Sentimental Saturday...

As a child of the 80's, there are many items that

send me flying back to a particular age or time.

Swatch watches, care bears, power ballads,

tight rolled pants (OMGosh-who didn't do this??)

hammer pants, big hair, need I go on?

Cause I could go on a while.

There are always things that make impressions

on us as we grow up, and really, music probably makes

the biggest impression. Dick Clark once said,

"Music is the soundtrack of life."

How true that is!

How many times have you heard an 'old'

song and been transported back to an exact

moment in your life? Maybe it's just me-I'm a bit

of a music fanatic, and there is always

music around me-I always have the radio

on-in the house, car, outside, etc.

And I just wanted to point out that Michael Jackson

was a huge part of growing up for me.

This was back when MTV actually played videos!

I can remember seeing the Beat It video and

actually thinking Wesley Snipes could kick

Michael's butt, but also being happy in the end

when they just danced!

I can remember thinking the path that lit up in

the Billie Jean video was the coolest thing ever.

I can remember sitting in my Memaw's living

room with all my older cousins

(Keri, Keisha, and Kristi-I love you guys!)

-with the curtains drawn and all the

lights off-anxiously awaiting the premier of

Thriller.

I was 6 and it scared the pants off me!

(Not that I would ever have admitted that!!)

Vincent Price's voice scared me as much as

the zombies did!! To this day, that laugh

gives me chills.

I was and still am amazed at MJ's unbelievable

dancing skills. No one can move like he can-

go visit youtube, and watch some moonwalk

then look up the video for Smooth Criminal.

Guaranteed to blow your mind.

We all remember the sparkly glove, the red

zippered jacket, the moonwalk, the superfluous

crotch grabs (what was up with that??)

the black hat, the hair fire on the Pepsi commercial.

That is the Michael Jackson I remember.

Before he became 'Wacko Jacko.'

I don't want to discuss the issues that came

later because no one knows what went on,

and there's no point in speculating. I just

wanted to honor the memory of one of the

greatest musicians of all time.

I am truly sad at the loss of part of

my childhood.

TTFN,

Tagged! Tagged again! And awards!

My new friend Kimber at

A day in the life of a girl named Kimber

tagged me last week with a photo challenge.

(The link will take you to the tag!)

That reminded me...

I was tagged by my IRL friend Kelli at

Random thoughts of a supermom

MONTHS AGO!

So I'm going to go back and do these in order.

I'm sorry Kelli, but hopefully late really is better than never!

8 is enough!

8 things I am looking forward to:

1. Going to Atlanta next week!

(and stopping at Priester's along the way!!)

2. Paul not working 7-12's

(he'll be off them when we get back!)

3. Emmie sleeping through the night-again.

(we're back to getting up several times a night)

4. The new Harry Potter movie.

(Yeah, I'm a geek)

5. Going to my belly dance class Sat. with Konnie

(Fun, exercise, and ME time!!)

6. Seeing Jacob on a coaster at Six Flags

(he LOVES coasters!)

7. The pool finally being ready-tomorrow!

(the kids are about to drive me crazy to swim!)

8. Did I mention going to Priester's Pecans en route to ATL?

(Super YUM!!)

8 things I did yesterday:

1. What did I do yesterday??

(there goes my mommy brain again!!)

2. More laundry than any person should do in a lifetime.

(gotta get everything ready to pack!)

3. Eat lunch with my hubby.

(he's taking off this week to work on his mom's house)

4. Blogged about my new haircut.

(which I'm still trying to get used to)

5. Watched the first Harry Potter with Paul and the girls.

(we always watch them all to get ready for a new one!)

6. Tried to lay out in the sun-but couldn't stay out there!

(IT'S HOTTTT!!!)

7. Skipped my usual Wed trip to the grocery store.

(Now I HAVE to go today cause we're out of stuff!)

8. Slept in for a bit cause Paul got up with the little ones.

(NICE!)

8 Things I wish I could do:

1. Be on time

2. Play guitar well

3. Sew-at all

4. Create my own blog background

5. Learn how to take GREAT photos, then...

6. Learn how to REALLY use my photoshop

7. Stick to eating healthy and exercising

8. Take ballroom dance lessons with my hubby

8 Shows I enjoy:

1. American Idol

2. Heroes

3. House

4. Medium

The rest are reruns!

