Water Polo

Something that is completely new for us is Water Polo.  Saturday one of our students was in a water polo tournament about 45 min away from us.  We really knew nothing about water polo, I had seen a partial game during the Olympics, but had definitely never seen a game live so we were excited to check it out and support our student!  Although we didn't understand the rules, the object of the game is to make as many goals as possible, pretty standard in any sport!  There was a lot of whistle blowing and pointing going on, players had to go in the corner, players 

wearing "funny" hats as Lizzy stated...but the kiddos and Jody & I loved it and loved cheering for "Woosta" and his team :)  Although they didn't win the tournament, we had a blast watching and trying to figure out the rules as we watched!!!  We'll have to read up so we can better understand the game for next time :)  Way to go "Woosta", you did a great job!!!

It's High School Football Time!

One thing I love about student ministry is watching all the different sporting events!!!  Our students are involved in everything from band, competitive swimming, color guard, volleyball, cross country, baseball, soccer and water polo to name a few :)  Friday we took the kiddos to our first GEORGIA high school football game.  Football here it's HUGE!  The schools here are 5A schools with artificial turf on the fields!  Everyone and I mean everyone dresses in their school colors, tailgate before games and really gets into the school spirit!  Lizzy was so excited but had no idea what a football game was or what you do at it.  She kept asking "is this the football game?" (while we were driving), "is the football game coming to our house?" :) 

We were able to use season passes which also included special parking (up close), and as we walked towards the field Lizzy started yelling and hollering with excitement!  As we took our seats Lizzy was wiggling around so much and was so pumped for the game to start she could hardly contain herself!  A vendor handed out free megaphones which the girls loved and especially yelling for their team into them towards the field.  

Jack enjoyed watching the game from Daddy's lap and did so good sitting so long!  We did bring plenty of snacks and things to keep him busy, but watching the game kept him entertained for the most part!  The girls enjoyed so much watching the football game and everything that was around them, the noise, the excitement, all the people...even when some guy teens were shirtless and painted their bellies in school colors-Lizzy kept asking why those guys were naked?!  Another highlight for the girls was watching the cheerleaders cheer for their team!  Half-time came and the band performed along with the color guard.  One of our students is on color guard so they were pumped to see her and kept yelling her name the entire performance!  The band was so large I couldn't get them all in one shot...

And here are some shots of the end of the band/color guard performance...

Our first GEORGIA high school football game was great, stay tuned for more student sporting event posts!!!

Whip it up

Jody's and my favorite room in our house is "The Colonel Mustard Room".  It has wood paneling (not the kind you are thinking) with raised boxes, bookshelves line the wall on each side of the fireplace and two floor to ceiling windows.  We have a dark brown leather couch and chair and a maroon wing back chair (all very dark) and dark shiny gold curtains (not gaudy, I actually like the curtains!).  It's a very cozy room, but also very dark.  The pictures below are from when we first moved it, we've taken out the rug & gotten a new coffee table since these pictures were taken, but just to give you an idea...

I decided the other day if I just lightened up the pillows on the couch/chairs and put up lighter curtains it would make a huge difference and make the room lighter-thanks HGTV for the idea:)   So off I went to Target, then WalMart, then Ross, in search of pillows...but they were all too expensive for me (I needed 8 pillows)!  I decided to try Garden Ridge (a home goods store) and found some pillows I absolutely loved and Jody liked them too, they were also pricey so we bought 2 to use as a starting off point (picture to the left)!  

I had found some plain off-white curtain panels earlier on sale (of course) at Target and bought those too.  Just the new curtains made the room seem lighter and the 2 new pillows also made a difference.  I always have fabric hanging around from other projects (I can't ever seem to get rid of any of it), so I decided to dig around to see what I could find!  I found an old curtain that we had used in our very first house about 9 years ago!  I can't believe I kept it for this long, but it was a great find!!!  The curtain fabric isn't exactly the texture I had wanted, but the right color I needed, so it worked!  I just cut the fabric to the size of the pillow, folded it over to make a cover so I could take it off and wash it (super important with kiddos) then sewed them together-3 seams because I used the finished edges from the curtain!  I even had some scrap fabric a friend (she has a drapery business) gave to me two Christmas's ago (that I used for another project) that I used to make the large & small rectangular pillows (see bottom picture)!  

