Update

Well, I haven't been on xanga lately because I've been updating on Facebook, for the most part.  So if you're not on Facebook, come join the fun!

This year has been flying by! We spent several weeks in the first couple of months passing one bug around after another.  We are all well now (except Peter, who's got another cold which has kicked up his wheezing and chest congestion).  The cold days are hopefully over (we just had a late freeze!).  I need to replant a couple of peppers and tomatoes and now maybe things will really begin to grow!

Here's a few pictures of 2009, thus far:

Hannah turned 13! My how the girls are growing up.  Here she is with Rebecca (22) who is in her second semester now at West Coast Baptist College. Emily turned 17, and Sarah turned 15 in January, also.

We gave Emily a ski trip for her birthday.  She went with 3 families from our church and had a blast! 

[Well, pooh.  All the other pics I have tried to load are too big.  Could somebody please tell me how to reduce the size so they can be uploaded to xanga?]

Edit: OK, here's one I reduced (what a pain)...our water main sprung a leak *under* our driveway.  The boys made the best of it, "wallering" in the mud!  The plumber was happy, too, as he got to completely reroute our water line. ($$$)

OK, I'm done for now messing with pictures. Hope I can figure out an *easy* way to reduce file sizes!

Wishing you a lovely spring!

Out with the old, in with the new

  Highlights of the past few months:

We enjoyed having Tim's brother's family from Galveston here for Thanksgiving. We had a great time visiting, eating, playing Taboo, and hearing stories of the hurricane!

                    The Galveston Furlongs                                                  The Murchison Furlongs 

December was incredibly busy:  children's church program, various gift exchanges with family, Tim's birthday, wedding rehearsal and wedding, and a trip to Chicago for Christmas!  Whew!  It took us a week to recover!

    Ours: 3 in the choir, 1 wise man, and 1 on the piano!                   Happy 49th birthday, Tim!

We were so glad to have Rebecca and Michael with us again! She was home after her first semester at West Coast Baptist College in CA, and he had just finished up at UD in Irving!

Lots of prep, decorating, hair, tuxes, practice, dinner, guests, etc., etc, etc! But the Big Day arrived and the ceremony went off without a hitch.  We welcome Carmen as our new daughter-in-law! (And did I mention that I got a new haircut?!)

Going to Chicago was a great stress-reliever after the wedding--except for the day of driving in ice through all of Illinois!  The boys were so excited to see SNOW so deep!!

Of course a huge snowman in the park had to be built! Tim designed this Shrekish-looking guy to wave at passersby. Next time we saw him, somebody had given him a hat!

After a treacherous trip to church on Christmas Day with Grandma, the kids were ready to experience the fun of hard-packed, icy snow! 

                         Woo-hoo!                                                                       CRASH!...oops!

The kids had a blast!

We spent the next day taking the train downtown and visting the Field Museum.  Lots to do and see! We bid Chicago goodbye on the 27th and headed home to begin a new year!

Updo tips

After reading what I could find on the internet and watching a few YouTube videos, here is my first attempt at an updo for one of my daughters.  The girls are needing to wear updos for the upcoming wedding, and I'm trying to decide if this is something I can manage (with a lot of bobby pins!) or whether to hire it done.  Tips? Hints? This was really a very quick try without straightening or curling.  She actually had moussed her hair, so I just wound up the "crunchy" strands into loopy curls and pinned them in place. I don't like the low back, but I had tried to tighten it up with a few more pins, so that's why it isn't smooth and straight.

Family fun

We don't celebrate Halloween, but we did go to the pumpkin patch. And the boys enjoyed making faces with their pumpkins:

All lit up:

Now make a scary face:

Woo, boy.

Today my momma turned 73:

Bill, my step-dad, will be 90 next February.  Don't they look cute?

Happy birthday, Nana!

I love you, Mom!

And finally, October was full of events--camping for the guys, basketball for Jonathan, a ladies tea at church (served by the men), youth activity at "The Rock", Carmenella at Kilgore College, pumpkin patch field trip. Dallas Heritage Village homeschool day. Man, we were busy! And my best friend of 36 years got to come visit!

Well, crud.  I've maxed out my downloads, I guess. More later....the ladies are going camping this weekend! Hope you're having a glorious fall!

If this is your man, please read...

How's Obama Going to Raise $4.3 Trillion?

Now, mind you, I can think of a whole lot of better reasons to not vote for this man than the money he might or might not give me. But I wonder if any of his supporters can answer this question?  How's he gonna pay for it all??