Wednesday, May 18, 2011

I didn't see THAT coming!

Well, I can honestly say that when I woke up this morning my day looked a whole lot different then it ended up being!! Last week Josh had to take his car to the shop for some problems he was having with his car. When he dropped the car off they told him they were about four days behind so they probably wouldn't even be able to look at it until this week. He went ahead and left it with them because he didn't feel comfortable trying to drive it home with some of the issues it was having. Well, they finally called him yesterday with the estimate of what repairs were going to cost. With all that needed to be done they said it was going to cost him almost $7000 to repair it and considering it's a 1997 model, it simply isn't worth that kind of money to fix it. So he was left with trying to decide what to do. To make a long story short, my mom and I were heading in to town to do some shopping and I took a drive through the dealership (the one he had his car at) to see what they had for sale and came across a Chevy Cruze that could be doable. Well, about 3+ hours later he walked out being the proud owner of a 2011 Chevy Cruze! Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera on me so I took this picture with my phone. I will, hopefully, get a better picture tomorrow! (He had to leave from the dealership to help a friend with a project then go to work.) Whew. As I said, definitely not how I saw the day going and didn't end up getting the shopping done that we had set out to do! At least this way he'll have something reliable and will get better gas mileage plus be able to use regular gas (his other car used premium) all things that will help him save a little money in the week-to-week area. A car payment is a huge responsibility and I'm really hoping/praying he's going to do great at it!


In other news, Ian had his AWANA awards ceremony tonight and earned a few awards! He got his first book award, 2nd place attendance award, 2nd place uniform/Bible award, 2nd place overall points award plus a pin for missions done. I'm very proud of him and was happy I had my ipad with me as I still didn't have my camera on me but my ipad took pretty good pictures!








I still can't believe this is his last week of school and today was his last full day of school! He has a half day both tomorrow and Friday then he's officially done AND a SIXTH grader! Where has the time gone?!


Thursday, May 5, 2011

Easter 2011

Having just arrived home from our week at the beach, it was a little difficult getting back to reality and the fact that Easter was the NEXT day! Despite all of that, the Easter bunny managed to bring some goodies and we got to celebrate our risen Lord and Savior with family and friends.



Although I knew it would be difficult to do baskets and still make it to the early service (thankfully pushed to 9:30am instead of 9am) we had to, because my mom and I were scheduled to keep the 2 year-olds for the second service. So, I managed to get up a little earlier and get the kids dressed (all but the big kid) BEFORE we saw what was in their baskets. Then, they got to play with what was in their baskets while I got ready for church. It worked out quite well. Plus, mom and dad came so we could get some family pictures before heading to church since it would probably be the only time with all of us still dressed up! After pictures, we headed to church. The service was packed - all the way into TWO overflow rooms! It was a great message that focused on when God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, his only son, and how that story parallels what God did for us with His Son, Jesus. Only, God really DID sacrifice His own Son for US so that we could spend eternity with Him. Thankfully, we know that Jesus conquered death and reigns in heaven with His Father and wants to have a relationship with US. It truly is amazing.


After the service, mom and I got ready and went to the two year old classroom. Well, we waited and waited but no one ever showed up so the director released us to go home. It's strange because usually the second service is packed but on Easter Sunday, the second service wasn't overflowing at all. Well, we appreciated that we got to go ahead and head home and get dinner together. My mom had spent the majority of the day before cooking and prepping for dinner, it just needed to be cooked and heated. We had ham, cornish game hen, squash casserole, green bean casserole, stuffing, a pineapple casserole, not to mention the appetizers - artichoke dip, veggie tray, queso, and more. It was quite the spread and it was yummy. For dessert we got to choose between strawberry pie and peanut butter pie. I was so excited because I'd been craving some of my mom's strawberry pie and it didn't disappoint. Our friends Tim and Michelle and their daughters Andrea and KerrieAnn came for dinner and we had a wonderful afternoon. After we finished eating, we all watched Ellie's new movie Tangled. Shortly after the movie was over, Tim and Michelle and girls headed home. The kids and I stayed a little longer but left in time to get Ian showered and ready for bed since he had school the next day. It really was a wonderful Easter Sunday.



Oh, I don't know how but I almost forgot to mention the Easter egg hunt! My parents had filled around 55 eggs with goodies - not to mention 1 dollar bills! So, after everyone arrived, they let Ellie go first to get some eggs, then Ian, then the "big" kids (Josh, Andrea and Kerrie Ann). KerrieAnn was the only one fortunate enough to end up with a dollar in every one of the eggs she got! I think they all enjoyed the hunt and a little extra cash in their pockets!

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Spring Break 2011

I cannot begin to tell about all the fun my friend, Amy and I (along with our kids) had on our Spring Break trip. We rented a house in Emerald Isle, NC - it's about half-way between the two of us. We had a BLAST!! I created a smilebox album to share but please know this is no where near all the pictures we took plus it's a little slanted with pictures of my kids but it doesn't mean I don't love hers!! :) Our first night was a little exciting with the possibility of a tornado and we did loose power for a while but we had fun hunkered down in the bottom floor bathroom with one candle, two flashlights and the ipad - thank goodness for the ipad! The kids played games on it and kept their minds off of what was going on outside. Praise the Lord we only got high wind and rain with some thunder and lightning, nothing like what other parts of the state got. We kept updated on the weather from Amy's sister Nikki who works with weather for a living! She kept texting us as changes were made and when we were safe to leave the bathroom. One thing we learned from this week is that the state of NC does not have tornado sirens!! From there on out the weather was pretty good - a few rain storms but you expect that at the beach. The weather was in the 70's most of the time and we got a little sunburned to prove it. We had so much fun during our week together that we started contemplating and decorating a beach house we plan to buy together...names we've thought about are Dream Big and Amy and Joy's Idea!! We also sampled some of the local eateries and our favorite was probably Amos Mosquito's. A neat atmosphere and great food. The kids enjoyed making s'mores at the table! We had plenty of seafood, too, and also enjoyed meals at home. The best meal at home was definitely the grilled kabobs. YUM! Amy did a great job grilling those.
Well, I could go on-and-on but I won't. Enjoy the pictures!









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