It's his FIFTH birthday today!!!

Five years ago today I was first introduced to the joy and the world of boys...














I was excited and nervous all at the same time - but after my first day/night with that little boy, I knew that boys were definitely a gift from God. Colton spent his first night sleeping in my arms and would "whine" every time I put him down in his bassinet. I knew then I had a cuddly boy - and he still is to this day.



















The joy, the laughs, the wrestling (thanks Dad for the years of practice), playing any kind of ball and that contagious laugh of his! I'm so thankful that God brought him into my life - what a blessing he is!










































So to my biggest boy - Happy Birthday! :)
I'm so glad that five years ago today I got to meet you for the first time and enjoy the last five years of smiles, tears, laughs, wrestles, "tracking me down", snuggling, and enjoying everything that God created you to be!

Psalm 139:13-16 (The Message)
"Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother's womb. I thank you, High God - you're breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration - what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day."

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Here I sit in Kansas enjoying a Thanksgiving that's out of the "normal"...

• There's no snow...
• We don't need jackets today...
• I miss Leslie's laughter - but instead I'm listening to my daughter "oooohhh" over my sister-in-law's dogs
• I'm not hosting! So instead of running around setting the table, making food and staying WAY too busy - I went to the park with my kids, read my book for about an hour and am now catching up on my blogging.
• I'm surrounded by family of a different sort (than I normally see for holidays) - but we're really enjoying seeing them!

Basically - LOTS of family time which is MUCH needed! :)

I hope you all are surrounded by family, food and lots of love today!

EDIT.......................................................................................................

Now that Thanksgiving is coming to a close I just had one more thing to add...
This was really a great day! I miss the "traditions" of my family and friends - but an evening spent with my hubby's family was so wonderful (even if my boys wouldn't sit still except for 10 minutes at a time) having over 20 people gathered in a room eating a dinner prepared by one wonderful lady with the help of her hubby (my husband's brother) and their kids brought back SO many memories of holidays past with my grandparents and extended family (a tradition that my family has stopped due to WAY too many family commitments) it was wonderful (I almost cried).

Growing up we went to BOTH sets of grandparents houses for dinner and lunch on Thanksgiving and Christmas:

• 2 grandparents, 5 sisters and 5 spouses plus grandchildren on my mom's side (as well as a friendly face or a missionary or two)
  
• 2 grandparents (sometimes a GREAT grandparent or two), 5 brothers and 1 sister and 4-5 spouses plus grandchildren on my dad's side

It always turned out to be a VERY long and busy day with WAAAAYYY too much food - but it was family (that's what you did).

So today, I got to relive those memories with different, fun, friendly, family faces around those two tables - and as I sit here with a belly TOO FULL of all that great food... all I can say is I'm thankful (for more than I can ever begin to write) - but thank you Lord today for family.

I love it more than Diet Coke...

Shocking, I know - that I could love something more than Diet Coke...

But a good sunrise, with pretty clouds and amazing colors - it gets me every time!

What can you do with 8 minutes?

So I have long-loved Tae Bo - always a great workout...

I recently picked up a copy of Tae Bo 2 Extreme at the library and thought I would give it a try.

It had an "8 minute Extreme Workout" on the video that I thought I would try yesterday, after all - how bad could it be for 8 minutes...

I don't think there's a single place on my body that doesn't hurt right now (I've done it twice now and the pain feels GREAT!)

All this to make sure I'm looking my best (and to wear the "perfect" dress for a certain someone's wedding in Florida soon...)

Yeah for exercise - back at it tomorrow!

Dragon Warrior Po's Secret Ingredient Soup.... well, sort of

What makes a family meal special? The "secret ingredient" :)

Mr. Ping: The secret ingredient is... nothing!
Po: Huh?
Mr. Ping: You heard me. Nothing! There is no secret ingredient.
Po: Wait, wait... it's just plain old noodle soup? You don't add some kind of special sauce or something?
Mr. Ping: Don't have to. To make something special you just have to believe it's special.

Tonight, for dinner, we had "Dragon Warrior Po's Secret Ingredient Soup"... what is the secret ingredient? Imagination and believing it's the coolest dinner EVER!

I just told the kids that it was Po's soup, gave them chopsticks, did a bunch of "kung fu" moves (really, Tae Bo moves thanks to Billy Blanks) and laughed a lot (and took pictures)
















The "secret" soup...















He tried and succeeded...















She tried and succeeded...















He used the spoon... then mom helped him try the chopsticks! :)
















The "real" secret to Po's soup - Ramen soup and a little bit of imagination!
















:) Gotta love being a kid!

Home cookin strikes again!!

I don't claim to be the best homemaker or cook - but every once in a while I get a "thing" and I just have to make somethin... it struck twice this week!

Homemade ginger snaps (or ginger "softs" as we call them because no one in my house likes them crunchy - they like them soft)... that the Colton-man and I made yesterday.

