Christmas Scavenger Hunt

Christmas morning, we had the kids open their presents and their stockings.  Just when they thought they were through, we sent them all around the house looking for clues to their last gift.  It was only money, because Santa had absolutely no idea what to get these children for Christmas.  Last year, they had big gifts that they wanted.  This year, Santa ran out of time and ideas.  There were no requests from the little children, so Santa thought they might enjoy a little green for their wallet.  However, we made them work very hard for it.  Jessie was quick to figure out her clues and was running all over the house.  Jonathan let her know that it isn't a race and it doesn't matter who gets there last.  We laughed and told him that is what all the people who are in last place say.  In the end, they had fun and enjoyed hunting for their gift.

Christmas Morning

Historically, I struggle with keeping my blog updated during December and January is overwhelming to me.  Posting during the busy holidays is next to impossible and then there is the thought of trying to give a Christmas update!  I think I might just hit the highlights.  Or, I might just post pictures without much commentary and let you use your imagination.  We'll just see where the posts take me...

We enjoyed a quiet Christmas at home with just our little family this year.  It was a busy week and a a half.  We were running everywhere and enjoying so many people that we love.  I was thankful that we were able to just enjoy our family on that special day.

 

Fred grew his beard out for the Mountain Man Rendezvous that he and Jonathan went on right before the new year.  

Sweet Mollie loves being the center of attention.

Our holidays were crazy, so Jessie decorated my tree for me! Thank goodness or it might not have gotten decorated.

We had a busy, but wonderful Christmas.  December just about did me in, but it was worth it.

And, Then My Life Changed

Over Thanksgiving, I was digging around in my unorganized tub of pictures looking for something super specific when I found this picture from a company party.  It was taken on August 10, 1996.  The night before Jessie was born.  I was so excited.  I went running in to show Jessie.  I was yelling at her, "Look at this picture.  It was taken the night before you were born.  Do you hear me? THE night before you were born.  Look at it!"

She was kind of puzzled and let me know that she didn't understand what she was looking at.  Of course she didn't.  She is nineteen years old.

I feel like this picture represents my life as I knew it.  All normal and carefree.  Then, the next morning, I woke up and out of nowhere, my life changed forever!  Okay, it wasn't out of nowhere, but it was earlier than expected.

Then, I found this picture and it kind of makes me laugh.  Most people look at their newborns with that new mother glow.  Boy, I did love her and I was so happy to be a new mom  But, this was one stubborn baby.  She was six days old in this picture and I didn't feel like we were ever coming home from the hospital.  I think I was staring her right in the eyes and trying to will her to take that bottle.  Trust me, that approach didn't work then and it doesn't work now.

Before August 10, 1996, life was fun.  It was filled with hanging out with friends.  We went wherever we wanted whenever we wanted.  We played in the lake on the weekends and went to every movie that was ever made.  I used to see a lot of movies.  We used to just hang out.  Doing nothing sometimes.  Or maybe we went out to eat.  There was a time when I knew each of my friends' usual orders at all of our favorite restaurants.  Life was easy.  We didn't have anyone to answer to.

I wouldn't change a thing, though!  I'm so glad that I woke up on August 11, 1996 and had my life changed forever.  Those little people (that aren't so little anymore) have added lots of love, laughter and happiness into our lives.

2014 Memories - Christmas at MaMaw and Grady's House

Last year, we celebrated Christmas with my side of the family on December 27th.  We had so much fun that I hardly took any pictures at all.  Here are a few of the pictures that I took, but seriously, I didn't take a bunch!

Cute Cousins!  Jessie, Lainey (my brother's daughter) and Logan (my cousin's son)

Logan entertaining Lucy and Sue

A thumbs up from Jessie

Lainey checking out Jonathan's new game

A Look Back at Christmas Morning 2014

Last November, I posted my 30 Days of Gratitude and then I started a recap of Thanksgiving.  After that, I took about a 4 month sabbatical from my blog.  I can't even give you a good reason.  Mostly, I got behind and felt overwhelmed.  I never recapped Christmas.

So, I'm going to start December off with a few pictures from Christmas morning at our house last year.

The stockings were hung with care.  We had a couple of extra stockings (that you can't see) for Grandma and PawPaw Larry.

Here is our modest little tree.  There were more presents tucked around the corner.

One of our favorite ornaments

A house divided.  Most of us are dog people.  And, then there is Jessie.  She is cat people.  

