Harvest Festivities

Here is a quick update of the past couple of weekends:

A local Fall Festival:

pony rides

bouncy house

Beggar's Night:

love the faces on my little robot and cupcake!

They were so busy running around I couldn't get any good shots. This is the
best one with Dad! We had a lot of fun running around
the neighborhood with Kate and her family!

Sunday afternoon called for my first attempt at homemade Spice Donuts. It was a ton of
fun and not nearly as hard as I thought it would be. The kids got a kick out of the
whole process. I, unfortunately, was a bit disappointed with the end result. I was
hoping for a lot more "spice", but I have an Apple Cider Donut recipe we're going to
try out sometime.... or maybe it's good they weren't irresistible. I might have eaten
the whole batch. I love a good donut!!!

I did love the look of the end result though!

Hope you had a great weekend however you choose to celebrate!

O Praise Him!

"But as for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more." Psalm 71: 14

All creatures of our God and King
Lift up your voice and with us sing
Oh, praise Him
Alleluia

Thou burning sun with golden beam
Thou silver moon with softer gleam
Oh, praise Him
Oh, praise Him
Alleluia
Alleluia
Alleluia

Thou rushing wind that art so strong
Ye clouds that sail in heav’n along
Oh, praise Him
Alleluia

Thou rising moon in praise rejoice
Ye lights of evening find a voice
Oh, praise Him
Oh, praise Him
Alleluia
Alleluia
Alleluia

Let all things their creator bless
And worship Him in humbleness
Oh, praise Him
Alleluia

Praise, praise the Father praise the Son
And praise the Spirit three in one
Oh, praise Him
Oh, praise Him
Alleluia
Alleluia
Alleluia
(lyrics revised by David Crowder)

Have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving!

To All You Daddies Out There...

Have a wonderfully relaxing day!


Brian,

You are a wonderful dad! There is no doubt you adore our kids and
they adore you!
You have such silly moments with them. You can take what I
see as a stressful moment and turn it into
a fit of giggles.

But you also have such
a soft tender side that displays your
passion for our kids!

We are blessed to have you in our lives!

We hope you have a wonderful day, sweetie!

Happy Mother's Day!

(Lucas brought this gift home from school on Thursday. It's already doubled in size.
A sweet gift!)

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms! Whether through a personal relationship or through blog contacts it is wonderful to have a community of moms come together to spur one another on to greatness! Thank you!

Very Belated Christmas Pictures

I know you are all probably so done with Christmas, but I had to post some pics.
Christmas with Brian's family on Christmas eve:

Lydia trying on Aunt Katie's new winter hat!
This is Christmas morning at our "new" house. We did end up setting up a small area to celebrate Christmas in our own home- just the four of us. It didn't last long, but it was sweet.
Worn out! Too much activity for one day!


This is Christmas with my side of the family in January:
I had my grandma's name this year and this is the quilt I made for her. It was a ton of fun! I love McKenna Ryan's patterns!
It's not too often that Lydia will fall alseep in someone's arms. She looks so sweet in this picture!

A Thrill Of Hope

My favorite hymn sums up the hope of the birth of Jesus Christ:


O holy night, the stars are brightly shining;
It is the night of the dear Savior's birth!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt it's worth.
A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees, O hear the angels voices.
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!


May you have a blessed Christmas celebrating our Savior's birth!

Nation Celebration

We took the kids to their 1st parade... in the pouring rain. I've been trying to make an effort to plan more fun outings with them, so we decided to stick with the plan despite the rain. I'm glad we did. We met up with our neighbors and the kids did really well. Although Brian and I were pretty wet and cold, we enjoyed our time with the kids.

After the parade we headed home for a good cup of coffee and lunch. The kids took a nice long nap and then we headed to Brian's sister's home. "K" and "C" put out a nice spread and even had an inflatable jumping area for kids to play! Lydia would've set up home there if we had let her.

At home we could see a few fireworks over the trees to which the kids kept exclaiming, "Fireflies!". We had a great time celebrating our nation with family and friends!

**I guess i need to wrap this up... I told Lucas this would only take a minute. He has now informed me that there are "too many ABC's, mommy!"**

Plan B

Our Easter weekend was a bit crazy... in a non-busy sort of way. Lucas came down with a fever on Friday with no other symptoms, so I decided to wait to take him to the doctor. By that evening his temp was 105.1! Luckily, we were able to get his temp down with a combination of Tylenol, Motrin and gettin' naked! Over the weekend, his temps stayed between 101- 102 during the day and then they would spike at night leaving him delirious and inconsolable. He only slept decent if he was in bed with us, which is fine with me. I love to snuggle his little body! On Saturday night I was up nearly every half hour between both kids. Sunday night was a little better. By Sunday he had a white tongue with red spots, a fine red rash from head to toe and his lower legs kept turning dusky blue (yikes!). So we were going to take him to Urgent Care on Sunday (Happy Easter, kid!) but I spoke to a triage nurse who thought it would be okay if we waited until yesterday morning. He tested positive for strep and started on Amoxicillin. He looks much better today!

Obviously, we decided to postpone our festivities. I think I might give them their baskets this coming weekend and we'll have Brian's family over for dinner another time. We still ended up celebrating in different way: snuggling on the couch, watching favorite cartoons or DVD's, playing with Lego when he felt up to it. And Brian and I had a crazy Easter dinner- not very nutritious, but oh, so yummy! We picked up a pizza, made guacamole for tortilla chips, popped up some kettle corn and finished it off with ice cream. Don't cringe! We don't do this often. It was kind of fun!

Despite all of the sickness I was able to sneak in some time to get a few things done. The grout on our kitchen floor was driving me nuts! I've tried and tried to scrub it clean to no avail....until now! Amber, a good friend of mine, introduced me to Shaklee's Scour Off Heavy Duty Paste. It worked wonders. I scrubbed the grout lines with a toothbrush and this paste and it looks so nice now. There are still a few stains, but it is much improved! I have also used this on my glass stovetop and it takes the baked on crusties right off! I'm hooked!

I also had a few minutes to make this pint sized purse for Lydia's Easter basket. It took about an hour and a half, but I think I could now make one in an hour. It was just something I dreamed up and I think every little girl needs a purse. I found a small stuffed bear and a small photo book to fit inside. I'm pleased with the end results!

Even though Easter didn't go as planned I am thankful that we were still able to celebrate the true meaning of Easter. "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
(Romans 5:8). Through his death and resurrection we are able to have eternal life. Now that is something to celebrate!