Girls night out

Last night, Amy and me went to a craft night with my Bible study group from Bellevue. It was really fun. The last time we had one, it was a paint party. It was fun and not as hard as I would have imagined seeing as how I cannot draw! Last night's craft was easy too and something I will definetly make again! We nearly ran out of gas on the way to Olive Garden..we cruised into the gas station with my car showing 0 miles to empty. Then we got to enjoy dinner and the craft night. I have been so blessed being a part of this group at Bellevue!

How blessed am I?

A few months ago we decided to sponsor a child through Compassion International, Jesus. He is 11 years old, from Bolivia and has 5 brothers and sisters. In his community, typical houses are constructed of dirt floors, adobe walls and tin roofs. Most adults earn an equivalent of $65 a month! As we were looking through our booklet we received about him and writing him our first letter, it became so clear to me how blessed I am to have been born in the USA and born into a family with a Christian heritage. While I was reading some of the information on Jesus, I also read a story about a young girl who has to travel with her mother an hour every day to get clean water. Oh how blessed we are and how easy it is to take our blessings for granted. I am so thankful for the opportunity to sponsor Jesus and watch God work in his life. We live a good life that I am eternally grateful for and I hope my girls realize at a young age that these are BLESSINGS that not everyone has.

Real estate woes

I have to admit, I might just be the most impatient person ever. I try not to be, but it just comes natural. I decide I want something and I really want it right then-not in a spoiled brat kind of way just in a way that I know what I want so I want to make it happen...yesterday. Sometimes this is easier to make happen than other times. When selling your home, it is pretty difficult to make it happen. We put our house on the market in May and have yet to get any feedback. We have had lots of showings and everyone says they love it, but still....no offers. Now I realize there are lots of good houses on the market right now but still that doesn't help ease my frustration that we have had no offers yet. Jeremy is of course totally calm about this situation and says he hopes we sell by next spring. WHAT????? I was hoping we would sell within a few weeks of putting it on the market! The good news is, we really are in no hurry to move. We just feel like it is time to move a little closer to work and Allie's school. We had an offer on our "dream house" but unfortunately, it sold to another family. So, for now we will sit back and continue to wait....easier said than done for me!

Have you forgotten everything I have taught you, child??

I can't remember the last time the girls and I have had a bad day. They are at a really fun age and things run pretty smoothly around here. That is, except yesterday. Yesterday...the neverending day that was rough from breakfast until bedtime! Of course, some of this was pretty poor planning on my part. Sunday night Jeremy, me and the girls stayed up late after church and watched a movie. I learned quickly on Monday that 10:00 bedtime doesn't suit Taylor too well. Monday morning we had plans to meet Grandma and go pick out paint colors for her dining room and kitchen and to go get Allie a few things for school and have lunch. From the get-go I could tell Taylor wasn't going to have a good day. Halfway through our day I began to wonder if Taylor had forgotten everything I had ever taught her. It certainly seemed like a distant memory. And, just to add to the excitment of the day, I had to get groceries. Grocery shopping with a grumpy 2 year old is never fun! And...Jeremy did not get home from work until 9:00. Oh well, days like yesterday make me so much more thankful for the good days! And, thank God, today is going much better...As Taylor lays beside me on the bed watching The Grinch. (Yes, that's right- The Grinch. How much we love Christmas and how often we watch Christmas movies year round around here is a whole new post!)

One man's trash is another man's treasure....sometimes

So, last summer I had a yard sale and it was a total flop. I mean, for starters I picked one of the hottest Saturday's of the summer to have my yard sale and on top of that, I only sold about 1/3 of my merchandise and ended up having to make a trip to Goodwill when I was done. I promised myself then, no more yard sales for me. Guess my memory didn't serve me so well because I decided to do yet another yard sale this summer. And why oh why did I not wait until fall? Not really sure about that one. So today I woke up at 4:30 am, got ready and made my way to my friend's house where we were having our sale. We sat out in the 100 degree weather until about 1:00 pm and I made a total of ......$19.00!!!!! And, on top of all that, I am going to get up and do it again in the morning. Who knows- maybe the second day of the sale is going to be the lucrative day for me. Doubtful, I am sure it will probably just lead to another trip to Goodwill. There was one positive to the yard sale-this year I was able to use my time catching up with some great friends that I have not seen in a long time. It was so nice being able to sit and chat and make up for lost time! It made up for all my wasted time and efforts in the yard sale scope of things. But one thing is for sure, next time we will catch up over dinner in the air conditioner and there will be no more yard sales for me!!!! (Someone please remind me of that next summer when I decide I will try again!)

Crazy swim day!

One thing I love about summer is our weekly girls day. Every Wednesday, mom, Stacy and the girls come over for a swim day. It is really fun and I love getting to spend the day with them. Last year was a little different because Amy and Julie were able to come too. So, we miss them so much this year but we still have tons of fun. Yesterday was really fun because G brought everyone new floats and Chick-Fil-A to eat (all of our favorites!) The day started out a little different than normal because Allie fell off the deck of the pool and went flying through the air, landed on the ground (face down) and pretty much ate dirt. Her lip was busted and she had dirt all in her eyes, nose and mouth. Needless to say, she was a little shaken up. Thank God, she wasn't really hurt too bad! Once we all settled down from that, they had a great time swimming. They normally all swim all day but yesterday, they decided after lunch that they wanted to go play inside in the playroom. Wow! Mom, Stacy and I were really enjoying relaxing in the pool with NO KIDS....that never happens!! Ugh-oh, not so fast....a few minutes later they all come running outside telling us they broke Allie's bunk bed!! Apparently, while the moms were outside swimming it seemed like a good idea to the kids to turn on princess music and "dance/jump" on Allie's top bunk! They broke one of the slats holding up Allie's mattress and some of the wood on the side of the bed. As you can imagine, that put a very quick halt on our relaxing and we had some very upset girls! So here is hoping next week we have a little more of an uneventful swim day!

The most awesome day!

Yesterday G, me and Allie had a girls day. Allie has known for some time now that she was going to have to get her shots for starting kindergarten. When I say she has had anxiety over this, that does not even begin to describe it. She has been so worked up about this that about once a week for the past 3 or 4 months she has just come to me crying at random times talking about dreading her shots. She was terrified! So, we decided to go get her shots and then have a fun girls day the rest of the day. She had to have 4 shots and she will have to go back in September for an additional shot! She did really great getting her shots and only cried for a few minutes. I was so relieved to have that done with. The rest of our day was really fun. We went and got school supplies, school uniforms and school shoes and she got to pick where we ate. She loved all the attention on her and I loved being able to spend some one-on-one time with her. On the way home she told me that our day was the most awesome day!

Taylor had a pretty good day to getting to play with Great-Great all day. She had tons of fun getting some one-on-one attention herself.

Now I am just wondering how I am going to convince Allie to go back for another shot in September!??

And so it begins!

Well, here goes. I actually started a blog! My only reason for starting this blog is so I can print it off at the end of the year. I love journaling and I love pictures so here is a way I can do both and eventually print it off so my girls can read one day and have a little look into our life!