Might as well - Christmas 2013

Merry Christmas!

Shew what a month.  I thought since I posted a Thanksgiving post that I might as well finish it out with a Christmas one!  

We had a great day celebrating at home.  The kids were beyond excited this year.  It was loud and crazy and a little wild at times, but that's just become our normal!

Thanksgiving 2013

So thankful for a week OFF!  Yay! Yay!

It is so great to be off the grid.  

Right after school was out we headed to Bunny and Pappy's.  The weather was pretty terrible with lots of rain and even ice after we got there.  We spent our times indoors watching football and eating.  What else?

After a few days, we headed to Nana and Pappoo's for Thanksgiving.  The kids played with cousins, great-grands, and grands.  We made smores, and ate some more!

Nana filmed the kids around the table as they shared what they were thankful for.

Grace:  I'm thankful for Garrett.

Garrett:  I'm thankful for Grace.

Allie:  I'm thankful for food.

Mary:  I'm thankful for friends.

David:  my mom

Me:  little sniff

So thankful for these little people God has given us.  

Thanksgiving fest

The kids' school Thanksgiving fest was yesterday.  Garrett was a Pilgrim in the kindergarden play. 

My proud pilgrim!  I thought he would say, "NO WAY" when he saw the costume that was sent home, but he said, "Wow, I'm a real preacher!" 

Here is a clip from the play.  He did so great!

Promise U musical

Here is a clip from Allie's part in the school musical from last week.  She was the "movie director" in the story line.  It was the perfect role for her! ha

Hanging with Jenn

NO LIE.  My blog has been acting crazy.

I've tried several times to post, and it won't let me type.

A sign??

Maybe I need to shut it!

This is Jenn Hatmaker…..and my crazier friend, Kelly.

Kelly you deserved every bit of this….posting of your picture. 

I'm sure she will not approve because she likes to remain incognito, but girl you asked for it…"let's be honest."

This is my sweet friend Libby! She, and Kelly and I are Jenn Hatmaker stalkers and have been for a few years.  If you need any book recommendations, "Seven" by Jenn Hatmaker is one of the most profoundly, perspective changing books that I've ever read, but to top it off, she is HYSTERICAL.  

I found Libby a few years ago, also through blog stalking.  She has four kiddos (3 of who are adopted from Korea), so that'll seal a friendship when you know someone who also brought a two year old home from another culture.  Good times!  

As for Jenn…we really did "hang with her." (for a few min anyway!) Kelly's sister-in-law went with us also, and SHE lived across the hall from Jenn in college.  We just followed her around and acted like we knew her too.  Jenn is so genuinely nice that she played along! ha ha ha

Is anyone else having blogger problems?? It's taken me hours to post!  Every time I type, it goes to the title bar???

Is there an upgrade I'm missing???

No shoes no service

I forgot his shoes.

I have to wake this boy up most afternoons to go grab the big kids, and he stays asleep in the car with the blanket over his head.  Usually I throw his shoes in the car and we go.

Today, I had to get out to go inside the school rather than pick up line, and he had to walk, half asleep in his bare feet.

You know what?

I didn't even care:)

Seriously, I think God gave me four kids because it took me having four to realize, some things really aren't that big of a deal.  I'm a "blend in" kind of girl, and it's not cool to care about everything little thing anymore.  

I saw this article on Ann Voskamp's blog.

It's about comparison.  This silly little example made me consider this.  As mammas, we are sometimes busy worrying about whether we measure up to all the other mammas.  When I realized that I forgot his shoes, I was about to get embarrassed thinking, "What will the other mammas thinking?  Oh. There is the lady with all those kids who doesn't have it together."  Which is probably not even the case, but why even give it a fleeting thought?

Because we measure our worth by the world's standards and not by God's.

He surely doesn't care about walking around barefooted, so why should I?

Here's the article.  She says it WAY better than I could, but I'm not comparing:)

Here is the Link.

Halloween

This was David's first year to trick-or-treat.  Last year, he had only been home a few months, and he was happiest at home, so home he stayed!

This may be my last Halloween pic with all four!  Allie picked out her costume, wanted to do it, then when we arrived to our old neighborhood, she took off her m & m.  She's just not sure if she's too old for her it I guess:(.  She put it back on, and had a blast, so who knows.  

BOO! Ha.  Next year she may be passing out candy instead.

David had a great time, for about 20 min.  Then my little dragon laid down on the grass and said, "I'm sad. I'm so tired."  

 He was sad that he couldn't keep up with the big kids who were RUNNING!  Poor little guy.  He hitched a ride back to home base with dad.  

