Magi Boxes

A couple of weeks ago my ladies Bible study group mentioned helping with The Magi Project. Basically, you fill a shoe box with toys, school supplies, books, and/or candy to send to a child in Mexico and other countries who might not otherwise get Christmas presents. I immediately knew it was something I wanted to do with our girls. Wes and I discussed it with Avery and Abby. We talked about how God wants us to share our money and belongings with other people. We discussed how they could really bless another child. We wanted them to share some of their own money from their piggy banks. They gladly agreed. They said they wanted to take $10 out of their piggy banks to help out (I think that is awesome considering that they don't get an allowance. That is probably a fourth of what they have in their piggy banks.) Later today, Abby told me she wanted to give $11 instead of $10. Tonight we went shopping for the gifts. They each decided they would buy things for someone their own age. They had a fun time choosing the different toys, coloring books, hairbows, bracelets, and other items. We came home and decorated the boxes with stickers and the girls wrote notes to their girls. We also included a little picture of them. This is what Avery thought of to write on her note all by herself:

"I hope you love these toys and God and you mite not no were you got thes toys ther from us all thes toys are just for you boht from us piked by us! and remember God loves you and me and don't bother the cany its mine all right. Im kidding haha! hay, can I tell you I'm six too"

The pictures didn't turn out great, but you get the idea.

Isn't it priceless! I think this will be a new tradition for our family to do each year. Wes and I feel very strongly about instilling a giving spirit in the hearts of Avery and Abby. I would love to hear any other ideas of what you might be doing in your families.

Wes and I thought our youth could benefit from helping with this project as well. We have been discussing Matthew 25:31-46 lately with them. Last week, we encouraged them to bring their own money (not money they bummed off of mom and dad) to small group for this project. Before we piled on the church bus to go shopping we totaled up the money that 26 teens had brought. They brought a little over $500! Wow! We were so proud of them! Because of their generous donation we were all able to shop for 22 boxes. Yay! We all had a good time picking out our treasures then filling and decorating the boxes. They even added sweet notes to the boxes. We said a special prayer for the kids that would be receiving the boxes. I absolutely love watching our teens serve and share!

Cancun With My Baby!

This year Wes and I celebrated our ten year anniversary. Yay us! Debbie and Ernie wanted to help send us on a trip so we chose an all inclusive resort in Cancun. We also invited our friends Karla and Blake. Karla was in our youth group years ago and now she is all grown up and married to a youth minister. The resort was great, the relaxation was much needed, the food was wonderful, and the company was loads of fun. Too bad the weather did not cooperate. Tropical storm Ida (which later turned into a hurricane) decided to make an appearance at Cancun while we were there. We were still able to have a terrific time despite the cloudy skies. We just didn't get a good tan or enough time in the water.

Because we were staying at a Grand Oasis Resort we had access to the other Grand Oasis Resorts in the area. One day Wes and I went to another resort where the waves were known for being higher. Well, they were even higher than normal because of the storm. We rented boogie boards and had an adventure riding some really high waves. One time, I rode a wave right over two teenage boys. I didn't even touch them at all. Wes saw the whole thing. What a thrill! The rough waves really gave us a beating and we had to get out and rest at times. The next day we planned to go again with Blake and Karla, but the waves were too dangerous. The lifeguard even blew the whistle at Blake when he started to get in. (We can't take him anywhere!) :)

We had an amazing time and made lots of memories. Thanks Encalades for helping to make this possible and thanks Karla and Blake for joining us! We are blessed to have you for friends!

I love you, Bookie!



A yummy Asian restaurant we ate at overlooking the waves we had just boogie boarded in.


I think something bad is about to happen!


Cute couple - scary waves and storm.


Blue water - where are the blue skies?


Braving the strong winds and watching the amazing waves!

This was in the middle of one of the buildings at one of the other Grand Oasis Resorts.


Nice pose!

I am glad we didn't break the palm tree!


Shopping is fun for everyone! These masks were great!


Blake actually bought his mask and thought about wearing it in the airport, but decided airport security might not like that. Good decision Blake!



Love you all!

What a handsome guy!

