GRADUATION!!!!!!

Yes, Casey has graduated! We're so proud of all his hard work. He was even honored earlier by receiving the Ernie Thompson Outstanding Performance in Teacher Education Award. Which, essentially, is like Student Teacher of the Year. =)

Here he's being "hooded".

Can you see us all sitting in the crowd? From Casey's parent all the way to my Great-Grandparents.

He'll get the actual degree once his research is done but then he'll have his Masters degree! Congratulations, honey. We love you.

Having Family Close...

Since this weekend was Casey's graduation, we had alot of family here to watch him and support him. But that also meant we got to play with Grandma's and Grandpa's! My kids were in heaven! They watched Luke's soccer game, went to the park, went fishing, ate donut holes and wore Grandpa Rawson straight out. I don't think he spent much time without a kid attached to each leg or a couple of them on his back. Really. It's no wonder he was wore out! The rest of us were tired just from watching! =) He actually slid in front of this ball and kept it from going in!

One of the cutest spectators there!

Here they're sliding down the stairs in their sleeping bags.

A Fun Day

We had quite the busy Saturday. First we went to Luke's soccer game and cheered him on through the rain. Here's a picture of him last week.Then, after getting home, we went and picked up our new chickens. The kids love them. I had just mentioned to Sadie that I wanted chickens and she was the one who started begging to go get them. Otherwise, another year probably would have gone by without them. Just as she was asking to go get them for the hundredth time and excitedly said it could be her chore to feed them, Casey looked at me shaking his head and said,"That one is just like you." I just smiled and said,"Yeah, she's awesome." Honestly, I just need some backup when it comes to these things. =)

Then we went with some friends to an activity called "The Day of the Family". It was a free event put on by the church for the Hispanic community. There we got a family picture taken, played on the jumping toys, watched some dancing, got a buggy ride, rode horses and ate. Of course, just as we were eating it started raining again and although the umbrellas we had in the car helped us for awhile, pretty soon the downpour started and we just ran for the church. We were all soaked! Katie Belle was scared but after we dried out we just talked about how we even got to have fun in the rain. She must have had alot of fun in the rain because she's already mentioned it again this morning! Anyway, we did get to eat again later and the kids ended up loving our "Fun Day"!

Wolverine, Tron and Laura

Just had to come and quickly post our newest additions to the Mattox zoo. Yes, chickens. So if I didn't have enough projects to do, now I also have to get a chicken coop made! I guess we'll see how we do with them. I had Sadie in tears today as I broke it to her that they may become dinner one day. She still hasn't come to grips with that. I guess if I ever need to get rid of a chicken because, say, it's a rooster, then one of YOU may be having it for dinner. =) Let's all just pray that all of them are hens, okay?