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!