Ezra and Kaylen

No Secrets

2008-09-15T20:23:00.000-07:00

I got this email from Ezra's teacher today:

A funny story with Ezra today....
we were talking about families and family rules at home and he raised his hand and said...
"no one can open the door while mommy is in the shower except daddy" It made me laugh! Too cute!

Nice.

The Great Debate

2008-08-26T18:56:00.000-07:00

The kids and I were sitting down and eating dinner tonight. Ezra said, "I don't have any idea what I'm going to be when I grow up. There are just so many good jobs out there." I assured him that he had plenty of time to decide. He went on to tell me that there was no way he'd be a fireman because it would be boring because you would only get to do stuff if there was a fire. I told him that firemen got to do other stuff, too, but he said he still wasn't doing that. He decided that being a policeman was definitely an option, though. Kaylen still wants to be a cheerleader (I have no idea where she got this idea), and after much discussion she decided that she would cheer for basketball.

Wanting to change their thinking a little, I asked them what job they thought Jesus would have if he were living in our city today. Ezra immediately answered that his only job would be to tell people all about God. Kaylen said, "No, he would work at helping people."

While I understand that these two things aren't mutually exclusive, I thought it was interesting that Ezra and Kaylen have taken "opposite sides" at such an early age. With Kelsey and I being in the short-term missions business, we've heard lots of discussions about the differences between "working" mission trips and "witnessing" mission trips (again, I know that these two are not mutually exclusive). I also know that I struggle with faith vs. works.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but interesting dinner conversation none the less.

First Day of First Grade

2008-08-25T13:41:00.000-07:00

We got past the first day of the first grade with no tears or mishaps! When I picked Ezra up today he said, "I didn't even do one bad thing!" What more could one hope for? Ezra said he had a "Great!" day today. He got to go to P.E. AND recess and they had bean burritos for lunch. Life is good.

Walking to school with Dad.In front of the sign of the North Riverside Rockets.
walking into class

Praise the Lord for a great first day and many more to come!

Meet Your Teacher

2008-08-22T11:41:00.000-07:00

We met Ezra's teacher last night. I brought the camera but completely forgot to take pictures. Anyway, you can start praying for Ezra's first grade year. You can specifically pray for Mrs. Briscoe.

We were going through the paperwork she gave us. One of the sheets was a question and answer about your child. One of the questions was, "What's your child's favorite subject?" So, I asked Ezra and he answered, "McKenna." (That's one of the girls in his class.) We're in such trouble!

Herndon Family Fun Week

2008-08-17T14:26:00.000-07:00

Kelsey's family came to Texas a couple of weeks ago for a little reunion. We had even more fun than I expected! There were a total of 16 people sleeping in our house, but I think it worked out well. (You may have to ask Papa and Gramma to be sure, they had 4 kids sleeping on the floor of "their" room!)

Everyone arrived on Tuesday. Tuesday night we went to the Rangers vs. Yankees game. It was a great time! Wednesday we rode the train to downtown Fort Worth. We could have driven there quicker, but it was all about the ride! Thursday we went to the American Girl Bistro. Friday we went to the playplace at our church and watched the Olympic opening ceremonies (which were fantastic, by the way).

When we weren't out and about, the kids were singing karaoke, swimming, playing Legos, playing with their dolls, and just having fun together. All eight kids played SO well together. We were all amazed! Here are some pics of the fun.

Kelsey's 34!

2008-07-30T14:42:00.000-07:00

Kelsey had a birthday yesterday! We went to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner and let the kids play outside while we got to talk. The kids had never seen anyone eat crab before and they were shocked! When Kelseys food came out, they were like, "You're not going to eat that, are you?" Fun times.

Howell Camping

2008-07-21T19:28:00.001-07:00

Kelsey's still in Japan. The kids and I got back from a camping trip with my mom's side of the family last night. We had a great time. There were about 40 of us at a campground in Council Grove, Kansas. The kids swam, rode scooters, played at the park, rode on the boats, played with cousins, and lots more. Ezra stayed in a tent with his cousin. He thought he was pretty big stuff staying without mom and dad.

