Friday, December 19, 2008

All the Pics in a Slideshow!!

Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see all the latest kids pics in a slideshow. It's small here but I think if you click on it you'll go to Picasa where it will be bigger.

Monday, December 01, 2008

Home!


Come home, come home,
You who are weary, come home;
Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,
Calling, O sinner, come home!

What makes this our home? It’s not that it was built with our own sweat and struggle, though that is a miracle in itself. This is the place where we will take our refuge from the world and knit ourselves closely together as family, deliberately purposing to follow Christ.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

The Lastest Pictures from Target

Wolfie and Mattie had so much fun at their photoshoot at Target. I wish I had as much fun trying to decide which pics to buy! E-mail me or leave a comment for a link to the full set. >^.^<



Monday, October 13, 2008

Sharp Dressed Man

I'm so thrilled with my children today. They are turning out so wonderfully no matter what my consuming worries are. Wolf asked Grama for some ‘gentlemen clothes’ meaning a suit and tie. He wore it to church on Sunday and everyone thought he was going to a wedding. Mattie put on one of her new dresses from Auntie Rose to match. We decided that he needed to wear his suit to the Manor to visit Grandma Olga because she would love it. We actually cut our annual Stades Pumpkin Farm and visit with the O’Neill’s short a bit to get home to change. Mrs. O’Neill gave us some flowers from her garden for Granny.
When Wolf walked into the manor in his suit with those flowers in his hand, every head turned. Every single lady he walked past made a comment about how handsome or sweet he was – you could tell they were secretly wishing he was coming to see them. It’s too bad that Granny was facing away from us as we walked down her hall. When he got to her though, she was thrilled speechless to see him and know he was there for her. She sputtered out, “Oh! I love you!”Everyone loved Mattie too and said she was adorable in her dress, but Wolfie was the show-stopper. Grama told me Grandma Olga had bought Uncle Michael a suit every year when he was a kid. No wonder she loved it so much. We sat in the activity room which has windows onto the hallway and all the ladies kept walking by and peeking in at Wolfie. At bedtime, I told him he made everyone’s day very special today and he was genuinely happy with himself. It felt so good to me to finally see him satisfied. I just hope it’s not all tied up in the suit.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Our Favorite Recipie

I took the kids into Jewel with me and in the canned veggie aisle, I noticed our favorite tomatoes were buy one get one free. They’re Red Gold brand petite diced olive oil and garlic flavor and we call them ‘magic tomatoes’ because whatever we add them to seems to taste incredible (even salad!). These tomatoes created the Tiki Taco base dish and I said we should make it for dinner. Mattie and Wolfie started chanting, ‘Tiki Taco Dilla, Tiki Taco Dilla’ to the conga line beat like we usually do at home when we're making it. All the ladies in the aisle were laughing, but quietly and to themselves. Funny that no one asked me for the recipe though. Here it is for you:

Tiki Taco Dilla Mix
1 pound ground beef
1/2 packet Taco seasoning mix
1 can Red Gold Petite Diced Tomatoes, Olive Oil & Garlic

Brown ground beef and drain. Sprinkle Taco seasoning liberally and stir to coat beef evenly. Stir in tomatoes and heat about five more minutes.

The Options:
Make Nachos with it (tortilla chips, cheese & sour cream)
Make a "Pie" by layering with cheese and flour tortillas
Make a casserole with mix on the bottom, then some cheese and cornbread mix
Make Quesadillas
Make 'hamburger helper' by adding cooked pasta

If you think of some more, let me know.

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Sunflowers

At bedtime Mattie asked me if God made just one sunflower or a whole bunch. I almost responded with ‘God makes all the flowers’ when I realized what she was really asking. Wow! Her brain just amazes me. Later I asked if she had talked to God that day and she said she prayed for the rain (at Grama’s filling the backyard) to stop and she forgot to fold her hands and it ‘worked’ anyway. This led to a discussion of God not being magic and granting wishes, but helping us to get things for ourselves. We also talked about the good gifts God does give and how they last forever. Such deep discussions with my FOUR-year old -

Friday, July 25, 2008

Summer Kids 'Stories'

At Grama’s Mattie was having trouble doing something with Grampa and said. “Where the heck is my brain today?”

On 7/4/08 at the Bville pool with Auntie Dee Dee: she wanted to see Wolf go down the slide and he said it was too cold / he didn’t want to / etc. She said I don’t think you can do it / I’ve never seen you do it. He said, Yes I can! And went toward the slide, stopped and came back to ask her: “Do you believe God created the world? (yes) Well, you didn’t see that so why can’t you believe I can do it without seeing me do it?”
Auntie Dee Dee said she knew she was in trouble when he mentioned God.

