Hart Of The Matter

The Help

2012-02-17T10:19:00.000-06:00

We had a free movie rental from redbox on Valentine's day and had a hard time finding anything worth while to rent. ie There were no Barbie movies the girls hadn't seen. That meant trying to find an adult show. I'm not much into movies, but had heard The Help was good, although I wanted to read it first. And let me just say, of course it was good, it was a fully written, totally developed book first! I really cannot stop thinking about it. How that kind of injustice and pure meanness was so accepted. AND that it really wasn't that long ago. Really, my house looks just like those in the movie. It could have been in MY house! Which means to me, that these ideas are still prevelant. They surely get passed down. I'm just saying I don't want to be that kind of woman and I want to love people. People like me and people different than me. And I want to be brave enough to call out that ugliness, if I see it. So, Ladies, we are also shaping our children's hearts, lets make sure they are loving ones!

BTW: I don't any of my readers who aren't loving...probably more than me! So maybe this can be just a suggestion to read or watch The Help :)

Girls

2011-09-28T19:36:00.000-05:00

Today I just want to remember how much I LOVE my three girlies. Getting to stay at home with them all day is so fun! If you haven't heard, we are homeschooling this year. That is another post I will get to later.
I love Naomi because she is such a soft, romantic spirit! She loves to lay under her pear tree and dream while gazing at the clouds. Music speaks to her so much. Composing and singing is one of her favorite things to do. Actually it just happens. She doesn't really have to DO it. How great!
Stella is about to turn five. She is really growing up out of toddler stage all of a sudden. I love lots about her. She always throws out a good quote or two. Words have always been her gifting. One of my favorite things she says that I know she will figure out soon is the prayer God is good, God is great, she always prays "God is good. God is good..." Which He is! Soon she will realize and not double the good and it will be a little sad for me. Starting soccer this fall has shown her competitiveness. She goes for that ball with an iron will. And she scores! It is serious on the field, but all smiles and laughs when we get home and she talks about it.
Ava is... well, the baby. The only two names she will allow you to call her are monkey and princess. We do not call our girls princess here at our house! But she sure wants you to. I like monkey because she lives on bananas and climbs everything, quietly. She will play with barbies and ponies and dollies all by herself for an hour. Loves dress up. For her and her babies. That girl can put barbie clothes on that the older two cannot get on the dolls! Her smile is heart melting when she bats her big blue eyes up at you.
Just needed to put their youthful cuteness out there before they grow up a single minute more!

2011-09-27T11:35:00.000-05:00

I've been really tired lately, which leads to reading more blogs. Sometimes it is just so peaceful to sit with the windows open, a beverage (I like coffee or water in a par tic ular glass) and sit and read some blogs that I follow. These blogs lead me into a life that is otherwise foreign to me. They also inspire me that I can do stuff that is outside of my normal flow of life. I love seeing life in another country or state. How it is the same as my life and how it is different. These two blogs don't have much in common, but I think they both speak to the creative side of me.
Down to Earth is a blog written by Rhonda who lives simply in Australia. Boy, the weather always looks nice there. And all her reused items always look so clean and neat. Which is my problem with reused stuff. It doesn't look clean and neat at my house.
Sandra writes Sawdust and Paper Scraps from Chicago, maybe. She recently moved and as I said, I don't regularly follow. Anywho, when she moves she redoes her house. Not hire it redone. She does it. I would love to be able to do that much wood work. It really seems like an expensive and time consuming hobby to start right now, so I will just live through her blog.
You can visit these blogs or read the ones that make you feel relaxed and creative. Wishing you some peace today!

Tuesday

2011-09-07T15:24:00.000-05:00

Grandma Julane wanted to spend some time spoiling ALL her grandkids so off to Hutchinson we went!

Picnic at the park.

Elena & Bryce

Hey Grandma!

Headed for the zoo.

Gobble, gobble!

Gobble, gobble, gobble!

This dinosaur is great!

"This my puppy!"

Oh, my word! There is dinosaur bones in here!!!

Everyone held the fuzzy caterpillar.

She fell and hurt her nose :(

Ice cream made everything good.

Mmmmm! He was quite a mess!

Yum!

These are great! We are still hungry!

Mom and Aunt Pud. I had some too, but had the camera, so I didn't have to have my picture taken :)

Stella was cold and needed to snuggle.

Rock, paper, scissors

These two joined Nate & I outside, while the others chilled playing wii all evening.

They are holding hands. So sweet!

Monday

2011-09-07T14:38:00.000-05:00

Monday was a full day! Being a holiday we had all sorts of fun activities to do....here we go. We had our Monday morning donut run, of course. Then...

At the AWESOME playroom at Grandma and Grandpa Harts house!

Zane would hardly leave this room! Look at the toys stacked to the ceiling!

The older cousins played doge ball in the yard, while we picnicked.

Running around and around...tired yet?

Plenty of water and headed to the river.

Testing the water.

Hunting for fish.

Whoa!

Think we got something!

The catch of the day.

This is one of Grandpa Jim's favorite activities.

Good thing for Nate and Jerrod to watch the kids in the water :)

Next up ice cream party at a friends house. Their bowls were empty fast!

Kai's bowl still had some in it:)

Cutie with all the cicada shells.

Sweet girls getting sweeter!

Hmmmm? Do I know you?

Sweetest little man!

Got enough? That was some good ice cream!

David likes it too!


Cute!		It was so fun with the lights, swings, and frisbees in the backyard. Thanks Alisha & Will!

A Day or Two at a Time

2011-09-07T13:42:00.003-05:00

Since our days have been soooo full with our six kiddos this week, I think the best way to log our happenings are through pics. So far I have remembered our camera on all occasions! Saturday and Sunday were full of outside play.

Zane on his horsey.

Everyone helped Uncle Nate load and dump tree branches. By help, I mean sit in the truck and giggle.

These munchkins are nearly inseparable.

Lots of bike riding. It is easy to ride in the dead grass!

Jumping and dodge ball in the trampoline.

Burying themselves at the park on Sunday.

Underdogs all around!

Add caption

I always love the pictures in this yellow tube :)

Our friends came to the park too. She is Stella's best friend.

Kids, kids, kids!

2011-09-03T10:40:00.000-05:00

Two girls trying to sleep in a tiny air bed. It is Dora! Didn't work out!

The ADVENTURE has begun again! We are getting to have the Eastwood kiddos, Elena, Kai, & Zane stay with us for a week. That means a six kid household. Ages: 8, 7, 6, 4.9, 2.5, 2.5.
The first day we drove back from picking them up at Emporia and I was bushed. They watched some of a movie while I chilled waiting for my dear hubby to get home and help me decide what to do. He's great at that. We cooked out then headed to the spray park in Valley. Little Zane loved the spray park! He ran around for almost an hour pretending to be an airplane in the water and trying to shoot

Two more girls getting comfy. Elena reading aloud to all :)

me with the water gun. The other kids left the water to play on the play ground zip line and slides.
Bedtime was adventurous. Really the problem is my baby, Ava. She is not much for sleeping lately and is two and a half. That can mean very opinionated about, well everything. Of course she fits right in here! She finally fell asleep on our bed around ten. We moved her to the girls room and she slept hard till seven.

The next day we got most of the morning stuff done in record time! They all worked hard and had school done in less than an hour! Except for the part that I had to lead. We did that in

Lost the ball over the fence!

the afternoon. Naomi and Stella each got a chore partner, which was good for them and me. 2X the work done!! We made it to the grocery store pretty smoothly. Only one person exclaimed "Are those all YOUR kids?" We got lots of stares. I think people were wondering what I was doing with six kids at the store on a school day at lunch time. That is one, okay three, of the new joys of home schooling. (strange stares, comments and going to the store at lunch:)) Went to the park to eat our lunchables next! Why did I buy those things? Just should of bought a box of cookies and saved eight dollars! Oh well, the kids liked them. Or at least the cookies in them!

These two playing Rupunzel.

The park didn't last long, because someone had to go to the bathroom. Then they all did. I wasn't taking six kids to my friends house to potty, so we headed home.
More cleaning, school time, nap time, alone time, short video, make cookies, order pizza, play outside, bed time! That is the quick version. I'm headed outside to play now!

Oh, by the way, my sister is lounging in Europe with her hubby! Have a great time you two!

Hamming it up together! Eating, which is what they do most the time!

Smushing chicks and rabbits

2011-07-20T15:30:00.003-05:00

Our annual trek to Sedgwick County Fair was a hit. The girls LOVE to go to the little petting zoo there. Those poor animals! Ava thought those pesky goats were great! The parade and all the candy from it was super exciting too. Tractors and horses were the main attractions. Seeing Grandma Patty and Grandpa Jim is always a hit in their book too. (Side note: Ava has named an old green puppet grandpa this week. I think cause it is fuzzy, like Grandpa Jim, ha!)

These other shots are of my garden. It was growing green and well until the heat. Now looks a little sadder, but have had a few harvests. My favorite being the Zinnias! I have seriously got to work on my soil this fall. Then next year will be better still.
BTW: I cannot figure out how to line up pictures good. I haven't blogged in so long I thought it was hopefully better than nothing :)

Happy summer fun to you all!!!!!!

Mondays with Dorie

2011-05-10T10:46:00.004-05:00

By the title you might think we watch Dora the Explorer on Mondays, but that is not the case here. It is French Mondays with Dorie Greenspan. Nate, had said he wanted to learn to cook, so for his birthday I got him Around My French Table. His hobbies are all coming from that area of the world right now which made the book and food fit right in.
Now when he said learn to cook, I thought he meant, ya know, make new recipes from a cookbook. I now realize he meant he didn't know how to cook. I'm talking could not separate an egg white from yoke or put the mixer together! After three dishes these skills have been mastered. It has been a good journey so far. We have had sugar-crusted french toast - way sweet, serve as dessert only, bistrot paul bert pepper steak with les frites - yum o, but smoked the entire house up and needed more fries, last night we had tourteau de chevre for dessert - it is a goats cheese cake, yummy, yummy, yummy! Feels like a party every Monday night here, so you might want to drop by for a bite!

Spring!

2011-04-27T14:28:00.004-05:00

Spring is here and I am so glad! I love watching our plants grow. I've learned about an encyclopedia sized amount about gardening in the last year. We ripped all the front bushes out and planted our own itty bitty plants and started a vegetable garden last year around this time. They grew some last year, but are really looking much bigger and happier this year. But what got me to sit down and post is the deal I landed today! I really scored because I am always yearning for one of those wedding veil spirea bushes that are in all the old neighborhoods. (I actually want a whole line of them) They bloom beautiful small white flowers that flow down and blow in the wind. Aah! I just love the site of them at this time of year. I think their payoff of beautifulness out weighs their ugliness in the winter. I couldn't seem to find them for sale at our local nursery, plus I couldn't afford a plant from them the size I want anyway. But yesterday I drove by a construction site that had just ripped down a building or two and right in the middle and around the edge were those bushes. Soooo today I went by and found some construction guys sitting in their truck. My heart a little pounding, cause I usually don't do things like this, but I wanted those bushes seriously! I tapped their window and nearly scared them to death. They were pretty nice and said come back after lunch and they would have them laid aside for me. So I went back with my minivan and two kids in my flip flops. Duh! Wear tennis shoes for dragging heavy plants into van in front of men and driver byers. I forgot. I felt like a crazy woman. One of the guys came to help me. Good thing too cause I was feeling weak and it was super heavy. It filled the whole van! Stella thought it was great having it all shoved up in her face. I think the construction guy was happy just for a change in the monotony of construction life. He liked the girls hair and eyes. And we made them warm peanut butter cookies, which lit up his face. I like that kind of a bargain. Now to decide where to put it and pray it lives. Last year

Backyard, this year. Soon to be blooming with peonies then flooded with roses!

This years Helleborn dark purple flowers. Bloomed in the snow :)

This year. Plants coming back bigger and stronger.

Last year on the side of the house.

This year on the side of the house. Slowly transforming to a great garden, I hope.

Tulips in the back beside the rosemary that made it through the winter.

Van stuffed with score of the day!

More stuffed van. See Stella peeking from behind?

Been waiting for a bleeding heart to bloom for years! Always squashing or thinking it a weed and pulling before it blooms. These three little flowers make my year of gardening :)

Cherished

2011-04-14T14:57:00.003-05:00

Recently a dear friend of mine moved away. Which is sad, but the upside: She moved to Phoenix! Yes, a place I have always wanted to vacation to. I am plotting when to actually go and if I should bring the rest of the family. Here is our last play date. Stella and Mary painting nails. They are too sweet, working together, for the good of beauty. At their age they are usually vying to be in charge, but hopefully they can still grow to be good friends. Just long distance.
Here is Sarah Jeanne and her sweet, rambunctious baby boy. He doesn't ever stop! Maybe the heat will slow him down a little?
This is a shot of Stella that I thought was beau ti ful! She is in one of the many dress up clothes she has. Eating pancakes. For supper. We work like that here at our house.
Another shot of a beau ti ful daughter. This is daddy daughter date at flower girls. They had a great time. I know Naomi feels cherished by her daddy. Which is just the way he wants it!

Do you like the valentine decor the girls hung on the walls? Lots of orange, blue, and black hearts were posted all over!

Grace and Compassion in life

2011-04-14T14:27:00.004-05:00

Ya know, friends, when my life feels heavy and I cannot figure things out, ie make a solid plan for what I will be doing in the next 24 hours to 3 weeks, I don't blog much. Nor do I read blogs, which I love to do! As you might infer from my last post being over a month ago, I am at that place. I just cannot get the words out. Here is my attempt to get it out there for whomever, but mostly for me. I think it will help.

