NOT Back to School Party

We had the best day!

Katy invited us over for a NOT back to school party.

We picked Karen and Keilee up on our way out of town and headed to Huntsville. It was very cloudy and stormy looking here, so I didn't much think we would get to swim. Wouldn't you know it was sunny and beautiful when we got there? :)

I LOVE this picture of Keilee!

The view off Monte Sano.

After swimming, we loaded up and went to Katy's house, which is absolutely amazing! It's perfect for playing, being creative and using your imagination and in the backyard there's a tire swing, trampoline, and the coolest, most awesome tree house!

And of course, food:)

Chan and Brit

Brit had some issues with the hammock...

Zachary said "Take my picture Ms Gina!"

All of the kids played together constantly. They all had so much fun!

Katy's youngest daughter, Inde said that she wanted a chicken, so what did Katy do? She brought that baby a chicken! I do so like Katy.
It is such a fluffy, tame thing. Cody wanted to hold it, so he carefully grabbed it and it immediately climbed up his arm and perched on his shoulder.

We all thought it was quite funny and started laughing - Cody and his pirate chicken - but then out of nowhere, just seconds after that picture was taken, the chicken looked at Cody and PECKED HIS EYE! His eye got teary and a little red, but after 10 minutes or so, he seemed fine. I had a mini heart attack. ACK!


Off to play in the tree house.

Cody and Inde chasing each other just like they did at Burchfield Branch.

Kid group shot!

Katy and Esther set their cameras up to get a whole group shot.
10 seconds...
Run!

The whole group
Photo by Esther Crawford

Britney is spending the night with Keilee, Bobby, Cody and I watched the new Phineas and Ferb movie and now I'm off to bed. This has been an amazing day!

7 Days of Deals

Walgreens is having a photo deal each day this week!

Today's deal is a FREE 8 x 10!

WOOHOO! I love a freebie!

Go HERE to check it out:)

Pictures from today

Pictures

Brit and Cody playing their new Mario Brawl Wii game for the first time.

The innards of the lumpia. This made 49. I think I put 6 in the fridge at the end of the night.

The kids getting their grub on.

The birthday girl:)

In Huntsville at Southerland Station.

We stopped by Walmart to pick up some plastic snakes to put in the garden. The birds are feasting on the tomatoes!

With the Crawfords on our way to Cullman.
Matt points the way.
Brit and Chan

And here we are sitting around the living room at midnight with no power.

More Happenings

We went out to Esther's on Tuesday. While they were at our house for Filipino goodness, we had talked about us getting together during the week. We went to their house and after Matt got home from work, we drove to Cullman to get something to eat and went back to their house and watched The Adjustment Bureau. We brought Chan home with us and she spent a couple days. Those kids had so much fun playing and drawing and laughing. We had bad weather Wednesday night, and lost power for a couple hours. It was so hot in the house. We also had a big branch fall out of the tree next to the house and land right outside our bedroom window. It damaged a couple shingles, but I don't think it's anything major. There are limbs and trees down all over town.

Our confirmation letter from DaySpring came in the mail on Wednesday. Not bad considering I sent the paperwork off on Friday :)

My Grandfather's birthday is this month. On the 28th, he will be 88 years old. He's not doing well and has been in the hospital for about a week...this time. Thursday, he had a very bad night. He became violent, pulled his IV out and was talking about things that happened when he was a much younger man like they had just happened. He was very anemic and has needed 4 units of blood. (Not all at once...over the course of the week) The doctors have told Max (my brother) that he wouldn't make it through the weekend. The kids, mom and I went to visit with him yesterday. The change in him since we saw him last on Father's Day was shocking. He looked so much worse than what I had prepared myself for. In fact, mom had gone down to see him on Wednesday and she said he looked a lot worse in just those two days. He seemed kind of out of it when we first got there, but by the time we left, he was sitting up and eating his lunch. He asked about Bobby which showed me that at least his mind was present for the moment.

He had a good night last night and has had a good day today. He seems better from what Max said.

Today has been kind of blah for me. I didn't sleep well again last night and then this morning I woke up at 4:10 wide awake and panicked. I checked my phone, email and FaceBook expecting to hear or see bad news. So all day I have felt puny. I'm cold even though it's clearly not cool in the house.

I've been washing clothes and cleaning my room...which is the room where all hope is lost. It's a catch all room. Everything gets thrown in there. It's a disaster. Well, it's less of a disaster now.

I made hot tea and pulled the paints out after Cody got a bath. I didn't want to paint on paper, so I looked around for something bare and needing creativity spread on it. I decided to yank pictures out of their plane wooden frames. We each did one. Each frame looks different. I love them! Then they moved onto card stock. I need to buy some canvases. Now Cody is sitting next to me reading a book and Brit's still in the kitchen painting.

4th Year

It's that time of year again! It's time to send our cover school our re-enrollment form and fee so we can officially and legally begin another year homeschooling! I am so very thankful for this time with Britney and Cody. I feel like the luckiest momma in the world!

WooHoo!!!

Happenings

Last Saturday evening we went to Epic for a meeting about Tent City. It was a great! Well, what we were able to participate in was great. About 20 minutes in someone came in and asked if anyone in the building owns a green Expedition. Bobby and I just looked at each other. I was like "It's not green...it's gray" I think I said that in hopes that it wasn't our vehicle he was asking about. But he was like "Yeah, you just got rear ended" CRAP! The back of our vehicle was to the road, so Bobby and I both thought someone driving past hit the back end. We both envisioned pieces of bumper and tail lights strewn across the pavement. I am quite happy to say that we overreacted. A lady backing out of her spot ran into our front right bumper - opposite side of the other accident. So...two accidents in two weeks...neither one our fault. As much of an inconvenience as it is, we did get to meet a really nice woman out of it.

