Goals for 2013

Wow, I planned to start Blogging on a regular bases again.... looks like I missed that mark!

My goals/resolutions for 2013

• Reduce unneeded clutter from my home and life.
• Spend more time enjoying my family/less time stressing over the small stuff.
• Spend more time in the word.

I thought I had finished this... I'm going to post it now before I forget even though it is unfinished. 

Hobby Farm?

On our way to school today we were talking about what I had packed in everyone's lunches today. Donna raises her voice and says "We need to buy a cow! Oh, and a farm for the cow, because we can't have it at our house."

Wow, were did that come from... well feel free to follow along with the conversation that we had the rest of the drive from school to school (the best that I can remember it)

We need to buy a cow! Oh, and a farm for the cow, because we can't have it at our house."
I asked her "Why do we need to buy a cow?"
"So that Chloe and I can have milk, and you don't need to buy it. Milk is the part of the food plate I always remember. We could sell it too"
"So you think we should move to a farm and have a cow?"
"And a sheep!" Chloe added.
"You want a sheep for the wool? What are we going to do with the wool from the sheep?"
"Make clothes!" Donna announced
"Make warm blankets. We could make some for us, and sell some for lots of money!" Chloe replied 
"Who is going to help you take care of the sheep? Remember that I can't touch the wool"
"Dad will!!" both girls announce"Granny" Ethan added
"Hmmm maybe we shouldn't get a sheep, I don't want you to be itchy all the time." Donna said.
"Oh!! We could get one of those rabbits like we saw last Christmas!" Chloe excitedly said.
"Angora rabbits? The ones that you make yarn from?"
"Yeah, lets get 2 of them!!" Chloe said.
"Mommy, I think we should get a duck" Ethan added (yes, he said "a" as in one)
"Where will the duck live?"
"We will need to make a pound for the duck, I don't think we want it to live in our bathtub." Ethan responded.
"That sounds like a good idea Ethan. What are we going to do with our duck, just enjoy it?"
"No, we will sell the big duck after it has some baby ducks. Then when we have even more ducks, we will be able to get more money from the little ones, for their cuteness!" Ethan said.
"Wow, you guys have really thought this all through. What about Alex, what would he want us to have on our farm?"
"Pigs" Chloe said with a giggle.
"Pigs to make BACON!!" Donna added.
"No, he would want cats. lots of cats...and some bacon." Chloe said thoughtfully.
"I think we should get chickens..."
"We know that!!" the girls interrupted me to say.
"Hehe, lots of chickens for eggs."
"Mom, what would dad want on our farm?" Donna asked
"Internet, that is what your dad would want."
All 3 kids giggled.
As we dropped the girls off, Ethan got very quiet.
"Mom, I think it would be lots of fun to live on a farm like that...Could Cinder come live there with us?"

I so love my kids!! What amazing imaginations they have!

Wow, time sure has been going fast the last month!!! The last 2 days I have had a migraine, and today is already the 4th of July!! I feel like I have gotten nothing done in the past week and a half. I had big plans for this week, but have just been down for the count. After getting for (off-brand) Excedrin Migraine (it is on recall still) I am feeling better, at least I can open my eyes without feeling sick!  Also I picked-up an additional window air unit and Adam installed it as soon as he got home. So I am now back to the land of the living.

I have fallen in love with my new Kindle (Adam won it at a work conference). However, my kids have also fallen in love with it. (Yesterday at one point Chloe brought my attention to the fact that everyone was on a different electronic devise. Not a proud moment for me, however it was keeping them from fighting.) Now as I woke up today, I thought "It's a Holiday, I can read a chapter or two before I get up and start the laundry. Plus Adam installed a new air conditioner, I can do laundry later." Literally as I reach out to pick up my Kindle, Chloe grabs it. Why oh why did I install games and kids books on it? I guess I should have gotten on that laundry. Instead I got on Facebook and Pinterest, the ultimate time wasters. So here it is, 9am, and even Alex is up and I have done nothing. Wait...why is Alex up??? Now that is a reason for concern! I guess I better just get up and get some cleaning done before the migraine comes back. Although sitting here pretending like this is keeping it away has been nice, I have got to do something.

Time to go be thankful for my freedoms that I have as an American citizen.
God Bless the USA!!!

I am planning to Blog about our trip, however I have not had a day with any free time yet to do so. Today we have a play-date for Ethan and Chloe. Maybe I can work on it this afternoon. I also haven't gotten to even look over all of the photos we took. I had to finish going through all of the Disney taken pics last night.

I did however make time to hit Hy-Vee after looking through the 3-Day-Sale. I spent $38.85 and saved more than $40. Yeah!!

Well, I am off to get some stuff done before waking everyone up. Have a great day!

5 days

The kids have been on the countdown for months. I have been thinking about it, but just looked at the calendar and it hit me. Only 5 days left till our family dream vacation!!! I think it has just been a dream, but last night at dance practice we were all talking about travel plans. The fact that next week this time we will be waking up in Florida and making one short day of driving to our condo. I need to get moving, normally I would have had a notebook full of lists by now. Have I just relaxed that much, or am I nuts?

