Sure, no problem, plenty of time

I got this magnet off of etsy.com (if you haven't tried etsy you should -- fabulous handmade items) It sums up why I haven't posted anything in two weeks....

All the things I said yes to were great things...we had a "full blown" Christmas program at the Early Learning Center this year. As the music teacher, I was in charge. The pre-ks (all 85 of so) sang three songs, the kindergarten dressed up to act out the nativity, the first grade played the handbells and quoted passages from Luke 2 and the 2nd graders were cowboys out on the trail on Christmas Eve. They "narrated" the Christmas story. It all ended with the Texas-appropriate song, "From Our Herd to Your Herd, Merry Christmas." It was so cute...and so much work!

At church we are finishing an 8 week study on Christmas Eve entitled "Fulfilled". It has been wonderful. I'll post some photos of our art work. We have had a different piece of art displayed every week of the series (these are 15x 10 foot canvasses) each Monday evening we move the piece to the side walls and install the next canvas. I sort of volunteered to be in charge of writing a Family Devotion guide for each week and creating several things (see above magnet) for this past Sunday and the Christmas Eve service.

Now the kids are out of school and we're ready for Christmas. The weather has been in the low 50s, cold for this part of the country, so it feels like winter. We had dinner last night at our good friends, the Carson's.

Darren is recovering from being sick (he even missed two days of work last week) I'm not convinced he didn't have walking pneumonia and we're praying no one else gets sick over the holidays. Now we're off to the mall to get one last Christmas gift for my oldest nephew. Apparently, the other gift we got him (quoting my son), "Is good, but not really fun." Wouldn't we hate it if the nephew didn't think we gave good gifts. So much for breaking the 'approval addiction'.

Beginning to Look a Little Like Christmas

This weekend, after my son's stellar debut on the fourth grade boys city-league basketball team, we decided it was time to decorate for Christmas. Isn't it amazing how many boxes of Christmas decorations you can shove up into the attic? And we got rid of LOTs of our decorations when we moved to Virginia.

To really put us in the Christmas spirit, we baked sugar cookies. It took some time to find a Sugar Cookie recipe online that didn't need baking soda -- for some reason, we have no baking soda. The kids did a great job decorating (their favorite part) but really weren't interested in eating too many. Of course, this means I'll end up eating two dozen sugar cookies!

So, the cookies are baked and the tree is up -- but it doesn't have any decorations because my daughter (who is now feeling much better) has decided we should have a "theme" tree -- and the theme should be Gingerbread Men. The only problem...we only have seven gingerbread man ornaments. But not to worry, she has a plan. It includes a trip to Garden Ridge and several hours of crafting. Until then, we have a very Charlie Brown looking Christmas tree.

Amid the boxes of decorations deemed "not good with the theme", rolls of wrapping paper with no presents yet to wrap and an ornament-less tree -- it's being to look a bit like Christmas. Hope your holidays are more organized!

Slow Road to Recovery

Well, Thanksgiving seemed to pass by in a daze. My daughter had surgery on Wednesday -- all went well, but recovery has been difficult. If she wasn't crying because she hurt and was nauseated, I was crying because she hurt and was nauseated! Thank heaven my mom and sister got here late Wed. night -- moms are good about "swooping in" and taking charge. Nanny made sure the rest of the family was well fed and my house looks cleaner now than before she came! My beautiful niece was also here from Oklahoma and she kept my son entertained.

Monday afternoon my daughter's nose finally stopped bleeding, so she went to school for a half-day today. Tomorrow we go to the doctor to "have the splints removed" (around her I'm acting like it won't be as bad as it sounds). For now, I'm just glad things seem to be getting back to normal -- or as normal as things get for being three weeks away from Christmas!

Pretty Pre-op Toes

Say a little prayer for my daughter tomorrow, she's having sinus surgery at 8:00 am. In preparation, we had pedicures. I'm not sure if the ENT will notice, but hopefully some nurse will! These are her orange toes with yellow flowers.

My daughter's had breathing/allergy problems her whole life. Having her tonsils out helped at age 3, but the doctor says it's time to fix everything else. Her surgery will fix a deviated septum (the kids in her Bible Study group are kidding her that she's actually just having a nose job like Ashley Tisdale and saying it's for a deviated septum) and opening up some other obstructions.

