BACK & READY... 

to be a blogger again!!

I love being a big sister.

It's like being a mom without as much responsibility :)

I can't imagine that I'm going to love my little girl MORE than I love Martha

(baby sis in the picture;)

BUT I'm going to & that's crazy for me to imagine! 

Being a mom is going to be so much fun

& an exciting new journey!!

Feeling very blessed today :)

Hope everyone is having a good Saturday!!

Mr. Grumpy Man Germaphobe!

Well, I feel the same today as I did this time last week.

Now that it's Saturday I feel sorta like I've hit a milestone!

I have worked so hard studying, and it feels like my hard work has paid off.

Now I have the rest of  Saturday and Sunday to rest!!

What a good feeling!

My mom, Max, and the girls went to see the movie The Princess and the Frog  today while Kimmi was at a birthday party and I was at school.

Mom said Max, during the movie, had to go to the restroom around five times.

Mom said she washed her hands and Max's hands everytime, but the 5th and last time they went in neither of them washed their hands.

Max did  put his dry hands under the hand dryer.
(so I guess that counted)

When they walked out of the restrooms Max asked mom "Did you wash your hands, mom?"

Mom said "No Max. Not this time."

Max didn't say anything, and it was quiet for a a few minutes until they were about to walk back into the movie, and Max said.

"Leggo of my hand! Your hands are gross!"

This is a picture of Max that I found on my old blog a few weeks ago.

I had forgotten about this picture.

Cracks me up!

Family Time With The Browns

I got up at 5:30am to drive to GA with my dad yesterday morning.

We were going to my grandpa's brother's funeral; He was my great uncle.

I really don't remember much of him, but going to the funeral I got to hear a lot about Hoyt Brown, and he sounded like a really nice man that I would loved to have known better. He was a Christ follower; a believer in Jesus; a man of God and that is must be such  a comfort to the people closest to him.

I really enjoyed seeing my family.

The Browns (and a Harrelson) are so much fun!

My dad drove to the Columbia Mall where we met Dennis (my uncle) and Kim (my aunt).

We then drove from there to my grandparents' (my dad's mom and dad) house.

I  really enjoyed talking to Mot and Popa. I love them, and they are so sweet together!  They still both love and enjoy each other so so much!

I got to see Linda and Eddie Ray too.

I absolutely love them!

Linda is one of the sweetest people I know!

She reminds me so much of my little sister Nona. They both have sweet spirits and are such happy people,

and I adore Eddie Ray!

I'm so thankful Linda and Eddie Ray got married! If they didn't I might not even know him!

He's one of my most favorite people.

Our drive to GA was nothing close to boring!
Kim is so funny, and I've never met anyone who has as many funny stories, and who is so willing to share them all.
Anyone who knows my dad will tell you he's a very funny person,and his big brother  Dennis is extemely funny as well!

I think he, maybe, has an extra section in his head that's just for pure clever funniness!

Dennis said that whole day that he wanted to take me to go to get a hot dog at "skins".

So, on our way home we went by for some of the best hot dogs I've ever eaten!

There were pictures all over the place, but these two were my favorite!

I thought they were both pretty funny.

Here I am obeying the sign, but really the verse below is my motivation.

 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be acceptable in your sight, O Lord my rock and redeemer.

Psalm 19:14

I'm going to go read my bible now.

I'm  reading through the bible in 90 days and I'm really enjoying it!

Wednesdays

I adore Wednesdays!

When I was younger I thought it was the worst day of the week.

I mean, it is right in the middle of the week, right?

Although now that I think about it, it's not even in the middle!

Well, I mean sorta, but it's just one big loop to me anyway.

I remember when I was probably 10 this teenage boy told me that Wednesdays were bad because they were in the middle of the week.

I guess I just believed it.

Wednesdays are our busy day.

First Kamryn and Nona have their ballet and tap classes, and that's in the morning.

It's on the other side of town so we spend the rest of our morning/afternoon running errands and shopping. Stuff like that.

After that, we come home and take Cason to swim practice.

Then we have tutoring with our church.

I love that!
 I tutor two little boys in... handwriting... has anyone here ever seen my handwriting?? It's ok though because they're 2nd grade, so I think I handle it pretty well. One little boy's name is Peter and the other is CJ, and they are so funny and cute!
It's really just a lot of fun to meet new people, and then help their kids with subjects that aren't their best.

