Girls' Night

I am so extraordinarily blessed to have some really amazing girlfriends! It started with me needing a couple helpers on the scholarship committee, so I asked a couple friends to do that with me - one of which suggested we make it a fun committee meeting and meet at a restaurant. We spent 3 hours laughing and having a good time and then taking, oh maybe 15 min out of that night to talk about the things we actually NEEDED to talk about! ;-) We had such a good time that we decided we had to do it again and invite more girls! So, we started meeting every month, gathering a couple new girls each time until we decided to keep it the way it was with just the 9 of us (two weren't able to be there last night for the picture), and start making it our once-a-month "committee" night. I look forward to them every single month and never walk away with anything less than laughter and a giant smile on my face. They uplift me. They help me laugh and melt away the stress that I might be feeling. They renew me. I am blessed to have not only 2 amazing best friends, that unfortunately live hours away, but to have a group of girlfriends here in town with me. Our friend Lee Ann, the cute little blonde in the back, is moving to AZ. We're trying to soak up that time as much as we can before she leaves. We met last night and hopefully will at least once more before she goes. As I see my mom's health declining, I find myself wanting to create more memories, more fun, more laughter than ever before. I don't know if I'll find myself in my mom's position at a young age like she did. I want to live for what today can bring and that's why my "committee" meetings are so important. So, YAY to Girlfriends!! Whether it's these fine 8 ladies that I adore or my besties that I love to pieces, there are a much needed part of my life and I am blessed to have them!

A Small Celebration

Yesterday was Pete's birthday and I'm afraid he didn't quite get what he deserved in the birthday department. With Easter being so late this year, his birthday crept up on me and I wasn't prepared!!



I had the kids make him cards and they made some beautiful ones that he really enjoyed!

But, when it came to dinner, I slacked off and just warmed up the roast and mashed potatoes/gravy we had for our Easter Dinner. He loved it regardless - it is still beef - but I felt bad we didn't do something "fresher".

For dessert, I didn't make him a cake. We had baked soft pretzels with carmel, sprinkles, oreos, and m&ms for toppings. They were delicious! But, again, those were frozen, in a box, that I just baked up for him. So, sadly, not as special as I had hoped. I'll try and make sure that next year we give it more thought! Maybe the new Droid phone he's getting this weekend will make up for it though! :-) Happy Birthday, Honey! I love you!

Wacky Wednesday

Yesterday I was reminded by a friend by sheer accident that it was Wacky Wednesday at school. That means they can wear their hair in funny ways, wear different shoes, inside-out clothes, etc... Anything that's wacky. Well, I was reminded about WW as I was walking out the door to go take Livie to school! I panicked! I ran downstairs to look for a costume and found the Roly-Poly Olie one and we popped that thing on her. It wasn't creative, but at least it was wacky and she loved it!

Happy Easter!

Today is the day we celebrate the glorious resurrection of our Saviour! Easter is one of my favorite days. I love Christmas because it's a time I get to spend time my family and reflect on the birth of Jesus. But, Easter is one of my favorites for a different reason. I spend the morning with my other family - my CHURCH family - and we celebrate together the Risen Lord.





Of course, with 3 little kids, no Easter is complete without a visit from the Easter Bunny. The kids got lots of fun stuff and all their candy this year was sugar-free!

Noah made sure that the Easter Bunny didn't make any mistakes about that this year. :-) In fact, not only did the EB bring him and the girls sugar-free candy, he also brought Noah a Didget, which is a glucometer that hooks up to his DS. It's really cool!!

You can see the kids were all very happy with what they got this morning!

After checking out their goodies though it was time to get ready. Easter morning is full of showers and putting on their new outfits and shoes to wear for this special Sunday. Look at those beautiful kids!

The one thing we didn't worry about at home was making breakfast. This is the 2nd annual Easter Breakfast at our church and it was even yummier than last year! I love that we are always sitting at a table full of kids. They seem to flock to us and I think that's great. Love that our kids have such good friends at our church!

Even more friends joined us after we finished up our breakfast. This is potentially our last Easter with these two. They'll be leaving soon for AZ.

The kids are really into their choirs. This was their bell choir. More children joined them for the regular choir. They did a great job!

Here they are waiting for the church to fill up, so they could get their performances on!

Livie got 2 LaLa Loopsies in her Easter basket, so she had to show them off while playing with daddy. :-)

After the service was over, the kids all joined me in the Sunday School room to get ready for the Easter Egg Hunt! Trying to corral these 22 kids who are crazy-excited about an Easter egg hunt is NOT easy, but we did it. Thank goodness for other parents who helped get them to settle down long enough for the gals to get the eggs hidden. :-)

Once we were given the word, those kids came out and went to town!

