Prayer

Today is Wednesday and this weekend is Project Dance. It starts on Friday and things are busy. So busy I forgot to take Elizabeth to guitar today! The only thing I can do it make lists, and check them twice, visit Kinkos multiple times, and pile things on top of my dinning room table to be loaded into the van Thursday. For those of you who read this, please pray for this weekend. That lives would be touched, God's face would be revealed and all the countless hours the volunteers put in would be met with energy and excitement.... posting more pictures soon!

Now it's Thursday, the day before and I can hardly believe that Project Dance is tomorrow. Last year it seemed like it took forever for it to finally come. But this year, bam, it's in my face before I know it! Today has been good thus far. Most of us are fasting from something to prayer and focus on the task ahead. Thursday is the prep day so it's easy to get carried away with all the little last minute things. I'm just taking it slowly, planning my class, washing clothes and marking things off my list. David will pack up our van tonight, I'll make sure to snap a pic of that, it's bound to be funny looking.

I hope to remember to take lots of pictures throughout the weekend and then I can post those next week so you can see what the weekend is like. Please think of us this weekend and say a few prayers for us. The weather is supposed to be gorgeous on Saturday......

Day Off

So I thought I would update those who read this silly blog of ours about the craziness that is brewing in our household.....Today being Wednesday is my official only day off until October 4th! I will be either teaching ballet, rehearsing or performing everyday (yes even Sundays) until then. With Dance Canvas this weekend, Project Dance the next weekend and then OM's 50th anniversary performance October 3rd thing are going to be wild!

That being said I was really looking forward to this day off, but it got kinda overwhelmed in the middle. For some reason I always seems to have an overly zealous To Do list in mind then is actually possible. So by 3pm both mommy and Madie needed a nap.....

After recharging with a meal of meatloaf and mash potatoes and watching the kids play football with Daddy, things got a lot better. We got out of the house and enjoyed the Fall like weather at our cool park with the new playground. Then we visited Target for some toy aisle play time (the kids love to just go aisle by aisle looking and trying out all the toys, they always ask for some crazy, outlandish toy but are good kids and accept our answers of no every time) Then we drove the long way home and decided to stop by Acworth Lake and check it out since it was abnormally low. The kids found sea shells, Madie was amazed at the ducks, we took a walk through some woods and marveled at the huge trees and then drove the rest of the way home with the windows open listening to the crickets.

the only down side to this whole night out was Mom forgot to switch to tennis shoes and endured all this in FlipFlops.....my feet got a real workout!

Nights like this with my family make my heart soar......

Here's some pictures of our backyard game of football...enjoy! (I forgot the camera on our outing, sorry!)

Madie loves the grass, tried to eat it every time!
Caleb is still trying to learn how to "catch" the football.
Too bad girls can't play pro football, Elizabeth has a great spiral.

Sundays

Sundays are such a delight to me, I love the whole day from beginning to end. Of Course, I do wish is didn't start at 6am but with Madeleine that is usually the case! Waking up and going out to get the morning paper, dividing it into my sections (ads, coupons, the funnies and a few articles) and David's sections (Best Buy ad and the Sports section) and brewing that pot of coffee. Poor David, when he married me he didn't even really drink the stuff. But now he has a cup every morning with me! Another side note about that would be the fact I just ate my first Chili dog this weekend, and I have to admit is was decent. Again, I would never have even thought about eating one in less David had introduced me to them because he loves them. Ah, the joys of sharing life with someone else...

Anyway, how we manage to get all 5 of us ready to go to church in less then an hour on Sundays and leave on time is beyond me. Good thing the church we go to is casual, ironing is not an option with me. Some how though we manage to get out the door with little or no stress, I thank God for small favors such as these everyday. The church we attend now is about 30 minutes away and down one of the prettiest streets I think in Atlanta, West Paces Ferry. The homes are huge, gorgeous, and sooooo way out of our league, but we love looking at them. (Reminds me of Walnut Grove in Memphis but a step up, every day on our way to ballet we would gaze at the house and pick out our favorite) We do the same with these houses. Some are just so over board it makes you laugh, some are smaller, and older. Some have huge driveways, manicured lawns, tall trees, and are detailed to a tea. There is one particular one I adore that reminds me of an old English home....and then there's the Governor's mansion.... not impressed. There are so many we chose one side to look at on the way to church and the other side to look at on the way home. Silly thing to do but it still makes me smile.