It's kind of funny to me because the kids that come in are smarter than any kids I've ever met.

I think maybe their perents just want them to not only be ahead, but WAY ahead! hehe

Once we leave tutoring Kimmi and I go to ballet.

That's later in the afternoon. It's becoming a little more fun. :)

And on top of all this, I have my sweet grandparents in town! My mom's momma and daddy.

Altogether, Wednesdays are fun because I get to see people I don't get to see everyday. Even if it is the middle of the week! ;D

Here are a few pictures from our day.

Hope everyone is having a good

Wednesday!

• Ten Things I Love Tuesdays •

 

Here they are!

All ten toes of the baby who I love very, very much.

Psalm 139:14
 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

• Family Time With the Peeps •

After we finished off the last bit of chili- we made 20 quarts, or something like that, for the meeting my dad hosted for the home school group dads last night- we were surprised with a yummy, and cute dessert from my momma. On her way home today she went by CVS and picked up: hot chocolate, those gold chocolate coins that are more fun to open than to eat, and peeps. 

Anyway, Kimmi boiled the water, dad stuck the marshmallows (peeps...the snowman kind;) in the hot chocolate, the little kids stood around Cason helped by... by being the hero and I took the pictures. It  was fun how it really did become a family deal. I love it when it gets to be hot chocolate weather! It's been raining and in the very low 50's and we were definitely in need of hot chocolate! GO MOMMA!!!

The box of hot chocolate said it contained 10 packets but really there were only 9 so we were going to be one person short of a delicious chocolaty drink, but Cason, the hero, went and dug around in the pantry and found one, and so dad got one as well.

I love our family time we have together! We got the game Guesstures and every few nights-but always on Sunday nights- we play, and it's so much fun because we play on teams and each kid, and parent have their own strategy to the game. 

I would say that if they had Guesstures in the Olympics Cason and I would definitely win gold!

So, while we drank chocolatey deliciousness we listened to my daddy preach verse by verse from Romans chapter 5. He was in a stand-up-and-preach instead of sit-down-on-the-sofa type of mood. GO DADDY!!!

These all seem like small things, gold coins and marshmallow peeps and sitting around with my family, but they all remind me of how blessed I am. It also makes me realize how happy I am being in a big fam. =) 

Kimmi didn't want her picture taken today, and Jessie obviously didn't either...

• Baby Curls & Block Parties •

 I had some oh so adorable pictures of Jessie up yesterday, but this morning, I took them off because my mom thought she looked nasty... she did.. but she was such a cute looking nasty  baby! My mom said I should just put some pictures of her all dressed  and pretty.

She had jelly all over her face, and she was only in a diaper.

These pics were taken a few Sunday ago, and she was wearing the same dress but one looks purple and one looks blue... or is that just me? 

I love this one because it really shows off her baby curls! SO SWEET!

•••

I'm getting excited because I'm just about to go get on my costume. I haven't dressed up for halloween since I was probably 12, but our family, and Emily my friend, will be going to a block party in about an hour.

I'm going to be Esmerelda from the Hunchback of Notredame, and Cason's going to be Quazimoto. You know... the hunch back. haha... It cracks me up thinking about him dressing up as Quazimoto!

Cason's so sweet!!!

Now how many bigger younger brothers would dress up for their sister? I'm really not sure, but Cason is one of them! =D

I'll post pictures of everyone's costume's later.

Hope every one is having a really great day! =)

• Thy Mercy •

I love this song, and I know it'll always bring back sweet memories when I listen to it even when I'm not living at home anymore. When I listen to it, of course it'll make me think of how merciful my God is, but it's going to also remind me of my daddy. I love that man so much. When I listen to it I'll picture my dad in his Toyota Tundra singing this song... really loud. I can't tell you how many times I have been in the car with my dad, and he says, "Karis, listen to one of my favorite songs." and I sing it with him. This has happened so many times since we first started listening to Caedman's Call. I was just thinking about this today when he was bringing me to swim practice. We were listening to this song in his car, and we were singing along with them. Just for everyones information, he has a really, really good voice. I mean, I would prefer to listen to my dad's voice over the guy on the CD, but he could have a terrible voice, and  he'd still sing it loud. =)
Love you daddy!