Now it sounds like a bad place to be, but it really isn't. For I know God has been growing and stretching me. While I won't go into it all, I find He is teaching me in grace and compassion. These are good attributes to posses, I know, but I bristle at compassion. For me it sounds like lots of FEELINGS, which means CRYING, probably WITH people. Why is it that I move far away from that when I know the connection and realness it brings? And isn't that what I desire?

Yes.

Am I the only one who does this? I'm sure not. I know my dear friends will give me grace as I grow. And I am glad to do the same for you.

Naomi is 7

2011-03-07T12:27:00.003-06:00

My oldest girl turned seven yesterday. I have noticed recently that it is the beginning of real conversations between us. It is refreshing! I am looking forward to fostering a different kind of mother daughter relationship between us. She is a super sweet girl. Her favorite activities are reading, writing and singing songs, and crafting. She wanted empty boxes for her birthday to make stuff! In her reading she likes a little suspense right now. Magic Tree House books are her favorite.
She had friends from school and church over yesterday for a dress your stuffy and paint nails and do hair party. All the girls loved dressing their favorite stuffed animal! No one wanted their hair brushed, ha! We curled it instead. Everyone got their nails painted freshly and had some ice cream cake and punch (with no HFCS, but that is another story) too.

Pillow Cases Anyone?

2011-03-03T12:16:00.005-06:00

I recently just put into words my affinity or ...maybe... I can call it my HOBBY of collecting linens. When I think about it, it totally makes sense. What makes me feel calm and at peace? A freshly made bed or beautifully set table with divine feeling fabrics. Like cool crisp sheets...ooo that makes me want to crawl into bed now! Cleaning out my linen pantry last week I found I own over 40 pillowcases. There was no need to get rid of any of them, even the ripped in half one is so pretty that I am sure I can use its embroidered design for some project, ha! Got a Garnet Hill catalog in the mail and was ready to pitch it when I spotted these great horse sheets. I SO want to get them for Naomi. (also loving their Hydrangea, Dogwood, Rose Garden and Green Tea Scroll sheets for myself!) They are fun horses with girl colors. That is why I like them so much. We will see if I can find the funds for them somewhere:) She wants a horse and guitar room make over, but I really want it to stay pretty little girl like with flowers. That isn't going to happen so I am slowly converting my bedroom with all her old decorations. Sorry Nate, it is going to get girlier in our room! Here is a shot of all my mostly vintage pillow cases. If you are ever at an estate sale and linens are cheap pick me up a few beauties! This is just my stash of pillow cases and does not include my table linens, eek! Maybe another time.

Is it over yet?

2011-02-05T13:29:00.005-06:00

Whoa! It has been quite a week! I say that because I have finally came back alive from near death, I'm sure of it, from the come and go stomach flu. For some reason it hit me the hardest, but everyone except Stella has had their turn here. Mine was come and go. Sick Saturday night, recovering Sunday, good Monday, then Tuesday afternoon went down hard. It was awful, like I couldn't even watch TV I was in so much pain! Spent Wednesday and Thursday morning trying not to move, then was feeling great for the afternoon. I got a little too hungry and ate anything in site (ie crappy donut) and came down hard again that evening. My dear hubby rescued me yesterday and came home to take care of me and Naomi, cause she was having a hard time too.

Creeping around today, trying to get back to some laundry and sweeping the floor! Turns out something molded inside our vacuum and when I turned it on it spewed vomit smelling junk all over its insides! Gross! Nate got on that and took it apart to clean it. We will see if we get a new one or it goes back together. (I think I am hoping for a new one, except I am so cheap I don't want to pay for one)

In the midst of this our neighbor, who moved, so she isn't our neighbor anymore really, called and asked us to check her house that hasn't sold yet. That sounded fun to me, so I got dressed to go. Nate said I looked like I might blow away in the wind! While unlocking her door, I thought I heard water, but no, it couldn't be. OH YES, it was!!! Water pouring from the ceiling through the vent below! Almost all carpets soaked. We had to call the city to find her water shut off under all the snow. Then I called her. Not good for her. On the bright side, maybe the cleanup will help the house sell! Lessons learned: Always have your heat on in freezing weather and don't put off calling your neighbor.

Well, the girls were great during the snow days with a mommy hardly worth anything. Here is some shots of their fun play.

Ava's 2!

2011-02-02T15:51:00.005-06:00

My last baby turned two! She sure is growing up fast. Nate and I still have a hard time believing she couldn't even walk seven months ago. I guess she just takes her own sweet time. She is a spunky little girl now. Moving right into the sweetness and will power of the year of two. Her personality is very girly...playing with hair accessories daily, cuddling any baby, stuffed animal, or food - not just animal shaped, likes to see her hair and outfit in the mirror every morning, loves, loves, loves shoes, and dress up is a delight of her day! Right now she is playing in her bed. Should have been napping two hours ago, but my girls just don't like naps. Oh well, could be worse. She loves spontaneous hugging. Which is just so great! Sometimes it comes with a big sloppy kiss too! Oh, and loves shopping, as Grandma Julane discovered.

To celebrate with Ava we spread it out. We went to family movie night at a local church that used to be a theater. Grandma Patty and Grandpa Jim got to come with us for that. As an extra bonus some of our friends were there too! Ava went on her first birthday shopping trip with Grandma Julane and had a really good time picking out kitty sheets and eating spaghetti. Grandpa Bob and Grandma Charolette sent a great surprise for her. A giant indoor/outdoor tent that we can all fit in. All the girls are loving that!

Merry Christmas Friends!

2010-12-24T18:12:00.004-06:00

Merry Christmas Friends! Our Christmas has been full of fun Christmas activities. We hope yours has too! One of our favorite movies to watch this time of year is The Nativity. I love how it makes Christ coming to Earth so real for me and my girls. What a blessed gift God gave!
We have been busily baking for our friends and families. The girls always love to help bake and measure ingredients. Hopefully they are on their way to being great bakers!
We visited Santa at the Wichita Eagle open house. This was our second year going to this. The tour of the newspaper plant is really cool.
I decided to undertake the task of a gingerbread house not from a kit. Now I am glad to say I have done one and have some experience to build on for future years. My dear sister sent me a pattern. Whoa!
It was the biggest house ever! She didn't remember sending me a huge house pattern, but she did. So, I made only one third of it. Here is a picture of the house pattern she sent me. Totally made me laugh that she thought I should do that huge one for my first house! The girls had a blast making it. We had saved almost all our halloween candy to put on the house. That was great! Had a ton of candy to put on it, even threw some away afterward. Some of the highlights in the decor are: Naomi's ducks, Stella's soft couch on the front lawn (who doesn't need that!), light posts that taste like root beer according to Stella, the gingerbread girl, a few mailboxes, and last but not least people faces in the windows.
Our Christmas tree this year has stayed decorated all month. Ava likes to keep things were they belong, unlike when we had baby Stella, who thought all ornaments belonged in her bed! Together we all made a pipe cleaner candy cane garland for the tree. The crafty children decorated kind of tree is really growing on me! May your Christmas and New Year be blessed by the King!

Life update

2010-11-23T18:23:00.010-06:00

Well I haven't blogged in a while, so I thought I would just update what is happening in our lives through pictures and a few sentences to go with them!

First up! I guess I never posted Halloween pics. Probably because this is the best one of all the girls. No one wanted a picture. Ha, isn't that just how kids are! This is my cowgirl, cat, and ladybug at our friend's Halloween birthday party. We had a great time trick-o-treating with old and new friends!

Ok. Here is one of me for all you long distance people :) I am about twenty pounds lighter and feeling like a new woman! This is thanks to my new lifestyle or diet whatever you want to call it. I think I might call it eating only a few foods God made and a NO man made foods. That sounds simple, huh? It has been a huge change! Mainly because I LOVE FOOD! But alas, my body does not love it. I think I am allergic to about every other thing, which in turn makes my body ache from inflammation from the ribs down. So, I will learn to make life about more important things or people! than food.

Here is my little baby Ava, looking not so little. Her hair is in a ponytail! I may need to freeze her in time:)

This is the first snow of the season! It was wet and I couldn't catch the flurries on the camera. But Stel in her flip flops trying to catch a flake is priceless!!

We were so glad to get to start our holiday fun times while it was still sixty degrees! Riding on the carriages at Bradly Fair is always one of our favorite events. The girls love the horses. Then we went to my current favorite store Barnes and Noble. EEEEHHH:))

Ava enjoying her milk. With her foot up. "My milk" are a few of the words she can sign AND say. It is a hoot to hear. She concentrates so hard, to make sure I know what she is saying.

Here is only half the dolls we own having a party. Curtesy of Stella. Ava soon came over and emptied all their cups for them. On the floor, of course!

The rest of summer vacation

2010-10-31T15:39:00.002-05:00

Here are a few more pictures of our days at the beach this summer. The sun came out a little and we played on the close to empty beaches as much as we could!

The girls thought that they were "surfing" when the first surf came in and covered their feet. It was so sweet.

We spent tons of time collecting shells...

...and building castles.

Ava liked the soft sand. Look you can see her chubby ankles..awww! The seaweed was all over because of the hurricane.

This was the last photo our camera took before it succumbed to the humidity and sand:( We were running around looking for bathrooms and had to see the shark!

Stella's Birthday

2010-10-31T14:49:00.005-05:00

This is Stella decorating her cake the night before her party. Look close. Sorry, to those who ate the cake :) The girls had the best time making the MOST AWESOME cake with a jellybean rainbow and marshmallow clouds!

It was so fun to have a house full of little girls! We played pin the tiara on the pony and had rainbow cake and sherbet. Stella and Naomi made flower magic wands to give to all the guests. Stella loves to say "poof" and make you change into something different.

Happy Birthday Beauty!

MMMMMM!!! Lots of frosting and jellybeans!

Here is the cake. Six layers. It was fun to make.

The Eastwood's came down after the party to celebrate too!

Pear Picking

2010-10-31T14:30:00.002-05:00

We got a HUGE load of pears off our tree this year! We finally figured out how to ripen them so we can eat them too! The girls had a great time picking and eating them. We planted the tree the first year we lived here, when Naomi was a baby. She loves having "her" tree. Maybe we will get two more fruit trees for our other girls soon :)

Henna in my hair

2010-10-08T15:20:00.003-05:00

Its been a long time it seems since I played with my hair color. But that is what sisters are for, right? Resa did the research into dying hair with henna and I told her I would be in too. I wasn't sure after she did hers first and was telling me how bright it was and everyone asking her about it. When I saw it though, I liked it a lot. Of course, I checked with Nate first. He said "It is only hair."

Here it is before.

Henna is ground up leaves with lemon juice and cranberry tea spread like a mud into your hair. It stinks! I had to leave this on for two hours. My head was killing me from the weight of the enormous amount of mud it took to cover my hair.

Here is it after five days. It should stay this color. Takes about this long to fully develop. I like it. But I only look at it for about five minutes a day, so hopefully YOU like it :)

SAHM world

2010-09-18T13:19:00.003-05:00

I am right in the middle of the SAHM world. Which is were I want to be, but I don't know how to make it all gel.
Do you all? What are your best kept SAHM secrets?

Spending time with my wonderful friends has taught me a ton. I love spending time with them in their homes. Sometimes, I wish we lived in a community where we are in and out of each others houses on a daily bases. Ya, know what I mean? Screen doors banging shut with kids AND their parents. Making super together and it not being a huge deal. So does anyone want to move across the street?

Here are some things I have learned from being in my friends homes.

Cocoa in your coffee taste GOOD and doesn't have partially hydrogenated what not in it :)
Veggie burgers are good!
Kids still love their rooms when there isn't a ton of stuff in them!
Add a little fiber, it could help you loose weight. Love that!
How to clean a room: take everything out of it to vacuum, then put it back. Makes a huge difference. Imagine that!
Kids love to play games with adults. Always a good reminder!
Don't forget to honor your husband, even while he is at work.
Different options for meal planing! Still can't figure this out, but here is a good place to start Meal Planning Simplified.
Birthday parties are fun, no matter how elaborate or simple!
Admire your children.
Watch your kids play outside. They have great drive and imagination!
You can hang your measuring cups on the inside of your cabinet doors.
Use your label maker to label all kinds of things in your house...to help kids learn the words. (I haven't got to that, mine are just for instructions. Like don't throw the clothes on the floor after being in the dryer:))
Making meals to freeze is good.
Make your house a HOME for ALL who live in it...not a model home.
Teach your child all you know! Don't leave it to the school.
Canning food isn't rocket science.

Police and the Mail Man

2010-09-08T12:51:00.004-05:00

Sitting here enjoying Max and Ruby with the two girls. Ava is snuggled with baby "Annie" (baby alive) in her comfy, reclining blue chair with her favorite blankie tucked around her. Wait, she got up to give me a booger she just picked! (Guess she hasn't learned you can eat those yet:))
Stella is snuggled on the couch with the coveted soft fake fur blanket. It cannot be washed. It is for decoration purposes only. Yeah, right. Not in this house! I frequently have to take it out of beds that it has been snuck into.

Oh, yes, police and mail men...

