It was a weekend to remember

The unfortunate thing is we lived in the moments and didn't capture much on film. The weekend started early. The kids were on Fall break Thursday and Friday. That meant sleeping in 3 mornings in a row for me. Thursday evening we went over to be a part of the kick off of Youth Challenge 2007. They really have a great thing going for the youth there. We enjoyed touching base with friends and the speaker was unforgettable-Rob Deas. He had a great sense of humor but was also able to bring it around to an awesome illustration of Psalm 32: 8.
Friday afternoon, my friend Ronda, came and took all 3 kids for a sleepover. Their first ever! They were more than excited. After they left I got dressed , in a quiet house, for a date with David. We headed out to a dinner theatre in Indianapolis called Beef and Boards. The food was good but not great. The play was Oklahoma and they did a fantastic job. Live theatre is alot of fun and of course I'm partial to the play Oklahoma since I was born and raised there. We came home to a peacefully, quiet home. It actually felt weird.
Saturday morning, slept in again of course and got dressed in that same quiet home and went to breakfast with David at Cracker Barrel. It was a much needed time of fun and relaxation with the love of my life. We met up with the kids and the Englands at the mall where our children were not all that excited to see us. They weren't ready for their fun time to end. They were exhausted though. Saturday night we carved their pumpkins. I made Miss Ashley's to look like a kitty cat. Cameron was going for scary but it turned out more of a traditional Jack o'lantern style. The mouth was more of a smile than snarl. Sarah Brooke's was something in between.
Sunday was delightfully typical :) Church in the a.m. , dinner by David, big 'ol nap, church and catch up with friends in the p.m. We have added cantata practice to our Sunday evenings now too. For Fall our Sunday night snack is sliced apples and popcorn with caramel. Mmm
Well that wraps it up. A huge Thanks goes out to Danny and Ronda England for putting up with our kiddos and taking such good care of them. They want to do it every weekend. We said "okay" :)

I'm so excited!!!!

When I first got married I babyset this family that had all boys. The little ones had a movie of Sharon, Lois and Bram and on it they sang the song "Skinnamarink". I fell in love with the song and when my babies came along I sang it to them. I've looked occasionally to try and find it again with no success. Until now!!! I stumbled onto it. I always thought it would have been so cool to have this whole repetoire of lullabys but no all I could remember is "Skinnamarink". The ending of the song always brought a smile and "do it again". Aahhh the memories!

And life goes on...

I have been busy reading all my comments :) and not taken the time to post. Thank you for all the kind, complimentary things written about me. The next time you see me I'm going to look different because my ego is inflated and you thought it was weight gain (shame on you)

Things I've been up to lately. 1. had to get groceries with all 3 kids yesterday. I'm spoiled because I usually can leave them with David. 2. I'm reading "Fighting for Dear Life" by David Gibbs (the story about Terri Schiavo) which leads me to 3. I'm in competition with a friend. We are to walk 2 mi. a day or 10 mi. a week. We check in on Sundays. I read during my warm up and cool down or anytime I can breathe without having to think about it :) Well she got behind (she only has 4 kids 4yrs. and under) The last I talked to her she is going to try and double up and give me a run for my money. We have one more week of reporting and then the final week is up for grabs. The prize is free babysitting! I MUST win. 4. Over the weekend we went to a Farmers Market with friends and got some fun pics but it was crowded so the priority was keeping track of children. 5. I'm counting down the days until David and I get to officially celebrate our Anniversary by going on a date without the kids. My dear friend Ronda (hopefully she remembers ha) has offered to babysit for us. When I mention to my kids about them going to the Englands I have to hold my ears from their excitement. 6. We got to meet the Keeps, missionary family to the Philippians, Sunday night. Great family and really neat to hear about their work and heart for the Filipinos.

Here are the pics from the farmers market

Waterman Farm Market 2007

Fresh cut Fall flowers

Ever have a friend that you can't out do? The other day I had the van so I went to help out a friend for a couple hrs. I offered to do things for her that I hate doing around here, like mop the floor, iron or wash walls. Somehow it sounded like fun to do them at her house. She opted to go to the grocery store while I watched her children. We had a lively time. She picked up flowers for her table while she was out and thought I would enjoy some too. Thought I would share them with you.

Okay, Okay People...

I created a monster with that last post. Who knew that just being real would bring out the ire in people. I was greatly misunderstood by Anonymous too :) Thank you to all that wrote and were positive. Here's the deal...Sarah (with an H) Brooke has pictures hung all over the living room plus what you saw on the fridge. I guess if I was trying to squelch her creativity then I wouldn't have let her do that. Seriously people you can't keep every paper! I keep samples of her work. The offensive Ugh remark in the post was because I'm still cleaning up from this creative binge :) This blog world has been a fun thing for me so hopefully anonymous will get a life and name that they are proud of enough to include with their remarks.

My Reality...

Sarah Brooke has been busy painting. David brought home scrap paper from the surveying office and it has brought out the artist in her. Ugh! Now all you Mothers out there that caution us to enjoy the moments, treasure them, capture them, were you talking about such things as this display on my fridge? Somehow when you are in the stage of life I'm in with my" little treasures" it is very difficult to imagine that this will ever seem like a beautiful thing to me. If you can't tell , I'm raising a pack rat that won't get rid of anything that she has spent time creating. By nature I don't see the value in my own handy work so I'm wondering where she has inherited this trait from. I'm trying to help her enjoy the creative process and then let it go (as in never to see or find again). The other day she painted a picture for every child in her class and then asked me to help her as she spelled out their names on each one. She proudly passed out her abstact pieces of art the next day during the segmant of class where the teacher asks for any announcements. She skipped home having made a successful delivery of her treasures. Until this stage is over I will keep all the misc. fridge art holders (magnets) and tell myself I will miss this one day.

What a difference a week can make...

Last Thursday the kids had an early release day from school. We decided to treat them to a trip to the zoo. It was a scorcher of a day. The temperature was in the 90's. The high today is 60 degrees. The enchanted mill (fountain play area) was the favorite spot. The fountains come up sporadically so the element of surprise is part of the fun. David and I tried to cool off on a park bench in the shade. I sliced apples for our snack and lugged drinks around for my little munchkins.

October 4, 2007 Afternoon at the zoo

It was really fun just being together as a family. Towards the end of our time I was commenting how nice it was to be about the only ones at the zoo. When we were leaving I asked the lady when the zoo closed and it was 30 min. prior. No wonder we were the only ones around. oh me!

October 4, 2007 Afternoon at the zoo II