Altered Day planner...

I had a great day yesterday - hope you did, too. As you remember - Nathan's mom and dad took the twins with them to Columbus Saturday. That means that they weren't to be back until Sunday night around 10:00 since they stay for both services down there. Then Treyton went home with a friend on Sunday night. While Mom and Dad were on their way home with the twins, they called and said that Jackson and Jada were asking if they could stay at their house again. So - for Sunday night it was just Nathan and I here at the house. I didn't get the twins back yesterday until about noon and Treyton didn't come home last night until about 7:30. I had a great weekend.

This was the last thing I did. It is a pocket planner that I got at Walmart for a couple bucks and then I altered it. I like how it turned out. I had my checkbook cover altered, but when some VERY BAD person decided to steal my purse last year they took it with them. 8-) I will do another check book cover soon. Then I will share that with you!! Aren't you excited? I do sell these if anyone is interested. haha Nothing like pushing your own stuff!! The first picture is the front and the second picture is the back.


My Mother-in-law was planning on coming over today to workout with me, however, the roads are really bad and now I'm not sure she is. Most of the schools in our area were canceled today. Wish I were in school so I could love the feeling of having a snow day!! 8-)

Talk again soon.

Love!

Back to you...

Julie - so GREAT to see you here. I'm so excited for you and your new addition to your family. He is beautiful. Are things going okay for you? How are things going at school? How is Mollie loving her new baby? Come back soon. Love ya!

Leanna - thanks for stopping by. I'm always excited to see your comments. You are faithful to come back to my homely little blog! 8-) Luv!

Melodie - I know that you miss the snow - I miss our warm weather, too. I think it would be great to have warm weather year round, but I'm sure I would miss the cold after a while.

My little Man...

At least the one that is with me today. As I mentioned yesterday - Nathan was skiing yesterday and will be home this afternoon. Nathan's parents took the twins to Columbus with them. So I am ready a little early today - only ONE child to get ready really goes fast!!!

Here are a couple pics I shot of him this morning. Some cool ones and a fun one.

LOVE!

Back to you...

Tamra - thanks so much for the compliments. There is nothing I would love more than to make a business out of it. However, you DO have to have customers and that seems to be something I am short on!! haha. Thanks for looking!! 8-)

I WON!!!

Gerald called Nathan earlier this week and said that he and Brent were going skiing today and wondered if he would go. They were going to go to Hidden Valley in PA. He wanted to so bad, but he hates to leave the kids and I home alone for another day out of the week. I tried my best to get him talked in to it. He wouldn't budge. However, yesterday I called his mom and asked if she would keep just one of the kids today so that I wouldn't be stuck home with them all day again. Of course she agreed and when I told Nathan you could see that that had really helped him. Then last night we went to Gerald's birthday party and of course Brent was there also. They put a little (very little) pressure on him and he caved. So he left this morning at 10 after 5. They are there now. Just talked to him - says he is having fun but they haven't started skiing yet.

This is the card I made for Gerald's 30th birthday. Thanks for the food at The Barn, Gerald. It was delish! By the way - can I burn your CD that we got you?!?! haha He doesn't even look at this so don't know why I'm asking here.

Missy and I are going to go shopping today - probably all day - or as long as we can. Mom is keeping at least one of my kids and Aunt Judy is keeping Caden. We will have a lot of fun.

Hope you all have a wonderful day.

Back to you....

Pam - you know, I do make scrapbooks for other people. All you have to do is ask. I'm cheaper than most, too!! 8-) I would love to work for ya! Thanks for your compliments. Tons of luv!

Winter Wonderland!

From the inside of course. It is gorgeous. I know a lot of you have been having this for a few weeks, but this is the most we have had this year. And probably the longest stretch of cold weather as well. 50's and 60's in January just don't get it. Love snow - but I am more than ready for it to be over after a while.

If you look closely - you can actually see some of the snowflakes. They are huge - and just slowly falling. Kind of like tumbling through the air. So pretty.

While I was taking this picture below, I never even saw Jackson standing there looking out. So cute. They love the snow and Treyton can't wait to go skiing.

Hope you are all doing good. Aunt Paulette - did you get those cabinets all finished? If so, you need a full week break!!

LOVE!

I finally made something...

I made some thank you cards yesterday. I had several people that I needed to thank for stuff and I had some store-bought cards, but I took the time to actually make them. I'm so glad I did. I had a lot of fun doing them. I know it probably doesn't mean as much to those getting them as it does to me, but I love doing it.

They all basically were the same -just different papers. In fact - some were the very same papers so I only posted two different ones here.

