From Our Home To Yours

Remember this...our 2001 Christmas Card?

Going Green For Christmas

GOING GREEN!! Yes, that is what we are doing this holiday season. But is it about the environment, the economy, or is it “Grinch” Green? Let’s just say it is a bit of all three.

This year our Holiday greeting comes to you through the latest and greatest fad…a BLOG. Yes, we are joining what I affectionately call “Blogsville”, where we hope to create a journal of our family life as it happens and when the kids move on or out they can reach out and share right here too. I love lurking and visiting other families sites and decided it was time to join in the fun. So we invite all of our family and friends to drop by anytime and check us out.

We moved to Texas almost 10 years ago when Riehle was in 3^rd grade, Nic in Kindergarten, and Kendyl only 1 ½ years old. Now here is what they are up to these days in 2008 –

Riehle (18) graduated this June from high school where he spent his last four years as a baseball outfielder for the Hebron Hawks and driving around in his red ’66 Ford Mustang. (very cool) He has broken the typical mold of todays teen and loves to work and earn his own money. He began at a Snow Cone Shack at age 14 to save $$ to buy a car, had a short stop working Cinemark Movies, then onto a two year stay with JCPenney. Well that was then and this is now, and yes he still isn’t following the typical mode…Riehle chose to stay home and pay his own way through college at what we all call Quad C (Collin County Community College). He recently went to work for LA Fitness Gym in sales, he has the gift of smooth talking like his dad (is it born in them?), and has bought himself a red Ford F-150 truck. He loves working out and getting the ‘sexy physic’ that he shows off in tight shirts and flexing in your face. He is a great big brother and takes along Nic to the gym where they work on being ‘buff’ and playing hours of racquetball. He is such a people person with a big heart who surrounds himself with tons of friends who are such a joy coming and going at our home.

Nic (16) is a sophomore at Hebron High School, played soccer with the Wildcats team since he was 7 years old that disbanded so the kids could go for the HS team. Nic finally hung up his cleats in June after trying his hand at the HS team for one year and found the teammates were into things that weren’t in an athlete’s best interest. He decided it was easier to say ‘no’ by walking away, although it was a tough decision. When Nic started high school the first day he found that everyone got a growth spurt during the summer break and he was left to be one of the smallest freshmen’s and not happy about it. Well this April he kept showing up every morning telling us “I grew last night” at first we laughed but honestly one morning there he was staring me eye to eye! Now he is on a mission to pass up the rest of the family and only has Riehle left to beat, at the moment he is right even with Riehle. He is most proud of this growth spurt and always loving walks up and puts an arm around our shoulders to remind us how far he has come. I think Nic has more of a personality of the privileged, he likes to be chauffeured around by his parents, or co-pilot to his brother, so he has been slow about acquiring his driver’s license (fine for me I am a worrier). He just now has begun hunting for a job to begin saving up for a car because he is having trouble walking away from his socializing…XBox LIVE, where he spends hours chattering away with his friends and the rest of the world through his headphones. Thank goodness for his brother quality time at the gym to keep him fit and getting him out for a break. Nic is our family funny man and has always got our family laughing until we cry by his antics.

Kendyl (11 ½) graduated from elementary school this year and now is a 6^th grader at Killian Middle School, home of the Mustangs, and LOVES IT! She has tried so many things over the years, ballet, soccer, gymnastics, cheerleading, choir, and more, to finally find what she likes the best…volleyball and hip hop dance. She hopes to try her hand and try out for the 7^th grade volleyball team next year when they can finally join athletics. She has taken up playing the flute in band; thank goodness that is the instrument she was most compatible for! We really pushed her to play the flute knowing that the sounds of hours of practice on a flute would be beautiful compared to the squawks of a clarinet, and she has proved us right and is really good at her new found talent. This youngest Simkins, being a girl after two boys, has brought much joy to this family…she loves entertaining us…envision us sitting on the couch all involved in a TV show and in comes Kendyl twirling, cart wheeling, dancing, or whatever is her latest found interest (now the flute) to give us a showoff moment. You should see her skills of bumping the volleyball around, while we try to keep one eye involved in the TV plot…she tries to be nice once in a while and jump up during commercials. The kids keep telling me that Kendyl is not an ‘official’ teen yet…but you would never guess by her constant companion her cell phone or the computer as she is tapping away at those keys chatting it up with all her friends. Kendyl brings out the best in our whole family…she is always being hugged on by all of us and every one of us can’t go to bed each night without looking in on her and giving her a goodnight kiss. (yep, her big brothers too)

