Crafting some furniture for inside her castle.

Windows with a view.

Just a shell of a castle.

Sarah's personal painter.

Dropping off her completed project at school

Sarah has been learning about Medieval Times at school. She had to do a project and chose to do a castle. This was a huge project. We decided to make it out of cardboard. We had plenty of that and it was FREE! We were trying to keep it low cost. Sarah had some great ideas for making her castle. She had a lot of fun making all the furnishings. She made a bed, windows, stove, dining table, chairs and even some food. This project became a family affair. Kate made a fountain for the courtyard, John did the painting, Hayden donated his men and I helped do a lot of cutting and taping. Sarah turned her project in today after school and she has to do her presentation tomorrow. I'll let you know how she does, but I wanted to get these pictures up while I had a chance.

Hayden's Homework

Hayden is bringing home books from school to read. We are supposed to have him read them over and over until he is comfortable and help him sound out all the words that he does not know. Last night, he read it for the first time. He didn't need any help and was so excited! He has read other books, but this was his first homework.

Pet Rocks

The craft room was in the middle of organizing my scrapbooking stuff, so they had to work in the dining room. Craftiness is not limited to the craft room at our house.

If I were President...by Rachel Fruge'

"I will help the poor and go to New York. I will give presents to people and free cats and dogs. I will stop drugs and bad food. I will make another sonic in Canyon and make it a walk in one. I will make a petting zoo and 50 schools will get the petting zoo to come to their school."

So, what would you do if you were President?

Substitute Initiation?

So, most of you know that I have been substituting. Well, Monday, I subbed in 4th grade and Tuesday, I was called for a Kindergarten class. Tuesday, it was really windy, so the kids could not go out for recess. I got a call from another Kindergarten teacher asking if we wanted to get all the kids together to watch a movie. Then, she asked if I would mind watching them all myself. What? The entire Kindergarten would not fit in my room. No, she meant just two other classes. "I think that should be fine", I said. Was I crazy? I snapped this picture to give you an idea of what 60 something Kindergartners look like watching "Tarzan". They were great. I really didn't have any problems. One girl in the front row had never seen the movie and I had fun watching her reaction.

I have been enjoying the flexibility of substituting and the extra money. It is funny to see how different these kids are than my own children. I had a girl on Tuesday go to the locker to get her jacket and as she walked back in to the class, she yelled, "MOVE" to another girl in her way. I made her go back outside and try it again. This time, nicely. She told me she didn't know how. I suggested that she say excuse me, or even will you please let me in. She stood there with her eyes to the ground in the grumpiest voice ever and said, "excuse me Abby, will you please move?". I told her that I didn't like to be yelled at and I didn't think that Abby did either. It makes me wonder what type of parents some of these kids have.

I have taught K-4th and have not ventured to the Jr. High. It keeps me on my toes. I don't know how some moms work full time. I come home and feel like I can't get everything done, so I play catch up on my free days. At least I have free days.

Weekend Warriors?

This weekend was a long one for John. He had a four day weekend to celebrate the New Year. Thursday, John and my dad put in a new garage door opener. We had one that was installed when the house was built and it was not safe. It did not have the sensors on it and we have burned two belts on it from getting things stuck under the door. It was time for a change. What we thought would be a couple of hours turned into an all day project. Thankfully, the weather was nice and they were able to get it done. We are learning that most things take longer and cost more than you think when it comes to home ownership. Anyway, getting the new garage door opener installed inspired me to clean out the garage so we could get our cars inside before it snows. Well, we don't know that it's going to snow, but it could. We did it! In just a few short hours yesterday, we moved our Christmas stuff to our attic and cleaned out the garage. We were able to get both cars into the garage. Did it snow? No, but yesterday it was almost 70 and today, the high was 34. We stayed inside where it was warm today and made chocolate covered pretzels. Hayden was my sprinkler. We all enjoyed a nice treat!

Panhandle Plains Historical Museum

The Panhandle Plains Historical Museum

Hayden wants "this" one.

Rachel combs the wool.

Sarah weaves a rug.

Hayden goes for a ride.

We are enjoying our second week out of school for Christmas break, so today, after breakfast, I told the kids they were going to have a surprise. I took them to the museum. They love going to the museum, whether it's the Smithsonian or the PPHM. They were very excited. They learned a lot about the Texas Panhandle and enjoyed looking at all the exhibits. We all especially enjoyed the Santa Fe Collection. They have a huge collection of tapestries on display. They even had tables set up with instructions for kids on weaving. Sarah wanted to stay there and weave a rug until she found out you couldn't take it with you.

