• 27Mar

    Spring Break

    Children, Family, Parenting, Recreation 1 Comment

    Day One: 61 degrees, no snow – yet! Lovely, sunny, warm. Outside most of the day. Playing, a walk to Grandma’s house and back, more playing outside. Wonderful day!

    Day Two: 65 degrees, breezy but warm. Went to Grandpa’s office for the morning, had lunch and played outside with good friends. “This is a great Spring Break, Mom!”

    Day Three: 61 degrees, breezy, mostly warm. Ute Valley hike with lots of friends, followed by a picnic in the park. Great fun! That evening H had his good friend M over for a sleep over, while G spent the night at her friend, A’s house.

    Day Four: 32, 43, 48 degrees, not as warm, but not breezy. Kip and I took the boys for a longer hike. What a blast, felt great to get a good workout and the boys did so well. Afterwards we stopped by Starbucks to get hot chocolate to warm up. Today’s plans were changed several times and after all was said and done, everyone was finally starting to tire. So rather than the zoo, park or any of our other plans, we met at McDonalds to exchange children and eat together. Later, that afternoon, Kip and I took our very tired children out to PF Changs and enjoyed a 20 point meal. (good thing I didn’t eat at McD’s. ;-) )

    Day Five: 25 degrees, cloudy, snow flurries, and so NOT Spring. It was great while it lasted. Today, the kids are already playing outside and they even wanted to wear shorts!!?? We may not have gone to a beach or somewhere new this Spring break but I think that our kids had a GREAT time.  What a fun, fun week!  Tonight the kids have one of their favorite sitters watching them.  Pizza, playing and not parents!!!  PARTY!  ;-)  


  • 25Mar

    Gigi or Not So Much?

    Children, Family, Recreation 1 Comment

    One afternoon, while playing quietly on her own, or so we thought we found our silly girl hanging out with her K-9 pals and a friend that appeared to look just like herself. In fact, this ‘person’ had even taken her clothes. Take a look…

    Now, I wish I could share the picture of G laying next to her new friend, but…..like I said, her friend is wearing her clothes! ;-) I love the detail she used in Lilli’s hands and feet. Our dogs would not leave her alone!!! They kept eating her fingers!!! How Rude is THAT? hee hee!!!

    It is NEVER dull around here!

  • 25Mar

    A Fun Night Out with Good Friends.

    Friends 1 Comment

    Happy Birthday M !!

    It is always great fun to get out with your girlfriends and extra special to share special occasions with them!

  • 24Mar

    March

    Family No Comments


    I don’t know if I am the only person who has had trouble this year. But it seems really strange to have Palm Sunday before Saint Patrick’s Day, and Easter all in the same week. Add to that Spring Break and that equals a fully loaded MARCH.

    What will we all do in April?

    In our little world, there are several signs that Spring is definitely in the air.

  • 24Mar

    Yet One More Talent…..

    Children, Family, Parenting 1 Comment

    Spring time discovery!

    This weekend, we did a little <very little> yard work (clean-up and surveying of the damage caused by another Winter). As we walked around the yard to plan out what needs to be tackled this Spring, we noticed that our Aspen grove seemed really sparse compared to how it looked in the fall. We were very puzzled at first but, with a little investigation, the pieces eventually fell into place.

    Turns out we have our very own arborist living under our roof!

    Our precious son & his friends needed to prune ‘a branch’ for their tractor road and discovered the lost art of tree trimming. There is now enough room there for a 6-lane highway! I hope that our sad little grove will come back and that our son’s new found talent is just that ~ wisdom and a wonderful green thumb. With a little refinement, it could come in handy. As most of you know I have a definite brown thumb.

    Needless to say, the punishment was grim and almost harsh. Our little guy is banned from Staples, Office Depot and Office Max for 30 days. <Ouch!>

    For all of your tree trimming (or tree eliminating) needs please call us, we will hook you up!

    Tags: , , ,

  • 22Mar

    Finding Power in Weakness

    Faith No Comments

    Lysa TerKeurst

    “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

    2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)

    Devotion:

    Jesus is the author of compassion and kindness. When facing the pain, agony, shame, and horror of the cross he couldn’t walk away – because He saw YOU. As Max Lucado says in his book The Final Week of Jesus, He saw us “right there in a middle of a world which isn’t fair … He saw you betrayed by those you love. He saw you with a body which gets sick and a heart that grows weak. He saw you in your own Garden of Gethsemane – and he didn’t want you to be alone…He would rather go to hell for you than to heaven without you.”

