Saturday, September 29

SAVANNAH'S BIRTHDAY

Our little one is 10 today!!  I cannot believe how big she is getting.  She said that she has felt taller lately!!  Anyway, for her birthday, she will be having a party at the movies with all of her friends, but that will not be until next weekend, so today (her actual birthday) we will have a family day, celebrating our sweet girl!

Nicholas and Madison got her a new Monopoly game for her birthday.  She has really wanted this game.  It is different than the Monopoly that I grew up on.  It has NO PAPER MONEY!!  It is actually called, "Monopoly-Electronic Banking".  

Everything is done on credit cards with a little battery powered device that adds and subtracts money from each card as needed.

The prices on the board have gone up A LOT!!  Boardwalk is now 4 MILLION dollars to buy!!  The cheapest locations (remember Baltic and Mediterranean?) cost $600,000.00 to buy!!  Rent is really high too. 
It was the perfect SUPER RAINY indoor family game day!  What a blessed feeling to be inside my dry warm house with my family!!  It really felt like autumn today...it has officially been autumn now for 7 days, but still Texas has been holding it's sunny and 90 degree days steady....until today!!

Anyway, our Daddy, who is a champion at everything Monopoly, read the directions and lead the family game.
Everyone was having a really great time at the beginning!!
We were laughing and joking and all felt very wealthy in our pretend Monopoly world (everyone starts out the game with 15 MILLION dollars!!  Times were great!!
 As our Daddy slowly gains more and more control of the Monopoly game board, spirits are still up as the children's credit cards slowly dwindle in value.
Mommy was the first to go bankrupt!  I wouldn't sell my properties off to save my self.  I didn't want to see any more hotels built!  It began to be scary to even roll the die.  It was just safer to stay in jail at this point! Then at least you wouldn't owe daddy rent if you landed on one of his many properties!!
Madison is now poor too and that is the face that Savannah is giving as Daddy is telling her that she owes him 7.5 MILLION dollars for landing on Illinois Ave with all of the hotels on it!!
It was a great day overall.  When the game was done, we all laughed it off, but the kids may think twice before asking Daddy to play again.  He is just too good!!

BIRTHDAY DINNER
Savannah got to pick the dinner location this evening and she chose "Snuffers!" a long time family favorite!
We picked up our Grammy and Nana to join us and headed out in the rainy weather to celebrate.  There were a ton of people out in the Town Square!! I was really surprised!
Grammy and the kids!
Birthday Chocolate shakes with my girl!


Then we dropped by the "Carlyle" a re-hab center where Papa is staying to say hi and open Savannah's gift from Grammy and Oompa!
 Grammy and Nana with Savannah
 Oh Yeah!! Wii Games!!  NBA Slam!!
 Mario Cart too!! I have wanted this game for so long!!
Everyone is excited about the gifts!! The kids cannot wait to share is Savannah's birthday joy!!
On the way home....just enough time to stop by Dunkin Donuts for a Hot Chocolate!  Savannah loves hot chocolate!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR LITTLE ANGEL!!  WE THANK JESUS FOR YOU EVERYDAY!!

OUR NANA


Nana has been my Nana longer than any of my natural grandparents!  I have been sharing her with Jeremy for close to 19 years!!  She has had such an amazing life and can somehow be sweet and feisty all at the same time!!  She sure does give Jeremy and run for his money when he tries to play jokes on her......She's good!!!!  We just love her so much!

Nana does not enjoy having her picture taken.  She never wants to look at the camera.  Jeremy snapped these at Savannah's birthday dinner at Snuffers.  Isn't she the cutest!


These pics make me smile!

Thursday, September 27

WHAT I'M DOING RIGHT NOW

I am loving my quiet and peaceful life as a homeschooling mommy
 Wow....this is really my life!! I am so blessed!! I love being with my kids and getting to teach them everything and get to be with them everyday!  It is such a beautiful gift that our Lord, along with the support of my wonderful Husband,  has blessed me with!
It just feels so right!
 Here is a new drink I tried today.....super yummy!!  It's a teacher's B-12 shot!!
Each morning the kids take turns setting up prayer time in our school room.  They work so hard to make it look so special for Jesus (and Mommy).  They always proudly invite me into see how they have arranged our candle, meditation books and rosaries.  This particular morning, Nicholas found every rosary in the house and set them up under the chalkboard easel with this sign....SO CUTE!!
Jesus is surly smiling when His children show their love and adoration for Him!
If they were not with me everyday, I would miss all of this good stuff!

