Getting it Together!

It's a fresh, new year and another opportunity to really get it together! Pa and I went out of town for our anniversary and stayed at a cabin in the Ozark Mountains. It was our time to get away and enjoy ourselves while we also took some time to talk about life and goals, etc. We took a book with us called "Getting Away to Get it Together".



Here's the front porch of our cabin! Pa made pancakes on the griddle out here, we sat and talked on the front porch double rocker, and had a morning devotional out there the last morning of our stay.

There is nothing more important in a marriage than spending quality time together. Even if it's just twice a year....it's so worth it to take time to talk and get on the same page!



The cabin was very nice and the stay was cozy!












I LOVED that there was no tv reception and no phone service. There was a TV and free DVD movie rentals, but otherwise no outside distractions. You can see where we went here www.buffaloriver.com

We decided to go on a 2 mile hike while we were there. You should know we are not professional hikers! We didn't even take a backpack, actually. We love to camp, we love the outdoors, we love hiking...but we don't have all of the official "gear" of die-hard hikers. It was evident that we were not seasoned hikers when we arrived in our sweats, tennis shoes and my over-the-shoulder bag for our picnic lunch. The family next to us when we arrived had all of the gear and three children! Two of the children were bundled up and being packed into the metal framed carriers the parents would wear on their backs. The older child walked alongside and was obviously in her element even at the young age of 5. It was very impressive!

We had the best time hiking, taking pictures, venturing into caves and waterfalls. I felt really good about myself and thinking I could hike more often and eventually work my way up to getting all of the cool gear and looking more the part. Here are a few pictures I took along the way:

Family Vacation Memories!! :)

We just got back from a family vacation in St. Louis, Missouri! Pa actually won it on the radio last year and we finally got a chance to go! It was a trip for two that included Six Flags, tour of the Gateway Arch, Riverboat Cruise and a nice hotel! We couldn't go without the kids so we just paid a little extra to include them.

Our hotel was amazing and the view was more than we expected!



We were on the 20th floor and had a balcony that overlooked the Arch! Going up in the Arch was another story! The first time we were about to go up in the "tram" that takes you to the top, Brother freaked out and wouldn't get on! So I made Pa and Sister go on without us. It worked out for us to go later during vacation once we had talked Brother into it. It was amazing to be 630 feet up in the air like that!



Our 2nd day there, we went to Six Flags! That was the first time for us to go there and took all day to do it all. Sister was my little daredevil...she LOVES roller coasters like her daddy. She said her favorite ride was the Superman: Tower of Power. THat is just crazy! Look at this thing!



Pa and his brother spent a couple of hours riding all of the roller coasters in the park while the kids & I played in the water park!



On our 3rd day, we went to the St. Louis Zoo! It was the nicest zoo I have been too and it was free! We were thankful it was cloudy and even rained most of the day. It was a nice change from the 100 degree temps we had experienced in the past weeks at home. It never stormed so we just enjoyed ourselves at the zoo, getting wet, staying cool, eating ice cream for lunch and other great family memories!








There was a swimming pool on the roof of our hotel so we went swimming there on our last day there! So cool!

Brotherisms

Since Brother was 3 years old, I have kept a running list of what I call "*****isms". He is such a thinker, especially at bedtime. So that I don't forget these little "funnies", I run to my computer and type them in. I figure I will print them in a cute font to put in my scrapbooks someday. I had some of Sister when she was younger, but he says something almost daily that just cracks me up. Here are just a few from this year. :)

Jan. 2008

At bedtime:

"Mama, why did it get to snow in Mississippi? I want it to snow here" I explained that the weather is different in different places and maybe we could pray for snow. "I don't want it just to snow down, I want it to snow and stay up. I want to pray for a heavy snow so I can build a snowman!"

April 1, 2008

At bedtime: "When your clothes get too small to wear, do they grow?" I replied "No, you just have to get bigger clothes." He says "Oh, so that's when you take all of the clothes that are too small and put them in a box, get the tape and a piece of paper and write on it that the clothes are for sale." :)hehehe I do that with clothing ministry clothes...box them up but I don't sell them. I was leaving the room and he kept talking so I went back in and asked him what he was saying. He said "So when you are a grown up and get big, then you have to put your medium size clothes in a box. Then you have to get the piece of paper and tape and write boys clothes on the box." I agreed with him. He had figured out the concept of what happens to clothes when you outgrow them. They don't actually grow with you. That's too bad ... I like that theory. :)

April 25, 2008

Brother has been learning about recycling at school so I'm trying to make a real effort to recycle things. We made three recycle bins in our playroom. He loves to find the numbers on the bottom of things to see if it's recyclable. I gave him a cardboard box and he said "This doesn't have a number on it so we can't recycle it." I asked him why not and he said "You just put it in the trash. If it has a number on the bottom, when you put it in the ground, the world doesn't change it...it just stays like itself." In other words, it's not biodegradable. Hehehehe Priceless!!!

