Spending Time With David's Family in Mississippi

 We were excited to be home to attend an engagement party for David's niece.  It was a fun celebration for them. We miss so many family activities and it was extra special to be there for this one.

 

the happy couple

They will be getting married in March 2024.

 

David's dad showing Ben how to play pool during the engagement party.

 

We spent a day at Spinner's bowling and roller skating with family.  Here are the boys with their cousin Larsen.

 

 

 

 

Here's a video of us bowling.

 

 

Here is a video of roller skating. 

 

On the way home we all stopped by the swinging bridge in Byram.

 

 

 

A video at the swinging bridge.

 

We had a meal together at Cock of the Walk on the Ross Barnett Reservoir. 

 

David with some of his family.

 

The boys at the Reservoir.

 

 

A video of our time at Cock of the Walk.

 

On another outing they spent the day fishing with family at the Ross Barnett Reservoir.  The boys especially enjoyed this fun day!

 

 

A video of Cruz fishing.

 

 

 

A video of Ben fishing.

 

 

This video is a little blurry, but it shows Cruz getting to kneeboard for the first time.   He loved it!

 

We made an overnight trip to Oxford to visit with David's dad and step-mom.  We always enjoy our time with them.  Here are three generations of Whites.

 

Mr. Harold, Jodi, David, and the boys in Oxford

 

We drove around the Ole Miss campus, and I took this photo of Cruz at the football stadium.

 

He also picked up a few things at Rebel Rags.

 

 

Before we returned to Guatemala, David's family planned a meal for us and did an early birthday celebration for David.

 

the boys with their cousin Sawyer

 

the cousins playing baseball in the backyard

 

Our family enjoying one of our last beautiful Mississippi sunsets.

David's Birthday 2018

This past Thursday (August 2) we celebrated David's birthday. 

We began the morning with banana pancakes and bacon for breakfast.

David's birthday breakfast

The boys presented him with homemade cards during breakfast.

We had a normal school day and then enjoyed a good lunch at home.  I had gotten up a little extra early that morning to put on a pot of red beans.  We had red beans, rice, and tortillas for lunch.  It is one of David's favorite meals.  For dessert we had lemon pie with chocolate and strawberries.  As you can see a little finger had wiped through the whipped cream before I took my photo.

We had our regular Thursday afternoon Bible study in Muyurco that afternoon.  When we returned down the mountain we drove over to Copan, Honduras for the night.  It was getting late by the time we arrived, checked in to our room, and went out for supper.  We went to Jim's Pizza which is one of our favorite places to eat there.  Afterwards we spent a little time walking around town and looking in a few shops before calling it a night.

We had hoped that the boys would sleep in a little later the next morning but just as always they were up bright and early around 6:00 a.m.  (sigh)  We had an early breakfast and then let them swim a little while in the pool.

Some days there is just not enough coffee to deal with all of this energy.

David had made plans to meet with a local pastor that morning.  I had taken our school work with us to do while he was gone.  One thing I love about homeschool is that we can keep it up even when we travel.

When the boys finished their lessons we walked down to the central park to let them skate.  We had packed their skates because we knew the open park area would be a great place to use them.

the boys at the central park in Copan, Honduras

We had lunch at Welchez Cafe and also coffee and dessert.  

strawberry cheesecake and carrot cake

Later that afternoon, while playing, Cruz lost another tooth.  It was a top front tooth.  It had already been a little loose.  Ben was spinning around swinging his fists and somehow connected with Cruz's mouth knocking his tooth out.  That was his fifth tooth to lose and makes three out of five that have been knocked out.  Those boys never cease to keep me a little on the stressed out side.

In spite of that we had a great little get-away.   It was a fun time for everyone and a relaxing way to celebrate David's birthday.  Thanks for all the wishes he received.  He felt very loved and prayed for all day long.

Celebrating

In addition to everything else we have had going on this week we also took a little time to celebrate.  First we celebrated Valentine's Day and next we celebrated my birthday a little early with family.  Here is a look at what we did for both of those.

Our homeschool group has a Valentine's party every year at the local skating rink.  We were very excited about getting to participate this year.   The boys got to pick out Valentine's Day cards and swap them with the other kids.  That was a fun experience for them.  I initially wanted to make some cute homemade ones but instead decided it would be more fun for the boys if they got to pick out the ones they wanted from the store.  Cruz chose Ninja Turtle cards that included pencils and Ben got Skittles.    Here they are writing their names on their cards.

We started the day with heart shaped banana pancakes.

We spent the morning doing school.  My mom came by to give the boys a Valentine's Day gift.

a family photo on Valentine's Day

Our party began at noon.  We all took finger foods to share and then spent some time skating.  The boys had a blast!

Ben giving out his Valentine's Day cards.

Cruz looking through some of his stuff when we got back home.

Next we went to the local theater to see Peter Rabbit.  It was a cute movie.

We returned home just in time for a visit with David's sister and niece.  As soon as they left we loaded up and went to our last Wednesday night prayer meeting at Central Baptist.  We have really enjoyed getting to be a part of their Wednesday night activities while we have been in the States.  We are really going to miss them.

On Thursday we met family for lunch at Porches to celebrate my birthday.  The actual day is not until later this month but we celebrated early since I will be back in Guatemala by then.  Thursday is my favorite day to eat lunch there because of the menu so that was the day I chose to go.  It was a lot of fun and I am very glad I got to squeeze in our more meal at my most favorite place.

birthday lunch at Porches

My mom brought gifts, balloons, and a cookie cake.

She loves birthdays just as much as I do.

Shrimp and fried eggplant croistini- one of my favorite meals

the boys with my dad

me with Mrs. Ann

our family at Porches

me and my mom

After lunch my mom and I went shopping and ended the day with pedicures.  It has been our tradition before every return to Guatemala to go get one together.  It is always a fun time.

I am glad we got to squeeze in both of these celebrations before we go back.  I will miss times like this when we are gone but we will have fun memories to reminisce about.  It will also give us something to look forward to on our next visit home.