Four Eyes!

Over these past few months I have been having headaches and noticing that my eyes were straining when looking at the computer or driving, especially at night. I knew that it was time to get my eyes checked. So Clay went with me to LensCrafters at the mall to get an eye exam.  It seems that I am far-sighted and have a astigmatism. So, I got to pick out a pair of glasses!  

I ended up getting a really cute pair after trying on a bunch of other ones.  Here are some that didn't make the cut....that last picture is of me in my new glasses!

 

Don't they look good?  I even feel smarter!

1st Time at the NC State Fairgrounds

 The kids were both sick last week, so by the time the weekend came we were ready to get out of the house...and boy, did we ever!

We went to a fairly new playground near our house and Abby brought along her purse.  She loves taking it with her wherever she goes. She packs it full of random things and frequently unpacks and re-stuffs the items back in the purse. Here is one picture of her applying her chapstick.

Our next stop was the Farmer's Market. We ate at the restaurant and had a great lunch. The restaurant has a "petting zoo" attached.  Here are the kids playing with all the animals (and SpiderMan). You'll notice that these animals are a little different that your regular farm animals....they are all cement statues!

Sunday, we decided to take a trip to the Fairgorunds.  They had a ton of activities happening and I think we caught them all, except the "Pagan Pride Day". We just couldn't find the time to squeeze in a pagan ritual before naptime....maybe next year.   But we did get to do several other things.  We started off looking through the flea market and ended up going to the Greek Festival. After eating our authentic Greek food and watching the Greek dancers, they called all kids to come up and do a fun Greek dance on stage.  Abby wanted nothing to do with it, but Cody went with Clay up to the stage. As the music started, Cody chickened out and wanted to leave. At least I got a picture of him attempting to participate.

Next stop, was the Flydog Competition.  These dogs would jump over 4 hurdles, then step on a box that released a tennis ball.  They would grab the ball, then take off back over the hurdles and run back to the start, where 3 other dogs would consecutively take their turns.  At the end of each heat (no pun intended), the dog team that ran the course the fastest won.

Later, we went to the Antique Gun Show.  On our way there, we went past the Turkey Shoot Booth and I got a picture of this sign.  You don't see stuff like this anywhere but the State Fair Grounds in North Carolina!

All in all, we had a great (and tiring) weekend. I wonder what we'll have planned for next weekend?

FHS Reunion Weekend - Dinner @ Savannah's

FHS Reunion Weekend - Football Game

I had the privilege to attend my 15-Year High School Reunion a couple of weeks ago. On Friday night, we went to the FHS football game. Abby stayed home with the grandmas, while Cody came along with us to his very first football game.

It was super exciting for me. I don't remember the last football game I went to & it was nice to be back at my alma mater.

As we did 15 years ago, the majorettes led the way out onto the field as the band played the Fairland school song. Nothing has changed. Same routine, same uniforms, same director. It was a little surreal to watch....like an out-of-body experience.

On our way into the stadium, Cody received a free football jersey.  Not just any jersey...it was a Fairland football jersey! He was so excited....he was yelling "football!  football! yeah, football!" He wanted to go down to the sidelines and watch the players. He didn't understand why he couldn't have the ball though and was getting frustrated. Daddy made sure to give him lots of candy, so that made things seem much better. He devoured a couple of Nerds ropes and some soda pop. He was a VERY happy boy.

My cousin Taylor was cheering....I can't believe she is old enough to be on the Varsity squad! She is growing up into the most beautiful young lady.  Cody took her some roses and gave her a hug.

 I watched the half-time show and reminisced about my years in band as a majorette. Oh, those were the days. Several of my friends were there at the game too....I got to meet their kids and spouses, many for the first time. We stayed until the end of the 3rd quarter so Cody could go to bed at a reasonable time. All in all, Cody had the BEST first football game of his life and I had a great start to my reunion weekend.

After the game, we went to a bonfire.  I played "corn hole" for the first time. It is sort of like horseshoes and beanbag toss combined. I was horrible. I only played one game and I actually won, due to the fact that Neil Johnson was my partner and he did an amazing job. So, as he put it....I am officially "undefeated" in the game of corn hole!

A Word from our Sponsor...

Hello!  I'm sorry that I haven't been updating the blog as much as I had been. Trust me, there are plenty of posts swimming in my head, just waiting to come out. I just need to make time to sit down and organize everything. You can follow me on Twitter for my random thoughts throughout the day.

What have I been doing? I've been traveling and working hard to find a job here in Raleigh. But don't fret.....I'll be posting again more frequently. Just keep checking in.

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Chow for now!  Thanks for coming back.

A Visit to Poppy's Store

Fun & Random Pictures from Raleigh!

Getting Plugged In

I have finally made the leap back into Children's Ministry! I attended the KidCity Kickoff last week where we got to learn about serving in KidCity at Hope Community Church. There had to be well over 600 folks there....it was impressive to see so many folks committed to serve in the children's ministry!


The staff did a great job with registration and opening music, a cool glow-in-the-dark dance routine. Laura Lee, the KidCity Children's Pastor, gave an inspiring talk about how we need to work on ourselves spiritually before we can change lives in others spiritually. She related it to working out at the gym to keep physically in shape.


We then got to go to our breakouts...mine was the "Nuts & Bolts of Large Group Teaching". I met the other large group teachers for preschool & elementary and we got a brief overview on how to make eye-contact, use body language and tone in our presentation. Basic stage presence stuff.



Then we went to our classrooms in which we will serve. I'll be in the K-1 room on Saturday nights. Here we got an overview of what to do in case of an emergency & where to go. They showed us the procedure to call a parent & where the info for CPR & First Aid was located. We finished it off by doing a mock fire drill and went outside to the parking lot.

The most impressive thing was receiving my curriculum for the rest of the year! At Seacoast, that was what we spent most of our time doing....re-creating curriculum. In KidCity, they use it "as is" from Willow Creek's Promiseland Curriculum. I'm still at a loss for words. (For those of you in Children's Ministry, you know what I mean...rarely does anything just work out of the box!)


On Sunday, I attended the KidCity Orientation class. This is where we heard about all of the positions within the ministry and how they all work together. We also completed the paperwork to do the background check.

They have these orientations once a month for new folks in addition to the big KidCity Kickoff that everyone attends to re-commit for the next year. They allow you to choose 2 months out of the year to take off from serving. They actually recruit folks to fill in for those "track outs" so the position is never empty. That's smart.

Can't wait to actually begin teaching again. This is exciting and making me a little nervous all at the same time. I hope they like me. : )