"Snow" much fun!!!

Like I expected and blogged yesterday about the forecast ... the snow has arrived.  October 29 and we have snow.  Isn't that 'snow' crazy!!!

It is still coming down really much and it makes me want to get into some cozy pj's, sip on something warm and snuggle on the couch.  After our late night last night, midnight, (more ridiculous Settler's games at my in-laws!  Still didn't win!  Way over due!), a nap on the couch sounds really relaxing!

Here's what it looks like at our house right now ...
I don't ever remember having pumpkins still on the back porch with snow on them.  Unique!

This was the beginning of the snow ...

This is what it looks like now ...

My geranium that still needs to be brought inside ...

The kids are enjoying the snow!!!  Matthew's got on his snowboard helmet and snowboard.

~ Hadassah and Ginger ~

Ashlyn is enjoying watching the snow from inside.

When we got home at midnight last night, these were in our yard!!!

Whoever is responsible for this, please let yourself be made known!

Enjoy the snow!!!

~ A Baking Friday ~

SNOW???
While I was helping the kids get ready for school this morning, I heard the weather forecast on the radio in the background and suddenly I said, "What?"  They are forecasting snow, 3 - 6 inches, for tomorrow.  Wow, wasn't really thinking snow already and I still have some flowers outside that need moved in!!!  Of course, the kids were really excited!
BAKING ...
I've been baking up a storm the last few hours.  We have some events the next few days that required me to make some desserts.  My family absolutely goes nuts when there are homemade chocolate chip cookies setting on the kitchen counter.  I made a big batch yesterday and stuck most of them in the freezer for future use, but I did keep around 8 cookies on a plate for my hubby and kids.  When I was packing school lunches this morning, there were no more cookies around!  I went to the freezer and grabbed two for the lunches and a few more for my cookie jar!  We love, love this cookie recipe and if you want to make them too, here is the marvelous recipe:

Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 cups softened butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup brown sugar

* Mix these together *

Add:  4 eggs

1 cup instant vanilla pudding

2 tsp. vanilla

4 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

2 cups chocolate chips

Bake at 350 for 10 - 12 minutes or just until browned! 

Yield:  I think it makes around 4 dozen cookies!  It's never enough!

Then I baked a cheesecake!  I love recipe books and if you do not have the cookbook called "Simply Wonderful" done by Honey Brook Community Church, you must put it on your Christmas list!!!  I love this cookbook and use it almost daily.  The recipes are so good!!!  This recipe comes from that cookbook.  I wish I could cut a slice and show you the inside of this creamy cheesecake, but it's still warm and I don't want it falling apart. 

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Crust: 1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup butter, melted

Filling:  24 oz. cream cheese

1 cup brown sugar

2 cup pumpkin, drained

2 Tb. cornstarch

1 1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

5 oz. evaporated milk

2 eggs

Topping:  2 cup sour cream

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

* Mix crumb mixture and press into a 9" - 10" spring form pan.

* Mix cream cheese and sugar, then add pumpkin, cornstarch, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Mix well. 

Gradually beat in eggs and milk; pour into crust.  Bake at 350 for 55 minutes.

* Combine sour cream, sugar and vanilla.  Pour onto cheesecake and return to oven. 

Bake for 5 minutes longer.  Cool on rack for 10 minutes.  Carefully run knife around edge of pan. 

Lift side ring off and cool for 1 hour.  Chill overnight.

Then I baked some Chocolate Chip Whoopie Pies.

2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup butter, softened

3 eggs

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup milk

1 tsp. salt

3 1/2 cup flour

1 pkg. mini chocolate chips

* Cream sugar and butter, blend in eggs.  Add dry ingredients alternating with milk and vanilla.  Add chocolate chips last.  Drop by teaspoon on greased cookie sheet. 

Bake at 350 for 10 -12 minutes.  Fill with vanilla icing.

With all these sweets in the house, I must keep them a secret or put them in places that the kids and hubby won't find them until they are ready to be eaten!

I hope you have a great start to your weekend!  Who knows???  Maybe we will wake up to some fluffy, white, wet snow on the back porch tomorrow morning!  I usually say, "If it's going to be cold ... it might as well snow!"

Be blessed!!!

7 months

Another week.  Another day.  Another moment to see life grow right before my eyes!!!

