Bear!

Last night was our Blue and Gold Banquet for the cub scouts. A lot of time and effort went into the planning and preparation and it was a huge success. We did a fiesta theme this year. The songs were in Spanish, the prayers in Spanish, and a lot of Mexican games were played. The food was Tex-mex and so yummy. :)

Somehow, my regular camera is gone. I have searched and looked for it...to no avail. I had it last Wednesday and it is gone. I had to use my old one last night. Still pictures, but definitely not quite as good.

Here is C and a friend playing one of the games:

Then, C has worked so hard to earn his Bear at the Blue and Gold. I am so proud of him for doing it! His birthday isn't until July, but he set his mind to earning it by February, he worked hard, and he did it!

The last event of the night....the pinata. Here is J taking a turn:
Sister C is so smart. She filled baggies with candy and then put the baggies in the pinata. Every kid got a bag. No fighting. All had the same amount. It was perfect.

And, here is K with one of her good friends, K. Her friend, K, is really sweet. I am so glad that they are friends.
Finally, an update:

• C has a basketball tournament to conclude the season this Saturday. Go Bulldogs!
• CK and A are coming to celebrate my birthday with me this weekend. I am so excited!
• It looks like CK has a job that will allow him to move here. Within six weeks, he will be here. What sacrifices this man is making for me! I am in awe and very flattered.
• I am always tired. I am not sure what takes it out of me....maybe it is that whole getting older thing!
• I am very happy. I am always busy, but that is life. I feel blessed beyond measure. I looked back at this blog's posts for my birthdays in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010. My life sure has changed. I truly see God's hand in my life and I am so grateful. Last year at this time, my heart had broken into a million pieces. I did not think I would ever recover. Yet, just over 11 months ago, I began talking to CK. We had no idea that we would end up getting married (actually, he knew way before me), but here we are. :) So blessed.
  

Update

It has been a great week and a half! I am so happy. I did not know I could be this happy. :) God has his hand in everything. I am so grateful.

A quick update about what has been going on:

• I went to St. Louis again this weekend. It was a very short trip...Friday night to Sunday afternoon. Loved being there.
  
• We celebrated A's 7th birthday together (a couple of days early). She is such a blessing to me. I am so impressed with her energy, her great love, and her ability to find joy in anything.
• Speaking of birthdays, my nephew's is today. He is 5! I cannot believe how fast time has gone. He is such a great friend to J. He is so full of energy and imagination. Happy Birthday, S!
  
• CK gave me the best present I have ever received. It was for Valentine's and it was not expensive, because the gift wasn't really material. It just fit me. It shows me how much CK knows me and loves me and I know this new tradition will be cherished for the rest of our lives. :)
• I have been working on a gift for one of my best friends for her baby shower (that I am hosting on Saturday). I finished it...and I love it! :) I will post pictures after the shower (she might peek!).
• Still busy. Always busy. Having kids in middle school, elementary, and preschool sure makes my life hectic. Every evening this week had two or three things going on. WOW!
• I am supposed to sub Friday, but if they can find someone, I am not. I am trying to find ways to simplify and this is one that I can let go of this week.
• Finally, I am so incredibly happy. I cannot remember ever being this happy. I know I had many happy times with XDH, but this is different. I am experiencing a whole new level of love that I did not know existed. I am so ready for the rest of my future, but in the meantime, I am overflowing with happiness. I feel blessed beyond measure. I look back to all the times that I did not know how I could handle another day, week, or month (or sometimes even another hour), yet, here I am-happier than I could have dreamed. I am so blessed.

Pictures from this weekend:

Finally!

I have been partly done with a profile for Mormon.org for a long time. I finally finished it. :) Yippee! I know what I know and I am so happy to have this opportunity to share it with y'all. I love Jesus Christ and I know He lives. Here is my profile.

Yet again...No school

So....another day without school. I wasn't sure that it would really be canceled, but, yep...it is.

We were more prepared this time. :) The kids wanted a schedule...we only did that one day last week and I guess it worked better than the other three. They love it. We exercised together this morning, did our chores, read scriptures, and now they are playing the Wii. Fun times. :)

In other news, in response to our Stake President's message this weekend, we are trying to be healthier as a family. We have chosen to increase our vegetable intake to 4 (full-size!) servings a day. We have always done 2-3, but they have not always been full sized and we have never eaten 4! The kids came up with how to do it: one at lunch, one at snack, and two at dinner. Yesterday was Day One and we all did it!!!!!

Now, a bit of a catch-up from this weekend:
Friday, we actually had snow and not just ice....so we played and played and played!

