The New Year

Today is New Year's Eve.....hard to believe that 2010 is almost over and tomorrow will be the first day of the year 2011. Our New Year brings about some wonderful things: New Home and Promotion for the Captain :) Today brings about finishing the painting in our new home and working outside a bit. We will shoot some fireworks with the kids tonight as well. My ham is thawing for a nice dinner tonight and tomorrow dinner will consist of the traditional New Year's Day food.....yummy!

I do not believe in New Year's resolutions, as always I will continue to put my trust and faith in God. With God, all things are possible. I challenge you to do the same this year too, drop the New Year's resolutions because let's face it, they are silly, all you need to do is put your trust in God. It is funny hearing people talk about their "New Year's Resoltuion" and then you hear them again in a few months on how they "broke" it......silly, just silly to me!

We have a tradition, I guess you could say, in our family, my Father-in-Law always says,"I wonder what the new year will bring." He may or may not realize it, but we look forward to him saying it at the end of each year, it's become a tradition.

2010 in review: I had a couple of out-patient surgeries, the Bookworm was re-diagnoised with Asthma(now it is under control), The Princess started High School and Marching Band, the Bookworm started Middle School and started playing the trombone, The Captain was instructor of the Quarter at work, and then won instructor of the year, the Captain was in a wreck and our car got totaled and now has the truck that he has always wanted, I was finally diagnoised and learned that I have Hashimoto's Disease and finally put on meds., and we bought a house! Through everything that has happened, good or bad, we have always put God first and put our total trust and faith in Him.

We look forward to the New Year and all of the things that God has planned for us, because no matter what the circumstance, God gives us nothing more or less than what we can handle!

The BookWorm Turns 12

The Bookworm turned 12 on the 16th. It is hard to believe that our youngest child is 12! He had a wonderful birthday. He wanted Mom to make Granny Granny's thin layer chocolate cake, and that is what I did. He received lots of wonderful gifts, of course his favorite is getting money!!! He had the choice of doing what ever he wanted to do for his birthday, so he chose eating at CiCi's Pizza and going to the movies to see the the Narnia Movie. We had a great day with him, focusing just on him and his BIRTHday :)

Youth Christmas Program

The kids had their Christmas Program at Church two Sundays ago. They both sang in a group with 3 other friends and they both played in the Youth Orchestra in which the Captain directed. I was very proud of them, they did a wonderful job. The Princess even played a duet with our Organist. If you have talents use them, and use them to glorify the Lord!

Paint, Paint and More Paint

Well, the Captain and I(soon to be Major and I come the 7th of January) have been painting in the soon to be new home of ours for the past two days. We are really getting a lot done and it is looking nice and fresh. We had already painted the kids rooms and last night we finished our master bedroom. It looks really nice, we painted it a color called pale daffodil, it is a real pretty yellow. We even started painting the living room down stairs last night as well. It is a color called tawny birch, it is a real pretty tan color. I managed to get all the trim done and the entry way, today we will walk over and hopefully finish the room. Next on the list will be the kids bathroom. We picked up a real pretty blue color that was in the clearance bin for $5.00, can't beat that! After the kids bathroom we will probably venture upstairs and paint the landing up the stairs and the office upstairs. It really feels rewarding working in the house, especially since we know that it will be ours on the 29th! We are still praying that we will be signing the papers then!

This past week has been very busy! It all started last Tuesday and we had something everyday/evening til this past Sunday! It is nice to finally have a break and to have no commitments except family! The only thing we had going on this week was the dental cleanings for the kids and that went well, no cavities for either and great reports! Yesterday the Princess saw the Neurologist, and her EEG was normal, next step is to get an MRI. We go next week to set that up. This morning she had another blackout episode, she has been in the bed since. She will be there all day, usually when she gets like this that is where she stays until the next day. I really think that she is fine, I just think that this is something that she is going to have to endure and live with.

So glad that all of our Christmas shopping is done! There is NO way that you would catch me out shopping now!! Although I do need to run to the grocery store, but I will do this in our town, it want be as hectic here. The Princess cooked dinner last night all by herself while we were over at the new house painting. We were so proud of her. Homemade spaghetti and meatballs and a delicious tossed salad......yummy! Tonight the Bookworm wants to cook and he wants to cook homemade pizza.....we can't wait, we are sure that it is going to be just as tastey!

Tomorrow we will make our sugar cookies and gingerbread houses and chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter balls rolled in cashews. We do this every year and we always bake on Christmas Eve Eve. I love baking with the kids! We'll probably sit and watch Christmas movies all day as well.

So, if you don't have to go out and brave the crowds, don't! Take time to relax and stay at home and enjoy the simplicity of doing nothing. Wrap up in a blanket and read or watch Christmas movies while sipping hot chocolate and eating popcorn!

Marvelous Mad Monday

Another Monday is upon us....the weekend flew by yet again :) The Captain and I enjoyed a great Saturday with the Princess and the Bookworm. We spent it about an hour from our house, at a wonderful Mall that we had never been to. We had a great day and ended it with watching the new Harry Potter Movie, which by the way, was awesome!

Today will be a full day in our household. The Princess has her EEG done today at the Neurologist. I am glad that we will be getting this done today, Wednesday she had her first migriane headache that constituted going to the Doctor the next day and getting medicine and a shot in the rear. After three days of having it, it finally went away....poor Princess.

Christmas lights outside are on the agenda for this evening for us. The four of us love putting up our lights outside each year. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, with the Captain's wooden cross that he made, will be the center attraction in our yard. Tomorrow night will be our tree/trees. We always put up two. One in the family room and one in the dining room, which, by the way, was the Captain's idea.

The kids have a two day school week this week! Nice!! Wednesday night will be a time of fellowship at our home with wonderful Christian friends of ours. Dinner and fellowship, can't think of anything better than that!

Turkey Day is Thursday! This Thanksgiving we will enjoy being at my parent's home. It will be the first time in almost 2 years since we have all been together. My brother and his wife will be down from Chicago, it will be nice to see them. As I think about Thanksgiving, and this week in general, I remember that last year this time the Captain and I were on a Cruise for our Anniversary. We had a wonderful time! And speaking of our Anniversary....we will celebrate 16 wonderful years together on Friday. I am truly blessed, and have the most wonderful, Christian husband in the whole world!

Black Friday! Yes, black friday is Friday! I will be out getting some certain things that are going to be great deals! I usually don't go out too early on black friday, but this year I am, and one of the stores that I need to be at starts their sells at 12:01, so that is my first stop!

The Holidays, a truly wonderful time of the year........Christ, the most wonderful person that you can ask to be a part of your life : 0 )

Rainy Weather

Today is a rainy day here, but I love rainy days. Showers of Blessings from the Lord above, even in the Fall/Winter time, we still need rain. Gets you thinking about this time of the year doesn't it? Showers of Blessings? Have you thought about the many "Showers of Blessings" that God has given to you in your life? I guarantee you that once you start listing your blessings, you can't stop! God is good and He is good ALL the time! He gives us nothing that we can not handle, and He gives us nothing more or less than what we need.

Why is it that many only think of their blessings and count them at Thanksgiving? It this is the only time of the year that count your blessings, or thank God for your blessings, then I encourage you to stop, and begin thanking God everyday, not only for the good in your life, but also the bad. It is through the bad too, not only the good that we grow closer to God. Many only lean on God through the bad. Why is that? I suppose that many believe that they don't really need God or need to lean on Him through the good because everything is good. But when we go through the bad, He is the first one that many reach to. God cares, not only in the bad, but also in the good. God cares ALL the time! He cared so much for us that he gave his ONLY son for us! If that isn't care and love than what is!

I encourage you to stop....at this moment stop.....stop talking....stop reading.....stop complaining...stop ignoring and start thanking.....start listening.....start praying....start loving....start putting God first.

Psalm 107:1
"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever."

A Splash of Color

It has been a very busy week! It has been so busy that I am canceling the kids' dentist appts. tomorrow and rescheduling them for when they are on break!

