Sweet 6

Precious girl of mine...

how have 6 years already gone by?

I look at the your baby picture and think, "it is not possible."

You will be in first grade...gone from home for most of the day.

You know how to read...and love it.

You talk and play with your friends in a way I thought would be years off.

People have described you as

Delightful

A true joy

Sweet

Lovable

I couldn't agree more!

You have brought so much joy and pleasure to our family.

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!!!!



Birthday Week

Yes...you read that right.

Birthday WEEK.

Around here I believe in celebrating your birthday not just on the day, which is super important, but for at least a week.  Carys' birthday is tomorrow so we started the festivities on Sunday.  Carys took 3 of her friends to get her ears pierced.  This was all her idea.  She started saying about 6 months ago that she wanted to.  I kept telling her that if she still wanted to we would do it for her birthday.  She still wanted to!

She started out super excited.

 

Then she started looking a little concerned.

Then they did it.  She first tried to jump straight out of the chair while fighting back a tear.  One of the piercing things got caught on the earring so she had to sit for a minute.  I reassured it she did great and it was over.  

Then she was fine and back to being excited. 



I still can not believe she actually did it. 
After that we went and saw Brave.  The girls loved sitting in front by themselves.  They felt so big!

Sunday night we had family over for a birthday party.  Needless to say she felt very celebrated on Sunday.  Sunday night her cousins spent the night and stayed and played most of the day Monday.  Then Grandma and Grandpa took her, Broderick and Kyler to get her gift and go for ice cream.  (Where Broderick lost and swallowed a tooth that had been loose!)  They got to go behind the counter and make their own ice cream.  They loved that.

Today was not much of a celebration day...they both had to get cavities filled.  But tonight at house church we will celebrate with them and tomorrow will bring whatever the birthday girls wants!

Today is the last day I will have a five year old.  Kinda sad.  Kinda.

It's a Good Thing I Don't Read More

As many of you know, when I started ready The Twilight Sage, I got hooked.  Hard!  I read all four books in less than a month.  I could not put them down.  On Monday I started reading the Hunger Games.  I can not put it down!  I wake up and read.  I go to sleep reading.  I read when I should be cooking dinner.  I read when I should be cleaning.  I read whenever I can.  Today I did get a few things accomplished, besides reading. 

I don't know what it is about books that I really like, but I just get so into them.  I only have about 100 pages left of the first book.  I can't wait to see what happens to Katniss and Peeta.  I can't wait to find out how Gail responds to the relationship they have formed.  How is Prim back home?  Will I even find out?  I am so giddy and excited about it! 

I am a dork, I know.  I realize there are more important things going on in the world. In my family.  But for now, I am going to escape to Panem.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Thankful Thursday

Today I got to sit by the pool, under an umbrella, with my sister, watching the kids play in the pool with their cousins.

Does it get any better than this?

I think not.

I heard laughter, playing, sweetness, and bickering, splashing, and "nos". 

It was perfect.

I got to read a little, talk to my sister, eat a yummy lunch.

It was so refreshing.

Today I am thankful for fun days by the pool!

Today It's My Birthday!!

Today I turn 31!  So I am going to tell you all 31 random facts about me!

My favorite color is pink.
I have one older sister.
My mom and dad divorced when I was 12.
I was saved when I was 13.
My favorite dessert is Apple pie.  But it has to be homemade.
I love, love, love chocolate.
I can't start the day unless I have a cup of coffee.
My life verse is, "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."    Philippians 3:14
I got married when I was 19.
I can eat until I get sick...literally.
My favorite shows are So you Think You Can Dance, Big Brother, and currently...the Bachlorette.
I hate to exercise, but LOVE Zumba.
I love getting pedicures.
If I have cash, I spent it almost immediately.
I am a little obsessed with the Twilight Saga.
My favorite movie of all time is Notting Hill.
Notting Hill is also the first date Rob and I had together.
If I am in the car driving by myself, I sing really loud...
I am a terrible singer!
I hate wearing shorts.
My nicknames from when I was little are Famous Amos, or just Famous, and Amelia.
When I was little I loved having my belly rubbed and back scratched.
I love funky shoes and would love to own a pair of Betsy Johnsons!
I like the beach but prefer the mountains!
My favorite place I have visited is Colorado.
If I could go anywhere in the world it would be Hawaii.
I love to shop at Goodwill.
I am currently reading the Hunger Games and loving it!
I had melanoma on my leg 2 years ago.
I hate being hot.
I am only 31 but feel about 50!  (And act it too!)

