Holy Snow!

Last night as I was putting the girls to bed, Kiera said, "Daddy, ask Jesus for snow."

Daddy did what any daddy would do at that moment. I prayed for snow. After finishing, I told Kiera, "Now, we'll see if Jesus says, 'Yes.'" Little did I know...

The news had been saying that we had a chance for rain with a wintery mix, but since the temperature wasn't expected to be below freezing when this occurred, I wasn't too optomistic that we'd see any snow. And if we did, I didn't think we'd see any accumulation. Well...

About 2:30, I heard a strange sound at the church. I could tell it wasn't rain, so I came out of the office, and it was a wintery mix--sleet and snow. Believing that this would be the only chance we'd get to see snow, I raced home and got Kiera up from her nap. (Kaylee was dead asleep at the time.) I wrapped Kiera up in a blanket and took her outside to see the snow.



After checking out the snow for a few minutes, I took Kiera back inside and laid her back down. She was still pretty tired. I went back to work, called my parents and told them it was snowing. While talking, Dawna buzzed the office and said that Kaylee was up and wanted to see the snow too. Well, I raced back home and took them outside to see this rare occurrance. About 3:30, the snow stopped, and I thought we were through. Well...

We had a wonderful supper. I made chicken and dumplings that were absolutely hot and delicious. They really warmed you up! While eating, we had the news on, and, of course, the main story was the snowfall in Houston. They showed the radar, and it indicated that there was heavy snowfall right in Cat Spring! I went outside just to check things out. Well...



THE SNOW WAS ACCUMULATING!!!! I almost couldn't believe it. I raced inside and got Kiera and Kaylee to show them. All day they had talked about making a snowman, but there was very, very little on the ground. So, where would the snow accumulate so that they could build a (little) snowman?



THE TRAMPOLINE!! Of course. Dawna and I wrapped the girls up in their heavy sweaters, and I took them into the backyard. I rigged a halogen light that I bought a year ago, and they had plenty of light to work and play by.



The girls wanted a snowman, so Daddy put on his gloves to keep his hands from getting too cold. Needless to say, this is a South Texas snowman. Such snowmen are much, much smaller than their kin up north.



And what would snow on the ground (trampoline) be without a snowball fight?



You know, it's quite interesting that even though I am a pastor and someone who has faith, I really didn't believe Jesus would make it snow. I've got too much adult in me, but I know a little girl who really and truly believed that if she asked Jesus for snow, He would deliver. Consider it a lessoned learned. Thank God for Holy Snow!

Damn!-My Book-Debt Free-Decorating Round Two

It's been a very eventful few days for the Haug household. We'll kick it off with an interesting episode that occurred this past Thursday.

Damn!

I was sitting at the kitchen table shortly after supper when Kiera came up to me and asked me if she could do something. I can't remember exactly what she asked, but I do remember that my answer was, "No." I also really remember what she did next.

Kiera hung her head, and in perfect context, emphasis, and form said, "Damn!"

It was one of those moments where you wanted to laugh and be furious at the same time. It's no mystery where she learned the word. I've said it enough. She's been around other adults who have said it, but now we have to teach her why some folks can say it and others can't. She's right in the middle of the "Why?" stage right now, so things could prove interesting.

My Book



Yep. I've written a book and gotten it published. Now, lest you think this is some great deal, please know that I had to pay for the publishing myself. It's quite difficult to get a publishing company to even look at what you've written. They have a limited amount of books that they publish, their own regular authors, and a strict limitation on how many transcripts that they will accept. All this leads up to rejection after rejection after rejection for most new authors. It was the same for me.

However, I'm fortunate enough to have the ability to pay for my own (limited) publishing, and now I'm trying to sell the book. You can see the title: What is God Calling Us to Do and Be: Discerning God's Will for Your Life. It stems from a sermon series/Bible study that I had at St. John. We'll see how things go with selling and whether or not folks actually get anything out of it.

Debt Free

We took a moment to thank Nanaw this Friday. She left us a tidy sum of money as part of Dawna's inheritance, and so we payed off our Yukon XL. Taking a nearly $20,000 cashier's check to Security Service Federal Credit union was quite a unique experience considering we are now are in a position we have never been in our entire married life: debt free.

However, as my brother-in-law said, "You've got three kids. You'll never be debt free." There is a lot of truth in that statement; but the fact of the matter is we do not owe the banks anything. I guess in the middle of the current economic situation that's a good thing. Who knows what the next big purchase will be? But, in the mean time, we will enjoy not having to write any checks for monthly notes.

Decorating Part Two

Friday evening, we took the kids to Dawna's Granny's house for dinner. Granny's not doing so hot right now, and at Thanksgiving, she remarked more than once that she wanted to see our kids. Since we were in San Antonio, we thought it wise to head over. Dawna's mom picked up one of Granny's favorite things to ead: Arbys, and as we finished eating, Uncle Emery and Aunt Barbara showed up with a new Christmas tree and lights. It was time to decorate once again.



The girls knew exactly what to do, and they jumped in without hesitation. We had to be very discerning in what we allowed the girls to hang because Granny has some antique ornaments that shouldn't be handled by those who are too young or too old.



Granny got the thrill of the evening when Kevin, Jr. fell asleep and she got to hold him. It was a very special evening to have helped Granny decorate for Christmas: one that we will hold onto for quite a while.

Recapturing Christmas

Have you ever been just a little bit cynical about Christmas? I mean after hearing about people trampling one another and even killing a Wal-Mart employee in the rush to get to the after Thanksgiving sales; after hearing about the culture wars over Christmas, like the university in Florida that was outlawing Christmas decorations in common areas until a huge outcry went up; after folks focusing on trying to make this Christmas the "perfect" Christmas and getting caught up in all the rig-a-ma-roe that they forget what the season is all about; don't you in just a little way feel cynical about the whole ordeal?



I'll admit that not too long ago, I had one of the worst cases of "Christmas Cynacism" that a person could get. A whole lot of it had to do with the first congregation that I served at. The senior pastor was very much a "Stick to the Liturgical Book" pastor. Advent was to be celebrated, and Christmas was to be put off until the Liturgical calendar said it was appropriate to celebrate Christmas. (For my non-liturgical readers, Advent is the preparation time before Christmas, four weeks to be exact. It's part of a larger church calendar that is broken down into many "seasons.")



