Friday, August 31, 2007

Friday Family Funnies - "Oh, my nose!"


Have you ever seen the Brady Bunch episode where Marcia Brady gets hit in the nose with a football? We had a Marcia Brady moment in our house before school started.

Samuel and Hannah Grace were playing the living room and as with most of the time someone ends up crying. This time it was Hannah Grace. She came running to me crying that Bubba had scratched her nose. I hugged and kissed her and told her it was going to be fine. She stopped crying for a moment and ran away. In just a few minutes she came running back to me crying again. I asked her, "Hannah Grace what is wrong now?" She said, "Is my nose going to be better before I go to school on Monday (sobbing)? I tried to console her and tell her it was going to be fine and not to worry that no one would notice.

Hannah Grace looking at her nose before we went to church on Sunday.



If that is not funny enough from a four-year-old; she went to school the first day and when she came home and I was asking about her day she said, sobbing again, "Nicholas asked what happened to my nose!"



Have a great week-end!

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

School Pictures

Samuel has school pictures today. He looked so grown-up and handsome as he left this morning I had to take a couple of pictures.

Then Hannah Grace and I had a few minutes to spare before it was time for her to go to school and she wanted me to take her picture here, and over by this tree, and by this bush...


I don't have any pictures of Faith, I guess I will take some pictures of her tonight to give equal photo blog time! Although she did have her chance with the pillow explosion...

Did you ever wonder?

Did you ever wonder what was inside one of these pink squishy neck pillows?


After yesterday afternoon, I can tell you from experience.




The girls, Seth and I wait in line for about an hour to pick Samuel up from school each day. I took this picture yesterday of the view from my side mirror of the cars backed up for what seems forever....





We got these squishy pink neck pillows for the girls at Target (for a big $2.50 each) for them to use if they went to sleep while waiting for Bubba. Well, yesterday afternoon the girls were fighting over who was going to hold the one squishy thing, since the other one was at home. Hannah Grace was pulling on the tags and Faith had hold of the pillow, and yep - Hannah Grace pulled the tag off and little bitty tiny white "beads" when flying all over the back seat. After I caught by breath I got out of the van and went around to survey the damage, you see I had just vacuumed the car out before I picked the girls up from school. Here is what I found:

Apparently, these little bitty white beads stick to your hands like sand. We still had about 20 minutes to wait on Samuel and the girls (mostly Faith) passed the little bitty white beads back and forth drew "smiley faces" in the beads.

After Samuel got out of school we headed back to the car wash to vacuum the car out again. That was funny in itself, the wind was blowing so every time I vacuumed one spot the wind would blow and little bitty tiny beads would fly everywhere again. Once that was over I decided to go through the car wash. Well, Seth didn't like that, as you can see...


















The car wash was over and we were finally on our way home - everyone was happy!

Saturday, August 25, 2007

The Last of our Disney Vacation


I'm going to try not to bore you with any more post about our Disney Vacation, but I will finish up by sharing with you some of my most favorite photos from the last two days of our vacation.

Hannah Grace at Animal Kingdom

Faith at Animal Kingdom

Two sweet sisters
Samuel at Animal Kingdom

We took a Safari on Thursday night and this is Seth "looking" for the animals.

Here we are with Chip and Dale at the Safari Dinner

After we left the Animal Kingdom we headed over to Epcot. We hadn't seen Minnie Mouse yet, so we waited in line and these two pictures were taken at 12:00am!


Here's Samuel, Tanner, Marc-Andre, Uncle Dick, and Big Daddy on Test Track. Hannah Grace rode Test Track, too, she's sitting in the middle to Travis and I (below).


On Friday morning, we had a Princess Lunch, just us girls (except for one Daddy)







On Friday night, the kids stayed with Memama and Granddaddy and Travis and I were able to go out alone. Saturday was my birthday and The Magic Kingdom was open till 2am, so I was able to celebrate my birthday with the love of my life at The Magic Kingdom.

