Silhouette Fun

One of my first projects with my new Silhouette Cameo was to make vinyl wall art for our playroom.

We have these two great bookshelves Jeremy built in there now, and the wall was very barren up top. I had seen a bunch of neat sayings on Etsy (and I think we ended up copying one exactly) and decided to recreate ourselves.  Jeremy designed, I imported and cut it out, and then the two of us took on the daunting task of hanging it.

The machine at work

Sadly 3/4ths of the way through the cutting, the vinyl began to slip and the cutting began to mess up and overlap.  We quickly stopped it and started that part over but it made for some interesting piecing together at the end.

As you can see from the picture, the alignment got off where we pieced it together.  Overall, I'm really happy with the way it turned out.  We're a little off centered, so why shouldn't our words. :)

Get ZAPPED

This past week, the boys and I got ZAPPED at vacation Bible school. Due to the size of our church and the number of participants, students under kindergarten age cannot attend unless their parent volunteers.  I actually wanted to work so it worked out well. I led a team of 12 rising 3rd and 4th graders around to their different areas.  Areas included were: Bible, Missions, Crafts, Games, and Snacks.

The theme this year was ZAPPED and we studied the life of Peter.  The memory verse of the week was 1 Peter 1:3, "God has given us everything we need to live a Godly life."

Each day we learned about how we can tap into God's power in our life through examining Peter's life.

We did the following lessons

• Calling of Peter (Luke 5:1-11)*
• Peter Walks on Water (Matthew 14:22-34)*
• Peter is the Rock (Matthew 16:13-28)*
• Peter’s Denial and Restoration (Mark 14:66-72, Luke 22:54-62)*
• Peter and Cornelius (Acts 10)*

This entire year our church is raising money to get 2 books of the Bible translated for a people group in China who don't have a single verse of the Bible translated in their language.  The goal for VBS was to have the kids bring in enough offering to translate the whole 2nd chapter of Luke (the birth narrative).  Each verse cost about $30 to translate and the kids were amazing! They brought in over $2600 to get all of Luke 2 and 3 translated!! They were sooo excited!

My boys enjoyed Bible school though weren't sure about going every day.  In the end, they had fun and made the sweetest little books.  Owen learned some new songs and we listen to the cd all the time in the car now.

I didn't get to take many pictures, but here is my sweet little group doing water games on Friday.

This is the large group worship time. The kids loved rushing to the front to sing and dance!

(Sorry, I can't get it to flip) Oliver and Owen's little books

I'm looking forward to next summer's VBS already!

Girls Beach Weekend

June 8-10th, my sweet friend Janet invited a bunch of us girls to her A-MA-ZING beach house at Bald Head Island.  My husband was so gracious and let me slip away for 3 glorious kid-free days. 

If you've never been to Bald Head, it's the most amazing place! There are no cars allowed on the island, so you take a ferry from Southport, NC over to the island. Once there, you are taken by tram to your house and then you travel by golf cart the rest of the weekend.  It seriously felt like we had transported to somewhere far far away.  

Due to nursing babies and family commitments, the group was small, but we had an awesome time, just the 4 of us.

Myself, Mary-Ann, and Sara on the ferry ride over

The 4 of us in front of Old Baldy Lighthouse (our lovely host Janet beside me)

Close-up

The club pool we spent the morning lounging by.. I mean serious when was the last time I got to just lay in a pool chair and talk to my friends

The most un-populated beach I've ever been too

Have you ever had so much space at the beach?

The whole weekend was pretty amazing! There was no schedules, lots of girl talk, lots of chocolate, and fine dining.  Janet, THANK YOU so much for giving us the opportunity to get away! 

10 Year "Meet"-iversary!

June 8th, 2002, I woke up that morning feeling horrible.  The night before our Camp Willow Run staff had gone to Rocky Mount for a night out.  We were going from my house over to another girl's house to watch a movie.  Because I knew where we were going, I led the caravan.  Sadly one car of 2 guys got caught by light and lost us.  I tried to go back and find them but to no avail. (We later find out that they just decided to go back to camp, since neither one of them had a cell phone at the time to locate us.)

I felt horrible for losing them, especially since I was attracted to one of the guys in the car (Jeremy).  The next morning at camp, I ran over to his boxcar first thing to apologize. Luckily he didn't seem to mind and I ended up going to lunch with him and bunch of other staff guys.  

While we were eating, everyone commented on what a pretty day it was and how we should go sailing.  We agreed to meet back at the dock after changing into our suits. Wouldn't you know? Jeremy and I were the only two to show up.  We decide to go sailing together...it turned out to be an epic trip! We spent time talking and getting to know each other. While we were out there, the wind died. We were two inexperienced sailors and had a hard time trying to get us back in.  Finally 4 hours later, we have a ski boat tow us back to camp.  

We arrive back to camp where everyone has gathered for dinner, right by the docks.  Of course we were now the talk of camp, but we really didn't seem to care. During that 4 hours, we really got to know each other and began to fall each other.

This year marks 10 years since we took that first boat ride. The picture above was our first picture together taken a few weeks after that trip.  We look so young..and skinnier! 

