Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

Now, who wouldn't want to just eat this little turkey up! Here is O on Thanksgiving. Such a big 1 year old (birthday pictures will be posted after her party next weekend). Enjoy some pictures of our Thanksgiving. It was a nice slow day, watching the parade, sitting in pj's, and then going to Mimi and PopPop's to stuff our FACES! I can't decide if I like T-Day's food or Christmas food better. Some of my Fav T-Day food is sweet potatoe casserole, my mom's stuffing (best in the world and of course has italian sausage in it), and my mom's gravy!!!! Enjoy these pix:

Buddies!

M loves her Aunt!

Love that face!

He's 5!!!

Hard to believe, I know. That boy turned 5 about 3 weeks ago! Well, this was probably my last year of doing "just the family" party. With having 6 cousins that live close by, it's easy to do! But, this year he kept asking: "why aren't my friends from school coming?" We did a Nemo party. It was a bast with using a video projector and making the downstairs of my parents house a movie theater. The kids loved it. Here are some pictures of the birthday boys celebrations!

The movie theater eating popcorn

The cousins


I love school parties

birthday dinner, loves his new baseball glove, random picture of happy "O"

Hope to be blogging more....we'll see :0)

My mom is cool

So, just found out a GREAT deal for all of you Bank of America card holders. Check out this and look to see what museums will be free to you the first weekend of every month!!! Yes, FREE. If you are a B of A card holder, you will get in free. You can look up your city and they will have the listing. I think it is even more than museums. CHECK IT OUT! I'm excited, can you tell?

My little O is now 9 months old....crawling...she's our little explorer.

Then and Now

My sides hurt from laughing so hard. Last weekend I was able to see my LU friends. SO FUN! I have not laughed that hard for that long in years! Most of us had not seen each other in a long time. Some of us, not since college (11 years ago) and I kid you not...we picked up right where we left off. I felt like I was 18 again. These are girls that I can be myself with. Girls that it's mostly about being goofy and playing pranks on each other. We all have different lives now. God is teaching each of us about trust in different ways. Some in harder ways than others. But, in some ways we haven't changed a bit. It was really refreshing and I thank God for these friends. He put them each in my life for a specific purpose. And the older I get the more I see why too. We serve an awesome God and I love that he created laughter as good medicine (Proverbs 17:22). Can't wait till we do it again.

Have we changed much??????

Stay-cation ending in Savannah

It's hard to believe that the summer is ending for those of us in the south. For some reason, even though my kids aren't in school yet, when school starts it just feels like the summer is over. AND for some ridiculous reason the schools around here go back at the BEGINNING of August. ARGGHH! Seriously ridiculous. It's SOOO hot! Well, we've had a fun and eventful summer. Many things I didn't share here because I just never go around to it. But, I did want to share our STAY-CATION. My hubby took time off last week and we decided to stay in town. At least that was our final decision. Of course we went back and forth about what to do (decisions for us don't come easy), but finally decided to stay close and do things around town. WELL...little did we know that we'd get to go on a little get-away just the two of us for 3 WHOLE DAYS. Thanks to one of our pastors and his BRAVE family.

I'll just tell you with pictures about our week. We had a great one!

Started the week off with a nice bike ride at the Chattahoochee River. So fun! This is our new thing we do as a family. J's bike is actually attached to mine.

The girls love riding in the trailer.

BABYLAND to HELEN-LAND

Here is a picture in front of Babyland General...Home of the cabbage patch hospital. We decided to stop there on the way to Helen. My husband was THRILLED!!!! J was not too excited either.

I know one day my son will not like me to show these pictures. Notice M's thumbs up!


Our next stop was Helen. But J keep calling it "Helen-land". It's really funny. I've been there so many times that I didn't take pictures of the Alpine village. But here's a picture of us after we hiked to see Ruby Falls. It's just outside of the little town.

The Chattahoochee runs right through the town and there are great places for the kids to play in the water. They had a blast!

Big bro and little miss priss...


Here's a sequence of some of my FAVORITE pictures from our week:

"O" loves her big brother. Before he layed down she was serious and focused on that bottle...

SAVANNAH


The city was beautiful. We loved the architecture and the trees.
Relaxing is the word for our trip!


Our day at Tybee Island was wonderful! I haven't gotten to read a book on the beach in a LONG time. It was blissful!



We stayed at the Planters Inn which is in the historic district and we walked everywhere. Jon planned this whole trip without me knowing and surprised me. It was a much needed trip and we had a great time.


After 3 long days together...Thanks guys!!!!

Summer Fun

Doing the tomahawk chop

Here are some highlights of the life of Rambo's kids

1. J's first Brave's game - he loved it and was in awe!!!

1. 4th of July parade that has become a tradition since we've moved here! The kids LOVE it, but it has way too many politicians and pageant girls.

