Happy Easter

Following the jelly bean trail






We didn't tell them to look at each other, they just did. This was my Easter present :)

We were finally able to get Parker into a pair of pants that didn't have an elastic waist. He has quite an aversion to zippers and buttons. This morning, he didn't even argue. I only had to reassure him that they were not jeans. This was my other Easter present!


Our friends and neighbors driving by and offering to take a picture of the entire family, my third Easter present. :) Thank you Packhams!

Sacrament at Church today was pretty much a disaster with little miss Meadow. She usually does well but today was pretty awful, the worst she's had so far I'd wager. We spent most of the time in the lobby, but hey, a girl can only ask for so many Easter presents. ;) We sat back in the overflow today and someone from the choir after sacrament joked "What was up with your child today?" Yes my girl does have some pipes. On another humorous note...We bring our own bread for the sacrament because of the kids' wheat and egg allergies. We wrap it and take it up front and they put it on a special tray with special bread from 3 or 4 other families and it is blessed with the other bread. When our bread comes, we unwrap it and everyone takes a piece. Greg is usually the last one to get a piece and for the 4th week running, one of the kids...or I...have accidently knocked his piece of bread onto the floor. I think Greg is beginning to expect to have to eat his bread from the floor.

Carolina Madness

Greg and Robbie met up with some old friends who were in town visiting from Arkansas for dinner last night and then they and my brother Shaun went to the Carolina Game and then to Franklin street to watch the celebrations. They stayed out until 2 and had a great time watching a couch fire (the fire department came and put it out), pole climbers and other sundry celebrations. Thanks for posting pictures Robbie. :)

Movie preview to check out

We think this looks pretty awesome. It took too long to load so here is the link. "Where the wild things are"

For the Grandparents

Bass Lake, Holly Springs
Trish Miller performs free every first Friday of the month at 7pm through October



One way to decorate Easter eggs when your kids are allergic :) Thanks to Catie Stubben for the inspiration!

The art of looking like yourself

Ok, I think this is the last one because no one likes these but me...and maybe Robin :D hhahaha

"The best beauty product is to have a life. A real life. With challenges, disappointments, stress, and laughter. The much touted inner beauty is a natural radiance that comes as a result of mental and emotional involvement."

Part 2 - The art of being shy

"It's a good thing we don't know how attractive we are. We would run the risk of becoming arrogant and losing the most endearing of all qualities - lack of self-importance.

When pressed, we will confess to having a few agreeable anatomical features, such as nice shoulders, strong legs, or slender ankles, but most of us grossly underestimate our physical appeal. We are never fully aware of our real charms - the way we sip our tea, the way we sing off-key, the way we dance till three.

Let's be frank: We are all shy. In private most of us have unflattering opinions of our physiques. With reason. We are constantly reminded that our bodies don't measure up to stringent contemporary standards of perfection. So much so that on bad days our inner mirrors would have us believe that we are hunchbacked - like the gargoyles of Notre Dame..........

.....Let's ignore the latest theories on self-acceptance and self esteem that want us to celebrate the way we look. None of us really knows what we look like, so why get all worked up about it....

"It is as hard to see one's self as to look backward without turning around." ~ Henry David Thoreau



Whether you think that you are too thin or too fat, don't bother going on a diet. Counting calories doesn't work. Instead, come down from your mental perch and get reacquainted with your physical self. Exercise helps - and so does visualizing the Oneness of It All (mind and body working together)."

It's you and me body. We're in this together. Thanks for carrying me through life, for the things we have accomplished together. I will try to take care of you.

The Art of Imperfection, simple ways to make peace with yourself

This is the title of a book I bought for myself several years ago. It is full of some good ideas and sprinkled with a little craziness here and there, but, there are parts that are worth sharing. I thought I'd start a little mini series focusing on different things for all of us self-critics out there. :) The ideas that come from the book I will put in quotations.

We'll start here:

Part 1 -The art of of making a mistake

"Imagine a different world, one in which people don't spend an inordinate amount of energy fuming against their fate each time they make a mistake. A world in which one takes for granted that if things can go wrong, they probably will.

It would be so civilized. Folks would bump into furniture, miss deadlines, get lost on the way to the airport, forget to return phone calls, and show up at parties a day early, without getting unduly annoyed with themselves.

You and I would not be personally insulted when we dropped the sugar bowl, backed the car into the mailbox, burned dinner while on the phone, or failed to meet quarterly projections.

Dream on. This forgiving world is as utopian a vision as Shangri-La. Though we all agree that to err is human, each of us individually believes that he or she is the exception. What's good enough for you, isn't good enough for me. Make a mistake? Not on my watch!.....

Unfortunately, thinking that being right will save us from being wrong is a misapprehension.

