Sharing our Life

I got this email from someone and thought it was good, so I wanted to share: A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many things and various subjects. When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said: 'I don't believe that God exists.' 'Why do you say that?' asked the customer. 'Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can't imagine a loving God who would allow all of these things.' The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument. The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop. Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, str...

Here's Jaelyn's creation from the other day with our math blocks. All in a day's learning.

Eric celebrated his 7th birthday in October. Unfortunately, we were out of town much of the time and were not able to celebrate his birthday. He waited very patiently as we told him we'd celebrate it in January. Finally, this past Saturday (yes, that's right, it happened just this past Saturday so I think I'm officially caught up with blogging!), we invited some friends to play and have pizza at Chuck E Cheese! He had a great time and hopefully all of his buddies did to! Colin, Andy, and Eric (the cake isn't one of my better efforts, but Eric liked it and that's what's important!) Bryan and Jesse Caroline came along as well. Jessica and Jaelyn loved that! Andy As luck would have it, Saturday was also my birthday. Just what I always wanted to do, celebrate at Chuck E Cheese. The good news is I got 20 free tokens! The other good news is I got a card from one of the kids that said happy 26th birthday (that's what I'm sticking with and shame on all of you...

Sometime in December, I actually bought a gingerbread house for the kids to make (none of that homemade stuff here!). Finally, in January we had time to make it. We all had fun putting it together. The kids especially liked the frosting and the candy. Eric even liked eating the gingerbread! Once their masterpiece was complete, they enjoyed eating it!

My Aunt and Uncle are down south here in Texas for the winter (who can blame them!). They are from Nebraska and you know it's cold up there when they come here and it's only 28 and they think it's warm! They stopped by and spent the day here on their way down! Here are some pictures! Eric is trying to teach my aunt how to play Mario Kart in the 2nd picture!

Eric is playing Upward basketball this year and the girls are cheering. This is the first year for both. They are having a great time! Eric just played his 3rd game. He's improving a great deal. The first game he scored a basket (in the other team's basket; but, hey, it still went in!). In his game on Saturday, he actually scored a basket in his team's basket! The girls work hard at getting their cheers done. Sometimes I think they like the hollering and screaming at the end of a cheer better than actually doing the cheer!

I'm almost caught up with things?? Almost! After Christmas, we went to Santa Land. It's our 3rd year to do it and the kids love it (to be perfectly honest, so do David and I!). The last couple of years, we've made it the tradition to go after Christmas. We can get stuff 1/2 price in the gift shop and not too much traffic! Here are some pictures of Santa Land. Here are the kids in all their excitement!

And through the woods to Grandmother's house we go! I came home from Mom's after Thanksgiving on December 7. I was here for 11 days and then we left for Michigan to spend Christmas there for a few days and then drove to Nebraska to spend a few days before heading back to Texas. So, just so you get a sense, we drove through the following states to get to Michigan and then Nebraska: 1) Texas; 2) Arkansas; 3) Tennessee (unscheduled stop because the lock on the truck broke); 4) Missouri; 5) Illinois; 6) Indiana; and 7) Michigan - that took 17 hours (not nearly as long as we thought so it was good!). Then we left Michigan and drove back through Indiana and Illinois and then 8) Iowa; and 9) Nebraska (which was blizzardy and cold the entire time!!). Then we left Nebraska and drove back into Iowa and through Missouri, then 10) Kansas; and 11) Oklahoma before arriving back into Texas. Yes, that's right - 11 states, 10 days, and approximately 44 hours of driving - Whew - I'm tire...