That's all folks

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

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

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

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

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!

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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!

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

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!

Happy Huladays!

The girls have been begging for it to be Christmas time recently (I think they want the gifts:)). We had been talking about having a party for the girls to have their friends over to play, so we came up with a summer version of Christmas. BTW- did you know we're over half way to Christmas? Anyway, we had a party for the girls' friends with the theme of HAPPY HULADAYS...it's Christmas in June! All of our Christmas decorations are packed away in the back of a storage unit, so the girls were more than happy to create all of their own decorations.

Unfortunately only ONE of their friends was in town last Saturday night, the night of the party...bummer. The girls were okay with it though because they still got to have their party and play with their friend.

We had a kiddie pool and a slip-n-slide set up in the front yard. They had a blast playing in it and trying to figure out how to slide down the slide before giving up and just hanging out in the puddle at the end.

After a yummy dinner of pizza the girls went on a scavenger hunt my incredibly awesome husband put together for them:
Clue: We all love Christmas, but it's so far away- Go to the place it takes shovels to play

the sandbox

Clue: Birds fly south when the winter is here- go to the place where they eat when they're here

the birdfeeder

Clue: A place to go back and forth that's where the next clue will be- find the place to play a silly game with three

the swingset

Clue: His hand waves every time it gets sunny- find our little friend that Daddy thinks is so funny

The garden gnome

Clue: This can be so much fun, it's like falling off a log. Go find the place where you might cook a dog.

The BBQ grill (not the chiminea like Addison thought)

Clue: You have done well so far, but there are still more clues. Go back to the place where we take off our shoes.

The backdoor

Clue: I can see now you won't be easy to fool, find the place where you sit on a stool

Timeout stool

Clue: You're all so close to your freezing reward, I hope Mrs. Hinckley has games so you won't be too bored. A yummy frozen treat will be eaten by all if you can tell me a treat that comes in tasty snow balls.

SNO-CONES!!!!!

The girls devoured their Wedding Cake flavored sno-cones before enjoying some arts and crafts and playing in Trinity and Emory's room for a little while. Before we knew it the party was over and it was time for our one, really sweet guest to head home.

Thanks for the good times!

Entertainment for the other two

I had to keep Emory and Addison entertained while Trinity was attending Cheer Camp because it completely threw off our schedule. Luckily one of Trinity's friends who was also in cheer camp and lives really close has a little sister who is one of Emory's friends. They just had a baby brother a couple of weeks ago, so we gladly had Emory's friend over to play a couple of times and that helped pass the time for us and hopefully gave their Mommy a little down time. On Thursday I took the girls to the mall to get their energy out and have some YUMMY chick-fil-a for lunch. They have a great time together! We are so lucky to have this family as our friends and we will so miss them when we move! Anyway, I got a few cute pictures of the girls playing at the mall.

Emory and Madi posing for the picture

Addison was so proud of herself for climbing up on the orange without any help!

By the end of the week I was calling each of the girls by the wrong names. We have Trinity, Emory and Addison and their friends names are Emma and Madison...seriously a total tongue twister when I would try to say any of their names!

Go Team!

Last week Trinity attended a YMCA Cheer Camp, along with two of her friends from school. They had a great time and really learned a lot. There was a football camp going on at the same time so on Friday the Cheerleaders cheered and performed at the boy's football game. Trinity did an awesome job! She was one of the few with the entire cheer and dance memorized. I got a few pictures and a video, but please pardon the quality of it all. I was trying to watch the girls, keep the camera on Trinity and keep an eye on my other two at the same time.

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All of the participants received certificates for completing the camp:

Gret job Princess! We are so proud of you! Your hard work was obvious in your performance!