2013~wow

Well, as always, it's hard to believe another year has come and gone.  And we are almost an entire month into 2013.  Let's see, what could I say about the last few months???  I love God, I love my family, I love my friends and I love my church.  I am so incredibly thankful for all God has done in our lives.  He answered one huge prayer by allowing my husband to 'get out of dodge' so to speak.  Were we thinking this is where our lives were headed??? Certainly not.  Did we envision our lives being this chaotic???  No way.  But you pick up and move on.  You do the best you can.  We are living God's plan by going through each day and that's the best we can do. We live our lives with intregity doing what we can for each of the students we come in contact with.  What's disheartening is not everyone we work with has this attitude.  Far to often, I am coming into contact with people who do not have students' best interests at heart.  It's sad.   

Enough of that.  I can only be so philosophical.  I am enjoying Pinterest and getting all sorts of ideas on creating.  Looking forward to what the spring holds.  Praying our house sells quickly but also enjoying the purge of getting things together for a garage sale and just general cleaning.  My New Year's purge is slightly behind this year.  I guess it was the job change at Christmas that threw me off the cleaning schedule. 

Bodee has grown by leaps and bounds.  And I must say, if she keeps destroying things, she and I will not be friends for much longer.  She literally ate a wall (if you don't believe me, see my facebook page for the picture.)  It looks like we had an infestation of beavers.  She has eaten a cord on a heater, thankfully not while plugged into the wall.  She has chewed a few shoes, some socks and other such things.  Hopefully this is only the puppy in her.

I am now 34 years old.  My only prayer is that 34 is better than 33.  Nor-Nor will be 7 in a couple of weeks.  What???!!!  I know, time marches on, but really...........No birthday parties this year.  I am over birthday parties.  So, the plan is family dinner birthday party at the place of their choosing.  It should be no surprise to anyone that Nor has chosen Olive Garden.  She is a girl after her father's heart. 

All sorts of stuff

Well, it's time for another blog post since our lives have changed so drastically since my last post of October.  It is amazing how you can be going along and BAM! your life can turn on a dime.  There are many things that can be learned from this situation but one of the biggest is that we have so many friends who have our backs and support us.  It is very humbling.  But, when you live a life of integrity and honesty that is the overall outcome. 

So we have celebrated Thanksgiving, with many things to be thankful for.  We are too quickly approaching Christmas.  We are excited to celebrate this time of year with our friends and family.  We are also excited and let's be honest, a little apprehensive about what the future holds.  But I know that God has us in the palm of His hand. 

We did the first installment of what I am calling our truck stop ministry yesterday.  We put together 25 boxes to give out at our local truck stop.  I spent Friday night baking away and packing the boxes with lots of help from T and the kids.  I am glad we decided to only do 25 boxes to start.  I would still be baking otherwise.  It was awesome to give them out.  It was kind of hurtful, when a few times, we were rejected.  And I thought about the figurative rejection of that box.  How so many people reject, so quickly, the free gift of God's love without realizing how sweet it is.  Just like the cookies and candies in those boxes are sweet, so is the love of Christ. 

I also, instead of grading papers this weekend, spent some time on a project.  I found the coolest table at the ReStore in M'ville.  It needed some TLC.  So I cleaned it up and then painted it.  Oh how I wish I had some before and after pictures.  I am quite proud of this project. 

Fall Break

 This past weekend we headed up to Asheville.  T had a conference to attend so the kids and I tagged along to have our own fall break.  We went up the Blue Ridge Parkway on Sunday and ended up here at this waterfall.  (Oh, after an almost 2 mile hike I might add.) It was so beautiful.  It amazes me what our God has created.  How can anyone look at something like this and not believe in our amazingly awesome God???!!!

 I LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture.  I am going to definitely get this put on canvas. 

Tug is getting pretty good at taking pictures.  We decided to head the longer way back which turns out was straight up hill for almost a mile.  Needless to say I thought I was going to DIE.  We should have gone to the falls the way we went back to our car, but oh well.  We had a great time and topped it off with *Mellow Mushroom* downtown and some ice cream after.  And I scored a sweet deal at the *Mast General Store.*

Bodee Update

Here's a fairly recent picture of our 3rd child.  She has grown so fast.  She fits right into our family.  And of course no dog would fit into this family without a personality and Bodee certainly has one.  She likes to sleep under the covers or up around someone's head, she doesn't like to go out by herself (I think she is afraid of the dark).  She is the official soccer team mascot.  We can't go anywhere without drawing a crowd because she is so cute.  She rarely barks unless the blow dryer or vacuum cleaner are on.  And she doesn't much like the broom being out either.  

1st Day

 Yes, I know it's nearly the end of the first 9 weeks, but it's better late than never.  Here are my 'babies.' I am now Mom to a 3rd and 1st grader.  Unbelievable.........they are doing well thus far and I can only pray they continue to do as well as they first weeks. 

