Another Year with the Murphys

Frazer UMC: Trunk or Treat

2011-10-26T20:15:00.000-05:00

Bama Boys, a legend and Sean's new room. ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!!

2011-10-26T14:16:00.002-05:00

Sean with a few of our neighbors. Having a street full of Bama fans is quite lovely :-)

We have prayed since we moved in our home six years ago that Sean would have some friends on the street to play with. Little did we know, he would be eight years old with a half dozen little boys around his age to play with. ALL Bama fans. I love it because it gets him away from the TV and video games. It is such a joy watching them all play football in the front yard. I have really come to care so much about some of these precious boys. Rambunctious? YEP! But ohhh, so sweet.

Sean, Jake and Alex

Buddy has been taking Sean to some Alabama games lately. It has been a wonderful, bonding experience for them. During one of the trips, Buddy was able to take Sean into the University and the theater where Buddy spent so much of his time while in college. Sean loved getting on stage and seeing everything about where daddy went to college. One very special thing Buddy was able to do was to introduce Sean to his most influential Teacher/Mentor, Dr. Edmond "Ed" Williams. Dr. Williams also works with the ASF student program here in Montgomery.

Staying on the subject of Bama...... Sean got a new room and a remodel. WHOO HOO!!

This is only a portion of the whole, but it is fabulous. I mean, I want to live in that room~

This is a picture of Bryant Denny Stadium. It is a 6 foot by 4 foot wall art (stick up) and nearly landed Buddy and I in divorce court. Heh, not really! But it sure was a booger to mount that thing.

Frazer's Trunk or Treat is coming UP!!!!

2011-10-26T13:53:00.000-05:00

I am SOOOOO excited about this year's Trunk or Treat at my church. I am married to a theatre man and, well, we tend to go over the top a little (tiny) bit when it comes to anything involving building a set or dressing up. Welp, the only occasion for building a "set" or dressing UP would be Trunk or Treat. And, well.... maybe birthday parties.
Ok, sooooo you don't have to be smart to figure out our theme this year :-) We will definitely be dressing UP for this one....Stay tuned ~ More to come!!!!

Lily's party invite (sneek peek)

2011-10-25T10:04:00.003-05:00

Ooh, La, La!!! Lily is almost SEVEN.

HOW can it be true??? I am overwhelmed with so many emotions about this.

1. Thankfulness to God for blessing me with this child nearly seven years ago after three heartbreaking losses and a pregnancy with her filled with complications, needles and bed rest.

2. Overflowing gratitude for the miracle of her life when she lay at death's door five years later.

3. Bittersweet feelings for her growing up way to quickly, right before my eyes.

4. Giddy, giddy, giddy about giving her another fabulous birthday bash.

I could go on and on but you get it, right?

Anyway, I am not sure if you have noticed or not, but.... these parties are all for ME! I was not privledged as a child. I don't want to make this post sad but, we were... well, how do I say it?? - We were POOR!
Now, there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with a simple party in the backyard, but, as a child I always dreamed of a fabulous party fit for a princess. I daydreamed for hours on end of pink in every shade, tutu's, feather boas, tiny sandwiches, candy, goodies, fabulous cakes and LOTS of friends. It never happened but my momma always made it filled with love. The dream never left me and I was blessed with a bundle on PURE PINK LOVE on December 1st 2004.
I think I am living the childhood I always wanted. Hey, at least I'm honest. Oh, don't get me wrong, Lily is having a blast along the way as well :-)

I am usually pushy with the themes (I admit with shame) BUT, this year was totally Lily. She chose the theme and is helping plan every single detail along the way - momma taught her well - hah!
Her sweet "Shisha" designed the invitations for her. I. LOVE. THEM....
This is the back of the invitation. I am sure you can guess the theme :-)
More to come....

"I'm bringing home my baby bumblebee"!!!

2011-10-25T10:03:00.001-05:00

The song that comes to mind when looking at this picture: "I'm bringing home my baby bumblebee"!

I sang it over and over, day after day, to my little preschoolers when I taught at Montessori Academy.

After the STJ Halloween party, we delivered Sean to a friend's house to spend the night. This meant that this glorious little "bug" was all ours. We planned movies, snuggles, giggles.... BUT, this is what we got ~ one VERY sleepy little bumblebee. NOPE, she did not brush her teeth.

Second Grade - STJ Halloween party

2011-10-25T10:01:00.003-05:00

"Siblings invited"
That was all Lily needed to hear when she learned about Sean's second grade party.

Sean wanted to be this scary thing.... UH! Whatever it is. Grim Reaper? Oh, I just dislike it totally.
Apparently it is the "thing to be" since there were six other kids dressed just like him.

The party WAS great though. (loud) Buddy and I both went. We walked into a room filled with screaming, running and very LOUD 7-9 year olds. There was a grand buffet of food for the kids, (kids were loud) cool, jamming music, (kids were loud) fun decorations, (kids were extremely loud) cookie cake, cupcakes and candy (Did I mention the kids were LOUD)?? HA! The parents sat in a circle around the great big room as kids came around to each of us for candy. It was chaotic, crazy, LOUD and fun. Enjoy these years as they will pass too quickly :-)

Dreamfield Farms with the Browns

2011-10-25T09:57:00.001-05:00

Dylan's FIRST pumpkin patch

The sweetest little family!
Brown Family, Steven, Kenisha and Dylan Fall 2011

2011-10-25T09:56:00.002-05:00

Lily had such a fun time in the corn boxes!

and in the hammock.....

and in the corn boxes....... :-)

HAPPY FALL, YA'LL

Lily's great pumpkin quest!

2011-10-25T09:55:00.001-05:00

Lily's first six birthdays

2011-09-29T12:27:00.001-05:00

This collage makes me VERY glad I take way too many pictures and go a little over the top for birthday parties. Now, going "over the top" does NOT always mean spending a fortune. More on that later. As Lily's seventh birthday draws near, I will be trying to come up with theme/ideas. For now though, I loved this little trip down memory lane of all of her birthday cakes (with pic of her). Look out seven, here we come !!!!!

Where did this baby girl go???

2011-09-29T11:44:00.002-05:00

A new room for Lily

2011-09-29T11:35:00.000-05:00

Has it really been almost FOUR years??? It was November of 2007. Lily was still two. She was almost three, and we decided to take her crib down and put her in a bed. The mattress was called a "bunkie board" and was at the absolute lowest level. She still had a little climb so we put a bed rail up. I have always been hyper aware of falls for them since Lily took a tumble down our hardwood stairs at 8 months and then Sean fell (at 4 years old) down those same stairs with his leg cast on.
Anyway, I was so exited about Buddy painting her light pink walls and having her pink toille stuff that she had had in her crib. I found a soft, sweet green comforter to match and we put up a little chandelier. Voila, "big girl (sorta) bed" yet, STILL my baby girl's room. It was the best of both worlds. UNTIL.... Fast forward four years to 2011. Her it is at almost the same time of year. Lily will be SEVEN years old in about eight weeks (tear). She still adores pink, er..... only a few shades darker. She was having nothing doing with that "baby stuff" of what we called her comforter. AND..... she wanted to move upstairs to the "big room". (gulp)

So recently we took the first of many new leaps. First, we got her a real deal mattress and box springs and raised the level of the bed up. That worked out. Next, we painted her a REALLY PINK (she picked the color) room upstairs and let her pick out her own bedding. Last night was her first night with it all finished and I must say, I LOVE it!!! I did sleep upstairs with her though :-) I just can't take anymore accidents for a while so we will install a baby gate soon. In the meantime though, we are busy getting Sean upstairs as well. He has chosen crimson RED (Roll Tide). Here is a before and after of her room makeover. Will post Sean's in a few days.

A heart for "JJ" - Heart cath day!

2011-09-27T08:00:00.000-05:00

Former Frazer family member blogs about adopting a son from China and the battle they are now facing with a heart condition he has. He is already a little miracle to have survived this long. We are all praying and following thier incredible journey.

MIRACLES ~

2011-09-27T07:52:00.000-05:00

Cate's miracle

2011-09-27T07:48:00.000-05:00

Patrick Quinn, One of our Frazer pastors, holds his daughter Cate. A week ago she suffered a tragic fall and landed on her head. Patrick tells of the pain he and his wofe experienced as they waited to see if she would be ok.

http://www.offerchrist.com/general/experiencing-pain/

Learning

2011-09-27T00:58:00.000-05:00

Look how mommy padded him up real good :-)

Pinky up....

2011-09-27T00:52:00.000-05:00

Oh... I forgot about our Disney trip. I do believe I am so far behind with blogging, I will never catch up.

I CAN take this girly ANYWHERE!

We were priveleged to recieve the great honor of a gift for Lily from an organization called "Compassion Partners". Due to Lily's pontentially life threatning condition (she is fine now) and the dignosis of tracheal stenosis, which can be serious if not treated, She was granted a wish to go to Disney World. The organization paid for Buddy, Myself and Sean as well as Lily. We went for the Fourth of July weekend and had a fabulous time. The weekend was all about celebrating the life and miracle of Lily and just having some great family time with no schedules or stress. I will say that it was about the most enjoyable trip to date. We took it easy and just did whatever we liked. Lily wanted to "Royal treatment" of course. This included the "Perfectly Princess Tea Party" at the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa. Something she has wanted to do for a few years. However, the price was a bit steep for the luxery so we never did it. With the trip being paid for, we were able to splurge a little on things like the tea party for Lily and boating excursion for daddy and Sean.

First day of school 2011

2011-09-27T00:30:00.001-05:00

Lily - first grade and Sean - second grade
I am one proud mama. We moved back to STJ from MA. The kids are adjusting well. This is an old and much overdue post. But, since I am on a roll here catching up my blog, I thought I would keep going.

Sean has really taken off acedemically. He is reading like a pro and has such confidence in his work. He rarly makes anything other than A's. As for Lily, she is doing great for the past year she has had. She is playing "catch up" a little. Since her innitial recovery from the accident, she has had five surgeries. I think she has done quite well considering. She is starting to read and her writting is getting better. I am starting to see confidence in her work and her eagerness to learn. I think we are about to see her make great strides.

Modeling clothes

2011-09-27T00:27:00.000-05:00

Would it be safe to say that this girl LOVES what she does??? She has modeled clothes for Julia, owner and designer of (Frogbelliesandblossoms) clothing line since she was about two or three. She pretty much runs the show now. :-)

Daddy's boy!

2011-09-27T00:20:00.000-05:00

Sean has always been a "mama's boy". So, I can't tell you how thrilled I am that I have noticed him drifting closer to his daddy over the past year. I don't feel threatned at all. I know we have a special bond. I also know how important it is for a son to have that special and close daddy relationship. I remember when I was pregnant with Sean and being very serious about this "raising a boy thing". I took a class at Frazer called "Bringing up Boys". The book we were reading spoke about boys naturally being closer to mothers in the beginning. But, there should be a period when a boy would start to draw closer to daddy. It warms my heart to see how close they are becoming. In the past year they have gone on several adventures together. Beach trips, helicopter rides, Football games, camping trips to the mountains. Sean is loving these moments and I am positive Buddy is too. I know they are making memories that will last a lifetime.

My babies

2011-09-27T00:03:00.000-05:00

This is JUST how I want to remember them when they are grown. I LOVE this picture because it captures and pretty much sums up their distinct personalities in a single click. Lily is carefree (always) and brave as ever. Sean is always thinking, somewhat tenative and ALWAYS in character mode. I assure you, every aspect of this outfit was thought out with careful planning. Right down to making the blue jean knee hole a bit bigger just before I snapped the picture. He was all about me taking this picture while Lily could care less. She probaby had no idea I was even standing there with the camera. I want time to slow down - it's fleeting and my babies are growing up way too fast.

Baptism reception for Dylan

2011-09-26T23:56:00.000-05:00

Our sweet God Daughter, Kenisha and (Husband Steve) allowed us to share in their special day. Last Sunday precious Dylan was dedicated to Christ until the day comes when he can choose for himself. I was so thrilled about this that I thought we needed to celebrate. After church, we had a small reception/luncheon at out home. Dylan's "Nana", Marylew and I put out heads together to arrange some good food and sweet treats. Of course, Dylan was the sweetest treat there.

Hard to believe this precious angel will be SEVEN in eight weeks

2011-09-26T23:31:00.000-05:00

Lily's last surgery

2011-08-14T15:04:00.001-05:00

Friday was Lily's final procedure for tracheal stenosis. We are thrilled beyond words. The precious baby has endured so much since her accident and always smiles and goes on her way. She is my little hero. Tomorrow is her first full day of first grade.
Will update my blog soon (seriously, I will) I am way behind and have much to share.
Heidi

NINE years of wedded bliss.....

