What I'm LOVING

We are so blessed as a family but here are a few things I am loving rights now:

1. Our Bible conference.  I have truly been blessed these past two nights by our guest pastors.  They have called us to stand up, fill the gap, and do what God has called us and prepared us to do.  It has really hit home with me and I love it.  God is so great!  In my quiet time yesterday I read the following promise in Isaiah 30:21: "Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, 'This is the way, walk in it,' Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left."  I thought it was right on point!  God promises us that He will give us the word if we are listening!  Also, on Sunday morning Dr. EW preached on listening to God and in my SS class we had a lesson on finding our gifts God has given!  God knows exactly how to put things together!  I'm amazed daily that we are allowed to be in His presence!  So, this is the main thing I'm loving right now!
2. I'm also loving my kids singing to Lion King at the top of their lungs!  We have the movie in the car right now and we all sing "Circle of Life" and "Gonna be a Mighty King".  None of us know the real words but that does not stop any of the three of us!  It is hilarious!  Mostly because the kids think they know the right words!  
3. Michael Connelly books.  I'd never read these books until I asked for a recommendation from a friend.  She recommended these books and I read 2 on my trip and I'm on a third.  This is the author who wrote the Lincoln Law!yer.  They are very good books.  
4. I love seeing my kids sleeping at night.  Last night I checked on them before bed and it is just the most innocent thing to see both of my kids sound asleep in their beds!
5. I'm loving that we started potty training and Kimber has gone 3 for 3 today!  Yay!  We started yesterday so I think he's doing great!  
6. I love that I have a godly husband.  I know he has enjoyed the Bible conference as much as I have and I love that!  

Hope y'all are having a great week!

Where have I been...

St. Lucia....yes, this gorgeous place:

About 4 months ago Dustin asked if I wanted to take a trip to St. Lucia, just the two of us.  So, of course, my answer was YES!  We left last Sunday for a week of fun in the sun.  We arrived Monday afternoon in St. Lucia and our first ride was on this big chopper:

We got a wonderful view of the country from the helicopter.  We also saw banana plantations, the tallest peak on St. Lucia, the rainforest and the most memorable, a marijuana farm.  The pilot said he did not know if it was the "good stuff" because they randomly drug tested the pilots.  I was thankful for that!  We took a 12 minute helicopter ride, as opposed to a 2 1/2 hour bus ride from the airport to the resort.  The first night we arrived they had a "beach party" that offered the following entertainment:

You did see that correctly.  That is a man doing tricks with fire.  I was very impressed.  He was very talented.  He could also limbo with fire and the lowest limbo he did is one I'm certain I could not even lay down under!  They also pulled me from the audience to dance and limbo!  I was the first one.  I'm pretty sure they said "Ok, let's find a white girl who cannot dance!"  They picked perfectly!  But I had fun with it anyway!

The next day we climbed a mountain (ok, I'm calling it a mountain).  There was a national forest beside our resort that was the lookout point for the English.  It was a large fort that still had cannons and things.  It was very interesting.  This is a pic of us at the top.  I do not know why the pic is turned the wrong way!  You can also see that I have on a necklace.  On the way into the park we were stopped by some locals and bought two necklaces, a palm leaf hat, and a palm leaf basket.

The other days we mostly laid around the beach and pool and read.  It was quite relaxing.  Here we are on the last night.  We went to a neighboring resort and ate "blackanese" food as they called it!  It was actually Japanese cooked by locals!

The cars in St. Lucia mostly look like this pimped out van.  Dustin and I called it the Shaggy Wagon (Scooby-Doo!).  He was very proud of me taking this pic!  Also, the roads are very narrow and windy.

We also rode the helicopter back to the airport on Saturday.  This is a view from the chopper.  I must say this experience was not as pleasant.  The pilot wanted to give us a good look at the rainforest so we were flying very low and that did not sit well with my stomach.  I'm pretty sure I could have reached my hand out the window and touched the rainforest.  I kept thinking that he told me there were 4 types of snakes in the rainforest, two being deadly.  If we go down, I won't be very good at surviving in a rainforest!  I do not like snakes!

