Weekend Recap

Well, we had another interesting weekend. Our water filter cracked at some point on Friday evening; thankfully hubby heard water running so we were able to deal with the issue before it completely flooded, but it was still a headache. The turnout for my sale on Friday night/Saturday morning was pretty disappointing, but the Lord did hook me up with a good place to donate my excess supplies (which I'd been looking for, but was having a problem finding somewhere that it would actually be used AND I could get a receipt for tax purposes).

At the wedding reception Saturday evening, we'd finished dinner and I figured I'd make a pitstop before hubby and I hit the dance floor. Well, as I exited the restrooms I went down. Hard. Still not exactly sure what happened (my foot just went out from under me), but our evening was cut short as I hobbled out. And rather than attending church yesterday, I sat on the couch with my foot up. Thankfully I didn't sprain my ankle or anything too severe (I think I just hyperextended the muscles on the top/side of my foot) but I'm still moving in slow motion and taking plenty of breaks to elevate my foot... great time to catch up on some reading! Hubby and I are scheduled for a date on Wednesday night, so hopefully that will be less eventful... and we can have as much as Woody and Ariel :)

Thankful It's Friday

Whew! I sold off a good amount of stuff last night, but am still hopeful that more will go tonight and tomorrow. Here's a peek at just a bit of what I have - and this is just half the stamp table (don't get me started on the scrapbook albums and paper, embellishments, books, alterables...) I still need to come up with a firm plan for the leftovers, but it seems that God has opened a door for me to sell off some stuff at another church's cropping night, so we'll see where that leads.

It seems like this sell-off has occupied every moment recently. I can't help but feel like so much of it is a waste - I wasted our family's resources by purchasing so excessively, and now I'm forced to use precious time to sort and sell. Not a good cycle, and hopefully the lesson will "stick" with me.

So what else is going on? Well, we're in the midst of mini heat-wave, so we'll probably spend some quality time in the pool. Hubby and I are attending a wedding tomorrow of one of his co-workers, and I might finagle a dance or two out of him. The coming week is a bit less crazy; we have a mommy/kid playdate scheduled, and will be going to a picnic on Friday. And I'm happy to report that my friend who had surgery for breast cancer is home and doing well, so hopefully she'll be up to a visit this week, too. And in happy news, our blueberries are ripe and yummy; when the kids play outside, they always seem to have purple lips when they come back in :)

Lastly, I just wanted to share a verse that really jumped out at me while I was doing some blog hopping this morning, courtesy of Denise:

For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. (I Thess 4:7)

Doesn't get any more straightforward than that.

Here we go again!

Yes, Monday has arrived and we have another full week ahead of us. The BIG thing on the horizon is I'm selling off a ton of my stamping/scrapbooking supplies this weekend, so am still working on sorting through my stash. I mean, how much patterned paper can one person actually use in a lifetime?! (If you'd like to come get some great deals and contribute to our "fix the house" fund, come on over Thursday or Friday night ;) Hubby handled the kids, meals, etc on Saturday so I was able to get a lot done, but I still have a lot more to get through... I already have a big box of tangled ribbon set aside to sort through tonight during The Mole. I'm also going to be taking the kiddos over to a friend's house this morning and I'll have 2-3 hours to pull out my drawer of acrylic stamps, dump 'em on the living room floor and determine what's actually worth keeping. Man, this process is exhausting!

We do have a number of other things scheduled, so I may be rather quiet this week. I'd really love to be sitting on the back patio sipping these (which of course isn't possible since we can't buy Squirt out here - pout, pout), but guess I'll have to suck it up and act like a responsible adult.

Oh, and there's some excellent reading for all you Tired Mamas here.

Except the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it;
nnn except the Lord keeps the city, the watchman wakes but in vain.
It is vain for you to rise up early, to take rest late, to eat the bread of [anxious] toil--
nnn for He gives [blessings] to His beloved in sleep.

Psalm 127:1-2 (Amplified)

Friday Funny

Thought I'd just share a couple hysterical things our son has said this week (the first of which literally had me laughing until I was crying)

- He saw part of show on Monday in which a young girl was writing in her diary. He was very excited to tell me about it, and how cool the girl's diarrhea was. (Is it bad if I didn't correct him?)

