Dan Nicholas Park

This is an old entry but a goody I wanted to share with local mommies. This place is called Dan Nicholas Park. The Kiddos LOVE it (I do, too). My friend, Cel & I took our kids there in the spring. It has two HUGE playgrounds, covered picnic areas, a small zoo, petting farm, carousel, and train. Check it out for your next field trip. It is located in Salisbury, NC and if you pack your lunch very cost effective.

http://www.dannicholas.net/

Weekend with Cousins

Last weekend my cousin, Shad and his son Tyler came to visit us. This was the first time my girls got to meet them so exciting times. They live in Fayetteville just a couple hours away from us. Shad was here for the North Carolina State Championships for his Hockey League. His team took home the Silver!!!!!! We took the kids to the Kings Mountain YMCA pool. Afterwards Shad treated us to lunch at Chili's. We are looking forward to more fun times with our NC Rayners. Hopefully next time Emily and Anna will get to meet Mary(Shad's beautiful wife) and Chloe(his cute daughter who is the same age as Emily).

Lofty Expectations?

Everyone I have ever loved has let me down. And I, as well, have done the same

I attribute this to my putting heavenly forecasts on earthly relationships

Constantly craving perfection in a world filled with flaws

HE alone is Holy, HE alone is Pure

Treasure the beauty the recesses of your heart behold

and do not fixate on the apparent pits

Summertime

We have been trying to keep busy this summer :) My theory is wear the children out so they don't have time to get in trouble. It works some of the time. We have already made some trips to Monkey Joes, the local Splash Park, a Pajama Party, swimming at the YMCA, and sometimes we just play in the back yard for a couple hours!

MisMatch

Today after naps the girls put on mismatched socks and danced around the house. They had their unofficial mismatched socks party complete with a picnic of crackers.

Dress Yourself

Everyday is an adventure here with my wonderful little rugrats :) Currently Miss Anna prefers to attempt dressing herself. This is quite a hoot because as usual her desire precedes her ability(same with us, eh?) So yesterday she came running out with her shirt on her head and this sent me into a fit of laughter which in turn sent Emily into her room copycatting the same shirt hat effect. Check out the pics :)

Book A.D.D.

Ok So I have Book Attention Deficit Disorder. I am generally reading anywhere from 3 to 5 books at once. Right now I am steaming because I lost one of my current reads. I have others to back it up but I read according to mood (don't judge the method, man we're all a little bit loony). I do want to let you know WOMEN that I am reading a cool book called For Women Only:what you need to know about the inner lives of men by Shaunti Feldhahn. I highly recommend; I am not saying this will happen to you or anything but since I have been reading it just this week I have received flowers for no reason, date night, and some awesome intimate time with the hubs! The Lord is really using this in my Life. It reminds me of the Love & Respect book by Eggerichs; but it uses surveys to get inside the minds of men and really find out what's going on in there. And for those of you who aren't big readers it's a little book :)

Cajun Canvas

As I go through motherhood, I find when I get time to myself that I prefer to do things I really enjoy. The other day I was looking for an activity to do on my night off. Don't get my wrong I adore my family but sometimes it's nice to have a night off. In my inbox that very day was a coupon for 1/2 off of a painting class at a place called Cajun Canvas. What a neat little place! The night I went was called A Piece of Havana. We painted a picture of a tropical sunset and had Cuban appetizers from the restaurant next door called a Piece of Havana. What a fabulous night. It was also interesting to see everyone painting the same pic but coming out with different perspectives. Karen was the teacher and she was very sweet and gave us step by step instructions. SO, even the most artistically challenged could partake. Lovely way to spend an evening out if I do say so myself. I would love to have one in G-town! A big thanks to my friend T for going with me! I had a blast. And now Bill has a cute little painting for his office.

An even bigger thanks to my hubby who took excellent care of our girls while I was away!

Teeth

Last week Emily had her first trip to the dentist. I was so proud of her she wasn't scared at all. We read a book about Barney's friend going to the dentist and I think that helped a lot. The dental hygenists said she did awesome and didn't even act like it was her first time. She did have some cavities, though...luckily they are in her baby teeth.
Anna has been teething the last week. All four of her eye teeth are coming in...So, for the last couple nights at about 2:30 AM she cries then comes in my bed and has a little party singing and talking and acting a little silly (this has been how she reacted to teething in the past as well). Luckily, we have all slept in a little the next day so it works itself out.

If... Then

When I was in my twenties; I remember praying Dear Lord if you sent me to a place with Christian friends I would be better I promise. The old if then prayers... I cannot tell you though they are immature; how gracious the Father is that he answers even my weak, selfish, immature prayers. He answers all my prayers in His best ways. Sometimes I have a hard time seeing his answers but in retropspect it's so easy to see how Awesome he is. If you look back can you not count the immense overflowing of Blessings poured out into your life? I can and I praise Him for it!
I do want to give a shout out to the people the Lord has surrounded me with; the Lord has used them mightily in my life and they spoil me rotten :)

The Little Piles

Ok for this post Read the devotion Hang Up Your Robe Fri, June 4 from Proverbs 31 first...the Lord has been convicting me to follow through with projects. I have been hearing it in sermons, seeing it in devotions. I am not a naturally born domestic engineer. In fact the main reason I wanted to attend college when I was younger was to avoid having to cook and clean as much.

