[dwell] Fall Home Tour

 

This is a small glimpse of fall at the Johnson's. Yes, yes I know: fall doesn't officially start for another week or so. Doesn't matter to me! September = beginning of fall. 

Onward! 

Candy corn paper banner with mini pumpkins...

Top of entertainment unit all decked out...

Wooden pumpkins from Hobby Lobby displayed on the piano...

Dining room complete with scarecrows, a metal pumpkin, and a vintage sign from an antique show (orange and black can mean fall, right?). 

Who else has decked their... walls... and furniture for fall? I can't be the only one who decorates early, right?!

[chrissy]

[love] UT Game with Nate! #13

13. Attend a UT game with Nate: Hook 'em, Horns!
Completed November 10, 2012

Another 30 before 30 item done and done!


I was so excited when our associate pastor of worship/outreach offered to take Nate & I to a UT game in Austin! He played for the Longhorns in the late 80s/early 90s, so he was able to take us to a couple of "behind the scenes" areas, as well as hook us up with some awesome seats in the end zone.

A little history: UT stands for the "University of Texas", their mascot is the Longhorns, and their colors are burnt orange/white. I am about 99% sure that everyone should know who they are, but you never know! I was actually accepted to UT when I applied for college and was **this close** to attending. My brother, who is three years older than me, was a Longhorn and graduated from there with an English degree. He told me that I could come, but he really thought I wouldn't like it because it is so big. I eventually went to DBU, obviously, which was the PERFECT choice for me, but I still adore my Longhorns and we are definitely a Longhorn family!

Check out our day of fun at the game!

Our seats were in this end zone! So fun!

The players coming out of the tunnel... 

The band! One of my favorites parts of football... that is the inner band nerd coming out of me! I played flute for seven years and marched in high school band for three of those years :) The band did a great halftime show in honor of Veteran's Day where they played each military branch song and morphed into a vehicle from that branch (army: tank, air force: plane, navy: sub- my favorite one)! They also honored Coach Royal who had passed away that week (he was the Longhorn coach for a longgg time and the field is named after him).

 

The mascots interacting with one another (they were playing Iowa State)

 

So neat being close to all the action!

 

UT has three cheer squads: an all girl squad (below), male/female squad (where they are partnered up to do partner stunts), and an all girl pom squad (dancers, if you will)! The squads rotated the field after every quarter, so it was fun to see all of that action too!

We were also next to the cannon... good NIGHT it was loud! The first couple of times they shot it off (during a score or kick off), we all thought we were going to have a heart attack! But by the end of the game, we were used to it!

After the game, walking through campus

 

We were walking behind some UT players! Aaahh! And we stopped to pose by some statues as well. Yep, TOURIST written all over us!

This is Coach Rucker, who is friends with our friend. We were able to enter the players building where all the trophies are displayed and we even went down to locker room level to check out the weight room. We didn't see the locker room (obviously: the players were in there!) but we saw a lot of players exiting the locker room... we even saw David Ash (the quarterback) from a distance!

Nate & Chad posing by the 2005 National Championship trophy.

 

Nate and I posing with the Heisman trophy from 1998 (Ricky Williams)

The 2005 National Championship trophy!!!

It was such a fun day: especially fun because the Longhorns won! We are hoping to go to at least one game a year from now on. When my brother and his wife come back to the States (they're teachers in S. Korea), we hope that we can go with them and my parents!

Have a wonderful Wednesday! Enjoy family time this week: we are en route to Nate's grandparents house for a day/evening filled with yummy food and jam sessions (they're all musicians)!

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18

[love] Halloween Trunk or Treat

Better late than never, right?

Our church hosted a Trunk or Treat for Halloween, basically where cars park and decorate their trunks and pass out candy from the back of their cars. We also had bounce houses, cotton candy, and hot dogs with the fixin's! We had a great turn out!

My sweet pups: Oliver, the lion, and Chloe, the "tiger" (hmph: she doesn't "do" costumes)

Lions (Oliver) and tigers (Chloe) and bears (me), oh my (Nate)! 

 You can start to see how everyone's trunks are decorated and all lined up...

My trunk set up...

Other trunk set ups...

