Look Who's Famous!!!!

My sister WHITNEY, far right (next to the owner), had the honor of "hanging out" with our SOON-TO-BE President (I HOPE) at her boyfriend's father's restaurant in Port Saint Lucie, Florida.  Pretty cool!!!  Leave it to Darren to find it on yahoo on ACCIDENT.  HOW FUNNY!

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/election-day-sight-romney-shows-softer-side-voters-140130375--election.html

College Care "Boxes"

Over the summer, my sister, Whitney, spent 3 weeks with me. When she left, to return to Florida, her plans were to start college in August.  She got accepted into FAU in Miami, Florida.  I was so nervous about her financial situation and lack of parental help, so I came up with an idea that I knew would help get her college dorm stocked up.  

Originally, I was just going to send her a "medicine cabinet" care package, filled with all sorts of  medication necessities, but you know me, I got too engrossed in this task and went way over board.  I wound up creating 6 care packages (I only have pictures of 5 of them though :( 

My goal was to create this soon-to-be college student, college bound and poor,  with all the necessities she was going to need, being away from home.

The packages were as follows:

Medicine "Box":  filled with halls cough drops, vaseline, visine, bandaids, advil, alieve, tums, neosporine, pepto, saline drops for the nose, blistex, calamine lotion, and benedryl.

Hardware "Box":  filled with a hammer, screwdriver, can opener, lint roll brush, candle lighter, picture hangers, tape measure, batteries, door hooks, sewing kit, ziplock bags, and flash light.

Cleaning Products "Box":  A cute 31 bag (compliments of Ashely Harris) filled with cleaning products: leather wipes, clorox wipes, "poop" spray, clorox pen, dryer sheets, dish soap, fabuloso, oxyclean, air freshener, decco dish sponge, hand sponge, hand duster, gloves, a crisp white rag, a microfiber rag, and a roll of quarters for laundry!!

School Supplies "Box": Included: a dry erase board, envelopes, white out, tape, scissors, stapler, stapler remover, pens, pencils, stamps, highlighters, hole punch, posted notes, rubber band ball, push pins, paper clips, binder clips, and a calculator.

Necessities of Life "Box": This was one of the last boxes I sent to her.  It had three major necessities that contained protection over her mind, body, and soul.  I supplied her with God's word aka a bible, mace, and an i.d. pouch.  

Beauty "Box":This is the care package I failed to snap a photo of. It was a fun, colorful collection of girly items: a new bath towel, hand towel, and washcloth, tweezers, nail polish remover (compliments of Ashely Harris), bronzer (compliments of Ashely Harris), GAP ballet flats (compliments of Ashely Harris), Bath & Body Works lotion, and a few other items I have forgotten about.  

Darren allowed me to take her on a little shopping spree before she left too.  It felt great updating her wardrobe a little.  She was so excited to have someone do this for her and I was even more excited. Again, I love to give way more than I love to receive.  The night before she left, I surprised her with a Kindle Fire and a cute little case.  She was speechless.

I had put these care packages on pinterest, but failed to document them on my blog.  Whoopsie.  Doing Erin and Nathan's "Road Trip" post, reminded me that I still had to do this post.  I hope you have enjoyed reading it.

A Visit To The Roanoke Star

Before Aunt Whitney left to go home, we asked her what kind of things she had hopes of doing, while in Roanoke, that she hadn't gotten to accomplish yet. Her answer, "Well, we always seem to take a trip to the Star and we haven't done that yet!" It has been years since we traveled up to the Star with Aunt Whitney, at least 3. SO, we fulfilled her request. It was a scorching HOT day, but we packed a lunch, toured the view, took a little hike or two, and enjoyed the fresh breeze as we drove back down the mountain with our van windows all the way down. Aunt Whitney's request was simple, yet fun, not to mention a tradition. Other than the extreme temperatures, my only complaint is that I didn't take ONE picture of Whitney. She LOVES snapping photos, so she had my camera the entire time. These photos are compliments of Whitney.

We packed a lunch and ate it on the TOP of the mountain :)

Jake.

Ty-Ty.

Jaxey.

The boys found some BIG BOULDERS to climb on.

"Boys, you better get down from there."

I like to describe her as "Sweet-n-Salty" or "Sweet-n-Sassy"

On a walk/hike down some trail near the Roanoke Star.

Lilah thinks Jake is her boyfriend. YIKES.

She doesn't leave this poor kid alone.

Tyson's friend Jake loves being a "big brother" when he's with our family.

A beautiful detail captured on our hike.

The view from the Roanoke Star.

Lilah enjoys being high up on the Star City's slide.

We found our state bird... the red cardinal.

Lilah was wiped out from the heat. She fell asleep within two minutes of getting into the van.

A Visit to Poppy and Cee Cee's Home!!!!

Last weekend, we traveled to Raleigh in honor of my sister Saleece's birthday! The party wasn't until Saturday, but we arrived on Friday and started the "party" then with all kinds of fun. Upon arriving to Raleigh, we met Carlene at this place called "Frankie's Fun House". It was truly the most incredible place for kids AND adults. It was like the largest Chuck E. Cheese you've ever been to. Frankie's had both indoor and outdoor fun, but it started to rain so we were only able to enjoy the indoor portion. After Frankie's we headed over to New York Pizza and then the kids got to enjoy yogurt at one of those new, hip Yogurt places that are opening up everywhere. Lilah, Jax, and Ty always enjoy being with Salene and Saleece. It was nice to get away after our 5-day power outage. Cee Cee is very hospitable and welcoming!!!!! We look forward to our next visit. Maybe even before the summer ends?