- Tuesday for lunch, I made the kids sandwiches. He wolfed his down and asked for another; his sister, meanwhile, had only taken a single bite of hers. I asked if she was going to finish it and she said no. I told D he could have the rest of hers - he reached for the quarter that she'd nibbled on (I had assumed that he'd go for one of the other 3 squares that she hadn't touched), took a bite, and promptly tossed it in the trash, announcing that it tasted like his sister's mouth. Not quite sure about that one (insert eye roll here)

And lastly, here is a pic that was taken during lunchtime today. The kids had grapes, and decided to have a cheek stuffing contest. Ah, the adorable little chipmunks :)

Happy Wednesday!

Good morning! I seem to have picked up whatever viral thing our little girl was fighting off last week, so am feeling rather mopey. I have a lot I need to get done, and would really appreciate your prayers that we can all get - and stay - healthy! On a happier note, we are having the most glorious weather - sunshiny but nice and cool. I actually ended up baking some banana bread this morning... the kids definitely approved, because they've already put a sizable dent in one loaf :) It really is yummy, and thought I'd share the recipe:


Low Fat Banana Bread
2 cups flour
1 cup wheat germ
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup applesauce (unsweetened)
4 ripe bananas, mashed
1 Tb vanilla

Heat oven to 375. Combine all ingreds and stir in 1 c raisins or choco chips if desired. Pour into 2 greased loaf pans (approx 5x9), and bake 45-50 minutes (until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean).

Hope you all have a blessed day!

Loud Kiddos

Well, I can now report that standard packing tape is not an effective weapon in the sound wars :)
(A pulled a roll out of the junk drawer and started playing around, and of course her brother wanted in on the action!)

Interesting Weekend

Well, we've made it through another weekend - that's about all I can say :) We had originally planned to go away this weekend to a local amusement park and the strawberry festival at a friend's family farm, but hubby couldn't get the time off work, so that plan was canned. Instead, we stayed close to home and got a few things done around here. The big excitement of the weekend? Our computer died. Hubby had been working on something and had a program running, and I wanted to check email.... next thing we knew, we had a black screen telling us that "windows" was missing. NOT GOOD. Thankfully hubby was able to salvage most of our stuff; we hadn't backed up for a couple months, so immediately I was thinking of the pictures from D's birthday party, adorable pics of A in her little hat, etc. That hard drive really is kaput, but hubby's been able to move a few pics at a time, and got our main PC up and running with another hard drive. Hallelujah!

Yesterday was not only Father's Day, it was also our 12 year anniversary. I can't believe it! I had mentioned this fact to a friend earlier in the week, and she exclaimed, "I was just graduating from college then!" Well, so were we - but then got hitched six weeks later :) Looking back, I have to laugh about some of the crazy stuff that we've done, but I am truly blessed with the man that God has given to me. So how did we celebrate the momentous occasion? Well, church first (I sang, he ran sound), home for a lunch of taco salad, worked on the computer, had several discussions with our son about respectful behavior, pasta for dinner, quick grocery run, and family fun in our little pool... oh, and topped off with the new episode of Ice Road Truckers. Pretty thrilling, huh? Seriously, though, it was very nice just to have a bit of a break from the crazy busyness we've been experiencing lately. And we'll have a very nice date next week to clebrate in grand style!

Ooh, one more thing - I just want to say how once again how amazed I am at the way God blesses our little family. Yesterday at church we were given two large bags of clothes for our daughter. They're good quality and absolutely adorable - oh, and included amongst them were two beautiful dresses, so we're all set for Christmas AND Easter! Wow. Next story: Our living room carpet desperately needs replaced (it wasn't top quality to begin with, and it's at least 14 years old), and we were hoping to do wood but it was just too pricey. Well, a friend brought over 340 sq ft of wood parquet flooring yesterday - leftovers from a project he'd helped out with. Not only can we do the living room, but even the hall and entryway! Double wow. I fully realize that these things aren't exactly "needs," but honestly that's why I am so incredibly thankful. Thank you, Jesus!

Friday Funny

Q: What's yellow and blue?

A: A sad banana

Q: Why aren't bananas ever lonely?

A: Because they come in bunches!

Q: What did the peel say to the banana?

A: "Don't worry, I've got you covered."

Q: What do you call two banana peels?

A: A pair of slippers

Q: Why did the banana go to the doctor?

A: Because it wasn’t peeling well

Q: What do you call a banana that likes to dance?

A: A banana shake

Q: What do you get when you cut a banana in two?

A: A banana split

Q: Why did the man lose his job at the banana factory?

A: Because he kept throwing the bent ones out!

