Week two

Click here to see my work in progress

A new Endeavor-- Here's hoping for 52 weeks

Well my blogging has been a little bit better than my scrapbooking, but the only new year resolution I made was to do better at making my little time machines in book form.  THanks to Ursula Williams, I will be able to do just that- here is a look into the first week of 2014 (and NYE 2013 too)

Click to see the Tardis I created

Dance for all Seasons

So many amazing things about living in Crosby, football, softball, parades, summer programs at the libraty, Art with Alex, Christmas at the community Center...

But truly BY FAR THE BEST--

Carol's Dance and Gymanstics

How does she do it?

She teaches little girls to dance and to love to dance 

She teaches them to be kind and friendly

She teaches them that there are wonderful people out there.

Mrs. Carol is a rockstar, she can't go anywhere in Crosby without a gaggle of girls hugging her.

I wish I had a picture of her! WHY DON"T I????

Anyhoo, tonight was her 2013 Dance Recital.

Alice was in tap and ballet this year, so she had two dances,

In all the excitement, I didn't get a picture of her in her tap costume, 

They danced to "Love will keep us together"

The costume was beautiful.

Her Ballet dance was to "colors of the wind" from Pocohantas. I hate to brag, but she was beautiful. The costume was sooo her, very earthy and resembled a butterfly.  Her class was magical.

She started taking dance when she was 4 and she's loved it. She took a year off to pursue her art. 

Most likely she will go back to art next year, and this was probably her last dance recital with Carol, so I'm glad it was so much fun for her.  

She's ten and half now, I can't believe how she's growing up.

Joely earned star student and with it comes this coveted crown and the  wise words from Mrs. Carol 

"to never lose her sparkle"

I'm not sure the tiara will ever come off, a true princess can sleep in hers. 

And here she is in her costume for "Little Saint Nick"

She is in the gymnastics class and worked hard to master her 

FLIP FLOP !!

I was so proud of her accomplishment to do her back bend kick overs and her back flip.

She has a great teacher and loves to practice at home too!!

This is her third of many years with Mrs. Carol!

I can't wait to see what she comes up with for next year.

Homerun Season

 So here is our little Wildcat!  This is Joely's third and final season in Tball.  This year she was drafted with the Wildcats and has done so well.  Her first season was last spring, as a Diamond Diva.  Last year she learned the game, but was very timid.  This season, after playing on a co-ed Tball  fall team, she became

A-G-G-R-E-S-S-I-V-E

 She covered third base every game like she was born to play

She had tons of fans come watch her .  This is Katie Crocker, her personal coach for the off season.

In fact, Katie is so awesome, she was able to get Joely in the Press Box at her High School Game.  She had the best view, right behind home plate, with a birds eye view to Third base where Katie plays

Even The brothers helped out in the dug out.  Of course my camera was only with me a little bit, so the only evidence is David.

And Hey Now, She's an All Star

It was fun, and the fun continues with the all Star tournament in Louisianna's Hidden Gem of
Lake Charles.

I'll keep you posted.

For the Love of Dogs....

Last night our dogs escaped out the front door, 

Lulu, the middle one, who looks possessed was left behind by the two dogs on the ends.

I recovered her immediately, but the other two were gone for hours.

Desperate I prayed they were safe and kept hoping they would come home.

Quentin got on his bike and searched the walking trails.

Alice and her friend Tori went on foot.

Joely and I hosted a Daisy scout meeting.

David came home from Art Club and joined me in the search in the van

We drove the whole neighborhood and then left to search other neighborhoods.

David prayed that he would know where they were.

He was certain they were at the park, with the splash pad. 

When we got there (because of traffic it had been about 30 minutes) they weren't there.

We went back home, but he was certain they were at the park.

He heard barking, Quentin thought he saw Truffles (it was another black dog, but not truffles)

Alice and I got back in the van to go to the park.

And there they were, happy, smelly and ready to get in the van to ride home.

What a happy ending.

But it doesn't end there, it's an eternal testament that God answers prayers.  He heard our prayers and kept them safe, we are very grateful , but as a mother I am more grateful that my 14 year old son knew how to pray specifically for an answer.

Jesus concludes His Sermon on the Mount with an admonition in Matthew chapter 7,

"Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you"

David asked, we sought and kept knocking and they were found.

