the back door

a month ago i got a haircut. it was a BIG change for me. for the most part, i've had the same basic look for about 8 years. from time to time, i'd do a variation or cut it shorter or grow it longer, but this time my sister in law sent me some ideas. she sent me oprahs makeovers and i have to confess at first i was a little overwhelmed. but she has incredible taste and always looks great. she also always tries to talk me into something new....so this time i took the plunge. funny thing...hardly anyone noticed!!! there were a few people that noticed, but not alot. i got that angled look. you know, the one that is shorter in back than on the sides/front. the front is the same length, but the back is definitely shorter... okay..so where am i going with this? i'm sure none of you out there really care about what my hair looks like. some of you don't even know what i look like!! but... on thursday the kids and i headed to sis-in-laws for the day. they could pla

yes...christmas has come and gone!! it is somewhat sad that it seems to go so quick! we visit with lots of family and see lots of friends and then it just seems to end. this morning found us all staying home, well not quite all, hubby had to return to work. but it has been nice. it is the first day at home since last thursday. whew!!!!!!! but mapboy and princess have played quite happily all day with their new toys, after several threats last night to box them all up and send them away. i know, that is harsh on christmas day and i know they were both a little overstimulated and very tired, but the behavior at bedtime was still uncalled for. anyways...it has been a nice calm day here at our house. mapboy got a scooby-doo video game which he has almost mastered in less than 36 hours. princess has moved her barbie into her new townhouse and even joyfully brought me toys to give away! now that's a girl after my own heart!!!! mapboy found a few items, but not nearly as many

today is my dear friends birthday!! now most mom's don't get to really live it up on their birthdays, but boy oh boy did we live it up today!! the funny thing is how it really wasn't all that exciting, but to these 2 moms it was GREAT!!!! we hired a sitter to stay with the 2 girls here at my place and took off for kohl's! friend had 50 bucks to spend there. well, you had to spend atleast ten and then you got 50 dollars extra. so in reality $60 worth of merchandise for $10. so we took off looking for chlothes. dear friend immedietly spotted a beautiful shirt she new i had to try on. being her birthday i said i'd try on whatever she picked out....well that was all she needed. next thing i knew she had returned the shirt and spotted a beautiful, and i mean it was "beautiful" skirt and blouse. she then found some lovely tourquiose pants and a orange flower shirt to match. i did spot a nice pair of jungle pants and matching shirt in just her size!!

i had rented a muppets christmas carol. hubby loves the story of scrooge, but i don't really care for it. i decided watching it with muppets might be more entertaining and the kids would enjoy it. so last night we ate ice cream and watched the movie. about half way into it, mapboy, age 7, suggested the kermit sounded just like ernie. after listening a while i had to agree. as princess shares her fears about the ghosts, mapboy proudly exclaims it is fiction. impressive eh? so....he explains to her that means that even though the people are real the story isn't. i say, "well, they are puppets. just like on sesame street." silence. hmm...hubby and i look at mapboy who appears to be in great thought. hubby asks him if he knew they were puppets and he just looked at us. WOW!!! i never thought about that. scrooge was played by michael cain so now mapboy is deeply perplexed as to how scrooge looks so real. then i explain that the movie is part human, part puppe

every morning i walk mapboy to the bus stop. of course, like all kids he is always looking for reasons for there to be a school delay. one very rainy morning this fall he asked if we would have a rain delay. i chuckled and said, "oh, rain is not a reason for a delay. just a reason to use the umbrellas!" so this morning when hubby announced yet another 2 hour delay i cringed. looking outside i could see this "winter ice storm" had already turned to rain. so i started reordering my day around the 2 hour delay point. princess and i were going to run some much needed errands and just enjoy some quiet. while in the shower i could hear the phone ringing. when i checked the messages i saw it was from my dear friend. assuming she was calling to see if we wanted to have some much needed girl fun time i returned the call. as she told me of the change from delay to cancelled i about screamed!! this is insane guys... so yes, mapboy, apparently in northern indiana the

for the past 5 days our family has spent way too much time together!!! dont' get me wrong..we love to be together, but we usually have opportunities to get out and see others, go to school, do things outside of these four walls. but not this week.... so when we got the call church was cancelled - hubby and i sighed....it just might be another long day at our house!!!! and with this ice....is there a chance school might be cancelled tomorrow???? oh i just might go crazy yet!!!!!!!!!

