She Finally Lost It!!!

Friday morning was an exciting day at the Dear home. After weeks of wiggling, praying, and letting no one touch it Emily's tooth finally fell out. I am just thankful she did not swallow it. We have had several people offer to pull it, but she said she just wanted it to fall out. The tooth immediately went into the bag of the tooth fairy doll and she was awarded with the giant payout of $1 this morning. She was ready to spend it, but Hannah, the saver in the family, convinced her to wait. I guess this is one of many steps to her growing up into a lovely young lady.
If you cannot figure out which one fell out, it is the one on the bottom. She has the gap like her mom and sister. Sorry girls.

My New Indulgence

My new favorite thing - Mani/Pedi. Some WONDERFUL people gave me a gift certificate for one and I LOVED IT!! Sitting there for an hour without anyone bothering you. Who could complain? I have had many manicures in the past before, which I always enjoy, but never a pedicure. Only complaint, OSU playing on the TV. I could get use to getting one of these everyweek. Maybe my wonderful husband would let me get one maybe once a month. I definitely beats doing your own french manicure at home. By the way Sally Hansen French Manicure pen is #1. For all you moms out there treat yourself with this at least once in your life.

Day at the Zoo with Jenny and Ashley

We were so excited to get to see Jenny and Ashley a couple of weeks ago. For those who do not know them Ashley is our former children's minister from AL and Jenny is her sister. The girls love them and we do to. Ashley is now working in Louisville, KY so it is easier for us to get to see her. Jenny came to visit her and they drove up and met us. We took them to the Columbus Zoo. It was a nice day for the zoo. They were amazed how nice the zoo is. We are very fortunate to have great zoo in Columbus. Ashley and Jenny had been to the zoos in Atlanta and Birmingham and commented how much better the Columbus one is. In Bham half the animals are laying on concrete slabs, and in Atl the animals are in their "natural" habitat, but you really do not get to see them up close like you do here. Emily had fun, because she had to have her picture taken with all the sculpture. Most of the animals were active the day we were there. The lion roared, the grizzly was playing in the water, a kangaroo jumped by us, and a cute little gorilla was playing next to the window and reacting to us standing there. It was just a great day with our friends and was capped off with dinner at Cheesecake Factory and ice cream at Graeters. We hope Ashley and family will get to see us again soon.

Lemonade for Missions

I know Noel has already talked about the lemonade stand, but here is the picture of the girls waiting for their first customer. They had a great time serving lemonade. Hannah was in charge of the money and Emily the ice. We had many people stop buy. Thank you to all the church members who came by. The money the girls earned went to Michael and Jonathan George's mission trip to Kenya. We were out there for about 2 1/2 hours. Hannah did not want to come in because she want to get more money for the mission trip. They were very excited about having the stand. They raised $65 for their hard work and are asking when they can do another one. We ask everyone to pray for Michael and Jonathan. They leave on Sept 20th and return on Oct 3rd. Also pray for our team goingto the Ukraine as well during this time. It is exciting to see people in our church to get out of their comfort zone to go and witness to people around the world. Our pray is to become an Acts 1:8 church.

GO DAWGS!!!!

I am so excited about the MSU Bulld0gs playing tonight! I was just looking at the stadium webcam and got a little misty thinking about all the games I attended during college. You know cramming those 4 yrs into 6. I know every year I have do endure the endless abuse of my husband about how bad we are, and making fun of our coach. I don't care. I love the DAWGS and I will never stop pulling for them. I wish the DAWGS all the luck this season. I will be watching for my brother, who will be at the game. Mom got him season tickets for his bday. By the way - HAPPY 22nd JOEY! Present will be in the mail soon. I am including a clip of our fight song so click on the logo and maybe it will work. If not click here. Please yankeeville carry SEC sports, because they are the best. Here is to a great football year, and maybe we can wrap it up in Maroon and White. (I put that in just for you Noel)

Coming Soon to a theatre near you!!!

Everyone should see this movie!! Rarely do you have a movie you can carry the entire family to the movie and not be embarrassed. Thankfully it is coming to Columbus. Noel and I were able to see it at the SBC Convention this summer. This movie is brought to by the same church who did "Flywheel", which is also an awesome movie. Noel said he liked it better than the Passion movie. There is no bad language in it either movie. You will laugh. You will cry. I can not stress how important it is to see this movie on opening weekend. If you like Georgia football Mark Richt makes a cameo apperance as himself. You can find out more info about this movie at www.facingthegiants.com. I cannot say it enough - GO SEE THIS MOVIE!!!

Fiesta 2006

I know I am slow at posting pics from VBS. We had a great turn out with our highest day of 149 kids. Everyone had a great time, and a big thanks to all who volunteered and worked hard getting everything together. The kids favorite things were shouting "VIVA!" and seeing Noel and Pastor Wally receiving a pie in the face. Sam you did a great job. I am thankful VBS is only nce a year. Here are some pics from the week.

What's in a Name?