We were having so much fun I forgot to get out my camera until the last day. I missed some of the best pics. Kaylen rode the zip sled behind the boat. I wish I would have caught it on camera. She was so cute. She was riding behind the boat just singing and smiling!

Ezra on the boat with a couple of the boys.

Kaylen with my cousin's daughter. Kaylen wore her goggles most of the time, even when we weren't near the water.

Practicing riding the torpedo. Ezra liked to do anything behind the boat.

Kaylen at the beach - notice the sand moustache. Cute.

At the end of the weekend, my niece was baptized. So glad I was there to see it!

Couldn't have been better unless Kelsey was there!

Swimming Lessons

2008-07-21T19:01:00.000-07:00

The kids finished swimming lessons a couple of weeks ago. I got some cute pics at parent's day, so I thought I'd post them for 'ya. Nothing like a good picture post to break the dry spell.

Kaylen looking cute.

Ezra diving over the hoop.

Kaylen working on her back float

Ezra's free dive.

Kaylen jumping through hoops

Ezra practicing the swim team entry.

Both the kids really enjoyed swimming lessons this year. It was challenging for Ezra, though. The other kids in his group were all about 9, so he had to work hard to keep up - which was good. He really started talking about joining the swim team!

Writer's Strike

2008-03-09T13:24:00.001-07:00

OK. It's officially been three and a half months since I posted anything on my blog. Would you believe that I was part of the writer's strike? I didn't think so. I was wondering the other day how long you could leave your blog without posting before someone "canceled" you. Apparently, you can leave it forever.

Well, I'm not going to make any promises about frequency of posts or anything like that, but I'm back for today anyway. I've sat down to do this a couple of times now. I've always just quit and moved on, though. We keep all of our pictures on Kelsey's computer and it never seems to be here when I'm ready to post. If you look back and see some posts you've never seen before, it's probably because I've been back-posting. There are a few things I want to write about for my own personal record.

I've been meeting with the girls from my small group on Wednesday mornings for coffee. I've been talking a lot about how our life just seems "normal" right now. Nothing exceptional happening beyond the exceptional of the every day. Every morning as I leave this group, I've been thinking to myself "What am I missing?" The Lord doesn't usually let me "coast" this long.

Last night I got my boat rocked a little. It started with the sermon. It was about discipleship and the struggle between grace and works. It started with this great song called "changed." I wasn't able to find the recorded song, but here's a link to the lyrics. Right after worship, our small group meets. We've been doing a series called "Your Life on Loan." Last night the topic was "your relationships on loan." My good friend Becky was giving the testimony. It seems like almost every time she speaks she encourages me to do something better than I've been doing it. Yesterday was no exception.

Between the video and the group discussion, I was really convicted that I've been missing lots of opportunities. I've been keeping to myself a lot. Definitely not in the lives of my neighbors. I've been managing my time poorly. I'm usually in too much of a hurry to notice anyone else around me. But most of all I was really convicted that I've been neglecting the spiritual formation of my kids. There's lots of little opportunities during the day that I've been letting slip by. I really started thinking that I've been talking to Ezra more about letters and math than I have been about Jesus. Don't get me wrong. Letters and math are important, too. But I want Ezra to know what's really important to us. We've got some work to do. Thanks to everyone in Salt and Light for the encouragement.

Pre-Thanksgiving Stuff

2007-11-15T16:54:00.000-08:00

Ezra and Kaylen are out of school all next week. When I was little I only remember getting off on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of Thanksgiving week, but for some reason we get the whole week! So, this week was full of Thanksgiving stuff at school.

Tuesday night was the kindergarten Thanksgiving program. It was pretty cute. All of the kindergartners at Ezra's school - that's 10 classes! - sang a bunch of Thanksgiving songs. It was a little crazy. That's a lot of kindergartners on one stage. They're all wearing yellow kitchen gloves on their feet to make them look like turkey feet. It was pretty cute.

