50's Day at Trinity!

The kids celebrated their 50th day of school by going all 50's at Trinity! They had a sock hop, ice cream floats and pizza in the "diner" a dance off, and of course, wore their best 50's outfits! They even had a costume contest with trophies for the winners ;) When I went to the gym for the pep rally it looked like a scene from Happy Days, so cute! The teachers and principal even participated ;) I was teaching that day, but was able to sneak away from my classroom and steal some pics of Lex and Noah enjoying their day, thanks to my wonderful co-workers who watched my class for me!

My mother made Lexi's skirt, I helped by ironing on the poodle and her leash...obviously I don't sew, sorry Mom! She did a great job, I think Alexis looked beautiful! Noah, my sweet little Noah ;) well, he made such an adorable greaser! The school really put a lot of work into 50's day, the kids loved it! Noah said it was the best day ever! Now I just wonder what they are going to do for the 100th day of school!!

My little chef's ;)

We love to cook as a family! We have a lot of fun in the kitchen together and it is usually where you can find us! It is truly the heart of our home! The kids love to cook, and are actually both a big help. Some of my fondest memories with my own mother are in the kitchen! She is such a great cook, and made all of those fantastic comfort foods every mother makes (the tortilla soup on my Oliveoilandsalt.blogspot.com blog is her 'original' recipe, I have just modified it to my own taste!). They STILL taste the same today when she cooks them :) I thought I would share a few pics of my kiddos in the kitchen!

First day of school

First of all, it has been WAY to long since I have blogged! I went back to work shortly after starting this blog, and well, just didn't have time honestly! I am still working (teaching), but only part time now, and I have had a few months to adjust to juggling work, family and myself! I figured I would just start fresh and blog about the kids first day back to school!

Always exciting ;)

Alexis is in third grade now!! Can you believe it? What happened to my baby? Please God make it slow down! Noah Scott started Kindergarten, I cried...he didn't!! He was SO ready! He marched right in like the big boy he is and waved goodbye! Noah is a year younger than Lex was when she started. It is amazing how much difference a year makes, he seems so much smaller and younger!! They are both doing great in school and have adjusted to their schedules well. This is nothing new to Lex, but for Noah, he has never even attended pre-school! With his severe allergy to peanuts and his sever eczema, we have always kept him home with me. We were very worried as to how he was going to adjust to the rigorous schedule, the work, the long days etc. but he seems to be loving school, so thank God for that! His school also made their facility peanut free, what a sweet blessing! I am in the classroom down the hall from Noah, I love being able to sneak a peak every once in a while ;) Here are a few pics from their first day!

Trinity Lutheran School 2010

This is Lex with her bestie Sammie ;)

"Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it."

-Proverbs 22:6

Girl's Night!

(Me, Rach and Megs at the first SATC premiere in 2008)

Oh, how I love these nights ;) I don't get them very often, so I try and enjoy every minute of it! Two years ago, on (literally) the night before we moved back to Houston from San Antonio, my best friends, Meg and Rach took me to see the premiere of the Sex and the City movie, we had SO much fun, but then again, we always do! Rach is still living in SA (she is from here, but moved there after I did, and hasn't come home yet, I'm still waiting...). Megs moved back to Houston, but is actually in SA working on a class for her Master's degree and is staying with Rach for a few weeks, so now that SATC 2 has come out, I am a little sad they aren't here to enjoy it with me, I am going with other girls that I love, but I do wish they were here too :( On these nights it makes me think about how blessed I am to have such wonderful friends, friends that love me, and my family, unconditionally. They are so dear to my heart, and I am so thankful for them. None of them have children, and by the time they do have children, I think mine will be teenagers! So, my kiddos have lots of Auntie's that love them dearly, another reason I am so thankful for my friends, because they love my children so very much, and that means the world to me.

I wish you were here Meg and Rach! I love and miss you both! Rachel, MOVE HOME!!! Love, love, love... ;)

Take me out to the ball game!

