I've been told that I need to put more pictures of the boys on the blog...so here we are. We put up our pool last weekend, and here is the first swim. Everson is quite fearless...he has NO PROBLEM putting his ENTIRE HEAD under the water. NOTHING like his older siblings when they were 3 years old.
Erik is helping make a whirlpool. A fun activity that all 4 kids get into.
Everson is not too happy with me in this picture. I had just woken him up from his afternoon nap. I think he wanted to sleep longer.
I HAD to take a picture of this lego spaceship. Can you guess which of my 4 children made it? Everson made it. He even pointed out the "shooter things" and "de place where de fire comes out".

Today the girls had their hair cut for Locks of Love. They each had 11" of hair cut off in honor of their 3 year old cousin Will, who is battling Leukemia. It was Emma's 2nd time doing this and the first for Ellie. They were so excited to finally have short hair...and they knew that their Daddy would be sad to see their long locks go. Now we can just imagine their hair on some other little girl's head...

SACB Spring Student Showcase...

Here's Ellie with some of her friends from Ballet. The lighting wasn't great in their dressing room...but I'll be getting a class photo soon...hopefully I'll remember to put it on the blog.
Emma was sharing a chair with these 3 other girls. Directly behind her, w/a girl in her lap, is one of Emma's closest friends, Maddie. These girls had a blast on stage this weekend.
Mackenzie is a friend of Emma's from church, who just started taking ballet classes this spring. Now that the recital is over, it's time to get the girls their much-anticipated haircuts for summer...we've measured their hair and Emma and Ellie should both be able to get 11-12 inches of hair cut off for Locks of Love. I'll be SURE to post pics of that.

Third Trimester!

I've finally made it to 28 weeks. Just 12 weeks to my DUE date, but we all know that means NOTHING when it comes to these Armstrong babies LOL. With my kiddos born 12, 12, 10, and 5 days overdue, I'm not anticipating "Elvis" to do any different. I have to admit, though, I'm really hoping for this one to come a week or so early...so our trip to NY for Megon's wedding would'nt be TOO difficult to pull off ;-)

Had my drs appt this afternoon. Her first words to me were, "Well, I see you've finally put on some weight." Giggle. Snort. I've been quite proud of the fact that my weight gain has been so minimal. Just 10 lbs to date. My dear, loving, sensitive, great-with-words husband reminded me recently, "Don't worry, you'll be packing it on in the 3rd Trimester." Thanks Dear.

The girls have their dance recital this weekend. 2 performances. Friday and Sunday. Emma shared that she was a bit nervous. Then we counted all the times she's been on stage for ballet...2 recitals in NY, 2 performances here last year. Not to mention SIX Nutcracker performances...then she realized that she had nothing to be worried about. Ellie is very excited herself. I'll try to get some pics over the weekend.

How are you? We'd love to know how y'all are doing ;-)

Thought I'd put some pics on the blog.

Ellie is the Tin Man in her Camp Broadway Kids play of the Wizard of Oz. It was a class for homeschoolers only...during public school hours.

Everson is trying his best at being the best superhero he can be.

Emma has been working all year on her splits for ballet class. Often she is sprawled on the floor trying to get her splits perfect. Doug and I have marveled lately at how TALL and long Emma is getting. Here's a great example of her growth this past year...

From the National Weather Service
(or, another day in the life of a West Texan in the spring storm season)

A FEW FUNNEL CLOUDS MAY BE VISIBLE ACROSS THE BIG COUNTRY...CONCHO VALLEY...AND HEARTLAND THIS AFTERNOON...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED DEVELOPING SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY ACROSS THE NORTHERN AREAS OF WESTCENTRAL TEXAS.

AN UPPER LEVEL LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WITH VERY COLD AIR ALOFT IS MOVING SOUTHEASTWARD ACROSS WEST CENTRAL TEXAS THISAFTERNOON...CREATING CONDITIONS FAVORABLE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OFFUNNEL CLOUDS. FUNNEL CLOUDS MAY BE OBSERVED WITH THIS ACTIVITY AS IT DEVELOPS AND MOVES SOUTHEAST ACROSS THE AREA.

THESE FUNNEL CLOUDS...ON RARE OCCASION...MAY BRIEFLY REACH THEGROUND AND BECOME A WEAK TORNADO WITH WINDS GENERALLY UNDER 60 MPHTHAT CAN DAMAGE LIGHTWEIGHT STRUCTURES...CARPORTS...AND AWNINGS...COMPARABLE TO A STRONG DUST DEVIL.

IF YOU OBSERVE A FUNNEL CLOUD...SEEK SHELTER INDOORS. LOCAL OFFICIALS ARE URGED TO RELAY REPORTS OF FUNNEL CLOUDS TO THENATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE

Wild Weather

Here's a picture of some hail Doug brought in the house after our 20 minute rain/hail storm last night:

And yes, it makes a LOUD noise as it hits the roof of the house...and the tin roof of the carport. And it bounces like a superball when it hits the pavement.

We're in for some rough weather over the next few days. Tornado warnings and flash flood warnings abound. The tornado sirens were even tested yesterday - tho they are usually tested ONLY at noon on the first of the month ;-)

Last night, the weather finally rolled in. We were in the yard watching this enormous storm front make its way toward us. Lots of lightning, with little wisps of clouds dipping down from the front...the stuff tornadoes grow up to be. A rope tornado was spotted about 20 minutes from us...close enough for me!

