Who cares about Pyramids?

My Family, well specifically my husband.  You see, in the class he was taking this semester at Montevallo, he had to teach the kids about "something".  Well, not just any something, but you get the idea.  The next topic he was scheduled to discuss in his classroom was about Ancient Egypt.  He decided to really highlight the pyramids.  Well, for his actual class that he was taking, he had to write a huge paper detailing pretty much everything about the unit that was taught, even including when he scheduled himself a second to breathe in/out, digest, use the bathroom, etc.  Okay, so maybe I exaggerate ... literally, his paper ended up being almost 20 pages long (single spaced!!).  Along with the paper, he had to do a project board with a ton of data on it and then present it to a panel.  Well, he presented yesterday to an Education Professor and the Dean of the History Department.  He aced it!  They had no questions for him about any of his data or his instruction.  I'm so proud of him!!!  Here are some pictures of the board that he had to put together.

Good Morning Cows

As part of our morning routine, Sarah and I drive past the horses, cows and donkeys every morning on the way to her school.  She loves seeing the animals and does not like it if we ever have to go a different way to school.  Well, yesterday afternoon, I was stalling for time before meeting Daddy for supper so I decided that we would go and look at the cows.  She got so excited to see the cows.  She sang Old McDonald to the cows.  Many of them started walking in from the field to get closer to us.  I guess they thought we had some food.  Next time, maybe I'll try to bring them a special treat.

Happy Anniversary!!

On March 18, 2006 at approximately 5:20 pm, I kissed my husband for the first time.  We had just been pronounced husband and wife.  It was a wonderful day full of so many great memories.  Fast forward 5 years, on March 18, 2011, we revisted some of those memories over a romantic dinner at The Melting Pot.  

Course 1:  Cheddar Cheese Fondue.  It was served with an assortment of "dippers", including various types of bread, vegetables and green apples.

Course 2:  Caesar Salad, but I forgot to take a picture of it.  Use your imagination, surely you've had a caesar salad before!  The only thing that your mind may not immediately picture would be the pine nuts that were on top of our salad.

Course 3:  Main Course.  At a fondue restaurant, you cook everything yourself.  The main course is no exception.  We had a vegetable bouillon base to cook our food in.  We first placed all of our vegetables (potatoes, mushrooms and broccoli) in the broth to begin cooking.  We then began to work our way through our assortment of various meats.  We were served duck, chicken, filet mignon, NY strip, shrimp and 2 ravioli.  All of these were cooked by us to our specifications at our table.  Everything was delicious except for the duck and the ravioli.  Neither of us cared for those.  Can you believe that Michael actually attempted and ate duck?!?!

Course 4:  Dessert.  This course is probably the main reason why people come to The Melting Pot.  It was delicious!!!  We chose a basic chocolate with a spoonful of peanut butter added in.  The server also set it on fire for us.  Our dippers included strawberries, rice krispie treats, oreo covered marshmellows, graham cracker covered marshmellows, bananas, brownies, pound cake and cheesecake.  Yum!!!

We were sitting in a little room by ourselves for the whole meal.  They knew that it was our anniversary and had us in a back corner.  I guess the assumption was that we would be overly romantic and we would need the privacy.  We were too busy eating I guess because other than holding hands, there was no touchy-feely going on in our booth!!  The restaurant also gave us a card wishing us Happy Anniversary.  It was a very nice gesture.  The following are pictures of us being goofy.  Michael was ready to either fight someone with his fondue forks, or he was getting ready to dig in to some food.  The picture of me is when I was eating an oreo-covered marshmallow dipped in chocolate ... can you taste the yumminess??

The Happy Couple ...

I love you Michael Crawley!  Thank you for a wonderful five years.  I can't wait to see what our future holds for us.  I know that it will be great and exciting as long as we are exploring it and living it together!!!

What do you want your children to never forget?

I saw this video on another person's blog today.  I won't lie ... I cried.  It reminded me so much of Sarah and how she always wants "more paste".  It reminded me of how Michael and I are responsible for teaching her so much, even how to put toothpaste on a toothbrush.  How will we ever cover everything that we are supposed to teach her??  It is an overwhelming task.  However, in the end ... there are just three things that she needs to know. Watch the video ...

Day 12: We are thankful for ...

Papa!!!!  My daddy is the best.  He loves us so much.  He has always been there to help out and to guide me in whatever.  I remember when Michael and I first started dating that he wasn't going to be able to help me out at home as much anymore.  He said that I needed to learn to rely on Michael for some house-fixing stuff if we were going to be together.  That's just one of many wise lessons he has taught me.  Granted, I don't always listen ... but that's another story.  Sarah loves her Papa-boo!!!!  Today is a big day for him.  On Labor Day, he fell off a ladder approximately 18 feet.  He broke the heel in his foot.  He has not been able to put any weight on it at all.  Hopefully, the doctor will tell him today that he can start putting some weight on his foot.  I don't know who wants him up running around more -- him or Sarah!! We love you!!!

Day 9: We are thankful for ...

Family.  We are thankful that we get to experience life together.  Is everything always happy and perfect?  Of course not, but do we always love each other?  Absolutely!  I love my family.  I couldn't ask for more!!!

Day 8: We are thankful for ...

Nana!  My mom has always been so good to help us out in whatever aspect we needed.  I know that she prays for us and loves us and wants only the best for us.  Does she drive us a little nuts sometimes?  Of course, that is the mother daughter destiny.  Sarah already is learning that!  But, I love my mom so much.  I love to see her play with Sarah.  Sarah loves her nana!!!

