The Prodigal God...

I just heard of this book from a friend of mine, Amy Cathy (I also follow her blog -- "My Place in the Sun"). She mentioned that it was the first book she downloaded to her Kindle. I, too, got a Kindle for Christmas so I decided to see what the book was about. After reading the short description on Amazon, I decided I wanted to read it. So, I bought it with "one-click" and was able to start reading it about a minute later. :) I do love my Kindle!! (In case you have not heard of a Kindle, it's an e-book reader offered by Amazon. You can download somewhere around 1500 books on this little electronic device that is about the size of an average paperback, but is only about 1/4" thick. Most new releases are around $9.99 and there are thousands of books that are "public domain" that you can download for free.) Anyway, I only planned on beginning the book, but I just kept reading until I was done.

The book is based on a parable in the Bible from the book of Luke (Chapter 15) about the Prodigal Son. I've heard this parable many times and the times I've heard it, the emphasis has been on this prodigal son. However, this book brings to light not only the sins of the Prodigal Son, but also those of the elder brother. One of the features I really like about the Kindle is the ability to highlight passages within the books I read. The Kindle stores all those highlighted passages into a separate file called "my clippings." Throughout this book, I highlighted several passages that stood out to me. I wanted to share those with you.

"Religion operates on the principle of "I obey -- therefore I am accepted by God." The basic operating principle of the Gospel is "I am accepted by God through the work of Jesus Christ -- therefore I obey."

"As Richard Lovelace has written: "[People] who are no longer sure that God loves and accepts them in Jesus, apart from their present spiritual achievements, are subconsciously radically insecure persons...Their insecurity shows itself in pride, a fierce, defensive assertion of their own righteousness, and defensive criticism of others. They come naturally to hate other cultural styles and other races in order to bolster their own security and discharge their suppressed anger."

"As long as you are trying to earn your salvation by controlling God through goodness, you will never be sure you have been good enough for him. You simply aren't sure God loves and delights in you."

"Mercy and forgiveness must be free and unmerited to the wrongdoer. If the wrongdoer has to do something to merit it, then it isn't mercy, but forgiveness always comes at a cost to the one granting the forgiveness."

"Martin Luther's old formula still sums things up nicely: "We are saved by faith alone (not our works), but not by faith that remains alone." Nothing we do can merit God's grace and favor, we can only believe that he has given it to us in Jesus Christ and receive it by faith. But if we truly believe and trust in the one who sacrificially served us, it changes us into people who sacrificially serve God and our neighbors. If we say "I believe in Jesus" but it doesn't affect the way we live, the answer is not that now we need to add hard work to our faith so much as that we haven't truly understood or believed in Jesus at all."

As you can see, I really liked this book! I liked that it brought to light that you can take "doing the right thing" to the extreme. Our service to God should come from the heart. Not because it's what we are "supposed to do."
I'm so thankful for a Heavenly Father full of grace and mercy!!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Where does the time go?? I can't believe Christmas is just under 3 weeks away!! Wow!

Thanksgiving was a wonderful day....we celebrated with my parents at our house. Mom spent the night with us on Wednesday and we spent the evening making some delicious desserts for after our Thanksgiving meal on Thursday. We made chocolate truffles, cookies, peanut butter balls, chocolate eclair pie, and pumpkin pie. All three of the girls helped prepare our Thanksgiving feast...and a feast it was! We had turkey, ham, dressing, mashed potatoes, corn, sweet potatoes, potato salad, deviled eggs, and cranberry relish. It was a very delicious meal.

Thursday evening, we went to visit David's mom and some of his family. We had more desserts and some of us girls made a fun gingerbread house. We played card games and just had a great time of fellowship. Then began the shopping expedition! Toys R Us opened at midnight! Last Christmas season, I went to Toys R Us and did the majority of my shopping...so this year, since I was going to be in the area (David's mom lives in Fayetteville, close to Toys R Us) I decided to go ahead and knock it out that night...then shop in my own area (Newnan) the next morning. My brother & sister-in-law joined me for the midnight madness. And, suffice it to say, madness doesn't even begin to describe how crazy it was!!! I'll just say what I thought would take me 2 hours at tops, ended up taking 6 hours. I stood in line for a miserable 5 hours. I did get some great deals, but I did not get ANY sleep. I left the toy store at 5 a.m. and drove home to pick up my Mom and Emma for some more shopping!! We hit several other stores (none were as crowded as Toys R Us was!) and were very successful. I think overal, in the 16 (yes, 16) hours I shopped I saved close to $400! Pretty impressive! I am thankfully almost finished with my shopping....all I have left is to get a few stocking stuffers and get something for David (who I am convinced is one of the hardest people to shop for) and my parents.

Saturday....after sleeping very late, we decided to decorate the house for Christmas. The girls had lots of fun pulling out their ornaments. My mom has bought them special ornaments every year and they each have a special box just for their ornaments. They really have fun putting them on the tree....and they did a great job! I only had to remind them a few times to spread the ornaments out! :) One of my favorite things about my Christmas tree (besides the fact that it is a pre-lit tree -- NO stringing lights for me!!!) is that it has a rotating tree stand. This is a feature that can be turned off and on. Last year, we didn't have it rotate, this year the kids decided they wanted it to rotate. Well...little Miss Molly (our dog) decided that she wasn't so sure about this rotating tree!! She spent the better part of the evening barking like crazy. It was quite entertaining....so much so that I had to capture it on video. She especially didn't like one particular ornament that kept dragging over the tree skirt. Brace yourself for the video...she is quite ferocious!




Now...weren't you frightened by that!!! :) We have a busy couple of days ahead, we are having David's employee Christmas party this Sunday, then we are taking his managers out for dinner on Tuesday evening. Next Saturday will be my birthday, then we have Emma's chorus recital on the 17th, followed by class parties on the 18th, then it's just one week till Christmas! What a wonderful time of year it is!

Trick or Treat!

Well...it was supposed to be a treat, but turned out to be a trick. For the treat, I was going to post pictures of the girls from Halloween but for some reason, I keep getting an error code. I guess Blogger wants me to have a trick!!! So, instead, I will just tell you what the girls were, and if we are friends on facebook, you can see the halloween pictures there.

The girls had a great time trick or treating, despite the cold and rain! My parents came over to see the girls and we had a great evening together. Emma dressed up as a Starbuck's Barista...our local Starbuck's even loaned her an apron to wear! She got a lot of compliments on her costume while we made our way through the neighborhood. When I returned the apron, I took a picture of Emma in costume to the manager and he posted it on his Community Board. Emma thought that was awesome! Audrey dressed up as Hannah Montana....she posed with our Wii guitar for some pictures and then wanted to carry the guitar trick-or-treating, however, a quick thinking Momma remembered that she had a Hannah Montana purse in the shape of a guitar, so she carried that instead and used it as her candy bag! Amy dressed as Fancy Nancy. Fancy Nancy is the character in a series of childrens books that Amy likes. There are also some puzzles and dolls that go along with the character. Fancy Nancy, as her name denotes, is very Fancy. She likes to use fancy big words and dresses quite lavishly. This was right up Amy's alley and she loves anything that involves glitter and being all dressed up. I curled her hair in sponge rollers and she wore a tiara. We covered her in glitter and she got to wear a feather boa....she was just too cute! She's even decided that she wants a Fancy Nancy birthday party next year! (This coming from a child that has had a Dora party for 4 years straight!!!)