Back to you...

TARA!! I've been looking for you! So glad you found me! I was so excited to see you had posted. I have looked and looked at your blog. So excited about your house. I may just have to do that 50's thing in one of our houses!! Loved it! Come back soon!!

My Birthday Dinner!

It finally happened. I had been so excited about my birthday dinner with Dusty and Pam, Derek and Lori. It finally got here. On Saturday night we went to the place of my choice ~ Cheeseburger in Paradise. None of us had been there before and it turned out to be a good decision. It was delicious!! Really, Derek does not always look like Donald Duck! 8-) He did it on purpose though!!!

Derek and Lori got Sweet Potato Chips for their appetizer. They were good. Different, but good. Dusty and Pam for mini-cheeseburgers for their appetizer. So cute. And very tasty! Nathan and I both got the BBQ Cheddar burger. It was incredibly scrumptious.

Dusty promptly told someone that it was my birthday so when we were done with our meals, they brought me ice cream and sang to me. They made me stand up and I heard a couple of "Get up on the table and dance" comments. It was a little embarrassing and very funny. It was good ice cream though.
They got me gorgeous flowers and they were put in to a pottery vase that Lori and Pam picked out specifically for me. It is heart shaped. So pretty. They even picked the color to paint it and painted it themselves. Much more of a memory. They also got me a hilarious card. So funny!

Lori's parents, Mr. Chuck and Ms. Nancy (This is what we are trying our best to get the kids to say), kept the kids for us while we went out. The kids absolutely adore them and all Chuck and Nancy do is play, play, play the whole time!! They are incredible people.

Thanks so much, Friends, for a very fun birthday dinner.

LOVE!

Back to you......

~~~Aimee - it was so incredible to see you here. I'm glad you took the time to stop by. Hopefully you can come back by soon. I will be looking for you. Luv ya!

~~~Becca - I can't believe I found your blog. I had been looking for it for several days - I knew you had to have one out there somewhere. Glad I found it. Thanks for commenting here. Hope to see you again soon. Love!

~~~Leanna - it was so fun. Loved it. So relaxing. Have you guys talked any more about when you are coming up? Let me know when you decide. Hopefully you can soon, but I do totally understand that you are very needed there.