...has been closed for about a week now!!!!! yes, while our door is always open this week we have not opened our door to anyone. in fact, when grandma showed up yesterday afternoon we all yelled, "get out!" you see....mapboy spent the night with grandparents last saturday. in the morning they called to say that he had gotten sick in the middle of the night. he spent sunday and monday home and then off to school. tuesday, princess and i did the shopping. wednesday....well. we woke up to 6 inches of snow and a 2 hour delay!! yippee right?? no, i woke up feeling not so great....but not horrible. started through my coffee and decided to just wait. and then princess was bopping around and said "i think i'm going to throw up!" hmm..... so the kids were supposed to do without tv, but by 9 i needed them to just watch tv and princess and i were camped out on the couch.... mapboy got off to school and princess and i spent the day drinking gatorade and eating

yesterday i spent a couple of hours cleaning out my file drawer. i needed to sort out old stuff and make room for new. as with any kind of cleaning out project i enjoyed the treat of seeing what i had kept so long ago. in 2002-03 i was the publiciy coordinator for MOPS. i stumbled upon several newsletters i had saved. the following is something i wrote for the january 03 newsletter. i thought it seemed fitting to share at the beginning of this season.... "it amazes me how much young children can teach us as adults. while i busy myself with trying to teach mapboy his numbers, letters, how to dress himself, and how to play nicely with his toys mapboy is busy teaching me more and more about myself. Things such as how little patience i really have, how cleaning the house doesn't really matter, and that it is okay if more water ends up on the floor than in sink while doing dishes. However, mapboy taught me a big lesson this Christmas that i hope i never forget and may even c

i don't know how many of you are following america's next great band. and honestly i wouldn't choose to watch it myself, except for the connection to denver and his band. it is truly amazing to watch them perform and say "i know them. i really do. he goes to my church (when he is home that is!)" so anyways....hubby and i are almost always home on fridays so we have been following the show. thankfully, several nasty sounding bands have made their exit. but this is what i observed this week: 1. the first judge always asks why they didn't do a different style of music. now, i have not yet heard him ask dot dot dot or the little boys to do something other than heavy rock music. i haven't heard him ask sixwire to change their sound either. hmm....so why should denver??? 2. this feeds off the second...i think it shows how incredible denver is as a musician that he can take a rolling stones song and turn it into a big band swing arrangement. i'm n

saturday night was quite moving here at our house. after a pretty non-adventurous day we were doing bedtime. i was tucking in mapboy when all of a sudden he starts repenting for his sassy talk, bad behavior, bad attitude and tells me he understands i'm just doing my job and that his is to obey. he tells me i'm the best mom around and how thankful he is for me! wow!!!! did he really just say all of that??? i give him a big hug and kiss and head to princess... princess sings her songs and starts to pray. as she prays, and can i just say this girl covers everything in her prayers, she ends with asking Jesus to come live in her heart!! now, being a mom, i'm a little overwhelmed here. we hadn't talked about this at all with her. i mean she has heard it i'm sure and we talk about Jesus all the time. so when she says amen i ask her all sorts of questions and sure enough - she totally knows what she did and why she wanted to do it!! i come down stairs all weepy.

this morning i had the honor of helping in princess's preschool class. they were doing their christmas gifts. i painted atleast 35 hands bright green and never got one drop on their clothes of mine!! amazing!!!!!!!!!!

yesterday is known as black friday around the good old usa. i find it so odd that so many people get up at the crack of dawn to shop for bargains. i find it even more bizarre that people would camp out for 2 days in front of best buy??? hubby commented they are waiting to buy themselves something - most likely - not for someone else. there are several things that make me quite sad about black friday... 1. the whole camping out for 2 days. if i calculate that right, that means they spent thanksgiving sitting in front of a store being greedy. harsh, i know, but in reality isn't that what it is. i mean if you are that desperate to get the bargain of the year that you would not spend time with family and friends on a special day to give thanks for what you do have, then yes, you are being greedy. 2. on the news last night there were clips of fighting and shoving and other things that did not demonstrate holiday cheer!!! what is the fun in shopping if you are afraid of getting

my dear friend(in fact a roommate from college) over at mauch meanderings has been blogging about her walking plan. she bundles up all of her kiddos to walk her oldest to school. i believe she said it was a half-mile to the school which means 2 miles a day. well, i too walk my child to school. okay, so i walk him to the bus stop. but...the year before he went to kindergarten i had great plans of walking him to the neighborhood school 1/2 a mile from our house. i, too, thought it would be a great way of getting my exercise in. well, we built a new school which forced redistricting and we ended up at the new school which is more like 3 miles from my home. so now he rides a bus. princess and i enjoy the walk with him every morning. i'm too worried about weirdos to let him walk it by himself. it is only 1 1 /2 blocks, but not visible from our house. so each morning we make the treck with him and in the afternoon oscar our dog makes the treck with us for pick up. so i figur

this past week i read through velvet elvis by rob bell. i actually started it a few months ago and it got put aside, but last weekend i picked it up and started again. i could hardly put it down!!! some of you out there have read it already, others have heard about it, and others are trying to figure out why i cared about a velvet elvis!!! this really has nothing to do with elvis...but everything to do with living for Christ. like all books i read; i take some and leave some thoughts. this one was quite a challenge. a friend of mine described it as a look at how to make christianity relative to this generation. she didn't seem to totally agree with that and although i see where she comes from, this book totally put it in perspective. bell goes to great lengths to pick apart the scriptures and explain them for that time period. phrases that i didn't really get are in there b/c it relates to the jewish customs of the days. when he would say something it clicked with them

so while on the phone with my dear friend i was gently questioned about my lack of recent entries. i was quite shocked to hear i was letting her down...i mean come on friend, what could you possibly read on here that i haven't already told you?!? so i took the challenge she presented and turned it back on to her....what would you like me to blog about. she gave me 2 topics...so this morning i'll blog about topic 1 THE DOG vs. THE BUN okay, so you are out grocery shopping for the big cookout you are having this weekend. (a little cold maybe but pretend it is summer!) you pick up some hot dogs for the kids. you know that you will need 10 hot dogs which is perfect b/c there are 10 in a package!! great....you pick up the chips, the ketchup, the other fixins and head to the bread aisle...all you need are some buns!!! wait a minute....it can't be? well surely this pack? no, this sure is absurd? i mean why on earth??? yes, folks, each pack of buns only contains 8!!!!

