We are the Drewery's - Lonnie, Amy, Emily and Gloria. We are living our dreams and striving to fulfill God's purpose for our family. We are incredibly blessed - Life is Good.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Five Years Ago...


When Gloria was 3, Jake Ledbetters' mom asked if she wanted to go to a Tae Kwon Do class with him.  She went.  She's worked really hard since then (with a few breaks) to earn all of her belts.  Today she attended the 'Black Belt Extravaganza' and earned her 1st Degree Black Belt. She had to go through a series of events - performing her red belt form, sparring and breaking boards.    It was quite a day!!!





Board Breaking...

Kung Fu Gloria

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Yes, even the big man himself showed up!  

Even the Chikfila Cows showed up!



The Sheriff's Posse (yes, we live in Texas)...
The Rockwall Yellowjacket band...
The Stingerettes Drill Team...

Our County Judge and former Sunday School teacher, Chris Florance.

Congressman Hall - I love this guy!  It's so cool to have such a sense of community where we live.  EVERYONE and their grandma shows up for this parade.  All of the city leaders show up.


We had a few minutes before the parade started, so we decided to run into 7-11 for some 'breakfast'.  I think that half of the town of Rockwall had the same brilliant idea.  We stood in line for about 15 minutes for hot chocolate, then grabbed a couple of breakfast burritos and a bag of powdered sugar donuts to complete our well-rounded meal.  Then, it began!!!




Well, Jazzy doesn't get out much.  See, when she does, she runs like the wind.  She is tough to catch.  Lonnie, being the cautious one that he always is, suggested that we put her normal collar on (in addition to her special Christmas collar), so that her tags would be on her should she get loose.  Well, in putting the collar on her, I apparently didn't attach it completely. As we got out of the car, she cut loose and ran toward the parade route.  Emily and I chased her for two blocks.  I knew I would hear Lonnie say, 'I told you so!'  It was not a good start to our morning.  Fortunately, this awesome police officer swooped her up as she ran right for him.  He literally saved the day!  We then got settled to watch the parade.  

For Missy...


Well, it's come to my attention that I have not done a very good job keeping my blog up to date.  I was actually thrilled to know that someone cared!!  I promise to be more diligent in my blogging.  

Today was a fabulous day.  I was actually quite tired after being gone for the last three days. I got home last night, unpacked, went to bed, and awoke to my 7 am alarm this morning.  I was tempted to ignore it, but I couldn't miss one of our greatest family traditions!  We have attended the great Rockwall Christmas Parade every year since Emily was a baby.  We've never missed it.  This morning the kids decided they wanted to take Jazzy.  All dressed in her Christmas sweater (it was pretty cold outside!), she was ready to go.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Completed Halloween costume ensembles

Gone are the days of the cute little princess outfit that I shopped for all month - the girls are now to age where I let them do what they want for Halloween - here's what they came up with:)  The interesting part is that they have NEVER gone trick or treating.  We have always had our Church Carnival the night of Halloween, but this year we had it a couple of days before.  The girls have been talking about going trick or treating for days!  When it was all said and done,  I don't think they thought it was all it was cracked up to be.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

46 Boxes for Operation Christmas Child!

Our girls mission organization, Girls in Action, had a party today after church to fill boxes for Operation Christmas Child.  It was a great time - we were able to fill 46 boxes!


Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Elvis???

This is what Emily chose as her costume for the Fall Carnival at church tomorrow night.  I am feeling really lazy this year, so I told the kids to raid their closets and come up with something. This was actually part of Lonnie's costume for the 50's Valentine dance he attended with Gloria last Winter.  Should be interesting to see what she comes up with the complete the ensemble.  Stay tuned for pics from the carnival! 

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Happy 12th Birthday Emily!


I can't believe she's growing up so fast!!  This is one of my favorite pictures of my Sweet Emily.  One more year, and she'll be a teenager!! Yikes.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

'Night At the Living Museum'

Gloria participated in a 'living museum' at school tonight.  A few weeks ago, each child was able to choose a historical figure that they would research.  Gloria chose Helen Keller.  She read a book about Helen and watched 'The Miracle Worker.  Tonight she dressed like Helen and when her 'button' (a sticker on her hand) was pressed, she recited facts about Helen.  We met several famous people!

'Helen Keller' and 'Rosa Parks'

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Fall Soccer Party





We spent Saturday afternoon at Holleman Farms playing soccer, painting pumpkins, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows and having a blast.  Kate Holleman is a team mate of Em's.  Her family hosted a great party!

Friday, October 3, 2008

Where has time gone?



I can't believe how much she is growing up!!!  She's not a little girl anymore.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Pray for this little boy now!!

Stephen has been battling brain cancer for quite some time - my, how much we take for granted.

www.caringbridge.org/visit/stephenwhitlow

Saturday, September 20, 2008

We Have Butterflies!!!

Two down, three to go.  I was starting to wonder if maybe we had some dud caterpillars - they hadn't changed hardly at all in the last 6 days since we transferred them from the cup to the habitat.  We came in from soccer games this afternoon to find two of the butterflies had 'hatched' from their chrysalis!  We put some flowers with sugar water in the habitat so that they will have something to eat.  We will observe them for a couple of days and wait for the others to hatch before we set them free. 


