threesixfive, days 56 thru 62

its been a different week for us around here. allen started a one month sabbatical on tuesday. he will not be going back to work/church until april 3rd. crazy! so hes been around the house this week with us. a few drs appointments, and colby and i are still doing school in the mornings, but we're getting some good family time in. we leave tomorrow for a few days away. we're going to meet with a pastor and his wife, just to have them speak some wisdom to us in where we're at and where we're going as far as ministry and family. we're going to stay at a church encampment, so the kids should have some fun adventures out there in the woods looking for bugs and exploring. i'm looking forward to it.

heres our week

sunday, day 56

after church (our last day for 5 weeks!!!) we went to lunch with our friends the lamberts. molly loves their baby, tate.

monday, day 57

it was a beautiful day, so the kids and i got out in the backyard. their favorite thing is to pretend that the playscape is a castle, and i'm the dragon that has to chase them around. molly wanted to dress up for it this time.

tuesday, day 58

colby is way into angry birds (a game on the iphone/ipad). we really dont let him play that much, but hes just really latched onto it for some reason. allen bought stuffed angry birds off amazon, and a friend of his let us borrow an angry birds green pig hat that he has, so molly and colby take turns wearing the hat and nailing each other with the birds. its pretty funny. they were in the process of playing when i took this quick picture. thats why the hat isnt on her head very good; he'd just hit her with a bird!

wednesday, day 59

tragedy. we took the kids for haircuts, and the computer tells the stylist specifically what we do to colbys hair (what number guard to use on the back, top, etc). she was working on him, and asked me.

stylist: do you keep his bangs pretty short in the front?

me: yeah, we keep 'em short.

she proceeded to take the trimmer and run it right down the front of his head!

i gasped. loud. and put my hands over my mouth.

me: oh. o....k....

stylist: oh, im sorry. is that not what you do?

me: no, we trim it.

stylist: i'm sorry.

me: thats ok, it'll grow back.

at this point, colby has melted into a puddle of tears.

colby: its too short! i want my hair back!

me: its ok, buddy! youre so handsome! you really cant tell its any different from usual.

and you really cant. in fact, thats probably how we'll have them do it next time. but colby doesnt like change, and my initial reaction freaked him out. anyway, heres the picture i took right after it happened.

thursday, day 60

mollys dance class working on their recital performance.

friday, day 61

allen got to come to co-op with us for the first time! colby loved having him there! he took this picture in one of colbys classes. they were learning about bubbles.

saturday, day 62

another birthday party, another pinata. this time it was mollys sweet friend avery, and the kids had a blast. molly didnt hold her purse while she swung, but you can see she was making a fashion statment all the same.


have a fantastic week!!!

Jesus juked

the Jesus juke is a new phenomena i am becoming increasingly familiar with. maybe its been around for, like, 20 years or something, i dont know. but i have only recently been educated in the ins and outs of the Jesus juke.
theres a very funny christian speaker/writer/blogger named jon acuff. he explains it beautifully. i would encourage you to check out his blog if you ever need a laugh with an occasional side of conviction. heres a definition off his blog entry 'The Jesus Juke'.

"Like a football player juking you at the last second and going a different direction, the Jesus Juke is when someone takes what is clearly a joke filled conversation and completely reverses direction into something serious and holy."

i showed the full article to allen earlier in the week and he made it his immediate goal to juke me as many times as he could that evening. then our friend ryan came over, and he too fell victim to the juking.
to his credit, allen got some really good ones in.

we were in the car last night, all four of us, going to get frozen yogurt, and we were talking about people coming to visit us, and molly said
molly: what if a tree came to visit us?!?
me: a tree??? you're silly.
molly: a tree!! hahaha.
and allen and i start laughing, like 'thats not actually funny, but you think youre being funny so we're going to humor you because youre four' laughing.
then colby, having no previous knowledge of the Jesus juke, says
colby: molly, Jesus died on a tree.
awkward silence.
allen: yes He did, colby. good job.
conversation over.

well played, colby. well played.

threesixfive, day 49 thru 55

can you believe its about to be march??? it hit me the other day how fast this year is going by. i hear that happens once you have kids, though...and start getting old...er. i'll be 30 in 2 months. eek!!

