we are here! (and have been:)

Well, we have officially moved to Stevenson!

Things here are still a little crazy-and with no internet, I have not been able to post. But hopefully after our house sells we will have a little extra money for me to be able to get internet at the house!

Things are going very well, he kids are adjusting great and the dog is too!

Our house is huge-so that is nice. the kids have lots of room to run around!

Steven is really liking his job-it is just what he feels led to do right now.

I am missing my friends-but I'm sure with time I will make new friends up here...

It is Sunday school time right now-so I can't write for long-but here is a cute picture of the kids with santa.

We want visitors-so come see us!!!

We are MOVING!!!

Okay-so I haven't been able to post on a lot of the details of what's been going on lately-but now I have the green light!

Steven has been looking for a new ministry job for about the last 6 months-and even with his experience and education-nothing was really happening. We were a little discouraged.

Long story short...I really felt like we should branch out of the greater Birmingham area, and see what God might have for us if we trusted... Originally Steven wanted to stay close to family-but after praying and really seeking what God wanted-he decided that we should (I think God gives wives the job of prompting...:) Well, after sending out a few resumes throughout the state of Alabama-we waited about 2 weeks. We got a call-from Stevenson, AL (just south of Chattanooga, in the mountains) Steven had a 2 hour long conversation with the Pastor-and had a really good feeling about it. The cool thing about this position (youth/associate) is that the pastor is bi-vocational-so he is only there Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings. Soooo, Steven would be the only full-time staff person during the week. Which is really good since Steven eventually wants to be a head pastor-but really has no pastoral experience. Now he will be able to get the day-to-day experience without the stress of actually being the "pastor".

So anyway, Steven had several phone interviews-and then they wanted the whole family to drive up and spend the weekend with the church family. (Which I thought was really cool that they wanted to meet all of us) We had a WONDERFUL time! The people there were so open and caring-very excited about us coming-and going out of their way to make sure we had a good time. About 2 weeks after that they wanted us to come back and look at houses, and let Steven go on a trip with the youth. Again-we had a great time! We found a house-and everything has lined up beautifully. Now we have to sell the house....it has been on the market for 2 weeks already-and not one person has come to look at it-but regardless-we are moving Nov. 1st. The church is going to pay our rent for a few months-and if it still hasn't sold-I will get some kind of side job to make ends meet. If it still hasn't sold after 6 months-we might rent it.

Once we move I will get to be a full-time stay-at-home mom again-which I am excited about. I can devote myself to my family-and helping Steven in his ministry. The youth at this church have never had a youth pastor and wife that were excited about anything-and having us there-people who want to have fun and have a dynamic youth ministry-they are pumped. I will be doing a lot of things with the youth girls-something I love to do:)

Anywho--I'm sure that was a lot of rambling-but feel free to ask any questions-I'm sure I left stuff out...Oh yeah-we have a huge house! With a guest wing! So if anyone wants to come visit-you can stay with us-yahoo!!! (And it has a pool:)

Yesterday I took the kids to the pumpkin patch here south of Birmingham, here are some pictures.

Luke on Hay-Mountain
Emma Grace on Hay Mountain
Luke wasn't scared (but Mommy was!)
Us on the Hay-Ride getting our pumpkins
Emmy on her pony-Luke on the donkey








Cowgirl
Cowboy
She had a great time!
He wanted to go faster...
Cutie-Pie

This is the tractor Cycle that Luke L-O-V-E-D. He wants one from Santa-so if anyone know where we can get one-preferrably red-lemme know. He rode the thing all over the place. It was cool-they had them placed randomly all over the campus-so anyone could ride them-Luke was sad whenever he had to get off an do any of the activities...

And then....

Well-it has been a long time since we have posted anything-and for that-I am to blame. Laziness-yes, bad internet connection, yes, nothing to report, maybe. So I am posting-I actually have a computer to post from-that I can upload pictures where it doesn't take 8 hours:)
Things have been busy around our house lately. Luke has started school-4K, and he loves it. It's funny watching him at school when I drop him off and pick him up. He is so different. He is quiet and calm-not that he isn't these things when he is at home-but so much more so when I see him at school. It's good though-he behaves so well while he is there-makes me a proud MaMa:) He is still Soooooo into Power Rangers-he likes Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Transformers-but he LOVES Power Rangers. He will play it by himself-or he will rope Emma Grace into playing it with him. I have even seen him playing with LaLa-pretending she is the maiden to be saved. They play so well together-We are blessed.
Emma Grace is my little princess. She loves being with Mommie. She enjoys helping me cook, and loves to dress up with make-up and fingernail polish. I love it because she is like my little doll-baby that I can dress up however I want-neato! She could have started 3K this year-but the cost of having 2 in preschool-a little much. But she will be in 4K next year-and she is so mature for her age-one year of preschool should be more than enough to prepare her for "big school" (elementary)
LaLa is still my sweet baby. She still likes being treated like a baby too. Still loves her Sassy (which should be gone by now, but I can't bring myself to take away..) But she also has such an independent streak. I guess a lot of that has to do with being the 3rd child. She has to be able to fend for herself with an older brother and sister who DO NOT treat her like a baby. They love her-but will not let her get away with anything....When Luke and Emma Grace were her age-I was already very pregnant again-so they seemed like such big kids. But she still seems like such a baby to me-but I love it-until I get pregnant again...:)
We do have another puppy. Alex is 9 months old now-pretty much full grown (which means-huge!)
One morning we woke up to a blonde puppy on our front porch. Me-knowing better-put food out because he was obviously hungry. So of course he didn't go anywhere. He stayed out there for a few days-until one Wednesday night I got home from church and Steven said "Alex kept climbing the fence to play with the puppy-so I just put him in the backyard" So-that was it. I put up signs in the neighborhood-but no one replied. So we have a new Puppy-Hurkey. Luke named him-where he got the name Hurkey from-I don't know-but I think it's cute...He is about 4 months old-the two puppies get along wonderfully-and Hurkey is great with the kids!

