It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

It is amazing the difference a night makes. Yesterday the high was in the 80s...the kids wore shorts and t-shirts to play outside...and today we are in the upper 40s and tumbling downward. That is December in Texas for you! I am thankful for the cool off - it is hard for me to get in the Christmas spirit when I am wearing my summer clothes!

I can't believe that I didn't make one post in all of the month of November. I started a project in our dining room - painting...can you believe it? Yes, once again I picked up a paint brush and attacked another room. I was hoping to have my family for Thanksgiving - at least that is what I told myself in order to get myself motivated to get all of the boxes out of my dining room and to get the walls painted. I almost made it...but not quite...the walls were done...but the room was still a mess! I did get it all picked up by the next weekend and now it is decorated for the holidays and looking mightly festive if I may say so myself. We put our Christmas tree in there because it has the bay window w/the shutters and you can see the tree from the street at night when we have its lights on.

Instead of Thanksgiving at our house...we took the turkey and dressing (Mom supplied all the rest) to Pflugerville and spent the holiday with my parents. We hadn't been in Texas for Thanksgiving in many, many years -- we spent the night and stayed to watch the t.u. vs. A&M game. I must say there is something rewarding about being in Austin when t.u. looses -- at least if you are an Aggie! It looks like my parents will come this way to celebrate Christmas - so I will get to enjoy my completed dining room after all! :-D

I can hardly believe that Christmas is just around the corner - what 15 days away? AHHHH! However, this is the first year that I will not have to mail the majority of my gifts. I usually have them wrapped and ready to go by this point in time so it makes me nervous that I don't have ANY of the wrapping done now. I hope that I won't procrastinate too much! It is also strange to not be planning on a BIG 2 week trip to Texas. This will be the FIRST year in my married life that I will wake up in my own bed on Christmas morning. How novel! And the first year that Santa will not come "early" to the Morgenroth house. You know he does that, right? For people that are not going to be home - he can come early - usually on a weekend - so that the family can take the time to enjoy their gifts before they have to leave them behind to go out of town. He is very thoughtful that way!

I hope that all of your holiday preparations are going well! I'll post more as the holidays approach!

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween everyone! I can't believe I am staying up on Halloween evening and posting these pics and blogging...perhaps it is the Dr. B (HEB's version of Dr. Pepper) and chocolate that I downed once we got back from trick-or-treating? Whatever, the reason...I wanted to go ahead and post so that I wouldn't let 3 weeks go by. That seems to be my m.o. these days -- if I let too much time pass I just put off writing about all the things that I really do want to share with you.

I was REALLY missing the Friendship Harvest Festival today -- we hadn't EVER taken the kids door to door trick-or-treating before and I was DREADING it! Let me explain - each year at the Harvest Festival we would participate in trunk-or-treating and have a pumpkin FULL of candy in maybe 15 minutes. This also means that in less than 15 minutes you hand out candy to over 200 kids...a little hectic, but over and done with quickly. Living in the 'holler' we hardly ever had a trick-or-treater...although we were ALWAYS prepared...even if that meant robbing from our pumpkins from the Harvest Festival (ha!...seriously!)...so we just never participated in Halloween trick-or-treating.....until now.

Tonight the kids put on their costumes and we hit the pavement with our cousins - Caitlin and Taylor...as two adorable Cinderellas....props to Gram who made the costumes! - Aunt Lisa, Uncle Dustin, Granny Gerry, and PopPop. Our street is only about half complete...there is A LOT of construction still to come and ongoing...however, the street over from us has been finished for several months and they were READY for trick-or-treaters. We joined up with some of our neighbors and had a posse of kids on a great sugar hunt....often ignoring the general 'if the light isn't on don't go up to the door' rule - oops!

Luke rode in his Radio Flyer wagon with Taylor...and the 'big' girls went from door to door to door. This year - Luke was a red M&M - thanks to my mom....and the Marshall's dept store where she spotted the costume. It had the funniest plastic hands that went with it...but you can imagine what it might have been like to try to get a 16 month old to keep them on! In case you can't imagine...you will notice that he ISN'T wearing them in the picture!

You will also see Summer as an adorable 50s girl - she was very accomodating to both me and my check book and was willing to revisit this costume from her Preschool sockhop days. It is finally a good length...it was always too long before! She had her Granny Gerry show her some 50s moves...I guess she is a method actress and had to truly get into character with some jitterbuggin'!

Then, there was my PopStar Diva. Kyla was ready to rock and roll! It took me a while to find a costume that was BOTH worthy of a PopStar Diva and what I deemed appropriate for an 8 year old, but I feel like we reached a GREAT compromise...all the nooks and crannies were covered! ha! She already had a wireless microphone from a previous trip to Libby Lu...it even matched the outfit! So we were Set!!

In less than an hour we had pumpkins FULL of candy and were ready to go home and begin to eat our stash. I love how I am calling it 'our' stash...but come on - if we are being honest then we ALL know that once the candy enters the house it is as much ours - the parent's - as it is theirs. Am I right here people? You KNOW I am! Well, the effects of the sugar/caffeine are beginning to wear off - hard! I am having trouble completing my thoughts...so instead of eating something else sweet - I better say, "Goodbye!"

The trip to Sea World

First -- let me say brrrr! Ok-Jess, I know that you are laughing....you know the REAL meaning of the word brrrr!, but we went from 90 degree weather to a high only in the 50s yesterday...so I'll say it again - BRRR!

Thankfully, the weather last week was georgeous w/above average temperatures - that made our trip to Sea World soooo enjoyable!! We were able to get soaking wet and be comfortable! I thought I would include a few of the pics....especially this one of the the kids waiting to get splashed by the Journey to Atlantis ride. You can just barely see Kyla due to the wall of water that is drenching the kids! They stood there and were pelted with water over and over again - the force of the water was nearly strong enough to knock the breath out of you! Oh to be young (and dumb ha!) again!

We were able to catch two different whale shows - due to the Hall-0-scream celebration that they are currently having at the park. The later show was FAR better, but my pics didn't turn out as well. I have yet to master the digital camera because I like the results from my 35mm sooo much more. I probably should have used a night mode of some sort - who knows - but I was able to get this awesome pick of this whale coming up out of the water from the early show. In reality, the whale was even further out of the water - he/she was going back down when this pic was "snapped."

