GOOFY PICS!

Adam's dodgeball tournament last weekend at Judson!

Happy Valentine's Day to my Valentine

I wanted to wish my one and only a Happy early Valentine's Day! He is really a wonderful husband to me and super daddy to Emma and Ian. It feels as though I have always loved him. Adam is not only my love, but also my best friend! Yep...I think I'll keep him! :-)

Happy Valentine's Day! <3

Emma is 8!!

I just can't believe it...Emma turned 8 years old yesterday! That is unreal to me. Because she is growing up so much, we decided to give her (and her friend Bailey) a birthday party sleepover last weekend! It was a good time (minus a few obstacles), and full of fun memories for all the friends that came. We started out with a little swimming...then some pizza...then some Wii and a little cupcakes...then a movie or two...then some sleep...oh...scratch that last part :-)....

Yesterday, we were going all day. Started off with breakfast...ice cream (only for a birthday)! Then to McDonald's for lunch (I tried my hardest to persuade her to go somewhere else to no avail). After that, we went to see Hotel For Dogs at the movies (cute movie). We then went to Awana at church, and finally to Cracker Barrel for dinner....healthy day, huh? I guess birthdays are a good time to bend the rules!

Emma is growing up...I can see it more all the time. She is learning about life, and friends, and most importantly God, and His standards for us. Sometimes when we teach them...I can tell that she "gets" it....Ian too. I love those moments. They are moments that God ordains and I am thankful for them. Emma is a loving girl with a sweet heart. She teaches me so much about myself. I am thankful for her and Ian. I love them so much!

More Circus Pics....

"The Greatest Show on Earth"

Yee Hoo!! We had a blast tonight at the circus with our friends...the Smiths! We went to the "Greatest Show on Earth" with some of the "Greatest Friends on Earth"! It really was a lot of fun! We made a pact to only get them ONE thing each...Ian, Radlee and Maddie chose a snow cone in a clown cup and Emma chose a tiger stuffed animal. It was hard to stick to this pact for us parents believe it or not! You'd think that with the OUTRAGEOUS prices, we would have not had a problem, but I think we wanted the kids to have all of this fun stuff more than they did (the light up spinny things, light up swords, binoculars and such)! BUT...we did it!! We kept the pact. Adam almost blew it for the Helton team (almost caved in and bought a couple of things), but he stayed strong! I'm just glad we made it there at all. Believe it or not, I took a nap at 1:30pm and didn't wake up until 5:30pm!!! Can you believe that (we were supposed to get together much earlier than that)? I woke up in the biggest panic of my life I think. I couldn't tell which end was up or even if I was dreaming or what! Christy had tried calling me/us a BUNCH apparently, but that doesn't work when your home phone ringer is off and you also can't hear your cell phone ring when it is on low ring and the bedroom door is shut! She thought we were lying in our house with carbon monoxide poisoning or something because she couldn't find us...even Adam didn't answer his calls because he was in an appointment! I felt really bad (sorry again Christy)...but thankfully, it all worked out! God allowed us to get 2 parking spaces right in front though...that was cool. No joke...it was CRAZINESS! I guess I needed that sleep, huh?? (The kids did too)!

Well...I'm thankful for great friends and good memories, (and that none of the things I was thinking at the Circus happened like high wires breaking or trapeze artists flying out into the crowd)....:-)

Before and After...

Well, "hair's the story"....yesterday Emma and Maddie got their hair cut together and it was so exciting! Let me backtrack a little...Emma has had this haircut before (last year), and has been begging for us to let her get it short again. I personally secretly wanted for her to let it grow out long again, so there was this struggle sort of and I always found ways to "postpone" the hair cut. Well, I know that Emma has a right to her own hairstyle (to a point ofcourse) and I soon realized (and have really always known) that she was her own person and has her own ideas of what she wanted HER hair to look like! So, with that, there isn't much to do than to back down and give in to such a simple request. To put my own wishes on the back burner and to let her be independent in this area (an area that God is working on me for sure...letting them have more independence lately). So, when our friends were over yesterday it seemed an ideal time to let Emma get her hair cut with her friend Maddie who has also been wanting this haircut for a while. The haircut pursuit for Emma and Maddie became even stronger when their friend Gracie got this precious cut last week!! So, off we went to the local Supercuts!! I wasn't nervous until they sat in the chairs and I thought..."Oh goodness...what if these folks don't know what they are doing with this style of cut?!?" I tried to remain calm and make it a fun time for them. And it was!! Gracie was there to be the beauticians' example...those girls laughed...giggled...laughed...and giggled and then cracked up some more! Then they all gathered up the hair Emma's and Maddie's) in little strips which I think grossed the stylists out...but oh well. It was really a great memory for them I know. My kids, Melissa's kids and Christy's kids have all been friends since birth. It is such a joy to see them playing well together and enjoying each other.