Dad and Rosie came up on Sunday to celebrate Bobby's birthday. I made a German chocolate cake and two pineapple pies the day before. Then on Sunday we had prime rib, a fantastic salad, a cabbage salad side that Rosie made and mashed potatoes. We played Sequence and chatted and just spent time together. Guys, they are SO cute together! And happy! I just love seeing my Daddy happy.


Brit borrowed a library book from Esther and it was due so we took off to Huntsville for the day. We returned the book, ate at Moe's, looked in Books A Million and Fresh Market. We bought some of these milk chocolate covered almond and toffee things. My birthday is coming up. I want more. SO GOOD! Then on our way home, we stopped by Cathy's to visit with her and check on her. Suzette, Emily and Zachary were still there so we got to see them. Plus Amber came back while we were still there. It was great to hug everybody's neck, ya know? I'm missing our besties.


I have felt less than spiffy this week. Sometimes I think being a girl is killing me. Literally.


Last night, we went to Hartselle to watch Annie. Keilee did a fantastic job! That kid just shines when she's on stage. We know several people in the play and they all did a fantastic job! Definitely makes us miss plays.


This morning the kids and I went to get an estimate at the local Ford place. They came up with $924.09 to fix the damage from the second accident. Then we went to Huntsville to meet with the claims adjuster for the other insurance. They came up with $7oo and something so I'm hoping it won't be an issue to get the other $200 out of them. On our way back into town, we stopped at Mom's and hung out a while so we wouldn't wake Bobby up coming home. Then I paid a bill and we went to the store. The kids bought themselves a new Wii game. They are so happy! Plus we picked up stuff to make Lumpia! YUMMO!!!!! Oh! And ice cream. We needed ice cream.

I'll upload pictures from this week soon. I'm beat right now.

Dum Dum Da Dum

Beth and Richard's wedding was this past weekend!

It was perfect and beautiful and we had so much fun!

Bobby and I headed to Knoxville on Friday morning with me driving the whole way since Bobby had worked off that morning. Poor guy. He should have taken two nights off.

The drive was uneventful other than traffic, rain and construction. We made it to the hotel by 1:30, checked in, got our stuff to the room, called Beth to let her know we were there, and went to grab some lunch at La Costa.

After we ate, we went back to the room so Bobby could rest before we the rehearsal and dinner.

When it was time to leave, we met Beth and Barbara in the lobby so we could ride with them to the church. Then 'Other' Beth and her husband Rob walked up. Britney named her 'Other' Beth when she was little after both Beths came to Alabama during a break from college. I hadn't seen her in about 10 years!

The church is absolutely beautiful...stone, stained glass, statues, domed ceiling...just beautiful. The rehearsal went well and we were finally able to meet everyone. Then it was off to the hotel until the rehearsal dinner at Blue Coast Burrito. It was the perfect place! Delicious!

Beth and Richard!

My peach margarita

Me and Barbara

We wanted to take Beth out after dinner, but she had some other things to take care of. Plus I don't think she wanted to drink the night before her wedding. We just couldn't get everyone in the same state before the wedding. Beth's in Tennessee, Other Beth is in New Jersey, Barbara and I are in Alabama and Melissa's in Florida. A bachelorette party just didn't happen, which I'm kind of bummed about. I've never been to one. So instead, a few of us hung out in Beth's suite and talked and played with Melissa and Scott's 1 year old daughter, Avery.

The next morning, we had breakfast with Beth and Barbara and then headed back to Beth's room to meet the hair and make up people.

This is the view of Market Square from the 12th floor of our hotel. I think every Saturday morning they have a big farmer's market in the square. Looked like it would be interesting to walk through.

My hair was done first since I was showered and ready to go:)
I had never had my hair in a french twist.

Getting my make up done.

Beth's hair

and make up

Lacing up the corset to her gorgeous dress.

Bobby came into the room just before it was time for the guys to head

over to the church.
The whole gang!

We walked from the church to the reception (about three blocks) so that the photographer could get shots along the way. I can't wait to see the pictures!

Richard's son Jake was the best man:)

Mr and Mrs Richard Mason!

Father Daughter dance

The reception was amazing! I stumbled through my speech and cut it nearly in half. I don't do public speaking so I had counted on the nerves, but not the emotions! Geez! Anyway, we partied and had a blast! The food was delicious and the cake...OMG! SO good! Oh, and I am now a professional tambourine player...and clearly not afraid of getting on stage once I start drinking. I suppose those are good things to know about me:)

After the band finished their last set, we cleared out and went to the hotel's bar. I did go up to the room first to put on my new dress.

The drive home...sucked! I mean 4 1/2 hours in a car after drinking until
2 am...UGH! Oh well. It was worth it! We had an amazing time!

Beth and Richard are currently living my dream and are exploring Italy. I'm so happy for them!

me

I'm down 13 pounds since our camping trip in May. This morning I saw a number on my scale that I haven't seen in a very long time. I feel GREAT! I'm healthier and more active. I'm eating better. I just feel better about me. I haven't made it to a smaller size yet, but I can tell I'm toning up and clothes are fitting me better. Shorts that didn't fit me to take on that camping trip fit perfectly now. It's nice to see the progress:)

I actually went dress shopping! If you know me you know how rare that is. But Beth's wedding is this weekend and I'm going to need something nice to wear.

I'm so excited about this weekend! More on that later!