Megilligan's Happenings

Easter 2011

2011-04-24T18:02:00.003-05:00

Time away....

2011-04-05T21:53:00.001-05:00

Thanks to some wonderful friends, we've been away for the past 10 days. It could have been 2 weeks, but we had to get back a little sooner.

The time away was precious time as a family filled with daily experiences like these...

And wonderful nightly times in God's Word and much time spent in prayer..

The past 3 months have definitely been the hardest our family has ever faced. It has also honestly been the sweetest times as well. I've seen the benefit of stepping away from the computer and spending more time face to face with friends. Since January 3rd I still don't buy Brian lunch groceries as his schedule fills up, quickly, with friends that want to talk. I've cherished the precious time with friends as well. There just aren't adequate words for how much people have carried us during this time.

Well.....we traveled home today and still went to Tae Kwon Do and eased back into it with only 2 hours. I know....crazy.

The fact that my husband blogged this week has prompted my own post. I'd like to just end with a post he made and maybe I'll come back on here to post more pictures at some point.

Childlike Faith

2011-01-31T20:32:00.000-05:00

Reece asked Jesus to come into his heart, after our nightly 'family Bible time', on January 31, 2011. (Can't you see the 'transformation' in his face??? :)

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

January 2011

2011-01-29T12:09:00.005-05:00

I truly have to laugh when I said I'd become some 'boring mom'/hermit the month of January. Things can change on a dime. We've actually been out and about more than home this month. We've been blessed with friends who have walked a journey with us this entire month. Some day I'll write down all of that, but for now I'll share just a few pictures from our month.

I really am not joking that I've hardly been at the computer - hence the lack of time on this blog. The time I have spent here has been replying to e-mails. Returning phones calls, replying to e-mails, doing school in the mornings, afternoon field trips, and evenings with friends. Wow! I've actually not even cooked this month - and I'm not complaining at all! :) We've been overwhelmed and blessed beyond measure! Even tonight we'll be spending the evening with precious friends and tomorrow as well.

These aren't the "get together s" where you pull out a camera, but I do have a few pictures that I finally took off of the camera. So....here goes:

Austin's first time 'rock climbing'. Had to post these pictures as this is a HUGE ordeal for our cautious first born. So thankful that he had this opportunity with some great friends!

One week we ended up in downtown Raleigh 3 times. Now...that is a big deal for me! This farm girl doesn't enjoy driving downtown, but we had some great reasons to do so. (and thank the Lord for the GPS my sister got us a few years ago) One was when we met a group of friends to tour the George Washington special exhibit that was at the History Museum for a short time. Completely worth it!!

A special evening making pizzas at a friend's house. Chris and Scott have spoiled our children over the past few years and this was no exception.

Their outside hot tub gave us plenty of time to talk with our friends. The kids were simply in heaven and sure came out looking like raisins.
Another downtown trip, with friends, to the Science Museum. This time the girls, little boys, and big boys all had something separate going on. I was able to hang out with Reece's group. The leaders felt like this group would need the most supervision. Yep...very true.
I did peek in on "the girl's group". Don't think Lindsey even saw me..

Wish I had my camera at Mike's football party. There were a few gals with the rhythm section men, so some conversation was had. Laughed until we cried with Bob and Patty. That's NOT unusual. I did leave that party saying: "Wow...you men REALLY do watch football when you have a football party." :) Mike had made his awesome chili and it was just a treat to be with so many friends. That was a sweet time that I don't want to forget!!

This next picture was a party at our friends, Jeff and Karen. It was an impromptu party and, like Jeff told me...you expect it hard for people to do "impromptu anything". Well..everyone that was invited came and their house was packed out. SO much fun! It was cold that evening but we still took some of the party outside to try out Karen's new fire pit. I never want to forget the laughter we had watching Brian and Bob go off in their back yard and come back with some big branches. Then Brian would hold onto Bob and jump up and down on the thick branches trying to break them. Jeff comes out and says: "Hey guys, I do have a saw!". I know it's a "you had to be there" kind of a moment, but the laughter was so great!

What a precious month this has been! We know we are here (1) By God's appointment, (2) In HIS keeping, (3) Under HIS training, and (4) For HIS time.

A glimpse....

2011-01-10T19:14:00.000-05:00

Sunday after church..

2011

2011-01-09T12:49:00.001-05:00

Austin, Lindsey and Reece on January 9, 2011.

"The stories of our lives are authored by the Grace of God."

Sundays and mentors...

2011-01-02T21:02:00.000-05:00

Sundays are a powerful way to start our week around here. Ways that are expected (excellent preaching as always) and future gifts (Steve, our Lifeclass teacher, will be challenging us with the book of James. My FAVORITE book of the Bible!) and a very unexpected, to the heart, meeting each week....having Master Cromwell instruct us in Tae Kwon Do and then sharing what the Lord has laid on his heart.

Pastor Horner gives a New Year's message that I know I'll be mulling over for some time. I hang on to my Life Class teacher's every word as I know the Lord speaks through Steve. And then there is Master Cromwell..

I knew we'd learn Tae Kwon Do from this black belt but little did I know how God would use him in my spiritual walk.

If you looked up his name you'd find that he has several initials behind it: MD, FAHA, FNLA. It also would show that he is a Chief, Division of Atherosclerosis and Lipoprotein Disorders. A Medical Director, an Adjunct Associate Professor and a Diplomate. This is just in the first paragraph. Even though it isn't the case I'd like to add that he should be a preacher of the Word. After 60 min. of patiently working with us on blocks, kicks, and punches this humble gentleman has us sit on the floor for another 30 min. as he shares with us what God has laid on his heart.

Of course with the New Year ahead of us he shared how we all know there will be joys and challenges and that clearly, as followers of Christ, we need to make sure our steps are laid out by the Lord and not our own agenda. At the end he said something (I know you had to be there to get the impact of this statement) that will stick with me for a long time. He said:

Fear CANNOT occupy the same space as Faith.

That was from the Lord and it was for my ears. I read this somewhere and it fits where I want to go for the new year and I want this because I struggle with it:

Yesterday is HISTORY
Tomorrow is a MYSTERY
Today is a GIFT

I realize more and more that I fret over the past, I worry about tomorrow and therefore I do not enjoy the gift that is today and the fact that the Lord gives me all that I need for each day.

I cannot have Faith and fear. It just doesn't work. Only January 2nd and I know I have SO much to learn this year!

It is also so good to surround yourself with wise counsel, friends, and mentors. Looking at my Sundays with Pastor Horner, Steve, and Master Cromwell... I think I'm starting my weeks out right and -meant in the best of ways - some sleepless Sunday nights mulling over all that I've learned from my mentors. Happy New Year indeed!

Finishing up 2010 and moving into 2011

2011-01-01T19:26:00.006-05:00

After being snowed in Dec. 26th we left a day later and went to see Brian's family in PA. in the picture above is Granddad and below is Brian's sister, Sharla, with the twins from the D.R. It was a second round of Christmas presents for us and the kids sure didn't mind a bit..
Austin had to open several boxes to get to a gift card for Game Stop.
While we stayed at the Grandparent's house, we spent time traveling to see Aunts, Uncles, cousins, etc. Here is Brian's cousin, Angela, with her daughter, the twins, and Reece. More presents and toys to play with.
After a brunch at Aunt Joelle's we went on to see Granny. We spent the rest of the afternoon and supper with Granny. I highly recommend spending time with older generations. It is good medicine for the soul. I think I laughed (the kind where you laugh so hard you cry) a good couple of hours listening to Granny.
Reece and the twins LOVE any toy that has wheels on them so they were very content to play with cars and trucks the whole time. West Chester had also gotten some snow and to see the twins (who live in Texas) rush out to jump in the snow was priceless.
Cars, cars, and more cars..
Even Brian jumped into the fun of cars and tracks.
At home the kids quickly unpacked their Christmas presents and were thrilled. Here is Lindsey with her new art set from Grandmom and Granddad.
A kid's cookbook from them as well..
Anything with wheels brings out a huge smile..
Aw.....New Year's Eve. Sweet New Year's Eve.. We slept in and played Angry Birds just because we could.. We cuddled and hugged our kids a lot. Took down our decorations and played with Christmas toys.
We had our traditional Chinese and played games the rest of the night.
I must say it is SO nice having older kids and being able to play more than Candy Land.
Did you all know that QI is actually a word? The kids sure had fun hearing Brian and I go back and forth on what constituted a word. What did we ever do without dictionary.com on our phones?
Reece loves his new remote control car from Granddad and Grandmom.
Jenga is serious business around here...
The kids wanted me to wake them up at midnight and I went in to hug and kiss all of them, but I don't think they remember that.

Didn't take pictures of New Year's Day, but it couldn't have been better. We spent the day with our church and TKD friends Kevin, Marsha, Brooke, and Bailey. Kevin cooked all kinds of barbecue and baked chicken. He also made homemade potato salad, homemade coleslaw and peach cobbler. He spoiled us with all his cooking! The kids played in their woods ALL afternoon and built some bridges over the creek. I can't believe it kept them happy and busy the entire day and evening.

Once again we forgot our manners and talked the day away into the evening hours. When we did leave we found that the kids were not only out playing in the dark (we were fine with that part), but it was pouring down rain. Thankfully it was in the 60's that day and they had a wonderful time getting all soaking wet. It was so nice to just sit and share the day with Kevin and Marsha. Sweet people that we are privileged to call friends.

Well....staying up to the New Year just about did me in. Brian did shake me awake to see the excitement in NYC -- I'm such a party animal. I hope you all have a wonderful New Year's!!

How it all went down...

2010-12-26T21:23:00.005-05:00

I changed a few things this Christmas morning. I decided to put their stockings and their first gift in our bedroom. I really thought they would come in to wake us up, but I heard them just whispering and organizing presents quietly at 8a.m. I called them into our room so they could do their stockings (picture above). They simply LOVE doing their stockings from Grandma and Grandpa. Then their first gift (below) is their own box of cereal that they picked. We wrap them up just like any gift and they love it. Then off they went to eat breakfast while Brian and I took our time getting up. :) We like this new plan!
The kids learned a LONG time ago who Santa Claus is -- their Aunt Nar. Life becomes a buzz around here when they get a Thanksgiving e-mail - from Aunt Nar - asking for their wish list. Aunt Nar takes their list and goes above and beyond everything these kids dream of. Thank you Aunt Nar!!
A book that Austin wanted from Aunt Nar..
Here is a robe that Grandma and Grandpa gave Lindsey...
Nerf guns from Aunt Nar..
Complete joy on this guy's face!
Love this picture and the utter mess!
Reece's remote controlled jeep from Aunt Nar..
Could not wait another minute to try it out.
I love that I still have a "little guy" who likes play dough creations.
Thanks to Aunt Nar and Grandma and Grandpa - these kids had a wonderful Christmas and played all day. I believe they went to sleep with smiles on their faces for sure!

It was around 9p.m. and the Lord really laid it on my heart to call my college buddy, Allie, who had lost her husband (plane crash) this past summer. This would be her first Christmas without Mark. We talked until Dec. 26th. Three hours of sharing. I told Allie that this "life's journey" she would not take alone and I would be with her through it all. She shared some things around the time of Mark's death.

I'm so very proud of her (she credits the Lord) that, at the viewing, she was able to tell the man -who inspected the plane- that she didn't blame him. (He could barely walk as sobs shook him.) She told him that God knew the day Mark would die before he was born.

A man also approached her to say that he was the man that was going to buy their plane. (They hadn't been able to get in contact with him.) She was able to hug him and tell him that she was glad he hadn't bought the plane yet and that he was alive. She spoke at the funeral as pilots and air traffic controllers flew in, from all over the country, to be at the funeral. She made them hear her that you just don't know when you are going to leave this earth and that you had better be right with the Lord. I'm SO proud of her strength.

In this journey with her...she read me the autopsy report and we cried. We rejoiced that Mark could not have lasted a second during that fatal crash. This week she has to go and see the wreckage that's been in storage. The autopsy leads us to believe that it's going to go down as another hard, hard moment in this journey.

It is possible to laugh over the strangest - trust me - things. A few days before Mark's death he suggested that Allie get rid of her Mary Kay business as she possibly had 5 customers. She just couldn't. Well...this would be a long story, but I'll just say that her business is now booming because the funeral director says Mary Kay has the best foundation and is being taught, by Allie, which ones to use for people with pink undertones and yellow undertones. When Allie has shared this with people...so many think it is just plain morbid, but as she shares: She's had the worst ever happen to her and she's earned the right to find some humor in her "booming business" because Mark would have LOVED this story and found it hilarious. We laughed....oh did we laugh!

