I was tagged...so here it is!

The rules of the "game" is that you go to where you store your pictures on your computer. Then you get in the 4th folder and upload the 4th picture. No cheating or anything to get a cute picture in there. But I lucked out! How much cuter than this can you get?

This past July we went bowling with our friend W and her three girls. This is Superman getting ready to throw his ball down the lane. Many times, it got half way and then just stopped. One other time, he actually popped it up onto that blue strip between the lanes! The man at the bowling alley was so patient and came it fixed our lane for us many times. W, let's all go again!

In fairness, I also put picture 5. This is Princess in her bowling attire. She knew how to hold the ball correctly and I think that her score was even higher than mine!

Now, I guess this is where I tag 4 more people. I tag Wendy, April, Becky, and Jamee. Have fun and let me know when you have posted your pictures.

We live where?

It is like a tornado whisked us away and plopped us down in the north somewhere! Here we are in Central Texas where it is just HOT all year, and we woke up to snow on the ground, and the temperatures have been in the 30s all day long. Even better, it began to snow again at about 3:00 in the afternoon, and it continued for several hours. There is a layer of snow on the ground and children are just rolling in it, walking through it, throwing it, and building snow things with it. There are so many smiles! Thank you, God, for the simple pleasure of some snow! Of course, it will be in the 70s again by this weekend, and everyone will become sick again. But it sure has been a beautiful sight to see, so I guess that it will be worth it.

This is the view from the front doors of the church at about 5:30 p.m.

This is the view from the side door. As a bonus, you get to see the Christian Life Center which is currently being built. If you look closely, you can see the snow falling down. Princess said that it looked like we were in for a blizzard!

The view of the sidewalk of the church.

The kids had never seen snow on the slides before! For once, they did NOT ask to play on the playground before going inside.

Princess wanted you to now that the snow was deep enough to leave drag marks.

This is the bush infront of our house. While it looks like a cotton plant, that is just a facade. This is really a lantana. I hope that it lives through all of this!

The suburban was covered!

Princess and Superman walking with their umbrellas. They thought that that would help keep the snow off of them, but it was blowing pretty good, so they were useless.

"Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

Isaiah 1:18

Happy Birthday, Superman!

NOTICE: Superman's actual birthday was on November 7th. But, being the best mom in the world, I waited several days to post so that we could draw out the excitement! That is what I am going to tell myself anyway!

Superman turned 5 years old! It is so hard to imagine that by BABY is 5 years old. He will be in kindergarten at this time next year! Let me tell you 5 things about Superman that you may or may not know:
1. He loves anything that has to do with Super Heroes! Superman, Spider Man, Batman, etc. are all super to him!
2. As much as he loves Super Heroes, he loves Transformers even more!
3. He has more stuffed animals than I have owned in my entire life. And, he takes his sister's animals and mine, too.
4. He loves to cuddle!
5. He loves to tell everyone that God loves us and that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. My sweet boy knows what is important in life, and I couldn't be more proud!

Happy Birthday, Superman!

Peaking through his birthday banners. Isn't he handsome?

Birthday Banner decorations! He really liked this special way to celebrate.

Opening his gifts on the morning of his birthday. This is a Transformer from Aunt T, Uncle P, and the girls.

A fireman play set from Grammy and Poppy.

And a watch! He loves it!

My head hurts, Mom!

Really? You don't say? I say that with humor, but my baby's head really did hurt! Princess and Superman were at Friday Night Out at the church last night, and Dinky and I were at home just getting some housework done (romantic, huh?), when my cell phone started ringing. I said, "That can't be good!" Dinky answered the phone, and sure enough, it was Ms. B, the children's director at church who said that Princess had been running and had fallen down and that there was a lump on her head. Ms. B wanted us to come on up and take a look at it, so we got in the car and headed across town. We weren't too horribly worried, because if you know my Honey Bunny, she is a bit emotional. I was truly expecting a little bit of a carpet burn, but when I saw her, I thought to myself, "You didn't tell me she hit her head hard enough to be growing a second head!" Ms. B said that the kids were playing a game in the sanctuary and were running in the aisles when Princess fell. She was running down one of the slopes and just couldn't stop herself and her head whacked the floor. Apparently, there is not much padding between the carpet and the concrete floor! Princess appeared to be okay except for the lump on her head. She knew her ABCs, she could count, and she knew when her birthday was. So, we picked up Superman and came on home with an ice pack. She is doing much better this morning, but she will have this lump for quite some time. Good thing school pictures are already done!

