Friday Thankfuls

Well, it's Friday again...thank goodness!  There were a few times this week that I thought that I would loose my mind, literally.  So, I guess I need to reflect on a few of the things that I am thankful for instead.

One thing that I am thankful for this week is forgiveness.  I have been studying about it a lot in my quiet time in the mornings (although not really very quiet in my house) before my day really gets hoppin.  I'm glad that every day I can start over.  I'm also glad that it's there for me to give as well.  Jackson has been having a bit of a hard time following the many rules of school and has been coming home on yellow a lot. ALOT.  And I have to remember, not only is he 7, but that must be how the Lord sees my mistakes, like a 7 yr old.  Why do I have such a hard time just following the rules, how many times am I going to keep making the same silly mistakes over and over again...I don't know, Lord, but I am thankful for your forgiveness.

Completely on another note, I am thankful that it is time for some FOOTBALL!!!!!!  We have our first high school home football game tonight, and no we do not have any kids playing, but I do love football and Frank did graduate from there and they are playing my old high school.  But it doesn't really matter who they play to me.  I just love to go!  Don't forget UGA plays tomorrow as well!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!  GO DAWGS!!!

Puzzleasouras

Wyatt LOVES dinosaurs.  And at the last consignment sale I bought this floor puzzle for the boys.  Wyatt has been putting it together with some "help"(which means of course that the parents and/or loved one that is playing puzzle with him basically puts it together) for a while now.  But over the last couple of days he has been trying to put it together by himself.  This morning...success!!!  He was sooo proud of himself!  He immediately wanted to take it apart and do it all over again.  However, he did wait long enough to pause for a picture.  Typical Wyatt, loves to see himself in a picture...

Belated Friday Thankful

My Friday thankful comes a day late, but I am still grateful nonetheless.  I am very grateful that after a very, very long week of hard work, the consignment sale is finally over!!!  The consignment sale is a HUGE help to many people, including myself and is always a big success, but it takes MUCH work.  And I don't even have to work as much as my friend that runs it twice a year.  She just has to have several of us commit to work it with her during the week as slave labor and then on Saturday we have to do inventory.  UGGHHH!  It takes forever to do and it also takes ALL day long.  So, I am very grateful that it came...and went!  And that we didn't get washed away in the process!  If you don't know about the sale and you would like to, just let me know.  It is well worth the time to go and shop.  Always good clothes for not much money.  So let me know and I will give you the information!!  Stay dry and happy shopping...

Beach Trip

So, over the past weekend, me, Frank, and our besties went to the beach.  Did anyone miss the part where the children were not included?  No, I did not forget to mention them.  They did not go!!  And, even though they were missed, they were having a great time here at home dispersed among family and friends.  When we got there we unloaded our stuff and headed straight to Destin for some shopping.  Later that night we ate some delicious dinner and went back to the condo.  Woke up Saturday morning ready to hit the beach.  OH NO!!  Rain!!!  Lots of it!!  I forgot about the small hurricane that was building in the gulf!  But, it really didn't matter, because I wasn't at home changing diapers, making small peoples breakfast, cleaning up, doing laundry, or anything resembling the likes.  So, we opted for another morning of shopping.  After a nice lunch in the new outdoor shopping area in PC, the rain had stopped and the sun was desperately trying to peek out from behind the clouds, so we headed back and hit the beach.  Just what I like.  Now, I don't want to put my towel on the sand, but I do like to get in the condo beach chairs and stay out there ALL day!!  Frank and Steph decided they needed umbrellas and Ry and I chose not to have them.  After we were well done, we all headed in for our favorite dinner of the trip.  We headed back to Destin to go eat at the Red Bar.  It is a hole in the wall in Grayton Beach and it has the most amazing food.  The menu is always changing and of all the times I have eaten there, the Red Bar has never failed me yet!!!  Now, you can't always find a place to park, and we did drive around for a good 25  minutes just waiting for a space, but it was well worth it.  Now this evening was even more special because it was Ryans birthday.  So, instead of having desert at the Red Bar, we went back to the condo and ate Funfetti cake (see above picture).  It is basically just a box cake mix with sprinkles and vanilla frosting, but its Rynos fav, so it was a must on his day!  The next day the weather looked a little daunting when we first woke up, but it turned out to be just perfect.  I stayed on the beach practically all day and Frank pretty much did too.  He stayed under his umbrella again!  Alas, all good things must come to an end and we did have to come home.  The kids were all glad to see us, for a few minutes at least.  We found out that one of our children committed murder while we were gone.  Really.  Can you guess which one?  Of course....Wyatt.  Apparently,  there was this pet fish and Wyatt did have an accomplice who poured some kind of substance into the fish bowl and then my beloved jabbed at the fish with someones toothbrush!!  And I do have to mention that Frank and I did celebrate a small anniversary ourselves while we were at the beach on Saturday too.  August 17, 2008 was 14yrs ago that we started dating!  So, I am proud of that, even if it isn't a real anniversary...