5. Full House

6. The Cosby Show

7. Friends

8. Tool Time

Whew...that took forever-too much thinking!!

But it was fun!

I am supposed to tag 8 bloggers to

participate, but I am going to cheat a bit

and name 10 combo tag/award at the end of

this post and that should cover ALL the

tags and awards! If you are tagged/awarded,

you have to participate in everything!

Unless you have already done one of these

tags/awards (like Kelli with the 8 things tag and Kimber

with the picture tag!) then you can just do the

ones you haven't participated in and

link to the ones you have!

Now for the photo tag from Kimber...
First folder, tenth pic.

This is such an exciting pic from our trip

to Ruby Falls! {insert heavy sarcasm at will}

Many of their stalagtite/stalagmite formations

looked like different items-this one apparently

looked like a 'leaning tower.' It's funny how things

look so cool when you're looking at them in person,

but they just don't come across in pics!

Guess you had to be there!!

Next, I received the Kreativ Blogger award

from Lisa over at Chapman Crazyhouse.

She's a super cool mummy with 5 kids of her own!

5-kid mummy, umm, I mean mommy's rock!

The really cool thing is, her kids are almost

the exact ages mine are!

And one more cool thing-she lives in

Austraila! (Hence 'mummy')

I love the Australian words!!

Anyway, she nominated me for this award for

my kreativ use of cheerios and foreheads!

Thanks, Lisa!!

Lastly, (yes, I promise there is an end coming soon!)

Kimber gave me this Scrap Honesty thing.

Thanks, girl! And Happy Birthday!!

Basically I have to share 10 honest things about me.

1. I sing and play the piano, but I can't do both

at the same time! Wish I could!

2. I bit my fingernails everyday of my life,

with many failed attempts to quit. After Paul

and I started dating he said,

'Please, baby, don't bite them anymore.'

And just like that, I didn't. Wierd.

3. I LOVE rock-n-roll. All of it. But not

the new stuff. I find very little redeeming

qualities in today's music. I'm totally stuck in

the 80's.

4. I'm a speed demon. My dad was a racecar

driver on the weekends when I was growing

up, and he actually tried to get me to race

his car when I was 16. I wish I had!

Of course, I don't drive that way when my kids

are in the car, but when I'm alone, I crank up

the rock-in-roll (see #4) and put the

hammer down. (usually this happens

when I'm in Paul's truck. The minivan's hammer

just doesn't quite cut it!) This is also

a major stress reliever for me.

5. I hate to shave, and truly, I don't do it that

often. I know-yuck. But even Paul's used to it by now,

and I have gotten better in the last few years.

6. I have never broken a bone.

7. I would love to have a few more biological

children and then adopt a few. As it stands, we

have agreed on one more biological and the adoption

thing may be out of reach cause the more bio kids

you have, the less they want to let you adopt one.

8. I wanted to be on Broadway. It's what I originally went

to school for, but God had different plans! I'm so glad He did!!

9. I am TERRIFIED of spiders. Seriously.

10. I'm really laid back. I tend to take everything

in stride and not stress much at all. I'm also a total

goofball, but not until I know you really well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OMGosh! My fingers may cramp from all this typing!

So, here's the bottom line. If I nominate you, you get

to do all the tedious, hand cramping typing

really fun interesting stuff I just did! :)

Remember, if you already did one of these, just

put a link to it! If you won an award, copy and paste

it onto your blog. In no particular order:

1. Amanda at proud mommy of 4.

2. Kelli at Random Thoughts of a Supermom.

3. Konnie at The Dooley's.

4. Christie Rose at

The Secret Life of an American Wife and Mom.

5. Tracy at Simply Smith.

6. Erica at Scottsville.

7. Mimi at He & Me +3.

8. Kimber at A Day in the Life of a Girl Named Kimber.

9. Lisa at Chapman Crazyhouse.

10. Leigh at the crazy world of the SHELTONS.

I hope everyone will join in and play along! Thanks!

And I just wanted to point out that I am

getting close to 100 posts!! Yay!!

That means another giveaway-this time

I will be giving away something yummy

from somewhere I mentioned in this post!

TTFN,

Wordless Wednesday-when you give your hairdresser free reign...

