Grande Christmas party

For the first time in 10 years Cory and I went to my company Christmas party. We had a great time hanging out with everyone. I laughed when I started trying to decide what to wear. I couldn't find anything and ended up borrowing something.

It's great to have a chance to get all dressed up and go out on the town for a night. But actually having a wardrobe for "night life" is a whole other story. Maybe I'll be more prepared for next year. :o)

Sam Dunk

Cory got tickets to an Aggie basketball game, and Jaxson was the only taker. The two loaded up a few Friday's ago and headed to College Station.

They arrived an hour early and had a chance to be on the court during warm ups. Jaxson spent most of that time with his chin rested between two chairs. Cory said he noticed a camera man filming Jaxson at one point.

They enjoyed the whole game together with Jax taking a small cat nap during 1/2 time. Jaxson's favorite part of the whole night was the slam dunk contest. He has talked about it day after day, and even tries to act out his own "sam dunk" contests.

What a dude!!

The Great Cookie Swap

I was invited to a cookie swap this year. Since the one and only rule was that you had to make your cookies FROM SCRATCH this was a challenge for me. I mean, come on, if I actually make them in MY OVEN isn't that from scratch enough????

So I borrowed a cookie recipe from a friend at work for " No Bake" Oreo balls. Jacie and I had a great time making them. I explained how the party worked, that I would bring lot's of our Oreo balls and swap them with all the other ladies for theirs. She was so excited the next morning to see all the other cookies we had gotten.

It was one of the best times I have ever had, and can't wait till next year.

Oh Christmas Tree..

We are a week behind in getting our tree up but finally made it. Merry Christmas.

WTAMU here we come

All tests have been passed and transcripts are in route.

Thank you so much for all your prayers. We both made it through our last class with South University and I passed my entrance test for WTAMU. I am signed up for my spring classes and ready to go. We are still waiting for one of Cory's transcripts and then he will finish up his enrollment.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers, it's gonna be a long road ahead.

GO BUFFS!!!

Trip to the Mountain

We went to visit Granny & Papa in New Mexico for Thanksgiving. It was a long 10 hour drive. The kids were such troopers; they really did a wonderful job both on the way there and back.

Jacie had been praying for snow for over a month and she got her wish. It didn't snow hard, but it snowed. We went up to the ski resort one afternoon and played in some man-made snow for a bit. We weren't totally prepared and our clothes weren't the best for snow playing. I think we might have lasted for 45 minutes or so before we all piled back in the car to go home. Jordan was the lone trooper who would have been fine for us to leave him up there all day.

The next day we went up to the tube shoots. It's like Schlitterbahn in the snow!! We had to pick out our tube, stand in line forever and then enjoy the 1 minute ride. Everyone had a great time. Cory and I rode double with Jacie and Jax for awhile, then Jacie wanted to brave it on her own. I tried to get a pic of her coming down, but her tube turned at the last second. I did get a great shot of Jordan, he was in the air coming off of a jump.

The last night we went to Granny & Papas church program "A walk through Bethlehem". Granny was a Ladivical dancer, and Papa was one of the priests. The kids were in awe as we walked through a re-enactment of Bethlehem during the days Jesus was born.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

Gig'em

ALL DUDED UP

Saturday morning fun. We all got dressed up with our Aggie team spirit and went to I-Hop for breakfast. There were some people sitting next to us that tried to get Jaxson to put up the tu horn sign. He told them, naww and showed them his gig'em thumb :~)

Play-Off Game

We thought our Friday Nigh Football fun was over , but there was one more play-off game. We sat with Shelly and Mike up in the "good" ;~) seats. Boy was it cold!!! The weather didn't stop Jaxson from being his usual #1 sports fan. He clapped... stomped... and hollered for his Rebels the whole game. Jacie and I pretty much just stayed huddled up with Mrs. Shelly and our blankets.

Read ALL the instructions before starting.........

Ok, so this post goes out to Jordan.

Im working fast and furious to get all 6 of my assignments turned in on their due date for this last week of class. And something in my head says " just go out to the message center and check the Proff. update" . I took a picture of it to share.

So had I looked at this before I started the assignments and seen all the red writing telling me what to skip, I would have only worked 4 of the 10 problems on Assignment 3 & 4. And I wouldn't already have1/2 of Assignment 6 completed.

Next time Jordan makes this mistake I guess I'll have to go easy on him.

