Easter

After a wonderful weekend of Lads to Leaders/Leaderettes, we closed out the weekend with a wonderful Easter service lead by several young men whom had participated in the Lads to Leaders speech and song leading over the weekend.  The service and singing was wonderful as usual.  After the service we walked down to the fountain to take a few pictures before heading back to BG, it so pretty inside the Opry Land Hotel.  It's hard to believe that the area we are standing in was under water just a couple years ago when the Cumberland River flooded along with Opry Mills.

After pictures and packing everything up we headed to BG, making it back just in time for lunch at the Olive Garden.  We then spent the afternoon weeding the flower beds instead of looking for Easter eggs.  Which sad to say the flower beds needed it desperately and would have made excellent hiding grounds for Easter Eggs.  Ha!  I hadn't been able to do much since my gallbladder gone bad surgery back in March, so it felt good to be able to be out in the yard.  However I'm not so sure the kids enjoyed it. :)

Easter morning at the Opry Land Hotel

Our wonderful friends the Sowders, we love this family!!!

But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You;

Let those also who love Your name be joyful in You.

Psalm 5:11

Blessings to all~

Mirror Mirror

Have you seen this movie yet? Courtney and I had a girls night out and saw it.  It was so cute! And actually really funny, too. It was weird to see Julia Roberts in the role of the villain, but she did a great job!  I've always loved her as an actress.

Courtney and I really enjoyed the girl time and the movie with the guys tagging along and actually picking out a shooting up bang, bang.  This afternoon was exactly what we needed!

Blessings to all~
Carla

Hunger Games

Jonah and Courtney both attended the midnight premiere of the Hunger Games last night with several other friends from South Warren.  Based on the popular three-book series, the movie theater sold over 900 tickets for the midnight movie.  It was sold out months before the movie.  Luckily Phillip bought their tickets when they went on sale back in February.

The kids arrive at the theater around 8:45 but kids had been there since 5:00.  Courtney said that they let everyone enter the theatre around 10:00, but the movie did not start until, YES, midnight.  Courtney said that the theater employees sported "Hunger Games" T-shirts, and they led the audience in "Hunger Games" chants.  Phillip, oh how I love the man, set his alarm and picked the kids up from the movies around 2:30 a.m. and seeing how the premiere was on a school night the kids had to be up at 6:00 a.m.  Yes, they were ALL tired but made it through the day, I think.

Blessings to all~
Carla

Gallbladder Surgery

Let me just start out by saying this certainly did not go as planned.

Phillip and I was told 30 minutes and I would be in recovery.  I had made plans to be at work the next day and up until the day before my surgery I really hadn't told anyone.  In fact my friend Diane asked if she could come and sit with Phillip and I said, "no, it's a simple procedure, I'll be home in no time."  But no, who would have thought that once the Dr made his first incision at my bellybutton that he would find me bleeding inside.  He then had to make a five inch incision to figure out where the bleeding was coming from and to stop the bleeding.  Long story short, Dr. Campbell put my gallbladder surgery on hold in order to figure out the cause of  the bleeding and then once everything was under control which he never found the reasoning for the bleeding he then proceeded with my gallbladder surgery.   He said he had never seen anything like it. 

Two in a half hours later, Dr Campbell finally meets Phillip in a holding room, which Phillip said was odd since all the other Dr's were coming out and speaking to their patients in the lobby.  He was asked by a nurse to wait in another room from Dr. Campbell.  Phillip said he was panicked, thinking the worse and then Dr. Campbell came out and said, "there's been some complications."  Phillip said his heart sank.

Meanwhile....I was aroused by the nurses and I believe Dr. Campbell in the recovery room that they were taking me to CT for a complete body scan in order to rule out any interior bleeding and I was out again.  I had no clue what had happened.

My CT can back negative, praise the LORD but my blood count was extremely low so I was in the hospital for two wonderful nights.  Phillip spent the night on a roll-a-way bed both nights with me.  The first night I got really sick and was thankful he was there.  I would have never made it to the bathroom in time and there would have been black cherry jello everywhere if Phillip wasn't there to help...... GROSS!!!

This was my dinner the first night that I was in the hospital and no that is not potato soup, it's cream of celery soup, yeah, who eats cream of celery soup.  I traded in my chocolate ice cream for vanilla and ate a couple bites of my jello and I was done.  Actually every meal was similar to this, not very grand.
    

He sent His word and healed them...

Psalm 107:20

Blessings to all ~

Carla

Wordless Wednesday

Blessings to all~

2012...Really!!!

Really, is it 2012, already!!! Seems like just yesterday Phillip and I were getting married, yet this year we will celebrate our 19th anniversary. Here's just a short summary of what happened in the world in 2011....