My cynacism also had a lot to do with the fact that Christmas just plum wore me out. I served at a large congregation that had four Christmas Eve/Christmas Day worship services. Our first service kicked off at 2 in the afternoon on Christmas Eve. It was followed by a 7 p.m. service geared toward younger families with children. After that we had a traditional midnight candlelight service. When all was said and done, we had a 9:30 a.m. service on Christmas morning. After doing all that, I was wiped out, and that made it extremely difficult to enjoy being with family in the afternoon. All I wanted to do was sleep.



All of these things left a bad taste in my mouth when it came to the Christmas holidays. I hated it when stores began putting out Christmas decorations the day after Halloween. I abhorred hearing Christmas carols during Advent. Stories like the ones I told to begin this blog gave me even further evidence that Christmas was a commercialized bastardization of what it should be, and I felt righteous in my indignation.



But a lot has happened to me in the past four years to change my attitude. Probably the biggest is the addition to my family of three wonderful children. Watching their excitement as Christmas approaches is infectious to say the least. When Christmas decorations started going up after Halloween, the girls excitedly pointed out every lit Christmas tree in Wal-Mart or any other store we were in. Seeing Santa Claus in the mall made them grin and jump for joy. Hoping Santa comes to their house has them plum giddy. Kiera gets every circular from Toys R Us or Wal-Mart and excitely circles the gifts she wants Santa to bring her. When something neat pops up on a commercial on t.v. she asks, "Santa Claus bring me that?"

The kids loved it when I put the Christmas lights on the house, but they adored decorating the tree. They picked out ornaments and hung them all over the tree. Unlike last year when the tree had 50 ornaments within a small space, they took the time to distribute them all over. When they had trouble getting one on or if they thought the ornament was too fragile, they would come to me and say, "Daddy, help me." I'd gladly take the ornament and place it on the tree.

Most of the ornaments on our tree were hand made by Dawna's Granny, and each time my children hung one, I imagined my wife hanging them in a like manner when she was a child. I thought of the times I hung ornaments and my parents helped me. I remembered the magical nature of the season and how it made me soooo excited that Santa would come see me. Priceless memories.

As these memories infected my mind and heart, I got to recapture the wonder of Christmas. Through my children's excitement, I have been re-given a gift that I had allowed to be taken from me. I know it's early, but what the hell: Merry Christmas.

Fall in Cat Spring

O.K. Cat Spring does not have the brilliance of fall colors that my sister has in North Carolina, but we still have some fall color around here.





The playground next to the church is a catch-all for many of the pecan and ash leaves that surround our house. Every year, I rake them up and use them as mulch in my garden.

This year, I thought it would be fun to let the girls play in the leaf pile. I actually started a pile yesterday afternoon while Dawna still wasn't able to get out or do much. I have decided that the Lord gave us two arms to rake leaves for a reason. Holding Junior and raking leaves at the same time was a tremendous workout for each arm for different reasons. I was able to get a decent pile going for the girls to begin with. However, since Dawna was really up and about today, I was able to go outside while the girls napped and put together a really big leaf pile. The girls had a blast with it.



Afterwards, we had all sorts of fun playing different games with the leaves including raining leaves, obstacle course, and bear in a cave. To play the last game, I took an old U-Haul box out from the time we moved to Cat Spring, opened it up, and raked the leaves all over it and around it. It was a pretty cool cave. Here's the raining leaves video:



One thing I did learn in this process: it's much less work raking leaves when you know your kids are going to be jumping in them and having fun with it.

Feedsack Clothes

I was a little bummed out that I missed our Women's meeting this evening. The presenter did a presentation on the material that feed used to come in and the clothing that folks used to make out of it.

I had heard on numerous occasions from my parents and grandparents how they used to make clothes out of feed sacks. I somewhat found this hard to believe because the only thing I could picture was the burlap and paper bags that they use now. Boy, was the picture in my mind completely wrong.

I ended up taking the three kids over to the church for about 15 minutes of the meeting when the ladies were eating. The presenter was gracious enough to show me some of the materials, dresses, and shirts that her mother had made her and her brothers. The material was cool. It looked like it was picked up at a material shop, Hobby Lobby, or Wal-Mart. The clothes were nice. The only thing that separated them from clothing that you could buy in the store was the lack of a brand name tag.

I wish I were able to stay for the presentation when she talked about the history of the feedsacks as well, but I had to get home to feed Kevin, Jr. At least I can now connect the stories that my parents and grandparents told to actual clothes. It was kind of cool.

The Crap's Not as Deep.

Thankfully, Dawna has progressed very well in the last day. Her back still pains a little bit, especially when she stands up. However, she is walking a little faster and is much more mobile than before. She still has a ways to go, but everything is looking very positive right now. We might be able to avoid the doctor altogether.

The kids have been pretty good for their father. No major dust ups. Kiera was a little freaked because mommy had an "ow ow" and couldn't get out of bed. I have a little theory that she was worried that mommy was kind of like Nanaw, so I have worked diligently to assure her that mommy is going to be o.k. She's gotten better as the day's gone on.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be even better than today, especially since I need to write a sermon for tomorrow evening.

Oh Crap!

This morning, at about 9:30, Dawna called the church and said, "Kevin, I think I threw out my back. I've got shooting pains, and I can't stand up."

My secretary, Sandy, has training in equine touch, and she has also gotten certified to work on homo sapiens as well. She came over with me and worked on Dawna's back a little. Through Sandy's work, Dawna's back relaxed a little, but was nowhere near being even 30%. Therefore, it was off to bed for Dawna, and my work day was done.

Luckily, Dawna is not completely incapacitated. She can now actually stand up and walk around SLOWLY. Her pain has steadily lessened and her ability to do things has increased as well. Time is going to tell how long it will take her to fully recover.

Unfortunately, this episode couldn't have occurred at a worse time. Most of our family has commitments for Thanksgiving, and I have a worship service on Thanksgiving Eve as well as our regular service on Sunday. I am hoping that she recovers enough for me to get a couple of sermons done.

