Bloggy Friend Meet-Up!

I had a really excited blog post ready about a meet up tomorrow with a bloggy friend! I am changing the post as I type here because of a possible change. I have been reading Nikowa's blog for.... I think ever since I started blogging actually! I feel like I already know her in real life and I can't believe it has taken us this long to meet up since she only lives a couple of hours away! Well...it's not like we're BUSY being moms and homeschool moms too! :) The sad thing is that unless the weather changes I may not get to go after all. The forecast calls for storms all day. I am very nervous driving in storms even close to home, so I will be very very nervous if I were to be driving in Atlanta in rain and storms! :(

I have only ever met one bloggy friend before, and it was the mutual friend of a real life friend, so really this is the FIRST actual "only know each other through blogland" friend meet-up I've ever had! I hope the weather waits or changes so we can go ahead with our meet! I would LOVE to meet her!

Art!

I went painting again last night! It was a very last minute thing. It just so happened that a couple of friends could go last minute too! We were painting daisies.
I was brave enough this time to go totally different...and do a purple background instead of the black that was in the example.

I also ended up changing the centers of my daisies to pink, and it made a perfect painting for Katie's room!
I realized after I uploaded this photo, that it is technically upside down from the way I painted it, but it doesn't really matter! ha ha!
It was so fun! I am trying to get a group together to go March 26th. It's a very cute painting and a fundraiser for Cystic Fibrosis. And a Friday. Maybe more people can go next time!

Girl Talk

Oh, how I needed the mom time last night! I invited the moms from our homeschool play group for chips n dips and games. It turned out that only 2 of the moms could come, plus Bethany, who is always a part of whatever kind of homeschool/mom/play thing I am doing if she happens to be in town or living here and so she was here and got to come also! So, it was just four of us moms sitting around together....away from the children and just hanging out.


Everyone brought a dip and I proved the "dippers" and we just sat around eating, and talking. I had a big stack of games, and we started to play one once, but it ended up just turning into more talk time. ha ha. I just really think we all needed it.

We have so many things in common: We are all moms. We all homeschool our children. We are all Christians. We all lead conservative lifestyles (with the occasional democratic tendency of Bethany to want to recycle or let everyone win the game! ha!!!). We all are young married, young mothers, and we all, obviously, were in want of some girl time!

Even though we have all those things in common, there were also so many differences among us. We have mega-churchers, church-planters, and home-churchers. We have moms of boys and moms of girls. We have moms who love to read and moms who love to see the movie. We each have our own very unique extended family and upbringing. It is just so fun to learn more and more about your friends and find those other common bonds or enjoy hearing about how the differences can serve to enhance even our friends.

There were discussions of how our homeschooling was going. Of course, as always, the discussion of babies being born..especially since one of the moms is expecting in April. Talk of family, and God and "church" and husbands, and jobs, and money, and life, and our kids, and funny stories, and just anything and everything as one thing lead to the next. We had moments of seriousness as we discussed faith and raising our children. Then we balanced it with some hilarity as we discussed other various topics. ;)

All and all, it was just great to have some girl talk with friends! Friends that I could be serious with and/or just funny around. What a blessing to have friends you know will give sound advice or share their experiences though good or bad....we can all share in whatever way is most helpful to our friends whether that means discussing a past hurtful and trying experience, or if it means remembering the joy and miracle of childbirth (to remind a friend who is nervous about it all over again about how wonderful it will be!).

I am so thankful for all of my friends and for Mom's Night In! :)

Mini-Vacation

What a fantastic weekend! We enjoyed a fun and relaxing weekend in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg with our best friends! Andy (Corey's best friend since kindergarten) just got back from a 5 month deployment in Afghanistan with the air force. When his leave started we decided to take a grown-ups only getaway together...something we have actually never done in the 8+ years we have been married and been friends. We stayed in two lovely cabins through Cabins For You, a rental company owned by some other friends of ours. One was in Pigeon Forge and one was in Gatlinburg, so we got to stay in and see those two different areas of the towns and just have lots of fun!

