Thanksgiving (a little late)

We spent Thanksgiving in Austin with Steve. The next morning he FLEW us home. This pic was taken inside the cockpit of the 737. Steve is sitting in the First Officer seat. I am in the Captain's chair. ;) Over the intercom, Steve announced his co-pilots Shane and Sarah. How cool!

Christmas NEWSletter

Many of you receive our newsletter each year...for those of you that do not.
Here it is!

Sprowls News Herald -- 2008 Edition

Sarah – Our First Grader

Sarah, 6, continues to love school and currently wants to teach kindergarten or become a vet when she grows up. Last summer, Sarah played indoor soccer for the first time. She is involved with Daisy Girl Scouts and is an AWANA Spark. (AWANA is a children’s church program.) She is very into Hannah Montana, drawing, writing, coloring, stickers, and scrapbooking (just like her Mommy).

Shane - Preschooler

Shane, 3, continues to keep us busy. He attends preschool at Heritage Church of Christ two days a week, and stays home with mom or dad the other days. He is well behaved in school and enjoys learning new things. He can spell many words due to the songs he learns, and he picture “reads” books while Sarah is doing her homework. He is always climbing, jumping, swinging, and playing in the sand. Shane also played soccer this summer, and is currently an AWANA cubby. Steve is thankful that Shane has traded princess dress up shoes and Barbies for Disney Cars, Star Wars guys, and Superheroes. (It is hard to have a big sister with cool toys.)

Steve – Flying for Southwest

Steve still works for Southwest and finally became Dallas based in September. Yeah, no more commuting!!! He is still gone 3-4 days at a time, but now he sleeps home on nights before and after trips. He also works as an ALO (Academy Liaison Officer) as a reserve job. Basically, he interviews students that want to go to the Air Force Academy. Steve still has the REAL ESTATE bug and bought two more houses this year. His goal is to keep buying houses while they are so cheap, sell them in 2-3 years, and then to buy an apartment complex. This extra income will allow him to fly fewer trips for Southwest each month so that he’ll be home more.

Shannon – Full time mom…part time sub

Well, one year of full-time teaching made me realize that my heart really wanted to be back at home with our kids. It was a leap of faith, leaving a secure job and hoping to make it on Steve’s salary, but we are all so glad we jumped. I manage to keep myself busy, of course. I still sell Creative Memories scrapbooking supplies and hold monthly crops. I attend Ladies’ Bible study at our church, and I am Sarah’s Daisy Girl Scout leader. I enjoy helping out at Sarah’s school, and I usually sub one day a week. It is great to TEACH for a day and then walk out with the students with NO work or worries to take home.

Now that I have a little more time, I am trying to keep an updated BLOG about the day-to-day things we do as a family. To read about our adventures, visit us on the web at

creativescrapper.blogspot.com

Until next year, Steve, Shannon, Sarah, & Shane

Home: (817) 562-3249

Shannon: sprowlss@yahoo.com Cell (817) 287-9985

Steve: sprowler71@yahoo.com Cell (817) 739-7601

Shane's school performance

Last night Shane performed at his preschool Christmas program. Being together to watch him shine was a great way to spend Grandy's birthday. I thought he was going to be shy on stage, but as you will see he was pretty confidant.






After we got home, Shane's teacher emailed me and wrote "Shane just stole the show. Soooo cute."

SANTA wrestling?

My son loves to wrestle, jump, slam, you name it. He is 100% BOY!! He also, like any other kid, loves SANTA. Right? Here he is with Santa, all is well. But...if we could see inside his little mind, we would see what was coming next.




I know, Santa usually gives presents, not CHOKE-HOLDS. But this is only the beginning. Here at least they are still sitting friendly (?) on the couch. Wait until you see what is to come...
















Sorry Cari :)







Now, those of you with little girls only are probably APPALLED. But, boys are a different species altogether. You never know what they will do. As a mom, you have two choices. Gasp, scream, and correct the situation...or grab a camera and keep the memory alive for blackmail later on. ;)

Gingerbread houses

My friend Cari decided last year to let the kids create
gingerbread houses at her house. What a fun tradition. The
kids love to use the icing to stick on candies and I'm sure they
ate quite a few, too. Grandy came and helped the kids this
year.






Here is Shane's masterpiece. After he was finished, he enjoyed playing in the backyard with Lauren and the other kids,

Sarah on the other hand, spent ALL of her two hours decorating her house.

PaPa's birthday

Happy 60th Birthday, PAPA! We celebrated my Daddy's birthday at Hoffbrau House. We are so thankful to be living in Ft. Worth again so that we can spend days and evenings with our family.

North Pole Express

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Halloween

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Pumpkin Patch

Make a Smilebox postcard

Back online

OK, so last year, right after I created this thing, I got a full time teaching position (2 days before Back to School Night). Once I started, I never stopped running to catch up! It was too much with the kids and Steve traveling for work, so I resigned and will be able to be a mom again this year. I plan to do a little subbing, but to really just enjoy my hubby, kids, and a slower paced life.