Until she recovers enough, I'm doing mom and dad duty. That was very interesting today since Kiera had dance class. Normally, I take Kiera to class alone. Kiera and Kaylee sleep in different rooms so that when it's time to leave Kaylee isn't woken up and doesn't cry when she sees her sister leave. Kevin usually is asleep on Dawna at that time or still in bed as well. But not today. All three kids piled in the Yukon with Daddy as we headed to Bellville. What a trip that was. I feel for parents who have to do this all the time, especially with kids as close in age and as young as my three.

I was actually able to get Kiera to dance class, take Kaylee and Kevin to the park, get Kevin a short nap, pick Kiera up, and return home without too much trouble. The only hitch was Kevin getting hungry on the way home and crying for about 1/2 the trip. That's no big deal in the scheme of things because he has certainly cried for longer periods of time in the car. The girls were great trying to get him to calm down, so that was nice.

If Dawna doesn't progress much overnight or tomorrow, I guess a trip to the doctor will be in order. Thankfully (there's always a reason to give thanks.) our deductible is already paid because of Junior's birth earlier. So, if there is anything that needs to be done, I'll be pushing for this year.

Christmas Lights

One of my fondest memories of Christmastime growing up is when Mom, Dad, my sister and I would load up in the car and go look at Christmas lights. As kids, I think my sister and I drove our parents nuts by saying, "Ooooh Neato!" at every single house that had lights out.

I remember wanting my parents to put lights up on their house, but there was only one year that I can remember that they did this. The light show wasn't extravagent, but dad managed to hang some wires and create a Christmas tree out of lights. I thought it was pretty cool that we finally had lights out.

One of the things that I realize now is that Christmas lights were pretty expensive when I was a kid. My parents couldn't necessarily afford lights to put outside, so they did the next best thing and took us out to look. I treasure the time they put in to do this with us.

Fast forward to now. Kiera has been anxiously awaiting Christmas season. If we were driving after dusk, she would always ask to see Christmas lights. Dawna and I constantly had to tell her that it wasn't time yet. She'd pout for a moment, but get over it eventually.

I guess the price of Christmas lights has finally come down to the point where regular people can afford them (especially if you buy the AFTER Christmas) because we are actually able to put lights out at our house.



Kiera especially was thrilled that I put out the lights. She even came out and "helped" me by handing me some plastic holders. When we finally lit the place up, she couldn't hide her excitement. I let her and Kaylee stay outside well after the time we would normally have them inside, but they were enjoying the lights so much I was enjoying their enjoyment.



It won't be too long, and we'll load up the Yukon and go look at Christmas lights. We'll hear the kids come up with their own little sayings to describe what they see, and Dawna and I will smile knowing one day they will probably do the same with our grandchildren.

Thanks Mom and Dad for the traditions and the memories. Hopefully we'll do a decent job of passing them on.

Christmas Shopping Already?

Yep.

Today, we started the process. My parents spent the night here last night and decided to stay most of the day. Mom had the great idea that while they were here, it would be easier to do Christmas shopping for the kids. Dawna and I agreed, so we headed to Katy. First, we dropped the kids off with Grandma and Grandpa at Katy Mills Mall. They've got a great indoor playscape there that the girls could play at and keep themselves entertained while Dawna and I could head to Toys R Us and Wal-Mart.

After a successful trip to these two stores, we called Grandma and Grandpa and told them we were headed back to the mall and we'd have lunch there at the food court. That's when the real entertainment started. I took Kiera and Kaylee with me to order their lunch when Kiera needed to go potty. She ran to Grandma for assistance. Grandma took her potty and returned with these words: "We'll need to ride the cars, see Santa, and go on the carousel." Apparently, Kiera has Grandma's number (love you Mom!). Needless to say, all three things took place. Here's the best photo of the bunch taken by the photograher:



Here's why that was the "best" picture. The others have considerably more "character".



Junior wasn't too happy with Santa, but that was to be expected. Kaylee didn't care for jolly, old Saint Nick either which is why she sat on the stool between Santa's legs. Oh well, every Christmas has been an adventure when it comes to sitting on Santa's lap. This year was no exception.

After finishing up at Katy Mills, we headed to Target and then to Kohls. In the process we have finished 95% of the shopping for the kids. Still have all the other relatives to go. (Had to throw that last statement in there to make sure all of you continue to behave yourselves.)

Kohls had the best deals of the day. Quite a bit of their kids clothing was 55% off, so we stocked up on the winter stuff that we needed for the kiddoes. Quite a bit of it will be early Christmas presents--without the fun of opening. Don't worry, we'll save a couple of clothing items for wrapping. We're not totally Scrooges around this house.

Kevin is progressing well in his development. He can now scoot around on the floor; however, he doesn't have the forward thing down yet. Dawna tried to get him scooting around the living room backward, but he wasn't very cooperative. Her commentary is pretty funny.

King Sized Bed, Seven Months, Dance Costume

One of the great blessings and curses of parenting is when the kids learn to climb out of their beds and climb into yours. The blessing is that there is nothing better than your kids wanting to be with you because they feel safe, secure, and warm. The curse is that they always wake up before you do!!!!!!

It is not unusual to have Kevin, Jr. wake up about 6:00 a.m. and refuse to go back to sleep unless brought into our room. When this happens, we can rest assured that within a few moments, we will be joined by the other two as well. No big deal, unless your bed it too small. We quickly discovered that even our queen sized bed was just that. Kiera even remarked one morning unprompted, "Mommy, Daddy, you need a bigger bed!" We readily agreed. The problem was we didn't think we could afford a new bedroom suite with a king sized bed.

Enter Dawna's brother. Nanaw had given Justin a bedroom suite with a king sized bed, and he wanted no part of it. It was simply too large for his one bedroom apartment. Discovering that we had need of it, he moved very quickly to ensure that we could get it. In fact, this past weekend, we spent Saturday moving it from San Antonio to Cat Spring. We had to mess with the arrangement in our bedroom, but we think it looks very good.





