And the results are...

Being the eternal pessimist is a good thing...I'm the only one not sulking today!! WE DID NOT GET EVEN ONE FLURRY OF SNOW!!!!!!!!! Grayson is loving his shortened week though!

By the way, Jungle Gym is the name of the inflatable place we went last week. It is beside LazerQuest in VA Beach just down from Lynnhaven Mall. Check them out online for a coupon!
www.junglegym4kids.com

Will it or won't it??????

I was going to change my background, but considering the title talks about a snowy day...

Here we sit on Tuesday, Inauguration Day, anticipating the snow that is apparently coming! The last time that school was cancelled due to impending weather I was in grade school and we had just moved to Lynchburg. Us northerners thought it was hilarious to cancel school because of snow that was "supposed" to be coming. It ended up being a beautiful day and we spent it together as a family.

Well, over here, I have a household of craziness...will it or won't it?! All 3 of us actually are anticipating putting mittens to good use today. The anticipation of it all is insane! I would have much preferred to have woken up to the blanket on the ground already. As it stands now, we could wait all day for nothing!!

Check back later to see what happened...

Yes, there's another one in town!

I am always on the lookout for new things to do with Grayson, especially in these cold days and we need to be inside. Well, with most of his toys packed up, the poor guy is going stir crazy, and that in turn is making us crazy. I got the Tidewater Parent magazine and was thumbing through to find that a new inflatable gym was open. We have visited all of the current ones, and were excited to check out a new one.

So that I wouldn't have to be Grayson's sliding mate all afternoon, we invited a friend to go with us. I grabbed both my cameras, one for pictures to share with you and one for practicing new things with. One afternoon last week after lunch we headed down to the Beach to hit this new spot. Of course Grayson always has his "new place" timidity, but it didn't take long to see that this was probably one of our favorites. I succumbed to being a sock-wearing, camera-toting, red-faced jumper and slider. We all 3 had a great time!! It's always a little expensive, but with 2 dollars off, we had extra money for a drink to cool us down. They undoubtedly have the largest "Toddler" area of the ones we have visited. 4 inflatables just for 1-4 years old.

I feel a scheduled playdate coming soon!!

What is That...and This??!!

I am in love with my new camera. I have always told Trevor that I would love to take some classes for 2 things: basic cooking and photography. Well, he took me to heart this year and bought me an amazing "real" digital, gotta-actually-look-through-the-lens camera!! At first I was like, "seriously, I'll never know or learn how to use this thing!" Then as I continued to open gifts, I saw extra gadgets for the camera, but also gift certificates for free classes!!! I am ecstatic. By the time I called to book my classes, all the ones for January are booked up! I take my first class on Feb. 19th and I can't wait! (Which Heidi and Sue, if you are up for these classes, they are Thursday nights for 4 weeks in a row starting on the 19th. We could all go together!!)

I'm going to show up with this great camera, lots of extra attachments, and no idea how or what to do with any of it. I do know how to turn the camera on, focus a little, but beyond that...not much. I can't even blog with the new pics that I've taken because our CD drive isn't working and I can't load the picture software to be able to retrieve my pictures!! Anyways, that will come, but until then I'll continue to capture shots on my old one so that I can still blog. Afterall, there is a little bit of excitement over here right now!! 10 more days!!!!!!!!!!

Game Nights

We got some great games for Christmas, but here are just a few silly shots of a few of our favorites that we did open. The rest we will enjoy when we move into our new house...with the rest of Grayson's toys and art stuff!

"Can You Do That?" Dr. Suess Game
---Grayson, can you walk around the Trick-a-ma-stick...with the cake...on your head?
---Mommy, can you slide under the Trick-a-ma-stick...with the boat...on your belly?
As you can see we both could!!!


"Bob the Builder" Game
I actually found this at the CHKD thirft store while I was hunting for something else entirely. They let me open the box to discover it looked like it had never been played!! All the pieces were there and were in mint condition. It was a fabulous $1.75 find!!!It's a lot of fun, especially when you get to pick up "Scoop" and watch him spin around and around and then putting him down, hoping he goes where you want him too!

We love games!!!!

Happy Birthday Grayson!

