It's Christmas in July!

Yesterday, Cole and I headed to the Tice home to attend a "Christmas in July" party. It was hosted by Ansley and Carson Tice (mom Rebecca did all the work of course!) and was such a cute idea! There were Santa cookies, Christmas music, marshmallow snowmen, and even a gift exchange. It was a BEAUTIFUL day, so the kids had fun playing in the pool and sandbox, while the mommies had fun visiting and enjoying a day with friends. I think this may become a yearly tradition!

For those that are thinking, "Christmas...already??", let me mention that Hobby Lobby and Old Time Pottery have aisles filled with ornaments, garland, and other Christmas decor. as of last week. Crazy!! What happened to waiting until after Thanksgiving to shop for the holiday? I wish they would wait to put out the merchandise. It kinda takes away from the "awe" of the season. Oh well...

Brrr...Getting used to the water

Carson and Cole in the sandbox

Eating a yummy "Christmas" feast

Time for presents! Thank you Will for my books and puppies!

Will giving Cole a "thank-you" hug for his gift. So cute!

A Visit to Nana's

On Sunday afternoon, we took a drive to visit Michael's mom and stepdad in Lafayette. They have purchased an older home and are making some beautiful renovations. Nana finally had her oven/stove installed, so she invited us over (along with Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Kathy) to enjoy a homecooked meal. She served a feast! Potato salad, baked ham, green beans, rolls, cole slaw, and cake were some of the fixins'. So good! After dinner, we sat under some beautiful shade trees in the front yard while visiting with one another. Nana also installed a beautiful pond (which Cole LOVED)...just listening to the water was so relaxing! We had a great evening and hope to visit again soon! Here are some picture highlights...

Playing at Nana's

Nana's beautiful new kitchen. Her husband Larry built these cabinets!!

Wanting to get in the pond so bad!

They live next to a big field...lots of cows!

Nana, Uncle Pawpaw (Larry), and Cole

Cole playing the guitar for the first time.

ArtQuest at the Frist

This past Wednesday, our MOPS group headed downtown to the Frist Center for the Visual Arts to ArtQuest. We weren't sure what to expect, but ended up having so much fun! ArtQuest consists of 30 "stations" with different art mediums for preschoolers-senior adults to explore. Stations consisted of: collage making w/ tissue paper, drawing with pencils/chalk on easels, print making, watercolors, texture rubbing, pattern making, stained glass blocks, magnets, and much more! Although Cole is young, he really enjoyed many of the things ArtQuest has to offer. I also took some friends of mine so Michael went with me to help keep track of Cole. What a generous spirit...going downtown with a bunch of women and kids! He did say that he had a lot of fun too :-)

Just a note...ArtQuest is FREE to anyone ages 18 and under. It is open to the public daily, but you must make a reservation when coming with a group. The fee for adults is $8.00. That covers ArtQuest and access to the museum gallery. We got a glimpse of the gallery and the exhibits are BEAUTIFUL! The theme right now is Field of Color...all the artwork was so vibrant! Michael and I want to go back by ourselves so that we can enjoy all the museum has to offer (and play in ArtQuest again, lol). Maybe soon...!

Michael and Cole building dinosaurs

Caleb making pictures with the magnet board

Madison drawing...such an artist!

Amanda and Thomas drawing...so focused!

Cole playing at the block station

Ansley, Becca, Carson, Will, and Brandee enjoying the collage station

Caleb making a football print

Spending time with Papa and Gigi

We're so fortunate to have most of our family nearby. We are all very close and I am thrilled that Cole gets to see them so often. This past week, we had a new roof put on our home, so Cole and I spent a couple of days at Papa and Gigi's house. We had fun playing, helping Gigi in her garden, taking walks, and visiting Dad G and Mom G (Cole's great-grandparents) who live next door.
During this stay, I decided to go in my parent's walk-in attic and look for some of Kyle's childhood toys that Cole could play with (some of mine too...minus the Barbies). He's outgrowing the "baby" things and needs some more "big boy" toys. Sorting through the boxes of baby dolls, matchbox cars, Little People garages, and Barbies brought back so many happy memories. I could remember vividly Kyle and I in our childhood home on Rosebrook Drive setting up "towns", racing cars, and playing house. Back then, I never imagined that one day my own child would play with these same toys. I pray that when Cole looks back on his childhood one day, that he feels as loved and blessed as I do.

