Ladies Day

Saturday was our 6th annual Ladies Day at Blossom. Our topic was "Reviving Our Relationship With God" and we decorated with a spa theme. Lena Groda of the North Jefferson congregation in Mt. Pleasant was our speaker, and she did an excellent job. Our numbers were down a little from prior years, but two area congregations had funerals, so they were not able to attend. We still had a good turn out, and everyone who attending seem to really enjoy it.

We kept the decorations simple

My sister-in-law's mother was a massage therapist prior to becoming an RN, so she had a massage table we used for a decoration
It was a quite a chore hanging this sign above the baptistry full of water, but Amy came through and got the job done.
Each lady attending received a "bath sundae" made with bath salt, a bath sponge and red bath gel cherry on top
I thought they turned out really cute

It is not easy for a 16 year old to get up at 7am on a Saturday.  Here is Court faking a smile.
But once she saw the donuts, she was a bit happier :)
Hailey and Courtney - after they got food in their tummys
As each lady arrived, she signed in and received a name tag

Tiffany gave the welcome
Lena brought some great lessons

Britney came up with a really cute game for everyone to play. She divided everyone up into groups, and she gave each group a gift. She then read a poem, and the gift would pass to the appropriate person (person with brown eyes, most buttons, married the longest, glasses, etc). Then at the end, whoever had the gift got to keep it.
The younger girls enjoyed playing the game too
Everyone patiently waiting their turn for the gift

Goldie is such a sweet lady - and SO very funny

Emily ended up with the gift in her group!

Sandra made a "to go" plate for a lady who could not stay for the meal
Four of my favorite ladies: Melanie, Becky, Joyce and Mandy
Lunch:  Spinach wrap, vermicelli salad, and orange jello salad
Courtney filling a coffee order

Another one of my favorite ladies - Sandra kept the food table stocked.
Everyone seemed to enjoy the meal
The girls did a fantastic job serving drinks to the ladies
More of my favorite ladies: Nancy, Lenita and Peggy Parsons. Peggy was my high school typing teacher and cheer leading sponsor.

And even more great ladies! Venita is one of the sweetest people I know

I was so glad that Molly got to come for a little while!!  We miss her so much!!  Courtney and Molly

Molly and me

This picture is out of order - we had cakes for dessert.  Sweet little Daphine and Joyce made sure all the cakes got sliced.

 Even the the clean was fun - just look at how happy Tiffany is with that mop!

Thanks to all the ladies who made this ladies day another awesome day!

And I know I post lots of pictures, but I can't help it.

Easter 2011

Easter weekend is always a busy weekend for us since we spend Friday night and most of Saturday in Dallas at LTC. It seems like we have had a lot going on lately. With Courtney's golf tournament in Stephenville this past week, I only slept 4 out of 7 nights in my own bed. Needless to say, I haven't been grocery shopping and didn't really have anything decent to cook for Sunday. So we had lunch at China Star. And supper at Tamolly's. I did cook for my family tonight, and they were glad that I remembered how to cook - even if it was just spaghetti.

Sunday afternoon there was an Easter egg hunt for the kids at church. We have a very sweet lady, Joyce Frank, who hosted the hunt for the second year in a row. Joyce has a BEAUTIFUL yard. It looks like a picture out of Better Homes and Gardens magazine. The older kids get there a little early to hide the eggs. I really think they have as much fun as the little ones.

Courtney

Michael - he refused to pose for the camera. He says my blog is lame. Whatever!
Hailey

Courtney hid a few in harder places for the bigger kids

I really think these two may have stashed a few for themself

Guilty!

Autumn and Aubree brought there cute little cousin Ashlyn. She had the most beautiful blonde curls!

Baby Jack was snoozing when I got him out of his car seat. He slept while the big kids finished hiding the eggs.

But then he woke up and got a head start to finding the eggs.

Ready, Set, GO!

Little Evan was so cute and fun to watch!

Autumn inspecting her eggs

Ethan, Ryan and Hannah

Ethan with his stash! He was all smiles :)

Courtney and Hailey taking a break

John Henry came to watch the fun

My camera battery died, so this was the last picture I got. Tiffany made cupcakes that everyone enjoyed after the hunt was over. It was so fun to watch the kids and how excited they were finding the eggs. I don't what it is lately, whether it is Michael wanting to go to Freed Hardeman in the fall, or Courtney driving all over town - but I really miss my kids being babies. Seems like they grew up overnight!

Hope everyone had a Happy Easter!!

LTC

Every year, the youth of our church participate in LTC - Leadership Training for Christ. LTC aides in the spiritual growth and development of our youth. It encourages service leadership as well as public communications skills for the boys. LTC is held on Easter weekend each year, and we attended the convention at the Downtown Hyatt Regency Hotel. Each year there is a different theme. This year's theme was "Coming Soon" Revelations 22:20. The kids have been studying the book of Revelations for several months now, and Friday night they participated in the Bible Quiz, which took a little over 2 hours. We will find out in a couple of weeks how they did. They will be awarded a Gold, Silver, Bronze or Participant medal.

The older kids: Colton, Courtney, Hailey and Erin

The younger kids: Cameron, Cade, Carsyn and Hannah
It was odd that Michael was a spectator rather than a participant. It still amazes me that baby is in college now.
Earl, Caleb, Lanny, Michael and Cody

Caleb is so cute! He provided the entertainment while we were waiting for the kids to finish their quiz.

Me and Mandy patiently waiting

They broke the quiz down into 5 parts, and gave a break half way through. Courtney was still in deep thought in this picture...lol

Rod and Evan - must have been a serious discussion

After the Bible quiz, we headed to the West End to eat.

We tried the Spaghetti Warehouse, but it had and hour to hour and half wait, so we settled for TGIF Friday's.

No need for us to pay for tickets to the Ranger game - Michael and Lenita kept us updated on the play by play action. Lenita and her family had a 'suite' for Saturday nights game. Lucky!

Saturday morning, we all gathered to hear Colton give his speech. I wonder if Lezlie was as nervous as I always got when Michael did his speech's.

Colton did an excellent job!

Lenita playing with the babies...wait a minute, that's my job!

We had a break after Colton's speech, so we left the hotel in search of a place to have lunch. Everyone decided on Saltgrass.

Erin, Hailey and Courtney

Butler had fun playing Ryan's Nintendo DS.

We went back to the hotel, and the kids put on their puppet skit. Amy and Lanny did an awesome job writing the skit and with the backdrop. I am positive the kids will get GOLD for their skit.

Courtney was the dark puppet in the purple dress

After puppets, it was time for Cade's song leading.

Cade did an excellent job! And looked so grown up standing up there and leading us.

After Cade's songleading, we had ab0ut and hour wait before the little kids did their puppets

Amy, Gay and Michael

We had some entertainment while we waited

Me and little baby Court Court

Benton had a good time

And Butler can find a wrestling match wherever he goes

I love going to LTC and watching all the kids participate in their different events. There are also some events that are done before hand - such as scrapbooks, bulletin boards, teaching challenge, service challenge and Bible reading. A big thanks to all the ones who worked with the youth to make this another successful year!