It's Been A While...

Hi all,

Just wanted to post a quick not to let everyone know that I am finally back online! Yes, we evacuated for IKE and just returned home one week ago today and just got our power back on this past Sunday. I have some pictures and stories that I hope to get posted very soon. Thanks to all of you who prayed and sent happy thoughts our way!

Will it or won't it?

Well I am sure some of you or the few who read this will be wondering if we're evacuating due to IKE. Who knows, we're newbies to this hurricane stuff and since they're not real sure where IKE is going to hit it makes it hard to decide. I called to ask the boys school what the protocol is for this situation and they were not much help. They pretty much said it would be a last minute decision. That does not give me a whole lot of comfort. Then today my DH says that they're saying as of this morning that Houston is going to take a direct hit, yet while I am out shopping this afternoon I overheard a lady on her cell phone saying "we're doing nothing, it's not going to affect us at all". So, I am as confused as ever so I will just follow what DH thinks we should do. My DS#1 is already worried that we're going to get washed away. He hears the word hurricane and is all out of sorts. DH is watching it closely so I know if he feels like we should get the heck out of dodge then we'll do it. I am just bound and determined not to be one of "those" people you see on the news and ask your self "why"! I will keep you posted...unless we're outta here! LOL!!!

Hair Cut...or NOT!!!!

Here is a beautiful picture of my DS#2 with his beautiful red hair....until a classmate of his decided he needed a haircut!!!! YES, it happened at school and I was so sure he had done it himself since he'd just gotten on yellow (only took a week and 1 day lol!) the day before for playing with his scissors. I did not even realize it until after he'd taken his shower and was getting ready for bed and his hair was wet and laying flat minus the chunck right out of the middle of his forehead! I procedded to ask, "did you get in trouble again today for playing with your scissors?" "No mam, I did not play with my scissors today" he was a serious as a heart attack. Then I asked him, "did you cut your hair?" "Nope, I did not cut my hair, ______, cut my hair. I was trying to figure out why I had not been notified or why there was no note in his folder, needless to say I was not a happy momma. I put a note to the teacher in his daily folder and recieved a phone call the next day. His teacher informed me that yes, she did know that his hair had been cut and accidentally left the note out of his folder but that she taped some of my DS #2's hair to her folder for her parents to see what she had done. Well, my DH picked up the boys from school that next day and I realized that it was later than usual when I heard them drive up and this is how his hair is now... :0(





I know it will grow back, after all it's just hair, right??? Well, I just hope it comes back in the same beautiful shade of red in which it originally grew in!!!

First Day of School

Yeah, I know, it has been almost two weeks of school for us and I'm just now writing about the boys first day of school. Forgive me. Anyway, August 25, 2008 was the first day of school for us here in Magnolia. My oldest started 2nd grade and was less than thrilled that school was starting but my DS #2 was starting kindergarten and was over the moon excited to start school! It was a daily question through out summer "is today the day I get to go to kindergarten?" Believe it or not he stayed that excited all through summer and was up and out of bed faster than I'd ever seen him on that August morning. DS #1 has begun to realize that school is not all that bad and even seems a bit on the excited about going. Okay, back to our first day. We dropped off DS #1 first. He really likes his teacher and DH and I are pleased as well. He has a few classmates from his class he joined mid-year when we moved here. Here is a picture of him saying good bye to his lil sister whom he misses a lot...



He had a great first day of second grade! Way to go bubba! So proud of you!

Now this was also the first day of kindergarten for my DS#2. He's been so excited about going to school that he was not sure he'd make it through the summer. Of course he doesn't really understand what "summer" meant but daily he'd pose the question of whether or not it was time to go to school. When that first day came he was up an at em' the first time I said my morning wake up call "it's time to rise and shine". You can see for your self that he's was happy as a lark.
Now I believe this is the first time that I've actually followed through and gotten the same type of pictures of my DS#2 as I did for my DS#1...WOW. Enjoy and know it was a tear free drop off all around!!!
Now even though it was a tear free drop off I still had to get my "J lovin" as I call it, thank goodness he still is okay with it...even at school!
And he too had to say good by to his lil' sister...she lost her best friend :0( but she's doing okay without him so far...

All in all the boys had a wonderful first day of school!!! I am such a proud mamma!

Takin' off the Training Wheels!!!!

