Judson's 1st Day at SCP

Judson's 1st day at Southlake Christian Preschool- Sept. 2013 (2 yrs 3 mo)

This year I moved Judson to the Southlake campus of The Hills C of C for preschool because it is much closer to our house and because I had also heard that they had a great program.  It was a little hard to make the change since we had been going to the NRH campus for so long (6 yrs!), but I was pretty confident that Judson would do well and I felt like it was the right decision for our family.  Minus the fact that he usually doesn't take a nap at school, he has done great and goes in with a smile every time.  He has two super sweet teachers both named Lisa (ha, ha!), they do lots of neat activities, and the shorter drive is SO nice!  It has significantly cut down the amount we spend on gas every month, and I love being right there in Southlake when I drop him off to go shop and run errands if I want.  He is having a great year already and I am so glad we made the switch to SCP!

I had to bribe him with playing ball to get him to come outside for pictures, and then he insisted on holding my camera while I took pictures with my phone

Happy Birthday to Me

For my birthday this year we met my parents at Anamia's mexican restaurant in Coppell on a Saturday for lunch.  Afterward we went over to their house to enjoy some cake and ice cream and some relaxing family time.  The kids enjoyed playing with different toys at Mimi and Poppi's house, and Scott and I enjoyed just relaxing all afternoon with nothing to do.  It's hard to do that at our own house with cleaning, projects, etc that always need to get done.

enjoying some chocolate cake from "Nothing Bundt Cakes".  The kids were all too busy eating to even look up for a picture!

Judson playing with Mimi and Poppi's football

Scott sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers on my birthday, but then about a week later came my real birthday present.  He surprised me by having two of my best friends from college kidnap me for a girls weekend in Austin!  He told me he was taking me to Trulucks for my birthday dinner, so my parents came over to babysit and as I'm in the bathroom getting ready, Alexis and Lindsey walk in and say they are kidnapping me and taking me to Lakeway Spa and Resort in Austin and that our other friend Rachel was meeting us there!  Talk about shocked!  I don't think I fully recovered until we were halfway to Austin.  The resort was right on Lake Austin and was very nice.  Basically, we just enjoyed sleeping in, relaxing by the pools, and talking over dinner at an amazing Mexican food place called Garido's near downtown Austin.  It was so much fun to spend some quality time with my girlfriends.  I feel so blessed to have great friends and an amazingly sweet and selfless husband!  This birthday girl couldn't ask for anything more!

Ready to go out for dinner at Garido's

The area around the resort was somewhat woodsy and we kept seeing deer from the patio of our room

The view of Lake Austin from one of the pools

The adults only area had an infinity pool and a swim up bar

Another beautiful view of the lake

First Day of School 2013

 First day of school 2013- Avery- 2nd grade, Kendall- Kindergarten

This year was an especially exciting first day of school since Kendall started Kindergarten and now 2 of our 3 kids are in elementary school.  Wow- time flies!  Although we had a really fun summer, I think both girls were excited to start school.  They were both a little nervous of course, but we had no doubts that they would do great, and so far they have not proved us wrong!  When I picked them up that afternoon, they both said school was awesome and started talking at the same time to tell me all about their day. 

Kendall eating breakfast on her first day of Kindergarten

Judson was up early too- as usual- and was all ready to walk the girls down to school.

an inside pose so we can use the wall behind them to see how much they've grown from year to year

. . . and the outside poses

2nd grade here she comes!

She couldn't wait to wear her new boots

Watch out Kindergarten!  Here comes Kendall!

"C'mon Mama- Let's go already!"

Avery by her locker

Avery sat down and was immediately focused on starting her papers- right after I interrupted by  making her smile for one more picture.

Kendall- ready for new learning adventures at Kay Granger!

Summer wrap-up

 In August we didn't really have any trips or events where we took a lot of pictures, but we did have quite a few small things and just some fun, everyday kinds of pictures that I wanted to post. 

Eating dinner outside on a uncharacteristically mild August evening

Scott and I went to Eddie V's off 7th street in Fort Worth to celebrate our anniversary.  The seafood was great and the dessert was even more amazing.  We had Eddie V's famous bananas foster with butter cake and pralines and cream ice cream. SO good!  Unfortunately the flames didn't show up in the picture :(

The girls helped me make this chocolate sheet cake (the Pioneer Woman's recipe) to celebrate my spiritual birthday.  This was something that Scott and I decided to start celebrating just this past year.  Everyone in the family has a journal that we write in on their spiritual birthday.  The kids are already looking forward to celebrating their spiritual birthdays one day.

My guys wearing their Johnny Cash t-shirts that I got for them at the Johnny Cash Museum in Nashville this summer.

Scott and I at the Rangers game

Avery wanted to trying hatching a chicken from a store bought egg. She used wooden puzzles and tinker toys to make an incubator and her guinea pig's timothy hay for the nest.  He idea was that maybe the sunlight coming in from the window in the nook would keep the egg warm enough.

The week before school started we met Sheila, Bailey, Braden and Brooklyn at McCalister's for lunch.

Judson was outnumbered 5:1. I guess Brooklyn managed to sit out of this picture.

 The Friday evening right before school started we all walked down to Granger for Meet the Teacher.  Avery has a sweet, cute, young teacher named Miss Henderson and Kendall has a bubbly, fun, but more seasoned teacher named Mrs. Schindler.  I think both are going to be great!  Here are a few pics from Meet the Teacher night.