So we're watching the skies, waiting for the next band of thunderstorms to begin. As I type, the skies are darkening, and there is the distant sound of thunder (or 'funger', as Everson calls it). At the latest report, this could carry on until Wednesday. Maybe then I can take down the special 'hail screen' that we put up on our living room windows to protect them from the projected quarter-to-golfball-size hail we could be getting ;-)

Somehow, preparing for a snowstorm in NY was less stressful than the uncertainty of this weather...

Our new trees...
I forgot to take a picture today, so I'll add one tomorrow (if my pregnant mind doesn't forget).

We've been talking about planting some trees in our huge yard...mostly b/c we crave the SHADE in the hot months. About a week and a half ago, my mom drove up with 2 trees, a non-fruit mulberry and some other kind of tree. You know I have a black thumb, so the names of the trees just aren't important ;-) What I do know is that they are fast growing and drought resistant.

Anyhow, it has taken quite an effort to get them into the hard-as-a-rock-clay-filled ground we have here. Doug did all the work and planted one tree (the mulberry, I think).

Well, the GIRLS thought that our trees needed names. The planted tree is named Steve. I thought to myself, "That's cute, we did recently take a book from the library about a tree named Steve."

I was wrong. They named the tree for STEVE NASH. Who is he? You can quickly ask your sports-minded spouse, coworker, or friend...I'll wait... Turns out, Steve Nash plays for the NBA team the Phoenix Suns. Do you get this? MY GIRLS named a tree for a NBA player!!! The kicker is that they know that Erik can't stand Steve Nash! They delight in their choice of a name for a tree. They named the other tree Dwyane Wade...a player for the "Miami Heats".

Okay, much basketball has been watched in this house since February...Erik can't wait for the weekend to watch more playoff games. I can take that. But the fact that MY GIRLS know some of these players just kills me!

For the record, Erik wants us to buy and plant another tree. He wants to name it Joakim Noah.

A Texas 'thang'

So I'm really not feeling that great. This cough has me up all night and now my entire upper body hurts from the forceful coughing. After a big coughing jag this morning, Ellie decided to make me a card. She started cutting the paper a la making a snowflake, then started decorating it. At the bottom, in large letters, she wrote, "Git Well Momie"

Here's the thing...as I'm working with her on her reading, we keep running into the proper pronunciation of the word 'get'. We often butt heads on it...I know it's hard to imagine butting heads with her ;-) Her plain and simple explanation is, "Mommy, if we say 'git', then why is it written 'get'?" I have to keep explaining to her that in Texas, people pronounce words differently... I'm starting to think that phonics doesn't really work here in the Lone Star State.

The kids have already begun to naturally use words like, y'all and fixin' to. Doug says 'preciate it on a regular basis. I think it's a losing battle. Poor Everson and baby Elvis haven't a chance down here...they're bound to speak Texan!

Then there's Erik, who came home a few months ago from church wanting to tell us that he knows who God's #1 enemy is...Satan...that's pronounced Cy-tin...

Sickness

Well 1/2 of our family is sick right now. Erik seems to have come down with the high fever-headache-sinus thing that Emma had last week, while Ellie and I have the congestion-painful-deep-chest-cough thing that Doug had. We'll fare it alright, just unplugging from some activities for a couple of days to recover.

On a homeschool note, I'm still pursuing starting a new coop here for the fall. One that has a higher standard of classes than the one we've been in for the last 2 years. I want science (looking at a NASA program and a Civil Air Patrol aerospace program - all for elementary students, art and perhaps even music. Had some disappointments in our coop this year, so thinking to branch out and start fresh. Was also just asked to take over our homeschool assoc. monthly Mom's Night Out meetings for the coming school year. Much to chew on...with a new baby and the craziness that is The Nutcracker.

Need to get some kids moving this morning.

So today is Doug's birthday. Not sure if I'm allowed to post his age...cause he's sooooooo old ;-) At least he's still in the 35-39 age group at our races ;-) I'll post a birthday picture later this evening. We're celebrating low-key, cause Emma has been sick all weekend, Everson seems to have injured his foot and won't bear weight on it...he's crawling around the house. I guess if this keeps up I'll have to take him to the dr tomorrow. He DID run a mile yesterday...wonder if that has something to do with it... He received a really great gift from Sam and Angie and the kids, I'll post a picture of him with it once he opens it.

Hope you northeast friends/family are enjoying the weather ;-)

So I was trying to put this countdown into my template and somehow messed up the margin...I'll have to work on it later today...

Wacky Weather

So earlier this week, my children were in their swimsuits, putting on sunscreen, and playing in the kiddie pool...today we have freezing rain and temps hovering around freezing! And tomorrow promises to be like today. The weatherman last night said we'll be 35-40 degrees BELOW our average temperature for this time of year. And then late next week, we're supposed to be back near 80!

Took the older 2 to the dentist yesterday. Erik's **new front teeth** seem to show some mineral deficiency...yet none of the other kids show the same thing. So a mystery to solve...b/c of his food restrictions...were the teeth damaged when he fractured the baby teeth 7 years ago...why just his teeth and not the others...The younger 2 go to the dentist in a couple of weeks.

