Happy 2nd Birthday Savannah!

Our sweet, precious, darling Savannah turned 2 today! Somebody make time stop. Quick!


It seems like yesterday that I was rocking and nursing my tiny 6 lb baby girl, singing Jesus Loves Me. Now she is singing Jesus loves me and blowing out candles - all by herself ???

We were in Laramie for her birthday (the girls were swimming in a meet) and Grandma Sandy bought Savannah a Finding Nemo cake.

A week or so earlier Wayne and Sandy were in Casper and took Savannah shopping. Savannah picked out her own birthday present......

Grandpa helps her put it together!

More presents!

A Baby Allie. Allie saw this at Sam's Club and really wanted Savannah to have a doll named (and spelled correctly :D) after her big sister ALLIE!

It's a vacuum??? Yep - we are starting her early.

Savannah loves swimming with the plastic fish!

The dark frosting necessitated a bath! It even turned the water a nice purple color.

It was a party -- Thanks Grandpa Wayne and Grandma Sandy for a fun birthday party!

Meal plan for Nov. 16 – Nov. 21

From last week: Cranberry Swirl Loaf (thanks to Chef Allie). It was yummy and didn't last long at all!!

The Meal Plan:

Lovin' it, lovin' it! The meal plan is a hit with everyone. I have been WAY better prepared ahead of time and had much less stress of "what am I going to make today?".

Monday
Scrambled eggs, toast and juice
Grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, fruit and veggies
Pizza for kids (THANKS Teresa for watching kiddos!)
Out to eat w/gift card (from my sister Shauna) for Phil and I

Snacks: Cranberry Apple Crisp

Tuesday
Cold cereal and fruit
Cheese quesadillas, green beans, and applesauce
Hawaiian chicken, sticky rice and broccoli

Snacks: Jello squares

Wednesday
French toast and fruit
Chicken nuggets and tator tots
Salami and Ham Stromboli, soup and salad

Snacks: Yogurt and granola

Thursday
Kid’s choice (within reason....)
PB&J sandwiches, mandarin oranges, carrots
Leftovers

Snacks: Milk and cookies

Friday
Bagels, cream cheese and fruit
Sack lunch or drive thru after Co-op
Creamy Basil Chicken Fettuccine, salad and garlic bread

(saved from last week cause we had too many leftovers!!)

Snacks: Ginger Honey Chex Mix

Saturday
Pancakes, sausage and eggs – Daddy’s cooking!
Leftovers
Pork steaks, sweet potato orange cups, green beans amandine

Snacks: Cheese cubes and apple slices

Finally Caught Up!

I am caught up. HOORAY!!!!!! I am finally caught up. I can't believe I am really caught up!!

Okay, I feel so much better after getting that out in the open. Hope you all enjoyed the 20+ posts in the last few days. I was starting to get desperate worrying I would never get caught up.

But I did, hooray!!!!!! I am SO caught up. (Until this weekend when I am sure I will take a lot of photos of the swim meet and of a very special little girl who is turning 2!) Stay tuned for more pictures and video.

P.S. I am caught up..................

Puppy Sitting

Some friends of ours from church recently got 2 new puppies. Can you believe these 2 cute little things were part of a litter of 6 that were dumped on the side of the road???



Allie and I first met them when they were only 4 weeks old and asked (okay, begged) Erin to let us watch them sometime if they went of town. We were so excited when just 2 weeks later they took us up on that offer.



Jessi and Lindsay were pleased to have one for each of them. The girl is Summer and the boy is Gus.

Seriously-- they are so stinkin' cute.

Savannah especially liked playing ball with them.
.

Timothy wanted to sit and watch football with this one.

Good ole' tug-o-war.

Savannah was enthralled with their water and food dish.

How cute is this? They came and curled up by my Bible bag and napped while I had devotions in the morning.

They LOVED to be outside and would run and run and run and run.....

My kids did not want to give them back!

Savannah even read her children's dictionary to one of them!!

Here are some cute videos of the fun we had.

When You Don't Feel Like It, Take Heart

Just a few hours after posting my previous post about changing my standards when the going gets tough, this was delivered to my Inbox from the Desiring God Blog.

So, good, so true, and SO timely! Enjoy.

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When You Don’t Feel Like It, Take Heart
November 12, 2009 By: Jon Bloom Category: Commentary

Did you wake up not feeling like reading your Bible and praying? How many times today have you had to battle not feeling like doing things you know would be good for you?

While it’s true that this is our indwelling sin that we must repent of and fight against, there’s more going on.

Think about this strange pattern that occurs over and over in just about every area of life:

• Good food requires discipline to prepare and eat while junk food tends to be the most tasty, addictive, and convenient.
  
• Keeping the body healthy and strong requires frequent deliberate discomfort while it only takes constant comfort to go to pot.
  
• You have to make yourself pick up that nourishing theological book while watching a movie can feel so inviting.
  
• You frequently have to force yourself to get to devotions and prayer while sleeping, reading the sports, and checking Facebook seems effortless.
  
• To play beautiful music requires thousands of hours of tedious practice.
  
