Happy 8th Birthday Mari Cate!

Happy Birthday to You,

Happy Birthday to You,

Happy Birthday my Sweet Princess,

Happy Birthday to You!

Birthday Money--woo hoo!!

A new Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana CD!

The theme was High School Musical--one of Mari Cate faves!

Getting ready to blow out the candles

We had Mari Cate's birthday at a local pizza parlor (Rafael's) this year. This was much easier on me, so that I didn't have to major house cleaning! : ) She loves Disney's High School Musical (both of them), so that is the theme that she wanted. My parents, Frank's parents, his sister and her family, some friends from church and our next door neighbors were all there to help celebrate. We had a really good time and Mari Cate got lots of goodies!! We celebrated her birthday on Sunday evening, but her actual birthday was on Monday, so I took cupcakes to school for her class and then surprised her by checking her out of school. I almost never do anything like that, so she was really shocked! We went down to Chattanooga to meet Frank for lunch at Chick-Fil-A, then took her over to Toys-R-Us to use her gift card. I think she really enjoyed her day! Be sure to take time to make your princess or prince's day a special one (even as they get older)...time is so short, you don't want to lose out on the opportunity!

Sleep-Tight-Giveaway

Hey everyone! Check this out! http://www.adventuresinbabywearing.com/2007/09/sleep-tight-giveaway.html Stephanie at Adventures in Babywearing is a blog I check out often and she is offering a contest for a Protect-A-Bed Mattress Cover. Frank and I just bought a new mattress set (way overdue for one and I absolutely LOOOVE it!!!!), and we purchased one of these mattress covers with it. They are super nice and help you keep the warranty on your new mattress set even longer! So be sure to check out the giveaway!

Where Were You?

IN HONOR AND MEMORY

I remember clearly where I was on the morning of 9/11/01. I was in a Bible Study at church and someone came in and let the lady who was leading the study know what was going on, so we all went into the sanctuary and watched some of the news on the big projector screens. Mari Cate was almost two, so she was at the nursery at church. Conner was at Kindergarten. I remember thinking all I wanted to do was to have my whole family all together so that I knew that they were safe. It was very frightening. We let out from the Bible Study a little early and I picked Mari Cate up, then headed to pick Conner up since they were only there for 1/2 days. It was really an eerie feeling driving around. I can remember looking up in the sky and seeing different planes flying over thinking they must have something to do with it, even knowing that we were way away from New York...but there was still that thought that there could be another target. I picked Conner up from school and was never so glad to get to my home where I felt at least somewhat safer. Obviously Mari Cate didn't understand any of what was going on since she was only two, but I remember having to be careful with Conner because it was on every channel on TV. We talked to him about what happened, but didn't want to scare him. I really believe in the last few years is when it has really sunk in with him what happened. I don't think I will ever forget the feelings I had that day. The feeling of safety that my family gave me. Where were you that day?

Today, I just want to take a moment to remember the families who lost someone on 9/11/01 and all the emergency personnel who risked their lives to help save so many others. No matter how you feel about the continued war, I pray that you will take a moment to remember all the families involved in this tragedy.

Mari Cate got her wish!

At Mari Cate's school this past week, they had their Accelerated Reader kickoff. Each year across the county they have a "theme" for the A/R program and this year it is biomes. Kind of weird theme I thought, but whatever....So then within each school they have a theme within the theme for each grade (and then even each class--whew!!). So the 3rd grade is "The Wild" (although I am not real sure this is a true classification???). Anyway, Mari Cate's class is "The Cheetah's" and her teacher was only going to pick 5 children to wear the cheetah masks that she was making and the rest of the children would wear safari like hats. Well, she got her wish, she was a cheetah!

Conner's First Date

Ok, before everyone thinks I have lost my mind..let me tell you, it was to the Young Marines Military Ball and Frank and I were there with him. The Ball was held at the Read House in Chattanooga. We had a nice dinner, a short program, and then dancing. It was a lot of fun. Conner took his little girlfriend Lexi and we all had a really good time.

At Home Before Picking Lexi Up

At My Mother's Dropping Mari Cate Off

Picking Up Lexi

Eating Dinner

Dancing

Our First Cross Country Adventure!

...let us run with endurance

the race that is set before us

Hebrews 12:1

My handsome young man!

All the runners lining up and listening to instructions

The beginning of the race

Tuesday was Conner's first ever Cross Country meet. It was held at Baylor School in Chattanooga. There were approx. 150 middle school boys running in the meet. It was a 2-mile race and Conner placed 106th. I thought that was wonderful for his very first race and the fact that he was running against lots of 8th graders who were huge and have been running for several years now, not to mention the fact that it was 90 something degrees out there!! I was very, very proud of him so I wanted to share some pictures I got!!

Sprinting the last stretch--notice how much bigger that other boy is!!

Coming across the finish line

Good Job Conner!