And no I'm not gonna add a #25 bumper sticker to my ride

This past weekend M to the Izz-A was able to race his mini-cup car for the first time. The kid was more excited than I am when a restaurant has their diet coke dispenser set to the perfect carbonation syrup mixture ratio.


And can I just say that I used to hate all things racing? The only memory I have of racing is when I was a kid, on Sundays, my Uncle David use to make everyone watch Nascar while Grandma finished preparing Sunday dinner. I used to hate it....with a passion. I used to wish that someone would speak up and say, "Hey, let's not watch cars drive around and around in a circle today, whaddya say?"

But no one ever did.

I liked it when Grandma fired up the electric knife to cut the roast because it made the TV go all fuzzy. I secretly hoped he'd mistake it for the channel going out, but he knew the drill. Electric knife running in the kitchen = Fuzzy TV in the living room.

Now, with Matt all into this mini-cup series, I'm finding myself starting to enjoy it. I love watching him out there because I know how much he loves it. And it ends up being quite exciting if you actually know someone on the track. Seeing him smile that big all day long made me smile that big....all day long.

Although most of our Saturday was spent at the race track, we stayed the rest of the weekend at the lake with some of our best pals, Ben, Kristin, Clay, and Jobeth...

...while Kate enjoyed some time with her Grammy.

This weekend I'm heading to Charleston, SC with my mom and two sisters, for our 1st Annual Mother-Daughter weekend. Anyone got any 'must-do's' while in Charleston that you wanna share?

Kate's on house arrest

Not really.

But she likes wearing my running watch around her ankle. At first glance, heck even at second or third glance, it looks like an ankle bracelet used for electronic monitoring. What's her crime you ask? Apparently dirty toenails and chipped polish.




Moving on....

A month or so ago Kate and I attended a Tippy Toes party. They use your child's handprints, fingerprints, footprints, etc (and by etc I mean, a newborn's bum cheeks to form a big pumpkin on a serving bowl) to make pictures on pottery.

We finally got ours back a couple of weeks ago, and boy do we love it! We want more!!

Handprints make the flowers

Footprint made the gator

You can't see it very well in this picture but her fingerprints made the cheerleaders super sculpted biceps.

Is this stuff precious or what?

Oh, and here's some pics from the weekend. We attended Sara Gale's first birthday party and spent a lot of time hanging out with friends and fam. You know, the usual.

Tip: I cut the feet out of all of Kate's cute tights from last year that were too small (and some from two years ago) and voilà! Now she's using them for leggings! Talk about getting your money's worth. She had so many striped, polka dot, and other crazy patterned ones that I just wasn't ready to see the adorable lil' things headed to the storage bin. We're getting at least one more year out of 'em!

My favorite pic of the weekend.

Kate was working the camera

Kate had her two year pictures (is that how you say it? or two years old pictures?) taken yesterday evening.

We had a ball! Thanks for the great time Kari! (And I'm still amazed at your patience!)


Check out her sneak peek here!

When I saw some of the photos last night, I couldn't believe how much she's changed since her one year pictures (pre-blog). What a difference a year makes! She's growin' like a weed! A cute weed at that!


Dang, I use parentheses like it's my job! 3 times in such a short post?! Oh well.

Have a great weekend!

God saved me a seat

We've started a new women's book study group on Wednesday nights at church and while I usually just go with the open bible study because there is less commitment involved (I know, that's horrible, but I'm just being honest), this time I decided to sign up for the book study. I made my decision to take the class the last week of sign-ups and went ahead and told myself that the class may already be full. Well, it wasn't. There was still room at the inn. So I showed up the first night and purchased my book. And this isn't just a book, we're talking workbook, emphasis on work. That's right, Mama's gonna have homework. I haven't had to deal with homework since grad school, which was close to seven years ago. Not to mention that in college, homework was my only responsibility, no husband, no child, no real job. So I've had to make quite the adjustment (even if I did have to mesh two nights worth of lessons into one), but it's been totally worthy it.