• To excel in sports requires monotonous drills ad nauseum.
  
• It takes years and years of schooling just to make certain opportunities possible.
  
• This goes on and on.

The pattern is this: the greater joys are obtained through struggle and pain, while brief, unsatisfying, and often destructive joys are right at our fingertips. Why is this?

Because, in great mercy, God is showing us everywhere, in things that are just shadows of heavenly things, that there is a great reward for those who struggle through (Hebrews 10:32-35). He is reminding us repeatedly each day to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).

Each struggle is an invitation by God to follow in the footsteps of his Son, “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).

Those who are spiritually blind only see futility in these things. But for those who have eyes to see, God has woven hope (faith in future grace) right into the futility of creation (Romans 8:20-21). Each struggle is a pointer saying, “Look! Look to the real Joy set before you!”

So when you don’t feel like doing what you know is best for you, take heart and don’t give in. Your Father is pointing you to the reward he has planned for all who endure to the end (Matthew 24:13).

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
(2 Corinthians 4:17-18)

If you can't meet expectations, change the standard?

I don't know if that is a realistic or even acceptable way of looking at life, but it can be beneficial to my mental well-being, at least in the short term.

I used to think that if a certain number of "to do" items were checked off my list, the house was clean, kids fed and cared for, and meals prepared and cleaned up, it was a successful day. Unfortunately that was prior to my new adventure in homeschooling and the two very busy toddlers at home ALL OF THE TIME.

A look throughout my house on Monday revealed every - I mean every - area in disarray and quite literally, trashed! So instead of jumping to the task of cleaning it, I had a crazy idea to photograph it and blog about it. I see at least 3 positive reasons for doing this:

1. Any of my friends that think my house and life are frequently in order --- you are wrong and here is proof!

2. On a good day or at least a better one than this, I can breathe a sigh of relief that it didn't look this bad.

3. It makes for a fun blog post. (Cheryl, I guess should have saved it for Messy Monday and linked to yours!)


The kitchen after breakfast



The classroom - I mean table. (Yeah, that 's Puppy Chow in the background and I will explain more in next post).


And a large box for puppies in my living room.


So much dust, I could write the word dust.

Tim's room.

Allie calls this making her bed??????

And the laundry. It never goes away. It was heaping out of most of the hampers. I wish it would grow legs and walk to the washing machine itself.

More laundry....

ANd even more....

The kitchen after lunch...

So now success is redefined: Kids fed, school done. Well almost done..... (wink). Anything more than that is truly a bonus!!!!

Fancy Facials and other Beauty Secrets

While Phil and I watched football and took care of things around the house, Allie invited some friends after church and they transformed the basement into a spa.


Allie and Aly are multi-tasking: facials and manicures at the same time!







Sarah R. is quite beautiful with her mask on.


The products - oh, the many products.

Lots of Learning

Timothy found some pre-kindergarten books in our book bin. He seems to understand the concepts just fine! Here he is matching uppercase and lower case letters.




And another favorite is his Bible sticker book.


Savannah also loves to sit up at the counter and color while Allie does math and Timothy learns his alphabet!

Sorry, Daddy. Looks like she is going to be a "Righty".

Warm November Days

The warm temps continue and we continue to take advantage of them by spending time in the backyard! Savannah and Timothy couldn't get outside fast enough after church last week. They even ate a picnic lunch outside.


Lil' Precious is going to be 2 next week. Say it isn't so!



Love those tights!! Were those Meg's or Madison's??

My handsome little guy!

Bathroom Remodel

On a whim (I am totally serious when I say whim) I mentioned to the girls that we should rip the hideous wallpaper off the wall in the downstairs bathroom.

Not more than 10 minutes later, one of the girls emerged from the basement announcing that they could not get it all off the walls. HUH?! I guess they really wanted that wallpaper to come down and a fresh coat of paint.



Well...the bathroom sat that way for a week or two (I just didn't have extra time in my schedule to remodel a bathroom) until good ole Grandpa Dave came to visit. He even installed a new light fixture in the shower!

He just shakes his head at me, and my mom swears she would be DEAD if she tried anything like I did.



Thanks to Dad -- on the last day before they left, he figured he'd better help me out! Since we were doing the walls, we might as well do the floor, right???

Allie spent several hours scraping and pulling.

My mom decided that her Christmas present to the girls this year would be the cost of the remodel. So off to shop, we did go. Twelve sets of multi-colored towel sets, a brightly colored shower curtain, towel racks, a wall organizer and several other amenities later, we arrived home VERY EXCITED.

It took me a couple of weeks to finish the texture and paint, but I do believe the finished product is worth it! The girls are thrilled and very thankful to Grammy and Grandpa for their Christmas present!!

From a dark brown vanity and blue and tan circular-patterned wallpaper TO fresh white, coral and various other colors. A refreshing change!

The bathroom is tiny, so very difficult to get a good picture. (Mom and Dad - the color on the small wall and the middle of the vanity is the same as the bottom color in Savannah's room. It was a perfect match to the shower curtain.)