photo 53

Shhhh! This is Forrest's 16th birthday present. It is KILLING me to have this hidden away until his party Friday night! I want to give it to him NOW! I cannot wait to see the look of shock on his face when he opens it!

photo 52

I am SO over Rafferty's! We have eaten there just about every Sunday night for the last 3 years! I am NOT over the friends that we eat there with each week :)

photo 51

When I came down the stairs and found Cammie eating this tomato as if it were anapple, I had to snap a picture. When I was a little girl I ate tomatoes the exact same way. Yay for kids that like veggies!

photo 50

Forrest's best friend Sam has been diagnosed with Wilkie's Syndrome. Fortuantely they caught it early enough that after a few days at Vanderbilt Childrens Hospital hooked up to a feeding tube, he was just fine.

photo 49

This is how I pass the time in the car rider line... I generally have 4 games going at a time...2 with Carrie and now, 2 with Mark. I have him addicted too.... I HEART technology!

photo 48

This Growth Group series has been absolutely phenomenal! I hate that we only have one week left.

photo 47

Finally a lo-carb, lo-cal, high protein TASTY breakfast option. Yum!

photo 46

A Valentine from Granny.

photo 45

Mmmmmm.....happy Valentine's Day to me!

photo 44

We leave in two weeks!!!

photo 43

We checked into Aloft in Cool Springs with 20 other couples from our church for our annual marriage retreat. The hotel was really trendy and we were happy to find a pool table in the lobby. (Mark took me to play pool on our first date an on our first Christmas together he gave me a pool cue).

photo 42

This box was on my doorstep this afternoon! What a sweet little husband I have.

photo 41

We are SOOOOOOOO incredibly proud of Hannah! Tonight she was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society.

photo 40

I adore orange hued rose.

photo 39

When we entered Publix, there were a few flurries...when we exited, the parking lot was blanketed in a thick coat of snow.

photo 38

Chloe convinced the sitter that she HAD to make her Valentine box while Mark and I were out. Normally, the annual making of the Valentine box causes glue stick anxiety, a temporary spike in blood pressure caused by unevenly mitered corners, and much gnashing of teeth. Because, ya know, those Valentine boxes must be *PERFECT*.

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Fortunately for both Chloe and I, Era was happy to assist. When I returned home, Chloe proudly presented me with her finished box.

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Guess what? Her box? It won "Best Decorated Box" in her class...something that never happened when she entered the boxes with the perfectly mitered corners.

photo 37

Cammie must have taken a few pictures with my camera. This looks like her view from behind my desk chair.

photo 36

On the way home from Bloomington, I stopped in Nashville, Indiana. The town was filled with antique stores and art galleries. These are two of the many little beauties I picked up. There is no therapy quite like inexpensive retail therapy...

photo 35

The online class that I have been taking is totally motivating me to scrapbook! I have completed more layouts in the last month than I completed in all of last year!

photo 34

This nest was built by a lovely robin last year. I wonder if she will take up residence again once the weather turns... I hope so. I watched as she built this, then laid her eggs, then I watched them hatch, and watched as she fed them, and then I watched as one by one they flew away. I would love to be able to experience that again this spring.

photo 33

How do people make it through this life without the word of God? The best source of comfort, the best source of peace, the best source of encouragement is the fount of the word.

photo 32

Yesterday afternoon, in need of a brief escape, I headed to Indiana to spend a few days with Amy. We had a fantastic dinner at Janko's Little ZaGreb, a Bloomington staple.

photo 31

Cammie orchestrated the building of the snowman. After she had created the base, the other girls chipped in and helped finish him up. You can't see it clearly here, but the eyes and mouth were carved out of the snow.

photo 30

This is the first time our kids have been able to actually sled. The hill behind our house was perfect! In fact, it was so perfect several of our neighbors came over to sled too. Even Winston and Marley had a friend over.

photo 29

The girls were SO excited to see the now accumulating. At 9 o'clock they layered up and went out into the back yard to build a snowman.

photo 28

I HEART Valentine's Day! I especially HEART creating treat bags for the kids to pass out. Of all the seasonal holiday candies, Conversation Hearts are my fave!

photo 27

It is quite odd to see baby paraphernalia lying about the house. I thought those days were long behind me. I forgot how much work and gear babies require!

photo 26

These two little birdies have been flitting from the tree outside my office window to the porch and back again all morning long! I can't help but sing Bob Marley's Three Little Birds while I watch them.

photo 25

This week is Spirit Week...and today happned to be Island Day. This is Forrest's take on the theme. While his Spanish teacher didn't love it (which may or may not have been due to the "It's 5 o'clock somewhere that was written across his back), the rest of his teachers and his momma thought it quite clever.

photo 24

This is what we call a win! A new soul being baptized in the name of Jesus. Acts 2:38

photo 23

When Mark is out of town the girls take turns sleeping with me. The other sleeps "in a pile" next to my bed. The current pile is getting out of control...each night a different pillow, blanket and stuffed animal gets added.

photo 22

My first foray into digital scrapbooking...

photo 21

Believe it or not this table wast dusted less than 36 hours ago. What is up with the dust in this house????

photo 20

Rain, rain go away...

photo 19

The back yard is currently a swamp. In order to prevent the doggies from mud wrestling we have to let them out one at a time. Marley waits patiently for her turn.

photo 18

Piping hot.

photo 17

Meal plan: Thursday- Pizza, Friday- Famous Dave's, Saturday- Black Eyed Pea...

photo 16

My current snack of choice.

photo 15

It's encouraging to know that I am not completely inept at this parenting thing =)

photo 14

I got an amazing deal on a large format photo printer. No more waiting on pictures to be delivered and no more wasting 2 hours sitting on a stool uploading pictures at Wal-Mart!

photo 13

I love that Forrest is required to wear a sweater vest and tie to school. In the beginning he wasn't too happy about the prospect, but now he's used to it.

photo 12

In need of comfort food, I made a pot of corn chowder and a pan of cheesy bread. It definately hit the spot.

photo 11

Cammie has taken an interest in scrapbooking. She is fierce with a gluestick

photo 10

The drama team put on an awesome skit today. I think Kevin may have enjoyed his role a wee bit too much though.

photo 9

Mark invited Thomas over to watch the football game (amusing since neither of them actually follow football...even more entertaining was the sound of them yelling at the television, giving advice to the players and ripping the refs apart, because ya know, they are experts on football )...so Renee and I planned on making cards. Instead, she helped me tackle the assignment for my online class.

photo 8

Today was a very good mail day. Alongside the junk mail, catalogues and bills were these beauties. Thank you Ebay for enabling my Betsey Johnson shoe fetish.

photo 7

Hannah and Cammie may have watched the movie "Ice Princess" a few too many times... The main character in the movie has a pond in her back yard that she ice skates on. We have a pond in our back yard that we keep gold fish in. It froze over. They stood on it. I can see how it is almost the same thing...

photo 6

Evidently Cammie thinks that January is a great time to sell "Limalad Sine".

photo 5

Winston and Marley love the cold weather. They spend an hour or so each morning wrestling in the back yard, then they sprawl on the deck or in the yard puffing little clouds as they try to catch their breath.

photo 4

This little guy will be haging out with me during the day for the next several weeks. Chloe and Cammie are super excited to "help" =)