Independence Day 2009

We had a wonderful 4th of July. Stephen spent the day at the beach with the YAM group from church. The original plan was for all of us (minus Maddy, who spent the day with her dad) to go to the beach with them... but on second thought we decided the beach all day w/ the kids (especially on a crowded holiday) was not such a good idea SO I took Reece & Olivia to the local botanical gardens instead... 

They had free admission for the holiday... and I'm so glad they did b/c we had a great time! 

Apparently we made the local news as well. 

It all started under the big tent... We decorated the stroller for the upcoming parade... 

Then in a long line of decorated strollers & wagons we marched through the children's garden proudly holding up our American flags & waving to all the passerby's . Olivia was so sweet... "I've never been in a real parade before mom!" 

as we were rounding the last curve of the parade a gentlemen stopped us & said that I looked mighty festive in my sparkly hat

so he wanted to interview me on camera. As it turns out it was our local 12 news camera guy. Apparently we made the news b/c I got a text from Robin last night at 11:07 "love the hat on tv" & a Facebook message this morning from my cousin "Hey Hollywood... saw you on the news last night". We don't have TV at the house so I asked mom to record it. (well we have TV, but no channels. We watch our few shows online & have the TV for movies). Anyway, Olivia thought it was really cool & she kept calling me a TV star. 

The gardens had a really neat butterfly display. It was a big green house with 100s of butterflies flying around... 

And of course there were a bunch of beautiful flowers everywhere. 

After we went home to rest a bit we met up with Erica & ventured out for fireworks. Can you tell Olivia was the photographer for the evening...

Very lovely Liv! Happy belated 4th everyone! 

A Little Progress & KD Pics

Well I didn't get as much done around the house as I anticipated. Home improvement projects are over for this week. I will be keeping 2 of my friend's children tomorrow (2 new ones) & I completely forgot Stephen has off on Friday (for the holiday). We'll probably go to King's Dominion as a family. We'll see. 

I did get the kitchen walls sanding this week though. All I have to do is putty a few holes & they will be ready to paint... finally! 

As far as the antique piece of furniture... for now, it sits.... chipped wood, crayon marks & all....

I'll make some more progress next week... I hope. 

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I finally got the pictures from last week's King's Dominion trip uploaded. The kids had a great time. They were really good for me. Everyone had a buddy, which helped. I plan to take them all back some more this summer. Since we have season passes (with parking included) it's a free day trip... we pack a lunch & eat at the picnic tables. We've also been known to fold all the seats down in the van & chill in the A/C !  As long as the kids behave it's really a great time to be had. See.... 

I'd say Olivia has definitely overcome her fear... 

No Reece, that's NOT grass... stop picking Blue's face hair! 

Chad the Grad & a Williamsburg Wedding

I'm feeling a bit more motivated this week than I did last week. I had a pretty intense "to do" list yesterday morning. I didn't quite finish everything on it, but I did get a lot done minus sanding the kitchen walls & scrubbing the bathrooms (the 2 things I was looking forward to the least... imagine that... I should prioritize these things before I even get started.) I have big goals for today as well... we'll see how far I get. 

The weekend was great....

Friday night my brother graduated from Fortis college. He is now a certified Medical Office Specialist. I'm so proud of him! About 5 years ago the doctors said he wouldn't even be able to function well enough to drive a car again & now look at him...

Way to go bro! Keep chasing your dreams! NOTHING is impossible with God! He has an awesome destiny & divine purpose for your life. 

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Saturday my cousin got married in Williamsburg. She made such a beautiful bride! 

I ended up taking all 3 of the girls. Stephen had to stay in Richmond for a YAM worship night & I couldn't find a sitter for Reece. I tried everything short of knocking on doors in the neighborhood to find a sitter for her. My major concern was her making noise during the ceremony. I just prayed that she would be good. The church was big & very LONG. When the usher asked, I told him we were the bride's family. He then took be by the arm, as I held baby on the hip, Olivia's hand in mine, diaper bag over the shoulder... we marched ALL the way to the front of the church. When I looked back to see how far I would have to go to escape just in case it looked like the back door was 2 miles away. Reece was doing great until the processional music began. She decided that was a great time to chime in & sing her little heart out. Thankfully when the music stopped she did too. As we sat there I passed her everything I had on me to keep her quiet.. a plastic spoon, her teether, baby puffs, my bracelet, my debit card, the Hymnal... whatever grabbed her attention at the time. When the minister said "speak now or forever hold your peace" I had visions of her screaming out at the top of her lungs... thankfully she didn't. She actually didn't make a peep the entire time... except for a few scattered hiccups. Whew! The wedding was beautiful & the reception was a blast. If at any moment I didn't know where the girls were @ the reception I knew I could find Madison in the buffet line, Olivia out on the dance floor & Reece either being passed around or nestled in her stroller. 

