There are snowmen in Southeast Texas!

After taking the girls to school this morning, I drove around the neighborhood and found some friends! Of course these are the friends that you will not find me hugging or hanging out with! Too DAMN cold! The pictures just do not do it justice. In the sun the snow is as Sophia would love to say "sparkly". It is beautiful! . I know all my family in the far north are probably giggling at my excitement over "light ground cover" however, this is as good as we will ever get it!! So on to the pictures of my snowbound journey this morning! If Camberra , Triny and Addie are reading this know that my girls miss you bunches and wishing you were here to 4 wheel with us! (bringing the 4 wheelers of course). I am sure by the time the girls are out of school it will have all melted away the sun is out in full blast. Tonight we are going to look at Christmas lights in a seriously cool neighborhood were everyone competes for the best house and yard! I will post a slide show later~

Texas Snow

DISCLAIMER: Texas definition of snow: Cold, wet, flurries, sleet, basically our rainy day at 31 degrees~! For my non Texas readers this is it in over 9 years!! The last time we saw any "snow flurries" was about 4 years ago and it did NOT stick to the ground! So as I am surely cursing the nasty weather all day long, I thought to myself heck if it gets any colder (at the time it was 38 degrees) it can possibly make sleet hince snow flurries. At about 6pm today it started to sleet and as we were ALL excited saying it's snowing outside! - then the sleet got thicker and bigger and big fat snow flakes started to fall. Our neighbors in the culdesac came out and the kids had fun tromping in the snow! Our pants and feet were all soaking wet. Of course the snow gear I had from 2 years would have worked (if I didn't just donate it 2 months ago!) Now it is late in the night and my girls are snuggled in bed, I am in front of a blazing fire enjoying the peace and quiet..Oh and our family might ask were is Matt in all this....THE NETHERLANDS - for work.. Lucky him! Enjoy the slide show

My Special Girl

It has been awhile since I last posted and in the mean time has been a whirl wind here in our part of the world. We celebrated the baptism of Michaela on November 8, 2008. Matt's sister Kathryn and her huband Jim and family came down from Justin, Texas. (outside of Dallas area). We had a great turn out for this special day. My mom and dad, grandparents, aunts, an uncle, my friend Brandi and her kids, and some of our church family! I think we probably ended up with over 40? I lost count and did not have enough chairs! Well this blog is dedicated to Michaela Ann Clinger. The song I have playing is dedicated especially for her, it describes a little girl in a hurry to grow up and explore the world. And that is DEFINATELY Michaela! Always wanting to get ahead of her self without slowing down. We constantly tell her enjoy life now it is the best time of your life. For those friends that do not know her story of how she came to us let me explain.. Michaela had a stroke when she was born. She does suffer from slight cerebral palsy. She has limited use of her left hand and a slight limp on her left leg. This is think in the long run has made her stubborn and resistant to help on physical things (most time). My fingers can not count the number of testings this little girl has gone through before the age of 2. All in all she is doing great and is very special to us.. I love this little girl with all my heart. We go round and round on many occassions because she is stubborn and so am I. Emotionally she develops slightly slower than others again ONLY because I think she is soooo ready to just jump ahead of things with both feet and not think first (AGAIN another trait of mine) Hmmm..I guess she is also a momma's girl too..(shhh don't tell her that). I have to say I am so grateful and thankful to Matt's family for coming out to share and participate in our special day. I am proud of Michaela for choosing to be baptized and to take on the responsibilities Heavenly Father asked of us. It was very emotional for all of us. I had many people tell me that was one of the best baptism's they have been to.. As the songs says I feel my saviors love. Think we all truly did. We had my beautiful friends sing one of our favorite songs. Lovely Sister Bebee made the most delicious hummingbird cake along with my Aunt Jeanette making a superb chocolate cake. It went by so fast I wish I had a video taping to watch and cherish forever. Thanks to everyone that came and participated on Michaela's day! Below are pictures of that day along with other snap shots taken through out our days this past year.

Trick or Treating!

We had a blast for Halloween this year. I have to say I think this is probably the best one yet.! The day started with Sophia's class party. She dressed as Dorothy this year with the red slippers and all. (TOO CUTE) For the party they decorated cookies with frosting and sprinkles. Then made handprints to go on a turkey the teacher is doing for the room. Pretty easy party (Thank goodness) Here are some pics.: After school we got ready for trick or treating with Michaela's Girl Scout troop. Before we left we did hot chocolate and cupcakes with a little candy in the mix! (sugar them up for the parents later)! I was a little disappointed with the houses that turned out..(NOT a lot of house to trick or treat at..I think due to it being on a Friday night and having parties, haunted houses, etc..) But we still had a bag full of candy! Whoohoo..! Oh and in case you did not notice Michaela went as Hannah Montana (which was a hit!) Sophia went as Dorothy and was carrying a basket with a PINK Toto! ( our pink poodle webkinz) Our neighbor Shelby came over to show her costume and she was Raggedy Anne too cute!(AND with red YARN hair)! So here are the rest of our photots~

Pumpkin Anyone?

Well, finally thanks to my neighbor Brandi I got into the Halloween spirit. I usually just use traditional fall decorations, but now have added carved pumpkins! Last night my neighbor invited us to carve pumpkins with them. I got to use the carving tools (I never thought they really worked) and it came with a cool carving detail book. Sophia wanted me to carve her a "kitty kat" and Michaela is still not too sure what she wanted. So as I sat with all the kids and carved until my heart was content. It was soo much fun! Don't get me wrong I have carved plenty of pumpkins in my time, but not with a intricate pattern to use. So here is the picture of the cat one. Michaela really tried to carve her own this year and ended up asking me to finish it. I tried to finish that poor thing was so mangled on one side, I turned it around and carved out the other side with ghost! At about 1:30am, (I wanted to surprise her in the morning) and finished it out. Ah the dedication of mothers seeking their childrens happiness! So here is the completed ghost pumpkin. Of course it would not be our house with out a little mishap..As I was taking these pictures, Sophia's pumpkin BROKE! YIKESSSS..So it is 12:30 at night and I finished the 2ND KITTY pumpkin it actually turned out better than the first! Well, we will off to school parties and our Halloween hayride while we are trick or treating! Pictues coming soon