Summer - For Reals!!!

Gracie is out of school for the summer! She is enjoying VBS this week on "Outrigger Island"! (And every day that I have dropped her off, for all the crying Autumn has done over staying in her class....this week she has cried and cried because she COULDN'T stay...we are making progress...I think!) Both the girls have made fast friends with the little girl next door, so life is good for the Williams' children!

I am done with APSU for the summer and I have officially finished my CNA class as well. It was a tough two weeks, but well worth it. I've posted a few pictures from the class. We graduated on Friday, May 30th!

My Instructor Carla...she was fantastic!









Being silly...

Graduating CNA class (05/19 - 05/30)

Needless to say, as I write this post, I'm totally relaxed!

So.....Summer vacation.....look out!

Our Little Country Vacation!

We just had so much fun at my parents house over the weekend! We went out on Friday night after Mike left work and had a hotdog & marshmallow roast! It was a little cool, but that made it nice to sit around the fire. Saturday, Mike painted for my Gramma. He's finishing up a project that got started a while back. It was so great sitting around visiting with her, my mom and dad! The girls went 100 miles per hour, nonstop the entire time! They were filthy and exhausted so after a warm bath they slept like the sweet babies they are! What a blessing! Thanks Momma & Daddy! It was a great time of R&R! Tomorrow starts two busy weeks for us. I'll be going through the CNA training that is a pre-req for nursing school. It should be an interesting experience! I'm trusting the Lord to get me through. I am excited though. It will be the first opportunity I have to jump in and do some hands-on work. Ya'll have a good week! We love you!

Last Week

My first week out of school has been fun. I've spent most of the week unpacking boxes and trying to get this house feeling like home. I believe we have a new "unpacking record"! Much of that has to do with how much bigger this house is than others we've enjoyed...everything really does have a place! I'll post some pictures of the unpacked version of the house soon.

A few fun things:

-Gracie had her first gig! We watched her perform in the annual Tribute to America concert at school on Thursday, May 1st.

-We had a super fun Family night on Friday. We ate pizza, watched How To Eat Fried Worms, and the girls and Mike had their weekly wrestling event in the living room floor! Autumn was inexplicably bothered by the fact that the boys in the movie put worms in their pants. I videoed her telling us about it later to post here.



-On Sunday we went to our Pastor's house for a luncheon with him, his wife and other members of our church. It was really fun. Thanks Freddy T & Susan! We love and appreciate you both so much! (Please everyone keep them in your prayers. Susan is a beautiful, TINY woman who happens to be pregnant with TWINS due in December! Pray for the Lord's mercy, protection and favor for their growing family throughout this pregnancy!)

-Yesterday evening Mike says to me, "I'm going out to mow." All I could do was laugh. Not because he never mows or anything. It's just that it was Tuesday. And it was 5pm. I don't know, maybe it is because until moving here, mowing was an all day event, but it got me so tickled. Then he got tickled (albeit, slightly confused) that I was so tickled. Anyway, no one cares, but it was one of my favorite moments of the entire week and this is my blog and I can write silly run-on sentences about goofy stuff if I want to! I'm pretty sure no one reads this blog anyway! :)

We've almost officially made it to summer break! Gracie only has three weeks left at school and my CNA class runs from May 19th - May 30th. Then we can be found enjoying the freedoms that summer brings! Gracie has had a terrific Kindergarten year! I'm so thankful for her teacher, Mrs. Bradley! Gracie says she will miss her teacher and her friends, but is excited about a new school and a new grade in the fall. Autumn is enrolled in Mother's Day Out at FBC on Wednesdays & Fridays starting in the fall. We'll pray she and I are ready for that!

Well, that's pretty much it for this last week. I'm happy to say things have slowed down around here! We'll be looking for some in-town activities this summer, so if anybody has any ideas, send them my way...

Love ya'll!

Foot Loose and Fancy Free!

Well, it's official! Spring semester 2008 is OVER! Did you catch that? OVER! (me slumping over in chair) I might sleep for two days...yea, right!

I've decided not to take any classes this summer (except for my CNA class in Dickson at the end of May - it only lasts for two weeks though) because we all just need a break. I'm going to go ahead and finish my nursing pre and co-requisites over the next year at APSU so I can start nursing school with only my clinicals to go...but that's more than enough talk about school. I reserve the right to boycott that word until August! Thank you everybody for helping me make it one more semester!

