Two Are Better...

Keziah Josephine

2012-02-08T14:31:00.007-06:00

Looks like we will have a Amethyst birthstone for a February baby. Someone was asking where we came up with her name. Her name was picked out before we were even married. Will's dad always wanted someone to use the name Kizzie (Will's great grandmother), I fell in love with the name it is derived from Keziah and the nickname. I have always wanted to use Josephine after my great grandmother. when we put the two together we loved it. So we knew she would be our first baby girl over 7 years ago. What's even more amazing is God knew she would be our first baby girl forever. Someone recently asked about the meaning of the name. we weren't really sure other than Keziah had something to do with cinnamon. So I looked it up. It actually comes from the cassia tree, which some forms produce cinnamon. The cassia trees symbolism is longevity. Josephine means "the Lord increases" or "He will enlarge" (excited to see what this means in our life). In Job 42, the Lord blessed Job more in the latter part of his life than the first. This was a comfort to us after loosing Albert. But we didn't read on until we knew there was somewhere in the bible Keziah was mentioned and when looking that up Job 42:13-14 says he had seven sons and three daughters. It only gives mention to the daughters names the second he named Keziah. God knew she would be our second child. Isn't he awesome :). Looking forward to introducing Kizzie Jo to the world in the next week or so :).

Keziah Josephine was born 2-7-2012 at 6:07 am, weighed 7lbs. 10 oz and 20 1/2 inches long.

1 day old

At home now

At the Hospital

Proud Papa

Time with Mama.

April 2010

2010-07-17T14:24:00.002-05:00

Will turns 34 with a caramel bundt cake. His parents came to help celebrate as they traditionally do.

Painting Shelves for the Baby room.

Pictures I painted for my sisters baby room

25 weeks...the room is coming along.

Kaua'i

2010-03-25T14:11:00.001-05:00

We decided to celebrate our 5th anniversary early in Hawaii. We had a nice time. The trip was very relaxing and laid back.

Hiking

Roadside stand first time we saw to buy leis

Lighthouse

Boogie Boarding

Luau

More of March

2010-03-10T13:43:00.000-06:00

We decided to get a new vaccum before the babies arrival. Ours was not picking up very well and we didn't have any attachments. we also thought it would be good to have one that would do better with pet hair.

Shelves for the baby room are finally together but still need painted. 22 weeks.

I was cooking with some strong garlic one day and Will thought it was funny I went to get the safety googles because it was burning my eyes.

Purple Belt Testing

2010-03-06T13:26:00.002-06:00

Will did a great job in his Karate testing. It is always fun to see him since I am not there every week I always see great improvement in his forms and techniques.

Board breaking

Sparring

Forms

Yep There's a Baby in There

2010-02-13T12:54:00.002-06:00

The baby room is slow going. Trying to figure out a home for everything in the room. We re-caulked the windows and started painting the room pale sea green.

18 week Ultrasound. We decided to wait to see if we were having a boy or girl. We also decided at this point we needed to switch Drs. Ours seemed very pushy and seemed to be wanting to see me more than necessary. When we kept being pushed about tests we did not want we decided there was no way we would do well with this Dr. at the time of delivery. We were thankful to be able to switch and to have a Dr. that was more fitting to our needs.

Snow hits Arkansas

2010-02-08T13:53:00.004-06:00

February brought more snow than we have ever seen since we had been in Arkansas. One of the snows was 8 inches. We enjoyed building a snowman together

I took advantage of the day off and worked on some cloth diapers.

January Projects

2010-01-17T13:34:00.002-06:00

With my exhaustion the first couple months of pregnancy we had a hard time continuing work in the hallway. This is the trim we removed. By January I was feeling much less tired but much more nauseated.

My aunt gave us a crib that we painted white.

This is the finished wall in the hallway. We still need to put trim up at the base and around the doors.

This will be the babies room. It really has a lot of work to be done. Mainly finding a home for all these things.

Christmas in KY

2010-01-01T13:17:00.001-06:00

We had Christmas in KY on New Years day. This year we made the nieces Topsy Turvy dolls and gave the nephews a handmade bow and arrow set we found at a craft festival.

Cabin In WV with friends

2009-12-26T12:57:00.000-06:00

On our way to KY from PA we stopped in WV to check out the town of Parkersburg and to visit with some friends. We had a quick visit. Will and Curtis enjoyed playing the guitar and cello. We Stayed at a cabin in one of the parks nearby and enjoyed service at a local church. Jasper enjoyed visiting with my cousins family and getting lots of attention while we were at the cabin.

Christmas in PA

2009-12-25T21:51:00.000-06:00

We spent the first part of Christmas in PA. We had a good visit and lots of snow.

Christmas Visit in WV

2009-12-18T20:31:00.000-06:00

The drive to PA for Christmas was extra long this year. We had planned drive through WV and visit my cousins family on the way but they got a huge snow storm over the whole state. The drive took very long we got about halfway between my parents and my cousins and decided to stop for the night. Then the next AM decided to still get to my cousins. Jasper loved running through the snow that was as deep as he was tall. We had a good but quick visit. Played some games and exchanged gifts.

Our Christmas Celebration

2009-12-11T20:04:00.001-06:00

We always have our own celebration the weekend before we leave for the holidays with family. We kept the tradition from last year and went to the holiday dinner theater in town. Will got me a Cricut for scrapbooking.

Lisa 10 weeks pregnant

We enjoyed this card game and love the board game version even better.

