3 Snowfalls in 1 Winter…This is still Texas right?

Just look at this beauty!

Okay, so three snowfalls in one year isn’t a big deal to most people, but I LOVE winter and so wish I could live somewhere with real seasons, cuz in Texas, we usually have Summer and February.

But not this year!  This year is amazing.  We had a White Christmas, y’all!  And yesterday, it snowed all. day. long.  All day long!  Big, beautiful flakes from the time we woke up until well past bedtime.  And we awoke this morning to this…

Check out the little pillars on top of each fence post.  So cute!  I could post a million more pictures like this, but I won’t, since most of you aren’t as giddy about snow as I am.  Even my kids didn’t get as worked up as me.  David and I keep telling them to remember this because it never snows like this in Texas.  (A record breaking 12 inches!)  They are starting to doubt us, though, because we said the same thing just a couple of months ago when it snowed on Christmas Eve and we barely made it home from Gran’s house. 

They managed to have a bit of fun in the stuff today though.  (And no, they aren’t dressed nearly warmly enough.  We live in Texas, remember?  But they have got lots of layers on that you can’t see, and a hodge podge of gloves and odd boots that we dug up.  As I said, they managed, and my dryer ran ALL day!)

 

 
Just one more of the big kid…

You should have seen the other guy…

Alternatively, I could have titled this post, “There’s a reason why monkeys shouldn’t be jumping on the bed!”

Last night, G-man was performing tricks for his brothers.  (Who should have thought to mention to Grant that his antics weren’t a good idea!)  Anywhoooo….Grant stood at the foot of his bed and fell face first into his pillow doing a belly flop of sorts.  Things went well the first two times, but the third time…not so much.  His face smacked the headboard.  OUCH!

Yeah, I get a little queasy every time I imagine it.

We took the above picture shortly after he calmed down.  We literally watched it swell and turn color over the course of the evening.  This next picture was taken the next morning…much less swelling, loads more color.

Can you tell Grant is a little peeved with having his picture taken yet again?  We kept trying, but none of our photos captured the full beauty of the purples and greens under his eye.  And he is already tired of telling what happened to everyone he meets.  To avoid attention, perhaps he could try this…

Baby G turns 7!

Guess it’s time to stop calling him “Baby G.”

Grant had quite a whirlwind of a day.  We started off by meeting Nana at IH*P for pancakes and a few presents.

Jenna went with Nana for the day while the rest of us headed down to the Big D to meet Gran and Pawpaw and Uncle Matt.  My parents surprised Grant with tickets to see the H*rlem Gl*betr*tters.  He has always loved to laugh and just recently started to love basketball, so it was the perfect present.  He loved every minute of it!  His brothers did too.  Cole watched the last season of the Am*zing R*ce with us, and one of the teams were from the Gl*betr*tters, so Cole thought it was so cool to see them in real life.  I left my camera in the car, so my pictures are the best I could do with my phone.

Grant’s choice for lunch was Mexican so headed over to the nearby El F*nix.  (I haven’t eaten at El F*nix in years, but y’all…did you know they have the best chips EVER?)  My parents didn’t want to make a scene by bringing Grant’s presents into the restaurant, so we loaded up in our car to watch Grant open his gifts. (It was 28 degrees, for cryin’ out loud!)

Zhou Zhou Pets!  David and I hate them already.

Finally, after picking up Jenna from Nana’s house, we headed home for some hot soup, a cookie cake, and the final presents from us.

Happy Birthday, my sweet Grant!  You have been a joy since the day you were born.

Movin’ On Up…

My Sweetheart studied his little heart out all through the Summer and Fall for the fire department promotional exam last October.  The exam consists of 100 questions pulled from six thick textbooks.  Did I mention these are MASSIVE textbooks?  David studied and read them all several times and did great on the test.  His grade, combined with seniority points, scored him first place on the promotional list (!) and a promotion to Driver the day before Christmas.  Hurray!

The fire department had a little ceremony to recognize his promotion on Tuesday, and Jenna and I were proud to attend. 

Congratulations, Sweetie!  You earned it!

(One of these days, I’m gonna get Photoshop to edit out tell-tale details, but in the meantime, please overlook my oh-so-subtle edits.)

Big Top Fun in Little "d"

Saturday night with no plans and a burning desire to get out of the house...What to do, what to do? Our inspired idea? Head over to the rinky-dink mall in our town to "ooo and aww" over the pets at the pet store and to let the kids try out the circus acrobat jumping contraptions in the center of the mall. (I totally want to try this out myself, but not on Saturday night with a big audience.)

G-man was the last to get up his gumption to try it, but I got the best pic of him. His smile never left his face and he screamed, "Awesome!" after each jump.

Jenna was the first to brave it, but she was terrified after the first jump. She still has a few sensory aversion issues, but I'm so proud of her for trying it. Little Miss didn't have the muscles to bounce an ounce, so David had to pull her down and let her go like a rubber band each time.

Mason had a ball and wants to have his birthday party here with a couple of friends. Sounds like a good idea to me.

I took these photos with my little Cannon camera I keep in my purse, so I didn't have the best shutter speed for this. I love how Mason is sorta disappearing in this photo like Michael J. Fox in the Homecoming dance scene of Back to the Future. Come on, McFly! Kiss her already so Mason doesn't fade from existence!

**Note...Cole was at a Jr. High sleepover. Pray for me, cuz he's gonna be cranky with a capital C tomorrow!

Snow!

We just had an amazing White Christmas, and we were blessed with more snow.  I know most folks don’t blog about every snowfall, but it is big news around these parts, so here are a few pics…

 

And here is Jenna’'s first snowman.  (Love the amrs growing from his head!)  Doesn’t she look proud?

A Child's Perspective

A few weeks ago, we went to the new Chinese buffet in town because my boys love a grand buffet. Not that they necessarily eat enough to make a buffet a good deal (though that day is fast approaching), they just love the extravagence of it...the ability to try a million things and then to ditch their plate and try even more. And Jello. Jello is always a must have at Chinese buffets. Go figure.

This particular buffet was decorated in grand, over-the-top, dare I say it, gaudy style. Fancy Nancy does Chinese decor. Lots of gold plating and two ginormous chandeliers.

Part way through our meal, I noticed Jenna had abandoned her plate and was turned backwards in her chair entranced by something. I asked her what she was looking at and she said with a blissful, breathy sigh, "That light is amazing."

She was right. In all the garishness of the room, I had overlooked the stunning glittery-ness and graceful curves of the monstrous chandelier in the center of the room. But Jenna didn't. She was so taken with it that she had to push aside her dinner and stare.

This time of year, I always like to re-read Max Lucado's classic, "God came near." It gets me every time. In the opening prologue, Max tells the story of a blind man who underwent a complicated surgery, and at age 51, gained his sight. he is utterly amazed and overwhelmed by what he sees. Colors astound him. Stars and sunsets dazzle. Even the simple vapor trail of a passing jet stops him in his tracks.

Max uses this story to illustrate how we can be near something for a lifetime and never really see it. We can see a thousand rainbows yet never marvel at their beauty, or live with a spouse for forty years and never truly glimpse their soul. A person can be good, and moral, and religious and never come face to face with Jesus.

Jesus.

Have you seen Him? With your own eyes and heart? He invites us to come to Him, you know. To see Him for ourselves. To spend time with Him. He even left the glory of Heaven to open a doorway through which we, the lowly can see and experience Him, the author of life.

Wow.

He invites us to take our blinders off, to stop what we are doing, to interrupt our meal just as Jenna did to gaze upward and to bask in His ultimate beauty and grandeour and to blissfully sigh, "Oh, He is amazing!"