Today was the kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast. I was in charge of the turkey. It was my first turkey. (So you can understand how I forgot my camera and don't have any pictures.) It turned out pretty well. I only had to call my mom once! I didn't think the kindergartners would eat much turkey, so I bought the smallest one I could find, but they all came back for seconds so we ran out!! Some of that might have been that I'm terrible at carving, so I'm sure there was quite a bit more turkey that could have been eaten. I really needed my Aunt Patsy!

If you see Ezra in the near future, you'll have to get him to tell you the story of the first Thanksgiving. He's pretty good at it. There were parts of it that I thought he was making up, so it has been a good refresher for me! I didn't think he'd start knowing more about stuff than I did until way after kindergarten. I'm in big trouble.

Yoda Makes Me Sing Video

2007-11-10T18:55:00.000-08:00

Yoda Makes Me Sing

2007-11-08T19:58:00.000-08:00

Today Kaylen and I were riding in the car listening to a Praise Baby CD. We were both singing that song that goes "Hallelujiah, Hallelujiah, Hallelujiah! Your Love Makes Me Sing" at the top of our lungs. Suddenly Kaylen stopped singing.
"Ezra really likes Star Wars, doesn't he?" she said.

"Yes, he does," I answered.

"Then this is his favorite song" she said.

"Why?" I asked, a little confused.

"Because it's all about Yoda."

I have a video of her singing it, but I can't get it to upload tonight. Maybe tomorrow.

Bitty Baby Reunion

2007-11-08T18:46:00.000-08:00

For those of you who know about the Bitty Baby saga at our house, you'll be happy to know that we had a sweet reunion with MaryBelle today. It isn't actually MaryBelle, it's MaryBelle's twin sister that I ordered and received in the mail yesterday, but Kaylen doesn't know that.

Kaylen had lots of fun getting re-acquainted today. She dressed her up in all of her clothes, changed her diaper over and over, and rocked her a lot. She even sang the Yoda song to her.

I think this is a good thing since Kaylen has been telling people "We're going to get a new baby!" ever since we visited Aunt Marty's house. My sister just started babysitting two babies. Kaylen thought this was a great idea and decided we should get a couple of new babies at our house, too. I think MaryBelle will have to do for now.

Fall

2007-11-01T14:53:00.000-07:00

It's really feeling like fall around here (except for the 80 degree weather - welcome to Texas). I haven't blogged in a really long time, so this is going to be a long one. Lots of catch-up to do.

October began with our annual LST HarvestCall celebration. It is really the kick-off to our LST year. Most of the people that will be training teams on campuses this year were at the weekend. It's really great to watch Kelsey in this environment. He really is good at his job.

After HarvestCall, our next big thing was Kelsey's mom's 60th Birthday. We got to go celebrate with her. Travis, Kelly and kids were there, too. We sure did miss Jim and Celeste, but had a great time!

Next came the Hot Dog Banquet. Leslee and I felt less prepared for this banquet than we have for a long time, but I think it all came off well. It sure is neat to hear the kids pray for the missionaries. My favorite prayer of the night was Kellan Woodward's. He was praying a special prayer of blessing for some missionaries from Africa. One line of his prayer was "please help them not to be poisoned." His grandma said it was a compromise. He had wanted to pray that they wouldn't get eaten by wild animals. Ezra prayed the opening prayer this year, the video is below. What a big man!

It's been fun to hear how Ezra's prayers have changed after this evening. Most of the RHCC missionaries are from Africa, so Ezra has really been praying a lot more for kids who don't have food and don't know about Jesus. It has made all of the planning worthwhile.

The next weekend was the World Mission Workshop in Oklahoma City. We took Ezra out of school and the whole family went up. Kelsey had to work CONSTANTLY while we were there, but the kids and I just hung out with my sister. Always fun! Our last night there we went to Boo at the Zoo. Here's a picture of Ezra and Nathan in a Shark's mouth and a picture of Uncle Don carrying Kaylen on his shoulders around the whole zoo. Thanks, Uncle Don. You're a good sport. The flash was broken on my camera, so the pics are a little hard to see, but still cute!
When we got back from there, we had our first parent-teacher conference at Ezra's school. She said Ezra was doing well. He is completely normal and is going to be a great first grader. He had all S and S+ on his report card, which means his is successful at the kindergarten level. What a great kid! He did have 2 check marks. She had checked "works independently" and "practices self-control." She said that if they were left by themselves to do work, he just HAD to talk to Janelle. We were not surprised by this. He has been social since birth, and I'm confident that his teachers will probably make similar comments for years to come. However, on the bright side, he got S+ in "Contributes to classroom discussion" and "Participates in class."

