Days To Remember G's Blog

This week has flown by without many pictures to display.

I have 2, since my camera has been sleepy most of the week. 

No wonder why.....it has been pretty busy.  

Let's go backwards, since Friday is more of a day of rest. 

Today the kids and I went to see The Lion King!  About 20 years ago, one summer (that is insane to say...20 years ago)...I coached the 10 & under swim team for the Sunset Swampers.  I took all those kiddos to see The Lion King when it came out. 

Probably one of my favorite Disney movies of all time and well, I love the soundtrack.  So, when I saw that it was coming out again in the theater I decided that this MUST be something I share with my own children.  Not only those 10 & unders twenty years ago! 

So with popcorn in hand, drinks, and skittles my three young kiddos and I experienced The Lion King together.  I would peek over at their faces while watching and loved the expressions on their faces.  Eli's giggles, Hezekiah's funny faces when they talked about "love," and Maggie Beth's snuggles since she sat in my lap the whole time.  

Thursday we went to Homeschool Fellowship.  We learned about how bugs communicate and how God designed them to protect themselves.  We made some walking stick bugs, the kids have also been collecting bugs for a bug collection (above is pictured what they have caught thus far)......we shared that with CSHF too.

Wednesday Hezekiah got his shirt for his Cub Scout uniform.  This is his first year and he has been working hard on accomplishing tasks in his book.  Doesn't he look so handsome!
  I also created cupcakes to take to my BCC class.  I had the students create Mitosis/Meiosis cupcake stages with sprinkles, they had to make the chromosomes.  I was not too sure if college students would care much for creating, but they did and they were funny making their stages of meiosis or mitosis.  I did not get any pictures, but they did with their phones, IPADS, or whatever crazy things they have out these days.

Somewhere in between the midst of these busy days, the kids got school work completed, breakfast, lunch, and dinner were served, there were baths taken, and I am sure there was disciplinary actions taken. 

All in all, this has been our week.  Sorry, it has been busy, but I was sure Grandma and Papaw would love to see Hezekiah in his uniform! 

Today I turned 38.

7 1/2 years of being a mommy!

Almost 15 years of being a wife!

6 years of being a college and graduate student.

7 years of being a teacher/now add 1 more year.

8 years of being a teenager.

23 years of being a driver.

38 years of being a daughter and a sister.

38 years of really just being a kid......&

Today was my first birthday at Disney!

AND IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not sure if I like the button with my name on it that says, "Happy Birthday Gretchen!" Or the buttons my kids and husband got that said, "We are celebrating Mommy's birthday!" Or if I liked all the birthday wishes I got as I went around the park.  I am not sure which I liked the best so I will just admit........I liked the attention! 

We had a wonderful day at Magic Kingdom.  It was so beautifully dressed for the first day of Fall, September 23rd, or maybe MY BIRTHDAY!

(Yeah, I know it's really for the Not so Scary Trick or Treat......but don't steal my joy!)

I loved the pumpkins and leaf garland.  So pretty!

These are the faces we got from our children for photo opps......hysterical!

And yet cute!

Maggie Beth and I had some girl time riding Dumbo!

We had some cute cupcakes and ice cream to celebrate!

We even had our picture taken with Minnie and Mickey.  Umm, someone fell asleep....

Asleep....

Asleep! But awwweee......there were flashes, there was commotion.........and then

Suddenly AWAKE!  AWWWEE.......and ready to give all her hugs and kisses away to Minnie and Mickey apparently!

What a spectacular day, thank you my sweet little family for blessing me with probably one of the best birthdays I have ever had!

Today the kids were playing Hide n Go Seek.

I love listening to them play.

I love listening to Maggie Beth count.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, eleventeen, seventeen, eleventeen, eighteen, eleventeen, ready or not here I come!" 

I think eleventeen is my favorite number ever! 

Today we traveled to Page's old stomping grounds to surprise an old friend of his for his birthday.

It was Mark's 40th! 

Mark has been friends with Page for a long time.  Mark was in our wedding and just an awesome  friend to Page throughout the ages!  Mark is a wonderful man of God and his wife Wendi is a wonderful woman of God. 

We are blessed to have them as friends and are blessed that we can share these sweet times with them. 

Our children rocked the bouncy slide! 

Our kids had a blast meeting new friends.  Maggie Beth has a new friend in Julia, since last they saw each other they were both 1 1/2 years old at Chuck E. Cheese, not too much to remember i suppose.  They were so cute talking and going down the slide.  Maggie Beth declared loudly to everyone, "I love this slide!"

Icing faces, muddy feet, 5 hours of driving to an old friends and back equals priceless moments!

After Maggie Beth was born I recall Hezekiah saying, "Mommy can we be the Knights and Maggie Beth be the princess?" 

She was itty bitty then, still cooing, smiling and filling up diapers!  She could not even crawl.  But there was a vision of her brother's of playing Knights and Princess. 

Three years later this is where I stand and see the vision revealed.  A beautiful sight as a little Princess runs after her brother, yelling, "Prince Charming, Prince Charming come here Prince Charming."

Not sure if he ever envisioned it that way.......but that is how it unraveled.

So write it down, may I inspire you to do so........because the play is so sweet to watch at each act. 

This morning we spent sometime planting seeds.

Eli had received this planting kit from a friend for his birthday.