This Past Weekend

We took lots of pictures this past weekend, and I've been meaning to post them but couldn't find the camera until today...

Saturday morning, we had Maggie's soccer pictures. Their first game is in a couple of weeks...cannot WAIT! Practices are hilarious. My sides hurt from laughing when we leave. Those kids sure were cute in their soccer gear on Saturday! Here are a few pictures.




Saturday afternoon we played with some neighbors outside at Scott and Margaret's house. We are blessed to live in a neighborhood where nearly everyone plays outside all spring and summer. So much fun!

Colbs dropped his popsicle!
Scott and Marg's niece McKenzie and our neighbor Nate. Are they not a cute pair??

Sunday afternoon was our niece Hallie's second birthday party. I couldn't go because I had a stomach bug, and I was SO sad. Jeff took the kids, though, and they had a great time. Hallie is a precious little girl. Here is a picture from her party.

Mags was proud of the card she made for Hallie.

And here are some pictures Jeff took of Maggie and Miller being wild and crazy during bathtime.


And here a couple more pictures. Maggie makes the beds most mornings (or at least puts all the pillows on for me). She wanted me to take a picture because she was proud of her work. The second picture is of Miller trying to hide under the couch pillows when I told him it was naptime. Silly boy.


Hope everyone is having a good week!

Special Birthday

My birthday was yesterday, and it was excellent! We are blessed with incredible friends and family who made me feel special. I got cards, phone calls, and messages from several sweet family members and buddies, and that in itself made my day! THEN, Becky and her sweet little ones, Alex and baby Caroline, took the kids and me out for a birthday lunch at Momma Goldberg’s. THEN, Jeff asked our friends Scott and Margaret to keep the kiddos so he and I could go out for dinner. After dinner, we got a cookie cake, and Jeff bought me a new dress and pair of shoes. THEN, when we got back to S and M’s, they had put up a birthday banner, and all the kids had made sweet birthday cards. I am undeserving of the wonderful friends and family God has given me, and I feel so blessed (and spoiled). And to top it all off, Mags was as excited about my birthday as she was about her own! How sweet is that? Thank you to my precious friends and family for a wonderful day! :-)

Be Still

Most of our friends and family know we've had a sub-par week. :-) To sum up, we're having to get my car repaired to the tune of a BUNCH of money, and we found out Monday that our house has "toxic Chinese drywall," a problem common to houses built in the time period when ours was built (2006-7), and a problem a lot of our neighbors have, too. We can't sell the house as is, so we will have to have it repaired, which will cost about 2/3 the price of the home. We are having to file with a class action suit, which may not settle for a couple more years (or more). We had some big plans that are becoming blurry as a result.

But you know what? Those were our plans, and God has different ones. And since His plan is the master plan, we're praying for peace and know that God will use this for His glory. And in the grand scheme of things, we know this is really not a big deal. Just made for a long week.

We sang this song in church Sunday night, and it has been on my heart all week as I strive desperately to "be still and know":

Hide me now
Under your wings
Cover me
within your mighty hand

When the oceans rise and thunders roar
I will soar with you above the storm
Father you are king over the flood
I will be still and know you are God

Find rest my soul
In Christ alone
Know his power
In quietness and trust

When the oceans rise and thunders roar
I will soar with you above the storm
Father you are king over the flood
I will be still and know you are God
("Still," Hillsong United)

Miller Reading

Okay...so he's not realllly reading. He's just enjoying looking at the pictures. And this is a big step for Miller, because before last week, he would never sit still through a whole book. He was being so cute tonight while we were reading, and we wanted to try to catch it on video for his grandparents. He toned down the silliness a little when we got out the camera, but it's still pretty funny--to us, at least! Pay no attention to the homely lookin' Mama with the Southern drawl...

First Soccer Practice!

Maggie had her first soccer practice tonight...Those kids running around in their soccer gear were hysterically cute! This is going to be such a fun thing for her to do, and we're excited to get it started. Here are some pictures.
Getting all geared up to practice!

Ready to go!
With her buddy Alex
No clue what's going on here but I think it's pretty funny...
I told you--These kids are so cute!

Can't wait for a great and funny soccer season!

Crazy Days...

That's what the past few days have been! We love it.

We decided last week to put both kids in one bedroom and make Mags's room into a playroom. They've been doing GREAT for a while sleeping in the same room, so we wanted to make it officially "theirs" by doing a little repainting/reorganizing. I will post a pic later, but for now, here's an angle of the playroom.


In related news, Maggie and Miller made some artwork this morning with a ballpoint pen on the freshly painted playroom wall. Mags drew her name and a pretty picture of a little stick girl with a dress and a bow on, and Miller drew LOTS of circles. And both kids will be watching NO TV this week as a result. And if any of you knew just how much "Wow Wow Wubbzy" means to Maggie's life, you'd know what a harsh punishment this is--for all of us! :-) I should've taken a picture before cleaning it, but I was too busy, what with the wordless shrieking and all...(This will be funny to me one day, right?).

The kids both had a dentist appointment yesterday and had a "sugarbug" in the same place...Go, Mom! Miller did do great at his first dentist appt., though, and Maggie handled the news well considering her crippling fear of dental problems!


After the dentist visit, we went to the zoo. Mags was all about the snakes. She took a creepy picture with one, asked me to kill one (the rattlesnake), and got to hold another one! Yuck! We are catching the other half of the zoo on Friday (after Maggie's filling), and we are NOT revisiting the reptiles!



The kids had fun pretending to be lions. Are these not the cutest little growlers?



Maggie has her first soccer practice tonight, so I'll be sure to take lots of pictures. It is sure to be entertaining! More to come later...

Dental Advice from the Four-Year-Old…and a Prayer Request

I have a fear of going to the dentist. This is really strange considering I never missed a dental checkup for the first 22 years of my life and wore some kind of tooth/jaw-straightening device from age five to fifteen. I think my fear developed when I had to have a root canal (coincidentally, at age 22). I have been not-so-good about my dental checkups since then and have had an off-and-on toothache since last summer. Last week, it got really unbearable, so I went to the dentist. Apparently, the problem had spread all over one of my nerves and nearly to one of my sinus cavities (umm, gross much?). Ouch. I had to have another root canal on Monday, and let me tell ya…NOT fun. The worst part was the numbing shot, during which I realized tears were silently streaming down my face.

In any case, Maggie has taken a big interest this week in my dental hygiene, making sure that I not only brush and floss when I’m supposed to (I can assure you that I do--for the most part--regardless of the evidence otherwise), but also that I eat and drink only things that are good for my teeth (which generally doesn’t happen). She told me the other day that if I ate the Samoa that was on its way to my mouth, my teeth would fall out and I’d have to get gold ones. Tonight on the way home from church, I took the kids through the Dunkin’ Donuts drive-through and ordered myself a Pepsi; Mags said, “You know that Pepsi is NOT good for your teeth.” I’ll tell you, when I held that sweet child as an infant, I never pictured her telling me to step away from the Samoa or put down the Pepsi!

In other news, I need your prayers for my sister Candace. Her new baby, Wilson, was born nearly two weeks ago. He is precious and doing well, but Candace was admitted to the hospital at the beginning of this week for a kidney infection. Her fever has been high, and she has not been responding well to antibiotics. She has to be fever-free for 48 hours before going home, so pray that she will heal quickly so she can go home and be with her family.

Hope everyone is having a great week and enjoying this sunny, warm weather. We’ve been outside from morning until dinner two days this week so far, and we plan to do the same for the next few days! Pictures to come soon…