and occasionally catching a play or two of the game), and me all of the above plus socializing with some of our friends. Well, now that we've moved to my hometown we're not up for the drive back to the Woodrow games, so we've adopted my alma matter as our new weekly HS football fix. I've really enjoyed getting back to those games and occasionally seeing some blasts from my past, and even more occasionally witnessing a win from the Panthers.

"Rascal" the Panther is awesome with the girls! He will sit down and wait for the little ones to approach him instead of walking up to them and scaring the bajeezus out of them. Trinity was more than thrilled to have her picture taken with him and he surprised her with this pose at the last possible second!

We finally convinced the other two to pose for a picture with him by having Greg jump in too. You can see he was having as much fun as Trinity!

At another game this year the people sitting behind us had brought their purple pompoms with them and when they saw Emory cheering and dancing the team on to a hopeful victory (didn't work) she loaned them to us. Emory just thought her stuff didn't stink having those in her hands!

Addison couldn't wait for her turn to take a try

We have had a great time cheering on Paschal this year! Despite a not-so-good record (they still have one game left) they have shown a vast improvement over the past several years, and for that we are thrilled!

Now Greg's High School, on the other hand is now ranked first in their district! Way to go Woodrow! We leave and they start taking it to the next level...what's up with that?

HOWDY FOLKS!

2008-10-15T19:36:00.008-05:00

Trinity got Columbus Day as a holiday so we took advantage of it and went to the State Fair of Texas! I know it's been a few weeks...but here's the post anyway.

They had the Sky Way open this year so Greg took the big girls on a ride. I'm not sure they thought it was as cool as he did, but regardless they all had fun!

Emory, Addison and I moved on to the Carousel

Trinity was tall enough this year to ride any of the ride she pleased! That also meant she was too tall to ride some of the kids rides too.

She did take a shot at the darts and won a prize for each of the girls!

This was her favorite ride of the day!

Emory was tall enough to ride all the kids rides, but not quite tall enough for some of the others.

So she took a turn with her Daddy on the Ladybug...also her favorite of the day! Hers didn't go as fast as the one Trinity rode on, but it did go backwards!

Greg took Trinity and Emory on the log ride, unfortunately this was the best shot I got. I really like the picture, but am sad I can't see their faces...oh well.

Finally Addison gets a turn to go on a ride too! She chose the pirate ships, but had to wait her turn...

Can you tell she had a blast?!?!

Emory couldn't wait to go on the swings!!!

Then we moved on to the petting zoo...unfortunately it was ridiculously crowded so we didn't get to actually use any of the $5 of feed we purchased or touch any animals, but Addison enjoyed looking at all of them!

The baby animals outside were way better!

We ended the day with candy apples and finally a family picture!

This is where Addison spent a good part of the day...

Awesome day!

I've never stayed at the Fair that long before and I'm so glad we went and all had a blast!

isn't she the sweetest ever?

2008-10-07T19:57:00.002-05:00

I already know I've got three of the sweetest daughters on the planet, as I'm sure I share with you regularly, but I have a cute story to back it up and I want to share it too.

Tonight at dinner Emory was being extremely complementary of the meal; every single bite she took lead her to saying something else really kind. Here are a few examples:
Mmmmm...Mommy, this is delicious!
How did you make this chicken Mommy...it is so good!
This is the best dinner I've ever had!
Oh wow, I didn't know spinach could taste so good.
Ooooh, I really like this rice, how did you know to make it?
Mommy, I think this might be the best meal ever!

You know...all the usual comments from my cooking ;)

So when I asked her why she was being so extremely sweet tonight her response was PRECIOUS! She said, "Well, I just had all that juice at gymnastics and it's so sweet with a lot of sugar, so that's what's making me so sweet. Now I'm drinking milk to make me healthy."

I love my girls!

Welcome to Panther City

2008-10-06T14:56:00.003-05:00

In case you don't know the history of Fort Worth, it was nicknamed "Panther City" back in the day because, as the story goes, it was such a dead town you could see a panther roaming the streets downtown in the middle of the day. Well it's not exactly that dead these days, but we did find some interesting wildlife roaming our street this afternoon.

Yep, that's a buzzard, eating a squirrel...CRAZY! It was just around 1 o'clock this afternoon when Greg snapped this. Just after taking it a car drove down the street and the buzzard didn't flinch at all. NUTS!

btw...another bit of information about FW, my alma matter (Paschal HS) was the first HS in FW and it's mascot is the Panther b/c of this story and the nickname that came from it...PANTHER CITY.

A few random moments...

2008-10-06T14:35:00.004-05:00

We have had a few great random photo opps around here today and I wanted to share.

A little sass from the Princess on a Monday morning.

SUPER EMORY!

These were actually taken last night. Addison decided she needed to try Emory's boots on...

We have such adorable girls! Yes, I know...I'm biased...but I still think it's true! Thanks for admiring them too:)

Homecoming at the Hill

2008-10-04T09:17:00.005-05:00

Last night was the homecoming football game for the high school where my mom teaches, so we made a family outing out of it. We had a great time with Pappy, Gommy and Nini and I have quite a few pictures to prove it!

Pappy bought Mums for the little ones and his honey (but not HIS daughters...I see where we rank)

The girls were so proud to be walking in with their mums, just like the students!

Addison and Nini enjoyed watching the bands perform together before the game

Trinity went to the concession stand with my dad to get some water, can you tell she was just a little proud of her negotiation skills in obtaining some cotton candy?

She thought she was gonna get away with eating the whole bag...

but then her sisters spotted it!

Trinity got really sleepy, so she tried to go to sleep using my foot as a pillow. It didn't work out too well for her, but she did end up falling asleep during the 1/2 time show.

Addison and Gommy were almost asleep too.

but not Emory, she and Greg were having a great time together!