Our first stop of the evening was MGM-Studios. This picture was taken in front of Tower of Terror, before I rode it. I had said I didn't want to ride it, but I guess I was blinded by the excitment of being out on a date and by love, and Travis convinced me to ride it. BIG mistake! I have never been so scared in my life...



Here are pictures of us in front of all four parks

Friday, August 24, 2007

Friday Family Funnies - The Three Sides of Homework


When we went to visit each of the kid's teacher before school started, they each had a different reaction to homework:











Samuel:

Ohhhhh...not homework!


Hannah Grace:


Yea, I have homework!
























Faith:


Aww...I want homework!


(while crying)

This is just a extra picture - I just think the girls are so cute!

Have a great week-end!

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Much To Share With You

Thanks for your prayers for the people of Jamaica. We have not heard from anyone, but Tommy did get an e-mail from Marc-Andrea before the storm hit that said they were preparing and that we probably would not hear from him until he returned to the states for college in September.

Sunday morning in church Tommy was praying for safety for the people of Jamaica and their salvation and praying that God would move the storm and it would not be a direct hit to the island of Jamaica. I have to admit to you I sat there and thought to myself, "I know God can do that, but I have have been watching and I just don't think that is going to happen". When we got home from church I turned on The Weather Channel and what had God done - He had moved the storm to the south and it was not going to be a direct it! What an amazing God!

The Lord reminded me of a verse; Psalm 135: 5-7 - For I know that the Lord is great, And our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the Lord pleases He does, In heaven and in earth, In the seas and in all deep places. He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain; He brings the wind out of His treasuries.

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Travis had his last training session of the season this past week-end and us wives were taken out to Chuck-e-Cheese to celebrate. Where else would we go with all the kids? We had a great time playing and fellowshiping. We are so blessed for Travis to work for a ministry that is concerned with his family too.

There was one stipulation to the fun night out for everyone, we had to be home and in front of the television by 8:00pm. Why, you ask? Well anyone with kids or grandkids, or really just anyone who has contact with the outside world knew that it was the world premiere of High School Musical 2. OK, maybe that is a stretch, but I do know even Caz thanked hundreds of adults for being at an Upward Training Conference instead of at home watching it - it was a big deal. It was funny most of the Daddies at the training session were asked by their kids if they would be somewhere where they could watch it Friday night. So here is our kids in the front of the TV ready and waiting. We had fun watching it and dancing along and I have to say, it was pretty good. It was on two more times over the week-end, which Samuel watched, including the sing along version on Sunday night. Daddy still has not seen the entire movie, and I know he just can't wait...


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Sunday morning was a great morning of worship. We were able to observe two ordinances of the church, Baptism and The Lord's Table. I love the way Tommy has the Lord Table; the bread and the juice are set up on table in the front of the church and we go to them instead of them being passed around. I love it because it make The Lord's Table more personal. Travis, Samuel, and I were able to take the Lord's Supper together - just the three of us together at The Table. It was a wonderful worshipful time and I believe the Lord allowed it for ME.

Travis and I have been praying for a couple of months about where the Lord would have our family worship and serve Him. We had talked with The Deacon's this past Tuesday night and given them our resignation. Because of the special services we were having, we agreed with them that we would wait until next Sunday to read it to the church. Things happened and it was best that we read it to the church this past Sunday night. So, in about a month Travis and I will doing something that we have not done since we have been married - we will be looking, visiting, and praying about where the Lord would have our family serve and worship Him. We are not sure where the Lord is going to lead us, but we pray that we allow Him to guide us and we step out of the way.

Whew, are you tired of reading yet?

Don't stop now.

This week is the first week of school. Samuel and Hannah Grace started yesterday and Faith began this morning. I can't believe it - all three of my kids are in school.

Samuel started at a new school this year. It has 1200 students! He was a little nervous when his Daddy dropped him off yesterday, but he ended up having a great day. We cleaned out his room last night to make way for a desk - a desk, in my little boy's room, I can't believe it. I know he is going to do great. I pray that he will continue to live for Christ in his new school.Hannah Grace began 4K yesterday. She is an ideal student. She loves organization, lists, and projects, so she was ready to go. She walked in her classroom starting playing and never looked back. I had to go to her to give her a kiss good-bye.

