Random pics...

A couple of these are from my mother-in-laws birthday dinner at our house and the rest are just randoms taken at home.  We have tried to be creative in coming up with things to keep us busy as we are getting cabin fever from this harsh winter so we have done lots of crafts, played dress up a lot, and gotten some exercise playing Just Dance on the Wii!

It's Official...

Austin has chosen Western KY University as his school.  We are excited for him but sad for ourselves.  Our house will be one person emptier come August and we aren’t looking forward to that.  Not that he is physically at home a lot now—between school, after school activities, work, and social time, he is gone a lot.  But we always know that he will be coming home later. 

That will change in August when his new place of residence will be Bowling Green but we hope that he will always call our house his “real” home.  And we know that he will be home in the summers and maybe again after he graduates but it is definitely hard to talk and think about the change that is right around the corner for our family.

I hope that the next few months will be filled with intentional time spent together with his little sister whose world will be turned upside down for a while knowing that Bubby won’t be coming home—at least not right away.

I hope that he loves his new school though and that he finds his place quickly.  I hope that he realizes how important these 4 years will be in shaping his future.  I hope that he doesn’t forget who he is and what he has been taught his whole life.  I hope that he doesn’t change to conform to the things that others may be doing around him but that he stays true to himself and his beliefs and his integrity.  I hope that he understands how one bad decision can change his life.  I hope that he never forgets how much his family loves him and wants him to succeed.  I hope that he knows that we will be praying for him and hope that he will pray for us, too.  

I hope he comes home – often.

Get Air...

There is a new indoor trampoline park in Nicholasville called Get Air that the kids love.  When it first opened, it stayed so ridiculously crowded that it was nearly impossible to get in (unless you were willing to wait in line for hours—no thanks).  After the novelty had worn off a little, we took a gamble and took the kids there on a Tuesday afternoon which just happened to be Katie’s 6^th birthday and the place was practically empty.  They had a blast burning off lots of energy.  I think Randy had almost as much fun as the kids did!

Gatlinburg

We took an adults only trip to Gatlinburg with 3 other couples and it was so much fun.  I had never left Addi for more than one night before so I wasn’t sure how I would do.  She was excited to stay with Nina and Papaw though so that definitely helped. 

We left Saturday afternoon and got to the cabin, unloaded our stuff and headed out to dinner with everyone.  I had just had a birthday the Monday prior and my best friend Ann was having a birthday the following Monday so Justin told the waiter and he got us up in front of the restaurant as everyone yelled happy birthday to us!

When we got back to the cabin, Jason disappeared for a while and when he came back, he was carrying a big, beautiful chocolate cake that he had ordered for me and Ann.  It had two “7” candles stuck in it.  We couldn’t figure that part out but Jason told us that it was our ages added together…  NICE.  Only him.

After cake everyone was excited to watch the UK/Florida game (which was terrible) and then it was board game time…  We played games until about 2 AM and then got in the hot tub.  It was 3 before we went to bed and I was awake at 7 the next morning…  Ugh.

We fixed a big breakfast and then the girls headed out to the outlets for a day of shopping.  Yes, we shopped for 5 hours.  We found lots of deals though—mostly children’s clothes, of course.

We met up with guys for dinner at another steak house and then headed back to the cabin to get our game playing started a little earlier!  We only played until midnight and then called it a night.  I think everyone was kind of worn out from the night before.

We got up the next morning, packed up, and headed out… to a pancake house!

After a great breakfast, we all headed back to KY—excited to see our kiddos!

This is a picture that the kids took and sent to me while they were gone--so sweet!

Valentine's Day 2014

Valentine’s Day was very low key—we gave Addison and Austin a card and a gift bag with a few goodies and treats inside.  Addison had a Valentine’s party at school that Friday morning and she and her classmates exchanged Valentine’s cards and decorated cookies.  She came home with a bag full of goodies that she was very excited about.

The BIG one!

Well the dreaded day arrived and I thought I had slipped under the radar at work until I got back (from a wonderful birthday lunch at Tin Roof with mom and Addison) to an office that was decorated like this:

It was crazy.  I had false teeth, a cane, a pill divider, old man repellant spray, gas relief pills, coke bottle glasses, and several other “old age necessities.”  In addition, one person had made me a “cake” out of cokes, pop tarts, and blow pops—all staples in my diet. 

In addition, they got me a huge cookie cake with a big 4-0 on it!  Love it!

I also found out that my family had planned a huge party with 40-50 confirmed guests that was supposed to have happened on February 8th.  Unfortunately though, my sister was diagnosed with the flu that very morning and all had plans had to be cancelled.  The cake was already ordered and finished though so we had a whole sheet cake to work our magic on...