The Pumpkin Patch and Fall Festivals

Abby and I joined Carrie, Sybil, Kristy, and Kyra for a trip to a local pumpkin patch. I was pretty impressed with the set up they had out there. First, the girls enjoyed watching a neat video on how a pumpkin starts from just a little seed. From there we headed to a fun maze which even gave the adults some trouble. After that, we petted a pig, and bunny, and fed chickens and goats grass. The kids played on the playground before getting on a hay ride to the pumpkin patch. At the pumpkin patch we dressed a naked scarecrow and had fun taking lots of pictures. The girls got to choose a little pumpkin, too. It was a fun outing for sure! (Avery was in school or she would have joined us. Next year I plan to take both girls.)

The three cutie pies!


They found each other in the maze!

Not sure what to think about the pig.

Abby's new friend.


She sure enjoyed those chickens!


On the bumpy hay ride.

I love ya, sweet Abby!

On top of the world! (or hay)


Abby feeling sorry for the poor naked scarecrow.

The scarecrow looked much better with his clothes on.


That was a lot of fun! We will be back next year!

We had our annual Fall Festival at the preschool. Dad and Gina joined us for this fun occasion. We spotted them in the parking lot dressed as a hobo couple. It was too funny! The girls loved it! Gina even had a stuffed dog on a leash to complete the costume. I was joking when I had talked with Dad earlier that day. The last think I told him was, "Don't forget your costume!" I was totally joking, but he and Gina got their creative minds working and pulled these outfits off in a few hours!

The girls had a ball, as usual, playing all the games, eating hot dogs, and going trick-or-treating.

Let the fun begin!


Grampy and Abby going fishing.


What will Avery catch?

On Halloween we had a terrific time at Park Avenue's Fall Festival. The weather was perfect and the girls enjoyed all the activities. Wes and I even got in the bounce house and jumped with them. It was a good work out! That night we took the girls trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. When we got back home the girls raced to the door every time the doorbell rang so they could pass out candy. As our candy began to dwindle I asked the girls if there was any candy in their buckets they would like to give other kids. They both shouted, "Yea!" so we dumped all their candy out and they picked out tons of candy to give away. That shocked me that they were willing to share their loot.

Good times with the family!

It's apple pickin' time!

Decorating pumpkins.

Thanks for painting my face Jessica!


Kayla concentrating on her lovely artwork.

Brittany was also Tinkerbell. I originally got this costume for Avery to be a butterfly, but she thought it looked more like Tinkerbell. Whatever!

Good To Go Back Home

A couple of weekends ago we went back to Abilene for our ten year college reunion at ACU. Yes, we are that old! I will always consider Abilene as one of my homes. (I guess I have three homes, Kenya, Abilene, and Denison.) I will always have fond memories of the 11 years I spent in that great town. (Notice I said "great" town not beautiful.) It was especially neat to take the girls and show them where I grew up and to show them ACU's campus. We even showed them one of my Christmas trees that we planted in our front yard when I was in middle school. It is really tall now and it brought back sweet memories of Christmas with my family. Wes and I drove them by different places we lived during our college years and shared stories of different things that had happened during our time in Abilene. It was pretty sweet that they actually cared and seemed interested.

When we arrived on Friday I headed to the Queen's Tea, an event that honored the homecoming queen nominees from 10 years ago, as well as this year's nominees. My good friend and old roommate, Holly, was being honored. The nominees got to invite friends and family. It was fun catching up with friends that I hadn't seen in a long time.

The nominees from our year and friends.

Soon after that I met up with Wes and the girls for some shopping at the ACU Bookstore, dinner with Paul and Audrey, Summer and Chad, Julia and Cory, and all their little kiddos. It was pretty fun watching all the kids get along like they had known each other for a while.

Julia, Baby Lila, Summer, Kristin, and I in the Campus Center.

Ava, Emma, Addie, Avery, and Abby had more fun pushing each other in the stroller and sliding in the Campus Center.

After dinner we went to the carnival. Yes, ACU does homecoming very well with lots of family oriented activities. The carnival was lots of fun! I was glad the girls were in good spirits despite the long day and no naps. The petting zoo was the biggest hit. The girls thoroughly enjoyed holding chicks and a bunny and feeding the goats and llama.

