The gift of a lifetime....

For Christmas this year, Jeffrey got a special gift from Pop that he hadn't planned on....chicken pox! Pop had shingles (and NOT the kind from a roof...can you say OUCH!!!!) at the cabin which he *shared* with Jeffrey. Jeffrey has never had chicken pox, despite being exposed several times....even a couple of times on purpose. "Hey Jeffrey why don't you go play a long time with Billy Jo and Betty Sue? Sure they have chicken pox! Go have fun!" Well, looks like this time he caught it. He's been feeling really normal, which is suspicious a bit to me. However, the breakouts followed a very customary pattern, starting on his tummy and spreading all around over the next few days. His itching hasn't been too bad either, thankfully. We're still looking for Josiah to break out soon, but so far, no spots.

Can't really see the spots...but they are there! Thanks Pop for a gift that lasts a lifetime!

In light of Pop's gift, I've been thinking about 2010, and praying that our year as a family would be filled with "once in a lifetime" experiences!

A holiday highlight

Though it's hard to pick a #1 highlight of the fun Christmas holiday (we had great fun at the cabin, took a quick fun surprise trip over to Memphis for a couple of days, fun car rides, etc.), I think one of my tops happened on the 26th. It was the Biggest Loser:Sister's Edition 5K race. A little background....at the beginning of November, Julie and I put together The Biggsest Loser: Sister's Edition to help us reach goals to make better food choices and be consistent in exercising. We both LOVE The Biggest Loser, so it was a natural choice for a name. We'd thrown around the idea about running in a race and even had started a "Couch to 5K" training program, but there was no race around to run in. So, we made our own race track. We took Julie's van and drove on some roads in Beaver's Bend State Park and figured out where we would run to make a 5K. I'd even made t -shirts! Corny I know, but it was the motiviation that we needed to actually get it done! The race path was around a beautiful lake with even a playground for the kiddos. Michael and Mike made the kids come to cheer us on. It was so cool to hear them cheering and singing to us when we ran past! The weather was beautiful! And cool, about 40-45 degrees. Very refreshing. Stretching out...

Double tie those laces. Notice the super cute scarf! It was a super long, super soft one that Tony and Gin gave me for Christmas. It worked wonderfully because I could wrap it around my ears AND around my neck all at the same time!

Taking off!! We walked the first part to warm up and walked a little in the middle, but ran the rest of the way!

Here we are coming in halfway. See all the kiddos cheering us on!! At this point, Julie and I both took off sweatshirts, scarves and gloves. Not so cold any more!!


Then for the big finish!!!.....

Michael brought toilet paper from the cabin and a couple of the kids holding it for our finish line! We were so thrilled!! We'd set a goal to finish in less than 37 minutes and we did it in 35:25!

The victors!! We did it!

We've already got on the calendar plans to run a REAL 5K in College Station in March. And do it in less than 31:00. And then to celebrate our 40th birthday, a half marathon. Bring it on !!

Christmas cabin fun

We made it to the cabin! And not only that....we had a white Christmas! I think the county we were in was the ONLY county in Oklahoma that wasn't under severe winter weather alerts. Mike and Julie's house in Tulsa was due to get 5-8 inches of snow. The kids were a little bummed about no snow, but then on Christmas eve...voila...snow! Granted, it wasn't much, but it was some! And was still there in the morning so everyone could go out and get a little on their gloves!

Actually the day before it snowed, all it did was rain. So, we set up the Wii that Mike and Julie brought and had a great time. Michael says the Wii is a great age equalizer. He's right. Case in point....David was a definite "contenda" in almost all of the games we played. He even beat Pop in table tennis! It was so cute, he would just flap his arms back and forth and somehow managed to hit the balls!

Here's the crew engaged in a bowling (red pin bowling) contest.

After watching all the fun, Pop couldn't stand it...

He just had to get up and give it a try! See what I mean....age equalizer!!

What was a real hoot was hearing the under 6 crowd "coaching" the over 35 crowd as to how to bowl, bat, hit, etc.

Julie and I had a great time too playing on the Wii fit. The hula hoop game was a real blast...but NO CHANCE of photos on that one!! :-)

Christmas goodies....getting ready for the cabin!

The time has FINALLY arrived...our long awaited Christmas trip to stay in a cabin in Oklahoma w/ my mom and dad and sis and her family! To say we've been waiting for a long time is quite an understatement. I think dad booked the cabin at Christmastime last year.

Of course, putting together a trip for 14 to a rustic log cabin takes a little planning...ok more than a little, but the list lovin' me was up for the challenge. Mom and Julie and I planned menus and mom (also a fabulous list maker in her own right...the difference: she uses technology i.e., a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet; me, a spiral notebook (that of course I got for ridiculously cheap before school started) and a pencil) made the lists of groceries and food and fun items that we each needed to bring. We figured out many Christmases back that the cabin deal works so much better when you just plan ahead and bring your own groceries and don't plan on eating many meals out. We've mastered the art form and now we don't eat ANY meals out....truth be told, it's easier to make a meal for 14 than to take 8 kids, most of them under the age of 8 out to eat dinner. Besides, it gives mom and Julie and I hours in the kitchen to just gab and cook and cook and gab. It's all part of the vacation package in my book!

But anyway, part of MY list for the cabin was to bring cheese balls/cheese logs and sugar cookie dough to make Christmas cookies. So today was the day and Jeffrey and Josiah were my willing helpers. Actually they did almost everything while I took pictures and just talked them through what to do.

