Thanksgiving 2012

I know you've heard me say it before but I LOOOVE Thanksgiving! In the weeks and months leading up to Thanksgiving this year I've had my eyes opened to so many truths about the world we live in and just how extremely fortunate we are as this tiny little percentage of the world's population that enjoy such lavish freedoms and luxuries, such comfort, health, opportunity, freedom, and abundance. My heart aches for the extremity of it all and how we are so undeservingly blessed with so much. I am brought to my knees in thankful prayer. I hope that we will live knowing that none of it belongs to us! It's not ours to begin with and it could be gone in a blink. All that we have and all that we treasure is a gift from God.....a gift that requires our good stewardship and I pray that we will truly be good stewards willing to share and give with love in the way we live and act and use our gifts for God's glory.

I love you and I'm so eternally thankful for you ....my friends, my family!

It was a gorgeous Thanksgiving Day, beautiful weather, soooo much delicious food (not just one, but two turkeys and a ham!....let me just say there was so much food it was a good thing our family thought to bring their own tupperware from home to take left-overs, ha ha ha!!), football, fun fellowship with family and dear friends, texts with loved ones near and far, lots of hugs and laughter and my first experience with Skyping! (p.s.  it was so cool....and yes, I realize I'm a technological dork for letting you know it was my first time on Skype, lol)
We even set up the garage with extra seating, all the desserts, games, our fun turquoise couch and a big screen projecction movie. We decided to leave it set up that way for a little while after Thanksgiving because the kids enjoyed it so much.

Here is a re-cap in photos:

Those of you who weren't here with us in person were certainly here in our hearts and we love you so much! Hope your Thanksgiving was truly wonderful!

Random Ramblings

• Carley's asthma is in check and we don't have to put her back on the daily inhaler routine (just as needed) Yay!
• Zoe's stitches came out lickety split....and it looks like it will heal very nicely.
• ....Just gotta keep the little monkey from climbing and jumping on the furniture!! Ha!
• Football season is over, enjoyed watching the last home game with Jodi and Chris and the girls last night... but no time to take a breath; basketball tryouts started today. Carley tagged along to be daddy's assistant at the gym this afternoon.
• I am photographing a Sweet 16 birthday party tonight. Oh boy a room full of teenagers....not intimidating at all.  ha, ha!! :)
• I have such a good husband and I'm so proud of him and thankful for him! Out of the blue, he washed a giant pile of dishes this morning while I was at a meeting a the church (and I know he hates washing dishes). Such a sweet lovin' guy!
• Twice this week my big girl Carley got up before I was even out of the shower and she picked out her clothes, got herself dressed, fixed breakfast, and even helped her baby sister get up and brush her teeth and hair!
• She is getting so grown up, so mature. Over the past two weeks she has done random things that just make me so proud. One night she was just finishing her snack and noticed that daddy was taking out the trash so without a word and without being asked she got up and returned trash cans to their places throughout the house and just went about her business. Another time she told Zoe, "let's make clean-up a party and started teaching her a clean-up song as they worked together to pick up toys".
• There are so many moments that jump out at me lately and I just have to catch my breath and thank God. I don't want to take it for granted, don't want to waste it, dont' want to miss it! Just want to praise the Lord and be a good steward of all we have been entrusted with.
• Zoe is keeping me in check for sure! Little stinker has been sewing her wild 2yr old oats with some rotten little games of "lets push the limits". Sticking her tongue out or mimicking or making scrunched up fussy faces and yelling "NO". Poor thing is also getting up several times every night with nightmares or wanting milk or just wanting to come to our room because she is "scared of the dark". Oh, boy! .....or in the words of little Zoe "Awww, bumba!" (oh, bummer)   ....let's get this terrible 2 phase over with quickly shall we. I'm ready to sleep through the entire night again, and ready for my strong willed youngin' to simmer down. Even though I love every single bit of her and her strong will is pretty adorable most of the time!
• I especially love it, and all is made right when she crawls up on my lap and snuggles up and hugs and kisses me and says, "I love you....SOOOO MUCH!" ....and then Carley comes and does it too. ..........next, it's Jeremy's turn.  ;-D     LOL!  ha,ha!

Here are my two favorite girls, enjoying the end of Madagascar 3 with a dance. :)

Two Blue Stitches

This past Friday night the girls and I were spending some time with friends when an accident happened that sent our baby girl to the emergency room....

