Family Beach Trip 2009

For several years now, my parents have taken our family and my 2 brothers' families to the beach near Destin, FL. It's always such a fun week and no one ever wants to come back home. Between all the cameras of the different families we usually have hundreds of pictures, but I tried to pick out just a few of our favorites to share. People ask us if we have a photographer come to the beach to take the more formal pictures and we never have. Mark just brings his tri-pod, sets the timer on our little camera and runs like crazy to jump in the picture before it snaps! We always get some great smiles tho watching him try to make it in time. And some funny looks from people walking by! Thanks for enduring our little beach photo shoot!

Paradise!

We're back home after spending 8 beautiful days at Waterscape Resort in Ft. Walton Beach, FL with my family! We were all trying to figure out a way we could stay there all summer! We had a great time and I'll post some fun pictures soon, but for now I'm unloading sandy suitcases, doing laundry and repacking the boys who head off to camp this weekend!

17 Years and Counting!

Mark and I are celebrating our 17th wedding anniversary today, officially at 3 o'clock. I laugh as I write the time because Mark and I always argue over the time of our wedding. He swears it was at 2 o'clock! One year I had to dig through boxes and pull out the invitation to prove it to him! We sent the kids to Nana and Papaw's house last night for a sleepover, then we went to dinner and shopping at some of our favorite stores without kids! Today, we spent the day running errands together for our upcoming beach trip and grilling supper. We're about to eat a chocolate-covered fruit bouquet the kids gave us, then we'll watch our wedding video with the kids before bed. They love to watch it so they can die laughing at the way we all look! Lydia's been looking at our wedding album and I hear she was wearing my veil today at Nana's house since my dress is still there!

We are so thankful for 17 years together. Our marriage is not perfect, and we have our good days and bad days just like any other couple. But, we feel so blessed to have each other and 3 healthy, happy kids. This is something we do not take for granted and we owe all the glory to God for giving us all these years together. We know Satan is attacking Christian marriages and families like crazy and we are not immune from his attacks. It is our daily prayer that God would bind Satan from our home and that Jesus would be honored in all that we do. We pray the same for you and your home.

Happy Anniversary, Mark! I love being your wife and can't wait for 17 hundred more years together!

Happy Mother's Day!

This is adorable! Pause my music playlist below then watch this little guy!





He's right! If it weren't for our "Mamaw's" we wouldn't be on this earth! It's been a fun Mother's Day weekend for me. I got to see Caleb perform 3 nights in "Cinderella", watch Levi set a new record for himself at his track meet with a 6 minute 20 second mile run and then we had lunch today with my mom and dinner with Mark's mom! The highlight for me as a mom tho was yesterday in Target with Lydia. She had to go to the restroom so I opened the stall door to check on her as she was finishing and as I peeked in she was lifting her foot to flush the toilet with her shoe and not with her hand! Praise the Lord! I have never told her to do that; I guess kids really do learn by watching what Mom and Dad do!

I am so blessed to be called "MOM" by my 3 favorite children on earth! The pay is little, but the reward is priceless! Happy Mother's Day!

Rat Race!

We're still here! Just way too busy to update these days. Here's what we've been doing since my last post:

• track meets in Perryville, Cape & Poplar Bluff for Caleb & Levi
• soccer tournament in St. Louis for Caleb
• Cub Scout boat race for Levi
• gymnastics for Lydia
• 4th grade choir trip for Levi
• Hours of Cinderella play practice for Caleb
• 3 days of subbing for Lori
• Hours of studying for Mark to pass his "green" test for work
• Levi's final mile run for Marathon Kids Club at school
• Teacher appreciation week
• Lydia's preschool field trip
• All our normal weekly stuff like church, BSF, school, etc.

That explains why my house is a mess and the laundry is piled high! And the next 3 weeks don't look any better as we try to finish out the school year. We are all counting down the days till our beach vacation at the end of school--24 more to go! We are all in desperate need of a break from our busy life! I know our schedule seems crazy to most people, but we are grateful for healthy, active kids that make our life so much fun!

Amazing...

If you've watched any news in the last few days, you've heard of Susan Boyle. If not, let me introduce you to her. She's a 47-year-old unemployed woman from Scotland who's never even been on a date before. She came onto this show called Britain's Got Talent to sing. The people and judges took one look at her and thought this would be a miserable audition. Take a look here at what happens.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z0h1NNk1Ik

She totally blew them away with her voice! The judges and audience were shocked! I think this is so inspirational--I cannot stop watching it! We always try to teach our kids to not "judge a book by it's cover" and to give everyone an equal chance before quickly judging what we think they can or cannot do. What a great story to prove this point. Way to go Susan Boyle! We are cheering for you!

Happy Easter!

Here's a few pictures from Easter Sunday. We had a fun day, even tho the weather was cloudy and chilly. Not very good for taking pictures. The kids have been on Spring Break for several days so we've been sleeping in, shopping, going to the movies and eating at their favorite restaurants. Mark had Good Friday off so we took off to St. Louis for a day at the Magic House and the malls! Saturday the kids spent the afternoon at Nana's house dying eggs and decorating cookies. Sunday, after Easter services at church, we had a quiet lunch at my parent's house. My brothers and their families didn't get to come home this year so it was not nearly as much fun without all the cousins there to have our annual egg drop from the roof! We spent the evening with Mark's family to celebrate his sister's birthday. There was plenty of action there with all the little boys running around! And of course it was raining so we were all stuck inside! We've had a great break but I think the boys are ready to return to school to finish out the year. This afternoon Caleb has a track meet in Jackson and Levi has one in Cape, so we're off to watch them run. It's 40-some degrees here so I've got my winter coat, gloves and a blanket ready. Will Spring ever come to stay? On Thursday Mark and Levi travel to Jeff City for the 4th grade school trip to the Capitol. Levi is so excited! I'll post a slide show of our trip to the Magic House soon. Stay tuned...

Lydia in her P.J.'s with her basket on Easter morning!

I LOOOOOOVE CANDY!!!!!!!!!!

I'm not sure why Lydia always cocks her head for pictures!

My favorite 3, all dressed up and ready for church!