Camo Girl

Several of Abigail's birthday gifts included camo shirts and pants. Her favorite color has always been green and she loves all things camo. Santa filled Abigail's stocking with several shades of green polish. With a little creativity I did my best to make her nails camo too! The picture on the right is my favorite picture of Abigail in camo, so sweet and with a bow in her hair, too!!!!

Lisa's Birthday

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Yesterday was Abigail's day and today is my birthday. Jon and the kids served me pancakes and presents in bed. Your day just can't be bad if it starts off with pancakes an presents!! Every card is read out loud and the kids delight in the silly games they play to disguise what is inside! For those of you who think opening presents at five in the morning is crazy, your probably right.

Abigail's Birthday

The baby turns 10! The kids birthday are always so sentimental. I love the fun of breakfast in bed while they open their gifts. With each year I am struck by how quickly time flies. Frankie was 16 when Abigail was born and now Abigail is ten years old! I remember while I was pregnant with Abigail I just could not imagine what a third child would bring to our family dynamics. And now I can't begin to imagine what the last 10 years would have been like without her!

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She looks so much like Jon and is very much my personality, (good an bad), but is also very uniquely herself. She knows who she is. She is not shy. She has a quick wit, and can find humor in virtually every situation. Happy Birthday baby girl, Mommy loves you and hopes you had a wonderful day!

Gnomeo & Juliet

The day after Christmas is usually 'movie night' for our extended family. This year we choose "The Last Dawn Treader," the most recent in C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia movies. We were barely in the lobby when we saw our next movie selection, Gnomeo & Juliet!

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If you read the blog for anytime at all you have met Cedric, our traveling gnome. Then of course there have been random gnomes that have just appeared in our yard, luggage, and vacation spots, usually with the help of the Gungans and Uncle David! The movie will be a take off of Shakespeare classic tale. In this case, the embattled families are the blue hats and the red hats.

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The kids, including the large instigator, couldn't resist posing by the poster!

Jingle Bombs

No matter how much my Mom desires my family to be that Norman Rockwell family I don't think it will ever happen. I'm not really certain what went wrong today, the last thing I remembered was I wanted that picture perfect holiday photo to send to my Mom, and somewhere along the way we began to sing, "Jingle Bombs" by Achmed the Dead Terrorist. Frankie, being the smartest of all, chose not to participate in the singing!

What should have been a thoughtful moment for the Grandparents turned to sick humor! No doubt I blame Jon, but everyone probably knows who started it! :)

Drama Practice

I recorded some of the songs from drama practice. The kids have their performance in the Spring. They are doing 'Big Bad' the musical. It is the trial of the big bad wolf and an accounting by his accusers: 3 little pigs, the boy who cried wolf, red riding hood, etc. Should be fun!

Big Bad Musical Prologue



I Got Nothin' to Say



No More

Hangin' with my Peeps

Jon stayed home with us today so he could enjoy today's fun. We finished up the Christmas for the residents of Hilltop Haven. It is a long-term retirement and rehabilitation center with an Alzheimer's unit. We spent much of the afternoon visit with sweet face and listening to great stories! There is something wonderful about hanging out with that generation, they have the best stories!

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It was oddly 'fun' to be in the Alzheimer's unit. After all the time we spent with Granddaddy at the Veteran's Center's unit in Oklahoma, it was somehow comforting to be sharing smiles with them.

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I do have to say, thank you to Ms. Pam for helping teach me how important this ministry is and how rewarding!

Visit to See the Big Guy

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Jon's work hosted a Christmas party for all the employee's children. It included a visit from the Big Guy, arts, crafts and face painting. Frankie went with a "I heart Mom" tattoo and Abigail got a sweet Rudolph on her cheek. Caleb has an aversion to the whole face painting/temporary tattoos thing. I remember when he was about 10 months old Jon put a "I heart Mom" Harley Davidson tattoo on Caleb's chubby little bicep. I don't think he ever recovered!

Abigail's Recital Performance

This is Abigail's first public performance. She has been taking piano lessons for two months thru her Simply Music instructor in Frisco. She loves piano lessons and can already play seven songs! Tonight she chose 'Jackson Blues', which is by far her favorite song. She too had never played on a keyboard, only our piano at home and her instructors piano, (oh, and my Mom's piano).