We finished dinner and went upstairs. The girls were all playing and putting on dress-up clothes and the grown ups were about to sit down and talk when Carley cried out a panicked yell from the kids room. I ran to the room to see my baby Zoe on the floor with blood all over her face. I was instantly panicked and almost just as quickly very calm as I grabbed her up in my arms.
She had been looking for a baby doll to play with and climbed up on the top of one of the bunk beds. Zoe has always been a little climber, since she could walk! And she is very cautious. But this time she just happened to loose her balance as she was leaning over the edge awkwardly trying to climb back down. She fell and hit her face on the ladder of one of the bunk beds (there were two positioned in an "L" shape in the room). My friends Crystal and Adrienne were amazing, they jumped into action and got what we needed to clean the wound between her eyes and keep cold pressure on it to make the bleeding stop. They prayed over her. They got my phone and I called Jeremy, who was scouting at a football game. He came right away and we drove her to the emergency room while Carley stayed with our friends. All the girls and the moms prayed for us and Zoe was completely calm and smiling the whole time as we raced to the hospital (me holding a compress over her face the whole way).
She was the best patient ever in the emergency room, just a happy little girl.....with a deep gash between her eyes. The Lord's mercies are so beyond compare! He gave her such a calm spirit and we were all calmer because of it. I hate to think how much worse the fall could have been. We were very fortunate.

They cleansed the wound and used a numbing cream on it. She watched curiously as they poked and prodded and checked her out.

 They wrapped her up like a little burrito to keep her from moving her hands and she was perfectly content. She didn't even flinch when they gave her shots in her face and then sewed in two blue stitches.

 She sat up and smiled when they were done and told them "Thank you for my stitches".

Love this precious, tough little stinker!

It's been five days now and she didn't even get black eyes! Wow!

Today we go to the doctor to get the two little blue stitches taken out.

We will also be seeing our pediatrician about Carley's asthma to see if she needs to start doing her inhaler again, praying that she won't have to.

And tomorrow it's off to the dentist for both girls!

Gee, I think we're getting our fill of the doctors visits this month!

Can we please be done after the dentist?!?

Hallelujah!

Ok, Pastor Zach here's a video you will certainly appreciate!

I actually recorded this the week before your sermon.... you know, the one on letting loose and praising God with our whole heart, and not holding back or quenching the spirit. I think my sweet little Zoe understands what that means without even having to be told. Maybe we could learn a lesson or two from the way our children express their love and praise. ;-)

Trunk or Treating

 

 

All dressed and ready to see friends and gather lots of treats!

 

 

Our church teamed up with another local church (across the street) to put on a huge "Trunk-or-Treat" event for the whole community. They had cars lining the streets all with their trunks decorated with different themes, some even had games the kids could play (one was a Duck Dynasty shooting game, hilarious!).

One of my favorite things was seeing the overload of cuteness in the kids costumes!

This is the type of Halloween I enjoy, not the scary stuff!

They got to decorate candy buckets and take home craft projects, enjoy popcorn, hotdogs, and cotton candy.....there were even pony rides and tours on a fire truck!

 

I think our kids hauled off enough candy to last us from now till Christmas!!!

It's a Boo-tiful Morning

Have a spook-tacular day everybody!

 

Happy Harvest and Autumn Blessings

 

I know I say this every year, but it's true. "I LOVE the FALL SEASON!!!"

 

The crispness in the air (before it gets just plain cold)

The changing colors on trees

Pumpkins, mums and gourds oh my!

The excuse to bake goodies and cook soups and stews

Having autumn scented spice candles burning

The decorations....oooh, the decorations, how I enjoy it!

Crafting & creating for art shows and Christmas (doing a LOT lately!)

Friday night football (Go Coyotes 5-1 so far!!!)

Sunday morning chocolate chip waffles

Hot coffee... or iced vanilla chai tea, mmmm!

Snuggling in blankets watching movies or reading books with the girls

The occasional afternoon nap (very rare these days, lol)

The meals, & get-togethers and conversations with friends and family...

(it's like one long three month holiday from October to December!)

 

Oh, thank you Jesus! Your abundant blessings surround me,

and your mercies are new each day!

I thank you all year long, but somehow each fall I am overwhelmed and reminded to say it more often, " I am so Thankful dear God for your grace and provision."

 

Happy Fall Y'all...ha, ha!

;-)

 

 

 

 

The Weekend Surprise Revealed....

I love the fact that Carley had no idea that we were planning something special for her birthday and she was absolutely fine with no party, no cake, no big deal. I love that because you guys know how we like to do cool special things for our girls but don't want them to feel disappointed in the small stuff or ordinary days. We want them to appreciate all of it and not feel "entitled". It's a tricky balance and I was just really proud that Carley was totally happy with her birthday consisting of us surprising her for lunch at school and nothing else.

So anyway......