Not only was Sea World a blast (we went ahead and purchased season passes so we can go back an unlimited number of times until the END of NEXT year!), but it was wonderful to spend it with our good friends from Alabama - Isaac, Rebekah, and Kim. I can't tell you how nice it was to spend time with a 'girlfriend' who has known me for sooo many years - I have really missed that sort of fellowship! It is quite a process making friends like that ... but so worth it! I know that the Lord will have friends like that for me (all of us) here too - it just takes time....and effort!

I'll write later and include pictures of the couch downstairs....ya'll probably feel like I left you with a cliffhanger - for so long that was a HOT topic of conversation for us! ha! The synopsis is - we have had a downstairs couch...for only about 3 weeks now...and it hasn't broken (miracle of miracles). If you recall the last one we had down there only lasted about 36 hours and we had three delivered for the upstairs that were broken -- so I am a little "gun shy" about couch purchases - it took me a while to make a 'new' one.

Well - Luke has lost all patience with this post this am. He is trying to get into all sorts of trouble just so I'll get up from the computer - remember those toddler days? I'll write more later! Love to all!

I should be ashamed!

Yes, I should be ashamed! My posts are becoming farther and farther apart! I need to get busy and post some pics, don't I? Ok - I will....but not tonight. I just wanted all of you out there who check this blog regularly, semi-regularly, or even once in a blue moon, to know that we haven't fallen off the face of the earth! The kids continue to adjust well - Kyla received the Panther Pride student of the week....AGAIN...last week. We are sooo proud of her! However, if Summer doesn't get some recognition soon she may be facing some serious jealousy issues! That middle child syndrome! ha!

We had Kim, Isaac, and Rebekah Evans here last week for their Fall Break. What a wonderful time it was! A little piece of Alabama here in Texas - a true treat!

Anyways, I'll post some pics this week (I hope). I have digital pics of soccer, the visit with the Evans - especially Sea World (that will be a WHOLE post all by itself!), and even the conclusion of the "Great Couch Search" saga. ha! Later!

Kyla Awarded Panther Pride Student of the Week!

That's right! Kyla was awarded the Panther Pride Student of the Week for outstanding conduct! I just got back from having lunch with her -- I took Sonic and we got to sit up on the stage. Her friend Lauren - the one who lives around the corner from us - was allowed to sit with us too. Schertz Elementary (they are the "panthers") allows teachers to nominate students for this award ... I'm not sure how many students how many times a month, etc....but regardless, her teacher nominated her because she has assimilated into the school so well and is always polite and courteous (her words, not mine!). If someone would have told me that she would be receiving this award in 3rd grade, while she was in kindergarten...I would have laughed out loud - especially if it had been the day that the scissors met the jacket! So for all of you out there with "unruly" kindergarteners - there is hope! Don't get me wrong - she wasn't a BAD kid and she never hurt any people (just a jacket, once)...but she did have a hard time following the rules at ALL times. I am so thankful that she is following them at school - now if we could just get them all down here at home. ha!






Summer is adjusting to life in the 1st grade with Miss Korbell - she isn't Miss Briggs, but I think she really likes her. I stayed after Kyla's lunch to sit with Summer while she ate and she invited her friend Lauren - from Miss Briggs class. She doesn't seem too upset that they aren't together anymore, which is good...but from time to time she mentions how much she misses all of them. As sweet as Miss Korbell seems...I doubt it will be long before Summer loves her just as much as Miss Briggs -- if not, then she'll be a really, really, really close 2nd!

This weekend I am going to Women of Faith in Houston with a few of the ladies from CrossPoint Fellowship. I haven't ever been to Women of Faith before...I never could work it out when the ladies from Friendship would go...I usually went to the National Women's Convention in Chattanooga instead. I hope this will be a time to build into the lives of some of the women here - I have really been missing my girlfriends over the last few weeks. I just keep sending up prayers that God will be opening a place in a few women's lives that I will be just the friend to fit! He has shown me a big part of this move was to get closer to Him and to not rely on my relationships/activities to fulfill me - but face it, I'm tired of spending so much time with me, myself, and I - I'm just not that interesting. ha!






Well, laundry calls - and if I'm lucky...and Luke keeps sleeping...I may actually get out my scrapbooking "stuff" and take a peek at just how very far behind I am. ugh! One of these days - boxes will be unpacked, walls will be painted, pictures will be hung, kids will be in school/sleeping and I WILL GET CAUGHT UP ON MY SCRAPBOOKS AGAIN! (Imagine that tirade w/the Gone with the Wind music in the background and me in a dress made of curtains! - the dramatic effect is increased greatly that way! ha! ha!)


Love to all - Bye!

Another year older....

Happy Birthday to me....happy birthday to me....la....la...la! ha! I just had to do that. Saturday was my BIG 35th birthday and I must say that I really don't feel a day over 34. I had a WONDERFUL weekend - although my plans had to change when my mom became ill. The day started w/Kyla's soccer game at 8am...a little early for a Saturday, but they didn't seem to care that it was my birthday and I wanted to sleep in. Kyla started the game at goalie and only let one shot by her - she even scored a goal in the last half of the game - her team won 4 - 1. Unfortunately, I took all of my pics w/my Cannon and not my dig. camera so I don't have any to share. Summer then had a game at 10am...and I must admit I was a little concerned about her. She had been complaining at each practice of how tired she was and hot HOT she was and how she didn't want to run...get the picture? But when it came to the game she got right in there and ran....and ran....and ran! Her team won as well 5-4....it was a nail biter! The girls loved having Granny and PopPop there to cheer them on! I must say the ability to visit with our family has been an even BIGGER blessing than I ever thought it would be. I guess you don't really know what you are missing until you have it! I grew up 500 miles away from my grandparents...I never knew any differently!





Mom, Dad, Adam, & Grace were supposed to come over that evening, however, Mom woke up w/a terrible migrane in the middle of the night and became VERY ill! (Side note-she was feeling up to a visit yesterday and drove over to see me.) When plans changed, Granny and PopPop stepped up and volunteered to babysit so that Kyle and I could go out to eat...just the two of us...like a DATE. I remember those....vaguely! ha! We drove over to Gruene (pronounced like the color green) and ate at The Gristmill - it is a restraunt that is inside what once was an old gristmill on the Guadelupe River. Fabulous food, conversation, etc. -- there were kids around...but not ours. At one point I heard a toddler fussing and I looked at Kyle with a big smile on my face and said - "NOT OURS!" I love my kids...but I loved getting out w/out them!





