Can you believe it has been 5 years since I started this blog? FIVE years. Wow. Time sure does go by in a hurry. And now that we, in just a few days, will no longer be Tres Alejandros, it is time for one blog to close and another to continue on with the journey.
Thanks for joining us in our daily adventures as a family of three. We hope you will COME AND LISTEN to what will be happening in the future of our family!
**Be sure to add http://come-and-listen-to-what-hes-done.blogspot.com to your blog reader or bookmark for easy access!**
Friday, June 24, 2011
Thursday, June 09, 2011
Headed to the Big Apple
Usually, Summer Spectacular (aka VBS) is late June. But with JD being one of the two top dogs for this event and having a baby due the last week of June, it got moved up this year. Yes people, our baby caused the date change.
I am so thankful for this man and ALL he does for the Kingdom!
But it is the last event before the baby comes, and for that we are super excited. We had a great week in the Big Apple. Over 750 children (400+ 1st-5th graders and 350+ birth-K5) joined us! WOW!
JD and crew spent many hours preparing the worship room with environmental projection and decor. Doesn't it look awesome?
Each day during the closing celebration the sun would set on the "city of New York". The kids LOVED it and would go crazy!
And they even had a taxi outside for the entire week. Pretty NYC if you ask me. Since we had the keys we went with a little photo op.
But isn't it more about what is on the inside that counts? Lives were changed this week as we talked about faith, love, trust, others, and life. Watch this:
Thanks to Alex for all the pics and the videos. You rock!
I am so thankful for this man and ALL he does for the Kingdom!
But it is the last event before the baby comes, and for that we are super excited. We had a great week in the Big Apple. Over 750 children (400+ 1st-5th graders and 350+ birth-K5) joined us! WOW!
JD and crew spent many hours preparing the worship room with environmental projection and decor. Doesn't it look awesome?
Each day during the closing celebration the sun would set on the "city of New York". The kids LOVED it and would go crazy!
And they even had a taxi outside for the entire week. Pretty NYC if you ask me. Since we had the keys we went with a little photo op.
But isn't it more about what is on the inside that counts? Lives were changed this week as we talked about faith, love, trust, others, and life. Watch this:
Thanks to Alex for all the pics and the videos. You rock!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Here's the Church
This spring the preschoolers at church have been learning about what it means to be the church. To finish off the spring semester they presented "Here's the Church!" to the parents in song. It is amazing the difference in LilE from Christmas 2009 to today. She LOVES to sing. And I LOVE listening to her.
Holding hands with sweet GB. Oh, how we will miss this friend!
Most of the K4 kiddos. It is a small, but consistent group.
All the preschool choirs. LilE is in the middle on the right side.
I remembered to bring the small video camera, but our seats weren't the best. But you can see her and listen to her for a couple of seconds. Maybe next time we will master the camera.
Holding hands with sweet GB. Oh, how we will miss this friend!
Most of the K4 kiddos. It is a small, but consistent group.
All the preschool choirs. LilE is in the middle on the right side.
I remembered to bring the small video camera, but our seats weren't the best. But you can see her and listen to her for a couple of seconds. Maybe next time we will master the camera.
Friday, May 20, 2011
I Wanna Get Away
Each spring the ministerial staff at church is able to get away for a time of retreat. Over the past 7 years it has varied as to what they have done. Wives v. no wives; Wives the entire week v. wives for an overnight; planning v. playing, etc. Last year was heavy on the meeting and discussing vision. This year was a bit more heavy on the team building (read--encouraging each other every night) and playing.
We were able to find two homes on Fripp Island, SC that could accommodate the entire staff (23 of us on the trip). We had all but one meal in the home. You know, it did seem like we ate all week. Seriously. But the food was awesome!
Just before lunch one day we saw this awesome view from the porch. Amazing!
The island has deer everywhere. They would even come up to us and beg for food, especially this mangy one. Most had their "amenity card" (aka ear tag) unlike this one.
