Celebrating Early!

Kami turns THIRTEEN on Wednesday! We have already started celebrating! Here is our family get together last night. I got a few of Kami and the camera-magnet, Maggie.

S'up?

S'up is that I'm totally absorbed with this:and this:

and this: (just the one on the left) and that's a good thing. I'm just thankful for each minute....

even if I am spending hours (upon hours) after school in the car, being this:

but I wouldn't trade it for anything. No sir.


I read this on my trip to New York. You've gotta pick it up. Unique, refreshing, encouraging and a true story.

A little earthly window into that very real place called heaven.
Get it today. They have it at Sam's for ten bucks.

And of course what's up this time a year is always, always basketball.
And MORE basketball.
After a gut-wrenching start to the season
(I think we were 5-12 at one point - this is cause for misery),
we recovered at the end and won, I think 10 in a row!
We lost a tough one last night on ESPN2,
but God is good when we win and He's good when we lose.
I found myself praising Him despite the loss.






Ah! I had one of these!

And I mention that because I got this from a dear friend! Looking forward to taking it in.

Experiencing more of God's love and presence.

Not just going through the motions. A paradigm shift.

I love what I saw on Twitter (yes, I joined twitter! @anniehank)...

C.S. Lewis: God is basic Fact. He must not be thought of as a featureless generality. He is the most concrete thing there is.

And THAT's What's UP.

Happy/Busy/Crazy/Busy/Happy

At long last.

Whew. I feel like I have been going non-stop for a month.

And I just NOW sat down. 24 X 31 hours later....

I get frustrated when I am soooo busy, feeling pulled, not being on top of things...

feeling like every moment is worth a thousand bucks. What am I going to do with that moment?

....but I wouldn't want to be doing anything else than what I have been doing.

I am happy busy. Crazy, yes. Wondering if this is the true meaning of life. Yes.

But knowing that this is a phase that I will look fondly back to one day.

Planning birthday parties. Coordinating stuff. Helping with homework.

Emphasis on the WORK. Solving puberty problems. Staying up late. Getting up early.

Feeding the herds. Tending to people. Praying my heart out for it's the only way I can make it through each day. Playing a little tennis in between. And spelling words. Lots of em. All with Tom out of town or busy with basketball much of the time.

You know. You are living it too.

There is a time in the not so distant future when I will miss the business the craziness the happiness that comes with taking care of my precious family.

And here are some of our happy/busy/crazy/busy/happy times over the last month that include a birthday party, a homecoming parade, family photos, and mudnight at our church .

Hats off to Granny and Her 99 Years of Living!

Birthdays are a big deal at any age. But when you turn 97, 98, or 99, it certainly warrants an enormous celebration. Having done a pioneer party and an American Idol party, we were looking for another idea that fit our loving, hilarious, sweet, silly, Granny. One thing she is famous for, (besides her quilts!) is taking pictures with hats and other things (even a lampshade) on her head. I will post those pictures sometime. (Mom, can you email them to me?) So we decided that everyone would wear a hat in honor of Granny and that we did. Granny laughed it up, even if at 99, she is just now starting to feel her age. She hasn't been at her best lately and her comment... "I guess I am just getting old." Too funny. Prayers for granny and praises for a lovely 99th birthday.

Bieber Fever

Oh, the joys of having a tweenager. In this case, braving thousands of screaming (and I do mean SCREAMING) girls at the Justin Beiber concert.

But after all, July 6th, the day of the concert, was my oldest daughter's 12th birthday. What a fun way to celebrate! So, I bought her a ticket and a ticket for a friend, and of course, the obligatory adult chaperone ticket.

And then I tucked my earplugs in my purse. Just kidding, but I did have a litle bit of that "Ok, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" kind of attitude. Here are Kami and her friend Brooks before the concert.

Then appeared the teen dream, Justin Bieber himself. Baby, baby, baby oooh!

And the more I watched, the more I got the fever, Beiber fever, that is. I thought his songs were sweet and catchy. I loved "One Time" and "One Less Lonely Girl" I stood up and started clapping and dancing in the aisles! I admit he was flirty, calling out to all the "beautiful girls" at his concert, but he was so cute and his concert was clean and it took me back to 1983, when I fell hard for Ponyboy and Sodapop Curtis on Outsiders. Rob Lowe and C. Thomas Howell opened the door to those first feelings of pure, innocent interest in boys. And to the dream of someday falling in love with the man for me...

I think the Kami might have gotten just a tiny bit of Bieber fever herself on her 12th birthday.

Seventh Heaven

Does it get any better than this? Seven crazy boys celebrating Luke's 7th birthday?

Even though they were wild as the African Hartebeest. Seriously. Wild. We went to see Toy Story 3...

Ate cookie cake and opened presents...Played a couple of games including this one where the boys had to wear whatever item of clothing was pulled out of a pillowcase. Hilarious!

Even though his party came a month late (for the second year in a row! Yikes!) he had a blast...

and momma wants to cherish each day of his seventh year!

The $2.50 Birthday Party

Kami doesn't turn 12 until July, but we threw her an early birthday party with Lizzie... they celebrated their birthdays together just like another time. And OK, it didn't exactly cost $2.50.


Hang with me though; there is a $2.50 twist that went over very well.The birthday girls invited about 30 of their friends to a skating rink that we rented out for a couple of hours. They all had a blast! They aren't little girls anymore, but growing up and amazingly so. Kami and her old buddy Nicole....Kami and her new buddy Katie...all the girls singing Happy Birthday to Kami and Lizzie... and now for the $2.50 cent part. Since we had invited 30 girls and it was a double birthday party, we wanted to handle the giving of presents in a creative way. We thought about saying "no presents" or "bring a donation to Special Olympics in lieu of a gift."

However, after thinking and thinking, we decided to add this note to the invitation: "Gifts: If you'd like to bring a gift, spend no more than $2.50 per present. That's right, no more than $2.50 per gift. Be creative and see what you can come up with!!!"

We loved the results. Instead of having loads of decadent presents, most of which the girls didn't really need or want, they got a load of fun and special items, many of them handmade.

I wish I would have gotten pictures of all their fun gifts, but here are some I remember....
*fingernail polish
*fun, colorful socks
*handmade jewelry
*handmade headband
*handmade bows
*zany bands
*candy
*big bouncy ball (you wouldn't believe how much they've played with this... an item I always had around when they were little)
*headphones
*notepad
*pen with duck tape rose
*handmade fleece pillow
*collage of words from magazines
*friendship bracelets

I would really like to try this idea for other birthday parties; it was really cool how well everyone responded and how much money was saved and how much waste was avoided and how much the girls loved their $2.50 presents!