October Fun

Fall is finally here! And after the scortching heat we had this summer, I couldn't be happier!! It has been a long time since I have blogged, I know. I just can't seem to find a free moment. And if I do, I forget about blogging. :)

We have had a busy but good October. Uncle Cary and Sue stopped by for a quick visit this month and took us all out to dinner. We ate at La Hacienda Ranch in Frisco which is always sooo yummy! It is always so good to see Uncle Cary and Sue. We miss them a lot when they aren't around. Here is a sweet pic of the kids with them out side of La Ha.
Uncle Cary has already left for Nepal for another climb up Everest. We are praying for a safe trip. Can't wait to see Uncle Cary, Sue and Rob at Christmas!!!

What is Halloween without a jack-o-lantern?! I always think it is such a good idea to have the kids carve one, but it usually ends up not being what I imagine. Katie didn't want to touch the yucky stuff in the middle and both of the kids were arguing about who got to carve what. But the pictures, still look good, right?!?! Making memories! And it was cool that Nana was here to help.

Here is Kason showing off his stick pumpkin hands!

I can't believe I didn't get a picture of the finished product!! Don't know what I was thinking. Obviously, I wasn't... :)

The Saturday before Halloween we were invited to a friend's house for a family Halloween party. We had so much fun! The Eschbergers really went all out for the party - food, band, dance floor, ping pong, pool table and a bartender! What a fun party! Here is a pic of all of us at the party. GD and I went as Kason and Katie's mom and dad. :)

Halloween night was fun chaos as always! This is our first Halloween in our "new" house, so it was different than years before. But Halloween is not Halloween without the Brackeens!! We were so glad that Susanne and the kids could come over and trick or treat with us! Here is a pic of all the kids before we left to trick or treat.

You can see that Katie was not in the best of moods. She was not keen on having her picture made. Bless her heart, she was not feeling well. We found out 2 days after this that she had pneumonia!! But she was a trooper on Halloween night and nothing was gonna keep her from trick or treating as Princess Peach!

Kason, however was not shy about having his pic taken. Here is the cutest boxer ever!

Here is what Susanne refers to as "The Annual Butt Shot" picture. LOL! Have I mentioned how fun it was to trick or treat with Sus and the kids?? We sure do miss them as neighbors but are so thankful to have them as friends. Glad they aren't all that far away...

The boys were so cute. Kason was so sweet and watched out for Reid when they were crossing the street.

After we trick or treated, we went back to our house where Mom had been handing out candy. We helped hand out candy for a while longer. Here is Princess Peach waiting on trick or treaters to stop by.

What a fun night!

Happy Fall Ya'll!

Oma's Birthday Party

August 24th was Oma's 86th birthday. So this past weekend we celebrated by getting all of us together at Oma and Art's house for cake and ice cream. The day was special, not only because of Oma's birthday, but also because it was likely the last celebration we would have with Oma and Art at their house. On Monday, we moved them into a nursing home. It is a little sad, but also an answer to prayer. They were becoming a danger to themselves, even with the live-in help. Mom and Poos were able to find a memory care unit at a nice retirement home in McKinney that they liked. The transition has gone well so far. We are praying that it will continue to go well and that they will like it there and adjust well.

Anyway, before all that happened, we had one more celebration at the house in the Ridge. Here is a pic of Oma with the yummy cake that Mom made.
Here she is blowing the candles out. She did it with no problems! :)

Kason and Katie were very sweet to Oma and Art. I was able to snap a few pictures of Oma and Art with the kids. Sorry for the glares in the background...

I wish that I had thought to get a picture of sweet baby Reid! I don't know how I missed that!?!?!! Obviously, I wasn't thinking. Reid Harrison Seals is my cousin Jamie's new baby boy. He was 7 weeks old the day of the party. I will blog about him soon. He is the cutest thing you have ever seen. The closest I got to taking a picture of Reid, was this pic I snapped of Jamie changing his diaper. Katie cracks me up in this picture. His diaper wasn't stinky at all, yet she is giggling and holding her nose. Ha! :)

Here is one of Kason and Oma.

And here is Oma and Katie.

Happy Birthday, Oma! We love you!

Go Rangers!

As most everyone who knows us know, the Hendricks family loves sports! And baseball is no exception. And for us, there is nothing better than Texas Ranger baseball!! We had been talking about taking the family to a game all summer. Kason has already been to 2 games this season, one with his friend Jacob and one with Gary Don. But we hadn't been as a family, and Katie has never been to a game. We kept toying with the idea of all going, but never took the plunge just because 4 tickets plus parking plus food is expensive!


But lo and behold, on a Tuesday afternoon Gary Don called me at work and asked me if we wanted to go to the Ranger game that night. His Aunt Diana (she would say she is his favorite aunt, lol!) had 4 tickets plus a parking pass to the Ranger game that night. She wanted to know if we wanted the tickets. OH YES WE DO!!


So not only did we not have to pay for our tickets or parking, we had great seats!!


We got to the Ballpark a little early and had time for a few pictures by the Nolan Ryan statue. Kason also had time to bat at the kid's field behind center field.

Once the game started, we got some food (it was dollar hotdog night!! Hotdog!) and found our seats. Of course, the hotdogs were just the start for Katie Blair. She wanted cotton candy, pizza, peanuts and ice cream. And...um...she got it! :) But what is a Ranger game without food?!?! She takes after me in that respect. :)

We had a great time at the game! The Rangers hit 2 homeruns, after which they shoot fireworks. The kids loved that - especially Katie! She was more into the game than I thought she would be. Although her first love was the food, her second was the Rangers. :) She would shout, "Go Rangers!"