On Thursday morning, half of the staff headed back home. We did not have any commitments and our friends were willing to keep LilE one more night, so we took advantage of one more free day on the island.
We headed out to Hunting Island State Park, the island right next door to Fripp. Several movies have been filmed on the Island: Forrest Gump, GI Jane, and Rules of Engagement. While there we went letterboxing with some friends. We went to the light house on the island.
JD had never been in a light house. We rested while he took the 167 stairs to the top. And then he showed us the view from the top.
The next box we went after was on a trail that was closed. But that didn't stop the boys from walking 50 paces. And I guess we paid for it too, ticks. That's right, ticks. We brought a few out of the trail with us. Hmm.
One box we weren't successful in finding was on the marsh. We took a long boardwalk over it. There were teeny crabs everywhere. Thousands of them. And most had a dominate claw. Pretty funny looking.
We were able to find two homes on Fripp Island, SC that could accommodate the entire staff (23 of us on the trip). We had all but one meal in the home. You know, it did seem like we ate all week. Seriously. But the food was awesome!
Just before lunch one day we saw this awesome view from the porch. Amazing!
The island has deer everywhere. They would even come up to us and beg for food, especially this mangy one. Most had their "amenity card" (aka ear tag) unlike this one.
On Thursday morning, half of the staff headed back home. We did not have any commitments and our friends were willing to keep LilE one more night, so we took advantage of one more free day on the island.
We headed out to Hunting Island State Park, the island right next door to Fripp. Several movies have been filmed on the Island: Forrest Gump, GI Jane, and Rules of Engagement. While there we went letterboxing with some friends. We went to the light house on the island.
JD had never been in a light house. We rested while he took the 167 stairs to the top. And then he showed us the view from the top.
The next box we went after was on a trail that was closed. But that didn't stop the boys from walking 50 paces. And I guess we paid for it too, ticks. That's right, ticks. We brought a few out of the trail with us. Hmm.
One box we weren't successful in finding was on the marsh. We took a long boardwalk over it. There were teeny crabs everywhere. Thousands of them. And most had a dominate claw. Pretty funny looking.
We had a great day with friends and enjoyed the evening relaxing after some golf carting adventures. You just never know what may happen--what happens at Fripp Island, stays on Fripp Island.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Party Time, Excellent!
This weekend we had 3 birthday parties--THREE! Fun, but busy weekend.
No pictures from the 30th birthday. Guess that is what happens when you get old. :)
On Saturday we had two 3 year old parties. And yes, I took my camera them. In the morning we headed to the fire station to celebrate with theEdge. This is the best group shot I got. I forgot how distracted 3 year olds can be.
The fireman gave us a quick tour of the station and then showed the kids all about the truck. And they even got to get on!
And we couldn't go without a creeper picture.
Baby even had his/her picture taken. You can see it HERE.
No pictures from the 30th birthday. Guess that is what happens when you get old. :)
On Saturday we had two 3 year old parties. And yes, I took my camera them. In the morning we headed to the fire station to celebrate with theEdge. This is the best group shot I got. I forgot how distracted 3 year olds can be.
The fireman gave us a quick tour of the station and then showed the kids all about the truck. And they even got to get on!
Later that evening, we headed to the picnic shelter for an Alice in Wonderland party for another 3 year old. You can get ALL the details from MC's mommy HERE. It was amazing!
They had a "photo booth" area and the girls and I took advantage. Fun idea!
And we couldn't go without a creeper picture.
Baby even had his/her picture taken. You can see it HERE.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Fore
About two months ago, JD took up a new hobby, one he swore he would never take up because he didn't like it; it was boring. Now those words have come back to haunt him. Ha!
Mid May the church staff will go on our annual retreat. This year all the boys are to play golf. Yes, boring golf. And in order for him not to make a fool of himself, he decided to head out to the driving range and hit a few. One of our neighbors LOVES to play and this gave him an opportunity to get on the course with him.
