Update on January

I am always amazed when I look back in see such a big gap in my blog posts.  When I look at the time it does not seem like we were that busy but once I start deciding what to tell about it is hard to narrow it down to just a couple of highlights.  So here is my A-Z list of our month:

Altar Serving-The boys have really stepped it up at church and become "black robes" who serve as advanced servers at Mass.  I am so glad to know that they have a servants heart.  They are wearing red in this picture because all the altar servers were asked to process into the church for a special celebration!

Blue Bonnet Bunch-This was a group just for Edward's age and he loved going to the library each week to hear a book from the Bluebonnet List and have fun doing activities with other children his age.  He went to a big party to celebrate reading this month, and is already looking forward to next year.

We also had Brendan's birthday!  He is such a joy and was just happy to have his new LEGOS and stay at home!  He really did not want to go anywhere!  He loved his homemade ice cream cake and playing with his new toys.  Which was nice because it turned out to be a rainy cold day!

Consumer Decision Making:  All the older boys surprised me by wanting to join this 4H project.  They must look at a group of products to determine the best value and then present their findings.  A great life skill and it is fun also!

Dolls-I can hardly believe it but I am a great-aunt to 16 beautiful blessings!  I only live close to two of these precious children but thanks to the internet I can see them in pictures.  I decide to send a special gift to each child this month.  My mother makes Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls for all the grandchildren in our family.  I asked her to make these special dolls for me.  I then stitched their names to personalize.  One day I will be the one making these dolls for the family but I am thankful for her ability to do this special doll.

Exodus-Henry has the most amazing religious education instructors!  They do a great job of keeping a room full of teenagers engaged in learning about their faith.  This month they took the group to the movies to see "Exodus."  Then they compared the movie to the Bible story.

Falconry-This 4H project continues and the boys learned about how to care for the birds, especially to avoid illness and to care for a sick bird.  We also watched as the falconer demonstrated how to call your bird from a perch.

Giving-I think we live a comedy of errors at times.  As most know we had the plan to give school supplies as a Christmas gift to a local school.  We ordered enough supplies to fill pencil pouches for over 150 students!  When we placed the order with HEB, I was told to pay when the order arrived.  Michael picked up the order and walked right out of the store with the supplies (with help from a store employee) without paying!  I was horrified and immediately called the manager.  I do not know if he was more surprised that this happened or that I would call back to tell him!  Then I went back to pay and every one who I spoke to was just as surprised!  After several attempts to resolve the matter, the supplies were paid for and we began sorting.  We then found out we did not receive the full order.  When we went back to the store the "extras" were already placed on the shelves.  We had to hunt down our supplies.  We finally got all the supplies and we got the job done!  It was a crazy adventure that demonstrated perseverance.

Hank-Our poor neglected dog!  We had not taken him to the vet in over a year.  The last visit he had he only weighed a measly 14 pounds.  Now he is over 50 pounds!  He is a healthy dog and now up-to-date on all his health requirements.  He is a great dog who just needs a place to run.  While on an evening walk, Michael was introduced to a therapy dog trainer.  She wants to work with Hank and I am so excited as this is what I always thought would be fun to do.  We will see where this takes us in the coming weeks.

Insects-Yes, Sean continues to love his entomology.  We hope this leads to advanced studies for him as he gets closer to college.  But we also had new carpet installed in the upstairs rooms.

Jumping Jacks-along with other exercises...I have joined a group at the library to learn healthy lifestyle techniques.  It was time for me to make a change and I am trying hard to do this with a positive attitude.  Let's just say...I have a long way to go, baby!

Killing-well, not really!  Sean and Henry were invited to a murder mystery with our local teen group.  They had a blast acting out their parts to the story and solving the case!  Sean thought it was funny that he was the victim.  We love our teen group and glad they have such creative ways to get the youth together to share.  The theme was HO-HO-HOmicide so the boys had to dress up like elves.

LEGOS and Library-How could I possibly choose between the two?  The boys and I love having fun with both of these activities.  Although I do not build with LEGOS myself, I love watching the boys creative minds at work.  And the library is always a fun place to read and be involved with the community.

Mystery-We have a little secret and we are not going to tell until the time is right!  No...I am not having another baby but there will be some changes around here!  More on this later!

Nature-One of those great events at the library once again brought Ranger Craig into the mix.  He came to help with a Nature Story Hour for the younger bunch...Edward and Brendan.  They learned about animal tracks and camouflage.  Ranger Craig cannot have an event without talking about astronomy, and so it was this time.  Edward had just completed his astronomy course and told him about it.  So, Edward was invited to assist Ranger Craig at an astronomy event at the state park!  He got to see the comet Love Joy as it passed by earth!  A great way to end his course!

Of course, I could go on and on about the month of January but this post is going long so I will have to save the rest of the alphabet for another time.  But I will say that I made a trip to an olive grove and some wineries in the Hill Country with my mom and two of my brothers for a special gift to my mom from her children.  We also participated in a service project to sort baby items at a maternity home.  We had a family portrait taken by a professional but we were missing a couple of kiddos so it was not ideal.  However, it was memorable because it was the first time for Zaira and she did not like the experience.  And all those little things that go with everyday continued around us, along with school with lots of quizzes and tests to finish up our second quarter!  We did not get outside as much as we like because we were blessed with a lot of rain, but we did make a visit to a new state park (Lost Maples SP) without using an umbrella.

Oh!  ANd I have to tell about the undeniable reaction to the boys first taste of sardines and anchovies!  It was too funny!  They insisted that they wanted to try this fishy snack even though I told them they would not like them!  It was great getting their first taste on camera!

Zaira also enjoyed a trip to our favorite hairdresser to have her hair cut.  Betty has been cutting our hair for over 20 years!  It is amazing that she started cutting my hair when Amanda was a little girl and now is cutting Zaira's hair twenty years later!  But the best part about her hair this month is that we were able to put it in a small braid for the first time!
A busy month full of adventures!