However, when Emily was born the Lord used the circumstances in my life to show me how to stay home with my children. It has been extremely difficult forgoing personal, financial, and career goals to essentially watch my children grow. It has saved my life in a whole different way I never imagined. I have learned more about the Lord in these last 4 years than ever before. I would like to give humongous kudos to my hubby who at one point almost worked himself to death to allow this to happen.
My domestic training had been interesting to say the least and definitely ongoing I will never be Suzie Homemaker or Martha Stewart but I am definitely the best version of Shelly Kratt that I can be (on most days). I mean now at least our parents aren't afraid to come inside our home(unlike the old college days HA!)
The structure of the post above is simply take care of the little things; take a little extra time to do things like hanging your bath robe up, making your bed, putting your shoes away, etc and the little piles won't turn into gigantic mountains! I am always looking for helpful housekeeping tidbits :)

Smiling Saturdays

Saturdays the girls and I venture out and try new things. i.e. anything to keep us busy until we meet up with Daddy noonish. Today we went Yard Sailing (this may not be a real term but I have coined it and find it most applicable). I found Anna some designer baby shoes($3), a double sided kid's art easel($5), and another kid chair ($4). I wasn't in a negotiating mood so I have slight buyer's remorse for not trying to get a better deal.
Then we went on a top secret mission to find Daddy's Father's Day gift. It was successful in terms of research...
We ended up at this Flea Market on 321...Why have I not been there before today? It reminded me of the markets in Mexico: Gaston Co style. What a mesh of different types and colors of thread... quite fun, and full of good deals. Anna of course LOVED the chickens; she is all about chickens.
Now for a nap and hopefully I will finish up painting Anna's Big Girl Furniture!

am, is are, was,were, be, been, being loved by Him!

Today is a new day! How refreshing that the Lord creates a new day in which we can start over again. No matter who I was or how badly I acted yesterday. If I confess and repent I am forgiven all because Jesus died for my sins. He paid the price that I should endure. What a loving and compassionate Lord I have.

Even now in my 30's a wife, mother, sister, friend, leader, teacher I struggle with people pleasing. What do they think? Is this acceptable to him/her? I am struck with the Truth that it does NOT matter who on this earth mocks me, ignores me, or confronts me negatively. I am here to serve this merciful and perfect God! Not everyone will like me, notice me, and sometimes I may feel completely invisible. The Lord makes this well within my soul because He alone I serve. I may struggle with narcissism or love of other idols: people,cars, clothes, toys~whatever may be my earthly object of desire at the moment...but He, only HE is worthy of my affection.

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord not men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." Colossians 3:23-24

The Lord uses sermons and reading to point me to his word and right now our Pastor is doing an awesome series on Pursuing Wisdom as we delve into Proverbs. You can access Sunday's sermon below: It is called Wisdom and Work, text:Proverbs 6:6-11, date: 5-30-10

http://oak.nowsprouting.com/parkwoodbaptistchurch/media.php?pageID=13

DP III

Part III of a series

The last part of the museum was very fun, too. ALL ages kind of entertainment. This was the FEATURED exhibit. It had a machine that you put torn newspaper in and it would shoot it out and fall like rain, this tent with colored light circles that would play music when you stepped on them, a place were you took foil and created objects, a shoe making area, and a couple other things we didn't make time for...

We ended our visit by enjoying a 3D movie (just my F-I-L and) I b/c we were not sure if 3d dinosaurs might be too scary for the wee ones. there was also a 3D turtle show but Anna was about to fall asleep so we passed.

In conclusion, a fun time was had by all but boy were we tired (:

DP II

This is part II of the DP series

Discovery Place has an overly priced cafe but full of variety. It was basically a cafeteria style deli. We're talking three types of jelly & butter(when I say butter you've got your organic PB, almond and some other fru fru health conscious one which escapes me at the moment) sandwiches that were approx. $3.50 Other sandwiches ranged from 5 to 7 greenbacks. And come on people a chicken nugget meal for 7.95 that's cheaper at a fine dining restaurant. I will say my Tarragon chicken salad sandwich was super yummy and made on wheat bread(I LOVE wheat bread).

Following lunch we ventured onto the main floor. Half of this floor was full of simple machines which Emily who is 3yrs. loved she walked around with Daddy and did all the activities. Some of which included pulley systems, some type of immense mouse trap looking machine which exported metal beads from one end to the next, a bed of nails you could lay on... I didn't see much of that at all because Anna who is 1yr. was instantly bored. so we went over to a block area and played there for quite sometime building towers and such. they had a replica built from jenga looking blocks of Kukulcan from Chichen Itza, Mexico that was quite impressive.

To Beach or not to Beach that is the question...DPI

Our big Memorial day plans were to visit Lake Lure. Since the forecast was filled with Thunderstorms our hopes of swimming at the beach and gracing the river walk were trashed. So, we decided to head out to Discovery Place in Charlotte. For those of you who may not know~ this is a hands on science museum. Well boy has this place changed since I was last there. I mean it was cool before but now it's INCREDIBLE. Please note I love museums as long as they're cool and not full of taxidermy alone...While waiting in line some man walked up to me and asked if I would like 3 FREE tickets!!!!!!!!

Our first stop was the play land called kidscience (ages 0 to 7) which has been revamped since my last voyage: this has a GIANT water table (mom's you may want to pack extra clothing for kids under 2 or 3. At least make sure they are wearing a smock. I am not really sure if the smock kept them from getting wet or not~ if you do forget the nice people of Discovery place had a hand dryer in which you could easily pick up a small child and attempt drying their clothes not that I know this from experience or anything...). My favorite part was of course the HUMONGOUS lite brite you remember lite brite right? This is essentially a light table with a black cover full of holes. Colored pegs are placed in the holes revealing a beautiful picture creation of your choosing. My final top 3 pick was the light box with different colored shapes in which you could make designs. There were also many, many other activities for children including a gated soft play area for crawlers and not so sure footed walkers.

This is part I of a series stay tuned for further DP description...