2011-03-25T22:40:00.001-05:00

Buddy and I celebrated our 9th anniversary on March 16th. We were, or course, in NYC with the kiddos. For the last several years, we have taken our annual family vacation on Spring Break week. Incidentally it falls on our anniversary. Since Buddy was still teaching high school at the time, we married the weekend just before Spring Break so we could take our honeymoon on his week off. It seemed like a great idea at the time. However, it now means that we have to share it with our kids. We were able to steal some sweet moments alone though. Thanks to our precious Niece agreeing to keep the kids for us, we were able to get an evening alone. She took the kids out for deserts and back to the hotel while we had diner and saw the off Broadway show "Cactus Flower". I loved walking the streets of New York once again with my love.

My idea of a romantic setting - a kiss on top of the Rockafeller building with the Empire State Building behind us. Don't worry, we also made it to the top of the Empire State Building as well.

Thank you for nine amazing years sweetheart. I look forward to many more with you.

The Murphys in NYC!

2011-03-25T22:19:00.001-05:00

We took the kids to the "Big Apple" for Spring Break this year. It was quite a change for them. We have taken them to Disney World every year since they were infants. Buddy and I went alone for a few days this past December. We fell in love with it and thought it would be a great place to take the kids. We brought our Niece Bailey along with us. I can say without reservation that it was honestly the BEST family vacation we have ever had. The weather was nice (a bit cold), the kids were well behaved and there were NO LONG LINES.

Lily's Hero

2011-03-25T10:23:00.000-05:00

Really, "Lily's Hero" does not adequately express what I feel about this......umm, how I feel about this amazing lady. "Tara" as we now know her. Funny, we did not even know her until the day of Lily's accident and yet she has become so special to us. Our girls are even in the same kindergarten class this year. This is the mother who stepped up and performed CPR on our daughter the day she nearly lost her life in a drowning accident. She did not give up. Even when I thought it was surely over. One day I will find the right words I want to say to her. For now though, isn't this picture precious?

Our "Dylan"

2011-03-25T10:02:00.001-05:00

I am a "MeMe" and Buddy is a "Pappa". Our precious Goddaughter and her amazing husband Steven welcomed a "miracle". Dylan Sidney Brown was born in February. Our Goddaughter Kenisha struggled with infertility and tried to conceive for quite some time. Nisha learned she was finally pregnant on the day of Lily's accident. We were so worried about her losing the baby that Buddy and I tried to hide the accident from her. She soon found out though and was there for us every step of the way. On the day of baby Dylan's birth, we traveled back to Birmingham with Lily for her fourth and hopefully final surgery, The end of a long and painful journey for both families. God is amazing in his timing, plans and purpose. We are blessed to have sweet Dylan in our lives.

I do LOVE baby feet!

Our litle "American Girl"

2011-03-25T09:16:00.002-05:00

One of the many fun things we did while in NYC last week was take Lily to the American Girl Store. She had a "special day celebration" with mommy and cousin Bailey which included lunch in the bistro, getting a new doll "Molly", having her doll's hair done, a shopping spree and finally... a photo shoot in the studio with her picture on a magazine cover. The child LOVED every second of the experience. Oh, and Lily loved it too :-) I love having a daughter!!!

~Stay tuned for more posts and pictures on our New York trip and fun things Buddy did with Sean ~

Lily is a "Child of Children's"

2011-03-24T14:47:00.003-05:00

Lily's story was posted on the Children's Hospital "Child of Children's" website. She will be featured again in a few weeks when her Daisy troop goes to present Girl Scout cookies and some very special gifts to the children at the hosptial.
You can view her story here

Six months later..................

2011-03-24T14:23:00.001-05:00

After another long break from blogging, let me try this again. Life is so busy and I have found that my free time usually goes to Facebook.

So, for that reason, I decided to give Facebook a break for a while. The fact that after only two days I am missing Facebook terribly, shows me how truely addicted I had become. I am not going to stay away forever though. I do soooo love to keep up with my friends :-)

Now, for a much needed update in lives of the Murphys.

"Big News - Big Apple" (we just returned from a fabulous Spring Break trip in NYC but I will save that for my next post)

Miss Lily has had two more surgeries since I last posted. We still have her "Pray for Lily Murphy" facebook page up where you can view all of the updates. We are hoping and praying she will not need anymore procedures. But, only time will tell. She has started to show some evidence of PTSD and so we now have her seeing a child Phychologist where she will have a safe and private avenue to work out any fears, anxities and to talk about whatever she needs to. We feel she will soon be able to come to terms with the traumatic event in her life and put it into perspective and in it's place so she can move on with her sweet little life. Besides that, she is a happy and healthy little six year old.

Sean is doing very well and learning so much in school. His reading and writting has taken a huge leap forward and we are so proud of his progres and how he has developed. He will soon be a second grader and it's so hard to believe my little man is almost an 8 year old.

We have decided that after this school year, we will move them back to their previous school. Sean and Lily were at STJ for two years before changing to MA. While MA is an amazing school, we really miss our STJ family and friends. We are looking forward to the change and allowing the kids to stay until they graduate.

Our story

2010-10-15T14:18:00.002-05:00

This past Sunday, October 10th, Buddy and I shared our story with our Frazer family through a video we did last month. I hope our passion about Jesus Christ was portrayed in the way we hoped.

Lily made us so proud of her as she walked out on the stage after the video played and said a prayer.

You can watch our video here:

http://vimeo.com/15544182

Lily's story

2010-08-25T22:42:00.003-05:00

One June 11th of this year, our faith was tested. Our lives were shaken to the very core and our family nearly shattered as our five year old daughter, Lily, fought for her life in a hospital.

That week started out with much anticipation. Sean, our son, had been looking forward to "camp son shine" for weeks and Lily had been looking forward to a very special birthday party. The party was to be Friday, June 11th. On Monday the 7th, we drove Sean to camp. We were excited that he was getting the "big boy" adventure of staying three days at camp without us. He felt so grown up. Lily was a little down that she was too young, so we promised her a great week of mommy & daddy time with just her. Each day that week we did something special. She loved every minute of it.

Friday arrived. It was the day of the much anticipated pool party for her friend. Thursday night, she carefully chose her swimsuit before going to bed.

I woke up Friday morning to something very rare. Lily was snuggled up beside me in our bed. Usually it's Sean who climbs in the bed with us. Lily has been extremely independent and full of confidence from a very young age, so it was nice that she had climbed in next to me that morning. As she lay there sleeping next to me, I dreaded getting up going to work. I stroked her hair and kissed her forehead. I just enjoyed snuggling with my baby girl. I finally dragged myself out of bed and went to work. I was getting off at 3:00 that day and was coming strait back to pick her up for the party.

