Tis The Season For . . .

. . . Celebrating Dad’s Birthday!

. . . Mushroom Hunting (no success yet, but they haven’t given up)

. . . An Impromtu Photo Session

. . . Spring Flowers

. . . An Elegant Evening

Simple Pleasures. . .

. . . fresh, spring air after a long cold winter

. . . that first cup of coffee in the quiet of the morning

. . . cheerful song of the newly arrived birds singing outside my bedroom window

. . . warm sunshine

. . . gentle sounds of sleeping children

. . . time with the Lord before everyone else wakes

. . . packing lunch for my dear hubbie



And now I'm ready to begin a brand new day!

This is SO True!

The Bathroom Door Is Closed

Please do not stand here

and talk, whine,

or ask questions.

Wait until I get out.

Yes, it is locked. I want it that way.

It is not broken, and I am not trapped.

I know I have left it unlocked, and even open at times,

since you were born,

because I was afraid some horrible tragedy

might occur while I was in there,

but it's been 10 years

and I want some PRIVACY.

Do not ask me how long I will be.

I will come out when I am done.

Do not bring the phone to the bathroom door.

Do not go running back to the phone yelling

'She's in the BATHROOM!'

Do not begin to fight as soon as I go in.

Do not stick your little fingers under the door

and wiggle them.

This was funny when you were two.

Do not slide pennies, LEGOs,

or notes under the door.

Even when you were two this got a little tiresome

If you have followed me down the hall talking,

and are still talking as you face this closed door,

please turn around, walk away,

and wait for me in another room.

I will be glad to listen to you when I am done.

And yes, I still love you.

Mom

...Author Unknown

copied from lambechops blog, first seen at momys.com If anyone knows where this was first published or the author's name, I'd love to hear from you!

Music to a Mother's Ears

"These potatoes taste very good, Mom. This is a very good supper" - this from the mouth of my most finicky child.

"Cause that's what God wants me to do" - this from the mouth of my 6 year old son when asked why he was hanging up his clean laundry when he was supposed to be in bed. How can I argue with that?

All the hard work pays off. I'll take these small rewards any day! I have the best paycheck ever - it'll withstand even the toughest economy!

A Birthday Fit for a Queen

Yes, the Queen has celebrated another birthday! 8 years old. My, oh my, the years have gone by so quickly. In this family, birthdays are traditionally on the simple side – family gathers around, birthday girl chooses the menu for the day, a few streamers and balloons. Gifts, reminiscing, cake and ice cream always make for a happy birthday. We have never had a ‘real’ birthday party for E yet. But this year, because her birthday fell on a Sunday, it was an easy thing for me to plan.

And so, the Queen had tea with a few of her closest friends to celebrate this momentous occasion.

Fancy dresses, high heels, floppy hats, beads and baubles were the fashion that day.

Mint Tea, Orange Spice Tea, chocolates and a TeaPot-shaped birthday cake were on the menu.

The afternoon was wrapped up after an energetic game of musical chairs.

25 Years Together

Last week hubbie and I celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary. Wow! That is a Quarter of a Century! I am afraid that if he knew exactly what he’d be getting in this deal, he would never have jumped in. I know I have tested his patience, made life not so easy at times, but I am happy he took the plunge! It’s been quite a road: together we’ve had a little fun, shared a few laughs, shed a few tears, weathered more than one storm, watched the sun rise and watched the sun set. From the beginning, we were committed to loving each other as Christ loves His church – totally and unconditionally, forever.

(gifts from our children and M's parents - C made the cheesecake and quarter pic, L made the wooden plaque)

I am so very grateful for M’s love and affection, his commitment and devotion. He is amazing in the way he provides for us. And looking forward to the next 25!

This is the day that the Lord has made . . .

. . . let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Happy Monday to everyone. The sun is shining and it is warmer today than yesterday! We are working at getting a good start to our week here. It’s Big Monday Laundry Day. Not too big, really, since I did much of the laundry mid-week last week. But just look at the list of treasures I found: a screwdriver, a matchbox pick-up truck, 4 turtles, 2 foam fish-shaped stickers and a harmonica. Hit the jackpot, didn’t I!

Menu for today: Breakfast burritos for b’fast, tuna salad and veggie sticks for lunch, tacos for supper.