I was excited about the Ulliean Pipes I got Will but they were not a good product and were falling apart. I got them from Ebay but still need to find him a better.

Blue Belt Testing

2009-12-03T19:52:00.000-06:00

Will tested for his Blue Belt in Karate in Dec. He has been moving right along with it. it has been fun to see how much he has improved since I don't see him at practice anymore, just at the testing.

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-25T19:35:00.001-06:00

This year was our year to be in Kentucky for Thanksgiving. We had a great visit.

After School All Stars Christmas Parade

2009-11-15T19:24:00.002-06:00

We made a big Santa and then had some of the kids dress as reindeer. We pulled santa on two skateboards.

Visit from Mom and Dad Jones

2009-11-08T19:12:00.002-06:00

Will's parents came in for a visit. They met me with Will in Little Rock after my art conference was over and we headed t0 Zaza's for some pizza and Gelato before we made our was to Branson. We had a great time in Branson. We saw a Christmas show and the Miracle of Christmas at the Sights and sounds Theater and also toured the Titanic display. We went to a huge Baptist church on Sunday that was near to where we were staying. It has an interesting set up it used to be a dinner theater.

Exciting News

2009-11-05T19:02:00.002-06:00

We had an answer to prayers that had been going up for some time.

This AM I woke up to take a pregnancy test. It was very dim because I took it the earliest it said it would show up. I woke Will up and told him I was not sure but I thought we were. I called the dr. to confirm later but they said I needed to come back on Monday to make sure my levels were still increasing since it was so early in the pregnancy.

Mom and Dad Yount Visit

2009-10-24T18:41:00.000-05:00

Lisa's Parents came down for an extended weekend the end of October. We went hiking on Pinnacle Mountain and carved some pumpkins.

Annual Happy Pumpkin Party

2009-10-18T18:28:00.000-05:00

We had a very small group for our pumpkin party this year but had a great time. i finished carving the funkin I started last year and the others did real pumpkins.

As you can see Jasper is thrilled about is costume.

All of the finished pumpkins

Boys weekend at Joel's

2009-09-28T13:14:00.002-05:00

Will met up with all his groomsmen in TN for the weekend. They had a great time doing the things boys love to do and spending time together. This is the first time all of them have been together since our wedding 4 1/2 years ago.

THEA Paves the Way Annual Sidewalk chalk event

2009-09-27T17:54:00.002-05:00

The last few years I have taken a small group of Students to a sidewalk chalk event. The students always have a great time. This year we went to Pei Wei again to eat and went to the Egyptian Exhibit that was at the Arts Center. We also donated two pieces of art to the Dentist who always donates art supplies to be given to the art teachers at the event. The kids loved the mimes that were there.

Fixing the Facia

2009-09-21T17:26:00.003-05:00

We have had some rotting places on our facia and it seemed to be getting worse we had someone replace it and then we did the painting. We also got a pressure washer on clearance and had fun learning how to use it.

Painting Facia

Pressure Washing Siding

Pressure washing before painting

Setting up the pressure washer

New facia in

Rotted part out on side of house

THEA Back to School Exhibit

2009-08-22T16:14:00.003-05:00

I rented some gallery space with some of the money we raised through the art department. The kids were very excited to have their work on display in downtown Little rock for two weeks.

This boy was there on the art walk night and had family take a TON of photos then his teacher asked to take some also.

Some of our art work

After set up.

Bulldog City: people, art cars, and buildings

Labor Day weekend

2009-08-05T16:40:00.004-05:00

We had a great weekend trip at a historic cabin in Northwest Arkansas. We love going to a craft festival near there on labor day weekend. it was very relaxing we took out our rubber raft, did a little hiking, and played the long version of Silverton and our new viking game from Ireland. We stopped at Booger Holler but were disappointed to see it had closed down a few years before.

House Updates

2009-08-05T15:46:00.002-05:00

We did some house updates over the summer. We pulled some of the bottom trim off the hallway and painted it a sandy brown and pulled all the paneling off the bottom of the wall in the dining room where we had the ping pong table, painted it yellow with red accents and got some wicker furniture and my grandmothers old duncan fife.

Bench and mirror were added in the hallway.

I got some collage photo frames to organize smaller photos better and got matching frames to make a wall of 8x10's of all the nieces and nephews.

Neice and nephew wall

Slate clock we got in Ireland

Scrapbooking desk and collage painting I made

New curtains and wicker

Clearance lamp and record player

I redid the covers on the chairs and made some pillows

Collage paintings and table

Print Adam made and ribbon organizer from my sister and brother in law

August Birthdays at the Meitzens

2009-08-02T15:15:00.001-05:00

Will getting baby practice with the Youngest Meitzen

All the Birthdayers

Monkey Cake

Lisa and Lilia

Purse I made Melinda

On our way back to Arkansas from the family reunion we got to enjoy some of the birthday celebrating.

Miller

2009-07-04T23:14:00.000-05:00

The Millers came for their first visit to Arkansas. We enjoyed lots of swimming and digging for diamonds and taking them to some pizza places.

Picnic with Uncle Denny

2009-06-20T21:18:00.002-05:00

We were able to cross paths with my uncle I haven't seen much since he lives in SC and we don't visit at the same time.

These girls wanted to play wedding

Uncle Denny and the girls

Aunt Sally with the girls

Horseshoes

Cousins

Rock Band

2009-06-20T21:01:00.000-05:00

The next great Rock Band. The only song I could play was "Eye of the Tiger." We need a name.