We're fairly certain she was flashing gang signs at us in the picture...too many inner city football games I guess

We had a great time and look forward to DHJ homecoming next year!

Our little singers

2008-10-04T09:04:00.003-05:00

This year both Trinity and Emory are in choir at church, The Cherub Choir. They are having a great time and learning from the same person who taught both my sister and me when we were growing up. They have already learned so many basic things about music and some really fun songs. This past Sunday was their first time to sing in church and they were precious! I'm prettu sure I heard Trinity's voice through all the others', but Emory isn't quite as confident just yet. I thought I'd share a few pictures of our sweet little cherubs with you...

The girls had just gotten their robes on and were in the choir room.

In this picture they were in the big church, waiting to process with the other choirs...can you tell that they're showing off a bit?

I look forward to many more choir memories, special moments and concerts to come!

Going to the Theatre

2008-09-27T15:42:00.004-05:00

My mom and one of her best friends took Trinity and Emory and Madelynne (the friends grandaughter and one of Trinity's friends) to see Sleeping Beauty at Casa Manana today. The girls were rediculously excited about getting to see this particular story, but even more excited about getting to do something "grown up" with their grandmother and friend. The girls got all dressed up and fancy for the occasion.

Even though they were all dressed and fancy they were still dancing around and being silly with their daddy while they were waiting on Gommy to pick them up.

Yay Gommy's here!

When they returned from the play Emory came running into the house and said, "Mommy, all the parts were my favorite!", so I guess it was an enjoyable event for all!

Thanks Gommy for the invite and special time with the girls! I know they enjoyed it and times like this will always be precious to them!

A lesson on chopsticks

2008-09-27T15:30:00.003-05:00

On Thursday Greg had a lunch appointment with a client who wanted to eat Sushi. When he saw the chopsticks he immediately thought about the girls, so he snagged some extras and brought them home for us to use at dinner. When I saw them I quickly changed the menu to a favorite around here, Curly Noodles (aka Ramen). I know...extravagant homemade feast, but the girls LOVE them and would eat them three meals a day, seven days a week if we would let them!

I captured some of the facial expressions that went along with the experimenting so I could share

So you can't actually her face in this one, but you can see how she's using her left hand to guide her right. She refused to accept assistance at the beginning because, "I know how they work Daddy, I've done this before!"

Emory was desperately trying to get the two sticks to work together but just couldn't get either one of her hands to hold them both. She concentrated so hard! Every time she would get some picked up she couldn't get them in her mouth, she's bite the sticks instead.

Trinity finally got them figured out and ate almost her entire bowl using chopsticks! Greg job Princess!

Emory finally gave up on using two sticks and tried just using the one to pick the noodles up and the other to wrap them around the stick with. Too funny! I think she ended up eating 20 noodles total...probably less. I've very proud of you for trying so hard Angel, but I'm afraid you might have inherited your mommy's uncoordinated fingers...sorry!

Early mornings with the Hinckleys

2008-09-25T15:08:00.003-05:00

This morning Emory grabbed my camera and started capturing some of her favorite moments from the early morning hours. She took at least 50 pictures (quite a few of them are of the floor and walls) the ones I'm posting are a few of them that turned out well of the different members of our wonderful family. Let's see if you can guess which member of our family is NOT a morning person...

The eternally happy Addison

Always loving Daddy

Hmmm...I think she might be the cranky one...

Me and my sweet baby girl, getting diapered and dressed:)

Thanks Ems for capturing some of the moments Mommy and Daddy never think about! Some of the best moments of our lives happen before we're awake enough to remember them!

Everybody do the Monkey Dance!

2008-09-25T14:40:00.004-05:00

Last night the girls were in particularly silly moods and decided to put on a show for us. You can't fully appreciate the show without having seen it in person, however I'll do my best by providing you with pictures:

Here they are, beginning their routine by being monkeys

then they move on to shaking their monkey tails

then Trinity decided they should pose for pictures, so they did their "model" poses.

Trinity said, "models look mad in their pictures and serious too."

Now they've decided to show us their huge muscles because they all ate spinach with dinner and their muscles grew strong right away, just like Popeye's!

Trinity decided they needed to put on a real show for us, so she made up programs for each of us so we would know what the show was. It was too cute not to take a picture of:)

(Trinity, Emory and Addison, The Monkey Dance)

So we moved on into the living room for the real show.

They started out in balls and they were singing a cute little song they had made up

They then "grew up" and started dancing and jumping around while they continued with singing

What wonderful entertainment the girls were! How lucky are Greg and I to have nightly productions written just for us and put on in our very own home?!?!

I love my life and I adore my girls!

Finally getting into a routine...

2008-09-23T09:06:00.004-05:00

It's only taken a month, but we're finally starting to get into a routine with all the newness in our lives. The changes have been awesome, but exhausting and confusing too. As we're settling in we decided a weekly dinner with my parents and sister would be a nice way for us to spend time together...since we live so close and all:) Last night was our first celebration of this new habit and it was wonderful! We enjoyed home made hamburgers, courtesy of my parents and sister, along with lots of yummy fruit!

After a Delicious dinner Trinity got a bubble bath in my parents wonderful tub. She got lost in all the bubbles, so I had to take some pics...

She declared it to be a googleplex of bubbles! Just FYI- googleplex is a real number, but it's way too big for me to define:)

We're so glad to have this event in our weekly routine now! We will look forward to Mondays every week...that's a first:)

Now, on a totally different subject...

This morning I was taking down some things the previous owners had left in the kitchen in order to install a new paper towel holder and Addison really wanted to help. She saw I was using a screwdriver so she went to the garage and found her own screwdrivers and brought them into me begging to help. When I told her it would be just a minute before I could pick her up to help me she quietly left the room. When I went to find her, this is what I saw:

I can't wait till she's big enough to help me with home repair work! This is gonna be awesome!

