More Old Friends

In March one of my best friends, Sarah, and her daughter Julia came for a visit and they brought Nathan's brother Peter with them. Nathan and Peter spent most of their time building a potato cannon and playing with that and I have no pictures of their vegetable abuse.
However, Sarah and I got matching Easter dresses for the girls and had fun dressing them up. Grasshopper was mad that he didn't get in on the action and Julia tried to console him. Not very successfully I might add.

Old Friends

I'm woefully behind.
In January we got to visit some friends of mine from high school days. My music teacher Mr. L and his wife Amanda were good friends my senior year in Nigeria. We connected last year on facebook and discovered that they only lived 3 hours away. We spent New Year's weekend with them and had a BLAST! Three of their children are very similar in age to ours.
In February they came for the weekend. We were so busy having fun I only took a couple of pictures.Grasshopper and Little Hannah hit it off. Can ya tell?

Happy Birthday to ME!

(* come back the rest of the week....my posts are done and are auto posting for the rest of the week)
Friday was my birthday and I spent the day cleaning the house. The past week or so has been very rough and emotional for us here. I got all my fall decorations out and put away all of my red, white, and blue things for summer.
Nathan took me out to Chili's for dinner. You can't go to Chili's with me without having chips and salsa with a side of ranch. Always red to white! :)
After dinner we came home and had cake and ice cream with friends. A teeny weeny cake. Mark and Connie were nice enough to watch the children and then Candice and Laura came over. We played Apples and Apples and opened a couple of presents.
Mark and Connie.
Candice.
Laura.
It was a nice birthday but I'm glad to be past it and into fall. I guess I shouldn't be surprised but lots of activities are piling up for our family. I thought it might be a quiet month but we sat down and figured out we're not going to have a free weekend until October. Thanks to Tropical Storm Danny we didn't get to go to the Outer Banks last weekend.

Fun with Friends

Our good friend Laura is in Alaska this week sightseeing after running a half marathon last weekend. Before she left we had her over for dinner and games. She decided that I should take her picture since she apparently wants to be on the blog. So Laura, this is for you. She thought it was a big deal that I actually let her help in the kitchen. That's the Pampered Chef rotary grater if anyone is interested...
We had tacos for dinner and then some of our other friends came over and we played Apples to Apples. Sorry, Aryeh, the picture Nathan took of you didn't come out...but we did not forget you were there.
Our somewhat spastic cat insists on laying on anything she can find, this night it was the Apples to Apples box.
I served some very yummy, very pretty strawberry shortcake and forgot to take a picture. It had white chocolate mousse on top.

Lunch

A couple of Sundays ago we went out to lunch with our new friends Jessica and Aryeh. They were interested in trying a little burger joint that they had heard good things about. Jessica is a teacher and her students love the food so off we went to Andy's.
We got a booth for all 8 of us. No small trick. Jessica and Grasshopper shared the end of the table. I wrangled Little Peanut and JM. AJ sat between Nathan and Aryeh.
It really was good food. We had fun talking and playing with the kids toys that came in their meals. Here are a few pictures from out little outing.

Here Comes the Busy

Wow! What a weekend we have planned. Tonight I have the first Pampered Chef party I've had in awhile. I'm very excited. I'm hoping to make some great contacts and book some June shows. A friend of mine is hosting it and she's so sweet, I'm looking forward to spending some time with her. While I'm 'working' Nathan will be having a softball game. Hopefully we'll work out the kid situation to everyone's satisfaction.
Tomorrow is yard work and errands with the family. I'm sure we'll be attending church in the evening. Nathan will be working half a day and working on his ditch.Groceries must be gotten since today is payday...and bills too.
Sunday we will be going to church and then......my nephew is graduating!! I can't believe how big and old he is. Makes me feel really old. But.....not quite as seasoned as my sis. It's her birthday! Happy Birthday Sis!!!! We'll be having a big ol' shindigg for her birthday. Nathan take notes- I love shindiggs! I can't decide what to get her. I'm sure I'll come up with something.
And as I was typing I realized that this is a holiday weekend! Hokey pete! We'll be doing the bonfire/family thing all together and perhaps I will be on my game enough to post pictures. And right around the corner is Nathan's birthday. He wants to have friends over so I guess I better get planning on that too! Man was I right...Here comes the busy! I guess I better make sure all my house chores are all caught up. See ya later!
*updated- I'm also going yard saling this morning with a friend and all four of my guys in the van too!! What fun.

