happenings

this week:

*playgroup~Thursday

*breakfast with a friend & shopping~Friday

*'family night'~Friday. I guess every night is family night to some extent, but I really love nights when none of us has to be anywhere but with each other and we can all just hang out. Chris came home from work and promptly fell asleep on the couch. This may not seem like a big deal, but if Chris takes a nap he will be up 'til the wee hours of the morning. Regardless of this fact, he napped anyway and was up 'til around 3 this morning. Oh well, his decision. When he & Katie woke up from their naps, we decided to go to Pizza Hut. Gracie had a 'Book-it coupon' that was burning a hole in her pocket. When we got there and someone finally got around to seating us, they told us that there was about a 40 minute wait for food. We decided to go somewhere else. We ended up at Chili's which we hadn't been to in a long time. After we ate, we went to the mall and visited just a few stores before it closed. I don't think we even bought anything, but it was still fun. Chris has in mind that he wants a flat screen plasma so he was showing me his "dream." He did receive 'official' word of a bonus so we'll see. We came home and Gracie wanted to play a family game so we decided to play Monopoly. She did pretty good and was getting pretty rich before we decided to stop. That game can last forever. Poor Katie spent most of our game time on the floor saying in sing-song, "please help me, please help me" as she worked on her Elmo puzzle. She's not quite ready for Monopoly! The night ended with Chris watching tv, the girls asleep in the Princess tent and me sleeping. Sounds like a good night to me!

*teachers' meeting at church~Saturday morning. Chris is 'ministry leader' for education and he, along with some other leaders, talked about various things within the education ministry. We have all been so impressed with the kids & their parents as we've started pushing for more scripture memorization. The parents have done a great job of encouraging their children and the kids are 'steppin' up to the plate' big time. This past week I gave my 1st/2nd grade class the task of memorizing the names of the 12 sons of Jacob and Gracie has done fantastic with it! I talked to one of the other girls this morning and she was saying them as well. I bribed them with candy and I will need to be ready to deliver in the morning! Even the 4 & 5 year old/Kindergarten class has been given this assignment from their teacher and I heard one of them saying it today also. Kids are such sponges, it's amazing! Tomorrow I plan to give the assignment of memorizing the books of the Bible...without singing them! I have complete faith that with a little work, they'll succeed!

One thing I've started doing in class that I think is a lot of fun is using "Veggie Tales Bible Mania" book to teach the kids interesting, "random" facts from the Bible. I put up a bulletin board in the hallway where each week they each write down one of the facts they found most interesting. It's really a neat book filled with some things I certainly didn't know about the Bible!

*shopping-Saturday afternoon. All 4 of us went to a neighboring town this afternoon to shop. We went to Family Christian and Lifeway Christian and perused the VBS curriculum selections. We picked up some brochures and will do a little more research before we decide what to purchase. We may even end up buying one from somewhere else. I love going to those stores; such neat things!

We also went to the mall to use some gift cards we'd been given for Christmas. I bought a "date dress." Chris & I plan to go out for Valentine's Day (either the weekend before or the weekend after) and I wanted a nice outfit. Something I wouldn't wear to church. I am quite modest in my dress (some might say I'm a fuddy duddy in my dress!!!!) so some things I just can't see myself wearing. Not that they're "immodest," I just don't like the way they look on me. (Some things are immodest for sure!!!!!) I found a dress that is different from what I would wear to church but still modest for a date with my husband. I wouldn't have bought it if I didn't have a gift card, so it was nice to splurge with that. (I also bought Gracie a pair of shoes with it.) I told Chris now we really have to go out and that I'd wear this dress for every fancy date we go on for the next couple of years (which happens about twice a year!) I just don't have that many "nicer" dresses.

Tomorrow will be church and Life Group. I hope everyone has a good Sunday!

Here's a funny thing Gracie said:
*She asked Chris if she has school on Valentine's Day. She had asked me earlier in the week what we were going to do special for Valentine's Day. I'm afraid she may be disappointed!

a funny from Katie:
*She tried to lick me the other day! I told her not to lick me. She said, "I just a puppy." Okay....

*After being with our niece Sara Jane and seeing how her daddy has brainwashed (LOL) her into liking football, Chris has started working more on Katie. (He knows it's pretty much useless with Gracie by this point!) She & I were at Kroger the other day and there was a huge football helmet hanging from the ceiling. Katie saw the helmet and I can't remember if she said 'hat' or 'football.' I kind of laughed; she then threw her arms up in the air and said very loudly, "Touchdown! Romo!" Thanks, Uncle Mike! (Dallas Cowboys fans will know who she was talking about.)

a funny from Chris:
*The other day I heard him singing a song in the other room. I said, "Are you singing (from) 'High School Musical'? He said no. I know he was lying!

Here's a sweet thing Katie's been doing lately:
*"Thank you Go-od, Thank you Go-od, for our food, for our food and our many blessings, and our many blessings. Ah-ah-men, Ah-ah-men. " Yes, God is 2 very distinct syllables and Amen is 3. I guess they say this prayer at MDO before eating lunch. Usually she says "yea" and claps when she's done. It's really quite cute! Chris has it on video from our camera. I'll have to see if he can get it on here on You Tube.