Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Christmas lights and thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving there are so many things I am thankful for...

I choose to be thankful that My Husband has time off to help around the house
I am thankful for the hugs I see my husband giving to Connor at the bus stop
I am thankful that every day Husband is home it feels like a holiday
I am thankful for the Love my children have for my Husband, even if it is Riley stomping his foot saying "I don't want daddy to leave, I want YOU to leave"
I am thankful that I have the choice to work outside the home, or stay home with my children
I am thankful for the flexibility in my schedule that I can help others out spur of the moment
I am thankful for the Peace of Jesus in my heart during this tense time of transition in our lives
I am thankful that christmas music is on the radio ALREADY!!
I am thankful that my husband is home to help set up the christmas lights... soon our yard will be turned into a "Christmas wonderland"...





Oh I just though of one more thing I am thankful for.. that Husband and I do NOT celebrate Christmas with giant inflatables!!!



Today I am listing to and Loving the lyrics to this song.. The original 1978 version was GREAT! but I also enjoy this remix.. less disco..



Happy Thanksgiving!!
Momma

Monday, November 12, 2012

November cookouts!

Today was a beautiful day!!

the high was about 67 degrees and we were outside enjoying the day!

Not too often do we have such nice warm weather in November.. tonight we took full advantage and I made a fire in our fire pit... we sat out till the sun set (the sun sets about 5:00 these days with the daylight saving time in effect booo!)




we chose to enjoy eating dinner outside which may be the last time we do that this year...

 
We had hot dogs and sausages and a bag of chips...


Riley really enjoys his food...

 
It was a great spur of the moment evening with the kiddo's! I love how simple evenings can become special with everyone together!!


~Momma

Friday, November 9, 2012

Hey Its my Birthday




I love that my birthday is in the fall there is always so much color and it really is the end of summer.  my kiddo's and a sweet little girl played in the mild fall weather and jumped, and jumped, and jumped into the leaves.


I had the privilege to get a letter from one of my bestest friends from high school and I ran into another good friend form high school randomly ( at Target of course). I feel very blessed by the friendships I have in my life and it truly is a gift to be turning 30 and not feel a day over... ummm ... 21?

tonight my husband and I are headed out on a date!!! and another friend is blessing us with babysitting!!

~Momma

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Welcome November!!

I am ready to welcome November this year... it seems that every year I dread fall/ Winter... This year I am ready!

there are some very fun events I am looking forward to this Noveber!!

This November I will celebrate my 30th birthday!!

A beautiful young Lady I have known since she was in 7th grade is marrying the love of her life...

And thanks to pinterest I am ready to decorate my house for Christmas.... YES Christmas...

 


 



I truly Love Christmas and actually I have been asking my husband when we can get a tree since well since sometime in October... (knowing we won't get it till December) still my heart is open and ready to celebrate!

 


 


 maybe it is the people that visit.. last year we hosted my parents and my brother and his wife and I was able to cook and I loved it!

 


maybe its that we talk about Jesus even more than usual and we lift him up in a public celebration...

 





I can't pinpoint what it is about Christmas that I love so much... Maybe the smells... it could be the food... or the greanery and the tree...



maybe it is the contrast from the cold of the outside to the warm on the inside of the house... I love a warm house and a crackling fire in the fireplace!!

I think maybe it could the quite of the cars on the road by my house...


all in all I am ready for November this year!  in 9 days I will celebrate my 30th birthday and  I am looking forward to every second of it!! from my birthday till New year is the most wonderful time of the year!!!

~Momma







Friday, October 26, 2012

Childhood: fall

Today we enjoyed the warm fall weather once again...



Childhood Priceless!

~Momma

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

what we have been up too

Between school, work and colds we have been busey enjoying fall...



The leaves have started to fall from the tree's and Connor is enjoying his new rope swing...
 
 
  One muddy day the boys were sooo muddy we decided we should"paint" with the mud to help clean ourselves up...

 On Friday's we added a new little friend to come and play with us.. this is me attempting to play 4 square with a 3 year old and a 2 year old :)

This is how my 3 year old plays 4 square...



Hop scotch worked much better...
 

Just playing catch was much more her speed...


there have been a couple of rainy days where we have been stuck inside and the playroom has turned into this... Messy messy messy!



Connor had a sleep over with his best friend Karin.. the 3 of them get along very well... they spend the day playing and giggling...



I have been spending a lot of time remembering my little boys.. school has brought on a lot of change and it amazes me all the time at how big Connor is getting... how much responsibility he is taking on... how much FUN it is to be with him in this stage of his life...

But it is moments where he is covered in paint that I can smile and remember it wasn't that long ago that my big guy looked like this...



 Hope everyone is enjoying fall as much as we are... do you think it is too early to start Christmas music... hummmm?

~Momma




Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Good Rainy morning everyone

What a lovely raining morning we are enjoying here...

everyone in my house (excluding the husband) slept in till almost 7:00 UNHEARD OF!
Connor's sweet bus driver stopped at our front porch (where we were hiding out from the rain).. small things make my heart happy always...

we have been very busy around here..
last week was the Lampeter fair
animals, venders and most importantly TRACTORS! all conveniently in our back yard...


too bad the only pictures I took were of the boys making rope the old fashioned way..
the boys participated in the greased pig chase and we had fun evenings with friends and family each night of the fair.
Koda was a hit also.. I got mobbed a bunch of times by people interested in petting our playful puppy... Other Husky owners were very happy to share stories  and photo's.. it was fun and informational it was great everyone was loving on her and giving her attention she liked it,... we had no where to ride/ run so it was a great way to get the the attention she needed.

speaking of Koda look at what she got into today... red pen all over her feet !?! Uggh silly puppy!


and around the house I have been doing all kinds of moving and changing things around.. I am moving Riley's room from the front to the back of the house and I am moving closets around... and purging a bunch of things that I don't use/need anymore.

