Happy Birthday To ME

A couple weeks ago my friend Tomicka told me she wanted to take me out to dinner and a movie for my birthday. So this last Friday when she picked me up I was surprised to see a few of my other friends were coming too. I was even more surprised when she handed me a card that told me they were taking me to dinner at the BEACH!

I just kept saying; What? Really? and Are you SERIOUS? Then Lars handed me a bag that was packed and ready for a night away! Tomicka had even packed a beach bag for me with a new towel, float and a picture of JK and I framed from our last trip to the beach.

And then I almost cried - I was so overwhelmed, surprised, grateful, happy and SURPRISED!


JK really wanted to go. But this was a NO kids trip.




This birthday may go down in the books as the most surprised I have ever been.

Thank you girls. Staying up until 2, sun-burning myself, learning how to do new things, California yogurt, and swimming in the ocean without a child in my arms - it was fantastic!

I am already getting excited for Time Out for Women in Atlanta this fall - whose in?

Oh Dear!

Back when we first moved to Alabama and were pregnant with Trey we went to church one Sunday and I fell in love with three little boys sitting next to us in the pew. They were everything little boys should be: freckled, shaved heads and mischievous looking. Every time I looked at them teasing each other and squirming in their church clothes it made me more and more excited to have a little boy.

I have always loved a little boy and his shaved head during the summer, so as we are getting ready to head west for the summer it was time to get my boys ready! First up a hair cut - or shave. We couldn't remember which length of clippers to use - but given the way Toby screams during a haircut I thought the shorter the better.

As a side note, I honestly would not have been surprised if the police had shown up during Toby's haircut due to calls from concerned neighbors. He can throw a massive fit and haircuts put him OVER the edge! At one point during his hair cut he was in a crazed rage and yelled out "hot like bologna" we think he was referring to the clippers?)

So out came the clippers and off went their hair - the problem with hair clippers - there is absolutely NO GOING BACK! All I could say is "Oh dear" with every pass on Trey's head. A quarter of an inch would have been just right - NOT AN EIGHTH OF AN INCH!

OH DEAR!

What did we do? My little boys are BALD! WHAT DID WE DO!

Now of course I think my boys are beautiful no matter what - but yikes this is a far cry from Toby's fluffy head of hair just a day ago.

Oh dear! Hot like bologna is right!

To the beach

I don't know what it was, but the second I heard that the oil was going to hit the Gulf I panicked - I felt like we HAD to go to the beach immediately before the oil washed ashore. Too bad Lars' work schedule and the Gulf's impending oil doom didn't seem to matter to each other because we were going with or without him we couldn't wait for the weekend.

So me and some friends loaded the kids up and headed to the beach. Aaaaaahhhhhhh - I have to say - the Gulf has the BEST beaches. White sand for miles, very few people and the cool water, what could be better?


Trey was WILD. He doesn't know how to swim well but with his boogie board he was fealess - which made me full of fear.

Toby is a little more reserved. In fact as we stated to walk towards the ocean he may have thrown a fit because he didn't want to get sand on his feet - all I could say is good luck with that one kiddo - he warmed up to it though and was happy to play and then all to happy to head to the pool at the condo.

Thanks friends - so sad the tar balls have started to come ashore now, but happy we went when we did!

Boot Camp 2010

Boot Camp 2010 was a huge success this year full of fun and, as always a few miracles. We had 78 kids this year and I think they all had a great time.



Vacation Bible Schools are huge down here - in fact just today I heard of one with 800 kids in attendance (those Baptists sure know how to party:)) We are building each year and I believe getting stronger as we take what we learn from the previous year and add or subtract as needed.

I will share that I was worried that we didn't have enough boards for each child to paint in camo colors for "craft detail" one day. (They put vinyl on them after they dried, the vinyl read Did You Pray? and then they attached ribbon through holes so they could hang them in their rooms reminding them to pray each day.) I knew I had only cut 68-70 boards and I felt happy for the good turn out but sad that some kids would have to go without. At the end of the first day we had two boards left over. The next day two children came that were not there to paint the boards on the first day using the two left over boards. Ya'll I KNOW I did not have that many boards - every year something like this happens and I love to see it.

These little faces make all the work so worth it!

Kelsey's Graduation

My sister graduated from high school and JK and I were able to fly out and celebrate with her. It was so fun to be there and to celebrate all things Kelsey!

We were a tad obnoxious as we watched her walk. She had matching glasses - these and our KELSEY sign may have annoyed those around us but we were having a blast.
Then we were able to party with our nephew and cousin for his first birthday. We LOVE these guys sooo much!This next picture just makes me excited for next month...

Giddy

I may not have showered today, but I voted. I. LOVE. ELECTIONS. Just going to the polls makes me giddy. Local elections are the best. Perhaps it is even more "exciting" when our livelihood is on the line (not this election- but we've been there). I love learning about the candidates and watching the returns come in. What an awesome country we live in.