Friday, September 19, 2008

My conversation with Gloria after school today...


Gloria:  Mom, can we go to Starbucks?


Me: No.

Gloria: Why?

Me: Because we're saving money.

Gloria: I wish there wasn't such a thing as money.

Me:  Oh really?  How would that work?

Gloria:  When I'm president, I'm going to get rid of money. 

Me:  How are you going to do that?

Gloria:  Well, nevermind.  I'll be rich when I'm president.

Me:  How are you going to get rich?

Gloria:  Everyone will give me their money because they adore me for being the first lady president!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

My Day With Bailey...

It was a beautiful day.  We played ball outside and went for a walk.




Watching Dora... aren't those the cutest little pink Crocs?  Aunt Amy had to take her shopping today.  I couldn't resist :)

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Living Museum

Gloria is going to participate in a 'Living Museum' at school.  The kids received a list of individuals who are historically famous and are supposed to choose who they would like to represent in the Living Museum.  In a few weeks the kids will be able to dress up as their chosen historical figure and talk about their life while the parents go around and interview them.  Gloria had a list with several women, including Pocahontas, Martha Washington, Sally Ride, Helen Keller and several others.  Gloria asked who Helen Keller was - I told her that she was a blind and deaf woman who was able to persevere and overcome many challenges - she circled Helen Keller and said, 'I want to be her - I'm not very good at listening!'

Moving Right Along...


The caterpillars have officially turned into chrysalises - 4 of them attached to the top of the container - the fifth little guy must be a rebel - he stayed in the bottom of the container to begin his metamorphosis.  We moved them to the netted container today and should have butterflies by this time next week.  

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Not much else to do while waiting for Ike to arrive...


Well, soccer has been cancelled in anticipation of Ike's tropical storm force winds and 2-6 inches of rain, so we're watching caterpillars.  It's rare that we find ourselves sitting around on a Saturday with nothing to do.  Lonnie is already needing to get out, so he went to stroll the aisles at Home Depot before the storm hits.  The kids are still in their pj's and probably will be for most of the day.  Gee, I love days like this!


Lonnie called me from work yesterday and asked me to go get cash, water, batteries and some non-perishables.  He is the worrier in our family.  Me, I just kind of fly by the seat of my pants assuming everything will go my way.  That's why we're a good match.  So here, we are, batteries in flashlights, 3 loaves of bread, 3 cases of water and 10 cans of tuna fish just hangin' out.  

Looks like the caterpillars are hunkerin' down, too.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Caterpillar Update...


I was gone for a couple of days this week and boy, did they fatten up!  They've probably tripled in size in the last three days and seem to be pretty mobile.  The little brown specs are 'food' from the bottom of the container that the seem to be dragging around with them.  They are spinning more silk - can't really see it too well in the photo.  All five seem to be thriving - we'll probably have chrysalides by next week.


Monday, September 8, 2008

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

Philip Louis Rickel
Born september 8, 1945
We Love You!!!!

'Butterfly Bugville'

Gloria is a sucker for infomercials.  She has begged me several times to order 'Butterfly Bugville' among other things.    She has even called the toll free numbers herself, but once they figure out she's not 'over the age of 18', the conversations cease.  


Well, Gloria was successful in convincing her Gran to purchase Butterfly Bugville on their recent birthday shopping spree.  Gloria couldn't wait to open the box when she got home.  She was really disappointed when their were not any caterpillars in the box - she just didn't understand why she had to send a card in to order the caterpillars.  Well, one we sent in the card, she was checking the mail every day - several times. 

 Her box of 'live caterpillars' finally arrived on Saturday.  She has been so excited about her new 'pets'.  She is in the process of naming each of the five caterpillars.  They were actually about half the size shown in the photos when we first opened them.   They have become quite mobile and have plumped up quite a bit.   

I'll post updates as the little guys continue to transform into beautiful Painted Lady butterflies.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Happy Birthday Dad!


We spent the afternoon celebrating Dad's birthday, which is actually on Monday.  Dad cooked his own birthday dinner, chicken fried steak with green beans and mashed potatoes.  Boy, was it good.  When we got in the car, Lonnie said, 'I sure wish I would have taken some leftovers!'  We had a great cake from Babycakes by Angie, of course.  I look for reasons to order goodies from her.
Here's the proud Papa with his three girls.

Friday, September 5, 2008

What the soccer players' siblings do at tournaments...

The Greatest Shooting Coach in the World!


This is Teodoro Santana - we were blessed enough to get to know Teo over the last few months. Teo was a professional soccer player in Brazil, then played with the Dallas Tornados in the 80's.  He has an infectious smile and has a wonderful gift of relating to kids in a way that effectively  teaches them to love the game.   Teo was offered a job in Houston with a soccer club and has already moved to fulfill his position.  Emily was soooooo excited to run into him this past weekend at the Plano Labor Day Soccer Tournament.  


About Me

What we're up to this week...





________________
Add this to your site

FEEDJIT Live Traffic Map