We enjoyed having Grandma and PawPaw Larry spend Christmas with us last year.  We had such a nice Christmas.  We tried to make it a very memorable and special Christmas for them.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 23

I am so thankful for my Savior, Jesus Christ.  I am thankful for His atoning sacrifice.  I know that every trial that I've ever gone through, He has endured it before me.  How amazing and humbling.

"The Savior's Atonement lifts from us not only the burden of our sins but also the burden of our disappointments and sorrows, and heartaches and our despair.  I promise you He is not going to turn His back on us now.  When He says to the poor in spirit,  "Come unto me,"  He means He knows the way out and He knows the way up.  He knows it because He has walked it.  He knows the way because He is the way."

- Jeffrey R. Holland

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 17

Today is World Prematurity Day and we are thankful for our sweet little baby girl that gave us a run for our money 19 years ago.  Both of our babies were little squirts, but Jessie gave us more challenges than Jonathan.  We recognize how blessed we are.  She was 4 lbs 1 oz and only required a 2 1/2 week hospital stay.  While we were lucky, I don't think very many new moms are prepared for that.  At that point, I should have known that she was going to be high maintenance!

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 3

I am thankful for this crazy girl!  Because of her, I've had to stretch and grow more than I thought possible.  She challenges me, but she makes me smile and laugh.  I love her sensitive, caring nature and the way she loves little children.

I am so very grateful that I have the opportunity to be her mom.

Dog People

In life there are two kinds of people, dog people and cat people.  

We are all dog people in our house.  All of us.  Except for one.  She is cat people.   

I am dog people. Once upon a time, when I was a teenager, I thought I was cat people.  Turns out, I only liked MY cat, Miss Kitty. 

Nope, I'm dog people.

Some of My People

I recently read a book called Home is Where My People Are:The Roads that Lead Us to Where We Belong.  Well, if  home is where my people are, then some of my people just happened to be at Texas Roadhouse celebrating our girl Madison's 12th birthday.

Madison was deserving of a big celebration.  She spreads sunshine and laughter wherever she goes.  She is pretty much a one woman party.  I love her attitude.  If you want to have a good time, then stick with Madison, because you can't have a bad time when you are with Madison.  Another thing I love about Madison is that she had to decide between the 6 oz and the 8 oz fillet for dinner!  I love that she loves steak, because it is my favorite, too.

These kids have been friend/cousins (some really are cousins and some just love each other like cousins) their whole lives.  That is such a blessing and something that they can take with them and hold to forever.  We are missing our sweet Laura and Katy.

I love my people and I am so thankful that I have them.  I only get to see them on special occasions, because the crazies in this picture keep us all so busy.  We hope to see each other at Halloween, because that is our holiday.  The one where Angel talks the big kids into begging for candy even though they are way too old.  The holiday where I have to eat beans in my chili even though I hate beans.  The holiday where the men man the candy table and overwhelm the kids with so many candy choices.  Yep, it's our holiday.

Home is where your people are.  I am so fortunate to have so many people that care about the Fortenberrys.

P.S. I asked Jonathan why he crossed his eyes and he told me he thought Aunt Angel was done taking pictures! (Geez Louise.  I give up!)

Happy Non-National Daughters' Day

Yesterday, I started seeing posts about National Daughters' Day.  Some Posts speculated that they were a day late.  Either way, my feed was blowing up with beautiful sentiments of love for daughters along with sweet pictures.

Then, people started researching and discovering there apparently is no National Daughters' Day.  It was all a hoax.  Some people seemed sad.  Some filled my feed with cynicism

Here's what I say.  Who cares!  So there wasn't a National Daughters' Day.  But, for one day, my feed was filled with love and beauty.  I'll take it.

As my dad would say, I was a day late and a dollar short on the whole National Daughters' Day or is it a dollar waiting on a dime?  Either way, I missed it.

To my Jessie:  I admire your strength and your compassion.  Those qualities will serve you well in life.  You are stronger than you know.  You have an amazing ability to work with children of all capabilities.  While you are quirky, crazy and fun, your interests are completely foreign to me.  However, that is what makes you who you are and I wouldn't change that for anything.

I love you so much and I am proud of you!

Happy National Daughters' Day!

Get Ready to Rumble

This Independence High School's 2nd year and our 2nd annual Rumble was August 15th.  The Rumble is an opportunity for the extracurricular sports and activities to shine. It is also an opportunity for them to sell their wares, so they can make some money.

The Rumble allows every extracurricular sport/activity to run through the  tunnel like the football players while the band plays the fight song for them.  Do you know how many times the band played the fight song, while everyone ran/walked through.  It felt like a million.  However, I felt excited for those kids. I love that we do that.

