Oh We're Goin' To The Zoo, Zoo, Zoo...

First off... we have to show the "make up" that took place before we left the house for playgroup yesterday... she thought she was so beautiful she even let me take a picture!
Today we went to the Cape May Zoo... what a beautiful zoo... it doesn't smell, it's so shady, very easy with a stroller, and a great play ground too!


So glad we got to go with our friends! We drove down there with "Lisey" and "Issey" and "Mrs. Blaash" and then joined many other families from church!

My goal of the day, besides making sure no one ate bird poop or got kidnapped, was to get a picture with my girls smiling at the camera with me... hahaha......

"No Mommy, we want Memom to sit here!"

They finally consented to a picture... unfortunetly it was next to the trash can! Oh yea, and not with me, mind you... only Memom!

Mackenzie LOVES her friend Lizzie... no wonder... Lizzie is the perfect mixture of friend and care giver!

She thinks she's six-years-old just like the rest of the gang!

I think my daughter still wins the biggest bum award... LOVE IT!

Trying to catch a frog... is this really my daughter?

Love this shot... pretty much summerizes the day!

Success!

Just a Little Ditty

Please hum the tune of "It's Raining Men" as you read the following... I was inspired during the madness of making dinner and waiting for Jake to get home:

Temperature's rising
Patience getting low
According to these tantrum's
Mom's about to blow

Cuz tonight for the first time
At just about half past nine
For the first time in history
I've really gotta cure this whine

It's whining time
Oh my gosh
It's whining time
All the time

I'm going to go out
At let myself get
All the chocolate that I can eat

It's whining time
Oh my gosh
It's whining time
All the time

Short, squat, cute, and sweet
Loud and rough and like to screech

God bless Kenzie and Aubrey
They are hormonal women too
They got together
And they did what they had to do
They talked to each other
They rearranged my life
So that each and every moment
Would never, ever, EVER be quiet

It's whining time
Oh my gosh
It's whining time
All the time


Thank you, thank you very much... now back to that dinner I was attempting to make...

Our Church's Grand Opening!

Saturday night was our big church family celebration... praising God for this amazing answer to prayer in our new church building! Gotta love Mark Di jamming on the keyboard!


SO grateful Jeff could be there... another huge answer to prayer! He is feeling so much better since his surgery!


Honoring Tom and Mel and all of the sacrifices and hard work they both made for this building to be complete! This isn't commonly known because they are such secret servants, but they had to cancel a family trip to the Grand Canyon with her dad because the building was in its final stages. Tom worked tirelessly and my dad did a great job communicating how effectively he served our church and also honoring Mel for releasing her husband to work many 6 day work weeks for many, many months!

Our last update from our "public relation specialists (spesh-she-al-it-is)"... these two did an awesome job making all of our building updates fun for everyone to hear and Mackenzie is really going to miss "Fast Freddy and Steady Eddy"

Interviewing Tom and one of the architects... this was one of my favorite parts of the evening, getting to hear all of the behind the scenes stuff... like how they came up with different parts of the design for the building and how they made it so it could be easily expanded as we grow (hopefully not too much... I already am overwhelmed by all the new people I have to meet!)

My brother Andy sang "Great is Thy Faithfulness" and all I could picture was the little 3 year old who still had a bottle in his mouth when we planted the church... he and Michael climbing the poles at the school and throwing temper tantrums in the front row while my dad led worship! God sure has been good... taking a strong-willed little boy and turning him into a godly young man!

A view from the back on Saturday night... and I thought this was overwhelming... little did I know what Sunday would hold!! Haha!

We were packed out... over 1,000 people were there, almost half the church was guests! Praise God that His Gospel was clearly communicated through worship and the message and many, many had opportunity to respond to His call on their lives! Every guest received the book, "The Cross-Centered Life"... what a great tool for God to be able to use in new and old believers alike!

And lastly, my favorite picture from the weekend. Here are two girls who truly haven't been treated as their sins deserve! God took two cliquish, proud, deceptive girls and changed us by His Gospel. Not only did He save us from His wrath, He has blessed us beyond our wildest girlhood dreams... with a friendship that is only intact by His grace, restoring Jamie's health, with wonderful marriages to our best friends (and crushes from way back when!) and amazing daughters that we are raising to love God. What amazing grace!! I can't look at this picture without giving glory to God... how good He has been to us!

It's Beginning to Feel a lot like Summer...

Shaving cream makes for fun, messy finger painting and we used to do it all the time when I taught preschool...

However...

I guess there was a reason they didn't use it in the younger classes ;)

Aubrey has mastered the closed-mouth kiss... a big feat for this big-mouthed little girl!

Chocolate ice cream after dinner

HEADACHE!!

Notice the chocolate dripping down the thighs!

Good until the last drop!

Playing hide and seek with her sister! Covered head to toe in chocolate ice cream and dirt from the garden!

"Now Daddy, you count and I'll hide!" Such a little boss, this one, wonder where she got it from?

After a long morning at the lake... she fell asleep before we made it home... and we drove... and it is only .6 miles from our house!! I took her out of her carseat and laid her on the front lawn and she didn't even stir!

We celebrated our friend Eli's first birthday with his family on Sunday night!

Good food, Great friends!

Can you just feel the excitement from all the kids in this picture?? Cake time!!

We will be losing these dear friends in the middle of July... I hate how the military has to move families that become so dear to the people they meet! I am so grateful for this couple though. They have impacted our lives so much as friends and as fellow parents and to say we are going to miss them is an understatment. We need men like Jason in our military, we enjoy our freedom because of the sacrifice of friendship and family time this couple is willing to make. I am grateful for their sacrfice, but even more grateful for the 5 years God has given us with this dear couple!