Pizza Night

     One of my favorite meals is homemade stuffed crust pizza.  We make it often.  We buy the pizza dough and cheese and pepperoni and many kinds of vegetables and make the pizzas however we want them.  We put cheese sticks on then roll the crust up to make stuffed crust.  The whole family helps out!

     We usually make 2 huge pizzas.  They are delicious!  There are never any leftovers.

Last night while the pizzas were in the oven the men played push-up poker.
Push-up Poker is a game where you draw a card and you have to do the number of push-ups that is on the card.  We changed the rules a bit, we said you could do push-ups, sit-ups, or curls with weights.  My Dad won, but look at him,  he is a beast!

   

I love my family!  Every night is like one big party!

My Poem

  I wrote this poem today during school.  See how you like it.  I'm not much of a poet but Mom thinks I should try to write a poem now and then.

Thanking God for Snow
Last night the snow fell to the ground,
When I woke up it was all around.
I opened the door and took a peep,
In the front yard it was 8 inches deep.
It looked so white, and pretty, and nice, 
but the main road was covered in ice.
We slid down hills as fast as light, 
We made snowballs and had a fight.
I made a snowman with a top hat
He looked so tall and jolly and fat.
Playing out in the snow began to get old
Especially once we were wet and cold.
When we finally came in from our outdoor play
We thanked God the Father for the snow that day.

A Word From The Word

     Here is a chapter of the Bible I think is great to memorize.  I just did.    

Psalm chapter 3 esv

O Lord, how many are my foes!  Many are rising against me; many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God.  But you, O Lord are a shield about me, my glory and the lifter of my head.  I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me out of his holy hill.  I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me.  I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.  Arise O Lord!   Save me, O my God!  For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked.  Salvation belongs to the Lord;  your blessings be on your people.

 

Did I Mention Dinner?

Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas!!!  One of my favorites and Mom made 2!!!!!!

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

       Monday morning when I woke up I was dreading getting up. I was thinking about how fast my weekend went by, and I was thinking about having school and then I looked out my window and there was snow everywhere!!  I went into my brothers' room and woke them up and showed them the snow and they went crazy!  We all got dressed and rushed down stairs and started our morning routine. We love snow but the places we have lived in recent years don't usually get much snow.   During the night on Sunday night Chattanooga got 6 to 8 inches of that fantastic white stuff...snow!  This is the most snow we have seen since moving from Virginia 6 years ago.  We wanted to get out and play in it so bad but first we had to do some work.  After finishing up our morning routines we headed out!  Olivia and Eli were SO excited.  We played out in the snow for hours, but then we got c-o-l-d!  When we went inside my mom had a snack of popcorn and hot chocolate waiting on us.  After our snack and a little rest and reading time we went back outside again and did some more sledding.  Our neighbor has a huge hill for a front yard so we used it to sled down.  We flew down the hill!  When we came in that night we were exhausted.  Again this morning we woke up to snow!  So we got a little  school work done and went  outside.  Today we spent the day building snow forts and having snow ball fights.  I love playing in the snow!!!!!!

     
 

My Memaw

     My great-grandmother is a wonderful lady.  We call her Memaw.  She is 81 years old.  My brothers and sister and I  love to visit her.  She makes the best breakfasts in the world.  We call them Memaw breakfasts.  She loves to make them for us and looks forward to whenever we come to visit her. 
     This week she had major back surgery.  The surgery took 5 hours.  Today she was transported by ambulance from the hospital to a nursing home/rehabilitation center where she will stay for a month or more.  I haven't seen her since the night before her surgery.  My family and I waited in the waiting room all day Tuesday while Memaw had surgery.     When it was over my Mom was able to see her but the rest of our family was not.   Today when I talked to her on the phone she said she was ok and just had pain where they cut her open.  We are praying for her and hope she recovers  well and gets back to normal soon.  

I'm thankful that God has protected Memaw through her surgery.  I hope He gives her many more years of life.  I have been blessed by Memaw and I hope to bless her in her time of recovery.  We are all writing to her and the younger kids are drawing pictures for her.  We will visit her as often as we can.  Most importantly we are all praying for her.       

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.  The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.    James 5:16 esv

New Year's Resolutions

The definition of RESOLUTION in the American Heritage Dictionary is:  The state or quality of being resolute, determination.  A resolving to do something.  A course of action resolved on.

At the start of a new year lots of people set goals called resolutions.  These goals are set to help people live better lives.  Some goals are harder to achieve than others.  I think it is interesting that part of the definition of resolution in the dictionary is determination.  Setting and obtaining goals definitely takes determination!

 I think making New Year's Resolutions is a great thing.  It shows that you care about yourself and you want to get better at something.  I think the new year is the perfect time to challenge yourself to live better, serve God better, serve others more, eat healthier, exercise more,  or a host of other things.  It's a great time to evaluate and change things.

Here are my 2011 New Year's resolutions:

I'm going to make better grades in school.
I'm going to eat more fruit & vegetables each day and drink at least 8 glasses of water.
I'm going to jog and lift weights each day.
I'm going to tithe 10% and save 10% of my money.
I'm going to pray a little longer each day so I can work up to being able to pray for an hour.

My most important goal for the New Year is to put God first.  I want to honor Him in everything I do.

You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. Deuteronomy 13:4 esv

A BIG Announcement!!

I have a big announcement to make...........I've been waiting 5 months to share this great news!!!  My big announcement is....................................... my Mom is expecting our sixth child!!!!!

 Part two of my announcement is that Mom is having a girl!!!  (Olivia wanted it to be girl so bad.  Every day she prayed,  "please God let it be a girl".  We were afraid that if it was a boy she would be heart broken.)  I can't believe God is giving us another child. I prayed for us to have another baby.  I love being a big brother and am proud to say I am the big brother of 5!!!  I can't wait until she is born.  Mom is due in May!

REASONS I LOVE BEING A BIG BROTHER:

1.  There is always someone to play with.
2.  There is always someone to love on.
3.  Someone always needs my help (and I like that!).
4.  Someone is always making me laugh.
5.  I've got my own cheering section at a ball game.
6.  There are more toys, clothes, and games when you share with a bunch of siblings.
7.  When Dad and Mom get old there will be plenty of us to take care of them.
8.  The house is more cozy because there are a lot of us.
9.  If you run out of socks there is always someone to borrow from.
10. Every night is like having a sleepover.
11.  There are always enough people to play a game.
12.  I've got best friends for life.

16 Years and A Great Start to 2011!

I had a wonderful 16th birthday
( even though Tennessee lost a heart breaking game).

  Here are some pictures: 

              Lunch at Burger King, with my Burger Queen! 

        Ethan treated me to Starbucks for my birthday!

         Watching the Tennessee game, I'm happy at this point.

 
                            Yummy pizza for my birthday dinner!!!!!!

           Instead of a cake I had a birthday cinnamon wheel. (love Papa Murphy's!!)

          The day after my birthday,  New Year's Eve,  friends from Knoxville came down.
We all had a great time together playing games, watching Tim Hawkins, eating tons of delicious food  and we even took Sophie on several long walks since it was soooo warm.  (in the 50s all day!)



HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!