Family Weekend Part II

As you can see from the slideshow we had a lot of fun visiting my sister at WIU two weekends ago. Grace loved getting to see JoJo's new school. She got to see her apartment & then we had to eat at HyVee. (One of Jeremy's old favorites!) After that we went to play at a "park" (the playground of WIU's on campus daycare). Grace loved every minute.... Here is her version of the day.

Family Weekend at WIU

Mexico here we come!!

You might have noticed the latest addition to my blog is a countdown to Mexico. I am super excited!!!!! Jeremy and I have been saving for a five year anniversary trip since our honeymoon. I was always nervous everything wouldn't fall into place but it did. On December 4th we leave for four glorious nights in the Riveria Maya (south of Cancun), Mexico. Some of you might know our anniversary isn't actually until May. But after talking with our travel agent we decided to go in December for a couple reasons. First, we are saving lots of money. Also it is a good time of the year for Jeremy to be gone since we don't do any youth events between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Plus May is really hard with all the graduations we have to go to.

One month after our one year anniversary we found out I was pregnant with Grace. Then around her one year birthday we found out we were pregnant with Faith. So basically I have been pregnant or nursing 4 of the five years we have been married. So we are very excited to get-a-way just the two of us. Even though I am excited I dread leaving the girls. I am not always great about leaving them. But I know God has helped the pieces fall into place so that Jeremy and I can have the needed time to charge our marriage batteries. So I am praying God will help me keep from falling into mommy guilt as I seek to enjoy time with my first love, Jeremy. I hope someday when the girls read this they will be glad they had a mom who loved their dad like crazy!! (and not sad they didn't get to come along)

All my bags are packed I'm ready to go......because on December 4th I'm leaving on a jet plane!

Gracie's Purple Flowers

One thing my husband is amazing at is bringing me flowers. He just randomly will come home with flowers. My favorite thing about this is most of the time they are potted flowers. (he knows I hate how quickly cut flowers die, and love plants) Yesterday he brought me a yellow mum. Earlier this summer he brought Grace and I both flowers. Grace LOVES purples flowers. She always wants to go outside to smell the flowers. So Jeremy bought her an indoor flower. Now I thought this was very cute that he brought her flowers too. But, I was very nervous, because he brought us two African violets. For those of you who aren't up on plants they are not the easiest things to keep alive. They don't fall in the hard to kill category. They don't like too much water, so you have to water them from the bottom. And they have to be happy in order to keep blooming. So I was worried if I killed it I might have one sad two year old on my hands. But I am happy to report that thus far the purples flowers are alive and have bloomed again!! In this picture Grace's flowers are just starting to bloom. Now they are in full bloom and very beautiful. She asks to look at them quite often. I am so thankful for a husband who loves me, and is teaching my daughters how they should be treasured.

Learning about God-from the Grocery Store

Well, yesterday the girls and I had quite a little adventure. If you have young children you know that anything can be an adventure, even the day to day. For sometime I have been wanting to let Grace take her shopping cart and do her own grocery shopping when we went to the store. This summer Kristina told me her sister-in-law had done this with her neice that is close to Grace in age. As soon as she told me about it I knew Grace would love it. She already makes her own list and wants to put each item in the basket & on the check out counter. But my immediate response was, "I could never do that with both the girls-Grace would run away, or break something, or..." So my plan was to try and find a time when Faith could stay with someone and Grace and I could go together. Well, this opportunity wasn't coming along since I go shopping during the day when my babysitters are mostly unavailalbe. That is just the way my personality works. I like to do things in an undercontrol and organzied manner.

But yesterday something inside told me to throw caution to the wind and just let her try it. I just knew how much she would love it so I decided it was worth the risk. On the way there we talked about what we were doing and what I expected. That she would only be able to operate her cart as long as she could listen & obey. (with a HUGE emphasis on staying next to mommy's big cart). She even told me if she didn't listen she would get her bottom spanked! I assured her that she was correct if she did not listen when we got home she would face a spanking and her cart would be taken away.

I am overjoyed to report it went wonderfully!!!! She stayed right next to me putting the instructed items in her cart. She had so much fun. She put all her items up on the belt to check out. At the end the cashier even printed her her very own receipt. We were shopping at Aldi so I had brought her own Barbie trick-or-treat bag to load her groceries in. She really thought she was big stuff. It was a blast! I came home really thankful for such a fun time because the truth is I don't think she could have handled it this summer. (we had a very rough time with obedience this summer!) I think we will even try it again sometime.

So what did I learn about God from this little adventure? Well I started wondering how often God wants to bless me with something: financial blessing, a ministry oportunity, a challenge, etc. But he thinks, " I don't think she can handle that she won't obey, or get off course, or break somethig!" But he longs to give it to me because he knows the joy it would bring. And I'm thankful for the times God blesses me even if he is uncertain, but I'm also thankful for the times when he waits till I'm ready. Grace finally got her special trip to the grocery store because she was willing to listen to my instructions and obey. Right now I am praying about stepping out of my comfort zone into a new ministry opportunity I have felt God prompting me towards. It would utelize my passion for great marriages and families. I hope I too can listen & obey!

