Tea Party

Rachelle had a tea party and the girls got to dress up for the event. Laura Evans came over too and helped the girls with their hair and make up. Cindy did a great job with the tea party food and the girls had a great time.

Lights in Montgomery

Sunday night we ventured up to Montgomery to Grand Harbor off of Walden Rd. Two homes in the gated community joined together for a light show. It was well done and fun for the adults and kids. To take a look at their site for next year visit www.dearingdazzle.com. Dion and Nick told us about it and they met us up there and we all had dinner afterwards.

Praise

I just heard from Barbara from Back 2 Basics and the Lord provided for over 300 teens in CPS with gifts and blessings. May the Lord richly bless each person who prayed, gave time and money to be apart of this as instructed in James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Williams visit

The Williams visited us today. My sister was a day off on her trip so they waited to come down today and leave tomorrow for Colorado. We got to perform the play for them and baby Brooke was quite entertained. She was giggling :) We shared some cake with Uncle Jeremy and then they left headed to the hospital to see Jeremy's grandpa. He is in a rehab center off of FM1960. It was nice seeing them again. I hope they have a fun filled trip and enjoy snow pics of
Brooke!!

Afternoon celebrating

At 3pm, we were visited by Grandpa and Grandma, Aunt Maria and then Uncle Nick and Aunt Dion arrived. Christian received another Spike the Dinosaur from his grandparents but he graciously gave it to Ethan. We even told him he could take it back and get other things but he wanted Ethan to have one too. That was such a blessing to see. The kids received many nice gifts and were so excited to perform our Christmas play for the family.

More celebrating & Baby Alive

I made Albert a photo book this year. It was of all the pictures of him with us over the last year. It turned out nice.
Kara got Baby Alive, a Hispanic baby doll who goes potty. She speaks Spanish. That was a bit of a challenge for us all. Kara couldn't wait to feed her and give her a bottle. We ran out of diapers right away. It is a great doll but the green peas stain clothes!! I had to go to Target the next day and get preemie diapers for her. I can't believe I'm buying diapers again! And for a doll.

Christmas Play and Birthday party

This year we had our 1st Annual Christmas Play. It included shepherds, an angel, wise man, Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus. We even have a program printed. The kids did a great job and were quite entertaining. We concluded the reenactment with a prayer of thanksgiving and "Happy Birthday" to Baby Jesus.

Our celebration of Christmas

Merry Christmas! We enjoyed our time together and were thankful that Albert was home today. The boys set their alarm for 1:30 am and woke. Albert and I had just gone to bed at midnight. I was so out of it I thought I dreamed the whole thing. It was for real even the tears when they were sent back to bed until morning.

At 7 am everyone woke up. I was blessed because my kids handed me my presents before tearing theirs open. Such self control!! Christian got a new bike with a pterydactyl on it and Spike the Dinosaur. Ethan got the Milliuem Falcon which weighs 20 lbs! Kara got Baby Alive who eats and goes potty and a victorian doll house with all the accessories.

Christmas Eve

The kids were having a dressed rehearsal this morning. They all got up at 7am and said it was time to open their Christmas Eve gift. They are suppose to open it at night on Christmas Eve but they were just a little anxious.

The Donahue's visit

Elkin and the kids stopped by after a day of shopping with their grandmother. We exchanged gifts. The kids were so happy to see them. I was glad I got the sizes right! We ended up at Chickfila before they left to head back to Livingston.

More pics from Grandaddy's and Granny's

Celebrating early

We went to my Mom's and Dad's the weekend before Christmas week. We went up on Friday and opened gifts that night. It was a great time to see all the cousins playing together. We are thankful to everyone for our gifts.

Back 2 Basics

Thanks to everyone who has given. There is still a list of needs for the teens. Check out http://www.b2bminstry.com/ to find out how to help.

Order now so it gets here

I had to race today to get my order in to Walgreens before the shipping cut off. I made Albert a photo book with all the pictures of me, him and the kids over this past year. It turned out nice. It should get here Dec. 24.

Kiwano or African horned melon

I don't know about you but I loved seeing the exotic fruits and vegetables at Fiesta growing up. I was at HEB in Indian Springs Tuesday and I found this beautiful, strange melon. It was pokey like a catcus and bright orange. It said it tasted like banana and cucumber. I brought it home, cut off the pokey parts and saw that it had many seeds and was very watery. It tasted like a cucumber. We all tried some. It has a very unusual taste.