Abby trying to get the bean bag into the wildcat's mouth.


Let's try fishing!


Can we take it home, Mom?


What do you like better, the lollipop or the chick?


Could we at least take the bunny with us?


What a sweet bunny. I was afraid she was going to take off from Abby.


Goats with bandannas? Really?


Reaching up to the llama who is sporting a bandanna, too.

The carnival didn't wear us out too bad, so we kept the good times rollin'. We headed over to Taylor and Heather's house to visit and see even more friends. On a side note, Heather and I were in the same youth group at Hillcrest from 6th-12th grade. I am so thankful that they provided a place for all of us to get together and hang out and just catch up.

We headed back to the hotel pretty late that night which made me even more thankful that I had decided not to wake up for our club breakfast. Sorry ladies!

The next morning we met up with Alexis and her gang and Amy and Ginny for the homecoming parade. We had a good time watching the parade go by. It seemed like a bigger deal when we were actually in it. It seemed like we put an awful lot of effort into our floats for club. Ha!

Watching the parade.

After the parade we headed to Chapel. It was wonderful to worship once again in Moody Coliseum. We felt a little bad skipping out towards the end to meet our Denison ACU students at Betty Rose's Bar-B-Que. Amy and Ginny got to come with us, too. The girls had fun playing while we visited. Seeing all our old youth group members in Abilene brought my heart a lot of joy. Just knowing how much my experiences at ACU helped shape me made me happy that they were getting to experience some of the same things. The relationships and experiences are truly priceless!

I gave in to Wes and went to the football game. Thankfully, Amy and Ginny were there too, and we met up with some other friends once we got there.

Willie the Wildcat and some random boy who wanted to be in the picture. Was he hitting on our girls?

That night we had a special dinner just for our class. Childcare was provided which was a nice plus. About 180 people from our graduating class made it, which is awesome! We had some good laughs and shared some good times.

Best friends since middle school and high school. Lauren we missed ya!


It was wonderful to see Amy again. Her and her family are only in the states for less than a year before they head back to Paraguay where they are medical missionaries.



Hall-mates, roommates, we sure had a lot of fun together!


Cory and Julia - I have fond memories of doing our Bible study together and going on a Spring Break Campaign.


Summer and Chad - lots of fun times with you all, too.


Greg Jones and Wes - these two could get into some serious trouble together.

Crazy guys!

It was was truly a wonderful weekend! It was such a blessing to meet up with everyone again. There have been births, deaths, sickness, health, hard times and good times. But through it all we recognize that God is good. He does have a plan and He will take care of us. Sharing that belief with a large group of friends through the years provides strength and encouragement that really cannot be explained. Thank you God, for blessing us with great friends!

The Magical Hand from God...

OK, so I am struggling with what to title my blog entries these days. I decided on this particular title because of a funny story about Abby. Recently I walked into her room while she was standing in front of her chest of drawers with her back to me. I reached over her to get something off her chest of drawers and this is what she said, "Hey, you snuck up on me. I was like - is this a magical hand from God or something?" She sure keeps us laughing! She has some great facial expressions too. This can be great except if she is sad/mad/frustrated, then the whole world knows and starts asking, "What's wrong, Abby?" which often makes her even more upset.

Last Saturday Avery had her second soccer game. It was a very tight game, but they won 3-2. Avery scored the 2nd goal to tie the game. It was thrilling! We were so proud! I didn't think I would get so excited about a bunch of 6 year olds playing soccer, but I really do. Nana and Paw Paw came up for the game and then took the girls with them to Arlington.

Stretching before the big game.

There she goes...

This girl can hustle.

A proud hug from Daddy.

Snack time after the game.

The girls in their new dresses from Nana.

Wes and I joined Dad and Gina that night to go to a Teen Challenge of Ft. Worth annual banquet at the Bethesda Community Church where Gina used to attend when she lived in that area. Teen Challenge is a Christian drug and alcohol ministry for women ages eighteen and older. Gina volunteered with Teen Challenge while she lived there. It touched my heart to hear the ladies give their testimonies and pour their hearts out. You could tell that God had really been at work in their lives. I was also amazed that they were courageous enough to share their testimonies with such a large crowd. They also sang several songs. They were wonderful! I felt like I was in Sister Act. It was truly a powerful night!