To our dearest Grayson,

We have known for a while now that you were getting to the place where salvation was imminent. You have been curious since Easter (of 2008) about the story of Jesus dying on the cross. You have asked many questions and we could tell you were trying to sort it all out. You seem to really grasp the concept of God's love for everyone and that He made a way for us to have a relationship with Him. We can only have a relationship with Him personally when we accept His gift of salvation, and come before Him with a clean heart.

On the way to school on Friday morning, December 12, 2008 I heard you talking in the backseat. This happens often and I always discreetly turn down the radio or music so I can hear you. This day you were definitely talking to God, but I couldn't hear everything you were saying. As we pulled into the parking lot, you asked or rather commented on how everybody does bad things so everybody must get to go to heaven. I explained to you that yes, everyone does do bad things. Yes, God loves everyone very much in spite of the bad things we do. But no, not everyone gets to go to heaven. We continued having the following discussion as best as I could simplify it for a 4-year old: God can't let people come into His heaven that have sins in their heart, or have a dirty heart. We are only allowed into heaven if we believe in God, know that we need Him in our lives, and believe that He died on the cross because He loved us so much and He wanted to take our sins away and give us a clean heart.

You told me that you knew that Jesus died and that you wanted to have a clean heart so that you could go and be in heaven with Jesus some day. Oh how I wanted Daddy to be there when you made such a big decision. I asked you if you wanted to pray with Daddy after school, but you were definitive in your answer, "No, it can't wait Mommy! I have to pray now!" So I climbed into the backseat and held your hands as you prayed to receive Jesus as your Savior. As we opened our eyes, you were smiling from ear to ear! And as I started to get tears in my eyes, you asked why I was crying and I tried to explain to you the importance of that moment to me. I also explained that today was your Spiritual birthday. Your birthday in April is when you were born into our family, but on that special day we could celebrate because you were born into God's big family!!

I took you into school, only after having to climb back into the front seat because all of the child locks are on in the back. I went straight to buy some balloons to bring back to school for you. You loved the surprise. It just happened that we were going to Lynchburg for the night to see the Living Christmas Tree at TRBC. I called all of our family in Lynchburg to tell them the good news and see if anyone wanted to join us for supper that evening to celebrate. It was Elijah's birthday that day too, so his family couldn't make it and Uncle Darren and Aunt Tracy were out West skiing. The Sargeant family all joined us for supper to celebrate your day. Daddy and I gave you some special books to mark this day.


Grayson, we are overjoyed at the momumental decision in your life. Yes, Daddy thinks I went overboard with the balloons, dinner plans, and gifts. But I just wanted you to have something to look back at and always remember your special day that you became a member of God's family. One day, when we walk the streets of gold together, we'll be able to introduce you to the spiritual giants who have gone before us, paving the way. And I will just beam with pride as you look into the face of Jesus one day and He calls you His Own!!

The "Blur" of 2008

This season has been a little bit of a blur for me. I am a little jealous of some of you as I read your blogs and saw all of the relaxing family memories you all made together this year. I don't know if it was the packing/not-moving, a husband who wants to squeeze every bit of holiday fun into a couple weeks, me working, or the travelling, but this season was an absolute blur for me. I know we did a lot and enjoyed a lot, but it didn't feel like Christmas, and for that I am sad. I feel like I talked about Christmas a lot, but never slowed enough to let it sink in, fester with joy for a while, and make family memories to last a whole year! I'll just share a few stories and pictures from the blur that was Christmas 2008.

Here's how it all broke down for us at our house: we began the week before Christmas halting our moving date, so decided to get the Christmas stuff down and put up a tree at our current residence. We didn't even put the usual light display and all of the ornaments on the tree, but it was still one of the best trees ever!! Grayson had a blast putting the ornaments on. I love that each ornament tells a story. I know many of you have your pretty trees, but ours is always one of memories and stories. Besides the tree, we had a few candles that made it out of storage boxes, but that was it for decor!