We just chatted with the mail man outside and he reminded me about this. Lovely!
A week or two ago Stella, Ava and I stopped at a garage sale down the street. Turns out WAY down the street. After we shopped, Stella thought she should put on her jogging shoes and jog home, which I thought was a good idea. She can do that. We just live down the street. So, it was too late when I realized that I would look mighty suspicious following her in my car. She was set on jogging. OK. There are never police on this road. About, 45 seconds into the jog, police.
Lights on.
Parked behind me.
Ask me questions.
Takes my ID.
Parks in front of me.(So I cannot get away)
Stops to talk to Stella.
Then, the mail man saw Stella. Well, he knows her, because she talks to him all the time. He got out and was checking on her and talking to the police. Then he saw me and waved. I am grateful he was watching out for her. But it was causing quite a seen!
The police let me go and Stella finished jogging home. Me following along beside her at about 5 mph. Cautioning her when she had to cross the street and to watch out for the BACKHOE in one yard and getting some funny looks from neighbors. She had to learn sometime, so I think it was a good learning experience for lots of things! Probably a little more than I anticipated.
Of, course, I immediately called my bff to make sure I wasn't crazy for doing that. She said I wasn't. What do you think???

Back to School allready?

2010-08-16T14:44:00.003-05:00

We visited our favorite donut store this morning before the first day of school. Which is a weekly tradition:) Naomi is officially a first grader! Doesn't she look like it in her floral dress and matching head band with her new running shoes. I think I remember pictures of my sister and I in similar outfits for first day of school, ha! Stel wanted the dress too and they had her size...so there the beautiful matching girls are. So glad Nate stayed home to go with us.

This is Naomi's super best friend that she had missed terribly all summer! She couldn't stop holding her hand and smiling. What a sweet heart!

Texas Vacation 2010 Tres

2010-06-30T20:10:00.007-05:00

Here we come Corpus Christi! We know hurricane Alex is causing some rain, but how bad can that be? Plus, we have hotel reservations and some girls with hearts set on going to the beach.

Making funny sounds on the ride down.

Sleeping and singing.

Our first views of Corpus. Tropical storms. Are they any different than Kansas thunderstorms?

Yes.

The wind does not stop. It blows sand and sea water in your face. Plus, one of your children might blow away if they let go of you.

We are having a lot of fun!

We got the "hurricane" upgrade on our hotel room.

The sand is still super soft in our toes.

We all want to stay longer.

But. The wind.

Then the waves get too close and I say it is time to head out.

Shopping is calmer.

Then for pizza.

Simple and the craziest vacation yet!

Now I am chilling in my room. Girls asleep. Praying there will be less wind and rain tomorrow.

Texas Vacation 2010 Dos

2010-06-30T18:36:00.003-05:00

Our second day in San Antonio we visited the neighborhood pool. Ahhhh! I think I was close to heaven. It had a shaded baby pool and a big salt water pool. We spent most of our time in the big pool teaching the older girls all the pool games we could remember or make up.

Working on my tan was a bonus I was looking forward to on this trip. Freckles, not so much, but they come with a tan, as you can see.

Here is my sweet man before he takes Ava back to the house to nap, while we girls play longer. Notice the shade and the shade clouds.

This is the only picture of the older girls at the pool. The clouds don't even look real.

B-u-ti-ful.

Ava after a nap sitting, or standing at the big table. We went to see Toy Story 3 later in the day, after Nate and I got a lunch date!

After getting that time at the neighborhood pool, I am thinking about moving. Or taking my friends who have neighborhood pools up on their offers to come and swim. It was sooo relaxing. I could really spend all my time at the pool.

Texas Vacation 2010 part Uno

2010-06-30T14:20:00.004-05:00

Went to a great park on day one. This is the two girl teeter totter.

Ava is walking! Everywhere. Yeah Ava!

The girls learning to cross the monkey bars.

Here we are on the little train. It is great how exciting the simple things can be. We like simple.

Our dear host made strawberry shortcake with the girls. They helped her bake the shortcake and cut the strawberries. And squirt the ready whip. Just before bed mmmmm :)

We Are Famous

2010-06-23T08:16:00.002-05:00

Hey All

Read this post from Whatever. Emily and I are those girls on the track. It was super funny to be all excited about seeing someone I don't really know. If you know me much, you would know that I don't know any actors, or movies, or famous books...but I knew Meg! Even knew her name! Whoa, not sure what is happening to me. We were all giggly and gushy inside to actually SEE her. Glad we made her day :)

Hope your day is Grand! I will be trying to figure out couponing, ugh. I really have a hard time wrapping my brain around it. Maybe I will clean instead.

That sounds funner.

Probably neither. Not much free time since my hubby is out riding the hills of Colorado.

Shopping with three

2010-06-21T13:37:00.002-05:00

Whoa...went to Kohls after working out this morning. Just needed some shorts for me and some candles. Should have been easy. I like to think we are pretty quiet, as a whole, as a family. We did not seem quiet in the noiseless department store! Why don't I see other moms in there with three young kids? I can answer my own question.

I kept from getting exasperated or mad. It was lunch time. We left with new candles to make our house smell nice, hopefully, and a pair of shorts for me...that I might return. It is a skirt with shorts under it. Seems like over kill for a thirty two year old. I just want something cool and adding a layer, in case I do some somersaults, I guess, is just adding to the heat.

My search for a new purse is over! It has three layers inside, is the right lemon color, and was $4.20! I knew I didn't need an $80 one to get what I was looking for, just patience. Thank you Jesus for good surprises.

We also left one of Stella's flip flops behind. It is not in any of the racks she was hiding in. Not in lost and found. Not on her foot. It was an accident that it slipped off.

We will stay home the rest of the day.

Piano Lessons and Other Fun Times!

2010-06-17T13:52:00.002-05:00

Naomi takes piano lessons every week this summer. She loves them! Really, who wouldn't with her awesome, sweet teacher Amanda.

Stella getting to play a few keys at the end.

They have toys for Ava and Stella to play with while we wait. And Amanda always passes out stickers to all!

Here is Super Band Air Woman!

The girls created her one evening.

The box was gone...that's ok.

Dressing as princess' instead of getting in bed. Making sister memories :)

The Mysterious IT

2010-06-17T08:38:00.004-05:00

Today is a "I feel weird" kind of day. Do you ever get those? Where you just don't feel quite right. My legs are hurting and it feels like it might be doing the same thing to my left hand. IT is some mysterious chronic problem that is really hard to explain. I know I haven't blogged about IT before. I keep telling myself IT will go away...but it isn't. Since IT is a big part of my life, I am deciding to take the plunge and write about IT. Medication that I have been trying for two months now isn't taking IT away :( Frustrating! Well, all that and I am thinking that this is the day that the Lord has made and I will rejoice in it. Yes, I will. Whatever it may bring. Maybe more blogging. That always brings joy to my heart :) Thanks for listening blog friends!

How does my garden grow

2010-06-05T14:24:00.004-05:00

Gardening is slow.

For sure a lesson in DELAYED GRATIFICATION! I hope the gratification comes. It is. Slowly. My flowers are blooming. Although small, next year will be better. And then the year after and after.... Constantly picking trees from the front. Hopefully we will be getting rid of the Maple tree this fall :)

These flowers are from a garden planted several years ago. why is this hyperlinking?????

The vegetable garden is stretching me.

I don't know what I am doing! My only experience is in reading books. All college graduates can tell you, that, is not really experience! So, I am just hoping something grows and we can eat it.

It also looks ugly. Even after I have put a lot of work into it. That is not really how I like it. I like little work and looking fabulous :) So this is really beating out some of my perfectionism. It is good. Here are some pics - also to show the imperfection :) I am not perfect. That feels good to tell myself that.

Starting of the elephant ear.

Naomi is proud of it!

Stel took a shot of me :)

FOUNTAINS

2010-06-05T14:01:00.002-05:00

We took the girls to the fountains. I spy all three. Do you?

Ava took five steps. The most she has yet!

She rode in our friends car. It is great to run into friends :)

Here is their little boy. His sister came two days later :)

SPRAY!!!

It was having some drainage problems...kinda gross...but you just get over it.

Summer happenings

2010-06-04T16:17:00.003-05:00

This summer I have ready several learning and fun activities I want to do with the girls. I am wanting to be intentional with our time at home. Not just sit them in front of videos after hours of trying to ignore them. Unfortunately, I know I have done that :( Not this summer! Here are a list of the things I have ready.

Watch, weed, water, eat of the vegetable garden - working on together :)
Go to the zoo, regularly - started
Swim - big pool twice all ready & bought slip and slide
Study about God - going through devotions with them
Teach Stella to write her name - working on it
Teach Naomi cursive writing - started
Work on telling time
Go through how to draw animals/cars books with them
Read aloud Laura Ingalls Wilder book set - on book two "Farmer Boy"
Read "The Lion, Witch and Wardrobe"
Play board games and other learning games - One Candy Land and Fishing game done :)
Find a favorite Bible verse for our family
Make stepping stones - gathering supplies
Paint canvases - 1/2 done
Some math if Naomi's up for it
Help Ava learn to walk
Encourage Ava in talking
Read to Ava daily - in process
Have Naomi read aloud

Food makeover

2010-05-23T20:36:00.004-05:00

Shrimp Lo Mein

This was tonights food makeover winner! The girls loved the shrimp and no complaints about being hungry at bedtime tonight. I got it from BHG.com. We edited a few ingredients. Basically because we couldn't find them at the store or I was tired of chopping :) Neither Nate or I had ever bought a whole head of cabbage...interesting. We have determined that WE NEED A WOK!

ingredients

1 pound fresh or frozen peeled and deveined medium shrimp
1/3 cup water
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon cooking oil
2 stalks celery, thinly bias-sliced (1 cup)
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
2 cups shredded cabbage
2 cups fresh pea pods, strings removed, or one 6-ounce package frozen pea pods, thawed
1 medium carrot, shredded (1/2 cup)
4 ounces dried Chinese egg noodles or linguine, cooked and drained
2 green onions, sliced (1/4 cup)
Carrot flowers (optional)

directions

Thaw shrimp, if frozen. Cut shrimp in half lengthwise. Set aside.
For sauce, in a small bowl stir together water, soy sauce, and cornstarch. Set aside.
Pour cooking oil into a wok or 12-inch skillet. (Add more oil as necessary during cooking.) Preheat over medium-high heat. Stir-fry celery and chopped onion in hot oil for 2 minutes. Add cabbage, fresh pea pods (if using), and carrot; stir-fry for 1 to 2 minutes more or until vegetables are crisp-tender. Remove vegetables from the wok.
Add half of the shrimp to the hot wok. Stir-fry for 2 to 3 minutes or until shrimp turn opaque. Remove shrimp from the wok. Repeat with remaining shrimp. Return all shrimp to the wok. Push shrimp from the center of the wok.
Stir sauce. Add sauce to the center of the wok. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Return cooked vegetables to the wok. Add hot cooked noodles or linguine, green onions, and thawed frozen pea pods (if using). Toss all ingredients together to coat with sauce. Cook and stir for 1 to 2 minutes more or until heated through. Serve immediately. Garnish with carrot flowers, if desired. Makes 4 servings.
Make-Ahead Tip: Prepare vegetables; cover and chill up to 4 hours before cooking.

Worms

2010-05-08T22:36:00.004-05:00

Saturday:

I can't help but wish, on Saturdays, that time would last like it did in childhood. Remember that, when an hour seemed like five! Think of the good times we would have! Instead, it is usually filled with trying to pack all extra house chores, extra curricular activities, and extra home projects into one short day.

I tried not to feel the pressure, self inflicted, to get every to do list done today. I dragged out of bed at eight when Ava was calling. Nate dragged quicker and got her up, dressed and a cup of milk before my eyes even decrusted. Then off to the store he went. Came home with my grocery list done and three gifts purchased at Kohl's. whoa! That should have taken care of his goals for the day.

Then he, yes, he made breakfast....eggs and toast and bacon and coffee. That was nice. I think I was piddling around looking at house plans and... well, probably telling the girls to get dressed.

Got a little more laundry started before taking the girls to weekly swim lessons at eleven. Those went smooth today. Even in the locker room:)

I made a quick trip to Kohl's again before the power shopping hours were over and stopped by HD for some soaker hoses for the garden. The garden I was planting today. Was. Now Monday. I even found the tp I needed at HD! We need a lot around here.

The girls found some giant worms in the front garden.

They got their money out to buy from the ice cream truck they had heard. It never came back by. How sad for them. Nate and I finished moving our four tons of rock to usable places other than the driveway.

I had determined we would be done working by four o'clock today. Then, we were getting dinner and a family movie. By five forty we were at Papa Murphy's getting our pizza. Not bad. We rented Alvin and the Chipmunks II. Apparently, Naomi, and her friends play this on the play ground. The girls enjoyed it. Even Ava was dancing and eating a huge piece of crust from one of her sisters. She tried to stuff it in the VCR first though :) When they got in bed, they were asleep in about 6 minutes! Nate and I watched a show called State of Play. It was good. One of those mystery, thinker, suspense kind. Relaxing family movie night was good.

To help me feel accomplished, earlier, I made cinnamon rolls and drum roll.....labels for my flour and sugar containers! That makes me happy!

On to more weeks. Thanks for reading this one week of our lives.

Friday in Pictures!

2010-05-07T20:23:00.005-05:00

Breakfast

More breakfast.

Ava is playing and I am making a grocery list.

We took Naomi to school, then headed to the Y. It was work out with Emily day. We worked hard, but I was laughing later because we don't stop talking until we are parting ways. Friendship is great!

Went to Target. It. Was. WINDY! Stel was not happy with me when we got home. I told her she had to wait till after lunch for the pudding she just bought. As a result, she cried her gum into her hair.

They Mayo trick. Worked like a charm.

Cut some flowers for a bouquet to brighten our house up.

Ava practicing smelling flowers.

The girls and I went outside to play with the new bubbles and sidewalk chalk. Ava was real upset that we wouldn't let her use the bubble wand. Worked an ency bit in the vegetable garden. Oh, yes, it was continued laundry day. So, I had started some before the early drive to school and I put some away before the afternoon pick up. Still some left, as always.

