Sleepover! :)

Well, we actually managed to pull off a sleepover for Anna's 13th Birthday. She's been planning this, I think, for about 2 years! ;-) With her gymnastics schedule, training on Friday nights and Saturday mornings, and with a Jan - April competition schedule, it's very hard to find a weekend to have a party! So, we finally found a good weekend to blow off the gymnastics schedule :) and amazingly enough, all of her group of best friends from school were free too! yay! So we rented a suite at the Embassy Suites in downtown Huntsville and had a really fun night.

Our first stop was at Bridge Street to have some ice cream at Maggie Moos - yum!

After a little shopping here and there, we took some fun pictures on our way out.

There's just something about the big horse at P.F. Changs that just begs for a photo-op! :)

I love this card - and Anna's face. She's definitely 'an original.' ;-)

After opening presents, it was off to the pool for a swim.

Of course, after a nice swim and a little time in the hot tub, it's time for a good workout! That way you can go back to the room and eat a lot of junk food! :)

And then there's the morning after. :) We got up late, had a fantastic breakfast in the hotel, and then it was time to go!

We had such a good time - and I'm so thankful for this group of friends that Anna has had since 1st grade! What a blessing. :) I can't believe they are ALL growing up so fast!

Happy 13th Birthday Anna!

So I can't believe my 'baby girl' turns 13 today! Officially a teenager - and now I'm the mother of 2 teenagers! You know, when my girls were little, so many people warned me about this time in my life. ;-) They told me the teenage years were really hard and to enjoy my kids while they were young. Well, it is true that you should enjoy all the special moments when they are young, because it does go by fast! But honestly, I'm thoroughly enjoying the teenage years with Mackenzie and Anna - they're both a joy and I feel very, very blessed. :) So Anna, welcome to the teenage years - you are beautiful, inside and out, and I love you very much! :)

Anna finally got the nice hair straightener that she's been wanting - and a pretty new Vera Bradley wallet from her sister -- and money from all of her very generous grandparents who love to spoil her!! :)

Grandma and Grandad made Anna's favorite dinner tonight and got her a really yummy birthday cake - we all ate too much! Anna's friends from the gym, Sadie and Autumn, got to join us for dinner and are spending the night. Tomorrow we're off to Knoxville where the girls are going to compete in their first gymnastics meet of the year - fun! :)


Anna reminded me tonight that we haven't had a real birthday party for her since she was 10 years old! I think the combination of an early January birthday and training for gymnastics on Friday night and early Saturday morning, makes it a little tough to pull off a party! But I think I owe her a 13th Birthday bash. Stay tuned to see if we get to pull that off! :)

Happy 70th Birthday Mom!! :)

Last Friday night, January 8th, we gathered at our clubhouse out here in my neighborhood to celebrate my Mom's 70th Birthday with a surprise party! My sister had flown in from South Carolina the day before to surprise BOTH my parents with her presence -- she was able to get here (ahead of the snow!!) to join us as we cheered Alabama on to victory in the National Championship game on Thursday night -- and then she fooled my mom into thinking that she was just here to join us at my house for a dinner with the family. Little did my mom know all of the preparations that my sister, brother and I had been up to all week! :)

So here is the night, and the story, in pictures:

Setting up the clubhouse - my sister arranged for some of the dinner to be catered by Shea's Express - their yummy award-winning salad and chocolate cheesecake! I made Chicken Tetrazzini (to feed about a thousand people - I don't know what I was thinking quadrupaling that recipe - ha!) and some banana pudding. Most special of all, Anna made and decorated a birthday cake. (with some help from her sister!)

My brother couldn't get here from Paris (though he really wanted to be here!), but his generosity made it possible for us to get these BEAUTIFUL flowers (and the food from Shea's Express!) Thank you Mark!! :)

So my mom tells me that she was totally surprised - it did look that way when she walked in the door! yay!

Getting a hug from Sue Underwood.

Mom surrounded by friends - Louise Whitten, Bet Farless, Joan Hacker, Sue Underwood

Jack with the Farless family.

Herb and Sue, Joe and Joan and Louise

The Birthday Girl. :)

Proud Grandma. :)

Me and my sister - having fun now that the work is done and the party has started! :) (and this makes a pretty good advertisement for Milos tea, don't you think?)

Unfortunately, with the cold weather and icy roads over the mountain, there were several people who really wanted to be at the party who couldn't make it, but we had a really special time with those who were there. I know my mom appreciated everyone's presence and the cards and well-wishes of those who couldn't be there.

You know, something I've thought a lot about lately, is that the older I get, the more I appreciate all that my mom has done for me. It's not easy being a mom. You have your own life and your own stuff to deal with and at the same time, you want so much for your kids to have everything and for life to turn out good for them. I know my mom wanted that for me. I know I want that for my kids. And it's a hard balance, and requires a lot of sacrifice, to try to take care of everyone and still hold yourself together. I feel that at times... and looking back, I see so much more clearly how much my mom sacrificed for me... and I'm grateful.

