Texas Weather & January Christmas

It was snowing and 28F degrees on Tuesday and 69F degrees today with a beautifully clear blue sky. That's what we call Texas. We had a late Christmas after church with the my sister's family and were showered with sweet and so very thoughtful Christmas presents in a corner of a little coffeehouse in town. The boys gave sweet and thoughtful gifts of their own they'd picked and wrapped themselves. Christmas in January is perfect. The little coffeehouse we ate had a private room with five comfy chairs, a table, and a few lamps. It was perfect. We had our own little party going there and the employees got in on it. Shawners gave my nephew a gift and my nephew tells him I need a hug and one of the employees walks by and says, "Me too." Brando gave him a hug. Before we left they handed us a stack of free coffee certificates. On the drive home we stopped by this gorgeous restaurant we love to eat just to get pictures of us on the lake in the beautifully clear weather.Goofy Brandon

Sunny Day

This evening.

Cozy Little Community

This morning I woke up realizing how lucky I am being in a gorgeous apartment with 9 ft. high crown moulded ceilings, closets four times as big as my walk in closet when I was growing up, a laundry room with plenty of room beyond the washer and dryer, an island in my kitchen which I've always wanted, as well as a beautiful tiled back splash, a serene porch "verandah" with a three foot high rock wall and a gorgeous tree covered arroyo for our view with priceless orange and pink and gold sunsets. In addition to all that, two of my bestest friends and baby girl live right next door, my brother-in-law and children's uncle lives right next door on the other side.

Reminiscing

Perusing through pictures I came upon this one:
This was at the Santa Cruz County Fair just before we left Santa Cruz in 2005. It was a pig race with the cutest pigs ever. They needed a volunteer and Brando's Mom, Oma, told Justinbustin to raise his hand and jump up and down. He jumped up and down and up and down for at least five minutes while the guy walked around the entire circle to pick a volunteer from each section. He got to Justinbustin and said there is no way I can't pick you with all your determination. It was the sweetest most heartfelt thing I've ever seen. He was SO happy to get our section to cheer for his piggy!

Perspective

You can't change your attitude but if you change your perspective the attitude follows. This thought occured to me a few days ago when mulling over the fact I hated when my parents would say, "Change your attitude." "Have a good attitude." Well, excuuuse me, how the he.. do you do that?

Now I find myself saying that to my kids and hating it just as much. So now Brando and I have been teaching them HOW to have a different perspective. Brando rocks that avenue and I'm trying to learn from what he teaches them. Mine is usually an opposite of the negative rather than a whole new view so I'm a little rusty, but a little polishing and we'll be good.

Shawner's Cali babysitter took this picture.

Fanciful

Thanks to London Southern Belle I just found the sweetest website, Inside the Black Apple. Her prints are so creative and thoughtful with as much heart poured into them as possible. Amanda is herself engrossed with all things adorable as well. While I appreciate all things adorable I would not be able to pour out of my soul the adorableness they create, though I would absolutely love to. The Black Apple reminds me so very much of my niece, cute short dark hair, striking features and eyes that have a story to tell, whose poor soul has been tortured by people around her who don't appreciate the dark cuteness that bubbles to the surface. I look forward to her creating similar sorts of creations that I can treasure and keep as part of her in my house twenty four too many hundred miles away.

From The Black Apple Shop. Shawner's favorite and one of mine.

Winter Wonderland

It SNOWed in TEXAS for four hours! We made snowballs, snowmen and women, had snow fights, drank hot cider and stayed in our pajamas and coats and scarves all day. L next door made her first snowman and we made a snow lady. Baby K got to see her first snow and the boys got to see their second. The boys have been wishing it would snow since we got here and they got their wish. The first time we moved to Texas it snowed the second winter we were here and this time we moved to Texas it snowed the second winter as well. I think it's a sign from God. Not sure if it means we're supposed to be here or we're supposed to move where it snows someday. teehee

I LOVEd this day enjoying the snow and playing with the boys all day long!

Princess Brownie got in on the fun too!Snow Family

Brrrr

It is freezing and raining outside. We've been watching the temparature drop all day from 39F to 34F where it is right now. When the wind blows there's a windchill of 28F. Tomorrow it's supposed to freeze and everything shut down tonight. Time for scarves, wool coats, fur edged gloves, and my cute new cable knit bag. Love it!

We had the BEST small group tonight. Brando and I are the curriculum coordinators for our Sunday school class and us along with the curriculum team have lined up an awesome lineup for this year's curriculum. God really has done it all - we've asked the questions and scheduled as available. He's worked it perfectly. As a small group we've decided to delve into what we're studying Sunday mornings instead of going off on our own tangent which I'm so excited about. It seems to unite our group having a common thread to start with.

The speaker who spoke in Sunday morning class today spoke on The Five Love Languages and tied it to the Bible which is a perspective I hadn't heard before. He said something interesting, "All truth is God's truth." which I can understand. I read that book and knew it resounded true but didn't know where it was backed up in the Bible. He showed how the story of the Good Samaritan demonstrated all five love languages. I loved that. More than three people came up to me to tell me how excited they are about the curriculum coming up - it gives them a reason to actually want to come to class. I couldn't agree more for ourselves and am so excited others feel the same! It's nice to be really fed spiritually and feel like you're taking in something you can use.

I Want a New Passion

Cooking, decorating, drawing, figuring out how I want my hair, my clothes, my makeup and how to do that, teaching my kids, finding my niche socially with being young and having older kids, scrapbooking, blogging, sewing. I love being the renaissance woman so I want to find a new passion. I've considered painting but I don't want to spend the money on the supplies and I can just see a Curious George like room with my kiddos romping around. What do you think I should try?