counting my blessings

Family Photos - Your Opinion Please

2012-01-27T08:57:00.000-06:00

Back in November (at least I think it was November) we had our family pictures taken by a friend of mine from high school. She just started her own photography business and I think she does a great job.

My only problem is choosing!

Yep, it's months later and I still haven't ordered my pictures.

I did buy a Groupon in December for a 16x20 gallery wrapped canvas. I was thinking the other day that I wish I had someone here to help me pick which one to have put on the canvas. Then I remembered all of you and hope you will help.

Below are my 3 choices. Which one do you think would look the best on my wall?

Footprints Photography by Valerie

My girls headbands were made by my friend Michelle. She did a great job with them!

A Reminder of the Past and God's Faithfulness

2012-01-24T15:32:00.000-06:00

In my attempt to organize and get rid of all the things in this house that I don't need........Yesterday I spent my morning shredding old papers. As I shred I always love finding old bills, mortgage documents, and who knows what else. Just little reminders of things that have happened in my life.

I came across a paper that was denying payment from the Insurance company when Baby Girl Vis, Baby Girl Vis, and Baby Boy Vis were born. No names even on these papers, that is exactly how they were listed. Don't worry, they paid, it was just they hadn't added them to our insurance policy yet.

It was hard to believe that it was so long ago.

As I continued to shred, I then found a bill from Midwest Fertility Clinic.

A reminder of a less happy time in my life.

Going back to that bill reminded me of all that we went through to get from that point to the point of 2 Baby Girls and 1 Baby Boy being born.

I am thankful for this little reminder. As we go through trials in our life it is easy to put them in the past and forget about the difficult times that God has carried us through.

So many floods of emotions came to mind as I saw these papers. Remembering a time when I wasn't sure if we would ever have children. All the shots, all the Dr. visits, all the hoping, all the tears, all the prayers. Then all the joy as we found out I was pregnant. Then even more joy as we found out there were 3!!!! The preparations, the bed rest, the anticipation. The birth of 3 healthy babies.

Seems so long ago yet so many memories fresh in my mind. It's been over 8 years!!

Those papers were a blessing to me as I was reminded of the faithfulness of our great God and how He is right there by our side in the difficult times and in the times of rejoicing.

Praise God from Whom All Blessing Flow!

Getting Back On Track.....1000 Gifts

2012-01-23T09:12:00.002-06:00

On July 19, 2009 I started my list of 1000 gifts.

What is sad to me is that it is 2 1/2 years later and I only have 577 gifts written down.

Somewhere along the way I stopped. Usually it happens to me in the laziness of summer. But this year I never started up again.

Every once in a while I come across my Thankful journal and think, "I really need to start recording the things that I am grateful for."

It really helped me as I went through the day to be looking around at everything in a different light. As the new year started, this was one of my goals. To be more thankful. To continue to journal the things that I am thankful for and to remember to be thankful for the things that I normally would complain about.

Often when new people find my blog, a common comment from them is that they love my list of 1000 gifts. This has really encouraged me to start this up again.

I must confess though that sometimes recording it on my blog became a little stressful for me. I felt like I had to have pretty pictures to go along with my list. Sometimes I had them, sometimes I didn't. Sometimes I had them but just didn't have the time to put them on my computer to document with my list. I don't want pictures to keep me from being grateful. So, this time around you may find pictures or you may find a list but I need to remember that this list is for me to find joy and not a list for you to find joy. If you enjoy reading it........ I am glad. If you find joy in it...... I am grateful for that as well, but the point of it is for myself. That I may find joy in the little blessings that God gives to me each day.

I do also hope it also encourages you to find joy in each and everything throughout your day.

564 ~ 577

Finding confetti throughout our house that was brought back from our trip to Iowa.

Catching up with friends while our boys play together.

Sweet Onion Salsa from Aldi.

Organizing.

My girls showing sisterly love to each other.

A good book that brings tears.

Meeting new people.

Snow.

Staying in my pjs all morning.

Pizza cutters.

Paper plates.

Norwex cleaning cloths.

Friends who brave a snow storm and come over to hang out.

The joy on Isaac's face when he came home from spending a night at the Bull's game with his dad.

I'm A Winner and A Little Game (The 2 are not related)

2012-01-19T21:30:00.003-06:00

Yesterday I received an email that I thought was spam and made it into my inbox. Thankfully I clicked on it before deleting it! It was an email telling me that I had won a $50 gift card to Ruche. I had entered a giveaway on a blog a while back and I guess I won! I am very excited because there is a lot of cool stuff. Problem is that there is so much that I love that I'm not sure what to get. It is going to take me hours to figure out how to spend my Free money! If you have any suggestions please feel free to share. I'm thinking I'll stay away from clothes since only about 1/10th of what I try on actually looks half-way decent and do I want to keep. There are a lot of cute shoes and accessories. I was maybe thinking a cute apron to wear while I make all my Pinterest recipes.

Now onto the game which has nothing to do with me being a winner.

If you don't know much about me, you might not know that I am Dutch (of course my husband would argue this saying that I am not 100%). I also grew up in a large Dutch community. Some of you may think this is odd and didn't even know that such a thing exists but it does. So the way I grew up was very normal to me and I thought we were the norm. Until I got older and met other people that weren't Dutch. I then learned that we have some peculiarities.

So..........the other night I was having Bible study with my Church Small Group Ladies. In our group we have 2 Dutch girls (I am one), we have one girl married to a Dutch Boy, we have a girl from Texas, a girl from Kentucky, and Tuesday night we welcomed 2 new girls into our Bible Study. Kentucky girl was not there that night so she missed out on the fun game we played.

After our study we were talking and asking the new girls a few questions about themselves and the conversation turned to Dutch people and we said how we make fun of the Dutch sometimes just because there are 2 of us that are Dutch and 1 married to someone Dutch and so we just like to laugh about some of the things we do.

One of the new girls says, "I used to work with someone that is Dutch and she used to make fun of herself too."

Me and other Dutch girl say at the same time, "What is her name?"

Can't remember if it was Married to Dutch Boy or Texas that says, "This is what they do."

Yep, this is what we do......we play Dutch Bingo. It's kind of like that celebrity game that all actors lead back to Kevin Bacon or something like that. I'm not good at that game, I'm good at Dutch Bingo.

This is how you play........one Dutch person is talking to another person and they find out someone they know is Dutch and they figure out how they are related or know someone who is related to them. It's kind of hard to explain but you get the concept.

Here is how it went down the other night:

New Girl says the last name of the Dutch girl she knows and it happens to be the same last name of the other Dutch girl in our small group and my grandma's maiden name. Crazy, huh?

We then realized that there are 2 people with that same name so we had to figure out which one she knew. So she told us the girls mom's name. After figuring that out, we explained how we both went to school and church with her when we were young and she also lives a few miles from me.

Of course, in this game there is much excitement and laughter when you realize that you both know this same person and what a small world it is.

And that my friends is Dutch Bingo!

Sometimes it's not that easy but for some reason we always find it fun to play!

One More Gone

2012-01-18T22:25:00.003-06:00

We were at Pizza Hut for lunch on Saturday when I noticed that Joshua's tooth was ready to come out. I barely touched it and it came out. The next one is loose as well and should be coming out soon!

He was playing Wii as I tried to snap this picture, that is why his eyes are focused on something else.

And Yes, the tooth fairy remembered. She is getting better!

Something I feel that I must share and Some Goals for 2012

2012-01-14T18:52:00.001-06:00

I just feel like I really need to share that the other day I went to Old Navy.

Yep, that is very interesting I know but it gets better.

I was returning some pants that I had bought for Brad but he didn't really like them so I had to find something in it's place. I searched the whole store trying to find something for someone else in my family but found nothing. I then found this rack with clearance pj's for ME!

They were super cheap!!! And you know how me and cheap get along.

Well, I got them home and tried them on. I have to tell you people, these are the most comfortable pj's I have EVER, EVER owned. To add to that they are the most comfortable articles of clothing that I have EVER owned!

I could live in them!

I could become the housewife that is always wearing comfy clothes and you never see her dressed up. Of course, I would still wear makeup and do my hair. I'm not out to scare y'all! (Yep, I used y'all....been hanging out with my Texas friend Kristin a lot lately)

I really would like to go back to Old Navy and buy every last pair!

Yesterday I did not get out of them until after the kids got home from school and today I changed because I had to go to Walgreens. Ever since I took them off I've been thinking about what time it's acceptable to put my pj's back on. Really, they are that awesome!

OK, we've dwelt on that long enough....let's move on. (That is my lame attempt at a transition to a new subject.)

It's halfway through January and I realized I had not yet posted anything about it being a New Year. The first week of January Brad and I sat down and wrote down our goals for the year. I am not going to share them because frankly they are boring. Important but really quite boring and I'm sure you don't want to hear about them.

BUT..........

I have some much more exciting goals for 2012 that I would like to share with you.

1.) Chalkboard paint. This is going to be the year of the chalkboard paint! I've wanted it somewhere in my house for years now but this year it is actually going to happen. I already have all the places I want it planned out. And to answer your question.....yes, I will post pictures when it finally happens.

2.) Organize!!!! I am generally pretty organized but every year I like to reorganize. I start but never quite make it all the way through. This year it's going to happen! My goal is to even get the dreaded cabinet in my living room that I shove all kinds of pictures and random little things that I want to keep forever! So far I have the boys room done and most of my office. I spent time today shredding a ton of stuff. I got a couple boxes ready for the thrift store and have a pile of things to sell.

3.) Pinterest. I need to start making more of the things that I pin instead of just continuing to pin. Yep, you can look forward to pictures of that as well.

4.) Read. As I went through my bookshelf today I was going to get rid of some of the books that I have never read. I decided, why not read them first. Brilliant, right? or at least I will be after I read all the books. My goal is going to be to start reading all the books on my bookshelf that I haven't read as well as reread some of the really good ones. If people would just quit writing books for a while it would be really helpful so that I could get through the ones I have instead of being tempted to buy new ones.

5.) Decorate. I want to finally get this house decorated. Of course goal #1 and #3 will help with this.

And lastly, if you are wanting to know who one the Norwex cloth you can go to that post, it has been updated with the winner. The winner has been contacted.

I am now off to take a shower because if you take a shower then you have to change your clothes and that makes it perfectly acceptable to put your pj's back on even though it is only 6:40.

Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-11T20:56:00.001-06:00

A Weekend Trip to Iowa

2012-01-10T21:25:00.000-06:00

In one of my Christmas break posts I told you that we said goodbye to some friends that were moving to Iowa. Well, it just so worked out that all of their stuff would not fit into the two big trucks that they had rented. Brad has a friend with a large trailer that we could borrow and the rest of their things got loaded into that trailer and then got moved to our driveway.

This past weekend we headed to Iowa to bring our friends Chris and Eva their trailer of things. Thankfully some good friends of their family let us borrow their vehicle so that we could fit our whole family in and then we took a couple of their kids and headed out.

I always love to think about how God orchestrates these things because this was the only weekend we had open to go visit them until April. If it wasn't for the trailer we wouldn't have gone until then. So thankful for that trailer full of stuff!

Whenever I think about moving, I will just take a look at this picture and then I will stay right where I am at.

Thanks to some nice warm weather and lots of room to roam, there was a lot of football playing.

Since the girls don't play football, they played dress up.

There was 4 wheeler riding. Yep, without helmets. So far, no injuries.

I told Eva to leave me something to do, since they only moved there a week ago I wanted to help out. Since she knows that if she asked me to clean something I would probably turn around and walk out the door, she gave me the fun job of organizing her pantry. Yep, that's right, organizing is fun for me! I really wish I had the before picture because all this stuff (plus more) was literally just piled in here. I had the brilliant idea (yes, I'm tooting my own horn again) to put this bookshelf in here for more shelf space. Now it looks beautiful! It better still look like this next time I go there!!!! If not, I guess I'll just have to reorganize!

On Sunday morning we headed to church. Chris was our former pastor and they moved to Iowa because he took a position at a church as their lead pastor. It was great to hear him bring the word, we sure do miss him at our church.

This is me and Eva. I miss her a lot but am glad she is only 4 hours away. Four hours is long but it could be worse!

This is both of our families.

Before we left we did confetti eggs. Basically these are eggs filled with confetti and you crack them over the heads of others. They were a lot of fun! Well, for everyone else they were, I had fun watching. Thankfully I was the photographer so I didn't get confetti in my hair.

It was a quick trip but it was filled with lots of fun and it was great to see our friends!

Norwex - A Giveaway!!! UPDATED

2012-01-09T21:11:00.000-06:00

UPDATED: Winner (using Random.org) is Comment #8 by Seriously, So Blessed.

A couple months ago my sister invited me to her Norwex party. Other than her talking about it a few times before I had never really heard of Norwex. They have a whole line of cleaning supplies/products as well as personal care products.

I have to admit when my sister told me about them I was a little skeptical. They are microfiber cloths that you use without cleaning supplies and it removes up to 99.9% of the bacteria from surfaces.

When I went to my sister's party I ordered the Enviro cloth, the window cloth and the Dryer Balls.

Dryer balls allow me to not have to use Fabric softener, meaning I not only save money from not having to buy fabric softener but I don't have the chemicals in my clothes that it leaves behind.

The Enviro cloth is a multipurpose, antibac, microfiber cloth that removes dust, dirt and grease from all washable surfaces while preventing the transfer of germs to your hands and cross-contamination between surfaces. Available in four different colors so that you can color-code for different purposes or rooms. You can use it dry for dusting, or damp for cleaning walls, tiles, bathtubs, counters, metal surfaces, car interiors, etc.

