Girls Weekend!

Update: Emily pointed out that we didn't get any pictures of "Grandmother" while she was here visiting us! She's so right! We'll do better next time.

Mom came to visit this weekend.

Her main goals:

1) Return the kitchen cabinets that Dad repaired for us (Thanks Dad!)

Thanks Mike, Thanks Mom!

2) Watch Emily at Gymnastics

Emily in the pink shirt with her class

She was reluctant to participate at first, but she warmed up quickly.

Several of the other girls had leotards on so we had to go find Emily a leotard for next week. (I say had to because I really wanted to. They are so cute!)

And, of course, we had to get more than one.
And while we were out, we also went shopping for some accessories for our bedroom.

We found a nice picture with red background for the wall above the bed.

And a picture and two "dealies" (Emily's word) for above the chest.

And a cream colored ottoman. It has a tufted top and a storage area inside. We added the fringe trim that you see in the picture.

The trim has red and gold balls. I think it adds a special touch.

We also added the same trim to a lamp that we bought.

Here's a better picture of the lamp with the trim at the top and bottom. We also got two pictures to go on the wall on this side of the bed. I didn't get a good picture of them.

And a picture with the lamp on.
We got another picture with a red background for the wall above the lingerie chest. Unfortunately, I dropped it while we were trying to attach it to the wall and the glass and the frame broke. I went shopping again today and purchased another picture just like this one. This picture is without the gold frame.

And last, but not least, we hung the jewelry armoire! It was not easy to get all four hooks lined up, but we did it. And it's perpendicular AND level!
So that was our weekend. We had a fabulous time and got a lot of things done. It's always so fun when Mom comes to visit. And she always likes to clean and organize my house (which is embarrassing! but so nice to have some help.)

Love you, Mom!

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Dymo!

This weekend, I bought myself a cool new "toy". I had been working on organizing the closet in my master bedroom. I've sorted a lot of "stuff" into several categories and put them into different sizes of clear plastic containers.

My new toy is a Dymo handheld label maker. It prints one or two lines of text, can use different fonts, borders or styles. You can buy different types of "tape" to print the labels on, such as clear plastic, colored papers and colored inks.

So I've labeled almost all of my plastic containers with the contents. Soon after that, I realized that I needed to label both sides of the containers in case they get turned around on the shelf as we're using them.

I'm so proud of my closet (even though I am not finished yet). Wish I could post a picture of it. Maybe soon!

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WW

A couple weeks ago, Mike and I decided that we needed to make a change and so we both started WeightWatchers. Mike is doing WeightWatchers Online for Men and I am doing the At Home Program and borrowing his online account for reference. So far, it has not been as hard as we thought it might be. We have made some BIG changes and some small changes, but it is working for us!


I think the one of the hardest parts about WW is eating out. We have found some restaurants that we can go to and not go over our daily points, like Subway, Chick-fil-a and even Cracker Barrel! The hard ones are the ones that don't list nutritional information and so you just have to guess at the points. We tend to estimate high just in case we don't guess right.

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4th of July Pictures

I've been going through some pictures for Emily's photo placemat and thought I would share some of the recent pics on my new blog.

Professional photos for 4th of July

Look at me, I'm three!

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Grace Like Rain Falls Down on me

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now I'm found
Was blind but now I see so clearly

Hallelujah, grace like rain falls down on me
Hallelujah, all my stains are washed away, washed away

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed

Hallelujah, grace like rain falls down on me
Hallelujah, all my stains are washed away, washed away

When we've been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun
We've no less days to sing Your praise
Than when we first begun

Hallelujah, grace like rain falls down on me
Hallelujah, all my stains are washed away

Hallelujah, grace like rain falls down on me
Hallelujah, all my stains are washed away

And hallelujah
And hallelujah
And hallelujah
And hallelujah
And all my stains are washed away, They're washed away

I named my blog Grace Like Rain because of this Todd Agnew song. Ephesians 2:8 For by GRACE are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. That's the amazing grace that this song is talking about. Wow, powerful.

So I started this blog on a Saturday night in my living room. The next morning, we sang this song in the worship service at church! Is that a bold sign from God or what?

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Well, I did it

I finally joined the blog revolution.

It seems like our family has gotten quite busy lately and I wanted a place where we could let everyone know what we're doing.

So ..what's been going on with us?

1) First Learning Center - Emily starts Mother's Day Out this week! She's in the Zippity Zebra class. We went to Open House this week and met her teachers. We looked at the wall calendar and noticed that all the kids in here three-year-old class were born in May, June or July. Wow! Consequently, there are FIVE three-year-old classes. I think she's pretty excited about "school" starting. I better get started on her photo placemat that she'll need for the first day.

2) AWANA Cubbies - I'm going to be a leader/helper in one of the (four!) three-year-old classes. Emily is going to be in a different three-year-old class. We went to Registration this week and got her Cubbies vest and bag. So cute! I have never been involved in AWANAs before, but I didn't realize that they actually expect three and four-year-olds to recite Bible verses from memory. As soon as I heard this, I started working with Emily on the Cubbies motto - "Jesus Loves Me" ... and she says "Jesus Loves Mama". Haha, so close!

3) Emily is starting Tumble Tots this week! When I called for registration, I asked about what kids wear to Tumble Tots and they said to wear shorts and a t-shirt. I secretly hope some kids wear leotards the first week so that I can get some for Emily.

So, like I said, we've become very busy lately.

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