Andrew's B-Day

We celebrated Andrew's 5th birthday this weekend at a park by our house.

We had lots of friends and family there.  Sydney, the little girl above, is Andrew's best friend in his preschool class.  

We had a coloring table.

We had a menu of Andrew's favorites (Chettos, chips and salsa, and bagel bites)

His cake was a lemon bundt cake-- because he does not like icing.

Andrew got lots of cool toys.  

The hot gift this year was anything Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

We attempted to play a few games.  They were hilarious.  The first one was the classic sit on a balloon to make it pop relay race.

But none of the kids weighed enough...

So we ended up having to help.... here is Andrew and Uncle Doug helping Sarah pop her balloon.

Then we moved onto the pinata... another failure.

None of the kids could hit it hard enough.

After about three rounds we finally gave up and just tore it opened.

The kids were excited anyways.

There were lots of laughs and plenty of fun.  

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!!!!

Swing Set

My kids have some great grandparents.

They tore down our swing set at our old house., restained it, fixed the awning, delivered it to our new house, and helped set it up again.

My kids were super excited.

Malia said she was going to swing EVERY day!!

Our backyard is fun again.

Thanks Mimi and Pawpaw!!!

Halloween.... a few days late

 I did really bad at Halloween pictures this year.... so for memories sake.... Kai was the bad guy from Scream, Andrew was Spider-man by day and a ninja by night(he thought he needed a costume change), and Malia was the prettiest Snow White ever.

Malia got to Trick or Treat all day long.  She had a costume parade at her school, then attended an after school program party with her brothers that I  helped out with, and then we all went around the neighborhood with some friends.  

It was a long day and the kids all fell asleep in their costumes.

Happy Halloween 

Premature Hair loss

Every child does it at one point or another... the dreaded cutting of their own hair!!

Andrew did it because his hair was itching his ears.  Funny how he did not cut the hair around his ears....

 The picture above is especially funny to me because at this point he realized what he had done and what was going to happen next and he thought his hair would never grow back and he would be bald like Pawpaw!

He cried all through the shaving of his head.

But he was back to his old self the next day.  I asked him if anyone at school asked him about his head, and he said "yes, but I just told my friends a chainsaw cut it off"....That sounds about right for Andrew.

1st World Missionaries- update

We have now lived in Longview, TX for three months.  We have been praying, seeking, and watching for opportunities for God to open our eyes to what we are suppose to do here.

In that time, I have started a bible study with two other mothers.  We are studying the TK Primer, which sets out to teach people how to live in community with one another.  It is unfortunate that this has to be taught, but I am starting to see the positive effects of our lessons.  My neighbor and I recently hosted a block party, which six families on our street attended.



We had a great evening, sharing stories, making s'mores around the fire, and trading recipes on food items brought.

Many of the people knew each other faces or maybe even the neighbor name, but knew little else about the person.  After this evening we are all a little bit closer to one another and that is what God wants from his children.  We need to be involved with the people living around us.  We need to build relationships with them, so that we can serve them and teach them how to serve others.

Take your kids to play in the front yard today, prayer walk your neighborhood, or have a family over to your house for dinner.  Build up the saints living around you with your prayers, presence, gifts, and services.  In short, be the church everyday to all you come in contact with.

Thank God for beautiful weather

This was my point of view at 2:00pm today while I laid out on the pallet below and read a book while Malia napped....

And this was my view this afternoon.

I am loving this early fall weather!

My Preschooler

Andrew had his first homework project.  He completed 95% of it by himself!! 

I was super proud of my little preschooler.

He comes home exhausted everyday telling me of all his adventures.  Playdoh, recess, bullies,  his school has it all-- I have already learned to believe only about half of what he says.

A few examples:

"They made us stay outside all day today, for like 24 hours"

"I really wanted Lucky Charms for Breakfast, but they told us we are not allowed to talk to the cafeteria ladies"

"A bully pushed me down and punched me in the face today." "Where were the teachers, did you tell someone?"  "No, they were in California."

While the kids are in school, I have started a few projects of my own.  Here is my first completed one.  I spray painted some old chairs, and then added a little duct tape for pizzazz.  

 

Sorry the picture is so dark....when I used the flash they looked bleached out.