Happy Birthday Leslye!

Today is my wonderful wife's birthday, and I hope she has a wonderful day!

However, the day does start with a return to school - twice. On this day, Jan. 4, 2010, my lovely wife returns to Santo Elementary School for teacher's work day and such - sounds like fun, huh?

But more importantly, on this day, Jan. 4, 2010, my wife becomes a graduate student working towards her master's degree in educational leadership. At the end of her studies, she will have both her principal's certification and a certification in conflict management.

I am so very proud of her, and I can't say it enough. I think she will make an excellent principal because she is already a tremendous teacher!

Over the weekend, both sets of parents came and stayed from Thursday night through Sunday afternoon. We had a good time celebrating the new year, watching football, eating and doing a bit of shopping. We also threw in Tarleton basketball, and of course, and most importantly, worship on Sunday morning.

On Saturday, we also threw in some birthday celebration. I grilled fajitas (beef and chicken), some vegetables (onions and green peppers) and my hand (my left one, but it is OK minus some pretty blisters - at least it was my left one though).


Then Les opened her presents before eating her favorite cake - Strawberry. For the second year in a row, I baked her cake, and she said it was extra yummy, so I am glad I could provide just one more thing for her.


The last year has blessed us with some ups and downs, but I am more in love with my wife now than I ever have been before. God truly has blessed me with the perfect woman for me. And I try to spoil her and love every minute of it!

Les, I love you very much and I thank God for giving me to you and you to me each day when I wake up and each night before I sleep. I pray that we celebrate many, many more birthdays together.

Just grab "my hand and walk beside me, 'cause you complete my life."

New Year's Traditions

Today we enjoyed a traditional New Year's day - the Rose Parade, good food, and lots of football.  The TV has been on non-stop since the parade started at 10:00 then to the footbal games that are on as I type.  We had a delicious New Year's day meal - pork roast, hashbrown potato casserole, spinach casserole, and of course black-eyed peas and cornbread, plain and broccoli. 

Then for dessert...Flaming Cherry Jubilees!  Such a fun dessert served up with a round of Auld Lang Syne!

It was a great start to the new year!

Ringing in the New Year!

We have had a fun time enjoying our days off!  We went to Ft. Worth on Wednesday and spend them evening with Kristi and her fiance, Nic.  Then we spent the night at the Courtyard Marriot downtown, the official hotel of the Armed Forces Bowl.  This morning, Joey got up and worked in the pressbox at the Armed Forces Bowl and I spent sometime reading and getting ready to start classes next week.  Then I spent the afternoon shopping in Ft. Worth with my mom and dad.

Then the real party began, both sets of our parents are here to ring in the new year!   The party didn't start till late because we all had to get home from shopping in Ft. Worth.  We watched football, played 42, Scrabble Slam, Scatagories, and Swipe and watched the New Year's festivities on TV. 

Happy 2010!

It Was A Merry Christmas!

We returned home tonight from our Christmas holiday travels.  We left Wednesday morning and went to Abilene to get ready for the Christmas Eve festivities at Granny's house.  The weather gave us a nice suprise, a white Christmas Eve.  The snow did keep Jeff, Tami, and Cody from being able to come, but we did get to have Christmas with them this afternoon.

Caroling before opening presents.

Joey reliving his childhood.  It is a long story but a funny present!

Jaden and Jaxon got these from scooters for Christmas.  Since the ground was covered in snow, we decided to try them out on the kitchen floor.  I had to get in on the fun!

Thursday afternoon we scraped the snow off the car and headed to Snyder.  It did take us a little longer to get there because of the road conditions, but we made it safely!  Christmas morning we woke up and had Christmas with Mom and Dad.  I did not get any pictures of opening presents, but Joey and I did pose by the tree.

We also tried to pose in front of the snow covered tree at Gran's house, but the sun reflecting off the snow made it hard for us to keep our eyes open!

Christmas afternoon the gang all arrived!  Gran's house was full of fun and food!

