Imprinted 2011

I am up at the wee hours of the morning this Saturday to get ready for Imprinted 2011. My friend, Allie, has invited me to be the speaker for a girl's conference at her church this weekend and I am very excited (and sick to my stomach nervous) about the opportunity.

Just wanted to ask you to be praying for the weekend. For the girls' hearts to be open to what the Lord would have for them this weekend. That the enemy would be silenced and that lives would be impacted and changed for His glory.

Our theme is Renovation...taking our broken hearts to the Lord for mending and ultimate healing...a theme that was chosen months and months ago and has been very personal for me recently. So, again, please pray...for God to use me and speak His Truth through me.

He is up to something good.

Jingle-Singer

Does it make me egocentric or selfish or ??? if it makes my heart fuzzy and my cheeks dimpled when I hear my little man singing along with everything...

TV commercials.
Radio commercials.
Songs.

Pretty much any song or jingle...

He's a jingle-singer...just like me.

Jingle-singing is my super power if I ever had one...ask me to sing you the jingle from the Facts of Life and I will blow your mind. Seriously.

So, my heart swells because more times than I can count (or care to count), people ask me where my blond haired, blue (green? grey?) eyed boy came from. I don't think they intend to be insulting or question my character...you know implying that the mailman was involved...(our mail person is a SHE! thankyouverymuch!) But it still bugs me a little bit.

So...in the moments that Blondie belts out a tune...it makes me happy. He may not know all the words yet...but he has the tune down. pat. Turns out E has a genetic disposition to jingle-singing.

To be fair Kevin is a singer too...not as much a 'jingle-singer', but a singer indeed.
But I am being egocentric, remember, so this is all about me...

Eli and I are jingle-singers. Proof positive.

Yay.

P.S. Eli,
If you are reading this. I. LOVE. your blond hair and light skin and light eyes. They are YOU! All. YOU. You are perfect and God is up to something with all your physical features...because they, as well as your heart and soul are created for HIS purposes (aside from stealing girls' hearts...your Mama's included) and nothing sneaks by Him...You. Are. HIS. You. Are. OURS.
No boutadoubtit.

Can We Talk?

Item of frustration...

Shopping for jeans.

Are you with me ladies?? Can I get a 'groan'?
Easily one of the crappiest supposed-to-be-fun things that exists.

Case in point. Skinny jeans.

Cruel and unusual punishment for us 'not Juniors' but not really 'Misses' body types...

My sister, Jamie, who happens to be my undercover fashion compass, told me I need a pair of Skinny Jeans to wear with my New Cool Boots. (The boots were a Christmas gift. Mom and Jamie said that I could pull them off...especially with Skinny Jeans...I was hesitant.)

Ok, ok...I will try on some skinny jeans, I said. Thankfully, Mom had a pair that would fit...just need to go to Target and buy my own pair. Simple.

Yeah. Right.

I have been to Target thrice and have yet to slither myself into a pair of skinny jeans that:
1. fit and
2. are a size that seems acceptable and appropriate and not completely demoralizing.

Seriously...should one have to contort, squat and stop breathing all in the name of fashion??

My answer is NO.

I would also add that if one has to buy leggings, jeggings* or skinny jeans in a size multiple sizes larger than their normal size the clothing has obviously ceased to be 'skinny'.

My final words:
'XL Skinny Jeans' is an insulting oxymoron.

That is all.

*I feel like an idiot when I say this word out loud.

UPDATE:
While typing this blog, my fashion compass called...I had texted my frustrations to her from the store...she came to my rescue and found the Golden Pair of Skinny Jeans. She swears they are just my size and I am going to love them. As previously stated, I will not hold my breath.

Snow Day Numero Tres

Losing some 'snow-day steam.'

Inside most of the day...
watching Chloe do Just Dance Kids on the Wii...
Naps...
Hot Chocolate...

Sledding at dusk...

Dinner at a friend's house...
Stayed up late because...

Snow Day Numero Cuatro is on it's way...
Fur. Real.

Snow Day Numero Dos

I would like to start this post by noting the date:

1-11-11.

COOL.

Thank you.

On Monday afternoon, we got the call that school was cancelled on Tuesday, too..WOOHOO!

The house at night.

The kid's Christmas Tree

The big tree.
(that seems to be having a few light issues...)

All bundled up for a second day of fun in the snow.

E and C with Sammy.

Kevin and Sammy wrestling in the snow.

(the dog loves it...really...)

Our Snow Angel!

Little Snow boarder dude.

Setting out to find a hill.

Love this picture.

The makeshift sled didn't work so well...

But they still had fun.

Mini-meltdown...over cold feet, cold legs, and the inability to get up.

Following our sled attempt we walked to Pizza Hut for lunch. Chloe got to redeem her very first Book It certificate. That was fun!

Eli fell asleep in the booth. That wasn't so much fun.

After lunch we walked home and started the snowman.

All of us.

Thankfully a friend stopped by in his 4 wheel drive and was able to help lift the remaining body parts onto the snowman. Thanks, Jerry!

Hands and feet were numb at this point and the fun was O.V.E.R...

We will complete the snowman tomorrow...

On Snow Day Numero Tres.

That's right!!

NO SCHOOL AGAIN TOMORROW!!

Snow Day Numero Uno

It's that time of year again...when we get some snow in the greater Atlanta area and everything shuts down.

