Friday was a very bad day. My Granny's condition is worsening and my Dad refused to let my sister and I visit her. There will be a special place in hell for him and his witch of a wife for denying my Granny this bit of love. Please pray for my sister and I.

I went ahead and attended the church dinner tonight. It's a benefit for youth and youth ministries. It featured a chinese new year theme complete with a chinese dinner, silent auction and a quarter fortune auction. They'd announce an item and if you were interested you put quarters in a vase and then held up your paddle. If they called your number and you had quarters in the vase you won. John works on Friday nights so I went stag. (wonder if they still call it that?) This is my table of fellow football, Underwood and confirmation folks bidding for a Waldo pizza. One of the things that I like about our new church, Grace United Methodist, is that they really take serious their efforts to develop faith in children.


My former church Woods Chapel United Methodist just didn't get it. They decreased the number of children's rooms (and we live in a community that has to build a new elementary school every year to accomidate the number of families moving into our community) in their building campaign at a time when we couldn't recruit teachers because of the overcrowding of the current rooms, had 4 different children's ministry directors in less than 2 years and 5 different directors who handled 5th and 6th graders in the same time period (and who instead of recognizing that this a prime age for faith formation saw them as a royal pain in the neck who didn't fit in anywhere within the youth structure). See why I'm so glad to be gone! Just reason #32 of how frustrating it was. Grace seems to authentically care about kids, it's a true part of the DNA and fabric of the church community.

Jackson was still sick today. But at least he's starting to feel human again. Deb sent him the peg game that he enjoys from Cracklebarrel. And he spent the day with his trusty side kick Brady by his side. He kept saying that everything tasted like cold or warm mush. But last night nibbled on some Sonic popcorn chicken and enjoyed his beloved cherry slushy which I paid for with the remainder of my roll of quarters! Well, I had to spend them somewhere huh!

A Sick Day

Jackson has the creepy crud. He's trying to relax on the couch but for the company of Brady and Cooper. Notice that Cooper is entertaining himself by trying to remove Jack's sock. If you are laying down Brady thinks you should be loving on him.

The Lenten Journey Begins

We attended Ash Wednesday services tonight.

A Super Fat Tuesday

Today is the last day of Mardi Gras- Fat Tuesday. We made King cakes afterschool. Hidden inside each cake are two little plastic babies. The person whose piece of cake has one of these babies will have a lucky year. (maybe a chipped tooth as well!) We also had a pancake super.

Today was also the Super Tuesday primary. We are preparing for one of those storms of the century and we've had a drenching ice cold rain all afternoon. So Jackson didn't get to campaign as long as he hoped. But he did stand 25 feet outside our poling place with his sign.

I spent the majority of the day with my Granny who is having a rough time with pneumonia and heart issues. Please say a prayer for her and my family.

Monday Mornings

Erin and I love to hang out together on Monday mornings. The theme of today's story time was colors. Here's Erin doing the hokey pokey "you put the red streamer in. you put the red streamer out." It was a big hit with the kids.

Then we had lunch with my special friend Edward. He likes carrots. He lives with his friends the girl elk and a nice herd of buffalo.

All of Lee's Summit feeds these guys.

More please!

I also had lunch with another of my special friends ~ Lauren! I surprised her when she got off the bus from Kindergarten. We are enjoying a beautiful spring like day. And she had lunch on the patio so that she could enjoy the breeze in her hair!

A Super Sunday

It might not have been a perfect season ~ but it was a champion season none the less.

We made these great football helmet cookies for Jackson to take to his confirmation class Super Bowl party. The icing was grey and we added the sprinkles to match the red face masks. Poor Jack he went to the party to watch the game. The other kids were more interested in playing in the new youth room and eating. Yesterday John was asked "where will you watch the game- to which he replied "from about 10 inches in front of the tv."

Our pregame festivites included dressing the dog in a jersey.

Wandering in the Woods

It was warm enough for us to hike in the woods today. This is one of my favorite trails because it threads through a 'holler' and then winds along the lake.

The trail was, as expected, muddy. But I somehow stayed standing even while navigating muddy hilly spots while maintaining control of one very excited pup.

Here's my view from behind the leashes. Colby is such a lady she doesn't need a leash once we get into the trail.

We stopped to let the dogs drink by this scenic overlook.

As we were~ February. Round 2 of the monthly picture.