We had a great Halloween weekend. I can't believe November is almost half-over! Thanksgiving is just 2 weeks away! It's my favorite holiday and I can't wait for it to get here! This year, my mom and I are going to get up the next day for some Black Friday shopping together. We haven't done that in many years....it should be lots of fun!

What if?

What if?

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Sneak Peek of Family Portraits!

I posted this link on my facebook page, but in case you missed it, or just wanted to see it again, click the link below to see a few shots from our recent family portraits. I am so thankful for Heather sharing her talent with our family. I can't wait to use her services again! I'm hoping to do a spring session as well, and include my parents and David's Mom for some generational shots. Should be great! But, without further ado....check out our pictures!
http://heathercrawford.typepad.com/photography/2009/11/sneak-peek-for-the-lindley-family.html

An update!! (are you shocked??) ;)

For some reason, I just can't seem to keep up with this blog!! I visit my own blog daily so that I can check on my "friendly places" links and see what others are doing, but somehow I don't ever update! Shame on me! Maybe with the holidays approaching, I'll have more newsworthy things to blog about! We shall see!

Not much has happened since my last update. The kids are all doing great in school and seem to really enjoy it. Audrey and Amy both have some wiggly teeth, but none that are close to coming out anytime soon...maybe by Christmas they will come out.

On Wednesday we went and had some family portraits made. The last time we had pictures made as a family was November of 2003!! Audrey was just a baby and I think it was just days before I learned I was expecting Amy. Needless to say, it was long overdue. We went to the Peachtree City Library and took advantage of the beautiful scenery and lake for our pictures. I'm hoping to have the professional pictures in the next couple of weeks to share with you. We were able to snap a few while our photographer was working and then while we were all dressed (and the kids were still willing) we took a few more pictures after our session was over. The picture at the top of my blog is one that we took with our own camera. Here are a few more.....



I can't believe how quickly the year is coming to an end! Tomorrow is Halloween and then before you know it, Thanksgiving and Christmas will be upon us! It's my favorite time of year!!! I have so much to be thankful for! I hope to do better at updating....stay tuned!!!

"Fall"ing behind again....

It seems as though I am always playing catch up on this blog! It's been just over a month since I last updated. Where does the time go?? Audrey recently got a visit from the tooth fairy...she lost her first tooth on September 2! It had been really wobbly for several days and we finally decided to pull it out. I was afraid it might come out at school and get lost before it found its way underneath her pillow for safe keeping until the tooth fairy came. Audrey was very brave and probably wouldn't have cried at all had she not been so tired when we did the pulling. She really wanted to pull it herself, she just couldn't get a good grip on it. She finally let mommy give it a tug and out it came.




The girls are really enjoying school and are doing very well. Progress reports came home this last week and all the girls had excellent reports! Amy is doing very well on learning her sight words and is really working hard on her handwriting. We think she has finally "picked a hand" when it comes to writing. She's always been ambidextrous when it comes to using her hands...never using one more than the other. Here lately though, when we do her homework, she most often writes her letters with her left hand. I still sometimes catch her coloring and doing other things with her right hand, but I think she will be left hand dominant.

Audrey is getting much more fluent with her reading and is a whiz at math. She is definitely her mother's daughter and has to be reminded every now and then not to talk during class. She has been getting excellent grades and we are very proud of her.

Emma is doing GREAT in the 4th grade! She is very concerned with her work and always wants to do her best. We have a great homework routine and she is making awesome grades! She recently did her first project on the Kwaikutl Indians for Social Studies. She was required to recreate the habitat of her tribe. She had to include landforms and also represent items her tribe was known for. We had a great time working on this project together. My parents also chipped in with some help. Nanaw helped Emma make a basket and Angaw cut some pieces of my grandmother's cedar tree to make a totem pole. The project turned out great! Emma was very happy with it.

I am staying busy during the week with two Bible studies this year. I am going to the Ladies Bible study at Berachah Bible Church on Tuesdays with my best friend LeighAnn. We are doing Kristie Gant's study on Heaven. Last week was our first week and it was great...I look forward to completing this study. On Thursdays, I go to Mom to Mom at Dogwood Church in Peachtree City. This is similar to a Bible study in that we reference God's word, but it is so much more than that. We are given a place to rest our burdens and be encouraged as Mothers with hearts for God. It has been such good medicine for my soul! The Lord is so good to me.

Well...that pretty much sums up our last month or so. We are looking forward to some cooler weather...Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. I love the rich colors and the crisp breezes it has to offer. Hopefully I will do a better job of updating this blog....thanks for checking in on us!

I feel better after I imitate....

That's what Emma said to me today when I caught her in "tree pose" in front of my mirror. She's learned a few yoga poses from doing Wii Fit. She said she was doing some imitating while she was sitting down...and then she decided to imitate while standing, too. She explained that when her sisters get on her nerves, sometimes she just imitates for a little while and feels much better.

I promise I will tell her soon that the word is "meditate"...but for now...I like to hear her talk about imitating.

Back to School....

As I sit here typing this update, my house is quiet with the exception of Good Morning America on in the background. There are no giggles from little girls, no fighting amongst sisters, no messes being made....just quiet. The girls started back to school this past Friday. I do miss my girls during the day...sometimes it's too quiet. So far though, I have really enjoyed the quiet time for myself and my house staying clean for longer than 3.2 minutes. :)

We went on Thursday last week to meet the girls' teachers. Emma is in Mrs. Freeland's 4th grade class and will be switching classes with 2 other teachers for some of her subjects. Emma was disappointed that the teacher she was hoping to get had moved to teach 2nd grade. However, she soon forgot all about that when she discovered that her BFF Brianna was in her class! Emma and Brianna have been in the same class since the 1st grade. I'm so thankful Emma has such a sweet friend. Here they are modeling the "Best Friends" shirts I bought for them this summer.

Audrey is in Ms. Hutchings 1st grade class...I was really hoping Audrey would be in her class this year. The teacher Emma had for 1st grade is now the permanent substitute at the school. Ms. Hutchings was teacher of the year just a couple of years ago, and she is one of the sweetest teachers I've ever met. My little Audrey is a sweetheart and I really wanted her to have a gentle teacher. I think they will be a great student/teacher match. Here is a picture of the two of them from the first day of school.



