Faith-Lift Friday(2/29/08)

Encourage others and yourself! Share a scripture, quote, devotional, lyrics, or anything that has blessed you and strengthened you in your faith.

Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

It is neither our responsibility nor within our capability to maintain ourselves in a state of salvation. God began this work in us and He will assure its continuance until the day of Jesus Christ.

The "day of Jesus Christ" is the day when Christ returns for His people

(found at HolyBible.com)

Isn't it wonderful to know we are not left alone to figure our salvation out on our own, but God has promised us He would take care of it all.

For More Faith-lift Friday visit Taking The Challenge

Know and Tell Friday(2/29/08)

Question 1

I can't bear the sound of_________.

my children crying, be it there sad, or hurt.. If there is anything I can do to help them when they are crying I'm going to do it.

Question 2
I would love to time-travel back to_________.

When my grandparents were teenagers and also again to when my parents were teenagers. and Then once again to when I was a teenager.. I think that would be cool.

Question 3
Shop alone, shop with mom, or shop with friends? I'm an alone sort of shopper.. I get much more done. Though I do tend to shop alot with my mom, it easy that way too if she is able to keep an eye on the kids while I shop.

Question 4
Worst movie ever? Joe Versus the Volcano. DH and I saw it early on when we were dating and I think it might be the worst movie ever.

Question 5 (More of a poll)
Have you ever had your heart broken? YES

Bonus Questions
Question 6
In what area of your life have you felt the most judged (by others or even self condemnation)? HUMMM.. these bonus question I never just have an answer off the top of my head.. Let me think.. I think Motherhood.. I think once you become a mom, every other mother out there starts to judge you.. Do you work or stay at home.. Do you CIO or are you more of an APer. I think that is the biggest area in my life that I feel people judge me on. OH and to answer some of those questions.. I'm a stay at home mom(but wasn't always) and I do not do CIO.. I pretty much co sleep, extended BF and tend to be much more of an Attach parent.

Question 7
(relates to number 6) Are you now free from that judgment, and how did you get free if you are? Yes and NO.. No because I'm sure there are still people out there who would still judge me.. thinking OH MY GOODNESS your 33 month old just weaned a week ago??? Or OH MY GOODNESS.. you need to teach your kids to fall asleep on there own and stay in there own beds.. BUT Yes I feel free from the judgment now, because God has given me a peace about how I raise my children and I guess I just honestly don't care what other people have to say about it. LOL doesn't that sound so sweet and kind of me :P

Question 8 (written by Dan Whitney)
What is one new way you could be a blessing to your pastor (or other ministers) this year? I think Praying for them is the best thing we can do and also let them know they are loved.

For more Know and Tellers stop over at To Know Him

Friday Feast (2/29/08)

Appetizer

Who was the last person you hugged?
Little Man when I tucked him into bed.

Soup
Share a beauty or grooming trick or tip with us.

THIS I got it for my birthday back in November and I just LOVE the way it makes my nails look.. LOVE IT..

Salad
What does the color yellow make you think of?

flowers and sunshine.

Main Course
If you were to make your living as a photographer, what subject would your pictures revolve around?

Children and People or at least it did when I was making my living as a photographer before Sweet Pea was born.

Dessert

What was the longest book you ever read?

I have no idea
See more Friday's Feast participants here.

Throwback Thursday(singing at my wedding)

Today I thought I would throw it back to October 29, 1994. My Wedding day.

On Tuesday this week I played along in a Wedding Photo Tag. A few people asked me or commented on me singing to DH. So I thought I would try to share that with you wonderful people, my blog readers.

In order to do this, I broke out the old VHS tape of my wedding and the aim my camera at the TV set so the sound on the video isn't the best and you might need to turn it up if you want to hear me sing.. but keep in mind it is me singing so you might want to turn it down so you don't have to hear it LOL. In either case here it is.