Ava was happy today!

Naomi gave me flowers and a personally made card for mother's day. It is so sweet to have some of her artwork just for me :) After super we all played out front.

Stella.

Naomi and Daddy.

Ava.

This picture reminds me of my pictures as a little girl.

Ginormous peony bloom.

Naomi drawing.

To end the night, Nate let us sit in the back of the pick up and watch the sun go down.

Fridays are good.

Thursday in our weeklong adventure

2010-05-06T18:19:00.006-05:00

Slept super hard last night. Got up and the back aches were gone, but the sore throat was worse. Good thing a little medicine helps that! This did solidify the decision to turn the air conditioner on. I think these ear infections Ava and I keep getting are all from allergies. After a shower everything feels better anyway.
Here are the lovely faces I wake up with every morning.

Naomi sleeping beauty of the top bunk.

Stella sleeping beauty of the bottom bunk.

Rise and smile Ava.

My older girls alarm has been going off for thirty minutes and they still look like this :) It is playing happy music and not beeping. That must be easier to sleep to?

Today was bring your teacher flowers day. It was the absolute cutest thing watching all the kids run (very carefully) in to school with flowers for their teacher! You could tell they were all excited.
This is Naomi's arrangement we made together before school from flowers out of our garden. It has some peonies, salvia (which is stinky), a red rose, and for good smell a pink rose and some lavender greenery. I must say, I liked it a lot! It is the first arrangement I have ever made from our garden. So excited that the plants have finally reached that point!

Stella, Ava and I did some more drive by garage saleing (not a real word, I know) on our way to the nursery. It was winnnndy at the nursery. We picked up some vegetables to plant. A variety of peppers, tomatoes, and squash, plus a little glow in the dark stick that we thought was cool.

Thursdays are laundry day. I brought clothes up to fold and put away...they are still there, neither folded or put away. Did wash a couple of loads too. Did do some dishes. The sink is clean! It is really either or for me when it comes to dishes and laundry. Would like to break that somehow. Any ideas?

Planted some plants my Sis had sent me from her garden with Stella.

Here she is with her dirt. Notice the "gardening" glove.

BTW my sister, Resa, is where I got the idea to blog one week of our lives. Her blog is entertaining and has a WIDE variety of topics. Resa's Pieces Just check it out.

Decided it was time to rest for me. Got Stel set up to watch some shows and Ava was still asleep. Went to my room and started reading my BSF notes, of course Stel needed more food and her video reran. Her screaming woke Ava. I got her some milk and stuck some books in her bed. Went back to my bed. Stayed there too long, but sleep alluded me.

Never really got going after that. Nate came home and took Naomi out on a date. They didn't bring me any ice cream:( Naomi reminded me that it isn't good for me:) Fixed stir fry for dinner. It was good, but it is too hot to eat, even with the air on!

All three girls played out back with Nate and I am hoping to wrap this day up and get to bed!

Wednesday

2010-05-05T14:02:00.006-05:00

Naomi Beauty at Breakfast

Around here we had rice chex or rice krispies with bananas and blueberries on it, toast with jam, milk or coffee and water for breakfast. Got Ava fed good and early this morning. Just in case she wanted to replay the last two days again. Totally restocked my emergency trunk bag before I left. I added several burp cloths to the stash and made sure each girl had a fresh, comfortable outfit in it. Made lunch and snacks for us all and grabbed some fruit for Naomi's teacher gift today on the way out the door. Stella needed the snack in the car. Apparently all that breakfast wasn't enough! We had a nice uneventful drive to school. AAAHHH!
As soon as I kissed Naomi goodbye, we headed to Bible Study Fellowship. Stella was looking forward to seeing Lily there today. It is a refreshing time to study the word and see some good friends at the same time. Two hours away from my kids would normally seem an eternity, but not there. The child care is so great and truly loving my kiddos and teaching them about scriptural truths. I am so thankful for those women and their service.
We did a couple of garage sale drive bys. They were not worth getting out :( Ava fell asleep in mid bite of her peanut butter and jelly while driving to meet Nate for lunch. Stella got her wish and we ate our lunches in the church playground area. She swung and climbed, while pointing out that Naomi would be scared, but not her! She is a daring little girl!
The second we got home, Stel was knocking on the neighbors door. No answer and she was sad. Us girls read some books. Then I rocked Ava a little. Oh, I wish I could have stayed there all day. A baby cuddled on your chest is just the best feeling ever! Stel and I read some more. She recited the nursery rhymes she knew to me. She loves to get each word down and know just what it means.
Then I planted my entire vegetable garden! Not really, just wish I did. I thought maybe I was getting sick, so stayed indoors and browsed my rose catalog (heirloomroses.com) and studied Acts 8 for small group. Then went to Sonic to cure whatever was getting me down. Got a route 44 lime aide. It didn't cure it. I don't even drink pop anymore. And this one did disappoint. But the girls were happy with the drinks I got them.

Waiting for Naomi in the car.

Could you read the orneriness in her face?

We got home from school and I was sure I was not feeling well. Back ache and sore throat, no fever though. Nate cooked eggs and bacon for supper. We all went to small group any way. That is our couples Bible study group. It was good to discuss what I had studied earlier. There were great monster cookies too. Alas, they did not cure me either, but I did try:) Hopefully not contagious. Ya know how ambiguous that can be.
Watched Nate put the girls to bed, while I ordered "Barbie Fairytopia: Magic of the Rainbow" and Boom Chicka Trio from the book order form. The first title is for Naomi. It is the end of her first year. She deserves a fluff book like that, don't ya think? I was thinking Stel could memorize the others and learn her numbers and letters.
No pictures today. Stella took 47 yesterday, ie the one with my apple in my mouth. It was the best one, really! The rest were of pictures on the computer, the ceiling, a Narnia sticker, and dirty chairs of mine. Oh, wait, I did take a pic of Ava...I will download.

Hope it is not a sick day tomorrow!

Tuesday

2010-05-04T20:48:00.008-05:00

Well, today was supposed to be my running errands/get my hair done day. But, Ava repeated her upchucking on the way to school, poor girl. We pulled over and cleaned her up. I had almost left this morning with out an extra outfit, but thankfully remembered before leaving the drive! Naomi was a bit late, but she wasn't bothered. Just glad to get out of the car, I think!

After that, I rescheduled my hair appointment and ran by the bank real fast then home we went. (well, I guess, I did drive by some homes for sale in the neighborhood, looking for a friend...i might be a bad mommy) I now only had half a cup of milk left in the whole house. Wasn't sure if Stel Bel would survive the day without it!

Ava wanted to eat! What? I gave her a few pretzels, her favorite snack, and half a banana. Hoping that wouldn't come back up, I let her play on the wood floor. She and Stella caught a little Elmo together. Then some puzzles and stuffed animals and she was ready for a nap.

I finally found my camera cord. In the TV cord drawer! It is a new place for cords, so it took me a long time to realize that it could be there. Actually, that is Nate's department and I don't think I had ever even looked in that drawer.

Stella was busy finger painting. Putting water in her finger paint. Right after I said not to. That was the end of that.

I was working on laundry here and there. Almost got a terrible stain out of one of my shirts! Remembered NOT to dry it and reapplied stain stick. Huge accomplishment for me! Was also replaying yesterday by washing the car seat again:) Ava helped. BTW she felt fine the rest of the day and ate like a horse, for her.

Stella and I went out to plant the day lilies I had dug up three weeks ago and some seeds that I found cleaning my paper stash out. If either of them live, it will be just grand. They have not received any TLC. The ground was super hard clay. No hose would reach, I decided before trying to drag one over, so I watered, a little, with a pitcher. Now that about killed me so no work on the veggie garden today.

Canceled my out and about plans and had a great time riding bikes to the park with the whole family. I did huff and puff up Memphis hill on the way home. Felt kinda weeny, because Nate had the trail-a-bike and the trailer on his. He way beat me home! Baths for the girls and Nate went to the grocery store to get milk and such while I am writing this:) Oh, poor Nate, he just came in the door and had forgot his wallet! He will be right back.

Here are a couple of pictures of my garden that get a little TLC. My Joseph's Coat rose, which is my absolute favorite. It changes color as it blooms.

And my little girl garden. We got this group of Stella, Naomi, and Ava at Easter time. Were looking for fairies, but didn't find any cute small ones...I like the girls better. Hoping to grow a garden for them. Right now there are some pansies planted around them.

Have a wonderful day!

2010-05-04T20:48:00.001-05:00

Our weekend day Monday

2010-05-04T08:18:00.003-05:00

Monday is like another Saturday to us here at the Hart household. Nate takes it off and it is such a delight to get up in the morning with him and take care of the girls. Our Monday tradition is to go to Squeak's Donut shop before dropping Naomi off at school. First we had bananas and milk and of course made coffee for Nate and I. Ava wasn't eating much so I rewarmed her milk and gave it to her in the car. Got out of the house on time and on our way to Squeak's. Poor Ava finished her milk and then upchucked it all over her and her seat. Just a little on Naomi and she was good to deal with it. That meant pulling over and thank goodness I still had an extra out fit for her in the trunk bag. Got her changed while Nate cleaned the car seat and put a diaper on the wet spot. Ava seemed fine. We all got donuts and even got one for Naomi's teacher. (it is teacher appreciation week) Dropped Naomi off at school.

We had a few minutes before taking Ava to her Dr appointment. Drove by a house that some friends have made an offer on. It is super cute! I hope they get it.

Off to the Dr.'s. Ava cried as soon as she saw the nurse. She definitely remembers her shots! I know I am going to be waiting a while when the nurse says "The Dr will be in, in a little while to see you." Turns out someone was being taken by ambulance to the hospital...so we waited for some time. Ava was good, no infection, just a little fluid on one ear that will soon drain hopefully. She is having allergies, like mine. Nose running all the time. Starts the instant she hits the door. We are trying allergy meds. I really hate giving her medicine all the time, but also don't want her to suffer with ear problems and snot ALL the time. The poor girl seems to always have something that is just not quite right.

Done at the Dr. at ten fifteen and I was to be at the YMCA at ten thirty. Was not going to meet that! At home, took the yucky car seat out, put socks and shoes on, explained where to dig up the grass to Nater and made it by ten fifty. Did one mile on some sort of machine, push ups, sit ups and stretching. How is Emily getting me to do this much exercise, I don't know!

Got home and wasn't feeling like all the yard work I had to do. Used all my energy at the Y! So, lunch was made and served, cleaned the car seat, researched new car seats and some books for summer learning with the girls at our house. Ordered some books.

The dump truck came with four tons of rocks.

Stella loved watching them get dumped. Here she is with her worms for the day.

Ava helping Daddy!

Nate started hauling them to the area he had just dug up. He was working REALLY HARD! I hope he like the results as much as I do.

As soon as Mia got home from Walmart, Stella was over there living it up until three thirty! They did come to our yard for a quick jump on the trampoline and a short swing. But Stella likes having time in a different house, so they quickly returned to Mia's.

I relaid my soaker hose. I had been resisting doing it, cause it feels like work :) And the dirt gets on me. Did some reading with Ava. Got Stella cleaned up for the All Daughters Banquet at Cheney Baptist Church while Nate went to get Naomi. Encouraged Naomi to clean up for it and stop playing in the rocks. Discussed with Nate our shortage of milk. Which seems to be a pressing issue about every other day! Decided we could last till I went to the store tomorrow. He went to get his other mode of transportation from the church, his bike. Out the door when he got home, with pjs in tow for the girls. These banquets are always two hours long.

Stella with Grandma Patty. We were glad to get to honor her at the banquet.

Naomi with her Grandma Patty. They both look stunning!

While the older girls and I had a good time talking about heaven and the best is yet to come, Nate stayed home with Ava. He said she pushed her bike back and forth on the sidewalk while he finished rock moving. Then played in the back yard while he added some vermiculite to my garden soil. He had also finished my garden gate earlier with the supplies I got at the big HD. (Home Depot) The big news of the evening was that Ava was repeating Nate's words. Moo, hi and other animal sounds were on the list! Yeah! She likes practicing with her Daddy. And Nate is feeling more connected to her after being her provider for three days while I went on a girls weekend two weeks ago.

The girls were asleep when we got home. So glad I made it safely. I am not a strong night driver! I was wondering on the way home how I was going to cope when I was a lot older. Will I be one of those ladies that won't drive at night? I hope not!

Chilled with Nate on the sofa watching Castle and The Office. It was the bat episode. Michael Scott is soooo frustratingly dumb! I am still up in the air if I like watching it or not.

Anyway, blah, blah, blah...this will be more fun with pictures...I will now go find the download cord before posting this:)

God's blessings for your day!

A Week in the everyday life of the Harts

2010-05-02T21:11:00.004-05:00

Not sure if this will interest any of you, but it may be entertaining to write! Here goes the beginning of the week.

Sunday:

Today I started the day by "waking up" to kiss my hubby good bye at maybe 5:30ish. I quickly fell back asleep while he went off to church. My second wake up was around seven. I got a quick update on the computer and was quickly lost searching random AI stuff. Stella joined me around eight. So up we got to get around and have breakfast, because her, I and Ava were starving! Naomi slept in till nine. Yeah! That girl needs more sleep.

After breakfast I encouraged them to get dressed quickly so that they could play outside in the beautiful weather before church. Naomi obliged and was ready to play. I don't usually call a tank top and knit pants church clothes, but didn't want to fight it today. Plus, she looked super comfy. Stella was still wandering around not getting dressed, just getting into trouble. It took her till about 10:30 to get it all done.