Over the next few weeks he had in his possession a nice golf bag, full of clubs, balls, and tees, golf shoes, and gloves. Really? Who is this man? But he has enjoyed spending time with the boys at work. He was even able to play in a fund raiser for Child Evangelism Fellowship at the Cliffs. An extremely nice course to play on for the first time!
He has been given lots of tips along this journey and had lots of encouragement from the boys. Thanks to all who have helped him learn. He seems to actually enjoy playing and is competetive enough to conquor this new challenge.
Although it looks like it may all is well, you can watch this video to see the bumps in the road.
Mid May the church staff will go on our annual retreat. This year all the boys are to play golf. Yes, boring golf. And in order for him not to make a fool of himself, he decided to head out to the driving range and hit a few. One of our neighbors LOVES to play and this gave him an opportunity to get on the course with him.
Over the next few weeks he had in his possession a nice golf bag, full of clubs, balls, and tees, golf shoes, and gloves. Really? Who is this man? But he has enjoyed spending time with the boys at work. He was even able to play in a fund raiser for Child Evangelism Fellowship at the Cliffs. An extremely nice course to play on for the first time!
Although it looks like it may all is well, you can watch this video to see the bumps in the road.
Monday, May 09, 2011
Happy Cow Creamery
When LilE was 2, she stayed with some friends who home school while we were out of town. She tagged along on a field trip to a local dairy farm and loved it from what I was told.
Since then, I have always wanted to take her back and check this place out. Supposedly, their milk is awesome! And they have strawberries you can pick also. And since it is now strawberry season, I thought it would be a perfect time to do both. Until I called and realized all the tours were booked until July. BOO! Who knew it was so popular? But, because we had a teeny group, we were able to join in with another group! YEA!!
We loaded up the Tahoe with car seats, camp chairs, picnics, and ice chests and make the trek 40 miles down the road. The kids were so excited!
We arrived early to eat our picnic lunch. And we had a little photo op with the 'dry' cows, otherwise known as the maternity ward. I felt like I fit in right there in the parking lot.
Since then, I have always wanted to take her back and check this place out. Supposedly, their milk is awesome! And they have strawberries you can pick also. And since it is now strawberry season, I thought it would be a perfect time to do both. Until I called and realized all the tours were booked until July. BOO! Who knew it was so popular? But, because we had a teeny group, we were able to join in with another group! YEA!!
We loaded up the Tahoe with car seats, camp chairs, picnics, and ice chests and make the trek 40 miles down the road. The kids were so excited!
We arrived early to eat our picnic lunch. And we had a little photo op with the 'dry' cows, otherwise known as the maternity ward. I felt like I fit in right there in the parking lot.
Near the picnic area they had a milking area for the kids to practice.
Due to prices of strawberries, we chose to pick our strawberries a bit closer to home. And boy am I glad we did. It. Was. HOT.
We started the tour. Not too much to take pictures of. We took a trolley ride out into one of the fields. They rotate their cows and the types of grass to keep the cows eating green grass all year long. Eating grass in the fields is what makes their cows happy. The tour lady said that in the beginning the cows were cooped up in the barn and were making about 50 lbs of milk at each milking time. Then the cows decided they didn't want to be in the barn all the time and they escaped. After eating the grass in the fields they then began to produce twice as much milk a day...200 lbs!! Holy Moly that's a lot of milk. And that is why they keep green grass all year long. They also bottle their milk on site after a low temp pasteurization--which keeps all the natural vitamins in the milk (they don't have to be re-added like the milk in the store).
We were also able to go into the milking barn and see how that is set up, but it wasn't milking time, so we didn't get to watch the entire process. Fortunately, we saw that at the State Fair of Texas last fall.
And after the tour we were able to taste test some products: strawberry milk, chocolate milk, whole milk, and of course, ice cream! It was all so rich, thick, and SO good!! We brought some home for JD to try as well.
We had such a fun day. I think I was more interested in the entire process than LilE was, but that's okay. It was well worth the drive! And I would love to go back again one day when we are studying the farm!
