Spiritual Warfare

Anyone who doesn't believe in Spiritual Warfare,

has never had to replace a car, a dishwasher and a washing machine
in the SAME month!

Thats right, the washing machine sounds louder than Stephen's truck.
Hopefully I can make it through the rest of this pile...

before it dies completely.

Pray for the stove, the dryer and the freezer...
I'm assuming they are next.

'Behind me Satan' and GET OUT OF MY APPLIANCES!

First Edition of...

Several of my friends participate in "Not Me Mondays"
and "Wordless Wednesdays"
How do these things get started anyway?
I think there should be something specifically to recognize all the

Terrible Twos Terrific Toddlers in our lives.

A "Toddler Tuesday" - what do you think?
Silly pictures of toddlers doing silly things?
WELL, it may not take off and be used by millions on their blog but I think I like it.

Here we go... First Edition of Toddler Tuesday!



I think it goes without saying, if you are big enough to climb into it and out of it...
you are no longer qualified to bounce in an infant bouncy seat.


Maybe she feels like Jackson got too much attention this weekend?

Tales from a Busy Weekend: Mothers Day

I'm so grateful that my parents and Stephen's parents were both able to come up and spend the weekend with us!
We all had a great time with Grandmother and Nana.

A few pics of all the mamas from this weekend:


Jackson and Grandmother


Mary Beth with Nana


Me and Mama


This beautiful girl made me a mama - Lovin every minute!


I hope all the mamas reading this had a blessed Mother's Day!

Tales from a Busy Weekend: Baby Dedication

Sunday we took part in a special service at our church: Child, Parent and Church Dedication. We love that our church values families and takes time to recognize new babies as well as give parents to give an opportunity to make a public commitment to raise them in a Christ-centered home.



They put a picture of each child on the big screen.
Of course we had to use a silly picture.




Thanks Stacey for organizing the service and taking care of all the details!





Look back at
Mary Beth's Baby Dedication

Tales from a Busy Weekend: Birthday continued

Stephen's parents came in town Saturday evening and after some baby loving, new(er) car riding, and mexican eating, they snuck away to the store and returned with a birthday cake, ice cream and of course... adorable hats!

Mary Beth staring down the piece of cake
Jackson reaching for the carton of ice cream
Mom trying to get 2 kids to look at the camera.

Happy Birthday Stephen - part 1

Today officially begins birthday week! Stephen's birthday isn't actually until next Thursday, but my parents are here and offered to keep the kids, so we had a date night. Also his present arrived in the mail today - and there is no way I could keep a secret for another week - so we went ahead and started birthday celebrating.

We drove in his new car and went out to City Range for dinner before coming home to open his Wii! Pretty good birthday, huh?! And right now you are thinking... wait a second... one income family and he gets a new car, fancy dinner, and a new game system!?!



Well it all just happened to fall at the same time...
The Neon (yes, my 10 year old car I got when I was in High School) finally died a couple weeks ago and Stephen has been in search of a new vehicle. We got our tax return back and voila!
Stephen gets a new car!
I had been planning for months to get him a Wii and after much torture and false "hints" I finally ordered it this week. (yes, I realize we are a couple years behind in technology but its still fun) I didn't think it would get here until next week - but since it got here today why not go bowling after the kids are in bed?


Stephen hates the pose-with-your-present pictures, ha!

Anyway, the birthday cake can wait until next Thursday... maybe I'll post some pictures, if it doesn't turn out horrible.

Happy Birthday Stephen!

All in a day's work...

helping Daddy clean the ceiling fans


and giving Nathan some cooking lessons

I'm gonna do it... YOU better be there!

Well after much encouragement - I'm gonna do it!
I'm going to have a yard sale!

THIS SATURDAY! 8am until 12ish
Kim and I are going to join forces, so stop by her house and check it out.
111 Nicholls Dr, Spartanburg
Right off Reidville Rd next to Quality Mulch

Help me spread the word!

If you (or if you have friends) looking for specific things, I have...

Decorations GALORE
Kitchen items (microwave, crockpot, fondue, brand new towels, tablecloths, place mats...)
DORM ROOM stuff
Floral Arrangements (Seriously good deals...)
Unopened GIFT Items (like bath and body works sets...hint, hint - mother's day)
Christmas stuff
School / Office Supplies
Books (Lori Wick, Janet Oke)
Baskets
A few baby items and kids toys

EVERYTHING IS PRICED TO SELL!
but if you don't like my price - make me an offer - I'll take it!

Am I crazy?

I am thinking about having a yard sale... I have never actually done a yard sale before but it seems simple enough, right?
I have heard about how much work it is and its not like you make a ton of money....
What are your experiences? Seriously, I need your input...

I've been waiting for our next "neighborhood" yard sale, but we have a new board this year and it looks like we might not be doing one, and I have been collecting stuff in my garage for a year now!
SOOO, I've been bouncing back and forth about whether or not I should just go ahead and do it.

I'm on a deadline, here, if I'm gonna do it - I need to do it May 2nd (because I wanna give my leftovers to the youth yard sale which is on May 9th) so I have to make a decision!

I'm also wondering if anyone else has some junk TREASURES that they need to sell too. We could make it a "multi-family" sale.

Another question: Where to advertise? I have lots of places online, but I'm not sure if that would reach my 'target customer' ... You see, my mom, has given me tons of stuff from her house --- things that which a "wiser" generation would find beautiful. Do ya get what I'm saying? I'm pretty sure the majority of this 'wiser generation' doesn't search online to find yard sales. Ya know, what I mean? I need to figure out a place that this 'wiser generation' would look to find out about yard sales.

Okay, I think that's all of my questions for now...
Should I do this or am I crazy?

A Sunny Day and a Half Birthday...

Jackson had a stomach bug last week

and was just pretty pitiful most of the time.
One day, I just had to get OUT
(the SAHMs know what I mean...)
and I thought a little fresh air might do him some good.

While I was in the closet looking for a soft blanket,
I found PawPaws hat.
[PawPaw is Stephen's grandfather who pased away in 2002 ---
Stephen held on to the hat ever since]

AND IT WORKED - look at that cutie smile -
one of the only I got this week.




Update: He is finally back to 'close-to-normal' today.
9 days in all
(3 of stomach bug, 3 days of no appetite/no energy after the bug,
then to top it off he had his 6 month well visit on Friday and got shots, so two more days of fever and grumpies rounded out the week)

At his doctor appt we found out he is 50-50-25 percentiles.
His weight was down, but understandably so after a stomach bug.
Other than that he is growing great.
He eats stage 1 and 2 foods, is rolling over like a champ
and will be sitting up any day now!

A big
Happy 1/2 Birthday
Jackson!