Day 7: We are thankful for ...

salvation in Jesus Christ.  I love to hear Sarah pray at night.  Each night, I start her prayer "Dear Jesus, Thank you for ..."  She then adds in whatever or whoever she is thankful for.  Sometimes it is silly (pacifiers), but sometimes she really thinks about it and names all of our family, or several of her friends.  We try to read two books each night before bed and I try to make one of them be something "religious".  It may be a bible story, it may be a story with a moral ending, etc.  I want her to see and understand our faith.  She loves to pray and sing.  We start most mornings in the car with "church song mommy".  I love that she listens to the word of God before she goes to school.  She doesn't realize it yet, but those words will be in her heart all day long.  Hopefully, she will be able to show the love of Jesus, even at her young age!

Day 6: We are thankful for ...

Music.  Sarah loves to go to Kindermusic.  This is our second year doing it.  When we are there, sometimes I wonder if she is getting something out of it, but then I see or hear or say something another day that shows she is listening and learning!  We really miss Mrs. Becky from last year, but we really like Mrs. Jill too!

Day 5: We are thankful for ...

Gus.  Gus is our little daschund dog.  He has been having some seizures lately.  He does not do well with all of the noise that Sarah likes to make!  Gus will be 5 years old on March 10.  I love you little buddy.  Sarah loves to tell Gus to go home (to his crate), pet gus soft, come here buddy, pee pee gus; and then faster than you can blink, she decides she wants no part of him and will even sometimes shut her bedroom door so he won't go in there!!

Trick or Treating with Evie

Do you really want to read about how much fun these two girls had?  Of course not, I'll just show the picures!

Okay, we're ready.  Loaded up in our ride so let's go!!!

So, you mean, I'm supposed to go up to each house and ask for candy???  I didn't know that was part of the deal!

Hi Foofa!!

Okay, I'm starting to get the hang of asking ... twick o tweat.  tank you.

Thanks for helping Daddy Michael.

These two little girls were like camels that night.  They always had to be holding on to their drink.  Who knew trick or treating was so exhausting!!

Look, our own little garden gnome hanging out in the bushes!

Day 4: We are thankful for ...

Paw!!!  Michael's dad is such a blessing in our lives.  We recently heard that he has prostate cancer.  We are trusting and believing in our God to heal and to show His power.  However, today is a scary day for Paw.  Today he goes to the doctor to find out what's next?!  We love you Paw. 

Paw doesn't like his picture taken, so we don't have a lot of pictures of him (at least not on my computer at work!)

Update: Paw heard from the doctor that the cancer has not spread outside of the prostate gland.  He will go to the surgeon next week to schedule his surgery to have it removed!  Thank you God for answered prayers.

The Shops of Grand River

On Sunday, we ventured out to The Shops of Grand River.  This is a new outlet mall that has opened up near our town.  We were crazy to go!  It was crowded with people!!!  Of course, Sarah and mommy couldn't spend the whole time shopping ... we had to play!

Sarah got to participate in a rhythm circle.  She was hesitant at first, but then caught on to the action!

Sarah was so good at drumming.  You can tell that she has really been listening at Kindermusik because when the leader counted down to stop drumming, she instantly stopped on cue and looked up at me and smiled.  Mrs. Jill would be so pleased!!!

They also have a small play area for kids who are tired of shopping!  Sarah climbed on top of the frog.

Day 3: We are thankful for ...

Friends!!!  We have so many friends, and I appreciate the role that each one of them play in our life.  However, I am so thankful to see the friendship with Evie and Sarah emerge and grow.  They both love each other and even treat both sets of parents as equals.  I love these two little girls and feel so blessed that they have each other.

Day 2: We are thankful for ...

Do I even need to comment to let you know that Sarah is super thankful for her "pappy"?  She actually thanked God for them in her prayer the other night.

Day 1: We are thankful for ...

Cousins!  Here are pictures from this past year of Sarah and her cousins.  Steven Riley will turn 6 years old this month and John Colton will be one early next year.  Sarah gets so excited if she even thinks that she will get to see "my stevie wiley".

Fall Festival

Last Friday, Sarah had her first class party (other than birthdays) and a fall festival at her school.  It was a lot of fun.  Sarah was super excited that Mommy came to her class party and that Mommy and Daddy were at the festival.  Of course, we did have some issues when we went inside the center to do our activities because Sarah got confused and thought that she was going to have to stay there.  Once she realized that we were all going to stay and play, the night went on smoothly!



Here is Sarah sitting at the table in her classroom eating her food.  They had a lot of food for a toddler party! They had pizza, capri-suns, chips, cheese puffs, cookies, cupcakes and chicken fingers.  Let's see ... what did Sarah eat???  Cheese puffs, chips and juice.  Of course, she did eat a great supper later that night!! 




This is a picture of the St. Jude's Trike-a-thon.  Each child was asked to raise money for St. Judes and they practiced bike safety during the trike-a-thon.  Sarah kept wanting to go ride other people's bikes, but she doesn't know how to ride yet.  Shh ... don't tell her, but I'm pretty sure she's getting one for either her bday or Christmas.  She sees it in the garage and says, "my bike" but she has yet to ask us for it.  It's like she just knows that she has to wait!!



Daddy and Sarah in the first classroom making her craft.  They picked out an orange cat and put Halloween stickers all over it.  Daddy peeled off the back of the stickers and Sarah stuck them on her cat.

This was Sarah in another room coloring a picture of a pumpkin.  We also went to two other classrooms for crafts.  In one of the classrooms, Mommy (I mean Sarah) was supposed to make a spider web out of pipecleaners.  We don't have a picture because Sarah decided she needed to go potty at that very moment!  The funny thing about the pipecleaner spider web was that on the package, it was clearly labeled -- 8 and up!!!

Look closely and my little candy corn.  On her left hand, she is holding up her version of "2 years old".  Happy girl!  She thought the party was all for her birthday!

I love this happy face!!!!