Having a Heart Attack

Back during our camp days each week we would write Character Quality Certificates (or CQs) for each camper. Their purpose was to individually affirm and encourage each camper in my cabin. I had never thought about writing a CQ for my child until I saw this.

This has been a great way to build LilE's character. We have been staying away from physical attributes we love in her and focusing on qualities that are pleasing to the Lord. It has been such a joy to list out for my own child what positive things I see in her character. And it is a simple reminder of what a blessing she is in my life!

Let It Snow, Again

Can you believe this global warming??

We got another snow this weekend (it was ice with a teeny bit of snow last weekend). LilE has a cold or allergies or something snotty going on. And since her birthday is right around the corner with a fun outdoor activity, we decided to let her watch Daddy build a snowman instead of participating. Mean. I know.

But I found a recipe for Snow Ice Cream and we made some. And even added sprinkles. Yum!

P90X for Preschoolers

We are about 3 weeks into P90X. And we are still enjoying it. We work out away from home 4 days a week and the other days we are at home. Most of the time LilE is running around the room, but other times she has joined in on the fun. Here she is doing yoga!

Twisting Triangle

Upward Dog

And a little downward dog with Daddy

A "Whale" of a Time

We couldn't get enough "beachy" play this winter weekend. LilE recieved a magnetic mosaic set for Christmas. Since we had hours of time inside this weekend, it came out. And what picture did she want to do? The "whale."

And to make it a teachable moment, we read "Jonah and the Big Fish" from The Beginner's Bible.

Rise-n-Shine

Can you believe it iced so much church was cancelled? That is the second time we have missed church in the past 6 weeks due to bad weather. And in Texas and South Carolina of all places!

We took advantage and opened up a new cookbook we got for Christmas. Kids in the Kitchen: Year 'Round Fun by Gooseberry Patch. It has a breakfast pizza recipe inside. LilE does a great job cracking the eggs and leaving the shells out!

Here is the finished product:

JD and I decided we would rather have the bacon, eggs, and cheese rolled up in a flour tortilla. Taquitos are super yummy! You should give it a try. And a bit of hot sauce (or salsa as you call it in SC) gives it a little bit of a kick!

A Day at the Beach

It iced here yesterday and today. There were a few snowflakes here and there, but the roads are covered in ice. We did head out and enjoy the few flakes that were falling this evening.

But once we were back inside LilE was dreaming of spending her day at the beach!

Bits n Pieces

Where have the past two weeks gone? We have been on the go non-stop. I am ready for a break! Funny thing is, I am not sure what we have been doing! But, I will try my best to come up with something.

LilE--Well, she is what this blog has been all about since we returned from Christmas. We were glad to get back into a routine with her after a two week free-for-all. She is enjoying school again and playing with her friends. The weather was even nice enough this week to enjoy some outdoor play! She spent last Saturday at her favorite, Chick-fil-a, for a good friend's birthday. She has also spent some time with some of the other staff kids recently. She even got to be a big sister for the day while we took care of a sweet 3 month old. She was a great helper to me.

In health news, she went back to the ENT earlier this month for a repeat hearing test. And she passed with flying colors! Therefore we were released from his care and now get to work on fixing the behavioral "what?" that keeps coming out of her mouth. So, her ears are good, but her nose has started running for the first time in 6 weeks. Bummer.

JD--The work of the church is back in full swing after a two-week vacation. The year has started off with goals and action steps to reach those goals. He has been evaluating what is going on in his ministry area as well as other areas of the church and seeking how to better the vision of the church.

He has also started reading more this year. Gasp! He is on a quick track plan through the Bible. Even though he is not necessarily reading for comprehension, he has enjoyed learning more broad information because he is reading it quickly. I am proud of his drive and desire to spend more time in the Word.

KLee--I have been organizing a bit and trying to keep the house in order. Easier said than done. I went through LilE's toys to make room for the new toys she was given for Christmas. We got this cubie for her room and filled it up. And now the living room is a bit more adult! I also organized all my sewing stuff. You can read about it here. Speaking of sewing, I have several projects I am working on. But you will have to wait and see. One project being a 4 year old birthday party!

This semester's Bible studies have kicked off. Mom to Mom started at the beginning of the month. I enjoy being with other mom's who can relate to things that go on in our home and find encouragement in them as well. On Wednesday night I am sitting in on a marriage study-Marriage Built to Last by Chip Ingram. It is a great study! Too bad I have been single as JD is involved with children's ministry programming. And I am really excited to start back with my girls on Monday night as we dive into Ruth!

KLee and JD--We were able to enjoy our first date of the new year thanks to a generous Christmas gift! We had dinner out followed by a trip to the theater to see The Blind Side. Good movie. Who would have thought that since it came out in November the theater would be packed. Seriously. We didn't sit next to each other. How romantic.

We have started to work out. Really. And we have been at it for two weeks now. P90X. It is one tough workout, but we are feeling good about ourselves and have a bit more endurance.

Our TV watching time has also been cut way down. We have realized how much time we spend sitting on the couch and decided there are other things that can be done that are more productive! We have taken a few shows off the "to watch" list and we are enjoying some time together.

Our Family--Two weeks ago we had the joy of the stomach virus. Fortunately, we were all finished with it within one weekend. Another positive--my house is now germ free! But on a more fun note, for the past three Friday nights we have had family night. Play-doh sculpting, cookie making, and more! It has been fun to spend time just the three of us.

So, I figured out what we have been up to! Now it is your turn. What have you and your family been doing this January?

