Happy (Early) Birthday Cindy!!!

Happy Birthday to Cindy!
Happy Birthday to Cindy!
You're the best sister ever!
Happy Birthday to Cindy!

Class of 2021

Hannah had Kindergarten graduation yesterday. They "graduated" and then did a play about all the things they learned this year. It was really cute. Hannah was in the yellow group and her line was "Anybody dressed in yellow, come on down!!!" She said it with a Texas accent and with the enthusiasm of the Price is Right announcer! Here are some photos of the event. Happy Summer!!!

Memorial Day Memories

Every year we spend Memorial Day in Houston. The weekend is close to my grandfather's birthday so it is a good time to visit him and spend time in a fun city. This weekend was a fun one for lots of reasons...

We celebrated my grandfather's 92nd birthday---which is actually this week. He is still going strong at 92. he has a razor sharp memory and is really inspirational.

We also saw my sweet friend Michelle. Michelle and I have been friends for a long time and she is an awesome person. She is an amazing mom to two kiddos and is working on her PhD while also working. I am inspired by her and although we don't see each other very much, we always pick up right where we left off.On Memorial Day we went to the Museum of Natural Science. We saw an exhibit on the Terracotta Warriors. It was very impressive. The warriors are actually figures, dating from 210 BC. They were discovered in 1974 by some local farmers in a province in China somewhat near the municipality Hannah was born in. It was a very fascinating exhibit.

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day! God bless the families of those who have served and continue to serve our country!

Introducing George!!!

OK...we are officially crazy. We have added another animal to our home. The animal is a dog and the dog only has three legs. (Nothing is ever quite ordinary in the Gochis household!) The short story is Andrew and I went to a "Paws in the Park" event a couple of weeks ago. There were some dog rescue groups there and Andrew started looking at a dog. I told him "Drew, you know Dad really only likes schnauzers." (That is not completely true, but Rich favors schnauzers so I thought it was a good way for me not to leave the park with a dog.) The lady from the Waco Humane Society heard me and said, "Oh we have a schnauzer that is in foster care. He has three legs because one had to be amputated. He is a really great dog." Well, we met him on Saturday and he is now ours. His name is George and he is a sweet dog. Sammie definitely reminds him that she is the big boss but they get along well. We are now a five person to five pet family (2 dogs, 2 chinese dwarf hamster and 1 guinea pig)...Yikes!

An American Girl

My mom, Hannah and I went on our first trip to the American Girl store. We were in Dallas for a couple of a days for a meeting and decided to go the store and bistro. We surprised Hannah with the trip there and she was thrilled. If you have never been, it is very cute and fun but it is also a little pricey. I conveniently forgot my wallet on our trip so my mom saved the day and used her credit card. Can you imagine if I would have taken Hannah there, picked out some things and then had to say "just kidding those dolls weren't for sale." Luckily, I didn't have to do that because my mom saved the day as always!

More bluebonnets

It's official...I really am a bluebonnets fanatic. They look unusually pretty and full to me this year. The kids are so sick of having to take pictures in them that I have now added the dog to the pictures----she doesn't complain as much. :)

The picture below is at a place down the street from our house. I really love the picture because it reminds me to love where I am. Since we moved from San Antonio I have struggled at times not to think..."In San Antonio, we had this (fill in the blank) and that was better." The fill in the blank could range from the River walk, to Sea World, to our church, etc. I have liked being here but have sometimes felt like life was just a little bit better where we were. When I took this picture, I was with the dog and the kids and I thought "This is exactly where I want to be and I am glad this is home."

No PHT

Ever since I can remember I have hated getting my haircut. I always go in with an idea of how it is going to look and it never works out quite right. After Rich and I got married, he diagnosed me with PHT (Post Haircut Trauma) and I wholeheartedly agreed with his diagnosis. Well, I think we have finally broken the PHT curse with Hannah. Today she had a haircut and wanted to have "short hair" so the girl cut off 4-5 inches. She just said "I like it" and was ready to go. I was very impressed!

Here's her new do!

Bluebonnet Season

It is one of my favorite times of the year in Texas----bluebonnet season! We went out today and found some to take our annual bluebonnet pictures. A special thanks to my mom and dad for being the official photographers! :)

Basketball Boys

I have had an alomst 3 month absence from blogging and luckily I have not received a bad blogger award or anything. :) So, I am going to try to get back in to things....

Yesterday the boys were ball boys at the last home game for the Baylor Basketball team. They had a great time. Even though Baylor didn't win, the boys had fun. Drew actually mopped (a skill which he is going to start doing at home) and Jacob gave water to the refs. At the end of the game Scott Drew talked about faith and adversity and ended the event with a very sweet prayer. It was a great experience for us and our kids.


At the end of the game, Hannah also got to take her picture with one of the cheerleaders who used to be one of Rich's patients. She loved it and is ready to join the squad!

ICE!