Do you remember as a kid learning how to ride your bike without training wheels? I can actually remember it very well. I don't remember my exact age but somewhere around kindergarten or first grade. My dad took me out in front of the house, in the middle of the street, no helmet or any other padding either. He stood behind me atop a mini hill and I got on the bike he gave me a little push.....and let me go! He probably ran behind me for about a second, if y0u knew my dad you know he did not do much running, anyway he just let me go. There I was "riding" my bike with no training wheels, if you can call it riding. The handle bars wiggling back and forth as I try to get my balance, I turn to look behind me to see if my dad was still there, NOPE....CRASH!!!! I can still feel the road rash on my knees and elbows, it still makes my skin twinge with a little pain, and at that moment I was so mad I don't think I even cried. "DADDY why did you let me go?" I screamed! Expecting full on sympathy from my dad (mom was watching from the front yard) I got a hug and then the ol' "you gotta dust yourself off and get back on that bike" spiel. All this to say, it took me about a week to get to where I could do it completely by myself....fast forward to 2008 and we are teaching our oldest to ride his bike without his training wheels. All it took for him was ONE afternoon! No scratches, bumps or bruises. Nothin'!! It's sad really. I run in the house to get the camera to take pics and just waiting to get that one with the huge scrape on his knee or at least one of him as mad as a hornet because he could not get the hang of it...what kind of mom does that make me??? At the end of the session however I was as proud as can be singing his praises so maybe it makes me an okay mom! CONGRATULATIONS Son, Mom is super proud of you!

Hotels and kids....and swimsuits!

Okay who does not like to stay in a hotel?? I usually love it because it means "vacation"!! Well, we just got back from a week of "vacation" back home..."Red Oak". Technically the hotels, and I mean the plural of the word, weren't in Red Oak but we were in the DFW area. Anyway, we tagged along with my DH for a week back "home" while he had some business to do there. I was super excited you see because we would get to see a lot of our family and friends that we miss dearly. In theory it was all supposed to be as smooth as butter but in reality it was quite chaotic and by the grace of God my kids are all alive and well...PTL!!! LOL!!! Okay, the first night(Sunday) we stayed with my mom and it was great. The kids got to play with their mimi and gramps, I got to spend some quality time with my mom. A little crowded but we managed.

Monday rolls around and we get packed up in the car to go and check in at our FIRST hotel, very NICE! (a plush robe hung in the closet and the towels were amazing) Probably one of the nicest I've ever stayed in however the room was a single bed room. We have a family of 5! The bed in this room was a large king sized bed but to me I was questioning "are we really ALL going to sleep in this one bed"? There was no room for a roll away or we'd have gone that route. Anyway, I asked my DH can't you just go and ask for a double bed room? Seems simple enough right?? NOPE, he turns to me and says "well, you all aren't really supposed to be here". News to me...anyway we all proceed to "sleep" in that bed. DH has to get up very early to attend his work meetings there in the hotel...just after he leaves the phone rings..."make sure you have everything packed up before you leave...we're changing rooms for tonight". Guess he did not like the sleeping arrangements either. Well, as you know when you don't get enough sleep or at least for me, you tend to have a shorter fuse and I also start to loose my marbles. We were able to have a car because my DH business was in the hotel where we were staying. That was one of the reasons we all tagged along and I was under the assumption it would make things so much easier...It helped but having 3 kids 7, 5, and 3 couped up in a hotel room nothing can make things easier. Well, maybe one thing, the POOL! We were so excited about getting to go swimming, especailly because this hotel's pool was on the ROOF!!! It was soo cool! Apparently I began loosing my marbles before we ever left Magnolia...I FORGOT MY SWIMSUIT!!! How can you forget your swimsuit knowing that you'll be in hotels with 3 kids for a WHOLE WEEK! I knew that would be the one thing we could do to get out of the room when I felt like the walls were closing in...I FORGOT MY SWIMSUIT!!! Okay, so I'll just run to the nearest Wallyworld and grab one, they'll be on clearance, it'll be cheap...WRONG!! Three different ones and no suits to be found! Well, there were some cute little two piece, pieces of string type suits...LOL!!!!! You won't find me in one of those and you'd say THANK YOU!! By Wednesday, and our 3rd hotel, I was desperate so I decided to "create" my own swimsuit. So, for those of you that this might happen to in the future, there are some pieces of "work out" wear that will do in a "swimsuit crisis". My sanity and the life of my 3 beautiful children depended on it! Thankfully I do have a teeny tiny bit of creativity in me. It worked and we got to swim and had a wonderful time...my boys were pretending to be "Michael Phelps". Which was so funny because neither one of them knows how to swim but they sure tried. On a side note, it's amazing how Michael Phelps helped my boys overcome their fear of putting their faces in the water to swim and their fear of jumping in the water off the side of the pool. Thanks Michael!

Don't get me wrong, we did get to spend some wonderful quality time with family and our friends and I am so thankful for that. However by Saturday when we came back to Magnolia we'd stayed in 3 different hotels! Rest assured, I probably won't be forgetting my swimsuit again!

Who Am I Casting Crowns

Just wanted to share this really cool human video. I did not know much about human videos before I started going to the Oaks Fellowship. There I saw many performed by our Masters Commission students. Because of those students I saw music in a whole new way. This is a beautiful yet almost simple interpretation of an awesome song.

Enjoy!!! Many blessings to all who visit.