Ashlyn is now 7 months old.  I know I've been posting and saying this so many times, but it's still so true and totally her ... She's adorable, lovable, kissable, huggable, and sooooo enjoyable!!!  I can't imagine life without her and when I think of how it used to be before her birth, I realize how incomplete our family was without her!

Being at a funeral this week and crying the tears of sorrow, it reminded me again of how short life really is.  If we live a few days, a few years, or live to be an old person ... life still is short!  Someone commented to me just this morning at how fast Ashlyn is growing and I said, "Yep, it's still how it was when you had babies.  They don't stay little for long!"

The boys went out last night for a night together at Cabela's.  Mike's been wanting to spend some fun time with Matthew and so they choose to go to Cabela's.  Matthew got a sling shot and remote controlled jeep.  Both are waiting to be played with when he gets home from school!

While the boys were out, the girls went out for some fun too!  We went shopping and walked the mall!  Hadassah has come to realize that things come with a price tag and so she chose a few items that were at a good price!  Ashlyn was busy watching everyone walk pass and loved the stroller ride!

It's a busy week of extra school work and getting things completed before the quarter is over at school.  Hadassah has a few Bible verses to memorize yet and a science test coming up on Friday.  She also has a demonstration project she is doing tomorrow at school.  She wants to show the class how to make iced coffee's.  Matthew's got some vocab words to practice and one verse to quote to me yet before he needs to hand in his completed verse paper.  And, and they both are trying to earn the free pizza from Pizza Hut if they read a certain amount of time and books.  All this requires time from me too!!!  I tell Mike that being a mom sometimes feels like being a Sergeant and ordering out commands so that the kids eat their breakfast, brush their teeth, get dressed, grab backpacks and lunches and run out the door happy before the school bus passes!!!  With all that done in 45 minutes, I get the feeling of accomplishment already at 7:45 AM!!!

Enjoy your children!!!  I am mine!  Now, I must get to some household duties before they get home from school.  Have a great mid week!!!

Here's another cute picture of Ashlyn from this past weekend!!!

Fun

We had a fun weekend being together as a family.

Friday night Hadassah had a sleep over at a friends house and so Mike and I watched Air Bud with Matthew that evening.

Saturday, Mike was working and I was still in the dumps about dreaming of a nice house and then back to reality so quickly!!!  We spent the evening at home again and I got to go for another run.  Only one mile but full of determination and lots of thoughts.  I was asking myself why I get so emotional about 'things and stuff'?  Why do I let myself get all fired up and then take such a fall?  I suppose it's called 'real life' when things like that happen.  I ran my mile fast and when I got back, I did feel somewhat better.

Sunday was so gorgeous here and a great day!!!  I got another 2 mile run in and Mike went 9.8 miles!!!  He is doing so good and is a great runner!!!  He ran from our house down to Dave and Suz!!!  I am so proud of him!!!

Last year, I took some pics of the kids just down the road from our house and Matthew said something the other week about doing that again.  He likes this place and wanted some pics to give to his school friends.  Since it was so nice yesterday, I grabbed the camera and we took some fun shots!!!

After the pics, we got to hang out with friends and it is such a blessing to gather and chat and eat and laugh and even though it's loud ... we had a great time!!!  Thanks Dave and Suz for hosting the crowd once again!!!  We love you guys!

Wishing you a marvelous Monday!!!  God bless!

Beautiful Sunday

It's a BEAUTIFUL SUNDAY!!!

What a blessed, gorgeous, beautiful Sunday! 

We went to church and enjoyed Sunday School.  We ate some yummy grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch.  Now, Mike and Matthew are in the back yard playing some baseball and Hadassah's got her "doctors office" set up for some patients!  She wants to examine the guys when they come back inside.  Imagination!!!  It's great!

It's a beautiful Sunday and I am grateful for the sunshine and for my healthy family!!!

Enjoy the song today on my next post!!!

< Emotions >

Emotion:  Disturbance, excitement, the affective aspect of consciousness:  feeling, a psychic and physical reaction subjectively experienced as strong feeling and physiologically involving changes that prepare the body for immediate vigorous action.

The past few days have been a lot of emotion for me.  We've been praying and thinking a whole lot about maybe another house.  Moving.  We really like it where we are and love the location but sometimes we get into the 'dream world' and just dream of someday living in a nicer, newer, bigger, and luxurious home.

