Day 151: Sunshine and MNO

I got to go out tonight with come of my MOPS friends. We had fun fellowship at the Japanese steak house and then enjoyed going to see the movie Blended.

And earlier today I took the boys out in our little side yard for some sunshine. :)

Oh brotherly love...

Day 150: Party Time!

The photo booth worked perfectly for the party and didn't fall apart! Here are a few picture from the evening.

The birthday girl and her daddy :)

And it is WAY past my bed time...good night!

Day 149: Gettin' Crafty

Today was my last day with students this year! I can't believe the year is over. This was a really special year for me as far a my class was concerned. It was a very small class and I had some really neat students. I will definitely miss them and yet I am so glad to be done! Just a few more days of room clean up and in-service and I will be done!

This evening I have been working diligently on making a photo-booth backdrop for my nieces sweet 16 beach birthday party. I wasn't going to and then I thought why not!? HA! Here is a glimpse. I stole the idea from a friend. Mine is no where near as cool as hers was but it will do. Now to see if it will hold up with out falling apart on me! Thankfully we do have a back up just in case!

I made it using 6 large pieces of paper (for easel painting) as my backing. I stapled a blue table cloth to the paper to add another dimension of color so I didn't have to use as much tissue paper. Then I covered it with tissue paper that was cut in to triangles and fringed. Then I used a glue stick...this may be my downfall. I am praying the glue holds! It's a beach theme so I found a pack of tissue paper with a dark blue, light blue and green for some oceany (is that a word?) colors and then added some pink for fun! It only took me 2 hours to make! :-P

Day 148: Brotherly Love

Day 147: Too Cool For School

This was Micah all ready for school this morning. The year is coming to an end. I only have 2 more days with students this week and then next week I have in-service/room cleaning days and we will be home for the summer!!!

Day 146: Memorial Day

A cute flag someone gave my mom with all of the current grand kids. It will be obsolete very soon! (and no, I'm not pregnant.)

Everyone wants to see baby Joshua.

Ready for our tractor ride!

Best big cousin EVER! She gave the kids tractor rides around the yard for probably a half hour. 

Day 145: Watermelon

Today we went to a grad party for my friend and old housemate Pam who just completed her masters! YAY Pam!

Micah couldn't get enough of the watermelon. He kept walking back to the food table and "sneaking" more.

Day 144: Dinner Guests!

One of the things we are most excited about in having this house is the opportunity to have people over. It wasn't quite as easy to have guests while living at our parents. We did but they were few and far between...and mostly family. It is been 3 weeks since we moved in and tonight we had our first dinner guests! The first in a long line of people we want to have over. We even have a guest book! I love this idea (Davey's idea) of keeping a record that we can look back on and see all of the people we will have the honor of hosting in our home. So, if you come to visit, you MUST sign the guest book!

I should have gotten a picture of us and Steve and Jenn. Oh well! Daniel was so excited to have company that all day he was asking when Allie was coming over. He was a very happy boy when they finally got here!

Allie didn't care enough about having ice cream to finish her chicken.

Day 143: The Eyes

Day 142: Father, May I?

As with most kids, Daniel is enthralled with the iPad. When he was Micah's age and wanted to touch/play with it Davey would always tell him  "You can only play with it when you learn to say, 'Father, May I play with the iPad please?'" It's funny though, he never actually made Daniel ask that properly. Somewhere along the line his melted daddy heart purchased and downloaded a bunch of kids apps and now Daniel get's to play with it nearly every night.

Aaaand then there's this kid

Day 141: Youth Group in Action

Tonight the youth group put on a little carnival for the k-5th grade Awana kids. This is one of the things I love seeing our teens do. Getting them out of their little corner of the building to minister to the younger generation is so neat. I am really proud of those who actually came and were excited about serving these kids. It makes the ministry that much more beneficial when your help actually WANTS to be there.

At the end of the night the older nursery and preschool age kids came down to have a turn in the moon bounce. They had a blast. I had one of our guys make balloon animals for each of them. Though I am pretty sure every balloon he made got left behind. I know Daniel's never made it home.

Day 140: Climb a Tree

When we arrived home from school today my brother James was over working a little bit more on our yard. With him were Natalie and Gabe. Needless to say Daniel was elated when he saw his cousin Gabe. Almost as soon as we got out of the car James put them to work taking out the ugly bricks that edge our tree.

They got tired of "working" and decided to climb the tree.

Day 139: Spaghetti and MOPS

Tonight I had to cook for my MOPS meeting. We have been having a theme for the food each month and this month was tapas. Because I completely forgot that MOPS was tonight and that I was signed up to cook I made this on the fly. I was already planning to make spaghetti for the boys and in a quick finger food search on Pinterest (where else?) I found a quick and simple muffin tin recipe for baked spaghetti! Score! I made 20 though I could easily have made more than that if I wasn't saving just plain spaghetti for the guys. I topped them with lots of cheddar cheese. They turned out pretty good for something I threw together! I didn't follow the recipe exactly but here is the link for it. Baked Spaghetti Cups

I am so thankful for my MOPS group. I can't believe this was already the last official meeting of the year (until fall). It is such a blessing in my life to meet with other moms once a month for fellowship, food, crafts, devotions, and discussion about our lives and how God is working in us as moms.