It just so happened that the day we moved everything to Cat Spring was also Kevin, Jr.'s seven month birthday. He's growing rapidly and eating everything in sight. There hasn't been a single thing that we've given him that he's spit back at us. He's scooting and rolling all over the place. He'd probably crawl if he had more motivation to get things. Unfortunately, he seems to have a taste for technology--like Daddy's cell phone and digital camera. We can't keep that stuff down on the floor too much because bad things could happen. Hopefully he'll find some other motivation quickly and start crawling before too long.

Dawna captured this shot of him yesterday before church:



Of course, Kaylee had to ham it up and get her picture taken too. See the leopard growl!!



Today, Kiera's recital costume came in for dance class. We had to try it on once we got home to ensure everything fit. We kept trying to get a really good picture of her smiling and being cute. Instead, we got this:



Three going on 16. Are we in trouble, or what?

Halloween

Lord how time can get away from you. Hard to believe that I haven't blogged since just before Halloween, so I've got a bit to catch up on.

For everyone expecting photos of the kids in costume this year, sorry. We didn't do Halloween this year. Normally, we have a church hayride around Cat Spring and trick or treat around town that way. However, this year, one of our friends Karen Krupicka was getting married the same evening of the hayride. We couldn't be both places at the same time, so we saved the expense of costumes this year. Probably won't be able to say that for another couple of years.

But, I couldn't let Halloween go by without having a little bit of fun. We did carve a pumpkin.



Kaylee stayed entertained as long as we were taking out pumpkin "guts"--even though she touched the stuff and quickly decided that part wasn't for her. Once we got to the carving process, Kaylee was off to her tricycle. Kiera stuck it through to the bitter end.

You can tell from the video that she liked her pumpkin.



Later that evening, I decided we'd make some cookies. The girls helped put sugar in the butter, stir a little bit, and then put flour into the mixture. The pay off came after daddy finished mixing everything together.





The girls loved eating the dough, and they also enjoyed the freshly baked cookies. It was quite comical watching Kaylee climb up on her chair and grab another cookie even after daddy said they had enough. The temptation was simply too great!!! The next day, we traveled to College Station for Karen's wedding. Before the wedding, we visited with an old friend of mine (not in the aged sense, but in the since that I've known her from high school) Carrie and her husband Rusty.

They live in the country and next to a family who has a couple of little children. The kids had all sorts of neat toys that they allowed Kiera and Kaylee to play with including a wonderful electric jeep that you could drive around the yard. Kiera had a blast on that one. (Note to anyone even thinking about it--if you buy one of those things for my girls for Christmas or any other time, I'll extract my revenge in a very nasty fashion.)

Supergirls!!!

Ah, a trip down memory lane. Today, Kiera came up to me with one of her brother's baby blankets. She put it around her neck and said, "I'm Supergirl. Help me tie this." I said, "Wait a minute." I went into our laundry room and came back with a clothes pen. Soon, Kiera had a cape draped around her neck held by a clothes pin--just like her dad did many years ago. Not to be outdone, Kaylee came up a few moments later with her brothers baby QUILT and wanted it around her neck. Knowing it was a little too heavy, I searched for a dish towel. I discovered quickly that they don't make dish towels as big as they did when I was a kid, so it was off to the closet for another blanket. Soon, Kaylee joined her sister in obtaining the rank of Supergirl!



God, how often did I do this as a kid and "fly"? Countless, and now my daughters (and probably later, my son) are doing the same thing. Priceless. Here's Kiera's "flight."



Not to be outdone, here's Kaylee's. Notice that Kaylee is still young in her training as Supergirl. She still has to flap her "wings."



Grandma and Grandpa are here for a visit right now. Since Nanaw died, Kiera has been pretty clingy. She hadn't seen Grandma and Grandpa since the funeral, and she's been concerned and wanting to see them very badly. She even wanted to phone them several times to see if they were o.k. Usually the first thing Kiera said after hi was, "Will you come see me at my house?"

Grandma and Grandpa couldn't resist their granddaughter, so they came up. We enjoyed an absolutely perfect afternoon, and look forward to the time together tomorrow as well.

An Evening at Fudruckers

This evening, we drove into Katy. One of my congregation members gave birth, and as customary, I went to welcome the new tyke on behalf of the church and give thanks to God with the family. I had called Dawna earlier and asked if she and the kids would like to go with me since it was late afternoon and the odds of me getting back before supper were not good. Dawna thought it would be a good idea.

We drove down to Katy to the hospital, and I made my visit. Afterwards, we debated where we should eat. Kiera chimed in that she wanted, "Cheese." That's code for cheese enchiladas. Dawna and I weren't exactly in the mood for Mexican, so we did some more thinking. The choice came down to Friday's or Fudruckers next to Katy Mills Mall. Both of us thought Fudruckers sounded really good, so Kiera was going to have to settle for a hamburger.

As luck would have it, it was raining when we pulled up to the restaurant. Now, try getting three kids, one being an infant, a juice bag, and a diaper bag all into a restaurant relatively dry with only one umbrella. Not easy, but finally managed.

Then ordering and finding a table was fun. It usually takes us five minutes just to get everyone settled into their seats, get drinks distributed, and make sure no one can touch anyone else. Finally, everyone was in place, including Kevin, Jr. this time. Yep, Kevin finally joined the rest of us at the table. Up until this evening, he had always been confined to his carrier, but since we got the new car seat, we knew that there would be a change.

We put Kevin in a high chair along with one of those things that go in high chairs/grocery carts to prevent kids from getting germs (yeah right!). It propped him up perfectly, and he really thought he was hot stuff! He played with a straw and ate french fry guts throughout the meal. Kiera polished off her entire hamburger and some french fries. Kaylee ate just a little of her chicken nuggets and fries, but she pigged out on her fruit cup.

Of course, Kiera had to go potty, so Dawna had to take her while I jumped into Dawna's chair to ensure that Kevin, Jr. would continue to receive his french fry guts. Then, when Dawna and Kiera got back, Kaylee said she had to go potty (yeah right!). But Dawna took her anyway: don't want to discourage potty training.

