Fun City

Have you ever been to Fun City?

I highly recommend it.

Here are a few things we did while visiting...

Took in the sights... so cute I could eat her!

Discovered Lauren was a baby whisper.
She has the touch y'all.

Giggled a lot..

When you visit Fun City... i also highly recommend you pray for a power outage!   We would have missed out on some serious fun if that hadn't happened.

Movies in the middle of the day are fun.

Look at this face....I mean, is that a stud muffin or what?!  He is super fun.

Here are a few more things we did in Fun city.

Met a real live princess and discovered banana phones are all the rage among the royals.

"Ello"

Pulled out the play-doh..

Kicked it old school....

Enjoyed the live entertainment...
Roslayn, "Whatever you do... TRUST GOD!"
Jules, "Aaaaaa-MEN!"
(yay to their vbs teachers!....they "got it")

Even medicine time is awesome while at Fun City...

Kicked it old school some more.

Prayed for no more broke legs...
Cuz everyone knows super high heels are the shoe of choice at Fun City.

And hanging out in Honey's lap is THE place to sit while at Fun City.....According to Julia Rose that is.  lol This is me trying to slip in a little wedding project stuff at the kitchen table.  Jules didn't fall for it.  Oh well.

Riding on Mr. Bill's Ranger is a must!!  Super FUN.

Naps are fun.

4-wheeler riding with Paw Paw several times a day is crazy fun.

Playing outside is fun. 

Picnics with Aunt Lauren are fun.

Sisters are fun.

Saying the blessing is fun.

Pouting when it's time to come in is not fun.

Even not being able to sleep after Nate's 3:30 am wake up call can be fun...when you make a pot of coffee, and get a BUNCH done in the wee hours of the morning while everyone else is sleeping.

Getting my hair did is fun...was a little nervous though cuz "my girl" whose been doing my hair for like 6 years just had a baby and I had to find someone else one week before the wedding.  FUN!

It turned out great..(whew) and she even styled it straight which is something I NEVER do.

My momma saw the pic on ig titled "My new do"....so she asks me, "You're not doing it like that for the wedding, huh?"   No mom. I'm not. .....gotta love her.   I AM gonna get that  bumper sticker one day.  Loni...keeping it real since 43.   Yep.  Fun City.

Had a little photo shoot with Nate Dog.  I have portraits of all three of my girls in a washtub when they were this age.  And then I got the grand-girls portraits made at this age.  So it was Nate's turn.  Only this time, I took them myself.  This was the only time I pulled out my super fancy new Nikon D90 all week.... and even still,  this pic here was taken with the my iPhone of the pic through the camera's viewfinder!...

Paw Paw's lap is fun.

"Hold me Honey" was hands down the most heard words of the entire week.  I loved it.
 Super Fun City.

Here we are wrapping up our Fun City trip "Grandkids edition".

Very appropriate it ended with Jules in my lap. lol.

Her sister and brother were conked out sleeping while we waited for their mom and dad to meet us.

My little monkey got her some Honey time in all the way to the very end.

Fun City!

Stephanie :)

This and That and Moving Day

**I sat down to write this on Monday while grand babies were napping.  Then they woke up.  SO I was gonna finish it that night.  Then the electricity went out.  Didn't even try yesterday cuz I was operating on a few hours sleep.  I'm still wearing the same pajamas from Monday night and today is Wednesday...... You mommas of pre-schoolers and babies ROCK!!... especially my daughter!  SHe is a ROCK STAR!  She's blessed with three sweeties ages 3, 2 and 9months old.  

Wow. Fun stuff but I am pooped I tell you!

**********************************************

The wedding is 12 10 days away and honestly and unbelievably, 

 I am chilled out and enjoying the ride.

It's God's grace I tell you.

Here are a few of the fun things we've been up to..

We had some one on one with Lydia that made the middle child in her smile!

We shopped, we laughed, we went to a movie and then had a little  pig out fest.

I celebrated God's grace in our family once again as my momma had her 41st  "New-Birthday".

I sent her a text with the little jingle that a sweet friend just shared with me on mine...

Happy Birthday to you,

One birth will not do.

Born again in Christ Jesus,

Happy Birthday to you.

This is the text she sent back to me.

