Gerald, Megan, Mya and Keegan

The Month Of December

2011-12-29T21:31:00.007-06:00

OK, I can finally admit it....Its super hard to keep up with a blog and our crazy lifestyles, but at least I am trying and that's what counts...right??? The month of december has been super de duper busy!! Im sure that many of you can say the same thing. Where does the time go?

To start of the month, Keegan was picked to be the student of the month :) which means that mom had to make a poster. He was soooo excited.

Some of the things on the paper....
favorite food.....pizza
Lives in a....house :)
My Pet....We don't have any (my kids are deprived!)
I want to be a.....fireman....when I grow up

AND I LOVED THE DRAWINGS OF HIMSELF AND THE FAMILY!!! None of us have bodies, just faces, hands, and feet. Hahahaha!

Mya is also involved in girl scouts and this year they made their own skirts and shirts and then went and modeled them while they caroled at the annual Christmas Celebration at our community center

Its awesome to be able to go and do this every year...its kind of turning into a tradition. They will have entertainment, pictures with santa, a craft for the kids, hayrides, and this year they even had train rides. The video is of the girls singing, notice how all the girls are holding their music to hide their faces, but mya gladly holds hers down and sings loudly for all the hear. SHE LOVES TO PERFORM!
Here are some pictures on the hayride...we almost didn't go because the group before us got drentched with a 2 minute downpour of rain. But it stopped we got on and enjoyed a dry ride. And Gerald didn't want me to take his picture, but I had to capture that everyone was there that night :)

During the month of december Mya also won a bike at school. I was so green with envy because I NEVER won anything like that when I was going to school. When she first told me about it I thought that it was going to be one of those things where everyone does the work and then they put all of your names in a hat and draw out one lucky person's name. NOPE!!! They had all the kids in the school set a reading goal, and then they tested them every month and once they made their goal they earned their bike. Everyone in the school was able to win a bike. They set up the time to pick up the bikes on the saturday before Christmas so that they could enjoy them through the christmas break. What an exciting thing for all the kids to be able to do. The second picture is Mya and her best friend Anoi....they are BFF'S and do everything together. If they haven't seen each other in 2 days they are going through withdrawls. Good thing they are in the same class this year!

WARD CHRISTMAS PARTY!

The ward christmas party was a lot of fun. They had snacks and a real hot chocolate bar....yummmmm! We made christmas cards for the wounded soldiers and there was entertainment. Mya and I sang a duet of Mary's Lulliby from the children's song book. We were going to sing the round during the chorus and practiced it like that but something happend during the actual performance :) It was fun to be able to sing with Mya. What a great thing to be able to do as a mother and daughter. I am so thankful for the opportunities that we had to practice together and the fun that we had.

I didn't get any pictures of Mya and Keegan with santa clause this year. They were too fast and were gone by the time that I made it to the stage. Don't worry....the moment was still captured by our proffessional photographer in the ward (Ursula Williams) I just didn't get it on my camera. But I had to capture Jacob's "JOY" of sitting on Santa's lap.....

Waiting in line...doesn't know what is going on but still happy about whatever it is....

Screaming....why are you making me sit on this scary mans lap????

I think everyone has to have the 1-2 year old screaming like they are going to die picture on sata's lap! PRICELESS!!!!

CHRISTMAS

Christmas was great to be able to enjoy this year. Mya and Keegan are at such fun stages! To them I am sure that the month of december was never going to end! At school they were writing letters to santa clause, and because santa was so busy only the elves were able to write them back (which I am pretty sure were high school students writing as elves for an english project) but still really exciting for both of my kids to hear back from anyone from the north pole! There were projects to decorate ornaments and polor express day where they were able to wear their pajama's to school and watch the polar express. Keegan's teacher even gave them all whistles and let them blow them every time the whistle blew in the movie!

When I was little during the month of december we would read a scripture, sing a christmas song and read a christmas story for the 24 days of Christmas. Kind of a miniture devotional every night. It was something that I will always associate with the month of december. About 4 years ago my mom bought me a 24 days of christmas book with the devotionals in them for each day and this year I pulled it out and started doing it with the kids. Some of the stories were really good for my kids to hear. It got them thinking about things that they could do and how they could serve others. One of the stories that we read was about a little boy that got up early to get all the milking done so that his father could enjoy the christmas morning and watch the kids open up their gifts. The father said that it was the best gift that he ever recieved. We had talked to the kids about how christmas morning we were going to wake up and get ready to go to church and that we would wait to open up presents until after dad got home. I went to go and wake them up to get them ready and Mya had made her bed and gotten dressed already. She said she wanted to be like the little boy in the story....talk about tears....she has a heart of gold sometimes! Then she helped me get her brother's ready so that we wouldn't be late for church.

On Christmas eve we have started a tradition where the missionaries come over and we have a big meal. This year we also had some really good friends of our join us. It was fun being able to make chicken, ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, green salad, green bean casserole, and macaroni and cheese. And it was fun to have the house full of people! Sometimes around the holidays it gets kind of lonely for me because I am used to big families....so it didn't seem so lonely this year....it was great!

Mya wanted an I-Pad for christmas, but there was no way I could justify getting a 7 year old a $600 gift! She was so persistant....even after we told her that santa was poor this year and that he doesn't give expensive electronics. She would say things like she would be just as happy if she got the happy feet 2 movie and that it wasn't as expensive....but then she would secretly say I really wish that santa could get me the i-pad. Luckily she is 7...and doesn't know the difference between brands! Her reaction is priceless!!!!!! And Keegan at the end of the movie....after watching mya open up the gift that she really really wanted....bless is heart....still mustered up a smile when he opened up clothes. It was a great christmas, and we were extremely blessed this year.

Christmas Tree

2011-11-25T21:31:00.003-06:00

Thanksgiving was wonderful, we have so much to be thankful for as a family. I have been blessed with the most amazing family, Gerald has a good job (and in this economy thats a huge thing to be thankful for), we have a beautiful home and the gospel. I really couldn't ask for anything more! We were so blessed to be invited to a friends house for Thanksgiving dinner and the food was amazing! It was also nice to be able to spend the day with the missionaries as well, they bring a peaceful spirit with them that is so refreshing to be around.

So now it's time to start thinking about Christmas.....yikes, this time of year comes so fast.
Mya and Keegan are sooooooo excited.

We pulled out the decorations because today was going to be one of the few days left where everyone is going to be home to help. We have a famous WHITE christmas tree and this year when I pulled it out of the box this is what I found......

I don't know what happend. We have had this tree for three years and I have never had this problem. I believe the tree soaked up the brown from the box that it was being stored in. It looked horrible! Because I am a cheap skate, I wanted to salvage it.

I braved black friday at noon when all the crazies were in bed sleeping and went over to Walmart to get five cans of spray paint.

And then the kids helped to put all the balls on it. Look at all the joy and excitement in his smile!

It took me about 2 hours to put tape on the lights so that they wouldn't be spray painted, and then it took me about another 2 hours to take all the tape off. It would have been really easy to go and buy another Christmas tree, but I think that it turned out great. Don't get me wrong, I definately don't want to do this project again next year, I am going to be investing in a GREEN christmas tree when they are all on sale AFTER Christmas :) But this year, we will still be enjoying our non-traditional one, thanks to a couple cans of paint!

A Family Theme

2011-11-18T22:41:00.004-06:00

I have been trying to tackle this project for some time now.....I have a big blank wall that has been staring at me since we moved into the house three and a half years ago. I have always known that I wanted to fill it will the theme...so to speak...of our family. I just couldn't ever find the perfect thought/idea that fits our family. Then it came to me..... (and this theme is not just because of my husband's calling as bishop!)

AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD

Now, I'm sure some of you are saying.....that's really simple....and so easy to do. But the more that I thought about it the more it seemed like such a good theme for our family.

Be patient with me as I try and explain..... I was never scared of storms until I came down here and experienced just how strong a wind storm could be. Powerful Hurricains can take down large trees and destroy homes. Water is not stopped by front door and can easily take individuals off gaurd. When those powerful storms or rain start to come I cannot calm down until every individual of our family is home from school or work....it's hard to describe the feelings I experience as our family is gathered home, and the storm continues to rage outside....and I love it! Everyone is safe; we are all together. Sometimes it seems like that is how it should be all the time, my family together and gathered around me, protected, and shut off from the storm that is outside.

Now, I'm sure your thinking where is she going with this? Bear with me....I'm about to make my point......

Perhaps you (like me) have thought how it would be so much easier to withdraw and isolate ourselves from the "storms" of life that we experience all the time. There are many tactics that Satan uses to destroy our homes and families. If Satan can weaken our relationships as family members, he can cause more misery and unhappiness then he could in any other way. This is where I found the "theme" of our family to be "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." My faith and testimony has been strengthened when I go out of my way to share the gospel with a neighbor that doesn't know anything about what we believe. Or when I have my children make a sacrafice to attend family home evening instead of girl scouts, or when Gerald and I take the time to schedule a trip to the temple. I have felt really strongly lately that making those little sacrafices and choices strengthens our family and home. I hope my children will be able to see the importance of serving the Lord like I have!

So now the project.....

Pull out a frame and a can of paint so that it goes with the rest of the decor in the house.

An obstical....pulling the picture out of the frame resulted in a tear in one of my favorite pictures from our wedding day....Thank heavens it was one of my favorites and we had a couple copies of it!

The final product!

Our Little Cheerleader and Dancer

2011-10-08T19:55:00.006-06:00

It's Friday Night....and in Texas....That means FOOTBALL!

And for this Friday....Mya was the cheerleader and performer.

For a fundraiser the high school cheerleaders have a mini camp for a week for the rest of the school aged girls in Crosby and then they get to cheer at the football game on Friday. Mya was so excited and kept asking me when cheerleading camp was because she had done it last year. I kept looking for a paper to be sent home from school but we never got one. I asked my friend if she knew what was going on. She called her "resources" and found out that they had forgotten the new school that Mya was at. There was no way that Mya was going to let me out of this one. My solution was to carpool her from school over to another school every day for practice. Then I found a better solution and made sure that Mya's best friend got involved so that her mom could car pool them everyday. Both of the girls had a blast!!!!

Here are the BEST FRIENDS....Anoi and Mya getting ready to go out on the field.

And for this lucky girl...she was also able to participate in the Crosby Star dance fundraiser also!

But that smile makes it all worthwhile....she was one happy girl!

So....I'm sure your all wondering if we won or not?????

Of course we won!

Sample's Of The Night!

CHEERLEADING...

DANCING.......

TALENT SHOW!!!!

2011-09-17T11:59:00.007-06:00

Before the festivities the baking had to be done....my favorite is peanut butter cookies. It was fun trying to bake cookies while 4 children under the age of 3 were in my care. At one point Xandria put her had in the five gallon bucket of suger and Colton yelled, "Megan, she's eating it!"

Now to the talent show....Mya was sooooooooo excited about the talent show. When she learned about it three weeks ago she knew exactly what she wanted to do. SING!!! So she pulled out the kareoke machine every day after school to "practice."

Before the show began she found out that she would be the second act, and she turned to me stating that she was scared, but that she was going to be brave. She was thrilled when the audience joined in by waving their hands during her performance.

Dad and the boys watching the acts....jake looks thrilled :)

The final performance....the chinese dragon!

In between acts they had minute to win it performances. They had to watch their blue print and see if they could do it in less then a minute. This was the performance of current bishop vs previous bishop.....go babe go!

It was so much fun to be able to see everyone's talents...our ward has so many! The final movie is of a father and his two sons in a band. It took them about an hour to set up and an hour to take it all down, but it was fun to see what they like to do in their spare time!

