Catch up continued

We went to the zoo over Spring Break with my sister and her family. We had a lot of fun. Here is a picture of the kids. Look how enthusiastic Marjorie is (lower left corner).

Bryan took most of the pictures so they have bars in front of them or fingers covering them. Here is a good one of a hippo.

Random picture: Bryan often likes to play with his clothes hamper when it is empty. Our friend Tim was over here one evening and all of the boys decided to play aliens with their hampers. It was probably stinky in there!

Bryan also had his first baseball game. Here are some pictures. He is on the Hawks. His team says a cheer before every game. I was explaining this to my mother-in law the other day, I said their cheer is, "Hawks, hawks see us soar!" Bryan quickly corrected me, "No, Becca its, 1-2-3 hawks, hawks, see us soar!"

Catch up

Well we have had a lot happen in the last couple of weeks. Jonathan's car died and we had to buy a new one in a weekend. Luckily we had enough savings to pay cash for the car and did not acquire a new car payment. It is a blue Honda Accord similar to the white one below, but the doors were not what was represented. We were really disappointed when we got there to buy the car, but we decided that somehow we could live with normal doors.

We will have to sell Jonathan's car. It has a cracked head and whoever buys it will have to know how to work on cars. I guess we will put an ad in the Thrifty Nickel or something.

We did have an Easter with snow and I finally have some pictures to show you. I had to wake Bryan up early on Sunday morning to play before it all melted away. Unfortunately we were in Austin during the snowfall so we didn't get to see that, but we did enjoy the drive home with all of the snow on the sides of the road.

Here is our snowman, notice the Easter candy that we used for the buttons and eyes and the branches with leaves for the arms.

Here is a picture of Bryan in the snow

New car

We got a new car this weekend. Bryan especially likes the cool doors.

Update

We have found out that CPS cannot offer any assistance with our adoption of Bryan, but we are still in good spirits. We feel like God has taken care of us through this whole process and he will continue to do so.

We talked to Bryan's mom about the adoption and while it was hard for her, I think that she understands its necessity. Jonathan and I are really ready to have everything finalized and we are hoping that it will be a swift process. From what I have read online, family adoptions usually have less red tape.

Please keep us, Bryan and my sister in your prayers as we go through this process.

We hope that all of you are doing well! I will post on Bryan's first baseball game soon.

Away

I'm so sorry guys. I'm so behind on my blog! I haven't even talked to my sister about her new puppy even though she called me 4 days ago! Please bear with me and enjoy this picture while I am away.

Spring Break

We had a very good Spring Break. I got to hang out with my mom Wednesday morning and evening. I got to see an old friend from high school and I am officially an adult because she helped me open a retirement savings account. I also got to hang out with my sister and her family while we all went to the San Antonio zoo. Then one of my nephews came back to Temple and spent the night. It was nice to have some one-on-one time with him.

I can't believe the week is already over and I am back to the grind tomorrow. I don't really have much to say except, yuck! I hope all of you had a nice time too.

Our Soma

Our preacher, Toby, was talking about "Brave New World" in his sermon. I read it in high school, but I don't really remember it. He was talking about the fact that these people were controlled by a pill that they called their "soma." They would work all day and then when they got off work they were handed a pill that made them happy. One day they were denied the soma and they were angry and didn't know what to do.

Toby brought a TV up on the stage and told us that in our society the TV is our soma. He challenged all of us to spend an entire week without the TV. He said that we needed to give God time to work in our lives and not just give him our leftover time. Jonathan and I haven't followed through completely, but we have reduced our TV time this week. Last night we went out to Jack in the Box for dinner then headed over to Wal-Mart. I can't remember the last time that we all went shopping in an evening during the week. It was nice that we didn't have to rush home to get Bryan to bed.

Then when we got home we turned on our new jazz cd's and danced in the kitchen. It was a blast. Bryan and I were fighting over a turn with Jonathan. Then Jonathan sat down with me at the table to try and figure out how to sew up the crotches in all of his jeans. He seems to always break the crotch in his jeans at work. I am tired of the holes, but didn't know how to fix them. I have a sewing machine that my mom got me (Thanks Mom!) but I haven't used it a whole lot.

So Jonathan and I started by figuring out how to put some more thread on the bobbin and put it back in. After a call to Mom and consulting the manual, we figured it out. Then we started on the first pair of jeans, the needle broke. So we got to learn how to load a needle. We were successful and we sewed up the first pair of jeans. It doesn't look really pretty, but I think it will work.