Saturday, September 22

MADISON'S FIRST CHERRY COKE-and some other stuff

Madison, Daddy and Mommy (me) had a special day and fancy dinner this weekend.  Savannah and Nicholas had gone with Grammy and Nana to Shreveport LA for the weekend for our niece's 3rd birthday tea party.  Daddy and I stayed back to watch over Papa who is not feeling well.  (I was so proud of how brave my little ones were to go without us) Madison stayed back with us because she had a birthday party for a VERY sweet friend Friday evening.

Saturday afternoon, Jeremy went to see Papa and play cards.  Madison and I went to Hobby Lobby (to get supplies for some baby shower favors I was making) and then went and got a Pedi!  It was so much fun to have girl time with my first born!  We visited and just giggled all day......as girls do!
 Here is Madison at the nail salon.  We were totally pampered that afternoon....
 Oh, here is where the Cherry Coke comes in.....we took Madison to a very nice "adult" steak place for dinner.  It was just Madison, Mommy and Daddy.  She got us all to herself and we got her all to ourselves.  It was really fun to hear her thoughts and dreams and just catch up on what was going on with her!  Well, since we were at an adult dinner.....she got to order her first Cherry Coke (the kids are not usually allowed to drink Colas).  She LOVED IT!!
What a big girl!  It is the simple things that bring so much joy!

OH!! ONE MORE THING....
Here are the shower favors I ended up making for my sweet friend Elizabeth (Lizzy), welcoming her little one, Luke Augustine
 The "Sip and See" theme was Fall/Pumpkin and of course.....Baby!  I found these cute white pumpkins and with the help of my great friend, Angela, came up with an idea for a favor for our guests
The tag says...."Welcoming our Lil Pumpkin"
What a great day seeing the new baby and celebrating with my girlfriends!
Showers (Sip 'n' See) are all about being a girl!

Saturday, September 15

BOY SCOUT FISHING DERBY

Well it was the 2012 Boy Scout Fishing Derby this past weekend and mommy (me) survived it without Daddy (he was out of town)
I did a pretty good job I must say.....I think that the other families might have been doubtful when I pulled up with all of the kids (and our friend, Joey) as some very generous dads came over to offer  to help me......God is so good to me to send his angels to render aide!!
I set up our chairs,  lined the fishing poles, hooked the lines, put bobbers on the lines, and put hotdogs on the hooks (PRETTY GOOD, I THOUGHT)



.....then Joey's dad, Felix showed up to take care of any issues!!  He brought live worms for bait as that is as far as I could go....I COULD NOT stomach the thought of piercing live worms with the hooks so he was on worm duty (that is why God made boys love that kind of stuff)
Then with the worms we actually started catching some fish!

(Nick's first catch)
He caught 4 in all
(Joey's first Catch)

FLAG CEREMONY

Then we had the flag ceremony and awards for the derby.  Nicholas den got to lead the ceremony....and my Nicholas got to be the "Flag Carrier".  That is a big deal!  I was so happy for him to be chosen for this honor
Our Daddy was flying in that day with Uncle Jason from their fishing trip to Alaska with Oompa.  Uncle Jason rushed Jeremy (our Daddy) from the DFW airport to the fishing derby so that he could see Nicholas carry the flag.  We were so glad that our Daddy got there just in time!!




He was such a GREAT Flag Carrier

Then it was time for the awards....Nicholas got to come up and tell Pack 32 how he sold so much popcorn last year.  He was honored, mixed with a little nervousness to speak in front of everyone

There is my shy Nick being called to the front to talk about boy scout popcorn sales
 That dad (Mr. Brown) is wearing a corncob hat because he is in charged of the popcorn sales for the boy scout pack.  It was really cute!!