Vacation

2011-08-21T20:33:00.004-06:00

So, I know that its been almost a month since we took our trip to Idaho. Im slow!

First off....epic fail! My mom allowed me to have a big bbq in the backyard and invite whoever I wanted. We mowed the lawn, set up the volleyball net, gazebo, and bbq pit and made several yummy salads and watched as John Monson and dad grilled hot dogs and hamburgers on two seperate bbq's. Friends and family came and it was sooooo much fun to see everyone and all their mini's (kids). But here is the failure...I didn't document it with a camera!

You can't visit east idaho without stopping here...Eating Rupes Ice Cream!!!!! The rootbeer swirl cones of course!

One of the worst parts about living so far away is not being able to see the grandparents (or from my kids perspective...great grandparents)

Grandma Chandler

Grandma and Grandpa Womack
I have a special relationship with my grandma and miss her sooooo much!

When we were talking about going to Idaho, the only thing that mya and keegan wanted to do was go fishing! We headed up to brush creek and dropped down into paradise where both my and keegan caught 20 fish in 2 days. Between Kyle, Chad, Mya and Keegan we had over 100 fish in 2 days....talk about paradise!

When I was growing up dad would bail the hay and we didn't have a fancy tracter to haul it so we would come home from school and get basic low boy trailer on the back of a pick up truck and stack them by hand (each bail weighing 40-60 lbs each) and then we had to drive them over and stack them for the winter. It's not that big of a field until you get out there hauling hay.

This visit, there was a neighbor with a tractor and Mya and Keegan found it fascinating!

Watching the pivot move is a lot like watching paint dry. It's so slow!

Grandma with Charlie (my brother Chad's little boy) and Jacob

We went to Micheals and found some crafts one day. This is mom and Mya stringing together necklaces.

And cute Jacob sitting on the front porch

It was great to be able to go home.

Its a Boa Constrictor

2011-07-12T20:56:00.004-06:00

It was snake day at the library!

At the begining of the presentation he started out with tiny snakes....one that was a month old and they just kept getting bigger and bigger. Keegan was interested until about half way through and then he stopped touching them and didn't want the presentor to come close. Mya and Keelee were brave!

....and that boa constrictor was REALLY HEAVY!

Mya's is Seven!

2011-07-06T22:01:00.003-06:00

For her birthday this year Mya wanted a real party. She wanted a sleepover with friends, cupcakes, and ice cream. I am sooooo thankful that she is easy to please! On Saturday before her birthday she went to chuck-e-cheeses. This is turining into a love birthday tradition! We saved the sleepover for the tuesday after her birthday because Monday was the fourth and everyone had family plans. She invited three friends over and we played musical chairs, spin the bottle, and had a scavenger hunt. The girls were able to decorate cupcakes and eat them and then we watched Tangled. The girls stayed up until 11 and were up at 6:45 the next morning so I felt like I had a birthday hangover afterwords. Mya declared that it was the best birthday ever! We are sooooo greatful to have Mya in our lives. Happy Birthday!!!!!

Jake's First Haircut!!!

2011-07-06T21:49:00.004-06:00

It was time to say goodbye to the curls....... I hope they grow back, because he looks so much older without them.

Dad tried handed him the clippers as an attempt to make him comfortable. He loved it!

Now he is ready for a bath!

Playing at the Spray Park

2011-06-13T13:22:00.002-06:00

Graduation from Daisy Scout to Brownie

2011-06-12T21:41:00.003-06:00

Mya graduated from being a Daisy Scout to a Brownie this last week. This is her second year participating in Girl Scouts and she absolutly loves it!!!!! She has learned about different cultures, about the world around her, and how to treat others. She has the best leaders this year. Here are some pictures and a couple of video's from the ceremony.

Almost Summer!

2011-05-25T19:42:00.006-06:00

I can only use Gerald's calling as the Bishop as an excuse as to why I am to busy to update the blog for so long....Things have slowed down considerably since I graduated and school will be out for the summer in five short days! I feel like I have climbed Mount Everest at this point! It has been a CrAZy year!

Let's start with the youngest....Jake turned one on April 6th. He keeps me really busy with all his energy. He wants to be right there with all the other kids and thinks that it is unfair that he has to be inside when the other kids are outside. I honestly can't believe that a year has already gone by. The older I get the faster that time fly's :)

Keegan is sooo excited to start kindergarten. This is all that I have heard about for the past three months and will continue to probably hear about for the next two and a half until it starts. Meanwhile he will continue to give me a heart attack with how active he is. Yesterday he was playing in the toy room when he fell and split open his head (just like his mother that did it three times when I was a kid). I feel like I stayed really calm even though there was blood everywhere. Boys will be boys right?

Mya understands the value of summer vacation this year. She was not happy to see kindergarten come to an end and didn't really understand why people NEEDED a summer vacation, but after this year she is looking forward to sleeping in and relaxing. She talks about all the time that we are going to spend at the library.

I can't make any promises, but I really hope that it isn't three more months until I update the blog again. I am hoping that this summer is going to have lots of "Bloggable" memories for us.

Happy Birthday!!!

2011-02-27T19:32:00.004-06:00

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11, (How many do we need?) 12,13,14,15,16,17,(this sure is a lot of candles)18,19,20,21 22,23,24,25,26,27,28 (are we there yet?) 29,30 (I don't know if they are all going to fit) 31,32,33............

It has been so fun to see the kids excitement over Dad's birthday. On the way to church Mya and Keegan were asking what we were going to do for Dad's birthday. I told them that it was going to be a suprise (mainly because I didn't want them rushing in to tell Gerald what we were going to do). They found him before sacrament started and with a big smile on their face and an enthusiastic tone belted out "happy birthday!" After church, they helped me make the cake. Keegan was in charge of the water and oil. I measured them and he dumped it into the bowl, and then he got to spray the cookie sheet with oil. I thought Mya would be old enough to operate the hand mixer but strawberry cakemix was on the floor and counter (fun times! Thanks Betty Crocker....you made all of our jobs easier!)

After the cake was in the oven they helped we wrap his gift, something that he had been asking for for a long time now......speakers for his I-phone. Then the hard part.....they had to wait for Gerald to get home. When they heard the door go up on the garage they ran downstairs to hide behind the bar to pop up and shout, "happy birthday!"

We love you Babe!!!!! Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!

Learning New Things!

2011-02-22T22:07:00.005-06:00

Jake, trying to figure out why mom pulled out the camera.

What is wrong with this picture? I don't know if I should say that it is because he is smart or something else. He concentrated so hard to write his name BACKWORDS!!!

To save face, I wanted to make sure that you all knew that I have taught him how to write it the right way! Preschool has been so much fun with Keegan, Keegan and Joely. There favorite is singing songs about ducks and frogs while counting numbers. Keegan can almost count all the way to 100 by himself, but reading is another obstical that we have to overcome.

Jacob is walking! This just means more work for me because he can get into everything. He picked up on it really fast though. He has been walking around the furniture for awhile now but wasn't really brave enough to venture out out on his own. Over the weekend he started taking a couple of steps on his own. Yesterday he started standing up in the middle of the room by himself and now he takes four or five steps before he goes back to his bear crawl. It always amazes me how fast they pick things up. He really wants to be like the big kids.

This is a fun video of Mya and Keegan trying to get Jacob to make funny faces. He really has the cutest things that he has learned how to do lately. He has a fish face that makes everyone laugh when he does it. He also scrunches up his nose and smacks his lips. I love it when their personalities come out! It has been so fun to see how different he is compared to Mya and Keegan. He loves to make people laugh and will continue doing something as long as someone is laughing at him. He is such a joy to have in our family!!!!

Merry Christmas...Happy New Year!

2011-01-04T21:08:00.002-06:00

Mya and Keegan Trying on Great Grandma Love's Fancy Hats.

Christmas Break was a blast! We packed the car and headed to the colder weather. It was a 20 hour trip to Milwaukee and a 20 hour trip home. On the way there we drove through the night. The kids watched movies and slept most of the time. It made for an easy commute. I can say that because Gerald drove most of it. I took the last five hours :) The kids were excited to see snow, but even though Gerald and I grew up in the cold, we had forgotten how cold it REALLY gets. I think thats because we are a little spoiled down here with our mild winters. Everyone was concerned about all of us getting sick that they rounded up coats for all of us. It was great to see everyone again. It had been about two and a half years since we had been back to Milwaukee. The best part about visiting family in Milwaukee are all the good cooks that are in the family. Everywhere we went there was something good cooking. My favorite was the fish fry on Christmas Eve. I think that I gained five pounds in the week that we were there. On the way home we stopped for the night just outside of Memphis Tenn. The next day seemed like it was taking forever to get home. I thought that the kids did really well traveling that far. Jacob was kind of rebelling on the last night of the trip and he was definatly greatful to get rid of the big coat that we kept putting on him. He did not like it at all. Someone had to distract him while someone else put it on him or he would start to cry. Another bonus of living in a place where we just need a light jacket once in a while.

I think that 2011 is going to be a good year for the Love's. One of the things that I am looking forward to is graduating from college with my bachelors. Another thing to look forward to in the year 2011 is Keegan starting kindergarten. I will feel like I have a lot of free time when I only have one at home. What am I going to do with myself when I don't have school or three kids at home......(I'm sure I will find something :) Anyway, we hope that your holidays were as good as ours.

Santa and the Community Center

2010-12-10T22:55:00.005-06:00

We have lived here for three years and I always hear how great the community center festivities are, but we have never made it over there. This year, we broke our mister scrooge mentality and went one street over to see what it was all about. They had a santa ornament craft, a hay ride, caroling, hot chocolate, cookies, and pictures with santa. All for a price that I like....FREE. Who says you can't find entertainment for a good price? The kids really did have a lot of fun. I am glad that I was talked into going. Jacob stayed home with Gerald, because he was GRUMPY. But the rest of us had fun.

"The Hay Ride"

"The Hot Chocolate After the Warmest Hay Ride I Have Ever Been On"

"The Craft"

"The Carolers"

"The Texas Christmas Tree"

"The Closest My Kids Will Get To Snow Here in Houston"

"The GIANT Snowman"

"The Singing Snowman"

Ho Ho Ho
Merry Christmas!

The Joys of the Holiday Season

2010-11-28T21:04:00.004-06:00

My kids remind me everyday what December is all about. I try to keep it focused on Christ as much as I can, but the television is corrupting my children with all the toys and must haves for Christmas. I have had many talks about why we have Christmas and the real reason that we celebrate. It is so fun to have children that are this age.

I find myself getting excited because my children are excited. Growing up my mother was the same way. As we got older and sleep became more important then christmas gifts at 2 o'clock in the morning, I was awakened by my mother because she couldn't wait for the sun to come up to open up gifts. Such a great memory of my childhood!

I know that it isn't all about the gifts, but I love to be able to be on the other end of giving my children presents. There is something that makes me so happy to see their smiles and excitement on Christmas morning. I can't wait until December 25th!

Just a funny thing that Mya said to me the other day that I would like to share..... While watching a christmas show on television this week she turned to me and asked, "Mom, if I am closing my eyes, but not really asleep, do you think that Santa will still come?"

New Camera

2010-11-16T12:36:00.003-06:00

The old camera finally became unoperable. It has served us well for the last 5 years. Sadly....it was dropped to many times. The battery had to be taped closed, and the screen went out about a month ago. I couldn't see what pictures I was taking until I went home and looked at them on the computer.

I have had the camera a day and I think that I am going to be taking a lot more pictures. Feels good to have something that actually works!

Today we went to the park and it was freezing (I know that all of you up north have no sympathy) so we went over to the library and let the kids play in the kid area. Jacob loved the big bear and was so cute that I couldn't resist taking a picture. He is getting so big! He is crawling all over the place and we call him a mountain goat. He wants to be on top of everything. This is him trying to tackle the bear......