The Window cloth allows you to clean windows, mirrors, jewelry, and shiny surfaces with water alone.

I love that I can take the Enviro cloth through my house and use it on many different surfaces and not have to worry about switching cleaners or getting a different cloth. I also want to say that I hate cleaning bathrooms and would always leave that project for last. Now that I use the Enviro cloth my bathroom actually gets cleaned first! I won't say that I LOVE cleaning my bathroom (that would just be crazy talk) but I no longer hate it.

I absolutely love the Window cloth. Streak free ladies. Need I say more!

I will be hosting a Norwex party on Friday, January 20 and Stacy Bruinsma my Norwex consultant has so graciously donated an Enviro cloth to one of my lucky readers!

To win all you have to do is head over to Stacy's Norwex website take a look at the products. Come back here and leave a comment telling me what is on your Norwex wishlist.

For additional entries you may:

1.) Share this on Facebook and leave a comment saying you did this.

2.) Become a follower on my blog and leave a comment saying that you are. If you are already a follower you may also leave a comment saying that you are.

A couple more things.......

If you are not signed into blogger your comment will show up "Anonymous". Please add your name to your comment and a way that I can get a hold of you if you are the winner.

If you are interested in coming to my party on the 20th or would like to place an order you may email that to me at mjvis@att.net.

One last thing, I am only opening this giveaway to local readers or to the few of you who read my blog faithfully and have ties to this area. You know who you are.

I will be closing the giveaway on Friday, January 13 at midnight and will be choosing a winner by using random.org on Saturday. I will contact and post the winner.

Christmas Break Continued.....

2012-01-04T21:58:00.000-06:00

Go ahead.....you can admit it. After the all so exciting "Part 1" you just couldn't wait for "Part 2". Well, your wait is over!

On Monday, (the day after Christmas Monday) I spent the morning cooking food and then we headed over to my Dad's house to celebrate with my family. I tried to take some pictures of the kids opening presents but it is really hard to get a good photograph when there is one kid opening a present surrounded by 6 other kids waiting to see what it is. But I did get pictures of the crafts that the kids made.

Yes, I planned a craft! I know it's surprising! More to me than to anyone else. I mentioned it to the kids and then there was no turning back. So thanks to Pinterest and Martha Stewart the kids all made a nice little button ornament.

I also was able to snap a picture of the Peanut Butter Chocolate cake that I made. Which was delicious if I must toot my own horn.

The rest of the week was spent hanging around the house, visiting friends at their houses, Brad helped some friends move out of their house, and we said goodbye (or as I told her, it was a "see you later") to those same friends.

We spent New Years Eve with some friends of ours and their family. It turned into a much later night than we anticipated but I guess that means we were having too much fun to end the night. The kids were also able to stay up and ring in the the new year for the first time ever!

It did take me a couple days to recover, which basically just means I'm getting old.

On New Years Day we got together with Brad's family to open presents. Everyone but his parents who are currently in Florida. Thanks to Skype they were able to spend some time with us.

At this gathering I got a few of the kids opening presents and I didn't get any of the food. Go figure.

Monday was the last day that we were able to all just be home and be lazy since Brad had to go back to work on Tuesday. I took the opportunity to get the sleep that I so desperately needed from ringing in the new year. The kids enjoyed playing with all their new toys.

The girls and I made some weaved potholders, an activity that I enjoyed as a kid.

Earlier in the week I had taken Alex and Amanda to get their haircut, they each got about 4 inches cut off. On Monday I took Joshua. I had been growing his hair out for the longest time and just giving it a little trim here and there. I took him in and asked the lady to give it a little bit more of a style. She translated this into cut it all off. I guess we will start over.

Also on Monday, Isaac brought his blanket to me (the one that he has had for the 6 1/2 years of his life) and told me that he didn't need it anymore and I could throw it away. I was very sad. He willingly posed for one last picture of him holding it, but in doing so he made me promise to not post it. So in keeping my promise I am not showing you, I am just telling you about it which was not promised at all.

To end our Monday, we went and saw the Muppet's as a family. Very cute movie. Our whole family laughed through it and loved it.

And there, my friends, is what we did on our Christmas Break.

We are now back to reality!

Christmas Break

2012-01-03T21:04:00.000-06:00

I thought I'd try to put all our Christmas break happenings into a nutshell and then I realized that there was a lot to tell and quite a few pictures and so it would be hard enough to fit it into one post, let alone a nutshell.

The kids started their Christmas break the Thursday before Christmas and Brad had to work through Friday. We settled into our laziness and sleeping late very quickly. I told Brad that I think the past 2 weeks was the most relaxing 2 weeks I have had since the kids were born. They are finally at an age that they sleep in and they are also pretty independent. This is also the first year that 3 of them are in school full time, so it was our first real Christmas break. We all enjoyed it and I am very sad that they are going back tomorrow. If only we could live our life like the past 2 weeks but then there is the whole "we have to pay the bills" thing, so Brad has to work and also the whole "kids need to be educated" thing as well.

On Saturday we attended our church's Christmas Eve service, we then headed to my sister's house and enjoyed some pizza with their family. After that we headed home to open presents.

On Christmas Day, Joshua woke up sick. The girls had colds and coughs as well. Since our church had posted an at home service on their website, we chose to stay home and worship as a family that day.

Thankfully by noon Joshua was feeling better and we were able to still have a big dinner together of Beef Brisket, baked potatoes, carrots, and rolls.

This year presents consisted of a lot of American Girl Doll stuff, lots of drawing and art things, Lego's, Bears helmets & jerseys, sports items, movies, and Wii games. I think that about covers the majority of it with a few odds and ends thrown in.

Brad is always asking the kids to scratch his back, so the kids got him a back scratcher or as they like to call it a "scratch backer". Not sure if you can see it in this picture or not.

As I told you before Brad was getting a good gift this year. He got a Kindle Fire. He is loving it and it's even inspiring him to read more. He also got a gift certificate for a massage.

So, that is part of our Christmas break. I'm sure you are on pins and needles to hear the rest. It's coming, I promise!

It takes talent....

2011-12-29T19:38:00.000-06:00

to stack the clean dishes like this so that they can air dry and I don't have to actually dry them myself.

More Old Pictures - My Mom

2011-12-28T21:35:00.000-06:00

Last week I shared with you an old picture that I found. Let me just tell you that when a post gets titled "My Sister - The Creeper" it gets more views than any other post in the history of my blog. I also had a few people that seemed to be a little confused by the picture. The creeper is not my sister Nikki who is on the far right, if you look closely you can see my sister Beth's head peeking through a couple of us.

Anyway, when I was going through that same picture book I found a couple pictures of my mom that I wanted to share. My mom always hated having her picture taken so it's always a nice surprise when I find one of her.

I love this picture of her. Today would have been her 59th birthday. It's hard to believe that she has been gone for 5 1/2 years and yet she still would have only been 59.

Here is one of my mom, sister Beth, sister Nikki, and myself. These were both taken at my bridal shower about 11 1/2 years ago.

Give me your Opinion - Cabinet Color

2011-12-27T21:28:00.001-06:00

We are having a cabinet built in our kitchen for shoes, coats, hats, backpacks, and whatever else I can pack in.

My hope was to stain the cabinet to match the rest of our cabinets but we are having a little trouble matching the stain. So I need your opinion.

Should we stain it, even if the color is a little off or should I go a completely different color? If a different color.....what color? We have white trim and since this will be housing shoes and will take a lot of abuse I'd like to stay away from white. See below for our current cabinet color. Also, the cabinet is on the opposite end of the kitchen.

This is the color of our current cabinet.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T13:10:00.000-06:00

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, Which is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11

May you all have a Blessed Day Celebrating the Birth of our Savior.

From Brad, Melissa, Alexandra, Amanda, Joshua, and Isaac.

My Life Is In Your Hands

2011-12-22T22:52:00.001-06:00

The choir at our church recently sang this song and I absolutely loved it. A friend of mine put it on a CD for me and I have been listening to it a lot lately. I'm getting close to being able to listen to it without tearing up.

I know for many, this weekend is a time a celebration (and it should be) but amidst all the celebrating, there are many who are going through great trials right now and so I thought I would share this song. It seems every time I turn around someone is telling me of someone who is sick, hurting, lost a child......and my prayer list continues to grow.

Maybe you aren't going through a great trial right now but a small one. All of us are going through something. Whether you are missing a loved one, going through a sickness, a stay at home mom that is having a moment of frustration with your kids, car problems, financial hardships, problems in your marriage, loneliness, whatever it may be......remember that you have a friend in Jesus and you can get through whatever it is at that moment with Him carrying you through.

Whatever it is that you are going through today, I hope you are as blessed by this song as I have been.

Easy Donuts

2011-12-21T23:02:00.000-06:00

Last Saturday my kids were so kind to let me sleep in so I thought I would offer to make them pancakes instead of them having their usual pop tarts. They must have known I was in a good mood because they asked if I would make them donuts instead.

Since I am all for a little fried dough surrounded by sugar and I actually had the ingredients (Pillsbury rolls and oil) in the house, I agreed.

For those of you who have never made these before, I thought I would share.

Basically you heat up some oil. I used vegetable oil.

After it is heated up, you take small tubes of Pillsbury rolls that come in a 4 pack. Mine actually came from Aldi. Poke a hole through the middle and toss in the pan.

Let the first side brown and then flip it.

Then coat with powdered sugar or....

cinnamon and sugar.

Then enjoy! Mmmmmmm!

My Sister - The Creeper

2011-12-21T21:44:00.000-06:00

My kids love to haul out old photo books and look through them. The other day Isaac took one out that had a few random pictures from my bridal shower, our wedding, our honeymoon pictures and some of our house when we first bought it. (I will share some of those soon.)

He brought me the book and asked me who all of these people were. While looking at the picture I noticed that my sister is "creepin'" on the picture.

I didn't even know what "creepin" was until recently but apparently my sister was practicing this art a long time ago already. Crazy girl!

A Jam Packed Monday

2011-12-19T21:38:00.000-06:00

For some reason when the kids went off to school, I thought it meant I would have time to get things done around the house.

Well, so far that hasn't been the case. I'm learning that I actually get more done when the kids are home because I'm actually home. I am looking forward to Christmas break.....sleeping in and being home.

I spent a lot of years at home and became quite the homebody but now that the kids are off at school it's busy, busy, busy and go, go, go.

After the kids got on the bus this morning I headed off to work to get a few things done. My things that I had to get done didn't really go as planned so I headed off to the mall to do a little shopping. I am done with Christmas shopping but I had a coupon that just had to be used.

After a little shopping I headed to meet a friend at TGI Fridays where I feel really important when I'm with her because she flashes her little card and we get free chips and salsa. It's very impressive. Of course this friend is moving away so now I will no longer feel important when I go there. That's all I will say on that subject because there were tears and stuff and we just don't need to go there again.

I headed home, talked to my husband for 15 minutes before I had to head out again and he had to head off to work.

Made a quick stop at my sister's house (didn't want to leave her out and have to hear about it later).

Then it was off to the kids school where Alex, Amanda, and Joshua had a program. Thanks to my aunt for joining me there because I was video taping the whole thing, so she snapped some pictures for me.

They had 3 little plays that were so cute. Since I hate talking in microphones and being in front of large groups of people, it was amazing to see my kids up there doing this.

This was Rainbow Christmas.

Then there was The Gingerbread Kid.

Then the Alphabet Tree.

After the program we went to their classroom to get all of their Christmas crafts. It took me two trips to the car to carry all the stuff, plus on the second trip my sister-in-law's arms were full, as well as the kids arms.

We came home and dumped everything on the table.

In case you didn't get the full effect, here is another view.

This is just a part of what we came home with. A Christmas Caroler, a Gingerbread house, a poinsettia, both costumes from the play, and their gift for us. Now take that times 3 and then add Isaac's stuff as well. That is a lot of stuff!

What's for Supper

2011-12-17T22:05:00.000-06:00

Today was just one of those lazy days.

Started out by sleeping in. Then I drank lots of coffee in my pj's.

When I finally got out of my pj's, I put on sweats.

And I'm not really sure what I did after that.

I remember making the bed, wrapping some presents, doing a lot of pinning on Pinterest and trying to figure out what food I will be making and eating Christmas weekend.

Since my family loves gourmet meals I did go all out on supper. I aim to please!

It ended up being a good one. My daughter who eats like a bird actually had seconds.

Preparing

2011-12-16T20:21:00.000-06:00

The tree is up, the ornaments are hung.

Part of my Christmas village even came out of hiding this year.

Candy canes are a must. A great reminder of Jesus our shepherd.

The stockings are hung and I love getting the mail this time of year and

receiving Christmas greetings from friends and family.

The presents have been bought (not all wrapped yet). Cookies have been baked.

As we prepare the house for this special holiday, we also prepare our hearts by reading the Advent book as a family each night, singing songs of praise, and praying for our friends and family.

I am reminded by the lights of the One True Light.

I am reminded of the hope that the birth of this little baby brings to our life.

As we prepare the gifts to be opened soon, I am reminded of the only gift that matters.

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Isaiah 9:6

Gift Giving Style

2011-12-15T21:19:00.000-06:00

Yep, that's right. There ARE different styles of gift giving.

If you've been reading my blog for very long or if you know me at all, you know that I am frugal, tight, cheap....whatever you want to call it. Of course this spills over into my gift giving.

I like to get the most stuff for the amount that I am spending. This doesn't mean I spend less, I just try to get the most bang for my buck. If I am going to spend $50 on a person, I like to get $100 worth of merchandise for that $50. This means coupons, sales, Black Friday.