Please keep our family in your prayers as we seek what God would have for us..

Here are some pictures-now that I have rambled for 10 years.....

Sweet Picture of LaLa when we went to the park with MiMi and Dude in AR

The Super-Cool Spider-Man slide that Dude bought and sent to us-we love it!

Luke on his first day of school (and this haircut was NOT on purpose, Emmy had a barber-shop moment with Luke in the bathroom-Mommie had to shave his head...>(

I just thought this was funny-and Steven wouldn't want it on here...heehee

Emma Grace and Aunt Hannie

Mommie and Luke and Emmy in the Lake in AR with Granny & Grandpa

LaLa just liked playing in the sand:)

Luke-again with the Power Rangers...;)

Emma Grace at the Park in AR

Sweet LaLa after the Water-Slide

I love this Kid

Such a pretty little lady

Yikes!

In the end-they really do love each other!

My personality

Here is a neat site to find out your career personality.. you can follow the link and see my results and take the test for yourself:)

View my Career Direct personality profile

Okay-so I'm a horrible blogger...

Well, I noticed it has been a whole month since I have posted, and in my defense-we just got done with VBS. And for those of you who have ever directed or been involved with the directing of VBS-it is almost a 24-7 job. This weekend the family (Weems side) are having a family yard sale. After moving from our almost 2000 sq ft house in Hamilton-to our 1196 sq ft house here-we have had to downsize. So I have a TON of stuff to price and sell this Thursday and Friday. Which will be nice when I make money-but my goodness I hate pricing all this crud.
We had a super great VBS-it all went very smoothly. I have directed 4 VBS in my day-but this was the first Baptist VBS I have directed-it was great. I really love our church. People showed more support, financially and otherwise, that we could even comprehend. (Sometimes I wish people were as enthusiastic about other church programs {Outreach anyone...})
But I am glad it is over-I feel like I abandoned my family during this past month-but Steven has been a trooper-getting the kids ready for bed every night. Making sure they were at church dressed in the outfits I laid out, fed and ready to go.

The kids are growing-here are some updates.

Luke: He is really getting to be a big-boy. He wants to help, and wants to be able to do things on his own-without help. So he has been doing household chores to help Mommy. He has been very affectionate the past few months-which I love. for a few years there-he didn't want to be cuddled-but now he does. He will start 4k in August-and he is super excited. He loves Sunday School, and church in general. He goes to "Kowfield" which is the preschool version of CHildren's Church-and they have worship time in there. He comes home singing these praise and worship songs-and I know that I am biased, but this kid can sing. He can keep tempo, pitch, appropriate volume. I am very impressed with his musical ability.

Emmy: Turned 3 last Saturday!! This girl is a diva. She loves to play house. SHe loves Baby dolls, and being the Mommy. SHe always wants Luke to be "Jake" the Daddy-to which he always replies-no I wanna be Lukey. We have to keep the attitude in check with this one-which I hear is common in girls this age. She tends to put her hand on her hip and get the "sassy" face & tone, and has to be reminded that we talk sweet in our house... She likes to help Mommy cook, and loves it when she gets to cook something herself without mommy's help. SHe is very girly in the fact that she wants to be dressed up and have hair & fingernails done-but she will squish a bug with her bare fingers if you let her. She is rapidly catching up with Luke in the learning department. By next year I think they will almost be on the same page. They will only be one year apart in school.

