Thanksgiving Day!

What a busy day it was trying to fit two holidays into one! We had our Thanksgiving dinner early in the afternoon after cooking all morning and decorating cookies with Lydia. When she woke up from her nap, we started all over again with our Christmas celebration!

Lydia has become a "gift expert" in the last year and couldn't wait to begin opening her Christmas presents! We did a "princess" theme this year and she really seemed to enjoy herself. Her favorite gifts were her "princess wish stones" and her talking "magic mirror". Little Joshua didn't have any idea what was going on, but he sure watches his big sister all the time...if that's any indication, he'll get the idea very quickly, I'm sure!

Wednesday, November 26th

Although we had lots of Thanksgiving preparations ahead of us, we decided to take the day and go to Sea World. I'm so glad we did because it turned out to be a perfect day...they had the whole park decorated for Christmas and even the shows all had a holiday theme. We all loved feeding the dolphins and the whale show was outstanding!

In the evening, Larry put up the smaller tree in the living room so we could celebrate our family Christmas on Thanksgiving evening. It was so much fun having Lydia there to decorate the tree with...there's nothing like the joy of a child at Christmas time!

Tuesday, November 25th

Although the weather has been cooler than it was last year at this time, it's still much nicer than it is up north, so we took off today to show off the beautiful city of San Antonio. After a wonderful breakfast at Magnolia House, we stopped at the HEB arsenal and then went down to the Riverwalk. Because there's so many of us, Larry and I took the motorcyle while Josh drove Larry's car. On the way home, Shannon rode with Larry on the bike and seemed to love the ride!

In the evening, we babysat while Shannon and Josh went out to dinner. We decided to take the kids to the Bass Outdoor Store to see the Holiday decorations. They had a great set up with Santa, Christmas trains and numerous outdoor scenes. Although we did make a stop to see Santa Claus, Lydia's favorite thing was the shooting gallery!

Grandkids Visit!

Shannon and Josh arrived on Monday and we've been so busy I haven't had a chance to spend much time on the computer, so I'll try to catch up on all that's happened. After a long travel day, the kids needed some down time, so we just hung out at home and spent time catching up. Baby Joshua has grown so much since we saw him in August. Although he's still less than twelve pounds, he's smiling and is developing his own little personality. Lydia has a great memory... she immediatly went into the house and and took out all the toys she remembered. Of course Grandma has spent time shopping, so there was lots of new stuff to discover as well!

Another Fun Weekend...

Weekends have been so much fun since Larry got the bike and now that fall is here, there's lots to do and nice weather which makes it even better! Saturday, we took a trip up north to run a Christmas errand before we went to church. Then on Sunday, we went out to visit someone that Larry knows from work and I ended up going horseback riding for the afternooon. I hadn't ridden at all for over four years and although it was just riding western around the ranch, it felt great!
I just got back a few minutes ago from the school where my fourth graders put on a patriotic musical for Veterans Day. They looked so cute in their costumes and I'm always amazed at what parents in this district do...the kids looked like professionals! I love all my students and it's fun to be a part of things like this.

Mrs. King...Art Teacher?

When I was told I was going to teach Art this year, I was really kind of apprehensive. I've never really seen myself as "artistic" and I wasn't sure what I had to offer the students in the way of creativity. It's actually turned out much better than I expected...I love teaching anything and because I'm limited to Kindergarten through fifth grade, I can even pass myself off as an "artist" (well, to the younger students, at least!) I've had fun putting my room together, although I still have a lot of things I want to do. Now I'm kind of hoping I get to continue this...maybe I'll become an artist in my old age!

San Antonio Autumn...

We've had really unusual weather for this part of the country this year (or so I'm told). It actually has felt like fall, although not as cool as up north. This weekend we rode the bike up into the hill country and found some beautiful color in addition to a great fall festival. The festival actually is a craft fair/ antique show with over 470 vemders that occurs on the first weekend of each month, but I wouldn't want to go there in the summer! It's set up like a little old village that winds up through the trees...very cool, but we couldn't buy much because we had the bike. (I wonder if that's why Larry likes the bike so much.)

