Finished with Fourth

Kamryn Rae is officially finished with elementary school. I know it sounds trite, but it seems just yesterday, she was a little girl running around in Ms. Bunch's Pre-K class. Now, 6 years later, she is moving on up to the Intermediate. The theme of their graduation party was based on the TV show Survivor. I worked with a committee of awesome women to put this together. It has been another one of those year-long projects that pays off in the end... the party was tons of fun, with a steel drum band, 4 inflatables, tribal paint, cool challenges (including one with live crickets), and an annual tug of war to end the day. How my feather-weight child ended up at the front of the tug-of-war rope is a mystery to me, but what she lacks in weight, she makes up for in competitive spirit. Just look at those fierce eyes. Congratulations to our girl. We are very proud of her!!!

This Woman is Amazing

She is 97.
She is reciting a cheer she learned as a child.
And with much gusto and volume I must admit.

Besides not hearing my dad's question at the end of the video, can you believe the with-it-ness of Granny I? Please tell me this is genetic.

Old Dogs Can't Learn New Tricks

Or maybe it just takes them a really, really long time. Since I've had my new camera (don't think it's considered new anymore), I've been trying to channel Kelly Stocksen. I actually thought that if I got her same camera that I could take pictures like her. Ha! Silly me. As hard as I tried, I couldn't even come close to her shots. Never can, never will be able to do what she does. But what I (and probably trained monkeys) can do is check out tutorials and follow the step by step instructions to improving my pictures. Here is one of my favorite websites for getting tips about Adobe Photoshop (which I can usually apply to Adobe Elements - Photoshop's Stepsister.) I would like to eventually get Photoshop, but I think it costs a gazillion dollars. So, with my humble little pictures and my scrawny little program, you can see some befores and afters. Remember, I am just a beginner!!! I have probably sharpened too much and washed out skin tones. I've got a long way to go, but don't be hard on me! It just takes awhile for this old dog.No, this is not my son...

Things We Do at Grandma's House

Coming Soon: Grandma I Leads a Cheer

Kissing Cousins and Loving Mothers

Will they hate me in a few years for taking this shot and then posting on the World Wide Web? I just can't help myself. Lauren's expression is just so pained, which is quite funny, and I unfortunately have to admit it looks as though my child is getting quite good at this kissing thing. Whether it's just to annoy the girls or he really enjoys it (Lord help me) I don't know. At the tender age of 4, he has learned the power of kissing. And now that I think of it, that cookie Lauren is eating looks yummy. Maybe he'd just like a bite of it.
The famous porch swing, which you can't actually see in my not so nicely cropped picture. I promised you all I would get better at my photography, and although my subjects are lovely, I don't see much improvement. It looks like my son is hexing me. Maybe that is my problem. Well, the hex didn't last long because Tom won the quilt drawing, which really means that I won it!
At least that was what I thought until I went home and walked upstairs to see the quilt neatly folded in half on HIS side of the bed, an obvious dig that he was the big winner. His competitive streak knows no limits. But, like a true victor, I did find myself peacefully sleeping under a certain purple quilt that night! Thank you Grandma I! You are awesome!

Sweet Summertime!

Wow! It's exactly 15 days since school let out... and well... here's what we've managed to do....

One week of vacation - Big Cedar
Visit to the Zoo - The kids LOVED it!
Luke's 5th Birthday party - a bunch of boys at the park!
plus 3 other birthday parties - triple the fun
Visit to Granny I's - to see her rescued Blue Jays
Family Reunion - Dad's Side of the Family
Trip to Woolaroc - haven't been there since the 70's
Basketball Tournament - Kami's not Tom's!

and I've actually managed to feed my children, you'll be glad to know. The baths, however, have been few and far between! It's crazy busy SUMMERTIME!

Contraption

The Princess of Hearts loves boxes and strings and jump ropes and pocketknives and rocks and paper clips and little bits of nature. It is in her pockets that I discover all sorts of odds and ends that she has collected throughout her day... bottle caps, pieces of string and all sorts of other interesting stuff. On a good day, you could say she's an avid recycler and on a bad day, you could relegate her to a pack rat. Anyway, she also has great, creative ideas about what to do with all of her stuff, and a couple days ago, after school, she set off determined to make a contraption. Using part of her collection (a box, jump ropes, pieces of yarn and an old white plastic parachute from an ORU game) she created a state-of-the-art-box-parachute that was supposed to fly open at the tug on the yarn. I didn't have the heart to tell her it wasn't going to work, but just allowed her to experiment over and over and over again. She thought the air by the fence may be a little different than by the fort, so she tried each place several times. She also attempted different ways of jumping. The parachute never quite carried her to the ground the way she imagined, but I couldn't help but get a kick out of her t-shirt that day. The message couldn't have been any more perfect: "Little girl Big dreams"

There's A New Rae in Town

Ida Hope Rae-Rae to be Exact - Nana and Papa's new little Yorkshire terrier. Is she not the cutest 4 1/2 pound thing you have ever seen? They're going to call her Hope Rae, and I'm a little annoyed that now even the DOG can get in the Rae picture and I....... I am left out!!!! And as you can see below, Cosmo is pretty annoyed himself. You wouldn't think that a 12 year old 15 pound male would be intimidated by a 5 month old 4 pound baby puppy. But... Cosmo... he's been known to be spooked by leaves before. We'll see if he gets used to his new cousin. :)

I Kid You Not

I must begin with this DISCLAIMER:

