So many questions...

ROADKILL CAFE?

I apologize for the poor quality of this picture. It was taken out of the car window as we were driving to an out of town wedding. I couldn't believe my eyes and couldn't find my camera fast enough!

So many questions come to mind though...

Who actually eats here?

What is on the menu?

What is the marketing strategy being used here?

Is this a chain restaurant?

Am I on Candid Camera?

Is this a result of the recession?

Would this be considered "Going Green?"

Bat Girl

You will never in a million years believe what happened to me the other night.

The children and I were coming home after ball practice by ourselves. This is unusual in and of itself because typically Brian is always there with us to PROTECT us! He had a meeting so we were flying solo.

Well, as Savanna and I crossed the threshold of the doorway, a BAT swooped INSIDE the house with us!

Holy Guacamole! I was so scared and since I handle things like this oh so well ~ I went to screaming and running in circles like a mad woman. I frantically searched for something to capture or kill the bat with. My weapon of choice was a broom. So here I am chasing the dumb bat around the house swatting and screaming.

After about 5 minutes of this, I suddenly realized that Micah was still outside. When I went to open the door for him, I lost sight of the blasted bat!

OH GREAT! Now he's not confined to one room! I had to search the entire house for the silly thing. As I am running and screaming with my broom in hand, suddenly Savanna shouts

"Wait, Mom, where is your camera? This would make a really good blog post!"

For real?

She was totally serious!

I explained we were NOT taking any pictures!

This was serious ~ there is a dangerous, possibly rabid creature loose in our home!

After searching EVERYWHERE and still couln't find it, we fled to my bedroom and closed the door to hide from the bat until Brian came home to rescue us. I tried to quote all kinds of good scripture about how God has not given us a spirit of fear, but the enitre time I just kept thinking that I would never be able to sleep with that THING in our house!

The moment Brian walked in the door, he knew something was wrong and shouted out "What in the world is going on in here?"

I yelled back from behind the closed bedroom door

"How did you know?"

He said, "Your keys are in the door and there is a broom on the kitchen counter!"

Still yelling, I scream "Baby, there is a BAT loose in our house!!!"

He springs into action and is the hero I knew he would be. It took him a good 30 minutes to find the darn bat, but he did indeed find it and capture it.

The only problem was.... it wasn't a bat at all.

It was a MOTH!

I know! I can't believe I am such a dork!

But in my defense, it was the biggest, scariest moth I have ever seen!

(I know I am way over using exclamation points, but if I were telling you this story in person, I would be screaming and waving my hands REALLY fast as I spoke to make sure you understood how very serious and scary this seemed at the time. As a matter of fact, I screamed so much that night, I was actually hoarse for the next 3 days.)

After Brian got the bat ~ ahem ~ moth out of the house, we broke out the camera.

Now I realize that it doesn't actually resemble a bat,

but you have to admit that is one humongous moth!

So thankful for my knight in shining armor that rescued me from the killer moth.

P.S. Why do I think butterflies are beautiful, but moths are gross and scary?

Micah's School Birthday

Here's Micah with his lunch bunch gang.
These guys are always "lunchboxes" which means they get to snag the first table and sit together ~ After all, who you sit with is just as important as what you're eating, right?
The tradition continues as the Blue Bell mini cones were requested for his birthday celebration at school.
Everyone seemed to enjoy sneaking in an extra dessert!
Thankful for good friends to celebrate good times with!

Extraordinary-Women Conference

We had a group of about 30 lovely ladies meet us at the Civic Center for the E-Women's Conference. We didn't have assigned seats and we were all meeting there after work/school, but we all wanted to sit together. Unsure whether or not our cell phones would work in the building, I told everyone I would wear my BRIGHT ORANGE sweater so they could spot me in the crowd.

Would you believe they all found us!

I would highly recommend buying the loudest, tackiest sweater you could find for an occassion such as this! It really came in handy!

I was super excited about some of our YOUNG women joining the ranks at the E-Women Conference for the first time.
We weren't suppossed to bring any outside food into the building.
But my mom managed to smuggle some contraband in her purse! gasp!

Good thing none of the speakers spoke on decietfulness or walking in the light of the law, we might have felt so much conviction we would have had to throw ourselves along with our hidden sugar snaps, cheese sticks, and almonds on the altar!
Actually, we were ready to throw Savanna's hypoglocemia card on the table if we needed to.
This really is a dumb rule if you ask me considering that the only foods that were offered were hot dogs, nachos, and giant doughy pretzels.
Anybody been watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution?
He would have had a fit!
And honestly, it really is impossible for those of us with blood sugar issues.

