3rd Grade Chorus Vidoes

"Seize the Day"



Jordan's speech




"Loch Lommond"




"If I Had a Hammer"

3rd Grade Chorus

Jordan and friends....Sarah, Haruru, and someone else!!!!

The week before we left for Texas, Jordan finally got to perform in her first 3rd grade chorus concert. It had been rescheduled THREE times due to the weather. It was a wonderful concert!! We were so proud of our little Jordy. She even got to introduce "Ode to Joy"....it was played on the xylophones. She is such a beautiful, smart, SWEET little girl. She has grown alot since we have moved to New Jersey. I have noticed she calls me "Mom" when we are around her friends, but when we are home, she still resorts to "Mommy". Fine by me! She is learning multiplication and division now, but still likes to cuddle up in my bed so I can read to her. She makes us smile on a daily basis....just this weekend she was parading a doll around like it was in the Miss America pageant. She said, "If I were in the pageant, I would definitely win."

Oh, if I only felt that way about myself!!!

Staten Island

A few weeks ago, the kids and I drove to Staten Island where my second cousin, Christopher, and his wife live. His mom is my first cousin, Randa. She is dad's sister Sharon's daughter....she has a twin, Shanda. Christopher is in the Coast Guard and stationed less than 60 miles from us.

Christopher is all grown up now and actually goes by Grady. I never know what to call him ;) This is where he goes to work each day....and plays volleyball when the weather is nice!

He took us to see the boats. We would have had a fabulous view of Manhattan had it not been dreary and rainy.

The kids went down into one of them.......

And pretended to drive one :)





Then they took us to Jose Tejas to eat....yummy!!! It was awesome!! We had a great day spending a little time with them. It's so nice to know that family is only an hour away. We are going back soon to see their new baby, Maddoxx!!!!!!

Snow, Snow and More Snow

Dust Storms v. Snow Storms

A few minutes ago I was looking at the post I made a couple of days ago....."A Year in Review". I noticed something about the snow pile in that particular post. That picture was taken last January, after a couple of the big storms rolled through. The snow plows came through and made huge piles of snow every where.....that one in the picture from last year was taken right by the kids' bus stop. But it just pales in comparison to this pile in our parking lot this year. I mean, doesn't this pile just look twice as big?! You should see the piles in the Sam's club parking lot. They are as tall as the buildings.


Yep, that's me with snow up to my knees.

Just a few silly pictures from our backyard yesterday.......Jaron gets a little grumpy out in the cold snow........

but we were having so much fun, he just couldn't resist!

Um, I think I will take crazy snow storms any day over the dust storms of West Texas.

Sorry, Texas, you know I love your sprawling farm land, gorgeous sunsets and Mexican food, but I despise your tormenting dust storms. You just can't make dustmen and have dust ball fights. And forget about trying to catch dust ball flakes on your tongue.

Snow?!?!?!?

Yesterday and last night brought twice as much snow as initially anticipated. This is a prime example of the meteorologists being WRONG. Poor Chris, when he got to the train station last night, he had to dig out his car in blinding, blizzarding snow. Then he had to make the trek home, which as many of you know, is usually a very short drive. I am talking 3 minutes....5 if you get stuck at the light. What should have been a short drive home turned into over an HOUR of fighting against terrible roads and swirling snow. Thank God that He protected Chris and got him home safely. So, in order to answer the questions that I know all of the grandparents have:

We got about 16 inches of snow yesterday.....on top of snow we have already had.
Yes, school was closed.
Yes, we are fine....plenty of food, blankets and heat.
And yes, the kids got to play in the snow a little...those pics to come later.

The birds seemed to weather the storm fairly well. They were up this morning bright and early in the bird feeder. And the sweet cardinal came to visit this afternoon. He just makes me so happy.

Welcome to New Jersey.

A Year in Review

It's fun to look back through the pictures we took this year and remind myself of some of the things that happened in our lives. So I wanted to post some of my faves for you! Enjoy!!!!

January.......we had to say goodbye to some really good friends :( but we had fun celebrating their time with us!

We also had a million snow storms.

February.....more snow.

March.........we almost got to watch a rehearsal at the Metropolitan Opera.......

....and we ended up going to the Museum of Natural History.

In April we had the best Easter egg hunt in the world!


And in May we took advantage of the beach.

June was a very important month........Jaron graduated from kindergarten,

Jordan turned eight,
and Granny and the McNutts came to visit. These are not the same people from the year before....they are an uncle, an aunt, cousins and grandmother who fought a battle against cancer and WON.

July brought Georgia to our minds (ha, ha! good one!) and more precious time with precious loved ones.

August.......we just had lots of fun doing whatever we wanted to do.

And September was another important month.....Jaron turned 7,

and we got to meet Mo Willems (eek!).

October was a blast with all of the Halloween festivities, especially the Phantom party.

And November was spent with our favorite Georgians and antique dealers ;)

That brings us around to December......celebrating Christmas and the birth of Jesus.

We had a very, very blessed year. It was blessed by the presence of so many people we love and care about. And it was blessed by the hand of Almighty God. If it weren't for Him, we would have nothing. No hope, no joy, no peace, no future. We are thankful for each other and all of you!!!!!