LaLa: We are now calling Baby Lauren "LaLa" She is growing more every day. She walks and climbs and runs---fast when she has something she's not supposed to... She is just beginning to try to talk. She has been slower than the other two in this department, but I am not pushing her-she will in her own time. But she does say Mama, Dada, no-no, dog, hey, and night-night. She is very opinionated. Even though she can't say it with words-there is no question what LaLa wants at any given time. I guess being the 3rd child, she has learned to defend herself as well. she don't take no crap off a nobody:) She is a great eater-but still is little. I mean she's in the 90th percentile in the height, and 25th in the weight-so she's not actually all that little-but she still seems little, and people always think she is younger than she is. But that's okay with me-I love little ones:) She is still taking 3 naps a day-but we are trying to move to a 2 nap schedule, while synchronizing one of those with Luke & Emmy's afternoon nap. We'll let you know how that works... She is just now starting to get a little bit of hair. But WILL NOT let me put bows or anything in it. Emmy always would-Lauren, not so much.

But that's a brief overview of the kiddos-oh, almost forgot #4-Alex (the dog)

Alex: he is getting huge-but is still such a sweet boy. he loves to be inside, but being so huge and stinky-he diesn't get inside as often as he would like. But he does have a girlfriend dog next door now-a bloodhound puppy-so he is happy. He is chewing up everything the kids leave outside, including the power cord to our treadmill. I don't know how he did it without electrocuting himself... But we love him-he is the perfect family dog-and he even poops in his designated areas-yaye!!

Internet signal is poopy tonight-so not many pictures will upload-but here are a few This inflatable water slide has been a life-saver the past few weeks

LaLa and Alex (notice his girlfriend and what they have done to the grass on the fence:(
. "We love each other-Really"
"The lay game" at VBS-the kids love it. You try to get it on their heads without using your hands-only the bill of your hat.
Mr Kaleb-the kids love him
(Mommy & Daddy's friends Jen & Kaleb)

Mommy and Daddy at the beach

This week Mommy and Daddy got to go to the beach....by themselves......for the first time in 6 years. It was super fun-but by the second day-we were missin our babies. We went to Panama City Beach-and it was great. We had really nice weather, and it was nice to be able to relax and get some solid sleep. We did however overestimate the power of spf 4, and both got a little krispy on the first day-whoops! But hopefully that will fade to tan. We had a great time with each other-but were very happy to be back in the chaos:)

Daddy havin fun at the beach

Mommy lookin burnt but having fun at the beach

Awww-how sweet!

my first cake:)!!!

Okay-so I have always said that I could cook anything-but baking was another story. Well-tonight I have crossed the bridge. Here is a pic of the lemonade cake that I made. btw-this is made with marshmallow fondant-which is super easy and tasty-the kids helped and they had a great time. If you want the recipe-I will send it!!!

New 'Do

Well, I've been saying I was gonna do it for a while-and I did it. Emmy no longer has the baby curls she was born with. She now officially has been "styled" She is so proud of it, she showed EVERYONE at church-"look at my haircut"-yaye!

What a big girl

A-Day at Auburn, and a good wireless signal:)

Okay-so I haven't posted in a few days. With the cloudy weather we've been having here-it's hard to get a strong enough wireless signal to upload pictures. And a post without pictures is just boring:))
This past weekend we went to A-Day at Auburn with a couple we are good friends with, and Luke and Emmy. It was lots of fun. Great weather, good food, and the kids really behaved themselves. Couldn't have asked for more!
Here are some pictures

Okay-this has nothing to do with A-Day, but it's sweet seeing all of them eating at the table together.

Us after the game-you'll see in a moment why Luke has his head down:(

This is called a t-3. It's what the University Police get around on. The nicest poslice officer let Luke get on it and do the lights, siren, etc. Luke got to stay on it for like 5 minutes while Steven was getting autographs. Then he had to get off-needless to say-he was not a happy camper.

Here are the pictures of the super cool face tats that the kids got to wear-they both thought they were cool!

Here's Luke and his new best friend-Mr Kaleb. He followed Mr Kaleb around all day-sitting by him-having the same food as him-riding on his shoulders. He loves him. And Mr Kaleb is so sweet to him. They had a great time. Oh yeah-and that's his fiance-Ms Jennifer, Mommy's good friend.

Just a cute picture of my girlie

How do you house train kids???

Okay-so my dog is better behaved than my kids are these days. Today I attempted to clean (and how is it that just when I think I have gotten all the laundry done-There are at least 2 more loads that have magically appeared in the hamper?) and in the midst of the cleaning-my kids decided to tear up some styrofoam out on the back porch and pretend it was snowing. And of course this styrofoam has static cling-so it is nearly impossible to clean. So then I had the brilliant idea of vacuuming the kids to get the styrofoam off of them. Worked like a charm-but then they thought it was so much fun-they went out and made themselves a mess again. Sigh.

Baby Lauren thinks she is a puppy now. She wants to be in the dog crate-and throws a fit when I don't let her eat puppy chow-what a mean mother I am.

She still looks so tiny. She is in the 90th percentile for height-and the 25th for weight. She just looks a lot younger than she is-but it's cute.