1. BarBQ at Mimi and Pop Pop's - always a fun time with the family
2. Fireworks that we watched from our back yard! Our city puts on a great show and we live in walking distance to it. As the kids slept we watched the show!
   
3. Rambo's kids parents are looking for a house. No finds yet...no one ever told me how hard this is!
   

Vent

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted. I do think about posting almost everyday, but when the time comes to do it (which is usually after I am exhausted from putting the kids to bed), I decide not too. Let's see...what does a mom of 3 have to say....one thought...I don't think adding more kids would increase the chaos at times TOO much. But a mom of 4 might disagree. Sometimes I wonder if people watch me and think, "wow, she is really overwhelmed" and other times maybe they say, "wow, she's got this mom of 3 thing down!". So, whichever category you fit into, you are right. I feel like both is true at different times throughout my day. But, then I try and sit and be thankful to God for his grace.

It truly is by his grace that my sanity does stay with me at times...HA! My sis and bro-in-law can attest to that! They stayed with us last week. Let me tell you, what a week it was. It was just one of those weeks as a mom that you want to crawl up on a ball on the couch and lay under the blanket...can I get an amen??? I call it going into my cave. The reason was my middle child has problems sometimes being constipated. Without going into much detail, she had several days where she was in A-GON-Y. I literally had to sit with her on the floor for hours. Poor little thing...but is fine now. I also have a game plan to make sure this doesn't happen again. But what a blessing my house guests were!

So, I guess I will name this post "vent" because I feel a little better now...hmm, maybe I should post more!

A little side note: we have begun the process of looking for a home to purchase. We are in the waaay beginning. I've seen some I like from the outside, but haven't gone in yet. We'll see. If you pray for us, there are some things I'm asking the Lord for: 1. a house that is close to the church (no more than 10 min.) 2. one that is no more than 15 minutes from my parents 3. a good backyard for the kids. Of course there are other things I would like (like a front porch - I've LOVED ours in our rental house), but most are negotiable - well, except what we can afford. So, we'll see what the Lord provides! He is good and he knows exactly what we need - our current residence is proof of that! He provided in amazing ways with it!

Some fun summer things we are doing:
1. J in swimming lessons 2 days a week
2. Play group at the pool - crazy with 3 kids...
3. Day Camp for J in 2 weeks - yippee!!!!
4. Enjoying our evenings reading books on the front porch (until it gets too hot)
5. Hanging with our cousins who are finally out of school!!!


Favorite picture! neice at M's bday party


"Ee-ya"- M pronounces it like that.


Playing in the rain - look at outfit closely

5 Months Old

I'm a little late in posting this. O is 5 months and it's hard to believe. She's doing great. She is finally, finally, finally getting into a groove. I do feel like the clouds are parting and I can get a grasp on life! She is such a joy. Her face lights up when she smiles. And she has two teeffees!!!

April 5, 2009

I've been contemplating exactly what I will share for this post. In July of 2006, we dedicated J to the Lord at camp. It was such a special time for our family. I wish I blogged then because I never put into words what that service meant for me. On that day, our dear friend and mentor led the service. He challenged not only us as paretns, but all our friends and family who were there, to bring up J in a God honoring way. I remember, as they all laid hands on us to pray for us, that my prayer was that J would come to know the Lord at a young age and others prayed the same. Even as I write this, there are so many emotions and memories from that special service. It's a moment in my life that I will not forget.

Last Sunday, my little 4 year old accepted Jesus into his heart. J is very inquisitive and asks questions about everything. As we were passing a cemetery, he asked about the people who where in there. So I began to explain again (we've had this conversation before) that when people die they are buried there. Only there bodies go there, but there spirits go to heaven if they have Jesus in their heart. He then asked me "Mommy, do I have Jesus in my heart?" I said, "well, you have to ask him to come into your heart." And then as a full of faith 4 year old, he said out loud, "Jesus, will you come in my heart?" So, we spent the next few minutes talking about exactly what that means. At the end of our time, he said he wanted to ask Jesus into his heart.

Obviously there is so much a 4 year old doesn't understand. Only the Lord knows his heart. But I am so encouraged and I rejoice! There are so many teachable moments throughout my day with my kids. I love the time I get to spend just explaining life, explaining how things work, and teaching them about God's amazing love for them.

Disney bliss!

watching the princesses at the castle

Our day began at the park at 9:00am. We were all so excited. The weather was beautiful and the crowds not too bad. I think us adults were more excited than the kids!

Donald's boat was the kids favorite spot!

The kids loved the rides. J even went on Splash Mountain...so freaked out.

Our day ended at 9:30pm. The kids went strong all day and did great! M & M took naps in the strollers. We were all beat at the end of a great day at Disney. Thanks to our friends for helping us with the kids...there were a few "hairy" moments that come with having a pre-schooler, toddler, and a newborn with you at the happiest place on earth.


Because of cell phone mix ups, we finally found the M's at the end of the night. Look at this cutie!



WE SURVIVED.