Ashley's Baptism & Birthday Party

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August 22nd Ashley Paige Kirchner turned 8 years old - in our church when someone turns 8 years old they are old enough to choose for themselves if they are ready to be baptised. Ashley met with the Bishop and choose to be baptiszed on September 5. My mom made the baptism dress for Rachel all of my girls will be able to wear this special dress that is all white. When you are baptised you wash away all of your past sins. After the baptism you are confirmed a member of our church. We were so happy to see so many family members be able to come to Houston for this special time. The Honshtein Family, Aunt Carieann and the boys, Aunt Kathy, Momo & Pappa, Johns sisters Aunt Patty, Aunt Paula & Aunt Barbara, & Aunt Cindy & Todd.

The Kirchner and Wall kids!

There were many family members that could not come and we really missed them but we understand that several people could not get away, Adam and Reagan were sick, and Uncle Todd had to work.

After the baptism we went to Mary Jo Peckham park for hot dogs and fun. Ashley wanted her party to be in purple and she wanted a musical note for a cake and so I worried for weeks on how to pull it off, in the end she loved it.

Thank-you, Thank-you, to all of our friends and family that came to the baptism and the party!

Girls Camp

I had the privilege of being able to be Girls Camp Director again this year - it is my absolute favorite calling in church! This was Kaitlyns first year and I really enjoyed being there with her - we had so much fun! The camp was in Conroe - it was a Girls Scout Camp and was beautiful - Rachel had the opportunity to hang out with the older girls and really was able to make some new friends. Our stake had some really great ideas that made camp even better than I have even seen. First - they had the 1st thru 3rd year girls sleep as a ward the 4th, 5th, and 6th year girls all slept with girls in their year groups. Then one night they had the Singing Tree which was where every ward choose a song and then sat as a ward in groups - each ward took a turn and turned on their flashlights, stood up and sang their song - it was really awesome! The last night was Bishop night - each ward had their Bishop come up to camp and we found a quiet place to sit and have Family Home Evening with the Bishop being in charge. After the lesson the girls were given the opportunity to bare their testimony - we had a total of 13 girls so it was sweet and personal, not too long and just perfect. We had a great week!

August 24th First Day of School

My baby is in Kindergarten - I will not cry (where other people can see me)

Ashley - is in 2nd grade

Kaitlyn - is in 7th grade

Rachel - IS A FRESHMAN IN HIGH SCHOOL (I am Sooo old) Still not crying!

This is how our mornings work now - Rachel and I get up at 5am - she is at Seminary at 6am - I

make sure Kaitlyn is on the bus at 6:40 and run to pick up Rachel from Seminary at 6:50 - Drop her off behind the school at the athletics entrance so she can get ready for basketball practice at 7:30. John has to get Ashley and Rylee on the bus at 7:50 while I am on my way to work!

This is what my mornings will look like for the next 6 years then I get a small break before Ashley gets into High school!

(It was a foggy day so the pictures had some issues)

Where did the summer go?

I 'm not sure what happened to the summer - with me working full time again it just seemed to fly by! The girls went to the community pool at least 4 days a week, we went to Fort Worth for July 4th, we saw the circus and the girls stole the camera several times. I received some very funny pictures from the girls taking my camera but I also lost the pictures of them at the circus. I was very angry - for a while - but when you get pictures like the ones below - you don't stay mad for long!

Rylee's new hair style created by Julia Ortiz

Rylee showing everyone how to look so sweet Daddy will buy her a sno cone.

Ashley loves to Karaoke

Rylee and Julia painting at the kitchen table

There are more pictures that I can not post - Kaitlyn looking "sexy" - and then they found it funny to take pictures of Rachel when she was walking to her room in a towel. The girls found these very funny - Rachel did not!

Yikes - I haven't blogged about my new job!