~Before~

~After~

TTFN,

How much will God put on you?

I have to admit, I'm a bit of a sucker for

a baby story. I read blogs about families, and am

addicted to several where there is a sick

baby or the family has lost a baby. While I

don't enjoy reading about other people's misery,

I am fascinated to see God working through it.

I love to pray for these families and like to be able

to pray specifically for their need at the moment.

Many times if I am leaving a comment-

and I usually do-

I will read a lot if not all of the other comments.

And there's one saying I have seen on most all

of them at least once that really weighs heavy on me.

"God won't put more on you than you can handle."

Now, I know you have heard this saying before,

and it's beautiful in theory.

But it's wrong.

Our pastor did a sermon years ago about sayings

that are used as scripture. They have been said so

many times that people take them as gospel-but they

are no where in the bible. I'm ashamed to say I

don't remember any of the others, but I remember

this statement because not only had I heard it,

I used it. Not because I had ever looked it up in the bible.

Not because I knew the context of it's origin.

Simply because I had heard it used and assumed that

it was correct. I don't use it anymore.

The truth of the matter is, God will put more on you than

you can handle. Simply put, if we could handle it,

why would we ever need God? If we never hit bottom, how

would we ever look up? If we are never plunged into

darkness, why would we ever look for the light?

The bloggers who have reached this point in their lives,

the point where they realized they had no control,

they are the ones who know that God is the only one

who can be in control. They understand that His hand

is in everything that happens, good or bad. They may

not understand His motives, but realize that His plan

is bigger than ours. That doesn't make things less painful.

I don't think it always makes things easier.

But I think it gives them perspective on God that

those of us who have never walked that road could have.

Does this mean if we have to go through horrible

circumstances to draw near to God? Of course

not. God's plan is different for all our lives.

And this usually brings the 'why' questions:

Why me?

Why not them?

Why not me?

We can't answer any of those questions.

And we'll never find peace searching for the answer.

But God has the answers and we have to

trust that He knows the plans He has for us,

even if they are not our own.

God will put more on you than you can handle.

Sometimes He breaks us to bring us to Him.

It's hard to understand the why's, but I don't think

we are supposed to get the why's. Yet. One day

we will have all understanding, but by then I

wonder if it will truly matter anymore.

God uses our trials to draw us close.

He uses them to make us strong

by allowing us to see our weakness.

He uses them to refine our faith

by giving us grace to get through the day.

He uses it to define our walk,

by leading us down His intended path.

He uses it to reveal Himself through us

by giving us a peace that can only come from God.

He creates beauty from ashes,

always bringing good from the bad.

I want to type more, but I am tired, and

my brain is slowly going to sleep without me.

I will leave you with this beautiful verse:

Therefore, having been justified by faith,

we have peace with God through our Lord

Jesus Christ, through whom also we have

access by faith into this grace in which

we stand, and rejoice in hope of the

glory of God. And not only that, but

we also glory in tribulations, knowing

that tribulation produces perseverance,

and perseverance, character,

and character, hope.

Now hope does not disappoint, because

the love of God has been poured out in our

hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Romans 5:1-5

TTFN,

Not Me! Monday-cell phone picture style!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday!

Where we get to air all our dirty

totally clean laundry from the past week.

Created by MckMama over at

My Charming Kids

as a way to ease all the mommy guilt-

without really fessing up to anything!

Join in, read along, then hop over to MckMama's

blog and read what she and all the other

moms have not been doing this week!

So, this week I am not going to share with

you the fun of going out and about with my brood.

Not that there's anything at all to talk about.

Like, Jacob, for instance. He's totally all boy, all the time.

He would never put on hula apparel at Target-never

encouraged by Sydney-and dance down the aisles doing

the hula. He's so not in touch with his feminine side!

And since he would never do this, I certainly would

never take a picture of it with my phone

(since I have my camera with me everywhere, right?)

and then I would refuse to post it on my blog for the world

to see! Hula on, my handsome boy, and keep

giving me pictures to not show your future wife!

Cause I would never embarrass you like that!

