Batgirl, Cinderella, and Princess Aurora

Halloween is not one of my favorite "holidays".  Ok, let me be honest, other than the candy I don't really like it at all and I don't like the fact that it lasts a week.  There, Ok, I said it.

That being said, I do think it's cute to see my kids dress up.  (Of course, I get to see it fairly often, since dressing up is a frequent occurrence for us.)  This year, we had a Batman (shocker, I know,) a Batgirl, and Spiderman.

I even got a chance to dress up too.  I was an Auburn fan. (Yes, I've already been told that was a cop-out.)  One of my oldest and closest friends, Anne, was in town this weekend.  It was great to get to spend a whole weekend with her as I definitely don't get to see her as often as I'd like.
(And in case you can't tell from his expression, Charlie was pretty worried about the spiders hanging from the ceiling.)

And like any true girl, Melody had multiple costume changes.  She began as Batgirl, moved on to Cinderella, and for the grand finale decided to go with her old standby, Princess Aurora.  Really, you just can't go wrong with Sleeping Beauty.  And as Melody told me Friday, "Grruls weally wike to change der minds."

And now off to enjoy some of that candy.  And least these three days of chaos weren't for nothing, right?

  Hosted by Krystyn at Really, Are You Serious?

PSF and Meet Sasha

In the past few weeks, we've had some exciting stuff going on at our house.

Alex and I recently became involved in a non-profit, Christian organization that brings over orphaned children twice a year from Eastern Europe to share with them God's love and allow them to experience Christian family life.

(Click on the photo to visit their website.) 

We have decided to be a host family this Christmas.

Meet Sasha.

Sasha is Russian and he's 13 years old.  We don't know a whole lot about him, other than he's a funny, sweet, and active boy.  He will be joining our family in mid-December and will stay with us through mid-January.

New Horizon's is a wonderful organization.  I urge you to check out their website and our website as well for more information or for more ways to be involved.




Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.  James 1:27

A Tribute to Grandma

I have not been around much the past few days and it's because last Thursday, my wonderful grandma passed away.


(Granddaddy and Grandma shortly after they were married.)

She was a wonderful woman...generous, caring, and she loved Jesus and her family and friends.


(Grandma and Mom at Jack's 1st birthday party)

Like all old people do, she had her quirks.  She loved to tell stories.  Over and over again.  I had to laugh at her memorial service, when the preacher told one of her stories.  He had obviously heard it many times as well, as he knew it word for word the way she would have told it.

I have too many memories to count of fun times I had with Grandma.
I miss her.
But the joy I feel in knowing that she is now more alive than ever before, in heaven, worshiping our Lord is greater than my sorrow.

(Granny and Grandma at Melody's Baptism)

PSF and Diva-in-Training

How do I know that Melody is a future diva?  

(Other than the fact that she has mastered drama completely.)

She has also mastered the fine art of pulling off a wardrobe malfunction.

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Celebrate 2!

A few weeks ago, we finally celebrated Charlie's 2nd birthday.

We had a little Auburn tailgate themed party and invited the two friends he has a few of his friends.

Here's the cake.

(Yes, it does look good.  Believe me, it was good!)

 

And here were are singing happy birthday to him, which he loved.  He sang it to himself the rest of the weekend.

 

And since he spits when he blows, I helped him blow out the candles.  I'm sure the partygoers appreciated that.

And that's the extent of my pictures.  And I only have those thanks to my fabulous friend, Amy.

Yes, Charlie is a victim of 3rd child syndrome.  So sad.

An honest confession

For the past several years now, my Mom, followed by my aunt, have hounded me to join BSF. Well, this year, I finally did.

I'm not quite sure if I'm glad or not yet. They told me it would be life changing. They are right. And those changes happened almost immediately.

Not to mention that the study for BSF this year is on Isaiah. For the past month, I've been living under the conviction of what a Holy God our God truly is. I always knew God is holy, but after studying Isaiah, I'm just beginning to barely grasp what holy actually is.

Last week's lesson was particularly convicting to me. We were reading Isaiah 6, in which Isaiah has his vision and is commissioned by God. God tells Isaiah that despite all his warnings, the people of Judah's hearts will be so hardened they they will not change their ways.

Matthew 12:34b says, "for out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks."

