Hobbies - lots of pics!

I would say that my number one hobby is photography. It only takes seconds to capture moments in time so that they might be enjoyed forever. {That is great since I don't have a lot of "free" time lately!" I love taking pictures. But, I also love editing them! Sometimes I love a raw image. But more often I find myself amazed at digital technology. I am learning {through trial and error} what edits work for prints and which ones are better when the image is only going to be seen digitally. Unfortunately, this is a process that takes more than a moment You have to "try" out a lot of things. You have to see what is is going to look like before you make a final decision on the edit; sometimes you like it, sometimes you don't!

This post is like a theme on a theme. All of these photographs feature hobbies of my family:)

Okay, this photo combines several of our family's hobbies.
Justin is an avid Duck Hunter and has a new hobby of training our lab, Bill.
Bill's hobby is fetching things, of particular interest to him - DUCKS!
Carys shares her mommies love for raising animals and I love to edit photos in cute and quirky ways, so here you go......

Besides naming the animals, which is quite a chore at our house, Carys loves to put the ducks in water and watch them do what ducks do, swim!

Just so you know, there is a no bite {Bill} and no shoot {Justin} policy on THESE ducks!!!

So it seems that these days our new hobby is baseball (make that T-ball:) Sawyer is loving it and asking everyday when his next game is. I am glad to see him get excited about something, a new stage of personality development!

I entitled this photo "Sharing" SO funny!

How old are they again?!?

I love the finish on this pic. It makes it look retro!

If you know Sawyer, you know he is always in deep thought. This is not the best pic, but it captures SAWYER so well!

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It's Friday!

Any I am SO thankful!

This is my Husband!

I am sure that he, hates when I plaster his face on the blog. I can even imagine what he must think about me writing about him. But, today, I don't care:)

I am going to write about him, because I cannot get him off my mind. I was looking for a picture this morning when I came across our picture from our recent vacation to TN. It was the perfect trip. I really mean that. We had great expectations of our time alone to unwind and take in some of God's creation. We planned our meals weeks before we left. We were truly blessed by God when everything went as planned.

Another set of thought entered my mind when I looked at these pictures. I began to think about all of the things we have been through together; to get to this point. Yes, I suppose this is the week of memories or something but my mind keeps going back there! Do you guys realize that I was 13 (a month from 14) when we first met and started "going together." At that time, I was so sure of what the future would hold. Love, Marriage, Children, Education, Homes, even pets...and here we are. How did we get from there to here.

Obviously, God had directed our path each step of the way. I think some people get caught up in what life will be, that they forget life is NOT about their plans, it is about HIS plan! I must admit that I have been guilt of that many times over the past 10 years. But I say that to say, if you feel that way, just let go. Allow God to lead your path and you will be so blessed. I don't mean in "stuff" or "money" but in LIFE!

Back to Justin! He is awesome. I am not doing him justice if I don't list a few things about him.

A) he is full of love and not afraid to share it! he is a very loving husband and father. He loves hugs and kisses and snuggling! Our kids don't think twice about wrapping their arms around their daddy. In fact, Justin and Carys have a special kiss. If she comes up and kisses him on the ear, she knows he will "melt" all over the ground. I smile every time I see her do it! Ans Sawyer, when he is really sad or upset, tells me my "holds" are not as good a daddy's because my arms are not "big as daddy's" Justin is the ultimate example of love in our home!

B) He is a hard worker! I don't mean that he works a lot. DO NOT BE CONFUSED ABOUT THIS! Sometimes { more often recently} he has to work long hours. This is NOT easy on him or because he wants to. But becuase he job requires it of him, he does it. That makes me so proud. I am sure that all of us have husbands that work, but ladies, there are people in the world who won't! I am thankful for a man who does in order to provide the basic needs for our family WITHOUT - going overboard never neglecting his family. He always says that to him, time is just a valuable as money. He believes that nothing he could buy with money could replace the importance of what we do with our time together.

C) He is balanced. He is a cut-up {like father like son}, but takes life and matters of his faith and family very serious. He likes to do things, and he likes to rest. He likes alone time, but also family time.

D) He LOVES me and shows it in many ways. He had read and lives according to God's Word such as when it says...

Ephesians 5:28
In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
and...
Ephesians 5:25
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her
and also...
Colossians 3:19
Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them

He treats me with dignity and respect. In today's world people have all kind of crazy ideas about what a woman's place is and how women should act. I believe that my role as a wife begins with his role as a husband. See, God's Word says to wives...

