It's fun continuing to watch my children's personalities grow and flourish. Some of Emily's favorite things to do lately include being a teacher and us being her students, opening her own restaurant, called 'Woodlands Restaurant', and making cards for Daddy and Mommy. Here's a few pictures of her handiwork:

The official 'Woodlands Restaurant sign

The 'do not enter' signs posted on Emily and Joshu's rooms as they are not part of the restaurant:

The Restroom sign informing the patrons where to go when nature calls:

Joshua continues to crack us up each day. Here's a moment from Thursday with him:

He was hanging out with me at the church and was informing me of all the different things you can do with a styrofoam plate including: make a face on it and 'make wind'. He quickly demonstrated when I asked him how you make wind. He cleverly took the plate and waved it in the air like a fan and sure enough created wind. He was mighty proud of his accomplishment.

The weather this time of year in Houston is incredible. So we have let the kids play outside alot lately. Emily had Kyra come over on Friday for a while and they enjoyed some timme in the sand box and swinging together. Kyra's Daddy, Ted, and myself played the frisbee game with the two girls where they alternate catching small frisbees. Each frisbee they caught was worth one point, or 5 points for the special orange one, and the 10 pointer (which Emily is holding). They seemed to have quite a good time as did the Daddy's as well.

Josh gave the weather a thumbs up!

A couple of moments stood out to me the other day I wanted to share:


Moment 1: Watching my kids sleep

As I went to wake up my kids the other morning it was just one of those amazing moments just to sit there and take it in and watch them sleep. Both of them have their favorite stuffed animal named 'Scruffy'. Emily's 'Scruffy' is a brown floppy eared dog and Joshua's 'Scruffy' is a red floppy eared horse (going along with the cowboy room). On this particular morning both of them were snuggled up close with their respective 'Scruffies' and I just took a second to enjoy it.



Emily and Scruffy








Joshua and Scruffy
















Moment 2: Emily and her tickets
We were at McDonald's meeting with some friends and our kids were playing on the playground doing their thing. Towards the end of our time we noticed that Emily had been quite enjoying her happy meal toy: an iCarly pad of paper. She had apparently been busily transforming every pad of paper into a $1 ticket. She even interrupted me one time to ask me how to spell ticket so she got it just right. As we were wrapping up she came over to me to ask me if I wanted to buy a ticket. She informed me that they were one dollar. I happened to have a dollar in my wallet so I played along with her and then as she gave me the ticket she explained to me that she was selling these tickets to raise money for the people in Haiti. As it came clear what was inside of her heart motivating all of this effort and work she had been doing it really touched me. This whole time she had been busily working over there she was thinking and truly believing that she was going to make a difference in the lives of others through her ticket sales. It was one of those moments where I felt God was winking at me saying 'I know so much of the time as a parent is humbling and you wonder if you are just screwing it up more than doing it right...but things are sinking in...so keep persevering and trusting Me.'

Well, at long last Joshua spent his first night in his new big boy bed last night (Thursday night). It seems like we spent more time and energy picking out his mattress than we did picking at our house but nonetheless it is finally accomplished. Ted and Shelly came over to help us get the old mattress out and the new mattress in and we had a quick little celebration as is recorded here on video.

Emily wants to be a cowgirl when she grows up. So today was a day made for her as her school celebrated 'Texas' day with fun games (including the 'cow patty' toss and others) and Whitney and I got to hang out and do sing-along Texas and campfire songs.

Emily and her fellow ballerinas have been working hard to get ready for their dance recital in May. Here's a little glimpse of their progress thus far.

Here's a few updates on our life:

Josh has discovered the wonder of video games now. He used to have nothing to do with them but now he is on his way to a full-blown addict. This is him playing his V-smile at ballet.

Last Sunday night when we picked Josh up from Cubbies (our Sunday night pre-school program) we were handed this piece of paper by his teacher. Apparently Josh knows how to write his name (aside from the backwards 'J'). This was news to us as we had never seen him do it before.

Emily and her classmates had their
Valentines party on Friday. All the kids made big white bags and had little red mail boxes on their desks. They then lined up and went around like little mail men and women depositing their little cards in everyone's mail box.

It was also Emily's teacher's (Mrs Brazzell) birthday. All the kids were given pink roses to present her as they sang happy birthday.

Well, Emily officially has a little boyfriend named Connor. Whitney and Connor's mom were talking several weeks ago and discovered through their conversation that their children apparently had a mutual liking for one another. They then agreed that they would allow the kids to get a special valentines for one another. So the big day arrived on Friday. During the course of the class party Whitney and Connor's mom pulled aside and arranged a secret meeting place out in the parking lot after the party. Emily had picked out a giant Herchey's kiss for Connor and Connor had gotten Emily a Valentine's snoopy doll holding a heart. But the real kicker was that Connor had spent a good portion of the night on Thursday night hand-crafting the perfect card for his valentine, Emily (as pictured above). The process consisted of several failed attempts that were ripped up by Connor before finally arriving at the above masterpiece picturing a young girl, Emily, and a young boy, Connor, holding hands.

As a final bonus I have posted another look at Emily's ballet dance but this time if you may notice a few glimpses of little brother Joshua showing off a few moves as well. Apparently he has been studying the dance moves in his spare time.

