11Alive update

 Here's the way overdue 11Alive update... talk about leaving something hanging out there, right?! Well, we did get to be part of the 11Alive news last Friday night! It was really crazy. Very crowded and super crazy but also pretty dang cool too. We got free adventure passes for a day to the Stone Mountain attraction park for participating, so that's neat. We met up with some friends and all "camped out" hoping to get our kiddos seen on the news. Grandma and Papa were able to record the hour and we went and watched ourselves Saturday morning. That was neat. We're supposed to be able to find it on the website, but haven't yet, so who knows. Matthew was quite the trooper. Mark did well until the very end and ended up breaking down. Micah didn't last half the time, but still even having to leave the big boys and take Micah out, it was pretty neat to be showing our pride and support for the Olympians on TV!

 Matthew-Monkey

Markie-Bug

 Micah-Bear

As people started pouring in, we actually
found a nice man to snap a quick shot of all of us...

 all of us, decked out in our red, white and blue

After waiting for an hour and being squished with all kinds of crazy people, look at where my kids ended up for one of the 5 or 6 snips of footage... see the camera man? see the reporter in the pink just to the left of the camera man? see the camera cord? it slices right in front of Mark's little sweet head popping up over the big sign there... see him? see Matthew just behind his shoulders? (I'm sitting on a park bench at this time with a very VERY fussy Micah)...

LOOK! Just look where that News Reporter is and look at where my children are!!!

Fun Friday

We have two days during the week that are labeled. One is "Try it Tuesday" and you know how great that is, right? ha. The other though is Fun Friday. And I really do try to make Fridays fun. We'll do peanut butter and chocolate sandwiches (nutella rocks!) instead of PBJs or we'll go to the park or we'll watch movies and eat popcorn and apples for dinner or we'll open a new thing of bubbles or maybe we'll go to Yogurt World (our favorite "ice cream" shop) or something, anything.... we have been trying to do something extra fun on Fridays for a while now. And last week, our Fun Friday adventure was to go to Stone Mountain's Laser show since we'd been without it while we were traveling hard all summer. It was awesome. Tonight we're actually heading back there for the LAST "Fun Friday" of the summer. What they don't know is that we're actually going to be part of a big 11Alive news thing today. I've made "go USA" posters for us to hold and go crazy while in our red white and blue for Olympic coverage. I don't know when it will be aired, but I'm pretty stoked. We got our parking pass and it says "11Alive Extras" ha! Pictures will of course follow!

....I can't believe school starts next week. Ack! I have to still buy school supplies this weekend. I wonder who else has left school supply shopping to the last possible minute?  Bah. Next year I want to have way more supplies like this stockpiled so that I don't have to go shopping for such things. But that's next year. Today I'm not going to worry about that because it's Fun Friday afterall! 

first stone mountain trip of the year

One thing that we've enjoyed doing since living in this area, is going to Stone Mountain. And sadly, we haven't really taken full advantage of the park, but we do love to go to the laser show. Not much beats free entertainment. We go with our picnic dinner and sit on the lawn in a shady (preferably) spot for hours waiting for the laser show spectacular to begin. This is really becoming a tradition for us to go a couple times each summer. We watch the train go around the mountain several times, play ball, blow bubbles, take walks, enjoy the company of each other without the tv in the background. The kids are bound to make a friend or two with other little kids roaming. This trip involved watching the cutest little Asian girl I've ever seen, she was probably a little younger than Mark and was so stinkin' cute running circles around her family's picnic spot. And, the boys befriended a little boy next to us who had a bubble gun blower--way better than the little wands we brought. It's just such a sense of community there. There is nothing like the longing that comes over me watching the laser show either. It's so fun. It tells such a sweet Georgian story and even though I'm a transplant to this state, I sure do feel rooted here sometimes. I have seen the show now more than half a dozen times, and yet I'm flooded with emotions each time we go. When the GT symbol is flashed up there, I hoot and cheer, feeling a sense of pride swell up in me for my husband. And when "Georgia on my Mind" is played I feel a sense of longing for home. When "I go to the Rock" and "The Devil Came Down to Georgia" are played, I feel amazed at how awesome our God is. But, when Elvis starts to sing, "Glory Glory Halleluiah," I tear up every time. When Maria Carey starts to sing "Hero" and all the pictures of all the American Heroes play, I do more than tear up. I'm glad they left those parts in, even though they did greatly ad and improve the show this year. This show is such a tribute to our state and our country and I'm proud to be an American!

Today.... and Kris's visit

With my son asleep, worn out from a day of playing in the dirt and building Lego towers and my better half at work ridiculously late on a Saturday night, I find myself again sitting at the computer. I've noticed on people's blogs they usually tell you what you'll be reading about. Well, on here I'm not quite sure yet. I've given the back history and "caught" everyone up on where we are currently with recent personal events, so I guess the next thing to do is just keep going. I'm sure I'll ramble on about whatever is on my mind at that given moment. I'm currently in a journey with my weight, so that is something to post about. More on that later though...

Before I move on I feel the need to talk about something happy, and aside from the sad things in my life currently, there have been pleasant times too. My sister came down from MO to visit over Easter weekend. She came with her boyfriend Brian and her dog Chewy. They stayed a lengthy weekend with us over their spring break. Normally they've gone to Florida over their breaks and spent time on the beach, but it didn't work out this year and we were glad to be the alternative option. I don't know about the best choice in destination but the company was wonderful and much needed! Kris and I walked every day she was here save one and that was so good for me. She pushes me in a way I need to be pushed and driven exercise wise. She also loves and adores her nephew and he loved and adored her right back. Matthew and Kris spent endless hours reading and playing. He can recognize the letters which spell his name and Kris wrote it for him again and again. It's neat to hear him say each letter. He says it like this: "mmm ae tee tee ahha EEE! wah-wah" which is how any respectable 21 month old would spell 'Matthew' letter by letter I'm guessing!

During the visit we got to spend more time with Brian which was nice. And we also got to spend some time with his brother Mike who also lives in the ATL area. While they were here we took a hike at Stone Mountain. That was a blast. If you are ever in the ATL area, make time to spend a morning or afternoon there. It's amazing to see God's handiwork in such a fashion. Stone mountain is in fact a mountain... it is just a large hunk of rock-- granite actually. Along one side there are carvings in it which was neat to see. I've lived here 4 years now and hadn't been until Easter weekend. We're defiantly going back. I had no idea there was so much to do and see. Matthew LOVED the TRAIN! We didn't ride on it but it passed us and that was great to see his face light up so brightly. Also he loved the ducks.

It was a good time and we have new sweet memories to help brighten the darkness that March '08 held. Her visit was something that helped take my mind of things a bit as I counted down the time for the company to arrive. It was in fact a visit way too short if you ask me. I was sad to see them go but we really did a have a great time. We played games, played in the yard and at the park and played with Matthew the whole time. I miss my sis and I know she's already knee deep back into studying, probably wishing she was still playing "ready ball" here. We'll see her again in May.