Here they are rolling the cheese balls in paprika. I had actually already made the cheese mixture on Saturday, I'd just run out of paprika, so had to go to HEB on Sunday to get some more.

Then the really fun part....sugar cookie dough. This recipe is so old that I remember making it when I was little girl. It's the best. Makes delicious crisp sugar cookies, just the way they're supposed to be especially with some frosting and sprinkles! :-)

Here they are putting in some butter....

some sugar.....

eggs....

Mix that up a little...

Jeffrey doing the "scoop,level,pour" with the flour....

and Josiah doing the same w/ the baking powder....

Add the dry ingredients...

and a little more....

use your hands (if you're 8!!) to put the dough on waxed paper to chill in the fridge-I guess that way there's more to lick on your fingers later....

Jeffrey opted for the spatula...

I KNOW they will be just as thrilled about helping to bake them....and Lauren and Katie and David (and POP!) will be there to help.

Christmas with Grandpa

On Sunday, we drove over to Houston/La Marque to watch Grandpa and his church choir perform their Christmas cantada. Then following a yummy lunch at Pappasitos (where Michael's stepbrother, Sammy and his wife, Giovanina joined us) we drove down to La Marque and had brownies and ice cream (the boys got a pass on the "sweets fast" for this special occasion! I mean Blue Bell Peppermint ice cream only comes once a year...and on top of a homemade brownie....yum!) at Lois's house. Lois is Grandpa's dear friend who conveniently lives right next door. Grandpa was having some plumbing issues at his house, so Lois graciously offered for us to come to her home. Thanks, Lois.

Michael enjoying some coffee.

Grandpa's gift....a Mike Huckabee book and some gift cards.

Jonathan got some books. He's already finished one and a half!

Jeffrey got a Lego.

Books for Jeremy...and I just have to take a moment and tell you what great little bargain hunters my boys are becoming. Grandpa gave each of the boys $30 to spend online to get what they wanted. Jonathan and Jeremy knew which books they wanted, so they shopped around and instead of buying new and just getting one or two each, they bought used and each got 4! What's the slogan..."Buy used and save the difference!" Excuse me while I wipe a tear from my eye! Great hunting boys!

Josiah got two Legos. He and Jeffrey have had a lot of fun building the Legos. Can you ever get enough of those??!!

After a quick trip by the cemetary to put a poinsettia on Michael's mom's grave, we headed home. It was a lot of driving (8 hours) for a visit, but it was so worth it. In addition to the nice time in La Marque, Michael and I got almost 8 hours of long conversations in. That made the day even better!

The Gann band Christmas program

A couple of weeks ago we had a Christmas program for the band that the boys play in. Jeffrey was so excited to get to play in his very first concert, especially after having to sit in the audience at band concerts for years now. As usual, moms got to play as well since there are no other clarinets and the moms who participated all played the clarinet in school.

I got to sit next to a very handsome fellow! :-)

Jonathan, Jeffrey and some other members of the band.

Here's the program...

Jonathan played "Feliz Navidad" as a solo, Jeffrey played "Up on the housetop", and Jeremy played "Hark the Hearld Angels Sing" in a jazzed up version....and if I knew how to load things from my video camera to my computer you could actually hear them. They did well and I think one of the cutest things was watching Jeffrey's eyebrows while he was playing. He was concentrating so hard and was making crazy shapes with his eyebrows. I worked hard to keep from laughing! But it sounded great!

Here's most of the band. Jeffrey was missing from this one.

There's Jeffrey....

We were again so thankful for the band this semester. We're so sad because the Gann family is moving to Colorado Springs in January (life in the Air Force, you know)! One of the other clarinet-playing moms and I (mostly the OTHER mom, I hope!!) are going to take over the band for the spring semester and then we'll see what kinds of things open up for next year. We love that the boys are playing instruments and don't want their developing skills and talents just fall by the wayside! Great job guys!

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever...Christmas fun begins!

Ok, I'm behind in posting Christmas things that have been going on. But hopefully over the next few days I'll actually get posted the posts that have been rolling around in my head of things that we've done already this Christmas season. Most pictures will be from my camera phone because I left my camera batter charger in Bryan at Thanksgiving. But even low quality photos are better than no photos!

One of the first things we did this holiday season was take a field trip to the local children's theatre to watch a production of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever". Jonathan and Jeremy's class in Classical Conversations read this book for the last week of their class before Christmas. (Believe me, all the other books they read this semester were MUCH harder than this one! Just an easy/fun read before Christmas, I guess!) Well, when I saw the theatre was putting this play on and even the day right after J&Js last class, I planned a field trip. Almost everyone from the class was able to make it. We had a great time. Jeffrey and Josiah hadn't read the book (and it's been years since I have) so they weren't sure what to expect, but I think they enjoyed it.

Here's Jeffrey with part of J&Js class. We were up in the balcony which is why the theatre looks so empty.

Because we had an extra ticket, we invited one of Josiah's friends who is the daughter of the lady who teaches band to the big boys. Josiah always enjoys hanging out with her. And it is always a fun and different adventure to have a girl tagging along! :-)

After the play, we went to eat at Spaghetti Warehouse. We've been wanting to go there for some time now and since the theatre was just a few minutes from there, it was the perfect opportunity.

And after lunch, we headed back toward the theatre which sits on the same property as Hemisfair park. And in the boys' mind, you CAN'T get this close to Hemisfair park and NOT play!! So, we rustled up all the change we could find for the parking meter and played for a few minutes before we had to head off to basketball. A game of Hide and Seek quickly broke out.

Everyone on "base".