By the time we were finished, the rain had stopped, and we loaded up the Yukon with no trouble. I jumped into the driver's seat and thought about the days when it was just Dawna and I and how uneventful eating out used to be. Life is so much different, but it's so much better. I felt so blessed to be a father and a family man. I'm proud of my wife. I'm proud of my kids. Other folks may think eating out with a car-full is a chore, but it's a wonderful family adventure to me.

I Hate Shopping!!!

There was a day when Dawna and I were really, really pinching pennies. We would budget $250 per month for our credit card bill. That bill always consisted of our gas, groceries, and miscellaneous items like car maintenance, etc. If we went over, it wasn't by much. Can you imagine a $250 budget for gas and groceries?

Fast forward to today. We had to go shopping. A Sam's Club run was in order. Kaylee and Kevin, Jr. needed diapers. Kiera needed a new pair of tennis shoes. Jr. needed a new car seat. The dogs needed food. Here's the result:



What you are looking at is our attempt to stabilize the U.S. economy. It's nearly $500 worth of stuff back there. It's almost mind boggling remembering how we first started out. Of course, that was before three kids and three dogs. But you know what? Wouldn't trade it. Love it. Money is overrated. Family isn't. Remember that.

We bought Kiera's shoes at Academy. They have this neat little line of footprints on the floor that you can compare your child's foot to. We had Kiera measure, and (gulp!) she's out of the toddler shoes and into little kid's shoes. Size 12 to be exact. Of course, we bought 12 1/2 to be precise--need a little growing room. Unbelieveable how big she's gotten. Here's a pic of the shoes:



Kevin's car seat is the Eddie Baur edition without the Eddie Bauer name. It's pretty cool. Lots of gadgets and features. It's sooooooo much easier than Kiera and Kaylee's seats, especially for this big handed oaf.



Of course, we had to try Junior out in his seat. Poor guy. He fell asleep in his old car seat, and we just let him sleep there until he woke up. Immediately after his eyes popped open, we decided Junior had to try out his new toy. After initially fussing a bit, he settled down and enjoyed his brief time there.



We'll see how he likes it next time we travel.

Six Month Doctor's Appointment

Hooray!



Kevin had his six month doctor's appointment today, and he has officially caught up with his weight! He was directly proportionate to his height. Only one minor difficulty--it appears he has his mother's genes for height and weight: the 10th percentile. Oh well, kiss the NBA dreams bye-bye.

Here are the vitals:

Height: 25 1/4 inches
Weight: 14 lbs 12 oz.
Head circumference: 17 1/2 inches

Kevin has also cut two bottom, front teeth. If you look real closely, you can see them in the following pic:



The only hitch in the giddy-up was that doc took a look at Kevin's ears, and he had an ear infection in each one. Then she looked in Kiera's ears. Bingo! One there too. And just for good measure, Kaylee... Yep! One there too. Three kids. Three ear infections. I actually hit the trifecta. Should have bought a lottery ticket. All three kiddoes are on antibiotics right now, and we have to make sure we give the right kid the right amount since all the bottles look alike.

Kevin has developed a new way of moving around. He bounces his hind end up and down and tries to scoot on his back. Here's a little clip that has him attempting the maneuver.



I also shot this video of Kevin straining to get my camera. I thought it was kind of cute. Hope you enjoy as well.

Thank God. It rained!

We have been experiencing a severe drought here in East Texas. Many of the stock tanks are well below normal. We could probably use 10-15 inches of rain to help things out. Well, yesterday, we got a start. We had approximately 2.1 inches of rain. So, what did we do? Well, I allowed the girls to go outside and celebrate by running through the mud puddles. Let me emphasize that I was the one who allowed the activity. My wife doesn't do dirty stuff. But the girls sooooo loved it.



They splashed most of the evening going from puddle to puddle getting wetter and dirtier. I sat back and smiled through the whole ordeal. I was imagining what Dawna would say when she saw the girls.



Actually, I avoided that situation all together. I had the girls immediately come into the house, take off their shoes, and go straight to the bathroom. I had the girls undressed and in the tub before Dawna could see anything. Probably a good thing too; however I still have some photographic evidence. Here's a little something for Nona:

Remembering Nanaw

Here is the eulogy that I am doing for Nanaw's funeral. Thanks, everyone for your thoughts and prayers.

I first met Nanaw, or Betty to many of you, right at 16 years ago through an interesting turn of events. I had scheduled a trip home from college with a buddy of mine, but that unexpectedly fell through at the last moment. I was downtrodden because I wanted a home cooked meal and some time away from school. I called Dawna, whom I had met through my roommate, and had a poor me moment. Little did I expect, but Dawna invited me to come and spend the weekend with her and her family. That weekend, I first met Nanaw.

Now, for some, this might not have meant much, but you see, I’m a good Lutheran who at the time was studying to become a Lutheran pastor. Nanaw was a good Southern Baptist, and if you read the history books, Southern Baptists generally didn’t get along too well with Roman Catholics. Now, what does that have to do with me being Lutheran? Well, Lutherans are one step removed from Catholics, so I was a little worried.

However, my worry was all for naught. Nanaw and I got along pretty swimmingly when it came to discussing faith. We had several good conversations regarding things; however, I personally never failed to inject the fact that we Lutherans have a thing for alcoholic beverages–something good Baptists should consider at some time. Nanaw always laughed at my commentary, even when I tried to lead her down the road to temptation. She never gave in, though. She held tried and true to her convictions, here. Even toward the end when she was in pain and was taking ice chips, Nanaw remained firm.

I remember sitting at her bedside and watching my wife give Nanaw some ice chips. I didn’t think the ice was chipped up fine enough, so I told Nanaw that I was going to take that ice and put it in the blender and make it more fine. I then added, “And I might just add a little something to that ice so that by the time you finish it, you won’t be feeling any pain at all!”

Nanaw grinned and shook her head. “No, she said, “That’s all right.” Leave it to Nanaw to hold steadfast to her position.

That was one of the things about her, when Nanaw thought she was right about
something, she wasn’t budging. And she wasn’t afraid of telling you what she thought about it. From raising children, to how one should dress, to how someone should act in a given situation, Nanaw wasn’t going to hold back her opinion. In fact, sometimes she would flat out tell you that you should or shouldn’t be doing something.