Saturday we went about our normal routine and dad went to work. But when he got home we surpised Carley with an "Invitation". She had to open the card and read it outloud to find out what it was all about. I loved the expressions on her face as she read about spending the rest of the day with her best friend Ava and our families to go ice skating, shopping, out to dinner and then have a sleepover!

We all had the best time together!
Especially these two awesome little birthday girls! (Ava's birthday is coming up this week.)

Pardon the iPhone pics. I didn't want to carry my big camera along with us. ;)

We absolutely couldn't skip riding on the carousel after eating in the food court.

 

These two hams had the best time at Sam Moon trying on stuff and posing for pics before settling on purchasing some long turquoise dress up gloves and sparkley jewelry with their birthday money.

They were cracking us up!



They ended the night by staying up late reading books and playing in Carley's room.

then...

Daddy made our morning by cooking chocolate chip waffles for everybody before church! Yum!!!

 

Love you sweet girls. Happy, Happy 7 Years Old to both of you!

Dear Toothfairy,

Look who lost her very first tooth the day after her 7th Birthday!

 

This girl has been waiting and waiting all summer on that little wiggly tooth.

Today after school she was telling me about her day when she happened to reach up and rub her hand across her lips and it literally just fell out into her hand.

We both laughed hysterically.

Carley was so excited she had tears come to her eyes.

Congrats kiddo!

Happy 7th Birthday Carley!

Happy Birthday to our Carley girl!

Don't grow up too fast my precious little one.
I treasure every day, every moment, every memory with you!
Love you to the moon and back a million times over!

Oh what a fun day we had @neveradullmoment.myhouse.hahaha!

We started out this morning with a Happy Birthday song from mommy and Zoe, then a surprise note that daddy left for Carley to find when she woke up. After getting dressed there was another surprise phone call and song from Nana and Papa and Carley did a little dance with her ear glued to the phone.

Then I told the girls to grab their things, we had to go.
Carley said but mom we never leave without having breakfast first!?!?

Oh, not to worry! We made a special trip to the Donut Shop for morning delights including a huge chocolate glazed donut with sprinkles on top!

All day at school Carley got to wear a special Birthday crown. She got a card from her teacher and "Happy Birthday" wishes from everyone.

Then Zoe and I surprised her by coming to eat lunch with her. We brought Sonic with a hot fudge sundae (with extra hot fudge) and a cherry on top, YUM!!!

Daddy sent a picture message on the phone to tell her he loved her and hoped her day was great!

After school we got to see grandma, got a phone call from Aunt Jodi & family and played in the back yard! Gorgeous weather, amazing clouds...possible rain storms, yay!

Wow, what a day!

And she doesn't know it yet, but there is one more surprise planned for Saturday. ;)

....... stay tuned to see.

Homework

Back to school has been a whirlwind this year. How on earth have 3 weeks already gone by!?!?

Both my girls LOVE school. Zoe loves it in the afternoons when Carley lets her sit at the little princess desk  in her closet and they play school. Carley talks just like her teacher, warning Zoe, "if you don't follow directions, you will have your color moved", ha, ha. Then Zoe will come out of the room with an oversized, stuffed backpack on her shoulders like she is headed to the bus.
When we got to church, Zoe calls her class "baby school" and after we drop Carley off for 1st Grade in the mornings Zoe asks if we can do baby school or go see other kids..... she is so social, just like her sister.

Carley has homework each night, and so much is learned in 1st grade! We spend time reading books together every evening. And this week we are working on addition flash cards. The first night she got frustrated because it was difficult. But today with some advice from her teacher we got creative and made a game of it. We used a divided plastic tray and gumballs! Carley enjoyed putting the correct number of gumballs into two of the divided trays and then combining them into a larger tray to get the answer. Yay!

Here's our other cutie pie doing an early morning watercolor lesson while mommy worked on getting some orders done to deliver to a shop in downtown McKinney.

Jeremy's teaching schedule is finally getting worked out (no more working 6:30am - 7:30pm with no break!!!) They finally hired another history teacher at the high school so he actually has a conference period......and a bit of his sanity back. ;-P 
On a lighter note, the varsity football team has been doing great with two wins in a row and looking good for another this Friday night! Go Coyotes!
P.S. Hosting the after party meal for the coaches and their families after our first home game last Friday night was a big hit! It was a bit of a crazy zoo in my house inside and in the back yard till about 1:00am, with almost 50 people (lots of kids) but it all went great, especially since we were celebrating a good game!

And my "home work" has been pretty steady and busy too. Been working on new projects for an Art Festival coming up in October, doing some photo shoots, t-shirt design/printing, working on some cool new business card designs, and creating a lot of photo transfer artworks on wood.

