Ten on Tuesday…

***My computer/internet has been giving us FITS this week, and I have not been able to post.  I had my post done on Tuesday, but I couldn’t post it!***

1.  Michael will probably be mad at me for putting this on the blog, but I am SO proud of him!  Last Friday, he was awarded the Overall Outstanding Staff Member for the University.  There were seven awards given out over different areas of the campus, then Michael got the overall award.  He received several gifts which was so nice.  Michael is so good at what he does and has a tremendous gift with people, so he was fully deserving of this award.  But, at the same time he is so humble and was probably more embarrassed than anything! Either way, I was super proud of him!!!!

2.  Speaking of Michael, thankfully he is feeling better and was able to go to work yesterday.  I’m so glad he is better.  He doesn’t get sick often, and when he does, he just usually pushes through.  I knew he didn’t feel well when he stayed in the bed pretty much all day on Saturday!

3.  The girls and I have been at church all morning working on VBS craft stuff!  We are so ready for VBS week after next!

4.  I am getting a new windshield in the van this afternoon.  Sis Sis will be very happy to read this considering EVERY.SINGLE.TIME she gets in my van she tells me I need to get it fixed.  It has been probably a year and a half.  Why do I put things like that off?

5.  Last Wednesday, Myla had her AWANA award night!  She got her last award for Cubbies.  Next year she will be a Sparky!  I cannot believe how fast she is growing.  Next year Selah will get to participate in AWANA as a Puggle!  It makes me so happy that our church has this program.  This year a total of 6,999 verses were memorized by clubbers 3 years old up to 6th grade!

6.  We planted a small garden last week.  Needless to say, we are not completely sure what we are doing.  We’re just hoping something lives!

7.  Last week we had Selah’s 2 year check up.  She looks great!!!  84% for weight and 75% for height.  Dr. Molly said she is growing very well and is hitting all of her milestones.  She asked me if she was talking much.  I told her that was an understatement.  She NEVER stops talking unless she is asleep!

The girls always love coloring while we wait.

Then Selah got curious about some other people in the other part of the waiting room and she stared them down.

8.  Speaking of staring down, do your kids stare?  Myla will STARE at people and it’s so embarrassing.  At the zoo, she couldn’t even walk straight because she would be staring at people and she would keep staring even after they passed.  In restaurants, she will just stare at people at other tables. 

9.  It seems like everybody I know is at the beach.  I’m trying not to be jealous!

10.  I will not have a Ten on Tuesday next week because we will be on vacation with my parents.  I’m sure I will have LOTS of pictures to post when we get home!

Happy Tuesday!!!

“Mini” Vacation…

On Friday, we went to Memphis for a one night “mini” vacation.  We are not going anywhere this summer, just the four of us, because we are trying to save for the adoption, but we did want to do something fun with the girls.  So, we went to the zoo and spent the night in Memphis.  I think Myla was just as excited about staying in a hotel for a night as she was going to the zoo!

We had a little countdown going, and Myla was excited to mark off the final day before we left!

We got to the zoo around lunch, so we had a quick picnic before we headed in.  Needless to say, the girls were a little excited and didn’t eat much. They preferred to eat as we went through the zoo!

Heading into “Cat Country”!  Selah was really excited about seeing the lions and tigers!

Daddy and Selah spotted the female lion.  Considering the heat, not many of the animals were very active!  I can’t say that I blamed them!

Snapping a quick picture before we left Cat Country!

I thought these birds in the Bird House exhibit were so pretty!

Myla was a little leery of going down into the prairie dog exhibit to look up through the bubbles!  She wanted me to go with her, so I squatted down and crept through there only to realize there was an adult entrance around the corner.  Ha!  Thankfully, after she went one time, she was fine to go by herself.

Selah loved it to!!

Selah also requested to see horses and puppy dogs at the zoo.  Needless to say, we didn’t find any puppies, but we did find a horse, and she even petted it!

Looking at the panda.  Right after I took this picture, Myla turned to me and said, “When are we going to the hotel?”  She’s always ready for the next thing!

Checking out the elephants!

Leaving the polar bear exhibit.  I love watching the polar bear.  He was putting on a little show!

Daddy took a little pit stop while watching the grizzly bears.  Bless his heart, he was getting sick and just didn’t know it!

As you can see, he was ready to lie down once we got to the room.  When we got home on Saturday morning, he was running fever and ended up staying in the bed all day.  Thankfully he is feeling better!

