Show me your smile!

Can't always...

get them to look or have their eyes or mouths open!!!

Hon-du-ras!

The Honduras Team made it home safely last night around 9pm!  I'll be posting pictures of the trip soon so be on the lookout!!!  In the meantime if you missed the daily updates click HERE and scroll down for earlier posts!

Here is the last update from Jody and the Honduras Team, they are headed home this afternoon!  I would ask you please pray for safe travels back to the United States, through customs and safely back to the church!  We are also forecast to have thunder storms around the time they should be landing!  Thank you all so much for your prayers thus far, we are excited to see the team and to see what God has done in Honduras and in the lives of our students at KFBC!  

It's pool time!!!

One huge benefit to our new house is the swimming pool!  Our subdivision, like majority in our area, is a swim & tennis community....since Atlanta gets super hot and steamy in the summer "Hotlanta"...

We love that the pool is right down the street too, it's close enough for us to walk, but with all our stuff and the fact that Jack doesn't like to hold your hand we usually drive!  

Our kiddos are getting used to the fact that the pool is so close and so much fun that we've been going almost every day :) What a relief in this already hot weather!

Emma sunbathing...

Anna enjoying laying out to dry off before we got back in the car...

Lizzy didn't like being out of the pool and in the sun...

and Jack is still getting used to the pool, he LOVES to eat a snack poolside though!!!

We are so thankful to have such a great amenity so close!!!  What do you like to do on a hot summer day???

The Honduras Team...

is having a great time ministering to the people in San Pedro Sula!  They've had a busy but successful week with the churches they are working with as well as the community.  Jody did not bring his cell phone with him, but he did bring our camera as well as my mini laptop to update the student site daily for the parents of our students, family and church!  I am only able to talk to him through email once maybe twice a day, the internet connection is slow and comes and goes, so the emails are short and to the point!   Click here for the daily updates from Jody.  Please continue to pray for them as they finish out the week and especially today as they head out to a feeding center and orphanage.

What's up?

Click HERE for the most recent update from the Honduras team, scroll down for earlier updates!!!

FOUR of FIVE

grand-kiddos with Papa celebrating Fathers Day!!!  My parents got here this weekend (late Friday night), my Mom will be here through this week while Jody is on Honduras and my Dad leaves Tuesday morning to go back to NC.  We spent the morning of Fathers Day at church then out to eat lunch at Cracker Barrell (Dad's choice), then home where Dad & Jack stayed while the ladies went shopping at Target!  Home for dinner, reading books and games with the grandparents then kiddos in bed!  It was a great day even though we weren't able to spend it with Jody and my grandpas!!!

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there!!!  We hope YOU have a wonderful day today celebrating YOU and everything YOU've done for all of your families over the years :)

Happy Birthday Matt!!!

Today is my younger older brother Matt's 29th Birthday!!!  

Happy Birthday Matt, hope you have a fantastic day today :)  

We love you and miss you!!!

All this...

for FREE!!!  I went to a Thirty-One party a few weeks ago on a whim.  I had seen on Facebook a lady from our church was having a birthday/1 year with Thirty-One celebration at her house!  I had a really crazy day with the kiddos and that afternoon I called Jody and said I'm going to this party (even though I only knew a few people)!  To make a long story short, I ended up being the mystery hostess (after a random drawing) and was able to get everything you see to the left absolutely FREE, it is just under $200 worth of products!!!  I will also add that this was my first ever Thirth-One party!  My first thought was to buy things for the kiddos, but Jody quickly convinced me to buy things just for me :)  I was even able to have some of the bags monogrammed...

It was a great evening meeting new people, snacking and getting FREE stuff!!!  Pictured above, I was able to get a large duffle (biggest bag with rings), an organizer bag (green straps, striped, monogrammed), a makeup bag (smaller striped monogrammed), 2 smaller bags (1 striped & 1 navy blue) and a coin purse to match my polka dot bag!!!  I am so excited to use all of my new bags :) 

A New gadget for Jack

As I was slicking Jack's hair back at the pool last week I knew it was time for another haircut!  His hair grows so much faster and is so much thicker than the girls!  I've always cut my kiddos hair, I just can't see spending so much money on haircuts for little ones, especially since we have FOUR!  Jody had a beard/hair trimmer that we have been using but really wasn't cutting it (literally), it was super loud and I was always afraid of cutting Jack :( The other day we were at Target and Jody found a kids hair clipper, perfect for our little man, so we snatched it up!