Sunday, May 08, 2011
The Last as a Mother of One
In K4 the last big hoorah of the year is the Mother's Day Brunch. The room was decorated in pretty pastels. Tables made up with table cloths, hand printed placemats, and homemade flowers. It was perfect! (And didn't think to take a picture to show you. Sorry.)
The kids were so excited to have all the mommies come. They started with a little presentation of all they had learned this year--Psalm 23, Nursery Rhymes, the days of creation, and a cutesie little song about mother's. The program ended with a slide show of the kids throughout the year. It was super sweet.
We then got to sit down with our crowns on and have our lemonade and cookies. So yummy!
The kids did such a great job making us feel so special!
On Sunday, we had our typical morning at church. Well, kinda. I started the morning off in the nursery full of newborns who had been dedicated that morning. So glad I am not having 14! One I think I can handle! As I was leaving the nursery, I had several people stop me and tell me what a great job LilE did. Thanks? JD had said I was going to get one of my gifts at church, but I assumed it was a picture or something in a video. Oh. My. Instead it was an ENTIRE video of my daughter dancing and playing in her room. She was the video! I just about melted right there. And yes, I was the mom sobbing in church! My heart was so full of love for that girl! She was only a teeny bit confused at why I was crying.
If you have not already seen it, take a minute and enjoy my precious first born!
Isn't she beautiful? I sure think so!
After church we headed to Olive Garden with everyone else in town. We actually went with some friends and which made the hour and a half wait more bearable. We had the best conversations which made the hour and a half go by quickly.
Can you believe I didn't take a single picture on Mother's Day? Who am I? BUT I did take a picture with my girl the day before, so it will just have to do for this year.
The kids were so excited to have all the mommies come. They started with a little presentation of all they had learned this year--Psalm 23, Nursery Rhymes, the days of creation, and a cutesie little song about mother's. The program ended with a slide show of the kids throughout the year. It was super sweet.
We then got to sit down with our crowns on and have our lemonade and cookies. So yummy!
The kids did such a great job making us feel so special!
On Sunday, we had our typical morning at church. Well, kinda. I started the morning off in the nursery full of newborns who had been dedicated that morning. So glad I am not having 14! One I think I can handle! As I was leaving the nursery, I had several people stop me and tell me what a great job LilE did. Thanks? JD had said I was going to get one of my gifts at church, but I assumed it was a picture or something in a video. Oh. My. Instead it was an ENTIRE video of my daughter dancing and playing in her room. She was the video! I just about melted right there. And yes, I was the mom sobbing in church! My heart was so full of love for that girl! She was only a teeny bit confused at why I was crying.
If you have not already seen it, take a minute and enjoy my precious first born!
Isn't she beautiful? I sure think so!
After church we headed to Olive Garden with everyone else in town. We actually went with some friends and which made the hour and a half wait more bearable. We had the best conversations which made the hour and a half go by quickly.
Can you believe I didn't take a single picture on Mother's Day? Who am I? BUT I did take a picture with my girl the day before, so it will just have to do for this year.
Thursday, May 05, 2011
Snip Snip and Away
LilE loves arts and crafts. She has a new love for cutting. Other than ONE incident, we have not had any issues. I have heard horror stories about kids cutting their hair off at the scalp and we have been fortunate that has not been the case in our home.
Today I was running some errands when I received a phone call from LilE's teacher. My first thought was she was sick. But then the words came out of her mouth. "The kids were working at their stations and I gave them their supplies. Turned around and a second later I saw LilE cutting her hair."
I gasped and paniced. Seriously started to sweat a bit and freak out. I LOVE her hair. It is so long and so pretty and the thought of it being a buster brown haircut made me want to cry. But her teacher calmed me down and told me that she couldn't even tell she cut it. But I still wanted to know, "how much was cut?" She told me it really wasn't much. She picked up the locks and put them in a baggie for me to see when she got home. She told me LilE cried for an hour at school. She had taken the scissors away after explaining we don't ever cut our hair. Poor thing just melted, not because she was in trouble necessarily, but because she couldn't finish her craft.