Mya Won Principal's Pride

2010-11-04T12:10:00.003-06:00

There was an assembly today for principal's pride. The kids have to try really hard to win it. They have an award ceremony every six weeks to honor the kids. Mya got an award for outstanding academic performance in reading. She was so excited!

Halloween

2010-10-31T17:35:00.003-06:00

Happy Halloween!

Yes, we have a third child....but Jacob didn't make it to the ward party. He stayed at home with dad.

Mya's Cheer Debut

2010-10-18T07:49:00.000-06:00

Family Pictures

2010-10-13T20:56:00.006-06:00

Where or Where does my time go?

2010-09-20T22:45:00.004-06:00

Has it really been a month since I have posted? I feel like a whirl wind has hit our home and everyday blurs into the next. It is almost midnight and I am just finishing up homework and it is pretty much the only time that the house is quiet all day so I thought that I would update everyone on what is going on.

Mya loves first grade! She is so eager to learn new things and she always comes off of the bus ready to tell me what her favorite thing that she learned was. She is our little reader. She will ask us if she can go up to her room and read books. She was so excited about the scholastic book orders (because they didn't get those in kindergarten). She came home with the order and just about every book was circled. She told me that she only circled the ones that she was really interested in reading.

Keegan can write his name. We have been practicing lower and upper case letters and how to write his name the right way because that was something that I overlooked with Mya. He can count to 20 and we are trying to be able to get to 100 but that won't be for awhile. His favorite show is Chuggington. Anything with trains will get his attention. He begged for weeks to go to walmart so that he could get another battery for his electric train. It's sad that I couldn't find just one double A battery, but I went a got the economy pack so that it won't happen for a long time.

Jacob is great. I don't want to jinx myself, but he has been sleeping all night for the last three nights. It is great to be able to have 7 hours of sleep again. I think that I was a walking zombie at one point. He can roll from back to front and front to back, he kind of does the inch worm thing. His favorite toy is the saucer right now because he figured out that it spins and jumps. He is always on the go. He is also one of the happiest babies ever. He will smile at just about anything and anyone.

I have been super busy watching kids during the day and going to school in the evenings... and long into the night on some occassions. During the day I watch three other kids and Jacob and Keegan. Five kids under five never leaves for a dull moment. I find myself laughing at least one time a day about something that they say or do. Some days are better then others, but I wouldn't have any other job right now. I love being able to stay at home with Keegan and Jacob. I am taking four classes right now. Communications 350 and 450, Business 321, and Family 160. Hopefully by the end of the semester I will know how to communicate. It was really rough the first week because BYU-Idaho was upgrading their system and I couldn't access anything that I needed to. I am determined to graduate in April so if my next post is a month from now you will know why.... and hopefully understand.

Not to forget about the most important person in the family.... Gerald is doing good too. He is super busy with school. This is his going to be his fourth year at Northshore. And I personally can't believe that we have been in Houston that long. Some days it seems like we just left Idaho. He really identifies with the students and likes who he works with.

Random picture of Keegan at the splash park with all his friends. Pictured is Cori, Keegan, Keegan and Joely.
*These pictures I stole from Kareena off of facebook because my camera is out of commission for awhile and my mom was begging for some updated pictures. Thanks Kareena!

School

2010-08-23T20:25:00.004-06:00

Back to getting up early, packing lunches and riding the bus. Mya is a big first grader now! She was convinced that she was getting up earlier this year then it was last year (it was the exact same time). The exciting thing this year is that Mya and Aiden (one of the boys that I watch) get to ride the same bus and they are going to sit by each other everyday because they are best friends. The one thing that she was adiment on wearing on her first day of school was her new twinkle toe sketcher shoes. They blink.....and their beautiful she tells me.

She had a great day today. The best part was the new playground. "It's lots bigger and better." I was informed. She said that her teacher Ms. Simon is super nice (but aren't all teacher's super nice on the first day.) A couple of her friends had to move their clothespins because they weren't following the rules, but Mya told me that she wasn't ever going to move her clothespin this year because she wants a prize from the prizebox. I can't believe that she is in first grade already!

Summer.....

2010-08-09T20:44:00.002-06:00

As summer is coming to an end I just thought that I would update what we have been up to.

This is a picture of Jacob right before his first outing to the swimming pool. As you can see he has learned a new trick.... spitting! And he is really good at it too! He loved the pool. He sat back in his little floating device and soaked up the sun.

The last activity at the library this summer was with dominoes pizza. It was really cool to see the "professionals" hand toss the pizza dough. The had activities for the kids.....hula hooping pizza dough, jump roping with pizza dough, and letting the kids try hand tossing it. The best part was when the brought in hot pizza to eat!

Glasses

2010-07-28T14:43:00.003-06:00

During parent/teacher conferences last year, Mya's teacher informed us that we should get Mya's eye's checked. Mya was complaining that she couldn't see the things on the board and so her teacher moved her to the front of the class. Gerald took her to the eye doctor and sure enough she can't see.

She picked them out herself. And whe you ask her what color they are she will tell you that they are purple and pink. The thing that sold her on that particular frame was the hearts on the side. Can you blame her?

Mya went to the community center with a friend today. She was the lucky one that won the door prize. Imagine how excited she was when it was a box full of princess stuff. It as a fun activity with ice cream sundays that they got to make themselves, door prizes, and fun. I am so thankful to live in the small town of Crosby where they have lots of fun things for the kids to do during the summer.

Summer Library

2010-07-22T11:07:00.006-06:00

I have learned a lot at the library this summer. Such an educational experience in little Crosby. Today there was a presentation with animal naturalists. They had a dove that the kids were able to pet and I learned that a dove can turn it's head all the way around because it has twice as many bones as we do. I also learned that when our parents told us not to pick up a baby bird because then our scent would be left and the mamma wouldn't want anything to do with it was a false statement. I guess that parents don't know everything. Most birds don't have a great sence of smell and won't even notice. So when you see a baby bird that has fallen from it's nest, go and put him back!

There was also an emperor scorpion there and I learned that when we think that it is black the rest of the scorpions see themselves as green. When you hold it under a black light it turns green.

The coolest animal was the flying squirrel. One person held him and the other person held up a small bag and the squirrel jumped from the person into the bag.

I was a little nervous when they pulled out the Red milk snake. Mya wouldn't go anywhere near it, but Keegan was brave. Some milk snakes look like coral snakes so that they can scare away possible predators. They gave us a saying so that we could tell them apart. "Red next to black is a friend of Jack; Red next to yellow will kill a fellow."

Jacob

2010-07-09T13:41:00.003-06:00

Here is a cute video of Jacob playing on his floor matt. Mom has been bugging me about new pictures of Jacob. I thought that she would enjoy this a little more.

Here is a little clip of Jacob playing in his johnny jumper.

What's Going On....

2010-07-08T17:06:00.002-06:00

We have been REALLY lazy this summer. Spending lots of time reading books, watching movies, and sleeping in. We will probably continue to do this for one more month until reality hits again.
Mya turned 6 on July 3rd. She was happy to have a friend from school come and spend the night with her. They didn't go to bed until 10 which is late for my kids because bedtime is 7 during school. I was unhappy when they both decided to be up at 6:30 the next morning. The next day we went to the fourth of july parade that they had here in Crosby. I have become a fan of the parades because they are short and there aren't typically a lot of people that come out so the kids get lots of candy and I don't have to fight traffic. Keegan's favorite of course is the police cars and the fire truck. Mya said that she liked the boyscouts. I am hoping that it is because she knows some of the boyscouts and not because she is boy crazy. She is super excited to be going into first grade when school starts in August. I can't believe how big she is getting already.
Hope that all the rest of you are enjoying you summer too.

Summer Begins

2010-06-16T20:04:00.008-06:00

To begin the month Grandma and Grandpa Womack came for a visit!!!! Mya and Keegan were so excited to finally see them in person instead of just on the computer or over the phone. It was one fun filled week that went by really fast. On thursday Mya was so torn on if she wanted to go to the last day of school because grandma and grandpa were here. We promised that we wouldn't do anything fun without her if she wanted to go and tell everyone good-bye. On friday we went to the Port of Houston Boat Tour. It was awesome! Lots of things go on in the Port of Houston that I didn't know about. My favorite was seeing the big navy ships that were docked.

Saturday we celebrated Keegan's birthday. He is convinced that the only place he can celebrate his birthday is at chuck-e-cheeses. He turned four this year. I can't believe how old he is. Next year I am going to be crying (celebrating) that he gets to go to kindergarten.

On Sunday we blessed Jacob. I can't believe how big he is getting. At his two month doctor appointment he was 14 lbs and 24 inches long. He is a BIG boy! The doctor kept saying that he was a healthy and happy little boy. I was impressed when they gave him his shots and he didn't cry. He put out a fat lip, but it never developed into tears. I went in this morning to get him out of his crib and he had rolled over all by himself for the first time. I bent down and started to talk to him about the new trick that he had learned, and he started to laugh at me for the first time. I can't believe how big he seems to me already.

Before Grandma and Grandpa left we took a trip to Galveston. It was really cloudy and rainy, but on the up side it was cooler weather. We didn't spend much time on the beach because of the rain, but that is when memories are created... when things don't go just as you plan.

All About Mya

2010-05-27T14:40:00.003-06:00

School gets out on the 3rd of June, but yesterday was Kindergarten graduation. It took everything I had to hold back the tears because I can't believe how fast this year has gone by. Mya had the best kindergarten teacher. Her name is Mrs Taylor. She did so much for Mya to make her feel special. I was impressed that she collected photos throughout the year and made a photo album for each of her students. She did little things like that all year long that really showed that she cared about each of her students.

Here is the video of the kids singing graduation day. We were sitting in the back, but hopefully you can still hear them singing even though the picture isn't that great.

I am sure that you noticed that Mya lost her front tooth. She lost it on the bus on her way to school. When she got to the school she went to the nurses office and got a tooth necklace to keep it in. Throughout the day she lost the tooth and couldn't find it. She came home upset, but with a solution already planned. She told me that she wrote the toothfairy a letter. Here is what it said...."Dear fare I lost my tooth to Day on the Bus Nurse Caren put in a nucles. it fell out will you ples find it...ples lev a Tret For Me Thac You Your Best Fred Mya Love." She put the note under her pillow. The tooth Fairy wrote her back and gave her some money to buy a treat with.

Testimony

2010-05-03T19:56:00.005-06:00

Brothers and sisters, God always provides safety for the soul, and with the Book of Mormon, He has again done that in our time. Remember the declaration by Jesus Himself. "Whoso treasureth up my word, shall not be decieved." - and in the last days neither your heart nor your faith will fail you. (Jeffrey R Holland, "Safety for the Soul," Ensign, Nov 2009)

I had a former semenary student come to me and tell me that he was struggling with his testimony. It has been really hard for me because I have watched him grow and develop over the last two years. His doubts have caused me to reflect on my own testimony and the knowledge that I have of the gospel and what I believe to be true. I know that the Book of Mormon is another testiment of Jesus Christ. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God that restored the true church back on the earth. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God and that we will be guided and blessed when we follow his counsel. I have a testimony of prayer and that Heavenly Father knows us and our needs and that we will be blessed when we communicate with him and foster that relationship. This church is true!

