Lisa's Birthday

December 28th, 2007

This was Lisa's 40th birthday. While I went to the YMCA to workout, Jon and the kids put together my awesome gift from my Mom. It's a beautiful porch swinger for the back yard. They were out in the cold for almost 2 hours! But it was well worth it, I love it!

Abigail's Birthday

December 27th, 2007

Abigail enjoyed part of her birthday with Granny & Donnie and then headed back to Texas. Here are picture of her goofing of in the car with her brother. The other photo is her with her favorite gift, a Hannah Montana stage, complete with lights and music! How cool!

Christmas with Granny & Donnie

December 26th, 2008

Jon and the kids headed to Tulsa and spent Christmas with Granny and Donnie (and Buck). They came back with lots of great clothes and new Nintendo games!

Christmas Day

December, 25th, 2007

Christmas Day was filled with lots of Hannah Montana, Roman soldiers and Ninetendo games. Michael & Misty, Dad & Uncle David all came down. Lots of nice gifts and good conversation.

Christmas Sleep Over

December 23, 2007

Caleb and Richard enjoyed the last sleepover before Christmas. Padme' helped wake them up Sunday morning!

Christmas Party

Wednesday, December 19th

Yesterday, was our 3rd annual McDermott Road Christmas Party. It's so cool that there are now 8 families homeschooling! We made Christmas ornaments, sang some karaoke, ate lunch and exchanged gifts. I love having the house filled with friends!

Angel Tree

December 11th

Today the 2nd truck came for the rest of the Salvation Army Tree Angel gifts. Between the Plano & Russell Creek YMCAs we collected gifts for 450 children! The kids and I loaded the truck in the drizzling rain today. We were so excited to see the truck come, the living room, dining room, kitchen, hallways etc were over flowing with packages. Padme' supervised the truck loading!

Ancient Treasures

Sunday, December 9th

Today we visited the Ancient Treasures, the largest collection of Holy Land antiquities to ever hit U.S. soil. See over 350 Biblical artifacts, many dating back to the time of Abraham. Inscriptions over 4000 years old from Abraham's home, the city of Ur. Canaanite lamps and pottery from the time of the Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The ossuary (casket) that many archaeologists think contained the bones of both Simon of Cyrenia, who carried the cross of Jesus, and his son Alexander, also mentioned in the New Testament account of the crucifixion. Lots of cool stuff, and this was a field trip that Jon got to go on with us!

Sweet Shop USA

Friday, December 7th

Today we enjoyed our field trip to the Sweet Shop USA in Ft. Worth, we also enjoyed truffles,
Mrs.Weinstein’s Milk Almond Toffee. We visited the chocolate factory where they still hand dip their chocolate. Abigail has discovered a career path!

Salvation Army Angel Tree

Thursday, December 6th, 2007

The kids and I set up a Salvation Army Angel Tree at the Plano & Russell Creek YMCAs again this year. People pick up the angels at the Y, purchase gifts and bring them back to the Y. The kids and I pick these up, sort and tag the gifts. Last night the Salvation Army sent a truck to our house to pick up gifts. We had 27 large bags and two boxes, so approximately 189 gifts were picked up last night. We already have another 40 gifts in my living room!

Paint 'N Party

Wednesday, December 5th

Today we went to Paint 'n Party, this is a do-it-yourself ceramic and pottery store. The kids picked out trivets and painted Wizard of Oz characters on them. Frankie painted the Scarecrow, and I wrote on it 'Your smarter than you think!' Caleb painted the Lion and I wrote on it, 'They'll erect a statue of me some day!' Abigail painted a Tim Man and I wrote on it, 'A heart is known by how much it is loved!' And I painted a Dorothy with 'I never have to look any further than my own back yard!' When these are fired in the kiln, I'll upload photos.

Kimbell Art Museum: Home School Class

Today we enjoyed a really nice visit to Ft. Worth's Kimbell Art Museum. This was our first visit to the Kimbell. They had a program for home educators and children. Their newest exhibit, Picturing the Bible, the earliest Christian Art. Frankie, and older children created their own fresco. Caleb and Abigail created their own coins and gold inlaid glass work. After the art project the docent took us on a tour of the new exhibit. There was artwork from the catacombs, sarcophagus's of early Christians, even several pieces on loan from the Vatican. Sister Wendy, from the PBS program was visiting from England, and filming during our visit.

