February Snow Days!!

We are loving all this Texas Snow. We had 2 snow days this week - no school on Thursday or Friday and I'm so glad because I don't think the kids would have learned to much with all this snow outside to be played in! So apparently a snow fall record was set this week - we got about 8-9 inches here in Prosper. On Thursday, once it was clear that we would have no school, we got a last minute group of families together in the park behind our house to come and have a snowball fight/snowman building. We had a BLAST! Kelsie and Joy came home for some hot chocolate and lunch and were right back out in it building stuff in the yard.

This is the snowman Joy and Kelsie wanted to kids to build by themselves. They did a lot of it all by themselves with Charisse's help getting the snowman body on top of the bottom. This is the finished product.

They are stalking someone.

Here's Braydi putting the head on the "kid" snowman.

Here are the guys lifting the body on the 12 foot snowman the big boys made (started by Koleman Kennedy's giant snowman bottom). They had to try several times to lift it - took lots of them. You can see the video on my facebook page.

Here's most of the crew in front of the 12 foot snowman.

Who can I get?

The bottom of the "kids" snowman.

Kensey, Joy and Kelsie - you can see from these pics how much snow we were getting.

Look at Jarrett aiming at me! I couldn't keep up between Kelsie, Joy, Jarrett and Landon.

Wayne threw this snowball at Kelsie and it landed inside her pocket. Bet you couldn't do that twice.

The snow fell all day Thursday and by the time we woke up on Friday morning it had really piled up. In Texas that means NO SCHOOL!!! We sent out a church e-mail saying FBCP family snow day at the church (there is a big field behind our church). We had lots of families show up and snowball fights, igloo and snowman building, snow football game (very competitive) were going on. Love how we do life together here - great memories for us and our kids. Here are some pics:

Little Chloe did not like the snow. Kelsie was trying to help her have fun!

A "friendly" snow football game.

Both trying to get Justin.

Shona, me and some little helpers making a little igloo. Turned out to be a little tiny play house for some of the girls.

Kelsie's measurements showed 7 1/2 inches.

Kelsie out first thing Friday morning starting a snowman in the backyard.

Daddy went out to help! They made a BIG one.

Kelsie with the finished snowman! Isn't he cute?

The Prosper Fire Department built this snow fire truck in front of the station. So cool!

Weather Day!

We have been hearing for days about the "Winter Blast" or "Arctic Front" coming to North Texas and last night it arrived. Now for people in the Northern part of our country, it seems silly to get all worked up over wind chills of 4 but to Texans - bbbrrrrrrrrr. When we got the call this morning at 5:45 a.m. that school was cancelled due to icy road conditions, I was the happiest I have ever been that early in the morning. It's not that I didn't want to be at school with my little babies today but it was more about NOT wanting to get out of my warm bed and go outside where the wind is miserable. We have enjoyed the day at home - a little extra vacation. Kelsie and I stayed in our pj's drinking coffee until almost noon and then Wayne came home from lunch and now Kelsie is babysitting here at the house while I work on lesson plans for February. If you got the opportunity to stay home today, I hope that you enjoyed it! I know we have - now back to regular Texas winter temps please (mid 50's)!

The End of 2009 and New Beginnings

As you can see, it is 2010 and I have not updated since July. As you can imagine, alot of things have happened since July's post so here is an overview of the 2nd half of the year.

August:

Family Mission Trip to Lytle, Texas with our FBC peeps. We had a great trip - you can see details of that trip on the FBC Missions blog. It was a great trip (very hot) and we became even closer to our Prosper families doing ministry on this trip together. When we got back from our trip it was time to move. Our new house was complete and we moved in over the course of our anniversary. It was worth it - we love the new house and it was great to be all moved in by the time school started at the end of August. Also, I started my new job teaching 4 year old preschool 4 days a week. I have 10 precious little ones and I love it.

September:

The beginning of football season - which is BIG in Prosper. FBC did our away game tailgates which are always fun (even though some were a little soggy). The highlight of September is homecoming. The whole town shuts down at noon for the parade and it's just a fun day to be with family and friends and watch some home town football (we won!). Also this Fall we began LIT (leaders in training) with our 4th and 5th graders at church. They began several service projects and had a great semester just learning more about God and serving other people.

