24th wedding anniversary!

24 years strong!!!!!!

We are at year 24 for our wedding anniversary!  We are still in love!  We are still very happy living together!  It's the kind of love that keeps on growing and getting stronger, not weaker!  He knows me.  I know Mike!  We have challenges.  His views are different than my views on a lot of things.  I learned that differences are actually good for married couples.  We shouldn't think exactly the same about all things.  We need to forgive the weaknesses and fall in love with the strengths of each other.  Marriage is hard some days.  Really hard other days.  But truthfully, most of our days together are sweet, loving and caring for each other!  There's no marriage that doesn't have hiccups or mistakes or misunderstandings or hurts.  It's the choice on what to do with those hurts that matter.  

I was looking back at some old photos of us when we were so young with babies on our hips and with less fat and wrinkles.  I loved us then and love us now!  As we age, our love is still strong!  God has been so good to us!!!!!

Mike and I grabbed a lunch together and I listened to some of our dating songs as I did my work around the house.  I love wedding songs and old love songs!  They are the best!

I came back home after eating lunch with Mike and after grabbing some groceries and found these in the garage!  He sent me roses and I got tears in my eyes!  How special!  I love you BABE!!!!!

And look here!!!!!!  This was us way back on our honeymoon and young and not having a clue how to be parents but we made it!!!!  We love our children!  We love us!  Cheers to many, many more anniversaries!!!!!!!!

Winter happenings.

It has been snowy and freezing cold outside all month!  I'm happy to be inside and watch the birds!

January is when I always order from Chapbooks and order my blog book.  All the posts I submit to Instagram and to my blog, get created into books and put on the shelf for memories sake!  It's the best way for me to keep up with any kind of scrapbooking and I love it!!!!!

I'm trying to read more and so that means I actually have to read more!  It's not complicated at all!  I told myself that if I read at least one chapter a day, that would be amazing at the amount of books I will read in one year!  I'm not good at reading commitments but I'm reading a book on habits so I think that should help with my goal!!!!!

Austin did a bottle buddy on Kobe Bryant and did a great job with his project!  I also love the Valentine craft he made that's hanging in his classroom!

Mike gave me a certificate to get a massage last summer and I finally went and relaxed and wondered why I would ever wait so long to use this!!!!!

I also helped Hadassah with one of her cleanings while she's on vacation and ended up getting stuck in the snow and needing help to get pulled out.  I'm ready for clean, dry roads!

We celebrated the twins and Olivia the other night!  Megan and Melanie are now both 16 and driving with permits and that's crazy!  I remember so well when they were born!  Happy birthday, girls!

Austin is in the middle of basketball season and doing well!

Attending a women's seminar about mentorship is not something I thought I would ever do.  Hearing other peoples problems weigh me down and I want to fix things for them.  So to counsel or mentor is not heavy on my heart but there's much to learn with this topic and I can be a helping hand to others around me when I have the opportunity!  It was great to have Ruth Ann Miller be our speaker!  There's much to learn and ponder on!

I could only attend in the morning before it was time to go pick Ashlyn up in York.  She went to watch Megan bible quiz and because Mike never watched this before, I decided to ride along and be amazed at this talent and skill of learning!  Quizzers memorize scripture and then are quizzed on the verses.  It's really incredible!!!!!  The river was full of ice as we crossed it!  Good job Megan!!!!!

Then, from there we went to a fundraiser for the 8th grade class!  They are going on a missions trip soon and they still need $7,000.  They prayed.  Each student made a dessert to sell.  Everyone was to bring an item to sell at the auction.  They raised over $11,000!!!!!  God sure blessed this night and it blessing this trip!

Our weekend seemed full with just Saturday events but we went to church and then to Nobles bowling event.  We came home ready to relax and watch the Eagles game and then the Chiefs.  Why do these game have to be so close?  

Chiefs won!!!!  Eagles won.  They will now meet up at Super Bowl!

We are finally back at walking at the park!  The path is still mostly snow covered but the snow was bright and it was lovely to get here again!  With the tempts being only single digits the past weeks, we haven't been walking in that kind of weather.  Today, it's sunny and winter is looking pretty here!

January is going fast!  I'm glad because it seems to be the longest winter month for me!

I reminded myself and the kiddos this morning that in about eight weeks we will be thinking about putting seeds in the garden!  Crazy!  I'm ready!!!!!

It's been snowy!

