Nathan the Nothosaurus

Miss M had to create a model for her team's Animal Project in Science.

They got assigned the extinct Nothosaurus.

(Compare this with some groups who had the giant Panda or a giraffe... not that fair)

One student did the display board (well, at least in theory... Miss M's team's girl didn't speak english and just didn't do it).  Another student had the power point and the third did the model. 

She got an "A".

Tie Dye fun

Miss M and her church friend PG have had a plan to tie dye since 5th grade!  The plan started with socks and evolved to shirts.  PG came over one day before church.  He brought the shirts, Miss M had the tie dye kit.

They had a FUN time.

(We forgot to take photos of the final product... I'll add those later.)

Miss M on Diets

Miss M - on her own personal blog - wrote the following.

HILARIOUS!!!

"My life has been taken over.

i hate diets, not people on diets, just diets themselves.

my parents have recently gone on a low calorie diet. Because of this decision my life has taken a 180 turn...blah. our pantry used to be filled with yummy goodness :) yum.

Recently however the cookies and yummy stuff have been finished. Usually at this time my mother would buy more. But, no more have been purchased because its "temptation" to my parents. So my junk food life has been destroyed :/

Hold on...that's not the worst. the only thing that they ever talk about anymore are calories this and calories that...ha fun. If we can get through 5 minuets at the dinner table without a comment on calories we would be considered lucky :(

Its so bad that today at school i found myself clutching my friends cookie. :/

i cant help it... i have not eaten a cookie in...it pains me to say it...but its been like 4 days :(

cookies,
dont take it personally. Im not doing it to hurt you. I will digest you again soon. i promise. it might be a while, but dont worry soon you will be crunched by my jaws... soon."

It's all true.

Every word of it.

Our poor, tortured children.

Working Guys

Lando has been working part-time with D doing appliance repair.

He needed a job.

The economy is tough for finding jobs right now.

It would be great for him to have a trade to fall back on if he ever needed it.  (Even though neither of us really WANT him to go INTO appliance repair.)

Now they come home and "talk shop" (Jade and I are talking about insurance while they are talking about blower motors) and they even have appliance repair humor!!!

Hilarious.

Resurrection Day 09

HE IS RISEN.

HE IS RISEN INDEED!

When the kids were little, we went to the "Easter House" (Gram & Pop's house in Canyon Lake) Thursday, Friday, Saturday. We did the "bunny" and candy and baskets on Saturday. Then Sunday we did Church, Resurrection, and Family.

Once Canyon Lake was sold, we still spent friday night at Grampie & Grammie's and did eggs, candy, bunny, basket on Saturday.

But as the kids got older, a whole WEEKEND was not as appreciated... so we have just been going over Saturday early in the morning. This year we didn't even head over until 9:30.

And now, this might have been our last Saturday.

We might now just be doing Sundays from here on out.

And how do you motivate a 21 year old (in college and with a job), an 18 year old (with a car who is learning appliance repair), a 15 year old (with a driver's permit and an engraved "forever" ring), and a 13 year old (with eye liner and lip gloss) to hunt for eggs???

(Miss M in her gift: a new sun dress from Urban Outfitters)

PUT MONEYIN THEM!!!!!!!!

There were 21 color coded eggs for each kid... they each had $1 in them except one had $5.

And guess what?

Surprisingly, this year they were such devoted searchers, they found almost all of them!

(Jade found all of his!)

Grammie made a delectable brunch (she even made a lower calorie version of her amazingly fatty Egg & Cheese Strata... still pretty good!).

(Grammie opening birthday gifts.)

We hung out until the complaining got unbearable "Can we go home?" / "We have been here 5 hours" / "Is it almost time to leave?" / "What time are we going?" / "It has been 7 hours" etc. that we eventually left.

We went to Sunday morning "sunrise service" at 7AM (when the sun was already *ahem* long since risen!). Although it was beautiful and wonderful to be outside and the sun did eventually warm everything up, it was freezing

(At church at 7AM... brrrrr.)

and we were under-prepared since the website specifically said the service was in the Sanctuary (bummer).

(FREEZING Deevs!)

(We felt bad, some little girls and teenagers were in tiny little sun dresses!) Pastor Tom taught and Tim Davis sang. We had some "Agnus Dei", "Our God is an Awesome God", and "Jesus Paid it All".

We came home and had a breakfast of oatmeal with fruit (back on our low-cal "A" game as D puts it).

(A little breakfast silliness: "Can you touch your nose with your tongue?")

Now relaxing and have some computer time.

Maybe dog beach or movie or hike later?

HAPPY Easter.

****************************************

EASTER IS COMING BIBLE VERSES:

Col 1:20-22

In Christ "God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of his blood on the cross. This includes you who were once so far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions, yet now he has brought you back as his friends. He has done this through his death on the cross in his own human body."

3 days 'til Easter Bible Verse: HEBREWS 12:2 "We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish. He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterward. Now he is seated in the place of highest honor beside God's throne in heaven."

