Christmas in Texas

Here a few images from our Christmas day in Texas...it was a chilly 79 degrees so the Christmas sweaters were absent Hope you enjoy!

This is the lights in the old sugar factory in old Sugar Land. This is where the town gets its name from. They are supposed to make this in to some loft living space.

My new kiddos

I have now been officially working in the Fort Bend ISD for about 3 weeks. I am loving my job working with Kindergartners both English and Spanish speaking. The other day I had to go to my new employee training and did not get to go to my school. When I came back the next day, all of them were saying, "Ms. Hardy, we missed you!" They are so sweet. We had Polar Express day the last week before Christmas and wore our pajamas to school. Here are some pics of some of my favorites:


hasta luego-Jenni

Welcome to Christmasville, TX

Here are some videos and pics from the neighborhood that is required to decorate. There were actually a few houses without lights, but not many of those without a for sale sign in the yard. They even had a "trophies" for the top six houses. Hope you enjoy!
Here is the classic scene of Santa visiting baby Jesus...guess I missed that verse in the Bible where father Christmas visited Bethlehem?



The above and below pics are our favorite house. They had a screen you could step in front of at the front of the house. It would show you on a projection screen and then tell you if you were on the naughty or nice list...I was the "Nicest person in Pecan Grove!"


This is "Grandma got run over by a reindeer" They had a bubble machine and were playing that song at this display. Below is a live sized Wall-e.

Here is the action at the fully decorated house!

This is another house with animation...kinda scary up close but a neat idea.

One last house:

Christmas is here...and so are the Griswalds!

We have discovered another difference about Texas...how they decorate for Christmas. I love my southern greenery dressed in red bows for the windows and doors. Here it is all about your light displays. So my family will be happy to know that I am not missing out on the lights in Virginia because apparently the Griswalds live down the road. Here is there house:



Then we found another family on the other side of the community who went bigger. Many neighborhoods here have lingo written in on your Home owners association papers that you have to decorate your house for Christmas. In the community we live in, you don't have to but there is a contest and this house won last year. I think they might win again:



I have not taken pics of our humble decorations yet but I will post those soon. We are also going to travel to one of those "required to decorate" communities tonight. I will put up the best places for you to see. Until then...I hope you are enjoying this Christmas season!

Viva Las Vegas!

So-I had a great time out west visiting my family and going to Vegas again! I love going with people to a place I have been but they have never seen. I love seeing reactions and how excited people get. The whole reason for the trip and the way it was made possible are in the photo:
This is my grandmother and little Harris David Compton. My grandmother flew her husband (a miracle in itself b/c my grandfather doesn't like planes which probably wasn't helped by the fact that his stint and my grandmother's new knee set off the security alarms and caused them to be pulled into a room and searched), my aunt, her daughter, my uncle, my mother and myself all out to Phoenix, AZ to see this little boy, the newest addition to our rather large, and growing larger family.

This is my mom and her siblings.


This was my first trip out to see his family at their house and I just couldn't resist the neighbor's cactus! Oh the saguaro! This is their other child, Adeline picking her "yellow" lemon from the not yet ripened tree. This is my grandfather holding his youngest grandson!

So every trip out west has had a theme side trip. Last time (I was not present) the group went to see old Sedona, Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon. This time, my host Uncle Glen, rented the awesome Sienna mini van and we were headed to Vegas!

Viva Las Vegas was our them song and here was our posse! I got to sit shotgun with my Uncle Glen (aka Jesus) and we had a great time seeing the western part of our country. He had taken this trip via his Harley last time and got to see some of his old stops.


This is the proof we were in the desert. It was sooo pretty.


And what family vacation is complete without a dam stop? Here is the dam sign and I have more pics from the dam store. This is my cousin Jessica modeling in the dam picture.


Finally we got to our destination and had a lovely stay at the Mirage. The females when to see the Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian. I have wanted to see the musical since my grade school friend, Leila, saw it in middle school. It was fantastic and I plan to see it again when it comes to Houston next year! The rest of the pics are from around Vegas, with mom, at the Conservatory in the Bellagio and one last pic...my favorite people. A "flicker" !



Needless to say, the trip was so wonderful. My grandmother even flew out her own roast compliments of her carry on bag and made her homemade biscuits. The taste of home.

