Will you be mine?

I am so happy I married a sweetheart. A man who loves the Lord and loves showing me I am worthy of all that he offers. Every valentines day he has a $20 budget and gets creative...

I know it's cliche, but I love him more everyday. More than when I married him. More than I ever thought I could. He is God's gift to me...

Every good and perfect gift is from above, 

coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, 

who does not change like shifting shadows. 

~James 1:17

Need I say more?

Our last 2 weeks consisted of:

Fevers

+

Pneumonia

+

Severe Croup

+

Near death experiance

+

4 Exams

+

5 Papers

+

2 new pre-schoolers

=_______________________________

2 very tired parents

I know it's been a while since I last posted. Our family has been through the ringer. Hopefully we are all better (for a LONG time) and we can enjoy life here at Southwestern. Thank you for all the prayers and calls. I'll have some fun posts up tomorrow...

Imagination Station...

Our 7 year old, L, loves to draw. She is always coloring or doodling on paper (sometimes my important papers). She has nightly homework this year in 1st grade but she really enjoys it! Most of the time it involes her two favorite subjects. Mathematics and Art. Here is here latest homework assignment.

Although she was in a hurry to complete her homework last night, so she could watch the Olympic,s she did a great job! As you can tell from the picture Matt recently grew a beard! However, our car is red and Matt was quick to point out he does NOT wear purple. It was funny to see the way she would prefer to get to school. It looks like she tried to write GIRAFFE but she changed her mind.

What's better than riding a giraffe to school?

A piggyback ride to school on daddy!

I am so happy she loves her daddy...

apparently her sweet teacher Ms.Knot liked it too!

SEVEN years in the making

It's official!!

I'm a Texas resident.

After 7 years of residing in the great state of Texas and avoiding it at all costs, I have switched over to a Texas drivers license. After hearing horror stories about getting hauled off to jail for not replacing your license after 30 days (these big city police don't mess with the LAW), I decided to take the plunge.

AND I must add that living in a big city does have it's perks but the local DMV is not one of them. The wait for my new license was 3 hours...yikes. Good thing I did it when Bunnie was still here!

A $20 Investment

I recently purchased $20 worth of McDonald valentines...for my kids to enjoy. When I first heard this offer I figured there was probably some kind of catch, but there wasn't. AND I know it's JUST McDonald's, but when money is tight and you need time to study what better place to go? The one on Hulen is amazing. It's 4 times bigger than any McDonald's I had ever been in. Each coupon book (purchased for $1) contains 12 FREE items off the dollar menu! They were a great deal. So, for my $20 investment we have $240 in FREE food/treats for my kiddos and our neighborhood friends. I told the kids every time we go we can pick a friend to bring along...possibly even bring some friends from their classes for some outreach. Apparently, they have a promotion like this several times a year. Next time I'll post about it BEFORE time runs out to buy them!

Thank you Chapel Hill Academy!!

L goes to CHA and loves it. Her teacher is amazing and they have so much fun every day! The community loves CHA too and local businesses donate free passes and fun things for families. I get e-mails every week that ask if I want to be put in for the item of the week. This past week L's name was picked and we were given 6 passes to the North Richland Hills pro hockey game. We are so thankful to have the opportunity to go. It was something Matt and I had hoped to do while living here in Ft Worth. Here are some of the highlights...

K sat through the game so well! This was the first sporting event we have been to as a family that we could ALL sit and watch. Normally Matt would watch and I would entertain K. 

Our neighbor spent the weekend with us. The girls had so much fun.

K was given a Brahma hockey puck...pretty cool!!

H enjoyed most of the game on Daddy's lap.

We were all excited to get to see the big game. I knew it would be action packed and loved the music, but I was surprised at how much fighting went on. There were 5 fights in all and after the first fight we joined the crowd and cheered for our guys! Of course our sweet L has a tender heart and cried once when a fight went on a little longer than the rest. Here is a taste of what we saw...

multi-tasking at it's BEST

Note to self: When making dinner, wrapping a birthday present, watching the olympics and filling up K's bath water....make K's bath water my priority.

