Eye of the Tiger

Ok, so for those who don't know, our Pioneer Club "snacking" after award events usually consist of many yummy sweet treats. Now there is the occasional healthy treat as well like apple slices and a veggie/dip tray but mostly it consist of delicious cookies, cupcakes, cookies, marshmallows, cookies, jello and did I mention....cookies. Now after you feed such items to children and then allow a small block of time to pass after ingesting such treats then decide to leave the event which involves sticking them in a vehicle all packed in together, you end up with a van full of sugar rushing children who can not control them selves! The funniest part is when Eye of the Tiger comes on the CD player and they all SHOUT the words and dance profusely so much so that the van shakes to the point that you at first think something is wrong with it till it dawns on you it is the zoo full of monkeys you have stashed in the back. Yes, our trip home last night was one for the books or in this case, the blog!

Pioner Club Awards Night

Last night was our final Pioneer club award night. Madi was anticipating it for two days and was so worked up with excitement. Scooters were the first group up which is Madi and Autumn's class. After saying their memory verses (Psalms 119:105 and Ephisians 6:2) they were called up one by one to receive their awards. Madi was so excited that she skipped and jumped back to her spot in line and I almost thought she would yell how excited she was. I enjoyed being a helper in this class this year, it was fun and a great time to share with my girls.
Next up was the Voyagers which is Dakotah's class and the same went for them, memory verses and then awards. After them was the oldest group, the Pathfinders/Colby's calss. They also recited their memory verses then received their awards. The last few weeks this class was in the kitchen baking so they earned a baking award which Colby was looking forward to.
After a devotion from Brenda our youth cordinator we headed into our fellowship hall to snack on some yummy finger foods. In all it was a great evening and I enjoyed watching my kiddos receive the awards they work hard to earn.

A bit more birthday fun

Saturday was the day we officially celebrated Dakotah's 8th birthday with the "cake" and presents. He had wanted a death star cake but since the idea of him even getting a party was up in the air until about a week prior it left no time for us to order the cake pan and then make it. Walmart did a fantastic job of keeping me on the star wars track though. The figures light sabers even light up when you push a button. I only have these two pictures since I became too busy enjoying watching him. Once my friend Winter sends me a particular picture I will share it with you all so you can see what happens after a soon to be 8 year old talks up such a big game for about a year of how he thinks he will smash his face into his cake when his day comes. Very fun!!!! Stay tuned....

A little celebration for our leprachaun....

Today is St. Patricks Day which means it's Dakotah's birthday!!!! I love having a kiddo who's birthday is on a holiday, it makes it even that much more fun to be nutty. We are having his (big) party on Saturday with the Star Wars cake and presents and the hand picked meal (he chose tacos this year which was a shock of a change from chicken alfredo). I couldn't pass up the festive cupcakes the other day when I was shopping so we used them to have a little celebration for D. After our corned beef and carrots (my family isn't a cabbage kind of family even if i am) with mashed potatoes we had dessert and then onto the birthday boys whippins. It's so funny to try to pin them down the older and bigger they get. I know the day will come when I will no longer win at the pinning them down game, until then I enjoy every second of it (squeals, screams, laughter, drool (yes drool) and all)!

The little things in life that can make a girl so happy!

When we moved into our new house in November one of the things on the top of our "to-do" list was to get a toilet into the half bath that is in our bedroom. Well, after pulling up the trim, putting down a skim coat and then laying the new floor tiles we took off the cap on the floor for the toilet and there was no plumbing to attach the toilet to. As I'm sure you can imagine, I was so bummed and even more bummed when my husband told me he would have to cut out part of the floor (that I just finished spending the afternoon putting down the flooring on) in order to do the plumbing. After a month or two went by he had a Saturday that he and a friend were able to finally get in there and do just that. The next day I painted new trim, relayed the flooring and then put down the trim. Now all that it needs is for my hubby to put in the toilet. He did a couple days later and I am shocked how excited I am to have a toilet in my bedroom bath. It's so nice! I can even sneak away and shut the door and actually pee in peace for once. If it isn't one of my kids either walking in or beating on the door, then it's my dog, seriously people can't a girl potty in peace. Yes!, she can in the far back corner of her half bath tucked away in her bedroom!!!!!! WHOO!!!

