My blue eyed babies

Ethan conquered a fear

2011-12-07T22:00:00.003-05:00

Abriella and Abraham had the privilege of living in Vermont. When you live in Vermont on a large piece of land you have a riding lawn mower "tractor". Sam and I would mow the lawn holding one of them and they would almost always fall asleep in our arms :). They have both always LOVED tractors!
Ethan on the other hand never had that and has had a fear of them. We recently bought a riding lawn mower and every time Sam started it up he would run to the porch and not go back down until the mowing was done.

He finally realized it was not going to kill him and if his brother and sister were having so much fun then maybe he should give it a try.

He's had a great time ever since!

A sand hill

2011-12-07T21:35:00.003-05:00

These pictures were taken in September but I'm missing the beach so I thought I would still post them :). The kids played on this sand hill for a very long time

I miss Abraham's long hair after seeing these pictures

School is in full swing

2011-10-05T07:33:00.001-04:00

And we are having a great time this year!

3 Generations went to the Zoo!

2011-09-27T21:28:00.003-04:00

Gran Meme got to go to the zoo with 3 of her grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren (and me). It was a wonderful time!

An Ice Cream Social for a wonderful Aunt

2011-09-27T21:04:00.005-04:00

Aunt Madaline (top right) lives in a home so while we were in Rhode Island we all went there and had an Ice Cream social. These three sisters always make me smile :)

Getting a family shot is always comical. We didn't get any with everyone looking at the camera :)

And I got to hang out with my wonderful, silly, crazy sister in law who is going to hate me for posting this picture :) But that's ok because I love her!

A trip to Vermont

2011-09-25T07:17:00.005-04:00

We had not been back to Vermont since we left 3 years ago. So during our trip to Rhode Island this August we decided to spend a couple days and go to Vermont to see some friends. Our great friends Kevin & Holly let us stay with them, we love making ourselves at home with them and had a great time catching up (so sad I didn't get any pictures with them).

One of the days we drove around and enjoyed things we used to enjoy when we lived there. We walked down to the Burlington Water front and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

Then we walked around Church St. and ate lunch at our favorite spot, The Red Onion.

It's hard to believe that I was 8 month pregnant with Ethan when we moved from Vermont.

Then we drove to one of Vermonts beautiful rivers and spent a couple hours there. Relaxing at a river with no plans is one of the most peaceful things a family can do. We had such a great time.

Ethan, sadly, has never walked along a river. He did great and had a wonderful time.

Sam and the kids built a small damn, found weird looking bugs, picked up sticks, threw rocks & played in the water.

I enjoyed watching my family and walking along the rocks.

And then..... my crazy family took their clothes off and posed for some crazy pictures :) Only in the middle of nowhere can you do things like this :)

And these people are dear friends! A trip to Vermont would never be complete with out seeing them. Sam worked for Paul & Roberta's bakery when he was a kid. So we went to their resturant before it opened and made ourselves at home. It was wonderful catching up with them.

We finished our day with some other wonderful friends that had us over for dinner (which I also didn't get a picture of). And then a BBQ the next day with some friends from the Fire Department.

I am glad we do not live there any more but that is only because of the winters. Everything else about Vermont I LOVE and do miss. It was wonderful to be back.

Boating with family

2011-09-25T07:03:00.004-04:00

While our niece and nephews were here Sam's parents came down also. So we went out on the boat again and had a wonderful time. Javen, this handsome 13 year old did amazing on the tube. Sam had to work hard to get him thrown off that tube :) (Don't tell his mom though) He loved it !

Lena loved it and never wanted to get off so we convinced Meme to go with her. The only thing about these two is you had to go slow :) It was amazing we even got Meme out there.

Then they got to comfortable with that speed and Meme decided to show off a little. We all had a great laugh when the tube sunk shortly after this picture because we were going to slow!

Sorry!

2011-08-06T22:22:00.001-04:00

Sorry about all the horrible looking pictures!

Blogger is butchering them some how and making them look super grainy.

I haven't had the time to figure it all out

but wanted to get some pictures uploaded anyways

The Lemonade Stand

2011-08-06T21:58:00.005-04:00

After dancing in a southern style rain storm the kids got right to work making chocolate chip cookies and Javen put together a sign for the table.

A Lemonade & Cookies sign that is! They had been asking me for 2 days now if they could put together a lemonade stand so I let them do just that today.

Before I took them to the store to get the stuff I told the girls they needed to make a list of everything they needed and I also wanted to know what they wanted to do with the money they made. They decided they wanted to give the money to a charity.

The girls stayed out there for about 3 hours. It was hot and humid but they didn't care. They sat in the shade until they saw a car, then they would get up and jump up and down with the same excitement every time. The smiles on their face when someone stopped was priceless.

I had talked to Abriella last week about how there are places in Africa that do not have clean water and people get very sick. Well, during the preparations they must have talked about that and decided they wanted to give the money to a charity that helped get clean water to Africa. They earned $28 and they are so excited to send it away!

After a while the boys joined them with cups of water in hand to pour on them. It was a much needed water fight to cool everyone off.

And what fun is a day without some bucket wearing boys :)

The cousins are here for a visit!

2011-08-06T21:53:00.002-04:00

On Wednesday morning we drove to Raleigh and picked up 3 amazing kids from Rhode Island. We have been wanting them to come for a visit for a while now and Sally finally let them come :). It has been full of fun! Chocolate chip cookies, boating, beach, aquarium, Lemonade stand, and lots and lots of giggling. I hope they are having as much fun as I am :)

He got her top tooth knocked out!

2011-08-06T21:35:00.004-04:00

Her top tooth has been loose for a little while but wasn't going to be coming out any time soon. She is full of drama when it comes to loosing teeth, they pretty much have to fall out. Yesterday we were at the aquarium and she was playing with a friends kiddo. That kiddo jumped up and slammed his head into her mouth and out popped her tooth! There was blood and there was crying but it was out just like that!

I told her I was going to knock the rest of her teeth out like that, there was such less drama involved :)

6 weeks flew by

2011-08-06T21:02:00.006-04:00

We had a good 6 weeks with our little Belarusian child Masha. There were many ups and down but we are very thankful for our time with her. She went back home on Aug. 2nd. It was so hard to say goodbye, Abriella and I do not do good at that :(. I miss her even though I was ready to get back to normal. I miss her little voice and the way she said "hi mommy" when she saw me. I don't know what next year will be like and if we will bring her back, I just pray that her & her family were blessed by her time with us

This is Masha (right) with her twin sister that also came but stayed with a different family.

All the kids got to participate in a surf camp. They did a great job and had a ton of fun!

Our Summer addition

2011-07-09T21:12:00.002-04:00

This summer we have been blessed to add a 7 year old girl to our family for 6 weeks. She is here through a program to get relief from her land that was highly affected by Chernobyl.

She has been with us for a little over 2 weeks now and we have been truly blessed. She speaks very little english but that does not stop her from jumping into anything we are doing and it definitely doesn't stop her and Abriella from talking all day long :). They play and talk to each other as if they don't even notice they don't understand each other, I love it!

