Daughters of Republic of Texas

The girls and I are eligible to participate in the Daughters of the Republic of Texas so we made sure to stop by their booth at the Living History Day. The girls had so much fun writing with beet and berry juices.

Living History Day

On Friday, we spent the morning at the local university for the living history day.  PawPaw always teaches the local children about mountain men including trapping, hunting, knife throwing and fire starting.  LE was very interested this year, but Bella and Emmie hung out in the stroller (notice Emmie's hiding place in the stroller). 

A is for Antlers

This past week we learned about the letter A. It is amazing all of the things that start with A! On Thursday, Mimi and Aunt Rissa took the girls to the Tivy Homecoming and my brother, Ryan and I went to watch Jacob play freshman football. He even scored! Way to go, Jake! The girls joined us at half time and they watched the rest of the game.

Second class

I just found out I picked up my 2nd class.  I am now teaching Silver Splash on Monday mornings (and Muscular Strength on Thursdays). This class is exactly what I need right now being 30+ weeks pregnant.  The water feels awesome!  It is also a really small class so I have already bonded with the ladies who are there, as I have been subbing for the past 3 weeks.

Sea World pt 2

Sea World part 1

The plan was to take the girls to Sea World for LE's birthday, but with the heat and a preggo mom we decided to wait to the temps dropped to take them.  About a week after her birthday, I got an e-mail from fellow homeschooler, Charlsie informing Sea World had a homeschool day.  Only certain exhibits would be open, the rides, gift shops, and food vendors were closed, all for $8 per person.  Ben is still sick, so he did not get to join us, but Mimi, Paw-Paw, Gigi and Emmie did and the girls learned so much about the ocean animals.
LE's favorite was feeding the dolphins and the Shamu show.  Bella liked the penguin exhibit and Shamu too.  I loved that we were able to experience the best of Sea World without all of the extras and only 2000 people in the entire park.  We are so bummed Daddy did not get to join us, but now we know about the educational days, we will make it a yearly trip until the girls are older to enjoy the rides and such.  Thanks Charlsie for all of the info!

a few of my favorite things

I follow several blogs and I find it interesting how many things I have in common with my friends, guess that's why we are friends.   I have found several new recipes that have quickly become favorites, new things that I would have never purchased, & decorating ideas.  I wanted to share a couple of my favorites. 
My new favorite recipe is from Erica at Haphazard Happenstances.  (This is a link to the recipe.)  It is for her shredded pork.  I have had this amazing craving for BBQ this pregnancy and this satisifes it.  I put Head Country BBQ sauce over it and serve it on Hawaiaan style Bread Buns. 
My favorite pregnancy soother is from my cousin, Anna at Your Little Birdie.  These are the most comfortable flipflops ever!  I know flipflop season is wrapping up, but these do not come off my feet when I am in the kitchen.  I got the yoga mat style in hot pink.  They were a birthday present from my mom.    

the whole story

Well, you can call it the most expensive homeschool lesson, and you can call us inexperienced homeschoolers. 

Last week, our theme for the week was leaves - letter L, I will live and grow in Christ.  On Monday night, we had school at the local park and did a hike and bike trail to gather leaves for our various projects during the week.   All week long, projects got put off for one reason or another.  It was just one of those weeks.  Then, Wednesday Ben had his poison ivy outbreak and we tossed all of our leaves.  We realized as we were driving home from the urgent care center how God had protected the girls and I all week from that bag of leaves sitting on the kitchen counter. 

This weekend we had to make 2 more trips to the emergency room b/c Ben's reaction kept getting worse.   On Saturday morning, they advised us if he began to have difficulty breathing to call 9-1-1 and if his condition worsened to return to the ER.  On Sunday afternoon, his eyes were still swollen shut, and his rash had spread to his chest and even down to his legs.  He had been on steroids for 4 days and his body was not responding.   On Sunday afternoon, they gave him a stronger dose of steroids and another antihistamine.  I called our church and finally posted on FB for prayers.  Within hours his eyes were opened and you could see Ben again.  He is still having problems with itching, but we are believing he is coming out of it. 

upate on Ben

We spent the morning in the emergency room again.  The poison ivy has continued to spread and his eyes were completely swollen shut when he woke up this morning.  Two epinephrine shots and an IV drip later, he was released with additional meds.  He finally got a little nap in this afternoon, and seems that we may be on the upside of it now.  Would appreciate your prayers still.  Doctor said we cannot touch him until he is completely over it.  So, far girls and I have avoided it, but the doctors gave us some instruction in case I contract it and that the baby would be ok if I did get it. 

