Mom and Dad's Anniversary Party

Despite the sadness I still feel, we had a great time this evening celebrating 40 years of marriage for my parents. They rented a building (Thank GOODNESS for air conditioning! It was over 100 degrees!!) and we had lots of good food and fun with so many people! Nearly all of my Wichita family was there. There were only two cousins who were missing, and my two aunts (Marilyn, I hope your elbow is healing and not tooo painful. Patty, you should have skipped your camping trip, it's too hot out there anyway! ;o)) and their husbands. One cousin had a good excuse, she had a baby this morning! (Congratulations Kym and Jesse, I can't wait to see pictures of Layne!) The other one, I'm not sure where he was...but anyway, it was wonderful to see everyone else. Lots of Mom and Dad's friends came to show their love and support. I tried to get a good picture of Mom and Dad, but he couldn't stop talking long enough to smile!

One of my cousins who I haven't seen in probably at least 3 years was there, but it felt like we had just seen each other last week. She has a blog, and it's been so wonderful to keep up on each other's lives even though we don't see each other or even talk on the phone...it was SOOO good to see you Loni! Let's not let another 3 years go by!! I want to see that little girl in your tummy when she's still a baby! :o)

As we were chatting with my cousins, we realized that all of us girl cousins were there (except Kym, but we figured we would let it slide) so we wanted a picture. As we got all together, Loni and I started looking around. So, why are 4 of them so tall and blond, and then there are Loni and I, not so tall and absolutely NOT blond? Well...looking at the picture, some of the blonds are more blond than others! :o) Go figure...Oh, well...we'll love them anyway, won't we??!! :o) The tall blond with short hair directly behind me just found out that she is expecting her second child in the spring, Loni is expecting her 3rd little girl in November, and Kym had a baby today...The family just keeps growing and growing! My grandparents have 12 grandchildren and 16 great-grands (with two more coming soon!).

There was this fun heart/love confetti on the tables, and the kids (ok, Dad {MY DAD} started it) would lick the confetti and stick it to their faces. They kept telling us that they were their tattoos! How funny!

Here is Bethany with her two youngest cousins...they just LOVE being together! They have SO much fun! (Oh, look, now Dad is smiling!)

I just wanted to put a few of these pictures up so everyone can see my awesome family.

Prayers Please

A terrible tragedy has occurred. I'm still in shock a day later. One of my students (he was in Bethany's preschool class last year) and his family were in a car accident on Wednesday evening. Another car hit a deer and that deer flew through their windshield and killed the dad. The deer went entirely though their truck, in the windshield and out the back window. Lisa (the mom) was able to grab the steering wheel and bring the truck to a stop. The family was on their way home from a baby shower. The mom and Jaren were admitted to the hospital for observation (all three, Mom, Jaren, and the unborn baby are all doing fine physically) overnight, but have been released. I cannot even imagine loosing my husband. Just the thought of being left alone, and alone to raise two children...I can't breath.
One thing that freaks me out is that I went on a trip with the girl scouts on Wednesday. Most of the girls were in a small bus, but another leader and I followed in her van so our little ones could be in their car seats. We went on that exact stretch of road less than 30 minutes before the accident occurred. And yes, we saw lots of deer. Oh, My, Goodness...I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about what could have happened, and what did happen. It was a freak accident. Nothing could have been done to prevent it, but WHY? I'm not angry at God, I'm just so sad. I can't imagine what Lisa and Jaren are going through right now.
The funeral has been scheduled for Saturday morning, and I can't even be there. We are in Wichita to celebrate my parent's 40th anniversary, the party is tonight. We could leave after the party and drive at night, getting home early Sat. morning, but I just don't see the need. Lisa is going to need support for a long time, not just tomorrow. I am praying for her nearly constantly...

Anyway, just asking for prayers for this dear woman and child. Such a wonderful family. Pray for strength, comfort, peace...
Go hug your babies, and your husband. Make sure they know you love them. Don't let them doubt it for a moment.

My life is pretty great... :o)

First of all, thank you all for the prayers and encouraging words. I really do appreciate it. One of my blogging buddies (yes, you, J!) helped me to remember that it's not my life that has problems, but mainly my attitude. When I'm stressed and tired, I don't react well to much of anything. Especially when I'm tired (what can I say, I am my mother's daughter! :o)) (LOVE YOU, MOM!)

