Another template :) Couldn't resist....

It was a fairly quiet weekend here. We just spent all day Saturday together as a family. Sunday was fun as we went to Mom and Dad's for dinner which was so fun. We do love being surrounded by family.

Wow, not much to report.....sorry for the boringness :)

Yes, another new template....My other one was too dark and it was sooo brilliantly sunny today, I just had to change it!

Tonight is bible study and I am SOO looking forward to it. Not just because it's a great study but because my children are crazy tonight. Especially my son!!!! AAAAHHHHH!!!! CALGON TAKE ME AWAY!!!

So I pulled a brilliant move today. I had to pick Jonah up early from school so I had to go into the school. I couldn't find Sydney's shoes before we left so I had to carry her. (Editor side note: I HATE shoes, they are evil. SO are socks. Bring on summer!!!) As we were leaving the school, we started to cut across the grass. Jonah says, "Mom! We are NOT allowed to walk on the grass. You should not be doing that." I reply, "It's ok bud, it's just quicker. Sydney is very heavy!" No sooner had I said this to him and my feet slip out from underneath me as I am headed down this little hill. Of course there was the faintest bit of snow on the ground making it slippery, but I was in such a hurry to put Syd down that I didn't bother to slow down. I slid the whole way down the hill making my backside very cold and wet. Not only that, but Jonah's school is at a rather busy intersection, so all these people are rolling down their windows yelling, " ARE YOU OK????" Sounds like old times eh, Joce???? Just goes to show that you NEVER outgrow your clumsiness!

New beds and baseball

Last week my daughter discovered how to climb out of her crib. What's so extraordinary about that, you might ask. This child was climbing full sets of steps at 10 months old, scaling the kitchen counters at 1, climbing bookshelves at 14 months. She is a climber. So I fully expected her to figure out how to be free much sooner than this. We let it go for a few days, she would climb out and come downstairs and we would walk her back, over and over. Then she started getting so tired that she would fall out of the crib trying to get out. Thus we decided to take down the crib (*sniff sniff* traumatic for the mother) And we put her mattress on the floor. At first she was slightly confused as to where her bed was. But she saw her pillow and blankets and ran to them. The first night was a little rough. Their bedroom door shuts very hard, as in only Matt or I can open it! Which isn't all bad, it's kept her in there. On the other hand, when I have to get up at 3 AM to let Molli out to go to the bathroom....we're working on it :) She's getting good now about going to bed although we usually hear the Dora Talking House randomly, or Molli saying.."GET OFF MY BED!!" Molli sleeps on the top bunk! Yet another transition as my baby becomes a little girl :(

Ok, on to happier things.....it was so sunny and nice yesterday. The kids decided they had waited just long enough, so this is what we saw as we looked out the window at the playing....

















This was cute, but then we saw Emma who, apparantly, had been chosen to be the catcher....

I survived. Everyone showed up, I was very busy. I'm not sure why I promised a picture, LIKE I HAD TIME! My house was immaculate, that I am going to document in case it doesn't happen again for a while!!! Everyone was seated and awaiting dinner. I placed it proudly on the table and started serving everyone. I was so proud until everyone cut into their chicken, which happened to be not quite done. I was so embarrassed. My mom caught my tear filled eyes and mouthed, "It's ok, honey." We all took turns at the microwave :) Everyone praised it....just to make me feel better I think! I did however make a killer dessert that went over really well. It's called Heavenly Lemon Angel cake. It's basically Angel food cake baked in a deep 9x13 pan. Then you juice and zest two lemons and mix it with powdered sugar. You poke holes in the cake and pour that glaze over it. Top it with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. HOLY COW!! It was fabulous, if I do say so myself. All in all, it was a great night. Everyone had a good time being together and I enjoyed being a hostess. We will definitely do it again! If for no other reason than it makes me really clean my house :)

So last night, I was exhausted, my feet ached. So I went to bed at about 9. For some odd reason, all I could think about was The Exorcism of Emily Rose. I have NOT seen this movie, I even closed my eyes at the previews. But Felecia had mentioned it and it was all I could think about. (Not that I am indicating in ANY way that this is Felecia's fault!) So I didn't fall asleep till about 4 AM so tonight I am wasted, as in tired. Lest you misunderstand me :) So off to put the children and myself to bed :)

