Friday in Texas

Here are a couple fo group shots. First the kiddos in front of the house and the next a shot of the group going to the Monster Truck show (except Sophia). Sophia went with mom and Auntie Stepha to get her nails painted. It is expensive to get your nails and waxing done in Texas!!!! $20 for simple pedi not spa and $10 for brows and $7 for lip. Go figure! And, yes, I need it all.

Here is Sophia in an outfit that I love. She has a powdered donut in her mouth!!! And, then we have the two little Spidermen. They wear these costumes 3/4 of every day!!! And, I am not exaggerating!

Hopefully, my bro took some pics of the kids at the Monster Truck Show. If so, I'll post them tomorrow.

Much love to all! Debbie, I am at Preston and Eldorado. Kim, thanks for the info. I will be checking those places out. Keep the ideas coming. Any idea, where I should look as far as getting Zack on to some sports' team? I don't know where to begin. He is five.

Thanks for the info Kim. Keep it coming! Any Texas tips are welcome. I feel like we live our life on one main road - Preston. I am eager to find out what is all around us. I want to know this area as well as I knew CA!!!

Today, it dawned on me that Zack should have a new outfit for his very first day of school. I had no idea where to find the bargains on the cute clothes! At "home," I knew all of the hot savings spots for all of the "cool" clothes. Now, I am lost. I ended up at Nordstrom much to my chagrin. I hate paying full price! I was looking at the clothes thinking of how much I could have saved buying it in Cali! I know there have to be similar hot spots here so any ideas are welcomed!

I have no pics from today. It was a rather dull day. The cable guy came praise Jesus! We now can see what is going on in the world around us! We hung out near home and took only two trips - Kenny's middle school and Nordstroms. Ho Hum!

The chocolate muffins were YUMMY! Strange thing is that now that I am staying home for a while, I actually cook every single meal. It is great! But, I have noticed that the groceries actually get eaten in their entirety!!!

I will keep an eye out for the cowboys at Starbucks! Yum, what a combination!

Allie, when you come out, I'd like you to make me a chocolate chop!!! Sounds good!

Schools in Northeast Texas are AWESOME! The middle school that Kenny will attend is amazing! I am so excited on Gina's behalf to see all the growth in Kenny this year! There are so many opportunities. At his school, there are 1,120 students but no class larger than 25 students! No cell phones or Ipods allowed. They get lockers unlike in many places in CA. There are two gyms and quite a nice football field. And, I couldn't help but think of The Breakfast Club when the principal talked about Saturday detention!!! These Texans take education seriously - middle school starts at 8:10AM and ends at 3:55PM!!! I say AMEN to that! You know what they say about idle hands!

Howdy Ya'll

Strange thing is I haven't seen a guy in a cowboy hat or boots since I have been here! I would love to see a couple of cowboys. I'll let you know if any cross my path.

I have no pictures tonight - sorry Heather! For those who read the blog, today was a slow day. We hung out at the house and took only one excursion to Chick Fil-a for lunch and then to Target to get a bed skirt for Sophia's bed.

The kids watched Spiderman (again) and loved it (again). This evening was the first night that Sophia was to bed by 8:00PM and the boys by 9:30PM which should have been 9:00PM. Sophia, the little pill that she can be, took 2.5 hours to finally settle down and go to sleep. I made the mistake of letting her sleep with me for the last five nights. So, since I messed up the routine, tonight I paid the price of a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG tucking in ritual. Even though it is 12:15AM right now, I will be waking all 4 kids up at 8:00AM to begin recapturing the structure that will be needed during school days. I think I will have some cranky kids in the morning, but I can't prolong the inevitible!

Oh, yes, I'll be a little cranky too. I'll be making chocolate chip muffins for brekky just so the smell will at least encourage the little ones. I'll throw a yummy egg and cheese omelette in to balance out the sugar!

Have a fabulous day! For all those Cali friends and fam out there, WE MISS YOU!!!!

More Pics of the Texas Bunch

It is getting late, and I am beat. We stayed around the house today. Steph and I unpacked some more and began organizing things. We later played on the slip and slide and went to teh park. We ended the day with some yummy Bluebell ice cream and nice warm baths and showers! Tomorrow we may drive down to Lake Lewisville to see what it is like, but we'll see how high our energy runs! Kenny is jazzed to get his school schedule tomorrow so we'll be sure to make that our first priority.

Do these guys look like Texans? I think so!!!!










Anyone who knows Zack and Sophia knows why they are lying on the sidewalk! Yep, they were warming up!

Nothing like an old fashioned slip and slide. Even Mike got in on the action!

Then the park...And Mike's basketball camp!

And, here, Sophia is all cleaned up and ready for bed!

A Day in Pics

Today was another busy day! First, we went to Josh, Zack, and Sophia's school - SEM Elementary. They start school on Monday. Zack and Sophia only go from 8:00AM - 9:00AM the first day. Tuesday from 8:30-9:30 there is something called "Tears and Cheers." This is when all of the pre-k and k parents come to the school to cry over their kids starting school!!! Funny, huh? After that Josh and Zack have an 8-3 schedule, and Sophia 8-12. The second pic was taken in the office at Kenny's middle school - Roach Middle. The schools are so nice inside. It is amazing!

After we took care of business at the schools, we went to lunch and then to Wiggle Town where the kids had a blast as you can see in the pics below!

After Wiggle Town, we hit the pool where the fun continued! Just check out these pics! You can tell that Uncle Mike and Auntie Stepha were having a great time entertaining the kiddos! The pic of Zack, Josh and Sophia was taken while they were in the wading pool which they love!