Getting involved in some awesome Bible study groups has been super encouraging and I'm blown away with how much I've been learning.....I was missing out on so much when I only cracked my Bible open on Sunday mornings at church!  How easily I had forgotten what being in God's word can do to the way you look at every single aspect of life, from the mundane tasks and thoughts to the really big things, and how it convicts and brings change from the inside out.

Here's a verse to ponder:

Hebrews 4:12

New King James Version (NKJV)

¹² For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Awestruck by the Transforming Love of Christ

This weekend marked a very special highlight in a series of incredible "spirit changing" events that have happened in my life this summer. God has stirred an awakening in my soul and a hunger for His word that consumes me like never before. I see how far I've been from Him, even as a Bible believing Christian, attending church and trying to "live a good life".... I have been missing out on being transformed by His word in a real way because I've neglected Him. I didn't put any importance on reading God's word because honestly I was kinda lazy about it and I was convinced it was ok and I was doing fine because hey, I've heard God's word all my life in church.... I knew it well enough, right? Oh my how wrong I had been! The Bible is truly the only book in history that brings LIFE to those who read it. I sincerely struggled when first coming to the realization that I needed to learn more of God's word. My faith was seriously tested. I questioned all kinds of things and shed a lot of tears. But God is faithful and true and He has said in His Word that "You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." - Jeremiah 29:13

I am overwhelmed and truly awestruck as I am learning, as if for the very first time, about my God.

Thank you Jesus for your mercy, thank you for the people you have put in my life who lovingly have been accountability partners for me, who have witnessed to me (in recent times and through the years) through the way they live and believe, for friends who have dropped everything to load up kids in their car and drive to my house and pray over me in my front yard, who have held me while I cried and encouraged me with your scriptures. Thank you for the ways they have witnessed to me without even knowing it. Thank you for my family and friends from all stages of my life. I pray each of us will know your transforming love and grace and be able to share it with our families and friends that your word will be spread throughout the earth.

This weekend started out with a Girls Trip to Ft.Worth with some awesome friends, yay!

 Ashley, Jennifer, Fawnda and I were invited by our sweet new friend Jeanne (who has been the music ministry leader for LIFE Outreach International Ministries with James and Betty Robison for over 30 years) to attend the taping of a Bible Study series taught by Beth Moore at their studio. To say we had an amazing time would be an understatement. The Bible study Friday night and Saturday morning was spot on and so relevant to our lives, and the fellowship with these sweet friends was priceless.

*So for any of you who watch "Wednesdays in the Word with Beth Moore" you may see us in the audience, right next to the stage, in her upcoming teaching series. :)

                                     Ashley, Jennifer, Beth Moore, me, Fawnda, and Jeanne

Carley's Baptism

And to top it all off, the most incredible blessing came on Sunday morning when family and friends joined us in watching our precious daughter Carley make public her profession of faith in Jesus Christ through baptism. Carley has been asking us about doing this for over a year now but we wanted to wait and give her time to gain a deeper understanding of what it meant and why she wanted to do it. When we met with the pastor to talk about her decision we were both so moved by her pure and simple faith and so proud of her.

After she came up out of the water and was wrapped in a towel, I walked with her to the bathroom to change and on the way she said, "Mom I didn't know it would feel this way. It feels so good."


This little girl inspires us with how much she loves God and how she always wants to tell people about the Bible and pray for people. She told me this morning after seeing a movie that talked about missionaries that that is what she wants to be someday. Wow! Lord prepare us (because we certainly know how imperfect and prone to wander we are). Where you lead, we want to follow.

Back to School.... 1st Grade

Our big girl started First Grade today!
Oh, my goodness how has time gone by so quickly!
Both girls were very excited getting ready this morning.
For some reason I could not get them to look at the camera and smile at the same time!
This was probably the best picture, but as you can see Zoe was just a little bit distracted by the toy Carley had given her to play with, ha, ha!
I love these girls and LOVE the times when they are so sweet to eachother!

I pray Carley has a wonderful first day!
I pray Jeremy has a wonderful first day in his new classroom at the new high school!
And I pray that God will bless this school year, all the kids, the teachers, administration and the parents. I pray it will be a year when people will turn to God and let the love, grace and salvation of Jesus Christ fill their hearts and transform their lives. I pray for revival and for a Great Awakening of the human spirit that we would let go of whatever is holding us back and allow our hearts and minds to be radically and incredibly changed by the Holy Spirit.

