Thanksgiving, Christmas Tree Day and Potty Training All Rolled Into One!

Well, as it is for most people, we have been crazy busy kicking off the holiday season. Amidst the usual holiday stuff, Asher is finally potty training. I could not be more blissfully happy about the idea of not having to buy diapers or change poopy pants in the near future. Other than that little process we have going on, we are just busy being thankful for all that we have. Our kids have said some really profound things over the past couple weeks and Riley even asked if he could pray before Thanksgiving dinner at my Aunt Cindy's house (which he did and did a really good job). Our kids are really starting to see God working in their lives and loving Him and there is nothing I want more than that. Gavin even made a big cross out of sheets of paper that he colored and taped together and wrote "Jesus died for me" on it and stuck it on his bedroom door. Now, I'm not usually a fan of things being stuck on bedroom doors, but you better believe this Momma is leaving that one up! We also started (about a month ago) reading a Bible story from the Beginner's Bible every night, as well as doing a devotion from the devotional book that Asher got at a Family Journey In Faith event at church. The kids have been responding very well to it and like to take turns reading the stories, then we all discuss the story and pray. It's been really great for our family. We're taking a break from that for a while because we just started a family Christmas devotions book that we are doing each night and when we're done reading it and discussing and praying, the kids get to have their chocolate from their advent calendar. It's a fun way to end the day. God has been very good to us and it's good to see the kids realizing that and wanting to thank Him. I think this is going to be our best holiday season yet, now that we're really focusing on the true meaning of Christmas.
Now, without further ado, here are some pictures from Thanksgiving, potty training and Christmas tree day! I may add more later, but this site uploads pictures so slowly that it drives me crazy!

Scratching The Creativity Itch

I was just going crazy wanting to do something creative the other day, so I thought about what materials I had available to me and remembered that I had a ton of different fabrics and black fleece in my sewing cart. I decided that I would do something practical that we could use, and I made new stockings for our whole family. I let the kids pick the fabric they wanted theirs made out of and made Brian's with Lion's fabric and mine with a toile fabric that I had bought a long time ago (because I like it so much) and never did anything with. Everyone was really excited to see the finished products and the kids stood around waiting for each of theirs to get finished. It was really cute. So, I scratched my creativity itch and made something practical that we're all excited to use at Christmas this year. Now, what project to do next?



Asher picked a Sesame Street fabric for his stocking.



Riley picked a fabric with dogs playing baseball and Gavin picked a Spongebob fabric.



Here's mine!



Brian's Lions stocking.



They are all completely lined with fleece, so they can hold a pretty good amount of weight and are warm and cozy in case you want to wear them. LOL They all have a sturdy fleece loop to hang them with too.

My All In All

I am just so in love with the Lord and He is showing me day after day that He is here and that He loves me. Just last week, I had a situation that was causing me much heartache and really bringing me down and I was praying diligently about it and asking God to help me know how best to deal with the situation. I listened hard for His answers and did what I felt He was asking me to do. On Saturday night, my prayers were answered more specifically than I could have ever imagined. I won't go into detail, but words that I spoke in prayer literally came out exactly from one of the people it was concerning. Brian and I both were so in awe of just how amazing our God is. We know He answers prayer, but for Him to do it in such an exact and precise way was just incredible. He really is my All in All. Thank you, Lord. You're all I need.


We sing this song in church occasionally and it is just exactly how I feel.

Girls' Shopping Weekend 2008

As usual, there was fun, laughter, arguing, tears...but all in all, lots of love and memories being made. Afterall, what do you expect when you get a group of women together for 3 days straight? Anyway we shopped our butts off in Birch Run, stayed in our favorite hotel in Frankenmuth (The Drury Inn) and finished the weekend off with shopping at Genesse Valley Mall, dinner at a wonderful Italian restaurant that we stumbled upon by accident called Ruggero's and last but not least, a trip to Kohl's. Probably one of the most fun parts of the weekend is when all of us young girls got back to the hotel on Saturday night and went in our room and put on mustaches and waited for our moms to come over to our room. It's amazing how much fun a group of people can have with some fake mustaches that only cost $3.99! That's a heck of a deal for so much fun if you ask me. Anyway, here are some pictures from our weekend. Enjoy!

What do a dude from the 70s, a monkey and The Thing have to do with each other?

Not anything really, but that's what my kids were for Halloween. Asher wore the monkey costume that Riley wore in 2005 (the year Asher was born), Riley's costume was $10.00 new from ebay and Gavin wore a suit my uncle wore to a wedding in the 70s when he was a kid. All we did was buy him an afro wig and he wore a pair of my shoes and we were good to go! What a fun night! We did Trunk or Treat at church and the kids really had a lot of fun. Here are a few pictures.


