The Grand Tour

Actually it was the Grand-Parent tour.

We took off last week for Oklahoma and Missouri to see our 5 Grandmas and 2 Grandpas. We had a wonderful visit with them all. But I am just now getting caught up with all the laundry and chaos that one generates when gone from one's house for a week-long trip.

Our first stop was to see Grandma G. She prays for us every day. And she read my blog every Sunday!

Hi Grandma!

We went out to lunch with her and Aunt S. and then went to a park and let the kids play.

Our second stop was to see my husband's 94 year old Grandma M. She had 5 flats of pansies that she was putting out when we drove up. She loves to garden. She is the only woman on earth that my husband may love more than me. We then drove up to see my Grandma D. She like to play the dominoes game Mexican train.

For quarters.

She actually keeps quarter jars in her cabinet for all her children and grandchildren that come to play with her. My brother and sister-in-law's jar was really full. Hmmmmm........We then went down to the farm to see my Grandpa and Grandma A for a couple days. The weather was so nice that we didn't really stay indoors very much. I realized when we got home that I only had a few pictures of them together from this trip. My mom is with them and she qualifies as the 5th Grandma we spent time with.

I remember the first time my Grandpa met my husband (while we were dating). He checked in his mouth to make sure he had good teeth and then had about 10 questions to ask him. He's a funny guy, that Grandpa of mine.

And my dad (the other Grandpa on our trip) spent most of his time on the 4-wheelers with the kids. There is no place they would rather be than on the 4-wheeler with their Grandpa.

So that's what we've been up to.

Oh, and we left our daughter with my parent so she could spend the week with them. As we were driving away, I started to feel sad that my baby was staying behind and then I heard one of my boys say to the other.... Can you believe it? We have EIGHT-GIRL-FREE-DAYS ahead of us!?!

But don't be fooled. They really have missed her. And we have too. She comes home today and we'll be so glad to see her.

Although it has been a lot quieter around here this past week.

Family Night #1 - Go Hawaiian

We had our first Family Theme Night last night. I got the idea from Whittaker Woman. She does one once a week and instead of just having a family night, she makes a theme with it.

I thought it was a brilliant idea.

So we tried it out.

My goal was to come up with something that would be easy to do and wouldn't cost much to decorate with. We chose a "Hawaiian" theme because my daughter just got several grass skirts and leis for her birthday and we seemed to have some other fun things around that would go with that theme. The kids have also been really wanting pineapple lately, so I thought it would be fun to tie it all together.

Here is our table decorations. We used the pinapple, papaya, kiwi, shells, a sand bucket, a volcano and Nemo to decorate.





The kids and I made tissue paper and pipe cleaner flowers. They were fun and easy to make and we decorated all the chairs and table with them.

The kids also thought it would be fun to put the leis around each chair to make everything look even more festive.

We had pineapple, kiwi and papaya for dessert. My oldest son and I looked up Hawaiian parties online and found some games to pick from. He thought limbo would be fun so we played that while listening to hawaiian music.

Okay, so it wasn't officially Hawaiian music. It was the music from the VBS Outrigger Island.

But it worked.

Limbo limbo limBO

how low can you go....... how low can you go....

The highlight of the evening for everyone was the volcano. We already had the volcano from a science experiment a couple years ago. So we just added 2 tsp of baking soda in the volcano and then they slowly poured red tinted vinegar in with it.

It was almost as exciting as watching fireworks.

The kids got 2 turns each and they all say that was their favorite part of family night.

We ended the evening with all of us dancing to music.

Or if you graduated from a Baptist University, we were "functioning" to the music.

The kids really had a great time and we made some fun memories. I think the most important part was letting them help plan and decorate so they felt that it was their family night.

So there you have it. Our first themed family night. I think we are going to try to have one once a month.

You should try it. It's fun!

It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas

My son handed me a note today.

It was his Christmas wish list.

Seriously???

