What R U laughing at?

Caiden & Dawson are pictured here with my best friend Mandy's boys, Karson & Sawyer. Its amazing to think that Mandy and I have been friends since 2nd grade and managed to stay in touch all these years.

Isn't this picture the cutest? I have no idea what they are laughing at but its awful funny (actually, I think Grammie was standing next to me making faces). Thank God for laughter, fun and good friends!

A cast of "characters"

We trick-or-treated with some good friends of ours and judging from this picture, we had quite the collection of "characters" just in our lil' party. We had Minnie Mouse, Jeff Gordon and Woody and Buzz from Toy Story. We had so much fun and brought home quite a bit of candy. Whew! Now, I just have to figure out where to hide it from the kids and myself! Thanks Wes, Chelle, Cate and Reed for a great time. Aren't they the cutest?

Hilarious

Isn't this picture just the cutest? A bunch of my friends and I get together once a month to play bunco. We have the best time, not really playing the game, but getting to eat a meal together and sharing with one another about what's happening in our lives.



Now, this is what happened just seconds before that cute and so well-put-together picture was taken. We were still having fun. Just hilarious! Thanks Connie.

A prayer

Dear God,

Thank you for our friends.

Amen

Another sweet day

Our little boy is growing up. Dawson turns 2 this weekend. I just can't believe that time goes by so quickly. We celebrated today with some of our friends. Buzz Lightyear (otherwise known as daddy - thanks honey!) from the movie, Toy Story, even attended. He's Dawson's favorite cartoon character.

Despite the 90 plus degree heat, a good time was had by all. We are exhausted tonight but what another sweet day it was.

Oh what a sweet, sweet day...

We celebrated Caiden's 4th birthday today with his playgroup friends (even though today is not Caiden's original birthday which is May 13). The day was enchanting and surreal. First, I can't believe that my baby is 4 years old.


















Second, I can't believe that we decided to hire someone to keep a bunch of 2-5 year olds occupied - see pictures below - what fun that was. And, third...I can't believe that makes me a year older too, so that's why my bones ache all the time.


















Anyway, we topped the day off with going out on the lake in our little boat. We caught and released 3 fish. It was so much fun. Now, we are tired, sun burned and happy. Oh, what a sweet, sweet day. Thank you Lord for the blessings in my life - my precious family and friends.

What kind of shoe are you? Huh?

My friend Carrie over at Three Girl Circus is always finding these interesting online quizzes to take. So, I decided this time I'd give it a try. Evidently, people can be classified by shoes. I wouldn't have ever guessed but apparently I'm a CLOG. By reading the description, most of my family and friends would probably agree with it, other than the part about living in Europe. I think we're going to keep our southern roots - they're just really starting to grow!

You Are Clogs

You are a solid and down to earth person. You seek – and almost always achieve – a really sound balance in your life. You are stylish yet comfortable. Mellow but driven. Excited yet calm. You are the perfect mesh of contradictions. No matter what happens, you have the ability to stay well grounded in your life. People know that they can truly depend on you. You should live: In Europe You should work: At a company dedicated to helping the world

What Kind of Shoe Are You?

Heaven - Michigan, same thing?

I apologize for my lack of blogging lately. We have been out of town (in Michigan) visiting our family for the Thanksgiving holiday. It was a wonderful, restful time spent with the people that we love and that love us unconditionally.

We returned to church yesterday recieving lots of hugs and "we missed you"s. That also truly touched our hearts. The cutest thing happened yesterday. One of my friends little girls ran up to me, threw her hands around my neck for a big hug and said to me, "We are so glad you are back from Heaven." Michigan - Heaven, same thing, right? Either way, that was Heaven just having hugs, knowing we were missed and back with our friends or should I say "family" again.

I haven't weighed in yet since my return so I'm trying to get back on track with my weight loss this week. The past 10 days were spent not caring about what I put in my mouth and totally enjoying every second of it. Oh...and also as promised in a prior post, I'm going to get back to the Y for exercise this week too. After a brief discussion with a friend yesterday, maybe we should just try to maintain during the Christmas season. That way, we can still enjoy the treats and really hit it hard in January.

Thank You Friends

Lately, our life has been a little crazy. For the past 5 weeks, our family has had our routine interrupted. Not due to anyone's fault but because our family is very scheduled, this has been hard on all of us. But what I've found out in the last 5 weeks has been incredible. Friends are the backbone of life. If you have good friends, you have a great life, no matter if its mountains or valleys that you are facing. God created each one of us for friendship.

I started my weight loss journey with 3 friends last January and 11 months later, we have a small network of about 7 of us that keep each other accountable and weigh in together each week. I couldn't do it without them. They are my cheering section and my worst critics too but I rely upon them for that.

But, its just not about losing weight. Its about a friend babysitting your child for 3 hours so you can get something done and not waiting for your response, just insisting and strapping him in her car. Its about having a house full of people and your friend still insisting that your kids can stay while you go to an appointment. Its about friends bringing meals when you are down and offering to take you to coffee when you need a girly chat and an evening away from it all.

That's what life is about. Relationships, friendships and doing life together. Thanks you gals for showing me something extraordinary in spite of my grumpiness these past 5 weeks. I love you and I'm thankful for you as this Thanksgiving day approaches.

"Greater love have no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13