Cold Weather

It all started by having a Thursday/Friday off of school due to the wind chill. That's right...no school because the windchill was like -20. (this is new for us Texans!) The very following Thursday...it was in the 60s. Craziness!

Sunday we took the youth to Winter Jam in St. Charles. The kids had an awesome time but it was stinkin cold! It is first come, first serve on seats...so we headed over right after lunch and stood outside for a few hours. We were actually pretty lucky...it snowed/sleeted off and on all morning and right as we were going in, but while we were standing there was not much wind and no precip. Several different people played but Tobymac was definitely the hit of the night. Our kids love him and his band puts on a great show!


My attempt to get the cold breaths...not so great!


Screaming...what they do best! :)

Tobymac


And FINALLY this week we had a good snow! We had a little snow/sleet on Monday night then Tuesday night we added about 6 inches on! Staying home Tuesday and Wednesday was nice and it was even more fun to go sledding with the James' crew! We went last Monday right as the big snow was hitting and again on Tuesday. I could use a snow like this once a week until summer! :)
He's cute.

Kyle and Haley. He's a dork!

Ashli and Haley K

Our house on Tuesday night when we finally made it home from hanging out at the James' house. I love all the snow!!!

Griffin attacking Haley!

These boys are so darn cute!




CAN'T WAIT FOR THIS SUNDAY!!!!!!!!!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Last week was a week of news...of good...of bad...and of ugly.

The Good: Our dear friend, Jeff Graves, got engaged to his girlfriend, Jenny! We are so excited for him and can't wait to witness him take this special step in his life.

The Bad: One of my sweetest students, Nate, and his family lost everything in a fire. The good thing is that both parents are employed. The bad thing is that they were renting and didn't have renter's insurance so they really lost everything. We are taking donations: monetary, clothes...good used or new, food, house stuff, etc. if anyone is interested in helping out. I have all the clothing sizes if anyone is interested. (he also has 2 younger brothers)
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The Ugly: A very special and loved person, our Nan, Doralene Parker, got an ugly report from her doctor. She has fought and bravely battled cancer more than once and it has now spread into her brain and is inoperable. I cannot express in appropriate words what I think about cancer...so I will not attempt to. I'll just say it really sucks...and I hate seeing someone deal with the pain and crap that comes with it.

Think Geek

One of my students had this shirt on the other day:

It detects Wi-Fi signals and their strength. I wasn't quite sure what to think of it so I had to look it up online for myself. I found the "Think Geek" website that has several different interactive shirts including a T-Qualizer shirt and an Electronic Drum Kit shirt. Check em out and buy you one! Crazy what they think up now-a-days!

http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/interactive/

Joker

This is Kyle....after him, Aaron, and Ashli were defeated by me, Vange, and Haley in Joker 5 times in a row.



We may have to let them win tonight just so they will keep playing with us.

Christmas Recap

Well, Christmas break is coming to an end all too quickly. :(

I left on December 19th to head to Texas and returned on New Years Eve. Kyle joined me in Oklahoma for a week. Here is a photo recap of our Christmas celebrations. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

My family in Abilene:


My mom excited that she finally scored on my dad:


When you grow up and get married you get excited about things like an electric flour sifter!!


Of course Valinda set up Christmas in our hotel in OKC:


Opening our mini Chis:


Mike & Valinda had awesome hats:



Kyle taught the kids to make silly faces:



Valinda's sister and her family traveled from Maryland this year:


We also visited Mike's family in eastern Oklahoma:



My trip ended up with me getting to see some great friends and attending round 2 of the Trans Siberian Orchestra. Mike gave my mom, sis, me, and Jodee tickets to attend with them and it was AWESOME. I was head on to the stage this time and it made the light show and everything 100 times better! So glad I got to go TWICE and see it from two angles! Awesome! :)