Sunday, July 15, 2018

Beauty & The Beach!

I've never been happier for two people in my entire life. These two are so blessed to have each other.  And I am doubly blessed to be able to watch. 
Sometimes in life...
There's NOTHING quite like 
The bond between...
A father and his little princess!
I love these beautiful and real facial expressions between these two.
Sweet smiles and simple giggles.
Strength and love accompanied with goofiness and laughter.
These two fill my heart with gladness.
Thank you Jesus!

Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Sweet Satisfaction

Ahhhh... today was one of the most satisfying days of my life. I just had to say this out loud. Haha. Thank you for listening.
#Stalker
#Liar
#WhyDoesItFeelLikeSomebodysWatchingME
#BecauseSHEIs
#Busted



Sunday, July 1, 2018

Father's Day ~ 2018

On Father's Day, I am always honored to celebrate a man that fully deserves to be called dad/father.  Being a father is a selfless act.  It's laying down your selfless desires to put your children first.  Darren is that father. He is such a hard-worker. His integrity is matchless.  He is a wonderful husband, father, and coach! He's our hero! I LOVED the photos above, captured by Carissa Divant, with By His Grace Studios. They were the perfect way to express this man's heart for his children.  
In the morning, I set up a few gifts around the house for Darren to wake up to.  The first gift was an improvised coffee cup that said, "BEST.DAD.EVER", along with some bourbon infused coffee, from Uncommon Goods.  

I fell in LOVE with the below T-Shirt.  It spells out my husband, their father perfectly.  "HUSBAND. DADDY. HERO."  That he is.
Every year, we do this comical, smooshed faces photo.  I love to see how these photos change from year to year.  
Later in the evening we took Darren's dad to dinner to celebrate both dads.  We met up at Carrabas' Italian Grill and blessed Reid/Grandad with an Amazon Echo.  
Darren and Lilah: These two are the funniest duo.  They are both so witty, sweet spirit, and man o'day... mess with anyone in our family and you'll wish you hadn't.  They love HARD! Darren, you know my story.  You know what every little girl deserves, craves, wants, and needs from her father.  You have filled all of my emptiness, hurt, and struggles by allowing me to witness the most precious gift you have given to our only daughter... A God fearing, hard-workng, generous, kind, involved, protective, supportive daddy with the upmost integrity.  She loves you and I love you!

Darren, Ty, and Jax: This man puts his absolute heart and soul into these boys.  He is not only their daddy, but hie is their COACH.  He coaches them through life in our home, on the court, in our backyard, and even on our car rides to and from.  He is raising  two sons to be gentleman, complimentary, selfless, amazing husbands, and excellent fathers.  Darren may only have 3 children, but I know there are so many youth out there who personally light up when Darren walks into a room.  One of Ty's friends even said, after TY's paintball party, "The best part about Ty's party was Mr. Bolling played with us!"  MELT. MY. HEART. There are so many youth who jokingly call him dad, but probably because he's so sincere to every boy he coaches.  Darren, so many young men take your advice to heart and look up to you.  The roll you play in not only our sons' loves, but so many other boys' lives is a beautiful thing to have a front row seat to.  You are their hero.  AND MINE!

Happy Father's Day!

The Legend Of PB&J (Videos)

The videos that I took, of Lilah's production, are so pitiful. I was so torn between capturing this sweet performance or watching it.  Being it was next to impossible to even hear what the kids were saying, I chose to try and do BOTH.  I was clearly unsuccessful.  I am hoping another momma got better recordings and I can replace my videos, with hers eventually.  For now, this is all I've got.  Boo hoo!

The Legend Of PB&J

When Lilah performed in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Mrs. Georgia shared the Summer Camp dates with her cast.  Lilah was excited and wished to be a part of the Summer Drama Camp at Attic Productions.  This camp was the only camp that Lilah has signed up for this Summer, but she is also taking two dance classes.  I swear, Summer is sometimes busier than the school year.  

This camp was limited to a certain amount of campers and filled up fast.  Camp was a FULL week, from 8:45 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. (most days).  The cast learned an entire script in ONE WEEK (half days mind you).  
The cast was divided into two age groups and two plays.  Lilah's age group performed "The Legend of PB&J". Essentially, it was about one kingdom that loved Jelly and one kingdom that loved Peanut Butter. Each kingdom argued over which "condiment" was better.  

Lilah was given a key role as Jester.
It was Jester's job to try BOTH and judge, in his/her opinion, which one was best.  
Just a little aside... Jester Lilah HATES PB&J.  Hehe.  
And, Jester Lilah had to test BOTH a slice of bread with jelly and a slice of bread with peanut butter.  I mean, after all, that's how you JUDGE which is better, right?
The play's plot was so darling and the perfect length of time for a one week production.  
My only complaint was that the younger crew was not permitted to use mics and it was very difficult to hear them.  I literally have elephant ears.  I knew what the plot was about and I still had a very hard time really hearing the play.
Jester was so wise.  She tasted the Jelly Kingdom's sandwich and then tasted Peanut Butter Kingdom's sandwich and had the best idea.  She took one slice of the jelly sandwich and one slice of the peanut butter sandwich AND COMBINED BOTH!!!
Jester decided that what was best, was for the two condiments to be blended, for a tastier sandwich result.
Lilah had 5 lines, but she also had two dances, two songs, and her own little "act" as she tasted the slices of jelly, then peanut butter, then combined them and took another bite.
It was TRUE acting because like I said, she does NOT like PB&J.  She had to even act out ENJOYING all of it.
At the end, the entire cast, young and "old" performed to the song Million Dreams from the movie The Greatest Showman!
This was a great experience for Lilah as she prepares to audition for Annie in the Fall.  Side note: the director pulled me aside and asked me to have Lilah audition.  I told her we had planned to.  She said Lilah is a great little actress.  I agree.  :)

I am uploading the only videos I took.  Be on the lookout for that post next!