Happy Birthday Freedom!

Jon always signed up to serve as Watch Dog at the Elementary School on the kids' birthdays.  Here's the morning of  Freedom's 11th birthday and they are on their way!  It's raining outside.  Freedom is holding an American Flag because he was supposed to create a flag from a country that shows his heritage. After discussing some of the countries our ancestors came from, he felt most inclined to use the United States of America Flag.  Great choice son.  It's my favorite flag too.

This was the first birthday party we did not have at home.  Freedom wanted his party at a Trampoline park and he invited a bunch of friends from school, and his dearest friends Daniel and Samuel.  The boys jumped their hearts out...and ate some pizza.

Freedom asked for a cake.  He was thinking "camoflauge and soccer ball" so Memaw made a camoflauge soccer ball.  It was very "interesting" and awesome! THANKS MEMAW!!!  

I didn't do a good job of getting pictures of the adults - but the best ones there were Grandma, Grandpa, Memaw and Mr. Pena...and of course ME AND JON!

Freedom asked for money for his birthday,  Nothing better than hand-written/homemade cards and cash!  Freedom was very blessed.

New Job!

Jon's first day of work at the new job!

Happy Mother's Day to ME!

NOTHING better than being with your babies on Mother's Day!!!!

And even though the following pictures weren't take on Mother's Day, they were taken in the month of May and they show off the Mother's Day Gifts I receive all year round!

A GREAT mother's day gift is when siblings love each other AND get along.  We had to snap this picture because Joy is about to retire her NASA shirt.  Freedom brought it back for her from Houston and she's finally outgrown it.

And these two - shenanigans in HEB.

I have no idea.

Oh yeah, and Freedom made me a Mother's Day cake at school.  He and Jon knew I wouldn't mind if they dipped into it before I actually saw it!  :) Haha!

And Joy knows I adore authors.  She drew this picture for a contest and whoever wins gets to eat lunch with the authors who appear at Library Palooza.  She's hoping to win so I can go!  What a precious gift!

Motherhood - It's a BLESSING!

Joy's making me proud.  She got her first job as a bagger at HEB!  

And she TOTALLY rocked her school project defending the monster of Frankenstein!  Her teacher said it was THE best performance she'd EVER seen!  Mother's Day GIFT!

And this beauty - you can see flowers around the base of our tree - she helped me plant them.  I LOVED homeschooling with Glory - she knew the answers at co-op and made me proud!  Mother's Day GIFT!

He's got little umbrellas behinds his ear and looks like an elf.  His cuteness is a Mother's Day GIFT!

My workout buddy!!?!?!  GIFT!

Teaching this boy to cook fish?!?!  GIFT!!!

Choir Banquet

Joy had an upcoming choir banquet and now that she's 16, I thought she'd look really nice wearing makeup...so we went to the MASTER - my dear friend and sister in Christ, Michelle Bonillas!

Joy's been so busy, the ONLY time we could do this makeup consultation was during her lunch hour.  Brandeis HS SWITCHED her lunch period with a 5 minute notice and so I called Michelle who took her in early - - - even though she had just gotten out of the shower and her hair was still wet!  THAT's a TRUE FRIEND!  Appreciate this lady so much.  Heaven knows we need Godly help with our makeup over here!  

But, Joy had NO dress and we've been so busy each weekend and evening the month of April!  She shopped with her friend who got a GREAT FIND at Ross.  Glory and I then took her to a few stores near by, TJMaxx, Plato's Closet and Dress Barn...NOTHING.  Joy was going to have to wear something that wasn't quite appropriate for the occasion or something she didn't really look her best in...

But, Glory and I (especially Glory) were able to get a good idea as to what Joy was wanting...So the day of the dance, Glory and I had LITERALLY 1 FREE HOUR before Joy got out of school - - - so we pulled out the big guns and ran to Macy's and Dillard's.  :)

Glory said, "Mom, no.  She really wants long."

Because strapless was against the dress code and the majority of the dresses were strapless, our options were limited  We found this pretty pink one with spaghetti straps, so we grabbed it...but we also grabbed this beautiful blue one!!!!  Joy had NO IDEA we were doing this, so when she came home to two beautiful dresses to choose from, she was super happy!  I returned the pink one after I dropped her off at the dance.  ALSO, we were happy because all the formals were ON SALE big time!!!

And look at Rebekah's BEAUTIFUL find at ROSS!!!!  Amazing!!! All grown up and oh so beautiful!!!

Absolutely GORGEOUS inside and out!!!

Glory and I drove Joy and Rebekah to the dance and hung around just long enough to get a group picture of friends.  GORGEOUS GIRLS!!!!!  And all so SWEET!

And Joy was voted MISS SUNSHINE by her peers!  I'm so proud of JOY, who truly IS a joy everywhere she goes!  And I'm so thankful for HER DADDY, who makes running out and buying the perfect dress possible; HER SISTER, who knew EXACTLY the perfect dress for Joy; and MY MOM & DAD, who always made sure I had the EXACT dress I wanted on occasions such as these!