We prayed....I prayed..this is not uncommon in our friendship. We can now say that we have been through thick and thin together. I looked at the clock and told her that it was Dec. 26th and I could hear an audible sigh. She had made it through her first Christmas with just she and the kids. We hung up and I went to look out the window and there was light snow falling down and strangely it brought joy and comfort to my soul as I ache for my precious friend in Maine.

Then we woke up to this!!!

Pastor Horner had called to tell Brian that church had been canceled. He had suggested that we meditate on Psalm 145 so we gathered the kids, around our table, and each of us read several verses and shared which ones stood out to us and why. It was a good time of "home church"..

We don't get this very often so the kids then went out and simply piled up snow just to knock it down. They had a ball! You can tell that we might be the only ones, from the North, because we passed our shovel around the cul de sac to share with our neighbors.
What a sweet Christmas indeed!

The week of Christmas..and I earned the right to be a boring mom in January. :)

2010-12-24T20:51:00.008-05:00

The past 7 days have been filled with lots of fun and laughter. I'll give a short and sweet guided tour. Reece was able to go to a Christmas roller skating/gift exchange party with Brian. Great Christmas party idea! This party went from 3-5p.m. and then he was invited over to his friend, Jackson's, for the evening. Beth brought him home at 9p.m. What a day for this little guy, but he sure was a happy boy!
On Sunday we had our Tae Kwon Doe Christmas party. It was dress up and it was crazy! I've decided NOT to share what - especially- Brian and I did during this party. What goes on at TKD must stay at TKD....
Look out for that Santa Claus! He is a big-time black belt dude!
Love that my husband wore my Christmas scarf on his head!
Some of our friends who had to pretend to be Christmas trees while we decorated them. Some even had bows on their eyes. This was as tame as the afternoon got.
My sweet Lindsey had the opportunity to go to the Nutcracker with about 10 other girlfriends. My friend, Leslie, gave me the day off and took Lindsey and some of the girls with her. Lindsey had a wonderful time!
Wednesday night we were invited to a Christmas Open house. I'm not surprised, at all, that the hostess invited many people and only 2 couples couldn't come because of being out of town. I think I heard she had about 83 people show up. Kudos to Gretchen because she does this all in stride and we simply had a wonderful time. I'm sure we broke every "open house etiquette rules" for how long we stayed, but their house is ALWAYS hard for us to leave. Wonderful party Gretchen!!

After 3 hours we did find our manners and say goodnight. This was about 9p.m. and Brian knew I planned to squeeze 2 festivities into one night. So we headed to a local church that does "Christmas Unwrapped". It is amazing and was actually better going to that later as it was less crowded that way. Look at these decorations!
Reece LOVES that they have bouncy houses in 3 or 4 rooms. I think he had gotten a bit of sugar, from Gretchen's house, and needed to bounce the rest of the night away.
Carolers at the Gift Unwrapped..

They sure had a 'rockin Christmas concert' in one of the rooms.
We were still awake and partying on at 10 o'clock that night. We are generally pretty strict about bed time so the kids thought this was pretty cool to say the least!
Thursday night we went to see a Christmas light display that is my favorite light display in our area. The picture below is blurry, but during the magic show, there was a marriage proposal and that was pretty unique...
I think we spent an hour and a half in the cold. Thankfully they had a fire going and hot cocoa.
Love the lights!!!

Santa Claus was there...
Here we are at our Christmas Eve service. The last song we sing is Silent Night and the entire church lights candles.

Have a blessed Christmas!! Christ the Lord is born!!

The changing of our "table themes" and other tid bits from this week..

2010-12-17T20:33:00.007-05:00

It's been another special week in our household and this week has sure left me changing my table for some fun occasions. The first table was decorated for a "sugar cookie party" with the Williams. I'd been looking forward to this time for quite awhile.

I told Beth that I wanted the kids to feel free to "go crazy" with their cookie decorating. Below is a picture of Addie Grace's cookie. How fun is that?!? Do you see the cookie in all the sprinkles?
As I look at these pictures I am realizing that it was a very "sweet week" literally. I didn't take pictures Monday night, but we had met up with the Lords for some dinner out and dessert. And we also had some snow this week. In our house snow means we make hot cocoa. It's probably good it really doesn't snow much here. :) Here are the kids with their hot cocoa.
The next "table theme" was a candle light dinner with our friends John and Judy. It was a wonderful time of catching up and hearing hilarious stories of some past Christmas gifts, they've received, from certain relatives. You all know that we ALL have stories like that, because we all have "those relatives". We truly laughed the night away.
After washing the above table cloth a few times I decided to give my washing machine a rest and pull out another table cloth for the next evening. All week I'd been planning a boys pizza and games party for Austin's friends. I did not tell any of them that it was a surprise, but we kept it quiet all week and really shocked him. The "table theme" below is an "all boy party" theme. We're talking chips, pizza, cookies, etc.
Austin's first guest arriving and seeing 5 other vehicles coming down the cul de sac. His expression was priceless.

This summer I learned a big lesson. In our busy lives I hesitate to join "yet another thing". Well, the Lord had a very kind friend not really give me a choice about joining a group. She just told me I was going to join. How thankful I am for that friend. Because of her I can say that each one of these boy's moms are my friends (who I actually meet monthly with) and what a huge blessing that has been in my life -- not to mention the joy it is to see Austin with such a wonderful group of friends. God knew what I needed before I knew it. Well....of course He did and what Austin needed as well.
As I've said before December can often be a time where we just try to 'survive' it for various reasons. Making a conscious decision to actually "thrive" has been so wonderful for us. It can mean a simple board game, afternoon sipping hot cocoa, meeting up with friends at Chick Fil A and having a "double date" (with Neal and Heather) while all of our kids were in the Play Land, sugar cookie parties with the sweetest of friends, dinner and laughter over candle light or the laughter of boys with their video games and take out pizza. I've never been more thankful for the month of December.

Intentionality....

2010-12-12T21:53:00.008-05:00

Not sure why, but this year I felt convicted to "take the reins" of our December month and be 'extra intentional' about some Christmas fun and cheer. During Thanksgiving vacation I sat down and wrote out some ideas for December. Here is a taste of the past 8 days.

The picture above was last Saturday night when it was snowing here. We decided to knock on our neighbor's door and see if they would like to join us for Frosty the Snowman (seemed appropriate on a snowy day) and some apple slices. So much better watching this movie with friends.

Here we are making monster cookies for gifts.

Reece is trying to decide if he can sneak a cookie or not...
Last Sunday we went to see a drive-thru nativity. It was wonderful, I truly believe, because it only started at the nativity and continued on to Christ's death and resurrection. I'm so glad we went..
Here's the empty tomb..
This has happened more than this week, but deserves a picture here. Any time Daddy is home, Reece begs to do the train. This is a train his GrandDad had when he was a kid.
Lindsey and I had a wonderful outing to a Christmas Craft Party. My friend, Missy, did a fabulous job setting up craft stations..

A favorite, of the girls, was a "pit stop" at the hot cocoa station.
Made some more treats for presents..
We had an evening of Fine Arts where the children were able to bring in art work to display and also sing or play an instrument. Here Lindsey is with some friends.

Some sweet friends of our dressed their kids up and gave such a great performance.. Austin and Reece were there as well, but must have gone to the gym to play while us moms took pictures.
The next 4 pictures are of Lindsey, Brian and I as we enjoyed a Christmas brunch with her Sunday school teachers and some kids, from her class, and their parents.
We had to play a game where our backs were to Lindsey and she had to create a lego design and then Brian and I had to make the same design while she described hers to us.

Lindsey's teachers and some kids from her class..
This weekend we went to Providence's Christmas concert and Lindsey and Reece were thrilled to go up on stage and hear Pastor Horner share the Christmas story with them.
Ahh....don't know why we don't do THIS more often. In the past 5 years I think we've only been to the Krispy Kreme 3 times. What is wrong with us? Well...I surprised the kids with breakfast out at Krispy Kreme to get their Christmas donuts. Notice Reece's snowman's head was already eaten off even BEFORE praying!
They love watching the donuts being made!
Cannot believe how fast Polar Express sold out at the IMAX. Thankfully for my Nov. list, I was on top of it this year and surprised the kids with tickets. Seriously LOVE this movie in 3-D. While the kids might have thought I was crazy to get there an hour early (we were first in line) they appreciated picking out some good seats.
I let the kids go crazy decorating their rooms with lights. This is Reece's room.
And Lindsey's room
While Daddy was gone at the concerts we decided to sneak off to the store and buy outside lights to surprise him with.
I can't go crazy with lights because it would drive me crazy, but I agreed to do our front bushes and it was a lot of fun to do with the kids.
Hope you all are enjoying this season and treasuring the time you have with your children!

Silent Night.......NOT..

2010-12-07T22:10:00.000-05:00

Tonight I had the priviledge of having a beautiful Christmas dinner with some very dear homeschool friends of mine. The ladies, who set it up, had candles lit everywhere. It was truly a treat to dress up in our holiday "glam" and just laugh and talk the evening away.

As I said, it could not have been more beautiful. We laughed until our sides hurt. After our dinner each and every one of us said a prayer of thanksgiving. It was quite touching. I looked around and marveled at these sweet ladies -- or so I THOUGHT. Next came our gift exchange with some interesting rules. I've done the white elephant thing many a Christmas so I must admit I was THRILLED that these gifts were actually something you would WANT to keep.
You were allowed to steal, but they didn't "freeze" gifts like I was used to. And the last 5 minutes were unlike any I had experienced. We went back through everyone's number and you could again take gifts. Well....I never...even quiet, humble women can go a little crazy when they want a certain gift.

Oh...alright..I'll confess what I did (after all Life Class was about repentance this past Sunday and as usual - VERY convicting). I had stolen a candle/pebble fountain gift and was so happy that no one was trying to steal it. Twenty-seven seconds left and I whispered to my friend that I had wanted one of these for 15 years. Ten seconds left and my friend, at my other side, took my fountain. I actually stood up and slapped her arm. Pretty shocked that I would do that to her....she actually gave it back to me since clearly I had lost all sensability. During the outburst of laughter I tried to explain to the entire table how much I had always wanted a little candle fountain. The very words, coming out of my mouth, made me even cringe with how silly I sounded.

Oh my....while I watched through-out the whole grab bag game at women going "crazy" over various gifts I have learned that I am FAR from above reacting in such a way. But that's ok because I came home with my fountain and I am SO happy! :)

How sweet it is!

2010-12-03T20:48:00.003-05:00

Today we had the fun of making gingerbread houses with Gretchen and her children. Immediately when we arrived at their house, the kids took off and it appeared that Gretchen and I might be on our own. Fortunately we decided the actual building of the houses should be done by us and the kids could decorate them.

Their oldest decided to help us and advise us (me) on how to keep the house from crashing down. Such a help was she!!
Gretchen and I could not have been more different in how we approached our houses. My style of frosting the house could only be summarized as the "slap on" method. Whereas Gretchen makes everything a master piece. Take note below:

SLAP ON METHOD
MASTER PIECE TECHNIQUE
OUR HOUSE
THEIR HOUSE
How funny is that? After seeing the difference I couldn't help but quiz Gretchen on her up bringing. I do know her parents as they are my Life Class teachers, but I still just had to know how she makes everything so amazing and if she was always this artsy! :)
While the houses hardened up it was a real treat to spend the afternoon talking with Gretchen while the kids were outside playing. There was an extra treat waiting as we got to go see their chickens and a fresh egg awaited us.
Love this time of year with sweet friends and fun times!

Been "sitting" on these pictures for awhile now....

2010-12-02T18:04:00.006-05:00

It will be a year, in January, that we started Tae Kwon Doe. We initially started because we were looking to find an athletic niche for one of our kids who wasn't into some of the 'typical sports'. What we found was truly so much more. It's been such a beautiful thing to have such an activity that we all do together. It is something the entire family enjoys.

It has become a "TKD family" of sorts. On a typical Tuesday we take two hours of classes and spar for an extra hour. If we don't spar, you will now find a bunch of us orange belts hanging out at Moes until they kick us out at 9p.m. On Sunday afternoons you will find us also having class and an opportunity to all meet in one big room with all the belts. Brian has many thoughts on why this is a priority above other activities -- almost a requirement in today's world. A MUST for our family.

The picture above is Marsha and I doing a pivot round kick at testing. These pictures still make me laugh. I'm so glad I can't watch myself do these moves. Surely the black belts have to occasionally hide their faces to stifle some laughter.

Marsha has become such a dear friend and I always call Tuesday nights as getting my 'Marsha fix".

