The Childress Family

Colorado Cabin Pics

2011-06-29T22:42:00.007-05:00

Scott and I along with my sister Amber and her husband Jonathan have purchased a small cabin in Green Mountain Falls Colorado. Here are a few pics - 2 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath, in the mountains, great scenery, great fishing, great weather, etc etc

Destin 2009 - Day 3,4,5

2009-08-06T23:06:00.005-05:00

Quick Recap for Days 3, 4, 5 - Tues we went shopping at the Silver Sands outlet and kept Coach in business :), Wed Scott and Ethan played golf and then we tried going to the beach in the afternoon excpet a terrible windy storm blew in, (fyi - wind blowing on the beach does not feel so great, sand hitting you terribly hard is no bueno especially for kids), Thur we spent the day with the Byrnes had a great time at Crab Island (although huge jelly fish loomed all around), then a great dinner out with adults only (thanks Jocey) then back in the boat to the Harbor to see the fireworks.

Destin 2009 - Day 2

2009-08-03T23:10:00.004-05:00

Hello Destin 2009

2009-08-02T10:26:00.005-05:00

Our annual vacation to Destin Fl has begun. Day 1 has turned out to be a great one. We started the day out by going over to Crab Island and catching lots of crabs in their shells. However the picture below of the crab in the net was caught rights outside our house. We ended the day celebrating Kara's birthday in the harbor at Harry T's. It was a great dinner and a great way to end day 1. Enjoy!

Ethan's Graduation

2009-06-04T23:10:00.005-05:00

Well our oldest child, Ethan, graduated from Kindergarden. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE???? He is such a big boy! In his graduation ceremony, his class sang songs, some read, they recited the pledge of allegiance to the America and Christian flag and the Bible. They also counted by one's, by fives and by tens. Lastly, they quoted a scripture verse for every letter of the alphabet. It was very impressive. How many grown ups can say they know that many scripture verses? Ethan, we are so proud of you and the light you are to your family and friends.

After graduation we left for our annual trip to Beavers Bends with the Fullers. The park has had some severe flooding due to high amounts of rain. The nearby lake was filling up too much due to all the rain so their OK Corp of Engineers had to open the flood gates and it really damaged much of the river. They waited too long to open them and had to open them to high. This made the fishing a bit difficult. We only caught 2 trout and one bass. Normally I catch my limit of 6/day but the water was too swift. We had a really good time in spite of the high water. The kids loved it. We rode the train and horses. Leah and I...and Kara some...put a puzzle together.

Only 57 days until Destin!!!!

Happy Easter - 2009

2009-04-12T19:10:00.014-05:00

This year for Easter, we decided to put the boys in matching outfits. Emma of course wanted to get a dress that would go with her brothers outfits and of course she needed to accessorize with a purse and hair band to go with the dress. We all had a great time at the Murray's house, with an Easter egg hunt despite the fact that it was a little wet. Enjoy!

Christmas is over

2009-01-04T19:17:00.005-06:00

Christmas is finally over for us. After coming home from Breckenridge, we had 2 more Christmas'. One with Kara's extended family then one with Scott's family. We had a great time in both and are sad to see the holidays over with. Especially Evan....He absolutely loves Christmas lights!!!!

Christmas 2008

2008-12-25T20:10:00.016-06:00

Days 3, 4, 5 have brought much adventure. Starting at the bottom Scott and Ethan went to the Colorado Avalanche game and brought back a hockey helmet for Evan and Ethan. Meanwhile Evan received a rudolph red nose and Emma was posing with her straigtened hair.

Then Christmas Day came and the kids had great fun opening lots of presents. Elmo seemed to be theme for Evan of which Elmo Live Guitar now only plays in Spanish. Ethan got a Storm Trooper costume (seen below) and Emma got a Nintendo DS.

We ended Christmas Day sledding outside our house and had tons of fun. Eli hung out in the house with his Mana and Papa.

Merry Christmas to all!

Childress Family Christmas Vacation - Day 1 & 2

2008-12-22T16:11:00.015-06:00

This year the Childress Family, Murray Family, Price Family and King Family ventured to Breckenridge, Colorado for Christmas. After adjusting to the altitude by drinking lots of water, we have now begun our days of fun, sledding in the front yard and skiing the slopes of Breck (see Ethans video below). Stay tuned for more updates....

