Crazy Times

Ok, so the last post said we'd lost everything on our computer...newest news....we totally lost the computer!!!!! Well, we didn't actually lose it, it totally died and it was cheaper to just buy a new one....SO we have a new laptop...not something we had budgeted for!!!

So now I have to install my camera's stuff onto this computer and I have no idea where that disk even is with everything still packed in boxes in our "storage unit"/"office", so for now I can't put any new pictures up.

Then this last week my brother had an accident at work and cut the top of his finger off with a saw...yep, you read that correctly, cut it off....they're still in the middle of that situation.

THEN, yesterday after church we came home and I got frozen stuff out to fix for lunch, turned on the oven to preheat, came back later and it was as cold as could be in the oven!!! Our stove had died!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One more unexpected expense during the holidays!!!!!

There is actually even more that's happened to our family this week that I could post but its just to overwhelming!!!! Apparently God is gonna show up in a BIG way in our family b/c we are definitly under attack!!!

Everyone have a great Christmas week....we were gonna do the birthday cake for Jesus but I can't bake anything! My friend and neighbor, Genelle, is gonna let me use her oven to cook our Christmas dinner, ridiculous but so great to have a friend like that!

Again, have a great week and hopefully I'll be able to dig out my stuff for the camera and get some pictures posted. Love ya'll!!!

OH, Jonathan says that next Christmas everyone in our family is just getting bubblewrap so that we can all roll up in it and then we'll be protected from this craziness!!!!!

Starting All Over!

In an effort to clean our computers hard drive we erased everything on the computer.....including pictures......I used to copy all of our pictures to disks....then I got lazy b/c I had tons of disks and never used them.....looks like I'll be saving to disks from now on!

So, we're starting all over with files and pictures....

I don't even have the boys Christmas pictures now...is this how people feel when they lose all their pictures in a flood or fire? When I realized they were gone today I sat here with my mouth open in shock.

Starting all over...

I'm still in shock...

Seriously! What's Wrong With This Picture?!?!

YES!!! That's snow....next to a palm tree in our backyard!!!!!!!!

It's blowing pretty hard down the streets.

This is Jalyn saying its to cold....seriously, we live in TEXAS!!! HOUSTON, TEXAS!!!! It should go without saying that we don't get snow!!!

He did think it was pretty cool at first....but that didn't last for long.

My neighbor and friend, Genelle, has never seen snow, she grew up down by the border. She was laughing and holding her tongue out like a little kid.....that was pretty fun to see!!!!

I have lots more pictures once Jon Michael got out of school. I'll post them later, we're headed to the mall b/f it gets to bad outside.

Weekend News

Jon Michael tested for his green belt on Saturday.

He jumps to fast to actually get the break but he did break his board with a jump side kick.

Doing one of the patterns.

His favorite part, sparring.

After belt testing, I drove 45 minutes south of here to Rosenberg, Texas, to check out a craft booth that my friend from church was in. I picked up marshmallow blow guns for the boys.

Jalyn reloading, they figured out pretty fast that you could load more than one at a time.


The boys chasing each other around the yard, shooting each other.

I wish I'd gotten a shot of Jonathan shooting Jon Michael, one hit him so hard in the forehead I heard the "thunk" while I was standing on the front porch. They loved the guns.

More Decorations....

This was the last night we were supposed to have warm weather so we got busy decorating the front of the house. I busted the light in the lantern as I was hanging the wreaths so I'll have to put a new bulb in...probably not tomorrow, supposed to be rainy and really cold.

I had a fight with the grapevine around the door. I didn't take it down during the hurricane so it was a little more mangled than usual so I had to take it down and start over, after some tugging and nailing it went back fine.

Our cute cross and manger....Jonathan says this is the last year for the manger, its sat through to many rains and cold weather.

This is the boys favorite part, filling the manger with pine needle "hay".

More and more "hay".

Its always kinda stressful having "help" from the boys but they love the lights.