~~~Merrilee - I was so surprised to see your comment the other day. That made my day. How are you guys doing? Hope everything is going well for you!! Do you have more time on your hands now - maybe we could get together some time. Love you!

~~~Melodie - ask Nathan why I deleted it!!!!!! Did you see it at all?

Fun, Fun!!

Although yesterday was my birthday, it didn't feel like it at all with the funeral and everything. Nathan told me late last night that he wasn't working today so that he could be with me and celebrate my birthday today. 8-) Gotta love him!

This morning I woke up to a steaming hot bubble bath in the jacuzzi. As if that wasn't good enough - there was also a man there with some toenail polish ready to paint my toenails. It was so sweet. Loved it. That is the first time in nearly 7 years so it was a wonderful surprise!

He also made lunch today for us and he is in the kitchen now making supper. Lasagna, corn and rolls. Table is set and he is just waiting for the lasagna to finish. Won't be too much longer.

I suspect we will go out tonight - I have some birthday money. However, if not - we will just continue to have fun here.

Also, yesterday after we got home from the funeral he tucked me in bed with a lot of pillows all around me and told me to read or watch something - whatever. Then he closed the door and kept the kids out of here so that I could have a little time by myself. When I got up, the kitchen was completely cleaned and much more presentable than I had left it before the funeral.

Last night he took us to El Rodeo and told them it was my birthday and I got a delicious fried ice cream out of the deal. Of course, it came with 5 spoons so......I did get some though. I got all I needed!!

It has been a very happy day-after-birthday today!

LOVE!

We're doing okay.

Just letting you all know that today was the funeral and we have all made it through it and we are doing good. It was tough - of course. I think we were all ready to get this day over with though. It is somewhat draining.

Treyton kind of fell apart today right before the funeral started. It was very different. He is not usually like that at all - just kind of takes things as they come. However, he cried and cried and said he was so sad that Grandpa died. He was happy though that he went to heaven. I felt pretty bad for him. He stopped after a while - but he must have cried for 20 minutes. Then any time he saw someone else crying he would cry again. I held him for a long time.

Hope you all had a great day today.

Love!

On a different thought ~

I was so excited on Saturday morning about some pics that I wanted to share with you that we had taken on Friday night. However, with Grandpa's death it seems a little harsh to look like all we wanted to do was have fun. It has been a couple of days now and I do really want to share these pics so I am going to go ahead.

Friday night we had a complete family night - at home! We ate supper here and then got up and played with the kids until bed time. It was so fun. Nathan and the kids played Jenga Blocks until I got supper cleaned up.

Then when I was done with the supper stuff, we played memory for a while. Treyton won - fair and square. It is unreal how good a kids memory is.

Then after that - the kids and Nathan would run to the edge of the tile from the foyer and see how far they could jump. The twins weren't very successful. It was hilarious. However, Treyton and Nathan did good. Treyton's biggest jump was 4ft and 8in. I thought that was really good - even taller than him. Nathan's jump was 11ft 5 in. I am going to post pics of them jumping on here - however, if you aren't here to see them before Nathan gets home tonight then you probably won't see the one of Nathan. He will make me delete it as soon as he gets home!! 8-) We were absolutely howling laughing!

(REMOVED PICTURE)

After that we played tag and then hide and seek in here. We had an incredible night with the kids. So much fun - without spending a penny! Don't have any pics of tag and hide and seek. Nathan was scaring us so bad I was freaked to carry my camera around!

We wish a great day for you!

Love!

Back at you....

Melodie - thanks for the message. We appreciate your thoughts for the family. Thanks also for the TM the other night to Nathan. That really helped him!

Leanna - It is hard to see one's you love hurting so bad. They are doing as good as can be excpected though. Thanks for your continued thoughts for the family.

Another Monday...

It's Monday again. This is a different Monday though. Phone calls, questions, discussions. I don't usually have this many thoughts going through my head on a Monday! 8-) We are trying to get everything in order for the funeral. Nathan's Dad and his sister met this morning with the funeral director and got things in order with him.

We had a nice time together last night. We are all sorry that Neal and Bev and their family weren't able to be with us.

Continue to pray for the family - they have a hard week ahead of them.

Hope you all have a great day.

LOVE!

We will always love you, Grandpa!

Shortly after we got up yesterday morning Nathan said, "We are going to see Grandpa today". I said that was fine and didn't really think anything about it. When we got there we realized it was his birthday and Nathan's mom and dad were there. Grandpa really brightened up with the kids around. While we were there Nathan's aunt and uncle came in. It was so neat that we were all there at the same time. He was so much better yesterday than he had been the few days before. Certainly none of us thought that would be our last time to see him alive. We are so happy that we took the time to go. No regrets!

The viewing and funeral will be held at Grandpa's church. Grace Missionary Church. Here in Massillon. Viewing will be Wednesday and the funeral will be Thursday. Not sure of times yet.

Please continue to pray for the family.

We are having all the family here tonight for a snack. Nathan and I did the same with Grandma when she passed away 3 years ago. We feel that it is important to be together at this time and we don't mind having the traffic through here at all.

LOVE!

Back at you....

Anthony. Yes, I MAY get tired of the harrassing on here, however, I must also agree with you. Thanks for being faithful and interested. I do this for all of our family and some have never even bothered to look. 8-) Thanks for taking the time!