Jacob Vance Love

2010-04-11T18:53:00.003-06:00

He is finally here! I was supposed to be induced on April 1st, but the hospital was busy and since my induction was elective we got bumped. It meant that I got to enjoy a wonderful stake conference and easter weekend. We called on Monday and the doctor was out of the offices and nobody was able to help us. I called again on Tuesday and they said that if we came in right now they would be able to get us in. I called Gerald at school and he got other teachers to cover his classes and we went right in. The on call doctor then proceded to say that she might not be able to get us in and started asking me questions about why I wanted to be induced, and how long my last labor was. (Just to let you know, I was not going to leave that hospital without being induced that day!) She decided that she would be able to take us after all, but told me that I would not have to worry about having another ten pound baby, because this one just wasn't ten pounds. She then broke my water and I was given pitocin. Four hours later Jacob was born. He was 10 lbs 4 oz and 20 inches long. He was very calm and content and very brused. He just wanted to sleep the first six hours and nobody could even wake him up to eat. Gerald stayed the night with us the first night in the hospital. It was fantastic to have his help because I had such a strong epidural that I couldn't even get out of bed until 5 hours after delivery.

Mya and Keegan are still getting adjusted to having another sibling. A couple of days after he was born, Mya was asking if we could change his name. I guess there are some Jacob's at school that she is not to fond of. If anyone asks if they can take Jacob she will gladly give up Keegan as a trade, but they can't take Jacob for now. Keegan just wants to hold him all the time. He is always asking when it is his turn.

We are glad to have him here. It is so great to have friends around that have helped us tremendously this last week. There have been so many people that have went above and beyond their call. We have had lots of support with people bringing in meals and lots of people that have volunteered to take the kids, having them spend the night at their house and getting Mya ready for school the next day. I have truly felt blessed to be surrounded by such amazing people.

He Lives

2010-04-04T13:15:00.001-06:00

Excellent testimony from the Apostles about Christ. Serves as a great Easter message on this Easter Day!

Easter!!!!!

2010-03-30T19:08:00.010-06:00

On saturday we went to an Easter egg hunt. It was fabulous!!!! There was free Coney Island hot dogs with chili and cheese, chips, and juice boxes to eat. There was a live DJ. He was really corny...but the perfect personality for little kids to enjoy. To make it better for the kids he did a lot of interactive games with them to get them more involved. He had dance contests and scavenger hunts. There was also some face painting. It was a fun activity to take the kids to. So, for your viewing pleasure here is a video of the events.

Kareena Barnes Mullens March 29 at 7:07am

Today was the easter festivities at the local library. They have story time, and singing time and then they let the kids have an easter egg hunt. They are empty easter eggs that they turn in when they go back into the library in exchange for a goodie bag. This is something that we have done ever since we moved here to Crosby. It has become a great tradition.

Look at how fast he is.....

Baby Shower

2010-03-16T17:36:00.004-06:00

I have some amazing friends that went above and beyond with a baby shower for the baby. The cake was amazing, the fountain was awesome, and the edible decorations on the jello were fabulous. I can't believe all the work that they went into and I truly felt blessed that they would do it for me. I know that I am running out of time, but I just have a couple more things to do in order to get the baby's room together and then he can come. Thanks to everyone that made me feel special. You guys are awesome!

The Fountain and Some of the Food

The Jello Cups

The Cake

Busy, Busy, Busy.....

2010-03-02T18:26:00.005-06:00

Howdy Partner! Last friday was Go Texan day at Crosby Kindergarten. They had square dancing during motor lab and learned all about the history of Texas. The kids were able to dress up as cowboys and cowgirls. Mya was soooooo excited about the pink boots and the BEAUTIFUL skirt that she was able to ware.

We also celebrated Gerald's birthday on Friday. It was actually on Saturday, but we weren't able to do anything on that day so we moved it up. Quote from Gerald's facebook, "Had a great day....we actually celebrated my birthday yesterday. Went out to eat @ Iguana Joe's and afterwards saw our school put on a play: Annie (7 out of 10) if I had to rate it... Shout out to my lovely wife and friends and family for making a brother feel quite special this day."
We got him a couple of things for his birthday... here are a few pictures of him opening up his ties and cologne.

I have been busy trying to prepare for the new baby. I am starting to feel rushed and out of time. There is only 4 weeks left!!! This last weekend we decided to switch things around with the kids rooms. Keegan was in the front of the house next to the garage and right over our bathroom, so when Gerald was getting reading and after he pulled out of the garage Keegan would think that it was time to get up. We moved him to the back, dark corner of the house and it has really helped. We also moved Mya to a bigger room and she is now a princess and the pea on a queen size bed. Both were extremely excited to change rooms. It was a lot of work though. After changing some furniture around I made some curtains and hung them up. Here is a fuzzy before picture of Mya's room and and after picture. Unfortunatly, I didn't think to take a before picture of Keegan's room, but there is an after one.

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T18:09:00.008-06:00

We started off the Valentine's festivities at Kareena's house last wed. Keegan had so much fun decorating hats, playing bingo, exchanging valentines, and frosting cupcakes. It was FUN, FUN, FUN!!!! The mom's had a delicious meal with my personal favorite chicken salad. Everytime that Kareena wants to make something to eat, I always request the best chicken salad in the world and since I am pregnant she is happy to serve! I have to take advantage of it while I can :) To go with the chicken salad there was a really good broccoli and cheese soup YUM YUM YUM. Super great start to Valentine's!

Mya's teacher decided not to have an official valentine's day party, but they still exchanged valentine's. I don't think that the kids even thought that there was a difference. The had a cake walk during motor lab (gym) and Mya said that everyone got cookies even if they didn't win. This bag was filled with all kinds of goodies. From suckers to pixie sticks to candybars. Yea for sugar.

And now to the best husband in the world. On saturday Gerald came home from working at the the bank with the beautiful chocolate arrangement. He sure does know what his pregnant wife wants! The bottom of the vase was filled with miniture chocolate bars. Any girls dream! A great friend watched Mya and Keegan while we went out to dinner with another couple. We attempted to go to dinner at the cheesecake factory, but the wait was rediculous. I got a caramel pecan turtle cheesecake and Gerald got a strawberry shortcake to go. We ended up in China Town at a fantastic place with authentic Chinese food. It was FABULOUS! Such a great night to spend with my wonderful husband. I love you.

And here is Mya and Keegan all dressed up for church on Valentine's day. Mya said today that she had to call grandma and grandpa because today was the last valentine's day. Even though there is technically only one day that is valentine's since ours lasted four days she was kind of disappointed that today was the last one. So....... Happy Valentine's Everyone! Hope yours was as great as ours was.

Extra, Extra...Read All About It

2010-02-02T21:16:00.003-06:00

Mya is student of the week at school. When she came home on Friday she was so excited to be selected as student of the week. She was telling us that she gets to be the line leader. Something that she has aspired for since school has begun. I asked her what all else it entails and she let me know that we had to make a poster so that she could tell the class about herself and then it gets to be displayed in the library for a week. I am sure that you can't read it....

Favorite Food
Pizza
Pumpkin Pie
Peanuts

Favorite Things To Do
Ride My bike
Play with toys
Play with the Wii

She is one excited little girl. She talks about how she gets to pick from the teasure box and that the only job left that she hasn't been able to do is lights (where you get to turn the lights on and off when the class comes and goes in the classroom). Oh the joys of being 5 and the duties that are required of you at that age.

Ok.....I'm a slacker......

2010-01-29T17:16:00.005-06:00

I was informed by my mother this week that it's been awhile since I made a post to the blog. She finally joined the rest of us this week with a new computer and high speed internet access and she can now view things on the blog that she hasn't been able to do before. This is both good and bad...... I think that she is going to expect me to do a lot more updates.

I can't believe where January has went. It feels like we just had Christmas yesterday. Here are a couple of highlights that have happened this month........

Mya was so excited to start back to school after Christmas break. Everyday she would get up and the first question that she would ask me was if she was going to be able to go to school because Christmas break had too many days when she wasn't able to go to school. I started back to school in January too. I am really trying to finish up what I started. I graduated with my associates degree in December and the plan is to be able to graduate with my bachelor's in May of 2011.

I was released from my calling as semenary teacher this last week. It have a lot of mixed emotions about it. I am going to LOVE sleeping in for a whole extra hour each day. I know that it is not something that I could be able to do after the baby is born, but I am sure going to miss studying the book of mormon each day and I am really going to miss the boys every morning. I told my replacement (a dear friend Kareena) that I would teach for a week so that she could have a little bit of a transition period and get her house in order. Today was my last day. I told myself that I was going to keep it together. I was fine until the last five minutes of class when we were doing scripture mastery and one of my senior boys let out a deep sigh. I asked him what was going on and he turned to me and said that he was just thinking about how he wasn't going to be coming here anymore. That did it.... my eyes feeled with tears pretty fast. I don't know why, it's not like I am not going to see them anymore, I will see them in church every week! He then continued to tell me that the last year and a half that I have been teaching semenary was the best semenary experience that he has had. I reassured them that Kareena was going to be just as good, and that she is going to be able to teach them more then I ever would have. How do teacher's do it? How can they put everything into their proffession just to let the kids go at the end of the year. I think that I would get too attached to some of the kids that I wouldn't want to see them go. Granted there are always those that don't leave soon enough ;) Overall, it has been a great experience and I look forward to seeing just how the Lord is going to mold me in my next calling.

Mya has become really creative. Everyday she comes home with a new project that she has done or that she wants to work on. This week she has been focusing on making cards. Today she came home with a valentines card that she had made in school telling me how much she loved me. She then sat down and made one for Gerald describing all of his good qualities that she likes about him. It's fun to see just how the mind of our five year old is develping. I am amazed at how much she has learned and continues to learn from school. Here are some pictures of the cards that she made.

Christmas Visitor

2009-12-29T20:24:00.002-06:00

My brother-in-law, Phillip, came and visited us for the Christmas break. He is stationed in North Pole Alaska but he will be doing some training over in San Antonio until March. Since he was unable to go home he came and spent a couple of days with us. He drove his Motorcycle over and got stuck in a lot of rain. A three hour trip turned into a seven hour one. I felt so bad for him because he was wet and covered with dirt from head to toe when he fianlly made it to Crosby. Keegan and Mya were super excited about the motorcycle though. They dressed up in all of his motorcycle gear and Phillip let them go out and sit on it and both of them were laughing histerically. The thing that he will be most remembered for in our house is his homemade chicken noodle soup. It was fantastic and I didn't even have to do anything because he just took over the kitchen.
The other visitor of course was Santa Clause himself. The kids spent the 24th baking christmas cookies for him and then they frosted them all by themselves. (I am still sweeping up sprinkles). The Missionaries came over that evening and we had a big dinner (ham, potatoes, rolls, salad and green beans). We watched Mr. Krooger's Christmas and had hot chocolate and cookies. Mya told me before she went to bed that it was going to be really hard to go to sleep because she was so excited. We got up at 7:00 and they were able to open up gifts. Keegan's favorite was the remote control car and Mya's was the barbie doll that she had been asking since the beginning of December both of them sent by Grandma.

Merry Christmas!!!!!

Christmas Vacation Has Finally Begun....

2009-12-19T21:35:00.005-06:00

It felt like it was never going to get here. I think that I look forward to the time off more then the visit from Santa Clause. It is amazing how your perspective changes the older you get. I am looking forward to first and most importanantly... SLEEPING IN. It is going to be great to have Gerald home more and spending time as a family.

Friday was a half a day of school for everyone. We started the day off with Mya in the bathroom with an upset stomach. (great way to start the vacation) When I told her that she wouldn't be able to go to school she was devistated. She told me that everyone was going to be having fun without her because they would not be learning anything.... it was a fun day. Today she was telling me how much she was missing her teacher Mrs. Taylor and how her teacher was probably disappointed that she wasn't there yesterday. It might be a long vacation for our little five year old.