I don't think I would be lying to say there were like 500 eggs out there! The older kids got one section to search in, while the younger ones stayed in another area. Worked out perfectly! Noah even spotted one high in the tree!

Look at all those eggs and that's just half of the playground! Such fun!

When they were done, they opened up their eggs, kept the candy, and put the eggs back in a box for next year.

All the kids, Livie included, were very choosy about what eggs they wanted. Most kids walked away with overflowing baskets. My kids ended up with about 2 dozen eggs between the 3 of them. Worked out perfectly though, because that just means less candy for me to steal! ;-)

Some of our friends all sat on this bench and took turns taking pictures for each other. We got several and they got this cute one of us. I think Easter and Christmas are about the only times I get a full-on family shot!

When we got home, we took another quick picture of our beautiful children. Usually this tree has gotten it's buds and leaves, but it's been so cold, that they haven't come out yet.

And, we couldn't leave off our 4th child, Tater! He's growing fast, so we're making sure to keep him included. :-) So, to all of you, I say "HAPPY EASTER". I pray that this is a day of celebration for everyone who reads this. I pray that each of you know the Saviour personally and have made Him central in your heart. What a blessing it is to know Jesus Christ!

Pickin' and Playin'

I mentioned in the post below that we've had a busy day. One of the things we did was pull all the dandilions out of our yard before Pete mowed this evening.



Even Tater got in on the work. Granted, he just picked them up and ate them, but hey, not complaining. At least he got rid of them. It was just in his own way. :-)

The rest of us had to bend down and pick them up. Daddy did the hard stuff though. He went around the whole yard and dug them up. We just picked up the scraps and threw them away.

We had to go fast though, because we only had an hour or so from the time we got home until it was time for Noah's game, so while Pete pulled, the kids and I did the eggs. We helped at the end, before heading over to the field. Pete had to help assist, so it was just the girls, the dog, and me. The girls continued their dandilion picking at the field too. ;-)

There are bleachers there, but we prefer bringing our own blanket and snacks and hanging out on the hill. We kept Tater busy for a little while, eating his pig ear. He had a great time though! Lots of little girls, who were there to watch their brothers, found it WAY more entertaining playing with Tater. :-)

Madie went down to the field and took a picture of Noah playing 3rd base.

Here's Noah batting. This was right before he got hit in the chest with the ball. It hurt a lot, but he toughed it out and kept playing. Way to go, Noah! This was just a practice game, but it was a lot of fun. The weather was beautiful. The game was fun. And, because they were a few players short on his team, his best friend Keeden from the other team, joined his and they got to play together. It was a great afternoon!! Yay for Baseball!

Getting It Done

Ya know, there's nothing like waiting until the day before Easter to get those eggs colored! I'm usually much more on my game than this, but it's been a busy month. What can I say? Easter Bunny won't know the difference, right? ;-)




We had a busy morning with bell choir practice, moving some stuff at the church, filling the worship bags, shopping, lunch, pulling dandilions, and a game, but we fit the eggs in right between all that! Thankfully I had over a dozen hard-boiled eggs in the frig from when we paper-mached the eggs back at the beginning of the month, so they were ready to go.

Each kid picked out their 4 colors, then got to use a bonus color of their choice from their brother and/or sister. Worked out perfectly. We even had them keep one egg in the dye the entire time we were at Noah's ballgame, so we could see how dark the color got. They turned out great!

Here were some of the finished eggs before we headed to the game.

Here were the finished products! Three baskets, ready for a visit from the Easter Bunny. Can't wait to see what they get!

A 3-Dayer to IN

We had a few days this week, of Spring Break, that were free of obligations, so we took the opportunity to drive back to IN for a short 3-day trip. We took along Tater too for his first road trip, so he could meet some more members of his family.



You can see he felt right at home! He was very excited when we first got to my parents' house, because my sister's dog, Wrigley, was there. He wanted to play with Wrigley, but Tater is easily twice her size, so the "playtime" wasn't really even and Wrigley didn't like getting jumped on my a 25lb monster! ;-) He settled in quite nicely after a bit, even hanging out on Grandpa's lap, while he played PacMan.

After a day and a half spent up at my parents' house, we headed down to Pete's parents' house. We finally had a nice day, with some sunshine and NO RAIN (if you can believe it!), so we took a walk. Nana was watching our niece Allyssa, so she came along with us. :-) Walking with 4 kids and a puppy doesn't make for a very quick walk!

Pete's Uncle Scott is a HUGE dog lover, so he came over and got to meet his new puppy nephew. They bonded quickly and Uncle Scott even brought him some tennis balls, which he's enjoyed a ton! It was a short visit, but a lot of fun and we were very proud of how well our Tater behaved. He loved meeting his grandparents and aunts and uncles. He can't wait to meet them again!

