Yes, Monday has arrived and we have another full week ahead of us. The BIG thing on the horizon is I'm selling off a ton of my stamping/scrapbooking supplies this weekend, so am still working on sorting through my stash. I mean, how much patterned paper can one person actually use in a lifetime?! (If you'd like to come get some great deals and contribute to our "fix the house" fund, come on over Thursday or Friday night ;) Hubby handled the kids, meals, etc on Saturday so I was able to get a lot done, but I still have a lot more to get through... I already have a big box of tangled ribbon set aside to sort through tonight during The Mole. I'm also going to be taking the kiddos over to a friend's house this morning and I'll have 2-3 hours to pull out my drawer of acrylic stamps, dump 'em on the living room floor and determine what's actually worth keeping. Man, this process is exhausting!

We do have a number of other things scheduled, so I may be rather quiet this week. I'd really love to be sitting on the back patio sipping these (which of course isn't possible since we can't buy Squirt out here - pout, pout), but guess I'll have to suck it up and act like a responsible adult.

Thought I'd just share a couple hysterical things our son has said this week (the first of which literally had me laughing until I was crying)

- He saw part of show on Monday in which a young girl was writing in her diary. He was very excited to tell me about it, and how cool the girl's diarrhea was. (Is it bad if I didn't correct him?)

- Tuesday for lunch, I made the kids sandwiches. He wolfed his down and asked for another; his sister, meanwhile, had only taken a single bite of hers. I asked if she was going to finish it and she said no. I told D he could have the rest of hers - he reached for the quarter that she'd nibbled on (I had assumed that he'd go for one of the other 3 squares that she hadn't touched), took a bite, and promptly tossed it in the trash, announcing that it tasted like his sister's mouth. Not quite sure about that one (insert eye roll here)

And lastly, here is a pic that was taken during lunchtime today. The kids had grapes, and decided to have a cheek stuffing contest. Ah, the adorable little chipmunks :)

Good morning! I seem to have picked up whatever viral thing our little girl was fighting off last week, so am feeling rather mopey. I have a lot I need to get done, and would really appreciate your prayers that we can all get - and stay - healthy! On a happier note, we are having the most glorious weather - sunshiny but nice and cool. I actually ended up baking some banana bread this morning... the kids definitely approved, because they've already put a sizable dent in one loaf :) It really is yummy, and thought I'd share the recipe:


Low Fat Banana Bread
2 cups flour
1 cup wheat germ
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup applesauce (unsweetened)
4 ripe bananas, mashed
1 Tb vanilla

Heat oven to 375. Combine all ingreds and stir in 1 c raisins or choco chips if desired. Pour into 2 greased loaf pans (approx 5x9), and bake 45-50 minutes (until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean).

Hope you all have a blessed day!

Well, I can now report that standard packing tape is not an effective weapon in the sound wars :)
(A pulled a roll out of the junk drawer and started playing around, and of course her brother wanted in on the action!)

Well, we've made it through another weekend - that's about all I can say :) We had originally planned to go away this weekend to a local amusement park and the strawberry festival at a friend's family farm, but hubby couldn't get the time off work, so that plan was canned. Instead, we stayed close to home and got a few things done around here. The big excitement of the weekend? Our computer died. Hubby had been working on something and had a program running, and I wanted to check email.... next thing we knew, we had a black screen telling us that "windows" was missing. NOT GOOD. Thankfully hubby was able to salvage most of our stuff; we hadn't backed up for a couple months, so immediately I was thinking of the pictures from D's birthday party, adorable pics of A in her little hat, etc. That hard drive really is kaput, but hubby's been able to move a few pics at a time, and got our main PC up and running with another hard drive. Hallelujah!

Yesterday was not only Father's Day, it was also our 12 year anniversary. I can't believe it! I had mentioned this fact to a friend earlier in the week, and she exclaimed, "I was just graduating from college then!" Well, so were we - but then got hitched six weeks later :) Looking back, I have to laugh about some of the crazy stuff that we've done, but I am truly blessed with the man that God has given to me. So how did we celebrate the momentous occasion? Well, church first (I sang, he ran sound), home for a lunch of taco salad, worked on the computer, had several discussions with our son about respectful behavior, pasta for dinner, quick grocery run, and family fun in our little pool... oh, and topped off with the new episode of Ice Road Truckers. Pretty thrilling, huh? Seriously, though, it was very nice just to have a bit of a break from the crazy busyness we've been experiencing lately. And we'll have a very nice date next week to clebrate in grand style!

Ooh, one more thing - I just want to say how once again how amazed I am at the way God blesses our little family. Yesterday at church we were given two large bags of clothes for our daughter. They're good quality and absolutely adorable - oh, and included amongst them were two beautiful dresses, so we're all set for Christmas AND Easter! Wow. Next story: Our living room carpet desperately needs replaced (it wasn't top quality to begin with, and it's at least 14 years old), and we were hoping to do wood but it was just too pricey. Well, a friend brought over 340 sq ft of wood parquet flooring yesterday - leftovers from a project he'd helped out with. Not only can we do the living room, but even the hall and entryway! Double wow. I fully realize that these things aren't exactly "needs," but honestly that's why I am so incredibly thankful. Thank you, Jesus!

Q: What's yellow and blue?