most of you know that 2007 has proven to be a year of interesting twists and turns for my little family. just when it seems like things are back in the flow and heading on the right path, God does something we never expected. this weekend proved to be yet another such time.. as i was reflecting today, somewhat downhearted, a bible verse popped into my mind...for all you cedarville grads, those bible verses elenor taylor taught us do come back when you least expect it. anyways...they seem quite qualified to sum up 2007 in our world.... proverbs 16:9 In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps. proverbs 20:24 A man's steps are directed by the Lord. How then can anyone understand his own way??? i have to say that there are still some things i just don't understand. and even though we seek God whole heartedly we still don't always hear His voice so He answers a little more dramatically....needless to say, God is still so good and i love Him dear

a few days ago i had to say goodbye to one of my most beloved possessions. it was temporary, or atleast i hope so! for my first birthday my oldest brother bought me a red clifford dog. i loved that dog. i slept with it, i have a picture of me in the crib with it even. i would tie a jump rope around his neck and drag it around. i made up stories with it. it was my most beloved possession. silly, i know. when mapboy was born i was quick to head home and retrieve that dog and share it with my child. it has since been in his bed. after 31 years it was looking a little tired, but still greatly loved by my kiddos. on halloween my dear sister called. she teaches first grade and is going to read the clifford books to her class. she wanted to borrow my clifford to have in the room with her. with great reluctance i offered to send him to her. she assured me that she would keep him safe and the kids would only look. on wednesday, my parents came to take him. we had a few long momen

i'm a huge idol fan!! love the show!!! this fall they are doing the next greatest band....well, i didn't intend to watch until i found out denver and the mile high orchestra had been chosen!! some of you out there have heard of them, others have not.... here's what i know!! denver attended high school with me and is most known for swinging across our stage as tarzan in our band show. he was an awesome trumpet player that told us all he would one day have a band! sure.... so off he goes to tennessee and starts to form a band..... enter adam....kid in the youth group at our church. trumpet player...just graduated...not really sure what he wants to do. decides to go join denver.... now they have denver and the mile high orchestra. a christian swing band that has toured to many places and done the kluv cruise. they just can't quite the big break, but are really quite good!! they offer a different flavor to music... so we tune in to the show and have to suffer thro

so on friday night mapboy's school had the anticipated fun fair!! this is a family event where you buy tickets to play silly games to win tickets to change over for plastic prizes! you know...all those things mom's love to find around the house and one by one toss in the trash!! mapboy and all the other students had spent the month earning "dunn dollars". they were given these for good behavior and a variety of other things. mapboy came home with 45 and he was excited to bid on something at the children's silent auction. now, most of you have kids and most of you have probably done a silent auction as an adult. can you imagine 150 kids 1-4 grade getting the silent auction concept? but, hey, i'm a willing participant. so we head in there to place our bids...thinking he has enough to bid on several things we start bidding. then we are told we can only win one item. since the place is INSANE!!!! we place all 45 on an item he wants and go back to the g

well, last night we were out with some friends and i was told that i had better get busy and post something on here...actually we got to laughing at how my hubby and i both have a blog and how far this world has come. while playing a game one even commented that the diary of anne frank would now be the blog of anne frank. i don't really have much to say, but since i was asked to post i will write a few of my rambling words to appease this much loved friend!!! last night i took hubby out with our friends to get out of town....it was election day of course and a most difficult one for him. if you read this or know us you understand that. needless to say the results were not what we had hoped for, but we will make the best of the situation. God has definitely worked on hubby's heart and i'm very proud of how he handled himself!! although he did have some good zingers last night! i've been trying to think about what has been going on that i haven't had a desire to

in the summers of 95 and 96 i was blessed to work at an awesome christian summer camp, Spring Hill Camps in Evart, Michigan. I arrived during week one of camp b/c of when my college ended and getting the job late in the spring. i was assigned to the teepee girls so that i would be working with another experienced counselor. these girls were 8 years old and we had 10 of them.... oh, maybe i should mention i didn't really like the outdoors and i had never been to camp before. so i head out to the teepees crazy nervous and thinking to myself i'm going to have this counselor that is so awesome and makes me feel so silly! well, i did have an awesome co-counselor and at times i did feel silly - the good kind of silly!!! it was apparent from the first few minutes together that i had found a great friend!!! our names were pretty much the same (just add a few letters to hers) we were both blondes and really although college students acted like our 8 year old teepee girls!!! tha

