Owen's Birthday

Happy Birthday Owen!!!

Owen being silly with his cupcake

The birthday gang

Playing skeeball with Katelyn

Loved this picture so much had to post it twice

Katelyn taking aim from up top

acting like a mummy

Glowin Owen :-)

Waiting to go into Lazar Tag

Owen cashing in his tickets

My baby boy is seven. It doesn't seem possible for him to be that old already. Wasn't it just yesterday I was pregnant with him, swollen and tired, ready to be induced to start my labor so he could be born? I blinked and now he is as tall as my shoulder, he is smart, athletic, loving, talkative and much much more. This birthday actually fell on a weekend which made it easy to celebrate. Owen invited six friends to go to Shenaniganz. They got to play two rounds of Lazar Tag and then got to have pizza, decorate cupcakes and play in the arcade. We took him for dinner at his choice....TACO BUENO.?.?. yes, taco bueno. I could hardly believe that is where he chose to go. For those of you who know Owen, that was really funny to us. He took Katelyn to Wal-Mart where she let him pick out his present from her. He was gracious with her budget and got a twelve dollar helicopter that he had been wanting for some time. All in all he had a great day and I'm so glad that we got to spend the day together as a family. Happy Birthday Owen. I love you.

Record Breaking...

Snow Fall Feb. 2010

Katelyn and Owen

Snowball fun

Boys against Katelyn

Katelyn walking into trouble, again

Loving the snow

Katelyn get's her revenge

Want a snowball Mom????

Some of my pre school class watching the snow

Our back yard

Snowfall that is...Record breaking snowfall. No not today but a month ago, Rockwall Texas got a record breaking snowfall. Feb. 11th it snowed all day long. Big snowflakes like the ones I used to watch as a child in Colorado. It was great!!! I was impressed that the local schools were not closed, at least not until the next day, the 12th. My preschool class stood in chairs to watch the snowfall outside our classroom windows, while my kids got to go out and play in the snow at school. I couldn't wait to pick them up that day. We were supposed to have swim practice but I had already decided it would be snowman making practice instead. See we never get snow like this and making a snowman was not something my kids had a chance to do. We got home and Owen was more excited about throwing snowballs than making a snowman, but he did finally give into my need to make one. He did a great job too, even put a carrot for the nose. I was so proud of it, but guess what...I didn't get a picture of it. My camera battery died, and before I could go get another one, our snowman was destroyed by kids running through the yard throwing snowballs. The snow actually stayed longer than we thought. It was wonderful sharing a part of my childhood with the kids and I'm so glad that we could take the time to play. Thank you God for another wonderful record breaking gift.

Over Due...

O.K. I know, this post is way over due. I have been so busy, I can't seem to find time to do anything. It is hard jumping back into the work force after eleven years off. I have always worked during those eleven years, but only one or two part time jobs at a time. Now that I'm working six days a week, I often long for the days when I didn't have anything going on. I often think about all the missed opportunities with the kids. The missed days of going to the park just because we could, the missed time of going roller skating, playing outside, having an ice cream from the ice cream truck. I'm so thankful and grateful for what I have and don't want to seem as though I'm complaining, just doing the if I would haves or wish I could of's. I enjoy the new PDO that I'm working at, it is much smaller than my original one at our church, but that is nice in a way. Much more relaxed. One Monday's I usually only have three or four kids. Friday's I'm supposed to have seven, but until today I have only had five. Today I actually had all seven. It was fun to watch them play together, and at circle time it was nice having more kids to interact with.
I still get to take the kids to and from school, and to swim practice's and everything else. I'm so glad. What a awesome God I serve.
Owen's birthday is this weekend. I truly can't believe that he will be seven. It seems like yesterday that I was so very pregnant with him. Swollen and ready to get him out. Seven years have gone so fast and I wish I had spent them more wisely. Well, I'm really tired, starting to catch and cold and don't feel all that great so I'm signing off. Hopefully will post pictures of Owen's birthday this weekend. Until then take care and God Bless.

Part Time Jobs X 4

O.K. so now I have four jobs. I was lucky enough to find one more job to help fill our needs. I was asked to work at the Parents Day Out program at First Baptist Church of Garland. I excepted and started on this past Monday the 8th of Feb. God is so good. I have been praying for his help, and had others praying for us as well and has he provided in such great ways. When God opens doors, he opens them wide. It literally was like a snowball effect, and it truly was God's hand at work. I enjoyed my first day. I had three little children to love. Much smaller class than at Lake Pointe, at times I was so board that it was hard to stay awake. There are only seven kids enrolled in the class that I'm in, but again it is a blessing. How much more perfect can this be? I work Mon., Tue., Thur., and Fri., for a mother's day out program, and Wed. I get to babysit Jillian. Wed. and Sun. nights I get to work childcare. The only day off I have is Saturdays but I'm still able to be there for my kids. That is the most important thing. I can help them with their homework, listen to them read, study spelling words and make Valentines. The job I love most is being a full time mom and I still get to do that on top of everything else.
Thank you God for your everlasting love and mercy.

