...sending airplanes...

anna katherine has begun sending us notes at night after we tuck her into bed.  steve and i will be settling in on the couch, and all of the sudden a paper airplane will sail over the upstairs balcony onto the couch.  here is what we got a few nights ago...

first note:

we then thank her for the note and ask her to go to bed.  two minutes later:

again- thanks but time for bed! two minutes later:

well, at least she understands what she needs.... two minutes later:

ignore the grammatical error-- she got it correct on the first one!  ok, AK, GO TO BED!

last note:

HA!

... oh so fabulous project...

i looked all over for a cute and creative giveaway for sara's birthday party.  she had a pizza party where the kids made their own pizza, so my first thought was an apron and chef hat.  but how to do this? after some research and some work, here is a picture of the final product.  cute, huh? i have to say i'm super proud of these!

i found the aprons at hobby lobby for around 3 bucks each.

i ironed the wrinkles out and put some "stitch witchery" on the top where i would place the ribbon.  this stuff makes the ribbon stick without having to sew it, and you apply it by just laying the strip where you want it to go.  

after i stuck the strip on, i applied the thin ribbon directly up on top of it.  after i placed it there, i ironed it on.

(please ignore my water stained ironing board cover!) 

already the apron had become 100% cuter!

next it was time to add a personalized cupcake design. 

my girlfriend Laura found the cupcake image on etsy.com, and just pulled it into photoshop to give us a workable file.  she sent the image to me, and i added each girls name to the template with a super cute font.  i printed them on iron on transfer paper.  the paper isn't cheap- between $1-2 per sheet.  it was originally 23 bucks for 12 sheets at jo-ann's, but i was able to use a 40% coupon. yippee! careful that you print on the proper side and reverse the image so it transfers correctly-- just check out the directions inside the transfer paper packet and it will all be clear.

here is the paper i used and you can see what the final printed page looks like.  i had already cut out one image when this photo was taken.

so here is what i'm working with after all of them are cut out:

position the image on the apron where you want it and iron it on.  make sure you hold the iron down for 60 seconds or so on each part of the transfer.  if you begin peeling up the edges and it looks like it's not sticking completely, re-iron to make sure it's good to go.  

wait a few minutes to make sure the apron has cooled down.  begin peeling back the paper, and if it has stuck well on the apron go ahead and peel it off.  remember- if it hasnt stuck 100% then just re-iron for a minute or so.

final product:

too cute! 

the hats were easy as well.  they were made from strips of posterboard with white tissue stuffed in the middle.

here are a few pics of the girls at the party with their chef gear on:

if you are looking for a party idea, this one was great!  we played "pin the pepperoni on the pizza,"  colored pizza sheets, made our own small pizzas, and had a conga line singing and dancing time (kids idea!).  i had brought cupcakes to decorate as well, but we ran out of time. 

6 year old birthday party= roaring success

and all of this was thrown together the week of the party

(i'm a glutton for punishment)

what has been your favorite birthday party theme for one of your kids or a child's party you went to?

i'm always looking for new ideas!

...sara is SIX!...

i would die for this child. she's more than i hoped for! 

here are a few pictures of her sixth birthday-- which she celebrated MULTIPLE times! 
she had a class party, girlfriend party, hambrick family party (on Easter), miltiades family party (during Easter gathering), and then her actual birthday at the beach! we should all be so lucky :)

complete sweetness

class party

miltiades family gathering

hambrick family gathering

beach birthday on her actual day

anna katherine liked the cake :)

birthday beach shot

Sara- my prayer for you is that you would extravagantly love Jesus all the days of your life.  if you do this, everything else will fall in place!  his purposes for you are beyond imagination- i can't wait to see what he has in store.  happy birthday lovely!