Summer Highlights 2012.... August

Mr. & Mrs. Dove

The girls had  a some special friends make a home in the tree next to their playhouse this summer. Mr. and Mrs. Dove. The girls shelled sunflower seeds and set them out for the birds often and talked to them when they were in their playhouse. Mrs. Dove had an egg in their nest early in the summer but it fell out and they went away for a while and the girls were sad. Then, a wonderful surprise.... they came back! And they had another egg and this time it hatched! The girls were thrilled! They watched them every day, and saw baby bird grow so big that the three of them were pretty crowded in their little nest (see them in the photo). Wow! Then they taught baby bird to fly and the nest was empty again. Aaaah, the cycle of life. What a neat close-up nature experience for the girls.

Sunday Dresses

One Sunday morning, while feeling my creative juices flowing and needing a project, I decided to make the girls matching maxi dresses to wear to church. Yes, I made both dresses after breakfast and we actually made it to church on time! Crazy right! But, I have to tell you my secret. I used a super easy technique. No pattern just used a gorgeous stretchy purple fabric that I "smocked " about 7 rows on the top leaving a raw edge of fabric on the top end that would slightly fold over on the finished dress making a little top ruffle. After the smocking technique, I wrapped once around each girl and marked to cut and sew the dress together (making essentially a long tube). Then I cut the length measureing from their under arms to their ankles and hemmed the bottom. Finally took one long strip about 4 inches wide and folded it in half, sewed open edges together, turned it inside out and cut straps for each dress and had the girls model for me to get the strap length correct, then pinned and sewed straps on. Voila! Two adorable maxi dresses in under an hour!

Special Tuesdays!

Mom, Jodi, and I have started getting together on Tuesdays with the kids to spend the day together and let the cousins play while we work on sewing projects, craft stuff and just spending time together. We have also started doing a Bible study and praying together. I am so incredibly thankful and blessed by this time with my mom and my sister and I know the kids love it too. Making memories like this is priceless! Here's a snapshot from one Tuesday morning when Carley dressed baby Isabel in her pirate bandana! Just look at those goregous blue eyes!

 

 

Birthday Celebration

Jodi and Chris invited friends and family to enjoy a beautiful summer morning at a great little water park in McKinney while celebrating Katelyn's 3rd Birthday. It was so much fun! P.S. Jodi you did a fantastic job on Kit's special cake! Love it!

Summer Highlights July 2012

Carley finally had the chance to color the Tinker Bell shirt she got for Christmas (oops, my fault for putting it up in the top of the closet and forgetting about it till now.) It only came with a couple of colored fabric markers so I just let her use all of my colored Sharpies and it worked great!

 Awesome job Carley!

 

 

 The girls had the cutest Strawberry Lemonade Stand on the block!

 

 

Zoe rockin' her sister's sunglasses.

 

Carley became a pro at riding her big bicycle without training wheels.

Way to go kiddo!

 

Zoe painted her first masterpiece on canvas all by herself.

 

The girls got to go on vacation to Nana and Papa's house for a couple of weeks.

They were so excited!

These girls had it made.... spoiled by grandparents, playdates with cousins almost every day, sleepovers, movies, sandbox, treehouse, camping in the RV, dress up, and lots more!

Thanks Nana and Papa!

 

 

 

While the girls were away, Jeremy and I got to have some date nights, work on projects, and we even got to go on a special couples retreat! It was through Coaches Outreach, an organization that puts together these summer getaways for Coaches and their spouses complete with fantastic speakers, worship music, Bible studies, lots of food and fun activities. We also had free time to spend on our own, reconnecting and enjoying time together.

 

This is the breathtaking resort we stayed at just outside Hot Springs, Arkansas on DeGray Lake.

The pictures really don't do it justice. It was so very beautiful and peaceful.

 

 

 

Summer Highlights from June 2012

I think our summer vacation seemed longer than normal this year. Maybe it was because we didn't do all of the road trips and traveling that we had been accustomed to in the past. Whatever the reason, I really enjoyed the benefits! We were able to relax a lot and really participate and get involved in a lot of neat activities here at home. It was a summer of great blessings indeed, including becoming a part of a wonderful new church family and developing some truly amazing new friendships.

Here are a few fun pics of the kiddos and some of their activities.


Zoe the bumble bee rockin out at one of the girls many impromptu rock concerts.

 Carley playing with baby cousin Isabel.

Katelyn and Zoe ready to hit the pool and splash around. My girls were like little fish all summer.... always wanting to be at the pool.

Just look at this adorable baby in her swim outfit!

Carley "the scientist" went to a super cool VBS with the theme "Supernatural Science School". They learned Bible stories and lessons and got to do really fun science experiments each night.

Look at my sweet crew all tuckered out from a day of running around in the city.

This was a fun day. We had a "mommy-daughter date" and the girls got to pick out "real princess tiaras" as their special gift.