Finally the time arrived to leave for the big pool party. We drove to her friend's house with her favorite CD in and the volume in my Pilot almost maxed. We sang and laughed all the way to the party.
At the party, Lily ran, swam, slid and laughed with about 23 other little girls while I ran around clicking pictures of all the fun. About 30 minutes into the party, an unimaginable thing happened, Lily was noticed laying at the bottom of the pool. I remember a mother coming to me screaming "Heidi, someone went under and is being pulled out of the pool". I looked at her in a confused way and the next words out of her mouth made me sick to the pit of my stomach. "Heidi, the child is Lily". Thinking she just bobbed her head under and would be fine, I ran over to the pool area to get her.

I was not prepared for what I saw next. My baby girl was being placed on a lawn chair for CPR. She was grey, not breathing and her belly was distended. I gripped her little feet as two parents began CPR on her. I began to call upon Jesus. I was full of fear, terror, dread, guilt and anxiety. I think I felt just about every single emotion that a person can feel, rush through my body all in one moment of time. Everything felt like slow motion as I screamed out for someone to call 911. Of course, 911 had already been called. I was just unaware of everything around me. I was only focused on her. Her eyes were wide open and appeared to be fixed and dilated. Finally, after what seemed like hours....... a breath. But my nightmare was far from over.

Lily was transported by ambulance to our local hospital. On arrival, she was cold, blue, had dilated pupils, was posturing and had very shallow breaths. Her lungs were full of water. She was immediately put on a ventilator and the doctor came out to talk to us. He told us that she was in very critical condition and would need to be airlifted to a Children's hospital about an hour away from where we live. We could not fly with her.

Buddy and I drove while Lily flew in a helicopter. In the car, I gripped the bible while Buddy drove. We prayed almost the entire way. When we arrived, they directed us to the intensive care unit where Lily had been placed. The doctor there informed us immidiately that Lily was critical and that it would be a minute by minute journey with her the first 24 hours. We were hopeful for her because she did have a pulse on arrival to the ER in our hometown. However, she was showing signs of possible brain damage and no one knew for sure how long she had been submerged under water and went without oxygen. All we could do was pray and hope for a miracle. We learned that a friend created her a prayer group page on facebook and before we knew it, we had thousands of prayer warriors from all over the country, and even some in other countries, praying for our daughter. "Pray for Lily Murphy" now has over 5000 members.

For about 48 hours, Lily batteled a very high fever of over 105 and was placed on a cold bed to bring her body temperature down. After a few days she began to open her eyes and squeeze our fingers. On the fifth day, against the odds, she woke up and was taken off of the ventilator. Her first words were: "chocolate candy". What sweet words. I think that was even better than watching her take her first steps at one year old. It was like watching my newborn baby. I was just in awe of her. Little by little, she recovered. She had some setbacks and developed phnemonia. But it was all manageable. She was moved out of the intensive care and into a private room.

Miraculously, 12 days after she was lifeflighted into the hospital, she walked out. Healthy, vibrant and one hundred percent neurologically intact. What a little miracle she is.

Since her original recovery, Lily has batteled some effects from endotracheal tube damage in her little trachea. It is being managed with surgery and medication. She had narrowing of her trachea and scar tissue. We are believing for a full recovery from that as well. She has had two surgeries already and will have a third one September the 10th. Lily has come such a long way but still needs your prayers. Please keep praying for our little miracle girl.

"Looooong time, no blog"

2010-08-19T22:41:00.002-05:00

Our new "normal"

WOW!!!! Just WOW!!!!
That is about all I can say for an opening of this, my first blog post since spring.

Everything is "new" in the Murphys lives.
The kids started a new school year, in a new school.
I start a new job this Monday.
Buddy started teaching classes at a new college.
The kids are starting something new... Piano lessons.

And so, we are just rolling right along with all of the new things in our lives.

I am sure many of you know about our tragic, yet miraculous summer with our daughter Lily. She had a very serious accident at the beginning of the summer. I am not sure that I am ready just yet to blog about it. It is quite an emotional topic for me and it is late right now. I don't think I have the strength to say everything I want to say and do it all justice. I promise though, I will do a post very soon. If it turns out that you just cannot wait, have not heard and really want to know about our daughter's accident, you can click on this link and it will take you to her facebook page. Click on the "info" tab.

Today I started a new blog called: "Lilyisms and the funny things your kids say". You can find it by clicking the title above or by going here . For months, my friends have been telling me I need to write down the funny things my daughter says. Both of my children say the "darndest things" as I am sure many of yours do as well. My son Sean has a more serious personality and while he does say funny things, it is usually the things my daughter says that has me laughing most of the time. She just has the most quirky little personality and says things that have me thinking "where in the world did that come from"?
That is the main reason I titled the blog "Lilyisms". The blog, however, is meant to journal the cute things that BOTH of my kids say as well as all of your kids. All of our kids say some things that are just too good not to share. This blog is a way of not only journaling, but also connecting each of us through our kids and helping to bring a smile or a laugh to us through sharing and reading.

Since it has been so long, I will leave you with a recent picture of my darlings.

Spring Break fun: a look back on our week

2010-03-22T14:06:00.002-05:00

Lily, now & then....

2010-03-22T13:16:00.001-05:00

Over Spring Break, we took a trip to Birmingham to visit the McWane Center. There is one exhibit that the kids absolutely love. It is the bed of nails. It looks intimidating, but my kiddos are so brave that they will try anything. Lily hopped right up to try it and I snapped her picture. I remembered that we had taken the kids back in 2007 so I searched for a picture of Lily to compare how she has grown in 3 years.

I will be updating the blog all week with pictures of some of the fun things we did on our Spring Break "staycation" 2010 so please come back and visit!

mommy & daddy date night

2010-03-16T01:26:00.001-05:00

We love spending extra special alone time with each of the kids and they love it too. We switch it up. Sometimes I take Lily out for some girl time. We get pedicures or something. Sean's favorite thing to do with daddy is to go to Academy sports. This particular night, Sean took me out on a "date". We went to Chili's and shared a dessert - Sean's favorite molton lava cake. Buddy took Lily out to the father/daughter sweetheart dinner at Chick-fil-a.

mommy and Sean

daddy and Lily

Rocker Sean

2010-03-16T01:16:00.000-05:00

Hippity Hoppity Easters on it's way

2010-03-16T01:09:00.001-05:00

Lily has been busy modeling for Julia again - she has some adorable Easter sets and so much more. Check her out on ETSY and ebay. I will get some links up soon

School play - K4

2010-03-16T01:02:00.001-05:00

Lily was a duck in her school play "Animal Crackers"

New PINK dresses

2010-03-16T00:54:00.001-05:00

Lily LOVES anything pink! I think she would make that her middle name if she could. Recently, my sister and I found matching pink dresses for the girls. They were more than happy to humor us by posing for these adorable photos.

