Merry Christmas!

Well, I hope you all had a good Christmas! We had a great time around here!  We do alot of running around on the holidays which Thad hates, but I have always done it that way so I'm used to it.  For Christmas eve ( Thad worked all day) I took the kids to my grandmas house on my dads side and did our Christmas there.  The kids LOVE going to her farmhouse and they always have a good time.  My grandma is the kind of lady that will not let you out of her house without something to eat and you always end up going home with something ( last time I was there it was two bags of frozen fresh picked blackberries for pies and some black raspberry jam!!  Anyways, the kids ate some lunch there and then opened presents ( my dad was so cute, he was about as anxious as the kids! )

Dont worry she got a baby doll too ;) she loves playing with boy toys, and I think this was her favorite present from pappy

Of course Pappy opened everything and they started playing while my grandma and I had some much needed coffee :)  We had a great time at the farmhouse and Elsie was passed out before we got to the end of the driveway!

We rushed home to help Daddy get ready to do the Christmas Eve candlelight service and then headed over to Thad's parents house to do Christmas there!  Mendy ( always the awesome cook) made a Honey baked ham ( sooo good!!) a turkey, and all the sides! So, we had a feast and got to the presents ( no pics bc I forgot my camera so they are all on Thad's phone! But we had a great time and the girls could hardly hold in their giggles when Thad opened his butt paste from his stocking that they stuck in there for him!! ha!

After relaxing for a little there, we headed home and got the kids to bed ( I already had changed them into jammies at mamaw and papaw's house.)  

The next morning we got up about 8:30 and of course the kids were ready to open presents!  I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves :)

So, needless to say, they really liked toy story 3 haha! Thad and I opened our gifts on Christmas Eve after the kids went to bed and here's what I got!!! I was soo excited!

The Nook!! Thad knows how much I LOVE to read, so this was the perfect gift for me!! I love it!

Soooo.....after we opened gifts at our house, we headed to my other grandma's house for brunch and of course, more presents!! We had such a good time bc we dont get to see that side of the family as much as we would like, so we stayed until about 3 then headed to Thad's grandparents for dinner and......presents! They love going to Mamaw and Papaws at Christmas bc Mamaw's whole coffee table is filled with different tins of candy ( the adults love it too!! )  we stayed here until about 7 then headed to my parents house for about and hour and opened more presents!!!  The kids were so crazy from exhaustion that we didnt stay too long or my kids would have destroyed the house!! When we got home Jude wanted to put his race track together that grandpa got him ( he's obsessed with Hotwheels too! ) so daddy helped Jude build his track then at about 10 we all went to bed!! Thad had to work the next day and the kids and I had church.  We came home from church and put all of our new stuff away and played a little too :) all in all, a busy holiday, but so fun!  

Sigh, so Im kind of exhausted just from typing all that we did!! haha! We have had some time to relax and the kids have been enjoying the snow ( although Elsie only lasts about 15 minutes!)

Its supposed to be in the 50's by Friday so, all the pretty snow will probably be gone :( but its Ohio, so Im sure we'll have some more before winter is over!  Probably in April! haha!

A Birthday and Sickness!

Well, one more year down for sweet Elsie.  She is the big 3 :) Time has flown! Im almost in tears writing this bc she is my baby ( for right now anyway haha) and its so hard, but so precious to see her growing into a little lady.  She is my little angel.

"But as many as received Him to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name" John 1:12

I love how the Lord puts such importance on children, children are our legacy and the greatest blessing the Lord could give us, and sadly we dont treat/think of our children that way most days.  During the mundane and hectic days of life children are still a wonderful beautiful blessing that should be cherished and treated as such, bc it really,truly goes SO fast and they're grown. Okay, now that we are all teary-eyed ;) I'll move on to Elsie's party..... 

The last few birthday's for both kids, we have been having them here at the house.  Its crazy how you think your house is big enough for a little party- ha!

well, it's a tight fit, but still sweet and fun.  This year for Elsie's party we had a few ppl who couldnt make it and so we werent so tightly packed in :) 

This year I also made the few little decorations and we just tried to have a stress free time getting ready- I hate that feeling of stressing out over a little kids party!! so silly to me! But we made easy food and just had a good time hanging out with family and some friends and celebrating Elsie!

