Amazing weekend

The weekend before last was a whirlwind, but a wonderful, sweet one that will always be remembered by our family. Saturday began with an entry in the Mt. Laurel Festival parade. I was not prepared to be in the parade. I had been told that the kids would be in the parade and I could just sit, watch and take pictures. I just put on a t-shirt and shorts, and headed out to the parade. When I got there, plans changed and I was in one of the cars. D.'s dad is running for County Commissioner, so we rode in 2 of his old cars. It was fun, but very hot. Those cars don't have air conditioning, and the engine heat comes right inside the car. We got to see lots of our friends watching the parade, and hopefully it was good PR for Mr. Higgins.

After the parade, we went to lunch, then home for a quick change of clothes. Aubrey had a t-ball game, but Mallory and I stayed home for a nap for her and vacuuming and cleaning up the house for me. Then, when Aubrey and D. got home, we got ready to leave for the Gwinnett Braves game. It was t-ball night there for our league, so a bunch of our t-ballers and their families were there. The boys and girls got to walk around the field and have their teams announced over the PA system. It started raining in the first inning and we thought that might be it for us, but it passed by quickly and we had a blast at the game. Definitely something we are going to do again.

Sunday was by far the highlight of the weekend. Sunday morning, Aubrey was baptized along with 5 other children in our church. It was a sweet church service, and something I know none of our family will forget. Even though Aubrey had asked if he could use his snorkel to be baptized, he did great without it. After the service, we had lunch together with the extra family members that came for his baptism, then headed home to get things ready for his party. Aubrey is way into Legos, so that was what we did for his party. Lego stores have party packs they sell for birthday parties. The packs come with a box full of Legos for each child, and the lade at the Lego store had told me these are great for the kids to play with at the party so that's what we did. I set up a table and each child had a tray with his/her box to build with. The kids loved it, and stood there for well over a half an hour building their Legos. My dad said it was the quietest birthday party he had ever been to! Then we had Aubrey's special Lego cake and ice cream. He was thrilled with everything. We had the whole family stay for dinner after that. It was a very full day, but one filled with so much love and excitement. Aubrey turned one year older, and showed his new life in Christ all at the same time. It doesn't get much better than this.

Night Out

I have always loved music. In first grade I wrote that I wanted to be a piano teacher when I grew up. Then I began singing and still took piano lessons, but decided to become an opera singer. I went to college, did an opera, found out more about an opera singer's career path and decided it wasn't for me. However, I still love to sing and I just love music. I honestly can't imagine my life without it! I had listened to country music some, but after I met D., my musical horizons were greatly widened. D. loves country, most notably old country music. (like before we were born country music) I have developed a love for country, but still don't love the old stuff. One of my very favorite singers ever is Martina McBride. She is a classy lady who can just flat out sing. D. and I had seen her before in concert, but we went to see her again the weekend before last with our friends Terry and Libby. Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton opened for her and they were so much fun to watch as well, but Martina was the big star.

When we got to the concert D. was looking around and said, "They are going to fly someone over the audience tonight." We said, "How do you know?" He showed us a beam overhead that had no other reason to be there. Well, Luke and Blake sang and nothing. Martina came out and nothing. There was also a round stage in the middle of the floor right in front of us and we thought someone would use it, but nothing happened. Then, Martina said, "I'd like y'all to listen to my fiddle player." and the arena went dark except for a spotlight on the fiddle player. I saw people moving down towards the round stage and I thought, "She's going to be there!" So, I grabbed Libby and said, "Come on, we've got to go down there!" We ran down to the stage, but started feeling dumb when Martina came back out on the front stage. She was sitting on a crescent moon. We about passed out when the moon started to rise with her on it, and we saw that it was headed our way. We were so, so excited. D. was right, and we were going to be close enough to touch her. She flew across the arena on the moon and landed in front of us. It was so neat, and we laughed and laughed as we took our pictures in front of her. We could see her cool jewelry and black fingernail polish. She left after a few songs, but it ranks up there in my fave concert happenings. Of course after the concert we were equally as excited to see her up close as well. All in all, a super fun night out for this homebody.

Chickens

I might surprise some of you when I say I would love to live in a farmhouse in the middle of the country with my family and my animals (outside in the pens/barn of course) to keep me company as we played, cooked, read, knitted, created, etc. Reality is this will most likely never happen for me. That's ok. I'll do what I can to make as much of it happen here where I am.

I am trying to live simpler, and part of this is having a garden, and hope to someday have a chicken coop with a few chickens for eggs. I asked for a chicken coop with chickens for Mother's Day this year. On this past Tuesday I was driving toward the school for a meeting (and running kind of late) and D. pulled in front of me and motioned for me to follow him. I wasn't very thrilled, but I did it anyway. We drove to one of the shops they have for their heavy machinery and we got out and he said, "I want to show you something." We walked over to one of the machines and he pointed down in between parts of it. There was a beautiful chicken! And she was sitting on 11 eggs. I was so excited! I told D. that God had answered my request for Mother's Day and he didn't even have to pay for it! We took pictures and did research that night to find out what kind of chicken she was (Old English Game Hen). We looked at coop design and I was getting so excited! The next morning, D. left for work and about 20 minutes after he left the phone rang. He told me that something had eaten the eggs during the night and the chicken was gone. I was so sad. So, I'm still on the search for some chickens for my backyard. If any of you help me, I promise I'll keep you supplied with fresh eggs!

check it out!

My dear friend, Jill, is a wonderful photographer, and she was one of the photographers showcased on Becky Higgins blog here. Jill has a photography business, and Becky asked any professional photographers if they would be willing to donate a session. Jill jumped right on it, and was the only photographer who did so for South Carolina. She actually lives less than an hour from me in Georgia, so if any of you need a wonderful photographer, please let her know! Those are my precious children in the first picture on the red truck. She does an amazing job with kids. We're actually meeting today to get Aubrey's 6 year old pics done. I can't wait to see what she comes up with. Check her out! You won't be sorry!

Happy Birthday, D.!

Just a quick post to say Happy Birthday to my sweet husband, D. He is a year older than me, and we are officially in our mid-thirties. Of course he's a little further in than me, but that's ok, just an extra year of wisdom. I have probably told y'all that D. and I got set up on a blind date by his sister Amy, a fact that I never forget to remind her of. D. and I are so different. He's quiet, I'm loud. He's rational and logical, I'm emotional and flighty at times. He's calm, I'm not so calm. But I still believe God meant for us to be together because he balances me and I think I do the same for him. He reigns me in at times and I pull him out. Everyone thinks he is so serious, but he makes me laugh daily. There isn't anything in the world he won't do for me. He takes such good care of me and Aubrey and Mallory. He has been an even better Dad than I thought he would be. And though we are almost complete opposites, we fit together. Happy Birthday, sweet D. I hope we have many, many more years of your birthdays together! Love you!