Ward Campout

Good morning!  Sunrise at Lake Lavon and hilly kids ready for the day.  I did not stay overnight as I had a 12 mile run in the morning.

Miffed

Yep, when a child is overly zealous to parent, they get more parental responsibilities.  Miffed.

St. Patrick's Day

We were hoping they'd forget but 5 minutes before bed time they remembered and made a leprechaun trap. The light blue, opened plastic Easter egg held paper "gold" coins. They hoped he'd jump to get the coins and fall into the pot. Inside the pot is a pencil and questionnaire to indicate if the leprechaun was a boy or girl.

 Pretty shabby work, if you ask me, but given the time constraints, not bad. I was already prepared with to turn it down a few notches this year no matter if they remembered or not and had easy thing prepared.

We acted as if the leprechaun, Troy, seemingly overlooked their trap, leaving a note about how nice they were to not attempt trapping and left some gifts--shirt, scarf, and a jar of huge pickles.

In our master bedroom. Coincidentally, my favorite wall too.

 Sophie actually started to pout and cry at the breakfast table because the leprechaun had not messed up the house as in previous years. Really?! With some sharp input from her mother she turned it around pretty quick. They had a good day at school and Rhys even pinched me before he got out of the car for school.  I made sure I was wearing a bit of green after that.

Pinch-proof perfect!

Spring, Yet Not

The week before the kids' spring break from school (neither of which were actually in spring, but winter) was the most beautiful weather! The trees started bursting with blossoms! I felt inspired to put up a few spring/Easter decorations.

 The Saturday before spring break, I ran my best 10K ever, beating my personal record set 3 years prior by 2 full minutes! I cried like a beauty pageant winner!

Then the kids had a week off and the weather was such a jerk! It rained the whole week. We stayed inside, baking, reading books to the kids, doing crafts and experiments, etc. until Sophie, in her dismay, expressed that this week just wasn't turning out like she had wanted at all.  I thought the rain and being stuck inside so I was taken back when she said all she wanted to do was watch TV all day.  I was actually relieved and said for her to have at it! She's a great kid and deserves all the down time she needs during a vacation. Everyone was happier.

I learned how to make my own organic yogurt!

I nagged an acquaintance at the park after school for weeks until she gave me this recipe of her grandpa's. It is so good but came with a warning to pace myself because of all the bran in it. I named it this as to not confuse it with my other pumpkin bread in the freezer.

The Saturday of spring break week, the rain let up enough that we were able to go on a family outing.  We headed out to Athens, TX to visit the fishery there. Learned some, had fun trying it out, and enjoyed eating out. Didn't catch a fish but had a good time just being together and being outside.  Great cure for cabin fever!

Daddy/Daughter Camping and Mommy/Son Date

Neal and Chris Huff were joined by John Goode and his girls this year for Daddy/Daughter Camping.  They went to Tyler State Park. They had fun watching John retrieve a Frisbee from the lake, played ball, attended a knot tying class, hiked, ate Neal's homemade peppermint marshmallows in s'mores, and had a great time in good weather.

John testing Sophie's knot strength by lifting her with her rope under arms.

Keri and Rhys planned on eating out on Friday night and going to the library. While at the reasturant, we sat ourselves next to a large group and overheard they were going to be playing a basketball game that evening.  We inquired of details about when and where and found they were playing at our children's elementary school gym in about an hour from the time we asked. We said maybe we'd join them tonight and wished them luck.

Then we headed out the library which we found was closed by some fluke.  A staff meeting was being held and they had closed early.  Luckily, we had just met a very nice team, called up some friends, the Kenworthys, last minute to join us and they did!  We spent the next hour having a blast cheering on team Notre Dame from Dallas in a Special Olympics competition.  They even had their own cheerleaders!  It was great and seriously action packed.

The next day, we went to the mall for a trip to the Lego store, his first taste of See's Candies, and a ride of the carousel.  While there, a friend we ran into alerted us to a planned event at the Disney store for the opening of Zootopia, this the bunny ears.