Cole helping Gigi with the laundry

Playing with Kyle's childhood tent. Kyle and I both used to sleep in that at night and pretend we were camping!

Playing with our childhood Little People Garage/Town

Gigi makes yummy spaghetti!

More Summer Fun!

We have had so much fun this summer just being at home and visiting with friends and family. I thought that I would miss a "big" summer vacation (we're saving $$), but surprisingly...I haven't. Don't get me wrong, a week at the beach would be wonderful, but we've been content to soak up the Tennessee sunshine and relish in the lazy days of summer; however, lazy probably isn't the best word...storytime, play dates, get-togethers, and other fun activities have kept us very BUSY! Here are a few pictures from our summer days.

Uppercase Living

Over the past few months, I've been praying for the Lord to show me something that I could do/sell to make some extra spending money for our family. Michael is so supportive of my wanting to be a stay-at-home mommy and praises me daily for taking care of our household...but it would be nice to add a little bit to "the pot" financially. Even if only to treat myself to a new article of clothing, a new book, or to be able to pay for some b'day/baby gifts, etc. every now and then. I also wanted to find something that would be new to my family and friends. Pampered Chef, BeautiControl, Lia Sophia, etc. are all wonderful, but have consultants EVERYWHERE! My request was specific, but the Lord answered and sent me a wonderful product in such a neat way...here's the story (a brief version for your benefit!).

About three months ago, a new family moved in a few houses down from us...I took them a hanging geranium and little note welcoming them to the neighborhood. Because of this, the lady (Phoebe is her name) invited me to a "fashion show" at her home. I went, and as she was giving a tour of her home, I noticed cute sayings, phrases, names, etc. on the walls of different rooms. I told her I was very impressed with her paintings/murals, and she just laughed..."I sell this stuff. It's a rub-on transfer!" she exclaimed. I couldn't believe it...they were BEAUTIFUL. She gave me a catalog to take home and from then on I was hooked! The product is from a company called Uppercase Living. It's a fairly new company that two women started because they wanted to personalize their homes. Since then, I have decided to become a Demonstrator and have ordered my Starter Kit (which was on sale this month...Yay!). It should arrive anyday. To make it even better, hardly any of my family/friends had heard of the product, but they LOVE it. I've already got a few Open Houses booked!

I have told Phoebe over and over how the Lord used her to answer my prayers. I hope that as I sell this product and enter homes that His name is magnified and His love will shine above all else.

To view the products in more detail, see the Spring/Summer catalog, or play with the "MyDesign" tool follow these instructions...

1. Visit http://www.uppercaseliving.com/

2. Click on Customer Corner Login

3. Demonstrator ID# is 383704

4. Registration Token - Johnson

5. Enter your info. and you're ready to go!

Fireworks!!

Last night Michael, Cole and I went to the Freedom Festival that the city of Hendersonville hosts every Fourth of July. The weather was perfect...low humidity, overcast sky, and a cool breeze. Of course the big highlight of the evening was the firework display. We couldn't wait, but were a little apprehensive of what Cole would think of the show. Well, they started promptly at nine o'clock and my little man promptly started boo-hooing. He would have been okay if they started out with one at a time, but they fired TONS to let us know the show was starting. Cole was scared silly. He did calm down after a few minutes and watched them with us, but then began fussing again at the end...it was WAY past bedtime :-) Since I was holding Cole, Michael took my camera and made some shots of the fireworks exploding in the air (thanks Kyle for your advice!). Pretty impressive! We hope you all have a wonderful holiday...Happy Birthday America!

Having an evening snack before the show

Fireworks!!