Jocelyn & Amber on the lifts Ethan and Eli hanging out Jonathan, Jocelyn and Amber

Eli smiling for mommy Evan getting ready to play in the snow Jocelyn sledding outside our house

Hannah sledding Daddy & Ethan playing in the snow

Eli - 2 months old

2008-11-29T20:52:00.004-06:00

Eli is 2 months old now - he is full of smiles and growing bigger every day. He weighed 9lbs 12oz at his 1 month check up and now at 2 months weighs over 12 lbs. He goes for his official 2 month checkup at the doctor next week.

Thanksgiving - 08

2008-11-29T20:23:00.004-06:00

Thanksgiving 2008 -

Ethan and Emma at their school dressed up for their Thanksgiving performance

Evan and Emma playing outside on Thanksgiving Day with their cousin Jocelyn

Ethan playing soccer with Uncle Zac while cousin Taylor poses a silly face for the camera

Evan playing with cousin Hannah and later Hannah and Kaitlin hanging out with Uncle Bill

Here's what the guys did all weekend, sit on the couch and watch Football

Fall Festival 2008

2008-11-02T21:20:00.005-06:00

Our church puts on a great fall festival for kids. There are lots of games, candy and bounce houses. Ethan decided to be an army guy this year. Emma made up her own costume and name for the costume, she was a butterfly fairy princess. And Evan was spiderman. We always bring along our favorite nanny Tasha (the adult seen below playing the games with the kids), thanks Tasha you're awesome! Our friend Erin was the fairy godmother and she walked around passing out candy to all the kids. And our cute little penguin below is Evan's friend Levi.

Update - 3 weeks

2008-10-17T20:05:00.004-05:00

Its been 3 weeks now and Eli has grown a whole lot. In fact he went home from the hospital weighing 6 lbs 11 oz and at 2 weeks he weighed 8 lbs 1 oz.

The kids are adjusting wonderfully. Evan is very sweet to his baby ei (which is how he pronounces it). Emma fell at school, cracked her tooth and had to have it pulled. She thinks its pretty cool since her brother Ethan has already lost 6 teeth and has gotten lots of money from the tooth fairy. Ethan had his 6th birthday this week and got a Nintendo DS from Mom and Dad.

Eli has shown us (see below) that he is NOT fond of his car seat. This reminds us of his sister Emma who always cried in the carseat until she was 6 months old.

All and all we are doing great, mom seems to be the only one still adjusting to the lack of sleep. Everyone else is sleeping just fine.

He's here!!!!

2008-09-24T15:45:00.006-05:00

Eli Joseph Childress was born today, September 24, 2008, at 1:03pm. He weighs 7lbs 5.6oz and is 20.5inches long. He and Kara both are doing very well. The nurse did have to monitor his breathing for a bit due to him having some fluid in his lungs. Kara did really well and there were no complications. We are are so blessed with such great kids, Ethan, Emma, Evan...and now Eli.

Ethan's First Soccer Game

2008-09-07T17:48:00.007-05:00

Ethan had his very 1st soccer game. He did fantastic. He plays for the Sharks and the team they played was called the Mighty Munchkins. He was the one of the captains and he scored 3 goals! His team won and he was on cloud nine. He had a great fan base in fact we had to have our own bleacher there were so many of us. We were all very proud of him.

The E's with Brittany

2008-08-22T13:16:00.006-05:00

This summer Brittany watched the E's, but now is off to Baylor for the school year. While she was here, she took pictures and video of them all and gave it us as a gift. Below are some of the photos.......

First Day of School for the E's - 2008/2009 School Year

2008-08-21T09:22:00.010-05:00

Today was the first day of school for the kids. We had to wake all of them up. Ethan was wide-eyed and woke up right away, but Emma opened her eyes then pulled the covers up to her chin trying to go back to sleep. She takes after her daddy and loves her sleep! I took Ethan and Emma to school while mommy took Evan to school. Mommy said Evan was not a fan of his new school. I am sure it is just because they are new teachers and classmates as well as a new place. It will just take time to get used to his new school. When I took Ethan and Emma to school, Grammy was there to greet them. They went into the cafeteria, Ethan showed Emma where to go, made sure she was settled in, then bolted off to be with his classmates. He was a very good big brother. Emma seemed excited and a little nervous. There are only 2 kids in Emma's class but Leah is her teacher, so that will be good for her. She will have a familiar face.

