Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

I didn't get cards ready in time to go out this year, so be watching for one towards the New Year.

I hope that you all have a Wonderful Christmas and Blessed New Year.

Love,

 The Gerndt Family

Giving

At the beginning of the month my friend, Kris, put out a challenge. First, you should know that our church is doing a Hat, Mitten and Book drive for 2 of the local schools for Christmas. The goal of this drive was to give each kid (1000 of them) a hat, a pair of mittens (you can't just give them one mitten) and a book. So, Kris came up with a challenge of all of us who knit or crochet to make as many hats as we could to add to the drive. I got a late start on the challenge, but I am happy with what I accomplished- 5 hats!
These 5 hats will bless 5 children, with warm heads and love.

Kris, thank you for the challenge! What do you have in mind next?! What ever it is, I am in!

Trying...

So, I have decided to try a couple of new things....making my own laundry soap and dishwasher soap.

We will see how this goes. All the stars are in alignment for me to do this, I am almost out of laundry soap, and dishwasher soap too. I have already bought all the stuff for the laundry soap, and only need to buy 2 items to make the dish soap. Both of these use Borax and Washing Soda.

I will let you know how it all goes! I am willing to try anything to save some money on the things that we have to use all the time :)

Exhausted!

What a busy weekend!

It started with celebrating my Birthday on Friday night with dinner and then back to the house for time with friends....this was so fun! We may just have to try to make it a monthly thing!

Yesterday, we got up and picked up the kiddos from my in-laws. Rebekah went and spent the day with one of her friends and Virginia had a rehearsal for  a program she is in on the 19th in Bristol. So, she and I spent the afternoon rehearsing for the big performance....I even became part of it as a fill in for one of the kids that could not make it. I learned the whole routine in one afternoon! I will not be performing with the kids on the 19th, but I will be helping make sure that it goes smoothly. After we got back from that I met Tate at a Christmas party for the media team from Church.

And today is filled with leading Worship in Kids Kanyon (our children's area at Church). I will be so going to bed early tonight, it is all I can do to stay awake right now! I of course have so many things that I could be doing that I just don't want to do because I would love to just take a nap, but if I do take a nap now I will be too groggy for church at 5 P.M.

Tomorrow will continue the busyness! I am having a Holiday Open House here featuring Tastefully Simple, Stampin' UP and Premier Designs Jewelery. (Just so you know, the house is not decorated, that will happen next weekend). So, if you have some spare time between 5:30 and 7:30 I hope that you can stop on by.

DECEMBER!

December has arrived with a dusting of snow! Yay! I have always wished for snow on my Birthday, well as long as it sticks around, I will have snow.

Today got started early with my early birds, Gavin and Makayla. They are my two newest kids. Gavin is almost 3 and has red hair, such a cutie! Makayla is 5 and has blond hair. Both are very good kids, and tend to get along quite well. Although today they decided to have a little argument, but all is well now.

I have been blessed with a group of kids that get along pretty well with each other. My count is up to 8, but not all at once. Today is a busy day- I will have 7 all at once, so I have called in the reinforcement- Niccole! I love that she can come over when I need her help! THANK YOU NICCOLE!!!

Goodbye November!

Goodbye November. You have been the best that I have seen in a couple of years. I will no longer remember you as a month of loss, but a month of remembering the good times that I had with those that have gone on to Heaven. I will see them again!

I did realize that I did not talk about my friend Miranda. She was the second person of the 3 that went on to Heaven 3 years ago. She was a friend from Church that also had a tough fight with Cancer - hers was Leukemia. I will always remember Miranda's smile, she smiled through her whole fight, even when she was in pain. She also loved kids, my kids. Ellyn started to walk just after she moved on, all I could do was think, if only she was here to see it. Then it clicked, she was seeing it from the best seat in the house! She is deeply missed and loved still to this day. I am honored to be able to call her my friend, Miranda- you are missed!

So, tomorrow starts a new month, full of celebrations! Bring it on!

Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving!  My birthday is only 9 days away! Christmas is just over a month away! Wow the year is almost over!

This November was a good one. Nothing big happened. Wait! Yes something big happened, I had two new little people join my child care family. They are very cute too! One 5 year old girl and her brother who turns 3 in February. I am just glad that all the kids seem to get along, although Ellyn gets just a little irritable towards the end of the week.

I did not have such a hard time getting through November, like I thought that I might. I think that it helped that I was so busy with all the new stuff going on around here. I am thankful that it was busy, but I am looking forward to the little break we are taking at the end of December.

I have so much to be thankful for. I have a husband that takes care of us, I have 3 daughters that are always a challenge, I have friends that always keep me on my toes (you know who you are), I have family that love each other, I have a God who continues to bless us and those around us.

I hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow!

God and....

Tomatoes!!!!