School is still going well for the girls, but Summer is facing a CHANGE - and those of you who know Summer and her PAST reaction to changes may be thinking much like me - OH NO! The first grade classes at the school are getting too big and they are bringing in another 1st grade teacher - Summer was one of lucky ones that the principal picked to move -- because Summer just seems so well adjusted and the principal wants to set this new teacher up for success. Perhaps a little backwards...but none-the-less when I talked to the principal it was more of a "this is what I'm doing" conversation and less of a "what do you think?" one. I told her about Summer and reminded her of our recent BIG move and she volunteered to be the one to break the news to her. At that point I just had to leave it up to God - He is always in control...repeat that to myself 30 times, right!?! Summer got in the car after school and gave me the news right away - when I asked her how she felt about it I got a smile and a thumbs up. Thank you God! I think I worried about it more than her! I guess in a year of BIG changes...what is one more! ha! I met the "new" teacher at Open House last night and she seems very sweet and very capable. Miss Briggs - Summer's "old" teacher will be helping her get situated as will the other 1st grade teachers. Miss Briggs is just such a WONDERFUL teacher, I hate to see Summer taken out of her room...but again, "God is in control"...."God is in control"....you get it.





It dawned on me the other day that many of you haven't seen our new home here in Texas and those of you that have seen it haven't seen it with grass and trees. I haven't spent any time on the outside of the house because there are still so many disaster zones on the inside, maybe I will be ready for that NEXT spring. But I figured I could leave you with this parting shot...all of you in Alabama are missed terribly...and those in Alaska too! ha!

Watch out....she's got a paint brush again!

Watch out!...She's got a paint brush again! That seems to be the words whispered behind my back throughout the house these days. It seems like a NEVER ENDING saga to rid these walls of their "eggshell" hue and turn them into surfaces that I can actually stand to look at. The upstairs walls are finally done - after a day of painting the kids/upstairs bathroom last week. Now I have moved on to the downstairs and to down the stairs by beginning the project of the foyer and staircase. The ceilings in the foyer/staircase are vaulted all the way up to the second story...I have yet to conquer those walls, but yesterday finished all of the shorter walls and half walls that lead up the side of the stairs. After taking about a 3 week break from painting I feel re-energized to start/finish the downstairs - colors are picked out - now the fun begins!





The only problem with all of the painting (well, not the ONLY problem, but the MAIN one) is that life has also began. School has started - which is a blessing and a curse - the girls are not here to be bothered by me and visa versa :-)...but they aren't here to help with Luke! Plus, soccer has started for BOTH girls. This is the first year that Summer has opted to play soccer instead of doing dance. My checkbook is very thankful, but I miss seeing my little ballerina in her tights and leotard w/that bouncy ponytail skipping off to the dance class each week! The girls practice TWICE a week (Mon. & Wed) and that wouldn't be a problem...but they are scheduled to practice at the EXACT same time at two separate locations. ugh! Tonight I will get to figure out who to drop off first and who to stay with until we get the other etc. I have yet to figure out how to clone myself so that I can stay with both. Some nights Kyle will be able to help me - but his schedule is still very WACKY and is only going to get WACKIER before it gets "normal" again.





Not this past weekend, but the one before - Boy it has been a LONG time since I posted last! - Kyle took Kyla and Summer dove hunting. The girls were very excited to go and "hang" with Dad...but my tenderhearted Kyla had a hard time dealing with the doves that weren't killed right away and had to be "helped along." She wanted to hold them...coddle them...fix them...not exactly what the hunters had in mind. Apparently there were tears - but it didn't seem to keep her from wanting to go back. Although, she wants to take bandages and warm water the next time...there MAY not be a next time if she shows up at her dad's side with a doctor's kit! ha! I took a few pictures before they left the house -- of course I did! It IS a scrapbook moment - the girl's first DOVE HUNT! -- and the funniest to me was the one of all 3 of them - Kyle, Summer, and Kyla...oh wait! 4 of them....because Luke backed himself into the picture as if to say - "What about me!?!"





Well - I PROMISE not to wait two weeks again to post...check back "soon" to see what else we've been up to. I will post later in the week on our trip to Cabela's in Buda,TX. Boy - we really had a huntin' filled Labor Day weekend!

A visitor from afar!

What a wonderful time we had last week - and also the reason for the delay in my postings. We had our DEAR friend Jessica here from Tuesday of last week to Saturday. We spent most of our time visiting...but we were able to spend an evening down on the San Antonio Riverwalk where we ate at Casa Rio and enjoyed the riverboat ride and also a day at the San Antonio Zoo. I will post some pictures from that in another day or two - I was afraid that if I didn't sit down RIGHT now and begin to write...I would miss my opportunity for yet another day.

Jess was here for a GREAT happening in our household - WE GOT A COUCH - AND it hasn't broken...YET! I am almost to the point of believing that it isn't going to break. Dare I say it out loud? ha! Yes, finally, we have a couch upstairs - but I did go down from the sleeper to just the regular sofa. I decided that God was telling me that I didn't NEED a sleeper sofa upstairs and He was just going to keep breaking them until I came to that conclusion too. (j/k - sort of!) NOW - our goal is to get a couch for downstairs and at that time I think ALL of the MAJOR furniture purchases will be completed! That will be a GOOD feeling.

The first day of school was today!

Kyla started the 3rd grade w/Mrs. Lanham. She is in a portable building, but says that Mrs. Lanham leaves the A/C on so it is nice and cool for them. Mrs. Lanham has nicknamed her class the Longhorns and she has t.u. stuff (that is university of texas for all of you Alabama readers) ALL over the place. Our goal this year is for Kyla to get through the school year w/o a desire to wear burnt orange for the rest of her life. She has already been drawing longhorns on every sheet of paper and seeing them in everything - for instance, her ketchup tonight - it may be a long year for her Aggie mom and dad!!

Summer LOVES her teacher - Miss Briggs - and if Miss Briggs puts half as much time and attention into her kids as she did her classroom then it will be an AMAZING year! There was actually a little girl that Summer knew from Vacation Bible School in her class - Lauren - and that was ALL she needed to be totally excited about this new school year. We already have an "All About Me" project that is due Friday, however, Summer was ready to complete it TODAY! and had all of her forms out for me to sign as soon as we got home. I don't think that procastination will be in her vocabulary.

