Mother's Day

Here is my sweet angel at her preschool "muffins for moms." The kids had painted flower pots and grown grass with flowers! They decorated their room and served us muffins and juice as we squeezed our legs into their pre-school sized chairs. It was a sweet time and I will treasure her excitement!
My sweet family allowed me to choose our dinner spot for Mother's Day.....Olive Garden it is!
Jacob patiently waiting...he he he.
Oh, how her eyes sparkle!
My beautiful roses plus the wildflowers from Sunday morning. I am blessed beyond words to have two happy, healthy children! They entertain and amaze me on a daily basis. Even though being a mom is at times a lot harder than I ever thought possible, it's also a lot better than I ever dreamed possible and I wouldn't change it for a moment!

Why we chose to become a Safe Family

Well, this post has no pictures, but for good reason. Several months ago we were challenged to open our hearts and home to love on children in our community through a program with Bethany Christian Services called "Safe Families." The purpose is to connect volunteer "safe families" with a family in the community going through some type of crisis. For a period of up to 6 months a family in crisis might place their children with a safe family while they focus on their current situation. Say a single mom needs to have surgery and has no family nearby to take care of her children; she could place them with a safe family who will love and care for them while she undergoes medical treatment and recovery. One of the major goals of this program is to keep children out of the foster care system.

Our hearts were burdened when we heard of the need right here in our community. So in mid-February we accepted our first placement and had a sweet child with us for about 6 weeks. For privacy reasons, we can't share many of the details of our specific situation, but would welcome any opportunity to share more about our experience. We welcomed this child into our home, rearranged a little furniture and entered a new world of life with 3 kids in tow, car rider lines and school fund raisers. It was interesting to see a different dynamic as our children shared and loved and squabbled as if they had always known each other.

Our family, friends and church family rallied with us and supported us and this sweet child. We were showered with love, food, clothes, babysitting and prayers! As soon as our time began it seemed that the sick bug moved in, which is strange to us because we are a relatively healthy bunch. Trying to keep your focus on giving of yourself, keeping up a killer daily commute to school, helping with homework, an extended bedtime routine....it was at times very tough I'll admit. But God was bigger and knew what we needed and we feel God blessed the time we had with this sweet child. We felt confident about the changes that were happening in their family life and pray that God will continue to bless them as they've been reunited. We also very much look forward to continuing our relationship with them.

So, this too has been a big part of why I'm behind on pictures, blogging, and keeping up with some things. Sometimes you just need to push all the extra "stuff" away and focus on what's important.

Birthday World!

Some friends of ours told us about a place nearby called Birthday World! We decided since it was Megan's actual birthday to go check it out. It was pretty affordable and the kids had a BLAST! Think kiddie carnival rides, bounce houses, arcade fun and glow in the dark putt putt.

Here's Megan heading into the birthday cake shaped bounce house.
Taking a ride on the dragon.


Heading into the toddler bounce area.


Jacob gives the carousel a thumbs up!
Going for a spin on the flying bananas! This was their favorite!
Megan's first attempt at whac-a-mole.
Jim helps Jacob make some baskets!
Skeet ball!
Jacob enjoying a cool treat. If you check out this place they do have a food court that was fairly reasonably priced.
All in all, it was a very fun day! Happy 5th Birthday sweet Megan!

Meg's first spring break

So Spring Break sort of snuck up on us. First of all it's Megan's first year in school plus we thought we would be packing to move in two weeks (long story for another day). Alas, we are not packing and Jim has taken a few days off so we were off in search of adventure for a staycation if you will.

After our day at Disney we met the family of our sweet friend to reunite them. It was still a bit rainy so we were searching for indoor activities and decided on a bounce house. Well, being the frugal folks we are I had a coupon and we set out to a place that is no longer there. So, we headed for ice cream at a new place (to us). Not sure how we've lived here this long and never eaten Bruster's, but now we can say we've had it. After our mid-afternoon snack we headed over to a favorite park and let the kids loose since the weather was perfect. Here are pics from our first day of spring break......
Jacob was king of the bridge and let everyone know who dared try to cross using his "pirate" voice! He's so funny! Love to see his imagination taking flight.

We found a ladybug that kept the kids entertained for quite a while. Finally I convinced them to set it free so they could continue to play!

A trip to Disney

We love Disney! From our house you can see and hear the fireworks each night! Okay, so you have to be upstairs standing on the bed looking out the small window, but alas we're that close. However, we don't get there terribly often and so going is a fun treat. While our sweet friend was staying with us it was mentioned that they had never been before and so with the help of two of our sweet friends we were able to go spend the day at Disney before our sweet friend went back home. Since it's also Megan's birthday week and the beginning of spring break it was a very special treat to get to go! We arrived at the park and our friend Rebecca secured a 1st visit button and Birthday button for the kiddos! They showed those buttons to everyone in the park who would notice : )

Here's Megan in the interactive space at Epcot after the Figment ride. When the light shines on a square you jump on it and it plays music. The kids got quite a workout! Forgive our appearance. It was pouring rain at this point so we were running from building to building finding all the things you could do inside! Thank you Disney!

Here's Jacob having a little fun on the light up squares too.
Jim and Jacob are settled into their clam for the Nemo ride. We rode twice and enjoyed all the fish at the end of the ride and Bruce's play area too.
Here's Megan having some dance fun while we wait for the monorail.
What a magical way to spend our last day together with our sweet friend.

Tinker Bell Party!

In no particular order (because for some reason I can't rearrange the pictures on my computer today) here are a few pics from Megan's 5th birthday party!


