A bouquet of flowers PART 2

Tonight I went to a Pampered Chef party in support of 1 of my friends Micaela. When I got home, this was waiting for me on the counter! One of my favorite flowers is the tulip.

The thought touched my heart, and I am so thankful for her kindness to me.

2 Cor 9:6 immediately came to my mind ~ But this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

This verse is coming true in almost every aspect of my life.

Galatians 6:7b ~ for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Prov 18:24a ~ a man that hath friends must shew himself friendly,

I have been blessed with some great friends. Thank you for this kind gesture tonight!! :)

A bouquet of flowers

Yesterday, Elisa was able to come over after school and play with Dada for a while before we left for church.
I went to check on them and I found Dada being the maid. She was scrubbing the table with sandy, dirty water!! :) I really had to fight being upset b/c it was almost time to leave for church and she was playing in dirty water!! Then I saw how cute they looked and I decided to grab my camera instead of yelling. They were just playing after all, they didn't MEAN to be naughty.....right!?!

They each had a bouquet of flowers picked. They also picked grass and had a tablecloth of grass for the picnic table. Again, I had to refrain from yelling, I mean, they were picking MY flowers, out of MY flowers beds!! (Can you see the Lily of the Valley!?! You should smell them!!) They were having such a grand ol' time!! How could I be mad?

Did you ever pick a bouquet of dandelions for your Mother, thinking they were the prettiest things ever?! Thinking that she was the best mother ever, and deserved the most beautiful FLOWER?!?!



It was so cute to see their IMAGINATIONS at work. So many times I have felt like kids these days don't use their imaginations! I feel like they just don't know how to play anymore. So I LoVe to see my kids playing. Even if they are messing up my flowers, and pulling out our grass! At least they are playing and not cooped up in doors watching tv, or playing video games!!


I TOTALLY ADORE this picture. I love the look on Dada's face.



I'm really noticing a difference in their personalities lately. Elisa is definitely more domineering, and Dada just wants to keep the peace.
These girls are so special, I know that I have said it before, but I am so glad that they have each other. I wonder what they will be like when they get older.

A HiKe in the WoOdS

Tonight, Hunny and I took the kids on a hike at a local park. It was a nice day out, and I have just wanted to spend some time outside. It's great jeans and sweatshirt weather here!!

Hunny and Brother walked on ahead of Dada and I. They were laughing and talking about who knows what......Probably Indians!! :)

Dada wanted to wear her trusty cowboy boots. It was really muddy in spots tonight, and she wanted to tromp through the mud, but didn't want to get her pants wet, so she put her pant legs into her boots and off she went!!

There were some beautiful flowers already blooming.

We had to pick some for a bouquet for our table. They are currently sitting in a basket on my table. :)

I absolutely LoVe this picture of Dada. I think it is 1 of my all time favorites.

Brother was more interested in walking with Dad, then getting his picture taken with Mom!!

We walked through the trails, to a different park where there are a ton of horses. The kids were so excited to feed them hay. I think next time we go, we will have to pack some carrots and apples.
The hay barn was open tonight, and the kids wanted to go exploring. As soon as Brother saw the tractors he forgot all about the ceiling high hay stacks.
The horses were so friendly tonight.
Dada was all about the pictures.

Brother and Hunny found a great pine tree to climb. Dada wanted to climb it but I was a chicken and thought she would slip and fall with her cowboy boots on. The tree was huge, and they got quite high before they climbed back down.




We really had a nice time tonight as a family. Hunny and I both commented about how we have to do that again. It was just so nice to go "get lost" in the woods.

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I had some ripe bananas, so when we got home, I threw together some Banana Walnut Bread......my FaVoRiTe!! It is now smelling so good. It is almost done, and I cannot wait to spread some butter on it, eat a slice.


Banana Walnut Bread
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t cinnamon ( I never measure this, I usually just pour it, I like the taste!!)
1 egg
1 c mashed bananas - about 3
3/4 c sugar
1/4 c oil
1/2 c walnuts

Grease bread pan

In med bowl ~ combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and a pinch of salt

In another bowl ~ combine the egg, bananas, sugar and oil.

Combine the banana mixture with the flour mixture till moistened. Fold in nuts.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 50 min.

Enjoy!!