Little League

So I know that it has been forever since my last post, but Spring Break starts tomorrow and I have some free time on my hands so here goes. Bryan started little league baseball last week and I quickly discovered that Belton is serious about baseball!

We went to the parents meeting for our team and the coach was talking about how he would always play every single child in every game because he felt that it was important. He said last year some parents took their kids off of this team because they thought that the bad kids should sit on the bench and let the good kids play, what is this, the major leagues?

I am very thankful for our coach. He is a very nice man and seems to be a man of God. He is very kind and patient with the kids and he seems to really know what he is doing. They did drills the whole practice that I was at and there was very little time when the kids were standing around. He even invited Bryan over on tomorrow to practice hitting. I think that this will be great for Bryan socially. Oh and God answered a prayer. There are a total of 16 teams in his division and out of all of them, his best friend ended up on the same team as him. God answers prayers!

The flu shot doesn't always work

I have been getting the flu shot every year since I became a teacher. I do work with a lot of snotty-nosed kids who are sick a lot. Not their fault I know, but its the truth. Well I have been struggling to get over a sinus infection for 2 1/2 weeks and Tuesday night I started running fever. I was shivering so much that I couldn't sleep. So I went back to the doctor and he said that I had the flu on top of my sinus infection. Great!

So my experience with the flu has been all sleeping. I slept off and on for about 30 hours before I started to feel better. I am still a little tired, but I am up and around and even cleaned the kitchen this morning.

Jonathan has been absolutely wonderful while I have been sick. He wouldn't let me get out of bed because I needed to rest. He made 2 trips to the grocery store after he has worked a 10 hour day and picked up Bryan from daycare. He fixed me soup and eggs. What a great hubby.

Precious

Tonight I came home and did not feel like making anything special for dinner, so I pulled out a voila meal and VOILA! It actually turned out to be really good so as Jonathan was putting his bowl in the sink, he said, "It was really good babe, thanks for slaving over the stove." Bryan piked up and said, "Yea Becca thanks for sleeping on the stove." Jonathan and I laughed so hard!

On another note: We got new living room furniture today. We got a loveseat, chair and entertainment center. We had to get the loveseat because the couch was way too long and we finally decided that our living room is just really small. But it looks nice so we will be happy. Pictures to come...

I found out that I was "annoying" :(

I am posting for Scott. He sent me a text message yesterday telling me that Karen's birthday had come and gone and it was time for me to update. So here goes.

Random thoughts:
The headband! I recently rediscovered the headband, I know its from the 80's, but it is very sensible. I can simply put some mouse in my hair, throw a headband on and I'm ready to go! It did make me realize that I have a big head though. Monday I wore one all day to work and it gave me a headache because it was a little tight. I had to make a run to Wal-Mart to buy the extra large size.

Bryan is starting to expand his vocabulary. He has been using some big words. Here is an example of a recent conversation.

Setting: Becca and Emily are sitting in the living room talking about her quilt when I hear:

Bryan: (yelling from the kitchen) "Becca you are annoying me!!!"

Becca: "How am I annoying you?"

Bryan: "I have been yelling your name and you didn't even listen!"

Becca: "Oh you mean that I am ignoring you."

Bryan: "That's what I said."


Last night I got to go to a tupperware party at one of my friend's houses. So Jonathan had her husband and some other guys over. Jonathan just got a new surround sound system for Christmas. His wife really loves him. This would have been the perfect opportunity to show off his system to the guys. But unfortunetaly he had to unhook it last week because we bought a new entertainment center and we had to clear the area (Our TV is sitting on our coffee table, its a nice look). But because of ice and other complications we have still not recieved our entertainment center and it was not here for the guys night. Maybe next time. I could tell this morning when I got up that guys had been in my kitchen. Everything that they had used was left open. I'm glad that we don't have ants.

Well those are all of my random thoughts, I hope you enjoyed them!

Happy Birthday Karen!

Today is my sister's birthday! Her blog is linked to the right if you want to check it out. I hope that you have a wonderful birthday Karen.

Adventure with Grandma

This is a story that one of my friends forwarded to me. It is very sweet and helps us remember the real Christmas spirit.

I remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was just a kid. I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my big sister dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," she jeered. "Even dummies know that!" My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her world-famous cinnamon buns. I knew they were world-famous, because Grandma said so. It had to be true.

Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me. "No Santa Claus!" she snorted. "Ridiculous! Don't believe it. That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad. Now, put on your coat, and let's go."

"Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn't even finished my second world-famous, cinnamon bun. "Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days. "Take this money," she said, "and buy something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for you in the car." Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's.

I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping. For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten- dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for.

I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids at school, the people who went to my church. I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs.Pollock's grade-two class. Bobby Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never went out for recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew that BobbyDeckerdidn't have a cough, and he didn't have a coat. I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby Decker a coat!

I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that. "Is this a Christmas present for someone?" the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down. "Yes," I replied shyly. "It's ... for Bobby." The nice lady smiled at me. I didn't get any change, but she put the coat in a bag and wished me a Merry Christmas.

That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat in Christmas paper and ribbons (a little tag fell out of the coat, and Grandma tucked it in her Bible) and wrote, "To Bobby, From Santa Claus" on it --Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy. Then she drove me over to Bobby Decker's house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially one of Santa's helpers.

Grandma parked down the street from Bobby's house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk. Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she whispered, "get going."

I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his doorbell and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma. Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobby.

Fifty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my Grandma, in Bobby Decker's bushes. That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were: ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team.

I still have the Bible, with the tag tucked inside: $19.95.

Merry Christmas

Hello out there!

Well I know that it has been over a month since my last post, but better late than never, right? Last night we had our Festival of Choirs. Five elementary schools got together and our choirs all sang on one stage. It was really awesome! I got to conduct the piece that our choir sang by themselves and my coworker got to conduct a piece that all of them sang together. She did really well.

Today Bryan and I had to wake up early to go and pick up our car. Jonathan gave us a ride on his way to work. Bryan suggested that we get donuts for breakfast on our way home, I gave in. We came home and worked on our Christmas shopping list and then headed out to Wal-Mart. I bought most of our gifts today. I haven't bought Bryan or Jonathan's presents yet. I couldn't buy Bryan's today because he was with me and I have to go to Austin to get Jonathan's present. I hope that he likes it! I would say what it is, but sometimes he reads this.

Tomorrow we have a Christmas party to go to at church. We are both supposed to bring a white elephant gift, $5. I'm not sure what to get, if you have any suggestions, let me know. The boys usually buy gag gifts, but the girls usually buy normal things.

I have been thinking about laminate flooring a lot lately. I think that it is because our carpet is so stained and I'm really tired of it. I'm a little nervous about laminate flooring though because you can't just vacuum it. I might have to buy one of those expensive swifers, I've heard that they work really well. I hope all of you have a wonderful Saturday.

Up late

So I am having trouble sleeping this week. I wake up around 3 because I have a teeny weeny bladder and then I can't go back to sleep. I just keep thinking about things. I stay awake for about an hour and then I finally get up and watch TV to get sleepy again. I keep looking over at Jonathan and I am so jealous that he is sleeping. He says that he does that to me all the time because I never have trouble falling asleep and he has a hard time getting to sleep initially. 10:30 rolls around and I am out!

So I thought that I would update my blog since I have some time on my hands. A whole lot has been going on around here, but not a whole lot that is interesting. We did carve our pumpkin on Thursday night and we had a good time. I got home in time to cook and we had chicken and pasta, crescent rolls and even a salad! After we ate both of the boys helped me clean up the kitchen and it was fun. I know you're probably thinking, how can washing dishes be fun? But everything is always more fun if people are helping.

So then we set out to carve the pumpkin. Jonathan and I haven't carved a pumpkin since we were kids and we never paid attention to the steps then, so we went on blindly. Luckily we have cutco knives and they did the job very well. Bryan loves those knives because he was here when we picked them out and I guess it feels like they are his too. We don't let him use any of them other than the spatula, but he loves to suggest that we use them for things.

Back to carving. Jonathan made the lid at the top just big enough for Bryan to stick his hands in the top, but then Bryan was scared to stick his hand in. We tried to coax him, but it was no use. So since my hand is smaller than Jonathans, I got to try. As I was sticking my hand in Bryan gave me a very wise warning, "Becca be careful in there, there are lots of weeds!" I think that he meant seeds and we had a good laugh.