I was disappointed when we found out that Amy would not be in Mrs. Deemer's kindergarten class. Both Emma and Audrey had Mrs. Deemer for kindergarten. This year, however, all class placement was done by computer. Teachers had no input on which child would be placed in any class. Amy is in Mrs. Underwood's class. Mrs. Underwood is a great teacher...and has been teaching in the same county for her entire career. We are looking forward to being part of a different kindergarten environment. Mrs. Underwood is already working with us to see about Amy getting speech therapy at school to reinforce the therapy she is already getting on a weekly basis. We are thankful to have such a willing teacher! Amy is excited about kindergarten and loves her classroom. I can't believe how quickly my baby has grown! Here is Amy with her teacher....



Our other new change this year is riding the bus. The girls really wanted to ride the school bus to and from school. David and I talked about it and decided if that's what they wanted to do, there was no reason for us not to let them. It would save him from having to drop them off in the mornings and me from picking them up in the afternoons. I did drive them on the first day of school....I didn't want to miss out on those sweet pictures...but I let them ride the bus home that afternoon. They started riding to school on the bus on Monday. The bus picks up right about 7:05 in the morning and so far has dropped the girls off right about 2:50-3:00 in the afternoons. The girls are enjoying the bus rides...as they each have friends on the same bus route.



I'm so thankful for a wonderful start to what will hopefully be a fantastic school year. We are slowly but surely adjusting to our earlier bedtime and have developed a good afternoon homework routine as well. Here's to hoping the school year continues as well as it started!

she's definitely a blonde!!

So...this past weekend we celebrated Amy's 5th birthday. Her actual birthday was last Wednesday, but we had her party on Saturday. Well, today, Audrey came and asked me when it was going to be her birthday. I told her not for a long time...and she said she wanted it to be tomorrow. I said, "Sorry Audrey, but your birthday is not until April and that's a long time from now." The rest of the conversation went like this...
Audrey: April 2??
Me: Yes, your birthday is April 2.
Audrey: It keeps doing that....April 2, April 2
Me: every year?? (acting surprised)
Audrey: Not every year, just 2 times.

Shortly after this, Emma asks me why I'm crying...I was laughing so hard my eyes were watering! Maybe you just had to be there, but for me, it was hilarious. I tried to call David and my parents to tell them, but I got David's voice mail and my parents' answering machine....the blog will have to do for now! :)

Hello....is anyone still out there?

Goodness Gracious I just climbed out from under my rock and realized I have not updated this since last month... You would not believe that I actually have a life. I prostrate myself in sorrow and beg thy forgiveness.

I am distracted with discovering time doesn't stand still, commitments, just generally being the life of the party to anyone unfortunate enough to cross my path. My day is passing in a blur from the moment my children manage to unlock my bedroom door and use me as a jumping castle to well after sun-down. I am not complaining though. Life happens.

I hope that one day I will write something that makes sense. Well, I'll try. This is for my ever faithful, devoted public.


Hee hee....while it has been a while since I have updated, I "wrote" the above post sort-of "mad libs" style from this website. http://www.aussiebloggers.com.au/blogpost.html

I have been busy...and neglecting this blog. This summer has gone by in a blur and doesn't seem to be slowing down. School starts in 2 weeks....maybe then I'll be able to slow down. I doubt it.

So....it's been a while.

Well, here I am, finally updating the blog with a "real" update. I guess I'll start with our New York trip.

For Valentine's Day, David surprised me with a trip to New York scheduled for our Anniversary weekend. We left on Friday, the 24th of April, bright and early in the morning. We met up around 10 o'clock with our best friends, David & LeighAnn to hang out in the city. (David & LeighAnn went on the trip too, they went up a day before). We took the subway to Brooklyn and walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. We had lunch at Grimaldi's Pizza (which was fabulous!) and then made our way back to the city by cab. We saw Mary Poppins that night and then went to Carmine's for a delicious late-night dinner.

On Saturday, our 11th Anniversary, we went to Breakfast at Norma's. They gave us a fruit tray for our anniversary that was both beautiful and delicious! We had a celebrity sighting there as Deion Sanders was eating there too. We assumed he was in town for the NFL Draft. After breakfast, Leigh & I got surprised by our favorite guys...they got us tickets for "Behind the Emerald Curtain" which is a behind the scenes tour of the musical Wicked. It was fabulous! We got to see a lot of the original costumes from the show and learn about what goes into the production. We were planning on heading to lunch after that, but David (Leigh's hubby) managed to surprise us even further. After the tour, he spent some time talking with one of the actors and told us we could go ahead to lunch and he'd catch up in a few minutes. Well...when he caught back up with us, we found out he had managed to get us a PRIVATE tour of Wicked. We went back to the theater and were able to see the dressing rooms, try on a few costumes, meet some of the actors and get pictures with some of the cast members. It was amazing! After that, we grabbed a quick lunch and went to see our Matinee of Mamma Mia. After Mamma Mia, we made our way to a nice dinner and then, our favorite part of the trip, we went to see WICKED! That has become our favorite show! If you haven't seen it yet, you should!! I don't want to give the story-line away, but basically you can think of it as the pre-quel to the Wizard of Oz. As one of the tag-lines states, "So much happened before Dorothy dropped in!" It's truly an incredible show! After Wicked, which was much more fabulous now that we had seen backstage and learned more about it, we headed to the Carnegie Deli for cheesecake. (You really have to have an appetite to visit the city!)

On Sunday, we went to the Brooklyn Tabernacle for church. We didn't get to stay for the whole service...we only got to stay long enough to hear the choir sing. We had to head back to the city for lunch and to pick up our luggage so we could head to the airport for our flight. The Tabernacle was beautiful and the choir did not disappoint! We had lunch at John's Pizzeria and it was so good! It was a great way to end the trip! All in all it was a super busy weekend, but it was a great one!! I absolutely love going to New York City and love hitting Broadway for a show!

I still have to blog about end of school year activities, Audrey's Kindergarten Graduation and Emma's birthday party....so stay tuned!!!!

Way behind on blogging....

Hoping to do a proper update soon. Stay tuned!

A visit from the Tooth Fairy....

Wednesday night, as I was putting the girls to bed, Amy started to complain that her mouth was hurting. I wasn't too concerned because she hadn't complained at all during the day...and I was a little suspicious that it was just a "get out of going to bed" scam. I did check her mouth to see if I could see anything and I also asked if she had bumped it. I couldn't see any scratches or sores and she said that she thought she had bumped her mouth at school. I gave her a dose of tylenol and sent her off to bed.