I don't remember making wish lists until I was much older than 7. But with all the stores starting to carry Christmas decorations and gifts, and all the magazines pouring into our mailbox full of everything a boy could want, it is difficult to counter the "stuff is important" mentality.

So I've started thinking about Christmas. Not as much about what gifts we should get everyone, but what we can do to make Christmas more about Christ and less about stuff.

We have many family traditions. Some are Christ-centered and some are just traditions.

One of our favorite traditions that we started about 5 years ago was to have each child pick out things to send in a shoe box for Operation Christmas Child. They really enjoy picking things out for a child in another country who has a lot less than they do. They are also challenged by the fact that they don't get to keep what they picked out and they don't get a duplicate either. :) We also pray for the child who will receive that box. It really helps give the kids more of a global perspective and helps them see the joy in giving.

A new tradition we are starting this year is that we are making a simple manger to go under our Christmas tree. We will then have the kids take turns for every day of December placing a little bundle of hay in it. By Christmas morning, the manger will be full of hay and then when the kids wake up, there will be a "baby Jesus" in the manger. We also bake a simple cake and have a birthday party for Jesus.

So as I'm pondering Christmas for this year I am wondering what else we can do to keep our focus on the Saviour and the reason for Christmas. I would love to hear your favorite traditions and what you do to keep the holidays Christ-centered.

I honestly had nothing to say

So my 4 year old daughter came in from the backyard looking very put out.

I asked her what was wrong and she replied... "I was playing hide and seek with a worm and it was his turn to hide and now I can't find him!"

Thankful Thursday

1. I am thankful that fall is just around the corner.

2. I am thankful that I am currently not living in an area that is in a drought. I don't think I planted anything outside the whole time we were in Georgia because of the drought. Today, in Texas, I planted pansies!

3. I am thankful to have my husband home every night.

4. I am thankful for the local library. It is so wonderful to have access to so many books.

5. I am thankful for cool fall breezes and the fact that I can soon wear my favorite jacket!

6. I am thankful for great Christian programs for my kids to get involved in like AWANAs and UPWARDS.

7. I am thankful that there wasn't a quiz over the 2nd Presidential debate. I think I fell asleep.

8. I am thankful for all the new friends God has sent my way since moving to Texas. I have met 4 families that have just moved here in the last 1 - 5 months. Three of them also homeschool! And two of them are from Oklahoma.

9. I am thankful that my family has been in good health the last several months.

10. I am thankful that so far there have only been 3 kids on the block who have stopped by to sell something for their sports league or scout program. (But seriously, what do you do? Do you buy from everyone? I honestly don't want to buy a $16 pie or a $15 can of popcorn. How do you handle that?)

Okay, that's all for now. I hope you have a Thankful Thursday! There is so much to be thankful for.

I love my camera

I love my camera.
Have I mentioned that I love my camera?
It was a birthday present this year and I adore it.


My daughter brought me one of those little bitty daisies the size of a fingernail the other day. It was one of those that grow in your yard and some might consider to be a weed.

But she thought it was lovely.
And I did too.

I love daisies.
And I love my camera.

****Per phone request from my friend, Mrs. Troop, here is the original straight out of the camera shot. I was holding the tiny daisy while taking the picture. The background is the blue Texas sky. And, yes, I did edit it just a titch by cropping it and adjusting the color.

And so I would like to add...

I also love my photo editing program.

Let The Games Begin

So instead of watching this game on Saturday....

We were watching this game.........

(son #1 bringing the ball down the court)

And this game.....
(son #2 ....well we weren't for sure what he was doing, but we assume he was playing good defense)

They both had their first Upwards Basketball game and they both had a great time.

We are so please with the Upwards Sports program because of the Christ-like attitude and good sportsmanship it promotes.

Son #1 had a great time. He scored 6 points and played good defense.