See why I needed prayer??? HAHAHA :~)

Prayer Please

This is the last week of classes for Cory and I and because of South University's course schedule this last week is cut from 7 days down to 3. We still get the same amount of homework, but have less time to turn it in. SOooooooo the next 3 day's will be packed for us.

Also, I plan to take my math placement test on Friday at the tu testing center. This is the only portion of the placement I haven't met yet and WTAMU requires this before I can actually schedule classes.

Cory has one more transcript to get in to them before they will offer him a transfer. He isn't quite sure if WTAMU is where he should go, but I'm really hoping he chooses to go there with me. It has been a true blessing for us to take classes together, and I so desire to keep it that way.

What a wonderful weekend!!

We enjoyed a peaceful Friday night together with steaks on the Grill. Cory is perfecting his
rib-eyes. Then, Saturday, we visited Mema & Dado and helped out with some heavy lifting jobs getting ready for the new house. Today we sang praises around the house while cleaning & doing homework then wrapped it up tonight with our marriage class.


Jordan, Dado, and Cory mostly did the "heavy lifting". Dado had jobs lined up for them when we got there...Jordan bareley had 1 foot out of the car before Dado handed him a pair of gloves and put him to work on the jack hammer. He didn't mind, as you can see from the pictures, it was quite fun. Almost as fun as him acting like a lumber jack on an old tank. By the end of the day he could balance on it quite well.


Cory was a hoot!! His job was the tractor operator, and we're not sure it was actual "work" for him. He gave all the kids a ride around the yard. Jacie loved it right away; Jaxson, however, had to be coaxed a little. Cory told him they were gonna drive to get the football players and that sealed the deal.
Me and Mema took the little guys to this great place called Dewberry Farms. It's like a farm full of old fashion fun things. There was a hay ride, pig race, corn maze and they even had swings made of feed sacks and drainage pipes. They really liked climbing on the hay pile and it brought back memories for me of Granny Crenshaw's house playing in the old barn with the hay. (We dont have these pictures back yet)

Halloween 08

Trick- Or- Treat
We continued our Halloween tradition by going to mom's office and meeting the gang at Nanna's Halloween Bash. We had a blast at both.

Grande has each department decorate for Halloween, then all the employees kids are invited up to walk around and trick- or treat at each desk. Last year the marketing dept decorated as shriek, and Jacie was terrified.... this year they did candy land and she loved it. Jaxsons favorite was the call center. They did a carnival theme and had a football throwing game, go figure.

The weather was great for fun, food and fellowship later that night at Nanna's. Once everyone arrived, we headed out to get some exercise (wink wink). The hit of the night was coach G. in his Buster the Buda Bulldog costume. The cars honked as they drove by, and all the little kids we passed came over to hug the HUGE YELLOW DOG.

San Gabriel's Horn

A few weeks ago I went on a respite with some ladies. I had never even heard of this word, respite, let alone knew what it meant. Well, God had a weekend planned to teach me live and in person the definition.

I've been on the traditional women's retreats several times. We all pile in to a car and head off somewhere with no kids, husbands, housework etc. and listen to a speaker teach us a new word from God,.but this retreat, or rather respite, was totally the opposite. This was me and God..... that's it....... no pre-printed fill in the blank sermon notes to go by......just me and him amongst all of his splendor!!

At first I was unsure how this whole thing would work. I have my daily quiet time hour, but this was 2 full days of quiet time...how would I find something to do all by myself for that long? Well, as some know, I struggle with a nasty little word called "control" and, boy oh boy, did my Jesus have plans for me that weekend.

We stayed in a large vacation home, on the San Gabriel River, in Georgetown. It was a huge home; tall ceilings with large open windows over-looking the river and from our bedroom balcony we had the view of God's creation; it was so peaceful. We all gathered a few times each day for worship and meals, but other than that we each put on our tennies, grabbed a blanket & bible then hit the land.

I love the song we sing at church "I lay back against you and breath, feel your heart beat" I have a strong desire for this peacefulness in my life. This verse of this song has brought me through some pretty tough times in life. Well, I was totally overcome with emotion as I walked down to the river and found a huge oak tree. The tree leaned just so, that it made a perfect place to sit and lean back on, as if God, himself, put it there for me. So...... I layed against him and felt his heartbeat for 2 days.

