We love our Mimi and Pappy!!

My other parents aka: Josh's parents, Billie and Richard, Mimi and Pappy to our kids, have a very special place in my heart. I love them very much and I know that they would do anything for us. Any time we have a problem with anything I always tell Josh the same thing..... call your Dad and see what he says! :-) Richard is always able to 'fix' whatever we have a question about and I know he enjoys it when Josh calls him for help! Josh's Mom, Billie, played a very important part in my road to salvation and looking back I can only imagine how hard she must have been praying for me.

They come over to our house frequently and when they do Mimi always brings her 'granny' bag. The bag typically contains a little 'gift' for each child and is also filled with wonderful books about Jesus. When the kids know that they will be coming to the house they get so excited and ask Josh and I every minute or so "When is Mimi and Pappy going to be here?"........they know they're always going to hear lots of good stories and get a surprise! Sometimes Mimi will spend the night with us..... Carlie loves this because she is Mimi's 'bed buddy'. :-) Casey is at the age where he loves Pappy's moustache and thinks it's funny to give him kisses and Clay loves to see what new story he gets to hear. Their current favorite is about Cain and Abel.... Mimi actually had to leave that book here for us!

These are some of the pictures that have been snapped over the years..... we love you guys very much and are so thankful for you.

Dinner and Dancing

Who says that you have to go to an expensive restaurant and to a Broadway show for quality food and entertainment? Why not just cook the food at home and have your sister come dance?

My parents were in town this weekend and on Saturday my sister Carrie and her husband Joel (aka: K K and Joel) came over for supper. I fixed a pasta dish that I make often (my neighbor Sarah got the recipe from the Barefoot Contessa and recommended it to me a few months ago). It's so yummy and makes a 'fancy' presentation. Josh made some of his dipping oil for the bread and Carrie made a lovely salad complete with homemade Parmesan crisps! It was a real feast..... however the kids decided on other food..... Clay had his staple of chicken nuggets and Carlie wanted her favorite Honey Nut Cheerios. Casey who was being rather fussy would only settle down if you gave him cheese puffs! After we ate and cleaned up the kitchen Aunt K K came down with a serious case of 'dance fever'. (She gets this quite often much to the kids delight!)

We ended the evening playing a fun card game called Phase 10. (Introduced to me by my other parents......thank you Heap's!) It is such a fun game and in the end Grandpa beat everyone!

A Taste of Spring!!!

With temperatures up to almost 60 degrees on Sunday we decided to take advantage of the weather! After church we came back to the house, changed clothes, ate a quick lunch and headed outside. Carlie and Clay wanted to take a bike ride so we put Casey in the stroller and took a big walk around the neighborhood...... and it's a good thing I thought to bring water because every 5 minutes or so Clay would say "Mommy, I'm thirsty! I need some water to give me more energy.". Before heading back to the house we stopped at the 'community play area' and let them burn off some more energy. (I forgot to bring my camera for the walk and playground) We found some sidewalk chalk when we returned home and the kids made some fancy artwork and ran around the yard. It was so nice to finally 'thaw' out and be able to get some much needed fresh air!

Salty the Cat

We have an old cat named Salty, I guess I should say she's my cat because I had her before I even met Josh. She'll be 10 years old this summer and she's kind-of a 'special' cat in the sense that she only has 1 leg that is in good working condition. She gets along fine despite her handicap...... she just looks funny when she walks. Salty is a good girl, she follows me everywhere and loves it when the kids go to bed at night because she gets to curl up with me on the couch!

She never has been a huge fan of the kids. When the kids are in the baby stage like Casey is now they like to pull ears, try to hold her, touch her, etc. Salty does not like this behavior and will usually hiss at them and run away.

On this particular occasion she was feeling rather friendly with Casey which is really unusual because she typically chooses to avoid him. Casey was playing 'hide-n-seek' on the couch with the blanket when Salty jumped up beside him. Casey was being so gentle with her that she didn't seem to mind him touching her. Eventually all of the attention got to be a little too much for Salty and she ran for cover under the table, but as you can see Casey wasn't giving up without a fight!