Our Summer So Far

Wow, it has been a long time since I have updated here! I don’t know how time slipped by so fast, but I guess that is what happens when you are busy. I will try to remember everything I started to blog about and then didn’t for one reason or another.

During the last week of school, Rebeckah and Austin finally got their UIL awards. Here is the list of awards they received:

Rebeckah:
Editorial Writing 5th place
Dictionary Skills 2nd place
Maps, Graphs and Charts 5th place (individual)
Maps, Graphs and Charts 3rd place (team)
Social Studies 1st place (individual)
Social Studies 1st place (team)

Austin:
Mathematics 3rd place (team)
Calculator 6th place (individual)
Calculator 2nd place (team)
Number Sense 5th place (individual)
Number Sense 2nd place (team)

Here is a picture of them wearing their medals:

School got out June 5th and on June 8th Hannah left for Girl Scout camp. She stayed there for five days. When we picked her up we kept tradition and went to Fuddruckers for supper. I am not sure how or why that became our tradition, but when one of the girls come back from Girl Scout camp we go to Fuddruckers.

The weekend Hannah came home from camp was also the ROT Rally (Republic of Texas Biker Rally). THOUSANDS of bikers head in for the rally each year. All of the businesses have signs that welcome the bikers and you can see motorcycles at all sort of restaurants. We found one place that didn’t have a single biker. Maybe it had something to do with their welcome sign.

The Monday after Hannah returned from camp, Rebeckah left for “Boot Camp”. That is a week of training for our church’s youth (incoming 8th graders to incoming 12th graders) to prepare them for Backyard Bible Clubs. BYBCs are our church’s version of VBS. Instead of holding it at our church with the adults running it and the youth helping, we hold the clubs at church member’s houses (in the front yard….despite the name) and the youth run it with the adults helping. The teens are divided into teams of 4 and church adults drive them to 4 clubs through out the day Monday through Thursday. The teens play games with the kids, teach them a Bible lesson, present the Gospel, the host provides a snack and then they play a few more games. On Friday night all of the clubs come together at our church and attend what we call Summer Fest. It is like a big carnival with games, activities and food. All of it is free too. They show a slide show of pictures from all of the clubs, raffle off prizes and have a live band. It is a lot of fun. This is Rebeckah’s first year to participate in Backyard Bible Clubs. We are hosting a club at our house again this year (my very first blog entry is about last year’s club). So we are going to have a very busy week the first full week of July!

Sunday after Rebeckah returned from camp, Austin left for Boy Scout Camp. Tomorrow we are going to go out to the campground to have supper with him. He comes home on Saturday.

While everyone was at camp we spent a lot of our time in the pool. We have also been trying to clean out the office/junk room to turn it into a nursery. It is an overwhelming task and I am afraid we haven’t made much headway. When I get too overwhelmed, I just head out to the pool and relax out there. Not a good game plan, but it is relaxing.

My pregnancy is going really well. I haven’t had any problems or complications so far. I feel great and I am somehow managing to keep my weight gain under control. That is a first!! I have only gained 5 pounds so far. I am starting to panic a little though because I am now in my third trimester!! YIKES! I am not sure I am ready to have six kids! However, I am excited about holding him and seeing what he looks like. I am hoping he will have blue eyes like me. All of the others have brown eyes. Chris’ dad had blue eyes, so I know I have a chance at blue eyes. I also hope he has Chris’ dimple. Of course, if he has brown eyes and/or no dimple I will still keep him. ;) Maybe he will also be left handed. Chris and I are both left handed and all 5 of the kids are right handed. Again, I will keep him if he is right handed.

We have finally decided on a name for the baby. We are going to name him Preston. We haven’t officially picked out a middle name, but I like the name Samuel. Time will tell.

Mr. Preston is an active little boy too! I think he is practicing karate in there! I love watching my stomach bulge and move all over. Hannah was the last one to get feel him move and is the only one that really enjoys feeling him move. The others are freaked out by feeling him move. I am so glad I have someone to share those special moments with. That is my favorite part of being pregnant!

Hannah wants to be there when Preston is born. Rebeckah was her age when Sean was born and was there for Sean’s birth, so we are going to let her be there. I have shown her a video of a baby being born and she said she didn’t find it gross. By the way, Hannah wants to be a nurse, so it take a LOT to gross her out. Rebeckah, while grossed out by childbirth, wants to be there when Preston is born too. She enjoyed being one of the first ones to see and hold Sean, so I guess she wants to do that again.

So now you are updated on the Holder Happenings! :)