God is so good.

I don't take for granted what a gift He has given to me in my mom.

Then me and Lydia had a bridal photo shoot...

I wish I could show you some of that but that is top secret!

Even her daddy hasn't seen her dress.

But OH MY GOODNESS....

She looked beautiful!!
It got me so pumped up for this wedding!  

Was totally wiped out after that...(you photographers ROCK too!!) and I think I got the best night's sleep ever! I so did not want to get up and then it hit me........

I get to see the grand kids today!   

Woo Hoo!  That changed things. Perspective is a powerful motivator.

I was like a kid on Christmas morning....rip roaring ready to go!

Hence the smile.

And then just a few minutes after the above pic was taken, We discovered that our little Ace Man had passed away sometime during the early morning. He was our little 6 lb black toy poodle. 

We had him for 12 years and he was such a part of our family.

This pic was taken before he had turned gray.

We are missing him.
(all I could think was, "Embrace Stephanie...Embrace")

This event kind of shook things up
a bit but there was no time to stop and think about it at the time.
So we hopped in the car with JuJu..(you can read bout her here)

and we headed to Alabama.

Cuz it was Moving Day!  :)

Here's a touch of our weekend.

In a few words:

Cleaning, Packing, chick-fil-e, Ipads, Cleaning, Packing, Chick-fil-e, Ipads, Cleaning, packing...

When the house is packed and all the toys and tv are loaded....the iPad is ah-maz-ing!!

Like angels singing hallelujah amazing!   #lifesaver

And check out those dirty feet.  :)

Poor Paw Paw ended up on two leaky air mattresses that slid and bucked him all night long.

He never complains.  Even when he had to sleep with hot pink sheets that were dirty cuz his grand daughter had peed on them earlier....But we couldn't wash them cuz the  washer/dryer was packed up. (Surprise Hon!...in case you weren't aware of that.  But for the record, I slept with them the night before) Gross I know but you do what you gotta do. :)

On Sunday evening, once we got the entire house spic and span and the van was completely loaded,

Me, Nick and Robin sat out in the garage while the floors dried and we waited for Chris, Elizabeth and the kids to get home from the going away reception their church blessed them with.

This was the beautiful view the Lord provided for us as we waited.  

His faithfulness through all of this deserves an entire post of its own.

I hope to share with y'all soon of what all He has been up to.

Nothing in this entire process has been easy by any means...but His grace and peace  has been overwhelming.  Whew!!! We serve an awesome God!!  Makes me want to shout!

They got home around 8:00pm, we loaded up the last little bits of this and that, the kids kissed their parents goodbye and we strapped them in for ride home.  We pulled out a little after 9 and pulled into our driveway right around midnight.
After the kids slept the entire drive, they were wide awake. We were dead tired. lol

Aunt Lydia took this around 1:30 am....they were all still awake and wanting to sleep with Honey and Paw Paw.  Good times.  

Pray for me and little Nate Dog this week if you think about it.  

He still nurses and this is his first time away from his momma.  He was really missing her around 3am and again around 6am.....

I know it's now Wednesday but I'm linking up with this lovely lady anyways...

  

Stephanie :)

ps.  I promise after the wedding I have recipes and tutorials and all that stuff up my sleeve.  Until then, you get "my life". ...Right now, it's all I got.  Sorry.

"The Dress"

First, I just want to say thank you for all of the comments and texts concerning this post.   I can't wait to thank each one of you for the kind words and encouragement...it may take me until next month to respond to y'all... but I will... I want to.

Things are moving right along and we are just about finished with the majority of the major projects.  Oh wait.... I just assume everyone reading this knows what it going on in my little corner of the world..  For those who don't,  my middle daughter is getting married in...gulp... 16 days!!  Yowza!   

Anyways, I've shared a few things about the big event on here... but her daddy is making us wait to share all the projects we've been busting our butt working so hard on until after the wedding.  But I do have something of the utmost importance to share with you today...

The Dress!

And nooo  you crazy person.... I'm not talking about my daughter's wedding dress. 

 That is top secret stuff.

I'm talking about the OTHER dress.... the mother of the bride dress.... MY dress!! 

When my oldest got married, I made two trips intentionally looking for my dress. 