our week was pretty mundane. nice considering how busy we've been, which i suppose directly relates to the year passing so quickly.

heres the week!

day 49

we went to zach and aprils house for an extreme home makeover watching party. zach, whos a fantastic photographer, was asked to be the photographer on set for the episode that aired sunday night (it was filmed in kileen, about 40 minutes north of us). pretty cool to see all the pictures he took on t.v., hanging in the new house! the picture here is zach, seeing his photographs on t.v.

day 50

i've been meaning to take a picture of this, but i guess have had plenty of other things to take pictures of instead (not complaining!!). this is my very first digital scrapbook. i used mixbook.com, and am very pleased with the results. i probably wont ever go back to doing it all by hand.

day 51

i made.....wait for it......bacon jalepeno mac n cheese for dinner. oh. my. goodness. i almost didnt post this picture, because it doesnt even begin to do it justice. i will soooo be making this again, but next time i'll amp it up and use more bacon and jalepenos. heres the recipe if youre interested.




day 52

wednesday colby and i went to the childrens hospital to visit allen second cousin who was there recovering from a torn spleen (ouch!!) and a little friend of colbys who has sickle cell anemia, and some other stuff going on. the courtyard there is so cool, i took colbys school books and we did school there. he wanted to pose for a picture. who am i to say no? :-) even when he wears socks with his crocs hes a cutie.

day 53

we went to chick-fil-a for lunch and happened to catch the cow walking around.

day 54

i had to run to the grocery store to grab a few things for dinner, and molly and colby both found this little mirror at the checkout fascinating.

day 55

we spent the morning at a birthday party. molly was standing in line to hit the pinata, and you can bet she did it with that purse on!




have a great week!! allen is taking a sabbatical for the month of march, so we'll hopefully have some fun adventures over the next few weeks.

threesixfive, day 42 thru 48

this week was SO much nicer weather wise. we had some cloud cover and a little drizzle friday and saturday, but it was warm, and thats the main thing. although i realized that molly has literally no clothes to wear on the warmish days. she has some sleeveless dresses she 'inherited' from another little girl, but i guess i forgot that she had grown out of all her shorts last year, so we had to make a trip to kohls yesterday to pick up a few things. i'll be making a trip to the consignment store for her this week i'm sure. 2 pairs of shorts and a few short sleeve shirts does not a spring wardrobe make.

heres our week....

sunday, day 42

we got to go hiking today!! the weather was perfect for it! allen couldnt go; he had a meeting at church. my friend heather and her boys, jaxon and cannon, came along and kept us company.




monday, day 43

happy valentines day! allen and i dont really make a deal out of it. sometimes we'll use it as an excuse to go shopping or out for a nice dinner, but it varies year to year. this year we went on a family date. we had papa murphy's heart shaped pizza, then went to a chocolate festival at a market down in austin. the festival was a bust, becuase, well, there was no festival. i had read online that each department would have some kind of chocolate to sample, 'come experience chocolate from around the world!' we got there and had walked through 3 departments and seen nothing, so i stopped at the hot tea counter and said

me: excuse me, the chocolate festival......

tea lady: (shakes head as i'm asking)

me: no?

tea lady: well, yeah. but its over tomorrow.

me: (wanting to say something smart-alec, like, 'well, its not tomrrow yet') ....ok, so there isnt anything?

tea lady: not really. we were supposed to have a few vendors here, but they didnt show up. i think it was mostly during the day.

me: ok. thanks.

so we walked around, and did end up finding a display of choclate from white chocolate with coconut to dark chocolate with cherry bits mixed in. we each picked a treat (or two). i got a salt and cracked pepper dark chocolate car. SO good! allen got a chocolate bar with bacon in it. oddly gross. i thought i would like it. false. and we got my dad (who loves spicy anything) a bar with peanuts and jalepenos in it. the kids each picked a few little pieces as well.

tuesday, day 44

colby picked this hot cocoa mix out at the chocolate festival monday night. i've had several mugs of it this week while allen and i sit and watch our recorded shows after the kids have gone to bed. yummy!

