Libby with Her Puppy

Libby came over with her sitter today to babysit my kids while I went to a meeting. They brought their puppy, Buddy, who enjoyed playing with Luke and Rudy.

The Scrapbooking Retreat

Well, 67 pages later...I am back. I was suffering from what I called a Scrapbooking Retreat hangover last night. I had a terrible headache!!! It feels so good to be home, but it was a nice time away. This is the first time for me to go away with both my sisters-in-law and my mother-in-law for a scrapbooking retreat. I tried to take some good pictures to give you an idea of what it was like to be there. The owner was hilarious and very hospitable. The beds were comfy and the food was good. WARNING: We look terrible in the pictures that you will see. We are sleep deprived, make-up-less, some of them didn't change their clothes much or shower, it is definitely a low maintenance get-a-way!!!! So look past the "bed-crud" look and enjoy a view of our weekend. Oh, and I took some entertaining pictures of the drive down, too!!!!

Always have your camera ready!!!!

My PTA friends laugh at me because I always have my camera with me at school. I am the historian, so I am always needing to take pictures for the scrapbook. I never know when there will be something that I was supposed to photograph, so I try to keep my camera handy. Last week, Blayne and Reagan and I went to school to have lunch with Whitney and go to the science fair to look at items for sale. I was laughed at for having my camera! But, it all paid off, because the mayor was at the school to talk to 2nd grade and I got to take pictures of Whitney with him! sweet!

Off for a Scrapbooking Retreat!!!!

I wanted to let my blog lurkers know that I am headed out-of-town for a scrapbooking retreat tomorrow. It takes A LOT of planning for me to be gone. It is kinda of good to know that I am not easily replaced, but it takes a lot to get all of my stuff ready to leave AND get all of their stuff ready for me not to be here!!! John will be hosting Home Fellowship by himself (y'all help him out!!!), running both carpools and just the normal feeding the kids, doing homework bedtime routines, etc. He will also be solo for church on Sunday, so I guess Savannah will be in charge of doing hair. I am going to be gone the maximum time the retreat allows!!! I will take pictures and share with you when I return. Now I must go get back to the task of leaving clear instructions for John and getting everything together for my weekend away. Woo-Hoo!!!!

Lunch with friends

Karen,Me,Kay, Monica & Cyndi
My friend, Kay, has lived here TWICE and hopes to come back here one day for good. She has three precious children and we miss them dearly. She had a long layover today so we got together for lunch at Cheesecake Factory! Yum!

Another Mrs. Tamera Creation

Whitney wore this cute outfit to school today. See, this is another reason that I wish that I could sew. This is another cute hand-me-down from our old neighbor. She got all kinds of compliments today.

The Houck Refugees

This weekend, we got to host John's cousins from Houston. They were staying in a local hotel while he worked out of the Ft. Worth office for his company. They live down in the Houston area and had been affected by Hurricane Ike. They were without electricity for over a week!!!! Their oldest little girl, Erica, about cried when she saw my girls, she said "I didn't know I had GIRL cousins!" The kids had a great time playing, and we adults had fun visiting. They had done the same VBS music that we did, so the kids LOVED doing the songs and motions along with the DVD. We bathed the kids here (both Faith and Reagan have a passion for lying down in the bathtub!!!) and they ALL stayed up until midnight (except for Reagan!!!) Renee was surprised at how tall Savannah is. Savannah got a real kick out of Renee. She is very funny. She reminds me a lot of my childhood friend Kimberly, there is never a dull moment when Renee is around! Thankfully, they got electricity on Friday and were able to head back home on Saturday. They were ready to get back to THEIR house with THEIR stuff (especially toys!!!)

The boy LOVES Star Wars!!!!

Memaw Visit WITH kids

(Blayne took this picture of me and Memaw...he did pretty good!)

I took Blayne and Reagan to go visit Memaw yesterday. She was in real good spirits. She seems to be doing well. She has another round of chemo on Monday, so hopefully it won't set her back again ! The kids had a GREAT time. There was a dog to play with, fish to feed and chocolate to eat. On the way there, Blayne said "hey, this isn't how we go to Memaw's house" I forgot that my kids haven't seen her since she got sick. So I explained her illness as best I could and told him that we would be going to see her at her "new place" We pulled up and he said "oh, this is a nursing home" (can't pull a fast one on him) and after we got home, he told Savannah "I went to see Memaw today, and she is kinda bald, well, I think her hair kind of broke off" Kids...they tell it how it is.
Anyway, she seems to be doing well and adjusting to her new life their at assisted living. She was going to a birthday party tonight for a MAN at the center and they would be playing "country and western" music. I could tell that she was excited about it!