Inherited an infant car seat, boppy, portable baby swing and a bag of baby boy clothes this week...oh and a double stroller!

Speaking of baby...the kids have named our little guy Elvis John. They are telling everyone that's his name ;-) It's cute, but Doug and I have decided that they do not in fact get a vote in naming their little brother.

Two weeks of our coop left. Thinking about starting a new coop for the fall. One that's open to more families and has more structure than the one we're in.

Running club is going well. The kids will be competing in the Hershey's Meet for kids in early June. Our coach wants Emma to run the mile and the mile relay...so in a few weeks, she'll start practicing with some other girls her age for the event. They'll be running on a track and using the baton! She's quite excited. Erik, because of his age, will only be competing in a 1/2 mile race, I think. The both should do well, as their times for the mile are getting faster and faster...Erik's best time is 7:30, and Emma's time is 8:12. I think our coach has plans to turn them into runners...little does he know that Emma plans to be a dancer and she can't wait until she starts pointe - because she'll have to stop running so she doesn't develop the wrong muscles...the things she thinks of in her quest to be a dancer and a dance teacher ;-)

That's all for now...needing to do some baking, since it's cold today.

Here's Emma in front of her 6 boxes of goodies collected for Will's NC oncology clinic from her birthday and our coop...just under 500 happy meal toys are in the bottom 3 boxes!

The 3 kids just sorted this pile of goodies collected Wednesday night at our AWANA club. It was another 62 happy meal toys, 129 packs of stickers, 107 boxes of bandaids and 32 hats! Now that Will is moving to NY, we have ANOTHER oncology clinic to collect goodies for with the other kids birthdays!

Here's a picture of Erik, taken this afternoon...Notice anything different?!

It's a BOY!

The girls were initially disappointed...until it dawned on Emma that THEIR room would still have just 2 people in it, while the boys would have to make room for one more ;-) Erik seems stupefied with the whole thing. I think he is still getting used to the idea that we're having another baby, and isn't sure what it will be like to have another little brother.

On all counts, the ultrasound went well. We even got to see little E suck his thumb, take it out of his mouth, and start sucking it again. Very cool.

Shoppers...start your engines!

What I forgot to mention is that since last summer, Everson has been telling me that Jesus had a baby brother for him. He was quite insistent up until January. At Christmas time, knowing I was pregnant, I asked Ev if Jesus still had a baby brother for him. He said yes. I asked him how big his brother was. He made a small circle with his fingers and said, "Him's about dis big." Hair stands up on my neck. A week or so later, Doug and I were pondering boy/girl names. We usually have a family name for a middle name, so we were kicking around possibilities. I suggested John, after Doug's grandfather who passed away last fall. Within a couple of days of that conversation, I asked Everson if Jesus still had a baby brother for him. He said yes. I asked him what's the baby's name. He said, "Him's name John."

So when it comes to the future, and prophecy...look no further. Everson seems to have a direct line to God ;-)

BTW, we haven't decided on ANY names...we're open to all reasonable suggestions.

Thought it was time for a new look on the blog.

Check back on Tuesday...I have an ultrasound appt and should find out for sure how this baby will break the boy/girl tie. And for the first time...we will be letting folks know what we're having! Why? Well, it is our 5th child...and I either gave away or sold of all our baby stuff when we moved LOL. So you'll know just what color to buy when you see something on sale...hint hint.

Emma's Birthday Party

Can you locate Emma? She's buried among 493 Happy Meal Toys that were collected from our coop and her birthday party. My digital camera was not cooperating with my 14 year old photographer at Emma's party...fortunately a friend had her camera and she is burning a cd for me. I'll put a slide show together as soon as I get the pics.

We had 15 girls enjoying 3 spa stations: pedicure, manicure and facial. There was lots of laughter and ticklish feet. We had a brief devotional with the girls about Inner Beauty and then decorated mirrors to remind us to reflect God with our lives. Her party yielded 76 toys (13 happy meal toys), 25 hats, 29 boxes of bandaids and 43 packages of stickers. We collected items from our coop 2 days before Emma's party. Our grand totals are: 493 Happy Meal toys, 50 assorted toys, 70 boxes of bandaids, 57 hats, 58 packages of stickers and a $30 Walmart Gift card (which we used to buy hats). We were also given $85 to help with shipping. We have about 7 boxes to mail off to North Carolina!

AND in 2 weeks, our AWANA club is collecting items for the clinic! Emma's still amazed at the support of her mission. She thought her tea party for the homeless shelter was big...and this surpasses it all!

CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF GIVING US JOY! Happy Birthday Emma. Here she is wearing her very own, custom made "Team Armstrong" shirt - a very cherished gift from Uncle Sam, Aunt Angie, Wonderwill and Katie.

Ellie's theory about my kids hair...
Had this conversation with Ellie a week or so ago and had to write it down. Ellie has come up with her reason why Emma and Erik have thick brown hair - they were both born 12 days past their due date. Ellie's hair is fine and light brown, because she was just 10 days past her due date. Everson has fine, blonde hair, because he was just 5 days overdue. So in the mind of Ellie, length of time in the womb directly affect's ones hair color and texture. Only from the mind of Ellie LOL.