When my son, Kevin, was born, he had a little case of jaundice. My wife and I were under strict doctor’s orders to take Kevin and put him in direct sunlight for 2 to 3 minutes at a stretch to help break down the jaundice. Well, many of you probably know the old wives tale about taking a kid outside and exposing him to the wind and sun. Well, Nanaw knew that tale very, very well.

In fact, when we first brought Kevin home, I immediately took him out for some sun exposure. Nanaw just happened to be outside at the time, and I could tell what was coming by the look on her face. So, I did the only thing I could think of at the time–I looked her square in the eye and said, “The doctor ordered it Nanaw, so don’t even start.”

Well, she didn’t start. At least with me. She proceeded to head in and start telling Linda and Dawna and anyone else who would listen that these new ways that they were raising kids were so different now and that no one would have ever done that in her day and time. Which, she was probably right about that, but it still didn’t stop us from following the doctor’s orders.

Nanaw, though came from the old school on such things. She believed in being pretty conservative, in politics, in religion, and in how family should work. That, of course, didn’t mean her life was perfect. She had her troubles in areas, but she had the perseverance to try to work through them to the best of her ability. Take for instance when her first husband, Arky, died. Nanaw entered into a very dark time in her life. She struggled with depression, but over time, she worked through those dark days and found quite a bit of joy.

Her great grandchildren especially brought her joy and happiness. She would do just about anything for those little kids. She even did the unthinkable–I don’t know where your mind has just gone at this point, but I’ll clear things up for you. Many of you probably don’t know this, but Nanaw was terrified of being in the water. You could no more get her in a swimming pool than you could get her to take a nip of brandy. But, one weekend, Dawna and I took the girls to visit Uncle Gardy in Houston. Nanaw was visiting too, and it just so happened that Gardy had a pool. Kiera loved being in the pool and swimming around in her little boat. Guess who threw caution in the wind and climbed in the pool with her great-granddaughter? That’s right, she did, and I’ve got the pictures to prove it. She did take some ribbing from various family members for attempting such a thing.

And speaking of ribbing, I’ve got to tell this one on her. On Nanaw’s birthday a couple of years ago, we all gathered at Linda’s house for a little party. We had a great meal, cooked by my mother-in-law, and followed it up with cake and other sweets. Nanaw had just been diagnosed with cancer, and she was feeling tired. She decided to leave a little early, so she got up and proceeded to tell her good-bye’s. She came up to me, and before she could say anything, I said, “I am sure glad you got to see me today.”

Nanaw laughed a little, smiled at me and said, “I sure am glad that I got to see you too, because every time I see you, you keep getting more handsome and better looking.” Nanaw could lay it on pretty thick sometimes.

At this point, I grinned a huge grin. I put my arm around Nanaw’s shoulders, and I said, “You know, I wish I could say the same to you, Nanaw. But every time I see you, you keep getting older and more wrinkly.”

There was a collective gasp in the room. I think everyone expected Nanaw to rip me a new one right then and there, but you know what happened? Nanaw threw her head back and laughed out loud. She hugged me and headed out the door, much to the amazement of everyone around. Apparently, she needed that laugh, and I’m glad I was able to supply it.

The thing about it, Nanaw is now not getting any older. She’s not getting more wrinkly. She’s no longer in pain and agony from her cancer. She’s no longer crying any tears of sadness. She’s with Jesus now. She’s got a new body, one that no longer hungers or thirsts or feels the scorching heat. God has wiped every tear from her eyes, and now she is truly experiencing joy that knows no end.

Last Thursday, Nanaw breathed her last, earthly breath. When she died, she opened her eyes, and tears came gushing forth. I have a theory as to why those tears flowed. I believe she stood at the feet of her creator, and He welcomed her home. She knew great joy at that moment, and her last earthly act was to shed the last tears she would shed for all eternity. We will miss you Nanaw, but we know that you are at peace; we know you are at rest; we know that you are with God, and for that reason, we rejoice.

New Braunfels Children's Museum

Yesterday, we took the kids to the New Braunfels Children's Museum. It's a little further drive than the San Antonio Children's Museum, but we didn't have to fight downtown traffic and bigger crowds. We've taken the girls several times to this place, the last time being when Kevin, Jr. was born. It was fun watching Kiera and Kaylee go and play at all the different exhibits. They started off outside with the huge water table and animal statues. In a rare moment, both girls climbed on one of the animals.



After going back inside, the girls found the bat cave. I hadn't looked inside before, but when I did, I found the bat wings. A couple of minutes later, I had a couple of little bats for children.



The girls especailly enjoyed the rocket ship and space center. They dressed up in uniforms and played around for quite a while.



They also enjoyed the computer room where there are digitally projected butterflies flying on one wall and falling rocks on the other. When you cast your shadow on the wall, the butterflies will land on you, or you can keep the rocks from falling. It's pretty neat, and you can see from the smiles that the girls thought it was cool.



Kevin, Jr. particularly got a kick out of the large fish tank and trying to catch the fish.



We finished our time at the museum and ate at one of our favorite Mexican food restaurants: Adobe Cafe. Then, it was a trip to Wal Mart. We needed formula for Junior. We're having to stay in San Antonio an extra day or so because of the funeral, and we would have run out. We also needed to buy Kaylee some new shoes. Funny story on that one.

We got to New Braunfels a little before the museum opened, so we stopped by the courthouse to pick up an original copy of Kevin, Jr.'s birth certificate. While we were there Kaylee decided to take off her shoes while waiting in the car. We haven't figured out whether or not she threw one of her shoes out of the window, or she kicked it off next to the driver's side front door and when I opened it, it fell out. Regardless, there was only one shoe for two feet. Kaylee is now very happy with her new, pink shoes.

Another note of interest to some. Kevin, Jr. has been quite cranky for the past few days, and we discovered why yesterday. He broke his first tooth!!!! Bottom front. We'd been giving him Tylenol and Motrin daily, and we knew his gums were thick and bulging. Yesterday, Dawna stuck her finger in his mouth, and bingo, there was a tooth.