I have a funny memory, of this testing night, that I pull up in my thoughts to occasionally laugh over. Marsha and I were sitting on a bench waiting for our turn to spar. We had on our full "marshmallow sparring gear" and Marsha turns to me and says: "Janet, just LOOK AT US!!! What has happened to us! Look what we are doing on a FRIDAY NIGHT"!

I remember taking out my "dripping saliva mouth guard" to say: "I KNOW!!" There is a reason why I didn't post pictures of us ladies in our sparring gear.....trust me....you don't want to see that!
Austin and Colton doing one steps. Marsha and I in the background.
These sweet girls have so much fun together!
All geared up for sparring...
Lindsey getting her orange belt from the master... you shake all of the black belts hands..

They test every month and this was the group we tested with.
Some very special relationships have formed for the kids, the moms and the dads.

I'm thankful that we found this for our family. A little nervous as we will test for our blue belt in January. The orange belt testing took 4 hours. Can't imagine what will be in January.

This past Tuesday we had one class where we did kicks for an entire hour. Most of the older students - us - do this to work our brains as well. We were asked to do a pivot round kick, spin side kick and a jump hook kick, turn and do it all again. It's been hard enough doing all the spins and the jumps and the proper kicks while hoping you won't fall flat on your behind. Let alone trying to remember what is coming next. After three hours each Tuesday night - we just keep coming back for more. I guess that says it all.

This just cracks me up.....

2010-11-30T11:25:00.004-05:00

Never in my wildest imaginations did I ever think to make a phone call and confirm that a local park "was open for business". So of course you do all the building up and excitement over a whole afternoon of playing at the park. This is a first for us!

The kids all looked out at the playground with such looks on their faces. I believe mulch was being put down at the time.
Oh that face: "What do we do now?"
To the rescue the older kids grab her little hand and tell her "we'll go feed the ducks!"

There's that smile!
While I was concerned that the whole afternoon would be a wash...we all took off down a trail and stayed even longer than we normally would have.

There is great danger of having Reece near any water. I'm still amazed his light up tennis shoes work...

Oh yes they did....all the way down the creek they explored and had the time of their lives...
This sweet princess is "all girl" and doesn't like to get dirty so she opted out of that creek adventure... Turned out to be the best afternoon and we would have never had this much fun if the park had been open. I think I learned a great lesson...

All I want for Christmas.....

2010-11-29T12:53:00.005-05:00

"All I want for Christmas....is a T-bone steak in Amy's marinade." I just know that is what Brian would say. Well....he got his wish a little early this year. He had his steak for Thanksgiving.
Our friends, Amy and Eric, made us a delicious steak dinner and this marinade is simply the best. So good that Brian ran out to get the ingredients and made it himself. I don't buy red meat or pork so, trust me, this was a HUGE treat to Brian who only sees chicken and turkey around here. Thought I'd share Amy's recipe here and spread the joy. I like steak okay but this marinade easily puts "loving steak" in my vocabulary.. Here's the recipe...

Steak Marinade:

Begin by salting one side of each steak with course sea salt (or Kosher salt). Then put those in a large zip lock bag. (about 4 to a bag)

Mix these ingredients and pour into the bags:
2 T Olive Oil
1 T pickapepper sauce (found near Worcestershire sauce)
1.5 T Molasses (this makes it brown on the grill)
1 T Balsamic Vinegar
2+ T of Horseradish
2+ cloves of minced garlic
1+ cup of Worcestershire sauce
1/2 t. of pepper

Marinade them in the fridge over night or 8-12+ hours. Flip the bag every few hours.

Grill your steaks to your liking.

Seriously delicious!

Sent from my iPhone

The little things.....

2010-11-20T20:40:00.003-05:00

We had a weekend filled with "little things": EVERYONE sleeping in past 9a.m., the whole family going to the Library and just getting lost in our books... Late night talks between Austin and his Daddy..
Praise music playing throughout the house while I cleaned... homemade tortilla soup and a salad with every fresh veggie around.. (because I had time to make it)
Middle of the day couch time with Brian.. Austin working in the backyard with Daddy..
Slowly reading the words to Psalm 91.... Praying for people, as the Lord brought them to mind, while driving..
And yes....a "Mentos and soda volcano eruption in our cul de sac....
Thank you Lord for this weekend. We've not had one of these in MONTHS!! It was true nourishment to my soul..

A child's DREAM playground...

2010-11-18T15:18:00.003-05:00

While Beth and I relaxed at the hotel, the afternoon before 'race day', the kids got a huge treat of going to the Outer Banks Sand Dunes with Brian and Anthony. No other words really needed....they were in 'kid heaven'. The Dads were too....

Gorgeous night in the Outer banks!!

Because I am unable to walk...I thought I would blog..

2010-11-14T18:08:00.008-05:00

Today was the day I ran my 1ST half marathon! I won't go into a long history of how I got here except to say that last November I decided to use my phone APP of the Couch to 5K. After that was done I said, "What next?" I found a Bridge to 10K APP and did that. What next? My friend Beth said it would be a good time to train for a 1/2 marathon. I couldn't even begin to imagine doing that, but started the training process the first week of August. 293 miles later I ran my 1st Half Marathon!

Here Austin and I are, at the Expo, looking for my number...

The true thrill of getting my number.... :)
Beth and I at the Expo...
It was simply hilarious to walk out our hotel door and find out that we had rooms right next to each other. That afternoon Anthony and Brian took the kids to the sand Dunes and Beth, Addie Grace and I spent the afternoon relaxing in Beth's room.

That night we had the BEST spaghetti ever! The guys had pizza, but they HAD to try our spaghetti when we spent so much time raving about it. Delicious!

We went back to the hotel and were all in bed by 9p.m. For Brian and I we were a little restless during the night as I expected a little bit. Didn't want to miss my 5:45a.m. wake-up call.
Here I am being dropped off for the start of the race. Pre-race jitters definitely!

My sweet girl made me a poster that said: "Go Mommy go!"
Unbeknown to Beth and I, some interesting characters were in front of us running and that helped Anthony and Brian know when we'd be coming up. Here are some pirates.
A Star Wars dude...
Super woman -- women...
Another pirate...
And here we come. This was at mile one. We were warming up right away so, when we saw our families, we took off our top shirts/jackets and tossed them to the guys.

The guys were able to drive past us and stop at a few mile markers to cheer us on. We smiled for 11 straight miles. It felt awesome!
At mile 7 Beth saw the kids up ahead and then the people we didn't see were Anthony and Brian. They had staged the kids where they could run with us a few yards and the guys were up ahead ready to take pictures. This was a highlight of our run. Running with the kids. Here is Austin taking off on the run....
Reece in the red shirt and Beth, Lindsey and I right behind him. Jackson was running by his mommy.
The kids were grinning ear to ear when they got to run with us.
After this mile marker the guys had to get going so they could meet us at the finish line. I wish I had a picture, but at mile 10 we had to go up a huge bridge over the ocean. It looked like you were going up the first hill of a roller coaster. I was most worried about that hill, but Beth made sure we were on the edge of the bridge and the view was breathtaking. Before I knew it Beth was saying that we were at the top and at mile 10. We both cheered and were just so happy and thrilled that the scariest part wasn't so hard after all. It truly went by quickly as we looked out at the ocean.

Mile 11 was when I started really feeling it. I'm not surprised. The last two miles (of my 2 12 mile runs) were always the hardest. I had never run beyond 12 miles before in my life. But...by the time you get to mile 11 you just KNOW you're going to do it. My goal was to finish the race and to run the whole race. Even though the last two miles were hard - I KNEW I would do it!

Here we are with our medals!
Anthony and Beth...
The Williams...
The Megilligans...
We celebrated with an awesome lunch after a long shower and then took off for home.

I'm so thankful for Beth! There really are no words at all! It's been a rare time that I've not ping chatted, e-mailed, called, twittered, or spent time with Beth every day this year. Even during our long summer trip, it was a joy to keep in touch. Beth was a constant support through this training. We live SO close which was handy for us to do mid-week runs together and also some long Saturday runs. I loved this journey with Beth and so love our friendship!
I am SO not a bumper sticker kind of gal, but you just KNOW I had to get this one!

I KNEW this before you were even born..

2010-11-10T13:24:00.000-05:00

Austin, Lindsey and Reece,

I just knew, WAY before you were born, how much I would LOVE being your Mom. I think I knew it, as a little girl, when I would line all my dolls up and cover them with blankets and feed them their bottles.

I just KNEW...

When, in highschool, I would cancel my own 'party plans' to babysit and even when church friends would double book me with two families to care for...

I just KNEW...

When, as a newlywed, I worked at a school where I had to call a mom to pick up her child because she had a temperature and the mom said: "I just don't have time for this! I have so much shopping to do!" Then...I knew I wouldn't be 'that' Mom.

I just KNEW...

When Brian and I had to visit friends, who were in the hospital having babies, and I cried after leaving them even though we had no plans to have children right then.

I just KNEW...

When my mentor told me to get to the Library each week, with a six week old (!) and start reading to you all each day and then God chose the next steps in your education...

I just KNEW...

Last night when I was at a Mom's meeting/party and an hour into the night I went up to my friend and said I just needed to get home to see my kids before they went to bed. My friend said: "I know you do."

I just KNEW..

And when I got home to a boy running down the steps, squealing that I was home, jumped into my arms and wrapped his legs around my waist -- as I struggled not to fall off the steps.

I just KNEW..

I KNEW I would LOVE being your Mom!!

Fall Soccer 2010

2010-11-06T21:33:00.006-05:00

Soccer finished up 2 weekends ago and the kids had a good season. Reece seriously smiles the whole time while out on the field and he still thinks it's cool to wave to his Mama. I love that of course! He'll go after the ball like crazy, but he doesn't have a "game face" on at all. It's all for fun for this kid...
Especially when you get donuts and Bojangle biscuits during the trophy party. It was fitting after their last game was at 8a.m.
Lindsey had a good season. She'll go after the ball although she does prefer to play defense and goalie. It's great exercise, but for her it is about the team and being together with her friends. (such a little female).

A highlight is the trophy party (her coach took them all to Chick Fil A for milk shakes) where her coach talks about each one of them and she eats that up. We always wonder when she might say that she doesn't want to do soccer anymore, but after getting a trophy and much love, from her coach, she always wants to sign up for the next season.
I'd have to say it does get tougher, on the parents, as they get older. Lindsey's games are now more in the afternoon and Reece has early games. Also, Lindsey had a few weekends where they would have 2 games on one day so we would actually be at the soccer field 3 times. We had a weekend where we had an 8a.m, 12p.m. and 2p.m. games. Ugh! I might have been a little "too obvious" of my excitement over the season finale when her team lost, but I was cheering: "Yay...we're done!" Brian encouraged me to curb my enthusiasm, but it just felt like it was a long soccer season. Yet I am very thankful for this amazing organization and can't speak highly enough about this great opportunity for the kids.

Our Weekend with Aunt Nar..

2010-11-01T17:49:00.007-05:00

The kids anticipated Aunt Nar's visit like they do Christmas morning. It is always a blast when she comes! Aunt Nar arrived Friday morning and we promptly threw her luggage in the house and took her on an adventure. We kept her guessing the whole way there. It especially freaked her out when she asked if she'd be getting wet and we said "possibly, but it wouldn't be water."

We took her to a favorite spot where you ride wagons and get up close to some amazing animals to feed them. Love the Zebras!

These animals have "the life"....come right up to the wagon and get fed by hand.

Seriously up close and personal...
Aunt Nar came all the way from Iowa to have this 'first'. Feeding a giraffe...

These camels were so hungry....Lindsey took her whole bucket to dump it in its mouth.
They have an awesome playground and Lindsey is ready to slide on down...
The ranch took up all of Friday and Aunt Nar treated us to Cracker Barrel that night.. On Saturday I had to run 12 miles and the rest of the family went to a special Diabetes Walk to raise money and awareness for diabetes research. It just so happens that Aunt Nar's best friend lives in Raleigh and has a son with Type 1 Diabetes so they did this walk with their family. After wards we all met up at the mall for lunch. Brian and Nar had a great time at the Apple Store getting Nar an IPad. We also hit Gymboree. We rushed from there to a movie and then came home for dinner and a night of setting up the new IPad.

We were thrilled to have Aunt Nar here for Sunday church. This was a special service as we had invited some singers, from a sister church, to sing with our worship team. It was a great morning of worship. It was special for Brian as he had planned it, wrote all the music for it (arrangements/charts for every single song sung that morning), went to the other church to rehearse those singers, had some 2 a.m. practices of his own, went shopping late Sat. night to the local Harris Teeter to buy food for the worship team to keep them going Sunday morning. It was exhausting, but rewarding to see all that work come to fruition. Thankfully every Sunday is fantastic as we are blessed with amazing singers and musicians. One also can't forget the congregation who are so beautifully sincere with their worship. More importantly is the worship we give to the Lord and not what we receive come Sundays.
Being that it was Halloween we had such a great time, once again, spending it in our neighborhood. This year we had two "repeats". Lindsey once again was an angel and Reece wanted to be on the SWAT team. Austin had the most comments being that he was Iron Man. All the neighborhood kids knew who he was.