October:

Kelsie's birthday month - she turned 11 this year. I can't believe how big she is now and grown up she seems at times. She is in that cute stage of being a little grown up but still enough little girl to remind us she's still our baby girl. We hosted our families at our house for her party and had a good time visiting and eating Kelsie's bday choice of cherry pie instead of cake. Kelsie made the broadcast team at school which means she gets to do the video announcements (with a partner) for two weeks for the school. She loved it! In LIT, they delivered Fall goody baskets to our Sr. Adults and it was such a blessing to see these kids interact with our older adults who were so thankful for the Fall baskets. Halloween was a little different for us this year too. Kelsie was Nancy Drew but didn't really want to attend any carnivals or anything this year, just trick or treating with friends. So, we went to the Jones house for dinner and pictures, the large group of kids broke up into smaller groups to trick or treat and we ended up with everyone back at our house for snacks and playing. I stayed home to hand out treats and gave away ALOT of candy! It was so fun.

November:

This month started off with Kelsie's 5th grade program at school and she had a little solo in it and so did her friend Kensey. They were both so fabulous - I was so incredibly proud of both of those girls, they are talented. The LIT kids made fleece blankets to take to a little nursing home here in Prosper. The 9 residents loved seeing the kids and were appreciative of their homemade gifts. The kids also took the lead doing Operation Christmas Child - they made posters, made announcements in Life Connection, collected items and stuffed boxes. So proud of their servants hearts. FBC had our annual Day of Thanks and Turkey Bowl at church - so much fun! Worship was sweet, we had a family meal and played some not so serious flag football! Kelsie started out playing football but quickly gave up on her team in favor of babysitting some of the little kids. The weather was great and we had such a great time playing - our team won the first game and then lost our other 2 in OT. We still had a BLAST and loved getting to know so many new people. We hosted Thanksgiving for Wayne's family at our house this year - Kelsie had a little extra time with her cousin Brittany during the holiday. We had a family from church join us too and it was fun having a house full. Our family played the Jones family in a friendly game of touch football after lunch - we lost but had a good time and maybe worked off a little of the calories we consumed. The day after Thanksgiving we went with MaMaw and Joy to see "Ice" at the Gaylord Hotel. It was amazing how colorful the ice was - it was the Grinch theme. Very neat to see and experience - including the ice slide.

December:

Kelsie made the UIL oral reading team and so she had her competition. She didn't make the finals but we were so proud of her making the team and working hard to practice. The 2nd week in December, the Rucker 5th grade went to Camp JOLT for 3 days. Kelsie had a blast and even though it was super cold, she seemed to love it and learn a lot while she was there. Wayne surprised me the Thursday night she was away with tickets to the Meyerson "Cheer" concert - it was a great concert and we enjoyed the evening out on a date. Another big treat for us in December was we got to go to a Dallas Cowboy game (played Chargers) at the new stadium. All 3 of us got to go and we were all amazed by the stadium and the screen - we were there for the first ever 3-D game - epic fail! After the game, we wanted to see more of the stadium so we wandered around enough after the game we got to see some of the Cowboys like Marion Barber come out and walk to their cars. December means basketball practice has begun and Kelsie has enjoyed getting back into that. Our church passed out food baskets to people in our community for Christmas and I was proud of the kids as they were singing carols and helping fill baskets - they really enjoyed serving. Of course, December means Christmas and we all enjoyed our time off from work/school and spending time with friends and family during the season. We went to Waco and San Angelo for time with family and we had time at home together which was much needed. We even had a white Christmas Eve and Day and then another snow after we got home from San Angelo. We have enjoyed the Texas snow since it's enough to play in but it's gone the next day and it doesn't mess up your life!

So - there's the overview of the remainder of 2009. It was a blessed year but also had it's challenges too. This summer was difficult as our church faced some challenges and changes but God is faithful to prove Himself as defender, protector and provider. We end 2009 not looking back but looking ahead at the things God has laid before us - people He has chosen for us to serve for His name's sake. I look at our church and I am continually blessed at their generous hearts, willingness to serve, and the love they show us and each other. We are blessed to be a part of the FBC family. I hope I am better in 2010 at blogging (with pics) and I will commit to try and post once a week - it's just a discipline I got out of the habit of doing. Keep us posted with you and yours! Love keeping up with everyone. More soon....

