Missing Philip

It was great to talk to Philip (Elder Awbrey) on Christmas. We miss him and love him so much. Sounds like he's a little missing us there too. I know he's keeping busy but it is hard to be away.
I have it much easier than he does, because I'm here and extremely busy too. He's gone and everything familiar is gone too. So we are trying to write often as he loves getting mail (mentioned it a lot on the phone!). I also have an extra bonus with a couple who are missionaries about 22 miles away from him, who have a blog and post pictures. They are so sweet. The Hugos had them over for Christmas and Thanksgiving and posted pictures, so I got to see my missionary too. Very grateful for them.
So if you have time, please send Philip a note, draw him a picture, whatever, stick it in the mail. He'd love to hear from you!! :)

www.hugomission.blogspot.com for the Hugo's blog :)

Toesocks

It wouldn't be Christmas with out socks. And we all love toe socks!!

Dad's Birthday

We finally got around to Greg's Birthday. THe candles are in the shape of a smiley face. Hey, that's just too many candles to light, I have a smoke detector that works!
And everyone, that's Larry on the right, our neighbor who can fix anything and is part of our family. He's always there to help fix your car, critique your project, fix your French horn, or help eat up that extra crawfish! Thanks Larry, you're the best!! :)

Nerf Weapons

Oddly enough, Alexander and Connor, the 6-year-old across the street, got the same stuff for Christmas. We should have taken a picture of the two of them together. It was so cute. Both got nerf weapons and pillow pets!
Alexander went out and conquered both of his sisters at the same time! (You can see he picked up a penguin, too!)

Pogo Girl

I know, it's a picture of Dad and Alexander working on the game... but Elizabeth was unstoppable on her new pogo stick! This one is a lot sturdier than the last one she wore out!

Snuggly things

Pillow pets and snuggies were the big deal this year. Alex got a pillow pet (a... you knew this was coming... duck) on his last band trip and we all fell in love. And there were so many snuggie jokes going around we had to get them... (I got some major deals on these!) and the house is so cold most of the time (a/c in summer, a/c in "winter") that they'll actually get worn. It took everyone a while to figure out they were backwards! Alex likes the way his trails behind him like a royal robe.

And to you drama students, that's BathRobee! Or the Blonket!! :)


Regardless it was a snuggly Christmas!

Eliz in her snuggie

And the purple corner of the room...

Alex Christmas

Katie Christmas

Katie opening her presents!

Backstage with Elizabeth

Here is Elizabeth and crew. She is the stage manager for their drama club. She's in charge of training her crew on lights, sound, props, cues... and she does a terrific job! :)

Alex gets his license!

And here he is, signing his name on the dotted line. Congratulations kid!
(There goes my insurance bill!)

Alex goes to the Office of Motor Vehicles

Yes it was a big day when Alex finally decided he was willing to take the driver's test. In Louisiana, you take the written after you take a 16 hour courseto get your permit. Then if you wait until you're 18 you don't need any other formal school if you can pass the driving test. Strange! He took the test in my big ole minivan.

Actually we went to get him a hair cut first. It was way overdue and he wanted to look good for his picture! :)

Girls Decorating Tree

I am sure someone can explain where the little stars come from...
E&K decorating the tree.

Katie helps decorate

It's a pretty tall tree!

Box o Christmas

What a cutie!

Setting up the Tree

In some parts, this would just not be normal... instead of chopping down a carefully selected fir tree to drip pitch all over our floor, we have our perfectly proportioned, shed-free, prelit tower Christmas Cheer!

This is Alexander and Elizabeth helping to get it out of storage.

Merry Christmas!

I gotta hand it to my mother in law. She is awesome with computers. She read a post about Elizabeth getting a pogo stick and very shortly had found, scanned and posted a picture of Elizabeth's Aunt Lori on her pogo stick! It takes a serious block of time and concentration for me to get pictures up!
It was a quiet CHristmas for us, mostly because we curtailed all the visits by me getting stomach flu and Greg was scheduled to be out of town. He got vacation at the last possible moment so he was here when Philip called from Arizona. It was so good to hear Philip's voice. He's a great kid. He loved hearing all of us too. It's great to be family!

Still Alive!

