Fun Weekend

 Driving to see the Grand Twins I saw this beautiful field of grasses and pristine farm house. 

 At this time of year the grasses, which originally covered most of Texas before it was settled and developed, are green, gold, red and purple.

 A few, not many, trees are beginning to dress in their Autumn colors. 

Temperatures are in the 50's and upper 40's at night. When the first freeze arrives, the colors really pop.

 Last weekend Grandpa bought a kite for Jonah and Gracie. This weekend he bought a kite for Em and Roo.  Em thought she might try flying it inside the house. 

 Em, Roo, Grandpa, JB and I walked to the neighborhood park .  Em busied herself on the slides, sidewalks, and swing. Roo declared she was the captain of a big pirate ship and was sailing the seven seas. She commanded from the lofty heights. 

Meanwhile, JB and Grandpa made valiant efforts on a mostly windless day to fly the kite. Every time it would crash,  Em would say "Oh Noooooooo! Try again!"  Good advice for life, I think.

As the shadows lengthened from west to east along the width of the park

the girls began to tire of the kite, the slides, the pirate ship and

long afternoon Grandpa held Em by the feet upside down for a while

then allowed her to lay in the gravel--dirty but so texturally pleasing.

Grandparenting

Last weekend we were having fun. Lots of fun. We were with the Rowdy Family. Friday was a rainy day and characterized by too much cabin fever and too many indoor activities.  Saturday was beautiful. 

The girls woke up declaring, " Saturday! Let's go to Trudy's!"  So, of course we did.

Roo was already ordering in the car on the way--bacon, eggs, bacon, migas, bacon, waffles, bacon and "yellow" (lemon bars), and bacon.  She also discovered Tres Leches Cake. After three pieces of bacon, migas, eggs, waffles, and some pineapple.

Em was quietly eating even more than Roo.  The Kona coffee was excellent! 

We took advantage of a playground near the Apple store.  Roo like the giant armadillo. Em was cozy with the butterfly bench. 

And the fountain.

Both Em and Roo were quite taken with the kids station at the Apple store. Dr. Seuss and Photo Booth were the big hits.  And Marmee got a new adapter and connecter.

Love these sweet times together!

Spring and Warfare

It was a dark and stormy night and that's not just a story line. Big storms with high winds and rain dumped water in the Rowdy Girls room when shingles came loose. CB walked into a puddle of water, thinking 'someone' dumped her pj's and princess panties during the night and didn't quite make it to the potty. Grandpa climbed into the attic and found the damages. Meanwhile Rowdys, CB and I dressed for winter, because the wind is howling and the temperatures are about 40 degrees lower than yesterday, which was beautiful and warm. Such is spring in Texas.

Now we are all watching Princess and the Frog on DVD. I love the music--New Orleans jazz, all original by Randy Newman. The story is classic good versus evil, and evil is portrayed very graphically through black magic and voodoo. It's easy to see that is a counterfeit to God's goodness with all the dark masks and skulls and crossbones and other symbols of death. The tricky part is the white magic/voodoo, which is the counterfeit Light. Just as in "real life" those choices present themselves to us. Usually not in the form of black/white magic or good/bad voodoo, but as more subtle temptations.

I love the lightning bugs in the movie, always there to show just enough light to choose the correct path. May God give us eyes to see and ears to hear so we always have His Way and His Voice guiding us. May His Word be a light to our feet and a lamp to our path. I thank Him that the weapons of our warfare are powerful to pull down strongholds and to war against an enemy that does not always show up in darkness, but masquerades in light. Most of all I love that the movie shows that Love is the power that overcomes. It is the power that raised Christ from the dead! And raised Ray the lightning bug from being squashed underfoot to his destiny as a light in the nighttime.

On this first day of Spring, when we begin to celebrate new life in nature, enjoy some Princess and the Frog and some of Jesus' power too.