The next morning, when I went to get her up for school I was surprised to see that Amy's lip/cheek was swollen! It looked like someone had punched her in the face. I showed it to David and he said that she got up more than once during the night crying, but he didn't know that her mouth was hurting. I kept her home from school and called the dentist as soon as they opened. I was able to bring her right in to the office. They did an x-ray and the dentist examined her teeth and gums. Upon examination, two of her teeth were loose and the dentist noticed some beginning signs of infection in her upper gumline. Her gums were pink with just a slight hint of white. The x-ray revealed an abscess that affected both her top right front tooth and the one next to it. He said the abscess was probably caused by her hitting her mouth sometime recently. He sent us home with a prescription for an antibiotic and an appointment to come back in two weeks to have the teeth pulled.

When we got home, Amy was still complaining about her teeth hurting. I gave her a dose of Motrin along with her antibiotic and had her rest for a while. She did okay most of the morning, but in the early afternoon she started to get more uncomfortable. She started crying, whereas before she had just been whining, so I decided to take a look at her mouth again. This time when I just slightly lifted her lip, I could see a big abscess just above her tooth! What was barely visible at 9 that morning was now impossible to miss just five hours later! I called the dentist back and he recommended we bring her back to the office that afternoon.

When we got back to the dentist office, the Dr. was shocked at how quickly her infection had progressed. He was worried that if we left the teeth in any longer, she would continue to have swelling and pain issues and it would be best to take the teeth immediately. He was concerned that because of the size of her infection they may not be able to get her numbed without causing a little bit of pain for her. It was still the best option to go ahead, so we just went ahead. Amy did fantastic and even amazed the dentist and hygienist. She didn't even flinch when they gave her the Novocaine or when they pulled the teeth! She is an amazing little trouper!

That night, we put her teeth in a baggie and tucked them under her pillow for her very first visit from the tooth fairy. We decided to keep her home from school again the next day to fully recover from the infection/extraction. When she woke up she was super excited to find that the tooth fairy had left her a $5 dollar bill, 4 quarters and, the best of all, sparkly lip gloss!

Amy continues to do well...the swelling has just about gone away completely. I'm posting some pictures...some of her lip before we had to go back to the dentist and a couple after the teeth were removed. I'll post another snaggle-tooth picture soon once the swelling is all gone.

This is what it looked like when she woke up....


After having the teeth pulled....


Getting ready for the tooth fairy...extremely tired and worn out from a rough day!

Taking care of Molly....

Molly went to the Vet yesterday for her exam and got two shots....she's not feeling so well today, so Amy is making her feel better. She "read" Clifford and the Bears to Molly. The girls love to take care of her.

Birthday celebrations and Disney World!

Well...Audrey is now 6 years old!! I can't believe it! Where does the time go? We had planned on renting a bounce house for her birthday (we've done this a few years in a row) but, the weather forced us inside. I think we've had about 6 weekends of rain here in the Atlanta area! Why can't it rain during the week? We had about 28 people total at the party...and despite being indoors, it was a lot of fun! The kids took turns playing the Wii and then Audrey opened gifts and we had lots of cake and ice cream. Audrey had a great day finished off by getting to spend the night at Angaw & Nanaw's house all be herself!

As part of Audrey's birthday celebration, we decided to take the kids to Disney World. As you may know, Disney is offering free park admission on your birthday. We had originally planned to take the kids for Spring Break, but when we realized that Audrey's birthday was a few days before spring break started, we decided to let the kids miss a couple of days of school. We checked them out the day before Audrey's birthday and headed down to Orlando. We arrived around 6:30 and got checked in to our hotel. We stayed at The Port Orleans Riverside Resort. They offered a free ferry boat ride to Downtown Disney! We took the Ferry over for dinner at the Rainforest Cafe and strolled Downtown Disney before heading to the hotel for bed. The kids were great on the ride down (thanks to a couple of blockbuster rentals!!) and were anxious to check out the parks!

We got up bright and early on Thursday (April 2 -- Audrey's b-day) and headed over to the Magic Kingdom. Audrey was surprised at how many people wished her a Happy Birthday! We had a blast that morning...the girls loved riding the "coffee cups" (That's what Amy called them!) and loved the Dumbo ride and Cinderella's Carousel. Afternoon led us to Epcot for our Princess Storybook Lunch. We ate at Arkeshus Castle in Norway and got to meet 5 princesses!! We had our portrait made with Belle and then Aurora, Ariel, Snow White, and Cinderella came by our table for pictures. It was extra special to meet Cinderella as she is not guaranteed to be at the Storybook Lunches! We were happy to see her! After lunch we headed back to the hotel for Audrey to have a little more birthday fun.....SWIMMING! It was the first time she got to swim ON her birthday! She loved it...even though it was a little chilly by then! After that, we had dinner at the hotel restaurant. By then, the days activities had worn the kids out....as a matter of fact, when the cast members came around to sing "Zip a Dee Doo Dah" to Audrey, she had no expression on her face!! She didn't even smile. When they told her to blow out the candles, she just pushed the plate away! It was hilarious. I must admit, there was a lot of excitement packed in to one day!

Friday, Saturday and Sunday we were park hoppers! We visited Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and also went back to the Magic Kingdom. The kids had tons of fun (and we did too!) We got to see several characters and had pictures made with Donald, Goofy, and Mickey & Minnie! Saturday we spent the morning/afternoon at the pool and went to Magic Kingdom for the nightly fireworks show Wishes. On Monday, our last day, we went back to the Magic Kingdom to ride the coffee cups and Dumbo again. We had lots of fun and were so glad that we had several days of spring break left to recover from the trip!

I can see clearly now.....

my glasses/contacts are GONE!!!! I can happily say that I am no longer legally blind, in fact, I have 20/20 vision that continues to improve!

Thursday morning, I had LASIK. I have been "visually impaired" since I was about 13 years old. Once my vision started to go, it went at a rapid decline....by the time I graduated high school, I could not function without the use of contacts or glasses. For the past 5 years or so, my prescription has remained stable and I have often thought of "taking the plunge" and going in for corrective surgery, but never actually took the steps. I mainly wore contacts, and was a fan of extended wear disposable lenses. I could put in my contacts and leave them in for an entire month without having to take them out for cleaning, etc. For the most part, my impaired vision wasn't too much of a hassle.

The day before we left for Long Beach for the CFA seminar, I was starting to have some issues with my contacts...I think I must have scratched one of them or something....anyway, I went to put on a new pair and realized that I was wearing my last pair! So, for the week of Seminar, I had to rely mostly on my glasses. I could only wear my contacts for about 5 hours before my eyes would start watering uncontrollably. After having to wear my glasses for so long, I decided to go ahead and "take the plunge" and seriously look into LASIK. So, when we got home from seminar, I made my appt. I first saw my regular eye dr. who referred me to Woolfson Eye Institute. This just happened to be the same place that a friend of mine had his surgery done. I went for the consult and found out I was an excellent candidate and scheduled my surgery! I had to go a minimum of 2 weeks without wearing contacts (they change the shape of your eye). Wearing glasses full time was probably the hardest part of the waiting game. Finally, the big day arrived!!!