I wish and try to be content right where we are as a family.  I am content ... I think.?.  The house we live in now has brought so many great memories for our small family.  It's been the first home Mike bought and it's the first home we ever lived in together.  It's the first home for our three children.  It's been a safe refuge for us and God has blessed us tremendously with living here.

I usually look at the Penny Saver each week because I like to go to yard sales and that usually is my source of knowing where some are.  Well, the past few weeks I have not been reading or looking at it.  I've been else too busy or just chose to not read it.  Last Thursday, I opened it up and briefly leafed through it.  I looked quickly at the auction listings and this one house caught my eye!!!  A gorgeous house with 3.8 acres.  Only 13 years old.  Over 6,000 square feet of living space.  Local!!!  Going on auction on October 21.

I showed it to Mike when he got home from work and we went online and did the tour online of the house.  Now, I get pretty excited pretty fast when it comes to things and stuff and this looked great to me!  It wasn't exactly how I would have built it or even dreamed of.  The outside has so much work but it was a dream house to consider.

On Friday night we went to Mike's dad's for pizza and settlers (I am still bummed I didn't win any games!!!) and we showed them the picture of the house.  We talked some and looked at the taxes and left it at that.  Nothing more really gave about the house and day's passed on.

Yesterday, I was cleaning our house and wiping up the kitchen floor and I just got this feeling about this house.  I stopped and prayed right there that if God wants us to buy this house then He would have to work fast!!!  It was a matter of a few minutes and Mike calls me.  He said, "I just can't seem to get this house out my thoughts.  I'm going to look at."  Oh my.  My minds starts spinning a thousand thoughts and questions and dreams and emotion.  I picked the kids up at school and we as a family went to see this beautiful home!!!

The kids reaction was going to say a lot about our decision.  They were really excited about the whole thing when we looked online at it and showed it them.  But when we talked more serious about it, they were a little hesitant.  I was too.  Change can be tough and this auction day was coming fast. 

We got to the house and we were all excited!!!  Nice bedrooms, excellent condition, big and roomy.  It has a gorgeous cherry kitchen; around sound; outdoor hot tub; full finished, with a kitchen daylight basement; three car garage; an breath taking office; screened in porch; a humongous pole barn out back; a front load washer and dryer; 2 fireplaces and so much, much, much more.  We walked inside and dreamed.  Hadassah loved the thought of a nice room and her own bathroom.  Matthew loved the outside swing set.  It had a bridge and steps that went really high up into a tree stand!!!  He also loved the laundry shot that would be in his closet if we buy!  Oh yeah, one of my biggest highlights was the closet's.  Closet's everywhere and big closets!!!  I loved that!!!  A place to put things and be organized!!!

We talked last night and set our price in our minds and hearts.  We prayed a lot about it.  We were going to the auction with that set price and no more.  There was emotion involved.  My stomach had butterflies, my mind was dreaming, and yet my heart was in prayer.  We would never want to borrow money that later regret or wished we would have not.  The sale was at 1:00.  The house was worth much more than we were willing to pay and we were aware of that.  We were out to bid if we could get a deal.

We did not buy it.  Again there was some emotion involved with getting so excited so fast and then not being able to call it our new home.  I am OK with that though.  I think?  I must be.  I know that if God has a place that He wants us to move to, He will let us know about it.  He knows our dreams and wants and wishes and desires.  Somehow, somewhere, sometime.

Oh, well.  My home is still home and I will be content.  I chose to be happy and I know that we live in one of the richest countries, in one of the richest counties, and in one of the richest friendly environments!!!  Where we live now is perfect for us!!!

I am grateful for my children and husband!!!

BE CONTENT!!!

Wet again ...

You might think by now that I have an issue with rainy days ... not really.  I enjoy the sunshine much more than the rain drops and seeing this much rain every week is becoming a routine.  I don't even check the weather much anymore because it will probably say rain or a chance of showers.  I did think often of Noah and really wonder how all that water and rain was for him and his family.  I am sure without a doubt that they were really ready to see the sun and feel the warm rays on their skin!  It's makes me more thankful and more grateful when we have a sunny day like yesterday!

I got to run again yesterday and it felt great!  No side ache and actually felt like I could keep going.  I've upped my run to 2 miles.  Working it.