Today we had our ward Christmas party. Last year we had an issue with Keegan not wanting to go anywhere near the big man in the red suit. I had to settle for a picture of him next to the Christmas tree. This year he waited patiently in line with all the other kids, ran up to him and sat on his lap telling him that he wanted a "lighting mcqueen" car under the tree Christmas morning. I think that he has figured out how it all works now. After visiting with Santa Clause the kids were able to decorate cookies and santa clause hats. It was lots of fun!

It's a ...........

2009-12-16T19:36:00.003-06:00

Last week we were scheduled for an ultrasound to find out what we were having. Gerald got off work early. Jessica came and got her kids early and a really good friend Kareena volunteered to watch Mya and Keegan so that we could go to the appointment. We ended up being late for the appointment and they could not get us into the ultrasound. To say that everyone was disappointed was an understatement. Well we went home and waited it out for one more week. Today we did it all over again and this time we were on time just to wait 35 minutes in the lobby. Don't you love that they expect you to be on time to your appointment but if they are running late then it is okay? So the long awaited new is that it is a.........

BOY!!!!Now is the hard work to come to an agreement with the name. It is a good thing that we have 16 more weeks to figure that out.

Feet

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2009-12-04T21:28:00.004-06:00

They said that the snow scrappers were sold out in the stores by 8:00 this morning and that there was a mad rush to the store to buy warmer winter coats. The news reported it as a historic event. Two years in a row with snow and this is the earliest that they have seen it snow here in Houston since they started keeping records back in 1870. It snowed most of the day, with 1-2 inches predicted, only a few specs actually stuck. The cold front came in and with freezing temperatures there might actually be some slick roads out tonight, but I am not going to venture out to see if it is actually true. There are just too many people down here that don't know how to drive in these conditions. Schools were released early today. Mya has been asking when we were going to see snow and when I told her that there was an actual chance that it might happen today she was elated. Today I was thankful that I am not a kindergarten teacher that had to control the mahem of all the five and six year olds. On the up side, Gerald was home early!

We put up the Christmas decorations this week. Now Mya and Keegan are so excited about Christmas. I had to laugh at my mom when she said that she had to take two vacation days this week so that she could make it till Christmas vacation. She said that if she had to hear "jingle bells" one more time she was going to scream. I guess first grade teachers don't have it easy either.

Mya lost her second tooth yesterday. Does anyone else out there have light sleepers? I have decided that it is kind of hard to be a discrete toothfairy when you only have coins to offer.

So Much To Be Thankful For....

2009-11-26T21:56:00.005-06:00

This is the couple that made all the preperations and were gracious enough to invite us over.

We had such a great thanksgiving.

#1 because I didn't have to cook and I just got to enjoy the festivities

#2 because I got to spend the holiday with great friends.

What is Thanksgiving without a kiddie table. We had two... one for the boys that was so appropriate with a cars theme and one for the girls that was a tinkerbell theme.

The missionaries. The one on the far right if from Idaho Falls, Idaho and I give him a hard time and we enjoy talking about Idaho when both of us are feeling homesick.

The yummy dessert table.

All the really good food. The turkey was one of the best turkeys that I have ever eaten and it usually isn't one of my favorite dishes at Thanksgiving.

More food!

I am just noticing that we both wore red today.... no it wasn't planned.

I have so much to be thankful for. I feel so blessed with all the the Lord has given us.

Busy and Fun Weekend

2009-11-15T14:15:00.002-06:00

Wow! I don't think that I have done so much in one weekend. Mya had her first field trip to Old McDonalds farm on Friday. I wasn't able to attend because I had a doctors appointment that was rescheduled for that time. The doctor said that eveything is going well and the ultrasound to find out what we are having is scheduled for December the 9th. Mya had lots of fun and actually rode one of the horses. She said that she was really brave and that she wasn't scared one bit.
We started off the weekend with Bunco at our house. Ten amazing women having lots of fun. One of my best friends came and spent the night with her three children. It was so much fun to have a guest in the guest bedroom. It doesnt' get utilized like it should! To end the weekend, we were blessed to be able to attend an amazing baptism last night. It was such a bad weekend for the camera to be out of commission so you get to hear about it through my ramblings instead of letting the pictures do the talking.

The women at bunco wanted me to post the recipie that I used to make Pumpkin Cheesecake. I am kind of ashamed to post it because then they will know just how little time spend in the kitchen. So..... here is a super good cheesecake that is also really super easy. This recipie makes 2 cheesecakes.
First off, I buy the graham cracker crust. (everytime that I try to make one it always ends up so crumbly one big mess)
2 cream cheese bars
2 tsp milk (you can a little more milk if it isn't as creamy as you would like)
2tsp sugar
Beat cream cheese, milk, and sugar in a medium bowl. Pour mixture into pie crust and set in fridge.
2 pkg of pumpkin holiday spice pudding.
3 1/2 cups milk
Mix together pudding and milk for 3 minutes. Pour over the cream cheese mixture and let set for 1 hour.

Trick or Treat

2009-10-31T20:49:00.004-06:00

This was the first year that we have officially taken the kids trick or treating. We have gotten away with it because of all of the other activities that we go to and because Mya and Keegan didn't know what they were missing out on. Now that Mya is in Kindergarten I have a teacher to thank for informing her just what she was missing out on. She kept asking when we were going trick or treating today. Some friends invited us a hay ride around the neighborhood and had a good time even though it was a little nippy outside. THANKS MATT AND APRIL! There were a couple of times where Keegan and Mya were scared of the haunted houses or the adults that had dressed up in scarier costumes (I hope that we didn't traumatize them, I guess we'll see if they have nightmares tonight).

Yesterday was Mya's Halloween party. They decorated pumpkin sugar cookies, played pass the pumpkin, and made halloween necklaces. It was kind of disappointing that the Crosby kindergarten outlawed witches and devils as costumes because "they are too scary." However, Mya was excited that she got to ware her costume all day long and she came home and told Gerald that she got 100 candy to bring home.

I am so thankful to have all the festivities over with! I am Halloween'd out!

Ward Halloween Party

2009-10-17T19:51:00.002-06:00

Mya and Keegan had tons of fun tonight at the ward Halloween party. There were lots of people, lots of games, lots of candy, and lots of fun. Mya has wanted to be a witch for a long time now. There were tons of witches at the party. I counted 15 of them. Keegan kept telling Mya that witches were scary and that he wanted to be a ghost so that he could be scary like Mya. I talked him into a pirate. He was so excited when I told him that he could pack his sword around. Both of them have really gotten into the dress-up game and so it was fun this year because they were both into character. Keegan went around saying "I matey" and Mya went around cackling like a witch.

The Festivities Begin

2009-10-11T19:46:00.003-06:00

October is always full of fun things to do. Yesterday we went and supported Atascosita in the fall festival carnival. You could tell that they put in a lot of work. They had a petting zoo, and a camel that you could ride that both Mya and Keegan chickened out on. They had all the typical carnival games with soda pop toss, cake walk, face painting, baloons and a haunted house. (If only they could of had better music) the live band was loud and off key.It was a good way to kill an afternoon instead of sitting at home and wrestling with the kids until Gerald got home from the bank.

This was one of Mya's favorite booths... The ASL group at the school put together a wax hands where you could mold any sign that you wanted into a wax sculpture that you could take home. Mya thought that it was too hot at first but she wanted to prove to Aiden how brave she was. After it was all over she turned to me and stated, " I didn't cry mom, even though it was hot."

The petting Zoo. They had food to feed the animals and Keegan Callahan ate it. We laughed about his green tongue and he just kept saying that it tasted really gross. It was kind of confusing because they had put the food into an ice cream cone and I guess it looked appealing to him. I think that he is going to take a second thought next time we offer him people food in an ice cream cone.

Another Mya Post

2009-09-26T21:27:00.003-06:00

Yes, we have another child. It just seems like there is more going on in Mya's little world then in Keegan's right now.

Yesterday Deedra came and did makeovers for both Mya and I. I had to take a picture of Mya so that you can see that she truly does get the full treatment and that it is a serious undertaking when it comes to doing her hair. Here she is, sitting under the dryer with curlers in her hair getting her fingernails and toenails painted. She was so disappointed when I sent her to school on Friday morning with just a ponytail and barretts to hold back the loose hair. She is such a princess.

Mya Lost Her First Tooth

2009-09-16T18:24:00.002-06:00

On Sunday Mya came and asked me what was wrong with her tooth. Upon examination I told her that it was going to fall out to make room for her big girl teeth. She has been patiently waiting and wiggling it in hopes that it would fall out. Today Keegan and I met Mya for lunch and took her some McDonalds. While we were eating she pulled something out of her mouth and asked what it was. I told her that it was the tooth that she had been waiting for. She had to tell all her friends that were sitting around us and then she got to put her name on the tooth chart in the classroom. She was asking at 5:00 if we could have dinner so that she could go to bed early because the toothfairy doesn't come until you are asleep. I don't think that quarters will cut it like they did when I was five. I was talking to some of the kids in Mya's class that had already lost teeth and couldn't believe that amount of money that they got. There are a lot of expectations of the easter bunny, the toothfairy, and santa clause. I have a deeper appreciation for all that my parents did for me to make all those times special.

Football Parade....

2009-08-29T10:18:00.005-06:00

Go Crosby Cougars!!!!

Yesterday the high school football players went and visited the kindergartener's. They read stories with them, ate lunch with them, and played football at recess with them. Mya was so excited about it.

Today we got a call from Kareena telling us that a parade was going to be passing by the entrance of our subdivision and that it was in honor of the football players.We had a "tail gating" party in the Crosby Stake Bank parking lot waiting for the parade to arrive. Keegan's favorite was the police car and the firetruck (such a boy). Mya had to say hi to all the football players and her favorite was the Crosby Cougar mascott. We got a lot of candy because the road had to be cleared before they could let traffic back on to FM 2100. It was a lot of fun.

First Day of School

2009-08-24T07:46:00.004-06:00

Today is the first day of Kindergarten for Mya. It was really hard to watch her skip up to the bus without even a glance backward or a "goodbye mom." She is super excited to start school and that summer is finally over. I think she was beginning to wonder if summer was going to last forever.

Here is everyone waiting for the bus to come.

Semenary started bright and early this morning. I had four students this and I am working on getting two more to come. It is a classroom full of all boys. I have two new freshmen, one junior and a senior. I am really excited to be teaching the Book of Mormon this year.

It's Been Awhile

2009-08-19T08:40:00.003-06:00

What can I say, this summer has flown by. It has been a very busy summer for us. I haven't been as good at posting what is going on in our family. I looked, and that last post was almost over a month ago. Since Gerald got his Iphone he has been better then me at posting what is going on. If you really want to keep in touch maybe you should befriend Gerald on Facebook. =)

This week we found out that we are expecting baby #3. It was kind of a suprise to both of us, but we are both happy and looking forward to the new addition to our family.

Mya is looking forward to starting school next Monday (the 24th of August). Gerald went and helped her pick out a new backpack and Mya couldn't understand why school wasn't starting because she was ready to go. We will find out who her teacher is on Friday when we go to orientation. I have mixed feelings about her starting school. I think I will mourn for about a day and then enjoy the rest of the school year.

This week has been very interesting. Gerald, Adam, and Jessica have all went back to work. That leaves me with Mya, Keegan, Aiden, Colten and Keegan all day long. I have been trying to think of things that we can do to fill the day so that they aren't getting bored and driving me crazy. Yesterday I pulled out the swimming pool in the backyard. Just when they started getting bored, Aiden found a poor little frog that was unable to get away. It kept everyone entertained for another half an hour, but the poor thing had to prove how long he could hold his breath under water and he had to prove how brave he was to jump off the "high dive" (or Aiden's hand) into the pool of water below. The frog eventually outsmarted Aiden and got away under the fence when Aiden put him in the sandbox to dry off.

