celebrating.

Wish Sweet P could hear this in person!

We have a seat ready for her at our table.

Peanut has been asking to do a tea party for Sweet P's birthday, so I gave them sweet tea in a coffee mug and called it good.

This messy guy enjoyed himself a bit too much.  But it's a birthday, so I suppose that is A-okay.  

It's been a bittersweet day.  More bitter than sweet when it came to celebrating Sweet P's birthday without  her.  I trust that once she is home with us, this time will seem short.  


Would you say a prayer right now that Sweet P's papers would be mailed?

We would be ever grateful.  Blessings, angela

2.

Happy 2nd birthday Sweet P!  

Sweet P, we cannot wait to have you here with us to celebrate your next birthday.  We will have many reasons to celebrate once you get home, but today we will still celebrate your life in your absence.  It's heart-breaking to do so without you, yet there is still joy during this waiting time.


Today we praise our Maker for creating you two years ago today.  We thank Him for choosing us to be your forever family.  We ask the Lord to bring your child history documents so we can fly over to bring you home just as soon as possible.  


We miss you, baby girl.  Can't wait to hug you for the first time and see that smile!  Love, Daddy, Mommy, Sister and Brother

BIRTHDAY GIVEAWAY!

Tomorrow is a big day.  It's Sweet P's 2nd birthday. If you live near Hampton, Virginia, have I got a giveaway for you in honor of her birthday!

Want to see Disney on Ice's Toy Story 3 next week?  

  

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

Four top priced tickets to see Toy Story 3 on ice at Hampton Coliseum, worth about $150!

Only open to local residents of Hampton Roads

You must be able to see the show Wednesday or Thursday (September 22-23) at 7:30pm or Friday (September 24) at 10:30am

Winner will be chosen at random on Sunday, September 19

Oh, and if you have more than four people in your group, you can purchase additional seats when you redeem the vouchers.

TWO WAYS TO WIN

1  Buy a Pocket Pony Farm, Pocket Roadway or Pocket Train Station (5 entries for each purchase)

2 Post a link to this giveaway on facebook (1 entry)

Considering I don't have a tremendously large reader base, especially in Hampton Roads, the odds are excellent for you!  Best of luck!

Blessings, angela

my crazy man.

He might be on par with his sister for silliness, just of a different variety.

No, Buddy, you cannot wear snow boots to church when it's still 85 degrees out.

Yes, you're right, it does look like you have an icing mustache, and yes, it looks really weird when you cross your eyes at the same time.

...and an enormous NO, you cannot wear black socks with your light-colored shoes.  But yes, I will compromise with letting you wear them with dark shoes.

Oh goodness.  

Did your momma really let you out of the house like this?

Ummm, unfortunately, yes.

Now I'm off to hide those black socks until it cools off and his pants can hide them.

Blessings, angela

early Christmas

I requested from K as my early Christmas present:

1. one ticket to Beth Moore's Living Proof Live

2. one overnight stay at a comfy hotel

I also got as bonus:

1. an overnight getaway with four amazing girls

2.  over 24 hours of wipe-free living (no bottoms, no hands, no faces)

3. no correcting manners at the mealtimes

4. no discipline issues  

We started with a dinner stop at Mama J's for some "soul food."  I asked the waitress for a definition so I'd know what to expect, but I'm sorry to say I am still a bit confused.  The food was good, but she said I would "not be able to think about anything else but the food because it is so wonderful."  Can't say I'd go that far in my description.  The restaurant was adorable, though.  A fun place to begin our trip.

Oh, yes we did.  Mama J herself came out to chat with us and stopped for a picture.

Then off to the event.  Love these girls!  Kathryn, Tiffany and Ginny from church and Lindsay from many years ago.

This girl is not the 18-year-old I remember from the last time we saw each other at my wedding.  Oh my goodness.  She is such a beautiful woman through and through, and I am so glad we got back in touch when I was in D.C.  Lindsay, I am thankful all the details worked out perfectly for you to join us!

I cannot put into words the beauty of praising my Maker with 9000+ other sisters in Jesus.  I seriously wanted to walk around and hug each one of them every time we finished up a session.  It was a tiny piece of Heaven on earth.  The Lord continues to encourage my spirit with all I experienced ... one of the best Christmas gifts I've been given!  

Blessings, angela

goofy.

Honestly, if you pull up a chair to our table, you may get a whole lot more than you bargained for.  Buddy practices his "chipmunk" anytime we eat grapes or cherry tomatoes.  

