Virginia Beach Aquarium

I wrote this blog a week ago (the 10th) and haven't been able to post it until today due to crappy internet...so here ya go! Our trip to the aquarium, a week later :)

Today Eli and I headed to the aquarium with "Miss Becca"...a friend of mine from church.  We got there around 11:00am and headed right in.  Eli and I have been there a few times so I knew what to expect cost wise.  As soon as we met up with Rebecca, she mentioned to us that we got to go in for free because she had a membership!  That was such a blessing! (thanks Rebecca!)  We saw so many things including kimono dragons, sharks, turtles, sting rays, and sea horses!  Eli loved touching anything he was allowed to.  We ate lunch there around 1:00 and then headed over to the river for a boat ride.  We headed home after the boat ride before heading out to dinner with my friend Mel.  We got back "home" aka Natalie's house around 8:00pm and got ready for bed!  (we are house/pet sitting for Eric and Nat while they are in Florida)

Okay...so now that you have a little snippet in writing, I'll show ya the pictures that I was able to snap.  Eli didn't really hold still long enough for anything, but thankfully I was able to get a few! :)

Eli pushed the lever up and down over and over!

He loved pushing the button and watching the volcano erupt.

This was taken in a tunnel through the huge tank...Eli loved watching all of the fish swim around him.

"Oooh, Look at that one Mommy!"

Eli would run back and forth from me to the turtle

He kept asking the turtles "where are you going?"

Eli was so obedient when I told him to touch the starfish and crab with one finger.

Eli and Becca

We now know where he gets his adorable face from :) Me! haha

Pure joy on this boy's face!

 

So...there ya have it, our trip to the aquarium. I hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Happy Easter!

First off, I want to say Happy Easter!  He is risen! He is risen indeed!  We had a wonderful service today at church...actually we had a wonderful service last night (Saturday) and 3 wonderful services today! :)  I was blessed to be able to direct our amazing choir in an awesome song written by one of my very best friends!  I love it when God pours down his presence on us! :) 

After church, Eli and I headed over to grab some soda from the store.  I pulled into the parking lot of Food Lion and parked the car.  As I got out, I noticed that there was an infant and a young boy in the back seat with no adult.  For a minute there I was reminded of the show "What Would You Do?"  For those of you who haven't seen the show, they take every day things or issues and then stage a setting...for example, They would have an actress acting drunk, about to get into a car, with a baby in the back seat...then they would film every day people reacting to the situation...

Anyway, I felt like I was on that show for a second!  I saw two young children in the car, no adult anywhere in sight...WHAT DO I DO!?  I walked toward the grocery store, stopped a woman, and asked what she would do...I asked if I should call the police...She recommended I tell management and see what they say.  So I talked to the manager, she said we could call the police or have her paged.  I didn't really want to get her in trouble, I just wanted to make sure her kids were okay.  By this time, I had probably been there for about 15 minutes.  I told the manager that I would go back outside to see what kind of car it was and to see if the kids were doing okay.  I asked the little boy how long his parents had been gone and he said "I don't know, a while..."  I asked him how old he was, he said he was 7.  SEVEN!  I waited next to the car for about 5 more minutes trying to figure out what to do.  I started walking back into the grocery store to let them know that I was going to call the police. Right before I got into the store this woman came up to me and asked me what I was doing talking to her son.  I told her that I just wanted to make sure they were safe.  I said, "I saw two young children in the car by themselves and got worried."  Oh man...that set her off.  A long list of racial slurs (toward me) came out and I'm not gonna lie...I almost lost it.  She told me "people like you need to mind your own business"  I told her, I hope that wasn't a racial slur...b/c obviously my child is mixed.  She told me to take care of my son and leave her alone...ooooooh man, I was LIVID.  I was trying to make sure HER children were safe and she's chewin me out?!  I told her "I do take care of my son, I take him with me!"  She went on and on, telling me that she had the keys, that no one was gonna steal her car, and that it was my opinion that leaving the kids in the car was wrong.  My only thought was, yeah Lady...no one will steal your car, they will steal your children!!!  I ended the conversation (on my part at least) by saying "I'm pretty sure the police will agree that leaving your children in the car unattended is called child neglect"  Then I told her she was a poor excuse for a mother.  I probably wouldn't have said that on a normal basis...I mean, I understand if you leave your 11-13 yr old in the car, but an INFANT!?  Like a baby baby...YIKES!  I told her I was going to write her license plate number down and call the cops...which I did, as she drove away calling me a racist _____. Fill in the black with whatever you want, b/c I was called it at one point or another.