Spending the Summer at the Library

2009-07-24T20:04:00.002-06:00

We have an amazing library. They have planned activities for the community to enjoy for the whole summer. We have been taking advantage of the free entertainment. This last week on Tuesday they had some Yoga instructors come. I was suprised at the consentration that Keegan had to get the poses right. Mya was very excited to do it as well. They handed the kids some pipe cleaners and let them make their own Yoga man so that the kids could twist them into their favorite poses. Keegan took that Yoga man around with him for the next couple of days.

On Thursday they had a marionette production of Rumplestilskin. The kids laughed and loved the marionettes. Mya loved the queen and couldn't wait until dad came home so that she could tell him all about it.

UPDATE.....

2009-07-07T13:39:00.003-06:00

Mya turned 5 years old this past Friday. "It takes a long time to turn 5" said Mya when her birthday finally came. Since we celebrated Keegan's birthday at Chuck E Cheese's she would not be persuaded to go anywhere else. Everyone had a lot of fun. What can truly top pizza and arcade games in the mind of a five year old? One of her favorite rides was a virtual roller coaster. The capsule moved up and down and around as if you really were experiencing it at an amusement park. Now that the birthday has come and gone he focus has turned to when school will start and tells me that summer vacation is to long. What kid says that summer vacation is to long? I will definatly have to ask her next year after she has experienced a "real" summer vacation if it really is to long.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MYA!!!

Take Me Out To The Ball Game....

2009-06-25T19:29:00.003-06:00

My first and only experience with MLB up to this point in my life was at Cincinatti Ohio when I was a kid. We watched the Reds play the Pirates. It rained for most of the game and we spent the majority of the time watching them take the tarps on and off the field. The home team lost that night and when the game was finally over it was past 1:00 in the morning and because of the noise ordinance they were not allowed to let off the fireworks.

Today's game with the Astro's Vs the Royals was so much better!!!! The Astro's won 5 to 4. The best play was when Lance Berkman hit a home run that brought two runs in. It was such a neat experience and I was captivated the whole time. With a little reluctance I will let Gerald know that it was a great activity to do as a family. (Reluctant, because I don't like to admit when he is right.)

GO ASTRO'S!!!!!

A New Pet

2009-06-22T13:21:00.003-06:00

Jessica and I let the kids play in the water this morning. We filled up a kiddie pool and turned on the sprinkler. We were eating our ice cream when this little guy came out of the garage......

The kids just kept wanting to touch it and we kept telling them that it would hurt if he pinched them. Jessica caught it and put him in a bucket so that she could show Adam when he got home. My question is, where did he come from?

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-22T13:16:00.002-06:00

The kids had lots of fun with Father's Day this year. The kids picked out what they wanted to get Gerald for Father's Day (With a little help and suggestions from me) and then helped me wrap them. We gave Gerald his presents on Saturday night so that he could ware his new white shirt to church on Sunday. The kids sat on the couch waiting for Gerald to get out of the shower to "suprise" him when he got out. It was so funny because they tried to hide the presents from Gerald so that he would be suprised and the best hiding spot they could find was behind their backs. Anyway.... Just wanted to wish Gerald a Happy Father's Day. We love you!!!!

Another Project

2009-06-11T20:41:00.005-06:00

This afternoon I enjoyed the peace and quiet and was able to get some reading done. What can I say, I am enjoying the summer vacation. Now for the reason that it was so peaceful..... Gerald and Adam assembled a sandbox in the backyard yesterday.

When the kids were out riding bikes the other day they stopped along the road and all of them were fighting over a handful of sand that they found along the side of the road. The sandbox can still use a couple more bags of sand because it is a little on the shallow side, but the kids are going to be entertained for a while. YEA!!! I think the parents are enjoying the sandbox just as much as the kids are.

Birthday Boy

2009-06-05T21:19:00.004-06:00

Today Keegan turned three and I can't believe how fast those years went. We decided to celebrate his birthday as a family at Chuck E Cheeses. While we were getting ready, he kept reminding Mya about his birthday and where we were going. There really was a lot of things for the kids to do. Keegan's favorite game was pushing a button that would catapult balls into the mouth of the "hungry dog." I think I put 15 tokens into that game because he kept saying that he wanted to do it again. (Oh the joy that kids find in simple things.) Mya loved the huge rocking horse. When we went to leave Keegan announced that he had fun at Chuck E Cheeses on his birthday. It really is a place where a kid can be a kid and I think Gerald was reliving his childhood on the virtual skidoo.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEEGAN

Something a Little Different....

2009-06-03T13:01:00.004-06:00

I was reading an article in the Ensign last night and I can across the "Questions and Answers" article. It addresses the issue of how hard it is to be a stay at home mom and gave suggestions that mothers can do to find joy in staying at home with younger children. C. Jansen from Texas writes, " When I feel as though I'm spending most of my time cleaning up after our little family, it is usually because I am! Somtimes the practical details are not actually as important as they seem. I find that if I take a break from the routine- maybe visit a new park, try a new recipe, spend time with someone in the ward who also has a baby or young child, go on an unexpected walk, make a card, or surprise someone with a visit- then my perspective is refreshed.

So we refreshed our perspective today. I called up an old friend, Jenny Mohonti, and I met her down at the Miller Outdoor Theater. We went and saw a performance where the kids learned about the different types of dances from the different era's. The kids were captivated by the performances. Mya was super excited when she got to go up on stage and do the twist and the jive. She is quite the little performer.

You can't see it so well..... Mya is the one in the middle. I couldn't get a good shot after everyone in front of me started getting up and dancing, but Mya was thrilled to be able to participate so I had to capture the moment ;)

Enjoying the Sunshine

2009-05-20T17:45:00.004-06:00

It has been a beautiful week. A cold front came in brought up cooler weather and less humidity. Today we went outside and played on bikes, sidewalk chalk, and we had a picnic in the shade. Kareena and I also took the kids to a splash park last week and we went and had a good time letting the kids screem with joy as they ran from one spray to the next. It has really reminded me of what the Idaho summers are like. I can understand why older couples will travel south for the winter and spend the summers up north. I want to become a Nomad myself and travel with the good weather. I am definatly not looking forward to the hot weather coming up but I have definalty enjoyed the weather this past week.

This is a closer look of one of Mya's drawings. It is a sunflower.

This is the kids after we cleaned up all the sidewalk artwork. The kids wanted to help and they were both a little wet afterword.

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T20:10:00.003-06:00

This morning Mya woke up and was very excited about a basket that Gerald had left on the counter. I tried to explain that it was Mother's Day and why we celebrate Mother's Day. This really got her to thinking and she asked when Father's Day was. I told her that Father's Day was next month. She was silent for a little while and took a couple more bite of her Marshmellow Maties and then asked.... "well, when is kids day then?" I thought to myself, isn't it kids day everyday?

It has been a great day today.... I have truly felt loved.

This is a creation of Mya's that they did in Primary during sharing time. She tags everything with her name and her newest thing that she learned how to draw is flowers.

In nursary they let the kids make hand paintings. Keegan's hands were still blue when we came home, but they didn't get any paint on his church clothes!

Thomas S. Monson says....

There is gratitude for our mothers.
Mother, who willingly made that personal journey into the valley of the shadow of death to give us birth, deserves our undying gratitude. One writer summed up our love for mother when he declared, “God could not be everywhere, and so He gave us mothers.”
While on the cruel cross of Calvary, suffering intense pain and anguish, Jesus “saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother!” What a divine example of gratitude and love!

Tribute to Gayla

2009-04-26T20:13:00.005-06:00

One of my really good friends has decided to follow her heart and move back to Angelfire New Mexico. I don't know why, afterall it is less populated then Houston, cooler in temperature, and they get to do all the outdoor activities that they love because it is nestled in beautiful landscapes. I am definatly jelous!!! Some of our close friends got together on Monday at Olive Garden and had a farewell dinner.

Gayla "cautiously" questioning the card that we got her....

Having a good laugh over the singing card

Karla...April...Jessica

Me...Gayla...Karreena

I will miss you Gayla!!!!!!!

Easter Message

2009-04-13T20:14:00.002-06:00

This is such a great message from Elder Holland. Even though Easter is over it is still a great video to watch. Enjoy! Please follow this link......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpFhS0dAduc

HAPPY EASTER

2009-04-12T20:16:00.004-06:00

Yesterday we got adopted by the Arnold's to participate in their family easter festivities. There was lots of food and they had a big playground in their backyard for the kids to play on. There was a big easter egg hunt and afterward the kids were each given a toy from Grandma.

In church I taught a primary class and we watched a movie about why we celebrate Easter. The kids had lots of questions about when Jesus was going to come back again and where he is living now. I love the little children. They teach me new things everyday. It was enjoyable to have testimony meeting on Easter. It is nice to be able to reflect upon the blessings I have been granted and all that the Savior has done for me and our family. I hope that all of your easter's were as good as mine.

Mya's Easter Dress

2009-04-07T14:11:00.003-06:00

I made an Easter dress for Mya a couple of years ago. Mya found some really cute material the other day at Walmart and Ii I really like how spring like and bright the material was so I decided that I would make her dress this year. I went really simple by just making a skirt and then I bought her a new white t-shirt to ware with it. This is a picture of the skirt and I will take pictures on Sunday with Keegan and Mya both dressed up in the Easter clothes.

Day at the Library

2009-04-07T13:56:00.003-06:00

Today was the Easter party at the library. Even my long lost nocternal friend Kareena brought her daughter to the festivities. I was greatful that there wasn't anything in the plastic eggs because Mya's basket was so full they were falling out. Keegan started to just collect the green eggs after awhile and by the end he only had 5 eggs in his basket. The kids had a lot of fun. After the kids collected all the eggs they turned them in for a bag of goodies and then we sat and ate our snacks. I have really enjoyed how involved our library is and the activities that they plan for the kids. Mya and Keegan were asking on Friday when Tuesday was so that they could go to the library. They are always so excited to get new books and they look forward to it every week.

Getting Ready for School

2009-03-25T12:39:00.002-06:00

Over spring break last week I took Mya over to get her shots updated. After a two and a half our appointment I was really suprised that Mya didn't shed a tear. The nurse took forever to give her the immunizations and I think that I would have been crying if I had to have gone through it. We went to go and register her for Kindergarten and they said that she still needed the vaccine for chicken pox. They wouldn't register her without it. Apperently there have been two new vaccines that are now required that just went into effect this last month. So we went back today to get the extra shot and I decided to get Keegan updated as well. Mya was fine but Keegan was really upset. When the nurse was done giving him a shot in both arms and one in the leg he turned to the nurse and pointing said, "she hurt me mom, she hurt me." Oh the joys of keeping your kids healthy and jumping through government requirements to get a public education.

MILESTONE......

2009-03-14T11:29:00.002-06:00

I have been meaning to make a post in the last little while, but the days just keep passing without me doing it. I'll just make a quick note.
Now a reason to celebrate..... Our milestone is that Keegan is potty trained. We can almost be a completely diaper free house. YEA!!!! I am still a little hesitant to put him to bed without a diaper. He wakes up dry about half of the time. Still, we are excited parents to be done with that stage of our lives.
Next week is spring break which means that we get to spend lots of time with Gerald. We don't have anything planned, but it will just be great to be able to have some family time together.

Redecorating

2009-02-24T18:40:00.005-06:00

We decided that it was time to get rid of the college/apartment look in our home. We have done some redecorating lately.

When you do redecorating you have to have a craft project. Here is the one that I attempted. You can see the reflection of the ceiling fan in the clock because these pictures were taken at night and the light was on... (so I'm not a professional photographer as you can see).

