A quick "catch up"...

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?

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....

Orange Beach

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

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

Me and my girl

Me & my sweet angels

Daddy and his boy..

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

Daddy with his girl....

Daddy with his babies...

Gulf Shores

We took a break from the beach and took the kids to The Track in Gulf Shores. They had a blast. We rode bumper boats and did the go carts several times. The kids rode all the kid rides and Sean even got a chance to drive his own go cart. We drove to Foley another day for a little outlet mall shopping.

We were not late for THIS very important date!

The Mad Hatter's Tea Party

by The Party Palace

the Queen of Hearts

Lily with Alice and the Queen

Sean and Tyler: boys have fun too!

Sophia Grace

Sean


Sean and E.G.

Everyone had a blast!

thank you Party Palace!


We had so much fun on Saturday at the Mad Hatter's tea party! Alice was there to greet the children as they each took a seat around the table for a grand tea party. Later the children helped Alice find the white rabbit and even painted the white roses red. But this did not sit well with the Queen of Hearts as she came out screaming "off with their heads"! The kids were entertained by Alice and the Queen and each had an opportunity to take pictures with them. It was a day will not soon forget.

If you have not been to the Party Palace yet for an event you need to check them out

http://www.the-party-palace.net/

The next event is "To Infinity and Beyond" and we are definitely not going to miss that one! See ya there....

Double Trouble

Sean and Sophia

These two are absolutely inseparable. There is a wonderful story about our pregnancies with them which my sister and I love to share. Our due dates were two weeks apart so these two have been best pals since birth. I used to lay Sophie on my belly before Sean was born. She has always loved to "hug" her cousin. They truly have a special bond as do my sister and I.

Two sweet sisters visit the Murphys

Sean and Lily absolutely adore these two girls. They are my best friend's daughters and stayed two days with us. They are just the sweetest girls and are such a big help to me with the kids. I took all of the kids out for a fun photo shoot and snapped these and much more. We also went to the Art museum and out to lunch.

Lily is invited to her very first POOL PARTY on Saturday and she is beyond excited. Since school is now out, she has really been missing all her little friends. Her classmate, Drew, is having his birthday party at the YMCA so this will be the perfect opportunity for her to see them all again. Of course, we have to be "dressed to impress" for the occasion. Lately, all Lily talks about is being "fashionable". I just about fell over when she said that the other day. And, what is fashion for a little southern girl without attire involving either smocking or a monogram? I had a tough time deciding folks... (really tough)!

In fact, I held on to a smocked swimsuit and the Bailey Boys one I ended up with until the last possible minute. Oh yeah, I also had the most adorable Kate Mack suit that I just could not let go of. The thing is, I could only get one. Oh, by the way, I was at Stork land and "they ain't cheap"! LOL.... Luckily, I had a gift certificate and that helped out. I had gotten a flyer in the mail that had the Bailey Boys one advertised in several different colors and it was just too darn precious. I decided the blue would best match her eyes and of course had to have the matching bow :-)

I think she should be on the cover of the swimsuit edition (a little tykes version or course). How about you? HaHa

Learning can be fun!

I am learning some things that I have always wanted to learn about taking pictures. Blurring backgrounds is something I have really been dying to learn to do. Thanks to a favorite blog and my great friend Lori, I learned a little about something called aperture. I also learned that there is Oh so much I just do not know about taking the perfect picture..... But, I am having great fun learning!!!!!

Here are some practice shots:

One of my gardenias that is not quite as white anymore :-(

Sean's plant

A picture of Lily that I actually blurred (the background) myself in edit using her technique.