threesixfive, days 348 thru 354

its 6 minutes to christmas and i'm exhausted. gifts are wrapped, stockings stuffed, breakfast casserole is in the crockpot, and my pillow is calling. so straight to the main event....

sunday, day 348

we woke up to find that ace had turned our milk green. we never know what he's going to do next! ;-)





monday, day 349

a last minute grocery store purchase of window crayons kept them busy for awhile.

tuesday, day 350

every year the seniors adopt a family in need and go christmas shopping for them, then deliver the presents as a group. i heard about a single mom that just moved to the area who was in need of pretty much everything, and got her information to the senior sunday school teacher. i was able to go with them to make the delivery. 18 students donated just under $1000 and were able to bless this lady and her daughter beyond anything they could have thought. this is the line of students as we knocked on her door and waited to go in.

wednesday, day 351

for the last wednesday night youth meeting of this year, and the last one before christmas, allen did a movie theme night. they watched elf and had an eating contest. if you're familiar with the movie, you'll know what this is. it was a tie between two girls. they out-ate the boys way too easy.

thursday, day 352

ace replaced colby and mollys stockings with their underwear!! thankfully he left mine and allens alone. :-)

friday, day 353

for the 6th year in a row, we spent an evening with shayne and kristin and they prayed over molly and colby as we approach a new year.

saturday, day 354

we went to my parents house after christmas eve service for dinner. my mom bought fuzzy fabric baseballs and pulled all the red thread out of them to make them look like snowballs, so we had a "snowball" fight and played different games with them out in their gameroom.

have a merry christmas!!!!

brought to you by the letter L

the youth worker christmas party was a week and a half ago, and we went to a pottery place here in town where everyone got to paint either a mug or an ornament. i painted an ornament with red and lime green stripes, then painted the word 'noel' on it in black letters. you havent seen a picture, because its not that great. :-/
anyway, the other day allen picked them up from the shop and brought them to our house, and i had mine sitting on the kitchen counter when colby asked
colby: does that say noel?
allen: yes it does.
colby: what does that mean?
allen: it means mommy doesnt like the letter L. no L.
colby: what?! mommy, you dont like the letter L?
me: nope.
colby: why??
me: its worthless. i dont like it at all.
allen: mommys jealous because we all have L's in our name and she doesnt.
colby: really, mommy? is that why you dont like L?
me: (pretending to cry) its true. L doesnt like me. i just want an L like you guys have.
molly: (hugging me) mommy, please dont cry! i LOVE you!! its ok, mommy!
me: hey! i know! molly, you can give me one of your L's! you have two! can i have one of your L's and then we'll all have one?
molly: (long pause...thinking....)no, i dont think so. i like both of my L's. but daddy has two. maybe he'll give you one of his.

the conversation kind of died after that. she did tell my later that she'd trade me an L for my M, but that didnt seem like a very good deal to me, so we're all leaving our names as they are.

threesixfive, days 341 thru 347

merry 1 week till christmas!! i was feeling pretty crummy all week, but realize after some review that my pictures dont reflect that at all, which i guess is a good thing. i feel much better today, but i'm coughing like crazy and my voice will probably be gone by tomorrow. i'm looking into taking a temp job as a 1-900 operator. ;-) kidding, kidding.
my sweet momma was rushed to the ER early thursday morning after about a day and a half of what we thought was a stomach bug. it turns out her appendix had ruptered and they did an emergency appendectomy. shes still in the hospital recovering, but we're hoping she'll be sent home tomorrow. please pray for a quick recovery for her! the good thing is things have slowed down for now so she can rest, but what a bummer time of year to be laid up post-op. makes me think right about this time last year colby was having his adnoids and tonsils out. molly may be next; we'll revisit that in the spring.
i'm rambling.
on to pictures....


sunday, day 341
i snagged this platter at world market, and i love it!!!! i've been wanting a pretty christmas platter, but nothings grabbed my attention like this one did. now i need to make something yummy to break it in.






