Hand Pictures

I know that this is probably not new to everyone, but I just think these are really amazing, so I decided to post them. I wish I could give credit to the artist, but I don't know who it is.

Radio City Christmas Spectacular

Today Beth and I went to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular which was at the Rosemont Theatre! We were given the tickets for FREE!! We really enjoyed the different scenes; there were twelve altogether. The last scene is "The Nativity" and I thought it was done very well. The narrator said the "solitary life" that Jeremy used for the Spring Conference. Our favorite part was the scene with the Rockettes as wooden soldiers. I looked on YouTube and of course, someone has a small part of it on there... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSgmUin9vJw We purchased an ornament with the wooden soldiers so we would have something to remember the day many years from now.

Horse-opoly

Beth is feeling better today. She has had just a little pain in her right ear still, but has been acting normal with 2 doses of Motrin. After I got all the sheets washed we played a game of Horse-opoly this afternoon (She really wanted this game and got this with her birthday money also). Same group that made Dog-opoly, but obviously this time with horse. I have to say, as silly as this is, Dog is better than Horse. And, why you might ask? It all has to do with the cards that show you own the animal!! I know. It is so silly. I didn't say anything to Beth, but I was thinking that is wasn't as fun and then she said it! It is just because the dogs are "cute" and you see the little thing on your card... well, it is all very silly like I said. I won the game again, but I am trying to teach her how to build up her spaces. By all rights, she really should have won, but she wasn't putting the "bales of hay" on her spaces. I only had one set of horse that I could build on (which of course I did ASAP), but it was enough to win. Jim will be home in a few minutes, so I am going to get a couple more things done before that. Have a good night.

Update

Well, as I knew the doctor wasn't in and the doctor on call was going to get in at 9 and with an HMO we have to see the doctor assigned, so after trying to make a few phone calls about it.. insurance company and the quick clinic, we ended up at the ER. So, she has a nasty ear infection as if that is a surprise! I told her she needs to coordinate her illness with the doctor's hours, but she obviously didn't listen...

She had pain medicine and her antibiotic and is doing fine right now. She really has had little pain since around 9:15 or so and the only thing she had that point were your prayers, so I know that they were a huge help! Thank you.

I hope that the two of us will be off to dream land (or at least one of us...ME) soon because I am beat!

Thank you again for your prayers; we really appreciate them. It is awesome seeing God work.

To All You Early Birds...

Beth woke up at 3:30 complaining of ear pain and has been asleep for all of an hour or so since then. I gave her oral pain medicine and some pain medicine that can go in her ear. Please pray for the pain to decrease...so far we haven't had much luck. Also, our doctor is not usually in on Wednesday, so pray that we can get a hold of him and not have to make a trip to the ER. THANKS!

A Busy Day

Today I went to see my doctor and both my test came back normal, which is a big blessing! He wants to do one more test which will be sometime within the next month I guess.... it has to be done as an out-pt in the hospital, so I will see when they call.

Since I was out I took the time to do a little shopping at Walmart and Aldi...the holiday on Thursday messed up my usual time for shopping, but I don't mind. I found a few things for Christmas already! We are doing things differently with my family this year as far as gift giving goes, so we are buying something small for different people...ladies for ladies and men for men. I really think it will be nice doing it this way...at least I hope so :).

After I got home, Kyle and I did some MORE raking!! I tell ya, this is when I realize that our yard is just way too big!!! I honestly couldn't say how much time we all have spent out there raking this year, but I know it was a lot... and so does my getting older body.

Tonight for "Family Night" we had chicken from Walmart which is good tasting and a good price. We also played "Dog-opoly". It is just like Monopoly (not made by them) but you buy dogs rather than streets and doghouses and big bones rather than houses and hotels. Beth got it with the money she got for her birthday and she has played it 5 times already! It really is a shame she doesn't like it!! :) Tonight however, I LOVED it. I WON!! Now you have to understand, me winning a game like that hardly ever happens. Have you ever played with someone who wins almost every game, every time you play....Jim is that person in this family.

Well, I am off to bed finally. Have a great night.

