Friday, January 20, 2012

Chocolate, Jewlery and the Facts

Last week my girl and I went on a date...

We had a conversation about life...

We giggled...

We had chocolate fondue... 

Because chocolate makes everything better...

I gave her this...




















So when she feels like things are a little crazy...

She won't forget...




















She is just how He made her.


This is a Claire approved post.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Grace in the Front Row

We were late to worship yesterday... 

now to appease my false guilt I'll tell you it was the nursery's fault...   there I feel better.

Anyway there we were walking up the side of the sanctuary...  all 7 of us...  all - the - way - down - to - the - front - row.   At least at that point they were still standing to sing so we weren't too distracting. 

But I feel the pressure. 

The way our sanctuary is set up we are now staring at the first 10 or so rows of the opposite side...
 

Maggie's only 3 and very much in the throws of training to sit in big church.  Will this be the day we have a meltdown?  How fast do you think I can get out that side door right up front?  Which way is this thing gonna go?



Then we sit.

There were some glares exchanged between the oldest two regarding the location of Philippians...  and a few times early on that Maggie did the 3 year old whisper...  which is not really a whisper but a scratchy yell type thing.    That and the waving at Peter every time he ventured over to our side of the stage... nice. 

All in all it was not too bad and I was thankful because I was fully aware of how wrong it could have gone in a hurry.   

But as we were sitting there I have to admit I was distracted with the thoughts of the last 11 years.   There was a good 5 to 6 of those years that I spent swaying a baby back and forth in the lobby wondering why I bothered going to church at all.  At the time it felt like those years might never end.

But there we sat... 

I know our kids are still young and we have many a trip out of big church in our future as we continue training Mags to sit though the service, but that light at the end of the tunnel is so much brighter than it used to be.   As I watch Sam laughing at the jokes he gets now...  he's listening.  And the top 3 all feverishly writing to fill in blanks before they flip to the next slide. 

Sometimes He pours out His love to us in letting us see the fruits of our meager labors and His tremendous Grace to our family.

 And I was grateful.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

It MUST come down today!

It's Jan. 7th and as I type the tree is glowing behind me...  
ornament I made for the annual ornament exchange
Yep, it's still up and today it MUST come down.

I love how cozy the house feels with it up and the soft glow of the tree in the corner.  But our house is so small by this time I'm really ready to get it all out of the way...

But then our house is so small, so having the boxes all over the place while we take everything down makes me crazy. 

But I have lots of helpers {insert shaky smile here}  so it should go really quick...  right?
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In other news I'm thinking of opening an etsy shop.  I've been toying with it for a while.  Mostly wondering why anyone would buy anything I made...  but I'm concidering giving it a go. 

I've hit some road blocks though...  like what to name it and what exactly I would sell.  Just hats or maybe several different things.   If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them. 

Here's a few things I've done:

fall leaves
baby hat
maggie
blanket that will probably not be done till the kids go to college
another hat














I also made some indian corn for Thanksgiving that was really cute and some really nice dish rags but I don't have a picture of those...  so any thoughts would be appreciated.

I'm off to the attic to pull down boxes...  

Enjoy your Sat!



Wednesday, January 4, 2012

2012

Here we are, 2012.  Where did last year go?

I want to write more here but really just haven't felt like writing.  What of value could I possibly have to say.  I'm struggling through my days just like everyone else.  Maybe that's the helpful part...  knowing we're not going through things alone.  At any rate I'll try to be sharing more.

We had a fun train ride over Christmas.   A gift to our family.  In the mountains of NC there is a Polar Express Train.

Gregg took a whole Sat. off {a rare treat in and of itself} and we went over the mountains and...  you know.  The kids wore PJ's, except Sam...  he's too old for that sort of thing anymore. {insert sad face here}

We have one (or so I thought) who gets motions sickness so I loaded her up with medicine before we left.  But we actually have several...
 As we were pulling into town Henry is tossing his cookies in the back seat.  Nice.