The painters come tomorrow to repaint the front room and work on the air conditioning vents. Then maybe I can get my front room and entry back in order, I spent the day moving all the boxes back into the living room. It's like musical boxes to get anything done in the house. I'll post more pictures as the work continues.

Deck the Halls...or your living room....

Ok, so we can't deck the halls, or the balcony, or the front room, b/c the painters have to come back and the workers have a little more work to do on the air conditioning vents....SO, our living room is a hodge podge of decorations that are usually spread throughout the front room. If you know me and you've been to our home at Christmas you know I LOVE to decorate and at first I was pretty upset I wouldn't be able to decorate as usual but God has clearly been showing me that from this Christmas on HE needs to be my focus. Not that I haven't always believed that Christmas was about Him but b/c I like things to be done just right in my decorating, b/c I enjoy it so much, I get stressed if things aren't going like I want or if I can't find the exact thing that I need to finish the "picture" in my head. At the holiday dinner the speaker really stressed that we need to ask HIM what He wants us to do for Christmas for him and that's continually been brought back to my mind. So this year, I'm not stressing that my living room is basically a collection of collections that don't go together, I'm thinking that if I was throwing a birthday party for a friend and they knew how stressed it was making me wanting it to be just perfect it would probably upset them so why would HE want me to do that for HIS birthday? So we've got kids Christmas collection, silver mixed with gold (trying not to gnash my teeth at that one!), country grapevine, jewel toned collection.....its all decoration though for a wonderful birthday party. Don't we go over the top sometimes with decorations for birthdays? That's how I'm looking at our home this year.....over the top, mixed and mismatched decorations!

Enjoy the little bit we've been able to get done. Everyone at church keeps asking how the house is going with repairs and I tell them I think I'm done until after Christmas, I really want to focus on the celebration of Christ. I can paint and install baseboards and put up curtains later...I don't want to miss the greatest birthday party of the year!!!!!

I'm really asking myself how to make Christmas different for the kids, we've always taught them not to focus on the gifts and they enjoy Santa but know that he's not real but that he was a great man, etc.... I really wanted this year to be full of fun for them, like planning a real birthday party so I've bought more kids Christmas music and done something that I swore I'd NEVER do....I bought the Christmas Chipmunks cd!!!! And its playing in my car!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I used to hate hearing those whiny voices sing but the boys love it and they sing along to it and I enjoy hearing the boys try to sing along with chipmunks!!!! God doesn't want me to focus on how commercialized His birthday has become, not on how much I hate whiny rodent voices!!! He wants me focus on peace, joy, love, HIM.....fruits of the spirit...interesting decorating ideas are popping into my head!!!! ( I told you I love to decorate!!!!) So part of the joy of Christmas for my boys is Chipmunks singing....I think God laughs himself off the throne when he hears rodents singing Silent Night, Holy Night, and two little boys trying to match their voices to the song!!!!

Ok, sorry this really was supposed to be a quick post of the boys decorating for Christmas!!! So FINALLY here's the pictures!

The boys final masterpiece.

The boys each pick an ornament every year, Jalyn's is a motorcycle.

I had to downsize this year, usually I have a ten foot tree in the front room, but its all good! I just noticed how funny the tree looks...like I only put one ribbon streamer down it...I didn't there are others on the other sides...promise.

I'm still in the process of cleaning up sheetrock dust so the cabinets are a little crazy right now.

Jon Michael's ornament is a video game controller.

I'll post more pictures as we slowly are able to get to other areas of the house, after painting and stuff is done. Have a great time decorating and celebrating at your own homes!!!

More Pictures

These are just a few more cute pictures...we're finally getting some Christmas decorations up tonight since I'm feeling a little better. I'll post those soon.

Uncle Jonathan giving Baby Zeke a ride on the Harley Scooter.

This was Baby Zeke's favorite part, doing wheelies, he kept jerking the handle bars so that Jonathan would do it for him.


This was Sunday, after we got home from church I was so sick I told the boys I was going to bed they could play or do whatever but they had to leave me alone...they played and ate snacks and watched cartoons...basically had free run of the house...this is what I found when I finally came downstairs that afternoon.