Just so we're clear, the band doesn't get to run through the tunnel.  For one thing, I don't think the sousaphone and drums fit through the tunnel.  And, another thing, who would play the fight song for them?  They march down to the end of the field, so they can get into position.  Still, it is pretty exciting.  I waited and waited for the swim team, so that we could take a picture of the swim team and our favorite swim coach.  Hmmm... they never showed up!  Turns out, running through the tunnel was optional.  

After the band plays the fight song 500,000 times, we get to watch a little scrimmage and hang out with friends!

What more could you ask for!  I just love the tradition of the Rumble!

Happy Birthday, Jessie!

Happy 19th birthday to our Jessie!

Here are 19 things that I love about Jessie.

I love ...

1. her kind heart.
2. that she loves all animals - even those stinky cats! 
3. her ability to love kids and the fact that she is super patient.
4. that she is quirky and owns it.
5. how opinionated she is.
6. most of the baked goods that she creates.
7. that she says "I love you" to her family all the time and means it.
8. her red hair that comes from a box.
9. how she and her dad enjoy watching the same movies and TV shows.
10. her laugh.
11. how she chatters all the time.
12. how passionate she is about topics that touch her heart.
13. that she loves her family.
14. her sensitive nature.
15. her ability to do hard things.
16. her sense of humor.
17. the way she seems to love every single person.
18. how she makes me a better mom.
19. the love that she has for her brother.

Hope you have the best birthday ever!  Thanks for making me a mom 19 years ago and thanks for making me a better person each and every day.  I love you so much.

Good News

So, when I visit the Laurels class on Sundays they go around the room and share their good news-- or fun activity from the week.  I am never prepared, because I forget that they do this.  I think I said something lame-o about having gone to see a movie the night before.  Well, after I had gone, I wanted to scream, "Wait, I take mine back!  My good news is that I got to see my sweet friend, Susan on Friday!"  I only got to see her for a moment at a wedding reception, because she was so very busy.  However, she greeted me with the biggest and best hug and I was so very happy to see her.

Once upon a time, I was a YW 2nd Counselor and Susan was our Beehive Adviser.  I could sit and listen to her teach for hours and hours.  She is my favorite teacher.  I love to listen to her teach.  I know those Beehives loved to listen to her teach, too.  On Sundays, my family would just motion to me that they would be waiting for me in the car.  They always knew that it would take Susan and I a few minutes to wrap up.  On Wednesdays, after mutual, we would be in the parking lot talking (in the dark) late into the night.  Fred would text me to see if I was EVER coming home.  We would be standing in the parking lot solving the world's problems-- or at least worrying about our sweet girls.  It was always hard getting up the next morning, but I loved standing there talking to Susan on those  Wednesday nights.

Our Jessie hit a few snags in life during her sophomore year of high school and we didn't feel it was safe to leave her home alone.  We were afraid that she might hurt herself.  I left work each day and picked her up from school and brought her back to work with me.  It was a crazy and stressful time of life, for sure.  I didn't really tell people what was going on or ask for help.  I just kind of dug in and went to work.  It's hard to ask for help when your are going through that kind of hurt.  Susan knew what we were going through, because we were serving so closely together and because we spent Wednesday nights solving the world's problems.  (Those Wednesday nights were my only time away from my problems.)  Susan started picking Jessie up a couple of days a week from school, so that I could have a break.  It stressed me out at first to have help, but she didn't take no for an answer and it was really good for Jessie to have that time away from me.  They baked together and played with Susan's granddaughter which are Jessie's two favorite things in life.  I will be eternally grateful for the service that Susan provided during that time when we needed help.  I know Jessie will, too. 

I was so sad when Susan moved!  I loved serving with Susan.  She is absolutely one of my favorite people on this earth.  We had so much fun with our Beehives and my testimony grew as I learned from her example.  She taught us about the gospel, loving others and about how to serve others.  

These cute Beehives are now Laurels and we all miss her and think of her often.

Lazy, Crazy 4th

I just love this time of year.  We had a fun, lazy, crazy 4th of July Weekend.  I'm going to try to summarize it into one post, but it might be kind of hard.  On Thursday, we had a cookout at work AND got off work at 3:00 p.m.  It doesn't get any better than that!  Because, when you think of me, the first word that comes to your mind is brave, I popped over and had my nails done very patriotically.

