New Holland Parade

We went to the parade last night.  Mike wasn't too fired up about going again, but the kids were excited and talked him into going.

We got Ashlyn in the stroller and Mike carried our lawn chairs.  We sat beside JR & Angie and watched the bands, trucks, and people go by.  The kids had fun and acted like beggars to every single person that went past with buckets of candy.  They got quite a collection!  Hadassah and Kierstin even stuck out they hands to the soft pretzel guy that was 'selling' them, hoping for a free pretzel.  He looked at them kinda funny and kept walking past!  They did get a long john thrown to them!

The weather was actually nice and not too cold!  Here we are taking in all the sights and sounds ...

Ashlyn & I getting snuggled in for the show ... Handsome daddy!!!

Hadassah and Kierstin had a blast collecting candy and Matthew loved balancing his

new Frisbee on his head.

The kids all screamed when they saw these two coming!!!

Bands and "Kid's Cookie Break"!

The night was fun!

JESUS, THE ONE AND ONLY

We just started a new Ladies Bible Study session again for this fall/winter at church.  On Tuesday, was the first study and I did the first workbook lesson this morning after the kids were off to school and Ashlyn down for her morning nap.

What great stuff!!!!!!!!!  Really, if you can come to Spring Garden for this study (it is open to all ladies - not just for Spring Garden), you will be blessed to the fullest.  We did the introductory session on Tuesday and honestly I wasn't real excited about the session.  Beth Moore is the speaker through DVD and she talked about a lot of history.  My interest in history is not as good as I know it should be and so the session wasn't outstanding to me.  I have taken lots of her DVD studies before and somehow I knew that I would not be disappointed with this study too!!!

After I started the first homework lesson this morning in our workbooks, I thought, "Wow, this is good stuff!"  I love it when the word of God and stories from way back come to life.  (OK, I guess I do like history if it's in a story form and not just facts.)  Beth took us through the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth.  Her study - "JESUS, THE ONE AND ONLY" - begins with this story.  I underlined so many sentences in my workbook that I liked!

In the very first paragraph she wrote, "grab your Bible, a jug full of Living Water, and a durable pair of sandals."  That had my attention and I was excited!  Then she said that "Jewish homes were meant for children."  That struck me.  Of course in my mind, after I got married I thought that our home would be for children too ... sometime.  Why then do I get so frustrated at all the finger prints on my just cleaned windows, the dirt tracked on the floor from the kids shoes, the toys all sprawled throughout the house???  Isn't my calling for right now to raise children for the Lord?  You can't have children without dirt!!!  Wow, that hit home for me when I read that phrase.

As I kept reading about the life of Zechariah, I got to the part of him not having a son or any offspring.  Surely Zechariah and his wife wanted children.  Surely they prayed about it for many, many years!!!  Beth wrote this, "I wonder if you've almost given up on God answering an earnest, long-term prayer of you heart.  Not growing stale, faithless, and hopeless over a repetitious request can be terribly challenging.  God never missed a single, sincere petition from the children of Israel to send their Messiah; nor did He miss a solitary plea from the aching hearts of a childless couple.  God does not have some limited supply of power necessitating our careful selection of a few choice things about which we can pray.  God's power in infinite.  God's grace and mercy are drawn deeply from the bottomless well of His heart." 

That reminded me of when we were praying for another baby.  A 6 year break between Matthew and Ashlyn was not all our choice.  Neither was having a miscarriage between Hadassah and Matthew our choice.  God's timing is perfect even when we doubt that sometimes.  I am rejoicing today for the God's precious gifts to us - our three beautiful, healthy children!!!  AND, and when I did have some doubt of becoming pregnant again, I am thankful God didn't take away my speech!  Poor Zach!

Then I read about how God told Zechariah and Elizabeth about John's character.  God didn't go off about how handsome or how tall or how manly John would be, no, God talked about how John would be great in the sight of God.  How he was never to drink wine or fermented drink.  How he would be filled with the Holy Ghost.  And how he would turn many people toward Jesus!!!  OK, this again was a huge reminder to me that I should be pounding the scriptures and Godly things into our children's minds so that one day they may be filled with the Holy Ghost and turn many people toward Christ!

That was just day one in the workbook and I am excited!  I would love for you to join the study.  The next session will be on Tuesday, Oct. 4, at Spring Garden, starting at 9:15.  Babysitting is provided!

6 months old ...