My appointment was at 9:00 and by 12:00 I could see! The actual surgery only took about 10 minutes. I was awake the whole time...they simply numbed my eyes with drops. It was a strange experience...and I must say, if you are the least bit squeemish about having someone touch your eye...you might not want to try LASIK! I'm not sure what my vision was immediately post surgery, but I was able to read my post-op instruction sheet at arms distance easily when prior to surgery, anything I wanted to read had to be within 5 inches of my face! At my one day post-op appt., my vision tested at 20/20! My surgeon said that my vision could continue to improve over the next 2-3 weeks.

I'm amazed at the technology available these days! If you are considering eye surgery, let me know....I can recommend a great doctor!

A good reminder....

Cherokee Legend

Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth's rite of Passage? His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone. He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it. He cannot cry out for help to anyone. Once he survives the night, he is a MAN.

He cannot tell the other boys of this experience, because each lad must come into manhood on his own. The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises. Wild beasts must surely be all around him. Maybe even some human might do him harm. The wind blew the grass and earth, and shook his stump, but he sat stoically, never removing the blindfold. It would be the only way he could become a man!

Finally, after a horrific night the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold. It was then that he discovered his father sitting on the stump next to him. He had been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm.

We, too, are never alone. Even when we don't know it, God is watching over us, sitting on the stump beside us. When trouble comes, all we have to do is reach out to Him. If you liked this story, pass it on. If not, you took off your blindfold before dawn.

Moral of the story: Just because you can't see God, doesn't mean He is not there.

'For we walk by faith, not by sight.'

A love for Chick-fil-A

Socks.

So, last night, I was trimming the girls toenails. I started out with Amy's....and I was tickling her feet as I did it. Of course, the other girls saw this and wanted in on the fun. I did Emma's next (and had to tickle her feet too!). Finally, as I got ready to do Audrey's, I was tickling her feet and told her that she had the softest feet in the whole wide world. (She really does have amazingly soft ~and dainty~ feet). She looks at me and with all seriousness replies, "That's because I wear socks."

Who knew the secret to super soft feet was to just wear socks. Smile.

What my kids think....

I posted this survey on my Facebook page, but thought I'd put it here too. I asked my kids these questions separately so they couldn't copy each others answers.

From Emma (8), Audrey(5), & Amy(4).

1. What is something mom always says to you?
Emma: You love me and you wish I wouldn't be bad sometimes
Audrey: I love you
Amy: I love you

2. What makes mom happy?
Emma: Daddy
Audrey: When I do the right thing
Amy: When I give you a gift

3. What makes mom sad?
Emma: When we yell
Audrey: That we don't do the right thing
Amy: When I hurt

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
Emma: By being funny
Audrey: When you say something funny
Amy: Doing funny things

5. What was your mom like as a child?
Emma: How am I supposed to know?
Audrey: You had blond hair and pigtails on both sides
Amy: What does that mean?

6. How old is your mom?
Emma: 32
Audrey: 32
Amy: 15 or 17 or 52

7. How tall is your mom?
Emma: I don't know
Audrey: Huge big (I can only imagine how tall she thinks David is!)
Amy: Big

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Emma: Be with Daddy
Audrey: Play
Amy: Play

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Emma: Sit on the couch and watch TV and work on your laptop
Audrey: Watch tv
Amy: I don't know

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Emma: Singing great
Audrey: I don't know
Amy: Me! (Love it!)

11. What is your mom really good at?
Emma: Helping me with homework
Audrey: Talent show
Amy: Sleeping, you're SO good.

12. What is your mom not very good at?
Emma: Drawing, no offense (None taken!)
Audrey: Juggling
Amy: Putting up pictures

13. What does your mom do for a job?
Emma: You don't have a job
Audrey: Work somewhere
Amy: Clean up the house

14.What is your mom's favorite food?
Emma: Hickory Chicken
Audrey: Salad
Amy: Rice and chicken and green beans

15.What makes you proud of your mom?
Emma: Being nice
Audrey: Don't know
Amy: You fix me a drink

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Emma: SuperWomanl
Audrey: Hannah Montana
Amy: A beautiful one and a diamond one because I love you (I think she's trying to be my favorite!)

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Emma: Talk
Audrey: Play
Amy: Play

18. How are you and your mom the same?
Emma: We agree on stuff
Audrey: I don't know
Amy: Our hair and our skin and eyes

19. How are you and your mom different?
Emma: I don't look like you
Audrey: We don't have the same color hair
Amy: Our glasses and your shirt and shoes and socks

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
Emma: Because you say it and you really mean it
Audrey: You always tell me
Amy: Because....I don't know

21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
Emma: That he loves you and he's funny
Audrey: That he kisses you (She whispered that in my ear!)
Amy: You love him

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Emma: Angaw & Nanaw's house
Audrey: Chuck e. cheese
Amy: A playground and Chick-fil-A

I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

It's Snowing!!!!!

Yesterday afternoon, the temperature was about 65 degrees. Today, we have snow...and accumulation at that!! It's been snowing here for several hours and I am just overwhelmed at the beauty! I am hoping the temperature stays low so that everything freezes overnight -- maybe then the schools will close for a day! (I'm already looking forward to sleeping in!)

We took the kids outside for a while to play. Even Molly went out for a little while! It is very cold so we didn't last long! We have plans to make hot cocoa (what's a snow day without cocoa?) and watch movies together. What a great day! :)

Surprised AGAIN!!!

Well....he's done it again! Just a little while ago, I walked through my bedroom and noticed a card on my pillow. It was a valentine from David. The envelope said "after you read this card, look under the alarm clock." So, after I read the card (which was very sweet), I looked under the clock. I could tell it was tickets...so I thought he must have gotten us tickets to a show coming up and I started trying to think what was playing at the Fox. All of that changed when I read the tickets!!! It was tickets to Mamma Mia and Mary Poppins.....in NEW YORK CITY!!!!!!!! We are going the weekend of our 11th wedding anniversary! What a great way to celebrate!!! I am still in shock as I type this! :) And, what makes it even more fun is that we are going the same weekend as my best friend, LeighAnn!! Her husband surprised her with the trip for her 30th birthday last month! Don't we have the BEST husbands in the world??? LeighAnn and I are very excited about spending another weekend in NYC...and we've already started planning our trip! (Of course...I called her immediately after finding out my surprise! She already knew but had kept it secret from me!) Needless to say, I am overwhelmed by the generosity of my sweet husband. I felt pretty special last weekend with the surprise to Hilton Head...and now to be able to spend our anniversary in NY....I'm so thankful to God for all He has blessed me with! I love my husband more and more every day....God is SO good!

Sweet Surprise!