All that aside, it was amazing having my mom on one side of me and my daughter on the other. What a precious time of worship and praise!
I loved glancing over at Savanna's little notepad and seeing what she was recording.

The girls paraded around in their matching hats. When they were asked if they were sisters, Savanna's immediate response was "IN CHRIST!"

BLESS. MY. HEART!

It was such a wonderful time with some of my most favorite girlfriends in the world!

Savanna had it right ~ we ARE sisters ~ IN CHRIST!

Loved watching some of our young ladies rock out the worship time with Mandisa and light up the night with their cell phones!

Savanna was beyond belief excited to get her copy of "HIS PRINCESS ~ Love Letters From Your King" signed by the author and former Mrs. America, Sherri Rose Shepherd.

If you have a special young lady in your life, this book is a MUST!

My sweet friend Crystal told us about it last year and it is definitely one of our favs!

In fact, we picked up her newest book for girls and her Warrior Prince book for young boys.

I was tickled to death to get this picture of my dear friend Sherry with Chondra Pierce. Sherry is MY Chondra. She makes me laugh til I cry! Sometimes our Sunday School get-togethers turn into a Sherry stand up rountine. I was so excited that they actually got to meet.

~

I learned and grew so much this weekend. I told Brian I felt like my spiritual batteries got recharged. I had sort of felt like I was running on empty lately and this was just what my spirit needed. I have already reserved our tickets for next year!

Let me know if you want to join us ~ I promise you won't regret it!

Family Reunion

I always love being around Brian's GINORMOUS family, but official reunions are the BEST!

Lots of laughing, singing, hugging, crying, and eating.

It's the perfect recipe for a good time ~ actually, it's a little taste of heaven if you ask me!

So thankful that I married into this family.

I think I would have to crash the party even if I wasn't invited.

The little girls went on a treasure hunt.

Hannah found a butterfly and Melanie found some lovely flowers.

Micah and Zac kept themselves busy playing in the creek just like Brian and Brad and all their cousins used to do 30 plus years ago.

Micah literally lost his shoe in the mud!

I told him he HAD to go back and find it.

What a mess!

I didn't even know where to begin the clean up!

Ramona with her 'babies'!

I can remember holding Reid as a newborn when he first came home from the hospital.

Now he's taller than his Momma!

Where did the time go?


No good Brown family fellowship would be complete without some serious eating!

We had to move the reunion inside Rays Chapel instead of the Family Fish Pond because of the wet weather. When Bro. Nathan came over from the parsonage next door, Brian showed him the 'right' foods to get from the food line like his Momma's chicken and dumplins, Aunt Shirley's roast, Aunt June's chicken tortilla casserole, Aunt Margaret's pork roast, etc...

Everyone has their signature dishes that they are known for and BOY do people pitch a fit if they try and bring something different.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

We may not have REAL blood born sisters, but I am so thankful for my 'sistas'!

It is so amazing to know that on your best and worst days, you will have a 'sista' there to hold your hand!

After the eating, it was time for some singing.

Brian and Kevin did great keeping up even when you could tell by their expressions that they had no idea what song they were playing!

I know this is terribly blurry ~ but I couldn't resist showing off Damon's 'peace-out gangsta' sign.

Will, Joy, and Brad getting some more super-sweet tea.

All that singing can really make you thirsty!

Nothing like some syrupy tea to coat the throat.

All the grandkids can harmonize so beautifully.

It is truly a worshipful experience.
I don't really know why we had microphones there. None of them need a mic! They have some powerful lungs!

Here are 9 of the original 17 siblings in the Brown family.

I was so taken back when I realized Uncle Chuck is the only brother left among the group.

I can't focus on who and what we've lost, but on what we have now and what we have to hope for when we all gather for the ultimate family reunion in Glory one day.

~

I am so thankful for the legacy of this precious family and even more thankful to be a part of it!

See you all at the fish pond on the Fourth of July!

Daddy Playground

I don't think it matters how many fun toys or playground equipment you provide for children, they would all much prefer just playing on their daddy's shoulders and legs.


So glad for these boys that they have Daddys who pour their hearts and lives into them. What a tremendous and priceless blessing!

You know you're in the country when...

You know you live in the country when you go to the gas station and you have to fight off chickens that are trying to get inside your car with you!


I guess these guys would qualify as "free range" chickens because they are running everywhere.

And you'll never guess what I was there getting....

FRIED CHICKEN

and Gatorade to feed the wonderful friends that are helping paint the exterior of the house.

You can't make this stuff up people!