Her first time on a boat, she loves it!

Her first time roasting marshmellows

Her first time playing in the ocean, just look at that smile

She is such a sweet girl and we are very thankful for this time we have with her!

Hatching Chickens

2011-06-09T14:17:00.003-04:00

Through our home school group we were presented with an opportunity to hatch our own chicken eggs. We have been wanting hens for a while now so we could have fresh eggs so we jumped at the opportunity.

We were handed an incubator, 12 different eggs, and instructions. We had to keep the temperature and humidity inside the incubator at specific temps and we had to turn the eggs 3x a day. We ended up cheating and borrowed a automatic egg turner though :)

After candling them around day 14 I though we were only going to get one chicken. 4 eggs were not fertilized and the other ones I just wasn't sure about. One day 19, after the kids went to bed, I was at the computer and started hearing noises. I finally realized that the eggs were chirping! It was amazing!

The next morning there were a couple eggs with a small hole then by the time the kids woke up the first egg looked like this.....

We watched the whole hatching process...

When the chick finally came out it flopped all over the incubator finally resting on its friends...

It was amazing hearing all the chirps coming from the eggs and seeing the chicks find the other eggs holes. It seemed like they wanted to help each other.

It ended up being an all day event. The last one was hatched around 9pm.

They stayed in the incubator for about 36hrs until they were completely dry and fluffy and we put them in their temporary home until they are old enough to go in their coop.

It was an amazing experience, and they are so stinkin cute right now!

David Crowder Band

2011-06-09T14:10:00.002-04:00

We are huge David Crowder Band fans around here. I came home last week and Sam had a sad face, the band will be doing their last record & tour next year, they will be no more. So we drove 3 hours last week to watch them & we will make sure to go to one of their last concerts too.

Ethan & his music

2011-04-06T21:22:00.003-04:00

Ethan has a great love for music. No one in this family is musically talented and Abriella & Abe both went through a phase of loving instruments but nothing like our Ethan. He has had this thing for guitars & drums for quite a while now.

I don't have a picture of him with his guitar but this kid has the perfect stance and gets his head moving just like the pros :). Or if he's in the yard he will grab a stick or bat and use it as a guitar, anything works :)

Or sometimes he grabs his drum. And then he always finds another "drum" (usually a cup turned upside down) and he grabs himself 2 markers or pencils and some kind of seat. He then plays! or he sits and watches (when we have a video on)

He even sings!

I have tried soooo many times to get a video of what he does and the little stinker always catches me and will not perform! One day though, he will bless me and I will be able to show you all how wonderfully precious it is!

The kids Camping

2011-04-06T21:10:00.004-04:00

1st camping trip of 2011

2011-04-01T13:53:00.006-04:00

A couple weeks ago when the weather was beautiful we planned a 2 night camping trip to Jones Lake. A couple days before we were to go I came down with a horrible cold and when looking at the weather it was supposed to rain & thunderstorm the whole time were were there. But who listens to the weather report, they are not correct that often right :). So the morning we were packing up and the weather was fine and my cold was on the way out so we kept on with the plans. As we were getting buckled up though it started to sprinkle and by the time we were 20 min into the hour drive it was pouring down rain. Sam & I kept looking at each other laughing, what should we do. Neither of us felt strongly either way. Sam made the decision to turn around and we would go the next day, but as we did the kids said "No, we don't want to go home, we want to go camping." We sat on the side of the road for about 10 min discussing it and watching the sheets of rain coming down sideways and finally said (with a smile) why not, its just rain :). And we got back on the road. We prayed for safe travels and we prayed that the rain would slow down just enough for us to be able to get the tent up. We were excited for the adventure and knew we would have fun no matter what. By the time we got there the rain had slowed down, Sam & I put up this tarp up & when it was time to set up the tent the rain had completely stopped. Abriella was a great helper with the tent, Ethan was already peeing on a tree, and we sat down for a snack and praised God for no rain! Sam got right to work with the fire and the kids got right to playing & riding their bikes ( no other crazy people were camping this week). Then we had my favorite camping dinner, Chili! It was a great warming dinner on a cold evening! All the kids wanted to do was ride their bikes. It was so much fun watching the 3 of them able to do the same thing together. I'm loving their ages! Still, there was no rain! We had hot chocolates by the fire (w/ coconut milk, Yum), read a bible story and went to bed. It was a great night with lots of giggles and finally sleep, together as a family! The next morning was COLD. But Sam got the fire going, coffee made, and hot water boiling for warm oatmeal (abriella's favorite camping breakfast). After clean up & getting dressed we got right back into bike riding! I brought games, coloring stuff, & books but all we did was go on bike rides. It never got old, it was perfect! As we were heading back to camp from one of our bike rides for dinner it started to sprinkle and by time dinner was done the rain was coming down hard. We huddled under the tarp and ate. Something inside me got all worked up and I really felt like we should pack up & leave. The kids of course didn't want to but the rain kept coming down harder. Puddles were forming around the tent & the kids were drenched from playing in the rain. I finally said, nope, we need to pack it up. So with smiles on our face, that is what we did. The kids played in the puddles while we packed everything up as quick as we could. Everything was soaked :) I am so thankful we didn't turn around that 1st night! We had a WONDERFUL time! I think God was looking down on us in the truck thinking we were absolutely nuts for not turning around so He showed us grace & stopped the rain that night :). I'm going to do some posts on the kids camping but thought I would share what the mama & papa loved during this trip. This was the 1st time all 3 of them were able to bike ride together (more about this in their posts) and it was so much fun to see. We love having 3 children and it was amazing to see Ethan trying to keep up, them playing great together, & Abriella doing so great without training wheels. We enjoyed just being together. Nothing we HAD to do! Time to hold hands and walk with the kids. Time to just be quite and enjoy a fire together. Time to take pictures and thank God for all our blessings. Time to laugh together about how cold it was and the rain & how crazy we are. When the kids went down for a nap we sat around the fire and secretly shared dark chocolate smores together! We had to have 2 of course because Sam is so good at making them :) And thank goodness we did because we couldn't have them that night! In the car ride home we told them what we did while they were sleeping, they laughed and told us how unfair that was :) Then Sam went in for a nap & I went for a 5 mile trail run around the lake. It was sooooo much fun!!!! I haven't been on a trail run for a really long time and it was amazing. Something about running on a narrow path through trees, dodging low branches, running over rocks and stumps makes it a great run. The air was damp & I got to wear a hat and sweatshirt the whole time. It was wonderful! There were a few times though, when I hit big open fields, that my mind would wander & start thinking that maybe a scary animal or a scary person could jump out and get me at any moment. I just had to run a little faster :). When I got back I had time to sit by the fire and read "Crazy Love" before everyone woke up. And my other favorite thing.... I was able to wear an outfit that didn't match at all!!! I laughed at myself in the mirror & had to take a picture :) We had such a great time and do not regret leaving early at all. There was thunder & lightning most of the way home that night. God totally blessed our time!