While eating at Chick-Fil-A, we don't enjoy the free
Cheerios they have available for the little ones. While
munching on these yummy Cheerios, if a big sister-
not naming any names Ashton-
decided to lick one and stick it on a sweet Emmie's forehead,
I would absolutely not allow it to stay there the duration
of the time we were there because I didn't think
it was totally hilarious. I also wouldn't take pictoral evidence of
said Cheerio and never post it here
because I am sure that none of you would ever want to see such
horrific abuse of a cheerio beautiful baby girl.

Lastly, while perusing through Wally World, I would
never park a buggy containing my two year old close enough to
any shelf for him to be able to reach anything on it. I would also
never be paying so little attention to that particular buggy
(I mean come ON, I literally have 3 buggies people!)
that my two year old could have time to grab himself a box of
day old, reduced, jumbo blueberry muffins,
get them open, and proceed to eat HALF of one before
I realized he was saying repeatedly, 'I dot boo-betties, momma!'
Pay no attention to the half-eaten muffin in his other hand.
It is only an illusion.

And this is still not him eating his, while now offering me one.
OMGosh, I can't turn my back on this kid for a second!

I totally did not repackage the remaining muffins,
and at Ashton's recommendation
after tasting Noah's, did not go pick up another box
to go along with the one we already had.

My cell phone has never come in handy is these situations,
you know, cause they never happened.
Life with my 5 is NEVER dull.
And that's the truth. See you next week!
TTFN,

Happy Father's Day shout out.

Just wanted to say Happy Father's Day

to my wonderful, sweet hubby.

We were married less than 3 weeks when

I missed a period-and I think you

were more excited than I was!

And you have been just as excited each time!

You work long hours when we need you to

to support us so that

I can stay home and raise our family.

But you'd always rather be at home with us!

You love going places as a family-it

makes you so proud when people ask if

'all those kids are yours?!'

You are so funny like that!!

You are better than I am about carrying

around family pictures-and showing them.

You call them your 'man card.'

You are loving and playful,

rough and tumble,

sweet and affectionate,

stern and disciplining.

I can't imagine a better father

for our children.

Thank you for walking this road with me.

I'll love you forever-

and so will your children.

I love this quote:

Blessed indeed is the man who hears many gentle voices call him father!

Lydia M. Child

Tell your children's daddy how much he means

to you today!

TTFN,

Emmie's party and {many} other pictures.

Here are just a few pics from Emmie's party

Sunday. I made the cake myself, but out of

fear of being put on Cake Wrecks, I will not display

a straight-on picture of it! I have made cakes

before, and they usually turn out fine, but

I was really pressed for time on this one

(I was still working on it when the family

started arriving!) and I made the icing too thick-

never a good thing. So here we go:

We are singing 'Happy Birthday'

and she's very excited by the cake.

Jacob blew out her candle for her-wasn't that sweet?

I gave her the whole part that had her name on it

she was a little timid at first.

It didn't take long to get into it!

Yay!! Cake is good!
After she made several attempts to dump her
plate on the floor, I just dumped it onto her tray.

Ain't she sweet? ;)

Then came presents-don't ask me why in the

world I thought it was better to do the cake

first-I had to do serious clean up before

we could do presents!!

I thought this picture was hilarious-

'I pity the fool that touch my present!!'

This was my favorite pic of the day.

Paul took it, and I love that the toy is in focus

and she is a little blurry-it's a great effect.
Every time she got something open, she would

go, 'ooohhh, ooohhh!'

You can see that she's saying it here.

She had a great birthday. She loved the attention,

and the cake, and the presents!! And I loved watching

her. She's just too big already. My sweet

baby girl. :)

These next pictures are some that I took

because I decided I was going to take her

one year pictures myself. I'm not done-I

want some of her in her birthday dress,

but I haven't had time to do those. I took some of

these and did them in sepia for the I♥faces

theme this week, but I didn't make the deadline.

I wanted to show them anyway!

I like the sepia, but I really liked the color too!

I wish I had remembered a backdrop!! {sigh}

This one might have been right up there with

my favorites if it were not blurry-it looks

a little less blurry in the sepia.

Just cause I thought it was cute.

I love this one-I did fix the red eye, but I

uploaded the wrong copy!! This is

quintessential Emmie.

Ok, I think this is my favorite Emmie pic.

This first one is SOOC (straight out of camera)

This one I played with in Photoshop-love

the vibrant colors.

This is the sepia one.

And this is my all-time favorite.

I'm really starting to LOVE photoshop.

