family time

lately we have not had enough family time.  one of the things that has been a struggle as far as being a church planter is when to say "NO" to everyone and everything that demands attention at your church, and just say "YES" to your family.  when drew was a student minister, it was a lot easier for me to give him "the look" and to let him know that it was time for US.  i know that sounds terrible that i would put more emphasis on his pastoring responsibilities than his student ministry responsibilities, but when it comes to funerals, weddings and relationships hanging in the balance, and preparing sermons and meeting with banks and loan officers and committees to pray and plan and prepare for purchasing a church building - well, it just seems like i have to say "YES" to all of those things all the time, too.  so this week on friday we took a little bit of time for our family and went to one of our favorite places...the ZOO!

the weather was really nice - a tad chilly, but still super nice with a bright sun! - and the girls were due a fun day after the long week we had {we did achievement testing this week, and we were all ready to go crazy after the long days we put in!}.

these pelicans got up close and personal, and the girls were loving it...they could almost reach over the ledge and pet them...

one of the most fun things about this trip to the zoo was watching kk.  last year she was a little young to understand everything, but this year, she would run up to each animal and yell "mom, that's UH-MAY-ZING!"  it was so super cute.

the girls each brought some of their money with them so that they could buy some ice cream at the zoo!  they thoroughly enjoyed that!

kylie was so sweet & said that since kk wasn't old enough to have any money yet that she would let her have some of her ice cream.  it made my momma's heart smile that she would be so sweet...

kylie took a picture of me and drew and barely got us in the picture...

probably the most unique {and disgusting} thing of the day was that the zoo workers had a boa constrictor out, and the girls got to pet it.  yuck!  actually, only kylie & kk would go near it.  and kk had no fear...i mean, that child was getting ready to straddle it and ride away when drew pulled her back and let us know it was time to move on.  the kid has no fear.  except for jeremy dressed up as the easter bunny.

kylie was a little timid at first

drew's watching that head, making sure he doesn't attack!

at this point when the snake started slithering around towards the group, everyone started clearing out except kk.  which is exactly when drew pulled her away and we decided we'd seen enough of the boa constrictor for the day!

the girls got their normal "random" pictures...

{kylie said he was laughing from her tickling his chin.  ha! it does kind of look like that!}

and then came our picture at the end of the day...it's always funny to me when someone offers to take your picture and then does something like this...

where's kolbie?!  haha i guess the guy thought that getting the memphis zoo & aquarium sign in the picture was more important than my baby {he thought wrong}.

all in all we had a really great day, and i am super thankful for the time we got to spend together as a family.
you can see all of our pictures from our zoo day at our shutterfly site HERE.

happy saturday!