You'll never guess what I found in Florida...

CHRIS' SMILE!!! :)

If the following happens to you in a less than 48 hour time period - perhaps it is a sign that you need a vacation (and no this does not include how tired or stressed you are from work and other various responsibilities)...
     * Your son develops a 100+ temperature
     * Your baby girl who is trying to teeth and who is having trouble pooping constantly screams and crys
     * Paint that has been sitting in your closet for months suddenly gets spilled all over the carpet
     * Your son (who never gets sick) throws up during dinner
     * After putting in new oil and a filter - the pressure explodes dumping most of that oil unto the garage floor
     * Wanting to clean up the oil, you decide to move the car (whose brakes you've just replaced) and ask your wife (who doesn't know to pump the brake in order to get the brake fluid to the new brakes) to be the one to move the car. Lack of brakes + panicked wife = hitting neighbor's truck.

Yes, if any or all of these things should strike you and your family - book a vacation immediately. We leave tomorrow at 9 - SHARP!

So I'm not real sure what happened to July...and now it's the middle of August. Time goes by too fast. Here is what's been happening with the Cinnamon crew over the last few weeks.

Isaac...He is doing awesome. He is getting so tall and is growing extremely fast. Over the last few days I've fed him cereal and a fruit bar for breakfast and he's looked at me and said 'My tummy's telling me I'm still hungry.' :) We've been practicing writing, letters, numbers, etc - and he gets highly upset when it's time to stop. It was almost an hour of working on 'school' type stuff and he nearly lost his mind cuz he didin't want to stop. It's fun to see how excited he is about learning - he just can't seem to get enough. I can only imagine the notes that will be sent home from his teacher one day. He can spell his name (audibly) and is beginning to recognize some words. He is a pretty awesome little guy. He is getting ready to start a two day (three hours a day) preschool - to which he is SO excited. We bought school supplies and everything. (I LOVE school supplies). Later in September he'll start soccer. So big things are on the horizon.

Lacie...Of course, our baby girl is growing so fast (too fast). She is starting to 'thin out' a little and is getting more adorable every day. She's been army crawling for several weeks now and despite the whole world of 'yes' that we lay in front of her - she heads for the 'no' everytime. She is a funny mixture of completely laid back, go with the flow - and if it's not exactly what she wants she gets flat MAD. Green veggies for instance - she is not a fan - she'll tuck her lips in and politely turn her head, but when you force them in she turns fifteen shades of red and screams. Needless to say among many of the firsts in her little life - she experienced her first 'spanking' this past week. (Don't worry grandma - it was a mere tap on her diaper). She is a mama's girl - to a fault. Not that I mind that at all, but poor Chris. She'll be in his arms, see me, cry, and then when I get her, she'll look at Chris, tilt her head toward me, bat her eyes and smile the biggest gummy grin you ever did see. It's painfully sweet, but man are we in trouble. I think she is working on some new teeth and is just a baby girl who is full of laughter and smiles.

Chris & I...We're doing good. We've been in project mode for several months now - hopefully that will wind down soon - I mean you have to run out of projects eventually, right? Chris just finished putting a concrete border around our swingset and this weekend he and I shoveled about 4 yards of mulch inside (and no, not an exaggeration). Looks good. A couple of weeks ago we weren't doing so great - during a pretty bad storm - lightening hit our computer and fried it. All of the work that Chris has done for church, all of our pictures from the last year and a half - gone. I can't fully describe that sick awful feeling. Chris knew that to try to recover these things could be in the range of thousands of dollars - with no guarentees. But awesome man that he is - he kept researching and researching ways to try to recover our data and this week he recovered everything. (He'll have to fill you in on the details) 
We are still in the process of getting the computer put back together - once we do we'll update our pictures.

This Saturday the four of us are headed to Florida - no we're not chasing hurricanes, well, not intentionally. He has training for work, so the kids and I are tagging along for a little R-n-R and maybe some fun at Disney. Yes, I am becoming one of those parents that I have ALWAYS fussed at - by taking our 3 year old and baby to a theme park, but what are you gonna do - just have fun I guess. :) I'm sure there's so much more that I've overlooked, but we'll get that next time.

For months - Isaac has woken up, paddled into our room and climbed in bed with us. It's quite the 'wake up' routine! Well, since we've been back from Kentucky he's continued his ritual, but climbs in bed only long enough to announce that he's going to go play. Yesterday - before he left the room - Chris' alarm clock went off, and Isaac excitedly said "I'll do it. I'll do it." And proceeded to get out of bed and hit the snooze button. It was cute. Chris and I kind of smiled at each other and quickly closed our eyes. 9 minutes later - the alarm went off again and from the other room we heard Isaac hurridly running to our room. He quietly came to the clock, hit snooze and ran out again. Needless to say if he continues this 'act of kindness' Chris will be very late for work or possibly learn to get up when the alarm goes off - my bets are on the first of those options! :) - Love you dear!