I entered that weekend with a heavy heart with a lot of life issues weighing me down, I was having a hard time understanding where all of this was coming from. I got to thinking, we all have our struggles, you know the ones we have endured forever, and we have found ways to somewhat comfortably cope with them.....but have you ever watched God just flat move one of those struggles out of the way? He has recently done this in my life. Another song I love has a verse that says "He can move a mountain, my God is mighty to save".

Well guess what I learned ..... there are different struggles on the other side of that mountain, and sometimes there things you haven't dealt with before and therefore have no coping methods. Man, this has been humbling to me, that's right where I was. So If I believe my God, not just believe IN Him, then I must lean on him for everything. So that's where my "control" problem comes in. I was stressed out because Tanya was trying to control and fix all the new struggles that had become visible to me.

I went into that weekend stressed, and came out free. The struggles aren't gone, but the stress of trying to figure out all the answers is. So I had to share this with who ever wants to read this and I have inserted some of the pictures from my spot on the river. Each of these pics are the very heartbeat of God and I know I will look at them daily. If you ever have the chance to get away and spend time with him in nature, I would encourage you to do so. And if you need someone to go with, I'm only a phone call away.

B-Day Fashion Show

Things have been very busy here, but we found some time to celebrate Jacie's birthday with some good friends and family. For the past 3 years Hannah and Hailey haven't been able to make Jacie's parties, however, this year we made it a "Date Party". They had so much fun together. Mema and Dado came down to spend the day with us and we all went to Gatti Town.






As you can see from the slideshow and the movie in this post Jacie had a great time and loved all the beautiful clothes she got. We even put together a fashion show for everyone. Cory and I can't believe our little girl is already 5, she looks so grown up even though she is still so tiny.

Christmas Lists

We have had several family members ask about the Kid's Christmas lists. We tried to put a wish list tool on the Blog, but had no success with it. S,o we decided to put them as a post. I'll keep adding if I remember anything I missed, so keep checking.

Jacie=
Anything that has to do with a Princess
Ariel hair dressing doll. It's Ariel's head and you fix her hair........Target has them.
Pink knee-high boots.....any of the ones from Target
Target Wooden Doll house accessories
Size 7 shoe
Size 4T pants, 5T shirts ( Aggie shirts would be great)
Hair stuff
Books
CD player
Stories on CD
Warm PJ's

Jaxson-
Anything with balls
An A & M (preferably), Cowboys, or Texan football uniform with Helmet and shoulder pads (we must find one of these, let me know if you see one)
CD player
Books
Play House Disney stuff
Size 6 shoe
Size 2T Shirts and pants ( he LOVES shirts with balls on them, and Aggie shirts)
Stories on CD
Warm PJ's

Jordan-
I-Tune Gift cards
Joe Boxer pant PJ's
Men's small Shirts ( hoodies, and longsleeve T-shirts)
Toby Mac & Switch foot CD's
Best Buy /Walmart/Target Gift cards
Of course cash is always a winner

BasketBall

Rebels Hoops

Jordan plans to play basket ball this year with Hays. Several of his team mates are playing in a fall weekend league to get in some extra practice until basket ball season.
Mema and Dado visited us last weekend and we all went to cheer J on. Jacie kept Dado busy helping her color. While Jax tried on Mema's glasses.

Go Tanya ... It's your birthday.....Go Tanya....

Drum roll please..............

I made an "A" on my first Algebra test!!!!!!

WWWWWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!


Thank you to everyone who has been praying for me. I have been sweating this class since it has, historically, been my weakest subject. This is a HUGE example of "taking it one day at a time".

One week down, and 4 1/2 more to go.

TYJC :~) Where I am weak, He is strong.

Ms. Kyle Padgent

Jordan was a volunteer security helper for this year's pageant show. He and several other kids from our youth group at church helped out in seating as well as keeping the back stage free of unauthorized personnel. :)

At the beginning, as usual, he was so frustrated with us for "volunteering":~) him for this event, but by the end of the night he had signed up to be an annual volunteer. The theme was wild west, hence the cowboy hat. J was not happy at all with this get-up!!!!.........AT ALL!!!

Jacie and I went and watched the girls. They were all so beautiful.......we really had a great time.

The Birthday Girl :)

BIRTHDAY PRINCESS

Well, Jacie has officially turned 5. We can hardly believe how fast our little princess has grown up. She kept asking me, over and over, the night before her big day..........tomorrow?!?!........I'll be 5 tomorrow?"