Today, I finally got to the market to get my tomatoes to freeze, $8.00 for an office paper box full of tomatoes!

I am sure that you are wondering what God has to do with tomatoes, other than creating them when he created the Earth. Well, the tomatoes in this box are ones that are not really very pretty, honestly. But, to buy them to cook with is wonderful!

While I was preparing my bought bounty for the freezer, God was talking to me. I don't talk too much about God in my blogs, but today he was urging me too. He was telling me how imperfect, but perfect I am, like the tomatoes I was cleaning up for the freezer.  Now, some of these tomatoes were bruised just a little and some a lot; others were blotchy with the start of rot and mold. The neat thing was that once you cut off the yuck, the insides were almost perfect.

Imperfect Outside

Here is the message I got from this. On the outside we may be imperfect in some way (only really by our own standards), or bruised. But, on the inside we are ALL perfect because he made us! What a wonderful God that we have that created us and tomatoes!

Perfect Inside

Rebekah's Song

Rebakah came home with this song that she wrote today.

Poor Grandpa Jack

Poor Grandpa Jack you died for us, for freedom, you love me and God forever, forever you would love me and God so I love you and God forever, forever you will do it forever, forever you will do it.

I corrected the spelling and added a few punctuation marks. I thought that it was nice of her to write a song about her Great Grandpa, he was in the Army and served his country.

Thank you to all the Veterans that have protected, protect and will protect us in the future!

Snow and Kids

This morning with the first snow, Virginia was in her boots and snow pants before we even ate breakfast! She is such an eager girl when it comes to doing what she wants to do! So, after breakfast, we got all bundled up and went out to play!

Olivia and her Snowman creation.

 SNOW!!! "WOW, WOW!!"

 Everyone in the creating stages!

 Not sure if this is Olivia or Rebekah's.

 Making a snow angel.

 Virginia's finished snow angel.

 Virginia made a Snow Cone!

 Olivia with snow balls!

Virginia loves to make snowmen, on a small scale!

First Snow

Since I was little I always wished for the first real snow to come on my birthday, December 3rd, well not this year!! We got our first snow last night! So, before I even changed out of my Pj's this morning I was out with my camera to get some fresh snow shots.

Aunt Mary Bennett

So, tonight while I was driving home in the snow I was thinking about what to write about my Aunt Mary.
Aunt Mary was a wife, a mom, a grandma, a sister, an aunt, a nurse and many other things to many people I am sure.
I can remember trips to LaPorte for Easter. What I remember most is dessert from these gatherings. There was always a Lamb Cake. It was one of those cakes with the "funny" frosting. I am a butter cream kind of gal, and this was not butter cream. I think that it was some sort of meringue. But it sure was cute!
When she would come to our house to celebrate a holiday she would chase one of our dogs around the house. My parents house is kind of a circle. You can start in the kitchen, go through the front hallway to the dining room, to the sitting room and back into the kitchen. This was fun to watch, I am pretty sure that it was Bogart that she did this with.
I know that there are more memories that I have of her, but these are the ones that stick out the most in my memory.
Aunt Mary was married to my Uncle Jack (my Dad's brother). They retired and started traveling. I know that they made their way to Alaska- they drove it! They were campers, and had a 5th wheel.
Aunt Mary was a fighter. She was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer. She fought with everything that she had. I know this about her, and I know that she fought to the end!
Aunt Mary, I love you and miss you!

Out there.

I have a blog title out on my drafts that I have yet to write anything on. It will be about my Aunt Mary Bennett who we also lost 2 years ago this month. Sometimes it just seems hard to write about someone that you loved and miss.

I would love it if you read this and know my Aunt and have some memories that I can include in my blog about her it would be great!

Grandpa Jack

This is something that I wrote the day I found out that my Grandpa Jack had passed away. Later that week I also read it at his funeral.

What an amazing person to have as a Grandfather! He got to travel the world at least 3 times over and saw places that i will more than likely never see. He was a caring Husband, Father, Grandpa and Great Grandpa. He loved to see us grow and loved to be the life of a party. He loved to dance- this is one thing that I will always remember about him, because I always thought that it was fun to watch him- he even danced with out the music. Of course music was always around him the form of his grand children.
He loved to garden...tomatoes were his favorite- this seems to run in the family! We would go to visit and there would be tomatoes on the counter from his garden. One thing that you need to know is that his last garden was on the bank of the channel by his condo...we started calling him a Mountain Goat...that is what you had to be to get on that bank- it was steep...I wouldn't want to go down it. I do have to say that he did fall one time...and one time only!
He loved his boat! Water was one thing that I realized that he always had to be near. When we were little he had a rather large boat up at the docks in New Buffalo. And then he downsized to a smaller one that we went up and had fun in. One year we even got stuck on the beach...my Mom gt stuck in the sand trying to push us out! He then moved into a condo on the St Joseph river, and had a boat there too. I did get to drive that boat...I even got it stuck on a sand bar! Grandpa was not happy with that...but what is a girl to do? I thank him for teaching me to drive a boat!
There are so many memories that I have. And I will have to write about them more later.
One thing that I do know is that he was a Man of God. One thing that surprised me the most in my life is that even though I did not become a full Catholic he was proud of me anyway, because I was following God in a walk that takes us all to Heaven no matter what religion you practiced. That is one gift that I will always take with me, I know that he was proud of me and all of his Family. He has a legacy that will go on and on and on- for many, many, many years to come.
Grandpa always said the same prayer at dinner when we ate together....at the end he would thank God for His Blessings (of which he had many) but the number of "many"s would vary, sometimes there were two and sometimes there were many, many, many more. Grandpa you gave us many, many, many blessings in our lives. THANK YOU!

