CHICKEN POX!!!!!

Poor Miss Natalie! She had a couple of spot Thursday, but Friday morning she woke up covered in spots! Chicken Pox!!! The doctor gave her an anti-viral medicine and it is clearing them up quickly. She says they don't hurt or itch and hasn't scratched them at all. She has been such a trooper. Now we are just waiting to see if the others come down with them too.

Easter

Happy Easter!!!

















We took a few pictures today after sunrise services at church and later at the Azalea Trails.

Playing Outside in January!

The weather in Texas is so strange! Last year, we had snow at EASTER and this year we are playing outside in January.

















The girls all enjoyed the silly string, but I don't think Jack enjoyed it as much as they did! Dad always ran to Grandma saying, "Look what my brothers did to me!" Well, now Jack can say, "Look what my sisters did to me!"























Nicole showing off the silly string after she took it off of Jack's head.




















Natalie posing on the swing.






















Lauren making a silly face looking through a broken wagon wheel that she found outside.





















Jack sliding down the slide.

Happy New Year

It's hard to believe that it is already 2008! WOW! My oldest child will be 10 this year. It's amazing how fast time passes by! On New Year's Eve we had a family celebration at church. The kids played games on the Wii and board games (Candyland, Chutes and Ladders, Monopoly, etc.) The adults played dominoes and 42. We had tons of food, food, and more food! We set off fireworks (see photos above - click to see a larger view) at about 11:30p.m., and shortly before midnight, we went into the sanctuary to have a prayer time and short devotional to welcome in the new year. We are also welcoming a new pastor. We are so glad to have Waylon, Geneva, and their sweet boys coming to be a part of our church. We are looking forward to the new year and all that the Lord has in store for us.

Christmas Activities

Every year there are certain traditions that we have for Christmas. I always buy the kids new pajamas and let them open them on Christmas Eve because by then, I've heard, "Can't we just open ONE?!?!" a million and one times! We also leave cookies and milk for Santa Claus. Usually it's a whole plate full, but this year I was able to convince the kids that Santa only needs a couple of cookies since lots of other kids will be leaving him cookies too. We also had to leave carrots for Santa's reindeer because that's what he told them when we saw him at the mall. He said to leave chocolate chip cookies for him and carrots for the reindeer. (Thanks for being so picky Santa! ;-)


















Another tradition that we have is having a picture made with Santa. This year, no one was scared of Santa and everyone sat on his lap! The mall that we went to let me take my own pictures so I was able to get pictures of them talking to him and a group picture.
























We had a musical production at church this year. Nicole was Mary. Natalie and Lauren were angels. Jack was a shepard boy. He did good at practice, but the day of the performance he wouldn't get up there in front of everyone. A wonderful lady at church and her sister made all the costumes! They did a great job. Hopefully, we can make a Christmas performance an annual tradition.









































I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Duck Quiz

I saw this on another friend's blog (Autumn! :-) I'm an Inventive Duck. What kind of duck are you? Click on the picture below to take the quiz and find out.

Christmas Lighting Ceremony

This year Richard's cousin, Jim, invited us to his apartment Thanksgiving day to go to the lighting ceremony at the Galleria. We were able to park at his apartment and walk just a couple blocks to the Galleria. We have never been before, so the kids all had a great time!





















Nicole and Natalie playing with their glow sticks while we were waiting on Santa to make his entrance. There were groups singing too.

















Santa plugging in the cord to light the Christmas trees in downtown Houston.


















Santa giving the thumbs up sign to start the fireworks display.






















Uncle David, Richard's Aunt Joanne's husband, holding Lauren up to see the fireworks. The fireworks were beautiful! You could see the reflections ripple on the nearby buildings. You could feel it in your chest each time a new set were set off.
























































It was COLD, but we stopped long enough after the lighting ceremony to take a quick family picture.















Jim, Aunt Joanne, and Uncle David.

None of the restaurant were open, except for Starbuck's which had a line all the way around the store! We ended up driving around and found a tiny IHOP that was open. As it turned out, they were out of almost everything, but we were all able to find something to eat and we had a great visit. We may have to make this a yearly tradition!