Birthday Shopping with Grandma!

Grandma has been visiting while Daddy is gone on his annual mission trip. We decided to head to Build-A-Bear for some birthday shopping. This was a first for Grandma and Mackenzie, I think they equally enjoyed their new found fun.

I am still tickled about how much the girls individual personalities were expressed in the accessories they picked for their animals. Sophie, added a wig and glitzy outfit. Mackenzie picked pink fluffy shoes and a sassy purse. Haleigh, oh Haleigh, what hard working construction bear doesn't need silver sparkling sandals!!

"But he takes care of us!"

Today at lunch we were spending some time praying for Mark's mission trip. We read Eph 6:19 and prayed for boldness for the team as they prepare for the week ahead. One of Mark's specific concerns this year is that they do not have a pediatrician as part of the medical team and they see a lot of children. I was explaining, "When Daddy has patients here they are adults, he doesn't take care of children so we need to pray that Daddy will have wisdom and confidence that the Holy Spirit will guide him as he takes care of the children." In Haleigh's usual pattern, she takes it all at face value, "But Daddy takes care of us, we're children and he fixes us!" (Keep in mind this is coming from the child who fell in the shower a few weeks ago. When I told her we'd have Daddy take a look at it. Through her tears she said, "Does this mean I have an infection in my elbow?!")

Daddy, Hi from your girls back home, all 4 of us:) We love you and are praying for you and the team. I enjoyed the worship at church knowing how much you are renewed by the worship times in Barinquilla!! Love you so!!

"I think you grew..."

This morning Haleigh and I had some sweet snuggle time. It struck me how long Haleigh seemed to be. I said, "Haleigh, I think you grew taller last night!" She paused in deep thought and then about burst with excitement, "I must have turned five!!" (Not yet, just a few more weeks:)

Ducks, Views and Gems

We started the morning feeding the ducks. (Mackenzie and I had taken a practice round the evening before, but as 38 ducks were getting closer I was getting more nervous because the food was gone and I'm leery of birds anyway. We took reinforcements with us for the morning feeding.)

We set out on the Blueridge Parkway. The views were breath taking. I loved hearing the girls get excited over the beauty of God's creation. They have fallen in love with autumn and seeing the leaves show off their vibrant colors. We stopped at Blowing Rock to take in the views. (I think the girls would have been satisfied to stay there and climb on this one big rock all day!)

Our next stop (after lunch of coarse) was at Emerald City. We took a tour of their "museum" displays and then headed down to mine for gems. We still have to sort through the bags of treasures and identify which rocks are true keepers. (I figure they will all be labeled keepers if we leave it up to the girls :)

Another full day of fun and exploring ended with three very sleepy gals, 2 exhausted parents, and two grandparents with a plan of sleeping in late and catching up with us at noon the next day.



misc. funnies from the day...

When we arrived at our hotel it was a corner room and had two different views. As Mark and I were admiring the mountain view we heard Haleigh from the other window. "Oh yeah! Look at that, we can see McDonalds!!"

During the car trip the girls were making up stories for their monkeys to act out. We overheard Sophie's intro, "according to legend..." It was a blast for Mark and me to just listen at the stories unfold in the back seat.

The final posting of our trip will follow once I get the pics from Mark's phone, my battery died in the camera and I didn't pack the charger.
toy store,"grossology" exhibit, apple orchard and boat tour

Meeps and Gran's 50 Anniversary Trip

This past weekend we set out on a trip to celebrate Mark's parents' 50th anniversary. Our plan was to head to Tweetsie Railroad to start the celebration. (What good sports to pick this to be the beginning of their celebration :) As we drove closer and closer the clouds got darker and darker. We decided to head to lunch and see if the rain would pass while we were filling out tummies. Sophie was in continuous prayer that the rain would quit. Upon God saying "yes, the down pours will be stopping now" celebration broke out at the table.

As we entered the park the train was loading and we jumped on for the adventure to begin.

As we traveled through the cowboy and indian scenes a battle broke out. One indian jumped on our train car whoopin' and hollarin' to escape. (I had warned the girls this was a possibility as the ride began.) Leave it to Sophie to try to strike up a conversation with the indian on the run. Of coarse the indian stopped, smile and said hi as he jumped off the train and went back to his hollarin'.

Speaking of conversations, Sophie also took advantage of the quiet times on the train to speak with the "tour guide"/ announcer. Her main questioning involved the petting zoo area. Sophie was asking if the Emu at this petting zoo had good vision "because apparently the one at the last petting zoo I visited didn't. It thought my finger was a carrot and bit me!" The announcer told her to be careful of the Emu they all made him a little nervous.

The rides were exciting! All three girls had their first farriswheel rides. Mackenzie's ride (and everyone else on the ride with her) was cut short because Mackenzie only thought it was great fun before she got on it :(

Driving the cars was great fun (at least for the kids.)


Then there were the shows... and you know who about jumped out of their skins when they asked for volunteers. Yep both shows, both older gals on the stages.

Mackenzie preferred to stick with Daddy and watch the craziness.

The petting zoo was fun, I was the only one to get nibbled on. I guess the lamas are the vision impaired ones at this petting zoo.

...we mined for gems...








we stood in a giant teepee...

This isn't a great picture, just proof that I was actually part of all the fun. However, Haleigh did say that the chairlift was her favorite part of the day. That is where this pic was taken.




Can you tell who loves her daddy? They stuck together most of day. Both of them lovin' it :)

The day ended with a huge piece of chocolate cake for the girls and really great blackberry cobbler for me and Mark!

to be continued...

feeding the ducks, Blowing Rock, mining for gems!

Happy Birthday to Me :)

Sophie has been counting down to my birthday the last 2 weeks. The closer we got the more excited she became. Everytime we went to the store she would seek out the cake decorating isle. I postponed buying all the fanciful decorations because I knew once they were in the house the girls wouldn't be able to wait to start baking. This past week we stocked up and Sophie began to design the cake in her mind. She wanted to have a garden theme for my special day. To carry out the theme Sophie and Haleigh picked out a miniture rose plant for me from the floral department.

After a sweet AM2PM meeting this morning we came home with lunch, put Mackenzie down for her nap and the party started...

mixing ingredients...

always some tasting. . .

we learned how to "marble"...

The cake was baked, cooled and Mackenzie was up and ready to help decorate!!

Thanks girls for making my day so special!!

I am blessed to have such loving girls who

get excited to make me smile!!

I will always remember this beautiful cake and even more the fun we had making it!!