Prayer and Play time

This afternoon the kids and I went over to the Medema's. Cindy and I needed to catch up on our prayer time and Rachelle and Kara had lots of fun. The boys brought toys to play with since they were entering princess world with those two little girls. They all enjoyed Fairytopia while we prayed for VBS, the Dawn Smith Jordan concert, and our families.

Play time

Christian, Ethan, and Kara had a great time in the afternoon at the Centilli's. They invited them over so we could go to dinner. Sweet huh. I surprised them with ribs and potato salad for their dinner. Thanks Carrie!

Timber!

Albert, Jason and the Boys got busy early to beat the heat. By the time Kara and I returned from Fellowship, they had got it down, sawed it up, and had thrown it on the burn pile! A limb hit the porch and they repaired the shingles with tar. We celebrated with ribs and sausage. Here are the happy woodsmen!!

Tree climbing adventure

Tomorrow Albert and two of his friends, Jason and Joe will be attempting to take down an oak tree that is dead and too close to the house. Albert, Christian and Ethan are out today purchasing a harness to get the job done. Albert invited Jason so he could redeem himself after taking down a tree in his own yard which landed on the fence!

Get together at Westwood

Our church, Woodland Place Baptist has been having summer outreach activities in the different community centers in our area. Last night we met on Oak Bluff in Westwood. We had blow up jumpers and free hotdogs, hamburgers, and cotton candy. It was a great time of fellowship. We also met new people from the community. The kids had a great time swinging and jumping. Albert and I had fun catching up with all our friends.

Family of the Month for July

Our Sunday school class got together at Donna's house, a widow who cares for her Alzheimer's stricken mother. She needed a ceiling fan installed and her garage cleaned out. We had a large group show up for it and so much was gotten rid of!! Mr. Centilli came with the trailer to haul off the stuff for Goodwill and the trash. Many people in the neighborhood and driver bys came thinking we were having a garage sale. That part was a little crazy but it all worked out. When it was over, Donna was thankful for all the help and the new fan.

Water Park Days

Today we met the Corinne, Hannah, and Olivia at the YMCA for some exercise and water fun. Corinne and I are workout buddies and in the summer we plan it where we can afterwards take the kids to the waterpark. I am so thankful to have a YMCA so close and so nice. The kids love to go there to swim and rock climb. Corinne and I visited while the kids swam. The boys and Hannah went down the waterslides too. The Montgomery County Library Mitchell Branch is right across the street so today we did both. The kids picked out 5 books each and couldn't wait to get home and read them.

The Duet

Kara and Ethan decided to share the Hannah Montana headset and microphone. They need some more teamwork building because they kept getting unplugged. In my younger years, I wanted a boy/girl twin set. Those two are pretty darn close!!

Kara's Playdate with Meagan and Maddie

Today we had a great time with the Kent's. They gave her a Barbie Jumping Tawny set. She (and her brothers) really have enjoyed playing with it already. The girls had a great time playing together and ended up swimming with Christian and Ethan. It was funny when all three were leaning over the side of the pool and went belly flopping out! No one was hurt just lots of giggles. Of course, Kara was first to want to do it again. Kara is going to miss seeing the girls at school but hopefully we will all keep in touch.

Club Explore

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Drop your children off and know they will be loved, taught and entertained while they are
LEARNING TOGETHER........PLAYING TOGETHER ........BEING TOGETHER!
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My friend, Corinne is co-teaching this unit study class. Her daughter, Hannah, will be there too. With the transition of going from private school to home school, we can't bear to be isolated. I'm thankful to be able to let the kids go and do this weekly on Thursdays from 12:30-3:00pm beginning Sept. 3 unless we move.