BEFORE AFTER

The only picture that I could find where there was a full view of the living room downstairs was at Christmas time.

BEFORE AFTER

I don't have any before and after pictures of the dining room or the kitchen, but I liked how they turned out and wanted to share..... In the dining room we got a bigger table for entertaining and changed the lighting. In the Kitchen I added some decor above the cabnets.

Festivities.....

2009-02-17T13:56:00.003-06:00

On friday we had preschool over here. Since it was valentine's day we celebrated!!! My favorite was when they made valentine's for each other. It was fun to see what they truly thought of their friends. I think that they have really bonded with each other these last couple of months. We also played a game where you stack the conversation hearts on top of each other. We set the timer and the person that had the highest stack when the timer rang won. The best stacker had to go to Mya. At the end of preschool I let them make their own sugar cookies. I think that kids thought the fun part was frosting their own cookie and draping them in sprinkles.

Will you be my Valentine??

2009-02-10T16:53:00.004-06:00

Today has been one big fun filled Valentines celebration. We went to the library where the kids listened to stories about valentines day. After singing and story time it was one sugar filled extravaganza. (why is it that people associate valentines day with chocolate and sugar anyway?) There were cupcakes and cookies, chocolate covered pretzles, lemonade and suckers.

We came home and what did I find in the mail? A valentines day package sent from Grandma and Grandpa Womack. It was full of coloring books and stickers. Grandma sent some m&m's and suckers too.

THANK YOU GRANDMA!!!

We have spent the whole afternoon coloring and eating the treats.

I think that I am going to have a fun time getting the kids (who are now full of sugar) to sleep tonight.

Birthday Bash!!!!

2009-02-01T18:16:00.003-06:00

Kareena sure knows how to throw a party. Her daughter Alice turned 6 and they had a little chef birthday party. Kareena sewed the aprons for the kids and they were able to decorate them how they wanted to. Mya just wanted to show everyone that she knew her letters and drew a buch of letters on hers. Mya's favorite thing of the evening was being able to choose the toppings for the pizza and make her very own.

After the party Mya was asking what she was going to do on her birthday. Try explaining to a four year old that she still has five months till her birthday. We had a blast!!!!!!!!!!!

Fry Sauce

2009-01-28T19:59:00.003-06:00

Well folks, fry sauce is a condiment for dipping french fries that started in Utah. It is basically a combination of ketchup and mayonnaise, but "Some Dude's" recipe includes tomatoes, Santa Fe chiles, garlic, and "The Dude's" secret spices. You can eat it with french fries, hamburgers, chicken, and fish sticks. Some use it as a veggie and chip dip, some have even been known to use it as shampoo (not recommended).

When we moved down here to Houston I missed this stuff. I can't believe that it has basically stayed isolated in the Idaho, Utah region. Jessica and I were talking about it one day. She is pregnant and craving wierd things and so she got on the computer and ordered some. She brought a bottle over to my house and I have used it on everything. YOU GOTTA LOVE FRY SAUCE!!!!

A WHOLE MONTH.....

2009-01-24T19:44:00.003-06:00

I have had many people contacting me through facebook, phone calls, and email asking if we are still alive down here in Houston. WE ARE STILL HERE!!!! I really don't have any excuses as to why I haven't written in awhile.
Just a couple things that we have been up to......
I had a really neat experience with the missionaries this last week. There is a 15 year old young women that is investigating the church and they wanted me to go with them to tell her more about the young women's program. We spent a lot of time discussing 3 Nephi chapter 11. There is a lot of information in that chapter. I learned so much!!! I even had some questions for the missionaries. I loved to be able to bare my testimony about the young womens program and the influence that it had in my life when I was a teenager so many years ago (because it was a long time ago right? lol).
Preschool......
I really enjoyed teaching preschool this last week. We learned about the letter B. There are so many fun things to do with the letter B that we didn't even get to all of the things that I had planned. It was so nice on the day that I taught that we spent a lot of the time outside. We rode bikes, played baseball, made some blue bubbles, and made oragomi boats and floated them in the bathtub.
A little about the weather....
Yesterday it was so warm outside that I pulled out the shorts (not that they ever get packed away down here in Houston) and we spent the morning playing outside and enjoying the sun. Today we went to Austin's birthday party at the park and it was freezing. We pulled out our winter coats. It's funny how one day you can be wearing shorts and the next you can be so bundled up.
We had a good time at the birthday party. I wish that I had taken pictures....
Anyway-things are going good. I will try and be more consistant that way you don't have to read long drawn out posts like this one.

Boda......

2008-12-26T21:43:00.006-06:00

Tonight we were invited to a wedding. Sonia was a student in Gerald's class last year. The invitations said that the wedding would start at 5:00. We showed up and there wasn't anyone in the parking lot. Gerald and I looked at each other and laughed, I know I was second guessing if I had read the invitation wrong. A car pulled up next to us and Gerald started a converstation with them, we hadn't read the invitation wrong because they were under the impression that that was when the wedding was going to take place.
The bride and groom did show up, but apparently the wedding was not supposed to start until 6:00. It was a good thing because when we got to the church both Gerald and I had forgotten to grab the present. I had an hour to come home and drive back (sigh).
The best part was while we were waiting for dinner, Mya was dancing with a little boy her age and Keegan was set up with a little girl that was his age. (oh the things that we get out kids to do) We had a really great time meeting new people, listening to music and eating good food.

TRADITIONS....TRADITIONS....

2008-12-25T20:31:00.002-06:00

We have started the tradition of having the missionaries over for dinner on Christmas Eve. It brings an amazing spirit into our home. We ate ham, mashed potatoes, green salad, jello salad, corn bread, and stuffing. After dinner we watched Mr Krueger's Christmas and ate an amazing hummingbird cake and drank hot chocolate. I think that I was more excited about Christmas Eve then Christmas morning.

This morning we opened presents. The kids were super excited about what they got. Christmas is so easy when they are young. I don't even want to think about what they are going to be like when they are teenagers. Keegan opened a train that my sister sent them and he didn't want to open any presents after that. Mya got the pony that she was asking for (my little pony was a life saver sent from my mom). When she opened it she kept saying, "I told Santa... and he brung it to me." (We've definatly got to work on her english skills). We had a relaxing afternoon with naps.

I have been talking to all of my family up in Idaho and they are getting pelted with snow. My mom said that she is snowed in. I felt so lucky to be able to go out this afternoon and play outside because it was in the seventy's out there. Keegan got a tee ball set and Gerald was teaching him how to hit the ball properly. Mya was riding around on her bike with her my little pony in tow.

I feel so blessed this Christmas!!!!

You have to play in it.......

2008-12-11T08:28:00.005-06:00

This morning I woke up and the snow was still on the ground. When Mya woke up I opened her window and she was so excited. I took all of her patients to sit and eat breakfast before we went outside to play in it. She doesn't even have a coat because it doesn't get that cold down here. Keegan had one because someone had passed it down to him. I was the only one with gloves so I put them on the kids so they could throw snowballs. As you can see, it has been awhile since any of us have seen any snow.

SNOW!!!!

2008-12-10T20:57:00.001-06:00

For all you Idaho and Utah residents, this is a very bloggable thing. I think that it has been about 2 years since I have seen snow. I had to go outside and take some pictures and then I can back inside to enjoy it from the window and called everyone to tell them what was going on. You have to enjoy it because it is going to be gone by tomorrow and you don't know when it is going to happen again. I need to go and get some hot chocolate so that I can really have an "Idaho" moment, but I will not go out on the roads with all the Houstonians that don't know how to drive in the snow.

Over the River and Through the Woods.....

2008-11-30T20:23:00.003-06:00

To Odomville we went for Thanksgiving.
If you can believe it, Odemville is more remote then Firth, Idaho. Brianne and Marcus invited us to spend Thanksgiving with them this year. It was lots of fun. There was lots of good food, a four wheeler to ride, and dominoes to play.
I am so thankful for Gerald and the kids. I am thankful for good friends. I am thankful to be here in Houston and enjoy yet another mild winter. I am very grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel sustains me through whatever I am facing.
I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR!!!
Happy Thanksgiving.

The story of Mya's hair goes on and on.........

2008-11-22T08:33:00.004-06:00

For all of you that know me, I have a hard time with Mya's hair. I don't have the patients or the time for what is required for her hair. I am always looking for things that would make it more managable. On Sunday last week, one of the members told Gerald and I that she could do hair. We met her last night and she put a texturizer in her hair that made her hair about half the size that it was. Then she conditioned, oiled, and cut it. It took about a half an hour to blow dry it and then she flat ironed it and curled it. The final step was corn rows in the front and finish it off with bows. It took us about 5 hours last night!!!! I thought that it was time to do something completly different when she started crying a couple of weeks ago, I was putting her hair up into the "regular" ponytail on top and she told me that ponytails are ugly. A couple of days after that we were in walmart and she picked out some new hair ties that she said were more "princess-like." She told me last night that she likes her new hair and how long it is. I am glad that I can't see into the future, because I can't even imagine what she is going to be like as a teenager if she is already finicky about her hair as a four year old ;0

THE PICTURES........

Upside of a bad Economy.... $1.97 gallon gas

2008-11-05T17:35:00.002-06:00

I remember not to long ago when I was driving by the gas station and thinking...."I am sure that I will not see gas under $3.00 again." CNN has been reporting that our money isn't worth much and that is one of the reasons that gas prices have been declining so rapidly the last little while. One of the reasons I am grateful that our money isn't worth much anymore... when I drove by the gas station yesterday it was under $2.00 a gallon!!!! I can now fill up our SUV in under $30.00. Oh Happy Days Are Here Again. What is your gas prices? Crosby is 1.97 a gallon for unleaded.

Halloween Festivities

2008-10-28T20:01:00.003-06:00

What would a holiday be without a ward function? We had our ward Halloween party on Saturday. My camera is still malfunctioning, but a good friend allowed me to take some pictures of the kids. Mya has chosen to be a Cinderella this year. Are any of you suprised? If you can't tell from the pictures Keegan is a dog. They have been really excited about Halloween and dressing up. Today we went to the library and had singing and storytime. The library planned cupcakes and cookies and punch and other goodies after storytime. Then they allowed the kids to go into the library and do some trick-or-treating.

It's Been Awhile......

2008-10-14T10:33:00.002-06:00

I looked at the blog and couldn't believe that it was two weeks since my last post! I was getting emails from people asking how I was and what I had been doing because it had been awhile since they had heard from me.
Preschool has been a fun experience. After the Strega Nona play we took another field trip up to the airport. We were learning about the letter "A" and our monthly theme is transportation so it worked out perfect. (It was a busy day on Friday when I usually have the kids so....FIELD TRIP). Brianne and Gayla are awesome to work with. They are so flexable and so willing to help!!! We went to a park afterwords and had apples to keep with the "A" theme. We played on the playground equipment and we also had some organized games for them to play as well. The kids were exhausted and didn't even put up a fight when it came to nap time that day.
It has become a rutine to go over to the library every tuesday morning. The kids love to hear stories, sing songs, dance, and they usually have a craft for them to do. Afterword they get to go and pick out movies and books. Tuesdays are very relaxing afternoons because they just want to watch their movies and read their books.
I did host bunco at my house this last Friday. I thought everyone knew what Hawaiin haystacks were. More then half the people there were skeptical about if it would taste good. I think that they were pleasantly suprised.
Semenary is going well. Today one of the boys was blindfolded and the other was gagged so that we could heal the blind and deaf. It has been a great experience to study the New Testiment and the life of Christ while he was here on the earth. I have learned so much this year!
Sorry about not having any pictures. I am having issues with my camera. Hopefully I can get it figured out soon.