It is no fun at all for me to simply go and purchase a $50 item and give it to a person. Not a big fan of gift cards either, I give them on rare occasions.

Please do not ask me for expensive items that I can't get on sale. Somehow it just pains me to buy them, like it's going against my principles.

In receiving gifts, I have the same concept. I like to know that you got a bargain.

One year my sister and I both got each other the same winter coat, different colors. Plus, since we both got it so cheap we were able to buy each other more. Of course, she somehow hit a better sale on the same coat and I ended up getting more presents from her than she did from me. Although I was a little down that she got the better deal, in the end it actually worked out to my advantage. Ha!

Now, my husband on the other hand........completely different style. He is not as frugal as I am and he doesn't use coupons. He is not going to be looking for the sale and he certainly isn't out on Black Friday. But he is a very generous person and that defines his gift giving style. If he is to buy you a $50 item, he will probably get you 1 item and it will probably cost more than $50.

He really doesn't know how to buy cheap gifts.

This is also a bonus if you are me.

Here is how it works in our house:

I want a few items that I could use but probably won't go out and buy for myself. What I get is something extravagant that costs a lot of money. No sales or coupons involved. One year I asked for just a basic watch. I told him I just need it to tell time, please don't spend a lot of money. I got a Movado watch. Well.... it does tell time. And really I do love it.

Over the years I've gotten a coach purse, the watch, a SLR camera (before digital), a DSLR camera, a Thomas Kinkade painting, diamond earrings.

Then Brad usually asks for something that costs a few hundred dollars and what does he get from me. Some piece of crap that I got on sale and had a coupon for.

Honestly I don't remember much of what I've gotten him which means it all must be pretty bad. Last year he got a Blackhawks jersey, one year a Garmin GPS. That's about all I can remember.

This year is different. Brad is not getting anything on sale or that I used a coupon for. I'm trying, it pains me but I'm trying. No crap giving here.

Just trying to keep it all in perspective, it's not about the presents right? At least that's what we tell the kids!

Anyone want to share your gift giving style? or maybe the best gift you've ever gotten? or maybe the worst? I would love to hear!

Christmas Time Is For......

2011-12-12T22:15:00.000-06:00

Baking with my helpers.

Cookies. Lots and lots of Cookies.

Monster cookies with Red and Green M&M's.

Cookie Decorating with the family.

Licking fingers filled with frosting!

More cookies. Snickerdoodles! Amanda's Favorite.

And more Cookies! Covered in frosting and sprinkles!

Lots of Sprinkles!

It's less than 2 weeks until Christmas and I'm not done with my shopping!

I usually am by this point but at least we have plenty of sugar to eat.

Enjoying the Little Moments of Life

2011-12-07T21:29:00.001-06:00

“But the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs.

There is one picture of the three of them sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4 and 1. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night.

I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed.
I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.”

~Anna Quindlen

Yesterday I was skimming through a blog post by Ann Voskamp. Yep, that's what I do now.....skim. This quote caught my eye and I've been thinking about it ever since.

Why do I have such a hard time living in the moment?

Why do I always have to think about what I have to get accomplished right after I finish the thing that I'm trying to accomplish at that moment. Even when I stop and try to just relax, I'm thinking about what I need to do next.

It's hard to slow down and just enjoy the people around you. Something I'm always trying to work on. Before I know it my kids will be grown and those little moments will be gone.

For all you busy moms out there, how do you relax and enjoy the little moments of life?

Decorating for Christmas

2011-12-01T18:57:00.000-06:00

The kids waited with anticipation to see which Christmas decorations I wasn't going to use so they could decorate their bedroom. After they divided up the decorations between the girls and the boys they went off to their room to decorate.

After they were done decorating, Alex and Amanda were so excited to show us their work.

Their logic????

They put everyone around the candle (which is the thing in the middle with the red berry like things hanging) so that they would stay warm.

They were very proud of their work.

I'm not seeing a future in interior design for either one of them.

But it does make smile every time I go in their room, simply because of their reasoning.

Week of Thanksgiving Day 7

2011-11-26T16:11:00.001-06:00

Today I am thankful that God not only supplies my needs but has given me so much more. He has not only provided my daily bread but I have cabinets, a fridge, and a freezer full of food. He has not only supplied shelter for me and my family but has blessed us with a nice home that keeps me warm in the winter and I have air conditioning that keeps me cool in the summer. He has not only supplied me with clothes but I have a closet and drawers full of them. We have a car that takes us where we need to go. We have furniture to sit on, comfy beds to sleep, modern appliances to cook, clean, and do the laundry. Thank you Lord for the material blessings that you have given to our family.

Eucharisteo means "to give thanks," and give is a verb, something that we do. God calls me to do thanks. To give the thanks away. That thanks-giving might literally become thanks-living. That our lives become the very blessings we have received.

Ann Voskamp

Week of Thanksgiving Day 6

2011-11-25T21:35:00.001-06:00

Today I am thankful for friendships. Friends that I've known since I was little and friends that I've known for a short time. Those that have helped shaped me into the person I am today. Those who have challenged me, laughed with me, cried with me, put up with me. Friendships that have encouraged me, friends that have taught me and given me advice. Friends that have listened to me and friends that I lent a listening ear. Those who have been there in good times and those who have been there in difficult times. Thank you Lord for all the different friends that You have brought into my life.

Friendship is born at the moment when one person says to another, "What! You to? I thought I was the only one."

C.S. Lewis

Week of Thanksgiving Day 5

2011-11-24T21:40:00.000-06:00

Today I am thankful for a great day spent with family and friends.

I am thankful for the sword fighting pilgrim and Indian that came to dinner today.

I am thankful for the traditional meal that we had of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and rolls.

I am thankful that my first attempt at making Thanksgiving dinner was not a failure.

I am thankful for a fun time bowling with 6 adults and 9 kids. I am thankful for being able to take our kids bowling for the first time today.

I am thankful for a fun evening at our house with both of my sisters and their families and new friends.

Although it wasn't a typical Thanksgiving for us, it was a great day with great food and surrounded by great people. I feel very blessed.

Thank you Lord for the food, relaxation, family, and friends.

Psalm 100

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
Worship the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Week of Thanksgiving Day 4

2011-11-23T15:19:00.000-06:00

Today I am thankful for the beauty of the world that surrounds me. I am thankful for the beautiful snow that blankets the earth in the winter, new life that comes in the spring, the warmth of the sun in the summer, and the beauty of the colorful leaves in the fall. I am thankful for colorful flowers, green grass, blue skies, white clouds, animals that I see in my back yard, the chirping of the birds. Rain that waters the earth, thunder and lightning that remind me of His power. Thank you Lord for your creation, for the changing of the seasons, for the weather.

Every time you feel in God's creatures something pleasing and attractive, do not let your attention be arrested by them alone, but, passing them by, transfer your though to God and say: "O my God, if Thy creations are so full of beauty, delight and joy, how infinitely more full of beauty, delight and joy art Thou Thyself, Creator of all!"

Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain

Week of Thanksgiving Day 3

2011-11-22T13:18:00.000-06:00

Today I am thankful for the 4 children that God blessed me with. I am thankful for all the joy they bring to my life, the smiles and the laughter. I am thankful that I get the opportunity to teach them about the love of Christ and the opportunity to watch them grow both physically and spiritually. They are constantly teaching me things as well. I am thankful for the frustrations that they sometimes bring, for the messes they leave behind, the things they break, and all the dirty laundry that I wash. I am thankful for each of their different personalities. Thank you Lord for the blessing of children.

Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.

William Arthur Ward

Joshua, Alex, and Amanda's class had to write their turkey recipes for Thanksgiving. These brought a smile to my face and just another reason I am thankful for my children. Here are their recipes in case you need to know how to make a turkey this week.

Joshua's Recipe

Get a medium turkey from the grocery store. I know they cook it in the oven and my oven beeps when things are done so take it out then. While it's cooking get all the other stuff on the table. Then sit down and pray. Cut the turkey with a knife and use a fork to eat it.

Alex's Recipe

Go to Jewel's or Walt's and buy a big turkey.

Put it on the big long pan.

Put it in the oven for 15 hours.

Cut it up and set the table.

Put the meat on your plate and cut it up smaller and then you can eat it.

Amanda's Recipe

Have your aunt go to a store and find a turkey.

Put salt on it and put it in the oven.

Then play with Grandpa and Grandma and Avery.

When they call you go and eat.

I don't really like the turkey. I like it when they make hamburgers.

Week of Thanksgiving Day 2

2011-11-21T14:47:00.000-06:00

I am thankful for my husband. I am thankful that he is willing to work odd and long hours to provide for our family and am thankful that he is such a hard worker. He loves the Lord and even though he has to be at work many days at 3 or 4 in the morning, he still gets up early to spend time with God. I am thankful for the father he is to our children. That he is a great dad, loves his children and takes the time to run around in the back yard with them and faithfully teaches them about God. He has a generous heart, loves to serve others, and is a man that is devoted to me, to his family and to his friends. He has taught me so much by his example. Thank you Lord for blessing me with him.

Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.

Sarah Ban Breathnach

Week of Thanksgiving

2011-11-20T20:23:00.001-06:00

It's been a while since I posted to my Gratitude list. In honor of Thanksgiving this week, I thought I would add to it every day.

Today and every day I am so thankful for my heavenly Father that has given me life. He has given me everything that I will be thanking Him for the rest of the week and all the blessings that I am thankful for each and every day. He gives me each and every breath that I take. He has sent trials into my life that have taught me lessons and have brought me closer to Him. He sent His Son to pay the ultimate sacrifice that I might have eternal life. I live my life in gratitude to the great God that we serve.

All gratitude is ultimately gratitude for Christ, all remembering a remembrance of Him. For in Him all things were created, are sustained, have their being. Thus Christ is all there is to give thanks for; Christ is all there is to remember. To know how we can count on God, we count graces, but ultimately there is really only One.

Ann Voskamp

Singing the Old Testament Books

2011-11-19T21:00:00.000-06:00

Alex, Amanda, and Joshua had to learn the Old Testament Books of the Bible this year for Awana. Last year they had to learn the New Testament books which are a little easier. They learned them no problem but with all the hard names in the Old Testament, I figured it would probably be easier to learn the song.

The only problem with the song was that it was stuck in my head. I woke up singing it, I went to bed singing it. Thankfully it's been a couple weeks and it is finally out of my head. But I must say, when I need to find a book in the OT that I don't usually go to very much, the song has been very helpful to me. So if you'd like it stuck in your head, feel free to listen to this video over and over and over again!

And yes, Isaac is singing it too because when his brother and sisters have to learn something he tends to learn it right along with them. So we are all set for next year!

The delay of me posting this 2 weeks after they learned them is because I am not very good when it comes to technology. It took me a very long time to figure out how to get this posted here!

Adding To My List

2011-11-18T22:48:00.000-06:00

Thursday morning while getting ready for school, Joshua asked me if I would sew the ear on his pillow pet.

He has actually been asking me to sew his pillow pet for about 6 months now and I tell him the same thing each time. "I'll try, if I remember."

This time he wanted to make sure I remembered. After all, the ear was now hanging by a thread.

He asked me where my list was for the day because he wanted to add it.

While I was running through the house getting the other kids ready, I was yelling how to spell 'sew' and 'pillow'. After all, Joshua is a little like me......he does not like spelling errors.

Since he took the time to add it to my list, I had to make sure I took the time to sew the ear back on.

By the time he got home both of us had kind of forgotten about it. After supper I remembered. I called downstairs (he was playing in the basement) to him, "Joshua, didn't you ask me to do something today."

Joshua, "Yep, sew my pillow pet. Did you do it?"

Me, "Why don't you go check in your bedroom."

We walk to the bedroom. He sees it. Big smile across his face, he jumps up and gives me a big hug and thanks me.

Definitely worth my time to sew that ear on.

Breakfast Sandwiches

2011-11-15T22:45:00.000-06:00

I'm not a fan of mornings and because of that I'm also not a big fan of making breakfast. My husband on the other hand is often up at 2 or 3 in the morning to head off to work.

That means he wants breakfast.

There is no way I'm getting up that early but because he has to get up that early he gets a lot of sympathy from me. Much more sympathy than when he works the evening shift and gets home at 3 or 4 in the morning.

Buying premade breakfast items at the grocery store can take a big chunk out of the grocery budget, so I've tried making them myself.

I've tried several different ways but here is one. I love it because you can get creative with it.

I fried up 1 lb of pork sausage.

Added 6 eggs. Beaten.

Mixed the two together.

Put them into greased muffin pans.

Baked them at 350 degrees. I wish I could tell you a time but really I just kind of watched them until they were done.

I toasted english muffins in the oven.
Put the two together and then wrapped in tin foil and put them in the freezer.
Each day he can grab one out of the freezer and take it with him to work.

I'm guessing this cost me about $5 to make a dozen. This is way cheaper than the premade ones!

My husband said they needed some salt and more eggs. The second time I made them I added salt, a few more eggs and some shredded cheese. It then made about 18.

Breakfast and Dessert Brought To You By Pinterest

2011-11-12T21:50:00.000-06:00

My Saturday was spent doing what I love most, hanging out in the kitchen and baking.

I always love to bake something special for my family for Sunday morning, plus we are getting together with my husband's family tomorrow and I get to be in charge of dessert! Yeah!!!! I love to be in charge of dessert!

Pinterest is my newest and favoritest place to find new recipes to try. So that is where I found them all.