Lily with her cousin Sophie Grace

Sophie & Lily

2010-03-16T00:47:00.000-05:00

where has my baby boy gone???

2010-03-16T00:40:00.001-05:00

I can't believe this little fella will be SEVEN years old in about 8 weeks!!!

It seems like just yesterday he was getting his first tooth.

Now he is loosing all of his baby teeth!

He is still my little cuddle bug. Although,

he may have wanted that to be our little secret.

Tenderhearted and funny -

This kid has brought me so much joy!!!

Snow Day

2010-03-16T00:29:00.001-05:00

That would be ME!!! The crazy lady in the above pictures, sliding down the hill making a fool of herself.....

The "Big blizzard" of 2010 (haha) was crazy and amazing. Our day pretty much consisted of getting soaked, making a snowman, having snowball fights, coming in to warm up and change and then repeating those steps all over again about five more times.

2010-03-16T00:21:00.000-05:00

Up close and personal with Lily

2010-03-16T00:00:00.001-05:00

Lily Christine

Age 5

The interview

"What is your favorite color"?

Lily: "Pink or course"!

"Where is your favorite place to eat"?

Lily: "The Chinese place"!

"What do you eat there"?

Lily: "Egg rolls, the bumpy part".

"What t.v. show do you like best"?

Lily: "iCarly. But, it's inappropriate for me".

"Who do you love"?

Lily: "My daddy and my Lord Jesus.Oh, and you too mommy"!

"Where do you want to go on vacation"?

Lily: "ummm, duh - Disney World! But, can we try the Nickelodeon place once"?

"Who is your best friend"?

Lily: "It's too hard to choose, I have so many. Chelsea, Brooke, Taylor, Madeline, Mary Oliver, Kareena, Ainslee, Hivana, Gibson, Caden - ok, there are too many to name"!

Little MISS personality

2010-01-19T12:30:00.003-06:00

I love all the Little Miss and Little Mr. books. My kids often do things or act certain ways reminding me of the characters in the books. Lily usually earns the title:
Little Miss PERSONALITY - It's not hard to see why when you look at these pictures. She is a mess!

My little Daisy Scout

2010-01-19T12:20:00.003-06:00

Lily is now a Daisy Girl Scout. She is loving it! She could not have joined at a more perfect time either - COOKIES.... I took her out in our neighborhood one day last week and she did fabulous. I bribed her into letting me put ponytails in her hair somehow thinking it would help her sell more cookies. I guess it worked though since she sold to every single door we knocked on. (hee hee) I figure, It was either the ponytails or those huge irresistible blue eyes.

Lily with her very first customer. This one was easy though - Mr Bill, our favorite person on the street. We adore him!

Lily showing off her "tuna" as she calls it (tunic)

Sean gets another haircut

2010-01-19T12:15:00.002-06:00

I LOVE this boy. His hair grows out so fast. Everyone loves his curls. I think I do most of all. I have to admit though, I love this new haircut on him. He is such a big boy!

The BIG 60

2010-01-19T11:59:00.005-06:00

My amazing husband has turned 60! Yes, S-I-X-T-Y....his age is just a number to us. He is a wonderful daddy and the kids adore him. If I searched the whole world I don't think I could find a more honest, loving, gentle, protective or hard working man. He is my LIFE. The past eight years have been a dream. We have traveled to far away countries, enjoyed some great theatre together, endured the heartache of miscarriage, experienced the miracle of having two precious human beings born to us, explored every square inch of Disney World with the kids, walked sandy beaches, explored Boston twice, driven around Ireland (and lived to tell about it) and this is just a short list. HA! It feels like we have shoved 20 years into just eight. I thank God for my time with him so far and pray for many more birthdays to come.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

For Nell

2010-01-05T20:42:00.003-06:00

Thanks for the outfits - we love you!

2010-01-03T19:31:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year

2010-01-03T19:21:00.001-06:00

2009 is over. It was a great year with a few challenges. We are very blessed and I am grateful. December was extremely busy and I have finally posted Christmas and all of our holiday activities. We got a kitten last week and are smitten with him. We named him "Mickey" of course! As in Mickey Mouse! Buddy and I are planning a trip to New York for our Anniversary in March which I am thrilled to my very core about. We are trying to be strong and not do Disney this year since we did two trips in 2009 as well as a Boston trip and 2 beach trips. 2009 was a busy year for travels and an important year with great strides in my health. I have now been seizure free for about 6 months and have avoided any significant lung infections for most of the year. Sean Broke his leg and lost three teeth this year- the third one being just a few hours before 2010. Buddy has been great with just some minor illnesses that come with age I guess. And Lily, well she is just perfect. I still keep up with each of your blogs and so enjoy all the pictures and stories.

Hope your 2010 is off to a great start

After Christmas trip to Starbucks and fun photoshoot

2010-01-03T17:47:00.002-06:00

Lily and her Starbucks usual - Lemon Pound

The kids actually being sweet to each other for a change

Sean drinking his new favorite - Mocha Frap

2010-01-03T17:45:00.000-06:00

Christmas morning

2010-01-03T17:29:00.001-06:00

The kids were so excited about Christmas this year. Sean was thrilled he finally got a Wii - of course it has been fun for the entire family over the last week. Lily is so much fun to buy for. Any little pink thing or doll excites her. I did not take very many pictures this year (SHOCK) so, I don't have much to share. We had a great Christmas though. Later in the day we had my mom, step dad, Aunt and uncle over for Christmas lunch.

Sean with the ONE main thing he wanted

Stocking time

Lily with her Polly Pockets

Christmas Eve 2009

2010-01-03T17:23:00.001-06:00

Each year on Christmas Eve we get together to celebrate with Buddy's family. We have dinner and then end the evening with a huge gift exchange. This year we wanted to evening to reflect something a little deeper than just food and gifts. So, we all met at church first for a beautiful candlelight and communion service. What a beautiful and holy night. I wish I had taken pictures of the service. Sean took communion with his daddy. Lily participated for the first time. After Holy Communion, the entire congregation held candles as they were lit one by one. I hope this will become a tradition for us for years to come.

The kids standing in the middle of all the gifts

Nell with all the kids

Sean and Drew

We were truly blessed in many ways this year

Meeting Angelica

2010-01-03T17:10:00.001-06:00

My brother and his wife welcomed their third daughter just before Christmas - We took a day trip around the holidays to meet her and to spend some time with all of them. The kids were completely taken with her. They had never seen one so tiny. It was sweet to watch them cuddle and love on her.