each year, our kids enjoy dressing up and going trick or treating. our downtown does a small costume parade through town and then the merchants provide treats. this is always on a saturday afternoon and we always have more than enough candy when we are done. this works out great b/c our kids love to hand candy out to all the people who come to our house. we live on the main street through town so we have more than enough trick or treaters. this year....we were gone for the downtown event. i had purposely not mentioned it to the kids so that they wouldn't try to sweet talk grandparents into braving the crowd. i knew that we would be sure to take them on the 31st! mapboy is most definitely growing up and starting to make connections i was praying he'd never really get. (atleast not yet!) but, one grandma spilled the beans about missing downtown. well, ever-thinking mapboy was quick to realize our typical visit to the 3 closest neighbors, one aunt and 2 grandparents was no

i'll start out saying forgive me. this may be a bit long, but way too much fun (i guess) to not blog about!!! when i last left you i asked you all what you were doing 9 years ago. obviously it was the day i got married. i believe i stated hubby was whisking me off for a long weekend away!! i could hardly wait. but i did have something else fun to do that october 24....a birthday party at chuck e cheese. i mean isn't that the best!!! it was a first for this family and the kiddos could hardly wait. we loaded up here at our house and made the 40 minute trek to the closet location. i rode up with a friend. when we pulled into the lot i bent down to pick up my purse. i stated, "gee i don't have any cash." i stuffed the purse under the seat and got out. (i know - you probably know where this is headed!) we enjoyed 3 hours of chuck e cheese bliss!! pizza, games, tickets, show, cake, presents....lots of fun. before we knew it we realized we should head back

do any of you remember what you were doing 9 years ago today? what was the significance of that day? was there any??? this is what i was doing 9 years ago today... ...i awoke bright and early to a phone call from my best friend who was spending a year in poland as a missionary. she called that morning b/c we were both sad nothing could be worked out for her to be home that day. ...i had several friends in town visiting and hanging out with me ...my dad had spent the day before washing my car and the great little yellow bug convertable he had then(i love that about him!) ...i actually had a manicure and my hair done that day!! can you believe i had those things done??? ...i ate a yummy breakfast of yummy muffins from where i worked -the old worlde cup ...i then put on this beautiful dress and had my pictures taken ...then i got to walk down the aisle and see my future husband waiting for me!!! ...then we actually let his brother marry us ...then God had blessed that oct. 24 with su

well...for those of you who have been following my blog and my cousin at like i was saying the pampers box saga has come to an end!! yes folks...the box that flew to indiana, spent a week at the indy airport, travelled back to lafayette, dropped at my sisters school, was then picked up on saturday by my parents and arrived safe and sound here at our house around 7 saturday night! it was met with great squealing and much delight as we all got to ooh and ahh over the abundance of clothes for princess! we had a fashion show then and there and quickly discovered which were her favorites!!! thanks natalie!! they are a huge hit here!! the shoes were a perfect fit and she hasn't taken them off yet!! i'm so thankful that my little princess finds hand me down clothes to be so exciting!! i never did but then again a clothes from 10 years ago probably wouldn't thrill her either. so..the saga has ended!! that little box has quite the story to tell!!!

we often comment around here that mapboy is every bit his father. he may favor my side in some of his looks: round face, stockier build, etc... but for the most part he acts just like his father and has his coloring. last night, however, i saw a glimpse of myself in that sweet boy! we were being hit with storms last night. mapboy who is fascinated by weather and maps and such was glued to the tv weather reports. daddy was at a meeting so he needed to keep me current on where what was headed and when. he was also keeping track in case we needed to call family and friends to tell them to take cover! well at bedtime things were clearing up and of course our town for whatever reason seems to escape the brunt of it(gladly). just some rain. off to bed he goes... all is quiet for a while and then off in the distance i hear some thunder. i breathe a sigh of relief that both kids are sound asleep upstairs and have been for close to an hour. but no, i hear a faint cry for mom from ma

so far today i've been honored to be in the company of tinkerbell, cinderella, sleeping beauty, the famous ballerina of america, strawberry shortcake, and currently sitting in my family room is the most amazing of them all: one of the 5 speckled frogs!! what a day!!!

well i meant to get this post up yesterday, but this week has run away from me and i can't seem to catch up to it! anyways...yesterday, the 17th, my dear hubby celebrated his birthday! for him, he felt a little down, i think. not so much that he was a year older, but that this is not where he saw himself at this time in his life. but as i reflected on that comment he made, i realized that he is EXACTLY where he is supposed to be. this past year for him has been filled with being humbled, introspection, seeking, and most importantly truly life changing. we both believe that God is going to reveal some awesome plans for hubby during this year. so although he isn't where he thought he would be, he is exactly where God wants him to be. for this, he is blessed. he is in God's hands and resting in His wings,and therefore, this is a great year ahead!! so happy birthday hubby!! you are loved and cherished in this heart of mine. our kids adore you and love you. i love tha