James surprised me with an impromptu date night Friday, he is so sweet ;) This was a very casual date, which is probably my favorite kind! Now, if you know me, you know how much I LOVE to get dressed up and eat at my fav's, however, there is something about not worrying about what your wearing, not worrying about reservations, just throwing something on and enjoying eachother, without all the fluff :) We went to Cheddar's for dinner (where I had THE BEST portabello mushroom sandwich!) Then we headed to an Astro's game (they won!!) and ended the night with Starbucks (another one of my fav's). I absolutely love my date nights with James, he is such an amazing husband and is definitely my best friend, I always enjoy spending time with him. Here are a few pics from last night...

A few weeks ago, someone had said they didn't know what date nights were anymore. They hadn't had one in so long they honestly couldn't remember when they had spent alone time together. This made me really sad. While I do understand a busy schedule, and trust me, I really do understand! It made me think about marriages/relationships, and the fact that we become complacent, we become too comfortable and sometimes take advantage of these relationships. It is so important to not become so comfortable that we forget to spend quality time with eachother. This can greatly strengthen your marriage as well as teach your children the importance of fostering relationships. I do understand that we are in difficult economic times, if you really can't afford a date night, have a date night in! When James and I lived in San Antonio, and didn't really have a sitter, we would do this often. We would wait until the kids went to bed, and would cook a dinner for ourselves (together), set the table (white table cloth, candles etc.) and just enjoy eachother. There were a few times we would get a sleepy child sneaking down the stairs, but it was ok ;) Usually though, it really felt like we were on a date and with no closing time to worry about! Take the time to spend quality time with your spouse, whether it be a fancy date, a casual date, a picnic, a quick lunch date, or a date night in, it will be incredibly beneficial for your marriage, yourself and your children.

"These three remain: Faith, Hope and Love, but the greatest of these is Love."

1 Corinthians 13:13

Brownie Girl Scouts!

This first pic is Lex after we got home showing off her decked out Brownie vest ;)

Here is our group of girls (missing a few)! My mom is there in the background ;)

Noah, cousin Lauren and Uncle Mike

Alexis and Addison (Uh, love your facial expression here Sue!!)

The food! Always my favorite part ;)

Yesterday afternoon was Lexi's last meeting of Girl Scouts for the school year *sigh*. We had an end of the year event where all of the parents were invited. The leaders, who are Jackie, Susan and myself, put together a skit for the parents (performed by the girls), an awesome slide show and also an awards ceremony. The girls earned the remainder of their try-it patches, awards for cookie sales and Brownie bucks! The Brownie bucks were SO cute, they earned these throughout the year with good behavior, and they were allowed to 'shop' with their bucks. I love being able to help lead this troop, they are truly an amazing bunch of girls! My fellow leaders are just awesome to work with and Brownies has to be my favorite activity Lexi is involved in. I am so excited to help lead this troop again next year! Thanks for a great year girls!!

P.S. we are supposed to take the girls on their second camping trip this summer, if only I can get a certain someone on board...hint, hint, no pressure ;)

"On my honor, I will try:

To serve God and my country,

To help people at all times,

And to live by the Girl Scout law."

Yes Lord, I Hear You Loud and Clear!!

Ever have one of those moments? The kind where you KNOW God is speaking to YOU! Well, I had one of those moments on Monday at my last MOPS meeting of the year *sigh* I won't be going back next year, as I will be a full time teacher, very sad, I love MOPS!! Anyhow, I guess I have to explain the background story before I tell you how God spoke to me. There is a woman that I have frequent contact with, and she is very pushy, loud and can be downright rude! She has offended me on more than one occasion, and not only me, but many of those around her, including a good friend of mine (at least I have someone else that understands!). I don't want to go into too much detail, simply because, I just don't need to, I need to bite my tongue! This is a very difficult thing to do at times. Especially when you have tried consistently to let it go, to be kind and understanding, but then it comes back to bite you in the behind! You can only take so much before certain emotions take over, you know? Well, during our MOPS meeting, our guest speaker for the day spoke about certain people that are in your life that can make you feel this way, angry, frustrated, annoyed, hurt etc. She went into detail about things they can do or say to you that make you harbor negative feelings towards them. Everything she said was specific to MY situation. The way this person acts, the way they make me feel, etc. The speaker then had us write down the initials of this 'person' on a tag, we were instructed to tie the tag to our purse/bag or self. I tied mine to the inside of my purse (as I mentioned before, I see this person often!) Our guest speaker told us that even in these types of situations we must step back and not let our emotions take control. We need to honor God by taking control of our feelings and the way we act towards these people. We need to not harbor anger, but pray for this person. The tag is to serve as a reminder to pray for this particular person and to remember that we are all forgiven.

