Work Day

This is who I spent my morning with:

Intimidating bunch, right?

For our next missions project the PINK team chose a work day doing yard work for an older lady in our community, Ms. Rossie.   Micah turns one May 20th, Ms. Rossie ninety on May 28th.  And she has just now decided to retire from the kitchen crew.  And I think the only reason is because she can barely walk.  But, as she informed me today, she doesn't need help walking, because she still can.  It's so inpsiring to see ladies like her with so much spunk.  Ms. Rossie has HUGE azalea bushes that the youth of FBC have been trimming for years.  Somehow I missed these former yard trimming expeditions and managed to be initiated only today.  We're talking an acre with lots of 10-12 foot azalea bushes needing to be "trimmed" to waist high.  Jason brought a chainsaw.  It nearly butchered the chainsaw...and the bushes.  But, don't worry, as years past have shown, the bushes will revive and grow abundantly all over again.  I have to admit, I haven't worked hard in the hot sun for hours since, well, probably my pregnancy with Ivory so I was pretty much dreading today.  It was so much better then I expected.  Sure, it was just as hot and exhausting as I anticipated, but it felt good to get outside and work hard.  I remembered how much I enjoyed hard outdoor labor before having kids.  Inspired me to come home, nap, and clean my house.  Watchin someone as spunk as Ms. Rossie gave me a much needed kick in the rear to get some chores done...despite my exhaustion.  Yes, I may be tired, but I can walk.  I'm healthy.  I'm strong.  I'm very blessed.  Blessed to work in my home and blessed to serve others in my church and community.  Now, I may need a serious massage come tomorrow...

Oh, and can I just say I was super impressed with Kane and Travis' hard work (and, of course, my husband!).  They had awesome attitudes, worked hard, demonstrated initiative, and were just overall fun to work with.  Parents, you can be proud of these boys.  Now, the rest of the 18+ members on the PINK team...you are were???

KID QWIPS

Ivory sitting on the potty touches Mommy’s arm declaring, “You’re like pee-pee and Daddy’s like poo-poo!”

Ivory shows me her Veggie Tales stickers then turns around saying, “I’m a veggie! I’m a tomato.”

Ivory puts dirt in her tricycle bucket, gets on the tricycle, looks back at Mom and says, “That’s cute. That’s cute now.” then rides off (well, attempts to…she made it maybe a foot…still working on tricycle skills…).

Visiting our Sunday School teacher’s house Ivory announces she has to go poo poo. Daddy takes her and in the process discusses how it’s not the most polite thing to announce you need to go poo poo. Ivory replies, “But it’s okay to say pee pee. Everyone likes pee pee. Daddy likes poo poo, everyone likes pee pee.”

Daddy “interviewing” Ivory one night.
Daddy: “Ivory, what do you want to be when you grow up?”
Ivory: “Micah.”
Daddy: “How tall are you going to be when you grow up?”
Ivory: Stands up, reaches her hands as high as she can, “THIS big.”
Daddy: “How long will your hair be when you get big?”
Ivory: “Hmm, 30 days.”
Daddy: “What should we call our baby?”
Ivory: “A girl.”
Daddy: “What should we name a boy baby?”
Ivory: “Mr. Arlin.”

Snakes still make appearances often in Ivory’s dreams, but she’s comforted when we tell her Jesus will stomp the snakes out. He says He’ll crush the serpent’s head, right?

Micah loves having happy screaming matches with Ivory. He can perfectly match her pitch. Oh, joy!

Ivory, “Nina gonna have princess Tiana.” Mom, “Well, actually she’s having a little boy, Michael.” Ivory, “She gonna have Michael come out of her belly then Nina have Princess Tiana.” Had to call to tell Nina that one…

Ivory laying in bed one night playing with daddy’s hair pulls his hair back to expose his forehead, “Ah, that’s Uncle Matt!” Now she goes around pulling our/her hair back saying in a “deep” voice, “Hi, I’m Uncle Matt.”


Sitting on the porch watching Ivory "catch fish" with a stick. She just caught a ...leaf. "Look Mom, I caught a fish! I need to put it in water!"

Resurrection Sunday

This is how you'll find me any given Sunday, tottering in heels (I'm a little on the clumsy side...), balancing a baby on one hip and trying to keep Ivory from destroying her Sunday clothes before making it to Sunday School.