monday, day 342
they had this cut out next to a very santa-esque chair at the grocery store today. i'm thinking santa made a visit over the weekend and they hadnt taken the "set" down yet.







tuesday, day 343
i ventured into the land of homemade laundry detergent today. i saw a thing on pinterest where a lady made some (the same recipe i used) and it cost her $20 and lasted over 9 months! i had to shred 2 large bars of zote soap with my cheese grater, but other than that it was pretty painless.





wednesday, day 344
the parents were invited into dance class today to watch a christmas performance. they each got to take a candy cane home at the end. molly did a great job.






thursday, day 345
allen needed to change our a.c. filter, but my dad had borrowed our ladder to use up at church. a couple of kitchen chairs and a stepstool later, he had it taken care of. i was a nervouse wreck in the meantime.





friday, day 346
we woke up this morning to find that ace had toilet papered the guest bathroom!! what a troublemaker. the good thing is he always cleans up after himself. ;-)




saturday, day 347
christmas morning at mimis. molly got a doll that was customized and ordered to look just like her, complete with matching dresses. molly named her jessie.

have a fantastic week!!! enjoy the countdown, and time with your loved ones!

i'll see you all back here on christmas eve!!

threesixfive, days 334 thru 340

baby its cold outside!! of course, i suppose thats relative. you northerners would probably be out swimmin' or something, but the sweaters and wool peacoats made their first appearance this week. there was even a sheet of ice (a very very thin sheet, but ice is ice) on my windshield one morning!! most days we had stripped down to one layer by the afternoon, but beggars cants be choosers i suppose. i'll take what i can get.


sunday, day 334
i'm working on more projects, the results of which you'll see later in the week!!





monday, day 335
ace decided to keep watch from colbys light chain today. :-)





tuesday, day 336
tonight after dinner we went to look at christmas lights. theres a neighborhood of gorgeous homes near us with several cul-de-sacs in a row, and most of them are decorated beautifully. this one had its lights set to music. we sat there for 20 minutes and watched the whole show.





wednesday, day 337
i scavenged pinecones from my inlaws' yard in houston last week and spray painted them orange and teal. the orange doesnt pop as much as i'd like, but i still like them.





thursday, day 338
every year my friends lauren and april and i exchange gifts. april (whos an art teacher) has always been, well, artsy. lauren and i just jumped on the crafty artsy bandwagon a couple years ago, and so its kind of become "the thing" to make something for each other. i got this idea off pinterest. they're earring holders; you just hook them thru the burlap. i dont have pierced ears, though, so when i get around to making one for myself, it will be art on the mantle.

friday, day 339

tonight was the church staff christmas party. this is the white elephant gift pile.

saturday, day 340

allen and i took the kids to the mall to see santa.

this week we have a 2 christmas parties, then we're going to my inlaws to celebrate with them for a couple days. will you be traveling or staying put this year?

threesixfive, days 327 thru 333

hello everyone! we are on our third day of rain here in round rock, but i am absolutely not complaining! we've needed it for quite sometime. i was feeling crummy all week in the evenings. i'd be fine till about 4 oclock, and then id get a pounding headache and just be exhausted. all that to say, my pictures arent terribly exciting, because most of the week was spent at home.

sunday, day 327
my jewelry was out of control, so i reorganized! i saw the paper towel holder for bracelets idea on pinterest. i tried putting all my headbands around an oatmeal canister (also a pinterest idea), but either the one i saw a picture of was a really big oatmeal container, or i have a very large head, because they all just slid right down. i had this basket in my closet, though, so its working for now. my necklaces are on a little board with hooks in it (something youd use for bathtowels, or maybe jackets). i like the way its all working...for now.

monday, day 328

at the grocery store, the kids saw a barrel of nuts, and i was telling them what the different kinds were. we went ahead and bought a small sack full (and a nutcracker), so i could show them how nuts actually look before we buy them already shelled. they had fun with it.

