I just had to post these two very cute photos of my new girl, Kayley. She is beginning to smile and giggle at us when we talk to her. Enjoy the Pics.

Audrey has picked up bike riding as a new hobby of her’s. She has taken to riding all by her self. Thanks to the unnamed male figure in her life that taught her these brand new skills. We rode down to the playground, they played, they swang, then rode back to the house. All the while I’m running after her. Whew I was tried. Here are the pics.

Saturday was mine and Beth’s 11 year anniversary. Can you believe she’s put up with me that long. Don’t answer… it was a rhetorical question. We decided to go eat at Babins down in Kemah. What we didn’t realize is that Kemah is really busy on the weekends and they now charge for parking. Of coarse they blamed it on hurricane ike. Dinner was good really good.So, then after being stuffed, we decided to go get Marble Slab ice cream… We couldn’t resist.

11 Years… WOW, I can’t believe it has been that long. It was just yesterday I saw that pretty girl at church, and “poof” you blink you eye and it’s been 11 years and 4 kids later. I can’t remember what i did before the fams. Life sure is fun.

-chris-

For Father’s Day I was able to upgrade to the new iPhone from Apple. So I decided to take a video with it and send it to youtube. Best gift ever! I have 4 amazing girls and a wonderful wife. The video was short, but I like it.

-chris-

Well here we are one week and one day after our newest little arrival here at the carroll home. This post is very simple, just a bunch of pics of Kayley and maybe a few family members as background. – chris-

We want to welcome Kayley into the world. Kayley Anne Carroll was born May 30, 2009 at 6:45 pm. She weighed in at 7 pounds 3 ounces and was 19.5 inches in length. Beth was amazing, everything good very good. We get to bring Kayley home Monday late afternoon. I will get to be Daddy Mom for a few weeks. We are so excited that our new little one is here. Yay!!!

We had another field day, this time it was Audrey’s first. It is always fun seeing my kids athletically beat other peoples kids, especially if those kids are boys. haha. Shelby was early morning through lunch and Audrey was early afternoon. From relay races to an obstacle coarse, the girls had a great time.

Hey Carroll family fans,

It’s been a while since my last post, so here goes a new entry. With the summer fast approaching and with so many things that are happening. I thought I would clue you all in on the todo list of the carroll family this summer.

1. Have a Baby – We (meaning Beth) is due in 3 weeks. The last one was 10 days early. soooo the next Carroll is coming real real soon. It will be a girl. Name = Kayley Anne Carroll
2. Spend quality time with my awesome girlies.
3. Build a Church – This one may take some time, but it is high on the todo list
4. Swim every day – this one is on the girls todo list to ask me everyday
5. Sell our home – if you want to move to Pearland just call for an appt.
6. Find new home – Since our new church is in the Woodlands, it make since to move up there.
7. Move to Woodlands - turn your cell phones off… i may be calling for your help.
8. Potty train the 2 Year Old – summer highlight
9. Go to an Astros Game – I almost missed this one on the list.

My summer seems a little full, but at least we will not be bored.
-chris-

Shelby’s first track meet. She competed in the long jump. She won (?) 9th place. It was a lot of fun just watching our big girl. Very Proud!

The girls reading together one night before bed.

We were playing the other day on the computer, and the girls stared to dance to the music we played. then I came across this song. I thought I would share.
-chris-

Every family needs a some sort of defense stragety for when the bad guys attack. I remember as a child ransacking my mammaw’s and pappaw’s living room. I would remove all the cushions and create my own fortress of solitude (I was an only child). I now get to re-live that memory through my little ones.

I took 6 couch cushions, 2 bar stools, and 4 chairs, and 2 rather large blankies… and then created the coolest fort since Fort Knox, except with the machine guns and laser security. We created 2 main tunnels and an opening for the 2 oldest to play “littlest pet shop”… don’t ask. It was super cool. The best thing was Macey… she played the role of the foreign infiltrator. She would, be so small and such, crawl thru and mess up te older girls play area in the fort. They would scream. Macey would laugh. I would then laugh. So then I would tell macey to go the other way, then she would repeat the whole thing again. Oh the fun.

