FOREVER LONG...

Well, I'm behind again... I'm really not sure how it happens.  Just poof, and we're a week later.  And in my defense, it's been a pretty eventful week.  And I've been sick.  So there.  :)

 

So where were we???  Ah, last Wednesday.  We kind of cheated on that day.  I knew I wanted the girls to pick out their ornaments for the year, but I also knew we would probably not have time to do it on Wednesday since we have AWANA.  But, we were out of days and had few options for switching things around, so Elizabeth just told them that it would probably not happen until Thursday.    The girls were fine with it.  We've picked out the new ornaments, but they aren't on the tree yet.  Have I mentioned that I've been sick?!?!?!

 

The next day was a fail as well.  I REALLY think they changed it.  There is an outdoor shopping center that does carriage ride, and I REALLY thought they did them Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.  Apparently they just do them Friday and Saturday.  Of course I didn't realize that until after Elizabeth had already told them about the carriage ride.  BUT, the advantages of being sick is that you can postpone things and the girlies don't get upset.  So, we just waited until Friday. 

 

Friday Elizabeth still left a message - Popcorn and a movie - but not just any movie.  MY favorite movie.  The girls like it too, and Josh tolerates it because he loves me.  He's a keeper!

 

Friday after school we headed to The Greene.  They have a beautiful tree out in the middle of the square so I tried to take pictures.  The first picture didn't turn out very well because Reagan's eyes were closed...

 

So this is what happened the next time...  That girl!

 

Finally we got a pretty one.  They are so patient with me as I snap picture after picture.  (The secret is to start early!  They don't know any better because I've been doing it since their birth!)

 

The handlers were super nice, and took a family picture so we were all in it.  The girls LOVED the ride.  Reagan waved like a princess the entire time.  Avery sat close to Daddy, but she was very brave.  Afterwards, she said, "That was AWESOME!"

 

Then we headed home to watch White Christmas and eat popcorn.  Bliss!

 

Another delay... Saturday we were supposed to make tons of treats... but I spent most of the day in bed.  Josh set up Elizabeth.  I told you... he loves me!

 

Sunday, Elizabeth brought us the supplies to make our teacher gifts.  We WHISK you a Merry KISSmas.  Yay for Pinterest!

 

I'm fairly certain this was my most brilliant idea ever.  With the down weekend, and me feeling yucky the house was a mess.  So, Elizabeth took a little detour and asked the girls to clean the house.  By 5:30 the house was a clean as it gets, and we had very little complaining.  We ordered pizza to celebrate!

 

Tuesday was SPA day!  The girls got to take a bubble bath (we found antibacterial bubble bath for Reagan - woohoo!!!), and I painted their nails.  We watched White Christmas again since I was sick before, and daddy was out with the guys watching The Hobbit!

 

Today is our 14th anniversary!!!  My how time flies when you're having fun!!!  For our *romantic* dinner the 4 of us will go to dinner before I have practice for the Christmas Eve service.  We're leaving a gift for the waiter.

 

So there we are, all caught up!  We are having fun, and it's made us a little more deliberate about spending time together and taking time for the important stuff.  I think next year I will add Bible verses to each day for us to read at night.  We shall see!  :)

 

6 days until Christmas!!!!!

Ketchup... or Catch Up!

Well Elizabeth has been at it again.  It was a whirlwind weekend, and hopefully things will slow down a bit now.  Honestly, except for our family things there isn't much on the calendar this week or next.  Small miracles, people!

 

Friday Elizabeth wrote all over the bathroom mirror and told the girls to do a great job at their Christmas performance.

 

 

This is the girls finding and reading the mirror.  They loved it!!!

 

Here is what it looked like.  I really hope and pray that when the girls are old and gray, or even just older than they are now, they know how much I love them, and how cool I think they are.  They are the neatest kids ever.  I want them to know I think so.

 

Elizabeth also wrote on the big pictures hanging on the wall.  Avery was NOT a fan of this at all!!!  She was much relieved when it was clean the next morning.

 

 

They were FANTASTIC during their Christmas program.  I was quite proud.  They are growing up so fast!!!  I keep asking them to stop, but they just keep right on growing!!!  Disobedient children!!!  :*)

 

Saturday morning the girls woke up to Elizabeth making snow angels out of sugar. 

 

In hind sight I probably should have used flour... because they just started eating the sugar off the counter.  Crazy girls!!!

 

She left us all the materials to make cupcakes.  They turned out so well!  Too bad I only took pictures with my phone... and I don't know how to get them to the computer!!!