I was a little on edge the rest of the day. But when I picked her up from school there wasn't anything noticable. Praise the Lord. I acted as though everything was normal and I didn't know anything. She was a bit hesitant with me, which makes me laugh a bit at her sinful nature. As she does every day, she wanted to show me the stuff from school. We went through everything and the baggie was amongst all her papers. (There was some MAJOR relief as I had to squint to see the 10-2" hairs in the baggie. It was not as much as I thought.) I asked her what it was and she answered her hair. The poor girl thought she was going to get into trouble and when I asked her how it got there, she said she didn't want to tell me. So, we had some lessons on being honest and telling the truth--even when it is hard. And since she had kinda already been punished and she was heartbroken over her choices, there were no further consequences on our end. She did start crying on the way home so I stopped and took her out of her seat and just gave her lots of love. She sure did need it!
Today I was running some errands when I received a phone call from LilE's teacher. My first thought was she was sick. But then the words came out of her mouth. "The kids were working at their stations and I gave them their supplies. Turned around and a second later I saw LilE cutting her hair."
I gasped and paniced. Seriously started to sweat a bit and freak out. I LOVE her hair. It is so long and so pretty and the thought of it being a buster brown haircut made me want to cry. But her teacher calmed me down and told me that she couldn't even tell she cut it. But I still wanted to know, "how much was cut?" She told me it really wasn't much. She picked up the locks and put them in a baggie for me to see when she got home. She told me LilE cried for an hour at school. She had taken the scissors away after explaining we don't ever cut our hair. Poor thing just melted, not because she was in trouble necessarily, but because she couldn't finish her craft.
I was a little on edge the rest of the day. But when I picked her up from school there wasn't anything noticable. Praise the Lord. I acted as though everything was normal and I didn't know anything. She was a bit hesitant with me, which makes me laugh a bit at her sinful nature. As she does every day, she wanted to show me the stuff from school. We went through everything and the baggie was amongst all her papers. (There was some MAJOR relief as I had to squint to see the 10-2" hairs in the baggie. It was not as much as I thought.) I asked her what it was and she answered her hair. The poor girl thought she was going to get into trouble and when I asked her how it got there, she said she didn't want to tell me. So, we had some lessons on being honest and telling the truth--even when it is hard. And since she had kinda already been punished and she was heartbroken over her choices, there were no further consequences on our end. She did start crying on the way home so I stopped and took her out of her seat and just gave her lots of love. She sure did need it!
We had to run and pick up the camera from being cleaned (woot!). So on the way we stopped for a little happy hour treat! Maybe that will help her realize that we love her enough to give her a treat to make her feel a bit better about life. I know they sure help me feel better!
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
Strawberry Season
This is one of my favorite seasons of the year. Spring. The weather is starting to warm up without being too hot. The flowers are blooming. And the fruit is growing. And we LOVE to have fresh strawberries in the house.
LilE and I loaded up to meet a few friends and ended up meeting the entire church at the strawberry patch (well, maybe just two other playgroups and another staff family).
LilE and I found a spot all by ourselves and picked away.
Two gallons of strawberries.
They were yummy!
We talked about how the plants grow and the flowers bloom.
Then the strawberries grow out of the blooms.
Isn't it great how God created these wonderful plants for us to enjoy?!?
We took some other pictures just because we could. I have one beautiful princess with beautiful friends.
The next morning we gathered our supplies to make freezer jam. I am so thankful for a friend making it for us a couple of years ago. We have forever been changed.
I cut the strawberries.
We crushed the strawberries.
Add the sugar (and it's not just a little sugar).
Boiled the pectin.
Mixed the two together.
And poured it into the jars.
I ended up using all two gallons of strawberries to make 4 batches of jam. Yielding 24 half pints. If we run out of jam this year we need some serious help! But really, it IS that good!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