Today we went to Grapevine, Texas to the Gaylord Resort. They had an exhibit called ICE! and boy was it cold. They had huge ice sculptures that were pretty amazing. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy. Merry Christmas!

Hannah's Birthday

My mom reminded me the other day that in my lack of blogging I had not blogged about Hannah's birthday. She turned six this year and had a great day. She had her birthday at a place with a bunch of inflatables and had a great time. We always tease her by saying "Hannah, you really need to get happy" becuase she is usually giggling or laughing. Her birthday was no exception. She brings so much joy to our family!

Frosty the Snowman

Tonight Jacob took the stage as Frosty the Snowman for the Third Grade Christmas Musical. I am not biased at all but I thought he was the best Frosty ever! He had an entourage of fans to watch his performance. Our babysitter and her friend came, our friend Emma from China, Steve and Cindy and my parents were all there to cheer him on. He had some pretty crazy dance moves especially considering he was wearing a snowman outfit. Look for him on next season's Dancing with the Stars!!! :)

Costume Crazy!

I am way behind on pretty much everything....letters, reading, phone calls, work, emails....everything. I am actually becoming very comfortable in being behind. I even feel like posting Halloween pictures a week and a half after Halloween is early! :)

Here are the kiddos....Hannah was Fancy Nancy, Jacob was Indiana Jones and Andrew threw on some of Rich's military stuff and was actually a pretty convincing Army Man.

Blogging Absence

Hello All,

Although this may not seem like the truth, I am really not in a competition for the worst blogger in the world. I have been overtaken by Fall events for the kids lately. I have been in high gear craft activity with Halloween costumes, school projects, and other fall activities. Over the next posts, I will posts some of these activities so I can feel justified in my non-blogging!

Froggy-Frogilina....Storybook Pumpkin Contest.

Below are Jacob and Hannah's entries in the Storybook Pumpkin Contest at school. They entered in the sibling category and entered Froggy and Frogilina because they both love the Froggy series. Jacob has kind of outgrown Froggy but at one point had several of the books completely committed to memory. Jacob and Hannah won first place in the sibling division which was fun for both of them. They did share their ribbon with me which I thought was nice!

A Good Dog

One of my favorite quotes is: "My goal in life is to be as good of a person my dog already thinks I am." I am always amazed at how our dog will run up to us and lick us, watch us attentively, and sit at our feet when we are home. Even when the kids are a little crazy and things are wild, she really wants to be there in the thick of it all. Alot of times I think we need to get the Dog Whisperer to come to our house because Sammie barks and howls every time the doorbell rings. She also jumps up on people when they come over (luckily she is only 16 pounds). But even with all of her faults she is a good dog because she makes us feel so good!

Have a great week!

Multiple Personalities

The next few pictures are pictures of Hannah all taken within a period of 20 minutes. As you can see, she went from Soccer Star to Bride to Princess in a matter of minutes. Maybe the title of this should really be quick change artist?



Speaking of changes, check out the change on Jacob's face while receiving love from his siblings. Its as if he realized that this might just be too good to be true! :)




Have a great week!

Date Night

Last night Rich and I went to the Clay Walker concert. He was at the Opening Event for the Heart of Texas Fair. He was a really great performer and we had a fun time.

We also learned something---we need to make sure we go out every now and then without the kids. When we told them we were going out without them they were stunned! They kept asking us: "Why aren't you taking us?" "Why didn't you get us tickets?" The best was when Jacob actually told us that he "forgave us" for going out without them!

We used to be pretty good about date nights etc. but having three kiddos in school and sports means the 5 of us are usually at a game, practice, or school function. Speaking of which, here are the kids in their various uniforms:

Hve a great week!

Grandparents and Gotcha Day!!!

The past two Sundays have been fun celebrations around our house. Last weekend we celebrated Grandparents' Day with my parents. Andrew pulled out his cookbook and made an incredible lunch. The best part of the lunch was that he made 2 desserts! (That's my boy!!!) All 3 kids made homemade lemonade to accompany the meal. The name of it was "Pucker Up Lemonade" which we discovered was a perfect name! A fun time was had by all.This week we celebrated our family's Gotcha Day which was also great. Gotcha Day (or Family Day) is the day we added Hannah to our family so it is a very special day in our house. We celebrated by bringing in Chinese food and having a fun family lunch. My parents brought their two Chinese students from Baylor. They told us that our Chinese food was not very authentic but it was still good. My mom made moon cakes for our dessert. The moon cakes were also not very authentic but were yummy as well!

In light of all of our family events, I'll end with one of my favorite quotes about family. Brace yourself, it's from Jeff Foxworthy!

"If you ever start feeling like you have the goofiest, craziest, most dysfunctional family in the world, all you have to do is go to a state fair. Because five minutes at the fair, you'll be going, 'you know, we're alright. We are dang near royalty.' " Jeff Foxworthy