We had a wonderful trip and it was great to spend time with my hubs.  However, it was so sweet to see this:

Thankfulness

So today I was thinking about various things I started thinking of all the blessings in my life.  They are way too many to actually number or make an all-inclusive list.  But here are a few blessing that I am thankful for right now:

(1) That my husband loves our children and spends time with them.  Yesterday, we went to the "new shop" they built.  Kimber kept running around saying "big, big" (talking about the tractors).  Here he is with his daddy on the tractor.   

Of course, Addie Lee had to climb on as well.  I am very thankful for my wonderful children as well.

(2) As you can see in the picture AL has on her princess dress.  I'm very thankful for the wonderful personalities with which my children were blessed.  AL loves to dress up and is always coordinating her next outfit.  Last night AL came down in her pjs and asked if she could have her matching slippers to her new Fancy Nancy pjs.  She just had to sleep in them!  She came down this morning and was in a good mood but was very concerned.  She said "Oh mama, I cannot find my slipper and I looked EVERYWHERE!"  We immediately went upstairs and had to find the missing slipper.  I love her dramatic flare, caring nature, sweet smile, great disposition, and sense of style.

(3) I cannot leave out Kimber's personality.  He is sweet, mischievous, all boy, caring, and very loving.  He is quirky just like me!  He must have every door closed.  It does not matter if it is on the playhouse, in the kitchen, or on a toy.  All doors must be closed!  Also, he wants everyone to have their own things.  I am not allowed to put on AL's hat, she is not allowed to wear my shoes, etc.  Too funny!

Random Story:  AL always sings this song about an alligator and in the end she says "missed me, missed me, now you gotta kiss me."  So she sang it once tonight, and on the second time she said "missed me, missed me, now you gotta kiss me on the lips!" That girl is crazy!

Ready for...

The TIGERS to win! 

The kids ready for church yesterday (our preacher loves Ole Miss! I think his six-year old son is starting to come over to our side though!):

Our Tiger breakfast this morning was purple and gold striped pancakes.  I'm pretty sure this is what the players had as well: 

Outfits for today:

GEAUX TIGERS!!!

Happy Birthday Pappaw

We celebrated Pappaw's 80th birthday last weekend.  This is Lori's daddy and the kids love him.  Everytime he sees them he brings them a pushup.  Here he is with AL, Kimber and Dustin.

This is a picture of some of his grandchildren plus some spouses and some boyfriends/girlfriends and his two great-grandchildren (and one on the way from Chris and April):

Here is the whole family which includes five children and their spouses, four of his grandchildren, and two great grandchildren:

Of course while we were out there the kids had to run across Gran's "bridge" that leads to the pool.  They love to run across the bridge.

Happy Birthday Pappaw.  Hope it was great!

Breakfast

Breakfast at our house is a must.  They say it's the most important meal of the day.  I'm always one to eat light at breakfast, it was usually grabbing a breakfast bar on the way out the door when I was headed off to work.  It's still pretty simple for me.  However, my kids got their LOVE of breakfast from their father.  Whoever speaks up first when I ask what they want for breakfast is usually the winner!  With Kimber it is never a guessing game, every morning he wants "rolls" (cinnamon rolls).  Without fail that is what he wants for breakfast and he eats at least one and a half cinnamon rolls when they are made.  He also thinks that when he hears the oven beep the cinnamon rolls are ready, no matter if the beep was for the preheating oven, check time, or completion time!  He is not very patient waiting on his rolls!


AL will mix it up with breakfast.  Sometimes she wants cinnamon rolls, pancakes, eggs, bacon, etc.  So, you can see who was the first up yesterday morning:

 She chose pink pancakes and she got to use her baking set she got for Christmas to help me make them.

 This is the finished product.  They were VERY PINK!

 Kimber did not mind if they were pink.  If you know him, you know he eats everything!  Color does not matter!

AL showing her breakfast (that truck on her plate is a fork, its not an actual truck).

Of course, I always supplement with bacon or sausage and some sort of fruit and orange juice.  My kids are pretty good on the breakfast front!

Trip to Church

This was our conversation on the way to church tonight:

AL:  So, when people die does God come down and get them?

Me:  Yes, when we die God takes us to heaven.

AL:  But how does he get down here?  Does he use magic?

Me:  I'm not sure.  God has special ways.

AL:  I think He uses stairs to get down here.  Do you think they are blue or green?