Since Kelsey and I had taken off work for Ezra's conference, we went ahead and went to the pumpkin patch. It was a fun day. There were 6 jumphouses there. The kids could have jumped all day!

As you can tell from this picture, Ezra lost a tooth! He's pretty proud of it. Especially since he's a pirate for Halloween this year. He's been standing in front of the mirror practicing his best pirate face. It looks pretty great!

Ezra carved his pumpkin all by himself this year. He was very proud.

On Halloween, Ezra had his fall party at school and Kaylen got to go with him. It was a pretty fun party. Ezra said it was the best day of school so far. Everyone in Ezra's school is supposed to dress as a character from a book on Halloween. Ezra's whole class did Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.

Last night we went to our church's fall festival for about an hour and then came home. I stayed home and handed out treats while Kelsey took the kids trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. I somehow didn't get a picture of the kids together in their costumes. But let me assure you that fun was had by all and we have more candy than we'll possibly be able to eat!

For those of you who don't have a pre-schooler, Kaylen is Uniqua from the BackYardigans.

I'm Such a Push-Over

2007-10-14T17:57:00.000-07:00

With the volume of my kids, I can't exactly pretend I'm not home. Not to mention that it drives Ezra completely crazy if someone rings the doorbell and we don't answer it. So, when the salesman came to our door, of course Ezra opened it wide.

There was a man there selling household cleaner. He cleaned my doorknob. He wrote on his demo towel and then got it right out with his new, fancy cleaner. He was a really nice guy.

With all of my being, I wanted to politely tell him to go away. But I couldn't. I kept seeing the guy from "The Pursuit of Happyness" and I couldn't tell him no. I just new that his poor little homeless son was right around the corner!

I felt like such a dork for buying it until I talked to my neighbor later and realized I'd paid half as much as she had.

I gotta stop answering the door!

First Day of School! First Day of School!

2007-08-27T11:28:00.000-07:00

Ezra rode his bike to school today!
This is Ezra in front of his classroom.
This is Ezra at North Riverside Elementary - Home of the Rockets!

I can really only handle one at a time!

We woke up on time this morning and I really thought I had this all under control. We had layed Ezra's clothes out the night before and talked about our routine. Ezra was really nervous when he woke up and didn't feel like eating, so the waffles (frozen, by the way - I'm not SuperMom) stayed on their plate this morning. We opted for some snuggle time instead. We got both the kids dressed and teeth brushed and we were ready to go.

Our family loaded up on our bikes for the short ride to school. I was really glad that we were riding bikes as the line of cars to get to school was backed up past our street! We got there much faster than if we had been in the car. I didn't think I was stressed out, but when we got to the school I was really feeling the need to be close to Ezra and just make sure everything was OK. I parked my bike in the bike rack and went to help Ezra get his bike locked, when suddenly behind me I hear a screaming child. After a few seconds, I realize - Hey that's my child! That's right, I have 2 children! Kaylen was on the back of my bike and I had completely forgotten about her and walked away. The bike can't stand up with the extra weight in the back, so of course it had fallen over on the concrete and scraped her arm and bonked her head. I'm really not exaggerating when I say that all of the other parents were looking at us with that look -- you know the one.

We dropped Ezra off at his room (with Kaylen still crying) and I was really impressed. I think his teacher has it together. The kids who were already there were seated, happy, and busy. She was able to give individual attention to every student who walked in. I felt really good about leaving him, but I still came home and cried. I comforted myself with the fact that I still have one more year where I spend more time with him than any other adult.

I picked him up at 11:00 today and he said he had a great time! He's ready to go back tomorrow. Luckily I have 2 more weeks before kaylen starts school and I have to really take care of both of them at the same time!

