Sunday, January 23, 2011

A Break From The Cold

Yesterday was BEAUTIFUL...well as beautiful as can be expected for late January in Kansas. We took advantage and took the girls and our 3 hairy kids to Lemons park for a nice walk. They all had fun and enjoyed getting some fresh air that didn't freeze the lungs when trying to breath. Here is my crew. Doesn't Jeff looked thrilled with all the picture taking??..lol  He just wanted to enjoy the walk, not pose for pictures, but this mom has to have pictures so he politely suffers through.
Bo (Our Pom) got lazy and started dragging behind. I was pushing the girls and they were taking turns holding Bo's leash. Bo was done walking. Sooooo, she hitched a ride with the littles.


 About half way through Grace decides she wants to take Bo for a "jog" Bo didn't have much of a choice, but Grace did it with style. Sooo cute with her sunglasses and purse.

It was a great Saturday with the family! We all had a great day. The dogs got home and crashed out!! The girls, Jeff and I all had some lunch and enjoyed the rest of the day!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Big Changes

We are coming up on some big changes in our lives! First, which is super exciting for us is, we are paying off our loan which is $720.00 a month!!!! That is a lot of moola! We have been in pay off mode for a while now, years actually. and this is the only debt we have besides our home! This is awesome for us!!

Second, I start school on Tues, this Tuesday, in 2 days, in 48 hours, sooooo soon!! I'm really excited about this and can't wait but I know it's going to be hard and I'll be doing a balancing act for awhile. I'm also doing amazing on my Biggest Loser Challenge. Hopefully good things will come from that!!

Third, Jeff is taking his 3rd year final this week!! Go Jeff! He will get a raise when he passes so this is GREAT also!!. Then he can start on his 4th and final book, Book 4.

Fourth, I have a VERY strong desire to help children in less fortunate countries. We DO NOT UNDERSTAND how blessed and lucky we are! PERIOD! Americans are kinda like spoiled little brats. These people, adults, children and infants are our BROTHERS AND SISTERS and we are letting them suffer horribly. We have so much, and they have soo little. It's not like they are on welfare and won't get a job. These people, even children, struggle and work all day just to find water. Can you imagine spending 12 hours of your day looking and searching for water?? Everyday, all day for the entire length of your life. WE SIMPLY DO NOT GET THIS! I have sooooo many things in the works to help but I'll be keeping them a secrete until It's a for sure deal and I can be certain that they will be happening. This is something that I have been blind to and haven't let hit my heart or my head until recently. We did not choose to be born in America they did not choose to be born in a poverty stricken country. I just feel like I could be doing something more with my life and my blessings then what I have been. I can't imagine seeing the horror and knowing the problems and not helping, turning my back and saying, oh well it's not my family, it's not my children. I can't do that and I won't. So I'll be very excited to share all our plans soon!! Please watch the video below to see what is breaking my heart! This is just ONE of SOOOO MANY.

Ordinary Hero~ A day in the trash dump in Ethiopia from Kelly Putty on Vimeo.


Hope you guys have a great week!! I'll be uploading some pictures as soon as I can find my camera!!. =)

Monday, January 10, 2011

Snow Day!!!!

We had our first snow day of Winter today! The girls WILL not allow a perfectly good snow to go to waist so we had to go sledding and take advantage! It was FREEZING! They braved the cold though and had a blast!
My Sledding Team!!


                                                                           Grace
                                                                               Randi

Friday, January 7, 2011

Growing and Learning

The girls are growing sooo fast and getting so smart in the process. We are pretty good about right after school working on whatever homework they may have. Randi does not like this but I REALLY want to start good homework habits now so later on down the road they know what to expect and don't fight me too badly on getting it done. (I know I'm probably dreaming on the "no fighting about homework" thing but in theory it works..=) Before dinner we each take a girl (Jeff takes one and I take one) and work with them for around 30 min on a subject they need to practice. We do shapes, identifying letters and numbers, writing her name and counting to 20 with Grace. Here is Grace after she wrote her name all by herself! Go Grace!!
 Randi works on writing all her letters, writing her numbers, counting to 100, reading (which she is doing AWESOME), sight words, and simple math. Here is Randi's alphabet. She actually just did this one for fun, which is great, I love it that she considers this "fun".

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

I'm Back!!

Wow, I am sooo far behind on this poor lonely blog!!  I won't even begin to try to catch up to date but I can start today. Life is good, well great actually. Everyone in this house is happy, healthy, loved and thriving. We just got done with a fabulous Christmas break and now the girls are back at school learning, playing and growing up.

The girls stay busy with school, dance, Awanas and any little thing that we decide to sign them up for or attend. We have been going skating on Tuesday's. ($2.00 Tuesday) can't beat that! They love it and do great at it.




Jeff is getting close to getting his 3rd book done!!! Yeah Jeff!! So proud of that man. He's doing awesome and he does great on his test. He's smarter than your average bear for sure!!

I start the Biggest Loser Challenge our town is putting on and I'm seriously committed to it so I know good things will come from the hard work and good diet that I don't want to do. I also start school on the 18th. That is going to be a lifestyle change and something I'm going to have to really work at and do well with. I'm excited but also extremely nervous about the time and effort it is going to take. I know I can balance everything though, I'll just have to be a watching my time closely and making the most of it!

Hope all of you had a very Merry and Blessed Christmas!! I'm so excited about 2011 and all the great memories, new adventures and amazing blessings that are in store for us!