My life with the 3stephensboys is exciting, trying, fulfilling, entertaining, amazing, tiring, inspiring... what God made me for & what I love. Therefore, you may not see many pictures of Darrin or me, but you will get an eye full of my 3stephensboys in all of their glory, amazement and cuteness! Thanks for visiting! Enjoy!

Friday, December 21, 2007

Grackles are Evil Birds!!!


Do you know what a Grackle is?

I didn't until I moved to College Station, Texas.

We have these psycho birds here from,
oh I don't really know...
September through February. I guess.
I think they are here year round!!!

Here is a close up of one, but I HAVE to share these pictures with
you that I took tonight. They freak me out!!!
Seriously, I feel like I am in the movie Birds.
The wires are that black because they are FULL of nasty birds!
They are EVERYWHERE!!!!
They seriously give me the heebie jeebies!!!!!
These are a part of the Rock Prairie Clan, there are others in town!
They aren't afraid of much and don't hardly move!!
AAhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!
There are THOUSANDS of them!!!!
Somebody help me, I can hardly go to
Kroger cuz I'm afraid of them!!!!!

I should be adding pictures of Kye from his program, but we rented a movie tonight from Blockbuster and I just happened to have my camera in my purse. I have wanted to post about these evil, psycho birds for over a year now, just never got around to it, but here you have it!!!

The pictures really do NOT give it justice and then you add all the noise they make and it makes my skin crawl! Really, it does!

They will be all over the van when I come out of Kroger and they just look at you and they won't move! It is so eery!!!!! Sorry for so many pictures, but I was trying to make a point!

Did I???? :)

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Kye's Christmas Performance!!!

Today, Kye performed in his Christmas play. He portrayed Joseph! He is the one in the blue headdress. It's kinda long, but well worth the jiggling motion to get to "Silent Night" & "Oh Come All Ye Faithful!" I promise!!! Check it out!!! He was fabulous!!!!

Monday, December 10, 2007

What is Wrong with This Picture???

Does this look normal to you?!?I AM AN IDIOT!!!!!

This is proof that Kari has lost her mind and ability to think logically! And that I'm too sidetracked with my mind going in a million different directions!!!!

YES, this morning I drove the van into the garage door!!!!

The van is fine with a little white streak here or there on the back. Seriously! What is wrong with me!!! I guess I know what I'm getting for Christmas! :(

I had to blog about it cause I'm so mad at myself!
The ironic thing about the whole situation is this:
Not even 4 days ago, Darrin had told me that he had almost
done the same thing! I laughed at him and told
him how stupid that would have been!

I'm obviously needing a lesson in humility!
O.K. Lord, I get it!!!!!
Why must I learn the hard way!?!
Beth Moore calls that learning on a field trip rather than in the classroom!

Can I claim that for over a year we didn't have a garage and that I'm not
used to one? Or that I was worried about the dog getting out and
running away, and that is why I was hurrying out of the garage???

Oh well, the lady will come out tomorrow and give me an estimate and
we'll see what the damage will be!!!

Sunday, December 09, 2007

Can It Really Be December??!!

I must admit that this may sound a bit like complaining. I don't intend for it to be, but I would like to ponder a few things before updating the blog.

It is NOT normal for it to be 80+ degrees in December. It is so bizarre! It is not right!!! I sit in my air conditioned house longing to wear my sweaters and feel a chill in my bones! It can even seem a little overcast outside, so I open the door, because it must be a tad bit chilly!!! Oh but wait, it's overcast because of the humidity and it isn't chilly at all, but muggy, hot and gross!!!!

It IS December and I'm tired of wearing flipflops and t-shirts. We are still going to the park in shorts! So weird!!! I look forward to cleaning out the closet of summer clothes to fill it again with my cold clothes! Forgetting this from last year and still a new resident of Texas, I sigh deeply! Speaking to friends and family via telephone does not help, as it is snowing there!

Recently, I heard a song on the Houston Christian radio station called, There's no snow in Houston...or something like that. It goes on to say that we will be in flip flops on the beach this Christmas. So for those of you who are reading this somewhere cold, please soak some in for me! I miss the seasons so much, but I must admit that come February, I do like the nice days here!

Anyhoo!!!!!

We had a lovely Thanksgiving!!!! It was wonderful seeing family that we hadn't seen in 1-2 years!


