Seeing Granddad

Today we trekked down to Bryan to visit with some more of my family. My Uncle Edward lives in Bryan which happens to be half way for us and my granddad, aunt and cousin. We were able to visit and catch up with the family. My granddad is 90 yrs. old. I feel so blessed to have him still with us and doing well. We celebrated his 90th birthday on Memorial Day weekend this past year with a party. It was great to see him with all of his kids (3 sons, 1 daughter), 4 of his grandkids, and 3 of his great-grandchildren. He has done many amazing things throughout his life and I love hearing his stories. It is always fun to catch up with family.

Of course a visit to College Station is not finished without a trip through AggieLand. My dad and nephew gave us a quick tour via car.

Tomorrow we head to Dallas and then onto Amarillo to see family up there. I know it will be a very fun few days!

Traditions

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that you were able to spend time with family and friends celebrating Christ's birth. We had a great time with my family here in Waco. I thought I would let you in on a few traditions we have for the big celebration.

*Christmas Eve dinner consist of spaghetti and oyster stew. Not sure when this started but it is the same we had at Grandma's in North Carolina. Steve loves the stew which is good since I don't get near it :)

*Reindeer Dust is sprinkled outside on the lawn by the kids.

*Green punch and goodies are served after some presents are opened. This is another tradition continued from NC. I look forward to green punch all year. My mom makes the best Christmas goodies in the world, my favs are the chocolate balls! While we enjoy the goodies we talk about memories of Christmas past.

*On Christmas morning the kids open Santa's gifts and then we eat breakfast before the other presents are opened. I think that works since we are a little more awake to appreciate gifts from one another.

*The rest of the day is spent playing with toys and games (and a nap if it can be fit it :). It is so fun to have the kids to watch and play with. They do get some great toys!!

One thing I love about traditions is the thought of passing them onto Cheryl's kids and mine is exciting. I also like to think about starting new traditions that we will remember for years to come.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Merry Christmas!

Another great time

We had the awesome pleasure of having Andrea, Nathan, and their precious daughter Lindsay over to our home last night. Andrea is an amazing friend and I have been so blessed by our friendship. When my parents moved me to Waco many, many years ago I was a very upset 8th grader. God truly blessed my move though with having Andrea right next door. Our friendship bloomed and grew stronger over the years. We roomed together at Baylor for her 2 years before nursing school in Dallas. Andrea married her high school sweetheart, how sweet is that! We all used to go to lunch everyday during high school, we would trade off between her house and mine. Gotta love those HotPockets :) It is fun to think about all the years that have gone by and how God has strengthened our relationship.

Fingerprints 101

Today was our day to get our fingerprints done. As part of the international adoption process they need our fingerprints, go figure. We had to go to Ft. Worth to the USCIS office. Here some things to know... Do Not take a cell phone. Due to me having mine, it was off what's the deal!?!, we got to wait a longer time. Also, there is no more ink to wash off. Everything is done with computers, not surprising I guess. It was cool to see the print come up on the screen. I was going to take pictures but with the no cell phone policy comes no camera. I figured since we were at a government agency I shouldn't push it!

One more thing to check off for the adoption, yea!!! Now we wait for the paperwork back from the gov't and then we can send everything off to our agency. We are picking out pictures to send in as well which is fun.

One year ago...

One year ago today we left for the best family vacation! My parents took us and Cheryl's family to Walt Disney World in Orlando. We had an incredible time. I know they say it's a magical place and I think it really is. A friend of mine is going in a couple of weeks and I am so jealous. I think the Disney trip is what really inspired my love of planning trips (I have always loved going on them). I have been to Disney World three times now. The first was in high school with band. We participated in a marching competition in the Magic Kingdom which was cool. The second time was with some friends in graduate school. Who know going as an adult could be so much fun!?!