Ashlyn is now six months old today.  She seems to have jumped into the toddler stage fast and not at all 'newborn' anymore.  She's wearing 9 - 12 month clothes.  Size 1 shoes. 

In just the last few weeks she is showing some spunk and wants what she wants!!!  She's also become a 'mama' baby and as soon as I walk away (actually, it's anyone that fusses to her and then walks away from her), she starts crying.  She don't usually cry very long and I am sure she just does it to try me out.  She loves any attention she can get and she still smiles all the time for people! 

SHE LOVES HER DADDY!!!  She really does!  When she hears Mike's voice she gets all excited.  It's been a few times that he started talking and didn't give any attention to her and she started to cry!  He loves it!!!  Mike loves that she adores him.  He loves that his baby girl wants his arms, love, and attention!  He does great with her!  Michael loves when I am holding her and she reaches out for him!  He thinks that is really cool!!!  So do I!

She is not sitting yet by herself.  She needs to start because babies get to a certain stage that they need something new.  She lays on the floor on her side and tries to sit up.  I know she will love it once she gets her balance figured out!  She is moving all over the place though!  She rutches herself on her belly or rolls all over the floor.  If she wants something that's laying on the floor, she will get to it!  She likes jumping in her johnny jump.  She is entertained in her saucer with toys.  She sits in her highchair and eats her veggies VERY nice!  She loves them!!!  She chows down a whole small container!  I think I might have to get the next size bigger.?.  She's got major poops to prove that she is starting to eat some solids and not just formula!  I gave her some graham crackers this week too and she shivered all over at first and then seemed to enjoy them.  What a mess!  All her eating and starting new foods is putting on some fat!  Her legs are cute and chubby!  Rolls of fat from 'good eatin'!

Last night we had her in the baby swing outside for the first.  She liked it at first and then when she realized that she's going to sit in there while I pull some weeds, she wanted out.  Spoiled???

She's lovin' it!!!

School Sale ...

Last weekend was Linville's annual school sale.  I went to help Hadassah's class do their class project.  We dipped marsh mellows and pretzel sticks in milk and dark chocolate.  We also made mints.  We put them in fall bags and then into baskets.  They sold these at the school sale for $110.00 X 5!  The kids were happy with the money they could raise for their school!

Hadassah loves school and is really enjoying 4th grade!!!  She's making mints.

At the school sale, they had face painting!  The kids loved that!

Lady bug ...

Tiger face ...

Matthew came and asked for some money because he wanted to get his face painted.  I gave him a couple dollars and he came back a few minutes later with some kid gadgets and toys.  I thought he was getting his face painted with those dollars???  Oh yeah, he needed a few more dollars and came back looking like this! I think the artist did a great job!  We could easy tell what this was to look like!

We bought Matthew's class project too.  $90.00 X 5.  (Both classes did 5 each.)  They put recipes and a picture of each child in a small photo album for their first grade project.  Matthew wanted his recipe to be his breakfast ... hot chocolate and toast!!!  I thought this was a neat project and I can't wait to try some recipes that the kids in first grade really like!

The sale was a success!  I was tired when we got home but we ended the day with playing settlers here with our friends, John and Ruth Glick!  We are getting back into this game again.  We've had some good games already and it's defenently a game for the fall/winter months!  If you need someone to challenge, come around!!!

Making caramel apples!!!

We've been making caramel apples for us to enjoy!!!  A few weeks ago we made a dish for my secret sister and I didn't want to post any pics till after our banquet last night. 

We started with some Macintosh apples and washed and dried them.  Then we put a stick in each apple. 

(I actually used a hammer and hammered them in!  They seem more stable like that.)

While the apples cooled in the fridge (do this because the caramel sticks better), 

we unwrapped a bunch of Kraft caramels (about 2 cups) and put them in a glass dish. 

We microwaved them and about 2 Tb. of water for about 3 minutes

(stirring after each minute) or until melted!

Then we put our toppings in separate dishes ...

M&M's, walnuts, toffee chip pieces, peanut butter chips, fall leaves sprinkles & choc. chips.

This is Hadassah and Matthew dipping their first apples in the warm, gooey caramel.

Putting on the candies ...

Spray wax paper with Pam and put your caramel apples on there to dry.  Some of the toppings seemed to settle to the bottom after we were done decorating them and cooled them in the fridge.  So, we drizzled

the center with melted chocolate.  I tried to melt some white chocolate too, but it got too stiff. 

I think that would look nice.  Oh well ...