After we got our stuff in the room, we went to Logan’s for supper.  Myla LOVED the rolls.  Rolls are probably one of her favorite foods!

Selah loved the peanuts, and we were just glad they kept her entertained!

By the time we got back to the hotel after supper and ice cream, Selah looked a mess.  Hair wild, skinned knee from a fall at the zoo, and glazed eyes!

A bath energized her though, and she tested out the sofa!

We made their sofa bed out, and they were so excited to sleep together!  Selah is still in a crib, so she kept saying she was sleeping in a “big girl bed”!!!  We finally had to cut the lights out at 8:45 to get them to go to sleep.  But that was fine with Mom and Dad because we were tired too!!

After breakfast the next morning, Myla kept herself entertained by turning herself round and round in the desk chair!

One last picture before we headed home!!!

Ten on Tuesday…

1.  Since I started out last Tuesday saying how much I hated hot weather, I thought I should follow up by saying how thankful I have been for the little cool front that moved through at the end of last week.  It was a very nice reprieve!

2.  I picked up my new pillows last week that I had had made.  I love how they turned out!!  It helps so much to finally have some color to add to our den/kitchen!  Now, the next room is our bedroom!  We completely rearranged our bedroom as well as our den, and we like it SO much better!!! 

They are obviously not all on one couch, but I just wanted to get a picture of them all together.

I love the cording around around the edges!  If you need someone in Oxford to make pillows or re-upholster furniture, let me know!  These people are extremely reasonable!!!

3.  On another decorating note, I was so excited to find an old church pew for cheap at a resale shop in New Albany.  I wanted one to put on the wall in our kitchen.  It fits perfectly, and we moved our couch into our den!

It is 10 1/2 feet long, so the poor pillows look a little lost on there.  I’m going to get a few more covered to add to them.  Now, I’ve got to find something to go over it.  I really want to have 3 big, wood frames over it, but unfortunately, those aren’t in my budget!!  I wish they weren’t so expensive!!!!!!!

4.  The girls are still loving their Jeep.  I bet it has made 100 trips around our backyard!  Selah has started to want to drive it, which has led to some all out fights and breakdowns.  Needless to say, the Jeep is currently in the shed until further notice.  Ha!

5.  We are planting a small garden this evening when Michael gets home from work.  We’ll see how it goes.  I hope we can keep everything alive and eat some things that we grew ourselves!!

6.  My mom gave us an exciting night last night.  She fell at school yesterday and hurt her wrist and knee.  After being in the ER for FOUR hours, they told her nothing was broken and she was free to go.  They put an ace bandage on it, and we left.  Well, thankfully, we have a connection with an orthopedic surgeon, and he looked at her xray this morning, and it is fractured and there is a separation in the joint at her wrist.  Good thing we went to the ER.  Ha.  Hopefully she will heal up quickly and be back to normal in no time.

7.  The girls and I went to the church this morning to meet some friends to work on VBS craft stuff.  The kids had a good time, and it got me excited for VBS to get here.  I hope the kids have a good time with the crafts.  I tried to think them through and get things they would enjoy doing!

8.  I got some sunflowers at the farmer’s market last weekend, and I love looking at them!  They just make me happy!  I love having fresh flowers in my house, but it is something I rarely do!

9.  Before I went to the farmer’s market, I went to some yard sales.  I got some pillow forms exactly like the ones I just paid $8 for for $1.50!  I was excited about that. And I also got Michael a leaf blower for $4, and it works great!!  Woo hoo!  I LOVE yard sales!!!!!

10.  We are going to the zoo in Memphis on Friday, and I can’t wait!  Selah is super excited since she was only 6 months old last time we went and she doesn’t remember anything.  She tells me over and over what all we are going to see then she proceeds to make the animal sound that matches the animal she says we are going to see.  So sweet!!!

Happy Tuesday, everyone!!!

Mother’s Day 2012…

 

WOW!  My heart was so full yesterday on Mother’s Day!  We had such a wonderful day.  My mom took the girls home with her on Friday night and ended up keeping them on Saturday night too.  Michael and I had a very productive weekend working around the house, and I prepared lunch for everyone coming to our house on Sunday.  BUT, the house was VERY quiet without our two sweet girls here.  I was so excited to see them on Sunday morning as the ran into the church saying “Happy Mother’s Day” and giving me big hugs in their pj’s before we changed them into their church clothes.  Oh, how I love those girls, and I feel so privileged to be their mama.  We heard an extremely powerful and convicting message from Bro. Eric, who never sugarcoats anything, but simply preaches the truth.  Us moms have a BIG job, and although I struggle everyday trying to figure it all out, I’m so thankful to be a MOM!! 

