A Texas Rose amongst the Georgia Peaches...

Well, we came to Ohio 18 months ago at the same time as our friends Ward and Dawn Willis. At that time, we thought we'd be leaving at the same time. It turns out, that God has something different in store for us. This week, we will say farewell to our friends and neighbors. They leave for Georgia on Thursday. My prayer for them is that they will get settled into their new home, church and neighborhood and that God would bless their time in Georgia. He goes before us and prepares the way just as He has done for Ward and Dawn. We have enjoyed having them as neighbors here in Ohio and wanted to send them off with our prayers for their future and a few memories from the past. We'll miss you and hope to see you in Texas soon!

He did it!

John graduated from AFIT on Thursday. He has a Master's degree in Information Resource Management! Now, we're really looking for a job. The graduation was supposed to be held at the Air Force Museum, but the President just happened to be coming to town and he was speaking there. They moved us downtown to the Masonic hall. It was a very nice location.

Jump

Rachel can't wait for warmer weather. We keep having to play for just a little bit and then go in because it is too cold. She had fun jump roping the other day and I had fun taking her picture.

Hayden "Hawk" Fruge'

Well, I finally caved to Hayden's unending pleas for a skateboard. He has been asking for probably 2-3 years now. Literally! First, it was, "no, you're too young". Then it changed to "they cost too much money". Then, wouldn't you know it, a boy after my own heart spots a hand painted old school skateboard at the Thrift shop with a price tag of $2.50. How could I say no? He walked through the Thrift shop like he owned the place with his skateboard tucked under his arm and a new swagger in his step. I made him put it in the garage when we got home and John told him we would have to get the right gear for him to learn how to ride. Saturday, we took him 'gear' shopping. Ironically, as we left Target to come home, it started snowing. It ended up being too cold to let him go out. Sunday after our Easter celebration came to a close, I took him to the park to see what skateboarding was all about. Mind you, all I know about skateboarding, I learned from my brother when he was going through his 8 year skateboarding "phase". Hayden jumped on that board like he knew what he was doing. He quickly learned a thing or two about balance and gravity. He only fell once and went much slower than I expected him too. He thought it was the greatest day. After being there for just a few minutes, it started to snow. Yes, snow on Easter! I let him play for a few more minutes and then we headed home for dinner. Later in the evening, Hayden climbed up on the couch next to me and said, "Momma, thank you for taking me to skateboard; maybe if it's warm this week, we can do it again." I'm finding more and more that it's the little things in life that make us all happy. It's not the shiny new car, the giant house, the high paying job...it's the little things that matter most. It's taking my kids to the park, cuddling up on the couch with my husband at the end of a long day, enjoying a nice family dinner, playing games and having fun with friends...

Happy Easter!

The Fruge' Family

Kate, Sarah, Rachel and Hayden

Time for lunch, YUM!

Time to hunt...

We have had such a fun day today. We went to church this morning and then invited some friends over for Easter lunch. After lunch, the dads went to the park to hide the eggs and we had an Easter Egg Hunt for our kids. After all our Easter festivities were over, I took Hayden and Rachel back up to the park so Hayden could ride his skateboard.

Happy Easter!

7 Facts about me...

I have been tagged by my sister. She is a real blogger. I just blog for family and friends. So, I'll play along. Well, I'll play, but just like I cook, I'll change the rules. I am supposed to tag seven people at the end of my post. The only problem is that my blog is private and you can't link back to it. So, I'll post the 7 facts about me just for fun! Here are the rules in case you want to know which ones I broke.

Rules are:1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Fact #7...
I used to watch Hee Haw growing up. When John and I were in Florida, we actually played the 'corn field couple' in a church skit. Hee Haw!

#6
I love Clearance racks! And Thrift shops.

#5
I talk to my sister Candi almost every day. We went 4 days this past week without talking and it felt like something was missing. I love talking to her and hearing about her day. We've always said that if we outlive our husbands, we'll move in together and do everything together.

#4
My all time favorite candy bar is a Symphony bar with toffee and almonds.

#3
I have a fear of public speaking. That being said, many of you have heard me do it several times.

#2
I love to cook, but I hate to bake. Kind of funny since baking is a science and has to be exact. If you know me, you know I like things neat and organized, but when it comes to cooking, I like to play in the kitchen, come up with my own recipes, test things for freezer friendliness... Baking does not work that way. I remember coming up with my own dishes when I was in middle school and high school and testing them on my family.