The great Funkytown!

2008-09-20T20:52:00.002-05:00

For those of you unfamiliar with the name "Funkytown" (like I was up until about a month ago), this is nickname for Fort Worth. Don't ask me where it comes from or why it's used...just use it yourself and sound cool. Anyway, today was an especially great day for us here in our new home town...Funkytown. We started the day off with a lemonade/cookie stand. We live on a fairly busy corner, so knew we would get great exposure. We got the homemade lemonade ready and some cookies baked and our three little entrepreneurs set out on their first venture. They made some great signs (that unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of) and got everything arranged just perfectly, including the Barbies and flowers for decoration. The girls made $40 today at their stand! That's pretty amazing to me!

The best part about the lemonade stand wasn't the money we made, it was the way our neighbors came out of the woodwork to visit with us. I was a little late joining the party and when I walked out the front door there were at least 20 people standing in our front yard visiting! How wonderful to have fun and supportive neighbors! The girls started playing with our across the street neighbors (two little girls- one is a year older than Trinity and the other is about 6 months older than Emory), then two more little girls from down the street joined in the party! The girls were incredibly thrilled to have playmates their own ages! The across the street neighbors ended up becoming the hired help (it's amazing what kids will do for lemonade and cookies) and stayed to play for a couple of hours. Then...Trinity and Emory went to play at their house for like 5 hours! What a change of pace this is for us to have neighbors to play with! Their parents are totally cool too, we visited for several hours throughout the day too with them!

We also had several other visitors at our lemonade stand that were great surprises. Someone Greg and I have both worked with in the professional world, a childhood friend of mine...and some other really great neighbors!

Greg and I feel so blessed to have an incredible neighborhood surrounding us!

Won't you take me to...Funkytown...

Let's all go to the zoo!

2008-09-20T20:17:00.005-05:00

Yesterday was a "staff development day" for Fort Worth ISD. For those of us unfamaliar with this term, it means the teachers work while the kids have the day off. We took advantage of the day off and the beautiful weather and spent the day at the zoo! We had a BLAST!!!!! Here are a few pictures for your viewing pleasure

Addison LOVED the animals! She waivied to each and every single one of them!

In this picture she was excitedly waiving to the wart hogs. I haven't seen anyone this excited to see a wart hog since Lion King first came out!

This gorilla was sleeping so peacefully and looked so comfy!

The girls loved riding the zoo train!

Nini treated her girls to a ride on the carosel. I think Addison was enjoying herself just a bit!

so was Emory

I'm afraid Trinity might be getting a little too old to find quite as much pleasure in these rides.

By the time we were ready to hop back on the train we were all a little worn out. Emory came really close to falling asleep just before I took this picture.

This is one of Addison's favorite facial expressions these days...I copied her:)

We had an awesome day at the zoo! Thanks Gaga for a wonderful and thoughtful "welcome to Fort Worth" gift that will keep on giving and thanks Nini for joining us!

A little behind

2008-09-09T17:08:00.003-05:00

Sorry I'm a little behind with some very important posts from our lives, but I still haven't gotten to the store to get the software I need to load pictures...ugh! I'll give a brief synopsis of what we've been up to...

We finally got Trinity and Emory's room finished (well at least enough to move them in) and moved them in!
Emory has started school!

Emory started gymnastics!

Trinity started gymnastics!

Trinity turned 6!!!!!!

We went to the first UNT home football game of the season.

Trinity had the family over for a Hannah Montana birthday party!

We got the several light fixtures replaced (thanks Dad) and are slowly but surely updating the '60s decor in the house.
Trinity and Emory started church choir together!

Whoa...I'm sure I've left some very important things out, and I hope I remember them when I go back and actually give details and pictures!

That's all for now, gotta get to gymnastics!

A small glimpse

2008-08-29T22:00:00.002-05:00

This evening we took the girls and my sister to a girls volleyball game at North Texas. It has been a long time since I attended a volleyball game and I forgot how much I enjoyed them! The girls really seemed to enjoy it too and while they were able to watch (the guys in front of us decided it would be a good idea to stand the ENTIRE time, so we couldn't see some of the action) they really got into it and asked a bunch of questions. Greg has been "bumping" the ball with them a lot and Trinity and Emory have both gotten really good at it recently!

So while I was sitting (or standing) in the stands I felt like I was looking into a crystal ball and seeing my future...cheering on a girls volleyball team! I do enjoy it, so if I were to pick a sport for my daughters to play, this one would definitely top the list! Lord knows they'll have the height for it, now the skills and desire are yet to be determined.

BTW, North Texas lost, we played Tech. Oh well, fun game anyway!

Bittersweet

2008-08-29T21:46:00.002-05:00

Today we officially sold our old house. I am thrilled to not have the responsibility, stress and expense of it, but I am also very sad to not have it anymore. I haven't been back over there since last Tuesday, when we packed the truck and ran out in a rush to get to Ft. Worth and start unloading. I assumed I'd be back over to help finish gathering stuff and cleaning, but lucky for me I have an amazing husband, father and Mother-in-law who handled all of that for me. I feel like I didn't get to say good-bye to it though and to all of our memories there. I know it's just a house and the memories are in my heart and head, not in the house, but it's still a very special place to me and I feel like it deserved more from me than what it got. Oh well, it's done the way it's done and that's that. I just hope and pray the new owners are good to it and build wonderful memories of their own there.

Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled beyond belief with our decision to move and with the house we chose, they are all perfect, but closing an old chapter is always a little bittersweet.

Good bye house, thanks for welcoming our baby girls with open arms and for protecting us from the world! We hope your future is as wonderful as ours!

Whew...