Oh - and Luke - I thought that he might really miss his sisters, however, he was in a GREAT mood today. I actually think he enjoys his mommy one-on-one time. But don't get me wrong - he was DEFINATELY excited to see them when we picked them up. It was wonderful picking them up because for the first time EVER - Granny got to be there to hear all about their day. That is something Kyle's mom has always wanted to do and never has had the chance...UNTIL NOW. Even though I still miss my Alabama family terribly, moments like today help because we get to experience our Texas family in ways that we couldn't before.

Just know that we are torn - we miss Alabama and we are happy to be back in Texas.

Love to all of "ya'll!"

We've been staying busy!

My posts seem to be farther and farther apart as we approach the end of summer and the start of the new school year. I find myself shopping for school supplies, tennis shoes, back-to-school clothes, etc. - but as far as I can tell I can quit spending the $$...the lists are complete and now we wait. School doesn't start here until August 27th but we will have a meet the teacher day next Thursday (the 23rd?) and the girls are VERY excited for that day to come! I think there is a bit of "fear of the unknown" as they must brave a new school w/new kids and teachers. That is one thing I will REALLY miss about Alabama....if we had stayed at West Limestone the kids wouldn't have EVER had to change schools. They would have started at West in kindergarten and graduated there as Seniors. It was nice because it was small enough that the teachers knew most of the kids and there was a real sense of community. Now we must start from scratch...however, unlike West, this is a community that is accustomed to new students/families and I think they will do a good job in welcoming my girls. I have been praying for their teachers and I know they will get EXACTLY the person that God wants them to have. The important thing to remember is that the person will be EXACTLY who God puts in their lives...whether we agree with Him or not. ha!



Kyle took a day off this week and we had one last "hoorah" at the Schlitterbahn water park in New Braunfels, TX. If any of you plan a trip out here in the summertime we HAVE to go there. It is one of the BEST water parks in the WORLD! We spent most of our time on the tube rides. Part of the park uses water from the nearby Comal river...by bringing it into the park and then recycling it back to the river. The fact that it is a spring fed river makes it nice and cold on a hot summer day! Some of the rides even take you down to the river, however, with all of the recent rains that south Texas has had the river was still moving too quickly and they had those parts of the park closed off to tubers. There was a whole side of the park we didn't even venture to...maybe next time. You might notice that one of us is missing in the picture and that is because Granny watched Luke while the 4 of us played in the water. I was amazed at the number of small children who were at the park, but I was very GRATEFUL that ours wasn't one of them!


The sofa saga continues. A third couch came to our house yesterday and a third couch came to our house BROKEN. I couldn't believe it! I have decided that God is telling us we DON'T need a sleeper sofa upstairs and I am going to try to order the "regular" sofa and see what happens. The only problem with that is that I must go back to the store and place a new order...they couldn't just do it over the phone....very frustrating! Everyone at Rooms to Go is very sympathetic when I talk to them, however, that doesn't get us a couch here in one piece!

The day wasn't a total loss...my shutters for the dining room, Summer's room, and the gameroom were installed and I LOVE them. Kyle is already wanting them in the bedroom because they block out soooo much more light than the blinds. I am thankful that we went to the expense of getting them...even when we couldn't do the whole house at one time. I just felt that if we didn't start w/them now, we might never decide to spend the $$ on them...and now that we have them in some of the rooms, I think we will eventually add them to all of them.


The girls and I (and Luke :-D) baked a pizza and watched High School Musical 2 tonight. It was REALLY cute...too bad we weren't around some of ya'll in AL...our girls could have gotten together for a "viewing party." Kyle missed out on the fun because he is working the second shift...that is until next week when he starts the night shift. That is bound to throw our schedules into a tail spin. One of these days we will be back on schedule...I keep saying that I am going to get the kids to bed early in order to get us back to the school schedule, but w/o school I don't have alot of incentive. That incentive will be here soon enough and like it...or NOT...we WILL be back on schedule.


I'll try to take some pics this weekend of the rooms w/the shutters and post them...first, I'll have to clean up around them. ha! Have a great weekend!

Soaking up the summer sun...

We just got back in town after soaking up some of the summer sun. Some of us (Kyla) had a little bit more sun than we needed, but the sunburns are healing nicely...hopefully they won't peel! The whole Morgenroth clan went to Port Aransas - I'm talking Granny, PopPop, Uncle Dustin, Aunt Lisa, cousin Taylor (5 months old), cousin Caitlin (almost 3 yrs), and the 5 of us. It was a WONDERFUL time...we just relaxed on the beach...visted with each other...watched the kids play, etc. I wish we had about 1 more day there -- however, with the sunburns we probably couldn't have stood it. One more awesome thing about being here -- we are only about 150 miles from the coast at Corpus Christi/Port Aransas. OK - so isn't the white sand beaches of Florida and Gulf Shores, AL...but it is the beach.





It was Luke's first trip to the ocean and I am thankful that he really loved it. The sand in Texas is very different from that in Florida. It seems wetter - it stays together easier - it makes great sandcastles - but mostly it is easier for a baby to walk on. Luke would walk back and forth between the canopies we had set up and the water - he probably walked a couple of miles! He also loved to watch the girls play in the sand. He studied the sand and loved to squish it between his fingers. I think he only had to "taste" it a few times before he stopped. Just remembering the sound of the grit in his teeth can still make my hair stand on end. I think that is something that every baby feels the need to try - one of my favorite pictures of Kyla when she is 1 year old, is her at the beach w/sand all around her mouth because she was tasting it. ha!



The only "adventure" that we had in the water was when Kyla and I were bit by some teeny tiny water somethings. We have no idea what they were...they looked transparent almost and were so small that you wouldn't notice them if they weren't biting you! We were out in the water...playing in the waves...when suddenly both of us started itching. It wasn't long before we were hurting and we took off back up to the beach. Once we were there, we had to pull the little buggers off of us...you couldn't even rinse them off. However, once they were off the "bites" quit hurting/itching and they didn't even leave a mark. No telling what they were -- but I didn't want to get too far off into the water after that.




We all look forward to traveling back to the coast next summer...especially cousin Caitlin who told everyone just how much she LOVED her new house...she was talking about the hotel room! ha!



