A trip to the Planetarium

I am so thankful that Andrew wants me to be a part of his life... at school! He will still hug me and wants me to sit with him at chapel, be his room mom, and go with him on his field trips! I am embracing each moment! Last week we had fun going with his class to the Planetarium. The kids were so excited and in awe of the dome and how cool it was to learn in a place like that. I was in awe of how different a planetarium trip is now compared to when I went on school trips in MO so long ago. The Hubble telescope has taught us so much about our place in the universe! How awesome it was to see the pictures that the Hubble has captured for us! Amazing!

The weather was bad, so we headed back to school for a picnic on the classroom floor. It was fun getting to know Andrew's buddies a little better. You can imagine me asking them all sorts of questions like what they are in to these days, favoirte ice cream, favorite movie, favorite book, etc... You can learn a lot if you take the time to ask!

Thanks, Andrew, for wanting me to be a part of you life! It makes my heart glad! :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

We love holidays! Valentine's Day is no exception... The boys had fun at their class parties on Friday and then they got to be with some of their best friends, Lauren, Nicole ,and Miss Jenna, that night for pizza, play, and "Space Buddies"! Tom and I got to go to Scott and Karen's with two other couples from our small group to have a early Valentine's celebration! Karen outdid herself with a fabulous meal and ambiance that made us all feel like we were eating at a 5 star restaurant! Then we went up to the movie room and watched "Fireproof"! I cried just as hard the 2nd time around. What a wonderful movie and special time with our friends!

On Valentine's Day we celebrated with one of our favorite 3 year olds, Grace, at her BEE day party! Always so much fun to be with friends. Then we were going to spend the day outside, but it rained ALL day... so Tom and the boys made hand made cards and a quick trip to the store and came in with balloons and roses! Everyone got fun gifts and we spent the day doing Dance Dance Revolution, watching Bibleman, and driving through Chick-fil-A for dinner. Tom and I ended the night with a movie. What a fun weekend! :)

"God is love." 1 John 4:19

They've captured my heart...

God's blessings are many... here are three of mine! :)

Look What We Made for Dinner!

What a treat to make these cute snowmen for dinner the other night. Healthy, yet fun!
All you need is a skewer, bananas, grapes, apples, corrots, pretzels, and chocolate chips!

An artist in the making...

Colton loves his Magnadoodle! He likes to draw a picture and surprise us with it and then we draw a picture to surprise him. So cute! He drew a snowman on his own! Quite impressive for a 3 year old! :) We also got out the paints the other day (something I should do more often) and he loved it! The simple pleasures in life are worth a lot! :)

Pinewood Derby Race!

Andrew and Tom had fun designing, shopping, and making Andrew's Pinewood Derby car for Cub Scouts again this year! Boy they sure did learn a lot from last year... Last year Andrew's car never beat another car in any race. But this year Andrew's car took 1st in about 5 races! He was so excited! He also took 2nd place for Most Original looking car. What a fun morning at the races!

I love my boys!

I love my boys! They are each so different, but yet they favor each other by the way they look. I love their uniqueness and how God blessed them with amazing minds and specials quirks. I am enjoying watching them grow up. I don't want them to grow up... but I am enjoying it. Lots of times I get frustrated and so angry with them... but it is because I love them so much and want the very best for them and want them to grow up to be Godly men.

My heart is just full of love for them! :)

This one's for you Cass...

One of our family goals this year is to get me to laugh more... So, my sister, Cassie tried her hand at it. She always likes to take silly pics of us. They are all pretty funny except the group shot... that is pretty darn good of my sister and me with our boys! :) Love you, Cass!

Look What's in the Box

While I was finally trying to put Christmas decorations away Braden and Colton made up a game with the storage box. It was pretty funny!

Frosty!

I bought this Frosty the Snowman when Andrew was just 3 months old. I have taken Andrew, Braden, and Colton's picture with it each year. It was to show how much they have grown! I don't have to say much... Andrew and Frosty used to be the same size! Why do they have to grow up so fast? When I ask the boys who told them they could grow up... they always say, "God." I guess it is ok then since His ways are better than ours... :)

An Unexpected Trip to MO!