Summer Post

I know I am a complete slacker since it's been a month since I last posted and I really have no excuse since it's summer.  However, our summer has been busy but filled with lots of fun!  So, where should I start?  I guess, where I left off last time would be a good place, which means get ready to read.

The House:  We were supposed to close on the house Monday, July 6th but we are still in the farm house so that means we didn't close.  Our new close date is July 21st but that is not a definite.  If it gets rescheduled, we will wait until after we get back from our mission trip in August to close since it would really be pushing things to do it all at once.   The carpet was laid in the house yesterday and we have our first walk thru next Tuesday afternoon.  Here are some pics from today.  

Outside front flower bed.

Mudd bench right outside the utility room.  

I'm so ready for this to collect stuff instead of my kitchen table!

Kelsie posing in her room.  We had the chair rail put in because the design for her room is that it will be dark pink above the rail with stripes below.  

We will have to paint this after closing.  She is super excited.

Outside back porch.  We are ready to sit outside and enjoy the view!

This is the breakfast area right off the kitchen.  I love all the windows.  You can see from the picture that we decided on privacy wood fence for the side yards and iron in the back so it makes the yard feel bigger and opens it up.

 

The view of the island and kitchen looking from the family room.

Family room, Kelsie posing on the hearth.

Powder bathroom

This is the front entry looking from the family room.

Formal dining room, looking from the study.

A close up of the study paint, wood trim and carpet - I love the way this room turned out.

Kelsie standing in the doorway of the study.

Media room upstairs.

Stairs leading up to bathroom, game room and media room.

Master shower - I love how the tile turned out.

Master bath vanity.

Built in drawers in master closet.

In addition to the house building, we started the first week of summer with VBS at church.  We had a great week going every morning on the "Boomerang Express."  I helped with first grade which was lots of fun.  We had a larger group every day and they were just such a sweet group. Overall, the kids donated over $500 to be used for our family mission trip to Lytle to buy t-shirts for the kids attending the sports camp.  God just blessed our week with new families and sweet fellowship.  

Kelsie has already spent two weeks away this summer.  The week after VBS, she spent 5 days in Waco with Wayne's family and had a great time going to the movies, visiting the museum, shopping at antique stores, swimming and hanging out with Mamaw and Joy.  The last week of June, she went to San Angelo to spend time with my family and had a blast there visiting Grammy, EE and Eddie, Hailey and Nana.  They did lots of craft projects, cooking, shopping and playing.  We picked her up on July 3rd, just in time to enjoy the 4th of July festivities with us.  We went to Bedford to spend time with the Griffs and see the Bedford fireworks from our usual awesome spot.  We had a great time cooking out, swimming and just catching up.  Sunday was spent celebrating Tom's birthday in Burleson and we had a great time with his family - especially the chocolate/peanut butter cake.  Yum-o!

The summer of golf - Wayne found a great deal to join The Golf Club at McKinney so we have been there a lot enjoying the pool as well as Kelsie and Wayne playing golf.  Kelsie has really progressed in her game this summer and moved up to ladies clubs because she kept breaking the US Kids clubs she had.  Our summer routine has been that about 2-3 nights a week, we go to the club around 4:00.  Wayne and Kelsie play 9 holes of golf and then meet me at the pool to swim.  We have all enjoyed the club and I even attempted to play a few holes when I went out with Wayne one night while Kelsie was gone. This week she is doing a morning golf camp at Gentle Creek here in Prosper and is doing well.  I hope it's something she and Wayne can do together over the years.  

So, next week the packing begins for the move.  Kelsie will head to Camp Copass in 2 weeks and may luck out and miss out on the all the moving.  We are all looking forward to our family mission trip to Lytle, Texas.  We leave Aug. 1st through the 7th and will be leading sports camp in the mornings and doing renovations (church kitchen remodel) and painting for FBC Lytle in the afternoons.  We are excited because our kids will be doing a lot of the Bible Story teaching, serving, teaching crafts, and just really interacting with the kids.  We have about 13 families going and we are anxious to see what God will do there as we seek to serve Him along side FBC Lytle.  Pray for us and keep up by looking at the FBC Missions blog (link on the sidebar).  

I will try and keep you posted on the move.  We are getting excited about being in our own home after living in the farm house for a year now.  We never thought we would be here this long but it's been a blessing and has been in God's timing.  Even if we have had the occasional run in with "wildlife" - I guess they will make for good stories to tell!  We all need those, right?  