Faith began 3K this morning. She has been looking forward to going to "Hannah's School" all summer. She did great. We walked Hannah Grace to her classroom - they hugged and kissed and then we walked on to her classroom. She found her cubby and she was off to play. Again, I had to go to her to give her a kiss good-bye. Not one tear, from her, there were tears from me.


As I walked to the van, I just couldn't believe my baby girl was in school. Every year that Samuel has been in school, Travis and I always have breakfast together. We were not able to do that this year, because of work schedules, but I called him this morning when I got to work and told him I now remember why we started that tradition. It was to comfort me as I sent my babies to school.

They will all do great and I am excited for them. It is great for them to be with other children, especially the girls to have time apart from each other, and to learn how to share and to get along with others (other than their siblings) and to learn things that I can't teach them, like German and Spanish.


I will finish telling you about the last days of our Disney vacation soon.


I think I told you in a post that I didn't feel like I could get caught up - I am getting caught up, finally. My great friend, Ginger, told me about FlyLady. It has given me ideas on how to organize the house cleaning. I have always planned our menu for two weeks, but it gave me tips on how to incorporate all my "chores" into this plan. The past nights I have not gone to bed worrying about what I did not get done, I could just go to bed and get the rest I needed. Travis and I did not have to move the unfolded clean cloths off our bed just to get in. It has been great for our family. I have had more time to spend with the kids once they get home from school. And I hope that it will allow me to be able to help Samuel with his homework more. It reminded me to do things like: lay out your cloths for the next day, make lunches the night before, empty (shine) your sink before your go go bed, things that I knew I needed to do, but somehow and somewhere had stopped doing. That way when the alarm goes off in he morning, I am not running around trying to find something to wear, fussing with the kids about their lunch and washing cups just so the kids can have something to drink. One great thing it has allowed us as a family to do is have breakfast together; we have been able to sit down and begin our morning together as a family praying and asking Him to be in control of our day, just the five of us.

So that's where we are; beginning school, beginning a new season of our spiritual journey, renewing our home so that we can use it for Him, and seeking His guidance in all that we do - our jobs, our schools, our church, and our home.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Please Pray for the People of Jamaica




Please pray for the people of Jamaica and they are preparing for a direct hit from Hurricane Dean. We have not heard from Marc-Andre and his family, but Tommy has e-mailed them.


Please pray for Pastor Vernon as his ministers and helps the people of Buff Bay and protects and prepares for his family. Thank you for praying, we will let you know as soon as we hear something, but we know it may be a while, we just have to trust God for His protection for a people we love.
The first picture is of the houses that are right behind Buff Bay Baptist Church. As you can tell, there is not much to them and these are homes that could be destroyed.

Friday, August 17, 2007

Friday Family Funnies - Just a few questions

I want to start is Friday Family Funny by saying I LOVE MY HUSBAND! He is the greatest - he is great Daddy. He is an involved Daddy, he helps in every aspect with the kids and always had.
That being said:

Our day Tuesday was spent signing the kids up for school. We took Samuel to visit his new, big, school on Tuesday morning and then on Tuesday evening we took the girls to their school to visit and meet their teachers. Because both girls are going to school this year I took Hannah Grace to her classroom and Travis took Faith to her classroom.

As most of you know you have to fill out many forms. I was in Hannah's classroom filling out her paper work. As I was filling out the many papers, I thought - poor Travis I know he is hating this. About that time, in walks Travis, he sits down beside me ( in the kid-sized chair) and says, "Honey, I have a few questions." I smiled and said "OK". Then he said, "How do you spell Danielle?"

He did have some other questions, but he didn't know how to spell his daughter's middle name - who is named after HIM!

Here's an extra funny picture.

On Wednesday, we were riding down the rode and Faith just started screaming. We look back and she had clipped a small hairclip to the corner of her mouth. Travis got out and barely had to touch it and it came off. I know, I guess I'm a terrible mother for taking a picture of the child as they were scared, but hey...