Cornelius Chronicles

Look who's finally a Cub Scout after 2 long years of watching Loyd have all the fun, and waiting for his turn to join in too!  Xavier is super excited to go to fun Den meetings every week, wear a pretty fabulous uniform (did you know the Scout shop now sowes patches on for you!  Yea!!), and earn the all important belt loops and patches.  You made it, buddy!  You're going to make a great Cub Scout!

Happiest of birthdays to one of the most fun, funny, beautiful, and loving little girls I know, Maeve!!  Maeve turns 5 years old this year and I can't believe how the time has flown by.  Maeve always has a story or a great joke on the tip of her tongue ready to share with whoever will listen, even if they are imaginary or fury and trapped in a little gerbil cage.  :)  Maeve loves to be with people and to play.  She adores laughing, especially with her big brothers, Loyd and Xavier.  Maeve is tender and loving, always ready with a hug and kiss.  Maeve has taught all of us the importance of having a special teddy bear, especially if it is as wonderful as her special white teddy bear happens to be.  I so love being Maeve's mommy.  I get to enjoy all of her little girl kisses and hugs, silly giggles, and amazing works of art.  I get a front row seat to the growth and revelation of God's beautiful daughter.  I can't imagine life...

The big kids are finally back to school on September 11th.  Now it's just Maeve, Owen and I.  We like to spend our days at the library, playing at the park, and hanging out with friends.  Here's some fun pictures of a recent park trip.  Man, do we love swings! Play time on the League Park red train caboose

Meet the newest additions to the Cornelius Clan.  We would like to introduce our beloved new pets, a pair of gerbil brothers.  The black gerbil is Legacy (or Blackie depending on if you ask Rebekah - Legacy camp - or the rest of the kids - Blackie camp). The orange gerbil is called Tangee.  They joined our family in July and quickly settled into the routins of our life.  They even evacuated with us to Dallas during Hurricane Harvey.  They served to calm the fears of the kids and add some happy distraction to a family of anxious Corneliuses.  We are enjoying Legacy's and Tangee's playful, busy personalities, their super soft fur, and their adorable little faces.  The kids LOVE their gerbils, and after careful observation I have determined I don't really have children.  I have gerbils who happen to look like kids.  They crack me up with all the funny ways they are like our newest  family additions.  Gerbils sleep in piles...

  Check out who was given the Character award for Respect at school this month!  We're so proud of our Xavier.  He works so hard, is a great friend, a good listener, and tries hard to do what is right, even when no one is looking.  You are amazing, little man!   ***** We are super excited to have Grandma and Grandpa P visit us for a few months this winter!  To better accomidate our eagerly anticipated guests and update some much loved furniture we braved a Saturday trip to Ikea.  We all made it out alive and enjoyed trying out all of the furniture in the show room.  We even had fun finding our furniture and checking out.  But, I think the best time of all was had eatting dinner at a restraunt on our way home afterwards.  :)  Can you believe all this furniture!   *****  Check out my latest doily.  I'm pretty proud of this pretty sunflower creation.  I found a great pattern and enjoyed making it w...

We made it home last night to find our home safe and dry. We are so thankful for that HUGE blessing. The roads were clear and easy to drive home, but boy they weren't kidding when they said there was a gas shortage. Prior to leaving the Dallas/Fort Worth area we had to drive around to many gas stations and a small few towns for about an hour before finally finding a gas station with a little bit of fuel left. We waited in line for another 40 minutes and then finally filled our tanks befo re we left the Dallas area. We crossed our fingers that we could somehow coast into League City on fumes since we knew that was the last of the gas we would see on our trip.  The trip between League City and Dalls is a road trip that usually takes at least 1 fill-up along the way, especially with a mini-van filled with kids, supplies, and topped with a cargo carrier. Our normal gas milage is around 17mpg.  Loaded down as we were, that was a wishful number for the logical pers...

Four days after the 1st day of school, school was canceled.  Hurricane Harvey was spotted forming in the Gulf of Mexico and was expected to make landfall on August 25th. While Houston wasn't in the direct path of the storm, we were on the dirty side of the winds and were expected to get record ammounts of rain.  After hearing forecasts of "historic," "catastrophic," and "life threatening" proportions, Dustin and I made the decision to pack up our family, a few important papers and keep sakes and evacuate to Dallas, TX until the storm had passed. When all was said and done, we ended up staying in Dallas for 6 days waiting out the rain and the flood waters.  In between watching the news and the weather channel 24/7 we decided to take in a few fun activities to keep our minds off the terrible flooding. Hurricane Harvey made landfall on August 25th.  Heavy rains began falling on the Houston/Galveson area on the evening of August 26th.  Harvey stall...