Once Upon a Lindley

The virtue of Modesty....

2011-08-22T15:27:00.000-07:00

This topic was recently brought to my attention on facebook. I won't go into all the details, but suffice it to say, a male friend of mine honestly asked for help from female contemporaries in the area of their dress. He asked for them to not dress in a revealing manner as to not lead him in to temptation and causing him to stumble. I commended him for his honesty....men are visual creatures as designed by God and he was just admitting to this fact. One of his friends disagreed with him...and went to the extreme of saying that by putting the responsibility on women and how they dress, it is saying that any woman who has been raped has deserved it from her clothing. I disagreed and told her so. The conversation went on from there, but I will leave it at that. I write all this to say, I was reminded of a blog post I did about 4 years ago on Myspace discussing this very topic. It seems that in this fallen world, this will always be a "hot topic" for many. Here is my blog from years ago.....like I said, this was about 4 years ago...I won't bother with updating my kids ages....

Modesty -- a Virtue

I just felt the need to post a blog about Modesty. Being the mother of 3 girls, I find myself having a difficult time finding appropriate clothes for children. By appropriate I mean not having a LOW RISE jean for a 7 year old and not having words written across the bottom of toddler clothes (even if it says something innocent, like "cutie"). I myself even have a difficult time finding clothes that don't reveal too much, whether it be the rise on the jeans or the cut of the neckline. My best friend LeighAnn and I have been having discussions on this lately. At the Bible study we attend on Tuesday mornings at Berachah Bible Church, the pastor's wife mentioned that someone questioned an outfit she was wearing as not being appropriately modest. She went on to say that she was thankful that someone had challenged her on it. It was an excellent insight. She realized that although she may feel particularly cute or attractive in certain clothing, she must also take into consideration the way she looks to others. We may think we are dressed decently, but at the same time not realize the weakness of the opposite sex when it comes to visual desires. God made men to be very visual. We should not be an instrument of temptation to the men we come in contact with. Are we dressing in a way that is helping men avoid temptation? Are we helping them or hindering them by what we wear? We must keep these things in mind when we are dressing ourselves, and for me, when I am dressing my daughters. I don't want my 3, 4, and 7 year old daughters growing up thinking it's "okay" for someone to look at their backside (even if it's "only" to read what is written there). It's never okay to draw that sort of attention to ourselves. Our bodies are to be used to glorify God. I want to be an example of a Godly woman to my girls. The responsibility of teaching them modesty is mine.

One of the ladies in the church at Berachah wrote an article about this. I really enjoyed the article when I read it and I felt like it was important to post. In today's society, we are bombarded with sexual images...even in our commercials for shampoo!! We Christian women need to set the example of dressing appropriately...not only to honor ourselves, or even our husbands...but most importantly to honor GOD!

Here is the article:

Summer is officially here! Our sweaters are put away and our shorts are out. In these hot Georgia summers, how do we as Christian women choose to adorn ourselves? Are we attempting to look like and fit in with the world or are we setting ourselves apart for godliness? Fashion magazines, clothing stores, television, peers, and our own desires to fit in or stand out all tell us and show us what we "need" to wear. In our culture it is becoming more and more difficult to find stylish yet modest clothing. You might ask, "Why is modesty really so important"? We all have heard teaching on modesty numerous times, but it becomes a bit more obvious every summer that we need to be more diligent in applying God's word in this area. If modesty was an idea from man only, we could call it legalism. However, instruction for being modest and chaste is God-given, so we must pay attention. We will begin by going to the heart of modesty–our hearts!!

Modesty is the fruit of a well kept heart. In 1 Timothy 2:9 Paul states that "women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel" and the attitude in so doing is "with modesty and self-control". Practically speaking, "respectable attire" would be that which is not extravagant, showy, revealing or sexually enticing. Paul's appeal to Timothy was not a legalistic claim for women to dress in only a certain type of clothes. In the contrary, it was an appeal for those "women making a claim to godliness" (1 Tim. 2:10) to appear as such. The dress and appearance of women in the church is one way in which the church may distinguish itself from godlessness. Our hearts are the center of our being, our minds, our wills, and our desires. We have studied much in the past year about keeping our hearts with all diligence (Prov. 4:23) for "out of them spring the issues of life." The way we choose to adorn ourselves says much about the attitude and allegiance of our hearts. Do our wardrobes communicate that we are God-fearers? Modesty as defined in the Webster's dictionary is "freedom from vanity or conceit" and "propriety in dress, speech, or conduct". We can say then that immodesty is the fruit of a prideful heart. Self-control is defined as "restraint over one's impulses, emotions and desires." Here we can apply this teaching of modesty by being self-controlled and deliberate with our attire. Even as I write this, I am praying and asking God to reveal any area of my heart or wardrobe that needs attention. We are all about this heart work together.

Modesty in our dress flows from a humble heart. Immodesty is an attempt to draw attention to myself instead of bringing glory to God. This can simply be called arrogance or pride, a matter of the heart we must consider. CJ Mahaney in his book Humility: True Greatness says, "The proud person seeks to glorify himself and not God, thereby attempting in effect to deprive God of something only He is worthy to receive." What is my motivation, then, when I am out shopping for new clothes or at my closet door choosing what to where? Is it what will draw the most attention to me and my figure today? Is it what will turn the eyes of men? Or am I choosing modest yet attractive apparel to honor God? Our prideful hearts say our preferences are better than God's way. Dethroning ourselves and our desires, and humbly submitting to God may require reassessing our wardrobes. Be it casual or formal wear or swimwear, and whether church friends are around or not, this is an opportunity to be intentionally counter-cultural in expressing the fear of the Lord. A wedding is an example of one such opportunity. Brides and young ladies who will one day be brides, guard your hearts in your pursuit for the perfect dress. Your wedding is a time to demonstrate the glory of God in the covenant of marriage. For the Christian bride, this is one of the holiest times of your lives as you make vows before God and the church. You are a display of the body of Christ being presented to the Groom. This day should not be one to wear the most revealing thing you've ever worn. You will be the center of attention. A modest, yet beautiful dress should accentuate the face and heart of a bride who loves her Lord and her husband. The same can be said for dress on Sunday mornings for worship as we gather to praise God, not one another.

