The black beast

She was due for a cleaning. After 130,000 miles, she deserves it!!!

I found enough ponytail holders to supply the ladies World cup team, goldfish to feed an army, 12 Popsicle sticks & $.97.

Also, the beast has 1 request: no more gum people, no more gum.


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Ready for camp

Name bubbles came in the mail today for camp labeling! We are getting ready!





The trunk packing was tricky!







I think we are ready! My youngest 2 are participating in camp Auntie K. Packing for them was a cinch.





Maybe I will be super blogger next week???

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A trip & a trunk

My kids are a trip. Hence, the cute hat on Claire and my 4 year old begging to visit the Er. We went to San Antonio for a couple of days. We saw lots if history & ate our weight in food.


Ask Claire where this hat is now? And her goggles? Hmmmm...we are learning responsibility. It is a full time job you know.



Faith looks like how I feel in this picture. :) Don't worry, he did not get hurt, that was his last leap. His life was saved by the maids entering the room to clean. He was thankful. Have I mentioned my YOUNGEST sister is having a boy? Oh dear me, I cannot wait!!

Anyway, trunk...Faith is going to camp at Pine Cove in a week. Thanks to the fabulous idea of my sister, the preggers one who lives 12 hours away, we mod podged a trunk. Actually, Ma helped & it was easy, if I say so myself. It was Ma's idea first but I tried to ignore the idea.


Inside...she likes horses, food, soccer, Jesus & people. Great combination!


Top of trunk


We were going to fill every space but we kinda decided to add more later.

I hope we add more later, more attention then the blog!

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It is now May, feel like dancing?

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Hello April!

Geez, this blog is not really a blog, it is just there to remind me to post? My youngest sister, mother of Lucy, is having Baby #2 and this post reminds me she is supposed to start a sister blog, that would be easier on me, and Mere. Maybe not Adrienne? Yeah for baby Koehn 2!

I got a new camera. I like it but it took a month to turn it on and now I decided a need a fancier lens. Life huh? Also, I am having transfer issues. Alas, these are my Cinderella pics.



Faith was a bird, far right above. She was not off as the pic looks, she was the last bird to move into position. I was so proud of my bird and firefly! I have video of Claire. Upload? Oh my, another month.

Trinity Art Show - My baby is 4 1/2, how can that be?

Did I mention he is a ball player, the cutest ever!!! Girls are playing soccer. Check facebook for pics. ha!

Stay tuned for my next post, it contains paw power, oh my...I feel the nostalgia again.

A wild few weeks

So, we had huge spring break plans to head to Arkansas to visit my family. Sadly, the trip was delayed a few months so my sweet Faith could feel better.

We have been battling sinus issues for months and the doc needed to do another surgery. Incidentally, we have become best buds with baptist hospital.

We have had a great week anyway; the weather has been wonderful!

Faith asked for auntie m's apple pie, it was yummy!


Will had western day last week.


We visited several downtown museums on Wednesday.


Bunjee jumped on Monday, no clue how to put phone pics in order. Faith's flipping was pre-surgery.





We also went to the famous setx state fair and and amazingly stayed within budget. We had $2.50 to spare, because nothing there is $2.50!

So, I guess I will spend it on Sonic happy hour? :)

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Sneaky

Would you like to catch a leprechaun? Claire may let you borrow her trap!
Be careful of the trip wire or we will catch you!





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She caught the mistake!

Claire reads a story each night from the school curriculum. She forgot her stay-at-school reading book, but her teacher always sends home the story of the week typed on a page. I detest to read it without pictures, so I opted to read it to her. She promptly declined and began reading. I was so impressed that I decided to video her. Then, she caught the mistake! So proud of someone else's typo! Ha!

Don't be distracted by the poor video or the chocolate all over her sweet face!!!

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Another Saturday

Once again, it is project Saturday. Will has proceeded to jump over each piece of furniture in order to mend his broken heart from a cancelled birthday party.
His highlight today is mixing honey nut & regular cheerios for lunch. Who knew?




Faith & Claire had sleepovers last night so they are pretty tired. Faith perked up when it was time to do her Shape project.