Somber Moment

Last night about 10 p.m., Nanaw (Dawna's grandmother) lost her battle with cancer. The funeral will be Monday morning at 11:00 a.m. I will be helping her pastor perform her funeral service, and in a later post, I'll post some of the remembrances that I'll use.

So far, the girls are handling things pretty well. Kiera has been "sad" most of the day because she won't be able to see Nanaw anymore. It has affected her behavior, but that's to be expected. Dawna is doing very well. She's grieving appropriately.

It's kind of a sobering moment in the midst of our vacation, but it was expected. We still took the girls to the Children's Museum in New Braunfels, and I'll have some pics of that later.

San Antonio Zoo

Today was one of those days that a parent lives for. I'm not saying it was a perfect day, but it was one of those days that I've dreamed about since becoming a dad. This morning, Dawna and I loaded up all the kiddoes and took them to the San Antonio Zoo. The weather was perfect, and the animals were all out. The girls were excited, and Kevin, Jr. didn't cry a lick as we celebrated his six month birthday.



We went from exhibit to exhibit, and the girls enjoyed themselves immensely. I had flashbacks to my childhood when Kiera would look at an animal for five seconds and then say, "I want to see something else." She'll learn patience one of these days.



The girls probably had the most fun at a section of the zoo especially set aside for kids six and under. They wanted to stay there a long time playing with all the things the zoo had available, and they weren't too keen on leaving. Fortunately, the petting zoo was next on the agenda. The girls had a great time feeding, petting, and brushing the goats.



From time to time, especially when we were between exhibits, Kiera would get bored, and she would say, "I want to ride the train now." Since the first time we rode the Brackenridge Park Train and ate popcorn during the ride, Kiera's been hooked. The day would not have been complete without another ride.

We bought tickets, popcorn, a Coke, and prepared to take a ride. Earlier, we had called Nona and asked if she would meet us for lunch. She agreed to meet us in front of the depot. It just so happened that she arrived right before the train was about to depart. She was able to purchase a ticket and ride with us--the icing on the cake for the girls.



It's amazing what goes through your mind when you do things with your kids that your parents did with you. I remember trips to Brackenridge Park with my parents when I was a kid, and the memories are very fond ones. Perhaps one day, Kiera, Kaylee, and Kevin will be able to one day do the same with their children. Knowing that I am working on leaving a legacy with my children inspires me. Even though the economy is in the tank, the stock market continues to head south, and presidential candidates lie and demean one another, when I am doing these things with my kids, everything is right with the world. There are the things that we worry about, and then there are the important things. Today was a reminder about which we should really focus on.

Bouncy Play Park

Today, I took the girls to Inflatable Wonderland at Rolling Oaks Mall in San Antonio. Kiera affectionately refers to it as the bouncy play park. The "Wonderland" is a converted movie theater where they arranged about 10 inflatable bounce castles from various themes.



The girls did much better this go round than they did the last time we went. Last time, Kaylee spent most of her time attached to my leg, scared of all the slides. This time, she actually went down the slides including the largest one.



Kiera really enjoyed the big slide as well. She went down it 20-25 times because it was, "really fast."



It was rare that the two would actually stay on the same bounce/slide together, so the next video is precious--in more ways than one.



Tomorrow, we'll be taking the girls and Kevin, Jr. to the zoo, so I hope to have some pictures and videos to post tomorrow.

Nanaw is still hanging on. In my non-medical opinion, she could last 24 to 72 hours, but you never know during these situations. The girls have been handling things pretty well. They do get a little freaked out at times, but things don't seem to bother them too much. I know better than to believe that they "don't get it." Kids are very perceptive, and I know that they are aware of things, but to what extent, who really knows?

Finally, a Lazy Friday

It seems like ages since we've had a Friday just to hang around at the house. The day started out just like any other day, except we knew a surprise was coming for the kids. To keep them occupied until their surprise arrived, we broke out several of their toys that they don't get to play with much. Kevin, Jr. was awfully impressed with the girls' hopscotch mat. He enjoyed rolling around on it.



The kids were playing so well that we actually got a chance to do some cleaning around the house as well. In the process of cleaning, we graduated Kevin from his baby swing to his jumparoo. As you can see, the results were great.



This was quite a change from Kevin being in his swing. That wasn't very pleasant. I guess he never quite felt comfortable in the swing because after a few minutes, it was yelling and screaming city!

After the girls took their nap, the surprise arrived. Grandma and Grandpa came up for the evening and will stay until tomorrow morning. We didn't tell the girls they were coming, and I wish I had the camera to record their faces when they saw who was here!

They spent the afternoon making cookies, playing on the playground, and jumping on the trampoline. They were completely worn out, so they should sleep very well tonight.

The next few days will probably be sober ones for us. We received a phone call today that Dawna's grandmother probably has 24-48 hours to live. We do not wish to see her go; however, she will soon be rid of her pain and suffering. Cancer is such a nasty thing.

Don't want to leave everyone with the downer news, so I'll post one more clip of Kevin playing peek-a-boo. It's quite cute.

College Station

Yesterday, we made the trek up to College Station to meet with Kaylee's birth mother and birth father. We met at Post Oak Mall which has a rather nice playscape for the kids to run around on. Kiera and Kaylee seemed particularly happy.



The girls spent most of the morning running with Kayee's half-sister Haylee.



Kiera had a special message for everyone.



We ate lunch at the mall with everyone, and we proceeded to do some shopping in College Station. Until Houston is full up and running with power again, it behooves us to try and shop in other places. The first week after Ike hit Houston/Galveston was interesting to say the least around here.

We went shopping on Tuesday. We traveled to Sealy to the local Super Wal-Mart, and we were very fortunate to get milk and eggs. There were NO canned goods to speak of. The bread was WIPED OUT. There was absolutely NO rice on the shelves. Toilet paper and paper towels were GONE. The store looked like they hadn't received a shipment of groceries for ages.

Of course, it was Ike evacuees stocking up before trying to head home. It was virtuall impossible to buy these things in Houston because of lack of power. Hope they were able to get what they needed and when they returned, I hope they found their homes in decent to good shape.

