Grateful

Tonight I am feeling overwhelmed with gratitude for the life that I live, bumps, mountains, valleys and all.  Life can be difficult, more then once I have been thrown a curve ball.  And each time I have fallen to my knees and reached out to my Lord and Savior for guidance, love and help.  I have often stumbled but I have never fallen so deep that God could not pick me up.

There have been times when I felt alone, scared, and uncertain of what the future would hold.  There is no promise of a tomorrow and that can be frightening at times.  However, I find great comfort is knowing that there is a promise of eternal life with Jesus, if I only believe.  And believe I do, with all my heart, with every fiber of my being.  There is nothing or no one that could make me believe otherwise.

To know a God that is all loving, full of mercy and grace.  To have that intimate relationship with Him and know that no matter how lonely I feel, how scared I get, that He is always with me.  He never leaves me, not for a second.  He is all powerful, mighty and majestic.  He is sweet and loving, comforting and caring. 

During my moments of weakness I often think of God our father.  What would my Dad here on Earth do if I was hurting, in pain? He would comfort me, probably give me a hug, bring me a milkshake :) and tell me that he loved me.  I know that our Heavenly Father would do the same and on an even great level.  I find so much comfort knowing this, it makes choosing happiness even in the valleys or climbing the mountains of life just a bit easier.

I feel so blessed to have a loving Heavenly Father.  I am grateful for the people that he has put in my life.  My husband, the man who has taken care of me, comforted me, gently rubbed my head and calmed my fears.  The man who has literally put everything on hold to help me get well.  He has shown his love for me and our family, time and time again through his actions.  Our family is stronger because of Trent.  Our family is happy and loving and kind and good, because of his example and love.

I often pray for Trent as the leader of our family.  What an incredible responsibility to hold.  And yet, he leads our family with such ease and confidence.  I know the experiences of the last few weeks have made him an even greater leader.  He has had to do things that he had never done before, make difficult decisions, and be brave and strong when I am sure he felt weak and alone.  But God has been right beside him, leading him. 

I feel as if our family has been protected, literally covered by God's grace these last few weeks.  My heart is full of gratitude tonight for my life, for my husband, our three sweet healthy children, our family and friends that have reached out to us in our time of need.  The daily phone calls checking in, emails, cards, flowers, dinners, babysitting, rides, and most importantly, prayers.  There have been so many people loving on our family, it has been amazing.

I thank God for all things. 

Life if good.

The last 2 weeks: Valentines Day Fun

The last two weeks both boys shared the same theme and we worked on our Valentines Day  decorations and cards.  We made tissue paper hearts with contact paper as well as hand and foot print Valentines.

Even Penny made a Valentine

 Valentine Sun Catcher

The boys also had fun buzzing around the house with the "love bugs" that they had made.

On Thursday we had a small Valentines Day party with a few of our friends.

For our treats we had confetti cupcakes, brownies and strawberry milk. 

The kids decorated their cupcakes and made a valentine card to take home.  It was a lot of fun!

Besides all our pre-Valentines Day fun, we stuck to our basic lessons as well. Charlie completed lessons in Phonics and Math, practiced his hand-writing by finishing up his Thank You cards from his birthday and we picked up his Explode the Code book.  We also learned about matter, solids, liquids and gases in science.  

 

Charlie is using blocks to solve subtraction problems.

Tommy is still enthusiastic to do "school" with us.  

The last 2 weeks he did a few sheets in his workbook and  played on Starfall.com.  He is also doing much better playing independently when I need to work solely with Charlie. 

Having fun with dress up as Kings and Knights in their "castle".

I had a conference call with Charlie's "teacher" from K12 this week as well.   We went over his test scores from the AIMS web test he did a few weeks back.  Charlie scored average or above average on all areas.  She was also pleased with the progress that he has made from the beginning of the year and feels that he is right on track in most areas and ahead of the game in some.  She also said that if we continue to complete lessons at the rate we are currently working, then we will be done with his school in late April.  The last day of school is technically June 3rd.  We will most likely continue on as we have been, possibly taking a few days off for the boys to have a "free day" from school and for me to devote to planning their summer curriculum and Tommy's curriculum for next year.

The last 2 weeks have been so much fun and we have accomplished a lot.  I am so proud of Charlie and the progress he has made. I am so grateful to be able to spend this time with the children and be their teacher.  I am so grateful to be given this opportunity!

Cookies for the Super Bowl

Spooktacular Halloween 2010

We usually have a Halloween party each year but this year because of everything going on we opted more for a Halloween "playdate" with 3 of our friends instead. The season of slow, remember :)

Charlie was very involved in the "planning". He wanted things SCARY and creepy. Gone are the "cutesy" Halloweens for this boy...I think. So skeletons and graveyards are now part of our decor.


He wanted a pumpkin hunt but settled for "skeleton bone" hunt (dog bones)
and Daddy threw together a scary graveyard. The graveyard had a walkway (boards for the kids to balance on) and they had to try and walk through the graveyard without falling into the graves. Tommy LOVED this and did it over and over again.


We kept it simple and let the kids play, ate Halloween donuts from Pattersons, apple cider and ghost covered lollies as a going home treat (per Charlie's request). We opted not to wear costumes but scary Halloween shirts.