Instead of me retyping all the recipes, I'll link you to the blogs where I followed the recipe and then I'll give you some of the changes that I made.

I know a lot of people follow The Pioneer Woman. I have checked out her blog a few times and have only tried a couple of her recipes. I actually found this Apple Dumpling recipe through someone else who had posted it on Pinterest. It looks delicious, it is super easy to make and I can't wait to try it!!!!!

She made the recipe with Granny Smith apples and I didn't have them on hand, so I used Gala. The apples I had were also kind of small, so I decided to wrap 2 apples slices instead of 1. I also used Diet Mountain Dew instead of regular Mountain Dew, so I guess that makes this a recipe for all of you who are on a diet.
(Just forget about all the butter and sugar.)

My next recipe is for breakfast tomorrow morning and I can't wait to eat it! I was picking little pieces that fell off after I took it out of the pan and eating them and when I made the glaze, I must admit....I licked the pan. I am so excited for tomorrow morning and I am never excited about morning or breakfast!

I was a little nervous when making this that it wasn't going to turn out. Yeast always makes me nervous, especially when it starts to get cold outside because my kitchen tends to be cold and my yeast recipes just don't rise very fast.

The only change made to the Pull-Apart Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Bread was that I omitted the nutmeg because I didn't have any on hand and also because I'm not a huge nutmeg fan. I also used vanilla for the glaze, not the suggested rum.

And my last recipe I made a couple weeks ago and I made it again today. Of course, this one I switched up a little different both times.

It's actually called Pumpkin Blondies but I didn't make them blond either time. This recipe came from The Girl Who Ate Everything. I still love that name!

Anyway, back to the recipe. The first time I made it the only change I made to the recipe was substituting Chocolate Chips instead using White Chocolate and Butterscotch chips.

The second time I had to mix it up a little more. I was out of Pumpkin Pie Spice and didn't feel like making a run to the grocery store for one item, so decided to substitute Allspice. Now if you don't keep Allspice in your cupboard I suggest getting some. I use it as a substitute all the time in baking, mostly for nutmeg which I already mentioned I'm not a fan of. I was a little nervous about adding a full Tablespoon, so only used half a Tablespoon. Then as far as the chips go, I had Butterscotch this time but no White Chocolate. So I did half Butterscotch and half Semi-Sweet Chocolate.

Both times I omitted the Pecans. As a rule, I usually omit nuts. My husband is not a fan.

I did take a little bite of the one I made today and think I'm a bigger fan of the first one I made with just Chocolate Chips but I guess it all depends on what you like.

Chasing a 2 Year Old Around Can Be Tricky

2011-11-08T21:15:00.001-06:00

Last week I tried to take my nephew's pictures. All around the situation was not easy.

It had rained the day before so the grass was wet. The only shade that we could find was a pavilion. It was sunny and taking a 2 year old's pictures in the sun as he wants to run around doesn't work so well. Lots of shadows on the face.

When you tell a young boy to stand still, his idea of standing still is for 2 seconds and then he runs. Finally some bribery was in order. When a sucker was on the line, he didn't move!

A Shoe Problem

2011-11-07T22:19:00.002-06:00

I've never really thought of myself as a shoe person.

I'd hate to see what my kitchen floor would look like if I actually thought of myself as a shoe lover. As you can tell, I am pretty boring when it comes to shoes. Lots of browns and black.

Sad thing is, I couldn't get all the shoes in the picture.

A Few of the Kids

2011-11-05T22:51:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago we had a really nice day and the weather was supposed to turn ugly after that. So I took my kids and my camera and we headed to the Forest Preserve.

It's taken me awhile to post them because I have since downloaded Photoshop Lightroom. I am still trying to figure it out and figure out some storage issues. I hate not having a system and a little organization and I've been doing some editing in Picasa yet just because that is what I know, while I try to learn Lightroom. I'm excited about all the new things I can do, it's just going to take some time to learn.

While trying to figure out how to post these from Lightroom, I learned that if I download them to my hard drive, they also go into Picasa. The cool thing about that is I can post directly to my blog from Picasa. This made me very happy.

Here are a few that I shot that day and edited in Lightroom.

Be patient with me as I learn. Learn how to use it and learn what I like. Although I love all the options Lightroom has to offer, I'm not good with so many options. Yikes!

This first one I love their faces but not crazy about the blur. Should have had my shutter speed up more.

We practice the jump shot one day this summer and I was never able to even get one. This day, all it took was one. I guess all that practice paid off!

Loved to Pieces

2011-11-02T21:32:00.000-05:00

This is Isaac's blanket that he has had since he was a baby.

He refuses to give it up even though it is falling apart.

For awhile he would ask me every day to fix it for him.

Grandma did take a look at it to see if there was anything that could be done.

The diagnosis was not good.

He has accepted its fate but still will not give it up.

When a piece falls off, he actually brings it to me to tie back on to it.

Last time I washed it I was afraid to even throw it in dryer for fear of it completely falling apart.

We'll see how far he lets it go before he decides it's time to go.

Halloween

2011-10-31T22:53:00.000-05:00

These 2 gypsies, Incredible, and Storm Trooper went door to door and came home with this.

I think we will be set with candy for awhile.

In a couple months we will give the money that we saved on buying candy to the dentist.

Alex's First Visit From the Tooth Fairy

2011-10-26T23:14:00.000-05:00

Alex's two bottom permanent teeth

have been coming in behind her baby teeth for some time now. We have had a few dentist issues (I will not bore you with the details) but yesterday we headed to another dentist. I was assuming that the dentist would just take a look at her teeth and we would schedule her appointment to have them pulled.

Nope.

The dentist decided to pull them right away.

She was such a trooper. I think it was because she was excited to finally be losing some teeth!

Here she is getting some laughing gas.

We stopped at Wendy's on the way home to get her a Frosty.

We stayed home for about an hour and she decided she wanted to go back to school.

That afternoon we were discussing that the tooth fairy was going to come.

Of course, Alex knows the record that our tooth fairy has and said, "I hope she actually comes tonight."

Thankfully for Alex, the tooth fairy did not disappoint her. She even got an extra dollar because of all she had to go through to lose her teeth.

Pinterest and Peanut Butter

2011-10-24T09:26:00.001-05:00

Back when I was a teenager, I remember really enjoying sleeping in on Saturday mornings. Now that my kids are in school Monday thru Friday, Saturday is once again my one day to sleep in. Of course now sleeping in means 7:30 or maybe 8:00, not the 10:00 that I enjoyed as a teenager. My kids eventually drag me out of bed so that I can get them breakfast. Although they know how to get their own stinking pop tart, for some reason it tastes better when I put it in front of them. (Yes, it is always a gourmet breakfast around here.)

Enjoying my morning of sleeping also means that when I get up, I stay in my pj's and try to enjoy some sort of lazy time. This past Saturday, in my effort to do my best at staying in my pj's and being lazy I decided to check out Pinterest. I've been hearing so much about this site but I never like to do what everyone else is doing, so I resist.

Actually that's not true, I tend to do what everyone else is doing I guess I just like to hold out for awhile.

So, while you have all been hanging out on Pinterest for quite some time now....I've still been parked on Facebook.

I AM IN LOVE and am currently working on becoming an addict. My heart actually starts beating faster while I'm on this site because it is so exciting. It's like a kid in a candy store. So much to look at but what do I check out first????

Recipes. Photography. Quotes. Fashion. Pretty much anything you can think of that is awesome!

As I was scrolling down and looking at all the things people had pinned, I came across the most amazing blog.

The Girl Who Ate Everything

Doesn't the name of her blog just instantly make you love her?

I went to her blog simply to get a recipe that I had to have. The Peanut Butter "Cheese Ball."

You all know that I love bacon BUT did you know that I love Peanut Butter and Chocolate even more?!

She has a whole slew of Peanut Butter recipes that I can't wait to try!

My favorite quote on her post is, "If you are a peanut butter fan, you will love this. If you aren't...we can't be friends."

I agree. So if you don't like peanut butter...... it was nice knowing you.

If your child has a peanut allergy, I feel for you. Thankfully, the Lord did not place this trial in my life because I'm not quite sure if I could pick my child over peanut butter. Just thinking about a house without peanut butter makes me sad.

My blogging has been down a little bit lately but if it becomes less, you know I'm over at Pinterest and I'm also trying a whole bunch of peanut butter recipes!

(Sorry if my links aren't working, I was having problems with them.)

For The Bacon Lovers

2011-10-20T21:29:00.000-05:00

Most of you know this BUT at our house we LOVE Bacon!!!!

We have tried every brand there is and always end up with Oscar Mayer. So much that I quit buying any other brand no matter the price because it just doesn't taste nearly is good.

Well, my friends, today this has all changed.

For months now I have been tempted to buy Indiana Kitchen Bacon because there have been so many coupons in the newspaper. And if there is something I love as much as bacon, it's a good coupon!

Finally I gave in because I had not one but TWO coupons.

I'm talking stackable coupons people!

One from my local grocery store and one manufacturer. That is like coupon heaven for people like me.

I am here to report that Indiana Kitchen bacon is GOOD! Also, much cheaper than Oscar Mayer. I actually saw it at my local meat market for $1.99/lb.

My husband says it is not as good as Oscar Mayer but that it is acceptable. I really don't think I could taste the difference if it was a taste test.

Just thought I would share my bacon findings with all my bacon loving friends.

For readers outside of Indiana, I am not sure if this bacon is an Indiana only sold bacon but if I find out I will be sure to let you know.

Our Long Weekend

2011-10-17T23:07:00.000-05:00

I have been absent for a little while now and when I explain how our long weekend went, you will understand why.

For a couple months now I have been having issues with my computer so I finally decided it was time to do something about it. So, I dropped it off by someone to be fixed. Basically he had to take everything off and install everything again.

So, reason #1 .....no computer for 2 days.

Wednesday morning I woke up and my throat was hurting and my glands were swollen. Thursday this was still going on. By Thursday night I also had a low grade temp along with a headache. I was sure I had strep throat again. Since I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep through the night I decided to head to urgent care.

Strep test - Negative. Sore throat apparently had something to do with the cold I was getting over. Just kept popping the ibuprofen.

Reason #2 - Sick.

Then I got my computer back and it was kind of like having a new computer again. I had to put some things back on it that I had before. Then today when I tried to blog it wasn't working and the only way to get it to work is not very convenient but I won't bore you with the details. So, I am still trying to work out the bugs and figure this all out.

Reason #3 - I really just don't know what I'm doing.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way I'll tell you about the other things that happened this weekend.

The kids were on fall break and Brad decided to take those 2 days off of work as well. We have now determined that every time Brad takes off work, one or both of us gets sick. Not really sure what to do with this. Should he never take off work again or should we plan his vacation days around when it's convenient to get sick?

The only thing I had planned was to make applesauce on Thursday and go to the Apple Orchard on Friday. And then just a lot of sitting around and family time. I definitely did a lot of laying around.

We did get to make our applesauce on Thursday morning. Had my whole applesauce crew ready to go. Thankfully they love to help me and it goes much faster when they do!

On Friday, I sucked it up. Popped some pills and off we went to the Apple Orchard.

We had a groupon that had to be used, so sick or not I was not about to give up on that coupon!

We saw animals, took cheesy pictures, rode out to the orchard and went through the corn maze. We did not pick apples because I am far too cheap to pay double for what I can get them elsewhere. We bought our delicious donuts, then the kids rode on the Moo Choo train and then we headed home.

Just typing donuts makes my mouth water. Anyone going there this week and want to get me some?

Then this morning it was back to reality.....alarm clocks and making lunches.

The Fifth Time Is A Charm -- I Hope

2011-10-11T21:58:00.000-05:00

This year I decided to close the pool before Labor Day since the last 2 years we haven't used the pool much after the holiday. The kids are in school full time now, so I figured it probably wouldn't get used at all so we might as well just close it.

Well.......the pool had different ideas.

Cover came off 4 times. The first two times we determined it was the winch (sounds like a bad word but that's what it is called). Then I decided I had the water level too low. The fourth time, I'm not sure what the problem was.

But we put the cover on for the fifth time. I bought another new winch and I decided to try the water in milk carton thing. Must have done the trick because it has now been a week and the cover is still on. Hoping this is it because if it comes off again, there will be no pool cover this year.

Glad that frustration is over. Now I get to enjoy watching the leaves from the neighbors trees fall all over the cover.

My Girls

2011-10-03T22:55:00.000-05:00

A couple weeks ago, I grabbed my girls and my camera and we headed out to the park for the sole purpose of practicing and experimenting. I had a lot that I trashed but here are a few that I liked.

Crazy Hair, Face Tattoos, and more Teeth Gone

2011-10-03T07:00:00.001-05:00

The Annual Fall Fest was this past Friday at the school that my kids attend. As I was getting a few things done in the afternoon I noticed a message on our answering machine. It was from a friend of Joshua's asking what time he was going to be there. I had Joshua call his friend back and I listened to their conversation about where they were going to meet up that night.

Really?

My kids are too little for this. Calling friends. Making plans.

I guess just another one of those things that happens as they grow.

To make things worse, as I was brushing Alex's hair before we left she asked my if she could get her hair dyed. After I had a minor heart attack, she explained that she just wanted it sprayed a color at the Fall Fest. OK, I can handle that.

We went there, ate food and then I headed to go to my assignment of working at the Basketball game. Apparently I didn't mess it up too much last year, so they put me there again.

An hour and a half later my shift was done and I found my family. I found colorful hair and face paintings. Isaac calls them tattoos. The remnants of his got scrubbed off before church on Sunday morning.