A typical Wednesday in West Texas:
Breakfast, clean up
3 1/2 hours of school
Lunch, clean up
Chores and outside to play
work on AWANA sections
3:30 Emma ballet
4:00 Ellie ballet
4:10 race home to make pizza for dinner
5:00 pick up girls from ballet
5:10 home, change for AWANA, eat
5:45 out the door to AWANA and choir
8:00 home, snacks, ready for coop in am
9:00 bedtime for kids
9:15 kick up my feet for CSI
bed

Thursday
up, breakfast, clean up
chores, shower, ready for coop
9:00am out the door for coop
12:15 head home for lunch
lunch, clean up
D-E-E-P B-R-E-A-T-H
4:30 off to running practice
5:30 drop Erik off at basketball
race home to make dinner
6:45 eat dinner
R-E-L-A-X

tired yet?! Just a glimpse into our 2 busiest days...

EMMA'S BIRTHDAY PROJECT

So you know that Emma is turning 10 in just a couple of short weeks. (I'll let that sink in for a few minutes...)

She's having a Spa Birthday Party this year. I've recruited some friends to come help manage the 20-or-so girls we've invited to an afternoon of pedicures, manicures, facials and fun foods. When she turned 8, her friend party benefitted the new homeless shelter for women and children in Albany...a tea party for 17 girls...church made Easter baskets for all the children in the shelter...cases of laundry soap donated for the mothers...and a large financial donation was made as a result of hearing Emma's story.

This year, Emma wanted to collect $$ and send it to Will (this idea came around the time of the fundraiser in Albany). So we did some thinking, and some talking to Aunt Angie and Uncle Sam, and came up with the idea to support Will's Oncology Clinic. I had her write an article that I planned to include with her invitation and have shared with our adult sunday school class at church. Now, our coop is taking it on as a mission project...and the Air Force Base here in S.A. will be doing this as a community service project! Now I'll have to have a fundraiser to ship everything to NC!!! LOL. Thought you might like to read Emma's letter. I promise we'll post pictures of the party! Of course, you're more than welcome to come down for the party and see for yourself...did I mention that we don't have any snow here?! Here's her article:

My name is Emma Armstrong. I am turning 10 on March 2nd. I am in the fourth grade. My cousin’s name is Will Armstrong. He is 2 years old and has leukemia.
For my birthday, I am not getting stuff for myself. I want my friends to bring stuff for Will's cancer clinic like cool kid band aids, stickers, hats for the clinic Hat Wall and Happy Meal-type toys still in the wrapper (to avoid germs).

The clinic Hat Wall is covered with hats, so if a kid sees a hat he/she likes, they can wear it home that day.

You can meet my cousin Will at his website www.caringbridge.org/visit/williamarmstrong
Please pray for Will and all of the other children with leukemia and other kinds of cancer.

Everson news...
This past week I focused on getting Everson to realize that he COULD in fact be a big boy and use the potty. He had been trying off and on for a month or so to use the big toilet. But this week, he seemed ready to give the whole thing a try. In 6 days, there was only 2 accidents and success of BOTH kinds on his little potty. In fact, one day he came to me holding his underwear and shorts and asked me to help him put them back on. He said, "I went potty. And I didn't need you." He was having a difficult time parting with the solid stuff and one day informed the kids and I that he would go 'bm' on the potty when the baby comes. After a hearty laugh, I told him that he would have to go sooner than that. A stick of gum as a reward was all he needed to get the job done. ;-)

So yesterday I went to Target to spend some leftover bday $ and bought him 3 packs big boy underwear. Scooby Doo. Cars. And Fopsballs (that's basketball to the rest of us). I think he surprised himself. Then again, he keeps telling me that he's a big boy now, because he's the baby's big brother...

BRRRRR! So this is what I get after boasting about yesterdays weather, which, I'm told was actually 81* Today it barely was above 45*!!! I'm really getting tired of being 'cold'. That's right, I've acclimated to the point that 45* in February is completely unacceptable ;-)

We had coop today, then brought home Erik's best friend Joel for the afternoon. Then off to running practice and basketball for Erik.

We've really enjoyed our new basketball league. www.upward.com if you're interested. Its a new league here in SA and a great experience for Erik. There are only 4 teams in his age division. Each team has 4-5 players and they play 3-on-3. Since Erik's team has only 4 players, he gets to play 3 quarters of the game. He's having a blast and we're enjoying watching him. The opening of each game is like an NBA game...complete with blaring music, loud announcing and even FOG MACHINES! Erik eats it up. On sunday (Super Bowl Sunday), Erik cme home from church and went out to play basketball. Then he came in the house and watched an ENTIRE NBA game. Went back outside to play more basketball...and tried to work on his 3-pointers... HE doesn't even realize that baseball starts in less than 2 months...

Not much to report. Oh one thing...today it was 71* Watching national weather forecasts reminds me of another reason we moved to TX...70* in February. We've been getting outside right after lunch to play for a few hours each day. I've pulled weeds, and cleaned in the yard. Everson is getting reaquainted with his sandbox. And the others are playing basketball, riding bikes and scooters. All this with some trampoline jumping thrown in ;-) I remember in NY we had to take all but the trampoline frame down for the winter...not so in TX.