My 7th Birthday Princess!

Seven years ago at 7:25 p.m., our very own Princess was born. Our lives are changed forever because of this darling little girl, and we wouldn't have it any other way. In the tradition of my friends, here are 7 interesting facts about my very own 7th Birthday Princess:

1. She wants her hair to be as long as Rapunzel's. Therefore, except for her bangs, it will not be cut until further notice.

2. She eats more chocolate than any other human on earth! That may be a little bit of an exaggeration, but not by much!

3. She LOVES to go to school! She would probably live up there if she could. She is just a sponge soaking all these things into her brain, and then spitting them back out for our benefit.

4. Her favorite colors are pink and purple, but she also likes lime green.

5. She and the girl that she calls her best friend, have known each other since the day that A was born. How is that for a lasting friendship? Of course, it does help that me and A's mom are friends, but I feel sure that these two will be forever friends.

6. She owns at least 15 Barbies, but she tells me that she needs more. And more clothes for them. She sleeps with these Barbies every night, and I constantly wonder how there is any room for her in her full size bed.

7. She wants to be a flower gardener when she grows up. She wants to take care of all the beautiful flowers, plants, and trees that God provided for us.

I decorated the entrance to her room with streamers in her favorite colors minus the lime green. She was so excited! When she opened up her door, she came running to my room to wake me up and said, "Thank you, Momma! I love my streamers!"

Princess opened gifts from Mommy & Daddy, Superman, and from Grammy, Poppy, and Cousin J. This is by far the favorite gift! The newest Barbie movie release is the new most watched movie in our house! Good job Grammy & Poppy!

Princess also celebrated at school by taking Hello Kitty cupcakes up for all of her classmates. Here is her friend M giving her all of the Hello Kitty rings off of the boys' cupcakes. M said that Grace got to keep them all because it was her birthday after all!

We are not having her birthday party for another month, so Princess got to invite two friends out for some pampering. This is a picture of her with J & A while they are soaking their feet for a pedicure. They all had their toenails done complete with a flower on the big toe, and they had their fingernails painted, too. They all really enjoyed this little bit of fun!

*I just noticed that one of my pictures has disappeared! I don't know how to get it back! It was a picture of the kids having chocolate coke cake for breakfast. That doesn't happen very often!

Thankful?!?!

Well, we survived a hurricane. It wasn't near as bad here in our parts as predicted and for that, I am very thankful. But, I am sure that all those people who lost everything they had except their life, and for those people who are going without electricty or drinkable water, there may not be much to be thankful for. But, Princess and I had a great conversation this morning. Here it is in mid-September when the temperatures have been in the 90s and close to 100 forever, and we woke up to a great fall morning of only 66 degrees. And the high temperature was only 80 degrees. And, it is supposed to stay that way several more days. I told Princess that that was God taking care of his people because now they would not get too hot without any way to cool off. She didn't realize that people didn't have air conditioning if they didn't have electricity, and she said that the sure was nice of God to think of them. So, you see, there is something to be thankful for after all. A God that is bigger than that hurricane and who cares for us beyond words. I pray that you have all found something to be thankful for this week, too.