Someone asked recently about my scrapbooking program.  I use Photoshop Elements..10 I think?  It's not the most "user friendly/getting started" program, but after you learn the basics, it's not hard! I learned everything from "you tube."  

Fall afFair

We ran them ragged this weekend.  We took the kids to the Texas State fair.  It was PERFECT fall weather.

There weren't many crowds on Friday morning.

Mandy brought Hunter to hang with us.  He is FEARLESS!

Love us some Mando!

We stayed to see the Lion King, and did not leave the park until almost 8 p.m.!  There was not one melt down to be had.  We are JUST about to the stage where we can all go and do as a fam...FINALLY!

Early Saturday morning, we drove to Waco for Baylor's homecoming.  Hubs went to Baylor. (I know it's confusing because we are Razorbacks too, but if you grew up in Arkansas you understand...)  The kids had never been, so we spent the day there.  Beautiful campus and beautiful day!

We had to lie down for a while after all that walking!  

The girls climbed a really tall wall at the game.  I couldn't believe Mary's strength and determination!

The bears blew it out!  They are ranked #6 as of today.  Wow!  Apparently we picked the right year to go back!

Friday night foto fun

 Once again, I'm learning to say "yes" more.  

I mean why would I spend $5 for the girls to pile into a photo booth at the mall when I can take pics with my phone all the day long?

That

is

why.

13 years

My blog is barely breathing!   

We've had a lot of fun this past month.  We had dear friends that we only see once a year come visit a couple of weeks ago.

The kids had a BLAST!  

And so did the big kids.  We caught up from the last year, and we ate way too much food.  It is so good to laugh with friends.  

Another couple came too, but they were here for just a night.  I didn't get their pic! Shoot.  

Anyway, the point is, Shane (the other friend who came) shared with us that he has the opportunity to be on Jeopardy AGAIN.  It's the battle of the decades and he's your NINETY's dude.  So go vote for our friend to play again!

http://www.jeopardy.com/minisites/battleofthedecades90s/

This past weekend we went to a Family Matters Conference in Jackson Hole, WY.  

The colors and the mountains...wow.

We saw a heard of Bison, so what does Hubs do? 

He runs toward them.  There he is...way off in distance.  

It snowed quite a bit the first night!

Funny group!!! We had such a great time together. 

When the snow cleared out, it warmed up and we hiked up the ski slopes.  That was a first!

We ran into these guys. Yikes.

This was the scenery right in front of our lodge.  

It was great to get away!

We saw some beautiful scenery but we also heard great truth from Tim Kimmel of Family Matters Ministries.

He taught on several topics but one was from his new book, Grace Filled Marriages.

I can't wait to read the whole thing.  Good stuff!

Happy #13 to you hubs!

Thankful.

House guest

Garrett brought home Curious George from Kindergarten.  He came with a suit case FULL of stuff.  I spent this afternoon washing his clothes and gathering his things to go back to school tomorrow. (Really? I was thinking...I'm folding a monkey's clothes?)

The assignment was to scrapbook our time with George to go in the kinderbook.

Garrett is sad to return him!  He carried him around all week and even laid out his clothes every night for "school."  I gave George a little "bath" in the washing machine today because Garrett has had a yucky cough.  

Good bye George!

See you again in three years:)

Pull over

I have found that it's hard to blog from the driver's seat of my car.

It seems that is where I spend more and more of my time!

Today, I was driving Allie to cheer, and she said, "Mom pull over, Jesus is coming back...well actually we would have missed the trumpets if that were the case, but it's so pretty!"

I did pull over because it was on a country road, and Allie and I just stared for a minute.

As the kids get older, I'm realizing the need for boundaries and "margin" and the need to even pull over on the side of the road sometimes.

Our Pine Cove speaker recommend this book:

It's by Richard A. Swenson, M.D.  

He's a Christian physician who discusses our need for balance in the age of technology where everyone is in contact with each other and we have the capabilities to do more, but is more better?  Interesting read...

With four kids, this battle is not going away, but surely I can be wiser with my time so that the time I have with them is not fragmented which is often the case.

Garrett started flag football with Upward.

Oh yeah.

He was a little nervous about it, but he had a great time at his first practice.

I'm really proud of him.  He had a rough start to school, and he has worked so hard to correct it.  He had a perfect week last week!

Labor day and first day

 We had a very laid back weekend.  A dear friend turned 40, so we did a little celebrating.

All three kids finished their summer bridge books! I was so proud of them because they worked so hard.  Garrett bought this little flyer toy.  He played it all weekend.

Daddy worked and slept.

Big boy. 

He picked out his name tag..

and waved good bye!

He said, "Ms. Sheila says no fits. I happy boy."

What a difference a year makes:)