The new house is still in progress, praying praying praying that we close this week! If not, I am not even going to worry about anything until after the Holidays. I am not even thinking about Christmas and buying gifts yet! Christmas has gotten way to commercialized! What happened to the real meaning of Christmas....CHRIST. Of course, I know what happened, so many people leave CHRIST out of their life all year long, why bother to celebrate HIM at CHRISTmas!

In the new house this week we were able to get the kids' new rooms painted on Friday when the Captain was off from work. It only took us a few hours, and the rooms look awesome and fresh. The next room on the agenda for this week is our bedroom, then we are going to go ahead and paint the sitting room downstairs. Can't wait to close, everytime I walk in the house I love it more and more!

Fall....November

It is hard to believe that it is November, seems like it was just Summer. It is already colder here this year than it was last year this time. I am feeling the cold air this year a lot more than I did last year, one word, Hoshimoto's! My coat is my best friend, along with a blanket! I know that we are going to have a really cold Winter, and I will def. be bundled up!!

So last week was the first week in November, and last Tuesday was Election Day. I crossed party lines and voted Democrat for our State Governor, he didn't win, but I surely did not want to cast my vote for the Republican candidate. It was quit funny when reading the ballot and voting in reference to questions that they have on the ballot that pertain to your County or State. One that made me chuckle pertained to beer sales on Sundays. As of now, there are no beer sales on Sunday. This bill would lift the ban on beer sales on Sundays if it passed. What I find interesting is this: if people do not think that beer should not be sold on Sundays because of Church, then what makes it right to be sold any other day of the week? In other words, if it's not good enough to be sold on the Lord's Day, then why sale it or even have it to begin with? Hummmm, just a thought.

So another question that was on the ballot to be voted on was for our County in which we live pertaining to Blue Laws, you know the law where stores can not open until 1:30 on Sundays. I for one am for this law being passed. If grocery stores and restaurants can be open on Sundays in the mornings, then all other stores should be able to. I do like the fact that if stores are closed it allows the workers to go to Church, but there are so many Churches now-a-days that have so many different times for Worship Service. There is more Worship times begin offered now, than the traditional 11:00 a.m. Service. Another thought....

First part of November, voting, second week of November, waiting on our new house still. We are continuing to be patient, and we have our faith in the Lord that everything will work out and we will be able to close on our house in His timing.

Another thought, guess I am on a tangent today! It is hard to believe that in two weeks we will be celebrating Thanksgiving. It makes me sick to my stomach to think that there are those that only sit down together to eat on a Holiday such as Thanksgiving, and this Holiday is the only time that many are "thankful" for all that they have. What ever happened to family dinners together? What ever happened to praying together? What ever happened to spending quality family time together? We as a family eat dinner together every night, we say grace together every night, we spend time together every night. We love to play board games together, and go to our local yogurt shop to get a yogurt and hang out talking. I love it when people give excuses for not eating together as a family, or not cooking at home and eating on the go all the time. What is their excuse? I am to busy! Wow, when people give that answer they are saying that everything else is much more imporant than their family! How sad, but this is so true. And what ever happened to Church and the Lord? Oh it hurts me so badly to see those that are not in Church, and to especially see those that are not in Church if they have children. The Lord is def. not the first priority in these families. Our family could not imagine not being in Church and serving and worshiping our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. There are many times when I think about the future of our Nation and I just want to cry, what this wonderful Nation was founded on is crumbling away, and unless we do something about it, it will fade away.

JOY: Jesus, Others, Yourself

If we put Jesus first, Others second and ourselves last, how can we go wrong?

Halloween

We had a wonderful and spooky Halloween! We decked our house out as usual with ghosts in the windows, tombstones in the front, and our witch that made a crash landing into the ground by her cauldron. Spooky...
We started out our evening by deck out the van as a "hippie" van and we participated as a family with Trunk or Treat at our Church. We had a great time and we had over 100 kids come through. We had flower that I had made out of bright colored paper, and ribbons hanging all in the van, plus our parachute that added some color as a blanket. We also had our bubble machine going. Our hippie van went along with the theme for me and the Captain this year. We dressed up as PEACE and QUIET. It was fun. I dressed up as QUIET and the Captain dressed up as PEACE. I have to admit that I did a pretty good job on his costume, he looks like a real hippie with long hair and the clothes! Our dog was a Clown, even though she could have passed as a Jester. She went with us and sat on my lap the whole time while we passed out candy, she was so good! The Princess went as a Love Bug, and the Bookworm went as a USC Fan. We had a great time together as a family. Now, on to thinking about what we are going to be for next year. I think that we will go with a theme for the whole family, even Sandy, our dog!
After Trunk or Treat we came home and the kids went around our neighborhood with some friends from Church Trick or Treating, while I passed out the rest of the candy that we had left. It was a great night, and all of our candy was passed out! Of course in our neighborhood that is not uncommon because we are the most popular neighborhood in our town to Trick or Treat in.

Hope that you had a Fabulous and Spooky Halloween :)

Turned Up-Side Down Tuesday

Our morning did not start out like any other morning. The Princess got sick right when we were getting ready to walk out the door for school. I took the Bookworm, left her home, returned and made her appt. with our Doctor on Post. This made for a whole day on Post at the Hospital because we already had an appt. for 3 today for a CAT Scan for her. So we spent from 12-3:30 on at the Hospital :(

By the end of the day the Princess had a visit with the Doctor, blood test(6 viles were taken), urine test, shots and an CAT Scan. What a day! Prayerfully it will not take long to get results in from all. Poor thing, praying we find out why what happens to her every month happens. I can only imagine how scary it is to get dizzy, and completely not be able to see!

On the other hand......the last football game is this Friday, and that makes for the last time this year the Band will be marching as well. Can't wait to see the Princess and the Band march Friday night with their full uniform on. We have had a great time going to the games this year and cheering her on! It truely is Fall here, minus it not being cold here yet! Many are still in shorts and I have to admit that we are still wearing ours some days too! I am sure that Fall will be in the air at the Football Game on Friday night too.

Holding Out For The Long Haul

Well, we looked all day this afternoon after Church at houses. A few had the many things that we want in a house, but then there was always a few things that bothered us. Either the nieghbor was so-so or there was more room needed in the house. Long story short and 10 houses later, we decided to stay in the contract on the original house. We are stepping out on FAITH and praying that it will not take too long. Until then, thank you Dad, for letting the Captain borrow your truck! Why? Because we can not get any new line of credit until we close on the house. And, no using credit cards, except our bank card until we close. But that is okay because we didn't realy use our credit card anyway.

So, please keep praying that it want take too long on the house. It would be nice to be in it before Christmas, but if not we are fine where we are until it all happens on the house.

Thundering Thursday=Fabulous Friday(I hope)

Yesterday was quite some Thursday, around here we call it Thundering Thursday! Not that anything bad happened, just one little thing that we have been dealing with for well, about a month now, our new house........yeah, that, we found out some more info. last night. So we learned last weekend, that the lady that is selling the house never did take it to Probate when her husband died and her husband did not have a will. So, in order to move forward, she had to go to Probate, which she did on Wednesday. Well, here is the kicker, he had two sons, so now that have to get a disclosure from those two sons. We were told that there still was a possibility that we could close next week, well, as of last night that changed from 1-2 weeks to 30-45 days!! The Captain and I are going, WHAT! (Geeewheez)

So, now we are thinking.......do we hold out for 30-45 days, or do we find another house? Thing being we have until the end of the year(hopefully) to get out of this house. Do I want to be moving during the Holidays!!! No I do not! I want to be in a house and settled by....Thanksgiving. The Captain and I have been praying for the Lord to show us the way, to give us a peace about what we should do. If we pull out of the house, we will eventually have to take the owner to small claims Court to get our VA appraiser fee & Home Inspection monies back. I have no doubt that we would win since she put a house on the market to sell that isn't legally hers! Gee, never in my days did I think that something like this would happen. And this prolongs our buying a new truck for the Captain as well, as we can not open any new credit or buy anthing on credit until we close! We're praying, we know that God has a plan, we just don't see it yet.