VBS praises

What an incredible week! I was blown away by everything that was experienced. The kids loved every minute of it and didn't want it to end. I have been praying for this event for 4 months. I can honestly say the Lord wowed me. 26 kids accepted the Lord including our own beloved son Christian. I got the blessing of praying with him after Yvonne came and got me saying he raised his hand in the Bible story time. It was hard to keep from falling apart when she told me. I was honored to share with 5 young women about living the Christian life daily and while I was doing that my own son was realizing his need for a Savior. Kara decided she would forego wearing the T-shirt all week because she had to wear the new dresses McKenna Meadors gave her. Ethan wanted to go with Bubbie but everytime I saw him he was having a blast. I got to be the crew leader for 5 awesome kids Riley, Lacey, Justin, Cody, and Austin. They had such a team spirit. We had a lot of fun writing "thank yous" and delivering them. I was also blessed to be "Mrs. Barnabas" as Pastor Steve called me all week encouraging the workers. It was so much fun using my spiritual gift of exhortation/encouragement. The prayer room was a hit and we got lots of requests for prayer from the workers and children this week. We prayed and praised all week during the morning devotion. On Friday, Albert got to work with the Bible study group and they were learning about Pentecost. Albert was a Mexican missionary who spoke Spanish and he was saying that Jason Farra was a crazy gringo that brought him here from Mexico and he was trying to tell him about Jesus but he couldn' t understand. The kids that know him were shocked that he spoke Spanish. They just kept staring. Gabrielle Keith, our pastor's daughter actually touch Albert and said with wide eyes in disbelief "you're Mexican?!" It was hilarious. Albert was glad he got to be apart of VBS this week too. We concluded our week by sliming Mrs. Carrie and the kids loved it. We then had kids spreadout in the gym making the word "thanks" with their bodies. We hope to use it to send everyone involved a thank you card. We had a blessed, enriching week. What's next did actually come out of my mouth....

Learning to Ride a Bike

Albert was the patient, ever loving father that he always is with this new milestone. Both boys surrendered their training wheels in hopes of riding a bike. Albert definitely got a work out running back and forth down the driveway and through the yard. Despites some spills that did not have scratches included, Christian continued to try again. The boys are expecting new bigger bikes for Christmas if they can master the skill. It was a wonderful, memorable evening.

VBS at Woodland Place

The kids had a great time today at VBS. The theme this year is a science lab. Kara and Ethan are together in the preschool department. They do a modified VBS rotation. Christian toured with his group of children who are of various ages and grade levels. That really seemed to work well! He was on rotation with my group so I got to keep an eye on him. We got tied up in caution tape, blew bubbles, and danced in church. Quite alot for one day. We learned about being thankful. Carrie, our VBS director challenged us to count our blessings and see what number we come up with before going to sleep tonight. Tomorrow we learn about being helpful. I'm sure we will have a blast. Carrie's kids came over to swim today after VBS so she could work on the devotion for tomorrow. They enjoyed their time together and I'm sure they will all sleep well.

Ya-Ya and me

Ya-Ya and Kara had their pics taken several times today in their lovely matching pink polka dot dresses. They got many complements today at church.

Princess

Take me to the Ball

hardworking man

I am happy to annouce that I have glass installed in my kitchen cabinets! Charlene, we used Middlestadt Glass. It looks fabulous. Albert is steadily working on the masterbath now. He's also making the changes on the house plans for the redraw. Crazy huh.

Celebration continues

That boy is blessed! Today was a trip to the dentist for both Christian and Ethan. They enjoyed it because they got to play on a Sony Playstation. Ethan was having a hard time moving and following the video's point so he was just making the dragon breath fire and BBQ the sheep. Christian caught on right away but loved the humor of roasting the sheep until they turned to leg of lamb. They both got good reports from Dr. Brown. No cavities! Kara and I go on Thursday. After the appointments, we headed to Wendy's for lunch. While we were eating, a lady approached us and said today from 11-2pm is kid's day and she would be happy to do face painting and balloon sculpting for my three. They were super excited. The happy meal toy was a T-Rex by the way too. Christian got a crocodile painted and a crocodile balloon. Ethan went with a blue snake theme for both. Kara, the girly girl, got Hello Kitty and a pink flower balloon. They were so excited. Christian of course knew it was another birthday blessing.