Summer Crafting

So, I am a little behind on blog posts, but hopefully some of you are still reading.  I love to craft, and not this is not from Pinterest, although I have finally caved on that one too!  But I created this at the end of summer to go on the front door.  I created one for Valentines Day too! 

Shapin' Up

Not me, but I do need to get back to that, and I will.  Don't worry,  there will be more "confessions of a fat girl" posts.  I meant we are shaping up this house.  I have discovered when you are a home owner there are ALWAYS things you want to do, change, improve, etc........So that is what we are doing.  One of the best things we did a few years ago was take out the carpet in the living room and put hardwood floors in.  Just love it so much better than carpet.

Now we have ripped the deck off and they just finished pouring a concrete slab out back.  Love that too!  Can't wait until I can put it to use.  As a matter of fact, T said at dinner tonight I should go ahead and get that free standing hammock I have been wanting.  Now there is a thought. 

We will be getting a storage shed next week to clean out some of the yard stuff in the garage.  And with any luck I can park my car in the garage after that.  We are also getting a fence around the backyard.  This is something we have wanted to do for a very long time.  Not only because we knew there would be a dog sometime in our future which has now turned to the present, but for the safety of the kids.  I want to be able for them to play in the backyard while I am cooking dinner without having to worry so much.  And of course there is the fact that we did this all backwards which is our usual custom.  We got the dog, now we need the fence.  Not really enjoying hanging outside at 11 o'clock at night or 5:30 in the morning and Bodee sure loves being outside.

Then to round out all that shaping up around here we are going to tile our master bathroom floor and put some crown moulding throughout the house.  The crown moulding is something I wish we would have done when we had the house built, but hind sight is always 20/20.  The tile has a story.  My grandfather worked for over 30 years at *American Olean Tile Plant.*  Several years ago we were visiting my grandparents.  My grandfather had 4 boxes of tile he was going to use for one of his cooler floors.  He decided against it and asked me if I wanted it.  Not to turn down anything from my grandparents I took it.  That tile has moved from the backwoods of Pennsylvania, to Salisbury NC, to storage, to this house.  And we are finally going to do something with it.  I am very excited to be using this tile!  I'll post pictures when all is said and done. 

Bodee

 Introducing our newest family member.........Bodee Buttercup Griffin!!! (BB for short) Isn't she precious??!!!  Nor has wanted a dog for a loooooooong time.  We held out for a long time for various reasons.  But it was time. I truly believe that children need to have a dog.  We always had dogs growing up and there are some fond memories.  It seems like Bodee has always been a part of our family. 

Happy Birthday America

We had a great 4th of July.  We headed to a friend's house in Morrison for the 3rd to see fireworks from their back yard.  It was great because then we didn't have to get in the YMCA crowd.  The on the 4th we headed to "The Farm."  We have friends who live on a working farm as their hobby and we love visiting.  We put the kids in old clothes and they run all over.  They ride golf carts and four wheelers.  We had a great time; food, fun and fellowship.  We had our own little fireworks show too!!!  And then the next morning kids who slept almost until 10 am!!!!

Wrightsville Beach

 The last week in June we headed to the beach.  We had never been to a North Carolina beach and Wrightsville was awesome.  I did NOT want to come home.  We had such a good time.  There was some iffy weather the first part of the week but by Wednesday it was HOT. We were loving it. 

Because of the iffy weather on Tuesday we decided that would be a great day to head to a light house.  We took a ferry to Bald Head Island and saw Old Baldy.  We had a great lunch and headed over.  We climbed all the way to the top.  I didn't realize Bald Head Island does not allow cars so everyone has golf carts. In fact, those who live on the island year round have little garages that match their houses to park their golf carts.  It was a hoot.  While in Wilmington we did a ghost walk, toured the USS North Carolina, had some great pizza downtown and just relaxed.  It was a great vacation and I can't wait until we can go back.

First of the Season

Love the color and fullness.  And I have one bush that is turning out bright purple flowers, which I have never seen one quite that color.  But I still like this color the best!!!!

Singing (and Dancing) in the Rain

 Nor loves the rain and about a week or so ago we had a weird storm where it poured rain but the sun was shining.  We even saw a rainbow.  Thankfully it was just before bath time so we let them go play in the rain for about 20 minutes. 

Proms 2012

Yes, I look like a giant next to these ladies!!!

One of their favorite girls!!!!

 Note to self: be very careful with the type of headband you choose to wear.  This one was pretty, however the pain lasted behind my ears for over a week.

VIII

I cannot believe Tug is 8!!! We had a bowling party again, his choice. But both kids understand this is the last year for 'big' parties. I think next year, maybe a family affair for both or a Great Wolf Lodge stay for the night. We had 18 kids there, it was nuts, but they all had such a good time. And I do so love destination birithday parties. No mess to clean up before and no mess to clean up after. We are so proud of our boy!!! We are about to end our 2nd grade year, which also seems unbelievable. Next year will really be the 'start' as that begins state testing. He is so mature for his age.