Ephesians 5:24
Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Some women don't like to read this verse and it is mis-interpreted in many ways. For me, it is easy to submit to by husband in all things. BECAUSE he is following God's plan for how a husband should act. He loves me as his own body {so he always wants the best for me}, he would die for me {so he always wants the best for me...get the idea.}

I know Justin will hate this because read the wrong way it sounds like I am saying he is perfect. He is not :) But that is another thing I love about him. He have and continue to GROW together - in Grace and in Truth. This journey of life would be no fun without someone to lean on and love you when you DO make mistakes.

No, he is not perfect but there is an old county song that says [s]He's close enough to perfect for me!

Thank you Justin for loving me and being my very best friend! You are an awesome dad and I want you to KNOW IT!!

Photo Update - Could be LONG :)

I would estimate I have 1000 pics I would love to put up here!

This is BILL! He is our 14 week old Black Lab. Quite safely I can say he is the smartest dog we have ever had. Our others have been great companions. He is too, but he is obviously bred to work and he LOVE to please us. That comes in handy when you want him to learn to NOT jump on the kids but at the same time be right there with them and play as hard as they do. No, he cannot speak but I KNOW he LOVES his PEOPLE (especially the small ones:)

This is my "baby." Yes, I said baby. It has hit me really hard recently that my youngest child id FOUR-years-old! He is the silliest kid I know. He loves to tell me how "big" he loves me. Like, "Momma, I love you big as our house!" or "as big as my eyeballs" anything silly goes. And his absolute favorite word is GUTS! He and Carys can laugh for HOURS over the mere mention of the word!

Spidey Cake Number One
Okay, yes! My child had two birthday parties this year! My original intention was to go LESS for both of the kids this year. We are floating in toys and I want the kids to stop thinking of their birthday's as this time to be lavished with "stuff." I would much rather us go out for a family dinner, or even take a short trip. Something where we get to spend time TOGETHER rather than rushed to care for guests. My plans {for many reasons} did not go as planned.

But Sawyer had a great time at both parties.

This cake was a "practice" run for the real cake. It is a four layer french vanilla cake with butter cream icing {Spidey is in pre-colored/flavored fondant from wal-mart.} I was running REALLY short on time and whipped this up the night before {cake and icing.} For me this is a big no-no becuase the cakes need to be COMPLETELY cooled before they are iced. I paid for that as you can see my butter cream ran everywhere before it "set" and ended up being lumpy.

Sawyer liked it, it was super moist, and tasted great!

This was "THE Gift" He wanted it for Christmas but they were in short supply and like $70 bucks. After Christmas, Walmart suddenly got in 5 of them which they promptly marked down. We watched it for weeks and Mom grabbed it for $25. He was really, really happy! {I love it beacuse it folds up and can be put in a corner with all the pieces inside!}

Bill - taking a break from playing with the kids. He is still a baby and gets tired keeping up with C and S!

Spidey Cake Two

So I had much more time invested into this cake. But, not enoughh:) I baked the cakes the night before, But this was my first time using my new Stainless steel rectangular pan. When I put the cake on the cooling rack {upside down out of the pan} I was not thinking about the added weight from the long cake and I left it upside down. As it cooled, it broke apart. So, Saw-Man only had one layer :(

For this cake I tried out a new recipe for homemade Fondant. I was a marshmello recipe that I got here. I loved it! It tasted SO much better and was easy to work with. There is nothing like Fondant to keep a cake good and moist and look cute too. Try it- but make SURE you have time!!

We got these seed kits as LOWE'S. They are Sesame Stree themed and the kids loved doing this. We are ALL getting a little antsey for Spring planting and this was a good way to kick it off.

Sawyer choose Pumpkins {which came in a pink container below}

And Carys choose watermellons. Here they are complete in their "greenhouse" in the window seal. You don't have to water {unless you see they they are too dry} because you place water int he bottom of the tray and the greenhouse makes condensation to water the seeds. It was a great lesson in the water cycle for the kids! Hope they see a few sporuts in a few weeks!

Yes, Im Alive :) - Memory Lane

I cannot believe how long it has been since I posted! I have so much that I would like to share.

We had a fabulous Spring Break. The kids went camping with my family for the first few days while I did work on the house. That included painting the dining and living rooms, new flooring in the master bathroom, the installation of a new toilet, lots of sorting and discarding of "stuff", and my favorite, the rearrangement of the living room furniture! I have "after" pics, but they are kinda null without the befores. But, I will upload them later.

I had a stroll down memory lane this morning. I wanted to post about it because it was a very exciting thing for me, and those of you who went to high school with me may enjoy it, but may not get to experience it.