Like always, we had an adventurous trip. We hit Kansas City right at rush hour on Tuesday before Thanksgiving. We actually got through fairly quickly and were just north of the city on the Missouri side. Darrin was driving in the left lane of 4 lanes of traffic, going about 70mph, when the front driver side tire blew! Darrin reacted quickly and amazingly got us over on the side of the road. It was a bit nerve racking due to the heavy traffic that seemed to not slow down a bit. We were planning on driving straight through, but our plans changed need less to say!

You can't really tell, but that is the road where we had to pull off in rush hour! Yikes!

New tire bought, we hit the road the next morning early and ended up catching up with Dad.
I prayed for snow and God did answer my prayer. It began just on the other side of the Missouri/Iowa line and continued to outside of Des Moines. The ground temp was so warm that it really didn't stick, but that was good too. It would have been scarier driving had it stuck! Kru asked me, "What's that?" Oh my Texas baby!!! It was cold there, so we relished wearing our heavy winter coats and gloves and hats!

Playing cards, catching up, reminiscing, watching football, eating and playing some more cards filled our time in Iowa! We ended up staying an extra day to spend more time with our fam. We headed for home on Sunday, hoping to make it the entire 17 hours! Stopping for lunch in Missouri and changing drivers, we continued on our way. About 30 miles north of the tire episode 5 days earlier, I noticed a strange sound. We had a flat rear tire! Again, Darrin changed the tire and we attempted to find an exit with some store to help us!

Wal-Mart was the only option on a Sunday afternoon, and after 3 1/2 hours we were on the road again! Purchasing 3 tires in a matter of 5 days was definitely not part of our Thanksgiving plan, but we were very thankful that it was only tires which can be easily replaced and nothing more serious! The delay changed our plans again and we ended up staying in Norman Oklahoma. Kye and Kru ended up throwing up all night! Fun! So it probably was best we were in a hotel and not the car! Yuk!

You may be thinking what a nightmare, but I have to tell you I would do it again tomorrow!

I love my Iowa family and the time we spent with them is priceless!!! I love that nothing changes even after 2 years! That I can be myself and not try to be someone or something else! I love that we joke and tease each other endlessly! I love how much we laugh when we are together! And that snorting and crying are a part of that! I love that my granpa calls me "his girl!" I love him so much!!!!! I love that granma's house is ALWAYS open! That there are cookies in the cookie jar and Pepsi in the garage! I love that my Iowa family and my granma and granpa's house are the ONLY constants in my 35 years of life! I love that my aunts and uncles play with my boys like they see them everyday! I love that the circle of life can be seen generation after generation in my granma's living room and basement! I love that there is ALWAYS coffee! I love that my past is captured in pictures, puzzles, decorations, and talk there! I love that there are no expectations but genuine love there! I love that this family who has been through so much is still together! I love you all!!!

Almost the whole gang!!!

Kru catching up with Papa!

Kye plays with Papa's dog, Rex!

Until next time....

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Kye's Musings!

I want to update with pictures and of our adventure to Iowa, but I'm still attempting to get back into a groove after being gone for almost a week and it's too late tonight. However, I did want to post a few more of Kye's books he has written at school.

So take a moment to see the world through Kye's eyes! :)

Apple
The birds are upside down and one bird didn't have feathers so he fell.
The fish was in invisible water. Then he couldn't find his way back to the sea.
My dog got his neck off. Then he was upside down.
The airplane was flying over the boats. Then one lost the sails.
The car was flying then the boat crashed into the land and he "drived" on land.

About the Author:
Kye Stephens went to his grandma's house and slept over at Thanksgiving. He thinks she lives in Mexico and that she is twenty years old.

Dinosaur Land - "This is a sad one, Mom." -Kye
The longhorn got cut and then he bleeded.
The blue longhorn was mad then he turned bad. Then he killed that dinosaur
on top of him. Then he was so bleeding.
The T-Rex saw two nice dinosaurs then he go to the stegosaurus and whacked
him with his tail and then he died.
The Apatosaurus came and helped the boat then it sunk.
There was a little drop on the flower and then it grow bigger and I turned invisible.

About the Author
Kye Stephens likes hot dogs and peanut butter sandwiches. He also likes ba-sghetti
and chocolate milk and french fires and chicken. He likes getting new toys and red
bikes and going on the playground and swinging on the yellow swing.

Again, I wish that you could see his illustrations. They use stencils so he writes about the stencil he is tracing. His latest book, Kye wrote the words I, and and the!

I hope to find time this weekend to update with pictures from Thanksgiving. We had a marvelous time with family!

Have a great week!