Cedar Point

This past weekend of friend of mine from way back when and his new wife came for a visit. Their names are Joe and Amanda. We had a blast getting to know Amanda and it was great to be around another young married couple.
On Saturday we went to Cedar Point in Sandusky. Nathan and I have never been together. It was soo much fun. We left the kids, including my little peanut , with my parents. She did beautifully, didn't miss me at all. :) This is Mike and Sarah...Sarah is one of the two girls living with us...we love her. The lines were long and it was a bit crowded with college kids but over all we had a blast. It was fun riding the roller coasters and puke rides as my sister calls them. We rode the Raptor, the Mantis, the Iron Dragon, Ocean Motion, Disaster Transport, the Sky Needle, the Millennium Force, and the all important Swings. :) I've been waiting to ride the swings since the county fair. It was a very cold day and riding those coasters at over 50 mph sure made it colder. It was nice to get out with my husband. This is the view from the Space Needle. On the left, way up high, is the Millennium Force. Congratulations Sarah on your first time!!! Hope it was worth it. :)

Such a Long Day

Once again the day was long...and full of lots. This morning I actually got up and joined about 65-70 other moms and did exercise. It was a combo of jazzercise, kickboxing, pilates, and areobics. Mind you, I was the only one from our group that did it. I do have proof. Jenn and Cece said they would tomorrow too but who knows. :)
This morning's session was great. Priscilla Shirer talked about prayer and Matt 7. It was a great lesson and I'm going to try to get it on CD for everyone to hear. One thing she said that I really liked was that in the past few years people have been blaming things on Mother Nature, (Katrina, Tsunami, ect>) and she said, "It's FATHER GOD trying to get your attention." It was great to hear someone talking about the power of prayer in everyday life and that we as moms have no choice but to make it a priority in our life.
We had a very speedy lunch afterward and then split into our individual sessions. The first one I attended was the Personal Life of a Leader. The speaker shared about how our personal experiences shape who we are and how we can use those to aid in our ministry postitions, not just for MOPS but in all areas. She also talked about identitfying your spiritual gifts and how to use them, and how to use them in connection with your other gifts and talents.
After a short break my second session started. The topic for this one was Daily Discipleship for Your Children. The speakers shared practical ways to teach your children God's word and how to use everyday events to share a spiritual truth. They also talked about good opportunities to bring this about. I've taken fairly good notes if anyone wants to know more specifics.
We also had our leader networking sessions this afternoon. I met with several other discussion group team leaders and we shared ideas. It was really helpful and I got some great ideas for different activities.
All of us went to Opry Mills for dinner and shopping. I'm telling you what. The salads just never end for me. Everyone chose Macaroni Grill which was good but no pasta for me. The salad was good but it's been a very long line of salads all weekend. Probably more to come. Now it's midnight. Pray for Peanut. She's teething. Poor baby. She's certianly been a trooper but you can tell she isn't happy. God knew what he was doing when we got our rooms literally right around the corner from the main meeting room. It takes less than 3 min to run down here from up there. We were really blessed. See you all soon. By the way...Honey I really miss you. :)

Here...finally

For now this will be low tech w/ no nifty links or anything just the basic facts.
We (those going to the MOPS convention) left Norwalk Alliance about 6:10 or so. After a few delays we made it down to just outside of Louisville Kentucky. We stopped for lunch and then pressed on to Nashville with no more stops.
It was a interesting trip for me because I grew up just north of Nashville in the Bowling Green Kentucky area. As we were driving today I saw so many familiar landmarks that I haven't see for ages. It was all I could do not to take a detour of the interstate and go see my old house.
We arrived at the Opry Land Hotel...with no detours thanks to my great direction skills and the wonders of modern technology(my cell) and Dad at the other end of the line. hehe...thanks Daddy.
After waiting in lines registering and checking in and lugging tons (literally) of luggage, mostly Aria's, to our rooms we finally made it to tonight's general session.
Let's just say, thanks for the tissues Traci. I cried at least 5 times tonight. The first started after I was called out to feed Peanut. I got back during the worship session and they were singing the hymn Holy Holy Holy. Hearing all 5,000 mothers of preschoolers worshiping God was awesome. After a few announcements Elisa Morgan, head of MOPS Intl, came to speak. She shared about the theme for MOPS this year...Fresh Air. Our theme verse is John 10:10 "I have come that you may life, and life to the FULL!" She talked about different meanings of the word full. I have lots of notes if anyone is interested.
I had tears rolling down my face several times as I realized how "out of breath" I have been in my daily life. With the constant demands for my attention from so many directions I have lost my focus and found myself completely out of breath. As Flylady would say, "Tonight was definitely a God Breeze."
There were a vew more announcements and then Nicole Nordeman took the stage. I didn't realize that she is the mother of a 3 year old boy as well as writes all her own songs. She gave a mini concert and shared about her life and the things that really affect her. One song of hers that I have never really cared for, Legacy, was one that she sung. Before she did though she shared about space bags, the ones that you suck all the air out of with a vaccum cleaner and you can make a down comforter the size of box of macaroni. She compared it to taking everything from our life, our characteristics, talents, emotions, feelings, thoughts, evereything and placing it in one of these bags. Then you suck all the hot air...the things that don't matter and what are you left with?? That is when she wrote that song. Then she sang it. Wow, I'm definitely a basket case this weekend with lots to think about. But I'm sure I'm not the only one.
I've now been awake for 20 hours with only 4 hours of sleep last night. I must sleep. Feel free to leave a comment.