Family, Friends, Fun, and Fellowship

This Christmas season was full. I have so enjoyed the time I have had to be with my family.
Every year it starts with the weekend before Christmas day...all my Mom's side of the family gather together to eat, visit and open gifts together. It is a tradition my Mom's mom started and my Mom and her 3 sisters have continued even without Granny. It is one of the traditions I love most during Christmas. They rotate whose house it will be at and this year it was in Austin.


This is Baby Stella. She was born in July (on my Grandmother's Birthday to be exact...really neat story behind that day). She weighed 1 lb 14 oz. She is truly a miracle baby...and oh so precious. She now weighs 12 lbs. What a big girly!



This is Cameron getting to read the story of Christ's birth before we open gifts. Every year we let a different cousin read. This year my Cam (10 years old) got to read it...Wow! I remember when I was not even big enough to read it and now my baby boy is big enough : ) That is my mom's sister sitting beside him, Aunt Kathie.



My cousin's son Nicholas also read from the bible with Cameron:



I totally enjoy my family during these times. I wish we could so get together more than just once a year, but when we do I cherish the memories we are making.

Then on to Christmas at home. You never know what the year will hold...who is going where, when, how long...so here was the plan this year.

Christmas Eve...Jayson's Mom's house for some more family fun:





There's lots more pictures...but those are some highlights. We went to our church Christmas Eve night to do a candlelight service. I feel so blessed to have a family that honors the true meaning of Christmas. The best gift of all...Jesus!

Now on to Christmas day...we got up early (of course) to open the gifts. The kids had a blast. Then we drove to Tyler to serve food for the salvation army. Then we went to my Mom's house for lunch and gifts.





Can I just say that when you wake up that early...drive 45 minutes and back then fill your belly with my Mom's good food...you get a little sleepy. Notice in the sleeping Jayson picture is White Christmas on the t.v...I love that movie.



This was a year with a couple of firsts...it was the first year we did the candlelight service at church...it was the first year we served food at the salvation army...I know it will not be the last year for these things.

I am so thankful and blessed this holiday season. I am looking forward to this next year. I know that God has some mighty things planned for us and I am eager to listen and obey!

I hope you all feel the warmth of His love!

Bitter Sweet Soccer Day : )

This past Saturday was the last tournament for our soccer season with Kiki. This was her first year to do soccer and she really loved it! Her team earned two trophies and a medal over the season. Today was the tournament of Champions! We drove 1.5 hours to Plano. We had to be there for an 8 o'clock, 12 o'clock, and 4 o'clock game. This means we had to wake up way to early to get there in enough time to find it and have time to warm-up then we had to waste a lot of time between games. We ended up losing all three of our games, but the girls worked really hard.

Here are the two trophies they won this year:




She had a really great time but she was really upset that they lost (which she usually is). I thought it was that they lost three games in one day, she was tired from getting up and spending so much time out, that she had just played her third game for the day, and that she may be a little hungry. So I tried to tell her all the things I thoght would make her feel better, but then she told me it was a lot to do with not getting to see her team mates again this year. She has such a big heart and every one of those girls on her team mean a lot to her. She will miss seeing them three times a week.

So now your wondering what the Bitter Sweet mess was about. Well, it is bitter that my baby girl won't get to see the girls she always looks forward to seeing every week, but it is sweet for me because I will not have to deal with practices and games every week. At least for a few months : ) ! SWEET!

One more fun thing before I leave you, while we were wasting all that time we decided to go to Barnes and Noble. Every one wanted a book and I made an executive decision to not buy a book for each of them today because I know the book fair is in town at Cameron's school this week, which means we will be getting plenty of books soon. So we agreed on a craft to do as group. I bought a book called Capsters to do with them. I knew I would have my two darlings, my nephew, and our favorite friend of Kiki's ever (also our neighbor). So the plan was set in motion. Tonight was Cici's for dinner and Capsters for craft.

Here are some pictures of our capster fun time:









So after a long day of play, fun, and fellowship with family and friends I am reminded of how truly blessed we are to have each other and to have Christ. I know He is uplifted when we get together to love on each other.

I'm back...HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

Hi all...so a lot has happened since we last visited. The biggest news and the reason I have not been able to blog is that we bought a house. It is our first time to buy a house. WoW! You would think after a few months things would be ready, however, I am still going through boxes of junk and have to decide if I love what's in them enough to take up space in my new casa. We have one room less so I have a whole lot of boxes from the extra room that I have to go through.

I really love my new house. I took a few pictures...remember...it's a work in progress:


This is my new kitchen...as most of you know...I don't do too much of that cooking stuff...but I'm trying to be better about that : )


This is the dining room...where we eat, play games, and have family time. I love our corner table and how perfect it fits in our new dining room.