This was the first time for most of the kids on son #2's team to be in a game so they were doing good just to be at the right goal and follow the ball up and down the court.
And he still had a great time.

And she was too young to play this year so she and Minnie were there to represent.

But they better watch out, because she is already counting the days until she can play next year.
And she's got skills and 2 older brothers to practice on.

The Land That He Loves

Last weekend we went on a road trip to Oklahoma and

went fishing on the land that my husband loves.

This land has been in his family for many years and he remembers fishing these ponds as early as 6 or 7 years old.

I've been fishing these ponds with him since the 3rd week we were dating.

In fact, he proposed to me on the dirt road right beside one of these ponds.

(a story that will await another day)

The kids really had a great time.

My oldest has really gotten good at casting and catching bass all by himself.

My middle caught a bass and took a picture with it to humor me.

He enjoyed being outdoors but really prefered to sit in the car and draw.

My daughter really had the best time of all, I think.

She would have one of us cast the lure out for her and then she wanted to reel it in all by herself.

Over and over and over.....

She decided she was on "mommy's team" and so we were fishing together. Some of the places to walk around the pond had grass as tall as she was so I would let her hop on my back as we walked through it whilst I also held my fishing pole.

As we were walking I started to feel like Luke Skywalker in the Empire Strikes Back. You know, the scene where Yoda is on Luke's back telling him,

"Mommy, catch a large fish for our team, you must."

"Catch more fish than the boys, you will."

When my husband saw us he started laughing. Then he asked where the camera was. Fortunately it was back in the car but if we would have had one.... it would have looked something like this..... except Yoda would be wearing a pink sun hat.....

And never fear, the man came, he saw, and he caught the biggest bass.

And we all lived happily ever after.

It's a Virtue

Last weekend we took a road trip to Oklahoma.

On Saturday night we were at my parents house and my 5 year old decided he needed his blanket from the car.

Right then.

He asked me to go get it for him but I was right in the middle of a game with his brother so I told him to go find his dad.

He found his dad talking to his Grandpa and apparently demanded that his dad retrieve the blanket with no further ado.

Since my husband has a "We do not negotiate with terrorists" policy, he decided this would be a good chance for a lesson and told him that he needed to wait 5 minutes so he could practice his patience.

My son replied "I want to practice patience later."

Haves

That's the Georgian term for hives.

And I've got 'em.

And it ain't pretty.
(I'm sure my mom is cringing. She was an English teacher and she worked very hard to make sure we spoke correctly. And yet it seemed necessary for emphasis. Really mom, it did.)

It takes me back to the time when we had been in Georgia just a couple months and my oldest son broke out into full body hives. After taking him to the local emergency room one night and then his pediatric physician the next day, we still ended up in the Pediatric Hospital in Atlanta that next night.

The physician came in and promptly diagnosed....

"He has haves."

It was close to midnight and I had not had much sleep the night before and so I was tired and confused. He haves what?

So I asked her again what he had.

"Haves."

I'm sure my mouth formed a silent "O" as I figured out she was saying HIVES.
(which I pronounce with the "i" saying it's name)



So now for the second time this week, I have had haves.

And I must say that there is a direct correlation to having hives and a decrease in my patience meter which directly corresponds to my child tolerance meter.

Let's hope the Zyrtec kicks in soon! And hopefully I'll be back later with a Thankful Thursday list that includes that I am thankful I haveth no haves.

Much Excitement Still Abounds

So that you do not become concerned that a lack of posts equals no excitement, I submit this picture.


These little guys have given us much excitement.

The first day we saw one, I was vacuuming the living room and saw something small and agile scrurry across the floor.

I promptly yelled.

My 5 year old does a fairly good impression of the event.

We tried to capture him and actually had him cornered when he proceeded to crawl up the wall.

That was exciting.

He was finally captured and was in captivity for about 12.5 minutes before his tail was parted from his body.

