A face only a "daddy" could love...

The boys' crazy weekend...

Wow! What a fun weekend the for the boys. Friday night Dad took them to "Winter Jam". I'm sure many of know what it is but just in case...all the "hottest" Christian bands like Skillet, Mercyme, Barlow Girl. etc. travel throughout the country and they come here every year in February for Winter Jam. Josh went last year when we first moved here with our neighbor, Josh's friend now, and he loved it. This year he actually worked at it with this same friend, they passed around the offering plates. They only charged $10 to get in but people are very generous with the offering..they brought in 2 million I heard in that alone. Jacob and Nate couldn't wait to go this year so Bill took both of them and they LOVED it!!! Bill said it was a good thing I didn't try to bring Hannah, it was really loud!!! But I so love that this is the music that the kids (even in the public high school) are in to here. The USC stadium was so packed that not everyone could even get seats, good thing Bill got there early with the boys.
And then Saturday, my neighbor took the boys on the culdesac to the USC basketball game. You should have seen them all with their Gamecox jerseys and Jacob and another boy, Caleb, with their garnet wigs...sooo funny! I wish I had a pic. I'll try to get one from my neighbor, who I must add was brave enough to take all these boys as he himself is a Mississippi fan (the team they played!!!) Poor thing!
On top of this, Josh spent the night at a friends house, Jacob spent the night at a friends house, Jacob had baseball try-outs, Nate finally got his tennis racket he's been wanting and dad took him twice to the tennis court to practice just for fun, and Nate wants me to add that his dad cracked an egg on his (Nate's) head for breakfast Sat. morning. (He was very excited about that!) So, that was our weekend! (Or rather the BOYS weekend!...isn't it always???) Hannah and I did go to the mall for a bit Friday when the boys were at the concert and she got a new dress from Gymboree that was on sale...(for anybody interested!!!) I'm sure she would have had more fun at the concert if it were up to her.

Look at my pigtails!!!

An adventurous afternoon on the lake...

The day started off good...

Our clown! But so far...so good!!!!

Frosty??? (A little too much sunblock, Nate!)

Hannah wanted to drive the boat!

All is well still...

Well, the day started out great! We woke up to a beautiful sunny 70 degree day and we decided to take the boat out for the 1st time of the season. Hannah and the boys were excited...and all seemed fine...at first! We went out to the middle of the lake to have a picnic lunch. This is when we noticed steam coming from the engine of the boat. And when Bill was checking it out he saw water filling around it. Then the boat wouldn't start again. I say "I think we're sinking" (mindful of the fact that I have a broken foot, a baby and an ice cold lake!!!) and of course that put the boys in a panic. We look under the floor of the boat and it's filled with water so Josh rips out the oars and starts paddling to the closest island. (Which honestly wasn't getting us anywhere...but he was certainly trying!) Bill gets on the phone to get us a tow (coastguard I guess is only on the lake in the summertime) and the tow would cost $200 an hour. Bill's sweatin' it (keeping calm though I will say)! We told the boys this is an "adventure" they can tell their friends back at school. So, they tell us it will take a good hour for them to arrive (good thing we had the GPS as it's a HUGE lake!) So, meanwhile Bill starts bailing out the water with a pail and the boys are waving the oars at every passerby. Finally, someone sees us!!! And, he was definitely a God send because he just happened to be a boat mechanic. To make a long story short, we had a crack in a part on the engine from the winter freeze (which everyone we asked told us nobody winterizes their boats out here because it doesn't get that cold) but this "good samaritan" totally checked out our engine and ended up taking his battery out of his boat to start ours and told us we were fine to get to the marina. So, God bless him, we didn't have to pay for that tow and we DIDN'T SINK either! If you ask Hannah, she will tell you our boat has a "boo boo"! Too cute! So, now we just have to take the boat to the "doctor" to fix the "boo-boo"...and all is well that ends well! What an adventurous afternoon.

Happy Valentines Day!

Making a Valentine for Daddy! First things first...

Nate's space box he made for his class Valentines & don't recognize the other kid!

Daddy's little Valentine! Daddy gave her a pretty pink pony with a hairbrush and some yummy Dora chocolate candies for Valentines Day.