So, after having the party and getting to relax that night, Elsie started getting a low grade fever and ended up being sick on her birthday and we skipped church also.  Jude had just gotten over the same thing and I still had a pretty bad cold, so we were a miserable bunch! haha, but we are all on our way to getting healthy :)

Okay, so Ive been trying to let my kids help me more in the kitchen and just with chores and stuff like that. The reason I say "let them" is bc I am very ocd and particular and so its hard for me to let anyone else do the cleaning and stuff around here, but, alas, I have given up some control :) Here is some proof.....( I washed all the glass stuff and knives first, but let them go at the plastic stuff and I have to say, they did a great job!!)

and ugh, Im kind of embarrassed about my almost dead flowers in the window, but Im trying to revive them!! haha I guess I could have pulled them out before I took the pics, but eh, you get it honest here!! :) well, Hope everyone has a great weekend and get out there in the snow!

I love Fall and the holidays!!

Warning....this post will likely have ALOT of pictures :)  I have been horrible at updating this blog, but i promise...I'm trying!  Firstly ( is that a word? ) I LOVE fall- its my favorite season!  I love the cooler weather, the leaves, pumpkins, and thanksgiving ( which I have no pictures of bc I forgot to bring my camera to thanksgiving dinner )  We have played alot in the leaves

Elsie has also been playing in whats left of the sand in the sandbox haha

We've tried to be outside as much as possible and enjoy this weather!

and, yes, thats a snow shovel he is using to "rake" the leaves bc we only have one big rake that he just can't handle yet.....but just give him a couple years :)

also, I have to show you what our favorite snack has been lately

we call them cold s'mores- yum!! 

Anyways, this snack has been a favorite of mine, and rightly so, because about 3 weeks ago, I found out that I'm pregnant again!!! We are so excited and blessed :) I was a little worried about mamas girl Elsie, but she is pretty excited too.  Both of the kids want a boy bc they want to call him Frederick.....?? I have no clue where they came up with that!  Anyways, I have been sooo tired lately and very much lacking in the motivational department, I just wanna be a couch potato all day- which is so not me-Im very type A and always try to keep myself busy.  So, anyways, I think Im entitled to a cold s'mores here and there :)

I'm a little less apprehensive about a 3rd one too bc Jude and Els have gotten so independent and self sufficient lately.  I rarely see them during the day- they are always in their rooms playing and will come down for food, drinks, and occasional potty break.  The consequence to that though is this.....

Their rooms always look like this! Yikes!

But, they are having so much fun pretending, that I really dont care too much :)

And atleast we have their rooms upstairs, so no one really sees it haha :)

Well, we had a great Thanksgiving and lots of good food!  Hope you all did too!

I'll leave you with Jude's funny faces...

Have a great weekend!! :)

busy!!!!

new post coming soon.... I promise!!!

It's been awhile......

Well, it's been awhile, like.....2 months :S  sorry to the few that follow my blog!  Life has been speeding ahead of us and we've been stuck playing catch up, phew and Im exhausted! We have had so many things going on and lots of changes so there for alittle while I was without a computer here at home.  Thad has officially taken over the youth pastor position and got his office together, and while our laptop was being fixed ( thank Aaron!!) He had our desktop at the church.  We had a few things going on in September with the students ( Labor day fireworks, picnic, see you at the pole, and regular services ) I love all of our students and I am so happy and proud that they have chosen to be faithful and not follow the crowd.  This past Saturday we did an alternative to Halloween bonfire at Thad's dad's house and had a really good time! You know how Thad's obsessed with making fires, so this was right up his alley :)  I have also had alot going on with the ladies ministry and feel like I could be doing better than I am with planning and everything.  I feel like sometimes that we are constantly being reactive in our lives instead of being proactive ( maybe a post on this later) and its driving my type A personality nuts!!

So, besides ministry busyness, we have been trying to get some family time in there too- we have been playing out in the leaves alot lately, and the kids LOVE it!  Lately Elsie has been obsessed with picnics ( thanks alot mickey mouse clubhouse)  so we have picnics ALOT at our house :)

Also, the kids have been doing watercolors and they think those things are like the greatest things on the planet!  