Here's the finished m&m caramel apple!

The toffee caramel apple!!!

The kids are pleased with their final product!!!

It was a little messy getting the candies to stick, but the taste of these are well worth the mess and calories!

They had to wash their hands every time they would sneak a caramel lick off of their fingers!

We tied some string on each stick and we had ourselves a little gift for my secret sister!!!  Yum!

You do not need to store these wrapped in the fridge.  That seems to make them moist & soggy. 

I put ours in a Tupperware and just set it in the fridge until we ate them!

We had fun doing this!!!  Making memories is a blast!

5 plus months old

Here are some of Ashlyn's things that she is enjoying at 25 weeks old ... 5 1/2 months.

Her nuk and little pink blanket are her sleeping campaigns!!!

Eating the first Gerber veggies!!!

We gave the swing to Shakia and now Ashlyn is in her gym set. 

She loves the toys and even stretches her neck to see herself in the little mirror!!!

We are loving this stage in her life!!!  She is such a joy to care for!!!

~ 25 Weeks Old ~

Today marks another week older for Ashlyn.  25 Weeks old.

She's moving around so much!  We can't leave anything on the floor that she's not allowed to have because she will get to it!  Sucking on Tinkertoys, dog bones, and paper is not a healthy, hearty baby meal!!!  Instead we usually try to feed her 6 oz. of formula, baby cereal in the morning and baby vegetables at supper.  She loved the sweet potatoes and now we want to try some green beans.  Smile!!!

She is also starting to show some personality traits.  She can show some spunk.  It happened a couple of times that she was playing with a toy and dropped it and she got all upset and started to really cry!  Last Sunday in church, I gave her my watch to hold.  She dropped it on my lap and I quickly gave it to her again.  Too late ... she started crying and crying and crying.  It made her so mad!  Time to start 'breaking that strong will' in her!

Her smile is still an energizer for us!  She smiles so sweet with her whole face lighting up!  She loves her daddy!  Just by hearing his voice makes her start whining and wants his attention!  Yesterday, Mike was out of town and when he was on his way home, we passed each other in our vehicles.  We both stopped and backed up (we were on Harvest Drive with no traffic going).  Mike and I chatted a little and when I drove away, Ashlyn started crying.  She wanted her daddy to say hi to her too!  I stopped and Mike said hi to her and of course that just made things worse.  Then she wanted out of her car seat and go with her daddy!  Mike loves that she wants to be him and he does a great job giving her attention!

Hadassah and Matthew are enjoying school.  Matthew wakes up in the morning excited, comes home tired, and goes to bed saying, "I don't like school.  All we do is do work."  Then in the morning, he's excited again.  I keep reminding him that if he doesn't go to first grade (really, like he has a choice!!!) he will never be able to read and write.  That seems to make school much more important to him!  Hadassah is loving her fourth grade!!!  She thrives on getting the daily math problem right and earning more 'big bucks'.  She is looking so forward to tomorrow because her class is doing chocolate covered items (pretzels, marsh mellows, mints, etc.) for their school sale class project.  They will dunk the goodies into chocolate and then sell them at the school sale on Saturday!  (If you want to fun day out with your kids, come to Linville on Saturday.  There will be a breakfast served, an auction all day long with really neat things to buy, lots of food, great smoothies, and always the best baked goodies for your lunches next week!)  Hadassah loves to hang out and doing school work with her friends is never a problem for her!

I am busy housecleaning and getting those closets that really needed attention cleaned out!  It's a great feeling when you know all the windows are clean and the front closet that I dreaded to open, I can actually now see the floor!!!  (I am the type that the outside appearance in my house need to stay tidy ed up, but some of those hidden places - like the closet - get messy!)  Thanks to mom and Jody for helping me clean yesterday! 

I ran tonight for the first this week.  It felt great to get out and run!  Last night at small groups I requested prayer for my head.  I felt like I was starting with a head cold or head allergies or a headache????  They prayed and when we left, my head did feel better!!!  I came home tired and slept great!  My head was clear all day long today and I kept praising God for touching me!!! 

Mike's been dealing with some foot issues recently.  We need a prayer for him too!  He has athlete's foot and he is rubbing this mineral salt stuff on his feet.  There is puss and wet goo oozing out of his feet!!!  It's gross but healing up!

Have a great 'end of the week'.  Mine is going to consist of more cleaning, some photography, baking, and mothering!