Q: What did the banana to the other while at the beach?

A: "I don't know about you but I'm starting to peel!"

Summer Craft Time

Took a trip to my favorite candy store - oops, I mean the craft store - with the kiddos and let them pick out some foam stickers. Today's project was covering their very own water bottles and also spelling out their names (with GLITTERY stickers, no less) on some art boxes. Hopefully this will help us corral some of their drawing supplies. There were tons of cool art kits there, and I know that in a couple of years we'll really be having lots of crafty fun together. In the meantime, though, we'll just be getting ourselves into lots of sticky situations (and yes, both kidlets have been threatened with dire consequences if I find a foamie on furniture or walls... we'll have to see how that works out).

On a funny note, A was very insistent upon wearing a skirt today. She came down dressed in this cute floral number - except she'd paired it up with a light blue striped shirt. Her reasoning? They "matched" because they both had green in them. Um, guess we need to discuss color theory. Oh, and you'll also notice that the photo is strategically cropped because our darling little girl wasn't exactly being ladylike :)

HOT

We are heading into our 4th day of 90+ temps. We've been spending quite a bit of time in the pool; I think the water is already warmer than it ever got last summer!

And can I just say that I am oh-so-thankful for air conditioning!? Don't know how we'd be sleeping otherwise...

I'll be back with more deep thoughts when I stop melting ;)

Friday Funny

Today's funny comes courtesy of my hubby. He recently purchased a new product at work, and he called me to read me the warranty. Thought you'd enjoy it, too:

Wondrous Mommy Moment

Yes, I'm back with a 2nd post!!

Our 5 YO was helping me clean the bathroom - we were singing "Friend of God" while he wiped down the wall and I scrubbed the toilet. Well, he asked why he was God's friend and I said that we become God's friend when we ask Jesus into our heart. He said that he shouldn't sing that song, because he hadn't asked Jesus to live in his heart... and I, of course, asked if He'd like to. And then I had the awesome privilege of putting down the toilet scrubber, walking to the couch, and praying with our son. (And yes, I'm tearing up as I type this). Now we're family in the most important sense of the word!!

Another Busy Week

I wanted to start off with this picture from Monday afternoon. Our son was getting seriously cranky, and I told him to lay down on the couch to "rest for a bit." He immediately started crying that he wasn't tired (a sure sign that he is, in fact, exhausted). I snapped this approximately five minutes later.

Tuesday was our final MOPS meeting of the year (our schedule roughly follows the school year). Our "finale" generally consists of eating (even more food than usual!), lots of jabbering, and some silliness. I'm really going to miss our meetings this summer, although we will have some informal get togethers. BTW, We're all dressed in pink in support of one of our Moms who is currently battling breast cancer.

Our son had asked that I get a picture of him and his "buddy" at MOPS. Why is it so tough to get a decent picture of little boys? Get your finger outta there! Can you smile for me? Ooh, not like that! Hey, I'm over HERE! Well, I guess there's something to be said for being genuine.

One of the kids' friends turned 4 yesterday, so we happily went over to help him celebrate in high style. We enjoyed the cake-cake party (pancakes and cupcakes!) and I can say with certainty that HIS family will remember our presence, as booger boy felt it was necessary to "make his mark" by doodling on the table with his fork while I was distracted (getting their food). Yes, he made some serious scratches. Another mortifying mommy moment for the record books...

We finally put the pool up earlier this week. Haven't gone in yet (that water is COLD) but I'm pretty sure we'll soon be excited about that fact as they've already issued a high heat warning for the weekend - high humidity with a high of 97 on Sat and 95 on Sun. Helloooooo summer! Oh, but I guess I should have expected that as hubby needs to work on our cars; we always joke that repairs can only be done in the most severe conditions - during a major rainstorm, windchills well below zero, or searingly hot. It looks as though the trend continues! We have three vehicles, but only one is operational right now (no brakes on the truck, and ignition coil has been ordered for the Jetta). I am soooo thankful for a handy hubby who can handle all these repairs himself and save us big bucks.

OK, time to get out of the computer chair and accomplish a few things. I want to get as much cleaning, laundry, etc. as I can done today and tomorrow so we can kick back this weekend. Here's dreaming anyway :)

Ready for her close-up

How much cuteness can one post contain?!?

On a side note, I really need to take some time to play around with the flash settings on the camera. I know that it's tough to get nice face shots with the hat, but she just looked so adorable :)