Birthday Bash

Last weekend, we finally celebrated Jonathan's 11th birthday.  We were only a month late!  We celebrated with the Garstka's and the DiSpigno's.  We feel very blessed to have such good friends.  Jonathan also invited his friend James from school.

We invited everyone to Strikz for a game of laser tag and some video games.   This is Jonathan's second year in a row to have is birthday at Strikz.  And, sadly, this is the second year in a row that the boys won the game of laser tag. Personally, I think there needs to be a rematch. 

Stylin' and Profilin'

Jonathan and James - ready for some serious laser tag

Whatever happened to Pacman and Donkey Kong?  This looks scary!

Jess and Ally

Madison 

The Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday, Jonathan!  We love you very much!  We are so proud of you and the young man that you are becoming.

Happy Valentine's Day

We had a really nice Valentine's Day.  Jessie and Jonathan both liked their prizes that were laid out for them this morning when they woke up. That is always exciting for a mom. You never want to give lame gifts.

The kids had a doctor's appointment this morning.  Poor Jonathan had to get 2 shots, and he missed his class party.  Other than that, he reported that he had a great day.  We thought Jess was going to need a tetnus shot, but it turns out she just needed some blood work done. So, she scored big.

Fred and I don't really exchange Valentine gifts, but he did run to the grocery store before I got home.  While Jonathan and I worked on homework, Fred cooked steak, lobster, and steamed broccoli.  It was all very delicious.   Jonathan ate what he referred to as a "mini-feast" while he was waiting on dinner.  I think that the mini-feast consisted of all the candy in his Valentine bag!  At one point, he got the hiccups and he became concerned that he might throw up.  I was concerned right along with him.  After all, losing your fun dip would pretty much ruin Valentine's Day.  I'm just sayin'. 

We hope everyone enjoyed their day as much as we did (minus the shots, blood work and overindulging on candy)!

Creation Station

There is something about Valentines that always seems to get those creative juices flowing.  The kids and I put our creative hats on this weekend, and each worked on different projects.

I worked on these invitations for our Young Women's New Beginnings program.  I was quite proud of them!

Jessie baked and decorated this Valentine cake.  I think she did an exceptional job!

Jonathan worked on his Valentine bag and cards.  He used my Cricut to create this masterpiece.  He just picked random shapes. It is pretty much an anti-Valentine boyish looking bag that makes no sense.  I was quite proud of it!

The Fortenberry's aren't creative by nature, but we do enjoy a good creative weekend every now and then!

My Wish

My wish for this beautiful, sweet girl is that she will know her worth.  That she will know that she is a most precious child of God.  I want her to see herself the way Heavenly Father sees her.

I can only pray with her, read scriptures with her, take her to church, teach her, and love her.  The rest is up to her.  She can listen to what she has been taught, or she can listen to the world.

Good Works

My Beehives have been working on a Personal Progress requirement for Good Works.  They needed to complete 3 hours of service.  My mom volunteers for the Project Linus.  She put together blanket kits, and brought them out to us.  She trained us on how tie off these cute little blankets, so that they can be given to sick or traumatized kids in need.  The girls really got into this project and had a great time!

Faith

Emma M.

Anndrea

Emma L.

Sydney

Sister Fortenberry

It is such a blessing to be able to teach these sweet Beehives.  They are so open, and have taught me far more than I have taught them!

This Little Piggy

The kids had a couple of days off around MLK day.  I took one of those days off, and Jess and I went out for a mani/pedi.  Now, let me tell you that Jess lives in fear that I will embarrass her.  I can relate, because I was always embarrassed by my parents.  I figure that I deserve to have a child that is embarrassed by me.

Well, the tables have turned.  Jess has now taken to embarassing ME.  As we were getting our nails done, one of the ladies complimented me on my hairstyle.  I thanked her, and then she added that she also liked my hair color.  Jess pipes up in a very loud voice, "It's fake.  Her hair is really brown.  I'm just sayin'."   Seriously???

Going Crazy!!!!

This is our third day of bad weather.  I am going crazy.  The kids are fine.  They are watching TV, playing on the computer, iTouch, DS, Wii and whatever else.  Not me.  If I check Facebook one more time, I'm going to scream!!!  The entire country is in the same boat, so I'm getting very few work emails to follow-up on.  (Now I've gone and jinxed myself... there will be some huge crisis today that I can't fix from home!)

I couldn't take it anymore, and went for a 20 minute walk this morning.  It was cold, don't get me wrong, but the bigger issue was the sheets of ice that I had to walk on. I almost busted it a few times.  I was fortunate, because I wasn't walking in the wind.  The only time I had trouble was when I turned down my street.  I was the only fool out walking, but it felt so good to get out of the house!  Remember how Gracie pottied in front of the neighbor's house?  It was still there.  A big frozen yellow circle.  How embarassing!

My face is red in this picture, because my body temp was at about 100 degrees.  I was wearing long underwear, an oversized pair of jeans (to accommodate the long underwear), a long sleeve undershirt, a big fleece shirt, my winter coat, Jonathan's winter cap, Fred's camouflage neck warmer thing-a-ma-bob, Jonathan's fleece scarf, my headband thingy that covers your ears, two pair of gloves and rubber boots with furry lining (still hanging around from 1992).  It was perfect!  I was nice and toasty.

Productivity

We are on our second ice day.  I've been pretty productive.  I've helped both kids with their homework.  I've done lots of laundry, and helped Jess bake cupcakes.  I have done a little work for Nouveau, and a whole bunch of projects for church.

Other than some homework that they finished up, I can't say that my children have been very productive. 

Oh, well.  There is always tomorrow.  We received the news that we get to do this again tomorrow.  Oh my!  I love a good bad weather day, but this is ridiculous!

Who Let the Dogs Out

It is a ice/snow day today.  I realized at 9:30 this morning that our doggy door was frozen shut.  My dogs never alerted me to the fact that they couldn't get out to do their business.  Who wants to go squat in the snow and ice?  Really?

So, I got this crazy idea to take them out for a walk.  They were really excited about the prospect of a walk.  I pulled the leashes out and they went crazy.  I wonder why it is okay to go for a walk in the snow, but not okay to go out in the backyard?  I pulled out my rubber boots from my University of North Texas days.  I'm so glad that I've hung on to those.   They are so out of style and not very attractive, but they served their purpose today.

 I grabbed my crazy girls and away we went into the freezing wind.  What was I thinking?  Getting these girls to do their business was a hard job.  They were excited and all over the place!  Mollie wanted to smell everything, but wasn't interested in doing anything.  Usually, she goes to the bathroom every couple of feet.  Not today!  Gracie on the other hand did her business.  On the sidewalk.  In front of the neighbor's house.  How embarassing!  She really has adopted the "I'm old, so I can do anything I want" attitude. 

You know it is cold and windy when your hair is all over the place, and your mascara is running down your face! (It is so cold that my left eye won't even open fully!)  My mission was accomplished, and I won't be going outside anytime soon!  I asked Jonathan if he wanted to go out with me, and he informed me that it was way too cold.  Smart man!  I wish I had been that smart!