We started doing a little house blessing or chores, whatever you want to call it :) Stella got the trash duty and Naomi sent her laundry down the chute. We all love the laundry chute! I had the big cleaning job, because I was hosting BUNCO tonight. Of course, I want all to be perfect for that! Well, I would like it perfect always, so this was a good excuse to try. I really do enjoy deep cleaning.

The older girls were doing crafts and finding bugs outside till time for church. Ava wandered around by herself a little, while I cleaned. She looked at some books and played on the keyboard most of the time. I think I am remembering a getting into the toilet water somewhere in there too? Yes, yes and she ate some pink marker that I couldn't get off her hands and mouth and nose for church. I'm telling you, I scrubbed that stuff and it wasn't coming off!

Off to church we went. Got there right on time for the older girls to hurry off to super church and Ava to play in nursery. Great sermon as always and the best worship around!

Went to Jason's Deli for lunch afterwards and was happily surprised by the month of May special. 99 cent kids meals on Saturday and Sunday with the purchase of an adult meal. Woo Hoo! We couldn't have eaten cheaper at McD's. I got a great new wrap with hummus on it. Yummo.

After waiting for all to finish their ice cream we all came home. Even Nate. He helped clean by taking out the trash and bonus, washing all the trash cans. Then back to church he went.

When we got home from church the girls found a May day basket on our door. They were super excited. It had a super strange poem on it. Something about three whites, bathing and monkeys. If it is from you, fess up in the comments so we can know what that means. I loved the origami flowers in it and the girls loved the candy! Who knew you were to put candy in May day baskets? Oh well, I got my chocolate craving answered :)

Stella was glad Nate was gone because I had said when Daddy left they could see if the neighbor girl could play outside with them. So, they went over and played inside her house and had a delightful little snack there. I did a quick check to make sure that was all right and came back to setting up. Totally leaving the dishes for last. They are my unfavorite lately.

Four thirty came and I went to wrestle the girls away from the neighbors. (last week Stella was trying to trade mommies with Mia, the neighbor girl) Took them back to church for Daddy to take care of. Saw some friends that I wanted to catch up with so I chatted for a few minutes.

Drove home to finish the dishes and prepare drinks for BUNCO. Was so glad to get it done to make it peaceful and nice for BUNCO. Even made coffee, which I thought no one would drink. But they did! Cut one of my Joseph's Coat roses for the high table too. Won $20 bucks tonight for having the most wins! Yeah! Last month I got the most losses and won $3.75. Got to chat with the girls about gardening, vacations and just have some good laughs. It was great!

Finished putting the girls to bed after BUNCO. Read books with Ava. Trying to read the same books to her everyday. To see if she will learn the animals and do the signs or make their noises. She doesn't sign or talk much. As yet, she has "mooo"ed once, panted like a dog once, and tried to sign kitty. Oh, and she will "quack, quack" occasionally. She does giggle a lot at me and the animal pictures.

Stella and Naomi were hungry. Got them bananas. Turned the lights off and said no talking. Stella fell asleep and Naomi came out with bad dreams about "The Princess and the Frog"! I knew we should have not watched that movie! Next time I will follow my instinct. Needless to say, this is not the first time we have dealt with bad dreams about that show. After much whining about the camera not working for her to look at her pictures, I sent her to bed with a book to read until she falls asleep.

Nate was across the street with Neighbor Dave, as we call him around here fixing my air conditioning!!!! It is now good to freeze us out of the car. No more girls crying that there backs are sweaty when I am trying to garage sale :)

I am about ready for bed and it sounds like it is going to storm tonight. Hope my ferns and other plants make it through.

Will post pics tomorrow. I cannot find the cord for downloading. Apparently, the house isn't perfect :)

Blessings!

Food makeover

2010-04-30T12:07:00.002-05:00

I have been working on making over what our family eats for a few years now. For several reasons: health issues, wanting healthy eating kids, and to be good to our God given bodies. It has been a few years because ITS HARD! Really, to eat healthy we have had to ignore advertising and resist most of the food we have eaten (and like!) our entire lives. Granted the info on healthy eating changes daily it seems. I obsess a little over doing everything perfect or not at all so that is were Nate comes in and says "We just do the best we can with where we are." I play that over in my head every time I start to get overwhelmed with maybe not making the perfect choice.

Anywho, I say all this to let you know that I will be posting some of our successful family dinners. It will be a good journal for me, so that I can look back when I am stuck. Paper recipes just don't work for me. I would rather find it electronically:) One major encouragement for our progress was that Nate said his throat hasn't been hurting for the last week or so. Which is great cause it has hurt probably the last four years nonstop! The other encouragement was that the girls loved this dinner! I haven't dropped any lbs yet, but I am feeling better :)

I got this at a site called Healthy Eating made easy .

Veggie Stir Fry

3 bell peppers of different colors

a touch of sliced red onion

fried together in a little bit of coconut oil

add a bag of spinach

stir until wilted

add leftover chicken pieces, stir till warm

while cooking that I had some brown rice going and it all finished at the same time.

You can add salt and pepper to taste. Just don't let your 3 year old salt hers :)

Happy Day!

Front Garden coming along

2010-04-17T15:20:00.004-05:00

Here are several pictures of the progress we have made in the front of the house. We will start with something that is actually blooming. Just to make it feel happier. Not looking at so much dirt is happier to me. These are violas. They should come back next year. It would please me immensely if I didn't have to re pot these two pots in the front of my house each spring. I think this is my favorite thing I have had planted in them. Ms. Squirrel is happy too :)

On the left is a close up picture of some of the plantings. Got the best ferns from a place online called greenwoodnursery.com. They came healthy and starting to grow green in the bags. Ten for about $25 or $30. I ordered a bag of Ostrich Ferns and a bag of Christmas Ferns. Hoping the Ostrich ones grow tall and the Christmas ferns stay green until... Christmas.

Turns out I ordered so many plants that I am hoping I didn't over crowd them! Some of my Astibles are starting to grown too. I got lavender ones. Did I mention that I wanted all the plants to be purple, green, white or blue? I think other colors clash with our orange brick. Another plant I am super excited about is my white bleeding hearts. I put one on each side of the porch. My attempts at growing these before have never made it :( This time will be different!

This is our wisteria vine on the west side of our house. It is romantic, eh? We planted three more in the back. Of course they are just sticks right now, but so was this one 3 years ago. The smell and aurora of it is giving Nate vision for the whole romantic garden plantings in the front and back. And he is excited about the next three growing big. Hopefully this is the year for them.

Here is the east side of the front. My big strong man moved these boulders to make a seat for the girls right next to their swing. In a few years it should be surrounded by ever blooming hydrangea bushes. There are two planted at the corner, near the girls bedroom window. I want them to bloom blue, not pink. So I am supposed to make the soil acidic. Right now I am watering them with the coffee we don't drink. (coffee makes your body acidic too :() Saving coffee grounds and digging them into the dirt around them too.

That is all for now...it is time for a date with my hubby! Happy day!

Ava update

2010-04-16T14:41:00.004-05:00

Ava will be 15 months on Monday. This video is of her jabbers. It was a full 5 minutes, but I cut it down some :) It is so funny to us because the other girls went straight to saying words or signing, no jibber jabber. It sure is cute, but we have been working on more signs this last week. Today, she signed kitty for the first time. She also said "Mama" when we asked her to! Other than that her words are "uh oh" and "ouch." Walking is also what we are working on with her. It is hard for her to get her right foot moving, but we think she is real close to taking a step on her own. She has incredible balance and muscles. We frequently find her sneaking outside down the bigger than normal steps or quickly climbing the bunk bed ladder to play on Naomi's bed.

The three together before Easter service. Even in the hats and only one with no shoes!

Ava contemplating what this thing is and why she keeps picking it up and putting it in her basket.

Nate never misses a chance to ride bikes with all the girls. Naomi got a new (to her) one so the other girls did too :)

Just having a snack and playing peek a boo. I love the little smile she has.

Pray for your Husband

2010-04-12T09:40:00.003-05:00

Here is a prayer that I found somewhere on the web that I have been using to lift up my husband every day. It has helped me to have it posted where I get ready in the morning. This way I can pray for the most important person in my life and get ready for my day at the same time. Multitasking! It is a must as a mom :)

Dear Lord, I pray for my husband, from head to toe.

His Head - That he will look to You as Lord of his life. (1 Corinthians 11:13)
His Mind - That he will have the mind of Christ and think as the Holy Spirit would lead him and not the flesh. (1 Corinthians 2:16)
His Eyes - That You will keep his eyes from temptation and that he will turn his eyes from sin. (Matthew 6:13, Mark 9:47)
His Ears - That he will hear Your still small voice instructing him. (1 Kings 19:12, Psalm 32:8)
His Mouth - That his words will be pleasing to You. (Proverbs 19:14)
His Neck - That he will humble himself before You and be strong, courageous, and careful to do everything written in Your Word so that he will be prosperous and successful. (James 4:10, Joshua 1:8-9)
His Heart - That he will love and trust You with his whole heart. (Deuteronomy 6:5, Proverbs 3:5)
His Arms - That You will be his strength. (Psalm 73:26)
His Hands - That he will enjoy the work of his hands and see it as a gift from You. (ecclesiastes 3:13, 5:19)
His Feet - That You will order his steps and that he will walk in Your truth. (Proverbs 4:25, Psalm 26:3)

If you want to use this print it out now! If you are anything like me you will forget as soon as you are done reading this! Make sure to pray for your husband every day. You can add specific areas to the bottom of this prayer and it will keep your husbands prayer needs before you on a daily basis. This has been so good for me to see every day and to lift him up.

Gardening update

2010-03-30T14:07:00.004-05:00

Here is a picture of the clean slate in our front yard!

Worked for an hour in the yard today! That is so unlike me. Maybe there is hope. Not being pregnant or having a new baby are the circumstances that, I am hoping is what is leading to this, not just the sunshine. Got a small shipment of plants in the mail today too. We are not ready to plant them yet, but hopefully with in a week we will have prepared the whole front area and got the dirt and plots ready in the new vegetable garden.
These are high hopes, because this weekend is Easter. Which means we will be at the Easter Sun Run on Saturday serving Youth Horizons. A great and highly anticipated time every year. None of us run the 10 K or the 2 mile. Nate puts together bands and sound for the event and the girls and I stand along the side and cheer :) Plus help prepare some of the food for the barbecue afterwards. Then of course, we have church on Sunday. I am not working the nursery this year and am excited to go to the service to hear the band and the message. I think it has been four years since I have been in the service. Just usually set up and play with babies and tear down. It will be a blessing to worship the rising of Christ this year in a different way. After service we are spending the day with family. The girls are so looking forward to it and are hoping for no rain!
But Monday! The weather is to be nice and I want to (maybe want to is too strong...dream about) do a lot more work preparing. So when my plants arrive they can go into the ground. I hope my attitude matches my dreams. Somewhere I think I can come up with some hard work with in me.
I did start some seeds for the garden all ready...lettuce, onion, tomatoes, peppers, and some rose moss so the girls can pick flowers until their hearts are content! I hope all my seeds turn into plants. I all ready had to pull some out, because I put too many seeds in a space. That about broke my heart. But, I read that it is essential or none of them will be strong. Next time I will just plant one or two seeds. As that process doesn't sit right with me!

Best Buys

2010-03-28T14:01:00.003-05:00

I am rather frugal when it comes to buying anything for myself. Rather it be house decor, cleaning equipment or clothes, makeup, jewelry. It pretty much takes me at least a month of debate with myself to actually decide to purchase something. Maybe crazy, I know. I am working on it. Sometimes I drive Nate nuts with it, but overall I think he is thankful that I would rather spend money on others or having fun. Saying all that, I thought I would post some of my best buys periodically. (I have decided that we can afford some luxuries) Here are some of my best buys as of late!

My favorite so far is my Swivel Sweeper, as seen on TV! Got it at Bed Bath and Beyond. I have a ton of wood floors in my house and this little helper makes general clean up so much faster. It goes on carpet too! Gets all the dried leaves that have been drug in lately before Ava starts eating them.

I am also in the process of starting a vegetable garden and my sister said to get "Square Foot Gardening" by Mel Bartholomew. It thought that was wise advise, so put it on my "to get" list, whenever I make it to the book store. Well, God knew I needed it. So, Thursday I took 5 children, two of them one year old and not walking, to a garage sale....I needed to get out! What do you know, there was the book! Sitting right beside some new Tupperware containers that I had been pondering buying, for 10 cents! I picked up both and called it a successful outing and thank you Jesus! I am really loving reading it. It is always good for me to have a book to refer to on these kind of new things. I can't remember it all the first time I read it. It is encouraging me that I have been on the right track!

Happy Day!

6 Cousins 6 Days

2010-03-24T15:43:00.002-05:00

Just a few snapshots into our week with the Eastwoods. Love these kiddos!

Bubbles and Hair

2010-03-10T14:32:00.002-06:00

The girls are learning new things, like how to blow bubbles in their gum and how to do each others hair. I like having girls!

Happy Day!

Nicer as we age

2010-03-10T13:58:00.003-06:00

Here is a funny little blurb that Nate and I were talking about this week. He said he was back to getting nicer as he ages. I told him that was probably good, but his couple of years getting grouchier didn't hurt him. He said he was getting nicer even while riding his bike. Which led to this story. This Sunday as he rode up to the church at 6 am he saw two guys by the shed. Waving at them, he thought it must be Kevin and Caleb. One of the guys waved back. Then they looked at each other and said "let's get outta here!" Then proceeded to jump the fence and run away! Needless to say, it wasn't Kevin and Caleb. I guess friendly waving must be out there even if you are about to get yourself into trouble. I might try friendly waving...to help lead to my getting nicer as I age.