If you look closely there is a lot of dried cotton candy on their face as well.

We had all had about enough soon after I found them so we decided to cash in all our extra tickets on some health food.

I also pulled another tooth out of Amanda's mouth on Friday. Unfortunately, our very unreliable Tooth Fairy messed up again and forgot to come.

But I realized the next night it was a good thing because while we were out the babysitter (my friend Marci) pulled another tooth. So really in the end it was a good thing, the Tooth Fairy only had to come once for 2 teeth. So in hindsight, that is one smart Tooth Fairy!

Delicious Donuts

2011-09-28T22:02:00.000-05:00

Sometimes Facebook is a very useful tool. Like the fact that without Facebook I would have never learned about the most delicious donuts.

I admit, I was skeptical. I love donuts and all, but are they that great that everyone is talking about them?

So when my friend Eva posted on Saturday a picture of her recently purchased donuts, I had to ask her where my donut was. And the good friend that Eva is, she snuck one past her family just so that I could try one.

I took one bite and I was sold.

A small piece was shared with my husband and each child was given a small bite. They were sold on them as well. I thought a lot about that donut that day.

Well, it just so happened that Isaac was asked to go to this same apple orchard with a friend on Tuesday. Ahhhh, my chance to get a whole dozen of these delicious donuts. Even Joshua said when he found out Isaac was going, "Mom, have Isaac get donuts."

Now, if you know anything about me, I am quite frugal when it comes to my spending money on food. I paid $8 for a dozen of these donuts and they were worth every penny!

They are a pumpkin donut but the best I can explain it is that it is more like a cinnamon spice donut with a pumpkin glaze. I want to know how to make this glaze. If anyone knows.....please share. I'm thinking if I could make this glaze I could add it to a variety of different things like maybe different kinds of cakes.

I even bought a Groupon recently to this orchard, so I plan to go there myself. Maybe I can figure out the mystery of the pumpkin glaze!

So if you head out to the apple orchard and you buy a donut. Think of me and if you feel so moved to do so, feel free to bring me back a pumpkin donut!

Gymnastics, Cleaning, and Other Stuff

2011-09-26T22:48:00.000-05:00

Ever since the kids headed off to school I feel like there just isn't too many exciting things going on around here to blog about. Basically, they head off to school each day. I run around trying to get something done. Occasionally I get to enjoy lunch with a friend or one of my sisters. Then the kids come home, we do the normal stuff that people do at night and then the next day we start all over.

The few things that we do and I have taken pictures of just never seem actually seem to make it to my computer.

But that is all about to change.

Here are a few things that have been going on.

Back in August the girls finished up their gymnastics and got medals. Since I didn't have my camera that day, I had to use my phone. That is why the quality is terrible!

They are now back in gymnastics at a different place. They are loving it! Brad took them tonight and got video of them climbing up a rope. If I can figure out how to get the video off his phone I will share it soon.

Isaac, Alex, and Amanda all learned how to ride their bikes with no training wheels right before Labor Day. I'm a bad mom and still have not gotten a picture.

Since we live on a busy road there isn't really anywhere to teach them. I had been meaning to take them to the park and try to teach them but apparently they got impatient and finally taught themselves. I'm very proud of them and they are loving riding their bikes again!

I've also been doing a little canning this fall. So far I've canned peaches, salsa, spaghetti sauce, strawberry jelly, and I froze some corn and beans. I thought I took pictures of some of this but something happened to them. Not sure what but I'm sure you don't really care all that much anyway so we'll just keep moving on.

Saturday morning my wonderful children decided they were going to go through their stuff and get rid of things. This would have been a great idea if in the process my house didn't look like a huge tornado went through it.

When I inspected a bag of what I thought was garbage, I found this baseball mitt along with 2 cameras, 2 pairs of shoes, and a few other things that were clearly NOT garbage!

Saturday night I went out with a friend for dinner. Before I headed there I stopped at Children's Place because I needed a couple things and I had a coupon. While standing in line someone handed me a $20 off a $40 purchase. Do you know how happy this made me?

Then when I went out for dinner, my friend and I were chatting and didn't really even notice that our food was taking so long. (If you knew both of us and knew how much we both like to talk, this would not surprise you.) Before we knew it the manager was at our table with our food, apologizing and telling us they took our sandwich off the bill. AWESOME!

I'm sure you don't really care but you know how I love a good deal, so I just had to share just in case one other person is excited for me!

I feel like I should have numbered these just so you know when I'm switching to something new. That is my way of telling you I'm switching gears.....did you get it?

Anyway, I was on the way to Isaac's Opthamologist appointment this morning and we were pulling in the parking garage and Isaac says to me, "Mom....oh never mind. I was going to ask if this is the hospital that Grandma is at but she already died. She's in heaven now, right?"

Me, "Yep, she's been in heaven for over 5 years now."

Isaac, "Wow, 5 years! That's Awesome!"

That brought a smile to my face, so I just wanted to share.

And that's all I got until something exciting happens again.

Our Jobs, Pitching In, and A Man That Irons

2011-09-21T10:26:00.000-05:00

I am guessing that by the title of my blog post, this might be a post that gets a lot of hits. All my Facebook friends are thinking 'What!? A Man that irons? I must hear about this. I must see this.'

Ladies, It is true. This is Dan and he irons.

On my 6 day trip to the DR, I think I actually witnessed him ironing 3 times. One time he ironed a polo shirt for about 5 minutes.

I mean, really, who irons polo shirts?

Yep, Dan does.

But before you get too excited, I'm sorry ladies, but he is taken. My cousin Ellie will be marrying him next year. She sure did pick a good one. Maybe she'll be really lucky and maybe he does laundry and vacuums too. If he cleans toilets, then I think she may just have found THE. PERFECT. MAN.

Now that we got that out of the way, let's move on.

When you go to a different country for a wedding and the whole bride's family is from out of town it is important that everyone just pitches in and does their part. That is exactly what happened at Carrie's wedding. Thankfully a lot of us have talents that pertain to things that need to be done at a wedding.

In case you didn't know, I was the photographer. If you didn't know, then this must be your first time here because everyone else is sick of hearing about it.

Katie C. was the Wedding Planner/Coordinator. She did an awesome job! She looks a little stressed here but she did a great job of making sure everything was done so Carrie didn't have to worry about it. She was really the perfect person to do it because she can speak both English and Spanish. She also lived there for a short time so she knows all about American time and Dominican time.

My Aunt Karen took care of the decorating and flowers. Being the mother of the bride she did a lot more but this is one major thing she took care of. She was not in charge of doing the bouquets though but here she is making some up because the flowers were late and we weren't sure if they would actually come or not.

Marci got a brand new job that she had never done before. She was the videographer. I can't wait to see her work.

Marci was also the make-up artist. She was also in charge of making everyone laugh.

The night before and the morning of there were lots of things to get done which most everyone pitched in and helped.

Here is George the morning of the wedding pulling rose petals off for the the isle.

And here is "Ironing Dan" helping make 'Reserved' signs for the seats at the ceremony and tables at the reception.

And lastly, their was Katie H. She was in charge of hair and she did a beautiful job! If you've seen other pictures from the wedding, I'm sure you can agree.

I think part of the fun of this wedding was just the bonding and fun we all had as we all came together to bring all of Carrie and Eddy's hard work and planning together.

This was not an American wedding, it was not a Dominican wedding. It was a unique wedding pulling two cultures together and uniting two people from different cultures together. Two beautiful people who love the Lord. It was an amazing weekend!

May God bless Eddy and Carrie in their marriage and in their ministry.

Pictures That Make Me Happy

2011-09-19T21:58:00.000-05:00

These pictures remind me of one day that I had nothing to do.

No Agenda, no lists, no where to be, nobody needing me (well they may have needed me but I was very far away from them).

Just a day to relax.

But did I?

Nope.

I walked a mile along the beach to go shopping.....then walked a mile back.

I snorkeled. (For the first time ever in my life)

I played beach volleyball. (Not sure how I got suckered into that one, must have been a real moment of weakness.)

I kayaked. My aunt and I went together and it was really windy. We lasted about 10 minutes. If that.

But other than all that, I did relax and I enjoyed meals that I didn't have to cook. The food wasn't the greatest but I did not have to make it and that was AWESOME!

I did not get to lay on these big beds on the beach (they probably have some fancy name but I'm not fancy so I would have no idea what that name is) but I think it would be cool if I could have, so I just took a picture of them.

There were a few pictures of taken of me on this trip.

Isn't this just beautiful?

Our whole group. Of course, minus me.

This is Christine. We did not have the luxury of each having our own bed, so she was my sleeping mate for 4 nights.

This is Marci. Since Brad wasn't there, she was my date. Lucky her.

The Bride and Groom

2011-09-17T21:53:00.000-05:00

I finally made it through all of the pictures from my trip. Since I don't think I've really shared any of the Bride and Groom yet, I'd thought I would give you a few.

I might do a couple more posts with some pictures of my trip and from the wedding but after that I promise to get back to my regular and scheduled posting. Which I'm not really sure what that is since I'm not very regular or scheduled. I'm usually pretty random all around, so I promise to get back to my random posts and random schedule.

As you can tell from the photos, Carrie and Eddy were a lot of fun and very photogenic! They made it very easy on me as the photographer.

Some Cute Kids

2011-09-13T22:20:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago I shot these photos of my nieces and nephews. I am just now finally getting to editing them. Thought I would share a few.

First Day of School

2011-09-08T22:23:00.000-05:00

Since the kids have been in school for over 2 weeks now, I thought it might be time to post a couple pictures.

Alex, Amanda and Joshua all started 1st grade this year. Isaac started Kindergarten.

They are all enjoying school.

I wish I could say that I have been enjoying myself but unfortunately I have been too busy. Hopefully soon things will settle down but I doubt it.

How We Have Fun

2011-09-06T21:36:00.000-05:00

First we take a bunch of clothes, food, and necessities and pack them in the back of our vehicles and into this tiny little box that we pull behind my husband's truck.

We then head to the woods (better known as the Indiana Dunes). We take all of the stuff out of the box and pop up the box. This box now becomes our home for the next few days. We try to shove everything back in as organized as we possibly can and then 6 of us try to sleep in there as well. All of this is done in the extreme heat.

Because of the heat I am forced to take my first shower of the weekend, which causes me to go against my rule of 1 shower per camping trip. I just couldn't make it all the way til Monday, so I had to take a second one on Sunday morning.

After doing all this, we enjoy sitting around talking with friends while getting eaten alive by mosquitoes.

The next day we head to the beach so that we can swim in the water, eat food that ends up getting covered in sand, and collect sand in our shoes and bathing suits so that we can bring it back to our little home in the woods and add it to our collection of stuff shoved in there.

We then wait for the storm to roll in. When it comes, we jump in the tiny little box and watch a movie on the computer which we cannot hear because of the rain pounding on the roof.

The second round of rain we decide to venture out and sit under someone else's canopy and chat while small gangs of children go camper hopping.

On Sunday we add a puking child to the mix.

Because of the bad weather, Sunday is also the first day that we get to enjoy a campfire. It also gets really windy and between the sick child and our canopy making tons of noise in the wind, we get very little sleep.

Monday we pack up and head home so that I can start on the 50 loads of laundry that we have accumulated.

Despite all of this, we actually did have fun.

We got to spend time with friends that we don't see often enough. We ate lots of good food. The kids had a blast. And I (along with my partner- who carried us most the way) won the bean bag tournament. My husband and my partners wife were also a team & they were defeated by us. Victory is sweet!

Also, I have no pictures of this eventful trip. Sorry.

Hope everyone had a fun Labor Day Weekend and I can't wait for our annual Labor Day Camping Trip next year.

Bugs!!!!

2011-08-31T22:32:00.000-05:00

Probably the worst thing about my trip to the DR would have to be the bugs. I am not a fan of bugs, especially not big ones. It's hard to tell but this bug is very large.

But just imagine if one of these bugs got on your clothing.

That is what happened to my aunt. Her sweet daughter Ellie picked up the bug and threw it on her mom's dress.

Kudos to the person who thought to pick up the camera and document this occasion. I just wish this same person would have gotten my aunt's reaction.

There was a lot of screaming and dancing around. Thankfully she found the bug and got it off her dress just in time. She was just about ready to rip her dress off.

I am also not a fan of biting bugs. This next picture is a of my swollen ankles. I had a reaction to some Sand Flea bites. My ankles were swollen and in pain for a week. They are no longer swollen but my ankles are still a little tender when you touch them.

Our Villa and the View

2011-08-28T23:03:00.000-05:00

This is the Villa we stayed in during the couple days of the wedding.

Every time I walked out the door I saw this beautiful, breathtaking view of God's creation.

Sisters and Parasols

2011-08-24T22:22:00.000-05:00

I am slowly but surely getting through all my pictures. I am now at 213 of 442 and then I get to move onto the 4 other memory cards that I have. These are my three cousins Heather, Carrie, and Ellie. We had a lot of fun with the parasols.

A Few From the Wedding

2011-08-22T21:56:00.000-05:00

I finally started editing some of the pictures from the wedding. I haven't gotten very far but thought I'd post a few.

Isaac Turns Six!

2011-08-19T21:36:00.000-05:00

He started out his morning with some chocolate chip pancakes. And then waited and waited and waited for dad to come home from work so he could open his presents. His favorite was his Star Wars Remote Control Hail fire Droid. He also got a new flashlight, lawn chair, baseball mitt and batting gloves.

Buffalo Wild Wings was the place he chose for supper.

