Once Upon a Time....Part 2

If you need to refresh your memory of Part 1, follow this link!

.....Mom eventually gave up on the wretched bike and bought the patient boy a new one. He was so happy and loved peddling it up and down the street. Once or twice. Then the chain fell off. Dad put it back on and it immediately fell off again. Let me add at this point that the eldest daughter's bike is sitting on the porch with the chain off. That's OK, her bike is old, she needs a new one anyway. Also, the neighbor just borrowed mom's bike, and returned it with a BROKEN chain. The oldest son's bike is also sitting on the porch with the chain off. No big deal, he has out grown it, and just had a birthday, so they bought him a new bike. They unloaded the shiny red bike from the van and noticed the tires should be pumped up a bit before he rode it. Dad pumped up the back tire and removed the pump from the stem and the stem just broke right off the tire and the tire immediately went flat. So mom went back to the store the next day and had to leave it for a WEEK to get it fixed for free. This has been going on for SEVEN months and there is still not a single working bike in the family. What's a girl gotta do?

The Circle

Ok, I haven't done much of this, but I really must give a shout out about an author I've just discovered. His name is Ted Dekker. He is a christian author who writes with a bit of the flavor of Frank Perretti. They have even co-authored a book recently. I have been really enjoying his books and have breezed through most of them so far. My favorite is his 'Circle' Trilogy. The first one is called 'Black' followed by 'Red', then 'White'. I loved these books and I strongly recommend them. They are full of action, danger, romance, adventure, the supernatural, and the Love of God. Enjoy!

Roan Quote: On the subject of Roan's questions regarding marraige, he just asked our neighbor to marry him! He is four and she is nine. Already going for the older women!

Weekend in Raleigh

This past weekend Alyssa and I went to Raleigh, NC to visit my sister Andrea who was having an open-house party to celebrate her new home. She and Jerry have really done a great job with the house. In my opinion, Andrea definitely has talent in the interior decorating department. Jerry apparently actually enjoys working out in the yard, which makes Andrea happy as it is not her cup of tea! (Me either!) Also, Jerry and Andrea just got engaged and I got to see the ring! It was Jerry’s grandmother’s ring and she wore it for 50 years! It is absolutely beautiful! (scroll down a couple posts for the picture!) Sunday afternoon, we went to the new South Point Mall to try on bridesmaid dresses. Here's the happy couple:I enjoyed having Alyssa with me. We had kind of a girl’s weekend. On Saturday, we all went to pick up the ring from the jewelers, and then we had lunch at Moe’s. After lunch, Andrea, Alyssa, and I got manicures and pedicures! FUN! Grandpa and Grammy came to the party that evening, too. Later, Alyssa and I went out with them for ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s. We had a fun weekend with family and I enjoyed my time with Alyssa.

Roan Quote: I was showing Roan pictures of Andrea’s house and we were talking about the wedding. He asked me when he would get married. I told him when he was grown up. He would find a woman he loved and marry her. He said, “Mommy, I love you, so, can you marry me?”

Chris Sligh In Concert

If you watch American Idol, you know who Chris Sligh is. He is one of the Top Ten. He has been voted out but will go on tour with the group when the season ends. For now, though, he is home for a bit. He performed tonight at our church with his band "Half Past Forever". This is the first concert he has done since his appearance on American Idol and the only one scheduled in South Carolina (or so I'm told). Kai, Alyssa and I went to the concert. The kids love American Idol and were excited to see Chris. We had a lot of fun. The kids were right in the front row! Alyssa bought a t-shirt and got it autographed. Kai bought a t-shirt and an autographed CD. I had a great time with my kiddo's tonight! Click HERE if you'd like to see a brief clip of Chris in concert earlier this eveing.

Spring Break

Last week was spring break and we went to the zoo for the first time since last summer. May I say I love the Riverbanks Zoo! I brought my camera and as usual took way more pics of the animals than my kids!

We also saw the 3D version of ‘Meet the Robinsons’. We really enjoyed the movie and the 3D was very good quality. Amy and her kids came on Friday for the weekend. Amy came to work with me and scrapped while Dean took all five kids on a hike through the woods. They especially loved playing in the creek. Then on Sunday after church we went to Macaroni Grill as Kai’s choice for his birthday which is today. He will have a party and a sleepover in two weeks with his friends. He is 9. Happy Birthday Kai!

This Friday night we will be going to a concert. Chris Sligh (American Idol Top Ten) will be at our church. Very cool, should be fun. Then on Saturday morning, Alyssa and I are going to Raleigh to attend Andrea’s house warming party. We are going to have a girls day complete with manicures and pedicures and I’ll get to spend a lot of one-on-one with my eldest and only daughter. Can’t wait. And speaking of Andrea………(drum roll please)…………She’s engaged!

Congratulations Andrea! We love you! Jerry, best decision you ever made! She’s a keeper! We love you, too, and the kids are very excited about their Uncle Jerry!

Roan Quote: One of the presents Kai got for his birthday was 'The Claw', a tabletop candy machine. The kids love it and have been playing with it a lot. Roan just came in very sad and concerned and told me, "Mommy, when we go to heaven, I will miss the candy machine! Can we take it with us?" Dean said, "Roan, heaven will be even better!" Roan said sadly and quietly, "No it won't."

Happy Resurrection Day!

We are currently enjoying spring break. In spite of the nasty pollen, the weather has been beautiful and our azaleas in full bloom! Unfortunately, we woke up Easter Sunday with a low temp of 26* and all the flowers frozen to death! O well, fortunately, I had already taken pics of them!

This year my friend Brandy and I had decided to try to make this weekend more Holy. For us, that meant, among other things, eating a special dinner at home, not at a restaurant! We moved any egg hunt stuff to Saturday and downplayed it, so we could make Sunday all about Jesus. We also went to our Good Friday Service, which, if you can believe it, I don’t think we’ve ever done before! For dinner we had Lamb, latkes (potato pancakes), green beans with garlic and tomatoes, Charoset (apple nut spread) with cinnamon bread, and Spinach salad (with strawberries, mandarin oranges, praline pecans, and raspberry vinaigrette, yum!). For dessert we had pear pie and caramel matzo crunch. Later in the evening we all had communion together. Brandy and I had a very tough time making all this happen. For the last couple of days, things just kept going wrong, and we were both highly irritated and having a difficult time getting into the spirit of things, so to speak. We decided we were under some kind of spiritual attack. You know, Satan would rather us celebrate Easter eggs and bunnies than bring up his ultimate failure by celebrating the resurrection! But, in spite of his interference, we succeeded in our attempt, and had a great day. I hope our families ‘got it’. I think they did. I know I was closer to God this weekend, and that was my goal.

Roan quote: Remember the bee story? Roan thought maybe the bee was here because it was Tuesday. Well, about a week later, we again walked outside and there was another big bee hovering right in front of our door. I told Roan, there’s that bee again. He asked me what day it was, and can you believe it? It was Tuesday!