We were able to go home and rest for a few hours before proms.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Both West and Lake Norman had their proms on the same night.  Hope that doesn't happen again in the future.  Anyway, T headed south and I headed north with the kiddos.  Tug didn't really want to go but I sweetened the deal with the news that we were eating with Officer Hicks and then he was going to the prom too!  We had the servers sing happy birthday to him. 

Letterland at Tweestie

Well, this is the only picture I could get to download for the time being.  I am really not liking how long this is taking, but oh well.  Back on May 9th, I was able to go on a field trip with Nor-Nor.  The new 'learning' for the alphabet is called Letterland.  So each spring the young children in and around NC get a chance through their schools to go on a field trip and meet all the Letterland characters at Tweetsie.  We had a nice ride to Boone on charter buses, but no sooner did we get off the bus and head to the first show and it started to pour down rain.  And I mean it was a monsoon on the side of that mountain.  Now we were prepared for the rain with ponchos which would not have been so bad, but it was soooooooooo cold.  Mix the two together and it made for a not so fun experience.  I felt so bad, I had dressed Nor in shorts but at least brought her jacket.  There were some kids who did not come prepared for the arctic.  I could see my breath.  Thankfully it stopped raining for about an hour and a half, long enough for she and her friends to ride some rides.  My little dare devil didn't even think twice about getting on the ferris wheel.  I don't know if it's a good thing or bad thing, but this child is fearless.

LB

 Last Saturday we (Mom, Marcie and I) headed down to *Coyote Joes* for a little girl time and so Marcie could do a school assignment.  It just so happens that the person performing is someone I went to high school and graduated with.  We got there early to make sure we got the front row.  There was no way I was going to stay up until after midnight for nothing.  This girl needs her sleep.  I made signs too because I wanted to make sure he knew I was there and he did!!!  It was a great night even though I didn't get my full hearing back until Monday morning!!!  *Lee Brice* puts on a great performance. 

10 Tries Later

This is obviously a little out of order, but after about 10 tries of trying to get this uploaded, I finally succeeded.  Easter at the Cove.................

Disney with LNHS Band & Chorus

In no particular order here since I am getting frustrated with this process again.  Above was our day at Epcot, still my favorite park.  Tons of flowers and topiaries.  It was beautiful.  This time around at Disney we tried to get to things we wanted to do last time but didn't.  We were able to do Epcot's Soaring ride.  The best ride of the trip.  It was amazing.  It did rain every day of our stay in Fl, but didn't let that dampen our spirits.

As you can see over Cinderella's castle, our 2nd day that the sky is about to open up.  We had just finished watching the 3 bands march including LNHS, when the rest of the parade was about to start.  The cancelled of course.

The kids couldn't get enough of the pool and thankfully it was heated.  I am glad we drove down separately and that we went 12 hours earlier.  That way we got to the hotel and were able to chill and rest of Thursday's activities.  

Easter Fun

I know I am a little behind on the times, but Blogger is finally cooperating with uploading pictures.  We always have a blast coloring eggs!!!

Some of the finished product.

Spring Break 2012

I have been trying unsuccessfully for the last couple of days to download a picture of us from Easter Sunday. Someone at church took it and then emailed it to us, but I just can't get it onto here. And that's a real bummer because it's a great picture. So, what did we do over spring break??? Absolutely NOTHING. It was wonderful. And it came at the right time for sure. I mean I guess we didn't do 'nothing' the whole time, but we had no agenda, didn't get up and around most days until about 11, and weren't in a hurry to do anything.
Friday 4/6: We took the kids to see "Mirror, Mirror" ~ Pretty good movie but then again I am a Julia Roberts fan although she plays a 'bad girl.'
Saturday 4/7: Hung around the house, cleaning, took the kids to the park at Morrison.
Sunday 4/8: Celebrated the resurrection of Jesus at our wonderful church. NEVER before in my entire life on this Earth have I needed to hear a sermon more then the one I heard Easter Sunday. Wow is all I can say!!!
Monday 4/9: Hung around the house some more.
Tuesday 4/10: Went to Concord Mills since I promised the kids we would get them a book over spring break. And of course while there we visited Olive Garden.
Wednesday 4/11: Went to Discovery Place and the IMAX theatre. Going to be doing that more since we purchased a membership.
Thursday 4/12: I got a pedicure, oil in van changed, a few more errands and them some more chilling.
Friday 4/13: Hanging around some more and went to the doctor (good report there which is a relief).
Saturday 4/14: Cleaned out the laundry room so my dad could install cabinets to hide the mess. I should have taken a before picture so you could see the after. What a transformation. Looks so much better in there.
Sunday 4/15: Served at the most amazing church, finished grading research papers and got ready for this two day work week.
Headed to Orlando and Walt Disney World on Wednesday!!!!