The Final Word

http://mywebtimes.com/archives/ottawa/display.php?id=429631&query=write team

My last article for The Times. It was a fun 6 months and I was able to end it by writing about a subject I feel very passionately about. Thanks for indulging me and reading them. :-)

Opening Day

I made the mistake of posting the other day that nothing had happened recently. I TOTALLY forgot about Noah's Opening Day of Baseball! Unfortunately I wasn't there, because it was the same time as Livie's dance class and with recital right around the corner, I couldn't miss it. But, Pete was there and took pictures for me. :-)




Noah's on the Padres again, though he only has a couple of the same teammates from last year. He was excited to get a more realistic uniform shirt and new cleats this year. Even in the freezing cold, rainy weather, they still had Opening Day and he was happy to be there.

It was pretty miserable out (though every day has been like that for the past two weeks). But, they all got to get together with their team and get their new uniforms.

Noah even saw a couple of his friends there. This is his friend Andrew. Andrew just became a new big brother! It's been an exciting time in his life lately. :-)

Everyone got to get their name called and run across the field. All the teams lined up at the end for one big group shot, before going home. The rain kept coming, so it was a quick Opening Day and the games that afternoon were all cancelled. We're ready for some spring weather, so we can get back out there and enjoy some baseball!

Haircut

This is what happens when you post on your blog that you "haven't had anything exciting happen this week to talk about". Literally within minutes of posting that, Livie came in and said, "I got my hair caught in the basket, so I cut it." My first reaction? Horror! This caused Livie to start crying. As I inspected closer I realized (thankfully) that she just cut the front of it and not too short at that. She also cut a small section in the back, but it's hardly noticable. In an effort to even out the cut area, I had to give her bangs. Look at that beautiful, long hair that is no longer on her head now.

You can see she was still very traumatized by the whole thing. She did NOT want me to cut her hair. She is very protective of her hair, which is why I was SHOCKED that she cut it in the first place!! You can kind of see her bangs there on the right side (her left).

You can see them better when it's in a pony. She was much happier by the time I took this picture. She liked them, so the world was right again. :-)

Kindness

I know I haven't posted all week. With the weather sucking, we've just been hanging around and not doing a whole lot to get excited about. But, I wanted to mention something that happened today to remind me of the kindness of those around us. I got to church this morning and was shortly thereafter greeted by a sweet older lady in our church. She had with her a bowl of pineapple and a bowl of honeydew. She told me that she heard that one of the other ladies was making cupcakes for our SS class and she knew Noah couldn't eat them, so she wanted to bring in something that was just for him. Seriously. It touched me so much! What a wonderfully kind thing to do! This kind of thing hasn't been an isolated incident either. Since Noah's diagnosis, people have come forward to help in ways I never expected. For one of his classmate's birthday party at school, he brought in sugar-free popsicles, so Noah could participate with them. Noah was SOOO excited to see that he could have a popsicle without having a shot! Just made his day! On Friday, the kids at school made Easter baskets and everyone brought in candy. Another one of his friends brought in sugar-free candy and his teacher brought him a big bag of sugar-free jelly beans! To know that people are going out of their way to do something like that for him, really touches my heart. It's not expected or required, they just do it. And, they may never really know what that gesture means to my son or to us as well. It's so easy for him to be left out of parties and things like that, but to see others try to make sure he stays included is just so special. :-)

Looney Tunes Has Lied to Us All

http://mywebtimes.com/archives/ottawa/display.php?id=428408&query=the+write+team

Just one article left after this one. The title of this blog post is the title I gave the editor for that article, but I think it was too long. So, instead, enjoy "A Skunk's Tale". :-) Just finished writing my last article. Very proud of that one and hope it is received well. It's my crowning glory. :-)

Day at the Park

With yet another beautiful day at hand, we decided to go the park. Pete was golfing and I didn't want to sit inside the house, so we loaded up the bikes and the puppy and headed over to Illini. Unfortunately, Illini doesn't have a lot of paved trails for bike riding, so that was a little short-lived, I'm afraid. But, it was fun while it lasted!! The dog was soooo excited to be out! He walked along with his tongue hanging out, exploring every little place he could. Ever mud puddle, he had to wade through. Every stick and leaf, he had to smell. It was fun and the kids had a ball!

They have a small play area, so we went there after our walk/bike ride.

After spending all that time outside in the 80+ degree weather, we HAD to get ice cream! It melted fast, since we were outside, but that just meant we had to eat it faster. ;-)

Because it was windy, Livie's ice cream managed to blow over and spill all over the ground. Tater was thrilled! He cleaned up that mess in a jiffy! Was a really fun afternoon together. So glad the weather finally improved, so we could do that. When we were coming home from getting the ice cream, we noticed a big billow of smoke rising in town somewhere, so we went to follow it. A section of the park we were just at was on fire. Looked like a brush fire from what I could tell. Police cars and fire trucks were on their way, because we passed a few of them. Glad we left the park when we did!

