Budding musician

We had our family Christmas last night since we are heading to Kerrville for the week.







Tanner's big present was a new guitar. And he has been playing it non-stop ever since!





Tanner wrote a song about the devil and God and he was eager to perform it for us. Enjoy!!

Last minute stocking stuffers

If you are anything like me, you are still trying to round up those last minute Christmas gifts.

I can say that I am doing better this year...but it's still not completely done.

I found this great deal last night, and thought I would share it with everyone. Amazon is having a great sale on magazines AND you get $5 off at checkout. Makes for some cheap gifts. Great stocking stuffers!

Click here for the amazon magazine deal

Angel Debut

This morning we had the Kids Christmas Program at church.

And Tanner made his angelic debut!

He was the cutest angel EVER.



Despite the fact that he didn't know any of the songs and just mouthed who knows what most of the time.



Or the fact that 3 songs was a little long to expect a 4 year old to behave and not act a little silly!

Holiday shopping

Just a reminder as you are doing that online holiday shopping, don't forget about Ebates!

See my post about it here

Just this week, I ordered some photo calendars for Christmas gifts...and I got 8% back through Ebates. And even better, they have a promotion going on right now that if you spend $10 they will give you a $10 bonus. Sweet!!

So if you haven't already, check it out!

Beautiful moments

One of the young men from our church recently left to go to Indonesia as a missionary. He was a part of our small group and we spent some time praying over him before he left. He was very involved with our children's ministry while he was here, so we had the kids pray over him at the end. So sweet!!

The joy of hand-me-downs

We love hand-me-downs at our house.

Goodness, Tanner wouldn't be clothed most of the time if we didn't!

Well, this week we received the best hand-me-down to date...at least according to Tanner!



It didn't matter that there was a large rip in the back:



It was the highlight of his day...and he wore it ALL DAY LONG! In fact, there were tears when we had to take it off for nap time.

House Projects...and Bread Disaster

We had one of those rare Saturdays where nothing was planned and we didn't have to be anywhere. It was a nice change!

Tanner and Chris worked on some projects outside:




I worked on some craft projects and attempted to make cinnamon, raisin bread in my bread machine:



And no, that isn't the lump of dough. That was the finished product!

I am happy to report my crafting turned out much better.

My little cowboy

We had our annual church Chili Supper last night. Our little man was a cowboy, and an awfully cute one I might add!







Tanner with his cousin Lena:

Small town politics

Early voting location downtown New Braunfels.

Seems like political opinions abound even in the small Texas towns!

Who are these people

...and what have they done with my family?

After lunch today, I sat down at the computer to work on some church stuff. Chris decided to vacuum the dining room rug when he saw all the food Tanner had dropped.

Before I knew what had happened, a quick vacuum had turned into a mini "spring cleaning". About an hour later when I had finished my work, I got up to discover Tanner vacuuming his room:



Then the house was dusted and the couches were vacuumed:



Then windows were cleaned:



Needless to say, I began to feel guilty and had to join in by doing a good kitchen cleaning.

I decided we need to make this a regular "family activity"! Great bonding time right??!! Hey, a girl can dream.

All I know is my house looks really clean - and I didn't do much. What else could a woman want?

Solving the hair mystery

This morning, Chris was helping Tanner get ready for church and as he bent down to put Tanner's shoes on, this is the conversation that ensued:

Tanner: Daddy, you are missing some hair up there.
Chris: Oh really??
Tanner: Yeah, I think the squirrels are getting in your bed at night and eating it.

I have been giggling all day just thinking about it!

Back home

It is almost 11:00 pm and we are finally home from the beach. I am exhausted so I will keep this short and sweet.

We had a great time - saw dolphins jumping beside the ferry, went to the aquarium in Corpus where Tanner got to touch a shark, and had numerous days on the beach building sand castles and playing in the water.

And believe it or not, I actually found a sand dollar! You would have thought I won the lottery, I was so excited. I was having a great time yesterday walking along the beach by myself just talking with God - and suddenly I looked down and there it was. It was as if He dropped it there just for me - His little way of showing me that He delights in me!

Here are a few more pictures from our week:



Tanner learning how to boogie board:



My surfer boys:



Chris & Tanner with their unique twist on a sand castle:





Beautiful home down the road from our condo:



And finally, CHEAP GAS!! The frugal part of me couldn't resist taking a picture of gas that was more than .60 cheaper than what I had paid 5 days earlier back home :)

Searching for the perfect shells

I think I could move here.

Beautiful weather, sugary sand, and that wonderful sound of waves lapping the shore.

What else could you want??

Except maybe the elusive sand dollar. The beaches here are strewn with PIECES of sand dollars. Diane and I felt like we were being teased in our search for the whole sand dollar.

Diane got up at 6:30 our first morning and went out to the beach hoping she could find some before everyone hit the beach. She found footprints all over the sand and realized that 6:30 wasn't early enough!

