Picture overload!!

Well for some odd reason my camera decided to work again last night. Briefly at least. It took the pictures I wanted and then stopped working again.

Dereks company gave him Friday off bc of all the hard work and extra hours he put in the past couple of weeks fixing a problem with a company in Dublin. Since their in a different time zone (obviously) he was working crazy hours. So the problem got fixed and they wanted to show their appreciation so gave him a free day off. It didnt come out of his PTO but was paid for.We were going to go to the homeschool bookfair in Plano. I really wanted to hear Dough Philips from the Vision Forum.

The girls ended up spending the night at my parents house Thursday night and my mom surprised them on Wednesday by getting them the bedding they wanted from Target. We found it at Target last week and it was exactly what they've been wanting. Ever since going to Dereks Aunt and Uncles house and seeing one of their cousins bedrooms they've wanted a zebra and cheetah print bedroom with hot pink and lime green. So when we saw the bedding it was perfect! Derek said we needed to wait until we could really justify spending the money on it.....boo on being wise with money (JK of course!) , so we didnt get it right then. But thank goodness my mom did bc we really wanted (well, me and the girls did, lol)! I got some fabric at Hobby Lobby and made some throw pillows for their bed.

I think they turned out really well considering Ive only been sewing since May!

Well since we didnt have the girls (well older 2) that night we decided to surprise them by painting their room. We painted one wall (the one you can see in the picture) hot pink, the side walls lime green and the opposite wall light pink. Boy were they surprised and excited when they got home!

We didnt end up going to the bookfair. I was a little dissapointed but oh well it was worth not going and surprising the girls.

Friday night Farmersville hosted a movie on the parkway. They set up a giant screen in a field and played Horton Hears a Who for the town. It was completely free and they even gave out free popcorn and teddy grahms (yum!). The girls had a great time! Audrey was even entertained...for a little bit at least, lol.

Saturday we woke up bright and early to Derek starting his first brisket. My parents got him a smoker for his birthday day and he hasnt been able to use it yet bc we've been so busy every weekend up until now. So he finally bought a brisket and spent all day hovering over it, making sure the temp and everything was perfect. Our good friends Crystal, Danny and Exie came to visit that night and share in the yummyness of the brisket! Derek did an awesome job at his first go at a brisket. We all really really enjoyed it!! I think he was pleased.

Since Crystal works for a local sports magazine she has a really nice camera. She is the one who usually takes Audreys pictures but we havent had her take them since Audrey was like umm....well I guess since Christmas, so little. She brought her camera and we got some REALLY adorable pics of lil Audrey. Im going to call them her official 9 mo pics...eventhough she was only 2 days shy of 10 months. Here is a glimpse of what we got.

They're somewhat dark and still need a little editing but you get the idea! Crystal did a great job!

This is what happens when a 9 mo old should really be asleep in bed and you make her sit still and take pictures instead of playing with the other kids. LOL But look at her cute little tooth she FINALLY has!

Well I think Im all blogged out now. This is the start to our last week of summer. Next Tuesday we'll be starting school. Dance also starts back up and we'll be starting co-op with our homeschoool group. At least Ive had about a month of a peaceful summer. Im kinda ready for the routine of the school year to start back up though.

We're still alive and kickin'

I know I know, I havent updated this in awhile. But life has been busy and my digi camera died. Apparently the problem is common with Canon Powershot cameras and costs around $150 to fix. So we may as well just get a new camera. Im so sad. Now I dont even want to bother with another point and shoot and just get a DSLR. Maybe for my birthday/Christmas. (hint hint mom and Derek) So for now I'll be using my film SLR for any pics I want to take. But hey sometimes its nice to actually be surprised by the pics and get to actually hold them when you view them for the first time.