I have several updates to blog so on this great Labor Day Monday - I plan to do some serious catching up! Reporting back from a blog sometime ago - I did get the job offer to work at the City of Rosenberg, I applied for Building Plans Examiner and received the job as Building Inspector. I am the primary inspector for the city if I am overloaded then I can get help from several different people. Currently we have several subdivisions under construction for residential and we have some nice sized commercial construction sites, then there is the typical remodels, additions and pools that are under construction as well. I really like my job the people I get to work with are great and I am having a lot of fun! At 5pm I get to go home and for the most part I dont have to worry about work! The funny part for me is to meet a new contractor on a job site - in Fort Worth for the most part everyone knew me or knew of me and I had gotten away from the "There is a girl inspector!" shock from the builders. But here in the small town outside of Houston, I get the response on a weekly basis.

This past month

Has FLOWN by sooo fast - with so much going on and no time to sit down and blog.. so here goes! Mothers Day was AWESOME! The girls brought home beautiful flowers I also got singing cards that were so cute, Rylees card sang "put the lime in the coconut and shake it all up" as soon as the card started to sing Rylee broke out in a dance that made me laugh so hard, which just made her dance even more.

For the life of me I can't remember the exact date but one night this past month - we woke up to major storms and flooding. In the morning we found that we could not get out of our driveway due to flooding and the schools closed. The schools stayed closed for 2 days and we got to stay home and play. Rylee, Kaitlyn and I decided to take a walk to the park, when we got there we realized that the park was flooded. I started to tell them that they couldn't get into the water - I took a call on my cell and of course they pretended to not here me - so I went with the flow and took some cute pictures of them playing the water.

For Memorial Day weekend we ran to Fort Worth, we had so many friends and family that we wanted to see, but the weekend went so fast and we didn't get to see very many people at all. I am so sorry to all of our friends and family that we missed, we love you all and we will be back again very soon and make sure to see everyone!

First was Todd Killebrews 5yr old Birthday and we had a great party in the pool for him!

Rylee eating a strawberry Todd & Momo

Kaitlyn Rachel

Ashley eating watermelon Mario & Reagan (Shes SOO Cute)

I was telling my mom about how much Rylee was begging to go to a farm and Milk a Cow - for the past few months she won't leave me alone about the idea. My mom is so smart and she suprised the girls with a visit to a wonderful couple in her ward who has 4 week old baby goats and 2 mommy goats. We all got to feed the babys and to milk the mommys. We all fell in love the baby goats they were so cute! I can't forget the Llama! Ashley didn't want anything to do with the mommy goats until we all had a turn milking and she realized that they wouldn't hurt her. Rylee now wants a goat! She was an amazing little helper! The couple was so sweet and patient with all of our questions, they had an amazing place, the girls learned so much and they are so artistic and fun we could have stayed there for a very long time. I can't remember their names - but THANK-YOU so much to both of them and Momo - this was a weekend we won't forget!

I also received several gifts for my birthday, from my mom I received a skirt and 2 shirts for Sunday, and 8 brand new white bath towels that she added a ribbon that said "it all comes out in the wash". It meant a lot to me because that was my saying - I had it in the big house in Keller in the laundry room in orange letters above the door. It all comes out in the wash - I just love that saying it makes me realize that mistakes happen and can be forgiven - I just love it! Then Cindy Killebrew gave me a new kitchen apron - it was purple with cupcakes on it - she made it herself - it made me cry - that she took the time to make me something for my birthday and she didn't even have to remember it. She is an amazing person - I love her very much! We don't have much money right now things are really tight so my birthday gifts meant a LOT to me!

The day after Memorial day was my birthday and I was off to my first day at my new job! I am now working for the City of Rosenberg, so far so good, but I will talk about that later. I received a birthday card from them! When I got home I received a card from the primary presidency and then both of my visiting teachers came by with a card and a sweet gift - I was already in my PJ's and very tired from a long day but it was sweet that they came by on my birthday. Over all it was a great birthday - I like to pretend that I don't like birthdays anymore - I mean now that I am OLD - who wants to keep getting older - but deep down - I really do like my birthday.

The next day at work Kaitlyn called me from home. "Mom, someone is MOWING our Lawn" so I asked her "who is it" - "I think, someone from church" - I was shocked but thought OK - so I told her "see if he needs any water" - that weekend when John got home I asked him about it. He didn't ask anyone to mow the lawn, as we began to ask the girls more questions about the mysterious lawn mower, we discovered that we TRULY have the WORLDS GREATEST Home Teacher - We Love You Brother Hunt!