Now that the vacation is over, we are beginning to think about school...I even bought a few school supplies yesterday. School doesn't start here until Aug. 27th...luckily we have a few more weeks to worry about it. Next week, Kyle is going to take off one day and we are going to the Schlitterbahn water park in New Braunfels, TX (only about 15 miles away). It seems that the rain has stopped around here and temps have begun to climb....I thought we might have to pay for all of that mild weather and it turns out I was right. But, that also means we had sunny days at the beach and should have a sunny day at the water park. I can't complain about that!



Oh yeah - on the furniture front - they tried to redeliver the sofa for upstairs yesterday and guess what!?! It was broken! I would say, "I can't believe it!" However, with all of the experience we have had with the furniture...I CAN believe it. We will try one more time and then I don't know what we will do. Maybe just settle on another loveseat instead? Who knows! I'll be SURE to keep you updated because I know this is why you choose to read this blog. ha!



Take care everyone! More later.....

I am going to lay hands on the next sofa we purchase and PRAY over it! I can't believe it! Furniture was delivered to our house today...but we are still sofaless. Yes, the sleeper sofa that was to be delivered to our upstairs gameroom was broken when they arrived. We MUST be the unluckiest sofa-purchasers in the history of furniture shopping. I am thankful that one of the delivery guys noticed it just before they were going to force it up the stairs. The sofa going up the stairs was scary on sooo many levels - I don't envy them trying it again. Oh well - at least we have the loveseat, chair and ottoman...that is definately better than NOTHING! Here's a picture to wet your appetite. I'll be sure to let you know what happens next - God must have known that I don't have enough drama in my life. ha! And if I didn't have these things in my life...what on earth would I write about!?! ha! ha!

School registration was today and it was a well oiled machine. There were "stations" throughout the school cafeteria w/the forms and people you needed to talk to. I could tell that they are use to new students coming into the school. Randolf AFB is in this school district (only a couple of miles from us) and many military families live in this neigborhood and in the "older" neighborhood that is next to us. This school (Schertz Elementary) even has a dual language program where they teach in BOTH English and Spanish...however, I know that Kyla won't be able to be in it...you have to be entered in either Kindergarten or 1st grade....and I doubt that Summer will be able to get in - although it would be nice. In this part of Texas it seems that English is the 2nd language. Schertz Elementary is only K-4th...which will be different after attending a K-12. The kindergarteners probably don't eat at 10am in order to have time to serve everyone lunch! ha!


The Supreme Painter of the Universe - that is me - has been able to take a break for the last couple of days. Not that there aren't walls to paint...because there are....but I finally finished Summer's room and I have been working on unpacking her toys and knick knacks. She was VERY happy to have her room finished...she no longer can claim that she isn't loved just as much as Kyla and Luke....at least not about this! ha! The framed pics for her room are in a box somewhere so that isn't done, and we are waiting on the shutters for her windows, but the canopy over her bed is hung so in her eyes it is finished! I thought that I would include these photos so that you could see the product in progress.




This afternoon we are waiting on the furniture for the upstairs gameroom/family room. It was purchased about 3 weeks ago...but was backordered. I think that it will be worth the wait. We still haven't purchased a living room sofa. I was so sold on the one that broke (see the post from July 14th if you wonder what happened) that I haven't really been wanting to go find a new one. I think I know what I want...pretty much my 2nd favorite from when we first shopped. I just haven't made the purchase. Once that purchase is made there shouldn't be anymore BIG home purchases...at least not for a while. What in the world will I write about when my universe is not contained w/in the walls of this house!?! I guess by then school and activities will start and I can share all of that w/ya'll! You just can't wait can you?? :-)



One parting shot of Kyla's room. She has been sooo pleased with it. We are planning a trip to the beach at the first of next week and she hopes to find a few shells to decorate her little Polynesian paradise. She thinks that she will find one of those ginormous (to coin one of Webster's newest words) conch shells on the beach somewhere...I told her our greatest chance of finding one of those on the beach would be at the nearest gift shop. Either way, she wants shells to decorate her room and some picture frames that she has made. The "craft gene" was definately passed on to that one! She has made frames from popsicle/wood craft sticks and she wants to glue shells from the beach to them to give to our family w/pictures in them. She has even given thought as to how she will attach the pictures to the frames....first to a piece of paper and then the paper to the frame...she is so funny! But I love it!


Kyle has started working the second shift now...so our lives are a little upside down. He leaves for work just after lunch and doesn't get home until about midnight...I find myself staying up, however, once school starts that will have to change. He will only be on this schedule for a couple more weeks...then he will swap over to nights for 4 weeks, then to days for 4 weeks, etc., etc. etc. He still really enjoys his job. The change/challenge has been rewarding - although he (we both) miss our friends and former co-workers!


Well, the natives are restless and they want to eat lunch...I'll post again after we get the furniture up in the gameroom. Thank goodness they are delivering it - I would HATE to try and get it up our stairs!

The Supreme Painter of the Universe has struck again! ha! In the past week I have completed the game room (fyi - dried fava is sort of a sage green color), Luke's room (sort of tan), and Kyla's room (an aqua Polynesian paradise). Summer's room is in progress - and not too soon for her either. The other day she came to me VERY concerned that hers was to be the LAST room to be done. I informed her that I was the painter and MY room doesn't even have paint purchased for it yet. She then revised her complaint to being the LAST one of the KIDS done. OK - I'll give her that...but she DOES get the biggest room...she needs to CHILL! ha! Once I get all of the accessories hung on the walls - I'll take some pics of the kid's rooms and post them. Slowly, but surely, the house is coming together.

In order to offer me a GREAT break from painting. We had my mom over for a spend the night visit. Grace, my sister, is off at camp this week and Adam, my brother, is in Mexico on a mission trip so after her visit to MD Anderson/Houston on Monday she planned to come for a visit. We wondered if she was going to get to come because they held her over one night due to a blood clot "scare." Fortunately, she didn't have a deep blood clot in her leg that could cause a major problem but she does have some peripheral ones - a side effect of the chemo drug she takes. Even after having a bone marrow biopsy - she slept in Summer's bed (queen size) w/both girls. The girls LOVED it! Mom says she did too - she said that each time a leg draped over her she thanked God that she had lived so long to enjoy a moment like this. I marvel that 8 years ago she was told she only had about 2 1/2 years to live. God's plans never have time constraints and I am SOOO thankful for that! All 3 kids had a tea party with their Mime - yes, all 3. Luke wouldn't be left out of that! He stood underneath Mime with his arms raised to her - what grandmother could resist!?! I thought I would post these pictures of the happy time!