Matt walked in to check on K and found a FULL bath tub...oops! And because we live on the second floor that could have turned out REALLY bad. Thankfully my husband is awesome...and knows I'm forgetful.

let it SNOW let it SNOW let it SNOW

Here are some more snow pictures. These were taken on day 2 of our snow days off (Friday). It was K's first time to play in the snow and L was home all day...we got some great pics!!

My daddy is a giant...

Would you like a sandwich??

Yesterday I walked into my children"s bathroom and saw this...

I had given K a couple pieces of bread to snack on. Actually, I had offered to make him a sandwich but he just grabbed the bread and took off. If you know K he doesn't take his time when eating anything. So instead of making him sit at the table I let him run off, assuming  he would eat it quickly. HOWEVER, apparently he had to use the potty and put the bread down to use it. I choose to look at the positive and I was happy to see it sitting there on the back of the potty. That means he didn't use the potty while holding his bread....GOOD JOB K!! As you can tell once he was finished he was off and running again leaving his bread behind. 

So the next time you come to my house and find food in odd places, chances are it was K who left it there...

There's Snow Place Like Home

Here in Texas we find the weatherman laughable. Poor guy. The weather here is constantly changing and it is all he can do to keep up with the changes. We hear of snow or sun in the forecast and instead of planning around what he says will happen...we wait. We never put coats away for summer or shorts away in the winter. One day it's 72 and sunny, the next day it's 23 and snowing (no joke, this happened on Christmas eve).
So, when the meteorologist made his forecast of snow for today many of us rolled our eyes and did our homework anyway because we know what most Texans know. The weatherman is almost always wrong (no offense to weather people...it's not you, it's Texas). This morning we woke up to 2 inches of snow and I apologized to the TV as the weatherman even seemed surprised he was right!! L went to school as usual (the FTW ISD almost never has snow days). Matt dropped her off then called me on his way to class. The radio informed him SWBTS was closed for the day. I don't know if this is a sign of immaturity or if I just was excited to actually spend the day with my husband but I was super excited!!!  I went out my door (apartments) and yelled..."SCHOOL IS CLOSED TODAY WOO HOO"!!!! I went back inside before anyone could see me but, I'm sure they knew who it was and muttered to themselves "crazy californian" ...ha ha! Oh well, I had fun doing it!
By noon we picked L up from school (they had early release due to the snow). It has already snowed 7 inches and it is supposed to snow until midnight. FTW ISD and SWBTS are closed tomorrow too! It's been a huge blessing to spend the extra time with Matt (though are "free" time looks nothing like it used to).
Here are some pictures from this morning...

Once Kevin heard me say "it is snowing" he jumped out of bed and ran down the hall. 

 the weather man was right...

First thing this morning...2 inches of snow.

Our little Eskimo.

 

Our neighbor, Augusta (from Nigeria) made this 

beret for H's birthday. She is attempting to sit in her "snow chair".

Noah was a better fit. (neighbor friends)

Seminary Wives!! (I'm the only one who is also a student) I love these Ladies!!

Once L got home from school she and the other neighborhood kiddos (along with some dads) made this HUGE bunny rabbit...It's about 6-7 ft tall.

 

Trying to show how BIG the bunny is!!! 

**Quick update**

H and K will start full time 8-3 school this next week. They are so excited to start!!

In the year 2102

L will be 100 years old! Crazy to think about. Today L's school celebrated their 100th day of school. She was sent home with a note about a week ago with fun things to do or bring to class on this day. One of them was to dress like you're 100 years old (wearing school uniforms EVERYDAY made this very exciting). Saturday we went to the GOODWILL Superstore and found some fun stuff that would work. I spent some time researching (ie. watching youtube videos) how to draw makeup on a face to make wrinkles. I'm no professional but we did have fun with it this morning...

She insisted on wearing the hat sideways so everyone could see the ribbons.

Nice wrinkles!!

Complete with missing front tooth (colored in black...she still has not lost a tooth yet. But, her bottom two are finally loose. Making progress!!)

I LOVE being a mom! It is the MOST rewarding and challenging job. I am so blessed to have 3 children who are so different from each other and love me in their own ways. Watching them grow is the biggest adventure yet...

