Monday, April 12, 2010

even Jesus got in trouble

when we got home from church yesterday i was asking the kids what they learned in sunday school. usually they 'cant remember', but this week they were both able to tell me.
they said in unison
colby & molly: "Jesus healed the sick man."
me: "good job!"
molly: "Jesus died on the cross!"
me: "yes He did. do you know why?"
molly: "they put nails in his hands and poked him with a sword and he died."
me: "do you know why He died on the cross, though, molly?"
molly: "and then they took Him off the cross and put Him in a tomb with a big rock over the door and when He woke up He couldnt get out!! He was trapped!!!"
me: "no He wasnt trapped. God rolled the stone away so He could walk out."
molly: "and then He went home and His mom and dad swat Him."
me: "they swat Him?"
molly: "yes, becuase He was in trouble."
me: "what did He do to get in trouble?"
molly: "He ate all the food in the pantry and the refrigerator, so they swat Him on His bottom."

honestly, i didnt even know where to start. it was bedtime. i was tired.
i just said ok, and put her to bed.
i promise i will not let my daughter grow up thinking that, after He rose from the dead, Jesus got swat for eating all the food in the house.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

vacation, all i ever wanted

a little go-go's reference for all you 80's music fans. i was humming that song to myself all week in atlanta.
thats right. the frans clan went on our first official family vacation.
we rode on a plane and everything. legit.
i heard about, hmm, 6 or 7 months ago of the aquarium in atlanta (the biggest in the country), and made it my goal to get us there this year. so when allen mentioned taking a vacation after disciple now in febuary, guess what i suggested. :)
but then the haiti earthquake happened and instead of taking a couple weeks off he spent 10 days in haiti.
i had to work through that to be quite honest with you.
even on my best days i'm at least 10% selfish.
he looked further into the year and blocked off a week in april, right after easter.
usually he takes some time off in the fall as well, so i had originally thought we'd do a getaway to dallas in april (theres a fantastic aquarium there too that we havent visited yet, and some great kids' museums), and visit atlanta in september-ish.
**side note: colby is WAY into all things ocean. that why we're planning our vacations around aquariums.**
after further deliberation and planning (and going on 9 years experience as a pastors wife) i know theres no guarantee that he'll take vacation in the fall, so i figured we ought to do atlanta while we have the week to do it.
i assumed we'd drive. i thought 'its only 14 hours. no biggie.' we'd drive thru the night so the kids could sleep in the car, and allen and i could tag team naps at the hotel on monday.
perfect plan, right?
allen was never a fan of this idea, but i was trying to save us money. plus we wouldnt have to rent a car, because we'd already have ours with us. and we could put an ice chest in the back and take all our own food. brilliant.
allen and i had a heart to heart about two weeks before we were planning on leaving.
i love my husband.
he basically said, if we're going to do a vacation, we're going to do it right.
we both arrived at the same conclusion; if we drive all the way there, 14 hours (plus stops for bathroom breaks, gas, etc) we're going to end up hating each other before the vacation even starts. this is probably true.
so i researched and researched and found a hotel right across the street from the aquarium and the coke museum that serves a full complimentary breakfast every morning and has a refrigerator in the room where we can keep our own food and drinks. the CNN tower, which has a food court, was located right behind it, so we could go there to get dinner in the evenings.
we'd pack our own lunch everyday. so our only purchased meal would be a food court dinner.
the MARTA train (atlantas subway) is half a mile from the hotel if we wanted to go anywhere else. we ended up riding that from the airport and back to the airport as well. total cost $9. awesome.

i booked the room and the plane tickets and 12 days later we were in atlanta.
we had a fabulous time. we flew crazy early so we were there by 9am. we went to the coca-cola museum on monday and the aquarium on tuesday.
wednesday we took the MARTA train, and a bus, and a very short cab ride to stone mountain, which is probably one of the coolest things i've ever seen. its the single largest piece of granite, standing 825 feet high, and i dont even know how long. the park is 3,200 acres if that gives you an idea. we rode to the top and had a picnic lunch, then came back down to the 'village' to ride the train, see some shows, and play a little.
it was a great first vacation, with the exception of atlantas ridiculous level of pollen (it hung like smog over the city. gross.), it being spring break, and the fire alarm going of twice wednesday night, or should i say thursday morning; 3:30am and again at 4:15am.
embassy suites will be getting a strongly worded email from allen this week.
hey, maybe that will get us a free night in dallas for our fall vacation.....


pictures!! (there are a lot!!)
the first few are from easter sunday.
a few days before easterm colby showed this pose to my mom and said he was going to do this in all his easter pictures because, and i quote, "it makes me look cool."
so of course molly had to come up with a pose for her pictures too. what a ham.


colby is attempting to do his pose in this picture, too. i'm not sure what mollys doing. and she insisted on having that ceramic cat on her lap...and a sticker on her leg.

the first thing we did when we got to atlanta--lunch at johnny rockets. colby had his first cheeseburger. he's a chicken nugget kid all the way, but he said he wanted to try something new since we were on vacation.

posing for the camera again.


the coca-cola bear. this thing was a little creepy. it was run by animatronics. there was a guy in there doing the arms and walking around and stuff, but he had a computer that he was operating to make the mouth open and the eyes move. the bear would look right at you. cool, but a little unsettling.


one of the jellyfish tanks at the aquarium.


this tank was 20-something feet deep, and as long as a football field. HUGE. all different kinds of fish and rays, and the only aquarium in the country with whale sharks.


view from the top of stone mountain. yes, it drops off right there.


colby and allen on stone mountain


sorry this is sideways. the yellow on the bottom of her shoes? pollen.
i'm not even kidding. it was awful.



there was a booth at the stone mountain park where you could get your hair done. molly wanted to get hers done, but she wanted me to get mine done too. i think i look like a dr seuss character.

i have a funny molly story to share, but it'll have to wait till tomorrow. i'm done for the day.

Friday, April 2, 2010

25 things

i was reading thru all my notes on facebook that i've written over the past couple years or so...however long i've been on facebook. i came across this one. just 25 things (goals, facts, habits, etc.) about me. some of them made me laugh, because they're so random. i havent changed any of them. this is exactly how i posted it and they're all still true.


1. when it comes right down to it, i don't think i really want a dog.

2. i suck at drawing.

3. i've always wanted a big brother.

4. i love a good sandwich.

5. when i was pregnant, i would eat a whole pizza and not think twice about it.

6. i regret not pursuing anything passionately in high school. i wonder how good i could have been had i picked one thing and stuck with it.

7. i don't have a college degree, nor do i have a clue what i would want one in.

8. i used to steal that sticky tack stuff off my teachers desk in 2nd grade.

9. i really really love to dance. all kinds.

10. i used to prank call people and hold the phone up to the t.v. on a spanish channel.

11. i like the way skunks smell.

12. i am terrified of grasshoppers.

13. i'm scared of tubing on a river. i almost drowned in one of the rapids when i was in middle school, and about 5 years ago i got dumped out of the inner tube and twisted my knee. i hate it.

14. i love flying.

15. i've never had eggnog.

16. when allen goes out of town, i almost always end up calling the police on our neighbors barking dog, because i get paranoid that theres 'someone out there.' she only seems to bark when allens out of town.

17. in 8th grade, i got pantsed in front of the guy i had a crush on. he pointed and laughed.

18. when i was a junior i would sneak of campus with a friend of mine who was a senior, by hiding in the trunk of her car.

19. theres always a song in my head.

20. i marched in the rose parade on new years day in 1996.

21. i wish my rib cage was smaller.

22. i like rap music, but i dont listen to it...much.

23. i hate cleaning my house.

24. i would love it to be super cute and fashionable to wear pajama pants and tshirts all the time.

25. i really really love my family and cant believe how blessed i am.