...launching into cedarcrest...

ok, so FINALLY vintage 242 is launching into our community!

our core team has been meeting at our parent church at 4pm on sunday afternoons as we've attempted to secure a space in cedarcrest. i'm thrilled to announce that after much adieu, we found a space. it's temporary because of the small size, but it's awesome. we've had lots of

people up there volunteering-- painting, vacuuming, shopping for furniture, hauling chairs, putting down trim, hanging drapes, etc. it's been exhausting but worth it!

my poor kids have put in lots of hours up there, and we haven't given them enough attention over the past 3 weeks of preparation. steve and i have been up by 7:30am to work, and have been calling it a night around 1am. it's an exciting season, but i'm ready for the preparation of

the space and all of the materials (promotional, supplies, graphics, basics) to be DONE.

THIS WEEKEND is our official launch into the community. we met last sunday as a core team in the space, and we are inviting friends and neighbors starting this weekend. pray for us as we move forward!

here are the 1/2 page and full page ads we are placing in the neighborhood magazines in september and throughout the fall. (these folks are all vintage people.)

...near death experience...

july 4th was way more interesting than i had hoped.  i was expecting a good time, but not quite so much excitement.  we went to my mom's lake house on lake hartwell with some extended family as we do every 4th of july.  i had three aunts, an uncle, two cousins, and two other children there with us for the weekend. 14 folks at my momma's lake house= recipe for FUN.  

everything started out beautifully on the 4th.  we took the pontoon boat out for a lake cruise around 10 am, and even played on the wave runners.  we have a big tube that we tie onto the back of the boat or wave runner to pull people around, and this is where the drama began.  steve headed out to pull my cousin sara and my 5 year old sara around in the tube.  here's a photo as they departed:

steve swung them around a curve, and they both flew off.  no problem.  he pulls back around and picks up my 5 year old and sets her on the front seat.  he is standing and facing backwards pulling in the tube, much like this photo (although this one was taken with anna katherine sitting up front)-- 

all of the sudden sara holds down the throttle and pushes the start button.  the wave runner jumps forward and speeds away at close to 50mph, as steve gets thrown off the back holding the rope and trying to pull her back.  

(yep, it's a good thing i wasn't watching at this point because i think i just might have had a heart attack)

sara's flying full speed ahead towards the shore.  steve keeps looking at the shore and then back at sara. panic sets in. he's screaming at the top of his lungs for her to stop, and then 4 or 5 seconds before she would slam into the shore she pushes the stop button. yep. and she stops. seconds away from certain disaster. thank you lord for your intervention when we need it!

steve attempts to swim over to her, but his hand is causing severe pain so cousin sara swims

 over and rescues little sara.  they pile on the wave runner, nerves shot and hearts racing, and finally arrive back at the dock where i am waiting.  steve drives up and i see his mangled hand. immediately i rush him off and we head to the emergency room for x-rays and a doctors opinion.  i thought for sure we would be in the emergency room for HOURS on end, but the hartwell hospital wasn't expecting to get busy with drunken 4th partiers until later that night. whew. so we were outta there in only 2 hours. and no broken bones either! 

here is a picture of steve's hand (which doesn't look nearly as bad as it did in real life) and a picture of him getting all doctored up:

believe it or not, we even ended up taking the boat out to see fireworks later that evening.  here is a picture of sara doing just fine...

steve is on the mend, and somehow sara ended up believing that she was the hero of the day because she stopped the wave runner.  we go back to the lake this weekend with friends and needless to say we will be keeping little sara FAR far away from the wave runner controls. pray for my girl and pray for us-- i think we might be in for an exciting future with this little firecracker!

...sara's creative storage...

sara had her tonsillectomy follow up at the ENT office on Monday of this week. her throat looked great, and so did her ears.  i thought all was well until he seemed concerned about "a few crusties" in her right nostril.  he had her blow her nose as hard as she could, but the crusties were still there.  he reaches for his dr. sized tweezers and pulls out a large mysterious object from her nose.  what was it?  a candy wrapper she had shoved in the back of her nostril. what?!?!? NICE. what i would have given if i had thought to take a picture...