------------
Ashlyn is 29 weeks today.  I had her at the doctors this week for more vaccines.  She weighs 18 lbs. and 1 oz..  She is 27 1/2 inches long.  The doctors have a chart that they go by when it comes to baby weights and lengths.  Ashlyn is above average in both of these. 

I love it when I get comments about her cuteness!!!  It seems everywhere I go in public with her, I get some kind of cute remark!  I was at Walmart and at least three people stopped and commented something about her.  She nicely gives each person an adorable smile and is so pleasant!  Then at the doctors, she was all happy and smiley when I was talking with the receptionist.  Ashlyn was reaching for one of the ladies in the office, so she took her and was fussing and fussing of how cute she is.  Ashlyn had all the nurses and ladies smiling and laughing!  She made the nurse that had to give her her shots feel like a mean person.  Of course Ashlyn cried when she got pricked twice, but she was smiling again as we walked out and said good bye!

She loves to eat her baby foods.  Any veggie or fruit or yogurt is good with her.  Not picky.  She finally figured out her sippy cup.  Before all she's done is played with it in her mouth and not suck.  She now knows that water will come out if she sucks on it and she really likes it!  She's not too sure about crackers yet.  I've tried graham and Ritz and both she shivered and didn't seem too impressed.  I got these baby rice cakes and she likes them.  They seem to dissolve really easy in her mouth.  Yesterday, Matthew was eating some cheese curls and left the Tupperware on the floor with two pieces left.  Ashlyn found it and seemed to make more of a mess than enjoying them.  (I do try to train the kids to eat at the table and not on the living room floor!  Sigh.)

She's mobile.  As I am sitting here at the computer, I moved her away at least three times from the dog food.  Our dog has a small dish of food and water and it has not been a problem yet to keep Ashlyn away from it.  This morning she keeps going for it so now it sets on top of the dog crate till I move her into the living room.  She's also taken a tiny tumble a few times.  We have one step that goes down from the kitchen into the family room.  She goes head first and ends up tumbling that one step.  She thinks it terrible but I suppose she will learn pretty quick to conquer that one simple step.

She is doing the 'soldier crawl'.  This is what my doctor called it.  She puts one hand in front of the other and pulls herself around like that.  She goes on her fours and rocks her body awhile and then tries to crawl on hands and knees but goes back to her 'soldier crawl' again.  She also for the first last week went from a sitting position to standing up.  We were in church praying on our knees and she was sitting on the pew with her back against the seat.  She turned herself around and lifted herself to a standing position by holding on to the pew.  I was right there to make sure she didn't fall and she got it accomplished.  She can also go from a lying on her back position to sitting up.  She's diffidently more mobile than my other babies at her age.  I think maybe because her favorite is just exploring the floor and things around her.  She likes her saucer and johnny jump sometimes but still prefers the floor the best.  That's fine with me.

Oh my ... Ashlyn just dumped all the dog food onto the carpet.  How did that happen???  Gotta go clean it up really fast before she decides to taste it ...................

OK, I'm back.  We store Ginger's food in a quart container and sets beside her treats on the floor.  The lid was on and somehow Ashlyn got it open and all the food dumped out.  I tell you, she's aggressive.  Aggressive reminds me of her dad!  He is being aggressive around the house lately too!  Mike does not do that great of a job with any household chores and the chores always seem to take realllllly long to finish and so it's discouraging for him.  I am the one that does most of the outside work around here but getting into the pine trees and pulling out those weeds is not for me!  I let that job for Mike and he hates it!!!  One reason is because he only does it a few times a summer and then the weeds are way out of control.  Another reason is that he don't like digging into pine needles either.  Well, the other day he made the comment that he was going to start doing 15 minutes of simple chores each day.  (Thanks to a book he's been reading and it encouraged to do this!!!)  Things like:  putting receptacle covers on the receptacles downstairs in the bedrooms that have never got put on when we redid the rooms, making a simple shelf in the garage for my laundry soap on top on the washer, fixing Matthew's closet doors, organizing the barn, taking the old trampoline poles to the shop dumpster that have been laying around here ever since we lived here. (I'll let you figure out how long that would be!  Smile!)  I think it's a wonderful plan and he's been faithful to this so far.  The closet doors are fixed and the poles are gone!!!  Thanks hon!!!