On Wednesday evening Wes and Abby left for Houston. They picked up Blake and headed down to visit Wes's parents. Wes's dad has been undergoing proton therapy treatment for prostate cancer at MD Anderson. The doctors caught it early and the treatment has been going well.
The house felt empty with the two of them gone. I got a lot done while Avery was at school, and it was special getting to spend some one on one time with her. Right after school we headed to Nautilus for Kid Fitness where we had our first class of the fall. I had 14 kids which was awesome! I have so much fun doing fitness activities with them. My highlight was doing a special version of The Hokey Poky with weights. I would really enjoy being a P.E. teacher someday, I think. Avery was a little sad that I didn't let her participate in all the activities because I didn't want her to be too tired for her game. After Kid Fitness we headed to the soccer fields for Avery's make-up game. Her coach called us after Wes had already left for Houston to let us know that we had a make-up game. Wes was so bummed that he had to miss it. Thank goodness for texting! I tried my best to keep him updated. Her team won for the third time 4-0. The Denison Ponies are undefeated! I love it!

Tomorrow some of our middle school and high school girls and I will head down to the McDermott Road Church of Christ in Plano for Daughters of the King, a special conference for middle school and high school girls. It is an all day affair and I am looking forward to spending time with our girls and learning some new things.

I have to tell you one of my favorite things to eat lately - fruit smoothies. I make it with about 2 1/2 cups of sliced frozen strawberries, 1/2 cup of frozen blue berries and fat free, sugar free vanilla ice cream. I blend it in the blender and presto I have a delicious, healthy snack/dessert. The rest of the family enjoys them too.

Fall Fest... and stuff...

School and fall activities are in full swing around here. We are definitely in a routine now, and I am missing the spontaneity of summer. I am loving the cooler weather we have had lately. Last week we did not run our AC at all because it was so nice outside! It rained almost every day and we left our windows open. I love the freshness of rain and just letting the cool breeze in our house. Those of you who know me well, know that I love saving money too. I figure our retirement fund and the girls' college funds will thank me later.

Last weekend was Denison High School's Homecoming. We enjoyed the game which was, thankfully, not rained out. Some of our youth group girls were Homecoming Sweethearts or a Homecoming Nominee and a few of our guys were the escorts. It was neat to see them all dressed up. We had a blast cheering for them. The girls always have questions about the game. Some are pretty cute - I really need to write them down. As I was thumbing through the sports program I was showing Avery all the sports and band pictures. I told her that she might enjoy being a part of those activities when she got older. She replied, "No, I am just going to play soccer." She really does love it.

We had a great time on Tuesday night cheering on some of our teens who play volleyball for DHS. We have some pretty talented gals. There were some tense and exciting moments. It made me miss being a part of a team sport. Abby enjoyed dancing in the stands to the pregame music. Avery kept us informed of the score.

This Tuesday we started our Ladies Bible Study up again. This year, we decided to join a group from the Western Heights Church of Christ in Sherman. We are studying the book A Spirit for the Rest of Us by Tim Woodroof. Has anyone else read this? I would love to hear what you thought about it.

I had a routine conference with Avery's teacher this week. Mrs. Pughe wanted to go over Avery's TPRI and DIBELS scores. She scored above the goal set for the END of the year of first grade! Woo Hoo! She scored in the 95th percentile and above on several parts of the test. Yay! We were so proud of her. Last week the gifted and talented teacher worked with Avery on some activities to challenge her and she gave Mrs. Pughe some other ideas to use through out the year. We are so thankful to God that both of our girls love learning.

Lately, Abby has enjoyed working in some workbooks that Granny got her. They are just those Prekindergarten-Kindergarten workbooks that have fun educational activities for children to do. I don't ask her to do them. She just gets them out and starts working on them. Often, Avery and her play school and work on them. Avery has her own set for her grade level. I gave them stickers too that they like to give each other when they finish a page correctly. It is pretty cute to watch.

