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Friday, June 27, 2008

A whole lotta preciousness and a little Jack Black!



I did this layout of our sweet Mallory because she loves to be upside down! I don't know why, but if she's on your lap, she's wiggling to lean backward. It's really cute. I know all moms think their children are so precious, but people always comment on what a cute/pretty baby she is. One of my friends really took the cake. The first time she met Mallory she said, "Oh Sarah, she is so cute! She reminds me of my favorite movie actor!" Of course my mind was racing, thinking, Kate Winslet, Audrey Hepburn, Gwyneth Paltrow, etc. Then my friend (who shall remain nameless because I love her so much) said, "Jack Black!" You all know I am not speechless very often, but my jaw hit the floor (literally) I was near tears being 8 weeks postpartem and so hormonal. I said, "What? Jack Black! He's not cute!" And she said, "I mean that as a compliment. He's my favorite actor!" Well, I recovered even thought I was appalled and asked everyone I knew if Mallory looked like Jack Black. Of course when I asked that everyone looked at me like I was crazy. But, in my friend's defense, she did have really dark hair, and big round eyes. I guess I can give it to her. It's now a joke between us, and I know that Mallory is way too precious to be in the same category as Jack Black. He should be so honored.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

View from VBS




It has come and gone. The annual VBS week at church. This was Aubrey's first year being old enough to participate. He absolutely loved it. I told you about his mohawk last week, but each day he had so much fun. The day we were supposed to dress up in beach attire he would not wear what I picked out for him. He wanted to pick out his own clothes. So, I decided not to fight that battle and let him dress himself. Well, of course it wasn't what I would have had him wear, but he undressed and dressed himself, which I felt was a milestone for him. He was so proud of himself. I explained to him that since he wasn't dressing "beachy" he wouldn't be in the running for a prize at VBS that day like he was with his mohawk. (the kids get a prize for participating in the attire contests each day) He thought about it for a minute and decided he still wanted to wear what he had picked out. On the way to VBS he said, "Mom, I think my outfit is beachy! I am going to call myself Beachy Man!" And that is what he did. I got such a kick out of him as I do most days. He is definitely unique and pretty confident in himself. He did participate in crazy hat day. His hat was the craziest. He and I made it the night before and he loved it. He wouldn't take it off the next day. He and Hayden played all afternoon in the hot sun in their crazy hats. It was so cute. They came up to me in their crazy hats with a tool box in Aubrey's hand and his Bob the Builder computer in the other, ready to go outside. I said, "What are you guys doing?" Aubrey replied, "We're going to take the battery out of Daddy's four wheeler." I said, "OK." not thinking they could really do it. Well, I should have known better from my experience as Aubrey's mom. It was just so comical with them in their crazy hats, acting like nothing was out of the ordinary. I wish I could have it on video. So precious. Anyway, I went outside and they had moved D's four wheeler (pushed it themselves, and it is heavy), had the seat off and were attempting to remove the battery. I had to stop them there. I'm pretty sure Aubrey would have figured out how to do it. It's scary how much he is like his daddy.


Since VBS we have listened to Surfin through the Scriptures, Beach Party and Shazaam over and over, with the motions included. Aubrey is so stinkin precious pretending to surf to the songs and singing along. I am so thankful for times like VBS where God's words and ideas just soak into our children. Aubrey got so much out of this week. I am very grateful. It gets so hard to make sure they are really getting it sometimes. God is so gracious to help us when we ask. I have really been praying for help as Aubrey gets older. The world can be a scary place for Christian parents!


On this same note, we had a MOPS steering team meeting yesterday and the ladies on our team always make me feel so refreshed as a mom and a Christian woman. I am so thankful God led me to MOPS. It has made such a difference to me. I am a Co-Creative Team leader for next year with my friend Nancy (Hi Nancy! She reads here) and I am really excited about it. Both of my sisters are also involved in MOPS so it is a family affair. Anyway, I love it and thank God for it.


One last thought I read on Jennifer Stewart's blog this week, "Our circumstances are not an accurate reflection of God's goodness. Whether life is good or bad, God's goodness, rooted in his character, is the same." - Helen Grace Lescheid. Whoah, what a great reminder, God is good! Sorry for the epic post. Hope you made it this far!

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Lazy what?





Whoever coined them the lazy days of summer never met our family. So far, our summer has been anything but lazy. Here are a few reasons I haven't posted in a while:


Swimming lessons for Aubrey - He loved them and is now a little fish!


Pottery painting - a church trip that was so fun for our little artist. He doesn't like to color with crayons, but give the boy a paintbrush and he goes to town.


Vacation Bible School - Today was crazy hair day and Aubrey won the award for crazy hair for the four year olds. He loved his mohawk, and is having so much fun at VBS. Amazingly he says his favorite part is music! I don't know where that comes from!


This past Saturday Mallory and I were able to meet author Debbie Macomber. She has written over 100 books, and is a favorite of mine. She was at our local yarn store because she is also an avid knitter. So, I met a friend of mine there and we had the best time. I was so excited! D. was laughing at what a nerd I am for being so excited about an author, but I loved it. And, the yarn store was beautiful. Just a fun time all around.

Hope you all are having as much fun so far this summer as we are. We hope to see you all and be lazy together one of these days. Give us a call and we'll try to pencil you in! :)

Friday, June 6, 2008

summer is here!




Summer has arrived in Georgia! It has been so hot this week, and I am just not real happy about it. I like the idea of summer, the watermelon, popsicles, swimming, 4th of July, etc., but I can definitely do without the summer heat. This week we have been trying to make the best of it and "beat the heat". The kids of course, love all of this. We are very blessed to have a pool at Papa and Golly's house, so Wednesday we went swimming for the first time this summer. Aubrey had a blast. Mallory thought the water was too cold to sit in and needed to be held the whole time. We had our friend Kelly with us, so Mallory had a fun friend to play with her and take special care of her. Aubrey loved having Kelly because it was like having a big sister to play Chutes and Ladders with and swing him on the playset. It was a fun day all around.


Today Aubrey's friend Jackson came over. Those boys are going to sleep well tonight for sure! We got out the slip and slide and they slipped and slided until I made them stop to conserve some water! With the super soakers by their sides, they made sure everything else got watered today. Callie even got in on the water gun fights. They have been playing outside and inside alternately all day, only stopping for drinks and food. Mallory and I have been keeping cool inside. I am not kidding or being trite when I say I am thankful for air conditioning. I do not like to be hot. I think I already said that once, but it is true! I have been able to get some scrapping done today, so it's been a pretty good day for all of us. And, we're grilling out tonight so it will get even better!


Tomorrow night we have a party to go to. We had a party last Saturday night. D. and I were laughing about it this week when we were talking about it, because we are pretty big homebodies. We don't have a big social calendar outside of church and family. We're pretty proud of ourselves for having back to back weekend plans. (:


I hope all of you have a fun, safe and COOL weekend!