We felt terrible but could actually see how this tactic could work in the wild as all 3 of our children were absolutely fascinated with the wiggling tail and completely forgot about the creature it formerly belonged to.

We released him to the wild but fear not for the extinction of his kind because since we have moved in, my 4 year old daughter has successfully captured and de-tailed 5 of them. The last one she actually had in a basket for about 2 hours before his tail came off.

I believe we are making progress.

(Only the first one was found in our home, thankfully. The rest have been found in the garage and in the back or front yard.)

**We believe these are Mediterranean Geckos. If you know what they are for sure, please let us know. And I'm sure you will be much relieved to know that one was held in captivity for several hours yesterday and released back into his natural habitat (which is apparently our back porch) with his entire tail intact.

*** And I'm also sure you will find much relief in knowing that their tails do grow back. Which is what they need to keep predators distracted from eating them. But I'm pretty sure that their only local predator is a 4 year old-blue-eyed girl. And she hasn't eaten one yet.

Thankful Thursday

I was talking with Mrs. Troop this morning about the fact that I just don't feel like I can blog about things when I still have boxes to unpack and rooms to organize.

And quite honestly, there are many amusing things that have happened recently but none which I would consider to be appropriate for blog material.

I think keeping up with everything would have been a little easier had we not moved right as homeschool was starting and as we were gearing up for fall activities.

But at least I am back today for Thankful Thursday.

So here is my list.

1) I am so thankful for a husband who sets a godly example for our children. Ever since we have been married, my husband reads his Bible in the morning at breakfast. He has also read the Bible in it's entirety every year for as long as I have known him. Recently my 7 year old has been getting up when we get up, around 5:45am sometimes, and he sits at the table with his dad and reads his Bible also while I make them breakfast. He wants to know exactly what book and chapter his dad is reading. He wants to be like his dad so very much and I am so blessed that his dad has a heart for God.

2) I am thankful for the AWANA's program. This is our 3rd year to be involved in an AWANA's program and I am very excited about the motivation it gives my children to memorize verses. It has been a tremendous blessing to our family. My husband and I are both signed up to be AWANA helpers this year. It is so nice to have him in town on Wednesday nights!

3) I am thankful for the UPWARDs basketball program. It is a very non-competitive, Christian organization where the emphasis is to learn about Christ, learn about good sportsmanship, learn basketball skills, and have fun. Both boys are playing this year. We'll see how that goes.

4)I am thankful we live on a flat street. I know, seems odd, but in Georgia we lived on a hill and we didn't allow our children to ride their bikes on it because it was steep enough and busy enough that we didn't feel comfortable. We are now living on a flat, quiet street with a cul-de-sac at the end and they LOVE it.

5) I am thankful for friends who are encouragers!

6) I am thankful that the bunnies in the yard don't seem to have an affinity for daylilies. Although they have found that my newly purchased coneflower has leaves that make a tasty snack. My husband was concerned that they may suffer from lead poisoning if they eat too many. He may be correct.

7) I am thankful for the nice weather. I am really enjoying being able to go outside and not feel that I am going to melt into a puddle.

Okay, that's all I've got this week.

Have a Thankful Thursday! We have so much to be Thankful for!

Y? Because we like you!

I honestly cannot believe it is already Thursday again!

Between still trying to get boxes unpacked and organized, and birthdays and guests and homeschooling, I've gotten a little swamped in blogland.

So for thankful Thursday, I am thankful for this little girl who just turned 4.

It started out that she wanted a Minnie Mouse birthday.
It ended up that she WAS Minnie Mouse for her birthday.
She ADORED the skirt that I made for her.
Just don't look too close.
I don't like sewing with patterns and I'm sure it shows.
But it WAS awfully cute. I made a circle skirt and she could twirl around in it.

This is her birthday cake.

I really wasn't for sure how to do her gloved hands so I tucked them behind her skirt. My daughter was just tickled that Minnie had on yellow shoes.