Notice her shirt: "My heart belongs to Daddy" ...and it definitely does...she loves her daddy!

Eating sour warheads! Doesn't Jacob remind you of that Uncle guy from the Adam's family???

MY FUNNY VALENTINES!!! Hannah's lunch today consisted of a frosted cookie, a lollipop, m&m's and a Dora chocolate! Yum!

I LOVE MY VALENTINES!!!!!

I LOVE storytime at the library!

p.s. notice my lovely hair and my missing shoe??? Well, since my mommy broke her foot, daddy's taking care of me! But, I'm not complaining. He's doing a super job...I just LOVE my daddy. He even brought me to story time today. My mommy just tagged along 'cause she was bored and wanted to take my picture. Plus, daddy really doesn't like singing songs in public, and we do lots of singing at storytime. But, that's o.k. because he sings lots with me at home. (Just don't tell anyone I told you that, he might get embarrassed!) He's the best daddy in the world!

I'm such a clutz...

I decided I needed more of a challenge chasing my toddler around so....I went and broke my foot!!! And the sad thing is that I don't even have a good story to go with it. I was walking down stairs and twisted my ankle somehow which threw me down the last couple stairs to my rear! That's it!!! All I know is it hurt sooo bad. Thank the Lord Bill was right there to carry me to the sofa because I couldn't walk on it. And believe me I tried because all I could think of was that I have a baby to take care of...as well as 3 boys, a husband and a household. I just can't be incapacitated! When it wasn't feeling any better and I couldn't walk on it, I decided I better get it checked. (That is, with a little persuasion from my mom also!) So, off we went to urgent care for x-rays to find out I sprained it and the ligament pulled a chunk of bone out with it. Real dainty, huh? So, off to the orthopaedic specialist today who decided I could get away with a "walking boot" instead of a cast, thank goodness!!! Can you believe they didn't even have a pink one??? Sooo, here we are! One way to get some R&R I guess. But I'm already going nuts...I can't sit still too long. My neighbor just brought me some crutches and the doc thinks I'll be able to walk on it a bit in a few days (with the boot of course). So, I know this is little compared to what I know several of you are going through right now, but please pray for my foot's healing and me not going stir crazy, and even more for Bill as he is running the house and kids for a few days along with his work. I say this as he is cleaning up after making dinner for us and getting ready to go to the high school for our meeting with Josh's counselor. What a sport!!!

just us girls...

Hannah enjoying a Springlike day in the middle of February with her little girlfriends from the culdesac!!! Havin' a ball splashing in leftover puddles. We're getting Spring fever here!

Straight A's

Jacob and Nate just got their mid-term report cards...they both got straight A's!!! We're sooo proud of them!!! And in addition to that, I just opened a letter from the school stating that Nate is being moved up to "AGP" classes for the "Academically Gifted" based on recent tests he was given. I know one of them he scored in the 95th% or 96th% nationally. I am so excited I just had to share! I guess I didn't mess them up homeschooling them after all! (And to all my homeschooling friends in California...keep up the good work! If you ever wonder if the kids are actually "learning", I know I did, I hope this encourages you.) The school actually tested Jacob as well due to his performance and national test score in Math. He had to pass 2 tests to qualify, he passed one and missed the other by 1 point I think it was. (Which was a good thing for him because he didn't want to leave his class.) God is in control! But, we are just so thrilled and proud of both of them. (Josh also, by the way, he's doing wonderful in high school as well!)

Build-a Bear

Hannah made her 1st build-a-bear today!!!! She was soo cute. She knew exactly which one she wanted...I tried to get her to make the Valentine doggy but no, she wanted the pink kitty! She was scared of the "fluff" machine...too noisy. She had her kitty kiss the little heart before we put it in and then, of course, she loved giving her a bath. And then she ran around grabbing clothes for kitty, she wanted a Hello Kitty shirt and a princess shirt, but I told her she didn't need any clothes this time. And I think her favorite part was putting kitty in the condo "box" and dragging her all around the mall...the box was almost as big as she was. It was sooo funny, everyone was laughing as she passed by. And of course we had to take kitty for a ride on the carasoul. I think she's definitely a "girly girl"!!! Yay!