Charlie's 5th Birthday Party

My nephew, Charlie, had his 5th birthday party this week. Blayne and Reagan were excited to go and play at Pump-it-Up again and see Charlie and Will. Reagan was a bit upset that Katie Beth wasn't there, but she had fun visiting with the adults and meeting some cousins that are here from Houston because of Hurricane Ike. I see their Momma a couple of times a year, but the kids don't get together. It was fun. Charlie got Star Wars stuff and penguin stuff too. (I would say these are his two passions right now) This was his first friend birthday party. He was really excited!

Dinner with The Hanes Teachers

Several times a year, I get to go out to dinner with friends that taught at my school. We sit and solve all of the world's problems and have a nice dinner! It is always a fun time! This week, our friend, Judy was hosting her Ike Evacuee twin sister, Janet, so that was fun. They sound EXACTLY alike and share a lot of the same mannerisms! (fun!)

God Provides

Sometimes, I just put God in a "box" meaning that I don't count on Him to provide for my needs. My head KNOWS that God provides for His children, so I don't why I don't always count on Him to do so! Well, after moving the Baby Grand piano to the living room, we had a piano guy come out to repair a couple of broken keys. He was a very sweet man who has been in the piano business for 50 years, he is 4th generation with the company. He delivered some tough news! Our piano will need to be "re-strung"! What??? How much will that be???? It is going to be a huge job. The piano will need to go to the store for the repair. If they were going to charge $200 to move it 10 feet, what will that cost us???ugh.... So, while we are waiting for an estimate, I turned to trusted Craigslist to find a keyboard that the girls can use in the interim of us not having a piano in commission. As I was sharing all of this with my bet friend, Michelle, she says "Jenn, don't buy a keyboard, I have one that I am going to sell, you can use it until you get the piano fixed and then sell it!" WOW! Thank you Lord...(and Michelle). She has a very nice keyboard with a stand, bench and the best part we can plug earphones into it!!!! So, the two little kids and I drove to Dallas this week and picked it up, and visited with Michelle, Kent and Madison. (she is a hoot!) It has been so long since I have been to Michelle's house. She is always re-decorating, re-arranging and coming up with new ideas for her house. It is like walking through a shop of some sort. She usually has music playing and candles burning. My kids love going over there too!

Reagan's New Do

Reagan went to the doctor yesterday for her 2 year-old check-up. He asked if she could say 20 words, I replied by asking WHICH 20 words he would like to hear. The girl talks non-stop! She weighs 26 pounds (50th percentile) and she is 35 inches tall (75th percentile) She got 4 shots, 1 blood draw and the Flu vaccination mist in her nose. Her reply "I no like it"!

Today we went to get her hair cut. Why, might you ask?






She was such a good girl! She even did well when the hair stylist LEFT the building to go talk to the Enterprise Rent-a-Car person and left us unattended for 10 minutes while we waited for her return!!!! She sat so still, enjoyed a Dora video and followed all of the instructions. She didn't freak out when the lady dried her hair either. She now has a trendy little bob in the back. I didn't know the lady could bob it, I expected her to just cut the "fuzz" off!

Blayne enjoyed the haircut too! He got to play video games the entire time while Reagan was having a haircut. Michelle (this is for YOU!) please notice that Blayne dressed himself today. Seriously, he LOVES this shirt!

Our Float Won!!!

Our float won the decorating contest for the parade yesterday...woo-hoo!!!!

Homecoming Parade

Tonight was the big night of the parade! Whitney had a blast riding on the float. The kids who "helped" decorate the float got to ride on it with their two principals. She chanted and cheered the ENTIRE parade. She was showing her school spirit for sure! She waved to the crowd and had a great time. John had the other kids curbside for the parade. He cheered and yelled for us when we came by. Our float looked so good. I only worked on the beginning stages, so I was very impressed with the finished product! The kids were so proud of it. It was fun. They got a Target bag FULL of candy! Reagan got a necklace and Blayne got a Superman ball thrown from the baseball team. The weather was perfect for a parade.