On another note, The Captain will no longer be a Captain as of January 1st!! Hurray!! The Captain will turn to Major!! Finally....it's been a lonnnnnnnggggg wait!

So today is Friday, and I am praying that it will be fabulous. The kids have a half day and get report cards today. The Princess has a Doctor appt. this afternoon, so I will pick her up from Band Practice early. Her throat has been hurting for two weeks now, she was on antibiotic, but it did not help, I am thinking that it is her tonsils :( Tonight, who knows what we will do, maybe rent a movie from the redbox.

Tomorrow....busy....the Princess has the Upper State Band Competition tomorrow and we will being going to see her and the Band march. Say a prayer, if they place and get a Superior, they move on to the Finals which will be held next Saturday, although the Princess has mixed emotions about it. She wants to place, but yet, she wants to be able to enjoy the Halloween weekend too! If they place, then she will have to miss hanging out at our Church's Trunk or Treat next Saturday and a bonfire that one of her friends is having. Humm

So, off I go to get ready to start my day, the Bookworm will be out of school in about and hour :)

Monday

Today felt really strange not having to work on classes for school! It is nice to be finished with my Bible and Philosophy classes, the only one that I am still taking is a Math class, it will be done the end of the year, but it is a great class and only requires about two hours a week :) I should have "A's" in both of those classes!!! Today was just strange not knowing what to do....the laundry I did on Thursday, and the house is clean! I had a Dr. appt this morning, and then I went and ran a few errands and met the Captain for lunch. Then I stopped at McDonald's and got my favorite of all favorites.....a caramel frappe! Yummy!! My appt. went well today, it was just a well woman check up, I go back to my thyroid Dr. in December. I can't wait because I want to see if my levels are up any. I feel a small amount of improvement, but not much. If my heels would stop hurting I would be feeling really good, but they hurt all the time. They hurt so bad that when I am sitting and I know that I have to get up and walk, I dread it! They hurt so so so bad. Then there is also the clearing of my throat....my cough is gone, but the clearing is a pain, and of course it comes in droves. In all, I give God the glory that my Doctor found out what was wrong with me, and now it is just a waiting game of getting regulated on my medicine. It was quit strange today filling out paper work and have to put down that I have a disease. Humm, strange, very strange.

So, today I am bored! The Bookworm is home from school, the Princess is at Band practice. The Captain should be home in about an hour. I have on the menu to cook for tonight, Mexican. Rice, beans, and soft tacos.

Today's post is just a bunch of rambling..........but don't worry I have plenty to blog about later from the Deacon, Pastor and Spouse Conference that the Captain and I went to this past weekend.

Today's Monday, start your week by praising God, and glorify His name throughout your week:)

Wonderful Weekend

The Captain and I have had a wonderful weekend thus far. We left yesterday afternoon for a Deacon, Pastor and Spouse Retreat with wonderful friends, our Pastor and his wife. We arrived home this afternoon. It was a nice time of listening and learning with other Deacons, Pastors and their wives.

The Princess stayed with a Band friend of hers last night and is at the Band Competition today/tonight. The Bookworm went to the Beach with my parents to see my Brother play in the Master's Mini Gold Tournament. Go J! Hope you win!!

The Captain and I are deciding what we are going to do.....dinner, movie, Home Depot to check out new carpet for our new home, redbox it, take-out it....who knows what we'll decide.

Missing our dog.....she is with the Bookworm and my parents. It's dead and quiet around here without her! She follows me everywhere.....ruppy!

I finished 2 of my 3 classes yesterday for this Term, Praising God....I believe that I will have an "A" in each one of them!! The only class that I am still in the process of working through and it will end the end of December is an Algebra class. It doesn't take up more than an hour or so a week, so it's nice!

Looking forward to closing on our home, hopefully we will be closing by the end of this month! Def. need to start looking for boxes so I can start slowly getting things together! First must paint! All three bedrooms have to be painted before we move anything in. Secondly, old carpet out and new carpet in, then we can begin the move! Exciting!!! I hope we are completely moved in by Thanksgiving :) We have had faith thus far, and we will continue to have faith and lean on the Lord.

Off for now.....will blog more later on thoughts from this weekends Conference.

NASP World Archery Tournament 2010

The Bookworm and I just got back late Saturday night from the NASP World Archery Tournament in Orlando, Florida at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.....and boy did we have a great time!

The Team as a whole placed 6th and the Bookworm placed 54th in his Division, which is awesome, top 55! What an honor it was to be able to go and for him to compete!

For those that Sponsored the Bookworm your names or company name was advertised on the back of a t-shirt that was worn by the Bookworm during his trip. You will see photos of him wearing it on this blog. He received so many compliments on his shirt. The front had a picture of a target with an arrow in the bulls-eye and under it was the Bookworm's favorite Bible Verse: Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ, whom gives me strength."

It was a fun trip, and we are glad to be back home and we are trying to get back into the swing of things. His soccer team won last night and the other teamed scored no goals on the Bookworm(he is goalie for his team)!

Again, thank you all for your support of the Bookworm and thank you for your prayers as we traveled, because we had a CRAZY, for real, a CRAZY bus driver!

Taking on The WORLD

We're here! We arrived in Orlando yesterday afternoon. Today was a day of sightseeing and swimming before the big day tomorrow and Saturday morning when the Wildcat Archery Team will take on the WORLD at the ESPN Sports Complex at Disney World, talk about an honor!!

The Bookworm will be in the 3:30 flight tomorrow, so all of you sponsors and prayer warriors lift up some prayers for him at 3:30! Only shooters are allowed on the floor, so all of the chaperones will have to wait up in the stands and view the flights from there. Thank goodness that I remembered to bring my binoculars! I will def. be using them to see the Bookworm shoot!

Today was a good day, we are all tired, I am thankful that the Bookworm does not have an early flight time in the morning so that he can relax before he has to shoot. I bought him a gaterade tonight at the CVS by the Hotel so that he can get pumped with sugar before he shoots:) Not my idea, he wanted it, hey if that is what he needs to calm nerves and shoot his best, why not!

Thank you to all of you whom sponsored the Bookworm. He wore his shirt today with all of your names on it, he got so many compliments on it. If you own a business, we put your business e-mail address on the shirt, who knows, you may get some new clients!

I will get you posted..........go Bookworm and go Wildcats!

The Ugly

My last post was about the contract on our new home and the Captain's wreck that he was in and we were hoping that the car didn't get written off by the insurance.....not the "ugly", it happened, the insurance is not going to pay to get it fixed, but you know what, God has had a plan all along! All we were focused on was the fact that we were going to have to get another car with another car payment! But, after much prayer and thinking, we remembered that the day that the Captain had the wreck marked one year til our van is paid off. After having made that payment and this months payment on the van guess how much we owe on the van.......exactly the same amount that the insurance is giving us!!! God is good! So looks like the Captain will be getting that truck he has been wanting and the van will get paid off EARLY and we will have a lesser payment than the van, plus, we want have to use the Captain's promotion money when he gets promoted!! Thank you Lord!!!

On another note, it looks like things are continuing to fall in place with our new house. All of the paperwork with the bank is signed, our home inspection has been done, the VA appraiser was out yesterday! WOOHOO....so far looks like we are going to actually close on our closing date the 27th of October!! If we close then, that will be the first time that we have bought a house and closed on time!

So, if you havn't done so yet today......thank the Lord for his many many blessings in your life!

The Good, The Bad(and we hope not the Ugly)

We have had a lot of things going on in our household lately, of course we always do, but this week has been alittle, different. The Captain is pretty sure that we will be able to stay here and retire, oh happy day!! Of course we know that he will probably have to deploy one more time before that, but we are fine with that, we have a great support system here where we live.

