Family Pics

Went to Bethlehem

Took the kids to a walk through nativity last night...it was really cool!

They got to do a Jewish wedding dance, see baby Jesus, make a brick, and see lots of animals.

We went with our friends, the Bartlows...

that is their two cute girls in the pic with ours...they are also adopted.

Nutcracker

Mom and I took the girls to see the Nutcracker.

They loved it and we had a GREAT time! Of course now they want to be a ballerina.

We bought them tutus to wear for Christmas...it is pretty cute!

Thankful!

So, just to get on my soap box for a minute...what is up with everybody putting up their Christmas stuff a week before Thanksgiving?

It is weird to have Christmas trees up while eating your Thanksgiving turkey. What happened to being thankful first?? I really feel like it is important to give Thanksgiving its due time and remember what we are thankful for.

I am thankful for LOTS of things...but just to name a few:

1. God
2. My Husband
3. My Kids
4. My Family
5. Our health
6. My friends
7. Our church
8. Our home
9. Rest
10. Thanksgiving

Hope you have a GREAT Thanksgiving! Enjoy your family and friends!

Should have just done the road side park!

So we went to Austin for the weekend (read below). Did lots of cool things, ate great food, and bought some neat stuff. But we really should have just gone to this road side park, cause the kids LOVED it! Jason and I found this park a few years ago on one of our many Austin trips.

We decided to stop there on our way home from Austin and show the kids, I am pretty sure it was their favorite thing...Go FIGURE!

Austin- Went to the Capitol

So JB had a play off game outside of Austin and it was Jazzy Jay's 7th birthday, so we decided to make a weekend of it and take the kids to all of our favorite places in Austin.

The first place we went was the Capitol. The teacher in me wants to always make things like this a real learning experience, BUT I should have learned my lesson from taking JB to the Capitol several years ago.

JB was probably 12 when we went the first time. First of all he was very confused about Texas' Capitol vs. the White House, so I think he was very disappointed that we were not at the White House. But, I decided to make the most of it so him and I walked all around looking at the pictures and reading all of the signs. I thought it was pretty cool and he seemed to be soaking everything up. But, when it came time for us to leave...he looked at me and said "So you are telling me that all these plaques and pictures are of people who are dead?" And, I said "Yea, most of the people are not alive." And his 12 year old response was "Oh, that is weird!"

Out of the mouths of babes! What can I say???

SO this time, I thought I would have better luck...I did the whole "teacher" tour! And at the end, I looked at my kids and said "Now guys, why is the Capitol so important?" And Jazzy Jay says...Ready for this one?

"Cause it is the big letter that starts a sentence."

Its a good thing I am a teacher and not a tour guide at the Capitol...cause I apparently REALLY stink at it!

But, we did take some cute pics...I included them below.

Austin- Amy's Ice Cream and Shady Grove

So, our 3 favorite places in Austin are Kerby Lane Cafe...BEST pancakes EVER! Amy's Ice Cream and Shady Grove...so when we go to Austin...we always go to each place at least once. The kids LOVED all of the places. Here are some pics...

Quiet Time

Just thought I would share my quiet time from Thursday night...when I finally crawled into bed at 11:00, instead of reading one of my many devotional books that I usually read from...I just opened my Bible...not to anything specific. I just opened it.

I don't remember the specific chapters (I marked them at home), but I turned to Isaiah and Romans as I was reading, I wrote down things that stood out to my heart.

You must decide what you really are by the amount of faith

God has really given you.

Your offering must be only for God.

Your love must be real.

Do not let evil defeat you, but defeat evil by doing good.

No one can explain the things God decides or understand His ways.

Not any big revelation, but just GOOD reminders from God...which was just what I needed...what I always need!

All I have to Say about That!

Two words...HOMECOMING DANCE!

My son went to the homecoming dance last weekend

and first of all:

1. Don't you have to be at least 21 to dance that close with someone of the opposite sex??

2. Is the homecoming dance really necessary??

OK...so maybe I need some therapy, but I am just not ready for this scene...seems like he just turned 11. He has tried to tell me like 100 times how many girls wanted to dance with him! But, I will hear nothing of it!

In all seriousness, my prayer is that JB dates a good Christian girl when he finally

decides to get serious!

Here are his pics...he is so cute! As he put it..."woo wee I sure am fine"!

For now, I will enjoy the days that I am the only girl in his life!

The Good ole' days!!!!

Scarecrow Festival

SO...this last weekend was the Scarecrow Festival. It is our family tradition that we always go.

It was one of those weekends that we have been looking forward to for weeks and it was a MUCH needed get away! BUT...God had different plans...

VERY LONG story short...Jason and I were real distracted with "something" and that something made the drive up not very pleasant...AND to make matters worse, we turned the wrong way and ended up going almost an hour out of the way. By the time we got to the festival...it was closing in 20 minutes.

But, ya know, instead of continuing the bad day...we decided to enjoy the time we had. The kids had a good time and we got some really cute pics.

Me and the GIRLS!!!

I LOVE this pic of the kids!

My BEST friend, who I LOVE with ALL of my heart! Could NOT do any of this without him!

GREAT picture of Vincent and Lisa!

This picture of the beautiful sunset is for JB...he insisted on me taking a picture of this sunset, so I did it just because...BUT it turned out to be a BEAUTIFUL picture...so thanks JB!