2010-01-03T17:03:00.001-06:00

Lily and Abby

Arianna

Sean loving on his new cousin

2010-01-03T17:01:00.001-06:00

Me with my sweet neices - these are my baby brother's girls

Lily with Abby and Angelica

"Mickey Murphy"

2010-01-03T16:57:00.001-06:00

This is our new Kitten "Mickey". We got him a few days before Christmas as a surprise to the kids. He is so sweet!

Lily's Christmas coat

2010-01-03T16:43:00.002-06:00

Lily is such a little fashion bug. After borrowing a friend's red coat a few weeks before Christmas, she had her heart set on having one too. We finally found one at Storkland for her. It was more then we wanted to pay, but, was the last one left. Disappointed, we left the store without it. After giving her daddy that sweet big blue eyed "please daddy" he said she could have it. When I went back - it was on sale at 1/2 off - That is almost as sweet as seeing her in it.

Lily with her cousin Drew

Santa comes to Towne Lake on a Corvette

2010-01-03T16:32:00.001-06:00

Drew waiting with Sean and Lily

Santa with one of his Elves

The kids waiting for Santa

Lots of goodies from the big man - I'll take the red Corvette :-)

Christmas programs

2010-01-03T16:27:00.000-06:00

Christmas Parade 2009

2010-01-03T16:19:00.001-06:00

Sean with my friend Amy's kids

Lily, Madeline and Sophia

Julia's Christmas launch

2010-01-01T00:10:00.001-06:00

Lily modeling winter sets for Julia

My Christmas Angels

2009-12-16T22:21:00.003-06:00

Lily's Birthday slideshow

2009-12-04T08:19:00.002-06:00

Lori Mercer is such a wonderful photographer. She took the most amazing pictures of Lily's 5th birthday party. I am sharing them below in the slideshow she created. Please make sure your sound is up when you watch the slideshow.

Happy 5th Birthday Lily

2009-12-04T08:18:00.001-06:00

Happy Birthday Lily

2009-12-01T13:56:00.004-06:00

Lily at one

Sweet Lily has changed my life in so many ways. She has made being a mommy one of the most fulfilling things about my life. Her smile and laughter complete me. Her huge blue eyes melt me. She is funny, smart, happy, energetic and completely adorable. I am head over heels in love with my sweet little Lily - She is five today. I miss the way she sucked her two middle fingers. But, I love the new ways she can communicate with me. I miss snuggling and feeding her in the middle of the night. But, I LOVE that she pitter pats into my room and climbs into bed beside me. I miss dressing her in adorable little baby clothes. But, I love the way she chooses her own clothes now. - Change is bittersweet - though it brings many new joys! I can't wait to see the wonderful young woman she becomes -

Guess whos turning five???

2009-11-29T23:39:00.003-06:00

My precious baby girl will be five in two days. It is bittersweet. Time goes by so fast and they grow up right before your eyes. I am so glad she is growing up strong and healthy but on the other hand, I miss her sweet baby face and cute toddle.

Yesterday we celebrated in grand style at the Party Palace with Cinderella, the Godmother and a surprise visit in the end by Belle. Lori Mercer photographed the event for us and my very talented friend Jennifer made this fabulous cake for her:

I can't wait to share all the wonderful pictures of the day with you. But for now, is not the prettiest cake fit for a princess???

My Pirate & Princess

2009-11-26T08:18:00.003-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!

We have been gone - to Disney World again!!!! It was awsome of course. The Christmas decor was up and everything was beautiful. We took it easy this year and just enjoyed each other. Instead of booking it in the parks everyday we took some time to do some relaxing things instead. This year we let Sean go on the Pirate cruise from our resort, the Grand Floridian. He really loved it. We also went to a snazzy hair salon where Buddy had his hair cut. The kids did Pirate and Princess makeovers and we did a little celebrating of our little princess Lily's 5th birthday.

I will post pictures soon but for now, you can go here, here and here to see them all.

ZOO DAY 2009

2009-10-28T00:29:00.005-05:00

This post is a few weeks late. I just had to share it since it means so much to our family.

Each year the Frazer singles ministers to a very special group of people. We meet them at the Montgomery Zoo. They are the mentally and physically challenged children and adults of our city. A special day is set aside each year around this time to serve them and to just have fun with them. We gather early in the morning in anticipation of their arrival. Some of us come dressed as clowns (myself), some usher around a "special" friend, some serve in other areas such as serving food, handing out goodies and bags or taking pictures. There are many ways to volunteer. This was the ninth year for me and about the eleventh year or greater for Buddy. Zoo Day has become even more special to us each year because our children are now involved. They have come to love these "special" people and have very kind and sensitive hearts for them.

The reason Zoo Day is special to us:

My second Zoo Day was back in 2002. The day before Zoo Day I had learned that the baby inside of me had passed away. This was our third pregnancy and our third loss. I remember wanting to stay home. I was in no mood to go to the zoo dressed as a clown. To put on a happy face for the children when inside I was dying. However, as I laid in the bed feeling sorry for myself, I felt a special pulling in my heart to go in spite of the deep pain of loss I was feeling.

I put on my clown suit. I can remember so clearly being aware that my baby was still inside of me and I was to go have the procedure to terminate the lost pregnancy on the following Monday.

As I "played clown" for all of those "special" children a feeling of guilt kept growing inside of me. I suddenly realized that I had been praying and asking God for a "perfect" child. As Buddy and I got in the car to leave we both dissolved into tears in each other's arms. He had been feeling the same way. We prayed right there in the parking lot of the zoo for God to forgive us. We asked him that if he choose to bless us again with a pregnancy, we would take whatever he gave us. Yes, even a "special" child.

The rest of the story:

The little baby inside of me that day is my sweet 6 year old Sean Flynn. The same baby we were told had no heartbeat, an odd gestational sac, and other problems. We decided to follow the advice of a Fertility specialist in Birmingham and cancel the termination procedure at our local hospital. We drove to Birmingham expecting her to tell us the same news and do the procedure to terminate there. However, to our complete surprise, there was a heartbeat that day which shocked even the Doctors. No one can explain to us what happened. God is a miracle working God and he heard our prayers. I am sure some would say Medical Science could explain it all quite easily. I choose to believe that God brought my baby back to life.

The next year, Zoo Day had the youngest clown ever - 4 month old baby Sean came with his clown mommy dressed as a clown. This year, my precious Lily was a clown for the first time with me. Sean has now graduated to walking around the zoo with some very "special" friends.