Then we headed off to go miniature golfing. It was boys vs. girls. Girls were ahead most of the time but the boys ended up winning by 1.

Then it was time to head home for some cake. Isaac has been asking for a Star Wars cake for 2 years now. I found one online that I could copy. After all it fit my requirement of only 2 colors to use when I decorate.

He went to bed one happy, tired little boy.

It's hard to believe my baby Igaac (this is what his brother and sister's called him when he was a baby and I still call him this) is 6 years old already! How time flies!

The Beginning of My Adventure

2011-08-17T22:33:00.002-05:00

This stay-at-home mom left home and went on an adventure.

I am now back home safely.

For those of you who are my friends on Facebook, you may remember that the beginning of my trip started out a little rough.

I woke up at 4am with my husband on Wednesday, August 10. He went off to work and I began to get ready. When I booked this trip months ago, I was unable to get on the same flight as my aunt, cousin, and a couple others that day but was able to book a flight about an hour and a half later. The plan was to go to the airport with them, they would take their flight, I would take mine and we would meet up in Miami. We then would all fly together to Santiago, Dominican Republic.

When they started boarding their plane, I headed down to my gate and sat by myself peacefully reading my book and enjoying some alone time.

I should have known when I paid $9.50 for a small mocha and a yogurt parfait that this day was not going to go well. Little did I know what was in store for me.

As I sat waiting, our plane pulled into the gate. A few minutes later they announced that this plane had an electrical problem and they were going to be making a decision by 10:30 on this plane. A few more minutes went by and I looked out the window and noticed 3 firemen standing underneath this plane. Later I learned that there was actually an electrical fire.

Needless to say, we did not take this plane. They sent us from Terminal K to Terminal L. You may not think this was a very long walk but believe me, it was not close. We boarded a new plane and waited and waited and waited. Finally after sitting on this plane for an hour they decided that we were not going to take this plane either.

Everyone gets off.

They now decide that we should go back to Terminal K and take a different plane.

This plane is smaller and now we need to all get new seat assignments and get rid of some people.

Finally, we left around 2 or 2:30.

As we were flying I was pretty sure I was not going to make it in time for my connecting flight and was completely fine with that. I was enjoying my alone time, reading a book and enjoying God's beautiful creation as I looked at the window. It really was a very enjoyable peaceful day.

When we came near Miami, they started announcing connecting flights and actually announced mine. I had no idea when it was leaving but figured if they were announcing it, I had to try to get to it. When we landed, I ran! I got to the gate and it had left the gate 5 minutes prior to my arriving.

They put me up in a hotel, gave me some meal vouchers and booked me on the 11:20am flight the next day.

Before this trip our family had been praying for me to have a safe trip, through all these inconveniences I could only be thankful because God had kept me off two planes that were unsafe.

I finally arrived safely the next day in Santiago and was greeted by my cousin Carrie and her then fiance Eddy (now her husband).

Many pictures of my trip will be coming. I have about 1300 photos to sort through and edit (which I will hoepfully get to start this weekend). We all had a great time and I can't wait to share some of my trip with you.

I am also thankful for all those back home that helped out so I could go on this trip. My father-in-law and mother-in-law watched the kids a couple days, my friend Brianne took them a night, both my sisters each took a couple kids for a few nights, and of course Brad who took over for me too. I'm also thankful to my friends Eva and Jessica who were willing to lose a little sleep to come pick me up at the airport in the middle of the night.

Ready, Set, GO

2011-08-09T22:01:00.000-05:00

The House is clean.
Child care is in place.
Food is prepared for my family.
Lists and instructions are written down.
Everything is packed.

There is nothing more I can do for my family while I'm gone. I hope they survive! I'm sure they will but will my house?

Tomorrow morning I will get up bright and early. Actually, it won't even be bright out yet. I will drink half a cup of coffee to wake up and then I will head out.

I am going to be going to the Dominican Republic to attend and photograph my cousin's wedding. The trip was booked so long ago, I thought the day would never come but it's here.

I'll see you when I get back and I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures to post.

You Know It's A Good Recipe When......

2011-08-08T21:09:00.000-05:00

You make a Potato Salad for a family party and then you are asked to make that same salad again.

On our way to the Second Family gathering that I made it for, my husband told me that this is the only potato salad that he likes and the only one that he will actually put on his plate.

Therefore, I thought it was a good one to share with you.

1/2 cup Mayo

1/4 cup Ranch Dressing

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/8 tsp. garlic powder

3 lb. small red potatoes (about 9), cooked, quartered

6 slices Bacon, cooked, crumbled

1 stalk celery, sliced

1/2 cup thin red pepper strips

4 green onions, sliced

Mix Dressings and Seasonings in a Large Bowl. Add Remaining Ingredients and Mix Lightly.

Since we have a love for bacon around here, I like to add a Tbsp of bacon grease to add a little extra flavor and to work on clogging our arteries.

Dusting Off My Old Suitcase

2011-08-03T21:21:00.000-05:00

This poor lonely suitcase has sat in my basement for many years collecting dust. The last time I flew was over 7 1/2 years ago and I think the last time this suitcase was used might have been 9 years ago!

Our house has been through much construction in the last 9 years which is why you see sawdust on it as well. Today I took it outside and hosed it off, now I just need to get the motivation to start filling it. Packing is one of my least favorite things to do but it's time to make my many lists and start preparing for my departure.

I will be flying to the Dominican Republic and leaving my family behind. I am excited and scared all at the same time. I'm excited to see my cousin and for the adventure that the trip is going to be but so sad to be leaving my husband and kids behind for a whole week.

More Fun With Photography

2011-08-01T22:07:00.000-05:00

My camera was at Aperture 1.8

Shutter Speed 320

ISO 100

And just let my camera shoot away.

I love the water effects.

Learning About My Camera

2011-07-30T22:27:00.003-05:00

If you remember, back in December my husband bought me a new toy. Since that time I've taken a class and gotten a new lens. I will also be in the Dominican Republic in two weeks photographing my cousin Carrie's wedding.

Ever since I took the photography class in May, I have absolutely disliked 90% of the shots I have taken but I was determined not to put my camera back into Auto. The class I took, the instructor basically told us to put our camera in Aperture Priority and stay there. Of course at first I didn't like what I was getting because of my lens. I purchased a 50mm 1.8 G and it seemed to help but I still wasn't happy.

This week I bribed my friend Jessica from White Harvest Photography with a day at the pool if she would help me out and give me tips on wedding photography. Not only is she an amazing photographer but she is an amazing teacher as well. She taught me how to shoot in Manual and gave me a lot of great tips.

Now the key is to practice before I leave. This evening I was watching my 1 year old niece, so I took my 4 kids and my niece outside to practice. I had a lot of fun and wanted to show you some of what I caught. I did learn that if I want to photograph toddlers I need to get faster with my camera. They do not stay still and they do not want to look at you.

Besides cropping these photos a little I didn't do any editing.

I also experimented with my continuous setting and had a lot of fun with that. Next week I will share them with you.

Ideas For Your Bored Kids During Summer Vacation

2011-07-27T22:17:00.002-05:00

1. If you have a wooden swing set, give your kids a box of crayons and let them decorate. (I didn't actually give them the crayons, they had this idea all on their own but it kept them busy for days!)

2. Buy an old camper, set it up and let them play inside. (If you have a tent my guess is that setting it up in the backyard will also keep them occupied for awhile.)

3. Cut the grass and leave all the clippings. My kids got creative and made a nest.

4. Turn on The Price Is Right. My kids love this show. Trust me, this will be just as entertaining for you as it is for them. I love to hear them shout prices at the TV and yelling at the people what to do. Brings me back to my childhood. I always loved this show. My girls already practice being 'Barker's Beauties' except for I'm sure they are not called this anymore. Maybe they are 'Drew's Dames' or 'Carey's Cuties'. Does anyone know?

Of course if these don't work you could always make them clean the house.

Making Sense Of It All

2011-07-25T22:44:00.002-05:00

On Friday, July 22 my Grandma went to be with our heavenly Father. She lived to be 85 and I will always remember her for the big smile that she always wore and her love of affection. You could always plan on a hug and kiss every time you said hello and goodbye.

Below is a picture of her on Christmas 2009 with some of her great-grandchildren.

On Sunday we went to her funeral.

Although I talk to my children about death quite often because of my mom's passing 5 years ago, this was going to be the first funeral they have ever attended. I have tried to explain it all to them but seeing it is a whole different ball game.

On our way there I explained to them that her body would be there and it would look like she was sleeping.

Isaac was very interested in this when we got there. As you know, Isaac usually says what is on his mind. Many times he asked me to go with him to see Grandma.

He was very curious and wanted to touch her. He was also wondering how her body was here but she is in heaven.

He asked me, "Does her body just stay here and her head goes up?" I guess I have explained to him before that the body stays here but he figured some part of her must go to heaven so it had to be the head and surely she didn't go to heaven yet because clearly she was right in front of him.

He then wondered if after the service she would go up to heaven. He thought it would be great if he could see this happen.

After the service I was talking to my aunt. I'm guessing Isaac was willing to ask anyone questions about this that would listen. He apparently had a whole conversation with her about whether Great-Grandma was wearing shoes and why she needed them.

Yes, sometimes questions from my kids can drive me nuts but other times I love to hear how their mind is working and how they are trying to make sense of all the things they see and hear.

One Reason I Love Summer.....

2011-07-21T22:32:00.001-05:00

Goggle Faces!

A List of Random Tidbits

2011-07-19T19:53:00.003-05:00

If you are looking for deep content around here lately, sorry. The heat has gotten to my brain (as well as old age) and my mind is working in sarcastic mode lately.

Just thought I'd share some random things going on around our house lately that you probably don't care about but hey, you're the one who came here. I'm not making you read this stuff.

1. I am a mean mom. I make my kids eat tacos for supper, make them go to swim lessons, and they have to pick up their own toys.

2. On our way to swim lessons tonight Isaac says to me, "Mom, I don't want to go to swim lessons because I'm going to do bad."

Me: "No you won't you've been doing so good, I'm so proud of you."

Joshua: "Mom, you don't need to tell me that because I already know I'm good."

Nice. I guess I don't have to build up his confidence.

3. After fighting with Isaac to eat his taco, I didn't feel like fighting with him when he started crying at swim lessons and was a nice mom and let him sit out. It happens once in a while.

4. My pool which has gone from green to cloudy to clear and back to cloudy, is clear once again.

5. It's too hot here to even swim.

6. Thankful for air conditioning after it broke twice on us but thankfully someone took pity on us and fixed it QUICKLY!

7. Cold Stone Chocolate Peanut Butter Perfection is definitely perfection and I don't even want to know how many calories of it I have consumed. Yet just typing it makes me want to go get the quart out of the freezer and finish it.

8. My husband is currently sweating his butt off in a hot factory. Thankful for him and that he is off doing that for us while we sit in the air conditioning.

9. I was just interrupted by an extreme emergency. Alex had a bleeding paper cut. I tell ya, it's always exciting around here.

10. For every 10 library my books kids read, the library will give them a reward. For some reason, high on all of their "must-have" list is a little plastic magnifying glass. Really? That's what you want?

11. While sitting at swim lessons tonight I read an article about introverts and extroverts. We are pretty much a family of introverts. Just thought I'd include that in case you wanted to know that exciting tidbit about our family.

12. I feel like I should give you more but I got nothing. Just thought I should have an even amount of points because I like a nice even number.

If you have made it all the way to the bottom of this list, congratulations! You just wasted 3 precious minutes of your life that you will never get back.

Moving Along to Birthday Fun

2011-07-13T22:48:00.002-05:00

On Tuesday we had friends over swimming and Brad went to the U2 concert. I have no pictures of any of this, so I will just move along to the next day.

Wednesday was our birthday celebration day even though Joshua, Alexandra, and Amanda's birthdays weren't until Friday.

Brad took Joshua and Isaac miniature golfing, out for lunch to Buffalo Wild Wings, and shopping for Joshua's birthday present. He chose a new Wii game, a baseball mitt, baseballs, gloves, and all that is baseball. I also have no pictures of this because I wasn't there.

Now to the real fun.

I took Alex and Amanda to the American Girl Place in Chicago to pick out a doll and for lunch. We had so much fun! Of course the girls barely ate any of their overpriced meal but we had a lot of fun and it was worth every penny.

They each picked out a doll and had money given to them by grandparents and aunts & uncles that they were able to spend on outfits and accessories.

Here are the girls with their bag of purchases.

On our walk back to the car we stopped and took some pictures.

On Friday we celebrated with cake. They have been asking me for a Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting ever since last November, so that is what they got.

I felt a little bad that I didn't actually decorate the cake but I felt better when I was told that this is the best cake in the whole world.

Fourth of July

2011-07-12T22:19:00.002-05:00

On the Fourth, I mostly cleaned and cooked food all morning. But our afternoon was spent going to a parade in a nearby town.

There were far too many firetrucks and they were loud.

I always love the bands. But I wonder about how they walk. Is walking so stiff something these kids (does calling them kids make me old? don't answer that please) have to practice or something they have to show that they can do in tryouts? Either way, it's quite entertaining.

Someone was handing out Popsicles and they were delicious and a nice treat in the heat.

After the parade we went back to our house and enjoyed an evening of swimming and eating with family.

The Fourth is not only a holiday for us to celebrate but we also celebrate Brad's birthday as well.

And that is how we spent our holiday.

Catching Up!

2011-07-11T21:41:00.001-05:00

Last week was a week full of fun and exciting things. Brad was off work. The Fourth of July. Brad's birthday. Alexandra, Amanda, and Joshua's birthday. Lots of plans.

