A Day to Celebrate

Happy birthday to the daddy of our little family. Brian's birthday not only marks the day the Lord created the single great blessing of my entire life, but it also marks the anniversary of our first date... it was 9 years ago today. Can you believe he would want to take me out on a date on his birthday? Wouldn't he rather go out with his family or friends and do something fun? Suprisingly he would rather not. He asked me out for his birthday and I said yes. That was the start of this whole journey of life we are on. He took me to dinner at Bennigan's in College Station and then he took me to play miniature golf at a little place that has since closed down. He won me a little plastic ring in the arcade. I wasn't sure right away that I would marry him, but I was pretty sure I would never ever break up with him.

Here's my man in action tonight at his volleyball game.

Here's one of the cheerleaders:

Daddy's girls

I keep telling him he is destined to be a girls' coach. He's a natural.

Here's another cheerleader


Here's cheerleader #3:

String cheese is a must when you need to keep a 2 year old occupied for a long period of time.

I packed us dinner to eat in the bleachers.

Avery even got to meet the CFHS Eagle! She kept calling it a puppet!

I'm so proud to be an Aggie tonight. I just came across a video of Dude Perfect, a group of guys from Texas A&M who do crazy basketball trick shots. One of their shots is the longest basketball shot ever and could be in the Guiness book of world records. For every 100,000 people who view their camp edition videos on their website, they will sponsor a child through Compassion, which is a ministry I love. So go to their website and watch the long shot and the camp edition. Such cute Aggie guys! I'm so glad I've got me one right here to snuggle up to!

Be still my heart...

Avery's first soccer practice!! SHE LOVED IT! I even got to help the coach with all the drills because my mom was in town and she watched Tatum & Laney for me. Overwhelmingly exciting for her, and mostly, for me!

My mom also brought this when she came:

Only a grandmother would take the time to sew such a beautiful Tinkerbell costume for my little fairy! Tatum's fairy costume is coming soon... stay tuned. Thanks mom for such a fun visit!

"Course He isn't safe, but He's good..."

I don't feel like I have much to blog about since most of my blogs lately have been about the kids and they aren't really doing anything too extraordinary right now. Except Laney did cut her first tooth this weekend, finally. What a trooper! And Tatum did wear big girl Ariel panties all morning on Saturday, with no accidents. That all changed Saturday afternoon. We went through three pairs of panties in two hours. And lastly, I did decide to cut Avery some bangs. I googled how to cut cute bangs yourself and it didn't seem to hard, so I did it and they came out pretty cute I must say. She looks alot older with bangs.

Anyway, I have been struck that I haven't really blogged about me lately and that is one of the main things I intended this blog to be about. An outlet for me to write what's going on with me.

At church yesterday our Sunday school teacher showed us a movie trailer for an upcoming movie called "Legion." Don't watch it, you will never look at old ladies the same. I am completely petrified when I see an old lady walking close by me. Seriously, I am sweating just thinking about them. I just looked behind my shoulder to make sure there weren't any coming in the room.
Anyway, the premise of the movie is that when God was fed up with mankind the first time He sent a flood. But when God gets fed up with mankind this time, He sends angels (they look more like demons with wings) to destroy mankind. Anyway, our Sunday school teacher made the point that even though the movie is completely heretical and probably horribly anti-God, they did get one thing right: All mankind should FEAR God. He is good, but he is also holy. Hell is real. Except for Christ, we all deserve the most torturous fate because we have failed to be holy as He is holy.

Brian & I were talking about it afterwards, and just realized that you never hear that in Christian circles in church anymore. People want a message that makes you feel good, but they don't want to hear that you should be trembling and your knees should be knocking at the thought of who God really is. It also puts a fire in me to make sure all my non-Christian friends have every possible chance to choose Christ. It is extremely scary to think of them going through such horror.

Growing up, my dad read "The Chronicles of Narnia" to my big brothers & I alot of nights after supper. We would sit at the kitchen table and my dad would get out whichever book we were on and read a few chapters. I would usually fall asleep with my head on the kitchen table, but I remember alot about the books and I have a special place in my heart for them. Rusty brought up this part in class yesterday and I love it:

“Is – is he a man?” asked Lucy.
“Aslan a man!” said Mr. Beaver sternly. “Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-beyond-the-Sea. Don’t you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion – the Lion, the great Lion.”
“Ooh!” said Susan, “I’d thought he was a man. Is he – quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”
“That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver; “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”
“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King I tell you.”

I hope I don't ever get too comfortable with God and treat Him like a big cozy teddy bear. He is not safe, but He is good. Thank you Lord that I serve such an awesome God!

I'm still nervous that there is an old lady behind me. Lord, help me take every thought captive to obedience of Christ! No more thoughts of scary old ladies! Seriously, no matter how tempted you are to watch the trailer, DON'T!!

Happy Birthday, Dad! And thanks for taking the time to implant wisdom in our hearts by reading us great books. Sorry I slept through most of them, but I remember the sound of your voice lulling me to sleep as you read, and I remember the excitement in my brother's voices wanting you to read more. I have such happy memories of growing up as your daughter. I love you! (Mom- could you read this to him when y'all sit down for dinner tonight?)

Our Weekend in Pictures

Fun times swimming with the family over labor day weekend...

Avery's long hair (story to follow)

Laney STANDING UP next to her cousin Tara. These two little buddies babbled to each other all weekend. I can only imagine what their conversations will be like in a year or two!

A couple days ago I got tired of combing the rat's nest out of Avery's hair every day, so I decided we were going to cut it. Thankfully she was okay with it because Tinkerbell has short hair too. So I got my special hair scissors and I chopped off about 8 inches of hair. We were both really happy about it and it looks alot healthier and thicker now that it's shorter.

Anyway, the next night, after the girls were already in bed, I went into my bathroom and found my hair scissors out on the counter and a few clusters of hair on the floor. I knew I had not done a perfect job on Avery's hair the day before, so I asked Brian if he had decided to even out Avery's hair or if he thought his mom might have decided to cut her hair a little bit. He said no. Turns out our little angel Avery had gone into my bathroom, found the hair scissors that I keep in the back of my jewelry box (where no one can find them!), and taken off a few strands at the front of her hair. She now has a row of uneven itty bitty bangs. I can't decide if it's not that bad and I should just leave it, or if I should just take her to get some real bangs cut (I don't trust myself to cut her bangs... I've tried before and it wasn't cute). Look at the pictures and give me your opinion.

Here's the damage up close:

Here she is the morning after our discovery:

I know it could have been much worse, so I am thankful it's just a few strands of hair. Tatum has the best morning hair ever. I hope it never "calms down" because it makes me smile every morning. Here's the back of Avery's hair so you can see how much I cut.

We enjoyed having some family & friends over to our house on Sunday. Thankfully it was nice & cool and the rain held off for us, so we really had a great time. Here's Avery & Tatum with their buddies Carson & Rylin.

I was explaining to Avery a few days ago how I used to be named Melanie McR**, but when I married Daddy, his name was Mr. K, so I became Mrs. K. It took some explaining, but she finally understood that a woman changes her name when she gets married and takes the last name of the man she marries. It didn't take her long to decide who she wants to marry. She is officially in search of an eligible 4-year old with the last name "Bell" so she can marry him and be named Miss Bell (as in Tinker-Bell). :)