Now I've done it... What was I thinking??!!! See we always go to my mom's house for dinner or games. Sometimes we go to Grandma's or Aunt Carol's.....So I decided that it was high time that everyone came here. WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?!?!? First, I thought I would just ask my mom, dad and Noah. Well then I thought, it would be nice to have Grandma and Grandpa over too. Well might was well have Aunt Carol too.....Then my mom calls and our friend Lisa is coming up for the weekend. That would make the grand total 13.....13!?!?!?!?!!??!?Oh boy. Suffice to say I am going to be cleaning my brains out for the next few days!!! Not to mention cooking. But it's going to be great, I love being surrounded by family and they won't get much closer than this :) I'll take a pic of my table and clean house before everyone arrives. I'd take a shot now, but I would be too horrified for you all to see that (LOL Mindy!!!)

I'm doing a Beth Moore bible study right now and it is knocking my socks off. It's the one on the tabernacle. Searching the old testament it is AMAZING to see all the correlations to Christ. One thing that really blew my mind, well two things. The first one was about Adam and Eve. Now, I've read the creation story a half a million times. But she drew a point that I had NEVER thought about. After Adam and Eve sinned, they were kicked out of the garden. They had sewn garments from fig leaves, but God decided to COVER the shame they felt from their sin with animal skins. Again, nothing new. Until I realized that God had to KILL an animal to get the skin. Blood had to be shed to cover their sin!!!! Awesome. The other revelation to me was the story of Abraham and Isaac. God provided a ram. The ram was caught in the bushes by his horns. Again, I knew this story inside and out, or so I thought. Bushes where Abraham was were almost completely thorns and the ram was tangled in them by his horns. Jesus is called in Scripture the "horn of our salvation". So this ram's horns were wrapped in thorns. The imagery is just incredible.

Ok enough procrastinating! House to clean :)

Home again, home again......I was really glad to see the blue house come into view I must say. The kitties were very glad we were home, at least they were glad I was home. Within minutes the kids were chasing them down!!

We had a great time with Matt's family. I had an awesome time with my "coffee/blogging" buddies. Overall, just a good time. I took my new camera and as I sat down to post tonight I plugged it in to download some pics. Well, I took a total of 8 pics. Oops.....I'm just so not used to having a camera yet!! But here are a few of the few that I took!!





Jonah getting a kiss from Maggie










My Emma Jane with her great-grandma Lois Jane





And my brother and sister-in-law, Ken and Robin, are going to be parents soon so we decided to ease Ken into fatherhood by just giving him a teeny taste of parenthood.......












there you have it, our mini-vacation!!

Mini vacation

Howdy from Detroit! Matt got a four day weekend and so did Jonah so we escaped to the in-laws. We're having a blast! Tomorrow I get to have coffee with my "blogging" buddies (although two of them were my friends before we even knew what a blog was!!) and we get to worship at our old church. The kids are having a blast with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Kimmie and the dogs! I do miss my bed, but even a little getaway is nice :)

Not much else to report, there'l lbe a bigger post complete with pics when I get home! My new camrea is getting quite a workout :)

Tagged

Well I wasn't going to do this one, but then I read Melis's post and we have the same purse :) So then I had to.....here it is....




Ok, let's see, receipts, my driver's license, my phone card, my debit card, a family Christian bookstore punch card, my phone, a pen, my jcpenney portrait club card, a reeses white chocolate cup package ( !!) 5 marbles (what the heck???) All my insurance cards, tons of change, my petco card, holiday cash punch cards, my keys and advil. So there you go!

Yes another one

I found another one....He he. You know y'all been wanting to do another one of these things....

4 Things About Me

Four Jobs You've Had In Your Life:
1. Front desk clerk at a huge resort
2. Leasing agent at an apartment complex
3. Newspaper deliverer
4. Cook

Four Movies You'd Watch Over and Over
1. The Princess Diaries 2 (I know.....)
2. Love Actually (that movie is ALWAYS hilarious)
3. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
4. Return to Me

Four Places You Have Lived
1. Born in Brockport New York
2. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
3. Mancelona, Michigan
4. Milford, Nebraska

Four TV Shows You Love to Watch
1. House
2. American Idol
3. Extreme Makeover, Home edition
4. Lost

Four Places You've Been On Vacation
1. Disney World
2. Washington D.C.
3. Virginia Beach
4.A million places up north

Four Websites You Visit Daily
1. MY blog
2. Everyone's else's blog
3. My bank account
4. Anything to do with our upcoming vacation

Four of Your Favorite Foods
1. Steak, smothered in fried mushrooms
2. Taco Salad
3. Ponsineta sundaes from Tico's in Lincoln, Nebraska
4. Anything chocolate

Four Places You'd Rather Be Right Now
1. Heaven
2. Sleeping
3. Vacation, anywhere away
4. My mom's house having dinner

OK, your turn.... :)

Thanks for all the response to my last post. It seems, mostly, that we all came to the same conclusion.