Our neighborhood is just a "scream" literally with Halloween. Here is Aunt Nar coming out of someone's garage who had made their own Haunted House. We heard screams, down the street, coming from this garage and we volunteered Aunt Nar to go through it with the kids -- while Brian and I waited outside. We were out for a good part of the night going all around.
The weekend was jam-packed and Aunt Nar headed home this morning. Five minutes after she left we were already missing her sorely! There is just never enough time with her! It must be fun being an Aunt! I know the kids sure think it's fun being nephews and niece's. Aunt Nar makes everything fun!!

Austin's Birth Story: 5 min. from a C-section.....

2010-10-24T18:06:00.004-05:00

October 23, 1998
I'm excited to talk to Brian and find out that tomorrow will be the day for their baby's birth. They were told to report to the hospital at 6:30a.m. Oct. 24th for induction. She is already 1 week overdue and cervix is 3 cm and 70% effaced. When I hang up I am looking forward to tomorrow but also pray that Janet will be in early labor by the time she reports to the hospital. I know things usually go more smoothly if the body is really in labor.

October 24 6:30a.m.
I arrive at Akron City Hospital OB and inquire if Janet has arrived yet. They don't have her listed for induction today and ask if I'm sure she is delivering there. I assure them she is and then visit with the nurses while we wait for Janet and Brian to arrive. I ask if Linda Tober is working today. I'm thrilled to find out that she is and that they will try to give her to Janet as a labor nurse.

6:45a.m.
Janet and Brian arrive with Janet's parents. They were delayed because they initially parked in the wrong parking garage. Actually the delay gave me needed time to introduce myself to the hospital staff since I have not been a doula there before. God's timing is amazing!

7:00 a.m.
Janet's folks are in the waiting room settling in. Linda Tober arrives in the labor room. She will be with us until 7 p.m. She shares that this is an extra day for her to work. She had originally been off but came in extra. We hug and say thanks to the Lord for showing us so clearly He cares.

Another nurse, Ruth Stein, who is an LPN comes into the room a short time later with Linda. Linda just wanted us to know that Ruth was there because she goes to the Chapel. Before she leaves the room I ask her to join us for prayer. We all join hands and I pray for the Lord's protection and the wisdom and skill of all of us assisting Janet in Labor and birth.

Linda gets Janet all set up for labor with the fetal monitor and explains how the day will probably begin. The baby's heartbeat is strong at around 140-150 and he is really active. The monitor shows that Janet is already in early labor! She is having contractions every 3-5 minutes. Janet doesn't really feel them at this point.

8:10
Linda examines Janet. She is 3+, the cervix is posterior 50% effaced. The exam is not very comfortable because the cervix is so posterior. Janet does a wonderful job of relaxing and remaining composed. Linda starts the IV pitocin. After this procedure Janet feels overwhelmed and needs time alone with Brian so I leave for a short time. I go out and visit with Janet's folks.

8:30
Grandma and Grandpa come back to the room with me to see Janet for a little while. Janet's Dad says this is their first grandchild. They are both so excited to see their "baby" have her first baby but concerned for her. Janet reminds all of us that she has a low pain tolerance and her folks confirm that. I assure her we will help her as much as we can to manage the pain.

9:15 - 11:15 a.m.
Janet is on her left side resting with the video "In His Presence" running. We have the sound off on the video and have a CD of jazz playing. I give Brian some lotion and we each massage one of Janet's hands. She isn't using any special breathing at this point. After awhile we do some walking out to the waiting room to visit with her parents. Contractions are lasting a full minute now every 3 min. but Janet can still walk, talk and laugh through them.

11:20
Linda comes to check on Janet and recommends that we continue to walk.

12:30p.m.
Janet and Brian are working very well as a team and need some time alone. Janet's folks ask if they could treat me to lunch in the cafeteria. I agree since Janet is handling her contractions well and it is nice to talk with Grandma and grandpa more.

1:15p.m.
Brian now takes a lunch break and goes outside on this beautiful fall day to take a walk. The break is good for him! This is hard work emotionally and physically for his as well. Janet and I walk the halls with her mom joining us. We check out all of the cute baby gifts in the gift shop on the OB floor. We find we can even walk over 2 elevated walkways between the hospital and the medical office buildings. We stop some now for contractions because they are getting harder.

1:30p.m.
Linda check Janet and increases the pitocin. Janet still doesn't need special breathing techniques but does need to focus more to be able to relax. She is now 4+ cm and the cervix is less posterior and is 75% effaced. We try different positions to relax, the hand vibrator on her back, the warm rice sock, the wooden ball massager and lotion on Janet's back. They all help, but contractions are getting harder.

2:45p.m.
The resident comes into the room to rupture the membranes to get the contractions more effective. Janet is really apprehensive but with Brian by her side she handles the exam well. It's time for a few tears and that is OK. It has been tough today and tears help get rid of some tension and frustration. We discuss waiting longer for the epidural so she can walk more.

4p.m.
Nubaine in the IV gives Janet some rest now. The contractions are hard every 2-3 min. lasting a full 60 seconds. We do pattern breathing and massage an she leans on Brian for every contraction.

5p.m.
Contractions are hard and close. Linda checks and Janet is 6cm and not posterior any longer and the baby is definitely lower in the pelvis. Her planned epidural happens now. Janet's Dad comes in for a visit to check on his girl.

6:30 p.m.
Janet has been sleeping and Brian has been resting on the couch. Brian uses the warm rice sock on his tired shoulders. I check in with Janet's folks in the waiting room and few times to let them know how she is doing. Linda checks her before her shift is done and Janet is 7-8cm. Good news! Linda talks to me about Janet's new nurse, Mary. She has a lot of experience so we are in good hands.

8:30p.m.
Labor is progressing. Contractions are every 2 to 2 1/2 minutes lasting 60-90 seconds. Mary checks Janet and she is 9cm. Janet is feeling some back pressure which is a good sign. I say a silent prayer for Janet that she will be able to complete birth soon. She is cooperative but a little teary eyed as she is getting tired.

9p.m
Finally the cervix is completely dilated! Mary tells us that she will call Dr. Jadallah and then be right back to assist with pushing. What a relief that Janet can now start pushing. Mary asks her to start pushing semi reclined so that she can be check for progress. Once she is sure Janet is moving the baby down she can move to a more upright position if she can support her weight.

10p.m. Janet is getting tired as she pushes, with each contraction, using the squatting bar.'

11p.m.
Janet is exhausted and becoming more uncomfortable. Brian and I both rest on the bar in between contractions feeling pain for Janet.
When Dr. Jadallah arrives he is very gentle and encouraging. He increases the pitocin to make the contractions for effective.

11:30p.m.
Janet is doing a wonderful job of pushing with every contraction, but her back is hurting her. It is hard to see her teary eyes and to look at Brian as he feels for her pain. His presence gives her such strength. It is frustrating that the baby is not moving more. The baby's heartbeat looks OK but is slowing periodically.

11:45
Dr. Jadallah gently tells Janet and Brian that he would like to try and assist birth by using the vacuum extractor. He explains that in spite of great pushing efforts by Janet and good contractions the baby just doesn't seem to be moving down for birth as he should. He says that if that doesn't work he will have to consider doing a cesarean. I can sense Janet and Brian's fear but I know the Dr. is right. 3 hours of pushing is a long time!

The next few minutes are kind of a blur. Dr. J. has to work very hard with the vacuum and he has a resident come in and apply pressure on the uterus from above. That is very hard to see being done. I hold Janet's hand and ask Brian if he is ok. He is but feeling her pain so much! As the baby's head comes out it is obvious that he weighs much more than the expected 7 - 7 1/2 lbs. The Dr. needs to get his shoulders out. Dr. J. says what he wants and I relay the message to Janet.

OCTOBER 25 at 12:02 a.m.
Austin Keith is born! He is HUGE and has lots of hair. He is up on Janet's chest for awhile and then he is taken over to the warmer to be suctioned and evaluated. Janet is so exhausted and yet so thankful. I go out to tell her folks.

Grandma and Grandpa are so happy and so glad to know all is well now. When I come back to the room they have Janet more comfortable and up close with Austin. Dr. Jadallah tells Janet she did a wonderful job. He weighs 9-9 and is 22 inches long. Wow! The nurses all give Dr. J a hard time over his weight guessing and the room is filled with laughter as we hear of Austin's stats.

1:30a.m.
I leave for home as Janet is ready for some sleep. She has nursed Austin and the nurses plan to take Janet to her room. Grandma and Grandpa have thoroughly enjoyed holding Austin for the first time too. I leave very tired but so thankful for the Lord's hand of protection on the Megilligan family today.

Yates Mill Field Trip...

2010-10-22T12:52:00.005-05:00

Yesterday we had the opportunity to go on an hour long field trip to Yates Mill.. We'd only been there once to hike around so it was great to hear all of the history behind it.
Reece....gotta remember to not let him sit on the ground anywhere! This kid and piles of dirt!
The kids loved seeing this gentlemen use an old machine to take the corn off the husk...

They even turned on the water for us..
A highlight was actually going inside the mill. Here Lindsey is inside looking out at the water wheel that you see in the picture above.
Inside the visitor building they have periodic dress up clothes as well. Leave it to Reece to get into that! It was a gorgeous day and we ended our tour with a picnic on the grounds. Great time was had by all!

Black Mountain...

2010-10-22T12:34:00.004-05:00

We've lived here for almost 5 years now and have never gone to visit Brian's Uncle and Aunt in Black Mountain. A few years back they built their dream home on top of a mountain. We soon realized that there would always be kids/adults activities that we would just need to bow out of and make a visit. Boy have we been missing out. They weren't joking - they do live literally on top of a mountain. Here we are driving up their 1/2 mile lane...
We made it and it was breathtaking!!

When Aunt Karen wants to take a gorgeous nature hike, all she has to do is walk outside. Here Brian and Aunt Karen are walking down her lane.
If you go down it you must go back up....
And up some more. They actually have a shop, at the bottom, where they park their vehicles when there is snow and ice and they can't drive up their lane. I guess last winter was pretty bad and it got old walking up snow/ice even with groceries...
We spent most of our time at Aunt Karen's and had a great time seeing Brian's cousin Debbie and her kids. The next day we checked out all the unique shops in Black Mountain. The kids loved the stores as much as we did.
We just went shop to shop and each time you walked outside you were greeted by gorgeous mountains.
So wonderful to see Aunt Karen, Uncle Vince and other family members! Now we know better than to wait 5 more years! Lindsey was already discussing Thanksgiving with her Aunt Karen. :)

Alamance Battlefield in Burlington...

2010-10-22T12:14:00.005-05:00

I'd never really been to Burlington before and didn't even know about this historical treasure. My friend, Terah, had planned to go to the Alamance Battlefield for their Revolutionary War reenactment days and we decided to go there as well on our way to the mountains last weekend. The picture above is an apple press and the kids got to throw in apples and then enjoy some fresh apple cider (pictured below).
Of course the kids enjoyed the old guns and hearing them go off...
Dipping a feather in ink and writing... boy have we come a LONG way. Now I only complain about cheap pens and expect them to immediately write.
Candle making for the winter. Can't imagine not being able to turn a switch for a light...
How they cooked...
Spun wool...
Inside a log cabin...
The black smith hammering out a nail..
Big assembly time for the cannon.
It was so well done and just a great experience and not too far from home. We'll certainly go again!

We interupt this regularly scheduled day....

2010-10-19T20:57:00.000-05:00

to bring you a turtle on your drive way! Yep....that's what happened today and it kept these kids busy all afternoon! I was very content to grab the camera, run outside with them, and see this creature walk around for 5 minutes. Then the thrill was over for me. Oh wait..I did do a little silly dance when that turtle came walking my way, but that was enough of the creature for me.

I must admit that this gave me new appreciation for my Grandma who endured having children who loved any animal. Her sons - my uncles - were always bringing home snap turtles, snakes, rats, etc. I guess everything under the sun. One day Uncle Dale brought home a snap turtle, and took off right away to go play. Grandma went in the basement to do laundry and heard this snapping sound. She had no idea what was in her house so she put her feet up and waited until family came home. How she handled all of that - I really don't know.