Michelle! Hi, there!! I am so happy to see you around. Thanks for commenting!! Hope you guys are doing okay. Everything going good for you? Seems like forever since we have seen all of you. Wonder why??? See you back here soon!

IT'S FRIDAY!!!

I LOVE Fridays!! LOVE them. Nathan's last day of work for the week - getting to spend some time together. Having someone to help with the kids. I just love the weekend. We don't have anything major going on this weekend. We were going out with some of our friends for my birthday, but there was a conflict and so we changed that to next weekend.

Last night I went to Women of Worth. With Lori. She is my faithful friend. She has gone the last three times and seems to really enjoy going with me. I love having her there. We have such a good time. Some serious conversation and also some serious LAUGHS!! It was fun.

I have to do laundry today. I don't have a ton though. I did a lot of it on Tuesday.

I was looking back over some Christmas pictures the other day and found this one. I think it is cute - but kind of funny. They are all lined up there so cute. Jada had gotten a new Strawberry Shortcake DVD from Uncle and Aunt Marci and kids (yes, they call him Uncle), and they all wanted to watch it so I got my laptop out and they sat so still. I believe these are the closest in age kids here. From front to back - Jackson (2), Braxton (3), Jada (2), Shelby (4), and Treyton (4). At one time all of them were one and under. And yes, the VAST majority of them are mine - the oldest and the youngest ones!!

LOVE!!

House Cleaning Day!

Yes, it is Thursday again - already. Seems like there are more Thursdays than any other day. 8-) Actually, I don't mind cleaning too bad, but sometimes I do wish for a maid! If I would get up and get straight to work that might help, but I get up and mess around for a little bit - I guess waiting to see if it will clean itself. By the time I get breakfast and everything then there are so many more things I would rather do. Anyway, Tamra asked for more pics of the house so once I get it cleaned today maybe I will do that.

Last night was church. It was our annual Crisis Pregnancy Center service. It is so unreal some of the things that girls/women go through. It moves me every time. Lorena Glick and one of the ladies from our church, Betty Fisher, spoke. They are both very involved with the Center. While that was going on - our Children's Ministry team had children's church for the kids. That was different - but cool.

After church, we brought home one of Treyton's buddies. He stayed the night and will play here today. We will take him home this afternoon. They are having so much fun. They got to sleep in the tent last night. They were ecstatic. So cute to see them playing together so well. Thanks, Cameron, for coming to our house.

Love!





Back to you...

Leanna - thanks for stopping back by. How are your parents? I sure hope they are better!

We played!

The kids have been being really good lately, so I decided they deserved a trip to their favorite place - McDonald's! They had a lot of fun. The twins had more fun jumping off the playland than they did climbing through it. Treyton is really in to playing the games they have there. I had a nice time just sitting there - except for the poor woman that called her son for at least a half an hour - telling him it was time to go and she was leaving. He was sitting clear at the top. No one could see him. You could hear him laughing at her. He wouldn't even move at all. Finally an adult went up to get him and they coaxed him down. As soon as they got down the slide he turned around and ran right back up it. It must have been another 10 minutes after that still. Finally they all walked out and left him there. Didn't take him long then!! Anyway, that just wore me out. 8-)

These aren't really great pics, but at least you can see the fun they were having. Jada refuses to slide there in a skirt because the screws in the slide shock her legs. It is so crazy why all play areas do that. I remember that even when I was a kid.











I have to get meat out of the freezer for dinner tonight. Any good recipes or ideas you would like to share with me? I am always up for that. Would love to hear.

LOVE!

Back to you....

.....Nathan - You are so cool. Thanks for posting on here. Total surprise - even though you were posting here in the same room as me on the laptop. 8-) I hope that isn't the last. Love seeing you on here! XO

.....Tamra!! Hey, Friend. It has been an age since we have seen you. Thanks so much for stopping by. Hope things are going good for your family. So nice to see you here - visit often.

.....Anthony - I find it odd that I don't remember all that stuff you were talking about. I just remember you as the crazy person that won't stop talking nonsense. Hey, isn't it true that a couple years ago you made a resolution to be a little more serious. Sorry that didn't work out for you. Keep encouraged though - it is never too late to start!! lol

.....Also - if any of you that post here have a blog. Please leave it here when you post. I love looking! And I try to post to other fellow-bloggers often.

It's Tuesday - 1/2 laundry day...

Hey - it is laundry day again today. I try to do laundry on Tuesday and Friday. It is too much if I try to do it all on one day. Friday is my big day though - where everything is completely finished. Anyway, so I will be doing that today.

While we were doing pre-school yesterday, I took some pics. I will post some of them here. Treyton loves pre-school. He does really good, too. He finished his first book before Christmas, and since I don't feel like there is any major push, we are just starting back after the holidays. It's fun.

So, Ohio State stinks. Oh, well. I really did think they would win, though!

LOVE!

Back to you...

~~Melodie, You are welcome. I'm glad to hear you had a good day there. Love you!

Mama, Thanks so much for figuring this out. I post to it often and I want you and Daddy to be able to come here and see the pics of the kids and stuff. Love you so much!

~~Leanna - Hey, girl!! So glad you stopped by...and posted!! A lot of people stop by, but only a few take the time. Also, thanks so much for the pics of Lindsey! She is a gorgeous little thing!