It was near the end of this awesome morning when I gave Rhys a choice. Did he want $2 to ride on the carousel again, buy a little clearance Groot (superhero) plush, or save towards a large Lego set he has wanted since before Christmas. I had no idea the pressure I had put on him but I was so glad I did because he really did great.  There was no wrong choice. He debated for some time. Finally he asked for help and we sat and talked about which one he really didn't care about - the ride, and threw it out.  Then we discussed what he thought the pros and cons of both remaining choices were. After 30 minutes, and his mom almost caving in a few times, knowing I had $4 to make it easier, Rhys finally came up with the choice the thought was best and was satisfied with--save fore the Lego set.  I was so proud of him for figuring it out on his own.

Neal's a Ham!

Neal is increasing his knowledge and skills in emergency preparedness by remaining involved in CERT, attending Skywarn conferences, and just recently taking a 6-week basic ham radio training and passing the exam. Congratulations, sweetie! Now we can have better chances to communicate needed information during and after disasters if we should survive one.

Valentine's Weekend

Class Valentine's parties made sure Sophie and Rhys were stocked with candy and cards a plenty. Neal and Keri attended a church Valentine's gathering for adults in the congregation so we got our share of sweets and socializing too.

Keri joined as partners in crime with Cherri to run the Cupid's Chase 5K in Dallas, benefiting those with disabilities.  This is the first race we went all out with extra flare! Best friend T-shirts, red tutus, and feathers!  Keri came in at 33:18 and placed 7 out of 22 in her age division, 32 out of 167 females, and 60 out of 236 participants. She beat her goal of 33:37 and without wearing a watch to pace herself!

On Sunday we had our "fancy dinner" tradition with 'take and bake' pizza we got the day before. The kids decorated the table with paper hearts. We asked questions from our Tabletopics cube and opened gifts. Neal got a ham radio, the kids got Legos, and Keri got running socks and a great book on running. Pretty nice weekend!

Awesome Husband

Neal offered to take me camping kids-free this weekend.  Um, yes!  It was warm enough for me to brave it, thank goodness! Lake Bob Sandlin.

New Years

Between Christmas and New Year's we played indoors a lot. Hit a couple parks too.  Made a few after-Christmas sales purchases, including a pre-lit tree, to replace this years. We also went to see arena soccer played, which is pretty fun. Canned some beans. Played games and did puzzles. Decluttered a bit.

New Year's Eve: Lindemans and Hancocks came over and we played games, chatted, and ate. The kids held up pretty well.  I made whole wheat orange sweet rolls which were well received and the best whole wheat rolls I've made yet. At midnight I ran outside with my kids and yelled, "Happy New Year!" with many of our other neighbors.

The next day Neal said we forgot to kiss so we made sure to address that early.  Then we watched the Rose Parade in which Allen's 700+ high school band played and marched.  Also took down all the Christmas decor.

Christmas Morning Began...

...at three freakin' fifty-nine A.M.!

Yep, my kids start shaking me awake at 3:57 a.m., to be exact, to let me know that Santa had come, there was a telescope from Santa and bungee chairs from Grandma and Grandpa, and they had these cool toys in their stocking and even Daddy got something in his stocking...

Trying not to be a jerk, I said, acting surprised, how wonderful that all was but that it was not even 4 in the morning and that they needed to head back to their rooms.

A minute later I am out of bed because they took me literally and both were sitting on Rhys's floor talking about and going over the contents of their stocking again.  So I spoiled their party and indicated that I meant to go back to their own beds and SLEEP because it was way to early. 

They did, I am pretty sure because after snapping a shot of my clock with my phone, the house was quiet and still once more until...7ish, as God intended.

We eventually got out of bed. Really. 

Neal made nutella and banana crepes for breakfast while Sophie sang us tunes.  Then we opened presents. 

The rest of the day went as follows: 1. Remove packaging and discard it and gift wrap, 2. Play, 3. Eat, 4. Play at park - in the 70s! Yes!, 5. Play and call family, 6. Eat, 7. Play, 8. Sleep. Not a bad day, overall.  So much fun just playing together.