Beautiful planter boxes

2011-03-29T07:51:00.002-04:00

Our back yard has this huge stand that I had no idea what to do with or what it was for. But after talking with my neighbor I found out it was made to grow tomatoes and whatever else.

Perfect!

So I put Sam to work!

And he made these Beautiful planter boxes!

I will be growing 4 different tomatoes and 3 different beans here (hopefully)

He also built me another garden area out of a tree he cut down, I'll show that off soon!

Fire Hose

2011-03-29T07:45:00.003-04:00

With some fire hose

And a little helper

Sam made a couple of these

And the kids LOVE them :)

Cutting down some trees!!!

2011-03-19T20:06:00.002-04:00

There were several trees in our yard that needed to go! A few of them dropped these spiky balls called gum balls. You could not walk barefoot in our yard, which is not a great thing when you have kids and summer 9 months out of the year.

No better time to do that than when Peper is here. The men ( along with our neighbors) spent almost 2 days out there. It was a ton of fun to watch them (most of the time anyways... ) Sam did a great job on this huge tree

And my little Ethan just played his "guitar" and sang songs the whole time. The little stinker would not let me capture a video though!

Memer & Peper were here!

2011-03-19T20:01:00.002-04:00

Sam's parents came for a week in Feb and we had a wonderful time.

They brought Christmas to our house :)

We went on a couple boat rides

Memer took the kids on walks

We had hot chocolates

We played games

The men cut down trees

We had a fire with marshmellows in the back yard

And once again we wore them out :)

And again, I did not take enough pictures

A boat!

2011-03-09T13:58:00.004-05:00

We are blessed this summer to be able to share this boat with another family! We've been out a few times already and are loving it!

There is an island here where you can pull your boat up on the sand and walk across to the ocean side. It's beautiful, not many people and nothing but sand and ocean. (and the occasional dead beaver)

Beach days are starting back up!!!!

2011-03-09T13:43:00.002-05:00

And we are all excited about it! :)

And now we are spoiled enough to have 4wd to drive out on the beach instead of lugging everything down. This day was my 1st time driving out there and it was very successful!

My ideas are not always the best

2011-03-09T13:41:00.002-05:00

Moving into this house had me excited to paint. I had always wanted to give Abriella a Pink room with girly decorations and have the boys together in their own boy looking room.

The problem with that fun idea is my children don't want to be separated. Abriella and Abe would come to me every night and ask if they could sleep together. So every night they would sleep in the same bed in one of the rooms. Then Ethan started getting involved and would camp out on the floor.

Finally Sam and I talked about how they are getting to old to sleep in the same bed and maybe we should just move Abriella into the boys room. As soon as we mentioned it to them they were excited and wanted to do it right away.

So now we have a green sleeping room and a pink play room and everyone is happy :)

A Birthday Card

2011-02-03T21:44:00.002-05:00

I love getting cards! Christmas cards, birthday cards, just because cards... I love them. I am horrible about sending cards to others and I really wish I were better because I know how wonderful they are.

I got a couple great cards this year for my birthday. One was a picture of a mother sitting in her kitchen pregnant & with a cup of coffee. Her hair was a mess and there were kids all over. Kids climbing in the cabinets, kids eating cake, one kid even had his head in the microwave & one was climbing in the fridge. There was stuff all over the counters, all the cabinet doors were open, the fridge was open.... You get the picture I'm sure. That is so how I feel some days. We can feel like we are swimming through our to-do list and the tornado's won't stop coming. I have the card taped to one of my kitchen cabinets and it makes me laugh every time I see it.

The other one was from my dear friend Shannon. I have it on my fridge and the words are beautiful. It reminds me that God does truly love ME. I think that through the business of life we can forget that and loose sight of how precious that is. So I wanted to share it with you.

If God had a refrigerator,

YOUR picture

would be on it.

If He had a wallet,

YOUR photo

would be in it.

He sends YOU flowers

every spring and a

sunrise every morning.

YOU'RE

the apple of His eye

and the delight

of His heart.

Max Lucado

Our Christmas 2010

2011-01-20T19:31:00.002-05:00

At the beach with Nana

2011-01-20T19:22:00.002-05:00

Nana came to visit for 3 weeks! We had a great time with her and miss seeing her. It was the 1st time in a long time since we've been with my family for Christmas. I unfortunatly did not take many pictures while she was here (but probably not very supprising) but I did when we went to the beach one beautiful day. We even got to see several different schools of Dolphins swimming by, it was amazing!

trying to play in the "snow"

2011-01-20T19:19:00.001-05:00

When there aren't any trees to climb....

2010-12-27T14:15:00.001-05:00

..... there might be a bush to climb.

These are our days :)

2010-12-11T23:14:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the Boys room

2010-11-17T15:35:00.001-05:00

Before:

After:

Welcome to Abriella's room

2010-11-17T15:34:00.000-05:00

Before:

After:

Welcome to my favorite room

2010-11-17T15:32:00.000-05:00

Our bedroom! The place we rest our head every night, the place where I lay next to the love of my life, the place where 3 little kids gather to cuddle in the middle of the night or some mornings. I love all the colors. And I love that I now have a grown up room :) I have always desired matching furniture and a beautiful bedspread. And I love that I created this room by finding old furniture and painting it all to match.

I wish I had before pictures of the dressers but I don't. They were pretty beat up, I had to wood putty dings sand them all down and put 2 coats of paint on them, then I spray painted the copper handles silver. The sleigh bed was something I spent almost a year looking for and I finally got one for the price I wanted. Sanded it all down and 2 coats of paint later I love it. The bedspread was drooled over for a long time also and I finally broke down and got it when it went on sale.

Before:

The bed Before:

The bed After:

Welcome to our School Room

2010-11-17T15:30:00.000-05:00

Before:

After:

I love the brightness of our school room and can't wait to finish it up with more fun stuff!

Welcome to our Home!

2010-11-17T14:45:00.002-05:00

I have been wanting to invite you into our new home, especially my family who lives far away. I have been stalling because I have NOTHING on the walls yet and I have so many more ideas but, it is now home to us and we love it. So I will go from room to room with before and after pictures. The before pictures were taken before we closed on the home and wish they would show just how dirty this house was. I'm sure it wasn't cleaned, dusted, vacuumed or anything for at least a year. There was dust and cat fur EVERYWHERE and the walls and ceilings were a dirty cream color.

Before:

After:

Have a great day!

2010-11-12T07:42:00.001-05:00

10 on 10 November

2010-11-11T08:48:00.004-05:00

Start from the bottom to see the order of our day :)

Finding Balance

2010-11-09T22:00:00.002-05:00

I've been feeling yucky lately

The usual questions...