In  St Luke 12:24-28, He says

"24 Consider the ^aravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls? 25 And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit? 26 If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest? 27 Consider the ^alilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; ^ahow much more will he clotheyou, O ye of little faith?"

He knows how much we love our dogs, He knew that we prayed in faith.  I'll be forever grateful for last night,not just for the safe return, but because of the eternal truth my children learned,

 "GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS"

I'm reminded of my own testimony of prayer and when it began.  I was five and my brother was 8.  For some reason I had to stay after in Kindergarten and Brian didn't know what to do because he had to walk me home but he couldn't be late either.  So he knelt down under a tree and prayed to Heavenly Father to send out mom to school.  She testified that the Spirit told her in loud voice, "Go to the school, your children need you."  She went and Brian was confidently waiting for her, he said, "I prayed you would come"

Since that day I have not doubted.

So many times prayers are answered without such dramatic results.  Bless the food, He does, it "nourishes and strengthens us" .  He brings all home safely each day, just like we ask.  My children do well in school and are happy.  Our parents are in His watchful care, "blessing our loved ones both near and far"

  And He also takes care of our pets at the same time He nourishes our spirits.

For this am eternally  grateful and humbled.

awww my fall/ winter must have been horrible....

I guess it must have been horrible because I havn't blogged since football began!!! WHAT???
Football season was a blur.  I only made one of David's middle school games because they were conveniently at the same time as I was picking up Joely for dance and getting ready for girl scouts.  I did go to another game but I was at the wrong location.  I did not read the schedule correctly at all and because of such a thing I was overbooked.
FORTUNATLY  David has his biological father, my sweet husband of 15 blissful years, that made every game.  I was never more grateful for his job than I was during football season.  I still feel like an  "epic fail" but hopefully next year I will make it to all of them.  I did however make two of his four cross country meets, yay me.  He did real well in that and his coach really liked him.  He also got the idea that I am a nice and helpful parent, that's only because he hasn't seen me as psycho football mom, I'll try to keep it in check next year as the same coach is the 8th grade football coach.  He also coaches girls softball for the city league, bless his heart, he drafted Alice to play for him.  From what I can see, the man is a saint, and we are lucky to be associaated with him.  I digress a little, but tonight he made me LOL because we had a parent meeting and he said the number one rule in softball is no crying in softball.  I made sure Alice heard that.

Anyhoo, David made student of the month for seventh grade boys, I was soooo proud of him, His teachers keep telling me what a joy he is in class. He's done amazing this year.  My friend Yvette Fuller promised that if the boys can get through fifth and sixth grade without being the victims of fillicide they will be a joy.  She's sooo on the money on this one. 
David is really funny and sarcastic and still planning on saving our family from the up and coming zombie apocolypse.  He wanted a rifle with a silencer for Christmas but was happy with the machete.
Quentin had his first losing season in football, he doesn't wish to talk about it, and I'm finally just able to talk about it without losing my mind.  He had wonderful coaches the first two years and this year...well lets just say he's really looking forward to playing in middle school.  We both regret not following his coaches to another league, but hindsight is 20/20.  He's doing real well in school and trying so hard for straight a's, but his science teacher doesn't like him and only gives him an 89.  CURSE HER, He's on the chess club too and he's loving his mountain bike that he got for Christmas.
Alice and Joely are both in Dance and geared up for Softball.  This year is girl pitch for Alice and T ball for Joely.  Just like Alice, Joely rolled snake eyes for her coach, Miss Jennifer who we've known through football for three years.  She's a real sweet lady with wonderful children.  I was thrilled to get the call from her that Joely would be on her team, the Diamond Divas.
Joely also requested from Santa that she get a gymnastics mat because Mrs. Carols says to practice night and day.  She's perfected the cart wheen and is working on flips.  She can do a back bend and does "Front limber" I'm not sure if that's what it's called, but that's what I understand her saying. Mrs. Carol is another teacher that is ready for sainthood, she won't need to collect that posthumously. She always smiles and I'm certain there is plenty of drama with all those little girls going to and from dance every day. 
Another interesting thing is that Crosby got a CiCi's pizza, and we now have two subways, and a dollar tree.  If they would just get me a target and an HEB I would never leave the city limits, except for church.
RObert and I celebrated 15 years of wedded bliss, what a wonderful night of memories that was.  We went to Pappas Seafood and laughed and ate some of the best food.  I still can't beleive it's been that long, some days it seems to have been literally just yesterday.
I'm an addict on Pineterst, and I've actually done a thing or two on that board, I dont' just stalk.
I will post some pictures and videos, but not tonight, I HAVE to get to sleep, for some reason I'm wired and that early mornign wake up at 4:30 will make me Sister Cranky Pants.
I love reading the blogs and catching up keep posting, I'm lazy and keep doing my facebook sound bites, but I hope to get back to the peace and quiet of my little blog.