 

Hello November

Hello November,

It is nice to see you, although I am not quite ready for you yet. You have so much to offer, Thanksgiving, and remembering those that I love. I am sorry that I gave you a bad rap for the last couple of years. This year I am going to try to see you a little differently. It is not your fault that a few of the people that left us left in your time, and I should not hold you accountable for that.

This year you are going to be great! You are bringing with you new children to watch, and I thank you.

I am thankful that you are bringing cooler weather, although you can try to get December to keep it's snow to itself, we are not quite ready for that. You have started to take away all the brilliant colors of October and place them on the ground for us to clean up. I don't mind, I like to hear the crunch of the dry leaves beneath my feet. You also will bring my Christmas Cactus back to bloom! This always makes me smile, as it helps me to remember Grandpa.

Welcome November, once again.

November

November is coming, it is only several days away. November is no longer one of my favorite months of the year. Yes, it is the start of the Holiday Season, but for me it is a month of loss.

Two years ago this November I lost two people that I have known all my life, and a dear friend that I only got to know for a short time.

In the middle of November it all started, my Aunt Mary Bennett lost her battle with Ovarian Cancer. 5 days later my friend Miranda lost her fight with Leukemia. Four days later my Grandpa Jack passed away in his sleep.

I know in my heart that I should celebrate and remember these beautiful people for who they were and what they had done in my life, but sometimes that is a hard thing to do. I am going to try to blog about them during the month of November and I am going to do my best to remember them this month and try not to let it get me down. So, if you see me and I am not quite myself during this next month this is why.

Miranda, Aunt Mary and Grandpa you are loved and missed very much!

Adventures in Potty Training

Fun title, huh? Well this is the the little adventure that Ellyn and I are on right now (among other things).

Day one- we did pretty good, just a little dribble in the panties in the evening.
Day two- we did very good! We ventured to the zoo in our panties (and fully clothed).
Day three- we are doing good so far. It is mid day and we are still clean and dry! We even ventured out on a play date to McDonald's, shopping, and then tot he bank- out all morning and not one accident!

I am so proud of my little one. I am glad to see the Pull-Ups go to only bedtime use. She still wakes up some mornings wet, but mostly she wakes up dry, which means she can hold her pee longer than her mom! And I am okay with that!

So, I am getting ready to say good bye to the baby years and really getting on the excited for the big girl years to come.

Anyone have a baby I can borrow? 

Fall Zoo Days

I love going to the Zoo when it is cooler out. All the animals are active and much more fun to watch! This week the zoo is getting ready for the annual Zoo Boo! So, they are decorating and getting ready for the weekend.

This morning the White Tiger was all about saying "Hello!"

Rubbing.

Licking.

She even jumped on the glass, of course I was not fast enough to get it on the camera! She startled Amiah!

We even got the treat of seeing one of the baby Red Pandas! There were triplets born this summer.

The three girls sitting on a bench and then on the turtle (this is always a favorite picture spot!).

Farmer's Market

I love going to the Farmer's Market for several reasons. First, the produce and the Farmers that sell it are neat people to talk to; second, our friend Jim Silk has a booth that he sells his homemade hot sauce from (I hear that it is fabulous, but my tummy can't handle it); third, you never know what you are going to hear someone talking about. Today was one of those days.

I opened the back of the van to get the girls out and I hear this guy talking on the phone. I hear him talking about this guy named Alex, Alex Peek! He was telling this person on the other end that Alex was a great musician and very talented, he can even play the ukelelee! And of course he is also married to this wonderful lady named Lindsay, who is equally talented! This made me smile very big, to hear that someone else thinks that these people that I know are such talented and wonderful people! THEY ARE!!!!! 

I don't get to see these friends much and I miss them dearly! Lindsay and Alex- I love you. Keep doing what ever you are doing because you are touching lives!