2008-08-27T17:41:00.002-05:00

We finally have internet at home! I was going through serious withdraw not being able to get online for a whole week! We're still without cable, but at least I have some form of communication with the outside world while I wait.

We are in the process of getting setlled in our wonderful, new house, although we still have a LONG ways to go! We still have tons of boxes in storage and at my parents' house, but we'll get to them...eventually. I started working on Trinity's and Emory's room the day after we moved in, and I'm still working on it. Since they have a massive (but really cool) castle bunk bed it is not movable once it is assembled, so we have to get it all finished before we move them in. This means all three girls have been sleeping in the same room for a week and I think all five of us are ready for that to come to an end. All of Trinity's and Emory's furniture (except their mattresses) are in the formal living room and it's pretty disastorous. We hope to make major leaps in our progress and get them moved in by the end of the day on Monday...say a prayer please!

Even more importantly Trinity is getting settled in her new school. We attended a fun kindergarten activity on Saturday, called Popsicles in the Park where all the incoming Kindergarteners and their parents hang out in the park across the street from the school and eat popsicles and visit. We really enjoyed getting to meet some of the other parents and children. I think there are between 80 and 90 kids in kindergartn this year, so it was quite a crowd! Trinity really likes her teacher, actually she has a sub through Thanksgiving because her teacher just had a baby. Greg and I really enjoyed our time with the sub though and know she is going to do a great job with our princess! Trinity isn't dreading going to school at all, in fact I think she secretly enjoys it and is trying to hide that enthusiasm for the sake of attention. I will get pics of her first day of school as soon as I get my camera stuff hooked up to the computer.

Oh, speaking of computers, my awesome Daddy got us a new one as a house warming gift and IT ROCKS! Thanks Daddy!

Emory got to go up to her new school today and take lunch to all the teachers and got to meet her teacher and play in her classroom. I think she is going to have a really fun year this year. There are 9 girls in her class out of 14 children, so she will have plenty of people to play babies and house with!

I am thrilled with our decision to move to Fort Worth and all of the wonderful things that are coming out of our move. This is going to be a wonderful home for us, both the house and the community!

I promise to post pictures in the near future. Till then...

Bye Dallas

2008-08-19T00:19:00.000-05:00

So, we're actually moving! I've been thinking about the goods and bads about leaving my home of the past 7 years, Dallas, TX. In my thinking I've come up with a list of top 10 things I'll miss and the top 10 things I won't. So here goes:

Top 10 things I'll miss about living in Dallas:

1. LPG- our neighborhood parents group. When I found this group we went from living in a house to living in an amazing nieghborhood. Although I haven't been a very active participant in the activities they have been an amazing support group and ALWAYS there when we need them! I don't know if I will every find another group so great!

2. ZION LUTHERAN SCHOOL Our home away from home and our extended family for the past four years.

3. WHITE ROCK LAKE- such a beautiful place to go on walks with amazing wildlife all around it. The amount of "park land" and wildlife sanctuary land around it is such a wonderful blessing to this city and has been a great place for us to capture some family time along with great science lessons

4. BEING CLOSE TO MY IN-LAWS- Greg's mom is about 5 miles from us and his dad is about 15. This is the area where both of them grew up and it is the only "home" Greg has known. It has been very kind to us!

5. MY YARD. This place is amazing! We have just under 1/2 acre and it's like a park attached to our house! Greg has always given it extensive amounts of love and attention. I hope the future owners of the house enjoy it as much as we have and take good care of it too!

6. FRIENDS- we have had some amazing friends here! Some of them have been Greg's friends since he was a small child, going through all the highs and lows of life together, others we have known for a very short time, but all of them we will truly miss!

7. PARKS- There are at least five parks just in our neighborhood! We have wonderful memories at each and every one of them!

8. CREEKS- for some reason this area of the city has a million creeks! It makes for amazing greenbelts in the neighborhoods!

9. WILDLIFE- I have seriously walked out my door at 7 or 8 in the morning and seen red foxes jogging down the sidewalk! How incredible! Not to mention all the birds (we have a cardinal couple, a woodpecker, several bluejays and a woods owl that all live in OUR trees!)

10. last but most certinitally not least: OUR HOUSE! This is our first "home". Sure, we had a couple of apartments before we bought this house, but we never considered any of them to be home. This place was the welcoming place to all three of our precious daughters when they were born and these walls have witnessed them all as they have grown into the incredible little girls they are today! It has seen the hard times and the most amazing times we have experienced over the past 6 1/2 years. It has always been a source of comfort and will always be a huge part of who we are as a family! We are so blessed to have these memories and this beautiful place to have held them.

Top 10 things I won't miss about living in Dallas:

1. MATERIALISM- This is truly a big city and so many of the people (especially in this area) and incredibly materialistic and judgemental of other's material belongings.

2. COST OF LIVING/HOUSING- I know it's not the most exepensive in the country by any means, but it is seriously high!

3. TRAFFIC- I swear it takes me 20 mintues just to go down the street to the grocery store!

4. BEING FAR AWAY FROM MY FAMILY- It takes just over an hour to get from our house to my parents' and that is about 55 minutes too long, but fortunatley we have not allowed that to come between us!

5. PROXIMITY TO THE GHETTO- just two blocks away is an incredibly undesirable neighborhood, but one block from us in the other direction is REALLY nice homes with REALLY nice price tags!

6. PUBLIC SCHOOLS- this is a huge part of the reason we're moving...no details required.

7. FAST PACE- everyone is always in hurry, running late, running into traffic...just too stressful for me

8. OUR HOUSE- although it has been such a blessing to us, it has also been a constant struggle and project, not to mention a little cramped.