Pic of My Girls

The Fall Fling

In the preschool area we had a three pools. One with corn, one with sand, and one with water. The kids loved playing in them.
Grace with snack mix she made in the Preschool Area.
Doesn't she look like she is having fun? Football "toss"
Basketball

Last weekend was a huge weekend for our family. It was the first annual (hopefully!) Fall Fling at Clover Road Christian Church. This is an event Jeremy dreamed up and had a huge part in bringing about. Last year we were planning for it and it got canceled due to budgetting. So Jeremy has had to be patient in waiting to see God bring this to fruition. But God really blessed us in how everything came together!! I was so proud of Jeremy. He has such a heart for reaching out to our community and it was such a joy to see something he has a passion for bring God glory. Did I mention the weather was amazing?! We have had a TON of rain lately and even with all this crazy weather the day before and of the event were dry. It started spinkling at 6:00 just as the event was ending.

Basically the Fall Fling was a totally FREE event for our community. It was a way for us to tell them we love them in a fun family environment that wasn't too churchy. The event included inflatables, games, cotton candy, snow cones, a meal, and more. I was in charge of helping with a special section for preschool kids. We had over 600 people show up! I have a few picture of Grace & Faith that my mother-in-law took. I was too busy to take pictures.

Our First Pirate Game

The past week has been super crazy due to the Fall Fling (more on that later) so we ended up making the first home football game a family event. Usually Jeremy and I go as a date. We were all at the church preparing for the Fall Fling on Friday so we went out to eat with some friends of ours before the game. So we were talking about going to the game with Grace & Riley (Rillee is 3) After a quick meal at Taco Bell we headed home to change into our black & red. Luckily I had found a Pirate t-shirt in Grace's size at a yard sale last season for like a quarter. While we were getting ready Grace said the funniest thing! She asked me, "Mama, are there going to be games on this pirate ship we are going on?" It was so funny!!! She was completely confused but we had been talking about going to the Pirate game- so it was a good question! She also asked for a red thing in her hair like mine ( a bandanna). So all three of us wore matching ones. It was super fun, the kind of thing you dream about when you imagine having a family. The girls enjoyed the band, the cheerleaders, and the concession stand. But we only made it to half time. They are still little girls that needed to go to bed! It was a great memory.

A Full Weekend

Labor day weekend was full of fun for our family. I wish I could show you how much fun we had, but I forgot my camera!!! (this seriously about brought me to tears) Jeremy took Friday off from work so that we could have a little family trip. We left Friday after lunch to go to Fun City in Burlington, Iowa. We met my sister there. We had a free stay due to rewards points from bringing the youth group there. It has a huge arcade & indoor/outdoor waterpark. It was so much fun!!

Friday afternoon we went to the outdoor waterpark. There were about 20 people there so it was nice and quiet. Perfect for Grace & Faith. We floated around the lazy river and let them play in the special 1 ft. waterpark with slides. They loved the wave pool too. After swimming we went out to eat. We ended up in a restaraunt that was just a little too nice for toddlers. It took awhile for the food... (Fill in the blanks if you are a parent)

That night while the girls slept my sister and I snuck out to go shopping at Target. We had a blast. We ended up coming back to the hotel with a patio set (table & 4 chairs) for me, a coffee table for her, and two chairs for my mom. They were having a huge end of season clearance sale. I got a $500 set for about $120! Also, I got a bunch of early Chrsitmas presents. Did I mention we stopped to get Jeremy ice cream before I told him all the good deals I found at target?

The next day we checked out the indoor waterpark & arcade. Grace enjoyed "playing" the games even if we didn't pay. We were able to earn 100 tickets. We walked up to the counter and she said I want that pink bat. There was no changing her mind. It was 100 tickets! (yeah-one strong willed child battle avoided!)

Then we met Jeremy's family to take the girls on their first boat ride on the Mississippi River on Grandpa Rick's boat. It was an adventure. They were pretty uncertain at first. Faith hated the life jacket (it did seem to stangle her). We stopped at a sand bar. Grace wasn't a big fan of how dirty she got. So we eventually ended up back in the boat. We had a blow up pool we filled with clean water and they played in that on the boat. Then we went for a ride before eating at a restaraunt along the river. It was a very full day.

On Sunday Jeremy got up early (very early we had to be at church by 8) and made me breakfast so we could continue our tradition of eating our birthday breakfast on our china. I am still picking out my birthday present. I am getting a new camera!!! I am having a lot of fun shopping for it. We went to visit my family for my birthday. It was fun getting to see my famliy and spend time with them. My mom made me a birthday cake- and you just can't beat my mom's cake. Overall it was just the break we needed!