a surprise shower!

Yesterday Danny and I threw a surprise shower for a girl on the youth staff. I was able to decorate the night before after everyone had gone home. Mid-decorating, Chica discovered the office water cooler whose spout was right at her level practically begging any curious toddler to come mess with it. Sure enough its devices overpowered our weak-willed daughter. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her stick her head under the faucet and start gulping it down. I did what every proactive, A+ parent does; I ignored it and continued to work, thanking God for a good distraction and promising to sanitize it later.

The next morning, we went to the office early to get all the food ready. Thanks to the help of the other staff girls and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on dvd, we got everything done with little time to spare.
The Mommy-to-be isn't finding out what gender her baby is, so I did everything in blue and pink.

Pink and blue.
Blue and pink.
Surprise!!!
Time to eat!
The girls were first. Danny made the cherry limeade and everyone said it was better than Sonic's. If only we had the tiny, round Sonic ice, we'd give them a run for their money!
Then the boys.
We played Wits and Wagers and all the questions were pregnancy/baby related.
It was fun spending time with the staff. I'm still getting to know everyone and with all Chica's potty breaks, cupcake negotiations and overseeing her affair with the water cooler, I didn't get to visit as much as I had hoped. But I do know they're great people.

The Daddy- to- be was able to come too!
Here are the guests of honor with Danny and an apparition on the far left. I'd like to think I look like a walking sheet because the white tablecloth in front of us messed with my camera. But in reality I think it's because I have no tan.

The End.

battle hymn

We had a great fourth of July shopping for fireworks, playing in the sprinkler, grilling hot dogs and hanging out at home. My favorite moment of the day, had to have been when we sang the Battle Hymn of the Republic at the end of church. Josh, our worship leader does the best stuff, I love worshipping with him at the contemporary service. This song was no exception, I wish his version was on iTunes!

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;

He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:

His truth is marching on.

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

His truth is marching on.

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;

He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat:

Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him, be jubilant, my feet!

Our God is marching on.

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,

With a glory in His presence that transfigures you and me:

As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,

While God is marching on.

He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,

He is Wisdom to the mighty, He is Succour to the brave,

So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of Time His slave,

Our God is marching on.

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Our God is marching on.

a june recap

Last night, after posting a letter to the hubs, I made the mistake of looking at my sidebar, realizing I blogged a measly five times in the month of June. Pitiful. It's not June's fault. To try and make up for lost posts, I'll give you a rundown of what we've been up to this past month. Brace yourself, the pictures are abundant.

We kicked off the summer with our trip to Missouri.

We frequented a number of playgrounds around town. But only on the days when the temperature dipped below triple digits. As summer stretches on those days are fewer and farther between. (A girl has her limits. And those slides will scald your legs like you were asking for it!)

We shared many lunches together.

I love having lunch with her because she's reached the age where we can carry a conversation with each other and share our thoughts and innermost feelings. I love being a woman. She prefers discussing others around us, which proves particularly interesting when we're in public.

"Who is THAT boy, Mommy?"

"I don't know, baby."

"What's his name?"

"I don't know his name."

"Where is his mommy?"

"Hmm, I don't know. Maybe at work or at her house."

"Oh." (Pauses to find another target.) "Who is THAT girl, Mommy?"

Ok, so maybe I appreciated our lunches a little more than she did.

We celebrated Father's Day and lavished her daddy with presents she couldn't get into his hands fast enough. She was so excited.

We welcomed this sweet baby girl to the world. (She was born in May, but I didn't take this picture of her until a few weeks later.) We love her and her family so much.

Chica took a week's worth of swim lessons. She did better when I was in the water with her. Her teacher says she kicks well and she loves to jump off the side of the pool.There were only a few tears shed.

I had a night out with the girls. We saw Chicago and ate sushi and cracked up over stories of our children that will never make the pages of their baby books.

We took a family trip to the movies.

I attended a surprise luncheon for a dear friend to celebrate the impending birth of her sweet baby.

Baby G. made her arrival soon after.

It just so happened our whole family was able to visit her in the hospital.

Since then, Big Girl has been fascinated by her own birth story. In her adaptation she "growed and growed and growed and then the doctor came and then and then she was OUT!"

We've partied it up at all kinds of June birthday parties.I met up with my mom in St. Louis for a little girls' weekend and we attended a women's conference featuring Beth Moore.

We laughed and cried and learned and shopped. Friday morning, I slept in until 9:15, hallelujah!

I took my little camera on this trip. I didn't miss lugging around my big one but it was wonderful to be reunited once again.

And while all of these wonderful June events made for one heck of a month, one thing rises to the very top. It's influenced every other thing we've done this past month. It's consumed my thoughts and directed my actions.

June 2010 will go down in history as the month in which I potty-trained my daughter. More details to come (of course) plus I'll finally finish our Disney Trip Recap (for crying out loud, will it ever end?)

So for now, I bid a fond farewell to the lovely month of June. It sure was fun while it lasted!

Now has anyone seen the potty chair....

to my man

Dear Daniel,

Today is our anniversary. (Don't worry, I won't let you forget. I reminded you last week, two days ago, last night and first thing this morning. Some may see it as redundant and nagging, but I like to think of it as proper notice.)

I took some pictures of the photos in our wedding album (all of them were taken by the fabulously talented Laura at Lark Photography, whose website is right here.) Don't we look like babies??
It seems like a lifetime ago, maybe because a whole life's worth of change has happened in the past four years. We've changed too.

(For example, that waist line of mine? It's never going to look like that again.)

You know what I've learned along the way babe? Anybody can get married. Heck, the wedding is the easiest part! Marriage is what separates the men from the boys and the fairy tale chasing girls from the covenant keeping women.

I know you're in this for the long haul, because I've witnessed first-hand how you make the choice to stay in, protect and lead our marriage. Even when I haven't been the ideal spouse. (Especially during that one dreadful month when you continually woke up next to the Wicked Witch of the West. Any man would have been begging the Lord to drop a house on himself just to put him out of his misery. Thank goodness it wasn't an alien that had invaded my body, just the embryo of our first born.)

Good things come in hormonal packages.

Look, here I'm putting on your bling. That's the blingiest you'll ever get, huh? Good thing you don't have a penchant for shiny stuff. Because if we end up with that passel of girls your heart's set on having, we'll be too broke for bling of our own. Broke but blessed.

This one's my favorite. Little did you know what you were getting into when you slipped that ring on my finger. Thank goodness you didn't know all we'd face together in the coming years. You might have hightailed it back up the aisle and out the front door.

Then again, any man who's been faithful to Kansas City sports teams for as long as you have shows great fortitude when it comes to disappointment by the ones he loves most. Thank you that when I muster up enough humility to admit my shortcomings, you're quick to forgive. Thank you that the apologies in our marriage aren't one sided.

You lay down your life day in and day out for your girls. I will testify until my dying breath that you're the real deal. There isn't a man on this planet I respect more than you. It blows my mind how faithful God has been to us. We'd be such a mess without Him. And He's the only way even the messiest parts of our marriage could turn out to be something beautiful.

Well, I better wrap this up before you start skimming. :)

I love you. And when you get back from leading all those teenagers, we'll celebrate properly. We have so much to be thankful for.

Proud to be yours,

Mrs. Hinton

"He is before all things and in Him all things hold together."

Colossians 1:17