Wordless Wednesday(Sweet Pea)

The color shot for this last B&W can be found HERE

Last week I did the shots of Princess so thought today I would show you some of Sweet Pea taken last friday before school.

Happy WW

Another Snow Day

Woke up this morning to find that the kids school was closed due to the snow we got over night. When I looked out the window it looked like a Christmas card out in the yard. I thought DH would have a hard time getting home from work but he just hopped on the turnpike and made it home faster then he normally would.. As soon as he got home he got to work clearing the driveway, sidewalks and the walks up to our house.Good man, good, man because while he was working hard in the snow the kids and I were having fun building snowmen, snow forts and covering themselves in mountains of snow.

When I first got out side I found them all swinging on the swing set here is a short 13 second video clip of that.

Then I drove them all crazy taking a picture of each one of them.

Here is Princess, Mr Man, Sweet Pea and Little Man(in that order)

Then Princess and Mr Man took off to the back yard while Sweet Pea and Little Man and I continued to work on the snowman.. Sweet Pea did the biggest part of the work, she rolled all the snowballs for the snow man herself, I lifted them into place and Little Man found the sticks for us to use. Here is the finished project. After finishing the snowman we headed into the back yard to find Princess on her knees next to this big snow pile when we got closer we saw that the pile of snow had a head to it..
Here is a short little clip of Mr Man getting out of that snow.

Once he got out as you hear in the clip, Little Man saying "my turn" so here is an ever short clip of them covering Little Man up in snow. They were all smart enough to remember he is only 2 1/2 years old so they didn't pile it on like Princess did to Mr Man but Little Man still thought it was alot of fun.

This next shot was of them helping Little Man out of the snow.

They all seemed to enjoy there morning in the snow. We were out there from 8am to almost 11amOnce we got back in the house we made banana pancakes and had a late breakfast and got warm.. At Noon my grandpa stopped by to see who wanted to go to his house and play The 3 older ones went with him.. Little Man would have said he wanted to go also except he had fallen asleep at 11:30am

At 2pm I had to take Sweet Pea back to the doctor for a recheck on her ear.. THANKFULLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it is all cleared up.. This was the 1st time since December 2007 that I could leave the doctors without setting up a follow up appointment.. I was so thrilled. NOW.. here is hoping no one gets sick from playing in this wet snow all day(and yes I know they say you don't get sick from being cold but still)

After the appointment I headed over my grandmas where Princess and Mr Man had been playing outside since noon. Sweet Pea and Little Man joined them and they played out there for another 2 hours.. At 4:30pm I called them in to get warmed up.. They were soaked.. it has been snow raining all day.. you know that sort of wet wet snow falling from the sky.. but the snow was wonderful packing snow and it was one of the 1st times this winter where there was a ton of snow and still warm enough to play outside(before with our snow we were getting -20 with windchill outside) Today was about 35 out there.

I think Little Man is ready to fall asleep again.. Hopefully I can keep him awake until 7:30pm or he will be up all night if he was to nap right now.

I guess I better go play with him right now he is laying on the couch watching a bob the builder dvd. Dinner is almost ready so maybe eating will help wake him up a bit.

Got to run.. I hope you all had a wonderful Tuesday.

Wedding Photo Tag

Aisha over at Leaf Float Down River is hosting a Wedding Photo Tag and she tagged me to play along. So here are some of the photos from mine and DH's wedding day. October 29, 1994
Me and DHMy parents and his parents.here we are with my grandparents.. next to me are my mom's parents(who have since both passed away) and next to DH is my dad's parents who I see daily.The wedding party. My colors were black and white with a little mauve tossed in. This photo was staged.. because the one they took during the wedding didn't turn out right so after the guest left he had us pose for this shot. This one was not posed.. It was of me signing to DH during the wedding.. The song was called "Only God Could Love You More"

What it looked like if you were in the back.

The cakeCutting the cakeeating the cake.
And this is the end.

