Adios, 2010...

...and welcome 2011!

And she gave birth to her first born son and she wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. And in that same region there were shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came before them and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. But the angel said to 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 and lying in a manger." And suddenly there were 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 to men." -Luke 2:6-14

Peace to you and your families during this blessed Christmas season!

THE RECAP...

... of our lives the past few weeks will be brief, my friends.

It has been CRAZY.

Luke surprised me with a wonderful surprise vacation to Isla de Mujeres, Mexico, the weekend before Thanksgiving. It was crazy beautiful, fantastic, relaxing, and about the most beautiful place I've ever seen. We stayed at a resort that DID. NOT. ALLOW. CHILDREN. Let me say that again, in case you missed it: NO CHILDREN ALLOWED AT THE RESORT. Now, friends, I love my children, but sometimes it is NECESSARY to get away from them. We had a wonderful time.

When we got home, it was back to school for a couple of days, and then the craziness of Thanksgiving began. Luke's entire family was able to come, and it was REALLY special. We had the big Thanksgiving feast here at our house, and (I hope you are sitting down!), I COOKED, and it was all fantastic! Of course, all the sisters and sisters-in-law also helped and made their special dishes. But, it was really memorable and special. I hope it becomes a tradition!! My children were overjoyed, because ALL 9 of the grandkids on Luke's side were under one roof, like a giant sleep-over, for several days. It was kid-heaven! :-)

I DO have pictures of Mexico and of Thanksgiving, but am not taking the time to upload them right now... Maybe later. Maybe not at all. Time is valuable, and my internet is SLOW.

Happy Thanksgiving. I hope yours was as special as ours!

Country Livin'

There are SOOOO many things I love about living in the country...

Great views, beautiful sunsets, wide-open spaces, no neighbors, happy kids, happy animals... the list goes on and on!

But, today, I discovered something that I am NOT so fond of.

A snake.

On my front porch.

Crawled INTO MY HOUSE, internet friends!!!!

I had to somehow get it out of my house, and kill it, all without letting it attack my children.

It might have been only 6 inches long, but it was ready to attack, people. I could see it in those beady little snake eyes!!!

OH, how I hate snakes!!!!

My eldest child ran (or walked, if the truth be known), to get the hoe. I chopped it up, screaming the whole time.

But I killed it.

I'm moving to town, people. ;-)

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from the Go-Go Girl, the Statue of Liberty, and the Genie!!! :-)

Baylor Wins!!

We watched a pretty exciting football game last night. BAYLOR beat University of Texas!!

This hasn't happened in a while, friends.

Baylor fans of the world have SUFFERED down in the cellar of the Big 12 conference FOR YEARS. We've been the butt of football jokes for a long time. And, we have taken in stride with a good attitude, because, let's be real here, we KNEW we were bad.

But, maybe, finally, all that is behind us, because not only did we have a great win last night (in Austin, mind you!!), but we are also RANKED #25 in the NATION!

As a die hard Bear, life is sweet this morning! :-)

...sickly...

I'm a little "under the weather" today. I've lost my voice COMPLETELY, and, ya' know, when you are a teacher, you pretty much talk ALL.DAY.LONG. So, I had to stay at home today. I'm not sure what to do about tomorrow... I don't feel exactly 100%, but this isn't the sickest I've ever been, either... But, I seriously can only make a small squeaky noise out of my mouth. I don't know HOW I can control a classroom full of active 3rd graders without a voice!

Suggestions?

IRON MAN 2010

First of all, yes, I know that it has been 10 forevers since I have posted, but hey, I am ridiculously busy. In fact, I should already be in bed. But, at one point in my life, this blog was a little bit like a "diary" of what was going on in our lives. If I want it to STILL be a reflection of our lives, I really do need to post more regularly...

But, in reality, that likely won't happen, so OH, WELL!

This past weekend, we took a little camping trip down to the Austin area and got ready for a little triathlon.

Actually, it was a BIG triathlon. Luke and his friend, Will, competed in a half Iron Man triathlon. Here they are: (Thank goodness for my friend, Shelley, who always has her camera... I totally stole this pic from her blog. You can go look at the rest of her pics right HERE.)
If you're not familiar with triathlon lingo, a half Iron Man means that they swam 1.2 miles, they biked 56 miles, and then ran 13.1 miles.

Yep, it's a little bit crazy, but they did GREAT!

Despite the fact that we had not one but TWO flat tires on our camper on the trip down, nearly missed the check in time for Luke, Luke had a flat tire during the bike portion of the race, Will had some stomach sickness during the run portion of the race, we had some "technical difficulties" with the slide-out part of our camper as we were getting ready to leave the camp site, AND... we had a problem with the emergency brake on the ride home... the trip was still a success! ha ha!

My newest most favorite quotation...

"Be who you are and say what you need to say because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind." — Dr. Seuss

Have you ever heard anything more true than that???

Dr. Seuss was a lot smarter than we sometimes give him credit for...

Just a little "Gracie Humor"...

... because everyone needs a laugh now and then!

Today her Kindergarten teacher comes and finds me (which in itself should have been a sign), and says she just HAS to tell me what Grace said earlier in the day...

Oh, NO!

Oh, Yes.

I guess it was a little warmer than usual today and the class had been at P.E. and they had been running. Miss Grace comes back into the classroom after P.E., and she is fanning herself. She announces (loudly, and unsolicited), "WHEW! It is HOT out there! I am sweating like a sinner in church!"

Oh. My. Goodness.

Where did she hear THAT?!?!?!?!

I could have DIED.

At least her teacher got a good laugh today...