Day 138: Taco Night

Our day turned out a bit different than originally planned but that's ok because it ended up being pretty relaxing. I got a few more boxes unpacked and Davey got some other stuff organized. We hung out and watched the Lion King with the boys. (Daniel's new favorite movie.) We also got to skype with some missionary friends tonight. We talked about about some of the new ways God is using them and were encouraged to allow God to work similarly in our lives as we witness to those we come in contact with. I haven't talked to them outside of Facebook for a few years so that was really nice.

And then for dinner we had tacos! It's been a while. They were tasty.

Day 137: Just a Saturday

It was so nice out today! We had all of the windows opened and I sent the boys out on the deck for a change of scenery while I made lunch (Kraft mac-n-cheese and fruit cups) and cleaned a bit. 

Day 136: Freedom

The weather this afternoon was absolutely gorgeous so we went to the boardwalk. I am in love with the fact that we now live we live in walking distance. While we were there, we walked down to one of the little piers to let the boys run. Daniel just loves looking at the water and running around. When we let Micah out of the stroller he took off running and then stopped to look at us and giggle and then ran some more.  He was like "I'm FREE!!!"  He was not a happy camper when we took his freedom away and put him back in the stroller.

Day 135: Just Because

Flowers from the hubby just because. :)

These were very timely after I felt like a HORRIBLE parent this afternoon. While I was making dinner, Daniel was watching a movie in the living room...or so I thought. He actually opened the front door and went outside. It freaked me out since he does not have a healthy fear of the street yet. Thankfully our neighbors were outside playing. When I ran out frantically yelling his name he was just standing by the mailboxes talking with them. WHEW! We may be getting a chain for the door to avoid any more mommy heart attacks. 

Day 134: My Son is Spider Man

Our evening. "Healthy" and fun!

The way Micah is standing in the picture cracks me up.

Day 133: Sweet 16

Yesterday this girl turned 16! I can not believe it. She is more like a little sister to me than a niece. Tonight the whole family got together at a local pizza place to celebrate! Unfortunately we had to leave a bit early because the boys were done and in desperate need of baths. Glad we could be there long enough to eat though!

Happy Sweet 16 to my beautiful niece Natalie Marie. May God continue to work in your life and shape you to be a strong women of God. Put your hope in the Lord and trust fully in Him. Rely on Him through the tough times and praise him through the good and the bad. Be in His Word daily and put it to memory. Strive to glorify God in all that you say and in all that you do. This is my prayer for you today. I love you!

Natalie and Adie

Day 132: Just a Monday

We got home from school, I got dinner started, set the fancy "cook time" button on our oven, and took the boys outside for a walk.  To my amazement the oven turned off when I told it to. So cool!

Day 131: Happy Mother's Day

This morning as I am getting ready for church Daniel brings me my lip stick. I said thank you and asked him to put it on my dresser. Next thing I know he comes walking in the room looking like this saying "Wook mommy! I have eyebwows!" Unfortunately for him it was actually a lip stain so it was really difficult to get off! He was not a fan of me scrubbing his face off but it HAD to be done before church!

At church the children and youth did all of the music for the service. This is the Cherub choir.

Daniel is in the front in the orange and white shirt. To his right is his cousin Gabe and next to Gabe is his cousin Charlotte. Here are videos of the 2 songs they did this morning. Those kids are a riot and probably shouldn't be put next to one another next time!

Gabe is saying cheese at the beginning of this video because he can see his dad holding up the camera.

Day 130: Curb Appeal

I am so thankful that my brother James is a landscaper. When we moved in the house had landscaping done in the front and all around the side that was in need of great overhaul. We asked him if he'd do it for us but only if he would charge us the going rate. (We are firm believers in fully supporting friends and family in their small business.) He came over today and started to clean it all up for us. Thanks bro!

Day 129: Family Walk

Our town has a farmers marked every summer that opened a week ago I think. Now that we moved we are in walking distance! We are only about 4 blocks from the water which is where the farmers market is held. So fun! We don't buy much at the market. It's more an event for the community to all come out and see one another. We love going because we always run in to friends and it is a nice way to end the week. This will most likely be the first of many farmer's market posts this "summer."

Some how all of our clothes were color coordinated with blues and greens (completely unintentionally). We should have gotten a whole family picture but I'll settle for this one of me and the boys. Love them!

Day 128: Tunnel Time

Daniel was still not excited to be coming home to this house today though, thankfully, it wasn't as devastating as yesterday. He adjusted much more quickly which is a wonderful thing. He was especially happy when he found his tunnel midst the mess of toys. The boys had a blast playing in it for a good 15 minutes or so. I usually have this put away and pull it out for "special occasions" so it keeps its appeal. I think moving is a special enough occasion to play with the tunnel!

I keep hitting my head on that chandelier. The previous owners must have had a dining space here. We plan to replace it with a ceiling fan. My head can't wait. :)