Yesterday was great! We had 22 people at my brother in law and sister's house, which is not something that has happened on Thanksgiving in... I don't know if all of us have gotten together on Thanksgiving since we were kids. We had such wonderful food...and way too much of it. Barb (my sister) decorated the tables beautifully that I couldn't help think how lovely Julie would have thought it was and I appreciated it more than I normally would. Attention to details and fancy stuff is not my thing. I have some wonderful pictures, however I am having problems with the file....hence the fact there is no post yesterday and no pictures today. If I can solve the issue, I will get some on here.


Today Beth and I got to have lunch with Mom and Jim(her husband). After lunch Jim went to go see his family that just moved to the Joliet area and my Mom got to stay here. We played a couple of games, which my Mom is not a real big fan of, and that is one of the things I love about my Mom. Whenever she is able to be here, she plays games with us and it is just so fun. For the next few times we play that game, the kids say stuff like, "Do you remember when Grandma.....". I am very thankful that we all get the opportunity to have this precious time together. With them living so far away, we don't get much chance to do these types of things, but we certainly have good memories of our times together!

Basically we had a wonderful couple of days and I feel very blessed that we could share this time with my family.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!

Of course, this is a day to remember and be thankful, so I have a little list of things I am thankful for:

God

Jesus

Bible

Heaven

Jim

Kyle

Beth

Mom

House

Church

Pastor and Julie

Friends

Soldiers

The ability to think and learn

Love

Mercy

Forgiveness

Mistakes (because we learn more from them)

There are so many things I could write, but as I said, it is just a little list. We have been giving so much in this country by God, something I know I take for granted too often, but today is a wonderful day to stop and say THANK YOU.

Thank you God for your provision

Thank you to all the soldiers who are serving now or served in the past.

Thank you to my family

Thank you to my church

Thank you to my friends

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Hospitality Appreciation Dinner

The Hospitality Appreciation Dinner was wonderful!!

I really appreciate Pastor allowing us to have this time each year to celebrate.

Here is a whole bunch of pictures.

Game #1 Transfer Smarties from one cup to another using a straw...great fun and it gets really quiet! ;) Our 1st place winner was.... Mike and 2nd place was Bob

Game #2 They had to draw what I told them with their eyes closed!! I gave them things like, draw a large rectangle in the center, draw a triangle above that, etc. The picture was a house with a path, a tree next to it and a cloud in the sky.
Winners: 1st place John, 2nd place Beth and Cindy. It was really funny to see what they drew because they couldn't see and had no idea what it should look it when done.... some of them were a mess!! lol I won't tell names Cheryl or Kimmie!!



Lots of pictures with me and my crew.
Dawn just in case: authorization number 465932 :D


And of course, men will be men! Not a planned game....

The Mailbox

Beth got this mailbox for Christmas last year, but it has become our "family mailbox" rather than her toy (for now, when she wants to play with it again, we will have to come up with something else). Even though I missed the home school meeting, I loved all the idea Julie had on the paper. As I was sitting in my chair just finishing reading my Bible, I saw the paper and I thought, how hard is it to make a mailbox. I told the kids later that day and their eyes got big and were very excited. Kyle thought of Beth's mailbox right away and she liked the idea too. So now we have a "fancy" mailbox to write notes to each other and we are all enjoying it.

A Wonderful Wednesday

Well, once again the stuff bomb has been removed from the office/school area!! Yesterday, I got to all the school side and this morning I got up really early and started the desk area. So, once again I have peace because.... order and beauty equal peace. I really love when my desk is not a mess, but I have a lot of trouble keeping it that way.

As I am writing this Kyle is finished with his English and Math for the day and Beth is about 15 minutes from being done! YEAH!! We have decided with our brief encounter with the computer program that it is not for us. We are all going to work on rock/geology for the next couple of weeks and then go from there.

Today we are also thinking about starting an "art" project, but I don't want to tell you before we get going....so you will just have to check back and see what's happening.

Thank you

Thank you everyone for your comments, calls and prayers! Although I don't feel like myself, I am feeling better today. I am happy to report I had a mild case of this unlike many of you. Today I am getting the laundry done and straightening one of the rooms that perpetually looks as if someone throws a "stuff bomb" in the room...always a work in progress.