Special K

K is our sweet little guy (did you think I was posting about cereal?). He is the younger brother to 2 older sisters and is now 3 1/2!! Time flies. He is almost keeping up with his sisters and LOVES to cuddle with me. His favorite things are: cars, riding his razor (scooter), super hero sheets, big boy underwear on backwards (so he can see the cool designs), and of course hot dogs!! Here are some recent pics...

 

Did your picture "make it" ???

Our dining room table had seen better days. It was a gift from a sweet friend but her dogs had chewed the table legs a little and there were several large stains on the top (appeared to be paint). I thought about sanding down the table and re-staining it but who has time for that?!
I wanted to "save" the table and make it our own. After some thought I decided to make it into a family heirloom. It is not fancy or expensive but it will hold some precious memories of our family for years to come.

BEFORE

I went through a HUGE pile of pictures from the past 10 Years and found some really great ones. Once I picked out the pictures that I was going to use and began by gluing them onto the table top (i pulled the table apart so we can still make the table smaller if we need to). Then I began with the Mod Podge ...I LOVE this stuff!! I still have about 10 layers to go, then some water sanding to the surface. Once my project is complete Our table will hold our memories for years to come...

My little helpers.

Waiting for the table to dry...

AFTER

Almost finished....I just need to apply 10 more coats!!

Caution: things may appear larger than they actually are

Case and point. When wearing your new glasses for the first time make sure too adjust your eyes for the stairs or you MIGHT fall down them...yikes!! It was only a small tumble and nobody saw. Does that still count? I'm going to say it does not!! Here is a pic of my new specs...

And, just in case you were wondering how L is adjusting...she approved (at least she said she did but then she walked away shaking her head in disapproval).

Can you read that? No? Hmm.....

Today my eye doctor prescribed what I was hoping he would not... a change from reading glasses to more full time wear with a stronger prescription. Here at SWBTS I read anywhere from 400-750 pages per week and spend a lot of time on my computer completing research or writing papers. Since school began a couple of weeks ago I have been having headaches (in my temples and behind my eyes) and I've been very nauseous. My first reaction is probably the same as most young married women who become nauseous for days on end...am I expecting?? I am happy to say that I am NOT. I thought it might have something to do with my vision. Mostly because my symtoms were exsaserbated (sp?) when studying or in classes.

With all that said I did go today and get my new glasses ordered. I'm happy they had a BIG sale and I was able to score some really cute BEBE glasses. Did you know you can use coupons to buy glasses?? Nice! They look a little like the ones pictured above. I was happy about my choice and was excited to tell L about my new eye wear. However, I didn't realize my news would bring her to tears!!
I picked L up from school and told her about my day and she started crying. I was puzzled by her reaction. I kept quiet as I drove hoping she would let me into her world and share with me why she was crying. She wiped her tears and looked up to say, "Mom, I don't like it when you wear your glasses because it doesn't look like you. I haven't said anything because I know they help you see and you only wear them sometimes. But, now you're going to wear them all the time and I'll never get to see your face again." WOW, I was not prepared for that. I had no idea she felt that way. On the drive home we continued our conversation and I agreed to spend 30 min a day w/out my glasses. I also reassured her that even though I don't look the same it's still me...

   ...and just in case she wants to see the "real" me I promised all she had to do was ask and I will take my glasses off and hug her tight. I love that girl. She is so sweet and full of life. Never afraid of what others think and is always looking for ways to help. She wears her heart on her sleeve. I wonder where she picked up that trait?

Cool Website....

I made this on a cool website. It is http://www.wordle.net

Five times the FUN

As you all know by now, yesterday was H's 5th birthday. We celebrated all day with gifts, cakes, games and friends. Here are some of the pictures...

This was my first attempt at baking a Bday cake...

Ready for the party to start!!

The neighborhood crew.

Blowing out the candles...

K enjoying his cake!!

Thank you Granny and Papa

Daddy getting the pinata ready...

Of course H was up first. She did great!

K had fun too.

The pinata took a beating...but was holding up REALLY well!! Everyone took 2 turns.

The birthday girl...

L took her turn very seriously!! Poor pinata.

The Princess and her royal court (thanks to the pinata).

H was so worn out from her big day. I guess being 5 really takes it out of you!!

Thank you to everyone who wished H a 

Happy Birthday yesterday via FB or phone calls!!