I was so excited about having our families at our house for lunch.  I haven’t cooked a lunch that big in awhile, but I had so much fun doing it! 

Me with the girls that make me a Mommy!  What a huge responsibility I have in raising them.  I’m thankful for the opportunity to be with the everyday!  I’m hoping and praying that next year, there will be 3 little ones in this picture!

Michael and his mom!  I also couldn’t be more thankful to have Mrs. Sandy as a mother-in-law!  She is precious and has always treated me just like a daughter!

Me and my Mom.  I cannot tell you how thankful I am for her.  I couldn’t “do” life without her.  She is so sacrificial and selfless.

Me and Peyton with mom

3 generations

4 generations

Mimi with her girls – she had to be worn out after having kept them ALL weekend!!

Sae Sae and the girls!

At each place at the table, I had a pair of salt and pepper shakers that belonged to Michael’s grandmother.  I wanted a special way to remember her!  She collected salt and pepper shakers and had hundreds!!!

I was so excited for Mom and Mrs. Sandy to open their gifts.  My very talented, friend, Jaime made these adorable hand towels with a picture of the girls on them.  SO cute!

Mrs. Sandy loved hers too!

Then, we gave both moms lockets with their grandbabies pictures in them.  They loved them!  I wish I had gotten a close up picture of them!

After lunch, we surprised the girls with a Barbie Jeep. I had gotten it several months ago at Goodwill and had planned to give it to them for Christmas, but I thought they would really enjoy playing with it this summer, so we gave it to them early.  That was one of Michael’s jobs on Saturday…putting it together!  The girls were SO excited!  Myla is actually really good at driving it.

Out on a drive!!

Selah loves being a passenger.  I hope she doesn’t want to be the driver soon…we will have some problems!  Ha!

I hope they will have lots of fun on this during the summer!!

I hope all of you had a wonderful Mother’s Day!

Oh, I wanted to share about my gift from Michael. I love going to plays, so he gave me tickets for us to see The Sound of Music this summer at the Ford Center!  I can’t wait!!!  And, let me just say, I am so thankful for Michael.  I couldn’t be the mother I am without all of his help! 

Graduation and Birthday Celebration…

Yesterday was a busy, busy day!  It was our last day of MMO, and Myla had her little graduation program.  I thought it was hysterical that they were wearing caps and gowns to graduation from MMO, but they loved it!  She was so excited for her program, and told me that it was going to be “really cute”!

Big girl ready for her graduation!  This is only a foresight of the future, right?  I’ll never forget the day I got my cap and gown for high school graduation.  My mom didn’t know I had gotten it.  I came home, went to my room and put it on then walked into the kitchen.  She gasped and broke into sobs!  Now, I understand a little what that will feel like one day.  I know it will be here before we know it!

She got really teased and shy when she was on stage.  She kept putting her hands in her mouth…not sure what that was about.  Anyway, they each got to tell what their favorite thing about school was, and she said, “Reading Books!”

Mimi slipped away from school for a few minutes to come.  Myla was so glad she was there!

Sis Sis came to as well as her friend, Melanie.

Daddy took off for a little while too!

Mommy with her little graduate.  Ha!

Afterwards, there was a reception/end of the year party for the whole MMO gang!

I was so glad that Daddy was there to help with Selah!  She was so excited to see him!

After the party, the MMO teachers went out for lunch while the kids stayed at the church with a sitter.  By the time we got home, Selah was wiped out!  She never falls asleep on the couch, but I just let her stay there because it wasn’t long before we had to head to a birthday party!

Mia and her brother, Tyler, had a joint birthday party at Cloud 9!  Don’t all kids LOVE bounce houses!!

Sweet Tyler!  I’ve had him this year in my MMO class, and I just love him so much!  If you remember, Mitzi, our realtor, is Mia and Tyler’s mom.  They are soon going to be moving to Knoxville, and I don’t even want to think about it.  It makes me so sad because I’m going to miss them SO much!

Myla and some friends playing air hockey!

Mia blowing out her candles!

Myla was excited that Mady was there to play with!

Selah patiently waited for her cake and ice cream!

Then she chowed down.  Ha!

Myla and the birthday girl! 

After the party, we headed back to church for AWANA and choir. Whew!!!  It was a busy, but fun day!