.... am I doing enough for my family

.... why don't I pray more

..... I need to study the Word more

..... why can't I get that to-do list done

.... why can't I make a stinkin decision

..... are my kids really going to learn anything from me, can I really homeschool them well

.... why can't I get myself out in that garage to work out more constantly

.... am I being supportive enough to my husband

..... why do I lack ambition to cook for my family like I used to

..... why don't I get my camera out to take more pictures

.... where does all my time go

.... do I play with my kids enough, what are they going to remember of me

..... why am I so stinkin tired

I was going to shut the blog down. It's just another thing that takes up time and another thing that was making me feel yucky. I don't like how inconstant it is. I want to be real on here and document everything but I don't like going back and doing a million blog posts at once but I don't have the time to keep it up on a weekly basis. And like I said above, I'm having a hard time getting the camera out. But I'll try again, for all you loving family that love seeing my children.

My 5K

2010-11-09T21:39:00.001-05:00

I ran in a 5K! It's been a long time since I've done a race and I had so much fun. I'm trying to get back into running along with crossfit and hope to do another 1/2 marathon next March. Maybe even a whole Marathon in a year, we'll see.

This race was different from any of the others I've ran, I had Sam and 3 children cheering me on. I've never had my husband cheering me on, I'm usually the one cheering him on or he ran the race with me. It was wonderful! I loved having my family there, I loved seeing them in the middle of the race to give me a high five, I loved seeing their smiles and hearing them cheer me on. Abriella even got to fill out her 1st raffle ticket!

Halloween 2010

2010-11-09T21:11:00.002-05:00

This is our 3rd year in a row going to our friends house for trick or treating. It's a wonderful neighborhood and the kids have a wonderful time together. This year Abriella was a 50's girl, Abe was a papa, and Ethan was my little duck.

He quacked all over the place :)

That day we had been to our Church's Trunk or Treat where they got candy also. When you have 3 kids doing this and you go to 2 different places you get a disgusting amount of candy. Sam took 1/3 of it to work with him the next day and then we did some schooling with some...

We sorted candy by color. We cut them open, counted layers, felt the inside. Talked about
textures and divided candy. Then we made 3 different plates of candy and stuck them out in the rain to see how they would dissolve. We found that Chocolate didn't change much, licorice turned into a thick mushy substance, a whopper cut in halve hollowed out leaving just the chocolate, and so on. We still have some waiting to be put by an ant hill, we are going to see what kind of candy the ants take a liking to more.

Now if we can quickly get rid of the rest of the candy so it stops calling my name!

The pumpkin patch

2010-11-09T21:04:00.001-05:00

Science in the Back Yard

2010-11-09T20:56:00.001-05:00

My husband and his chainsaw! If he could do this for a living he would love it :)

We had a tree that needed to be cut down, we were going camping the next weekend and in school this particular week we were discussing trees, so it was a perfect time to get the chainsaw out. The kids got to learn how to "fell a tree", how to chop it up, how to count the rings to see how old the tree was, and Abe even got to learn how you hold the chainsaw (don't worry it wasn't on)

Then Sam cut down a smaller, really dead tree on the side of the house. He quickly came and got the kids. I later found out that he taught them how when a tree dies it becomes a home for little creatures. And thank goodness I didn't have any part in this lesson because apparently there were at least 50 huge roaches living in that tree and they all scattered. I don't think I would have slept for the next week if I were to have seen that :).

Tropical Storm Sept 2010

2010-10-06T21:17:00.000-04:00

Last weekend we were supposed to go on a 3 night camping trip with 5 other family's but instead we stayed home and enjoyed a tropical storm and the lake that formed in our back yard.

These 1st 2 pictures were taken on the 1st day of the rain. The kids changed their clothes 3 times that day from playing in the rain.

These last 3 pictures were taken the morning of day 2 of rain. Playing in their pajamas in the lake... I mean back yard.

I don't have pictures of the 3rd day but the kids were once again playing in the rain but I stayed inside where it was dry (thankfully). Abriella took a walk to the back fence and the water was up to her knees. It was pretty amazing!

1st day of homeschooling

2010-10-06T20:45:00.000-04:00

Our first day of homeschooling was back on Sept 10th but my camera gave me some downloading issues, life got busy, I've been tired, and on and on. So I'm just now showing you how are day was. We had a wonderful time, it was a beautiful day and it went by really quickly leaving us with a fun day.

Abriella did her work while the boys did puzzles, we took a break and had smoothies together, and then we headed outside for Art. I wanted some fun colorful canvas's for the school room so I got together all kinds of textured tools and lots of colors. They went to town and had a great time.

It's wonderful...

2010-09-22T21:19:00.001-04:00

going to the beach after dinner...

because you only live 4.5 miles away.

I am so blessed and excited and spoiled (or anything you want to call it) to live where I live!

Today

2010-09-06T20:41:00.004-04:00

I enjoyed staying home in my Jammie's

I played with my kids

I sat on the couch

I ate a Popsicle on the porch

I talked on the phone and told Sam how much I missed him

I listed things on Craigslist

I looked for things on Craigslist about 4 times :)

I stood in awe of my new kitchen that I love so much

The kids took naps

I sat at the table with our homeschool curriculum for the 1st time

I planned our year round school schedule

I'm thankful for a homeschooling planner :)

I planned our 1st week of school

I made lists for everything!

I hauled brush to the side of the road

I folded laundry

I am thankful for my mother in law who did all my laundry last week

I studied this banana spider that greets us by our front door (this thing is amazing in size)

I am so thankful for a new house

the only room that feels like home is the kitchen

I have 1 more bedroom to paint

I have stuff still in boxes

I'm trying to be ok with the fact that we are not settled yet

It's not completely working though

I am missing my In-Laws

I'm thankful that they came down to help us last week

I'm sorry that we completely exhausted them

I am excited for the woman's bible study this fall

I totally LOVE Pandora - It's my Sanity these days

I really need to get the garage gym together, I'm feeling icky

I'm excited to get the kids to Crossfit kids now that we are closer

Also excited to possibly get a new vehicle tomorrow

I'm looking forward to hanging out with Sam tomorrow!

Thank you Jesus for all your Blessings, even the ones I missed today!

Abraham turns 4

2010-08-25T21:58:00.001-04:00

My handsom, silly, wonderful little boy turned 4 the other day. I can't believe how big he's getting and even how much he has changed in the past couple months. I woke him up singing Happy Birthday and we had chocolate chip pancakes. Then later that day he had a Birthday pool party with some of his buddies. And can I tell you how special this was. It was thundering, lightning and raining before the party but we decided to keep it as schedualed and prayed that the rain would pass. And it did! Just in time for everyone to get there. We were so thankful!

I'm excited for this 4th year. Excited to see how he's going to grow up, how his personality is going to grow. And we hope that maybe in his far future he can marry this sweet girl :).

We love you Abraham! Happy Birthday!

A glimpse into our Seattle trip

2010-08-19T23:45:00.005-04:00

Oh my goodness, this crazy family has been super busy! This summer has been spent at the beach, a RI visit, looking for a house & finally finding one, packing & purging, more beach time. Now we just got back from spending 7 days in Seattle, we close on our house tomorrow afternoon, we'll be spending next week cleaning and painting the new house, move in next weekend, Sam's parents come the next week, then we start the adventure of Homeschooling.

