Prom

Just another step toward the big graduation. Just another reminder of how fast time flies. When Jessica came out of her room, all ready, Mark said, "Could you go back in there and not look so grown up?" Then he gave her a hug and told her she was beautiful.

Jessica and Jamie both looked great! It was a stressful day of make-up, hair and getting it all together but the end result was worth it.

more shots

Photo Shoot

"Waiting Until the Last Minute" should be the story of my life. Here we are 2 weeks before Graduation and we are just doing a Senior photo shoot. Jessica didn't like any of the photos they took at school (no surprise) so we thought we would do our own to send with the announcements.

This shot is a la Tara Whitney. My family doesn't appreciate the artistic angle. Oh, well, this one's for me!

I took 91 photos! That doesn't count the ones I deleted along the way! Gotta love digital for that freedom!

Field Trip

Wednesday Courtney, Kirsten and I took a field trip to the Frist Center in Nashville. I wasn't sure how the girls were going to receive this little outing but it actually turned out well.

They have a wonderful exhibit of Impressionist art right now. I enjoyed that more than they did so needless to say we didn't stick around there too long.

They also have a wonderful exhibit for children called ArtQuest. It is a total interactive, hands on kind of exhibit. There are different stations that teach about different art mediums and different art concepts. They were able to draw with pencils, learn about line, texture and shape. They made a mask and another three dimensional project. They used watercolors and oil pastels. And they made a printed design on cloth.

It was a bit over Kirsten's head and Courtney probably would have gotten more out of it if Kirsten hadn't been there. But I thought it was worth it. All you homeschoolers (and others) out there, this is a great field trip!

A little scrappin' this weekend!

I got to do a little scrappin' this weekend, finally! The CK convention was in town but I decided I didn't want to go this year. Lack of funds for one reason and feeling a need to use what I have for another. But my favorite store, Scrap It! had some great activities planned.

Friday night, Mark and I ate at Bellacino's (lovin' their subs!) then flipped over to Scrap It! Mark sat in the car while I shopped and did Jenni Bowlin's make and take (the cute flower). She is a fun person and very creative. I would love to sign up for her monthly kit some time.

Saturday, we had a soccer game at 11:00. Then the girls and I went shopping for some jewelry for Jessica for prom. Last week it was the shoes. Why is this so hard? After walking around Opry Mills TWICE, she finally settled on something. She tried it all on when we got home and she is happy with the results. Then Saturday night I went back to Scrap It! for some more make and takes. The mini album was from Li'l Davis and they also gave great kits of their product in exchange for some unwanted items from our stash. They are going to give the donations to the Ronald McDonald House. The mini page was from Dulce, a new line at Scrap It! It was fun to play with some new product and be around scrappers! I wish I could do it more often!

Thanks Scrap It!

The Weird Smile Stage

Please understand that I am not complaining about this! Actually it just cracks me up to get these shots because this is so Kirsten's personality. So I guess we are officially in the sometimes-weird-sometimes-fake smile stage. Take exhibit A (here in this post) and exhibit B (in the Easter post below). I'll have to admit that I didn't really experience this much with the other two so I guess I should consider myself lucky (or not!). It is actually pretty cute!

Easter Sunday

I am so thankful Easter was a beautiful day. Holidays seem to always be so busy but the nice weather made it all bearable for me. Mark's family came over after church for lunch. I'm still not totally comfortable preparing the whole meal for a special occasion. Everyone said it was all good but what else are they going to say!

After overeating, as usual, the kids had their egg hunt in the back yard. No meltdowns so I think it was a great day!

Egg Hunt

This photo is from our church egg hunt last weekend. It was a beautiful day and perfect for this! The girls had fun. Here we go again on the over abundance of candy! They are both fairly picky on their choice of candy so I know I can weed out what they won't eat! I just have to refrain from eating it myself!

It's Spring!

We had a great Spring Break. I am so glad the weather is turning warmer! This is one of my favorite times of the year!

This picture was taken at the park in White House. It was a beautiful day and the girls had a great time. I think Kirsten went down this slide about 30 times! They slept good that night!