If you ever go to Disney World with a large family (more that 8 people in your group) I would highly suggest taking advantage of the Magical Gathering events. We did a breakfast with Mickey which was great b/c there were a few families and we got to be in the Magic Kingdom before it opened and get some great pics and of course spend some time with the big mouse himself. We also did a fireworks voyage with Peter Pan. Once again Disney does a great job at making everything feel magical during these special events. If you are going with little girls who like the princesses the Princess Breakfast in Epcot is a must (there is also one at Cinderella's castle that is a bit more expensive and very hard to get into but I am sure it is wonderful). My mom, Cheryl, Hannah and I had breakfast together and the princesses would come by to talk to Hannah and get pictures. As you can imagine Hannah was in awe (so was I:)

I can't wait to take our little girl to Disney one day. I can only hope she will have as much fun as we did!!

Celebrating the Season

Wow! What a fun end of the week and weekend. One of the many reason I love this season is getting to spend great fellowship time with friends and family. It started off with my school Christmas party. I am hospitality chair and was in charge of planning the staff Christmas party. It went great and I think we all had fun getting away from school for awhile. It's amazing that we work together all day but don't really get to "talk". We had lots of fun catching up.

On Friday night I went to a party at a friend's home. She had decorated beautifully and we enjoyed yummy Christmas goodies. It is so fun to see how different families decorate for the Christmas season. Janet had lights strung all through the house which made me truly feel warm and cozy.

Saturday was a fun day of shopping with my mom and sister. I discovered a new gift store with them that many people had told me about but I had never been. It was great fun picking out Christmas gifts. We also enjoyed a girls lunch which was great. The rest of Saturday was spent at choir rehearsal to get ready for our Sunday morning concert.

Sunday was my church's Christmas choir concert. I always have had fun singing, even though I might not be very good, I love to sing with others. I really enjoyed having my parents and friend, Karen, there to watch. We had our Sunday School party on Sunday evening which was tons of fun. It was full of great fellowship and yummy food.

We wrapped up the weekend by attending the Point of Grace concert here in Waco. I have always enjoyed their music ever since Cari gave me their first CD over 10 yrs. ago. The concert was wonderful and as an added bonus my friends EJ and Kim had seats next to ours.

I hope you are enjoying this special season and are able to have some special time with family and friends!

A night of Magical Music

What a night! We celebrated the Christmas season with a concert with one of my favorite performers, Michael W. Smith. The concert was INCREDIBLE. There is nothing better than hearing his music played with a full orchestra with him plus his band.

The evening didn't start off too good though. I got home as early as possible from school so we could get to Dallas in time to enjoy a nice dinner. We started to get on I-35 and noticed a traffic backup. We stayed on the frontage road thinking we would get around the backup, no luck! There had been a really bad accident and I-35 was shut down about 2 miles from our house. So we sat in traffic for about 45 minutes not able to turn around and go another way, not fun. We finally made it to the other side of Waco about an hour after we had left. So much for leaving early!!

Since we didn't get to leave early I thought we missed out on having a nice dinner, I was wrong. We got to the Meyerson center early enough to enjoy their buffet. It was very, very nice and totally made up for having to sit in traffic back in Waco. As we were enjoying our dinner another patron came over to us and asked where are seats were and if they were "good". Since we had never been to this venue I had no idea how good they were or where they were (I knew I had paid a good price for them though). He said he had been called away unexpectedly and wanted to give us his BOX seats as a Christmas gift. Why'd he choose us? I don't know but God sure did make up for that traffic :) Anyway, now we had two extra tickets on hand. Steve took them down to the ticket center to see if they wanted them. As he was asking, two ladies said they would take them. The ladies offered to pay but we knew there was no way we would take payment since we had been blessed from another. The ladies were especially happy when they found out the concert was SOLD OUT!

As the concert started I was definitely enjoying our great seats. The concert hall was decorated beautifully. I have always loved hearing live music, especially at Christmas. Michael came out and performed songs from all three of his Christmas albums. If you haven't gotten his new one I would definitely suggest it for a great Christmas CD. He also had the Katina's and Melinda Doolittle (American Idol fame) to join him. He sang my fav song from his first album, Emmanuel and so many others from his current CD. Can you believe he is a grandfather, I nearly fell off my chair when he said that. I figured out that I first saw him in concert about 20 years ago when he was with Amy Grant on her Lead Me On tour. He still looks the same and has incredible music.

