Life is Right Again

I'm so happy I have my babies back again! We left them in Wichita Falls with Clay and Sandy on Saturday. They had a fun week full of friends, Chuckey Cheese's, Veggie Tales Live, playing outside, and taking lots of bubble baths. I'm glad they had fun but I was missing them bad and so was their Daddy. We laid in bed at night or drove around during the day talking about how much we missed them. It was a happy time when we got in the car last night and drove to Abilene to get them as Clay and Sandy were passing through to Midland.

We ate at Rosa's and I could hardly eat because they both kept clobbering me with hugs and kisses. It was annoying but mostly just wonderful! =) We were happy to be all back together again. Julia said she wanted to go to Mommy's house and John David was ready too. It's a great thing to be part of a family that loves each other so very much.

We survived!

I'm happy to report that we survived Easter weekend. I can't wait for the day when Easter or Christmas means time to slow down and celebrate these special days in more meaningful ways with our family. In our current positions, holidays mean an extra crazy schedule and helping other families celebrate at church. Saturday was our community egg hunt and everything went great. We were able to present the gospel in a super cool way that I'm sure no one there had ever seen before. I'll post pictures of that outreach later. Friday night I never even went to sleep because we didn't get home from working at the church until 5 in the morning and I still had so much on my mind. I just decided to stay up and keep preparing. We had about 300 people there and lots of fun! Easter Sunday morning also went great. I got to pie Steve in the face so that was a first for me and him. =) It was great to lead little kids in worship to Jesus on such a special day. There were parents at the door waiting for our service to be over. I didn't feel bad making them wait a few minutes while the kids were worshiping. We wait for the adults plenty of Sundays.

Sunday evening, after a wonderful nap, we went to the Garcia's house for dinner and an egg hunt. It was a great night and the kids had a lot of fun too. We had a blast with the cascerones and we are still combing the confetti out of our hair even today!

The next morning, before I got up, the kids found their Easter baskets from the Easter bunny (Delana). They thought it was lots of fun to throw the grass all over the floor. It was not in heaps, but rather strode out piece by piece. What a mess! But they had fun, I guess. =)

Last night, out of the blue, John David's arms started stinging really bad from his eczema. He was hollering so loud! I took him to the bathroom and put some lotion on them and stood him in from of the fan. He was still screaming. I carried him to bed and tried to calm him down. He hollered for me to pray for him quick. So I did, and he kept screaming. He started hitting his arms and yelling at them," Stop hurting me! You're making me cry! You're making me be a big cry baby!" He was so serious and in so much pain but it was so funny. He finally calmed down after I read him a story and then John and I both laughed with him about what a funny guy he is. It does break my heart that his arms are so bad and now even his eyes. We have some medicine but it doesn't seem to work. =(

Oh, one more funny John David story before I forget. A couple of weeks ago we were in the living room along with Steve, Eowyn, and L.C. (one of our youth leaders). John David went over to L.C. and asked him, "L.C., do you have sex?" The room got really quiet and we all thought maybe he said six. I asked him what he said and he said it again just as clear. L.C. kind of looked at us and then back at John David and said, "No, John David, I don't have sex." The room was still quiet except for everyone trying not to laugh. John still sat there in shock and didn't say anything. I had to tell him to say something to John David. Then he took him aside and talked to him. Apparently he heard that question on "Yes, Dear" the sitcom when Steve was watching it earlier that day. Aren't we in for lots of fun??? =)

John David at The Rink

I just had to write about this wonderful memory! Last Thursday night, we had a fun night at The Rink (our entertainment complex here) for our Kids' Church workers and The Krew. Julia stayed at home with John since she had been sick, and John David went with me. This was the same place where we tried to play lazer tag for his birthday and they were understaffed and wouldn't let us. He was soooo excited when he realized where we were going!

First we played lazer tag. How fun! He was able to wear a vest and have his own lazer gun to shoot. Even though he didn't score even 1 point, he went on and on about how great he did and how he was the winner. I just smiled and agreed.

After lazer tag, we skated. We tried to anyway! I hadn't skated since I was a kid and John David had never skated before. At first I tried to help him around the rink but that wasn't working too well since I needed help myself! Some of the teenagers came and started helping him. He never quite got the hang of it and decided to ditch the skates and jump in the bounce house instead. =)

Finally, we rode the go karts. John David and I rode in a 2 seater car together and we had so much fun trying to beat everyone. Since the track was circular, he just always thought we were winning. When it was over he declared our car the winner. What a confident little guy.

The night ended with a big hotdog and promises to come back and play at The Rink again really soon. What a wonderful night of fun with my boy.

Our family pictures

Last night we went to the water lilly garden and took some family portraits. We took lots and lots of pictures and only one turned out just right. Oh well, all we really needed was one anyway. It was a fun thing to try to get both John David and Julia to look cute and smile nice at the same time. Tomorrow I will have the pictures made into cards and then get them mailed off this week so our family can all find out our news. It's been a secret for too long!
This week is full with preparations for Easter this coming weekend. So far, everything is right on track so I'm not stressed about it.
Julia just woke up crying so I need to go see if she's ok. I wonder when she will learn to sleep through the night? You would think she's still a little baby the way she is at night. Hopefully, she'll get this sleep thing figured out (as well as the potty thing!) before this fall when my hands will be more full than ever. =) What a wonderful full they will be though. I love my babies!

Wow, I'm good!

I'm glad to see that my very first post worked without any problems. I needed a little lift like that today! =) I read some good advice yesterday and I'm glad I did because it came in very handy today. The advice was, "Never resign on Monday." I've been telling myself that alot today and it's not even Monday yet! If I look at the big picture, our Impact service actually went really well today. The little stuff just really gets me sometimes. Stuff like disruptive kids (REALLY disruptive and rough) and distractions during the message (An 8 year old boy we have is down syndrome and does really well except that apparently he can't "wipe" himself after using the restroom. He went to the restroom and ended up having to go home because there was poo all over him. This happened during the message.) Or how about not having your key leader not knowing about it in advance? Cool, huh? All this is not a good way to start the week of our egg hunt outreach! I'm still confident it will rock, though!

For lunch we came home and ate sandwiches so we would have time to rest a little before heading back to the church. Human video practice was at 3:00 so John is long gone. I'm leaving with the kids in just a little while for JBQ. Can't wait to play some of the fun games we have for tonight!

Tomorrow we're going to go take some nice family pictures. Hopefully everyone will cooperate and we'll have some nice portraits to show for all our work getting dressed and combing our hair! And let's pray for NO wind!

Changing the subject totally.....new on my random wishlist is a pc game called "The Movies". It's about $30 at Walmart so I'm hoping to buy it soon. With this game I can easily make my own cartoons. My brain goes wild with the endless possibilities!

This morning during the service, the Bible Quizzers all presented John with a gift certificate to a Japenese steakhouse here in town and a night of babysitting for the kids so we can have some time alone. How wonderful is that??? His team won 1st place at district yesterday - Steve took 1st individual, Eowyn 4th, and even Kansas scored 15 or 20 a game! Yea team!

I should end this post now and go get ready for JBQ now. There's just so much to say when you first start your very own blog! =)

Ok, this is just a test.....