9. CRIME- I always feel like I have to look over my shoulder and never feel like I should trust anyone because of what they might do. Of course I'm sure this has nothing to do with me watching the news:)

10. LACK OF FRIENDLINESS- where I'm from everyone says hi to everyone, you never meet a stranger, and everyone is your neighbor. I know Dallas isn't as bad as say...NY, after all it is still in TX, but compared to my wonderful home town this place is awful! In fact when Greg and I were at lunch just before looking at houses he commented on how "weird" the people in the restaurant were to be having extremly polite conversations with complete strangers; then the other day a stranger offered to help me carry my food to the table since it was obvious it was going to take me more than one trip, and it took me a minute to realize I wasn't in Dallas and accept his kind offer.

All in all I am grateful for the time I have had in Dallas and all I have learned and experienced here, but at the same time I am so ready to move on to our next chapter!
Thanks for everything Big D, I look forward to visiting you regularly!

We won't be bored!

2008-08-17T16:42:00.003-05:00

Even though almost every single thing we own is in a box or bag and ready to move the girls have still been able to find ways of entertaining themselves. Trinity and Addison made themselves at home under our little bitty nesting tables

Greg thought Addison looked adorable in her sister's Jr. Mean Green shirt

We found Trinity sitting on the sofa, all dressed up

Snagletooth strikes again!

2008-08-17T16:37:00.003-05:00

Trinity FINALLY lost her second tooth last night! It has been loose since the last week of school (almost three months ago!) and it finally decided to part with her beautiful mouth last night, after quite a bit of coaxing from all of us. Her new tooth broke the surface behind her old tooth about a week ago so it is already very obvious. Here's a picture of her new, growing-up mouth:

I see braces in our future!

There's Greg doing his best to convince the tooth to go it's separate way.

Addison's 18 month stats

2008-08-15T22:12:00.002-05:00

I can't believe how old my baby girl is getting! She's already 19 months old! I just got her in for her 18 month check-up tonight and thought I'd share her stats with you:

Height: 32" (60th percentile)
Weight: 25 lbs (70th percentile)
Head: 19" (90th percentile)

and for the sake of comparison, here are her sisters' 18 month stats:
Trinity
Height: 33" (85th percentile)
Weight: 24 lbs (50th percentile)
Head: 19 3/8" (>95th percentile...as in off the chart)
Emory
Height: 33" (85th percentile)
Weight: 24 lbs (48th percentile- notice a difference in %'s from Trinity's...bizarre)
Head: 19" (90th percentile)

Addison is showing off her new skills every single day! We are beginning to understand more and more of what she's saying and her sisters are teaching her something new every day (not always a good thing). She LOVES to scream...and I mean ear piercing scream! She is pretty adventurous these days too. She is doing her best to keep up with Trinity and Emory and will only do things if they are "big girl" things. She has refused to sit in her high chair at home for the past month, she has to sit in a big girl chair, just like her sisters! She is a total creature of habit, if something is done one time, it should always be done exactly the same way in the future. She is quite bossy (maybe I should say assertive), but she is also an excellent follower if someone wants to lead her. She is still talking up a storm, especially if I'm talking to someone else, but most of the time her monologues are gibberish. She has started making faces at people and loves to "raspberry" at her Daddy! I'm afraid she is going to be a night owl too, this causes huge problems for me, I LOVE to sleep!

Addison is an amazing little girl and we are all so blessed to have her as a part of our family!

Junior Mean Green night

2008-08-14T15:53:00.003-05:00

Greg took Trinity and Emory for a special daddy-daughter night last night. They had dinner at Pancho's (I've sworn that place off, but they all three LOVE it!) and went to a special night for the members of the Junior Mean Green club at North Texas. They got autographs with almost all the players and had a great time visiting with them too! Greg was incredibly impressed with the way the players greeted and talked to the girls. He said each one of the guys would ask the girls their names and talk to them very sweetly and kindly. The guys seemed truly grateful to have everyone there and to have even the littlest of fans!

Before they left, I gave Greg one responsibility...ONLY ONE! I asked him to take a bunch of pictures. I had spent the day charging the camera and made sure he had it before they left. Let me show you what he came back with:

Yes, both of these are of the sign as they were LEAVING the place! I guess next time I'll have to be a bit more specific with my list of responsibilities. Maye I should have defined "lots" and maybe I should have been specific as to who/what I wanted him to take pictures of.

I'm so glad they got to go to this together and they all had such a great time! Thanks honey for being the most amazing Daddy on the face of the Earth!

Girls will be girls

2008-08-14T15:29:00.005-05:00

I hate to say it, but the end of summer is almost here. Since we will be spending the next few days doing our final moving preps and next week moving I figured today was our last real day of summer. To celebrate the great times the girls and I have had together this past few months I decided to take them to Libby Lu. The girls were so excited when they finally figured out their surprise they could hardly stand it! They ran through the house screaming and yelling and kept telling me that I was the greatest Mom in the world (duh...like I didn't know that already, but I do enjoy hearing it:) Okay, I'm just kidding, I hear just the opposite quite regularly these days). I figured I had made the right decision of how to celebrate and that made me very happy! I took a few pictures of the two big girls getting all glammed up. Trinity chose to have a "Royal" hairdo and a tiara, Emory chose a "Sassy" hairdo and a sparkly headband (go figure...if it sparkles, she HAS to have it!).

Trinity getting her make-up

Emory getting her hair fixed

Little Miss Sass all done!

After the hair, make-up, nail polish and sparkles they got to "build a pooch" as the last part of their "makeovers". Emory chose the cutest puppy and named him Henry Tyler Hinckley and Trinity chose a purple pegasus and named her Glow. So cute!

Getting all glammed up (or watching people do it, in Addison's case) works up quite an appetite for us, so we stopped by the food court for a quick snack.

I'm not sure what Addison's deal was, but she kept making this face (I think her Nini had something to do with it), so I had to snap a picture. Sorry for the "see-food" shot!

