Last night, just before bed, Rebecca was scratching her back and arm like crazy and finally showed it to me. She thought she had a bunch of mosquito bites. But, no, it looks like she is coming down with the chicken pox. There were more spots this morning. It still seems mild so far, but I think it must be chicken pox....
I'm really glad in a way, cause the only ones who have had them so far are Danny and Cara, and now seems just as good a time as any to let everyone else get them over with. Hopefully we don't have to do this one at a time.
~
Just a while ago, Rebecca let me cut and layer her hair. She has been growing out her bangs, but it just wasn't working with them in her face all the time, so I'm really happy with her new look. I love the layers and think she's beautiful! :-)
Today is Ralph's birthday and we are fixing him one of his favorite meals--taquitos, mexican rice, and banana cream pie. And we got him a new game for the Wii, a nascar racing game. Should be fun.
And now I'm off to help Cara get dinner started......

Cara's big news!

On Wednesday, this girl passed the test and got her drivers permit. How is that possible? I don't know, but somehow she has grown up and her Daddy survived her first driving lesson yesterday. I won't even attempt to get behind the wheel with the kids until Ralph has already spent some time with them. I don't know why, but that's his job....
I guess a little squirrel almost died, but other than that, all went well. :-)
Yea Cara!!!

A picture of Danny and Colette, just because....

A Happy Winter's Day, Spent With Good Friends.....

Yesterday we had the privilege of spending our afternoon with the H Family. I love that family. We always have so much fun there. I forgot my camera, but Carole took these pictures to remember our day by.....

Carole says this last picture with Jackson's serious look is right before we left and he realized that he hadn't had a "goodie" off the table. He was so busy playing that he forgot dessert, which is a huge testament to how much fun he was having, cause he LOVES his sweets. :-)
Carole doesn't know this, but yesterday morning, I woke up with a bad attitude. I don't know why....just cause, I guess. But a day spent with good friends who point me to the Lord was just what I needed.
Thank you, H Family for another fun, encouraging day!

It was a Merry Christmas...

On Christmas Eve we went to Omi's house as usual, to visit with Ralph's family and eat pizza. It used to be German brats every year, that is the traditional German Christmas Eve meal. But these last few years, Ralph's mom hasn't really felt like fixing them and the only ones who miss them are Ralph's sister and her husband. The rest of us are quite happy with the pizza. Here is a picture from that night that could have turned out really nice had it not been for that mirror...oh well, you get the idea.

On Christmas morning we had our family Christmas morning mayhem.

Then after breakfast, we headed down to my parents for our 3rd Christmas. It was great. There were about 30 people there. Here are some of them gathered around to listen to my mom read the Christmas story. The food was great (and plenteous!!!), and it was great to see all my brothers and sisters and their families.
This week, Ralph is off and we have been doing nothing but playing the new Wii, it seems. Next week, it will be back to work for Ralph and back to school for us, but for now, it's nice to be lazy and play games and have nowhere we have to go.
God is so good to us!