wednesday, day 45

when i put molly in the shower this evening, these fell out of her underwear!! she had somehow accumulated them on the playground. i know they can get in your shoes, and maybe pockets, but underwear? good gracious.

thursday, day 46

allens day off. we went to chick fil a for lunch, and the kids traded their kids meal 'toy' in for an ice cream cone.

friday, day 47

my dad is one of the chaplains for the police department, and i've been asking him to come by when hes on a ride out so the kids can see the police car up close. they caught us just as we were heading out to grab some dinner. the kids thought that was 'so cool'!

saturday, day 48

major spring cleaning today. this is my spotless kitchen. i hadnt even put the chairs back at the table yet. i wonder how long until its dirty again.....

have a blessed week!!

threesixfive, days 37 thru 41

i hope everyone had a great week!! ours was pretty low-key, so i'll get right to it.

sunday, day 37

this is a group picture from DNOW (the youth event at church last weekend).

monday, day 38

i didnt have to pick up the kids from my inlaws till tuesday, so monday night allen and i went out for a nice dinner. i had wolfed mine down before i even thought about taking a picture, but allen wasnt done with his yet. it doesnt look very appetizing here, but it was. he had pork tenderloin with a rasberry reduction and mashed potatoes. we will definitely be going back to that restaraunt.

tuesday, day 39

went to get the kids. colby learned about deciduous and evergreen trees a couple weeks ago, and i was able to point out a very clear difference to him while we were driving home.

wednesday, day 40

when i pick molly up from preschool (at our church), we always go upstairs to say hi to daddy and papaw (my husband is the youth pastor, and my dad is the worship pastor, for those that dont know). colby saw this odd fabric christmas tree in the childrens pastors office, and thought it was really cool, so pastor tom told him he could have it. thanks....a lot.



thursday, day 39

i noticed tuesday that there was some water pooling in our garage, but couldnt tell where it was coming from. our friend brandon came over thursday to take a look around. turns out our water heater went out, so he and allen spent all day installing a new one. the bad; we had to buy a new water heater. the good; brandon knows how to install them so we didnt have to pay for someone to do it. and we caught it just in time, if we had waited another day, it would have flooded our garage and probably mollys bedroom.

friday, day 40

we actually had a very busy day (a movie and lunch with friends, handing out homeless bags), but i didnt get pictures of any of it. molly has been suddenly obsessed with her color wonder book this week, so we spend quite a bit of time each day coloring together.

saturday, day 41

allen and i were given tickets to the UT vs Baylor game. we've been to several, but always on a weeknight and always a team from out of state. going on a saturday was awesome! it was packed and the game was close, so that made it pretty exciting.

our temperatures have been slowly climbing and tomorrow its supposed to be back up in the 70's hopefully we're done with the cold weather. it was nice for a couple weeks, but i'm a wimp.

stay warm my north-dwelling friends!!

threesixfive, days 30 thru 36

it was a very cold week. molly was still recovering from pneumonia. i sent her to school monday, but ended up keeping her home wednesday because she just wasnt quite well enough to participate in recess and p.e.

they have an hour of recess!! thats nuts! after that and p.e. and lunch, i figured she was only getting a solid hour of 'school' anyway, and it wasnt worth it to make her have to sit out half of her day there.

it was freakishly cold all week. monday was actually ok, but something blew in monday night and it was in the 30's (and lower at night) until saturday. it even snowed overnight thursday!! we never have snow, so the 2 inches we woke up to friday morning were unbelievable. saturday it was back up to 75 degrees. typical central texas weather. i heard someone say that they loving living in texas because they get to wear their whole wardrobe all year long. so true.

disciple now weekend was incredible. my kids are in houston till tomorrow so we can recuperate. we had approx 160 students this year, and i was so blessed to be a part of the band that led worship. the theme was FANAt>iC. the message in the middle of the word is 'the cross is greater than i'. the kids really grabbed it and some hearts were changed. so cool to see God at work in the lives of students.

on with the week.....

sunday, day 30

heres the theme i was telling you about. this sign was put up in the worship center, and it was also on the tshirts for the weekend.

monday, day 31

the band, Seven Day Shout, had rehearsal monday night. i had to stop and get a hot tea beforehand. this is my favorite!

