Thankful Thursday

I'm BACK!!!!!  And slowly trying to get the house in order after being gone for a full week. 
So to save myself a little time and energy I am sharing some things I am thankful for on this day.  Hope you have a GREAT Thursday.  I look forward to getting back into posting and keeping everyone informed of what goes on here one day at a time..........................



Another cup of mud!



A growing garden

My big fluffy Arthur

Cool mornings to play outside

God's creation in our own home

He Is Risen!

                             Happy Easter!

Mama Flo

My sweet, dear grandmother, Mama Flo, went to be with her Lord this morning. Our hearts are breaking, but we rejoice and Praise God she is Home.


I am taking a little time off from my blog.  Time to remember.  Time to be with my Mom and Aunt who lost their Mother. And time to be with my family.

12 Glorious Years!!!

April 17, 1999

On Sunday Brant and I will celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary.  When any special day happens on a Saturday or Sunday around here we use the whole weekend to celebrate!  So I am looking forward to reminiscing all weekend about our special day. To look at pictures, to watch our video and of course eat a piece of wedding cake. 
Happy Anniversary to the most handsome man in the world.  The love of my life!!!
God has truly blessed me with this man.
I love you Brant!

 

He Has Risen! Rolls

These rolls are easy, messy and oh so yummy!  I ended up doing all the work, but went over the meaning with the boys during the process.  These would be perfect for Easter morning! Just may have to make them again! 

You will need the following:
•1/2 stick of butter (melted)
•1 can of large refrigerated rolls
•Large marshmallows (8 of them)
•A bowl of cinnamon and sugar mix

Preheat oven to 350. 
The white marshmallow represents Jesus who was pure and sinless.

Roll the marshmallows in butter and then in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. The butter represents the anointing oil and the cinnamon-sugar mixture represents the spices--spices were put on Jesus' body before they laid him in the tomb.

Wrap the biscuit around the marshmallow and seal the dough around it. This part is very important--make sure the dough is completely sealed around the marshmallow. After they put Jesus in the tomb, they rolled a large stone in front of it to seal it.

Next roll the ball of dough in butter and then in the cinnamon-sugar mixture.  Place on the cookie sheet.
Tip: As you wrap the dough around the marshmallow make a special effort to pinch the dough together. Make sure that the side where you did the "pinching" and "sealing" becomes the "bottom" of the tomb/roll. This will help keep the roll sealed.
Otherwise, this will happen (see below). The roll will come apart while baking, exposing the marshmallow and it will ooze out.

Bake the rolls for about 10-12 minutes or until done.  I had to bake mine for about 14 minutes. 
 

 
 
Let the rolls cool a bit and serve.
Encourage your child to break open the tomb to look for Jesus. Where is he? He has risen!

How do the He Has Risen! rolls taste? "Taste and see that the Lord is good..." Psalm 34:8


The rolls taste so sweet!  Easter is a time to celebrate the sweetest gift of all--our salvation through Jesus Christ. Although he was blameless, he died on the cross for our sins; was buried in a tomb and then rose from the dead.

Source: Mustard Seeds

Wordless Wednesday-40+ year old Easter baskets

Counting down......

School is almost over!!!!!  We have 3 weeks left and that is counting this week.  So for me it sounds better to say we have 2 weeks left.  Either way I am a little excited!  I am ready for a break.  And I know two little boys that are ready as well. It will be nice to sleep in until 6:30AM.  Or just allow my body to wake up whenever it pleases.

With it being so close to ending it is making it really hard to keep with it.  The boys and me have had this attitude of "just not having school today" every other day.  BUT, we have stayed the course and are almost done.

My mind is already moving on to what we will do during the summer months.  Just because it is summer does not mean learning has to end.  School is over, but the learning will continue for the boys.  In fact we will have school 2-3 days a week.  During the summer months I decided to make it a little more fun and have them do a computer based phonics program.   Last night we visited the site and they were able to do a lesson to see what it was like.  They are excited about it.  I think this will work out nicely.  And keep their minds learning!

