Daniel's Belt

Congratulations to Daniel - on the 19th he tested for "High Green" belt in TaeKwon-Do and passed! So, now he has a blue stripe on his green belt. Way to go Dan! :o)

Rain!

Nothing much is new here, but I thought I'd post an update anyway. :)

We are enjoying the rain, although having a dog now makes this quite inconvenient as our backyard becomes a mud pit during rainy weather. For some reason, our lawn does not drain, and we have standing water in our grass. Everyone is sort of stir crazy, due to not being able to get outside as much, but I love the cozy feel of a dark, rainy day and a fire in the fireplace...AND a cup of coffee!

The kids are all doing pretty well with school, but Dan has hit the point in math (mid year, 4th grade) where the LONG DIVISION kicks in pretty hard. He's not a math lover to start with, so the poor kid is not happy. I remember this point with Nathan and Tim, so I keep trying to encourage him that it WILL get easier!

We have a fun weekend coming up, with a choir and Sunday School program at church tomorrow evening, and a piano recital on Saturday.

Have a great day all!

Lizzy's Lost Tooth!!!

Lizzy lost her first tooth today! She was pretty freaked out at first, but once she got over the .005 tsp of blood that may have gotten on the kleenex, she was excited. :o)

Trixie

We now have a dog! We met a man on Saturday at Eskaton (where Kenny's Mom lives) who had found a stray puppy and was trying to find a home for her. Kenny gave the man his business card, and he called us yesterday afternoon to say that we could have her if we wanted her.

She's a German Shep mix, about 4.5 - 5 months old and very rambunctious! The kids are enjoying her, all but Lizzy who is somewhat afraid. The cats are NOT happy at all.

Hopefully they'll all get used to each other eventually!

Another week...

Okay, it's really late, but I haven't updated in a few days so I thought I'd do a quick post! I can't post any pictures because Nathan took my card reader to Mississippi!

Speaking of Mississippi...Kenny and Nathan left bright and early on Saturday morning for their trip to Lakeshore. They are having a great time so far, getting to experience some real Southern folks! Nathan told me today that there was one man that they met at the host church there, whose accent was so strong that he had no idea what the man said! :) I'll bet that man thinks all of those California folks talk mighty strange too!

You can read about their first two days at their blog - Serving the Lord in Lakeshore!

Backing up into last week, we had a fairly uneventful week. We took down the Christmas decor, which is sort of sad, but also sort of nice. I love the Christmas season, but I like my house back in order once it's over. We started back with school last week too, just for Thursday and Friday. Tomorrow we start back with full days and all of the regular activities - gymnastics, TaeKwon-Do, piano lessons, dentist appts etc!

Time for bed...hope everyone had a blessed Sunday!

More Pictures

Opening presents on Christmas morning - we got the kids a Wii and they are totally loving it!



The whole family - Christmas Eve 2007



Jill, Sue, Emmy, Lizzy and Kelsey in San Francisco - 12/28



Kelsey, Emmy and Lizzy walking arm in arm toward the War Memorial Opera House in SF.



New Year's Eve and our funny hat contest!

Pictures

The boys in their new A's hats on Christmas morning!

Dan and Lizzy bowling - 12/26




Jill and Kenny with our silly hats! Every year we get English "poppers" for each person for Christmas dinner. Each popper has a prize, a joke and a paper crown. We all wear our crowns during dinner and share our jokes! One of our fun traditions!

A new year dawns....

Happy New Year! Can you believe it's already 2008?

Our Christmas week went by in a blur...a fun and busy blur!

*My parents and brother were here for several days for Christmas. We had a fun time with them, playing games, went bowling and just hanging out. We also had Kenny's Mom with us this for Christmas. This was the first time Kenny had spent Christmas with her in 19 years!

*We went Christmas caroling on the Sunday night before Christmas at Heritage Estates in Livermore (an assisted living facility) and that was a huge blessing to talk with some of the elderly people who live there. They were so happy to have us sing for them; they especially loved the children!

*Friday the 28th, I went with my friend Sue to San Francisco to see the Nutcracker Ballet! We took Lizzy, Sue's daughter Emmy and another girlfriend Kelsey on BART. It was a COLD day, but God blessed us with no rain and safety. And, believe it or not after living here for over 10 years, that was my very FIRST ride on BART!

*Last night we had our annual New Year's Eve Party with 30+ of our dearest friends. We had a funny hat contest (congratulations to Kate for her creative hat - the winner!) It was a great time!

*Today we took Christmas down...tree, lights, and all the decor. The kids are always sad, but it was a good month.

Now we start a new year...I love the start of a new year; a fresh slate!


This Saturday, Kenny and Nathan will be leaving for Mississippi for their mission trip for Hurricane Katrina Relief. Don't forget to check their blog (listed on our sidebar - Serving the Lord in Lakeshore) for day to day information! We are hoping they will have internet access to blog for us who stay at home.


Hope everyone had a Happy New Year, and may God Bless America in the year to come!

I'll post some pictures soon!