Thanksgiving in the Mountains

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! I love this time of the year. Although to be honest, the "stress" of it all has started to get to me. I had some baking to do last week before our trip and found myself Captain Cranky with our children. I called a friend of mine and expressed that I don't want my children to resent the holidays when they grow up because their mom went crazy over insignificant things! Nonetheless we had a great trip with W's family (15 adults and 5 children!). 

Thursday mid-morning, we took the children to hike Whiteside Mountain. It took about 30 minutes to get to the top and the children were so proud of their accomplishment. I wish we lived in an area like this so we could take family hikes all the time.

Some weren't too excited about the "hiking" aspect. Although in her defense, her Momma should have dressed her more appropriately!

There was plenty of time for cousin bonding. I'm really pleased to say there weren't any major conflicts or meltdowns! (This is the backyard of W's aunt's house. It is ah-maz-ing.)

 On the way back home, we stopped at the Dry Falls and let the children explore. It was beautiful. They were super stoked to be able to walk underneath the falls. 

 

On the way back home we were able to listen to the Iron Bowl, which was nothing short of painful.

Overall we had a great trip and enjoyed the down time. It's kind of hard to believe Thanksgiving 2011 is in the books and the Christmas season is now here. I just need time to slow down just...a...little...bit...please :)

Wedding Recap

 It is  HUGE deal to drink OJ  from a wine glass.

 Sam and her SuSu.

 T-Pup and Baino.

 W and Emmy.

 My babies. Who without my permission are not babies anymore.

 "Do you like my pretty pink fingernails?"

 "I look like Captain Cook from Mr. Popper's Penguins. Way too fancy for me, Mom."

 Sam wanted to wear a pink flower girl dress. We had to convince her that she and Kathryne would be the only ones in white, which was a super special thing.

 Britt, Em, myself.

 Em and myself.

 Susan, Emmy, myself at the reception.

We danced the night away...this picture is sans Dougie (where were you when we took this?)

So, when you're in youth ministry long enough, something inevitable starts to happen. They start to get married. Which I would contest we have not been in youth ministry long enough for such an event, but behold...photographic evidence that we have.

Kathryne, the bride, was a sophomore in high school when we moved here. She has held a special place in our hearts ever since then. Her relationship with the Lord is enviable. As I told Kath, when I grow weary of teenage girl drama within the youth group, that is when I remember her and pray that other young women would fall in love with their Creator as she has.

It was so surreal being surrounded by youth from the past six years...who are, without my permission, actually not youth anymore. It was so neat to see the different seasons they are all in now, and begin praying for them as adults.

And as it turns out? I cannot dance. I can do this little step left-step right-snap my fingers-bounce my head thing, but really... it stops there. Which is slightly less than a convulsion. I felt like the guys in "Night at the Roxbury." But even with my primitive moves, it was such a fun night.

I absolutely cannot wait to see the official wedding photos, because I just so happen to have a slightly obsessed website stalking relationship with the photographers. Who are amazing. I want to get married again (to my same husband, preferably) just so they can shoot the wedding. Check them out yourselves: Armosa Studios. 

And this post would not be complete without sharing about the amazing women I met through the wedding, Kath's bridesmaids. This past summer we had a bachelorette weekend and I got to know a few of them. You learn a lot about a person by their friends... which, to no surprise, were amazing. They each have a precious love of the Lord (and for Kathy!) and zeal for life. It does nothing short of encourage me to see those younger than me seeking the Lord and His will for their lives wholeheartedly. And they can dance like pros...which clearly the Lord is calling them to teach me some moves. Because I lack, remember? :)

This picture is missing the majority of the girls, but I'll link up as soon as the profesh photos are online.

This concludes the wedding of the year post. Thanks Kathryne and Luke for allowing us to be a part of your special day. We love you guys.

Halloween Haiku

 Halloween is best

Time for friends, and candy too

 

Leaves from trees, cool breeze.

 

1st Grade Update

We are playing catch-up this week in 1st grade. Last week held several crazy days so we got off schedule. We are working on week 5 again this week and honing in on the reading and language, which just so happen to be T-Pup's least favorite. 

With one full month behind us, I'm feeling great about our schedule and routine. If we plow through the curriculum without stopping, we'll be finished in February.  February! So, I think review weeks like this one are important. Plus it's nice to ease off the subjects that are easier for T and spend extra time in the areas that need work. 

