Best Buddies

We had a little visitor over Saturday afternoon: Hudson's best bud, Gavin. He came over to play with us for a few hours. I adore these two boys! They really love each other. Even though its been several weeks since we've been able to get them together, its like no time has passed. They were so happy to see each other and they play so well together! For the most part, they shared toys and when a negotiation started to take place Lantis or I would tell them to take turns with it and they would. Gavin would even announce, "Husson, I'm through with this and I'm going to put it down so you can play with it." hahaha!

This picture of them makes me want to pinch them till their chubby little cheeks hurt cause they are so stinkin cute. This is friendship in its purest form.








Gavin's face in the photo above: hahahaa!!

The play hut was a huge hit!! Until Hudson dove out of it onto the hardwood resulting in a knotty forehead. At least it was Hudson and not Gavin. I would have hated to send him home looking like a unicorn.





Poking your head out of a play hut hole requires a big "ahhhhhh!!!" to try to scare mommy. They got me every time too I must admit.

Gavin told Hudson that he could sit in his lap while they watched a movie. Thats love brother!

We had snack and color time at the table. That does not equal quiet time for two-two year old little boys in case you were wondering.

Radical by David Platt

I have just started reading "Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream" by David Platt. If you click the link on David's name that will give you a little bio on who David is. In a very big nutshell he is the pastor of The Church at Brook Hills where Lantis and I have been attending church.

David is a pastor that truly lights a fire under you. This church is doing UH-MAZING things right now!! Their global disciple ship is rocking. There are families who live in Greystone, Inverness, Homewood and similar areas who are selling their homes and moving to inner city areas to infiltrate those communities and spread the Word. There are just under 200 families who have signed up to be foster families in Shelby County. There are almost as many who are signing up to be adoptive parents. What an incredible commitment!! Theirs are stories that give you chills.

I'm reading along last night and here are some excerpts that had my name written all over them:

"...yet in the American dream, where self reigns as king (or queen), we have a dangerous tendency to misunderstand, minimize, and even manipulate the gospel in order to accommodate our assumptions and our desires. As a result, we desperately need to explore how much of our understanding of the gospel is American and how much is biblical."

There are a million passages in this book that I am dying to share and I'm not even half way through it. I'm just going to tell you to read it yourselves. This book is so appropriately named. It really is radical and it should really stir your soul. While reading this book, my toes have been stepped on a thousand times and I've been shamed more than once.

This is the promo for the book that should at least get your attention and in the next post there is another--slightly less intimidating promo. :) But you know me: I like to go straight for the jugular!

Radical Promo 2

And this is the slightly less intimidating promo. :)

Mountains and Molehills

I don't know what to say. I'm speechless over some things that have happened over the last few days. I've said it before and I'll say it again...I have been so blessed. God is so great and I think he has a big plan for our family. One that is very much in the works as we speak...or I type. Same thing.

Jeremiah 29:11 is ringing loudly in my ears: "For I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future."

and Proverbs 3:5: "trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding."

My life over the last two years has been crazy to say the least. Our family has been on several roller coasters with work, and we added a child in the midst of it. Just as we think we've been through the worst of it, we have another door closed and we are forced to begin a new chapter. One that will challenge us more than any other has. Luckily we just studied and dissected Psalm 23 in church a couple of weeks ago. Oh the irony--I had no idea how much or how soon it would hit home for me. God's funny like that. But the best news is that He always prepares you and never gives you more than you can handle.

So...now we recently found out that we have a hurdle to jump and two days later we have new opportunities awaiting us. Opportunities that we have worked hard to achieve and all we have to do is jump on them and make the best of them. We are hard workers and we don't wait for things to fall in our laps. We go and get them.

I fully believe that God has put us here to make us stronger and more faithful. I think He's put us here because he know that we can handle it. I think He knew that if faced with a mountain to climb we would turn it into molehill...and smile the entire time.

We are Macy's and we'll put everything on sale for any darn reason

I heart Macy's and other stores like them who will put the entire store on sale for any reason. Oh its Flag Day? Great! Take 50% off. What can I say, they--like me--are festive and will take any opportunity to celebrate any occasion...or get rid of inventory. Whatever the case may be, I love it.

I swung by Macy's last week to take advantage of their ginormous 4th of July sale. If you recall my kitchen craze post a couple of weeks ago you'll know that I'm in great need of a few kitchen necessities. I'm happy to say that I was able to stock up on a few items that we genuinely can use:

These awesome Pop Containers by OXO. When I stumbled across these I felt like Carrie Bradshaw (Sex and the City) when she spots some prized shoes in a store window. "Hello lover!". Seriously, I haven't been this giddy about something since New Kids on the Block came to town. Our pantry has never been so organized. Now all of our pantry items will stay freshy fresh and its neat. Win, win. There's nothing worse than pulling out a box of Triscuits that you had your heart set on, only to find that they are stale. No more of that, my friends!



