Piano camp and ice skating

Friday, Austin drove to pick Allia up from piano camp and attended her final recital, where she played beautifully. Meanwhile, I took everyone to the pool and then went with Mariana to her first figure skating test in the afternoon. She did great and passed with flying colors.

Allia played beautifully and came home with lots of new knowledge and friends!

 

 

I really wanted to use Allia's good camera to get photos of Mariana, but I was afraid to make noise/use flash. It is a very quiet environment!

 

STEM camp

Mariana and Stephen had 2 days of 4H STEM camp this week which they really enjoyed. Mariana even got to help teach the students some programming the 2nd day!

Swim meet, pool parties and piano camp...

Another busy weekend!
Allia had her finale swim meet of the season Friday and Saturday about an hour away. The first day we had some friends ride with us which made it so nice. The second day she rode with a different friend because our family had a full day of pool parties planned, one with the families of Austin's schola (latin chant group) and another with our Married Couples Group. Then we were off to drive Allia to piano camp Sunday.

Allia dropped time in several events. We were very proud of her!

We really enjoyed our day at the pool with friends, and Allia even made it home in time for the afternoon/evening party!

 We invited the family across the street to join our mcg pool party. Mariana and Abby were playing with Cecilia in the pool. She enjoyed it so much that she would hardly let them have any peace the rest of the time!

 Sweet buddies

 

 

We brought the littler ones with us to piano camp dropoff at SFA the next day after morning mass. On the way home we stopped for dinner, and these two got special Blue Bell ice cream cones. Yum!

Game time

I just love that the kids have time to play games together in the summer and enjoy doing so. We have had quite a few games of Monopoly lately, and here they are playing Super Mario Uno which Anastasia brought back from her week at Lito and Lita's. Everyone has really enjoyed it, and Sebastian can even play with a little help.

Veterans Dinner

The girls had a great opportunity for community service with their 4H club serving a meal to wounded veterans attending an entrepreneurial workshop at the A&M Business school. We brought items for the meal, decorated, and the parents served the food while the kids sat and talked with the veterans. It was a great experience, and we are already looking forward to helping again next year!

 

They really enjoyed talking with the veterans at their tables, but I didn't get any photos of that because my phone died. :/

Visit with K family and a new Godson!

We went straight from the swim meet to see our friends, the K family. We had the great honor of becoming their new baby boy's Godparents Sunday morning. It was a beautiful baptism, and we had a great time hanging out with them for a couple of days!

 

 The girls got in some treasured baby holding as did I and Austin. So precious!

 

 That is quite a lineup we have!

Champs Swim Meet

Lito brought Anastasia back on Friday evening, and then we all turned around the next morning and headed to the final swim meet of the summer for Mariana, Gloria and Stephen. The girls swam in the morning, and Lito brought them early for warmups so that the rest of us could pack up for the second half of the weekend in Fort Worth. This was Mariana's first swim meet!
Gloria swam 100IM and 50 Back. She got her first "B" time in her 50 back!

 Mariana swam 100IM, 100 Free and 50 Back

 

 The boys swam in the afternoon, so Stephen was only able to swim 25 Free since we had to leave by 3pm for Fort Worth. He also got his first "B" time!

 So proud of our swimmers! Lito was a trooper, staying to watch Stephen. As soon as he was finished we hit the road!

Meanwhile at home...

We went to cow appreciation day. These were the only cows willing to be photographed. ;)

 And I cleaned out the laundry room and gathered supplies to make a makeshift water "table" for Cecilia

 And then found this guy playing after she was finished!

Anastasia's 6 year old trip!

We left our sweet Annie (sniffle) in Corpus Christi for her 6 year old week with Lito and Lita! Of course she had a great time...
A Just Like Me AG Doll whom she named Anna Banana (one of Anastasia's many nicknames)

 New clothes and PJ's from Lito and Lita for both "Annie"s

 Trip to the Aquarium

 

 Fishing trip with Lito

 Nail Spa with Lita

 It was reported that they went out several times, all of which she ate chicken and fries except for one instance of pizza! She and Lito stopped for DQ dipped cones on their way to bring her home.

We were all so happy to see her, especially Cecilia. She loved talking to Anastasia on face time the few times we were able to connect. She sure missed her buddy!

Trip to Corpus Christi

We made our annual trip to visit Lito and Lita the week after VBS. As usual, we had a great time! Our visit overlapped with Auntie Carol's so we had the nice blessing of getting to see her too.

A new towel for our little ladybug

Of course, we went to the beach...twice.

The kids had such a great time boogie boarding, even Stephen who is not a big fan of the beach!

 

 Anastasia wowed us all with her vigor. She boarded for a long time with Austin's help and then went off on her own and caught so many waves. What a girl!

 

 We had some backyard fun at the house.

 These two loved Lito and Lita's big water slide!

And the water table was good fun too!

A family walk in Lito and Lita's neighborhood with Lito too! We always enjoy riding Lita's big trike.

 

 

  Sweet moments

We had a family game night. Lita got this game for the younger ones, and it was a hit with all the kids. (The older crowd played Guesstures afterward, but I failed to get photos!)

Mariana chickened out!

 

 

 

 Everyone was having so much fun that Cecilia decided to give it a try!

 Sebastian ended up being the grand champion, not getting pie faced once. He won $2 from Lita and was very proud of his victory!
We are so thankful for such fun family time with Lito and Lita (and Auntie Carol and Tia Rosa)!