'Twas the Night Before Kindergarten

2007-08-26T19:15:00.000-07:00

I found this on someone else's blog. I thought it was so cute, so I wanted to add it to mine! So, here it is - blatantly stolen:

'Twas the night before kindergarten, and as they prepared,
kids were excited and a little bit scared.
They tossed and they turned about in their beds,
while visions of school supplies danced in their heads.
Erasers and crayons and pencils galore
were stuffed in their backpacks and set by the door.
Outfits were hung in the closets with care,
knowing that kindergarten soon would be there.
In the morning it came--school starts today!
Would the teacher be nice? Would they still get to play?
Faces were washed, and teeth were brushed white;
kids posed for pictures with eyes sparkling bright.
Parents packed snacks, and kids hopped in cars
as if they were boarding a spaceship to Mars.
Some kids brought blankets or their favorite stuffed bear,
in hopes they could nap like they did last year.
Their parents exclaimed, "You're big kids--wow!
Let us hold your bears and blankies for now."
The parents were worried their children would cry
if they left them at school with just a good-bye.
So they told their darlings, "If you want, we can stay
and make sure that everythingwill be A-okay."
The teacher then greeted each one with a smile,
and invited the students to stay for a while.
The room was all filled with toys, books, and maps,
but where are the beds for midmorning naps?
They colored and painted and played Simon Says,
then tumbled and skipped and stood on their heads.
They sang silly songs from beginning to end.
Within just a minute, each kid had a friend.
The children were happy. They loved Miss Sunrise!
It was she who was in for a giant surprise.
When what to her wondering eyes should appear
but sad moms and dad who were holding back tears!
Their noses--so sniffly! Their eyes--red and wet!
This was the saddest good-bye Miss Sunrise had seen yet!
She gathered the grown-ups on the magical rug,
then sent them away after one final hug.
The children all waved from the door of the school,
"Don't cry, Mom and Dad; kindergarten is cool!"
-- by Natasha Wing

Meet Your Teacher

2007-08-23T17:57:00.001-07:00

Tonight was meet your teacher night at school. This is Ezra with his new teacher, Mrs. Bryant. Ezra starts his first day of Kindergarten at 8:00 on Monday morning.

Rite of Passage

2007-07-17T19:04:00.000-07:00

Kaylen turned 3 this year. The girls in the Herndon family get a Bitty Baby for their third birthday. Kaylen opened hers this weekend while the family was together. I wish you could have seen her face when she opened it. I think she's in love. She named her Mary Belle.

A Full Table

2007-07-17T18:53:00.000-07:00

All of the cousins were together at Gramma and Papa Herndon's this weekend. What a full table. Every time we get together I am amazed that God could give so many good things to one family. We have much to be thankful for.

Lake Life

2007-07-17T18:38:00.000-07:00

We spent part of last week at the lake with my extended family. The kids loved it. They got up when the sun came up and went to bed long after it had set. They swam, played with cousins, rode on the boat, swam some more, rode on the catamaran, made smores, ran around in the dark with glow sticks and flashlights and slept in tents.

Being there with them showed me again their zest for life. Especially Ezra. He wanted to try everything. He rode on every boat there was to ride. He tried kneeboarding, skiing, inner-tubing and zip-sledding. Any time a boat was leaving the doc, he was running up saying, "I want to go! I want to go!"

I hope he never loses that desire to try new things.

Swimming Lessons

2007-07-05T18:55:00.000-07:00

Ezra finished swimming lessons this week. Today was parent's day. This is the first day we've been able to watch swimming lessons. He was really challenged this year. His swimming really improved.

You wouldn't know it by talking with him after class, however. Every day after lessons I would ask him how it went and what he learned. The only thing he could tell me from class is what he did for his free dive that day. I'm pretty sure this is a taste of what's to come. I think I'm going to know what he did at recess every day of school and that's about it!

Thanks, Aunt Marty!

2007-06-03T19:12:00.000-07:00

We returned home from Germany just a few days ago. We were home less than 24 hours when we drove to Oklahoma City to go to a wedding. We spent the weekend with my big sister, Marty. Marty, Don, Kelly and Nathan took care of all of us this weekend. They cooked us yummy food. They kept us up late to help us get over jet lag. They even planned a 3rd birthday party for Kaylen including a family lunch with steak!

