One of our local Kansas City churches has made national headlines because some of their members have been protesting the secularization of Christmas by dressing like Jesus at their jobs, malls and restaurants. A local friend of ours passed on the link to the following video:

Jesus Sightings

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!!

My husband and girls and I went with some friends to see “Fireproof” at the movie theater yesterday afternoon. Wow. It was amazing! This is the third film produced by Sherwood Pictures out of Albany, Georgia, and they keep getting better. Fireproof stars Kirk Cameron (yes, he’s the one from Growing Pains!) who plays Caleb Holt, one of Albany’s fire captains. He and his wife Catherine are heading toward divorce, and Caleb’s dad offers him a “Love Dare” to help him try to rescue his marriage. You will laugh and cry – and no, this isn’t just a chick flick! Have a date night and go see it with your significant other. You won’t be disappointed!

My baby girl turned five today! Her birthday is exactly two weeks after her sister’s. She chose to have her party at McDonald’s, and I must say it was really great! The kids had a fabulous time, and I got to relax and take lots of pictures. Ironically, all the local McDonald’s had run out of birthday cakes, so the manager had to make a run to Walmart!

For our family celebration, Baby Girl chose macaroni and cheese with hot dogs in it for dinner this evening. We rounded out the meal with some baby carrots and fresh watermelon. I baked a confetti cake just like her sister’s and she chose my favorite ice cream to go with it: cookies and cream!

It’s been a fun day, but I’m ready for bed!

My oldest is seven today! One of our birthday traditions is to measure how much she’s grown on her growth chart. She’s a full 52 inches, but she can’t wait to be 54 inches so she can ride The Patriot (roller coaster) at World’s of Fun. Thrill seeking is a trait that comes from her dad, not me!

It hasn’t been the best birthday today…her little sister is still running a fever and has pink eye on top of that, so we had to postpone the party with her friends for a few days. Such is life. We will still celebrate this evening as a family, and she will get the special birthday plate loaded with cheese pizza, her choice. And there will be presents!

Yes, I finally decided on a new camera – the Canon PowerShot S5 IS. After using my husband’s camera (the S2 version) to take pictures at VBS, I decided it was pretty workable for me.
I’ve only used the new camera a couple of times, but I had to post my favorite picture of my friend’s baby. Lindsay asked me to take a few shots for their birth announcements. Isn’t she the sweetest thing?
Of course, I’ve also taken a few of my family. My husband and the girls were snapping TWO gallons of green beans the other night that were gifted to us by one of his customers. Right after he had just bought a huge bag of them from Sam’s Club. Oh well. They sure are yummy!

I will be taking some more pictures of the new Bamboo & Teak soap that will be available this weekend, but for now I thought I’d share some fun ones!

We have a new addition in our basement as of yesterday. My husband got a really great deal on this monstrous 60″ flat screen TV in the clearance section at Sam’s Club. He wanted to surprise the girls and me, so he “tricked” us into going to the pool yesterday afternoon while he “mowed the yard.” Mowing the yard was just one of his projects, however. I discovered it first by accident, and tried to show some enthusiasm. He still wanted to show the girls, so he told them he had a big surprise and we all shuffled down the stairs for the grand unveiling. My six-year-old’s response: “Dad, that’s not a surprise. That’s just a TV.” The four-year-old gave the classic girl response: “Why did you get a new one? The old TV is still good.”

Poor guy. He should have known that girls just don’t share the same appreciation for oversized electronics.