A Day to Celebrate

Happy birthday to the daddy of our little family. Brian's birthday not only marks the day the Lord created the single great blessing of my entire life, but it also marks the anniversary of our first date... it was 9 years ago today. Can you believe he would want to take me out on a date on his birthday? Wouldn't he rather go out with his family or friends and do something fun? Suprisingly he would rather not. He asked me out for his birthday and I said yes. That was the start of this whole journey of life we are on. He took me to dinner at Bennigan's in College Station and then he took me to play miniature golf at a little place that has since closed down. He won me a little plastic ring in the arcade. I wasn't sure right away that I would marry him, but I was pretty sure I would never ever break up with him.

Here's my man in action tonight at his volleyball game.

Here's one of the cheerleaders:

Daddy's girls

I keep telling him he is destined to be a girls' coach. He's a natural.

Here's another cheerleader


Here's cheerleader #3:

String cheese is a must when you need to keep a 2 year old occupied for a long period of time.

I packed us dinner to eat in the bleachers.

Avery even got to meet the CFHS Eagle! She kept calling it a puppet!

I'm so proud to be an Aggie tonight. I just came across a video of Dude Perfect, a group of guys from Texas A&M who do crazy basketball trick shots. One of their shots is the longest basketball shot ever and could be in the Guiness book of world records. For every 100,000 people who view their camp edition videos on their website, they will sponsor a child through Compassion, which is a ministry I love. So go to their website and watch the long shot and the camp edition. Such cute Aggie guys! I'm so glad I've got me one right here to snuggle up to!

Be still my heart...

Avery's first soccer practice!! SHE LOVED IT! I even got to help the coach with all the drills because my mom was in town and she watched Tatum & Laney for me. Overwhelmingly exciting for her, and mostly, for me!

My mom also brought this when she came:

Only a grandmother would take the time to sew such a beautiful Tinkerbell costume for my little fairy! Tatum's fairy costume is coming soon... stay tuned. Thanks mom for such a fun visit!

"Course He isn't safe, but He's good..."

I don't feel like I have much to blog about since most of my blogs lately have been about the kids and they aren't really doing anything too extraordinary right now. Except Laney did cut her first tooth this weekend, finally. What a trooper! And Tatum did wear big girl Ariel panties all morning on Saturday, with no accidents. That all changed Saturday afternoon. We went through three pairs of panties in two hours. And lastly, I did decide to cut Avery some bangs. I googled how to cut cute bangs yourself and it didn't seem to hard, so I did it and they came out pretty cute I must say. She looks alot older with bangs.

Anyway, I have been struck that I haven't really blogged about me lately and that is one of the main things I intended this blog to be about. An outlet for me to write what's going on with me.

At church yesterday our Sunday school teacher showed us a movie trailer for an upcoming movie called "Legion." Don't watch it, you will never look at old ladies the same. I am completely petrified when I see an old lady walking close by me. Seriously, I am sweating just thinking about them. I just looked behind my shoulder to make sure there weren't any coming in the room.
Anyway, the premise of the movie is that when God was fed up with mankind the first time He sent a flood. But when God gets fed up with mankind this time, He sends angels (they look more like demons with wings) to destroy mankind. Anyway, our Sunday school teacher made the point that even though the movie is completely heretical and probably horribly anti-God, they did get one thing right: All mankind should FEAR God. He is good, but he is also holy. Hell is real. Except for Christ, we all deserve the most torturous fate because we have failed to be holy as He is holy.

Brian & I were talking about it afterwards, and just realized that you never hear that in Christian circles in church anymore. People want a message that makes you feel good, but they don't want to hear that you should be trembling and your knees should be knocking at the thought of who God really is. It also puts a fire in me to make sure all my non-Christian friends have every possible chance to choose Christ. It is extremely scary to think of them going through such horror.

Growing up, my dad read "The Chronicles of Narnia" to my big brothers & I alot of nights after supper. We would sit at the kitchen table and my dad would get out whichever book we were on and read a few chapters. I would usually fall asleep with my head on the kitchen table, but I remember alot about the books and I have a special place in my heart for them. Rusty brought up this part in class yesterday and I love it:

“Is – is he a man?” asked Lucy.
“Aslan a man!” said Mr. Beaver sternly. “Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-beyond-the-Sea. Don’t you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion – the Lion, the great Lion.”
“Ooh!” said Susan, “I’d thought he was a man. Is he – quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”
“That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver; “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”
“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King I tell you.”

I hope I don't ever get too comfortable with God and treat Him like a big cozy teddy bear. He is not safe, but He is good. Thank you Lord that I serve such an awesome God!

I'm still nervous that there is an old lady behind me. Lord, help me take every thought captive to obedience of Christ! No more thoughts of scary old ladies! Seriously, no matter how tempted you are to watch the trailer, DON'T!!

