Project 365 - Day 31

Daniel's birthday is December 29 - right in the middle of the school Christmas break. So of course, we totally forgot to take birthday cupcakes to his classroom! Finally, a little over a month later, this mommy got her act in gear and took cupcakes to school.  He loved them! Happy belated birthday my sweet 7 year old!

Project 365 - Day 30

Gretchen asleep with all her dollies lined up next to her.

Sweet dreams my ginger princess!

Project 365 - Day 8

Today is our 19th Anniversary - what a journey we have been on!

19 years ago today, this is what we looked like:

And this is what we look like today:

And the flowers my sweet hubby brought home for me:

We had a wonderful evening out while our neighbor Beth watched the kids.

Dinner at Outback Steakhouse - yummy!

Project 365 - Day 7

We got 8-10" of snow overnight - yikes!

All my plans for errands and activities went out the window.

Instead, I stayed home to plow - I spent 3 hours on the tractor

moving snow out of the way!

Project 365 - Day 6

Happy Sunday! The text from today's sermon:

1 John 1:1-4 (The Message)

1 ^1-2 From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in—we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands. The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen! And now we’re telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly, this: The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us.

^3-4 We saw it, we heard it, and now we’re telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy!

Notes from today's sermon:
1.  Share from your experiences
2.  Have a willingness to share - be intentional. Be willing to defend your faith.
3.  Have the motive to share - verse 3
4.  We receive a reward - it makes our joy complete.

Project 365 - Day 5

First day of basketball camp

Project 365 - Day 4

Well, this isn't my photo, but it's from Pinterest.

It is what I decided to make for dessert tonight.

It was a huge hit! Definitely will do again, but

will let it sit in the freezer for an hour or so before eating.
 Here is where I found the recipe:
Nom Nom Blog - recipe 

Project 365 - Day 3

Callie, our Mini Rex/Netherland Dwarf mix doe.

I really want to find her a new home. 

She was born in June 2012.

Sweet rabbit, but I am moving to

just meat rabbits this year.

Project 365 - Day 2

No photo taken today. But today was the first day back to school for the kids after our Christmas Break. After they went off to school, I headed into the city to run some errands and take a knitting class. I decided to learn something new this year, so knitting it is. There are lots of gals at my new church who knit. I am looking forward to seeing if I can do it! I have crocheted for years, but have never tried knitting. We'll see what happens! The class went well, but I felt as if I was all thumbs. I think its going to take lots of practice to get this right!

Project 365 - Day 1

Auntie Brenda preparing to give Daniel his belated birthday spanking!

Project 365 - A new start

I am attempting to post a photo a day for the year 2013. Tomorrow will start the official kick-off.

But for tonight, a few pics of our New Year's celebration at home.

Lighting the bonfire. The flame lasted about 3 minutes

while it burned off the gas. It just wouldn't stay lit because

of all the snow. Oh well, we'll try again next year!

 Daniel still awake and smiling as we get ready to watch

the ball drop on Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve.

 Mommy and Gretchen cuddling in!

 Austin didn't make it! He fell asleep about 10:30 or so.

Daddy relaxing in the Lazy Boy waiting for midnight.

Happy Fall!

It is nearly impossible to get everyone involved in our family picture to smile and not talk at the same time. This was the best out of all of our tries! We did not go up to Greenbluff like we usually do every year - the weather just didn't work out at the same time our schedules did. So, we created our own Greenbluff backdrop in my front yard, and I have to admit, I really like it! It turned out super cute!

Happy Fall Y'All!!

Happy Birthday James

We celebrated James birthday today with some friends and a bonfire - what a perfect combination! I made Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie for the birthday dessert, and dressed it with football candles. My friends Brenda and Karen turned the tops of the pies into chocolate spiderwebs, complete with an oreo cookie spider. It turned out great! Happy 41st birthday James - we all love you!

The Bat Cave Trio!

This year was my year to coordinate costumes - every other year I get a say in it. I found the Bat Man costume first, so then I was able to convince everyone to go as the Bat Cave Trio. It turned out so cute! The kids love their costumes, and the bonus is they can now add them to their costume trunk and use them for play. This was taken at their Fall Carnival at school, and then of course we will trick or treat with them on Halloween. So much fun!

Veggie Tales Live

Today I had an incredible opportunity to cater for the cast and crew of the Veggie Tales Live production at Turning Point Open Bible Church. And for my payment I received VIP backstage tickets for all of my family, plus my friend Brenda and her nephew Nick. It was a long day that started at 6:30 am at the church, and I finally got home at about 9:30 that night. Plus the two days I spent shopping for the food.  The kids had a blast, and my experience in catering was increased, and I really enjoyed it! Gretchen didn't want to have her picture taken with the Veggies, but she did enjoy the show with everyone. What a neat opportunity! I love that even though I don't work a paying job outside the home, I can still provide fun activities for my family just by using the talents that God has given me. What an incredible blessing!!

I participated in Spokane's first Color Vibe 5K run today, and had a great time. This is my second 5K this year, and the first was the Dirty Dash. I am starting to really love these 5K races that add fun to the run. And I think I have convinced the kids to do it with me next year, although James still wants no part in it, except as our cheerleader!

The start of the race - 5K here I go!

Entering the finish line - I finished in exactly 30 minutes!

Not as full of color as I thought I would get, but fun nonetheless.

The official before photo......

And the official after photo - loved it!!!

Garden Goods

This is what I harvested out of the garden today. My garden didn't do phenomenally well this year, but it has still been providing us with yummy veggies. We had a very wet spring, and no real long days of sun for quite a while, so it took a long time for the garden to really take off. I've got plans to make it bigger next year, and hopefully we'll have lots more to harvest each day. But for now, this works great.

A Red Tomato!

We have our first Red Tomato! It's a chocolate cherry and I'm very interested to see how it tastes. It's disappointing that this tomato plant has only yielded a few tomatoes, and only one is red so far. I've had it on my porch, but I don't think it get's enough sun or water. I'm moving all my tomatoes to the big garden next year, and hopefully they will do much better. The one Roma tomato plant that is in the big garden is doing fabulous, and is loaded with tomatoes - all still green, but growing well!

Backyard Campsite

The kids decided to set up camp in the yard today. They are in a nice spot between our two small maple trees, and have even made a pretend campfire ring. I love when they get so creative with their play!

My Beautiful Children

 Austin

 Daniel

Gretchen