They were "banished" to the backseat for a bit... they were just too excited! And here, you can see a small glimpse of Chloe's tiger costume... yep, a bow.

 

This picture was a pure miracle... they're both laying down... still... looking at me. Crazy!

It was a great night had by all! We had a blast putting the event on and serving the community and it seems that everyone who came through had a blast too! Half of my students even came to the event: they all kept telling me, "Mrs. Johnson! I'm coming to your party tonight!" Hahaha gotta love Kindergarteners.

Have a wonderful week!

"Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men." Ephesians 6:7

Hello!

Bad blogger, bad blogger!

I am still here, I promise! Shopping/dinner date Tuesday, Trunk or Treat Wednesday (expect a full post next week!), surviving the aftermath of a Halloween on a Wednesday with 21 five and six year olds today.... Yeah, I haven't been around much this week. BUT I promise I'm still keeping up with your blogs from my phone. Will make the rounds with comments soon! Heading to Dallas for the weekend after a MUCH NEEDED early release day tomorrow. I will check in with you all soon! Until then, here is a peek from our Halloween :)

Happy November!

"O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption." Psalm 130:7

[make] Quick and Easy Fall Hostess Gift

A quick post this late, Saturday evening!

Last weekend, we went to a church member's home to watch the UT football game (their son, our associate pastor of worship/outreach, played football for UT in the 80's). I wanted to bring a little fall-themed gift to say thank you for our invitation to dinner!

If you need a simple gift (to assemble in the car on your way to said event... because that's what I did!), this is the gift for you. And it all came from Family Dollar (quick, inexpensive, efficient on your way to a dinner)!

Scarecrow stand (I popped the bottom part off and it left just his stick stand)
Fall colored candy (candy corn, Reese's Pieces, chocolates, caramels)
Cellophane treat bag
Fall themed mug

Candy in bag. Tie top of bag with twisty tie provided and fluff. Put in mug. Use scarecrow's stand and poke it in the mug. Ta-da!

Quick. Inexpensive. Fall-y. Hooray! And it was very well received, so success!

Have a wonderful Sunday tomorrow! To quote my husband....   

"Remember, brothers and sisters in Christ: you are not "going to church" tomorrow, as if entering a building for a few hours can possibly change your life. You are going to corporately worship the God of the universe who is more incredible than we can ever imagine. Be prepared to engage in worship, in Spirit and in truth, through the lifting of voices and the preaching of His word! May tomorrow's worship be the beginning of an entire week of living our lives as living sacrifices of worship and praise." -Nathan Johnson

[teach] Pumpkin Seed Tasting Data Sheet

Last week, my class learned all about pumpkins. Pumpkin parts, how they grow, how they start as a seed: the whole nine yards. We (I) even carved a pumpkin and (they) pulled out its seeds!

Thursday night, I roasted the seeds in butter and seasoned salt so the kiddos could taste them the next day. Many were skeptical, but as soon as I told them it tasted like popcorn, they were all on board!

To extend our learning, I created a Pumpkin Seed Tasting Data sheet for the kiddos to fill out after our taste test. We fill out a weather graph each day charting the weather, so they are familiar with gathering data (information) and filling out a graph like this from bottom to top.

If you would like a copy of this page, just right click and "copy". Open a Word document and "paste" it in! Please let me know if you use it, I'd love to hear about it! Or for a higher quality version, please leave a comment with your e-mail address and I will send it to you.

We discussed that "yummy" meant you liked the seeds, while "yucky" signified you did not like the seeds. We went around the room and collected data from each student: they either said "yummy" or "yucky". Next, we filled in the corresponding sections on our graph for each child and counted our results! 19 kiddos (well, 18 plus me) thought the seeds were yummy, while one student voted "yucky" (he didn't even try it, he was just not about the seeds)!

Afterwards, the kiddos were able to personalize their data with an illustration of their face (reaction) to the tasting of the seeds (they were to draw a smiling/yummy face or frowning/yucky face).

The kids thought tasting the seeds were so fun and using this sheet to gather information furthered our learning even more. Yay for extensions!

Teachers: do you "experiment" with a class pumpkin during the fall season? Non-teachers: who roasts seeds at home? I never did it until I started teaching, but they really are delicious! Happy Tuesday!

"He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Matthew 17:20