Wolf has recently decided to call Papa, Dad instead. Papa would rather be Papa and asked him not to call him Dad. So Wolf said, “Okay, Bob.”

At Lonestar for Grama’s birthday lunch, they put a loaf of dark bread on the table and Mattie exclaimed, “Chocolate bread!?” Then after she and Papa had been discussing the cactus decoration next to the table, she decided, “I know why there’s a cactus! (points to a cowboy boot on the menu) they have lots of cowboy stuff here!” Then, after we told Wolf and Mattie that their lunches came with ice cream, they both began sort of chanting, “It’s my ice cream and I want it NOW!”

Some Mattie-speak: We’re supposed to go to lava surf planet and Wolfie is not on the rocket ship. I want to find the key to open the door to the secret jewels. The pirahnna’s are buckled already and there’s a creature I wanted to find. The lava dinosaur is on that planet. Sorry I have to go now, I have to get on the rocketship and I bet the other pirahnnas are coming.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

A Fool for Love

Last night, at bedtime we were watching Spiderman at Wolf’s request. The scene ended and Papa said ‘that’s it.’ Wolf calmly asked if he brushed his teeth quickly could he see some more and Papa said no, it’s bedtime. Amazingly, Wolf accepted the answer, and without pouting or crying, “Awww!” he went to brush his teeth! (WOW!)
I said, “You want to have time for snuggling don’t you?”
“No,” he answered, “I’m too old for snuggling.”
“What?! You’ll never be too old!” and I went to grab him.

He started up the stairs and looked back laughing, “April Fool’s!!”
WOW! Look at my big enjoyable boy! I just love him, still!!(The night before, he woke up around 11:30pm to go to the bathroom HIMSELF!!)

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Planning and Parenthood Don’t Mix

So many subjects to cover and so little grammar to deal with it all! Yesterday was a hard day for me, having been full-time, full-on Mama going on two weeks without a sleepover at Grama’s or a Mom’s day out. I salute everyone who’s full-on all the time – God Bless You! I don’t know how you do it. I guess I’ve adapted to (read: come to depend on/thrive on/SURVIVE on) Grama’s breaks so much that I can hardly function without them.
Our day usually goes a bit like this: We wake up, have a bit of blissful snuggle time where the kids come to me straight from bed and kind of finish waking up in my lap (my favorite part of the day!) Then it’s on to the eat-drink-dress circus where I tend to do amazing feats to get them to accomplish these three simple tasks. Try this feat: repeat yourself in a loving voice, every time! Next it’s get Mattie to pre-school, with a secret goal of Wolf being dressed instead of waiting in the car in his PJ’s but don’t tell him that – I try to be very casual about this one-time emergency strategy not turned everyday habit. Finally Wolf and I return home and begin school by 9:30 a.m. (the major benefit of Mattie in preschool!)
At 6 years old, school is really just reading, writing and math, plus we have Bible time and science in observing the world around us. Sounds pretty simple, right? Five subjects at 15-20 minutes each should really be done before we pick up Mattie at 11:30 a.m. NOT! I don’t think it has ever happened. Wolf claims to not like school other than Bible time (we’ve had many discussions of the public school alternative, but he remains less than positive.) So wherever we happen to be in Wolf’s school schedule, we stop and go get Mattie at 11:30 and then the real fun begins!
Try this next feat: Juggle these priorities while modeling a good attitude – the boy’s schooling (be sure to keep learning fun to avoid rebellion!), keep your house semi-presentable (afterall you are home all day), sort and pack items to move, clean and stage your house for a quick sale, nurture your daughter’s creative spirit by helping her act on her ongoing series of varied ideas for games and crafts, and encourage your children to love each other, playing harmoniously together. (Wow! I actually DO all that! – No wonder I’m exhausted!)
When Bob came home early last night to work on Wolf’s car for the Awana Gran Prix, I kind of dragged my defeated little self and Mattie out of the house to visit Grandma Olga and hit the Walmart on the way home. Turns out even just the one-child ‘break’ did wonders for me. Mattie and I had fun; I came home refreshed and Bob was amazed – so was I.

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Happy New Year!!

Of all God's miracles on Earth, the one I still like best is seeing the sweet peace of my sleeping child's face. Even if the only reason I get to see it is because he's on the couch after a middle-of-the-night accident because we gave him a whole can of 7-Up after 9:00pm!

Happy New Year!! He got to celebrate and now I get to swoon in the glow of his special still beauty. I think I'll go sneak in to see my daughter now too.