Saying Goodbye

In keeping with our month-long slew of parties, we had another one yesterday. This one was the best of all, though also the saddest. Some very dear friends of ours are moving all the way to Arizona. Brett got a new job there and will be leaving by the end of the week with his wife and kids following after. So, we took the opportunity to all get together (and, by ALL, I mean our Bible Study group) and have an evening of fun, laughter, and reflection. Pete got out his new cornhole game that he got for Christmas. Finally a nice enough day to use it!! Our friend Craig brought his set too, so they got quite a competition going. :-) So thankful that everyone was healthy and the weather was (finally!) perfect!

They all came over to our house and, because our house is small and the weather was wonderful, a lot of us decided to hang outside and relax and talk and enjoy each other. :-)

The kids had a great time together too. Livie and Caleb found this little moth that, by the time they were finished with him, was quivering in its death throws. He was loved a little TOO much.

Many of the kids got out new toys that they hadn't seen the previous week when they were here for our regular bible study, so that was fun for them.

The boys mostly congregated in the yard with the cornhole game, while we ladies hung out in the kitchen. Isn't that always what happens? We always seem to hang out in the kitchen. But, that gave us first dibs on the food, so that was nice!

This is the group of ladies I call my friends. God really blessed us by leading us to be a part of this amazing group. This is our first small group and we couldn't have asked for more! I love each and every one of these gals - and their husbands and kids too, of course!

We all brought something to eat, but the main course was pizza and let me tell ya, it flew off their plates! The kids ate an extra-large pizza all by themselves. Not to mention the strawberries and cupcakes and all the extras on top of them. All that playing caused big appetites!

Just more shots of eating and fun. :-)

One of the little boys there is allergic to both cats and dogs, so we locked Olive in the bathroom and Tater stayed in his fence. We bought a bigger one, so he had more room to play. He really wanted to get out and run around, but we kept throwing pigs ears at him and that settled him right down. Didn't hurt that he got lots of visitors coming over to pet and love on him.

Had to take a picture of all the kids together. I don't know if you'll notice or not, but many of the kids have blue spots on them. That would be because I had the bright idea to buy this new thing called "colored bubbles"! I didn't know when I gave the bottle to Madie that the bubbles were like giant balls of ink, that once they were popped stained everything in sight! That was a whole lotta fun washing off. Sufficed to say that between blue bubble spots and mud and dirt and sand, those kids were in desperate need of baths today!

I handed Madie the camera after a while and she took a few pictures for us. First was this one of Tater. See how happy he is?! He loves having company!

It got pretty warm yesterday, so Noah's shirt came off pretty fast into the evening. Here he is with Pastor John. :-) Such a cute pic!

Madie also took this picture of all the adults. This is our Bible Study group of 14 (plus 10 kids!). We are so thankful for having such an amazing group of people that are able to get together both on a spiritual level and on a level of friendship that is just so special. We're going to be so sad to see one of those couples leave us. Brett is the one next to Pete and Lee Ann is his wife and she's standing behind him. We love them to pieces! I've even become a hugger since they announced their moving. And, if you know me well, you know I'm NOT a hugger. That's saying something!

After we twisted the guys' arms into posing for pictures, we all went inside to hang out for a little while before the night ended.

We had all chipped in and gotten them a print that says "Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Others say for a while and leave footprints on our hearts and we are never ever the same". Nothing could be truer for this family. We got them a gift card as well for a restaurant down there. Wanted to give them something to remind them of their past here in town and also something that looks toward their future in their new town. We then sent the kids downstairs to play while we had a moment to share with Brett and Lee Ann what they meant to us. There were lots of tears, lots of laughter, and most of all, lots of love. We ended the evening by laying hands on them and praying them forward. Cannot remember a more special evening. They will be missed more than I can say. I'm just thankful that we had the opportunity to come together and spend a fun night together before they left. I've lived in blissful denial about this since their announcement about a month ago and I'll keep on living in blissful denial until about a year from now when I finally realize that they're not here anymore. I find denial to be quite enjoyable. But last night I actually had to face it and that was hard. But, back to denial again, since that's my favorite place to be in these situations. :-)

Debbie, the one standing behind her husband John on the far left, is the one who set up her camera on the tripod and took this picture of all of us. Yes, Livie is a dino costume, but at least Noah put his shirt back on! ;-) What a blessing to have Godly, loving friends in our lives. This is our group as a whole. Can you believe I managed to fit them all in our house?! So fun! Love and best wishes to our friends. Ya'll are the best!