Back in the states

2009-06-20T20:20:00.002-05:00

We worked on some crafts with the nieces.

Trip to Ireland

2009-06-20T16:25:00.000-05:00

Cliffs of Moher

"No you can't have our lunch"

Glendalough, County Wicklow

Elephant Rock, Atrim Coast, Northern Ireland

Carrick A rede Rope Bridge

I took my first overseas trip in June. Will and I went to Ireland for a good part of the month. We had a great time experiencing driving on the left side of the road. We saw lots of different places and had a great experience. We made a big loop around the island staying in bed and Breakfasts along the way. We loved Killarney the scenery and it was also our favorite place to stay.

Aran Islands (124 photos), by Lisa Jones

2009-06-20T16:23:00.000-05:00

Next time we will spend a night on the Island.

Cliffs of Moher (116 photos), by Lisa Jones

2009-06-20T16:22:00.000-05:00

Cliffs of Moher was beautiful but a scary hike.

Dromolaid and Adare Castles (99 photos), by Lisa Jones

2009-06-20T16:20:00.000-05:00

Will's ancestors once owned Dromalaid Castle.

Rock of Cashel, Kilkinney (166 photos), by Lisa Jones

2009-06-20T16:19:00.000-05:00

We encountered lots of Ravens here, Very scary birds

Blarney (182 photos), by Lisa Jones

2009-06-20T16:17:00.000-05:00

Blarney was one of the coolest castles we were able to tour. We had a great time seeing the beautiful gardens and kissing the Blarney stone.

Killarney and Michael Skellig (276 photos), by Lisa Jones

2009-06-20T16:14:00.000-05:00

This place was awesome there were 13th century beehive huts on top of an Island seven miles from the coast. There were puffins and other birds everywhere.

Gap of Dunloe (187 photos), by Lisa Jones

2009-06-20T16:09:00.000-05:00

This was one of the highlights of our trip to Ireland. Click to see whole album.

Dublin and Glendalough (247 photos), by Lisa Jones

2009-06-20T10:10:00.000-05:00

Will and I spent 16 wonderful days touring Ireland in June

Visiting Neices in PA

2009-06-01T15:33:00.002-05:00

Playing in yard before we leave for Ireland

Visiting Lilia for the first time

2009-05-30T18:12:00.002-05:00

We went to visit Will's sister family on our way to Pittsburgh to catch the plane to Ireland. They had a new baby girl a couple weeks before that.

Lilia

Ava

Laurel and Ava

Will and Ian with gocart

Twins

Room and Hall Updates

2009-05-30T14:20:00.004-05:00

We are almost done with our front room remodeling project. All we have left to do it put the trim up, fix the table leg, and make a corner shelf.

Scrapbook desk and painting I did last year on wall.

Wicker furniture makin covers red instead of tan

Only have half of the hallway painted.

Wall in Hallway of neices and nephews

Slate Clock From Ireland: The pendulum moves.

Clearance Lamp from Hobby Lobby: Less than $10

Finished this chair cover

Painting I made this summer.

Ribbon Shelf my sisters family made for my birthday.

Anniversary present this year. Bench with baskets and mirror.

Memorial Day Cookout

2009-05-25T14:05:00.000-05:00

We grilled out non memorial day. We had some grilled mango, sweet potato fries, steak, and corn. I really miss the sweet corn on the cob that can't seem to be found in Arkansas. Jasper also enjoyed chewing on the cobs.

4th Anniversary Celebration in Branson, MO

2009-05-17T12:11:00.008-05:00

We had never been to Branson so we decided to stay at a Bed and Breakfast there for our anniversary and see Noah the musical. We had a great time looking around at the Landing eatin at a great fish restaurant and enjoying the Bed and Breakfast with a great view and indoor hot tub.

On the way home we stopped at the Natural Bridge of Arkansas. Arkansas apparently has more then one. This one was very dinky you could not even get to it. We did meet a couple there from North Carolina that was the highlight of the stop. They talked to us about different must see places in their area, which I can't remember now. I had dropped my full water bottle in a rivine before we had met them it flew out of my purse while I was setting up my camera. Later they saw it and were talking about the litter bug we told them it was me. He then waited for us at the turn off to the main road to remind us not to litter.

Will in Action

2009-05-09T14:55:00.004-05:00

Will is in the blue gear and starts out on left.

Will is the orange belt.

Green Belt Testing.

2009-05-09T14:36:00.001-05:00

This was a busy day. Right after the parade. Will went to have his green belt testing for Karate.

Homefest Parade 2009

2009-05-09T10:13:00.003-05:00

The afterschool students worked on paper mache strawberry puppets for the Spring Parade. We had a great turn out of kids for the parade.

Home Updates, Hallway

2009-05-05T20:55:00.003-05:00

I got the painting I had made finished and painted the frame and hung up. There is still one more painting, I will work on for the other wall in here.

We chose a Sandy Brown color fo the hall way and really like it. We decided to get matching frames and get pictures of the nieces and nephews up on the one wall. The other wall has collage frames with various pictures. Will also got me a mirrow and bench with baskets under it for in the entry way. We still have half the hallway to paint and still to put the trim in the hallway and the front room, but it is coming along nicely.

Work Day 2009

2009-04-26T19:49:00.002-05:00

Our church wanted to do a service project to dedicate the new building expansion that was just completed. The wanted to get outside the building as a means to show that it was not about the building. They decided to clean up some lots on one of the streets in town. The community was very appreciative of this and some even came out to talk or help.