We have lots of things going on for the next two months. I can't believe Easter is in 2 weeks! I have Easter dresses for Kirsten and Courtney but nothing for Jessica. Our church egg hunt is this weekend, hopefully the weather will be good!

See ya!

Nutin' Honey!

I got nothing! So that's why I haven't posted in so long. Just the same ole day to day thing going on here. We are all healthy, so Praise God for that!

It is Spring Break so we've been lazy on top of doing nothing! The girls did get to spend a day and a half with their great aunt who they love! Came home exhausted! Hopefully we will spend today or tomorrow with Tracie and Caroline. Today seems like it is going to be a perfect day weather wise. Oh, I pray we don't have any more cold dips! Bring on the spring!

Just to emphasize how boring we are, yesterday Mark took the day off and the girls were with Aunt Judy. What did we do? I cleaned the carpets and scrubbed the bathroom floor (on my knees kind of scrubbing) and tub (the twins said Bounce dryer sheets take off soap scum so I had to try it - it works!). Mark worked in the yard, mowing and cutting down some stuff. How boring are we!? Most of you knew that already! (if anyone is actually reading this blog! I have no friends!)

Anyway, there's your update!

A Woman's Heart - week 4

We are a little behind schedule but we're not stopping until we're finished! It always takes us longer than the proposed 10 weeks to do one of these Bible studies but it is always worth it!

So the week 4 video segment was titled: "Hearts approaching the Alter". The homework the week before studied the alter in the tabernacle in detail. I'm telling you, this study is pretty difficult and it takes dedication to get throught the Old Testament reading. And if you have a weak stomach, I suggest you skip over the descriptions of the sacrifices! After gaining an understanding of the alter and the sacrifices, Beth directs us to the spiritual experience at the alter.

1. We will never be fre to fully experience God until our earthly kings crumble. Basically, whatever is between you and God must be confessed, forgiven, put aside to fully experience God.
2. We have never experienced God unless we have seen Him high and lifted up. This is a much more complex concept than it sounds. Our pastor spoke on this topic on Sunday and last night we watched a video of a message by Louise Giglio. Both messages centered on the majasty of God. But most importantly how we need to see the love He has for us. He created the heavens and the earth, has power we cannot even imagine and yet loves us and longs for us to love Him.
3. We almost never see God without also getting a sobering glimpse of ourselves. God's light is powerful and truthful, so the closer we get to Him, any flaws are going to be harder to hide. His purpose is for us to bring those flaws openly to Him so He can remove them from between us and Him.
4. Conviction is compulsory in God's presence.
5. Conviction is often very specific.
6. We are all cleansed by the same method: the blood of the acceptable, perfect sacrifice.
7. When God cleanses us from sin, we are completely clean.
8. The only way we can respond to God's call is individually. He knows us by name and calls us by name.

Her scripture for this message was Isaiah 6:1-8

Finally a post!

I have actually tried to post a couple of times lately but this blog has developed a mind of its own! So hopefully this post will work, but if it doesn't I guess you won't be reading it! LOL!

I've been trying to post a layout I did of Courtney but it keeps putting it in here sideways! It is on 2Peas but I'm not sure how to make a link for that. Tracie, I need a class with you on the finer arts of blogging!

Anyway, I've actually been scrappin' a little. I did the quickie layout of Courtney and I did a mini-album highlighting each month of Kirsten's first year. I'm really happy with how it turned out. Hopefully you can see a couple of pages here!

I will give a Beth Moore update tomorrow!

Happy Dr. Seuss Day!

I know I'm a few days late but better late than never! They celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday at Courtney's school last Thursday and Friday. Thursday was the official day so that's when she made the hat. She wore her only red shirt and a red/white striped ribbon in her hair. Her favorite Dr. Seuss book is what is written on the brim of the hat. "Daisy Head Maisy". I think she really just likes to say the title!

Gotta love Dr. Seuss!

New shades!

Kirsten has been asking me for weeks for some sunglasses. Yesterday I finally remember while I was at Wal-Mart. I got Courtney a pair also. Kirsten was so excited! I put them on her when I picked her up from Mother's Day Out and she wore them to the car. Then she took them off and just keep talking about how pretty they were and how much she loved them. Of course, her's has Dora on them and Courtney's has Tinkerbell.

