Happy Birthday Joel!!

I can't believe my sweet little boy is one. Where has the time gone? The older we all get the faster time passes me by. I try to remind myself to slow down and enjoy moments, but sometimes that is just really hard to do.

Joel has changed so much in the past year and I'm not just talking about his hair color. He is coming into his personality, and I feel so blessed that God has allowed me to be a part of his life. I have three amazing children and I am so grateful for the precious gifts God has given to Joe and me.

Wednesday and Thursday Joe and I worked on stuff for Joel's birthday party and Friday was the big day.

Joe got to pick out the theme (I thought it was only fair since Joel is a boy), and Joe picked dinosaurs. I ran with it, and I think I/we did pretty good for this being our first boy party.

We had dino-dogs on a stick (corn dogs), stuffed dino eggs (deviled eggs), herbivore treats (veggie tray), stegosaurs spikes (cheese puffs), dino teeth & spicy lava (chips & fiesta ranch dip), Rex (watermelon carved like a dino with watermelon & grapes inside his mouth), dirt cups (oreo pie with gummy worms) fossil cups (orange jello with a sweedish fish in it) and cupcakes.





Of course Joel had his little smash cake made by Joe:


We decorated with lots of green and plants:




And as you walked up to the front door this is what you saw:



As you walked in from the front door to the kitchen you passed the goody table~ Dino masks and dino ducks:


And when you got to the kitchen you found the birthday boy!!




He learned to say "cheese" that day. You can see him saying it here:


We had coloring sheets and balloons to keep everyone occupied until everyone was there:







Once everyone was there I explained the egg hunt game to them. Momma dinosaurs had come to help me decorate and left colored dino eggs on the front lawn for the kids to hunt. Here I am explaining that everyone is only to get one egg of each color:


Look how well everyone is sitting and listening:


Let the hunt begin:



Look at all the dinosaurs that came to Joel's first birthday:





Next it was dinner and dessert. I love watching the kids dig into their first birthday cake:










After a quick bath in the sink and wardrobe change it was time to open presents:






All in all I think the party was a great success even if almost every kid there had a meltdown at some point :) Thank you so much to everyone who helped pull the party off, thank you for the gifts, and thank you for your love and support of Joel in this past year.

After the party Joe took the kids home and put them to bed while I stayed and cleaned up.

Saturday morning we took it easy. It had been a long, long, long time since we had been able to do that and it was so nice. We did take a walk to take some boxes to recycling. We went out to lunch and headed up to Joe's grandmother for a visit with some relatives we have not seen in a while. The girls got to feed Uncle Lynn's horses and went fishing with Joe. The most exciting thing of the day was when Joel took his first steps. He has taken a few since then, but pretty soon he will be running right along side his big sisters. We had a good afternoon and we got home in time to watch most of the Alabama game.

Sunday we had church and then the girls went home with Other Mama. This was a much needed break and we can not thank Other Mama and Pap-paw enough. We had just been talking about how we had not had a date since May, and so we went to lunch and had a semi-date (we still had Joel.) After a very yummy lunch we went home and took naps. That was the best sleep I have gotten in a while. We got up just in time to meet Other Mama at New Home with the girls for Awana.

This week is an exciting week for the girls at school. Jolie has a field trip to the Clanton Pumpkin Patch and Josie gets to wear pjs to school one day.

This weekend is a huge weekend for our church. We are celebrating the church's
175th birthday. We have activities all weekend long. At lunch on Sunday Joe were talking about how neat it will be to be around for the 200th birthday celebration. By then hopefully we will have four generations at First Presbyterian: My parents, Joe & me, the kids, and at least some of our grandkids. It is was neat to us when we thought about it that way. We are all part of something larger and we are blessed for the life we have.

Jolie's Doggie

In the past Jolie has been to young to do Brush Buddies Art at MCDP (her preschool), but now that she is 4 she is old enough. They had their first art session yesterday and this is what she brought home:

She did a great job. We are so proud of her. We will hang it on the wall with Josie's monkey and hippo that she painted at Brush Buddies when she went to MCDP.