I am working on organizing Connor's Kindergarten stuff, things he brings home, things he needs to do, papers the teacher sends for me...

I am still not sure how I feel about school for Connor... He is loving it but I am not, I feel so disconnected from him, maybe I need to learn how to ask better questions to get better answers from him... It would just be nice to know what is going on in the classroom all day long... sigh...

~Momma

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Yesterday's Storm

The Storm Yesterday had some high wind gusts... and some moments of downpours that made it difficult to see the other end of the yard... there were tornado watches up for our county and most of the counties around us...

Last year our yard got rocked with a freak snowstorm in October...

this year we only lost one branch, but it was a rather large one and right across our driveway...


We were VERY lucky it was a work day and Steve had his car at work... the branch landed right where we park his car. The branch was perfect sized... it took up the entire length of the driveway but missed hitting the garage by inches. There was no real damage just inconvenience...



I was thankful my car was in the garage to keep it safe.. it wasn't till afterwords I realized that I was not going to be able to move the branch with out help... and once Steve got home I realized WE would not be able to move the branch with out help... making it impossible to get my car out of the garage... GURRRR!

Strong Man helping me pull branches and stack logs

the start of our pile

My "helper" to pull the branches out by the shed

Our finished stacked logs

My Dad came up with a chainsaw and a truck to help us cut up the wood and remove some of the smaller branches...

I guess we will have some wood for a bon-fire for the fair next week...

~Momma

Monday, September 10, 2012

Its Monday again...

For some reason I feel the need to do "everything" on Mondays.. the cleaning , laundry and any projects I come up with... I think the projects are there to distract me from the chores...

Over the weekend I went on my first "Pick" I don't know if you would consider it a real pick since it was my grandparents barn... I found some neat stuff to decorate around my house... best part is I didn't have to spend a lot of money.. the best kind of shopping!
I found and old window sash, no glass left .. and old chicken water bucket and best of all some rungs used when planting corn... the star I bought at a store it was only $5.00


I am also working on another sign idea using wood from a free old pallet...


I loved the look of the old  corn planter parts...they were so buried in the dust on the barn floor I almost missed them...


I took them home and hosed them off and now they make a nice addition to the wall in my living room...


I believe I have put off my chores long enough, time to hang out some sheets...

Happy Monday everyone!
~Momma

Thursday, August 30, 2012

School Starts

As this week comes to a close I am excited to take a deep breath and relax this weekend....
Monday was Connor's 1st day of Kindergarten and boy oh boy was he excited to go!

His education was always very important to me and I was seriously considering home school for a long time, till Connor asked to go...


This made my letting him go much, much easier than I anticipated! If he would have been scared or asked to stay home I may have wavered...


He had this beautiful excited smile on his face the entire time.... The bus was about 10 min. late so we were out there for awhile!! 

 

our crew waiting for the bus
Finally the bus was comming...
 

Connor stepped right on up didn't even say/wave goodbye...


I sat and watched the clock all day Monday... then I piled everyone into our car and went and picked him up at school. He was very excited, he described the day as awesome! and even jumped with enthusiasm.

Riley has not been so thrilled... He misses his big brother like CRAZY! he cries and throws himself down and tries to run onto the bus... yelling he wants to go to school with Connor...

3 days of that and then today Thursday he is content to stay home with me... We have been do all kinds of fun "big boy" activities at home like reading the books he wants to read and playing tick, tack, toe... I am learning more about his abilities and that he can't even hold the pencil correctly... Connor being away gives me more one-on-one time with Riley...

I do miss him.. it is quiet here...

While he is away I pray that Connor would choose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads them astray. Proverbs 12:26
Heavenly Father you kow our needs even before we ask you, Lord, and you promise to work in all things for the good of those who love you. Handpick each one of Connor's teachers, and surround him with classmates of your choosing.
Matthew 6:8; Romans 8:28

This Friday My in-laws are picking up my kiddo's and spending the weekend with them, so I will have some time to process my thoughts...

What a week!

-Momma

Friday, August 24, 2012

Fun Finds on Freecycle

I have been irritated by my kitchen recently...

It has dark cabinets.. and only 1 window... and NO prep space!



 SO I thought I would make some... I took two boards from the garage, sanded them down, put them together and used the same process as my kitchen table to make the wood food safe...


 Ta-Da... Workspace! It may not look the best but I actually have room to work without balancing tray's and cutting boards on the burners of the stove...


 I got  this great UGLY tray on freecycle and my Husband laughed when I brought it home...


I had an idea that I would use some left over chalk board paint...


 I added some braided handles and some fruit... It is great and so far the paint stays on nicely... can't wait to use it to serve food for the holidays


the more work I do the more I want to do... Can't wait till I have the time/ courage to paint the cabnits... I am picturing a nicely antiqued white with new butcher block counter-tops... dreams....


Hope you have a happy Friday!

Momma