A Little Bit of Everything

I am not really sure how time goes so fast. I can't believe it has been a week since my last post. Last week was a "normal" week after my Monday doctor appointment, so it seems I would be able to get on here and tell you something!! I have a couple test scheduled for Friday as a result of my last doctor appointment...I have to be there at 7:30 in the morning. I would prefer something later, but later was 4:30, so that wasn't going to happen.

The kids have been doing a good job with their book work especially since I changed some things with Kyle. I have him doing a trail period with a computer program and it seems to be going well. Beth and I are still doing the Konos together for right now.

We went to Pete's funeral on Friday morning, and after that I did my normal weekly shopping. Saturday we went soul winning and then Beth and I looked for a new winter coat. That was a major ordeal...the price of coats are crazy! We ended up with a coat from Walmart...from the boys section...cameo no less!

Sunday morning service was great as usual. I am really learning a lot about Proverbs 6. I didn't feel well last night, so I stayed home from church, something I really don't like doing. I don't feel like myself yet, but I do feel better than last night!

Watching C.C

Tonight we got to watch C. C. again. She is such a sweet little thing!

Here are a couple cute pictures!!

F.Y.I.

I just wanted to let you know that we deleted Beth's blog. She will be blogging on my pages when she really wants to share something. We felt it was necessary as we really are not keeping up with it and it was very time consuming for both of us. So, if you have a link on your site, please delete it. Thanks.

Happy Birthday Beth!

Happy 9th Birthday Beth!!

We love you!!!

What Can I Say?

I am sorry I haven't been blogging. We are all doing fine. Have you ever had those times that just were so filled, you didn't have time for extras??? (No, I am sure that is just me) That has been my life lately and honestly, my blog was the first thing bumped off my list of things to do. We have been off schedule every day for over a week, except Sunday.

My list of things I was doing:

Field trip
Doctor visit for Beth
Weekly shopping
Date night
Sunday School Soul winning
Pumpkin Patch
Birthday party
Sunday Services
Preparing my notes for Friday
Cleaning
My doctor appointment
Meeting about hospitality
Working on hospitality
Watching Baby C.C.
Wednesday service
Another doctor visit for Beth
Still working on notes
Again weekly shopping
Returning a recalled product
Shopping for a coat for Beth
Shopping for Beth's birthday
And having dinner with friends

Okay, I think that might be it, besides trying to home school....

I have been easily distracted and off schedule lately I don't know why, but I think it might have something to do with the fact that we have had 11, yes 11 (Monday will be number 12) doctor, dentist, test and eye appointments in the past month. I am looking forward to Tuesday because we can start to follow the schedule again without interruption (ha ha...at least in theory)

Baby Sitting

Tonight the kids and I got to watch Baby Cheryl ( C.C. as we started calling her), so Jayne and Jeff could enjoy a night out together. She is such a sweet little girl and she was just so pleasant. The kids "argued" over who got to hold her first. It was a very peaceful night and I am glad I could do something to help my friend.

Sooo Spoiled!

She really is taking over the place. Kyle wraps this dog up every night and every morning in his bed. Gross, I know. Guess who gets their sheets washed the most?? Oh, and the pillow is strategically placed so she can rest her head as she looks out the window!!

Happy Birthday Jayne!!

A story: One day a little guy went to school and became friends with another little guy. As they became friends, their Mommies needed to start talking and getting them back and forth to each others house to play. One day the Mommies talked for a long time at the school, so as the story goes, she followed her home from school one day... and we have been friends ever since.

Jayne is one of those ladies that would give or do anything within her power to help those she loves. Jayne has been a blessing for me and my family since the day I followed her home. I am honored to say, that God let me become her friend.

I hope your birthday is as wonderful as you are!!

I love you.

The Solar System

Psalm 8:3

When I consider thy heavens,

the work of thy fingers,

the moon and the stars,

which thou hast ordained;

This is the solar system that we have been working on for a while now. The small planets we make out of clay that we had to bake, and the others are plastic balls. All the planets were painted by the kids, I glued them to their strings and we tied them up together. The picture only shows up to Saturn because it too much to get in as it stretches across the whole room. Mercury is so small it is too hard to see in this picture, but it really is there.