Modesty is one manner in which we serve others in the body of Christ. God has created men and women very differently with tendencies towards different types of sin. As this morning's message shows, Christian men must be constantly on their guard against the sin of lust. How women dress can effect men and cause them to sin. Even to those who are on guard and do not sin, it can be a great distraction. We, as Christian women, can show care for our brothers in Christ by dressing modestly. Church should be one place where they are protected from the sensual dress of women. In this sense, we see modesty as being a matter of responsibility not just preference. Al Mohler has this to say of men, "If it's a male and he's still breathing, he's going to be struggling with visual stimulation that will lead him to sin. And you need to care for your brothers, to serve them by not allowing that to happen."

Lastly, modesty assists in the furtherance of the gospel. As believers we are to be holy as Christ is holy. We must live in a way that is consistent with our faith. May there be no contradiction between our appearance before the world and the gospel message we proclaim. It is the glory of God at stake and the world is watching! As we live authentically, may we not tend towards self-righteousness. We must love the lost, no matter how they are dressed. Our ultimate goal is not to get them fully-dressed but to share the gospel that will save their souls.

The exhortation given to women through Paul to Timothy is to all Christian women, young and old. Even for our very young girls we have to search for modest clothing. To the older women, your instruction to younger women, daughters and granddaughters is most effective when you model modesty as well. Young women and girls, listen to the instruction of your fathers, mothers and older women in this area. Their wisdom can provide great protection.

God is the giver of all things beautiful!! The call to modesty is not a call to be unattractive or to wear only burlap sacks. We are to display the beauty and grace of womanhood that comes from a heart that finds ultimate pleasure in God. Let's assist one another in the high calling of well-kept, humble hearts that seek to exalt Christ.

Here are a few other interesting links:

http://www.therebelution.com/modestysurvey/

http://www.therebelution.com/blog/2007/02/cj-mahaney-the-soul-of-modesty-2/

http://girltalk.blogs.com/girltalk/2005/06/modesty_heart_c.html

I hope you all find this information worthwhile. It is also my prayer that anyone that reads this information will re-evaluate their own wardrobe and thought process when it comes to choosing the clothes you wear. I know I did.

Feeling inspired....

2011-06-07T04:31:00.000-07:00

So....it's been almost a year since I last blogged. For some reason, I just can't get into a habit of updating this site at all! I'm not going to close it down...and I'm not going to make any promises of updating more often. I think I will just update as inspiration strikes...hence this post. While I fail at updating my own blog, I do read several blogs on a regular basis. (You can find these on the side of my page.) My oldest childhood friend, and by oldest I mean the friend that I've had the longest time (almost 23 years!), recently blogged about her husband and listed 100 things she loved about him. A day or so later, a mutual friend of ours from high school was inspired and wrote her list of things that she loved about her husband. So, here I am, feeling inspired to make my list. I would like to note that the three of us have all been happily married for over 13 years and we all married our high school sweethearts. :) (Technically, David and I didn't start dating until after we graduated, but, we each had a crush on each other our senior year.)

So, here goes.

100 Things I love about David

1. He tells me he loves me, multiple times, every day.

2. He likes to fall asleep watching boring things on TV like History Channel or Discovery Channel.

3. He has a GREAT sense of humor, that not everyone gets.

4. He can be shy.

5. He drove over an hour to visit my Dad at work to ask for my hand in marriage.

6. He loves to hold babies, and isn't nervous to do so.

7. He worked full-time while going to college and paid his own way.

8. He is an amazing athlete, and does well at just about every sport he tries.

9. He does not like scary movies.

10. He holds my hand whenever we pray.

11. He has never raised his voice at me.

12. Before he ever asked me to marry him, he told me when he got married, he would NOT get divorced.

13. He has nice hands.

14. When we ran our first half-marathon together, he stayed with me the whole time, even though he normally runs at a much faster pace.

15. I think he is excellent at his job.

16. His commute is around 1.5 hours (round trip) and he does this willingly to provide for his family.

17. He loves being a father to all girls.

18. When we got a dog, he let me get a girl.

19. My happiness is important to him.

20. He loves to cook.

21. He is an awesome cook...and has created some of his own recipes that are amazing! (Bruschetta and Lindley Broil, just to name a couple.)

22. He carried me over the threshold on our wedding day.

23. He let me wipe the sweat off his forehead during our wedding.

24. He is tall, but not too tall.

25. When we hug, we fit.

26. He remembers our many anniversaries....date of first phone call, first date, when he asked me to marry him, etc.

27. He has special "Daddy's Little ____" names for each of our girls.

28. He is artistic.

29. He has a special way he draws each of our girls' names.

30. He likes to doodle.

31. When he doodles, he usually doodles my name.

32. He will send me random texts, just to let me know he is thinking about me.

33. He encourages me.

34. He cares about his employees.

35. He is a man of integrity.

36. He calls me "his girl".

37. He loves to play games.

38. When he tucks our girls in at night, he tells them to "blow out the light"...every time.

39. He tucks me in, too. I also get to "blow out the light."

40. He will dance with me, even though he doesn't like to dance.

41. When he is out of town, he misses me....even if it's just overnight.

42. He is still a kid at heart.

43. Sometimes when he tucks in the kids, he will surprise them and start a pillow fight.

44. Just the other day, he started a pillow fight....in the middle of a department store. He threw all the pillows off the shelf at the kids....and then he cleaned them up.