Our very first stop on the way into town was of course, The Apple Barn! Here we are waiting for our table.


We enjoyed wonderful home-cooked food and the famous apple fritters with apple butter!

This was the view looking out from the first cabin we stayed in. It was BEAUTIFUL! Our hot tub was on a screened porch overlooking this view! Ahhhh!!!!!! So relaxing!
A short photo session before leaving that cabin and heading to Gatlinburg. We stayed in Over the Top (as you can see).



After getting to Gatlinburg I didn't really take many more photos...well just a few but not many of them came out to my approval for the blog! ha ha! We had another great cabin with a hot tub on the porch and a pool table. It was called Jessica's Jewel and sadly I did not get any photos of the view :( I just got busy having fun and relaxing I guess! We walked around, shopped, ate at Hard Rock cafe, sat in the hot tub, played board games, talked, danced (at the cabin the first night..it was so silly but fun!), talked some more, watched tv...and just had fun being friends!

I greatly enjoyed our weekend and we vowed to make it a more than once every 10 years event! MAYBE next time we'll bring the kids! ha ha ha!!!! Well..besides the two we brought this time, right Bethany?!

T-ball Season Comes to a Close....

Tonight was the last t-ball game for the summer! I can't believe how fast these two months have gone by! The team went to CiCi's together after the game to celebrate. Noah had a blast hanging out with his teammates and eating pizza.


Then, it was trophy time! The coaches handed out the trophies along with the name tags that marked their little bins at the games that they used to store their water/hats/gloves.

Noah was so very proud of his trophy. We were so proud of HIM! He did such a great job giving it his ALL at every game! What a great player!

Here he is with his friend, Joshua, with their trophies! Noah has this crazy fake smile thing going on and would you believe.....

......it actually got worse with the second attempt after a plea to not fake smile?! ha ha. Still a cutie though! Congratulations Noah!

Next up: Soccer Season!!!!

New Addition!

This is the new view when you walk into our house! Notice anything different?!

Here is a little bit closer view.....

I haven't had daily access to a piano in 8 years! (since I got married)
I am SO thrilled!
We have this perfect little spot in the kitchen/dining area.
Hopefully it will be prove to be a safe spot, as it is partly over a return vent and I have read mixed reviews about it..it seems that with it not being an "output" vent it should be okay.
We will keep a close eye and ear out for it.
This is a very special piano.
My mom's dad gave it to her when she was a little girl. He passed away when she was 13 years old. She learned on it, I learned on it, and now my kids will learn on it!
I am so thankful for Corey's brothers and our friend who helped them move it today. We have about 10 steps coming up our front porch but they got it moved pretty quickly and easily. We fed them some Zaxby's and homemade cherry walnut banana bread as thanks!

I have already been playing! It doens't seem to be too terribly out of tune really. Just a little in the upper notes. It is probably more out of tune than we can tell just from playing around a little, but I am so very excited to have it and I can't wait to get back in practice. I will also be using it to begin to teach Katie and Noah this year.

Now I have another kind of working out to add to my routine every day....
I will have to get back in shape if I plan to be a suitable teacher this year!

Weekend Fun!

We have had another busy weekend! Friday night was dinner out at Spaghetti Warehouse with Jason, PJ, Eric, and Kelly. When we got home, Jason and PJ came over for Rock Band. We stayed up till 2:30am!!! All of us had our kids spending the night away with grandparents, so we had to take advantage of it! ha ha! We had a great time with them, but I didn't take any pictures.

Then, Saturday, Corey and I spent the day together, we had lunch at a new Japanese place in Cartersville (YUM!) and did a bit of shopping. Then, after meeting my mom to get our kids we came home and that night Chris and Hannah came over for MORE Rock Band. Yeah, we kind of enjoy that game. They had never played before, but they really got into it! ha ha! After that, two games of Cranium and another late night!