2.6

What is in a number? That depends on what it indicates. This number indicates that my sweet baby who is in the first month of first grade (1.1) can read at a grade equivalency of someone in the sixth month of second grade (2.6). I knew that she could read, and that she enjoys reading, but I never really thought about how "good" she was at it. Our school participates in the Accelerated Reader (AR) program, and the test that she took to place into the program is called the STAR test. This STAR test placed her grade equivalency at the 2.6 level, and it recommends that she read books at the 2.4 to 3.4 level in order to have challenging materials to read. I am just floored! And I have already found the first problem with this high of a reading level for a younger child---most princess books are in the 1.9 or below area! I am worried about the content in some of the higher grade level books, so I am really going to have to pay attention to that. But, I am so proud of Princess, and I wanted you to know, too! In fact, many of you may have already found yourself in this position or you will soon. Princess's friends are just as intelligent as she is! Don't say that I didn't warn you!

It has been a month!

Yes. I realize that it has been a while since I posted. I have thought about it nearly everyday, but I just didn't get it done. Since I am a teacher, my life just got amazingly busier. And, since I am now the Instructional Coach for my campus, I have even more responsibilities. Plus, I just started back to graduate school to complete my internship and finally be certified as an administrator. I have had a Master's Degree for 7 years, but never completed the certification as I was raising these beautiful children through their youngest years. Well, enough of the whining about my busy life, here are some pictures of the kiddos first days of school.

Superman wants "spiky" hair all the time now. If I use enough gel, I can get it to stick up like this for a while. He has a ferocious cowlick right in the front that insists on going down, not up, but he is usually happy with the result.

Here he is ready to get in the car with Daddy to go to school. He had actually been going for two weeks already, but if I was taking a picture of sister, then he was getting a picture taken, too! His doodle monster is his sleeping buddy choice of the day. It changes everyday.

Princess used to have super curly hair, and that is what she wanted for the first day of school. And the second. And the third. She is willing to sleep in rollers every night to achieve this look. Because her hair still has the slight curl to it, when we do roll it, it will last all day long.

Princess walking into school from the parking lot.

This is princess with her teacher, Mrs. Turner. Yes, she is married to the Mr. Turner that some of you know. Let's pray that the election turns out correctly so that Princess doesn't lose her teacher in the middle of the year. We both love Mrs. Turner!

Where there is blue. . .

. . . there must then be some pink! (Disclaimer: I am sorry if I offend anyone who is only able to paint one of the colors.) Superman LOVES blue, and Princess LOVES pink! So, this weekend, Princess had her turn to paint her bedroom. The color of choice is called Fairytale Pink. It is perfect for her princess bedroom.

When we told her that she could paint whatever she wanted on the wall, she painted out her name. Now, everyone knows her real name, but we will still call her Princess!

Isn't she cute! No, she has not cut her hair, it is simply tucked into her shirt so that it doesn't turn pink. She still wants hair like Rapunzel's.

Painting stripes like Superman did.

Princess loves polka dots, and she wanted us to leave these on the wall, but they have been painted over.

Hard at work! She painted this entire wall as high up as she could reach. She loved being able to paint on her own wall!

Get your tires checked!

Well, friends, if you have bought tires from Discount Tires in the past two years, you should be aware that there is a recall on the valve stems. They will replace the valve stems for free even if you don't have the paperwork. So, you may be asking how I know this. No, I did not receive paperwork in the mail from Discount Tires as I was informed that they are sending out only 1000 per week and they must not have made it to our name yet. I informed them that they could have caused me a lot less stress and them a lot less trouble if they had simply mailed them all at the same time. Here is my story:

I woke up Friday morning ready for me and the kiddos to drive my niece, C, to Houston to meet with her mom, my sister-in-law so that they could go to a couple of doctor's appointments. The first thing I noticed on our new white car, was that there was a flat tire on the back. We got over to Dinky's work and saw the screw in the tire, so we decided to take the little Geo. We finally got on our way only about 30 minutes later than planned, but we made it there. The trade off went well, and with warm good-byes since we wouldn't see each other again until Christmas, the kids and I were on the way to the Woodland's Mall, and C & C were on their way to appointments. Little did I know that we would see each other much sooner! I was driving in the middle lane of the fabulous 5-lane Interstate 45 when there was a thunk, and Princess immediately asked if we had a flat tire. I thought that we had just hit something on this busy highway since the car did not jerk or swerve, but within seconds, I knew that I was wrong. We managed to pull over to the shoulder of the road, and I was ready to cry. Here I was on a busy interstate, in view of an exit (Rayford-Sawdust for those of you that now the area) but unable to drive any further as I was already on the rim, with two young children in my car. I called Dinky who offered to come get me, but he is of course, hours away. I call C & C who immediately turned around and came back to sit with me. And, my brother-in-law, who was on the phone with my sister-in-law, called his auto service who would send someone to come rescue me in about an hour. An hour! So, that is when Dinky called back and said to take it Discount Tires because that is where we just bought the 4 new tires just over a year ago, and his boss had told him about the recall that we didn't know about. Finally, a fabulous mechanic shows up and changes my tire to the donut, then he actually follows me to Discount Tire to make sure that I get there safely. How sweet and wonderful is that! C had already taken the kids in her car to get them off of the highway, and she met me at the tire store. I informed the wonderful worker at Discount Tire that my tire had just blown out and that I wanted all of my tires checked for this recall. The man nicely walked out to my car, took one look at the valve on the tire, and said, "Yep. That is what caused the blowout." Really! Nice time to find out! Essentially, the valve had split open at a weak point which caused the pressure to burst the tire. But I ended up with a brand new tire, and four brand new valve stems for absolutely free. Since "Customer Satisfaction" was written on my receipt, I feel sure that that little part about them trying to kill me and my children which I said very loudly in ther packed waiting room helped in getting such great service. Anyhow, the children and I ended up going with C & C to their doctor's appointments, and we had a pleasant enough day. Dinky had to drive down to pick up my keys from Discount Tire since we wouldn't get back out there in time, so he met us for dinner and then we drove home. We got home at 11:30 P.M. We were pooped!

Things that I am thankful for:
*Great family members who came and rescued me! It was very comforting to have someone there to help me make decisions.
*My brother-in-law's great auto service!
*The great guy with Milstead Automotive who also protected me and himself by the way he parked behind me to change the tire. There have been way too many incidents of cars parked on shoulders being hit and people being killed, and the tire that needed changing was on the trafiic side. He angled the van, and he turned the tires away from us so that, if hit, it would go away from us. How thoughtful!
*My friends and family who prayed for the safety of me and the children. Because of their prayers, all except one car was able to merge into the second lane and not pass close to us on the shoulder. It was like we were "removed" from the road!
*We had a great day despite all the stress and nobody was seriously injured or hurt! It could have been much worse!

When I figure out how to download pictures from my phone, I will show the picture of my wonderful tire. I will also try really hard to update you this week on our other, more fun activities!

Let's call it art!

The time has come to paint the children's room. We allowed them to pick out their paint with just a little bit of guidance from us. Then, after all the prep work, Superman got a chance to paint his own room. He had a great time! But, everytime that he got a spot of paint on him, he stopped painting to go get a wipie to clean up. I tried to explain that we would clean up when we were done, but he wouldn't have any of that! This blue that he has chosen is called "Artesian Water." The color is very similar to the blue painter's paint. Imagine that all over the walls. It is quite bright, and it even appears to be glowing off of the walls in the hallway. I sure do hope that with a second coat and the blinds back on the windows, that the glowing goes away!

He has already done quite a bit of the wall here.

Let's see how high I can reach!

As most of you know, Superman likes things to be done in a certain way. This did come in handy because he made sure that his painting met up with my painting so that it would be "one big blue."

This is the art of it! Superman is very proud of his long, straight stripes.

Bowling with our Buddies!