45. He collects Hot Wheels.

46. He will let me pick what we watch on TV.

47. He is always appreciative and says "Thank you" often.

48. He can wiggle his ears.

49. He willingly handles everything when the kids get sick because he knows I can't handle it.

50. He trusts my instincts on knowing when we should take the kids to the doctor or not.

51. He cut the chord at all 3 of our children's births....even though he gets grossed out at that sort of stuff.

52. He shares his work day with me, and often asks for my advice or opinion.

53. If he sees something he knows I would like, he will buy it for me, "just because."

54. He prays for me.

55. When I get frustrated over something silly, he doesn't get upset.

56. He is always calm.

57. He still has his Monchichi doll from when he was a little boy.

58. He is an excellent daddy.

59. He sets a great example of how a husband should treat his wife.

60. When we kissed at our wedding, he pulled my veil off. :)

61. In high school, he flirted with me by throwing starburst wrappers at me.

62. He still throws starburst wrappers at me.

63. He puts his arm around me at church.

64. He is a faithful tither.

65. He handles all of our bills and our budget.

66. When he looks at me, I still get butterflies.

67. He makes a delicious chocolate sauce, and will make it for me whenever I ask him to.

68. He listens to stories he's heard before (sometimes multiple times) about my childhood with my brother.

69. He has never disrespected me.

70. He was my rock when my brother died, and when my dad was diagnosed with cancer.

71. He is always willing to rearrange his schedule when I need him to.

72. He is my best friend.

73. He will make my coffee for me.

74. He has beautiful eyes....the perfect shade of blue.

75. He is competitive, but has good sportsmanship, even if he loses.

76. He doesn't complain.

77. He always calls me on his way home from work to check if he needs to pick anything up for me.

78. He likes to hug me in front of the girls...and he always tells them that he loves me very much.

79. He went to all of my OB appointments for all of my pregnancies.

80. He took great care of me when our first pregnancy ended in miscarriage.

81. I had surgery last year and couldn't do any housework for 6 weeks....he maintained our house (laudry, dishes, and meals) without falling behind.

82. He encouraged me to get Lasik, even though it is expensive.

83. He always gives me a hug and kiss goodbye.

84. He has been known to plan great surprises (like a trip to NY) for me.

85. He is trustworthy and can keep a secret.

86. He loves to go on dates.

87. He is great at picking out clothes for me.

88. He is always willing to help others.

89. He makes me laugh every day.

90. He still flirts with me.

91. He decorates the envelope of every card he gives me.

92. He always thinks I am beautiful, even when I have bed head.

93. He will run my bath for me when I want to take one, and the water is always the perfect temperature.

94. He puts the toilet seat down.

95. When he cooks dinner, he will fix my plate for me.

96. He laughs out loud while watching TV....even at shows he's seen before.

97. He loves God more than me.

98. He is always honest with me.

99. He appreciates my thriftiness.

100. He always kisses me goodnight.

Thank you Heidi and Jamie for the inspriration!

Has it really been 6 months???

2010-07-14T06:51:00.000-07:00

Wow...I can't believe it's been almost 6 months since I last posted! I guess life has been busy and I just haven't made the time to blog. I really need to make it more of a priority. I really enjoy reading other blogs...and it's not like there hasn't been stuff going on around here to blog about, I just need to sit down and do it!

So...let's see if I can catch up with the Lindley happenings......

In February, David and I spent Valentine's weekend at our favorite marriage conference, Weekend to Remember, by FamilyLife. We went to Hilton Head, SC and had a wonderful time focusing on our marriage and refocusing on each other. After that, we attended the annual Chick-fil-A operator's seminar in Washington, D.C. We were able to do some sight seeing; we went to George Washington's home and got to spend a few hours at the National Mall going to museums and visiting monuments.

In April, Audrey turned 7 and had a Pig party. She loves pigs! Emma turned the big 1-0 in May right at the end of the school year. She had another luau party with a bit of a monkey theme. The girls finished out the school year strong!! They all received some great awards at the end of the school year and Emma was invited to join the Jr. Beta Club! We are so proud of them. Audrey and Emma both took the CRCT this year and did great by exceeding all the standards.

David and I went on a cruise at the beginning of June with the Chick-fil-A Dwarf House group. We spent a day in Key West and also a day in Cozumel where we got the opportunity to swim with dolphins! It was incredible! We got to do a dorsal tow -- we held on to the dorsal fins of two dolphins and they pulled us through the water. They also did a foot push where each dolphin pushed us by our feet up and out of the water!! It was SO much fun. We also were lucky enough to get to spend some time with a manatee. It was a blast! The weekend after our cruise we went on our family vacation to Panama City Beach! Mom and Dad went with us and we stayed the week at Splash Resort. We celebrated both Father's Day and David's birthday at the beach! We had a great time even though we had a couple of injuries. Audrey was the first one to fall at the water park that is on sight. She slipped on a slide and bumped her head and ended up with a nice goose egg over her left eye. Not to be outdone, Amy developed yet another abscessed tooth the next day so we had to call the dentist and have a prescription called in....then, the next day, Amy fell at the water park and busted her top lip!! She ended up with a scrape on the cheek and a nice cut on the inside of her lip.

We started of July with the Peachtree Road Race on the 4th. This year, Emma decided to join David and I at the race! She did great! The Peachtree is a 10k which translates to 6.2 miles. We ran the first 4 miles and then had to walk the last 2 miles because Emma and David were beginning to show signs of heat exhaustion. We had a late start time (almost 9:00) and it was HOT out there! We still managed to finish in about an hour and 25 minutes.

Now we are just chilling out for the rest of the summer....Amy will turn 6 (where has the time gone??) in a little over a week. She is having yet another Dora birthday party. This will be her 5th Dora party. I told her yesterday she should be the president of the Dora fan club because she has to be Dora's biggest fan!! We are also getting ready to start our back to school supply shopping. Emma is about to enter the 5th grade, Audrey will be in 2nd and Amy will be a 1st grader. The girls really enjoy school so although they are sad their summer is coming to an end, they are looking forward to being back with their friends.

I plan to go to work with David a couple of days a week and I will also be doing Mom to Mom again. I really enjoyed it last year and look forward to it again this year.

I think that has me caught up!!! I'm hoping to set aside time each week to update...but I'm not making any promises. I know the school year will be busy with lots of homework and projects...but maybe I can find a window of opportunity every now and then to update.

Until next time......Angie

At a loss....