School work this morning, and then after lunch we will be welcoming the newest addition to the family – L is going to be raising an orphaned calf. It was a twin and since the mother would probably reject one anyway, they took one of the calves right off and started bottle feeding it. L will raise him to sell next fall.

The hens are averaging 10 eggs a day, we have a couple of ravaging cats and a good natured dog to feed as well, so everyone has someone depending on them. Good training tool.

This afternoon I’ll once again dive into the pile of stuff from my bedroom, do a little more sorting and purging.

Missing C, she’ll be home Wed! They say they are having a good time, but we all will be happy to have her home again.

Off now to get to the above-mentioned activities!
Blessings to you!

The Week in Review (with lots of pictures)

The days fill up so quickly, I just don’t seem to find the time to sit down and get my thoughts typed out for this on-line journal. So here’s a speedy trip through this past week.

I think I am finally beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel in this battle I’ve been waging against depression these last many months, and so we are making some progress in catching up with our school work. God is so good, His mercies are new every morning, and great is His faithfulness!

Hitting the Books: G and E are really zipping along in their math books and are making good progress with their phonics/reading lessons. N picks up every thing he can get his hands on to read, amazing! R and I have been doing puzzles. Not yet 3 years old and she can put together every preschool puzzle in the house. Reminds me of C at that age.

Speaking of C, she is on track to finish up her formal schooling before her 18th birthday. Oh my, can this possibly be? Graduating all ready?! L has shown lots of initiative lately to dig in and get to his studies. He really enjoys getting out to help Grandpa S and his uncles with farm work and I think that is his motivation – get the book work out of the way so he can get to the important things in life.

Fun and Games:

These cold winter days the children seem to find plenty to keep themselves busy, like digging into the dress-up clothes and finding themselves in the land of who-knows-where.

Here you see our Water Princess preparing to greet her subjects. Why does she have water bottles attached to her crown? You’ll have to ask her big brother that question – I still haven’t received a satisfactory answer to that question.

Or lining up the dominoes in a pattern you’ve never tried before. They make the coolest sounds as they ‘click-click-click’ knock each other down.

B gifted us an e-certificate from Amazon . com for Christmas, and we finally decided on 2 new games to order. Blokus and Mastermind. We’ve had lots of fun playing together (thanks, B!) – the little ones have surprised me at how well they have taken to these strategy games.

L saw a television clip on how to build your own water rocket. He picked up a few supplies at the hardware store and enlisted the help of G. He took pictures of every step and is typing up step-by-step instructions on how to build one (school and fun, all rolled up in one – woohoo!). It didn’t take them long at all. L and C tested it out (even though it was only about 20 degrees outside, brrrrrr) Success! He’s thinking about overseeing a Water Rocket Blast Off at our upcoming MOMYS gathering in May.

And finally, our main focus over the past week – Master Bedroom Makeover:

M has done an absolutely fabulous job building our home. The hard part is that you can’t do it all at once when you are doing it all on your own. So, I have used our room as a catch-all, hideaway-the-junk sort of room. Doesn’t make for a very romantic hideaway, eh? It has been very exciting to weed out all the junk (ok, there’s still lots of weeding going on) and do a little decorating. I got the painting done (with some help from my kiddos), M and L put up all the trim work. It’s coming together beautifully!

This upcoming week I’ll get the closet shelving units put back together and bring in the furniture. I’m really pleased. The colors are deep and rich and welcoming (they really are a bit darker than the photos show).

Something Sweet for Your Sweetie

Look at what C cooked up this week. She took this confectionery sample into the local coffee shop today. Anyone needing a Valentine treat?

Catching the Waves

It is cold. Very cold. 3 degrees this morning – brrrrrr. So I decided to think ‘warm’ thoughts. And decide to post pictures from a sunny day this past fall, vacationing on the Atlantic Ocean, pictures I never did get posted after our big New England/Canada trip. Hope they put a smile on your face and warm your heart!

10-08 "Playing in the Waves"

A very fun afternoon at Sandy Point, Acadia National Park (near Bar Harbor, ME) It was a little cool, but the sun had warmed the sand--who could resist? Everyone had to get their toes wiggling in the sand and see if their sand castle could withstand the waves.