A Lovely Wedding

This afternoon we went to the wedding of one of our former youth.  It was the most unique wedding I have been to, and I loved it!  It was held in the event center at church instead of the sanctuary, and everyone was seated at tables.  Each place at the table had a different mug.

The mugs were for the coffee bar after the wedding that included hot chocolate!  My fave!

Also, instead of just cakes, they had a table filled with a variety of delicious cupcakes!

I know it appears that all I cared about was the food, but the ceremony was just as wonderful.  The father of the groom and father of the bride both officiated which made it very special. 
I always love weddings as two people come together to form one bond, as a new life is birthed, hopes and dreams are shared.

Mini-Vacation

We decided that we were going to get away for a few days and wanted to make part of our trip educational.  Since Conner is studying Texas' history, a trip south was in order.
We left on Tuesday for San Antonio.  When we arrived, we drove straight to the Alamo.

We enjoyed touring the Alamo, reading the stories, admiring the artifacts, and watching a brief video.  Conner took many pictures that he hopes to share with his class.  After the Alamo, we got checked into our hotel and then went to eat dinner at a Mexican food restaurant called Mamacita's.  We had eaten there once before with Wade and his family.  It is a neat restaurant.

Davy Crockett plays Happy Birthday for visitors

On Wednesday, we put our Six Flags season passes to work at Fiesta Texas.  It is a nice park, and we had a good time.

They even had an "ice skating" rink for the kids.

After Fiesta Texas, we went to dinner.  It was Chad's birthday, and we had gift certificates, so we tried out Longhorn Steakhouse.  It was pretty good!
Thursday morning we headed to Austin and went to the State Capitol.  It was amazing!  The kids were ready to go about half way through and wanted to move quickly through the floors.  Unfortunately for them, I wanted to explore every nook and cranny.  I especially enjoyed the two chambers.  In the house, there was a huge Christmas tree.  It was decorated with an ornament from each district.  The representative for that district chose the ornament that best showcased their district.  They had a book with a picture of each ornament and why it was chosen.

Sadly, this is the only picture I took while there!

Once we left, we headed to the hotel.  The kids were excited because it had an indoor pool!

We headed home today.  We had a super time making memories together and learning more about this great state!  Thank you, Jesus, for times of refreshing!

Christmas in Pictures

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Fun Times with Uncle Beau

My brother took Conner, Caitlyn, and my niece and nephew ice skating on Friday.  I told him that he was either brave or crazy!  They had such a good time together!  First they skated around the huge Christmas tree.Then they ate lunch at Caitlyn's favorite place-McDonald's.  They enjoyed a Christmas show at the mall as well.  Beau finished by taking them to Toys R Us and letting them pick out a present for each other.  The kids loved spending the day with their uncle and cousins, and Chad and I were able to see a movie.  I told Beau that he started a tradition, and I was looking forward to next year already!  He was still smiling by the end, so that is good!

Friday Night with Family

Chad's brother and his family came into town on Friday, and they and my in-laws came over for dinner.  We spent all day preparing a fabulous meal...pizza from Goodfella's!  Pathetic, I know, but I did put together a salad!  We always love when they are in town, and we can catch up.  The kids adore their cousins and enjoy when they can spend the night together.
Usually an evening together leads to a mean game of-

  We have a good time playing and usually there aren't TOO many fights.  Chad's dad doesn't ever want to sit by me because he claims that I don't ever give any good cards.  However, he was stuck next to me, and nobody volunteered to switch places with him.  Well, guess who ended up winning???

I documented the score sheet so that next time he says he never wins, I can redirect him here!
After the game, everyone went home except the kids.  They stayed the night.  We did our Advent devotional together and had a sweet time of prayer.

This morning, the kids had fun playing together.  The girls built a fort.

The boys competed on the Wii.  Don't they look so excited???

We ended our time together with lunch at one of our favorite places.

We are so thankful for family and the time we have together.  Looking forward to a weekend filled with family, love, and Immanuel!

PS I forgot to post a pic of Conner's cookie from when we made Christmas cookies, so here it is.

A Dear Friend

Yesterday the kids and I met up with my dear friend from junior high and her kids for lunch.  Amy is such a beautiful person inside and out.  When I moved here in 5th grade, Amy made me feel welcome.  You can imagine how sad I was when her family moved following our 8th grade year.  I was devastated and just cried and cried.  Thankfully, we have kept in touch through the years and live fairly close to one another.  We don't see each other often but when we do, we just pick up where we left off.   
The really fun thing is that our kids are the same ages!

Conner and Jonah

Maggie and Caitlyn

After a wonderful visit and catching up, Conner, Caitlyn and I checked out the mall's decorations.  It was an ice palace theme.  You couldn't go through it without stopping for a picture with Santa, so the line was forever long.  We decided it wasn't worth waiting for.

Ice Palace

Polar bear made from bottle tops

Christmas tree

Glass elevator fun

I am so thankful for sweet, Godly friends and the time that we can spend together!