Movie Monday

Today is of course Monday. Ellyn has decided that today will be movie day. So far we have watched Hercules and we are in the middle of The Lion King. I kind of like watching movies, it is a nice change to watching pre-school programing all the time. So bring on the movies!!!!!

Have a great Monday!

RAIN

"Uh oh, its raining."- Ellyn, 3

It has been a long, long time since we have seen rain. So, it is a welcomed thing at least here. I love thunderstorms, more so at night but I will take it any way I can get it! My back yard is a dust bowl, now it will be a mud pit!

When we lived in a house with a sliding glass door, Virginia, Rebekah and I would sit with all the lights off and watch as storms came in. These were my favorite times with them. Now we live in a house with no big sliding door, so we have to watch through the windows, only thing is these windows are on the East side of the house, so we miss the clouds coming in. I love watching the storms at night because the kids can see that there is nothing that can really hurt them, and the light show is always beautiful!

My other favorite part of rain is the fresh smell it leaves behind, like everything has just been washed.

So, thank you Mother Nature and God for this rain that we very much needed!

There is only one thing about the Fall rains that I dislike, they tend to knock all the pretty leaves off the trees.

Half Way Through

I usually don't pay too much attention to the days of the week as a stay at home mom, but to day I am rejoicing that we are halfway done. The weeks have gotten really busy since the beginning of the month. I made some changes and have gotten involved with a lot of stuff!

Last week I attended my first real PTO meeting. I am glad that I did. The principal from Jefferson was there to talk about the school- Virginia will be going there next year. I think that she will do good there. I also helped with my first PTO fundraiser distribution, and I got to meet some of the parents and kids.

This week has been busy too, Monday night is my Growth Group night, 1 1/2 hours of no kids just a group of other moms and me. We are studying Proverbs 31, How to be a Woman of Noble Character. We talked about one of my favorite topics this week....FOOD!

"She is like the merchant ship, bringing food from afar. She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls. She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard." Proverbs 31:14-16. We only really discussed verse 14 but I think that they all go together! Some of this makes me laugh and giggle to myself. I suppose that I do bring food from "afar" as i drive to the store to get what I need. One of my goals for next summer is to have a garden so that I won't have to go "afar" to get food. I surely do not get up while it is still dark, unless I have too, which now that the sun is rising later I am up before the sun. I do provide for my family, I use my earnings from babysitting to get the food we need, although I do not have any servant girls (or are they Virginia and Rebekah?) that I have to feed. But, wouldn't that be nice!?

Last night was our first Girl Scout Meeting! It was great, lots of people in my house! I love to have people in my house! I just wish that I could keep it picked up and cleaned up enough to just do it all the time. With all the little people I have here all the time it is really hard! I am hoping that once we get the basement in order it won't be so hard.

So, I am thankful for today as there is nothing going on tonight other than an Football game that I will miss. I think it will be the last game of the season for the Dickinson Bears (although I  hope that it is not) as they lost to the team they are playing tonight last week.

I will continue to learn how to be a Woman of Noble Character while relaxing after a busy start to the week. I will be deciding what to make for lunch and dinner!

Checking In

I am so sorry that I haven't blogged in a while! My friend Kris and I were talking about it the other night at our first Growth Group of the Semester. I was talking about how I only try to post things that will not hurt others, and she said, "that must be why you haven't posted a blog in a while. Nothing good to say!"
Fortunately this is not true. I do have good things to talk about I have just been busy!
Here is the short list as I am getting ready to go have lunch for the first time at school with Virginia!
I have taken on the task of Girl Scout Leader for our school, joined the PTO, joining the Parent Advisory Council, doing homework every afternoon with Virginia and Rebekah (Virginia just takes too long doing it), and numerous other things that just come with life!
I have lunch packed and ready to go. Tomorrow is lunch with Rebekah. Virginia is in the 4th grade, Rebekah is in 3rd,  and I have never gone to have lunch with them, I think that I have been missing something very important. When  you are a stay at home mom and watch others children, it is a sacrifice you have to make. I only hope that the girls will understand that, and I think that they do. So, I am off for a great lunch with my oldest daughter today and then the middle one tomorrow. I am going to take pictures!

One Thing I Hate

I don't use the word "hate" very often if at all. But today is one of those days that it just comes up. I don''t hate anyone, just sometimes there are things that you "hate" to do. I had to call off all my kiddos today. Ellyn was up at 3 am with a fever over 100 F!

I knew something was wrong when she put her self to bed before 6:30 pm last night. She woke up and came into bed with us at 3 and I decided to take her temp since she was burning up! And sure enough, above 100 F.

I hate to call off my kiddos because I know that it puts other parents in a position that I don't like to be in, either calling off work or trying to find someone else to watch. I know that I did the right thing because I don't want other children to get sick either.

So, I hope that you are all doing well and have a wonderful weekend!