Let us know how you're doing...some days I wonder if anyone reads this blog besides Angie...since she's the only one who makes a comment regularly :-) And SHE has a kid with cancer! That's a hint to you, anonymous reader,to make a comment or send an email to let us know what's going on in your neck of the woods...

I neglected to give an introduction to the slideshow...
If you stop by our house on any given evening (and we wish you would), you might come across a play, talent show, puppet show, magic performance, dance recital, and, lately, concerts. The kids have 4 or 5 favorite songs from our WOW 2007 CD that they like to perform. One is the lead singer, the others play 'instruments' or have choreographed moves. After witnessing one such performance, Tom, my stepfather, made the kids their very own guitars and microphones. Enjoy the show.

Here's some pics from the BIG SNOW we had last week. One of Emma's friends told her that our inch of snow was the most snow she had seen in her whole life ::snort:: Roads were icy (and covered in sand) and events were cancelled due to the weather last week. We stayed inside and off the roads, except for Doug. Everson really enjoyed eating the snow and throwing snow into the street. The kids wanted more snow, "Like in NY", so they could make a snow fort. I was thankful for the inch of snow. It's still cold here and roads were icy this morning. I keep saying to myself, "We LEFT NY to get away from this weather!" Locals are saying it hasn't been this cold for this long in years. The average temp for now is 55*!!! The kids had on a couple of layers (no winter coats) and SNEAKERS (naturally, no boots). At least I brought our hats and mittens when we moved...

Ellie lost her top tooth at the end of last week. We're still trying to get used to this new look!
Everson has been on a nap boycott. Today, he was in his bed for 45 minutes. Every 5 minutes or so, he'd yell, "MOM, is my nap done yet?" After wearing my voice out answering him, I let him get up. Less than 1 hour later, he fell fast asleep while watching PBS with the big kids.
SNOW! Everson was just beside himself this afternoon...supposedly napping....and yelling, "MOM there's SNOW on the GRASS! And it's on the trampoline, too!" Naturally, this is a 'first' snowfall for him. The big kids are in wonder over snow in TX...missing the snow in NY. I'm not missing the shoveling! It's about 23* here and things are getting really icy now. No salt on roads. Schools are already cancelled for tomorrow! Temps are supposed to go into the 40s on Thursday...getting NY-style cabin fever!

ICY WEATHER!
So it is currently 23* down here in the middle of TX. We had freezing rain/sleet off and on yesterday, but mostly during the night. The am news reported 40 accidents overnight! Here in TX, there is no salt for the roads...they use sand...just sand... Bridges are closed, as is the highway that loops around the city.

Doug, being the New Yorker that he is, got up this am, turned on the van to run for a while, then went in to work (it's a holiday for some, not Doug's co). His boss (a Texan) called at 6:50 am - 30 minutes AFTER Doug left - to tell him not to go into work b/c of the road conditions. I laughed and told him that as New Yorkers, all roads would have to be closed and our city under a state of emergency for Doug to stay home from work LOL. Needless to say, when Doug arrived at his first stop, the Air Force Base, he was refused at the gate. Apparently when things get icy down here, the MILITARY even shuts down ;-) So Doug is now home for a day off...unless he gets a call from his boss stating he should return to work.

It's not likely...the temps aren't to go above freezing for another day or so...so we'll stay on ice until at least Wednesday, wishing we had NY salt for the first time in 2 years LOL.

Knowing yesterday that we'd be hunkered down for a while...we finally took down the Christmas decorations, and Doug helped the kids reorganize their dresser drawers...now if only I had a knitting project I'd be set. Might need to go through my yarn stash and think of something to make ;-)

FUNDRAISER FOR WILL
For those of you in the Upstate NY area, I hope you can attend the Winterfestival Fundraiser for Will's Leukemia Treatment. It'll be on Saturday, January 13, from 10:00am - 2:00 pm at the Grace Fellowship Youth Center. I'm not sure of all the details, but there's at least going to be an auction. Angie and Katie will be there as well. There will be an item in the auction just published by 4 E's Publishing entitled "The Many Adventures of Wonder Will". It's a great little comic written and illustrated mainly by Emma and Erik, though Ellie contributed ideas. Here's the website to go to FMI www.armstrongwill.blogspot.com

So we joined this produce coop a few weeks ago. I bought 'one share' for $28. We get hand-picked produce from the manager at our main grocery store. Each friday we pick it up, and the kids are making friends with the family that coordinates it...they are a military-homeschooling-family-with-9-kids. The kids wanted me to post a picture of our fresh fruit and veggies for the week...

Boxing Day Run 2006
This was a fun event for our family. My stepbrother, Jason, ran in the race with the kids. Jason is a Marine, served our country in Iraq in 2006, and is slated to return for another 6 month term this spring. Memorable for the kids to have Uncle Jason run with them. BTW, Doug ran too, but I'm not allowed to post the picture I took of him LOL.




Notice the BOW in Ellie's hair?!
Emma ran a personal best...8:58 for the mile! She was so proud of herself. And so are we.

Merry Christmas! Wish we were with you. Hope you enjoy these pictures.

