Christmas Fun!

We had the awesome privelidge of hosting the Senior adult dinner for our church this year. We had a great meal at PJ O'Briens (a cozy banquet room in town). We played games, sang songs, and had the kids participate by being Santa (Austin) Santa's helper (Emily) and Rudolph (Elijah). They passed out gifts to everyone and ended up being a huge hit! We were quite proud of our kids.

We had about 40 people there and those "senior" adults really know how to have fun!! We were glad that our kids were able to share in this special night and realize that "grandpas & grandmas" are amazing people and have alot of love, wisdom and laughter to share.

I know that is a night that none of us will soon forget......especially our kids!
The DQ on the way home from mom, just to say "Thanks for helping out" didn't hurt either!!

It's been a long time!

I haven't blogged since Chicago~ That is crazy!

I've been busy:

Since school got out I have been spending alot of time at the church. I've been trying to get a crash course in some things that Kelly has been doing because they will be moving. I think I am pretty good to go, I'm sure everything will be just fine. God knows what we have need of and I'm confident that He will bring someone our way to take over some of these responsibilites in His time. If not, then He will work out my time so that I can continue with them as needed.

Praying that God will direct us as we continue to look for the right person (people) to come and serve in the ministry with us.

Planning future events, church picnic for one.

We are working on our landscaping for the summer. That has taken a back seat. Have to get going on that.

Dave is doing a Quick-fix on the deck. We really need to replace it but don't at have the funds right now.

We are checking in on Daves mom and dad, daily. Dad is recovering from a hip replacement. His mom is having some physical problems right now. So some of our time is spent there. We are happy to be able to help, just trying to find that delicate balance with everything.

We've been going to our church softball games to show our support. Sometimes 3x a week. We've been having fun. It's a nice relaxing down time.

Can't really think of much more that we are doing. I know there is more, with the church, there is always something going on. I have to do better with my blog. That's it for now....busy summer so far!

Chicago

We had an amazing time in Chicago! We enjoyed every minute of getting away, by ourselves! God was so gracious to us in many areas. Every day we saw His hand in the things that we experienced. This was a trip we won't soon forget. We are already anxious to go back!!

This was our hotel room in Chicago. We absolutely loved the hotel! Very friendly staff and the amenities were great. They even gave us free parking for all 3 days we were there. That was awsome! God already had his hand in the little things. We stayed by the O'hare airport which was nice, each day we rode the rail into the city. It was nice to get out of the city at night and be in a little quieter area.

We ate at Giordano's Pizza as soon as we got there, after checking in to the hotel. This Pizza was amazing! Our new favorite pizza ever. We were quite hungry after the 6 hour drive and neither of us had eaten since breakfast. When we got there they told us a 20 min wait, then she just turned around and said "I'll seat you now". We had a nice little corner booth, couldn't have asked for anything better. We looked back to see about 50 people come in right after we were seated! Thank you Jesus!! Then, she said our pizza would take 40 min. We prayed it wouldn't take that long, and, yep 30 mins later we were eating, yay!!

We loved the sights of Chicago! It really is a beautiful city. What a relaxing time to just walk the streets and take everything in. Yes, we did do a little shopping! When we were walking down the streets we were able to minister to a lady who had lost her subway ticket. She was quite destraught and was asking us for only $5 to get another subway ticket to get back home after being in the city to visit her son in the hospital. We never give people money, never!! We will buy them food or gas, but never give money. This situation was different. Dave and I were both in full agreement to give her the money. We just knew she needed this help and felt that God put us in that spot for such a time as that!! Everything that led up to us being there right at that time was definately God!! We were both so thankful for the Spirits voice to confirm what we needed to do, no doubts!

Shopping was quite fun. This is Macy's! 8 floors of shopping, almost Heaven on Earth. Dave actually had fun as well. He just could not get over how much "stuff" was in this one store, and to think - there were 2 Macy's within 2 miles of each other. We did find some really good deals!

We also ate at the Cheesecake Factory! YUM!!! Another one of our new favorites! A 14pg menu, crazy! We shared a salad and it was PLENTY! Plus who can pass up the cheesecake, We shared that too, we had turtle!!



We went to the Hershey's store! So much fun!! Of course we LOVE chocolate! This was so neat, this was one of the times we wished we had the kids!


We went to the Hancock tower which had amazing views. 95 floors up! I did feel a little queasy, at times. Didn't like getting too close to the window.

This was navy pier, it was beautiful. We were so thankful for the amazing weather God blessed us with. What an amazing time. We are so thankful for the time away. We are also very thankful for Annie watching our kids so we could go away and relax with no worries!!

I forgot one picture

I forgot one picture. Also the spot underneath the chair rail will be painted white!

I painted the Kitchen

I started painting the kitchen today. I am far from finished, but so far I think I like it! I think painting the cubbards could be in the future. We will see how things go. For now I am happy with the results of the color. Makes me want to paint more rooms in the house. I will probably paint as much as my marriage can stand!! My husband is wonderful and very supportive, but we both hate the process!

Austin's Sick :(

Austin is sick. He came home yesterday with a temp of 101.5. This morning it was 102.3. He went to the doctor today and got an antibiotic and a new inhaler. He got the antibiotic for an upper respitory infection. Finally, today, he learned how to swallow a pill! Yeah I was very excited! Swallowing a motrin beats the heck out of him drinking like a half of bottle of childrens motrin!! It is funny how animals just know when something is wrong with someone in the family. Stella jumped right up on the couch to cuddle with Austin while he slept. She is a cuddly dog anyway, but I just thought that was so sweet.

There seems to be a virus going around that has a high fever and not much else. Austin is about the 5th kid that I have heard of in the last week to get this. People are saying that it lasts about 4-5 days. I am sure praying that Austin feels better soon. It is so hard to watch a child be sick and not be able to make it instantly better.

Family Movie Night

Monday nights we set aside for focused family time. This last Monday we had movie night!

The kids love to get in their pj's and make a big bed on the floor.

Stella got to have popcorn too, one of her favorite snacks! We watched Beverly Hills Chihuahua, very fitting in our house. Stella barked at the TV for part of the movie, finally she got used to hearing the dogs bark and she stopped. Feeding her popcorn was another way to keep her quiet.

I made popcorn on the stove. My kids thought it was something new!! Actually it was the best popcorn we have had in a long time. It was soooo good. I was actually surprised at myself that I popped it perfectly, not burnt at all and every kernel popped!! Salt and a little butter and we were in heaven! Can't beat the "old fashioned popcorn".