It is the Norelco Kids Clipper, here are some of it's stats:

• Ultra Quiet. Reassures and calms kids (and moms) during the haircut . No loud motors here.
• Kid friendly designed hair clipper comb tips. Rounded tips protect skin and ensure a comfortable cutting experience.
• More compact and lighter than average clippers. Made for women's hands and easier maneuvering around your child's head.
• How-to DVD includes tips and tricks on cutting different kinds of styles (buzzcut, long sports cut, the fade and curly hair)
• Easy maintenance to save you time. Self sharpening blades need no oil or other care.

I have to say this was definitely a great find from Jody and definitely worth the money to buy a clipper especially made for our little man :)


I couldn't get him to sit still to take his picture, these were the best of the bunch, he's sportin' a much shorter, "cooler" new 'do!!!  The top picture by the way was at the pool and the "before" picture :)

Saddle Ridge Ranch Cookies

Last week we had Vacation Bible School at our church.  Since our students help out in various areas of VBS (rally team, music & movement, snacks, crafts, etc) I was free to help out in our preschool area,  teaching a class of 4-year olds for the week (and I roped Jody in as my helper)!  The theme this year was Lifeway's Saddle Ridge Ranch, Roundin' Up Questions Drivin' Home Answers.   I decided to get our family in the Saddle Ridge Ranch kind of mood, so I decided to make some "cowboy" shaped cookies the week before VBS.  We made cowboy hats, cowboy boots and stars!!!  

Although the frosting part was super messy, the girls had a blast decorating and creating them, Jack just enjoyed eating all the cookies!!!  

Too bad they were all gone that evening, and our 4-year olds never got any!!!

San Pedro Sula, Honduras

This Saturday Jody including 16 others (our students, a few parents) are headed to San Pedro Sula, Honduras on a student mission trip.  This is the first mission trip for many of our students & the first time out of the country for almost everyone (excluding Jody & few others).  I added pictures of a map of where the country of Honduras is located (about 1000 miles south if Miami, Florida), I couldn't find any good pictures of the city (hopefully Jody will bring home some great pictures)!

Here are some facts about San Pedro Sula, Honduras:

*Second largest city in Honduras (1st is the capital Tegucigalpa)

*Population is just under 1 million

*Considered the Industrial center of Honduras

*Serves as a major transportation hub for the country, while economically maintaining its base in light industry and the commercial production of coffee, bananas, beef, sugar cane, tobacco, and forestry.

*Catholisism is the main religion.

*The official language is Spanish, but English is widely used as a second language.

*The climate is hot and humid almost year round, average high temperature is 90 degrees and the average low is 68 degrees.

*Terrain is mostly mountains (San Pedro Sula is in the Sun Valley) with a narrow coastal plain.

Please join me as we pray for this group, safety as they travel and while they are there, no sickness, and most importantly open hearts for the people and these young people as they share their faith with others!  They will be performing skits to children and adults and just being servants for Christ!  Jody will be updating through our student site (beginning Saturday), click HERE for the link and look under News & Updates!

KFBC VBS 2010

Click HERE for a slideshow of VBS last week :)  

Thanks Jim Caffee for putting it together!!!  More details of the week to come :)

FINALLY!!!!

Our internet is finally working again!  

We had VBS last week (super crazy week) and I wasn't able to get over to Comcast (20 min away + 4 kiddos) until Friday!  We swapped out the modem, drove home and the modem didn't even turn on!  So we decided to just go buy a cord an RadioShack...the modem worked, internet still nothing.  But by the time we got home it was time to get to the church for the last night of VBS!  And of course we couldn't talk to anyone at Comcast until this morning!  I'm way behind on posting, hopefully I'll get one up here this afternoon after all my errands this morning and Jack goes down for a nap :)   

Our internet isn't working, so I haven't been able to update our blog since last Friday :( After talking to the cable company a few times, we realized we needed a new modem (which we can simply swap out), but our cable company isn't open on Mondays! Hopefully we can get a new modem soon and have internet again!!!

The swing set is finished!!!

