"retro night" and meeting ayden

chris decided that the last few weeks of TNT (our weekly teen devotional/worship time) should have themes. since he had just recently found a mirrored disco ball that he wanted to use, it was decided that this past week would be retro night. i put a question out on facebook about which decade i should go with, and i was impressed with the number of responses i got! who knew how many people would have an opinion on costuming in the middle of a tuesday? i ended up going with 90's and was a good 20 minutes late because it took me too long to get the 90's bangs the way i wanted them. with my layered shirts, pulled to the corner, head band, multiple socks and neon colors--i thought i had nailed an early 90's look.

here are some of my girls, channeling the "flower children" of the 60's.
david took my toga idea and went with it. and chris, whose had originated the whole idea, went with a white t-shirt that said "i was cool in the 90s."
here's everyone who participated up on stage, getting an applause-o-meter to determine the winner. megan, who was a great cyndi lauper-style 80s girl, won a sprite from the drink machine. woo hoo!
next week is team spirit week. i'm going to pull out all the stops with my pirate gear, i think.

in other big news, you may remember the baby shower that i attended a few weeks ago for lindsey and jeremy. well, their son ayden arrived on monday afternoon, just a few hours shy of being born on lindsey's birthday! i stopped by there this evening to drop off dinner for them and--of course--snap a few pictures of the little guy.
he was sleeping the whole time i was there, but i did get to hold him and visit with lindsey and jeremy. they are doing great!
it's busy around our house tonight as we're packing for our anniversary trip to charleston this weekend. we're both taking friday off, but we're driving down on thursday evening after work so we'll have all day friday and saturday to explore. i was just down there last year (this same weekend, actually) for ashley's bridesmaid weekend, but i'm excited to go back with justin and see the architecture and historical landmarks of the city. between his interest in the huge, architecturally stunning homes and my interest in photographing them, we have a full weekend planned. more than anything, i'm excited just to get away for a while. i feel like we've been running non-stop for the last few weeks, and a couple of days away--without the animals, the chores at home, church activities or work obligations--is just what i need.

that's all for now, i think. be looking for updates from charleston :)