Cracks me up every single time.

 As stated earlier, Peanut has an affinity for cats.  She makes sure they are well fed and regularly asks if this little one makes my eyes itch.  Gratefully, no.

and one last photo of my little guy wearing his "band."

Blessings, angela

capital.

We made a two-day trip up to Washington D.C. a couple weeks ago.  

First stop: National Zoo

It's a free zoo that is one of the nicest I've ever seen.  We especially liked the pandas but I am lacking in my photo skills, so none of the animal pictures are worth posting.

Second stop: Potbelly's

I love happening upon a great restaurant.  Excellent food at incredible prices.

Everything about D.C. is wonderful to me.  The history is so rich, even the brick sidewalks make me wonder what ancient souls from history walked there years ago.

Third stop:  National Monuments and Memorials

We strolled by the Vietnam Memorial and onto the Lincoln Memorial.  I love how strategically our capital city was mapped out... where you can see other monuments and memorials in the distance no matter where you are near the heart of D.C.

We'd never seen the WWII Memorial up close, and it is touching.  A beautiful tribute to many of our nation's greatest heroes.

Each star represents 1000 heroes who gave their lives for our freedom.

The purpose of our trip was for K to attend a burial at Arlington National Cemetery for a college roommate.  That brave man gave his life after seven deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, rescuing 240 soldiers as the pilot of a Black Hawk helicopter.  His life will not be forgotten.  Saying I'm grateful for his service and sacrifice is not nearly enough.

Do you know any heroes who've served our country?  Be sure to say thanks!  ...and be sure to record the incredible stories of heroism if you have relatives who served in wars in the past.  Their stories of bravery are worth retelling to every generation to come!

Blessings, angela

thief.

There's daily evidence that something has been stealing from our trash.  You'd think those diaper bombs would keep every living thing out of that barrel, but nope.  Some little rascal has been enjoying a nightly scavenge through our trash and often leaves the remnants of his meal on the recycle barrel next to it. 

I thought raccoons were nocturnal, but our neighborhood coon made a morning appearance one day as we ate breakfast.  All of a sudden Buddy yells, "I see a raccoon!"  I didn't believe him until I looked out and saw this not-so-little guy...

He had just dug through our trash and then headed back over our fence.

That same day just before bed, K went out to throw another bag into the barrel.  He heard a faint "UH" in the dark, came in to grab the camera, and captured this guy trying to crawl out from under the latest deposit.

He's actually kind of cute!  

hot.

This summer has been insanely hot.  Our grass out back agrees.  We spent many a day inside because it was nearing 100 and this mom becomes quite the prissy girl when temps go much over 90. 

This little guy likes to help fix things.

Buddy plays games with us now!  The balloon game is a favorite.

"Sing me another song!"

Most importantly, Buddy learned to cross his eyes.  So proud.

Blessings, angela

sweetpea beauty.

Peanut is the queen of organization.  I didn't think it could get much worse than myself until I birthed a mini me.  Scary.  

Each of our family members has their assigned "favorite" colors, and she likes to keep everything in perfect order.  Only Buddy should use the blue bowl, and K should always use the red gingerbread man when we play Candyland.  She reluctantly uses the yellow at that game since there are, unfortunately, no pink gingerbread women.  

Here's a typical picture of our family:

Red K, pink Peanut, green me, blue Buddy and purple Sweet P.  I certainly hope Sweet P doesn't mind being branded as the purple one of the family because Peanut has eternally staked her claim on all things pink.

Below is a picture she drew for my mom of us at the beach.  Sweet P is purple, she is pink, and Buddy has blue shoes.  Oh, and no, my mom's name isn't TuTu.  Her grandma name is Juju, but Peanut hasn't quite mastered those Js.

Moving right along... I'll admit I lack extensively at creativity and being the "fun mom."  ...but Peanut saw an ad for the new Veggie Tales movie Sweetpea Beauty in a mailing from Lifeway bookstore, and I decided it would make for a really fun family night.  

At the last minute I also found a recipe for cookie cake and baked it.  Unfortunately, my baking stone was no where near big enough and I had chunks of dough spilling over the edges all over the oven as it baked.  See evidence below.  You could not see one square centimeter of the baking stone.  Forgot to take a picture of the oven.

Nothing a bunch of brightly colored icing won't cover.

Every pretty princess needs plenty of jewels from the treasury.

The truth is, I'm the real princess around here and my prince is perfectly charming.  Love him.

Blessings, angela