How were we lucky enough to get here?

Okay, so it's 5:00 Friday afternoon and I'm driving home from work. Curt already has the kids and wants to go out for dinner. He calls me and asks if we should go to Western Sizzlin for dinner since we have a buy one buffet, get one free coupon (yeah, gross, I know, but we can all eat for $8). I reluctantly agree and only because I knew the kids would eat lots of veggies there!

A few minutes later he calls again and says that Kaye-Kaye said she and Curtis would buy us tickets if we wanted to take the kids to see Sesame Street Live at the coliseum this weekend. WOW! We decided to get online when I got home and there were good tickets available for Saturday and Sunday performances, but there were FRONT ROW tickets available for tonight...like, in less than an hour and a half!

So, of course, we wanted those seats so the kids could really see what was going on. We dressed the kids really fast, ran through Chic-Fil-A on the way (what vegetables? haha!) and were in our wonderful seats before the show began!

What a fun night for us as a little family! We really did not know that Tripp like to dance so much, and Mollie was in shock when ELMO came on the stage! The characters danced in front of us, rubbed the kids heads, and Tripp and Mollie loved it! They were so cute and it was an evening Curt and I will never forget. At some point during the show, Curt and I looked at each other and said, "How did we get here? From Western Sizzlin to the front row of Sesame Street Live!".

Waiting for the show

Yes, that is Big Bird on the stage! We were thrilled!

Mollie had no clue Grover was coming up behind her!

Bankrobber and high speed chase!

Just your average Friday night. We ran by Shoe Choo Train to get new shoes for the kids and then opted for a run through Dairy Queen instead of going inside a restaurant. The kids were tired and hungry, and a no clean-up dinner sounded great to us.

Okay, so far, so good! We're in the drive thru and the DQ speaker person can't hear our order for all the siren-screaming police cars going by. Oh, wonder what's going on? We get our order, pull over to make sure the kids fists are loaded with "finch fies", and that Mollie has her "wheat tea", and then head off for our short trek back home. Barney is keeping the kids entertained in the back as they enjoy their dinner on the run.

We notice on Lakeland Drive that all the police cars are heading back our way again, so we pull over and give them plenty of room to get by us. Must be something big going on somewhere, we commented. Wanting to avoid all the commotion ahead of us on Lakeland Drive, we turned off at the shortcut by University Christian School and noticed that their first football game of the season was about to get underway. What a fun time of the year.

We're just enjoying our family time on this Friday night and laughing at both our kids now holding a grill cheese sandwich with both hands, and are really into their Barney video. We're commenting on how cute they are, and how much we love them, and then things get scary. I see something going on ahead, and tell Curt to watch out, "we're in trouble", I remember saying.

Ahead I see a truck coming out of the park by Flowood school and he's cutting through the grass. FAST. There is no one behind us. I'm instantly on guard and pulling out of his way, as he comes towards us......suddenly in our lane! He is so close to us, his window is down, we can see him clearly, he looks so calm, so normal? He is in a high speed chase from the Flowood Police, the Rankin County Sherriffs Department, the Brandon Police, and the Mississippi Highway Patrol, and he looks calm and normal riding around on a Friday night?.....in our lane!......what? How did we end up here? In a bank robbers path? He's got a gun! He flies past us with so many police cars tailing him! What just happened? On our little peaceful Friday night.

Curt and I just sit on the side of the road in silence for a minute. We're both processing what just happened. We realize the magnitude of the situation, and are overwhelmed with thankfulness for God's protection over our little family.

We look back at the children, and they're still singing and dancing with Barney to "Where Is Thumbkin"? They never even knew something was up. That's another thing to be thankful for!

As we drive up into the garage, I look at Curt and say what my mom used to always say when we were back home safely, "Thank you Lord, one more time"! And I really meant it.

She makes me happy when skies are grey!

We were able to grab the camcorder tonight when Mollie was singing with her bear. Curt and I love to listen to her sweet little voice when she sings. We both get really quiet and just let her go....which encourages her to sing even more because she loves to get our attention!

Today was such a Monday, and full of all the regular mundane things that life sends our way, but it's so nice to come home to these two little precious children and be reminded of all the things we are so grateful for, the things that really matter.

Hope you enjoy the mini-Mollie-concert!

Mollie riding on Big Jake

This is a short video of Mollie riding on "Big Jake" that has been passed down through the grandkids. (Please excuse our redneckness- she had already had her bath and was wearing a big jersey. We threw on her sandals to go outside and ride around, not preparing for a video shoot to be posted on our blog.) You will notice in the video that Curtis has to really run around to keep up with her. She presses the gas and really likes to go down-hill. So cute!

Bounce Passes

Tripp spent a little time this weekend working on his bounce pass with his daddy. Watch how he pats on the ball after his dad does. At the end of the passing he decides he'd rather just sit in his daddy's lap and take a break.