Awanas Pinewood Derby

This was our first Pinewood Derby and the kids were so excited to be able to design their own cars. Abigail and Caleb drew out the shape they wanted their cars cut into and helped Daddy and Mr Dale cut them. Then they sanded and cleaned the cars to prep them for paint. They each then painted their cars and affixed the stickers to make them look perfect. We didn't win a trophy but we had a good time and made some memories. Grandmomma and Grandaddy came to the race which pleased the kids even more. All in all, it was a successful first race!
Caleb decided to go with a UGA theme for his car.

Abigail designed a High School Musical car.

Lydia found a friend, Wesley, to play cars with while the race was going on.

Abigail sat with two of her friends, Savannah and Tessa, while the races were going on. They talked and giggled about who knows what while the other kids were racing their cars.

Lydia's First Haircut

Poor Lydia, she is three years old and just getting her first haircut. Her hair has not grown in very quickly so it hasn't been necessary before now. She was very excited to be such a big girl!

Doesn't she look precious???

Caleb's 100th Day Project

Each of the kids in Caleb's class had to do a project to celebrate their 100th day of school. They had to find items around their house to put in each column in groups of ten from ten through one hundred. This is the final result. He was so proud of himself.

Caleb's UGA Tailgate Party

This year for his birthday party, Caleb decided he wanted to have a UGA Tailgate party. Not exactly an easy theme to pull off in the middle of the off-season! We found some UGA napkins at the party store and that was all we had to start with. I made a red and black birthday banner, we hung up red and black streamers and balloons, we made a UGA football centerpiece for the kitchen table, MeMa found a UGA helmet pinata, and Roy made a UGA helmet cake. Caleb was so pleased with the results. He thought everything was perfect.
So, the food for a tailgate party is easy: grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, chips and dip, fruit, and drinks. Stuff every kids loves! Caleb invited some friends from church and school this year. It was a lot of fun having all those kids come to help him celebrate his birthday. We let him decide who he wanted to invite and thankfully, most of them came! We had UGA ornaments for each of the kids to take home with their candy bag from the pinata. We also had the grandparents there so that made it even more special. It was a great time! Caleb got a lot of really neat toys but it seems that his favorite gift was his guitar. He has been wanting one for a year and Mema found a great deal on one for us. He and I are planning to take lessons together. When you stop and think, this party had all of the makings of a successful birthday: food, friends, family, gifts, cake, pinata! What more could a boy ask for?

Happy New Year

Well, this is the time for New Year's Resolutions but this year I have decided that my New Years Resolution will be to not make a resolution. Wait, I think that i just contradicted myself. Anyway, every year I have these lofty goals for myself; lose 50 pounds, exercise daily, spend more time reading to my children, spend an hour with God every day, have a better attitude when faced with trials, keep up with the house cleaning better, save more money, keep in touch with my friends better, spend more time volunteering, etc. These are great ideas but I always seem to set myself up to fail. I make all of these resolutions and then just expect myself to automatically be able to accomplish all of them every day. Obviously, this hasn't happened yet. I have been thinking about why I keep failing when I am setting goals which are positive and healthy. Here is my conclusion: I have left God out of the picture. The goals I am setting are positive and healthy but I forgot the important part of setting goals for myself, what does God want from me this year? I am sure God would love for me to spend more time in the Word, spend more time with friends and family, lose some weight and cultivate a healthy lifestyle, be a good steward of my home and finances. But are these the priorities he is setting for me? So this year instead of setting a bunch of resolutions that I will not be able to reach, I am going to instead spend more time in the Word and praying. if I am truly trying to get closer to God then His will for me will become clear. And if I am truly striving to do His will, His way then how can I fail?