So how many of you made resolutions? I can't really say I made them, but there were some things that I committed to doing this year. So far so good. One of the big things for me was committing to having a quiet time every day. With four children under the age of 7, finding a quiet time is an adventure. I really hate getting up in the morning, so I felt the Lord challenging me to get up early and spend time with Him. So I set the alarm (and the coffee maker!) for 6 AM. I overheard someone this weekend who said, "How can I say I'd die for the Lord when I am not even willing to get up early to spend some time with Him?" That is exactly where I was. It has been so awesome, being in the quiet of the morning and sitting at His feet. I've just started another Beth Moore study that is just knocking my socks off. What an awesome God we serve!!

Another commitment was to fitness, gag..... Back to exercising 3 times a week. But more than that, not drinking pop (my favorite thing ever) and drinking lots of water. Also watching what I eat and not eating junk all the time. I've been doing fairly well on this one as well. Hopefully I can keep it up!

Well time to get the kids off to school.....Thus begins another day!

This and that

Pretty uneventful weekend.....Matt only had Saturday off. It was nice to wake up and have him still be home though.

Saturday we went and hung out at my mom's house. It's so nice to be able to do that. The kids love being there and it's great just having "grown up" talk with the folks. Here are some pics from that.....









Emma being silly






Molli and Noah playing house :)







So I got into a debate with a friend of mine about something this weekend. Tell me what you think. She casually mentioned something about her and her husband watching pornography together. They are both believers. Something about that strikes me as just not right and I told her that. So we went back and forth for a bit about it. What do y'all think??? Is it ok for believing spouses to watch pornography together?

yeah I know....

Yes, another new template. What can I say? I like things to change :) Actually this one is a tribute to my new love of coffee. Oh, I've always liked coffee. I'd have a cup now and then. And I adore cappucino. But lately I've actually been using my coffee maker. I'm hooked :) So there you have it.....

Nothing much new here, I'm afraid. The children have returned to school much to the relief of their mother. Monday and Tuesday were rough as they realized how sick they were of each other. Plus they crave structure and routine which you just don't have on vacation. Molli was so excited to go back, Jonah not so much :)

I'm busily planning our vacation. We didn't think Matt was going to get any time this summer, but it worked out that he does!!! So we are headed to New York, mostly for the big family reunion/party. This year my dad turns 50 and my grandpa turns 75, so we're having a big shindig. But as Matt gets a WHOLE week, we are leaving early and hitting several places along the way. We're going to start at Niagara Falls. I've been there tons of times, but Matt hasn't and the kids either, obviously. Then we are off to Darien Lake, which is a Six Flags park. Since neither Matt or I do roller coasters, we'll be fine! Then we're going to hit a few other places, mostly state parks with tremendous trails and waterfalls. I think we will also visit the Corning Glass factory as well. Then we'll end the week at my grandparents house, swimming and having a party. It's so much fun!! Matt has never had a job with vacation time before, awesome!

Well time to start the day.....

P.S. Is my font big enough to read or should I make it bigger???

2005

Here it goes, my lists for 2005....

Best occurence: hmm, that was a tough one. Probably getting our house and getting MY OWN ROOM!!!

Best moment: Sleeping in my own room.....

Best memory: Molli's face on the first day of school

Best month: May, when I got my OWN ROOM...(are we noticing a pattern?)

Best photo: Wow, really hard....

Sydney Crazy hair wins!









Best Line: So many to choose from....Jonah wins this one though. I picked him up from school one afternoon and I was so excited becuase I had found him several pairs of pants at the Salvation Army. As he gets in the car, I told him that there was a surprise for him at home. He got really excited and said, "Is it a baby brother?????"

The one thing I'm happy to leave in 2005: My silly old van!

There it is, my bests in 2005!

Christmas pictures

Here they are, the infamous Kurtz christmas pictures...check them out!

http://photos.yahoo.com/kurtzrus@sbcglobal.net