Now, within the last few weeks, I had become increasingly annoyed with the 'person' and had expressed some feelings towards it. I knew that I was allowing myself to become angry and probably somewhat bitter. I prayed about it and asked God to show me the good in that person, to grant me with restraint, understanding and patience. When I heard the message from our guest speaker, I knew God was speaking to me. It was what I needed to hear in order to really let go and let God! While I will never be best friends with this person ;) I won't harbor such strong negative feelings towards them, I will be more patient and I will let things go. I will remember that we ALL fall short of his glory. Most importantly, I will pray for this person, and I will pray often. God speaks to us in all different ways, and it is up to us to LISTEN, it is up to us to HEAR him, and it is up to us to UNDERSTAND him.

Enjoy your day everyone! I will be posting later with pics of Lexi's last Brownie meeting of the year, which is this afternoon!

Trinity Lutheran's School Play

Alexis was in her school play last Friday night, and it was sooooo cute!! Let me tell you, Trinity puts on a good show! They really go all out, and all of the students worked very hard, it was a great show. A few women, and myself, choreographed the dance for the second grade students. The theme for the play was friendship, and is was based around Disney characters and Disney songs. The second graders sang and danced to Peter's Pan's Never Smile at a Crocodile, & Following the Leader. Alexis was a pirate in the play, a girl pirate of course ;) and she was just adorable! I was so proud of my little pirate!

Here she is in her little pirate outfit ;) She is missing her sword and pirate hat, but you get the idea ;) Can't wait for next year's play!

There's no place like home...

I headed out to Lipan this past weekend! Now, for all of my 'city' friends, I imagine your tilting your head as your reading this ;) Lipan is about 60 miles west of Fort Worth, its a tiny little town of about 400 people, and it is where I grew up, on a cattle farm. Lipan holds a piece of my heart, it will always be a special place to me.

The reason for my visit was because every May we have the Allison Baptist Church homecoming, this is basically a family reunion for me. I have been attending this homecoming since my mother was pregnant with me. My grandmother, great grandparents and even great great grandparents belonged to Allison, so it holds a lot of family history for me. Behind the church is a cemetery where my grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends are buried. I love visiting the cemetery, I head straight for my Grandmother so that I can have my yearly conversation with her. My grandmother was by far, one of the most influential people in my life. She was about my height 5'1 and very tiny, but we called her Bigmama, go figure! She was very feisty (I not only get my height from her, but also my attitude!) and she was also an amazing mother and grandmother. Family and God were the most important things in life to her, it's what she lived for, I can't even begin to explain how much I miss her, and how sad it makes me that she didn't make it to see me grow up. I imagine it will be her that meets me at the pearly gates ;)

It was really a fun weekend for our family, we traveled with my mother, which was awesome to spend the weekend with her as well. I don't get enough time with my mom, she is one of the busiest people I know! It was nice to see her relax a bit ;) I hope ya'll enjoyed your weekend as well!

Here are a few pics from the Homecoming...

So just what do you say on these things?

I love reading other's blogs, I love keeping up with friends and family, especially those that live far away! I'm not sure anything I have to say will be all that interesting, but I think I will have fun documenting my life. Maybe this way I will be able to see where all my time went!

So far this morning, Noah and I shared a smoothie and played with his new friend Rupert! James found this little guy at his job site yesterday and brought him home for the kids to see. Poor Rupert is ready to be set free I'm afraid ;) I will have to break Noah's heart soon, but for now, he is happily pushing his new best friend around in his monster truck!




Hopefully I will get this blogging thing down, I think this was pretty good for my first try ;) I hope you enjoy reading about my little family that I am so very proud of!