I have a very dear friend, W, who used to be my roommate, then she had her first child 6 months after Princess was born, and her second child and Superman were actually born on the same day. She now has a third child. We have known each other for 13 years now, and we know that this friendship with us and our children will go on for many more years. Anyhow, end of the sappy story! She invited us to go bowling with her and the girlies, and we had lots of fun! Thanks for inviting us, W! We would love to go again one day!

Princess had the best form of all of out there! She was very pleased with herself! Of course, last night she was complaining about her back hurting, and her hip has popped three times now. She is actually limping a little bit. I hope that she didn't hurt herself bowling because then she will never want to go again!

Superman thought that he was so strong!

Superman bowled by placing the ball on the lane then giving it a slight push. Most of the time, the ball went about halfway down the lane and then just stopped. We would have to go down and push it the rest of the way. However, as I was snapping this picture, I heard a loud clunk and then another one. Superman ending up throwing his ball into the lane, then it bounced over the bumpers on the left and ended up on that little strip of blue that separates the lane! It rolled about halfway down and then it just stopped perched up there on the blue part. The guy at the bowling alley said that that was one that he had not seen before!

Busy on the Fourth!

To celebrate the nation's birthday this year, we went to Gram's and Granddaddy's house. Their county has festivities each year at the county seat which include an arts and craft show, a parade, and some good fireworks. The kids have always enjoyed going to these things. I am hoping that it is because they feel good living in such a great country and want to celebrate that, but I am pretty sure that it is because of the snow cones and the candy that they throw out at the parade.

This is Princess with her cousin M who is only 5 days younger than her. Unfortunately, my baby is going to be quite a bit shorter than her! We have pictures of them together as babies when they were actually about the same size, but as the get older, M gets taller and taller!

This is Princess with her cousin G who is one month younger than her. Once again, look at the difference in height! Anyhow, they are practically out in the street about to be runover by the floats because they want at any candy that is thrown first.

Superman was content to sit on Daddy for a little while, until some candy was thrown (see picture below). You can see his snow cone all down the front of his shirt. I thought that it was ruined after he also played in the dirt at the house, but thanks to Oxiclean, we have a white shirt again.

Superman going after the candy! He would sit on Daddy until candy was thrown acting all hot and tired, but as soon as he saw candy, he was on the run to get it!

The fireworks lasted nearly 40 minutes. This is Princess, Superman, and cousins M and B "dancing" to the "music" created by the popping. It was great!

Swimming Lessons

You will all be pleased to know that I registered the children in swimming lessons this year. A sweet young lady who is the daughter of one of the teachers at my school taught the lessons in their backyard pool. It was wonderful because the groups were small and she was so patient with them all! I am pleased to report that Princess and Superman will both put their face in the water without screaming like they are being killed, and they no longer cling to me like leeches at the pool. I actually got to swim by myself on the last trip to the pool because they were off playing on their own. They even went down the slide in the deep end! Now, there is still lots of progress to be made before they are actually swimming on their own, but this is a dramatic improvement from even just a few weeks ago!

Princess using her big arms to "swim" across the pool.

Superman swimming with his face in the water!

I can fly! This is just a happy picture. I love it! Superman is jumping into the pool from the side which is something that he had never done before.

Princess kept the dogs occupied during Joshua's swimming lesson. This is Sadie and LouLou. Bailey did not move from her spot to be in the picture.

We need a fashion consultant!

I think that I have become the ultimate relaxed mother. Yesterday afternoon, we decided to go out to eat, so I told Princess and Superman to put on some clothes. (They were wandering around in their underwear as usual!) We went out to eat at CiCi's Pizza in these gorgeous outfits! People did look at us, but we just didn't care! The kids loved their outfits so we just acted like this was perfectly normal!

Don't you love the soccer socks and the hiking boots?

Princess says that this shirt matches this skirt because they both have blue on them and they both have flowers on them. You can't see them here, but she is wearing her red, white, and blue flip-flops with this outfit. She admitted that the blue was not the right color to match the outfit, but that it was close enough.