Blue Eyed Gang

When I was a girl, at times me, my Dad, and my youngest brother would be going somewhere together and I remember my Dad saying, "Yea, it's the blue eyed gang." You see my Mom has hazel eyes as does my sister and one brother. My Dad, me and other brother all have blue eyes. I always felt special to be a part of the blue eyed gang with my Dad and Tim.

There is a new blue eyed gang at the butterfly house.

Still part of the gang.

Lord, You are Good

"Who among the gods is like you, O LORD ?
Who is like you—
majestic in holiness,
awesome in glory,
working wonders?
Exodus 15:11

February is almost over, and March is a special month at the butterfly house. Aaron, Caleb, and Luke all have birthdays in March AND our anniversary is in March. The boys have been making plans for parties and gift wishes for their birthdays. I so wanted to make their birthdays extra special. Now, I know that one can make a great birthday without spending much money, but this year they boys wanted parties that cost money. $$$$$ So this is not a post about throwing a thrifty birthday party.

We are so blessed: God provided a job for Aaron, we have a lovely home, two nice vehicles that are paid for, food on our table, our health, and a wonderful family. However, we are living on a budget and I just didn't know where the money would come from for three birthdays in one month.

I will sing to the LORD,

for he has been good to me.

Psalm 13:6

Caleb so wanted to have his birthday party, with his friends from Co-op, at a place in town that has Go Carts, Putt-Putt, and Laser Tag. And I wanted to make it happen for his 10th birthday. Well, guess what God wanted to make it happen too. Yes, he cares about Caleb's birthday! Unexpectedly, we received a large sum of money. And that same day new opportunities were opened up to Aaron at his job.

So the next day, the boys and I went and reserved Caleb's birthday party and we took a spin on the Go Carts to give them a try.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;

his love endures forever.

1 Chronicles 16:34

Our Day

Luke has been in desperate need of a haircut. Yesterday I decided to give him a haircut. Luke loves his hair long and was not happy.

He cried during the entire haircut.

But was all smiles when it was over.


The boys then played with their Nerf swords.


In the afternoon the weather was sunny and mild, so we make a trip to the park.


It was a terrific day!

I'm Back

Last Tuesday morning my Dad called to let me know that my Grandmother had passed away. This time last week the boys and I, my parents, my brother, and sister were in a passenger van driving to Kentucky for the funeral. The boys and I spent over 45 hours driving in the course of five days. Beaumont to Dallas, Dallas to Arkansas to Tennessee, then on to Kentucky. Then back home. The funeral was lovely- celebrating the 81 years that my Grandmother lived. She raised 12 children and lived her entire life serving her children and family. While we were in Kentucky, we visited my other Grandmother, too. My Dad honored his Mom at her funeral, and my Mom honored her Mom when we visited her. I'm so glad I was able to be there for both.

In Kentucky it was 7 degrees with about 6 to 10 inches of snow. Sunday morning I left snowy Dallas, five hours later I was back home in Beaumont where the temperature was 68 degrees. I love Beaumont in winter! It is great to be home!

The Choice

Last night for dessert I offered two choices to dear husband- fresh strawberries and blueberries OR Bananas Foster.

He replied, "Really Lori, do you need to ask?"

So for dessert we had bananas sauteed with bananas foster sauce over delicious Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream.

So good!

I found the bananas foster sauce at H-E-B. I so wanted to buy it, then I looked at the price, $5.99. But H-E-B came through for me with a special deal. If I bought a jar of Cookwell & Company Gumbo Starter, I could get the bananas foster sauce free. So for dinner we had Gumbo with sausage and chicken plus our yummy dessert.

One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well. -Virginia Wolf

The Rats

Our homeschool Co-op opened up a whole new world to us last week- pet rats. Luke is studying all about animals this year so his science teacher decided to have pet rats for his class.

The boys so enjoyed the rats, Faraday and Lovelace, this past week.

Everyday Aaron and the boys would get Faraday and Lovelace out of the cage. The rats mostly wanted to climb and sit on them.

Even though the rats are cute, I just couldn't bring myself to touch them.

The rats are on their way to another family this week, but may return to us later this year. Goodbye for now rats.