In total...her kids were in the car, by themselves for about 20-30 minutes...and that was AFTER I pulled up.  I'm sorry, but you cant "run into the store for a few minutes" and walk out with 4-5 grocery bags full of stuff...

After she left, I went back into the store to grab the sodas, got outta there, and headed over to Eric's parent's for Easter lunch and an Easter egg hunt!  Eli had a BLAST!!!  We had such a great time with good family friends. :)

Anyway, from here on out...if I see ANY young child in the car without an adult, I'm callin the cops.  And to the lady who drove the car with the license plate Jay&EJ...  I don't care if you are black, orange, red, blue, or purple...If you leave your children in the car, I will get upset.  I'm not racist, you just aren't very smart...and you're probably upset that you got caught.


Okay...enough of that.  Let me tell you about the cuteness that is sittin next to me. :)  He took of his shoes and socks, and now is saying "piggy, piggy, piggy, piggy, piggy, weeeee!" and playin with his chunky cute toes. :)

Alrighty, Time for me to get off of here!  I hope you all have a blessed evening!

Applebee's Brownie Bites

So just a quick update on tonight, I will post another one tomorrow to let you all know about the MAJOR blessings that God has poured out on us, but for tonight just a little something.

So, Eli and I went to Applebees tonight after choir with his "Auntie Beffy"(Beth) and "Tia Yee-Ah"(Leah)  We had great appetizers and conversation.  Top the evening off with some yummy brownie bites...or so I thought.  On the way home, I was talking to my mom and pulling up to a red light when I heard choking sound.  Mommy instincts or previous life guarding kicked in... In one motion I pulled the car over/up to the shoulder, told my mom I had to go, turn on the emergency lights, and opened the door...I got Eli's door open in time to swipe his mouth...and for him to puke.  He had put his fingers down his throat, thrown up a little b/c of it...then started choking on his throw up.  GROSS!  Anyway, we are both safe and sound now.  It's times like that, that I am blessed to have training!  My heart is racing a little...but we are all good.  Now its bath time for puke boy and then sleep for mommy.  Whew! :)  I hope you all have a blessed evening! :)
-B

Fresh Starts

Wow...have I been slacking on the blogging or what!?  Lets give this another whirl...maybe I need to have someone to remind me about this.  Any takers? :)  Well, here are some of the fresh starts in my life right now.
-Ellis just headed back to the sand box.  I guess this wouldn't be a fresh start, but we have to start this whole learning to be apart thing all over again.
-My new Etsy store...check it out, I mean if you want. :)
-My new Facebook page...check it out too, I mean...if you are already checking out they Etsy store, why not? :)
-Let's not forget the blog!

I guess I don't have as many new things as I thought...oh well I suppose.  I do need to be going but I will have a picture update soon of the last few months.  I figure that would be easier than trying to write it all out. :)

Take care and God bless you.
-B


www.etsy.com/shop/beesbooteek

www.facebook.com/beesbooteek

Sweet success

Ahhhh...that's all I can say after the day I had today.  A HUGE shout out to Leah and Kasey for helping me today.  So folks, ALL, I mean ALL of the laundry is done.  All of the linens, towels, Eli's clothes, my clothes, Ellis' clothes, absolutely EVERY piece of fabric in this house has now been washed and dried.  And no...I haven't looked at my bank account to see how much it cost me. :)  All I can say is AHHH!!!  I'm so happy it's done and I don't have to worry about it now.  Everything is put almost put away. :) 

After we finished and got the laundry home.  Eli and I both took showers, put on fresh clean clothes, put his laundry away...he even helped me by opening the drawers and "re-arranging" them. :)  We headed over to Payless Shoe Source to return a pair of shoes, grabbed some "healthy" fast food, then headed to choir.  Most of you know that I stopped eating junk...or most junk.  I stopped eating fast food, excess sugar, soda, etc etc...  Well, today I did have fast food (twice!)  I had a grilled chicken sandwich from Chikfila, NO mayo, ketchup or anything...just chicken, salad, tomato and bun.  Then for dinner I had a chicken burrito with fiesta salsa.  If you guys like pico de gallo (or however it's spelled) you will LOVE fiesta salsa!  Same thing...different name! (and fiesta salsa is easier to spell!)

Anyway, we had a good time at choir. (for the most part)  Eli was running everywhere, acting all kinds of crazy...but what can you expect from an almost 2 year old??? :)  I CANNOT BELIEVE HE IS ALMOST 2!!!  I'm sure I'll say that about every birthday.  Well, now its 10:38 pm, I'm tired...not exhausted tonight, just a little tired, and I'm ready to relax.  I feel like today was just the start of turning my chaos into order.  And no worries...I'll be posting about the changes :)  It's like venting! :)  And no one can say anything about it b/c it's my blog...if you don't like it, don't read it! :)

BTW...I wanted you all to know that I will be splitting BGR Designs into 2 pages...one for Jewelry (BGR Designs) and one for all of my hair stuff.  (B's Bows)  Please look for B's Bows soon, I have a lot of new bows, flowers, korkers, etc...I cant wait to show you all! 

Have a great evening/night/sleep (morning for Ellis) and God bless!
-B

p.s. if you haven't seen my husband dancing yet..go check it out on Facebook, he's amazing!

Part 2

How about we start off this post with a super cute picture? :)  It was taken by a woman that we met at the beach the other day. 


(this was taken by wanda's lasting memories)

 This day was special for us, we had never been swimming in the Atlantic Ocean before!  Well...I swam in the Atlantic when we were in Haiti, but I have never experienced waves like this before...I guess I should say, I've never swam off the eastern coast of the US before. :)  Anyhoo...we met up with our good friends, Jeff and Leah (and their family) and headed out to the ocean front.  We parked a few blocks up and trekked on down to the beach.  It was packed, but it was a ton of fun.

Eli didn't like the water too much...

but he LOVED the sand!

After we were done at the beach we all headed back to Jeff and Leah's place.  Leah made this AMAZING lasagna for dinner.  We swam for a little bit, ate some dinner, watched TV, and finally headed home around 11:00pm.  It was a great day.  Somehow during the mix of it all, little Eli chipped his front tooth.  Thankfully you cant see it too much. 

Okay...so we talked about the beach, and Eli's chipped tooth...now onto the car across the street.  (yes I know I got 1. and 2. mixed up...but oh well.) :)

So for those of you who don't know...there has been a black Dodge Charger parked across the street and one house down.  It has been there for over a week now.  I remember last week there was a couple who parked it, and then they drove away in another Dodge Charger...anyway, on Friday, Eli and I headed to a choir practice at 6:30.  We got home rather late because we went to Ihop after practice.  It was around 11:00 pm when I pulled up to our house.  I have to park the car on the street because there isn't enough room in our driveway for both cars to fit straight in.  So I usually pull a U-turn right where that Charger is parked.  I had to drive a little further this time...when I passed the Charger, I saw that the 2 outside tires weren't there anymore.  Once I turned around, I saw that the 2 tires next to the curb were gone as well...along with ALL of the lug nuts being on the ground...  As soon as I got inside, I called the cops.  They had me go outside and read them the license plate number.  About a half hour later there were 2 cop cars outside looking at the car.  I went and talked to them...later finding out that the car hasn't been reported stolen (yet) and there is nothing they can do about it because the owner didn't report the tires/rims being stolen.  Anyway, the car is STILL parked outside, no tires, and the lug nuts are still all over the road.  Whenever the car owner comes back, IF they come back, they aren't going to be too happy!

Onto number 3...Eli and I went on a date yesterday! :)  I had to take a dress to the tailor to get it taken in a little bit...as we were driving out of the parking lot, I saw that there was a Cracker Barrel across the street.  I asked Eli if he wanted to eat and of course he said yes!  (if any of you know Eli...you know he LOVES food!)  We went in, sat down, and had a wonderful dinner.  There was an elderly lady having her birthday dinner.  After the staff sang Happy Birthday to her, Eli started clapping and yelling "Yay birday! birday!"  I thought it was adorable. :) (everything he does is adorable...) :)

After we were done eating we headed over to Michaels.  I was able to find a few things there needed for our trip to California. (only a few more weeks!)  After Michaels, we had an hour or so to kill before the movie started so we headed over to Marshalls.  They always have great deals on shoes and purses...but amazingly enough...I didn't buy either one! :)  Around 10:00 pm (yes I know that is TOO LATE for an almost 2 year old to be up) we walked into the theatre to see Transformers.  Eli stayed awake through about half of it.  Every time he one of the cars he started saying "GO GO GO!" or "VROOM!!!"  Thankfully the movie was so loud, not many people could hear him. :)

That was our date night...we really enjoyed Transformers, it had great special effects...which I LOVED! :)

I'm pretty sure number 5 is up next...almost done with the list! :)  This past Sunday evening, our church had a Unity service with another church here in Norfolk.  I just want to give a shout out to everyone who participated.  It was AMAZING.  God spoke through Pastor Dan (as always) and he gave an amazing "mini" sermon.  We (our choir) sang with the other church's choir for 2 special numbers.  It was so wonderful...I barely had a voice left after we were all done!  My close friend Dezi watched Eli for me.  She is SO SO great with him.  (if you cant tell by the caps...I pretty much love her.) :) 

God has been speaking to me so much lately...one of the things he has been telling me is...He is NOT a God of chaos, but a God of order.  If any of you REALLY know me...you know that I am NOT a neat freak.  I like to call it an organized mess. :)  Now its mostly a mess... HAHA. :)  God has really been telling me that in order to have my life organized...I have to start with my messy house.  He doesn't want me to live in chaos, he wants me to live life simply, and orderly...Tomorrow starts the transformation.  I am taking all of my laundry...I mean ALL of it, sorting through it, giving some away, keeping others...taking it down to the laundry mat, washing, folding, and then putting it away when I get home... Remember Obama, when he was giving his speeches before he was elected???  The ones where he always said its time for a change, or we need change?  Well...God is telling me, I NEED CHANGE! (I'll take quarters) :) 

The other thing that God has been putting on my heart is that not every "Christian" is really following God's will.  People may say they are Christians, but you NEED to watch out for their actions.
  Matthew 7:15   "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves."

Friends, you really need to make sure the people you surround yourself with are NOT false prophets!  They will eat you up, tear you down, do whatever they can, say whatever they can to make themselves look better and feel better...do not give in, stand strong in the Lord!

Okay...so that's my preaching for tonight. :)  Stay tuned in for more... :)  Pretty sure that takes us to number 6...

I miss Ellis.

Pretty sure I don't have to elaborate on that one...  Its so hard knowing that the love of my life is half way across the world.  Be strong Ellis, I love you, I miss you, and be expecting a package soon! :) 

That's about it for tonight friends...I told you I would catch you up.  I'll let you know how the next few days go with my laundry!  Should be an experience! :) :)  If any of you want to help (yeah right) just let me know! ;)

Take care, God bless you and keep you.
-B

Part One

I cant believe another week has gone by without any posts!  Here is a short one for tonight just to recap a few (quick) things that have been going on. (that I will touch on later)

1. There is a car across the street with no tires
2. We went to the beach and swam in the ocean
3. Eli and I went on a date tonight
4. Our church had an amazing Unity service
5. I miss Ellis

Okay...so that's all for tonight :)  I will write tomorrow. :)  Take care and God bless you!
-B