I just have to say, every family needs to have “fort night”. later
-chris-

This Easter was very special for us. We started our new adventure as senior pastors at House of Faith in the Woodlands Spring area north of Houston. We had an Easter Egg hunt after the service. Macey came running out screaming when she found eggs. The Saturday before we went to Beth’s parents house for Easter lunch and egg hunt with the family.

Toward the end of Spring Break we decided to take the girls down to Galveston to the beach. This is the first time we have been down there since hurricane Ike. Most of the island is back in order… at least the restaurants were. We went down to Stewart Beach and pay for parking. Of course the water is cold because it is still the beginning of April, but that doesn’t stop 6 & 8 year olds from jumping right in. Macey ran right for the water! Guess who had to go in also. Well it wasn’t the pregnant part of this parent duo.We searched for hermit crabs, but i think they were hermitting. We also made a cool, i mean cool and big sand castle. One that all the other beach goers, stopped, took notice and awed, at the awesomeness of our castle. I told them that there was no charge for awesomeness! We had  agreat time.

The only issue was that it was extremely windy… Well when wind blows around the beach, which is sandy… it sends the sand airborne. the girls eventually began to complain about sand in their eyes. So we packed up, after I chased down the baby, who was chasing random seagulls. We then left to go see if there was hurricane damage around the island. overall it was a great day.

-chris-

WHAT THE HECK IS THAT ANIMAL? We were at the zoo the other day and then I saw this. Some wierdo animal that looks like it was made in some lab at Jurassic Park. Some kinda zebra deer. Just Freaky. We had fun the other day with the girlies at the Zoo. It just took us about 2 hours to park, then walk 1 mile then enter the zoo.

After we came home, I noticed Macey chasing Audrey around the room hissing like a snake with her hands like claws. very cute. She would hiss at all the family as only a two year old would. Very fun day as always with the Carroll girls.

-chris-

Ok, one day you wake up with more of than eye gook that normal and POOF I have some weirdo sickness called “Pink Eye”. I don’t know what nerd in our Gov’t named it that, but it’s a real dumb name. Let me rant for a minute. Like my title says, it should be called, the red, itchy, gushy, stinging, blurring eye sickness. For all you geeks out there its real name is “conjunctivitis”. I have never in my life had this before. Never again do i want to have it. I feel like I’m going to infect the entire family or any person that gets in a 5 foot radius of my eye. I did however have fun Wed. chasing around some of the students with my eye. 

Well, It gets worse… the pink eye germs realized there was a new untouched area, 1.2 inches away from the left eye they were cannibalizing. Yes, you guessed it, they found a new feeding ground in the right eye. At least I can say it’s been an experience. I pinky promise, pun intended, I will never make fun of any pink eyers again.

Here’s a picture for you visual learners. I now wash my hands every 2 minutes

-chris-

One of the so-called benefits of being a youth pastor is that you learn certain tricks along the way, that can sometimes make you cool, to those unsuspecting younglings. I myself, have several “tricks” or weird things, you can do at a table in the local restaurant. Most of them were learned and taught at your local Chili’s. I thought I would share my goofy tricks that sum up my 14 years as a youth pastor. 

1. flip the cardboard drink coast from Chili’s
Lay one (or more) cardboard square coaster on the side of any flat table. Hit the coast with hand coming up. As the coast flips in the air CATCH IT with the same hand.
VARIATIONS: a) flip larger amount on coaster at once. b) flip coasts with both hands c) thros coasts at teenager while trying to do this trick.

2. catch the quarters from the elbows.
This one a actually learned years earlier, but it works well with students. Put quarter on your elbows. Try to catch quarters as you thrust you arms down ward. Not as easy as i sounds

3. lick your elbows:
 Tell everyone you heard on the news that this guys in New Guinea somewhere learned how to lick his elbows. Now step back and watch the pandaemonium. so much fun to watch.

4. balancing forks on a toothpick:
This is the clincher. I show everyone at the table how to balance to interlocking forks on top of the end of a toothpick straight up. Very cool trick. No explanation of how it works. Just a picture instead. Hopefully, I may get a gig on Jay Leno’s show…

Hope you enjoyed my somewhat cool ramblings about my stupid tricks as a youth pastor. Maybe I can learn some new ones as a senior pastor. maybe

-chris-