And then comes the search for FIRST grade curriculum! Did I just type FIRST grade?!

For now we will push through these next few weeks and look forward to a small break we will take before summer school begins.

6 years old!!!!

My 6 year old Clone Troopers!

Six years ago today I gave birth to twin boys.  While laying in bed on bedrest for three month(1 at home and 2 in the hospital)I thought a lot about what my life would be like with twin BOYS!
Busy, fun, crazy, hectic, long days, less sleep, lots of laundry, less money, more laundry, more food, lots of dirt, lots of hugs, mega kisses, lots of tears, fighting, busy, FUN, love and many blessings!  And I am loving every minute of it.
Nothing can compare to the joy I have right now in my life.  These sweet boys have totally changed my life.... changed me.
And I thank God for it!  

Today we will pay special notice to this BIG day, but over the weekend we had their party. 
A Star Wars party!!!  Star Wars is such a big thing right now is our lives.  It just seems so big boyish!  Nothing baby about it.

The boys wanted to do three things besides the party.......play putt-putt, ride go-carts and eat pizza.  So on Saturday off we went to start the birthday fun.

The boys had played putt-putt before, but had never driven go carts.  It was only the boys and one other little boy on the track.  This little fellow was an expert driver and was ready to GO!  And as soon as he had the chance he was bumping Ryan and Matthew to get out of his way.  They were totally MAD about this little boy not driving friendly.  As we stood back watching all we could do is laugh.  The looks the boys gave him were priceless.  They had fun though and we moved on to putt-putt.

About to take off......

I love you Mom...I'll be safe!

Is this over yet?

Looking for that crazy kid driver.

After cars and golf we stopped for pizza.  What kid does not like pizza?  And if your child does not like pizza please let me know. 

Pizza is always a hit with my boys.  And on Saturday they tried(and me!)"Macaroni and Cheese pizza"  I had never heard of such a thing.  A slice of bread with pasta and ooey gooey cheese.  YUM!  I was surprised, but it was pretty good. 

Next up was a small family party.  Not all our family was able to come and they were dearly missed!
I kept it simple this year. Since we did so much prior to the party.  And my boys were so happy with the little bit I did.  Matthew thanked me so many times for all the Star Wars decorations.  Ryan, he just agreed with his brother, but was perfectly content with what I had done.
I am so glad my boys are simple.  As I decorated the dining room with streamers they got so excited.  Over streamers!  BTW....all the streamers are still up.

The party.........presents, cake, cupcakes, waffle bowl sundaes with Jedi Power Syrup(among many other toppings)and Yoda punch!  Now that is an overload of SUGAR!  And not the raw sugar either!!!!

A 6 year old's sundae

Happy Birthday was sung and we all enjoyed our SUGAR!

Ryan is covering his ears because he does not like people to sing.

Today the boys get one more wish granted for their birthday.......a snow cone!!! 
Happy Birthday to my simple and sweet boys!

What almost 6 year old little boys do

They drive space ships.....probably somewhere in the Star Wars galaxies.

They pretend they are Luke Skywalker.

And Anakin Skywalker

And they act really cool!

They plan their own picnic, lay out their own blanket and stop to bless their food.

And then they eat.

And on Monday they will be SIX years old!  Today we will get ready for their Star Wars party tomorrow.  I'll share the details on Monday. 

Hope you have a great weekend and do something FUN!!!

Start em young!

Start em young raise em right!  We like to start em young on coffee.

OK not exactly coffee.  It is coffee milk.  If you never had the pleasure of having coffee milk as a child you missed out! And if you have never given your sweet children coffee milk then treat them to some this morning.

WARNING-it will make them a little crazy, loud and run all over the house. At least it does with Matthew.