In the Mullens House, Fall =Football

This year Davo jumped on the bandwagon and joined foolsball.

He plays on the little league as a Sr. Cougar with Quentin and Joely cheers.

David also plays for Middle School.

Apparently league coaches are much nicer LOL

David, Like Marcia Brady, has joined another Athletic team..

Cross Country-

No big surprise because that's "his thing" but it does mean that on

Tuesday, Thursday and Friday he runs before school, then has athletics (football practice) first period, and then about two hours of practice after school. He tries to make two practices a week for the league.

His league Coach is real nice and subs him in, so he gets plenty of playing time.

He understands he can't start since he isn't able to make all the practices and due to his race schedule he can't make all the games.

Everyone of his coaches describe him as "all heart"

So here is Joely cheering in 111 degree weather, yes that is surface of the sun hot. 

Her favorite cheer goes like this-

"The Thunder can't rock the house!

The Lightening can't rock the house!

But you can rock the house,

But you can rock the house!"

She has declared, after three games, that

"Being a Cheerio is Boring"

She's right, it is.

And here is my defensive tackle! He's been stuck on the O-Line and he hates not being able to throw people down.  However by the third quarter the coach has let him back on the D-line and he gets some aggression out.  And he has a lot of it, because they have not yet won a game.  Quentin, like me, is learning how to lose with style. His last team did lose some games, but they were always really close, like by one point in triple overtime, so it never stung quite so bad.

It's a building year.

They have new coaches and its' been a very positive experience for the boys. 

Alice and I spent a September  weekend in Conroe at a Girl Scout camp with five other girls and my co-leader Jenny. It was a lot of fun for us and we came back tired and very happy to see our beds.

We stayed in the treehouse cabins and it was a lot of fun.

The troop near us didn't appreciate that the girls had to go to the bathroom all night long and then there was a crazed racoon on the prowl, it was a night to be awake, but we had fun.

I don't remember sleeping much at camp when I was a girl.

We have a few more Saturdays of football and then  I'll miss it until next year.

To keep us occupied we are on a fantasy league.

David opted out once he found out there wouldn't be wizards and dwarvs, he's content with reality football.

This is Quentin on draft night, he's wearing his lucky hat! It's lucky because the great and powerful Mason Boys signed it. It's blessed. I beleive Q is tied for first, I may be wrong, but I know I'm dead last. Even with my mad drafting skills, I'm plagued. Robert says the NFL Players Union will request that I no longer draft players as they inevitably get injured, some season ending, some career ending. Not even selling my soul and drafting Michael Vick has given me a winning season.

Last but not Least, our sweet Alice

She's busy working on some dish towels, she started the joy of needlework this year! I love passing down this tradition. She's in third grade, taking jazz and rocking it at Girl Scouts. 

 This is her at the high school football game. She was in a dance and cheer clinic so it was a magical night. During the first quarter she cheered and between the third and 4th quarter she learned a drill team dance. This is by far my favorite fund raiser the school does.  For 20.00 you can cheer and 30.00 you can dance.  All the money goes to the cheer and dance squad and the little girls love it.

Seminary is back in full swing and I am enjoying the early morning Old Testament Lessons.  I love the boys in my class, they are amazing and such great examples. I keep forgetting to take new pictures of them, but I will.   I'm continually humbled to be their teacher. I've enjoyed discussing various principles and stories from the Old testament with Robert. There is so much to learn about the Blessings that come from Keeping our Covenants. I'm grateful for the wonderful women of the Old Testament and their faith and courage. 

And Visions of Sugar Plums Danced in their heads...

Well maybe not Sugar Plums...

Maybe Visions of the Big Yellow Bus

Tomorrow school starts.