Now I tag all of you. Go scan or whatever a few of your wedding pictures and then put them on your blog, stop back over and let me know you have them posted and don't forget to stop by and let Aisha know also.

Weekend Recap(Feb 22-24)

This picture was taken in April 2007 from our 2nd hotel window while on our spring vacation.

Here we are another Monday.. Is it me or do you all find as you get older the weeks seem to go faster?? I tell ya it's like I close my eyes and when I open them it's already the start of another week.

Highlights from the week.. Monday 2/18/08 kids didn't have school I blogged about our day HERE. Tuesday 2/19/08 Princess spent the night with my grandparents and DH took Mr Man and Sweet Pea to his nephew Cousin D's high school basketball tournament game(which Cousin D's team won) then he dropped Mr Man and Sweet Pea off at my parents to spend the night since it was closer for him to do that and then head right off to work, So Little Man and I had the night to ourselves. Wednesday 2/20/08 I had to take Sweet Pea to the dentist Thursday 2/21/08 Was Princess's academic challenge match I showed pictures from that HERE.

That bring us up to Friday 2/21/08 the start of this weekend Recap

The day started off bright and early with a phone call at 6am.. It was DH letting me know I could sleep in two hours longer and I didn't have to wake up(mind you I normally don't wake up till 7:30am anyways) because the kids school was on a 2 hour delay due to the snow we got overnight. Thanks Honey for waking me up at 6am to let me know I could sleep till 9:30am if I wanted too ;) Sleeping in sounded good, ONLY problem was that when the phone rang at 6am it woke up Little Man so I couldn't go back to bed even if I wanted too.

Since we had the two hour delay the kids were up and home and playing and messing up the house, sadly to say I still haven't had a chance to pick up the mess yet. But I also got to curl Sweet Pea's hair for school and she picked out a skirt and top to wear to school. She normally won't wear her dresses or skirts because she doesn't like playing on the playground in them or running around in her dress shoes.. so it is normally jeans and tennies for her.. But since she was sure there wasn't going to be outdoor recess she was thrilled to get to wear one of the new outfits she got for her birthday a few weeks ago. Here are a few pictures I took of her before she headed off to school. She is so into fashion sort of like my friend DCRMOM over at Musings of a Housewife :P

She wanted to pack her lunch that day but even with the 2 hour delay I was running behind so at lunch time I went and took her lunch to her at school. There class was just visiting the restrooms to wash there hands before lunch. Sweet pea was done and standing in line, her teacher told me I could take her into the lunchroom.. so we walked down there together and she and I were the only two in there.. She sat down and I was setting her a napkin down on the table to spread her food out on when I heard her say in her sweet little Deva 6 year old voice "OH MY GOODNESS" I said "what" she said "I would SO wear a white shirt with that jacket" I look up to see another one of the kindergarten classes entering the lunch room and Sweet Pea looking at her friend K(they have been friends for the last 4 years) K was wearing a leopard print hoodie(the jacket sweet pea was talking about) and a pink t-shirt under it.. you know the normal wear for a kindergarten.. Sometimes I think Sweet Pea is worse then her older sister about fashion LOL.

Friday after Princess got home from her weekly after school hangout.. we all loaded up the van and headed over to my grandparents house.. where Mr Man and Sweet Pea jumped out and Grandma Jumped in.. Grandpa watched those two, while Grandma, DH, Princess, Little Man and I went just over an hour away to watch the basketball game for Cousin D. It was interesting trying to keep Little Man entertained though the game, but I knew I was going to be leaving him Saturday night and I didn't want to leave him with someone babysitting him two night back to back like that. He did better then I thought he would. The game was good, sadly Cousin D's team lost so they are done for the year, well I guess since Cousin D is a senior this year he is done forever. Don't know what my IL's will do with themselves now, seeing how they won't have any high school sport to watch the grandkids play until Princess is in high school.

Saturday 2/23/08 was a fun day Princess had her last basketball game of the season(next weekend starts there tournaments) Princess got to start again and played most of the game and they WON!!!

