Found: one missing camera battery

I found the missing battery. It was hiding under a mini-football helmet (autographed by Alabama football great Sean Alexander) on my desk. Yeah ... crises averted.

In the process of our scavenger hunt for the battery, we also found 2 missing sippy cups of David's. With milk. One was 2 days old and one was almost 2 months old. Yuck! They went straight to the dishwasher.

Oh yeah, remember when I said I was done posting about Independence Day? Well, I was wrong. I didn't know I would be able to get to my other pictures so quickly!

Here is our chilly trip to the pool on Friday morning. David participating in his favorite pool time activity ... snacking.

Uh oh. Big sister is taking my snacks.

Don't worry. There are plenty for everyone. Even mommy.

Friday night, while we were waiting on Meme and Poppy to arrive, Evie and Claire decorated some star sugar cookies.

Evie (aka Cookie Monster)

Meme fried up some okra and cooked fresh corn for dinner ...

While Jon & Will grilled steaks, chicken and hot dogs (for the kids) ...

While Poppy entertained all four grandkids on the slide. Yikes!

Meme and Poppy

Will and me

Ashley and Jon

Time for fireworks! Sparklers to be exact.

Once the smoke cleared, literally, it was a lovely July night!

Some parting thoughts on Independence Day

This is my last 4th of July post ... I promise. But this is too good not to share.

Sunday morning, our pastor started a sermon series based on the book of Jeremiah entitled "LOST: The Church in Post-Christian America". It was good. It was powerful. It was a little scary. But, it was the TRUTH.

The gist: America is no longer a christian nation. How can our nation emerge from the downward cycle we are currently in? The answer is not a certain president or a certain political party or reform. The answer is JESUS CHRIST!

What can I do?

(1) Come back to Christ ... overflow with the purposes of God.

(2) Teach my children the way of Christ.

(3) Understand that I am a missionary to my culture ... church is wherever I am.

I challenge you to do the same.

We also sang the 4th verse of the Star-Spangled Banner during our praise and worship time. I didn't even know there was a fourth verse. The words were very powerful and I wanted to repeat them here.

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand

Between their loved home and the war's desolation!

Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land

Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,

And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

-Francis Scott Key, 1814

Our FABULOUS Fourth of July Weekend

This is going to be a long post ... but we had a long weekend.

Friday, we took the kids to the pool. The water was chilly due to our unseasonably cool weather here of late, so we didn't stay for long. I took some cute pictures of the kids, but they are on my old camera and the battery is apparently MISSING. I'm pretty sure David was the culprit. We have searched toy boxes and garbage cans to no avail. I'm sure as soon as I buy a new one, the old one will reappear. Until then ...

Friday night, my family came over for a cookout and fireworks. Alas, the fireworks pictures are on my inoperable camera. I did get this picture with my sweet boy in all of his 4th of July glory.


This next series of pictures is our attempt to try and get a picture of all the cousins (on my side of the family).


I love David's sweet little smile in this picture.


and this one.


Saturday morning, we headed to a heated pool at our friends' parent's house. We had such a good time with all 12 adults and 9 kids. At least we weren't outnumbered.

Baker's daddy loves to throw him in the air.

Despite the heated pool, the guys (and the kids) all seemed to end up in the hot tub (aka "the little pool").

Claire's first time off the diving board. She was a little reluctant at first ...


But then she heard mommy mention a "special prize".


She jumped in without any further hesitation!


Carter taking a turn off the diving board ... he was a fan of the belly buster.


Baker's turn ... look at that form.


Don't forget the mommies. We were there too! My friends Holly and Jessica.


David's little buddy Hylton arrived while David was taking a nap. We must coordinate their nap schedules!


Saturday night ... all dressed up with no place to go. We were supposed to go watch "big fireworks" at a local park, but decided to stay home due to the approaching storms. We traded our picnic and fireworks for a home-cooked BBQ dinner and a movie (popcorn included).

We managed to get a couple of decent family shots before the rains came. And boy did they come!




Will looks thrilled to be grilling in the rain with his own personal lightning rod ... I mean umbrella.

Sunday, we donned our fourth finery one last time and headed to church. David is not really liking having his picture made right now. Not. At. All.

Sunday night, we had our swimming buddies over for a cookout and this was the only picture I took. It was still raining, so we had 8 adults and 6 kids in the downstairs of our house. It was a bit CRAZY! This is Will and David with our friend Ty and his son Hylton. David and Hylton were born 10 days apart. I hope that they will be good friends one day.

I hope that you and yours had a Happy Independence Day and you took time to celebrate our freedom!

Menu Plan Monday: July 7-13

We did a good job of sticking to my menu plan for last week, which meant no extra trips to the grocery store (and no extra money spent on food). And, I had plenty of leftovers to eat for lunch at work. Here is the my menu plan for this week.

Monday: grilled salmon, garlic mashed pototaes, broiled asparagus

Tuesday: leftover hamburger/hot dogs, baked beans, chips.

Wednesday: Ham & cheese baked roll-up, steamed broccoli

Thursday: leftovers for me. Will is taking the kids to Chick-Fil-A while I host a clothing show at our house.

Friday & Saturday: visiting in-laws for the weekend. Lots of eating out and RiRi-cooked meals!

Sunday: (dinner) Grilled Mexican burgers, black beans & corn, salad

Check out other menu plans here.

P.S. If you ever want any recipes, please leave a comment and I will post it the next week.

It's a PARTY!

I'm hosting a clothing show on July 9th from 6-9 p.m. and you're invited! Email me if you want details at scott32877@aol.com.

I purchased Castles & Crowns clothing for the first time this spring and I have been extremely pleased with its quality. It is very reasonably priced for smocked clothing and the smocking is very good ... not like some children's clothing.

If you live out of the area and still want to order something, let me know because C&C will ship it directly to you!

Let me know if you have any questions.

Happy Birthday America!

This is a digital scrapbook page I did today before the kids woke up with one of our pictures from last July 4th. We've had a fun, but busy weekend. I hope to have pictures of all the festivities up soon! But for now ...

Here's to all of the men and women who have fought/are fighting for the freedom that we enjoy every day!

Date Night

Last night, thanks to "Restaurant Week", we enjoyed a great, inexpensive meal at Jimmy Kelly's (a very old and well-known restaurant in our area). They were running a special on a four-course meal for $20.99 per person. It was a limited menu of course, but it did include filet as an option, which we all chose for our entree. We even got to enjoy the unseasonably cool July evening on their veranda. Lots of nice, local restaurants run specials on price fixed menus, which makes it much more affordable to splurge on a nice meal. You can sign up on these restaurant's websites to get email notification (or by snail mail) about these great deals.

Here is a picture of the four of us (our neighbors, Kevin and Beth) on our child-free evening!

Will and I match! This was not intentional on my part. And, I will go on the record to say that I got dressed first!

Beth and Kevin ... our restaurant buddies.