this week has been one of controversy in my small town. those of you who read this locally will know in great detail what i'm talking about, for others of you i'll try to be as clear as i feel i can... let me start with a bit of background..... early september i attended the leadership retreat from our church. i serve as the leader of children's ministry. at this retreat we watched a video called transformations. the video is a series of communities that have experienced transformation from spiritual strongholds to spirit-filled communities. at this retreat the leadership was greatly moved to start praying through our community strongholds and finding a way for the christians in our town to come together. one of the strongholds was the racism we have. our community is a fast growing hispanic one - that we fail to embrace in any way. the week we returned we were asked to participate in community wide prayer by a latino pastor!! God was definitely moving...so long s

i say that quite often about a variety of things. people you see, cornfields, oh you know...the great indiana things!! but this morning we woke up to another one of those great only in indiana things...a 40 degree temperature change overnight!! yes...you heard it folks. it was 86 here yesterday..this morning 46! you know what makes it even more special...the rain mixed with it! of course it isn't nearly as refreshing in the cold. and oh i can make it even more special yet - YES FOLKS...TODAY WAS THE GREAT PUMPKIN PATCH FIELD TRIP FOR PRESCHOOL!!! just like last year...cold and rainy. last year they cancelled and rescheduled. the next week we went in snow! so this morning the call was to keep it on. so all 45 kiddos, several moms, and several younger siblings braved the wind and cold to venture to the patch. they uncovered the haymaze and the kids hid inside to keep warm. the llama wanted to spit at all of us so running away from him kept us warm. huddled close on the h

you need to hear the story from my cousin at like i was saying . (sorry i can't link for whatever reason to the exact entry...so just look for the pampers box.) i never thought i'd be part of an airport scandal!!!!

yep...that was the subject of an email sent to me from my dear friend. now, i know i'm not the skinniest thing around, but i'm getting back into the size i'd love to be...i'm almost fully there!! so why on earth would my friend feel the need to send me this. i don't even really eat fries! hmm... so i open it up with high hopes that there is some kind of weird fact about what they put in those fries we all love from fast food places. or maybe someone found a finger or something. remember when all of that was happening? i know this friend is really quite a funny one so surely that is what it is all about. i'm bracing myself for a great laugh, when nope...nothing funny here!! just a nice friendly reminder that my lab reports are finally in (did i mention this friend is my doctor who ordered a blood draw a month ago and that i finally went last week?) and the cholestoral count is a little too high. so he will kindly discuss with me the "natural" op

so most of you will remember my plea for advice on pots and pans!! well thank you to all who took the time to share their tried and true favorites with me. after looking at several different sets of revere wear and farberware i finally settled on a stainless steel farberware. it came with 2 nonstick skillets which were a must for my omelet making hubby!! the big sell for me on the farberware set was the straining lids! i mean one less step in my cooking is always a sell for me! well they arrived mid-week last week. they looked so shiny and pretty, but i finally got them out and used them over the weekend and this week! i just have to say i love them!! they cook so fast and evenly. they clean so nice. and the food actually stays warm in them for quite a while too!! i had noodles for the kids sitting in the pan for 15 minutes yesterday and they stayed warm and yummy!!! so thanks....my family is safe again!!!

so i am usually quite good at cooking. i have been known to call my mom or a friend to find a substitute ingredient or ask opinions of certain things, but this morning i was in desperate need of help. see, our neighbor, was cooking a chicken in her crockpot last week. and boy did it smell good. i thought that would be an easy thing for me to cook. sprinkle with rotisserie seasoning and yummy!!! so i bought myself a chicken!!!!! last night i pulled it out and it was ready for me this morning. it was still a little frozen so i put it in the crock on high and an hour later went to pull out the innards. however, this chicken didn't seem to have a hole in it anywhere. i checked the package and it said to remove the innards. i did a quick look across the street. i think she's awake..but i would feel so stupid asking her how to find the innards of my chicken. after a short debate and a lesson in humility i call my mom!!! i can feel totally stupid with her!!! i call my mom

...mouth what you say for little ears are listening!! yesterday, princess was very excited to have her bff come home from preschool with her. when we arrived at drop-off said bff's mom was coming back out of the school . she had a big smile on her face and i said to her, "why are you so happy this morning?" now obviously i know the answer to this...she is going to have the entire day to herself and will be enjoying lunch with a friend and no children!! don't we all know how quickly that would bring a smile to our face!! she replies, "i don't know, i'm just happy!" with a smile on her face. i turn to princess and say, "why do you think __________ is so happy this morning?" now i expected all sorts of interesting answers but listen to what i got... "because she gets to spend the day all alone!" and off she went to her class!!! OUCH!!! obviously my enthusiasm for days alone has been revealed to her. the truth hurts here....

