At the beginning of the year I decided to have a contest and really push the Box Tops and Campbell Soup Labels. I was surprised with how excited the students were and how well the did!

I broke the contest into 2 parts. The 1st part ending right before Christmas break. The reward for the 1st part was a pizza party in which I would make homemade pizza for the class that won.

At 1 point in the contest there was only 1 point difference between the 1st place and 2nd place.

That really lit the fire under them, and the Box Tops and Campbell Soup labels kept pouring in!!

And just so you know.....it is time consuming counting all those little suckers!!!

And wouldn't you know that the BIGGEST class in school would win the contest!!!! ;)

It took me 2 days to make the pizza dough for 35 kids. I made them each their own pizza, which I thought would be fun for the kids.

I lined up all the pizza toppings and let them create their own delicious pizza.

I think that they enjoyed themselves!!

I know that I enjoyed watching them. I just stood back with camera in hand and watched them.

We only had 1 mishap!

Isaac's pizza slid right off his tray and landed right on the floor!!

:)

I was really proud of the 6th grade class! They did a super job!

I am curious to see who will win the Ice Cream Sundae party for the 2nd semester.

I think that there was more then 1 kid jealous of the 6th graders!!

Daddy's 35th Birthday....

Happy 35th Birthday to my HUNNY!!!

The kids thought we had off for Daddy's birthday and not for MLK day!!! :)

After bribing.....I mean rewarding.....my kids with helping me make a cake if they helped pick the house up.....which was mainly their stuff....it was finally cake making time!!! (How do you like that run on sentence??)


I thought it was funny that the kids immediately put on an apron. I have many new aprons for my ever growing apron collection!



The kids took it upon themselves to make Daddy some cards also. When I saw the finished product, my heart melted! They put such love in these cards.

Dada's card.......



I love how much hair he has in this 1!!! ;)

And Brother's card.....

I LOVE Brothers picture of his Dad!

I made Hunny's requested meal of Lasagna. Which we ate by candlelight. (the kids loved that! Hunny....not so much. He couldn't see. I think he might be getting old)

I think Brother might have been even more excited about the lasagna!! He had 2 helpings!

They wanted to decorate the cake all by themselves.

I forgot to pick up a #3 candle at the store....Brother said.....what a shame....everyone needs a candle on their birthday.

So they found every single candle in the drawer and tried to make it to 35. They were 6 short.

So they improvised..... they made a three out of all the other candles and put the 5 in the middle. :)

It was beautiful.

Even though there was chocolate all over the counter and candles on the floor.

They had a blast, and made Daddy feel special.

My little pyro wanted to light the candles. I thought maybe I should be the 1 to do it!

My favorite picture!!

Even though Brother cut off Daddy's head. :)


I think Daddy had a good birthday.....he even told me that I over did myself today. AND he helped clean up the dishes without me even asking!!!

The cleanness of my hands

Psalm 18-21-24
For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me.
I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity.
Therefore hath the LORD recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.

These verses hit me so hard this morning.

Every single day I try so hard to please my God. To honor and glorify, and obey HIM.

But don't we all have those secret sins? Those things we KNOW we shouldn't do but are so hard for us to give up.

When you break it down, it just comes to disobedience. You wanting your will above what God has for you.

Maybe your sin isn't necessarily even "WRONG" in man's eyes, but you know that God doesn't want you to do it, and so therefore it is WRONG in the eyes of God.

And quite frankly, isn't that all we have to worry about?

Pleasing God and not man?

Vs. 23 ~ I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity.

WOW!!!

Its a hard thing to say....I am upright before him, and have kept myself from my sin.

In vs 24 it talks about the cleanness of my hands.

When I think about the cleanness of my hands I think about lifting my open hands to God. Showing him that I am nothing without him, that I want to give him ALL.

But for those with that "secret" sin, it is very hard to know that your hands are clean before God and to KEEP our hands clean. Especially when you have to battle DAILY to give up that sin. Sometimes those sins are ever before us.

Before you get all pious and start judging me and wondering oh my...what has she done....think about your own life. What is it that you are struggling with to hand over to God, and to tell him to just take this issue, it's yours God.... I want better for my life. I want to be able to walk righteously before you.

That is my prayer. It is my desire to have clean hands. To be able to lift up my hands to God and be able to say I have kept myself from my iniquity.

Dada drew this picture at school last week. I thought it was adorable.

Can you guess who it is??

It's CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS!!!

Can you see the resemblance??

Happy 2010.

New Years Eve was spent at the Wolf's house.(they had a little paparazzi moment in this picture, there were about 4 camera's pointed at them. it was quite funny)

The kids ran around and played.

