Ha! Here's a picture for you.....

Smashing.....!!

Happy Sunday!

Lots of Mobloggin' next week....the kids and I are RV'ing with my mom and stepdad. Stay tuned...

Also, it looks like I may hit 10,000 visits next week! Woo Hoo!!

Waiting For The Parade To Start...

Eight Years Ago...

I was a swollen, emotional mess. I was less than four weeks away from the delivery of my first child (a son - I had to find out what I was having because I wanted a girl so badly and knew I had to prepare for a boy if I was having one...). My dad had just passed away a few weeks before, I had gained a TON of weight (okay, maybe not a literal "ton" but it sure felt that way!), and my feet and ankles looked like this:

Try getting shoes on those puppies.... but who needs shoes when you're walking on such plush, beautiful adorably retro carpet!

Anyway, I digress. I often looked down at my feet and marveled at how they resembled two blown-up latex gloves. Swollen to the start of my toes.

Here I am around the first or so of July. Sorry for the cut out look, I pulled this from my pregnancy journal and scanned it in:

At this point I couldn't wait to deliver and get rid of this extra padding I had accumulated. Little did I know that I was actually sleeping better swollen and with no bladder room left than I did the first nine months of Coby's life. But that's a story for a different day.

Who knew that having a boy wouldn't be so bad after all?

Who knew it would be fun?:

Silly!:

And just downright sweet?:

I love you, buddy!!

I can't believe he's almost EIGHT!

Summertime Countdown...

So Jon thinks this is depressing. I think it's fun. The kids love it because they can see what's coming up. What do you think?

Yes, it's color-coded and labeled and it's the perfect solution to, "How many more days until vacation?" or "What are we doing next Wednesday?"

Go ahead....you all can tell me how anal this is, perhaps even selfish of me because it's also serving as my countdown to the start of school. I can take it....

Monster Crayfish!!

At the stream....

Birthday

Last week we should have been celebrating my dad's 57th birthday. Unfortunately I was reminded again that it was also the time he passed away, right before he turned 49. I shared his story earlier in this blog, so for those of you who have not read his story, I have brought it back up. Just click the link below.

As I think back to my dad's life I often mourn for what could have been. I was very early into my walk with Christ when he was sick and didn't know how to encourage him to take that leap of faith. My mom and sister and I would always go to church, but he would never come with us. And I say that I was early in my walk because although I had gone to church my whole life, I never got anything out of it. But it was after I met Jon that I began to investigate this "God thing" more. I know God has a plan for me, but I can't help but wonder how my dad's life would've changed if I had been involved in my current church back when he was so sick. But, God is good and He has a perfect plan and I have to accept that and move on.

Dad's Story

It works!!

Oh my! There is no stopping me now!!

I heart my phone.....

Stay tuned for daily happenings from the camera phone.....

Dinner

Picture test.....

Test

Mobloggin'

-Jenn

Sent from my iPhone

Weekend Wrap-Up

We had another fun weekend! Friday evening I had a wedding rehearsal to go to, so Jon and the kids hung out until I got home. Saturday after breakfast Jon took the kids over to my brother and sister-in-law's house to help get rid of a tree that had fallen during one of our recent storms. Then they brought their two cousins back with them and they played all afternoon. After that the kids and I and my mom went to the wedding. It was my cousin getting married. The wedding was fun! I sung during the ceremony and then we went inside for the reception. The food was neat - hot dogs and hamburgers and BBQ chicken. Then for dessert they had the cake (of course!) but they also had a sundae bar. The kids got a kick out of that! They had a blast dancing and quickly made friends to hang out with. Here are some pictures:

Before the ceremony..doesn't Coby look thrilled?!?!:

There....that's better!

Here is a pic of me and my Aunt. It was her son that got married. She is my dad's sister:

The happy couple:

Ella couldn't wait to get a chance to dance with Sammi!:

Sunday we had church (just one service to be at...wow!) and then we went to lunch. We did some errand-running and then came home to relax. We walked down to great-grandmom's house and challenged her to a game of Skip-Bo (which Coby won.....again....) and then came back home. I then had to get ready for a night out. I went to see Brooke Fraser with some friends down in Annapolis at Rams Head. She was incredible! We have done some of her songs in church (Hosanna, Lead Me To The Cross) but she performed mostly secular last night. She has an amazing voice!