It's go time Ags

Decorating at the Craft household officially begins on the first weekend of Aggie Football ... which means, at times, it is well before Labor Day when the Aggie Flag begins dancing in the breeze amidst the pumpkins and fall gnomes ... gnome sayin?! While the magical colors of maroon (among others in the beautiful fall array) make their debut, we are brought into the kids fall youth soccer league, leaving the summer behind us in the distance (although not the 100 degree weather).  We cross our fingers and pray for the kids soccer jerseys to bleed maroon but are sometimes left with our second choices!  The look on Wrig's face when he found out his team was orange, they were called Doritos, and to add injury to insult he got #6 ... priceless.  Suffice to say, spirits have been down leaving them with losses at the moment.  But it's all in good fun.  Dublyn is Fire and lucky enough to be rocking a maroon #7. Meanwhile, Bryce is a blue shark #7.  Off to a good start with school, religious education, troops of St George, and sisters of Lisieux.  Wrigley is trying his hand at a new venture called "Address Artistries" giving our neighborhood some curb appeal with his creative stenciled spray painting.  More to come  ....  

The Pines!

Soccer season has come to an end, the garden is thriving, and summer is almost here, which means it's time for the boys first ever catholic summer camp - The Pines!  We are so excited for their weeklong journey sans mom & dad in just 1.5 short weeks (eek), and we are especially grateful they get a chance to make new friends with hearts that belong to Jesus.  We pray that their week is packed full of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, and they come back on fire in adoration of our Catholic faith.  As we end this school year, we want to make sure to extend our gratitude to the teachers who helped our kiddos grow in kindness and love.  After camp, we move along to Dallas for Vacation Bible School with cousins and an early birthday celebration for Dublyn!  From there, we will splash into 4th of July with family at the Craft House and round off the summer with golf and soccer camps!  We are truly blessed to live such active lives with our friends and family.  Thank you, Jesus, for the gift of joy ... may it be ever so present in our hearts this summer as we strive to live in discipleship with You.  St Philip Neri pray for us.

Awakening

The Fall season came and went, and here we find ourselves at the beginning of February with Punxsutawney Phil seeing his shadow, letting us know we have 6 more weeks of winter!  Groundhog Day was my dads favorite movie.  I love it when this holiday comes along and I have a chance to reminisce about my dads smile and how he would laugh so hard at the movie that it turned into one of those red faced breathless laughs.  He had such a joyful heart and I miss him terribly.  Recently Dublyn has been having 'bouts of cold heartedness towards Chad when he is wanting so badly just to love on her ... I used to do that to my dad.  I would give anything to give him a hug these days.  I let her know how short our time is here on earth and that we need to do everything in our power to show love when we can!  I want time to slow down in so many ways but we are blessed to be living it at our best.  

OCTOBER:

- Fall Baseball for Dublyn
- Fall Soccer for Wrigley and Bryce
- Layne was their biggest fan, sporting an enthusiastic mohawk
- Chad started a new job with Katy ISD on the flip side of the construction industry
- We sadly parted ways with my favorite new car (Ford Expedition Max - side note, WAY more room than a suburban which I never thought was possible) and settled for 2 small, used cars to adjust to a new norm
- All Hallows Eve is always a good time (Wrigley was the grim reaper, Bryce was a soccer player, Dublyn was a rainbow uniorn, and Layne humored us with numerous costume changes, eventually landing on a zombie)

NOVEMBER:

- It wouldn't be FALL without some Aggie football in the mix.  We took the big boys to College Station
- Mama was made proud by Wrigley joining the Altar Server ministry at St. Bartholomew's
- Thanksgiving in Dallas is always a happening time with cousins!  It's such a blessing to have family who love each other and want to spend time together
- Boys went camping with Troops of St. George
- Celebrated our cute pup, Nashville, turning one years old

DECEMBER:

- Lots of hot tub nights spent waiting for Christmas
- Drove to San Antonio to spend Christmas with the Rolling Family!  It was a covid Christmas but one that will never be forgotten with so many shared laughs and smiles.  Again, we are truly blessed.  We took our first official family pictures (my hair didn't cooperate but the kids sure did look fantastic).
- Mom and Bill rang in the New Year with us in Katy.

FAST FORWARD through JANUARY (just some hunting for the boys):

- It's February and we are well into a WINTER baseball league for Wrigley and Bryce with Valentines Day and Lent on the horizon.  Let's GO!!!!

LINK to pictures:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/DGaKxZcseKXUuD6w5

My Besties and Sister in Christ

Cousin Time

Boy Cousins

Girl Cousins

He's ONE!