While thanking God for the food before dinner tonight, Little Man prayed:
"Dear Jesus, thank you for my family and my friends and this food and everything else in the world except for satan and his minions, and things that taste bad."
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Memorial Weekend ~ Family Day
I'm afraid that this year we didn't do anything specifically remembering those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms. No parades. No cemetery visit. We've just been really swamped lately, so we relished the extra day to spend together as a family. We had a picnic lunch and play time at a local park, together with another family of all girls. Very fun!
Frisbee anyone?
How I love this man!
We ended the afternoon with freezer pops in our backyard. It was super hot so the freezer pops were a big hit!
Thank you, Lord, for giving fighting prowess and courage to all those who have secured our liberties, many with their very lives. And thank you for the gift of time together as a family that this day brought us. And thank you most of all for your own sacrifice which has bought my eternal freedom from sin.
Frisbee anyone?
How I love this man!
Thank you, Lord, for giving fighting prowess and courage to all those who have secured our liberties, many with their very lives. And thank you for the gift of time together as a family that this day brought us. And thank you most of all for your own sacrifice which has bought my eternal freedom from sin.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Driver's Ed Completed!
That green piece of paper is our daughter's certificate of completion of driver's ed class! With that, we are off to get her permit on Tuesday. Her instructor urged us to get her on the road as soon as possible, for immediate follow up to all she has learned in class, and on the road driving with him.
Highways and byways, here we come!
God is so good!
He is good ALL the time, simply because that's His nature, but today He is also good because He moved someone to give us a gas gift card anonymously at church this morning! We have done a lot of chauffeuring for another family, and despite the drain on our gas budget we have been happy to do it. We knew that God would help us stretch to the end of the month somehow, and the family we've been chauffeuring had a genuine need. We just never imagined that God would choose to make our gas budget "stretch" in quite this way! Thank you, God!!
Friday, May 25, 2012
Meal Planning / Menus for the Week
With two birthdays this month, one party, Mother's Day, driver's ed, and
an unexpected washing machine repair, we came to the end of the money
in the grocery envelope, with several days of the month left to go, and
no available envelopes to "rob" from. I love challenges like this!
Last weekend I spent considerable time preparing the food we did
have for future meals, so as not to waste any. Also, this makes dinner
preparation go much more smoothly during the week if some of the steps
have already been done. I enlisted the children's help, and we got a
lot accomplished!
To read more, see pictures, and see our menus for the week, please go here.
To read more, see pictures, and see our menus for the week, please go here.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
12
We gave him a few clothes (not exciting, but needed). This was his "funny" shirt! And oh so true!!
The specific "big" gift we wanted to give him was a tad out of our budget for this month, so we had to give him a picture of it inside his card.....
Okay, this picture was staged, but he was super excited!! It was on the top of his wish list, but he didn't really expect to get one. When we can pool a bit more money from the next paycheck, we will go and get it!
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
And for the record......
I am super bummed that Josh Ledet got booted off Idol last week!!!!!!
This finale is very anti-climactic. Boo. Hiss.
This finale is very anti-climactic. Boo. Hiss.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Happy 12th Birthday L!!!
Dearest L,
How I thank God for you! As you know, we found out we were expecting you when your brother G was still just an infant, so the news came as a pretty big surprise. But you have been the BEST surprise of my whole life! You were so carefully knit together in my womb by God Himself, and He does good work. :-)
You've heard the story of your birth many times already, so you know that your first few minutes were actually quite scary for daddy and me. You were very blue and needed a team of medical people working on you for many long moments before we knew you were okay and I was able to hold you. I couldn't wait to get my hands on you!!
You were very big (10# 8 oz), and had trouble maintaining your blood sugar level and body temperature at first, so you spent some time in the special care nursery. We were so happy to be reunited later ~ we had so much to be thankful for!
Grandpa got to come to the hospital first this time, instead of Grandma (who was busy watching your siblings), because we had a very special surprise waiting for him..... your middle name is his middle name!
We were pretty excited to be a family of five! You gave your siblings little presents when they came to meet you for the first time, and so they loved you from the beginning! ;-)
You were born with such thick, luscious dark hair. EVERYONE wanted to touch it, and that made it greasy really fast from everyone's hands. So you got frequent hair washings. This was after your very first bath at home.
I love this picture of you, because this is what you looked like whenever you were awake! You were an incredibly happy, smiley baby. Twelves years later, it still melts my heart when you smile!
