RACK #1

Another project I have come up with is to do random acts of Christmas kindness (RACKs) all through the month of December. One is coming early though. Each of the kids got a box for Operation Christmas Child to fill and take back to church. They are due this Sunday. We spent about $10 to fill each box. We filled the boxes with toys, toothbrushes, wash cloths, soap, coloring pages, crayons, and stickers. The kids had fun picking out toys for them. Today they colored little notes for them and packed the boxes to take Sunday. 

Coloring pictures

Holding up their favorite things from their boxes. 

Thankful Project #1

Partly inspired by Daniel Tiger's Thankful Day, I decided we are going to do thankful projects leading up to Thanksgiving. I want to teach the kids (and myself) to say thank you. And not just when someone does something nice. We are intentionally going out of our way to thank people who are rarely thanked but greatly deserve it. Here's my initial list of ideas:

Fire Department

Sheriff's Department

Pastors and church staff

Sunday school teachers and volunteers

A military member

Daddy/Matt

Dr Juno 

First up, Lee County Sheriff's Department. A couple days ago we made apple cinnamon muffins. They are so good and I almost always have all the ingredients. I got the recipe off the box of Aunt Jemima pancake mix. This morning we delivered them with a thank you note to the sheriff's department. They kept asking me who we were with and were surprised when I told them it was just from us. As a bonus, the sheriff's name is Rodney. Our James Rodney thought that was pretty cool. 

Waiting for the sheriff to come out

We found out we know some of his neighbors and I worked with his mom in the kitchen at Camp Tejas. 

This was fun! Let's see how many more we can get done in the next couple weeks. 

James is 4!

Just a quick post for now. Stay tuned for a longer post about James' party. He is definitely growing up. He disappeared into his room about 30 minutes ago and has been playing with his new toys alone since then!  There was also a lesson today on tithing and saving before we could go spend his birthday money. I'm proud to say that out of the $25 he got, $5 will go to Jesus and $7 has been put in savings.   And we had fun shopping for a new toy with the rest. 

A preview of the birthday post: Grandpa got the prize for picking out the best gift. They have asked to play play-doh several times each day since Saturday. And, yes, there are tiny balls of play-doh all over my table and floor. Thanks, dad!

Our week in pictures

It's the end of day nine. It's been a fun week. Here's a few of the things we have done since arriving in Virginia. 

Mam'ma has a great backyard! A fence and lots of fun toys. 

Auntie 'Lisa just had to get a picture. (Melissa is #2 of 7)

This is Clayton Newsome. He and his wife Joan play games with Matt's parents frequently and they've known the family a very long time. They even came to Texas for our wedding. 

Meg eats breakfast several times every morning. She eats early then mooches off everyone who sits down to eat. She was loving Pap'pa's Rice Krispies that morning. 

Saturday we went to Chuck E Cheese with Ann's crew and Melissa. That was the kids' first time going and my first time in a long time. We all had a blast. 

Meg and Matt racing. They won three races in a row, of course. 

This was their favorite game. 

This one is so cool. Melissa and I had to pump the pedals so The bike would go up in the air. 

Meg was a little shy at first, but once she warmed up, she went down this slide over and over again. 

This one is cool. Each colored thing is a drum and the speakers are in an arch over their heads so only they can hear it. 

Ours and Ann's. They spent the weekend with us since they won't be here for Thursday. (Ann is #6 of 7) 

We went to church this morning and evening. Tonight was just a Thanksgiving meal plus a few songs and sharing thankful stories. Davy got lots of points with Meg by giving her sweet tea. Yummmm!

And that's our week!  Looking forward to our last 4 days. 

Horses and drums

Today we drove from Davy's in South Carolina to Mart's parents' house in Virginia. Not very eventful except for the pretty trees and stopping for lunch at Deb's house in North Carolina. For those unfamiliar with the Wall clan, Deb and Davy are Matt's siblings numbers 1 and 3 respectively. Deb was about 30 minutes out of the way for us but definitely worth it. She fed us and she has horses and a drum set. The kids were thrilled. 

Their names are Joy and Bella. The kids both loved feeding them. -anyone see anything missing?-

Meg just cried when I put her on Joy's back. She didn't stay up there long. James was not sure about it at first but he did sit on her back. -there's that missing item from the last picture!–

She was supposed to stand still but when James grabbed her mane she started walking. Obviously, James was thrilled. 

And the drum set. He's a natural. But no, he doesn't need a set. There is no room in my house for drums. And they may all wind up with holes in them overnight. There is a video of him playing on Facebook. Meg hit a couple of the drums but they were too loud for her. 

How's that for pictures shared, Gigi?

Thanksgiving trip 2013!

We are currently on day 3 of our Thanksgiving adventure. We started Friday night driving east. We crossed 5 state lines and made it to South Carolina mid afternoon Saturday. We've been hanging out with Davy since then. He's a great uncle and spoils the kids thoroughly.  We hadn't been here 10 minutes before they each had a piece of candy and white chocolate covered Oreo. But they're having a blast and it's vacation so I'm okay with it. Yesterday I got the bag of toys out of the truck for them. Meg grabbed a toy and climbed up in Davy's lap to play. Tomorrow we'll pack up and cross two more state lines into Virginia but not before we enjoy some crab legs. :) and maybe I'll take some pictures some day. 

6th anniversary trip!

Our anniversary trip came a little late this year due to general busyiness and babysitter availability. Thursday we all went to the beach and played a while. We had supper with my parents at Joe's and then ran away! We stayed in the Tremont Hotel in Galveston the first night. That place is gorgeous! Friday morning, we rode the Bolivar Ferry and drove to Lake Charles, LA. Spent a couple days shopping, watching movies, and tried out a casino for the first time. Sunday morning we drove back down the Bolivar Peninsula and across the ferry to have lunch with Gigi, Grandpa, and the kids. Enough about us, you wanna hear about the kids, right? 

They had a blast! Played on the beach, in the pool, and at the mall playground. Grandpa pulled out his huge kite and James got one just his size to bring home. When he told me about it over the phone I thought he said he got a frog kite but it turned out to be a flag kite. Very patriotic. You should know that for days before the trip he talked about Grandpa and his kite. He decided they were going to fly it together and that Grandpa would buy him one to bring home. That was the first thing he asked him when we saw him on Thursday, too. See below for pictures of both kites. Gpa's kite has a 10 foot tail, btw. J's is a lot smaller, but still pretty great. Of course, he loved hanging with Gigi, too. Every time I mention her or call her he wants to go to her house. Nothing is better than Gigi's house. 

The first day I got a picture of Meg's knees all scraped up from the concrete, but she's a rough n tumble kind of girl and fearless too, so I'm not surprised. She also was quite taken with Grandpa. Gigi said she loved rough housing with him. One time Sunday she followed him up the stairs while the rest of us were playing downstairs. I kept trying to get her to say Gigi but she doesn't quite have it. I won't be too surprised if she suddenly asks for her one day. 

Getting ready to fly

Flying Grandpa's kite

J's kite

Meg watching

Playing with mommy's old xylophone 

Yup, that's why they love Grandpa. He's just so fun!

Cheese!