tuesday, day 32
i got out and ran a couple errands with the kids. molly fell asleep on the way home, a sure sign she wasnt feeling completely well yet. i just put her on the couch and left her to it.

wednesday, day 33

DNOW kickoff in the worship center. the students are broken into groups, so when they arrive they had to find their name on a cross and that would put them with their group for the weekend.

thursday, day 34

colby helped me make dinner.

friday, day 35

snow day!!! they loved it for about ten minutes, then decided they were too cold and wanted to go back inside.

saturday, day 36

in one of the small group sessions this weekend, the kids were given the opportunity to eat bugs (chocolate covered larva and crickets) in true john the baptist form; they studied his life and used him as the example of what a fanatic for Christ looks like. at the worship service saturday night, allen called a few kids up for a bug eating speed challenge (who could eat a whole box the fastest). the girl in the tye-dye shirt won, and her house got an ice cream party that night. the other girl got really close. the guy went outside and threw up.

have a great week! hopefully we'll all stay warm!!!

threesixfive, days 23 thru 29

its been a looonnnggg week. molly had a cough sunday night that kept her from sleeping well, so i kept her home from preschool monday. monday night she spiked a high fever and the coughing started back up again. she was like that all week. sleeping a lot, not eating anything really. one of my best friends is a pediatric nurse practitioner and she said it sounded like the flu, but by tuesday when i talked to her, she said it was too late to treat it, and i would just have to ride it out. friday morning her fever was still high and she didnt seem to be getting any better. i called my friend again, and asked her what she would do. she said 5 days with fever is too long, and her fear was that it might have developed into something else. if it was wednesday or thursday she might wait another day, but heading into the weekend, she thought i should take her and let he dr listen to her chest and check her out.

i was at the drs office within the hour (praise the Lord we got in so quickly!!), and molly was sent home with a pneumonia diagnosis and two prescriptions. pneumonia?? really?!?!? the dr said it most likely started as the flu and the pneumonia was secondary. she literally slept the rest of the day with the exception of about 3 hours, and even those she spent on the couch.

this afternoon she perked up a little bit and ate a couple very small meals. hopefully by monday she'll be my healthy happy girl again.

i feel like a big blob. i've been sitting on the couch with her all week, sleeping and eating. i got out a little this afternoon to help with some stuff for our big disciple now youth event coming up next weekend, and allen and i had a double date thursday night with some friends. other than that, it was a pajama week. my pictures will reflect as such.

sunday, jan 23rd

molly wanted her bangs clipped back for church. she loves her forehead to show. she took one look at herself in the mirror and said, "the church will love me." so humble.

monday, jan 24th

we went to a middle school boys' basketball game, and colby, unbeknownst to us, used the bleachers for a drawing pad. you can read about how it all went down on my previous blog post. what a mess....but a fabulous learning experience for all of us.

tuesday, jan 25th

i made sardinian spaghetti for dinner. my kind of comfort food. this stuff is delicious, but i only make it every once in awhile because it calls for saffron, which is crazy expensive.

wednesday, jan 26th

all this time at home has allowed me to finish my very first digital scrapbook!! i used mixbook and found it very easy and fun! i cant wait to get it in the mail!!!

thursday, jan 27th

lots of this going on this week.

friday, jan 28th

every friday, allen takes molly to dunkin donuts before school. she obviously wasnt going to be going to school that day, but asked the night before if she would still have 5D day with daddy (daddy daughter dunkin donut day). he went and picked one up and brought it home to her.

saturday, jan 29th

mimi wanted molly to have some get well flowers, so she asked allen if he would pick some up for her, put them on the porch with a card, ring the doorbell, and run off. she was so happy with them. she carried them around the house with her all day.

as i mentioned earlier, we have a HUGE youth event at the church this weekend. if you think of it, please say a prayer for us. allen and i are both obviously deeply involved in the weekend, and the kids spend the weekend with mimi every year. we all need to be in good health! so far there are about 150 students signed up, and we'll get more this week (our group is notorious for last minute sign ups). they'll be staying at 24 different houses in the area, having worship services, small group sessions, and mission projects. i'll have pictures next week i'm sure! :-)