Celtic Woman

If you watch PBS on a regular basis, you may have seen them air the Celtic Woman program with these lovely young ladies from Ireland with beautiful singing voices. Tim and I had the opportunity to go see them in person last night and it was soooooo awesome!
The singing was fantastic, but there is so much more to the show. There is a violinist who is amazing as she dances, literally twirling and jumping around (in high heels!), as she plays. She has so much energy it is mesmerizing.
The drum guys.....oh my! I wanted so badly to get up to the stage just to see all their apparatus. Mom, you would love it. They were so great and wonderful showmen as well.
There was also a pianist...I always love piano music...and three other musicians. One was on bass guitar, one was on an acoustic guitar but the third had a whole repetoire of instruments. Flute, piccalo, bagpipes, oboe or bass sax and another little instrument between a piccalo and a clarinet that I don't know the name of. So talented!
If anyone has the opportunity and they like that sort of thing, it's well worth the price. But! We would suggest springing for extra good seats. We certainly enjoyed the show but our seats weren't near as close to the stage as we thought they would be. We couldn't really tell who was singing sometimes...which isn't that big of a deal but we thought it would have been even better if we had been closer.

Anyway, it was an awesome experience. See, we have some culture :)

Just a Moment

I just want to take a moment to say "thank you" to my Lord and Savior. Amidst all the crazyness of school, family and church, He always finds a way to bring me back to the big picture, the number one most important thing in my life and the world...Jesus. I constantly need that reminder that life isn't about me and what I want and what I like. Life is about the holiness and awesomeness of Jesus. I praise Him now and give Him the glory for everything that I am blessed with.

Pictures

Bekah's Valentine party at school.

Paul's Valentine party treat.

Paul's DI team. They did an improv play where they had to solve a problem. They had 30 minutes from they time they got their topic until they had to perform. They didn't win but I thought they did well considering they only had a short amount of time to prepare. The kids decided they didn't want any photography during the play so this is the only picture I got. Next year I may request that they not be given the option!

Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh..........

Spring Break! Hallelujah!

It seems like this semester had been the busiest and longest yet. I have sooooo looked forward to this day...when classes are out of session for a week. So, now that it's here, I have a sore throat and upset stomach. Well, what are ya gonna do?

We've had a busy winter/spring so far. Paul played flag football, which he really enjoyed. He was on the Chargers this year with the same coach and many of the same boys as last year. They were 4-4 I think, including the "championship" game. We wrap that up for good on Sunday when they have their team party. Paul was also on one of our school's Destination Imagination teams. This is a problem solving and team work competition. It's a really neat program and they did great. Paul's newest adventure is glasses. Yes, both the children have inherited our (Tim and my) eye genes.

Bekah has started soccer. She's been wanting to do this for awhile and we have a nice league here in our town. She only cried once during her first game! She gets confused about where to go on the field and it's comfortable enough to ask questions yet. But she'll get there. She did have a lot of fun. She absolutely loves school...has said she would skip spring break if she could. Crazy child!

Tim still has his job, thankfully. We are praising the Lord for that blessing as much of the construction industry is spiraling downward at the moment. They won the bid for a nice fat job in Waco at the last minute. Thank you Lord! The rest of his time is spent hunting and thinking about hunting :) He's found a new hobby in hog hunting, which actually isn't as easy as it sounds. We are getting some delicious dinners!

I have three labor intensive classes and one ridiculously terrible class this semester. Math, Physics and Geology...sooooooo much work! But they are good classes and I enjoy them. I made a 99 on my first Geology lab quiz and the prof said it was the highest grade she's given on a lab quiz! The education class (which should be my favorite since that's the field I'm going in to) is horrid. It's supposed to be about special populations in schools but is actually about how minority students do not get good educational opportunities because of white people. Puhlease! Most of my complaint stems from the fact that I disagree with the teacher's educational methods and philosophy (although she is a nice person in general). I have learned some important and valuable concepts that will help me with all students that may come into my classroom. So I guess it's not a total waste of time...but I can't say I enjoy the class.

Other than all of these fun and exciting adventures, we are active in our church. We are in the middle of Mission March which has been pretty fun. I am teaching the children's church and we are learning all about missionaries and how they teach people about Jesus. The ladies of our church had the opportunity to help feed the homeless in Austin last Sunday and that was a very rewarding experience. Things like that are waaaaaayyyyy out of my comfort zone and I'm glad I have friends that will push me into them.

I am really looking forward to this week off. Not having to be anywhere at any specific time will be soooo great!

Snow and Art

Brrrrrrrrrrr! Look at our snow! Ok, it's not as good as Emily's snow, and technically it might be sleet, but we count that down here!

Art Project: Four Color Schemes

Monochromatic, Tertiary, Complementary, Triadic (from left to right, I think)

Art Project: Illusion of motion

Art Project: Underpainting and Perspective

Art Project: Interpretation of Song: Dreamland Express by John Denver

So, I really had a good time with this art class. Some things were frustrating, like being able to get the paint on the paper nicely. But it was fun and I enjoyed painting. Maybe it'll be my new hobby :)

Decorating the Tree

I love putting up the tree! I love all the ornaments from years past and the stories that go with them. The kids had so much fun getting them out, looking at them and putting them on the tree.

Paul's new favorite past time is watching football. It's so funny how he gets hooked on something. He watches it, reads about it, plays it, anything.

Bekah Turns 7!

The pictures are backwards! Oh well. I can't believe my baby is seven. She is so smart and cute. I am so thankful for this little girl that God has given me.

Bekah and her friends got to ride ponies at the Christmas Festival in Bertram. Alyssa is on the right in the background and Taylor is on the left. They absolutely loved it!

Here are the girls just after we got on the train. They were wide eyed as it started (none of them had been on one before) and it was so cute. On the ride back the volunteer in charge of our car told them how they could hide inbetween the seats. He called it the cave and of course the girls loved that.
Here is Bekah with her stash of office supplies from Granny and Grandpa. She loved it all and her friends all wanted to share in the loot!

Bekah is getting used to new glasses. Apparantly she is blind and we never knew! She never complained about not being able to see. Anyway, we think she looks super cute!

Aunt Amy and Nana gave Bekah a bunch of cool girly stuff for her birthday. Bekah especially loves the Hannah Montana slippers and High School Musical hat. Let it be known that she has never seen either one of these shows.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEKAH!