Happy birthday Michael!

Happy Birthday my little man!

My only son is 10 years old today!
How did time fly so quickly?
You have given me so much Michael Jr.
I am so blessed to be your mother.

Happy birthday son!

Friend making Monday

Friend Makin Monday

This week I am supposed to tell you about my best friend.

Oh my gosh!
I have the bestest friend in the whole entire world.
My friend is honest, family oriented, God loving, a perfectionist, funny, a jokester, faithful, hardworking, lovable, handsome, amazing, interesting, trustworthy, incredible, over-the-top sincere, wonderful, handy, helpful, impressionable, amiable, active, loving, super, safe, and so much more!

My best friend is my husband.

He is so awesome. He makes me so happy. I am so lucky to have him. He listens to me, comforts me, inspires me, loves me, helps me to be a better wife and mother. I love him so much!

I hope your best friend is as special to you as mine is to me!

Belle's Birthday

My baby is 2!
She is so her own person now.
She even has quiet an impressive vocabulary.
She just wants to do everything that we all are up to.
She is even potty trained now!

Look at my silly little girl.
She wanted to help decorate her birthday cupcakes.
Yeah, all she wanted was the sugar topping!
She actually did a decent job when she wasn't eating the blue sugar!

Becca and I went out and got her balloons in the morning.
She thought they were so pretty!

Here is how the cupcake tree turned out. She really did get some of the blue on the cakes! :) She got a beautiful frame her sister made for her on the left. I love that picture! We got her a small scrapbook for the memories of this day too. We were supposed to have tons of workers at our house on her birthday so I had little decoration crafts to keep the munchkins busy during the day. Our house was decorated with homemade fireworks, patriotic stars and create paper!


Good job Becca!Pretty star Belle!Good work girls!

A friend from church even lent us this great mini-munchkin jumper.
That definitely gave the birthday a party feel!

Belle wasn't born till almost 5:00 so we did not start our festivities till then (also that is when the workers were scheduled to leave). I had really felt bad doing nothing for my baby for her birthday. You should have seen the big party Aimee had when she turned 2! Not that she remembers, but I do. This was small, just us, but it turned out so nice. not to many gifts that Belle got burn out. She did not have to many people and get all shy. Just family and play time.
It was very relaxed.

One of the gifts she got was sent from my cousin Jamie.
Here she is on Sunday wearing it running through the sprinkler.
I think she likes it Jamie.
Thank you! :)

Happy Birthday Belle!

Such a special day!

Happy Birthday
Belle!

Your 2 today!

Love you!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!

From the cutest grumpy pants I know!

friday fill in

#131

Graphic courtesy of Tonya!

And...here we go!

1. When I heard _My 1st baby cry with her first breath____ I _understood unconditional love that lasts forever____.

2. __I swear that chicken soup is the___ best medicine.

3. It's late, but _I want to finish this book!____

4. _My husband is my everything forever and____ always.

5. My eyes have seen _God in my munchkins eyes____.

6. _I love my husband over the top____ strongly.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _an evening with a movie and games with the family____, tomorrow my plans include _celebrating Belle's birthday____ and Sunday, I want to _reorganize and then start getting ready for Michael Jr's birthday on Tuesday____!

Tuesday Toot (on thursday)

Yeah I know, its Thursday.
I am behind.

Hey this wouldn't be my blog if I wasn't right?
:)

Anyway I am tooting about Notgrass company.



I found them while I was looking for high school homeschool curriculum.
I am impressed.
They have history books that incorporate biblical points of view of
faith in God and respect for His Word. How Cool is that? I can show Aimee how God has and always will be part of everything. They also incorporate literature that you can pick up and read along with the history to pull the whole thing together.

They sell books for all ages of homeschoolers.
If you homeschool you should check it out.

Getting nervous.....

I have been such a flibberty jibert this past month.
I have been excited (and annoyed with workers) that our addition is coming along. I am here in charge of making sure that the guys stay on task and get paid. I have also been worried about how to pay for all this plus all the vehicle's tags are due, smog checks, Michael and Belle both have birthdays, my diet is not working AND the new adventure of HomeSchooling Aimee will begin soon. I swear I keep bouncing back and forth with "am I doing what is best for Aimee or should I just send her to public school with her friends?" I have to admit that almost every time I am getting the negative thoughts someone will pop in with their positive comments that I can do this. A few people just don't say anything so I can assume that they think this is a stupid idea. Oh my poor daughter is going to miss out on her prom and stuff. Well actually the group I am going to homeschool through has a prom. So there. It seems to me that most of the things that people have said to me that she would miss out on are all events that take place after school. So I figure that is not a High School experience, its an after school experience. I want Aimee to still do things with her friends. If they all choose to go to a football game then Yay! Go and have fun. Aimee hates sports so if she goes it would not be for the game so does it matter that it is not her "school" team? We saw her cousins play at their schools. Wouldn't it be similar?
Oh no the clubs! How can she join the clubs? She and her friends are not like me. Shoot I joined everything!! I am sure that the clubs, if she wanted to join, would include her. She is homeschooled not imprisoned. I just want the best education for her and less peer pressure.
I actually only had one truely negative response and she was looking at it from a perspective of being a teacher, teaching the students that are confined to their homes due to sickness. They have a hard time meeting others and are coddled by their parents quiet often. That is how she sees homeschool. So I am not taking her negitive thoughts of homeschooling at anymore than face value.
Possitively though, I have had people volunteer to substitute if I start to burn out or if Aimee needs a change from seeing mom 24/7!
So as nervous as I am, I think this is going to be so much fun! I am hoping that Aimee and I will find better bonding ground as well. This is the time that teens usually pull away from their parents and I am hoping that maybe she won't pull as far. God is sending us in this direction, he keeps opening the doors that this is right. I am going in to this new adventure with his strength behind me and we will ROCK!

If you know of any great homeschool sites for high schoolers that I should look at PLEASE leave me a message! I am always on here looking for new info.
:)

from my sis in law

Written by a 15 yr. old School Kid in Ohio :

New Pledge of Allegiance (TOTALLY AWESOME!)

Since the Pledge of Allegiance & The Lords Prayer

Are not allowed in Schools anymore

Because the word 'God' is mentioned...

A Kid in Ohio wrote the attached...

NEW School prayer :

Now I sit me down in school
Where praying is against the rule
For this great nation under God
Finds mention of Him very odd.

If Scripture now the class recites,
It violates the Bill of Rights.
And anytime my head I bow
Becomes a Federal matter now.

Our hair can be purple, orange or green,
That's no offense; it's a freedom scene.
The law is specific, the law is precise..
Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.

For praying in a public hall
Might offend someone with no faith at all.
In silence alone we must meditate,
God's name is prohibited by the state.

We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks,
And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks..
They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible.
To quote the Good Book makes me liable.

We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen,
And the 'unwed daddy,' our Senior King.
It's 'inappropriate' to teach right from wrong,
We're taught that such 'judgments' do not belong.

We can get our condoms and birth controls,
Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles.
But the Ten Commandments are not allowed,
No word of God must reach this crowd.

It's scary here I must confess,
When chaos reigns the school's a mess.
So, Lord, this silent plea I make:
Should I be shot; My soul please take!
Amen

friend making Monday

What are you doing on July 4th?

It will be Belle's 2nd birthday so you would assume that we would be having a party or something, but in reality, we are having workers over to dig a trench and form it up to pour the cement for our deck. Whoo hoo!
Then we will sit out front when it is dark, with our melting ice creams and watch the fire works.



What is your favorite dish to pass when attending a 4th of July party or a summer bbq?

I love to bring macaroni or pasta salad. I could eat that stuff all day long! All by myself!




Do you have a 4th of July tradition?

Well now we celebrate Belle's birthday too. So I guess that is out tradition.


Share your favorite 4th of July picture

Well my favorites actually crashed with my old computer before I had a chance to save them. They were of the day Belle was born. That was the most special 4th of July I have ever had and the only pictures I have are in my head. That beautiful little angel came in time to share the fireworks with our family from my hospital window. Just us, no nurses and for me the most beautiful fireworks display in the world. That picture will be in my heart forever.

friday fill in

#130

Graphic courtesy of Tonya!

And...here we go!

1. She had a great _day of potty training :)____.

2. _My hubby____ is by my side, always.