This is a photo of his old bike renewed! He had it powder coated and some other new stuff put on it for Christmas this year. Only after he proved to himself he would ride it come rain or shine. So watch out for bikers on the road, especially this one. :)

Ask Stella: answers from a 3 year old

2010-02-27T09:14:00.002-06:00

Random gardening thoughts...

2010-02-26T12:09:00.006-06:00

I've been researching were to buy plants from online. I have planned how to redo about one third of our front yard. There are plans in my head for the rest. I'm wishing for something cottagey (probably not a word) and romantic when I drive up to our house. Seems all the things that I thought would be cheap and real easy to get is the opposite. Stinky. Of course, I have those things filling large spaces in my plans.
As you might know, I struggle with keeping things alive and I have no training in gardening, so I am wondering how smart this might be. hmmm Should I let the fear of failure and ruining the whole front of our yard hold me back? Plus, how in the world do I time all this work out for the right planting time? I am also trying to do this and start a garden in the back. Maybe I should just work on that. But it is a lot less romantic. Although, fruits and veggies do bloom a little it is not enough to capture my soul!
Yesterday I researched what humus soil is, because everyone said you need it. Turns out no one can REALLY define it! Boy, that was helpful :)
Anywho.
I am committed to not let the fear hold me back. I will press on in trying to turn the front of my house into a little dreamy escape! I think Nate will lend me his muscles to help make this dream come true. And won't that make it all the better! To know in the end that he and I made the front landscaping together. aaahhhhhh

Friends for Dinner

2010-02-19T17:48:00.005-06:00

No, we are not eating our friends! We have finally got our acts together and decided to act on something we have been talking about FOREVER! Having friends for dinner once a week. And, it has happened three times in the last month and a half. Not too shabby of a record, considering it is January and February. That means the sickies are going around. To document all our dinners we are trying to get pictures of each evening. Each time has a different view point. ie different person taking the pictures. One night the lens had a big smug in the middle of it. Not sure exactly how that got there, but I have some ideas. Especially since the next time we had the camera out someone dropped it, lens open, into the pizza we were having for dinner. Maybe I will post that video later :) Thanks to all our friends for joining us!

Snow Day with Daddy!

2010-02-12T13:25:00.003-06:00

Here is a movie of the Naomi and Stella building a snowman with Nate on Naomi's snow day. The snow was perfect for building things. Nate could roll the snow right up like sod. Stella was taking care of this snowman, making sure he had a toilet, a fighting stick and most important some candy! You can hear her talking about the candy in the video. Ava was watching. I'm hoping it was motivating her for more practice of walking.

Sailor Girl

2010-02-12T13:12:00.003-06:00

Here is little Ava in the sailor outfit my first niece had. I dressed her in it for my sister, Resa. My other girls haven't worn this outfit because I just am not into dressing them like a sailor. I think my mom repeatedly tried to get me to wear that stuff when I was young, maybe, a little fuzzy on that. Anywho, for some reason I have and aversion to it. Since Ava is our last little girl and she has brown hair (some reason I couldn't do it with red heads) and it fit at the right season, I threw caution to the wind and....she was ADORABLE! Probably should have used it for the other two. I could tell she felt pretty too. She didn't even take her hat off! Just left that to Stella :) She did still want me to hold her, not put her on the floor for a picture.

Garden Dreams

2010-02-04T10:23:00.004-06:00

Since we have lived at this address successful gardening has been elusive. Garden Dreams But still I try! I am going to track the transformation of our garden plot. Boy, I hope something grows, or it could be embarrassing! I took a short class on gardening from a good friend and master gardener a few weeks ago. It condensed all the masses of information into small and understandable information for me. Usually, I read so much and then know too much, but not enough, to tackle the whole project. This time I am going to try to do it step by step. Not skip the hard steps. That usually leads to failure :) I started covering the grass with newspaper to kill it. I only got part of it covered before it snowed, but that is all right. We are planning on taking out that tree and bush as soon as the ground and weather allows. Whew! It looks like a lot of work to me. I can do it. And Nate is on board too! I really want this to show the girls how things grow. They get so excited about the whole amazing process. I think this will be a way to show them delayed gratification and how hard work produces something fun!

We were young!

2010-02-03T10:31:00.005-06:00

As Valentine's day approaches I am finding it fun to look back at old pics of Nate and I. I think we can really say "We were young then." Yes, I know we are just in our 30s, but we live a lot differently then when we were in high school or newly married. I am not wishing for those days again though! These days are proving to be the best ever. Nate and I were laughing, looking at old pictures because we could remember how the clothes we had on felt. Most of the time, gross! Due to our inexperience with fashion and nice clothing, we didn't know any different. We are so glad we can go to the store now and have an idea of what we like and what we don't and we don't always have to go to Goodwill, although we just got some bargins there that we LIKE.
Anywho...we look young and in love in these pics! July will bring 14 years of marriage and 17 years of being together. I got the best guy!

Kid Treasures File Boxes

2010-01-28T13:18:00.005-06:00

This is my latest attempt to organize the kids many paper treasures they have or give to us. Recycling them was not the highest option on my five year olds list on what to do with her precious art work from school. Not that I hadn't kept some, but bringing home three Christmas art projects from school a day was getting a little overwhelming for this mom. When I thought about it, I realized that there will only be a short season of their precious lives that they will be giving us many pieces of art work a day. So I made files for each child with tabs for each year of their lives. Then we can file all the art work that would be sad to put in the recycler. I am anticipating it to be fun to look through each year with them as they grow. And maybe they will want their art file when they are grown, but even a bigger possibility is that I will want their art file when they are grown!

Happy Day!

Ava howls

2010-01-23T13:09:00.002-06:00

Ava created her own funny howl. She tips her head back and squeaks out a long owwwww. She makes us laugh!

Happy Birthday Ava!!!

2010-01-21T12:42:00.003-06:00

This is the girls at the Cheesecake Factory. We went there for lunch. Ava was served ice cream with sprinkles and whipped cream, which she loved!

We celebrated Ava's one year birthday in KC at the Eastwood's house. Here is what she is doing now that she is one:
Moving
crawling all over the house, going up the stairs as fast as she can, standing up is her favorite past time, taking a few steps with her walker toy
Talking
she is so quiet, but I think she says a few words, just really quietly...bye, bye, ouch, uh oh, ohhhh
she signs words like, MILK, bye, bye, Hi, all done, more
Eating
she likes to eat dairy products and sweet potatoes, anything else is a challenge to get her to eat it. I want her to be done nursing, but she is not. She is allergic to something we have been feeding her lately. We are guessing it is the soy yogurt. It has to be the soy or the fruit in it. Not sure about the best way to figure that out right now. She gets sick if we feed that to her, so we won't be testing it again. Now I have to decide if I should giver her soy milk like the other two girls or if I should do cow's milk.
She is a blessing to have and we are excited for the next year of her life. To see her personality blossom and see how she makes a difference in our family. We love you Ava!!

On the road to blogging life

2010-01-14T21:37:00.001-06:00

So, it has been about a year since I have added anything on here. Of course, I have the best of reasons, three of them! Ava. Stella. Naomi. Now the youngest is almost one! Tuesday is the big day. I have plenty of material for our blog, just finding the right time to give to it will be the challenge. Everyday I have a whole post written in my head it seems, but it quickly floats out and to where they have gone, I have no idea.
My goal is to now add something here at least five days a week. It might be just a quick what I am thankful for, a funny picture, quote, or discussion we have had here at home. I guess I say that to warn you if you are reading this that it might not be entertaining to you. Which, a side note, I don't know where this blogging desire comes from, because it is kinda like a journal and I don't do much journaling. I don't because I don't want anyone READING it...somehow it is ok for the whole world to have access to this though??? Another warning: sometimes I don't make sense and you will just have to live with that on here.
Enough disclaimers. Today I am so thankful for those three reasons I haven't been blogging for the last year. Yes, they are work and I sacrifice a lot of me for them, but that is why it is so great. The challenge of giving my life away without getting my selfishness in the way is an ongoing battle within me. God has been great this last month in helping me in that area. Plus coming out of baby land has done wonders for my body. A LOT less physical pain, less hormones going up and down daily, more sleep, rational thinking, or just plain old THINKING are all things that have been a welcome return! Now I am thankful for my challenges and "suffering". It has just begun to give me the sight for compassion to flow out of me more. It reminded me of the verse with all the comforts in it. Lets see, what is that...2 Corn 1:3-4 3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. Yes, I have definitely been on the receiving end of comfort from God! It feels like I am rambling from one subject to the next, so I will just pick some pictures to post with this. Happy Day!

Ava's here!

2009-03-20T17:03:00.004-05:00

After the longest and hardest pregnancy and labor, Jesus blessed us with Ava Jade Hart. Born Monday, January 19th at 10:17am. She weighed 8.1 pounds and was 20 inches long. I am so thankful that she has been a peaceful and easy going baby. Even though she has been sick with colds for most of her two month old life, she still sleeps well and doesn't cry much! We have not decided who she looks like...maybe a mixture of the other two girls, but definitely a new set of eyes! We are thinking they came from Nate's Grandpa Sexton, because they are similar to some of his cousins eyes. Time will tell with that, I guess. She will grow into her features and they will all belong to her soon, but it is fun to compare while she is so small. The past few weeks have been sweet to see her awake more and smiling and talking to us. The girls are loving her in their own special way. Naomi just likes to be with her, while Stella is more of a hands on girl. The first few nights Stella would be in our room at least three times to check on Ava. That is three SEPARATE times in the middle of the night. She is going to be one good momma when she gets her chance! It is exciting for us to think that this child completes our family. All sorts of things seem simpler! Please join us in praying that Ava will know the Lord and have a great impact on His kingdom!

Sweet Life with Jesus

2008-11-19T09:47:00.003-06:00

Today is the one year anniversary of the death of my Grandma Ruth. I had forgotten that this morning until I was potting some plants. Just so happens I was potting some ivies that had come from the plant I got from her house. I made a plant for each of my adult sisters. Really just hoping that one of us can keep the plant alive. I was told it was my Great Grandmothers plant. Anywho, while I was potting them it reminded me of what a sweet life with Christ she is living now. No struggles, no fears, no loneliness, no more potting plants! I am so thankful that Christ offers me His peace while here on Earth too. All I have to do is to stay connected to him and follow. It was just a good reminder of what a faithful life looks like at the end. Praise Jesus for giving me that example and gift of remembering! Psalm 1:1-3 "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted b y streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers."

The "Grunge" look

2008-10-24T13:56:00.003-05:00

As I was ironing today I was pondering this... You know that "grunge" look some people are really into. Well, some people, my husband being one of them, are just naturally born that way. He doesn't need to spend hundreds of dollars on jeans that look really worn and worked in. For example, I was observing his jeans last night as he worked on the basement. They had a small hole sliced in them. Looked like he might have slipped with the carpet blade he uses to do about everything with. The shorts he wears have taken a beating these past few months too, as he has been painting at work AND at home. Each pair I folded neatly and put away had strings and paint smeared on them. I am sure they would qualify for grunge. He is not just wearing these for work jobs though. He will be wearing them at any occasion calling for shorts. I recently took down the "nice" shorts from the top of the closet and put them in storage or gave them away, I'm pretty sure they will never get worn! If they do it will probably be for a project and they will be quickly on their way to grunge! About two months ago I bought him twelve new dress shirts. Currently they are getting "ruined" at about one a month. Now I am thinking I should just hang them up, they are grunge style now! As long as paint and ink stains count as grunge. Maybe I could add a hole or fray the edges. One or maybe a couple of his favorite dress shirts has morphed to grunge on their own. Lots of fraying around the color, some holes starting at the seams. So, today, I am officially giving up on trying to have him be the "pressed" type. Although sometimes I think I might like that, I wouldn't like him to stop being a manly man and working as hard as he does, just to save the prettiness of his clothes! I will just save a lot of money by buying new clothes and letting him add the "grunge" for free!

Love these Girls sooo much!

2008-09-17T16:30:00.006-05:00

I can't say how much I love my girls! They really bring joy to my life. I can think of things to blog about them everyday, they are so entertaining. Right now Stella is boycotting her nap by playing in her room with her babies and one stolen from Eden Stirtz on Sunday! Naomi is happily finger painting and hanging her masterpieces on the fridge to dry. We started some home schooling yesterday and I think it is going to go well. Naomi really has a thirst for knowledge. These are some photos from other days around here that didn't get blogged about.

Introducing Baby #3!

2008-08-05T16:52:00.002-05:00

Just sharing the first snapshot of Baby #3. Although baby is tiny, I think you, even with an untrained eye, will be able to make out something. Baby is only 11 weeks in this photo. He was dancing a jig when we first saw him, but slowed down so we caught a few pics. We won't find out the gender before birth in case you are wondering. (so I will write he or she depending on my mood:))I am starting to feel not so nauseous now, yeah! I am almost 15 weeks now and starting to show a little, that has dashed my high hopes of being six months before I had to wear maternity clothes! Hah! Like that would really happen on my third baby!

Annalise turned one!

2008-06-23T09:09:00.005-05:00

Wednesday is my niece, Annalise's 1st birthday! We celebrated on Saturday with her and some more family and friends. She was all cheery eyed and happy! She liked her first taste of cake too. She loved the ball Naomi and Stella picked out for her. Her Mommy and Daddy got her a swing that all the girls wanted to ride in. She also got a blowup pool, rocking chair, book, and sunglasses. Here are some cute pics of her big bash! Her walking skills are coming along quickly! She could walk with the ball and her push car. Mackenzie said she just started that last week. It won't be long till she is running around with her cousins!

