Georgia Aquarium


Last Friday, we were able to attend the Georgia Aquarium, and this is how we did it for under $50! With a mommy & me ticket that got the kids (four kids five and under) and me, and paid for parking as well as a regular adult admission! So, if you have free time and can get over to Atlanta, this is so worth it for $20! We even managed to make it through the gift shop with only six dollars less. It helped that Zoe used her job money to buy her souvenir. It was a really nice aquarium. This was the first time that we had to rush the kids through without them running from exhibit to exhibit. They really enjoyed seeing all the fishes (that’s how they had it written throughout, so I guess the grammar rules have changed).

I handed Mark the camera, so we got lots of good pictures (I’m just good at getting one or two, he keeps taking until it’s full or the battery is dead). So, without further ado…

This is the otter that came over to tell Zoe hello! It scared her because she was turned away and Mark said, “Look!” When she did, this is what she saw pressed up against the glass…pretty funny…she jumped about a mile!
I’ve never seen a sting ray this big…it was bigger than me! These were in the huge tank that you walked under…very neat!

My favorites, the Beluga Whales. Liam was fascinated with them too. He had to ask the aquarium man what their names were and everything. They are absolutely beautiful creatures. I was just blown away with how beautiful God had created these animals. They were so graceful too. Sorry the picture isn’t much clearer, they were cleaning the tank and kicked up all sorts of stuff.
Hiya Crocodile!

Zoe doing her “posing” thing.

Mark was “petting” shrimp…Josiah was playing in the water!

Zoe petting a stingray. I’ve never seen a girly girl so into petting sea animals…she had to touch and pet all of them she could.

Very cool Jellies! They remind me of Shark Tale (the movie) but the kids thought of Finding Nemo.
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The Girls’ Room

The girls’ room is painted and the crib is in. I still want to get bedding, new curtains, a lamp, and Ceili Rain’s changing pad and we’ll be set in the girls’ room. Zoe and I really had a good time painting the canvasses. They turned out better than I had expected. I kept my hands off of hers to “fix” it and they look great!

My canvasses…first time I’ve ever really painted and add to that that it was on canvas! I’m glad my grandmother can’t see it…she’d probably be embarrassed, painter that she was!

Zoe’s canvasses! Didn’t she do great! I pretty much let her do whatever she wanted.

Zoe’s side of the room…notice Raggedy Andy sprawled out…Raggedy Anne is on the other side…looks like they’ve kicked the bucket to me. The dresser is what I did for her room before. Mark and Zoe agreed that I didn’t need to change it for now…fine by me but I would have loved to repaint it and put flowers on it to match the room.

Ceili Rain’s crib (that was Josiah’s, that was Liam’s, that was Ace’s, that was Zoe’s, that Mark made…”and this is the house that Jack built…”). I don’t have any girly bedding or bumper pad, but hoping to pick that up soon.

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Babies, Babies, Everywhere!

I just have to say there must be something in the water at church…

In the past week two of my friends have found out they are expecting! It’s so exciting to hear and see about. One friend has been praying for a baby for what seems like a long time now. We are so thrilled to see her and her husband become parents.

So, the baby count just at church for the next year looks to be close to 10 or so maybe more.

It’s neat to see. When Ace was born in 2004, there were at least 20 women at our church expecting a baby. Even though some of the families have moved, etc since then, his class remains rather large, meaning lots of babies were born that year and not just in our church.

I’m wondering if the same trend is happening this time around. It’ll be interesting to see.

I’m so excited Ceili Rain will have friends to play with who are only four and five months apart!

Congratulations to my friends! We are praying for protection and health for all the moms and babes.

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Mark and I are Sick

I don’t mean physically sick, I mean mentally! He found a blog that we’ve both been following for a few months now. It’s called Stuff Christians Like. Jon, the blogger, uses it to mention funny quirks and silly things we Christians do…like side hugs and assigned pews, etc. He cracks us up! He also can throw in some good theology. I just has to link to his recent post about Elf on a Shelf. Reason being is that my sister and her family have something similar, but it’s different in that it relates the story of Christ. Elf on the Shelf is just a Santa spy from my understanding.

Anyway, this past weekend, my niece and nephew brought their elves to my parents house. They told the kids about them and they were a little freaked out that stuffed animals came alive at night. So much so that instead of sleeping with them in the spare room, all four kids wanted to sleep in the same room with us. It was kind of funny.

So, without further ado, if you have a warped mind like Mark and I, click on over and read Leg Dropping Elves (or the real meaning of Christmas). My favorite line is: “Because Jesus is funky and loves a good beat…”

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Huh???