tuesday, day 329

allen and i spent the evening wrapping presents. i'm done with all my shopping; even the stockings! how about you??

wednesday, day 330
colbys been reading these frog and toad books as part of his schoolwork, and loves them! hes actually wanting to read now (most of the time).

thursday, day 331

we had a birthday party this evening at a bowling alley. i only bowled a couple of frames, but i think molly and colby would have both beaten me if i had played a full game. even with the bumpers up i'm just awful.

friday, day 332

allens mom had her christmas party for the kids on friday. shes done halloween the past couple years, but this year the kids asked for christmas. our friends the ogradys went with us, and we spent all afternoon doing crafts, and playing games. she does such a great job.

saturday, day 333

ace is back! he showed up thursday evening and will be with us until he has to go back to the north pole on christmas eve. the kids were so excited to see him.

as i said earlier, i'm officially done with all my christmas shopping. i'm still doing some craft stuff. i have one more set of coasters to make, and i'm hopefully going to finally make my own christmas wreath this week. i also collected a sack of pine cones at my mother in laws house when we were there friday, and i'm going to spray paint those and put them in a bowl or a glass vase somewhere.

on a side note, we went and saw arthur christmas last saturday, and it was a very very good christmas movie if youre looking for something to see with your family.

have a blessed week!!

threesixfive, days 320 thru 326

i hope everyone had a pleasant thanksgiving with their families!
this week my mom and i got two days away in a town about two hours from us, called boerne. we ate and shopped and had "girl time". it was fabulous!
then we ate more on thursday. :-/ needless to say i'm looking forward to getting to the gym on monday. i have a bit of catching up to do.


sunday, day 320
our church held its annual thanksgiving dinner. it was packed. and delicious!

monday, day 321

this is our room at the bed and breakfast. each room had a theme. we were in the 'garden room.'

tuesday, day 322

this was a display at one of the shops we went in. i love the old doors as a headboard, and all the same color. i could never have that much white in my house. well, i could, but it wouldnt stay white for very long.

wednesday, day 323
i told colby to go get ready for bed and he came out in this getup. of course molly had to pose with him for a picture.






thursday, day 324
happy thanksgiving!! we went to allens aunts house in waco and celebrated with about 25 of his relatives. this is how most of the guys and kids passed the time.

friday, day 325

every year we decorate the house for christmas on friday after thanksgiving. the tall santa on the left of the mantle is a new addition. i love him.

saturday, day 326
every year the kids each pick a new ornament to add to the tree. colby picked batman (his latest obsession ) and molly picked some irish angel somethingerather. i dont know what it is, but its not the 'campus sweetheart' barbie ornament she picked first, so im good with the irish chick.

after a hectic routineless week, i will welcome monday with open arms. stay warm and dry (we've had lots of sporadic rain this week) if that applies to you. have a blessed week!!

threesixfive, days 313 thru 319

it was a very emotional week for us. if youre out of the loop you can go back two posts and read about our dog fiasco.

i'll get right to the pictures.

sunday, day 313

we got a puppy! a 6-week-old schnauzer. meet roxy.

monday, day 314

we had to get rid of the puppy. very sad. again, to get the full story, click here.

this is colby holding her and singing to her (she's passed out asleep from them playing with her for a solid two hours) right before her new family came to pick her up.

tuesday, day 315

our friends aaron and justine came over for dinner and games. they were welcome company after the monday we had!

wednesday, day 316

allen brought this home to cheer colby up. molly got a cinderella mask.

thursday, day 317
i worked all day making coasters to give to the moms at the homeschool co-op we're a part of for teacher appreciation. they turned out great!!

friday, day 318

my kids have perfectly nice, big rooms to play in, but they prefer dragging all their stuff into the living room!! i dont mind too much; its all put away before bed!

