Happy Birthday, Happy Valentines, Merry Christmas, Happy Easter, 4th of July, and Happy Thanksgiving to me....... all in one

Yes, It's a gift for all the holidays of 2008 given to me by my husband just last week. A trip to California! My friend Bobbie had asked me to go with her to visit another friend of ours that lives there. Our friend Jael (see Judges 4:18-for explanation on where her mama got her name) is a missionary with her husband and 3 children in Indonesia. They are home on furlow for one year, and living in California with her husbands parents. We are flying out February 21st and coming back on February 24th. Excited just doesn't seem to do justice to my feelings on this trip.

Dear Lord in heaven what was I thinking with bangs that high? Please forgive me it was 1996! This is a picture taken the first weekend I met Jael. Bobbie and I were roommates and living in Sturgis and decided to take a weekend trip to Waukesha, WI. Jael and her husband were attending Bible school there. We had such a blast that weekend. No subject is off limits with these girls. We talked each other to sleep every night that weekend.

Also that weekend Jael and Bobbie along with Jael's sister threw me a surprise 21st birthday party. I felt so loved!

And this was a reunion we had back in the summer of 1999 at the B & B Donovan and I managed. Jael is holding her first little girl, Avery. Bobbie is pregnant with her first, and I was wishing I was pregnant in this picture.

I can't wait to be with you girls again. It's been too long. I have enjoyed our 3 way calls planning our trip and can't wait to talk you both to sleep every night.

Just give me the short cart....Or I'm gonna snap

Today I was feeling rather brave and adventerous. The kids had off of school....and so to town we went. Our first stop was Wal-mart to pick up pictures, valentines to hand out at school, etc. Then to Micheals for a birthday present. And then to my favorite vice- Target. Really what's not to love? I had several birthday gifts to pick up and you can eat lunch all in one handy store. The children were doing pretty well, until the check out line where there was crying and whining by 2 very hungry boys, temper tamtrum throwing by another, and another one that kept walking a little farther away than this mama felt comfortable with. So we parked the carts and had a re-fueling at the in-store snack stand. Then came grocery shopping at Meijer. Now tell, what is the job of the door greater? WHAT? I ask you? I always thought to greet you with a nice smile and say something cheesy like, "Hi, thanks for choosing Meijer". Not our greeter today. I think she was formerly employed by Hitler. Let me explain-You see everyone in my group was a little tired. Understandable. We were approaching 2:00, nap time. But I was right there, and didn't want to make another trip. So I had devised a plan. I would have Isabella (7) and Jack (5) push the short carts, their first time. I had a sippy cup, blankie, and marshmallos for Suzy (1). And William's (3) job would be to put the food into one of the 3 carts. So Isabella got one of the short carts and then Jack came to me because he couldn't pull the 2 stuck together apart. Then I tried...I couldn't either. Hitler door greeter came over to ask what I was doing. I told her I was trying to get the carts apart. She replied, "You shouldn't be trying to take another one. You already have one. Those carts are popular, and other people will want to use them. We can't be having your kids taking all the small carts." Hmmm....what would be the appropriate response here? I paused and remembered the 4 little people standing all around me and responded, "we need these carts, we are going to use them to fill them with food." Because of course everyone had to take their coats off and those all went into my cart creating a 1/2 full cart of just coats. And then I just walked away thinking of 100 other things I would've loved to add to that short sentence. And I may have went over to the service desk, to inform the personnel what orders Hitler door greeter had just said.

The rest of the shopping trip went really well. I had told on Hitler and felt a little better for venting. We had a really big list. The kids were so excited to be pushing their own carts. We filled all 3 carts. We paid, and then as we were walking out, Hitler approached. GREAT- I should've used the other set of doors. She came up to me and asked if I had told on her. Because she got chewed out. Ummm really? Uhhhh....??? I then looked at her and "well yes, I did. I thought I should be able to pick what cart and how many I needed. That's all I wanted. I didn't want to be chewed out for letting my children use their own carts." She looked at me and said she was really sorry. And on and on and on. Next time I come in, to just tell her that I really do need 2 little carts. Next time she won't give me a hard time. That she is really sorry. And on and on and on. Alright already, by this time the kids were playing in the automatic doors, Suzy was crying, and Jack was in the parking lot starting the car. And she still followed me out the doors to apologize 40 more times, just in case I didn't understand her remorse. Justice was served, thank you service desk people.

getting company

I love to get company......and so do our kids.

when the door bell rings all the kids go running and race to see who is here.

Tonight Jon (Donovan's brother) came for a haircut a....and supper, along with his wifey.

And Donovan's parents stopped in on their way through town to drop off a book for me. The brand new Karen Kingsbury book "Someday". If you have ever read anything by Karen Kingsbury you know how fast of a read her books are. You simply CAN NOT put them down. This is the 13th in this series. I can't wait to get started on it!! Thanks Mom and Dad for dropping it off, YOU GUYS ROCK.

And Suzanna with Aunt Arlene cheesin' it up. Suzanna loves her aunt...and kept running over to her to be held. She does the same to her Uncle Jon.

Also for you married friends (sorry singles you'll have to sit this one out) of mine, please check out the new poster I hung up on the blog tonight. The 1 Cor. 7:5 challenge. Clink on the link on the right side of the blog. Sure to make a great converstion piece around the breakfast table in the morning. Your husband will thank me for introducing this blog challenge to you. (And thank you to Beth for introducing me) Drop me a line and tell me what you think.