Addison loved the ginormous cup we got, I swear it was almost as big as her!

Here's Trinity, pretending to be a walrus

All three of my beauties! This picture really warms my heart. They are all so happy and you can see it, not only in their smiles but also in their eyes!

Thanks girls for making this such an awesome summer! I hope you've enjoyed it too! I love you with all my heart!

It's officially ours!

2008-08-12T08:32:00.002-05:00

We closed on our new house yesterday! We are so excited about it and the memories we will be building there! We move next Tuesday, that part I'm not so excited about- lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots....of work to do!

Random pictures

2008-08-08T14:29:00.003-05:00

I've been kind of busy lately, between getting ready to move, keeping this house clean, visiting my mother-in-law in the hospital, and keeping up with all three girls 24/7 so I'm a little behind on posting pictures and thought I'd do a mini-catchup real quick.

We had some of Greg's family over for dinner a few weeks ago to celebrate three birthdays. Addison LOVES being around her cousin! She's not used to people her size:) They were so sweet, they even kissed good-night.

The girls have been great help preparing to move. They even formed a "moving train". Pretty cute, aren't they?

Check out those muscles!!!

Watch out, Addison might just kick your hiney if you're not careful!

USA! USA! USA! USA!

2008-08-08T13:39:00.002-05:00

The olympics start tonight!!!! WOO-HOO! I know Greg and I plan to have a front seat in front of the TV to enjoy the festivities of the opening cerimonies...hope you do too! We absolutely love cheering on Team USA in any and all events we can catch on TV! The girls are pretty excited for quite a few of the competitions, so they will be glued to it right along side us!

GO TEAM USA!

Teeth, teeth, teeth part 2

2008-08-08T13:21:00.002-05:00

So the teeth saga is continuing in our world. Things amongst our girls haven't changed, Trinity is still hanging on by a thread to her second tooth, Addison is still popping her i-theeth through the gums as is Emory with her molars, the continuance...or maybe I should say the extreme drama is with Greg's Mom.

I'll share a brief history of her with you so you can appreciate her situation a bit better. She has extremely severe rheumatoid arthritis and has for 30+ years (she was in her 20's when she was diagnosed). With her arthritis she gets "flare ups" in her joints regularly. These usually go away with a brief treatment of strong medication and really like to come on as she is recovering from some kind of sickness when her immune system is at is most vulnerable; rheumatoid also causes your recovery from illness to take quite a bit longer than the average person.

On the 1st of July she came down with a stomach bug, causing her to not only miss all the 4th of July festivities, but also her grandson's birthday amongst other things. Well, as the stomach bug was going away she developed a knot on her jaw joint. Assuming it was a flare up her doc gave her some medication and sent her on the way. When the meds were gone the knot was smaller, but still present and still painful. They tried an additional medication and it did nothing! The two doctors she had been seeing for help with this over the three week time period decided it might be a tooth causing some or all of this condition, so she went to the dentist. Sure enough there was a root canal gone from several years ago which had gone bad, so she went to an oral surgeon and they squeezed her in the schedule, got that tooth out and sent her on her way, hoping (but not promising) her issue had been resolved. Well, a few days later the swelling was immensely larger, we're talking a second head coming out the side of her head larger! I mean seriously huge swelling!!!!! With that kind of swelling and problem comes insane pain and discomfort! She talked to the oral surgeon and her physician and they agreed something else must be going on for there to be such incredible swelling, so she went to the ER.

After sitting in the ER for 12+ hours on Monday/Tuesday she finally got to see a doctor. The doc gave her a prescription for a really strong antibiotic and sent her on her way. By the grace of God she ended up being walked to an oral surgeons office who is on staff at this hospital and he took a look at her case (thank God he wasn't too busy that day!). Sure enough her molar had abscessed (I think that's the right word) and was causing SERIOUS infection and ALL this swelling was...(I'm grossed out to even think it)...puss! They scheduled surgery for the following day, got her in made several incisions, drained this stuff, attached temporary drains to the incision locations and stitched her back up. Her surgery was on Wednesday morning, today is Friday afternoon, and she is STILL in the hospital! This was some serious infection!

So this is truly a story about how teeth can wreak havoc on your life! Thanks for reading!

Teeth, teeth, teeth!

2008-08-05T09:37:00.002-05:00

Who would have ever thought teeth would rule a house? I sure know I never did, but it is most definitelly ruling mine right now and I'm ready for its reign to come to an end! Trinity is just about to loose her second tooth, so her ability to eat has changed drastically and she is sure to let everyone know about it...such an exciting time in a kids life! I can remember when I had a loose tooth, especially my first few times.
Emory is working on some molars that seem to be making her grumpy and giving her headaches. She is quite proud of them coming in because that means she is growing more and more, but I'm really ready for them to be done already! I feel so bad for her when they make her uncomfortable.
Addison is being given a run for her money by those i-teeth. They are all four trying to poke through and she is constantly grabbing the sides of her face and saying, "ow, ow, ow!" I know doctors say teething has no effect on a baby/child's dirty diapers, but I am here to tell you that is SOOOO wrong! She has had several bouts of issues over the past month for several days at a time and every time has been in conjunction with red, swollen gums. Each episode makes her less cooperative at diaper changes and more grumpy in general. Let's hope they finish their job in the extremely near future...for everyones sake!