While we were at the beach later in the day with the kids, an older man gave us some shells he had collected. They were gorgeous and that only increased our determination to find some. When we asked him how he had collected so many great shells, he told us he stayed on the beach all night. WHAT??!!!

So, the next night after Chris had arrived, Diane and I got up at 4 AM and went out with our flashlight. There was NO ONE out there - and all I can say is that the beach is a little scary in the middle of the night when you only have one little tiny flashlight for two people. I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting - I thought the beach would just be covered with these awesome, perfect, unbroken shells just waiting for us to find.

Yeah, not so much. There was nothing. Only the fact that Diane's phone rang and we just about wet our pants it scared us so bad. Needless to say, we didn't stay out there very long! And we didn't find anything...

So, Diane and the kids headed home yesterday but I talked to her last night and she had another shell tip for me. Apparently, her hairdresser told Linda yesterday that you have to go out to the first sand bar if you want to get the sand dollars. I must be pretty desperate - taking sea shell advice from someone's hair dresser!

But I am hoping to sweet talk Chris into exploring the sand bar today...we'll see how that goes :)

The glorious beach

We are currently in Port Aransas with Diane, Lena and Rowdy. The weather is absolutely beautiful and we are having a great time.

A few pictures from our first day:

My little man

If you were to ask Tanner how old he is, he would quickly tell you that he is four - but almost five. For most people, a birthday 10 months away would not constitute "almost". But Tanner is eager to grow up.

While his mommy wishes that time would slow down!!

We recently enrolled him in a city program called Sporties for Shorties. What an appropriate name!

Imagine two young guys trying to explain the fundamentals of basketball, baseball, football, and soccer to a group of 4 and 5 year olds. It was downright comical at times.

But Tanner thoroughly enjoyed it, and is very disappointed that it is over. I definitely think I see sports in his future - he loves anything that involves a ball. And I think I can safely say that any athletic abilities he may have did not come from his mother!

Here is a video from the last class on football:

Crayon update

Just wanted to let you know the magic concoction wasn't so magic.

About 70% of the load washed clean - namely towels and such.

But Tanner's clothes are still obviously marked with crayon...I see some more scrubbing in my future today.

I did read somewhere that WD40 takes crayon out. But I have to say that will be a last resort. Even if it did work, I can't imagine getting that smell out of the clothes!

It all started with a crayon

I have been on a blogging hiatus lately. Although I'm not sure you can call it a hiatus when I have never actually been a consistent blogger.

But I am back - because today was one of those days you just have to blog about.

I actually got a good nights sleep last night, which has been rare lately. God obviously knew I needed the rest for what was in store for me.

Now that the ladies retreat is behind me, today was my first day at home to tackle the MESS! It is amazing how fast a clean house can become disgusting. So while I was in the middle of cleaning bathrooms, my husband walks in and tells me he needs to show me something.

I immediately knew I wasn't going to like it!

Sure enough, he takes me to the laundry room and opens the dryer door. I don't even know how to explain what I saw...it was AWFUL! A whole load of clothes covered in what I first thought was black ink.

After careful investigation, we determined it had to be a crayon. And even better, a black crayon.

There were no remains to be found of the crayon - it was all firmly smudged into the clothes. Oh happy day!

I have always been good at checking Chris's pockets before I do the wash, but I don't usually take the time to check Tanners. Obviously, that will have to change.

It was one of those moments that you realize your day has taken an unexpected turn and you aren't overly excited about it.

I can't say that I had been looking forward to a day of cleaning house - but at that moment I would have gladly cleaned two houses rather than deal with the mess in front of me.

But thank God for Google! I immediately jumped on the internet and found some great advice for this particular disaster.

Thankfully, it wasn't as hard as I anticipated to clean the inside of the dryer. Here are the before pictures:






Thanks to some Dawn Power Dissolver and a little elbow grease, the dryer is almost good as new.

The clothes are currently in the washing machine with a concoction that is guaranteed to get the crayon out. Time will tell!

Here is a picture of the clothes - I'll let you know tomorrow how they look.



Oh, and the other minor detail today. Once Tanner was down for his nap, I sat down to do some work for church. And what do I discover? My lovely Mac computer decided to totally erase my entire Windows Operating system and all of the associated files.

Gone, adios, nowhere to be found. And for no good reason I might add!

I'm not sure exactly how that can happen. But I have to say that this is definitely not helping with my efforts to try to like this Mac.

I never had things just disappear on my PC...never!

Here's hoping that tomorrow is a little brighter...

Beth Moore

Beth Moore was in San Antonio this weekend - and all I can say is WOW!!

That woman can preach. Her enthusiasm for the Word is downright contagious!

And the worship was incredible. Travis Cottrell and his worship team were there - and as my friend said, it was one step away from heaven. There is nothing quite like 10,000 women in one place singing praises to our God. It was so moving!