And yes, it looks a little odd in the right lower corner because I whited out her name.

Our tradition on birthdays is that when you wake up there is a birthday banner on your door and everyone says "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!" to you all day long. You also get to pick your birthday dinner and theme. We always try to have balloons, cake and ice cream. The cakes are always homemade. We have so far only had one "birthday party" where we invited friends and that was for my son's 6th birthday. Up until we moved to Georgia, we always had enough family over for parties that we didn't invite friends. We try not to go overboard, but we also try to make their day special.

So what birthday traditions do you have?

Big parties with lots of friends or just family?

Do you feel pressured to hire pony rides and a band (which I SO would do if money were no object and my husband was agreeable and we had already saved up $200,000 for each child's college education) or are you a relaxed, low key birthday kind of family?

Well, have a Thankful Thursday and hopefully I'll make it back on before another whole week goes by!

Thankful Thursday

1. Thankful that after 10 months, I am finally living in the same state (and house) as my husband!

2. Thankful my daylilies made the trip from Georgia to Texas and they seem to be just fine.

3. Thankful that I already have a friend! Mrs. Troop told me about a friend of hers from her church who just moved to Texas about 5 months ago. She only lives 2 miles from my house! And she homeschools! They invited us over for supper and to swim in their neighborhood pool last Saturday and we had the best time!

4. Thankful that I've located the nearest Sonic, Hancock Fabric, Mardels, Super Walmart and Super Target. It just makes a girl feel better to know where a couple of the important stores are.

5. Thankful that I've gotten all the main rooms unpacked and somewhat organized.

6. Thankful that I have so many friendly new neighbors.

7. Thankful that my parents are coming down this weekend to help celebrate my daughter's birthday.

8. Thankful that even though we don't have any tall tress, that we have nice pretty green grass. My husband said it was Tiff and it is SO soft and thick! We love it!

9. Thankful that my nephew from Ethiopia might be here by Thanksgiving!

10. Thankful that I am so much closer (geographically) to family.

So that is all I've got for today. I hope you have a Thankful Thursday.

There's Nothing to See Here

I appreciate all the comments and e-mails requesting pictures.

But there is truly nothing to see here.

Just a flat grassy yard and lots of boxes.

But since it is pictures you want, I will show you what I have been doing while away from blogland.

I've mainly been unpacking boxes and trying to organize my home.

I helped my husband re-assemble this storage building.

And we only had one piece left over.

If you are considering moving a structure such as this anytime in the near future I would highly recommend using a Sharpie and using numbers and arrows to indicate which pieces go where and in what order.

It's not as intuitive as one might hope.

And here is my daylily collection .

I think they did just fine.

My parents drove down to help us move in and my dad and my husband planted all the daylilies the day before the movers came.

We couldn't have done it without them. We were just too worn out.

And then just because I didn't really feel like I had enough to do, I made my daughter a Minnie Mouse skirt to wear for her Birthday. It started out that she wanted a Minnie Mouse party. It is now that she wants to BE Minnie Mouse for her party. I saw one on Esty that was just adorable. I just couldn't bring myself to pay for it when I could probably sew one up for much less.

So I just did it.

In the midst of all the other chaos.

I made her a full circle skirt using Hancock's Minnie Mouse fabric and a poodle skirt pattern.

Which is really just true love because sewing with patterns gives me hives.

But she adores it! While I was cutting it out, she was sitting and watching and started making up a song that went.... "I love my mommy..... because she makes...... a Minnie Mouse skirt.....for my birthday...... She is so special..... She is so sweet........ she makes a skirt....... just for me....."

That right there made it totally worth it.

Now my problem is that my oldest mentioned to her that Minnie Mouse wears yellow shoes and white gloves. I told him thankyouverymuch for that. She now is hoping that she will get a pair of yellow dancing shoes as a Birthday present.

Anyone have an extra pair of yellow girls shoes in a size 10 1/2?