Open House...

I think this summer went by faster than any other summer EVER!  It's that time again... How do I have a 2nd grader?? and a Kindergartener!??  Karoline has Mrs. Singlton this year and Anderson has Mrs. Brooks... Everyone has a friend in their class and I am praying for a great year.  Here we go...

Christmas In July!

Christmas In July Family Night... well, more like Family Day and A Half :)  The kids wore their Christmas PJ's on the night of the 24th... And the morning of the 25th Francis (our Elf) came to visit and brought gifts! The kids loved it!  Karoline got a tennis set for her dolls and Anderson two new planes from the Planes movie that is coming out soon (and he is completely obsessed with!)...

Throughout the day we had a few little surprises.  PopTarts  for breakfast on our Elf on the Self plates. I do NOT buy PopTarts, ever!... This was a HUGE treat for Karoline! I made a reindeer sandwich and fruit candy cane for lunch, and though I did not make a traditional Christmas dinner, I did break out the Christmas dishes :)  I attempted to make Santa Hat Brownie Bits for dessert but they didn't look as cute as I had hoped, but they were YUMMY (and that's really all that matters right!?)...

For an art project we made a family hand print tree on canvas.  I wanted to do this last Christmas but we just never got it completed!  It was fun (but also stressful... children with paint stresses me out!)  and came out very cute!

We watched our favorite movie, Elf after dinner... So so funny!  Over all Christmas In July was a blast and the real Christmas will be here before we know it!

Forming a Foundation...

(Text from a friend, who is also a builder...)

Are you ever so excited about something and that excitement scares you?  Scared because you don't want to be let down?  That's honestly kind of how I feel... This home would be my dream home and I am so excited about it.  But I also know that if we don't get to live in it it will be because God has a different plan so I cannot be scared.  No matter where we are, if we are in God's will that is EXCITING!  But for now we continue to build... and see where is journey takes us...

Let me tell you that building a house from scratch is not for the faint of heart... thankful we love our builder and great friend!  Our neighborhood is a tough cookie as far as building restrictions and processes and you have to get approval after approval and combine that with the market starting to pick up, it has taken a while to get started... 

Which is FINE!  Though I wish I was sitting in my new living room right now, I trust in His timing and when and if we get to enjoy this home I know it will be perfect!  

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I drove by tonight and they are forming the foundation.  It has to be raised and the dirt has sat for a month settling, getting rained on (which is good)... and I was SO excited today to see the work that had been done... UNTIL... a lady pulled up after I took a few pics she unleashed one me!!  She said they were doing something wrong with the foundation and bla bla bla...  she owns the lot next to us and said this was not going to happen on a lot next to her.  I was polite but rolled up my window and left.  My across the pond neighbor, who is a contractor, built his house behind us and is now on the board of the HOA was driving by, waved at me and I thought I would go pay him a visit!  

I rolled down the window and he said, "So I see you met Crazy!".... we laughed and I told him what she said.  He assured me that she had no clue what she was talking about, he was watching our lot and everything was fine.  We called our builder and they said not to worry too... so I guess I won't worry but I hope Mrs. Crazy calms down a little bit!!  One day I'll look back and laugh at this story.  Right? :)

It's hard to build a house and not see the correlation between building a home and our lives as a follower of Christ.   I love the imagery of building a strong foundation that can withstand the harsh realities that this world can throw at you or that can come your way... Building the foundation of our lives on scripture, serving, being the church (not going to church)... I love these verses...

Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself.  Ephesians 2:20

 Because of God’s grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful.  For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ.  1 Corinthians 3:10-11

Progressive Dinner Family Night

I wanted to have a little different kind of family night and I thought a progressive dinner would be fun... Since the kids can read and try to figure the clues out I thought maybe they would enjoy it.  They did but still needed a little assistance reading my poems but maybe that's because I am not a good poet :)

First stop:  Chips & Dip for appetizers 

Reading the next clue...

2nd Stop:  Dinner at Bummz Cafe... we are beach Bummz :)

3rd Stop:  Ice Cream... but wait... at the Pelicans game!!!  Double fun! 

And a funny little (not so funny at the time) story... when we got to the Pelicans game we had vouchers but not "real tickets". It was "Thirsty Thursday", $1 beer night, and I think every 20 something in Horry County was there for cheep beer.  We got to the ticket window to exchange our vouchers for tickets and they said it was SOLD OUT!  Standing room only and we had some disappointed kids!  So we figured well we can at least go in and have our ice cream like we planned and then leave...

I saw a big group of seats and marched myself up there like I knew what I was doing and the family followed behind.  Somehow, THANK GOD, we sat in the 4 seats in the stadium where the ticket holders did not show up!! So we thankfully got to stay... happy kids, we didn't have to stand... happy parents... and TJ even caught a foul ball... really HAPPY Anderson!   Thankful for a very fun ending to a fun night with my family!