Here is just a little taste of our trip. I just went through 1300 pictures and this girl should not be staying up till midnight right now :) I hope to post more soon.

Love my sweet little nephew and miss him so much!

Beautiful day in Seattle

our kids 1st time crabing. We caught soooo much.....

.... then had a feast!

Spent time with my best friend/sister and her beautiful family. If we lived close to eachother these 5 kids would be best of friends.

Our planned picture day didn't go as planned since our 7 mo pregnant photographer started having Labor pains the night before. We took pictures with my camera and couldn't get anyone looking at the camera at the same time :)

My kids got to warm up to Java (the family bird). They loved her

sweet family time

Boat rides

And a huge birthday party!

10 on 10 - July Capturing Summer

2010-07-10T07:14:00.004-04:00

This is what my summer looks like

(some props and kids in these pictures are the property of a sweet friend of mine - just so you know :)

A really steep grassy hill can be a ton of fun!

2010-07-10T07:02:00.001-04:00

Missing these kids like crazy!

2010-07-09T21:52:00.001-04:00

The kids and I flew to RI last week and stayed for 6 days. We had a WONDERFUL time and I am missing having all 6 of these cousins together.

I love my niece and nephews like crazy and wish we could all live closer to each other. Thank you Sam's family for loving on the kids and I so much that we love going there.

My Abraham

2010-06-20T21:58:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago a friend and I were talking on the phone, catching up with life and talking about our kiddos. We both have 3 young ones and there is always something to talk about. :)

In the middle of our conversation she asks “how is Abe doing?”

Sounds like a pretty normal question right? Well I was stumped. I had a confused feeling come over me, I didn’t know why she was asking me how Abe was. My mind was racing trying to remember if I had told her something recently about him, was she asking about something specific? It stumped me that she asked specifically how Abe was doing. And then I couldn't really answer her. “uh, he’s doing good. Nothing new really.” I couldn't think of anything!

My friend said “ we always talk about the younger kids and the older ones, we hardly ever talk about our middle son’s.”

When we got off the phone I stood there feeling like a horrible mother. How could I feel surprised that someone asked me how Abe was doing, then, why could't I think of anything to say.

I've heard about the "middle child" but it has really become my reality now. I don't want him to ever feel like I didn't have time for him. I want to give all my children equal attention and love. How do you find that balance?! Older one's take up a lot of the talking and teaching, the younger one's are very dependant on you for everything and the middle child falls in the middle. I pray I don't miss his growing up and that I can give him all he needs in a mother.

Abraham is one of the sweetest little boys you'll ever meet.

He has a very quiet, gentle spirit about him and the softest voice ever

His laugh is one of the best laughs! you will be laughing yourself :)

Abraham LOVES his papa and wants to spend every minute he can with him.

Patient! This boy is very patient. He is never in a hurry and often seems like he's in his own little world (which he is most of the time :)

He caught his first fish this month and could NOT wait to get back and tell me all about it. The were driving up the driveway and all I could hear was Abe yelling, "mom, I caught a fish!" over and over again.

Abraham LOVES clothes and shoes and hats and gloves and socks...... and this might be a slight understatement. It's 95 degrees here now and he wants to wear as many layers as his mama will let him. He is even picky about what shoes he wears with certain clothes.

He snuggles, I love that he snuggles!

He will complain about going to the beach because it's too hot but once he gets in the water you won't be able to get him out.

He has learned how to boogie board and absolutely loves it. Sam's getting him comfortable going out further and paddling past the waves. Maybe he'll be surfing in a couple years!

He loves Superman, Spider man, and Lightning McQueen!

Sam has taught him to hold the doors open for us ladies and he rarely misses a chance to do so.

He is breaking out of his quiet shell a little more every day and talking to people he hardly knows

He is becoming a picky eater but every once in a while the kid can put down a ton of food.

Abraham loves to wrestle. Papa is teaching him some moves and he will often pin Ethan to the floor

I love this kid and am so thankful for who God has made him to be.

This is how my children sleep on a long car ride

2010-06-16T20:07:00.001-04:00

This is what you do when it's pouring down rain

2010-06-16T20:04:00.001-04:00

This is how you eat Pancakes with Blueberries

2010-06-16T10:26:00.001-04:00

Best Buddies

2010-06-01T21:24:00.004-04:00

There were two little boys who met over a year ago.

Ben was only 11 weeks old

Ethan was 9 weeks old

I still remember when they met, we were in church and they were side by side in their car seats while us parents were meeting.

And ever since they have been best buddies

They hug and talk to each other

They wrestle and fight

They share and take

The tattle tale on each other

they look out for each other

They bring each other their blankets

They even ask for each other when they are not together

It is so fun to see kids so young be so close

I finally Posted!!!!

2010-05-31T21:40:00.002-04:00

I have been busy busy busy lately

I've had no time to sit and write out blog posts even though I have so many pictures and stories to share with you.

Thank you for those who have been bugging me to blog because I really do miss it

So here it is, I just did 9 blog posts!

There are so many more pictures, stories, and things I would have loved to include but for now this is all I can give you :)

Good night!

Abriella's Birthday Tea Party - part 2

2010-05-31T20:46:00.003-04:00

Sam and I served the sandwiches and fruit Kabobs to them and they got a choice of Lemonade or Peach tea. It was so cute seeing them all eat outside out of pretty dishes :)

Then they played! they all tried to fit on the hammock, they played on the see saw, Abe chased them around the yard. It was beautiful, and so were they! Oh, and then they got to make their own Ice Cream Sundae, happy times all around!

Thank you Abriella for bringing so much joy into our lives!

Abriella's Birthday Tea Party - part 1

2010-05-31T20:44:00.004-04:00

This year Sam and I decided to give Abriella a girls Birthday party and made it a Tea Party. It was such a beautiful day and we set the table up in the back yard. And 10 of her girl friends came in their pretty dresses.

Happy 6th Birthday Abriella!

2010-05-31T20:33:00.002-04:00

My sweet girl,

I can't believe your six already. I still remember the day your were born like it was yesterday. We had a wonderful day Saturday. Your papa had to work but when you woke up we sang happy birthday to you and had bright pink pancakes. You got several phone calls with people singing you happy birthday, you are one loved girl! We then went strawberry and blueberry picking. I took you to McDonald's for lunch, and you had your favorite dinner that night, taco's.

You are such a good girl Abriella and you have amazed us this year with how much you have learned and grown. You Papa and I are excited to see what this next year brings you.

We love you!

Our 3 night camping trip

2010-05-31T20:32:00.001-04:00

In the beginning of May we went on a 3 night camping trip with our friends. It was a lot of fun! the weather was georgeous, the kids did great, we relaxed, played, fished, went on a trail walk, roasted marshmellows, and took the canoe out.