Just as we were coming down from the holidays... not even having all the Christmas decorations down yet... we got a call from Tom's Mom telling us the Tom's Grandma had passed away. Thankfully it worked out that all 5 of us could fly to MO to be with the family. We were so thankful for our last visit to see Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Ermeling last summer where the boys turned an ordinary cup of lemonade and a candy wrapper into a fun game and Great Grandma even got onto Great Grandpa for giving the candy to the boys. It was a good visit! We will miss you so much Great Grandma! Thanks for giving us the unexpected blessing of time with family in MO! We'll see you in paradise... Hope you are getting all the hugs that the boys keep praying for God to give you!

Visiting with the extended family and seeing all sorts of people we hadn't seen in a long time was wonderful. The boys got to spend time with Opa, Mincy, and GG while Tom and I were at the visitation. Thanks for taking good care of the boys! :) We also had a nice evening at Pios with Gramby, Pa Pa, Uncle Tim, Aunt Tammy, Uncle Big Tom, Aunt Cassie, Uncle Matt, and Griffin. We ate SO much good food as you can imagine under the circumstances. Colton and I stayed in MO a couple extra days and enjoyed time with Nana, Aunt Cassie, Uncle Matt, and another visit with Opa and GG. It was great to just spend unhurried time together.

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going." John 14:1-4

And then she fell...

We were SO excited to have Nana come for New Years! We all eagerly picked her up from the airport and then headed home for a little Christmas celebration! Then it was off to Galveston for dinner at Salsas and then to Moody Gardens for the Festival of Lights! How fun to be together and laugh and eat good food and look at the beautiful lights... and then she fell... Yes, my Mom (aka. Nana) took a fall at the Festival of Lights and broke her arm and sprained her ankle. She and I spent most of New Year's Eve in the ER and made it home 20 min. before the ball dropped! Thankfully Andrew, Braden, and Tom were still up to help us celebrate. Anyway, Mom and I are famous for planning a million things to do in each of her visits and we had a list a mile long for this visit too. We were even going to be spontaneous and head to San Antonio for a long weekend. Instead, God, had other plans. We spent the week... together. We took time to watch movies, play with the kids, have long talks, cook together, etc... It gave me a chance to bless my Mom by taking care of her! We did manage to go back down to Galveston to eat at Rainforest Cafe and get a Volcano! and look for shells on the beach. Nana also treated the boys to Build-a-Bear at the Rainforest Cafe! Although the week DID NOT go as planned and was NOTHING we expected, we were so happy for her visit and can't for her to come back! :) We love you, Nana!

A Leimkuehler Family Christmas!

We were so blessed this year to have Tom's whole family come to Houston for Christmas! We had a ball being together, playing outside in the mild TX winter, going to the beach in Galveston and walking on the Jetty, hunting for shells, playing the Wii (bowling especially), PS2 Batman, cooking, eating, opening gifts, eating at the Rainforest Cafe, taking Hugo out for Mexican (and he liked it!), taking up a whole row at church, more cooking and eating, the cousins making Reindeer Cookies and everyone else enjoying them, eating the endless plate of fudge, cookies, peanut brittle, etc..., going ice skating at Discovery Green, all the boys hitting the lanes for a few games of bowling, sports on TV, conversation, etc... It was so great to have all 13 of us under one roof!

Thank you, God, for the blessing of time together with those we love.

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever." 1 Chronicles 16:34

Christmas Morning...

Christmas morning came early since Tom and I are not morning people. Andrew was awake and excited, but stayed in his room as instructed. :) We had to wake up Braden (which we never do, he is usually our early bird) and Colton. Then we took the traditional pic on the stairs and sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus before they headed downstairs to see what Santa had brought them. Andrew got lots of Pokemon cards, Braden and Colton got their Havoc Hellis (remote control helicopters)! Lots more gifts and fun opening presents was had before we had to clean up and get ready to pick up Gramby, Pa Pa, Aunt Tammy and Uncle Big Tom from the airport. A crazy, but wonderful Christmas morning. We were so happy to be at our own home this year! :)