The state inspection of my preschool was today and it went really well. I was even complimented. The lady thought I had done a wonderful job of gathering the documentation I needed as well as making charts from scratch that I should have been able to fill in from her charts that she forgot to give me. Anyway, it is over and it went well. We can start preschool!
I've gotten a lot done in the way of stuff to get ready for school, too. I had to refill my printer twice on Saturday because I was printing so much stuff out. My co-teacher and I have decided that at least for the first month, she will teach the 4 year old class and I will teach the 3 year old class. This way we can learn each other's style of teaching, see if either of us is "better" at one aspect of teaching than the others, etc. I offered to teach the 4's since they are a 5 days/week program and the 3's are only 3 days/week...I didn't want her to have the heavier load, but she said she LOVES teaching 4's and would prefer that, FINE BY ME! So, at least for now we have a game plan. We still need to gather all 4 teachers for a planning session, that will come...
I think I'm going to take tomorrow almost entirely off from school to get this house worked on. It has completely fallen apart with me being so consumed by school stuff and that is one thing that stresses me out! I'm no neat freak (by ANY stretch of the imagination), but when the house is THIS chaotic I can't think strait. I can't cook, I don't even know where to start in the cleaning. So, tonight I got the kids back on their chores from the school year. Abbie vacuumed (and then I 'helped' finish it up) and I shampooed the dining room carpets. Whoever thought it would be a good idea to put carpet in a dining room needs to be SLAPPED! Tomorrow I'm going to shampoo the living room. Plus, I plan on finding my kitchen counters, and that floor could use a GOOD scrubbing!

If you are the praying kind (and I know almost all of my blog readers are!) please keep my aunt Marilyn in your prayers. She fell this past weekend and broke her elbow. OUCH! It's a clean break, but she's in a cast from fingers to shoulder. I can only imagine how painful and INCONVENIENT that must be. Her typing skills have certainly taken a turn for the worse (;o)) Love ya M!

We will be seeing family this weekend because my parents are celebrating 40 years of wedded bliss! I'm so blessed to have such wonderful examples of what a marriage is and can be. Are they perfect? No. Do they fight? Well, yea. But do they love each other more than anything. YES! And that is what a marriage is made of. Love, Patience, Forgiveness...Thank you Mom and Dad for being that kind of example to me. I love you guys!!

Well, my favorite Hubby just walked in the door with a DQ Blizz*rd for me! YUMMY! I'd better go eat it before it melts.
Thanks again for all your love and encouragement. Today is a new day, and tomorrow is yet another one!

Blogging Break

I know I haven't been blogging much, and I'm sorry. I'm in a stressed, tired, frustrated place right now and I just can't put the extra energy into writing something "happy" for my blog. I'm going to try to get myself out of this 'funk' and when I do, I'll be back.
Love to you all...Andie

Happy Birthday to ME!

It's my birthday....no big deal. I'm getting older by the minute, hubby keeps reminding me! :) Andrew surprised me this morning by bringing me breakfast...in the bathroom! I was showered and dressed, but not finished getting ready. I opened the bathroom door and there was Andrew with a pop-tart (I normally don't buy these!) and a glass of milk. He even toasted the pop-tart, poured the milk (and didn't spill!). How sweet is that?!!?!
Abbie and I spent the morning at 4-H judging for our county fair. This is her first year in 4-H. She entered two ceramic pieces and some pictures in photography. She received a purple (best) and a blue (next to best) in ceramics. On her photography she received two purple, a few blue, a bunch of reds and one white (lowest ribbon). Overall, for being her first year, she did awesome!
While we were at the 4-H judging, I found out that an important piece of paperwork was FINALLY finished for preschool. We've been waiting on this paper for months. We can't get our state certification until we have this paper, an inspection, and then get the paperwork back from the state. I'm afraid we'll not be ready to start when we would like to, but I'm trying! It's been out of my hands (board and church trustees have been working on it) for so long, just waiting and waiting (I'm not good at that!).
VBS is over for another year. It was a great time, LOTS of kids for our small church. We normally have around 10 kids on a Sunday for Sunday school...and we had 52 children for VBS!!!! AMAZING! We are thrilled with the turn out! Most of the children are from other churches, but there are some who are unchurched, so we are planning some follow-up for those families. God is good!
We had our annual church pool party last night. It's always a good time. Lots of good food and fun with God's people! I actually was having so much fun that I forgot to take any pictures.
We've had some late nights with our busy week...I think I'm going to curl up on the couch with my little one and take a birthday nap! I will try to post pictures later...ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ...