The last quarter we were so far ahead they pulled all the starters and let the bench see some playing time. here are a few short clips from the game

After the basketball game I had some running to do, 1st stop walmart I was down to two pullups and the Little Man needed more then two. The 2nd stop I wasn't planning but I needed a video tape to tape Princess's softball game and walmart no longer carried them so it was off to Radioshack. Got that and then feed everyone lunch and packed up cloths for Mr Man, Sweet Pea, and Little Man they were spending the night at my parents that night and my mom and dad was on there way to pick them up. Next it was time to get Princess and pick up Princess's friend SF aka shorty. Princess was spending Saturday night over at Shorty's house but 1st she was going with us to Princess's 1st winter league softball game. It wasn't a pretty game.. It was the first time this team has played as a team.. They have been practicing once or twice a month since September but this was the 1st time to put it into action.. They are a 12 year old team and this winter league is a Jr High league for 6th, 7th and 8th graders.. The game Saturday was against a 14U team who has been playing together for the last 2 years.. It wasn't really bad but we lost 8 to 1.

Even though they lost Princess had a good game. She was only one of two girls on the team who could hit this picture(the girl was good and super fast she is an 8th grader) Princess didn't get to pitch in the game because we ran out of time. The indoor leagues you only play an hour and when your time is up your time is up and the coach started her daughter as picture.. I think Princess will get to pitch in the next game.

Sunday 2/24/08 we pickedPrincess up from Shorty's house on our way to church.. After church DH and Princess had to go for uniform fittings(for softball) and then they did the grocery shopping.. I took Mr Man, Sweet Pea and Little Man to my parents, we ate lunch and then I took them sled riding. There is a super big hill for that in my parents town.. but it was warm today and all the snow had melted off of it.. but some of the litter(but still big) hills still had plenty of snow on them.. so the kids had a blast, even Little Man was doing down the hill by himself and LOL the whole way.. he needed a bit of help getting back up the hill but he had a ball. Only Little Man didn't get his nap, so while I was on my way home to get to Awana's He fell asleep.. so I dropped him off at home and took the kids to church.. (um guess I should add here that DH was home sleeping with Little Man he wasn't alone LOL) Little Man didn't end up waking up till 7:30pm after everyone was back from awana's. So we feed him some super and got everyone ready for bed. Got DH off to work and the middle two kids and I started reading a new book, got about 4 chapters into it and sent them to bed. Little Man was up well past midnight. ~sigh~

So there you have it the end of yet another weekend recap

How was your weekend??

Meme Monday #4

Midlife Mom passed these fun blog awards on to me this week.. A great big Thank you going out to Midlife Mom.
This next award I received twice this week.. Once by Midlife Mom and also by Melanie. Thank you so very much ladies.
I will pass This you make my day Award to anyone who comments on my blog today, because all of you who comments always make my day.

Was tagged last week by Melanie for this birthday quiz.. So I'm playing along.. Cant say I agree with all of it but here is what it tell me.

Your Birthdate: November 9

You are a born idealist, with more pet causes than you can count. You prefer be around others, both when working and while relaxing. Generous and giving, you believe you can change the world one person at a time. You're open minded and tolerant. People feel like they can tell you anything. Your strength: Your go-with-the-flow flexibility Your weakness: Your flair for the over dramatic Your power color: Pine green Your power symbol: Circle Your power month: September

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

I found this one over at MomOfThree and thought I would see how old I act.. HUMMMMMMMMMMMMM don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing LOL.. seeing how my real age is 35, but hey I always want to be young at heart so I'll take this as a good thing I guess LOL

You Act Like You Are 24 Years Old

You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel like an adult, and you're optimistic about life. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. You're still figuring out your place in the world and how you want your life to shape up. The world is full of possibilities, and you can't wait to explore many of them.

What Age Do You Act?