3. I know this: _organics are way better than instant plumped up with chemical foods!____

4. _I am deeply in love with my husband____ still.

5. These words apply to me: __organic, goofy, worry-wort___.

6. _At 5:30 this morning____ the sun was shining.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to making ice cream sundaes with the munchkins____, tomorrow my plans include _painting the eaves on the addition____ and Sunday, I want to _finish the eves before the stucco guys come over____!

almost 2

Nine days till my littlest munchkin turns 2.
From this cute little drool covered face...

To this "big" little girl who is almost potty trained!

That went by way to fast.

Movie Nights

Our family has had a few Family Movie Nights lately.
Our first one was at church.
We are starting Family Nights.
This first one was a Family Movie Night.
We chose to start with an oldie but goodie..



Really, who doesn't like this movie?
No cursing, no nudity, no sex, yes mild violence but we did plan ahead and show Labou
for the mini-munchkins in the nursery.


It was approved by the Dove Foundation as being family friendly


and all the munchkins even the teens babysitting loved the movie!

For church we tried to make it kinda old school drive-in style.
The plan was to be out on the grass under the stars watching our movie.
It ended up being way to cold so we took the show inside.
We put in a Sponge Bob cartoon to get everyone situated, then played the adventure.
Some people tuckered out a bit early.

I see Father Richard snoozing in the corner!
Hee Hee!
It was a fun night though.
:)

The other movie that our family has been out to view was on Father's Day.
We went to see Up.



Very cute movie.
This was actually at the drive-in and it was still really cold but we bundled up in blankets, wrapped the munchkins up in the van and Michael and I braved the cold in our jackets and blankets outside in our folding chairs. We had home made burgers,(except I had salad) I brought chips, soda and ice cream. They were digging it!

Another cute family friendly movie.

Our family enjoys all the chit chat that comes after we see a movie. That is where the real family time comes in.

friend making Monday

Got this over at All That Is Good. Its a fun Game:)
So today's task is Confessions! Spill you guts and I'll start...

1. I don't want to stop breast feeding Belle because she still only needs ME for that. She is more friendly than my other munchkins ever were and she doesn't just want me all the time like they did. I can be selfish and have time with her that only I can give her.





2. I ate a piece of cake at church yesterday, that blew my diet. It was good though!





3. I was under the weather for a funeral and did not go. I probably could have made it, but I really don't like the family of the lovely lady who passed away. So I was a wimp and did not attend.



4. I hate fast food, but I fed my children fast food lunch and dinner all weekend. I did not cook one thing all weekend. All I made was coffee.





5. I really did not enjoy the help I got (except from my munchkins) to paint the low walls at church on Wednesday. I know that I should not look down on free help and the person in question did so with a full heart to help, but it was MY project and I wanted to finish it MYSELF. I feel so selfish saying that, but this is about confessions right?




6. I bought Belle a Yo Gabba Gabba DVD so I can shower or go to the bathroom alone.




7. I still believe in fairies.





So now you can see that I am a total geek!
I really don't have a bunch of deep dark confessions because with me what you see is what you get.

I am just me.


What are your confessions?

What to buy Dad?

Father's Day is just around the corner, literally!
I took the munchkins out shopping yesterday to try and find him something that says:
"Thanks Dad for getting up before the sun everyday to go to work to keep us in a warm home with food in our bellies. We certainly do appreciate it!"
I couldn't find one.
They don't really make cards that say that either.
I found a bunch telling him to watch TV and hold the remote.
I found the ones that say you have only one child and I love you dad.
Guess they are really saying "Cool Dad, you can buy me more stuff because there is only one of me! Hee Hee!" Just kidding :)

We looked at clothes.
Had 2 shirts ready to purchase but at the last minute I put them back.
Michael Jr wants to get him a nose hair trimmer because he thinks they are funny.
We looked at BBQ stuff. He has most of it.
We just could not really find anything that he needed and did not have.


He was really interested in this MultiMaster tool.
One of the few that he does not own.
It is 4 payments of $99.00!
Ouch!!!
Yes, he is an awesome father and he deserves it.
What on earth could I then get him for his birthday though in August?
We are in a recession too.

AAARRRGGGHHH!

I think I better go check out Craig's List and see if I can find it cheaper.
I am such a tightwad!