16 random things about ME

I was tagged a few weeks ago now by my dear friend Allison Stephens, who by the way I MISS SOOOOOO much.
Okay so here goes, I may get 16 maybe a little less, but I'm trying. I'm really not that interesting of a person.

1. I am an only child and I love it.

2. I am also the only child that I knew growing up that could have a coke with my breakfast.

3. When I was younger, I ate a pickle every night before I went to bed. And I wonder now why I have a problem eating healthy.

4. I sleep under 4 blankets at night.

5. I love snuggling with my children, kissing their sweet faces, holding and looking at them. I really think I could do it all night. I love it!

6. I have worn two different shoes in public more than once.

7. I broke my tailbone on a slide in Germany.

8. I broke a bone in my foot whild in Spain. (I think I need to quit traveling out of the country)

9. Those were the only two bones I've ever broken.

10. I think these past three years have been the most difficult in terms of making and developing good friendships. I have begun to wonder at times if it's my stage of life or if it's really something about me. I would say me, but then I think of all the good friends I've made prior to living here and I have great, good and lasting friendships.

11. I have a cup of coffee every morning when I wake up.

12. I shot a bird when hunting with my husband once and started to cry. Let's say I've never been hunting again.

13. I hate exercise, but I love to jazzercise. It's the only workout I've every really enjoyed doing. I recommend it to any of you that hate the gym.

14. I am not crafty, but try my hardest to be. I am such a copycat when it comes to making things.

15. My best friend today is my best friend from when I was 4 months old, that's when she was born. I guess you could say we're like sisters. We're the only sister each of us has ever known.

16. I am not an organized person, but really want to be. I really think it's something that you're born with or not. Is there any of you that would disagree with me? Because if you do, I would love to know how to work toward being an organized person or if you have tips.

Okay, so now I'm done and I now tag Paula Cibula, Kim Cobb, and Amanda Skinner, if you guys haven't already done this.

Jesus' birthday party

H.T.'s school had a Christmas program a few nights ago and so on our way home we were talking about gifts and the true meaning and reason we celebrate Christmas. So here's how the conversation goes. With much excitement from me.

Mom: H.T. buddy, do you know why we celebrate Christmas?

H.T.: nothing (which we've talked about over and over, Jesus' birthday)

Mom: Well buddy, we celebrate Christmas, because it's Jesus' birthday. So we're really celebrating Jesus' birthday.

H.T.: Uh Huh

Then we started talking about going to Grammy and Poppy's for Christmas and how we were going to get to open Christmas gifts and give them their Christmas gifts from us.

Mom: H.T. do you know that Jesus gave us the best gift of all.

H.T.: Yeah

Mom: Do you know that Jesus came here and lived on earth and that he gave us his life, so that we may know him and live with God forever.

He came to cover all of our sins. Sometimes, like when we don't obey or we hit our sister or say mean things to others, anything that we may do that isn't so nice, these things are sin buddy.

H.T.: Yeah, and dragons aren't nice, they're mean and I can stick my tongue out at them and I can hit them. I can shoot spiders and snakes and stick my tongue out at them.

Mom: Yelp buddy, you sure can.H.T. eating while he decorates.

They got to decorate their cupcakes and then sing Happy birthday to Jesus. It was precious!

Christmas program. He saw me and got excited.

My LIFE these days

We seem to be too busy these days. I feel at times I don't have time to sit and play with my children. I am busying myself with too many other projects, whether it be getting ready for vacation, redecorating the house, calling pest control, cleaning, laundry and anything else you can imagine.
My heart breaks when I read a friends blog who has just lost her little girl. I sit, wonder and pray for her and her family and can't imagine what she is going through. Please, pray for this family, if you're interested in her blog, you can go to Atchison family from my blog.
Another good friend (Amy Cook, she's really neat you should read her blog too), one day they will be too old to ask you to play and we'll wish we had played with them when they were asking us to. There are so many times that I've told Hudson I would play with him later because I was having to cook, unload the dish washer, iron or some other thing that's not nearly as important as he is.
Todd and I have really been missing Birmingham lately, not the city itself, but our great friends there. We have been here a little over 2 1/2 years now and still feel homesick. We miss all of you from there so much and wish we could be living our lives with you and your families.
This was a quick update of me and what's going on right now.

