I have a new skill!

This past Friday my girls and I went to Red Robin to have dinner with my Mom, Step-Mom, brother and his wife. It was so much fun! My Mom and I shared a burger. And we asked the waiter if they would sing happy birthday to Anoe. I know her birthday was last week but we were kind of celebrating her birthday Friday with my parents. So anyways, Anoe loved it! She got a ice cream sundae with chocolate and had the biggest smile ever. At the table right behind us were some people from Clyde that Alexis knew. Well the boy she knew was Trenton Cauthen. I kind of sort of recognized his parents from church but not really. When school first started Alexis and Trenton became friends. She said they were boyfriend and girlfriend, but I quickly informed her she had no business having a boyfriend at her age. She could be friends with him but none of this boyfriend nonsense! Well a couple of weeks later he decided he didn't want to be "friends" with Alexis anymore because he liked some other girl. Well of course Alexis went into total 10 year old melt down and cried because she had a broken heart. I'm so not a nice sympathetic Mom when it comes to this kind of stuff. I wanted to tell her that's why she's not supposed to be worried about boys right now. But I tried really hard and told her what I thought Jennifer would say to her. It was really hard for me. I can't even remember what I said exactly. Of course with her only being 10 and having no idea what-so-ever about such things like boys and all she moved on quickly. I asked her if she still talked to Trenton awhile back when they were both on the same duty for Children's Church one day and she no. In fact her exact words were (and imagine them with a 10 year old attitude) "Ugh Mom! No!!! Gosh, don't you ever listen to me!?!?!" So I was like oh yeah I remember now. OK, so all of this to tell you the next part. We saw Trenton at the restaurant, but my back was to him and Alexis was facing him and my sister-in-law was sitting right next to Alexis so she was able to see the whole thing, and Trenton and two other little boys that were with him kept calling out Alexis' name to get her attention. Of course Alexis was putting on her perfect little smile and messing with her hair which I'm sure she thought was cute. I was like, seriously? I mean come on ya'll are in 4th freaking grade! So after that Alexis started acting right. Well when they got up to leave, Trenton made a little phone symbol with with his hand and said "Call me" to Alexis. I just looked at her and she said "No Mom I'm not going to call him, I don't have time for boys." I was glad she said that but, why in the world would she act so weird? I mean I'm trying super hard to raise her to be a good Christian little girl. Sometimes I wonder what I need to do so she'll understand that she is just way to young for all this stuff. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

But now on to my new skill! After dinner the girls and I went to Sweetwater to stay the night at my Mom's house so we could help them with the miniature golf course they're building. I made breakfast for us Saturday morning, and we were out at the lot by 9:00. I learned how to set bricks! Now of course I can't build a house or anything, but I can lay bricks around the edge of the putting green. It was such hard work! Moving all the bricks were we needed them, pulling out the weeds so the ground would be smooth so we could lay the runs down, making the mortar so the bricks would stick and not move, kneeling for hours on end on asphalt and of course there were still some pebbles. I have helped design a total of three runs, and designed design two all by myself. Like I said before it was super hard work, but it was so much fun! Sunday morning was no so fun though. I was hurting so bad! My hands are really weak and they hurt if I use them a lot. So of course they were hurting me pretty bad. I even have bruises on my knees from all the kneeling I did. I think we were all (except my freak of a brother who does manual labor all the time so it's no big deal to him) sore Sunday morning. My brother even said he was disappointed in the moral of everyone. After taking some ibuprofen we started feeling a little better but not much.We started the day by pouring concrete into two big holes that had big poles in them. It was kind of cool, I got to help use the level. And then the brick work started up again. At first I just couldn't do it. I wanted to cry I was so upset. My hand and wrist were hurting and me knees were hurting. I just went off by myself and sat down and Alexis came over to sit with me. She said she would pray for me if I wanted her to. Of course I wanted her to pray for me. She did and a little bit later I started feeling better. I was only able to brick 3 runs before I left to come home because of the slow start I had in the morning, but I'm really proud of myself for the work I did.

I almost forgot! My brother taught me how to use a skill saw too. He even let/made me cut a board for one of the runs he was making. And I did a good job. Or at least he said I did, and he didn't fix it after I was busy doing something else. On my way home I got to talk to my sister-in-law for almost 30 minutes which was really nice. She's eight months pregnant and having some problems so she could really use some prayers.

Girl Scout Cookies

A couple of months I advertised Girl Scout Nuts that Alexis was selling. Well now it's time for us to sell Girl Scout Cookies! I'm super excited about this! I love Girl Scout cookies. (Who doesn't right?) Anyways, they're $3.00 a box and if you tell me your order by this Friday, January 25th, I should have them and be able to deliver them to you by February 14th! What a great Valentines present! I've listed the cookies that we are selling below. Just let me know if you want something!

Lemon Chalet Cremes - Luscious lemon sandwich cookies with a hint of cinnamon-ginger spice. Approximate count: 14 Net wt. 8 oz

Trefoils - Tender, delicate-tasting shortbread that melts in your mouth. Approximate count: 45 Net wt. 10 oz

Do-Si-Dos - Crisp, crunchy oatmeal cookies with creamy peanut butter filling. No artificial color or flavor. Approximate count: 22 Net wt. 9 oz

Samoas - Tender vanilla cookies covered with caramel on top and bottom, and then rolled in toasted coconut and striped with a rich, chocolaty coating. Approximate count: 15 Net wt. 8 oz

All Abouts - These beautifully=designed shortbread cookies have a series of Girl Scout messages embossed on top and a rich fudge coating on the bottom! No approximate count or weight given. Sorry.