Well my gossip free for 8 days went pretty well...and by fast. Now Im implementing it as a lifestyle. It should be anyways. In scripture gossip its listed right up there alongside murder and fornication. Obviously its pretty offensive to God! The Bible says that The tongue has the power of life and death......(Proverbs 18:1). So through our speech we can literally bring life and death into a situation. Now thats powerful stuff (thats for you Andrew Womack fans ;) ). But seriously it is! Ive viewed this time and again. This summer God really gave me a perfect opportunity to be a light in the darkness and guard my tongue in a situation. I feel I failed miserably. No, actually I know I did. In hindsight I can see how He provided the perfect sitation to cling to His words and watch what I said, but I chose to indulge the flesh and join in. How sick the whole situation makes me feel. Fortunately I know we have an awesome Father in Heaven who has already forgiven me. Now I have the rest of my life to head His word and guard my tongue!! As a female and having this as my weakness I know I'll have to totally depend on His strength in this. Thankfully the Lord is willing to hold my hand in this. So watching my tongue is going to be the area that Im giving the Lord to work on at this point in my life. That along with patience and endurance to get through the days ;) LOL

Theres more to write...but I'll have to save it for later. Life is calling.........

Gossip Free for 8 Days

There is a pastor who is challenging his congregation to be gossip free for 8 days starting 08/08/08. Which is today! So I have decided to take the challenge! There are so many verses in scripture that warn against gossip and how damaging it can be. I know I fall victim to gossiping way more then I'd like to admit. So for the next 8 days (and hopefully from now on) I will be gossip free. I pray that I can obstain from negative talk in general and if you call me with something you'd like to "chat" about please dont be offended when I dont want to hear it! :)
Heres the link to an article about it:
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/423908.aspx

Gods Glory

The Heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of His hands!

Psalm 19:1 NIV

God's glory is on tour in the skies,

God-craft on exhibit across the horizon!

Psalm 19:1 The Message

When I was a little girl, probably around Ava's age, I had a Sunday school teacher who taught us that when the rays of light shine out of and around the clouds its called God's Glory. All through growing up, anytime I saw the suns rays shining around the clouds I called it Gods Glory, no matter how old I was. Since the time Elisa could begin recognizing her surroundings I woud always point out Gods Glory to her. It always makes me smile when Elisa excitedly exclaims "Look mom!! Its Gods Glory! Isnt it beautiful?" A little earlier this evening Derek and the girls walked down to his parents house to return some things. Once viewing the sky Elisa ran home and threw the door open excidedly telling me "Mom you have to come see God's Glory! Its so beautiful!" (Anyone who knows Elisa can picture her expression when saying this, lol) I immediately put down the book I was reading (some of their school materials Im trying to familiarize myself with) and ran outside with her to see the glory of God shining through the sky! This is what we saw.........

How awesome is that?! I was instanlty reminded of Psalm 19:1. The living Word of God...coming to life!

The weekend is over!

What a weekend we've had. The girls party was a success yesterday. They had a wonderful time and were blessed with lots of friends to share it with! The stress of party planning is over...well until Oct. THen I get to start planning the big #1 for little miss Audrey. Im thinking a fall festival type theme. Lots of pumpkins, hay bales.....letting the kids bob for apples, have a potato sac race, and a 3 legged race. Just some old fashioned fun doing things that kids nowadays dont do. Either that or do her party at a pumpkin patch we went to last yr out in Prosper. That would be fun. FOr the older kids at least, lol. The people who know me really well know how much I LOOOOVEEEE party planning! I seriously could make a side job out of it. I have actually thought about going into that. I always get stressed out though. I get all these ideas and then I cant find what I need to make them come to life.
Today was Elisa's All-Star T-Ball teams end of the season party. The kids (most of the same friends from her party yesterday) had a blast swimming at one of the girls (from the teams) house. This will be the last time she associates as a team member with many of those girls so it was bittersweet. Im sooooooooooooo glad for this all to be over. Can I say that again? Im SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo glad for this all to be over. I thought we were going to have a nice relaxing summer and its been anything but that. But this was a once in a lifetime experience for her and we'll never do it again. Ever. At least Elisa can says shes been to a National championship game before. But now its back to normal life focusing on our family.