Jeremy and I were reflecting on the past 10 years just the other night.  It seems like this picture was taken so long ago yet it seems to have gone by so fast.  It's amazing to see how the Lord has directed our path and now we are married with two awesome little boys. I love this man and feel so blessed that the Lord has put us together. I can't wait to see what the Lord has for us in the next 10 years!

Oliver @ 18 Months

My crazy, funny, wild man is now a year and half old!

Because we were losing our insurance at the end of May, we moved up his 18th month doctor's appointment.  At his appointment, he was 26 lb 12.8 oz (65 %tile) and 2 ft 8.5 in tall (62%).  He continues to have a big head at 19.25 in (81%).

Oliver @ 18 months:

• is wearing mostly 18 month clothes. He has started to wear some 24 month shirts. He wears 5 or 5.5 in shoes and size 4 diapers.
• just this week has started to slim up some.  I think it's because he's become a little pickier at meal time.
•  started using some 2 word phrases like Get down, up please, I home, Ta da
• his favorite phrase is No.  He says it even when he means yes. He also likes the word Okay but he draws it out real southern like. 
• has moved up to the toddler room at the Y, which means he is dropping his morning nap. He really enjoys being in the older class though because they get to go outside and play on the playground daily. He LOVES slides!
• has started dancing and it's hilarious!

• 
  
• can point to most of his body parts when you ask him where they are. 
• loves to play chase with his brother and well do anything his big brother is doing
• always wants to wear his shoes and asks for him as soon as he gets up

He is such a ham and he makes us laugh daily. We love you little man!

Belated Mother's Day

Mother's Day presents had to be postponed this year because of the layoff. This past Thursday though Jeremy truly outdid himself.

When we got home from the Y, there was a green gift bag on the table.  Inside were the following items.

The story behind the can opener... I hated our current can opener! It was an electric one, that looked like a manual hand crank, that for the life of me I could never get back on the charger right.  Every time I went to use it, it would be dead.  I would yell at it every time and Jeremy would laugh at me, not understanding why it was so difficult for me to do.  

So in the bag was a new can opener and this can.  I used the opener to open the can, which contained a sweet sweet letter.  The letter directed me to a big brown package on the back porch.  I unwrapped to reveal...

A Silhouette Cameo!! For you non-crafty people, this is A-MA-ZING tool! It is an electronic cutting tool that cuts paper, vinyl, fabric, and more. It uses a tiny blade to cut out intricate details.  It seriously has so many uses that I'm giddy about playing with it.  I have wanted one for almost a year now and was so surprised when I opened the box. Seriously this is way more extravagant of a gift than we do for these kind of holidays. I'm so excited! Who wants to come over for a craft night now? :)

God's Provision

As 6 pm rolled around on May 8th, I began to get worried because Jeremy hadn't got home from work yet and the boys and I were ready to eat. I started to feed the boys and Jeremy finally came home. He joined us at the table kind of quiet and we both made small talk about our days. After the boys left the table, Jeremy told me the reason he was late. He said his immediate boss had stopped him on his way out the door to tell him something. He was giving him "a heads up" that he was going to be laid off the following week. The company was struggling financially and the company needed to reduce their budget.  As many of you know, Jeremy worked for a small company and his position was the only one that had 2 people doing similar roles.  Because he was the second one hired, he was the first to go.

Of course, both of us were in shock.  Neither one of us saw it coming.  Jeremy was working on creating a mobile apps program, which the company needed to continue competing in the current market.  He was the ONLY one working on it! So they kind of shot themselves in the foot, but that's not our problem.

I've always kind of worn my heart and my emotions on my sleeve, so of course I begin to cry.  My brain begins working overtime on how we are going to survive. My little part-time income doesn't even pay the rent.  Jeremy was great through the only thing.  He continued to remind me that God had a plan for us

God is faithful though and He had a plan (like He ALWAYS does!).  Many people began praying for us and networking for us to help Jeremy find a job.  We are happy to say that just 15 short days later, God has a provided a great new job for him.  He is now working for a small company here in Charlotte called Epic Notion, where again he will be developing/designing websites.  This job comes with many benefits, like working from home, a raise, more vacation days, a new computer, and hopefully better medical insurance than we used to have.  Jeremy's new boss is a believer and really values family time, which is a huge blessing.

We know that in this economy many are struggling to find jobs and have been for a while. We are cannot thank God enough for blessing us and taking care of us.  Thank you all for praying and continuing to encourage and support us.

Memorial Day

For Memorial Day this year, our long time friends the Williams asked us over to their new lake house.  We all had a great time playing on the water and the dock, fishing off the pier, and eating yummy food.

Oliver enjoyed riding around in the wagon with one of the Williams' grandsons Griffin. 

Owen and Daddy fishing

The two Papas fishing for our dinner

 The women and kids enjoyed hanging out on the dock

 Amy and her son Grant

Grant found the lake very relaxing

Griffin enjoyed the chips and salsa

Owen then moved onto fishing with Papa

Owen caught his first fish!!

Thanks Williams family for letting us share the day with you.  We had so much fun!