But to add to the 3 days, the kids fell ALOT, the tripped over sticks and rocks and were falling left and right. The babies were playing with botchi balls when my son threw one in the box where their son had his hand, it popped his thumb nail off and looked like it broke it. They had to go to the ER, get xrays, have his nail cut off, cleaned out, and sewed back on. It was horrible. But they kept on camping and he was a trooper. Then on a windy day, they went out on the canoe together and because the wind was so strong they tipped the canoe. It was hilarious!! There is so much more to that story but I'll save you the reading :)

All in all we had a wonderful time and look forward to more camping weekends this fall.

Day 3 - Sea World

2010-05-31T20:11:00.002-04:00

I Love SeaWorld!!!! We had such a great time this day. It wasn't as crowded, the rides were a blast and the shows were amazing.

This picture was taken after the dolphin show. Abriella really wanted to take a flower to the pink girl, so of course we let her :)

I don't have any pictures of the Shamu show but I have to tell you about it. The kids were so excited to see this show and I was determined that we would sit up front where we would get splashed. I wanted them to really remember it! So we sat in the 2nd row just to the left of the middle. Do you know just how wet you get sitting in the 2nd row???? Let me tell you, there was not a dry spot on any of us :). It was an amazing show but when those 4 whales took their 4 big tails and splashed us 4 times we got WET! It was so much fun though and since it was so warm out we all dried pretty quick.

Disney Day 2 - Abe meeting McQueen!

2010-05-31T19:25:00.001-04:00

And the highlight of Abe's trip.... Meeting McQueen & Mater..... Or so we thought.

I can't remember the name of this park right now but we though we would see McQueen but as the day went on we didn't see him. So before we were about to leave Sam went on a hunt to find out where he was. We were so Excited, waited in line, got Abe excited, and then it was our turn. When he walked up and found out you were not allowed to get inside of McQueen or Mater he was soooo upset. He cried for a while but then finally calmed down to enjoy it for a couple minutes. I'm so glad we didn't miss out on this.

Disney Day 2

2010-05-31T19:23:00.001-04:00

I love these boys! It was wonderful spending time with them.

We saw the Beauty and the Beast show. Belle is Abriella's favorite princess so it was a ton of fun watching her face during the show. It was beautifully done.

Day 1 - Magic Kingdom

2010-05-31T19:17:00.001-04:00

When we got to Florida we met up with 4 other family members. So that made 15 of us together to experience Disney world. It was amazing to be there and watch how excited the kids were. They were all very good and we had wonderful weather.

Abe had a great time standing in lines :).

Me, Javen, and Abe on the dumbo ride.

And this was Abriella's favorite ride, Splash Mountain. She still talks about it. I don't know why though, from the looks of this picture she didn't see anything :)

And just as a side note, I would love to go back just to have another Mickey chocolate covered Ice Cream. They were AMAZING!

Disney trip 2010 - 1st stop, Savannah

2010-05-31T19:13:00.002-04:00

Last month, this wonderful couple (Sam's parents) took us to Disney World. They, with our brother in law and the 3 grand kids and a niece in Road island got in a van and drove to our house. The next day we all kissed Ethan and I took him to my friends house where he was going to stay the next 5 days. Then all 11 of us jumped into the 2 vans and headed for Florida!

Our 1st stop was Savannah Georgia. It was beautiful. We walked around for a couple hours and had ice cream. I would really love to go back soon.

Then we traveled the rest of the way.....

Pajama's, brothers, & morning rain

2010-05-23T15:42:00.002-04:00

(I think we should all find this kind of pure Joy throughout our day)

A storm rolled in this morning, the windows were open and the sound of the rain was wonderful. As soon as I got Ethan up he pointed outside and said "Rain!". My kids love playing in the rain!

Abe asked to go out in it as soon as he woke up and I was happy to oblige.
Still in their pajamas (Abe had to get his coat, hat and boots on 1st of course), before breakfast and before Abriella was awake, these brothers went out in the warm rain. I love seeing them play together!

I have so much to blog about just no time right now to do it. We went to Disney world, we went on a 3 night camping trip with friends, we've been to the beach, we're house hunting STILL. And God is blessing us everyday with our family, kids, friends and just life. Love you all!

My boys at the beach

2010-04-07T20:24:00.001-04:00

Ethan's 1st Big hair cut

2010-04-07T20:22:00.001-04:00

I just love it!!!! I rub and kiss his head all day!

Easter 2010

2010-04-07T20:18:00.003-04:00

We had a wonderful Easter. Sam was actually off this holiday which was such a blessing. We went to church for a wonderful easter service, went for a drive, then went to some friends house for a wonderful afternoon. The kids even got to go swimming :)

I hope you had a wonderful Easter also!

I like my eggs over medium

2010-03-28T21:28:00.006-04:00

I think there may be a time, or maybe even more than once, where we might question who we really are. I know God created me and Loves me. I have Jesus who saved me from a life heading in a wrong direction. I am a wife to a wonderful husband. I have been pregnant 4 times and have 3 beautiful children with me today. I love the beach. I hate bugs. I love ice cream. I dislike anything soggy or squishy. and on and on.

Now my children are getting older and I'm at a point where I would normally be pregnant again, but I'm not and won't be any more. I only have 1 child in diapers and I'll be potty training him this summer. That just sounds crazy to me!

We are in the middle of searching for a house. House hunting is always a roller coaster for me, it pretty much consumes my mind and makes me wacky :). I've had to really look at what I desire and what we feel will fit our family. I realized I really have no idea. I have a style in my mind of how I want to make our home and how I want to be but I'm not really sure how to express it.

So I've been praying! And I believe it's working. I don't have it all figured out but here is what I do know. I don't want too fancy of a house. One house we looked at had dark kitchen cabinets with granite counter tops and stainless steel appl, the hard woods were really dark and shinny, and the bathrooms had really fancy fixtures and cabinets. We loved it, it was beautiful. But I left there, it was a house in the top of our list and I sat in the car and realized that I really don't want a house like that. It's not my style. I want a house where I don't have to buy fancy furniture to fit in with the rest of the house. I want to be able to buy and old beat up dresser or piece of furniture, sand it up and paint it to fit the use I have for it. I love neutral furniture and wall colors with splashes of bright colors like red, blue, yellow. I really desire an orange laundry room! I love grass and sun in my yard and I really dislike pine trees.

I like my eggs done over medium. I've always eaten them scrambled or I've had them over easy sometimes, but I've never really loved my eggs. Until this week, I had them over medium where the yolk is mostly cooked, sprinkled a little cheese on top and I LOVE THEM like that.

I love having really close girl friends. I don't need a whole lot of them but the ones I do have mean a lot to me. I desire to show love to those friends more.

I'm getting wrinkles around my eyes and mouth. Not really diggin it and now sure how to stop it :(

I don't ever want to color my hair again. It costs way too much money to keep it up and I learned that I really love my dark brown hair. So I went and got my nose pierced instead. It was a 1 time fee, I can take it out if I ever want to. And as of right now I'm loving it!