this is really much more of a vent for me, a mom, giving herself a time out. for whatever reason, mapboy has an extremely hard time dealing with life. i don't quite understand it, well, except for the fact that it is his sinful nature. he can be all sweet and cuddly and the next minute he is screaming and yelling at anyone near by. it is so frustrating at times b/c you can't even get him calmed down to deal with the issue at hand..then he is on to the next one, and the next one and so on. by the time he is calmed down even i have a hard time remembering what the initial issue is. this afternoon has been one of those days and frankly, i'm so tired of being in constant battle. i have tried to speak calmly only to find myself raising my voice over his to be met with him telling me i'm yelling at him and he starts crying even more. it is just hard to try to help him or explain the situation with him crying and yelling about it. as i write this , he is standing in the

hubby was lucky enough on saturday to be a part of history! yes, folks, he was at the notre dame game where they scored their first offensive touch down and also lost making it the worst opening record ever!! this was his first adventure to the stadium for a game. being local we always have the home games televised. the kids were super excited to see their dad on tv. i mean how often does that happen!! i tried to explain that we most likely will not be able to see him, but that we can watch the game. as game time approaches i call the kids in to get situated! knowing full well we won't see him, i don't want to dampen their spirits and high hopes. mapboy heads to his favorite spot and princess climbs to the other end of the couch. once she gets settled she grabs the blanket and pulls it up over her eyes. i turn to look at her and hear this: "i just can't watch! tell me when it's over! i can't even look!" hmmm...not sure what she is thinking here,

we have left so many unfinished projects in our house over the years....nothing major, we just move on to the next one and let it go. from time to time we talk about them, but don't do anything! well, hubby is all over this now!! he is in get er done mode! and i'm loving it!!!!! i mean i love my husband a ton!!! we have the best relationship and we love being together....but there is something that, well you know (and if you don't - spend some time thinking about it) when they are working hard at things around the house!!! so anyways - we are tackling all sorts of projects around the house and it is fun!! i'm getting cabinets over my washer and dryer, a craft table (see previous post) , our porch/patio is going to be finished, and the rental is going to finally be sided! it is amazing and quite the transformation!! i'm not sure what prompted this, but there are times i have learned to not ask and just enjoy the ride!!!! and this is most definitely one of tho

my kiddos have always enjoyed visiting the local state parks nature center. i don't really get it. i mean it is okay, but how many times can you look at the same snake that doesn't do anything because he has been locked up for so long? they do have some puppets the kids like to play with, but for whatever reason, my kids are HUGE nature center fans!! they get it from their father who works very hard at providing nature in our downtown back yard. mapboy had learned all the birds, trees, wildflowers, and which belongs to which state by the time he was 4. me - i still could quite frankly care less, but nevertheless i'm learning all sorts of things from my precious children. so...a few weeks ago i was gone for the weekend. something must have come up about building a nature center here at our house. for the past week there has been nothing but talk about this center. we have written down list after list: things we have, things we need, things we are going to do. i confe

only in my small town could you have the experience i did last night!! a friend and i always try to get together for our birthdays..well summer went by before we had a chance to celebrate hers. so a movie we had been wanting to see, becoming jane , arrived in our small town theater. you know...the old downtown local ones!! so last night we met downtown at a local mexican restaurant. it is soooo yummy and i'm blessed to have authentic mexican here in town. we finished the supper and at 7 walked the 2 minutes down the street to the theater. we noticed the marquis lights were off and wondered if they were closed tonight. we arrived to find the elderly lady that owns it getting out of the ticket booth. we knocked on the window and asked for 2 tickets. she replied, "noone was here at 7:00 so we closed down." what.....it is only 7:02??? i mean don't most people arrive a few minutes late so they don't have to sit through 25 minutes of previews. so we gave her our

there is this old garth brooks song called unanswered prayers. for some of you out there - yes, i'm a big time country music girl! it is in my bones!! anyways - its an oldy. one from my high school days, but it talks about the prayers you pray and later realize how thankful you are God didn't answer them. i don't fully agree with the theology. i think he answers them - just not the way we wanted him to at the time. so, last week i had the rare opportunity to experience what my life would be like if one of my dreams had come true. my dear friend really wanted to head to canada for a family wedding. her hubby could keep the kiddos for the weekend but friday was a bit difficult for her to figure out. i volunteered to keep the 3 youngest!! one i would have all day but she plays so well with princess it is like a free day for me. the other 2 would ride the bus home with mapboy. i was pumped!! for as long as i can remember i had always wanted 5 children. God saw fit

so most of you readers out there know that i live in an old 1850's house that has never caught up in todays current technology trends. i blogged about all the tech stuff we don't have...well, we broke down to by a tracphone so i now have cell phone access. that was huge step for us!! then one day i turned the computer on only to find it had all crashed, except internet! i know that sounds odd and i was alittle shocked myself. i mean of all things i would have expected the old computer to blowup whenever i would dial in to the internet host. but it kept kicking as long as i only wanted to use the internet. well, that really isn't practical. so yesterday, our computer guy came over and set up a new computer and printer for us! i giggled like a school girl at so many features. hubby and computer guy both would just look at me. then i realized they were really kinda chuckling at me. you see... the flat screen is something my hubby has had for about 4 years now. it r

this past weekend i was on a leadership retreat with my church!! it was by far one of the most powerful times in my life!! you know, those rare times when God is just there!! i know He is always here, but not like this weekend. the times you just can't even speak - only listen! God is so real...why don't we see it? why do we spend so much time boxing Him in? oh i pray that i teach my children the truth of their God and His truth for them!!

