24 Years!

24 Years ago today
10/17/87
"Sweetest Day"
I Married the Man of my Dreams!


God Blessed us with 4 Amazing Kids!
Kyle, Zach, Erica & Alexia


We've had our Highs and our Lows,
But through them all,
we always had each other!

Looking for Laughter
in every Moment along the way!

And 24 Years Latter,
We're still Dreaming Together!

Happy Anniversary Babe!

I Love You
Even More Today then I did back then!

Do It Yourself Paris Party!

Viva La France!

A few months ago at Bath & Body Works
we launched a brand new Fragrance
called Paris Amour! It's Lovely, and is made of Tulips & Pink Champagne.
And I got a Brilliant (If I do say so myself!) Idea.
A Paris Themed Birthday Party for my Daughters
who were about to turn 14!

My Manager allowed me to borrow some Eiffel Towers from the store
(once they were no longer required in the Windows!) So Cute!
We used the big one to put gifts, on & around.

But, we ran into a major problem!
There is NO Paris Themed Birthday Party favors/decorations out there!
Any where.
So we improvised!
And being the Party Planning Extraordinaire that I am, :)
I had a lot of fun putting it together!


I started with my right hand man (literally,
my Graphic design loving Husband) :)
I wanted a "Postcard from Paris" for our Invitation.
And he created one!


I found the girls shirts at Target!
Lexi's has The Eiffel Tower on hers,
and Erica's says "Cest La Vie" (say la vee) which means "That's Life!"
And I had a top with Paris on it!


I Found this cute Jewelry Box at Marshalls! Cheep.
And the coffee mug I actually bought in Paris for my Dad
who collected them!
(After he passed away my Mom made sure I got it!)


The Party Favors for each guest consisted of
a purse size Paris Amour lotion,
3 Nail Files & Paris Lip Gloss!


The Treat Bags with the Eiffel Tower on them came from B&BW as well.
The adorable Hat Box I found at Ross! Score!


We made a play list of songs with or about Paris in them:

Like Yesterday: Colbie Caillat
Paris Nights/New York Mornings: Corinne Bailey Rae
Good Life: One Republic
Postcard From Paris: The Band Perry
Paris: Faith Hill
Our Last Summer: Mama Mia (or Abba) :)
Cest La Vie: Shania Twain
Pink Roses: Olivia Zelechowski :)


We also found a Tin Plate at Hobby Lobby.
Perfect.


This Eiffel Tower poster the girls found at a Boarders Closing
a few months ago! Love Great deals!
It went perfectly on the front door to welcome our Party goers!
They knew they were in Paris now!


Since there were No Paris themed table ware,
we used both Girls favorite colors;
Erica = Pink
Lexi = Green


I ordered this adorable cake from Sams Cub!
It's called Bows & Dots,
and they let us choose the colors!
How cute is that?!


The ONLY thing we did find at a Party store was these cut outs!


I placed The Arc De Triumph & Notre Dame on end tables,
& The Eiffel Tower cut out on the restroom door.


For a game I used an old French Dictionary I got in 1985
to take on my trip to France with me,
and came up with words & phrases. Then John made up these cards,
The Eiffel Tower on the French cards
& The Statue of Liberty on the English version.
And the girls had to match them up.

We had two teams & the race was on!


Some words were obvious, and others weren't.
But a lot of Laughter was going on trying to decide what meant what!


Then later we used the back of the cards to play Charades!
And a lot more Laughing ensued!


Our next game was called Mail Call,
going along with the Post Card from Paris idea.
But before we started the girls had to get ready . . .


A girl I work with gave me these Mustaches,
because all French men have them right?! :)
Left to right top row: Samantha, Mykenna, Michelle, Cailin & Lexi
bottom: Erica, Shannon, Briana & Isabeau

One person is in the middle & says "Mail Call for everyone ______"
(fill in the blank)
For example: everyone wearing make-up, or in 8th Grade, etc.
Then everyone who fits that description has to change seats,
the person in the middle takes one of the seats in the shuffle
& whoever is left without a seat is now in the middle!


Warning: It can get a little crazy! :)

Then we went back inside for some Cake
& of course French Vanilla Ice Cream!
Joyeux Anniversaire! (jwah-yurz ahnee-vair-sair)
Happy Birthday!


We gave the girls Paris Journals!
You know I LOVE Journaling!
Hoping they become Bloggers some day too! :)
And wait. What's that inside the Journals?
It must be tickets to the Breaking Dawn Midnight Movie Premier!
(Yeah, that's right! I'm a cool Mom like that!) :)

Magnifique (mahnee-feek)
"Wonderful" Erica!

Tres Joli (tray joh-lee)
"Lovely" Lexi!

"Merci!" (mar-see)
Our "Thank You" cards.
I LOVE Parties with a Theme!
And this one was one of my favorites!

Happy Birthday Hubby!

Happy Birthday to the Best Husband/Father God ever created!

Happy Birthday Babe,
Love you more than life itself!

Praying God Blesses you with a new job for your Birthday!
(And a Detroit Lions win!) :)

14!

My Baby Girls turn 14 years old today!

Where has the time gone?

They are Smart, Beautiful, Talented & Funny Girls!

Happy Birthday Erica & Lexi!
We Love you both so much!


Walking through Life Together!
I'm so glad I get to be a part of it!