We're using Beth Moore's book, Living Beyond Yourself. I felt like God really wanted me to take this class. I've always liked Beth Moore and I know that my mom absolutely loves her. Although we're only in week 2, I'm learning and growing in ways I didn't know I could. I also had to check my pride when I realized that I didn't know the Bible as good as I thought I did. Actually, as embarrassing as it is, I feel like I don't know near as much as I should, considering my age and the fact that I grew up in church and was there every time the doors were open. I mean, I know the most popular stories in the Bible, and a few verses that have helped me in difficult times, but I really feel a little insecure about my Bible knowledge. I just feel like I 'should' know more. And I'm at a point in my life where I 'want' to know more. It's all pretty exciting, to have God speak to you through scripture.


There was a time in my life when I felt like the Bible was too deep for me, like only preachers and Sunday school teachers had the ability to just sit down and read it and truly understand all of it. I felt like only those types of people could actually hear God speaking to them. Boy was I wrong...completely, 110% WRONG!



God has opened my eyes to a whole new view of the Bible. It's almost supernatural the way He has given me a thirst to learn more about Him through his Word. I'm not saying that it's an easy read, but I am finding more and more ways to apply it to my daily living. I'm continually amazed at the grace that God has given to us.



However, I don't know how many of you can agree, but it seems that when I make an effort to draw nearer to the Lord, Satan tries to jump all over me, throwing things at me from every angle. All he wants is for me to just give up and give in. It's like I leave the bible study feeling like I've got life by the reins, and then the next day (or sometimes just in the next hour) I get slapped in the face with real life and don't always respond the way I should. Sometimes I'm very thankful that my thoughts are not displayed on a billboard across my forehead. I would surely be ashamed. But God understands. He doesn't expect perfection, and on the flip side, neither should we. Just because you're a child of God doesn't mean your life will be perfect. You'll still face hardships, and you'll sometimes handle them in less than perfect ways. The good news is that through God we can be filled with a joy that cannot be affected by our outside circumstances (and we all know how unstable those can be, great one day, horrible the next).


God is still God. Beth Moore explains it well when she says, "He never asks anything of us to make Himself look better....We cannot make Him any more God than He already is. He would be no less Lord of lords if no one believed."


So don't let Satan try and tell you that you're not 'good' enough for the love of God or that you don't 'know' enough. That's where God's grace comes in.



And His grace is sufficient for me.


Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.
-2 Corinthians 3:5

It's a labor of love and Wesson Oil

Wow, what a long weekend! I enjoyed the extra day and we were able to spend time with family and friends. On Saturday we decided to take a little road trip to M to the Izz-A's mom's house.



Along the way, we stopped off at the mall so that M to the Izz-A could purchase himself a new Gator hat or two, while I entertained Kate by pushing her around Dick's Sporting Goods on one of the display bicycles with off-balanced training wheels. I managed to work up a few sweat beads on my forehead and just kept looking at the employees, giving them a please-ask-me-to-stop-doing-this look. Unfortunately they just waved and smiled as I made my laps. Kate just kept yelling, "Faster, faster Mommy!" So there, I did actually 'labor' on this wonderful holiday weekend.
Slave driver.


Matt's brother, Josh, and his wife, Lynne, were also in town for a visit and we were lucky enough to spend some time with the family's newest addition, cousin Kassidy.




Check out that big jug of Wesson Oil. You know something got deep fried, right? In the words of Truett Cathy, "Food is essential to life. Therefore, make it good." And in the south, make it good = deep fry 'til your heart's content.

Kate wanted to help out all day long. She was such a good little helper.

Cousin Luke

Seeing if I still got it...

Yep. Still got it.

Granny Mac

Mimi and Papa Dan with all of the grandchildren (This was the best one out of about 137 attemps)

On a side note, who's sportin' a super goofy grin right now thinking that tomorrow is already Wednesday?! This girl right here. That's all I need. Something so simple sets my week off to a positive start. Who says being simple minded can't work in your favor?