Smiling...

Isn't she cute?! Caroline told me today that she always smiles "because it just makes me feel better!"... wisdom, from a 7 year old! She's about the most smiley person I know, and it started when she was 5 weeks old! (Above photo is at 11 months!)

Have you smiled today?

Mario Kartin' Cousins!

We are big "techno-fans". LOVE modern technology. Our kids even go to a Magnet school for technology. Here's our newest bit of fun: Playing video games with Caleb. In Texas. As in, he's in Texas, we're in Florida. Today was our first trial with this Wii wireless goodness and it was a huge hit! Nothing like being able to "play" with your cousins, 1/2 way across the country. In the picture, above, you can see Ryan trying it out with them, and "holding" the phone up to his ear, talking with them. Now, we need a speaker phone! On the TV screen, you can see Ryan's "race" and Caleb's "race" as they race against each other. Pretty exciting for the kids (and RYAN!)... Ok, Amanda and Torrey, you are next! And Isaiah? Tell Mama you need a wii with MarioKart!

Happy Birthday MOM!

Hope you have a GREAT DAY, Mom! We miss you and can't wait for you to get home!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Mmmmm.... Don't you wish Rochel was YOUR aunt??? Today was Carly's turn to bring snack in for her class (I think they picked her because her name is Carly McGregor and the closest thing they had to Irish Eyes-A-Smiling) and Rochel made these for her to bring in! BIG HIT. We don't really "celebrate" St. Patty's Day, but I will admit that I DID make corned beef and cabbage for dinner! Yes, Ben and Carly have put THEMSELVES up for adoption after that one! Actually they got to eat cereal, so it was a good night all around! While our dinner was yummy, it REALLY made me miss my Mom!!! *sniff*

THANKS for the cookies, Rochel!

The end of a great week!

We so loved our week with KRISTIN! Ben and Carly have each said, "I miss Kristin... I wish she were still here!" with big sighs. I know what they mean. We had a fun, mostly just hanging out and loving having another member in our little family.

We tried out a new restaurant on Friday to celebrate Kristin getting into Nursing School. Texas Roadhouse just opened up near Mom's house and it was GREAT! Highly recommended:) Carly learned a new trick while we were there... I told her, "oh, that face will get you far in life!" and she's been doing it ever since! You know, when she wants something... What do you think, Dad? Would it work on you?!?!?! We think Papoo might be the biggest sucker for it!

And on a sad note: One of our wedding gifts bit the dust this week. THAT IS SO SAD!!! We have loved this pizza stone for well over 14 years. Note to self: NEVER put a hot pizza stone on top of your stove when you forget to turn the burn off... we suddenly heard a loud POP, and this is what happened...

It was perfectly seasoned, too... oh well. And for something to look forward to... our amarillas are blooming, so red flower pictures are ready!

"She's a RUNNER!"

Well, since I have ditched my ipod when I walk for a while (I really need NEW music!) I now have plenty of time to think of things I might like to put on my blog... aren't you lucky. Today I decided I need to change the name of my blog...


In my mind, I am a runner. In reality... if you go for a walk, and "run" for a block, you are allowed to say you "went for a run". See how that works? But I'm really trying. I am so inspired by my husband. He is so consistent with running and training for races. He's not a fast runner at all. He's consistent. In fact, he's consistent in all areas of his life. Inspiring. Another thing I have been working on this week: being encouraging. I read this verse:

Proverbs 25:11 "A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver".

And thought that was something I really need to work on. I am a firm believer that you just never know when something you say or do is going to really affect people. I prefer to try to POSITIVELY affect them... it certainly could go the other way. I've been thinking about this a lot this week, especially after talking with my sister, Tracy, and hearing the kind of week she's been having! ANYWAY... as I was out this morning walking, I decided it was time to try to hit one of my goals for the month of running for 5 minutes without stopping. I tend to just stop. Alot. So, I started... and just when I was yelling at myself (in my mind, thank you!) NOT to stop, I went past this house where a woman was out playing with her little kids. All of a sudden, she said to them, "She's a runner!". Being the dork that I am, I gave her 2 thumbs up and very dramatically said, "THANK YOU!!! OH THANK YOU!!" so, THANK YOU, random-lady-on-Island-Dr-who-made-my-day (because I am CERTAIN you read my blog). Those apples of gold made me keep going. To 5 minutes and 2 seconds.

Then I got to thinking about this Random Lady. And the fact that these words cross my lips a lot: "random girl in tampa thinking about you... random acts of kindness (RAK)... random blog entries...." get it? It occurred to me as I continued on, WAS that lady REALLY so random? When you leave a comment for Jonah's Mom (see icon at left) that a "random person is praying for you", is that REALLY so random? I mean, I believe that God is in control of everything. It's NOT so random afterall.

I also decided that it might be kind of fun to LOOK for the not so random moments in life...

BIG NEWS!!!!

Ok... this is HUGE! And I'm so happy I got to be a witness to this FUN NEWS!!! Kristin JUST FOUND OUT she got accepted to the Liberty University School of NURSING program!!!! AAAGGGHHHHHH!!!!! I'm so excited! I'm screaming all around the house and it's the best news!!! I'm all crying (duh!) and she's laughing at me! I'M SO EXCITED!!! No one understands better than a former nursing student how HUGE THIS IS! It's no easy feat getting into an extremely tough program that only accepts a very select few. So, CONGRATS KRISTIN!!!! I'm so thrilled to have shared this moment with you! And yes, the news even got a little grin out of my girl! FOR REAL!

Also, BIG NEWS... I worked last night and when I had gotten up (at noon) I immediately heard the washing machine going, and this could only mean one thing: Kristin was doing laundry. And When I went to bed, my washer and dryer were filled with MY laundry. (Are you sitting down, Rochel??) It's true, I'm a laundry nazi (Ask Rochel, who lived with me for a while, and made the sad mistake of touching my laundry ONCE... with excessive apologies afterwards!) and am completely neurotic about it for some crazy reason. So, of course, trying to be the ever-loving Aunt, I shot a quick prayer up to the Almighty for patience (completely sure He loves THOSE kind of prayers)... and was pleasantly surprised to learn my 2nd favorite fact of the day about my darling girl (1st was that she got accepted into her program)... she's about as crazy about the laundry as I am, and had completely laid everything out perfectly so it wouldn't get wrinkled!!!!! SHE's PERFECT!!!!!

*sigh* I'd keep her if it wasn't for those impending college bills:)

CONGRATULATIONS Kristin!! I'm so happy for you!