I was checking out a friends blog, and she had posted why she chose the name of her blog. There are some straight to the point and other you wonder where they got that. Mine, endearing as it seems, is oddly enough our last name. Yes, I do get the comments on how sweet it must be to have this last name. Our former pediatrician loved it. You can join the others by adding your reason behind your blogging names at Chelsea Morning blog.

P.S. Here's a shout out to the the Dawg Fans out there. Beat the Gamecocks.

What is this?

Here is a picture I took on vacation. Can you guess what it is?

For the Beggars and Complainers.

It has been busy around the Dear house lately. Here is a quick synopsis of vacation.

• Greenbrier - Wonderful time. I got to wear my new dress and shoes. The resort was beautiful. In the short time we were there I tried to absorb the history and think of all the people that had been there in the past 200 some odd years. All the presidents, dignitaries and movie stars that have vacationed there. We were sad that we did not get to see the underground bunker. They were getting it ready to reopen after we were there. It is neat being somewhere that requires a dress code. We got to eat dinner in the main dining room, which was fabulous. Maybe a dance or two was had, but being Baptist I will plead the fifth. I would recommend going once in someone's lifetime. We can now saw we are part of the history at The Greenbrier. If you do get to go, try the chocolates.

• Myrtle Beach - Getting to the beach we had to take the scenic trip thru Alabama. We received the news will at the resort the Papa Jim's mom had died. We were to pick the girls up in Greenville, SC, but due to the death we had to drive to AL to get the girls. We had put 2000 miles on our car before getting to the beach. Noel and I were tired of driving. We were happy to get our girls back. They had a great time getting to see Nana, Papa Jim, Aunt Stacy, Uncle Todd, Taylor, Noah, Olivia, Zoe, Grandnana, and who knows else. We were all ready to see the beach, since we had not gone in 2 years. We finally arrive there on Saturday night. Our days were spent either at the beach or pool. We played Monopoly Jr. and Uno. Noel and I decided upon recommendation by Jeff to watch 24. So we started with season 4. I think we finished the entire season in about 2 1/2 days. We are definitely fans now. We were excited to be back in the land of she crab soup, Chick-fi-la, Krispy Kreme, crab claws, and Little River Deli. All I can say about Krispy Kreme is 3 words HOT DOUGHNUTS NOW!!! Noel did get to play golf, and I shopped. We just had a great time doing nothing. As I mentioned in the earlier blog, Hannah was an adventurous eater on this trip. She tried fried alligator (I did as well), raw oysters eaten on a cracker with cocktail sauce, wings, and ribs. Emily was not so adventurous except in enjoying ice cream and doughnuts. Emily did become a better swimmer and learned to boogie board. So all in all we did have a great vacation and we are thankful for our church for letting us be gone for 2 weeks. Miles on the car 3200. So here is our picture of "we got to go to the beach and you didn't".

So I hope my blogging fans are happy with an update. I will try to update more often. If you start complaining again I may be forced to put up the above picture again.

Quick update

Sorry for the delay of updates. After vacation we hit the ground running of getting ready for vacation bible school. I hope to give you more detail and pics of vacation soon.

So here is a brief synopsis of vacation -

• week with no children - quiet
• Greenbrier Resort - wonderful, #1
• 2000 miles on the car before we get to the beach - LONG car ride
• Myrtle Beach - fun, fun, fun
• our new favorite TV show - 24

Once VBS is over I will have a little more time.

If you need me...

The day has arrived. VACATION. We have not gone to the beach in 2 yrs. I think this is the lightest I have packed for the beach. We are looking forward to getting the girls back. They have had a great time at Nana's house. Noel and I have enjoyed our week alone, but it has been busy getting ready to leave. As I write Noel is getting the car gassed up, and almost everything is in the car for our departure tomorrow. Please pray for a safe trip for us (no hurricanes, please), and that everything stays calm in Ohio.

I'm out of here. If you need us we are at the beach. See you in two weeks. Watch Noel's blog we might update from the beach if he finds something he would like to make fun of me with.

What ever am I going to do?

Yesterday, we took the girls to Louisville, KY, meet with Nana and Papa Jim. All the way the girls kept asking, "Are we there yet?" and "How much longer?". Usually one or the other will sleep on the trip, but today NO. I think they were too excited to see Nana. So with the kids gone I can do whatever and go where ever I want, within reason. I did tell Noel last night that I do already miss the girls. I know the girls had fun last night. They were getting to stay in a hotel, and do you know what that means. You get to jump on the bed! This morning they were going to a "junk sale" as Noel calls it or a flea market to most. Nana and Papa Jim are excited about that, and I know the girls will have fun and find something they want.

But Noel and I do have a busy week. Noel wil be busy with his root canal and church, I am busy working on VBS decorations, cleaning out the playroom with girls gone, and packing for the BEACH! As far as VBS decorations go, anyone who is reading this and has nothing to do on Monday join us at the church, we are "blowing up " buildings.

Vacation is Near!!