 

Sunday we watched How the Grinch stole Christmas (between football games!) and made Grinch Pill Packets.  This is one of Avery's favorite things so she was super excited.  The teachers always get a kick out of it too.

 

Tonight is Game Night.  I went ahead and put the pictures on now because I will probably/ hopefully be so busy winning that I won't have time to take pictures.  :)

 

We're moving on along through the month of December.  How is it already 1/3 of the way through?!?!?  Time is flying by.  I hope we spend it wisely!

Moving on along

The past two days took some creativity as I was planning things that Elizabeth could bring because I knew we wouldn't be home. The church staff party was last night so our activity had to be quick, or something the girls could work on alone, and tonight we have church. I'm happy to report that the plan worked!

 

 

Yesterday's plan was to make homemade cards for grandparents, great-grandparents, and whomever else we had supplies for.  The girls loved this.  I'm hoping the receipents of these cards realize that the more stickers they have, the better.  They were VERY sticker happy!!! 

 

They worked hard.  I tried to make sure that they signed them, and wrote at least a semi-personal note, but that proved a bit difficult. 

 

Today's activity has turned out to be one of my favorites.  Reagan finishes lunch as Avery is coming in, so I emailed their teachers yesterday to see if Avery could leave a few minutes early so they were in the cafeteria at the same time.  Then they handed out candy canes to the cafeteria workers and custodians at school.  I was so hoping to get a picture of this, but I calculated the time wrong so I missed it.  However, the awesome part was that I had lunch duty today and one of the cafeteria workers, and one of the custodians made a point of telling me what a good job the girls did and how sweet it was.  I tear up just thinking about it. 

 

Goodness, I love those girls!!!

A Disappointment and a Success

 

Elizabeth came to visit on Sunday morning with money to put in Salvation Army buckets.  However, when we went out to find some buckets there were none to be found.  We saw a couple of the tripod stands, but no bell ringers.  A friend suggested today that perhaps they don't ring on Sundays to encourage people to go to church.  I'm hoping that's the case.  I tried to look up information on being a bell ringer, but finding info for Ohio is proving to be difficult.

 

Monday's visit promised a Wii family game night.  WOOHOO!  A HUGE success.  Tonight reminds me of why we do this.  I have to be deliberate about carving out these special times.  Otherwise I'm horribly guilty of having the best of intentions, but letting the time slip away from me by postponing the fun. 

 

It takes a very special man to play Dance Kids with his girls.  I would just like to say that it also takes a special mom to let him win so I can get pictures.  Just sayin'!  :)

 

Reagan bowling with attitude.  Each time she got up there she would do a little dance, and then if she did well she would do a big dance.  The game lasted twice as long because of her.

 

Avery likes to bowl with gusto!  You have to make sure you aren't in her path! 

 

Bowling is my favorite.  But I didn't post this because I won.  Nope.  I posted it because Avery beat Josh.  Legitimately.  Yep.  She's amazing!

 

So what does the Wii have to do with Christmas?  Not a single thing.  However, the four of us ate dinner as a family, and then played together for over an hour enjoying each other and encouraging each other and loving being together.  Do we always get it right?  Absolutely not.  But tonight was fun, and I will go to bed tonight without any regrets about our spending time together.

Look who arrived... with a little twist

Please Welcome Elizabeth!

Before I begin, if you are reading this and you do things differently, there is no judgement.  This is a judge free blog.  :)

If you know me well, you know that I am a planner.  When we went to Disney last year I planned every aspect... multiple hours per week from when we booked the trip in March to when we went in December.  And I loved every minute of it.

I also enjoy being creative, and coming up with cute things.  When we went to Disney we all had matching shirts - partly because if the girls got lost they could tell people that their momma was dressed like them, partly because it made the pictures fantastic, and partly because it was just fun.

Last year I really wanted to slow down and incorporate family and giving into our Christmas season. We started a new tradition where each morning there was a new card on the window. The cards would give an event or a chore or a fun thing we would do as a family. One was to drive through Bethlehem City, another was to have a family game night, and yet another was to cook dinner for another family. It made it a fun way to spend time together, to give to others, and to not get lost in the craziness of the season.

So this Elf on the Shelf thing was right up my alley.  Except for one thing.  We've never told the girls that they should behave for Santa.  I didn't want to fight the battle in January when Santa was *forever* away.  We've done pictures with Santa, and such, but we've never made they jolly dude a big deal.  So I knew that we wouldn't do the Elf thing until the girls didn't believe in Santa anymore.  Then it would be just a fun thing that we all enjoyed.