2010-01-25T06:54:00.000-08:00

Well, it's hard to believe that January is almost over. Time is a precious thing. It always seems to go by way too fast. Recently (the 17th of this month) we celebrated the 10th anniversary of Robby's homegoing. Celebrate seems to be a strange word, but, in all honesty, it is something to celebrate. He has been with Jesus for 10 years now. I can honestly say that not one day in these last ten years has gone by without him coming to my mind. I think of him every day. There are things that make me sad, I do miss him. I wish that he would have been able to experience being an uncle. Emma was born just months after he died. However, I don't know that I would have wanted my girls to experience losing him....but I would have liked for them to have known him.

The past few weeks have been rough, emotionally speaking. There have been so many deaths. Right after the New year, one of David's old employee's passed away. Then, days later, the associate pastor of my church died. That same day, a friend of mine lost her boyfriend. And then, just this past Friday, one of the sweetest ladies I've ever known, Karen Means, died of brain cancer. She leaves behind her husband of 21 years, her 14 year old son, and her 10 year old daughter. I can't honestly say I know how these people feel...while I've suffered a great loss losing my brother, I know it's different to lose a parent, a child, or a spouse. I do know that they have a tough road ahead. My prayers are with them. I know that most of them know the Lord...and for that I am thankful. The Bible says in Psalm 34:18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. I hope that these suffering families can find hope in these words. Each day that goes by is but another day closer to reuniting with our loved ones.

I'm attending the funeral of my sweet friend Karen today. My heart is broken, but I know that Karen is no longer suffering from the beast that invaded her body. She is greatly missed, but will not be forgotten. Please join me in praying for these precious families as they adjust to life without their loved ones presence.

The Prodigal God...

2009-12-27T18:07:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-12-05T10:56:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-11-12T11:37:00.001-08:00

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?

2009-11-09T15:27:00.001-08:00

What if?

Posted using ShareThis

Sneak Peek of Family Portraits!

2009-11-05T06:01:00.001-08:00

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??) ;)

2009-10-30T12:45:00.000-07:00

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....

2009-09-19T16:47:00.000-07:00

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....

2009-08-15T18:01:00.000-07:00

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....

2009-08-13T05:28:00.000-07:00

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!!

2009-07-27T14:16:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-07-23T19:56:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-06-05T06:06:00.000-07:00

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....

2009-05-12T17:16:00.000-07:00

Hoping to do a proper update soon. Stay tuned!

A visit from the Tooth Fairy....

2009-04-18T19:19:00.000-07:00

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....

2009-04-14T12:52:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-04-13T10:44:00.000-07:00

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.....

2009-03-21T18:09:00.000-07:00

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....

2009-03-17T04:42:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-11T15:10:00.001-07:00

I thought this was great! Enjoy & EAT MORE CHICKEN!

Socks.

2009-03-05T11:04:00.000-08:00

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....

2009-03-04T17:06:00.000-08:00

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!!!!!

2009-03-01T14:10:00.000-08:00

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!!!

2009-02-13T15:23:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-02-12T07:39:00.000-08:00

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!!

2009-02-05T19:15:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-02-05T12:35:00.001-08:00

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

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

Reminiscing....

2009-02-02T06:20:00.000-08:00

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??

2009-01-29T08:55:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-28T12:18:00.000-08:00

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"

2009-01-21T12:00:00.000-08:00

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??

2009-01-20T12:42:00.001-08:00

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....

2009-01-19T07:34:00.000-08:00

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???

2009-01-12T12:30:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-03T10:42:00.001-08:00

Just testing sending photos from the phone to the blog!

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

Audrey's first Nutcracker!

2009-01-03T08:08:00.001-08:00

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.

Speaking "dog".....

2008-12-09T14:24:00.001-08:00

I can always count on Audrey to make me laugh...whether it's her snoopy sounding giggle, or a funny little dance, she always brings a smile to my face. Last night was no exception!

Emma was a little ill last night with a fever...our dog Molly wanted her to play anyway. Molly kept barking and nipping at Emma trying to convince her to play along. I told Molly to leave her alone, that she didn't feel well. Of course, Molly didn't stop...she kept right on bothering Emma...I told her again to leave her alone and moved her away from Emma. When Molly jumped back on Emma a third time, Audrey looked over at me and said, "Momma, you have to talk dog to her. She doesn't understand what you are saying." I laughed to myself and thought...I can play along with this. So, I proceeded to "bark" at Molly. While I was barking, Audrey interrupted and said, "Mommy...make sure you don't tell her what you got her for Christmas!" I guess I speak "dog" better than I thought. I assured Audrey that I wouldn't tell her...and then "barked" at Molly one more time. I asked Audrey if she thought Molly understood what I had said and she said, "Yes, because Molly speaks "dog", too." :)

Injury updates...

2008-12-05T19:27:00.000-08:00

Blisters and bad knees!!!!

I think I ended up with about 5 blisters on each foot from the walk. They were big and they were painful! I was able to drain the fluid and alleviate the pain. However, once they started to heal, they itched like crazy!!! I would have loved some sandpaper carpet! They have since healed, pretty much completely. I have nice new skin on the bottom of my feet now. :) I went to the Doctor the day after the walk because my achilles tendon on my right heel was bothering me. I had a knot on it and whenever I flexed my foot, I could feel something rubbing together under the skin. I also didn't have full range of motion in my right foot. I could move it up and down, but couldn't move it in a circle. The doctor said I had severe tendonitis and a slight sprain in my ankle. She figured that I was probably walking unnaturally to compensate for the blisters on my feet, and thus caused irritation everywhere else. She put me on an anti-inflammatory and sent me for knee x-rays.

The anti-inflammatory seemed to help with everything but my knee. It took about 2 weeks for my heel to heal enough to wear an athletic shoe. But, I was still having more and more difficulty with my knee. (I've had problems with it for a long time ~several years~ but now instead of just making creaking noises when I went down stairs, I was having a lot of pain.) The x-rays came back normal so I was referred to an orthopedist. I saw him this past Wednesday and he diagnosed me with a strong case of chondromalacia, also known as "runner's knee". I will start physical therapy 2 times a week for 3 weeks on Monday. If this doesn't relieve the pain, he will try giving me a shot of cortisone. As a last resort, if the cortisone doesn't work, he said he can do arthroscopic surgery and clean up the cartilage under my kneecap. I'm hoping the PT helps and that I won't need the surgery.