Slowing down again!

2008-06-20T15:21:00.008-05:00

Life seemed crazy busy the beginning of spring. (I already blogged about most of that) This month life has slowed down. Really the big events have been swim lessons for both of the girls. In which Naomi learned to swim! It may be a dog paddle, but a really good one. It is a new experience having her run all around the pool without a parent right beside her. (At least for me it is, Nate is a little more laid back about it) I also finally took the plunge and got Naomi's hair cut really short. We are constantly fighting tangles that she can't stand and shorter is better for that. I was deathly afraid she would get a helmet cut (like I got when I was young, ie picture) and she would hate it. We went for a bob and her hair looks great! Turned out cousin Elena got hers cut in a cute bob too. This slower pace will have to last for about two years...that's when our new baby will be one! Yep, one more on the way, sometime around the middle of January. It's hard for me to do much else while making or feeding a baby all the time! Life is good and we feel so blessed to have another precious gift added to our family. Naomi is excited and really wants a girl named Sara or Rosepetal. Stella just grins super big when talking about another baby. Nate pointed out that we will be outnumbered by one now. The girls think that is great!

I'm a big girl now!

2008-05-22T15:26:00.003-05:00

So, Stella made the jump to a toddler bed this week. She loves it and really thinks she is a big girl. Although we had high hopes, she has not chosen to stay in bed to sleep, only to "jump!" as she would say. Thankfully we have a bed guard that fit on her bed. It has Elmo, MoMo in Stella language, on it, so she likes it, but will soon be climbing over it. This is a new experience for us because Naomi never got out of bed without permission until she was three! She sure is cute even when she is hollering "Mommy!" out from under the door.

Full Swing

2008-05-22T14:20:00.007-05:00

It feels as though summer is in full swing for us even though the last day of school was just yesterday. I am so thankful for Nate's job at River and not having to work at the school too. We have had more time together as a family with him getting a whole TWO DAYS off of work! Time for projects and fun! We have already made it to KC for a vacation all together. We spent a chilly evening at World's of Fun with the Eastwoods. The girls both LOVED Snoopy and every time we saw him Naomi would give him a hug. Stella loved the rides, but Naomi's speed was more meeting with Lucy and shopping. Nate and I got to go to The Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant, alone! It was the best date we have had in a while.
Naomi discovered baby kittens at Great Grandma Ruth's house. She named them Sara and Tom. There were many tears about when we would see them again, which have thankfully subsided!
We have been to the zoo with our friends the Collings. Their little boy Elliot is in the picture with the gorilla statues. Stella fondly calls him "Elt" each time they see each other. They were born about a month apart and have been hanging out regularly ever since. We went when the zoo was open in the evening. It is my favorite time to go. The cool breeze and small crowds makes it so enjoyable.
Monday it already reached ninety degrees, so we got the swimming stuff out! Grandma Julane had brought a new, um, I guess I would call it mini Y water set. The girls had a blast giggling and screaming as they shot through the cold water squirting out from it. Nate hooked the big slide to it and they both took turns going down it and splashing into the water. Although she is brave, Stella still liked the mini whale slide better.
We have each had out turn relaxing in the hammock too! I have thoroughly enjoyed my summer and it has just begun! Thanks to the Lord for friends, family and fun!

Garden Dreams ll

2008-05-21T17:12:00.004-05:00

Well, I've come to realize just how long gardening takes. For me it is not only the time it takes the plants to grow, but also a list of other things... 1. Not killing the plants you have! 2.Learning to protect against disease 3.Transplant recovery 4. Knowing somewhat what I want 5. Having energy & time to do it (that is a big one) 6. Watering usually keeps plants alive, whata ya know! All this to say here are some recent pictures of what is starting to take shape in our backyard. We have been here five years this summer! I definitely don't have it all together, but it is finally a good start! You can read Garden Dreams one if you like.

Need a Laugh?

2008-05-21T16:55:00.003-05:00

Nate showed me these videos on youtube last night and we laughed so hard we cried, not to mention almost peeing my pants! Here is my favorite. This is a link to another good one called "Kid's Rock by Tim Hawkins". While you are there watch the rest of them. But go to the bathroom first!

Blastball!

2008-05-10T16:21:00.003-05:00

Well, Naomi has just finished her first organized sport team, playing Blastball. She was really good at hitting the ball off the t. Especially since she didn't have much of a clue about anything to do with softball before she showed up for practice the first night. I tried to give her an idea by finding a tball video on youtube for her to watch, but that was it. She fell and skinned her foot the first time she ran to get the ball in the outfield, so that was pretty much the end of chasing the ball. She was just there to hit the ball and run! Stella, Daddy and I cheered her on along with a few visits from Grandparents, Aunts and cousins.

Holiday

2008-02-08T16:03:00.000-06:00

Well, Christmas, really December has long past, but I don't want to miss blogging the season, so here is a run through our season with pictures. Sorry our camera has been acting up so please excuse some blur and darkness!
Lily was over to enjoy hot chocolate and a Christmas movie. As of February 5th she is the proud new sister of two sweet boys, Max and Lincoln!
Naomi proudly displays her ginger bread house.

Nate, Stella and Naomi out throwing snowballs and riding a makeshift sled. If I remember right Nate was pulling a ridding toy with extension cords!

Stella is trying to dance with her friend, Mary, at the Christmas concert at church.

Peek-

A-Boo through our Christmas tree. Stella couldn't get enough of this.

Nate, he is always good for a laugh! Here he is dressed as a Christmas tree at our group party.

He got fake eyelashes in the gift exchange. Kevin is laughing big, but he covered it.

We went Christmas light looking with the girls. Here is before, with hot chocolate for Naomi and warm milk for Stella.

This is what happened RIGHT after the BIG house on Main street. Nate and I finished looking anyway.

Here is Stella "cheesing" in her Christmas dress and pigtails.

This is Naomi and Elina at the kid table lovin there food.

Naomi is "cheesing" in her Christmas dress and pigtails. She liked her gift.

Stella liked the box.

Stella and Elina dressed in there new princess gowns.

Naomi lovin her new Pony Teapot Palace.

Eric had Nate's name this year in the gift exchange. He always comes up with something clever to package his gifts in.

We spent New Years Eve snacking and playing games with the girls. Here they are blowing horns.

Why can't I work?

2008-01-05T20:00:00.000-06:00

As I was trying to do some work a few moments ago I discovered another reason why I have trouble focusing one my work. It must have always been there and I am just now coming to the full realization of it. Here is the situation: I sat down to work at the computer... wait, first I asked Nate to watch the girls while I did some prep work for church tomorrow. Then I sat down at the computer, tried concentrating while Nate and the girls played in the room about six feet away from me. I am pretty good at blocking the noise out. Then I hear "Hey, Mommy." I try to ignore it. Again "Hey Mommy." Again, ignore and don't look. "Mommy, hey Mommy!" So I look. It is NATE wanting me to look at his BIG eye through the magnifying glass. He wants me to watch it blink AND to look at his mouth too. How many children do I have?

Hot Chocolate MMMMMM

2007-12-23T17:12:00.000-06:00

My girls love hot chocolate. This year we have been having it with ready whip sprayed on top each time there is a holiday special on TV. Naomi is loving it and only spills a little each time:) Stella really wasn't meant to get any, but somehow she got a taste of the ready whip and protests when she doesn't get any. These are some shots of her with my glass with one sip left in it. She thought she had scored big time.

A Tribute to Grandma Ruth

2007-12-07T12:31:00.000-06:00

My Grandma Ruth passed away on November 19th. So, I have really been thinking a lot about her. My family was able to have her dining room table and chairs. Which we just brought home last night. When I look at the table it reminds me so much of Grandma. I can smell her house, see the linoleum it sat on, and remember the things that she put in the middle of it. I really remember her Bible sitting on it for her to read when she got up in the morning. That really hadn't struck me until now. She really did read it every day. What a faithful servant and a testimony to her joyful life. Each time I see her table I will be grateful for her and challenged to be a faithful woman, like her.

I copied below what my sister, Resa, posted on her blog (resaruth.blogspot.com) about Grandma. It pretty much says it all!

My Grandma Ruth passed away on November 19. She was a special gal. Her funeral was last Friday and she was buried in true Ruthie style sporting her American flag shirt, puffy vest and grey sweatpants. If you knew her, that makes you smile...if you didn't, well, smile. Here is my tribute to her that I read at her funeral.

Bootie Ma’amer!
A Tribute to Grandma Ruth

Hello, I’m Resa Eastwood, Ruth’s granddaughter. My full name is Resa Ruth Eastwood, named after my mom, Julane Ruth and of course, Grandma Ruth. The first thing I must say is “Bootie Ma’amer!” it’s cold outside! As I was sitting down to work on this talk about Grandma, it was beginning to snow and I realized I hadn’t included this little gem of a Ruthie saying. When I was a little munchkin I called Grandma, Ma’amer and in our family “bootie cold” is really cold! Now even my little ones say “Bootie Ma'amer” on a cold day not even knowing it refers to Ruthie.

I talked to my grandma a week before she passed away. When she answered the phone in her trademark “mm-Hello?” and I said “Hi Grandma, it’s Resa” she replied, as usual, with “Where are you?” “At home in Kansas City, Grandma”, “Well, you sound so close, I just can’t believe how clear it sounds!”. I just shook my head and thought that maybe someday she’d know that I’d sound just as close whether I was next door or far away. That evening my husband suggested that next time I should tell her I’m calling from her basement…just to see what she’d say.

Ruthie was funny with out meaning to be, sassy because she could get away with it and very matter of fact about life. Fiercely patriotic, she instilled in me and probably many others a love for the “good ol’ USA” and taught me to fly the flag proudly and to never forget to vote…she hadn’t missed a primary election in years or maybe ever? I’m sure she told me last time I saw her. She paid respects at the cemeteries this past Veteran’s Day to her friends killed in WWII…that was the day we talked. This year for Christmas, I bought her an American flag “car flag”. I thought maybe it was one gift that she wouldn’t re-gift back to me or someone else in a couple years after cleaning out her “stuff”. I haven’t been out to her home yet, but I have a feeling our family will have one of the easiest experiences in going through things…I know she has masking tape on the bottom of several object saying who it goes to…except for the orange chairs…and she always said we could just fight over them when she was gone. She was one super organized woman, even without HGTV shows to show her how to do it.

There are many things she taught me as a young girl…first, never leave home without your nails done…so I painted my nails today. She taught me that a bowl of cereal before bed is a good thing, hand embroidered tea towels and pillowcases are the best—and how to make them, turquoise rings are fun to wear and you can use MaryKay eyeshadow wet or dry. Grandma taught me how to watch football, to listen to country music…especially George Strait. Though, unlike her, I don’t keep photos of him in my family photo albums. She was the first person I cruised Main Street with…she had KFDI cranked up high in her big red Cougar and I was hiding under the dashboard mortified and hoping no one saw me. Ruthie taught me that it’s always fun to dress up in costumes and wigs…even for no special occasion, but just for a good time.

She said to stay away from the boys, but then to love my sweetie, and if we’re both happy that’s all that matters. She loved animals…but also taught us that there will always be more cats! She taught me how to play cards and just recently we had to call her out for trying to cheat playing Scattergories by making up things that supposedly were from “way back, way back”. From her I learned the verses to “You Are My Sunshine” and I loved to listen to Ruth and Dobin sing it as a duet. We sing it to our kids as a lullaby now…they call it “Sunshine”.

When you wished Ruth “Merry Christmas”, she said “everyday is Christmas”…which I still don’t believe, but she did make me realize that having all those people over to eat isn’t what you have to do for holidays. That’s probably why the Snook Family Christmas has been the Snook Family Bowling Extravaganza for the last several years!

The last many years…and maybe even before that…she told the same stories over and over and would always act surprised when we were able to finish them for her. She loved to tell her stories and I know many of you probably know a lot of them. She liked to stop in at various businesses in town and say hi and I think genuinely cared for the people in her life…even if we wondered at some of her comments. The first thing she would always say to me when we’d meet is “Miss Reese, How much do you weigh?”…I never told her the truth. One time I tried to explain that no one particularly likes that question and that maybe she should refrain from asking it. She asked me again the next time we met. Sigh.

Our family put together a slideshow for Grandma’s 80th Birthday party this past January. I didn’t want her to know what we were doing, but needed to get my hands on lots of her favorite photos…when I asked her to send me some of them, she took them to a copy machine and ran them off for me and mailed them. Not quite what I was thinking, so I ventured out to her home armed with my scanner, laptop and my two little kids for an afternoon of scanning photos as she told me stories about all the people and memories. I’m really surprised she let me do it with all the wires and contraptions I had set up…she wouldn’t even plug in her VCR for fear it would blow up her electricity. So I never made her a videotape copy of the slideshow…but I guess she had all the originals in her heart.