The moments that will crack a mama up!

So I went into the bathroom this evening to start the shower for my 6 year old and as I come out of the bathroom, shut the door and turn around this is what jumps out at me...........






She cracks me up and she obviously had just been in her brother's room getting into his things (not that he really cared). It was all I could do not to end up on the floor laughing and then run to get the camera. When I showed her what she looked like in her picture she then laughed real hard too. I love moments like these!

Enjoying the Pre Spring Weather!

2 weekends ago we decided to get out and enjoy the wonderful weather the Lord was blessing us with. We packed up into the van and headed to Matter Park in Marion and had a great time!

A new fun blog to follow and a try at a give away....

Today I was lead to a new blog and was actually lured there for a give away of a very cute apron. i look forward to visiting this blog more and more. If you'd like to check it out just click here. Enjoy!

Blog button

Well, after some sorting through what I couldn't understand lastnight very well and with the help of my amazing husband and then a fresh new look at things the next day, I have created a button for our little blog here. Feel free to pick one up and put on your blog, they just seem to bring a smile to my face and look so much more inviting then the regular text on the side bar. Enjoy and if you want to create one your self I recommend looking into the instructions here. If you have questions or need help, you can either ask at that site or ask me and I'll do my best to walk you through one.

SPRING is on it's way!

I don't have any pictures for this post but I'm kind of tired of waiting for something to happen where I have pictures in order to post. We had a beautiful week this week with weather that started in the 50's that hit the high 60's in the middle of the week then dropped back down a bit and we are now expected to have a few rumbbly nights with thunder storms. I now have a head full of congestion since I apparently am allergic to season changes, go figure. I spent a lot of time outside this week and I'm sure that didn't help but boy did it feel good. We ( the boys helped not by volunteer or anything) pulled out some dead stuff in various flower gardens around the yard that we didn't get to when we were moving in and I trimmed back quite a few plants or bushes to tame them a bit. I so don't have a green thumb and pretty much just cut away hoping they'll make it and if not then I will replace them with something I can nurture from the very get go. Moving in at the end of fall sure leaves us to wonder what our yard has to offer for when everything takes off this spring. I know there are at least 6 areas that need to have some sort of boarder around them to define them better than they are now. Once again, have no clue what I'm doing but boy I'm going to have a blast figuring it all out. My girl friend and I were discussing a plant swap possibly from the things our yards have in them already to spread some love and some variety. What a great idea she had....you go Christine! Roses, I have roses and have no clue what it's going to take all I know is I love to look at roses so I'll be googling that often. I'll also have to talk with the hubby and pick our place for our garden plot for this year. It will be our second year of gardening and we are going bigger this year in dirt size but not planting amount since we outgrew our plot size last year. Live and learn!
I think my big freezer in the garage might be warning me it's on it's last legs, so that will involve making some jam since I didn't quite complete that task last year with the moving and all. Oh shucks a day of jamming, what more of a boring way can I think of to wast my day.....NOT! Think I'm going to call my girl Christine over to join in and learn the fun of making your own jam. Colby and I created our own type/recipe of jam last year due to already starting everything to make jam and ending up not having all the ingredients we needed so we had to get creative and it is our favorite! We call it Raspberry Hawaiian Peach and we actually sat down together and submitted our recipe to Gooseberry Patch in hopes they will pick our recipe to share with thousands of others! We'll see! Gooseberry Patch cookbooks have become my new excitement in the kitchen. I bought my first book in February but had borrowed one from Christine before that so i had a jump start on many yummy recipes. We have made a bunch and I love how most of my kids get excited when I tell them "new recipe tonight", especially Colby.
Well, I've started to buy seed packets and I'm going to try something new this year, starting them inside early then moving them to the garden, also I want to try another new thing...a few flower bulbs. Lilies to be exact and maybe some gladiolas. We'll see though cause my eyes and imagination are way bigger than my wallet if you know what I mean. Buds are popping on the trees, birds are gracing me with a song every morning, little green sprouts are sprouting and my kids come in from playing, muddy. What signs are in your neck of the woods that SPRING is on it's way and springing quickly????