I guess Notch knew something was up while we were packing because when I came out of my bathroom, he had climbed in my bag, ready to go with us!!  Anyway,  I'm already ready to go to the beach again.  These trips just never seem long enough anymore.  But I'm glad that I got to get away for a little while with our very very best besties that we love.  And I'm glad that Funfetti cake was involved.

Friday Thankfuls

While I am thankful for many things in this week, I don't have much time this morning so I have to make this one really quick.  My thankful for today is that I am leaving in a few minutes to go to the beach with my husband and besties and NO KIDS until Monday!!!!  I am not sure if I will be able to post while I am there so I will probably do a big catch up when I get back!!  Here's to sandy beaches and high tides...

Lawn Sprinkler

Yesterday, when Jack got home from school and the new season of Happy Hour began, I checked his bag and found a letter from the Transportation Director saying that Jackson would have a new bus driver and a new time for pick up in the mornings.  Wonderful.  No, I mean it in a good way.  The bus will be at our house at 7:05 for pick up and the original time was 6:47.  So Wonderful!  This morning we were all outside as usual waiting for the bus at our new time.  The dogs were having a great time chasing each other around and the kids were laughing at them.  Wyatt got out his "bike" and was riding up and down the drive and Jack was playing his nintendo.  Everything was going good...that should have been my first signal that something was about to happen!  Bus pulls up ON TIME I might add, and we meet the bus driver.  I notice, and comment to myself that she is particularly cheerful and smiley for a bus driver, but decided that it was just an added bonus and counted us to be the few lucky ones to have a great bus driver.  In mid-thought I am turning around as the bus is pulling away...and I see it...or more accurately HIM!  My beloved Wyatt, with his pants down to his ankles, peeing right in the yard for the new bus driver to see!  No wonder she was smiling so big.  She was probably trying to suppress laughter!  Oh well, you gotta love Wyatt!

A New Friend For Notch

So no I am not absolutely crazy, nor have I gone off the deep end this week and bought another puppy.  However, our besties have.  He is a 7 week old Vizsla named Phineas and we call him Phin for short.  Notch has been trying sooo hard to play with our 6yr old Ridgeback, Zoey, but...she ain't been havin' any of that.  He was so excited to have a friend that would play with him.  And Phin was soooo cute.  They would just jump up in the air and then attack each other!  One wouldn't be paying attention so the other would get a running start and just clobber him.  It was alot of fun just to sit and watch them.  After a good hard play, they both passed out for a while.  Phin passed out longer than Notch, as evidenced by the pictures.  The funny thing was that no matter how long Notch bothered Phin or how hard Notch chewed on him, he was not waking up for anything.  So we finally woke him up long enough for Phin to pee on our comforter.  Happy puppy training... The boys went outside for a little more playtime before Phin had to go home.  But since our besties are faithful in coming over on the weekends, it won't be long before they can play together again.  Aren't they cute?!

So Smart...

Conversation with grown 2nd grader when he came home after his first day of school:

mom: so Jack, how was your first day of school?

son:ok

mom: did you make any new friends?

son:sure I did

mom: did you like your new class and teacher

son: yes mam, but do I have to go back on Monday?

mom: sure you do Jack, why do you ask?

son: because they didn't say anything that I didn't already know!

mom: (after smirking and laughing to myself) well maybe on Monday they will

Typical Jackson.  Gets it honestly though...

