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thankful

Elliott is practicing his songs for the Children's School of Worship this morning. In a few weeks he will be joining with a group of children to lead our church in worship at all three services. I am so proud of how hard he is working to learn the songs and hand motions. I was reminded this morning as he was singing that there was a time when the kids would get on stage and lead worship and I would wonder if I would ever have a child on that stage. I am so thankful for the two beautiful boys that God has given me. I love being their mommy. I am blessed to stay at home with them and to homeschool them (even though some days they wear me out). I am grateful to have a wonderful loving husband and to watch him be a great dad to our boys. We are surrounded by family and friends who love us. Our family is blessed beyond measure. Thank you, Lord, for hearing our prayers and giving us children and letting us see a glimpse of Your love through our love for them.

Potato Soup and Cheese Biscuits - Yum!

I tried out two new recipes for dinner the other night. And they were delicious. And really easy. Here are the links:

Baked Potato Soup - Slow Cooker Style
Better Than Jim 'N' Nick's Cheese Biscuits

Perfect for the cooler weather. Enjoy!

October fun

October was a busy month, so I put up pictures on the Shutterfly site.

Cilantro Lime Shrimp and Rice

I recently tried these recipes and thought they were delicious and very easy - always a plus!

Cilantro Lime Shrimp
Cilantro Lime Rice
Southwestern Black Bean Salad

Enjoy!

Summer pictures

We have had a busy summer doing art projects, going to the pool and spending a week at the beach. June and July pictures as well as more about our beach trip are up on the other website here:
http://chaosissleeping.shutterfly.com/

Since I'm pretty far behind on uploading my pictures, they may just stay on the Shutterfly site for now. I am planning to start school on Monday and my big plans to deep clean the house have kind of fallen apart. Oh how I wish I could just merge these two online spaces to save some time!

A few more pictures...

The boys get some Valentine treats.

Aaron gets a big boy bed...insert sobbing sounds from Momma.

Making Star Wars cookies with Mimi and Pops.

Aaron plays with dried beans and pasta while Elliott does his lessons (brilliant!).

Big brother reads a favorite library book to little brother.


Elliott loses another tooth - #4!

Elliott tries on his new Pilot Luke costume.

The birthday post

My baby is 6. Elliott is a great kid, and I am so proud of him. He is 48" tall and weighs 46 pounds. He will probably be taller than me by his next birthday! And can you even believe this bear picture? Where is the little blond-haired, chubby-cheeked boy that I used to photograph with that bear?

On Elliott's birthday we took off from school and went to lunch at Chick-fil-a and then to the Discovery Center. Matt worked a half day so he could join us. The boys had a great time, and on the way home we picked up Elliott's buddy Caleb for his first sleepover.


Elliott opened some presents. Another Lego set...

and a knight costume.
The birthday boy got to choose our dinner and dessert on his special day, so after a tortellini dinner we celebrated with apple pie. (I think we may be raising a little old man in a 6 year old body - the boy loves pie.) The boys watched Star Wars and played with Legos before camping out in Elliott's room for the night. They did great - those two boys like their sleep!


The weekend after E's birthday, we had a party at Pump It Up for our family and friends. The kids (and some adults) bounced and climbed the rock wall. And then we had cake in the party room. Matt has a picture of the cake decorated with Darth and Luke on his phone since my camera battery died. Boo! I was really bummed that I forgot to check the camera battery before the party, but it didn't seem to stop any fun. The kids seemed to have a great time, and I know the Birthday Boy enjoyed himself. Happy Birthday, Buddy!

Soccer time

Elliott is playing soccer again this spring. His new team is called the Robot Monsters. He's really having fun this season and participating a lot more than he did last year.

There he is - number 13.

And kicking the ball in to his teammates.

What we've been doing this spring

Hanging in trees...

Picking up sticks...

Learning about the life cycle of dandelions...

Being stinking adorable...

And leading the church in worship at all 3 weekend assemblies. I am so proud of my boys!

A trip to see the trains at the botanical gardens

Easter Eggs Galore

We had a fun time celebrating Easter this year. I finally remembered to buy some Resurrection Eggs, so we used those to talk about Jesus in the days leading up the Easter. We opened the eggs and discussed the symbols included from the Bible story. The first egg contains a donkey. There are others with a crown of thorns, a leather whip, a die, a linen cloth, a stone, etc. The last egg is empty to represent the empty tomb of Jesus. The boys enjoyed opening the eggs and finding these symbols. Elliott recreated the story using some of the symbols from our eggs and his Batman figures. It was really neat to watch him act out the story with things he had on hand.

We also dyed eggs and decorated them. The boys always have a good time and it's always fun to see what color our fingers will be for the rest of the day.

The boys had several opportunities to hunt for candy-filled Easter eggs. The first was at the park for a family reunion. The day before Easter, we celebrated with Matt's family, and we had a big shindig at our house after church on Easter Sunday. In case you're counting, that's 3 egg hunts. That's a lot of candy for those boys! (I did re-hide most of the eggs for subsequent hunts.)

My Boys

Another Before and After

The pink bathroom is gone! No more pink walls, toilet, and tub! Here are the before and after pictures...

Soundbyte

"We don't eat glitter. Glitter is not food."

I'm Back!

It appears that my efforts to simplify my life have been met with resistance, so I'm back on the blog! My plan is to post a few favorite pictures from the month, and the rest of the album will be available on the Shutterfly site for those really committed fans AKA grandparents. So without further ado...

January was a nice, relaxing month after the hectic holidays. We took the boys to the circus and had a great time. We had several snow days. We also had an unseasonably warm weekend, so we went for a hike and then had lunch at Five Guys. It was my first time to eat there and I was not disappointed. If only they had a drive-thru!

Elliott lost his third tooth - one of his top teeth this time. He looks so cute and goofy with this big gap in his mouth.

Aaron is still amusing us with his made-up words. Instead of lollipop he says "popper." And one night at dinner we told the boys that drinking milk helps their bones to be strong. Now when Aaron finishes his milk, he puts his cup down and proudly declares “Now I have bones!”

Oh, and Commander Cody stopped by and gave us a big cheesy grin.