Destin 08 - Day 6

2008-08-07T22:09:00.003-05:00

Day 6 - This is our last day in Destin. You know how difficult it is to get all the stuff you need to go to the beach. You have to have beach chairs, umbrella, umbrella stand, boogie board, shovels, pails, beach towels, flip flops, cooler with snacks, water, juice, etc, and the wagon to hall it all. Oh yeah and the kids in their swimming suit. Well we forgot one important thing today - THE CAMERA! So no pics of the beach today. However it was great, it was a yellow flag day which is medium hazard. The water was great but it was definitely a hot weather day outside.

So instead of pics of the beach we thought we would show you pics from our upstairs deck/balcony and the boat we've been taking out. Tonight we went down to the harbor and watched the airshow that happens every Thursday and then came back to the house and watched fireworks from our balcony.

We all had a great day but are ready to pack up and come home. See ya'll soon!

Destin 08 - Day 5

2008-08-07T09:41:00.003-05:00

Day 5 - Scott and Ethan went and played golf. Then later we went to the beach, the waves were very calm and the jellyfish were scarce. Ethan caught 6 little fishes and again was elated as to his ability to be a great fisherman. We ended our evening with a visit back to Kara's favorite restaurant McGuire's, where they hang dollar bills all over ther restaurant. They have appx 300,000 throughout their restaurant.

Destin 08 - Day 4

2008-08-05T22:57:00.004-05:00

Today was the best day by far according to Ethan and Kara. Ethan caught his first fish in the ocean. It was a catfish and was bigger than Daddy's. Ethan's thumbs up pose says it all for Ethan. He was so pumped and it excited.

Kara thought is was the perfect day because there was NO jellyfish at Crab Island today. We spent the entire day there swimming and fishing. That made the day absolutely perfect especially for Evan who cant get enough of the water.

Destin 08 - Day 3

2008-08-04T22:21:00.004-05:00

Day 3 and we just took it easy today. We went shopping in the morning, and Kara got a Coach purse. After shopping for a couple of hours, we ate at a pizzeria and headed back to the house. We went out to the beach again only to find that the waves were a little rough. In fact, the beach life guards weren't allowing anyone out to swim in the ocean, which is probably because of hurricane Eduardo. We did not have any bad weather or winds though. There are still some jellyfish but not as bad as it was the first day we were here. We just played in the sand, making sand castles, digging holes and killing the jellyfish we did see. For dinner we had Carrabba's...and as always, ate too much there, then went back to Shakes and enjoyed some delicious custard. I think we may get on the boat again and hit Crab Island....life is hard here!!!

Destin 08 - Day 2

2008-08-03T17:49:00.004-05:00

Day 2 in Destin turned out great! We woke up to no rain and pure sun! We took the pontoon boat out today to Crab Island. This is right under or past the Destin bridge where all the boats go to in pretty shallow water and then just hang out and swim and maybe even catch some crab. The jelly fish were out in droves. But mommy and daddy protected the kids and no one got stung. You will see one picture below of how big some of the jelly fish were. They ranged in size from a softball to a basketball. Ethan was NOT a fan! But the other 2 were not affected. After we left crab island, Ethan our new found fisherman, insisted that we cast out a few times before heading back to the house. Scott caught a catfish probably about 8 inches, there is a pic below. All in all it was a great day and we are all now exhausted and ready for a nap.

