We have had some wonderfully terrific weather this past week. Most days were between 60 and 70 degrees! Love it! Last night we grilled out with some of our friends at the seminary. It was a little strange to be sitting outside eating in January! But we love it and so enjoy the company and fellowship with our friends. I think the boys get just as excited (if not more so) that we do.
This morning we were up EARLY to get ready for basketball. We had to be at the church by 7:40 am for their 8:00 am game... thankfully there aren't too many of those. Unfortunately, Casey pulled a muscle or pinched a nerve or something between his neck and shoulder blades. He's not been very comfy, that's for sure. But, he is so good and doesn't even complain much...just groans and grunts when ever he moves. :>) He also got a hair cut today.
Oh, back to basketball. The boys are doing better every week. Ethan made some good passes and dribbled a bit today and did a really good job on defense. Josiah threw the ball in a couple of times...which just made his day. But the real treat was in the last 10 seconds a team mate passed (handed) the ball to him and he took off dribbling! He went towards the wrong basket...but that was ok. The buzzer went off signaling the end of the game and he turned around and was just beaming! He said, "Mom, did you see me dribble!" It was precious.
We ran a few errands in the afternoon including a trip to the library, so we spent most of the afternoon reading. It was nice. The boys were in bed by 7:30 pm and it's almost 9:00 pm and I think I'm heading that way too. Sundays come early so I need to get good sleep so I'm not too cranky in the morning!

Homeschooling

When we moved to Texas this summer we decided that I would homeschool the boys. It was the best option for us moving into a new place. I've never been that excited about homeschool...give me a good (affordable) private Christian school and that's what I would have preferred. It seems though that private and affordable don't really go together. So, here I am homeschooling my boys and I realized just recently that this is exactly what we needed. I'll try to explain.
Ethan is very smart...sometimes too smart. And, he is very matter-of-fact. If he thinks he knows something, well then he knows he's right too. He and I have tended to butt heads a little (or a lot) since he was about 4 years old! When he was going to school I would try everything to get him to tell me about anything that happened and it was like pulling teeth! He was always exhausted from his day at school and by Friday he was a walking zombie and really cranky. I felt like we were disconnected and I didn't know what to do about it either.
Ok, so back to homeschool. We took about 3 weeks off in December/January while Casey was out of school and just had fun together. Starting back up with school was a little difficult the first week, but we are running smoothly now. So, yesterday I was explaining a math problem to him and he wasn't getting it. So I showed him a few examples and finally the light clicked on and he said, "Oh, I get it." Now that was good enough for me to see that he got it so I started to walk away. He got up and followed me so I turned around and before I could say anything (like, "get back to work") he gave me this huge hug. I asked him what that was for and he said, "because I love you and I like it when you help me." Ahhh so, that's it! I love having my sweet boy back and am so glad that homeschooling has helped us connect and communicate better.

Upwards Basketball

Upwards Basketball (and cheerleading) is a program our church is doing (and has done for many years). Games are every Saturday for 1st-6th grade boys and girls during January and February. My boys are so excited and have really enjoyed playing so far. Each week the kids have Bible verses to memorize and they receive stars for different areas of participation. This year's theme is God is light, so they are memorizing verses that go along with that.
Ethan and Josiah are on the same team...which is great! Their team practices on Monday nights. And, last night both the boys made baskets...Josiah for the first time. He was so excited...his whole team and the parents watching were excited for him too. Most of the team is 1st and 2nd graders and I've only seen 1 kindergarten age kid (like Josiah) on each of the other teams. They are always matched up by wristband color so they guard a player with similar skill and ability. It is always so cute to see the little ones out there playing tag with each other.
I love to watch the boys and see how different they are and the way the respond to things. Ethan is almost always serious. He has fun, but he is serious at the same time. Josiah thinks everything is funny. If he catches the ball, he laughs. If he misses the ball and it hits him on the head and rolls away, he laughs even more. Ethan has been so sweet with his brother and helps him out. At the last game, Ethan walked over to Josiah (who was doing who knows what) and took his hand and brought him to where he needed to be.

A New Year

It's been a while since I've posted anything...so I thought I would at least start the year off with a summary of the past few weeks. Here goes...it was great!
We had one of the best December's we've ever had. We did miss family and friends around the holidays, but having Casey around in December was a real treat that we haven't had in many years. We slept in, played games, ran around town...basically whatever we wanted to do! He did still work 20 hours each week at the church...but that was it.
Ethan has finally learned how to ride a bike...he got one for Christmas. Josiah, not wanting to be left behind is also riding a two-wheel bike. We inherited a small bike with our apartment when we moved in so Casey oiled the chain and put some air in the tires and that is now Josiah's bike.
The boys started basketball and are loving it! I'll post more on that later.
Casey started back to classes last Thursday. So, he is once again a busy man. The boys are back into their school work and are getting back into the swing of homeschool work again.

White Christmas in Texas

When we moved here this summer everyone told us, "It never snows here." We believed them until we had a white Christmas! According to one news article I read, the last time there was snow on Christmas here was 1927! The ironic part was the day before Christmas Eve it was 74 degrees outside. That's Texas weather for you!

The boys bundled up and spent about 15 minutes outside before coming back inside. It was really windy and cold.


Christmas afternoon there wasn't much left. But, I did find this snowball that some kids had rolled.

Sunday Celebrations

We had a very full, but good day today. Sundays start very early for us, so we were out the door by 7:15 and on our way to church. We had a special Celebration Christmas service that combined both services. I think normal Sunday attendance runs around 475-525, but I'm sure there was more than 700 people this morning. It was a full house! The music was great and we enjoyed special songs from the kids, orchestra, choir, etc. After church we had lunch with another family before heading home.
I was able to sneak in a short nap which was really nice. We spent the afternoon relaxing a bit and visiting with some friends. For dinner we went downtown with three other families to celebrate our friend, Maribeth's birthday. We ate at Cantina Laredo, which is where Casey and I went for our anniversary last month. Tonight was all about dessert, so we ordered an appetizer plate to share so we'd have plenty of room. They have a terrific Mexican apple pie, served up on sizzling hot plates. The waiter brought out the hot plates and then put a slice of apple pie on top, followed by cinnamon ice cream. The finishing touch was a brandy butter sauce poured over the top. Oh, it was soooooo good.


After dinner we stopped and took some pictures in the square downtown on Santa's sleigh and visited Barnes and Noble Bookstore. Ethan enjoyed riding up and down the escalator. It was a fun day.


The only down part of the day is that I have a little tickle in my throat...I'm hoping it doesn't turn into anything at all!

Quiet December

Casey and I were talking this morning and realized that we haven't had a December like this in YEARS! Now that classes are done till January (hooray!) everyone's schedule has slowed down...a lot! This week we've enjoyed sleeping in, eating meals together, playing with the boys, and other fun and low key things. It's been really great!
Yesterday we received a Mickey and friends train track that goes around the Christmas tree from Aunt Jeanie (Casey's sister). The boys had fun setting up the track, but we soon realized it wasn't going to fit around our tree. Our tree is small and the track takes up most of our living room. It has been fun to have though! Here's some pictures of it.