After church we walked through the Lenox mall, it's the high end mall with such ridiculously over priced specialty stores that we just have to laugh as we walk by. My favorite is Anthropology. It's for the lazy rich person who loves antiques but hasn't the time to hunt through antique stores to find what they want. They have massed produced replicas of antique dishware, doorknobs, sheets, books, clothes and shoes. It just makes me laugh. I guess because I grew up antiquing with my Mimi, I just love it. I was young, and I would just go to store after store with her looking for certain items, new furniture pieces, and the ever famous leaf plates (I am not even going to pretend I can actually spell the correct type of leaf plate they are so I shall just leave that part out and for those of you who have a healthy understanding and respect of antiquing will know which ones I am referring to) We looked everywhere for these plates, I think eventually we found all the different types that they made. They still sit across the top of my Mimi's mantle to this day....
The last week I was pregnant with Madie I went antiquing because I knew it would be perhaps the last free afternoon by myself for a long time. You can't antique with kids, they think all those old cars and dolls are actually to play with. I have a few antiques in my house as well, not as many as I would like to have but I still have small kids....in time....

But what Sunday would be complete without the Sunday afternoon nap? It was so pleasant outside that we had all the windows open and I just laid down on our bed and enjoyed the fresh breeze blowing in the open window and the warm glow of the sunshine. Almost 3 hours later I got up so refreshed...
I would like to pause here and say just a few words about my wonderful husband. No nap would be possible without him. Our 3 wild ones would never let me snooze away the Sunday no matter how perfect the conditions were. So here's to David, my hero.

So that's my Sunday. Oh yeah, almost forgot, David and I played a board game after the kids went to sleep...Monopoly, he crushed me. Never trade for the Greens, you just can't afford to develop them....

Elizabeth's Guitar Recital 2nd Song(Best song!)-July 26th

Elizabeth's Guitar Recital 1st Song-July 26th

Madeleine Walking at 10 months

clean

A few days ago I finally got to clean off the top of my dresser, I was so excited I decided to take a picture! Doesn't it just make you want to sigh? Nice and clean. Before it was covered with papers, random toys, books and clean clothes....clothes, that's a housewife's never ending battle. I have two days set aside every week just devoted to washing, drying, folding and hopefully putting away our clothes. Though sometimes the end up on top of things like the dresser, the bed or hopefully not for too long, the floor. Every week I wash the same items, and somehow I don't go insane doing it. I actually like the whole ordeal. Something about being able to complete it gives me a sense of peace I think. There are a great number of things in my life right now that are huge on going tasks that I never quite seem to finish before something else gets added. So on Mondays and Thursdays (sometimes Fridays instead) I get the satisfaction of completing, for the who-know-what-time our laundry. It just makes me feel good.

Carousel Rides and School Days

Elizabeth is working hard at her new 4th grade school books.
Caleb is learning to hold a crayon correctly so he can write his letters and he knows most of his letters and sounds! Here he shows off his recent drawing
For His birthday we went to the mall and rode the carousel, unfortunately adults are no longer allowed to ride on the animals....
Madie's first carousel ride on the actual horse, she loved it.
Caleb got to go a second time all by himself for his birthday with Daddy!

Caleb is 4 now!

Is that a big wheel for me ?
Alright, it comes in pieces, hope Daddy has tools!
Never fear Madie is here, she can put it together!
Happy 4 year old on his new big wheel with the every popular little sister attached (model not sold in stores)
Anyone for Cake?
Big sis helps light the candles
Make a wish
Hooray for Caleb!