Look Out Here It Comes....

So when I'm at a loss as to what to blog about, I just go to my camera. I get all the weird pics, and believe me, there are plenty of them, and I use them as blog fodder....


Take this for instance. Whenever I download my pics I find ALL SORTS of odd pictures of my offspring. Makes for a good time and a loaded down computer.


On a different note, Dave has entered the lovely teenager-ness. He's still my shnoogy bear, but he's got this, 'I'm so bored, please entertain me', kind of attitude.


Take this day for instance, Dave found a turtle to torture. It kept him busy for a whole afternoon. This is Winston, trying to get the turtle to come out and play. I finally put a stop to it when I caught him playing shuffle board with the poor shy-guy.


Spring came and the neighborhood looked a lot different from the front porch. Very green here.


This rose bush is my favorite, except when it got over grown and tried to attack me while going in the back door. NOT a good day. Sweetie pruned it for me, no more thorns in my hair.


The back deck is such a good place for a good peaceful sit. One particular evening it was Ladies Nite here, we sat out on the deck, it was my night to give my testimony. Half way through we got cold and had to go get blankets, we sat like old grandma's under our blankets and laughed into the evening. Very precious night.


I had no idea these were here, but on this one day, I decided to walk ALL THE WAY around the house and found these. Beautiful!


This is my favorite room in the house, the sunroom. Ahhhhhhhhhh, the peace.


In May, Calvin and I got to go to Washington DC with our homeschool co-op. We had SUCH a great time.


Calvin and I in front of Mt. Vernon. So pretty. The house, not us.


Calvi and I in Union Station. So big.


Me and my friend Courtenay. On the top of the double decker bus. We almost lost our lives that day, by too many low laying branches. DC needed to work on their tree trimming.


Mr. James got us into the Capital building on our last day. A totally cool day.


Here we are, the whole co-op group. Precious people.


When Sweetie took Dave to California, I took Calvin out on a date. Outback Steakhouse, the boy got the biggest steak, and ate the whole thing. Very impressive.


I can't believe I didn't take a picture of the HUGE hydrangea bushes that we have in front of the house. They bloomed in late May/early June and were GORGEOUS!!! This is just ONE of the many bouquets that I made with them.


We went bowling one day, as a family. When it gets too hot, we go bowling. These are Sweetie's legs. I'm a total sucker for his legs. See those shoes, he used to wear bowling shoes for regular shoes. He can totally rock the bowling shoes.


My boy, Calvi, bowling.


My baby, Dave, bowling.


Me and my crazy boys. Why do they act like such goof balls.


And me and my Sweetie, oh my, how I love this guy.


Have I mentioned before that my Dave is just, 'so cool'.


One of my favorite friends adopted twins from Russia this past winter, here we are at the pool. My big toe was quite entertaining. And they are very much in my heart.


Just a couple weeks ago, Sweetie took me to California, just the two of us. Here we are at the Padre game. Good times.

Wow, quite a little scrap book this turned into!

Sorry It's Been So Long, The Sequel

mahahahaha, I know I'm just SOOOOoooooo funny!


See we're all here. Including Mr. Football head in the back seat.

Just thought I'd give you a little teaser. I'm back and I'll share more tomorrow. Thanks for being SO patient.

Sorry It's Been So Long

It's just me and the Davester around here right now. Cuz Sweetie and the Calv are in Israel for 12 days. The goobers.



See Sweetie? We miss him.



See Calvin? We miss him too. See his mustache?



Can you see it now? He calls himself the Spaniard. He's funny. He also said that my Potato Salad that I made for Easter had too many potatoes in it. He's hilarious. I miss the Spaniard.



Here are some pictures from the past month or so...


I snapped this picture, this is what Dave does when Sweetie gets home from work. Precious. I do this to, but it doesn't work the same, I don't understand why.


Remember this photo?

Yep, not much has changed.


The guys went on the Men's Retreat with our church. This is Dave about 4 hours before they needed to leave. He was VERY ready, and yes, they played golf, and yes, Dave smoked 'em.



This is a normal scene in the sun room every morning. I thought they were so cute with their dueling laptops.