Biscuits and Gravy 2

OH MY! Did I do a good job tonight! like I blogged earlier I have never made gravy, so I attempted tonight! GOOD!!!!!! Here, look!!!!!

I checked out some recipes on some of the food sites I look at when I want to find something good to make. Here is what I used, no measurements sorry!
Breakfast sausage, milk, a little half and half that I had left and flour.
That is it! I could not finish the plate that I made, and I am sure that the dogs appreciated it, they finished up what I had left in no time flat!
I will be making this again at some point, but first I think I will attempt Bacon Gravy!

Sausage Gravy

I am going to attempt to make something new for dinner that I have never made before......Sausage Gravy. Now, I don't make gravy of any kind so this will be an experience. If this works I will be making Bacon Gravy very soon!

I am however going to cheat and make refrigerated biscuits to make at least one part very easy! I will let you know how it turns out!

Disappointment

I have to admit that I do not go shopping for clothes very often, but when I do I get very disappointed.

Either I cannot find something that I like in my size or my favorite store just doesn't carry my size. Since when did Target stop selling "Women's" clothing. They have nothing for the "bigger" woman! I was very sad tonight. Yes, I know that I need to lose some weight, but come on, not even one of the t-shirts there would fit me nicely. Target was not my first stop however, Dress Barn. Now, Dress Barn does have nice stuff, I found a dress on the "clearance" rack that I thought that I would like....after I got it on I realized that I looked like Charlie Brown, just in Purple.

Why was I shopping? I have a wedding to go to this weekend for Tate's oldest and dearest friends. They have been friends since Kindergarten. I have a dress that I bought last summer and have worn for all the weddings that I have attended this year, so I thought a new dress would be in order. Nope! Can't find one, at least on this side of town. Then, I remembered that I had bought a dress awhile back that I had planned to wear to a particular funeral that I knew would happen at some point, well when that time came I forgot about the dress. So, it is going to be worn to a celebration of the joining of two lives. But now, to find shoes! I am going to clean out the shoes in the closet and see what I find there.

I will post pictures after the wedding. Maybe I will get a good picture with my Hubby in his tux!

New Blog?

Sitting here thinking about a second blog, and calling it "Tastefully Buffy". What do you think?
Of course it would be all about Tastefully Simple!

Yeah, just one more thing that I need to try to keep up with! Maybe I should just get back into blogging more often and take one blog a week and talk only about Tastefully Simple and what I have done with the wonderful stuff. I think that is what I will strive for, then maybe later down the line starting another one.

So, are you asking what all I am up too? Well, I have signed up for a class called Parent University at Nuner. They put on this program last year and I wanted to be involved but just didn't. It is a 12 week workshop that I will get paid $250.00 when we complete it. 

I have also taken on the task of Girl Scout Troop Leader and Product Manager for our area. I am excited about this, meeting new people and hopefully the girls will make new friends out side of the school.

I have also decided that it was time to get involved in the PTO at Nuner. I have wanted to be involved for a long time and now is the time to DO IT! Virginia will be moving to another school next year and then Rebekah will only have one left at Nuner, however once they are done at Nuner, Ellyn will start. No rest there! But that is okay, at least I will be involved and not have any time in between where there will not be a child at Nuner.

Well, I am trying to catch up on all the laundry that we created while camping this weekend, and straighten up the mess that has been created since we got home. I will tell you more about our little trip later.

I hope that you have a wonderful day.

To my Friends and Readers

Thank you for your notes! I was just in a slightly weird mood this morning.

Virginia was home sick today. So, the dynamic was a little off and I just started wondering. I know most of the people that read my blogs, and most of you are from church. What I did not know was that a friend from High School that lives overseas reads, thanks Beth! I am hoping that you start a blog about your experiences over there, I would love to hear of your experiences!

So, thank you to those who read about my silliness, and random thoughts! I love you all!

P.S Mom, you can become a follower- you are on iGoogle!

I wonder....

I often wonder who really reads my blog.
I know of a few who do, and I know some that don't.
The ones that don't I wonder why, and for the ones that do I also wonder the same thing.

I know that I am not as interesting as some, and more interesting than others.
I am just wondering today.

Bugs, Ducks and Froggies!

So, tonight we are sitting watching television and I get to thinking about what kinds of things the girls have been interested in at age 3. This stems from Ellyn's everything Froggie! She is my frog girl. She has a pillow that used to belong to Virginia, until she decided to pass it along to Ellyn. She has been sleeping with it ever since.
This got me to thinking about what the other two girls were into at that age. I remember going on a trip with Tate when Rebekah was 3, she was very into Duckies. So while on that trip I had found a toy shop and bought her all kinds of Duckies. She loved them, and they of course have made there way to Ellyn too. But she is just not that into the Duckies.
Now Virginia is a little harder to remember, but she has always been into bugs! That is just her thing. The only things that I have ever bought that had bugs on them were some gardening gear.
This makes me wonder what kinds of things I was very into when I was 3 years old.