We love Glenda

Many of you might remember that my neighbors are moving. The days are dwindling, and we are trying to love on Glenda while we can. Anytime we see her outside, we head over for hugs. Last night when we arrived home from VBS she was outside trying to take a picture of a spider, silly thing wouldn't cooperate! Glenda is a very talented photographer. Her sprinklers were running, and I told my kids to go ahead and have fun so I could chat with Glenda. They were all hot and sweaty and I was planning to shower them when we got home anyway! They ran and had fun, Glenda and I chatted a bit, and she snapped away. Before I even got myself to bed, she emailed me the pictures. Like I said, she's a very talented photographer...when she moves I guess I'll have to get my camera out more often!

Glenda called them over and whispered something in their ears, and soon they all came running, DRIPPING over to me and gave me WET hugs...what fun!

Glenda has a BIG frog/toad (HOPPY THING...ICK!) living in her srinkler box, she wanted to show the kids, so I took the camera and snapped a few, I'm so thankful they couldn't find that nasty hopping thing! (Have I ever told you how much I HATE frogs?)

We will live next to this wonderful woman for only about one more week, then she will move to Ohio to join her husband who began a new job there 2 months ago. We already miss Terry, and now we know we will miss Glenda, too. The family who will be moving in is going to be fun to have around, though. They have 3 kids, a daughter Andrew's age, a son Bethany's age, and a 1 year old daughter. We know this family and like them a lot, it will be good to have more kids on the block...and it will be fun to get to know them better. But, they will never fill Terry and Glenda's shoes!

VBS night 2!

Last night we had about 40 kids, tonight....51! Yes, 51!! We usually have around 10 children in Sunday school each week, so this is totally awesome! I was so glad I had a second craft prepared for the little ones, just in case (I only had 48 of the original craft available)! We did, however run out of t-shirts. A wonderful company here in our town makes t-shirts for all the VBS programs for FREE! We just get some clip-art to them and tell them how many you want, they give them to us. What a wonderful ministry! I'm going to call them in the morning to see if I can possibly get 12 more shirts! I told each of the parents that we ran out and would try to get more, they were all really understanding, most told us not to worry about it because their kids "don't need ANOTHER t-shirt!" which I can totally relate to! But, the kids all want one like their friends, so I'm going to see if she can make us some more. We have so many people just showing up and asking "What can I do?" Which is totally awesome! Thank You, God, for providing all we need! Please bless all the children, parents, and volunteers....THANK YOU, GOD!
I am taking lots of pictures, we usually make a CD with all the pics for parents to purchase at the closing (to help defray some of the costs!), so I'll try to post more of them later in the week! Thanks for your prayers.

ND Pictures

Here are the long awaited pictures from our trip to North Dakota...at least a few of them.

The cutie with the curly hair is my niece, Addison...isn't she just about the cutest thing you've ever seen??? And just ask her any question and she shakes her head "NO!"...it's so adorable! The only question she doesn't answer "NO" to is "Do you want a raspberry?" She'll come running from the other end of the house to answer this question with a mouth open wide! Again, I say...ADORABLE!

Here the kids are waiting for the 4th of July parade to begin...and the raining of candy, which of course is the best part of ANY parade! The boy in the chair behind the kids on the curb is my oldest nephew, Hunter (he's too old for chasing after candy...yea right!)...and his younger brother, Braden, is sitting next to Andrew (Braden is 8 months older than Andrew...they are the best of friends!). Addison is their baby sister.Here Bethany is a bit saddened because she didn't get one of the candies thrown out from a float, the other kids are much quicker than she...but they all shared in the end! (WAY too much candy anyway!) What would the 4th of July be without sparklers and fireworks? My new camera has a cool "fireworks" setting! Very neat. Got some cool shots of the kids with their sparklers and the fireworks. We had 8 children, and 4 "grown" men who shot of literally hundreds of dollars in fireworks...WHEW! Can you say NERVOUS! I am always so worried that someone will get hurt. Then when one of the guys lit a roman candle, and put it in the pipe (stuck in the ground to hold such an item!) UPSIDE DOWN! (it was an accident, he thought that was the right way!) It flew out on the first round and then shot it's fireballs right where all the children were...THANK GOD no one got hit! We all were pretty freaked out, but all went well from then on. Bethany did back into Abbigail's sparkler, but only got a tiny red mark on her shoulder, but I think it scared her more than anything.