Sunday morning, Katie and Noah got up ready to grace the world with their horrible demeanors! I think they had a "grandparent sleepover hangover." They were fussing and crying if you even touched something the wrong way! Katie also had a cough. SO, we decided to go back to bed! They got up at about 8am, and we laid back down about 9:30am! They both went to sleep and slept HARD until about 11am when I got them back up. The reason I wanted to be sure they were well-rested is that we were going to enjoy the last birthday outing for Noah. We had given him tickets to the Rome Braves game for Sunday afternoon. It was Noah's first baseball game. He really enjoyed it. We got rained on the first little bit, but then the sun came out and it was STEAMING HOT!


Our package came with 4 tickets, 4 popcorns, 4 drinks, and 4 hotdogs for $25. We enjoyed it, but about the 6th inning they were bored and terribly hot, so at the end of the 7th we left.

It was a fun day, but, WOW we are resting today! I am so glad we have Monday mornings to get over our weekends! ha ha!!!!!

$3 Worth of Fun!

We took a trip to the Chattanooga Zoo and Coolidge Park in Tennessee today. Thanks to our friend, Christi, we found out that on Wednesdays, admission to the zoo is only $1/person! Christi actually wasn't able to make it, but 3 of us took our 2 kids/each for a fun day! Here they are posing with the giant chimp.

Noah, Brendan, Zion, Katie, Canaan, and Kaitlyn.

This bird was funny...it would peck on the window at the kids which they thought was hilarious! Below they are sitting on the fountain in front of the red panda exhibit.


Now for a silly pose! Pray a special blessing on Ms. Bethany and Ms. Beverly for accompanying the kids into the petting zoo area! ha ha!


Noah loved petting the dog the best. Go figure! Below they are on their way out of the train car that was the observation area for the cougars.

After the zoo we went over to Coolidge Park by the river for a picnic and water play fun.
Kaitlyn decided she needed to work on her tan, so here are the girls soaking up some sun!

They couldn't sit still for long at all... I think Katie regretted agreeing to the whole sun sitting thing! ha!

The boys enjoyed the wide open spaces for running, playing tag, and more running!
On to the water fun! Huge fountains and stone animal statues shooting water...fun fun fun!

I think we got more than our money's worth of fun today, wouldn't you say?

Thirty-One (and 300th Post!)

I just noticed that this is my 300th post, but I already had this ready...so maybe I will commemorate #301 instead..:)

My friend, PJ, recently became a consultant for Thirty-One Gifts. It is a Christian company and the name comes from "Proverbs 31." I had hosted a party before for another friend of mine, Amy, but she has moved to Arkansas. So, when PJ signed up I decided to host a party for her to help her business get going and I also was VERY motivated by the hostess special for the month of April (if I got $500 in orders I got $150 in free stuff!). ALSO...it coincided with my birthday month so all my friends were motivated to order something for me to help me get free stuff for my birthday while getting something cute for themselves or a friend too!!!

Anyway, I had not posted what I got with my hostess rewards, so I thought I would go ahead and share....Thanks to my generous friends, I was able to make my goal and get $150 in FREE stuff! WOO HOO!


I know that Amy sometimes reads my blog and I wanted to clarify anyway: The brown insulated bag that is shown (with Thompson on it in tan) is one I ordered the last time I had a party. I put it on here to show because as part of my order to make my $500 I had ordered two bags "like" that one but in the black and white print shown below as Mother's Day gifts. We got one embroidered with "Meme" and one with "Nanna" for our moms. The paisley print bag is SO cute. I wish the colors had shown up brighter on here.... It is a wipeable material which makes it a GREAT out and about bag. It holds lots of stuff! It is called the "Mommy Tote" and I got it as part of my freebies from my party! The little containers are soy melting accents for a warmer I got at my last party. They smell so good!