We discovered Everson sound asleep on the ottoman this afternoon and HAD to take a picture of it. Doug put the bean bags down in case he rolled off...which he did and then woke up in a very unhappy mood...
Our little Nutcracker soldier. For the performance, she had red circles on her cheeks and carried a white rifle (a fake one, of course).
Erik is enjoying his birthday present...a Star Wars battle game. It's quite a workout! He is having a blast fighting the bad guys of Star Wars, while learning some tricks from Jedi heroes. Doug is pretty good at the Qui Gon Jin Stike LOL.

Emma and her best friend Maddie in their cake baker costumes. So incredibly elegant! They carried beautiful artificial cakes. Didn't get a picture of Emmas...but since I'm in charge of props, I can get a picture if I get enough requests...

We survived The Nutcracker!
My pictures are all overexposed (still trying to figure out the flash w/my digital camera). I have a friend who worked in Emma's dressing room and took some pictures. She's supposed to email them to me and I'll post them as soon as I can! I promise! Emma had a wonderful time. A nervous meltdown Friday before the performance and we managed to escape "The Nutcracker Flu" that was taking out cast members. There were just a few glitches with the props, but all were relatively minor. I worked in the lobby for each performance - the soda station. All stickiness aside...the perk was that I was able to save great seats for Doug and the kids and I one night, and seats for my mom, stepfather and aunt another night. I even received a fun thank you gift - a fancy nutcracker mug. In it was a thank you note, telling me to get lots of rest because "in just 8 1/2 short months, we start again!"

Now I need to get on with Christmas...after we move out the props Tuesday afternoon...

Brrrrr!
According to my computer, it's 18 degrees outside! I think every night this week it should be like this, but go into maybe the 50s by afternoon. I won't complain too much though...the memories of 105 degree days are still fresh in my mind.

Saturday night, we rode in the San Angelo Christmas Light parade. It's only the 3rd or 4th year of the parade and was the biggest yet...about 30-40 entries, I believe. My stepfather Tom, who builds and repairs wagons (among 1000 other things he tinkers with), had an 'extra' wagon. It's actually been in our yard since February, because he thought the kids needed a wagon to play on LOL. Anyhow, my mom decorated the wagon with garland and lights, hooked up a generator, and we were the only non church/business/organization to be in the parade. The kids had a blast...and this town is so small, that we saw many people we knew along the parade route.

Nutcracker practice officially started yesterday in the Auditorium. As Props Manager, I was anticipating a very stressful afternoon. I'm pleased to report that I actually sat with some friends and did some knitting! There were some glitches to iron out - very minimal. Tonight we should have just about everything taken care of. The best thing for me, is that I DO NOT have to work backstage! I get to sit and enjoy the show...and help sell flowers in the lobby (that's my free ticket).

Well, Everson just woke up, so I'll go now.

Nutcracker Update
THE production starts next Friday. Tomorrow is only a 3 hour rehearsal...then we start to move props from 2 locations (studio & storage) for Tech Week. Sunday 2-8, M-Th is every evening starting around 5...going to 9:30 or 10. Then we have to have Emma at the theater 2 hours before the performance! For 3 days. Then we get to move all of the props OUT of the theater (as soon as the performance is over) and get to the cast party, then to the church kids Christmas musical. We would skip this in a heartbeat, but one of Emma's best homeschool friends is in the lead role... I took pictures of her in her costume a couple of weeks ago, but the lighting was bad. I'll try for more this week and I'll post them.

Running continues for all of us...walking for me ;-) We've even recruited a few more homeschool families. It's such a great program! $12 for a family for a year! That's 2 weekly 1 hour practices... And we pay $2/person for races. A much much much cheaper route than ballet LOL.

Basketball practice starts for Erik next week...during tech week...last year he had a nightly basketball camp. This year it's only 1 night.

School is plucking along. Seem to be needing to revamp my curriculum plans. I have been trying to get Erik and Ellie to follow along with Emma's 4th grade historical fiction readings...not a good plan. We've put that on the shelf for now and are working on a unit study on Explorers of North America...with hands on activities which the kids seem to enjoy. The great joy I have now is seeing Erik read every book he can get his hands on! We check out close to 40 books EACH WEEK from the library. Lots of picture books for the younger 2. Emma and Erik get 3-5 chapter books, plus other books that interest them for that week. I pat myself on the back and say, "I taught them to read!" It's a great feeling.

Well, it's not freezing outside anymore, so I need to get these kids outside for some fresh air. Then I'm going to do some baking...muffins to snack on during our busy week. Cranberry, banana, and pumpkin! Yum!

Pictures from our Harvest Festival a few weeks ago...can you guess who Ellie was?

Well 3/4 of my children are sick with chest colds. Erik fell this morning to the bug...of course with his asthma, his chest cough always seems worse. So now I'm pumping Emma with vitamin c and encouraging more hand washing than normal to keep her healthy. We're 3 1/2 weeks away from The Nutcracker production...hoping she can make it unscathed. Colds come and go. I think the average kid has 4-6 colds a year. But with 4 kids...that's 16-24 colds/year...almost seems like someone is sick all the time, though I know it's not true.

Haven't posted pictures because I think my camera is broken. I discovered my #3 child playing photographer with it recently and haven't been able to turn it on since then. I'm in a state of denial about it. I was just starting to really like the digital camera...now I'm camera-less. ARGH!

Well I need to tend to some sick kiddos.