Our family is anxiously awaiting for when we leave for the beach. We leave 2 weeks from today. We counted up the days we will be there 13 DAYS!!! YIPPEEE!! This girls will get to start a week early. Nana and Papa Jim will be coming next week for the girls and they will go home with them in Alabama before joining us in South Carolina. What will I ever do with no kids for a few days. Clean house - maybe / maybe not. Tanning bed and gym here I come.

My dear husband is surprising me with an early anniversary present. Since we will be traveling on our actually anniversary date we are celebrating while the kids are gone. We were trying to decide what to do, and he asked if he could pick it and surprise me. I said yes since this is the man who surprised me with New Orleans (preKatrina) and Cancun. He is taking me the fabulous Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia. WOW!! I can't believe. I thought maybe one day get to visit (especially the bunker), but never get to stay. Did you know there was a dress code to be on property? Well, there is. I have been given the go ahead to buy a dress for dinner. I have such a wonderful husband. This is second gift he has given me this year that has made me cry. It makes it really hard to be mad at him. I LOVE NOEL DEAR!!!

The Baptism and the bump

Sunday the 11th was Hannah's baptism. She was so excited about finally getting to have her baptism. Grammy was here to get to see it. Noel and I gave her a card and flowers telling how proud we were of her. I don't know who was more excited Hannah or Noel getting to baptize her. I also thought it was appropiate for her to wear last years camp t-shirt - "God's Word - Soak it up".

After Hannah's baptism I was trying to go back down the steps and lost my footing on the wet steps and fell backwards sliding down the stairs. The entire congregation hears Noel saying "Oh, no!", and they think Noel had fallen. Nope, it was me. I fell and sprained my wrist. So we will all have something to remember her baptismal day. You can read more of Noel thoughts on my fall at pastordear.blogspot.com.

I am trying to get better about updating. We are all just ready for the beach.

Emily's Birthday Party

Saturday June 10th was Emily's birthday party. We had ten kids at the party - Abby, Julia, Hannah K., Hailea, Matthew, Rachel, Jenae, Hailey, Hannah, and Emily. This was a tropical birthday party, and we had hoped to play in the sprinkler. True to Ohio weather cloudy with a slight breeze and 70. We thought it was going to rain so we waited to the last possible moment to decorate, and in case of rain I was to try to figure out how to put 10 kids and parents in our small house. Thankfully no rain. All the kids had a great time. Hailey Smith especially enjoyed the sidewalk paint, but didn't like getting cleaned up.
Here is Emily's cake. She saw it on Martha Stewart and decided that is what she wanted. I know it is not exactly like hers on TV, but I think I came close. What do you think? So we can say we ate monkey for her birthday. Several of the kids wanted the ears, and one said no to the ears because of ear wax.

Dance Recitals and Grammy's Here!!

I know I am behind on updates so here is the first one. Mom finally arrived!! She loved flying and is looking forward to getting to fly again. The girls were so excited for her arrival.

We survived 2 dance recitals. Hannah's only lasted for 3 hours and thankfully for Emily's we got to leave at intermission. Hannah and Emily both did a beautiful job on their dances. I was impressed with all the dancers in the entire production. Definitely a higher level of compentency and difficulties than our former recitals. We are also happy for reserved seating.

Now that dance is over we now focus on birthday party.

School's Out & Happy Birthday Emily!!

The day has arrived that Hannah has been looking forward to, the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!! It is a busy week around the Dear house - school, dance practice and recital, birthday party, and many other miscellaneous things in preparation of mom's arrival (3 days!!).

This past weekend it is hard to believe that Emily is now 5 years old. She is no longer a preschooler. :( It just seems like yesterday she was a baby. For her birthday we got her a My Little Pony Celebration Castle and you can see in the picture how excited she was to receive it. WOW the number of little ponies at our house!

Noel and I are looking forward to next week, spending some time together at the Southern Baptist Convention. We hope we will get to see some of our friends from down south. Who thought I would ever say that? Mom is very excited about getting to stay with the girls and see some of the sights of Ohio.

For all of our friends from the deep south - COME VISIT!! Ohio, so far, is beautiful this summer, the grass is green and the flowers are blooming, and Noel is learning which golf courses are the nicest.

Gym Show

Last night was the girls gymnastics show. Picture 6 different classes doing their skills on different apparatuses at the same time on the hottest day in Ohio this year. We were glad the girls were at the same time on the same day but trying to watch them both was a little difficult. But all in all Hannah and Emily did a great job. They have improved from last year. Hannah can do a pull over, cartwheel, and many other things. Emily can do a front flip and back flip, while having fun, as well as other things. We are very proud of our girls.

Now we can look forward to the marathon dance recital practices. :\

Here's Hannah's Dance Picture

Sunday Hannah's Dance pictures were taken. Since Emily's turned out so cute, I took Hannah's picture the same way. Oh, and by the way, Hannah's recital has been moved again back to Wedesday. So, 2 glorious nights of dance recital. :
17 days till Grammy arives!! :)