Sticking with the arts and crafts theme- Jude still had a gift card left from his birthday so we went to walmart and let him pick out a few things- he picked a Thomas DVD ( of course ) and this stuff called moon sand......yeah.  So basically it just feels like damp sand, and it makes a MESS!!

bleh, but I was thinking of tormenting a few of my friends and getting their kids some for Christmas!!! We'll see ;)

Well, I know this has been an all over the place post, but I had a lot of random stuff to share since my last post ( sorry again) 

Have a good week and never, NEVER let your child walk down the aisle with moon sand at Wal-mart!!

practice, practice, practice.....

Well, only one more year until little Jude-man starts kindergarten :( boohoohoo!!  I will be one sad momma that first day!  But, he is ready NOW!!  He tells me all the time that he gets to go to "big kids school" next year- he's so excited!  So, in light of the big day, we have been practicing letters and writing (he also does a once-a-week preschool with his buddy Gibson)  His penmanship is not perfect, but we are making progress :)

In other news, we have still been making fires out back a lot of nights and daddy has started a new tradition I think- story-telling in the tent.  He told me the other day that the kids make up such funny off-the-wall stories and dragged me the tent one night to listen.  The stories started off about two friends named "Snakey" and "Rexy" and they got lost in the jungle and so Rexy's brother Chomper had to come rescue them.....and so on :) Kids sure are imaginative, and its so fun to listen in!  We also did a lot of marshmallow devouring ( except me- I hate plain marshmallows!)

And....yes, that is my husband's camping coffee mug heating up some coffee for him in the fire- I told you he's the next Bear Grylls ;)

Also, my kids have still been obsessed with the flat bread sandwiches and Jude likes to eat his into shapes!

Here he is with Noah's Ark flatbread!! Haha, goofy kid!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

Good Mornin!

Okay, well, I have lots to post about, because its been awhile.....so get ready- lots of words and pictures coming up :)  We have had such a busy summer this year that I sometimes feel like Im a zombie and just cant wake myself up! Thad and I have been busy with our different things and so when we meet up at home after the dinner, baths, teeth brushing, story telling and everything is done for the night we want to hang out, and usually we are getting started late and then watch a movie and dont end up going to bed until 12 or 1 so needless to say, we're pooped!!  But, God is good and we are blessed!

One thing I have always tried to do with the kids is make regular trips to the library.  They LOVE going into the library and picking out mountains of books!  One set of books we really love are the ladybug girl books- they are so cute and very accurately written from a little girls perspective- my kids really enjoyed them.  And of course anything with dinosaurs or trucks tickles Jude's fancy. :)

            

I so enjoy reading and Im so glad that my kids do too!

We also have really tried to be purposeful about spending time together as a family, just us four.  We have been doing some hiking this summer and going to the resevoir to swim and play in the sand ( and chase around all the annoying seagulls)  The kids have really enjoyed their summer so far i hope and although we've had lots of changes its been fun!

We've also had a few ( very few) relaxing days at home to just play and watch movies.  My kids' favorite movies right now are, just tv shows we have on dvd ( we dont have any kind of regular tv- we can only watch movies, which is VERY okay with me- there is not much worth watching on tv) like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and of course Thomas.  We also took them to see dispicable me at the theater and they loved it, or more they loved all the snacks they got to  eat and getting to drink real pop!! woohoo! ;)

Jude's been adding to his ever growing HotWheels collection

And it seems all my kids wanna do is SNACK.....ALL.DAY. LONG!! see example below

But.....I'm just as guilty

We have also had alot of parties this summer too- Jude turned 4 and his best buddy Gibson turned 4 the next day

But, we have had a full summer and had lots of fun, but we are so ready for fall and cooler weather and hopefully some slowing down in the pace of things. So, thats been our family life this summer! Now here's some of whats been going on with FBI youth!

We have had a really busy summer with the students, and loved every minute!  Our kids got to join us for Slosh wars and they had a blast!  I'll let the photos speak for themselves :)

Here's one of the games from one of our regular youth services, again, the pics speak for themselves :)

we've had so much fun with the students this summer!! Please continue to be in prayer for our Students and our ministry! 

I hope you all have also had a wonderful summer and enjoyed your families as much as I have, now bring on sweaters and cool weather!!