Race Results

The girls ran in their first Road Lizards race this Saturday. It was about 45 degrees at race start and they were shivering! Erik placed 2nd and ran 9:04, Emma placed 3rd and ran a 9:38 and Ellie won a Finishers Medal for her 14:31 mile!!! Ellie ran much of the way, but she also stopped and hugged a few of her new best friends, picked up a few rocks along the way, and stopped to watch some of the big kids run by...Erik and Emma were not in competition with eachother, the results are boy/girl and broken into 2-year age categories. At any rate, the girls were very pleased with themselves. Ellie was so excited to earn a finishers medal that she skipped and jumped her way up to the coach to receive it...like she had just won and Olympic gold! She came home, proudly wearing her medal and exclaimed to her daddy, "Daddy, I won a finishers medal, because I didn't quit!!" There was another race the next day and the girls had tasted victory enough to want to try it again, but we didn't. Emma was so proud of herself that she wanted to wear her medal to Nutcracker rehearsal that afternoon. I told her that it would get in the way LOL. The next race is a big Veteran's Day race. We're really enjoying this activity, even Everson runs a bit at practice...and I get in some of my doctor-prescibed exercise.

In August, Emma and Erik learned to knit. I snapped this pic recently . Emma keeps unraveling her projects, because she can't seem to make up her mind what to do. She made a little pink purse for Ellie's birthday. Now, when she's invited to a birthday party, we buy a skein of yarn and some knitting needles and enclose a coupon for knitting lessons. I had to learn along with the kids, so that I could help them. It was stressful at first, but now I find knitting to be actually relaxing and easy to do while Doug is watching football or when we're watching a movie with the kids. Erik can get a row or 2 done, then thinks it doesn't look right, so he unravels his before I get a chance to check it. It keeps them busy a couple times a week for 20 minutes or so at least LOL.

The Armstrong Runners...
After a visit to the doctor last week to follow up my pleurisy I'm compelled to lose a few of these baby pounds, eat less junk food, and exercise. So now not only Erik runs with the Lil Lizards. The girls started running this week and I started walking with the club. Not a leisurly stroll, but actually moving to get my heart beating. It has felt good. Much to her surprise, Emma can run a mile effortlessly, while Ellie has surprised me and has given 100% to run a mile with short walks to catch her breath. I don't see myself running anytime in the near future, but a good aerobic walk seems doable 2x/week. The dr 'recommended' I exercise at least 5 days/week and suggested that 1 mile each time out wasn't enough, "I'd recommend you work up to running 2-3 miles each day." I wanted to laugh, hard. Walking 1 1/2 mile twice a week is the most exercise I've done since having kids!

We've been reading about Columbus in school, which led us to a study on slave ships in the 1500s to work on Spanish plantations. When Ellie realized how slaves were packed onto ships for 50-day journeys from Portugal to the Indies...she exclaimed, "I'm glad my skin is white! That must have been horrible to be a slave." Erik's emotional response to the lesson was, "You mean they just went to the bathroom right where they were chained?! They had to lie down in their b.m.?!?! That's gross!"

Everson continues to spend his days dressed as a knight, building castles out of legos and playing with Erik's old Imaginext castle sets...can you get a picture of the world Everson lives in...a brave knight, fighting dragons and rescuing princesses. Occasionally he wants to play pirate with the big kids. On the trampoline, the 4 of them play super heroes, or a game I have yet to understand, called Shamu - Ev is Shamu and the girls are mermaids and I think Erik is Neptune. Since our trip to Seaworld a few weeks ago, we have checked out a dozen books on dolphins and whales for little Everson. He's quite fascinated with Shamu Shamu Shamu. We watched Free Willy last week and I thought he'd explode with the footage of the killer whale LOL.

Well, time to get on with our day. Remember to pray for Will.

So I've been told that I must go on and live my life. Can't help but feel a deep sense of guilt over doing that, because Sam and Angies lives will never be the same now that they are fighting Leukemia. But here's what convinced me this morning that I needed to update this site on the life of my kids...Angie checked our blog. So while our family in NC are on the forefront of our minds, my kids still make forts in the livingroom, fight over toys and whine when I tell them to do their chores. I'll take it. I find myself hugging my kids more these days, being less impatient with the silliness (okay, most of the time), and grateful for their good health.

A message from Angie, Will's brave mom....

Dear Friends and Family,
I created a CaringBridge site to keep you up to date on William Armstrong. CaringBridge is a nonprofit organization that helps friends and families stay connected.You can visit William's CaringBridge site at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/williamarmstrong.
If your e-mail program does not allow you to click on the above link, just copy and paste the address into your Internet browser address location.
Please visit the CaringBridge site anytime. You can use the site to check in onWilliam, read journal entries and sign the guestbook.
Please print and save this e-mail for future reference.
CaringBridge enables unique and personal communities of support that enrich family andfriend connections during times of need.
www.caringbridge.org

*i'm sorry if you've received this email twice, i'm just trying to quickly get it out to as many folks as possible. if you'd rather not receive updates, please let me know and we'll take you off our list. also feel free and please do forward the caring bridge site address on to whoever you think would like to have it. i may have unintentionally left someone out.
thanks,
aa

Will has Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Just googled it...it's the more agressive type of leukemia (just our luck). Sam and Angie are meeting with the dr this afternoon to come up with his treatment plan. Spoke briefly with Angie this am...she says she does fine as long as she's with Will...but when she's not with him... Keep them in your prayers. The next few days and weeks will be trying.