Uncle Dale grew up and actually owned a cougar as a pet. When the cougar was young and I was a kid you would find me being chased, around a family gathering, by a cougar. Pepper ( the cougar) did grow up and it came to a point where only Uncle Dale could get in her cage. The police had permission to shoot, on site, if Pepper ever got loose but Uncle Dale made quite the sturdy cage for his beloved Pepper.
Late this afternoon I had to talk with Lindsey about letting Mr. Turtle go back into his natural environment. It was hard for her, but she did it right before we left for Tae Kwon Doe. My kids would have LOVED my easy going Grandma!! :)

Will they visit again - that is the question...

2010-10-12T21:06:00.008-05:00

So this past weekend the grandparents joined us for one of our 'crazy fall weekends'. They arrived Friday, at noon, when we were getting home from co-op. The lunch that greeted them was string cheese, apples and carrots because I had not been to the grocery store yet.

That evening they patiently waited while Brian took the kids to soccer practice and I made it to the store. Granddad treated us to pizza when we all finally arrived back home.

The first Saturday "order of business" was our first 8a.m. soccer game for Reece. Willingly they got up and watched Reece. After wards they got to see how "worthless" I am when I came home from a 10 mile run and then we all headed back, once again, to the soccer field to see Lindsey play at noon.

After soccer Granddad treated us to Chick Fil A. The kids enjoyed many board games with Grandmom and loved having GrandDad chase them and our neighbor kids around the yard.

To top it off that day, Brian and I left for a night out on the town while Grandmom cooked dinner and took the kids to the IMAX to see the Legend of the Guardians.

Sunday was church, an afternoon birthday party that we attended - while the grandparents went out to eat-. After that getting home, from the party and 15 min. later running out the door to Tae Kwon Doe and - yes - bringing the grandparents there to watch us.

Supper was Cold Stone Creamery ice cream -- a tradition with Grandmom and GrandDad.

Monday morning was when they headed home and we started our typical school day.

Did anyone notice that I did not even cook once? Was hardly home to think about that and Grandmom even brought her traditional granola for breakfast.

Do you think they'll ever come back????

Here they are playing with GrandDad's I pad..

Loving GrandDad's hat!
Hanging out at the second soccer game that day...
Going out for ice cream. And this was them BEFORE the sugar high...
Wrestling, laughter....etc. in the back seat. Brian almost had to pull over and deal with the grandparents...
Sugar is starting to hit Lindsey's bloodstream....
Reece's sugar high started at his first bite of 'cotton candy' ice cream...
A tradition is to walk down to the waterfall wall and music to dance off some of the sugar...

GrandDad had the coffee ice cream and needed to run around as well....
Ice cream just makes ya happy!
They went home to get a vacation.....

Fall 'snip-its'..

2010-10-06T19:44:00.006-05:00

Loving the fall weather! Here's Mycah and Reece at Umstead Park as we took a Saturday to do a little hiking. Mycah was able to stay with us all weekend as his parents were gone and they had a great time. The picture below was so cool to us because of how close the deer, at Umstead, let us get to them. Clearly they are used to hikers.
Here we are at an Open Gym party. This is Lindsey jumping rope...
Lindsey and her sweet/crazy friends...
This was a chess game like I had never seen before.
Us women thoroughly enjoy "Open Gym". We love talking about our kids, recipes, our winter co-op, and too many things to mention. I think the kids are catching on as to why we had weekly pool parties and now Open Gym. It may not be FOR the kids...
Our kids had a special opportunity to go to a local park and look at Jupiter, the moon and many other things that only a fancy telescope could show them. They met up with two other families from church and had an awesome "star and planet watching" night...
Loving fall and once again loving Umstead Park... Recently went hiking with some friends and ended our time with smores..
Our hike was after a whole week of rain and the kids were thrilled to have water in the creek to play in. Just a week before that it was completely dry.

Our family likes the marshmallows COMPLETELY burnt. I didn't know there was any other way to roast a marshmallow. :)
Pure bliss....

Concrete Covenant..

2010-10-05T14:22:00.008-05:00

I have NO idea where my kids got this saying, but whenever they want the other sibling to REALLY believe them they say: "I concrete Covenant." Cracks me up every time and I always hope they know how important honesty and promises are.

Recently we had a "monsoon" week here where it was continuous rain. You went to bed hearing the rain and you woke up to rain. It had been a long season of 'no rain' so it was mostly a welcome sight. After such a rain I just kept thinking: "Surely this week is 'worthy' of a rainbow in the sky!" Well...I was not disappointed when I heard Reece yelling: "Mom, come quick! There's a rainbow out front!" And sure enough, there it was right outside our front door.

A couple of things that make me both happy and sad. Sad that this really was just there for a few short minutes and I would have missed it had I not had an enthusiastic child waiting for that rainbow. It just reminded me of how often I get SO caught up in my multitudes of daily "to do's". This beautiful sight was so short lived. I would have surely missed it. Don't be too busy....

The happy part is that I still take such great pleasure in God's beautiful artwork! Reece KNEW I would and we enjoyed it together. I grew up on a farm in Iowa and we were no strangers to drought. Rain makes me happy as much as a sunny day. And a rainbow is just one more thing to remind me of how the Lord is ever present and faithful in my life and His promises are true.

Genesis 9:13- 15b "I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind..."

God's faithfulness and promises are true TODAY just as they were in Noah's day. Don't miss them in your life...

A first for our family....

2010-09-22T20:04:00.010-05:00

Today was a "first" for our family: Apple picking. I have never been before and how cool is it that our friends had never been as well. Makes for a: "let's get that on the calendar and do it!"

Here's a picture of all the kids before heading out to the orchard...

I just love this picture of the youngest, in our clan, munching on an apple on her Momma's back. Just the cutest!!

We Moms were getting a little nervous as we saw the amount of apples being picked. Started envisioning how we would be using up all of these.. But let me tell you the kids had fun loading up their baskets...

The kids ended their time with apple cider slushies. Yum-oh!

Ok......off to print out some apple recipes! I have my work cut out for me!

A beautiful heart....

2010-09-20T15:07:00.000-05:00

I often tell Lindsey that she came straight from Heaven, on a cloud, right to us. I call her "my angel", my "sunshine girl", etc. I can't say how many times I have seen such a beautiful heart in this little girl. I'd like to remember just a few things she has recently said that attest to the beauty within.

**Her favorite season is winter because we celebrate Jesus then.
**After blue and purple, her favorite color is 'yellow' because Jesus is the light.
**Her favorite candy is a candy cane because she heard how you can share Jesus using a candy cane.
**When we have an outside activity and it doesn't rain she is the first to say: "Of course it didn't rain, because I prayed about it!"
**She wants to be a Mommy and a missionary when she grows up. She also thinks once her children are 12, and able to stay home
alone she will be able to go out and do missionary work. She has a plan.
**When something wonderful happens or she sees something beautiful she tells me that is how she thinks Heaven will be.
**Lindsey often says she can't wait to give Jesus a BIG hug!
**Recently we had visitors, at our front door, sharing their religion. An hour later Lindsey burst into sobs saying we needed to
pray for them because they don't know her Lord.

This is ALL Lindsey and what the Lord is doing in her heart. It is beautiful and convicting, to me, all at the same time. This world is a hard place to always have such a beautiful heart and outlook on life. I pray God will always protect her heart and continue to give her a passion to serve Him her whole life.

I'm SO thankful for her beautiful heart!

When you just don't have the words.....

2010-09-15T23:49:00.004-05:00

Back in July I posted about my dear friend losing her husband in a plane crash right here. I must say there hasn't been a day that goes by that I don't think of her and pray for her. Shortly after her husband's death I remember laying down to sleep and thinking of Allie laying down knowing Mark was gone. Even though he knew the Lord and is now in Heaven - just that awful feeling of not having him physically present anymore. Then I would wake up and it would hit me again. Dear Allie is waking up and realizing it was not a dream, but her new reality.

The next several weeks I would just consciously realize how often I just need to talk to Brian, e-mail him, be with him....etc. I know Brian gets a kick out of this, but I've been known to tell him that I just need to be in the same room as he is even if we are zoned out doing our own thing.

And then there are the obvious things that are devoted to many of our husbands that we might take for granted: Taking the vehicles to the mechanic, calling the plumber, mowing the lawn, fixing the fence, changing those light bulbs, on and on....

Then there is the way our husbands are with our children. Not enough room to share all he is to our kids. He is the "fun Dad" throwing them in the pool, tickling them, nightly wrestling matches. The scholar who looks over their math and plans to spend a couple of hours at home, in the morning, to study History with them. So involved. To top it off - the Dad who tried to share scripture reading over Christ's death on the cross and couldn't continue because of his own emotions. These kids see their Dad as everything and then some. So do I...

I know Allie felt this way about Mark....

It's nights like these when I can't sleep and I pray for my friend. I have no words for her. What words are adequate because I know she felt for her husband as I do for mine.

Well... the Lord was merciful and brought to mind a special college memory with Allie. Each night we would go to sleep listening to either Michael Card's SLEEP SOUND IN JESUS or Pachelbel's Canon. I know....such different listening selections.

Allie and I were positively smitten with Michael Card's lullaby c.d. When we had fears, tears, and heartaches - it was such a comfort to hear the songs of sleeping sound in Jesus as He holds us and watches over us.

I decided to go to Amazon and play some of the songs. Talk about "cry me a river". It just brought back those sweet memories of college and how the Lord spoke to both of us with this c.d.

When I just don't know what to say. When the Lord places Allie on my heart and I grieve.... I'm so thankful this was brought to my mind. I'll be sending this c.d. to Allie hoping it will bring her comfort. I think I'll be placing an order for myself as well...

Last of the season....

2010-09-15T12:56:00.000-05:00

I just dropped Lindsey off at her last pool party of the summer. It was hard for me to leave, but this was an "all girl" event and boys/moms weren't allowed this time. Every week this summer we've been priviledged to enjoy a pool party with several sweet kids and their moms. Lounging by the pool with other ladies has been such a sweet retreat from the "to do's" that fill my day. It didn't hurt that Leslie (our wonderful hostess) served us lemonade, brownies, and popsicles poolside. I AM thrilled for Lindsey, though. :) Sad that summer now feels officially over, but the blessing is that I LOVE fall!! So....bring it on!! :)

I am THAT housewife!! (no pictures allowed)

2010-09-14T11:48:00.002-05:00

First to explain since you would have to live with me or next to me to know this: I always start my day by getting dressed. I am just not one to stay in my p.j.'s all day. It goes beyond that. It used to be a rare occurrence that I would even leave my bedroom without my hair and make-up all done for the day.

Well...now that I start my mornings with early runs I find that I rush into a shower, get on to breakfast and start our school day without another trip back to my room to make myself 'presentable'.

Being at home, it would not normally seem to matter, but this morning I have had two people ring the door bell. One was a group of Jehovah Witnesses (usually there is just two people - not a whole group). I truly read it in their faces when they looked at me: "This lady needs 'some' kind of saving." Or at least her husband does.

After the second door bell and "second looks" I realized that:

I have become THAT housewife!!!

Labor Day 2010

2010-09-07T14:53:00.004-05:00

Labor Day found us at the beach.. It was just the perfect weather and wonderful day together. The kids amaze me with their energy. They spent hours digging and creating in the sand; hours boogie boarding, hours jumping the waves and then back again to more digging.

We left home an hour earlier than normal and we stayed later than we normally do as well. It was wonderful!

Reece (below) just can't help but to dance wherever he is (grocery store, restaurant, the beach, etc.).
Lindsey is a true beach gal and she just exudes joy when she spends time there!
Really...they all do...

Don't think boogie boarding, in a puddle, is quite the same Reece..
Ahh...much better except I'm losing my shorts!
Digging right up until the end of our day there...

First day of school...

2010-09-04T20:35:00.000-05:00

Was actually already 4 weeks ago. We usually start right after Reece's birthday because we are just ready to dig in and get the year going. I am compulsive in that I must finish every single lesson in every subject. This gives us time to do that and yet, when I start to fizzle out in May, we are already done anyway.

Another thing I used to be super strict on was getting everyone dressed in the morning. Well....I've eased up a little bit. Already, on the first day of school, the kids wore their swim suits all day (we always go swimming on the first day of school after the work is complete) and I didn't even think twice about it. And....to top it off, we went out for ice cream to celebrate and they were still in their swimsuits. Hence the reason why we went to Sonic so we could order and eat in the van.

I'm SO thankful for these children and thrilled to be their Mom and spend my time with them each and everyday. And, shocking to me, they would have it no other way. :) Very blessed indeed!

Molly Sunshine....

