One last attempt...

So I thought I would just post one last blog for the year.  Nothing of importance, I'm just a little on the OCD side of life.  I can't stand to see every month have at least one blog post in it and then December have nothing.  So this will most likely be of no great revelations but it will make me feel better when I look at my own blog. Pathetic - I know.

The past month has been very busy for us, but then again who isn't it busy for?  We had Abraham's first birthday party, but good ol' mom (me -Jena) didn't use the camera.  So no blogging there, unless someone out there has pictures of it?!  I can say, though, that the birthday boy really wasn't up for the party - even his first cake experience didn't win him over.  He was somewhat cranky the whole time.  We found out Monday that he had an ear infection - which explained most of the crankiness.

We also did a lot of travelling for the holidays but again - no camera.  You would think that with my genes there would be a camera attached at my hip.  It sounds like a New Year's resolution - MORE PICTURES! 

With that I will wish you all a Happy New Year! Hopefully next year I will be able to fill in the gaps of my blog - Abe's party, more Proverbs and maybe some fun kid things!

Our Abbi-girl is 3!

On November 14, our Abbi turned 3. She had informed me several weeks before her party that she would like to have a pink and yellow castle cake. She chose the theme and the colors - all I had to do was put it together. The cake was easier said than done. The icing didn't cooperate. But with the help of Gramma and Pappa Judd the cake was finished by 1:00 in the morning. Next time I will use this recipe recommended by Shelly.

I was having a hard time coming up with games, but within a matter of minutes before the party started I thought of these 2 short games. One was "princess, princess, who's got your shoe?" - a spin off of "doggy, doggy, who's got your bone." And the other was a treasure hunt game where we took a box full of the princess's jewels (candy bracelets) and hid them somewhere in the house. Whoever found the jewels was to return them to the King and he would then distribute them among all the people.

I think Abbi had a wonderful time. Thank you to all who could join us. You made this day very special!

gleaning wisdom

A few weeks ago I was at my cousin's birthday party when I heard some great advice. I heard my aunt say that she and her husband "always prayed for wisdom" when their kids where growing up. OK, granted, this is nothing new. I know this and you know this. But when I heard these words this time, they hit me like a ton of bricks! Wisdom - that is exactly what I needed! Why didn't I think of this before. Now don't get me wrong, I've prayed for wisdom before, lots of times. However, this time it was different. I had a clearer understanding of what I was praying for. So the next time I sat down to pray, I didn't just pray "Lord give me wisdom .(dot).(dot).(dot)" moving on to something different but "LORD, GIVE ME WISDOM, understanding, a willing heart, a teachable spirit." Now... I know that wisdom is not going to just "pop" into my brain and I will be a wise person. It is going to take some action on my part. What better place to start than Proverbs. Again, a no-brainer. We've all read it before, several times I'm sure. This time my husband is reading it with me and commentating on it as well (I learn so much better when he reads and shares his insights with me). And this time, though I have read it plenty of times before, it is sinking in deeper. Now no, I am not all-wise and full of understanding. In fact I have a long way to go, but I am enjoying the journey ( I will tell you more about that later). Not only do I have God's Word, prayer, and a godly husband to gain wisdom from, but as I look around, God has surrounded me with quite a few wise people to glean from too.

Thank you Lord for wisdom, for your Word, for wise friends, and for a godly husband.

Snow in October

This is what we woke up to this morning.

Simeon was so excited that he went and woke up Abbi so she wouldn't miss it.

They couldn't wait to play in it.

Out they went for a small snow ball fight. 10 minutes later they were ready to sit by the heater.

A happy first snow day!

More boots

So Abbi wanted to show off her boots too! Thanks to Gina, we now have 2 happy kids with boots. 1 kid with boots just didn't seem to work.

Warm, Cozy Moments

for just a moment...

all three kids are sitting at the table

2 coloring, 1 eating

cold and rainy outside

the smell of dinner cooking

the candlelight makes eyes sparkle

Norah Jones playing quietly in the back ground

and all is calm

at least for a moment

In the middle of fall and didn't even realize it

So fall came fast for me this year. I couldn't wait for it to get here and then didn't even notice when it came. I walked out back to find that all of our beautiful leaves are already on the ground.

And that of course means lots of raking!

It also means yummy apple butter. Our neighbor has been very generous and is allowing us to have apples from her tree. They make the best apple butter.

It seems like we are taking on a new tradition with fall as well. This is the second year that we have gone to a pumpkin patch. The kids loved it this year! I think they enjoyed digging through the weeds looking for the gourds that "Mommy just had to have."

And of course Simeon can make a sword out of anything! He picked this up instead of a pumpkin to protect us from anything that could be lurking in the field.

Any strays?

cups that is?

I had a few and decided to make them into candles. Very simple and fun. There are easy to follow instructions here. Don't go out and buy expensive wax to do this. You can buy paraffin wax like Gulf Wax that you would use for canning, at Walmart, in the baking aisle. I also have melted left-over wax from other candles and mixed them with the paraffin wax to make a yummy flavor.

Happy candle making!

These boots were made for walking...

and kicking, and stomping, and marching, and fighting, and dancing, and working, and running...

Simeon just wanted to show off his new boots.

Thanks for the boots "A", we are loving them!

Gettin' ready for fall

We got back from vacation in time for a birthday party. Can you guess the theme? You can read more about the party here.

Doing a little jig.

lovin' the camera

Our trip to the farmer's market on vacation inspired me to go to our local farmer's market. And guess what? Ours is small...notice that I am not even using quotation marks. It really is small. I was a little disappointed, but I did find one little treasure - a bag of peanuts. The whole family was excited about this. So, off we went to go home and roast peanuts.

