Busy November

I always thought December went by quick but this November just flew by and here are some of the highlights.......

Secret Keeper Girl Tour

Abby and her friend, Rayna

Abby, on stage her dream come true

I took Abby and Destiny to the Secret Keeper Girl Tour

Fall Soccer 2009

Number 3!

Where's the ball?

Check out that throw in!

Maddie and Coach Paul

Go Number 10!

Maddie's most unfavorite position, goalie

Always looking for the ball

Fall Festival 2009

Abby and one of her friends at the school's Fall Festival

Maddie and Emma with their hair dyed

Hoya Cheerleading

Go Abby!!

The minivan after the girls got done decorating it!

Abby's Rec Cheer Squad

Our crazy friend Drew drumming up some school spirit

Daisy Investiture Ceremony

Maddie is so serious at her Daisy Investiture Ceremony

Maddie getting her Daisy pin

All of the little 1st grade Daisy's

Fall Leaves

Every house we move to seems to have more trees than the last meaning more leaves!! This house is no exception. We are surrounded by woods and even our front yard has large trees in it. Thankfully, the weather here in Georgia is beautiful this third weekend in November and so the girls and I spent the morning cleaning up the yard and raking the leaves. The finale? The annual jump in the leaf pile.

Still warm enough for Destiny to be in shorts

The mad dash for the leaf pile

I found this photo while I was looking through other photo's. It is from the fall of 2004. Look at

at how little the girls were. The video's after it were shot around the same time.

.

Sweet Baby

Tuesday morning I flipped through my emails on my phone as I headed out the door. Seeing one from a friend that I hadn’t heard from in a long time and reading the title, I eagerly opened it expecting to see pictures of her new little one. Instead I found a short email that simply stated that her beautiful baby girl had been silently born just a week shy of her actual due date. And my heart broke right there in a million pieces.

She and I haven’t been close for quite a few years, careers, families, busy life. However, she is part of my story, the fiber of my life. She was a roommate in college, she weathered with me my first serious break-up and even let me play the same sad CD a million times on our way to Spring Break, we shared morning cereal and soap opera’s over lunch breaks, many of my funny stories from college have her as a central figure and probably most importantly, we shared our faith and have prayed for and with each other. I have watched her go from funny college girl, to career woman, to wife, to mother, and she makes it look extremely easy.

I debated over whether to go to the service today. It’s almost an hour drive from where I work and I reasoned that she wouldn’t know if I was there or not. As soon as the debate began, it was over though. I got in the car and made the drive to the cemetery for the graveside service. The service was short and poignant.

My friend and her husband are secure in where their hope lies and where their beautiful baby girl is right now. God is their Comforter and he will continue to be. The service reflected this and acknowledged the grief but also the hope that comes together at a time like this. Sorrow for what has been lost and taken away but also joy in knowing that this is not the end, there is more.

My prayer is that God will wrap my friend and her husband in His comfort and peace and carry them through this time.

If at first you don't succeed, try, try and try

AGAIN!!!!!

Abby's squad finished first at the FInal Face-Off today. So proud of my girl!!!!!

The difference between Mom's and Dad's

There are major differences between moms and dads.

Mom's make sure that their childrens take their own bright, colored, pretty, water bottles to school. Dad's say, "Oh, you can drink out of the water fountain."

Mom's iron outfits even if they are running late because they don't want anyone to think that they are not a good mom. Dad's thinks that the child is good to go if the shoes match each other.

Mom's will insist their child have a piece of cheese in the morning along with their waffle to ensure a balanced breakfast. Dad's think a strawberry pop tart and chocolate milk is a balanced breakfast.

Mom's insist on sweatshirts and jackets and gloves and a hat. Dad's say, "Oh, it's only a short dash to from the car to the school."

Mom's start planning their child's field trip lunch the night before and look to make sure that they have everything they need including drinks and snacks. Dad's decide that soup sounds good for lunch and decide that morning is soon enough to get all the other things together for lunch.

Mom's set their alarms early to get up in order to have everything ready for the field trip. Dad's play the new "Call of Duty" video game way too late and then hit snooze when the alarm goes off.

Mom's then get annoyed at the Dad's, so they make the soup (oh, and there isn't any chicken noodle so we will have to improvise with Chef Boyardee Ravoli), make the sanwiches because the child that the Dad sent in there to make them isn't moving too quickly this morning, insist that some fruit goes into the lunch bags along with the candy from Halloween, realizes that there is only one drink and quickly sends child down to basement to procure more drinks to pack, reminds child to take her camera and gives child extra batteries for the camera, and hands out kisses and hugs before she leaves for work. Dad's get a shower and then glower at Mom because she has "taken over."

Of course, I am not talking about our house. At our house, Dad always does things the way that Mom does :)

Bud took Abby on her 4th grade gifted class field trip today and she had an incredible time with him. Two hours there and back on a bus with 4th and 5th graders, and a wet tramp in the woods. He is my hero!!! Surprisingly enough, he did fine without Mom orchestrating the entire day. He and his girl enjoyed themselves immensely and the soup (or ravioli) that Mom thought wasn't that great of an idea was voted as the best lunch by the class because the State Park was rainy and cool today and it hit the spot.

Oh, and the batteries that Mom took credit for.......dead so no pics until Dad came to the rescue. Thank goodness he (who always knows where his phone is, unlike Mom) thought to take pics with his camera phone and send them to Mom at work so she could enjoy them.

Abby and Bud, Target Field Trip, November 2009

I should clarify that many of the differences I posted are not actually personal ones and the ones that were personal may have been a teeny bit exaggerated to make someone look a little bit better :)

Thankful for a husband who sees the importance of taking a day off now and then to do a field trip with his girls.