Oh yes it is...

This is not what one expects to find in their sink, unless you have a Shane of your own.  He decided to see what would happen if he put poo in the sink and left it for a period of time.  He wondered if it would dissolve.  Now, I love his questioning mind, but not in MY sink.  I told him, we could have just left it in the toilet and made a sign, "please do not flush, science experiment."   He later used gloves and did clean out my sink for me.  Whew!  The fun of parenting never ends!

Ghost Lantern

Fun at a Cub Scout campout.  They decorated ghost lanterns instead of carving pumpkins.  Love it!  We put colored glow stick in them on Halloween and they were too cute.

All things Star Wars

Shane got some new art, too.  We had his name made at Legoland in San Diego while we were there this summer.  I finally got it framed and up on the wall.  He picked out the glitter mat b/c he thought it looked like stars.  Love It!

Peace...Love...Pink

This summer, Sarah and I made some new art work for her room.  

 Peace...Love...Pink.

 I found a peace sign similar to the one we made for $34 at a furniture store.  We used square canvases from Hobbby Lobby ($7.99 each) and paint that I already had.  My favorite touches are the Stickles glitter accents and the Sparkle Modge Podge.  So wishing I had more time to do crafty things. 

One last hurrah!

Kids having fun during our last visit to NRH2O for the season.

Oreo's birthday

So, our little cat, Oreo turned one in August.  The kids gave her some wet cat food as a treat.  This picture is blurry of Shane, but it was too funny not to include.  I love how he is trying to make her "smile" and look at the camera. 

She enjoys her new climbing tower and perch.  She scrathes on its post, which is a great alternative to our couch. :)

16 years

In August, we ate at a fancy steakhouse in downtown Fort Worth to celebrate our 16th wedding anniversary.  The salad bar had 100 items on it and the waitstaff walked around with all different types of steak, chicken, and pork on long knives.  If you wanted some, they would cut you off a piece and put it on your plate.  The knives looked like the ones in the light fixture in the bottom picture.  Our kids would have loved the novelty of this, but it is too expensive.  We used a Groupon so it was only half-price.  I <3 Groupon!

Snow Cute

 

Here's one from kindergarten.  I <3 snowmen!

art

OK, so these are from LONG....ago. 

Shane made this at Heritage Christian preschool sometime in 2009. 

The words say: Shane is a Child of God.

I am 4 years old.

My favorite color is blue.

My favorite food is pickles. 

Not much has changed except that he's older, taller, and has longer hair.

Sarah created her name with bingo-dobber type markers.  So fun! 

They blew through the workbook that went with these cool craft must-haves.

Dress up

Not so cute this time; Halloween birthday party for a friend from school.  It was zombie themed (I shoulda looked closer at the invitation.)  I think I made Sar look a little too pretty.  Shoulda made her look like a dead pirate.  H. looked awesome.  She even had tatooed scars.  Loved her shiny sequin shoes.

SMASH

Sarah is playing volleyball again this season.  We switched leagues so that she might meet some friends that she will eventually go to middle and high school with.  Her friend H. from school is also on her team.  I think they are having a good time.  Sarah is consistent with her underhand serves this year, and there are many volleys back and forth.  She runs toward the ball, and although she doesn't usually get it, at least she's not ducking like she did the first year. :) 

Pack 717

Shane joined cub scouts this year as a Tiger Cub. Each month there is a pack meeting where they receive all of the awards that they have earned that month. Because Papa was a scout master for nine years and Rob and Tim are both Eagle Scouts, we invited them to Shane's first pack meeting. Shane received patches for helping to clean up Christ's Haven and  participating in a flag ceremony.  He was so embarrassed to have to stand in front of the group to get his patches. 

He also received his Bobcat rank.  For this award, Steve had to pin the patch on upside down.  Once he does a good turn, he can turn it right side up.  Tradition WAS that the boy was turned upside down and the patch was pinned on as normal.  This is no longer allowed as it is considered "hazing".  Well, I wanted pictures of Daddy holding Shane upside down, so after the meeting, we took Shane out on the porch and let Steve put it on while Papa held him.  They were all giggling so much, it was fun to watch. 

Back to School

So here is the scoop from the first day of school.  Shane chose a Mario Cart lunchbox and a Lego Ninjago backpack.  His teacher this year is Mrs. Washington and his best friend Camden is in his class again.

 

 

Sarah has Mrs. Jacobs as her homeroom/math/science teacher and Mrs. McAdams for ELA and S.Studies. She wanted peace and camoflauge stuff.

Wish that this had been a better picture. 