Well, Reagan in her thinking, and questioning, and remembering asked Josh straight up if Santa was real.  Funny thing about Reagan - you can't lie to her.  even in fun.  because she remembers. everything.  So he told her that Santa is a fun part of Christmas, but Jesus is the real reason we celebrate.  She made sure that Avery knew that as well, so at this point my kids no longer believe in Santa.  They enjoy all the Santa-ish things, but they know he doesn't bring gifts, etc.  There's a part of me that's very sad about that.  BUT, the good news is that we can do the Elf.  Yay.

So we did.  We didn't read the book because our elf won't go to the North Pole.  Instead, she brings our activity for the day.  She has some of the same rules.  They had to name her.  They can't touch her because then she might not bring the activity for the next day, and they can't complain about the activities.  Some are fun, and for them.  Some are for others, and the girls are just the delivery system.    Today our elf brought a new movie as a welcome gift, but don't worry.  We will be doing other things as well.  I I mean Elizabeth, can't wait!  :)

 

This and That

I guess this always happens.  Maybe I'm getting older... not really feeling wiser... but maybe more experience under my belt.  Maybe I'm listening to my feelings more, or trying to analyze things in a different way.  I'm not sure.  But here is what I've noticed lately... A lot.  Several times over the summer.

I can feel two completely different ways about the same thing.  Polar opposites.  Not even close. 

Let me give you some examples.

School Starting.

On one hand I was thrilled.  It was time for us to get on a schedule.  It provides the girls with structure.  And friends.  And time apart.  It gives me a purpose.

On the other hand it means getting up every day.  It takes away some freedom.  It means time away from the girls.  And especially this year with Reagan starting kindergarten it means my baby isn't a baby anymore.  Even though I have no desire to have a baby in the house, there is still something sad about your babies getting older.

My grandparents are moving.

On one hand I know that this is the best thing for them.  I know that PaPa is getting older, and in all actuality is in the beginning (maybe not so beginning) stages of Alzhimers.  This will allow Grannie to keep a closer eye on him, and it will make it easier on everyone.

On the other hand I'm sad.  This forces us to realize that they are getting older and won't be here forever.  I'm sad that when the girls and I go visit we won't have the basement to hang out in.  I'm sad that they have to leave the home they've lived in for the past 18 years.

Moving to Ohio.

On one hand I was thrilled.  This was an adventure, and we knew without a doubt that God was telling us to pack up and move.  There is something infinitely exciting about being in the center of God's will.  That peace that passes understanding thing.

On the other hand I am heartbroken.  I love Texas.  All of our people are in Texas.  We are comfortable there.  I'm terrified that Reagan will grow up and not feel like Texas is home.  I miss my family.  If Reagan asks one more time when Thanksgiving is (when Grandma and Grandpa are coming) or when she will get to see Grammy again I might cry.  This is by far the hardest thing I've ever done.

But through all of this experience I have experienced God's faithfulness more than ever before.  There were some days that He had to get me out of bed.  And there were some days that I would have loved to jump in the van and take off moving south.  But He has provided in ways that I never imagined.  I'm afraid I will look back at this at some point and forget some of the things He has done.  So I'm going to make a list here, and I might add to it when I remember something else.  But I'm also thinking about making a rememberance.  I heard a devotion recently about remember where you've been.  The Biblical context used was when Joshua was leading the people into the Promise Land.  Once they crossed on dry land, God had a person from each of the tribes of Israel get a stone, and they stacked them so that they would remember.   I'm not sure stones would cut it, but I'm going to try to come up with something so we don't forget this amazing summer where God has provided beyond our wildest dreams.

Safe travel
A place to live
Financial ok-ness
A great pediatrician's office
New friends
A job for me
A great school for the girls
A great start of the school year
Josh loves his new job
A truck for Josh to drive
Closeness as a family
The house sold

Working on the list, and having a blast

As we made our list of things we wanted to do, Josh and I purposefully put some things on it that we already had planned.  Some things have happened better than we expected.  It has all been fun!

# 12... AGAIN.  We finished up the school supplies.  They are now all labeled and waiting for meet the teacher next week.  It occurred to me that they might not label supplies in Ohio, but too late!  It's done.

#10.  We knew we were going to go to a picnic in the park with the staff.  And we did, and it was fun.  However, we also had a surprise picnic.  I have a new friend!  Woohoo!  And we went with her and her kids to a fun little park that had a splash pad, a huge sand box, and a bunch of other fun things.  The girls had a blast, and they really enjoyed taking a picnic, sitting on the ground with friends and eating.  We shared our food so the kids got different things, and they really had a great time!  I didn't take the regular camera, and I don't know how to get pictures off the phone so we're out of luck with the visual part of the trip.

