Two by Two for Tuesday

On this Random Tuesday, I’m stealing this cute, cute meme from Andy. Thought it was some light-hearted fun that we could share with each other!

It’s a Two-by-Two survey. Answer with things that are relevant to you RIGHT NOW on this day—the 20^th of March, 2007. And you know the drill, don’t you? Put your answers in my comments section; let us know if you are posting it on your own blog; answer just a few if you don’t have time; or ignore it altogether! LOL (But I really do hope you’ll join in the fun!)

Two Names You Go By
1. Mom
2. McKenna’s Mom; D’s Mom; Sydney’s Mom

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now
1. Pajama pants
2. Jimmy Buffett Margaritaville t-shirt (with one of my favorite JB lines: “The weather is here, I wish you were beautiful.”)

Two Things You Have in a Relationship:
1. laughter
2. trust

Two of Your Favorite Things to Do
1. travel
2. watch sports

Two Things You Want Very Badly At The Moment
1. a really loooonnnnngggg night’s sleep
2. something (anything!) chocolate

Two Pets You Had
1. dog named Solo
2. two cats (I actually still have them)

Two People Who Will Fill This Out
1. Jen
2. Jeff

Two Things You Did Last Night
1. watched Delaney’s team win (Woo Hoo!)
2. watched McKenna’s team win (Double Woo Hoo! Against the best team by far in her league! VERY exciting game!! Did I already say, “Woo Hoo”?)

Two Things You Ate Today
(it’s just a little after midnight so I haven’t actually eaten anything today. But yesterday I ate . . .
1. honey mustard chicken wrap
2. half a chocolate-glazed Krispy Kreme!

Two People You Last Talked To
1. Gary
2. the girls

Two Favorite Places
1. church
2. the beach

Two Things You're Doing Tomorrow
1. going to visit Mom and Dad
2. watch “Lost”

Two Longest Car Rides
1. Birmingham to Washington D.C.
2. Birmingham to San Antonio

Two Favorite Holidays
1. McKenna’s birthday
2. Sydney’s birthday
(okay, okay… they’re not technically “holidays,” but they are both coming up in the next two weeks so I’m very excited about them!)

Two Guilty Pleasures
1. long, hot bubble baths
2. chocolate-glazed Krispy Kremes (that half of a donut I had wasn’t near enough!)

Two Things that Make Me Laugh
1. being tickled around and under my knee
2. Monty Python

Two Things I Last Got in the Mail
1. Letter from my cousin Lacy and her husband
2. “Scrappalicious” t-shirt

I'm off to bed, hoping for a good night's sleep. Now if I could only convince Gary to bring me some chocolate to me (a Krispy Kreme please!) . . . Talk to you all soon!

Yay, I'm Back!!!
A Weekend Update for Random Tuesday

Let me just start this by saying (or screaming, actually!): "I can't STAND IT when my Internet is down!!!!!" Ugh!! I got home from our weekend at camp on Sunday evening, all ready to update with pictures and stories, and my Internet was down! Then yesterday, the girls were home from school for President's Day, so I had plenty of time to update my blog. But what's this? Yep, the Internet was still down!! I had pretty much given up--and figured that you all would think I had dropped off for the face of the earth and that I would never get to answer some important emails I had waiting for me. And then, lo and behold, this morning it reappeared! So, here I am at last (not the any of you were eagerly anticipating my return that much, but one can dream... lol!)

Well, we had a WONDERFUL weekend at camp although we came back SO exhausted. That always happens! We stay up very late both Friday and Saturday night, playing games and talking with friends and then have to sleep on not-so-comfortable bunk beds, and then we pay for it on Sunday. But... it's a price worth paying!

The weekend was SO cold that we spent most of the time indoors. We rocked by the fireplace, played games, sang music, and did as many activities inside as possible. Delaney did venture up the mountain with friends (this is a BIG activity for the weekend; we usually trek the mile and a half up the mountain to reach the cross and chapel on top), but it was too cold to get Sydney out for that long. (And my camera's batteries died at mid-day on Saturday, so I couldn't send the camera with her for some gorgeous photos of the view! wah!)

It SNOWED on Saturday night and the kids were all insane with happiness! Squealing, jumping around, catching snow in their mouths (or, wait, was that me doing that? Yep, I think it was!) Sydney even made up the Snow Song ("snow, snow, snow, snow... snow, snow, snow, snow" in the cutest little tune!). That was fun!

We had an awesome speaker with us for the weekend who did three sessions for us on Loving God and Loving One Another. He was so funny (he's also a stand-up comedian!) and inspirational! My favorite quote of the weekend was: "We can only truly know and love one another when we know the songs of each other's hearts." He challenged me to reach out to those around me and try and discover the "songs" of their hearts, so that I can really connect with others--both friends and those that I "know" I like, but also those who are "un-loveable" to me.

How about some pictures?

A glimpse of the scenery, looking down on the lodge where we stay (and then two other shots outdoors) ...







The first big "event" of the weekend is making signs for our room door. Here are Gary and Scout in front of ours...



Home away from home (very rustic and uncomfortable, but part of the appeal. LOL) ...



We spent a lot of time by the fire . . .



Playing games with friends was a highlight of the weekend. We played 80s Trivia (none of us did as well as we'd expected!), Phase 10 (our current fave card game), Apples to Apples (SO fun for a big group, we played it many times and just laughed and laughed!; need to check that one out!), and Scrabble . . .





Lots of free time meant Sydney racing through the halls . . .




Jump rope...



Camp food (it was nice to get home to "real" food) . . .



Wonderful music . . .