We were in a hurry to get to school and I didn't realize that I cut her head off. 

 

This year wasn't fabulous as far as our walk together to school.  Steve was out of town and on Monday, the school called and asked if I would sub.  I was able to walk each of my kids into their classrooms, but it wasn't quite the same as being a parent (only).   I am grateful to their awesome teachers whom them a few minutes early so that I could get back to the door where I was supposed to be greeting students.

Having taught 4th grade for 5 1/2 years, I have always condiered 4th graders as "the big kids."

I cannot believe that my kids are in 4th and 1st.   

Scary words

Steve:  "Let's go and take the wheels off the lawn mower and add them to the car we're building."

Oh my.

This is what they've worked on while Sarah has been at camp.  They are hoping to finish it today.  Wondering what it will look like by the time I get home. 

Hope I don't get a phone call to meet them at the emergecy room.

Hard to beat...

Here is my view from my friend's lakehouse on Eagle Mountain Lake.  24 hours away from home.  Eating.  Talking.  Laughing.  And a little digital scrapbooking, too.

Slumber party

Sometimes my kids like to sleep in the living room. On this particular occasion, Sarah was in the chair with the ottoman and Shane was on the couch.  I love how our cat is also attending in her little bed.

                                                  
Here is a picture of all three of them.



     And here is Oreo, later in the night.  She has "fallen" out of her bed.

Shane's sentences

Here are a few sentences that Shane wrote near the end of kindergarten.

Sarah's similies

In an effort to clean up my study, I am scanning in my kids' school work so that I can throw it away.  Once I scan it in, I put it in a digital scrapbook, or I print the image as a wallet or 4X6 picture.  Then, I can fit a school year's worth of work on one page. 

One of Sarah's assignments was to write similes about themselves.  Each similie was written on a flap that you could open, revealing a picture underneath.  The flaps were pretty tattered so it wouldn't scan, but here are her similies and the picture:

I'm as cute as a new born baby.
I'm as sassy as a diva at a fashon show.
I'm as nice as a red blooming rose.
I'm as silly as a squirrel with lots of nuts.
I'm as smart as a scientist that just discovered somthing new.
I'm as crazy as a monkey with 14 bananas.

It's about WHO you know...

OK, so I recently finished this book called The Gifted Sophmores by Terri Blackstock and one idea from the book really stuck with me.  The idea, I accepted 7 years ago when I became a Christian, but I just thought the analogy was so clear, that I wanted to blog about it. 

In the book, three students survive an earthquake and they work together to witness to others about Christ.  Here is the excerpt from the book:

"Sandy, you survived for a reason.  The Lord loves you and wants you for His own.  He sent us to tell you."

"I want that," she said. "I really do.  I've studied Zen Buddhism and Eastern religions.  I almost became a Hare Krishna. I even read the Koran and tried to see if that would fit my life...but none of it did."

"Christ is the only way." Mo's words brooked no debate.  "He's the way, the truth, and the life. No man can come to the Father except through HIm.  It's like, if you wanted to get into a really great concert, you'd have to have a ticket or something, right? But if you don't have a ticket, you have to know the right person to get in.  If you know somebody who's, say, in the band, you can go right in, get treated like royalty, enjoy the benefits of being a friend. But you don't get in because of who you are. You get in beacuse of who you know. It's that way with Jesus.  We can't get into heaven through Buddha or Hare Krishna or Islam...only through Jesus. If we know HIm, we get in..."  page 79-80


This was not her best novel.  I love her suspense thrillers much more than this quick read.  But again, this message from the book has been on my heart and I wanted to share it.

KGE Sledding 2011

Back in early February 2011, we returned home from our week long ski trip in Utah.  The kids were excited because they had an extra 4 days off from school because of snow.  Below is a video of what they did on one of their days off.

365...Day 50

Since I am on a roll with publishing pictures from last December, figured I'd post this one, too.  Steve ran the Dallas White Rock 1/2 marathon on Dec 4th.  He did well!  It was really cold as the kids and I waited to cheer for him.  I didn't have so much fun because the Dallas streets were super hard to navigate.  Many one way streets and roads blocked off.  We saw him early on, and then not again until after the finish line.  Very frustrating to not be able to see him and cheer him on!

365...Day 49

An Ode to Sunny...

Here he is sleeping with Sarah in MY BED!!  I am sure Steve was out of town. :)  He was a sweet cat, just wished he would have choosen to use the litter box.  Glad that his owner took him back when we decided he had to leave.  Kids were sad at first,, but Oreo seems to keep them happy.