God is so GOOD!

So, right now I am sitting at my uncle's computer in Phoenix, AZ. I am here visiting some of my family, including my maternal grandparents (and lets just say that it is a miracle that my grandfather got on the plane.) So as some of you know, we have really been praying that I would have job opportunity come through that would allow me to not be as stressed as I have been at past jobs but also allow me to work with students who need support and teaching from a trained professional like me. Well...I was also worried about this trip that I had coming up, because as much as I wanted a job, I also did not want to pass up the opportunity to come out here and see my new cousin. Two weeks ago, I went to an interview at a Title I school about 10 min from my house and loved the atmosphere and environment along with the challenge that the hispanic population would bring to me. I hadn't heard anything from the interview for almost a week and a half and had pretty much convinced myself that I did not get the job and that God must have another place planned for me. But then today, I was getting ready with my cousin who brought me my phone that was ringing. I missed the call, but called back immediatly after I heard the message. God is so good-he has given me this opportunity to serve a population in need of support. I feel so blessed because even though I know that I am over qualified for the position, I know that this is where he wants me. Thanks be to my Savior and my provider...more to come when I return home from my trip.

Christmas countdown

I am thinking about speeding up this countdown. It is time for decorations everyone!

Play time with the fur kiddos

So we went to the park yesterday to play with the fur kiddos. First, we decided to take the nature trail to river at the back of the neighborhood and we found a surprise:
If you look in the middle of the picture-there is the armadillo butt-we tried to get a better one but his little legs could scurry!

Then we went and played Frisbee and ball with the girls. Here is Tilly proving that she, too, can carry a Frisbee even if she could curl up on top of it.

Here is Evee after a throwing session-don't know why the underline won't go away

Here is what happens when a snow white dog plays in the dirt.
This is Tilly taking a break and eating some grass.
Tilly trying to tell her dad that she wants to play too!


This is what happens when you have a dog that can't catch the Frisbee in the air but wants some credit for the running!

Evee showing how hard she has worked:

Finally-Tilly showing her efforts at catching something a little more her own size:

What's been going on...

So when I started blogging, thought I would be more regular about writing...but I am a little behind. So-

Since we have been in Texas we have been to Austin. It was neat seeing another state's capital/college bar town. I walked through the capital building and went on a Duck Tour. Jason and I saw the bats fly out from under the bridge and rode in a pedicab. While we were on the pedicab we were talking to our driver whose name was Trevor. We happened to ask him about a magic store that we thought we saw but didn't really because there wasn't one in Austin. As it turns out, he was a magician and we went to see his table act the next night at Spaghetti Warehouse. We had a wonderful time exploring a new city and had some delightful deserts at Trulucks Seafood. Here are some pics:

This was taken outside of the Blue Bell Factory-we couldn't resist a pit stop in Brenham, TX to see where one of my favorite deserts are made.



Here is the Texas Capital:Here is one of our deserts at Trulucks:




This is the Driskill Hotel-it is really old, said to haunted and some really famous people stayed here.

Then on Sunday while we were in Austin, we went driving around to see the area and discovered this cool bridge.Jason got to go to the Wings Over Houston air show with Black Hawk helicopters. He saw some reenactments and other war stuff.
This is my current favorite flavor of ice cream. This is Centennial Cupcake in celebration of the Texas branch of 4H's 100 years. It is cake batter ice cream with fudge swirls, balls of cake bits, and green clover sprinkles. I think you can only get it in Texas but if you see it-try it! It makes my day!


This was the extent of our Halloween festivities-carving pumpkins and dressing up Tilly. Can you guess which one we each carved?

Well that about sums up what we have been up to. No word yet on my second interview I had on Monday so I am still praying that God will present the perfect job opportunity for me. Next week, I leave on Tuesday to fly to Arizona to see my brand new baby cousin, Harris. I have never been out to visit my Uncle Glen's house/family in the desert and we are going to make a one night trip to Vegas. I am really looking forward to seeing Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, Bonnie (my aunt), Jessica (my cousin), Eddie (my other Uncle), and Glen's family. So I may post before then if I think of something else to write. Until then-have a great day and let me know what you are up to.