Well it didn't quite go as I had planned...

So yesterday was Day 1 of our 40 Days of RAOK.  We drove to downtown Auburn and "fed the meters" to shoppers who had just parked their car and to cars that had a "Violated" sign on their meter.  Earlier during the day, I had visions of my sweet darlings smiling at strangers and handing them quarters, telling them to "Have a blessed day!"  Not quite how it happened!  Lots of fighting over who get s to feed the meter, who gets to turn the handle, who gets this car, blah, blah, blah.  And I even had a couple of questions like this, "If I don't put my quarters in any of the meters, can I have my money and get an ice cream?"

So yeah, it didn't quite go as I had planned!

Say a prayer for us on Day 2! 

40 Days of Lent = 40 Days of Random Acts of Kindness

I'm back in the blogging world and I apologize for my abrupt absence.  I had to add some security measures to my blog for the sake of my children's safety, then we moved to the lake for the summer, then school started and life happened.  But I'm back to document (hopefully!) the next 40 Days (at least).

During the hectic Christmas Season, I decided that I wanted my children to experience the true meaning of Christmas by practicing Random Acts of Kindness (RAOK).  However, I could never quite get it together.  But I decided then that Lent seemed to be an even more appropriate tome to fully experience what it means to be a Christian and to teach my children about the sacrifice that Jesus made for them and the love God shows for them.  I want to make Lent a meaniginful experience for them by practicing 40 Days of Random Acts of Kindness and I CAN'T WAIT to bless others and watch as  my chidreln not only bless others, but experience their own blessing that comes from loving others. 

So I've re-opened the ole blog to document this season of our lives.  When the children come home from school today, we'll get busy.  We 've brainstormed many ways to pracice our RAOK, but I'm not sure what we'll do first.  I'll report back later!  :)

Kat's 8th Birthday Party

Techincally Kat's birthday isn't until the end of June, but she wanted to have her birthday party during the school year, so ...whatever. What's one more party during the month of May, right?!
She wanted a slumber party. Well, actually, she wanted a Frog Legs/Pizza/ Skating/Slumber Party. But we (I) decided we'd just have a slumber/spa party and we'd have pizza delivered to the "Spa on Sanders" (our house!). To all her adoring fans, here she is post spa treatment:
And here she is with all of her cute friends, post spa treatment.

Here is one of spa assistants (AA's friend) styling hair. The girls received the royal treatment! Hair, nails, make-up, the works!

And here's AA giving Kat her special treatment:

The girls are having their pedicures:

Party time!!

Happy Birthday to You!

Say cheese!

My two assistants taking a break form Spa Chaos. :)

Some of the details:

It was a fun party with a spirited group of kids who stayed up til 12:37! And then woke up at 6:30 a.m. We ate cinnamon rolls and decorated cookies until their parents arrived at 10 a.m.

Happy Birthday Party, Kat!

Nothin' but fun!

Look who received her very first trophy!

And all she had to do was whistle and skip down a soccer field!

Talk about a little girl who had nothing but fun on the field! She skipped, twirled, jumped, giggled, high-fived, and whistled all the way down the field. Well not really ALL the way. She usually hung back and didn't make it from one end of the field to the other. But that didn't interfere with her having fun!

She was really FUN to watch too! She truly didn't care if she scored or not, or if her team won or not. Although winning gave her bragging rights. I liked watching her skip and twirl and sing. I especially loved it when she would get her leg ready to kick that soccer ball - she'd kick as hard as she could....but usually she ended up just kicking air. That would send her into a fit of giggles.

I don't think she had any idea that there were a bunch of parentsa on the sidelines watching the game. She didn't have a care in the world! Thanking God for this FUN little girl!

A couple of weeks ago, we celebrated AAA's birthday at the lake. This is always a FUN time! The hardest part about the party is making the guest list. We are limited to the number of guests she can invite because of the number of seat belts we have in our cars! Our own kids take up four of the seat belts (Although this year we made them double buckle!), so it gets harder and harder to decide who to invite. She has such a sweet group of friends and I LOVE getting to know them. This is a LOW drama group of girls. What a blessing!

For some strange reason, I'm going to have to break her birthday party into two posts. Something is making this particular post run SO SLOW. I'm going to post it then start another post to finish it. Bear with me.

SHowing off their tiki heads!

Spending money - always brings a smile!

And more presents!

Painting their tiki heads - these girls are creative!

Enjoying their hotdogs...

Sittin' round the fire...