Antics

Posted on May 14, 2015 by Abbie

While the four oldest were in our annual standardized testing for three days, the rest of us had a few adventures.

Playground at the mall was a hit.

And our local Chick-fil-a has a Wednesday morning activity called Biscuits and Buddies. They typically have a special guest come in and do a craft or talk about something fun with the kids. They do this every Wednesday and, of course, with the four oldest around it’s harder to get to. But the four youngest, loved it! They got to make fun whoopie pies and noise makers (which Emmie promptly ate the tape off of. She’s fine and I think I got most of it out before she swallowed it).

Wednesday was a big day too because we were doing another Atlanta run that Friday. We went to get the oil changed after testing and we were informed that the tires absolutely needed to be changed. Quick calls and we got in to our usual tire place (they don’t sell our size tires at any ol’ tire place) and we were set. But we had to wait for the tires to be changed…so we did this:

And “elfed” our selves. Yes, it was March.

Bursting with Color!

Posted on May 14, 2015 by Abbie

Lilla Rose sale coming up today! Not only that, we have a fun new line just in time for summer.

Introducing the new color line:

Don’t forget the beautiful limited edition May 2015 Flexi-of-the-month.

Check out the website to order!

The Bunch and the Oobleck

Posted on May 13, 2015 by Abbie

With all the fun of MRI month in March, we failed to properly recognize the good doctor’s birthday on March 2nd. The kids knew and begged most of the month to make our traditional birthday oobleck. By the end of the month, I finally obliged. This time we got a neighbor to come over and join in the fun.

Just an FYI, I did four boxes of cornstarch total and put one in each tub with some neon food coloring.

And to make sure it was fully school time, we discussed non-newtonian liquids and watched a video on why cornstarch and water did what it was doing. So, we also watched a video of people walking on cornstarch/water combo…got to keep things balanced around here.

Put ’em to Work

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Abbie

People always want to know how we do it around here. I guess I’ll share my secret.

We put them to work early washing dishes.

Not really.

Emmie was sitting beside me on the counter one afternoon while I washed a few dishes. She saw the water and was ecstatic. So, I ran some clean water and we let her go to town. It was such a delight seeing her kick and squeal even if it meant our counters (and shirts) were soaking wet.

Happy Wedding Day!

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Abbie

One of our pastor’s daughters got married in March. It was such a beautiful wedding with a beautiful bride!

Photo bomb, anyone?

Ceili Rain just had to see the lovely bride immediately after the ceremony and of course, J willingly obliged. J was Ceili Rain’s cubbies’ teacher and has always remained dear to her.

And, my boys were super thrilled about the wedding. Mainly because of the food at the reception. This reception did not disappoint either.

The beautiful new couple (photobombed by our table mate P).

Trying to complete the wedding scavenger hunt before we gave up and just enjoyed visiting.

At this point, the kids had grabbed my phone (with my permission, of course). Apparently the groom, S went in on the charades. I’m pretty sure all the rest of these pictures are from the kids escapades.

Then Mark pulled out his camera and we got some good pictures as well…

Father-daughter dance…awwww

And a daddy with his girls. Mark tries not to blink because he knows he’ll be the one in the father/daughter dance all too soon.

Um, yeah. She’s cute and she knows it.

Thank you to S and J for letting us be a part of your special day!

I Know a Fighter

Posted on May 11, 2015 by Abbie

I’ve been sharing on our Just a Bunch of Characters Facebook page about NF Awareness Month.

See, I get the fun and silly posts on Facebook about pretending to be a slug and all to raise awareness for Breast Cancer even though Breast Cancer Awareness Month is in October and I’m quite certain it is very well known. I totally agree that we need to spread awareness for it and we have dear friends who have been directly effected by it but I also know that NF is very prevalent and doesn’t get as much publicity. So, this is my publicity for it. Minus the slug posts.

Wow, that was a noodle. Sorry.

Back to what I was saying. This month is Neurofibromatosis Awareness Month. The theme Children’s Tumor Foundation has chosen is, “I Know a Fighter.” Each day this month, I’ve posted an NF fact and shared a short bio as well as a picture of some pretty awesome and amazing and beautiful NF fighters. You can go check it out now. Don’t worry. This post will be here when you get back.

May 17th is National Neurofibromatosis Awareness Day. That’s seven days away. I would love it if you, my dear friends and family would share our NF part of the blog. Or our Facebook page. Or even Super Ems picture (found below)!

Please remember to share a link to our blog or to Children’s Tumor Foundation or both when you share!

Pi Day

Posted on May 9, 2015 by Abbie

While I was enjoying the beach, Mark made sure everyone enjoyed 3.1415 day!

Beach Bum

Posted on May 8, 2015 by Abbie

I was blessed, blessed, blessed to be able to go to Fripp Island, SC in March on a retreat with other ladies from our church. It came at the right time as we had just found out Emmie was going to need to wear a neck brace and surgery was looming in our nearer future. The time was definitely filled with crying out to God and feeling His peace wash over me.

God reminded me over and over again who was in control (Him) and I enjoyed soaking up His presence and hearing how He worked in the lives of the other amazing women at our church.

The view from the deck of the house where we stayed.

Emmie and I got our own room.

Wildlife was everywhere!

One of the most precious women in our church and I decided to take a walk to see if we could see any deer up close and personal. Besides the island just being gorgeous…

We also got to see the deer we so wanted. Several of them, in fact!

On the way back to our house, a beautiful bird swooped down in front of us and we followed it to a tree across a pond. Look for the orange beak in the picture above.

While we were engrossed in taking pictures of the bird, we realized we should watch out for the gators. At about the same time we realized that, we saw this…

Yep. A baby gator. We snapped a few more pictures and took off before we saw a bigger gator.

Emmie enjoyed some Bible study time.

And some cuddle time.

I caught the sunrise on the last day! It was just beautiful!

And I also managed to get a few cute pictures of our Ems!

Emmie decided, on the way back, that she wouldn’t mind hanging out with Miss G.

And we got to watch a “drawbridge” rotate at the same pit stop.

Happy 6th Birthday, Ceili Rain!

Posted on May 6, 2015 by Abbie

My middle girl turned six in March. We celebrated in style with a glow party.

And a horse cake. Let me say that again. She requested a horse cake. My dear daughter has never been on a real horse. Ever. She has a few My Little Ponies but horses have just not been as interesting as dolls. But, this is what she asked for. So, I obliged. We scoured Pinterest, found the perfect tutorial and then she dictated the colors to decorate.

All decorated up in her glowing cutieness.

She requested Krispy Kreme for breakfast and when we arrived, they gave the kids donut decorating kits. They were in heaven! (Yes, we have an honorary member of the bunch. James got to spend the night with us the night before and partake in the festivities).

Emmie thoroughly enjoyed the donuts as well! Her first Krispy Kremes.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Malachi!

Posted on May 5, 2015 by Abbie

Malachi turned 3 in March. I can not believe he’s actually 3! He has grown so much. We enjoyed the day as a family since I was pretty sick and had to do a doctor run.

The kitchen helpers to make birthday cupcakes.

Birthday cupcakes. Malachi changed his mind about every hour trying to decide what kind of cupcakes he wanted. I got these cute monster cupcake toppers after Halloween last year and when I showed them to him, he finally made up his mind! It was afterwards that he reminded me that he hasn’t had an actual real cake in two years. Here’s hoping for next year.