We all piled into her bed on Monday morning and sang to her. Of course she ate it up. Then, that evening we had a small celebration and the strawberry shortcake was a big hit, as you can tell. Jax and Jordan had second helpings.....You see the plate to Jaxson's right?!?!?! Well, he reached over and snatched it up for quick bite, as well.

Caught in the act

We just had to share this with you.

Sunday Morning Pictures

HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!!!!

We took a few fall pictures this morning before church. Jaxson and I are struggling with severe allergies and it's taking its toll on us. We got lots of medicine this weekend so hopefully we'll start feeling better. Jacie wanted to take a picture of them crushing the fallen leaves. These two really take good pictures, I just love hearing them say "Cheeeesssseeee!" in unison.

Happy B-Day Mema!!!!

Homecomming

We had a blast at the football game Friday night. It was Hays' homecoming, and the whole stadium was decked out in blue and white. We sat with our neighbors, Colby their oldest is in the band and the kids enjoyed trying to find him in the stands.

Jaxson is a hoot, he reminds us every few minutes or so that we're at a "bah dame". Now every time we pass by the stadium he squeals with excitement and tells us "bah dame".

The decorations at the game (mums, face & hair paintings, and most of all the homecoming dresses) made Jacie's eyes twinkle brightly with stars. She bugged us to death to take pictures of every cheerleader, drill team dancer, and the homecoming girls that were dressed to the hilt for the occasion.

We got a few good shots and just really had a great time. And even though Jordan wouldn't let us get any good pictures of him, he seemed to have had an ok time as well.

God's calling!!

God has called me back to the work place and Wednesday will be my first day in an office environment in over a year!! I left the Comptroller's Office in June of 2007 and I will be returning there on the 1st of October (2008), but it will be in a different capacity. He knows the desires of my heart and has placed me in a division that I have PRAYED to be in since he gave me the word to return.......oh, and did I mention he gave me more money to boot!!! God is good!!!....but you guys already know that.



Well, we found a great daycare for Jacie and Jaxson and to get them accustomed to going back we signed them up to start a couple of days early. So, today they were there from 9 - 2 and they had an absolute blast!! Of course Jacie wanted to make sure that Jaxson was taken care of, so she walked him into the class and made sure the teacher knew that we had all of his bags and sheets together.....what would we do without her, huh? ;)



Then it was her time to go to class....her class was outside on the playground and her teacher came right up to her and started talking with her. Jacie was ok at this point and talked to her, as well, but then the teacher made the mistake of calling some of her classmates up to talk with Jacie, as well. Have you ever seen someone throw a piece of bread out to one or two pigeons and then, just a few seconds later, there are 100 others flocked around you?.....that's how this situation played out. It went from two to 12 in a matter of seconds as they hovered around us....that's when Jacie went to the death clamp on my leg. She actually had my blood flow cut off at the femoral artery and I was finally saved by her teacher who saw me about to pass out from the poor circulation and lack of oxygen from being crowded by the kids. She, finally, took Jacie's hand and walked her out to the playground where the rest of her classmates followed close behind. It was a sight to see.

Running Fast in My New Shoes

Jaxson has been fascinated with his new tennis shoes. He constantly asks us to watch him run fast. He is such a joy to our family.

The Fly Boys

This summer we have had a horrible time with flies here at the house. Because of this Cory has become a fly killing dude.

So, when I saw Jax stepping up to join the ranks of the "Fly Boy Brigade" I couldn't help myself and grabbed the camera.

Jaxson has favored these frog rain boots all summer. Even on the hottest days you can find him stripped down to a diaper and geared up in the frog boots. So it didn't surprise me one bit to see him armed and ready to fight the good "Fly" fight with his trusty frog boots and flyswatter.

Lov'en the Blogg'en

Ok, so it's no secret that I love to scrapbook, but man oh man, blogging is climbing the charts quickly. We are having so much fun adding and changing things it's unreal.

I hope you all are having as much fun with this as we are. So tonight Jordan and I are in my room while a group of men meet down stairs for bible study. We figured out how to add music to this thing, so now when you open up to check out the latest news you will also be able to check out the latest tunes we listen to while we honor God with our Praise and Worship!!

Stay tuned, I'm trying to figure out how to put some sort of wish list on here for the kid's Christmas lists.

Friday Night Lights

Friday Night Football Fun

We all suited up in our Rebel colors and headed to the game with some friends. Tonight was Jacie and Jaxson's very first Friday night football game. They both were so excited, and had a blast.

