Red Couch Brown Couch, Old Couch New Couch

When we moved in to our house, we had a whole new room - a living room, for which we had no furniture. I went to craigslist.org and found a very cheap ($50) set for sale. They were cheap because they were UGLY. Thankfully, we had some couch covers from our old set of couches from before we had put our condo on the market, so I just got them out and covered the new ugly couches. They worked fine, but with kids, they would get all messed up in an amazing short amount of time. For those of you who have never visited, here is a picture of where they were in the living room.

We have been wanting to get real living room furniture ever since, but didn't have the room in our budget. So, this year we decided that with part of our tax return, we'd replace the cheap stuff with real furniture. We spent a long weekend looking at several stores and settled pretty easily on a set (that we modified heavily) from Rooms to Go. They were to be delivered on Tuesday, so on Monday we sent the old ones off with Matt, one of the interns on my team. Here he is loading it (in all it's blue flowered glory) in the back of his Explorer.

With them out of the way, we were able to put the new stuff in the next day. Here are some pics of the new stuff. We got a couch, chair, ottoman and 2 side tables from Rooms to Go. We got lamps too, but they won't be here until March 12th.

We also picked up another chair and cherry bookcase both on a great sale at Lack's furniture. Here you can see the new layout. Much better!

The couch and chair are very very soft and comfortable. It instantly became the favorite reading chair for Isabella and Zach. Here we are after reading a couple of pre-nap books on Saturday.

Injuries abound

What kind of week would it be if Zach didn't have some kind of mini disaster? Abnormal? Freakish? Perhaps. One week, have a swollen eye. Then a burned chin. He strongly believes that you shouldn't get lulled by normality, so this week he took a total face plant off the swing in the backyard. Liza heard him let out a yowl and went out to find him with a bloody nose. By the time I got home, he was looking more like this...




We decided to take him over to Andy's to let him check him out since it was Friday evening and our doctor was out for the weekend. Andy (whom the kids refer to as AA) is a pediatrician and did a quick exam to make sure nothing was broken. Everything was fine and Zach was happy to have Andy check him out. The next morning when he got up, I asked him how his nose felt. He replied happily, "AA say it OK!" And that was that.

More Cookies

For claiming that she doesn't like to make cookies, Liza has been doing it quite a bit lately with the help of the kids. On the 13th, they made a batch of Valentines cookies and took some over to Ashley who is at home most all the time with the new baby. She was very happy to have them! The kids had a great time making them, as you can see...

Isabella and Liza have matching aprons. She loves to use the baking set she got from Bobby and Marjorie for Christmas to roll out the cookies.

Zach had fun helping out too.

What better way to do cookies than with pink frosting?!?

Those look good...

You may wondering why Zach looks like he just went 3 rounds with Rocky Balboa. He woke up from his nap with a swollen and gunked up eye. The next day the doctor discovered a combo eye/ear infection. I'm sure it didn't hurt the cookies. ;-)

A couple of days later they made chocolate chip cookies. When I got home Isabella was taking them off the cookie sheet and putting them on the rack to cool. I thought she looked a little like the hamburger helper guy with that glove...


She had a great time helping. Zach got too close to the pan to "see see cookies" and got a nice burn mark on his chin. The scab has now come off, but he still has a little red mark. He'll have to come up with a better story than this one to explain it later in life. :-)

Having fun

Last week Belle and Zach found fun ways to entertain themselves even while we had company. Fall is far in the past in much of the country, but here the last of the leaves finally fell after the big freezes we had in January. Here the kids were playing in the big leaves and having a great time.


Later they found a box and have had more fun with that then most of the toys they got for Christmas. Go figure.

"Apple, Apple..."

While Zach was in Houston at his Aunt's house, he learned a new song. They sing, "Apple Apple, ah ah ah" "Baby Baby, buh buh buh" and so forth. He loves the song, but it's taken him a while to get the hang of how it works. Watch below to see him in action....



That was a couple of weeks ago. Since then he has started to figure it out. Tonight at the table he said, "mommy, mommy, ma ma ma," then "sissy, sissy, sa sa sa," then "table table, ta ta ta." I said, "Wow! He's getting it!" to which he promptly replied, "Daddy Daddy, buh buh, buh!" I had to laugh and he gave himself a round of applause.

Grammie & Papaw's Visit

We are so behind on blog posts... Liza's mom and dad were here last week from Thursday to Tuesday. We had a great time with them and the kids really loved the time with them. Here are a few pictures from their time together...

Papaw liked to play "little piggies" with Zach. Now that he is gone, Zach is known to walk around the house saying, "Wee wee wee, all-da-way-home!"

Isabella & Zach had fun making valentines for everyone.

Papaw helped zach get ready for dinner.

In addition to enjoying their company, we also appreciated all the help the lent us. David helped me install a new kitchen sink and faucet and redo the plumbing. He also helped clear out the overgrown bushes in the back yard. Charlotte helped Liza go through all the remaining boxes we had in random places and got them cleaned out or put away in a more permanent fashion. She also helped Liza clean out the garage so we now have space again for both cars. All in all, they were great help! We are so glad they could come to spend time- more than all the help, we just enjoyed being with them and visiting.

Cute Pic

Our friends Andy & Ashley welcomed their new little guy in to the world this Monday. His name is Nathaniel (or Nate) and he is very cute. Here's a picture of Isabella holding him yesterday.

Kids in Houston

On Tuesday, I (Chris) loaded up the kids and took them to Houston with me. We stayed last night at my sister's house and then the kids and Kim took me to the airport to drop me off. I'm on my way to Spain today to do a seminar on how to use our new DVD. There will be leaders at the conference from campuses all over Europe and the ME. I'm looking forward to how the Lord will use it to draw students to Christ.

As for the kids, they were so excited to be at their Aunt's house. They were running around and jumping up and down. You'd think we'd been in the car for 14 hours. When we got to the airport today, Zach was unhappy that he didn't get to go with me, but Kim said by the time the got out of the airport he was fine. I'm sure they'll have a great time in Houston. Isabella wanted to know how many planes I would take to get all the way to Spain. It will be 3. She was unimpressed. "We've taken three planes before with the whole family!" she said.  I'll try to write from Spain, but it all depends on if I can get to the internet. I appreciate prayers for safe travel and for the kids in Houston and for Liza as she goes to the Crusade Mom's conference outside of Austin. Thanks!

Love all the time (part 2)

Tonight at the table, Isabella and Zach were talking while I was cleaning up.  Isabella asked Zach, “Does Isabella love you in the morning?”  To which he squealed, “yes.”  She said, “Does Bella love you when we are going to bed?”  “yes” was his reply…
I think they got it

Out and about

Today I am out with the kids running some errands. I've learned how to blog by email so it is easy to blog something quickly. 

At the stop light we saw a big truck. Isabella asked what the big pipes on the side of it were. I told her they are the exhaust pipes that go high so it won't get in your face. She replied, "Oh yeah. So if you get close you should watch out so you don't smell your own breath!" 

:-) I told her that is another problem entirely.