This is the new "reading room"...it's really just a space we put a big 1 1/2 chair. This chair is sooo cumfy...the room is out of sorts because I needed to make space for all the family we have coming for thanksgiving. Love it! : )



Lastly...this is the livingroom. There is a sheet on the wall because we have been playing our movies from a projector I got at a math grant for fun. So we needed a white space to project them on...it's like a big screen movie.

Okay, so now you know why I have been MIA (missing in action). Besides the whole teaching gig I have Monday thru Friday...lol!

Now on to Thanksgiving! This year we had it here. We had 13 family members come over to share fun, food, and fellowship with us. I love hearing the house booming with everyone excited about talking to eachother and kids having fun...crazy fun...but fun all the same!

So here are some photos of the crazy people I am blessed to call mine!
First, the annual Athens Turkey Trot : ) Me, Jayson, and Cameron did the 5K (3.1 miles)...walked and jogged. My mom and Kiki did the 1 mile fun run.



Then we come home and get to eat a feast! Here is Jayson's delicious turkey...mmmmmm...Good Job baby...it tasted as good as it looked!


The kids and I made pilgrim hats and turkeys that also tasted great! You guys rock at making candy crafts!





There is so much more to say, but I am tired and I know you are tired of reading...if you made it this far that is! I will fill in all the gaps and try to keep up from now on!

Today I truly feel blessed and am thankful for each of you!

For all you math Dorks out there...

Okay, so it's been a while and a lot has been going on, both externally and internally!

I had to post this picture to show what a horrible mother I am to make my kids wear these shirts to Cam's little birthday get together.



So a couple of weeks ago I went to the Texas annual math conference for educators. This year it was in San Antonio...can you say river walk? It was really a nice get away, but it was also lots of fun to think math for a while...before you laugh, remember that you probably have more friends than you know who either were there...or wanted to be there. By the way, if you were honest with yourself...you wanted to be there too, huh? I KNEW IT!

I saw these adorable shirts...in case you missed it they say 'MY MOMMY ROCKS MATH'...LOL! I got me a one that is blingy that says math rules with a crown on it! FUN!

One of my friends said, "Do you think Cameron will wear it?" To which my response was..."If it's the only shirt I send to church camp with him he will." Is that evil? Before you call CPS I sent several other shirts and put that one in his bag labeled extra shirts.

I just had to share with y'all! I love the shirts, and I think they missed me enough that when I asked if they would wear them to the party...they agreed!

I will post pictures from his party another day!

I can't believe she's already 8...

Okay, so June 30th was Kennedy's 8th birthday...WOW! I am speechless at how time has flown by. I know it's already July 10th and I am just now getting to post about how great her "family" party went...but here it is:

Her cake was a pink and brown cowgirl cake made with love by Grammi



MMMMMmmmmm....that was good! Trust me...there's no proof, but they were the best cupcakes EVER!

We had our family come over for hot dogs, cake, ice cream and gifts...FUN!

Here is Cameron and Kiki's cousin, Hayden:














Then there's her brother, Cameron...stay tuned for his birthday fun coming up later this month:














Of course the BIRTHDAY GIRL:














Other adult family members...


and


the proud parents of our baby girl:

One of the things that make her so unique are how giant her heart is. We often wonder how such a big heart is contained inside such a small body...but those people that really know her know she's such a sweet and compassionate little girl.

She will give anything of hers up to help others if she is asked and sometimes she's the one who asks if she can...she is amazing and we love her soo much.

Happy Birthday Kennedy...Mom and Dad Love you sooooo much!

The two shall become one...

I am participating in the Completing him challenge from the Women Living Well blog. Each week we are given something to do on our blog to grow our marriage. I am a week behind, but better late than never. I have had VBS and Weeblos camp (that's a whole other blog...soon) the last two weeks...but I'm back and ready to go...

I am on the week where we are to post pictures and describe our wedding story. So here it goes...

So after Jayson asks me to marry him and of course I said yes, we decide on a fall wedding. We were married October 16, 1999. Yea...right before Y2K! It was such a great date.




We got married at Little Hope Baptist Church in Canton...I know the name is crazy "Little Hope", but I can tell you that we both had great hope...and have now been married for 10 years.



My bridesmaids were Jayson's twin sisters, Malissa and Leslie,my friend Shanna, and my 8 month pregnant cousin, Jennifer! Jayson's groomsmen were some of his high school friends...including one that is like his brother who we call Swanny! (Swanny is in the Air Force and was secretly flown in to be in the wedding party) Jayson had no idea...that was fun!





The most stressful part of our wedding was when one of his groomsmen was like 30 minutes late and the wedding was about to begin and he was still not there...my wedding coordinator lady wanted to go without him, Jayson did not and all I was saying was do whatever Jayson wants to do.