They were mesmerized by the band, cheerleaders, and drill girls. Just as we expected, Jax was very into the game. He was right on queue with the crowd when it was time to clap and cheer for a good play on the field.

GO REBELS

Day at the park...

We met Tanya for lunch at the, as Jacie would say, green slide park on Monday. It's a big park with lots of "nooks and crannies" for the kids to go in and out of and they had a blast.



The cold front had come through, so they had to wear a pull-over, but they welcomed it and I had a hard time taking it off them when we got back for their nap, because they both wanted to keep it on. Here are a few pics of them at play.

1st day of JROTC...

1 Jar head cap
1 Battle Dress Uniform
1 Pair of size 11 desert boots
3 Hours of ironing
5 minutes in line formation before school starts

Not getting yelled at or embarrased by the Gunney Sgt ..................PRICELESS.

First day of drill for JROTC. Ok, so if any of you remember years ago Cory and I thought we were going to die when Jordan went through his sock fit era.

Morning after morning we would hunker down and listen and watch as he through absolute fits because the seams on his socks didn't line up in his shoes. He would scream that they didn't "feel good". Well, this morning I had horible flash backs of those days. Jordan waited 'till last night to begin preparing his uniform for school today. This morning he was running late, and having trouble getting the belt, pant legs, hat, and shoe strings to be perfect. He wasn't talking much, but we both knew he was nervious about getting called out and embarrased in the line formation.

So all day Cory and I were praying for his spirit and anxiously awaited for him to get home from school so we could get the scoop. He waltzes in and....nothing...no comments no stories, just nothing. Finally Cory asks him how it went, and he says " it was over in 5 minutes, they didn't even look at our uniforms".

All I could think of was man, that was an aweful lot of drama for 5 minutes. We love our TEEENAGER!!!

Another "J" family member.

Yes, we found a way to fit another "J" name into our family!!! This summer we added Jasmine to our crew. She is so sweet and all the kids just love her. She is so smart; we were shocked at how well she behaves after being with us for just such a short time.

Jacie and Jax debate over who will get to take her out to potty. Let's wait until the winter months and see if they are still wanting to be the one out there with her. ha-ha

Bailey seems to like her, as well. When they are together I'm reminded of the movie, Aristocats, where there is an older hound dog and a younger beagle in the movie. The older dog is always telling the younger one to go lay down and leave him alone. It's so cute to watch them.

Hays Rebel in the House!!!!

We can hardly believe it, we have a kid in High School. Jordan started 9th grade this year and is off to a really great start. He is taking Pre-Ap classes and God has blessed him with a WONDERFUL schedule!! We werer able to meet his teachers this week during back to school night and it's no doubt that God hand picked every one of them just for him. I have never seen so many teachers that seem to really love their job. Every one of them seemed to really be into the kids, they seem to understand the changes that these 9th graders are up against and have implemented ideas on how to help make their transition smoother.

"J" plans to play Basketball, Baseball, and run Track, but right now he's in off-season, which is nice and easy on our schedule. He is also taking ROTC and seems to love it. He has received part of his mandatory uniform (BDUs) and they look real cool. This organization is under the Marine Corps umbrella so you can imagine the culture/environment of his classroom.

So, our family colors are now officially split. We still bleed maroon, but blue and red are now in our wardrobe. Jacie and I got Hays Rebel shirts at the football game last week and she has tried to wear it all week long.

WHOOP & GO REBELS!!

They listen more than we know!

So, we have been working with the kids on the way they are supposed to behave and the phrase we are using a lot is, "you must make good choices". When they do not make a "good choice" we talk about it and discuss how they need to talk with God and ask him to forgive them.

Well, yesterday at dinner Jasmine (our new puppy) had to go in the kennel. She didn't like it much and began to bark. Jaxson asked what had happened and I told him Jasmine didn't make a good choice when we had food at the tableby begging, so we had to put her in the kennel. Just then, Jacie spins around and looks over at Jasmine and, in an assertive, bossy tone of voice, blurts out " you better pray to Jesus about that Jasmine!".

We almost fell out of our chairs laughing. I guess you sorta could say she was witnessing. he-he.

From our home to yours

Howdy!

We have been trying to come up with a way to stay close with our family and friends, but to no avail. So we got a great idea to start a blog where we post updates and the latest pictures to share with everyone. This is going to be a work in progress, but hopefully it will become a way for us to bridge the long distance gap from Kyle to all of you.

See ya,

TJ, CJ, JJ X 4