Next up, I found some Calphalon pans that were included in the sale. Saute/fry pans were the first items on my "to-be-replaced" list becuase ours were in terrible shape. These were a must have. I've cooked in them a few times already and again, I'm in love! Nothing sticks, easy clean up, and I swear it just tastes better knowing that it came from a quality pan.





I got this little knife. a) its cute, b) I didn't have a santoku knife, c) it was on sale for $10 and d) Martha Stewart says they're great for cutting up sticky items like vegetables. Well, there you have it. No one cuts up sticky veggies more than me. Lots of chopping is required for frozen pizzas, so that was a no brainer.


Last and my most fave, I got some new kitchen towels. I'm sure none of our guests really care that my kitchen towels are stained and holey, but I do. I cleaned out the kitchen towel drawer, sent the grimey ones to the can-be-used-for-cleaning pile and put the new ones in their place. I couldn't find a pic of my adorable new towels online, so this link to their matching oven mitt is as good as its gonna get. They are precious!

http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=447518&CategoryID=30192



So this holiday season I'm very thankful for our country and the freedom that that we have and for stores that cater to gullable people like myself. I will buy anything that is on sale. I use the term "sale" loosely because we all know that they are simply reducing it to only a half-way-rip-you-off-retail-price. Regardless, I'm happy and I feel like I made some good purchases!

Celebrating Freedom...but we'll use any excuse!

I know you are all anxiously awaiting my next post all about our 4th of July festivities, right? Well, unfortunately I don't have a lot to tell except that we had a fun weekend.

First and most importantly: thank you to all the troops and veterans who have and are fighting for our freedom so that I can enjoy a weekend with my family and friends. Thank you to the families of those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

So let the festivities begin.

Friday night we went over to the Courson's to swim, eat pizza, play pin ball, and of course listen to a Jason and Hudson play a few tunes on the guitars.

Saturday we spent the entire day out on the water with friends and watched fireworks on the water that night. Here are a few pics of our day on the lake.

Julie and Alesha

Julie photographing my Sports Illustrated cover.

Christa taking a snooze

Julie and me

Alesha and Richie jumping off the rocks

Lantis on the wakeboard

My surfer dude

I love this pic. Everyone looks so happy. :)

Me and Alesha

Sunday was spent recuperating from a long day on the water the previous day. Finally Sunday afternoon we went out and got some ribs from the new little rib shack in Leeds, Huck's. I have to say they have the best ribs I've ever had!! It was great. Hudson loves it because they have a giant pig and chicken on top of the building. Then we went home for kid-friendly fireworks in the driveway. This picture just cracks me up! Hudson wasn't scared of the sparklers or fireworks, but he was acting silly and it sure looks like he was!





Monday I had the bright idea to try to get some updated pics of our little family. We went to my in-laws house and used some beautiful settings in and around their house. Silly me, I should know that when Bebe and Poppy are around, nothing else matters. Especially not my camera. I didn't get many good shots, so we'll have to try again on a day when its just the three of us. Here are a few half-way ok ones.

Hudson with Bebe and Poppy.

Hudson isn't going for pics with mom.

ok. Maybe one, but I refuse to look at the camera!

Hud-n-dad

Down on the farm.

I actually do like this one! :)

and this one.

I Pray on it Mommy

Our little ones do things constantly that make us want to melt...and then they do those things that you will never forget and not just make you melt, but make you melt and want to boo-hoo all at once. That happened to me not once but twice this week.

After a trip to the skating rink (shown in previous post) Hudson had an accident in the car. He actually had a pull up on because in the event an accident did occur at the skating rink I didn't want some little roller skater to roll through a puddle and break a limb, or worse, for their daddy's lawyer to contact me about it. So back to the story: he was wearing a pull up, but he had to tee tee in the car and couldn't wait until we got home. He says, "Mommy I tee tee in my car." I reply, "That's ok Buddy it happens sometimes." He said he was sorry and I explained that there was no need to be sorry that I understood he couldn't wait to get home and he's learning, etc. After I received no response, I look up in the mirror and his hands are clasped and his head is bowed and eyes are closed. I watched for a moment and he looked up at me and said, "let's pray on my tee tee Mommy. "

Oh. My. Goodness. My baby wants to pray about his tee tee accident in the car. I almost had to pull over to give him some hugs and kisses. So together we said a little prayer about his tee tee-ing in the car and that was ok, but we'll try really hard to make it to the potty next time.

If that wasn't enough, the very next morning we were in the car on the way to work. He was going to work with me for the day and going to the daycare there and to Kindermusik (which I'll tell about later). I told him that he was going to school at mommy's work. When we were close to my office I said, "we're almost there Hudson." I look up and see the same little guy in deep prayer and he looks at me again and asks, "I pray about my cool, Mommy." So we said a little prayer together about him going to a new school that day.

It was one of the sweetest and most special things he's ever done. It is sometimes overwhelming to me that I am responsible for raising this little guy in a way that is pleasing to God, to be a good example to Hudson, and to help him secure his eternity. This was what I needed. A little sign that I'm doing something right. Its such a simple love and faith that even a two year old can find peace and comfort in Him. I pray that I can continue to nurture Hudson's love and faith in Jesus.