Christmas Card Picture Craziness!!!!

Now that the last bunch of Christmas cards will go in the mailbox today, I can share with you what it took to get one picture to use on our Christmas card this year. Two years ago we used our family portrait that was taken in Florida......easy! Last year we used one of the million pictures that were taken at Disney World and who isn't happy there, right?

So this year it started at the end of November....the voice in my head that kept reminding me that I needed to be thinking about Christmas cards and getting a picture of the kids. Our schedule was CRAZY and there literally wasn't a time to take the pictures. So finally, two Sundays ago, I announced that I knew it wasn't the best time but it had to be done. Clayton had just returned from a weekend church retreat, Adam had played 5 lacrosse games in the mud and the girls had been sitting in the cold, nasty weather all weekend. SOUNDS PERFECT, right?

If everyone would just smile the first time, we'd be done! They all knew that so it shouldn't be a problem this year. Audrey is 4 1/2, Emma 6 1/2, Adam is almost 14 and Clayton just turned 15.......this as a done deal.

And then it began!

This is the FINAL PRODUCT, so you can see what I was looking for....

Adam was adding the Baby Jesus to the picture.....

That was so funny Emma couldn't sit anymore.....

Clayton hurt Audrey's arm and she is ticked......

Emma was trying to comfort her and knows that this adds at least 10 minutes to the process....

Nice job, Bubba!

Adam's smiling! Could we get away with one child in the picture?

Hmmmm......

Where's Emma and what is Clayton doing?

Oh....Clayton is trying to catch the house on fire. Where's Audrey?

She's back! "Don't touch me!"

Dad was about to wet his pants he was laughing so hard!

Really? Can't we all just smile and pretend we are a normal family?

JUMP!

JUMP, again! Maybe we won't do a picture this year.....

Looks like a prison lineup......makes sense tonight!

Rockin' around the Christmas tree in the Lowell crazy bin....

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Thriller

Emma is taking Jazz for the first time this year and loving it.  She has the cutest teacher, Miss Jen, who makes it so fun for the girls.  They did a special Halloween performance yesterday to Thriller and had a ball.   Hope you enjoy it!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SHELBY

I celebrated my 40th birthday last week and it was not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.  The build-up was tough but I have THE MOST amazing family and friends.  Steve and the kids decorated the house, including a HUGE "Shelby's 40!" sign in the front yard.  They treated me with amazing gifts, including a new Mac.  As soon I figure out how to get pictures on this new thing I'll post some from the birthday.  Sweet gifts from Steve's Mom (including 4 pints of my favorite ice cream), a beautiful bracelet and birthday spending money just for me from my parents, flowers from Craig and Alison and from a sweet friend here in The Woodlands!  I also had literally hundreds of birthday wishes on Facebook......waste of time?  NOT!  It's a way for friends to lift the spirits of another from around the block, from another state or even from from another country! 

My best friends and neighbors took me to Tommy Bahamas for lunch and we had so much fun.  They too gave me amazing gifts but the biggest treat was just getting to spend time with them. We laughed and laughed and laughed, especially when Betty realized that she had the football lens on her camera and had to take the picture from all the way across the restaurant! 

  

We had a special birthday dinner at Benihana's that night and then Steve surprised me with the BEST birthday cake in the world.  The best birthday gift I got, though, was that Steve took off the whole week to spend with me.  No work, no email...nothing...and it was so fun!!!!!!

Thanks to you who sent birthday wishes.  40 is just a number and I'd do it all over since it was so much fun.  (Especially next year when the number will be 41!!!!)

TWHS Homecoming 2009

For those of you who aren't on Facebook, here's a link to Clayton's Homecoming pictures from this weekend! He went with a great group and had an amazing time!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=110756&id=503034860&l=431273e53f

Happy Birthday Whitney

Happy Birthday to my best friend from SMU, Whitney! I got to see her about 10 days ago and she informed me that she checks the blog all the time and was tired of reading about my Lacrosse Smell Miracle. So here you go, Whitney!

On the outside it would appear that we have nothing in common anymore and we do lead completely different lives now. BUT our friendship from the past is SOLID and allows us to just pick up like we were together yesterday. For 3 years we spent at least 4 hours together a day....we laughed and cried, worked hard and had fun! I wish that we lived closer now and I'm praying that she and her "hero husband" decide to move back from Crazy California to their Texas Home! (Although I bet her parents are praying even more than me!)

I've always teased her that she's older than me (except the year we turned 21). I'm only two weeks behind you and I can't believe we've known each other for 21 years....boy are we old! Happy 40th Birthday Whitney! I'm so proud of the woman you are. I love you!

This is my all-time favorite picture of us....seems like yesterday!

Lacrosse Smell Miracle

Those of you, who have sons who play lacrosse or hockey know, know how disgusting their pads and gloves get. On our recent trip to Baltimore, I was seriously afraid that the agent we checked the boys bags in with would think something or someone was dead inside. Fortunately their nose must have been stuffed up and we were in the clear.

Once we got home and had a few days without lacrosse I was determined to find something to take that nasty smell away. And I think I found it so I wanted to pass it along!

TOTALLY TODDLER, Nursery Stain Remover "Safely removes stains and odors caused by formula, spit-up, food, urine, vomit, diarrhea and more." www.totallytoddlery.com I buy it at Babies-R-Us, Toys-R-Us, and sometimes they have it at Target or Walmart.