Happy Birthday Cowgirl Lollie

One birthday down, one to go. Jolie Hannah is officially 4 years old.

On Wednesday night Joe, Sheila, and I worked on Jolie's birthday cake and cupcakes for her party Friday night at the Mall. Joe really gets most of the credit. He cut out the cake and iced the light brown. Sheila baked the cakes, added the mane and tail, and I added the eye and the blanket with the #4. Sheila and I then decorated the board. I baked the cupcakes and Sheila iced them with the purple icing.




Friday night we had Jolie's birthday party at the Mall. The cowboys and cowgirls rode the carasouel, played ring the snake in the hat, and rode a few other rides. They had an absolute blast. I think they all smiled from ear to ear the entire time. We had pizza and cake which Josie says was delicious. Jolie then opened presents. She got some great gifts and we thank you all so much!!




















Yesterday was her actually birthday. Joe and I decorated the house with streamers, banners, balloons and other things for when she woke up. Then Joe and I cooked icecream cone cupcakes for her class and made little goody bags for her friends at school. She was so surprised when she woke up to find the house decorated just for her. After school and work we met Aunt Sheila, Uncle Quint, Caden & Ansleigh at Mellow Mushroom because Jolie had requested pizza for her birthday dinner. Again she got some great presents that I had bought from money people had sent her and a gift from Caden & Ansleigh.






Next Friday (the 30th) is Joel's birthday. I can't believe he will be 1.

I'll end with a picture of my beautiful family. I am so blessed.

Lots of Prayers

This past week has been a whirlwind and in all honestly a depressing one. We keep getting bad news about so many family and friends that are in need of prayers and healing that after a while it takes a toll on you.

Last Wednesday morning we got a call that Joe's father had had a mild heart attack in the middle of the night. They ended up doing 5 bypasses and he was in the ICU from last Thursday through yesterday when they moved him to a regular room. Hopefully he will be home soon and can start his recovery process. We have all rallied around his parents and did everything within our power to take care of them. Jolie has been having a hard time knowing that Paw-Paw is in the hospital. One night she told me that Paw-Paw missed her and he needed her with him. She then layed it on even thicker saying that her heart hurt like Paw-Paw's and I needed to take her to the hospital too.

We are also praying for my dad. He has not been feeling well, and they just can't quite figure out what is wrong with him. He also has knee replacement surgery in October so we are praying that everything goes well with that. We are praying for Babette Urban, my mom's former partner. She found out this past week that she needs a liver transplant. We are praying for my grandmother, Ruth Berdine. She is in the hospital and they are trying to figure out what is wrong with her. We are praying for my friend Megan Worden. She has a rare form of thyroid cancer. She starts treatment I think next week. Her cancer is stage 4. She has two young girls, one Josie's age, and one Joel's age. We are praying for our friend Robbie Broadway. She has double breast cancer. She has a PET scan today to see if it is in her bones. She also has two young girls. We are praying for a friend from church, Libby Fain. They just found brain cancer. Plus a few unspoken prayers.

Please join us in lifting up these people with us. We know that God hears our prayers.

There was a good thing that happened this week. Josie got to acolyte for the first time at church. She did great. We are so proud of her. I know I told you that I would give you a heads up, but this was a last minute thing. She was asked to do it 10 minutes before the service started and I almost told her no, but I didn't want to take the opportunity away from Josie. Joe was there. If he had not been, I definitely would have told Rose no.




Lastly, y'all, I am not a fundraising person. I just never have been, but Josie brought home her first fundraiser yesterday. Below is the book (sorry it is in black & white and not color. I don't have a color printer and my scanner was tearing up the book.) If anyone is interested please let me know. The checks need to be made out to "CES" (Coosada Elementary School), and all money has to be turned in September 21st. Thanks!








Philippians 4.7:And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ.