Ok, I apologize from disappearing from the blog.  Whew.  This past month has totally gotten away from me.  Let me summarize it in bullet-form, and maybe I can get quickly caught up so I can blog some other fun things from the more recent past!

• I got bronchitis in mid-April, and I’m just finally now feeling like I’m not coughing.  Ug.  I hate it, and believe me, Brian hates it too, but hopefully I’ve turned the corner…
• I flew to Indiana for my grandpa Charlie’s funeral.  It was a whirlwind of planning to get ready to leave Brian and the kids for 4 days, but it came together really well, and they did wonderfully without me.  It was a great time of celebrating Charlie’s long, friend-and-family filled life, and being with my family.
• I’ve been super busy winding up the year with MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers).  I’m on the Steering (leadership) Team, and I was a part of the committee who chose the leadership positions for next year.
• Brian’s been racing LOTS – and racing REALLY well!  If you haven’t checked out his blog, head on over there.  It’s got exciting race reports, interesting data from the races, and the occasional photo. (TIP! If you want to subscribe to a blog, click on the little icon at the end of the address bar of your browser!  Feel free to subscribe to us and Brian’s blog!)  Highlights below…
• We traveled to Athens, Georgia, staying with friends for the Athens Twilight Criterium, one of the fastest, craziest races in the country.  180 racers, most of them pros.  His goal was to finish for the first time ever, and instead he was in a late-race breakaway that made me CRAZY excited even though it got caught with just a few laps to go, and he finished 27th.  WOOHOO!
• Wayne and Jane Lunceford were awesome hosts, and Jane even kept the kids so Wayne and I could go to Brian’s 9pm race.  This is the 2nd year we’ve stayed with them, and we’re already looking forward to next year!  Analise had so much fun meeting her friend, Heather.  They bounced and bungy-bounced, rode bikes, had a princess tea party, and shared a bedroom.  Josiah was mesmerized by the older boys’ Lego collection.  Oh and he rode alot too, including into the wading pool… I’ve got a photo somewhere…
• We visited Athens Church with the Luncefords, a strategic partner with North Point Community Church.  We heard a great message by Pastor Andy Stanley called “It’s Personal-Undeniable“.  (I think you could also find it on iTunes, if you search Andy Stanley’s messages.  Seriously, I highly reccommend it.).  He’s a great speaker and the message had some very good thoughts.
• Ended up that weekend in Roswell, GA with a trip to Trader Joe’s (WOOHOO!), the first visit inbout 6 months.  Brian had to replace a cracked handlebar from the Saturday Athens’ race, and he trudged through another pro-stacked field in Roswell to a 38th place finish.
• The next weekend (last weekend) was a wonderful weekend away for us, compliments of my lovely mother-in-law.  The kids were so excited to spend the weekend (Sat and Sun nights) with the Toones, while Brian and I headed to races in Anniston and Sandy Springs, GA.  The Anniston Sunny King Criterium was an AWESOME race for Brian.  Again, a loaded pro field, and he raced hard, stayed near the front, and worked his way into good position for the sprint to finish 17th!  They had a VIP dinner for the racers afterwards, and we relaxed and ate well while chatting with the many pros.
• We made it to our Priceline hotel in Atlanta (a Marriot) at 1:30am Sunday morning, but slept in until nearly 10.  Ah, the joy… Seriously, just an occasional weekend away with my husband is such a treat.  Quiet breakfast for 2 at IHOP, relaxing at Starbucks before the race, a leisurely stroll around Trader Joe’s (again 🙂 ), and the pleasure of watching 2 whole races by myself.  We both enjoy having the kids with us at races – and they have fun! – but it’s nice to take a little of the stress off both of us while Brian’s getting ready to race.  And I can even manage to take photos instead of keeping the kids from dashing onto the race course.  In a crash-filled race, I was very happy he finished upright and unhurt, but he even managed at top-30 finish.  Woohoo!  Brian can hold his own with the pros :), AND be “in the money” for 2 big races!
• This week has been busy with a Mother’s Day Luncheon at Analise’s preschool, registering her for kindergarten (!!!!?!!!), a Kindergarten Kickoff visit/informational session, a Women’s Banquet for me, Brian’s student presentations, and an end-of-the-year picnic at Samford.
• Josiah has been coming into our room and snuggling in bed with us after his early-ish wake-up, and this morning he said, “My tummy has a headache”.  Hm.  Brian and I both thought he was just hungry, but when we were at the playground before our grocery store run, he got sick.  Ug.  I’ll spare you the details, but I really hope it’s a short-lived bug that doesn’t dampen our Mother’s Day weekend.  Nothing special planned, except a bday party tomorrow, church Sunday, and lunch here (taco soup and homemade chocolate cheesecake).
• Oh, and we’ve been diligently been watching Lost, discussing our theories and anticipating the season finale next week.  What a crazy, addicting show!

Ok, I hope I’m about caught up!  Be back soon with a post I’ve been wanting to write for about a month now…

So it all started with me looking for a blanket to spread on the living room floor for a dinner picnic. Underneath the table next to couch (still decorated with a fiber optic Christmas tree), I found this Christmas present for Steve and Corrie … Ummm, Merry Christmas Steve and Corrie!!! I think we will hand deliver it this summer! Well, while I was getting the camera to take a picture, Josiah comes trotting up holding half a cucumber with a big bite out of it an asks “Can I eat it?” The ironic thing, though, is that Kristine had just cut up the other half of the cucumber for him to eat and had already put the other half back in the fridge back in the vegetable drawer – so Josiah had to go digging through the fridge to find it.

Then Analise decided to demonstrate her tumble roll from gymnastics today — on the couch! Here she is:

That’s dinner time at the Toone’s!

On the way from the grocery store, I was checking to see what Josiah wanted for lunch.

“Would you like a roly-poly with cucumbers?”

“No, I want a roly poly with cucumbers AND a hot dog AND chicken fingers.”

I chuckled and asked, “Who do you think I am?”, thinking, possibly a short-order cook.

“You’re my MOMMY!” he said.

Yes. Yes, indeed I am. And I’m darn lucky.

My birthday last week was awesome.  Turning 33 isn’t bad at all.  In fact, I would hardly notice I’m any older if it weren’t for my “young” husband reminding me that I’m older… at least until August when he joins me at 33!

It was quite the technological birthday… I got tons and tons of greetings on Facebook (gotta love the birthday reminders they give you!), a couple birthday texts, and a techy gift I’ll tell more about later.  I got some gorgeous flowers (bottom photo) from my Mom, Dad and Kat.

Brian and I went out to Up The Creek for a yummy fish dinner, and we came back to my long-anticipated birthday cake (recipe here) with the kids and his parents.  Wednesday evening, Lindsay brought me a piece of tiramisu cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory.  YUM!  The best gift, though, was the necklace I’ve REALLY wanted from The Vintage Pearl.  It is just as gorgeous as I’d hoped it would be!  Thank you, Brian!! (And I took this picture with the manual setting on my camera… pretty impressed with myself!)

Just like last year, we had so much fun at the Day Out with Thomas at the Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum.  We didn’t buy tickets to ride the train, but there are lots of free things to do… a petting zoo, bouncy house, big bouncy slide, train tables and coloring tables, stories in a train car, balloon art, the small train, and of course, the Thomas store.

What a glorious, joyous day!  I’m overwhelmed today at the gift of new life Christ has given me.  Worship at Clearwater was AWESOME, and I am so thankful that God loves us so extravagantly that He would bridge the chasm between us with his perfect Son.  I hope all of you have had a beautiful day celebrating our Risen Lord!

Josiah loved our egg hunt in Grandma's backyard!

I attempted to get a standing photo, but it turned into who-can knock-the-other-over-with-a-sweet-hug. All my other photos have someone falling over 🙂

We played Egg Bowling for Mommy... Brian won 🙂

A couple weeks ago, we spent one of our beautiful Spring Break days with the Moons.  As usual, the kiddos had a wonderful time together, and Kim and I had a fun relaxing day sharing mom-duties.

Anna and Kim

Lauren and Analise driving around in the Jeep.

Josiah and Lauren driving around. He kept saying, "Watch out! Watch out!"

Pretty spring white flowers in our yard.

Ok, I’ve got a text file here with all kinds of tidbits I wanted to post, as well as pictures that I want to post.  But I stumbled across this beautiful post about Palm Sunday, my most favorite day in the church calendar.

Palm Sunday. The Triumphal Entry. Palm branch waving, I cry from my heart Hosanna! Lord, Save Me!

I am desperate for a Savior. I am desperate to be freed from my oppressor. I am ready to be lifted from the mirey clay and to have my feet set upon that solid Rock. No more slipping, sliding, stumbling. Just firm and steady ground beneath my feet.

Hosanna! I cry. But it is not easy, this process.

Click on over to read the rest…