Happy Birthday, Dad! And thanks for taking the time to implant wisdom in our hearts by reading us great books. Sorry I slept through most of them, but I remember the sound of your voice lulling me to sleep as you read, and I remember the excitement in my brother's voices wanting you to read more. I have such happy memories of growing up as your daughter. I love you! (Mom- could you read this to him when y'all sit down for dinner tonight?)

Our Weekend in Pictures

Fun times swimming with the family over labor day weekend...

Avery's long hair (story to follow)

Laney STANDING UP next to her cousin Tara. These two little buddies babbled to each other all weekend. I can only imagine what their conversations will be like in a year or two!

A couple days ago I got tired of combing the rat's nest out of Avery's hair every day, so I decided we were going to cut it. Thankfully she was okay with it because Tinkerbell has short hair too. So I got my special hair scissors and I chopped off about 8 inches of hair. We were both really happy about it and it looks alot healthier and thicker now that it's shorter.

Anyway, the next night, after the girls were already in bed, I went into my bathroom and found my hair scissors out on the counter and a few clusters of hair on the floor. I knew I had not done a perfect job on Avery's hair the day before, so I asked Brian if he had decided to even out Avery's hair or if he thought his mom might have decided to cut her hair a little bit. He said no. Turns out our little angel Avery had gone into my bathroom, found the hair scissors that I keep in the back of my jewelry box (where no one can find them!), and taken off a few strands at the front of her hair. She now has a row of uneven itty bitty bangs. I can't decide if it's not that bad and I should just leave it, or if I should just take her to get some real bangs cut (I don't trust myself to cut her bangs... I've tried before and it wasn't cute). Look at the pictures and give me your opinion.

Here's the damage up close:

Here she is the morning after our discovery:

I know it could have been much worse, so I am thankful it's just a few strands of hair. Tatum has the best morning hair ever. I hope it never "calms down" because it makes me smile every morning. Here's the back of Avery's hair so you can see how much I cut.

We enjoyed having some family & friends over to our house on Sunday. Thankfully it was nice & cool and the rain held off for us, so we really had a great time. Here's Avery & Tatum with their buddies Carson & Rylin.

I was explaining to Avery a few days ago how I used to be named Melanie McR**, but when I married Daddy, his name was Mr. K, so I became Mrs. K. It took some explaining, but she finally understood that a woman changes her name when she gets married and takes the last name of the man she marries. It didn't take her long to decide who she wants to marry. She is officially in search of an eligible 4-year old with the last name "Bell" so she can marry him and be named Miss Bell (as in Tinker-Bell). :)

The blessing of a broken dishwasher

My dishwasher isn't working, so I spent alot of time this past weekend hand-washing all the dishes that we used all of last week. At first I had a really bad attitude about it, but after I did one batch of dishes, I had this fulfilling sense that I was experiencing life the way women in earlier times did and it really wasn't that bad. Now don't get me wrong, I am having a guy come out this afternoon to fix the dishwasher, but I was surprised at how I really didn't mind doing them all by hand for one weekend. Avery has been mesmerized watching me wash dishes by hand. Pretty funny that she has never seen me do it before!


Here's a few recent pictures of the kids...

The oldest of my four children, and the handsomest, I might add:

He has been working so hard lately. He is coaching girls volleyball again this season and feeling alot more comfortable with it now that he knows what he is doing. He is also still working on his masters degree and should finish up in just 6 months! I am so proud of him. And of course, the list of projects we have here at home is never-ending, so he definitely has a full plate right now. But you would never know because he just goes with the flow and takes everything so well. The Lord knew I needed him because I am a crazy nut without his laid-backness.

Avery is so grown up. She calls Tatum "honey" and leads her two little sisters like the mother hen. She has needed alot of re-direction lately because she has become a little bossy, but I know she is the oldest for a reason and God is using this role in her life to shape her into the beautiful young woman He wants her to be. She has a great imagination and can always think up a fun pretend game to play with Tatum. I love that she doesn't care what anyone else thinks, she just does her own thing. She's alot like her daddy.

Tay-bird, we like to call her. So submissive and cooperative to all her big sister's imaginary games. Such a rollercoaster of emotions... one minute the happiest, most joyful little girl in the world, the next minute a sobbing, tearful mess. You never have to wonder what Tatum is feeling because she wears every emotion on her sleeve. She refuses to have anything to do with the potty right now. She uses her manners really well. She is in love with all things froggie.
My baby is pulling up! I walked in to her room last week to find her standing up in her crib holding on the rails, just smiling at me like she knew she had accomplished something big. Now she crawls everywhere and pulls up on every table or chair she can reach. The only problem is she can't get back down to sitting, so she cries until you come help her sit down. She woke up from her nap a little while ago crying and usually I let her cry for a few minutes and she goes back to sleep. Well that didn't happen so I caved in and rocked her back to sleep. There is no feeling in the world that compares to knowing that you are the cure for one little persons' every need. I'm so glad I caved. She completely owns me.