Then as we are on the train Claire and I walked through 2 train cars to get to the bathroom while she's holding her mouth and...  again... nice.

But I brought the meds with me so all was good in the end and I now know amusement parks are not in my future and I'm just not that sad about it.

Everyone got a sleigh-bell and we even got a picture with Hobo Joe.
Then on the way home we stopped and ate at a restaurant, which shall remain nameless, where my girls were served and actually ate some raw chicken...  ish.  But no one ended up getting sick.  A testament to Gods Grace most of all and maybe a little to my not so stellar housekeeping skills...  and lack hand sanitizing at every turn, which builds the immune system no doubt. 

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In other news....  we finished our Advent this year.  {Hip Hip Hurray} This was our 3rd year and I finally finished all the ornaments and we made it to the 25th.  It was really nice.  If you have younger children and have tried to do a Jesse Tree or an Advent of some kind, don't get discouraged.  They get more into it the older they get and we really enjoyed it this year.


We had family in town over the holiday and they have gone and we miss them.  School is back and we are now settling in for, what feels like, the long part of winter.  Lots of inside time with homework and games and hopefully some crocheting.  We're loaded up with good books to read and so these short days will surely fly by... we'll see.  I hope the new year finds you well and looking forward to what God is bringing this year. 

I've chosen the word ORDER for this year.  We have lots that needs to get done and it begins with order.  I'll be spending a lot of my time repeating    Prov. 21:5 to myself and my children... 
The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty
I'm not talking monetary abundance but an abundance of peace and order is welcome to make a place in our home. 

I hope your week is a lovely one.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

re-surfacing...

Things here have been so busy and I've been struggling to keep up.  I loose papers and forget Dr. appointments and school open houses.  Not my best start to a school year.  I think things are getting better so here are a few things that have been going on...

The last few years Gregg's boss give us tickets to a Clemson game.  This year he took 3 out of the 5 and even though our blood runs a little deeper orange the kids had a great time.


In case you hadn't heard...  Emma broke her arm.  She is very proud.


So maybe I shouldn't let them do stuff like this...

My Aunt gave us a new chair, so it was time to say goodbye to our long-time friend...the yellow chair.  Some of us had a harder time than others.  And I admit it was a little sad to see it go.  I grew up with that chair.

But it didn't take long for the new chair to find friends and a purpose here at it's new home.


It is well loved indeed! 


And lately I've been waking up to this...  it's a little crowded, but most nights I don't even know they get in.  And I also know that it will not last...  they will, at some point, grow out of it and so for now I'm good with it.


Now I have to go try and find the paper for Claire's parent/teacher conferences that I seem to have miss-placed... 

sigh...

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Florida & a ridiculous amount of pictures!!!

We had a great time visiting with my sister and her family.

Somewhere in this house I have a picture of Gregg and I under the same sign 13 years ago on our honeymoon...  but I put it somewhere safe (which is code for now I can't find it).
We had pedicure night.
Played piano
Hello Cindy!


If there was a fountain around my kids where in it up to their elbows... or more.
We just had fun!
Maybe a sign they've seen one too many Tom and Jerry episodes???

There is a lovely lake near by that you can walk around.  Very reminiscent of the lakes in Minneapolis.  The kids had a great time watching the turtles and fish gobble up the bread they tossed.

There is a fun little fountain show set to music every night near by too.  The kids really enjoyed it.
Maggie loves Annie
We went to the Zoo too.  The boys got new hats.
Annie...  always there to help Maggie.
Grammy & Maggie
The zoo has this great little splash pad for the kids and they had a ball!
This was Maggie's seat at first...  she wanted nothing to do with it...
She made faces for a while...
but then...
she got this look on her face.  Took off her flip flops and ran...
my girls
We went home after everyone was good and pooped!

side note...  look at that long hair...  and she's part Voth too.
And back to the fountain for one more show.
God's creation in Florida is so beautiful.  Very hot... but beautiful!

Dad was at work when we got home but he made sure we knew he was glad to have us back!  We had a great time!