Found this over at a new blog that I started reading this week. Leaf Float Down River I found out I'm not as fast as I thought I was.
60 words

Found this over at Palm Tree Fanatic's blog and it looked like fun so I played along with this also.

Your Ideal Hairstyle:

Wavy and Soft

What Women's Hairstyle Is Right For You?

For more bloggers sharing in the Meme Monday stop by Livin' With Me!

A give away.

Midlife Mom over at Home on the Range, has hit her 250th post. In celebration she is having a give away.. Stop on over, check out the new look of her blog and enter to win her give away.. Just click HERE to see how to enter.

Happy 250th post Midlife Mom.

Know and Tell Friday (2/22/08)

Question 1. Do you read or study best in silence or in a place with background noise? Why? Normally with background noise. Unless it is at night when everyone is asleep.. Why because I have 4 kids and there is always noise in my house.
2. If you were to write a book about your life, what would it be called? I don't have a clue. LOL no that isn't the title.. but maybe it should be LOL. What about This is my life.
3. (This question is a deep one...I know it should be a bonus, but I already have a few bonus questions chosen for this week) Why do you think divorce is so prevalent? I can't really speak for people and why or why they did or didn't get divorced. I'm sure everyone is different.. but I think it has alot to do with what people go into a marriage expecting. I something think people go into it expecting it to be all roses and happy times.. then real life hits and they just don't know how to hang on to one another though those time and turn to God to get them though it. I also wonder if people know it is OK to fight, disagree and NOT LEAVE.. No two people are going to agree 100% of the time, I think learning to disagree and or even fight here and there but yet knowing that even if you are not happy with the other person and you don't agree with them that you still love them and they still love you and don't look at it as the end just a speed bump.. I guess I just went into it knowing that it was forever, and unless something extreme happened no one was ever going to walk out or leave no matter what. I also think God needs to be center if you want to have a happy marriage.
4. What's the best way to resist peer pressure? Prayer, prayer and more prayer and bible study and focusing on God. Knowing that you are living your life for God and not for those around you.. Caring only what God thinks and not what people around you think.. This can be hard at time.. but God tells us in Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
5. What is the most serious illness or injury you ever faced? I have wrote about this already on my blog in three parts. Part 1 you can find Here you can skip the part at the top in pink and just move down to the blue where it says "Now onto the question about the illness.. It wasn't just one thing. It was a combination of alot of things all happening at once." after reading that little you can move on to more of the story in THIS post. Then the end you can read HERE

Bonus Questions
6. When was the last time you felt like you had a laugh with God? I don't know.. I guess.. all the time. since God is always with us.
7. This question was inspired by a friend. My friend went through a very tragic experience, and I so wanted to comfort her, but did not have the words too (GP, right or wrong usage of the too?). I had a conversation with her at a later date and asked her what do you say to someone when they are going through a tragedy, because I know that people say the wrong things even when there intentions were good. So, here is my question.... What do you say to someone who is going through a tragic or hard time? I know the 1st thing that pops into everyone's mind when they see someone in pain going though a hard or tragic time, is to say "I'm sorry" and "I'll keep you in my prayers" or "is there anything I can do" But when I lost our baby and everyone was showing me they cared with all those saying (which they were saying to show they cared and out of love) They were the last things I wanted to hear.. I just wanted to be alone, well with God because in prayer was the only time I found peace. I knew everyone meant well and I understood that.. but I honestly felt like if one more person told me they were sorry, I was going to lose it and start crying more and never stop. After going though that.. and coming out on the other end.. I still think those are the most common things to say in those times.. BUT I find myself saying just a simple.. "your in my prayers if you need anything I'm here" Then not just saying the words but then going and praying for those people is the best thing you can do.
For more Know and Tellers stop over at To Know Him

Faith-Lift Friday(2/22/08)

Encourage others and yourself! Share a scripture, quote, devotional, lyrics, or anything that has blessed you and strengthened you in your faith.

Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: neverthless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

They are now 2-0