Change

So, tonight I was considering making a change in life, then the phone rang.

Last night Tate asked me if I had seen a job posting for a job at Nuner, where my girls go to school. I wasn't really interested but then thought I may as well look into it. So, I read the job posting. It is something that I can do, and most likely would be very good at it..Family and Community School Specialist. I still may apply, although the deadline is tomorrow.

I am always a little conflicted with going back to work. But, now I only have one child that I watch and Ellyn. I was getting ready to print out an application and the phone rang.

Now, I have had these particular calls before and they always seem to fall through. It was a call from a friend that now lives in TX. She has a friend up here that called her to ask if she knew anyone here that babysits. Well, my friend called me....I am going to call this mom tomorrow. The children are 2 1/2 yr old boy and a 4 yr old girl. I am hoping that this will work, it is only 2 days a week, which is what I do, part-time child care. There is a big need for this and not a lot of options.

So, I am trusting in God that this was a sign that I am still needed to be home for others that are in need of my services. God, you are in control of this and I am giving it to you....all I ask is that it works out!

Back to School!!!!

I have been waiting for this day for about the last month! I love my kids, I really do, but I am very HAPPY that they are BACK TO SCHOOL!

There is always a little hitch the first day of school, the bus is always late, and I am okay with that. We have the best bus driver in the world, Miss Wanda! She makes sure that she changes her bus route a bit just so the girls do not have to cross the street. This morning we went ahead and met the bus at the corner to make sure that we had Miss Wanda again this year. And there she was! So she is going to make the pick up and drop off the same as last year....right in front of the house!

As I was crossing the street back to our house I hear "I love you MOM!!!" from the bus window! Thanks Rebekah for making me smile....I love you too!

Tween

On August 12, 2010 I became the Mom of a "Tween". Virginia turned 10 this year. I am not sure that I am ready for all the changes that come with the "Baby" becoming older. But, I believe that since my mom made it through I will too.
Virginia has become a very independent young lady, but still has her childish moments. I like the cuddle moments, but really dislike the baby talk moments. She wants to be able to do what she wants when she wants, sounds a bit familiar......this is me. I am proud of who she is and who she will become. Just getting there is going to be the challenge.
Virginia, you will always be my first born, one of the lights of my life and I will love you no matter what!

Red Table!

So, I have completed a little project, my red table and chairs! Here they are!

Friday Night

So we had decided that Friday nights would be pizza night for the family. Well, we did pizza night on Wednesday this week, so tonight we decided that we would just stay home.

We cooked burgers on the grill, went swimming and now Tate and I are sitting by the fire pit out side enjoying the cooler evening. I have been waiting for these cool evenings, they are my favorite. The cooler nights are also great for having the windows open and listening to the nature outside while drifting off to sleep....I can't wait for bed time tonight!

We have another busy weekend ahead. The weekends have been very tiring but a lot of fun. This weekend brings 2 birthday parties, 1 Bachelor party (in Chicago), dinner and a movie with my mom and sisters, Church, a stamping class and then the final event of the weekend - potluck growth group! I will have to find time in there to make Chili and corn bread for our group.

Well now to get back to relaxing next to the fire pit! Have a fun and safe weekend.....can you believe that summer is almost gone?!

BLT

All I am gonna say on this is.....ALWAYS THE BEST DINNER!

We don't have these often because the price of bacon is so high, and we love our bacon. So this was a nice treat on a hot day. Of course I cooked the bacon in the oven so I did heat up the kitchen! Oh well!

My Friend...Melissa (and Ed too)

I feel that I need to tell you about a friend that I am privileged to know and am getting to know better every week....Melissa.

Melissa is a MOM of 7 wonderful kids that I am loving more every week as the whole family has been joining us for a potluck dinner for the last 2 weeks and will be for the next 4 more Sundays. She is also married to an Ed. I just asked Tate to help me to find a good descriptive word for him, but there is not just one good one. Tate said, "he is just Ed." These two have wonderful children.

I met Melissa when their house caught fire. Now, before this I had never really gone out of my comfort box and just gone up to someone that I didn't know and say, "If you need anything let me know. What size clothes do your girls wear?" I ended up on a mission that God gave me to find them all sorts of items to fill a new home with. What a blessing that God gave me this task- and not only that- but a great friend and wonderful family that I am honored to know. We are even planning on doing some pre-school with our youngest kids that are not in school yet!

Now for these kids (because this is why I am amazed by this woman).

Lena is her oldest she is going into 7th grade this year and is a wonderful big sister, she takes great care of her siblings in every way, and loves them (at least this is what I see). I am looking forward to getting to know Lena better as the weeks go on.