I soaked the equipment (even their leather gloves) in my washer in super hot water and 1 cup of TT for 20 minutes. Then I ran it through the regular wash cycle with laundry detergent and Oxyclean.

Horrendous odor - GONE!!!!!

HEY!

YO! It's the Best Kid Ever coming at you live from The Hoodlandz, Texas. My mom thought that I was sassing her, so she is making me write a blog. She'll be sorry :) We are exactly one week into our summer vacation, and I am still playing a ton of lacrosse. Adam and I made the All-Houston lacrosse team that is going to Baltimore for the U-15 National Championships in July. It should be a blast, but right now is kind of miserable. 100 degree heat doesn't really work well with anything other than swimming. So this is really all I have to say. Peace out from HTown.

Guest Blogger

A certain "oldest son" suggested that I need to start blogging more. Since he has such an interest in improving The Lowell Family Blog, I would like to introduce my guest blogger, Clayton Lowell!!!!!!!

Clayton Awarded the Ambassador Award from the CISD School Board

A couple of weeks ago I received a call from the school. The caller id said, "Conroe ISD" and immediately my stomach dropped. The ONLY time you get a call from the school when your kids are in Junior High is if they are sick or in trouble, so I was worried. Imagine how worried I was when I heard, "Mrs. Lowell? This is Principal McCord." He quickly said, "the boys are here in school today and there is not a problem!"


Then he started telling me that each year a teacher of the year and a student of the year is chosen. He said that he makes the final decision but that many teachers and administrators of the school make suggestions and that many people gave him Clayton's name. He then went on to say the most amazing things about our son. I was standing in the piano room with tears running down my face listening to him talking about Clayton and about the kind of student and friend he was. He talked about him being a leader and how proud of him he was. It was an amazing gift!


The thing that I was so proud of was that as he talked about our son he didn't one talk about the grades that he made. He talked about the kind of person he was and the man he was growing into. He talked about the way he made others feel around him and that he was a friend to everyone.


He told me that the superintendent and the school board would be coming the next day to present the award and that it would be a surprise for Clayton. When he stopped talking, I managed to croak out a "wow!" and then snorted trying not to let him know I was crying.
I so appreciate the support and encouragement that the teachers and administrators at his school have given him over the past two years. You couldn't find a better school if you tried and we are so incredibly grateful to have our children benefit from it.

Superintendent Don Stockton, Clayton, Board Members CJ Hanes and Gerald Irons, Sr.

A little embarrassed to have Dr. Stockton walk in and ask where Clayton Lowell was......that's Clayton's science teacher in the background.

Oh Mrs. Lowell....It's broken alright!

Almost three weeks ago I had just left the pediatrician's office with Clayton, who had pneumonia, and my cell phone rang. It was the the football coach from the boys school. I'm one of the 7th grade football reps so it's not unusual for him to call me so I wasn't worried.

"Mrs. Lowell.....it's Coach! Adam has broken his (didn't understand this word). I've called 911 and I can hear the sirens in the distance."

"What did you say? He's broken his what?"

"His arm, Mrs. Lowell!"

"Is it really broken?"

"Oh Mrs. Lowell.....it's broken alright! He'd like to talk to you!"

When I got to the school Adam was in a neck brace and on a backboard. One of his football coaches, who is also his Texas History teacher, was squatting next to him holding his arm for over 45 minutes. I couldn't thank him enough!

We spent 3 hours in the ER, where our orthopedic surgeon met us to reduce the bone back in place. He put him in a temporary splint and we made plans for surgery later in the week to have a pin put in.

Enough to scare the Mom!
He's not as skinny as this picture makes him look....just a lot of pain but still giving a thumbs up!
They were playing shirts and skins.....guess what time Adam was on?

Adam calls this picture, "the two stooges take an x-ray!" They were not very smart!

Your wrist isn't supposed to be curved like this, is it?

"This sucks!"

Radius and Ulna broken and displaced....nice!

Surgery morning and joking around

Nice hat!

The IV is in...after three tries! The sweet nurse had called for someone else to do it after two tries. I was trying to distract Adam so I started singing silly Sunday School songs. "The fruit of the spirit's not a coconut...Knock! Knock!" and J is for Jesus and O is for others and Y Y Y Y Y is for you and you and you and you and you!" The nurse asked if we pray and Adam said, "yes ma'am." She said, "me, too. Jesus, guide me hand," and the IV was in. The power of prayer! A wonderful reminder that even then God had us in the palm of His mighty hand!

Home and still bummed!

A week later he went for a permanent cast and we were able to see the pin.

Woodlands Lacrosse 2009

The boys had a great lacrosse season......lots of good friends, lots of goals, lots of saves, lots of wins and only 2 losses! Here is the Woodlands Junior High Lacrosse 2009 season in pictures.

Perspective!
5 City Championships in a Row...not too shabby.

Charter member of The Coach Al Fan Club

Coach T trying to recruit Mikey the Manatee

The pre-game huddle (Clayton is #55, who is up in the air)

A little pep talk

Talking defense

After the championship win (and just before he finally shaved his beard!)

Adam

Adam is the tall guy on the right without a helmet with a cast (more to come on that!)

The other charter member of The Coach Al Fan Club

I caught a coach of another team scouting us. The bottom entry says, "Clayton Lowell: No Fear!"

The guys who play up on the 8th grade team

Adam and Tyler

Logan

Clayton

Adam #36