There's just nothing quite like a big sister. I really thought we'd out-grow the stage where she was the one always taking care of me. I'm pretty much convinced that I'm going to need my big sister for the rest of my life!

Ezra & Erik

2007-05-15T07:31:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of Ezra with his "reader" Erik. They have lots of fun playing while Lisa reads with Erik's mom.

Things Are Great in Peine

2007-05-11T14:14:00.000-07:00

We just wanted to let you know how great things are going here in Peine!

We had our information meetings yesterday. They only had 4 people call in response to the ads, so we weren’t sure how many would come. We had to set up more chairs to accommodate everyone. Oh, we of little faith! We signed up 16 people at the meeting, and are up to 19 readers now. Candy went to a school today and talked in a couple of classes. We also handed out cards to all of our readers to give to their friends, so we are confident we will have even more readers in the next few days.

We had our first full day of reading today. It was fantastic! Kelsey and I had a combined total of 7 readers today. Even Ezra had a “reader.” One of my readers has a 6-year old son who has been learning English, so he comes and practices with Ezra during our session. He’s feeling like pretty hot stuff.

The church here is really active. It seems like there’s always something going on here at the building. They are all very excited about the number of readers we have and are actively getting to know them already. Several came to the information meeting because they were so excited to meet the new readers.

We love the city. The part we are in is small and quiet. There’s a great downtown area that we have driven by, but haven’t had the chance to visit yet. Lots of outdoor cafes and beautiful old buildings.

Thanks for all of your prayers. Pray for Kaylen. She turns 3 at the end of our trip, but we need it to happen now!

Greetings From The Netherlands

2007-05-08T06:45:00.000-07:00

We’ve been in the Netherlands for almost a week now. We have really enjoyed our time here. We arrived in Amsterdam on Thursday. Jim Krumrei picked us up from the airport and took us to Haarlem. Jim and his wife Ruth have been missionaries in Haarlem for 44 years. We had a little less than 24 hours in Haarlem, but it was a great place to start getting used to the time change. We spent lots of time walking around the city. It is a very picturesque Dutch city with lots of bicyclists, windmills and flowers. Being out in the sunshine was a great way to get our bodies on the right schedule.

The next day we met Nancy and Tracy Menard. Nancy and Tracy are the LST team to The Hague. We met them at a famous tulip garden called Keukenhof. We spent the morning and early afternoon in the garden, and then took a bus, a train and a tram to get to the church building in The Hague where we’ve spent this week. We met with several of the church members on Friday night to talk about the LST project. We encouraged the church members to stay involved and helped them think more about their follow-up plans.

We had information meetings on Saturday and Sunday. This is a time when readers come and meet the team, find out more about LST, and sign up for their first appointment. Trancy and Nancy signed up 13 readers each. That is fantastic! The maximum they would want to have is 15 each, so they have a few spaces open for people they meet and friends of other readers.

We are so excited about what God is going to do here in The Hague. This is a congregation with lots of young people from all over the world. This city is very international. Almost everyone we’ve met on the street can speak English. Since there are so many people from so many different places, English is kind of the common language. Many of the readers are desperate to learn English to either keep the jobs they have or to get better ones. We know that when the readers get to know Jesus and the Church members here great things are going to happen!

We are off to Peine, Germany tomorrow. After meeting the readers here we are so excited to meet the people that we’ll get to share Jesus and share ourselves with for the next 3 weeks in Peine. We know that God will do amazing things!

What Are We Celebrating?

2006-05-31T11:56:00.000-07:00

Ezra and I were driving home yesterday. Ezra asked, "Can we go get a slushie today?"

I said, "I don't think so."

"We need to celebrate," he said.

"What do we need to celebrate?" I asked.

"Jesus died on the cross, Mom."

Needless to say, we went to Sonic after dinner to celebrate.