April 2008

Sister has just started learning cursive at school. I hadn't noticed that Brother was even listening when we talked about cursive. He obviously didn't understand what it was. I realized this when, at bedtime, he asked me "How do I pray to Jesus in cursive?" He thought it was a language apparently. I explained to him it's a different way to write, not talk. :)

April 2008

When Brother was in the bathtub, I was going in to get him out. He looked down at his "peanut" (his word, not mine) and said "Look! My peanut is dead!" I replied "baby, don't say that..it is not." He said "Well, it's just lying there. It must be broken!" :)

June 2, 2008

After a hot morning at school for Field Day, we decided to go get something cold to drink. I asked the kids if they wanted to go get a frappucino at Starbucks. Brother had never had one. When we got there he was so excited and said "I can't wait to have my first crappucino!" He has heard us say cappucino and frappucino, so I guess he combined the two! I didn't correct him because it sounded cute.

June 2, 2008

I rented an old movie from the library that I watched as a kid. "Bedknobs and Broomsticks". The kids had never heard of it and from memory Brother remembered a different title and said "I want to watch Doorknobs and Breadsticks!" He cracks me up!

June 7, 2008

We went to the water park, Wild River Country, for the first time this year and were standing in line to get our passes. Brother looked up and said "Look they have a Wild River Country flag! I wonder what their pledge is?"

June 9, 2008

Today was one of the hottest days we've had so far. While we were riding in the car, Brother said "Why does God want it to be so hot in June?"

***I love that he is such a thinker and wants to know so much about why things are the way they are! God has great things for him!*****

Sister's big accomplishment!

Sister entered an essay contest at school earlier this spring. She is always a little nervous about contests and competitions and sometimes talks herself out of it before trying it. We try to do our best to encourage her to try things without being too pushy. As the deadline approached for the essay, I reminded her about it a couple of times. She decided that THIRD place prize was what she had her sights on and would give it a try. First place prize was a Nintendo Wii, Second place was a HSM Flat screen tv and Third place was a Nintendo DS....this is the one she really wanted!

So the day before the essay is due, she decided she wants to try and write one. The topic is to choose someone you know who chose not to drink, smoke or do drugs. She chose her Uncle J**. I told her she needed to think of questions to ask him and call him or have him over to interview. She did that and took notes. Then I got her on a website for kids about smoking and drugs. I told her to read the sections about each thing so she could know what it does to your body.

I left to go workout and came back about 45 minutes later and she had FINISHED the essay! I was amazed! It was 309 words and it had to be 300 words. She is just a natural writer and had a great time doing it! She turned it in the next day and we waited to hear any news that might come.

One Monday a couple of weeks ago, she came out of school with a big smile on her face! She had WON THIRD PLACE in the essay contest out of Grades 2-3! That is exactly the prize she wanted! We later found out that it wasn't just a school contest, it was for the entire state! WOW! SHe also won 4 season passes to Magic Springs! We are so proud of her! Needless to say, she was so glad she decided to enter the contest.

Bring on summer!! PLEASE!

We have been so blessed this year to not have very much sickness in our family. And then May came! The first week of May, Sister had fever for 4 days (mostly 102) with no other symptoms. We took her to the dr. and she had pneumonia...first time ever! She missed almost a full week of school. She went back to school on a Friday and that same Friday night Brother started running fever. He ran fever for the entire weekend, also mostly 102, with no other symptoms. Took him to the dr. the following week and HE had pneumonia! Apparently there was an epidemic of pneumonia at their school..not something I've ever heard of. So Brother missed a week of school, too. The third week of May we were finally all back to normal and had one regular school and work week. We left town for Memorial Day weekend and came back on Memorial Day. That night, Pa came down with a fever. He had fever for 4 days between 101 and 102. When he finally broke down and went to the dr....you guessed it...pneumonia! Unbelievable! He got better on Friday, went back to work and Brother had 101 fever that same night. Took him to the Saturday clinic and he just had a fever virus and congestion. He was better by Saturday but then Saturday afternoon Sister started running fever...101.5. Are you kidding me? So here I sit at home on another Sunday, missing church and praying for summer to quickly get here so we can hopefully be done with all of the sickness and get onto playing! Sister is still running fever today and Field Day is at school tomorrow. Please pray that everyone will be well by then and that I will still have my sanity!!! :)

Hanging out with Ginny!

My cousin, Ginny Owens, was in town last weekend for a concert. So we had the pleasure of spending most of Saturday with her and then attending the concert on Sunday night. She is an inspiration to be around. She is completely blind but you wouldn't know it from all of the things she has accomplished already in her short life. She is an accomplished contemporary christian singer, teaches underpriveleged kids in NYC in music and song writing classes, has a non-profit organization called the Fingerprint Initiative where she has helped build homes for families in need AND she can hang wallpaper. Pretty impressive, huh? She would never want me bragging on her like this, though. She is very humble and grateful for all of her experiences. We are just proud of her and like to toot her horn for her sometimes. You can hear some of her music at www.myspace.com/ginnyowens.

Oh yea, she was signing her autograph, too which was amazing to watch. She inspires me to be more in this life that God has given me.

New PJ's :)

Brother is such a fan of new clothes for a 4 year old! He loves clothes and loves to match! He changes clothes like 3 times a day so very soon I will teach him how to do his own laundry! We always seem to be blessed with clothing from friends so my kids feel like it's Christmas everytime I bring clothes home. Our recent batch of nice clothing was from my friend, Amy, who handed down really nice size 6 and 7 clothes and YES they fit perfectly on my 4 yr old big boy. He wore 3 new things in one day! I got a picture of him with the PJ's that he loves!

Thank you Amy for being such a blessing to us!