Hide and Seek

LilE loves to play hide and seek. She had a great time at Mimi and Pop's because there were LOTS of places she could hide. And to top it off, she is pretty good at it! She can hide behind a chair, under a table, under the covers and be as still as a possum. (Did that analogy make me redneck?)

I left the room today and when I came back she had disappeared.

Can you find her?

Here she is!

Daddy's Little Girl

At dinner tonight LilE spilled her peach cup all over her lap. So instead of making her sit in her wet clothes, we stripped her down. She was then freezing, but I didn't want to put clean pajamas on her sticky body.

Daddy stepped in and rescued his princess.

Enjoying the New Blender

You may remember that I asked for a blender for Christmas. Well, Santa heard my requests and I must have been a good girl.

We have been making lots of sweets and treats--smoothies, shakes, and even some hot sauce. But I think LilE likes the milkshakes most of all!

Do you have any blender recipes you can share with me?

Jump for Joy

After days of being cooped up in the snow, once there was a break, we ran out of the house! WF has a new bounce house place. We were able to take DD and LilE to get some much needed energy out.

There were lots of other toys there for the little ones to play with other than slides and obstacle courses. They had a couple of cars the kids could ride around in. LilE and DD liked to be pushed by their Nonnie. I was messing around with the shutter speed on my camera and taking pictures of the ground trying to see if there was any way to get pics in that place to not be blurry. And then I captured, accidentally, the following. The first is the blank image. In the second you will see Nonnie and LilE flying by.

Day Trip

After several days of being indoors, LilE needed to get out! Mimi had to work, so Pop drove us up to the Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas.
The first thing we saw:

LilE was so excited! She loves to play Caillou and always picks the dinosaur game where you can find the buried fossils. And now she got to do it for real! We even came back at the end to dig (or undig) some more.

Here are some more pictures with less talk.

Christmas Party

LilE had two performances in one week. How she kept all the songs straight is beyond me! She did such a great job on Wednesday night and followed it up with another great (and thankfully less embarrassing) performance. Enjoy the pictures followed by a few songs.

Ho, Ho, Ho

LilE's new friend J

Room at the Manger

LilE was in her very first performance at church! She is such a dramatic little girl. Here are the precious songs she sang with her friends. (It's about 5 minutes, but the finale is the funniest part!)



Yes, my child is the one in the front flashing everyone. Lovely.

Quesadilla

This was a recent conversation between JD and LilE:

JD: LilE, what do you want for supper?
LilE: I want a quesadilla.
J: begins to gather up supplies to make this:

E: No Daddy. Not a round quesadilla, a rectangle quesadilla.
J: A grilled cheese? Shows her the bread to make this:

E: No Daddy. A rectangle quesadilla with scruffy on it.
J: CONFUSED! Show me LilE.
E: Points at the freezer and makes hand motions to describe this "scruffy quesadilla".

J: Oh! Cheese Sticks.
E: Yeah Daddy, cheese sticks.

All I Want For Christmas

If you remember, LilE asked Santa for cookies last year. I was wondering what she would ask for this year.

In preperation for the big event, I showed her pictures from the previous years and how she was such a big girl to sit on Santa's lap. Then I told her he was going to ask her what she wanted for Christmas. The first answer out of her mouth was "cookies!" (She has a great memory and knew that she enjoyed the cookies he brought last year.) Then after thinking about it she said she wanted a car...a van...a red van...like Gracie has. To which I replid, "Well, I don't think a life size 15 passanger van will fit in Santa's toy bag." And I think she was okay with that response.

But when it all came down to it, she asked Santa for a candy cane.

Leaving in Style

Mary made have ridden a donkey to Bethlehem, but she said never again! Do you like her new SUV she got in the big city? The donkey was even able to hitch a ride.

Sights and Sounds

We did a couple of firsts this weekend, or firsts with LilE.
Saturday, after a long week without much family time, we decided to spend the afternoon downtown. Our first stop was at a hotel. Each year they have a Festival of Trees in their lobby. Lots and lots of trees decorated by local companies. It is a free event for the community. We enjoyed looking at all the different decorations.

This tree (above) had brown bears climbing the tree.

She had to give them some love.

This tree also had reindeer pulling a sleigh full of more bears.

More love to be given!

The tree below titled '"Sea"sons Greetings' was made by students at an elementary school where one of my friends used to teach (before she became a mommy)

We ate dinner really early while downtown. I think we were finished at 4:45! But we wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to find our spot for the Christmas parade. They had a carousal for the little ones (again, free!). LilE and Daddy enjoyed going 'round and 'round. Then it was time to find our spot on the road. I was shocked that people were saving seats as early at 3:30pm for the 6:00pm start. Holy Smokes! We found some good standing room and enjoyed our first parade as a family. As the first (of four or five) band made their way by, it made me talk a walk down memory lane. And I realized (I think) this is the only parade (other than at Disney) I have ever watched from the curb. I have always either ridden a float or marched. Hmm...kinda made me miss the old days.

Dressing Herself

LilE has enjoyed being able to dress herself lately. Red flowerery tights, striped skirt, brown shirt (almost matches!), black shoes , and lots of pink and yellow clips in her hair! As long as we are at home, who cares, right?

I love how she is using her finger to read the words!

Time Travelers

When we got out the FEW Christmas decorations, LilE was able to set her nativity up like Mommy did.

It was so sweet to watch all the shepherds, wisemen, and animals come and worship Jesus. Followed by Bec, Dan, Lula, Heche, Patty the Pilot, Noah, Mommy, Daddy, Sister, Baby, Puppy, Kitty, Sidekick (the dog with the helmet), and a chicken. I love how they all LOVE Jesus too!