Selfishness

The Lord is the only one who can change a heart from one of selfishness, to one of generosity. And I found, that the more I let God make my heart gentle and generous, the happier I became, and full of peace. It's entirely an ATTITUDE thing.... I could give STUFF with a stinky attitude all day long, however, it's the heart that counts, as always.
This became "my verse" this weekend: "Give and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured unto you again." Luke 6:38
And, this one. "But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully." 2 Corinthians 9:6


This was taken from my internet friend Shanda this afternoon. Something that I fight on a daily basis is selfishness. Withholding my time from my family. It is the 1 thing that Hunny can't stand about me. He wants my time.

While it's a struggle for me to give freely of myself, I know that with God's help, I can change that. When I read this today, it spoke volumes to my soul.

The Ladies Tea / Mother~Daughter Banquet of 2009

Saturday afternoon Dada and I went to our annual Ladies Tea. Dada was the one who has been looking forward to the Tea. Here Dada is with some of the other little girls at the tea.

( Can you tell that Dada took this picture? ) We sat with Micaela and her mom. I have so enjoyed getting to know Micaela since they started coming to our church.

After we ate, we played a game where you had to grab your purse and when Sherrie called out an item, you had to look for the said item. If you had the item, you got so many points. Since I had just cleaned out my purse, I had no items. I think that this bothered Dada since during the devotional Dada wrote me this note. I got all choked up when I read it. I already put it in my Bible, where I keep little things that are special to me.

I love her very mush to!!!

I also sat by Heather and Victoria. We had a nice time of fellowship. But then again, when don't we?!?!
I was disappointed that I couldn't sit with my own sister at the tea. But it was nice that she was there.
Emily and her adorable baby Addyson was there. It was such a pleasure to finally meet little Addyson. Doesn't Emily look amazing?!?! I have known Emily since she was in 7th grade. She has grown up into such a beautiful and graceful women, inside and out.

What a special time Emily has with her little baby now. I know that I never ever believed women when they told me how quick it went. It seemed like one day just blended into the next one. But then you blink and they are walking and talking and now she's almost done with 2nd grade. It sort of makes me sad to think about. I can still see and feel little Dada wrapped up in my arms. Warm and happy. How is it that she "grew up" over night? My mother in law told me that time goes even faster when they are in school. I think that she is right. I encourage everyone, but especially me to cherish these precious days. Soon, I will look back at this picture and think of this day and say how little she was.

I really desire to have a good relationship with her. She is such a happy, beautiful little girl. I look forward to watching her grow, but still wish that I could rock her in my arms once more.

A good weekend

Friday night was spent with Kevin and Heather. We had a cookout at their house, then went to a local park, and then came to our house for a bonfire.

I think the high lite of the night for me was at the park when we were walking by the creek. Everyone was just so happy to be there. The kids were content just running along, or stopping and throwing rocks in.

I especially enjoyed hearing Kevin and Hunny tell the kids stories about the "Indians" living in the woods. Kevin would find something along the water and make up stories about what the "Indians" did with with said item.
Logan was the most impressed by his stories. Kevin told him that this was something that the "Indians" used this item to cut down trees! :)

I do love this man!!!

Saturday night was spent with Tancy and JP. We went over to there house, and had some yummy nachos. If you know anything about me, you know I LOVE nachos!! :)

Tancy and I enjoyed listening to Hunny and Jp play this video game called LIPS.
It is sort of like Karaoke on the X Box. It was all out hysterical to listen to!!

The kids enjoyed playing together. Our families haven't been able to spend a lot of time together this school year. It was nice to get together.

A Pampered Chef party

My friend Tammy, is now selling Pampered Chef. She asked me to do a party for her in her 1st 30 days, and I was more then happy to do it.

I only had 6 people, but that's ok. We had a great time.

After the party, we gathered around the table to eat. What's a party without a little food right?!?! We had a BLAST!! Things got a little rowdy once the "moms" left.

I don't even know what to say about these pictures. I think we were just laughing to hard.

Beth quickly learned you should never put a fork by your eyes. ;)


Who says you need alcohol to have a good time?!?!



I was sad that Joanna didn't get in this pict. She had already left when I had the idea to take it.



I had a great time of laughing and laughing. My sides hurt after everyone left.

A grown up room

I so do not have the time to do be blogging right now. But it is QuIeT in my house, and I just needed to blog. Hunny is doing some work with Kevin today, Dada is at school, and Brother wanted to go to Grandma and Grandpa S. house. He honestly couldn't wait to go over!! I should be getting ready for my Pampered Chef party tonight, but again, I just wanted to blog for a minute.