Will was very excited about this project because he had talked about doing something like this for a couple years. He had talked to one of the elders of the previous church we went to but nothing ever got onto way with it.

Art Exhibit Spring 2009

2009-04-25T10:00:00.003-05:00

I organized a Spring art show this year. It consisted of Artwork from grades k-12 and community artists. Third grade worked on a big group project which included an art car from each student, a person made out of an old plastic bottle, and group project to construct the city and buildings. We had about 70 people turn out for the show and the middle school teacher who has been out on maternity leave brought her new baby girl by.

Long Trek Home

2009-04-20T19:13:00.000-05:00

We stopped at a Cracker Barrel in Iowa to have a birthday brunch for me. I got a blackberry cobbler that was very yummy. We also picked up a book on CD to rent and drop off at home. It made the trip go by a lot quicker. They had a copy of the Shack, which was very good.

Last Day in Minneapolis.

2009-04-19T18:52:00.002-05:00

It ended up raining our last day in Minneapolis so we didn't head down to te sculpture park as planned. We went to a British Restaurant for lunch that was really good. That evening Will helped me with my last presentation. I taught the teachers some technigues to make children's book using some of he techniques Ezra Keats uses. We left out early the next morning for the long trek home.

NAEA 2009 Conference, Minneapolis, MN

2009-04-18T19:22:00.000-05:00

We had a great time at the Conference. I learned some great new things to use in my classroom as always. I got some ideas of Children's books to use with art lessons.

I always get great feedback on my presentations. This year someone said I needed to try to be more involved with the elementary division committee.

Sat. afternoon we headed to the Mall of America. We rode the best Log Jammer ever. It was a long ride and had some great turns and hills. After we rode the Rock Bottom Plunge, I was done with rides. It was awful. Too fast and too many twists and turns.

Minneapolis had these really neat walkways that connect the buildings from the second floor so you can stay out of the street and rain. They had a mall inside the also but it is only opn business hours and we explored it early evening.

A hat idea we learned at the exhibits.

Will's Spinge Bob imitation.

We didn't eat this Ice Cream but thought we'd take a photo since we know some Kemps.

Mall of America.

Crayola Opening night party.

Will cleaning his pants at a Mexican Resturuant. He had some soup that was in a fancy top heavy bowl and they just had a chunk of chicken in it that didn't get cut. He tried to cut it and it went everywhere.

Vegetable Art

Art with Picture Books

Nellie's Cafe and on to Minneapolis

2009-04-16T22:58:00.000-05:00

After a quick bite at Nellie's Cafe and learning that maybe Nellie was not as mean as she appeared on the TV series we headed to Minneapolis. We saw a big statue Of Linus so stopped for a photo. We learned that the real Linus the character was based on is from Sleepy Eye, MN.

Site of Ingall's Dugout home

2009-04-16T20:57:00.003-05:00

We had some time before dinner at Nellie's so we stopped by the dugout home site. It was pretty neat to see the bank. The site where the home was is still dug out but the home is no longer there. We took a few pictures by Plum Creek then headed to dinner. The site is on someone's farm and you just stick some money in a metal box.

Olsen's Mercantile

2009-04-16T20:49:00.003-05:00

This was a very interesting shop, Though it didn't quite carry the type of merchandise they would have in the days on Laura. I did get some really cool sandals though.

More from Laura Ingall's Wilder Museum

2009-04-16T20:42:00.000-05:00

The museum store has a sticker chart of the states and countries that visit them each year. We were the first to put Arkansas on their chart.

Lisa, "Wow they really had to do a lot of work getting the newspaper ready with those metal plates."

Will, "Yeah that's why it was such a novel breakthrough when guttenburg invented the printing press!!!!!!"

Interesting rules teachers had back in the day.

In the one room School House

Replica of old dug out home.

Jail Cell Will: "Hey this bed is actually pretty comfortable.

Walnut Grove, Minnesota

2009-04-16T19:39:00.003-05:00

One of our stops in Minnesota was to Walnut Grove to get a little history on Laurel Ingalls Wilder. We had a great time touring the museum, I loved playing around with the foot pumped piano and lookin through the old stereoscope, they are the coolest thing. We then went to Olsen's Merchantile, The Dugout, where they had thei home and where Laura played at big creek and ate at Nellie's Diner.

Iowa and Nebraska....Ice Cream Capital of the World...check

2009-04-16T19:27:00.002-05:00

We had planned to spend the night in Nebraska but didn't get that far so stayed in Kansas City. At one point we crossed the border to get a picture by the Nebraska Line. We found the Ice Cream Capital of the world in La Mars, Iowa and thought we better stop. It is where they make Blue Bunny. We decided to just get ice cream and skip the factory tour because we eally wanted to get to Walnut Grove. The Ice Cream was delicious and a nice break from the road.

Will's Birthday

2009-04-15T19:49:00.003-05:00

On Will's birthday we headed north to attend the National Art Educators Conference. On the way we stopped at O Charley's fo a birthday dinner and a caramel pie that they treated him too. It was very sweet, not sure we would buy one. We saw signs for the precious moments headquarters but the museum was already closed. We did get some photos outside though.

Room updates

2009-04-12T19:23:00.000-05:00

Some thought the curtains looked pink but they are actually red. Not sure if these photos are any better.

