AWANA starts this Wednesday!

Do you know how I know? Well, besides the obvious--I'm a director, so I should probably know the start date!

Here are some of the AWANA related things I have done the past several weeks:
1. Directors' meeting
2.  2 trainings
3.  Staffed the AWANA table at the church's ministry fair.
4.  Scrambled for leaders (still scrambling, in case you are reading this and aren't doing anything on Wednesday nights...)
5.  Cubbies craft night
6.  General organization for the coming year.  But there is one thing I have learned.  In order to organize, you first have to look a little disorganized.  Here is what my living room looked like today:

I just don't feel like this picture does it justice, but it's the only one I took.  The tiny bit of blank space by the couch is where I was sitting.  Surrounded by cards and binders and folders.  And you can't really see all the little hole punch circles either.  The sad thing is, I got up from this and left the house for a couple of hours without cleaning it up.  My mom would have been appalled!  But I wasn't finished and part of the reason I left was to get more supplies in order to organize the mess!  I even texted my roommate to apologize in case she arrived home before I did.  But don't worry, the mess did get organized, the little hole punches got picked up, and the living room looks fairly normal again!

So now we wait for Wednesday! :)

Happy Birthday, Baby Brother!

14 short years ago I was blessed to have this addition in my family:

Josh has always been such a sweet kid.  I love his servant heart, his love for others, and his desire to be a part of the lives of others.  He has been such a magnificent blessing to me.  When I moved back to Peoria, I was able to spend 2 years in the same house with him during some very impressionable times.  And I was able to watch him begin to grow into the man he is today.

A 14 year old who is going to school and (technically) working 2 jobs--one before school and one during school.  He still has a servant's heart.  He still doesn't mind giving me a hug in public.  He has been a blessing to be a big sister to.  I couldn't imagine life without him in it.

I love you Josh!

A left-handed pen!

All you right-handed people out there will not understand this post. And non-observant left-handed people might not know what I'm talking about either. But this has been a pet peeve of mine for many years.  When I am writing with a pen, this is what it looks like:

See how all the writing is upside down?  All pens, crayons, markers, etc. are like this.  I've always wondered why the information can't be printed both ways?  There is room on the writing utensil!  Give a left-handed person a break! :) 

Well, I was shopping the other day for new pens.  I wanted some fun, colorful pens.  But they are not so easy to find anymore.  Here is my criteria for said pens:  I want black ink.  Not a colorful pink pen with pink ink.  Regular ole black ink.  And I don't want a gel pen.  And I want a clicky pen, not one with a cap.  Hmmm...I think that is it.  So, I found these "Bic for Her" pens.  Which made me laugh.  But they met all the criteria and came in pink and purple.  So I bought them.  Guys...don't try to steal them, they are for girls only!  Well, when I was testing them (because I'm the dork that has to test my pens when I get home to see how they write!), this is what I discovered:

Bic for Her is a left-handed pen!  I can read the writing without turning the pen upside down!  I shall buy stock in this pen!  I shall never use any other pen again!  Well, except when I need to use a gel pen or a marker or a colored pencil or a crayon.  Okay, so just as I have specific criteria for the pen I wanted to buy, I also use different kinds of pens for different things.  But that's a blog for another day.  Unless I don't want everyone to know just how much of a freak show I am.  Then I'll just let you ponder it on your own and wonder what I am talking about!

Did I miss something?

I got a pamphlet in the mail today, addressed to me (not to "the current resident").  On the front in the bottom left corner it said "Important Parent Meeting."  I was a little intrigued.  So I opened it up.  To read this:
Free College Financial Planning Night
Parents, is your child heading to college soon?  Don't miss this free workshop!
And on the back: Here is what parents like you are saying about our FREE college financial aid workshop.

Parents like me?  I must have missed something!  Since when do I have a child who is going to be attending college?!  And where has this child been hiding for the past 18 years?  And what was I thinking having a child when I was 15!  Didn't I know better?  And should I attend this meeting to get this child free financial aid.  Because I can't afford to send a child to college!

Oh...and do I have a boy or a girl?

A birthday photo shoot!

Remember when I told you I had pictures coming from my birthday? Well, here they are. See, the birthday celebration just keeps happening!

First, here are som comparison photos from the last two years of Hudson and I.

So, the day of my birthday, I woke up and decided that I didn't want to shower.  Or put in my contacts.  Or put on makeup.  And then I decided I was going to call Ginger and see if I could come over for lunch.  So, ignore what I look like in these pictures! :)  Ginger and I hung out while the kids took naps.  But she remembered at the last minute that we needed to take pictures, so she woke Hudson up.  This is the result:

Not all that happy.  But we kept trying. :)

Here is an almost smiling one.

And then we tried silly faces to get him to stop crying.  I promise, I don't always look like this! :)

And this is the best we're going to get!  I don't really remember, but I'm sure that right after this he was smiling like crazy.  Because he is just that ornery!  We'll try again next year, Hudson!

What do mashed banana, honey, and eggs have in common?