Well, the weather outside is saying to me else "stay in your pj's all day and do some scrap booking" or "go buy some new flats for the upcoming family weddings" or "work on getting the church calendar info updated", etc..  Not sure what my day will all consist of, but I am going to enjoy it!  Wet or dry ... God is good!!!

Weekend fun ~

It was a good and sunny weekend!  I was so ready to see the sunshine!!!  I am proud to say that I got to run my first two miles!!!  Even though running is tough for me, I think I am starting to like it a little more.  My goal is to run every day and the days that I don't go (because of a too busy schedule or PMS), I do really miss it.

Friday was a wet day for me.  It would rain and then the sun would shine a while.  Then it would rain again.  Well, I decided that if the sun is out for just an hour or so, I was going to try to mow some yard.  Yes, it was very wet but I went slow and just needed to get outside again.  I got the front yard done and then it started to cloud up fast.  I dumped the grass clippings quick and got the mower into the barn and by then I was soaked.  I finished mowing the rest on Saturday.  Then when the kids came home from school, I decided to go for a walk and not run (monthly issues).  I didn't get real far when I heard something behind me.  I looked back and more rain was coming fast!  I turned around and ran home.  I was soaked again.  Friday night I made some homemade pizza and we went over to Mike's dad's and ate supper with them.  Then the kids played some street hockey with Ritchie and Mike while mom and I got the dishes done.  Then it was time for some settler's games!!!  This is diffidently a fall/winter game for us and we love to play this game with Mike's dads!!!  I had three horrible games and left there not happy with my strategy, but it was a great time!  I am going to win the next time we play ... maybe all the games!!!  Wishing!

She was my mowing buddy for just a little while ...

Saturday morning, we went over to Lena's to watch the 'firetruck parade'.  The local fire companies got together and made a parade with their trucks.  It was short but the kids liked it.  When we got home the kids did some play doe art.

 

I am not sure if using my garlic press with play doe is a good thing, but they liked the way it pressed out all these little strings!?!

Sunday was communion for us at church.  So meaningful!  I knew listening to the life of Christ was going to spark a new life and 'not just a story' for me.  Doing my study lessons in our Bible Study at church, I am studying on the life of Jesus.  Even though I have just done the first years of Jesus so far, while I was listening yesterday to the preaching and the happenings of Jesus, I was excited to know that in the next few weeks I am going to do a more intense study on these events!

We had a church service last night to on the topic "to train up a child".  There is so much to say about parenting and what we should do and teach and instruct and plant and train into our children.  This is always a good challenge to do a better job and teach more about Jesus to our kids.  The preacher made a comment that went something like this ... "We assume a lot."  We assume the missing details in the Bible stories were easy.  I thought on that some and it is easy to read our children Bible stories and talk about the happenings long ago, but do we really make it a "REAL LIFE" event for them.  (This is why I have always enjoyed Sight-N-Sound!  It becomes so real to me and not just a story!)  This is a challenge for me and I am going to try to talk more to our children about how it must have really been in the ark for all those many rainy days; to be the sister that watched the basket float on the river and hope God will protect it; being a young boy and fighting bears, lions, and a giant without any guns; how it surely wasn't an easy journey to Bethlehem; how awesome it must have been to see a sky full of angels and then seeing the shepherds hurry off to find 'the baby'; and how gross it might have looked to see all the beatings, blood and hurt that Jesus went through to die on the cross for me!

Well, today is Monday and the kids are off to school.  Mike is working hard.  Baby is playing with her toys and I have laundry washing.  Have a great day!!!

Peanut Butter Pumpkin Cookies

Oh, I thought these were so cute when I was searching for recipes online that have to do with pumpkins.  (I am a VERY seasonal person, so of course I would be searching for pumpkin shaped cookies!!!)

Hadassah loves it when they get home from school and I have a prepared school snack waiting for them.  It it's something really cool, I get brownie points!!!  I went out for some groceries this morning and was so happy to find all my ingredients for these cookies!

I hope they will be thrilled with these little treats!!!

If you want to make these for your kids or better yet, get them to help you, here's the recipe:
1 roll (16.5) Pillsbury refrigerated peanut butter cookies
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup orange decorator sugar crystals
14 twisted butter-flavored pretzel sticks, broken in half

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray cookie sheets with Pam.  In medium bowl, stir cookie dough, egg yolk and flour until well mixed.