Life will be extremely busy for us in the next month or so. As reported in the previous blog, Dawna's grandmother is definitely going down hill. She has multiple tumors in her brain, and they are giving her radiation treatments to keep swelling down, ease pain, and prevent a stroke. The docs are giving her a month. We will probably be making several trips between here and San Antonio to get in as much time as possible.

Dallas Wins! (Except, I didn't get to see the end.)

Last night, we had church council meeting. It finished up at about 8:15, and I headed home to watch my beloved Dallas Cowboys take on the Philadelphia Eagles (how those fans and that team come from a city that literally is translated "brotherly love" from Greek is beyond me.).

Anyhow, I walk in the door, and my wife greets me with the words, "The're kicking butt and doing great. If you start watching and they start doing bad, you'd better leave."

And what happens? Within minutes, Tony Romo throws an interception. A pass interference penalty on Anthony Henry, and Eagle's score. I remain in the living room watching. Eagles kick off. Cowboys muff the kickoff and end up on the five yard line. False start. Romo fumbles in the end zone. Eagles touch down.

This isn't looking good. I tell the girls its time for bed, and I head out of the room. While helping them brush their teeth, I hear that Dallas has the ball. As the girls are making their way to their room, I walk back in the living room, and Dallas has scored (my presence excepted).

Tuck the girls in, and head back in. Eagles score a touchdown. Take the garbage outside (I'm not watching), Cowboys kick a field goal.

The coincidences were a little much. I did get to see Marion Barber's great touchdown catch, but Philly scored again. It was too much for me. I went to take a shower.

Dawna comes in later and informs me Dallas scored a touch down and is finally ahead. I finish showering and decide that I'm better off staying away so that the 'Boys would win.

Dawna calls a couple of seconds later, "Might as well come back in. They're screwing up without you."

I walk in and see that the Cowboys had failed to convert a third down. The Eagles had the ball, and the 'Boys kept them to a third and one. Westbrook takes the hand off, tackled for a two yard gain, and a FIFTEEN YARD FACEMASK PENALTY. Are you kidding me?

I leave the room for good. I hear Dawna cheering as in the next series, Dallas' defense holds, sacking Donovan McNabb two times to end the last drive and run out the clock.

I sure hope this isn't the way things are going to work this year. I don't want to miss my 'Boys playing, as the saying goes, "Anything for the team."

Disturbing News

Yesterday, we had a little bit of disturbing news from San Antonio way. Some of you know that Dawna's Grandmother, Nanaw, has been fighting lung cancer for quite some time. She has been having intermittent dizzy spells, and in the past week, she has vomited because of these spells. After having quite a spell, they took her to the emergency room. They did a Cat Scan and found that the cancer has moved into her brain. Not good.

Her doctor is contemplating doing some radiation treatment on this tumor, but the prognosis does not look good. Needless to say, we will probably be heading into San Antonio pretty often in the next few months. Thoughts and prayers are appreciated.

On another note: yesterday afternoon the family went on a little expedition. My aunt Winnie, who lives an hour away in El Campo is recovering from a ruptured appendix. She is doing quite well, and my mother is staying with her nursing her back to health. We decided to head to El Campo to have supper with them. Little did we know what we were getting into.

We noticed that traffic on I-10 was pretty heavy both heading into and away from Houston. We got off in Columbus on HI 71 to head to El Campo, and to say the traffic was hellish is an understatement. The exit ramps and 71 were bumper to bumper with no place to go. Therefore, we went exploring. We took a couple of country roads down to El Campo, and the extra drive was worth it.

Mom and Winnie (and Uncle Laird too, if you must know) were very happy to see us. Winnie looked very good, but she gets tired pretty quickly. My mom was pretty tired too. Looks like she could use several good nights' sleep. But, being around all the kids was a great pick-me-up for everyone. Kiera marveled at my aunt and uncle's bathroom, especially the jacuzzi tub. She wanted to come back and go swimming as soon as possible. We told her she could do that later, much to her excitement.

The only hitch in the trip home was about 30 minutes from the house, Junior started screaming. Turned out his car seat was a little too tight around the waist (but we didn't find that out until we got home). So, what did we do? Well, rather than listen to a screaming kid all the way home, when we turned onto FM 949, away from all the traffic, Dawna took Junior out of the car seat and held him until we got home. Law breakers? Yep, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Surviving Ike

Don't know how many of you knew it or not, but Texas just got hit by a hurricane named Ike. (facetious grin inserted here) We battened down the hatches here in Cat Spring because we knew we'd get a little bit of the storm. Here's a pic of some of the clouds rolling in.



Anyone who is a parent knows that when the weather changes in such a drastic manner, kiddoes go nuts. It was no different in our house. Kiera and Kaylee were particularly atrocious, so even though the wind was blowing, we took the girls out and let them run while the weather held.



I took some video of the wind blowing through the trees. It was pretty strong, but nothing like they saw in Houston and Galveston.



We only got a half an inch of rain overnight, so we were also spared most of the heavy stuff. Don't know what we'll get the day after as the storm progresses north. We could have used a lot more rain, but not the nasty stuff. The only damage that I've seen so far is a couple of tree limbs down: one on the church playground and one in the backyard. The one in the backyard really doesn't count though, it's only about an inch in diameter. The one on the playground is pretty substantial. Here's the backyard tree:



And here's the playground:



Hope all in Ike's path stay safe, especially my Aunt Lucy and Aunt Becky in Dallas. Hope y'all are as lucky as we were.

Five Months Already! Are You Kidding?

Yes, Kevin, Jr. turned five months old on September 8th. It's almost hard to believe how the time has flown.



So, how did we celebrate this momentous occasion? Well, we introduced Kevin to a new food: peas. I actually took some video of his first taste of vegetables, hoping to get a nasty face or two, but he loved them! I'd post what I had of him trying the peas, but I had the camera rotated vertically, and I can't figure out how to post it without everyone turning their heads and getting a crick in their necks. Oh well, I guess the following video will have to suffice of mommy and Kevin playing a little bit.



Not to be out done, the girls yelled at mommy to turn the music on the t.v. so that they could jump around and dance. Yes, it is very loud at my house when the kids are awake. The only time it is quiet is when they lay down at night to sleep. It really is a blessing.