Culdesac CrossFit!

Jason, Michelle, Casey and Brian working hard!

I know I have mentioned CrossFit before, but I may not have mentioned that Rob is working towards becoming a CrossFit affiliate, which means he is planning on opening his own CrossFit! In fact, his family just became affiliated in Laredo, opening G7 CrossFit, which is very exciting!

Jason, Me and Casey working hard with some kettle bells!

I have been doing CrossFit off and on for over a year now. I even did it throughout my pregnancy. I just recently got more serious about it. I really enjoy working out! Here's why:

**With CrossFit, everything is scalable. If you can't do a pull-up (I can't), that's ok, if you can't do a full push-up (working on it...)that's ok, you get the picture!

**Short workouts! Being a mom, I feel like there is always something that needs to be done...I am sure you all know what I am talking about! Most workouts are no longer than 20 minutes, but that doesn't mean they are easy!

**I can tell I am getting stronger! I can lift more weights than I used to, and my push-ups are getting better.

**Community. It is all about being encouraging, and supporting each other while you work out. Since you are working out with other people, there is also a competitive side to CrossFit, which makes it more fun!

**Variety. Every workout is different, which keeps your body guessing, and keeps the workouts from being boring!

Jason, Brian, Michelle, Me and Casey (she just ran through a sprinkler to cool off, that isn't all sweat!)

Rob volunteer coaches at Atomic CrossFit, in Stafford. I thought it would be fun for him to start training my family and I, to help prepare him for his future clients. We use our driveway, backyard, and the culdesac to do our workouts. We have asked some neighbor friends to join us, but some of them would rather sit in their driveway and taunt us with their coke. We started training about 2 months ago, and have all really enjoyed it! This past week, Julie and Catherine joined in on the fun. They must have liked it, because they plan on coming back for more!

Julie, Catherine, Me and Jason doing assisted pull-ups and body rows in our backyard.

I can't wait to see what God has for Rob and CrossFit. This is an exciting time for him and our family. If you think about it, please pray that God will lead us throughout this process of owning our own business. It is a scary thing to do!

Pointe West

One of my favorite pictures!

Erin, Liz, Me, Karen and Kelly

This weekend, our Bible study went away for some fun in the sun. We went to Pointe West, a resort right in Galveston! It was great! The room was awesome! 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, a kitchen with cooking utensils/pots/plates...all we had to bring was our clothes and food! The beach was just a walk away, the pool was even closer. It was so much fun to hang out with everyone! We watched movies, played games, grilled burgers...and got some sun...of course!! It was Bobby's first time at the beach, he wasn't too sure about it at first, but he enjoyed it after he got used to it!

We had such a good time, I think we need to make this a yearly event!!

The beach view from the pool. Part of the walkway is brand new, they did have storm damage, but they are up and running now!

The Pool

Bobby says: 'Get me outa here!!'

Bobby and Evelyn, enjoying the sand! He did try and eat the sand occasionally!

The girls (and Caleb), getting ready to go swimming!

Rob and Bobby, waiting for lunch. You wouldn't even guess that Bobby had a fever in this picture! Poor baby, but he felt much better the next day.

Playing Monopoly...this is before it got really crazy! This game lasted until 1:30AM!

Splash Party!

What a busy weekend...one word comes to mind...HOT!!! To beat the heat, I hosted a Splash Party for my church, Crossbridge. It was a lot of fun! We had lots of goodies to eat, and some AWESOME splash equipment that we borrowed from this family.

Isn't this the greatest? What child wouldn't want this in their backyard? Thank you so much Chris for letting us borrow everything and coming and setting it up. The kids all really enjoyed it!

Chase, Leila and Laurie enjoying the shower!

MaryEvyn and Annelise about to slip 'n' slide!

We found out that Bobby really likes watermelon!

Sweet Elena trying out the slide!

**Added bonus: my yard got nice and watered!!

Culdesac Olympics!!

'Team Winnstream' !

Can I just say how much I love our neighbors and the street we live on? It is so much fun to be friends with the people who live near you. Almost every house on our street has elementary age kiddos, so there are always kids playing outside, which is a lot of fun.