#9, #3, and #4. These go together. When my family came a few weeks ago for our mini-reunion my sister-in-law and I were talking, and she told me about a place in Columbus called Fort Rapids. She said that it is somewhat like Great Wolf Lodge, but not quite as expensive. I looked it up, and they were having a sale on weekday reservations. We thought it would be perfect for the girls. They haven't gotten to swim at all with us (they did swim with mom when she came to visit), and with it being inside, we don't have to worry about weather or heat or Reagan getting burnt to a crisp. As we were looking closer we found that we couldn't check in until 4:00 so we started looking for things we could do in the morning. We chose the state fair - you can't get more Ohio-ish than that! The fair was HOT and expensive - I forgot how quickly things add up when you're paying by the ride or the food item. But we had a great time.

The cardinal is at the entrance.  He's not Big Tex, but he is a big bird. 

I don't know what it is, but Corndogs from the fair are just yummy.  We also had chocolate covered bacon.  It was good, but the bacon needed to be thicker.  It needed more salty.  And of course Josh got his funnel cake.  He never passes up that opportunity.

The girls rode several rides including the carousel, and we all rode the ferris wheel.  Again, the ferris wheel wasn't as big as the one at the Texas State Fair, but the girls still loved it.

I thought this was cute.  It was a display for Ohio Education, but we just liked the big letters.

Then it was off to the hotel.  The girls knew we were going to stay in a hotel, but they didn't know anything about it.

They were THRILLED with the bunk beds.

This picture was taken right after we walked to the pool area.  Reagan asked me at the fair if I thought the hotel would have a pool.  I told her I thought it might.  She was beyond estatic when she walked in and saw everything.  I was pretty thrilled too!  We swam for a few hours, and then went back to the room to get ready for dinner.  The plan was to eat at the restaurant in the hotel.  However, when we got there it was closed.  So we went to drive around to find something to eat.  We found a BOSTON MARKET!!!  We loved that place when we lived in the metroplex, but they didn't have one anywhere near Gainesville or Conroe.  It was just as good as we remembered.  Their rotisserie chicken is the best!  I was thrilled that we found something so good, and we didn't have to pay out the wazoo for it.

Back at the hotel we got ready for bed.  The girls were asleep as soon as their head hit the pillow.  It was a busy day!

The next morning we ate breakfast at the hotel (it left MUCH to be desired), and then headed to the water!  These slides were super fun because we could all go down at the same time.  Reagan loved them because she was tall enough to ride by herself.  There were three tube rides that she couldn't ride... she was 2 inches too short.  But she handled that really well.  We got Avery on them, and she absolutely loved them.  It still amazes me that my child who is afraid of so many things loves roller coasters so much.

Here, she and Daddy are getting ready to shoot off on the Black Hole.

After going through part of the slide, it shoots you off into this huge bowl, and you go around and around and around until you go into the hole in the middle.  It was so fun!

The water is coming!!!  My family is such a good sport to pose for pictures even when they know they are going to get dumped on!  :)

The park really was a blast!  It was perfect for the girls.  We could see all the parts so they didn't have to stick right beside us the whole time, and they could ride almost everything.  The only down side was that outside people could buy a day pass so at 12:15 a daycare came.  Oh mercy... so many kids who weren't very nice. :/  But they left at 2:15 and things calmed down again.  We didn't stay too much longer though because we were all exhausted.  The girls didn't even complain when it was time to leave.  It was so perfect for our family.  We will definitely go back!

#6.  One of the things Josh put on the list was to make homemade ice cream.  We got an ice cream maker for our wedding, and I think we've used it twice.  But he loves it!  He and Reagan did this together, and she loved being the helper.

It was so hot that we ran out of ice, and just had to stick the middle thing in the freezer.  Next time Josh will buy the big bag of ice!  :)

The next day after nap we had ice cream!  Yum!!!

#1.  Today we got out the play-doh.  The girls just finished playing... after an hour and a half.  That's a lot of time sitting on the floor and playing, but they had a blast. 

I think we're going to have to keep this up even after school starts.  Maybe we'll do 5 things per month or something.  I have to be careful that I'm not just checking things off of a list, but it also had made me careful about making sure I don't promise things to the girls, and then have something come up.  Life happens, but then we reschedule.

I also think we will restart the family devotions in September.  Here's what I have so far...

September - things we've learned
October - not sure yet
November - things we're thankful for
December - we'll do like last year where each day has a task.  That was fantastic, and the girls are already asking about it.

If you come up with any October ideas, let me know.  :)