Off to Austin

My hubby and I are off to Austin in the morning for a pastor's conference. Yes, that's right, three days alone with my beloved (well there might be a few other people there, but who's counting!) I've actually taken 3 personal days, so no kids 'til Thursday - woooo whooooo. I'm taking a small amount of work with me, some needlework, and a good book. But most of all, I'm looking forward to the time with Allan.

See ya on Thursday!

TAGGED! 7 Things About Me

I was tagged by Juloyes over at Accindental Pastor's Wife. So here are the rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

I'm thinking these up as I'm typing, so bear with me.

1. Unlike Juloyes, I totally hate exercise...much prefer a bag of chips and a great book, or even a good book.

2. My favorite candy bar is Reece's Peanut Butter Cups - which totally stinks since my apparent sudden peanut allergy.

3. As a teenager and twenty-something I couldn't listen to enough classic rock...I was all about The Who, The Rolling Stones, etc...now I listen to Texas country almost all the time - check out Kevin Fowler for something different!

4. There is no way I could go for even a few hours without my glasses...can't see a THING!

5. I played the trombone in high school (but I did NOT have tape holding my glasses together - no matter what my hubby says!)

6. I never had a cat, or even wanted one (totally a dog person) until 5 years ago when Sarah brought Bob home. Now I love 'em (we have 6 now!)

7. Last, but most importantly - God has blessed me with the perfect husband. We are meant for each other...best of friends, confidants, no one we'd rather be with but each other, make you sick we're so in love kind of couple. We met in high school, but never dated until college. God brought us together, no question about it. He is the best and most wonderful part of me.

So now, I have to tag 7 more people...who to pick...

Tara

Jules

Me

Jennifer

Constance

NEK & EAKs Mom

Mammy

Easter Sunday's - Yesterday's and Today

I always get sentimental at times like these. I have spent a lot of time this week thinking back to Sarah's first Easter. She wasn't yet even a year old. Our family had a great and fun tradition. After church, everyone changes clothes, and loads up their picnic lunches and meet at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens. We had the same spot every year. We'd enjoy being together, eat our lunch, and take a walk to "smell the roses." At this point, the Easter Bunny (aka Grampy) would hide the Easter eggs. On our return, the hunt would begin. My husbands' family had been doing this for years. For Sarah's first Easter, his youngest sister continued the egg hunting - even though she was 12! My parents joined the crowd, and it was always a nice time. After all that, we would walk over to the Japanese Gardens for a tour, and feed the giant gold fish. We did this every year until we moved. The rest of the family continue to celebrate Easter in just this way, even today!













Now that Sarah has her own family, I know how special all those firsts are. But these times make me miss being together with all our extended family. (Was she not the cutest baby ever?)

So today, with extended family far away, we surrounded ourselves with friends. All our Godchildren were in town and at church. We got a rare photo with all of them.We even managed to drag Jacob away from teen-age food and fun for a quick family pic.

We had several families from church over to share our Easter feast. Everyone shared lots of laughter and good times. The funniest thing that happened:

My friend asked to bring something, and we decided on a potato casserole. She mixed it up ahead of time, intending to bake it at church right after Sunday School was over. (We live right next door, and I use both ovens to cook in :) She put in the the refrigerator before church. We were in the kitchen after church, and she said, "Oh, you already got my casserole out." I hadn't even looked for it yet! So we look around, and her dish is sitting out nice and clean and empty! Turns out, the ladies set it out for the brunch! UNCOOKED! Can you even imagine?? I then recall seeing it out on the table and wondering what in the world that was? My friend was really glad her dish didn't have her name on it! Don't you think that it would be obvious that a potato casserole was not a breakfast item - especially an uncooked one. We laughed all afternoon about it. And I had all the ingredients to mix up another one.

National Lutheran School Week

We just wrapped up Lutheran School Week. The kids all had a good time. Here are our cuties all decked out in their team shirts on Monday. We just finished running relay races.

We had red day, a Christian art contest, silly hat day, Christian writing contest, pajama day, movie and popcorn day, Bible bowl, crazy dress day, and wheel day. Everyone enjoyed the special activities and treats.

At church, our confirmation students came to the house for our annual pizza/study party on Saturday. It's their last opportunity to review all their questions (200+) before the public examination...which was this morning. The kids did great! Next week we'll have 4 kids confirmed.

Spring Cleaning

Spring cleaning has begun with a whisper - not a roar - but it has begun. This weekend I:

1) Washed curtains from two bedrooms
2) Washed seat covers of my son's truck

Whew - aren't you impressed at the lightning pace I'm going :)

Curves

Well, I did it...went to Curves for the first time Wednesday, and again on Thursday. Isn't that something? Lost 2 pounds during the week, and gained them back this weekend. *sigh* Fried fish and shrimp on Friday (yum), pizza on Saturday, lunch and dinner out tonight. Back on track though tomorrow.

March Already??

March 2...where does the time go? If only we could slow it down...You hear it said that when someone is dying their life flashes before their eyes...I feel that way most of the time. It seems just like yesterday that I had two little kids at home - reading stories and cuddling on the couch. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't change a thing! I'm so proud of those kids. Sarah's found her perfect place in life with a great husband and a beautiful little girl. She has blossomed and thrived being a wife and mother, and I'm so glad she heard God's calling to that role. So many women miss it, and consequently miss the joys that come with that role. Jacob has grown into a fine young man. Still a boy in some ways, but responsible and mature in ways appropriate for his age:) Like Sarah, he is an excellent student, and doesn't grouse too much about it. lol.

This week, Jacob had a craving for Kraft Macaroni and Cheese please. He asked me to please go to the store, buy some, and cook it up for him. I, of course, did just that. He poured it into a bowl, and spooned it down in no time. He looked up and said, "Thank you so much for fixing this...it is so good." I asked him if it made him feel like a boy again to which he replyed, "Yeah, I think it does." I told him he just needed fish sticks to go with it. "I forgot fish sticks even existed!" I love the moments where his little boy side shines through.

Markus had another loss in Soccer on Friday. He did discover that the opponents had an exchange student from Germany, too. He enjoyed their short visit.

Jacob had tennis on Friday and didn't play as well as he would have liked. The good side was he played on the courts right outside my classroom, so I could peek out the window at him, and he picked me up for lunch. Lunch was nice, I think the first time we've ever had lunch together during school.

Saturday was busy. We drove to Corpus for a choir concert in the afternoon. Our choir director was singing in a concert. It was very good, and I'm glad we decided to go. After returning, we had a bar-b-q to attend. My friend from school's son is leaving for the Air Force tomorrow, and they had a big send off for him. The food was excellent, and Terrell is such a nice young man I was glad to be there for his party.

Next week is Lutheran School Week, so we have lots of fun things planned for the kids. My main job today is grading. Maybe 100's for everyone??

Shadow Dance

This is the second book by Julie Garwood that I've read. As it turns out, it picked up where the other book left off. I like reading books with continuing characters. This books main character, Jordan, was a minor character in the other book. Jordan travels to Texas to meet up with an odd Professor who supposedly has researched a feud between two families...one of which is hers. He tells her that her family are brutes. Jordan's intent is to prove his research faulty. But once she arrives in the little town of Serenity, Texas. People begin to be killed. They seem to turn up in her trunk every time. The romance between herself and FBI agent Noah is of the cookie-cutter variety. It is almost word for word like the romance between the two characters in the other book. I don't care for this much - it will be interesting if in other books this same pattern is followed. Other than the romance part, this was a good story and kept my attention.