Goodbye, Jayla!

We were sad to learn a couple of months ago that one of Abby's best friends, Jayla, is moving to California. Abby has been so sad about it. It seems like over the past year or two, one good friend after another has moved away. So yesterday, we had Jayla over for one last play date and we decided last minute to have a little impromptu party for her. Abby's friend Aria also came over (along with her brother Josiah to play with Carson) and we had cupcakes and hot chocolate. I got each of the girls some stationary so they could write letters to each other. The girls spent almost the entire rest of the time singing and dancing and playing in Abby's room. It was a fun afternoon that ended with lots of hugs and near tears as Jayla left, but I know these girls are the kind that will be friends forever!

Winter Camp

Aaron had the honor of being asked to be one of two speakers at a youth winter camp in Leakey, so after celebrating Christmas with our families, we drove to HEB Foundation Camp to enjoy a few days back at camp. We hadn't been in several years (since stepping down from youth ministry), so I was kinda looking forward to it. Not only is the HEB camp, a place that I absolutely love (it's one of the most beautiful spots in the Hill Country), but this time I/we (but especially I) had way fewer responsibilities and much more freedom. In years past, I always felt torn, trying to play the role of mom to my kiddos and leader to my youth girls. This year, I had none of that. So I read an entire book, we played games, we drank hot chocolate in our bunks, we watched Annie and The Sound of Music late at night, we went on walks, and enjoyed the scenery. It was nice. I was a little bummed to find out that we were in a bunk house instead of a cabin (with bedrooms) like we'd had in the past, but we did our best to make it cozy, and I'm pretty sure the kids thought it was great sleeping in a room with 8 bunk beds. And, for the first time ever, Aaron got to stay with us, which was a treat.

Aaron also did a wonderful job teaching and connecting with the youth (not that I'm surprised). He really enjoyed it and the youth really liked him! I'm so proud of him.

Christmas 2013

Christmas was wonderful this year. It was a bit crazy leading up to it, but the much anticipated holiday (and subsequent vacation) finally arrived. This year was a little bit different in that we didn't do a Christmas Eve service at our church. We instead organized a variety of service opportunities that families or groups could do together on or around Christmas Eve. The four of us did a Meals on Wheels route in the Helotes area, and it was really fun! The rest of the afternoon was spent hurriedly wrapping gifts, packing, and food prepping. But it was good. Christmas morning, we were up and opening presents by 6:00. The kids were thrilled to have gotten a real American Girl doll (Abby) and Skylanders (Carson) as their "big" gifts. I've got to say that I never cease to be amazed at their gratitude. Every gift they opened, no matter how small or insignificant was met by squeals and many thank yous. It was a fun morning.

After gifts were opened, we finished packing while the kids played with their gifts, then we packed up a nice breakfast/brunch and headed over to Ammie & Poppy's to eat (and so Aaron could get started on the prime rib in time for it to be ready for lunch). We had a lovely breakfast (with the help of The Pioneer Woman, of course), and rest of the morning. Jason, Natalie, and the kids arrived a couple hours later, and there was much fun and excitement. Once again, we opened gifts, then enjoyed a delicious Christmas lunch together. It was a great day!

Not long after lunch, we loaded up and headed for Howe. When we arrived, Valerie, Dustin, and their kids had already arrived and we all had a happy reunion (though I'm pretty sure I was half asleep). The next day, we just lounged around. In keeping with tradition, the kids all helped Mattie make a birthday cake for Jesus in preparation for our Christmas dinner the next day.

Friday, Grandma, Grandpa, & Gangan came up and joined us for our Christmas celebration. Before we opened gifts, Grandpa gathered all the kids around and told them a wonderful story of Christmas and Jesus' birth. They sat and took it all in happily (except for Benjamin, who fell asleep)! Then we had a yummy lunch and spent more fun time together before Val's family and Grandma & Grandpa had to go. The four of us stayed for another couple days to unwind, and it was nice, as usual.