So the good, is that we signed a contract on a home this past week! We are all four so excited!!! Oddly enough, it is the house that is right in the back yard of this house! So the move will be easy, although it has been yearsssss since we have moved ourselves, we are use to the Military moving us. But we will have a whole month to take our time and move, so we should be fine. The kids are looking forward to painting their bedrooms before we move in, can't wait, so exciting!!! So we will be celebrating the Holidays in OUR own home this year! And this home is def. the house that we are wanting to retire in, a house where the kids can come back to, and a house where the Captain and I can grow old together :)

Now for the bad! On Monday the Captain was in a wreck on Post. A lady flew through a stop sign and hit him. Praise the Lord that he was not hurt!! However, the car wasn't so lucky! The lady was at fault, and a MP saw the whole thing happen. The car had to get towed on a wrecker to the Body Shop, and the Captain has a rental car. Another praise is that the lady has the same insurance as us!!

We hope that we will not have the ugly.....they may total out the car. Wouldn't you know that it's the car that is paid for! We hope that it is not totaled out, we really do not want another car payment. The Van will be paid off in a year(from Monday when the wreck happened)! I will drive my van until it rots! I love my van! So, if the car is totaled, we will probably get the Captain a truck, thank the Lord that he will probably get promoted the end of this year! Although, a car payment is NOT how we wanted to spend his promotion :( So, we will see, I am sure that we will find out today.

So, moral to the story, do not forget to thank God everyday for your many blessings, because things can change in a blink of an eye!

Friday Night Football

Our Friday nights have been taken over by High School Football. Actually, I can't think of a better way to spend a Friday evening than with the Captain, and the Bookworm at the Princess's High School watching her march in the Band and seeing her School's Football Team play!

This is the first Friday night in 3(or 4) weeks that we have not been at a game. Tonight is an away game, so the Band did not go, instead they had practice due to them having their first Competition tomorrow! Go Marching Pride!!!

We are so very proud of the Princess, she looks like a natural on the field marching, I tell her she does so well because she took tap for 10 years! She had to learn so many different moves for tap and then put them all together in routines for recitals, so I believe that is what makes marching and playing her flute/piccolo so easy for her.

So a break tonight, but next week we'll be at it again! And what does the Bookworm like to do at the games??????????? Hang out with his "3 girlfriends" pictured above and go the Consession stand! :)

Fall and Apple Picking

This past Saturday we made our yearly trip to North Carolina to pick apples. Since it was the only Saturday that we have free for two months, we headed to Grandad's!(apples that is) This year it of course was warmer last year. Last year we went in October and it was cold, we had on coats and hats and gloves, this year we had on shorts! What a huge difference, never the less, we had a wonderful time!

We enjoyed picking the apples, from the apple trees, and we picked three different varieties. Two of the kinds that we picked are great for baking, and the other for snacking! I will most definately have to make a homemade apple pie this week(sometime when I am free)! We of course took Sandy our English Coker with us, she goes most every where that we go, especially now with the weather getting a tad bit cooler. She enjoys being with the fam and going on road trips with us. We even used a wagon at Grandad's to put her in! I'll attach a picture of her in it, it was too cute!

We also enjoyed the corn maze that they have. It is fun to do as a family and it is a nice team building exercise to do together. Last year we found all of our five points, this year we found all five of our points but we went one step further and found them all in order too!(this from NO thought of our own, it just happened to happen that way)!!

It was a great day trip we wonderful family memories that were made and that we'll remember together for the rest of our lives. So as you read this I hope that you are thinking of ways that you and your family can make a memory, and enjoy some fun together!

9 Months til Now

I sit here typing this thinking all the way back to January of this year. January is when I started getting sick and started to feel really fatigued and developed a cough that seemed like it never wanted to go away. It has taken 9 months to finally get to the point of diagnosis, many tests and tests results, and finally to medication. I praise God for good results of no cancer, and I praise God for medication that my Doctor gave me yesterday. Even though it is a medicine that I have to take everyday for the rest of my life, I praise God for it and I am praising God for the change that the medicine is suppose to make in my body. Hoshimoto's diesease along with having Hypothyrodism isn't something fun to be living with, but praise the Lord for medication that will regulate me, eventually, to where I need to be! Today makes day two of taking my medication, I pray that when I go back in three months that there is improvement in my thyroid levels.

I thank my Husband, the Captain, for continually being by my side throughout the past 9 months. God knew when we met in High School that we were meant to spend out lives together! There have been many days where I was so tired that I couldn't do anything and he was there for me. There have been so many days where my the heels of my feet have hurt so bad that I dreaded having to walk, or where my feet have been so swollen that I couldn't even put on my tennis shoes! Lots and Lots of days where(even though it is Summer and 72 degrees in our home) I have to put on a coat because I am about to freeze to death. Not to mention tons of sleepless nights and so many tests! Thank you Lord for a Christian Husband!

Not only has the Captain been there for me, but the Princess and the Bookworm have been as well. There have been times where they knew that I was not feeling so well, or when I needed to take a nap, or many times where they knew that Dad would be bringing home pizza(again) because Mom didn't feel like cooking. They are my life, and I love both of them! I smile everyday because of them and the Hubby!

Then there are my parents! I don't know what I would do without them and their love, not only for me, but for the Captain(whom they treat like a son), and the kids(their only grandkids). They are blessing in my life and their encouragement, love and prayers have meant a lot. It is a blessing to have Christian parents!

Then there are all of my friends, the ones that I call my prayer warriors, they know who they are, I don't have to mention them name by name. They have continually prayed for me during this time in my life. Consistantly for the past 9 months they have lifted up prayers for me. Jesus said that where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there. Jesus hears our prayers, He always answers. It may not be in the time frame of when we want an answer, but He always answers. And sometimes it may not be the answer that we want, but He still answers.

Got God? If not, why not? When you look at all the wonderful things around you and the blessings in your life that you have, how can you not want to have God in it. It's really as easy as the ABC's.
A=admit to God that you are a sinner.
B=believe that Jesus is God's Son and that God sent Jesus to save people from their sin. Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead.
C=confess that you want Jesus to be Lord of your life and commit your life to Jesus. Trust Him to be your Savior and Lord.

A Most Wonderful Weekend

The Captain, the kids, and I had a most wonderful Labor Day weekend, we spent it at my parent's home. We love going down to visit them, it's been awhile since we've been down. We spent friday night at the Princess's first High School Football Game, it was her first time marching with the Band, she did a most wonderful job, we're proud of her! Saturday we shot doves, it was fun, and the Princess shot more than anyone! Saturday night Mom made her most delicious taco soup and it was amazing! It was so good that I am going to make it this coming Sunday for lunch and invite our Pastor and his family over! Of course the day would not have been complete without the kids swimming and ride four wheelers and the golf cart! They love going to Poppy and Nanas!

Saturday night the kids stayed at Mom and Dad's and the Captain and I came home in order that we could go to our Church on Sunday and teach our Middle School Sunday School Class. After Church we went and had lunch then we came home and headed back to my parents. The kids went to the drive-in with Poppy and Nana and saw Toy Story 3 Sunday night and they had a wonderful time.

Monday morning the Captain, the Bookworm and my Dad went deer hunting. We they returned we helped my parents with a project that they wanted to do around their house and at lunch we had a family get-together with my Mom's sister and her family. It was a great day! Good food and great fellowship and the homemade churned ice cream that Mom made added to the perfection of the day!

Nothing beats hanging out with family :)

Hashimoto's Disease

This past week has been a very busy week, I have been in the Doctor's office every day this week. I have been sick since January and have been on almost every type of medicine. My Doctor thinking that I had bronchitis, sinus, reflux, asthma, etc. After being on many types of medication and having had a spirometry test, upper GI, and ultrasound of my thyroid the Endocronologist diagnosed me with having Hashimoto's Disease, this is a disease of the thyroid. Because the ultrasound of my thyroid showed a nodule, the Doctor wanted me to get a nuclear thyroid scan done. So after having a nuclear scan of my thyroid(which the picture above shows where the more nuke stuff was injected in me), the Doctor wasn't sure about how the nodule looked, so I will go for further blood tests this week and then on the fourteenth I will have a biopsy done on my thyroid.

Many have asked how I am staying so calm about everything and why I am not stressed. My answer to them has been because this has been going on since January with me and I have not known what the problem or name of the problem is that I have been having. Now I have an answer and know what is wrong with me and I have a diagnosis. God answered my prayer of wanting to find out what is wrong with me, and in His time I got my answer. Now I am just keeping my faith in God and my eyes on Him. I am taking it one day at a time and whatever the outcome is on the fourteenth, we'll take it one step at a time.