While we were in ND, the church where hubby grew up celebrated their 125th anniversary! We had picnics, horse carriage rides, games, a balloon release, and lots of other fun stuff. Here are a few pictures from that! It's literally a little country church, dirt roads and all! This is what the church looks like from the back of the horse carriage.

Here is a very rare picture of my mother-in-law. I think this may be only the third or fourth picture of her that I have, not including wedding pics. She doesn't know I took it! ;o) She did a lot of the work for the anniversary festivities.

These other cuties are my other niece and nephew (Bailey & Maddox). Their dad is in Iraq serving in the army...actually he should be HOME right now for his 2 weeks of R&R. Originally we thought he would be home over the 4th, so we would be able to see him, but the army postponed his leave for a few weeks, so it didn't work out. Prayers for his continued safety are very much appreciated!

OKOKOK...so there are more than a few, but hey, it's MY blog! Besides, they are cute kiddos, what are ya gonna do? :o)

First night of VBS...whew!

Oh boy Oh boy...it's VBS week. I'm exhausted and it's only the first night! We had almost 40 children tonight, which is just about what we had last year, and we have a bunch more who registered and just couldn't make it tonight...we'll have more tomorrow. One wrench that was thrown to me was a new baby! NOT MINE! :o) One of the ladies who was leading one of the centers had her baby on Saturday (a full 4 weeks early!...both mother and daughter are doing wonderful!) and I had to BEG in church for replacements! Two women came forward able to cover the week, He always provides!
If you wouldn't mind...please pray for all those involved in our VBS, the children and the volunteers. That we would all grow to know Jesus as our "Forever Friend" Thanks!

We're in the south (ok, center) again!

We made it home last night around 11:00 pm. We're EXHAUSTED! We had lots of fun, took lots of pictures, and had lots of fun (did I say that twice?? :o))

To answer one question from the comments in the last post, yes, there is Internet UP there in the NORTH country, and my brother-in-law actually has high-speed now, last year it was dial-up (I DO NOT have the patience for dial-up!)...but we were too busy chasing the 6 kiddos, shopping with my sis-in-law (LOTS of good clearance deals!) and just hanging out and having a good time to sit on my computer all day. I'll try to get the pictures off the camera and post them soon. I'm going to be a bit busy this week getting ready for VBS which starts on Sunday, but hopefully I'll have time to do the pictures this evening!

The trip home was much less eventful in the area of wild life (are bulls wild??), but it got interesting toward the end when my dear hubby started feeling sick. My niece had a bit of a tummy bug for a few days during our trip, but we all thought she was eating too much fruit (little fruit monster!) and teething...but apparently not. I ended up driving the ENTIRE way from North Dakota to Kansas! I have bragging rights now! Hubby hasn't ventured much out of the bedroom today, so back from a trip and he's already taking sick days! Poor guy!

Hello from the NORTH country.

We drove (meaning I drove) through the night to arrive at my brother-in-law and sis-in-law's home early this afternoon. I'd have to say the most interesting part of the drive involved a very steep gravel road, a bull, and a me driving...yes, we got a bit lost. We were heading up our normal route, when we saw signs that told us that a bridge was closed and we should take an alternate route. Ok, no problem...go east for a bit, and then head back north. Except that the road we had to take east didn't go east, it went SOUTHeast and we started loosing miles. We decided to take a not so major road north figuring it would intersect with a more major road quickly....wrong. It went from a not so major road to a gravel road, to a field road very quickly. We knew we were in for it when we crossed a cattle guard, but the road was too narrow to turn around, too steep and curvy to back down (not to mention the steep drop off on one side, yes, I was driving and I was getting very worried). When I came around a curve and saw a bull standing in the middle of our "PATH" I just stopped and looked at hubby...."Now what?" I was DONE driving! Hubby refused to get out and trade me places with a bull standing about 20 feet away staring us down. So, I put the van in reverse and backed up a ways so that we were on the other side of the curve and the bull could no longer see us. We quickly did a driver swap and Hubby backed to where there was a "Y" in the road and he could turn around. We ended up loosing probably close to an hour from the time of the detour until we were back to where we were supposed to be, but it was beautiful country...as long as I was not driving! :o) I drove from about 10:45 last night until the bull incident at around 6:00 this morning. About 5 minutes after Hubby started driving and was back on a major road, I was ASLEEP not to waken for nearly 2 hours. We stopped for breakfast and then got back in the car for the last leg of the trip and I again fell asleep quickly.