Everyone has their new outfits ready..

Backpacks are packed

and

The Back to School Brownies are baked...

Now just waiting for the alarm clock.

Davo will leave at 6:30 and won't be home until almost six with FOOLSBALL practice.

Quentonius will be gone by 7:30, home at 4:00 and then back to his Foolsball from 6:30-8:30 two or three nights a week.

Alice will be dropped off by 8:30 and home by about 3:45, she's going to take Dance this year and not do Art --I'm happy she'll be at Mrs. Carols, but I'll miss her art show

The Boys will squeeze in Boy Scouts and youth meetings at church.

Alice will have Girl Scouts and her activities at church.

The best part of their schedules is that each person gets up and leaves before the next person gets up.

Nobody will be breathing too loud at the breakfast table.

Nobody will be brushing their teeth too long.

Nobody will be using all the hot water.

This will be a dream year.

Thanks Crosby for having so many schools-

And thank you Joely for staying home with me one more year..

This time next year, find me in the fetal position, or lobbying Robert for Home School!

Sunrise/Sunset

This is the most excited David could look Monday night, on his way to
MIDDLE SCHOOL ORIENTATION

I tried to not get weepy, but it's hard.

I know I've blogged about this before but every first thing with David is hard on me!

I can't beleive it's been almost 13 years since he first came into this world,

and now my little guy is going to Middle School.

He has athletics first period and football after school, he'll have fun in his theater arts class and science. I am sure his English class will be filled with fun books, the summer reading assignment was great, (David, Robert and I all enjoyed it) and he's always good in Math. This year Crosby decided to do a two hour block for math, way to go Crosby, No Math Student Left Behind!

I know it will be a great year for him, but each year gets him that much closer to college, his mission and then just coming home for a weekend visit here and there.

Perhaps I'm being dramatic.

This is David doing his best Lucas Mason interpretation of Cool.

I took him on Tuesday to get his Equipment checked out.

This picture is actually deep inside the boys locker room.

My first visit in the boys locker room.
Scratch that from my bucket list!

They gave the boys their football gear and a locker. David's combo was wrong, but I couldn't help myself, I had to help a bunch of other boys I knew from Quentin's football team or Boy Scouts. None of them knew how to do a combination.

And they were all sooo nervous.

David, however, knew very well, it was just they gave him the wrong numbers

On the way home I asked him if he was embarrassed that I was helping the other kids.

And he said, "Mom that's just you being you, I can't stop you from being you"

He CRACKS me up.

I can't wait to sit in the cougar bleachers with all my bling bling, rooting him on and also his teammates, that I helped on that first day.

And if you wonder why it's hard for me to cut the cord

at the mean streets of Crosby Middle School,

it's because I think of him like these above pictures, somewhere between two and three.

A Week at Surfside

Heaven on Earth!

We spent a delightful week hanging out at the beach. It was amazing.

The weather was perfect and our little town home was perfect.

Pictured above is the view from one of the four balconies.
We had our own private walkover to the beach and at the end was another deck.

Sometimes I have genius ideas, this was one of them.

We only took flip flops.

6 people 6 flip flops.
It was easy to keep up with everything.

Another genius idea,(robert's) no phones and no schedule!

Robert's work was wonderful, no calls or texts.

I loved the little clock, it really expresses our sentiments.

On Wednesday, we stayed inside during the day, we slept late, ate a late breakfast and played a bunch of board games, ate a late lunch and then hit the beach.

We finally broke out Settlers of Cataan. But imagine my dismay when the instructions were taken out and not put back in!

Fortunately, I had my phone, with Internet access and we found an online tutorial.

We are hooked. Sadly I didn't take any pictures during the games, as it's too competitive.

Bathing Beauty! This is on the deck.

The other favorite activity-

Creating sand civilizations.

We had enough time, that we didn't need to just stop with castles.

This was Rob's favorite part.

Watching the moonrise, on the back porch while sitting in the rocker.

It was sooo peaceful.

And the moon was full all week.

One night it looked like Cosmo's moon, but I couldn't capture it, It's just in my memory bank.

Robert wasn't homesick at all, because there was a laundry room.

We only had six towels too, so we'd rinse the towels and suits and dry them.

It was nice to keep the sand away. Not pictured is the below deck showers. WONDERFUL

After the beach, everyone showered off the sun and salt.