Speaking of "cute" - Abby made us laugh the other night at dinner. She made a funny face or something and I said, "Abby, you look cute!" She responded, "You look cute... but not as cute as God. He is the cutest!" We are pretty sure she came up with that because we often stress with the girls that we should love God over everything and everyone else. Abby has told us several times, "I love you, but not as much as I love God." Ha!

On Thursday I took Avery to the doctor. She has had this ongoing cough for a while. Some days she would only cough once or twice, other days it would be worse. She hasn't had any other symptoms: no runny nose, no fever. It really hasn't slowed her down at all. Two different nurses told me not to worry about it at first, but after a while I finally took her in. The doctor was pretty sure it was allergy related and put her on a prescription allergy pill and gave her an inhaler as well. Hopefully her allergies won't get as bad as mine were in elementary. I started getting allergies and asthma pretty bad in about the 4th grade. We had to get rid of my sister's cat (Heather, thanks for forgiving me for that), and I had to get a series of shots right away. Later on in high school I learned how to give myself shots on a weekly basis so that we wouldn't have to make a trip to the doctor's office all the time.

Friday ended the PTO fundraiser for Avery's school. My friend and I are the co-vice presidents and we were responsible for this year's fundraiser. We had to count all the money and make sure all forms were filled out accurately. We counted about $10,000 and we will have more trickle in this week. The PTO gets to keep half of what was brought in. It was a little stressful counting all that money and being responsible for all of it. I was glad that we were able to hand it off to our treasurer at the end of the day. The whole process took about 4 hours in the library at the school. I had Abby with me and she was awesome! She worked in her workbooks that she brought most of the time. She also ate her lunch and looked around the library. I was so glad she behaved and let us work. You just never know how it is going to be with a 4 year old sometimes, especially one that is missing her regular nap. :)

Yesterday, we went to Sherman's annual fall festival where the girls got to be in the Teddy Bear Parade with their dear friend, Sybil, once again. They had a lot of fun following the high school band around the block waving to the onlookers. We got a hoot out of Abby dancing down the street. She would push her bear in the stroller up ahead of her then dance to it. People on the sidewalks were cracking up too. Soon after the parade Grandpa joined us for lots of free crafts, bounce houses, and lunch.

Sybil, Avery, and Abby waiting for the grand Teddy Bear Parade.


Three amigos having a blast!


Abby and Avery in dance mode.

Abby stopping her jumping to say, "Hi".


Sybil and Avery having fun!


Bouncing never gets old for these three.


Waiting for the clown to make their balloon creations. Don't ask about Abby's meltdown when her strawberry balloon popped when it fell to the ground a few minutes after she got it. The clown kindly made another one for her when he saw her tears.

After lunch we rushed over to the soccer fields for Avery's first soccer game. She was supposed to have one last week. However, it had been raining 3 straight days; and while it looked like the rain might hold off, when we got there it started to drizzle. Surprisingly, the little girls didn't seem to mind and kept practicing and warming up. They were all set in their places to start the game when the ref blew the whistle saying the games were just called off. We were pretty bummed. We were all wet anyways, so a little drizzle wasn't going to hurt us. Oh well. We'll make that game up. Anyways, back to yesterday's game - it was so much fun! Our team, the Denison Ponies (don't laugh) won 6-0! Yay! Avery played great, hustling everywhere and defending our goal well. This was the first sports activity we have had where I got to cheer for our own girls. It was exhilarating! I am sure it is the first of many! We have cheered for our teens on numerous occasions. It is a different feeling when it is your own child. I was so into the game I didn't even get any pictures. Oh well, she has a game every Saturday, so surely I will get some decent pictures sometime. Abby cheered some for her sister, but mostly she played with Sybil and one of Avery's teammate's little brother. The Slechtas and Grandpa were kind enough to come support Avery.

Avery about to make a goal at soccer practice the day before.


Abby patiently watching her sister practice and working in her workbooks.

This next question is for those of you who are going to ACU's Homecoming. Wes and I are planning on attending since it is our 10th year reunion. Are any of you going to the dinner on Saturday night? If you are, are you bringing your kids? I know they have childcare, but I thought it might be neat to see each others children. I am torn...

Here's one last picture of the girls snuggled up together watching Between the Lions. I love how much they love each other.