We are here. We are safe, and no bull horns impaled the van! The kids had a fabulous time playing with their cousins all afternoon/evening. Plans are being made for some fun times this week. I am about ready to fall over here while I'm trying to type, so good night all from the North Country!

Something that makes me giggle like a little girl!

Ok, I'm weird. I know this fact, and I fully admit it! As all of my faithful blog readers know (yes, Mom & Dad, I mean you! :o)) we are planning a trip to Florida. We purchased our airline tickets a month ago. Since purchasing them, the price has gone from $97 to $160 (each way!)!! By planning ahead, we have already saved $630! YEA! This makes me giggle! I'm so excited!


It has been a BUSY week this week trying to get VBS plans finalized. Our VBS doesn't begin until July 13, but we are leaving to visit family on Sunday and won't be home until just before VBS starts...so I need to get it all put together before we go. Besides VBS planning, we've had 6 ballgames, 3 story-times, 2 haircuts, and one doctor's appointment, and one 4-H photography class. I'm EXHAUSTED! I instituted MANDI TORY nap time today. Abbigail's softball game last night lasted until 10:30, by the time we got home, settled, and to bed it was almost 11:30, and she had to be at her photography class at 7:30! We were tired, so I MADE everyone lay down for a nap...including me! I should have been cleaning, but I just couldn't function, I slept for nearly 2 hours off and on...and the kids slept longer than me. This is a good thing since Abbigail has her last softball game tonight, the late one again!
This morning Andrew had his last t-ball game. That little boy amazes me! He hit a HOME RUN! The ball sailed over all the children's heads and landed out in the grass...the outfield! He was all the way around the bases before the ball was even back into the infield. WOW! But of course the camera was safe inside my backpack...ARGH!

If I'm absent for the next few days, please excuse me...I'll be back when I can! :o)

Until then...keep truckin along, and remember:

God made you special and He loves you VERY much! By By!

GUESS WHAT???

23 POUNDS!!
Oh yea, BABY...I've lost 23 pounds!!

Guess what we did tonight???

You'll never guess! Here's a hint:
Still don't know? How about this...does this help?
If you look REALLY close, you'll see my dearest hubby in this picture...he's GOLFING! He came home this afternoon and asked if we wanted to go golfing. NOT PUT PUT, real golfing! He was a very dear hubby and tried to get me interested in golfing (one of his loves) about 8 years ago, he even got me my own clubs! Unfortunately, I'm not so good. We practiced at home with practice balls, and he took me to the golf course once...ONCE! I was so embarrassed that I refused to go back. The only time the clubs have been used since then is last summer when there were a lot of break-ins in our town, I slept with TWO of them when hubby was out of town.
Anyway, we went. The kids had FUN cleaning the balls at the little stations. We did rent a golf cart to make it a little easier. That was also fun. We also sent the kiddos out in search of all the stray balls. We went late enough that most people were already done for then night, only one party played through (we were SLOW, ok, it was me). Here the kids and Hubby are looking for HIS ball that went into this little bush! :o)We got to watch the sun go down and enjoy the cool evening weather.The bugs didn't come out until we were almost done. All in all, it was a FUN night! The kids didn't fight, they weren't overly noisy. And, the only time one of them had to use the restroom just happened to be when we were RIGHT next to the porta potty (STINKY!)

Here the kids are washing the balls at the last hole. Oh the joy! :o)
We didn't get home until 10:00, the kids were hungry and needed a snack. After snack, they got to bed around 10:30...Thank You, God for a wonderful evening with my family.

3 about ME!

How fun is this? My DAD tagged me...ok, it was in an email, but I'm going to do it here! So...here goes!

3's About Me!