Our special boy Sean with daddy - God has BIG plans for Sean...

My sweet Lily being a clown with me

Lily, doing some silly tricks for a very, very special friend, Katy

My favorite time of year...

2009-10-27T23:53:00.008-05:00

I love this time of year. There is such anticipation. Fall festivals, school plays, Thanksgiving planning, Christmas wishing. We have had to miss a few things this year (the Fair, Holiday Market, school Fall festival and a few other things) because of my surgery. I was beginning to think we would have to miss our annual trip of visiting the pumpkin patch as well. However, on Sunday we surprised the kids and made a spontaneous trip to Dream Fields in Union Springs and had the best time. The weather was perfect. We took my neice, Sophia along with us.

H A P P Y

A U T U M N !!!!!!!

Once upon a time.....

2009-10-05T20:17:00.006-05:00

There were four little girls in striped tights..........

They played, ran, giggled, and hugged - these four little girls!

Sophia GraceLily Christine

Abigail Elise

Arianna Rose

They were the best of cousins - these four little girls.

And they all lived "Happily ever after".....

"Life is Good"

2009-10-01T23:06:00.003-05:00

Has it really been almost a month????

We have been quite busy lately. With both of us working, Lily in ballet, both kids in soccer, Frazer singles group on Tuesday, Church on Wednesday, volunteer work with "In Christ's Way", football season (ROLL TIDE by the way) and an endless stream of birthday parties, life never slows down.

The past few weeks have been pretty exciting. The biggest news is that we are planning our seventh Disney trip. I am almost embarrassed to say it though. Our spring break trip was a little rough because of my seizures. However, I am thrilled to say that I have been seizure free for months now and I am excited about getting a "second chance" at this years vacation. Going around the holidays is going to be exciting with all the Christmas decorations up at Disney. It is also Lily's birthday so we are looking forward to making it a special celebration time for her.

Last Friday we took the kids to ASF to see the wonderful ballet performance of "Gloria" and "Midsummer Nights Dream". It was simply amazing. Miss Lily, of course, fell asleep towards the end. On Saturday, Buddy took a VERY excited little "Bug" to a Daddy/Daughter dance. She is all about her daddy. I didn't go because I wanted it to be their special night. So, I got dressed up, got Sean dressed up and took my little man somewhere special. We had a "date" together at Chili's. He was beaming as I let him pay with the credit card and sign the receipt. We also had a great time with a wonderful photographer, Derrick Griffin, (link to come soon) as he set up studio in our home and took some wonderful portaits of the kids. I can hardly wait to share all the pictures.

Parties, parties and more parties... We have averaged about two birthday parties a weekend over the past month!

This weekend will keep pace with the previous ones. Buddy and I finally get another "Date night" tomorrow night. We have a sitter coming so we can go see a play at AUM, a local University where Buddy teaches.
On Saturday we will be going to something that is very special to us, Frazer Zoo Day! It is a wonderful ministry to Montgomery's handicapped and mentally challenged citizens. Lily and I will dress as clowns and Sean and Buddy will escort some very special people around the zoo.
There is a very personal story behind Zoo Day which I will share one day. We will wrap up the day with football, of course, (ROLL TIDE again) and a birthday party for a very special little girl who is turning one! Our niece Arianna Rose. And the weekend would not be complete without worshipping God. On Sunday, Jim Cavesil who portrayed Christ in the movie "The Passion of the Christ", will be speaking at our church.

Yes, I am looking forward to another busy yet deliriously wonderful weekend with the ones I love the most.

LIFE IS GOOD......

Lily meets Hello Kitty

2009-09-06T22:18:00.003-05:00

Girls Day Out

Lily and I had a wonderful and much needed mommy & me time together yesterday. We started our day by painting our toes and getting Lily dressed in her favorite color. We headed out the the mall for a fun time with Hello Kitty and tea and cupcakes. Lily's friend Amy met us and eventually cousin Sophia and my sister Heather. They had so much fun coloring pictures and doing a puzzle of Hello Kitty. We enjoyed shopping and getting some cool Hello Kitty gear - all pink of course :-)

After we left the mall Heather and I took the girls to our favorite deli - Chappy's! After lunch we enjoyed ice cream and chocolate cheese cake. What a fabulous girls day out!

Frogbelliesandblossoms - Christmas Launch

2009-09-06T22:12:00.003-05:00

Shhhhhhh - Sneak Peek

Miss Lily models another set for Mrs Julia!

click here to see the ebay link on this set

School Girl....

2009-09-06T22:09:00.001-05:00

Lily loves being in K4 this year. I love, love, love her little uniforms. I got her a new ribbon for her to go with it so of course we had to model.

Time for soccer

2009-09-06T22:03:00.003-05:00

Soccer Practice

The kids started practicing for the new fall soccer season. This is Lily's first year and she is so excited. She is really quite good and got right into it. They will have their first game next Saturday.

A sneak peek.......

2009-08-26T23:30:00.001-05:00

Here are a few pics of my girl in Julia's latest creation. Please check back soon for her listing on this fun set.

Little Angels

2009-08-20T15:24:00.000-05:00

Two sweet little brothers

2009-08-20T15:06:00.004-05:00

My very dear friend Candace has been visiting from England for the summer. Sadly, she will be leaving on Sunday. I will miss her beyond words. Yesterday, however, I had the great pleasure of doing a fun photo shoot with her two precious little ones. These boys are a bundle of energy and sweetness and just light up the room whenever they visit.

I put together a little video slide show of some of my favorite shots. You will need to go to the bottom of my page and pause my music before you play the slide show.

Back to School

2009-08-12T22:23:00.002-05:00

My babies went back to school today. They both love school so there were no tears from either of them. Sean jumped right up this morning, ran strait to his clothes and threw them on. He was so excited. Lily on the other hand had to get as much beauty rest as she could. She slept until the last possible minute and I had to pry her nightgown off of her to get her dressed. She was bouncy by the time she sat down to eat though. As you might see in the pictures, she had a barbie doll with a matching uniform. I just could not pass it up when I saw it in the uniform shop.

They had a great first day. Of course, you know we had to go out and celebrate so we all went to Chappy's for lunch.

What a great day!!!!

Back to School

2009-08-12T22:04:00.000-05:00

Lily starts ballet

2009-08-12T18:03:00.002-05:00

Lily's ballet class will be starting Monday. This year she has moved up from creative movement into pre-ballet. The ballet school she attends uses a certain color leotard for each level of ballet. She has been in pink for the last two years, so she is thrilled that she is now moving up to a big girl class and is wearing a red loetard. Although she was a little disappointed that she could not wear her FAVORITE color anymore.