• Death of Bin Laden
• Prince William and Kate got married
• A tsunami and earthquake hit Japan on March 11,2011, triggering a massive 23- foot tsunami. The 9.0 magnitude offshore quake, the largest in Japan's history
• 9/11 – 10 years of Commemoration
• New York passing gay marriage law :(
• Apple Co-founder Steve Jobs dies on October 5th (1955-2011) 

Blessings to all ~
Carla

Vinyl Creations

I am loving my cricut right now more then ever, especially with the possiblities that you can do with vinyl.  A friend of mine's little girl is turning three, so she wanted a few personalized items for the party.  The party theme is of course a Ho, Ho, Ho party, that's what the little girl wanted since her birthday is right before Christmas how cute is that!!!!. The plate was a ceramic plate from Southern Home.  Then the small bucket already had the stripes and I added the green circle with her intial, it's from Bath and Body.   The big bucket was just a solid red bucket from Hobby Lobby, she plans on putting the party favors in here.  All of which she can reuse except for the plate and of course the vinyl can be removed. 

I can't wait to see the pictures of the party.

Blessings to all~
Carla

Remembering...

Ten years ago, today....

GOD BLESS AMERICA

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7:14

Blessings to all ~

Carla

Team Photos

SWHS 2011

Cross Country Team

 Being silly

 Middle School Team

High School Team

 Elementary Team

Our team has grown since last year, new faces and old.  Looking forward to an

Awesome year, can't wait to see what our runners do this year.

Blessings to all ~
Carla

She's a Teenager!!

It's hard to believe that thirteen years ago I was introduced to this precious little girl for the first time and immediately, I was in love. 

Today was a CRAZY day for a birthday, but I think it will be a day that she'll never forget.  Being a saturday and in the middle of track season of course she had the Greater Gator Meet at WKU.  Along with cheering for Courtney in her races everyone would yeal Happy Birthday to her as she ran by as well, so by the end of the meet I think everyone knew it was her birthday. 

After the meet we went to Nashville to Fleet Feet, so that she could get a running stick (something that she wanted) then we had dinner at Carrabbas. Yum! Yum!

Thought I would share 13 things about Courtney on her Thirteen Birthday!!!!

1. she loves to read
2. she is very creative
3. her hair is starting to turn wavy like mine did at this age
4. she loves to mix match her socks and she loves knee snocks especially unique ones
5. likes her quality "me" time
6. loves music
7. sings in the shower
8. she is awesome in math (she was horrible in math when she was little but next year will be in H.S. algebra)
9. she is awesome at drawing ( I can't even draw a stick person )
10. she is a very kind hearted young lady
11. she has her blonde moments
12. wears a size 7.5 to 8 shoe
13. loves lots, I mean LOTS of pickles on her sandwhich

Love that girl!!!

Blessings to all~
Carla

Happy Mother's Day

Congrats are in order

To the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

What a fairytale...and how gorgeous does Kate look?!


Angie surprised us girls with tea and scones this morning at work.  She brought in her fine china and made fancy place tags for all of us in the front office.  Mr. Cook allowed us to watch the ceremony on his flat screen, he such a softy.

Creamy Italian Chicken

I wanted to share with you a great recipe. I'm sure many of you have tried this, but if not it's one of those super easy "forget and go" meals! In the summer I find myself using the crock pot more and more! I LOVE my crock pot, especially for yummo recipes like this one!!!

Creamy Italian Chicken:

combine in small bowl:

1/2 cup water

2 TB butter

1 can low fat cream of chicken

4 - 8 oz low fat cream cheese

1 packet Good Seasons Italian dressing

Pour Ingredients over chicken in crock pot

3-5 Large Chicken Breast or a bag of frozen chicken tenders

Cook on low for 5-6 hours

Serve over noodles or rice (I prefer the bowtie pasta)

Hope you enjoy it as much as my family did :)

Blessings to all ~

Carla

Photo Coasters

I tell you, the warmer weather makes me feel good, which in return makes me feel like being CREATIVE. If you can't already tell that from several of my last posts. Anyway......Are you sick and tired of your ordinary coasters, well take a look at what I am making. I had been wanting to make these for about a year and finally, a couple of weeks ago I did it. I even went back and made a coaster with each of the kids baby picture on them. I've replaced the coasters on our nightstands, in our living room and in our bonus room. What's so neat about these coasters are that they make wonderful gifts for anyone, male or female. Look how cute they are done up with a ribbon. I've been asked to donate a set for a silent auction and several ladies at work has asked me to make sets for them, so I am pretty excited!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful and uplifting week.

Blessings to all~
Carla

Saturday Finds......

There was no sleeping in at my house this morning. Courtney offered to help with childcare at church today which meant she had to be there at 9, so that meant I had to be up and ready to take her. Which I can't complain, since my body alarm doesn't let me sleep past 6 unless for catnaps. Anyway I dropped Courtney off and took advantage of being in town, I had a few things to return and then I hit some of my favorite second hand stores. I am looking for an old oval portrait frame about an 11x4 or and 8 x10. I didn't find one but I did find these....

From the moment that I saw them, they caught my eye, I immediately picked them up walked around the table put them down, then picked them up again and of course I put them back down until I finally knew that if I did not purchased them I would regret it since I feel in love with them from the first time I saw them and for $1.50.......what was I thinking????

I knew before I even bought them exactly what I was going to do with them. I think they turned out pretty cute. They are ceramic so if I ever want to write a name on them with a marker and use them as a place tag I could also.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Saturday. Jonah was suppose to go flying this afternoon but it ended up raining so he is heading out tomorrow afternoon with a friend of his who is learning to fly. Jonah wants to start soon, this makes me nervous!