And today... HOMEMADE (from scratch) Wild Rice Soup!!!

I took this:














(and I didn't add the "dry sherry" in case you can actually read this)
And turned it into this:














It doesn't look the best here - because this is just out of the fridge in the tupperware... it looked MUCH nummier in the pot!

This is my SECOND time making soup from scratch (on Sunday I made a Tomato Bisque that was also NUMMY!!) in my ENTIRE marriage (or life, for that matter) and it feels so empowering!
I'm not sure why - it just makes you feel like a "real" woman to take miscellaneous ingredients in your kitchen and make them into this fantastic tasting meal! :)

Now you all know what a dork I really am - I get excited about making a meal that tastes good and didn't burn to the pan! :)

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

When we got just a "dusting" of snow the other day, my boys were so excited they ran all through the house cheering for the snow...















Connor couldn't WAIT to go out side and check it out...



















I personally love seeing the snow - just not shoveling it or driving in a storm of it.
What's your thoughts...

God is faithful...

I was reading this daily devotion the other day from Joseph Prince and it got me thinking...

1 John 4:16 "And we have known and believed the love that God has for us..."

"You may know that God cares for you and loves you, and that He demonstrated His love for you by dying on the cross for you, but do you believe it? It is one thing to know about the love that God has for you, but another thing to actually believe it in your heart.

It is one thing to know that the sun shines on us during the day. But it is another thing to believe that the sun is still shining even though we don't feel its warmth and all we see are dark clouds. Sometime we are slow in believing God's love for us when we are going through a tough time. But God wants you to know and believe that He loves you in the midst of the all the things that don't seem to be going right today."

As I sat and thought about this for a couple of days, it really began to "sink in" as I was driving the other day...













































As I was driving to church it was really cloudy out and I thought to myself "stinky, no sun today!" And as I said it I realized, it was LIGHT outside, and that means the sun is out (even though I can't see it - I know its there).
Kinda like going through a "rough spot" in life where you see no "end"... it seems like you're the "forgotten child" of our Father's... but just like the sun - He's always there. God's little way of reminding me that morning that He's always with me and He hasn't forgotten me and He will always love me.

The REALLY COOL part was as I was driving home from church the sun had REALLY started to come out and break up all the clouds... just God showing that not only can He move mountains but He can break up all the clouds that make me feel like I'm all alone and REALLY make His love shine through the "clouds of life" just for me!

I'm so thankful! Not just for the sun that shines to show God's faithfulness -but for His faithfulness to ALWAYS to love and take care of me, my family, our church and friends!

What goes around - comes around... or something like that?

I have to admit something, I HATE daylight savings time (in the fall) I realize that I might get one more hour of sleep (YAHOO) but it totally messes with my kids' "internal time clock".

As you may have read before, my kiddos tend to get up around 6 am. Chayse - the oldest - is getting better about sleeping in (when I tell her to) but the boys are pretty much 6-6:30 am for a wake up time.

NOW, translate that into "fall back one hour" for daylight savings - YEP, you guessed it FIVE to FIVE-THIRTY am for the last week!! YUCK!

Here's what "comes around" for little boys who get up at 5 am every day for a week straight...


They fall asleep in their high chairs at lunch WITH a slice of banana in their mouth...

Any remedies for helping a two and four year old sleep in one extra hour in the morning??

She likes it, she really, really likes it!

If you know me well at all, I'm not always the best at trying new things. I kinda tend to stick to the things I like and that's okay with me.
Like going on dates - dinner, movie, bowling, shopping, church events and that's about it... I'm sad, I know. (But I do enjoy all these things!)
My hubby on the other hand - is TOTALLY into trying new things ALL THE TIME!! Almost to the point of frustrating me because I just want a "normal" meal or a "normal" date... I'm so glad he puts up with me and still takes me anywhere fun!

CASE IN POINT...

My sister gave us her tickets she had got to see "Wicked" (the story behind the Wizard of Oz story) because she and Nate had to work and my husband JUMPED at the opportunity!
I, on the other hand, wasn't "excited" about the event (its a musical, you know and it was at the Orpheum - can you say "artsy") - I was just happy for a date night with my hubby. And I still felt this way until after the first song and then I was HOOKED!! (She even had AMAZING seats!)
IT WAS SO COOL!
I'm totally that person that LOVES sequels and prequels because I want to know the whole back story and future of that person and all that surrounds them so this was PERFECT for me!
I grew up LOVING the Wizard of Oz and this was just even cooler (even with most of it being sung) I would TOTALLY go see it again if I had the chance!








So here's to trying new things and YES, I really, really liked it! :)
Thanks Nato & Sessie for the tickets and thank you Fred for always making me try new things! :)

He's the best...

And I'm not just saying that because he's THIRTY-SIX years old today... he really is the best husband, friend, dad, pastor, son and SO MUCH MORE!! I'm so glad that he's in my life and always will be...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRED - I love you more than you'll ever know!