Pour sugar crystals into small bowl.  Shape dough into 28 (1 inch) balls; roll in sugar crystals.  Insert 1 pretzel piece into each ball for pumpkin stem.  Using toothpick or tip of teaspoon, make lines around sides for pumpkin ridges.  Place balls 2 inches apart on cookie sheets.

Bake 9 - 11 minutes or just until set in center when touched with fingertip.  Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks.  Cool completely, about 10 minutes.

( I made bigger balls and wished later that I made smaller ones.  1 inch would be great.  I had to bake mine a little longer because of a bigger size.  I think the smaller ones would keep more of a shape too.)

Start with the cookie dough ...

Mix it ...

Bake them ...

Enjoy them ...

I hope the kids like them!!!

Middle of the week ...

It's a good feeling when I can tell the kids it's already Wednesday.  It seems the middle school day in the week brings smiles and they know Friday is not far off.

I've been doing more of my Bible Study lesson and I can't wait to see what today will teach me.  The lessons are taking me through the childhood of Jesus.  Even though the Bible doesn't give much detail about Jesus' boyhood, Beth Moore writes of how the Jewish families would have been like back then.  They were real people like us and raising children back then was not just an easy task.  Just like it is today.  The Bible does tell us in Matthew 13:55, that Jesus was known as being the carpenter's son.  That must mean that Jesus did the same work as his father Joseph.  As I picture this in real life, I can see Joseph trying to teach Jesus how to make things out of wood, metal, leather, nails, etc..  I have been trying to imagine in 'real life' thoughts of how it must have been for Joseph and Mary to live, teach, and disciple Jesus as a baby, boy, and man.  I think it must have been really tough.  Imagine thinking, "This boy is really God's son!"  Imagine realizing that God put you in charge of raising His Son and then have other children in the same household.  The Bible does tell us that Jesus had brothers and sisters.  Try to imagine that ... treating them all the same!?!  Wow.  That must have been tough to not treat Jesus a little more better than the others or watch his moves just a little bit more.

Beth wrote this, "How in the world would earthly parents rear the perfect Son of God in an imperfect household?"  These parents must have been chosen by God for their character and faith! 

Joseph and Mary did the same traditional things with Jesus as their inheritance would have taught them to do.  They took Jesus to the temple and they gave a sacrifice.  They took their family to Jerusalem for Passover, Pentecost and & the Feast of Tabernacles.  We are told in the Bible that Jesus was 12 years old when they went on one of these trips and when they left for back home, Joseph and Mary thought Jesus was with other travelers.  When they realized that he was missing, they searched hard for three days!  I cannot not imagine losing your child for three whole days.  I don't have a 12 year old yet, but 10 is close.  I would not be happy, but scared.  I would not be able to sleep, but want to keep searching.  I would not be able to function very well after one day of searching, and then two days of more looking, and then finally on the third day find him!!!  I would think that my human mind would be so tired of all looking but yet my heart so glee when I would have found him. 

What would I have said???  When Joseph and Mary found him in the temple with the teachers, they were amazed.  I think they would have finally asked, "How could you do this to us?  We searched long and hard for you and all this time you were just calmly sitting here in the temple teaching?"  They were not too sure how to respond to his answer, "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?"  How would I respond?  Well, surely Jesus knew that he was still living in their home and still too young to be out and about on his own.  It says in Luke 2:51 that Jesus did go with them back to Nazareth and lived with them.  "Mary kept all these sayings in her heart."

The Bible doesn't talk anymore about Jesus as a boy.  It says Jesus grew in wisdom, stature, and in favor with God and man.

I am enjoying trying to picture Jesus in 'REAL LIFE'.  Even though he was the Son of God, he also was a human.  All the daily habits and things that we do, he might have done too.  Very human, yet very God.  Sinless.  Perfect.

~~~~~~~~
Monday the kids had no school.  Hadassah and Laurie (a friend from school) have been wanting to do some shopping and hanging out together, so we did this Monday afternoon.  It was a good time and they both bought a shirt at Ross and then some magnet clip earrings at Clair's and we ended the fun with some frozen yogurt with lots of toppings. 

