It's beginning to....

look a lot like Christmas! I say "beginning" because we only did the inside of the house. Tomorrow we do the outside! This year the tree decorating actually went faster. It may have had something to do with this adorable five and a half year old fashionista demanding willing to help me!

The pics aren't too good, they're taken with my cell phone.

Shopping Party

Last weekend some of us girls got together for a Christmas Shopping Party! Each of us set up booths in my home, with merchandise we sold or made. It was a lot of fun, food, and laughs!

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Star is Born!

As I talked about in an earlier post, Austin had been attending Young Life. Well to add to their wonderfulness, YL had a talent show for the kids. I was extremely sad that I couldn't go, since I had been out all week with a serious back sprain. Anthony and Tyler did and they were blown away by how awesome Austin did! He wasn't nervous or shy one bit! He never even practiced! Just got the microphone and sang along with The Backstreet Boys' "I want it that way"
He told us when he got home, "When those people stood and clapped for me, I wanted to cry" He refers to himself as a "Star" now.
This totally makes my heart melt! Special Needs means so much more, He TRULY IS SPECIAL! So kind hearted, precious, and full of personality!
Austin was in heaven! He always says he's always wanted to be on stage and sing!
I'm very thankful to my sweet Tyler who took pictures and video on his IPOD!
REMEMBER, on the video, scroll down to the bottom of this page first to pause my music, then come back up here and play this video. you have to listen real close to hear him.

AUSTIN

Austin has been attending Young Life once a week. It's not on a night with all of the high school kids, it's on a night where it's with Special Needs students, and not just students, but young and old adults. You should click on this link HERE to read more about it. It is wonderful! Austin loves it! The A&M students are so precious and love all and are so great with them! The YL leaders also come to school once a week and hang out with them.Something you don't realize is that yet another challenge with special needs kids, is church. It's hard finding a church with a program just for them. And in service, is he understanding the sermon? Likely not, He sure does love the music though. I was quite excited that he knew the songs they sang in Young Life! Well, YL, to us, is helping fill in that gap. So now, he's involved with something else and not just his sister and brother.They go for an hour and a half. Have refreshments. DANCE! Play games. Here he was playing a game (blowing q-tips through straws aiming at a turkey.). And a sermon...a wonderful sermon with props, perfect for their understanding.He's also involved in Special Olympics. This season it was bowling. We traveled out of town last weekend for Region games. Fun Day, complete with an "athlete village" where there was tons of food and game for all!

HAPPY BIRTDAY MIMI!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIMI! WE LOVE YOU SO VERY MUCH!

Ladies Night Out

Tuesday night, I went out for a ladies night at church. It was for the start (a couple of weeks early) of the Advent Season.Me, Mary Louise, Aunt Dee, Mimi, and Mrs.Anderson (sure wish it wasn't blurry!)We had desserts...man, there were so many yummy treats!

Now, the musical we saw was by Minnie Pause and the Hot Flashes! They're a group of ladies that come together to sing and laugh at the experiences of dealing with life's ups and downs by trusting in God.They were so great! So funny! Beautiful voices! We laughed a lot! It was quite a different take on the Advent season, for sure!Click HERE to see their website. They're also on Face*book.
Here's a video. Not from last night. They have two different acts. The one we saw was a Christmas spirit one.

Growing up!

Kindergarten has totally changed our baby girl! I just can't say it enough! The shyness, no more! Totally a social butterfly! You should see her with the little gils in her class! What a precious group! She's so independant! I love seeing her JUMP out of the car in the mornings and RUN through the front doors of the school! I love that she points out every single teacher, cafeteria worker, and custodian by name and will stop to talk to them. She loves her "jobs" at school, especially when it's "messenger"! That's when you take the attendance down to the office and other notes and stuff to teachers. She's all over that place! I love how she's learning so so much everyday! She can't quit talking about her day when she gets home. You should hear the big words she uses. The stories she tells. I love that she knows all of her sight words and her math! Oh the things she knows!! Her teacher says, "She's a doll! A real sweetheart and just loves to learn and help others!"She continues to love crafting, drawing, and baking/cooking! She's also big into helping around the house. I'm talking folding towels, sweeping and mopping! And she's even starting to keep a better clean room. Ugh, that room! She just plays so hard that stuff is EVRYWHERE!She's loving dressing herself and doing her own hair. She brushes it all of the time! Most days to school, I'll let her fix her own hair with her own clip of choice. Most of the girls in her class have long hair and don't have any clip, bow, or headband in it. So she tries to do the same.She's got that lil' mother in her. In fact, that's what we call her. Sure, she fights with her brothers and is so dramatic, but she loves her "guys" so much! She really looks after Austin. I'm pretty sure she could take care of him without Anthony or I around.
One morning last week, when Carli was about to leave for school, I had to take a second look...she's starting to look older to me!I told her, "hey come here and let me take your picture! You're sure growing up!" She then said, "Oh ya, well look at my grown up teeth!" Finally, she is a-okay with the whole loosing teeth and doesn't mind showing people". So, here's a picture of how she looked that morning AND a picture of her adult bottom teeth!
Slow it down baby girl, I'm trying to savor these moments!

Hat Day

Kindergarten had a hat parade and the theme was "Vocabulary has gone to our heads!" They were to decorate a hat with one of their vocabulary words. Carli picked "flower"!

Lunch Dates!

I was SO excited to have lunch with Rose, Delia, and Rachael! Rose and Delia were in town visiting their daughters, so we couldn't go without seeing each other! It was such a nice lunch! Miss getting to have lunch with Rose on a daily basis!Can't wait for you ladies to come back in a couple of weeks!

A Haunting We Will Go...

Halloween weekend, Deyanira and I took Christian, Tyler, and Emily to a haunted house. It was perfect cold weather, in a historic, renovated, hotel...in it's basement! Yes, us mommas went in too! Yes, we all screamed the whole way through! It was scary! Afterwards, we all walked down Main Street. It was neat to see all the people dressed in costumes, renovated store fronts, and even neater, the old buildings, untouched! Kinda spooky!Then, we of course had to stop for a midnight snack, we worked up an appetite!

Happy Birthday Able!

Happy Birthday Able! Have a wonderful day! All our love!1995-Austin and Able

Halloween Day!

I decided since Carli is in Kindergarten and they're learning to read, I would give them beginner reader books for their Halloween class treats. Using the Scholastic book order was awesome! Each book was $1! I forgot to get a picture of Carli's teacher gift. But since she collects frogs and the whole classroom is frogs, I thought this would be a great "Happy Fall" gift!She's loving dressing herself lately!And then, Candy Corn Witch and Batman went out trick or treating, while Tyler stayed home to hand out candy.We stopped by to see Mimi!It was a spook-tacular night!