Alyssa's Party

Alyssa Beggs is our neighbor and one of Sarah's very best friends. She is 2 years younger than Sarah but they play together happily almost every single day. They have been inseparable this summer. They also play with our neighbor Cloe. I asked Sarah the other day if they ever fought. I never here a snippy word or a bit of attitude. They are just 3 happy girls who love life. I am so thankful Sarah has them in her life. About two years ago Alyssa had a tumor removed from around her pituitary gland just between the brain lobes. A small amount of tumor is believed to remain. She takes medicine at least twice a day every day. You would never know any of this to see her playing. This weekend the Make a Wish Foundation surprised her with a party. We all met at Playtime Pizza to hear the big announcement. She was presented with a trip to Disney with her family. They treated her like a princess. She had presents and cake and unlimited play in the game room. We are so excited for her. I know the people at Disney will make it an incredible memory for her. I can't wait to see the pictures her mom takes.

Ready for guests.

Recently the washer at Mom and Dad's house busted a hose. This resulted in a small flood and a big mess. A massive clean up effort was begun. The insurance paid cleaners to come in and remove the carpet and remaining water. Bummer, not fun for anyone. The positive side of all the damage was the opportunity to install new floors and fresh paint. Everything had to be removed from the rooms to clean and dry them. Uncle Ben and Aunt Pat decided to come help us with this project. We are so thankful for their help. We accomplished so much together as a group. We spent the week going through 3 bedrooms and closets. The results are fabulous! The rooms look brand new. I took some pictures of the "coke" room. This used to be my bedroom when I lived at home. It is now a fun, kid ready spot for the grand kids to hang out. Dad has lots of fun collectibles in his Coke collection that were perfect to use in this room. Sarah loves the bunk beds. She can't wait for her cousins to visit in September. Big sleepover plans are already being made.

The Hipstamatic

I am totally in love with my new iphone app. It's the Hipstamatic. It is a super cool camera. You can change lenses, film, flashes and more. The look is very artsy and vintage. With the camera on my new version 4 phone they are good enough quality to print and use on a scrapbook page. I simply downloaded these and printed them on my home printer. No photo editing was needed. As if my family isn't already sick of me taking pictures of everything. These are a few I have played with and a layout I used some on. I will be using this a lot. My iphone just keeps getting better and better.

4th of July

Here are some shots I took before it got too dark. We started lighting fun things like parachutes and smoke bombs at dusk. I think the kids loved the smoke bombs more than anything else. They combined various colors at the same time. It was very pretty. Our neighbors the Beggs and the Mitchells came over to help celebrate the holiday. The flowers are from Trish's garden. We enjoyed ice cream sundaes and homemade cobbler. Mom and Dad stopped by to watch the big finale. Mike and Jamie put on quite the show. It was fun for the adults to visit and the kids had the best time together. I made the kids little goodie bags to put their stash in. Even Jamie joined in the badminton game.

Creating

A 2 page layout from our trip to the Memphis Zoo.


A patriotic layout from our Branson trip.



A mini book I am making for Sarah. It will have all of her dance pictures and recital stuff. Very cute and very fun!!!

Toyota Celica GT

Jamie has a new ride. Months of searching the car lots and internet have finally yielded a result. The winner of the exhaustive search is a very cute and sporty Celica. Mike is so good at this stuff. I would never have brought this thing home. It was nasty dirty. A solid week of elbow grease from the boys resulted in a very nice car. Jamie is practicing his driving every day and gearing up for his test in August. He will still have a restricted license until February. Jamie specifically wanted something small and easy to drive. The gas mileage is fabulous. Mike tried very hard to convince him he needed a truck but no go. Older cars were looked at but the newer models have more safety features. He debuted his new ride at the 4th of July picnic at the grandparents house.