I got to go to California to see my family, stayed for a week. Had so much precious fun. The first day, was tea at Grandma's house. It was a little yucky, but we got through it, as long as Marcie didn't look directly at the Deviled Eggs, and I pretended that the Tuna Salad was really Chicken Salad.



Staying at my parents house is so much fun when I go to California. Memories EVERYWHERE! I found this in their driveway... Do you see the little hand prints? First of all, that's my foot. (I know, cute shoes, that's not the point.) The big hand print is my niece Mallory, she was like 5, she's about to turn 17. The middle hand print is my Calvi, he was 2. TWO PEOPLE! But see the wee-one, that precious little-itty-bitty hand...that would be the Dave's hand...he was like 1 month old. ONE. MONTH. OLD. {{sigh}}



This is the stepping stone in the back yard garden. Again, that's MY foot. (Enough about the shoes, people, yes, they are VERY comfortable too!) But the big foot is my niece's foot. The middle foot is the Calvi's little two year old foot, such a cute foot. And the wee-one, yep, that would be the Davester foot. I could stick the hole thing in my mouth, and often did. I don't do that anymore, they aren't as tasty as they used to be. {{sigh}}



We went to Mexico one day. Got to see the places my Daddy has worked. The orphanage, the deaf school. My Daddy, he's such a servant. It was a very special day. This is Marcie's girl, she cried when we left.



Daddy also took us shooting one day. Yep, this is Marcie all loaded and ready to go. Be afraid, be very afraid.



This is my Mama. She's an excellent marksman, you SO would NOT want to break into her house. We call her Annie Oakley. Don't let the classy exterior fool you, she'd totally take you out.



Lancie helping my niece Mallory be brave while she shot. She shoots like her Auntie. She shoots the dirt in the mountain, makes me so proud.



And this is my Daddy, the man behind all the fun!



And this is Me and My Sister. Not the best picture, but I don't care. I love my sister. She's a hoot. She even re-made her guest room for me to come and stay with her. And got me my own little box of See's Candy and handpicked all my favorites. Perfection.


There were so many other fun things about the trip...a day out with Sara, the mostest-funnest time at Jay's sister's house seeing all the family, Daddy making me his french toast, eating Rubio's fish tacos & churro, laying on my mama's bed and talking with her, mexican food (REAL mexican food) with my Auntie Joyce & Uncle Don, visiting our renters and doing a walk through of our house, they are so sweet, playing spoons with the family and getting a 'little' loud....and so much much more.


Oh, and I can't leave this photo out....Dave (and Jay) entered in the Awana Grand Prix at church. They built this car themselves. See those lego heads...that would be them. Sweetie had gotten a little frustrated the night before (since he remembered at 9pm that the race was the following morning and they were NO WHERE near being done with the car)...when it came time for Dave to pick out the lego heads, he kept trying to find the one with the grumpy face 'to be Dad'...nice. They won the reward 2nd place for design, I think it was Jay's face that sealed the deal.


That's pretty much it...until I get some goofy photos of my two big men covered in Dead Sea Mud and a photo of the remains of the fish that Sweetie ate by the Sea of Galilee.

Me and my Dave, just a couple more days. We're keeping ourselves comforted with lots of fun and a few Sonic drinks!

Thankful Thursday Morning

"Give Thanks in all circumstances,

for this is God's will for you,

in Christ Jesus."
1 Thess. 5:18

This is the verse that found me last night. I scribbled it down on a sticky note and went to sleep.

This morning I awoke before dawn with a tickle in my throat, as I walked downstairs to get some water, I could see that dawn was coming and it was foggy outside. The house was quiet, birds were chirping, and the HOUSE WAS QUIET.

This week has been really good, but really overwhelming for me. I realized that this 'tickle in my throat' quite possibly was the Holy Spirit allowing me some quiet time with God. I didn't go back upstairs. I laid on the couch and prayed and slowly watched the morning come. And was overwhelmed again, but this time with THANKFULNESS.

1. I'm so VERY MUCH thankful for God's presence in my life, I don't know how others deal with things, my heart breaks for those that don't have the Lord to lean on and give their burdens to.