saturday, day 319

i had to laugh when i noticed allens dry cleaning pile-- three different shirts, all orange. can you tell he's getting on board with the "think orange" strategy our church is adopting?

allen preached again this morning. part two of the sermon he started last week. i posted a video of last weeks message here if youre interested. you can find out what all the gumballs were for. :-) i think they did a video of todays sermon too. i'll post it as soon as its ready.

tomorrow i leave for a two day getaway to boerne with my mom. we're staying at a little bed and breakfast, and shopping for a couple days. it was my gift to her for her 50th back in june, but we're just now getting around to going. i'm really looking forward to it. boerne is a cute little town and my mom is pretty awesome, so i figure i cant go wrong with the two in combination with each other.

i hope you have a fantastic thanksgiving! we're making a day trip to waco to spend it with all of allens extended family. stay safe and warm (if that applies to you. its 80 degrees and muggy here today. blah.)!!

allens sermon

here's allens sermon from Sunday morning. it was his first time to speak to the church as the family pastor and he shared a new strategy our church will be implementing. we're so excited about where the Lord is taking us. also, you kind find out what the gum balls are for. :-)

Why Orange? 11/13/11 from Central Round Rock on Vimeo.

epic fail

if there was a mother of the year award, I would definitely be out of the running.

approximately 48 hours ago we picked up our cute, fluffy, adorable new schnauzer puppy, who we christened 'roxy'. we brought her home and played with her and quickly became attached. not long after her joyous arrival, I started itching. all over,but mostly my face and neck. I didn't really pay attention until later that night when I was still itching. suddenly it dawned on me that it might be the puppy.
'I'm not allergic to dogs!' I thought to myself. however, as a child I actually did test positive to dog and cat allergies among a myriad of other things. we had just always had animals around, and I was on allergy medicine pretty much all the time, so either that was doing the job well enough that I didn't notice any kind of adverse reaction, OR my body adjusted to having animals in the house (which I've read can most definitely happen).

we haven't had an animal (with hair) in the house for 7 years, though, so at this point I'm wondering if I really do have a mild allergy, and having a puppy right up in my face aggravated that allergy.
I sat there on my living room floor Sunday night, wondering what I should do. I decided to give it some time and hopefully it either wasn't actually the dog, or I would adjust like I did as a kid.
fast forward to Monday morning.
wait, let me back up first.....
7 years ago,when Colby was one,we had him allergy tested because he had a mild reaction to eggs, and was just generally a congested kid. we found out at that time that he was indeed allergic to eggs as well as cats and dogs. they cant test for seasonal allergies that young, but I figured he probably had a healthy dose of that as well, just like his momma.

we had a cat at the time; mine from when I was about 13 years old. I hated to get rid of her, but as soon as we did, Colby showed a marked difference. (my mom took her, and although very old, she's still alive so I get to see her often. yay!) as he's grown it's very obvious that he can't be around cats or dogs without benadryl coursing through his body.
over the years we've heard about different hypo-allergenic dogs, and have even 'test-driven' schnauzers at different pet stores, always with very mild but still clear reactions from Colby. a family in our church had a litter of schnauzer puppies 6 weeks ago and while Allen and I were in Maine, my mom took the kids over to visit and play with them. they were there for about 45 minutes, and Colby didnt have a reaction! I took them back last weekend (on Friday) to see for myself, with the intent to buy the last one left, a little girl. Colby once again came away hive free, so we happily made plans to come back and get her on Sunday when she was officially 6 weeks old, and clear to go to a new home.
now fast forward to Monday morning.