We loved getting to spend such special times with both of our families celebrating God's gift to us and the blessings we've been given.

Valerie's Graduation

I figured Valerie's graduation deserves more than a bullet point, so here's a follow up post to honor her! Valerie graduated with her Bachelor's degree, majoring in Psychology from Texas A&M University on December 13th! It was a long road after taking a several year break, but she did it! We are so incredibly proud of her. I have no idea how she did it with three kids and while launching a business, but she did!

Andre, Mom, Dad, & Benjamin are excited!

Carson, Jerah & Abby

Valerie walking the stage

Val & Dad

The graduate!

Val & Mom

Val with her in-laws, Beth & Cardell

After the graduation on Friday night, we had a party for her at my mom and dad's in Howe on Saturday, and it was a great time! It was so good to see family and friends show up to support her.

Aaron, Beth, Cardell, Valerie, Dustin

All the little cousins!

Val & Benjamin

Randy, Glenn, & Linda

Sheila, Jan, Shanda, Mary Alice, Grandma

Grandpa, Dad, Cardell, Dustin, & Uncle Bill

Mom, Aunt Sheila, Aunt Jan, & Shanda

What's Happening [12.23.13]

It's been a whirlwind of a month around here (I guess it's a little crazy for everyone), but it's been a fun one. Because my brain is currently incapable of constructing cohesive paragraphs, I will once again share life in bullet points...

• Valerie graduated from Texas A&M last weekend with her Bachelor's Degree in Psychology. We are so incredibly proud of her! We drove up to College Station on Friday night for the graduation, and then on Saturday, we had a party for her in Howe with family and friends to celebrate her accomplishment. We made it home late last Saturday night extremely exhausted, but it was worth every second.
• This weekend, my mom came down for a show in Fredericksburg to sell her stuff. After an awful day on Friday, she decided to pack up her trailer and not go back, SO... we got to have a fun day hanging out on Saturday. We spent the afternoon driving around the Hill Country, had lunch in Bandera, and did some shopping and Christmas light looking in the evening. I was sad her show didn't go well, but it was a nice treat for us!
• This weekend, we also had the chance to spend quite a bit of time with Aaron's family as we celebrated Jason's birthday, and we had a great time!

• This evening, we spent a few hours at Holiday in the Park at Fiesta Texas to enjoy the last week of our season passes. It was fun having them for 2013 and we made a lot of memories there! In 2014, we opted for season tickets at the Magik Theater, so we're looking forward to that, but we may go back to the Six Flags passes here in another year or two. (Right now, Carson isn't really a fan of riding much, so we'll wait 'til he's a bit older.)

• Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and in addition to it being one of my favorite days of the year, it is the culmination of our Breaking Traditions series we've been doing at church in December. We decided, instead of having a Christmas Eve Service on 12/24, to have our people go out into the community to serve. Everyone has been very excited about it, and I'm so excited to see what comes of it! Selfishly, I am also excited to not be planning or orchestrating a Christmas Eve service. They're always really cool. But it's stressful for those involved. So, I'm happy for a day "off"!
• Christmas Day, we will be waking up to open presents (quite early, I'm sure) and then heading over to Ammie & Poppy's to start getting ready for lunch. (Aaron cooks the prime rib every year.) We'll spend the day eating delicious food and having lots of laughs and good times. That evening, we'll drive to Howe to spend a few days (and eat more and laugh more and have more good times), and then we'll drive from there to Leakey, where Aaron will be speaking at a camp for 5 days. We all get to go, so I'm excited for the chance to retreat at one of my favorite places.

Christmas is Coming

Yesterday was a really fun day. It was one of those days that was supposed to be really busy with a lot of stuff, and then we just kinda cleared the calendar and had a fun family day in preparation for Christmas. Aaron had a couple of meetings first thing, so while he did that, the kids and I went to Winterfest in Helotes. It was so very cold that I thought for sure it wouldn't be very well attended. Well, I was wrong, but we got there early in the day and didn't have to fight too many crowds. We spent the latter part of the morning walking around from booth to booth (the kids couldn't resist all of the "spin-the-wheel-for-a-prize" thingies that the vendors had set up) collecting swag, doing crafts, and then warming up with apple cider. It was a fun morning--the highlight of which was when both of the kids won the "jackpot" at the Dave & Buster's booth and won bags that had EVERY prize in them. They're STILL talking about it.

