The fashion dilemma that "winter" in Texas presents

This is how the girls dressed for church today. Both are appropriate to the temperature. But they both look seasonally inappropriate. One too summery and one too wintery. And we won't even get into the fact that one is much too casual or the state of their hair. Luckily God doesn't care how we loom, He's just glad we are worshipping Him.


Jenn - Posted from my iPhone

Snow Day - Central Texas Style

Front Yard

Backyard

All of my Facebook friend laughed heartily when I posted pictures of our snow day last Friday.  They could not believe we got a day off school for so little snow.  What they forget is this is Central Texas and it doesn't snow often and when it does it doesn't matter if it is just a few flakes, it's a big deal.  We did have a little ice proceeding the snow, thus the need for the snow day.  And honestly, if they hadn't canceled school so many families would have kept their kids home to enjoy the rare snow that school would have been a waste for those who did go.

Baron checking out the snow

I think he likes it

He's such a beautiful dog

Howdy.  He's not nearly as impressed by the white stuff

We had been below freezing for three days before the snow but of course as soon as the white stuff arrived the temps went back up well above freezing.  By lunch time the snow was almost completely gone.

Camping

We went camping at Krause Springs the weekend prior to Halloween with Rehm's Cub Scout pack.  Due to a birthday party that Charlotte could not miss, Rehm and Micheal went out early Saturday morning and the girls and I followed them around dinner(supper, for those of you confused by which meal I'm referring to) time. As most of you know, I am not a fan of camping and have in fact only had the pleasure on one other occasion.  Arriving late after everything had already been set up and everyone had already figured out where everything was did not help me at all.  Honestly, for the first half hour after the girls and I got there I was, um, somewhat witchy, or something.  It didn't help that when I went to get our dinner, I found it covered in ants or that when I opened the door to the tent everything was in a huge pile right inside the door and there was plenty of dried grass on the floor.  Once I got the girls fed and the tent straightened and organized to my standards I was a much happier, um, camper.

Waiting for dinner

The gigantic ant hill about 20 feet from the door of our tent. 

Everyone had a great time and the campground was wonderful.  The bathrooms were spacious and clean!  They were so nice that I regretted not bringing stuff to be able to shower. In addition, the springs and creak/river/stream that was on the property was awesome.  We had a lot of fun exploring in the woods and around the stream.

He really isn't as close to the fire as it appears. Isn't the heat wave neat looking in the picture?

This tent is much better than the last time we went camping!

This time my four year old isn't as tall as the tent.

Isn't this the coolest tree?  As a kid I would have insisted on camping inside it, I think.

Breakfast

The cypress trees were just amazingly huge

Sweet Sisters

Somebody slipped on the wet rocks and sat down in the water.  Oops.

Yeah, that's about how I feel about camping, too

Part of the falls from the springs into the natural pool.

This is the first time we had camped as a family of six and the first time in the 8 person tent.  The tent was a huge improvement over the last time we camped (make sure to watch the slide show).  There are definitely some things that got added to my camping packing list for next time, like a flyswatter and a broom, but on the whole I would be willing to go camping again, I think...

Jenn

Cheese Flowers

It has been several years since we have taken bluebonnet pictures of the children. I always plan to but life gets in the way and by the time I think of it again they are no longer pretty.  This is a Texas tradition that children must experience.  It isn't necessarily fun but it is just part of being a kid in Texas.  In fact, at our house they are also known as "cheese flowers:  because every time Rehm saw them, I was asking him to say cheese and snapping his picture. 

This year we found a decent patch close by.  For a twenty minute photo shoot at bed time I thought the pictures turned out pretty good.  I confess I took over 150 pictures.  Here are some of my favorites.

So which ones are your favorites?
Jenn