And fixing, re-fixing, adjusting, etc. all our clothing...and certain little ones behavior at times.

Family Easter picture

I love how the kids are looking at each other in this picture.


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We actually stayed home for lunch (rare on a Sunday afternoon for us)...a hastily prepared pot of spicy tomato + chicken + pasta soup and garlic bread.  Soooo not really prepared on the Easter meal part of the day...who wants to cook when you can sew?!  After lunch the kids enjoyed some play time with the boys while I took pictures, rested and watched.

Micah LOVES playing ball. He catches and throws relatively well for an 11 month old.

Ivory and I had fun with self-portraits.


Then Ivory tried her hand at taking pictures...with help from Mom.

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Sunday evening we went back to church for a fellowship dinner. One of the most precious women I have ever met is leaving our community to be with her family down south. SO. SAD. Love this woman--amazing, godly, faithful, joyful, generous. Just this morning she stopped by to give us a few things she found as she was packing that she thought we could maybe use. She came with a sweet friend we also know and love who also brought goodies for Mom + kids.  We are beyond blessed with a generous cirle of believers and friends.

So, here's Micah dressed up again, a little more casually, for Sunday night church.

These kids adore crawling all over their Dada.


It really was a beautiful weekend and we were glad Uncle Matt was able to join us for it. I was even more grateful that he took with him the sound system that's been sitting in our hall for months. Cheers for a clean, spacious hallway! Most of all, I felt priviliged to worship openly with fellow believers on the day we remember the resurrection of our living Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus is alive!

Did I mention the kids even SLEPT IN the following day?  ...just had to share another piece of joy!

Easter Boy

Well, I couldn't very well leave little man out of the fancy Easter duds...so I decided on an extremely hasty, last minute, as in 20 minutes before church last minute project. Thanks Grandpa for the donation of your dress shirt for Micah's bow tie. Micah wore it like a champ.





These pictures do little to show how blue his much the bow tie brought out his gorgeous baby blue eyes.




It will need some adjustments and hand stitching...but a safety pin held things together just fine for church!

Uncle Matt Came to Visit

So, of course, we went to the park.

Where Ivory climbed this by herself for the first time...near Mommy's watchful arms.

Ivory sang as she marched on the "B-I-B-L-E bridge."

Micah enjoyed the playground more then ever climbing, crawling, laughing.


Micah loved the slide all over again.


And it looks like Uncle Matt did, too.

Ivory demanded Uncle Matt be her shadow.


Uncle Matt willingly obliged.

Micah discovered a new, very fast slide and Mommy's heart skipped a beat.

The slide was much better with Daddy.

The kids enjoyed swinging.

All of them.

As the sun set we headed home.

With some tired out squirts.

We then packed up our bunch and head to Joe Mama's Pizza for the house salad and pizza.


Micah was a little camera shy.

But, Ivory was happy to pose for pictures...as long as she could see herself in the little flip screen.

Which then caught Micah's attention...so he obliged me for a photo.

Saturday we went to the beach.  But, I left my camera in the car...and was too lazy to go get it.  Gorgeous weather, lots of fun, giant sand turtle, small sand pool of water, lots of smiles...no pictures.  Guess you'll have to use your imagination.  Saturday evening, resurrection cookies!  Look for the post soon coming.

The Easter Dress

We went for a morning exploration...in the Easter dress.  That Ivory clearly loves, "I put it on, I look like Cinderella!"


Debi, your lion hunt / photo shoot concept inspired...and may have even been incorporated.

Our first discovery:




Looking for Elmo in my camera.

Found him! This girl has great imagination.

Twirling.


Do you hear that growling?

Accessories complete every outfit.


Sneaking past the lion around the fence.

I used an old curtain of my mom's (the pale blue fabric) and some lace left from my friend Melissa's wedding.  The pearls are mine and the cross charm I added was my Mom's.

During the photo shoot I discoverd some things I needed to "tweak" on the dress.  The top of the dress by the sleeves in the front and back was stitched so it no longer drapes forward, same with the lace flower on the blue satin band.  Now it's in perfect condition for the Easter morning celebration of our risen Savior.  And yes, we definitely know it's not all about the clothing...but who doesn't love an excuse to dress a little girl up in lace and frills?