~~Lori!! You did it!!! YAY for you! You are creative. Your house is beautiful! You need to stop saying that!!! I'll get Nathan after you....does that scare you??? lol Love ya, Fran!

~~Shari, Thanks so much for coming by. I promise, there is no one more addicted to Scrapbooking - so maybe I have finally found someone that thinks like me! Scrapbooking is so great - and our kids already are enjoying looking at them. That makes it worth it all.

~~Anthony - last time I kept my hateful remarks a little more hidden because I wanted to protect you from the public knowing the truth about you. I am about ready to just spill all - right here on the main page. You, indeedio, are the pain!

Happy Birthday, Sister!

Dear Melodie,

Today is your day on my blog. I want to try to tell you how much I love you and how much you mean to me.

First of all, you are absolutely gorgeous. I honestly think people would probably think you are younger than me. You look like you did 10 years ago. You are beautiful.

Not only are you beautiful on the outside, but you are an incredible person - on the inside as well. You are a wonderful wife to a great husband, a fantastic mother to three awesome boys, and now you are a faithful missionary to a needy country. You are someone that I look up to - someone that decides to do something and does it with all her heart.

Thank you for being exactly who you are. As a sister - thank you for changing my diaper all those times and for combing my hair and feeding me!! 8-) As a sister-in-law - thank you for accepting my husband and making him feel like a part of our family. As an aunt to my kids - thank you for loving them. You act like they are never bad. You accept any behavior they have to offer. And you always excitedly receive a new picture of them. As a friend - thanks for scrap-booking. Thank you for the phone calls. Thank you for being interested in my life.

I miss you today. I'm sorry we are apart. We are rarely together on your birthday, but 4 hours and 4 days are two VERY different things! It's okay though - I wouldn't change it. I love knowing you are where God wants you to be.

I love you, Melodie. You are the best oldest sister a person could have.

Your baby sister,
Myranda

It's Sunday...

...and usually we are always in church, but I didn't feel like the twins were quite there. We gave them baths and started the whole getting ready process, but it just didn't seem to be the thing to do. I wasn't sure that they should be coughing all over everyone there at church. They are being good - the cough is the only thing that is left. Oh, and the whining. 8-)

We had a great day yesterday. Nathan wanted to work in the basement - so I got to go to a Scrapbook store for a little while. It was neat - hadn't been there before. Only got a couple of things. Not even quite $5.00. I was good.

***Then we at supper with Missy and Gerald and the boys yesterday afternoon. We hadn't hung out with them for a long time and that was so fun. I have a new adorable pic of Caden, but I will wait and ask Missy first before putting his pic on here.

***After that, Pam and her parents, David and Kathy came over (Dusty was at the Cav's game). Pam wanted to visit and her dad hadn't seen the house yet so Kathy and him came in to look. They kept sayind they couldn't stay....8-) We started talking and got them to stay for a while. I think it was 11:00p when they left. We absolutely loved it. So fun. Thanks so much, guys for coming and chatting!

***I started yesterday, also, to get the prints of my Bronner's Trip. I went to Frankenmouth, MI with 10 of my friends at the beginning of December. It was a blast and I plan to do a scrapbook of our trip. It is annual for them - this was my first year, but I hope it becomes annual to me as well.

***Aunt Paulette, Thanks so much for calling yesterday - it was great to talk. Hopefully soon you can find that comment button. I love it that you are checking this out. I'm sure that it takes you a while with dial-up, but thanks for sticking it out! Love ya!

***Talk again tomorrow probably.

Love!

Good Morning!

It is another morning. Another time to be thankful. Another time to be with my kids. Another time to do LAUNDRY!! Another time to think about what I HAVE TO MAKE FOR SUPPER! Yep, I have not been out of this house for days - and it shows, huh? The kids have been sick so I haven't been anywhere. I am ready to get out a little bit! I did talk to one of my really great friends last night on the phone for a while -so that helped. She didn't even know she was helping when she called. What a great friend! Thanks, Pam!

I have the itch to take pictures. Why? Who knows! I just love taking pics. I don't really have anything to take pics of - the kids get sick of it and Nathan is at work. If I could take the kids to the park then I would be able to take pics of stuff there. I could bundle them up, I suppose, but what fun would that be? It's not all that cold, but with Jack still being pretty sick..... Oh, well. I better just settle for another day at home!

I did get the house all cleaned yesterday. LOVE that feeling! I need to go get the pork chops out of the freezer for tonight. I will brown them and then put them in Chicken Broth in the crock pot for a few hours. Yum!

The pics are of a recent card that I did for a friend - for him to give to his wife! I liked how it turned out. I love the fact that he is okay with however I do it. He seems to always like it. It would be cool if more people would order cards. I really like doing that.

Love!

Back at you...

Collette - It was so nice to hear from you. I will pass your messages on. Thanks to my incredible sister for bragging on me - love her to death, but I'm not sure about all she says! 8-) I checked out Shari's page. LOVE her style of SBing! Will comment there, soon. Come back - I was excited to see you here.

Thanks, Melodie! I love it, too. Glad to hear someone else likes it as well!

Anth - I posted back to you on yesterdays post. You know, if you get all freaky on me, I have the control to block people. LOL! Scary, huh?

Pam!!! Thanks so much for checking out my blog and for calling last night. I was feeling pretty boxed in, but you helped so much. If I remember right, you have pulled me through some other tough moments!! 8-) Thanks! See you Saturday!