    What an amazing act of kindness, and what an incredible example to follow of what we should do when we feel vulnerable and weak. Many of us say we have nothing to give when dark and lonely times come our way, but Jesus taught us to look past loneliness into the richness of helping others.

    We say we having nothing to give, and God says, “You’re right, but I have something to give through you.” Remember the encouragement given to us in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

    Maybe that is why the world hates weakness so much. If it is in our weakness that the power of God can flow most freely, then it’s no wonder the world would want to cork up this power’s flow. Everything about our society screams out against being weak, yet weakness resides in us all. No matter how beautiful, rich, powerful, and significant someone may seem, weakness is still there.


    Behind the thin bodies and glamorous clothing of the rich and famous, weakness is there. Weakness knows no bounds. At every level of society, in every race, men and women alike have weaknesses. And be assured that along with weakness, loneliness calls their names. Sorrows and insecurities still haunt them. All the while God gently calls them to let Him make their weaknesses and loneliness count for something good. Many choose not to listen.

    To walk the path that the Lord delights in, we must be willing to let God use the circumstances of our lives to reach out to others. Let’s compare our hurts to stones littering our paths. We have a choice to do one of three things with these stones. We can use them to beat ourselves up, making our scars run deeper than they should. We can throw our stones at others, wounding them and making them also feel our pain. Or, we can use these stones to build bridges for others to walk across from their own darkness and pain into His healing light. This third option is seldom chosen, yet it’s exactly what God delights in.

  • 21Mar

    Good Friday….

    Faith No Comments

    …this Lenten season has been a great time for us to resurrect our family devotionals. It’s been wonderful to watch the children grow through the years in their knowledge and understanding of their faith. As a result, this year our devotionals have become more interactive and not so ‘preachy’… what a blessing.

    Here are a few references that we have found very fascinating and educational.

    http://www.esv.org/blog/2008/03/passion.week.geogrpahy

    Great sermon on the what and why of passion week

  • 12Mar

    Project 100

    Children, School 2 Comments

    No, it isn’t some secretive government project, rather it is a fun project for school kids these days. Recently Hay’s class reached this milestone, their first 100 days of school.

    Days proceeding this rather fun day, we as a family were called to a mission, that mission was finding 100 little somethings that would reflect Hays’ personality. While out one day H and I spotted these really fun, stripped, jumbo paperclips. So, with T-shirt in hand, paperclips purchased the next task was getting them on the shirt. <Super Dad enters>

    For some strange reason, I managed to convince Kip that I wouldn’t be able to ’sew’ the clips onto this shirt (it was rather daunting to me). So Super Dad spent his free time doing this not-as-easy-as-we-thought-task. I felt bad (really I did) because it really was not easy. It did turn out rather cute and H seemed very pleased with it.

    On the 100th Day of School, I was able to join the class in their celebration. We are very blessed with our school, our teachers and the families of the children in his class.

    Tags: ,

  • 12Mar

    The Singing Princess

    Children 2 Comments

    By day Gigi is an elegant Princess strolling the foothills of our town. By nightfall she is America’s newest Pop Star!

    You see, Gigi along with her brother, Hays also have many of their fathers traits. Singing and lyric writing are two such traits. Strum a few chords (strings) on the Gii-tar and you have the foundation for a catchy little tune. Often set to the tune of their favorite ad jingle or nursery rhyme but completely original lyrics and cheorogrophy. I attend concerts on a regular basis (free of course since I AM their mommy). It is great entertainment and I think I see College Scholarships in the future! ;-)

    Fun aside, I really do enjoy their hearty imaginations and the spirit with which they create.

  • 12Mar

    Your Mother’s Daughter.

    Parenting No Comments

    Aside from my little girl’s charm and wit, she really is a mini-me.

    She has the same sweet little temperment (ha!) as I do. She can, at the drop of a hat, show her spicy little temper.

    As funny as it is to watch, we are really having to guide, teach, train her how to channel that frustration. It isn’t pretty! It is really embarrassing to see your bad traits in your children. By the grace of God alone, I feel that my spicy personality has been tamed from Habanero Hot to Mild. This gives me hope that, with much prayer and guidance, Gigi will also be able to work through the things that frustrate her without so much anguish.

    It does start with the parents, though… afterall, the Bible does say that God may:

    “…visit the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.” ~Exodus 20: 5-6.

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