Here are the rest of the items I got for FREE. The big bag in the back was my "big" wishlist item. It is called a "Carry-All Tote". I got the matching Spa Train Case and I am so excited to use it, oh, the next time we go somewhere...ha ha! That big bag currently has a twin size quilt stuffed in it to make it stand up for the picture, and still has plenty of room for stuffing! I can't wait to see how much I will be able to get in it! The spa train case has a wipeable inside so it will be perfect for makeup, toiletries, etc. The little bag on the left is called a Wristlet. It is SO cute and handy! I was able to put everything from my small purse inside and it has a wrist strap (you can see better if you click on the link) that makes it easy to carry around with all the essentials inside. In June they are coming out with one that will match my Mommy Tote that I so want to get! It clips right inside most of the bigger totes!

So, there you go! All my adorable freebies! If you live in Cartersville, Rome, etc, you should contact PJ about hosting a show. She does such a fun night with games and all it is just a ton of fun! Plus, this stuff is just TOO CUTE to pass up! I might even come, who knows? Check out the latest hostess and customer specials on her website, there is always a great offer going on!

Girls' Art Night Out!

Last night I went painting again with a group of friends. Bethany, Emilee (her sister), Chris F, Laura W., and I went out for a night out for Bethany's 30th birthday. We went to the same place I posted about before where you pay $25 and they walk you through step by step painting a 16x20 canvas that you take home at the end. It really is fun and again, we got to see how different personalities shine through with the same picture and instruction. Last night the painting was "crazy flowers." Mine actually got pretty crazy because I was NOT patient enough to paint precise little circles like the teacher was showing us to do...ha ha. You can read Bethany's blog about it by clicking on the link at the beginning of the post....

My "crazy" flowers.
Of course, my children are my biggest fans, so they wanted a picture with my masterpiece.

Here is a group shot that I stole from Bethany's post (thanks!). Isn't it so cool how everyone's interpretation is so different? It was a fun night! We stopped at Steak and Shake on the way home and didn't get home until AFTER MIDNIGHT on a TUESDAY! WOW, pretty wild night, HA!

A Busy Week!

Here is a picture of Noah and his friend Joshua, at their last t-ball class. They got a bat and ball as a gift at the end. They played a game and it was SO cute! I am sure the upcoming t-ball season is going to be so much fun! This picture of Katie is from when we were leaving her ballet recital on Saturday. She was showered with flowers of course, and she did a great job! That will be her last dance recital for a while since she has decided she wants to pursue music next and will be taking lessons in the fall.

After her dance recital, Katie went on a date with her Daddy! He took her to the Melting Pot for a celebration of the day and as a special time for the two of them. Here are pictures of her leaving on her date. Of course since it was just Corey and Katie, he didn't take many pictures while they were out... just a couple but they were on his phone. She LOVED the Melting Pot...especially the cheesecake dipped in the chocolate fondue.

Yesterday we went to Canaan's 6th birthday party. It was so much fun. Bethany planned a "Camo" themed party with all the kids wearing their camo, a tank cake, an obstacle course, a snake hunt, and actual "MREs" for the food for the kids. It was so funny to see them all trying to figure out (with the parents help of course) how to cook those things! It was hilarious! There was even a USO performance to entertain the troops during the party... a puppet show! I am sure Bethany is going to post plenty of pictures of that soon, so check it out on her blog.

THEN, last night I went to an AWESOME surprise party for Bethany thrown by her mom and sisters for her upcoming 30th birthday. We had a "Sweet Tomatoes" type salad bar and muffins and ice cream bar. We also played the American Idol game on Xbox which was SO much FUN!
She did not have a clue about it and was SO surprised!!! It was GREAT! More pictures to come of that later too, probably on her blog and her sister's blog. I was able to meet a couple of my "online" blogging friends that I know through Bethany at her party too! Mary and Heidi were both here for the party and it was very neat getting to actually meet them in person and hang out together...they were so much fun!

*Whew!* What a weekend! I was actually looking forward to today...MONDAY morning, so that I could sleep in! ha ha!