We now have about a month to relax before starting school again. This year Elisa will be in 2nd grade, Ava in pre-K and Audrey will be busy busy busy! Im a little nervous to be honest. But there are tons of homeschooling families out there who manage with great success. So as long as we keep our focus on the Lord, success will come to us as well. Im ready for lots of teaching from Him (for myself) this school year as well. Its going to be a learning experience for us all. Im so excited to see what He's going to do in our family throughout this next year!

Ok, off to bed for me. Audrey is sleeping really well...I should be asleep taking advantage of uninterupted sleep!

We have a tooth....party planning nightmare.....and the dog chewed my....car?!?!?!

Well what an eventful past couple days its been.

Weds I picked the girls up from VBS and we drove to eat lunch with Derek. We ate at Chick-fil-a and as we were leaving we noticed some really bad damage to our car. Right above the drivers side front wheel there was some markings we couldnt figure out. Literally holes with scratches around them. We thought maybe something fell off a truck as they drove off? After picking up my friend Lisa (who is in town from Orland0) and her mother pointing out that it looked like a dog had chewed on our car. It had rained the night before and Penny is terrified of storms. After our neighbors shooting her she panicks when it starts to rain. We dont let her in anymore after we noticed a tick in the house last time we let her in. We tell her to go down to Dereks parents house under their garage/carport. She usually gives in and goes down there. Well aparently that night she decided to chew on our car. It looks so ugly (I'll post pics of it later). I just would have never thought the fear in her would make her chew on soemthing like a CAR!

After eating lunch we drove all the way out Frisco to Party America I had called the night before to check and see if they carried Littlest Pet Shop party supplies. They told me they do, so off we went after we ate lunch with Derek. We got there and looked around. We looked some more. I started thinking surely I didnt just drive almost an hour and half out here for nothing. So I asked and was told they did NOT have LPS party supplies and they never had. They werent sure why the girl the night before had told me they did bc they never have. I was very frustrated, to say the least. So I prayed for self control while asking the girls what other party theme they wanted. Since theyre sharing a party this yr I needed them to agree. But of course one wanted one thing and the other somethign else. THats why LPS was perfect bc they both love playing that. I didnt realize that I was going to have such a hard time finding it and that I should have ordered it online like a month ago if I wanted it for their party. So we searched Target, Walmart and Hobby Lobby...again. Hoping that maybe those stores in a different city might have the theme. But of course not. We finally decided on theme colors, that went with the LPS stuff. So we're doing that and going to put stickers on things and Im going to *try* and make LPS center pieces. That along with an LPS themed cake hopefully will get the point across. We'll see. Theyll have fun regardless though.

Audrey has been fussy since we got back from New Orleans. She had a runny nose and yucky cough and was just acting like she didnt feel well. She started pulling on her ears so I decided to take her in. They Dr said she was pretty sure it was just environmental (allergies) and nothing else. Thats what we had thought until she started pulling her ears. Well Ive been watching her bottom gums for months now wondering when her first tooth will come in. The ony on the left (her right) looks like its right there about to pop through. So we've kept waiting, but nothing. Well as I sat down to check my email Audrey started chewing on paper (her favorite thing in the world). I put my finger in her mouth to make sure she hadnt gotten any in there and felt somethign shard and hard on the top gum. I thought 'what on earth!?' Then I remembered that Elisa has an extra tooth on the top and that it was the first tooth Elisa got in. This is not normal bc most of the time babies get the bottom 2 first. I pulled Audreys lip up and sure enough a tooth!!! Its in the same exact spot as Elisa's extra one, so Im assuming Audrey will have the same extra tooth. (That apparently my dad has as well). Its out pretty far so I have no clue how long shes had it! I havent felt it while shes nursing, but then again shes not really a biter. (Thank you Lord!) Anyways, no wonder she was so fussy last week! Poor baby. We had no clue she was getting a tooth.....up there!