TamiFlu - We Don't Like You!

That is right! The flu has hit our house this week. Not through the little boy in the pictures but through Laura Beth. We took her in on Monday thinking it was a sinus infection and found out differently. Therefore, we are ALL on TamiFlu to get her over it and to help the rest of us not catch it. Carter has been cracking us up, though, when it comes to taking this medicine. He has had to take daily medicine since he was 6 months old because of allergies and has NEVER complained about medicines. He, however, HATES this stuff with a passion we have never seen in him. It takes him forever to take it and then we all hear about how he can still taste it for the rest of the day. This is him yesterday contemplating how he was going to get rid of the medicine without actually having to take it! Oh me!

As for Laura Beth, she is fine - at times. She has not run a fever since Monday but her energy and emotional levels are still on a rocking roller coaster ride. She has missed and will miss the whole week of school - which she has not been real crazy about. She has a big weekend planned and we will see what all we actually get to. Hope the rest of you don't get this!

Happy Valentine's Day!

My friend, Betsy, made pictures of her boys last year and I wanted to copy them so bad!!! One of our college kids took these pictures for me this year and I was just thrilled with how they turned out! Thank you, Laura! I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

I took some of the pictures and made two different cards out of them to send to family. Here is what I did.

The New House - Kids' Bathroom

This is the kids' bathroom. I redid it in a nautical theme for two reasons. One - I have always loved sailor things and the ocean. Two - I had the most precious pictures of the kids I wanted to use! We just painted this room and add the lovely things Mrs. Jacquita gave us!

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The New House - Laura Beth's room

Laura Beth's room has the least done to it (well, besides our's where nothing has been done). She could not decide what she wanted done with it so we just repainted it white for touch up reasons. The carpet was pulled up and the floors redone. We will just wait until later to do her room up the way she wants - if she ever decides!!!

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The New House - The Cove

This part of the house is what I call the Cove. It is the only hallway we have and I love that! I am not one for "wasted" space. This is just a little area where the front living room, kids' bathroom, their bedrooms and the dining room all come together. I took the before pictures after Damon had taken down the border, so imagine there is some hunter green border at the top of the walls! Again, Damon took the carpet up in this area as well and refinished the floors!

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I am working on trying to get more black and white frames to go in this area but for now this will do.

The New House - Carter's Room

As promised and since you have all been waiting so patiently, I decided to post some pics of the new house. It has been crazy and we are still working 90 to nothing getting things put in their "proper" places only to be moved 10 more times!!! Carter's room (for the most part) is done. We were not going to paint his room right now but Grandad and Uncle Chuck decided to take it on as their project! They did a great job! Carter loves his room but still won't keep it clean! All we have left in his room is to put his pennants around the top of his wall.

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All teams are represented in the room from Cowboys to Titans to Braves to Rangers to Red Sox to Duke to Spurs. However, he was most tickled when he first saw the room because (to quote him):

"My room is BURNT orange!! Hook 'EM!"

I want to be a worker for the Lord

I have prayed that both of my children have a desire to serve God every day of their lives. Not just when they are "big enough" but NOW. There are things they can do today at 6 and 5 to serve and glorify God. Our congregation has a program for young boys to pick up the attendance cards at the end of services each Sunday morning. The man in charge of this has been asking Carter for almost a year now if he would like to help with this. We thought it would be best to wait until Carter was 5 and, when that happened, Carter was not so sure he wanted to do it. We did not press him but told him when he was ready, to let us know. One Sunday in December after seeing his big friend, Daniel, pick up cards, Carter declared he was ready. We told the man in charge and he got Carter on the list. Thursday Carter received a letter in the mail saying he was to pick up cards for the month of February. He was so excited. Sunday morning he wore his navy blaser, khakki pants and white shirt and was ready to go. However, the further along we went in services, the more antsy he became. I told him Daddy could go with him to help him if he wanted to but Carter said, "No, I want Daniel to go with me. Can Daddy ask him for me?" At the right time, Damon went to get Daniel, who graciously agreed to help Carter, and Carter picked up the cards. People were so kind to him and kept coming up after services telling him what a great job he did. He got very bashful and crawled into my lap. I told him everyone was just so proud of him for serving God the way he could. He thought that sounded good and was a little better after that. For lunch Sunday, Carter got to eat off the Special Plate since it was his first day of serving God during the worship service. We still talked about how we can serve God every day - in worship service and out of worship service. All we have to do is open our eyes to see the door HE has open for us. Way to go, Carter, I hope this is the first of many days!!!

To What To Our Wondering Eyes . . .

Last Tuesday, Laura Beth came home from school declaring she was out of school the next day. I could not believe it. I knew they were calling for an ice storm to the north of us (got to love the I40 split) but did not think we would be out of school. I figured it would be another day out of school only to have nothing on the ground but, boy, was I wrong!!! We woke up to about half an inch (maybe) of snow. The kids were so excited! We waited for Cecily to show up (FHU was not out of school) so we could go outside and throw snowballs!

We did not last long outside but we did have a good time. Afterwards, we came in for hot chocolate and snow books Laura Beth read to us.

I wonder IF we will get another one!

Well, Makin Music''s Here . . .

It is that time again! I love Makin Music with the college kids. While I can't say and show a whole lot, I did want to show you the amazing kids who are working to put together THE BEST MAKIN MUSIC SHOW EVER!!!!! These are our directors - Harvey, Julie, Erin who can't have peanuts, Sandy from Makin Music and Tyler Pate (these are how my kids call them by name!!). They have worked so hard and I am so proud of them. The Remedy group - Can you guess what the show is about from the name of the group? This group of kids helps the directors before practices begin. They learn the lyrics and choreography for reviews and then to help the cast once practices begin. They have worked so hard as well and have done a great job supporting the directors.

I can't wait to be able to show you more from this amazing group! If I showed you now, I would have to shoot you or they would shoot me!!!

The Eyes Have It

I Heart Faces is a fairly new blog that allows people who love photography to capture special images. This week it is all about the eyes!!! Here is my kids' entry. Miss Cecily waiting patiently for something (probably Damon giving her food!!). I just think she is the sweetest thing!

Here is my adult entry. It may not mean much to many of you, but it means a lot to me. It is of my brother, Richard, on his wedding day. This was snapped as soon as he saw his bride for the first time. Damon took it for me and I thought he did a great job. Richard waited for a long time for the perfect woman for him and he found her!! It was a wonderful day full of so much emotion. I think Richard's eyes and face say it all!