This is Amy.

She is one of the sweetest most determined gals I know. When she asked if we could have a little get together to celebrate the A she made on her college final I of course said yes.





She reminds me that I can always reach a little higher and do a little better and I am lucky she likes being my friend almost as much as I like being hers.






This is most of Pack 732.


They are rowdy, fun, energetic little guys who I get to work with in the Cub Scouting program. Jared and I were able, with generous help from other leaders and parents, to travel with them into Houston to lay Christmas wreaths on headstones in the Veteran's cemetary. I felt the spirit so strong as I watched these eager little boys traipse through the mud in the rain laying evergreen wreaths beneath the names of selfless heroes. They did it with huge smiles on their faces. My kids and Sarah's kids even got to lay a wreath on their Papaw's grave. It was a really great experience.

This is Aunt Lisa.


She would do absolutely anything for anyone including me and so I was eager to help when she asked me if I knew how to stain cabinets. (Even though the answer was no) So Jared gave me a little crash course (okay, I was eating cookies while he gave Jen a crash course) and me and Faith and Jen trekked up to Austin to see what we could manage.

When we got there the cabinets looked like this:

Twelve hours, a midnight run to Wal-mart, another to the hardware store, six attempts on an "inconspicuos" inside part of a cabinet, 25 iced oatmeal cookies, 6 liters of coke, 25 times sending the dog out of the kitchen for eating the stain, 122 m&ms, a lasagna, one minor pants-sticking episode and an entire can of easy cheese (that one was all me) later,

the cabinets looked like this.

Good times. Now I need a nap!

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The kids had a great time on our one before mentioned snow day building








this guy






Here's Faith, Matthew and Madison after giving a stellar performance in their schools rendition of Wizard of Oz. They were munchkins











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And this was my view this morning as I stretched on my driveway after a run. It was beautiful.

SNOW

In Houston. Fereel.

Back with a Recap

It's been a long time, which included a blog hiatus for me. I'm back and will not bore you with too many details of what we have been up to. Let me address first the finale of Liz Pabst visits Dr. Wiglady. My bloodwork looked good. She said I was pretty healthy, slightly low on vitamin D and that I eat way too much sugar...duh. My billyrubin was funky and she did a urine analysis (anyone else have trouble catching their pee in a dixie cup?) to find out more about that. She said I must take too much Tylenol...and I do...everyday when my kids come home. Thanks Miss Piggy. Well, all done with that. Diagnosis is still: Plum Crazy.

Okay, for the recap:

In October we went on our annual camping trip with my mom's bro and sis and their fams. The kids had a ton of fun doing all things campish. I captured the best picture ever of the kids enjoying, with a surprising amount of euphoria, playing in a tent.






































Then, Halloween with Faith as a surfer, Ethan as a zombie skateboarder and Harris as a viking.




















































In November, Ethan played his last football game. They polished off the season with a big win and a fieldside, trophy-awarding ceremony in which the coach (that's Jared) described each boy's talents. It sounded a lot like "Travis, well, he's a skinny boy, but he sure did like to play football." and "Caleb, well, he's the shortest kid on the team but he's not the slowest." Way to go, Coach!
Faith also played her last volleyball game but I forgot my camera. Way to go, me!
I am thrilled that our sports encrusted Saturdays are on hold until Harris starts baseball in the Spring.
























Amid everything, Harris had eye surgery. Just an outpatient deal that corrected his out turned lazy eyes he inherited from yours truly. I also had the corrective surgery in case you were rudely going to admit that you had noticed that about me.
He did great and woke up from surgery exclaiming, "Am I in heaven?" He later wished aloud that he had said, "Am I dead?" It was all a calculated act though grandma still believes.



















Last but not least, though I have no pictures was Thanksiving. We had 40 folks at my mom's and it was great.




Oh, and just for fun I thought I'd share a photo of the hole burned into the top of my fridge by the light bulb when the fridge door was left open all night by.....the world will never know. I literally hugged the fridge and prayed over the $200 worth of groceries I had bought the day before that were resting at room temperature inside. We ate them all and lived.