I love to repurpose and reuse and be creative as much as I can all while saving money!  Thanks to my Home Economics teacher in 7th grade for teaching me how to sew!!!  Here are the pillows I ended up making out of scrap fabric-cost me NOTHING but my time (only about 2 hours)!!!  Granted these are NOT designer pillows, but they serve a purpose and that's all that matters to me!

What can you whip up in an afternoon?

***********************************************
UPDATE
So sorry for not putting up the afters!!!  Here is the room as it looks today :)  It's still kinda dark, but it feels much better to me...and I took these pictures with my phone!

Road Trip

This past Thursday was our 10th wedding anniversary!  Click HERE for my anniversary post :)  We had really wanted to go on a trip somewhere (like on a plane), but didn't have the time nor money to spend.  We were however able to spend a day and a half together which was the point, celebrating together 10 years of marriage together!

My parents planned on coming in from North Carolina to stay the weekend so we could go somewhere without the kiddos, 4 kiddos are a lot to handle by yourself and I'm so glad both my parents were able to come!  They got here Friday afternoon just before Emma got off the bus and Jody and I were able to catch an early movie and a quick dinner!  Then home to spend some time with the kiddos and my parents before bed :)

We woke up Saturday morning and headed out to LaGrange, Georgia, a small town near the Alabama border, but only about an hour and a half away from us.  Jody looked up day trips near Atlanta and LaGrange came up so off we went after eating breakfast with the kiddos and my parents.  Our first stop was an old church (1800's) that had been converted into a restaurant called A Taste of Lemon.  What an interesting place!  Jody & I were so curious about this little church/restaurant but haven't been able to find any information or history on the church or restaurant!  I'm hoping to dig a little deeper and see if I can find out some dirt!!!  I asked for  coke and the waiter said "ain't none of that here" :)  Our menus were hand written on pieces of paper and did not include any prices?!  The food was absolutely delicious, I've never had southern food like this!  My plate was overloaded with yummy smothered fried porkchops & rice, broccoli casserole, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes with gravy & cornbread-of course I didn't take a picture...what was I thinking?  My plate looked as though I hadn't eaten much at all when I got done!  We kept a watchful eye on those guests checking out, after the "coke" incident we weren't sure they even too debit/credit cards and we only had $4 cash on us!  Thankfully after a few guests paid with cash a guest paid with a credit card and we knew we were safe :)

Our next stop was "Explorations in Antiquity Center", Jody also discovered this place when he was looking for days trips!  The Explorations in Antiquity Center in LaGrange, Georgia, is a living museum of life in ancient times. Through archeological replicas, Biblical meal presentations, lectures, and other personal experiences, ancient Middle Eastern life becomes real today.  Basically the museum exists to help people experience the ancient Biblical world, its history and culture. I'm not really a history or museum buff, but Jody is, so I was happy to check it out with him!  There was a guided tour through the gardens, but it didn't start until 4pm and it was noon when we arrived :(  After a short orientation with a staff member, we self-guided ourselves through the 23 stops of replicas.  Each stop had an explanation of what we were seeing,  it was very interesting!  They even had a kids dig site where kiddos are able to "dig" and explore finding replicas of artifacts from actual excavated sites!  

We decided to mosey around town looking for shops, but most everything closed early on Saturday?!  So we decided to head back towards home.  It was dinner time when we got back to Kennesaw and Jody wanted a steak dinner, so off to Outback Steakhouse!  We ran into a few church members and had a great dinner without kiddos :)  Godiva Chocolatier is my absolute favorite treat, rarely do I get anything there because the chocolate is so expensive!  But I really wanted a piece of chocolate, so off to the mall, got my double raspberry truffle and headed home just in time to get the kiddos in bed!  Wanka & Papa had already given the kiddos their baths (yay!) and we were able to hang out with my parents for the rest of the evening.  

Sunday we got up for sunday school then church, afterward we headed to Cracker Barrell before my parents had to get back to Raleigh.  We had the camera in the car the entire time and I only snapped 1 picture with my phone :(  We had such a great weekend, not what we had originally planned, but Jody and I were still able to spend it together, celebrating our marriage!!!  

Wordless Wednesday, Ketchup & Oreos!!!