School Program

2006-05-06T13:57:00.000-07:00

Here is Ezra at his school program. His class sang- "Bah Bah Black Sheep", "R-E-D", "Skinamarenk" (does anyone really know how to spell that?), "Twinkle, Twinkle," Recited the Pledge of Allegiance and then played "Kum ba Yah" with hand bells. We have the whole thing on video, but it's probably more than anyone other than the grandparents really care to see. Here's a portion of Ezra with the hand bells. I think his technique is impeccable. :) You can tell that Kelsey and I were totally captivated by him. We were so busy watching that the camera loses him sometimes.

A Little Confused

2006-05-04T12:31:00.000-07:00

Yes, we know it's a football.

Finished!

2006-05-04T12:24:00.000-07:00

This is Kaylen in her new room with Uncle Eric and Papa Tom.

DURING

2006-05-04T11:48:00.000-07:00

Here's a not-so-detailed account of the process:

The first step (after a LONG trip - or two - to the Home Depot) is framing. We (I say WE - I really had nothing to do with it.) removed half of the railing and framed in the room. The room is 10X12 - pretty small - especially after you take out a closet. You'll also notice that half of the dining room is painted red. (the actual name is Mission Tile)
After the room is framed, we put up the drywall. Eric, Dad and Kelsey did most of the heavy lifting and putting in the drywall screws, but Mom is a whiz at filling in the cracks with the putty knife. So, we were sitting at lunch and suddenly Dad says, "Where is the light switch in that room?" Eric's answer was, "Behind the drywall." So, they had to take down one of the drywall sheets and cut a hole in it for the light switch. Oops! Here is Kelsey wielding the Texture Sprayer. This job was pretty difficult. He had to get the new texture to match the old texture since they were right next to each other. I must say he did a very good job. Eric was a big help. He did all of the flattening after Kelsey sprayed. This was the end of the first day. We went to bed late to wait for the texture to dry before we began painting the next day.

Mom was the queen taper. We used 3 rolls of painters tape and 22 sheets of ground cover. Since we were using the sprayer EVERYTHING had to be covered. Dad even went and begged newspapers off of the neighbors in order to get everything covered properly.Here are Eric and Kelsey spraying. It really took 3 people to do the job. Eric ran the sprayer and Dad and Kelsey held the shields to make sure the ceiling and floor didn't get any overspray.

Ezra got home just in time to help with clean-up. Of course, he was wearing a brand new pair of shorts! Oh well, he had a good time! They're still wearable. However, the lawn, flowers and tree still have white stuff on them.

There was a lot more that happened to finish out the room, but by that time, we were tired of taking pictures!

The Big Remodel - Before

2006-05-04T11:31:00.000-07:00

Okay. Before this all started we lived in a 3-bedroom house with a good size loft. Here are some before pictures.

The Locomotion

2006-04-21T11:09:00.000-07:00

Today we visited a little train in Fort Worth near the zoo. I can't remember what it's called. Anyway, the kids had a really good time. We went with Payton and Benjamin Brooks (and Becky) and Andrew Altrock came with us as well.

It wasn't easy to get these kids to pose for a picture.

We ended the outing with a stop at McDonald's with a playspace for lunch. Does it get any better?

Easter

2006-04-18T11:05:00.000-07:00

Here are our little sweeties all dressed in their Easter best. We visited Gramma and Papa Herndon in Tulsa for Easter, but Grandma and Papa Norris came to visit as well. Ezra and Kaylen were the only children there, so they got to color and hunt eggs witht the full attention of 6 adults.

Really. They're not that spoiled.

Happy New Year!

2006-01-01T14:45:00.000-08:00

We celebrated the New Year with the Herndon side of the family. We really wanted to do something special with the children. So, we had the children write or draw something they were praying for this year. Then, we gave each child a helium balloon and had them tie their prayer/picture to the balloon. We counted down and released the balloons. Then we didn't feel so bad for sending the kids to bed at 8:30! (This was all Kelly's idea by the way -- isn't she great!)
After that all the moms and dads had a great time playing "What were you thinking."

Gift Exchange

2005-12-20T10:25:00.000-08:00

We had our family gift exchange this morning. It was so much fun! We started the morning by reading the story of baby Jesus and thanking God for all of the gifts He has given us -- the most important being Jesus. Ezra wasn't quite sure why we were doing that, but we think it will be a great tradition that they will treasure as they grow older.

