clair062

The kids made this funny video. An after Thanksgiving video 😊 Actor: Lance Music: music chosen by ~Musicl.ly app Director: Brent Camera Man: Caleb

My hubby and I are not good at taking selfies together but we try. I think this is one of the first ones. I'm sure we must have taken one before.  We took a 20th Anniversary weekend getaway and thought we'd try out hand at selfies. I think we need a selfie stick, bwahahaha  We discovered that our phone will snap a picture if we say, "cheese", so I'm saying cheese while keeping my smile. My hubby on the other hand is saying it in Spanish and the picture snapped as he was saying the 'o' sound in queso.  We tried again. This time with just me saying cheese. We stayed in a one room cabin with a gorgeous view from every window. This picture was funny. I said, "Hey, Dear, let's take one here." His reply, "It's just wood, you want us to take a picture in front of wood?" and as I'm typing this I'm laughing to myself because it was funny but you had to be there. And yes my love of my life is saying, "Queso" :) I said, ...

Just taking time to SLOW down.  We decorated our gingerbread houses. Of course mine was a Coffee House. I'll share more soon. One of my SLOW goals is to stay off the computer during the holidays. And I'm so proud of myself. Through the Thanksgiving week I've been very careful NOT to jump on the computer. Which means we actually decorated our gingerbread houses early this year. Normally we don't get to them until New Years Eve.  When I pulled out all the gingerbread houses Lance said, "But it's our tradition to decorate them when we stay up all night", which translates to New Years Eve, hah, He made me laugh. I guess I might have to buy some more for our "tradition" (me laughing and smiling).

My sister MaryEllen came for a visit. It was totally a God thing because she was here on business and it so happened that she normally would have worked Friday but didn't because it was Memorial Day. Meaning she could come with us to see Josh on Advancement Day  from ALERT Academy. We were all so excited. She arrived Saturday and was able to stay the weekend with us. Monday Lupe and I dropped her and Annette off in Fort Work at the Hilton. Annette stayed with her from Monday-Thursday. Thursday night we picked them both up. Friday-Sunday she stayed with us. Friday going to the ALERT campus to see Josh. We stayed overnight renting three dorm rooms (wish I would have taken pics). We came home Saturday and dropped MaryEllen off at the airport on Sunday. It was sad to see her go. BUT, we made the most of her stay. Since she was here for a quick visit, we had to hit all the coffee shops in one day! Our first stop was Shoemaker & Heardt Coffee Shop. A place that sells antiques, gag gi...

Look who made it through the nine weeks of ALERT Academy!!! Lupe and I are so very proud of Joshua. This was not easy. He had to learn to rely on his squad and they on him. Learning to work together was key or else they could or would be dropped (50+ push-ups) or worse what they called 'smoked' and you didn't want to be smoked with all the intense exercises and drills that come with it. Josh even showed us a log that a team/squad would have to carry around to learn teamwork. Thankfully Joshua had an awesome team where all the guys worked together.  Week 3 ~Honor Squad. His squad worked so well together that they were the Honor Squad for the whole time. I thought that was huge and it says a lot about their character. When we first got there we could see Josh but not talk to him. I cried. It was so good to see him. I just stared at him because it was all I could do. I couldn't call out to him. I'd have loved to run up to him and give him a hug but that would not be a ...

I'm enjoying my morning cup of java made with butter, MCT Oil, and gelatin powder. It taste so yummy. I am finally at the point where I don't need to sweeten it at all. Yay! It took long enough, haha. It was so hard chasing after that real sugar sweetened taste. As much as I love Stevia it just wasn't the same. I tried exylitol and xylitol too but again it just wasn't there. I got this really good quality mug free when I took the kids to downtown trick-or-treating. I love it! It's not a cheap one but heavy duty. Nicer than some mugs I paid for. And actually it was only Lance I took this year. He dressed as an Army guy. Annette, Caleb, and Brent went with out church AWANA youth leader to pass out tracts. I love seeing them grow up and do things like this. Joshua is completing his 8th week at ALERT. I'm so excited to know I'll be seeing him. As much as I loved my two scheduled phone calls and once a week letters it's not the same as being 'free' to...

For the last two weeks I've had some splurges. One of my downfalls is FRENCH FRIES! I love french fries.  French fries from Wing Stop and below Chick-fil-A

Saturday my husband dropped my dad and Lance off at the Greyhound bus station. I didn't go because he was on the way to work. As Lupe was leaving he realized he hadn't taken a picture so he snapped this one at the last minute. I love it! Grandpa and grandson on a 24 hour bus ride across the states. So cute! My brother-in-law came up with the catchy title: Generations on the Move They arrived safely in Georgia Sunday around lunch! My niece pony-fied my family =)

Last weekend my husband, Annette, and Joshua attended a real estate/investment conference which ran from 9-5 and sometimes till 6:00 P.M. Lance and I tagged along. We all packed up and left Friday morning. Lupe and the kids went to the conference while Lance and I hung out in the Hilton lobby. It was actually really nice because there were no distractions and we got a little schooling done. Lance worked in his Language Smarts book from the Critical Thinking Co., did a little fun-schooling in his Winter Boys Journal from The Thinking Tree, The Case of the Missing Mountain by Master Books, and played some Clash of Clans on my phone. The bathroom was right around the corner. The Hilton was huge and yet every time I used the restroom there was nobody in there. The paper towels to dry my hands were so soft and thick, haha. Not your average towels from Target or Walmart bathrooms. All you need is one to dry your hands =) The second day Lance and I spent the day in our hotel, the one with ...