Just a note to say "I'm still alive" - busy, but alive! Love you!! :)

November 10, 2010

Well about time I got back to posting. Thank you for not nagging!
Greg was re-elected. Yeah! He's working hard to keep things moving. It seems very common for new people to throw out old ideas. We have a master plan they have been working on for four years and it's about ready to be set into action. It would stink to have all that time and money end up in a recycle bin. I hope they get going on it. Our schools are in terrible shape.
The girls are doing great. Both are in Drama at school and it looks like Stage Manager Elizabeth may work her sewing talents into making new curtains for the Drama Club. Cool! She just got an award, 2nd place for AR points in her school. She and Katie have a new piano teacher and are doing fun new things.
Alex is currently in Indianapolis for a band competition. We made him chocolate chip cookies to take with him. If you live nearby, come on over, he saved some for us too! Can you believe it?
Philip is doing well on his mission. There are some couple missionaries nearby who have a blog. Bless them. He got our box, now we're sending a priority box to see how long it takes to see if we can send him cookies. It's all he's asked for. He is in Greasewood, AZ, which is technically in the middle of nowhere, and he's driving a truck over some pretty primitive roads. He and his companion are teaching at a Navajo reservation and put 80 miles a day on their truck. He's having the best two years of his life!He has sent five pictures, but they're too big to upload, I have to reinstall Picasa and try that. (I uninstalled it because my printer was doing weird things, but uninstalling it didn't help so I might as well keep using it.)
If you want a calendar for Christmas and you're not related by blood or marriage, give me a call. I have them on the way. Pictures of my cute kids. I finished at midnight so if they turn out goofy that's why. At least the pics will be cute. Greg made me change the order (Hey, that one looks cold and it's in July! What were you thinking?) so now I worry the captions weren't changed. Oh well it will be interesting. Next year it will just be the three kids unless we Photoshop Philip in or buy a cardboard stand-up of him to carry to photo shoots. Feel free to make your preference known!
Obviously it's getting late again so I better quit rambling. Blogger often loses my text when I go long.
Would love to hear how you are doing. Miss you. So busy I don't know if I'll ever catch up! H

Campaigning

Well today is the day. We cast our votes this morning and the girls came with me to make sure I voted for Dad. I have gotten off at lunch every day to campaign and walked and knocked and passed out fliers, and gone with Dad to all his forums, presentations and debates. I know he has done a super job on the school board so I want to make sure I give my all. Philip helped A LOT and the girls have done their share, Alexander has helped between band and work when he could.
If dad wins, he'll stay on the school board and be voting to repair our schools and continue to work hard for the students and teachers. If he doesn't, we'll still be going to school board meetings but we'll have vacation days to take with our family. Since it's a relatively thankless job and only one person who does not live in this house has helped us campaign this time, we are absolutely exhausted and we are starting in on all the things we have put off for the past month... Dusting, cleaning out mom's closet (everything goes there when we have to clean up) and laundry. Airing pillows, washing sheets, all that stuff has just not gotten done. It is wonderful it's almost over.

The same girls in June 2005

First day of School August 11 2010

Yes here it is, the long awaited first day of school picture. I didn't get Alexander as he was up and gone from the house before I got my camera out. Here you go, Lisa!! Thanks for reminding me!! :)

Both the girls are in middle school this year and in drama club. Elizabeth is an officer and really doing a great job being a leader. Both girls are doing well and it's going to be a great year!

Yes it's that time again!

SO if you have been wondering where we are and what we're doing, we are campaigning. Knocking on doors. Giving our all. Because voters need reminders. Good luck Greg!

French Immersion Downtown

There were some ambassadors from France visiting and part of the program included school children singing and parents' testimonials about the French Immersion program. Greg went up and spoke and Philip translated. Great event right before an election too!

Bella, our Office Doggie

We have a doggie at the office now. Bella is a 7 week old Spinone Italiano. Here she is helping with our legal matters. She's still just a baby!! :)

Quick trip to the Zoo!

No Katie doesn't need glasses. She wears them for fun.


We got to feed the Lorry Parrots which was messy but fun. They are a lot less scary than macaws with their tiny feet and teeny beaks!!

Philip gets his Mission Call!

He's going to the Farmington New Mexico mission and reports to the Missionary Training Center 29 September 2010.
We had lots of friends over and made everyone wear a tie. They all looked so funny in the crazy ties! We were glad so many people could come.
Philip is so excited. We got his suitcases, his suits, his shoes, his ticket, only the details left. Will post his address soon. He'll be at the MTC for 3 weeks then off to New Mexico.