Today has been long, but fun. Isaac, Lacie and I got up early and went to get their pictures taken at Portrait Innovations - a fabulous place FYI - I HIGHLY recommend them. Everyone was sweet and I actually had several great shots to choose from. I will try to download some soon. Then we had some 'play time' at McDonald's which was a bit nuts because it was a super rainy day - so there were a LOT of kids there. Isaac seemed to have a good time - it was too much for Lacie - she just crashed. :) Had really great conversations with my sister Jennifer and with my Christopher!! and then it was back to grandma's. After really long naps we were able to drop in on our old friends the Youngs - yeah. To see and welcome their new little man into the world. Samuel - you are a doll baby! Despite my son bouncing off of their walls (like I said it was a long day) it was a sweet visit and all seem to be doing great. It's after 10 and both kids are just now giving into sleep. Did I mention it was a long day? :) Thanks for letting us invade Youngs - we miss you and love you dearly. For the rest of you here's their fam...

All Smiles...

Fun with Family...

Fun at Chuck E. Cheese's...

No ramblings today - just pictures - highlights from the last couple of days...

Fun at Grandma & Papa's...

Relationships…I must be honest and tell you that to me this has often been used in my vocabulary much as I would use a four letter curse word. And trust me, I have used enough of those in my lifetime to know what I’m talking about – and to which my husband has actually (on more than one occasion) washed my mouth out with soap. But that is a story for another day.

Relationships – they just seem to be one of those unsolved mysteries of life. Now understand I am only talking from my perspective out of my own experience – I certainly don’t lump everyone in with my way of thinking. But think about it for a moment. Relationships are so multi-faceted. There are the relationships that we have that are ‘surfacey’ – you know the quick glances and nods that you give to those you pass in the grocery store with the occasional mouthing of the word ‘hi’. There are those with others who you would like to go deeper with, but somehow you can’t even seem to scratch the surface. There are those you have to have – the default factor - because they are a spouse to your spouse’s best friend or they are someone that you work with and therefore can’t avoid. There is the spouse/significant other relationship – this one can be tricky, for they are either the one you divulge everything to, who know you at your best and worst or they are the one you try to hide everything from – not wanting them to know your worst, but thinking of you only as the best. (The latter is not the preferred way to go – FYI). There are those who always seem to make you feel better about yourself – be it by the sweet things that they say or the fact that they don’t do ‘xyz’ or don’t have ‘xyz’ and just knowing that seems to give you a bit of a boost. (Don’t look down your nose at me – you’ve had those kind – you’re just not admitting it). There are the unrealistic relationships – you know the kinds that you see in movies and therefore feel should be played out in real life. I mean don’t you ever just look at your mother-in-law, sister, or friend and think – did you not see ‘Beaches’ – do you need to re-read your script one more time so that you can get it right this time? (Please note the sarcasm).  There are the family relationships that can so often be fraught with misunderstandings, miscommunication and/or assumptions. And well, the list goes on and on. As I sit and think of all of the relationships in my life – there is not one that is the same, each is different, requiring a different approach, thought process and so forth. It’s no wonder that they can stress me (a most non-relational person) out!! To those of you who are all about relationships – my hat is off to you – you will have to one day reveal your secret to me.
 
Am I good at relationships? Let’s just say ‘no’ and keep going. But what would my life be like without them? Pretty boring for starters. The relationships of my life – both those that I’ve had and even those I’ve longed to have – have helped to forge me into the woman that I am. They have strengthened me, they’ve brought out my weaknesses, and most of all they have kept me on my knees before my Father. They’ve allowed for me to experience my most joyous moments and they’ve even broken my heart in ways I couldn’t even describe to you. And yet strangely I have headed down a new path where relationships are all that my life is about. It is more nerve wracking than I can fully describe to you, but it is also so incredibly rewarding. The building of relationships with the goal of introducing them to the One relationship that will forever change their lives. So what’s backing this long winded bit of rambling – just the sweet reminder of how dear relationships can actually be that I received yesterday from my friend Sara and that I am witnessing in my husband from so many miles away. I met with my dearest friend Sara who lavished me with time, words of encouragement, experiences from her life, small doses of reality, sweet gifts, love for my kids, a listening ear and a genuine care for me that I have not felt in a long time. She was my tangible Jesus – washing my feet in so many countless ways. While at the same time the love of my life has been at home – working long hours at his job – providing not just for my family’s day-to-day needs, but also providing in such a manner that I am privileged enough to stay at home with our kids. He has worked a long full work day each day and then come home each night to work into the wee hours trying to put the house back in shape. It is this same kind of love, genuineness and sacrifice of self that I see in both of these precious people, in both relationships that I share, that I realize I need to embody everyday with everyone I encounter. Yes, relationships can be hard – but they are necessary, they are vital and they can yield unbelievable results. To you my sweet Sara and you my handsome man – thank you for your love – thank you for reminder of Whose I am and Who I need to reflect in my life. I find myself eagerly awaiting my arrival back home that I may dive deeper still into the relationships I’ve begun and watch where the Lord will take them!