Family Traditions

One of the Christmas traditions that Conner and Caitlyn look forward to each year is making Christmas cookies with their cousins and grandparents.  I always enjoyed doing this as a kid, and my dad used to make cookies with his parents.  In fact, some of the cookie cutters we use are passed down from my grandma which makes it that much more special.

Pans ready for cookies

Cookie cutters and rolling pins set up

Brinley and Caitlyn did a great job cutting cookies!

Mom was an icing machine!

Brinley, Conner, and Brekin icing cookies

Skyler made a huge snowman cookie

When the kids pooped out, Dad finished up

Colorful cookies

What a fun day!  The kids enjoyed making cookies and being with their cousins.  I'm thankful for family traditions that have been passed down and carried out with my own children.  We will use some of the cookies to take to shut-ins when we visit them, and we will eat the rest!

Lessons Learned Today

Today has been quite busy, and I have learned a variety of lessons.

1.  Driving home from Ft. Worth in the pouring rain during rush hour traffic means slow going!

Puzzle on the wall at the doctor's office

 Conner had a consultation with a surgeon in Ft. Worth today.  We are trying to find a surgeon that takes our insurance.  It was a good visit, and it was nice to hear him say that Conner is doing well.  The trip home was long, but we made it!

2.  Totilla roll-ups are a breakfast food.


Chad is enjoying a breakfast at work tomorrow, and each person is supposed to bring something.  He wanted to take these tortilla roll-ups.  I have to admit, they are yummy!  My friend Kristi at school made them and shared her recipe with me.  It is just cream cheese mixed with Fiesta Ranch seasoning and green onions inside of tortillas.  Some people add black olives or pimentos as well.  When I questioned Chad about this being a breakfast item, his reasoning was that people put cream cheese on bagels which are similar to tortillas.  Point taken!


3.  I can not trust my children with secrets!  This was the biggest and most disappointing lesson today.  Chad's birthday is three days after Christmas, and I am always scrambling at the last minute to get him a present.  He ALWAYS guesses his present before I give it to him.  It drives me crazy because I love surprises, and he loves to ruin them.  Anyway, this year I was going to totally surprise him and get him one of those Keurig single cup coffee makers since he is the only one in our house that drinks coffee.  I had a 20% off coupon from Kohl's, and they are on sale.  Score! 

I took the kids with me to go get it today thinking they would have fun picking it up with me.  I even told Conner he could hide it in his closet since Chad's birthday is still a week away.  I thought that they would love keeping this special secret with me...WRONG!  As soon as Chad came home to pick us up for Ft. Worth, the kids spilled that they were hiding something in Conner's closet.  Then, on our long trip home from Ft. Worth, they dropped enough hints for him to guess his present.  Oh my! Lesson learned.  Needless to say, I will not be taking them along on any other important shopping trips.

Even though lessons learned are not always fun(though sometimes they are), they are beneficial!  Thank you, Jesus for lessons learned.  May my heart always be teachable.

Holiday in the Park

Every summer we make one trip to Six Flags.  However, last summer was SO hot, that we never made it to Six Flags.  We ended up going at the end of September.  At that time there were not any discounts for tickets.  We found that a season pass for the rest of 2011 and all of 2012 wouldn't be much more, so we splurged.
Yesterday we enjoyed Holiday in the Park for the first time.  It was fun!  We rode some of Conner's favorite rides like the Texas Giant and the Titan, and Caitlyn enjoyed the swings. 

We also went to a show called All I Want for Christmas.  A lady sang "O Holy Night" a cappella, and it was beautiful!  At dark, all of the Christmas lights were shining, and the park was very pretty. 

We only stayed for a few hours, and as we were leaving, we noticed how crowded the park was getting.  I could not believe how many people were entering the park at 6:00 as it was getting colder!  We stopped and got dinner, and then both kids fell asleep on the way home.  It was a fun time!

A Fun Friday

Today has been a great day!  Usually by the end of a party day, I have a headache, but not today!  I kept my students busy this morning with some Christmas activities including Grinch word problems and a Christmas tree graphing activity.  They had  a choice in which activities they did, so they liked that.  At lunch, we celebrated our 12th day of Christmas with a pot-luck lunch which included baked potatoes.  Delicious!  Then the kids went to rotation which was nice because we could get ready for the party. 
We started the party with a snack.

Then they put together an ornament that included their picture.

Next was their favorite part...a snowball fight!!!  OK, they were really newspapers wadded up, but we pretended they were snowballs.  The kids had so much fun with that.  By the time we did all that, it was time for them to switch to my teammate's room.  In there, they got to play Wii.  Her class came to my room and had a snack, made the craft, and enjoyed the snowball fight.  It was nice to have the opportunity to be with both classes.  I so appreciate the moms that got everything organized and for those that led out in the parties!
So this begins a two week break!  Woo hoo!  I am looking forward to time with family and friends.  Thank you, Lord for this time at home!  

Have a wonderful weekend!