My mom, sister and niece will be here tomorrow night. Nanny (my mom) said she's coming, "To rock that baby until she feels better." Yes, the 'baby' is 12. Doesn't matter, Nanny is good medicine no matter the age.

Remeber us in your prayers and go cook something, Thanksgiving is less than 48 hours away for goodness sakes!

We Have a Winner

My daughter started in her first junior high basketball game last night -- and they won. The Wildcats defeated the Bulldogs 42 - 9. She has now surpassed her mother's record of wins for junior high. Yes, for those of you who did not follow the Purple Pirates in the early '80s, we lost every ball game in 7th, 8th and 9th grade. Don't you know our parents enjoyed those three years of sporting events? Now wish us luck, we're off to the first 7th Grade Girls District Tournament this weekend. Hopefully the winning streak will continue. Go Wildcats!

It's Officially Cold Season

Well, "the crud" has hit our household. Since Saturday someone in the family has had the sore throat, head full of concrete, please let me sleep 24 hours bug. It's not fun. Even less fun is being the mom with the crud. During the lucid moments between Nyquil doses you think of everything not getting done. I'm so blessed to have a wonderful husband who keeps everyone fed, clothed and on schedule. I really don't know how you single moms do it. For now I'm off to fix toast for my son, right after I Lysol-down this keyboard. Stay away from those cold germs and have a good week.

I Was Just Trying to get a Little Work Done

Our Student Ministry is having a retreat this weekend, so my husband and daughter are off at camp. That leaves just me and the boy -- and it's college football day on ESPN, so the boy is set. Hand him a sandwich or bowl of ice cream every few hours and he's in heaven.

So I decided it would be a great time to vaccuum. I do not like cleaning the floors, so I always try to move quickly when the urge strikes! But, while maneuvering through I spied a small box under the guest bed. Not sure what was in it, I left my task at hand to investigate. It's pictures! A box full of pictures. I'm not sure why they were in the guest room...but I love pictures. And many of these were old: when Melinda and Myron lived in Florida, when my husband and I traveled before kids, when I cheered for 4th grade and my sister twirled baton for the 6th grade Purple Pirates. And there were several pictures of my dad, the Rancher.

Since he inspired the moniker of my blog, I thought he deserved a little attention. That's him, my dad, the Rancher. My sister had this photo shoot "set up" on the ranch. It turned out to be some of the last photos before his cancer returned.

Of course, he'd think this blog was another one of my goofy ideas. But that's okay -- this Rancher's Daughter is always full of goofy ideas. And lots of love for her daddy.

Now go be goofy and hug the stuffing out of someone you love.

It's a Love/Hate Relationship

In general, I love my digital camera. It's small, has a great zoom, has tons more settings than I'll ever actually use...and usually the pictures are great. But I hate the delay. You know what I mean? You push the button...not taking the picture yet/adjusting for the flash...still not taking the picture... now, now that the kids have moved - the shutter snaps open.It happened last weekend when I was the official photographer of my niece's first birthday soiree. She had her pink and blue tutu on and everything. And there it was...

the delay

the cutest shot opening her presents...delay

It's enough to make an aunt cry. Until you're scrolling through and see the shot of her typing on the old-fashioned blue typewriter.
And it's back to love for the digital camera, because we all get to say "ahh" right then while looking on the little screen.

Wildcats in the House

You saw the movie (if like in our home, 47 times) you know the words from High School Musical...join me... "Wildcats everywhere, put your hands up in the air"
We're singing in celebration of my daughter making the basketball team. She's officially a 7th grade Wildcat. Whoo Hoo! I asked her if anyone has spontaneously broke out in song while praciting in the gym. She just gave me the face. (We've discussed this one before, the 'how can my mom be SO uncool' face.)
She is very excited about playing ball. We were much more excited about her playing ball before we were told she now has to be at school at 6:15 every morning for practice. How are you alert enough to dribble a basketball at 6:15?
Oh the joys of junior high.
Her first scrimmage is Thursday -- photos to follow!

Let's Hear It for the Boys

Before you wonder if I only take photos of my girl, here's one of the men in my life.

But to be honest, the photo ratio is much higher girl to boy!