Barcelona,Spain

This is Todd in front of a Catholic church being built. It is huge and is not finished. It's actually really sad, this church is being paid for by the people in Barcelona, because they believe that if they give money to build this building, it is paying for their sins. This makes me sad that they actually believe their sins can be paid for by anything other than Christ. He is our only redeemer! Also, a very small percentage of people actually do attend a church service. This is being built for tourists.

We took a boat ride and saw these ridiculously huge jellyfish. And, there were tons of windsurfers out there. What were they thinking?

Needless to say we did not go on the beach. Where would we have put our towels and umbrella had we decided to go? Another tidbit, you could wear your top if you wanted or you could just take it off. No big deal!

Okay, not a good picture of me, but this was us on our way to the gala. We ate at the place that Christopher Columbus's welcoming home celebration took place. The buildings there were beautiful.

All in all, we had a great time. It was good for us to hang out, sleep in, tour and shop the city.

Our hotel was lovely and guess who stayed there while we were there. The cast of Batman. I didn't see them, but some others from our group did. They had their opening premiere one evening that we were there. I think it was a day or two after Christian Bale was released from jail. Huuummm!!!!

Hair Tip #3 (i think)

So I haven't written lately on hair tips. I guess this really isn't a tip it's just a suggestion if you're someone like me who's had your hair highlighted for years. For the past few years I've had my hair highlighted and low lighted at the same time. It makes for a pretty color, but in the past year or two, the styles have had a more solid hair color look. Are most of these still highlighted? Yes! What some of the stylists are doing is highlighting and low lighting the hair then using a toner to soften the look making the hair appear a solid color. Are some of these not highlighted? Yes! Some are just going dark all over. I'm sure you've seen this in magazines, television, etc. So my suggestion is go for a solid color look. Is my hair highlighted still? Yes, but much smaller weaves, which also let's you go longer between services because the new growth is not as obvious.

For products, my all time favorite is Kerastase! Love it, Love it, Love it! It's expensive, but it's good.

I would love to share a picture of Lauren Conrad with you. She has this darker look, but still blond. It's a great shade. I just can't find the picture, so if you're in the grocery store, it's in Entertainment weekly this week.

What's been going on

It's been a while since I've last posted. I'm sorry to all of you dedicated readers. I'm sure I've lost most of you by now. I'll promise to always do better, but I really can't right now. We have had a busy summer and it's not slowing down anytime soon. We are usually out of the house by 7:55 every morning, then off for a fun filled, rushed day. I realized today that I keep saying hurry! hurry! My children are going to always think we need to be in a hurry.

We traveled to Gulfport a few weeks ago and had a blast visiting mom, family and friends. We went to the river on day and Hudson loved it, Caroline didn't like the sand too much. We were right there on the coast, but never made it to the beach Hmmm, I don't know what happened there. Maybe next time mom! Back to the river, Hudson loved it, he kept saying "This river is great, it's just wonderful, I love this place," there was no way I could put him down for a nap.

Todd's parents came up for the 4th, we went to Franklin on the fourth, which was fun, the kiddos enjoyed the animals, jumping things and the fireworks.

An update on swimming, they are doing really well and I think we'll finish next week. Hip Hip Hooray!

Last but not least we are leaving for Barcelona, Spain in a week. I am extremely nervous, anxious and all the other emotions that come when you're leaving your children. I've left them both before, but this seems harder, well it is in a way, we are farther and this trip is longer. Todd and I met with an attorney today to sign our wills and make sure we have all of that in order. Whoa! Scary! But it's nice to know that everything is taken care of. I'm sure I'll be crying many tears while leaving them. I usually do! This trip sounds fun, but for any of you who know me, I would almost rather stay with my children and not go. So, if you would please pray for me, that I would put my trust in the Lord and that He would calm my fears. This sounds petty, but it's really hard. Thank you and I hope to blog again soon.

Swim Lessons

I haven't been on here in a while. I thought this summer would slow down for a while, but we've only gotten busier. This is good, but tiring at times - I must confess. The kiddos started swim lessons about three weeks ago. These lessons are every day for 10 minutes, for 6 weeks. H.R. is doing so good, he is swimming underwater and rolling onto his back for a rest time. I am completely amazed because last year he wouldn't get off the steps and he had to have a life jacket and floaties on. I must have instilled some fear in him. C.G. is swimming, but cries the intire time, except when she's underwater. It's really sad! I will try to get some pictures of them up soon. These lessons are mainly for learning survival skills. If you're interested in knowing more about these lessons, you can go to www.infantswim.com