My new best friend...

I have stained concrete floors in my house, and I have a love/hate relationship with them. I love them when my kids spill something on them or when the dog throws up on them... the clean-up is FANTASTIC for stuff like that. BUT, I hate other things about them. They are cold, and they are hard. And, lately, I have been having a TERRIBLE time cleaning them. It has been raining (and snowing!) a lot lately at our house, and LO!!! FRIENDS!!! I cannot describe with mere words how much mud we have at our house right now... It's always muddy in the country, but we are trying to put in a yard, and we have about 10 fresh loads of topsoil in our yard... MUD doesn't even begin to describe what's in my yard!!

Anyway, lately I have swept and dust mopped and wet mopped until I am blue in the face, and it still looked and felt dirty.

UNTIL TODAY!!!

Today, I made a new friend.

The Shark Steam Mop.

It might change my life!!
It cleans AND sanitizes. It's my new best friend.

I had already swept, dust mopped, and wet mopped today when I decided to just go out and buy it and see if it would help. When I came home with it, I filled it (with plain water), and started in on my floors again. FRIENDS!!! I cannot describe the "gross-ness" that came up on the cleaning pad!!! AFTER the floors had already been "cleaned"!!!!!

It was like a ray of light shone down upon it from heaven. The answer to my prayers!!! Three cheers for the shark!!!!

Let it SNOW!!!!!

On Christmas Eve, it SNOWED here in Texas!! And, I don't mean just a little bit... it S-N-O-W-E-D!!!! We had blizzard-like conditions for much of the day. It was right at freezing when it started, but had been nearly 70 degrees the day before, so the ground was warm. It took a good while for the snow to begin to stick. Once it stuck, it was FANTASTIC!! The girls were able to make snow angels, and they spent a good long while sledding down our back hill with their Daddy. We don't own a sled, but do you remember when we had internet problems with our bent dish a while back???? Well, we had a bent dish from our cows scratching themselves on our dish. We still had that old satellite dish, and it made a PERFECT sled!! The girls had a ball. And, the best part was, when we woke up the next morning, we had a WHITE CHRISTMAS!!! Here are some of my favorite pics from the snowy day...

The wind was blowing SO hard, and it was SO cold, the girls were freezing. Here's what Abby's face looked like when she came in from the cold.
Here are Kate and Abby, headed out to play when the snow started.
Even Trixie, the expert cow dog, played in the snow... she doesn't look too thrilled, does she?!?!
Here is the mighty Miss Grace, about to blow away.
Here are the girls, swinging in the snow.
We were dreaming of a white Christmas, and we got one! What a wonderful memory for some Texas girls!!

We Wish You a Merry Christmas...

... and a Happy New Year!!!

It's been a crazy, wild, BUSY few days, but we've made it through, and OH, my lands, was it ever fun?!?!?!?!?  

I have taken lots of pics, and will share later, but for now, I leave you with this:

"... and the the angel said unto them, "Fear not! For, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you:  Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger."  And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth, Peace, good will toward men."  Luke 2:10-14.

Merry Christmas.  Peace on Earth, and Glory to God in the Highest!!!!

WOW... What a WEEK!!

It has been QUITE a week here at Casa de Killian... All three girls had their Christmas parties at school, and my Mom and Dad arrived for the Christmas Holidays.  Whew!  What a whirlwind!  I won't bore you with all the details, but will leave you with some pictures from the week.  (Disclaimer - I took these with my phone, and so blogger is not letting me enlarge them.  Grrrrrrr!  Unsure why, but I will attempt to figure out this problem some other time when I don't have 500 other things to tackle!!!)

At Kate's Christmas party on Friday, one of their activities was to race remote control cars down the school hallway, to learn about components like speed and inertia.  It was a lot of fun!  They also displayed their cars that they had made in class.  They had to make the wheels turn using battery power, gears, and wheels.  It was really a pretty nifty project.  I'm so thankful for creative, dedicated teachers like Mr. T.!!!!  Here is a photo of Kate with her car.Abby's Christmas party was an ALL DAY AFFAIR on Thursday.  First, the ENTIRE second grade came to the Family Life Center at our church and enjoyed centers and games, and then a hot dog lunch and gift exchange.  Here is little Abby, with her gift.  She was pretty excited about it!

Here is Abs hula-hooping.  That was one of the games... a hula hoop contest!  After lunch, they boarded a bus that took them to the "Polar Express" (which explains why Abby is wearing her pajamas in these photos!! ha ha)  They went to another church, where they got their Polar Express tickets punched by the conductor.  Then they watched the movie and enjoyed popcorn and hot cocoa.  They had a fantastic day.
Wednesday was Grace's pre-school program and party.  They told the story of Mary and Joseph and Baby Jesus for their program.  Grace had the all-important role of "Mary".  Friends, I am not ashamed to tell you that I questioned the teacher, just to make sure that she was CERTAIN that Grace was a good choice for this pivotal role... I'm just being real when I say that she MIGHT be a little unpredictable and stubborn sometimes, and they might choose a little Mary that is always well-behaved and predictable.  I'm just saying... But, Mrs. Lisa ASSURED me that Grace is WONDERFUL at school, and she was convinced that she would be JUST FINE.  I told her she was very brave, and I was sorry in advance for any bad events that might occur.