yesterday was princess's first day of preschool this year. she is in the preK class and goes 3 days a week. she loves to go to school and gets so excited about it all!! we did the great picture pose - only to learn that the camera batteries were dead. so we will try again tomorrow and take a 2nd day picture. oh well....such is life around here. arriving at the school, cars were parked everywhere! we unloaded and she paraded right to the hallway where we were met with a crowd of parents, grandparents, siblings....it was a zoo!!! we hang our coat up and weave back through. i sign her in and say goodbye! all of 5 minutes!! what i noticed was all these other moms hugging, crying, taking pictures (which i confess had mine worked i would have done that!) and waiting until the last moment to leave. not me....i'm out of here! so i head home where i curl up to celebrate my first day alone with the newest karen kingsbury book and read! what a treat!!! spend some time chatting

this afternoon my dear friend stopped by for a quick visit! i knew she was coming - but this is what she found when she walked through my back door....come on in me cleaning off the trash cans - atleast i was using bleach dirty dishes all over the counter toys strewn across the house me - in a somewhat mild weird kinda mood (it had been one of those mornings) stuff scattered on the kitchen table but you know what - my dear friend didn't comment on any of that!! she even allowed her little girl to play with mine while we talked over glasses of water (we do occasionaly go for the healthy thing - only occasionally). her little visit did a world of good to my day!!! i love friends that can walk through my door and still love me:) and oh - did i mention that when we were all walking out our gate that oscar decided to squat and go right there in between us?? she really is a good friend!!

in my house i don't allow a certain word to ever be used. i don't like it and generally feel it is quite extreme. that word is HATE. i don't even like to use it here...and there is only one thing i have ever considered myself really truly hating - pickles!! i usually use the term despise them. they smell gross, look gross, taste gross and my family loves them. when the kids were little the way they almost slurped at them was enough to make me gag. i usually only by a jar for hubby's birthday or mapboy's. they are usually still around for princess to celebrate with. i know - sad isn't it, but arghg...they are just wrong!! but this really isn't about pickles...it is about the fact that for the first time in a long time i found myself using the word hate today! you see, it rained and poured here for a week a few weeks back. then it got hot and humid again. and, although this is one time i do question the works of God, there are these pesky little

i need some help all you bloggers out there in bloggy land!! my pots and pans are 9 years old. that doesn't really seem that old to me since my mom still has several from her wedding. but nevertheless, my teflon coated pots and pans are pealing. with each use more and more teflon flecks are found in the food. not good! and - where it has pealed off we are now finding rust. so much to my dismay i am on the hunt for new pots and pans..and fast!! when even hubby asks when i'm getting new ones - i know i must act now!! so i'm asking you all for your opinions on pots and pans...which to buy and which to stay far away from!! since i'm asking for help i'm going to share a family favorite recipe that i invented one cold evening... Chicken with Whistles chicken cut into bite size pieces (how ever much you need to feed your family. i do one large breast) lemon pepper seasoning mosticolli or penne pasta sprinkle your cut chicken with lemon pepper seasoning - be very

yep....summer is over!! now wait?? school started for us 3 weeks ago..didn't summer end then??? OH NO!! around here summer isn't over until labor day! you see, my little town of 10,000 comes to life each labor day weekend. over half a million people flood to our little town for the great blueberry festival. our town is taken over by carnival rides and their interesting operators. craft vendors flood our streets and interesting characters from all over come to walk shoulder to shoulder through our parks. and everyone comes to see the most incredible fireworks show and what seems like the longest parade around!!! oh the fun!! there are baseball, tennis, and horseshoe tournaments. tractor pulls, gospel sings, food, food, and more food!!! it is a weekend of pure bliss for so many and a weekend of huge fundraisers for so many. and for our little town...it truly marks the end of summer!!!!! ah...now preschool can start!!!

this past year has been one of great growth in our little house! from physical growth to emotional growth, but even more importantly a lot of spiritual growth has taken place. i have wrestled with some of my beliefs - not doctrinal but applicable. in other words...am i living the way Christ intended for me to live? in my quest to answer this question God has sometimes quietly and sometimes loudly brought me to conviction on many issues. places where i'm falling short of truly living like He intended. it is hard to let go of some of my old ways of christian living and embracing new ways. it is hard to admit that i'm not as together as i like to think or that i've fallen into just motions of christian living. one of the big questions i've wrestled with deals with quiet times and prayer life. i know in my heart that is something i should have daily. i also confess how many days go by that i haven't sat and had "quiet times." sad isn't it???? or

my parents are celebrating 47 years together today!! amazing isn't it? the best part is they are still very much in love! we still see them holding hands while driving or sitting next to each other. they hold hands while they take walks. they still dance in the kitchen to "their" music. they travel together, they eat together, they work together...the love each other! they raised 4 of us kids plus the many others that we brought home. they took us on memory making vacations and taught us how to work. i'm sure my siblings will say i didn't have to learn that last one, but i did. i'm thankful that they are still healthy and active. still showing so many others what marriage looks like, and enjoying this life that God gave them. happy anniversary to my favorite couple!!!