Destin 2008 - Day 1

2008-08-02T21:29:00.008-05:00

Our first 24 hours here in Destin have been great! We started out by taking a plane ride to Pensacola, this was much easier than the normal 12 hour drive, especially on Kara. Once we got to our house in Destin, we spent the evening watching it rain, trying to go to the beach in the rain and making our trip to Wal-Mart. We topped our first evening off by going to one of our favorites, McGuire's Irish Pub. When we woke up this morning it was raining and continued to rain until about 10:30. As soon as the rain stopped we were on the beach. We hung out there for about 3 hours. The water was really nice and warm and clear. We did see some jelly fish. Some of them were pretty good size too...about the size of a grapefruit. We stayed away from them and they stayed away from us. Once we were done at the beach Kara, Emma and Evan came back to the house and took a nap. Ethan and I went to the pier and fished. We didn't catch anything but we did see a guy catch a saltwater catfish and a small shark. This guy was a local and said that a couple days ago he caught a fish and while reeling it in, a baracuda attacked the fish and won. He also said sitting up on the pier and watching the water below, the people swimming at the shore would be shocked at some of the fish that swim close by them. We came back to the house and caught a couple fish in the harbor, in the backyard. We then got cleaned up and went to dinner at a steakhouse. After dinner we went to a dessert restaurant called Shakes...and it was delicious.

The house we are staying at is really nice. It is a 2 story house with 6 bedrooms and sleeps probably 16 people. So, with it being just the 5 of us....there is plenty of room. We dont even really use the downstairs really. We have a boat and 2 waverunners that we have not used yet, but plan to do so tomorrow. Chris and Katy Byrne are in town so we plan to meet up with them at some point.

Great Wolf Lodge

2008-06-27T14:58:00.009-05:00

The family all went to Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine. This place is great. It basically is a Hurricane Harbor but only those staying in the lodge can be in the waterpark. There are indoor and outdoor areas. There were no long lines and we had plenty of space to play in the water. Ethan rode every ride that he was tall enough to ride. He was very brave. Emma just wanted to swim. At one point I was holding her in the water and her heart was beating so fast I made her sit down for a little bit to rest. Evan loved the water too. There were several spots in the part that were only a foot deep or so, so he could walk around and play. We had a Kids Cabin room which has a cabin in it for the kids to sleep in. It had a bunk bed and another single in the cabin area. The rest of the room looks like a normal hotel room. Courtney, Leah, Morgan and Levi came to the park as guests of ours. The kids loved playing together, as always.The picture of mine and Kara's chest was taken by Emma. She wanted to take some pictures of me, mommy and Ethan. So, Emma says smile and she took the picture. We asked her how it looks and she said...well, I didn't get Ethan in the picture...or your heads. We all had a good laugh!

A Day at Splash Swim Park

2008-06-08T22:16:00.004-05:00

We went to the Splash waterpark in Bedford. The E's love the water!!! Emma went down the slides at least 50 times in the 2 hours we were there!! Ethan played in all parts of the park, and this was Evans first time at the park. He played around in the kiddie section and even went down a slide a few times. We all had a blast.

Busy, Busy, Busy

2008-05-27T20:06:00.011-05:00

It has been a while since we have posted anything, and we have been very busy. We have been on 2 trips and celebrated several birthdays since our last blog. Kara and I went with Jonathan and Amber to Boston and New York in early May. We went to Fenway Park to see the Red Sox and Yankee Stadium to see the Yanks. When we went to Fenway, it was freezing. The game time temp was around 40 degrees and rainy and we did not pack for weather that cool. I just had 2 windbreakers, Kara had a sweatshirt. Luckily for Kara, Amber had an extra scarf, and I wore 4 layers of shirts. Even though it was cold and rainy out, it was still a sell out and the crowd was very loud. We got to Fenway early and walked around and since there was a rain delay we got to see basically the entire stadium. We were able to go all the way down to the front row to take pictures. They basically let you walk around anywhere you wanted to before the game, since it is so historic. Yankee Stadium was like that too, but you could not get close to the field. It was a great trip and I would suggest going to both parks if you love baseball. Being a fan of the Red Sox, I liked Fenway much more. The average Yankee fan was definitely a blue collar worker, while the average BoSox fan was white collar.

While in NYC we also went to the Broadway play Mama Mia. In this play, they sang several Abba songs....so I had the song Dancing Queen stuck in my head for days!!! You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen. Dancing queen, feel the beat from the tambourine. You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life. See that girl, watch that scene, dig in the dancing queen. Hopefully now the song will be stuck in your head now...:) We went to the top of Rockefeller Center (67 stories up) one night and looked down on the city. It was absolutely beautiful to see the entire city lit up.