Season For Change

Just like there are seasons of the year, there are seasons in life. Our kids go through seasons, different stages of life, and so do we. There are different seasons in Marriage. And in Ministry there are seasons as well. When one season ends, another is starting.

Today is the first day of Fall. The beginning of a new Season of the year. There are things I love about each season. And Autumn brings cooler weather, beautiful colors as the leaves change, and Fall Fashion! :) And best of all Fall ushers in the Holidays! Yay!

Well it is also ushering in a new Season for us. The Church we have been serving at can no longer afford to keep us on staff. And so we begin the job hunt. We are sending Resumes all over the Country and this could mean a move for our family. Whatever this next Season brings, we are ready for it!

We are not the type of people that fear change, like so many do. It's actually kind of exciting! Of course it is kinda scary too. Not knowing what's going to happen. What our future holds. But we do know that God is in control! And He will always take care of us! Through all our Seasons in life, He is the one constant! Our Love for Him & our Love for each other will see us through. Please Pray with us that God would lead us to where we need to be for this next Season of life. And stay tuned to see what exciting things unfold!

A Time for Everything

(Ecclesiastes 3)

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

Non Fiction

As you know, I love Books. I read (almost exclusively) Fiction. With a few Parenting, Political, Self Help, and Christian Growth books thrown in for good measure. I do like Biographies & Auto Biographies from time to time as well, if they are about someone I'm interested in reading about.

In school this year, (Eighth Grade) my girls, instead of having the Accelerated Reading program, where you read a book of your choice & take a quiz on the computer about the book to earn points, have to do old fashioned Book reports! I Love it! And I must say so do they!

Each month they get to choose a book in the category given. The Teacher approves the book, they read it & then follow a format for a report on it. This month was Non Fiction. I pulled out some I have for them to choose from. Here are their choices;

Erica chose Soul Surfer
A great Movie too if you haven't seen it yet, What are you waiting for?!

Lexi chose She Said Yes
A Book about one of the Students killed in the Columbine shooting
who stood up for her Faith.

With Boarders going out of Business (so sad!) we went to our local store a few times to take advantage of the great deals. Browsing through the Non Fiction section a Book caught my eye, & I decided to read a Non Fiction book along with my daughters! (So unlike me I know! But I think you'll understand when I tell you about this Book!)

Summer At Tiffany By: Marjorie Hart is about two Best Friends from The University of Iowa, who, in the summer of 1945 decide to go to New York City & try to get jobs for the summer. They end up becoming the first two Female pages on the sales floor at Tiffany & Co! Talk about a cool summer job! They are even in Times Square on V-Day, when the end of World War II is announced. One of my favorite lines from the Book is "Money may not buy Happiness, but it sure takes you shopping." :)

I had just finished this book & then yesterday (thanks to Twitter) I learned that it is the 50th Anniversary of Breakfast At Tiffany's. That iconic Movie staring Audrey Hepburn. (Love her!) The song: Moon River was made popular by Breakfast At Tiffany's too BTW.

I also made sure to stop by the fabled store when I visited New York City a few years ago! It was everything it was cracked up to be too! (And notice I'm donning my Breakfast At Tiffany's T-shirt!) :)

And you can tell my boys were just as thrilled to be there as I was . . .

Okay, maybe not. But I'm sure they will thank me someday! :)

I really enjoyed this book. Even more than I thought I would. What are some of your favorite Non Fiction Books?

LOL No More!

If you know me, you know I love to Laugh! We do a lot of Laughing in this family! (Hence the name of my Blog!) When I get overly tired I can become slap-happy. That's when my kids love to try to get me Laughing so hard to see if they can make me cry. It becomes a family game (at my expense) they have threatened to video tape me Cry/Laughing to send into America's Funniest Home Videos, they are sure we can win big money!

My girls, who are now 13 years old & easily embarrassed by their Parents (or just about anything else!) :) Have told me I can no longer type LOL, I have to start using L2L! Because I "Laugh Too Loud!" :) And I have to be honest here, I do Laugh kinda Loud! (But, I think it's kind of endearing!) So if something happens & I Laugh Out Loud, they say "Mom, L2L!" And then it makes us all Laugh even harder! It's gotten me a few funny looks, but It's never really gotten me into trouble before, that all changed this past Sunday.

Our Pastor was gone for the day so my Husband was speaking at our Church, in all 3 services. (2 Sunday morning, which are the same sermon & 1 Sunday evening, which is a different message.) And he did an Awesome job! Well in his Sunday evening message he was being funny (I mean come on, would I really Marry someone without a sense of Humor? This is me we're talking about!) and he made a joke about himself, in a kind of self depreciating way, about how good looking he is. So, me, being the devoted wife that I am, who always laughs at her husbands jokes, Laughed!

Well, you see the issue here, (remember, I Laugh rather Loudly.) It really wasn't a big deal at all, until my Husband then pointed out to the congregation; "Did you notice the first & biggest laugh I got on that joke was from my own wife?!" which sent the entire Church into Laughter! Busted! Now, don't get me wrong, even though he doesn't believe it, I think my husband is the sexiest man alive, but it was funny to hear him joke about being so good looking! It was funny. So I did what I do . . . I L2L'd! :)

Have you ever Laughed at the wrong time? Share it in a comment so we can all Laugh with you! (Or at you!) HaHa!! Well they say that Laughter is the Best Medicine! So we should be pretty healthy!