School Days Are Back

My big 2nd grader!!!  I can't believe he is old enough to start the 2nd grade! And I also can't believe he let me take his picture this morning and he actually smiled for it!  Stranger things have happened I guess.  Off to school he headed this morning looking all big.  He is a sweet boy and I love him dearly.  I think today is the first time I have actually missed one of my children while they were at school.  Okay so I won't win Mother of the Year Award, whatever!  Don't get me wrong either, I have enjoyed the silence while the little kids were taking their nap!  Next week will be school for them.  What will I do with those days?  Hmmm.....

Friday Thankfuls

So, on Fridays, after a long hard week I thought I would take a minute to remember one or two things that I am grateful for or something good that happened over the week.  Sometimes we need to do more than just think about it.  We need to write it down for our own "altar".  Just like in the OT they would make an altar out of stones at different times so that they would remember and others could see what the Lord had done for them, so do we. So, today it begins.  The above pic is my first grateful.  I couldn't get them all in the pic, but I get to walk out my back door every morning and see this.  From the time I was a very young girl, about 4, I began to learn to ride, and my love of horses has never stopped.  And I truly believe that the love for them is something that God put in my heart.  Who knew that I would end up marrying a man, who even though he didn't share my love for horses, his father would AND just happened to live on a farm with...horses?  God did.  And even more awesome, who knew that Frank and I would be led to the most fabulous church on the planet(and I mean that literally) where they would just happen to start an equestrian ministry (for those of you who don't know that's a horse ministry)?  God did.  I get to use my passion for horses in a way that reaches people for Christ!!  How incredible!  Cause if you think that they can't, think again!  There is just something about a horse and the feel of leather in your hands...well, I could go on and on.  God is so good to me, in spite of myself...  He sees my heart, knows what I love and what I am passionate about, and finds a way to let me use it for Him.  So, that's my first grateful.  I get to use what I love for Him.  And I get to look out my window and see them, walk out my door and go love on them, or go saddle up and ride anytime I want.  Sometimes, I just get on the golfcart and park it in smack dab in the middle of them and just sit there and watch them!!  Oh well,  consider this...Jesus didn't say he was coming back to get us on anything else..just a horse!

How Do You Dress For Dinner?

Sometimes, this is how dinner goes at our house! (don't ask!)  How about yours?  See, you really aren't alone in the craziness of life!  Gotta love Wyatt!

New Dishwasher

As I was cleaning up the kitchen tonight from supper, I turned around and saw Notch standing on the door of the dishwasher licking the plates!!  Guess he has to earn his keep somehow!!  He is so cute.

Weekend Wrap-up

This weekend I went to the Beth Moore simulcast that our church hosted.  It was held on Friday night and Saturday and was great!  I learned so much and was very glad that I went.  Frank did a great job of holding down the fort.  Everyone remained in one piece and he even had the house all picked up and the children dressed when I came home.  However, I did get home really late.  Of course, you know there is going to be a story to tell...when I left the simulcast on Saturday it was about 1:15pm and I was starving.  I had not had anything to eat since breakfast at 7:45 that morning.  So I knew that I had to drop something off at my mom's house that is only 2 minutes from the church, then pick up a cake for my niece's birthday on Sunday, then I would be home and I could eat lunch.  Well, as I was leaving my moms I noticed a nail in one of my tires.  Hubby tells me to go to the tire place at Sears.  So I zip in and they take all my info and say that it's a quick fix.  So, I stand there waiting.  20 minutes goes by and I'm still waiting and still hungry.  40 minutes and I go sit.  Now whatever spiritual edge I gained from my conference is beginning to fade...quickly.  It was 1:40 when they took my info and now is 2:45 and I have a migraine.  Finally I can take no more.  I get up and in my jeans and  long sleeved shirt walk in the sweltering heat to McDonalds which thankfully is not very far at all.  I eat something and feel much better.  When I get back, still not ready, but they have at the very least started on it.  So at 3:40 I finally walk out, go pick up the cake, and arrive home just in time to change clothes and walk right back out the door again!  

On another note, the puppy is still alive and seems to like being here!  And my friend sent Mallory some tutus and leotards she could dress up in.  She finally got to play with them and we have had many dress up changes for her today.  She loved being a ballerina!!! Here are a few pics to share with you!!