...life is good...

today was sunny and beautiful, but incredibly windy and chilly.  we took the girls to a park, and once we got there we saw that we had walked into a dog show/fair.  poor little indie was left at home, and all we could think was how glad we were that she wasn't with us! that girl is a MESS and completely unruly.  it would have been NO fun for us if she would have come!  as we were pulling into the park, we actually received a call from our neighbor that indie had escaped from our backyard and was roaming the neighborhood. ugh. remind me WHY we got a puppy?


nevertheless, we parked and got out to meet our good friends the wannall's.  they brought their pup scooby.  here's scooby with graham, their oldest.

and here is mary, freezing her tail off and covering up with all the coats she stole from our children (who seemed to think it was the middle of summer).

 the kids had an amazing time, and loved seeing all the dogs performing.  check out the poor pup in the picture below being squeezed by our girls... this guy was jumping hurdles and climbing through tunnels. i think he might be famous in the dog competition world.

the place was packed, and the playground was the place to be. the girls were all over the place, and loved this spinning thing..

have i told you yet that anna katherine has lost her front two top teeth? both within the last couple of weeks.  isn't she cute? oh my. and growing up. kinda makes me sad. :(

i'm still wondering how you chew with basically no teeth up front... but back to today...

after the playground pony rides for all the kids...

and 20 bucks later we were just about done!

(recession--what??)

here are just a few more pics... 

one of danny and steve

(probably complaining about the cost of pony rides these days...)

and two of me and steve

(pardon the windblown look)

good times good friends

gotta love it :)

life is good

...ch ch ch ch changin at vintage...

new meeting times beginning this week. farewell 10am, hello 9 and 11. 

i'm not sure i'm overly excited about moving into two services because that means change and a separation of church family, but we have to make room for all that God has planned.. so we move ahead with a new plan... and we trust.. and wait to see the cool things God has for us! 

...ch ch ch ch changin...

yesterday AK lost her third tooth, and this time the one she lost was front and center. she left for school yesterday, and I'm telling you those front two teeth were BARELY loose.  I suppose she just decided she wanted it out, so she "cracked" it (her word) all day, and voila!  it was out before she left school.


yesterday afternoon she was working and "cracking" the other front tooth as well. she was proud of the blood all over a paper towel. what's this obsession?  I'm fully expecting to see a completely different looking child this afternoon too.  it's a little strange to see your kid with no front tooth, but i guess everyone goes through it. 


And another thing-- a kid in her class gets TWENTY BUCKS per tooth. UNFAIR I say! what about the recession? makes the rest of the kids wonder why one kid gets twenty and they get one. dang.


our girls usually get a silver dollar coin.  this morning, however, our tooth fairy remembered 5 minutes before the girl woke up for school. oops. so today it was just a plain, ole dollar bill.  chump change i guess compared to the jackson the other girl gets. at least she left a really sweet note for AK.. that counts for something, doesn't it? :)

...because she's had SO many...

My Hair Artist

Sara went to town on her barbies a few days ago. She wanted to make them "cute."  Hence the Barbies, scissors and a hiding place.  Steve found the hair hidden in her room. 

Why would chopping their hair make them cute you ask? Well, Sara got her own hair cut a few weeks ago- they took about 4 inches off- and now she has an adorable shoulder length cut.  She's been getting all sorts of compliments, so now she thinks short hair is the way to look "cute."  Wasn't it sweet of her to help her Barbies out?

Here are a few before and after of Sara....

...hope to the hopeless...

towards the end of september, parts of georgia were devastated by flooding.  the area we live in was affected, and many people are still displaced and their homes are ruined.
a team of 25 folks from Vintage 242 (our church plant) spent a Saturday serving people whose homes were destroyed by cleaning the remains of their homes, tearing out flooring, spraying for mold, raking sheetrock out of their yards, and moving decks back to the appropriate yards after they floated down the street. 
in all honesty, i was dreading the day because i knew it would be difficult and a lot of hard, dirty work.  i'm so grateful that i pushed through and went!  it's a day i will never forget.  and i'll be praying for physical, emotional, and spiritual restoration for each of those families. the road ahead is long!  insurance will not cover the damage, so it's out of pocket for every single family.  many are walking away from their homes with no plan to go back. 

steve throwing garbage in one of the many full dumpsters on this street.  it was heartbreaking to see people's possessions destroyed and tossed away.

every yard looked just like this. 

spraying for mold.  we had to wear these suits to attempt to protect ourselves from the inhalation of mold spores.

here is my haz- mat team with our homeowner Will.  Will told me that volunteers bring him and his neighbors HOPE.  they realize they aren't alone when people like you and i show up and help.

if you are in the area, i want to encourage you to serve.  samaritan's purse is an amazing organization that is mobilizing volunteers until november 21st.  check them out at www.samaritanspurse.org.

...welcome home little girl...

INDIE HAMBRICK

Born July 28, 2009

Adopted October 16, 2009