Some of the little ones actually fell asleep amongst the kids running and screaming.






The kids were so excited to countdown the New Year. They were watching the ball drop in New York and thought is was really cool.

The mom's realized how much we miss Dick Clark doing the countdown. Carson Daly just doesn't cut it.


May you have a BlEsSed NeW YeAr.....

Tuesday night I was finally able to go out with the girls. We went to 1 of my favorite restaurants, the Texas Roadhouse. YUMMY!!!!




Beth got me pink gloves, a pink scrub brush, sunglasses, and some necklaces. Of course the girls told the waiter that it was my birthday, so I had to ride the saddle and they MADE me put all my gifts on.


I think we just had a great time together. We laughed and laughed and laughed.






After dinner we ran over to Gordmans. We roamed the store and picked out something lovely for our.....home.

My favorite quote that I have heard recently is......

What I lack in young age, I make up in immaturity.

WE HAD FUN.

And the best part is that no one was arrested......for all those that were worried. ;)

My 30

30 Lessons I have learned in 30 years......

1. To eat and drink on my own.

2. To use the bathroom. YAH me!!!

3. There are things you can only tell your best friend. I so remember all the nights spent with Erica talking till the wee hours of the night about our deepest darkest thoughts and secrets.........while thinking the ceiling fan in the hallway was a witch.

What I wouldn't give for 1 of those nights.

4. All those people that I tried so hard to impress in school don't mean a thing to me now.

5. Boys......I wish that I had spent more time with my girlfriends then fretting about stupid boys who never mattered. I should have listened to my mother.

6. High school is meant to be spent with friends and not on boys. I have rarely seen a high school romance blossom into lasting love. (My relationship with my husband is definitely not the norm.)Girls.....don't waste your time.....spend it with your girlfriends. You will never regret that. True love will hit you when you least expect it.

7. Seek to know Christ above all else. Not to just know his name, but to know who he is.

8. When looking for a husband, search for a man that seeks Christ above all else.

9. Wait for the man who melts your heart, and makes you weak in the knees. One that treats you right and will love you through thick and thin. Because those days will come.

10. Know that LoVe, the good kind of LoVe is a choice. Those happy, heart melting feelings will fade. You have to choose to love them daily. Some days are easier then others.

11. Listen when the Holy Spirit speaks to you.

12. The decision to have kids shouldn't be made on the feelings of wanting a baby. Babies grow into kids. Kids are hard. Decisions for kids are tough ones to make. But trust that the Lord will lead you to make the right decisions.

13. Enjoy your babies. Even though you have hard....really hard days, know that those days pass so quickly. You will blink and they will have grown. I should have listened to my MIL.

14. Love your Husband. Let him know that you appreciate all that he does for you. Even the smallest most insignificant thing is appreciated.

15. Love your children. Let them know how much you love them.

LoVe = TiMe

Giving your time is hard.

16. Put your family 1st. This one can be hard. Really hard at times. Put its worth it in the end.

17. Spend time in God's word daily. This is a choice you make every single day. But the word of God is the breath of life.

18. Hard times will come. It's not because we are being punished for something, they just come because that's life. If you stay in the word of God, the hard times seem less......hard.

19. In-laws......I think I am still learning this 1.

20. Friends. You need them. They will let you know when you are normal and when you are nuts.

21. Friends will change through the years. Find the ones that will last through the hard times, and keep them.

They will be the ones to know when you need them to sit with you into the wee hours of the early morning when your baby is laying in a hospital bed. They won't ask, they will just do.

22. Make time for those friends.

23. Find what you love to do and do it with all your heart.

24. Happiness is determined by your happenings. Search for joy, not happiness. True Joy comes from Christ. And will last through the hard times.

25. Parenting is hard. Our mothers aren't perfect and neither are we. Try to do your best and the leave the rest up to God.

26. Taming the tongue is a lot harder to do then it sounds. But never give up on it.

27. Never put yourself above others.

28. Don't be fake or judgemental. People will be able to tell and won't like you.

29. What goes around comes around. The sooner you learn this the better. This will make treating others well easier.

30. Life goes so much smoother when you realize that God is in control of all. Even when you are in a terrible accident or your house has been broken into 4 times. He is your protector and nothing happens without him knowing.

Here's and extra 1.

31. God's timing is perfect. There is a time for everything. For life and for death. Trust him.

1 more just for fun....

32. What you wear doesn't matter as much as what is in your heart. Get your heart right with God and the rest will follow. It's all between you and God not between you and men, or in most cases.....judgemental women.