For such a slow start to the evening the night turned out GREAT. It was wonderful to celebrate the birth of Christ through amazing music.

A Picture and A Party

This weekend we were able to have some great family time with my fam. It is so fun have the Gochi in town and not have to drive three hours to see them. They are just across town. We took the annual Segura Christmas card picture on Saturday morning. I won't post the actual picture b/c I don't want to ruin it for those who will receive it but I will include a picture of the fun that happens between takes. Notice Cheryl getting the kids ready and who knows what I was doing. My mom is just reminding us that all her friends are going to get this so let's smile. For those of you who take Christmas card pictures I'm sure you will appreciate :)

This weekend we also celebrated Hannah's 5th birthday. Her actual birthday is on Tuesday but we got to celebrate early. Steve and I haven't made it to her birthday party in awhile so I was especially glad to be there with her this afternoon. She wanted to have it at Chuck E. Cheese which was lots of fun with games and loudness. She enjoyed being the birthday girl! It is hard to believe that she is 5 yrs. old. My how time flies! Steve and I had just gotten married when she came to us from China. My sister makes the best birthday cakes and I can't wait for her to make my little girls cakes one day. Happy Birthday Hannah!

Movie Time

Okay, so I love movies. Not as much as my cousin, Michael, who I expect to be a movie critic one day. He has his own system to rate them and everything. We usually head to the movies on Saturday afternoons (we have found that evening movie crowds tend to be inconsiderate of other movie patrons). Anyway, over the long holiday weekend I got to see two great movies. I don't usually promote movies but these two I really enjoyed and think most people will as well.

The first was Enchanted by Disney. I have always loved fairy tales so when you add Patrick Dempsey (hello Dr. McDreamy!) you can bet I will be there. It is a very "cute" movie. I loved Amy Adams as the princess, she does a great job with all the princess mannerisms. We laughed A LOT.

The second we saw was August Rush. This is one for those music lovers out there. The story is great and the music is superb. I have always enjoyed movie soundtracks and can't wait to get this one as well. The kid who plays the little boy is wonderful.

Along with going to see movies this week I also bought Hairspray which is a favorite from the summer. So, hope you had a great holiday weekend and if you get a chance check out these great family movies.

Did you get enough turkey?

Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope everyone had a delightful Thanksgiving. Ours was spent enjoying my mom's awesome cooking and good family time. We spent the day at my parents house with our friend Alicia. I love eating turkey but only on Thanksgiving. After that I am finished, no more thank you.
Since today is Black Friday we decided to see how much damage we could do. We usually are up early hitting the stores at 5am. This year we decided that there wasn't anything worth getting up that early for. I really enjoyed sleeping late and still getting some shopping in. I did get some Christmas gifts which is always a good thing. I also got me some things :)
We are now enjoying a nice warm fire since it actually is cold outside (thank goodness). I ordered our Christmas cards and we have finished decorating for the Christmas holidays. It has been a busy three days off so far. I am looking forward to the weeks leading up to Christmas. We have many holiday plans and I can't wait to get started so here is an early MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Founder's Day

Last night I celebrated Tri Delta's Founders Day with my mom, sister and many alumnae and friends. For those of you who weren't in a sorority you may find this cheesy... be warned :)

One of my best college experiences was being a part of Tri Delta at Baylor. There were incredible girls to learn many new things from and share friendships with. I have especially loved catching up with many in the blogging world. It has also been great to reconnect with sisters through the alum chapter and community of Waco. For three years I served as the alum advisor and was in constant amazement at college women who went above and beyond to love and help their sisters, serve the community, fit in studying, and have fun.

Tri Delta was founded on Thanksgiving Eve in 1888. Who knew that the women who met to form a new sisterhood would influence me so many years later. One very special part of being a Tri Delta is that my sister and mom are both members. It is always fun celebrating being sisters in such an incredible organization. This year my sister is serving as the Waco alum president and my mom and I are helping out as well. I enjoyed giving the welcome last night and look forward to continuing my work with this amazing group of women.