No sand was allowed at the house.

Another one of my brilliant ideas! We each had only one cup, each a different color.

Couple that with paper plates and utensils and we weren't spending much time in the kitchen

David and Quentin enjoying some beach time.

Everyone had a hat, but not everyone wore theirs.

Hands down everyone loved Boogie boarding.

Nobody was sunburnt.

And contrary to popular belief, when we got back the boys were able to play their video games just fine, they didn't forget how.

I can't wait for next year's vacation.

I'm thinking this needs to be a family tradition.

Mason Combine 2011

In order to keep up the momentum of Aggie Camp

We hired the boys a personal trainer

Lucas Mason

Lucas is kind of a hero around here-

He plays High school football, and if you listen to Quentin and David, you'll beleive that he is the BEST PLAYER THE CROSBY COUGARS HAVE EVER SEEN.

He's also a baseball star.

And he's also one of my three favorite Seminary Students.

So to have him over a couple of hours a day is FANTASTIC

He's working on strength, agility and football skills and drills.

When they are through, Quentin always feels like he's going to puke.

Job Well Done Coach Mason

He's done' so good that they were able to crack this cinder block in three pieces. INCREDIBLE.

I hope they aren't juicing.

Lucas also has all the cool equipment too, pictured above the shake weight.

"It really hurts"

Each work out ends in a quick run to Newport Elementary and back, about 1.5 miles and then he rewards their efforts by playing a little Xbox 360 with them. He's the master on the Xbox too, he's legendary on EVERYTHING-

They've taken to calling him Chuck, as in Chuck Norris, because Like Chuck Norris, when Coach Mason does push ups, he doesn't push himself up, he pushes the world down.

Also, Coach Mason has already been to Mars, that's why there are no signs of life there .

Additionally like Chuck Norris, Coach Mason, doesn't sleep, he waits.

And he doesn't mow his grass, he stands outside and dares it to grow.

One more thing, like Chuck Norris, he has beat Halo 3 on legendary, with a guitar hero controller,

But I digress.

It's been a fun few days working out with the famous Lucas "chuck" Mason.

It will be a sad cruel day when he goes to California for his summer vacay, but until then the boys are hanging on his every word and doing EVERYTHING he says.

And for me, I'm thrilled they look up to him and that they are happy to be his minions.

Building Champions

On Sunday we skipped church and headed to

The University of Texas...

in College Station Texas

The great and powerful

Texas A&M University.

Not to be confused with the lesser t.u. found in Austin.

I digress.

We were taking the boys to Football Camp at the legendary home of

Quentin Coryatt, (remember him Ty Detmer?)

Dat Nguyen (original wrecking Crew)

More Recently the Second Overall Draft Pick and Butkus award Winner

Von Miller

And of course lesser known Twelfth Man

Robert Lee Mullens (check him out on facebook)

Here is the money shot- Future Wrecking Crew Nose Guard

Quentin -- he's putting on his cleats in the TINY Dorm Room,

This is the locker room, David is hanging in Reveille's locker space-

She's the mascot, and she's awesome!

Lore has it that if she's in your classroom and falls asleep,

the professor has to cancel the class.

Joely is ready to go home, she' can't walk anymore, she's tired, hungry and thirsty.

Joely was finally cooling off from our walking tour of campus and stroll down memory lane. She decided to chillax in the locker space of "JUDIE" we'll be watching for him on the field next year. GIGGEM

This is where we were engaged! Now look at us some 15 years later, with 4 kids a dog, a rat and a

mortgage!

This is the Poly Sci building, that was right by our engagement tree. Robert says he'd sit there and dream about the life he'd have with a wonderful wife and children.

I ask him, "What happens when your real life exceeds your dreams?"

And he just smiles.

Here is the 2011 season, look whose on the bottom? That's where they belong.

It's not really a road trip unless we eat at Chuy's.

Alice opted to stay with her grandma and grandpa Mullens.

Engaged. The boys are on electronics and Joely is coloring.

Peace.

I'll admit it was hard to leave them there.

But I KNOW they'll have fun .

I go pick them up in a few hours and I can't wait to hear how they did.

Their first stop?

They want to go to grandma's hot tub.

Funny how it's never grandpa's house or grandpa's things, it's always grandma's house!