God is Bigger than the Boogie Man....

....So I was on my way to church with the kids (Alex always goes early so it's just me and the kids)....and I felt something in my hair. (You see where this is going don't you). So I'm still driving...then I put my hand in my hair...and yes.....this picture is what it was! (How did I get a picture of it you ask? As a mother of small children...I have learned to almost always have the camera with me. What possessed me to ACTUALLY take a picture of it? if you blog...you know why! :)) So I stop the car..and yes I screamed! Just like a good 'ol biolgy teacher! Just because I teach biology does NOT mean I like insects. Much less in my hair. Much less when I am driving. I'm sure it was quite the scene to see me trying to get it out of the car so I could drive in peace. The kids were asking me "what mommy? what??? why are you screaming?!" "Oh I have a bug in my hair and it scared me"....so my faithful Veggie Tale watchers in the back seat started singing! "God is bigger than the boogie man....He's bigger than Godzilla or the monsters on tv...oh God is bigger.....". That made me laugh! The little lessons that they are learning in life, one is fear, they are learning that God IS bigger. AMEN!

Baby's first Christmas!

This is Hannah's first Christmas...what a blessing to have our little treasure as yet another amazing gift from God. She had fun with the wrapping paper! After opening this present..that was it for her! She needed her morning nap!

Caleb sportin' his new Superman cape mommy made for him!

Superman and a little princess...

Oh boy! Their first games! We've already played them....they love them! Thank you Aunt Jody and Uncle Tom!

Here is my little princess!!

Thanks sweet friend for my present! I've already started reading it! I'm still looking for chocolate as being one of the veggies in there....because it does come from a bean right? :)

The night before the kids and I read the Christmas story and talked about the real meaning of Christmas. Caleb wanted to wish Jesus a happy birthday! Then I asked Caleb what his favorite gift was...and he told me "God mommy". No prompting I promise. It is fun starting our traditions with our family like the Christmas cookies and stockings...and focusing on the reason for the season.

Happy Birthday Sarita Joy!

Happy Birthday baby girl......I love you.......life is so much richer with you in it!
Some of Sara's amazing qualities:
Funny
Smart
Sharp as a tack
Adorable
Sweet
Affectionate (when she wants to be)
Athletic
Spitfire
Loves, loves, loves to sing...and listen to music
Funny and smart (did I mention that?!)
Goofy
Self confident
Perceptive
.....and just plain sweet.....

Happy Birthday baby girl....may the Lord protect you and guide you.....I am so honored to be your mommy.

Caleb's Party at School...

Cachow!! Caleb is FIVE!

I cannot believe it has been a month since I have posted. Wait. Yes I can. Before it is Sara's birthday next week, I thought I better give Caleb the spotlight from his birthday ...before he has to share it! Caleb LOVES the movie Cars...and Lightening McQueen (who he affectionately calls "Cachow!") So of course that had to be the theme! We celebrated his birthday three times. The actual day I took cupcakes to school to share with his classmates. (mental note to self: don't get all fancy and make a neat color frosting using Wilton dyes....they tend to make preschoolers faces look like clowns...because it stains their faces!). Then Alex's family came over for dinner and "abuela" gave him a beautiful cake for his present. Then came the actual birthday party..and we were ever so grateful to have nice weather for it. It was an absolutely beautiful day! I made him a "cachow" cake...he had been asking one...for what seems like forever! And invited his little buddies over to celebrate. He had an absolute blast! (and so did Sara! they are still talking about it!). So I will put up a gazillion pictures to tell the story of my now FIVE YEAR OLD boy's birthday. Could somebody please stop the clock!

I seem to be having technical difficulties. Surprise. Surprise. Ideally I wanted to put a caption at the bottom of each picture...but for some reason the pictures go where Blogger wants them to go...and not me. So I will briefly tell you about the party. Caleb had friends there from different places...school, soccer...and friends who are just friends with no other connection. Caleb has several good buddies from school already. One is named Lorenzo...and they just adore each other. They just have this chemistry between them....that good friends just have. It warms my heart to see it. They just click. You'll see them together in one shot.