As I stayed for our Sunday Christmas program at church, Trevor and Grayosn flew to Mickey's to spend a few days celebrating with Trevor's parents. I flew straight from church on Sunday to join them for dinner with Cinderella and Prince Charming. Days at Disney are always fabulous and we never tire of going to the "most magical place on earth". It is an amazing place to be at Christmas time. The fireworks shows, riding all Grayson's favorite rides, a few autographs, breakfast with Mickey and the gang, enjoying the resort to the fullest, amazing food, monorail and boat rides galore, etc. We even were able to hear Steven Curtis Chapman read the Christmas story and lay out the gospel message at Epcot one evening.

We flew home literally in time to change clothes and head to church for the Christmas Eve service. Thinking that the service was family friendly, we took Grayson, only to realize about 45 minutes in that this was the real deal. It was pretty neat though because Grayson got to partake his first communion with Trevor and I (Oh, I guess that posting has never made it out yet!! PS everyone---Grayson accepted Jesus as Savior on 12-12!!!!!!) We had a great dinner that night, McDonalds! A true treat for everyone!! Sigh! Grayson got to sleep much later than usual, I followed much later than my usual, and Trevor made it to bed in the wee hours of twilight.

Grayson gave us all a great gift by sleeping in until almost 8:00!! We did stockings, read the Christmas story from his Bible, sang a few songs, prayed together, and then divulged on the tree and the gifts. Trevor's is going to be lovin' his new Wii system, I joined the ranks of the other ladies with a super fabulous new camera (which I'll have to take the classes to be able to use!)and an iPod. Surprisingly, Grayson opened all but one gift and stated that "Santa must not have been able to get me the guitar this year. Maybe next year!" He had not even noticed it leaning up against the windowsill in the protective white bag with a large ribbon it, with a sticker labelled 'Special Delivery from the North Pole'!!! After opening his special Santa gift, he found that Santa had sent him a map and clues to find a secret gift. Santa had delivered a gift to our new house. So Christmas morning at 11:00am in pajamas, we all drove to our new house to follow the map to Santa's special gift. Parked in the garage was a fire truck powerwheel!! He was so excited and is already an excellent driver. For sure he can't wait for us to move so he can enjoy it every day!

After all of the morning fun, we showered, unpacked a little, and repacked a quick suitcase. We needed to be in Lynchburg by dinner time!! We stopped by the Boyers to drop off some treats as we wouldn't be able to be there after all for the Christmas luncheon. The drive to Lynchburg went by fast! We were so thankful for a Wendy's in Petersburg as it was the only food joint open on Christmas Day!!! In the busyness of the morning, none of had eaten breakfast or lunch before we got on the road.

We arrived in Lynchburg in time for supper, and then had another round of Christmas stories, songs, and more gift-giving. Grayson (well all of us for that matter!) are extremely blessed by our families. Poor little guy really can't wait to move, as many of the gifts went straight to the moving pile and didn't even make it out of their packaging! As one of my friends said, he will have Christmas all over when we finally move!! We were able to relax for the day on Friday and play some games and have some more good food with my family.

We came home Saturday for Trevor to be at church Sunday. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday were great family days, although Grayson picked up some sort of bug and was sick to his stomach a couple times on a few different days! It was random. We got a lot accomplished for our new home, I got a little work in, we packed boxes and threw a lot away together...we just chilled out as a family. That is exactly what I needed, just a week too late maybe! Grayson's bedroom got painted at our new house (thank you Denise!!), and the rest of the upstairs is ready for the finishing touches (thank you David!).

Wednesday was New Year's Eve and Trevor had a Lock-In at our church with the teenagers. He rested for some of the day and then headed out at 7pm. I got Grayson to bed and then actually got a lot of work done. I rented a couple of movies but ended up falling asleep really early! Trevor came home New Year's morning at 8:30am and obviously slept the day away. Grayson and I stayed busy away from the house so he could sleep, even making it over the visit sweet baby LauraBeth!!

The last couple of days were equally relaxing, just trying to reorganize the house, take down the tree we barely enjoyed, run some errands together, etc. Today it was back to the grind as work beckoned me. And there it was, 2 weeks that went by with a blur, but with a few relaxing days squeezed in, I'm ready to face the next few weeks that will prove to be crazy busy!! Moving day is really bearing down on us now!! bring it on--I'm ready! The New Year of 2009 is off with a running start!!