Fourth of July family fun

A yearly tradition of pyro

It's that time of the year again. Today after work, Mike took the kids to the "local" fireworks stand in town, to purchase this years festivities. The kids so look forward to this time with their dad on the driveway. I love to watch the show too. Now, this is not a big, fancy firework display, it is just a lot of smoke bombs, snakes, sparklers, things that spin and light up, crack, pop, and sometimes shoot in the air! It is our Fourth of July weekend tradition!! I hope you all spend your 4th celebrating in your own special way. Have fun!!!

Do you remember the time...

I remember when my sister and I were watching MTV, that very first night the Thriller music video was on. They played it over and over again, and we tried to learn all the moves!!! It really was a big deal back then, for all you young thangs that don't know. It was the talk of the town. I actually loved growing up in the
80's. I think it had some of the best music, to this day!! Yes, I still get my 80s music fix from my tv, but now it is from the satellite tv station! I miss the old music videos. We spent many hours just watching MTV, when they ACTUALLY showed music videos! Anyway, I miss the old Michael Jackson, and consider it a big loss in this world that he is gone. You can pop out my music player and listen to some of his best songs, if you want. Or not:) Anyway, just thought his death was blog worthy.

Sweet playmates

My friend Kelli is out of town, with her mom on an amazing journey to see where her grandparents started a missionary, in the Turks islands. Today, we have her oldest kids, Sloan and Tia over to play. The kids are loving having them over to play. I thought Kelli would enjoy "seeing" her sweeties today, so wanted to post some pics of them playing today. Hope everyone is staying cool today....it is gonna be 100 degrees today!!!

Weekend recap

Happy belated Father's Day to all the fathers in our lives!! You are all such wonderful men, and I hope you enjoyed your special day doing whatever makes you happy!! The dad in this house, had a full weekend!! Chase had a game friday night, and got the game ball, for being hit 2 times with wild pitches, one right in the left kidney....and he took them like a man:) He also had a game saturday afternoon. Mike is one of the assistant coaches, so he got to spend time doing one of his favorite things, being on a ball field. As many of you know, he got to play college ball all four years, and was really really good. I have spent many a days sitting on bleachers, watching him play in HS and college, then as we have aged, he switched to softball. Now he coaches. Sunday after church, we headed to Six Flags for the day. It was pretty hot, but we had a great time. Chase and Mike were brave and rode the Batman rollercoaster and Evil kinevil.....Brooke and I watched proudly:) We all enjoyed the log flume a few times, and thunder river the best, as they cooled us down!!! Hope you all had a great weekend. What did you all do to celebrate the dad in your house???

Rainy day fun

Today, it POURED down rain!! So the kids and I decided to make use of a coupon that Chase received from school. It allows each of us to bowl one free game a day, if we like, the whole summer. I love doing things when there are no crowds, so this was such fun, as we were 3 of about 20 ppl there! We only had to pay for shoe rental! We bowled for about an hour and then decided to go to Burger King for lunch. Our lunch actually cost more than the bowling. After we ate the kids played outside (yes the rain stopped) on the slides and stuff at BK. Then we were off to Joanns to look for Father's day items that we need to complete our gifts. We really had a good day filled with laughter and low stress!! We will definately take advantage of the free bowling again soon, and often, this summer!!

Refreshed

I got back last evening from our church's annual, womens' retreat. I have to say, this yearly getaway, although very short, is such a charge to my spiritual, emotional, physical, mental battery!! The weekend starts off with the ride down with my sister, Kathy. We get to share a room together down there also and it is nice to remminis(sp) on childhood memories. We always have a guest speaker, sing songs of worship, eat, laugh, craft, pray, laugh some more and do whatever we want....whenever we want. The things i chose to do were all the above and, walk around the lake there on the property, which had a dock and paddle boats. I also painted my nails while sitting outside listening to nature, sat in the sun, read the paper in bed, and all without worrying about who needed my attention. Our speaker, whom is also a fellow church member, shared her soul with us, and showed us how God was with her as she walked through breast cancer, and the cancer and ultimate death of her 20yr old son. Puts so much into perspective. We ALL need to be reminded of God's faithfulness to us. He IS there with us at all times, and has a plan for each of our lives, even though, at times we wonder why we must endure some of the challenges in life we face. I hope that you all get a chance each yr, in some small way, to escape it all and find some quiet time to get in touch with your soul and be reminded of what is truly important in this life. Hope you had a great weekend.