That's all folks

2008-08-02T08:21:00.002-05:00

So yesterday was my mom's first day back to school for the '08-'09 school year. Can you believe it's already August?!?! Of course her kids don't start until August 25th, but because she is the closest thing to Queen Bee without being in Administration, she has to be there to get the school in order before the rest of the Worker Bees show up for the year. Seriously, she is the Lead Content Teacher for the English/Language Arts Department and has all kinds of other responsibilities and titles that I can't keep up with. I think this is her 34th year to be teaching and all but a couple of those have been at the High School level. She is pretty much the most amazing teacher on the planet and most of her kids will attest to that! You can always ask a few of hers that have made it big, like Mike Britt from the country band Lonestar or Betty Nguyen who is an anchor on CNN. Yeah, both of those kids use the skills Mom taught them in school to get where they are today! Oh, I think I forgot to mention the book Mom co-authored a couple of years ago that almost every single high school kid in Texas has used: How to Prepare for the TAKS: English Language Arts Exit Exam (Barron's) by Peggy Kennedy and Linda Powley. You can go ahead and say it, My mom Rocks! I am very proud of her!

We are all so grateful to have summers (even though they are brief) to spend with her! The girls love their TEA parties, slumber parties and pool parties, not to mention their picnics and their time cooking, playing games and reading books with her!

We had a great summer Gommy, hope you did too!

Quick update

2008-07-31T20:06:00.000-05:00

I have been terrible recently about keeping this thing updated with stories from our life...it's been kinda crazy! So here's a quick glimpse at where we stand with the whole house thing.

We found the perfect house for us on Saturday, July 5th.

We made an offer on the house on Tuesday the 7th

Offer was countered and accepted on Wednesday the 8th...YEA!!!!

On Friday the 10th we had an inspection done on the house and it was amazing! The inspector said he could not believe the condition of the house considering the age. It was most definitely well taken care of and well loved during the past 43 years the current owners have been there.

We are set to close on Monday, August 11th

We get possession on Tuesday, August 19th

School starts for Trinity on Monday the 25th (talk about cutting it close, huh?)

We definitely feel like this house is where we are supposed to be going and we have this feeling for a number of reasons...let me share a few of them with you. The same week we listed our house this one went on the market and Greg and I immediately found it online. It has many of the details we have always wanted in the curb appeal, but the owners weren't going to be moving until mid-August so we scrapped the idea. A few days later my mom's best friend called and said there was a perfect house that was on the market (the same house) and we should look at it. A few days later I asked a friend of mine if she had any suggestions of places to look and she mentioned this same house because her sister lives across the street. She said the house was well taken care of and the neighborhood was wonderful. She sold Greg on it by telling him about all the hubbys in the neighborhood watching football together on Sundays:)

Okay, so that's three things pulling us to the house, but we still chose to ignore them because we hadn't received an offer on our house. Greg had been driving by it about once a week while he was on appointments in that area and really, really liked it from the street.

My mom started telling us all the ways we are connected to the current owners of the house and how wonderful they are. Apparently he was very good friends with the minister who raised us (married my parents, baptized me, and was the minister of our church until I was in middle school), he and his wife are now active members in our church (I hadn't met them because we've found a church close to our home here in Big D)...the connections go on...

We finally decided if we were going to get moved before school started we were going to have to get going, even if we hadn't sold ours yet, so we went to look at houses with our real estate agent and this was one of them. We could immediately feel the love and care this house has felt over the past years and could see our little girls running around it and can picture them on Christmas morning...all the warm and cuddly stuff! So we left the house search and still felt like we needed an offer on ours in order to proceed...then we started talking. In a couple of brief conversations on the way home we quickly devised a plan that would allow us to get a new house while we still wait on this one to sell and we got all the details worked out in no time at all. Details that would not have fallen into place if we had been in the position even a few weeks earlier. We consider ourselves to be so blessed all this is happening the way it's supposed to! For us this was just another example of how God takes care of you and everything always turns out the way it's supposed to, even if it's not how you wanted it to! (If we had sold this house a few years ago like we had originally planned to there is no way we would have moved to my home town- happened just like it was supposed to!)

So we're still waiting to sell this house, but at least we're not in a rush to get out of here while we are also getting moved in, settled and starting school.

Unfortunately we don't have any pictures of our new house, but we will get some posted as soon as we get moved in!

Mean Green Buddies

2008-07-30T18:47:00.003-05:00

Well it's officially beginning...football season that is. In case you can't tell, those of us around the Hinckley house are HUGE fans of the Mean Green and that includes even the youngest in the house. Addison is really cute, she'll try to throw up an Eagle claw when you say Mean Green and she'll do her best to say it with you too, however if you don't know any better you would never get anything having to do with North Texas out of it.

...and back to the point of this post. Trinity and Emory are both members of the Junior Mean Green Club, something they take quite a good deal of pride in. Being members of this prestigious organization comes with quite a few perks, including playing in the Fun Zone prior to kick off at home football games (and during basketball season too), getting to go on the field at the end of half time of football games to cheer the team onto the field (the girls are true believers in their high-fives being a great source of luck for the players), and having their very own buddies on the football team and both the mens and womens basketball teams. Today was the big day...the girls got their letters in the mail from Scrappy telling them who their Mean Green Football Buddies are! And the results are:

Emory: Matthew Menard #71

Offensive Lineman - OL
Height: 6-5
Weight: 275
Sophomore
Previous Affiliations Westfield HS Spring, TX

Trinity: Matt Tomlinson #72

Offensive Lineman- OL

Height: 6-5

Weight: 270

Freshman (this will be his 2nd season, but was redshirted last year)

Previous Affiliations: Klein HS Klein, TX

So while you're cheering on the Mean Green this football season make sure you give an extra loud shout-out for our buddies!!!!!