Easter

2009-04-12T19:10:00.002-05:00

As usual Easter in Searcy brought some rain. Enough that we took pictures inside. We found some wicker furniture for the room we have been redoing so we thought we would take the pictures in there. We had a nice dinner together and spent the day together. I had gotten some little Easter cakes at a bakery in town, Key Lime Cottage.

Visitors in the Attic

2009-04-11T21:27:00.004-05:00

We kept hearing critters in the attic and when i was putting away holiday stuff. I found what I thought was mouse poop. We set some traps and didn't catch anything for a while then finally caught a baby squirrel. We found a hole in the attic fan cover so we put some chicken wire over it. This was my first time on the roof. Wasn't so bad when we had a nice sturdy ladder. We usually borrowed an old rikkety one from our neighbor but borrowed a nice newer one from a different neighbor this time.

Remodeling updates

2009-04-06T22:06:00.004-05:00

We finished painting the walls in the front room. and got the blinds back up. I am working on curtains and we still have to add the trim/moulding and put some things on the wall. We are really liking the color we chose. We moved out redwood clock into there and I covered the switch and outlet plates with fabric.

Great weekend to be outside.

2009-04-04T21:43:00.002-05:00

This weekend was beauttiful. We had planned to help with a church retreat but got to the church and found no one around. We figured we missed the bus so drove to Pinnacle Mountain to meet up but could not find anyone. Later we found out the retreat had been rescheduled. We had a great time hiking and being outside. We found a hollow tree to climb into. The only bad thing about the day was seeing 5 ring neck snakes even though they were only a foot long and half inch or less wide it was still a bit disturbing. We hiked a small trail and then headed up the mountain and down the other side and back around to the car.

Early Birthday

2009-03-28T21:30:00.002-05:00

This weekend we went to see Monster vs. Aliens with a friend who moved to Little Rock and ate some lunch at ZaZa's. Afterwards we made our usual stop at Hobby Lobby. We were browsing the store and looking at the furniture like we always do and came upon a hutch. When we opened it we realized it was a scrapbooking center. There was no price on it so we found someone and he said it had just come in on Thursday. After hearing the price I was ready to move on and Will said he would get it for my birthday. So I was very excited. I had joked when we finished painting our front room it would be my scrapbooking room. But it actually does take up a corner of the room.

Chris Tomlin Concert

2009-03-26T21:23:00.000-05:00

We didn't really go anywhere over Spring break. We decided to stay home since we were heading to Ireland in June. We did go to the Chris Tomlin Concert In Little Rock, once evening and had a great time.

Bible Study get together.

2009-03-25T21:11:00.002-05:00

Josie and Sophia

We decided that our Wednesday night bible study would officially meet for the last time in Dec. 2008. With people starting new chapters in their lives it seemed like it would be more difficult to continue the study. It was a blessing to many for many of years and where Will and I met. We got together in March to see how everyone was doing and see the new additions to families.

More Remodeling

2009-03-24T23:19:00.004-05:00

We have one wall left to finish in the Ping Pong/dining room and then we will pick out trim. This has been the hardest wall to fo because of the windows. The wall needed patched more. One of the outlet holes was cut too big and was not seen behind the paneling but would be with just paint. So I had to so lots of patching. Tomorrow I will sand and put the textured layer of mud and then The painting should be complete by the weekend. We also picked out the color fo the Hallway and took the trim off the middle and the rectangle trim off the walls. We really like the color we picked.

Early Birthday Visit

2009-03-21T22:46:00.000-05:00

Will's parents as weel as the preacher and his wife from his church in Kentucky came fo a quick visit to attend a seminar with a friend. We celebrated ou birthdays while there. We still had Will's moms gift and they has gifts for Will and I and I gave Will his gifts early.

Young Arkansas Artists Jury

2009-03-14T22:22:00.000-05:00

The past several years I have gone to help judge the Young Arkansas Artists Show at the Arts Center in Little Rock. Will always came along and took pictures of the artwork. This year he also helped judge. They always feed us afterwards. My only complaint this year was there were no cookies for Dessert.

The exciting news is there will be an Egyptian Art exhibit there from Sept. 2009 to July 2010.

Grandma Chub turns 90

2009-02-28T11:29:00.000-06:00

I didn't get a chance to see Grandma Chub during Christmas. Right after that she went in the hospital and rehab from an illness. I decided the day after her birthday that I really wanted to be there for her party which was Saturday, February 28th and would be the first time she was in her home since she had gotten sick. We had the worst flight experience ever but a wonderful visit.

We were supposed to leave Little Rock at 6:15 am. I had told Will we would be getting up at 3:30 am. He woke up about 5 am and said I thought we were getting up at 3am. We threw our clothes on and threw our things in the car and left. We got to check in about 6:05 am. She said I am sorry but you won't make it to that flight. She put us on stand by for the next flight. We went through security and I had a metal container of Think Putty, (Silly putty) in my purse that they found was very suspicious. We got through and saw the plain still sitting there and the metal gate to the outside was still open it was very frustrating.

We were able to get on the next flight to Chicago. I ran off to see if we could get on the 12:15 to Pittsburgh. The gate happened to be right beside where we deplaned, which never happens and the plane was delayed till 12:20. We got there about 12:10. He said I am sorry you can't get on that plane. He then told us they were overbooking the 8:00 flight that we were on standby on so chances didn't look good that we would be on that flight either. We looked into other options but nothing seemed to pan out. We were gonna fly to Cleveland but they said the rest of our return flight would be cancelled.

