After dinner

After a wonderful dinner of pancakes, eggs and turkey bacon, Julian and Kathryn told Jason and I that we needed a break from washing dishes and doing recycling, so they were going to do it tonight. And they did a really good (wet, messy!) job and had fun doing it.

Tina Fey as Sarah Palin

In case you missed it last night on SNL - this was hilarious! I thought her impersonation was dead-on.

Playing school

I'm taking a break from cleaning house to share these pictures, which I thought were really cute. I thought I would have to sneak the picture since Julian has become more and more reluctant to be in pictures, but he posed for it in the end, as you can see. Since about 7:30 this morning, the kids have been playing school. It is now 11:00 and they have now stopped, only because Kathryn went grocery shopping with Jason. Julian is the teacher (of course), and Kathryn the student. But! She is not a Kindergarten student; she is a college student. She takes a test about every 5 minutes and always does very well. And, Julian must have some very sharp dressed teachers, because to be a teacher, he had to dress in his church clothes. What a handsome teacher he is!

Kathryn's writing

Kathryn brought these home in her Thursday folder. I think she is doing rather nicely! She has had next to no interest in writing until she went to school, so I am very excited that she is working on it for her teacher. These pictures must be a couple of weeks old - we have really been working on her name, and it looks great!

Getting gas...

It was really weird. When I went to get gas yesterday, Walmart was actually OUT of everything except 87 octane. Of course my car runs on that normally anyway, but I began to think of what would happen if the gas stations were out of all gas. What in the world would we do?? Forget high gas prices, what about no gas at all???

Last one, I promise!

These are the pictures from Jason's camera...I promise I won't post anymore from Kathryn's birthday parties - this year!

Heroes....finally!

I am so excited that Heroes season 3 will be premiering tonight! Unfortunately, I will be in class at 8:00, but will definitely be recording it to watch when I get home. I was pretty annoyed when the writers' strike stopped the show mid story last season, and I've been waiting impatiently since then for new shows. If you haven't seen Heroes yet, you should check it out - I was surprised at how gripping it was (the first season anyway).

Kathryn's Birthday party ... again

Here are some pictures from the small party we had at Grandma Knight's house the Sunday before last to celebrate Kathryn's 5th birthday.




My batteries were dying, so I used Jason's camera quite a bit...so there on more on there that I'll work on getting off and posting. I just didn't want to wait any longer - this week has been pretty busy with school and work, and I meant to put these up several days ago!! Sometimes, there just isn't enough time in a day!

Awana last night

Just wanted to update:

Julian finished his "Start Zone" last night, earning his New T&T shirt and his first T&T book. The Start Zone has 9 verses and some "life truths" in it, which he had to memorize and recite. A couple of the verses were repeats, but several were new.

Kathryn also finished her "Flight 3:16" book, earning her Sparks vest and first Sparks book. She had to memorize and recite John 3:16, which she did in front of her whole class.

They didn't have the right size on hand for either of them, so it will be next week before we get them....

Just a good morning!

This morning when I took the kids to school, Kathryn actually asked me if she could walk to class by herself! I am so proud of my shy butterfly. I told her I would be very proud of her if she did and that she is such a big girl! I am just really happy today that Kathryn is getting comfortable with school, which has been a concern for the last couple of weeks.

On top of that, Julian has 2 checkpoints to pass off tonight at Awana! He is so smart. Grandma gave us an extra Start Zone she had from teaching last year (Julian had left his at the church last week), so we were able to work on some verses last night. It brought tears to my eyes to see Julian EXCITED to find the verses from his Start Zone in his Bible. He thought it was so cool that the words matched exactly (he got a NKJV from the Awana store last year).

And of course, Kathryn is working on John 3:16 to earn her first Sparks book, BUT we have a great problem with her ... she just won't say the exact words of the verse - she keeps saying what they mean instead! (i.e. instead of "shall not perish", she'll say "will not die" and instead of "will have everlasting life" she says "will live with Jesus forever"!!!!). So cute.

Ok, I'm off to class - I think I'm going to be late, but my cup was overflowing this morning, and I wanted to share!

For Robert ...

We saw this on the way home from Charlotte, and Jason wanted to show his Dad....

Happy Birthday Kathryn

Today is Kathryn's 5th birthday. I can't believe how fast the last 5 years have gone! Kathryn is growing into a beautiful girl; she is so sweet, so kind and so thoughful. I feel really blessed to have her as my daughter! Here are some pictures from her birthday party in Charlotte yesterday...I'll post some from her birthday party today as soon as I can.

Kathryn again

Well, now that we've seen all of our families, I can finally post these pictures of my baby with her new earrings. She got her ears pierced last weekend - and of course had to get pink flowers! What else?

I have actually wanted to get her ears done for a while, but I wanted it to be at her request. Last Friday, we saw a baby in a restaurant with her ears pierced, and we all started talking about ear piercing in general. I was honest with Kathryn and told her it would hurt, she would have to leave them in for a long time before she could take them out, she would have to clean them a lot, and it would be a while before she could switch to other earrings.

Well, Kathryn decided she wanted to get hers done - right then! So we tried to find a place here, but couldn't. It says a lot that there is not even a place to get ears pierced here (well, there are a couple of tattoo shops...) We ended up driving to the mall closest to us and had it done at Claire's. There was another little girl getting her ears done - she was 7, but small for her age. Kathryn got to watch her do it, and thankfully that girl didn't get upset about it - didn't cry or anything. And she actually came back a few minutes after hers were done to watch Kathryn. She talked to her and encouraged her. It was very sweet.

Kathryn was very brave and didn't cry at all. She was, um, we'll say reluctant to do the 2nd ear after the 1st was done, but when we let her know it would look kind of strange to go around with one earring, she let the Claire's lady do the 2nd one.

She has done really well with them since, and usually reminds me that it's time to clean them (3 times a day for 6-8 weeks). She has already picked out some earrings at Claire's that she wants to get - we'll hold off on that for a while...I now she would ask everyday "is it time to switch earrings yet??"

1 Peter 4:12 - 19

I just found this really encouraging today, and wanted to share it with you:

"Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And,

"If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?"

So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good."

Kathryn

Well, I've been sick since we got back from the beach, and haven't been doing a whole lot besides studying and working, but I got this picture of Kathryn last weekend. She and Julian were playing together with the erector set, but he wouldn't let me take his picture...you never know with him :)