Coffee Milk:
Warm milk
2-3 teaspoons of sugar(yes that much sugar...I use raw sugar...it makes me feel better about giving them that much)
just enough coffee to color the milk

Serve in a real coffee cup so they feel big like Mommy and Daddy.  If the weather is nice sit outside and enjoy your coffee together listening to the birds.  Talk about nature and the many gifts God has given us.

Most of all "Start em young"!!

Cheesy smile is caused by coffee milk

Wordless Wednesday-Fishing

Chocolate Bird's Nest

With Easter about three weeks away I wanted to make sure to share this food craft. I know it is early, but I wanted to give you plenty of time to plan to do it with your children. It is super easy and they can help!

We made these back in October of last year.  It was a craft I found during our week of learning about "nests", but this is just so precious I thought it would be perfect for Easter.  You know with the eggs.  And now is the time to find those mini Cadbury eggs for your Chocolate Bird's Nest.

You find out how to make this easy food craft here .

As we make the nests we like to talk about how God gave the baby birds parents to take care of them. He wants to be like a parent to us, too.  He wants to keep us safe and help us grow.  He knows how to take good care of us.

God takes good care of me.

In one week.............

......my babies will be SIX years old!!!!! 

My Monday

Here is a run down of how my Monday started...................

3:30AM-a distant, soft roar of thunder wakes Ryan and he wakes me by calling out.  I console and convince him to go back to sleep.  I say, "If it gets louder I'll come get you."

3:45AM-a light rain begins and a dog wants in my bed.  He convinces me to allow him to sleep right next to me under the cover.

4:00AM-lightning and thunder are louder.......storms have hit and both boys are crying.  I head to their rooms.  We grab pillows and animals.  Ryan-couch....Matthew love seat. (something about being closer to our room makes a big difference) I cover them and go back to bed.

4:15AM-Arthur, the dog, is panting so hard it is driving me crazy.  I put him at the foot of the bed out of the cover.  This last about 5 minutes....I have no room and can not move.  I take him and put him back on his throne(wicker love seat in out room)and TRY to go back to sleep.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

5:00AM-CRASH-BOOM------VERY LOUD!!!! The dog is freaking out and I can hear the boys crying again in the LR.  The dog and me head their way.  We all four sit for a few minutes and listen to the rain.  It slows down a bit and once again I console and convince my people to go back to sleep.  I even got a short nap with a tiny space at the other end of the couch with Arthur curled up right next to me.

6:00AM-BEEP~BEEP~BEEP-Brant's alarm.  I jump! He hits snooze and I lay back down(that is so against my being.....an alarm goes off and you are to get up!  I was tired)

6:09AM-BEEP~BEEP!BEEP-it goes off again and now I am UP!  Turn on a small light in the kitchen right by where the boys are sleeping, start the coffee, start a load of laundry and they still sleep.

It is now 6:40....Brant is up and not very quiet in the mornings.  The boys.......still sleeping.

I am thankful for the rain, thankful I have coffee and thankful I WILL get a nap later today!  Oh and thankful the boys are still sleeping.

Happy Monday to YOU!

Our FUN Friday

Yep.....you guessed it!  We hit the trail and went for a nature walk.  I'll let the pictures do most of the talking today. 

FYI-it was a spectacular day!  The weather was amazing!  Thank you dear God for an awesome Friday!

Picking weeds flowers for Mommy.

Sweet boys!

What is in that hole?

Taking a closer look.......

Looking at brother across the creek at the bridge........

Brother waving.......you can barely make him out. Click on picture for a better view.

FUN Friday!

 Not sure what we will do, but I am determined to make it a FUN day! 

As soon as the boys get up I have the cereal for their Sugar Cereal Fridays.  I bet they have forgot all about it! 

Maybe we'll go for a nature walk.  Anything outside with two little boys that would live out there if we would let them would be FUN!

Maybe I'll give into some "kid-friendly" stuff that I really do not like.
 --bubbles
 --sidewalk chalk
 --Play-doh
 --PAINT(I shudder!)

Just something FUN!!!!!!

What do you plan to do today?   Have a great weekend and do something FUN!