THE AWARDS
 Guess What.....Nicholas was blessed with winning "Most Fish Caught" trophy.  What a great day it was for him and our family
He was so happy!!  What a sweet little fisherman he is....just like his Daddy and Oompa
Here is Nicholas with his boy scout den
They are such nice little boys....so cute too!!!

Sunday, September 9

WE SEE YOUR GLORY LORD

Look at what we saw outside today!

"The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad
Let the distance shores rejoice

Clouds and thick darkness surround him
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne
A fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every side
His lightning lights up the world
The earth sees and trembles
The mountains melt like wax before the Lord
Before the Lord of all the earth
The Heavens proclaim His righteousness
And all people will see His Glory"

(Let It Rain...Lyrics by Michael W Smith)

Saturday, September 8

BAKING MUFFINS

The kids wanted to make muffins this morning, so we made it into their home-econimics class.  They really worked well together and the muffins were so good!!
 So carefully placing the muffin papers in the tins
 Carefully combining all of the ingredients.....don't get your feet in it!! One of the negatives about baking while sitting on the counter.....still too short to stand on the ground and see what is going on on top!
 There is my sweet smile!!  Almost finished and ready for the pouring of the batter
Here is Nicholas carefully putting some batter into each little cup.  He is working so hard.

Thank you for this peaceful morning with my oldest and my youngest child!  Thank you Lord for giving me the grace to say "yes" to the mess that it would make to let them help.  Thank you Lord for giving me the grace to say "yes" to all of the extra time that it would take to let them help.
And, thank you Lord for all of the smiles, joy, and happiness that was brought to my heart and my family by saying "yes" to letting them help.

I have plenty of time to make something faster, to create something with less clean-up, but I don't have plenty of time to be messy and behind schedule.....with my little ones by my side!
I love you, my Precious Children!
Thank you, Christ Jesus for the great gift of my little children

Sunday, September 2

OUR PRECIOUS PAPA

Our sweet Papa just isn't feeling all that well.  We try and visit him a lot so that he does not get lonely in the rehab center away from Nana and his home.  Lately, he has not been feeling up to having a lot of guest...(aka kids)
We really respect that and do not go into see him as much as Jeremy and Nana do, of course.  We keep our distance but at times he is delighted to see us.  Anyway, today we took Papa some flowers after Mass and got to kiss his soft forehead and say hello
We found the most beautiful flower arrangement at the store that was huge and bright sunflowers, with some beautiful greenery!  It was so cheery and we were just beaming walking in to his room with it!
My children know that Papa is sick and that he is 93 years old.  This does not scare them at all!  They think that Papa is the luckiest man because he gets to go to heaven soon!  Isn't that beautiful.  They say that they will miss him dearly, but that they will be so jealous that he get to be with our Lord.

To remind Papa of his loving Father looking down on him during this tough time, we adorned the Sunflower Bouquet with the most beautiful Face that one could ever imagine....It is more beautiful than one can ever imagine....a picture of Jesus!  What a gorgeous face to look at and to concentrate on!
Oh Dear Lord, bring our Papa true Peace

(And no Savannah did NOT wear a Dr. Pepper T-shirt to Mass.....She changed in the car : ))

Saturday, September 1

LOOK WHAT WE MADE

We had our nieces in town this weekend and the kids were SO HAPPY!  Remember how exciting it was to get to see your cousins when you were little!
Hours of play and special food for dinner with all of your extended family!!
The parents always stay up late talking and in turn, the kids get to stay up late too!!
Look what Savannah, Elizabeth, and Nicholas made...
 Hours of building.....mixed with lots of giggling.....and here is what you get!!
 A true victory that everyone was there to see!
3 Great Friends!!
(Savannah, Cousin Elizabeth, and Nicholas)
They love to put blankets on their heads like this and laugh so hard thinking that they look like mommy and daddy!
Now off to bed!!  Everyone will pile in the same bed and be up at the crack of dawn to play some more!  Family is great!