My office is located in the "old" Bibb County High Building. It is in the first classroom as you enter the building from the door near the Bandroom and Field House. When we were in school, it was occupied by Mr. Cutts. Currently, There are a few offices on this hallway where we are all awaiting the completing on the new Board of Ed building which is going up on the old Jr High lot. {You might also be interested to know that the old break room is now a locker room for visiting football teams and the lunchroom has been transformed in to a massive weight training area that all of the teams use.}

Anyway, I have been thinking a lot about my age lately. Not that I don't like getting older, in fact, I quite like moving through the different stages of life. I was talking with a former student of my who is a Senior in High School yesterday. He was talking of his college plans and jolted me back to that time in my life. A time that was met with great anticipation. I was excited about college, but more excited about the idea of starting my life with Justin; and its funny now how many of those "plans" we made then are "memories" today!

So, I was the first on in the building. The lights were off and the sun was shining brightly into the hallway. The hallway where we used to scurry to class, gossip about this-and-that, try and hide our PDA {public display of affection for those of you who might not know!} It is my opinion that in a matter of years, this building will no longer be here. Let's face it, it was falling apart and no longer houses students so how long will they leave it here?

I decided to go down and check out my locker from my Jr and Sr year. {BTW, how did we keep the same lockers for two years in a row???} I remember the number 155 - right out side of Mrs. Lucas' room. Remember. I opened it up and so many memories came flooding back! I began to look at the near-by lockers and put faces with each one. Snapshots of time were floating around in my brain. I was amazed at how many people I could put with "their" lockers. It was a fun moment. And just like that it was over. A memory.

I loved High School. It was fun and I learned a lot! I wish sometimes I could go back and re-live a few things. Prom would be fun! How about when the guys won State for baseball?!? Me and Nikki announcing and playing the music at the softball games! All of this was so much fun!

But, I am truly happy with where my life is today. Not to say there are not things, goals, that I want to accomplish - but I just could not help but feel blessed as I took this short trip down memory lane!

{P.S. if any of you are ever in town and want to see the new (or old:) buildings, let me know. If you live out of town, you should at least drive by and see all of the changes. Things, again, we used to DREAM about! They have started construction on the new Gym as well!}

I'm So Excited!

Okay People!!!! Its that time of Year!!!!

To begin preparing for Relay for Life!

The Wilms Warriors are in action again!

These images will be on our Relay t-shirts this year. They will be $15 dollars (add $2 for 2X and 3X sizes).

We will be taking orders now through March 26 so that we can have everything ready for Bibb County Relay on Friday, May 7th at Brent Heritage Park.

Please let me know if you would like one. We are asking for all of the money before we order then to ensure our order is correct. I can e-mail you an order form in Word or Adobe form. If you think you could sell several for us, let me know and I will get you the forms ASAP. Just remember to get the money up-front.

Also, it is time to sign up for our team. There has been about this in the past. We need EVERYONE who wants to walk in honor of Carys to sign up either online or by contacting me!! Here is the team page http://mainevents.org/goto/cure4carys where you can sign up online. It asks for a $10 donation to get you started. You can do that online OR by contacting me. Once you sign-up you can set-up and email out your on page where people can make on-line donations. This is a VERY easy way to get started.

I am in the process of arranging a fundraiser called "Painting for a Cure." It is in the format of a "sips n strokes" type class where you are taught to paint a painting from scratch! I am SUPER excited about this and will post the details as soon as they are made.

Please help us give back to an organization that provided support for our family and so many others! Help us HONOR Carys and the many other loved ones we have that have fought so bravely!

OH, I ALMOST FORGOT! THERE IS A COMPETITION IN BIBB COUNTY TO SEE WHO CAN GET AN ONLINE DONATION FROM A FAR WAY PLACE! PLEASE HELP US WIN THE PRIZE. IF YOU ARE IN ANOTHER STATE, FOLLOW THE LINC ABOVE AND DONATE ANY AMOUNT YOU CAN:)

Unbelievable!!

It is simply unbelievable that Sawyer Burt Cottingham is FOUR years old!!

Do you people understand that he is the YOUNGEST child I have!!

I don't have pictures with me today, but I will get the up tonight or tomorrow.

We celebrated yesterday with a family lunch after church. I made a "practice" Spider-man cake. He is having a "friend" party this Saturday, and it is Spidey themed. I made the cake AFTER school on Saturday. I started the baking about 6:45pm. That means it was like 10pm before I got off to bed. It was "okay" but I am make the "friends" cake with fondant (this was was all buttercream), that will help my feelings. But I must say, the cake was delicious!

He had a great day and kept saying "I'm four-years-old" to everyone. He got everything he really wanted which included 1) a batman cave 2) a bow with arrows he can shoot anywhere {because they have suction cup tips!}, a Cars car-wash that changes the color of the cars, and lots of other stuff! He had a blast!

OMGoodness...this reminds me that Carys will be 6 in September!! Oh My! Trust me when I say, time flies!!!!