I have been looking forward to this weekend since last year, and I wasn’t disappointed. I have done about 8 different Beth Moore studies over the last 5 years, and they have always challenged me in my walk with the Lord and really pushed me to take the relationship to a new level. Her love for the Lord and His Word is OBVIOUS, and I am always amazed at her humility despite her incredible popularity.

This weekend she spoke on Psalm 16 and her message was that we are heirs (or heiresses) of God and we have a beautiful inheritance waiting for us. She had so many good points and I know I will probably be mulling over it for days and weeks.

One point that I wanted to share is that because we are heirs of God, we can be secure. If we are looking for affirmation and affection from other people, we are setting them up in the place of Christ in our lives and they will never be able to make us feel completely secure. If we truly grasp the fact that we belong to God and we are his heirs and He is ALL WE NEED - life would look very different for so many of us. We would be focused on following God and obeying Him instead of pleasing people.

There is nothing more attractive than a secure person who doesn't NEED people. Think about that one for awhile! Only Jesus can identify us - not society or other people.

This is one of those principles that I have heard a million times. And every time I think I am getting better at it, God shows me yet another area that needs improvement. Proving one again that I am a work in process!

It was a great weekend and God really stirred up a new enthusiasm for what He has called me to do.

So, if the adorable and amazing Beth comes to your area - you don’t want to miss it!!

My baby turned 4

I think I am still in denial. How could my baby boy be 4 already?? I don't know where the time has gone, but I suddenly have a "big boy" in the house. All week, I have been hearing how he can now do this and that because "I am 4 now!" We were at Target a couple of days ago, and every toy he saw was suddenly something that we needed to buy because he was 4 now. Pretty funny!!

We had a birthday party for him yesterday with some of his friends from church. With the family there as well, we ended up with 21 adults and 13 kids. Sounds crazy but it actually went very well. We had the party in the front yard and did a beach theme.

I saw this very cute cake in my Family Fun magazine a few months ago:



I had already been thinking about a beach themed party, and when I saw this cake it just sealed the deal for me!

The recipe sounded easy enough. But I was obviously over confident, because my first attempt on Friday night did not go very well! The recipe calls for you to make an 8" square cake that you then use to cut the top two circles. I knew I was in trouble when it came out of the pan in several sections! But I was determined to make it work, so I fit it back together and cut my circles. I then tried to use the icing to hold my circles together. You can imagine how well that went! So I decided to use some round glass dishes and I baked two smaller cakes and then went to bed while they cooled.

I woke up at 5:30 on Saturday morning to attempt the assembly one more time. Finally, success:




We had several "beachy" crafts and games and the kids seemed to have a great time. Tanner is now on new toy overload!!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Coast trip

Thanks to Hurricane Dolly, our coast trip was cut short. We were supposed to spend the week in Rockport, and instead we ended up with one good beach day before heading home.

I guess that is what I get for not checking the weather before leaving home!

There is nothing quite like driving to the beach, only to be met by highway signs saying "Hurricane forming in the gulf...please fill your gas tanks!". It was one of those unbelievable, you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me moments.

Tanner was clueless and had a GREAT time building sand castles and playing in the water. He was so funny the first time he put his face under the water and came up spitting. He ran over and said "who put the salt in there??". Too cute!!

On the way home, we were talking about the beach and the salt water. Tanner informed us that a blue man put the salt in there while it was dark. Where does he get this stuff??!!

Thankfully our beach cottage gave us a voucher for two free nights the next time we go down - so we will have to reschedule our beach trip. And next time I will be sure to check the weather first!




Tanner chasing the sea gulls!

Neopolitan ice cream

It all started with this fabric:

After a year of trying to decide what colors to redo the kitchen, I found this fabric at my FAVORITE furniture and fabric store.

I carried a swatch around in my wallet for a few months and then finally decided to take the plunge. You would think I was buying a new house, not just painting the kitchen!

I decided to paint one accent wall chocolate brown, with the other walls green and the cabinets cream. Oh, and the fabric for the window treatments.

So...I painted the brown wall first. When I first opened the can, I felt like I was in an episode of Trading Spaces. Staring at this open paint can and wondering why in the world I thought that was going to look good. Why is it that the color in the can is nothing like the color once it is on the wall??

But I took the plunge and once it was painted, I breathed a sigh of relief. I actually liked it.

Then on to the green. That is where it started going downhill. As I started to paint one of the walls, I began to wonder why this didn't look like the color chip. Again, why is that?? I let it dry hoping that the color would improve - but no such luck.

All I could think was that I needed a pink wall and we would have neopolitan ice cream. Not exactly the look I was going for!

So off to Home Depot for round #2 in the green paint selection. And I think I got it this time! It looks much better with the brown.

And now if I can just decide on what style I want for the curtains...oh the decisions!