Sunday, I got to hold my dear friend, J's, little angel, Q. She is so precious and her whole life has been one miracle after another. :)
C was camera happy that afternoon....but, one blessing was I actually got a picture of me with one of my very best friends, A. She is absolutely amazing, one of the most wonderful women I know. I have been so lucky to have her as my friend. Truly a blessing.
Proud Daddy:
Sunday evening, we also had a dear family over for dinner. We have been friends forever...since we each only had two children and they were all preschool age or younger. Her hubby was out of town, so I invited them over....8 kids and 2 moms. Great fun. K was a trouper, too, since she was the only girl. She enjoyed herself, also, though.

Finally, a P.S. ....... I am going to St. Louis in 2 days! I am so excited! I love CK and I am ready for our future to continue. I cannot express the gratitude I feel for him and for a very loving Heavenly Father that has always taken care of me. Sometimes I am not patient, but He always is.

4th snow day in a row!!!!!!!

So....school is canceled AGAIN! I have never experienced this: 4 days in a row!!!!

Yesterday, we had a great day. All of us needed the structure that a schedule provided. It was a great day. Everyone was happier. Everyone got things done and had fun. It was awesome. (BTW...I don't know what is wrong with this camera...but it is a day off also...I really took these pictures today and yesterday. I am not a time traveler that took pictures tomorrow and then came back to today!!!)
One of the things on our schedule was family Rockband. We had so much fun!


And this is what we woke up to this morning....snow! We had a little snow before, but mostly ice. Now that ice is covered with 5-ish inches of snow and it is absolutely beautiful. We are stuck home yet again, though. :)

Catch-up: CK and 3 Days without school!

So...first a disclaimer...I had to switch back to my old camera for some of these pictures. Did I check to see if the date was correct on them? NO!!! Sorry. All these pictures really are from this last week. Ignore the date. I feel so sheepish about this. :(

So, CK was here this last weekend. YAHOO! I love having him around. I cannot wait to be married to him forever and ever and have him around all the time.

First, we went to C's basketball game (this picture does have the correct date-it was from the week before-but my camera died and I didn't get any pictures of the game CK was at with me.).

It was so fun to watch him together. I was very impressed with both CK and XDH. I am hopeful that we will always be able to have that cordial of a relationship when we are in places for the kids together. :)
After CK treated me to a wonderful lunch, we went to work on our project of the weekend. We chose to work on the front flower bed, since it was 75 degrees outside and perfect weather. I so wish I'd been smart enough to take a "before" picture. It would make the "after" picture mean so much more. I still need to mulch and plant flowers from where we took out the long and crazy grass. Other than that-so much neater. We took out a tree, a lot of grass, a few weeds, and trimmed everything else. It is so fun to work side-by-side and I love getting things done!

That night, CK helped C build a toolbox...one of his last two requirements to earn his Bear in cub scouts. They worked hard and I think they both enjoyed it considerably.

Then....Sunday came. CK had to go home. This is good-bye. Again. But...we will be together again shortly. Love you, CK!

And, two days later:
But, you can get a lot done on a day off. This was Tuesday (our first day off). K cleaned her room (she had promised me she would...and now she had more time!).
C and K also went out side to slide on the ice. I guess I wasn't out there when C was so I just have pictures of K.

After working hard on cleaning the boys' closet, I found them all enjoying each others' company:
And now....we are on DAY 3 without school. Definitely stir crazy yesterday. Today I created a schedule for us. I think all four of us are craving structure. So far so good! :)

Rolling Blackouts

I have a lot of pictures now to post: My weekend with CK, no school yesterday nor today, and now rolling blackouts. This is something I have heard about but never experienced. It gets very cold to spend 30 minutes without power. I am very grateful that I have wood stored up, plenty of blankets, and plenty of games just in case we end up with a longer than expected blackout. My DSL is having issues, too, so I am only occasionally able to connect with the Internet. I don't know if it is related to the blackouts or not.

For those that live far away and wonder....we are safe, happy, and healthy. I cannot see how we will be able to have school tomorrow nor can I see how they can cancel for the third straight day. It is interesting.

Welcome to February in Texas. All the big storms are in February...every year!

I am so grateful that I am at least partially prepared. I am so grateful that I don't worry too much about heat and food and water because I have some stored up within my home. I know I have a long way to go, but I am so grateful for what I have!

Just as I was almost done writing this....another blackout! We are back on. This one was only 15 minutes, but it sure gets cold fast. Guess I will run and take a shower while I have power and hot water. :)