So, I thought I would tell you a little about our new house! It is so beautiful! We could not be happier! It is the best place and we could not feel more blessed to call it home. I'll throw in some pictures here for you to see it. They do not do it justice I assure you. (And disregard boxes and messes!) That's just life around here! If you feel loving a house is shallow, read no further!

We are in a great neighborhood on a dead end road. I truly don't think you could find a better location in Clarksville to live! Here's my top 10 list (so far) for our house:

10. You can pull in and out of the driveway without feeling like you are immediately jumping onto the racetrack!
9. All the rooms have doors - that lock!
8. The floors are clean (and cleanable) which means I don't spend the entire day scrubbing them and wonder if you can even tell I did!
7. Everyone has their own private space...and let's face it...that's NICE!
6. There are 9 closets. Yea, I KNOW!
5. The front and backyard give the girls lots of space to play all their most important games. My particular favorite is when Gracie lays her body the length of the slide and Autumn pretends to throw her down it like Scar does Mufasa in the Lion King. The yard is important! And the deck, my word!
4. There are two full bathrooms - thank you Jesus!
3. Mike has a music room finally. Bless his heart!
2. Mike is 5 minutes from work!
1. There is a dishwasher. Can I get an AMEN ya'll?!

And if that weren't enough. I forgot to tell ya'll that Mike bought me a car in February....um, yea, a car!

God is so good! He gives us SO MUCH MORE than we could ever imagine (Eph 3:20)! Trust me. Don't get me wrong, I'm keeping it all in perspective. I know these are material things and I intend to keep storing up my treasure in heaven. I'm just so thankful...and I want to give praise where praise is due!

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17

So here are those pictures I talked about!

Spring Cleaning!

I just did a little spring cleaning here on the blog! I found some fun links to spruce things up a bit. Check out Scrapblog, where I made my header and Cutest Blog on the Block for really great backgrounds. I hope you enjoy the new "springy" look as much as I do!

Rivers & Spires Fun

Rivers & Spires 2008 has come and gone. Mike has been playing this festival for either 3 or 4 consecutive years. This year was the best one for me. Normally, Mike is very busy the day he takes the stage and we don't get to see him until he performs that night -which is still a lot of fun, but this year was different. He had already done everything and was ready for a day of fun with us before he played at 5:30!

So our festival weekend recap looks something like this.

Friday: It started raining early in the afternoon and we feared our "WannaBeatles" concert might not happen. We were all really looking forward to this and prayed the rain would stop. Alas, it wasn't to be. So, we all piled in the car, and in an attempt to curb the disappointment we went to the only place that can make almost anything better. You guessed it. Dairy Queen. Ice cream covers a multitude of sins!

Saturday: Praise God, the rain was gone! I got up early and headed out for my walk. I haven't had the chance to see our new neighborhood in this light and after walking through it, I only love it more. I'm so thankful to be here. Anyway, then I went to Shipley's to pick up a yummy Saturday morning breakfast surprise for everyone. We just had a lazy Saturday morning and took our time getting ready for the big afternoon. We left the house around 2 pm and I had to stop and get batteries for my camera so I could post some of the pics here!

Our first stop was to watch my friend Melanie play on the International Stage with the Celtic group "Red River Breeze". (I think that is the right name, correct me if I'm wrong.) It was a really good show. I love Celtic music and I LOVE watching Melanie play her violin so it was awesome! For any of you who have not had the privilege of hearing her play, she is the most talented woman! God has given her a beautiful gift...

Then we headed out into festival land to find the perfect concession! We wandered around and ended up at the Cheeseburger Charlie's stand. Two cheeseburger combos later we were headed for KidZone and a few hours of fun on the inflatables before the big concert! The kids had so much fun. Gracie's favorite was the HUGE slide that looked like the sinking Titanic. Kinda weird, I know, but she loved it! Autumn's favorite was the Pirate bounce room with a slide to get out. They jumped and slid to there heart's content!

After that, Mike had to start getting his equipment to the stage. He left it all in the sanctuary (which was a few steps from the Christian Rock Stage) and got that all taken care of while the girls and I watched a group called Example perform. These ladies were awesome! They'd give Kirk Franklin a run for his money! What a blessing!