Good Friday Bible Verse -

Isaiah 53:5,6 -

"But He [Jesus] was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed! All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God's paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on HIM [Jesus] the guilt and sins of us all."

Day before Easter verses -

Matthew 27:63-65

"They told him, "Sir, we remember what that deceiver once said while he was still alive: `After three days I will be raised from the dead.' So we request that you seal the tomb until the third day. This will prevent his disciples from coming and stealing his body and then telling everyone he came back to life! If that happens, we'll be worse off than we were at first."

EASTER!

Matthew 28:5,6 -
"Then the angel spoke to the women.
"Don't be afraid!" he said.
"I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.
He isn't here!
He has been raised from the dead, just as he said would happen."

La Noche de One Acts (Part Uno)

Lando was in Drama 1 this year and had a pretty good time even though a majority of the class were freshmen (HA!). He learned some things, had some fun, and even discovered a talent!

The play he was in was about 3 competing drama classes putting on plays at a festival competition. Lando's character was a Basketball Coach who had been demoted and forced to take on the role of Drama teacher for a bunch of metal-heads (competing against one class of high-strung Preppies and another of Artistes - artsy drama kids).
His character believes that the only way to get back into coaching is if he can win the competition.

This first video is from one of the opening scenes where Coach is explaining to his class that he wasn't fired and that he is not too happy about having to work with them.

This scene is all 3 groups (Metalheads, Preps, Artistes) right before they do their 3 plays before the judges and their teachers are giving them final "pep talks".



This video is from the scene where the Metalheads and their teacher "Coach" put on their play at the festival... the title character "Betty" gets hit by a bus - notice the bus driver is talking on a cell phone - and dies (bus driver played by Coach).  

Also notice how the bus driver guiltily revisits the scene of the crime!

Hil.ar.i.ous!

For one more scene, see blog entry below.

La Noche de One Acts "Part Dos"

This video is the closing scene where the winner of the festival competition is announced.  

You can't hear many of the actors, but you can hear Lando loud & clear!

Also, we mostly keep the camera on him, so you are missing the action where one of the judges (the Grim Reaper) visits each of the other teams and find out they have lost and then exit the stage.

Turn it Around - THE BOOK

It's not that I think my "turn it around" book is so spectacular, it's just that:

#1 - It is one of the only crafts I have made since leaving MOPS.

#2 - It was such a fun, memorable day.

#3 - The MAMBI papers are just delectable! 

#4 - Since crafting is such a rare occurrence, I decided I should save it for posterity.

#5 - I am fairly craft impaired, so, actually, for me, this IS spectacular!!!

Anyhow, in light of the above, I decided to take a picture of every single page layout... and yes, lucky readers, I will update again once I have written in them!!!

Turn it Around

My Women's Bible study group just finished Beth Moore's newest Bible study (Esther).

It was a very good study.

The theme was:

Reversal of Destiny (or "Turn it Around").

Each week we talked about how it was "tough being a woman" in various ciurcumstances but then Beth Moore (via DVD) taught from Scripture how the Lord turns those various tough scenarios around.

To finish out our time together, we got together and ATE (of course!) and created "Turn it Around" books where we could write the tough scenarios and God's turnarounds for them.

  (Although the books turned out so darned cute - THANKS SUEZI -  that many of them are now going to be photo albums and prayer journals.)

Here are the scenarios and some photos:

* It’s tough being a woman in another woman’s shadow (Overshadowed)

TURNAROUND - Psalm 91:1 - He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

* It’s tough being a woman in a world where beauty is a treatment (Underrated)
TURNAROUND - Eccl 3:11 - He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set

 eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

* It’s tough being a woman in a mean world (Overwrought)
TURNAROUND - 1 Tim 1:18, 19 - …I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith.
* It’s tough being a woman thrown a giant sized weight (Under Qualified)

TURNAROUND - 1 peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Deut 23:5 - However, the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you.

* It’s tough being a woman in the tight fist of fear (Under Attack)
TURNAROUND -  

Deut 33:29 - Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord? He is your shield and helper and your glorious sword. Your enemies will cower before you, and you will trample down their high places

Neh 4:14 - …"Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes."

Isa 49: 15, 16 …I will not forget you. See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands”
Ps 139:10 - even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
* It’s tough being a woman who can balance passion with patience (Over Anxious)
TURNAROUND - Is 30:18 - Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you

 compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!

* It’s tough being a woman who feels responsible for the “how” (Over-Responsible)
TURNAROUND - 2 peter 2:9 - If this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment.
Ps 103:14 - for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.
*** It’s tough being a woman… BUT it is TRUST that turns it all around.

*** It’s tough being a woman… BUT TRUST REVERSES THE DETOURS OF ADVERSITY INTO THE HIGHWAYS OF DESTINY.

We missed you Jen, Lynn, Stephanie, Andria, & Sharon!!!