Last minute costumes

The boys decided last night that they wanted to dress up for home school classes today. We had NOTHING. Nada. So, we ran to the thrift store and I bought a black sleeveless shirt and cut the bottom to fit as a vest. I cut the bottom edge in a strip for the belt. Then, we went to Walmart and bought the afro wig. Jacob borrowed his sister's shirt and other sister's glasses. Whew! Saved.

This is what the shirt I bought looked like before. (Notice the joy of wearing a ladies shirt for the camera) I was planning on cutting it and sewing it correctly, but I don't feel all that well, so I cut it and exclaimed with much excitement that it looked fabulous with the jagged edge of being cut. JUST LIKE A PIRATE! (The excitement in your voice is what sells the idea, I promise!)

Kyle's birthday party

The kids piped icing on the cupcakes.

We went to Kids Kingdom, a park in our city that is done on a castle theme.

It was 48 degrees but the kids played Capture the Flag for hours. I think they had a lot of fun. Here is a captive now.

My baby is 10!

I love this little monkey. He is so full of life and goes wide open all the time. Today is his 10th birthday and I am feeling a little like my kids are growing too fast. Happy Birthday, Kyle. I love you!

It must be wonderful to have a lot of brothers and sisters who shower you with candy. We had Krispy Kreme doughnuts for breakfast. He got a remote controlled helicopter and all this candy from our family.

Valentine Banquet

Our church had a Valentine Banquet and all the profits were for our building fund. So, we got dressed up and had son take out of focus photo of us..... It was a lot of fun. They had the staff play the Newlywed Game. The first question was - What is the favorite past time that you and your spouse do together.- The pastor stood there for a very long time with a face that said, "Do I answer this in front of the church?" and everyone was laughing and his wife said, "Your daughter is right there." So, he chose yardwork, but somehow, I think he had a different answer.

They drew names for different games to win prizes. This is musical chairs.

A hula hoop contest with rotten hula hoopers with a lot of personality!

Two singers, this guy is fabulous.

This is Shirley and she plays such beautiful harp music. She does weddings and events. She plays Stairway to Heaven on the harp. We missed it tonight but I really want to hear that. She told me she plays that one time and I almost spit across the room laughing. I don't know why but someone playing that on a harp is funny to me. It is supposed to be really pretty.

It was such a good fun time tonight. I got to get to know two other couples at our table that I really didn't know well- one is Shirley the harp player. We had our friends from Niceville that moved here and go to another church come. We had to tell everyone that we met at the mall. I think we need to make up a better story. Darryl told them that he told his friend after they left from meeting me that I was the girl he would marry. Twenty years of marriage and three and a half years of dating and that is the first time I have heard that. (He says he told me that before)

My Hubby and Me

I was going through photos and found this one of my husband and me taken five years ago on our anniversary. I like this photo. We went to Baytowne Wharf for dinner at the ACME restaurant. The Wharf is on the Chattahoochie Sound in SanDestin, Florida. It has shops that are like a village in Europe with outdoor eating in little hidden gardens. I love to go there. You can either drive around the water and park in a garage outside the shopping area or park upon entering the community and take a ferry across the water to the village. We took the ferry that night. The ACME restaruant is a replica of the ACME Oyster House in New Orleans. They have a marinade that comes on grilled chicken, shrimp, or fish and it is so good. It comes with sweet potato fries that I love. We always ate outside on the street. At night it is lit up with lights and has a Mardi Gras theme. I like to watch the people go by. You can just pretend you are in Italy or France since we can't afford to really go there. There are so many Italians in Destin on holiday that you can even get the feel just listening to them talk.

The skirt above is my one and only Lilly Pulitzer skirt, but I do have some shorts also that I got at a thrift store. If you are not familiar with her she was a socialite who moved to Florida with her husband. She had orange groves surrounding her estate. She was bored so she opened a juice stand. She was getting juice on her clothes so she asked her seamstress to make some smock dresses with a print to hide the juice stains. The dresses became so popular that Jackie O wore them. She hides her signature in her fabric to make it fun to try to find it. Her line is resort clothing with fun colorful prints. I love her stuff but it is very pricey. My good friend has a sister that owns a boutique in Lexington, KY and she sends her boxes of clothes each season that did not sell. The skirt is one of the items that did not fit my friend so I was able to get it, how lucky was I?

11th Birthday

It is not his birthday, which is December 22nd, but everyone is always out of town for Christmas so we celebrate early. I feel so bad. He just invited two friends because he wanted our family to go ice skating. One friend was going to be out of town so his one friend came over. Earlier today I found out that all the ice rink information was for Decatur, Illinois rather than Decatur, AL. They did have a session tonight but it says to always call to make sure their rink is open. I called all day and got a recording so I left a message. He finally called 45 minutes before we left to say they had a private party booked. So, we had to disappoint 3 little boys. They took it really well and decided to pop popcorn and watch Wall-E.

Twenty Years!

Today is our 20th anniversary! I have now been married half my life. We dated 3 1/2 years before that so we have been together a lifetime. We met at the mall. I was there with my friend and he was there with his three friends. It was the hangout way back then. Not a lot to do in Mobile. Our first date was a week later and we went to see Beverly Hills Cop. We tried to relive memories and watch it one year but it was filled with cuss words.
He is the quiet type and very humble. He does not try in any way to lift himself up in other people's eyes. He keeps me grounded. Probably the most used discription of me that people say is that I am bubbly. They probably mean bubble headed and are just being nice. On a retreat I took with friends we each took turns telling one thing we see in the other people. One girl said that I remind her of champagne, that I have a soft bubbling spirit. See, if it wasn't for him I would just fizzle all over the place.
A few years ago I saw a commercial for E Harmony. I wondered if my husband and I filled out the questionaire if we would be matched up. You see, we are so different. I think God spoke to me and showed me that in their eyes we might not be considered a match. Because they match to have a harmonious match. But, God's plan is to use our mate to compliment us and at times sharpen us. He uses them to work out the kinks in us and make us more like Jesus. That isn't always harmonious.
We have been through good and bad times. The wonderful thing is that we can speak without words. We know that we are here during the good and the bad. We have now lived more years together than with our parents. Half a lifetime. Here's to many more! I love you!

July 4th

Hope all of you had a Happy 4th of July. We had friends over and cooked out on the grill, then we went to see the fireworks. The Blue Angels weren't there last night, that was a photo from the airshow last weekend.

We didn't go to garage sales today. I am having withdrawals!