While I never condone outlandish behavior, I nevertheless embrace the Princess of Hearts and her offbeat personality. I am no fan of tattoos, piercings or the like (I have lots of friends with tattoos... who I adore... just isn't for me), and my posting of this subject is not meant to embolden her on this matter. However, I love my daughter dearly. I trust God with my daughter's life, and I believe with all my heart that he is leading and guiding her. She has a heart that is sensitive to his Will.... she cried in her bed at night for months because she wanted to be bap-uh-tized. Her words were "my heart is telling me to do something for God!" I think she cried because she hadn't followed through on it. All that to say that this daughter of mine just does and says some of the lovliest yet craziest things. Case in point:

Most of her friends have their ears pierced. Her sister's ears were pierced at 7 and recently, Hallie and Brooke had theirs pierced. People have been asking her about it, and she always kind of shrugs apologetically. She really doesn't want to do it . So, I thought I'd better back her up on that. I encouraged her one day: "Honey, if you never get your ears pierced, that is just fine with me! Mommy doesn't care if you do or don't. I think you will be beautiful either way." Without missing a beat, she looked up at me with her piercing blue gray eyes and said dryly, "so what would you think if I got my lip pierced? What would you think if I got my nose pierced?" At least she asked me what I would think about it, but at that point I didn't know what to say! Do I freak out and scream "NO WAY?" or say "Yeah, cool?" I chose to just brush it off and pray for the best... that was until I found her with a nose piercing! See below! It turned out to be a little, silver, sticky, scrapbooking charm that she thought would look just perfect decorating her nose.

Awesome Azaleas

April Snapshots

Breather

A Deep Breath of Air. A Moment to Relax. Some Clarity of mind. Some Peace in Amidst the Uncertainty. Some Solace. A bit of a Pity Party. Time away. Introspection. Hurting Heart. Be Still My Mind. God Lead My Thoughts. A Party in San Antonio. Warm Weather. Sleeping In. A Voice in the Wind. Rest. A Friendz Listening Ear. SNAP OUT OF IT! Roller Coaster. God is Good. He Gave me This: The rain is coming down in Bucketfulls. My child needs Markers. It can't wait till tomorrow. We Go. I Trudge. She Frolicks. I Stew. On the Way Out, in a Dark, Rain Pelted Parking Lot, she Twirls. "I am so THANKFUL," she laughs, as the drops drench her pigtails. Looking upward, she says again slowly and with more seriousness, "I am so THANKFUL." I write this one down in my book of memories. Too precious... and humbling too. One day a little later, while Admiring the Azaleas in Woodward with Nana, Papa, and the kids, Dad says offhandedly, "This life went a lot faster than I thought it was going to." Just a little thing. I think he meant nothing by it. But that it really did go by fast. That one made me stop too. And Just Helped the Thunderclouds Slide Away. And then the Dream. I was at Granny's house. It was late.... past midnight. Don't have any idea why I was there that late. Maybe we were having a quilting party. Anyway, I fell asleep on the couch and she on the daybed... a little later I woke up and thought I should go. But instead, I went over to where Granny was sleeping, and I laid down beside her, real close. I cuddled with my Granny. And as I laid there thinking how much I loved her, I looked on the plaster wall, where she had been writing some stuff in red ink. And I realized what I saw were her marking the days of her life... and she was counting the ones she still had to live until she could Go To See What She's Been Waiting For All Her Life. The Streets of Gold. The Pearly Gates. But it wasn't disturbing... the Dream that is. It was Peaceful and Happy. I felt so Close to Her. And then One More Thing... One More Cool Thing.... Teacher Appreciation Week came. I've been working towards it since July 07. And the closer I got to it, the more I realized that it wasn't just Teacher Appreciation, but Staff Appreciation... and with a few of my activities, I had excluded the staff. It began really bothering me. Besides that, I wondered to God if I was spending too much of my precious time on this dumb PTA thing. How could that be the work of Jesus? Well, first of all, the week was truly blessed. Everyone helped. No one forgot! I had exactly the number of volunteers I needed for each activity. It was almost strange how well everything went. And then on Tuesday evening, as I went to pick up the 80 loaves of donated bread for the teachers (not nearly enough for the 208 staff members), I was blindsided by bread. I left Farrell's Organic Bread with enough bread to fill up the back of the Suburban (Zippy) and then some. I have never seen that amount of bread in my life! When the girls and I got home and counted, we counted... get this.. exactly 209 loaves of bread. Enough yeast for everyone. And then one. It was the closest thing to the Manna from Heaven I have ever experienced. I felt like the boy with the fishes and the loaves. It was really awesome... and I know God had a hand in it. He provided. He gave me assurance that I was doing exactly what He wanted me to do. I took a Deep Breath. I am Back.

Easter Sunday is a Funday

We enjoyed Easter from beginning to end. It was a wonderful day. We went to church at Fellowship Bible, which is our unofficial home right now. It seems to be our base church as we continue to visit other churches. I feel like it gives us a sense of stability as the location of our church home is still so uncertain. Bruce Ewing's message was great... I really feel like I missed out if I don't get to hear him on Sunday mornings!This was the only decent picture I snapped of the kids. Getting a good pic of Luke is just about impossible as you can see. Doesn't he look like a lovable stinker????Right when we got to our cousin's house, Nana had the photo opportunity organized. We got quick shots of our 10 kids (including baby Jace, my cousin Jami's big new boy).Ta-da, my best photo of the day. How could I not take a good picture of beautiful Magpie? It must be the model, not the photographer. The annual basket on the head picture. Granny always starts it, that mischief maker.
On your marks, get set....GO!!!!The Princess of Hearts with Kim R.'s dog, Tia. She was in Dog Heaven. A rare picture of our hubbies. Two basketball coaches... probably still talking ball.Best Buds and winners of the raw egg toss. They somehow got a super egg that was indestructible. This egg wasn't quite so lucky.The t-shirt says it all.The Princess of Hearts and cousin goofing around.A beautiful, blessed day!!!