The Price of Beauty

Isn't it neat the way blogs give a little "snapshot" into one's life? And around here, the life of a 12 year old girl offers endless blogging possibilities. Here is how my daughter begins her day. For those of you who don't know, she has terrible eyesight. Generally this isn't a problem, she just wears her glasses. But what do you do when you can't see and need to look glamorous? Apparently, you sit in the sink and put on your mascara.

I think I need to put a magnifying makeup mirror on her Christmas list. And clean the sink more often.

A Weekend of Celebration

What a fun weekend we had! Our family traveled to Dallas to party (of course that had a different meaning in college) but for this stage of life it meant dinner with the cousins Friday night, a baby shower Saturday morning and birthday celebrations Saturday afternoon.
Saturday morning I was able to see my beautiful friend Julie -- and her tiny bump of a belly, even though she's almost 8 months pregnant! I looked like that at 5 months, but I'm not bitter.
Julie is from Alaska, I'm from Oklahoma; we met three years ago while living in Virginia -- is this a great country or what? Since then: we worked together every day and became great friends, she fell in love with a law school student, I was the old bridesmaid at her wedding (seriously, the next oldest was like 26; I'm sure the groomsmen who walked with me had drawn the short straw), my husband graduated from seminary and accepted a job in Texas, one year later her husband graduated from law school and...wait for it...accepted a job in Texas. Now Julie's having a baby boy and I got to go to the shower! Is that a great God or what?
I was the only "non-family member" at the shower, Julie's husband is from the Dallas area and has lots of family. It was so wonderful showering her with gifts and love. And isn't it wonderful knowing a sweet baby will soon join us? And I get to love on him and watch him grow -- and give him back to mom and dad when he's poopie or cranky!

Compassion Bloggers

I have nothing to say about my mundane, marvelous life. I'm too overcome by gratitude. I've spent the last 20 minutes or so reading the updates from the "Compassion Bloggers". You can check them out at http://www.thebigmamablog.com/ or http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/ for yourself. Compassion International has five or six bloggers in the Dominican Republic this week. What a powerful reminder of the blessings I take for granted...running water, an actual mattress, the ability to hear about God's love from a church placed on every corner. I'm thinking my next post will be one introducing you to the newest child our family is sponsoring! Until then, say a prayer of thanksgiving and show others the joy in your heart.

Nothing Unusual Ever Goes On Around Here

Last night I told my daughter I'd started a blog. "Why?", she asked in that 'how on earth could my mother be so crazy' tone only a 12 year old girl has. "We're so boring, what will you even put on it?"
I walked through the house thinking maybe she was right, we are pretty average. But, that's not the point of the blog...I enjoy writing, I enjoy reading what's happening in other 'average' lives; certainly I can find things to post.

Then I saw it, right there in the bathroom shower stall.
A hot pink Gilligan hat and a knitted stocking cap from Peru. Isn't that where you keep your hats? In the shower stall? I'm guessing it is somehow related to my minister husband and the dunk tank at the Halloween carnival -- but I don't know for certain; and I'll be interested to find out how long they remain there.
A little different, kind of strange, a bit weird --- yeah, I can see those fitting our family. But not boring, never boring.

Another Halloween Come and Gone

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween. Mine was a bit strange -- the kids didn't trick or treat; not even to one house! What kind of children am I raising?

My daughter went with her dad early to the church to finish setting up for the big carnival. She was Bat Girl -- in a homemade tutu. This is what my friend Susan dubbed as the "working that battitude" pose.

She spent the entire evening face painting. It wasn't her intention to be quite so "servant-hearted" -- it was that the other teenagers who signed up to face paint never showed! Oh the bad luck to be first on the schedule.

My son is the ball boy for an area high school team and he opted to attend the football game instead of the traditional Halloween festivities. But, the cheerleaders gave out candy -- that made up for it. Besides, fourth grade boys are a difficult group to "costume". Should they be a football player or hobo? Certainly made it easy on mom.

Now go enjoy a few dozen pieces of candy from your kid's treat bags on me -- consider it the share I didn't get to partake in this year!

The Inaugural Post

Here goes...this is it...I've entered the world of blogging. I have no idea what I'm doing -- but I'm going with the motto if Lynn can do it (Lynn is my wonderful friend and has a beautiful blog) I can!

This first one may be plain, but it's a start.