we wake up, have breakfast, and the kids play with the puppy for about an hour. then it happened. sneezing, eye rubbing, and it wasn't me like the night before (but I was still having some kind of reaction). it was Colby. my heart dropped. were we going to have to get rid of this puppy? the puppy my kids have been wanting since forever??
I very gently told Colby what I saw happening and that I was reacting as well, and that we might have to find her a new home. we all cried, then I made some phone calls. I thought about and talked through the options, namely if we should wait a week or two and see if we would in fact adjust. we decided that if there was any chance that we would have to pull the plug it was better to do it sooner rather than later. I would hate to have the kids get even more attached, the dog gets trained, learns her name, and the after all that we still have to find her another home. id probably rather stick nails in my eyeballs.
a family in our church that we know well and love was able to come pick her up last night and give her a new home. we'll be able to visit and take her on the occasional walk. they renamed her Zoe, which was our second name choice. it was a very long, very emotional couple of days here at our house. we took the kids the gattiland for pizza and games last night, and let them stay up past their bedtime. today we made a trip to target where they each bought two new toys with their birthday money from great-grandma. so I guess it's safe to say that we're getting through it with junk food and, well, junk. :-)
there's talk of a hamster, but I know allergies to those are possible, too, and not altogether uncommon. I'd hate to have to do this again. I think for the time being we're unfortunately going to have to stick to animals of the scaly variety.
they're just not very good cuddlers.

even though shes not ours anymore, here she is. cute little thing.

for those of you waiting for allens sermon, i'll have a link up tomorrow.

threesixfive, day 306 thru 312

we had a very full week, starting with a trip to great wolf lodge for colby and mollys birthdays. allens preaching tomorrow, so we brainstormed some ideas for that, and we made a pretty last minute decision to get a puppy. we dont pick her up till tomorrow, so no pictures yet. she'll get her own post this week i'm sure. :-)
heres what we did this week...

sunday, day 306
molly got a haul of squinkies for her birthday. what are squinkies you ask? teenie tiny little toys that will inevitably get sucked up in my vaccum cleaner. allen and i are taking bets on how long it will be before they've all disappeared. but i have to admit, they are kinda cute.

monday, day 307

we spent the morning in the car and the afternoon swimming and riding water slides at the resort (no pictures of it, though. sorry.). it was a great trip because colby was big enough to ride everything on his own, and there were only two slides molly couldnt go on, although she certainly would have if they'd let her. i definitely have two thrill seekers on my hands. we went to dinner at the rainforest cafe (one of the kids favorite places to go if theres one where we are) and ordered the volcano for dessert. that thing didnt stand a chance.

tuesday, day 308 (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOLLY!!!)

theres a game at the GWL called magiquest. the kids begged and begged to play last time, but its pricey, so we didnt. this time since we were celebrating birthdays, we splurged. it was really really cool. they each got a magic wand and you have to go all over the 8 floors of the building to find clues and get points to free the pixies and fight the dragon. the wands are synched up to everything so you just wave it at something and it will come to life and give you your next "task" or whatever. allen and i had just as much fun with it as they did.

wednesday, day 309

my big 5-year-old girl at lunch with my family. i love when she wears her hair down, which is pretty much never (she lives in a headband).

thursday, day 310

i made this hair clip!! between the spray adhesive, hot glue, and felt backing, im not sure my fingers will ever be the same, but im pleased with how it turned out.

friday, day 311

we went to a coffee house to hear the band that leads our youth worship on wednesday nights. this is the drummers wife, mandy, and colby, wearing his new and somewhat obnoxious but adorable hat over bright pink earphones (they belong to mandys daughter ramona who typically wears them at the concerts, unless a handsome 7 year old wants to try them out).

saturday, day 312

we went up to the church this morning to set the stage up for allens sermon tomorrow. 3,000 red gumballs and 40 yellow. i'll post a link to his sermon this week so you can go find out what they're for if you want to. ;-) hows that for incentive?

as i said earlier, tomorrow we will be the proud new owners of a schnauzer puppy. i'll share pictures of her later this week. looks like between that and posting the sermon, i'll be on here at least twice between now and saturday...between potty training our new addition of course. i thought i was past those days.

have a blessed week!!