Found it on the second trip.  Bought it. Wore it. End of story.

Then about 6 months after her wedding, I lost close to 50 pounds and got tee-ninsey little.

I remember trying on clothes then and thinking, "Wow! it woulda been so much easier shopping for the mother of the bride dress as this size!"  You don't have to find a dress that flatters your flaws.  You can just pick out the dress you like the best.  And I vowed that come my next two daughters weddings...this wouldn't be an issue.

Well.... fast forward almost 5 years later and I'm a few pounds heavier.  ~sigh.

SOO... shopping for "the dress" has been a challenge and become quite hilarious. 

You see, I have several problem areas and "flaws" that needs to be considered when I shop for dresses. I have no problem sharing those with you.. and will.....after the wedding.  I just don't want those of you who are actually coming to the wedding to be zeroing in on what I'm trying to hide....so my transparency and your curiosity will just have to wait a few more weeks.

This is the dress I had my heart set on.. in my mind it was perfect.

   

But alas...you have to have it custom made...in China and it was non-returnable. That whole process freaked me out.  I don't know about you, but 3 out of 4 times I'm surprised in the dressing room.  The one I may have thought was perfect on the hanger, often ends of being the most hideous on. So... even though I searched near and far for this dress in a store,  it was never to be found....which started the ridiculous journey of trying to replace it in my heart...

After 6 attempts....6 dresses that have been bought and brought home..... I have returned 4 and have narrowed it down to 2.   It has become a joke in our family.   As of this moment, I'm still not sure which one of the 2 it's gonna be.  Craziness.   I like living on the edge I guess.  lol

Here is a little slice of a sneak peak of the dresses.  

And don't even try to guess which 2 are still in the running cuz I ain't telling!  ;)

I will say this is me on the day I was returning one of them because it had gotten TOO BIG!

Whoop Whoop.

Let me go so I can catch the mailman...I'm sending Jillian Michaels an invitation to the wedding. :)

She AND Natalie and Anita are invited...their 30 day shred is the real deal.

Stephanie :)

Embrace

It's Sunday afternoon and I'm sitting here in a completely empty house.
Void of commotion. Void of chaos. Void of people.
It's just me here ....even Nick is gone which is unusual.  One of the blessings of the ministry that we have been called to affords us to be together 24/7.. and we both love it.

But today..this afternoon... it's just me.

It's so ironic, because I remember the days when I longed for solitude.  When I would do anything for a little "me" time.

When the girls were little, I just wanted to use the bathroom by myself.  I longed for those days of uninterrupted time to take a bath without an audience or to be able to make a phone call without hearing the word "Mommmma" a thousand times.

Then it shifted to the teenage years and the girls not needing me physically as much but there was still constant commotion in the house.   Friends over, in and out.. one daughter would get home and another would be pulling out. Our house was grand central station...the hub where all the action took place... and I loved every second of the chaos. ...it was good chaos.

Then the first graduated and then eventually married.
Then the second graduated and will be married in three weeks.
Then the third graduated and is starting college in the fall.

Sigh.  Hence the quiet house today.  Now granted..today is not the normal.  The quiet.
It seems these last few months leading up to the wedding...our house has kicked it up a notch in the action department.  The girls are home more than ever....it's as if they are hanging on to the last little piece of our "normal" as we all know it and they are soaking up every opportunity for us all to be together.  Just being a family doing normal family stuff.  Soon it will become family "get togethers" and family suppers  and family holiday gatherings.  But the everyday, get up in your pjs with bed head, fighting over who gets the last raspberry yogurt, borrowing each other's clothes from their closets, chilling on the couch doing nothing kinda everyday happenings are about to change.   The girls have been hanging out together and with me and their daddy every free moment and I have totally loved it.  I thrive the best in this climate..

Which is why today has left me a little unsettled.  Instead of enjoying a much needed afternoon of rest and solitude...I'm sitting here thinking... "Wow. This is what my new normal is gonna be like."  It makes me a little sad.

 Me and the girls when they were little at our annual beach vacation. 

This pic was taken just a few months before Elizabeth got married.  I remember when I took this picture, that it hit me as they walked down the little path as sisters...our family as we knew it was about to change.