Now for the parents of these three great kids…Rand is still busy in insurance sales and this past couple of years has left the management ranks of Aflac and set out to begin his own insurance brokerage S&S Benefits. Although a lot of business still comes from his years and experience with Aflac and the supplemental insurance sales he has laid promising ground work in his new adventure of health insurance and we hope that 2009 brings with it some big steps in the right direction. Maybe Riehle will join as another ‘S’ this year, he sure inherited his fathers gift of smooth talking, guess time will tell. As for DeAnna she hung up her PTA President hat this year, cried over graduating past elementary life since she loves the creative fun there, and now is driving the rest of her family crazy trying to find herself a new life…now the kids don’t need her anymore. She still is dabbling in the substitute teacher world while hoping and wishing a sign would come along and show her what she is suppose to be doing in this new life to keep her happy and busy. In the meantime we will keep the focus on keeping this family happy and healthy and enjoying our lives together. This family started when these two parents became best friends and fell in love…now we ALL couldn't be happier!

MERRY CHRISTMAS YA'LL FROM TEXAS!

The Secret Is Out

Well it is Christmas Eve and I am still working to finish my to do lists. And one of the big things on it is trying to get this Blog up and running!! (this is my first test of a post) I want it to look just right since this year this will also be our Christmas card out to families and friends...and my visions of how I would like it to look just isn't as easy to do as I hoped and I have been crazy busy and stressed this season.

It all started Thanksgiving when the family was all together cheering on the Cowboys Game and there was some talk with one of the guests wanting to buy himself a new TV and he asked Uncle Scott about his TV we were watching. Well Scott referred to Rand since we had just purchased a big TV just a few days before...which was hidden deep in the hall closet because it was our big kids gift for the upstairs game room. (the big projection TV died over the summer so the kids have all been trapped up in their rooms to play video games and such on their small TV's) Rand of course sat there playing 'deaf' and acting tuned deeply into the game, because our two boys were in the room watching the game too, but Scott kept trying to get his attention. All of a sudden Nic pops up from the floor and says "WHAT!!" the room goes dead! Scott realizes he has let the cat out of the bag...OOPSIE!!!! Meantime I am at the kitchen table chatting with the gals and I look over at Wendy who's face is got that 'OMG' look on it and she looks at me and says "I think the kids just found out you bought a TV for them." Well what a moment...we all begin laughing at the whole situation and poor Scott who is so frustrated apologizing over and over that he blew the surprise. It was a moment of the day! Riehle already knew about the TV since we confided in him to see if that would be a good idea for Christmas to the kids or not...now Nic knew and was so giddy what do we do about Kendyl? Nic won't be able to keep it secret ;) So on the drive home from the Webb's home we let Kendyl in on the surprise and the kids all proceed to convince us to just break it out and let them enjoy NOW! Which we did and we ended our Thanksgiving Day as a family ohing and ahing over the beautiful clear view of our new HD TV.

So with the fun Thanksgiving mishap I was back to the drawing board for figuring out a way to make this Christmas fun and exciting for the kids. This is the one time of year they finally DO get spoiled a little because the other 364 days of the year I love to give them my "quit asking for everything, you don't need it, we are broke" speech. Let me explain why that is one of my favorite things...we live in an area where my kids rub shoulders with kids who get anything and everything they want without lifting a finger, you know the kind, driving fancy sports cars and such...yes spoiled little _____s. I hope to help my kids become more responsible, respectful, and appreciative. They may dislike my methods along the way but I live in the hopes one day they will thank me for this. Sorry rambling... So anyway even though I thought I was on my game for once in my life and having my Christmas ideas come together early I have been scrambling around like a chicken with it's head cut off trying to make anything happen right. You know those spells of mishaps and bad luck which brings screaming tantrums in your head that sometimes slip out to others? That has been me and I am SO CLOSE to getting over the hump to better times if I can JUST FINISH MY TO DO LIST!!! So no Christmas cards were sent this year...this blog is my idea to fix that mishap. Please let it all come together...pleaseeee.