We left after the 7th inning since it was a weeknight and we had to be up early in the morning. But it was a great game and a fun family night! Thank you so much Aunt Nina!

GO RANGERS!!!

Princess Party

Yes, It is July and I am just now getting to a blog about Katie's birthday in May. Needless to say, I am a little behind in my blogging!!

We had Katie's birthday party at Jump'n Land in McKinney this year. They have lots of fun bounce houses and slides for the kids. It is a great place to have a kid's party, cause they do everything for you! We have had 2 of Kason's parties there in the past.

Katie and the kids had a great time running around like chickens with their heads cut off! They jumped and slid and ran around. Katie loved having all of her friends around and ate up all the attention, of course!!

Here is a pic of Katie and her friend Ansley.
Kason had a great time bouncing around, too!

Here is Katie laying on the floor giggling with her sweet pal, Payton. So fun!

After the bouncing portion of the party was over, we moved into the party room for pizza, cake and presents. Katie was over the moon about the huge inflated pink princess throne. As you can tell from the pic, she was definately in her element!

Here is a pic of Katie Blair blowing out the candlse on her pink princess cake. Hmmmm.....do you think she was wishing to be a princess or to get princess presents?? :)

After the cake, Katie was on sugar overload! Here is my goofy girl with her friend Courtney.

The boys were in the house!! Connor, Kason and Reid were providing the party with some much needed testosterone. Ha!! :)

Three princesses! Katie and her sweet pals Adelie and Payton were all smiles for the camera.

Katie had so much fun opening all her presents seated on her pink throne. She got such great stuff! She had such a great birthday party!!

We love you, Katie Blair Hendricks! Happy 4th Birthday!

A Weekend of Running

It seems every weekend is a busy weekend of running from one place to another. This past weekend, we literally did run all weekend!! Gary Don, Kason and I ran our first 5K race together. We did the Susan G. Komen 5K race in Plano that supports the SGK Breast Cancer research foundation. This is an annual event and was the first race I ever did last year. It is such a fun race! There were 13,000 participants this year! Here we are before the race:
The boys:

I met up with my good friend Tracy before the race too. I love her! That is her daughter, Ashtyn who did the race as well. So proud of Tracy for doing it - way to go Trace!!

Then the race started and we were off! We weren't sure if Kason would run the whole 3.1 miles, but he did! He did stop at every water station, though! There were 9 water stations and he would race up to each station and either drink the water or pour it on his head. He loved hearing the volunteers at the water stations cheering for him. :) Here is Kason running - what a cutie!

Kason and GD finished strong and beat me to the finish line! Here is my little runner at the finish line:

After the race, there were tons of booths with all kinds of free goodies. Kason had so much he couldn't hold it all! In addition to the refreshing water and fruit, there were popsicles from Blue Bell, chocolate croissants and strawberries from Le Madeline's, candy - all kinds of stuff! We got free water bottles, bandanas, koozies, etc. Gotta love free stuff!! :)

They also had a Kids' 50 yard dash after the race. Of course, Kason wanted to do that! Not sure if you can spot him in this picture, he is right about in the middle of the picture. He did great, had lots of fun and even won a medal for participating!

On Sunday, I ran my first Half Marathon! I have been training for about 3 months for it. The race was the Wounded Warriors Half in Las Colinas. My friend from work, Natalie, her husband and Jamie's husband Shane all ran it as well. It was hot!! I didn't do as well as I had hoped and had to walk off and on the last 3 miles, but I am still proud of myself for finishing!! I am looking forward to runnin the Whiterock Half in December. Here is a pic of Shaney and I with our medals after the race. Go Team Shary Cane!! :)

13.1 miles! Yay Me!! :)

Grammie

Paula Hendricks, beloved Mom, Mother-in-Law and Grammie died on May 20th, 2010. Our hearts are broken but we hold on to the joy that God's promise gives us - we will see her again. She is no longer in pain. We will miss her always and our lives will never be the same now that she is gone. Sometimes the sadness wells up in our chest, other times we laugh as we remember something she said or did. We had her Memorial service and the funeral home was overflowing. She touched so many people's lives. I know that she couldn't see that before she died, but I hope that she can see it now. She did know that she was loved - she made that clear. She just couldn't feel it. She couldn't accept it. She couldn't see anything but the darkness. She really was sick and in pain.

She wasn't always like that though. She struggled with depression for many years, and she fought it valiantly. We remember the happy times - the jokes, the dancing, the laughter. Paula was the life of the party. She was full of love and laughter before the depression took over. She took such delight in her family, and especially in her grandchildren. Kason and Katie, I hope you two know how much Grammie loved you both. You were her pride and joy. Do not ever forget that. She spoiled you rotten! We called her Grammie Claus at Christmas because she would come over on Christmas morning with trash bags full of gifts for you both. She loved to spoil you! She loved being with her friends and visiting with her family. She cared so deeply about all of us.

We are still processing this loss. It is hard for us to believe that Paula is really gone. We love you Grammie and always will.

Mother's Day

I was spoiled rotten for Mother's Day this year! Gary Don made me a yummy breakfast then gave me cards and a gift! New running shoes!!!! I was so excited!!

Kason made me a card. Isn't it precious???

After church we went out to eat and snapped a few pictures.

Here are my handsome boys:

I am so blessed with a wonderful family. Praise the Lord!