Today the girls had quality time with their other grandmother - Granny Gerry - and their Great-Aunt Sylvia. They had an i.o.u. from Granny for a visit to Libby Lu for their birthdays. They went with the Hannah Montana makeovers because they are probably 2 of Hannah's GREATEST fans! You can see them here in their Hannah wigs - too FUNNY! Plus, the Build-A-Bear workshop was strategically placed near Libby Lu....so the girls managed to spend the "spending money" they took with them on two adorable Build-A-Bear pink kittens! Talk about a power packed girls day out! This was one of those weeks when it was sooo nice to be near family. It certainly takes the edge off of being so far away from those we miss!

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I MUST sign off - I could write and write and write....y'all know that I ALWAYS have ALOT to say! Sometimes, I need help knowing when to quit...right now that is Luke fussing at me from below the computer chair. More later.....

Cooling off this summer.....

What is WRONG with this picture???

It's July in Texas - Have we LOST our minds?

The heat must have finally got to them!

Is that what y'all are thinking?

If so, you don't know the WHOLE story.

And guess what - you've come to just the right place to find out! Well, yesterday was another Thrilling Thursday outing - this time we went ice skating. See - we haven't lost our minds - well, at least not from the heat. As Supreme Painter of the Universe I might be a few brain cells short from all of the paint fumes, but it has been too mild here this summer to be experiencing ANY heat related dementia. Perhaps God provided this summer just for us - to acclimate us gently to the Texas heat....because I think we may have had MANY days where we have been cooler than all of y'all in Alabama - VERY RARE. Even RARER (is that a word?) we have had VERY FEW days in the 90s. This time of year, the temps are usually close to or at 100. I am certainly NOT complaining....however, I am afraid that we may have to pay for it in August! But by then NO ONE will be use to the heat and the 5 of us won't stick out like sore thumbs! ha!

Ok - so back to the iceskating. This picture tells it all. Kyla got out there...started on the wall (as seen here) and before the end of the day was teaching a 20 year old Christian Day Camp counselor how to skate. SERIOUSLY! Summer (can be seen in the bottom right hand side of the photo) spent ALL of her time on the wall or on the ice (prostrate)...alternating between the two...OFTEN! It was just as good for me to get out - I could give my brain cells a rest from the fumes and stimulate them with some adult conversation. I miss my friends the most when we go out on these outings. It is something that I would have done with you and that just makes me miss all of y'all terribly! The first time it hit me was the trip to Natural Bridge Caverns - it just came from out of nowhere and really took me by surprise. I was driving to the caverns and just got all teary eyed...fortunately only my kids were with me - anyone else would have thought I had LOST it. This trip was a little easier because the adults sat out in the snack shop and we were able to visit with each other. There are many nice women at the church - some of them even SCRAPBOOK...so hey, they can't be BAD! ha! I just have to remind myself that my friendships with y'all didn't happen over night....it took many years to develop. I guess God is working on that patience "thing" again - too bad he won't just HURRY UP! :-)

I thought I would leave you with a humorous parting shot. Remember when I told you about our Elvis sighting? Where here his is.....caught on film....perhaps I will send it in to the Inquirer or Star mag. ha!

Not quite what we thought it would be...

Well, we received our new couch on Thursday evening. Kyle, his father, and his mother all traveled to New Bruanfels to pick it up from the Ashley furniture warehouse. They got it home w/o any incident and it seemed perfect. It was just the right color, it was comfortable, we could foresee many naps on it in the near and distant future. And then today it happened....I heard a loud popping sound...much like a balloon popping, but not quite as hollow. I didn't put much thought into it...I was upstairs painting (you have heard about my new life as a painter right? ha!) and I figured the girls had dropped something - or had actually popped a balloon. But then in about 20 minutes I heard the same sound again. At this point I am about to get mad - Luke is asleep, I'm up to my elbows in "dried fava" paint, and I assume Kyle is sleeping - I also assume the girls have done something to make the noise, but I hear nothing else. I decide that it probably isn't them and continue with the painting. However, in about 5 minutes my husband appears upstairs with the troublesome news - the couch has BROKEN! We have had this piece of furniture for LESS than 48 hours and 2 of the main support beams of the frame are broken in two! Can you say DESIGN FLAW? The store suggested sending out a technician to "fix" it, but we returned it tonight - who wants a BRAND new couch that has to be "fixed" w/in 2 days of it's purchase? NOT ME! So now the great couch hunt is on again. Anyone with any great ides let me know!?! I am definitely gun shy on the Ashley Furniture store...although I know many of you have used them and love them! The right couch must still be out there just waiting for us to purchase it and bring it into our couch loving home. :0)

The past two days haven't seen too much excitement - I settled on the color "dried fava" for the gameroom - after staring at my denim shirt with the paint chips taped to it I decided that it would be the prettiest wall color and I support my decision 100%. Maybe - 99.5% because a part of me will always wonder what sea green would have looked like....probably way too obnoxious...right!?! Once I finish in here I will attack the upstairs bedrooms and bathroom - I have all of the paint so I can just tackle room....after room...after room. The big decision now is whose room will be next. You can imagine that Summer has a LARGE opinion on whose room should be painted next. However, it is my decision as Supreme Painter of the Universe that the person whose room will be painted next is the person who proceeds to talk about it LEAST! At this rate it looks like Luke. ha! I have a before pic of the gameroom that I will post as soon as I am finished enough to take an after pic of it as well. I think I will enjoy this room more than my formal living room. It is just an easier space to work in - plus, all of my craft stuff is up here and one day - when girls are in school, boxes are unpacked, walls are painted, and baby is sleeping - I WILL scrapbook and various other crafty stuff AGAIN! Amen! Hallelujah! Sorry - I just can't control myself at the thought! hee! hee!

I know I wrote that we might attend Journey Fellowship tomorrow...to see Max Lucado and all...but I think we are going to wait and try them on another day that isn't so CRAZY! I think it is a good sign that I don't really want to miss what is going on at CrossPoint tomorrow either. I haven't felt that connected to the church - I think mostly because we were SO connected to Friendship - but slowly/surely I am feeling a connection to them and their mission to "reach seekers and build believers." Don't think for one second that I am forgetting any of y'all....Friendship's shoes are way too BIG to fill....but I am glad we are seeing churches that can at least meet our needs as we look forward to worshipping and serving the Lord here in Texas.