... tea snob...

one day a few weeks back i went coffeehouse hopping in atlanta with several girlfriends.  we went to this cool little place called Java Monkey (my favorite i think) and i ordered tea. 

well, this is what they served it in

a small pot called "ingenuitea". 

call me clueless, but i had never seen a pot quite like it.  they put steaming hot water in this pot along with the loose tea of my choice.  it steeps for a few minutes and then you set the pot on top of a mug and it drains out the bottom into the mug.  no pouring or anything!

since i used this contraption, i've been dying to get one. i hope to NEVER go back to tea bags again. nope, loose tea is the only way. (never mind that i just had hot tea from a tea bag last week).

anyway, i found one on amazon. and it's only 14.95! they also sell a glass mug that partners with it for 10 bucks.  i think i'm ordering one tonight... or maybe later this week...

do any of you drink tea? and if so, do you have an ingenuitea contraption? give me the skinny friends!

...end of an era...

kindergarten is over for anna katherine. she is now officially a first grader and she is super happy about this.
i had previously posted some pictures of sara's pre-k graduation last month, so i must do the same for my eldest.

the first few pictures are from kindergarten graduation. here is AK before the ceremony with some girlfriends from her class.



here she is receiving her diploma (in her "high heels" no less)...



and here is a picture of their performance of "first grade, first grade" sung to the tune of "new york, new york". super cute!



she went back for two days of school, and i just had to post a picture of her with her teacher and ryan, a little sweetie pie in her class who brought her a red carnation a few weeks back (he has a bit of a crush on my girl) :)



here is one with emma from her class, who lives down the street and whose parents have become good friends of ours...



and last but not least the girls at baskin robbins after school was out june 5th...

... two less body parts...

sara had her tonsils and adenoids removed this morning at the hospital.  her tonsils were huge, and i actually even told the doctor that i wished he would have saved them for us to look at.. he informed us that tonsils shrink by 50% once removed, so they wouldn't have looked nearly as impressive post-op.  (no charge for that small tidbit of valuable information, internets!)

when she got out of surgery she was quite distraught and was crying for close to 30 minutes afterwards.  she wanted her i.v. OUT.  they gave her more liquid lortab, and between that and Dora she settled down fairly quickly.  we stuck around the hospital for a few hours, and then we were released to go home.  on the trip home, she got nauseated and threw up and also teetee'd in the car seat. nice.  i felt terrible for her.

the afternoon consisted of couch time and one movie after another. she ate popsicle after popsicle. the later it got, the more whiny she became. now she's in bed sleeping nicely. 

pray for an easy and quick recovery for my baby if you think of it!

...movin' on up...

it's official! my baby is a GRADUATE! 

farewell pre-k it's time for the real world!

be gentle, o elementary schoolers, with my angel~

(sara with her bff's)

...dr. blackthumb...

this first picture is a perfect representation of what i do when i get a hold of plants. 

sweet little sara brought home a seedling to grow from school, and a week later it's dead. not enough water, too much water- i just can't seem to figure it out. 

i had been hiding this on the counter at a spot out of her eyesight... praying that it would decide to fight the good fight and come back to life. no such luck. finally sara noticed it and was not happy. "MAW-MA!"  and tears. sorry, peanut, i'm a wanna be gardener who kills plants.

now here are two pictures of my latest attempts at gardening. and you can be extra proud, because i actually planted these flowers in the pots. TWO of the barrel arrangements, and one hydrangea. of course i had to ask the gardening sales person every detail about how to do it, but none the less i did it. yep, i could have bought the "ready made" pots with flowers already arranged, but nope! i did it myself. (grinning ear to ear)

if these live all season, then REDEMPTION. i'll let you know...

...wilson, watch your back!...

little black neighbor dog wilson, how i hate thee. bite my kid again and it's all over.

OH. MY. WORD.

the private practice season finale was a nail biter! the last few minutes were killer, and i had a hard time relaxing to go to sleep.

thoughts about the episode:

Addison- get some discipline. and some morals for that matter.

Violet- loved that she picked Pete

Sam- finally the confession of love to Naomi

Naomi- chicken

Cooper- he's gonna HATE that he left violet's house before going in

Charlotte- grow a heart and look for another job

Crazy Psycho patient- there are no words

do we REALLY have to wait til next season to find out what happens with violet and the baby? argh!

anyone else watch this show? thoughts?