A Baylor Day

As you know I have the priveledge of going on most field trips with my school. I have been to more museums that I can keep up with and to the zoo a billion times (okay maybe not that much but really when it's 80 4 year olds ya wonder). Every now and then I get to plan my own field trip. The great thing about being a counselor is I get to talk to the kids about preparing for their future. I LOVE talking about college and all the options that are out there for these kids.

So I got to take our 4th grade students on a trip to Baylor. One might think, you live in Waco what's so special about going to visit BU? Well, for my children going across town to Baylor is a VERY big deal. 99% of them had never been on campus, any college campus for that matter, even though we have 3 in Waco.

Anyway, the kids were excited and I was a bit nervous (88 students 7 teachers ratio is always a little stressful). We started off with getting to see the bears, Lady and Joy. I hadn't seen them as active as they were that morning. A member of Chamber, "Anything for Baylor", spoke to the kids about the bears and why we have them. The students loved watching them as did I. Then we split up into two groups to have a tour of campus. My tour group was lead by a member of Tri Delta that I knew when I was their advisor so that was fun. Erin did a wonderful job at telling the kids about college life and answering all their questions. I loved hearing the wonder in their voice about college classes and the fun stuff too. I even managed a pic with Judge Baylor and my great friend Karen, who is a 4th grade teacher :)

When we finished with the tour (after stopping by the SLC which they were totally wowed by) we headed to Cameron park for a picnic which was great. Then we went back to Baylor to hear the BU symphony orchestra. They were amazing and the kids really enjoyed it. As many of you know I LOVE music so this was a special treat for me.

As part of being in 4th and 5th grade in McLennan county you get to attend this concert. They do it 3 times in one day at Waco Hall to accomodate everyone. That's a lot of kids!! The cool thing was at our performance I saw my nephew, Andrew, who is in 4th grade at another school. It was so fun to see him!! I think his teachers were a bit weary, as I would be, but we did manage a picture.

So needless to say we had a great time and I loved showing my kids around the great school that is Baylor. Many now say they want to go to Baylor so that is a step in the right direction!

Family Time

This Saturday we were able to enjoy some great family time with the Davis' family. We headed up to McKinney to see Mickey and Kirby (Steve's sister and brother-in-law) and Eric and Jennifer (Mickey's son and wife). It is hard for me to call Eric my nephew since he is older than me, a twist in our family :) Elyssa kept us laughing with her fun energy. Oh to be 5 again! We also had the chance to visit with Jennifer's parents from Sweetwater as well. Her mom is a guidance counselor as well so we had lots to talk about.

It was great to see everyone again! The last time we were all together was at Eric and Jennifer's wedding this past June. They are both coaches in Frisco so you can imagine how busy their fall has been. We look forward to seeing Eric coach some bball games this spring. It was so fun to get to know Jennifer better. We had a great time talking and catching up on the world of education.

Since Mickey and Kirby live in Amarillo (about 7 hours from Waco) we try to see them at least a few times each year. The past two times have been in locations other than Amarillo which makes it easier for us to see them. We always spend New Year's with Steve's family which has been a wonderful Christmas treat and something that we look forward to doing again this year!!

Happy Homecoming

Well, this past weekend was filled with a fun Baylor Saturday. I have always enjoyed attending homecoming activities and am so glad to be in Waco where I can still participate. We missed out on the bonfire due to my allergies (thanks Waco :) My mom, sister and niece got up bright and early to attend the Tri Delta breakfast. It was fun to see so many familiar faces and I enjoyed catching up with friends. We then headed to see the parade and meet the boys. My parents international student, Faye, joined us and was amazed at everything. She had never seen anything like it so that was extra fun.

Steve's brother and nephew came up for the game. I skipped and went to my nephews peewee game (much more fun). The boys came home and were able to fix our wireless router which made me oh so happy. I love being able to play on the laptop anywhere in the house, thank goodness for technology and for Mike and Nathan!!!