You'll need 1-2 lbs of peanuts

1-2 T. of peanut oil

1-2 T. of kosher salt

And if you are like us, you might want a little more salt.

Rinse the peanuts and pat them dry. Coat them with oil and salt. Put them on a baking sheet and pop in the oven. Oven temp. should be 350 and cook about 20 minutes. Cool slightly and enjoy!

My kids asked if they could throw the shells on the floor. I think my answer went something like this - "ha, ha, hhha, hanha, gasp - NO" .

That didn't get their spirits down, they still enjoyed the peanuts for a very long time, and I got dinner done while they attempted cracking peanuts.

the Newport Aquarium - part 2

After my parents, we headed to Mark's parents. We spent a day at the park - which the kids loved! Simeon showed off his climbing skills, Abbi showed us how she could go through the tunnels and Abraham enjoyed the swing and slide!

The next day, we all loaded up in gramma and pappa's van and headed to the Newport Aquarium. It was very fun and educational. In fact, I can't wait to take a field trip there again when the kids get older. Simeon loved the sharks, going through the tunnel and petting them. Abbi....um..not so much. She and Abraham enjoyed the frogs. They had three frog statues for the kids to climb on as well as a maze for the kids to go wind themselves through and end up at a slide.

After gramma's and pappa's, Mark, the kids, and I went to a hotel just to relax and have our own little family time before our vacation was over. One last stop along the way (Chuck E. Cheese's) and then home again, home again, jiggety-jig.

Up to Colombus - Vacation part 1

Enjoying the ride...

and cool at the same time.

For our vacation this year we went several places and included all of the grandparents. Our first stop was to my sister's to see her family, my grandmother, and a close friend. From there, we picked up my parents and headed to the zoo. I didn't really take a lot of pictures at all - I just enjoyed the vacation. Honestly, I don't think I could have kept up with the camera anyway.

After the zoo we went to a nearby hotel and "vegged" for the evening. We left the hotel the next afternoon and headed back to my parents. Our one rule for our vacation was "to be relaxed and if we saw something interesting along the way, stop and enjoy it." So our first stop was The Santa Maria. The kids enjoyed touring the boat and learning how sailors lived. A "dream come true" for a four year old who spends a lot of time pretending to be a pirate.

Our next stop was Renick's farm. A cute "little" farmers market somewhere in OH. They had a hay maze for the kids to play in as well as this slide. Lot's of yummy local foods and root beer for the road.

a cup of tea, four arms, and a good reminder

Summer is over and fall has begun and I find myself still very busy. In fact I spent all day working on this one cup of tea. I re-heated this same cup of tea 5 times throughout the day and still never finished it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. In fact, the day went very well, and even though it seemed like every minute was taken, much was accomplished. We had homeschooling, cleaning, playing, feeding a baby, dealing with a sleepy baby, a few "disagreements" and the list goes on.

Finally the sleeping/nursing baby time came and I plopped myself on the couch with the computer on one side and a very impatient baby on my lap. As I sat there with my almost sleeping baby my mind started to drift away ( it does that sometimes when it is quiet in my house). This time I sat and wondered why God only gave us 2 hands. Why not 4? Just think of all I could get done with 4 hands. I would have one hand for my cup of tea, one for the baby, and two for the other kids and cleaning! Amazing...then again, maybe not. If I 4 hands, I would probably think that I was "super mom" and could do twice as much, which would then result in me wondering why I didn't have 8 hands. All this to say, God obviously knew what he was doing. I am thankful for my 2 hands and also for nursing babies, which is my time to sit, nurse the baby and with my free hand surf the web (only while the older 2 are sleeping that is). During my post-daydreaming time I came across this encouraging note. It was funny that I found this in the middle of such a busy day.

I'm not generally a wordy person, and this time I went over my "personal word quota". So I will end for now and maybe next time catch you up on our vacation.

Same name, New look

I'm not back but will be shortly. For now I am just messing with the look of the blog, experimenting, and seeing what I can do. Things may look different when I get back or may stay the same ...

Gone for a while

I know it has been a while since my last post and I think it will be a while longer before the next. I feel like I have so much to do and need to prioritize my life. So for now I will be planning our family vacation (in September) and getting things organized for homeschooling (curriculum, baby on a schedule, house organized, me on a schedule, etc, etc, etc.)! Simeon starts kindergarten this fall and I want to make sure I'm ready for it as well as the rest of the family. So enjoy the rest of your summer, I will be back in September (unless I just get real industrious before then)!

Sunflowers

Peek-a-boo baby

Where is these kids' mother?

"What a nice little puddle."

"What nice little rocks."

"Let's make a splash! "

"We might be able to make a bigger splash if we stand in the water. "

"It was her idea....really!"

"Believe it or not, she is mad that her shoes are dirty."

Obviously I was there the whole time, cheering them on. This was a great memory from our family reunion.

I spy with my little eye...

Can you see it?

This chrysalis was found by Abbi on a walk around the house. At first we thought it was poop. Mark immediately told her to put it down. When she did, it started bouncing around. After looking closer at it, we realized what it was. The kids begged to keep. We agreed to keep it just long enough to see it open up. We kept it in a glass jar and watched it for a couple of days. Then, one morning it began to shake. I ran and woke up the kids. The "thing" had already dropped out but it had not blown up it's wings yet. We took it outside, put it on the bush and checked on it regularly throughout the day. When all was said and done, we had "hatched" a moth.