2. I'm VERY thankful for my husband. His gift of wisdom and love blesses me everyday. His partnership in parenting these past few weeks, THANK YOU JESUS!!!! His fun and sweetness with me, THANK YOU JESUS!!! His wisdom in handling things, THANK YOU JESUS!!!

3. My boys. They are precious, and full of preciousnesses that give me great joy. Even in the midst of their 'potty humor' I love them and I'm very thankful for the gift of them.

4. I'm very thankful for the friends God has given me. The ladies at church, the ladies outside of church. The fellowship, the laughter, the comraderie the sweetness...I'm so very thankful for these women.
(oh my gosh, my spell check just did a total number on 'comraderie', and I'm completely lost as to which one is the actual spelling, so I'm leaving it and lettin' it rock on its own!)

5. Homeschool Co-op. The boys and I joined a co-op this week (hence the overwhelmedness). It is an answer to prayer as we enter these next few years. I always said that I couldn't be in a homeschool co-op, because let's just say you REALLY don't want ME teaching your kids logic, grammar, math, spanish, world history...I mean let's just say it...I excel at naptime, I love the snack, I rule the recess - and that's about it. :o) So this is HUGE for us to be in a co-op. It runs differently and that's why it's working for us. The boys are loving it, even though Dave isn't really 'in' yet. I'm very thankful for this new adventure in our lives. (and I'm thankful for you, Courteney, for inviting us! you're such a blessing!)

6. Laughter. Last night was 'Exercise Night' on the Wii Fit. You haven't laughed till you see your three guys trying to Hula Hoop. H.I.L.A.R.I.O.U.S. Last week was the first time, it was my turn to choose the sport and in an effort to find something that I might excel at, above the guys, I picked hula-hoopin'. I was literally crying, I was laughing so hard, they finally asked me to leave the room, but I crawled back to the door just to fall to the ground laughing again at, well, mostly the Calvin, that boy has some sweet moves! And yes, I rule at the hula-hoopin'. Wii Fit, good times.

7. Spring. I'm thankful that spring is a comin'. Tuesday we spent the afternoon at the park. The PARK, people. It was 70 degrees, SEVENTY, people! The boys got little sunburns on their pasty faces, and I think I got my fill of the vitamin D to last me another month!

8. I got a cold this past week. And I'm thankful that for the fist time in a few years it didn't turn into a flu. It was just a normal, little, mamsy-pamsy cold. (Ah-Choo! Bless me.) I'm so thankful.

9. Neighbors. I'm thankful for our neighbors. Have I mentioned before that we've never lived in a neighborhood. And the Dave has always wanted to. Now we live in a neighborhood and guess what lives right behind us...three boys. Sweet family. Athletic family. THREE BOYS. The oldest is the Dave's age and they are too cute. Just yesterday sitting at my desk I can see when they get home from school and are in the back yard playing, I yell to the Dave and he goes runnin' out. They play football, basketball, Calvin takes them on adventures in the forest, and they swing. Too funny to see these 12 year old boys swingin' so high on the swings. Very fun. And the little brother, he's 5 and LOVES to come visit me. Except that he cleans out my peanut bowl and often doesn't tell him Mama where he's goin'. Nice. They are comin' to dinner tomorrow night, they are wanting to start attending a church, we are excited for the opportunity to minister in their lives.

10. Scripture. Not too long ago I started praying that God would give me such a desire for His Word. He has answered that prayer. Sometimes I just sit, with my beloved Bible open on my lap, my hands laid flat on the pages, and just breathe a sigh of peace and joy for this freedom that we have. I love that no matter what book, chapter, or verse I'm reading, God is speaking directly into my life, my heart, and I'm VERY thankful.

Have a blessed day lovies.

My Golden Nugget for This Morning

Worry is Disobedience.

That is so profound, and so true.

Worry is Disobedience.

'The disciplined mind makes no room for doubting God's plans for me.'

Is my life full of HIM, or is it full of 'other stuff'??

"You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in you (God). Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal." Isaiah 26:3-4

In you, Lord - in YOUR WILL, in YOUR PRESENCE - all is well.