2010-09-04T19:58:00.000-05:00

Just last weekend we were able to spend a day with a college buddy of mine and Brian's. Molly and her family were headed to the beach and stayed over in Raleigh. We had not seen her since our wedding - 15 years ago- so it was GREAT catching up. We were in a dorm together Freshman year at Cedarville and then we shared an apartment, after graduation, for the year before my wedding.

I just love that her middle name is "Sunshine"!

When you have a little one, like they do, it worked out great that they came along with us to soccer practice. There's a nice playground there. As you can see, it wasn't only the kids playing......

Lindsey's haircut..

2010-09-04T19:50:00.001-05:00

Just a couple of weeks ago Lindsey said she thought she'd like a shorter hairstyle. So we excitedly planned to go to the salon the very next day and........

here are the results. We love it!!!

Mudcats....

2010-09-04T19:46:00.002-05:00

We were thrilled to be able to join our friends for a Mudcats game in August. This sweet family goes to our church and we also do Tae Kwon Doe together. We also have spent many Tuesday nights (Tae Kwon Doe) night hanging out at Moe's Restaurant until they kick us out at closing. We just love this family!! (The great thing about older kids is they sit by themselves WAY across the restuarant so, for the parents, it's pretty much a double date each week!)

Love this girl! You can tell the kids enjoyed a few treats that turned their tongues different colors.

The fireworks were amazing and the kids made it all the way to the end. Easy when you're with friends. Marsha and I probably saw 1/2 of an inning, but it was great to have some solid hours to catch up. (Not that we don't already see each other a few times a week. :)

Parenting 101....

2010-09-04T19:38:00.001-05:00

This is certainly NOT a "do what we do" kind of a post. It just makes me laugh so I had to share. This picture was taken on our summer trip right after we had visited the St. Louis Arch. We were standing beside a very busy St. Louis street and trying to figure out where to go from there. Well.....the kids were scaring us being so close to the road, so we told them to "go sit over on those steps." After Brian and I talked for 5 minutes we looked over and realized that we had stuck our children under a "Caution, construction site." Well.....do we run and rescue them? Nope...we both yell: "Get the camera and take a picture!" :)

Field Trip to the News Station...

2010-09-04T19:17:00.005-05:00

Before school even started we were already heading to our first field trip to NBC 17.

This first picture might be confusing as to what I am taking a picture of.... it's Lindsey and her girlfriends on the t.v. to the left. At the time they were standing in front of the green screen. A funny thing that day is that Austin had on a green shirt. In front of a green screen Austin's body disappeared on the t.v. We all thought that was pretty cool.

The kids loved talking with the news lady and the weather man. A favorite was standing in front of the green screen.

I think quite a few boys, especially, loved the tech guy explaining all of the "behind the scenes".

Reece's b-day party..

2010-09-04T18:56:00.005-05:00

I had previously shared Reece's birth story right around the time of his actual birthday (August 8th), but I did want to still share some highlights from his birthday this year.

This year Reece wanted to make his own birthday cake. I was not surprised as this is the kid you will see most helping me in the kitchen. He wanted chocolate everything with sprinkles on it. Remembering back, Austin was 8 years old when he decided to make his first birthday cake and Lindsey still gets swayed by the gorgeous cakes at the local bakery...
Reece's b-day request was to take his buddies to Chuckie Cheese. Lindsey was kind enough to come along and help me watch out for these excited boys...

Here Lindsey is sitting with Braden counting the coins for all the kids. The others went to the playground while waiting for pizza. It was cute that Braden found that a little too "little kid" for him. :)

Jackson and Reece were all about doing the race car video games.... They were inseparable.

Reece and his buddies...

Tae Kwon Doe Tournament

2010-09-04T18:45:00.001-05:00

After traveling several states and over 3000 miles we arrived home on a Friday night. No time to "settle in" as four of us were in a tournament that very next morning. As tired as we were I was so proud of the kid's accomplishments that day. Lindsey with her medal and Austin with his trophy. For myself I was thrilled to have survived doing my forms in front of the judges....whew!

Aunt Karen and the Cove

2010-09-04T18:41:00.000-05:00

After St. Louis we were able to make a very quick pitstop in Knoxville, Tn. to see my brother and his wife. We met for dinner and had a great time catching up. We did take one picture, but I think it is on Brian's phone. Wanted to remember that we stopped at Knoxville for a short time.
The next day we made it to The Cove where Brian's Aunt Karen works and lives in the mountains. The above picture is Aunt Karen with the kids.
We were thrilled to be able to take our own private tour of the Cove's radio station where Aunt Karen works. It was great to see the history of a radio station and more of Billy Graham's ministry. A neat fact is that Aunt Karen's husband, Uncle Vince, is actually Billy Graham's mechanic and has been to his home to work on their vehicles.

As you go into the radio station you'll see this picture of Mr. and Mrs. Graham.

Aunt Karen is blessed to have built her dream home on top of a mountain and to work at The Cove. Simply gorgeous!!

St. Louis Arch....

2010-09-04T18:21:00.003-05:00

We loved visiting the St. Louis Arch. I think we took about 100 pictures of the arch itself. The one thing I would say is going up the arch is not for those who can't handle tight spaces. Below is a picture of the "egg" we sat in. It only fit our family and we were knee to knee.

I had my own little "meltdown" as we went up and down the arch. Fortunately they told us it would be 4 minutes going up and I got out my phone to time it. Longest 4 minutes ever. I whispered to Brian: "What if this gets stuck?" To which he replied: "Think happy thoughts, dear."

Here's Reece looking out one of the tiny windows at the city...

Meltdown in St. Louis..

2010-08-25T15:36:00.002-05:00

It's a gorgeous day when we make our next stop in St. Louis. We are SO excited to do something we have never done before - go to the top of the St. Louis Arch.

Apparently we did not even think we needed to take the time to "properly prepare" our children for this adventure. Apparently Reece thought, when we told him we were going to the top of that Arch, he -in his 7 year old mind - pictured us scaling the thing with a rope on the outside.

Major meltdown for Reece as children happily hop and skip past us on the way to their adventure. Well....we took some time to help Reece off "the ledge" yet he still kept a grumpy face in some of the pictures... Lesson learned for these parents.

High School Reunion

2010-08-21T18:31:00.000-05:00

When we planned this trip and knew we'd be heading to Kansas City, he was pleasantly surprised when some old school buddies decided to plan a "reunion" for the short time we would be there. It worked out so well that they even had it at their old school.
Brian was thrilled to see his former Music teacher and Math teacher when we arrived.

Before the party began, his former Math teacher took him around on a tour and that was just wonderful for Brian to see what has changed and what has stayed the same.

Couldn't resist getting a picture of Brian pretending to get into one of the lockers down his old school hallway.

Here is most of the ones who came back to see each other after more years than we'd like to admit.

Special people along the way....

2010-08-21T18:20:00.000-05:00

As I said in an earlier post, we decided to really make the most of this trip in that we purposely chose to see some special people along the way.
I was so thankful to be able to spend an evening with Uncle Sandy and Aunt Laurene. It was so good to hear about their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. I've heard it many times before, but I still love to hear how my twin cousins were born and how they didn't even know they'd be having twins until the actual birth. They are such a sweet couple and I love spending time with them. Brian, my history buff husband, enjoyed his time with Uncle Sandy as Sandy was actually a POW. So thankful the Lord had his hand in the war ending right when Uncle Sandy needed it to for survival. Just a great evening catching up with them.

When we left Iowa, we headed down to Kansas City for a day. There I was able to see my cousin Laura and her 4 boys (her daughter was away at Opera Camp), my Aunt Sharon and my Uncle John. It's been a long time since I had seen Laura. Basically she has had 5 children since I saw her last. That's a LONG time overdue!

Aunt Sharon treated us to a wonderful lunch out while we all caught up with each other and then Uncle John was waiting for us when we went back to their home. It was just wonderful spending that time with them!

Water Park Tradition...

2010-08-21T17:58:00.003-05:00

A highlight, of the summer, is when Aunt Nar takes us to the best water park I've ever been too. The kids cannot believe it is only 10 min. from her home and she only goes there when we come. This year they added a motorized roller coaster water-ride. That was just amazing! Clearly, at such a place, there just simply isn't much time to take pictures. I like to ride everything the kids are riding.
We always end the day with dipping dots. So funny that Aunt Nar's friend was amazed that we do stay literally all day. By the time we get to the dipping dots - we are thoroughly exhausted! Good way to end that day!

A first for Brian, Lindsey and I. We have joked, the past 5 years, about riding the tallest water slide in the park. Never could we go beyond joking. Well.....this year we were crazy enough to do it! It is 6 stories high and you do feel like you are literally going straight down. They have you cross your arms, over your chest and lay back for the ride down. For me, I was still in that position in the end, when Brian came to pull me out. I had my eyes closed the entire time. Lindsey loved it so much that she did it a second time with her Daddy. Once was plenty for me to just say that "I did it".
Brian had to take a picture of the cafe sign because it says "pop" instead of soda. And yes, I still say Pop. Soda is what I bake with. :)
The water park, with Aunt Nar, is truly a highlight of our whole summer!

Traditions.....

2010-08-21T17:54:00.000-05:00

We have some "Aunt Nar traditions" that we just cannot live without. One is going to Chuckie Cheese. The kids have to get in front of that video camera and get as goofy as possible.

It's all about the tickets for this girl!

Another "tradition" is hitting at least one movie. This year it was Toy Story 3 which was a huge hit for the kids and adults!
Something that wasn't traditional but just a blast was when Uncle Kevin and Aunt Nar took us to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat musical. Awesome!!! I laughed so hard when Elvis came out as the Pharoah of Egypt.

Iowa...

2010-08-21T17:26:00.002-05:00

Well..this year we did our annual trip to Iowa and, for the first time, chose to make stops all along the way going home. The first leg of the trip was quite typical. Dehydrate our children and make it all the way to Indianapolis with maybe 1 or 2 stops. Repeat on day two and end up in IA after 19 hours of driving.

I love this time! I was able to listen to two books: Forgotten God by Francis Chan and The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer. Brian also listened to the Tozer book. The kids blissfully listen to their own audio books and get a couple of videos along the way as well. It is like a mini retreat that I don't normally get when I see all of my "to do's" at home.

We loved celebrating Grandma's b-day with her and Grandpa along with Aunt Nar and Uncle Kevin.

Seriously fun is this hand game with Aunt Nar -- haven't we all played this one before? Another hit was the thumb war.
Reece with his namesake...

The kids baked cookies for the nursing home staff and handed them out to everyone. Brian also played the piano for the residents. I LOVED how they requested Christmas music in July!!
I lost track of how many evenings we ended the night with ice cream with Aunt Nar and Uncle Kevin. I told the kids they had to have these crunch ice cream cones. A childhood memory of mine...

3289.7 MILES!!!

2010-08-15T17:22:00.010-05:00

Awesome time! Great memories! I'll have to fill you in sometime! :)

A traumatic entrance....

2010-08-07T19:12:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow my baby turns 7!! Wow....dare I say "time flies by"? I thought it might be fun to type out Reece's "birth story". I'm sure only interesting to me, but I love to look back and see how - despite things not going as I had wished - IF things had gone as I wished, Reece would not be here with us. So I write out Reece's birth story so thankful that the Lord had His hand upon that day 7 years ago.

"Dear Janet,
What a surprise today brought! As we arrived at Akron City Hospital at 10am little did we know about what was in store. We had a few minutes to visit while they waited for a room in L&D. By 11 am we were settled in room 222. Your nurse, Debra Horning, was gentle and informative. While awaiting admission questions and procedures you, Brian, Debra Kinzel and I prayed for God's protection on you and your baby, for your strength and wisdom of all involved. By 11:30 you had the monitor on and we heard Reece's heartbeat. Debra K. massaged your hand and talked to you about relaxing while your IV was started. Your pitocin was started about 11:40 while you relaxed in the rocker. Dr. Hutzler came in and said he'd come in again in awhile and check you after your contractions had started. He was pleased to see some contractions after only a small amount of pitocin had been given to you. Anesthesia came in and asked you a few questions so they would be ready when you wanted your epidural.

At 12:20p.m. you were still really comfortable. Dr. Hutzler was busy delivering another baby and nurse Debra said he'd be in later to check on you. I suggested that Brian go down and get a bite to eat now while labor was just getting started and the Dr. would not be in for awhile.

At 12:45 pm you tried standing and leaning forward on the birthing ball. We talked about walking with tele as you did with previous births. I thought it would be good to get the baby down farther before too long. After this the Dr. was in and examined you and said the baby was lower and that the membranes were bulging so he wanted to put on an internal monitor. You questioned if he was going to rupture your membranes and he said he was just going to put an internal monitor on the baby's head and that might cause the membranes to leak a little. The internal monitor did rupture the membranes and he said he could feel the baby's hand by the head and suggested you stay in bed now.