Last Year of Preschool

At last the big day arrived for Abby. She was super excited to go to preschool today and to be in Mrs. Mann's class. Mrs. Mann gave us an information sheet about all the things they will be doing in her class this year. It sounds so fun and interesting I kind of wish I could be in there with Abby.

My first day went great too. It started with a delicious breakfast provided by the school board. When all my little students arrived the day went so much smoother and calmer than the first day last year. There was really just one student who cried off and on through out the morning. Thanks God for answering many prayers about this day. I guess the highlight would have to be the little puppet show I put on for them to illustrate our classroom rules. I really had them cracking up. It was fun!

Here is Abby with her Western Heights Preschool tote ready for her last year of preschool (sniff, sniff).

First Grade and Other New Beginnings...

Our week started off by taking Avery to First Grade. Just writing that makes me a little sad again. The girls are growing up way too fast! Avery has had a wonderful first week. She still has a whopping 12 students in her class. She came home every day telling us about all the neat things she got to do that day. She especially liked the reading loft in her room where they get to take turns reading. I am so thankful that Avery loves to learn and be at school. I often pray about this so I give God all the glory. She has already taken the STAR test which helps determine their reading level. The test determined that she was on a 2.6 reading level which means she is reading like an average 2nd grader in their 6 month of school. She gets to check out books from the library that are on the 2.4-3.4 reading level. Her teacher told us that it will be a challenge for her to make sure Avery has material and activities on her level. The gifted and talented teacher (who is also a friend and member of our church) is going to give her ideas. Wes and I are thrilled.

Ready for First Grade?


Avery and her teacher, Mrs. Pughe.


Her new backpack. Avery likes the fact that her lunch box matches it and can snap on the outside of the bag. I picked this out at Old Navy on a great sale this summer. Thankfully Avery loved it too. I am pretty sure she would have picked out some pink backpack with Disney Princesses on it, if I had let her choose one all by herself. Sorry, I just get tired of pink and princess stuff. Does anyone else feel that way? How long do you think I can get away with "helping" her choose her things? Ha!


Her first day before Kindergarten last year. She looks so little.

Wes, Abby, and I went to eat lunch with Avery on Friday. We had a great time eating our yummy Sonic, visiting with Avery and her friends and playing with them on the playground. Poor Abby was very sad when it was time for us to leave.

Friday was also the day of Avery's first soccer practice. Wes took her shopping last week to get her soccer shoes (pink and black) and shin guards (pink). Several days before the first practice Avery put on all her gear and enjoyed wearing it around the house. One day she had her soccer gear on with a ballerina outfit. I should have taken a picture. Wes has enjoyed practicing soccer with her. Wes will be the assistant coach but could not make the first practice due to very important business (aka fantasy football draft with his buddies). Avery did a great job blocking some attempts at goals when she was assigned to be the goal keeper . She also hustled very hard when she was not the goalie. Other parents commented on how fast she was and how much she hussled. She loved it! She was pooped when she got home. Abby had fun watching and cheering for her. She would give me stems of grass and tell me we had to wave it and yell, "Go Avery!" She is her sister's best cheerleader, I am pretty sure. That just warms my heart. Abby also enjoyed running lines along the sidelines as Avery's team ran.

Saturday night we had family game night. We played Princess Checkers, Princess Bingo, and a Dora ABC game. Good times! Abby has really matured and does not get upset when she looses a game. Last night she was running around saying, "Avery got a Bingo! Avery got a Bingo!"

Abby has been counting down the days until preschool starts. We begin tomorrow. Abby's teacher is going to be awesome! She is very sweet and upbeat and I know Abby is going to have a great time.

I am a little nervous about tomorrow, I have to admit. The first couple of days are always hard with my two year old class. They are two - need I say more? There are usually lots of tears. But, I am hoping the calm kids will keep Carrie and I laughing with all the silly things they do and say.

Wes has been busy with his grad classes lately. He is pursuing a masters in Conflict Resolution from ACU. Most of the classes are online and he is really enjoying it. He took some classes last year, but he took a break when all the cancer stuff came up. He has made excellent grades so far, mostly 100's. I am proud of him!

I will let you know how tomorrow goes...