I hope you are having a good summer spent with family and friends.  I know we are enjoying our time together and with other people.  Keep us posted on you!  We love to hear from you any time.  More soon!

Summer is HERE!!!!

Yay!  Summer is here!  We were officially out of school on Saturday and we ended the week with the awards assembly for our last of school.  Kelsie received an award for being in Rucker Honor Choir, one for her whole class for participation in field day (her class came in 2nd place for 4th grade) and an award for A/B honor roll all year (maintaining all A's and B's for the whole year). We were very proud of her this year - it was a transition from private to public school but she did so well adjusting to new school and friends.  

The house is coming along so quickly and we are now scheduled to close July 6th.  We are super excited and starting to count down the days.  This week they have installed all the outside lighting (except for the one that broke), some of the inside lighting, the cabinet for the powder bath, completed the stone around the fireplace, poured the patio extension, installed the A/C units and thermostats, put in all the light switches and outlets, installed the garage door openers and keypads, put in the sprinkler system, did the first grade of the yard, and finished up all the tile.  We met with the landscaper on Friday and got the plan yesterday so we were very excited about the plants and trees we chose - lots of perennials and color like knockout roses, crepe myrtles, dwarf hawthorns, blue salvia, red salvia, texas sage, daylilys, loropetalum, boxwoods, dwarf yaupons, giant liriope, soft leaf yucca, chinese pistachio and maple trees.  Very excited to see how it all comes together.  Here are some pics of the progress but it's slower now so there aren't a ton of updates.  They still have lots of painting and tweaking to do but I know their goal is for most of it to be done by June 13th for inspections to be done by the 20th.  I will keep you updated!  

The coach lights by the front door.

Front elevation with the uplights installed.  Landscaping will go here.

Front elevation

Completed fireplace stone surround and mantle.

Pendant lights above kitchen island.

Cabinet for powder bath.

Front door entry.

Back patio door with coach light.

Have a great week!

Memorial Day and the Museum

We had a great Memorial Day weekend.  Saturday we went to see Night at the Museum 2, which was a pretty cute movie and like all sequels, not as good as the first one.  Sunday's worship was sweet and Kelsie had a friend over for the afternoon spent the night - they had a great time playing and we just had a relaxing afternoon hanging out at the house.  Monday afternoon we had our Bible Fellowship class out to the farm house.  Wayne smoked ribs all afternoon and everyone brought their favorite Memorial Day food which meant that we had WAY TOO MUCH food.  It was a blast to hang out with everyone and the kids all seemed to have a ton of fun just being outside and playing together.  The Jones' brought the go cart out and the kids just played on the $9 slip n'slide, trampoline and swing.  We roasted s'mores later in the evening and the ones who were left at dusk caught fire flies.  I didn't get tons of picture because I was either running around doing stuff or visiting.  Here are a few I managed to capture.

The go cart was fun at the farm house - the kids (and adults) took turns riding and driving it.

The slip n'slide quickly turned into a mud pit but was visited often through out the hot day.

Wayne, the grillmaster, at work.

The line waiting on the go cart.  They waited patiently in between the trampoline and the slip n'slide.  

The tree swing was fun!

So was the trampoline.

The girls had some girl talk inside to get away from the heat for a while.

Little Jillian - don't take my picture!

Today was Kelsie's 4th grade field trip to the Dallas Museum of Natural History.  It was a fun museum and we got to see the exhibits as well as an IMAX movie.  Some pics:

Kensey, Joy, Kelsie and Caroline waiting patiently to begin the tour.

Kelsie's classmates - Abigail, Alyson, Alyssa.  They had a good time.

Watch this.

OOOOoooohhhh.  This sneezed on me!

Lunch time before the IMAX movie.  A GREAT day!

House Update - we found out today that our closing on the new house will be Monday, July 6th.  We are very excited!  Over the weekend, they finished the stone on the fireplace and installed the front door.  Today they put in all the toilets, sinks, faucets and fixtures as well as the air conditioning compressors and thermostats, all the light switches, plates and plug covers.  YAY!  I will take some pics later in the week as progress continues to be made.  Hope you have a good week.  This is our last week of school and we are ready for SUMMER!!!!