And to wrap-up the summer I present
"A Bedichek Summer in Numbers":
8 swimming lessons at Keller Pointe
1 weekend at the lake
9 trips to the movies
1 week in New Jersey
1 amazing, whirlwind day in NYC
1 week in Tennessee with 3 horse rides, 1 visit to the petting zoo, and 1 museum
More trips to the pool than we could count
7 piano lessons (and still going)
11 Gymnastics practices (and still going)
1 day at Hawaiian Falls
8 memory verses learned during "Memory Verses with Mommy"

Tennesse Vacation

The kids, their Aunt Amy and I outside of Lucky Ladd Farms

In July Scott went on a 10 day mission trip to Ecuador, so the kids and I took the opportunity to go with my parents to Tennessee to visit Amy and Chris for a week.  My Mom made pretend boarding passes for the kids and my Dad handed them out as we loaded up in his suburban.  Our first fun stop on the trip was in Memphis at Mud Island, which is a miniature replica of the Mississippi running alongside the river itself near downtown Memphis.  We got to ride a monorail from the parking garage over to the river and then took off our shoes and walked along the replica.  All the ridges were a little rough on our feet, but the kids thought it was pretty neat.  On our first day in the Nashville area, my sister took us out to see her horse Kola at the stable.  The kids had been really looking forward to seeing and riding Kola ever since we decided to go to Tennessee.  Avery almost missed out because there were some bees that would not leave us alone and she is deathly afraid of them.  At the time we thought the bees were hanging around because of the watermelon that Amy had brought for Kola, but I later remembered that Judson had dropped his syrup-covered fork on his clothes at breakfast and I never cleaned it off, so I'm sure that didn't help matters.  But, thankfully, Avery eventually decided to be brave and not miss out on the fun.  Avery and Kendall rode some with their Aunt Amy and rode some by themselves as well.  Judson got a little scared on his ride because Amy thought he was laughing when she made Kola trot, but he was actually crying.  It was kind of funny to watch.  He still enjoyed his ride though and loved watching Kola and petting her.  After Amy fed Kola some watermelon for a treat, we headed over to a petting zoo called Lucky Ladd Farms.  We saw sheep, lots of goats, ponies, donkeys, chickens, and some very load peacocks that scared us to death with their loud yelping!  The donkeys were in a pen right next to them and when one of the donkeys started braying, those peacocks really let loose!  The kids all jumped a mile and Judson started crying I think.  After a picnic lunch and some practice on milking a cow, we went back to the hotel to enjoy a little swim.  Another fun thing we did while we were there was go to the Johnny Cash museum.  They had lots of audio stations set up that the kids enjoyed and the girls also liked looking at all the dresses and costumes they had on display.  My favorite part, besides the music of course, was the letters and poetry the Johnny had written to and about his wife June.  Another day we did a little shopping at one of the malls and then met my sister for lunch at Mellow Mushroom in downtown Franklin.  After lunch, my parents took the kids back to the hotel to swim and Amy and I got to look around in the shops downtown and then went on a tour of the Bellemead plantation.  We had  some really good sister time.  Amy and Chris had us over for dinner twice while we were there- once for grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, and once for Chris's delicious wok cooking.  He made chicken, steak, vegetables, and fried rice that was as good or better than eating at a hibachi restaurant.  The kids loved going over to their house to see their cat Pongo and their dog Luki.  Judson even named his little stuffed dog he got as a souvenir Luki, and Avery named her leopard stuffed animal Pongo.  We had such a fun trip and a great time visiting with Amy and Chris!

Avery, Kendall and Judson receiving their boarding passes for their ride on the suburban to Tennessee

got their boarding passes and all ready to go

Catching a ride at the hotel in Little Rock.  We broke up the trip and stayed in Little Rock coming and going so it would be a little easier on the kids.

riding the monorail over to Mud Island

walking the Mississippi

Even Mimi decided to walk in the water

Along the replica there were bridges, dams, and cities marked

all those ridges were kind of hard on the feet

Elvis statue at the Memphis Visitors' Center

The first morning in our hotel in Nashville we took a video of the kids saying "Good Morning" to Scott and texted it to him.

Judson feeling a little scared on his Kola ride

Kendall and Aunt Amy

Kendall enjoyed it when Amy had Kola trot and gallop, but her little cowgirl hat didn't stay on.

Avery getting ready to ride.

Avery riding with Aunt Amy

Avery was all smiles during her ride.

She was really proud of herself for riding alone.

Poppi the cowgirl trying to keep Avery cool in the shade

"Yee-haw!"

Judson before his ride.

Checking out the goats at Lucky Ladd Farm.  They even had some bridges and structures built up high that the goats could walk across and climb on.

Brushing the goats.

Brushing sheep

More goat brushing

Saying Hi to a donkey

Judson the cowboy showing his muscles.

practicing their cow milking skills

Kendall was pretty good at it, but somehow I don't see 4-H in her future.

Judson got a hand from Aunt Amy

hanging out with Luki before dinner at Amy and Chris's house

Once Pongo finally decided to come out of hiding, Amy locked him in her closet so the kids could have a chance to pet him.

Amy and I at the Bellemead plantation.

swimming at the hotel in Little Rock

Judson loves his froggy life jacket and LOVES to jump in the pool