Merry Chrithmath

At this rate Abby won't have any teeth by January 1. The Tooth Fairy will be making another visit on this cold winter night.

A Great Team

Saturday night Julie and I hosted the product development team over to our house for a Christmas celebration. It's become tradition to have the team over for Christmas and also in the summer for burgers. It's fun to hang out with all the spouses and kids too. 10 of the 13 kids running around the house were born since people joined the team. And there are 3 more babies on the way! We have celebrated many weddings and births over the years (and in that order too).

These guys pour their creativity into the videos production, writing and graphic design that is behind everything that Bluefish TV and The RightNow Campaign create. A very talented and passionate group.

Proud of Brian

I am so thankful for Brian; he's a caring father and a great leader for our family to follow Christ. He's also an ambitious leader at his work. When I say ambitious, I don't mean in a way to make his name great or to make his company's name great. Brian and his team encourage others to serve God with their whole lives through live events and video products. And this is ambitious to me. Everyday we are thankful for his job that allows him to use his gifts to serve God.

Two weeks ago, the Board of Directors announced that Brian is now the President of Bluefish TV and The RightNow Campaign. It is one more big thing to we are thankful for.

You can read this press release here.

Birthday Sharks and Jaguars

Last week was Abby's 6th birthday. We went the traditional route of seeing sharks & jaguars and eating chocolate cake.

Our "Christmas Vacation" moment

Julie and I can quote most lines from our most beloved Christmas movie of all time - Christmas Vacation.

One of our favorite exchanges:

Russ: Dad, a tree that big won't fit in our front yard.
Clark: It's not going in our front yard Russ. It's going in our living room.

If you need a refresher, check out the first 90 seconds of this video.



This weekend we took our first-ever trip to the tree farm to cut down our own Christmas tree. No, we didn't remember our saw -- but we knew that they would provide them for us.

Thankfully a light shone from heaven and a chorus of angels directed us to the perfect tree. It was a fun experience.

Chime in with any of your favorite Christmas Vacation lines.

Costume Parade

Grant's preschool has a costume parade every year. Above is Grant's class. Can you find him?




Our friend Jennifer sat next to me and said he was parade material. I think it was because he marched around to the music so well. Maybe the mask lent him anonymity so he had no fear. Maybe that's why Batman is so brave too.

Grant's dark sky

Grant was very insistent about painting today, and not just with watercolors. He's been trapped inside with a fever for the last few days, so I wanted to make him happy. Usually I don't like to get out paints because it seems like a lot of work to set up and clean up when they lose interest in 5 minutes. Grant was very happy painting about 3 pictures and asked for my help with stars. He described this first picture as corn growing in the green grass, a night sky and moon and stars and even darker sky above that....



then he painted another darker sky...

Top 10 things we haven't blogged about:

in no particular order....

1. our little angel-baby turned 1! here is a picture of her angel cupcakes since I can't show her. We've had her for a year now and are in the waiting period for adoption. We can't wait to celebrate that!

2. I am not running the half-marathon. It seemed like a fun challenge, but my knees and schedule couldn't take it.

3. New carpet at our house!

4. New paint too!

5. Abby and Teresa and I went to Mary Poppins last weekend. It was so good!!! This was Abby's first musical and I am so glad it was fun for her. I remember going with my mom to see Annie at Music Hall when I was little, so it was sweetly nostalgic.

6. Right after Mary Poppins Abby had the flu and a week before that an unexplained fever - thank you kindergarten!

7. Heard Museum on Smithsonian Museum Day. We saw the same dinosaurs that scared the kids to death 2 years ago. They weren't moving or making noise yet, but our kids were a little braver.

8. Pumpkin patch tradition with friends

9. Rock Band Beatles - the kids now sing every word to "Yellow Submarine"

10. U2 concert - thanks to Marc and Robin for taking us!

Preschool or Everest?

Either way Grant was ready. He was a little sad over breakfast this morning, but when it was time to leave me at school, he gave me a big sloppy kiss and went off to play.

Hope for the Future

Friends

I just have to post that I am super thankful for friends! Here is Abby splashing with some of her friends:












I have really fabulous friends here including Teresa (of the crazy half-marathon idea). We were both able to forget about training enough to get together in Colorado when she came through town with her friend Amy. See more of their adventures here.
































Before our family vacation to Colorado, I was able to escape to Galveston for a weekend. Big thank you to Brian, my mom, and my friend Amy for help with the kids! This was a 10 year reunion with my closest friends from college. There were 7 of us that went on Spring Break road trips, played secret santa and shared life together at Baylor. We all miss each other and loved unhurried, uninterrupted time we spent in Galveston. We missed Amy and Lisa, but here are Kalley, Kathy, Lori and Katy. We had an amazing time laughing, eating and catching up on all that we had missed.















time on the beach:
















Thanks Kathy for the glamour shots:
















Thanks most of all to my best friend Brian who encouraged me to go to Galveston. He also packed up 3 kids and drove by himself for 6.5 hours to pick me up on our way to Colorado!

Horsin' around

Our kids had a blast riding the horses in Colorado. Abby was super excited to get there and ride Toby, but Grant said he wouldn't ride any horses. Grant surprised us when he was ready to ride the second time we saw the horses. Why are we surprised anymore by their bravery? Grant helped take care of Joe with Pops and Abby helped Nanna by brushing Toby.



















































Look at that proud and happy girl!




















Jackie said this was the slowest Toby had ever walked, but he did it for Grant!

Colorado fun

Here are a few pictures of our time in Colorado. We had a really great time seeing deer and foxes, pretend fishing, hiking, and spending time with Brian's parents. I wish I could show pictures of our sweet "angel" but we still can't show her. She loved waving at us from her hiking backpack and sleeping in it too.



















The cold, cold water of Lake Erwin.
















Thanks to Nanna and Pops for a fun vacation and fun with Toby and Joe.















"Sit still kids!"














Abby watching for wildlife on our daily drives. Brian offered them a dime for any four-legged wild animal they saw, or $10 for a monkey.















Abby and Grant fishing from their sled "boat."

Colorado Vacation part 1

We had a fabulous trip to Colorado last week. I would love to post videos or pictures of the 32 hours of road trip, 5 hikes, horseback riding, jeep driving, canoeing, and more smores fun. But sadly this is all I can post for the moment, even though 6 cameras went with us. Let's all be old-school for a moment and lean our heads to the left to see Abby riding Toby, proudly wearing her pink, sequined cowgirl hat (taken by Abby's camera).

I'll get Brian's help and post more soon.