Again, because we are slightly crazy, when you were two months old we flew to WA to visit your other grandparents. This was the trip you've heard about, when daddy had to go home early to go back to work, and I flew on a 5 hour flight home by myself with a 3 year old, 1 year old, and infant. Thankfully it was the year before 9-11, and grandma and grandpa could wait with me at the gate before boarding. I needed lots of help! I won't embarrass you too much further, but you made a very memorable deposit during that flight..... TWICE. We both needed baths as soon as we got home!
Your first Easter. You were such a happy, eager, bold baby. You held your own very well against your older siblings! These were very happy days for me and daddy. Such precious babies we had.
Big sis and you were best buds there for awhile. I love this picture!
Remember our trip to Williamsburg, VA? You were seven at the time. The age Little Man is now!
That year, for no reason other than you wanted to, you bought me my first webkinz with your very own money. That was very special to me! (thank you! that webkinz is still on my bed!)
This is when you first got your body sock. Remember how much you played in that? It doesn't get used much anymore, but for a couple years it was used almost every day.
Your 8th birthday brought you some cool new water guns!
This picture was taken when you were 9.
With one of your pinewood derby cars ..... this was a fun activity for you for three years in a row. You designed this one yourself.
This was last year, when you turned 11. Trying out your new "muscle shirt"!
And this was this morning (same shirt!).
Happy, happy birthday to you, dear L. Words cannot express how much I love you, and what a joy it is for me to be your mom. I love your sensitive heart, your great sense of humor, and your unique way of looking at the world. May you always stay close to Jesus ~ and remember that He is always with you!
I love you,
Mom
How I thank God for you! As you know, we found out we were expecting you when your brother G was still just an infant, so the news came as a pretty big surprise. But you have been the BEST surprise of my whole life! You were so carefully knit together in my womb by God Himself, and He does good work. :-)
You've heard the story of your birth many times already, so you know that your first few minutes were actually quite scary for daddy and me. You were very blue and needed a team of medical people working on you for many long moments before we knew you were okay and I was able to hold you. I couldn't wait to get my hands on you!!
You were very big (10# 8 oz), and had trouble maintaining your blood sugar level and body temperature at first, so you spent some time in the special care nursery. We were so happy to be reunited later ~ we had so much to be thankful for!
Grandpa got to come to the hospital first this time, instead of Grandma (who was busy watching your siblings), because we had a very special surprise waiting for him..... your middle name is his middle name!
We were pretty excited to be a family of five! You gave your siblings little presents when they came to meet you for the first time, and so they loved you from the beginning! ;-)
You were born with such thick, luscious dark hair. EVERYONE wanted to touch it, and that made it greasy really fast from everyone's hands. So you got frequent hair washings. This was after your very first bath at home.
I love this picture of you, because this is what you looked like whenever you were awake! You were an incredibly happy, smiley baby. Twelves years later, it still melts my heart when you smile!
Again, because we are slightly crazy, when you were two months old we flew to WA to visit your other grandparents. This was the trip you've heard about, when daddy had to go home early to go back to work, and I flew on a 5 hour flight home by myself with a 3 year old, 1 year old, and infant. Thankfully it was the year before 9-11, and grandma and grandpa could wait with me at the gate before boarding. I needed lots of help! I won't embarrass you too much further, but you made a very memorable deposit during that flight..... TWICE. We both needed baths as soon as we got home!
Your first Easter. You were such a happy, eager, bold baby. You held your own very well against your older siblings! These were very happy days for me and daddy. Such precious babies we had.
Big sis and you were best buds there for awhile. I love this picture!
Remember our trip to Williamsburg, VA? You were seven at the time. The age Little Man is now!
That year, for no reason other than you wanted to, you bought me my first webkinz with your very own money. That was very special to me! (thank you! that webkinz is still on my bed!)
This is when you first got your body sock. Remember how much you played in that? It doesn't get used much anymore, but for a couple years it was used almost every day.
Your 8th birthday brought you some cool new water guns!
This picture was taken when you were 9.
With one of your pinewood derby cars ..... this was a fun activity for you for three years in a row. You designed this one yourself.
This was last year, when you turned 11. Trying out your new "muscle shirt"!
And this was this morning (same shirt!).
Happy, happy birthday to you, dear L. Words cannot express how much I love you, and what a joy it is for me to be your mom. I love your sensitive heart, your great sense of humor, and your unique way of looking at the world. May you always stay close to Jesus ~ and remember that He is always with you!
I love you,
Mom