We watched videos on how to skin a buffalo, how to plant cotton and the oil boom. It was very interesting. Especially the buffalo video. Sarah was the only one that could stomach it. Then, she came and told me how the pulled the stomach out and washed it in the river... Yuck!

We had a fun time and will go back again soon.

Celebrating Christmas

Merry Christmas from Lubbock, Texas

It has been wonderful to be so close to family. Our kids have asked, "how many Christmases are we going to have?". We had my dad come visit and then my entire side of the family came to our house last Sunday. Tuesday, we left for Lubbock and are spending Christmas with John's family. I will share more pictures later, but just wanted to give you an idea of what we do in Texas to celebrate Christmas. We had a wonderful Christmas Eve service and then had a very busy Christmas morning with 8 kids, 8 adults and 3 dogs. We had a fabulous traditional ham dinner and for dessert, the family went to shoot guns. Well, that's what we do here. We shoot things. I did learn to shoot a gun when I was about 10. I didn't go on this adventure, but probably will next time. So, that's how we celebrated Christmas here in Lubbock, Texas!

Small Town Christmas

Emma & Rachel enjoy a Dublin Dr. Pepper

A very Merry Christmas!

Snowball drop

Friends

Town Square Tree lighting

We went to the annual tree lighting on the square in Canyon. They had local groups sing Christmas carols and then they lit the tree. After the tree lighting, they drop "snowballs" from the top of the court house. They are actually ping pong balls with local store offers/discounts written on them. Everyone runs to the courthouse to gather the falling "snowballs". The kids had a great time. We went to the Rock'n Roll soda shoppe after the festivities and enjoyed a Dublin Dr. Pepper.

Christmas Lights!

This is the first year that we have put up Christmas lights on our house. Usually, we have some lighted garland around our door, but that's about it. This year, we were able to put our tree exactly where we wanted it and put up Christmas lights. John did a great job! I got all the decorations up inside and it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here. As a matter of fact, it snowed here today. Texas snow that is...snow and blow all morning, nothing stuck and this afternoon, the sun is out. Much different than Ohio! And did I mention it was 70 degrees yesterday? What they say about Texas weather is true. If you don't like the weather, wait a minute and it is sure to change.

"Make Me A Cowboy"

Saturday night, we went to Claude, TX to a remodeled old theatre to see a local play. "Make Me A Cowboy" was full of local talent and included singing, cowboy poetry and audience participation. We had a great time. Now Hayden really wants to be a cowboy.

Thanksgiving in Dallas

We went to Dallas for Thanksgiving and celebrated with John's family. We had a great time. We had great food, played games, watched movies and just relaxed. Brace yourself, I didn't even go shopping on Black Friday! I did go to Costco on Saturday with Carol. I love going to Costco; they have great stuff. We love being this close to family. It only took us 6.5 hours to get there. I know some of you probably think that is crazy, but after living 2 days away, this is close!

Rachel, Hayden, Sarah & Clancy (Kate was reading Twilight)

Hayden & Rachel climbed that tree every time they went outside.

A little peace and quiet (10 people and 2 more dogs inside)

"Chef" Jordan treated us to a great meal

Rock Band!

Thanksgiving in Memphis, Texas (not TN)

Future Cotton Queen?

Dad's Bread Pudding- aka Perini's famous bread pudding

Hayden thought the cotton was cool.

Train wreck just outside of Lelia Lake- where I lived in High School

Lily loves to visit PaBob; he drops bacon.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with my side of the family a couple of weeks ago. We all went to my cousins house in Memphis for the day. I'm including just a few pictures from the day.

Kate's Christmas Choir Concert

7th & 8th grade boys and girls choirs

Kate (center) and a couple of her friends.

Santa even came

Our little Kate is growing up.

Friends in Dallas

ARMD for Jesus: Audra, Ronda, Michele & Dawn

Michele, Angela, Ronda, Me & Dawn

Chick-fil-a

Sam Moon trip

Last weekend, we went to Dallas. The PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel) National Convention was in Dallas about 15 minutes from John's parents' house. We drove up for the event. Since I am not a PWOC member, I couldn't attend the convention, but I could at least see some of my friends from Ohio. My friends asked me to pick them up and drive them around Dallas. I told them they were crazy! I don't drive in Dallas. John's mom offered to pick them up and drive us around. She maneuvered through Dallas traffic, DFW and toll roads like it was nothing. Thank you Carol! We went to Sam Moon and to Grapevine Mills and then to Chick-fil-a for dinner. Well, they don't have Chick-fil-a where Michele lives in Washington, so she had to keep her priorities straight. I enjoyed seeing everyone, but would have loved to just sit down and enjoy the afternoon catching up. Next time, hopefully there is less shopping involved and more visiting.