The boys getting ready to go out to Trunk or Treat.



Gavin as a 70s Disco Dude.



Asher as a monkey.



Riley as The Thing.



The boys and I walking to church for Trunk or Treat.

Life or Death

Isn't the choice obvious? To God it certainly is.

A Tale of Two Orchards and One Birthday

Asher turned 3 on Sunday. Yes, it's true, my last baby is officially 3 years old. Where the past 3 years have gone, I couldn't tell ya, but I do know that's it's been a great 3 years. After church and a visit to the church library to check out some movies for the week, we headed to Romeo to meet up with some family at Stoney Creek Cider Mill. My sister Dana, her husband Kurt and my niece Payton came. Best of all though, was that I got to spend some time with my aunt and cousins that I don't get to see nearly as often as I want to. My Aunt Janice, cousin Jeff, cousin Ashley, her daughter Brianna and Ashley's boyfriend Andy all came out for the day. Asher was sure to walk up to everyone several times and say "It's my birthday! I'm 3!", it was really cute. We got some donuts and cider (that was quite possibly the best cider I've ever had) and Asher opened his presents. When we were finished with all that, we headed up the road to Miller's Big Red to go to the petting zoo. The kids had a great time there and we even got hailed on. The weather was quited interesting that day, though overall great! We had such a great day spending time together and the kids were thoroughly enjoying themselves. We had some hot cider there and then Aunt Janice gave the kids a ride on one of the carts they have there. It was a fun ending to a fun day. Asher passed out in the car on the way back from the orchard and had a nice little nap before we got to my Mom and Dad's house where my sister Delyn and her fiance Jason were. We had dinner there with all of them and got to meet my Mom and Dad's new little dog (she's a miniature pinscher named Miya). Then we headed home to get the kids ready for bed and ready for the new week to start. It was such a great day. We got to spend time with a bunch of people we really love and Asher seemed to be satisfied with his birthday day experience. God is so good.

Here are some pictures from the day!


Asher enjoying a birthday donut at the orchard.



Brian holding Asher and Aunt Janice standing waiting for Asher to answer a question she asked him.




My adorable niece, Payton.




All the kids at the orchard.
(from bottom left to top left) Riley, Payton, Gavin, Brianna and Asher




My sweetheart, Riley.




My big sweetheart, Gavin.




My cutie patootie, Asher.




Riley and Gavin posing for a picture.




Riley as a cow.




Brianna helping Asher be a cow.




A picture I took of an emu at the petting zoo. I'm pretty sure National Geographic should hire me.




I love this picture I got of Asher.




Aunt Janice about to take the kids for a ride on the cart.




Off they go! Oh, and holla at your boy, Gavin. LOL

Basketball, Veggietales and a Cotton Candy Sky

This post is full of a variety of topics. I figured I might as well post them all together instead of in 3 separate blogs, so here we go...

Gavin and Riley started their basketball leagues last weekend. Since we only have one camera and their games were at two different schools at the same time, we only were able to get pictures of Riley. However, pictures of Gavin are to come. Anyway, Riley is hilarious when it comes to basketball. He wants to play, but he definitely doesn't see any need to be in the least bit aggressive when it comes to getting in there and getting the ball and taking a shot. He has a great time though, so that's all that really matters. Here are some pictures of him at his first game of the year.


Riley with his friend Joshua out on the court.


My little basketball cutie!



Riley has a very unique way of holding his left hand when he dribbles, which can be seen here. LOL



Asher has a new love...Veggietales. I decided to ask on Freecycle for any kind of Veggietales stuff anyone may have and a girl emailed me back and told me her daughter's room had been completely decorated in Veggietales and I was welcome to all of it! I went and picked it up on Wednesday and I decorated Asher's room with it yesterday. The kid was so blissfully happy, it was adorable. I should've taken pictures of all the stuff she gave me. There's a clock, picture frames, tons of these really cute figurines with sayings on them, a shoe organizer, etc. Anyway, here are some pictures of Asher posing on his bed with his new Veggietales pillows. You should have seen how mad he was when I told him they had to be washed before he could have them on his bed. Then, when I got them out of the dryer, he took them into his room. When I went in, his old pillow was thrown on the floor and the Veggietales ones were in it's place. It was so cute.


Laying down on his new Veggitales pillows.



Yay, I love Veggietales!



Big Asher smiles!



This is my newest trick I like to do on my bed.



Mom, what are you doing?!



And last but not least, I took some pictures of the sky this morning. The kids and I like to call the sky a "cotton candy sky" when it is pink and blue. It had changed to more pink and orange by the time I got home and was able to take a picture, but that's ok. It was just so pretty and deserved to be captured in photos...enjoy!