The last four months.....

Oh my goodness....it has been 4 months since my last blog. Isn't that horrible. So if there is anyone out there actually reading this I thought I better update. So I pulled my cyber rear over here and actually logged in to do it.

I would like to put a plug out there for facebook. I have recently joined and absolutely LOVE it. It is so fun and easy to find long lost friends and family on there. It is also very easy to stay connected and communicate with all of them. So much easier than reading through a million blogs all the time. Anyhow I only accept people that I know as friends on there. So if you know me...search for my name on facebook.com.

Now for my update:

In August James had a wonderful swim party with a giant water slide thanks to Daddy:

Justin also took James for a Father/Son camp out to Caddo lake this month. They both had a wonderful time. Justin took some gorgeous pictures of the Lake!

I have to brag about how beautiful my flower garden turned out this year!!! Thank you Oma for all the wonderful seeds. I am hooked now and have to plant them every year!

October was a fun filled month:

Fishing with Daddy at Lake Gladewater

We went to a neat festival in Jefferson called Buckskins and Bar-B-Q where they had old time reenactments. We then had fun walking around Jefferson looking at the sights and eating ice cream at the old general store!

The kids went on a camping trip with my Mom and had a lot of fun.

Justin and Callie went to a Father/Daughter dinner at our church.

Halloween was especially fun at our church's festival called Farm Fair. James and Callie were both leopards and Josh was Tigger. MEOW!

In November we met some friends in Shreveport. The kids had fun playing at Chucky Cheese and we had a nice visit with our friends. We also walked around the Shreveport river walk area for a while. Here is a picture of the kids in a neat indoor botanical area.

We just had a wonderful Thanksgiving time visiting with family. My family was here at our house for Thanksgiving day and then we went to Dallas on Friday to be with Justin's family for the weekend. The kids really enjoyed playing with their cousins.s!I just learned to crochet hats! Doesn't she look cute?

This school year is off to a good start. We just completed our term 1 for the year. Our year is broken down into 3, 12 week terms. We are now in the midst of doing an Exam week where we review what we have learned during the first term.

Callie and James really enjoyed the home school soccer that they participated in the first part of the year and are really enjoying their violin lessons. I am also loving the lessons because I am learning along with them!!

And last but not least... today was Justin's birthday! We went out to eat and came home to celebrate with cake. My Mom, Step-dad and brother were here to help us celebrate. We put on a little violin concert for them for entertainment. "I can't believe I'm 36!! "

Happy Birthday Callie!

My sweet little daughter turned 7 last month. Here she is getting her breakfast in bed on her big day. She is getting old WAY too fast. I just brought her home from the hospital and now she has just informed me today that her favorite color is NOT pink anymore. Her entire life, her favorite color has been pink and now it is GREEN....this is a momentous step in the life of a girl. She wants to get rid of all her barbies and baby dolls (which by the way she has never really played with anyway) and wants to make her room into a jungle rain forest room. She begs me almost everyday for some sort of reptile as a pet. She really wants a snake.....Ewwwwww. I told her no way and she would have to settle for some jungly looking fish. We got her some but they soon died. So when Daddy gets the fish tank "just right" we will try to introduce more.

I'm so proud of her individuality and adventurous spirit. Or should I say independent mind....she says she is "independent" like Thomas Jefferson. She checked out a really cute book from the library called, "John, Paul, George, & Ben" by Lane Smith. It is a very humorous look at how our founding fathers might have acted as boys. She has read that book over and over again. In our homeschooling we have studied American History by reading living biographies of George Washington and Ben Franklin by Ingri and Parin D'Aulaire. We have enjoyed them so much.

Several months before her birthday when I asked her what kind of party she wanted she said,"Mom, can I have a presidents party....you know...we could decorate the house with all the presidents and you could put them on my cake!" Now THAT makes a homeschooling mother's heart proud! I had a good laugh over that one....not letting on to her that there was anything funny in that! Of course she soon changed her tune to wanting a jungle party..but hey... the thought was what counted, right :)

Since all but me were sick around her birthday, we had to postpone her party to a couple of weeks later but she had a wonderful time with her friends!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Justin celebrated his 35th birthday on Dec 3rd! We were blessed to have Uncle Mike there to celebrate with us. I made Justin's favorite Pina Colada cake and beef stroganoff!!! Yummy!