And right now all I know is I'm totally excited about homeschooling next year. I have no idea how it's going to go or exactly what it's all going to look like, but I know God has given me this desire and excitement and I can't wait to see what He does in our lives.

I don't know what else I need to know, but I feel like there is more. I'm sure it will be a long process and I think I'm ready for it :)

An evening bike ride

2010-03-26T18:17:00.002-04:00

Are you happy to finally see something different than Snow at the Beach? :) I know it's been a long time. Life has been busy, I've been at a loss for words, we're house hunting, my camera was in the shop and you know... just life. I'll try to be more consistant, I miss you all!

Snow at the Beach

2010-02-14T08:50:00.001-05:00

And since it snowd I just had to go to the beach! We found this snowman and it was pretty much falling apart so we fixed it up a bit and put shells for ears and eyes.

They had a big snowball fight!

He's coming to get me!!!!!

Snow storm of 2010

2010-02-14T08:42:00.001-05:00

Yes, we got 3 inches here in Wilmington! Just crazy :) But it was fun to see Ethan experience snow for the 1st time and it was really pretty. And you know what the best part is.... we probably won't get any more this year, we didn't have to shovel, and it's almost gone already!

10 on 10 February

2010-02-10T21:39:00.005-05:00

Dropped Abriella off at School

Abraham playing with play dough. Notice his toung sticking out while concentrating :)

The start of my lifting workout

Ending my workout with Ethan doing his movements right beside me

Me, Pandora, and my kitchen

heart shaped rice crispy treats dipped in chocolate to go with Abriella's valentines

These wild kids play Tigers all the time

playing with Abraham and his cars (I love Mater)

Abriella's swim lessons

My little monkey before bed. Just look at that kid hang!

Where did January go?

2010-02-03T21:43:00.002-05:00

We had wonderful friends visit us for a day

We went on a 3 day vacation to Myrtle Beach with these wonderful friends

My mom, sister, & nephew visited us for 8 days

I turned 30! And my husband threw me a surprise party (that I was late to)

I have continued lifting and doing Crossfit in our Garage but now we've had friends join us and it's been a blast

I've started running again

Bible studies started back up

Sam started his new job at Camp Lejune

We have decided to start looking for our house to buy

We are praying about homeschooling and are 95% sure that is what we are going to do next year

Abriella got moved into her own room and now the boys are together

I started a 30 day paleo challenge. No caffeine, no grains, no sugar, no dairy

We got a stomach bug that went through the house

Ethan is teething and has been pretty cranky

Abraham had something click inside his little head and he now cleans up when he is asked

Abraham also learned to ride a big bike (with training wheels)

It has been extremely cold here and we're ready to move to Jamaica!

I miss you all!

My "Big" boy

2010-01-15T18:31:00.001-05:00

Ethan's first hair cut

2010-01-15T18:21:00.001-05:00

A little bubble fun

2010-01-14T12:44:00.004-05:00

A lot of fun things happen when you put 4 kids in a bubble bath together!

Jackson was a little unamused though :)

Ethan & Jackson

2010-01-14T12:37:00.003-05:00

It has been a ton of fun watching these two boys together. They are the same size but at such different levels. Ethan used to be the one getting knocked over, now it's Jackson. Jackson's not used to being around kids and is now scared of Ethan, if Ethan even gets close to him he turns and runs the other way :). Like this day for example. It sounds like fun going outside to play with your cousin right? Well it seemed that way at first.

Until Ethan decided to steel Jackson's toy and run off with it

Jackson wasn't too happy about it at all

We'll keep trying :)

babies in their jammies

2010-01-14T12:33:00.002-05:00

My mom, sister and her son Jackson came to visit all the way from Seattle. They will be here for 9 days and I am LOVING having Jackson here to play with his cousins. This "little" guy is only 10 months, has been walking for 2 months already, is only 3lb and 1 inch smaller than Ethan and has the biggest feet I have ever seen on a baby.

Jackson is so sweet, he gives us kisses and he has the most beautiful eyelashes ever. And Aunti Tarrah gave him his first taste of Cheerios. I think he loves me for it :)

January 3

2010-01-03T21:04:00.001-05:00

Ethan's first rocking horse. I just love his chubbyness!

January 2

2010-01-03T20:59:00.001-05:00

A birthday breakfast for Abriella's friend Lilly. It was so cute. Pink heart shaped pancakes with all sorts of yummy toppings, every girl wearing a leotard, and then the mama's and daughters made tutu's together. It was a sweet 4 year birthday party for sure.

January 1

2010-01-03T20:52:00.001-05:00

So...... Do you think I can post a picture a day for the year of 2010? Yea, I don't think so either but it will be fun trying :)

We had a wonderful New Year's Eve night with great friends. Our children were still awake so we grabbed them and let them join in on the count down and kisses. It was so much fun! So here is the start, our first picture of 2010.

Our gift of Cousins

2010-01-01T21:38:00.001-05:00

I have some pretty amazing In-Laws! They called and asked if they could bring our niece and nephews down to spend a couple days with us. I am so thankful that they took time to think of how special that would be. It's a 14 hour drive! It's not an easy thing to do for just 2 days. But they knew how special it would be to have all 6 grand kids together and didn't let the opportunity pass by.

We had a wonderful time. They are all wonderful kids and had a great time together. We went to the beach, the park, we ate meals together, we played Red Rover (which was a blast by the way), and we shared in exchanging gifts.

I love these kids and pray that just maybe, someday we can live close to each other.

Abriella is pretty much glued to Lena when ever she's around :)

The last night, Abriella, Abe, and Eli were all crying because they didn't want to leave each other. It was heart breaking but we were so thankful for both of those days.

Christmas 2009

2010-01-01T21:27:00.001-05:00

Christmas 2009 brought lots of smiles! The kids bring such excitement and joy to every day leading up to Jesus's birthday. We did the Jessy tree advent this year. There was an ornament and story every night sharing the story of Jesus's birth. The kids got to have their own little tree in their room where they hung the ornaments. I love that they are now at an age where they are understanding more.

Sam had to work on Christmas so we had our Christmas the day before. We had 3 yummy meals together while opening gifts all through out the day. It was relaxing and beautiful.

On Christmas morning I woke up and had coffee with Sam before he left and when the kids woke up we had cinnamon rolls, eggs, and bacon. It was JESUS'S BIRTHDAY! And they were excited :). We got all bundled up and headed to the beach. It was way too cold and windy so we only lasted long enough for Ethan to almost get blown over, take a couple pictures, and run back to the van.

That afternoon, our wonderful friends invited us to be a part of their Christmas day. They have a tradition though.... Everyone has to stay in their Jammies all day! They make a huge pot of Clam Chowder and relax. I love it! The kids and I wore our fleece pants and we all wore white shirts (I wish I would have gotten a picture). The chowder was wonderful and the friendship was even better.

I am so thankful that we can celebrate the birth of our Savior and have our children to share it all with.