Thankful Thursday

...another successful Lemonade Stand!

...the kids willingness and excitement to do it and give the money away.

...a fun day at camp with my boy!

...all the people that make this week possible for the scouts in our area!



...afternoons playing in the backyard.

...and girlfriends!



Summer has begun!!!

 The kids have been out of school for only a couple days now, but we have stayed busy!  We started the summer off with having friends over.  The kids had a great time playing with their friends.  We might just make this a weekly thing.

I found this great bike path in our town so we went for a bike ride.  We can not wait to go back!  We might just make this a weekly thing too!

We have spent some time swimming!  Carrie's dad has a pool so usually once a week we are crashing his pad with a couple hundred kids and swimming our hearts out!

Carys also has lost a tooth, with the help of her brother of course.  You see, this tooth has been loose for a while.  The new one was coming in behind it, but Carys never wanted to wiggle it much.  Broderick thought he would be nice and wiggle it for her.  He wiggled it a little to hard.  It was bleeding a ton.  So I put the toilet paper over it and gave a little pull and out it came! 

This week Broderick has cub scout camp and Carys is doing a VBS at a local church.  Both of them are really enjoying it.  I love hearing Carys sing the songs from VBS and listen to Broderick tell stories about swimming (one of the leaders told him that she liked that he was putting sunscreen on himself!  HAHA...this is what happens when someone in you have melanoma!) and shooting a bow, and all the fun stuff he does!

 I also started my birthday week celebration last night!  I went out with Maria, Carrie and Ricki to dinner, shopping and ended the night with Bachloretter!  Have you been watching this season?  Oh buddy...it is good!  I am also getting some things done around the house and of course hanging out with some friends in the mornings.

As you can tell...summer has been full of fun around here! And we are just getting started!

Happy Summer Friends!

Thankful Thursday (And a story you DON'T want to miss!)

Today is the official start to summer for our family.  The kids had their last day of school!  YAY!  I don't know who is more excited, me or them? 

 (You know I will want them to go back in like 2 weeks though, right!?)

But for now we are super excited! 

The morning started like any other last day of school.  We rushed to get ready, made sure we had teacher gifts, took pictures, went and got donuts and then off to school we went.

I walked Broderick in, helped him hunt down all his teachers, gave gifts and then headed to Carys' school.  I walked her in and around the school to find all her teachers.  Everyone was in good moods and excited for summer!  The teachers had all kinds of fun things planned for the last day.  But that was all about to change!

There was one teacher we couldn't find.  The gym teacher.  He is usually hanging outside in the morning, so Carys and I headed outside.  We walked out front and saw him in the parking lot.  We started to walk towards him and as we were about 10 feet from him he said, "Oh my, look at that deer."  (Let me remind you Carys' school is in a neighborhood in the suburbs.  Not a place we normally see deer.)  My first reaction was, "Oh how cool.  Carys, look at the deer."  Then I realized in was running right towards us, so I told Carys to back up.  Then I remembered the front doors to the school were open, and I said, "It is going to run into the building."  As I said that a lady was walking out of the building and saw the deer now running towards her.  She kept yelling, "NO, NO, NO, NO!"  But sure enough the deer ran into the building through the glass!  The secretaries started screaming (I later found out, they thought it was a gun shot.  I would have too had I not seen the deer.  Think about it...a lady yelling NO and then glass shattering.!)  The gym teacher took off running into the building.  The secretary got on the speaker and told the teachers to get the kids in their classrooms and shut their doors.  (Remember that the teachers are trained that if they have to go into this "safety" mode it means their is someone in the building.  So you can imagine their panic!)The deer ran around the lobby all the while bleeding everywhere.  The way Carys school is set up there is a circle all the way around with a closed circle in the middle.  The deer ran around the circle and by some classrooms and then they got it to go into the court yard.  While all this is going on, probably about 5-10 minutes, I am standing outside with Carys thinking, what am I going to do with her.  I can't walk her into the building because a wild, injured deer is running the halls, but I am not taking her home with me because it is the last day of school.  I remembered that their is an entrance by her classroom.  So I walk back there, knock on the teachers window and get her inside.  I assured her teacher that I saw what happened and it was a deer in the building.  I got Carys settled in her room and went out into the hallway.  I found some of the aides and talked to them.  I saw the poor injured deer in the courtyard and the blood splattered everywhere! 