Well, it is almost midnight and I will have 3 sleepyheads (4 counting Kyle ha!) to get ready for church in the morning - I better turn in. God Bless!

Has it really been a week!

Has it really been a week since I last wrote to all of you? WOW! Where do I begin? I guess I will begin with the real shocker, although then it will all be downhill from here. You may find this shocking....but we sighted Elvis last night. Really! OK - maybe he wasn't the REAL Elvis...but just tell my kids that! We celebrated Kyle's brother's (Dustin's) birthday at Texas Pride bbq "joint" and "Elvis" was there providing live entertainment. Kyla loved it so much that she has since insisted that she have her birthday on a Wednesday night at Texas Pride...."because Elvis is there EVERY Wednesday for classic car night....really, MOM, that is what the sign says." Can't you just hear her. I think her favorite thing was that "Elvis" walked out into the crowd and sang to the members of the audience. She kept positioning herself in places where it would be easy for him to get to her. While most people were shying away...or changing their seats...she would seek him out so that he could sing to her. It is a wonder she didn't take over the microphone. She might have had she known the songs! ha!


Now to the thing that has consumed my daily life - home decorating. I completed the painting in my living room/kitchen area - mangrove yellow is definitely sunny and YELLOW...but I do LOVE it! We got the burgundy (technically chianti...what kind of color description is that? sort of like all of those Creative Memories album color names) couch today and it looks great with the yellow walls...at least I think it does. I am trying to settle on a color for the game room. I picked out a denim sofa, loveseat, and striped accent chair last weekend, however, they won't be in until early August. I decided I should go ahead and paint and get the room ready for the furniture's arrival. I grabbed several green paint chips from the store and headed across town to the furniture store to compare them to the accent chair and I have narrowed it down a little...but I am still undecided. I currently have 4 green paint chips, in various shades and hues, tapped to one of my denim shirts that is a close match to the sofa. I know....I'm derranged! There should be help for people like me - but hopefully, you all love me anyway.


I watch the videos of Friendship's services each week. I find myself singing along - and crying! Maybe one day it won't be so hard - maybe! We may try out Journey Fellowship church this weekend...if we can sell the kids on skipping CrossPoint this weekend. I want to just see it for myself. It is maybe 5 minutes down the road and meets in an old dance hall, the Blue Bonnet Palace. They are a plant of Oak Hills which is Max Lucado's church here in San Antonio. Max is going to be there this Sunday so it would be a special treat to hear him. I'll have to let y'all know if we do go...how it was. The people that I have met who go there....love it!


I took some time for MYSELF on Monday of this week. My mother-in-law came over and watched the kids while I went to a Stampin' Up demonstration. I found this demonstrator on the internet and contacted her because there was a stamp set going out with the old catalog and I NEEDED it. :-D She has many classes throughout the month and is sooo creative - I had a BALL. Plus, she is a believer and is one of the people that I know who goes to Journey Fellowship and who can't say enough good things about it! Back to that second sentence in this paragraph - can I tell you how nice it was to be able to go somewhere and have a family member watch the kids!?! It was awesome - I am very thankful to Granny Gerry for making that possible!

Well, I can tell from the length of this post that it really has been a week since I posted last. I will have to be more timely so that it won't take so long to write....and READ! However, as long as there is painting to do...and boy is there painting to do...you can bet that most of my spare time will be spent with a paint roller in my hand! ha!

Last I left you - I was faced with the riviting decisions of which couch to buy for the living room and what color to paint the walls. I guess you can tell from the before and after pics that I did settle on yellow - Mangrove yellow to be exact. Yellow is such a strange color because it changes depending on which wall it is on and what time of day it is. I had yellow in my kitchen back in AL, so I figured I would like it, but to go from beige to yellow was a REAL shock at first. It isn't quite as bright as the picture suggests, but it is BRIGHT and sunny! I love how it brings out the colors in the painting on the mantle (yet to be hung). No telling how old that painting/print is - it came from my great-grandmother's home in South Carolina. We also bought the burgundy couch at Ashley Furn. and will pick it up on Thursday....things are really starting to take shape. Now if we can just get the last piece of our wall unit for this room we will be set (faux wood blinds to come ???)!

The 4th of July wasn't quite the same without the Sportsman's Park fireworks/people watching, but we made due. We had burgers and hotdogs with Kyle's family at his brother Dustin's house and then stood out on his back deck and enjoyed the view of 3 or 4 different fireworks shows across the south San Antonio area. Summer was a little disappionted that we didn't go in-person to one of the displays, but it RAINED, and RAINED, and RAINED until late in the afternoon and we figured most places would be MUDDY! However, she and Kyla did brave the rain cooled pool at Dustin's and swam once the rain stopped - so she wasn't THAT disappointed. :-D

Thursday, the kids and I traveled with a group from church to the Natural Bridge Cavern. Travled is sort of a funny word to use because it is only about 20 minutes from our house. It was beautiful - I took several pics w/my 35mm, but none with my digital. I need to get into the habit of taking pictures w/both, but I tend to forget and only use one or the other. Most of the time I am just happy that I remember taking a camera - let alone 2! The nicest thing about the cavern is that it is still "alive" - the formations are still growing, but at a very slow pace. I think the tour guide said that it only grows 1 cubic inch every 100 years! SLOW!! It was very wet and they couldn't even take us down to the bottom because of all of the water that had seeped in due to the rains. Oh well, that will just give us an excuse to go back sometime. It hit me while we were down there under the ground that God even made the earth under ground beautiful - places we may or may not ever see - It just goes to show that it isn't about us, it ALL really is just to glorify Him.

I must sign off - there is kitchen painting yet to do and I want to be finished/cleaned up in plenty of time to watch the BIG race tonight. Yes, we still watch the NASCAR. :-D We are planning on fajitas for dinner - too bad we aren't close enough to get together w/Brian and Kim...however, if we were planning on it, one of our kids would surely be getting sick right now. ha!

More later as the home decorating saga continues!

Amazing yard sale!

Well...last I left you I was concerned with all of the rain that might ruin our yard sale. God is good and always in the details because NO rain fell. As a matter of fact, it was even sunny at times. My mother-in-law and her sister worked two days straight and sold over $200 of my "stuff" or more appropriately called "junk!" I still have enough "junk" around my house to sell, so I am planning on having a sale in the fall. It has been a hard task to whittle down what was in our home in Alabama and fit it in our "smaller" house here.