Charlie and Tommy had a great time with a few of their friends. It was a nice afternoon and reminded me that it doesn't take much to make things special for little ones. I am so happy that Charlie had a part in planning everything, he was really proud of himself. The only thing he complained about was that none of his friends wanted to play chase the skeleton, they all thought it was too scary :) Our boy is growing up!

Baby Shower

The brothers

My mom and sister threw us a baby shower to celebrate the upcoming arrival of our little lady. It was a great day and we were surrounded by family and friends and could really feel the love! We had family drive in from Michigan, New York, Southern Ohio and from the Akron area. We also had a dear friend visiting from Arizona make it to the shower. And of course, our dearest friends from our area were there to support and love on us.


Aunt Patti had some fun games planned that totally reminded me of all the baby showers that Granny took me to when I was a little girl. My 3rd (?) cousin Marjane made a beautiful white blanket and Nie Nie made an adorable pink tutu for our little lady, I love handmade gifts! Mom made our family famous punch and bought the biggest, pinkest cake I have ever seen! Granted, I only had 2 bites (Uncle Sherman the family doctor gave me permission) but still I think it was the biggest cake I have ever seen!

It was a really nice day. We spent time with Trent's family beforehand and he got to hang out with his Dad, my Dad, Uncle Sherman and the boys while I went to the shower. Then the guys came for cake and we gave Charlie and Tommy there "Big Brother" presents. I wanted them to feel special and that this was as much for them as it was for the baby. They are going to make great big brothers!


My mom and sister accomplished what they set out to do! Celebrate our sweet girl and put enough PINK in our house to ensure that we won't only dress her in the boys hand me downs....ha!

Marriage proposal

Last week I was driving Charlie and Miss S. to church to drop Charlie off for VBS. Trent had the day off and was busy taking Tommy to swimming lessons. The car was quiet except for the music I had playing in the background, when all of a sudden I hear from the back seat
Charlie "S when we grow up will you marry me?"
Miss S replied "ummmm, if my mommy says it is ok"
Charlie "Cause I really want to marry you when we grow up, we can have a dog, do you want a dog?
Miss S "I already have a dog, rocky" she replied in her silliest voice
Charlie "no, we can have our own dog and a cat"
Miss S "ok"
Charlie "S, just don't tell Maggie. Because I think she really wants to marry me" he said in a quiet whisper

I didn't say a word, just listened with a big old cheesey grin on my face and tried not to laugh. Charlie was the sweetest thing. He had told me a few days earlier that he wanted to marry Miss S. when he grew up, that he would buy her pink and purple flowers because those are her favorite colors, but that he knew he had to wait until they were older and she was ready....to funny! I also thought it was so sweet that he was worried about his other little friend, Maggie and not wanting to hurt her feelings...what a gentleman.

Whoever marries Charlie will be one lucky lady! He has his Daddy's sense of loyalty, loves fiercely, wants to please you and is so much fun! But watch out ladies, Miss S is a tough act to follow :)

Goodbye May...Hello Summer!!

We had a great long Memorial Day weekend! Trent had 4 days off and it was wonderful to be able to spend some good quality time together as a family and with our friends!

Trent did a lot of work around the house. He painted part of the garage, removed an ugly old awning from the large front window, did a bunch of lawn work, trimmed the hedges, spread the mulch, washed the window and fixed part of the porch. I know that this isn't a complete list of all his doings, he has been BUSY!!

Papa, Trent and Tommy fixing part of the deck


But somewhere in there we managed to have Nie Nie's 60th birthday picnic.

The kids swam and played in the backyard while the adults ate steaks and chatted. We even got Nie Nie and Papa to spend the night!!! It was really nice having them here and the boys loved waking them up in the morning as is their routine :)

We also went for a hike and found toads in the creek. Mommy even caught a slimy, wet, large frog for the boys. A fox crossed our path only a few feet in front of us. Daddy found a tadpole, we skipped rocks, waded up and down the creek, talked with a nice man who let us pet his funny looking dogs. Oh, how we love our hikes!

The boys and I drew our findings on our hike. It was so nice to sit on the back porch in the summer morning hours working with each of them. One would come and draw for awhile and then get up and run off to a new backyard adventure, then the other would venture up to the porch dripping wet from the pool, ready to draw his picture. I just feel so blessed to be able to spend these quiet, learning moments with our boys!!!

We did a bit of laying around, took some much needed naps, ate really good food and were able to spend some time with some of our favorite people. It was a great weekend! And a great way to welcome summer!!

Holiday Fun

We have had a lot of fun this month.
Starting off celebrating Nana's birthday.

Preparing our Good Samaritan boy boxes



Lots of fun with friends

Welcoming Santa into town

Lots of baking, and eating of chocolate :)
decorating cookies
and eating them

playing bingo, thanks Miss Sharon!

Country Lights 2009

Every year we go to the local farm for their Country Lights display, Santa's workshop and to see Santa of course.

This year was extra special as some of our dear friends joined us.

Charlie and Tommy making their toys at Santa's Workshop

Tommy, Maggie and Charlie painting their toys

Charlie and Ricky