But this year, we got 7 inches of snow at our house!!! School was cancelled for Monday earlier in the day on Sunday in anticipation of the snow. The snow started dumping around 11 pm.

Our own personal winter wonderland!

(So glad the Christmas decorations were still up!)
Side view of the house.

From the street.

Snowy wreath.

The kids could not wait to get outside!

All bundled up!

(Thank you Grandbob and Boppi for Chloe's pink puffy coat! She LOVES it!)

Chloe with the neighborhood cat, Lily.

We slid down this slide about a bijillion times...

pile snow on slide...slide down...repeat.

Chloe joining in.

Before slide number 4,673...

STILL EXCITED!

Kevin had the idea of firing up the fire pit...

FUN!

Chloe making snow shoes...

so creative.

The final product.

(and a good representation of C's LOVE for scotch-tape.)

Trying the snow shoes out.

May need to revamp the design...

But our designer was still in good spirits!

If there is a fire in the firepit, there WILL be s'mores.

YUM.

Kevin by the fire with the kids.

We really should teach Sammy how to take pictures

so the four of us can be in the picture together more often.

Reading a "Pick Your Path" book fireside.

Didn't we call these "Choose Your Own Adventures" when we were growing up?

Kicking back in the hammock.

Snow Day Numero Uno wore us out!

Eli Says...

Walking by the dollar bin at Target:
"Mommy!!! This is where Santa got my stuff!!"

In attempt to make his 'vision' a reality, I tie a plastic spider to 'Lightming' McQueen so he can drag it behind him: (In a hushed super excited tone)
"Giggle. This is going to be GREAT!"

Some BIG NEWS...

E did a big potty in the potty...ALL BY HIMSELF!! He just came running into the living announcing that he had done it! (Leaving a trail of little poops from the bathroom to the living room, btw...)

And I quote, "Daddy, I made a log poop!"

Yay!! So proud of him! Now to see if we can make it a regular thing! (IN the potty...not the trail behind him...)

We went to the store to look for the BIG REWARD that was promised...a 'big Doc Hudson' and a 'crab'...we found neither...will be searching the internet to see if either even exist.

Family Fun Day: Operation Epic FAIL...

Helen, GA was featured in Family Fun magazine last month. We have been to Helen before...so I was surprised to see it featured in the magazine. We have a little bit of a running joke about most of our experiences there. Since Helen is only 45 minutes away from our home town, we decided it would be a great family day...good. cheap. fun. Annnnd a chance for it to redeem our opinion of it...

Yesterday, we finally loaded up the kids and headed north.
Things started off well:

A stop at Cleveland Donuts for arguably the best apple fritters in North East Georgia.

In under an hour, we arrive in Helen...full of hope for a fantastic family fun day...


This is where Family Fun Day: Operation Epic FAIL begins:
Charlemagne's Kingdom. A huge model railroad...hoping it would be right up Eli's alley.
I called last week to make sure they would be open...
Closed.



Windmill attached to a hotel.
Closed.

We were here at 11:36 am.

Fail.

And the Toy Store...

Closed.

Let's have lunch here!!

Read the sign...

Closed.

We thought about parking and walking around the lovely town of Helen...

This lady came over and (not so nicely) let us know that we were in

'employees only' parking.

If we wanted to park, we would have to pay her $4.00.

Seriously?!?!?!

Everything is CLOSED!!!

There should be no employees within 5 miles of here!!

Evidence of the number of competitors for our parking place.

Helen is a 'Bavarian Village'...while we were not planning on staying the night, Tuscan Villas had 'No Vacancy.'

(We thought it was a tad strange that there were 'Tuscan Villas' in 'Bavaria'...but we are really in North Georgia, lest we forget...)

The Christmas Shoppe

Closed.

Until May 21, 2011.

Want some pizza?

Too bad.

Closed.

Things started to look up when we stopped at Nora Mill.

We had been here before and fed the trout behind the mill.

At first glance, we feared the trout had also closed up shoppe for the winter.

But, good news, if you throw fish food at them,

they will indeed surface from their wintry hiding spots and put on a good show.

Thank you, trout.

Happy something has worked out for the family fun day.

Epic FAIL may be a bit of an exaggeration....

Babyland General Hospital was open for business.

If you, like me, were a young child in the early 80's you too would be excited to visit the birth place of Cabbage Patch Kids.

Check your adoption papers, ladies, Xavier Roberts made those babies in

CLEVELAND, GEORGIA.

I hate to be the barer of bad news...

but...the Cabbage Patch business...

dare I say...

She ain't what she used to be...

We nearly had the place all to ourselves.
Which begs the question,

"How does Mr. Roberts fund this 80's-doll-frenzy-mecca?"

We may never know.

Here is Chloe watching a Cabbage Patch baby being born.

Oh. Yes. They. Do.

Complete with corny, dead pan humor and lingo...

I will spare you the gory details.

Chloe got to name her:

Elizabeth.

Awwwwwwwweeeee.

And we could have adopted this very baby!!!

For $225.

Sorry, Elizabeth...God must have another family for you today.

Watching Elizabeth get cleaned up and weighed.

1 lb. 11 oz.

15 inches long.

Chloe and Elizabeth...and the other visitor that was there.

Chloe and I in front of 'Mother Tree.'

Those heads in the cabbage...yep...they move.

I think for little girls, this may be a magical place.

For big girls with fond memories of their Cabbage Patch dolls...

a little creepy.