Last Friday, I got a strange e-mail from David shortly after he left for work. It said "Hope you feel like getting up today....Love, David." I had been feeling under the weather for a few days, so I just figured he meant that he hoped I felt better and just went on about my day resting on the couch. A little while later, I checked my e-mail again to find another e-mail from David asking if I had recieved his e-mail. I got to thinking maybe he sent me and e-mail asking me to send him a document from his computer or needing some information from me so I responded that the only e-mail I had recieved was about me getting up today. That's where the fun began...he said, I was hoping you would respond....I have a game for you to play. Look under the couch cushion where you normally sit. So.....I look....and I find the first of 7 clues! David had made arrangements for us to go on a weekend trip to Hilton Head, SC and decided to tell me about it by sending me on a scavenger hunt for clues! The clues only revealed that we were going somewhere overnight and to have my bags packed in time to be ready to go when we picked up the girls from school. He also told me to have the girls packed to spend the weekend with my parents as we would be dropping them off after we picked them up. He didn't tell me where we were going until we were on our way!

Hilton Head is about a 4 and a half hour drive so we had lots of quiet, uninterrupted time to talk together. We arrived at our Hotel just after 8 o'clock and had enough time to check in and freshen up before our 9 pm dinner reservation at Frankie Bones. We enjoyed some delicious Lobster Macaroni and Cheese for dinner....so delish!

The next morning, David arranged for us to have a couples massage at the Hotel Spa. We were given all-day access to the spa and I took full advantage of the steam room and sauna before and after my massage! After our massages, we went to Harbour Town to see the Lighthouse. We had lunch at the Crazy Crab...yummy! After lunch, we headed to a local outlet mall for some shopping. When we got back to the hotel, we decided to go for a walk on the beach! I decided to share my grapes from the spa with some of the sea gulls on the beach and that turned into a Hitchcock like afternoon!! All of a sudden about a hundred birds came flying towards us! It freaked David out a little...and I was laughing so hard I was crying! David was brave enough to snap some pictures of the sight! He did not find it as funny as I did.

That night we decided to take advantage of the Early Bird Special at the restaurant at our hotel. We had a delicious three course meal. The following morning, Sunday, we decided to drive through Savannah on our way home. We made it to Savannah around 11 o'clock and decided to see if we could have lunch at Paula Deen's restaurant, The Lady and Sons. Lucky for us, there was several reservations still open so we selected 12:45. We went for a walk on River street while we waited for our appointed time. Lunch was fabulous! Sunday is a buffet only meal and it featured baked and fried chicken, several veggies and of course dessert! My favorite dish was the collard greens! Boy were they good! After lunch, we decided to head back home. We made it back around 5 that evening. It was a very relaxing weekend...and was made even more enjoyable by the surprise of it! I love it when my husband surprises me! He is truly a wonderful man and I thank God for him daily.

This coming Sunday we are headed to Long Beach, California for the annual Chick-fil-A Operator's Seminar. I look forward to the week and I can't wait to update with details from the trip!

OSUM!!

Audrey is in Kindergarten this year and is really enjoying learning to read and write words other than her name. She loves to practice her reading and writing. She has been writing me notes lately...and she's always telling me that she wrote them all by herself and no one helped her. Usually they just say "I love you Mom...Audrey Lindley" but tonight I found another note that she wrote....

"I see them teace the cau on a woc. I love you Mom. I like Kailyn." (Kailyn is her best friend at school) I think she meant "I see them take the cow on a walk."...(she was already asleep when I found the note, so I couldn't ask her)....but, the best part came when I turned over the paper and found....."OSUM!" and that is how Audrey spells AWESOME!

Lunch Date!

Lunch with friends at the CFA corporate office! That's Me, Amy Cathy, and LeighAnn! Good times! :)

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Reminiscing....

My best friend, LeighAnn, recently had a birthday...and her awesome husband surprised her with a trip this spring to her favorite city (and mine!) New York!! The last time he surprised her with a trip to "the city" (our affectionate name for it) was Christmas of 2006 when he collaborated with my husband for a joint gift. They sent the both of us for a weekend trip....GIRLS ONLY! It was fabulous! I can't believe our weekend was 2 years ago this week! We had a wonderful time and had a great getaway. I posted a blog about it on my myspace page shortly after we returned....so, seeing as it's the anniversary of our trip, (and in honor of LeighAnn's upcoming trip) I thought I'd repost my blog detailing our trip. Enjoy!! :) [By the way, Leigh...I think it's time for another girls only trip!!]

So...you all know that LeighAnn and I took a trip to NYC this past weekend courtesy of the sweetest husbands on earth. I just thought I'd "spill the beans" on our trip. (Don't worry LeighAnn...I won't spill all of them!!)

So, we left for New York early Thursday morning -- earlier than we had planned because Delta cancelled our original flight! OH NO! We were able to secure seats on the flight that left an hour earlier than our original flight. So, despite some pretty heavy turbulence about half-way through we made it to NYC by about 11:00 or so. We took a cab to our hotel and seeing as how check-in isn't until 3 and it's wasn't even noon yet, our room wasn't ready. We stayed at the Marriot Marquis in Times Square and fortunately for us, they had a baggage holding area so we didn't have to hold on to our luggage for 4 hours!

Since we had to wait to "check-in" officially, we decided to walk down to Grand Central Station for lunch. We ate at Juniors and then went to "stand-by" at Rachael Ray....sadly, there were no tickets available. They even turned away people that had tickets!! Apparently, they overbook to ensure a full audience. So...after freezing while standing in line for about an hour, we warmed up w/coffee at Starbucks and then headed back towards the hotel. We were finally able to check-in (our room was on the 42nd floor with a partial view of Times Square). We shopped for a while in Times Square until it was time for dinner (at Carmines! -- they have delicious Chicken Parm.) and then of to Mary Poppins -- which was PHENOMENAL!!!! I was very impressed w/the show! It is definitely one I could see again and again!

On Friday...we decided we would go sight-seeing. So...we hailed a cab to go to the World Trade Center. I had chills all over the whole time we were there. We walked around for quite a while....looked at all the memorial photo's....then walked over to South Seaport. There we had the BEST Mexican lunch at "Red." It was FAB!!! SO yummy! From there we walked all over the city.....and I mean ALL over. Miles and miles!!! We went to see the Statue of Liberty -- from a distance anyway, we didn't go on the Ferry because it was a very overcast day, sort of dreary. We did walk around Battery Park a little...then we made our way towards the Empire State Building and along the way saw the Book Store that was used as a model for You've got Mail. It was very quaint, complete with dancing cupcakes in the adjacent snack shop. We also stopped at the Scholastic book store. We went inside the Empire St. Bldg but didn't go up because the visibility was only 1 mile. It's not worth the $20 if you can't see anything! From the Empire St. Bldg. we hailed a cab back to the hotel to get ready for Lion King. We went to Bubba Gump for dinner because of our Pizza fiasco. We were told by the Conceirge at our hotel there was a great (reasonably priced) pizza place 2 blocks down -- turns out, it was not so reasonably priced! We knew of another pizza place closer to our hotel (and the Lion King -- it was right across the street from the hotel) but it was PACKED and we only had an hour. So we scarfed down our Bubba Gump and made it to The Lion King with 15 minutes to spare! The show was GREAT! We had awesome seats...center front row on the balcony. It was quite a night of entertainment!