Okay, so in our neighborhood church marquees are popular. So are sticking up cute/funny little sayings on them. Our church doesn’t have such a sign, and I would be rather annoyed if they did. The past week, two churches near us have posted some sayings that just don’t make sense to me. Oh sure, you could argue this is what it means or “they must have meant that by it.” But let’s face it, you have no more clue what they mean and neither do I!

So, here’s the signs and my commentary behind them:

“Jesus loves you, but I’m His favorite.” Ummm, okay, this inanimate, non human sign thinks that Jesus loves it more than me??? And, if this sign is talking about the person who put the letters up, boy, they better watch out! I think it says “For God so loved the world…” (Emphasis mine)

Next up: “The only people who enjoy Christmas are sinners.” So, what you’re saying is those people who are depressed, going through tough times, don’t believe in celebrating the season for religious reasons (historical ones), and the general Scrooge’s are perfect?? I think I might disagree with that statement.

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One Quick Update

Our weekend consisted of traveling to Atlanta to the Georgia Aquarium, to my dad’s team’s semifinal game (they lost…it was very hard), to Market day, to home, and then church, a baby shower, and church….it’s been a busy weekend.

We enjoyed seeing my family but were sad to see the season end without the championship. They are a great team of football players…some of the best we’ve been around. Dad has really enjoyed this year and the past 40 plus years! We can’t wait to see how God is going to use this next phase of his life. He is retiring from coaching this year but will continue to teach AP European History and World History.

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First Words…for the Granparents

So, in the past 18 months, Josiah’s words have accumulated into “ba” for ball, brother, bye. belly and bath. No mamas, no dadas. Just “ba” and a few others.

Over the past few weeks he’s added more words and today he melted Mark’s heart. I was talking to Mark and holding Josiah and I asked Josiah if he wanted to talk to daddy.

“Daaad-da” he said and grinned wide. Mark got to hear him too!

Here are a few other recent ones. Sorry, no video…but we did finish most of school today, so there’s a plus!

“Go Coug!” for “Go Cougars!” That’s actually on video and he says it anytime he sees football or some other sport on tv. The Cougars are my dad’s team that he coaches for.
“Aaace” for “Ace” He started saying this word just over the past couple of days. When I can get him to say it, he takes off in search of Ace and then tries to tackle him.
“Teee” for “tree”

That’s all I can think of now. He’s getting to be so cute and full of fun. Still loveable too.

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Kid Cuteness Time…Family Worship

*During family worship[ a couple of nights ago as we were singing, I kept hearing Liam saying something like, “You be quiet, quite singing…shhh. Stop it.” He was sitting beside me on the floor looking straight out and pointing his finger saying this. When we finished singing, we asked him what he was doing.

“Mommy, your foot was singing and it needed to be quiet!” He was fine once I explained that I was tapping to the music.

*For Ace’s birthday, he received a Narnia sword that makes noise when you swish it, etc. As you can imagine, Liam absolutely loves it as well as Ace. There’s been some coveting issues, of course. Liam’s asked several times for a Prince Caspian sword like Ace’s (he has King Peter’s sword). I told him maybe for his birthday. We had already purchased Liam’s presents when I realized that we hadn’t gotten him the sword he’s asked for. Ge to the rescue!! It’s been hunted down and purchased and waiting gift wrap and Liam’s birthday party. With no mention made to Liam, every once and a while during prayer time, he will pray for his sword in detail. “Tank you God for my Narnia sword for my birthday that has buttons and makes noise when you swish it…”

*Tonight Zoe’s prayer time included this, “Thank you for Christmas, God. Help us to remember it’s not about the toys but it’s about you.” From the mouth of babes!

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Bless your heart…

I forgot to add a story about my outing on Friday. I’ll do that but first, I must say that was Mark that hijacked the blog and put Roll Tide…I’ll second it though! Also, Liam is now running a fever and acting generally sick.

Now to my story…

As I stood in line at Wal-Mart (which wasn’t too long) the conversation generally returned to how many children I had and how old they were. This was with the ladies behind me. So I told them and continued to get my stuff on the belt to check out. One of the ladies got a pretty sad/disgusted look on her face.

“Ah, well, bless your heart.”

I looked her dead in the eye and smiled and said, “Well, yes, it has been blessed.”

Her sad looked turned a little more disgusted and I got flustered, as usual, but checked out and left.

While I was walking in the parking lot, I realized, I did’t have my wedding band on nor was it on the necklace (since they don’t fit on my hands now). I had completely forgot to put it on at 5:00 that morning! I was horrified and rather embarrassed and almost ran back in to the store just to make a comment about my husband!!!

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