We wrapped up the weekend with a great Sunday at church and a wonderful dinner with our home group. It helped me to get ready for a busy week at school. Only 10 more school days till Thanksgiving break, yea!!!

A happy halloween

I hope everyone had a fun evening with dressing up and eating candy. I didn't really get to do either but I did wear my orange pumpkin shirt to school. That was as close to dressing up as I could do. I was never very good at coming up with costumes. Guess I will have to work on that once we have kids to dress up!

Steve had to teach class, bummer. He was sad to miss handing out candy at the house. I was very glad that one family stopped by after he returned home from teaching. I think it made his night :) I loved seeing my nephews and niece in their cute costumes. This was the first year we have been in the same town for Halloween so it was fun to do some trick or treating with them. They had tons of fun and now have plenty of candy to last them till Christmas.

I spent some time working at church at the fall festival. It is chaotic but so much fun for the kids. There is always so much to do it just amazes me. I can't wait to take our child! I enjoyed sharing booth time with Kelly and her special family.

What's wrong with this picture

We had lots of fun celebrating with the boys this weekend. Jacob played his final flag football game and had a great pizza celebration. Andrew's team will continue to play for a few more weeks. The playoffs start in two weeks. Playoffs, go figure! I was shocked to actually see my maroon bleeding dad in the longhorn shirt but he pulled it off well.
The rest of the weekend was spent with me sitting upright trying to fend off allergies. I guess spending Friday and Saturday outside did me in. Oh, let the allergy season begin! I have my kleenex and vaseline handy so hopefully I will survive :)
Bonus for today is that the school kids are at home and we have meetings all day. Of course, for a teacher it is really hard to sit and listen. I hope the day goes quickly!

home study finished!

YEA!!! We now have our completed and notarized home study. It feels great to know that step is completed. Now it is time to figure out what comes next in our adoption process. Don't worry I am on top of things. We have to send in the I-600A to CIS in Houston. FedEx here I come.
This week has been great with some cool weather finally making it feel like fall. We always 'celebrate' the lower temps by making taco soup on that first cold night. Oh how I love taco soup :) After being under the weather all weekend it was nice to feel good again and enjoy fall.

This was another great baby week. I was honored to meet the newest member of the Taylor family, Mason. He is just precious!! I also got to spend some good time with Walker, the new son of the Williams. I love being around all of these babies! I love knowing that one day our child will have wonderful friends like these. There seems to be a ton of boys coming recently. Looks like our Sunday School will have there own soccer/football/baseball team!

good fall things

I thought of another reason I enjoy fall so much last night. Steve came home with several new Christmas CDs. You are probably thinking... Christmas, a little early for that! Well, true enough we won't start playing the new CDs until later on but it is just fun to know they are out there, on store shelves. In Waco Christmas comes during fall (or what seems like fall since it doesn't get very cold) so I consider fall lasting until January. Here some of our new CDs to add to our Christmas collection. I am especially excited b/c Michael W. Smith is doing a concert with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra the first week in December. I can't wait!!!

cooler please!

Fall is my favorite season. I love the crisp cool mornings and breezy afternoons. Although it is the middle of October, well almost the middle, I still haven't gotten the fall feeling. I have noticed leaves on the ground but they are green leaves, no pretty colors yet. Of course, in Waco we don't get a whole lot of changing colors but we usually get some. I guess I will have to continue to wait on the fall season to get here. I have put out my fall decorations in hope that the weather will figure things out!
It was wonderful last night to hear the rain and thunder. Although I am not a big fan of Thunderstorms what it brought with it was much needed. Looks like it is going to be in the 80s most of the week so that is a good sign that fall is on the way.