We finally were getting our tickets printed from one ladt for the 8:00 flight and another lady at the airport told the pilot everyone is loaded and ready to go. We got on and got to Canfield about 12:30 am. But had to find a store open to get contact solution and other things so did not pull into the house till cloe to 2am.

We had a great visit and Grandma Chub loved everyone being there and being in her home again. It was amazing to see how much she was herself when she was at home versus at the Nursing home.

Our flight out Sunday evening was around the same time as Becky and Jim's so we were able to visit with them on the way back and Becky was excited we traveled through some of the towns she grew up in to avoid the toll roads. I was a little nervous about our flight back because our connection flight was through Charlotte, NC and the east coast was supposed to get slammed by snow. We got into Charlotte and it was snowing. Most of the flights were getting cancelled. They gave us a discount voucher to get a hotel, but said good luck finding one and you needed to share because there weren't many because of a basketball tournament and if you found one the shuttles quite running because they were running off the road. I finally found a flight to Memphis that was still scheduled to leave at midnight. We got on it and a man was also trying to et to Little Rock so thought we could rent a car together to drive the rest of the way. We got on the plane and sat there for about an hour and they said sory we can't take off and gave us some cookies.

We then stood in other lines trying to get on a Little Rock Flight. We got confirmed on one Monday evening. And tried to get some sleep in the terminal. I think Will did a better job at that than me. The terminal was also freezing and we were wishing they had just let us sleep on the plane. Even the next day most flights were getting cancelled till mid afternoon. We were able to find a gelato stand and California Pizza company in the airport, though the pizza was not the same as othe CPC's. We finally got on the flight. And decided we did not want to fly again for a long time. Here we come Ireland :P.

Jim Nabors Fan Club

2009-02-20T11:21:00.000-06:00

I got involved with a project that one of the fan club members is putting together to put in Jim Nabors hometown in a museum. She told me to send her ideas and she would include it on a quilt square but i told her if it was not too late I would like to make my own square. I can't wait to see the finished project. We will be making a trip to Sylacauga, Alabama sometime in the next year. She plans to have it done for his birthday on June 12th, which some of the fans plan to get together for. We will be in Ireland.

Game Board

2009-02-18T11:10:00.002-06:00

Will is working on making his own game board. He has been having a fun time creating it. but realizing what a precise art woodwoking is. We have two really handy guys at Lowe's that work in the woodworking section and are very knowledgable. One of them gave us the idea of cutting grooves with a dremel tool. I didn't have the dremel brand but a black and decker model. It was nice to be able to work on this without having to buy anything extra. He has about 8 rows done now.

Project Update

2009-02-17T21:56:00.006-06:00

The paneling patching went smoothly and we were able to put the first coat of paint on the two walls we finished tonight. We are really liking how it is turning out. We are painting highlighter yellow. Will also got the router finished and we were able to try it out on Monday. He can't wait to make his first project with it.

Tearing Down the Old.

2009-02-15T22:20:00.003-06:00

Here is before:

We brought a crow bar at Lowe's on clearance. It has been a great investment. Really made the tearing apart easy. We both enjoyed using it to take off the old parts of the wall.

Not only was the paneling nailed on it was also glued on. Which the guy at Tillet's said may be a possibility when we got our paint. I spent some time getting the large glue chunks off with a putty Knife. We thought it was interesting that the dry wall did not go the whole way down to the floor. Guess that is why most houses have trim. There was also some measurments on the walls and sometimes the ones on the bottom did not match the ones on the top half of where the paneling was. It was also spray painted black everywhere the plywood was pieced together.

Using jointing tape in the corners to touch up some places that needed touch up and to actually join places where it seems whoever had built the house had forgotten. I had a great time mudding the wall and smoothing out some of the glue and places that got torn off because of the glue. Tomorrow I will remud and texture the wall before painting.

After the first coat of "mud"

Will worked on getting the router together while I chipped glue and got the wall ready

V DAY 2009

2009-02-14T21:25:00.001-06:00

We had a great Valentine's Day. We had a nice breakfast in the AM and opened our gifts. Will got a wooden box with Elephants carved into it. Lisa got a shower wrap and a necklace with a heart and a cross on it. I also saw some daffodils blooming when I looked out the window so I got a picture of them. That afternoon we went to Tillet's paint to pick out some paint for our pingpong room and then went to Lowe's to get a crow bar to tear town the paneling and trim. That evening we went to a mystery tea party. It was a lot of fun and the tea was delicious. We both guessed who the murderer was but did not really have all the pieces together.

Helping Josh Move and Double Date.

2009-02-07T20:55:00.000-06:00

Will helped Josh pack up some things in a moving van and out truck in the AM. Then we headed to Little Rock to help him move in to his new place. Afterwards we met Melinda and Tyell to hike a Pinnacle Mountain and enjoy some nice weather for a change and then went to Carino's together. They had a special Raspberry Tiramisu for sweethearts week and Will and I really enjoyed it.

Groundhog's Day

2009-02-02T20:47:00.000-06:00

We celebrated Groundhogs day with the Annual Goundhog cookie. We had gotten some groundhog t shirts from my parents but I guess I forgot to get a picture of them. We watched Groundhogs day, which I really thought we had watched last year but I could not remember lots of it. Ha.

Scrapbooking

2009-01-25T20:07:00.000-06:00

After the Japenese Party. I set up an area of the ping pong room as a scrapbooking area. I spent a couple weeks getting lots done on our wedding book and my scrapbook of my first five years. We had a couple snow days the end of January so I was able to get lots done.