On Saturday we went SHOPPING! We walked down to Central Park for breakfast then walked all around Madison for the shopping. We went to both Trump Towers and went to so many stores! We probably had the most fun shopping in Bloomingdales...the "concierge" there really helped us out a lot and we learned you really have to be in shape to try on spanx! (enough said!). We basically shopped all day....finally made it back to the hotel at a good time for dinner. We ate at Johns Pizza (the place that was packed the night before) and chowed down! It was the best pizza! We had a yummy garlic, spinach, and tomato pizza.....So yummy.... After that, we shopped a little more at Times Square...went to Toys R Us, M&M World, and the Hershey Store. From there we decided to go have a nice dessert and ended up at Bubba Gump again. The waitress was EXTREMELY chatty....turns out, she was from GA and she and I went to the same college...AND her name was Angie! Weird!!! After dessert we just went back to the hotel. On the way back to our hotel (a total of 1 1/2 blocks) we stopped to take pictures of Times Square and that's when a couple of strange men wanted us to take their picture (see my pic's!)....we obliged just so they would leave us alone. They were obviously quite intoxicated and wanted to know why people told them they should not wear pink! There really is never a dull moment in Times Square!!!!

Sunday...we had to leave the hotel by 8:30 to get to the airport in time for our flight and we encountered one of the worst cab drivers ever! He had NO idea how to get to the airport and spent the entire trip holding a map and talking (more like yelling) on the cell phone (I guess to a dispatch operator or something)!! He talked in his native tongue which I didn't even recognize, drove about 90 miles an hour and if that wasn't bad enough, he was a spit talker!! GROSS! So, anyway...the trip to the airport was $33 and since we were really surprised we made it there we decided to just give him $35....the guy looks at the cash and says...the fare is $33 and you only give me $2 tip???? We were SHOCKED! So, LeighAnn says "Have a nice day" and we walked away!!!! I was trying so hard not to crack up laughing in front of the guy! He's lucky he even got any tip at all! And we thanked our lucky stars that we made it to the airport!

We really had a great time (can you tell?) and have decided we must take a trip together annually! It went by so fast we weren't ready to go home!! However, we did get the warmest welcome any Mommy could ask for....as we entered into the baggage claim area in ATL we were greeted by those wonderful husbands of ours....ALL 5 of our children (my 3 and LeighAnn's 2) complete with "Welcome Home Mommy" signs.....it was precious!

Book recommendations??

I'm in need of some new books to read. I just finished Same Kind of Different as Me (I know book titles are supposed to be underlined, but I can't figure out how to do it!!). I've also already read The Shack (I was not impressed). I don't care for Science Fiction or Fantasy Books. I do love Christian Literature.

What do you recommend?

Ipod Shuffle...aka Go Light Your World

I saw this on another blog I follow and thought that it would be fun to try it out on my blog. It's the Ipod Shuffle!

1. Put your iPod (or MP3 player) on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!
4. Tag friends who might enjoy doing the note as well as the person you got the note from.

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
Shout to the North -- Delerious

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Jive Talkin' -- The BeeGees

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Jewels -- The Peasall Sisters

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
Remember Me -- Mark Shultz

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Our Last Summer -- Mamma Mia Soundtrack

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Peace of Mind -- Boston

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Tonight The Heartache's on Me -- Dixie Chicks

WHAT IS 2+2?
When There Was Me and You -- High School Musical Soundtrack

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
You Do All Things Well -- Chris Tomlin

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
How Great Is Our God -- Chris Tomlin

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Soak Up The Sun -- Sheryl Crow

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Lifesong -- Casting Crowns

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Clumsy -- Fergie

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Amazing -- Janelle

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Fergalicious -- Fergie

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
When a Man Loves a Woman -- Percy Sledge

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
What About Love -- Heart

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Life is a Highway -- Rascal Flatts

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
I Wanna Know What Love Is -- Foreigner

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Chasing Cars -- Snow Patrol (lol!)

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
Don't Matter -- Akon

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
Love of My Life -- Jim Brickman

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
To the Only God -- David Crowder

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
For Good -- Wicked Soundtrack

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
Take On Me -- A-ha

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
This Man -- Jeremy Camp

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
Summer Love -- Justin Timberlake

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
There's Your Trouble -- Dixie Chicks

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Go Light Your World -- Chris Rice

I tag anyone who reads this!!!! So, if you are willing to do it, let me know by leaving a comment and I'll come read your shuffle! :)

"Her lens popped out"

So today, I'm sitting on the couch watching "The Women" when I get a phone call from the Elementary School. As a mom, when you see that number pop up on caller ID you know it's usually not a good thing. So, I answer and hear, "Hi Mrs. Lindley, this is Nurse Liz, don't panic everyone is okay." Whew, that's a relief. The nurse then says, "I just wanted to call you and let you know Emma was just in my office and her lens popped out." At this point, I'm totally confused. Her lens popped out?? What?? The nurse, having no idea that I have no clue as to what she is talking about, goes on to explain that Emma had been in the lunchroom when it popped out so they sent her to the clinic to have it fixed. So, finally I say, "What lens are you talking about?" and she said she was talking about Emma's glasses. So, I tell her, Emma doesn't wear glasses....are you sure you called the right mother (there is another Emma in her class that does, in fact, wear glasses). Fortunately, Nurse Liz was a great sport...she knew she had the right Emma (and the right Mom) and just laughed it off. Poor thing spent 15 minutes fixing those glasses! Turns out, Emma had taken a pretend pair of glasses to school with her today without my knowledge! I was just thankful it was something simple as a popped out lens, and not anything more serious like a stomach bug. Fortunately, we've been spared from those!

Zumba, anyone??

I tried Zumba out 2 weeks ago. It's a new class that is being offered at my gym, Bodyplex. So far, I really like it. It's more fun than actual exercising, but don't get me wrong...it burns some calories! I've burned over 500 calories each time I've taken the class. (I wear a HR monitor watch during class, that's how I know how any calories I burn.) I'm hoping they add more classes to the schedule. Currently, it's only offered at 4:30 on Tuesday afternoons. I'd like to see it offered in the morning one or two days a week. If you want to get "physical" but aren't looking for standard aerobics, look for a Zumba class near you! It's SO much fun!