At around 6 pm, the Waking took the stage! They ROCKED IT!!!! I know I'm biased, but that group of guys are some of the most talented men in the world. And humble. And doing it all for God's glory! Amen! It was so much fun to watch Mike perform his heart out. That's right ladies, that lead singer, rockin' guitar player, He's with me! :)

After packing up everything rock and roll, we headed back over to the KidZone to let the girls take one last round before we left. We topped it off with funnel cake and the rest is history!

What a fun weekend. Here's the proof:

Where we've been....and where we are...

I keep saying I will post about the new house. And I will. Pictures and all. I'm home now between classes. Another one of the perks of living so close to everything. So let me tell you how we got here...

We moved to Puckett on labor day weekend 2007. We were taking care of the house for some friends. We loved it. We found black mold. We left it. End of story. So now let me tell you why it was a little harder than that for me.

We were living on a 150-acre farm exactly 1/2 mile down a small tree covered lane from my Mom & Dad. The girls and I could literally walk almost the entire way to their house without getting on the road. I got to see my Mama and Gramma nearly everyday. I could hear my Dad blowing leaves when we were out in our yard and it made me feel safe. *It felt like home* And last Fall, Mike, the girls & I went camping in the back field. We couldn't see any "man-made" lights. Only stars. Good times. Those in particular just to name a few.

The Ma Ingalls in me thrived there. I could convince myself - the I wish we lived in Walnut Grove in 1880 me - that I was going to get up at 4 am, gather all the eggs, milk the cow, and cook breakfast - a country breakfast mind you - for our family of 10 all before the sun came up. And then at some point during the day, between gardening and hauling water to the kitchen, I would make my own bread. Enough to last two weeks. Wash and mend the clothes, shuck the corn and have fresh apple pie waitin' when my man came in out of the field...

And then the real me - the Catrina Williams who lives in 2008 - who has a busy, in-school 6 year old, an energetic, no-more-naps 2 year old, a husband who works hard at his 9-5 and then gives everything he's got to his passion, his music, and then gives more to the people of FBC as worship leader, 3 hard-core college classes, dirty clothes to clean (but no place to clean them), dishes to wash and you get the idea. Well, that Catrina has had some tough times being so far from everything. And above mentioned man, has also had some tough times being so far from everything. Especially with his very busy schedule, being so far from work for him many times meant leaving the house before sunrise and getting home after dark. Not good times.

So the move. Has. Been. Good! Very good for our family time. And what is more important in this world than that?

*And, even though I don't get to walk from my house to theirs anymore, I've learned since leaving the nest, that no matter how far I go - my steps always lead home. So thanks, Mama & Daddy for always giving us somewhere to go when we just need the country - and you.*

Time for class. I'm out!

Randomness...

Today is sort of "the beginning of the end" for my Spring 08 semester. My final lab practical was at 9am. And this afternoon will be my last lecture before final exams next week. I'm excited to be wrapping this one up. It has been an especially trying term. Changing my major and starting into the classes several weeks late coupled with all the crazy life stuff (like moving two times in six months!) have left me worn and ready for a break - along with everyone else who helped me carry this load I'm sure! But, overall, it's a success so I'm not going to complain (well, not anymore ok)...

Some fun highlights from yesterday:

~After dropping Gracie off at school, I took Autumn to the new playground by the river and we had the whole thing to ourselves for almost 2 hours! I pushed her in that swing until my arms nearly fell off. Then we got stuck in the tube slide - do you know how hard it is to slide yourself down one of those when it is wet? Help me, Jesus!

~I got my entire house cleaned while Autumn slept after fun time at the park. (No one but Melanie can understand why this qualifies as a "fun highlight" of my day!)










~After picking Gracie up from school, we met Mike at Chic-Fil-A for dinner and got to actually finish our sentences while the girls made new friends on the inside play area! Then he headed off to FBC for practice and we went home.

~My sister-in-law stopped by (because we live in town and it's easy for people to stop by!) and we got to chat for a while while the girls played on their jungle gym.











~My husband got home before dark! And for the record Wed is his longest work day!

Family Fun

I like to call this:

Two girls and a park.....

Ready, Set, GO!

Everybody's having fun!