After that, we opened our gifts to each other. Kaylen wasn't so interested in opening gifts. She liked whatever Ezra got! Ezra got a new marble track. Both kids love it. Kaylen got a little tricyle that we can push her in and can also be a rocker. She really has no interest in it other than pushing it around. We hope that when Ezra is riding his bike outside she'll gain more of an interest. It's rainy here this morning, so we'll have to wait to test it out! We can't wait to be with our families in the next few weeks and share gifts with them.

Click Here to Watch a Video

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

2005-12-19T12:54:00.000-08:00

Santa came to visit the kids at their "school." Kaylen's obviously a big fan. What a little man Ezra is!

Bathtub serenade

2005-12-17T11:33:00.000-08:00

Real or Fake?

2005-12-07T11:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went out and bought a fake Christmas tree without telling Kelsey. I just put it up, put the lights on it, and got all the ornaments out so we could decorate it when he got home. This was a huge adjustment for Kelsey. We've been married almost 9 years now, and every year we've been in the States we've had a real tree. I'm looking forward to not having to vacuum up the needles every day, but Kelsey really misses the smell. I'm going out this week to buy a pine scented candle. Do you think that will help?

Still Broken

2005-12-05T14:46:00.000-08:00

We took Kaylen's cast off yesterday, and she still wasn't walking well on it. So, we got in at the orthopedist's office. He confirmed that he also thought her leg was broken. He couldn't prove it with the X-Rays, but he said all the symptoms were there. He said we could cast it if we wanted to, but it would go clear up to her hip since she's so small. That would make walking really difficult and baths nearly impossible. So, he recommended that we do nothing. (We're really good at that!) He said there's little chance that she will break it any worse, and that since the fracture is so small it will heal well on its own. It should take 3 or 4 weeks. So, until then, Children's Tylenol and Ibuprofen are our best friends!

Broken!

2005-12-01T13:00:00.000-08:00

Last night we were playing at Chick-fil-A and Kaylen was very unhappy when she came down the slide. We thought she was just scared, so we went ahead and sent her to Bible class. When we picked her up, her teachers told us somehting was wrong. We had our friend Philip Woodward come and look at it and he said he thought it was broken. We waited until this morning and then took her to the urgent care. They did an X-Ray and said they couldn't see a break, but they thought it was probably a Toddler's Fracture. That means that the break is so small that it can't be seen. They put this splint on it and wrapped it up. Kaylen's pretty happy. We're supposed to check her again in 3 days.

GoKart!

2005-11-19T07:34:00.000-08:00

Ezra had so much fun riding the GoKart at PaPa Tom and Grandma's house. It may be possible that Kelsey had more fun, however! Ezra also got to help PaPa work on the house. He dug holes and pounded in nails. PaPa even let him use the electric drill to remove screws from some stuff he was working on. He also drove the green tractor all over the field and saw some pheasant and a coyote. Then they drove the new (used) grain truck down to the cotton field to check out the cotton. Ezra really liked honking the horn!

SPIKE

2005-11-11T21:00:00.000-08:00

I sent Ezra in to the bathroom to wash his hands today and he came out with his hair like this. He used about a quarter of a bottle of gel!

If You're Happy and You Know It - CHEESE!

2005-11-05T08:46:00.000-08:00

This is a video of Kaylen singing along with daddy to "If You're Happy and You Know It." You may have to turn up the volume for this one. It's a little quiet.

Halloween Pics

2005-11-01T07:39:00.000-08:00

This is Ezra's Halloween Haircut. He really didn't like it. He wanted to go home and wash it right after we left the salon! Ezra is squatting like this in all of his Halloween pics. It must be his incredible pose.

Hot Dog Banquet

2005-10-30T20:29:00.000-08:00

Ezra made us so proud when he closed the Kid's Missions Hot Dog Banquet at our church with a sweet prayer. He had a sheet that his Mom made for him with some pictures on it to remind him what to pray for. We hope you can see the video.