Friends, I could not have been more wrong.  Grace was a WONDERFUL, BEAUTIFUL, PERFECT little Mary.  I was so proud!  She has COME A LONG WAY, BABY!  Last year she was an angel, and she sat down and pouted the whole time!  This year, she held the baby gently and kindly accepted the presents from the Three Wise Men.  Relief washed all over me, and, to be quite honest, I might have shed a tear or two!

Here are "Mary" and "Joseph".
And here is a little picture of Mary, with Baby Jesus, who was portrayed very convincingly by Bitty Baby.  :-)
It was a busy week, but a wonderful week.  Now the kids are on Christmas break.  I had big plans to sleep in this morning, and woke up promptly at 6:35.  Ugh!  But, my Christmas shopping is done, and we stayed at home ALMOST all day today, which is pretty good for us!!

Only 6 more days until Christmas!  Let the gift wrapping begin!!!  :-)

Makin' Mama Proud...

This past Saturday was a good one... the girls competed in the District UIL competition.  First we got the news that Abby had won first place in the District UIL competition for Creative Writing for the entire District's Second Grade! Awesome!  Way to go, AbbyThen, we got the news that Kate had won the District's UIL competition for 5th grade Oral Reading!!  How fantastic is that?!?!?!?  Great job, Kate!
I am so proud of these two that my buttons are popping!  

Hello, Long Lost Friends!!

Yes, I know it has been a long time since my last update... Life has REALLY been happening here in "Casa de Killian".  We'll try and catch you up on a few things that have been going on...

Last Friday night, the entire elementary school put on a FABULOUS Christmas play, "A Dickens of a Christmas".  It is based on Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol".  It was so good.  I helped the Music Teacher at school with all the costumes for the 5th graders, who had the lead roles in the play.  It was a little hectic, but we managed to pull it off!  All the kids looked fantastic.

This is usually where I tell you that I forgot my camera... I DID NOT forget my camera, but I was seated so far back in the auditorium that my flash was not strong enough to put out enough light to take decent photos.  And then AFTER the show, by the time I found the girls, they were out of their costumes!!  It's always something... I will show you a few of the pics that I did manage to take...

Here is Abby, ready for her big moment.  She's standing next to her BFF, Lainey.  They are looking pretty cute!Kate was one of the narrators for the show.  She did a GREAT job.  Here she is with her co-narrator, Weston.  They did a nice job.



Then, last night, the new Student Council for the Elementary School had their induction ceremony.  Here are the officers, fanning away the smoke after they blew out their many candles used in the ceremony.
Here is President Kate, sharing a secret with Vice-President Abbey H.
And, here is the new President, after the ceremony.   We were so proud of her!
This is just a synopsis of a few of the many things that have been going on... our heads are spinning, and we are OH, SO READY for Christmas break!!!

My Little Outstanding Citizens...

I am one proud Mama.

Both Kate AND Abby were selected to be Citizens of the Month for their class rooms.In my opinion, good citizenship is as important as good grades.  Lots of people are smart, but not EVERYONE is smart AND nice.  It's important, and it is becoming even more rare in today's world.  

That's quite unfortunate, but also quite true.

So... I am extremely proud that Kate and Abby are both smart AND nice.  Way to go girls!!!!!

Hello, Winter.

It is cold outside.

It's hot-cocoa drinkin', couch snugglin', sweatshirt wearin', soup eatin' weather.

I like it.

A whole lot!!

Makes me want to go skiing...

Wish we were heading to the mountains right now!!!!!

The Thanksgiving Miracle

A real, true, and official miracle has occurred on our ranch here.

It's not a spider writing words in a web or anything, but pretty darn close, as far as we are concerned...

Our mama cows, who had wandered off and gone AWOL on us, have returned home.  

They came home all by themselves, without us even having to call in the services of "rent-a-cowboy".  All the females are accounted for, but our little bull calf, Billy Bully, has now left the farm.  He's out roaming for fresh heifers to visit.

When we arrived home Sunday evening, there they were.  They had broken the fence down to get into Luke's garden and eat his entire crop of winter lettuce.  He was thankful they were home, but really a little hacked off that they were in the garden. Again.

SO.... we lured them into the corral, fed them some hay and cubes, and then called a friend who wanted to buy them.  He picked them up Monday afternoon.

As soon as we locate little Billy Bully, we shall sell him, as well, and our cow saga will be ended.

I can't wait.  I am ready to be a "retired" cowgirl!!