Learning to Ride a Bike...

There has been recent activity in our little cul-de-sac of kids learning to ride their bicycles without training wheels. At least four kids in the last two weeks have learned to ride, including a three year old! Kathryn decided she was ready to learn, too.

Today we took Kathryn up to the church parking lot to practice. She was all decked out in protective gear and ready to go!



After a pep talk from the family, and a mantra of "I can do it", she started practicing with help from daddy.







After several tries, and some tears, our stubborn & independant Kathryn gave up, claiming she was tired and scared. She said "It was harder than I thought."



No amount of encouragement could get her back on the bike. :-/ Stay tuned. This saga is not over yet...

Kathryn Reads!

Kathryn has been learning to read this school year. It has been amazing to watch how much she has learned and how far she has come since the beginning of the year. This was taken on a recent evening when she was reading to Allen. We are so proud of her. (You will need to turn your speakers up.)

Spring Fun and Silly Girls...

Friday the girls had a half day of school. After they got home I decided to take them out to Wendy's for twisted frosties and some mommy daughter time.



When we got home I asked them to pose for some pictures. They are such funny girls sometimes. Half the time they try to pretend they are shy, but then they act like hams when I take their pictures.



It was fun seeing them laughing together, instead of fighting like sisters do.



When I am frustrated with them, I often take for granted how blessed I truly am. But when I look at these pictures, and see their smiling faces, it makes me smile. I love them so much!



Thank you Father for my sweet Rebecca and Kathryn. I am so thankful that you have blessed my life with these two beautiful girls.

Spring Break, part 2

Spring break around here was pretty laid back. No major trips or adventures, just hanging in the "Woodlands Hood."

Thursdays "big event" was to get haircuts. Kathryn wanted to get her's cut shorter and knew exactly what she wanted, so she was able to tell the lady what to do. After she cut Kathryn's hair and trimmed bangs, etc. she braided Kathryn's hair. It was so cute. I guess Mommy needs to learn how to do that.



The next day when we took Kathryn's hair down it was, as she said, "all wrinkly". She looked very cute and it was fun to see her with something other than her straight hair.



As for Rebecca, she wanted to keep her hair long, so we we just had an inch trimmed off the length and had the bangs trimmed.



On Friday, March 19, Allen actually had the day off so we could go do something as a family. We originally were going to head down to the Houston Rodeo, but as always, the best laid plans often change. :-/ We ended up not being able to get out of the house until after 2:00, too late for the rodeo. Not wanting the whole day to be a dissappointmment, we decided to drive over to the new George Mitchell Nature Preserve in the Village of Creekside here in The Woodlands. It was a beautiful day and perfect for a walk in the woods.



After we enjoyed the outdoors, we headed over to The Woodlands Waterway and had dinner at The Gooses's Acre, an authentic Irish Pub that we have here in The Woodlands.



After dinner, we walked over to the Waterway Park that was nearby and let the girls play around the fountain. As I was filming them running around, Kathryn accidentally got doused with one of the jumping water fountains. You can actually see when it happens and hear Allen laughing in the background. She was soaked! It really was quite funny, but she continued to run around and laugh



In this picture you can see how soaked Kathryn got.



After we headed home for the evening, we ended the day with a game night. We started having a family game night earlier this year, and we try to do it at least twice a month, but lately we have it almost every weekend. We even have a "McNight Family Game Night" trophy. Rebecca was the winner this time.



Despite the fact we were unable to go on a trip for Spring break, we actually had fun just hanging out in our hometown.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone. Today I have been getting in touch with my Irish roots. I have been listening to Celtic music, made beef and barley stew in the crock pot, and I made sweet irish soda bread. Yum!



I also thought I would share this story of St. Patrick with you. I read this on a friend's Facebook status and decided to post it here.

Saint Patrick - St. Patrick of Ireland is one of the world’s most popular saints. An icon of the Irish and the reason we wear green on St. Patrick’s day, this influential saint is shrouded by myth and legend. There are many stories about St. Patrick, but the real story is much different than what we would imagine. He was not a leprechaun or an elf, nor did he find a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. What he did do brought something more valuable than gold into the lives of thousands.
St. Patrick was born in Britain around 389. As a teenager, he was captured during a raiding party and taken to Ireland as a slave to herd and tend sheep. Ireland at this time was a land of Druids and pagans. St. Patrick learned the language and practices of the people who held him. But he turned to God during his captivity and became a devout Christian.
After a miraculous escape from Ireland around the age of 20, he was called back in a vision from God. He returned to the place of his captivity to preach the gospel. There he spent 40 years, converting all of Ireland to Christianity.
He spent his life building churches, living in poverty, and enduring much suffering and hardship for the sake of Christ. Legend has it that St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Trinity, and it has been associated with him and the Irish ever since.

Let me leave you with this traditional Irish blessing.

May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields and,
Until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Spring Break!

It's Spring Break here in The Woodlands, and that brings many things. One is the return of "yellow dust" season. Ugh!



It also brings time off from school for the kids, and time for the parents to figure out something to do with the kids over this long week. Unfortunately we can't go anywhere this year because Allen is at a Pump Symposium all week.(oooooo...fancy!) all week. So far he has endured two long days of golfing with customers. Poor baby!

Monday was beautiful, sunny & warm! The girls played outside most of the day with their friends. Here are some pictures of Camp McNight.



Tuesday was overcast and cooler, and we spent most of the day inside. The girls spent part of the morning playing with a toy from my childhood. I have many fond memories of building my own little town around the lake in Playskool Vacationland.



We capped off the night with a girl's night pizza & a movie.

USS Texas & San Jacinto Monument

After the taekwando tournament we decided to go on a little adventure since the day was so beautiful. We decided to take the girls to see the USS Texas and the San Jacinto monument. We took a ferry across part of the Houston Ship Channel to get there.



First stop was the USS Texas. The USS Texas is the only battleship that was used in both WWI and WWII.



Since the San Jacinto Monument was near by, we headed over there next. The San Jacinto Monument stands 570 feet tall, 15 feet taller than the Washington Monument. The views from the observation deck were amazing.



The girls had fun exploring the battleship and the monument. I took this picture across from the base of the monument, overlooking the reflecting pool.



As we were leaving, the sun was beginning to set and the moon was rising. I was able to get this picture. A perfect end to a fun day.