My life is actually this crazy.

Canvas Wraps Are In!

I am so excited!

My long awaited canvas wraps are finally in!!!

I have wanted some nice canvas wrap portraits for so long, but the expense has always held me back. Brian and I decided we would buy these for each other for Christmas ~ and now I don't think I ever want any other type of print!

Thanks again, Amanda, for capturing these images and encouraging me to get the canvas'.

Can you tell I LOVE them?

Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader?

Savanna was so excited when my Mom (the Math teacher) showed up for a visit on the same day she brought home two A+ Math Tests! She got 106 and 109!

I must say, she always does really well in Math, but I was pretty impressed with these grades because some of these problems were pretty tough!

Here's a few examples...

Write the equivalent decimal for 3/5

~

Order from greatest to least 1.4, 150%, 7/6

~

Find 44% of 70

~

What is the sales tax on $9 if the tax rate is 6%

~

Josie completed 4/5 if the math problems, Carol completed 85% of them , Raj completed 0.7 of them, and Leo completed 5/8 of them. Who completed the greatest portion of the problems?

~

WOW!

I am NOT EVEN going to answer the question "Are you smarter than a 5th grader?"

I am super proud of you, Savanna!

Keep up the good work!

Who ever said BOYS were better at Math than girls?

Wednesday Walk ~ The BEST tickler I know

I can vividly remember BEGGING my Papa to tickle me when I was a little girl.

I would laugh so hard that I would literally start crying.

I think that is one of the reasons this picture of him tickling Savanna when she was 3 is so dear to me. I love the laughter, life, and personalities that are captured in this image of two of my most favorite people in the world.
Looks like he's still got his touch and can keep his award as the best tickler I know!
Of course it's pretty easy to find a good tickle spot when you're ticklish from head to toe like Savanna is.

Secret to a Happy Marriage

Ever wonder what makes for a happy marriage?

Want to know some secret formula, recipe, or enlightning advice?

Sorry, I don't have any of that.

But I do have a perfect example of what has worked for us.

~

I was blow drying my hair this morning ~ a long process which usually takes at least 15 boring minutes! Being the multitasker that I am, I used my non-hair drying hand to tidy up the bathroom. I noticed that both of our toothpaste tubes needed to be replaced.

Yes.

I said BOTH.

We have separate tubes of toothpaste.

Anyway, as I was looking at these two pitiful empty tubes, I almost started laughing out loud remembering WHY we have separate tubes. You see, although Brian and I see eye to eye on virtually all the important stuff like religious beliefs, child rearing, money management, etc... We have very different beliefs on how you should dispense toothpaste.

Don't believe me?

See for yourself...

Brian's is the neatly flatened out tube on the bottom.

Mine is the one on top that looks like it has been strangled to death.

I am not too proud to admit it.

I am a toothpaste slob.

I have no excuses.

It just is what it is.

When we first married, we shared toothpaste. I mean, I thought married couples were supposed to share everything, right? Everyday I would grab and squeeze the toothpaste not giving it a second thought. Brian would meticulously run the toothpaste from back to front along the edge of the bathroom counter carefully dispensing the correct amount of paste. I kind of thought it was funny watching him do this time and time again until one day I realized how annoying it must be for him to have to share his toothpaste with a slob. What's even more pitiful is that I do not have the desire to change my habit because, quite frankly, I just do not care enough about toothpaste tubes. But I do care about him, and since I knew it would be a difficult habit for me to break after having brushed my teeth this way thousands of times over the years, the easiest solution was to go for separate tubes. I know it may sound silly, but at the end of the day, the lesson is "don't split hairs about the small stuff." I realize that probably no one's marriage has crumbled to pieces solely because of toothpaste squeezing issues, but the little things do add up. And if there are ways to avoid such problems ~ by all means, go for it!

So there you have it.

The 'secret' to our happy union.

Gulfarium

Mom found an incredible deal for a family season pass to the Gulfarium. It basically pays for itself after just one visit, so I am sure these are not going to be the last Gulfarium pics that will be posted here over the next few months.

I remember MANY childhood field trips to the Gulfarium. As we watched the dolphin show and they shared the ages of some of the dolphins, I realized that some of these were the SAME dolphins I saw perform as a child!

The Gulfarium is one of the oldest Marine Show Aquariums. If you have never made the trip, I would highly recommend it! It has the Sea World feel on a much smaller scale.

We especially like the baby of the dolphins that was born on Easter morning a few years ago ~ thus the name "Lily."

We made sure that we stayed out of the splash zone!

This dolphin kept playing peek-a-boo with Savanna.