I can't believe it!

Guess where I'll be in about two and a half months...

I'll be walking with my sister where Jesus walked. 

I've got to get ready. 

I need some walking shoes.

I'm coming...

But you shall seek the Lord at the place which the Lord your God shall choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and there you shall come. 

 ...to the land where His name dwells...

You shall not do at all what we are doing here today, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes; for you have not as yet come to the resting place and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you. When you cross the Jordan and live in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies around you so that you live in security, then it shall come about the the place in which the Lord your God shall choose for His name to dwell, there you shall bring all that I command you...And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God. Deuteronomy 12:5-12

...with rejoicing!

Drab, Drabber, Drabbest

As if our yard didn't look drab enough with all the dead plants from the freeze, we now are minus two pine trees in our front yard. Both had been struck by lightening. One had pine bark beetles and the other was right next to the house, so we decided to take it down to be prepared for the summer hurricane season. In fact, even as I type I keep feeling pieces of trunk hit the ground and shake the house.

The trunk from the pine tree in the front flower bed...

We had the stump ground out, so now we have a mountain of pine chips.

What a mess! I don't think there'll be a "yard of the month" sign in our front yard anytime soon!

 

Do you think the garbage men will pick this up tomorrow?

This is the third year in a row that we've re-landscaped our front yard. This year I'll be looking for plants that thrive in the sun, not the shade!

Surviving the Chill of Winter 2011

This morning, as I still sit here in my warm pj's, my husband is out taking up the sheets and towels we have used to try to rescue some of our shrubs and flowers for about the umpteenth time this winter, since it's not supposed to freeze again tonight. Many of our landscape plants will have to be replaced. I know that we can't compare the winter we've had with those of our friends to the north, but I'm not used to going out to my car at lunch and having to chip the ice off the door handle before I can open it!

Those of us in education in Texas are shivering, but not from the cold, as we await news of whether or not we will still be employed. Rumors are running rampant and the question I'm asked most often is, "Do you think I'm going to have a job next year?" We will be having a meeting this week in which the Asst. Supt. will inform us of incentive programs to early retire and the "state of the district." Those days of thinking that if you want job stability, be a teacher are over.

Since we've been housebound for much of the last few weeks, including one "snow" day, I have rediscovered the public library. A library card is truly magic, especially since you can browse the catalogs online, order the books you want in regular print, large print, cds, or download them onto your mp3 player, and they will notify you by email when the books are ready for pickup. I will be spending considerably less money at Barnes and Noble. During the last week and a half I've read Lucy, the story of Lucy Mercer Rutherford and FDR, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, and Cherries in Winter. I've got a whole stack left to read. I'm like a kid in a candy store! lol

Of course, there is nothing that warms grammy's heart like Katie and Hannah, who spent the night with us last Saturday night. Katie (who is gifted, btw) was being buckled into her car seat by Grandpa, when she looked up at him and said "I been missing you, Grandpa. I love you!" That made his night (and year)! We went to eat dinner and I told the girls we'd go to Target. Katie said that she goes to Target with mommy and she wanted to go to Grammy's and watch Toy Story 3. So we did.

The next morning we colored, made cookies, hung out in our pj's, and Hannah chased Katie around the house (using her ride-on car as a walker).

Stay warm...


And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Col. 3: 15 and 17

Happy Birthday, Hannah!

Saturday, January 15, was Hannah's first birthday. Of course, we had to celebrate in a big way with a party given by mommy and daddy. When I got there she was ready to party! Katie met me at the door screaming "Grammy's here, Grammy's here!" It's nice to be loved! lol Grandpa couldn't make it because he was sick with a bad cold and fever. (Lots of that going around this year.)

Isn't she precious? She has her mommy's (and grammy's) blue eyes.

Katie had a hard time understanding that this was not her party. After all, doesn't she look sweeter than the birthday cake?

Grammy, how cool is this? It will not be long at all until Miss Hannah is going to be walking...look out world! (This picture reminds me so much of a picture of her Aunt Judy at this age. Of course, that was soooo long ago I might be mistaken. Ha!)

 

 This is the view we are most used to seeing. This girl can move! I am lucky to get a picture that isn't blurry.

I think Katie was trying to wheedle a little money to spend at Target out of pepaw.

Time for some cake...the cake was chocolate with buttercream frosting from R.J. Goodies. They make the best birthday cakes.

Wow...synchronized hands in the mouth...Mommy and Daddy look pretty cute, though.

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me...

Hmm...this is new. I wonder if I might like it.

I'm still undecided. Maybe I need to smear a little more on my face.

Mom, get your own cupcake!

You mean I get presents, too?

  

It's a family affair.

Hannah wasn't opening the presents fast enough, so Katie, good sister that she is, jumped right on in to help.

Hannah, we love you and thank God that you are our granddaughter!

Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers. Proverbs 17:6

New Year’s Eve

While we were having dinner at Escalante’s on the evening of December 30, the kids were discussing what to do for New Year’s Eve. I really wasn’t paying very much attention because I figured we’d just be the babysitters. We have never done too much celebrating on New Year’s Eve – it’s usually an early dinner and home to see in the New Year.

This year it was decided that instead of going out to dinner Amy would just have everyone over at her house. Chris fixed a pork loin on the grill and the rest of us brought side dishes. We invited Lucas’ parents and brother and wife. Katie was so excited to have all of her “friends” over.

Since we had no Christmas pictures of us, we made sure we got some of New Year’s.

Three princesses – Ashley, Erin’s sister-in-law, Katie, and Erin

My two girls…

 

Hannah had just about had enough of a celebration. It was getting past her bedtime.

We did some playing in Katie’s new playhouse that was her Christmas present from Grammy and Grandpa.

She likes for everyone to come inside her house. In fact, her favorite thing to say is “Come in guys!” It is a little cramped with the baby high chair, vacuum cleaner, etc. inside!

We then went outside to shoot off fireworks. We discovered quite quickly that none of the fireworks we had compared to what the neighbors where doing. Oh my! I thought we were in Disneyworld. Erin thought the show was a close second to those she saw on the Fourth of July on the national mall.

Katie was more interested in Lowell’s flashlight than smiling for the camera.

This would have been a perfect picture had Dan cooperated. He said we could crop him out, but I guess we’re keeping him.

Katie was holding on to that ball for dear life. The firecrackers were getting to be a little too much for her. Ashley was very sweet and ended up taking her upstairs to watch the fireworks out the window.

As you can see, she was having none of it!

It was a delightful evening and a wonderful way to end the year.

Holiday Memories

Well, tomorrow it’s back to work for me. Every year it seems like the holidays (and the months) pass more quickly. I was luxuriating in the number of days I had off on December 17th, and now I’m wondering where the time went. This will be a long post because I have a lot of catching up to do.

In the middle of the month Amy and Chris went to their company Christmas party, so we had a sleepover. Some of us look cute with bedhead. Others of us are not having our picture taken.

Hannah helped Grammy clean out her drawers. She is a fast worker!

We played “My Little Pony” in our jammies.

And watched Nick Jr…

Then mommy crashed our party and the girls had to go home.

However, Amy had to have some fairly minor surgery which meant that she couldn’t do any lifting for a while, so Hannah and Katie got to spend some special time with Grammy and Grandpa the week before Christmas. Hannah accompanied us as we sang Jingle Bells…

She learned to drive…

by turning on the ignition…

and honking the horn at anyone in her way…

We sat on Grammy’s lap…

Learned to play the drum… (It takes lots of concentration.)

And filled up our glasses to overflowing with love.

On Christmas Eve we met Judy and Tony at our church for the 4:00 service. It is always a special, sweet service of carols, candlelight, and a simple message God’s love toward a fallen world that came in the form of a baby, Jesus.

After the service we had dinner at Escalantes which is always yummy.

Erin flew in on Christmas morning, so we had dinner late that afternoon. Lucas had to work Christmas day, so he didn’t come in until the next morning.

Our holiday table.

Katie was very excited to see her Aunt Erin.

As well as Aunt Judy…

Getting ready to open presents…

I think that the string on the puppy was the most interesting of the presents for both Hannah and Sawyer.

Unfortunately, I don’t have many pictures of Christmas Day. I was too busy cooking, eating, and cleaning up after the meal. I can’t remember even seeing the babies open the presents. I do know that there were a lot of boxes and wrapping paper. Next year I need to do something differently, I think!

Between Christmas and New Years it has become a tradition for us to take a little shopping trip to the hill country to spend our Christmas money. We left early Monday morning for Fredericksburg, San Antonio, San Marcos (the outlet mall), and Wimberley. Erin needed her Texas shopping fix. Dan was under the weather so didn’t make the trip with us. Amy and Chris were in Galveston with his family. We hit our favorite stores in Fredericksburg - Abella Home, Auer Haus, and D’Vinely Designed – where we were able to get some more ornaments for next year’s trees.

For dinner we went to the Hilltop Café, a cajun restaurant about 11 miles outside of town. It is located in a remodeled old gas station. We ate fried green tomatoes and shrimp.

This was after our pinto beans and cornbread lunch.

The next night was spent in San Antonio at the Hotel Contessa. I now have a new favorite hotel. While there, we were able to mingle with the Oklahoma State fans and experience vicariously their excitement since a bowl game is not in our future for 2011! Ha! This was our view out the window.

And our sitting area…

Before heading home, we went to the outlet mall in San Marcos and made a quick trip to downtown Wimberley.

Wednesday night Amy and Chris came over to eat leftovers with us.

 

And to do a little reading…

It’s never too early to learn about where you’re from!

Or to rough-house with Grandpa!

Thursday night we all (and I do mean all, since it was very crowded and we had to wait an hour for an outside table) went to eat at Lupe Tortilla’s. This isn’t a very good picture, but I needed at least one with Lucas in it!

Lots of wonderful memories…