Jonathan and I went to an Irish pub called The Pig & Whistle and watched the 4OT game of the Stars in the Western Semi Finals against the Sharks. The game went until 2:40am EST. That was a great experience. We were there to watch the game but the other patrons at the bar were in there to sing along with this guy that performed. He was awful and butchered serveral good songs! The bartender was from Ireland and was a huge soccer fan so we talked to him about soccer much of the night. He gave us some Jaeger shots on the house when the Stars finally won the game!
Hopefully this doesn't incriminate them but...Kara and Amber went down to Chinatown and bought some "designer" purses at discount prices. They asked a street vendor if she sold certain purses and this lady said yes. She asked them to follow her and so they did. They followed this lady for several blocks and while she kept calling her husband who was following them, serving as a look out. Then they went down this alley to a van....AND GOT IN! They bought some purses and got out.

We also celebrated Emma and Kaitlin's birthdays at Incredible Pizza. Emma got a bunch of Hannah Montana stuff...so she was happy! The night we got home Ethan and Emma had gone to bed in Emma's room. I went up to check on them around 11:30, before going to bed. With the lights off and only a light in the bathroom, I went into Emma's room and leaned over to give Emma a kiss and noticed her cheek was really dark, almost like a bruise. So I turned her lamp on only to see that not only was her face dark, but so was her arms and legs....and so was Ethan's. At sometime during the evening, they got up and went into the upstairs bathroom and got ahold of CLOWN MAKEUP and decided to put it all over them. So...I woke them up and Kara and I scrubbed them down. Ethan had written his name down his leg and a stickman on his other leg. Emma just made lines and circles all over herself. Ethan tried to blame the writing on his leg on his sister that can only spell her own name. That was fun to do at midnight!

Ethan has started mini-mites hockey and is getting really good. He can skate in circles, stop, shot (slap shots and wrist shots) and pass. They have not started playing games yet but should be soon. He loves it so much.

A couple days ago, we went up to Beavers Bend in Oklahoma. We went with Greg Carter, and Courtney and Leah Fuller...with their kids Morgan and Levi. Our first day, I caught 3 trout and let Ethan reel one of them in. He was pretty excited about that. While out at the river it was extremely humid so Ethan took his shirt off. A little while later he got his shorts wet and asked me, "Dad, can I take my shorts off?" I told him "Son, we are IN Oklahoma....not FROM Oklahoma!!!" I don't think the locals liked that comment too much but Carter got a good laugh! The next day, I caught 8 trout and Courtney got one. He also had caught a walleye in Broken Bow Lake. I took Ethan golfing and both he and Emma horseback riding. Ethan rode by himself and Emma rode with me. They both did really well. They put Ethan on the biggest horse and Emma and I on the smallest. I felt like my feet were almost dragging the ground. It was a rough couple days for Evan though. The day we got there, he fell down some stairs and got a little knot on his cheek. Then the next day, the kids were playing on the porch of our cabin that wrapped around the house. Morgan came in and said everyone come outside Evan is doing something funny. He had got his head stuck in the slats of the railing of the porch. We could not get his head out...so I had to rip of one of the slats. The poor guy got a knot on the side of his head and scratches on his ears. The day we left...he was running to the door to go outside and tripped over a rug and headbutted the door. I think he was ready to come home.

Sorry for taking so long to post....but as you can see we have been busy.....

Happy Easter - 2008 !!!!!

2008-03-23T23:26:00.008-05:00

Ethan's Easter Performance at the Assisted Living Center

2008-03-14T14:13:00.009-05:00

The Stone Gate K-4, K-5, Kindergarten, and 1st Grade went to the Merril Gardens Assisted Living Center in Grand Prairie today to sing and recite scriptures to the elderly. After the kids sang they went and gave each of the residents that were there a gift and a hug. I think it meant a lot to each of them that the kids were there. Ethan and his buddy Morgan had to stand side by side during their performance. Kaitlin was there and did a good job. She was about the only one in her class to do the hand motions. The only kid in Ethan's class that did the hand motions was Vinny...no wait...he was just picking his nose the whole time.

All the kids did really well and behaved!

