My Jeans???

This is classic. Clink on link.

Kate and Owen

We went to a family wedding this weekend in Philly. It was a BLAST! Owen is my dear cousin from my mom's side. Our moms are sisters. I have never been to a wedding that was such a party. Before the water was poured and when the DJ started basic songs, the dance floor was filled. It was fabulous! You would have to know my mom's family and Owen's dad's family to understand what I mean. Thank you to Jen (see interview last week) for babysitting our children in the hotel.

Banner at the church.
This is Lilly and her two precious "Irish twins": Joe and Ben. Lilly was my maid of honor and like a sister to me. She is my cousin, Owen's only sibling. You can see my mom on the left.

Beautiful Bride and Groom.

Nate and I.

The Laines with some Mullins in the background. Christmas Card shot??

Meet the MOPS artists...

Today was CELEBRATION plate day at MOPS and let me tell you - there were some adorable plates. Here are some photos. These are very easy to make. I bought the plates from Amazon.com - they are Anchor Hocking. The paint is special glass paint from Michaels.

This is Laura, she is a true "crafter" not a faker like me. She has a degree in JEWELRY! She is such a sweet mom to her daughter and can cook with dried lemons unlike any other.
This is my dear friend Andrea. She cracks me up because she has her doctorate in plants and so when she made her plate, I teased her and told her it looked like ferns not fireworks. She is preggo with number three and I love her two spunky red headed children.

This is Mary. You know why she is amazing? She has triplets and LEAVES THE HOUSE! She also likes to shop at Pottery Barn Kids (especially after winning the gift card to PBK this morning!)
Adorable plate - author unknown.

I have always gotten a kick out of Courtney. Her boys are so precious and her home is just darling - like a dollhouse. Her plate is AWESOME!

This is Susan. She was making me LAUGH so hard this morning because she copied my plate (which is flattering) even down to the colors. She is fun.

Melanie on the left. She is the most well spoken pleasant lady that I have ever met. Kristy is on the right. Kristy went to UVA, works part time but is a full time mom, and loves the Nats (because her husband does). Kristy is joining us in our consignment sale venture next week.

Sharon is on the top of our list right now because she is moving to GR in one month. I am so excited for her because she found her "forever home." (Forever home means a house that you can grow as a family in for life.) She is a really sweet, gentle mom to her kids and they are so well mannered - what I desire for sure!

Carly made a Santa plate. Carly is always positive and is very athletic. She was extra happy this morning - wink, wink.

Cupcakes!

Today was Grace's show-n-tell at school and we had to come up with a "V" word. You think that would be easy for our family with our last name but it wasn't. Someone already brought in vitamins and a vase and veins and a Virginia license plate. So Grace brought in a VERMIN. Her play hamster "Bolt." The teacher was dying laughing!

We have our missions conference at church this weekend. With two other friends, we managed to make 32 dozen cupcakes for dessert for the dinner tonight. This is our progress on them so far! It was actually really easy to do at home and fun for my kids. This photo only shows about 225 cupcakes.

BFF interview

One of our pastors was telling me that something fun to do on your blog is to interview people that are neat to you (especially if they don’t have blogs.) So… here we go.

Please meet my BFF Jen. I met her in college about 8 years ago. We have traveled the country together – recently Chicago but most memorable is Hawaii. She is a beautiful, godly, complex, athletic, and gracious friend.

Jen in Chicago, my mom on the right.
Christy on the left, Jen on the right. This was a funny night because we ran into Jen's semi-ex-boyfriend's parents at a random restaurant.Girl's night out in Ohio.

Tell me about your last jog.
- was at LA fitness for 20 minutes at a 8 minute pace
What do you look for in friends?
- Authenticity
When you pass people on the streets, what do you notice first about them?
- Size
If you could eat one food for the rest of your life, it would be what?
- An organic fruit/cheese tray
What's the farthest you've ever been from home?
- Thailand
What will you miss most about your 20’s?
- Naivety and boldness
What do you like about my children?
- They express themselves joyfully
If you could have as many kids as you wanted, how many would you have?

- 6
Are you an indoor person or outdoor person?

- Outdoor
If you became president, what would you change first in our country?
- stop the stimulus package
How do you cheer yourself up when you are upset?
- listen to happy music and serve someone in need to get "over" myself.
What is at the top of your prayer list right now?
- A good counselor position in a high school for next year! States I am interested in are: NC, CO, AZ, PA, NJ
What features do you like the most about yourself?
- Defined shoulders, thin ankles, good body proportion, and healthy skin
What was your latest best shop?
- Produce junction had a great sale on flowers which I bought for a new "mom" and for my dining room table. I still am looking for a fab spring trench coat and espadrilles. Let me know if you see anything! :)

Little Boys don't belong in Hair Salons!

The girls were so excited for their first professional haircut. Our stylist Jillian told me that I actually have done a good job keeping things even. She did a better job than me though! Here are some photos. They were scared of the shampoo bowl but a little excited. They held "Cheetah" for support.

My kids never drink soda so to drink Sprite was a special treat.
Sam was great in the stroller.
Pretty little Grace.

Rita was very scared of the bowl but brave.

Very relaxing for my kids to sit there, they loved getting their hair brushed and out of their eyes.

Pretty little Reet.

Sam and I wanted in on the photo.
This is what Sam did during the hair session. Little boys don't belong in the hair salon.

Grace wants a manicure for her 5th birthday. We will see...

Flowers, Five Guys, Funny Tooth

There is nothing like flowers on your doorstep to make you happy. Nate sent me flowers the day he left to thank me for letting him go! He has been gone for a few days in Florida and I have had an easy, wonderful time with the kids. Today we went to church, took naps, had the 4 neighbors kids over to play, walked to the grocery store, and had crab for dinner (Nate is allergic), and read Polar Express (skipped the page with the wolves - scary).

I had an interesting situation on Friday that some of you that are close to me will understand why this was so stinkin' cool! Nate's mom took us out for burgers after preschool and we had to have a little "discipline episode" in the bathroom at the restaurant. One of my kids was being ungrateful for the grilled cheese and letting everyone around us know she wanted a hot dog. I took her immediately to the only bathroom (men's) available and locked the door. While we had our "Change-Your-Heart 101", little did I know, there was a lady in the women's bathroom listening to us in through the walls. I walked out with a happy little child whose heart had been transformed in the locked men's bathroom (haha) and this STRANGER WOMAN walked out. She HIGH FIVED me and TOLD ME THAT I WAS DOING A GREAT JOB! She heard what I said in the bathroom with my child and said she was praying for me and proud of me! WHAT ON EARTH?!?!?!

On another note, Sammy definitely has an extra baby tooth and we are going to see a specialist this week.

- Gracie told me yesterday that she thought she was a "good alphabet-er."
- Nate's mom is visiting here for the week. Nate went away to Florida with some friends for a few days so I am flying solo after Jean leaves tomorrow morning. I am looking forward to it but miss Nate already!
- Sambo has a strange tooth coming out of the palette or roof of his mouth. Poor Buster. We are going to get it checked out today. I had something like that as a child also.

Here are some photos from our snow day this week...

Snow and Sun

Toggle Coat boy ready for church.

Rita cut her hair... 1st time a kid of mine has done that. My hairdresser has bright pink hair and I think we are going to visit her this week to fix it. I don't want my girls wanting bright pink hair though, I just want my hairdresser to have pink hair!

A warm day outside, Grace was pulling the wagon.

Crafty HOT mamas

I am so sad that I didn't get to see all the beautiful frames that the MOPS moms made last Friday (that is a whole other story!). Here is a few photos of the creative ladies working on them.