Sophia LOVES to take off her vest and say, "I can swim, Mommy." Check out that jump!

Here the kids beg Mike to catapult them into the pool, and he enjoys every minute of it!


And last, a pic of the "We'll never be Texans"!

School starts on Monday so we'll see how much more fun we can squeeze into this week! Here I sit pondering what we should do next. Do I look like a Texan yet?

A Busy Sunday

Here are some pics of the game room which is upstairs with three bedrooms, two built in desks, and a very large game closet. The kids and Mike and Steph are enjoying having their own room up there although I hear them at times bickering over what they'll watch or play! We don't have cable yet so none of them can go watch television/cartoons in their own rooms! It is actually humorous to hear the 3, 5, and 7 year olds argue with the 12, 18, and 22 year olds over what they'll do next! In these pics, Kaylie, Zack and Sophia had the game room all to themselves! Josh and Ken were spending a couple of days in TX with their dad. We sure do miss them when they're away.


This next pic is of Mike teaching Zack to play basketball at the park across the street. Mike has taken on the role of coach with Ken, Josh, and Zack. He's teaching them some skills on the court, and they love it.

We also went to our neighborhood pool today. Sophia made three friends - Molly, Rachel, and Macy. They had a great time together as you can see. Steph even went to the pool with us today, and she admitted that she had her first good day today. This move has been very hard for her.


And, here are the two angel babies. Well, they're not always angels, but they have been pretty darn great kids lately! Their latest thing is telling each other when to say please, bless you, excuse me, or thank you! One more week of summer, and then school begins!

We visited Swindoll's church today. I think that was a good start to a great Sunday; however, we didn't much think the church was a fit for us. For starters, I was told that there was no room for Sophia in Sunday school. It sounded something like this, "We're Full." I said in response, "I have never been told that at any church before." She said, "I'm sorry but we are full, and you will have to take her to the overflow with you." I said, "Thank you." "You have helped me in making a decision as to whether this is the church I will attend on a regular basis." With that, I walked away. I was chased by the leader of the preschool children's church who apologized profusely and found Sophia a spot. Go figure.

The chuch is very large, and no one talked to me other than the offensive woman, and the one trying to make up for it. The music is a little outdated for me. We sang "Shout to the Lord" as a hymn. Hmmmm.... For those of you who know me, I LOVE hymns, but not every song has to sound like one. I only like the originals! The choir even wore robes. There was a guest speaker as I am sure I would have enjoyed Chuck's message if he were there. This message was also good about telling others about Christ. Overall, I just didn't get the feeling that the HS was leading me and my kids to this place of worship. Pray for us as we visit churches until we find the one where the Lord wants us to minister. And, please pray with me that Steph, Mike, Julie, and Kaylie will join me in the weeks to come.

That's all for now. It was a busy day! I need to call Wanda who texted me twice! I was just so bizzy that I never had a moment of alone time to call to chat. Please forgive me!

What's Cookin'?

Today started with Sophia, Josh and I making a big breakfast of bacon, eggs and pancakes. The kids LOVE helping and do a great job! They even eat more when they make it.

Kenny loves fishing so he is excited to be in Texas. Jerry bought him a fishing pole and he is out by the pond with that thing every day. Here is a pic of Ken teaching Sophia how to fix the line.

This evening Sophia and I made corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, and biscuits to go with the bbq chicken we put in the crock pot in the mroning. Sophia was such a joy! She really LOVES being in the kitchen. She even unloaded the dishwasher and put everything on the counter below the cupboard where it belongs. What an angel baby! I wish I could be a stay at home mom!

About half an hour after dinner, I called the kids down for some chocolate Bluebell ice cream topped with Reeses Pieces and jelly beans. They gobbled it up! I typically feed the kids in a very healthy fashions so special desserts like this all of a sudden turn any night into Christmas!

After dessert, we finally made it across the street to the park. Sorry I forgot to take my camera. We played for a good hour and sweated our little tooshies off! It wasn't too hot though. Then we saw the lightning! We came home had baths and put fresh jammies on so we could watch a short super hero video before prayers and bed.

Just as we were climbing into bed we began to hear pouring rain and thunder. The lightning made the inside of the house look like a disco club! Just as this began we heard a loud noise near the front door and voices. It was Ken and Mike RUNNING from the basketball court across the street. They were sopping wet. This was our first experience with the flash rains they have here. It lasted for about 20 minutes and now it is quiet as can be.

Ken and Mike nearly caught one fish and were feeling pretty manly after dodging the storm. They don't know that they missed out on the Bluebell. If you've never had Bluebell Ice Cream, I highly recommend it!

Thanks for the comments! They really help me not to be too homesick!!! I have decided to visit Chuck Swindol's church on Sunday. It is only 5 miles away so it is conveniently located. They also have a special program for preteens which means Ken would get some serious one on one and specified teaching for the things middle school students face. Of course, Ken is Gina's so I think she'll end up deciding where he goes to church, but the teacher in me will have a few choices for her should she decide to make Frisco her home.

We visited the kids schools today. Zack is SO EXCITED!!!! He walked taller on campus today. Tomorrow night there is a meet and greet so "ya'll bring the kids, have some dessert, and some fun"! That is really what she said. These people are so nice. It is almost like everyone is related or something.

I don't think I'll go to the meet and greet but next Friday, I'll go to parents night with Zack! Sophia wants to go so badly, but I just can't put her in school yet! My baby...