They were all in my hair yesterday. Along with milk and olive oil.  Kinsey and I decided to have a Gilmore Girls night.  But it couldn't be just any ordinary Gilmore Girls night.  We had to do it up big.  Face masks and hair masks.  I must admit, I was a little skeptical.  I've never even heard of hair masks.  But I was game.  So, the plan was to watch an episode of Gilmore Girls while we ate our pizza and then go shopping for all the ingredients we would need.  One small problem.  Kinsey didn't know where the remote to her DVD player was and all you can do on the actual DVD player is play, pause, and stop.  Which meant we had to start a disc from episode one, even if we wanted to watch episode 3.  Which is fine, because there are very few bad episodes of Gilmore Girls.  But we had already discussed which episodes we wanted to watch.  But we could not conquer the DVD player, so we gave in and watched the first episode.  When it was done, we paused it so that when we got back from shopping we could watch the second episode.  Except when we got back, the DVD player had shut off.  So, while we were mixing up our hair masks, we watched the first episode again!  But then we were able to watch the next three on that disc while we made ourselves beautiful.  Here are some of the pictures I made Kinsey take and post to Facebook against her will.  There is no shame in wearing purple and pink shower caps or putting masks on your face.  No shame at all!  Well, until people are pulling chunks of banana or egg yolk out of your hair the next day.  Then there might be a little shame.  Even if you know you've washed your hair twice.

Fast Forward and Slow Motion

I feel like July went by in fast forward.  But my blog has kept up in slow motion.  Needless to say, I didn't blog much.  I loaded all these pictures from vacation, but they showed up really small and if I make them any bigger they are blurry.  I'm too lazy to try and figure it out.  The month started with my birthday.  I took off half the week and just relaxed and ate a lot :).  Then it was a week of craziness at work while I prepared for vacation.  Here are some of the pictures from vacation.

I got to hang out with the two cutest nephews ever! :)

                                                                   

John learning to boogie board.  I love this picture because it looks like he is catching a major wave, but it's really just the last wave before hitting shore.

The family at the fort.

The multi-tasking aunt.  Hanging  on to the baby so he doesn't fall over while playing on the tablet with John.

I taught John that you can write/draw in the sand.

He made a smiley face. :)

Two Aunt Teresa's!

First time at the ocean.

Then, when I got home from vacation, Dad, Amy, Daynah, Josh, and 7 guys from the Acres came for Mission Peoria.  So, I spent my days at work and my evenings with them.  And battled a cold.  But it was great fun getting to see them and hang out with them.  And meet some new faces to their house.  Here they are:

They left on Monday and then I spent the week staying up too late for the Olympics!  And that continues this week.  So that was my July in a very quick nutshell.  Because it's all the energy I can muster.  And I'm not feeling very eloquent.  If you want to know more details, just ask, I'll share! :)  And I have plenty more pictures where that came from.

Simple Gifts

This story is a little late in telling, but I saw the person it is about today, and it made me think of this moment.  And it was a sweet memory, so I want to share it with you.  At the end of the AWANA year in the spring, one of my 4th grade girls gave me a present.  I wasn't expecting it and I was busy, so I didn't open it until I  got home that night.  She had wrapped it in a piece of paper she had colored herself.  When I unwrapped it, I found a pack of gum.  It was the sweetest gift.  Kids don't think about protocol or anything like that.  If I, as an adult, gave someone a pack of gum, people might question it.  But I knew that this gift was heartfelt and sincere, and I just wanted to give her a great big hug for thinking of me and giving of what she had to say thank you.  I hope I can remember this for a long time and remember that it is not in the abundance of what I give or the monetary value of what I give, but in the sincerity of the thought and the heart-attitude that I give.

10 years

Cue the Beauty and the Beast song "Be Our Guest".  I don't know why this line popped into my head but it did, "Ten years we've been rusting, needing so much more than dusting..."  Anyway, I guess this is what happens when I haven't blogged in a while, I get kind of random.
I was driving today, and realized a few things in my thought processes.  Ten years ago this month, I was getting ready to leave Georgia to move to Texas for grad school.  Ten years.  That is so crazy.  But true.  It was a monumental moment for me.  Leaving Georgia, I think I knew that I would not move back there when done with school.  And at that time, Georgia had been home for most of my life.  I remember when I switched my license plate from Georgia to Texas.  I cried.  It was the last thing of Georgia I had (I had already switched my license).  I think that might be why I still carry my house key from my mom's house in Georgia on my key chain.  It is almost completely useless.  I mean, my brother and sister-in-law still live there, but I certainly haven't used it in the last ten years.

It also made me realize that I can't say that I've lived in Georgia most of my life.  I've lived a little over half of my life in Georgia--17 years, if I did the math correctly.  3 1/2 years in Texas.  And 12 1/2 years in Illinois--6 as a child and the last 6 1/2 years.  It was a weird realization because I have always said, when asked where I'm from, "I was born in Illinois, but spent most of my life in Georgia.  I went to grad school in Texas, and now I'm back in Illinois."  I guess in the  next couple of years, I need to come up with a new tag line for that question!