School is going so well. I am at peace about working, my students are all so cute and sweet (I am sure I will be taking that back in a few weeks), and I am enjoying learning a few new things this year about how to teach kids on laptops. A prayer request... one of my good friends since I first started teaching back in 2003 just found out she has breast cancer. She is having surgery in a couple weeks and chemo and radiation to follow. I can't imagine what she must be feeling and going through and I don't really know what I can do to help her during this time. I know she needs Jesus so please pray she will draw close to Him through all this. thanks!

One Day Down, 176 To Go

We got our kitchen updated! I can't believe how pretty it looks. After living for five years in a kitchen with pink countertops and 1980's wallpaper, I am absolutely thrilled to have such a beautiful & modern kitchen. You can scroll down to my previous post to see the before picture of our kitchen. Now here is the after pictures!

The first day of school went really well. I am being intentional about having a good attitude this year. Although this school year is gushing with reasons to have a bad attitude, I am going to (by God's grace) refuse to fall into that trap. This year each of my students will get to check out a laptop to keep for their own personal 24/7 use. I'm super happy for the kids to have this opportunity, however, I know there are still alot of kinks that need to be worked out from the teaching side of the project. All my lesson plans from the past 5 years of teaching are now worthless, and I will need to learn how to teach my students lessons that allow them to use their laptops in my class every day. I definitely have my doubts about how it's all going to work out, but like I said, I am choosing to have a good attitude.

Our district also decided they will allow facial piercings this year, so as a result, many of the precious children walked in today sporting their new jewelry, sharp objects protruding from their chins and colorful hoops from their eyebrows and lips. I personally don't have a problem with it, except that it surprises me how much freedom students have in school now compared to when I was in school. Whatever happened to one hole in each ear? I remember back in college when I got my belly button pierced. I thought it was cute and I enjoyed it mostly because it made me feel unique. I must admit I came very close to piercing my eyebrow too, but it was dependent on my brother martin getting his nose (or chin?) pierced with me, and I'm pretty sure it was him that chickened out. When I first met Brian, he had a big barbell pierced through his tongue, and I thought he was so dreamy. All this to say, I can excuse the piercings because it's really just an attempt to be different from everyone else, to be an individual. At least it's not as permanent as a tattoo. It's just different seeing all the students wearly them freely this year.

Our school is also in a huge financial crisis which means we don't get alot of "help" to get our kids to pass. Yeah, don't ask me why all the 11th graders get laptops, but we can't afford to buy paper or bus our students to school. Something is messed up. Oh yeah, good attitude.

Thankfully, there are no more than 30 precious students in each of my classes and I can pronounce all their names. God made each of those faces and loves them so much. I hope I don't lose that perspective.

Back on August 10, Brian's grandmother in Midland went to be with Jesus after a long battle with Alzheimer's. They called her "Boozer", not because she was a drinker, just because it just suited her. I will always remember her laugh. She was a role model in many ways, but I especially want to remember that she never let anything get her down... she laughed about everything. The Proverbs 31 woman could "laugh at the future" and that describes Boozer perfectly. We were all able to go out to Midland for her funeral and celebrate how precious her life was. We had a great time seeing the family out there and the girls loved playing with thier cousins.

Cowgirl Laney

Princess Avery, Princess Kenadi and Princess Tatum

Kade loved Laney! They were inseperable the whole time!

Kenadi, Avery & Tatum at the church

Sweet Girls

Galveston

Laney's first bath with the big girls! Please notice the look on Tatum's face. Poor sweet thing... this look captures her entire attitude toward her baby sister as of late. Not happy. Not amused.


Yep, we visited the beautiful island of Galveston last weekend to let the girls experience the beach for the first time in a long time. It was our first time back since Hurricane Ike almost a year ago. It's pretty sad driving around seeing all the familiar stores/hotels, etc. that used to be there gone. Thankfully alot of the seawall is built back up and looks even better than before, but there is still alot of destruction.

This was our first family trip with all 5 of us and only the 5 of us. Lots of ice cream (for them) and coffee (for me), and lots of laughs. Avery & Tatum could both be beach bums, they loved it!

At Moody Gardens, Palm Beach. We spent lots of time there!

At Stewart Beach

Just collecting sea shells

At Rainforest Cafe

I just got this totally random picture from about 6 months ago. Tatum & her BFF Julia playing at the park! Both are currently learning how to be big sisters for the first time. Not an easy job. They are such a funny & cute little pair!