Tricia went to the doctor about her knee and after having an MRI, she was told she had torn her miniscus. She had surgery the week of Thanksgiving and seems to be recovering well. You can follow her progress at her blog, www.blakelyfamilyblog.blogspot.com/.

I hope to do better with my blogging....I'll be sure to update on how my PT goes and the progress with my knee.

I hope to update again in a few days with a few pictures from Thanksgiving.

60 miles later....

2008-12-05T18:15:00.000-08:00

So, the last time I blogged was just before the big 3 Day walk. Shamefully, I'm just getting around to blogging about it. It was quite a journey, both physically and mentally. It was one of those life experiences that is almost too hard to describe in words...but, I will try! The pictures and commentary will at least give you a taste of what it was like....

(I haven't quite figured out how to arrange my pictures on here. The pictures seem to have posted in reverse order)

The walk was scheduled to start bright and early on Friday morning at Northpoint Mall in Roswell. Being that myself, Katie and Tricia all live on the south side of Atlanta, we made the wise decision to book a hotel room for Thursday night so we wouldn't have to get up quite as early on Friday. Unfortunately for us, rain was in the forecast with a 100% chance of showers. All. Day. Long. So, Friday morning came and sure enough, it was raining. We were a little late getting over to the mall due to there only being one shuttle to transport the walkers over. The rain had caused a delay in the starting ceremonies, so luckily, we didn't miss out on much. The walk got started right at 7:30 on Friday...and being that we were some of the last walkers to arrive before the start, we got out in front for the start of the walk.

We maintained a pretty good pace, and managed to make it to the lunch stop at around 11:00. We were hoping for a piping hot meal, but sadly we were given cold chicken sandwiches. The best thing about lunch that day was the hot cocoa!! Nothing like a cup of hot cocoa when it's 50 degrees and pouring down rain!! Needless to say we were quite miserable all day Friday. I kept joking that it felt like that part of the movie Forrest Gump where Forrest describes all the rain he experienced in Vietnam....we had big ol' fat rain, little bitty stingin' rain, and even rain that came down sideways!!! We were on a mission to get through the day and we made it back to "camp" at about 1:30. Thankfully the 3Day people were able to arrange for us to sleep indoors due to the rain. We were placed in an empty office building and were spread out like refugees. We were a few of the lucky ones and got placed in a small office. It was just the three of us in our own private room. In the larger open office spaces, there was about 100 people spaced out on sleeping bags. We were quite thankful for our "private room". Once we got changed into dry clothes we made our way over to what was supposed to be our actual campsite where we had our dinner. We were happy to see that we had large heated tent to chill out in for a while. We got to hear a few amazing cancer stories, learned who raised the most money, and there was even a "3Day Idol" karaoke contest. About half-way through the music, we decided to go back to our "hotel" and call it a night. When we got in line for the bus around 9, the line was already about 200 people deep. We waited, and waited...and the line grew and grew. They only had 2 charter buses and the round-trip from the camp to the office building took about 20 minutes. At one point, the workers sent a group of people walking up a hill to catch another bus....the hundreds of people in line saw this and the line just disappeared!! Not in a good way either! It was MASS CHAOS!! We did not make it back to our room until almost midnight! Let me remind you that it was still raining. If ever there was a time we wanted to throw in the towel and go home...this was it!!!

On to day two....

Saturday started out with a nice hot breakfast. It was cold outside but at least it wasn't raining!! The walk started up again by about 8:00 and we were ready! We kept about the same pace as we did the day before and finished in about the same amount of time. After our experience the night before, we decided that we didn't even want to attempt to stay at camp. We were not going to have the luxury of sleeping indoors and as far as we could tell from walking around camp, the ground was completely saturated...we did not want to sleep in the mud! We made a call and were able to get a hotel about 10 minutes away from camp. By the end of day 2, Tricia and I were starting to ache just a little bit. We both have knee issues anyway and apparently, walking 40 miles in just 2 days can cause them to act up! We took ourselves out to dinner at Longhorn as a treat. We were all walking like we belonged in a nursing home by the end of the night! We hadn't lost our sense of humor so we were at least able to laugh at ourselves a few times. We were thankful to be able to take hot showers and sleep in warms beds to prepare ourselves...for day 3!!!......

Fortunately when we woke up on Day 3, we felt pretty good...mine and Tricia's knees were feeling better and my blisters that had started weren't giving me too much trouble. And, considering it was Day 3, and we only had 20 miles to go, nothing was going to stop us! We made our way through the course at our usual speed and finished the walk by about 2:30 on Sunday afternoon. We found that at each rest stop, it got harder and harder to get going again...so much so that we didn't even stop at the last one! We could feel the finish line was ahead and we weren't going to stop until we got there!! I did stop at one of the early rest stops and got my (many) blisters doctored and my knee wrapped. I think that helped me make it the rest of the way....I was really starting to feel the wear and tear from those miles! Once we crossed the finish line, we were able to pick up our Victory shirts. After that, we made our way back to the finish line to cheer on the other walkers and wait for the closing ceremonies. The closing started around 5:30...we walked in as a complete group of walkers being cheered on by all the volunteers, supporters, friends and family. Once we came in, we cheered for all of the 3 Day crew and volunteers. Then, we all raised a shoe to those we walked for. The survivors. It was incredible to see such a strong group of women...all at different stages of Breast Cancer...newly diagnosed, bald from treatment, recently off treatment, relapsed, and remission. They all came together to raise the final flag. It was very emotional but empowering at the same time. We walked so that one day, our daughters won't have to.

This is just a small tidbit of our experience...there was so much more. I would encourage everyone to somehow take part in this experience. Whether it be walking, volunteering, cheering, or even donating. Even something small can make a difference. Everyone deserves a lifetime!! To Katie and Tricia...thank you for allowing me to walk with you in Honor and Memory of your precious Mom. She was an incredible warrior. This will be an experience I will remember forever.