#1
My favorite thing to do after the kids are in bed is to sit down with my husband, have some popcorn and m&m's and watch HGTV, Food Network or TLC. He is so sweet to spend time with me doing something I enjoy. (I love you John!)

And the winner is...

Jenni Miller

Thank you all so much for humoring me. I got comments from people that had never left comments before. Feel free to leave comments on other things. For me, since my blog is only open to friends and family, it lets me stay connected to you. You can kind of feel like you're my neighbor even though you're thousands of miles away. I hope that you enjoy getting a glimpse into our lives. I encourage you all to start your own blog. It is not difficult. You just follow a few simple steps and then the actual posting is like typing an email and attaching photos. You don't have to do anything fancy. You don't have to know Html code. Just think, if you all had a blog, I could feel like your neighbor! It has been a great way for us to keep in touch with our friends and family.

Jenni, I'll drop your goodies in the mail next week. Thanks for being a great friend! Hopefully we'll be closer soon so we can visit your family. No word yet on a job, but I'll let you know when it comes.

Rock Band

The kids
The Girls Rock!

Audra on guitar, Linda on Bass & Dawn on Drums

The Boy Band

John on drums, Keith on bass & Ward on guitar

What better to do when you're snowed in? Saturday night, we invited our friends over and had dinner. After dinner, we decided to play our version of 'Battle of the Bands' and it was Boy Band against the Girl Band. The only problem is that the 'boys' have all played Rock Band or Guitar Hero before and the 'girls' have only watched. There are different levels to play: Easy, medium, hard... I asked John why they didn't have a 'my wife wants to play' level. We held our own on the Easy level. Even though we had never played before, we had a lot of fun. We can't wait to buy our own home and maybe have a game room or basement for all of our toys.

This is how snow should be...

Kate tries the innertube

Celeste and Kate

Me and Hayden

Hayden, Rachel and their friends!

Dawn & I made snowmen!

Rachel

Hayden tried to snowboard on his sled.

Kate

On Sunday, after we got the huge snow storm, we decided to go sledding again. We went outside at about 1:00pm and stayed out until 4:30. The sun was out, the wind wasn't blowing, it felt great. The kids had a ball playing in the snow in the backyard. Dawn and I decided to build a snowman! I have always heard that you start with a snow ball and roll it to make it bigger. Well, if you are from the Texas panhandle, snow just doesn't work that way there. I remember trying to build a snowman a few times and pretty much had to pack it all into a big ball. The rolling thing never worked for me. Even last year, we tried and the snow was too powdery. Well, I tried it again this year and it worked. The snow was perfect for rolling a giant ball. It was so exciting to see that it came together so quickly. We ended up building 2 snowmen. We did make them each have 2 faces- one to face Dawn's house and one to face our house. We had a great day and I wanted to share some extra photos.

12 inches or more of snow....

Rachel turns 8! (March 4)

100th Post!

Well, I never knew I'd have so much to say... In honor of my 100th post, I am having a give away. It's kind of like a blog door prize. My sister did the same thing for her 100th post, so I thought it would be fun to give away a few of my favorite things. In order to be entered in the drawing, you have to leave a comment that includes your name and one of your favorite things. The deadline to enter is March 14 10pm Eastern time. I'll put all your names in a hat and let one of my children draw a lucky winner. I'll post the name of the winner on March 15th.

A few of my favorite things...Creative memories (Mini heart maker), Pampered chef (a Season's Best cookbook), Vera Bradley (a Bermuda blue zip ID case), Bath & Body works (Juniper Breeze body cream), Chocolate (Mint Chocolate Truffle kisses)

Awana Games at Cedarville

We went to Cedarville University on Saturday for the Awana Games! We had to be there at 8:30am and Rachel started at 10am. She had so much fun participating in the Sparks-o-rama. Her team won 3rd place. The Awana games for T&T started at 1pm. We had one girl not show up, so it was up to Rachel to fill her place. Why? Because I was a coach and we needed a 2nd grade girl and I just happen to have one. She was VERY reluctant to do it, but I told her she could get a new Webkinz if she helped us and participated. She had never practiced with us before and never played any of the games, but she did a great job. Our team is made up of 3rd, 4th and 5th grade girls. We played against teams with 6th graders and they towered over our girls. Some of them towered over me. We had so much fun and got 4th place. Our girls did a great job and did their very best in every event. It's not about winning or losing, but about bringing glory to God and giving your best. "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as if working for the Lord and not for men." Colossians 3:23