I think it is an A+. I learned a lot about 2d & 3d shapes.





Then, I cooked my man deer back-strap. Mom of 3? Mom of the year! Ha!





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Will is a creative genius?!?!

Will's class learned about space this week. They read lots of books, made moon rocks and played in the space center. After pretending to go to space, they drew what they saw on their adventure. Apparently, my 4 year old plans to take his mama and some bananas on his rocket ship! Sounds like a trip of a lifetime to me!

I guess I only post on a Saturday

That seems to be the norm lately.

Last week, we practiced several times for a Power Castle puppet show. The kids adore puppet time in the ministry. We have a real puppet stage, but we practice behind the couch at home. We have come long way since we used to hold a blue scrap of material. Just the thought makes my arm hurt! The theme was "Jesus in My real Superhero!" Will is supposed to be Spiderman but he just usually makes it look as though Spidey is waiting on a bug, the mouth is always open. Claire is thrilled that she can make Batman's arm move. Honestly, Faith is learning to be a real puppeteer!

I think the deer makes the picture. Or maybe the most fascinating thing is that the office desk is not in line with the picture on the wall. (Note to self - move desk.)

This pic is random, but I was wondering if you thought the Nester would be impressed? It is a mixture of thematic finds from around my "casa." So festive! I think the first- grade spelling word list tops it off, or at least keeps it real.

Reality Check

I tend to bemoan about a few things on a daily basis. Such things may be cooking, cleaning, homework, paying bills, etc. If we put them on a scale of one to 10, they are all way closer to 1 than 10. I am grateful for this fact but sometimes I need a reality check. I received that check at outreach yesterday. Outreach normally slaps one with a view of their own life. Dithering over the annoying line at HEB is senseless compared to a child who has no emotional support and neglecting parents.

After visiting with kids and energizing worship, our lesson was about Pharaoh & the last plague. Of course, the story was intriguing to them but I kept referring back to Pharaoh's hard heart. One little girl, whose siblings were also present, began to share about her 15 year old brother. Apparently, he threatened to shoot people at his school and is now in jail. Not only is he in jail, but so is his daddy and uncle. Sadly, the little girl was distraught that he did not receive any Valentine candy. Her brother stated that he may have a hard heart. Discussion led to making wise choices.

We prayed for this young man, Eric, before we left and his family has yet to leave my mind. I pray he allows God to change his heart and his 3 siblings cling to Christ as hope. They are precious children, who have not been given a fair shot. It is pitiful to view their reality check versus mine.

As I drove home yesterday afternoon, I pondered our scripture from the lesson.

"Blessed is the man who always fears the Lord, but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble" Proverbs 28:14

Wow, that situation just leaped off the pages of the Good Book. I pray that I allow God to soften my heart and characterize my life with HIS joy.

Enriching Saturdays

I know people are sick of hearing about the weather, but I have been cold. COLD, cold, I say! We ran out of firewood this weekend, but I did not care because it was a beautiful, sunny 50 degrees today! Praise God. Cold & I do not mix.

Anyway, here are some pics from the freeze of February 2011. After much hype, we were forecasted 3-5 inches of snow. We wound up with ice, and no snow. Claire & Will improvised and captured every icicle they could get their frozen hands around.

After Faith's sinus surgery, make-up work, head colds & lots of hot chocolate has filled our cold days.

Even Craig has an inside project. He is sorting through war parapohenelia of his grandfather's to make a shadow box. We have learned some really neat info. Faith enjoyed helping him put it together.

This weekend, we wrote reports on Ella Fitzgerald & Andrew Jackson. Claire plans to sing along with the hit song " A -Tisket - A -Tasket" next week. I plan on seeing that!

Faith's interesting facts about Andrew Jackson included that he did not have a college education, (nor did George Washington) and defeated the British at New Orleans in a battle that was unnecessary. The war had ended 10 days before. We had a discussion about life before iphones, email, telegrams, and even snail mail!

She was also delighted to inform us that Andrew Stonewall Jackson WAS not the same person. I knew that, but things distracted me and I confused the 2 war heroes. Dreadful, I know. I should not be surprised she knows more than me, after she taught me this week about the growth of a sequoia tree.