He said when the membranes ruptured the baby moved up higher off of the cervix and he was very concerned the cord might come down. He said after the baby moved down again you could be up and walking. He and Nurse Debra commented about how good the baby's heartbeat looked. Brian came back as all of this was going on. Needless to say he was shocked and disappointed that he wasn't there during the procedure. I felt bad about that, too.

Dr. Hutzler left the room and Nurse Debra and I straightened up the bed while Brian and Doula Debra comforted you. You were definitely having some harder contractions and your back was beginning to hurt more. I got out a warm pack for your back as well.

About 1:30 Dr. Hutzler came back into the room and examined you again. He said this time he could still feel the baby's hand but also could feel the cord. He felt there was no time to waste but that an immediate cesarean was necessary. He assured you that the baby's heartbeat was great now but he had concerns that the baby was at risk if you continued to labor. Needless to say we were all in a state of shock. I leaned over and asked you if you understood that they were going to do a cesarean. As tears welled up in your eyes I tried to explain why the surgery was needed as soon as possible. You commented that you shouldn't have let him rupture the membranes. I assured you that this was not a result of that.

Very suddenly we had 2 nurses, anesthesia and Dr. Hutzler all in the room at one time preparing to move your bed to surgery. Dr. Hutzler said I could go into surgery with Brian. Brain was so sympathetic and didn't even get a chance to spend time with you before surgery since they moved you so quickly.

While you were in surgery getting your spinal, Brian and I suited up and then sat outside the room. We prayed as we sat and waited. When they allowed us in the room Brian immediately went to sit by you and comfort you. The nurses asked me to sit over by the baby warmer. As I sat there waiting I prayed for you and Brian. I knew how nervous he was about being in surgery and I knew the Lord would give him what he needed to comfort you.

At 1:57 Reece Edward was born. As they brought him out they were VERY surprised to see that his cord was wrapped around his wrist and had a TRUE knot in it. All I could do was say, "Praise you Lord for your protection!" By having the cesarean early in the labor it prevented any chance that the knot would have tightened as he descended during pushing and birth. We prayed for God's protection and He definitely was holding Reece in His hands today.

After holding him up for you to see they took Reece to an adjoining room to check him. They motioned for me to follow them. The two nurses caring for him were pleased at how great he looked. They commented about how pink he was and how big he was. His apgars were 8 and 9. While Dr. Hutzler was finishing your surgery the nurses weighed, measured and foot printed Reece. I asked them to do footprints for the kids too and they put footprints on a diaper for them. By 2:15 he was wrapped and they asked me if I would like to take him to you and Brian. Of course I said, "yes". Finally you got a look at your healthy big boy.

He weighed 8 - 7 1/2 lbs and was 21" long. He made it quite obvious that he knew your voices. He stared right at Brian. At 2:40 we headed to recovery with Reece in your arms. By 3p.m. he was snuggled up with you and nursing. After that he had a bath and then was ready for your arms again. When Debra and I left at 4:30 Reece was asleep in Brian's arms and you were resting comfortably."

Please pray....

2010-07-22T21:59:00.004-05:00

It was this past Sunday morning when I woke up and decided to check on e-mails before getting the kids up for church. I was not prepared to see so many e-mails from college buddies and my husband (who was already at church). It is NEVER a good feeling, in the pit of your stomach, to see "BAD NEWS" as the subject title.

My dearest friend, college roommate, maid of honor - Allie - had lost her husband, Sat. afternoon, in a plane crash. Mark has been a pilot all of his adult life. He took his first solo flight at the age of 18. He had spent the past 19 years as an air traffic controller. His love and passion, outside of his dear family, was flying.

Saturday he had taken off and very soon after told his air traffic controller buddies that he needed to head back to the airport. One minute later he crashed near a busy highway. From the investigation it showed that he had spent that last minute very level headed, preparing him and his co-pilot for a crash landing. It showed that he had shut off the fuel supply to help avoid a fire if the plane crashed. He had also opened up the canopy to the 2 seater plane so he and his passenger wouldn't be trapped if there was a fire. These are all established procedures to prepare for a crash landing.

Friday morning, at 10a.m., will be Mark's funeral. Outside of a large number of family and friends, there are also pilots coming in -from all over the country (as Mark has guided them safely in his job and they are coming to pay their respects) and his air traffic controller friends will be attending the funeral.

I just ask people to pray for the funeral. For those coming who do not know the Lord. For my dear friend Allie and their three young children who have lost their father. I know my heart is grieving right along with her and will continue to lift Allie up long after the funeral is over when everyone else has gone back to their lives and this new reality has set in.

I know Allie would tell everyone to hug your spouses and tell them how much you love them - for you just never know. Hug your kids and be grateful for every moment you have to love on them...

Thank you for praying!

Our Lord is a "father to the fatherless, a defender of widows...." Psalm 68

Love a 3 day weekend!

2010-07-09T09:45:00.006-05:00

We are usually gone during the July 4th celebrations so we weren't quite sure what to plan. We'd been spoiled by Iowa's big fireworks display and awesome parades. The first year we were here we did go to the NC fairgrounds and quickly learned that it just didn't compare.

This year we decided to check out the Wake Forest Fireworks and we struck gold. It was an awesome evening. We planted ourselves at the local high school and our kids took off running to play Frisbee with other children on the hill. Here are pics of Reece going after the Frisbee. We needed to explain to him that this wasn't 'tackle football'.
Lindsey got there and said: "I think this would be a great time to make new friends." Here she is running with the Frisbee.
The weather was gorgeous, all week, in the 80's and I actually got just a tad cold when the sun went down.
We were thrilled to spend the fireworks evening with the Phillips. Here's Martha snapping some pictures of the kids.
I have FINALLY learned to just smile when Brian snaps pictures of me. If I don't he'll just keep snapping away to get every facial expression I have to give him.
Gorgeous night to catch up with each other...
This evening came complete with skydiving, bands, etc.

I don't know if we'd ever been so close to the fireworks before. I had to assure Lindsey that they wouldn't fall on us. It was really awesome!!
Brian had Monday off so we were thrilled to extend the "party weekend" and have a cookout at the Miller's. Here is Lindsey and Melody playing in their pool.

Dads are WAY more fun in the pool than us Moms. Suzanne and I chatted away as Brian and Andy gave the kids flips in the water. Here's Brian flipping Melody.

If Brian was doing the flipping, he was surrounded by kids. If Andy was doing the flipping, he was surrounded by kids. Finally the Dads started playing minnows and sharks and all the children just played and played until the pool closed. Love a three day weekend as of course it lengthens your weekend and shortens the next work week. Love it!!

And it's great to know where there are some great fireworks in NC.

Red, White, and Blue..

2010-07-04T20:48:00.005-05:00

Happy July 4th, 2010!!! **Thanks Aunt Nar for the awesome patriotic clothes!!**

Lindsey turns 9!!

2010-06-30T21:59:00.004-05:00

Today was Lindsey's ninth birthday and, as is a common characteristic of her, she thought of others first. Tucking her in, the night before, she told me: "I'll probably get up early, mom, but I promise I will let you sleep in."

True to her word, she let me sleep in and she spent time practicing Tae Kwon Do with her Daddy and then she got to open her presents before going out for breakfast with her Daddy.

Her special day happened to fall on the day she has a swim/Bible Study at a friends house. There is no place she would have rather been. It was great to pop in and see 10 sweet girls, from church, swimming and then gathering for dinner and Bible Study. I know it's been a highlight of her summer.
Lindsey picked a sunshine cake because we call her our "sunshine girl". A sweet friend, from church, also celebrated a birthday this week so they both blew out the candles together.
A few days ago I did surprise Lindsey by taking her and a few friends out for ice cream after Tae Kwon Do.

They got all "sugared up" and danced to the music playing at the fountains.
Yes....Lindsey really does smile all the time...
I've loved every minute of being this little girl's Mom. She truly has been "sugar and spice and everything nice". Always concerned for others, ready to give out lots of hugs, and truly a child of God who seeks Him daily. Her desire this summer was to read through the Bible for her oral readings so she and I have been reading the New Testament together which has been precious.

I LOVE how she gives the Lord credit for every good thing. If we have an outside activity and it doesn't rain she says: "Of course it didn't rain, Mom. I prayed that it wouldn't and God answered my prayer." Lindsey's faith puts mine to shame...

She loves being a little sister and a big sister to her brothers. The other day I was working out, at the Y, while the kids were swimming. When I came to pick them up, their Y teacher told me that Lindsey wouldn't leave Reece as he went down the slide over and over. The teacher told Lindsey that she was there to watch Reece, but Lindsey said she needed to take care of her little brother and did she ever.

A couple of years ago, right before Lindsey and I were to fly back home from Iowa, I severely sprained my ankle. This was literally right before our flight. I looked into her brown eyes, while in a lot of pain, and said: "Lindsey, you gotta help me get home." She took that to heart and helped me hobble all through the Detroit airport, she pulled the luggage off the conveyor and I truly feel she DID get me home in one piece.

I have story after story I could share of our girl. This post could go on indefinitely.... but I think anyone who meets her would understand why we call her our "sunshine girl" and our "angel straight from Heaven". Course you might guess what she says to that: "No, you are my angel from Heaven, Mom." Yes.....she knows how to melt my heart! I love you Lindsey!!

I had better not hear these words....

2010-06-24T16:20:00.000-05:00

Four different pools four days in a row with four different playdates....
I had better not hear: "Mom, we just haven't gone swimming much this summer."
My goal, tomorrow, is for all of us to wear regular clothes. :)

The week that was: part two...

2010-06-20T20:29:00.003-05:00

If you read the post before this one you'll see that I kind of made a calendar 'blunder'. I double booked my kids with two camps in one week. Thankfully it worked out because the music camp was in the morning and the 3 hr. Tae Kwon Do camp was in the evening. It was a hopping week but the kids loved every minute of it!

We've been thrilled to be doing Tae Kwon Do as a family, since January, and we just knew that the camp would be as excellent as our weekly classes. We were not disappointed. It was amazing for the kids and their presentation night was just incredible.
Here is Reece showing some of his TKD moves.

Austin and Lindsey did some stick work that they had never done before. There is Austin, in the back row, doing some techniques with a green belt.
Reece is getting instruction on how to place his hand in order to break his board.
Broke it right in half.
Austin splitting his board in half.
And Lindsey breaking her board.
We had to confess, today, that even on Father's Day there is no place we would rather be than at TKD. We've gotten to know the sweetest friends, we've seen the kids grow in skill, discipline, and respect. It's just been an amazing journey so far. Whew! What a week!

The week that was.....

2010-06-20T20:24:00.000-05:00

We love summer and the special activities that the kids are able to participate in. This last week was quite the week. With me not looking carefully, at the calendar, I double booked the kids in camps. In the morning they had a 3 1/2 hour music camp where they learn an entire musical in a week and then perform them on Friday and Sunday evenings. They did receive the music earlier which is nice.
Here Austin is singing with his buddy Stevie.

Brian and I giggled through the whole concert whenever we turned our attention on Reece. I think he had to choose which one to do: all the choreography or sing. It was a little difficult to do both at one time.

Lindsey loved every moment of it. She was with her buddies, Nicole and Crystal, in the dance part and that fit her completely. Look at that smile. She smiled through the entire concert.

This year I finally got smart and carpooled with my friend, Leslie. I dropped her kids off in the morning and she picked all of our kids up in the afternoon. She also spoiled them with an afternoon swim date and McDonalds on another day. Listening to those kids talk away, in the van, was a highlight for me. I love listening to kids and their conversations.

Now for the evening plans on another post......

In Awe of Beauty..

2010-06-19T21:24:00.002-05:00

Last month the kids and I went on a field trip to Duke Gardens. I am quite surprised at how taken I am with this place. It is just so amazing to me to drive a few minutes, on busy highways, and end up in such a beautiful oasis. It's a unique place to visit and wander around, and even better to have a tour guide. Our tour guide took us to places I had not yet seen - and here I thought I had pretty much covered all of the gardens.

I just know I didn't fully appreciate the beauty of God's creation when I was a kid and I can see how my enthusiasm amuses my children. Picture this group walking on ahead and Austin, Lindsey and Reece turning back looking for their mother - only to find my nose, and camera, stuck in some bush because I am just smitten with these glorious flowers.

Well...I have found myself revisiting these pictures (now I AM thankful my nose was stuck in so many bushes) and just marveling at God's creation. Just a reminder to literally "stop and smell the roses" as I journey on this side of eternity.