Hunny was been working hard for me lately here at the house. THANK YOU HUNNY!!!! We have been doing a lot of organizing, and rearranging this week. The kids love sharing a room. They both had their own rooms, and would beg us to spend the night in the other's room. So we finally just put them in the same room. Which they LOVE!!!

If you have ever been to our house, you know that our room was in a very weird space. It is actually a bedroom, but it looks more like a family room. If you also know anything about me, you know 1 of my problems with this room is that there is no door to the room. Now, while we could spend the $500-$600 to put a new door in, and I would have loved to, well, to be honest, we just don't have money for a luxury like a door!! ;) And if you are interested, yes, this was a little complicated sometimes. Imagine, you, being a happily married couple and not having a door on your room!! Ok, moving on. :) Trust me, I could go on and on about not having a door.

Anyway, since the kids are now sharing a room, we moved into Brother's room. Which I am thrilled about. Not only does it have a door, it has a LoCk. Imagine, a door with a lock!!!!

Brother's room was a dark navy bluish color on the bottom, and tan on the top with a border that went around in the middle. Well, the border was pulled half off (thanks Eli). So we decided to paint the bottom half chocolate brown, and put a chair rail up. I am madly in LoVe with it.

I also got new curtains. Which again, I am MADLY in LoVe with.

I feel so grown up now. I have a real room!!! With a door that locks!!!


Now our next project is to do get some paint for the kids room. Brother isn't thrilled about being in a pink and purple room.

Turkeys and Letters

Look what was in our yard this morning! Remember last year when they were on the patio?? Look how big they have gotten! I don't know if they are the same ones, but I am kinda assuming that they are.



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Dada has been learning how to write letters at school. She wrote this to her teacher. I love the part where it says that she hopes she doesn't dy!!!! (I had to giggle how she spelled die.) BTW, I tried to fix the picture so you could see it better, but it didn't work. I don't know why. So sorry if you get a crick in your neck!!

Wisconsin, The Music Man, and the Zoo.

What a busy weekend we had! My friend Jan and I took, Brother, Ethan and Micah to Wisconsin to visit Jan's daughter, Sarah, and my sister Janelle at college. We also had plans to see the play The Music Man. We also took Liz and Rebekah. 2 of Sarah's friends. They wanted to visit the college since it was college days.

We left Friday morning and arrived just in time to eat lunch with Janelle at the cafeteria. The boys loved being able to pick out just what they wanted to eat.


After lunch, while Janelle had to go back to class, Jan and I took the kids to the park.


The park sat next to a little creek. The boys spent a good hour picking up rocks and chucking them across the creek.

There was also this awesome little water tower at the park. The boys had fun exploring it.

Jan felt bad that the sun was in Ethan's eyes. :(

They also enjoyed standing on the bridge watching the water flow underneath them. They also chucked more rocks from the bridge into the water!!

After the park, it was back to the college to meet Janelle. She showed the boys her office, and showed them how her stethoscope works.

After that we were off to Janelle's place to get ready for the play and then to grab a quick bite to eat.

We ate at Taco Bell, where Brother promptly made a huge mess out of his tacos, but thoroughly enjoyed every bite of it.

Aren't they cute!?!?

We were a little early getting to the play so we took the boys on a walk around the campus, and ended up at the gazebo.

I don't think that Brother knew quite what to expect at a play. In 1 scene, there was a little firecracker let off, the actress jumped and everyone laughed. Brother thought it was hilarious. He turned to me and asked if we could rewind it. There was also another scene where there was a footbridge set up on stage. The lights were making reflections on the wall, to make it look like water. Brother turned to me and said....wouldn't it be funny if he fell into the water?!?!?!
On the way home, we said, that was weird. Janelle asked him what was weird, and he goes....that, what we just did. That was weird.


So I don't know if he will like to go to another play. He will have to see.

I think this turned out really well!!


Saturday, Janelle and I took the boys to the zoo.

Micah couldn't wait to see the giraffe's.

This is my favorite picture from the zoo. The tiger was just pacing back and forth in his cage. Doesn't it look like the boys are leaning right on the tiger?!?!

Micah thought that the tropical bird house stunk. It kinda did!!

Everytime we go to the zoo, we always get a picture on this lion. This time was no exception.








I had a great weekend. I enjoyed spending time with Janelle. Please pray for her as she is going on a medical missions trip to Peru. NOT GUAM like I have been telling everyone. :) She still needs to raise support for her trip. Please pray that the support comes in. If you feel led to give her money for her trip, let me know, and I will either give you her contact info, or I could get it to her myself. I know she would appreciate it. Please pray for safety and good health.