We finally were able to get our old swing set up at our new house!  When we moved in January it didn't make the final cut in the big moving truck, we just didn't have the room to get everything in, so my parents stored it at their house for the time being.  When my parents came to visit about a month ago they were able to squeeze the parts in their min-van, the girls were so excited!!!  However, we didn't realize that we put the hardware (all the nuts, bolts, screws, etc.) in a such a good place so we wouldn't lose them that we lost them!  So after looking online, my Dad found the company that made the swing set (it's about 3 or 4 years old), found the missing hardware, ordered, shipped and we got the package last week!  We had a very busy week last week, but the set finally got put up on Wednesday!  We decided to use rubber mulch instead of the traditional cedar mulch since the kiddos love being outside and on the swing set, softer landing and less upkeep!  It was a little more expensive, but will definitely be worth it in the long run :)  Now if it would quit raining so they could enjoy their new old swing set!!!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Today is my Mom/ Wanka's 51st Birthday!!!  

Wish we were there to celebrate with you Mom,  have a great birthday :)  We love you and miss you!!!

Jack-Jack

Jack is 17 months old today?!

  

I can't believe our baby boy is 17 months already!  I haven't said much about our little man lately, so here's what's been up with our Jack-Jack...

*He weighs just under 24 lbs at his pediatrician visit last week and is 29.5 inches long, he's almost as big as his sisters were at 12 months!

*He still wears size 12 months in clothes, 18 months clothes swim on him :)

*He wears a size 4 1/2 wide in shoes which is bigger than his sisters who all have small feet (Lizzy wears a size 6 right now and she's three).  

*His favorite things to say are "Oh wow", "bye-bye", "mama", "mmma" (Emma), "nnna" (Anna), "lala" (Lizzy) and "da-da" (Daddy).  

*He is ALL boy, loves anything that looks like a car or truck and "vrooms" them on your arms or legs, floor, tables, anything that has a flatter surface.  

*He absolutely loves balls, anything that resembles a ball and throws them (including foods, cereal, blueberries, peas, etc.), he throws with his left hand, so we'll see if he continues with that trend as he gets older and begins to write!

*He can wave hi and bye, blow kisses, he knows sign language for all done, more, thank-you and please but his favorite form of communication is yelling and pointing at what he wants to which his sisters immediately react and get him whatever he is "requesting"!

*He loves sweets or any foods that are sweet.  His favorite foods are bananas, raisins and vanilla wafers.  

*He does not like meat of any kind, we have the no thank-you bite at our house and he fights us every single meal!  He has a peanut allergy, so he can't have peanut butter for protein, but luckily he loves fruit!!!  

*He recently learned how to "jump" and thinks it hillarious to jump. 

*He is a Mama's boy.  None of the girls were as attached to me as he is, but I do have to say I love it :)

*He is still an awesome sleeper, goes to bed at 7:30 up at 7:30.  Still takes a morning nap and an afternoon nap.

*He recently has decided he despises his car seat and screams and does stiff as a board when you try to get him in his seat.

*He, just like his sisters, loves to dance.  He loves Brit Nicole, Superchick, Barlow Girl and tobyMac!!!  I can often look back in the back seat and see him dancing away :)

The girls love their baby brother, they say all the time he's so cute and adorable, we think he's a keeper too ;)

Just a quick note...

we heard from the neurologist last week and Emma's MRI came back normal, she said we may never know what caused the seizures!  Just for the count the EEG, CT Scan and MRI all came back normal, but because she's had 2 seizures she is classified as epileptic and will be until she is seizure free for 2 years.  Emma is continuing to take the medication twice a day to prevent any further seizures and is almost up to the full dosage (they've gradually increased the dosage each week) with minimal side effects, occasional headaches.  We are very thankful that all the tests came back normal and she is adjusting to taking the medication :) 

Six Flags Over Georgia

A few saturdays ago we headed out to Six Flags for the day, Grandma Teresa came along too!  We decided to purchase season passes this year since we are less than 30 minutes away!  Plus the deal they were running was only $5 more for a season pass than a 1 day pass :)  When you become a season pass holder they also give you a coupon book with tons of coupons on food and merchandise, admittance into concerts for free, free friend passes into the park and many other perks!  The girls love that there is a kid-section for rides just their size and Jack loved the Thomas the Train ride and store :)  Here are some pictures I took of the kiddos and their fun filled day at Six Flags, our second trip this year!!!

Notice Lizzy trying to hang over the side.  She wanted to ride all the big rides and roller coasters, but just wasn't tall enough!  Jody is super excited to have a roller-coaster riding buddy when she gets older!!!

Another favorite, the swings!

Jack would have loved riding this ride, but he's still a bit too small...





Hot air balloon ride was a hit too :)



And the final stop, the Carousel.  I was holding Jack so I didn't get a picture :(

All in all it was a great day at Six Flags Over Georgia!  We can't wait to head back there this summer!!!