(Liv dancing with her cousin Kennedy) 

Jessica is so beautiful & made a gorgeous bride. The wedding was very nice & we all had a great time. Congrats Jess! I love you girl! 

Random Rambling

It's been quite a lazy week.  I've been feeling kinda sluggish & blah. Not really depressed or anything just LAZY.  We did go to King's Dominion on Monday (me & 6 kids, including all 3 of mine)...

Perhaps this has something to do with it... but surely it wouldn't linger all week. I think I'm just in relax mode or something. We've done a lot of bubble blowing, computer playing, board games & movies this week. Reece has had a fever since she woke up yesterday morning. I've been rotating Motrin & Tylenol. I spoke to the nurse today & I plan to take her in the AM if she wakes up again with a fever. 

Stephen & I are sitting here jammin' to some Michael Jackson tunes. AOL radio has a tribute going. Such sad news!

I got back from my mom's a little bit ago. My sister was over with her husband. My sister & I were not in touch for a long time & I've really enjoyed our scattered visits recently. She's a memory machine. She's updating me on all of the childhood memories I've forgotten about. She is so sweet & her hubs is a pretty cool guy too. It's nice getting to know him... & her all over again. We got back in touch around Christmas time. I blogged about it a bit here. 

I've also been in touch with my real father recently. I haven't seen him since I was 13. I haven't talked to him in years either. He's married & has a little girl who was born on my birthday! She's 8 years old. I've chatted a few times with him on the phone & he wrote me a letter. I even got a few drawings from my little sister. I think they are self portraits :) with a little note that says "I Love you sis". How sweet! I need to get one in the mail to him soon with some pictures of the kids. I can't wait to meet my step mom & lil sis. He lives in SC. We are planning a December trip to do some house hopping. We want to visit them. We also have friends in GA. My very best friend (who is also in nursing school & who I am trying to talk into starting a blog so we can keep in touch better!) moved to FL about a year ago. We will see them for sure. We also have friends who moved to West Palm Beach to start a church. We'll visit them as well. I'm super happy about this trip & I hope we'll be able to make it happen!

Israel isn't coming next week, so I've decided that I'm going to get some painting done & try to refinish a piece of antique furniture. I want to finish this project once & for ALL! (the fact that it's not finished should totally be in a "Not Me Monday" post!... I would never let a home improvement project, especially in my kitchen, linger for nearly a year. Never... not me!) I came across my new favorite website today & it's gotten me a bit motivated... so hopefully I'll get a lot done next week. Definitely won't get anything around the house done this weekend though. My brother is graduating tomorrow night & my cousin is getting married on Saturday. 

I also need to get moving on a church project that I've taken on. I've been recruited to head up the skits for this years VBS. I need to recruit some actors, as well as get costumes & props together. When I worked at the church I helped head up VBS a few years so I'm really excited to be a leader again this year! It's always so much fun. Our VBSs are huge. We usually draw in 350-500 kiddos...ages 3-12! This year's theme is Noah's Adventure 2. It's going to be a good one for sure! 

Time to get out of lazy mode, I guess. 

Well, I was trying to upload some more pics from our outing Monday, but for some reason blogger is taking forever. So I'll post later. 

For now, I'm going to "Beat It" & get in the bed. 

Ahhh, she loves the green stuff

Reece developed a new fascination @ our recent photo shoot. Can you tell what it is?....

She LOVES GRASS! She loves to play with it, pick it, run her piggys through it. She's fascinated with it. 

We have a green rug in the upstairs bathroom. She must think it's grass b/c she is constantly crawling over to it... to, well, pick it, I guess. 

Crawling on the bathroom floor... not so sanitary, but it's OK when I'm trying to get ready, I guess. That rug could keep her busy for hours! 

Picking daddy's chest hair... 

Not SO OK...