Showed up today at our church's food pantry to find that we had an entire cargo van filled to overflowing. I quickly was thrust into a mammoth line where we passed the bags from the van into the pantry, in the corners, against the walls and on the porch. There were a couple of men who came to receive food that jumped in there with us to help as well which was really cool. After we got it all unloaded I was talking to Gary from HEB. He was telling me that he has gotten to know our church through softball as he plays on one of the other church teams. He often drives by our church and noticed we had a food pantry. So he talked to Mark McDaniel who heads up our softball ministry about seeing if he could talk to HEB about sending all of their 'souper bowl of caring' food drive donations straight to our food pantry. Well, he obviously got it worked out and our food pantry was quite blessed as a result.

Gary also shared how he has come to see church softball as a ministry and not just a game where it's all about winning. He talked about how there are men playing out there each Monday night who have never prayed out loud before with others. He also mentioned that he had invited a guy to play on their team who was involved in a gang. His life has been changed by this ministry and he changed one of his gang symbol tatoos into a cross to show that he is no longer following that path but the path of Jesus. It was very refreshing getting to hear Gary's stories and remember that it's about following the lead of the Holy Spirit...taking the initiative when God gives you an idea or someone to talk to or reach out to. How many opportunities do we pass up each day that have eternal ramifications?

Well, it has been a ridiculously long time since a post so getting back in the writing saddle here again. A couple of things on my mind today:

1. The drive to school - I've noted before about how car time with my daughter is some really cool time that I am certain that I will look back on one day and cherish our little talks. Last week she was playing this little game with me where she tries to make her voice as quiet as possible and then she asks me 'Did you hear that Daddy?'. Most of the time I hear nothing but every once in a while I hear a faint little squeak like a mouse and she just thinks it's hilarious when I can't hear her.

2. Weekend away with the boys - We got away this past weekend to go out to 'the ranch' for Dunn deer camp Southwest of San Antonio. It was very good for me on various levels. It was good to spend time with my brothers, Dad and friend of mine Matt Carter. We had some great chats on the road, in the deer blind, around the campfire and in the cabin about life, God, family, current events, etc. Of course there was much laughter and immaturity as well from the person who wouldn't claim their bodily gas expulsion to the random 'cutie' pelting to the instrumental falsetto harmony of the Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Superman theme songs while washing and drying dishes.

Here is a picture of our new cow friends that we meet at the ranch. two calves snuck through the gate one night and my brother and I got to do a mini cattle drive to get them out. I held the outside position while my brother held the inside position.

Chef Emily hard at work. Emily loves to help with cooking and baking. Our neighbor Tommye taught her how to crack eggs so that has become her specialty around the house.

Emily got to partcipate in her first parade the weekend before last as her ballet studio all piled onto a float and wore their santa hats and waved to the crowd for the Magnolia Christmas parade. I'm not sure that she is ready to be a professional parade person as she says that it really wasn't all that it was cracked up to be as she had to sit on her knees which wasn't too much fun.

Josh and his buddy Sean got to root on their ballet sisters from the sidelines and get some candy while they were at it (and apparently some weird hats and mardi gras necklaces). The weirdest moment was when a girl that worked at a tanning salon came around handing out necklaces and telling everybody happy tanning. Then I thought, you know, Santa is looking a little pale these days maybe he could use a little bronzing.

Last week we had a chance to go in and watch Emily's whole ballet routine. This is a clip of one of the dances that we had not seen yet.

Last Thursday night Emily had her Christmas musical for her school. Each grade performed a couple of songs from a different country. Emily's class represented Mexico. So Emily and the only two other girls were the senoritas wearing their Mexican dresses while the 15 boys sported their sombreros. They sang Feliz Navidad. It was very appropriate as my daughter's favorite class is Spanish. She knows two Christmas songs in Spanish now as well as 2 Bible verses. She is ready to be missionary for Jesus to the spanish speaking world.

I also got to participate in the musical as I was caught in a rare moment wearing an official minister's robe and accompanying the second graders as they sang silent night.

Emily had her class Christmas party on Friday (her last day of school before Christmas break). It was a mega party full of various activities that lasted about 4 1/2 hours. At one point in the party the kids were all out on the play ground and I thought it would be fun to go and join them in their game of tag....BIG MISTAKE. The next thing I know I am being swarmed by kids from every direction and they are latched onto my legs and tackling me in a sea of confusion. At one point some of the boys executed what seemed to be a well-calculated thought out plan. Some of the boys were hanging onto my legs while another boy snuck behind me and gave me a sudden push which just about sent me toppling over to the ground. Yeah, so if you're ever tempted to join in a game of tag with almost 20 kindergartners, evaluate that choice very carefully.

One of the cool things they did during the party was setting up a little store for the kids. The kids were each given 10 dollars (fake but looked very real) and they could go pick out a gift that cost between 7-9 dollars. This gift would be given to kids that were sick with cancer at MD Andersen in Houston. It was a cool time for them to experience the joy of giving during this time of year. After they bought their gift they then could use their change to buy something for themselves but one of the kids went around to all the other kids and suggested that they combine all of their extra change so they could buy more gifts to give away. All the kids joined in with him and they were able to purchase two more extra gifts to give away. It was really fun getting to watch them do something generous for someone else on their own initiative. It was a good reminder that kids will respond to our leadership and initiative when it comes to serving others and they are eager to help and desire to make a difference.

And now for our parting shot. This would be Josh in the Sam's parking lot sporting his new tiger tail (from Michael's). These tails bought us at least another hour of productive errand running. Whatever it takes.