All the boys...were...well....just that. Boys. They decided to climb one of our trees! It was great! They also pretended to be in a boat...and we played Red Light, Green Light. Caleb's favorite game is Duck, Duck , Goose. So of course we had to play that as well! (Only we called it "Mater, Mater, Cachow!". :)

After everyone had left...I asked Caleb what his favorite part was. And the funny thing is...I already knew. But it was just the sweetest thing to hear it. "My friends Mommy". "My Cachow Cake". "And, Duck Duck Goose!". You see, for Caleb...to be surrounded by friends is just the best thing in the world. So we knew the best gift to give him this year for his birthday...was to have his buddies here to be with him. And of course living where we live, that HAD to have a pinata.

Craziness!

Yep. Pure crazines around here. I haven't posted in forever. But I have a million (well, ok, maybe ten) written in my head. I was all ready to post a few of those right now...to keep my mind off my sick baby Hannah....but realized I don't have the pictures downloaded to the computer yet! Hannah has me really nervous right now...her breathing is weird...and we had a scare of her not being able to breathe due to so much phlegm coming up. She was literally turning colors on me...before she could get some oxygen in her. So right now it's almost midnight...and to keep my mind off of her strange breathing patterns right now....I apparently decided to babble. I just really need to get one of those many blog posts in my brain on here! so i will see if I have at least one pic to go with my one of my nonposted posts! :)

Ok, couldn't resist. Doesn't that smile just make you melt? It sure makes me melt! Oh it's like everything in the world just stops for me when I see her smile.

ok, on to our next random picture...

It rained for a MONTH STRAIGHT here. We just had a two week reprieve...but the rain has come back now. Those last two weeks were wonderful by the way. Before...I was keeping my eyes out for Noah to come on by..... So here is a picture of part of the river that was coming out of our yard. Our poor puppy thought the mud and rain was getting a bit old too! The water literally was flowing....so we officially had a river....however I don't think you can see the movement in this picture.

Now, I am not sure how well you can see it in this picture...but there is a lake there in the middle of our lawn. We didn't put it there. It was there for a while. I was so thankful to see the sun these past two weeks. It was good for the soul. And the lawn actually doesn't say squish back at ya each time you step in it! Toby was a muddy mess for that month. Poor pup needs a bath. But we missed our window. Maybe he'll get a bath next year.

There is my crippled husband after a weekend of camp with the youth. I had gone down to pick him up after camp....and this is what they all looked like. He got hurt before camp though...playing soccer. I suppose this picture goes to show some of the craziness that we have had lately. I had also become more of the family taxi driver than I normally am :) One of those crazy days I was at the pediatrician's office with the kids and he asked me where Alex was. I told him he was getting xrays for his ankle (which proved to be a torn ligament) and he asked me how it happened. I told him and his response was, "well...he is young...but not THAT young!" refering to him playing soccer. Ha!

Well, that will be all for now. I am thankful for the distraction...and Hannah seems to be doing better. Hopefully the next blog will come soon. A small hint....you will see pictures of yummy things in one of them!

Thankful for Health and Power!

I thought I better put up a post before some of you give up on me ever posting again! Not that these are the most exciting posts in the world...:)

We have had the most interesting two days. The weather has gotten REALLY cold (upper 40's at night....52 by morning). Now this might not seem that cold to you...but we don't have heat...and live in a home that is made of cinder blocks...and a bit drafty sometimes. The ceramic floors are normally a good thing...except for when it gets this cold. It is kind of fun to hear the wind howling though! So Caleb was at school, and I got a call from the teacher that they were closing school down early at 11:30...because trees were falling down on top of the school because of the wind. OK. That's good, I'd rather have him home anyway. So I am on my way to go get him...and the teacher calls me again. Caleb's throwing up. So I go up to pick up my poor sick child who is in the clinic. Oh, did I mention the power was out and I was supposed to have six ladies over for lunch? So much for that! So my poor munchkin could not keep any liquids down...not even pedialyte ....the whole day or night. But thankfully yesterdy late afternoon (still no power...) he perks up and keeps his liquids down. AHHHHHHH. Life is good now.

I hope to post again soon! Meanwhile, I am thankful for our children's health...and elecricity.