And to my single friends -drop me a line too!-And if you do (only if you are single)....I have something to send to you to show you I love you too even though I don't have a poster on the blog for you.

And now I really must go...I have a book waiting for me.

professional hair styling

I am posting some pictures taken from last week....because the children have shared the illness and what was throwing up for them is bronchitis for me. You truly would not want to see current pictures of me. I have not washed my hair since Thursday. It is not pretty over here. Three days without washing is normal for me-my hair just hangs straighter and is not so frizzy when it's not so clean.


But after 4 days, I actually need a sweat band to keep the hair grease from falling in my eyes, thus making it impossible to type. So reflecting back to Saturday a week ago....here I am getting a style from 2 of my favorite boys. I absolutely LOVE when they play with my hair. If I close my eyes real tight and pretend it almost feels like a head massage.

The straight row of clips- Is William's professional styling. He has got REAL talent I tell you.

And now if I only could get them to learn to use the blow dryer & hair straightener I would be all set.

ouch!

Don't let that smile fool you....She has thrown up 3 times today.


And this one has thrown up too many times to even count. Note: Jack's bucket within arms reach. Too bad he could'nt make the bucket every time. (for instance at 1:30 this morning when he threw up all over the couch and carpet.)

And yep, William too. Three out of four of our people are creating alot of laundry for their parents.

Last night we took the kids to Donovan's parents for them to babysit and while we were still getting coats off William and Jack were messing around someone got pushed and landed right smack dab againt the wooden banister on the steps. Right at first William was very still and in alot of pain. We were trying to figure out if he needed stitches or not. We decided not, and then tried to figure out should we still go on our date? After about an hour William got up and went to go play with grandma's trucks and cars....so we decided he was feeling good enough to play- He will be o.k. And he was in good hands. We were planning using a gift card to go to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, and enjoying a leisurely dinner. But instead of taking the time.....We went on a smaller version of our date and went my ol' favorite standby....Carrabba's Italian Grill. We had a nice time....but a sweet little 3 year old was on our minds.

This was taken last night when we got home. He looks a little too happy to have such a bad cut...doesn't he?

And this picture was taken this morning. There is more swelling, but the cut is healing well.

Isabella had the flu on Wednesday this past week, so I figured someone else would get it too. I just was surprised the 3 youngest got it all on the same day. I am thankful Donovan is home to help and hopefully after the weekend we can be done with the flu. Instead of one getting it and then passing it around for several weeks. And I am thankful for our VCR/DVD player. I ran up town to the library this morning and checked out 324 movies so they will be set until at least Monday.

chocolate chip pudding cookies

O.k. well I've never posted without a picture...but I'm going to give it a try. Because frankly I'm just too lazy to get the camera, take the picture, upload, download, whatever, etc. And I'd rather being eating the cookies I want to tell you about, rather than taking picutres of them. And I just can't go another day without telling you about my biggest weakness. People....I have one of (in my opinion) the best recipies for chocolate chip cookies. A friend (thanks...Verna) gave me this recipe about 8 years ago...and it's tried and true. True- as in truely going to make you want to eat the entire batch. That is if you even can stop eating the dough long enough to get some on the pan and bake them. That is if you are inclined to eating cookie dough like I.

So let me please share it with you......

Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

1 c. oleo (I use one stick margarine and one stick real butter)
1/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
3 oz. box instant vanilla pudding (or cheesecake flavor)
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix until creamy and smooth.

Add 2 eggs and beat. Gradually add 2 1/4 cup flour and 1 tsp. soda. Stir in 12 oz. package of chocolate chips. Or what I like to do is do 1/2 peanut butter chips and 1/2 chocolate chips. Bake at 350 for 12 minutes.

Yesterday I started a batch of these and then realized that I did not have any vanilla pudding. Which totally breaks all of my pantry rules! Because there are some things your kitchen should not be without. Like flour, sugar, and pudding. When you take the last "extra" box from the pantry you are supposed to put it on the list. I'm sure I would not have committed this sin...it must have been Donovan. Anyways....I had no pudding. So I resorted to the recipe on the back of the package. MISTAKE. They were flat and salty. Editable but not irresistable.

So if you want to try these cookies, please be the first to leave a comment and I will send you a sample.

And I really must stop eating these cookies now because lucky me.....tonight we are having a date night! I'm getting giddy just thinking about not cutting up food for anyone other than myself.

well take a look......

And if I could only take the credit for them. First of all let me take a sentence or two to thank you for all the great feedback on the last post. I truly have alot of crafty and creative friends...how fun to hear from so many of you.

So...I took off for Micheals in search for the thick cardboard boxes to cover with the fabic. When looking for them I passed the boxes pictured above. Already covered and in several different sizes. Look at them people.... in the very colors I wanted. The cashier even let me use a coupon he had....which brought them to less than $8 each!!! Now I can put that fabric to great use on some pillow shams. I'd also like to attempt to make a new liner for the basket that was on the shelf...but it scares me a little. Today is defentinly not the day to take on that task. Isabella was home sick all day and Donovan is out of town until late tonight. So any volunteers to do some sewing for me???

Suzy during her nap yesterday.