Good news

I got a great belated birthday phone call today from my dear friend, Jennifer. She got married this past Saturday. She and Cody have moved to Iola, TX, to live with Mike, her new husband. He patiently waited for her to finish her 3 semesters of OT school. She is doing fieldwork now in Bryan. Cody will start Iola Elementary in January. Blessings to you Jennifer and your new life!

Natalie's birthday lunch

Monday was my friend Natalie's birthday. She and I serve together in AWANAs and were in Sunday school together. Her husband had to go out of town and he is facing some serious heart health concerns right now. Please keep him and the Holder family in your prayers. Carrie Centilli and I took her to Chili's for lunch to celebrate her birthday so that all that is going on would not overshadow her birthday.

My Birthday

At the Christmas party everyone sang Happy Birthday to me. On Sunday morning, my parents called me and sang to me before I left for church. The Centilli's got me a beautiful cross with the nativity woven in the design. It is lovely. My family let me open my gifts before church and I received a new knife block and a set of wonderful Wusthof knives from Germany. Thankfully, I got the instructional video so I can learn to use them properly. I also got a foxtail palm tree.

The choir performed their Christmas musical and that was a real treat.

After church my family took me to Pappadeaux's. I had the sampler platter with lobster bisque which is my favorite! The kids were put out that they had to wait on their food and the serving manager noticed. She came over and offered us free dessert! We got three things to share which included mint cheesecake, brownie pie, and 7 layer banana pudding. Too yummy!!

Visit

Steph, Jeremy and Brooke came to visit Saturday evening. We had a great time playing with Brooke. She is so much fun and so adorable!

SS Christmas Party

Saturday night we went to our Sunday School Christmas party. Most everyone from the class came. We ate Mexican food and enjoyed the fellowship. We also played Catch Phrase which was too fun. I have to admit I hit the next button quite a bit when it was my turn. We will miss everyone and have enjoyed growing in Christ with them.

Christmas Party

The kids celebrated at their Explore Club class. They got to dress up in an outfit from the continents of Africa, Asia, and Europe. Kara wore a Princess Jasmine dress, Ethan was a karate kid from Japan, and Christian was a dragon from China.

Snow, snow, snow

What a wonderful surprise! It snowed in southeast TX!! We had lots of fun. The kids were so excited they ate snow off of the dirty car...

Hannah's 6th Birthday

Last night Kara and I attended Hannah's kitty party. The girls and one boy got to have whiskers and a tail. They chased yarn to find a mouse, they licked ice cream from a bowl like cats, and they played pin the tail on the cat. They had lots of fun. Corinne had the cutest strawberries decorated as mice for dessert. We had a great time.

Semester overview

How quickly time flies when you are having fun! Home schooling has been an amazing adventure so far. Teaching Ethan was a challenge in the beginning but now it brings so much joy! He is totally getting his letters and sounds. He wants to move forward and longs for his reward-his own library card. Christian's spelling has improved 110%. He was already a great speller but his vocabulary has increased and he can spell knowledge and rarely misses a word. He enjoys everything he learns. He is a natural student. Kara wants to cuddle and sit in my lap and willingly tries whatever I ask of her. She has an amazing mastery of her sounds and can identify her letters quickly. She loves competing with Ethan. Ethan tries hard to stay ahead of her. The competition is getting him to stay on task! I am so thankful the Lord called me to this. My fear of not getting things done around here has not been realized. The kids are sorting laundry, putting things away and swapping loads for me. They sweep and wipe down the table. They work together to get upstairs clean. The cooperation in our family has been delightful to experience. We are less busy and are more peaceful. With Albert graciously helping to teach them math and science I still have two or three days a week to do ministry, go to appointments, and go grocery shopping. The Lord has truly rewarded our meager efforts in all this.

1st Annual Pie in Your Face Day

Christian has always wanted to throw pies. Two years ago at Salem VBS the director and Praise Pastor got pie in the face if the missions goal was reached that week. Well, he thought that was the most hilarious thing he had ever seen. He brought it up again so we decided to make it an event. Albert bought Cool Whip for the occasion. They had a blast. Christian stayed aloof to avoid being smashed but Daddy got him.

Christmas Program

Brooke's 1st Birthday party

We traveled to Mineola Saturday to attend Brooke's first birthday party. All the family was there and we had a great time. When you get Brooke's attention she says "ooohh" with the cutest face. She is a doll!