Little Tatum had an idea for an egg and spoon race...which turned into the 2009 Culdesac Olympics!! We started with grilling hot dogs (thank goodness, no one vomited during the games!), then got the festivities rolling with the egg and spoon race, followed by a water balloon toss, an obstacle course, a relay race, a javelin throw (for the adults) and a bubble blowing contest. Then the kids topped it off with some popsicles. Rob and Kacey did such a great job putting everything together. There were even blue ribbons handed out and prizes and goody bags!!

This was such a great way to reach out to our neighbors. Even though not all the parents came, I know all the kids went home and told their parents about all the fun they had. I think reaching out to the kids is just as important as the parents.

Some pictures from the 'Winnstream Games':

Getting ready for the first event! The egg and spoon race!


Go Tatum, Go!!!




The adults got in on the action, too!


Go Christina!


Bobby was still to young, but next year...watch out!



Bubble blowing contest!


Little Emma with her first place ribbon!


Thank you Rob and Kacey!!

Halloween fun with our new toy--I mean--son!

Family photo!

(Thanks Erin for showing me how to use the ring sling-- he slept the whole night!)

Our community group hosted a block party at the Wallace's house this year. It was a big success! We had hot dogs, chips, drinks, tons of candy, frisbee golf and prizes! We had one family stay for at least an hour!

It was Bobby's first Halloween, and even though he slept through most of it, Rob and I had some fun dressing up our son! :)

At the beginning of the night, dressed in his 'ghost' onesie, given to him by Aunt Vero. (Thank you!)

Peace!

Bobby in his first wig!

Miss Erin's daughter has no hair, so she wanted to see what it was like to use a bow in a baby's hair! Ha ha! By this time it is late, and we thought it was pretty funny. Hey-- at least it is a blue bow!

(Disclaimer: Rob did not approve of this.)

Spooky Sleepy Hollow!

Our street has such an appropriate name for Halloween, doesn't it? I was just waiting for the headless horseman to come riding down the street!! (I'm still waiting on that Rachel!) On Halloween night, we (along with the help of our community group) had another block party for our street. I passed out flyers the night before, and we had hot dogs, frito pie, candy (of course!), a photo op with some hay and pumpkins, and a bounce house! whoo hoo! fun!


2 of our neighbors brought over some cookies, which I thought was very nice. Once it got dark outside, we had a good turn out of trick-or-treaters. some of our neighbors stayed for quite awhile! We had some good conversations with a few of them, and one neighbor, Muhammad, may come to our bible study sometime! It was a lot of fun, and I know our street was appreciative of our hard work.


All the girls from the Community group. (Minus Melissa and Margie)





Little Grace in her fairy costume! She made sure to tell me that her mom curled her hair. Doesn't it look pretty?

National Night Out--Sleepy Hollow

Wow! Our block party
was a total success!
We had hot dogs, watermelon and ice cream. Thanks Brian for grilling, you did a great job! I really was convicted about underestimating what God had planned for our little party. So many new relationships were formed! I met lots of new people, including:
Mr. Fry, who was the first person to have his house built on Sleepy Hollow in 1979! He works at FBBA, and knows my friend Magan Barnhill's family!
Joe and Irma, who live caddy-corner to us.
Claudia, who lives 2 houses down with her husband and daughter Martha, and her 10 day old son!
Kirsten, who is going to be moving to Hawaii soon to learn how to dive!
Catherine and her mom, who live across the street.
Jessica and her husband, and their cute son Jacob!
Our next store neighbors, Giovana and Roland, from Bolivia, with two cute kids.

Of course there are so many more people I met! Everyone seemed to have a good time, and really appreciated having a party to get to know each other. My community group was great about talking to everyone, and really building community. We found several ways our group could meet needs right on our street.
Giovana and I even exchanged numbers, and she expressed an interest in coming to our bible study sometime. wow!
Near the end, the guys busted out a game of frisbee, and the kiddos had a good time with the water balloons and water guns. It sure was hot outside!
I had a lot of fun! Thanks to my hubby for suggesting we invite the whole street! We want to do this again, probably before the next National Night Out.

Party!

We are having a Block Party!! Our bible study is throwing a National Night Out front yard bar-b-que for our street on Tuesday. We are doing hot dogs, watermelon, and water balloons! Rob and I went around today and passed out fliers, and talked to a couple of people. Almost all the people we talked to seemed interested, and a few even offered to bring something!