Fireflies

Have you ever had one of those moments in time when all seems well with the earth...these days they are few and far between, but last night was one of those times for me.

My mom had bought the kids some cute little bug catching supplies, so we decided we would go out and see if we could catch some fireflies.

It didn't take long, we could see them all lit up the second we hit the front porch, but that wasn't the fun part.... 

It was watching my kids be kids...(I know mushy), it was just one of those moments that I was so glad  had my camera on me (that usually never happens). 

When I was a little kid thinking about what it would be like to have kids of my own, this is exactly what I envisioned.  Watching them running around on a Summer night with a full moon and just having fun without a care in the world.

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I love taking my kids to places I think will thrill them. For some reason I never think about our own backyard. Sometimes I think we all  just want a good ole' Thursday night catching fireflies and playing UNO, which BTW my daughter won all 5 games of last night! Way to go DEE!

I know these are the moments I will remember the most and when my sister and I get together these are the things we talk about...in fact I just told my daughter last night as she was gearing up that my sister and I used to catch fireflies and rip their light off and wrap it around our finger for rings! She was disgusted to say the least. And when I tell my son that in a couple of years, he will no doubt think that's the coolest thing ever!!!

Thank you God, for fireflies and Thursday nights ;)

Whatever WORKS ;)

Well my son is 2 1/2 months away from being 3 and he is STILL NOT potty trained, mostly due to blatant inconsistency on my part!!! But, after being asked during church by an usher for a diaper, because my son had asked his teacher to pee pee in the potty and DID actually do it!  I decided he was ready and I AM NOT!

I keep putting it off, excuses keep coming to mind, 2 weeks ago it was "we are going to camp" and now we are going to the beach next month and it just seems soooooo much easier to change a diaper, but I know it is inevitable....he cannot got to college wearing a diaper, so this is what I did.

He loves diapers and will con his sister into putting one on him if I won't!

So today when he woke up I took his diaper off and of course he wanted a fresh new one but instead he got the one above presented to him, and I told him that bugs ate his diaper, I know I already feel horrible just writing this, but it worked.  He didn't cry or anything he just repeated bugs ate my diaper and then he proceeded to say I want underwear...EUREKA!

So I have to tell you how this started...  My sister has 5 children and she used this tactic when trying to get the pacifier away...it worked, every time!

So we made him (not knowingly) one of those kids who drank warm milk before bed every night.  2 weeks ago we tried the "bugs ate it" tactic on what he called his NANA, (A.K.A. juice cup with milk in it) and it worked! I was a believer!

Once again he didn't cry, he just accepted it and only asked for it a couple more times and each time we would show him the cup and he wouldn't want it!

Now the recipe for this is.... cut holes in whatever you don't want them to have anymore (that also makes it unavailable for you to give in) and put some syrup on it just to make sure it's sticky then sprinkle some pepper on it!  You can't find this stuff in books people!

I ADORE my kids and would never do anything that would hurt them, let me clarify that my son NEVER drank off this cup nor put this diaper on, just in case that wasn't clear ;)

So far we have had a successful poo poo in the potty and repeated false alarms for peeing, who would have thunk! Wish us luck at the beach, if they aren't all closed before we get there ;)

BTW your kid doesn't have to be afraid of bugs to do this, my son loves bugs!

22 hours a day for 5 days!!!

Got Camp??? That is where I have been all week, my laptop died the first day I was there... and having had to stay up for 22 hours a day for 5 days straight has led me to complete and utter exhaustion...We had a blast!!! In fact, I had my camera in my car, but was too tired to think about pressing the button to snap some pictures...SORRY!

(This pic is from last years camp, just so you get an idea)

It was our annual YOUTH camp at Mars Hill College and it was AMAZING!!!!  Our young people were preached to and they responded, it was an awesome move of GOD! The theme was UPSIDE DOWN and it was all about OUTREACH and turning your city upside down, it really made you see outside yourself which is so needed! We had an actual outreach on the last day and invited over 100 people to a nearby Apostolic church, yesterday they gave the report that they picked up over 15 people and 1 person was baptized last night! Outreach is addicting, I love it!

And then there was Father's Day, my husband and I do not get into it that much...it is a "hallmark" holiday to us! But I make sure that the kids and I show him and tell him how much he is appreciated! Because he certainly is!

In honor of my man, and since he has been a Father for 6 years... here are 6 things that make him an AMAZING DAD!!

1. He loves God and puts him above all (even us)
2. He is a GOOD husband
3. He is selfless, ALWAYS makes sure we have what we need/want and NEVER wants for himself!!! which can get on my nerves, especially when he is walking around with a hole in his shoe and won't let me buy him any! (honey if you're reading this please go get some!)
4. He is a good problem solver, physically and spiritually
5. He is consistent
6. He knows without GOD he would be none of these things!

I couldn't miss out on an opportunity to provide all with a picture of my dear hubs in his "blog uniform".  I love you BABE, Happy FATHER'S DAY!

Super Girly Silhouette Lamp Shade

My niece.... if you haven't figured it out I have a lot of them, most of which belong to my one and only sister.  She has 4 girls and 1 boy and they are like my own children/sisters/friends/nieces, I have a very complex relationship with them all!

 OK, so back to my post...the niece I referring to this time is Rachael(the oldest), she is graduating from high school in a couple of days! She goes to a Private Christian School and after the ceremony each senior has a table set up so people can shower them with love money ;) Each table is decorated by the family of each senior!

The table theme she chose was silhouettes..and since my sister does not have a blog I wanted to show you some of the adorable things that will be on the table!

This picture is actually her silhouette and was also what the invitations looked like!

And this is what really made the whole table come together, there will be 2 of them on each end.

I took this while she was still in the process of setting it all up at home to see what was needed, but these were very simple to make.  First she just copied to size the silhouette on black paper and glued it to the inside and added the fake roses with a glue gun! EZ-PZ!

 

I am MUCHO proud of this girl!!!

I think she is pretty excited about graduation too!

Salutatorian of ACA 2010! Way to GEAUX!