This happy face only cost me ONE CENT!!

My son is usually very good at the store - once in a while he has his moments, but overall - very good! :)
So, I usually make the point to give him a "treaty" for being so good - so here's what he chose as his "treat" the other day... a pony ride at the grocery store in town















And all this fun (and that happy little face) only cost me:




Now isn't that a happy day! :)

Did you see the clouds?

Ok, I have this "things" for clouds... I can literally sit outside for an hour (and not realize its been that long) and just "watch the clouds go by".

So as I'm driving the kids to school on Friday, this is what the sky looks like...















Kinda crazy, huh... it looks like waves in the sky (I think)

Dinner from scratch... a homemakers "dream"

okay, maybe not a "dream come true" - but a WONDERFUL night for me! And yes, I'm going to reveal what a "dork" I really am!

Anyone who knows me (truly) knows that I can cook (sort of) - but honestly, its that I can make a few things well - but I'm not normally too adventurous. But tonight... I was in a "happy homemaker" kind of mood and wanted to make something from scratch for dinner - no "kits", no "shortcuts"... just a "real" dinner. (I've come a LONG WAY from a "nice dinner about 7 years ago being take out from Chili's)

So I got out my cookbook and was going to make pancakes from scratch when I found something even better...

Oven Puff Pancakes with a spiced apple sauce

IT WAS DELICIOUS and satisfying to know that I made it from scratch... just like a good housewife of the days ago would have! :)

Somewhere deep down inside I am a good cook & housewife that can make a few good things! :)

In case you want the recipe - check it out here - except their recipes doesn't have 1/3 cup of raisins that mine did!

I love my Pastor...

Its always amazing to me how your Pastor can speak on a message that you go into it thinking "well, I'll just hear a good word to pass on" and he (through the Holy Ghost) says some things that just blow your mind and totally challenge what you think!

That was my Pastor tonight - I love when he teaches! He's been doing a series on "Blessed is the man" and tonight's topic was about the "peacekeeper". And it was just SO GOOD - you have to go and get it on iTunes...

One thing (there were more - but I'll just share one) he got talking about was getting your peace in your time of prayer (Word time, quiet time, time with the Lord - whatever you want to call it) and then KEEP it when you get out in the real world so that you can be a light and a testimony to others. I've heard that so many times before, but tonight (in the context of all that he was teaching) it just LIT UP on the inside of me how MUCH God wants me to have HIS peace and that I'm blessed when I do.

Thanks Pastor Mac - I love being a part of your church and staff!

6:58 am

There it is... some call it early - I call it SLEEPING IN!!

That is what time my first child came and said "Good Morning Mommy" this morning... it was heaven! :)

Just so you understand - I usually hear a "bang, bang" on the wall in the morning between 5:30 and 5:45 am - so 6:58 is sleeping in!!

So I thought you'd enjoy my "slice of heaven" from this morning

We played a little "hooky" - well, not really

Okay, on Friday we did - but I'm refusing to call it that!
Truthfully - Chayse was up Thursday night coughing quite a bit and Colton had a bit of a hard day on Thursday (the only one so far this year - yeah!) so we decided that with our busy lifestyle the kids needed a whole day off (not a Saturday when we have to leave for church at 3 - but the WHOLE DAY off!) - so we all played hooky!

Here was the highlight of the kids' day (well, the 2nd highlight - the first one I didn't get pictures of, but Daddy made GREAT pancakes for breakfast):














Eating grilled cheese sandwiches, chicken noodle soup (Cars shaped) and pickles while watching new episodes (new to them) of the Backyardigans! :)
Chayse & Colton actually SHARED A CHAIR to accomplish this feat! That's a moment to treasure!

What do you do when your baby boy is lonesome?

My "baby" is 2 1/2 now and has grown quite lonesome at naptime and constantly wants to sleep in his sisters bed (which I wouldn't mind if he actually went to sleep), on my bed or in odd places in his room.

Here's his latest adventure...



















It's kind of hard to tell, but his bunk bed has little shelves next to it and his legs are under the shelf and he's curled up next to the wall (the ugly plaid thing on the left is a sheet I'm temporarily using to make his room darker so he'll go to sleep better).

All I can say is - he's mine! :)