so this is my 10 year college reunion!! i find it hard to believe that i have gotten that old, but it appears i have. i spent some time the other day thinking about college days and decided it was worth a top 10 list here at my back door! so here are my 10 favorite (or atleast quite memorable) things from my life at the 'Ville. oh - i guess most of you would have no clue what the ville is....it is this quaint little baptist college in southern ohio - Cedarville University. 1. New Dorms as a freshman! 2. Life long friends 3. Tennis team - i could come up with 10 things alone about this one. 4. Grilled steak and chicken strip night at Chuck's 5. Campus security and fighting them in student court for my best friend! 6. sneaking back in to our dorm room after hours. 7. Christ is All I need, Oh Cedarville your call fulfill, I woke up this morning....hmmm, I guess i really do still think about chapel every day at 10:00 8. Hutch and Screamo at his house!! 9. 6 different

golly....it has been a doozy of a week!!!! enough said

do you remember my blog on our current technology here at our house? if not...scroll down and check it out. (sorry, i haven't figured out how to link to specific entry-read the entry!) anyways...our ancient computer just keeps kicking...atleast until this week. all of a sudden it would freeze and give me a warning that i'm dangerously low on resources! hm? wonder what that means? well, if i shut it down and turned it back on it would work again. atleast it did until friday. then it wouldn't even shut down. the really odd thing....i can run internet just fine! but no way will this machine let me run windows. i don't get it - but what i am getting is a new computer!!!

my little mazda is still plugging along just fine! it was the car my daddy bought me when i graduated college and i love it! it has a sun roof and is just a lot of fun to zoom around in. however, with the 2 kiddos we purchased an old explorer that i now drive while hubby gets the car. it has been having some troubles lately and we were planning to take it to the shop this next month. well, monday morning hubby headed off to work. in a few minutes he was back and not happy. you know - the slam the keys on the counter and kinda huffy breathing. well, the car would not start. so he took mine and headed in to work. homebound and obviously it was going to rain all week, i decided to deal with the car so i could have transportation. i head out to try again in a few hours. i notice there is no gas in the car. so i call hubby and suggest we put some gas in. he says the light just came on and that is not the problem. well, okay, dear! so i call my 2nd dad up, (he runs a full-servic

wednesday evening we are all snuggled up reading on the couch when he decided that he needed to see who it was walking by our house. now, he usually has to comment on the variety of people that walk by, but for whatever reason this time it seemed quite urgent. hubby and i gasped and tried to stop him, but it was too late. as he jumped his leg smacked against the coffee table. there was a small yelp, a look of pain, and then a sudden need to just sit. i think he was stunned a little. we finished our books and headed up stairs. of course he needed help up the stairs but got settled okay in bed. the next morning there was as lot of moaning while getting out of bed. now, he usually offers a serious of moans and grumps, but this was more than the norm. we noticed that he was favoring his leg. we usually tell them not to jump off the couch so i'm sure he didn't want to complain too much b/c he knows the rules. anyways - hubby loaded him up and took him to the doctor (we w

the past two saturdays have been spent at weddings. they were quite different from each other, but both celebrated the love the couple shared and a future together. i laugh because i used to highly emotional, until i had children. now i have a hard time getting emotional at things but this time around i was moved. at each one i snuggled just a little closer to my hubby. it seems like so many marriages are in trouble these days. or maybe i should say that they aren't very happy. so many just kind of function side by side during their day. which isn't bad - but they might be missing out on the great love they once shared. i have always felt blessed with a great husband and wonderful marriage, but these past 2 weddings have reminded me just how blessed i am. we are going on 9 years this fall and have had highs and lows. every couple does, but God has been so good to us and hubby is always so patient. well, not always, but when needed he is! anyways - we have such a deep

following is the conversation i heard going on in the backseat this afternoon... child 1: get over here... child 2: no, you get over here!! (they were playing with their toys) child 1: i'm gonna take your arm off child 2: oh yeah...not if i take your leg off first child 1: i'm not scared child 2: me either... child 1: maybe i'll just cut your head off child 2: (makes the toy cry) ha!! you think i'm scared now...wait till i get you child 1: i've got a sword child 2: i've got a sword that is bigger child 1: off with your head... child 2: AHAHAHAHAAHAHAH!!! giggles erupt from the back seat.... yes, you all, giggles, from the 2 little girls playing with their toy puppies in the back seat!! talk about a sweet girls day out.....

august 17 is such a special day in our house....it was the grand entrance of our little princess!!! it all began on the 14th....i had my weekly check-up at 34 weeks. my doc was on vacation so i was seeing his partner who is also a friend of ours. knowing this doctor like i do, i mentioned to hubby that i expected him to admit me to the hospital for high blood pressure. i had been experiencing this before pregnancy and had made it to 34 weeks before it started to climb. you know when you have those feelings...well i just knew. hubby dismissed it and said i'll see you at lunch!! mapboy heads off to grandma's and i head to the doctor...it took all of about 10 minutes before i know my feelings were right. a wheelchair was brought in along with a phone to call hubby to meet me over at the hospital. i headed over a little panicked but not too bad. i was checked in and hooked up to all sorts of monitors. hubby arrives and the doctor explains that he is going to order a 30 mi