Monday Musings

Here's what happens when you leave your camera sitting around a 9 year old. There's this picture and about 80 more that are very similar.

Do you see what I don't see? My husband is a genius! The area directly behind our desk is our pantry. We had plenty of room in there for a couple of shelves, so my genius husband poked a hole in the wall and put in our computer tower, printer, and mass of cords. I love how clean and nice it looks!

I'm in to this robin egg blue-greeny color. I get like this sometimes with a color obsession. Aren't these just the most awesome dishes ever? I found them at Big Lots of all places for next to nothing. They are Jessica McClintock brand. Anybody know Jessica McClintock? I loved Jessica McClintock in the 80's. With my perm and my Aqua Net sprayed self. Some of ya'll know what I am talkin' about. She had a line of lacy dresses with puffy sleeves that were all the rage. I wore one to the prom one year. They were kinda pricey, but she had a line of patterns and my mom sewed me several for church. As a matter of fact I think my bridesmaids wore Jessica McClintock.

Anyway. I was rapturously mooning over my dishes, no one seemed to share my enthusiasm. Then Gracie suggested they might be more excited about the dishes if they held cookies. Later, when I added the cookies everyone oohhed and aahhed appropriately. Gotta do what ya gotta do.

Yep. Just a horse laying down. No story there. The girls love to catch her like this and curl up next to her like a colt and read a book. Byron started seminary classes again. He'll hopefully be on his last seminary class this time next year, and looking forward to graduating with his masters. It's a lot to do, but it goes better when you have a loving secretary to keep all your assignments in line and type your papers. :) I'm actually kind of enjoying hearing about all the interesting things he is learning. Have a blessed and wonderful week!

Some Views From 'Round Here

We've had some amazing weather & fabulous days around here lately. We are loving some UNO Attack too! Here's a few shots of the way things look from where we sit!

Family Theme Songs and Phrases

We have always had little phrases, verses, & themes we have quoted as a family. Not only does it help drill things into our kids brains & memories, but it's part of what makes us a "team." Every good team has chants & songs, right?
One of our most memorable: when the kids were toddlers we would say all together when we gave them crayons..."we only write on...paper!" and they would chime in on the ending. I guess it worked, we never had coloring on walls or books.

Now as they have gotten older we say, "people will always let you down, but God never will." A great motto - especially if you are a Junior High girl.
Songs are a huge part of who we are as a family. This is Daddy's influence really, that man has to have praise music all the time! Right now we are singing "Restoration" off the world mandate cd (not released on ITunes just yet -or I'd tell you to run & get it)! Here's a fair version:
"Your Great Name" by Natalie Grant is our other recent favorite. I love how it teaches the power of using God's name. That'll preach.

And..."God is Enough" by Lecrae - another awesome favorite family theme - especially for teens who are always pushing for more. The catchy repetition will stick with you and remind you that God is all you need. Love that! We love Lecrae.

We love to constantly quote the Word to our kids when they face difficulty, and to teach them to quote the Word for themselves. However, sometimes a song or a motto can stick in their memory and speak to their heart in a powerful way. We quote these things to our kids when they come to us with situations or conflicts. Some trials - especially pre-teen & junior high girl trials - might sometimes require some extra effort to overcome...and we need all the help we can get.

Legoland & and other fun

We all loved the lazy river & the wave pool at Great Wolf Lodge

Legoland was a big hit with the boys. I'm a little unsure myself. It didn't look like it was worth the $15 discounted ticket price to me. It didn't look like there was much to it, really. But to a Lego-maniac like Daniel, it was pretty awesome.

He was pretty impressed with the mini-replicas of Dallas Landmarks. This is Ranger's stadium.

The boys watched a cool 4D Lego movie with snow and wind coming at them. Pretty cool. We had a great day, while the boys were at Legoland, the girls and I did some shopping at the Grapevine Mills mall and we are all now totally exhausted.

Since 2011 is now over, I was able to get this great "11" shirt at Old Navy on clearance! The perfect thing for a beautiful 11 year old to wear! This is a great photo of the lobby at Great Wolf Lodge - you can see the waterpark in the background. She loved these great trees in the lobby. We love the Great Wolf Lodge and we had an awesome time. Now, we are just completely worn out and ready for a relaxing weekend at home!

How to spend a cold January day

Today my middler, Gracie turned 11 years old. We played hookie from school for two days & ran off to Great Wolf Lodge! We are swimmin' & slidin' & mom & dad are enjoyin' the hot tub. We are lookin forward to pajama story time and hot chocolate this evening. Followed by some loud games of UNO Attack & more of the same tomorrow . We are livin' it up & havin' lots of fun! I'll post more pictures of our adventures ... and tomorrow's trip to Legoland as soon as I can.

Happy birthday, Daniel!

December birthday number two has come and gone. My baby is nine! We had a fabulous nerf war party & lots of fun!

Total Christmas Fail

Okay I am going to excuse myself from partial responsibility for all my Christmas fails with the reasoning that I got sick about 4 days before and struggled to completely recover. But, in reality it isn't much of an excuse. Now, let me say, we had a beyond fabulous Christmas! Which goes to show you, no matter how good you are at organizing, making sure all "t's" are crossed and that kind of thing, it turns out okay in the end. Usually. It's called Grace.

Like most people I desire a magazine perfectly decorated house, amazing craft and project activities for the kids that dazzle minds, handmade gifts that I pull out and they are perfect. Wonderful music plays elegantly in the background, thoughtful, unexpected surprises I cleverly pop out to the the awe of my family and friends. Brilliant baked goods. Perfectly selected, thoughtful gifts, so artfully wrapped the recipient just stares and doesn't want to open it. Amazed gasps. Roaring applause. That kind of thing. Then - the unexpected guest drops by bringing a gift - you know, the person YOU didn't think of - and not to be caught off guard, I turn (with my supercape swirling in the breeze) to my special supermom closet of specially prepared "extra gifts" if you know what I mean, and pull out just the right thing, "Oh, yes, and here's your gift I was just about to bring it over to you!" Truth is my Christmas decoration planned for the front gate was a total fail when I spelled Believe wrong. I have a BA in English, ya'll. All my handmade projects were a total fail, I forgot gifts for like 6 people, INCLUDING, mind you, my parents! (To my credit, they always say "Don't buy us anything!" -but everyone knows you are not supposed to listen when your parents say that). I ended up running out for a past last minute gift for a much loved uncle, forgot most of the food I was supposed to bring to my in-laws, and ended up gaping empty handed a couple times when unexpected guests showed up -with no super cape at all. One of the kids wrapped the ONLY handmade gift (a decorated bird feeder) before I could scrape off the large label goo all over the side. And I didn't unwrap & fix it. Lovely. And Christmas cards? Well, I had the kids write, "from all of us" on their handmade cards. Does that count? I was doing pretty well at the beginning of December, how did this happen?

So, to all I forgot, maybe I'll send over a Ground Hog's Day present. I've never been very good at Christmas cards. Maybe I'll start sending Easter cards or something. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy a relaxing week and leave the super suit off for a while. It didn't fit too well anyway. Remind me to read this post again in early November and do better next year. But, I guess I did well with what really matters. We honored Jesus and there was plenty of peace and love in our home. It wasn't like I was stressed to get these things done. I was lost in some happy, air-headed fog and then at just the absolute wrong moment it hit me like a Homer Simpson, "Doh!" and that's it. So, it just goes to show you the wonders of Grace. Who wants to wear a super suit anyway? Very unflattering.