I did ask her if he was one of the presidents in the line of the Tecumseh curse. That allowed her wheels to turn and really started a major history lesson. Thank you Dad, circa 1980.

I may need to study in order to appear like I have it together. I am afraid my age is showing! Speaking of appearing to have it together, I am still in my pjs and I smell yummy Taco Soup. However, the Taco soup is lacking an onion. Who makes soup without an onion? Oh dear, I guess I am heading to Heb on a Saturday. Maybe I will just take the back roads to ghetto Kroger on Phelan? Regardless, I need to get it together!

Airing our Dirty Laundry!

I don't believe any of us can say we do not have issues, since we are all saved by His glorious grace!

We have a family issue, a 3 letter issue. 3 little letters. Wii. Yep, America's family-friendly video game.

We also have 3 children. Ms. Whatever, I always win anyway. Ms. I never , EVER, win! And don't forget Mr. Wii Nut!

Oh.dear.me. If I hear, " YOU.GET.ME.OUT.OF.THAT.BUBBLE.NOW!" one more time. I may not survive.

Oh, and this is only 1 game, thankfully most issues surround Mario, those silly overall clad men. Are they men or things? Don't get me on Princess Peach, I will be Queen Nut before long. Family Focus reviews this games as: "... Mario's multi player ability may actually be the coolest thing about this game. It certainly turns what has traditionally been a fun-but-lonely pursuit into a family room roof-raising rollick for the whole family."

Rollick? Oh, we have rollick, loads of rollick in just a 20 minute time limit!

Anyway, during family devotion tonight, we had a meeting. After much ado between Ms. I Never Win & Mr. Wii Nut, we pulled the learning creativity card.

I learned while teaching Kindergarten, write about it. Always write about it. We always wrote our rules out and discussed them 1,212 times a day.

Same over here with the 3 letter word.

The Mr. helped compose these rules and Ms. Never Win wrote them. All 3 signed. Ms. Whatever suggested we frame it in the living room over the TV. Maybe that should be our snow day project?

2 is better than 1

My mother- in- law had grand visions of a beautiful Christmas tree at the lake. She imagined us trolloping through the woods as a giant family, all grand kids in tow, to choose a tree.

However, it really turned out more along the lines of Pa cutting down the tree he chose, sans kids. No worries, it is an East Texas tree, the Clampetts still live.

The Clampetts also have handy, young men who can tie 2 trees together to become one. Two is better than one anyway. :)

The 2 trees or the big kids' enthusiasm scared Larson.

He was lucky to go to bed before the Christmas pageant. I had a few thoughts of the Herdmans, but there was no foul language, just lots of giggles. They traded roles over and over. I think the fact that the tv is ON adds flair as well!

Here are some more pics of the kids exchanging roles. I doubt the real Darth Vadar is this handsome.

Like father, like son. I guess we need a Skywalker costume.

The week before the Christmas break was Open House at dance, I adore watching my pretty girls! It is amazing to me that they are 7 and 9! Where does the time go? Don't answer that.

My sweet, sweet babies. I pray you will learn to walk in the way of the Lord, in His laws. Dear Lord, we wait for You; Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. Isa 26:8

As we bend and grow, mold us more like You. Make our hearts teachable so that we may glorify Your name through our small, small world. I thank you for my family. I pray my children will learn to encourage one another in the Word as they walk with Our Faithful Redeemer. It is a blessing to have one another, let us never take a day of it for granted. 2 is better than 1.

Happy 7th B-day Claire!

Dearest Claire,

I cannot believe you are 7, dear heaven! I am so proud of my sweet, dear girl! I pray this year brings you the richest blessing within God's will. I pray your tender heart remains close to King Jesus as you rest as His sweet princess. May you keep your eyes on Him of everlasting faith. I love you precious girl!

This pic exemplifies your fantastic, funny character!

This pic is from your SISTER's open house dance class, not yours! However, somehow you still managed to perform?!?!?

We are so grateful for YOU and your brother and sister!