God is good and even when things my hurt us or bring us down, HE is always there beside us and HE will never leave us.

So as you say your daily prayers lift up a prayer for me, and I'll also say a prayer for you :)

Day Three of School

Today is day 3 of a new school year. Monday was the first day, the Princess's first day of High School, 9th grade and the Bookworm's first day of Middle School, 6th grade. They both had very good first days. The Captain and I took the kids on their first day and I picked them up. Needless to say I was quite surprised when neither of them came home with a list of more things needed for school :) Although the Bookworm came home with a headache, he had a good first day :)

Day two of school was another good day. I dropped the Bookworm off at the path in our neighborhood and he walked, and then I took the Princess to school. The Bookworm walked home from school and he had a wonderful day, got his first homework assignment which is a project for Science that is due next Tuesday and he is studying for a Band test that is tomorrow(Thursday). The Princess had a full day, school from 8-3:15, and then Marching Band Practice from 4-6:30. I picked her up and we were home alittle after 7. Then it was dinner for the family and I had some forms to read and sign for the Princess from her teachers, she did some homework and then it was alittle computer time for her and then baths and bed. Tuesday was a good day!

Today is day three and I am praying that the kids have another wonderful day. The Bookworm went back to sleep after I woke him up this morning so he had 15 minutes to get up and get dressed, he'll have to eat breakfast at school. The Princess is always good about getting up when I wake her! No Marching practice for her today, so I will pick her up when school is out at 3:15, then it is home ,dinner and then Church.

For me, it feels strange in the house now that the kids are back in school! I am having to adjust and get into a new schedule which includes dropping them off at school, coming home, doing my Wii Fit, eating breakfast and then throwing a load of wash in while I tidy up alittle and do things that I need to do for my classes. Yep, that's right, I am taking 3 classes this Term, and they start on Monday, so I am trying to get ahead! So I am one busy Mama between my classes, the kids and their school work, mraching band practice and games on Fridays and Competitions on Saturdays, and the Bookworm gets his soccer schedule with games and practices next week! BUSY BUSY BUSY, but that is how we like it, and we are still able to fit family time and family dinner in as well. Can't believe that there are families that NEVER eat together or that just grab their food and eat where-ever they want to in the house, it's sad if you ask me, and what about praying over your dinner......can't stand that either when people do not pray over there dinner and thank God for their meal and for so many other blessings that HE has given to us.

If you have kids I pray that they have a wonderful and blessed year.

[Oh yeah, and don't forget that this is my blog and if you don't like or agree with some of the things that I say.......then you don't have to read it or visit my blog :) ]

Give Alittle

What ever happened to the saying treat others as you would like to be treated? I don't think that many even know what that means. I was raised that you treat others in such a way that you would want them to treat you. Hummm.....



Life is full of so many surprises, everyday there are new ones, be it morning, noon, or night! Why is it that so many people are wrapped up with themselves? They don't even take consideration of others, it's their way or no way because to them their way is the only way! Got news for you people, you need to learn to give alittle. Life doesn't revolve around one person and their ways. Life is full of many people, with many different views and ways. And 9 times out of 10, it's full of compromising and giving alittle.



Have you ever met a person that just cares about theirself? Do they seem happy to you? I find that most people that are self-centered obviously just care about themself, but they are also grumpy, not happy, depressed, not fun to be around, and generally act happy but deep down they are not. What do you do about it? Be nice to them, talk to them, and give alittle. Yeah, give alittle, but when you have given alittle and given alittle and given alittle and you are never given alittle in return you eventually get tired of given alittle. So what do you do.....stop given alittle. Take the negative out of your path and pray. Give it to Jesus.

Here is a thought to ponder: WHO YOU ARE is more impressive than what you make, what you have, what you do, or what title you carry.

Shocking and A Good Laugh

So the Princess has Band Camp again this week, and we have been picking up a friend from Church and taking him as well and taking him. So me, the Princess and our Church/School Friend are in the van driving through the middle of our Town and we get to the only red light in town and this huge 4x4 truck pulls out in front of us then it stops in the middle of the road. I am thinking what on earth is going on, first the person pulls out in front of me, then he stops. So I honk my van horn because someone is going to get rear ended and it was probably going to be me! So I honk the van horn because traffic is coming from the opposite direction and I can't go around. What do you think the guy in the truck does? He proceeds to put his hand out of his window, put it up in the air and give me(and the two teens in my van) the middle finger. Appalled, I go around and as we are going around he does it again. Now he had another passenger that was in his car as well and it was a girl, she was obviously embarrassed by his behaviour and she had her head down. What did I do? I kept driving thinking what a creep and that obviously he needed Jesus! So the Princess and our Friend were totally shocked too! So, I kept my cool and my composure and told the two teens that it wasn't ok what the guy had done and that it was alright because Romans 12:19 says, "Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to advenge; I will repay," says the Lord.

Then the three of us were talking and we discussed that we need to make a Jesus Loves You sign and keep it in the van and when things happen like happened to us today that we would pull out our sign and throw it up against the window of the van! We all three agreed that it was an awesome idea.....then we laughed!

One Week and Summer Is Over

One week from today and School starts, in our family that means that Summer is officially over. It is hard to believe that the kids will both be moving up and entering new schools and new phases of their lives this year. The Princess will be in the 9th Grade, a freshman in High School and the Bookworm will be in the 6th Grade at Middle School. It seems like just yesterday I was taking them to their first day of 3K!

So if the kids are entering a new phase in their lives, that means that the Captain and I are entering a new phase in ours. We are not by any means complaining either! We had both of our children when we were in our early twenties, and we are so glad that we did. Now we are both thirty-five and we are still young enough to do the many things that our kids enjoy doing, we aren't old and we don't feel old! It's nice being the age that we are and having kids who are 14 and 11(soon to be 12). It's been so amazing being the Princess and the Bookworm's Mom(or Mama as they call me), I wouldn't trade being there Mama for anything else in the world! God has wonderful things instore for our children, and the Captain and I are so happy to be apart of it!

As we sit and talk about, or even think about the future, the Captain and I find ourselves saying," hey, remember when we first joined the Army, remember when we were just stationed at Fort Rucker in Alabama thinking that retirement from the Army seemed like a million years away." Well, now, those million years away are only 3 1/2 years way. It's hard to believe we are so close to the day when the Captain can retire from the Army. Where will we retire, probably exactly where we are living now, we love it here. There are so many advantages to living and staying where we are. We have a wonderful Church family, the kids have many wonderful friends, and we love the kids' schools, plus my parents are only 1 hour and 1/2 away which is really nice and the Captain and the Bookworm go hunting there, which they love. God has blessed us and we will continue to put him first in our home and our lives, because we are not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Something for you to think about.......when have you reflected back into your "younger" years, were there goals that you set, where are those goals now, have you fulfilled them, what's something that you've always wanted to do but never have? What are you waiting for, get up and GO!

Shopping Deals and Band Camp

Monday was a fun, yet busy day in our household! The Princess started Band Camp and the Bookworm and I had several places to run once we dropped her off for Band Camp. Our run consisted of 3 different Stores, I was so excited about my savings that I had to post them! Even the Boookworms jaw dropped when he saw my savings at each Store!

First stop was CVS, and if you haven't "shopped" CVS then I encourage you to do so! CVS is my favorite store and who can go wrong when you get free "bucks" back to use on your future purchases! So here goes!

Transaction #1

1 Gilette Fusion Proglide at 9.79 Had Coupon for 4.00= 5.79

1 Crest Pro-Health Toothpaste at 1.99 Had Coupon for .75= 1.24

Used 2 CVS bucks that I had from a previous purchase

Total Cost: 5.78

Plus I got 5 CVS Bucks back!!!!