When lots of things happen, I have lots to blog about but no time to do it. I took about 200 pictures last week and I would love to share all that we did with you. (Don't worry, I won't post them all.) Since we did so much, I will share in bits and pieces.

Fourth of July weekend started with big pile of mulch in front of my garage. Before I could have any fun, I had to move this pile to various spots around my yard. I got most of it moved, then I could pull my car back in the garage. Now the rest still sits there.

Sunday evening we went out to enjoy the fireworks. Two years ago we went to the same fireworks and it took us 45 minutes to get home.....we live 2 miles away. Last year we skipped for obvious reasons. This year we braved it again but were determined to be a little smarter. We parked in a spot that we could quickly get out. It kind of takes the fun out of it when the fireworks end and you grab your stuff and make a mad dash for your car. All while telling the kids, "Walk faster, walk faster." This year the 2 mile trip only took 20 minutes. We'll see if we can get that number down next year.

They're excited.....can't you tell?

I took my camera with so I could experiment shooting the fireworks. I had a lot of fun trying different Shutter speeds, Aperture, and ISO settings. While I was taking them I was disappointed but once I downloaded them to my computer it was fun to see my different results.

I'll be back with more of our exciting adventures.

Can't wait to look at all my pictures to remind me of all we did. Ha! I told you I'm forgetful.

How We Saved Money On Our Phone Bill and We Cancelled Cable

2011-07-01T21:14:00.000-05:00

It's been awhile since I posted one of my Frugal Friday posts. But I wanted to share with you a couple ways that you can save money on cable and your home phone.

Last December we decided to cancel our cable as soon as our contract was up. I know for some of you cancelling cable is just not something you want to do. So I thought I would share what I learned in the process. This may not work with all cable companies but here are some tips that you might want to know and then see if your cable company offers the same thing.

When I called to cancel I was informed that I can put my account on hold for up to 6 months a year. The benefit to this is you won't have a bill for 6 months out of the year but remain with that company and not be under contract. I know you can get an introductory rate for just as cheap, if not cheaper but the benefit is that you are no longer under contract.

I was also told that they have special rates for existing customers, all you have to do is ask.

What we did was put our account on hold for 4 months to make sure that we could live without cable and then when I called back to cancel I was offered a couple different rates to stay with them. They offered me one rate and then when I told them that I still wanted to cancel, they offered me an extremely low rate.

As far as living without cable, I miss the DVR. My kids miss their shows. My husband misses his sports. We save about $900 a year not having it. We now have a digital antenna hooked up to our TV. A lot less TV gets watched as a result.

Now onto our Phone Bill.

I am one of those people that just can't part with my home phone. Part of the reason being is that I work from home. Sometimes cell phones aren't that reliable so I like to have my home phone as back-up. Besides we have had the same number for 11 years and a lot of people have that number. I'm also not sure I want to give my cell phone number out on every application, registration, giveaway, etc.

We have always had the bare bones. No caller id, no call waiting, and no long distance. Last month I got my bill and the charges had again gone up. I called the company and they actually had a lower rate plan that I could get. They offered a lower monthly rate but for each local call you make you get charge $.04. Not per minute, per call. Incoming calls are free and toll free numbers are also free.

In the end it's not a huge savings but over a years time I will probably save about $90. That's a week of groceries around here.

Lemonade Stand Fundraiser for Children's Hunger Fund

2011-06-30T22:35:00.001-05:00

Back in May our family volunteered at the Children's Hunger Fund Chicago branch warehouse. The more I learn about this organization the more I love it. Our kids loved volunteering that day and decided they want to go every Saturday to help (of course we would love to but it just isn't doable around here). When we were there we were told about their Ten or $10 Back to School Pak campaign. Basically, you can buy ten items (including a backpack and some specified items) and donate them or you can give them $10 and every ten dollars will buy a backpack with supplies and they will do the shopping for you.

When we got home that day, the kids were very excited about this and wanted to donate backpacks. I talked to them about how they could try to earn money so they can buy more backpacks. It would be really easy for me to give them $10 for them to donate or take them to the store and buy the supplies for them but I wanted to them to learn about sacrificing something of their own to be able to give to others. In this instance, it's their time. They had decided to do a Lemonade Stand.

They had a great time preparing for the Lemonade stand by helping me bake cookies to sell, shopping for supplies, making signs, and mixing the lemonade.

Thank you to so many of you that came out. My kids loved seeing you all. They were able to raise enough for 44 backpacks!!!!! All Praise to God! They are so excited but don't want to stop there. Joshua has decided that he would like to be able to donate 100 backpacks. Over the next few weeks they have decided to do extra chores around the house to raise some more money.

Grandpa was our first customer.

While we were waiting for customers, some goofing around was going on and this hat ended up in the tree.

We had aunts, cousins, grandpa, friends, the kids babysitters, people driving by, a guy that was the mailman at an office I worked at years ago, a woman on a prayer walk, and neighbors.

This was a great way to teach my kids about serving and showing the love of Christ. They are so excited to go out and buy the school supplies and deliver them to the Children's Hunger Fund warehouse.

If you would like to learn more about Children's Hunger Fund, you can go to their website at http://www.chfus.org/

If you would still like to donate, you can contact me. If you would like to fill backpacks with your kids for CHF, please let me know and you can also get them to me and I will deliver them to the warehouse. We will need them by the third week of July. You can also go to their website to donate. Please be in prayer for this as well. They have a goal to collect 2000 backpacks and right now only have 500.

Here is a list of the items needed:

Backpack
Pencils
Notebook
Scissors
Crayons
Glue stick
Washable Markers
Pencil Sharpener
Ruler
Eraser

Two Front Teeth

2011-06-29T22:27:00.000-05:00

She lost the other one.

Now if we could just get that tooth fairy to show up.

We've lost 6 teeth in this house and she has only shown up the first night 3 out of those 6 times. I think we are going to have to fire her and get a new one.

Living Off the Land

2011-06-27T17:08:00.000-05:00

When I was a kid we had an above ground pool and my mom had a VERY BIG garden. She would torture us by making us get out of the pool in the middle of all our fun and go to the garden to pull weeds.

I always swore that I would NEVER have a garden.

We now have an above ground pool and guess who decided it was time to torture her children. (Just kidding. I'm not going to torture them.......not yet!)

Yep, that's right. For as many times as I said I would NEVER have a garden, I now have one.

Of course I'm not really sure that you can actually call it a garden. I had a strip of landscaping behind the garage that I cleaned up this year. Before planting flowers or bushes in this spot, I thought I would do a trial garden to see if I like it.

I have a small area of bean plants, 2 green pepper plants, 4 tomato plants, 1 zucchini plant, a sunflower, 1 cucumber plant, and 1 muskmelon plant.

The funny thing is, a good majority of my family doesn't like half of these foods so I will have to come up with creative ways to use it all.

It has been fun watching everything grow.

I'm not the only one having fun watching it all grow. I've seen a bunny circling my yard lately and I'm sure it's just waiting to eat my food. The bunny will have to be taken care of. Maybe I'll put a sign up telling him that the neighbor's garden has carrots.

Take Comfort

2011-06-21T21:47:00.001-05:00

This morning during my devotions I read something out of a devotional that immediately brought someone to my mind that was hurting. I thought about retyping the devotional and sending it to her. Then as the day went on another person popped into my mind that might take comfort by these words. Then later another person and then another. Before I knew it so many had popped into my head, I realized how many people I know that are going through trials right now or know someone that is.

I decided I would just share it here and if you are reading this today, I hope it comforts you. If you know someone that needs comfort, please pass this along.

Take Comfort

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a

far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. I Corinthians 4:17

Do you ever feel your trials are like wearing a crown of thorns? Be faithful. As you trust in God, He will hand you a crown with stars instead. Remember to thank and praise Him.

Do you feel like you are overloaded, your hands filled with heavy cares? Be faithful. As you keep trusting in God, He will take away your heavy cares and place a harp in your grasp, so you may sing glory and honor to God for all He has done. Remember to thank and praise Him.

Hold on and do not despair. There will be a time when you look back and your trials will seem as nothing in light of the many answered prayers, miracles, and evidence of God's glory and grace.

Step by step, day by day, He takes each trial and turns it inside out. Triumphs emerge like a marvelous spiritual metamorphosis. Each of your obedient acts will be transformed to joy unspeakable!

So take heart. Stay faithful. When all is ever so dark, know for sure morning follows the night.

From When I'm Praising God

ANITA CORRINE DONIHUE

I also really enjoyed Ann Voskamp's post today.
Head over to her blog and read about What to Sing in Your Storms.

Father's Day Fun

2011-06-19T22:17:00.000-05:00

It seems that as I get older I get more sappy and sentimental on Mother's Day and Father's Day.

This Father's Day I just feel so blessed to have a heavenly Father that loves me unconditionally.

I have an earthly father that taught me all about my heavenly Father.

I have a father-in-law that taught my husband all about our heavenly Father.

And I have a husband, the father of my children, that is faithful in teaching my children about that same heavenly Father.

So thankful for all of these men in my life.

We tried to make Brad feel special by making all his favorite foods.

The morning started with homemade cinnamon rolls. After we came home from church we had pot roast and mashed potatoes. That was followed by one of his favorite desserts. He loves the big chocolate chip cookies that you can buy at the store all decorated. Well, I think they are way overpriced and don't taste very good. So we made him one ourselves.

I meant to just write the same thing over and over again until I got to the bottom of the cookie but then after writing it twice I decided to add the kids names to it.

Brad is such a good dad. He is always having fun playing with the kids. After working hard, no matter how tired he is, he is willing to go outside and play baseball or football or whatever sport it is they boys want to play. He loves to take them places, watch movies with them, and hearing about their day. Since he works nights, he'll often call them in the evening to hear about things they did during the day. But most importantly he loves to teach them about Jesus.

And I love him for being such a good dad to our children.

Missin' One

2011-06-16T22:15:00.000-05:00

Someone lost her front tooth tonight.

I pulled it at suppertime.

This same little girl must have been eating chocolate as well, since her face is dirty.

Come to think of it, it was actually Oreos.

As you can see, her other front tooth is hanging there and will be coming out soon.

Hopefully the tooth fairy remembers to pay a visit to her bedroom tonight.

Our Weekend of Camping

2011-06-14T22:51:00.000-05:00

This past weekend was our annual camping trip with some friends and also my sister and her family. The forecast for the weekend was not looking so good and our family is more of a fair-weather camping kind of family. So when they were predicting severe thunderstorms with possible hail.......let's just say, it didn't sound too fun for us. Combine that with a child who is deathly afraid of thunderstorms, a husband that had 5 hours of sleep the night before and a son that had been sick for the whole week before, needless to say, we decided to wait til Saturday morning to leave.

Because of our decision, I am happy to say that there were no storms.

When we woke up Saturday morning, Joshua was covered in hives. As I said, he had been sick all week and was on an anitibiotic. He picked that morning to have an allergic reaction. Even with that, we decided to head out. The campground isn't that far away from home and pharmacies are close by. When I took him to the pharmacy later that day, I found out that he indeed had an allergic reaction. He thought it was very cool that not only does he have an allergy but he also has the same one as his mom.

So, enough about why we went late and almost didn't go at all and here are some highlights from our 30 hour camping trip.

Our camping weekend consisted of a very long hike, with a lot of whining kids AND adults. We are more interested in planting our rear ends in a lawn chair than a 2 hour hike.

This one didn't even take a step on the hike, yet he was tired out.

When we camp, I do my best to not do dishes at all and cook as little as possible. That is why we eat things like Lunchables, chips and cookies.

Because we didn't get enough hiking in on the 2 hour (which seemed like 5 hours) hike, we decided to drive to the beach and climb a sand dune.

The good thing about climbing sand dunes IS........you get to run down.

Getting Stuff for Free/Cheap

2011-06-10T21:43:00.000-05:00

I shared awhile back about some of my grocery shopping tips, so I thought I would share some of my tips for shopping for toiletry and personal items.

I generally stick to two stores. CVS and Walgreens. Walmart is a good place to shop if you don't have a lot of time to be making small trips and/or couponing. Their prices are probably the lowest for everyday shopping. And I've explained before why I quit shopping at Target. Target is bad for my budget.

I really love CVS and Walgreens because of their Extra Bucks and Register Rewards. If you aren't sure what I'm talking about, I'll try to explain real quick. You buy an item at the marked price and after you pay, it will print out a coupon that you can use on your next purchase.

(Small tip for those of who don't know, you can use Register Rewards from Walgreens at Jewel)

Although I shop at both, I am definitely a bigger fan of CVS. Their Extra Bucks don't expire as quickly as Walgreens Register Rewards and I just seem to get better prices there. But I know plenty of people who like Walgreens better, so decide for yourself.

I know many who get free items that they will never use and then use the Extra Bucks/Register Rewards to roll over to other transactions. I try to stick to items we need or that I know we will use. I watch the sales and often have quite a stockpile going.

Things I get free or real cheap: Deodorant, shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes, body wash, mouthwash, floss, plus many more.

To show you how it works, I'll share my transactions from this week from CVS. I often do two transactions in one visit.