Here comes a really honest confession; I am quick to anger. Yes, even over the little things. Especially over the little things. Like when I spill a cup of milk all over myself and my clean kitchen. Even though I might not speak them out loud, the first words that pop into my head are not holy words.

My prayer this week is that my heart is not already hardened this way. I don't want my heart to be full of anger. I don't want to be like Isaiah's people, who are already so far gone that these warnings will fall on deaf ears. And, especially, I don't want to teach my children to become easily frustrated and angry. They watch my reactions and I need to be careful to show calm, patience, and understanding to them.

PSF and Muscles

It's no secret that Jack's greatest desire is to be a superhero.
Preferably Batman.



I have to admit, I've used this to my advantage at every possible opportunity once or twice.

I can't help it. It's just so easy. All I have to do is tell him that I used kryptonite as an ingredient and he will happily scarf down anything on his plate.

Yesterday as he was inhaling peas kryptonite balls the following conversation took place. "Mom," he said excitedly, "I feel these lumps in my chest! I think I'm finally starting to get muscles like Batman!"

"Great." I responded.

"It's because I'm eating all these kryptonite balls!" he said. "Pretty soon I'm going to have muscles just as big as Batman's."

(silence for a few seconds)

"Mom? Why doesn't Daddy have any muscles like Batman?"

It was hard not to giggle at that one.

Oh, and the lumps? His ribs.


Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Ok, I know what I said in my last post. I've been trying to think about what I want to post about these past few days. I do want to get more open and honest about things really going on, but it's hard. After all my mom reads this blog. Just kidding, Mom. I've realized that I'm just not a real emotional person. Or not good at sharing my emotions. I know that people who know me IRL are probably laughing but I'd just like to point out that acting emotional and sharing (verbalizing) emotions aren't the same thing. Ahem.
Anyway, stick with me. I'll get there. After all, this kind of counts,right? I mean, I opened up about how I'm not good at opening up.

Lions and Tigers and Bears - Oh My!

Melody, Charlie and I took a little zoo excursion today with our friends, Lindsey and Grayson.

Elephants were a big hit...

but definitely not as cool as the giraffes. Or ba-jraff, as Melody calls them.
She's in the ba-jraff class at preschool and anything with a long-neck is super cool to her.

Charlie liked the ba-jraffs as well but really liked the zebras.

While nothing can top a ba-jraff to Melody, the goats at the petting zoo came close. She proclaimed them, "So cuuuute!" and following them around, giving hugs and pats to each and every one

wanting them all to feel loved and appreciated.
See?



Charlie, on the other hand, takes after me. We prefer to view animals from the other side of the fence. However, I did finally convince him to pet a goat. He was moderating happy for about 10 seconds and then started looking for the exit again.

On another note, in the past I've tried to keep my blog relatively light and just focused on thing fun things my kids are doing and the hilarious things they say. While I will still be blogging about those things, I'm going to blog a little more about deeper issues such as my faith and things happening in my family and marriage.

Look-a-likes!

I often hear people call Melody my "mini-me". I've never really thought there was that strong of a resemblance, aside from the blonde hair and blue eyes,



until my mother-in-law took these pictures

And then I finally saw it.

Maybe I do have a mini-me!

Hosted by Krystyn at Really, Are You Serious?

PSF and Meet Melody, the hoarder

Meet Melody.

Any regular reader of my blog know what a sweet, spunky little girl she is.

What you probably don't know is that she's a hoarder. In a big way.

I used to think it was just a phase but now I'm fairly sure it's becoming a lifestyle.

To prove my point, I have evidence that I found in her school bag the other day. Her "treasures" include miscellaneous plastic bags, mardi gras necklaces (that's a whole other worry), wood chips, a few rocks, and a duck. A duck, incidentally, that she found her her friend, Ava's car. I guess I can add klepto to her list of issues as well.
Hoarding: Buried Alive now has their first contestant for their children's edition.

It's a good thing she's so cute because she sure is a handful.

Tiger Cubs and Camping

Jack and Alex had the privilege of going on their first father/son Cub Scout camping trip last weekend.

Excited doesn't even begin to cover it for Jack.

Among other things, he learned archery

and how to shoot a bb gun and a slingshot.

His favorite part was orienteering, which involves learning how to follow a compass and map.

He's already informed me he's well on his way to being an Eagle Scout!