Casa Manana's Frosty the Snowman

Wednesday, November 28th

We enjoyed another great trip to Casa Manana in Ft. Worth. This theater is so family friendly. We went with our homeschool group to see Frosty the Snowman. In this fun interpretation the girl who originally 'created' Frosty is now a mom with two children of her own. The kids discover the top hat in the attic. When mom shares the magic with them, they recreate Frosty. The evil scientist neighbor creates a robot snowman, Marlo, to destroy Frosty! Fortunately, on Christmas Eve, Santa generates goodwill in all! Whew!

Thanksgiving 2007

Where to begin on this Thanksgiving weekend! Whew! On Wednesday we traveled to Tulsa. Frankie went up a week ago to spend with Jon's mom & Donnie to help them out. Jon, Caleb, Abigail, Padme' and I traveled to Tulsa. On Wednesday we had dinner with my Mother and Bob at Steak & Shake. We enjoyed fun conversation and a greeting card or forty!

Thursday we headed to Owasso to spend with Granny and Donnie, along with Bob, BJ and Jesse, plus lots of other extended family. Granny tried to set Uncle Lester's house on fire!

On Friday we headed to Broken Arrow for lunch with Dad, Janice, Pauline and Uncle David. We arrived right after the firemen left! Lunch would never occur, what with them being treated for carbon monoxide poisoning! Saturday we were able to spend some time together before we headed back to Dallas.

This will be a Thanksgiving for the record books, it's no wonder we were all worn out!

Diamond Divas

End of the Fall Ball. Abigail's team, the Diamond Divas had a good season. Jon was the assistant coach again this year. Now that fall ball is over, we're headed indoors to the batting cages! Abigail and the girls enjoy the best part of any team sport, snacks!

God's Food Pantry

Today we delivered 300 can of food collected by the YMCA and delivered them to God's Food Pantry. We sorted the items and added them to the shelves. This food will be added to baskets for families for Thanksgiving next week.

Dallas Symphony Children's Concert

This week was also the Kid's Concert by the Dallas Symphony at the Myerson. The featured instrument was the huge pipe organ.

Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

We went over to our friends house this week for our Annual Charlie Brown Thanksgiving luncheon. The kids prepared the food including popcorn, toast, pretzels and jelly beans! Snoopy would be proud!

Jon's New Car

The latest addition to our family is Jon's HHR! It's a fun little car. The kids love to play with the button for the sunroof. Me, I like the MP3 plug-in! Jon likes the fact that it starts everyday!

Shoes for Orphans Souls

One afternoon Frankie, Caleb & Abigail joined Ian & Seth and Richard, Ryan & Roy at Shoes for Orphans Souls. We sorted donated shoes by size and zipped tied pairs together to be shipped to orphanages around the world.

Chief District Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater

One of the more interesting field trips this fall was one to visit Chief District Judge Sidney Fitzwater's court. We were able to observe a federal court case and then visit Judge Fitzwater's chambers. Judge Fitzwater could easily one day be one of our Supreme Court Justices!

Caleb's Baseball Game

Papaw visits for one of Caleb's baseball games. It was a good game and Caleb was SAFE!

Roller Skating

October 19th, we went roller skating for the first time in years. The kids had a wonderful time. Frankie especially enjoyed it! Abigail was 'no fear', Caleb was somewhat cautious.

Granny's Visit

Granny, Bobby, BJ, & Jesse came for a fun visit. We worked on a puzzle together, ate pizza, watched one of Abigail's ball games and read a book or two.

Abigail at Softball

Abigail, all decked out in her catching gear. She loves playing catcher. The gear is still a little too big, because she's playing on a 8 & under team and is only 6. That's the price you pay for being good!

Planetarium

Opps, this one is out of order, but oh well. This was our visit to the Planetarium in Denton. The kids learned about the 'Big Bang Theory.' But besides that bunk, they did enjoy the show.

Pompeii

Lincoln Logs and Legos were used to rebuild Pompeii in the dining room. The kids spent a week building the city, then on Friday we set off a volcano. Padme' even helped in the destruction!

God's Food Pantry

We've enjoyed several visits to God's Food Pantry. The kids stock the shelves, bag groceries and log in deliveries.