KT:  Blue! (Kimber's favorite color is blue and so he says everything is blue!)

I thought that was really funny!  Kids can truly think through things and she thinks she came up with the logical answer.  Not two seconds after that conversation we had this one as I was driving through a yellow light:

AL:  Yellow means slow down mama.

Me:  Yes it does.

AL:  Then why did you not slow down?

She may find that she has misinterpreted the meaning of a yellow light with her mama!

Christmas

I love Christmas.  However, the past two years have put a little damper on things.  Both years AL has been sick.  This year we went to Dustin's family for Christmas Eve dinner.  AL started running a fever and all she would eat was cherries and sprite.  So, we decided to leave the party and come home so the kids could open their gift from Dustin and me.  Well, just as I had given her Tylenol (red colored, of course), she was sitting on my white couch and started vomiting.  That's right, cherries and red Tylenol!  That does not go well with my couch!  Poor baby had really high fever and she was throwing up.  She did good all night.   Although sick, she did not forget about Santa.  She was up at 5:45 am wanting to open her presents.  We made her wait until 6:30 and even then we had to wake K up from sleeping!

Santa was very good to the kids this year:  bikes, Toy Story dolls, Holiday Barbie, dress up clothes, and so much more:

 Here is the sick little girl.  The only thing she would say she wanted for Christmas was this Jesse Doll (Toy Story).  She loves it.  But you ask her what her favorite present was and she tells you her Holiday Barbie (she only has 20 other Barbies!).

K was so funny.  He opened two presents and that was enough for him.  We kept saying "Kimber, do you want to open another present?"  He would just say "No."  Too funny!  He LOVED his Woody and Buzz Lightyear dolls (I guess they would be "supreheros" for boys!).

We did not go to church on Sunday do to AL's illness.  I thought she was better because she did great all morning.  However, we went to breakfast around 8:30 and her fever was up again.  After we got home she then vomited again.  So we had a very relaxed Christmas day.  We did manage to get to Pop and Gran's house.  This was her big gift:

Is she not the cutest Jesse you have ever seen?  I even had to braid her hair like Jesse's.  She now walks around the house saying "yodalahehoo"!  I'm aware that is not the correct spelling!

Hope y'all had a great Christmas.

Where?

Where have I been?  One of my four readers may ask this question.  Busy!  I think this is true for most people in December.  In the last month I have retired (yes, sounds much better than quit!), decorated my house for the Rayville Tour of Home (swanky, I know!), nursed two sick children, celebrated Christmas, and rang in the New Year!

Since April of 2011 I felt God was calling me home to raise my kids.  However, after speaking with my boss in April, I had a change of mind.  However, that feeling was still there.  So I fervently prayed for God to show me His will in my life  This was a daily and nightly prayer.  Obviously, there are pros and cons both ways.  In the end, I know God called me to be at home with my kids at this time.  In no way am I stating working moms are wrong or right or stay-at-home moms are wrong or right.  Never have I been one to judge either way.  I think each situation is different and this decision is between you, God and your husband.  (Just a little side note).

In October, I told the partners my decision and decided to work through Thanksgiving.  I actually worked one week further.  It is very bittersweet.  The men I worked for are some of the greatest attorneys I know or have ever been around.  They have character, integrity, and their faith is always the first thing to show.  In my profession of defense litigation it is easy to get ahead by lying, cheating, etc.  However, these men will not do this.  Their love for the Lord shows through in depositions, court, and any other situation (including a loss by one partner in a local political race).  This does not mean they are not great attorneys!  They are some of the best!  Hardcore, hardworking, and they will fight for you!  Also, the women at the office have become friends of mine.  We have laughed and cried together.  It was hard telling them I was leaving.  I miss them.

It has been a change being home.  However, it is confirmed to me daily that I am where God wants me to be.  I had to put aside my pride and give it to Him.  That is a daily thing for me!  I'm learning so much about myself and my children.  I LOVE watching them grow!  They are little sponges and want to learn anything I want to teach them!

I had one week to get ready for the tour of homes.  I had a 14 foot Christmas tree, wreaths on the windows, garland on the porches, trees in both of the kids' rooms, and much more!  However, I did not take one pictures!  Whoops!  Hopefully I can remember where everything goes next year!  I will post pics of Christmas tomorrow...yes, I promise!