~~~~~~~~~

Ashlyn is 28 weeks old today.  She's scooting all around.  Crawling.  Rolling.  Laughing.  Giggling.  Smiling.  Eating #1 & 2 baby foods.  Growing so fast!!!

This is her this morning and what a delight to have her with me at home today when it's chilly and wet outside!!!  I am so blessed!

Melting Pot with Marvelous People!!!

I was looking so forward to last night's events and now it's already over.  I am glad to have some pics and know that we had a really great time!!!

We went to the Melting Pot with Marvelous People ...

The clock was ticking really, really fast when I found out that we were to meet at Dave & Suz's house by 4:15 PM!  I was told an hour later, but things worked out just fine!  I rushed through my shower, grabbed the kids pj's and Ashlyn's baby things, called my babysitter (Thanks LaVern and Fanny Lynn!!!), called Mike and said he needs to come home NOW, and out the door we flew!!!

I was anticipating this planned event out with some couples from church and starting it rushed was not my 'perfect date' beginning.  We waited in traffic in Gap and finally Mike turned around and went some back lane - road to find a faster route!  We got to Dave & Suz safe and sound and then Mike & I, Dave & Suz, Matt & Marlene, John & Martha Rose and JR & Ruthie got into the van and off we headed for King of Prussia!  (We really missed you JR & Linda!)  Mike & I were the only ones that have ever eaten at the Melting Pot before with this group, so I was sure it was going to be an interesting night!

We started out completely and totally clueless!  Because there was five of us couples, we had five different fondue pots.  We started out with picking different cheeses and then dipped our bread, chips, apples and fresh veggies into our cheeses.  I thought it would be a simple process ordering the cheese options because there were six cheeses to pick from and five pots.  Just take away one option and done right?  Then we could all choose and taste from the different cheese???  Well, I guess that would be too simple.  We finally just all ordered by couples that way we each got exactly what we wanted right in front of us!  (Martha Rose was protecting her cheddar cheese!)

Then we picked our salads and those pine nuts are the best!

Each couple picked their raw meat platter and then the broth flavor that we got to cook our meats and veggies in.  We were given a 'search and rescue' spoon for any meats or veggies that fell off your cooking picks.  Dave kept forgetting to take out the metal spoon and it would get really hot by the handle!  Mike canceled out the pork for our meat platter and asked for extra duck.  He thinks cooked duck is delicious!  Dave and Matt even got to sneak a small piece!  This was so hilarious to watch these men try cooking their raw meat in the broth.  It got really loud sometimes and you would hear someone say, "Ah oh, where did my meat go?"  Search and rescue!

Then the best was the last part!!!  Again, we picked our chocolate flavors and enjoyed dipped strawberries, bananas, marsh mellows, rice krispies, cheesecakes, brownies and pound cake (all bite size pieces) into the warm, melted chocolate!  Mike ordered the 'smores' for us.  We had milk chocolate with marsh mellow and graham cracker pieces all mixed together and it made for a great fondue!

After about 2 1/2 hours of eating and experiencing the 'Melting Pot', we stopped at Starbucks for some caffeine before heading to the movie theaters to watch "Courageous"!  (Thanks Dave for the coffee's!)

10:30 PM, we were sitting at the movie theaters waiting for the movie to begin!  A late night out was no lie!  The movie was a tremendous challenge to dad's to be the leaders in their homes and spend time with their children!  Lead spiritually, lead in family activities, lead in church, lead in prayer times, lead in making a difference to those around us!  Even though the movie brought a very strong message for the dad's, it also spoke to me in volume's!!!  How many times do I tell the children to go play instead of doing something with them together?  How many times do I actually give them my full attention?

I hope that I can be a mom that sees the needs and hurts in our children's eyes before it becomes too big for them to handle.  When to say no to peer pressure at the early stages of temptations.  I hope that I can be a mom that my children want to talk to when they are struggling in life. 

Mike and I want to be parents to our children that can lead them ALWAYS in God's direction.  Always seeking God in all situations.  Always looking to God for stronger faith and more courage and more boldness and more love and more family time and more, more, more .... 

God knows our hearts and desires.

The night flew by too fast and after picking up the kids and back home, I felt so blessed to have a great life!  This morning came way too early and getting to bed at 2 AM was worth all the fun, all the food, and the wonderful challenge that "Courageous" gave to me!