The journey of 60 miles begins with one step....

2008-10-21T10:07:00.000-07:00

And that step will take place early this Friday morning! It's hard to believe, even for myself, that it's almost here. And by "it" I am referring to the Breast Cancer 3 Day walk. I've done all the training I can do...except for one more walk tomorrow morning. It's already been an interesting journey. I haven't quite met my goal yet for fund-raising...I think I'm at 57%. There is still time to donate if you'd like. Even a small amount helps greatly!

As I've mentioned before, I'm walking in memory of Bev Maday. While training with her daughter, Katie, I found out that Bev walked the 3 Day 6 years straight. Her first walk being right before her diagnosis in 2000. The last walk she participated in was 2005. She wanted to walk in 2006, but was too sick from treatments. At this stage of her battle, her cancer had spread from her breasts to many other places in her body including her lungs and liver. Bev passed away September of 2007.

This is the first year that Katie and her sister Tricia have walked the walk together. They had each participated a few times with Bev, but had never walked together. This is my first year taking part in the walk at all, so we are all pretty excited.

I appreciate your prayers and your support. I know this weekend will be both emotionally and physically draining. But I am looking forward to doing my part to help put an end to this disease. Everyone deserves a lifetime.

30 days and counting.....

2008-09-23T15:40:00.000-07:00

On October 24-26, thousands of women and men will unite and walk 60 miles through the Atlanta community. The Breast Cancer 3-Day is a weekend of hope, as we honor lives lost, celebrate survivors, promote breast cancer research and help bring breast cancer care to those who so desperately need it.

Every advancement in breast cancer research, treatment, education and prevention in the last 25 years has been touched by a Komen for the Cure grant. They are working hard to build a future without breast cancer, and I plan on raising $2200 to help bring us closer to that goal. In order to reach my goal, I am asking for your help. Please consider making a donation of just $25. If you can’t give this amount all at once, you can spread it out over four months, using the payment plan option, if you donate online at http://www.the3day.org/goto/AngieLindley. Please also ask your employer if they will double your donation with a matching gift. Remember, all donations are tax deductible!

Unfortunately, breast cancer has become an all too common occurrence among women and men throughout the world. Now is the time to take action to help end this disease. The more funds that I raise, the sooner we can end this fight. More information about the Breast Cancer 3-Day can be found at http://www.the3day.org or by calling 800.996.3DAY; I can be reached at 770-252-6898. My personal donation page may also be found on-line at the following link: http://www.the3day.org/goto/AngieLindley.

By supporting me in the Breast Cancer 3-Day, you will ultimately help put an end to breast cancer. Without a cure, one in eight women in the U.S. will continue to be diagnosed with breast cancer. That’s why I’m walking in the 3-Day. Because everyone deserves a lifetime.

Where has the time gone???

2008-09-04T18:42:00.000-07:00

It seems as though it has just disappeared! Sadly, I am not so good at keeping up this blog. I have good intentions...really I do. It just seems as though when I think of something to post, I'm not near my computer, and when I am near my computer, the thoughts don't come! It's a vicious cycle!

School started for us on August 6. This was a big day in my house as ALL 3 of my girls started school full time. Emma is in 3rd grade this year. She was not ready for her summer to end, but has since decided that "school is the best." Audrey is in Kindergarten and Amy is in Pre-K. The school year is off to a great start!!

I've started my training for the Breast Cancer 3Day. I've been going for walks through my neighborhood. My plan is to at least walk for 2 hours on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays until the walk. I walked for 3 hours one day this week and plan to do at least that tomorrow (if not more!). I have really enjoyed my training thus far. The weather has been so nice. I've been playing my "I heart God" play list on my Ipod and have spent my walks with my Saviour. My soul rests as I walk for this great cause! I know that this will be a life-altering occasion for me. I have under 50 days to go until the walk.....I still have quite a bit of fundraising to go, but I trust that the Lord will take care of that for me. If you haven't already, please consider donating to this event. If you can't donate, please lift up myself and my fellow walkers in prayer.

It's hard to believe we are well into the month of September.....the Holidays are right around the corner. I know the season will only get busier, but I will do my best to be a better blogger!!

Fun in the Sun.....

2008-07-26T08:16:00.001-07:00

This week we invited our long-time friends, The Fitzgibbons, over for a day of swimming. David managed to capture some great photo's of the kids at the pool. Our girls absolutely love to swim...we have decided that no matter where we move in the future, we'll have to have a pool! David made a video slideshow of his pictures....check them out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=084qN86IOys

Less than 105 days to go.....

2008-07-11T19:56:00.000-07:00

Until I participate in a very special event called the Breast Cancer 3-Day. I'll walk 60 miles over the course of three days with thousands of other women and men. The net proceeds will support breast cancer research, education, screening and treatment through Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund. I've agreed to raise at least $2,200 in donations. So I need your help. Would you please consider making a donation? Keep in mind how far I'm walking - and how hard I'll have to train. You can give online at www.The3Day.org. Just follow the link below to visit my personal fundraising webpage and make a donation. You can also call 800.996.3DAY to donate over the phone.

I am walking in honor and memory of Bev Maday. Bev was a very dear friend of ours. She was able to minister to so many people throughout her illness and often referred to her diagnosis as "The Gift of Cancer" because of the way that it brought her and others closer to the Lord. Bev passed away in September of 2007 after a 7 year battle. I will be walking with her daughters, Katie Oswalt and Tricia Blakeley and her daughter-in-law, Gina Maday. Please help me honor Bev and her girls by supporting me in this walk. Any amount donated is greatly appreciated. According to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, approximately 200,000 American women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, and nearly 40,000 will die from the disease. That's why I'm walking so far. To do something bold about breast cancer. I hope that you'll share this incredible adventure with me - by supporting me in my fundraising efforts. Thank you in advance for your generosity!

http://08.the3day.org/goto/AngieLindley

Can Wii talk?