I found Pioneer Woman's blog the other day,

and if you get a chance, you should check it

out! She's pretty cool, and has tips on everything

from cooking to photography to homeschooling

to ropin and ridin! That's where I learned the

few things I'm (finally) able to do with

photoshop. Her photos are AMAZING!
Anyway, I've kept you here long enough.

Hope you like the pics!

This was when she finally got tired of the picture session.

'ENOUGH!'

And that's all she has to say 'bout that!

TTFN,

Wordless Wednesday-I gotta do something about this 'mommy brain.'

One of these would have been my

I♥faces-sepia picture.

If I had remembered in time.

I took several shots, but these 2 were

my favorites. I like them in color too,

and I will probably post them later.

TTFN,

Jacob's party pics and the Love Ya friendship award!

I wanted to post some pics of Jacob's and Emmie's

parties, but since there are so many, I

am going to do his one day and hers another.

I wasn't going to post a picture of the cake

because it was just your basic Lightning McQueen

cake, but it did have one interesting feature:

Is Lightning parked by the dump or did he

have an embarrassing accident?? Maybe that's

where Noah got the idea for the 'gift' he left on my floor!!

Make a wish!

He got lots of outside stuff, including

this slip and slide.

He didn't quite get how to slide down it, though-
this was a cute pic, but he hurt his
knees when he landed!


He got several water guns too! So much fun!!

I feel totally threatened! NOT! :)

Noah and Emmie didn't like the water and

freaked out anytime they got sprayed-

Ashton rescued him!!

Emmie hid on the porch and played with the

Power Wheels jeep

and the sidewalk chalk. And at no time did

she ever put it in her mouth-and if she did,

I would have totally stopped her!

(Oh, wait, this isn't Not Me Monday! :)

Noah finally decided it was ok to play in

water, as long as it was contained. This was the

bucket they were using to fill the water guns.

Not exactly pool size, but hey, you gotta

work with what you got!

All in all it was a great party! Jacob

certainly had a blast, and so did the rest

of us.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In other blogging news,

I received an award today!!

Yay!!

I got the Love Ya friendship award from

Christie Rose over at

The Secret Life of an American Wife and Mom

She has 5 kids also and is a pretty new bloggy friend.

I am honored that she calls me friend.

Thank you, Christie Rose!

So here's what you must do upon accepting this award:

Please create a post stating the following about the award:

These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So here goes, in no particular order...

*

1. First, back to you, Christie Rose! You are a sweet person,

and your love for Jesus is so inspiring.

I am glad you found my blog!

*

I hope the next 5 don't constitute cheating-

all are IRL friends too! But I don't have that

many new bloggy friends to choose from yet!

*

2. Next, to Karen at Diary of a Domestic Diva. We have been

friends for a few years, through church. She has four

beautiful children and loves to talk about them!

She has also been going through a rough time

with some personal stuff and could use our prayers.

Go visit and let her know we are praying for her!!

*

3. And then there's Mandy at Confessions of a Drama Mama.

She has two spunky boys, and a fantastic sense of humor.

(I just wish she would post more!! :)

*

4. Also there's Konnie at The Dooley's. Konnie is

my BFF, and we just have a great time

together. She has three great boys, and is

following God's call to possibly adopt another

baby. Follow them as they embark

on this journey-I know I am!

*

5. My friend Kelli at Random Thoughts of a Supermom

is the one who got me addicted into all

this blog stuff-thanks, Kelli! She has three cutie

boys of her own, and is one of those super

crafty, neato people we all wish we could be!

*

6. And the last of my IRL friends, Tracy at Simply Smith

is one of the sweetest people I know. She has two precious

boys, and they always seem to be busy, busy, busy!

Sooo much fun!

*

7. My first blog friend, Mimi at He & Me + 3.

She has three cute kids with amazing dimples.

I love her writing style, and she really cracks

me up! She's funny and soft spoken. And she's a

very faithful commenter! Thanks, Mimi!

*

8. Lastly, a new bloggy friend Amanda at proud mommy of four.

She has four little blond beauties, three girls and one boy.

I love reading about the little ones, but Amanda is

really transparent with her emotions and

her life in general. Her faith shines through

everything she says!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wow...this post took me all day to write!

Off to cook supper for my youngins!

TTFN!