Japanese New Year

2009-01-17T21:08:00.006-06:00

We had a geat time at the second annual Japanese New Year Party. After sitting on the floor to eat and successfully or unsuccessfully eat with chop sticks. We watched some Sumo wrestling that Kenny's mom had someone send over from Japan. We then did some Sumo wrestling ourselves and played a neat Japanese game wih some Jelly beans. The game is Ohajiki, pronounced "Oh-HA-jee-kee".

New Year's Eve in Cook Forest

2009-01-01T20:02:00.002-06:00

We spent New Year's in a cabin near Cook Forest and had a great time playing games and even had a little snow for sledding. If you would like to see more photos from the holidays check out York Photos

Visiting

2008-12-28T18:18:00.001-06:00

We got to visit with Sarah, Pete, and Samuel. Samuel really had some great moves with the Wii. We also visited with Tony and Doris and played a game of Pictionary.

Off to PA

2008-12-26T21:46:00.003-06:00

When we were on our way to PA we started having some car trouble. The Truck was being very sluggish especially when we were trying to get up a hill. We were approaching Wheeling and I knew there was no way we would make it back up the mountain after getting down in the valley. I started using the GPS to call around different places. It was 4 pm the day after Christmas. We finally were directed to a tire shop that was able to look at the truck and determine there was a problem with the air filter. When he opened it up it was soaked and there was a puddle of water. He said he had never seen this before. He dried it out the best he could and replaced the air filter and we made it the rest of the way to Lisa's families. The next morning the air filter still seemed damp so we took it to the Nissan dealer. We went to the mall. Grace wanted to know if it was the good mall. This to her meant it had a big slide. I had told her no it was the dinky mall. She wanted to ride on of the toys but when we found one she said she was afraid but she said she would get on with me. To passers by it was quite amusing. I don't think they realized I was trying to help a scared little girl. One of our Christmas presents was Steelers tickets to the last regular season game. We had a great time other than them saying we couldn't take backpacks in. So we shoved everything in Will's coat pockets and got our bag taken. We then broke the zipper on his pocket when trying to open it and the camera and GPS were in there. After much frustration. I figured out how to loop the key ring through the zipper and use that as a pull so we were able to get some photos.

Christmas In Kentucky

2008-12-25T18:21:00.004-06:00

We headed to Kentucky the weekend before Christmas to spend the holiday with Will's family. We had a great time. They had not gotten a tree yet. So we had fun going out on a very cold aftenoon to help pick on out. Will chose a very tall one. We also celebratedTrudi's birthday.

Monster Dolls

2008-12-20T17:49:00.001-06:00

Will and I made Monster Dolls for the Neices and nephews for Christmas. Will Designed and named them and I sewed them out of fleece. They were a big hit.

Our Christmas Morning.

2008-12-19T16:44:00.001-06:00

Lunch and gelato at Za Za's

Orange roll, Breakfast Casserole, and Sausage

Jasper

Router

Gelato Machine

Monster Doll

Our Christmas Eve.

2008-12-17T22:52:00.004-06:00

Will and I had a nice time celebrating Christmas together early. We got our traditional early present. Will got pj's and a Christmas DVD, the Homecoming by the Waltons. Lisa got Christmas pj pants and slippers. We watched the video and played some games. As you can see getting a good picture with all three of us looking good with Jasper seems to be an almost impossible task.

Snow Days

2008-12-16T22:44:00.001-06:00

Tuesday and Wednesday we got hit with snow and ice. Though it is barely a ground covering, the roads had a thick sheet of ice under the snow. We ventured out Tuesday at lunch to go to our favorite lunch spot, The Cookie Basket. It was still pretty bad out and didn't seem like much of a chance of letting up. We decided if I had another day off school would would celebrate our Christmas together and head north on Saturday instead of Sunday. We got good use of the fireplace those two days and really have much of November and December.

Lisa Breaks Board with bare hands

2008-12-13T21:15:00.001-06:00

Breakfast with Santa and belt test.

2008-12-13T19:15:00.004-06:00

This AM our church had a community event where families that could not afford Christmas gifts signed up for a host family to give their gifts. Will and I helped out with the crafts but forgot to bring the camera.

After lunch we had our first Karate belt testing.

Will Origami

2008-11-29T20:09:00.002-06:00

Will has been working on this for sometime but completed it this am. It is a geometric Origami shape.

2nd Annual Bald Knob Christmas Parade.

2008-11-29T19:26:00.003-06:00

Tonight was the 2nd Annual Bald Knob Christmas Parade. Our afterschool program has worked since the end of September preparing laterns for the parade. Will and I stayed in town for Thanksgiving since the parade was the Saturday after. We got to school early to get the flashlights going for the parade. The lights ended up not working, I got them in bulk and you had to hold them on. So we were ducktaping them but they were not staying. I thought duck tape could fix anything. We had a good turn out of kids and they had a great time anyhow. We even won first place in the parade which there were about 4 groups in the parade

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-11-27T17:59:00.004-06:00

We spent Thanksgiving in Searcy this year. I found out last week the parade I had been working on with some kids at school was going to be the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We had asked a few people to join us fo ou meal but at such late notice everyone already had plans. We had a great meal of Maple Glazed Turkey Breast over wild rice, deluxe green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, garlic and rosemay mashed potatoes, cranberries with mandain oranges, wheat sage roll, sparking apple cider, and pumpkin cheesecake. Will got a little picture happy while I was looking fo the Gorilla Pod. We watched Miracle on 31st Street and then raked some leaves since it was such a beautiful day out. We have another meal with friends tonight but not until 8 because one of them was working today.