Grandma Ruth was also matter-of-fact about her love for Christ. We lived with her a couple different times when I was growing up and I can’t be more thankful for her faithfulness to bring me to Sunday school each week at the Baptist Church. I watched her do her Bible studies, listen to and watch Billy Graham and other Christian teachers, read books about different people of faith and most of all, saw God keep her heart soft through many rough waters of life…most that I was too young to know about and some that I still don’t know about. I asked her about some things from the past a couple times and no matter what the situation, she never dwelt on negative or hurtful things. She said to always remember the good times. I think only a heart that knows the peace of God and the forgiveness of Christ can carry that through time and time again. She certainly impacted my life by her simple love and focus on what is good and true. In Philippians 4:7-9, Paul wrote this message to early Christians: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me- put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”

In Proverbs 31, God’s Word describes the Excellent Wife and in verse 28 it says that “her children arise and call her blessed”…a commentator says that means she is one who enjoys happy circumstances and from whom joy radiates to others. We’re going to watch the slideshow I mentioned again here in a minute, with many examples of that joy. So here’s to Ruthie…loved by many here and now loving that she is in the presence of Jesus and so many of her friends and family that went before her…we’ll miss you Grandma and be with you soon!

Penguins in the Zoo!

2007-10-31T15:30:00.001-05:00

Our latest trip to the zoo was a long awaited one for Naomi. It is one of her favorite things to do and we hadn't been there since early summer. These pictures tell about our adventure.
We went to the penguins that we hadn't seen yet first. It was a great, you could really see the penguins close up. Kitty really seemed to like them too.

We moved on to pet some bears! Stella and Naomi really liked them. And good news! Not even so much as a lick from them!

Our family portrait in the jungle in front of the water fall. The piranhas were fed right in front of us. Nate got to watch the big one gobble down the "fish" food!

We all stopped to get a close up picture with the Gila monster! Good thing he is not alive, I think he would have ate us! Then, we realized, someone was missing! No not Stella. Were was Kitty?! The hunt began, back through the jungle, lizards, bears. Who would actually take Kitty? I mean, look closely at her! Our last hope was she was still with the penguins...

There she was! We didn't think that is were we would find her because we had lost her once in the penguin area before we even left it. I guess she wandered off again before we left. She said she had a great time watching them all, but missed Naomi.

Since Kitty had missed the rest of the zoo we decided to make the last stop the chimpanzees. Stella enjoyed pounding on the glass at the baby. Naomi and Kitty posed with the statue together. It was a great time with the girls (and Kitty)!

Stella is One!

2007-10-30T20:31:00.000-05:00

So Stella turned one on the 2nd of October. Time really does fly when you are having fun! She is a popular girl too. She had three parties! We were actually trying to make it not so overwhelming and simple. I'm not sure if you call three parties simple, but it was nice for Stella to get time with all who came. We had great carrot cake from Aunt Resa at all three parties. Stella loved it!
Stella showed us how big she was by sliding down the slide and hanging from the monkey bars at the park.
Stella LOVES babies! She was thrilled when baby Annalise came and she could take care of her, while Elena, Naomi, & Kai acted silly.

Stella 11 months already!

2007-09-11T14:29:00.000-05:00

Here are some of the accomplishments Stella is up to. I can't believe she is almost a year! I find myself doing the "mommy thing" of not wanting her to grow up, yet being excited for the next stage and missing Naomi at these ages all at the same time. How does that work?
Words:
Uh-oh - in a very deep monotone voice
kitty - this is definitely her favorite animal and she recognizes it in a print we have called The Five Senses
Thank You - we play the Thank You game where she hands you something and you say "Thank you", then you hand it back and she says "Thank you", and then you just keep going
Mama - I am anxious to count this one. She just started a few days ago, but I will keep helping her perfect it and hopefully learn what it means!

Activities: there are lots!
Crawling everywhere, very quickly!
Cleaning out my Tupperware cabinets daily
Climbing up on whatever she can, chairs, couch, fireplace, then standing up and balancing on them
Standing on her own
Walking with one hand from us to help
Playing in the toilet water. We try to discourage this one.
Loves bath time.
Playing the sit 'n spin, but standing, not sitting, like sister!
Following Naomi everywhere.
Dancing to music
"Reading" books alone
Giving open mouth kisses, when I tell her I love her or ask for a kiss.
Clapping when others do or we say yeah!
Sneaking eating markers and crayons

JOBS

2007-09-11T13:11:00.000-05:00

Here is a list of all the random jobs I've done in my life. I know I like the one I have now the best by far, Mommy! They are listed in reverse chronological order as far as I can remember.

1. Mommy - this is the first job I ever felt like I was MADE for!
2. Nursery Coordinator - It's good to serve the church and I like organizing things:)
3. Daytime Childcare - just for one baby girl, but it was hard work and I only made it for one school year. Now it is fun to see how my girls and her are/will be great friends!
4. Admissions Analyst for a private university - great job & coworkers, even got a Bachelor's out of it.
5. Gift Sales Associate - i.e. selling junk and running cash register, NOT for me!
6. Office Assistant in design center - I really liked this one cause I got to know, track, & schedule all the things that went into a new house. I still love learning about home design/architecture! It makes me excited just to think about it!
7. Wedding Coordinator - At first I didn't have a clue what I was doing, but now with 8 years behind me I think I have learned a few tricks:)
8. Faux Painting Internship - This didn't last long, as the guy was kinda weird...I learned some in the 3 days I was there though.
9. Temp Office Staff - stuffing envelopes for a day or two
10. Cook - Just supper part-time for a boys home. It was fun being with the boys.
11. Printer Girl - not sure what my title was...At United Way I stocked their office supply room and ran all the big print jobs for them on some way COOL copy machines.
12. Kindergarten Para - I got to help teach some kids to read!
13. Mary Kay Lady - I think it lasted about a week. Again, sales is NOT for me.
14. Purchasing Office Assistant - I worked with another girl named Jody, we bought parts for whatever the company made. (I never really figured out what that was!)
15. Hamburger & Ice Cream Cook & Server - My HS job. I have great memories of laughing until I cry there with all sorts of people. I do still have dreams that I have missed work here b/c I didn't come in to read the schedule! This was also all my formal & informal cooking training...I've come a long way baby!
16. Cleaning Houses - I think it was just one house, but it paid well and seemed easy to me.
17. Parking Lot Cleaner - I think this was the most embarrassing job I ever had. Mom hooked me up to sweep the local grocery's parking lot once a week. Ugh, do you even need that? I would go at the break of day on Sunday, when no one was out :)
18. Babysitter - I watched the four kids across the street once...they liked me, I didn't like them so much.
19. Kitchen helper - Mom had me go help an older lady who lived close. I think I moved her cups around for her...I didn't go back, but I guess I was supposed to?...miscommunications with a preteen.
20. Poop Scooper - Scooped dogs poop while the owner's were on vacation. Not bad I could handle it, at least I wasn't gagging like my sister.
21. Golf ball retriever- I vaguely remember going into the field behind our house to pick up golf balls that had been hit there with Resa.

Not sure if those qualify me for anything, but it sure lets you in on what has shaped my life. Just for fun.

A Pair of Mischief

2007-06-26T15:32:00.000-05:00

Stella started crawling on Father's Day! You can see some of her red marks on her face from her first explorations of the house. Naomi thinks it is great and has moved on to teaching her to stand. Which she mastered in her bed. Greeted me this morning with her arms up over the rails standing on two wobbly feet. They were quite a pair this morning at the park. Naomi invited Stella to swing and boy did she swing her! I thought she would fall out, but Stella was giggling with each rough, twisted, high push her sister gave her. I think Stella is ready for playing any game Naomi can throw at her! Naomi is still sticking to swinging on her tummy. None of the scary sitting in the swing for her.

New Niece!

2007-06-26T14:59:00.000-05:00

Annalise Cadence Williamson was born yesterday! We were all excited to meet her. Her thick fluffy hair is my favorite part so far. Brad and Mackenzie say she has been laid back the first six hours of her life.

Joy

2007-05-19T21:37:00.000-05:00

So, I had a great day today. Which, unfortunately, I wasn't expecting. I had been sick all week and today was the first wedding of the season for me to coordinate. For some reason I always dread it, but God spoke at that wedding and it was a beautiful thing! How great is it to get to be involved with all these people's wedding days? One of the biggest days of their lives! Plus, I really like watching all the details come together and how excited everyone is. Oh and to see the girls cry tears of happiness really is sweet! Thankfully, I think my sickness is gone too. Wahoo, cause it was a doosy. After the wedding I spent some good time with Nate just cleaning up the church and putting the stage back together. It was nice alone time. That sounds like a funny date, but we used to do that stuff all the time together, but now with 2 girls that doesn't happen much. We didn't have to worry about rushing home to the girls cause Grandma Patty and Papa Jim were at home playing with them. So we got good family time at home with Grandma and Papa and after they left too. Stella opened her mouth to eat tonight. Now that is a big thing. I guess when I feed her sweet potatoes and vanilla yogurt she will do that. Now green beans is another thing. After supper she played on the floor while the rest of us ate. Nate thought she was saying dada to him. When I went to pick her up, I confirmed that she was saying dada. Because there was poop overflowing up out of her diaper and piled on the floor! Sweet potato poop:) Nate said she wasn't saying dada after all and I took care of it. Really didn't bother me at all. Ya know cause moms deal with poop all the time! I also just realize that Naomi didn't get any swats today. She actually just did as we asked, cheerfully! After the accident all three of us tried to teach Stella how to crawl. Naomi was urging her on in her sweet baby voice. Amongst all these things I also got a few "to dos" done which feels great after being out of it for a week. I just wanted to write this down so I can remember the perspective God granted me today. Joy, the Lord has given me joy!

Hey Uncle Bo!

2007-05-19T21:27:00.000-05:00

Uncle Bo. You don't have to worry about your horse you gave me. I am taking really good care of Cupcake Hart. That's the name I decided on. I still like Cash, like we talked about, but I can't really say that, so I went with Cupcake Hart instead. She is my favorite pony and I make sure she stays clean with lots of baths! Oh, and she also gets to sleep on a nice soft pillow when she needs a nap. She also says Neighhhhhhhh really loud! - Love Naomi

My Celebrity Look-alikes

2007-04-17T15:40:00.000-05:00

http://www.myheritage.com

Resa always has great things to do on her blog. This being one of them!

Cowboy?

2007-03-30T22:47:00.000-05:00

Well, Naomi thinks she knows how to dress up like a cowboy. I have tried to get her to dress like a cowgirl, but she won't have that! No way, she is a cowBOY! She sure looks good in her latest cowboy outfit. That hat has something to do with the cowboy part because it is always a part of the outfit. She turned to me after completing this outfit and said "Just like a cowboy, mommy!" The wild hair may look cowboyish, but I'm not seeing the rest of what she is. What a great imagination she has!

Time Flies!

2007-03-15T22:02:00.000-05:00

Oh, Yeah! Your hair is growing Stella!
These 3 braved the ice.
FIVE months already!
Time to leave the concert
What a great 3rd birthday smile!

Wow time flies! I can't believe it is the middle of March 2007! Part of me is still lost somewhere in 2003. The other night I was labeling some milk to be frozen and wrote the date as 03! It was in the wee morning hours and I did catch it before too long, but to write 07 just felt wrong. I sure don't want to go back to 03, cause life is better now... two sweet babies, 10 years married, a softer heart, sweeter relationship with Jesus. It's getting late and I could ramble on, but I really just wanted to put up some new pictures of my beautiful girls.

Stella 2 months

2006-12-14T11:43:00.000-06:00

Isn't she so cute you just want to kiss her! Stella is sporting her fuzzy winter outfit and a precious little smile.

Almost a girly day

2006-12-14T11:25:00.000-06:00

I was excited that Naomi wanted to wear a dress today! It wasn't any of the ones I picked out. Had to be the one with leopard flowers on it. That was fine she still looked cute in her white tights and dress. Then the first thing she asks is if she can go outside. And here she is. She said she is building a castle in the dirt. She said she will be very careful not to sit in the dirt. She found a bone that is beside her in picture two. She said "Mommy, it not a bone, it an "O". I have to agree with her. Anyway, she did come back in with very little dirt on her. She sure is growing up!

New Arrival

2006-10-03T11:07:00.000-05:00

The waiting is over! Stella Joy entered the world at 11:11 pm on Monday night. She weighed a healthy 7.2 lbs and measure 19.75 inches. Long and slender. Right now little Stella and mommy are napping with an occasional snack break. We are looking forward to many future stories to share about our girls.

Daddy

Just waiting now!

2006-09-19T20:06:00.000-05:00

Here I am 9 months pregnant with number two! I have packed and repacked and am sure I have more than I need. We will update this as soon as it comes and we find out gender and all!

Here is my sweetie and I playing dress up.

Naomi finger painted with her parents as teachers lady. She loved it!

One of our favortie outings is the zoo. Naomi loves the sheep and goats. Pheewhuu! is what I think.

Naomi loves Papa and his boots!

Summer, Summer

2006-08-02T17:45:00.000-05:00

Wow! It takes a while for a 7 months pregnant women to get to the point of actually writing something here! First I had to find a comfy chair to use, which meant dragging one across the living room and scooting it as close to the computer as I could, because my keyboard cord is not very long, plus I can't read from very far away. Then I actually had to remember my account name and login, which meant searching through my email box for that info. (I should store that somewhere more helpful) Of course, I needed a snack while doing all that too. Plus, checking on my two year old to convince her to lie down in her bed and take a nap. ( I may have to go swimming at the "great big swimming pool" tonight) Anyway, I am here and she is sleeping! I think it took an hour! Well, here are some great summer photos. They remind me of how much fun it will be to have two babies around. Just ten weeks out from that now!....hmm how do I post pictures again?

Playing in this pool was a special treat, until we went to "the great big swimmin pool" at the YMCA!

Donuts and cereal after a morning bike ride with Mommy and Daddy. What could be better!

This is us on our vacation to San Diego to celebrate our 10 year anniversary!

Daddy, I thought it was my Barbie Jeep!

"I got his nose."

The 4th of July is so much fun as long as it doesn't get too loud!