Just Updating

Catching up to keep this current. I got a new part time job that I started this past Wednesday the 27th of Jan. I'm working at the First Baptist Church of Garland in the childcare dept. The church provides free child care for those attending the ESL (English as a second language) program and for those going for their GED's. We had 20 kids age three and under, fourteen of them were Hispanic and of those fourteen only two spoke English. It was much different from childcare at our church, Lake Pointe. Not that it was bad, but just different. The lack of communication was the hardest, but in the end, the kids just really wanted to be loved and made feel safe away from mom and dad. I held the crying 18 month old for an hour and a half before he finally gave up and fell asleep. I didn't feel like I helped out much, but the ladies I worked with said that it was the best way I could have helped. Everyone seemed to be really nice and the parents seemed to be appreciative. It is hard breaking from the norm and stepping out of my comfort zone, but I think this will work out just fine. I'm working Wednesday and Sunday nights, and then also one Friday night a month. It isn't much money but some is better than none. I now have three part time jobs. I'm really trying to do anything I can so that I don't have to go back to work full time and put the kids in day care.
Katelyn is old enough and responsible enough to leave at home, but Owen is not and would have to go to Day care.
Last weekend our garage door broke. Joe left for work and when it came down the spring broke. I heard the noise but didn't think much of it, just thought it was thundering outside. The kids and I got up and got ready for their basket ball games and when we were leaving I tried to open the garage door and it started to twist and bend. My first thought was...great we don't have the money to fix this, and then the second one was of the noise I heard earlier.
Quickly called a friend and asked her to take Katelyn to her game. One crisis averted. Next I called Joe at work and told him what had happened. He came home and took apart the garage door so we could get my car out. We ran to Home Depot and to Lowe's to see about getting a new garage door, but they were very expensive and five to six weeks out.
Joe and I decided we would just try to fix the door as best we could to at least get it closed and keep the house secure.
He went back to work and I continued my day.
When he got home we hammered the two bent panels back in place as best we could and then put the door back together.
At least the garage was closed.
On Sunday of last week our microwave caught on Fire. We got it out and taken down which left a lovely hole in our kitchen where it once was. Boy, I never realized how much I use the microwave until we didn't have one. I must admit I'm to spoiled. I kept thinking of the times before they had such luxuries and wondered how they made it. Sounds terrible I know.
The week was crazy and extremely busy. I'm exhausted but have no time to rest as I have to be to work in about three hours.
This week is gearing up to be another busy one. I'm thankful that we are all healthy, I have so many friends who kids are sick right now. Praying we don't fall ill to that.

Literacy Night 2010

First grade book by Owen

Katelyn as Lady Bird Johnson

Giving her one minute speech

Literacy night at Shannon... only one week ago Katelyn came home with this living museum project she was supposed to do. Research, props and costume to be ready in one week, one minute speech needed to written, edited and memorized. Our first reaction was..."Seriously".

Like we have nothing else to do. Like Katelyn doesn't do anything but school. Once our tantrum was over we set down and got to work. It actually turned out to be fun, exhausting but fun. First thing to do was choose who to write about. After looking over a list of names forty names deep we came across Claudia Johnson, better known as Lady Bird Johnson. She just seemed to fit. She and Katelyn share similar ideas. Katelyn loves the environment.

Last night was so busy at school, Owen wrote a story that they edited and published and he dedicated it to his whole class. It was so sweet to have him read it to us, and see how much pride he took in it. Katelyn's speech was heard over and over by many. They were supposed to be like a wax figure, and when someone pushed the button on their poster they turned on and gave their speech. She did great, and was exhausted when it was over. I was so proud of our kids, our school and our teachers. Shannon Elem. really takes pride in making reading such an importance in their education. The fifth grade parents also sold Pizza, cookies and drinks for dinner as a fund raiser for the Sky Ranch trip coming this May. All in all last night was lots of fun. I'm so very proud of my kids. Great job Katelyn and Owen.

Any given Saturday

My basketball stars

Flamin Rockets acting silly

My sweet children

Owen practicing for the game

Katelyn and her friend doing a dance

Flamin Rockets showing their joy

Going over the plays before the game

Katelyn securing the ball

Katelyn bringing the ball down the court

Prayer before the game

Owen bringing ball down the court

I'm open, I'm open...

Doing a great job guarding

My baby, so tall compared to the others

Prayer before the game

If your looking for us on a Saturday, you better check the courts...basketball courts that is. Both of the kids are playing basketball this season. Owen's first time ever, and he actually is pretty good. He has made the first point in the last two games. He is much better at this than he was a flag football and seems to enjoy it more. He has a awesome coach...his dad. Joe signed up at the last minute when we found out that Owen's team was without a coach. There were two assistant coaches, but since they don't attend our church they could not be the head coach, so in stepped Joe. He was just supposed to do the devotionals, but it has never been that way. He instantly was in there teaching the boys, who are in first and second grade how to play ball. They are fun to watch, lots of traveling, some double dribbles, but when a basket is made the excitement they show is better than any words. Owen is having a great time playing and the boys are learning to work together as a team.

Katelyn has a new team this year. Her coaches from last year wanted to move up to play the extreme league against seventh and eighth graders. Joe and I talked about it and spoke with Katelyn about it and choose to not put her into that type of situation just yet. We figure she will grow up fast enough as it is, their was no need to push her to play sports against girls, two to three years older. We wished the coaches from last year good luck and looked forward to meeting who would be her coach this year. Coach Hanson is her head coach and Joe is her assistant. They work well together, and Coach Hanson is doing an awesome job. Funny thing about it is Katelyn knows almost every girl on her team, one she hasn't seen since Kindergarten. This is how we spend our Tuesday and Thursday nights, as well as our Saturdays. So if you need us just look to Lake Pointe and come cheer on our teams.