2008-06-28T19:01:00.000-07:00

So...it's been a while since I've blogged. It's been a busy couple of weeks! To be honest, I can't exactly remember what made them so busy, it just seems like the time slipped away. There were a couple of dentist and vet appointments, a haircut or two, a yard sale, and some family over for visits thrown in for good measure. Also, we recently got a Wii. This has been occupying most of our down time. As you may know, the Nintendo Wii is a video game...an interactive video game. This means that instead of just simply pressing a button with your thumb to play tennis, you actually have to swing a racket, or game controller! The game came with Wii sports, which consists of tennis, bowling, golf, and baseball. In addition to that, we also have the Wii Fit. This consists of yoga, strength training, aerobics, and balance games. You can also set fitness goals and track them on a calendar. It's really fun and the girls LOVE it! For Father's Day, I bought David Wii Play...on this you can play a variety of games including table tennis, pool, fishing and target shooting. The girls really like to fish! For Dave's birthday this past Wednesday, I bought him Guitar Hero. He LOVES it! As a matter of fact, he's playing now as I type this. He's already on to the "Medium" setting whilst I sit contently on Easy for now. I think I've played maybe 8-10 songs so far...I think David has already played hundreds! It's really hard to break away from!

I don't really have any exciting news to share....I just felt as though I needed to update. I don't have much going on in the next week or so...I'm hoping to do a more thorough update soon. Ta ta for now!

Talking underwater....

2008-06-13T19:07:00.000-07:00

We often joke that Audrey is a "true blonde". Once again, she has proven it to be true. Yesterday, while out in the pool with my mom she asked Nanaw if she heard her talking underwater. Mom of course says no. So, Audrey says to watch. She goes underwater, talks and then comes back up. She says, "Nanaw, did you see those bubbles?? That's when I was talking." To which Mom replies, "What did you say?" Then, the TRUE blonde of the family says, "I don't know...when I talk under water it makes me sound funny." I guess she only knows what she's saying when she can hear it clearly.

Gotta love a blonde!!

Dear God....

2008-05-29T18:42:00.000-07:00

So tonight, as I'm tucking the girls in, Amy asks me if she can say her prayer. Of course I oblige, as I love to hear my girls pray. Amy always starts her prayers with "Dear God, thank you for God" and then goes on to thank God for all of her family. Well, tonight, she has a boo-boo on her finger and she stopped in the middle of thanking God for her sisters to tell me that she couldn't say her prayer because her boo-boo was hurting. I told her that she should pray for God to make her finger feel better. So, Amy then says..."Dear God, please make better my finger"....and about 1 second later says, "Mommy, it's not working." I guess she has not yet learned to "wait upon the Lord!" It's a good thing a band-aid can make it feel better while we wait on God to heal it!

Dancing....in the future.

2008-05-25T18:15:00.000-07:00

Our drive home from my parents house takes about 30 minutes. We usually spend that time listening to the radio or talking with the kids. Tonight we decided to talk to the kids. We were telling them about our plans for tomorrow and that we had invited the Pruiksma's over for a day of fun in the sun. Audrey asked me if Miss E-Lan (what she and Amy call LeighAnn) still had her baby in her tummy. This sparked quite the conversation. Of course I won't remember it exactly, but I'll do my best.....
Audrey: Mommy...does Ms. E-Lan still have her baby in her tummy...
Me: Yes, her baby will stay in her tummy for several more months....do you know what her baby's name is going to be?
Audrey: Noooooooo
Me: She's going to name him Ethan James
Audrey: (Shocked look on her face) What?!?! She's going to have another boy?? Mommy, all Ms. E-Lan has is boys...is that all she knows how to make? Mommy...you only made girls and Ms. E-lan only has boys. You have 3 girls and now Ms. E-Lan will have 3 boys. Mommy, guess what....now me and Emma and Amy can dance with all of her boys......when Baby Luke and the baby in her tummy get big.
Me: What a great idea!

I couldn't wait to get home to write that one down!!!!!!!!!!!!

Girls just wanna have fun....

2008-05-25T17:54:00.000-07:00

...and a TON of fun was had this weekend!! Emma had 3 little girls come over friday night for a sleepover as part of her birthday party. The girls watched movies, played dress-up, sang songs, danced, made cookies, and stayed up ALL NIGHT LONG!!! I went to bed around 11:45 and woke-up around 2:45 and thought I should check on the girls. When I went to Emma's room, I found Emma asleep and the other girls playing a game. They said Emma had just fallen asleep. I told them they could keep playing...as long as the played quietly. I didn't need Audrey & Amy waking up in the middle of the night! A couple of hours later (I think!) I awoke to loud laughter from ALL the girls (Emma must have just taken a short nap!) and the sound of footsteps all through the house. I'm not sure what the girls were up to, but I quickly got up and asked them to keep it down!! Then....around 5 o'clock, I was gently brought out of my slumber by one of the girls tapping me on the shoulder. This time, they wanted to know if they could go swimming!!! At 5 o'clock in the morning!!!! Of course I said no but told them they were more than welcome to watch a movie or play a game. The next time they woke me up was around 7 asking for a snack. I finally pulled myself out of bed around 7:45 and helped them make some muffins around 8:30. One of the little girls finally crashed on the couch around 8 o'clock and got a 2 hour nap. The girls all had a blast and I never knew so much laughter could come from one group of girls! I really enjoyed it (even though I didn't get much sleep) because I got to see how sweet Emma and her friends are to each other. Saturday afternoon a few more girls came over for the pool party. The pool temperature was around 83 degrees, but from all the swimming the kids did, you would have thought it was much warmer! It took a good bit of convincing to get them to come into the house when it was time for presents and cake! Emma got lots of Hannah Montana things and I think she ended up with 6 new Webkinz!! Her guitar cakes were a hit and after cake & ice cream the party was pretty much over. Some kids went home, some stayed and swam a little longer. Audrey and Amy decided to go home with Angaw & Nanaw to spend the night. Emma invited 2 of her friends (from church) to spend the night that night but only one decided to stay. Sara and Emma played for hours doing crafts and singing together. Emma's fun from the night before finally caught up to her around 10 and she started dozing off!! It was right about that time that Sara started getting a "tummy-ache" and wanted to call her daddy. Sara isn't much for sleepovers and I was really surprised she lasted as long as she did! Her poor Dad drove all the way from McDonough to Newnan to pick her up!! (It took him about an hour to get here!) As luck would have it Sara fell asleep about 15 minutes before he arrived!!! It was a bit difficult to get her up this morning. I think it will take her a few days to fully recover. Sadly, I think it might take me about 2 weeks!!! But what can I say?? Girls just wanna have fun!!! :)

Is it hot in here or is it me? No...It's definitely hot!!!

