Less is more

Here are the last remaining pictures on my camera for the week.

Before I get to them, I'd like to say one of the reasons I'm very proud of my husband. In three short months he's lost 28 pounds! During the worst eating season of the year, might I add. He's been watching what he eats and is eating healthier. Getting back into cycling has been a great thing for him also. He's particularly enjoying road biking, which isn't something he had done before a few months ago. He got a good deal on a really nice road bike right after Christmas and has been putting it to good use, even when it's crazy, stupid cold. Thanks to the magic of eBay he was also able to acquire a trainer, which basically turns your bike into a stationary bike so you don't actually have to go out on crazy, stupid cold days, but can still ride. He also insulated and hung sheetrock in the part of our basement that has the treadmill and some of the kids' toys in it. It was harder to get motivated to exercise down there when you could see your breath, so it's much better now.

Here he is, riding miles but going nowhere.

Going nowhere even faster.

Look ma, no hands!

That TV is in trouble if the back wheel breaks free of the trainer. James has been riding with his friend Chris from church, who competes in Iron Man triathalons. They consist of a 2.4 mile swim followed by a 112 mile bike ride, THEN followed by a marathon, a 26 mile run. No rests between. I thought Chris must have a few screws loose to think this is a good idea until I realized how many people compete in Iron Mans. He's got James thinking about it, though he would start with much shorter versions. Pretty good for someone who's halfway to legitimately being old. :)

Thursday evening we partied at the Davidsons with a house full of folks. I always look forward to Thursdays. It's hard to tell who looks forward to them more, me or the kids.

Friday we had a birthday party at Monkey Joe's in Gainesville for two friends from church. It's a huge space full of inflatable jumpy things and slides of all kinds. I wanted pictures of the kids playing, but they were off and running. Elizabeth is the only one I could keep track of. The oldest two kids were the official party invitees, so I paid for Avery to get in, and they didn't charge me anything for Elizabeth since "one-year olds don't do much here anyway." I thought to myself that they hadn't seen my one-year old. She thoroughly got our no money's worth out of the evening.

Up.

Over.

Wheee!!! Repeat 57 times. Then go to the REALLY big slides at the back.

Shannon and his friend Andrew.

After twenty minutes worth of shoe and jacket round ups and potty breaks at the end of the party, we got in the car and headed to McDonough for the night. James had a camp fair in Alpharetta Saturday and the family was throwing my cousin Brooke a baby shower. We rolled into mom and dad's about 9:30 and put everyone to bed. Mom and Dad were keeping Jordan and Reagan so Jonathan and Lisa could go use their Atlanta symphony tickets. They were both band nerds, and took it a step further to both become band teachers, one of the highest forms of band nerddom. (If you guys are reading this- just havin' some fun! Love you guys!)Truly the ultimate band nerd is a guy Jonathan marched with at UGA who had been in the Redcoat Band for TWELVE years! He took the stay in school message a little too far.

The shower was at my Uncle Danny and Aunt Lynn's house, the grandparents to be.

The boys stayed with my dad and brother, and the girls went with me, my mom, and Lisa to the shower. This is Amelia with second cousin Bailey and little Caroline, my cousin Ashley's daughter.

Onlookers.

Ashley and Brooke are sisters.

Brooke only has about four weeks left until her due date and she's just so HUGE! I mean, look at her! I believe Bailey thinks this is a big stack of diapers. Those should last about a week and a half.

Mom and Lisa.

Aunt Polly helps Amelia demonstrate the versatilty of gift ribbon.

Amelia came up with a few ways other ways to wear it on her own.



Elizabeth thought that looked like a good idea, and being the mimic that she is went and got her own bow and brought it to me for some help.

She pranced all over the room and clapped and looked very proud of herself. I see a little Amelia starting to emerge, she loves putting on things out of the dirty clothes basket and is happiest with aabout 15 bead necklaces around her neck.



Darn thing's trying to fall off. I'll get it back up there.

I just know I'm cute.

Aunt Angela (my dad's sister) and Mom. Because Mom and I have such an honest relationship I felt free to tell her she looked a little smirky in this picture.

She didn't like that too much.

A picture of Pa Pa because he's cute.

One more of Elizabeth I took earlier in the week. She watched the older kids play a fishing game we have and sat down and tried to play it herself. You'd expect a one-year old to take out all the little fish pieces and run off with them or eat them or something. She'd rather play the game the right way.

Maybe it's just boys that do that stuff. Come to think of it Amelia watched and learned really well too. Our boys were generally bent on chaos and destruction from an early age.

Well, that's all I have for now. I'm trying to figure out how I can block off large sections of time this week to tackle a way over due job- reconciling the checkbook and credit card statements. It's a project that requires uninterrupted time and for no one to touch the receipt mountains, which is why it got behind in the first place. I don't dread the actual task, I dread the interruptions!

Camp preparations are also underway big time right now. January kicks off getting serious about camper recruitment, hiring staff, and planning certification clinics. All this in the midst of running weekend retreats and attending to crises like busted water pipes and other such nonsense. Oh yeah, and trying to keep the place afloat on an ahem, slim winter income. God's got it, so we go forward on faith.

See ya in a few weeks when I get around to more blogging fun!