Vacation 2008

Our vacation this year was not exactly what I had planned it to be. We had actually planned on going to the beach again for another week of sitting on the beach, reading, frollicking in the waves and general laziness. But due to some family situations we ended up going to Kansas. Why Ks. you ask, because that is where all of Alan's family lives. Just so we're clear, no sand, no beach, no frollicking.
But all in all it was fine, minus the drive. The extremely long drive. The kids got to see their cousins they haven't seen in 5 years and we caught up with some old friends.

So let me explain the pictures. As some of you may know there's not a whole lot to do in Ks. Hence some of Alan's childhood stories that disturb us all.

We spent time with the cousins, which are the kids in the photos with my kids. We also went to the number one attraction called Big Brutus. Big Brutus is the largest or was the largest mining shovel in Ks. It's such a popular attraction we were the only ones there that day, oh I take that back, on our way out a small group of "mentally challenged" people showed up to take in the spectacle. I'm not kidding.

We also went to the Precious Moments Chapel. They are alot more popular in the midwest, trust me on this one. It is a really neat place though. Especially if you love Precious Moments enough and you can never find the right t-shirt to express it.

We also took in the George Washington Carver museum. Wow, who knew you could do so much with peanuts! We got to make peanut milk with the local park ranger, again we were the only ones there. We were later joined by what I think are homeschoolers, not sure though.

Oh, last but not least we visited the Baxter Springs Mining Museum. Alan's grandfather had big part in establishing this place. So if you're ever in Ks. and need some site seeing suggestions just let us know.

Rotten Neighbor.com

I heard about this website on the news so I thought I would check it out. It is really cool. You can put in your address and it will show you were sex offenders are in your area. You click on the icon and it will pop up thier offense, click on more details and it will give you an address and the picture of the sex offender.

www.rottenneighbor.com

Another Note:

I was in the car with Noah today. He pulled out his wallet, handed me his fake credit card and told me to go and buy myself something nice. He's such a trip.

Summer

Ok, I haven't blogged in forever, I know! It's summertime! It has been a busy busy summer so far.
I got my first tattoo this summer, very cool. I'll have to take a picture of it and post it. Did it hurt? Yes, but so did childbirth and I did that 3 times.
My mom moved to Va. on June 1st. The kids are in heaven with her here.
More recently we went to see Jim Gaffagan in concert at the Landmark theatre with the other church staff. He was so funny I had a headache from laughing so hard. I have a new appreciation for bacon after his act.
The church is in process of hiring a new worship pastor. I think it's kind of exciting, it will be great to have some new blood and fresh ideas at RCC.
We are trying to decide what to do for vacation. Another painful task.

I'll try to get back to blogging more often, I said try.

Lace Up Your Boxing Gloves

Over the past week I have realized more than ever that as Christians, wives, moms, and friends we need to lace up our fighting gloves. The Bible talks about putting on the full armor to gaurd yourself. But in our culture it seems like more than ever we need to fight for our families and friends not just ourselves.
We need to let our family and friends know that we will fight for them. I think about the old movies when a "victim" tells the bad guy my (fill in the blank) will come for me, you'll be sorry.
Let your spouse, kids and friends know that you will come for them, no matter what they get themselves into. We all make mistakes, right. Not to say that some fights won't be bloody and ugly but I know the only way Satan can destroy your family is from within. So let the ones you love know, you might do or be doing something really stupid, but I'm gonna lace up my gloves and we're gone fight for our family. But take heart, if you serve God you are never fighting alone.

Project of the Week

Before After

This was my project of the week. We were given a set of these in tables. The brown is the before and the black is the after. It was alot of fun redoing these tables and they look so different. I had to sand the heck out of them because they had a really shiny venier (I don't think I spelled that right). I also took of the large gold fixtures and sawed off the middle bar thing.
So now I have a matching set of tables for my bedroom, woohoo!

Whoa to the fro!

Ok, yes this is Zeik's 2007-08 school photo. And yes I forgot it was picture day. There goes my mother of the year award yet again. How might the photo be different you ask, well for starters the blue t-shirt with a truck on it. Obviously the photographer thought crossing his arms would cover up the worst of it. And of course the hair! Ziek inherited my hair, lucky him. Just like me if my hair is not properly forced into submission everyday it looks a little unruly, thus the fro. It is apparent Zeik's hair was at some point brushed out or fluffed, probaly by the little black comb school photographers have bought stock in.
What is the deal with the background? Hey kids just relax like your in the sunroom of your grandma's house. Could we squeeze anymore furniture into this shot, really!

In the Motherhood

Ok, I have a new find. There is a new website called In the Motherhood. It is so hilarious. There are webisodes by 3 women who are so funny, all about motherhood. You must check this out. It will make you say, "well at least I'm not the only one".
http://www.inthemotherhood.com/Default.aspx

Camping Out

Noah and our two neighbor boys decided they were going to go camping last night. This endevear kept them busy most of the day, so I just went along with it. They needed a tent and the only person who had one was Zeik. Well they didn't want any "little" kids on thier campout so Ziek negotiated Noah's prize Pokeman card for use of the tent. This is not a normal tent by the way, it is an Incredible tent, like the movie The Incredible's. It was bought for Zeik when he was 2 so it was not meant for 3 big boys, but you couldn't tell them that.
The boys spent better part of the day building something out of wood and gathering supplies for the tent.
To be honest I didn't think they would last much past dark. I was wrong, again. By the time I went to bed at 11:30 they were all fast asleep. They looked like sardines in that tent. Let me also tell you the already smell like wet dogs on any normal day so multiply that times 3 and squeeze it into a preschool tent. SMELLY!
Well Alan and I didn't sleep well because we and by we I mean Alan kept getting up and making sure they were Ok. At the 4:00am check the boys were up having thier morning snack of peanuts. Alan finally made Noah come in at 6:00am and take a shower and get some more sleep.

You can see how grown up they are by all the stuffed animals.

Maymont Day

We went to Maymont today with Sommer and her kids, Harrison and Madison. The weather could not have been better. We had alot of fun and I thought for sure it would wear the kids out going up and down all those hills-WRONG! It wore me out, but not them. What else is new?
Hannah and Noah are entering a photo contest at the library so some of the pics were taken by them to use as possible candidates.

Kids Party Wagon

Ok, it's official I am now (along with Sommer) a small business owner. We decided to start a business to fill a nitch in the market. It is called Kids Party Wagon. You can check out our website for all the info. Please let us know if we can host your child's party.

http://www.kidspartywagon.com/

We are very excited and would love for you to tell your friends and family!