2008-05-20T11:53:00.000-07:00

About 86 degrees hot to be exact....and that is INSIDE the house! Unfortunately, our air conditioner decided to go out on Sunday night. I must admit....I am spoiled when it comes to air conditioning. This is no fun! Our heating & air guy should be here soon....so relief is on the way. I just hope I don't melt before he gets here!!

David held a Classic Car Show at the Truett's in Griffin this past Saturday. It was quite a busy day. David and I got to work around 8 o'clock and got busy with the preparations. The car show started around 10 o'clock....but the "real show" started around 11 when I donned the beloved "Kid Cow" costume. I probably had a little too much fun, but seeing as how I was in "costume" it didn't bother me a bit! I got plenty of rave reviews from David's employees and was even asked to repeat my performance the next time they need the Kid Cow!!! I think I may have found my new calling! I should have pictures soon....LeighAnn took some pictures with her camera before taking over as the Cow. I'm waiting on her to send them to me...and then I'll have to figure out how to re-size them to put them on here. If you can't wait to see them, mosy on over to her blog (Pruiksma's Progress -- linked on the side of my page) and check out her slide-show.

On Friday, Emma is having her first slumber party. She's invited a couple of girls from her class at school and a friend from the gym. We are hoping that they get to come (being that it's the last day of school AND Memorial Day Weekend). We have lots of fun things planned! Saturday we are having her birthday party....Hannah Montana style. It looks like the weather is going to be perfect for her pool party!! She is looking forward to turning 8!! My how the time has flown by!

I guess I'm going to go and sit in front of the fan now....it's pretty bad when you work up a sweat just typing!!

Where to begin?

2008-05-12T17:08:00.001-07:00

So...It's been a while. I think my last post on my other site was in October. Several months have passed. There is no way I'll remember it all. I think I'll just hit the basics.

Thanksgiving and Christmas were fun. Mom & Dad came and spent the night with us on Christmas Eve and I think the girls were more excited about that than they were about waking up on Christmas Morning to a room full of presents!

New Years was spent at the Nugget Drop at Truett's Grill McDonough. We had a few days of snow in January. That's rare around these parts so we took plenty of pictures and even made a snowman. In February, David and I attended the annual Chick-fil-A Operators Seminar in Orlando. We had a great time with friends and can't wait until next February when we go to Long Beach, California! Truett really does take care of his Operators (and spouses)!!

Audrey turned 5 at the beginning of April. It's hard to believe she'll be in Kindergarten in the fall! She has enjoyed being in Pre-K at Emma's school. Emma has been a great big sister and has faithfully walked Audrey to her class every day. In the Fall, Emma will be on a new hall and Audrey will take over the "escort" role as she'll get to walk Amy to her old Pre-K class on her way to the big "K".

On April 25, David and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary. We went away for the weekend during spring break (Thanks Mom for the childcare!) and just spent our actual anniversary at home with the kids. David cooked his famous "Lindley Broil" for dinner and I made a cake. After dinner we watched our wedding video. The girls LOVED it! After the video, we had sparkling juice and cake. Audrey so sweetly asked me, "Mommy, now that you got married again, do we get to go back in your tummy and be babies again?" It was so cute....I hated to disappoint her and say no, but, thankfully that is not possible!!! :)

That brings us up to the most recent occasion of Mother's Day. On Friday, I attended a Mother's Day brunch at Amy's preschool. We were treated to a "Mommy Loves Me" song and then were able to eat a yummy lunch. We had handmade placemats and flower pots with handprint flowers! So sweet! On Sunday, we celebrated with Mom & Dad with our annual trip to the Varsity for lunch (It's Mom's favorite!). After filling our bellies with chili dogs, chili steaks, onion rings and fries, it was back home. Mom & I left the kids with Daddy and Angaw and went to get pedicures! We had a lot of fun! Of course, no Mother's Day would be complete without some sort of handmade goodie from the kids. Audrey and Amy each brought home questionnaires about Mom....I'll be sharing some of the answers shortly! Audrey also brought home a beautiful pin that I wore proudly. So, on to the great Q & A's.

Q: I like it when my Mom??? Amy's response: plays in puddles!
Q: My mom is as pretty as a???? Amy's response: lipstick
Q: My mom looks pretty when she?? Audrey's response: gets married
Q: My mom is smart, she even knows?? Audrey's response: numbers

I will certainly cherish these forever!

That brings us up to date. School is out in 2 weeks. Emma's birthday is on Memorial Day this year. She'll be 8!! We will be having her "Hannah Montana" party the day after school is out. Other than that, our summer plans include a week vacation at the beach!

There is never a dull moment at this house....I'm sure I'll have plenty to blog about soon! Until then, keep checking in!!

So far....so good....

2008-05-12T16:49:00.000-07:00

I want to send out a special THANK YOU to LeighAnn for being so kind as to talk me through some of the "set-up" of my page. I think I've got it figured out for the most part, so hopefully I'll be able to keep this updated.

Stay tuned for an update on our last couple of months!!!

Trying again....

2008-05-05T11:55:00.000-07:00

So....my last blog didn't go so well. I never quite got the hang of the site and could never seem to get it to do what I wanted it to do. I would really like to maintain a blog...just for my own memories if nothing else! So....I'm going to give this one a shot. Hopefully I'll be able to personalize it the way I want and keep it updated! Wish me luck and check back often!

The Lindley family