I know the last day of school is supposed to be exciting, but seriously...a deer!

Needless to say, I have a lot to be thankful for!

I am thankful the deer didn't show up one minute earlier or Carys and I

would have been walking in the lobby.

I am thankful the deer didn't show up 5 minutes earlier or there would have been

a bunch of kids walking the hallways.

I am thankful no kids were in the lobby when it came in.  Every morning,

2 kids from each class come down to the offices, located in the lobby,

to get their folders.  So at this time of day there are normally kids in the lobby.

I am thankful that we have great staff at Carys' school that were quick to jump into action.

I am also thankful the kids had great school years and that

summer is here!!!!

 

Lemonade and Mulch

God has been working in mighty ways.  Especially through our house church.

Our house church recently started studying the verses in the Bible talking about the "one anothers". 

Verses like:

Romans 12:10
Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.

Romans 12:16
Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

Ephesians 4:2
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Ephesians 4:32
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Ephesians 5:19
speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord.

These are just a few.

God immediately showed us that we are simply not going to sit in a house and study these verses.  He made it clear that He would give us opportunity to apply them and then watch Him work! 
Literally the week we started this study, a dear friend and a member of our house church, lost her mom suddenly and unexpectedly.  Of course our house church wanted to help in anyway we could.  How do you help someone that just lost a loved one.  This is tricky.  However, I believe doing something is better than doing nothing.  Our house church decided that on the next Tuesday we were going to surprise our friend and do some yard work.  Everyone, including the kids, helped.  It was so great to serve alongside each other.  If you are wondering how does doing yard work help someone that just lost a loved one, I can't answer that.  I do know that God used it in Ricki and Jeremy's life to encourage them.  She told me.  We went back last night to finish up and lay some mulch.  I loved seeing the body of Christ work together and serve one another!

Our house church also supports a family that travels to Africa for mission work.  They will be going again in July for the whole month to build a playground at an orphanage.  Ricki, had a great idea to get the kids involved in raising money.  She thought we should do a lemonade stand.  If you are like me you are thinking, "Selling lemonade...how much money can you make selling lemonade and cookies?"  These words literally came out of my mouth last night, "If we make $25 great!  At least, the kids got involved and helped."  Seriously.  Oh, yea of little faith!  God started showing up before we even started the lemonade stand.  By 4:00 we had $10 donated.  (We didn't officially start until 6:00.)  At 6:00 we were getting things set up and this teenager walked up and asked me if we were selling lemonade.  I said, "yes."  But I was thinking in my head, we haven't even set up yet.  How does he know we are selling it.  I remembered Ricki and I put it on Facebook and he must know her, because I didn't know him.  So I asked him and he said his sister knows Ricki. The kids gave him his lemonade and asked him if he wanted any cookies.  He politely said, "no."  Then handed me the money.  It was all folded up, but I could see a $20.  I said, "thank you so much!"  $20 for a cup of lemonade...who pays that much?  When he walked away I opened up the folded money and there wasn't just one $20, there were 5!!!!  $100!  I started crying and telling everyone at house church what he did!  Crazy!!!  God showed me immediately that he was going to blow our mind through this lemonade stand!  The kids had a great time and we had many more customers.  The sheriff, kids from school, 2 ladies trying to hunt down the now famous banana cookies, people donated money that didn't even come to the stand!  It was truly amazing! 

The final tally was...

 $175! 

Can you say...

God is so good!

Oh Dear!

I have been really bad about blogging.  The only thing worse (in blogging world) than someone who doesn't blog...is someone who doesn't blog and then talks about how they haven't blogged.  Do you agree? 

Truth is, I just haven't had anything that exciting that I want to blog about.  Over a week has gone by, and a lot has happened, but I just don't feel like it is worth writing about.  I am kind of tired of writing about the weekend.  It seems to be the same stuff.  And with summer here, it will be more of the same.  So let me tell you what the summer weekends will look like now and get it out of the way.

Pool.
Amusement Park.
Occasional trip.

There.  Now, no more WeekEND news.

 I do want to share a fun picture from this past weekend...

Crazy kids!

So, I am not sure what Mondays will bring to my little blog.  We shall see.

Today, I just want to say, enjoy life.  You never know what is going to happen tomorrow, or later today for that matter.