Off to Zumba!!!

Rough weekend....

Saturday was a bittersweet day for our family...as I guess it will always be. It was my Dad's birthday, but also the 9th anniversary of my brother's death. Time is a strange thing. It does not heal all wounds. The death of a loved one creates a void, an emptiness that can not be replaced. It's like a missing puzzle piece. There is not a day that goes by that we don't think of Robby. It's amazing...my kids never met him, I was 20 weeks pregnant with Emma when he died, but they each have a little "Robby-ness" to them. Amy is the most like him. She's never quiet, and she has a bit of a mean streak. She's even left handed like he would have been if he hadn't of had a stroke as a baby.

Each year feels a little different. I'm thankful that I'm another year closer to seeing him again, but sad that it's been so long since I've seen him. He was an awesome brother, always willing to take care of his little sister. I'm thankful for all of the fun memories I have with him and I love how sometimes something will pop in my mind at just the time I need it most. I always enjoy hearing other peoples stories about Robby. Sometimes it's things I've never heard before, others it's things I may have forgotten. I'll never tire of talking or hearing about Robby. If you have any memories to share, please do!

I hope this post isn't too jumbled. My head has all sorts of thoughts swimming around. I just felt like writing some of them down.

New Year...new eating habits???

I'm not a fan of diets. I think they put too much pressure on a person. Not only that, but it seems whenever I restrict myself from having something...I immediately crave that "something" I'm not supposed to have. It's not a winning situation for me. That being said, I am a supportive person and the person I support most of all is my sweet hubby. So, this year, when he asked me if I'd be interested in going "low carb" with him, I hesitantly agreed. So, last Monday, I went low-carb.

So far, it hasn't been too bad. I don't miss the breads, rice, sugars, etc. as much as I thought I might. I have learned to drink my morning coffee with sugar free flavored non-dairy creamer (and it's actually tolerable...not great, but I can handle it). I've been eating eggs and bacon or eggs and sausage for breakfast. For lunch I usually have a salad or I'll make some chicken or tuna salad and eat it rolled in a piece of romaine lettuce. For dinner, we've had pesto stuffed chicken, salmon, steak fajita's without the tortillas, Cobb salad, chili, and grilled chicken. I will say I have missed my desserts!! I have a big sweet tooth, but I can have 3 teaspoons of peanut butter a day, so I've been using that as my "dessert" this week. I would say the hardest parts are the breakfast and lunch....I like a little more variety in my menu. But, all in all, it hasn't been bad.

I also got back into a better routine at the gym this past week. I started out on Monday running a mile and going to BodyPump (weight-lifting class). On Tuesday I ran a mile and went to Zumba, a fun latin-dancing inspired aerobics class. I took Wednesday off because I was SO sore from working out on Monday night. Thursday I went to BodyStep and Friday morning I ran another mile and did another BodyPump class. It felt good to burn calories! I wear a heart rate monitor watch when I workout that calculated the number of calories I burn...I was happy to see that I burned over 2,400 calories last week!

This morning, I stepped on the scale. Now, I usually fluctuate about 2 pounds all the time. So, based on my "high" weight fluctuation, I lost 5 pounds last week. But, if you base it on my "low" fluctuation, I lost 3! Still, not too shabby! So, I guess something is working! I've committed to going "low carb" with David until our Dwarf House Holiday Dinner on the 23rd of this month. Hopefully during this time I can get off a few more pounds! After that, I'm going to add in a few carbs (like non-sugar free creamer and maybe some oatmeal) but still restrict them as much as I can. I'm hoping this better way of eating will become a habit.

Oh, and David lost 5 pounds as well!

Testing

Just testing sending photos from the phone to the blog!

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Audrey's first Nutcracker!

Long before my kids were born, my mom and I decided that when the kids were old enough, we would make it a yearly tradition to see The Nutcracker at the Fox Theater each Christmas. Once they were born, we decided that the "magic age" would be five years old. Emma is an old pro by now, this year being her fourth Nutcracker, but this year was Audrey's first! We all were counting down the weeks until it was finally here! I knew she would love it...I could remember how mesmerized Emma was the first time she saw it (and she had been throwing up all night the night before) so we couldn't wait to see what Audrey would think...let me tell you, she did not disappoint!

I bought her a new fancy dress to wear and even dusted the girls with some shimmery powder so they would really sparkle and off we went! We got to the Fox about 30 minutes prior to showtime. We went to the potty, visited the concession stand (you just can't watch the Nutcracker without popcorn!) and bought the both of the girls an actual Nutcracker. It didn't take Audrey long to choose hers...the Mouse King. Emma ended up with the Mouse King as well...she already has Clara and Uncle Strosselmyer from previous years. By the time we made it to our (front row) seats we only had to wait about 5 minutes for showtime.

When the show started, so did the questions! The show starts with townspeople walking across the stage...and Uncle Strosselmyer appears in an upstairs window. Audrey immediately wanted to know who the people were and "how in the world did that man get up there?"! Once the opening scene was finished and the crowd applauded, Audrey leaned over to me and said, "Is it over?" I had to explain to her that you are supposed to clap after each song, but that doesn't mean it's over. It only took about 7-8 songs before she stopped asking and started telling me, "Mom, it's not over, they are just clapping."

She was full of questions throughout the whole performance and I was so glad that I had purchased front row seats...I can just imagine how many dirty looks we might have gotten if there were people in front of us to hear her talk so much! One of my favorite moments was when all of the mice are on the stage fighting with the nutcracker...Audrey was so caught up in watching them that she failed to notice the furniture being moved around on stage....when the Mouse King came out of the Wardrobe, she noticed the large grandfather clock had moved....she said to me, "Okay, how did that clock get over there?" My other favorite was during one of the many dance scenes a couple came out and the man had on some baggy pants and a vest, but no shirt (sort of like Aladdin). Audrey leaned over to me and said, "Mommy, he forgot his shirt!" She knew we had been several years in a row so she then asked me if they wear the same costumes every year...I told her that they do, but sometimes they change a little bit, they might be different colors, etc. Her next question..."Did he forget his shirt last year too?" I think I enjoyed watching Audrey experience the Nutcracker more than the actual ballet itself!

Once it was over, we made our way to the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner. We love going to eat there after a performance at the Fox! We arrived at 4:30, and they don't start seating until 5:00. We got choice seats...right inside the train car! We've been fortunate enough to sit in the train every year after the Nutcracker. Audrey and Emma had a great time and they both agree that the Macaroni and Cheese is delicious!

From there we followed tradition again by stopping at the Krispy Kreme that's just 2 doors down from the restaurant. We were happy to see the "Hot Doughnuts Now" sign illuminated. Audrey and Emma got to watch the production of the doughnuts we brought home! It was a wonderful night...full of great memories! I can't wait to take Amy next year as she turns the "magic age" in July.