A New Childress

2008-02-17T22:06:00.005-06:00

It is with great excitement (and a little shock) that we announce we are pregnant. Kara is due on October 1. Kara and Emma are pulling for a baby girl. Ethan and I dont really care either way. We asked Emma what she wanted and she said a girl. So, Kara then asked her...what if it is a boy? She looked at Kara and said....Down with the Horns, Mommy! Since all the boys cheer for Texas, and for what ever reason the girls cheer for OU. I would say we have officially brainwashed our children.

Angel Fire 2007

2008-01-02T16:27:00.000-06:00

Christmas 2007

2008-01-02T15:45:00.001-06:00

Evan's 1st Birthday

2007-11-18T23:16:00.001-06:00

We celebrated Jocey's 14th birthday and Evan's 1st tonight. We invited Tasha to come see the kids which they all enjoyed! We got Evan his own cake to eat but was not really into it. He did not like the taste of it and cried. So, we gave him ice cream....he loves that stuff! Emma took care of most of Evan's cake, and as you can see in the picture below of her...she ate most of it in one bite! Jonathan and Amber got Evan a little horse to bounce on. He seems to really like it.

And yes, that is a picture of Jonathan with a bow in his hair...at least he didn't have makeup on this time.

Emma's School Thanksgiving Celebration

2007-11-15T13:55:00.000-06:00

I went and visited Emma for her Thanksgiving lunch at school today. All the kids were dressed up and they sang songs for the parents. They did very good and Emma actually sang....some. For being our most outgoing child she was pretty quiet but she still did great! We ate like the Pilgrims did many years ago and had Chik-Fil-A. See the video of her performance too.

Ethan's Birthday Party

2007-10-26T08:55:00.001-05:00

Stingers - FY07 Summer/Fall Hockey Champs!!!!

2007-10-26T00:10:00.001-05:00

Austin Trip

2007-10-02T18:35:00.000-05:00

Last week was Greg’s birthday, so Levi, Josh and I took him down to Austin for our now annual trip. We went down to see UT play K-State, and relax in the Guadalupe River. The river was great, there were literally 6 other people on the river. Normally it is packed, but for some reason hardly anyone was there. The game however was not that good. UT lost 20-41. The college football experience is fun though. We did get to meet up with Pat Culpepper (#31 in the photo below) who was the 1961 and 62 Co-Captain of the UT football team, Rebel and the rest of their crew. They are a great bunch of guys, that tail-gate every home game and just know Texas football.

Levi, Me, Pat, Greg, Josh

Emma and Evans First Day of School

2007-09-11T09:03:00.000-05:00

Ethan's First Day of School

2007-08-16T08:35:00.000-05:00

Today is a big day in Ethan's life, as he starts school. He was so excited this morning. I went upstairs to wake him up this morning. I pat him on the chest saying, "Ethan, time to get up" very softly....and had no response. I then said, "Ethan, time to get up for school" and he shot up like a rocket.

We took him into class this morning and he did great. He wasn't scared at all. Actually, I think he was trying to take it all in. His best friend in the whole world Morgan is in his class. We are glad she is in his class, they get along great. Ethan has an instant buddy on the first day.

Now Emma is the boss of the house, with Ethan at school. Although she would probably tell you she is the boss even when he is here.

Kara's Birthday

2007-08-01T23:17:00.000-05:00

Today is Kara's "29th" birthday, and to celebrate it we went to the Greatest Show on Earth!!!! Kara really wanted to take Ethan and Emma to the Circus and opening night just happened to be on her birthday. To begin the evening, we went to Tin Star in Downtown Dallas then we headed over to the Circus. Ethan's favorite part of the show was watching the tigers. Emma's was when they brought out some dogs to do some tricks and they played "Who Let the Dogs Out?" One of the dogs walked around on it's back legs the whole time. All of the animals were amazing to see and performed many tricks. Kara's favorite part of the evening had nothing to do with the Circus. While taking Emma to go potty, she got to see Troy Aikman out in the concourse.

On Friday, we went to Kobe Steak's to celebrate Kara's birthday. As always, we ate too much.

2007-07-26T15:09:00.000-05:00

Ethan is showing off his UT gear....but doesn't have enough on I don't think!!!

Evan is standing up in his crib. He just started doing this yesterday morning.

Our Emma, being goofy at bathtime.

Destin Trip June 2007

2007-07-21T23:45:00.000-05:00

2007-07-18T00:17:00.000-05:00