Bryan did the artistic work on the pumpkin the night that we brought it home from Grandma's house (thanks for saving us a trip to Wal-Mart Mom!) We cooked the seeds and Bryan really liked them. Then we played this kid version of Crazy Eights. It was quite a hoot. It had picture cards and they were in categories, but we couldn't tell what the categories were so we would try to fit whatever card that we had. Like we would have a sock and it would need to match to a bird or something. We finally read the directions and it gave us the categories, but it was much more fun when we didn't know what we were doing. So that is really all for now. I hope everyone has a good weekend.

Family update

Jonathan, Bryan and I went down to Pflugerville to watch Brandon's game. Brandon is very athletic and plays multiple sports. We knew that he had made some sort of special basketball league and we were pretty sure that it was going on throughout the year and not just in basketball season. So it didn't seem odd to us that we were going to see a basketball game in October. We found the gym and were hoping that the game was running late b/c we were running late. Inside the gym the only game that we see going on is a girls volleyball game. So we asked the lady taking money where we could find a basketball game. She looked at us a little weird and said that she didn't know anything about a basketball game.

So we called Grandma (Mom) and asked if she was sure that this game was a Pflugerville because we couldn't find it. She informed us that it was a football game. We said that we had noticed a football game that was just starting. So we headed over there, feeling a little dumb, but glad that we had not missed the game.

The game was good even though Brandon's team did not win. He had an awesome catch, I don't know the yardage, but he did catch it from a very long distance. Nat J was wearing his San Diego Chargers football uniform and he and Bryan had a lot of fun playing football. I don't know if they watched much of the game, but they did enjoy each other. We spent a lot of money at the snack bar and I think that we visited it 4 or 5 times. Of course no one knew exactly what they wanted the first time we went. It was good to see the Nystroms and Debi. Go Brandon for his awesome catch! Thanks for inviting us Brandon.

Netflix goodbye, Blockbuster hello

Well we really like Netflix.....for a while. but lately they have been taking a long time to send us our movies back and it has been frustrating. To give credit to Netflix, the nearest distribution center is in Austin. So I know that it takes a coupl of days to get there and back, but we just weren't satisfied.

So we are going to try Blockbuster. They have the same deal as Netflix, but we also get one free in-store rental a week. So if our movie hasn't come in, we can always rent one, which is nice. We will see if we made the right choice.

Laugh Out loud!!!

Friday nights are our family night. Jonathan and I haven't been feeling well this week so we needed a night on the couch. We rented "The RV." I had seen the previews when it came out and I did not want to see it at all. But it was highly recommended by a couple of people so I decided to give it a chance.

As we turned it on Bryan said, "Is he still a robot?" To Bryan, Robin Williams is the robot from Bicentinial Man. We explained that he was just a regular man in this movie. Its hard to imagine that someone doesn't know how funny he is.

So we laughed so hard during this movie as the "rolling terd" traveled through the US while the family inside tried very hard not to have a good time. Through the whole movie there is this hillarious music with a man humming and it just made the movie. If you haven't seen it, you HAVE TO RENT IT!

Oh and just to prove that Bryan has a toy that goes with every movie, he went into his room and got his RV when the movie was over so that he could act it out.

Chicken Enchilada Soup

So if anyone is still reading my blog, I wanted to share a new recipe with everyone. I made this for my fam the other night and they loved it. Plus it made a lot of leftovers to take to work.

4 cans cream of chicken soup
1 can Ro-tel tomatoes, diced
1 carton 1/2 & 1/2
Milk (1/2 & 1/2 carton full)
3 chicken breasts cooked & diced
1 small velveeta mexican cheese (I used half of a big regular flavor)
salt, pepper, chili powder (I left that out) to taste

Melt velveeta in microwave (I just got it a little soft, like 2 mintutes). Combine all ingredients and stif in velveeta. heat until hot, NOT boiling. Serve with tortilla chips. You can cook it all day on low, but I didn't have all day. I cooked it 2 hours on high and 1 1/2 hours on low.

I am always looking for easy new recipes. Let me know if any of you have some favorites!

Big Idea

I want to give a Wow! to the Big Idea Company who produces all of the Veggie Tales movies. We just recently rented the Jonah movie and it just reminded me how great these videos are. They have such great stories and they are so creative. This one reminded me how much we need to give people a second chance even when we know that they don't deserve it. It is so easy to use that as an excuse and hold it over other people's heads for weeks, months or even years. None of us are perfect and that is why we need God's mercy and compassion. The people who work for Big Idea have a real gift and I am thankful for their ministry both for me and my children.