Thy mercy, my god is the theme of my song 

The joy of my heart and the boast of my tongue 

Thy free grace alone from the first to the last 
Hath won my affection and bound my soul fast 
Without thy sweet mercy I could not live here 

Sin would reduce me to utter despair 

But through thy free goodness my spirit's revived 

And he that first made me still keeps me alive 

Thy mercy is more than a match for my heart 

Which wonders to feel its own hardness depart 

Dissolved by thy goodness I fall to the ground 

And weep to the praise of the mercy Ive found 

Hallelujah 

Hallelujah 

Great father of mercies thy goodness I own 

And the covenant love of thy crucified son 
All praise to the spirit whose whisper divine
Seals mercy and pardon and righteousness mine 
All praise to the spirit whose whisper divine 

Seals mercy and pardon and righteousness mine


I love his voice!
You can listen to this song HERE.

• Kimmi •

Well, I was informed by Kimmi that her picture isn't on my blog much. She has been picking on me about it, and I have just decided to grace every one with this gorgeous pictures of my 12-year-old sister, Kimmi.

I told her I was going to do a post JUST about her, and she slapped me and said "You better not!" How could I not though! I had 3 pictures of her up and ready to post, and she wasn't going to let me add any even though I was assuring her that she looks stunning in them all. Then I finally talked her into this one.

Well anyway, what's a post all about Kimmi if I don't name a few of her many good qualities? So here I go.

•She's a good listener (and talker)

•She's so sweet to ALL of her brothers and sisters (even when it gets hard)

•She's funny

•She can do anything, I'm serious!

•She's so sharing

•People love her (I'm guessing that counts as one of her good qualities)

•She has a happy heart when she's helping my mom

•She's smart

•She's purdy

• And last but not least She loves the Lord. Very much. =)

Love you Kimmi!

•Thankful•

For some reason I'm particularly thankful today. I'm very happy, and it might just be partly because of circumstances,but I think it's probably because God has just given me so much and I'm very thankful for it all. He has given me so many reasons to be thankful! I do pray that even though I feel so extremely blessed at the moment, I'll stay focused on God. When everything in life is pleasantly going my way it's so much easier not to be focusing on the one who has given it all to me. I need to make it my top priority to focus on him even when I'm feel'n chipper. ;D

I'm so thanksful for all the things God has given me to be thankful for!

So, we went to the beautiful beach of IOP today. It was beautiful and perfect today. Even though it was cloudy most of the time although at the  beginning it was sunny. It became cloudy just in the nick of time. It started getting too hot and 'bout that time it started getting cloudy. It actually even rained a little bit. I LOVE the rain with passion!!! :D  One of my favorite things is rain on the beach. BEAUTIFUL! 

I'm a watcher, and I love watching people at the beach when they don't know they're being watched. Well, I might not realize that they realize I'm watching them. It's just such an entertaining thing to occupy your time! You can learn so much from watching people interact with their families. 

Is that wrong? 

I'm so thankful for the beach! 

I also just got back from a run with my beautiful sista Kamryn. We had such a fun time, and it wasn't a long run this time. ;)   It was kinda dark so we didn't go too far. We stayed in the light so we could see where we were going. I only went for a 1miler and I'm pooped! Probably crash'n from the caffeine I had earlier! HAHA!

I'm so thankful for my little sister who just adores riding her bike beside me while I run.

I said I was going to post pictures of my new (and 

adorable) baby kittens. I have not yet done that and they are now about 15 days old. The kittens have gotten a little bigger since these pictures but just imagine them a little bigger and a little less cute... haha just kidding. They're still preeeetty cute. ;)

The Triplets

Moma cat (No Name)  She just showed up on our door step about 7 months ago, and claimed us as her new family... bad pick if you ask me. Max just ain't the most loving owner. hehehe

Moma cat (No name) and the baby kitten (Charlotte)

I know it's a little bit blurry, but it's just so sweet!

I'm so thankful for our New (and adorable) baby kittens!

Hope every one will have a blessed week!

Proverbs 6:8

she prepares her bread in summer

   and gathers her food in harvest.

If any one is wondering why I always put proverbs, it's because this is the lucky book we picked for our bible study we're doing with some girls in our home school group. I also just love Proverbs. =)