The nail ladies laughed and laughed at me.  I kept smiling and telling them how much I liked my nails, but they could see the fear in my eyes.  I get to live with these nails for about 3 more weeks.  Lucky me.  Lucky you, because they are very noticeable. We all know how I like to standout.  (That's a joke.  In case, you weren't sure.)

Friday we were invited to go out on  Lake Ray Hubbard with the Moffitts and Palmers.  My cute little Jonathan had the time of his life on the tube.  Jessie was a trooper, but would have rather just stayed on the boat.  The pictures are horrible, but tell quite the story.

Conner would grab Jonathan and pull him back on the tube to make sure that he didn't fall off. 

I guess it pays to have really strong friends.

Jess just put her head down and hung on for dear life.  Seriously, though, the boat was going about 5 mph!  She hated it and was scared to death, but got off smiling!

Given a couple of Excedrin, Conner turns into a stunt man!

Saturday, we attended the Ward Breakfast bright and early at 8:00 a.m.  Who thought that was OK?  I vote that they change it to 9:00 next year.  

(Stole this off of Facebook - this is not my pic as evidenced by the fact that I am in the background!)

We were one of the first ones at the breakfast, because Fred had to prepare for the Flag Ceremony.  He forgot to tell me that he needed to swing by the church for the flags.  I couldn't figure out why I was being rushed out the door at 7:35.  I need to understand these things, because I was planning on leaving at 7:55.

The Young Women were in charge of face painting... again.  We pretty much have the market cornered on face painting.

I scored some sweet art on my arms.  You know you love someone when you let her paint a dragon on your arm.  My goal was to prove my undying love to Jaiden by keeping the dragon on my arm all day, but it was so wet that I kept smearing it on everything.  I finally had to wipe it off with make-up remover towelettes.  Fred suggested Clorox Wipes.  He's hard core!

Katelyn thought I should have a more patriotic star on my other arm.  Maybe the dragon was a bit much?  I'm not sure?

You know you've got skills when you can paint your own face using only the reflective surface of your iPad. 

Later that afternoon, we went to see Terminator Genisys and out to eat.  I tried to take pics of Fred and Jonathan, but they clearly didn't cooperate!  I had never seen any of the Terminators, so I was a bit skeptical, but I watched anyway.  I liked it, but had to ask Fred a few questions afterwards.  Now, he wants me to watch the earlier ones.  I'm not sure if that is necessary.  I thought he could just get me up to speed.

On Sunday, we hit the road for Austin. 

We stopped off at Auntie Jan's and Uncle Joe's to visit with them.  Surprise, surprise... we ran into Mom and Dad there.  We stayed in a sketchy La Quinta. It was quite the adventure.

We dropped our favorite boy off at EFY on Monday!  I am going to miss him.  After we dropped him off, I really wanted to go back and pick him up.  I wasn't allowed to drop him off last year.  This is probably why.

Fred got all the way to Trinity University and we started looking for a restaurant to feed Jonathan.  I started using the GPS to locate eating establishments.  They were all "local favorites." 

We ended up stopping at Burger Boy that was just outside of campus.  Jonathan got the Working Man special.  He thought he had died and gone to Heaven.

On the way home, Fred and I stopped at HEB for some souvenirs...fajita meat and Whataburger ketchup.  I'm serious.  They have the best fajita meat and while we were there we bought some of their Whataburger spicy ketchup and jalapeno ranch dip.  When can we get an HEB?  Can someone please tell me?

By the way, Fred got off the interstate for something.  I think it was for the HEB and he said, "Well, the Whataburger is on the wrong side of the freeway.  There is a McDonald's."  I let him know that I could wait, because he had already fed me McDonald's one too many times.  Now, here is where communication is key!  I should have said I can wait about 15 minutes.  Fred had it in his mind that he was waiting for the optimum Whataburger.  I started noticing that we were passing eating establishments right and left and I heard him mention his dismay over all the Whataburgers being on the wrong side of the road.  Finally, I pointed out a Zaxby's, because I know that he really likes that.  I've never had it, but at this point I would take the McDonald's that I turned down.  He passed the Zaxby's up!  Finally, he found the perfect Whataburger at 3:30 p.m.  I was so HANGRY (hungry/angry) that he ordered me a #1 without even consulting with me.  We ended up throwing away half my sandwich, half my fries and a jug of drink. But, I guess Fred figured that he would rather be safe than sorry, since I was so upset!  

We'll head back to San Antonio on Friday after work so that we can get our boy on Saturday morning.  

Other than our Whataburger incident, we had an exceptional holiday!