Let's see if I can be productive today. I have been enjoying my kids and not been as productive as I should, but how do I tell Ethan "no" when he just wants to cuddle and talk? He will catch me if I'm not truly into the conversations as well. Dad can get away with it, I get in trouble. Like right now, Ethan asked me about Bobble Head Anakin's little neck. I responded to him, while looking at him. He said "mom, are you paying attention?" He is right, I had my mind on something else. Dad however can just not respond at all... Oh well, I will take it while he wants to talk to me.

Yesterday we signed up for the library's summer reading program. I only let the kids check out 3 books, so we can read and return them by Saturday. We cam home and they read all afternoon. Alex actually seems upset that he missed out. It was so nice and quiet! We are going back today to return the books and check out new books. While we were there Ethan signed up and got his library card. He was so nervous! You would have thought it was his driving permit. Then when he signed his name, he was soooo upset! It wasn't neat enough. :( I wouldn't be surprised if I catch him practicing his name smaller so he can redo it. Poor sweet perfectionist.

Well, this is a rather boring entry, but my mind is all over the place looking for the lists that I haven't made yet. Have a great day!

I am feeling very blessed today that God loves me enough to lead my steps. I just have to keep my eyes on Him!

Week 2

It is Monday, and I am loving life!! I had a few people tell me yesterday that I look happier than I have in a long time. My reply was "That's what happens when you obey God."

Ethan woke up bright and early today and bribed me with Pop Tarts. haha He gets so sad when we don't have Pop Tarts in our house. After 4 Pop Tarts and 2 handfuls of Kix he is playing quietly on the living room floor. My devotional time was a bit different today with him talking to me every few minutes. ;)

Today Alex is heading off to Adventureland with the youth group. This will be the first time for him to go do something like this aside from school field trips. He seems to be feeling so much better and asked us if he could go. I was in shock! Now I am very happy for him, but also nervous. It's hard to let your kids grow up, and with Alex there are things he never cared about, so we never had to adjust to them. So it seems now he is growing up in fast forward.

The rest of us will be working on the laundry that didn't get done last week, and packing. I am amazed at how much laundry we have, out of season laundry that is. I hope to have a nice load for the Almost Free Shop on top of the bags  sitting on the couch now.

Today I am feeling very blessed that we found Dr. Kavalier and Namenda. It is doing wonderful things for our boys!!

It's June 1st!! For the kids that means it is vacation month, only 8 more days! For the Eye Dr. it is just another day to check my vision. For most people, one day closer to summer. For many teachers, one day less left in Summer break. However, for me it is the reminder of just how much God loves me.

Before I met Adam, I had some bad experiences with boys. I swore to God I would no longer look for a boyfriend, just do the best I could for him. As my heart healed, I met this very strange young man that made me scared and feel alive at the same time. We were at camp Counselor training. I would never see this young man again, I was off to explore Europe for a month before I did any camps. We talked some, but no more than with anyone else there.

I came back to Iowa and repacked my bags for some camps. I again met this very odd stick of a young man with a mullet. I enjoyed talking to him, knowing that it would never be more than a friendship. Somehow we ended up at the same activities most of the week. Somehow in the middle of the night I found my self sitting on the floor in a hallway at the Police Station laughing uncontrollable. I still have no idea what was so funny. Another night we were walking along a path in the pitch black, and he took my hand to help lead me out of the forest. My hand tingled and I giggled, but I wasn't going to fall for him. (It was a night camp BTW, everything we did was at night, and we always were surrounded by kids.) By the end of the week we had a dance for the kids, and I remember feeling so sad that I may never see him again...

4 months later, on Christmas Eve we went to the theater and watched Dumb and Dumber. (Can't believe I admitted that) We ended our evening with him insisting he give me a gift early. (I didn't want an early gift, so he kinda knew what he was getting into with me. I tend to make things difficult.) It was a HUGE teddy bear that had a red ribbon around it's neck with a beautiful Diamond ring on it. I honestly don't remember the rest of it, I was so excited. I think he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him, I think I said yes. I do know that 18 months later my strange little version of a fairy tale brought us to a beautiful church with beautiful flowers, amazing friends and family cute little kids. Me in an all white gown, Adam in a black tux and a fresh hair cut. (got rid of the party in the back).

So many memories of that day, lots of things that didn't go my way. However they were things that went just the way God planned. As I get older I just realize that those are the things that help me remember. Those are the things that we still laugh about often! The things that went perfectly we never mention, aside from the fact that the rain stopped just before we left in the horse and buggy. We do however laugh about our precious ring bearer that rolled under the grand piano somehow missing the candelabra while my brother tried to convince him that standing quietly was the way to go. At the same time, our other precious ring bearer was standing perfectly. We talk about me sleeping on the kitchen floor at the church while my mom finished up the cake we were making "together" because I was working nights and was exhausted. I am just grinning ear to ear as I sit here thinking about my fairy tale wedding to the man that God brought into my life just when I needed him.

Adam, thank you for loving me through all of the good and the bad. Even when we feel like the bad is overwhelming, you look for the good to help pull us through. You loved me through 4 emotional roller coaster pregnancies, and the depression that followed each of them. You have loved me through Doctor diagnosis that the statistics say our marriage isn't going to survive, but God says we will. You have loved me when I didn't feel loveable. I'm so thankful that we listened to God when he told us we were meant for each other! You are the only man that could love me the way you do.You are the only man I can love so completely the way I do! Thank you for trusting me with your heart.

Happy 16th Anniversary!!

My praise for today?  That God has been with us and will continue to be with us for as long as we both shall live. I Do!