Trying to stay warm at Winterfest

Making "magic reindeer food"

After Winterfest, we grabbed lunch real quick and met up with Aaron, and then hopped in the car again for a surprise. We ended up downtown at the Magik Theater where we surprised the kids with an early Christmas present (season tickets) and a show. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever was a wonderful play, and we all enjoyed it!

Getting ready to see The Best Christmas Pageant Ever at Magik Theater

After the play, we drove up to Pipe Creek Christmas Tree Farm to cut down our own Christmas tree for the first time. That was a great time! Except for the kids hitting each other with the big stick and running around like banshees (I think the sugar had begun to kick in by then) pointing at every single tree and saying, "What about this one? What about this one?" Really though... good times.

We then loaded up our Christmas tree and headed for home. Aaron made chili and baked cookies, and then we drank egg nog while we decorated the tree and listened to carols.

It was a gloriously wonderful day that ended with me bundled up underneath a pile of covers and falling asleep at 8:45. It doesn't get much better than that!

Thanksgiving Week 2013

The kids had all week off of school, so we decided we'd go spend the week in Howe visiting family. It was a really nice time. We drove up Sunday after the kids and I got back from a mini road trip with Sandy to Houston for Savannah's wedding (Natalie's sister). There was a major winter weather advisory for all of north Texas, so we were a bit nervous, but we didn't even hit the tiniest bit of winter weather on our drive up (thank you God and all of our prayer warriors!). We woke up Monday morning to ice covered trees and we bundled up and drank coffee all morning.

Tuesday we did more of the same. We just enjoyed hanging out with Mom & Dad and turning off our brains and to-do lists. Wednesday, I took the kids over to Glen & Linda's house to ride horses. Linda is the mom of my childhood best friend, Mandi. It was so nice to spend some time with her on Tuesday and Wednesday. I hadn't really seen her since Abby was a baby (if that). She now has Parkinson's and is in a wheelchair after falling and breaking her hip, but she was kind enough to invite the kids over to their ranch to ride horses. The kids loved it, of course (especially Abby).

Pictures will go here once I download them.

Wednesday night, we went and helped Mom set up her booth in Canton.

Thursday was Thanksgiving and Aaron and Dad got up early to fry a turkey to take to Nanny & Pawpaw's. Thanksgiving plans had been a bit uncertain because Pawpaw was in the hospital for a week and wasn't released until Wednesday afternoon. The house was packed with [nearly] all of our huge family, and we were all so thankful to have him back at home. He was weak and very tired, but he sat in his chair and talked to just about everyone throughout the course of the day. I heard him lean over to Madison at one point (my cousin Brendon's girlfriend who joined us for the first time) and say, "Now isn't this just the greatest family there ever was? Let me tell you, I just feel so lucky."

Pictures will go here once I download them.

Friday Aaron and Dad got up and smoked a turkey and I spent the morning in the kitchen putting together Thanksgiving dinner for Grandma & Grandpa's house. We drove to Scurry late afternoon to celebrate both Thanksgiving and Grandpa's 80th birthday. Mom and Val joined us there for dinner (they'd been in Canton) and we had a nice celebration. We put together a book for Grandpa of pictures, letters, and favorite memories, so that was neat too.

Grandpa's 80th birthday

Hanging out at Grandma & Grandpa's

Valerie and I -- we did not plan this. I promise.

Saturday we spent the morning just hanging out, playing, and packing up to head back home. We took the leisurely route down 281 back down to San Antonio and savored the last hours of our "vacation". I'm so thankful for the family we've been blessed with!

A little basketball with Grandaddy before heading home