Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Costume Party TOMORROW!!!

My little guys and I will be here tomorrow, so come join us if you'd like! You did not have to do summer reading to come join the festivities.  Depending on how my kiddos are holding up, I might stay to check out books/DVDs and have a picnic lunch at Erin Presbyterian afterwards.

(Sorry for the terribly late notice, again.  We just picked up this flier about it when dropping off books and DVD...that were due yesterday.)





Sunday, July 26, 2015

Play Date!

Join us on Tuesday, July 28 at 10 am for a play date at the Children's Museum of Oak Ridge!


Admission is $8 per adult and $6 per kid. Children under 2 are free. If ten people come, admission will only be $5 per person, so invite your mom friends! Hope to see you there!

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Firetruck: Free Kid Activity TOMORROW

Yes, this is late notice...that is just kind of how my life goes these days.




If you are interested, tomorrow (July 23rd) Bearden Public Library is having a Knox Fire Department Day.  Firefighters will be discussing their duties, showing off their gear, and letting kids climb on the big firetruck.  I'm sure there will be fire safety tips too and probably some hats and badges given to kiddos attending. 10am  (I'd like to get there a few minutes early but not sure if that will happen with Little Mister's morning nap.)

The boys and I will be there then probably be checking out/returning books before having a picnic lunch of pb/j.  (Lunch outside = no crumbs to clean up in my house.)

Hope to see you there!  If not, hope to see you soon!

Also, mark your calendars for our MOPS Open House: Thursday, August 27th at Erin Presbyterian at 10am. Invite friends! The more, the merrier!

Monday, July 20, 2015

Flowers and Chaos

I have a lovely friend who gave me flowers a few days back. The one has opened up nicely and I wanted to show it to her. So I tried to snap a picture or two. It didn't have to be perfect, not even Pinterest worthy. But try as I might, I could not seem to get a good shot. "Well!" I thought to myself. "This won't do at all! I can't send her a single one of these."

The flowers are beautiful and they are in my kitchen where I get to enjoy them daily. The thing is, the background of the pictures is, well, my kitchen. Where my family eats and works and lives. And you can see all the "stuff" in the background of these pictures-the chaos of living our lives. I was trying to figure out if I should put them through an Instagram filter or try to photoshop them when it occurred to me (via a still, small voice) that I was being silly and even worse, superficial.

My friend would be so glad to know that I was enjoying the beautiful flowers she gave me. She would care not at all about the stuff in the background. She's been in my home-she knows its not worthy of a Better Homes and Gardens spread. She knows my life-I have kids and a husband and we are not a perfect family. We are real people who live in a real house in a real way. My dear friend knows that and loves me in spite of because of my imperfections. I am ashamed that I did not give her credit to see my life how it is on a Monday morning.

So why am I posting this on the blog? What does it have to do with you or MOPS? Everything, actually. We have such a wonderful, unique group of women in our MOPS group. We all have different backgrounds and different lives. But not a single one of us has a fairy godmother sweeping through to make our lives perfect. We have all stayed up with sick kids, sick husbands or just from worry and been weary for days, weeks or years on end. If we are willing to be real, we  can all benefit from the support and community of this group.

Join me on Thursday, August 27 at 10:00 am, which is our Open House. We will be learning about our theme "A Fierce Flourishing." We will have snacks and do a craft. I will work on being more real, more transparent. And you, please continue to be the real you. The real you is very much worth the time and energy of getting to know!

Are you wondering about those pictures? Here they are-with my plastic bag holder, recycling bin, receipts to be shredded, piles of towels, fridge full of drawings and banged up walls-the chaos of my life :)



Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Consignment Sale! Saturday!


Toys! Baby/kid/maternity clothing! Shoes! Room decor! SO much stuff still in original packages! You don't want to miss it!

Also, everything HALF PRICE (!!!!)  starting at noon!


Thursday, July 9, 2015

Usborne Children's Book Party

Ladies,
For anyone interested, I'm hosting an Usborne Children's Book Party on Monday, July 13th at 6pm. I'll provide yummy snacks and adult conversation. If you've never been exposed to Usborne books, please come check it out. I look forward to seeing you.

Ceri
1009 sky blue drive
804-9022

Monday, July 6, 2015

Summer, summer, summer time

Hi all! I hope you enjoyed your Fourth of July and celebrating the freedoms and blessings we have in this great nation. One thing that we are incredibly blessed with in this country is access to fresh produce, especially in the summer. If you haven't been to any of the Farmers' Markets in the area, here are a couple to try out:

Market Square Farmers' Market-located downtown in Market Square. They run from May until mid/late November on Wednesdays from 11:00 am until 2:00 pm and on Saturdays from 9:00 am until 2:00 pm. There are several great restaurants and stores on Market Square and downtown as well.
http://marketsquarefarmersmarket.org/

UT Farmers' Market-located at the UT Gardens (2518 Jacob Drive, off of Neyland Drive). This one runs from mid May until mid October on Wednesdays from 4:00 pm until 7:00 pm. If you haven't been to UT Gardens, definitely swing by. There is no charge to get into the gardens and they are open all year long.
http://environment.utk.edu/event/ut-farmers-market-13/

Lakeshore Park Market-located in Lakeshore Park across from the Knox Youth Sports Building (and the baseball fields). Running from mid April until late November on Fridays 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm. If you arrive shortly before 3:00 pm, you can usually find a good parking spot at the lot across the street.
http://www.easttnfarmmarkets.org/lakeshore-park-market.asp

Ebenezer Road Market-located at Ebenezer United Methodist Church on Ebenezer Road. This market also runs from mid April until late November and is open on Tuesdays from 3:00 pm until 6:00 pm.
http://www.easttnfarmmarkets.org/ebenezer-road-market.asp

Don't forget Art Open House is this Thursday, July 9 from 9:00 am to 11:30 am. As always, it is a drop in, come as you are event that is free. It is in the fellowship hall at Messiah Lutheran Church, 6900 Kingston Pike (across from PF Changs)