Decorating the Christmas Tree

Since Todd had the day off yesterday, he had some time to go up into the attic and pull all of Christmas stuff down, including the tree. After dinner I put on some holiday music and we all hit the decorations and the tree was done in no time!

 The lights are halfway done!

 The boys and I putting hooks on the balls for hanging.

 Todd is happy all the lights are on!

Chad and Evan decorating the tree.

Thanksgiving 2010

My family met my sister's and brother's families at Toledo Bend for Thanksgiving. We rented a house on the lake, bought tons of food and had three great days of family time. The weather was great on Thanksgiving day, but got cold and rainy on Friday. On Saturday it warmed up and cleared out, so we were able to spend more time outside. We had a blast and can't wait to do it again!

 The house where we stayed.

 View of the deck from the water. Myself, Tom and Chad are chatting at the top of the stairs.

 The nice large deck where we hung out a lot!

 View of the lake from the deck. It is getting cloudy!

 We were there about 3 minutes before Evan got full of mud! Here he is cleaning off his only pair of shoes.

 Caleigh, Chad, Evan and Caitlin enjoying the glider.

 Caleigh on the slide.

 Caitlin on the slide.

 

The nice play area where the girls loved swinging.

Cutie Clark!

 Evan getting the wood ready for marshmallow roasting.

 Caitlin painting.

Caleigh painting.

 Clark eating.

Evan loving the water!

Thanksgiving, here we come!

We had a busy and productive day today. This morning, Todd and the boys ran lots of last minute errands. In the afternoon they did some volunteer work at the local food bank. It was a project planned by the church youth group, but was then canceled after our church burned down two weeks ago. I am proud of my hubby who thought the service work was so good for our boys, called the food bank on his own and arranged for them to work the afternoon shift. Way to go guys!

I have been wrapping things up with my business and taking it a bit easy. I don't know how I did this, but somehow I hit my foot on a chair a couple of days ago. I never said I was graceful! My toe next to my small toe is all shades of purple and blue now and almost looks like it has been painted with markers. It hurts a little when I walk, but I think I will survive. Here is a photo for those not faint of heart; it is not pretty:

This evening we have been packing and getting everything ready for our trip. Evan decided to break out his Pokemon tatoos, which I promised he could put on when he was on vacation. We have all enjoyed the fun with those!

 Evan and I modeling our tattoos.

 Todd sporting his new tattoo.

 Todd and Chad

Tattoo King!

Prepping for Turkey Day

Todd took the week off and has been so great in helping me get ready for our Thanksgiving trip. We are going to have Thanksgiving with my family and the boys are so excited to see their cousins.

Wal-Mart - Check

Sam's - Check

Hair Cut's - Check

It looks like all we have left to do is pack!

 The boys showing off their haircuts.

 The three amigos!

The shopping is done!

A Few Bits From St. Matthew's

This morning we had our first service since the church burned down last Thursday. A few bits and pieces were recovered from the church.

This first photo is a section of the cross that was carried during the processional at the beginning and end of each service.

This is the back of one of the kneeler pads which were all made of needlepoint by the ladies of the church. The design was on the front and this is the back which shows the names of the people that the kneelers were dedicated to. It is amazing that this material survived as the temperature of the fire was estimated to be between 1000 to 1500 degrees.

This banner survived fully intact because it wasn't in the fire. The story is as follows: Thursday, the day of the fire, was Veteran's day. Some of the school children made a banner for that event. They needed a pole to hang their banner on, so they borrowed the pole that this banner was hanging on from the church on Wednesday. Thus, this banner ended up being safely stored in a classroom when the fire broke out and was consequently spared.

Alien Fun

There was a free app in the iTunes app store today called Alien Booth. The boys and I love playing around with photos, so we thought we would give it a try. Here are our alien selves. Pretty cool!

Chad

Evan

Joan

St. Matthew's Church Fire

Our church caught fire early this morning and from the looks of it, was totally destroyed. I think I am still in shock and that it will take a while for reality to really sink in. The top photo was taken this morning and the one below is a photo of the church before the fire.

We have been members of St. Matthew's for about eleven years and both of our boys were baptized there. There are a lot of older parishioners who have been members their whole lives and I know this loss will be devastating for them. These are people with a strong faith, however, so I know that God will be with them and we will all make it through this tragedy.

Goodbye Muddie!

The boys have been wanting a dog for the longest time. I have told them there is no way as long as we have two guinea pigs and a bearded dragon to care for, feed, clean up after, etc. Todd has a friend from work who showed some interest in Muddie and Todd asked Evan last week if he would be willing to give him away in with the possibility of us getting a dog down the road. Evan jumped at the chance and even though he will miss Muddie, he knows that he went to a good home and is ready to move on to a pet that he can interact with. Bye, Muddie. You were a great pet and we loved watching you grow!

Birthdays are Awesome

I had a great birthday today! I got taken out to lunch and even received some gorgeous flowers. Todd made some lasagna for dinner, so the celebration continues. I might have to stretch this birthday thing out all week!


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Evan and His Creatures

Evan must walk with his head down, because he is always finding some interesting creature on the ground. Walking down our driveway after the bus dropped him off yesterday, he found what I think is a salamander.

He explained that he picked it up and its tail fell off, but assured me that it would grow back. He then went and grabbed a 5 gallon bucket and put some dirt in it for the salamander. All this before he even walked in the door from school. I just kept asking, "You picked that thing up with your hands? Did you wash them?" Yuk, I don't even want to touch it with gloves on. That's Evan for you!