But, the messages from me to him were getting all confused...kind of like when you were a kid and played the game telephone and by the time the message got around the circle it was a total different message...like that...but he finally got there and the wedding was perfect...to me anyway!

Here we are lighting the unity candle:



I truly feel it is God's plan for us to be united here on earth. We are currently going through major God changes and are growing everyday together in Christ. I feel like God has been in our marriage from the beginning but had to prepare our hearts for what is about to happen in our lives. We are ready to give it all for Him and we are excited to see what the next 10 years hold for us, our children, and our journey with God!

Dating my husband...

Ok, so for fun I joined a summer Completing Him Challenge that I mentioned earlier in my blogging. Each week there will be a new blog over whatever she challenges us to do. This week I am to post dating pics and our dating story. : )





So here is our story:

I met Jayson at Trinity Valley Community College (TVCC) He was there for Journalism and I was there for Journalism and Mathematics. As it turns out they were in the same building. I think it had been a few months before I really started to talk openly with him and we would stay late to work on the paper (so would others), but there was something special about him. He quickly became someone I wanted to hang out with. I was always happy when we happen to be where we could just talk and laugh.

So eventually I looked up his number in our professor's "secret" files that we filled out at the beginning of the year every year. I decided to call him and as they say the rest is history.





So we hung out all summer...I longed to be with him always. I even had a summer job 4 hours away, but we made a point to always see eachother...I think every cent I made was spent on gas and that was when it was about 96 cents per gallon...oopps...I think I just gave away my age...lol.



We became best friends. I loved all the talks, laughs and days we got to see eachother. I never wanted to be separate from him (all my friends at the time could probably attest to that...as could our families).



So then one day my best friend (Jayson) decides to ask that question I so badly wanted to hear. Will you marry me? Of course he already knew what I would say, but I just love knowing that he wanted me as much as I needed him.




Wow...it is so amazing to me that God's timing is just that...His timing. Even though we were both Christians then, it has only been this past year that we have truly tried to be still and hear what God wants from us.

Can you believe that in 10 years of marraige I am still so in love with my husband and it grows by the day. I thank God for him and our children daily and pray that God will continue to show us what and where His plans for us are.

When I first thought about doing this blog for this challenge at the start of this week, I thought...ok, just another thing I have to get done, but as I sit here writing the details of our life from the beginning, I truly feel all that love again and am so thankful to be where I am now and I am reminded that even before I knew God knew the plans he had for me.

A different kind of Krabby Patty...

Funny Memories...

I know most of us have heard of Sponge Bob's krabby patty's which where actually just hamburgers:



Well, today as I was making my kiddos lunch, I remembered when my now 8 and 10 year old were only 1 and 3! Oh the times : ) My kids liked to watch Sponge Bob! Well, one day I decided that I would make them a grilled cheese, so in order to get them to eat it I called it a Krabby Patty.

As most of you know with little ones, once you name something (whether it is the right name or not) that is the name that sticks. So to this day I still call a grilled cheese a krabby patty...lol.

Of course now they know it's real name, but I guess I just love the memories...so to me it will always be a krabby patty!

Here are some pictures of my darlings enjoying our krabby patties from today:

Thirsty?

Have you ever heard that the more water you drink the more you need and crave it? I have never believed this...EVER! That is until one time on one of my many tries to lose weight I vowed to drink as much water as I possibly could (without wetting my pants in class because I did not have a break til lunchtime...you other teachers understand I'm sure). I was amazed that I did want to drink even more water...Let me clear this up: I HATE DRINKING WATER...it has no taste to me...it is not fun to drink at all...I have to make myself drink it...ANYWAY...during that time I was craving water...I wanted it...I drank it...I still did not love it...but you could not tell it by the way I was drinking it.

Okay...all that to say, that I have found getting in the Word to be very similar. (Of course without the hate attached). I have found that the more I am in the Word the more I crave His Word...the more I want to know more about His Word...it is like a longing to get more and more and more. I thought it was funny that these two things suddenly linked up in my head.




Right now, I crave time with God daily. If I do not get it for some reason (and it happens more than I like to say) I find myself left with a longing for it...and a need to get it as soon as possible.

I wish I still had that craving for water...I am going to try to start making myself drink it again and hope that craving comes back...lol!

I took the Challenge...

I have also (Like Kim) decided to do the Completing Him Challenge from June 7 to August 9. I long to be the woman that my husband needs to help him be the man God wants him to be. I know my role is to be his helper and am excited to how this challenge will bring our family closer to His plan for our lives.

Be sure to check it out and join in! Go to http://womenlivingwell-courtney.blogspot.com/2010/06/completing-him-challenge-begins-today.html