Our trip to Massachusetts

2009-08-12T12:33:00.009-05:00

I posted just a few of our Boston pics below. I have so much more to share about our trip.

The kids had so much fun and learned as well. The trip was indeed an adventure for them as they flew in an airplaine, took several "real" train rides, rode the underground/subway and took buses and shuttles around the big city. We kept them on the go the entire time and they were such troopers. They will make great world travelers with us one day :-)

We had a great time going into the city and also visited Plymouth and Concord Massachusets. In Plymouth we took the kids to see Plymouth Rock and the town was breathtaking. Concord was my favorite though. We ate at a darling cafe in the town square and took the kids to see the homes of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Louisa May Alcott and Ralph Walso Emmerson. The highlight of Concord was when we took the kids to visit the real Sleepy Hollow Cemetary (as in - The Legend of Sleepy Hollow) There were graves of many famous authors. Don't ask me why, we just love cemetaries and this one was just so historical and beautiful. This was actaully Sean's second trip. We took him to all these places when he was around 8 weeks old.

The trip was not all about visiting Boston and the surrounding areas though. We actually flew there for a long anticipated family reunion and surprised my father who has been batteling with cancer. He was so excited to get to see his grandkids. We also got to see my grandmother and many other relatives we have not seen in years. Heather and Sophie came with us and this was especially exciting because our relatives had never even met little Sophie who is already six. It had been close to eight years since Heather had last visited. We had a great time with all of them and I have lots of pictures I will be posting of all that very soon.

In Boston

2009-08-11T20:05:00.001-05:00

We ate lunch at the Cheers place

Lily eating ice cream at the train station

the kids in Beacon Hill. I loved that area, breathtaking!!!!

2009-08-11T19:56:00.001-05:00

Waiting for a train to take us into Boston

Waiting for the subway

Heather in front of the John Hancock building

Walking down a street in Boston

A quick "catch up"...

2009-08-03T08:14:00.004-05:00

I am SERIOUSLY behind on this blog thing..... many of you have emailed or called to check on me and I appreciate your concern. YES! I am ok.... I have not had any recent health problems and am doing great. I feel better than I have in months and am STILL seizure free.

It has been a very busy summer for us and my laptop is with a gentleman who is doing some recovery work on it after we reformatted it and lost a lot of pictures. I miss my laptop and even though we have several other computers, It is just not the same. I have missed blogging and facebooking but have to say that I have gotten more done in these last few weeks without my computer. Proof that I am a little more than addicted :-)

I have so much to post and so many new pictures to share. I will do it hopefully this week!

As I mentioned above, we have had a busy but tremendously exciting summer. After our beach trip I began working my new job (which I love) and also volunteering at the Clothes closet at Frazer. Between those two things, trying to spend time with the kids and the normal everyday "stuff", I have pretty much been on the run constantly. I helped with Vacation Bible school this year! That was a blast. Then, we spent some time in Boston, Concord, Plymouth and Halifax and really had a great time. I am going to save it all for the pictures to post details, but, it really was one of the highlights of our summer so far.

School starts next week and the kids are excited about that. I think I am more ready than they are. I will miss them, but, I am excited about things getting back to normal around here.

They are both playing fall soccer, Lily will be back in ballet and hopefully Sean will start piano lessons. I am really anxious about Lily starting, but, I think she is a bit young yet. Her fingers are still so tiny.

This week a very special young lady is staying as our house guest. She was my flower girl in my wedding over seven years ago. I have not seen her in a bit over four years and was so happy when we finally re-connected. I am looking forward to keeping her entertained this week and posting lots of pics of her as well. The kids are just crazy about her already as they are getting reacquainted. Lily was 6 months and Sean was about two last time she visited.

Well, I meant for this to be a short note and it is too long already so I will close. I will post again WITH PICTURES very soon!

Heidi

New! - Who knew?

2009-06-29T18:03:00.004-05:00

This is a very exciting post for me. I have so much news to share and don't know where to begin.....

I am thrilled to say that I am feeling so much better and am now seizure free. I have been taken off all of the meds and can not begin to say how much better I feel. A "new" person would describe it well :-) Thanks for all of your prayers and concern. God is truely moving and working miracles for us.

After many prayers, I have been blessed with a new job. The new job was an absolute blessing and I know that I am going to be very happy where God has placed me. I will miss those sweet little faces at Montessori but I really feel that this move is exactly right..

I am working for a fantastic ministry. It is called Child Evangelism Fellowship. You can go here or here to read more about it. My official job title is: Office Manager. But, you know me, that sounds a little formal. HA! I am excited that I will in some way being doing just a small part of God's work through this. I am thrilled to be working in a christian environment and also back in an office which is what I love and have always done.

I will also be volunteering at Frazer (my church) in a way that is quite personal to me, food pantry and clothing ministry. I remember quite well how those ministries so helped us when I was growing up.

Another new thing I am doing is working - actually volunteering - in the kitchen on Tuesday nights at my church for the singles event TNT or "Tuesday night Together". It has been a wonderful and fun experience for me.

One side note: this Tuesday, June 30th is Spirit Night at Chick-fil-a. Proceeds from the sales from 5-9pm (as long as you let them know who you are there for) will go towards this wonderful ministry.

for more information, follow this link if you have a facebook account

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/event.php?eid=116124565752&ref=nf

Fun at the beach....

2009-06-17T01:03:00.004-05:00

Orange Beach

2009-06-17T00:52:00.003-05:00

We took a much needed relaxing vacation to the beach last week. The weather was perfect and our moods were all great. We had a wonderful time enjoying the sand and the ocean (and doing a few other fun things). It was by far one of our best beach trips ever!

Where we stayed

I used a filter on a software program I have to create this sketch like picture of our condo!

Beach portraits 2009

2009-06-17T00:42:00.002-05:00

We decided to wait until our second day to get out and do some beach pictures. After the shoot we went to a wonderful place to eat called Grazie. It was (in Lily's words) a Fancy place to eat. It was a wonderful evening.

Me and my boy

2009-06-17T00:41:00.001-05:00

Me and my girl

2009-06-17T00:31:00.000-05:00

Me & my sweet angels

2009-06-17T00:25:00.001-05:00

Daddy and his boy..

2009-06-17T00:22:00.001-05:00

Sean's hair is a bit long - time for a haircut

Daddy with his girl....

2009-06-17T00:17:00.000-05:00

Daddy with his babies...

2009-06-17T00:11:00.003-05:00