Daddy's birthday

One of Ben's favorite things for us to do is to sit down and have breakfast together.  On his birthday morning, the girls and I got up and made him a big breakfast.  He had to work, so we did not get to spend the day together and I had to work that night.  That morning, Ben called me and told me he was breaking out in hives.  Me, being the smart person that I am knew it what it was right away, stress.
We thought we would make Daddy a special birthday lunch - shrimp, steamed artichokes and his favorite cookies - oatmeal raisins.  Did not think much else of his stress until we saw him for lunch.  His face was bright red.   He looked like he was hurting bad.  He said it itched and was going to take Benadryl in case it was an allergic reaction to something. 
I had to work at 4, so did not see him again until I got home that evening.  He actually called me and asked me to come home early.  When I got home, we loaded up the car and headed to the urgent care clinic.  His neck was swelling up and it had spread to other parts of his body.  Correct Diagnosis - poison ivy.  He is still suffering from it this morning, so hoping to celebrate his birthday the right way very soon! 
Hapy - created by LE
Birthday - created by Bella

Official

That's me!  I have been co-teaching for a few weeks, this morning I tried out for the fitness director.  I am certified to teach Silver Splash (water aerobics), Muscular Strength/Range of Motion and Cardio Circuit.  As of now, the only class available is MS-ROM, but I have already subbed and I am on the schedule to sub 4 more times this month and in October for the other classes.  It feels cool to see my name on the schedule, cannot wait to get more certifications!

Celebration serves - flood victims

This past week, two separate families from church, (who Ben and I are both friends with) homes were flooded. The very next morning, a team from church was there to help get everything out of their homes and washed, drying and begin the restoration process. However, every home on this creek took on water, up to 6 feet. These two cars were in the front yard and were swept around to the back of the house. Our church had over 100 volunteers show up Saturday to help their neighbors. Another group from church showed up with a BBQ pit to feed everyone. It was one of those moments, you know are part of a good thing.
Most of you probably do not know, but when I was almost 4, we lived on the Guadalupe River and a flood destroyed our home, literally washed our home away. I can still smell the stinch from my childhood things that we were never able to get completely clean. As I walked into this house, to take photos all of those memories from that night came back.
Most of them had flood insurance on their homes, but not the possessions. Please lift these families up.

Happy Birthday Ben

We love you so much! I hope your year is filled with the Lord's blessing. Thank you for all you do for our family, all of the sacrifices you make. You are our favorite person on the planet.

We love you to the sun and back.

Celebration Serves

In honor of 9/11, our church wanted to have a serve Saturday where they honored different public servants in the community. The project continued to grow and I was asked to lead a new team downtown to distribute toiletries. I had almost 50 people sign up and all signed up to bring some kind of toiletries or food. However, on Saturday morning, of those 50, only maybe 5 showed up, but 20 others "just showed up". Unfortunately, most were empty handed b/c they did not know what to bring, they just wanted to serve. As I was loading the car with the very few supplies, I just prayed "Lord, please stretch this. I have never been downtown on a Saturday, so I just don't know what to expect. But as always this is your project not mine, so I am gonna trust you." When we arrived, a few men were setting up sound equipment for a church service. I introduced myself and he was so excited to see us there. He said no one ever comes to help on Saturday mornings especially not people with things to distribute. Ok, Lord, once again this is yours not mine, you gotta stretch our resources. I have 20 brand new people who have never been downtown, I don't want them to think this is what an outreach looks like, Lord please use us! Let them see what this ministry really looks like.Within half an hour, another church showed up with snacks and soft drinks. We had both of our tables out, but they were just sitting there with nothing on them. A man walked up with a large bag and dumped clothes on our table. I thought well, he is from our church, but no, he was part of another group. Within minutes, 15 more bags were dumped on our tables. Then this group, just stepped back and let our team help distribute the clothes.
I am not sure why I am ever surprised how God works, but He always provides. And almost every person asked, when they could do it again, what did we need, how could they help. It was one of those moments, when you know you are in place, I just had to be available. No planning on my part could have made that happen. It was all God.
Funny Antonio story...He came up to me and said "Miss Kristi, you're having a baby! I thought you were just eating too much. I was going to tell you, you needed to watch what you eat b/c you are getting fat, but now I see, you are having a baby!" I love what I get to do.

Missions Monday - Mission of Mercy

Mission of Mercy is an organization that we have been involved with for the past couple of years.  They have been working along side Children's Cup to find sponsorships for the children they feed daily.  For $34, the cost of eating out ONCE you can feed a child, provide medication and the afterschool care needed for a child for an entire month.  Eating out once = feeding a child for a month.
This sweet face belongs to our sponsor child Elsa's little brother, Chelton.  He is up for sponsorship on the Mission of Mercy website.

Five Finger Rule

We have been spending alot of time at our local library this past month.  I have been trying to investigate beginning readers for LE.  When browsing recommendations this week, I found this cute poem I thought I would pass on to you moms who have young readers.

Choose a book and the read the first page or two.
Put one finger up for every word you don't know.
If five fingers go up while reading, choose another book.
If only two or three fingers go up, you've found a "just right" book.