Sugar Free Chocolate Chips - An explosion of chocolate flavor in a bite sized package! You won't believe this luscious, chewy treat is sugar-free. Diabetic friendly. Again no approximate count or weight given. It does sound good though even if it is sugar free!

Tagalongs - Tasty cookies topped with creamy peanut butter and covered with a luscious chocolaty coating. Approximate count: 15 Net wt. 7 oz

Thin Mints - (If you listen very closely you can almost hear the angels sing when you read about this cookie!) A thin wafer covered with a smooth chocolaty coating. EXTRA THIN! EXTRA CRISP! Made with natural peppermint. Approximate count: 40 Net wt. 10 oz

The girls are planning on making a trip to Primetime with the money they earn from selling. We're supposed to tell anyone that buys a box what we plan on doing with the money we earn. But seriously, after you see the words Thin Mint, who cares why you're selling them. All I can think of is the fact that in a few short weeks I'll be able to enjoy a nice beautiful cookie that is nowhere on my diet. Maybe I can skip lunch and dinner a couple of days so I can eat a couple of cookies everyday! Oh and you can freeze them and take them out later so you can enjoy wonderful cookies all year long.

OK, so I'm done pushing Girl Scout cookies now. Hopefully I'll be able to post all about our trip to the metroplex this past weekend!

Anoe

My sweet baby girl is 6!!!!! Alexis and I woke her up singing Happy Birthday to you this morning. She had such a big smile on her face! She jumped up so we could see how much she had grown over night. We're having a little party tonight at my house for her. I'm going to make spaghetti and we'll have cake and ice cream afterwards. Then tomorrow the girls and I will leave to go to Dallas! We're going to go to The Dallas World Aquarium, then on Sunday we'll go to the Ft. Worth Zoo! I'm not sure if we're going to stay the night Sunday or not yet. We probably will though. I think it'll be so much fun! I'm sure we'll do other stuff too, I'm just not sure what exactly yet.

Anyways, I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of my sweet baby. These are all from a couple of years ago when she was 2 going on 3.

Love this picture! She's such a pretty girl.




Just look at that smile! How can you not fall in love her?




This is one of my favorite pictures of her. She looks so sweet and innocent. It just melts my heart every time I see it!


This last picture is of all three girls. Aren't they so cute?

UFO sighting

Last week a whole bunch of people saw something flying in the sky. All of the people agree that it was too big and flying to fast to by an airplane. This happened in Stephenville which is only 1 hour and 32 minutes away. (According to Map Quest)I don't really think I believe in aliens, but could all of these people be mistaken? The article I read even quoted the Constable of Erath County as saying that he saw something in the sky. He did say that he didn't think it was a flying saucer though. He hoped it was just a military aircraft. At lunch when Jennifer and I were discussing the whole thing, she told me that she does believe in aliens. I told her I didn't because why would God want to create another life form. She said "Why does God do any of the stuff He does?" I said because he's great and Jennifer said because he can. But really other life forms? I don't know.

But anyways, this Friday my sweet beautiful loving Anoe turns 6! And I was planning on taking the girls out of town for the weekend, so I thought maybe we would go to Stephenville to check out all this nonsense. I'm still deliberating about it all though. What I really want to know though, what are your thoughts on extraterrestrial beings?

Bragging on my beautiful babies!

Alexis brought home her report card yesterday. I was a little nervous to look at it (last time she had 2 failing grades) but not this time! She brought up all her grades! She's passing everything right now. I'm so very proud of her. She is so smart and awesome!

Today Anoe brought home a "Bulldog Bone" for the first time! A Bulldog Bone is a little not that the kids get when they do something extra good. Anoe received hers for cleaning her table and then cleaning up at another table. On Monday Anoe will get to take her Bulldog Bone to the principal and she gets two quarters for being so good! Which is very exciting for a little girl. I also just found out that after she gets her two quarters (not fifty cents) she can buy a pencil from the pencil dispenser up by the office. She's even more excited about the pencil than the two quarters or getting recongnized for her good behavior. She's so silly.

Anyways, I just wanted to let everyone know how awesome my babies are!

Happy New Years!

Night before last I had a really awesome dream. I really don't want to share it, but I really feel like it was God promising me something that I really want. I did tell Alexis a little about the dream and she's agreed to have faith with me that the dream was from God!

I actually stayed up last night until after midnight. We had a little party here at our house. It was so much fun. We had a bunch of finger foods like hot wings, chicken strips, vegetables with dip, cheese sticks, jalapeno poppers and some other stuff. We set up little stations for the kids to play different games. The big kids were playing Twister in the hall, the smaller kids were playing Kitchen in the play room and some of the other kids were playing some other games that were age appropriate. The adults watched Harry Potter 1 & 2. Then at midnight we (who were still awake) had a glass of Sparkling White Grape Juice (bubbly). My kids didn't really like the taste of it. Alexis said it tasted like wine, I asked her how she knew what wine tasted like and she said she didn't really know, but she was sure it was nasty and the bubbly was nasty. She also told me that beer is even nastier! I told her she was right on that one. It was a really fun night.

Jennifer and I switched cars yesterday because she's going out of town today and my car gets much better gas mileage. I'm really pumped about this little arrangement. I LOVE driving Jennifer's car. It's so much fun.

I hope everyone had a great New Years!