I love my doggie!

And let the catch up begin....

Mari Cate participated in Girl Scouts this year and at the end of May they had their Award Ceremony where they received the patches and other prizes that they had earned over the year. Click on the picture above to see all that she earned. We were so proud of her!

The above two collages are from Conner's trip to Parris Island. Well, these are pictures from Parris Island, but rather the first group is from the Saturday before when they were all getting reaady and packed to go and second collage is when they came home. Mari Cate made them a pretty sign even. Frank took a lot more pictures and I promise to devote a whole post to just info and pictures from his trip. He had a great time!

And of course I just had to share some random cuteness with you!! We went out to eat at Calhoun's on the lake for Frank's parents 51st anniversary on Thursday night. Hayden was fascinated with all the fish that came right to the top of the water when the kids were throwing bread to them. And I have a few more pictures to share from that night also...but this is all I could do in one night. Remember to click on the picture to make them bigger and easier to see! Hope you enjoy!

And to show you that we are still around....

Here are a few quick pictures just to show you that we are still around (sort of). I know "some of you" have been waiting sort of patiently for some new ones!! ; ) Homeless people just go to the beach whenever they want to...haha! This was kind of an unplanned trip to the beach, so we obviously werent prepared in clothing! So I "tried" to chill out a little and just let the kids have fun...which they obviously did!!

Oh, and I think I found a house that will fit our family just fine...what do you think? ; )

A sneak peek at Parris Island

Well, Conner and Frank left Monday morning at 7:00 for The Marine Base at Parris Island, SC with 14 other Young Marines and 2 other chaperones for a week of boot camp. Conner was so pumped Monday morning and this is one of the few trips that I have ever seen Frank get excited about too!

They had told them they would not be allowed any cell phone usage, but Frank is able to call me at his desire pretty much and Conner is allowed to call me in the evening after their day is over. Conner is having a blast and so far has gotten to rappell a rock wall (did I spell that right?), tour the gas chamber, and experience the Marines "yelling" at them! ; ) Frank sent me a couple of pictures with his phone, so I thought I would share those.

Conner is in the 4th row, the one on this end...if that makes sense!

So tomorrow is it...

It is officially here. Nearly all of our house is packed and ready to go into storage. I have packed a few things (kind of like packing for a vacation) to take to my Mom and Dad's and we will begin a new adventure. I am not sure how long we will be staying there...hopefully not long for all of our sakes, but hopefully not long just so we can get our lives settled again.

I have lots of pictures to share from our family visiting last week, but they will have to wait until next week when I am a little more sane!

Pray that everything goes smoothly as we move our lives into the storage pod! : )

Free Video

Oooh you know I love free stuff and the great guys over at Meatloaf Media have agreed to give me one of their bestselling videos FREE just for posting about it here on my blog....pretty cool huh? I LOVE showing these at church before the service, it really gets peoples attention and "sometimes" gets them settled down! ; )


Here is the link to Meatloaf Media if you are looking for some great videos to use at church --sermon videos .

And here is the link to the video I will get for free!! God's Phone System

It's All Worth It!

Even when life is crazy and I can't get it all figured out....they make it all worth it!!

This afternoon we grilled out steaks (on sale from Bi-Lo--$2.99 New York Strips no less!!) and ate dinner with my family and Frank's family. It was kind of nice not fight the crazy Mother's Day crowds and just enjoy our meal at home. My family got me some very nice gifts for Mother's Day too. A "Seacret" Nail set, Lindor Truffles (the best!!) and a Ghiradelli Chocolate Bar (can you see I already ate some-shhh!) Apparantly, my kids were insistent upon getting me some chocolate---wonder if they just thought I wanted it or that I NEEDED it!! I also got a beautiful little bracelet with 2 boys and a girl on it (and here's a little secret about it---Mari Cate and my Mom found it the other day at a yard sale for 50 cents, so she even bought with her own money I think!). I also got a beautiful new watch. It is a Citizens Eco-Drive Technology watch, which apparently means that I never have to change the battery in it...it runs on solar power somehow! Pretty cool huh? So yeah, I had a good mothers day!