Born in Bethleham

2009-12-23T12:28:00.002-05:00

My favorite Christmas song this year!!!

Make sure to turn off my music on the sidebar

A Homecoming

2009-12-05T21:15:00.004-05:00

Our family had the wonderful privilege of being a part of a wonderful day. Yesterday, after almost 7 months, Capt. Nate Storm and many other Marines got to come home to their families. It was such a beautiful experience to be there. Seeing all the families waiting with excitement, and then hearing the choppers in the back ground, everyone cheering, and having them all fly over us knowing in just a few moments loved ones would be embracing each other. The whole thing just brought tears to my eyes. I am so thankful for the families that serve our country and go through such hard months of being away from each other. All for us to be Free!

The one thing Nate was looking forward to having when he got home was a Magic Hat, and like any good wife would do, Thera brought him one :)

Welcome home Nate, and thank you both for letting us be a part of such a special moment!

Looking for a Christmas Tree

2009-12-02T20:41:00.001-05:00

There is one thing that I absolutely love to do and that is walk around a tree farm and cut down our own Christmas Tree.

It is something that we always did when I was growing up. You would go to the farm wearing you boots, hats and gloves looking forward to the candy cane and hot cocoa you would get. We would walk around and find a wonderful one right away. But there was no way you could get one that quick so you keep looking. And more times than not you don't find one that you like as much as that 1st one and you usually can't find your way back to that one so you have to start all over again.

We didn't get a Christmas tree last year so I hadn't experienced the Southern tree farms until yesterday. We drove down the dirt road, not wearing hats and gloves of course since it was in the low 60's, and I laughed as we got to the trees.

I've never seen Christmas Trees like these! I don't know exactly what I was expecting but this was a bit of a chock for me. How in the world do you decorate a tree like this. The branches were so thin that there would be no chance of hanging ornaments on them :)

We had a wonderful time walking around though and the kids loved the fact that the tree's weren't much taller than they were :)

We did not end up getting a tree here, I just couldn't do it. We went to a little stand and got a beautiful one. And of course, like every year it is WAY too big. How does that happen?! We always think it will be great but we ALWAYS have to chop some of the top off and it's usually VERY wide :)

Do you have any Christmas Tree traditions? If you are in the south I would love to know what you do?

Another Hat

2009-11-28T14:15:00.002-05:00

Memer and Peper bought this hat for Abe when they came. He just loves it. I really need to get a picture of him with his guitar and this hat :)

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T22:11:00.001-05:00

I am Thankful today that I was able to take the kids to see Sam at work, for the wonderful friends that invited the kids and I into their home's to share their Thanksgiving dinner, for the warm food we ate, for our health, for my Salvation, and for my freedom.

I am so blessed!

Miss you!

2009-11-21T14:49:00.002-05:00

After playing in the water parks one last time we headed home. We decided to take the ferry across and ended up spending 1/2 the day in Southport (a cute little town). It was a beautiful day! It was fun trying to get a picture of the grandparents with the running away children :)

Thank you for such a wonderful week!! We miss you guys!

DCB

2009-11-21T14:43:00.002-05:00

On Thursday we headed to Colombia SC to see David Crowder Band. We love them and so do the kids so Sam and I decided at the beginning of the summer that we would try to take them to one of their concerts. It was perfect the Sam's parents were comming down and we could work it all in and have them with us. It was a wonderful concert. It was in a Huge church and the kids did great. Ethan ended up falling asleep in the sling and Abraham fell asleep on the bench towards the end. I'm glad my kids can fall usleep that easy :)

The Dunes

2009-11-21T14:40:00.001-05:00

Sam's parents arrived here on Monday and we decided to take a little vacation to Myrtle Beach. They had never been there, it's only an hour away, and we had recently heard of a wonderful place to stay. So Wed morning we headed to The Dunes Village Resort. If your ever in Myrtle Beach I highly recommend it! We rented a 2 bedroom apt room and the patio looked out to the beach. It was beautiful and the price was fabulous! The kids (and us big kids) had a wonderful time playing at the indoor water parks. There's just something about being a mommy and still enjoying water slides :)

I'm busy.....

2009-11-21T10:49:00.001-05:00

...kissin on my kiddos. I'll do some blog post's soon :)

A Ladies weekend away

2009-11-15T20:33:00.002-05:00

I spent this weekend away at the beach for a Woman's Retreat and it was amazing. These 3 woman and I left Friday afternoon, checked into our hotel, and returned home this afternoon. I am so thankful for this refreshing time, it was life changing for me. I'm thankful we have a God that loves us more than we can even grasp. I'm thankful that we are forgiven for all and I'm thankful that He can help us forgive every single day.

SeaSaw

2009-11-09T21:14:00.001-05:00

The kids are finally using the SeaSaw in the back yard. I love this thing but for some reason they never wanted to get on it. But the last couple weeks they have found out how fun it can be

Abriella walks from one side to the other working on her balancing

She asks us to stand on one side so she can walk up and jump off the other side

And Abraham thinks it totally HILLARIOUS when Abriella pushes off hard and makes him go down fast. I love it!

Big Helpers

2009-11-09T21:05:00.001-05:00

I love how my boys already love "helping" their papa on the cars and around the house. I look forward to the bonding that will develop as they get older. This is my husband's new toy, he totally makes me laugh. This little car is an 82 diesel Rabbit, it's 27 years old! He absolutely LOVES the thing. it is totally loud, has no heat, no AC, no speakers for the radio, no back seat and he totally loves it. The thing is so light I can push the thing all by myself. I call it his MicroMachine.

In the mood for some soup?

2009-11-08T09:10:00.003-05:00

Have a Soup Swap!

A couple weeks ago a friend and I had a Soup Swap at my house. It was so much fun and I wanted to tell you all about it so maybe you might have one too.

We invited lady's over for an afternoon and asked everyone to bring a pot of soup, copies of the recipe, and an empty container. We provided a few snacks like cheese, crackers, grapes, and a huge bowl of Caramel Popcorn.

I sat out little bowls and spoons and after everyone got here we sampled the soups as we wanted while we visited and had some wonderful conversations. It was a wonderful and filling lunch. After we were all done I put the names of the soups in a basket and we all drew for the pot of soup we would be taking home that night. And then everyone went home with a stack of new soup recipes! What could be better than lunch with friends, dinner already made, and new recipes for the winter :)

One of my favorite soups was a Lentil Soup and I wanted to share the recipe with you. I hope you don't mind Christine :) I am making it right now for Abriella and I to enjoy for lunches this week.

Lentil Soup

1/2lb Lentils (rinse)

3 Cups Water

3 cans chicken broth

1/2lb orzo pasta

1/2lb frozen baby lima beans

1 diced carrot

1/2 tsp rosemary

1/2 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp celery salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp black pepper

Rinse lentils and put all ingredients in a large pot except for the pasta. Bring to a boil and then simmer for about an hour. Put past in about 15 min before you are ready to eat, make sure to stir well. Add extra water for desired consistency.

Serve with Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.