(I didn't get Ashlyn's pictures taken today for her 25 weeks old.  Maybe tomorrow ...)

Why is mud so inviting???

On Saturday, the kids were playing outside.  I heard Hadassah say from the back door, "Mom, come look at us.  It's worse than you think!!!"

I walked to see what was going on and she was covered in mud.  They were playing in the garden again and had a blast.  Hadassah said to Matthew, "Let's see who can get the dirtiest."  That's all a boy needs to hear!!!  They even put mud on their faces.  Is this what you call mud art???

They both looked at me like I was to help clean them up!  WRONG!!!  If they choose to get all muddy and do that to their clothes, then they are also able to clean themselves up!

They got in the little sink in the garage with their muddy clothes on and scrubbed down.  A warm tub bathed seemed to vanish away all the deep mud marks!

Kids will be kids!!!!!!!!!! 

Notice all the mud on the sink just from getting in???  Sigh.

I hope to do some house cleaning today while they are in school.  No guarantee's that it will stay clean with these two partners in dirt!!!

Have a great, clean day!

Applesauce ...

Reading back on some of my latest posts, I realized that I said I would post some applesauce pics and never followed through with that.  Not a big deal, but here is the wonderful, the best, the yummiest applesauce that we made a few weeks ago.  We've been enjoying so much ever since!

We cook smokehouse and ginger gold together.  The flavors blend so wonderfully and make a great sauce!

Mommy King helped cut!!!  What a great help!  Thank you!

Mom Lapp is cooking the apples.  They have a porch outside that comes out from their new basement. 

It worked great to do all that warm cooking outside!

Putting it through the strainer.  Add some sugar and taste!!!

The finished product after you can it for 10 minutes!!!

Welcome Pumpkin Season!!!

I hate to say good bye to summer but that always welcome cooler weather and the amazing smell of fresh pumpkin pies, pumpkin whoopies, and all those yummy fall foods!!!  Pumpkin foods are one of my favorite!  I cook my own neck pumpkins that make the best pumpkin pies!!!  (Making some next week!)

As I type, I can smell the wonderful pumpkin aroma of "Pumpkin cupcakes with cinnamon-cream cheese frosting"!  I started getting the "Food & Family" magazine and it has great, easy recipes.  There was a recipe in the last issue and I had to try it!  Having the youth at our house tomorrow eve gave me a wonderful reason to bake these today!  (Because eating these fattening foods by myself or even having them around is not good for me!)

By the way, that leads me to proudly post that I started running!  I started about 2 weeks ago and I have done some everyday.  It's not real far yet, but it's a start.  I usually said, "I can't imagine running 1 mile!  I would probably die.  (OK, being sarcastic.)  How does Mike run 5, 6, or even 8 miles at a time?"  I was determined to start some kind of exercise to help get back to my pre pregnancy weight.  ( I know ... making pumpkin desserts is not going to help shed the pounds!  Sigh.)  I was tread milling for a while and then when we went to Cape May, I went running outside.  I liked that much better!  Something about sweating outside in the fresh air and not just in the warm basement tread milling.  The farthest I went so far was 1.5 miles.  The other night Mike and I went out together for a jog.  He was at my pace and when we got back to the driveway, he said, "OK, I am going again."  I was puffin like crazy and humbly said, "OK."  He ran the same path that we did together again.  He is amazing with running.  He runs like it's no problemt!  Anyway, that totalls this week so far at 6 plus miles for me!!!  It's nothing huge but I am proud!  (Probably a little too proud of my accomplishments?  I usually go and measure the mileage right after I run!  Ha!  Running just a little further is a good feeling to me.)  Running is soooo hard for me!  It's something I do not enjoy (so far) but it's got great health benefits and it does feel good afterwards.  I woke up last night during the night with a backache and sore legs.  I think I've been giving some muscles a running work out!

Well, gotta go put icing on the cupcakes!!!

The finished product ...

What you need:

1 pkg. spice cake mix

1 cup sour cream

1 can pumpkin

1/4 cup oil

3 eggs

1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla

1 pkg. (16 oz.) powered sugar

1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Make it:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat first 5 ingredients with mixer until well blended; spoon into 24 paper-lined muffin cups.

Bake 20 - 22 min. or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean.,  Cool in pans 10 min.; remove from pans.  Cool completely.

Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla in large bowl with mixer until well blended.  Gradually beat in sugar.  Blend in cinnamon.  Spread over cupcakes.