Field Trip #1

One of my favorite things about my job is the chance to go on field trips with most grade levels. My principal likes to have as many adults as possible on the field trip which makes a lot of sense. Kids can sometimes 'act a fool' when away from school :) If you can imagine... over 100 5-6 year olds with lots of things to see and things they want to touch, wow! I went with the kindergarten kids to the HOT fair to see the milking demonstration. The kids get a chance to see some animals and watch milk come from a cow. The farmer who works with the cow (Sister) is super funny and the kids are in awe of seeing the milk. We did have a new experience this year when a pig that was being taken to show ran away from his owner and towards the kids. If you have never heard a pig squeal it is quite an experience and very, very loud. I was just as scared as the kids. All turned out okay and the pig got to his show, although he didn't seem very happy about that. I love this last pic with the little girl waving to the bull, too cute!

A "Fair" weekend

Corny title I know... Steve, me, and my great friend Karen spent Friday afternoon at the State Fair of Texas in Dallas. What a fun day!! It was very hot which made for a tiring afternoon but we still managed to see a lot and enjoy our share of fried food. I am always amazed at what they can come up with to fry. The new thing this year was fried cookie dough, last year was fried coke. We didn't try it so I can't say how it was. Kinda makes me feel nauseous even thinking about it.

Friday night was our last show of the Dallas Summer Musicals season. We ended on a high note with Disney's Lion King. I was lucky enough to see the show in New York with my great friend Keith and thoroughly enjoyed it the 2nd time. I am amazed at the creativeness that some people possess. To come up with costumes, music, choreography, and so much that goes into putting on a show. We are looking forward to the 2008 season already.

We enjoyed some football this weekend but not the college kind (I heard the BU game was not pretty, guess it's okay we missed it). We enjoyed watching my nephew, Jacob, play flag football. It is fun to see the kids and their excitement of the game. Another great thing about having my sister back in Waco is the chance to see the kids playing their sports. Hannah hasn't had a dance recital yet but we will be there when she does. It is great preparation for when our daughter is in sports and such.

I wrapped the weekend up by singing in our church choir. We did a program for morning worship. I have really enjoyed being back in choir this year and have some good friends to sing along with. I also had the awesome opportunity to meet the newest member of the William's family, Walker. He is the precious new son to our friends Forrest and EJ. It was wonderful to hold him and celebrate with mom and dad.

College Night

Last night I worked at H.O.T college fair. 15 years ago I attend as a junior in high school. It was funny to think about how much time has past since I was a student trying to decide what my future might hold and then working the same event. I remember going with Andrea and feeling so grown-up as we looked around at the different colleges. Who knew at that time the incredible college experience I would have at Baylor. At the time I had decided I would not be going to BU and instead wanted to spread my wings. God is amazing and taught me that I could spread my wings and learn a lot even being in Waco. I feel lucky to have Steve working at Baylor as it keeps my ties close. Steve's college colors day pic is now being featured on the BU athletics website www.baylorbears.com

Vegas baby

Well, this time it's not me going to Vegas but my parents. On Friday night we celebrated my dad's and Rich's (my bro-in-law) birthdays. It was a fun night with a family dinner at my parents. It is so much fun having Cheryl's family in town all the time now. Great for getting together anytime. Cheryl made a fun football cake which we all enjoyed. My mom surprised my dad with a trip to Vegas! He was very excited as you can tell from the picture. She had managed to keep it a secret for many months. I was especially excited for him to finally know as I helped plan the vacation. My mom has been to Vegas once before with Cheryl and me and my dad has never been. Their plans include seeing Barry Manilow (can you get more "Vegas" than that :), "O", and Danny Gans. They are also taking a trip to the Hoover Dam. Steve and I are totally jealous but we hope they have an awesome time. They are leaving on Thursday and I wish I could figure out how to fit into their luggage!! As I was planning their days in Vegas I realized I may have missed my calling in life. Planning vacations for me is great fun, especially when I am charging someone else's credit card! Guess I will have to stick to planning for the fam.

The rest of the weekend was great. We enjoyed watching Andrew win his football game on Saturday. It was a little hard to cheer for the longhorns but I got over it :) It would have been the perfect afternoon if it hadn't been so hot. I don't think I have been that hot in a very, very long time. The things we will do to support the fam!