Lemon Creek Winery and Fruit Farm

Lemon Creek Winery and Fruit Farm:  Our "Napa" fix

"We climbed the mountain dad!"

Oh. my. word.  Climbing Tower Hill was SOOOO much easier in high school. 

 But we did it and the kids LOVE it every time. 

2009  (ages 3 and 4)

2011 (Ages 5 and 6)

Superhero

I have a friend, whom I have never met in person, but know through the blogging world.  I love her heart and I love her most recent blog post.  I hope you will take a moment and jump over for a quick reminder of the power available to us as Jesus Girls. 

Superhero



Indianapolis Library - Downtown

Table talk

The kids are making crafts (and by crafts I mean, Logan is building a tower out of a package of un-opened batteries, a remote, glue sticks and an eraser.  And Olivia is making a "flying machine" out of paper and electrical tape) at the kitchen table and our discussion turned to weddings...

Logan:  "Mom, I'm older now so I'm going to have a wedding."

Me:  "Oh!  Who will you marry?"

Logan:  "You, momma"

Olivia:   "Logan (clearly annoyed that he would EVEN consider marriage at this age),  you can't get married until you are older, older... like 15."



Whew, glad one of them is thinking straight. :)



My favorite tool

When the kids were little, babies-little, I would put them in the car, at some point in the day, turn on a movie and head to McDonald's for a tea.  It saved my sanity, to have them both strapped in their car seats, occupied by a movie, sipping my favorite drink.

Most of the time we watched the Preschool Prep DVDS.

They are WONDERFUL! 

My kids loved them.  Or maybe it was me who loved them and forced them to watch them.  Regardless these dvds, along with practice at home, helped them learn their letters, numbers, colors and sight words.

Yesterday I did the happy-dance when I saw the new "Meet the Phonics" DVDs! 

I'm not a teacher, but I teach my kids.

I LOVE these DVDs.

Little hands

Little hands

I just want to remember his hands at this age. 

They will be bigger than mine very soon.

I love being his momma :)



Father's Day weekend

Father's Day weekend was spent doing things dad's like to do...

We played Tennis

And living room golf.

And as I type this, Tommy has taken the kids on a trip to Office Max.

They love to tag along when daddy needs stuff for work.

I pretend to be surprised each time they come home with a new folder for each of them and candy.

I love that they love their dad so much.

and I love that he makes even a trip to Office Max so much fun for them.

Tommy's request for Father's Day?

A steak and hugs.

Done.

A great weekend :)

We love you babe!

Storm watchers

Heavenly blessings

"The unthankful heart discovers no mercies;

but the thankful heart will find, in every hour,

some heavenly blessings"

-Harriet Beecher Stowe

I love change, but not all change...

When I was in elementary school, I'm thinking second grade, we sent balloons into the sky with a note attached asking that if found, would the person who found it send the card back to the school with the location.   I LOVED this, I remember all of us in the field setting off our balloons.

And mine was found!

in Connecticut!

I thought that was so neat.   I still do, really.

Tonight our kids wanted to send 2 balloons we had, into the sky. 

Olivia wanted to put a card with our address on it to have it sent back.

I hate that we are not comfortable doing that.

THAT is the kind of change I don't like. 

30 years ago we probably would have said yes.



Status updates

Facebook status update for today:

"My adorable husband happens to be an Eskimo
 who likes to keep the house VERY cool in the summer.
This morning when I asked the kids to go get dressed
 they both came out in jeans and long sleeves
 because they thought it was cold outside...
The forecasted high is 88 today "

I can't sleep without it...

I have preached about this enough to my friends, I decided to write about it.  My  love-affair with

Magnesium. 

  I SERIOUSLY can't sleep without it.  After researching some of the ugly PMS symptoms I was having (about a year ago) I decided to give a magnesium supplement a try. 

IT is WONDERFUL!

Wonderful to the point of major anxiety if I am about to run out. 

I choose to take a calcium-magnesium with Vitamin D combo. (Magnesium aids in the absorption of Calcium so why not knock them both out in one supplement, and don't even get me started on how much I LOVE Vitamin D)  I have tried many over the past year and this is the one I keep coming back to and plan to continue FOREVAH!!!. 

The biggest benefits for me, personally, (everyone is different) is water-retention/PMS relief, relaxation, sound sleep and a happy tummy.

