a story.

"Dinner is ready," said Boy.

But Girl just wasn't ready to talk.

Remembering the conversation with raised voices earlier, she wanted to stay curled up in bed forever.

"Dinner is ready."

"Your food will get cold," Boy tried once more.

Girl slid out of bed and reluctantly walked towards the door.

"Forever can never be long enough for me, to feel like I've had long enough with you..."

Their wedding song filled the candle-lit dining room, as Boy lead Girl to her seat.

With tears in their eyes, the forgiveness was clear.

He loves Her.

"In the good times and bad..."

Boy loves Girl.

currently...

wearing... one of Husband's long-sleeved tee and leggings

drinking... hot chocolate

sitting... on the couch,  bundled up in a blanket, with two sleepy puppies

listening... to the rain and Bing Crosby's "White Christmas"

wishing... it was Christmas time

worried... about the future

wanting... to know my "calling" in life

looking forward to... dinner and game night with friends and seeing my Okeechobee folks this weekend

future leaders of america...

I was working at the preschool the other day.

You know, hanging out with the 2 year olds,

getting glitter under my finger nails,

reminding them to not eat the crayons,

 the usual.

While we were outside on the playground,

one of the boys shouted, "UTTA BYE!"

(Which, if you don't speak toddler,

means, "BUTTERFLY!")

I look over and see a beautiful Monarch butterfly,

flying over their heads.

They were screaming and giggling, 

trying to chase the butterfly

when it landed on the fence in front of them.

After a few "Ooooh's" and "Aaaaah's"

(and maybe a tear from me from seeing such a sweet scene)

one of the boys hurled a Mickey Mouse bouncy ball

and smashed the "utta bye."

He turned around,

hands in the air,

as if victory was his.

They all laughed even harder

and screamed and clapped

 as if I just told them we were eating ice cream for lunch.

That's our future leaders, folks.

Utta Byes, beware.

My Friday Night

Literally, a kid in a candy store.

2 for 20 meal at Chili's

and

walking around the mall like the "cool kids" do.

Then, an amazing display of God's awesome-ness...

Perfect.

my happy little life...

1-2 Husband and boy-in-loves went to a Nascar race. I spent about 10 minutes trying to see them live. Longest I've ever watched a race in my life.

1-What started as a creepy tracing of a LifeWay bag, ended up being an even creepier self portrait.

2-Naptime, aka the best 2 hours of the day! 

1-I forgot to bring a change of clothes to work one day, so I asked Husband to grab a dress. Not fully trusting his fashion sense, I told him to send me a picture. This is what I got. He's a keeper.

2-I love lazy days with my girls.

1-I always wanted big eyes. Yeah? Yeah?!

2-Love, love, love spending time at our sweet, sweet church!

1-The beautiful Alabama sky!

2-Youth Week 2012. Special guests: Rush of Fools. They were so amazing on and off the stage. They joined in the crazy games and weren't stand offish like some big time bands can be (even Christian ones, sadly.)

1- Stormy night in Graceville. My little red bug got a nice washin'.

2- Big news in this small town, a cow got loose! Call the fire department! Call the police! Stop all traffic! By the way, I'm pretty sure they got him and nobody (or cow) was harmed!

1-I just had to laugh when I saw these new cards in WalMart. I apologize if you like him, but I personally believe these should be in the humor section.

2- Little girl will do anything for love and attention. Even let me pile clothes on top of her when she's in my way. "Am I doing good, Mommy?"

1-Evidence of being a youth pastor #35353- Pizza places know you by name.

2-New favorite tshirt. Hands down.

1-I switched pre-schools and now I teach for this cute place!

2-After a day of teaching at said pre-school, this is my daily pick-me-up.

things.

Wearing your hair down, while teaching at a preschool, almost always turns out bad. What starts out as cute little girls playing "hair do-ers," quickly turns into a form of Chinese torture. A painful form of torture for sensitive scalped, migraine prone people like me. I went to school Wednesday and learned my lesson. Top knots are my new favorite thing.

Husband got an iPad recently, (thanks, Mom and Dad!) and we put our wedding pictures on there. I  made one of our favorites the lock screen background. The next time I opened it, I was greeted by a picture of "The Avengers." Not sure how I feel about that. 

I've been trying to eat healthier, work out, etc, and part of my "training" is to log what I eat. I downloaded a super nifty app on my phone to help hold me accountable. It tracks how many calories I've eaten, how many I've lost after exercising, and how close I am to reaching my goal. After a week of logging, I hate that stupid thing. Nobody likes being told they aren't doing the right thing. I'm slowly getting there though. I have become more conscious about what I eat and how much exercising I'll need to do to work it off. Tough stuff.

It's raining right now and I want nothing more than to jump into a pool. Swimming is so much cooler in the rain. Unless there's lightning, that's not very cool.

My Husband is actually off tonight and the other house dwellers are gone for the weekend...you know what that means! Frozen pizzas and board games. Can I get a "woohoo" for poor newlyweds?!

I am always trying to convince Husband that I'm funny. After 4 years, he's still not convinced. I think he's the one with the problem. I'm clearly hilarious.

To start the weekend off right, I leave you with some Christmas spirit. Can't go wrong with Chrimma music.

Happy weekend

and

Merry Christmas!

Mini Messages

Husband made me lunch the other day. He's a keeper.

Dear 5:45am,
Can you act like 10:00am? I like him better.

Dear Calories,
Why do you have to hide, in large amounts, inside yummy goodness? Not fair.

Dear Husband,
I love you. Plain and simple. Mushy gushy love.

Dear Maitland (aka Rachel aka tall, red-haired girl on Boy Meets World,
I'm still giggly that one of my favorite actresses, from one of my favorite t.v. shows is following me on Twitter. And, I love your name.

Dear 7:00pm,
Thanks to your friend, 5:45am, you are now my new bedtime.

Hope you had wonderful Mondays!

family week

family. roadtrips. shopping. food. 

new clothes. restaurants. beach. fireworks. 

puppies. laughter. love.

Maybe...

Maybe... I slept in til 12pm.

Maybe... my parents are coming tomorrow.

Maybe... I should keep cleaning the house.

Maybe... I should take a shower.

Maybe... I need to do my nails.

Maybe... I ate oatmeal and doritos for lunch.

Maybe... that's all we have in the house.

Maybe... I need to go grocery shopping.

Maybe I'll go to take a nap.

Mini Messages: Bailee Edition

Dear Humans,
Don't you understand that every little noise could potentially be the end of the world? Why aren't you more concerned?

Dear Daddy,
Even if Mommy hates it, I love when you fall asleep in the living room and leave me out all night.

Dear Olive,
I may be smaller, but I'm still older. I'll never let you forget that.

Dear People Food,
I really like you, but it's rare that I actually get to eat you. I try to look super cute when I beg, but it's like they see right through me.

Dear Socks,
You cannot hide from me. You're mine! All mine!