More birthday trip pics

Birthday Trip to Moody Gardens

This year Christian decided he wanted to go to Moody Gardens for his 8 birthday. We headed down to Galveston and got there just in time for the IMAX Dinosaur movie. Kara and Ethan were grabbing at everything trying to touch the 3-D images. It was cute watching them. After the movie, we visited the Aquarium. Christian enjoyed the octopus they had the most. Ethan got quite attached to a yellow-headed jawfish which burrows in the rocky sand to make a home. It was constantly moving rock brushing out sand and tending to his little hole. We had to go back and visit it three times. I think Ethan could relate because he's one busy boy himself. He told his Dad to get to work mowing the other day because there was still light outside. He'll make a great supervisor or cop one day. Kara enjoyed everything that could possibly be a baby--fish, penguins, seahorses. At the end of the tour, we let them get a stuffed animal from the gift shop. Since it was Christian's birthday, he got the huge octupus he wanted. Ethan got a tiger shark and Kara a "baby" pink penguin. When then headed out for some seafood. Christian wanted king crab so we headed to Kemah to go to Pappadeaux's. While already sitting down enjoying some bread, the manager informs us there is no crab to be had in the place. Not wanting Christian to miss out on his birthday request, Dad let the manager know we had to go elsewhere. They were super understanding and even treated us to the drinks. We then headed over to the Boardwalk and realizing we weren't dressed well enough for the Chart House, we settled on Joe's Crab Shack. That is funny because we don't consider that a favorite Hernandez family choice. Christian was delighted to get crab and they sang happy birthday to him making him put paper towels in his shirt and show his muscles. He was slightly embarassed but went along with it. He finished his meal with the largest piece of chocolate cake I've seen. Kara was sure to help him with it! She is a chocolate feign! Overall, it was a wonderful celebration.

Happy Birthday Dear Christian

Our first born, beloved son turned 8 today! We celebrated at church with a waterslide and a cookout. He had a great time. The benefits of being born close to the 4th. Tomorrow we travel as a family to Galveston for a special day at Moody Gardens. That was his desire to go there for his birthday. We are so thankful to have such a wonderful son!

More Birthday pics

Born on the 4th of July, well almost

We celebrated Christian's 8th Birthday with family at Dion's July 4th Party. He was very grateful for all his gifts and the celebration. Thank you Mrs. Schumann for the cake. He shared the dinosaurs with his siblings. They had a great time swimming with Aunt Ya-Ya and Daddy. Kara got tired during the late night fireworks and fell asleep on my lap.

Fire, Fire

In the battle against mosquitoes, Dion was prepared. She has an arsenal of products which includes tiki torches. However, things went wrong when the citronella soaked stick actually caught on fire! Dion grabbed her watering can and tried to extinguish it. Albert ran and got the hose to finish it off. Later Dion confessed in the retelling of events, that she was quite terrified by the fire itself.

Baby Brooke's visit

Brooke had her first day of home school with her cousins. Christian led Brooke, Ethan and Kara in devotion time. Kara wanted to play dress up with her and I told her she'd have to wait until she could walk so she threw a tea party for her instead. Brooke was pooped but we got a picture of the Williams family.

Happy 4th of July

We have had a busy week! Stephanie and Jeremy have spent the last several days at Tomball Regional with Jeremy's grandfather, Jesse Mercantel. He is recovering and will try dialysis again tomorrow. His heart is very weak so the cardiologist is hoping to put a shunt in to keep it beating during dialysis. He has diabetes which is why his kidneys have failed. He is blind also from the diabetes. If you are reading this and are at risk for diabetes or have been diagnosized with diabetes, please consider the changes in diet and exercise that have been suggested.
Tonight we will be heading over to Dion's for the celebration. We are including our birthday boy, Christian in the festivities because he turns 8 on Sunday!

Green kids finish swim team events

The Green's from Tomball just completed their swim team events. We've known them since Kiah and Christian were 3 years old when they attended Salem Preschool. We've done gymnastics together and Charlene and I have been continued Book Club since we've started 5 years ago. Charlene is researching the home school option and has been gracious to share what she's learned. Her twins Asa and Austin were in school with Ethan and Kara and Asa share a love of horses.

Bug Mystery Solved

We finally got a TX doctor to tell us what has now plagued all the Hernandez children. Chiggers! Dr. Karr, our pediatrician, took one look at the bites and gave us the answer. The kids get creamed from head to toe and the problem should be over in the morning. Apparently when they went exploring with the Stephenson kids last week,they picked up the critters. Thankfully, they do not pass from person to person or infest houses. I was about to have a breakdown thinking about that. Meanwhile, we are enjoy the company of Stephanie, Jeremy and Baby Brooke. They are here visiting Jeremy's grandfather who is suffering from kidney failure in Tomball Hospital. We are blessed to get to watch Brooke while they visit with him. Please keep the Mercantel family in your prayers.