Random Photo- HLs 1st Cake

This is the awesome cake my niece, AJ (then only 16), made for HL's first birthday party. Since then, she continues to amaze all of us with her creative cake-making skills! Here are a couple of my personal favorites:

!!! Hubby has a degree !!!

HUBBY HAS A DEGREE! HUBBY HAS A DEGREE! HUBBY HAS A DEGREE! It was 1990; we were young, we were in love, we made good money, we lived on our own- we were free. And, we were stupid. We gave up on going to college. A decision that has haunted us all this time. But now, 18 years later (O.M.G.), Hubby has done it. It was/is a rough road, but we know it is all worth it. I'm very proud of him. CONGRATULATIONS HONEY! Here are a couple pictures from that day:

Church

Now that I wrote that post, I seem to have opened the floodgates in my head.... When I started this church search several months ago, my primary purpose was to find a good church for my children to grow up in, but it has unexpectedly evolved into much more for me. As a child I went to church every Sunday with my parents, but it was out of obligation, not desire. My Sunday school lessons were just that- lessons. Out of what felt like textbooks. What I anticipated was that I wouldn't mind going, and I would (hopefully) make some new friends. But I am finding that I am truly enjoying going to church now. I actually want to go, and I feel a little disappointed when I miss a Sunday. What a nice surprise that I would yearn for it myself!

Church Search

My search for a church continues... the boys and I attended the last one I mentioned for several Sundays. The boys LOVE it there, but I found myself wanting more. I do really like their pastor, but the services consist of 30 minutes of singing, the offering, and an hour long sermon (very GOOD ones), but where was the praying, and songs after the sermon. Where was the blessing at the close of service? Hubby and I tried the church where the boys have their Ranger programs, but it just wasn't us. Now I am on to an Evangelical Free Church. Now this one feels close to home for me. In fact, the first time I went, I experienced quite a moving hour that sometimes brought me to tears of joy. I was just filled with such happiness and peace. This feeling I describe is exactly what I have been wanting. But, I still find myself wondering if it is the church for our family. It's awfully big, and the kids have their own little services, while the adults have their own (the kids can, of course, join the parents but when they have so much fun, why would they?). And AW doesn't like this one nearly as much as the Wesleyan church, so it's harder to get him excited about it (which, with a three year old is a pretty big issue!). But on the other hand, this church offers endless opportunities for meeting people, including a really neat program to help you figure out and develop your own personal ministry style. Plus they have an incredible children's program. All these issues have me vacillating between pros and cons. Which then leads me to wonder "Should choosing a church be such a scientific endeavor?" (Okay, has anyone picked up on the frustrating personality trait I have of over-analyzing everything?!? It's true, I do. I know many of you are shocked.) Perhaps this is a lesson for me to just be quiet and listen to my heart. Which means I have to be patient. Two difficult, but needed, lessons for me...

Turkey Shoot Day (sans the turkeys)

We spent last Saturday out with HL's church group, Ranger Kids, at a "Turkey Shoot"- only without any turkeys. It was a great event where the adults had set up several different stations so that the kids (and their adults) could try out/compete in using varied weapons. Aside from what you see below, they also had water bottle rockets, .22 target shooting, tomahawk and knife throwing. What a great church group, eh? They are set up as a cub scout-type group, only with a religious base. Their goal is to prepare boys for ANYTHING- so that they stay safe in any situation. This was HL's very favorite activity- oh, he was in heaven! His first time shooting a gun- albeit a paintball gun... AW got into the fun with the paintball gun, too. He was a little more scary than HL- where HL tried to aim, AW just pulled the trigger as fast as possible! And here is the real first gun- a bb gun. You'll notice that Daddy kept a very close, watchful eye on this activity (he's very strict about gun safety). AW "Feeding the animals" some corn by using a slingshot. AW spent most of the day right here- he loved the slingshot! Feeding the King Cobra. And even the adults got to have some fun! I did alright, scoring 29 out of 50 possible points. --Absolutely NO animals were harmed in the making of this post-- :)

Lacrosse Game

Daddy and AW SCORE!! Doin' the home team's dance. My sister, whose stepsons were both lacrosse players in high school, buys season tickets for the lacrosse season each year. For the very last game of the regular season, she asked if we would like to take our boys. Of course we pounced at the opportunity! I asked her if, when she mailed the tickets, she would address the envelope to the kids because they so enjoy getting mail. But she took it one step further and mailed two tickets to each boy! She included a note that they could take Mommy or Daddy with them. The boys were ecstatic to have possession of those tickets, and even more happy to "take mommy and daddy out to the game!!" AW was rather tired from a long day, but nonetheless enjoyed the game. HL, on the other hand, couldn't contain his excitement! He watched very closely and really took ownership of our home team. He cheered til he was almost hoarse, and had such a good time I thought he would be bruised in the morning! (HL has a habit of slapping his sides when excited) Thank you, Aunt K!

At GG's House...

Teaching the boys a favorite game from her childhood. HL hit his head pretty hard on GG's glass table, so she fixed up a special head wrap for him! "My head was hurt?"

And even more AW-isms...

Just a couple more things AW says that catch my funny-bone.... "I am frrusterrated." "Love it?!?" He asks this after showing off something. And he so often finds things in life beautiful. The other day, HL put AW's little plastic pet frog in a cup of water. This action was met by: "oh, the frog is in his bath tub. Isn't that just beautiful, mommy?"

Party!

As I obviously don't have the energy to type all the lengthy posts in my head, I have decided to do some photo posts instead. These pictures were taken over the weekend while at cousin TB's 6th B-Day party: The four cousins. The birthday boy's serenade. Taking a swing at the pinata. "Whoo-hoo!" A bit too scary in the cave, I guess... And enjoying the live entertainment.