The Faith of a Child

Have I mentioned lately how totally in LOVE I am recently? With God, with Justin, and with my Children. It is a wonderful place to be in. A place I have never truly been before. I mean, I have know awesome love, it just that at this moment in time...everything is as it should be...almost perfect. I have taken it as a moment of "rest" {provided by God of course} for me to suit up for the next challenge around the bend. I am not sure what it will be, but I must take advantage of this time of peace and rest. Some of you are thinking, "why and in the world would she think like that?" And I understand. I pray this period of peace last forever, but here is my logic.

God is the leading force in my life. If I am working as hard as I can for His Kingdom {and making progress} satan must be close by waiting to try and knock me off my high-horse. But guess what?!? I am not on a high-horse. He {satan} will be in for a big surprise when he comes to cause trouble and sees that on the solid rock I stand! So, I am loving this period of peace and using it to grow in grace and truth, just in case:)

The title of this posts came from a recent happening with my almost-four-year-old son. We make a really big deal in our family over birthday's. I mean what could be a better time to make sure that my family knows that I love them and celebrate the day they were born and where they are in life at that moment.

So this year, we were at a crossroad with Sawyer. First, we have lots of family and friends who are accustomed to big "family" parties. And honestly, I like throwing these types of parties. But Sawyer {who gets this from his mommy} is a very social person. He loves to be with his friends from school. So he asked for a "friends" party. I was really concerned about being "plugged-in" to our guest at the family party if we had ten 4-year-olds there as well. So, I decided on two parties.

This has been a great idea except it has led to confusion on Sawyer's part as to when is birthday is. He loves to mark the calendar for events, so we did that. So, he came up to me this last Saturday and the following ensued.

Sawyer: Momma, I really, really want my birthday to be today.

Me: Sawyer, I'm sorry but this is one of those things you have to be patient for.

Sawyer: {with a sad look on his face} Aw...Okay.

Then he sat down in the floor, closed his eyes and began to pray. When he was finished, he popped up and said

Sawyer: Guess what I just did?

Me: What?

Sawyer: I just prayed and asked Jesus to make today my birthday.

Me: Oh you did? Well, I really think Jesus would be happy with you if you asked him to give you patience to wait until it is your birthday. I don't think he is gonna skip all those days just so that you can get your presents early. Don't you think?

Sawyer: No, momma. I know God can do ANYTHING because He does miracles. Don't you know when I'm sick He makes me better.

Me: {thinking how I should respond} Yes, I know He CAN do anything, but even when God does really great stuff for us, He still likes us to be patience. Remember, that is one of the Fruit of the Spirit that shows others that we love/trust God. Think about when Carys was sick. God made her better, but we had to wait for the medicine to work before she was better.

Sawyer: {thinking very deeply} Okay, I will try really hard to be patient, but I still want my birthday to be today!

Oh the faith of a child. He really believed that God is willing do help us. To make our lives more positive. There is a lot that we can learn from Sawyer's faith. He saw no reason why God, who loves him so much, would hesitate to answer his prayer. We should follow this pattern when praying for the needs we have and the souls of our friends and family!

~God Bless~

Goals...

So, O told you all that my friend Kimberly @ The Phillips Family shared some of her latest goals she has set for herself. I too would like to set some short-term goals for myself. I have decided to print out the list on pretty paper, becuase I am a VERY visual person, in hopes that this will help me stay on track.

I thought and prayed a lot over these goals. First, I had to remember that they are short-term goals and that they need to be 1) attainable and 2) measurable. The latter is very important to me. See, I believe that I "CAN" complete any goal I set for myself (Romans 8:28). But I need these goals to be things that I can set specific paramatiers arond to see how I am measuring up to where I need to be to get these goals accomplished.

Some of these seem "important" and other may not be to you, but again, I think I must lists them for my own accountability. So, here goes!

P.S. I randomly decided to set 10 short-term goals for myself

1) Nail-down theme and order t-shirts for Relay for Life {by the end of this week.}

2) Raise $3000.00 for Realy for Life {by May 1.}

3) Contact designer for Blog Make-over {by the end of this week.}
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4) Organize recent photos both on-line and in print {by the end of March.}

5) Send handwritten notes (not email!) to Friends to let them know I am thinking of and praying for them {during the month of March.}

6) Have the kitchen, dining room, and living room ready for new floors/paint {by spring break.}

7) Devote one hour per week to photography {per week in the month of March.}

8) Clean out Carys' closet! {by the end of March.}

9) Have my UA classwork for March finished AHEAD of schedule {by March 6th.}

10) Organize my office at work {before I leave for spring break!}

There you go! Nothing fancy, but what a busy month I will have!