Blessing to all~
Carla

Runners Hives???

Runners Hives.....I had never heard of such until last night. Jonah had been at track practice at the park in cold and I mean it was cold, I think that old man winter had decided to pay us a visit again!!!!! Anyway, when I picked him up, he got in the van and within seconds he started complaining about his face burning. My first thought was the change in temperature, going from the cold outside to the toasty warm van, so I turned down the heat and we cracked the window a little. Well, by the time that we arrived home his head and neck was itching. By this time I thought that maybe he had ran through some chemicals while running on the grass out by the fields that line the edge of the park. I gave him some benadryl and he took a hot shower, again thinking that if there is something on his skin, a shower will help.

Well, the shower did not help, in fact the itching had now spread, his head was hurting and his breathing was labored. To shorten the story we later found out from a doctor that Jonah had Runners Hives, which can be common and you can get it for no reason at all and it usually occurs when a runner runs in colder temperatures, oddly enough this is the first time that it has happen to Jonah and he has ran in much colder weather, even ran in the snow, go figure.

Well, within several hours and two benadryl he was much better. I think he ate supper with his eyes closed and slept in the recliner with Rascal until I told him to go on to bed. He is doing much better this morning his head still hurts but the hives are gone :)

We love our Rascal and he loves us!!! Whenever someone is not feeling well, he knows and he wants to be right by their side. So last night he was cuddled in the recliner with Jonah, because he knows and he loves us!!!!

Blessings to all ~
Carla

St. Patrick's Day

Well, St. Patrick's Day has come and gone and maybe you found your pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, if that is what you were looking for. (he! he!) As for our house, I fixed green waffles for all my little Leprechauns, I even severed green waffles to the big Leprechaun in bed (he had the day off). Sorry there's no pictures, I did good to get my waffles made before heading off to school at 7 a.m.

My sweet little lady wore lots of green as you can see to school, minus the hat of course, she even ran in these crazy knee socks at track practice after school. Sure wish I would have taken a picture of that.

Blessings to all~

Mother Teresa's Prayer

I came across this prayer the other day and it truly is what I need to hear daily during these trying times right now. Mother Teresa was one of the most self-less people ever. I love this prayer!

Deliver me Jesus from the desire of being loved and accepted

Deliver me Jesus from the desire of being extolled

Deliver me Jesus from the desire of being honored, praises and preferred

Deliver me Jesus from the desire of being consulted

Deliver me Jesus from the desire of being approved and popular

Deliver me Jesus from the fear of being humiliated

Deliver me Jesus from the fear of being despised and forgotten

Deliver me Jesus from the fear of suffering rebukes

Deliver me Jesus from the fear of being ridiculed and stereotyped

Blessings to all~
Carla

Ready for Spring

Yes, I am ready for SPRING! Next Sunday will be the first day of Spring and I can't wait, even though it never fails that we still have several days of cold weather to follow, especially around Easter. I am soooo ready for warmer weather and with warmer weather I always get a wild hair to redecorate. Of course, when I say redecorate I really mean rearrange or bargain shop for new accessories.

A couple of weeks ago I showed you a picture of two trays that I picked up at a local second hand store. Well I thought that I would share with you what I've done with them...... This tray sits on our dining room table with Easter grass and yes, that is ribbon in the apothecary jar and a bunny plate that I have had for years.

The second tray sits on our kitchen table with just a few "fake" chocolate Easter bunnies and the plant Phillip got me.

Blessing to all~
Carla

Ten Things on the 10th

1. I have taken on the position of treasurer of the SWHS Track and Field. Can you say SUCKER???? Well truly I volunteered but that was only because no one was speaking up for any of the positions and the only position that I felt I could do comfortably and with little time was treasurer. What was I thinking!!!!
2. I am thinking about taking my blog private.....should I????
3. I am little frustrated with myself right now. About 6 weeks ago I started the couch to 5K, I took off with a bang but now I have lost interest and I struggle to get on that tread mile. My friend who is doing the program with me is experiencing the same, so maybe its not me but it doesn't make it easy :(
4. Track season is now in full swing....practice everyday and next week the kids are back running across town at Keriakes from 4:30 to 6 which is going to make for a long day and really makes it hard for me to cook a good dinner.
5. Just ordered Courtney new spikes (running shoes) for track, I can't believe that I ordered a size 8.5.......what happened to my little girl
6. Time changes this weekend....we SPRING forward....so we loose an hour of sleep, but I am so ready for the extra daylight and the warmer weather to follow.
7. Sometimes I wonder if the things that we loose sleep over is really worth loosing sleep over. Being an adult is so hard.
8. We have had soooo much rain in the past week and again it is raining today. I'm starting to wonder if this is how people in Seattle, WA Feel?
9. First sign of SPRING.... all the daffodils. We have them planted all over our yard, in the front and back. I love them!!!
10. Spring puts me in the mood to reorganize and redecorate. Our closet is getting a make over soon......I can't wait, maybe it will finally put me in the mood to get rid of somethings.

Blessing to all~
Carla