By the end of the day, there were 19 adults and 2 cute little girls at Gran's house.  We had lots of fun opening presents, cooking, eating, cleaning and playing.  Abbye had her first lesson in playing 42.

Cade and Kyla arrived with some exciting news!  They are engaged!

There were lots of happy squeals with all the Crenshaw women in one room!  We are so glad that Kyla will be joining the family!

On Saturday, we went over to the West's house to see what Santa brought Jaden and Jaxon and to play with the Wii that the boys got from Jason and Jami. There was some serious Wii playing going on! Jami defended her title on Toy Story Mania against Joey, Jaden, and Jaxon.

We are so blessed with wonderful families and had a wonderful time with them this Christmas!  Now onto the Christmas de-decorating and checking off the "to-do" list to get ready for the new year!

Merry Christmas from Our House to Yours!

Hope this finds you enjoying the season!  We have had a fun and busy holiday so far and are looking forward to seeing family and friends.  Just wanted to share some Christmas cheer from our house.

The Dining Room Tree

Our New Living Room Tree

After much looking and much debate I am so glad I got this one!  It is so pretty! 

We have presents under our tree, and beside our tree...

Our New TV and Entertainment Center

We got the TV for Christmas from Mom and Dad early this year - the day after Thanksgiving.  Then we had to have something to set the new TV on, so Joey and I gave each other the entertainment center for early Christmas to each other!  Joey enjoyed watching football games and I have enjoyed watching all the great Christmas movies that have been on TV!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and your family!

Becoming a Student Again!

The last 2 weeks have been busy as I have been researching different programs and filling out my application and paperwork for my master's degree.  I have officially been accepted to the Master's of Education in Leadership of Learning from Abilene Christian University!  I will begin courses in January and will take a course for 7 weeks followed by a week off for the next two years and will graduate in December 2011.  All of the courses are online, so I can do the coursework from home or from wherever our schedule takes me and my laptop! 

Cowboys' Stadium

While Joey was off in Washington with the Texan football team, I headed to Cowboy Stadium to see the other football team in town, the Stephenville Yellowjackets.  We usually do not go to the yellowjacket games because we get our football fill on Saturday.  Okay, so Joey can probably never get his fill of football, so all those "we"s should be "I"s. Although, I will admit I have really enjoyed football this year! 


Chris and Karen Cox and the fan full of jacket supporters met me after school and we headed to Jerry's World.  We were there before the gates opened at 6:00, so we had plenty of time to take it all in before kickoff at 7:30.  I took lots of pictures.  I had to make my photographer husband proud!  Plus, I did need proof that I had been there before him!  Who would have ever thought that would happen!  (Not that I would rub that in or anything!)

View from the 3rd row

Looking up from the 3rd row

The roof opening - It began to rain and it still kept going.  Then after a little bit they closed it back up.  I am convinced that it was Jerry and his people trying to show off. Why else would they open it up when it was cool and rainy?

I went up to the second level to get a picture of the whole field.  The 2nd level was as high as you could go.  I am thankful for that!  I really did not enjoy being up that high.  I can't imagine sitting up at the very top!

The Big Screen - Even though I could see everything on the field great, I still caught myself looking up to the big screen.  It was fun to watch on it!

It was fun to go to the game and to get to see the impressive Cowboys' Stadium.  At $10 a ticket, a high school playoff game is definitely the way to go see a game there.  I have no desire to go see a Cowboys' game with all those people.  I would get sick sitting as high up as I would have to for the price I would be willing to pay.  Stephenville and Aledo did a good job of filling up the sections that were available and made for a great game even though the Yellowjackets lost in overtime.  The atmosphere was fun, exciting, and very loud (my ears were still ringing when I woke up this morning!). 


PS - I posted this blog after updating the posting part of blogger.  It is much easier to post pictures.  The picture inserts where the cursor is instead of at the top.  It is so much easier!  The downside is that I do not see a spell checker, and we all know I am a terrible speller!  (Sorry Mom, I guess you will have to call me and tell me my mistakes!)  Anyway, some of you may have already known about the update, but just in case you haven't you might want to update yours.