Unfortunately our soils are so depleted of this amazing mineral.  I encourage you to google magnesium and do some research of your own if you have any of the following symptoms:

Anxiety

PMS

Infertility

Migraines

Insomnia

Nerve Problems

Muscle Cramps

Depression

Bowel Disease

Please know  I AM NOT A DOCTOR, I'm just sharing what is working for me.  :) 

Happy relaxing!!!  :)

"Knotting"

Olivia taught Isabel to knit.  It was so fun to see them in their "Knitting club"

We decided knitting should be called knotting.  It really is making a bunch of knots. 

Hugs!  :)

I love these kids!

Christmas 2010

Knitting class

Oh my. I know I am a tad bias. 

But Olivia is seriously the cutest thing on two legs when she knits!!! 

I'm so proud of her.  This was the first time EVER for both of us and she sat patiently and we listened to the instructions and we worked together and before long we were knitting!  We have so much to learn but it was fun to learn a few basics.  Hoping to fit a little one-on-one lesson with the knitting teacher, our friend Kendra, later this week.  Olivia is so excited to go to Hobby Lobby and pick out her own needles and yarn. 

I'm off to practice!~  :)

Isaac

Our family has been spending alot of time in prayer over this little guy.  I graduated with his dad.  Isaac has cancer and had a brain tumor removed yesterday.    Follow his story on http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/isaacsteiner/journal

Hugs

More Vacation pics....

My obsession

I am one of "those".  I hear there are not many, but I am one.

Does that make me strange?  PROBABLY.  I have a HUGE, HUGE fascination with....

LIBRARIES!

I love them.  I love the smell of books.  I love the feel of books.  I love the quiet.

Next year, while the kids are at homeschool classes 2 days a week, I will be here:

3 BLESSED hours in the Fishers Library, reading books, listening to the quiet.

I love that my kids are starting to have the love of libraries that I have.  I love to hear:  "lets go to the downtown library!"  which is a HUGE treat for us and if you live in Indy, or come to visit, it is a really fun library for kids.  When we travel with Tommy we look for libraries.  Yep.  We are bibliophiles.  

This year at the Indianapolis Marion County Public Library the Summer Reading Program is: 

We started today, gathering lots of books.  Tomorrow is the science program, Logan will be asking every 5 minutes until 3:30 tomorrow.

Love summer learning.

Love that Olivia and Logan love books.

They may not get my love of Brussels sprouts, but so far they have my love of books and libraries.

Hugs!  :)

*side note:  I can't see myself ever owning a Kindle.  I would really miss holding the book. I would miss walking into the library (or the bookstore, DON'T get me started on bookstores!  love those too) But I have learned to "never say never", so I'm not saying I will NEVER own one, but so far it doesn't look likely.  :)

Knitting

Olivia and I have our very first knitting class tomorrow night.  We are BEYOND excited!  Wonder if this could become a new hobby for us?  If not, I have some other ideas up my sleeve... 

Olivia was so excited that on the train to Chicago she said "MOM!  That lady is knitting!"  proceeded to take a picture of her and even a short video.  All in-cognito of course... HA!  my little spy :)

Happy Monday!  :)

Dryspell...

Every now and then I feel like I am in a spiritual dry-spell. For some reasons, actually many reasons, I let my early-morning quiet time get interrupted... I get half-way through my day and realize I haven't talked to God near-enough yet that day... and I neglect the "habit of happiness", and the "choice of contentment" that I desperately try to incorporate into my soul each day. In these times I feel like when I do remember to seek Him, He isn't really seeking me back.
-
Then I realized, it's not that He isn't "seeking me back" He is just patiently waiting. Because He really wants ALL of me, not just the hurried; just-can't-make-time-for-you-today me that I have been offering Him lately.
-
I post about this as a means of accountability. My alarm is set for 5:30. (did I just put that in writing???) I'm praying the kids sleep past 6:00.
-
I'm so thankful for His love, grace and patience.

Stacey

Family vacation 2011

We were so blessed with some much-needed family beach time last week! I can't tell you how much I CHERISH this time. Waking up to the sounds of the waves.... lazy evenings by the pool. I love ALL of it!

The kids have seen "Mickey Ocean" ( more commonly known as Lake Michigan) but this is their first old-enough-to-remember ocean (or gulf) trip!

Tommy taught them how to search for crabs in the evening... the water was wonderful.

And while I love catching crabs as much as the next girl, I took that opportunity to put my toes in the sand and spend time thanking God for his beautiful creation.

More to come.... Hugs!