Allison, she is the artist and music person. I had the honor of having a little "concert" performed for me last week when I had gone to drop off a pair of shoes that were left at our house. She has this list of songs that she can sing! There has to be at least 100 songs on this list. I was amazed! She is a talented artist too. Last week when they were here I gave her one of my sketch books, she had already drawn a picture and made sure that I had a look as soon as she knew I was there! She is an awesome kid!

Edwin- now here is definitely where I become amazed. Edwin is Autistic. Not that this should scare anyone, yes, I have been shot at with the finger gun. Maybe I should be worried but, I am not. I just let him know that we don't do that here and that he needs to put them away....and he does. I find that he is respectful. Today he went swimming in our pool....what fun he had! I find that he is pretty normal to a point....of course I don't know many Autistic children, but he is one that I am finding fun to get to know. I know that Melissa is reading this and getting a real kick out of my view of her family, but this what I know when it comes to Edwin- I will not be scared away!

Olivia is next in the line up. Tonight we discovered that she had cut her bangs! So, I took her into the bathroom and fixed them for her. They were not too bad - but you could tell that she had taken scissors to them. She is kinda the quiet one. She is another one that I want to get to know more, she heads to the basement when she is here or outside with the other kids, so she doesn't hang around the adults too much. She would be the middle child, so I guess she is learning to do for herself.

Tobey Jude.....what can I say about him....he likes to flush my toilet and open my fridge to see what is in there! He is also the "Monkey" of the bunch. He bounces all around on the couch, and gets into the plants. And then there is his lovable side, tonight I was at the table getting some things ready and he was standing by my side touching my arm very gently. He is also Autistic. But totally different from his brother, as you can tell by what I have just written. He is also the one that you have to keep a good eye on. I have been told that he likes to run! I have not experienced this side of him yet, but I know that I will! We are going to be planning a park trip for one of our potluck nights.

Emily and Melody are the two youngest. I am lumping them together here because really, they are almost like one, that is at least when they are here. I will be getting the honor of getting to know the two of them better starting in August. I will be watching them on Fridays so that Melissa and Ed can get some much needed "Mommy/Daddy Time"! I am glad that I can do this for them. So, I will just have to get to know them better and tell you more about them as I go.

Ed! Now this is one heck of a guy! Tonight we decided that he is now the Dog Whisperer. Chloe got out tonight while they were leaving and her got her. It was neat to watch him. Not only can he catch a dog, but all the kids love him. I have been honored to watch him interact with the kids at Church and in my home. Tonight he sat at the table and 2 of the other girls were sitting next to him just playing and talking. Man, you are awesome! And I am amazed by you!



Now, if I have interested you in learning more about my friend, her family and daily life, I encourage you to read her blog!
http://holstein9.blogspot.com

Classic Fire Trucks! Madison, IN

Madison, IN

A couple of weekends ago we drove our friend down to Southern Indiana for a reunion of the group that she went to Haiti with back in May. We love her and would do just about anything for her- she is on our cell phone plan if that tells you anything, we just love her like she is our own! 
Anyway, back to our trip. This was a one day trip so it was a long one, 5 hours each way. Our children were troopers! They didn't complain once, of course I think that has to do with the fact that there is a DVD player in our van! We had decent weather for our trip. It rained a little on the way down and stormed on the way home, but we did have some sun when we arrived at our destination.
Madison, IN is on the Ohio River. We drove through town first to see what was on Main St. to eat at, as we were all hungry for lunch by the time we arrived in this little town. It seemed like we had gone back in time just a little. There were little shops and cafes lining the street. 
We ate a little burger place called, Hinkles Sandwich Shop. The burgers were good and so were the fries, although the burgers could have been bigger. They have been around since 1933, so they must know what they are doing! Here is their web site if you want to check out a little more about them  http://www.hinkleburger.com/
It rained while we ate lunch, so we thought that we might just have to get wet a little, of course we got wet a little anyhow since it was so humid! After lunch we headed up the street to look around and see what kind of shops were there and decide who we might want to go back and look at. But, first we had to go back and get the camera and the stroller!
We decided that we were going to head down to the river and check it out! I never had been along the Ohio River before, over it yes, but not walking along it. It is really quite wide. We were there at a really neat time because they had some old fire engines on display. They were even shooting water out over the river from the fire trucks! My dad would have really loved it. I am already thinking of a Christmas Present for him! 
There were also some racing boats there too, all three of the girls got posters signed by the drivers of the boats on display! 
I know that we missed a lot of the historic landmarks of the city since we really only stayed on Main St and the river. When we were about to leave we started to find on the side streets, historic homes. I do hope that we get to go back there someday so that we can hit other places. We only spent a few hours there and there was more to be seen, just like in any other town. There is Cliffty State Park located in Madison, so we hope to go camping and finish exploring the town some day. 
I will post pictures in the next blog!