Bella Dancerella

Bella's choice of dress-up almost always includes a tutu. She loves to dance. Now combine it with a trampoline and you got our kid. She is one of the funniest kids I know. She keeps us on our toes for sure. I love her spirit and wit. So, thankful God knew best when He gave us our Bella.

weekend full of guests

This past weekend, Gigi and PopPop (Ben's parents) spent Friday night and Saturday with us. Then, Sunday morning my Mom called and asked if they could bring my Grandma over for the night. We had such a great weekend full of family, fun and food. The girls loved showing off their school lessons and rough housing with the grandpas. LE and Mimi baked my favorite chocolate cake for my birthday. Thanks again for a wonderful birthday!

weekend facials

One of the things the girls wanted to do on my birthday was play "big girl dress-up." Turned out that meant they wanted to put on my make-up. After church on Sunday, Daddy went to help a friend with a home project so the girls and I had some time to play. LE wanted to put her own make-up on, but Bella still wanted Mommy's help. Then, LE did my make-up too. I even found a maternity dress-up dress that fit. I just cannot figure out where I got such girlie girls.

new school desk

This is my favorite piece of furniture in the entire house. My friend, Belinda purchased it at an antique show in Comfort when I was in high school. Every time I went to her house I ooohed and ahhhed over it. Recently, she moved into a smaller home and was having an auction to sell off some of her unneeded pieces. I was able to buy this sweet side-by-side school desk for the girls. It ended up being LE's birthday present. I think it is one of the reasons the girls love school so much.

and then He rested...

I guess the girls are still enjoying school b/c every morning they wake up asking when are we going to do school work. I loved reverting back to our creation time lines on Sunday morning to remind them even God took a day off. We are now in the thick of lessons and I can honestly say it is harder than I thought it would be balancing two different ages. We are still working on getting the classroom fully functional, so both girls have projects to work on while they are getting their one-on-one time. But, I will post pics soon.
I received several complements on my preggo pic, thanks. LE took that pic before our date.

Mission Mondays - Vio and Estera

I love to share about missions with you.  It is always neat how God puts someone on my heart to share with you and then find out it was at a time in which they needed encouragement.  I got the privelege of meeting Estera & Vio when I was in Romania last fall.  She is SuperWoman, I mean for real, for real Super Woman.  She cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner for our team, then cleaned up, drove us to our outreaches, preached, taught, planned, you name it, and when I got up at 4 a.m. she was in the hall reading her Bible.  She inspired me so greatly that week we were there.  And she is witty too, great blog, but in all honesty I have no idea how she has time to blog, so check back b/c there are times it is weeks before she blogs.  They are in the process of adopting two boys, and have had many bumps along the way.  Please lift them up in prayer for strength, direction, financially abundance and harvest.

great day

The day started with pancakes in bed, roses on the kitchen table and a brand new pair of tennies on my feet. LE had an upset tummy so we spent much of the day on the couch watching movies. I did get a pedi, haircut and brow arch during rest time. Friday night, we went to Maggiano's in the Domain for an amazing dinner. We had mussels, bleu cheese salad, Lobster Cannelloni and a peanut butter/chocolate dessert. It was a great day.
Thanks Ben and girls for an amazing day. Thanks FB for friends for an inbox of birthday wishes, I felt very loved.

no ordinary kid

"It's our responsibility as parents to instill a spirit of excellence in our kids and excellence is only obtained through sacrifice".

It is hard to keep it a secret from the girls when we are getting ready to head downtown.  Our house turns into Grand Central Station with clothes and food that weekend.  They want to go, they "want to feed the people who do not have houses."  So, if there are enough hands then they get to go.  This month, we passed out gogurt that the church had leftover from a special speaker & juice from my mom.  We gathered clothes from Pam's outreach, jeans from my mom's boss' dumpster dives, and new clothes from a clearance sale my friend, Melanie had found & other miscellaneous items from friends.  We even took a large bag full of dress slacks and dress shoes to the ARCH for the men's job interviews.

August Outreach

Another great month - thank you to everyone who contributed.  We could not do it without you. 
Next outreach - September 11th and 19th. 

easy bake oven

Mimi and PawPaw gave LE an easy bake oven. If you are friends with me on facebook you may have already seen my opinion of this gift that I must have tortured my own mother with as a child. Do you know it takes 40 minutes to cook FOUR cookies in an easy bake oven? On top of the 15 minutes to preheat the oven and then the 10 minutes for the last cookie to cool before you ice them? I am sure this is one of those "paying for your raising" gifts my mom is always talking about. I guess in the grand scheme of things it does not matter b/c the girls loved it. We will have to make a Wal-Mart run soon for more mixes, guess I will just pick up a roll of cookie dough to cook in the oven for while we are waiting.