Three jobs I have had in my life:

1) Taught Junior high (NOT where my gifts lie!)

2) Child care provider

3) Preschool teacher!

Three places I have lived:

1) Wichita, KS

2) St. Louis, MO

3) Seward, NE

Three shows that I watch:

1) Survivor

2) CSI (Anywhere!)

3) ER

Three places I have been:

1) Minneapolis, MN

2) Branson, Missouri

3) Eureka Springs, Arkansas

Three people who e-mail me regularly:

1) My Dad

2) My Aunt Marilyn

3) My friend Jacque

Three of my favorite foods:

1) Mexican food (chimichanga's and nachos!)

2) Sea food (Crab legs)

3) Italian (just about ANYTHING!)

OK, now I'm HUNGRY!

Three places I'd rather be right now:

1) Disney World!

2) Anywhere with my husband

3) in Heaven, praising God at His feet

Three friends I think will respond:

1) Elizabeth (might be a little busy having a baby, so maybe not!)

2) Rebecca (Might be a little busy moving, so maybe not!)

3) Loni (might be a little busy with her little girls, so maybe not!)

Three things I am looking forward to this year:

1) TEACHING again!

2) Loosing more weight and being HEALTHY!

3) Trip to Disney with my husband and kids!

Tag, anyone who wants to!

Menu Plan Monday

Gonna try this again...haven't been doing this lately, end up eating too many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!!

Breakfast (this is what I will fix for the kiddos, I am drinking a slim-fast for breakfast, Hubby has his own breakfast supplies)

Tues: Chocolate chip muffins from freezer (made a double batch two weeks ago...YUMMY)

Wed: Pancakes (make a triple batch, freeze most for later)

Thurs: Bagels

Fri: Cereal

Sat: Cheesy eggs/omletts (each chooses)

Sun: pancakes (from freezer)

Lunch...everyone chooses their own (sandwiches, corn dogs, mac-n-cheese, etc)

Dinner

Mon: up for grabs (everyone chose whatever they wanted)

Tues: eating out (van being worked on in the 'city' so Hubby gets to choose where we eat to celebrate Father's day)

Wed: spaghetti squash with alfredo sauce, ooey goey cheesy bread and a salad.

Thurs: Tacos (with a salad for some...taco salads for others!)

Friday: Pizza

Saturday: Grill out hamburgers, brats, etc...maybe at the lake, maybe not (I DON'T want poison ivy again!)

a little update on me...

Have you ever heard of soaking a poison ivy infection in Epsom salt water? It works! Dries the heck out of your skin, but it also helps to dry out the infection. I have soaked my arms in it for a while the past few days and I can really tell the difference. The welts are starting to go down and they no longer look so terribly red and angry...not gone by any means, but I think there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

On the weight loss front...I am so excited to report that I have lost 20 pounds! Yes, this has been since January, but it's coming off. My darling husband, however, has gone back on his Atkins diet and lost 20 pounds in the past 3 weeks! (I love him, but I HATE him, too! ;o)) We are going to be one HOT couple in a few months! We both want to be healthier for our lives, to be better examples for our kids. We want to be able to have a good time in Florida without being too tired. He's doing TaeBo nearly every day and I really am trying to get back on my treadmill more often, even if I only have time for one mile...at least it's SOMETHING!

Abbigail's Birthday party

We FINALLY had Abbigail's birthday party this Saturday. I don't know how the rest of the families out there do it, but we don't have 'friend' parties each year for each child...I just can't do that! My kids get to start having parties when they turn 6, and then every OTHER year.

Anyway...we went to the city swimming pool on Saturday and invited a few of her friend's to join us. We got there just as they were opening so we could claim a table in the shade. We put a plastic tablecloth down with flowers as a centerpiece (the wind kept blowing them down, so they didn't stay! Oh well, we live in Kansas, what do you expect?!!)

Herand her friends enjoyed swimming, opening gifts, and yummy ice cream cake. They had a lot of fun, but I was very tired by the time we got to go home! Right now she's working on her 'thank-you' cards.

**Here is a hint..Moon sand STINKS! Ok, it doesn't literally stink, but it's a BIG mess, and it gets EVERYWHERE! DON'T BUY IT! And if someone gives it to your kids as a gift, try to return it before you open it up!!! IT's Horrible stuff!**