Transaction #2 at CVS3 Ragu Pasta Sauces: 3/$5.00 Had (2) .60 cents coupons

3 Skippy Peanut Butter: 3/$5.00 Had (2) .40 cents coupons

Plus 1 Jolly Rancher Fruit Chews for the Bookworm that I forgot to add to pic.: .89 cents

Used my 5 CVS Bucks that I received from my first transaction.

Total out of pocket cost: $4.00!!!!!!!!!!

Next stop on our 3 Store Tour was Kroger

Here is what we purchased:

1 Pro-Health Crest Mouthwash @ 4.79: Had a coupon for 4.00 off

1 Bounty 2 pack paper towels @ 2.99: Had a coupon for .50 cents which double to 1.00

2 Gillette Clear Gel Deoderents @ 4.59 Each: Had two coupons for 2.00 each which = 4.00

2 Downy Fabric Softeners @ 4.99 Each: Had two coupons for 1.00 each which = 2.00

Plus Kroger had a Procter and Gamble promotion going on: If you buy 4 participating items you got $4.00 off!

My total before all my coupons and the 4.00 promotion: $32.31

Total Coupons and Promotion Deal: $23.80

Total Out of Pocket: $8.51

Not only was I amazed,plus the Bookworms jaw was hanging to the floor, but the cashier was also floored and said what a great deal! I told her WOW, yes it is!

Our 3rd Store and Final Stop was Bi-L0

Bi-Lo is a great Store also and every once in awhile they will have their family Mega Meal Deal. I thought that this Mega Meal Deal was worth getting and putting in the freezer, so that I would have a ready meal to go on one of those busy nights!

The deal: Buy 1 Red Baron Frozen Pizza and 1 Red Barron Frozen Pasta and get a Mayfield Ice Cream, Mrs. Smith's Cobbler, Frozen Garlic Breadsticks and a 2 liter Coke product FREE! So here is how it went.

Red Baron Pizza $6.99: Had Coupon for 1.00 off

Red Baron Pizza $6.99: Had Coupon for 1.00 off

Mayfield Ice Cream $4.39 = FREE

Breadsticks $2.36 = FREE

Mrs. Smith's Cobbler $5.19 = FREE

Two liter Sprite $1.79 = FREE

Total Before deductions: $27.85

Coupons and FREE items: $15.73

TOTAL Out of Pocket: $12.12

I was a happy Mom with all of my purchases today because I knew that I had saved our family a TOTAL of $66.52!!! With a little couponing, looking at my sale papers and a little time I saved a bundle! I can't imagine going shopping and not having a list of exactly what I need, having fully researched the sale papers and having cut my coupons! The money I saved can go towards something else in our family.........hummm that something else is actually going to be someone else, the Princess and her $300.00 Band fees!

And speaking of Band and the Princess. She had a wonderful first day of Band Camp yesterday. When we picked her up after our Band Parent meeting she couldn't stop talking about her day and when I say day I really mean DAY, she is at Band Camp from 1-9:30 at night! She was also excited about being picked to play the piccolo, considering that she is a Freshman. Also, Mom and Dad were pretty excited when we were told that all parents were welcome to look in the band uniform room at the slightly used marching shoes and if you thought a pair would work for your child that you could take them! Well, I along with some other Moms that I knew went and looked and I found a 8 1/2 pair of marching shoes that looked brand new! Saved $30.00 right then and there! They fit the Princess and now we do not have to pay $30.00 for Marching shoes!

Got any good savings to pass along? If so, I love to know!

August is Off With A Bang

Today is the first Monday in August and for the Princess this means that start to Band Camp for the next two weeks from 1-9. At least she still gets to keep sleeping in for a few more weeks! She is looking forward to starting Band Camp today, it will be exciting when the Captain( there are several people at Church that call the Hubby Captain, so I think I'm going to start calling him that, plus, all of his Italian workers in Italy called him Captain too or Capitano) and I pick her up tonight and she tells us how her day went. Today marks the start of her High School years, boy, can't believe that our Princess is in the 9th grade, time truly does fly by and we are enjoying every moment with our two children!

The Bookworm and I are going to go and enroll him for fall Soccer today. He loves soccer, it's his favorite sport to play, besides Archery. I love to see him do both, he is very talented at both! He begins Band this year....it's hard to believe that he is a 6th Grader in Middle School this year. He is most certainly ready for Middle School, he has matured and grown a lot over the Summer.

I thank God for the children that HE has blessed the Captain and I with!

Fence

I awoke this morning to new sound of a fence company putting up a fence at my neighbors! This is the neighbor that has little ones that always run into our backyard, bother things and it annoys me, the Hubby and our kids, thus it will happen no more now! YES!! I have honestly been praying that they would put up a fence since we moved here. God answers prayers, in HIS time. So today, I am thanking the Lord for the fencing company that is in the hot heat putting up our neighbors fence. Thank you Lord!

I mean honestly, how hard is it to keep your kids in your own backyard. I had no problem keeping our kids in our yard when they were growing up, or even now. Heck, for a matter of fact, our dog doesn't even go out of our yard, she knows the boundries and we don't even have a fence!

So lesson for today: God cares about everything that is going on in our lives, even the small stuff!

Grocery Shopping

This afternoon the kids and I went and got groceries. I really do not like to grocery shop, but I am not going to complain, it has to be done. I spent all day yesterday making my list and looking at my saver place on line to find the best deals and what coupons I needed to use. Today I went to Publix. I am not very keen on Publix but I decided what the heck and went to Publix since they had a pretty good sale going on.

Their pretty good sale turned out to be over 275dollars at the register, minus all of my coupons and BOGO(buy one get one) items turned out to be a grand total of.....165 dollars! I saved over 110 dollars! The kids were even amazed! When the Hubby came home from work and we sat down to eat dinner, how much I saved at Publix was the first thing that came out of both of their mouths, the Hubby was shocked as well and very pleased. And if anyone has any doubts on my saving, I have the receipt to show you!!!

So want to know my new secret at saving a bundle on our groceries, and I have to admit that I am a CVS queen now too.....I love CVS, go to www.southernsavers.com and check out Jenny and her site, you'll be amazed and if you live close to where I live, you need to go to one of her seminars, only 10 dollars and so totally worth it!

So go ahead, buy those Sunday papers, clip those coupons, read those sale papers and get those fantastic and great deals for your family and save a ton of money.......and who cares if people behind us in the grocery store turn their heads when they see you or me hand the cashier our coupons because honestly, I don't care, it doesn't offend me, it just makes me know that I did exactly what I intended to do in the first place, save my family money!

Registration

Today was registration for the coming up school year for both the Princess and the Bookworm. Yes, both of them had registration on the same day, plus throw in a Doctor's appt. that I had and it made for one busy day!

So this morning the Bookworm registered for 6th Grade, yes, he will be in Middle School this year, my little boy is now in Middle School, I know that he will do well, he is one smart kid and he is excited about being in Band too! He scored 10 out of 10 on the test that the Band Teacher gave, he hopes to play the trombone, and then move to the tuba. But those that know us already know that!

The Princess registered for 9th grade at the High School, and yes, I can't believe that my first born is going to be in 9th grade, a freshman in High School! She was excited about seeing her schedule but suddenly saddened when we noticed that Band was not on it, so we took care of the situation and now she is a happy camper, Band and all! For her school actually starts on Monday with Band Camp. For those of us that were in Band, don't you remember Summer and having Band Camp for the two weeks before school started!? Yes, her two weeks before school starts will be long days from 1-9 of playing, practicing and marching! She's ready for it!

So in less than 3 weeks a new School year will be starting for us, along with Friday night Football Games and Fall Soccer for the Bookworm. You may say we'll be busy, but I say, bring it on, that's how life is suppose to be and the Hubby and I are enjoying every step that our kids make and we're there for them cheering them on!