LEUKEMIA

My phone rang at 7:30 this morning. It was Sam, Doug's brother (who now lives in Cary, NC). Their 2 1/2 year old son, our only nephew, Will had just been diagnosed with Leukemia. They are awaiting transfer to another hospital (where one of the top Leukemia doctors in the country works). Once there, more tests will be run to determine what kind of Leukemia Will has, and how to treat it. Naturally, everyone is reeling. Will has not liked being stuck with needles (who does), but has been very good through all of this. This afternoon Sam told me that Will has been friendly to everyone, saying, "Thanks for coming," as people left the room. So pray for Will, for Sam, Angie and 14 month old Katie. They are in for a long journey.

Here's Emma, all ready for her Little House on the Prairie party this morning. When she gets home, she's off to Nutcracker rehearsal, then we're going bowling with my stepbrother, Jason (who is a 20 year old Marine, just returning from 7 months in Iraq), then a family with 6 children is coming over this evening so the mom and I can go out to dinner... Read that last part again...Doug is staying home with 10 kids (age 1-13) so that I can go out with a friend. Her husband is a Chaplain in the Air Force and has been away at a training school for 4 weeks. Doug's a saint for this one!!!

Hi, this is Emma and I'm writing in the blog for now. Actually, my mom is writing, but I'm telling her what to write.

I'm excited to be in The Nutcracker. It's fun. I have to go to the studio 4 times this week. 2 are for classes, and 2 are for rehearsals.

I have school this morning, and after school, I'm going to one of my best friend's houses. Her name is Katie Stoup. We usually play American Girl Dolls or Barbies with her HUMONGOUS Barbie dollhouse - it goes all the way up to the ceiling (almost that high). Ellie is coming too, so she can play with Katie's little sisters, Kenzie and Karlee. Katie has a big sister names, Kaycee...did you notice that they all have "K" names? They are adopting a baby boy, whose name will be Kelby. He's from Ethiopia. They homeschool their kids, too. We might go swimming today, if Katie's mom cleaned out the pool...it was very yuccy the last time I went over there.

Tomorrow, I'm going to go to a birthday party for a friend turning 8. It's a Little House on the Prairie party.

I'm doing AWANA again this year. I have LOTS of friends in AWANA. The new 3rd grader girls are on my team so I got to make friends with them too. I have 2 3rd grade friends, Karalee and Cali.

That's all for now. Goodbye.

Here's the kids on the Komodo Dragon statue. They were so cute lined up.
Everson reluctantly posed on this Giant Tortoise statue. He got to see one at eye level about 2 feet from him. What a thrill! Behind him is a river...wading was actually encouraged by the zoo.

We're back from our getaway weekend in San Antonio! What a great time we had with my dad and stepmom. The older 3 kids acted like they saw my parents just last week. Everson needed to warm up a bit and was very good at playing catch with Grandpa Quale by the time we left. Here's a glimpse of our few days:

SEAWORLD was amazing! We fed dolphins, saw sharks up close, penguins, sea lions and walruses, otters, coral reef display, and Eversons favorite: Shamu Shamu Shamu. We adults loved the fact that all of the vendors and rides and restaurants were closed. We didn't hear, "Mom,I'm hungry can I get one of those? I don't want to ride that ride alone. Can I get one of those to take home?" You get the point. And at just $8/person and a parking place right at the front gate, you couldn't beat the day. Thanks Seaworld, for making this available just for homeschoolers (and grandparents).

The San Antonio Zoo was our Friday excursion. Because my parents have memberships at the Buffalo Zoo, we were able to get in for half price...always a plus. We spent 5 1/2 hours at the zoo! There was a great hands on area for children 5 and under (and a few older sibs and grandparents). We crawled around in prarie dog tunnels and went fishing and saw giant tortoises. The rest of the zoo was pretty cool too. No surprise that the zoo is one of the top 10 in the country. www.sazoo-aq.org/

The Alamo and Riverwalk were on our Saturday agenda. I think Emma wanted to go on the narrated tour, but was outvoted...maybe next time. We took a riverboat cruise and learned some interesting facts about the riverwalk. Then we had lunch at The Rainforest Cafe. I can't even describe how fun it was walking in this 3-story restaurant decorated lavishly like a rainforest. Complete with thunderstorms and lightning! www.rainforestcafe.com Definately memorable for the kids. And Erik had a heaping plate of spaghetti!

Each afternoon while Everson (and Doug) napped, the older 3 kids went swimming in the pool for hours. Then dinner, play time and bed to rest up for the next day. Doug and I went out for dessert one evening. It was so nice to get out in a fun place like San Antonio. We had some nachos and then the most expensive ice cream cone I've ever had! I think our 2 cones were over $12!!

It was fun to spend some time with my dad and Maureen. Maureen wants to go to Corpus Christi the next time they come to TX...sounds like fun. My father mentioned us all going to Florida. Ellie said that we could do that, when Everson is 10 years old. Don't ask me where she came up with that one.

The battery in my camera died this morning, so I can't post any pictures until I get a new battery. But I promise I will do that so you can see us having fun in S.A.