I have yet to put out many knick-knacks and very few things are hung on the wall. I have been waiting until I could find the time to paint the walls and have just now come to that point. For those of you who were in my home in AL, you know how much color I had on the walls - for those that weren't...well, it was A LOT! The beige walls and beige carpet here are pretty, but are on the boring side. I have decided on a deep yellow for my kitchen and living room...or so I think. :-) At this point I have a couple of paint chips that I keep moving around to the different walls so that I can stare at them and decide if that is REALLY what I want to do. Face it, with 3 kids I don't have time to redo it...so I better be SURE!

Along with picking out paint colors, I have dedicated myself to the finding of a new couch. We still don't have one and frankly...I hadn't been ready to get one. Our living room downstairs is an odd shape - it has a very pretty limestone fireplace at an angle in one of the corners and although it looks nice, it doesn't make it so easy to place furniture. I spent Saturday am, mapping out my living room on grid paper and placing furniture all around just trying to figure out where in the world I was going to put the couch and how big/little it needed to be. I even went over to the model home - it is EXACTLY the same floor plan as ours - just to see how they placed the furniture in it! I'm telling you - it shouldn't be this hard! I think I have settled on one at Ashley furniture that is a very pretty burgundy color - it should look great w/the recliners that we already had and the deep yellow paint chip on the wall. I will probably go and get it tomorrow - there is a BIG 4th of July sale. I'll be sure to keep you posted because this is such riveting subject matter - you may not be able to sleep w/o knowing. (yes, that was sarcasm - ha!)

We made a trip to my parent's last Sunday - Kyle did some work for them on the wood on their home and storage shed - AND we did a little shopping at IKEA. They have one of those GREAT BIG stores in Round Rock, TX...just about 15-20 minutes from my parent's house. I had already made a trip there a few weeks ago and kinda scoped it out - got the lay of the land so that I could go back and conquer exactly what I needed. Because you know, shopping w/a man and 3 kids, you have to be ready just to go in and conquer. Well, 2 hours (ugh!) and about 15 boxes later, we came out with a new computer/craft area desk and MOST of the components of a new entertainment/wall unit (of course one piece was out of stock so I will pick it up at another time). That was the easy part - for those of you familiar w/IKEA - everything comes unassembled - so Kyle will be working as a carpenter on furniture assembly in his spare time. At least there is a payoff for that in the price of the merchandise!

In the tradition of years past, we will spend the 4th with my in laws - this time in TEXAS instead of Alabama. We will have to find another location for fireworks which is sad. Kyle looked over at me tonight and said, "I'll have to get up early in the morning and go park my truck at Sportsman's Park."...just reminiscing about all the years he DID do that so that we would have good seats. He would really get up early and go park his truck down there on the morning of the 4th! Sportman's Park may be small, but they put on a terrific fireworks show! Plus, you can't beat the 'holler' for some unique people watching! :-)

I hope all of you have a terrific 4th of July. God bless America and God bless you as well!

The rain has us all a little stir crazy around here! The kids are ready for the warm, sunny Texas weather that they have heard so much about and frankly, so am I. We have been fortunate that there is no flooding near us, but just on the other side of town they had 6 inches of rain in only a few hours. Of course, according to Murphy's Law, Kyle's aunt & uncle are having a garage sale this weekend and have allowed us to donate items and now it is supposed to continue raining - at least tomorrow. I have been able to sort through some of the "stuff" that I know I don't have room for in this house, however, I still have LOTS of boxes at my in-laws house and figure that I will be having another garage sale this fall ....or SOONER! When I talked with Sylvia tonight, she told me that we had already sold $50 of merchandise and the sale hasn't officially started yet. Yeah! Now I just have to be sure not to buy more "stuff" with the money!




I thought I would leave you with this picture of Luke. At this moment he was getting mad at us - that is one of his "mad" faces - because we were eating ice cream at Dairy Queen and he wasn't. He nearly lunged out of the high chair trying to get a hold of someone's, anyone's, ice cream cone! Don't feel bad for him - we ALL gave him ice cream. We ALL give him everything - he IS the baby after all! ha!

Ok - like I said - I'm new to this whole blogging thing and my previous attempt to post this pic didn't turn out like I planned. So much for not looking foolish - well, those of you who know me will just know that I wanted to go ahead and get that out of the way! Make you all feel more comfortable...that's just the kind of gal I am. ha!

Life as we know it...My how that has changed in the past several months. We went from a family of 5 living in Alabama - to a family divided by 1000 miles - to a family of 5 living in Schertz, TX. Well, the road was bumpy but at least it got us here! I wanted to start a blog to keep up with all of our friends that we left behind in Alabama - I know that it isn't always easy to find time to make a phone call or fire off an email...this way y'all can check in on us whenever you want - you can post comments whenever you want - it is completely up to you. I have NEVER done anything like this before and honestly, it is a daunting task. There is a self-conscious side of me that is concerned that I will spell something wrong or use improper grammer and be the butt of many jokes for days to come -- but I have told myself to get over it! This is for the greater good here! I am not sure how often I will post - maybe everyday, maybe every other day, maybe once a week - who knows. My guess is that it will be at least every other day now.



The kids have adjusted well to life in Texas. We have found a church that cannot fill the shoes of Friendship UMC...but they are a very close second. The kids love it and I am very thankful - I was worried that it might take weeks, even months, to find a church that ministered to kids the way that Friendship does. If interested their website is http://www.crosspoint247.com/. This week Kyla and Summer have been attending Crosspoint's vacation Bible school which they have called Adventure week. It has a pirate theme - they are even hunting for burried treasure using maps, compasses, etc. They are teaching the kids that the Bible is the map that God gave us for our lives and they will be teaching them about the TRUE treasure - Jesus. It is a cirriculum they came up with all on their own. I am amazed at the talent that is in this church! Don't think that just because we are here and attending another church that I have forgotten about you Friendshippers. So far I have kept up with you via the online sermons. However, to be honest with you, each time I watch I CRY! I mean really, really CRY! It is hard to see you and know that I can't be there in person - but I am there in Spirit!



Well, I leave you today with a photo from the state of Texas welcome center in Texarkana, TX, taken by my in-laws when we crossed over the border into our new life here. It will be a new adventure - many twists and turns - but it will be well worth it to be here with our family. I hope you will log on and join me whenever you get a chance - it is bound to be a fun ride!