Enjoy the photos of our Friday night fun!!!! To see the photos in a larger format, please double click on the photo album below!!!

What Aunts Are Good For?

PAINTING NAILS!!!!!!!!!!!

Hospitality During Difficulty

During the power outage, the Maggi family blessed our family as well as the Harris family with a homemade meal. It was scrumptious!!!! It was also a nice way to take our minds off of reality. I was impressed that Shannon was able to pull this off as quickly as she did. She had just arrived home from vacation, one day prior, and prepared a meal for 14+ people.

Thank you Maggis!!!! It's our turn NEXT.

"Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality." Romans 12:13

A snap shot of the dinner table.

My sister Whitney with Presley. Whitney really took to her.

I'm not so sure Lilah liked the attention Aunt Whitney was giving to her. Uh-oh, do I smell competition.

The TRIPLETS!!! LOL! In all seriousness, I think Lilah and Cohen look more like twins in this photo.

Caleb doesn't get popsicles often. Aunt Kristin took care of that "problem".

I love the "milk" that fills her little mouth. Such is a newborn's life!

Okay...can everyone just say "AWE!!!!!!!!" She is "precious Presley". Ashely, you owe my sister a sitting fee for this one!!! LOL!

Ugh... okay, another "AWE!!!!!!!!!" please.

And ANOTHER!!!

My diet coke shadow.

Not sure where the heck Ty was in all of these photos.

A Video Created From Boredom.

We are almost on day 6 of no power. Boredom has crept in because we have a LIMITED amount of our personal belongings at my in-laws home. Being we never leave home without our camera or video camera, we were able to kill a little bit of the boredom by making a homemade video. Being my blog is set to private, I know those of you who know us, will crack up at the awful acting. Side note, there is a real temper tantrum taking place in this video hence the reason we chose "domestic violence" as the premise.

Our NEW Home Away From Home

STILL without power.... DAY 5! We are spending a TON of time at the YMCA. I am thankful I became a member before this power outage took place. I am especially excited that Darren is getting to use the gym that HE pays for.

Hoops!

"He shoots!"

Dribbling!!!

Basketball.

Swimming with Gram.

Water worm.

Happy as could be!

Hugs and Kisses!

Dancing Queens!

Or "WANNA BE" Dancing Queens :)

Before the storm, we were trying to end the evening with a little white people dancing!!! HA HA. Actually, for a 53 year old lady, I think my mom has some pretty modern day dancing rhythm. Lilah was really thrilled that her hair was not tied up. She was enjoying whipping her hair all around. Enjoy the videos. They are hysterical.

I was just the videographer, so don't expect to see any of my white girl moves. Sorry to disappoint you.

Fun/Funny for just a few hours!

Since Friday night our home has been without power. When the 10 minute storm hit, Jax, my sister, and I were in Kroger. All of the lights went out. It was creepy and exciting, all at the same time, to experience something like that. Upon arriving home, we entered a dark house, lite up with candles.

For a while, it was fun/funny. We knew the lights were out, yet we would still try to use the electricity. For instance, my mother-in-law called and we informed her that we had no electricity. We were telling her about how hot it was and she said, "Well if you all are hot, why don't you just plug in some fans." We all laughed, including her.

In addition, my sister, after 15 hours of being without electricity, asked, "Do you have a blow dryer?" Haha. Um, not one that doesn't require electrcity. Maybe that is something I ought to invent. A battery operated blow dryer.

STILL without power, and possibly no end in sight until Saturday, we are realizing how spoiled and how dependent we really are on electricity. It cools our food, our bodies, it opens our garage doors, it charges our cell phones, and for some, it runs water. Regretfully, we had to throw out almost EVERY SINGLE thing in our freezer/refrigerator. A close friend of ours allowed us to use a section of her freezer and fridge, but most of my food was unsalvageable before we thought to make use of a friend's electricity.

We really lucked out compared to some of our close friends... we have full use of my in-laws home because they are in Myrtle Beach right now. Although we are very thankful to be cool and to have use of their beautiful home, we are really home sick :(

Hanging out in the dark.

We were at Kroger getting the family a late night dessert. I bought 10 mini ice creams for $10.00. Being we had NO IDEA how long our power would be out, the ice cream had to be eaten. I told the kids, "It's your lucky day. You can have TWO ice creams tonight."

Darren still had battery life on his cell phone, so he went inside to text around, seeing who else didn't have power.

We went outside, to enjoy the fresh, cool air. It was so interesting to witness dry lightening. Although powerful, we were amazed and in awe of it. Whitney and the kids made some funny faces to help pass the time/make light of this situation.

Lilah's "silly" face.

Jax's "funny face".

Tyson's "goofy" face.

This storm is a REMINDER of the powerful God we serve. We are weak and HE is strong. He has sent that reminder to us. Our level of patience, self-control, and gratitude has only been able to be maintained through prayer and dependence on him during this time especially.