 We have more fresh snow!  Winter is so much better with snow on the ground!  It's also been freezing cold.  Like dangerously cold!  I'm not encouraging the kids to get out and in this snow.  To get outside for a short time, like when Mike and Austin walked out to check on his trap he set in the field, is totally OK.  But to expect them to play outside for hours and build snowmen ... it's too cold!

We are very much enjoying the birds at our feeders on these winter days!

JANUARY 20, 2025.

Yesterday, the kids did not have school because of Martin Luther King, JR Day.  It would have been a no school day because of the snow if we would not have already been planning to have the day off.  So, the kids slept in.  We took a moment to read about Martin Luther King, JR and what he stood for and even died for.  There are many great people in our American history that stood up for right beliefs, like treating all people fairly and not by the color of their skin!  It's a good reminder for us to appreciate these heroes and learn what they did to give us our freedoms of today!

Then, we sat down to watch the inauguration!  I love history events like this and really enjoyed all what was accomplished today!  We prayed!  We voted!  We asked God to have His way!  And to watch this inauguration take place was really wonderful!  The songs that were sung and the prayers that were spoken over our new 47th president and our country was really powerful!

The kids were not totally thrilled to sit through the entire event but it was good for them to see prayers answered and to watch our leaders take oath!  

I love the options on Pinterest that can give us a quick overview of the hero's we celebrate!  Here's a very simple rundown of Martin Luther King, JR.  Because we didn't have school, because of this man, we should spend some time reading the things he did in his life time.

The snowfall on Sunday gave us about 5 inches.  I love the way the sun shines in our windows in the morning!

Ashlyn finished up another puzzle.  This was a fun one!

And, yes, we enjoyed another win from our favorite football team, the Chiefs!  Mike has been a Chiefs fan since he was fifteen.  For many years, the team didn't have many wins.  And now, finally, we have a wonderful coach and hard working team and tons of wins!  Go Chiefs!

 Arie knows how to give high fives!  

After a two hour delay today, the kids are back to school.  We love the slow mornings we get because of the snow outside!  The tempts over the weekend were at 0 at night.  It's only to be a high of 16 today and low of 2 degrees.  It's so cold and I'm blessed to be at home, staying warm and enjoying winter!

Mid January.

January has been cold!  Very cold.  I've not walked at the park since Christmas.  There has been many people that are sick and I hope this will help freeze out the germs!  January has also been a month of declutter for me!  I love to start out a new year with going from closet to closet and drawer to drawer and organize and through out trash and take things to the thrift store.  January has also been busy with basketball practices and games ... Austins and the high school boys!  Take a look ...

Austin is all into trapping and caught a huge rabbit so far.  Wyatt helped him skin it.

I love the idea of winter mugs on the shelf!  I thrifted some cute ones to add to my collection.

The winter skies are so beautiful.

We've been having some time to do puzzles.  Here's a fun one we are borrowing from Jody.  Matthew took one look at it and said, "This looks like diabetes to me."

Austin is learning more about basketball this year!  His coach is intentional and uses every minute of their time to practice well!  It's really fun to watch boys this age learn skills and then go do it on the court!

Another pretty sunrise!

Here's a quick glance at some of the things I am throwing out.  Old Easter eggs, candle waxed tray, and so much more.  I can't believe all the things that I clean out just by opening up a drawer and taking 10 minutes to clean it out!

This is how my January Pinterest board looks ....

Another closet clean out.  I have a few scarfs that I don't wear anymore.  Same with cardigans.  Some of these items have been in my closet for years.

I moved to the pantry and organized!  The popcorn bags got placed in a basket instead of in two cardboard boxes.  Looks better!

Another good practice.

I felt very blessed at work out class on Wednesday!  Every week, Suz picks someone from her class to bless.  It's not always from the the class I attend but this week it was me.  I was blessed with a supper meal, candles and fun things to use!  Thank you friends!  I love Empowered Fitness!

I'm having a hard time liking this protein.  I don't like it just in milk.  So I tried blending it with yogurt, a banana, peanut butter and ice and water.  It's delicious!!!!

I thought this was accurate.

My winter view while driving in front of a plow truck.

And got my nails done while it snowed outside.

And this was the sunrise this morning!  We had a snow day today because of the weather.  The cousins came over while Lena went to market.  It was a day of laundry, cleaning and working on the puzzle.

Winter time is a time of going slow and being at home!  When we have a basketball game that's fun to get out to!!!!  Mostly I love it when I don't have to drive in the snow!

It's the weekend and we have the Chiefs to watch and cheer for!  We have more freezing tempts and some snow in the forecast.  Matthew loved the night on the ice and playing hockey on a pond is always a winter highlight!