Caleb's First Recital

This is Caleb's first public piano performance. He had also never played on a keyboard before, only our piano at home. He has played the piano with me teaching him for several years, but it has always been just for fun and for family! Funny thing is the song he chose to play was a song Abigail taught him!

Christmas Homeschool Recital

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Our homeschool group, PEACH offers a recital for the kids at Christmas time. It's fun to see what the kids choose to share! There is a children's bake contest with awards for Most Creative and Most Delicious! There is also an art contest, this year's art ranged from oil, acrylic, and pencil work. There were even Lego sculptures entered!

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During the recital portion there were the usual keyboard, violin & guitar solos. Then there were sports demonstrations, but probably the best performance were two 12 year old boy giving 'Nerf Gun Reviews!' They highlighted 6 various Nerf assault weapons and gave the down on each and a firing demonstration!

World of Wonder

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Today's field trip included a visit to the Jewish Community Center for Leland Faulkner's World of Wonder. Mr. Faulkner was brought up in Africa, Afghanistan and Iran, and has traveled in Germany France, Thailand, Japan and China. He uses creativity from those cultures to present a program that captures children’s imaginations through shadow play, illusion, the amazing use of light, origami and stories from around the world.

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The kids were fascinated at his intricate and fast moving story telling thru shadow puppets. He was masterful with origami and engaged the audience with each story. Following the show we checked out the beautiful display of menorahs housed at the center.

the Nutcracker Ballet

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.This weekend we brought in the holiday season with Ben Stevenson’s critically acclaimed production of The Nutcracker. This beloved ballet tells the story of Clara and her magical Nutcracker Prince as they embark on a thrilling adventure. Along the way, they encounter a Christmas tree that grows to 40 feet, toy soldiers battling mischievous mice, waltzing flowers, dancing candy, and sparkling, swirling snowflakes that fall on dancers and the audience alike. Stunning costumes, dazzling sets and remarkable dancing to holiday music by Tchaikovsky make The Nutcracker a favorite family tradition.

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We've attended the performance at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center when Frankie was little. The last several years we've attended performances at Bass Performance Hall in Ft. Worth. This year with the opening of Winspear Opera House, we were able to enjoy the performance in Dallas! We joined several of our homeschooling friends for a wonderful matinee!

Home Depot Workshop

The Home Depot's Kids Workshops offer useful projects including the creation of toolboxes, fire trucks and mail organizers, as well as more educational projects, such as a window birdhouse, bughouse or Declaration of Independence frame kit.

The workshops teach children do-it-yourself skills and tool safety, while at the same time helping to instill a sense of accomplishment. Additionally, this fun time allows for quality one-on-one time between adults and children.

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When the kids began participating in the monthly classes Abigail was really too young to participate, but we would attend and Caleb would do projects with Jon. Eventually Abigail and Caleb would both do projects and now Abigail does the projects herself with a little assistance from Caleb.

Upon completion of each project, the kids receive a kid-sized orange apron, similar to The Home Depot associates' aprons, an achievement pin and a certificate of completion.

2010 Thanksgiving Dinner #3

Saturday and Sunday found us with Jon's family. Granny and Donnie had already had the big dinner on Thursday, she knew we were stuffed from two days of big meals, so everyone agreed to snack on the leftovers. After all that is the best part, Jon loves his ham sandwich with queso.

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It was so great to have time with B.J. and Jess, aka the old cousins! These may technically by my nephews, but they are 'my boys!' While living in Oklahoma the boys stayed with us during school breaks, went to church with us, and the kids always seemed to be together! I love listening to their stories and just seeing them as young men. It doesn't matter how long the kids have been apart, when they are in they same room together it is like no time has passed!

2010 Thanksgiving Dinner #2

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Friday brought more time with family and another great dinner, complete with a stuffed tenderloin and well several stuffed Pratts! Mimi takes the prize for the most effort put into Thanksgiving dinner, not only did she prepare a wonder meal, she also remodeled the house complete with demo work and everything!

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We did have an after dinner show, Uncle David was put on trial . . . something about a gnome. Abigail was the prosecuting attorney, Caleb was the defense attorney, Mimi the judge, Jon and Frankie were witnesses and Michael, Misty and I were the jury. Fortunately David was found innocent, something about trumped up charges. Lots of silliness!