GO MEAN GREEN!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eavesdropping

2008-07-28T18:55:00.003-05:00

My sister (aka Nini, Orange Monkey, Pumpkin Patch, Nicci...) absolutely adores our little girls (monkeys, bugs, etc) and adores spoiling them too. Anytime she's in Target she mysteriously finds herself in the little girls clothes, shoes and toys with things jumping off the racks and into her basket...bizarre! Anyway, this morning she sent some pictures to the girls of clothes and shoes that made their way home with her yesterday and just happen to be the right size for them. So after viewing their loot they called Nini to thank her for them so I decided to eavesdrop just a little bit on the conversations. My, oh so grateful, and loving Emory (she really is grateful, but she's also 3) who happens to be a serious shoe fanatic got on the phone to thank her for a dress and this in how Emory's side of the conversation went down, "Thank you so much for my new dress Nini, I really love it, but I just don't have any shoes to match it...yes, I have a lot of shoes, but they are all flip-flops, boots, and two pair of tennis shoes- one of them is sparkly...I lost my Crocs and I don't have any black shoes either...well yes, my white Easter shoes might go with it...I just don't have any to wear with that dress, maybe you'll have to buy me some..."

Granted her foot is gigantic and is growing by leaps and bounds, but she still has at least 10 pair of shoes that still fit her! What a shoe-aholic! We are in SOOOOO much trouble with this one!

Family vacation

2008-07-21T16:55:00.008-05:00

We just spent the most incredible 8 days and 7 nights on a family vacation, along with my parents and sister. We were just in Galveston, but it was amazing! We had a cute little house, right on the beach! The beach was clean and the water was the most clear we've ever seen it in TX! We made some amazing memories and had some incredible adventures! I took several hundred pictures, as did my mom and sister; I've posted a few of my favorite, and made the rest of my faves into a slide show (so I don't take up too much space on here), but these don't even include any from my mom or sister, those will come later.

A flower Trinity picked for me

Emory and Addison were so lovey dovey during vacation!

I loved watching Addison's first experiences in the sand and ocean!

Trinity found and caught this baby crab while her daddy was catching a million big blue crabs

Emory and Addison loved floating with their Nini

My sister found this GIANT shrimp! She had a hard time letting it go!

The sandcastles the girls built as neighbors and joined with a mote...too cute!

Addison offering you some of her rootbeer float

One of the many baby shark my dad caught. Next time you see Greg you need to ask him how many he caught:)

Here's the slideshow with the rest of my pictures...enjoy!

Free MySpace slideshows, photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Thank you Pappy and Gommy for the most amazing week! We are so grateful for everything you have do for us! Thanks Nini for taking a week out of your incredibly busy summer to spend with us! We love you guys!

Happy half-Birthday Emory!

2008-07-07T10:57:00.003-05:00

Emory is 3 1/2...can you believe it?!?! Her actual "half birthday" is on 4th of July, so we moved our little celebration in her honor to the 5th. We had some yummy special desert outside and sang her a birthday song, then gave her a little gift.

Emory loves her new doll and has named her "Star". Unfortunately Trinity also really liked "Star" and was none-to-happy she didn't receive one too.

Happy half-birthday Angel! I love you with all my heart!!!!!

4th of July

2008-07-06T19:47:00.009-05:00

Independence Day is tied with Christmas for Greg's favorite day of the year . I'm not sure what it is that makes it so incredible for him, frankly I don't think he knows either. He is the biggest fan of the USA I've ever met (that statement sounds kind of funny- but it's true) and the 4th of July is celebrating just that. Growing up he attended the neighborhood parade every single year and participated in it most of them. After the parade there is always a celebration at the local park with sno-cones and beer...guess that might be part of it too. The fireworks at the end of the day is the perfect culmination for him- another one of his favorites.

After getting all dressed up in our most patriotic attire we got the day started.

Emory's finger and toe nails all ready for the festivities.

This year we attended the same parade I have attended every year since I've known him and he has attended every year of his life. The girls LOVE it! We haven't every participated in it, but they have always enjoyed watching all the floats go by and gathering the hoards of candy thrown their direction.

Emory had gotten up so early and was so excited by the time we got to the parade she was worn out.

Trinity, on the other hand was extremely excited and ready to celebrate!

Addison loved waiving her flag with one hand and waiving at people with her other

We ran into one of Greg's best friends from high school who currently lives in Mobile. Addison and Jamie and a great time watching the parade together!

We also hung out with our sweet nephew, oh and his parents were there too:)

Addison got into the candy as it was thrown. I think she probably ate more paper off the candy than she did candy!

After a great time at the parade and devouring our sno-cones, we headed to our annual lunch at Snuffer's...YUMMY!

We enjoyed a quiet afternoon at home before heading to the fireworks. We have found the best way to get a good parking spot for the fireworks is to park the car in our spot early, then walk a few blocks to eat a great family dinner before returning to our choice parking spot and getting all set up for fireworks. This year we started a little earlier than we had planned on, so we had over 2 1/2 hours to kill once returning to our spot and that was TOUGH with three little ones! We let them play in the car for a few minutes before they got stir crazy and jumped out to run around outside. We tried to space out our activities enough to keep them somewhat entertained and it worked well, until the fireworks started 30 minutes later than we were planning on. That was the tough time! We at some yummy homemade ice cream then got out the sparklers and burned them one at a time.

After the sparklers ran out we were getting pretty close to time so we all got in position. Emory is terrified of loud noises (I think she got that from me...sorry Ems!) so I have to sit in the car with her with all the windows and doors closed and cover her ears. Trinity and Addison sat outside with Daddy and really enjoyed the display. Addison pointed to the ones she really liked and said, "WOW!". Unfortunately we haven't been able to get her to repeat "wow" so I have no idea how she sounded, but both Greg and Trinity said it was really cute and sincere.

Trinity was pretty paranoid about the fireworks falling from the sky and setting things on fire. I convinced her that these were professionals so that wouldn't happen. So, PLEASE never mention the accidents and misfires that happen at professional shows around her or she'll never go see fireworks again!

We had a wonderful holiday and made some amazing memories! Thanks Daddy for sharing your traditions with us one last time. We look forward to starting new traditions next summer, in our new home!