We're ready for the sunny weather!

Add another silver for the USA!

Before Christmas, the first graders at Courtney's school had a reading Olympics. They had to be able to read a certain list of words for each medal. Courtney got all three medals in that round.

Now they are doing a math Olympics. Courtney came home with her silver today. She had to count orally to 150. Write numbers to 150. And count by 2's and 5's to 100. Now we're working on her gold. It will be the same as above except to 200 and there are some addition and subtraction problems she has to do.

No sweat!

Finally got some scrappin' done!

The girls and I went over to Tracie's on Monday. Courtney was out of school and it has been forever since she has been able to play with Caroline.

I actually got my act together and took some pages to work on. Here are the results! Nothing spectacular but 2 two-page layouts is major for me. I would have liked some major uninterrupted time to keep the creative juices flowing but I'm glad I got to do what I did!

These pages are more vibrant IRL. I need to play with that photo software!

Our Weekend

Mark, Jessica and I spent Thursday night, Friday and Saturday in Chattanooga looking at two schools there. It didn't help us make any decisions but it was fun spending the weekend together.

The first school we visited was Tennessee Temple University. This is a school to watch. It's not right for Jessica at this point because they don't have her major but in a few years it's going to be fabulous. First of all it's a Christian school which makes the environment very inviting. Their president is full of passion and dedication and I have no doubt he will accomplish all he is planning on. I do wish we were a few more years down the road so that it would be a serious option for Jessica. She got to stay in the dorms and experience "dorm life". She said it was more like church camp than what she pictured college being like. I would love for her to go to a Christian school but she wants to major in Biology and go into forensics. That field is getting pretty competative and she needs to go to the best school for that field. We just have to pray that she attaches herself to Christian friends and makes the right decisions.

Then we visited UT Chattanooga. I like it a lot better than UT Knoxville. It is smaller. Most of the buildings are newer. There was just a different attitude all around there in comparison to Knoxville. The dorm choices were better than at Knoxville and the campus is more compact. It would be very easy to walk to where ever you needed to go. Jessica seemed to like it too.

So, we are still undecided. I'm sure if and when we get letters of acceptance that we will have some decisions made for us.

I would love for her to experience to college life but I am certainly not ready for her to leave home and for me to not know what she is doing at all times. But we all have to grow up some time!

Valentine's Day

Yesterday was a good day for Courtney and Kirsten. They both got lots of goodies at school. After school, we visited Grandma and Aunt Judy and the girls got more candy! Hope everyone had a great day!

A Woman's Heart - week 3

In this week's video, Beth talked about the characteristics of the people of Israel, their leader, Moses and the God of Israel. First of all the people of Israel weren't much different than we are today. They were sinners. They were stiff-necked which was a term used to describe a beast who refused to wear it's owners yoke. They were stubborn and selfish in not being willing to follow God's commands. Fortunately they were able to see their sin and repent. They mourned for what they had done. Before coming before the the Lord to worship they striped off all their ornaments (their worldly possessions or anything that comes between us and God) and came before Him on their knees to worship Him.
Next we see Moses. Two things struck me as important about Moses. It seems his number 1 prioraty was having an intimate relationship with God. Next, he prayed fruvently for the people of Israel.
Finally, the God of Israel. First of all, He hears and He acts upon and is affected by what He hears. Our prayers are important and very powerful. The people of Israel were spared because of the prayers of Moses. He gives rest. But rest accompanies our submission to God's authority. God sets us apart by His presence. We do not belong to the world and if God lives in us, the world will know we are different, special. He knows each of us by name. He moves beyond natural limits on our behalf. He is protective. He was all of these things to Moses and the people of Israel and most significantly, He is all these things to us, today. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.
There is great comfort in knowing our God is the same God of the people of Israel. His word proves His power, love, comfort and promises are for forever.

An Update

Well, it seems we are all over whatever it was that hit us. Kirsten ended up having both ears infected so she has been on an antibotic. It hasn't agreed with her very well. Diarrea and now a yeast infection. So we've changed antibotics. We'll see how it goes. She has worn me down because she is so miserable. The rest of us seem to be better, so that's good.
I'll post tomorrow on this week's Beth Moore video.