Fun with friends...




Hanging out at the playground (it was SO cold, but Sydney did not want to leave!). . .









Camp Sumatanga is SO gorgeous! The natural beauty of the place just blows me away. It is so relaxing and serene, and it is a place that really connects you with God. A few shots of the views . . .









So, as you can tell... we had a wonderful time and can't wait for next year!

Since I'm up and connected again with the Internet, I haven't been to any of your blogs. But I hope to stop by today sometime! I hope all of you had a great weekend too!

Now, this is Random Tuesday but since my weekend update was a day late I'm not doing anything "sexy" for my post today. Just thought I'd give you my list of 5 Things I'm Looking Forward to This Week:

(1) Seeing my friend Jeff this weekend!!!!!!! Jeff was one of my best college friends and he is flying in from New York City this Thursday. He and my best friend, Angela, and I are all getting together either Thursday or Friday (still making the arrangements!). The three of us had such a wonderful time back in school (can it really have been almost 20 years ago??!!) and we can't wait to all see each other!!

(2) Teaching my Calendar Class at Scrapbook Mania tonight! I'm teaching this class each month through the year, and we will be making a new layout using a different technique each month. Really looking forward to it! (will take pics!) (I am also looking forward to Maniac Madness, a scrapbook weekend being hosted by the store this coming weekend; I won't be able to go to all of it, but will be helping with a mini album class and hope to get some cropping time in!)

(3) Celebrating my Dad's birthday on Saturday! My Dad's birthday was Sunday (Happy Birthday Dad!), but we can't get together to celebrate until Saturday. Will be fun, as always!

(4) Watching Alabama play their way into the NCAA basketball tournament! We had a big win Saturday against Kentucky and have two more games this week. I'm gonna cheer REALLY loud this week for them. Roll Tide!

(5) Getting started with Softball!! It's the time of year that Softball becomes the all-consuming activity for our family! McKenna plays at our local park (Gary will be coaching her team this year, which is going to be really different; he has coached Delaney since she was 5!), and Delaney plays both for the park and also for the Birmingham Thunderbolts travel team. Delaney has been having Bolts practices all winter long and we will start tournament play on March 10. Our park practices will start this week! It takes up pretty much ALL of our time, but we LOVE it!! (Scout was at the ballpark when she was 3 days old and we all love sports so much--we just have a blast with it!)

Okay, so if you want to join in... let us all know about 5 things you're looking forward to this week!

So glad to be back online!!!

"Love Is . . ." Random Tuesday

Well, here it is Tuesday all over again and let me just say that I'm so glad today got here pretty much uneventfully and I'm able to post this for everyone! Small blessings ...

Tomorrow is, OF COURSE, Valentine's Day so I couldn't let today go by without some sort of love-themed Random Tuesday post. But I already did a fun Valentine's Day meme last Tuesday (it was fun, so go back and read it if you missed it!), so what's a girl to do this week?

Well, as is often the case, the idea came from just going through my daily life with a wonderful family. Any of you who know my girls in "real life", or who have read my blog long enough to get to "know" my girls, know that life is never dull around here . .. especially with an almost-three-year-old running the show!!

On Saturday, Scout definitely provided me with a "blog-worthy" (and journal-worthy and scrapbook-worthy!) moment!! I had just made my little "Love Is" tag journal at our scrapbook day at church and Scout asked what it was. I told her it was a book called "Love is" and she quickly asked, "You want me to read it to you?"

Of course I did!!

She took the book from me, opened it to the first page and said:

"Love is... (dramatic pause) . . . why you give hugs."



She went on to add:

"Love is . . . why you give kisses."

And:



"Love is . . . why you really, really, really, really, really, really sit down and play with me."

Wow!! Does that have meaning, or what? Don't young children just put it into simple terms? Don't they really know what it's all about?

Of course, I immediately wrote the conversation down and then actually went back later and added her words to the little album and labeled it on the back, "Sydney talks about what love is ... February 10, 2007."

And all of this got me to thinking about what Love really is. It is so many things... Love is patient, love is kind... Love is a many splendored thing ... Love is...

Well, what is it?

During this week of love, I'm thinking about what this emotion is all about. What do I love? What does it mean to love someone?

I probably could write a novel on the topic on create a very lenthy list, but some of the things that come to my mind because these things are just so "right now" to me . . .

Love is a cuddly hug from a daughter.

Love is a "Thanks Mom."

Love is a homemade chocolate chip cookie.

Love is being able to talk without saying a word.

Love is holding hands.

Love is letting me watch a basketball game, although you'd rather watch something else.

Love is laughing until you spit stuff out of your nose.

Love is forgiveness and grace that erases it all.

Love is family.

Love is the little gestures (like a FIL taking my trash down to the road, becuase I didn't have a hubby home to do it).

Love is a friend's hug.

Love is serving your husband, because you want to.

Love is memories--the good and the hard.

Love is bringing me a cold Diet Dr. Pepper.

Love is a, "Tell me what you need and I'm there with it the moment you need it."

Love is unconditional.

Love is a verb.

And now... since I always love to make my Tuesdays "interactive" . . . how about finishing the statement, "Love is.. ." and either posting your response here in my comments section or letting us know that you posted it on your blog.

(And just as an update for those of you interested: Gary right now is just feeling mostly tired and still "out of sorts"a bit; he has a neurologist's appointment this morning. Continued thoughts and prayers would be great!)

Thinking of something fun for my Valentine's Day post tomorrow. Perhaps a give-away (I guess you'll just have to come back and see; LOL).

Have a "LOVE"ly Tuesday...