our day at callaway

evidentally i must have freaked everyone out with my talk of super glue and belly buttons (only 2 comments...i like comments...but that's ok). so i will move on to more pleasant subjects, like spring break.

our first fun day was spent at Callaway Gardens. it is a beautiful place southwest of Atlanta and close to R's parent's house. on the weekends during spring, they have many activities for kids and we had a great time.

callaway has a butterfly house...basically a huge green house with butterflies flying around everywhere. they will even land on you. the kids were amazed and ella loved seeing her favorite butterfly, the blue morpho (she has been studying butterflies in school).

we saw lots of dogwoods (my favorite, the pink dogwood below) and azaleas. everything was so green and beautiful.

there was a room set up with activities for children. here are evan and my mom doing a nature rub. they also made kites.

and here is ella showing her nature bookmark...made with pressed flower petals and butterfly wings.

we also saw the "Birds of Prey" show and saw a red tailed hawk (below) and a grey horned owl (i think that is what it was called!).

the kids also got to see where their Gramma J & Hilly Pop (aka my parents) got married...at the chapel in Callaway Gardens...almost 41 years ago!

i took a ton more pictures from this day...but i won't bore you with anymore. that pretty much sums up our first fun day!

the super glue is coming off!

thank you to all my sweet peeps out there who left a comment with well wishes for me after my surgery. i am back to normal (whatever that is) except for one thing which i will tell you about in a minute.

but, good news...the superglue is finally chipping away! after i got home from my surgery, hubby was my wound care nurse (i think he gets excited to see gross stuff like this) and he would put neosporin and bandages over my boo-boos. but after i scrubbed my belly button with a wet wash cloth, i noticed that it was still shiny and goopy looking....like the ointment wasn't washing away. gross, i know. hubby finally figured out that the surgeon put SUPER GLUE on my incisions!! the newest technology in wound care my friends. crazy, huh? so, after a week and 1/2, it is finally chipping away. i will say it has been rather nice to not have the incisions exposed and rubbing on my clothes, and not having to keep it covered with bandages. i just may have to try this with my kids' next boo-boos. :)

ok, so the thing that is not back to normal is my belly button. i am going through a little bit of an identity crisis. you know how all your life you probably have one or two (or ten) things that you want to change about your body? well one of mine has always been my OUTY belly button. through middle school and high school, it is NOT a cool thing to have an outy. i was always so self conscious about it and tried to keep it covered. i desperately wanted an inny!!

my dreams have come true!! when my surgeon first looked at my BB, he asked how long i had this hernia? what? i had NO IDEA it was a hernia! he said it would be an easy fix in surgery, especially since they were going to cut me open at my BB anyway! R and i were cracking up!! the thought of him changing the look of my belly button as a little bonus to having gall bladder surgery was just so funny. and the fact that my days of wearing a bikini (to show off the new inny BB) were WAY WAY WAY over..was also very funny. so all that to say....i'm still a little weirded out over the look of it. it is just not normal yet and in a very weird kind of way, i miss my old outy. it was a part of me for 34 years! so there is a tad bit of grief....but i'm doing ok :) and really, i'm happy about my new look! (too bad i couldn't get a tummy tuck with it).

annoying, pondering & responding

i don't know about the rest of you, but i have to be honest....all this going green stuff lately has been getting on my nerves. it just seems like the hype has been so much greater this year. every time i turn the TV on, there is something on about GREEN. i remember celebrating Earth Day in college back in the day and all it meant to me was hanging out with friends and hearing cool bands play in Clara Bowl all day long. times have changed.

but i suppose all the hype has actually made me start to ponder what "going green" really means and how i can be a part of it. growing up, my father actually did many things to help save the earth (although his reasoning was all about pinching pennies--he is super frugal-- and not really about going green). those habits have stuck with me somewhat. his constant reminders to turn the lights off as we left a room, the 3 separate garbage cans we had (separating food waste, paper waste and aluminum-non burnable waste), only making trips into town if we had several errands to run, a compost in our backyard, shower heads that decrease the water flow (very annoying!), only running the dishwasher when it was full, etc. were all things that he made us do to help save money. many of these things would just bother me....like having 3 trash cans in the kitchen! but now that i look back on it, i'm thankful for how it trained me to think.

i now like the fact that not only do these things help us save money, they are helping to preserve our world just a little bit more.

as my perspective is changing, i also wonder what God thinks of what we have done to his creation. we can only acknowledge the beauty of this earth as something his hands created....not anything we have done to save it. i am now thinking that the reason to reduce my "carbon footprint" is to honor and glorify the Creator of this beautiful world. he put us here and we have a responsibility to take care of the land....and doing so, i feel, is glorifying to him.

so if this means that my new commitment to recycle my bottles and cans (yes, terrible, i know, that we have yet to start recycling!) is how i can take a small step to be more green AND glorify God -- then i'm going to do it. i want to praise him for the majestic beauty in this world and i want my children to as well!

so today i celebrate Earth Day....are you?

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. Gen 1:31

intentions

well i had every intention of posting a ton of pictures last week showing you all the fun we had on spring break, but my body had other plans. i had 4 attacks last week with abdominal and back pain. i finally went to the hospital on saturday and found out that i had gall stones. so...i had surgery yesterday and they removed my gall bladder. it all happened so fast, i still can't believe i just had surgery! i'm back home and recovering. i'll be taking a blogging break for a little while and hope to post pics of our spring break fun soon!

spring breakin it.

me and the kiddos are at my in-laws visiting and we have had a nice time. several people i've told about our trip were surprised that i would want to take my kids by myself to my in-laws (without rusty). but i didn't think twice about it....they are dear people and they are family! (they read my blog so of course i have to say nice things. ha ha) seriously though, i wouldn't trade them for anything, i have always been treated like their daughter and i have been loved well by them. and of course, my kids love their grandma and grandpa and i'm so thankful they have gotten to spend some time with them!

anyway...so when i return home, there will be many pictures of our time away!

spelling 101

evan likes to play with the magnetic letters on the white board. tonight he asked,
"mommy, what does D H K M G W S E X spell?"

funny how the letters in that word are in hot pink!
(he really wanted to be in the picture...he was so proud...as were we! ha ha)

another milestone!

ok, so two milestones in one week is a little too much for this mama to handle!

one of the only childhood memories that i can still remember is learning to ride my bike. we were at my grandparents house in albany, georgia. their neighborhood was full of flat streets...perfect for riding! i remember the fear welled up inside of me....i didn't want my dad to let go. but once he did, the freedom was amazing and i loved riding my bike and felt so proud.

so this past sunday was ella's big day! after she learned that 2 of her best friends from church learned to ride without their training wheels, she has pretty much begged us every day to let her try it. she caught on very quickly! and since sunday, she has wanted to ride every day. the next challenge will be hills...which terrifies me!! she is not so good with the brakes, so we'll be practicing that with her! here's a video of the big release...


and here she is...experiencing the joy and freedom without training wheels!! i hope this is a memory that will stay with her forever!