Thursday Through Monday

The McIlwains have had a busy time since last Thursday; hence this "catch-up" post!  I've had too much fun "living" life and not enough time to stop and blog about it; so, here goes:

THURSDAY:

On Thursday evening, Cecily had her Spring piano recital.  Actually it was a band/piano concert and she was one of three students chosen to present her piece on stage.  She played Bach's Prelude in C:

We are really proud of her and how she has blossomed in this area!

FRIDAY AND SATURDAY:

Friday morning at 6 am, Mike and I, along with help from a sweet neighbor, were putting out things for our garage sale.  We did really well.  We got all the big stuff sold and had very little we had to put back in the garage.  Now the main task is getting the garage straightened up so we can at least put one car in there!  That IS what a garage is for right?  To park a car in?

At one point on Saturday morning, I caught two girls sitting in the grass in my front yard wiggling their toes:

We made enough money from the garage sale that we were able to buy some things for the kids rooms that they have been needing for some time.  

Bentley picked out Transformer stuff for his room:

And of course I won't have one minute's peace until it is out of the package and in his room!

Cecily picked out some really cute things for her room:

She has a student-loft bed in her room so these things will be really nice in there.

SUNDAY:

I love Sundays!  I have the best church family and I so look forward to worshiping with them each Sunday.  After church, we grabbed a bite to eat and then headed to the hospitals to check on a few people.  I have three ladies in my Sunday School class I teach who have all been in the hospital recovering from surgeries or having tests run.

When we got home, we had a few neighborhood kids come over and want to play.  I have  a feeling my house may be hoppin' this Summer with kids!  We have young families all around us in our new neighborhood.  When it was time to leave for choir practice at church, we had to gently encourage them to go home!!  I love it that Bentley makes friends so easily.  He will have a blast this Summer!

MONDAY:

We got up and had a late breakfast and then hit Target and Wal-Mart to let the kids pick out the bedding for their rooms.  Cecily and I then caught up with some good friends from church to do some shopping at the Mall in Fort Myers.

WE. HAD. THE. BEST. TIME!!!!!

I'm not sure I have laughed that hard in forever!  Kim and her daughter Grace were some kinda fun to hang with.  Cecily and Grace were on the hunt for some clothes for youth camp coming up in July.  Grace had actually already completed her shopping (or so her mom thought) when we caught up with them, but she and her mom hung around so that Cecily could find some things with Grace's help.  How sweet was that?

Now, if you don't have teenage girls to shop for, can I just tell you how hard it is for them to find modest and stylish clothes these days?  I mean it can be done, but it is really difficult.  The things the stores are marketing toward this age group are absolutely ridiculous!

We were in one store, which I won't name, because I don't want to be arrested for slander later today, that should have been X-rated.  It is a wonder Kim and I (the Mom Squad) didn't get arrested.  Naked mannequins is all I can say.  It was disgusting.  One only had a necklace on and Kim turned it around so we'd be spared the b**** hanging out in our faces.  I did a little readjusting on another one so we wouldn't be knocked out with  the n******.  The shirt on this particular one said, "I love my boyfriend".  The neckline was BELOW the b**** and the back was ripped to shreds.  I was really embarrassed that anyone would wear this, but more sad that any teenage girl wouldn't care enough about herself or have a mother care anymore about her than to let her wear it!  Needless to say, Grace and Cecily were livid that Kim and I were basically re-arranging the entire store!!

We moved on from there to Bath and Body Works where we encountered more disgusting marketing!  Right there on the back wall was this huge mural of a naked lady.  And I might say things got really interesting here.  We spent most of our time looking through the selection of the purse size hand sanitizers and picking out the little "thingies" that you put them in that hang from your purse.  We left the store after our purchase and immediately put our little "thingies" on our purses.  And yes in good blogging etiquette I took them went back in the store to have a sales clerk take our picture.

I was so proud of the sales clerk's picture taking abilities.  She very strategically left out the naked lady on the back wall :)

The girls wanted to take a stroll through the Disney store.  They had all the Toy Story 3 stuff out and Grace and Cecily had fun in there:

They are both sweet and beautiful girls!  Cecily and I were blessed to get to spend the day (literally) with such precious friends!  The best part was that my sweet husband was willing to take the two little ones back home with him so we could enjoy this time together.  We needed it more than you know!

We ended the Mall extravaganza with a trip to Starbucks.  By the way, if you haven't had one of their Shaken Iced Tea Lemonades with Green Tea then you are missing out on the best Summer drink ever!

Yep.  Some times you have to LIVE life and blog about it later!

Blessings,