Thanks Mom -- I love you! Happy Birthday!! :)

National Champions!! Roll Tide Roll :)

Well, this picture says it all - though I think that Nick Saban could look a LITTLE happier! ;-) Guess I caught him in a serious interviewing moment. But what an exciting football game and WooHoo!!!!!!!!,

BAMA won! :)

I really hate that Colt McCoy of Texas got hurt so early in the game and couldn't play. How disappointing for him -- and it certainly makes you wonder what that game would have been like if he had been able to play the whole time. It's just hard to figure out why some things happen the way that they do. I was impressed with his humble attitude and faith that it was all in God's hands.

So here's a few pictures to remember the season:

Here we are Thanksgiving weekend just before the Alabama/Auburn game. We were in Calaway Gardens with Jack's family -- that was a really fun weekend -- but a scary game!!!! ;-)

And this shows the 'intensity' of the SEC Championship game against Florida. It was fun to have Adam and Sarah with us that night to run outside and yell 'Roll Tide Roll' for all the touchdowns that night!! :)

Dad's snowman needed a little dressing up before the big Championship game. :)

My sister flew in for the weekend to surprise my dad and watch the game with us -- and then to surprise my mom for her 70th Birthday party! (more on that to come!)


Mom and Dad ready for the game.


All of us ready for the game! :)

I wish the weather hadn't been quite so bad. We were supposed to have a few more teenagers over for the night to help us cheer on Alabama - but the snow and slick streets kept most everyone close to home. Can you believe all those parents who didn't want their kids out driving Thursday night? sheesh... haha. But we had a great time and lots and lots of food... and seeing Alabama win was just the best. :)
What a great season of football - I'm going to miss it!

Resolutions

I've never liked New Year's Resolutions very much and have mostly tried to avoid them... (ha)until this year. Suddenly I'm excited about them and feel more like I could actually keep them going. Maybe it's because I finally had a real victory with a resolution last year when I trained for and ran my first 10K. That actually worked! :) So I'm now into Day 4 of reading the bible through in a year and I'm really enjoying it. Today was Day 1 of starting a new running plan to do a 10K. It WON'T be the UAH run like last year - I'm going to take a little longer than 2 months to get back up to a 10K this time and see if my hip will tolerate the pounding a little better than it did last year. I hope so. I still want to run the Cotton Row 10K and that's 5 months away -- that's probably a good goal. :) If you're interested in a good website to get started running, here's the one I'm using: http://halhigdon.com/ Don't be afraid of all the stuff about marathons -- scroll down and you will see the 5K and 10K running programs. :)

Here's a funny thing that Jack pointed out after Day 2 of reading... we're both reading a Chronological Bible so by day 2, we had gone through creation, the fall, and the flood. And this is just Day 2... of 365! Kinda sad that it only took 2 days of reading to get from God creating man in His image and it being 'very good' -- to God being grieved that He had made man and deciding to wipe mankind off the face of the earth with a flood! The thing that I thought was that I wish that we did have a little more said about Adam and Eve's time in the garden - when things were good. What was that really like - that little slice of heaven? Do you ever think if we knew more about that, it might be more motivation for us to want to stay as close as possible to God? Of course, Adam and Eve actually LIVED there and and it wasn't enough for them to avoid the temptation to disobey... hmmmm...... we're just a mess, aren't we?

Anyway, my desire in reading is not just to 'check a box' and say I've done it, but to really let it sink in, let God speak to me through His word, and let it change my heart. I want to spend a lot of time listening - and trusting what I'm hearing enough to obey and surrender my will to God's - even when it hurts, even when it's really hard. There's a verse in Psalm 15 that comes to mind... "Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? .... he who keeps his oath, even when it hurts." That's a hard teaching, but it's part of what keeping resolutions is all about. The good news is that I know that even though it feels hard to do, God is using it for my good and that's a blessing. :)

Well, I've gotten interupted a bunch while I've been writing this, and looking back over it, I can tell. ;-) But those are my thoughts and all I have time for tonight. :)

Happy New Year

I thought I might get around today to posting some thoughts on the new year (and new decade!) that has now begun... but it's 10:00pm and I don't think I have it in me to do that just yet. It's been a busy Christmas spent with family and traveling over to Atlanta to take the girls snow tubing at Stone Mountain. (fun!) The picture up above is of us as we were leaving the hotel on Wednesday. So we got back in town yesterday and I feel like all I've been doing is wandering through the house putting stuff away... it seems, somehow, that the more I put away and clean up, the more I find to put away and clean up!! But the kitchen is clean, leftover Christmas goodies have been disposed of, scary things in the regfrigerator have been thrown out, decorations are put away, tree is out on the street, most of the gifts have found a place to go... so maybe before my week gets off to a start on Monday, I'll have time to decide on my 'resolutions' and share some of them. :) I did start today with my Chronological bible that I plan to read through in a year. I believe that I actually bought that bible in 2000 with the idea that I would read it through then... sadly, 10 years later, I still haven't done that yet! So, with the start of a new decade, it's time to be much more determined to make that happen!

For now, Happy New Year to all and best wishes for a truly good year ahead!