And like we're there for our children, so is Christ there for us. He's there for us everyday and every minute of our day! Be a blessing to someone today:)

Respect and Manners

Today the Bookworm had a check-up with his asthma Doctor......we were in and out in 20 minutes, that's how well he's doing! Plus the Doctor lowered his meds again, nice! On the way back we pulled into one of my favorite stores....CVS....to pick up toothpaste, which I only had to pay 49 cents for since it was regular 4.99 on sale for 2.99 and I had a 50 cent coupon plus 2 dollars in CVS bucks! AWESOME deal! Anyhow, on the way from CVS to home I saw two police cars with hazard lights on and then I saw a hearse behing them, so I pulled over, as did the two cars in front of me and the one behind me. The kids asked if people pulled over for Granny Granny and Grangrad when we had their funeral, and I told them yes. Yes, that people pull over when they see a funeral procession out of respect for the family. Time I finished saying that a car flew by all of us that were stopped. The kids both at the same time said,"how rude, they surely did not show repect!" I told them that they were right, that that car didn't. Once all cars had passed that were part of the funeral we continued on our way, in which we caught up to the car that flew by us, wow, he sure didn't get very far!

The Hubby and I try to instill proper etiquette and mannerisms into our kids, and the number one thing is to lead by example. Ma'am and Sir are a big thing in our home, to the Hubby and I it shows respect. Although mostly a southern thing some people may think, it doesn't matter to us, it shows repect and manners. The hubby and I to this day, especially with the elder more mature people in our Church, call them Ma'am and Sir. Our children notice this and they follow. Another thing that is important to us is calling the more mature adults,and by mature I mean the older,by their last name. We do not agree with children calling older adults by their first name, not matter if they put Mr. or Mrs. in front of it. Showing repect and having manners is using the person's last name and adding Mr. and Mrs. to it. I remember plenty of times when I was growing up that my parents received lots of compliments on the mannerisms that my brother and I had, and today I receive those compliments about my children.

One other thing that we find very important is "thank you" cards or notes. It is amazing how many people do not send thank you cards. Our children know how important it is to tell people that gave you something, had you over for dinner or did something very nice for you, thank you. Sometimes a simple saying thank you isn't enough, so a letter or card is a good thing to do, and not to give it personally, but mail it. I find that people today do everything by e-mail, and when you do stuff my e-mail, it's not the same as sending it via US Mail with a stamp! So many people avoid calling people or sending letters and just turn to e-mail, what happened to picking up a pen and paper, buying a stamp, or just picking up a telephone? As of right now, the Princess is working on her thank you cards for the gifts that she received for her birthday. Sending a thank you card lets the person know that you put a lot of thought into writing a thank you, just as they put thought into what they did for you :)

As parents, we lead by example, and our children watch everything that we do, and hopefully you and I are doing what is right because they will act and follow. And when we put God first in our lives and in our family's life, how can we go wrong!

The Princess Turns Fourteen

The Princess in the family turned 14 on Tuesday. It's hard to believe that 14 years ago she was just a little baby, now look at her, a beautiful 14 year old and a blessing to have!

She had a wonderful birthday with her favorite meal made for dinner the evening before and taken out for Chinese the evening of her Birthday. A homemade cake made by me, her Mom. Homemade cakes are a tradition in our family, the Hubby and the kids prefer for Mom to make their cakes, and this past year I was blessed to have a homemade cake made by the Princess.

She received a lot of texts, and FB wishes on her birthday along with some wonderful gifts. Happy Birthday Princess....Mom loves you!

Vacation

We just got back from a week long vacation, and it was wonderful! We all needed to get out the house, out of our town and as a matter of fact out of our State! The four of us needed a break from all of the things going on around us and just time for the four of us to be together and enjoy eachother's company while seeing things that we have never seen before.

First day of our road trip we stopped in Elizabethtown, Kentucky and spent the night in a really nice Best Western. We ate dinner at Ruby Tuesday and then the kids enjoyed a dip in the indoor pool at the Hotel while the Hubby and I sat and chatted.

The next morning we got up, ate our breakfast and headed to see Lincoln's birthplace and boy-hood home in Hodgenville, Kentucky(which was only 10 minutes from our Hotel). It was very interesting seeing where Lincoln was born and where he grew up. After touring we headed toward Chicago, Illinois to see my brother and his wife and to spend a few days with them.

We arrived in Chicago mid-afternoon on Monday. We checked into our Hotel, another Best Western, parked the van in the Hotel parking garage, unpacked our luggage and then called my brother to come and pick us up. He came and picked us up and took us over to he and his wife's home. We had never been to see them before, so it was wonderful to see where they lived. They gave us a tour of their home and then we were off to have a picnic while watching a movie in the park and one of their many local parks, Lincoln Park. It was very fun. A(my sister-in-law, not using her whole name for security) packed a wonderful picnic! It was very yummy and the movie that they were showing in the Park was "Annie". J(my brother, not using whole name for security) had a speech to give to incoming freshmen at his work, so he had to leave, but he came back and joined us before the movie was over. It was a wonderful evening, with great company, great food, a good movie, and a wonderful few of Lake Michigan!

Tuesday morning we were up at breakfast and back in J and A's car for a day full of sightseeing in Chicago! First stop, Wrigley Field, second stop, Moody Church! Yes, Moody Church, the Hubby was so excited that we were stopping at Moody Church! We were able to go inside and we had our own personal tour guide! The inside of the Church is beautiful and has all of it's original features including the seats which are all wood and have the metal rack under the bottom of them in which men could put their top-hats! Beautiful, beautiful Church. I will have to post pictures of it once I upload them! Next stop was downtown Chicago! We bought tickets and took part in one of the Hop-on Hop-off tour buses. It was definately the way to go! We first got off and ate lunch at one of the favorite places of J & A, a place called Pinolli's. It was wonderful. We had the Chicago beef sandwhich which was dip in aujour and it was magnificent! After lunch we hopped back on our tour bus and headed to the Willis Tower(formerly the Sears Tower). It was the best thing that we did! It was so wonderful to go up to the top and look at all of the wonderful views!! Plus it was extremely nice to have my brother as our personal tour guide, he pointed out things and told us all about them! We had a full day of touring downtown Chicago, seeing Millineum Park, The Dome, The Buckingham Fountain, going to the Hershey Store and of course to Garrett's Popcorn(you have to have this popcorn, it's amazing!). We also had the opportunity to run by my brother's office and to see it and where he works, it was nice to see where he works at, I am very proud of him! After our full day of touring downtown, we headed back to freshen up and to we went over to my brother and sister-in-laws home to eat Chicago pizza and play PIT! We had a wonderful time hanging out with them! They are absolutely fun to be with!

Our last day in Chicago we decided to hop in the van and drive to Wisconsin since we were so close and get some cheese! It was only a 45 minute drive to Mars Cheese Company. We enjoyed a German lunch of brawts and german potato salad at the Cheese Place, it was devine! We also goofed around trying on the cheese hats that they had in their store.....it was fun! After returning from Wisconsin, we picked up my brother's wife A and we headed to Margie's for ice cream sundaes. They were so good and the best and biggest ice cream sundaes that we have EVER had! YUMMY!!! After sundaes it was time to head back to the room and freshen up, let the kids swim and get ready to go to Navy Pier for dinner and fireworks for the evening. Navy Pier was nice, we had a good dinner and the fireworks were wonderful!

Thursday morning we were up, ate breakfast and loaded up the van to head back south taking a stop in Cincinnati to see Granpa, the Hubby's Granpa. It had been 8 years since we had seen him, 6 of those years we were stationed in Europe, and not until this year have we had a chance to go and see him. It was a nice drive from Chicago to Cincinnati, and it was wonderful to see Granpa. We had a nice lunch with him at Skyline Chili, and enjoyed wonderful conversation at his home with him and Uncle E. It was nice to see Uncle E too, he always takes the time to come and see us whenever we go up to Cincinnati.

After our visit we headed south, not sure where we were going to stop for the night. We finally stopped at around 9:30 and found a Hampton Inn to stay at. The kids enjoyed swimming in the hotel pool for awhile and then we all crashed.

