Jacob in the Middle

Tonight Rich and I were guests of Jacob at "The 2nd Grade Big EVENT" at his school. We went to the various extracurricular classrooms he goes to during the week. We went to Outdoor Education, Computers, Art, Gym (Rich's favorite), Music and the Library. It was fun to see Jacob interact with the other kids and do various activities. In art he made a heart shape and wrote in it "I love you more than 10,000 suns." He gave it to me and then decided he wanted to give it to a little girl in his class. :) He also performed on the xylophone and taught Rich and I to play as well.

The title of this post is Jacob in the Middle because it was so fun to be with Jacob and have some time to focus on him. When Rich and I decided to have three kids, I worried a little about the middle child thing. It seems like the first born gets so much attention being the first and the third is always "the baby." In our situation, Andrew is the first and has also had some medical things that have demanded more attention. Hannah is "our baby" and our only girl. Again, I just worried that Jacob would get lost in the attention shuffle in a busy family. Rich (a middle child himself) would assure me constantly that being in the middle was not so bad and that it would be fine. Watching Jacob tonight, seeing his excitment over his school activities and experiencing the energy and enthusiasm he gives to his friends and us reminded me that being in the middle is a pretty great place to be.

The Many Faces of Hannah

Hannah loves to dress up, pretend, and perform. You never know what costume, mask, or new hairdo is going to show up when she is around. Here are a few of her most recent looks....

Rock 'n Roll Baptists

For the majority of my life I have gone to the Baptist church. As everyone knows, the Baptists have quite the reputation for things that they don't do. One of the biggies most people talk about is the "don't dance" rule. For some reason, I have never really related to that rule. I have always loved music, dancing, all of it! I have passed that love on to my kids also. Check out the pic below...


Watch out ZZ Top! Jacob and Andrew are on the guitars and Hannah is the dancer in the middle. Even though the guitars are plastic ---the performance was pretty good! Maybe this is how the Osmonds started????

We love basketball!!!

This weekend was a great weekend for basketball in the Gochis household. Andrew's team won their third game. His games are great---very action filled, yet low scoring. The top picture is of him at his first game. He scored the only basket for the first 3 quarters. :) This week they won by two points. It was 8-6. Rich is coaching Jacob's team and although they didn't win, they did do much better. Their first game they lost by 20 some points, so a loss in a single digit was pretty close to a victory. And both the Lady Bears and the Baylor Men's Team won their games. So, even though we left our beloved Spurs in San Antonio, we are finding good times in basketball here in Waco! :)

Funny thoughts...

• It’s always darkest before dawn. So if you’re going to steal your neighbor’s newspaper, that’s the time to do it.
  
• Always remember that you’re unique. Just like everyone else.
  
• Never test the depth of the water with both feet.
• Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you’re a mile away and you have their shoes.

These all made me laugh! Have a great weekend!

Fun Fridays

When I was growing up, Fridays were always my favorite day of the week. I loved it being the end of the week and knowing I wouldn't have to get up early the next day! :) We would also eat pizza with our next door neighbors so everything was very relaxed and laid back. This Friday afternoon with our kids reminded me of Fridays when I was growing up. It was just a relaxed evening playing and having fun. The highlight of the evening was watching Star Wars and eating candy...now I need to convince them to sleep in tomorrow morning! :)

The Next Emeril

Andrew has a new hobby---cooking. He got a kids cookbook during the break and was inspired by the success of Emeril and we have enjoyed the rewards of his new activity. His first cooking adventure was a Rocky Road dessert. One night he made us tomato spirals (spaghetti).

One day he actually made breakfast, lunch and dinner. Last night he didn't have time to make dinner because of basketball practice so he made shakes for dessert. So much for our New Years' Resolution to lose weight. :)

Happy New Year!

Happy 2008! We are just returning from a New Year's Family Camp that we attended the past three days. It was held at Crier Creek which is a Pine Cove Camp in Columbus, Texas. We had such a good time. The boys shot bb guns and did archery, fishing and horse back riding. Hannah did a couple of pony rides and arts & crafts. We all did canoeing, paddle boats and other games. It was very relaxing and we had 3 days with NO ELECTRONICS!!!! No wii, no TV, no Gameboy, no DVDs...we didn't even use our cell phone. It was awesome----although I was worried that the sudden and complete detox might send a couple of the members of our family into shock!

We also did some pretty cool family activities. We participated in a version of the Amazing Race, went to a fun New Year's Eve Celebration, and we did new year's resolutions as a family and put them in a time capsule to open next year. I think we came up with some fun and challenging resolutions. The kids are going to work on not bickering and using kind words. This resolution was put to a very tough test on our car ride home today! :)

I always love a new year because it does hold such promise. One of the verses we discussed in worship yesterday was what Paul says in Philippians 3:13b-14 "But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." On the first day of a new year, the thought of 'pressing on' towards a goal is one that I feel like I can do. I seem to have more energy and enthusiasm for moving forward. My calendar is nice and new. I don't feel as burdened by the day to day things that come with routine. I realized though by re looking at these verses yesterday the verse is not only about the goal, it is also "forgetting what is behind." I tend to rethink, rehash, and rework so many things that the energy to press is often used on regret. So, one of my resolutions is to forget what is behind and press on to a fabulous 2008! I also wish the same for you! Happy New Year!