Then after church and our Bible class on Saturday evening we joined some friends to celebrate October birthdays.

Then on Sunday evening we had a "Goodbye" party for our good friends Dan and Joan who are moving back east. It was a fun evening, but sad to think they're going to be so far away.

Trick or Treat Night!

I went back to work on Wednesday this week and it was SO good to get back with the kids! I expected to be tired the first couple of days back, but I seem to have more energy since I've had the surgery than before. The only problem is that I was so prepared prior to leaving, but after having a sub for a week, I'm now really busy bringing all my lesson plans up to date.

Yesterday, our good friend Dan Beasley officially retired from the military. Since I had just missed a week of school, I wasn't able to get off for his decommisioning ceremony. Larry did go and was really impressed not only with the tribute given in Dan's honor, but also with the character of Dan himself. They gave Dan many rewards, but he continually turned it around and praised the men and women who served under him. That's the character of Godliness showing and we're so glad God brought these special friends into our life. Then last night we all met for dinner at La Fonda, where we enjoyed spending the evening with all our friends from our Life Group.

Right now as I write this, trick or treaters are just winding down. We had a lot of kids this evening, and it was really fun! Most of them I know from school and they get really excited when they get to my house. After the first hour and a half, we took Larry's bike through the neighborhood just to see what else was going on. I couldn't believe how decorated our neighborhood was...there was even one court that was blocked off for a "Haunted House"...(not really scary, just fun stuff)!

Update...

The owners just picked up our little friend, and I was a bit sad to see him go. It turned out he belonged to a family I know from school, so I know it made the kids happy. Maybe it was God's way of preparing me for my own dog : < )

Giving Thanks!

It's been a long week, but I have a lot to be thankful for...first of all, I had my thyroid surgery last Wednesday and the doctor found the tumor to be benign, praise God! The recovery has been much easier than I had anticipated, in fact I was released from the hospital the day following my surgery and other than being more tired than usual, I'm feeling great!

Larry took some time off Thursday and Friday and spent the time working in the yard and planting fall flowers. This fall has been much cooler than usual and we've really been enjoying the backyard and using the new firepit in the evenings.


I feel so blessed by all of the thoughts and prayers on my behalf...this is a picture of the flowers I received from Oak Hills Children's Ministries. Today I also received flowers from everyone at school...I never realized how richly God has blessed us in the relationships we've built in the last year and a half!
One last surprise that just happened tonight...Larry came home from work with a dog he had found out in the street. We're pretty sure it's a family pet because it's recently been clipped, but is missing a collar. I fed him and gave him water and he's spending the night in our yard. I just made up some signs for Larry to post in our neighborhood and we're hoping the owners claim him soon!

Larry's Birthday Weekend...

Believe it or not, we've actually been enjoying some fall weather here in San Antonio due to an unusual cold front. We took advantage of it by taking the bike up to Gruene to Larry's favorite restaurant for lunch after church on Sunday. Then we even got to enjoy using his new firepit (a birthday gift) out on our porch after dinner. I know it's not like up north, but we're thankful for what we get!

Another fun thing we saw was right here in San Antonio. We were driving around some yard sales not far from our house and we saw this deer right in the yard of a house in the neighborhood!

Change in plans...

We had planned to go on a long bike ride with our good friends, Dan and Joan, but Dan was called in because one of the men in his troops had a child die. When Dan called us late Friday evening, police had the father in the police car under suspition for murder, however the next morning, Dan told us they determined it was SIDS. I feel so badly for the parents, who not only had to go through the loss of a child, but then had to deal with an arrest on top of it...please pray for this couple and also for our friend Dan as he assists the family.

On a happier note, today after church, Larry and I went out to lunch at the only Culver's in San Antonio. I had started missing Culver's last week when I had my third graders draw their favorite meal (we were working with "lines") and I had one of my little girls draw a picture of a Butterburger, fries, soup and milk...all with Culver's logos! Our lunch today was wonderful and even felt a little like home, in fact, when we told the owner how much we enjoyed it, she brought a new Culver's hat out for Larry...it made his day!