Transaction #1
1 Ban Deodorant 2.99
2 Deans Milk 2.99 each
1 Crest ProHealth Mouthwash 4.50
1 Clairol Nice & Easy 6.97

Used $.75 off coupon for Ban
         $1.00 off coupon for Clairol Nice & Easy
         $2.00 off coupon for Crest ProHealth

Total Out of Pocket $17.70
Received $8.50 back in Extra Bucks

Transaction #2

2 Pkg Lifesaver Peppermints 2/$3
2 Tampax 20 ct 2.99 each
2 Axe Spray 4.69 each

Used coupon for Axe Spray BOGO
         $1.50 off 2 Tampax
         Then $8.50 in Extra Bucks

Total Out of Pocket $4.96

Total Paid in both Transactions $22.66
Total Saved in both Transactions $25.69

Although I've had shopping trips that have ended better than this, I always think it's a success when what I saved is more than what I spent.

Tip: If you shop at CVS, you will need to sign up for one of their cards. You can also sign up on their website to have more coupons emailed to you.

Exciting News!!!!

2011-06-08T22:06:00.000-05:00

I'm sure you all saw the title of this post and can't wait to find out what this is all about.

I hate to disappoint you but...................It's exciting for me, maybe not for you.

My blogging started a little over three years ago and I don't know how many times I've had people ask me about just having my posts sent directly to their by email.

Maybe three.

Well I am so excited to make those three people happy.

I'm a little behind when it comes to computers. I used to be good with technology but since having kids I just don't have the time to devote to figuring stuff out.

Well-------today I figured it out. You can now go to my sidebar and sign up to have my new posts sent directly to your email.

Aren't you excited?

Once you've done it, could somebody please tell me if it worked.

Thanks, I appreciate it.

And sorry to disappoint about my not-so-exciting news that I found exciting but you are probably bored with and wish I would just end this post and quit talking about it.

Next maybe I'll link my Facebook and Twitter accounts to my blog. But I wouldn't want to get too crazy!

The View From My Chair

2011-06-07T22:15:00.001-05:00

In case you are looking for me this summer.

Normally--no one is.

But just in case.

This is where I'll be.

I'll also be trying to figure out my camera as well, so I don't have blurry hands like I do in this picture.

My camera is now out of the "auto" setting, so now I have to work at making my pictures look good.

Running Errands

2011-06-03T21:45:00.000-05:00

This week we had a few car troubles, so I spent the week without wheels. It was much needed time stuck at home so I could get some things done. Although I'm not exactly sure what I got done, mainly some yardwork.

Today, I finally got my car back. Normally I like to run my errands when Brad is home or when the kids are at school but for obvious reasons that didn't happen.

So this afternoon I got to ~~endure~~ enjoy running errands with ALL four of my kids.

First we headed to Lowe's to order some lumber. If it takes an hour to order lumber when it's not busy, I wonder how long it would actually take if they were busy. Of course, Isaac had a whole new audience and a cashier that was amused by him so he was in rare form.

After letting the fine people at Lowe's enjoy our circus, we headed off to the pool store to buy some new goggles.

After selecting our goggles and paying for them, we headed outside to find that someone had left the side door to the van wide open. Good thing the rest of the doors were locked. I guess if no one wants to steal your car when you leave the door wide open, I'm guessing I'm pretty safe and my car is mine until it dies.

We then headed to the meat market where......YEAH! there was a big bowl of suckers because we were starting to settle down and were in need of more sugar. After getting some more sugar in the kids systems, we headed to Walgreens where nothing exciting really happened except for fighting over who was going to push the cart and then half way through the store no one wanted to push the cart. Oh yea, then there is the usual whining and begging for things and me saying they weren't on sale today.

Then off to Jewel we went. Of course we had to get the big fire engine cart, which is always fun to steer. Then add another 160 lbs to it, then continue to add groceries. I'm sure you get what I mean. After loading up the cart, we headed back to the other side of the store so we could get a chicken dinner. On our way back, with four kids hanging out of a cart filled with groceries, my kids start singing Crazy Train. A nice touch to the look we already had going for us.

I normally don't let my children listen to Ozzie but they said they learned it from a movie and they only know one line which they tend to sing over and over again.

I did forget though what good helpers they are when it comes to bagging everything for me in the self checkout.

It's always fun the questions people ask. The biggest one is, "Are they all yours?" I got asked this one again today at Walgreens.

One of these times I'm going to answer back with, "No, It's just so boring to run errands with one kid so I take the neighborhood kids with me."

Then there is the lady in front of me at Jewel today that just kept looking back at me and then down at my kids and just wasn't sure what to say.

On a different not, I also have this little tidbit that has nothing to do with errands but that I thought was funny. Isaac was getting an apple out of the drawer in the fridge tonight and then proceeded to shut the door without shutting the drawer. I pointed out to him that he needed to shut the drawer and Isaac says, "I wish there was a button that we could just push and it would shut the drawer, that would be easier."

At 5 years old, my boy is too lazy to shut a drawer and wants a button that will do it for him?!

Who Did It? UPDATED

2011-06-02T21:16:00.001-05:00

I have two daughters.

One looks like me but her personality is much like her father's.

The other daughter looks more like her dad's side of the family but her personality couldn't be more like mine.

Now that you know that and if you know me and Brad at all, whose backpack do you think had this special suprise in it at the end of the school year?

UPDATED---For those of you who don't come here from my Facebook and saw the comments about who's apple this actually is, I thought I'd share. This was found in Alex's backpack and she takes after her dad. When asked to clean out her backpack, she actually left this in there. Thankfully her brother found this or it would have been there until August.

That brings a whole new meaning to "Science Experiment" and "Disgusting!"

Kindergarten Days

2011-05-31T21:22:00.000-05:00

This week will be the last week of Kindergarten for Joshua, Alex and Amanda. I am so sad to see it go but I am very much looking forward to summer vacation. No getting up and rushing out the door. Just relaxing days by the pool.

Ahhhh, who am I kidding. No matter how hard I try to relax, it never happens. But this summer will be spent enjoying my kids, even in the busyness of it all.

Here are a few things that happened at Kindergarten in the last few weeks.

The beginning of May the kids had a fundraising Marathon at their school. I was a bad mom and did not go to cheer them on. I had Bible study. That's an acceptable excuse, right?

Anyway, if they raised a certain amount of money they got to go to a roller skating party. I asked them if they wanted to go, thinking they all would say no. But to my ~~dismay~~ surprise they all wanted to go.

None of them have EVER roller skated. Thankfully Isaac did not want to try, so I only had 3 to teach.

A little tip to anyone bringing kids roller skating for the first time....DO NOT WEAR FLIP FLOPS!

I had sore toes for a week!

They all did really good and I was quite proud of them. There were some falls but overall they did great and now want to go roller skating again. Great! I can't wait! (note sarcasm)

Then, they finally celebrated 100 Days of school. It took them a while since they only go 3 days a week.

Of course I took the picture about 5 days after they celebrated it, so Alex's hat ended up a little crinkled.

When I was in Kindergarten I remember Letter People. Imagine my excitement when the kids came home and had to pick one letter to dress up as. Some things haven't changed after all these years! Finally something that my kids can ask me that I had. "Mom, did they have letter people when you were a kid?" "Why yes they did!" I'm not in the stone ages after all.

I sent the kids off as Super Socks, Cotton Candy and Horrible Hair.

After I took Amanda's picture I realized that she looked like she came from the 80's. And yes, that would make her hair horrible!

Preschool is Over

2011-05-27T15:33:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, Isaac had his last day of Preschool.

It's hard to believe that my "baby" is so big now!

His class had a little program for the last day. They recited Bible verses, poems, sang songs and acted out a few books.

Here he is sleeping while all the other kids came over and took the hats off his head. He had the snoring sounds to go with it. He did a great job! I think I might have a performer on my hands.

We ended the morning with cookies and lemonade in his classroom.

Afterwards he got to enjoy a lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings with us. I think Isaac is going to miss his time alone with Mom and Dad while the other kids are away at school.

In My Chair

2011-05-26T22:07:00.000-05:00

After cleaning up lunch on Sunday, I headed to my chair with the computer and found......

SuperPenguin and SpiderFrog.

They got kicked out.

The Crumbs on the Floor

2011-05-23T08:50:00.000-05:00

If all the beds in my house are made every morning.....

that means there is no one here to sleep in them.

If there are no toys left on the floor at the end of the day.....

that means there is no one here to play with them.

If all my dishes are done...........

that means there is no one in my house to cook for.

If there are not piles of laundry......

that means there is no one here to dirty clothes.

If I don't have crumbs stuck to my feet as I walk across my kitchen floor.....

that means there is no one in my kitchen eating.

Today I am thankful for the all the dirt, grime, crumbs, laundry, dishes around my house each day because that means I am surrounded by family to love and to love me. Family to enjoy.

My list of Gratitude continues. 550 ~ 558

piles of laundry to wash and fold

crumbs stuck to my feet

tripping over toys

beds to make

long lists of things to do

soft, warm socks on my tired feet after a long day

a nice rain so I don't have to water my new grass

a phone call from a friend and a listening ear

the excitement of a one year old at the little things in life

May you find joy in the little things today!

Why I Quit Shopping At Target

2011-05-19T22:20:00.000-05:00

I quit shopping regularly at Target a few years ago. But yesterday I went back and was reminded WHY I quit shopping there.

When Alexandra, Amanda and Joshua were born I did most of my shopping at Walmart. Basically because diapers and formula were the cheapest there.

Then when Isaac was born, I didn't always have someone to watch the kids and I had to take them with me. So I started shopping at Target because they had carts I could fit all my kids in.

Then I had a problem. I could not leave that store without spending at least $100. When I was done with diapers and formula, it was time to move on from the temptation.

Throughout the store they have clearance areas with all kinds of items with these little red tags.

C'mon! It's just not possible to pass up shoes for $3.74! And of course you can't just buy 1 pair, you must buy 4 pairs.

Don't even get me started on the Dollar Section!

I'm getting better though. Although I failed yesterday, my last 2 shopping trips to Target I actually left with only things on my list.

Target definitely has us women figured out. Oh, how I love and hate you little, red clearance tags!

Brothers Divided

2011-05-16T21:09:00.000-05:00

You Know You're a Mom When.....

2011-05-13T21:35:00.000-05:00

............your centerpiece consists of Smencils.

(If you're not sure what a Smencil is, it is a colored pencil that is scented.)

So Thankful For My Family

2011-05-09T21:38:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Mother's Day. Although it is a day where we all celebrate Mom's, for me it's a time of thanksgiving.

I'm reminded of all the faithful mother's that have gone before us all. Who spent much time in prayer, teaching their children, and caring for their children. I'm thankful for my mom and all she taught me. I'm thankful for my mother-in-law and how she raised her son.

Then I am also thankful that God made me a mom. There was a time in my life that I wasn't sure that was going to happen but God has blessed me with 4 beautiful children. I am so thankful for each one of them and each moment with them. I am thankful that God has called me to be their mom and has given me this great responsibility of teaching them, caring for them and loving them.

I know that I have already made and will make many more mistakes along the way but I am thankful for a God who has given His grace to me as a mom and walks along side me through all the challenges. I am also thankful for a godly husband that supports me and loves me as well.

My family knows that the 2 things I really want for Mother's Day is time with them and a bouquet of tulips.

I got both.

Here is a picture of the gifts I received from each one of my kids. The joy they had in the days before giving me their gifts was absolutely priceless. They all found a secret hiding place so that I wouldn't find them and then woke up that morning so excited to give them to me.

Here is close-up of Isaac's gift to me so that you can see what it says.

My heart overflows with thankfulness and joy at the great gift these children are to me.

Checking my Priorities

2011-05-05T22:00:00.000-05:00

Sometimes my kitchen sink looks like this.

And sometimes it looks like this.

I'd share a picture of what it looks like without any dishes but it is a rare sight.

One thing I have to do every week is weigh my priorities and as you can see, dishes are low on the list OR just always on my list.

We are all busy and it's easy to say 'I don't have time.' But what don't you have time for?

Is it getting into God's word?

Spending time with your husband?

Teaching your children?

Helping others?

Building relationships?

As you make your 'to do' list remember to prioritize. Make sure that what is most important isn't crowded out by dishes that are always done, floors that are spotless, time on Facebook or Twitter, and watching your favorite TV show.

Beauty King

2011-05-04T21:40:00.000-05:00

Mini Caramel Pull-Apart Rolls

2011-05-03T21:19:00.000-05:00

If you love Monkey Bread like my family does, you will love this recipe. I found it in my 2011 Pillsbury Calendar. Monkey Bread is easy to make but this is even easier!

It gives everyone their own little serving of monkey bread.

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 cans (7.5 oz each) Pillsbury regrigerated biscuits

Directions

1) Grease or spray 12 regular-size muffin cups. Mix butter and brown sugar; spoon 1 tablespoon mixture into each muffin cup.

2) Mix granulated sugar and cinnamon in 1-gallon bag. Separate dough into 20 biscuits; cut each in 6 pieces. Shake pieces in bag to coat. Place 10 pieces in each muffin cup.

3) Bake at 350F for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 1 minute; turn upside down. Serve warm.

My Gratitude Continues......535-549

2011-05-02T09:00:00.000-05:00

Eucharist [thanksgiving] is the only full and real response of man to God's creation, redemption, and gift of heaven.

Alexander Schmemann

The Cross

The Resurrection

Death is swallowed up in victory! (I Corinthians 15:55)

New Dresses for Easter

Curls in the girls hair Easter morning

Weeds Picked

Flowering trees

Helping my kids spell words to write in their gratitude journals

Freshly cut grass

A filthy, dirty little boy after hours of playing outside

Cleaning the house, yard, and garage & getting rid of stuff

Van full of stuff to the thrift store

Garbage cans full of things cleaned out

Growing plants and some not growing so well

Seeing on a receipt that Brad use a coupon