Store frosted cupcakes in refrigerator.

Makes 24 delicious cupcakes!!!

Ashlyn is 5 1/2 months old ...

How can my little baby be 24 weeks old already?  Scary to think how fast she is growing.  It is a great privilege to be able to love her and care for her!!!

She marked a pretty big jump from being 4 months to becoming now 5 1/2 months old.  She is growing out of the 'newborn baby' look.  She smiles all the time.  She doesn't sit yet, but that's not stopping her from exploring.  She rolls all over the floor and in the last two weeks she is even trying to crawl.  She scoots on her belly and tries to get up on her fours.  If there's a toy on the floor, she will get to it.  She even got to one of Ginger's little bones that was lying on the carpet.  And yes, everything goes in the mouth ... doggy bone included.  Time to get off the floor everything that she is not allowed to have!!!  She is constantly grabbing for all she can get a hold of.  (Funny.  As I typed that I thought "wow, I can be like that too.  And I am not a five month old baby!!!"  Sometimes in life, I just grab for everything I can get a hold of.  Earthly, carnal things.  I love having new and seasonal things.  Of course it never comes free, so that limit's my wants to many dreams.  Seeing the fall decor come out in stores and noticing the mums and pretty fall flowers show up in the planters in town, makes me want that for my back porch!  Why am I wanting more all the time???  I consider it a good thing when I find myself wanting more of God.  When I want to start my day with some scripture or a devotional of some sort!  That hunger for God is a good thing.  I hope that today, God can satisfy all my wants and let me engulf myself in His word and in his love!  And yes, I went to attic and brought down my fall decor that I have used for many years!  Those orange leaves and little pumpkins seem to fit the season just right!)

Ashlyn is most times awake when Mike leaves for work!  This is his morning delight!  (I love it that the kids can see her in the morning before they head off to school too.)  She's happy to see him always!  Love's her daddy and when she sits on his arm when he holds her, she puts her arm around his neck!  "This is my daddy!!!"  Speaking about daddy, the other night when Mike was in Florida, Ashlyn was fussin and fussin.  She was sitting in her saucer and playing with her toys.  She kept making the sound "ma ma".  We would repeat it and then she would say it.  Really???  I think it was just her making baby noises because she hasn't done it since, but the kids and I would like to think that she was trying to say mama!  Her daddy thinks her real first word will be "da da". 

She graduated from her bouncer seat into her high chair when we eat supper.  Usually, she would sit in her little vibrator and watch us from the floor.  This week I got the high chair down from the attic and she sat in there last night for the first to watch us eat our dinner!  She looks bigger sitting in that!  I also bought her some baby food this week.  Tried to feed her some sweet potatoes last night.  She shivered and then ate some more!  I am still feeding her baby cereal in the mornings and she loves that!

She has figured out the johnny jump too.  She likes to jump in that!  It makes great entertainment for us as we watch her develop and strengthen those leg muscles!

Have great day!!!  Looks like a perfect day to stay indoors and do some cleaning!  Be blessed!

Eagles

This morning, as we were outside waiting for the bus to pick the kids up, Hadassah spotted two eagles in the field tree's.  I quickly got Matthew's binoculars and we looked!  So cool!!!  After they went to school, I walked across the fields and tried to get a closer picture.  Here's what we saw ...

Be blessed today!!!

Shakia Rose!!!

Our family welcomes with joy ... Shakia Rose Riehl!!!

Jason and Mindy had a little girl on September 11.  She weighed 8 lbs and is 21 1/2 inches long.  So many people are saying she looks like her daddy!!!

Here is this little, precious sweetie!

I am so proud to say that I am the first to give her first jar of candy!!!  If you know my brother Jason, you know that he feeds ALL CHILDREN if he holds them.  Smarties, crackers, ice cream, candy ... whatever is around. 

A few weeks back, I was at my grandparents and he stopped in.  He tried to give Ashlyn a Ritz cracker.  She's not eating crackers yet normally ... and to put it lightly she made a mess.  He laughed to handed me the messy child and said "here you clean her up"!

So many of us can't wait to feed Shakia all that Jason has tried!  Poor Mindy!  (Just kidding.  I won't unless she agrees!)  I did threaten to take an ice cream cone along to the hospital for our first visit!  Instead I put some candy in a jar and gave it with glee! 

Blessings to you both Jason and Mindy!!!  She's darling and I can't wait to see how God will use her to glorify His kingdom!!!