Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Morning.......Honey......

Scene: Early morning at the Dewberry house

I go into the girls' room to wake them. Apparently it was backwards day, because Liv bounced out of hte bed cheerfully, and Lauryn-Elizabeth, oddly, was grumpy.

Me: Good Morrrrrning!

Lauryn-Elizabeth: Not good morning. Just morning.

(It loses something in the writing. Wish you could hear her voice. It was precious.)

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

The Voice of an Angel

(I should preface this by telling you that I am typing this with a cat laying across both my keyboard and my arms. She is also periodically reaching out to put her paw on my hand. I can only assume she is trying to convince me to stop typing so as to disturb her less. At any rate, it is too cute to make her leave, but it is tremendously difficult to type! Ha!)

Sunday night, the choir had a concert for the evening service. It was such a Godly time, praising and singing. I will never cease to feel blessed to be a part of a church that allows such a freedom in expressing your love and praise for our Lord. It is truly amazing.

But the very best part, to me, came after the service. Kevin, the girls, and I were walking out to the car, after having fellowshipped for a while. Daniel Bowman called us up to his car and told us the following story.

While Lauryn-Elizabeth was sitting in the balcony with her friend and her mom (since
Kevin and I were with the choir onstage), she was singing along with the choir. Now
Lauryn-Elizabeth enjoys singing, and generally does everything completely whole-
heartedly. (It is such a joy to watch her devote her whole heart and soul to whatever
project she has thrown herself into at that moment.) So I have no doubt that she was
singing with all the praise in her body. So, Daniel's father in law stopped watching the
choir, and focused on Lauryn-Elizabeth. He took his glasses off and began to weep a bit,
at her sweet, childish devotion. (Shouldn't we all have that child-like devotion?) Daniel said
that he was completely enamoured with her sweet voice.

Ok, so the doting mom in me, gets a bit misty when I hear of others seeing what I have always known. My Lauryn-Elizabeth has the best, most pure heart of anyone on earth! :)

Saturday, August 15, 2009

First Day of School

Monday was a big day at the Dewberry house. Liv got to go to 5th grade at Mommy's school, and Lauryn-Elizabeth became the only Dewberry at Eden Elementary. She had been okay with the idea.....until Liv and I started out of the door to leave. (Kevin takes Lauryn-Elizabeth.) Then her lower lip quivered just a tad and her eyes got a little misty. I had to kiss her extra and hug her but she still was pretty sad that Sissy was leaving her.


<

It has been okay though, because this week she has gotten to be on Safety Patrol like Liv used to be.

I have loved having Liv alone every morning. She and I are having good conversations and it is going to be a great boost to our relationship, I think. I had noticed her pulling away just a tad, as she was getting older. So I am very thankful for this alone time with her daily.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Writing Notes during Church


On Sunday nights, the children in my church all go to service. There are no children's activities because our pastor feels the children should be learning how to participate in "Big Church". So on Sunday night, Lauryn-Elizabeth was sitting beside me. We always have an outline, and usually, the girls just use it to draw on during the service.
However, this Sunday, Boo decided she was going to pay close attention to Bro Jacky and take notes. I was so proud at how attentive she was. She even listened close enough that she was taking notes of her own about what Bro Jacky was saying.
She has decided she is going to pay close attention, because she is planning on using her recess time at school to witness to her friends.
What a precious little girl. I am so proud of her. She takes her faith so seriously, even as an 8 year old.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Day Two of our Staycation

I know I should post a story of what we did this day, but I am just too tired to…. We went to the Birmingham Zoo. Here are the pictures.

The girls in front of the "rhino-saurus".


I just love the butterfly House. I took alot of pictures of the butterflies.






We love the train ride.

The lorakeets are so much fun. One pooped on Kevin's shirt which made me laugh.

Can you believe that a peacock let me walk right up to it?

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Day One of our Staycation

Since we were unable to go on our beach trip, I decided we would have a Staycation. So, Kevin kept his off days, and we headed into Birmingham. We stopped first at the McWane Center. We spent several hours there, and the girls really did not want to leave when we did, but I had gotten a tad restless, and so we decided to leave.

Liv watching the balls in the cool machine at the front of the McWane Center.


This wind tunnel felt like a tornado! The wind speed went up to 78 miles per hour!




Weather Girls!


Creative Love notes
This game was so neat. You had to try not to be "hit" by the ball, which was really a ball of light on the floor screen. Check out how high Liv could jump! (but she still usually got hit...ha!)


Testing pulleys


I just goofed off rather than testing them......


Boo on a bed of nails

Ok, I love this pic. Boo was working on keeping a ball in the air using puffs of air through the hose, but she got a little surprise puff at one point and the look on her face was priceless!

Took a while, but we were able to make the freestanding arch!

Look! I am gonna beat up Kevin!

Liv on the air cycle.
Lauryn-Elizabeth actually had the guts to take her hands off!

Next, we headed into Mountain Brook, for some ice cream.


Yum!!!!

Across from the Mountain Brook Creamery, is the sweetest paper store, Village Press. If you go in there, be sure to take your kids, because they will give your children all sorts of free paper. My girls were so excited to walk out of there, with silver, gold, cream, green, pink, black, white, and blue paper. Believe me, all those scraps will keep them very happy for weeks as they “create” in their playroom.
The girls displaying their paper!
Next, we headed to Aldridge Gardens. We really should have stayed longer, but it was 5 by the time we got there, and it was hot and I was hungry. But, we stayed about an hour, and took some sweet pics, and looked at the gorgeous scenery. We will have to go back….




Then, it was off to Joe’s Crab Shack for some food and fun. We enjoyed that place so much! Our waitress was Elaine and you should definitely ask for her if you go to the Shack on 280. It was my first time there, and so the random dancing was a lovely surprise. (And yes, the girls and I joined in!)

Dancing to the YMCA!

Dancing to the Cupid Shuffle. I, um....am not that good at that particular dance.

The crab legs side of the table. Note the paper towel barrier. (I cannot stand watching them eat that!)
The non-crab legs side of the table.

Kevin eating his nasty shellfish! ha

After supper, it was almost 8, and I was getting tired, so we headed back home. More staycation to follow tomorrow.