Strega Nona

2008-10-01T09:56:00.004-06:00

We went on an adventure on Monday. We took all the kids to the Miller Outdoor Theater to watch the play Strega Nona. Most of the kids didn't understand what a play even was. They kept asking what it was that we were going to play. We tried to explain that it was like a movie with real people. It was definatly a culture experience for all of our little preschoolers.
Here is all of us sitting and waiting for it all to begin. Strega Nona was one of my favorite stories from when I was a kid and I was super excited when I saw that it was going to be at the Miller Outdoor Theater.

The story begins with Strega Nona who is seeking help from someone in both outdoor and indoor chores. The first to respond to her advertisement is tall, clumsy Big Anthony.
Strega Nona assigns Big Anthony to various chores around her house, but she also warns him not to touch her magic pasta pot, an enchanted pot that produces pasta at the command of a spell. In the middle of one of his chores, Anthony spies on Strega Nona conjuring pasta from the pasta pot. He also watches as she commands the pot to stop producing pasta. Anthony does not observe Strega Nona blow three kisses after commanding the pasta pot to stop producing pasta.
When Strega Nona spends a day to visit her friend Strega Amelia, Big Anthony uses the opportunity to spread the news of the pasta pot and serve everyone pasta. However, because he did not know how to properly stop the pasta pot from producing pasta, the pasta continued to flow, flooding the town with pasta.
Fortunately, Strega Nona returns from her visit and commands the pasta pot to stop producing pasta, blowing three kisses after issuing her command. Big Anthony ends up having to eat all of the pasta that flooded the town as punishment for disobeying Strega Nona.

Life after Ike is Frustrating!!!!

2008-09-24T13:21:00.005-06:00

I went down to Adam and Jessica's house down in Northshore to watch the boys for the day. I ended up spending a half an hour waiting at a light here in Crosby and then at 90 and beltway 8 it was backed up and I ended up waiting at that light for 45 minutes. The lights are not working and people have to use them as a four way stop. (After almost two weeks of treating stoplights like this I have even found myself using the lights that do work as stop signs.) UGH!!!! A trip that should only take 20 minutes tops, took me an hour and fifteen minutes.

I went over to the grocery store and was suprised that there was not much of a selection with the fridge and freezer foods. I talked to a neighbor who is an employee and she said that they have had to clean them out before they could put the food in them. This is what the meat section looked like in our local Walmart.......

I took the Callahan boys to the park when I was down in Northshore on Monday. There was a huge tree that was knocked down by the wind. We went over and took some pictures next to it.

Look at the lightpost that went right between the limbs.
Good Times.....Good Times........

Hurricane Ike...

2008-09-20T20:21:00.003-06:00

I have had lots of emails and calls about concern from everyone from everywhere. We are fine and safe. We evacuated to Vidor Texas just above Beaumont during the storm. We spent the next couple of days with friends there. We came back to the house on Sunday after the hurricane. The house was fine but we have been camping out the last week because we were without power. It hasn't been bad because we had a cold front come in and bring cooler weather. That was such a blessing because it gets hot here in Texas in september. I was beginning to wonder what a microwave and television were like though. It's good to have power back again.

Here are the power guys from missouri working outside our house to get the power restored in our neighborhood.

Here is a park that we have played at a couple of times. My mom was asking for me to take some pictures of the damage of the storm. I will post some more in time.

A Minute to Myself.....

2008-09-08T08:44:00.004-06:00

Things have been kind of hectic around here. I really should be cleaning the house, but I think that I am just going to take a minute to relax and enjoy it. Mya and Keegan Callahan are over at Brianne's house for preschool. I took the ever easy to watch Calli from Brianne so that she could teach and we came back home. Keegan and Calli are playing with toys and watching blue's clues upstairs.
This last week I started teaching early morning semenary. It has been an awesome experience for me. I started the week off with one student. By the end of the day I had an inactive boy from down the street stop by and ask when semenary was and what he needed to bring. He has been there eveyday and on most days he beats the other student to my house (granted he only lives two doors down, but you can tell he is excited to learn more about the scriptures.) They said that they didn't like the idea of just reciting the scriptures to memorize the scripture mastery (can you blame them) so I have had to delve back into my semenary memories and come up with ideas to help them learn the scripture mastery's. It has been great to learn more about the New Testiment. I know that the teacher definatly learns more then the student and I am greatful for the oppertunity to study it more in depth.

Gustav

2008-09-01T20:21:00.003-06:00

I understand that government officials want us to be prepared in case the worst really does happen, but living down by the gulf it has kind of been a frustrating experience. The storm of the century was really a catagory 2 hurricane, that is still a powerful storm, but did minimal damage. I am grateful for the gospel that teaches us to be prepared. The gospel really does give us more knowledge. People hit the stores last minute and you can't find water and other supplies on the shelves. It kind of got me thinking about the ten virgins in the scriptures. Those that were running to the get supplies and missed the bridegroom. We don't have a lot of supplies, but I feel like we would be okay if something were to happen and I know that Heavenly Father is always watching over us and our family.

The Happy Couple

2008-08-26T10:35:00.004-06:00

The reason we were in Idaho.......

I don't know why Kyle was always on Tamara's right side in all these pictures.
The happy couple a few days before the wedding

Outside the temple

At the luncheon after the wedding

Glad to be Home

2008-08-26T10:03:00.007-06:00

We're Back!!!
Vacations are great, but the whole time that I was gone all I could think of was all the things that needed to get done here in Houston. Mostly this post is to get caught up on pictures from Idaho.

Look at the long sleeves on our children. We got laughed at a couple of times on our trip to Idaho. What we think is cold is apparently laughable in Idaho.

Mya was so excited about the rock pets that she made. She insisted on the beads in her hair. I think that we have created a monster with the beads in her own hair.

We went to the Rexburg and they had a big back to school party for everyone that was starting school the next day. They had free train rides and we waited patiently for a half an hour eating ice cream because Keegan was so excited about it.

Mya had to get ready for the wedding. Grandma had baught her some nail polish and lip gloss for her purse that came with the dress. The night before the wedding she asked Chad to help her with her nails. What a good Uncle!

Idaho.....

2008-08-17T14:54:00.002-06:00

I am sitting here on my parents slow dial up internet connection. It has been great to visit Idaho for the last couple of days. We spent the whole day traveling on Thursday that I spent the whole day on Friday recovering from it. We did go to the park and out to lunch on Friday. My parents are temple workers and their assignment is on Fridays from 4-10 in the evening. While they were gone I went out to my grandparents house out in Blackfoot and spent the night visiting with them and catching up on everything that is happening in the family.
On Saturday my brother's fiance, Tamera, recieved her endownments. We went through the session with her. I hadn't seen my youngest brother, Chad (not the one that is getting married) for three years because he was on a mission when we left to go to Texas a year ago. We saw each other for the first time in the chapel of the temple waiting for the session to start. It was kind of a neat experience. We came home and had dinner with Kyle (the brother that is getting married) and his Tamera and then we stayed up until midnight playing Cranium. If anyone is wondering... Yes! of course the girls won. It has been fun and I am looking foward to this next week of vacation. I have tried to upload some pictures but this computer is really really slow... so you are going to have to just deal with my ramblings.

No Excuse

2008-08-12T17:58:00.007-06:00

I really should have made some posts lately. I could use the excuse that I had to put Mya's hair in baraids and that took me two days to do it. I could also use the excuse that I am getting ready to go back to Idaho for awhile for my brother's wedding. But really I have just been engulfed in the new book by Stephanie Meyer called "Breaking Dawn."

I read the first 400 pages in about four hours the first day that I got it. Gerald has been teasing me because it isn't exactly his idea of a good book. Every spare minute that I have has been finishing it.
We did manage to walk over to the duck pond over in Newport and the kids were able to feed the ducks. Keegan was happy to do it, but Mya broke down in tears because they were getting too close to her. My favorite was the family of ducks.

HOLA TROPICAL STORM EDOUARD

2008-08-05T12:45:00.005-06:00

Tropical Storm Edouard came in off of the Gulf of Mexico today. Thanks to the news there was a rush on stores for water and batteries. Why is it that most people wait until the last minute to be prepared? Most of Houston was closed because they thought that it was going to become a category 1 hurricane and everyone was asked to stay off the roads. Even though it turned out to be a milder tropical storm Gerald was able to stay home from the bank today. It has been raining all day, but I haven't noticed the wind. The good part is that it has cooled off our 100 degree weather down to the mid 70's. So... we have yet to experience a hurricane since moving to Houston a year ago. Don't get me wrong, this is a good thing!!!

Little Princess and Cars

2008-08-02T18:28:00.005-06:00

Our children's true love comes out when they are allowed to pick their own things. Gerald took the kids shopping and they came back with some new house shoes. I laugh at Keegan's each time that I see them. I am suprised that he doesn't trip in them. I was not suprised with Mya's choice, pink and princess. I am sure that she didn't see anything else in the store.

Gerald and I were able to get a babysitter to watch the kids on Thursday this last week. We went and saw The Dark Knight at the theater. It was a good movie that kept my attention.

Update......

2008-07-27T16:17:00.003-06:00

All of you regular readers of my blog know that I am working on developing my talents. I have been practicing the piano and can play all of the songs in the simplified hymn book. YEA!!! I have really felt like this is something that Heavenly Father wants me to know how to do. I got a call from the missionaries and they asked me if I could play the piano at the baptism last night. I told them that if I could pick the songs that I was comfortable with, I could do it. When I walked into the baptism I was suprised with how many people were there. The mission president and his wife and another senior couple, (all from Soda Springs Idaho). Both sets of missionaries that serve our ward. The bishop was there and the two that were baptized had good family support as well. It was a little nervous at first, but calmed down after I started playing the prelude music. ( I think the prelude music is more for the pianist then it is for the congregations. ) It turned out nice and the spirit was strong.
After today, I know that Heavenly Father really wants me to know how to play. We were getting the kids situated on the bench and suprisingly we were about five minutes early. The bishop came up to me and asked me how comfortable I was feeling. I was thinking to myself, what a strange question to ask. Maybe he wants me to do something like pray in the meeting or bare my testimony. Was I suprised when he said that our regular piano player was called out. I looked around and saw that all the regular piano players were not there. He asked if I could play the piano in sacrament meeting. My heart sank. I felt really underqualified for this one. I asked if we could sing "choose the right." I was able to do a decent job on it. I was so relieved to see my great friend Gayla walk through the door late and volunteered to watch her three children while she played the remainder of the meeting.
Heavenly Father loves each of us, he needs all of us to help build the kingdom here on the earth. I am so thankful for the oppertunites that I have been given and look forward to seeing what else he wants me to do.

BUSY SATURDAY!!!

2008-07-27T15:56:00.004-06:00

Saturday, our bishopric made us pancakes, bacon, and sausage for breakfast. It was tasty!!!

After breakfast was over we had our pioneer primary party. We played "button, button" and sack races and three-legged races. I think that the kids just like running around in the gym. I loved to see all the kids dressed up, Dalton was my favorite in his overalls and pokemon bandanna.
We went over to Adam and Jessicca's after the primary party to let Keegan take a nap and to hang out while we were waiting for Gerald to get off of work. Jessicca got a phone call that someone wanted to come over and look at the house (because they are tying to sell it so they can move out closer to us). Jessicca and I frantically straightend up the house and got the kids all loaded up into the car and went and picked up her neice to watch the kids later that night. We came back to the house and got ready and went back to the church for a baptism. After the baptism I went with Jessicca to see the movie mamma mia. It was a big girls out and lots of fun!!

I Remember When....

2008-07-27T15:43:00.001-06:00

Here's the rules...

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.