Katey, Megan and Abby in their matching Tink outfits!
Victoria, Matti and Megan
Ansley and Megan
Avery and Megan
Megan and Abbey
the birthday girl blowing out her candles
yummy tinker bell cake.
loving the new costume that arrived from nana the day before her party : )
We love you sweet Megan and are so blessed to call you our daughter. We can't wait to see you as you grow. We love sharing the precious moments with you. You are about all things girly and we love that about you. God has truly blessed our lives! We prayed and waited for you and were so excited to meet you when you finally joined our family! (You were rather comfy in mommy's tummy) We love you precious girl!

Megan's school celebration!

Here's Meg as everyone gets ready to do the freeze dance for her birthday celebration.
Meg with two of her best friends at school. She chose her favorite snacks to share that day...popcorn and chocolate covered strawberries. I was really looking forward to baking and decorating cupcakes, but they ask for no sugar, so I lightly covered some strawberries and had some plain ones too : ) How can I deny the birthday girl's request?

March 2010

So, this post is brief with just a few of my favorite shots from the month. I will admit a lot of my pictures have an extra kid in them and we can't post those pictures, but I promise to share them with you family off-line!

Happy St. Patrick's Day....here's Megan decked out in her green after school.

The kiddos cooking up in the play kitchen while Mommy cooks up dinner! Is he a chef in training or what? If you notice he's wearing a Publix apron. The pre-school pals program they have is so fun and sends free toys! If you're not a member you can sign up on their website.
I noticed a friend's new dance bag at class one day and made a comment about it. Shortly after that we received a package and her mother-in-law had made a "shoe" bag for Megan. It's in the shape of a shoe (obviously) and has cute ballerina fabric and buttons for the lace on the front! Super cute and a treasure for sure.
Megan has a new fascination with braids. Her sweet teacher at school takes time to braid her hair many mornings after she arrives. Here she is keeping our sweet friend company while she works on "homework"....that is drawing me a picture : )

Birthday pics to follow in the next post.....

February happenings

So, it's been a busy time for us. Not gonna make excuses, just gonna try to get back into the blogging groove. Here's some of what's been going on the past couple of months for us. I'm having trouble moving pics around, so forgive me if my time line isn't exact.

Jim celebrated his 35th birthday this year. So, on his special day, we picked up Megan from school and headed out for a family lunch at one of our favorite spots....Tijuana Flats! We got to head out that night for a date night. By the time we left we still weren't even hungry so we opted for appetizers at Olive Garden and dessert across the street at his favorite Cheesecake Factory. Yumm-O
Here's a picture of Megan with her braids. She was so fascinated by the braiding I did while we had a sweet little girl with us that she wanted braids of her own. Let me tell you, when she woke up the next morning it looked like a crimper had gone horribly wrong! That was an 80's do if I ever saw one : )
We are all about dress up these days. I think she changes dress up about 5 times a day. Here we are making no bake cookies for a dinner get together. I love that she enjoys cooking. I am truly looking forward to many memories made together in the kitchen with my sweet girl!
I love my silly little boy. Here he is playing on the back porch while I'm cooking. I looked out and saw him with a bucket on his head. He and Meg were walking around chanting "bucket head, bucket head." These little people make me smile!
Here's a picture of Meg's loot after her Valentine party at school.


Megan had a combo party at school to celebrate Valentine's Day and pajama day. She slept on sponge rollers the night before and had cute curly hair! I love when she asks me to curl her hair; I think it's so cute and reminds me of my childhood trying to find a comfortable position to sleep on those rollers....who's with me?

First trip to Gator Land

I know, I know....how many vacations as a child did we take to Florida? and how long have Jim and I lived here? but we made our first visit to Gator Land when invited by some friends spur of the moment. (the discounted offer to Florida residents was what reeled us in).

We were afraid the weather wouldn't hold out for us, but it did and we got to see everything we wanted! The kids were so excited to see all the alligators as we walked in!

I always think of my brother when I see alligators. His childhood dream was to own an alligator farm when he grew up......

Our first stop was the jumparoo show where they feed the alligators and get them to jump into the air. Here's a picture of Jacob watching the alligators below the deck. I decided not to include the others from the show because they feed the gators fresh chickens and personally I think it's a little gross! The second is a piture of 3 of the kids at the photo op gator!

We then went to see the white alligators, birds, petting zoo and snakes. Oh, by the way, if you do decide to tour this place....DO NOT LEAN AGAINST THE RAILS!!!! Bird poop is everywhere and doesn't wash out of your shirt! Just sayin'. And thank you Erin for letting me wear your jacket for the rest of the day! I'll spare you that picture too. Here are Megan and Kate checking out the snakes.
The next show of the day was entitled "Upclose Encounters." Oh, yes, you know I'm already praying to not be chosen from the crowd to participate in the touching of ANYTHING in this park. Remember how you always avert your gaze from your teacher when you didn't know the answer so as not to be picked???? That was my strategy--well, that and wrangling a 2 year old....surely they wouldn't pick me! Well, Jim was not so lucky and was chosen along with 3 other audience members to hold this:
He was truly a good sport! Better him than me! (That's him with the white hat on)

We took a stroll through a conservation area and then stopped for lunch. (they will let you out to eat a picnic lunch in your car, but don't allow food into the park, although their prices aren't too terrible.) Our final show was to see the alligator wrestling. Here's a picture of Megan and Jim waiting for the show to start. There was a film crew there from "Freakiest Vacations" doing a taping for the Fine Living Network. The episode is set to air later in the spring! It was fun to watch the show and see our friend's little girl participate in the taping of the show. She was picked from the crowd and got to choose the alligator that he wrestled for the show. Because of her bravery, she also got to have her picture taken while sitting on the alligator's back! Way to go Kate!!!!
Because the little boys were ready for naps we chose to call it a day. We'll have to try the train, play area and kid's water park on our next trip! Definitely glad we went and that we waited until the kids were old enough to enjoy it!