Friday morning and we decided that we would sleep in, eat breakfast and then hit the road to home. 4 hours later and we met my Dad to pick up our dog and then we were home! What a great vacation we had......8 states in 6 days! We are already planning next years vacation! And getting ready for our last little mini trip in a couple of weeks before school starts back!(and if you are friends with my on FB, you can view more of our 8 States in 6 Days Vacation pictures:)

ds

Summer Summer Summer Time

Summer time is a time in our family that we all four look forward to. It's a time for the kids to sleep in and do what they want to do: hang out in pajamas all day, eat breakfast at lunch time, play video games or hang out on the computer, read, swim, hang with friends, watch movies....Summer is a time to enjoy!

Our favorite part about Summer is picking a place to go to on vacation that we have never gone before. This year we can't wait til we go on our vacation, no I am not telling you where we are going....you'll have to wait!

Another fun part is having people over to our home and entertaining, be it grilling out or eating a meal in which I have prepared, or having guests over to spend a few days with us, be it family or friends or the kids' friends. Family and friends know that they are welcome at any time! We enjoy visits!

Thank you Lord for making four seasons. You knew that Spring is cool and that we would be ready for warmer weather, hince Summer, then we have Fall, which you knew that we would want cooler weather again, and then Winter....not sure about wanting colder weather, but it is nice to see snow whenever we are privelaged to have it fall in our area. Lord, you know exactly what we need at exactly the right moment, Your moment, thank you Lord for all of your blessings!

The Hubby's Birthday

Sunday was the Hubby's birthday. Thank you Lord for my Husband! I love him with all of my heart(the Lord and my husband)!

It was a great day. I fixed homemade waffles and sausage for breakfast, then we went to Church. For lunch we went to the Hubby's favorite Mexican restaurant. After lunch we came home and celebrated by eating cake(which the Princess and I made), and opened presents.

A wonderful day celebrating his birthday and all that the Lord has done in his life!

Mission Trip

The Hubby and I just returned from a Mission Trip. We chaperoned the Middle School Youth from our Church on a Mission Trip. We had a wonderful time and it was so amazing seeing our Youth step out of their comfort zone to minister and show the love of Christ to the people in Myrtle Beach.

Our first full day consisted of passing out free lemonade to people that were on the beach enjoying the sun and water. Our Youth walked up to people that they didn't even know and they told them who they were and asked if they would like to have a cup of lemonade. Afterwards they told them Jesus loves you, regardless if they took the lemonade or not.

The second part of our first day was going to one of the local nursing homes and ministering to the elderly that lived there. Our group sang songs while one of our Youths played her guitar for us. It was very touching to see the people that lived there enjoying our songs that we were singing and praising the Lord. Secondly, we split up and made a picture frame craft with/for them. Some of the residents were not able to participate much in the way of helping make their craft, so it was a blessing to see our Youth making it for them, or helping if they needed help. Thirdly we played several games of Bingo! Yes, most residents in nursing homes LOVE to play Bingo! It was a fun time, and I was very proud of our Youth.

The next day we went to a Community that is ran by a local Church their. The Community is filled with elderly that are living in substidized housing. All residents were independent and they had their own duplex there. The Youth washed windows for the ones that wanted their house windows washed, pulled weeds out of their flower bed, and pulled weeds out of their Community garden. The Community garden is where I volunteered and I greatly enjoyed getting to know the one elderly man resident that was in charge of the garden. We worked up a sweat, but it was all worth it seeing the smiles on the faces of the residents of their Community!

The second half of the day was all fun for the Youth, they were able to enjoy a local waterpark and later they were able to go and get dinner of their choice at a local Mall and have some free time to walk around and shop. It was a great day and a fun time!

The Mission Trip was a wonderful blessing, the Hubby and I can't wait to go back and chaperone again next year! God is good!!!

Monday

This weekend was a good weekend! Saturday was a work day at our home and we all four worked in the yard picking up sticks, pine cones, mowing, weed-eating and edging! Then we fixed some pretty neat netting over the garden so that the birds will not be able to eat anymore of our veggies! We also through up the pool for the kids so that they have something to jump in to cool them off and get them out of the house. Although they are very clever and have been putting the sprinkler under the trampoline to get cool while they jump on the trampoline in their swimsuits:)

Sunday was great too! The Hubby had a very nice and relaxing Father's Day. I planned out our whole day on Sunday over a couple of weeks ago. We had Bonjangles for breakfast(I went and got it and we ate it at home), then we went to Boomerang Bay and spend the day, we walked out the Park and we enjoyed a picnic lunch that I had packed, then we walked back in an enjoyed the rest of the day. It was nice, we had a great time. I could have lived in the Crocodile Run(lazy river) all day!

Today was a day of me going to the Doctor. We are trying a new med. for my cough, hopefully it will work, I see a Pulmonologist in a few weeks :( The Hubby and I and then the Princess and I ran some errands and now the Hubby just got back from taking the kids to their meeting for Youth Group, which is swimming! So the Hubby and I are fixing to grill some gourmet burgers and eat my German potato salad that I made.

It has been a good last couple of day! The Lord is good!

Historic Downtown and Antique Shopping

Today was a Terrific Tuesday! The Princess and I lounged around the house this morning and then after lunch we went and walked around the Historic Downtown Town that is about 10 mins. from us. It was a nice afternoon of Antique Shopping. We must have went into every Antique Shop downtown. Of course that is all that is on the Main Street of the little Town, Antique Shops. It was fun to walk around in them and just take our time browsing....I only spent $5.00! I bought an old antique (1913) Math hardback book and an old Bible History book for the Hubby, I plan to give it to him for Father's Day. Then we bought an old 5X7 frame that was teal in color; the Princess has something that she is planning to make to give Dad for Father's Day(can't wait to see what it is). So we spent a total of $5.00 :) It was a good time ended with Caramel Java Chiller's from Sonic!

Monday...Summer

Monday was a good day. The Princess and I went to lunch and shopping. We both needed some shorts, so that was our main agenda, along with buying a gift for a friend of ours that just had a baby. We found everything that we needed and it was ALL on sale:) I love sales and sales racks! It was nice spending some one on one time with the Princess, today is another day of just she and I while the Bookworm is spending some time at his Nana and Papa's. He of course is having a wonderful time there swimming and riding 4-wheelers!

I love Summer! The kids don't have to worry about waking up early(and yes, my kids sleep in, most days during the Summer I let them sleep til they want to get up), they can hang in pjs eat breakfast for lunch or whatever or I make them a special lunch like grilled cheese, then there is just doing whatever the heck you want to do! If they want to go outside they can, if they want to stay inside they can, if they want to jump on the trampoline with the sprinkler on under it they can, if they want to have water gun fights they can, they can ride bikes or scooters, or play soccer or basketball or practice baseball or softball, or they can hang with the neighborhood friends(this happens mostly in the late afternoon when it is much cooler outside), or they can stay in and watch TV or a movie, or play games on the computer or Facebook, or video games, or we'll play board games(we must have about 100!), or draw(the Princess loves to draw), or read, or the list goes on and on and on! The possibilites are endless!

Summer......I love it......a two and a half vacation of really having to do nothing!

Wild Winds

Last night we had a wild wind storm come through. It got real windy, 40mph winds, and we got some rain also. It was nice to see the rain, my garden loves rain. And we love eating what my garden produces:)

Wild wind for today is I think that when the Princess gets up we'll go out to lunch and shopping. We both need some shorts, so that is on the list to do today. We went to my parents yesterday and spent the day and the Bookworm decided that he wanted to spend a few nights there, so he did. He hates to shop!

I'm listening to the weather as I type this and it is suppose to be 100 degrees here today with a heat advisory of 105....yikes.

I am looking forward to tonight. I am going to a coupon savers class. I am looking forward to learning how to save more and more money when I go to the grocery store! I don't know about you, but I am all about looking at the sale papers, and cutting my coupons and trying to save as much as possible. Makes me think of ways that we can save. What are some ways that you try to save?

Lets talk about saving.....BP needs to really do something about their oil spill. What is it going to take, and obviously Obama isn't doing anything about it either! Enough is enough, BP has had more than enough time to fix the problem, it's time to hand it over to someone that does know how to fix it. In fact, there is another Country that has offered to fix the problem, they know how to fix it and they can clean up the oil that has leake....but of course we have refuse...geez come on people!

What's your wild wind for today?