Hunting for Photos

I've been wanting to do a photo scavenger hunt with the family ever since I read about Joy Phenix's MLK Day scavenger hunt. The scavenger hunt is spontaneous but has structure, gets us outside, fun, and free. Yep, I'm in!

I decided to keep our first hunt simple and incorporated things I knew they would love to do. So, armed with our list we headed out.

Spring Time Photo Scavenger Hunt

Take a photo of you:

  

By a tree that is blooming:

This tree is a huge tree that is blooming. You can't tell that in this pic so you're just going to have to trust me on that.

On a slide:

 Love the flair he added with his hands!

   

Hanging Upside down:

 She was pretty tickled by being upside down!

  Jumping off a low wall:

 Love the determined look on her face.

 

  Blowing bubbles:

  

  Coloring Easter eggs:

Last year I saw that my friend Jill had colored her Easter eggs outside which was just brilliant. I made a mental note and we too went outdoors this year. Coloring eggs was actually a pleasant experience this year since my kids didn't have my neurotic self making sure they didn't make a mess in my kitchen. That my friends is a win/win!

 

With Ice Cream:

 

Doing a crazy dance in a public place:

Luke refused to do the crazy dance but instead offered to take the picture. He's a giver in that way :)

It was a fun day and I'm looking forward to getting Luke and Maddie more involved next time with creating the list and taking the pictures. We'll definitely do this again!

It's been awhile...

Yes, it has been awhile since I've posted on the old blog. Sigh...

Since I've neglected it for so long, I've been contemplating shutting this bad boy down. The reason I haven't is both Luke and Maddie love going through the blog to look at the pictures and read about the things they've done over the years. So, I'm going to pick it back up and see if I can't get caught up.

I'll be doing an iPhone dump and if your friends with me on Facebook most of the upcoming posts will be familiar. I just want to log the stories behind the photos before those stories fade.

Since you've joined me here, I want to make it worth your while :) Here is a video of the kids and me having a 14-second car dance party in the grocery store parking lot.

Of course I'll post this to Facebook, Luke! Once again proving I will give up all my cool points to have fun with the kiddos. Well, that's assuming I had any cool points to begin with :)

*I've decided to go back and post things in the correct order on the blog. The new posts are between July 2012 and November 2012. I just have the end of November and December to update and then 2012 will be all caught up. Yahoo!

The Mancinis go to Mississippi

Our good friends, the Whitfields, moved back to Mississippi this year. I was SO sad. I was happy for them because it was a great opportunity for their family but super sad for us. This was a couple that I imagined being a part of our core...the couple who would know what was really going on with us and doing life with us. Their boys are close in age to Luke and Maddie, they are a super fun family to hang out with, and they love Jesus. Come on!

So, when they invited us to spend the weekend at their new house, we jumped at the chance. We loaded up the Jam Van and drove out to Mississippi. They live outside of Jackson...in the county. Eric has built a treehouse in the backyard and horses come up to their back fence every morning. It's so heavenly.

While we were there the kids spent lots of time playing in the backyard, we went to a museum, they gave us the "The Help" driving tour :),  and had a bonfire in their backyard with s'mores. Our kids played so well together and I was so sad to leave.

 Graham, Luke and Ethan checking out the T-Rex at the museum. 

Luke running away from the T-Rex while it eats his friend Ethan.

 Graham and Maddie getting in on the T-Rex action.

A Mississippi swamp. We were a little bummed that we didn't see an alligator.

 Cooking s'mores at the bonfire with Mr. Eric. So fun!

Halloween 2013

This year taking pictures of my kids in their Halloween costumes was...well...it didn't go well.

 Luke was trying to give me a Spiderman action shot and Maddie wanted to make faces.

This is seriously the best pic of the night. Ugh! Next year I will insist they stand still for at least one minute!

Addicted to Running

Dan and I attended a MarriedLife event in February at Buckhead Church that challenged couples to have a big dream they were working on together. Lets face it, married life has a way of drifting into just executing the mundane things of life (work, family, shuffling kiddos around, etc.) If we are not intentional, you can go into executing logistics together and forget to dream and plan together.

So, Dan and I decided our big thing would be something around getting physically fit. Dan suggested we climb Mount Everest which I assured him he would never want to do with me. I would complain WAY too much and I have a policy about not visiting places that have a "death zone." So, Everest was out.

Then we talked about getting bikes but that seemed like an expensive experiment. I knew Dan was not going to go to Jazzercize or Zumba with me. After giving it much thought, I proposed that we take up running. It has very little start up costs and we could fit into our tight schedules. It seemed like the perfect plan. As I told Dan my thoughts, he said, "I hate running!" And I said, "Me too! We can hate it together!" I'm super fun like that :)

So, we both downloaded C25K (Couch to 5K) onto our phones, signed up for a 5k, and started training at the end of February. Since the kiddos can't stay home by themselves, we couldn't train together but we committed to running our first 5k together. And we did just that in April. No walking...we ran the whole thing together. Yahoo!

The funny thing is we are now both addicted to running and love it. I've had some issues with one of my legs being weak. This isn't a running injury but an issue we discovered because I become more active. I've had an MRI done and I've gone to physical therapy so I could get back to running. My determination to keep running has shocked me. It is just a great form of exercise.

We ran another another 5k on October 27 with Dan's sisters. While my leg was still having issues, I had a ton of fun running with family!

Anna and I. Shh! Don't tell her I posted this pic...she will not be happy with me. But she looks so cute in her hat!

Dan and I all ready to go. 

Next, I'm hoping we'll run a 10k. So fun! We'll just have to see if these old bodies of ours will cooperate :)

Fall Fashion

Maddie started refusing to wear jeans at the end of last winter. She would only wear "jeggings." I had to convince her that leggings were jeggings. This took me by surprised last year, so I knew I needed to start consulting her a bit more regarding her clothing to avoid turning the mornings into an unnecessary battlefield. (Seriously, it's happening already?!?)

So, Maddie decided this fall she was all about the skirts and dresses (no jeans and only leggings on the weekend because I insist on it) and boots.

All her pre-K girlfriends have boots and she had to have a pair too. I must admit she does look pretty stylish. Stylish...that is her word not mine :)

NPM Family Day - The Zoo

North Point Ministries hosts a family day each year and the staff from all of the five churches come together and spend a day having fun with our families. Just as I look forward to attending this birthday party each year, I love the NPM Family Day. My kids have so much fun running around with the other staff kiddos and I love hanging out with my co-workers. How cool is that?!?!

This year it was Zoo Atlanta and the wonderful Joy Cannis took this super cute pics of my little peeps.

 

My kiddos with the Cannis boys.