Summer Evening Reflection

Finally some quiet! I am sitting outside ALONE! Tate is inside watching who knows what- he told Virginia that he just spent 5 days outside and wanted to be inside. This is true....he went to Ely, MN on a canoeing trip with Bashor Children's Home, so I understand. But, it would be nice if he would sit out here with me, oh well....more quiet time for me!
We are attempting to start a new little program with the girls so that we can stop yelling the same things at them all the time. Today I bought them each a dry erase board. We are going to use it as silent communication. The rule is that only Tate and I can write on it or erase something from it, and we will write what we need them to do. I saw this in one of the magazines I was reading a while back, now it is time. I am tired of yelling and being frustrated all the time. We are going to add a color code to what we put on the board. RED-needs to be done yesterday, GREEN- needs to be done now, and BLUE- needs to be done sometime today. We will see if this works and I will let you know!
This weekend was very busy for us. Friday was Ellyn's Birthday. She turned 3! Wow, I still can't believe that she is 3! We took the grandparents out for pizza at Starlite. My mom and dad had never been there before, and they really liked it! It reminded my mom of when we used to go out for Friday Night Pizza growing up. I think about those days a lot and hope that one day we can get into a habit of doing that too. Here is why it would have to be a habit, we eat out too much as a family. We have tried to scale back and I think that we have done a good job at doing that. What made it special growing up was that was really the only time we ate out. That will be another goal for the list to work on!
Then Sunday was Tate and My anniversary, 12 years. Tate has been a great husband. We have had our ups and downs. We have been through job losses, lay-offs, depressions (both of us, although only one of us needed medication) and having 3 beautiful girls that we are raising together. Tate and I have been together since High School, so in total we have actually been together 18 years! WOW!
Our anniversary started with finishing up the cleaning for Ellyn's party, which went very well. We got to spend a great afternoon with family and friends. We even had friends that were in from TX stop by to visit, it was great to see David and Cynthia, for even just a little bit. Then, we headed to dinner. We went to the Indian Garden for Indian food. Not too bad, but next time I will insist on Red Lobster (don't tell Tate, I gave in to the Indian since he had been gone for 6 days. Yes, honey I know that you are reading this). Then we were off for a nice walk along the St Joseph River in Mishawaka. It was still a little muggy but is was a nice walk. Then we hit the Hacienda for drinks, a mug for me and a beer for him. And then headed home. Nothing too exciting, we are just getting too old for that.
This week has been a normal week so far. If there is anything normal about having a bunch of kiddos that I love running about my house 24 hours 7 days a week!
I hope that everyone has a chance to open up your windows tonight.....it is wonderful!

Happy Birthday Miss Ellyn

Three years ago today I gave birth to a beautiful little girl that we named Ellyn Rosalie. She came arrived body surfing across the table at 5:31 a.m. on June 25, 2007. She weight in at 8 pounds 13 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long. She is named for her Great Great Grandmothers on the Bennett side of the family, Ellen Hardy and Rosalie Bennett.
Today she is 3! I can;t believe that she is that old. I have been blessed to be able to raise her as a stay at home mommy. I missed so much with Virginia and Rebekah.
Her personality is coming out in many ways. She is very sweet and gives the best hugs and kisses, but at the same time she has a bit of a temper. I would love to chalk this up to that she is 3, but I think not. She is a good listener and does pretty much what she is told. She is graceful most of the time, I think that she is still trying to get used to her legs! She likes to dance, run and play. Music is one of her favorite things, she dances when ever she hears it.
At 3 we are working on potty training, she is getting the hang of it. This is one of the privileges I get this time around. I am finding it frustrating and fun at the same time.
So, Happy Birthday my sweet Elly Rose!

Lonely

Okay, so I thought that Tate being gone for a week would be a good thing......not in reality. I am lonely. Not in the sense that no one is around. That is definitely not the case, as I have a house full of kids every day.

Last Summer Tate took a week and went out to Los Angeles to visit his brother and it was not too bad. Of course on that trip we talked every night. This summer I have sent him on a trip with a group from Bashor Children's Home. Tate used to work for Bashor so it was no big deal. They are up in Minnesota at Boundary Waters, canoeing and camping. What is driving me nuts is that I don't get to talk to him!

I am truly okay with this, until I want to talk to him. He will get back sometime on Saturday, not sure exactly when, it could very well be very early in the morning. And then the weekend will be busy with getting ready for Ellyn's party on Sunday, which is also our anniversary. We will be married for 12 years.

The plan is that after everyone leaves he and I are going to go out for our dinner.....Red Lobster! We only go there a couple of times a year, my birthday and our anniversary.

Please be praying for Tate's continued safety on the the trip and his safe return to ME (and the girls of course!).

My Spring Flowers!

These are my Irises in bloom in my front flower beds this spring.