Oh Lord God Almighty, who is like you? You are mighty, O Lord, and your faithfulness surrounds you. You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them.
The heavens are yours, and yours also the earth; you founded the world and all that is in it.
Psalm 89: 8-9, 11

There is a resort 5 minutes from our house.....

2010-06-13T19:26:00.005-05:00

This afternoon we were invited to a "Luau" for Lindsey's friend, Crystal. Austin happens to be great friends with Crystal's brother, Stevie and Brian and I quite enjoy hanging out with their parents. Well...Crystal's Mom, Leslie, DOES know how to throw a party and I knew this one would not be an exception to that. Here are some pics from a great afternoon.
Brian found a great spot under a rainbow umbrella...

Reece has no fear as he just "flies" into the water. Summer swimming fun at it's best!
Leslie had the girls do a hula hoop contest and they got to take home their own hula hoop.
Oh Lins..... sometimes it's just ok to laugh at yourself!
Leslie even had the boys try it out. What a hoot!

All the girlfriends together in their grass skirts and lays...
Oh yes they did do a Limbo too!!

Lindsey was getting quite low until.....
plop....right on the ground. She always gets up with a smile, though.

I even had on a grass skirt and lay. Just when I think it can't get even better.....Leslie brings out straw hats for the guys. Love it!! Love it even more that they have blessed us with a set weekly pool party there throughout the summer. Fun, fun, fun summer swimming!!

Lindsey's Soccer Season...

2010-06-10T14:47:00.002-05:00

Lindsey has been playing soccer for a few years now and really loving every minute of it. Here are some spring pictures of her last soccer game.
Trophy party time...
Lindsey has had the best coach and she just loves it when he brings each girl forward to share what strengths he has seen in Lindsey and also areas where she can work on during the summer (well.....not too much "working on" happens because you just want to play in the pool and blow bubbles in the summer..right?)

Awesome spring season with a great group of girls!

Reece's Spring Season..

2010-06-08T09:01:00.004-05:00

Reece is having such a great time doing Kickin for the Cross Soccer. We can't say enough good things about it. In May he finished up his season and here you see some of the last games "warm up". The coach told them to run out, on the field, and roll around in the dirt. What?!?! Telling a bunch of 6 and 7 year olds to go out and roll in the dirt?? Are you kidding me??

Obviously the coach didn't need to tell Reece twice. He couldn't wait!
Me, on the other hand, was trying not to have any issues with the coach's leadership abilities. Brian had just as much fun catching my reaction as he did to snapping pictures of Reece rolling in the dirt.

Here's the trophy party and there is Reece taking off with two Dunkin Donuts and just checking to see our reaction to his plate of donuts.

This kid LOVES getting his trophy and had a great soccer season!

Normal Day...

2010-06-03T22:36:00.000-05:00

Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are.... Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect Tomorrow. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in my pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return.

Mary Jean Iron

The weekend that was......

2010-06-01T07:48:00.011-05:00

It was exciting, this past weekend, to see all of Brian's work come to fruition. The first was a musical that he wrote the music for and played for. I know it was a huge relief for Brian to see it all come together. Our friend, Scott, wrote the musical and it was equally great to see him lead his students in the music. Scott is great with music and children. You put the two together and he is right where God has called him.

Thankfully, also, the outdoor wedding (the one Brian had only a few weeks back met with the couple to discuss music and they didn't care what music - just not traditional...) went well. When the couple started to walk down the aisle as husband and wife, Brian started with the traditional fanfare and then quickly changed to "Isn't She Lovely". The couple was thrilled with their non-traditional songs -yeah! The coolest (no pun intended) thing was that they had put their wedding programs on a stick that made them into fans. Such an awesome idea for an outside wedding.

A few posts back I showed pictures of a single wall where I had taken the wall paper off. Well....that 'little act' took us to a level of "house remodeling" that we didn't anticipate. Our dining room, living room, stairway, and kitchen are all connected. So there was no way around it but to paint the entire area. I knew I didn't want to be painting all summer, so we attacked this project with gusto and are thrilled to be done with our part. We do have one wall where it is vaulted over steps and we'll be having a guy come, Thursday, with the proper equipment to do that wall.

This picture below shows our living room. This is another reason why it just NEEDED to get done. Having curtains draped over the couch and a piano in the middle of the room does not lead to a peaceful home. Reece did think having the fridge in the middle of the kitchen was cool, but he learned quickly that it would not be staying there...
My sister has this color in her house. It's called peanut butter and the kids LOVE saying they should just eat the walls for lunch. I had gotten the paint on my hand and ALMOST licked it so I need to stop calling it peanut butter for my own sanity.
Monday morning we finished painting the last bit of the kitchen and it was time to party. Some friends of ours, John (below left) and Judy had invited us over for a Memorial Day Pool party. We jumped at the chance to leave our painting behind.

Pool party it was and the kids had such a great time swimming all afternoon and evening.

While us women were gabbing inside the house, we noticed the men had disappeared. They had taken over the cul de sac with some frisbee throwing.

Reece was the only kid who couldn't wait to join the men and throw some frisbee. Here is Mike below trying to keep Reece from grabbing the frisbee.

It was great seeing Shelley as she was in town for a few days.

Here's Sofia showing the kids her Mom's new Ipad.
This is John and Judy's son, Miles. Don't know what Brian is doing, but Miles was very fascinated with him.

It was such a sweet time spending the day talking with Judy and Martha and all the other ladies.

So Thankful!!

2010-05-25T13:38:00.000-05:00

I've just been so overcome with gratitude over how much the Lord loves and cares for us. This past Thursday Brian and I celebrated 15 years of marriage and went away for a few days while the grandparents came down to stay with the kids. The weeks that led up to our trip were very trying for both Brian and I.

I know I had posted how some of the kids winter activities had a couple more weeks to finish up and their spring activites had started up -- so that had us hopping from one thing to another, finishing up school, testing, starting a mammoth painting project that is still "in progress". Eating supper in the van.....on and on the story goes.

For Brian he hit May with a buddy wanting him to pretty much make a musical happen in a few short weeks by arranging/composing the songs, rehearsing, editing parts, and playing for the musical. He also met with a couple who are marrying this coming weekend. They didn't know what they wanted at all -- just nothing traditional. That has led to some extra planning meetings, reheasals and even a surprise ending as they walk back down the isle as husband and wife. So....on top of his work in doing his full time job, these extra jobs had him at the office til midnight so many nights leading up to our trip.

I think it all culminated the morning before our trip when I had hoped to go for a run, did my warm up, and knew within 5 feet of running that I was in too much pain. (injured the top of my right foot in Tae Kwon Do and had heel pain in my left heel from running.) I called Brian crying and walking home just so frustrated. He is my calming partner that talked me back home to just let it go for the day. And then I e-mailed a running friend who gently encouraged me to take that week off and just enjoy our vacation. She was right. I now have no pain and took my first 4 mile run last night, in the rain, and it was wonderful.

I knew stress was building up in both of us. God knew it too and He provided us with a sweet time of getting away and resting and just being together.

I have a few "May posts" to catch up on with the sweet ceremonies that the kids were a part of, but I just wanted to reflect back on this past week and how much the Lord has us in His hands and how much He cares for us.

On our trip we didn't take too many pictures (didn't even crack open my computer -- a true sign of how "away and relaxed" I was), but here is a picture of something I don't think I have ever done. Even though I've become quite the beach bum the past 4 years I've never left a "dress-up" occasion to run down to the beach, at sunset, slip off my high heels and run in the waves. Well... I can now say I have done that and it was wonderful. May I never lose the awe I have over how incredible the ocean is and how incredible my Lord is!

Snow Day!

2010-05-07T11:42:00.004-05:00

This past winter we were snowed in for a few days, but I didn't want to take any snow days from school when we couldn't go anywhere and have fun. So I promised the kids we would take a snow day in a few months. I was telling Beth about it and we came up with the plan to surprise our kids with a "snow day at the beach". The weather has been gorgeous and it was time to surprise the kids. So this past Thursday morning I woke them up and yelled "snow day at the beach"! I don't know why I expected a huge reaction to that - because I didn't get one. They wanted to sleep. (so like their Momma in the morning). By the time we loaded up and headed to Beth's house....they were pretty pumped about our plans.

It was absolutely gorgeous!! Perfect time of year to go. I felt like we had the beach all to ourselves. Here's Beth and Addison hanging out at our spot.

This little girl wasn't too into getting all "icky" in the sand so she hung out with Beth and I. It was too funny when this sea gull came to check out what snacks Addison was having. We couldn't believe it when the sea gull took off with part of Addison's sandwich.

Jackson and Reece were busy boys as they made there own water tunnels in the sand. They also loved chasing the sea gulls, jumping waves and riding their boogie boards.

Here's Beth and Addison hanging out...

Austin, Harrison and Lindsey became quite good at riding the waves..
The sun wiped Addison out and here she is sleeping in the wagon which made for a great make shift bed.
With Addison sleeping and Beth and I talking the day away, our kids were yelling at us trying to get our attention. We turned around and found this: the kids getting all cozy in the sand.

It could not have been a better beach day!

The time is now!

2010-05-05T13:31:00.004-05:00

An annual outing I would hate to miss is strawberry picking. We all love filling our buckets with juicy strawberries that we had just picked. Yesterday we were able to visit a farm with some friends of ours. The cloudy skies made for perfect 'strawberry picking weather'.

We let the kids have at it and they did a great job! We all did some 'grazing' up and down the rows (thankfully this is encouraged by the nice farmers) and had a great time. Make sure and spend some time picking your own berries. It is amazing the explosion of flavor you'll get from your own bucket of strawberries. YUM-O!!!

Our worlds collided last week.....

2010-05-03T12:25:00.001-05:00

Oh...yes that is me with a bag over my head and yes I did write: "Momma is checked out". And yes my kids thought that was hilarious!
Surely I'm not the only Mom, when registering her kids for various activities, thinking it looked "ok" on paper but the reality was much different.

Well....last week hit us like a storm. We have activities that are finishing up and some that are short and sweet, yet just started. They collided together this week. Here's how it played out.

Sunday: birthday party and Tae Kwon Do
Monday: swim lessons for all three (Working their way up the 7 levels at the Y. Mostly refining various stokes and dives right now.)
Tuesday: Tae Kwon Do
Wednessday: Swimming lessons and then stuff some protein balls in their mouths on the way to Awanas. Yep...that was supper.
Thursday: Tae Kwon Do 1 1/2 hour seminar.
Friday: Soccer practice for two kids.
Saturday: Soccer games

Whew! I remember walking into Awanas, with Brian, and saying: "The kids are going to be SO tired tonight." He was right in saying that: "No, I think Mommy is going to be so tired tonight."

I'm so thankful for many things right now, though. I see school subjects finishing up for the year. Swim lessons, Awanas, and Soccer will be done in the next week or two and then the schedule will only really include Tae Kwon Do. Summer is coming!

Sometimes we just need to see a little "light at the end of our tunnel". I'm starting to see it. I'm also looking forward to this week with some new, yet fun, things. Tomorrow will be strawberry picking time with a sweet lady and her kids. Thursday is a promised "snow day" with another precious friend and her children and -trust me - we'll be playing in the best kind of snow around all of North Carolina ALL DAY! On Friday is the day that the kids take off with Brian while I have my own playdate with one of my "once a month" buddies. She'll be coming here for "brunch".

Whoops.....since I'll be gone all day Thursday can a bowl of strawberries count as "brunch". :) PLEASE tell me it can be so...

Spring Abundance at Duke Gardens

2010-04-27T11:33:00.010-05:00

I used to think that fall was my favorite season. I must admit that spring time is doing a great job of competing for my affections. Especially when I live SO close to Duke Gardens. Last week I took the kids on our annual trip to wander around the beautiful garden and just to simply soak it all in. I love seeing my kid's appreciate God's wonderful creation and it is hard not to here.

This little duck was SO close to Lindsey and just quacking away at her...

I'm not really feeling this 'pose', Mom. Well....Reece, you picked it. Reece: "Austin, Lindsey.....get on top of me for a picture!" Yes....you did say that Reece!

Trouble Makers.......

2010-04-23T13:47:00.006-05:00

A-ha! You thought I was talking about my kids, didn't you?? Actually this time it was the Grandparents that were being the "stinkers" when it came to getting a picture of them. I think this is how it went down. GrandDad wanted a picture of them kissing and PDA (public displays of affection) didn't go over too well for GrandMom.

The photographer and us kids and grand kids didn't really know what to do with them. Bribe them with candy? Loose change in your pocket? Ice cream or McDonalds if they smile for the camera? What would you do? I just decided to keep snapping pictures in the hope that things would settle down.

And you wonder where the Grand Kids get it from......