This January, I shared what my "word" for this year was gonna be..."Embrace".
I knew what the year was gonna bring...lots of change. And my prayer was that I wouldn't just endure the change and just get by and survive.  But I wanted to embrace the change...to soak up everything the Lord wanted to teach me in the midst of it.  Embrace it so that I can share what I gained  to help others who would face similar situations.    I love the definition of embrace....

          to take or clasp in the arms; press to the bosom; hug.

      to take or receive gladly or eagerly; accept willingly.

That is so my heart.  That is what I'm fighting for each day.  When my thoughts begin to wander to all the things that are about to change, I have to consciously make myself focus on what I'm about to gain when I choose to embrace instead of what I'm about to loose in the midst of the change.

"..casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." 

2 Corinthians 10:5

You see, not only is my middle daughter getting married in three weeks...

And not only did my baby just graduate and "Holden's Academy" closed it's doors to its last student...

But to turn the heat up on the emotions that are brewing in my heart, my oldest daughter and son-in-law and my three grand children will be moving next week....11 hours away.  

It's a lot to take in for a mommas heart even if you spread it out in a years time.

But when all this takes place within weeks of each other... well...it can be overwhelming if I let it.

So.. I'm choosing to embrace.  I'm choosing to focus on what I'm gaining..

• A daughter whose husband is the spiritual leader and strives to live daily in the center of God's will...even if that means moving hundreds of miles away to follow in obedience the call the Lord has on their lives.
• I'll have a new place to travel to.  I love road trips.
• I'll have awesome FaceTime dates with my grand kids and I'm thankful God has provided the tools I need to do it.
• I'm about to gain another incredible son when Lydia gets married.
• I'm about to have the possibility of MORE grand kids and watch them experience cousins!
• I'll finally get my craft room I've been dreaming about.
• I'll get to experience the empty nest with the best looking Paw Paw ev-ah and can I just say....THAT is something I'm looking forward to. 

Even so, this isn't an easy thing for me.. to choose to embrace instead of merely enduring. It's not natural for me in the flesh.  This is a supernatural thing the Lord is doing in my heart through His grace.  I am amazed daily just how sufficient His grace is.

Now, don't get me wrong... I've had a few moments when the emotions erupted. I'm not a crier. And I hate to cry in public.  Hate it.  On one particular day for no good reason, the tears were at the surface all. day. long.  They finally just oozed out over lunch with Nick at Chili's. Nothing was said that triggered it... It was just one of those days and I just couldn't hold them in and they just came out right over my salad.  This is not a bad thing.... I just wished it had happened in my car. Or at home.  Oh well.  At least they came.  They were needed.

So I say all this not to get sympathy. This is part of life...this season I'm in.  Millions of moms have lived through it before me and millions of moms will live through it after me.

I just ask that if you think about me in the days ahead... during the move, the wedding.....when me and my girls are all trying to get used to our new "normals"... would you pray for us? 

Pray for us to have contented hearts. 

Pray for us to look to the Lord and keep our eyes on Him and the prize that is before us.  

Pray we will embrace it all.  

Every last thing He has for us in the midst of the change.

I may have to give up our "normal" but  what I have gained in the process is worth it all...

The change is bringing growth in more ways than one.

I definitely have a lot to embrace now!!

Stephanie :)

#photoadaymay

Well... I did way better in May than I did in April.

Can't promise much in June...we got a little sumpin sumpin going down in our family in June!

No biggie....  :) 

Here's my May pic's... 

for all you OCD people out there, you may want to shut your eyes and not look at this collage.  

I made it on my phone late at night without my reading glasses.   

I thought it looked beau-t-full....until it popped up on my big screen. 

Lots of boo boos with lining up the the little squares.

But my time is more precious to me than being perfect...

so it is what it is  :)

** Something I discovered when I posted this....

See number 14?  It says grass. 

Notice the pic I posted that day...

(it's on the third row all the way to the end)

Notice it's not a pic of grass.  .... I thought it said GROSS.

So I shared a pic of my sweaty roots that are in desperate need of a touch up!! 

Oh my.  I've GOT to start wearing those reading glasses I bought. 

Stephanie :)

ps. i'm honeyholden on instagram.  Say hello to me on there.. :)