Also, there is a VERY neat website to watch what the planets' obit is like. http://janus.astro.umd.edu/javadir/orbits/ssv.html

Beth's Birthday Party

Here are a few picture from Beth's party (her birthday isn't until the 3rd, but I wanted to have it early). They made the visor personalized with sticker foam shapes and letter, they painted little pictures with glitter glue, played hide and go seek, opened gifts, played Pay Day, and stayed up late just talking. On Saturday morning I got up early (so did they!) and headed to Dunkin' Donuts. After that they played outside, took the dog for a walk and cleaned up. The whole party was really peaceful and I spent lots of time reading my Bible while they played. (And if you can't tell, I cheated and saved my post so I could tell you everything they did on Saturday, even though my post is titled Friday)

The Dry Erase Dishwasher

Yesterday (for the first time) I let the kids draw on the dishwasher with dry erase markers. Yes, I checked to see if it would come off. Kyle drew a target to shoot his dart gun at and Beth drew flowers and butterflies; I know shocking for both of them. Well, today it was blank and Beth started to draw. I just thought this was the cutest thing! Okay, maybe "cutest" isn't really the word I am looking for, but it is really sweet the things that are in here head.

As I was cropping the picture, Beth and I were talking about it and she said something about the fact that Peter is in the water. I never noticed Peter!!!

With a puzzled look she asked, what did you think that was?

Anyway, I thought you would enjoy her picture of Jesus walking on water. I am so thankful that God has changed so much in our family. What a wonderful God we have.

The Lightbulb Went On Today

www.desktoppub.about.com

We were talking about division and I asked her what 25 divided by 5 was. She just looked at me... blankly. Then she said, "I don't know".

I said count by 5's... 5, 10. She added the 15 and the 20. I said 25. (As you can tell, this wasn't going really well.) I held up one finger at a time and said, "5, 10, 15, 20, 25". (Now, I could tell that she was thinking, what does that have to do with anything???)

I then said, so 25 divided by 5 is... She said, "5?". So, seeing how she got that I surely thought this next one would be easy... So, I said, "therefore, 5 times 5 is?" Her reply, "1?", give her a look, "2?"...another look.

Then it happened! It was one of those light bulb moments. "Oh, 25, I get it!"

Her eyes got really big and she was SOOO excited! It is funny, that we have been going over this for a while and it finally just clicked! She finally figured out the relationship between multiplication and division.

It's days like this that are the most enjoyable and rewarding!

Today started a little bit differently than I had planned...

Jim got up and headed out the door about 3:30 this morning, not a common event, but planned.
Kyle got up and headed out the door for Men's Breakfat, a common event and planned.

The unplanned part, was Beth waking up with 2 ear infections. She casuallly mentioned last night her ears were bothering her and I casually stated there was nothing I could do except give her pain medicine (it was about 11pm). About 2 hours later, she woke me up and told me her ears were really hurting so I gave her ibuprofen and we went back to sleep... well, I did. She lasted a few minutes and came into me to have me fix it, I just had her climb in bed with us. I did the only thing I could do at such an hour..PRAY. She fell asleep quickly and stayed sleeping until about 8 this morning. After calling the doctor's office and finding out he would not be in until Monday, so we headed out to the ER. The trip was really quick, we got her medicine and she was resting in bed within and hour and a half after leaving.

The rest of the day was planned, I made homemade turkey soup and we were able to watch Camryn last night. She was not really happy when they first left, but as she got busy playing she was have a good time. I really love to hear her little giggle and when she just out right belly laughs. Some of the things she said were so funny...

Kyle was with Jayne all day since I had to take Beth to the ER, and of course he HAD to stay all day! Jim got home about 9:30 and at that point the three of us sat down to have the turkey soup. Yummy!

Productive Friday!

Today started with the kids going to Chapel and me heading to the stores. I was able to get to Aldi and Walmart before they needed to be picked up. AND a great big bonus is, I got to see my new nephew while I was shopping. He is so cute!! His mom is doing well, but of course tired. I haven't wanted to go near them because of the cough I had... but since we just bumped into each other!

