Thursday, August 27, 2009

Awwwww, I don't want to go

I don't know about your children, but mine can express themselves sometimes. This past weekend it was me that said, "Awww, I don't want to go." Poor Ronnie had to put up with me not wanting to go to the "Kansas" concert. I don't really like concerts all that much. Anyway, I had to apologize for my attitude the next morning. I did end up going to the concert by the way.

Yesterday when I got home from work I told the kids to get shoes on that we were going out. I had learned a valuable lesson from Sunday. Don't give them an opportunity to say awwwww. I just told them to get in the car. My lesson saved me from a lot of headache.

We drove to the backside of Quarry Hill Park. Yesterday was beautiful so around 6:00 it was perfect. Not a lot of bugs since it is a little cool out. The kids were dragging their feet at first. Then we got to this creek and a train tressel. Pretty cool for two boys who wanted to throw rocks in the water and a girl who likes to take pictures. I also had my camera with me and took a few shots.
Veronica was giving me some pointers with my camera. We decided to try them out. This is when the kids stopped dragging their feet and started having fun.



















Smalls wanted to get in on the action. Isn't he just a cutie.


C is for Cole


H is for Hunter
V is for Veronica


I took this next picture right after Cole stepped in a big pile of poop off in the grass.




Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Supporting Our Troops

Now that English is getting ready to deploy I have been thinking more and more about sending packages to her while she is in Kuwait. What can I send, what shouldn't I send, and what CAN"T I send?

Did you know that there are many military personnel that don't receive many letters or packages? Some don't receive any at all.

Have you thought about supporting our troops with a letter to one of them? How about having the kids draw a picture? You don't have to send a package full of things. A letter will be perfect. You don't even have to know anyone in the military. Add in a self addressed stamped envelope, pen and paper and I am sure that you will get a letter back.

Have you thought about supporting our troops with a package? I am sure that they woud like to get a goodies box from "home". I did find out today that you can't send anything home-made. It must all be pre-packaged. Even something as simple as batteries is extremely appreciated. A new pair of long socks is a real gift. They even like to get slinkies, squirt guns, small nurf footballs/basketballs, nurf guns...anything that would be fun and take their minds off of life.

I did see on line today that the troops like to get beanie babies to hand out to the local children. They don't like to get the hard plastic toys to hand out. They don't fit so well in their packs. Beanie babies fit nicely in their packs and they can carry around several at a time. When Ronnie was in Desert Storm he handed out candy and the kids would go crazy. I can imagine that they would like a soft bear to carry around.

Think about taking your family to do some shopping and putting together a small box. Or your family sitting down together to write a letter and draw some pictures of what you did that day. You can go online and look up how to send packages to troops.

The troops are supporting us....we need to support them...with something as simple as a note from "home".

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Feeling Grumpy

I am feeling so grumpy today...therefore I am going to try and concentrate on something that is positive.

First let's talk about my upcoming trip. I get to go see English the frist weekend of September. She was supposed to come home for 2 weeks in August, but wasn't able to. Then we found out that she is most likely going to be deployed December 5, 2009. Those two things + my having not seen her in a year= my wonderful husband finding and making a way for me to be able to go visit her. I am so excited!

So there are two positive things that will make my mood better...English and my wonderful husband.

While speaking of English I thought that I would add a photo of her on here. It was in the Airman Magazine a while back. I can't remember if I posted it on here before, and I really don't feel like going back and looking for it. I think that you can click on the picture to enlarge it. She is the far left Airman. When I first saw this picture I automatically thought of Top Gun and started humming the song. They all look pretty kick butt.

Another thing that gets me out of a bad mood is playing the "If I Won the Lottery Game." Ronnie and I play this sometimes. We aren't delusional enough to think that we are ever going to win the lottery...you have to buy tickets to win and we don't buy tickets. We still like to talk about what we would do. There would most definately be LOTS of ministry stuff done. Ask us sometime what we would like to do with two 18 wheel trucks. We love talking about it.

Even though we talk mostly about what ministry stuff we would like to do there are a couple of things that kick around in the back ground. Yes, they are selfish, but I would like to do a couple of things. One would be this awsome trailer below. I could see Ronnie and I tooling around the country side and camping in this. When I look at this picture I just feel....aaahhhhhh....how cute and cozy. This would be a splurge.
We would also like to buy the house that we live in and do some minor remodeling and landscaping. I also think that we would buy two Vespa mopeds. We always get excited and animated when we play this game. It is just a game. Can't win without the ticket. :)

Well now I feel much better. Talking about two of my favorite people and a picture of something fun. My mood is much better!

Well I hope that you all have a great day.

Monday, August 10, 2009

A Day Late!!!

Happy 14th Birthday Hunter!! (yesterday)


I was so busy with church, straightening up the house for his birthday party and then the party itself that I forgot to wish Hunter a Happy Birthday!

We love you, Hunt.

Here Hunter is with his new hoodie backpack. I wonder how long it will be before Veronica is wearing this around?

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Cell Phone Photos

Last week for my birthday the GNO met at Color Me Mine for an evening of painting pottery. Heidi didn't participate in the painting process, but she hung out visiting for a while. Jennifer and I picked out our pottery we wanted to paint and then got to work. I had taken a saying with me that I wanted to put on my pottery... "Today may I listen with love!" with 4 little chicks and 2 big chicks underneath. You can't tell from my picture(it is from my cell phone), but the backgroud color is a soft green and the lettering is a red. It will go with my dining room. I will put up pictures as soon as I get it all hung.

My friend, Jennifer, got really creative with her plate. This picture doesn't really show the colors, but it went perfectly with her kitchen. Actually this picture doesn't really show the colors at all. There isn't any blue on it. Hmmmmm......Cell phones don't take the greatest pictures.
I think everyone under the sun knows that I am trying to re-decorate my living room/entryway/dining room for....free. Well not really for free...under $100 is more like it. Now I have done really good so far. We are in the process of re-doing a tv cabinet (free), a table ($5.00 + free paint), making a door into a sofa table (free door), making/hanging window treatments (free fabric), decorations for all 3 areas (free...I went shopping at Jennifer's house). I am really proud of how thrifty I have become. Growing up I was so name-brand that it was pathetic. Now I REALLY enjoy going to yard sales, thrift stores, and consignment shops. My next trip is going to be to the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store over in Winona. I can not wait to go dig through everything in that store. I want door knobs, old rulers, paint, and.....oh and some old wood. I can't wait!!
I have really been trying to utilize "throw away" things out there. I am part of freecycle.com and have gotten a few things from there. Yesterday I picked up some indoor shutters that I got for free. It is so much fun. The reason I was saying the above is because one of my co-workers amazed me the other day when she showed me the photo below. I really wish I could do this.
Brig: "Saturday morning I got up and built this with some scrap wood."
Ebby: "You are kidding me?!?! How long did that take you?"
Brig: "About 3 hours"
Ebby: "WHAT?!?!?!"
Brig: "Yea, I had this wicked hangover and I just had to do something so I built this."
Ebby: "Brig, you are killing me. When are you going to make one for me?"
Brig: "I'm not."
Guess I'm not getting one of these. Bummer... Again this is with a cell phone, but can you believe that this is made out of scrap wood. If only I could just use a saw...*sigh*