FaMiLy

Last night we celebrated Lance's birthday and, as usual, the kids took over the show. Isaac LOVED hanging out with the twins and Zoey always had to have her hands on their face. Such a fun, cRaZy night!

what a memory!

It was over a year and a half ago, so I have no idea HOW he remembered, but Isaac saw some marshmallows in our cupboard and asked to build with them like he did before. Then he asked for the toothpicks. This kid has an incredible memory, because our marshmallow day (you can see it HERE) was in November of 2008! I'm glad it's still as fun today as it was back then. Yay for super easy projects that are an easy clean-up... too bad my kids are now full of sugar right before dinner time!

and the QuEsT continues...

Today our quest continued to find new parks all over the county. We ended up at a beautiful and relaxing park called Ghesquiere. I've realized that we enjoy parks a lot more when there is more to do then just the play area. We like to go exploring... finding new plants, bugs and oddly shaped sticks. We will definitely be visiting this park again!

one of THOSE days

It's just been one of those days.
I'm not feeling well.
I'm pregnant.
My clothes are starting to get uncomfortable.
My house is a wreck.
There are many problems I need to solve.
There is no time to solve them.
My daughter's favorite word is "no"
My son's favorite word is "mom"
This day has been super long and I still have a ton to do before I can lay down for the night. I decided to take a minute to grab a drink of water and sit... so instead of making another dish for me to clean, I grabbed one of the left-over disposable cups from Zoey's birthday. (We put characters on them so people would know which cup was theirs). Out of all the names I could pick, today I picked THIS one.
Are you kidding me? Not Barbie. Not Dora. Not Wonder Woman.
MISS PIGGY!
I think I'm going to call it a night!

and in all things... session 25

Things I am thankful for on April 19, 2010...

1. Proverbs 4:20-22
   
2. Cooking!
   
3. Organic Honest Ice Tea
   
4. My daughter sleeping in til 10am
   
5. Green grass
   
6. Cute hand-me-down maternity clothes
   
7. Drive-thru ATMs
   
8. God-given friendships
   
9. God-given wisdom
   
10. Watermelon
    

is it nothing to be happy?

"You are worried about seeing them spend their early years in doing nothing. What! Is it nothing to be happy? Nothing to skip, play, and run around all day long? Never in their life will they be so busy again."
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, 1762

Let's party like it's 2005

Yesterday Chris and I had the entire day and night to ourselves. We woke up early, had breakfast and headed out to Lansing in the 40 degree weather. Actually, Chris had a choice of 3 adventures for the day and he decided on Lansing, so we hit the road with ice teas in hand. We laughed the whole day talking about what life was life before kids... which was weird because we spent 1/2 the day talking about how blessed we are because of our kids. We even jumped in the car at 11 at night to get a late dinner. It's been over 4 years since we've even thought of doing that! I wouldn't want to go back to being kidless, but having a day to focus on each other made it easier to embrace the phase of life we are in. Thanks dad and mom for taking the kids so we could have some time off!

breakfast at the lake. part 2.

We started a tradition last spring and Isaac has been begging every morning to have breakfast on the lake. We also continued our quest for finding new parks by having our morning at Waterfront Park on Lake St. Clair. It was pretty windy, but we had a wonderful, relaxing morning together.You just don't find slides like this that often anymore! Man, was it fast!

local paper

Chris just walked in with our city paper and wanted to know if those were his kids in the picture. Yes they are. Hilarious! It was when we had our circus night at the library.

and in all things... session 24

Things I am thankful for on April 13, 2010...

1. Isaiah 40:8
   
2. Outside grilling
   
3. Creamy nutmeg candle from B&BW
   
4. Hilarious CFL Sunrise Club costumes
   
5. Leftover homemade soup
   
6. Cute twin boy nephews
   
7. Truth
   
8. Oven roasted turkey lunchmeat
9. Veggietale DVDs
   
10. Isaiah 40:29
    

i'm a glutton for punishment

ramblings: no longer a rookie.

I was interviewed.
SO WEIRD!

A girl who wants to be a mom and be in ministry wanted to get my thoughts on it. I laughed when she asked me because almost daily I am asking my mentors how to do it and I wasn't sure what I would have to say that would be that inspiring. Now that it's over, I have to say it was probably more informative for me than her.
The conclusion: I truly love what I do.

I love being a wife.
I love being a mom.
I love being a youth pastor.

One of the questions that was the hardest for me to answer was:
When do you find time to do the things that YOU love to do?
My answer: Everyday.

I may not be able to find much time for shopping or reading like I used to, but everyday my life is filled with the things I love- playing hide and seek with my kids while they laugh hysterically, having in depth discussions about theology with my husband while I am slicing up strawberries, talking to a youth about stepping up while they tell me how difficult it is, etc, etc, etc.

I am almost finished with an incredible book by Christine Caine called "Can I Have and Do It All, Please?" and it has been such a God send. In the 1st chapter she sums up the book by saying "If we want to do this adventure we call life well, and fulfill the purpose God has for our lives, we need to discover what His definition of 'ALL' is, and go after that."

That's the key: We ABSOLUTELY can have and do it ALL... as long it is God's All. It may not look like the life you had imagined when you were 13, and it won't look the person's life next to you, but it will be fulfilling and successful if the will of God is driving every moment and every decision. Don't get me wrong, I would love a couple more hours in the day to look things up on the internet or rummage through the sale racks at Marshalls, but for right now, the things I love to do are the things that consume my day. Thank you God for allowing me to be a part of your kingdom and love the people you love.

Our Summer QUEST

We are on a quest.
I realized this week that although I get really excited about the chance to get the kids outside in the sun, we always go to the same 4 parks. Our goal is to try all different parks this year, ones that we've never been to. It's our summer adventure. We started our tour this morning with Alina at Lynch. Great play area, even better exploring grounds. What a perfect 60 degree weather day!

The kids were SO excited to see flowers blooming!Because I had coupons for 3 free ice cream cones, we stopped at McDs for some sugar... this was against my better judgment right before nap-time.

our quiet, rainy morning

"Every child is an artist.
The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up."
~Pablo Picasso~

Jesus is Alive... now everyone be quiet & smile!

Even though we didn't really enjoy the Easter picture process this year, we still enjoyed our day celebrating Jesus! Isaac went to church early with daddy to help set up all the equipment for our Easter service. I think we have a sound-man in training!

The circus was definitely a circus!

Tonight we visited "The Big Top" at our local library. It was packed out and so much fun for my kids. We got to try some of the things that you find at the circus and Isaac was hamming it up... Zoey was pretty entertaining as well.Mrs. H read us some wonderful circus stories and taught us some fun circus songs with actions.

Zoey was a BIG FAN of the songs!

We started our circus act by walking the tightrope.

We then moved to juggling and a balancing act.

Doing the elephant roll. Isaac rocked this out!Excited about our craft and prizes.Enjoying our circus popcorn on the ride home.Finally we went home to make daddy some brownies.