Catching Up!!

Well, I did it again and didn't stay on top of my blog.  Life got crazy with the end of summer and beginning of school and I'm just now updating everything.  Enjoy the new posts!

Colson

Colson is 7 1/2 months old and time has definitely flown by.  He is a happy baby who takes 2 great naps a day and sleeps from 8pm until 6:30 or 7:00am.  He is a good eater and loves sweet potatoes, green beans, applesauce,etc.  I've been trying to make his baby food like I did for the other kids, but I still buy a fair amount too.  I have a great baby cookbook called The Happy Baby Meal Planner by Annabel Karmel.  I have used this cookbook with all 3 boys and it has great recipes in it to give your baby lots of variety.

Colson rolls all over the place, gets up on his knees and rocks, loves to stand on my legs and jump, sits up, and has 2 teeth.  He loves to watch his brothers play and laughs a lot at them. :)  The big boys usually fight over who can make him laugh.  This week he just started playing a game with me.  He'll sit in my lap and place his head on my chest and I say "Where's Colson?" and then he pops his head up and I say"PeekaBoo".  We will do that over and over.  Last night he started saying "momma".  Now I don't think he totally knows what he is saying, but I'm still proud!  The 2 videos are of Landon making Colson laugh and of Colson saying "Momma" - Enjoy!

Preschool

Landon with his new cowboy backpack

Landon started school last Thursday.  He goes 2 days a week and his teachers are Mrs. Pat and Mrs. Mary.  He has a class of 9 kids. 

For his special breakfast, he had Froot Loops.  Now normally I make a special breakfast, but Ben had gone to Sam's for me and came home with a box of cereal that had Froot Loops, Corn Pops and Apple Jacks in it.  The kids were so excited, even though they hadn't ever had those cereals.  Apparently the fun color of the cereal made it look extra good!  I remember growing up that Daddy would be the one to buy us the "fun" cereals.  

Landon had a great day on Thursday and was smiling when I picked him up.  His teachers told me that he told them all about his stick horse and plastic cowboy figurines that he plays with.  I am so thankful to have found such a great preschool that loves on my kids and balances the education with the spiritual.  (http://www.wtbc.org/ministries/children_day.aspx)  To see more pics go to http://picasaweb.google.com/brothermclain

Kindergarten!!

hudson in his chapel day uniform

Hudson in his classroom at Meet the Teacher

Hudson with flowers for his teachers on his 1st day

I can't believe that my first born is in Kindergarten!  He was so excited about going to his new school.  We debated for months on where Hudson would go.  We live in a good school district and have an elementarty school right down the street, but we fell in love with Veritas Christian Academy (www.veritasca.org) It is a classical Christian school and really stresses that God permeates every area of our life.  So they weave the Bible into all the subjects.  I truly feel that the school is not just Christian in name, but in action.  They want to raise up boys and girls that the love the Lord and use their minds to glorify Him.  

For his 1st day breakfast, Hudson had whole wheat peanut butter pancakes with chocolate chips on the Red plate.  Ben led us in a devotion about Joshua and how he was strong and courageous in the Lord.  We all took Hudson to school and Landon had to wear his backpack and bring his lunchbox so he could be just like Hudson. :)

Hudson has 2 Kindergarten teachers.  Mrs. Gallegos teaches Bible, Reading and Math in the mornings and then Mrs. Leonard teaches Social Studies and Science in the afternoon. Hudson also has PE, Music, Art, Spanish, French and Computer.  There are 15 kids in his class and he seems to get along well with everyone.  He has a Bible verse each week to memorize.  By the end of December, he will have memorized the entire chapter of 1 Corinthians 13.  To see more pics of his 1st day go to http://picasaweb.google.com/brothermclain
   

Robyn heads to the DR

hanging out with her boys

RoRo swimming with the boys

Robyn, my younger sister, graduated from Texas A&M this past December.  She did her student teaching overseas in the Domincan Republic at the Doulos Discovery school (http://www.doulosdiscovery.org/).  Doulos is a Christian school in the city of Jarabacoa.  The founders of the school are Aggie Alumni and also from Tyler.  Robyn loved the people of the DR and getting to use her teaching ability as a ministry. 

She was there last fall and they asked her to return this fall for a 2 year committment.  She flew out of Houston on July 31st.  She and my mom came to Houston several days before she left so that she could spend more time with the boys and me. :)  Check out her blog that is listed in my blogroll.

Road Trip to New Mexico

Landon and Hudson at the Texas musical in Amarillo

scenery in Glorieta

cabin in Glorieta, NM

McLain Family 2010

In July, we took a family trip to Glorieta, NM.  We drove the 15 hours there and had a blast!  We started driving on a Friday night right after the boys' VBS finale and drove to Dallas where we stayed with my Grandmommy.  Then we drove from there to Amarillo.  We took the boys to the Texas musical and they LOVED it!  It had horses, cowboys, singing and even fireworks. The next day we arrived in Glorieta, NM.  There is a Southern Baptist retreat center and that is where we stayed.  The weather was fabulous and the boys loved being in the mountains and woods. 

It was so good to be together as a family.  Since Mike and Meredith live in California, we don't get to see them very often so it was great to spend quality time with them.  The boys loved playing with their cousin, Bella.  She was so sweet to bring her pink stick horse so they could all play cowboys/cowgirl together. :) Ben's parents even kept the kids one night, so that we could do a double date with Mike and Meredith. 

Santa Fe was only about 20 min from Glorieta, so we hung out there and even went to Taos and saw a real working Indian Village.  To see more pics from our trip go to our Picasa site: http://picasaweb.google.com/brothermclain