The flower girl and ring bearer

Natalie and Adam

We headed to Indianapolis a couple of weekends ago to celebrate the union of marriage with Kim and Michael. They had a beautiful wedding and Natalie and Adam were in the wedding! They did a great job.

Yeah, I know she looks way older than 7! Its just that quirky personality of hers that shines through! Well she’s also absolutely beautiful, If I do say so myself!

Kim and Natalie

We had a great evening of dancing, food, and fellowship!

Siblings all fancied up!

The Cake

Natalie, Adam and Travis!                          

 

 

 

  Giving Kim away!

 

Father & Daughter Dance                                              My Michael and Kim

 

                                                                               

Travis found a lint roller to play baseball with!

Our beautiful family….

Family Night for under $10

We had family night last night. A good time was had by all. First thing we did was pick up the kids FREE personal size pizzas at Papa Murphy's. (they got free pizza coupons from the library reading program). Then we picked up a pizza from Little Caesar's for mom and dad. (Pizza, breadsticks and 2 liter for under $10).

 

After some yummy pizza we watched Harry and the Hendersons together. It was funny , to see the kids enjoying a movie that Mike and I had watched as kids. No one got scared and we all laughed. Adam repeated a few choice words from the movie, that we quickly reacted to! Natalie and her very sensitive heart was tearing up at the end of the movie when Harry went back to the wild.

We had a great time together and the kids have already asked when will our next family night be? What does your family do for family night?

Nene’s Church Picnic

Over the weekend we went to Nene’s church for their Summer Fest.

Friday night started out with a bonfire and roasting hotdogs and s’mores. We ended the evening with Tangled, a family friendly movie!

Saturday was a fun time. We had a picnic style lunch in the church where hotdogs and hamburgers were made. Then each small group or a group of people provided different foods on their tables for everyone to sample. There was a table of Death by Chocolate, Paula Dean, Traditional Picnic foods, Mexican food, Dessert Table and Taste of Italy.

Paula and Michael Dean…

Paula made cheese grits, garlic shrimp, and lemonade cake!

Traditional Picnic Foods: potato salad, baked beans, rice crispy treats w/ chocolate, deviled eggs and  fried potatoes

Along with the great food there was a clown, slip-n-slide, and bounce house.

Face Painting

Slip-n-Slide

Bounce House

We had a great time at the picnic! The kids were worn out, which led to a great nap time!

Surgery- A character building lesson.

 

Nene laying in the hospital bed.

On Tuesday, April 19, Nene (Mary Ann, Grandma) had a total knee replacement on her right knee. We have prayed for this day, and sent many prayers the day of her surgery and are still praying for a great recovery. The surgery went beautiful and she is doing well with recovery. Still in a lot of pain almost a week after surgery, but is walking around with a walker and is having physical therapy.

The knee after surgery and 31 stitches.

Michael having fun with his mothers pill cups, nope he didn’t take the meds in the cups, but by looking at the photo’s you may have thought so!! AHHAHHA!

Oh the hospital humor..

This event has served as a great learning tool for Natalie and Adam. We have visited her everyday since her surgery. We went to the hospital three days in a row and since she is now home we have been there the past few days as well. The kids have learned that we are to take care of people when they need it. They have been a great help at helping their Nene get “better”. They have assisted in grocery shopping, making sure she is comfortable and also helping in cleaning up after themselves at Nene’s house so she won’t fall on the toys.

Just at out visit today, Easter Sunday, we all enjoyed seeing Mary Ann walk with a walker. We are glad to see she is doing well and are excited for her to be able to walk further and get around better without being in pain all of the time.

blessings, jackie

Our weekend….

We had an exciting weekend. We have learned that as people leave the heart grows fonder and when they return we are excited to see them and realize how important they are in our lives. I say this because Michael went to North Carolina for a Men's Retreat based on the book Wild at Heart by John Eldredge. He left early Thursday morning, drove to NC and had stayed until Sunday morning, drove back home and got to see us before the kids went to bed!

He was gone for a total of four days and in that time we did a lot of missing daddy. We knew this would be a trip of a lifetime for Daddy. He enjoyed himself very much, learned  a few new things about the Lord we serve, and grew some as well! He also got to have some great worship, catch up with some people he hasn’t seen in a while, eat great food, and bask in the glory of the Lord. I believe God spoke measures into his heart! I am so glad he went! Although he is so tired, I don’t think he can see straight, but he did get up and go to work this morning!

As for us that were holding down the fort at home, we kept busy! On Thursday, Natalie had dance class in the evening. These next few weeks are very crucial for practice, we have the recital the last weekend of April. We cleaned up some of the house and I mopped the floors upstairs! Whooohooo! On Friday we did a few errands and then went to see HOP in the theater! This was a great time for the kids and quite a cute movie about the Easter Bunny! We also had a few special treats of popcorn, candy, and sodas! SSSHHHH, Don’t tell but we snuck in our own sodas and candy. I just can’t bring myself to buy those at the theater, when I am able to buy them at Walgreens for almost nothing.  After the movie the kids were so energetic ( I wonder why?) so we then went to the mall to burn some energy in the play area. This was a great idea,  they ran, ran, ran, ran, ran, complained of being thirsty, ran, ran, ran, ran, ran, ran, cried that they were thirsty, they had to go potty, they wanted to walk around, they ran, ran, ran, ran, and then we walked around some more and got pretzels and a drink. Then I went into the Hallmark store and they complained that I was taking to looooonnnnggg and they wanted to go. So we left and came home to take baths and go to bed! Then came Saturday…okay I was really tired by this day, so we stayed home most of the day and the kids played outside and rode bikes and scooters. I did laundry and some organizing! Later that afternoon we went to Kreckles Dairy Maid! If you live in Decatur you know all about this place! Anyway, this is a wonderful place to eat. We had hamburgers, french fries and Lemon Ice Cream with sprinkles! We finished our evening out with a date to the Scovill playground. The kids played so hard that they slept in late on Sunday morning! I mean they woke up at like 8, when they are usually up at about 6:30 or 7. On Sunday, we went to church, went to Mcd’s for lunch and played, came home and napped, played outside and then went to Nene’s to eat dinner and play Legos and trains. We finished up our weekend by going to the grocery store and coming home to meet Daddy after his long trip! Everyone was glad to see him!

Sayings of the Weekend

Travis: Daddy, Daddy, Daddy (everything was Daddy, he wouldn’t say Mommy or anything of the like)

Adam: I didn’t miss Daddy at all, well maybe a little. (Talking about Daddy coming home, and Natalie says I miss him a lot, but Adam added his 2 cents)

Natalie: Mom, I can’t answer that question right now, this is not a school day. (Talking about Sunday school and her God time card questions, which we do as part of her daily devotion time on school days)