We finished reading Charlotte's Web two weeks ago, and celebrated by a field trip to a farm. I was not disappointed that we didn't see Charlotte or Templeton! We've since started Homer Price by Robert McCloskey. Oh, we are loving every second of reading about Homer and his adventures! Make Way for Ducklings has always been one of our favorites, so it's great to continue reading from Robert McCloskey. I love seeing T-Pup develop a love of literature (notice I can't yet say 'a love of reading').

I am thrilled to be using Sonlight and am so glad we made the investment. It is thorough and has been a breeze to work with. A huge benefit is that we'll only have to replace the consumable pack (worksheets and time-line) when Sam gets to 1st grade. 37 books to be reused as many times as needed!

Angry Birds Party 101

I had so much fun in the week leading up to the Angry Birds party. Starting Sunday night, I began working on the pinata. I watched a few You Tube videos explaining the paper mache process and began cutting newspapers into one inch strips. 

And by Thursday night, we had a sweet little exploding pinata. I let T-Pup choose which bird we made, and his response was "Mom, the black bird explodes and a pinata will explode! It has to be the black bird!" I'm kind of ashamed to say I didn't think of that myself!

 

The next little project included some boxes, in which I painted pigs and bricks on. We bought a few of the stuffed Angry Birds at Wal-Mart to throw at the boxes, creating a live version of our favorite iPhone game. 

The party didn't go quite as planned, as Tropical Storm Lee dumped loads of rain upon our area. I had hoped the kids could go back and forth from the bounce house to the Angry Bird game, but it turned out they were all in the same place at the same time because of the rain. At the end of the day our little man had a great time and made precious memories. That's what matters most.

 

 

2011 in Review

This post has been running through my head for MONTHS. I have gone back and forth on whether to play catch up and continue blogging, or delete it and move on.

To begin explaining my bloggy hiatus (well, sadly I've never been entirely consistent with it) I will tell you that there were several blogs of women that I used to read just about every single day. You can learn a lot about someone by reading about their lives for two years...so much so that you feel like you know them! I went to a women's conference this past December and most of the women who wrote the blogs were there. Honestly, I wanted to meet them. It wasn't the reason I was going to the conference but it was going to be the icing on the cake. It sounds so trivial to confess, but the Proverb is so true "Hope deferred makes the heart sick" (13:12). When these women weren't reciprocating my efforts to meet them, it kind of stung.

Hindsight is 20/20. They don't know me, why would them want to meet a stranger? Stranger danger...duly noted. But the whole thing put a bad taste in my mouth for blogging. It's almost a one-sided celebrity thing. Clearly my little humble blog isn't bringing in loads of internet traffic, nor is there any compensation, nor is there really anything pertinent on here except for those people in our lives who we don't see often. It's just weird to feel all stalker-ish and like I've lost friends who never were in the beginning.

Does that make any sense?


Which brings us to the next reason in the bloggy hiatus. January 10, 2011. The college football national championship. Our beloved Auburn U versus the U of Oregon. Oh, and a record snowfall that seemingly never melted. We began the day by playing at our house in the snow, driving to W's parent's house to play in their snow, getting stuck in the snow in our little family vehicle that is not equipped for snow. All that to say we went to a huge hill in a cow pasture that was covered with huge snow. I went down once and loved it. The second time, well, crash. Hard. And that's how you shift the ulna and radius to one side and shatter your wrist on the other side. The orthopedic surgeon (after traveling in the snow for what seemed like hours) came and yanked the ulna and radius back into place, then announced the distal end of the radius was in so many pieces that he'd have to operate.

So, the next week was surgery. They pieced me back together and made it all stick by a volar plate and 8 screws. A few weeks of healing time were followed by 2 months of physical therapy 3x a week, plus an hour at home each day. By the time I could type, I didn't even want to think about it.

The winter passed and springtime came. T-Pup and I finished up homeschool kindergarten. W went on a school trip to England, the children and I spent a fun-filled seven days in St. Louis. W and I celebrated our seventh anniversary, and then August was here and the lazy hazy days of summer were gone.

Now, we are gearing up for little man's 6th birthday... my oh my! We are having an Angry Bird's party, so this next week will be filled with Angry Bird pinata making and painting green pigs on boxes so we can have a real live angry birds game. Excitement is in the air!

Sam is doing "school" while T-Pup and I do first grade each day. She has a preschool workbook and is learning to write all of her letters and numbers. I cannot bring myself to think she will be 4 in a few months. People always tell you they grow so fast....and, well, they grow so fast.

That is a small version of catch up on our lives. I would love to hear about you guys!