Today some of the most advanced electronic devices, from satellites to pacemakers, are engineered to be partly inconsistant, in accordance with the dramatic findings of "chaos scientists."

A case in point is an energy-efficient Japanese dishwasher designed to be "chaotic," that gets china, glass, and silverware cleaner by using two rotating arms that spin erratically.

Next time you break a plate, lose your keys, or jump to false conclusions, why not take it in stride? Consider the possibility that there is a hidden pattern to your random acts of blunderism....Chaos follows precise rules and patterns."

Make sure that is really Chewbacca before you pick it up

We had another bath time adventure the other night. Greg was bathing the kids and was getting towels ready when Parker shouted "Dad! I touched poop!"

Upon quick investigation Greg discovered that Meadow had had an accident in the bathtub.

Greg: "What in the world, why did you touch the poop."

Parker distressed: "I thought it was my Chewbacca!!"

Meadow: "I want outta the tub Dad!"

Greg trying not to laugh while scooping out the fake Chewbacca "Ok, one second Med."

Parker: "Dad! I accidentally touched my teeth with the hand I touched the poop with!"

My poor Parker

I am no longer coaching but I am on a sub list when another coach needs someone to cover for them so I went in last night for 2 hours and came home to find Parker with a giant cup hickey. He gave it to himself in the bathtub with his star wars cup unbeknownst to Greg while Greg stepped out of the bathroom for less than 30 seconds to get something. It is amazingly red and I really don't know if I can send him to school like that tomorrow. lol. The pictures don't do it justice because the whole chin is kind of a purplish color. I think Parker felt fine about the whole situation after a few jelly beans :)

Morrissey Concert

Ok, So I am playing catch up a bit. We went to see Morrissey in concert last week in Durham after we drove to Asheville first to see him, but he was sick and cancelled. ANYWAY, he released a new CD called "Years of Refusal" that is pretty good and he played 4 or 5 songs off of that. He also played 4 or 5 songs from when he was the lead singer of the Smiths and those were really fun to hear and then of course some songs off of other Morrissey albums. He played for about and hour and a half which was great and also left you wanting to hear more. They came back on stage for one encore and then the drummer kicked the drums apart so we figured they probably wouldn't come back after that and they didn't.

We thought the stage backdrop was pretty cool and we also liked that before he took the stage they played vintage clips of shows and music videos. It was very entertaining and fun to watch. At age 49/50, he takes his shirt off when he gets sweaty and throws it into the crowd and then puts on a new one. That was funny and I also liked the way he makes the cord to the microphone dance. Good stuff. We both decided that he can really write a song!

The School/House of Rock

Baby we was making straight A's,
But we was stuck in a dumb daze,
Don't take much to memorize your life,
I feel like I've been hypnotized,
and then that magic man he come to town,
whoo wee,
he done spone my head around,
he said recess is in session,
Two and two make five,
and now baby,
oh I'm alive,
oh yeah,
I'm alive.

And if you wanna be the teacher's pet,
Well baby you just better forget it,
Rock got no reason,
Rock got no rhyme,
You better get me to school on time.

~Jack Black



Thanks Henderson's - you guys rock, of course!

Free sandwich anyone?

Stumbled upon a neat website that has coupons and free stuff. Click here to get a coupon to try the new sandwich from Arby's and other stuff.

2 1/2 year old soccer

Meadow had a lot of fun at her first soccer practice. They did actually kick the ball some and run a bit. Her favorite thing was the shark game, It went a little something like this:


Drive the boat.

Look for Sharks.

Yell SHARK!!! when you see one!

Stand on your boat so the shark can't get you and yell some more! :D

Adventures in Photography

Ok, so I am taking this awesome online photography course offered through jessicasprague.com and I am having so much fun with it. I feel hopeful and empowered that someday I might actually deserve to hold our cool camera and make it do my bidding. lol. But for now I am having fun. This week we are practicing with different apertures and we are not allowed to use the flash.


We took a trip to Hickory to visit Greg's family this weekend and then made it up to Asheville from there on Monday to see Morrissey in concert (It CANCELLED!!) We still had fun in Asheville with Greg's cousin Jason and while we were there we were able to stock up on the Gluten free/egg free chicken nuggets that you can find at Earthfare and take lots of pictures.


This is what $65 worth of chicken nuggets looks like.

Our other Earthfare tradition is to try new and bizarre carbonated beverages. Greg goes for the crazy stuff ex) China Cola made with chinese herbs (We renamed it dust cola, because it truly tasted like dusty cola) Perhaps dust is considered an herb in China. This picture refuses to remain rotated when I bring it into blogger what is up with that.


I take more of the "I think this might taste pretty good" route. It doesn't always, but don't the bottles look pretty in the sun? ;)