I got my and Jayne's kids and let them play after chapel, while I made some dinners for next week... I am very proud of myself... I never do this and I know it will help my week. I usually know what we are going to eat for each day of the week, but never do I have it ready to be pulled out of the freezer!

We went to the park at about 1:30 and played for a little bit and then dropped all the kids off at Jayne's. I went shopping at Toys r us and Deals... oh did I get something good there! Sorry, I can't tell you... you will only know if I tell you after I have given you a gift and if I feel like telling you depending on how you act!!

After that I went to have the car checked as my check engine light was on. So, at some point Mr. Mickey will have to do something to it... maybe next week.

After that I went to Walmart...yes again... I purchased the wrong bags, so I had to return them, and someone didn't tell me that they only had a drop of soy milk left. OH and I am very excited that our new Walmart carries her soymilk AND it is about .75 cents cheaper!!! I also got some frozen veggies cuz I forgot them. And since I was going, I got ice for Jayne cuz she forgot that when she went earlier and there was no point in us both going! (Especially with all those kids:) !!)

So, after that, Jim and I had a date. Tonight we drove for a while, stopped at Dunkin'Donuts/Baskin Robbins for a latte and fruit blast, then a stop at Wendy's. Wendy's wasn't actually in the plans until I saw it and thought a burger sounded good.

And lastly after that, we went to Jayne's for Bradley's party... big time 7 year old. It was of course crazy as kid parties are, but fun. We got home a little bit ago and Jim is getting ready to go to the race track and we will be heading to bed right after we read our Bible.

A Really Big Box

Well, today the kids were having fun with a really big box. The dog wasn't real sure it was fun, but she kept getting put in the box...it is amazing what she will do for a treat!!

Bummed about my Bibles

Today isn't going to be an uplifting post, but I really feel it is necessary.

Well, as you may or may not remember, I was having issues with my Bibles. I was memorizing Psalm 86 and noticed a word was wrong. I was annoyed at this, but still used my Bible. I contacted the company that made them and she told me that she has no idea how the word was printed wrong, but that it would be changed. Anyway, I had the bright I idea that I would use my Bible on tape to correct the few errors I found. I started in Matthew (because I like the New Testament, and I remembered a time when the kids and I were reading in either Matthew or Mark there were a few differences in the chapter we were reading) Anyway, as I said, I started in Matthew, by the time I got to verse 13 of chapter one, I had 17 misspellings of names! Now I can believe that a mistake can happen...but that! So, my point is, when you get a Bible make sure you know what you are getting... just because it says King James on the outside, doesn't mean it really is on the inside. If I had the time, I would go through the whole Bible and see how many errors I could find... but that as I found out tonight will be A LOT of work... maybe a summer thing just to see.

Anyway, if you want to see what one Pastor wrote you can look at this: http://www.baptistpillar.com/bd0161.htm


So, that is my little tid-bit of info... take it or leave it.

Luke 4:4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written,

That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

The Solar System

Today we started working on our "Amazing Solar System" kit. The both are excited about the painting, but they thought it was a lot of work. Tomorrow we will make, actually bake, some of the smaller planets.

Nursery Appreciation Luncheon

What can I say... It was AWESOME!!! I had a great time. The food was excellent, the friends wonderful, the candles are always a hit, and the games... they were just okay... they would have been great if I won!! Just kidding. Jan did a great job on the games and the prizes were so cute!! Thank you Pastor Dave for giving us this time each year.

Ladies Tea

The Ladies Tea was wonderful!! Marianne did a great job with her testimony, Julie of course gave an excellent devotion, the skit team was really good, and the food was great. What fun!

Kids Say The Funniest Things!!

We have been struggling to get up on time basically our entire school year due to Beth's surgery, vacation, and people getting sick. So, today I decided to change the time we get started to 8am.

After I told Beth this was her reply,

"Oh, good! I can't get up that early now that I am getting older".

Happy Birthday Conner!

What a sweet baby!! I am so glad we got to enjoy his first year!