(Jasper's Thanksgiving-not much different though we head on the dog show to put a piece of turkey in his kong to keep him occupied. We don't know where it is so we put it in a box and then inside an old sock but he had it out before we even finished taking pictures.

Pumpkin man and Tilapia

2008-11-26T17:52:00.002-06:00

Last year I found an idea to make a pumpkin man out of three pumpkins. This year I decided to make him out the the fake pumpkins so he would be more permanent. He was really looking bad by Thanksgiving.

We have been eating lots of Tilapia. We like it best with mushroom and onions. Actually that is the only way I have cooked it so far. Maybe next time I will look for another recipe. This one is just quick and easy.

Hut Retreat

2008-11-15T21:23:00.005-06:00

Will and I helped out with a Youth Event at church. This was our first time helping out and we had a great experience even though it was the coldest weekend of the season so far. We went to the HUT retreat, which gives the youth some experiences of what it would be like to be missionaries in different countries.

When we first got there we took a tour. We ended the tour in Africa where we ate an African lunch and got broken into tribes. By that time we couldn't remember how to get anywhere so we grabbed the tribe to chaperone that we saw was closest. You'd think we would have picked Africa. No we picked the refugee tent. Which when we actually went up to we saw was just a mud floor. We were settin up camp for the night and collectin firewood. I was not sure how the night would go because there was lots of moisture in the tent and mold growing and that is one thing I recently discovered gets me stuffed up. All the moisture and mildew in the air. We gathered a bunch of firewood and met back in Africa and got our job assignment. Which we were doing in order to get cash to go to the market to buy dinner to cook on the fire for the night. While we were collecting firewood someone came up and gave us a life event note which read we had a stillborn baby and had to pay $500. At first we told them we didn't have money then Will said he had $1000 they said they didn't have change and at first he said he would wait till they had it to pay but then he decided to go ahead and pay afer they said they would bring it back.

We got back to Africa and immediately noticed we were gettin ignored and kinda shunned. People said they didn't know anything about owing us money and couldn't seem to find work for us. we finally got a job filling ditches with rocks. Some of which were boulders and had to be broken first. We then went to this central area to get payed. We were the last called in and again they wee very rude. They said we could not have any money at first so we just started to leave then they gave us $200. We went to the market to try to get some things but wee not really sure what we would need. We knew we needed something to start the fire and really worked on that and traded something we had found for matches. I thought we would need water to cook rice with (Esp. since there was enough for each tribe to have one container)but no one else did and finally this old man bought us some. Some of the boys did some odd jobs at the market and we eventually ended up with $1400. Will was the moneyholder and was afraid to spend it so we traded and got handouts for most of ou stuff. Every tribe was giving a box of supplies which had matches, ha. They kept saying the market was closing and we still hadn't spent money but ended up with some rice, a carrot, two apples, and a potato.

They closed the market and we headed to camp to cook our dinner. The first time we tried to start the fire it would not. We rebuilt it and it was going really well. We cut up the potato and carrot and put it in a pan to cook over the fire with the rice. It wsa so dark we could not even tell when the water started boiling. I kept wondering why flaslights were not on the list of items to bring, but later realized that was part of the experience. One of the teen boys roasted his apple over the fire. I thought that sounded good. mostly because it was so cold, So I did as well. we divied up what rice and veggies we had between seven people. We were just about done eating when another tribe came with there stuff asking to use our fire and one more tribe. We let them and help them get started cooking. It was so tempting to ask them to share since they had so much more food. It was very ironic that every one had come to the refugees who had the best fire because all day people were shunning us and not talking with us. The other kids had even started it when they heard the people in charge doing it.

We then were told we would not have to sleep outside because of the frigid conditions. There was a small group that still chose to. we headed out for hot chocolate and smores. Which I ate three and can usually only eat one and don't even like them that much, but was very hungry. I think Will even had more than me.

We had devotionals and reflections the next day and cleanup. It was a great time and we look forward to chaperoning another youth event soon.

Fall Conference 2008

2008-11-14T17:17:00.000-06:00

This year I again presented at the Fall Conference in Little Rock. I presented three times. Usually I present 2 times. This time they had me presenting three times, I am not sure if it was because everything I presented was connecting to other disciplines or they just had less presenters. Everyone was very impressed with the things I presented and one guy even came to all three presentations. I presented how my first grade classes wrote and illustrated books together last year based on the style of Art Ezra Keats did in his books. I also presented lessons I have taken from reading childrens stories books on seasons, Eric Carles on animals, Harold and the purple crayon and others. There was one hands on workshop I presented on Aborigine Art and story telling.

The guy above in the middle is the one that showed up to all three.

ZAZA's

2008-11-08T16:58:00.003-06:00

We found a restaurant in Little Rock that makes Gelato on site and I say it is the closest comparison we have found to the Mulberry Street Creamery. It was very good. They also have really great salads and wood oven pizzas. We split a pizza and salad then each had our own Gelato cups. We then went to Pinnacle Mountain to get some pictures and look at the leaves. It was very windey and turnin cold so we didn't stay long.

Chili Cook Off and Bonfire.

2008-11-01T20:30:00.002-05:00

Our Sunday Morning Bible class had a chili cookoff, hayride, and bonfire. We had a great time. It was cool but fun getting to know people better.