Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Apple Picking

Here are a few pictures from our trip to the Apple Orchard!  We all had a blast and can't wait to go again :)  I LOVE FAMILY TIME!!!








Saturday, September 17, 2011

Busch Garden Pictures








These are a few of my favorite pictures from our trip to Busch Gardens last week.  I have a ton more that I thought about uploading, but I figured this is more than enough :)   Needless to say, we had a blast!  I wish every weekend could be like that! 

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Tasty Tuesday: Meatloaf

Have I done meatloaf already?  I can't remember.  It is a favorite at our house, so I might have done this one already.  If so, I will try to delete this before any of you see it ;)  I used to hate meatloaf.  The thought of it was disgusting enough.  But when I started cooking more, J asked me to try to find a good meatloaf recipe.  I didn't want to, but he missed having it.  So, like a kind and loving wife, I found a recipe to try.  Surprisingly, I loved it!  It's easy too.  J loves it.  I love it.  T refuses to touch it (but that's pretty normal with all things other than chicken nuggets...).  L seems to love it too.  Three out of four, not too bad!  :D

I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com, it's by PTRULL.

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds lean ground beef
  • 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed tomato soup
  • 1 onion, finely diced
  • 1 cup rolled oats
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1 tablespoon steak sauce
  • 1/2 cup ketchup
  • 3 tablespoons prepared mustard

Directions

  1. In a large bowl, combine ground meat, soup, chopped onion, rolled oats, eggs, steak sauce, ketchup and mustard. Mix well.
  2. Shape into a loaf, and pat Into a loaf pan.
  3. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven for 1 hour or until done.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Monday Madness: Change of plans....

I was getting on here to blog about our trip to Busch Gardens.  We went over the weekend and had a blast!  But Blogger seems to be joining the other sites that have issues.  Oh well, pictures will have to wait.  And so will this blog post :)  Instead, I'll share about my crazy dream.

So I believe Jesus is coming back again some day.  It may be soon, it might be thousands of years from now.  No one knows.  I've been thinking about it a lot lately, though.  And it's now in my dreams...mixed with a little bit of Noah's Ark.  Yep, I dreamed about that strange combination.  In my dream, I took the boys to J's work because it was time for Jesus to come get us, but first there was going to be a huge flood.  I went with our pool toys, too.  I climbed to the roof of his office, where he was with his boss.  Did I mention I grabbed a table on one of the lower floors?  You know, because everybody needs a table to hold on to when it's flooding.  So I climbed up 7 flights of stairs, with two kids, pool floats, and a table.  J's boss was confused and made fun of me, just like people made fun of Noah.  But I knew what was coming and I was prepared :)  Sure enough, the waters started rising and I needed that table.  L and I clung onto it while T held onto one of his pool floaties. I woke up about that time, so I'm not sure what happened to J.  Maybe he was on the other floaty I brought that disappeared.  It was very, very strange.  I guess I've been thinking about the way I should spend my time here on earth to bring glory to my Maker.  I keep thinking about a quote I heard years ago.  I can't really remember much of it, other than the fact that it was about people who thought the rapture was going to happen any day and were obsessed with it to the point where they couldn't get much done.  The person who said the quote said something along the lines of if God comes today, I want Him to find me living a life that honors Him.  I want everything I do to be as if He's coming back now.  I want to be prepared.  I agree with him.  I want to be prepared for His return.  Maybe that's where the pool toys came from.  Ha!  A funny dream with a lot of powerful meaning behind it.  Are you prepared too?  Are you living your life for Him?  If He comes today, will He find you serving doing His work?  Or works that only bring you temporary happiness?

There you go!  Wednesday's walk with God on a Monday.  Let this week's madness begin :)

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Remember 9/11

Sept 11, 2001.  A day that we will never forget.  The pictures still burn in our minds and the feelings come rushing back.  Sometimes I wish I could forget those images.  The people jumping to their deaths.  Air planes flying into buildings and then those buildings coming tumbling down.  The heroes who fought back in PA.  But most of all, for me personally, I will never forget hearing the Pentagon was hit.  The fear, the shock, the sadness... but mostly the fear.  Was my dad coming home that night?  Or was he gone.  Forever.  The fear that overcame me is still so real.  Praise the Lord my dad is here with us today.  He thought it was a fire drill, he had no clue what was even going on at the time.  But that wasn't the case for many other families.  I spent a good part of that day with friends who never saw their husband/father/brother again.  We sat waiting by the window, watching for his car to pull up.  His name was Eddie.  I clearly remember his daughter saying, "I can't work on my home work until daddy gets home.  Daddy always does my homework with me."  It was at that moment I knew in my heart he was gone.  I still cry for his two precious daughters who grew up without their daddy and his wife who was left to raise those girls alone.  It's good to remember what we're fighting for.  But can you imagine how hard it is for them to relive that moment year after year after year?  How can you heal from this terrible loss when the pictures, the videos, the memories are thrown in your face every year*?  We need to continue to pray for them.  For everyone who lost loved ones that day.  And we need to hug our children, our spouses, and all those around us a little closer today.

So, I was sitting in 12th grade English class.  Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day?

I know most of this makes no sense at all.  I just really needed to write down my thoughts. 

*Please note that I think it's good to replay the footage, my heart just aches for the families. 

Friday, September 9, 2011

Friday's Looking Good: Walking

As I mentioned yesterday, I have started walking with my neighbor.  This past week wasn't great because it's been raining like crazy, but we faithfully went every single morning the week before that.  We're planning on doing it again next week.  A first I didn't think it'd be that much of a work out.  I was running three miles a few months ago, what's a little walk going to do?  I quickly learned that walking for an hour, up and down hills, with a double jogging strollers and two heavy boys is a LOT of hard work!  I am not sure if it's as good as my runs used to be, but it's definitely doing something!  I also enjoy the time to chat with my friend.  She's such a sweet momma and a good role model to me.  She loves the Lord and wants to raiser her children to be responsible, wise, and godly.  It's good for the kids, too.  I want them to see value in taking care of the bodies God gave them.  It's important to exercise and exercise can be fun!  If all kids are well  behaved and the weather is nice, we stop at a park and let them play.  All four of them love it.  The older two (Sweet T and her little girl L) go off and have some independent play where we can see them but they have some space too.  The younger two (Little L and her son, M) stay close to us and need our help to climb stairs and things.  It works out well.  The kids enjoy it and we enjoy it.  It's just a shame that the weather will be turning cold soon.  I'm so not looking forward to winter!!!  I really enjoy these warm summer days.  Not the hot ones, but the ones where you can go out and play without feeling nasty afterward.

As far as dressing up and looking nice, well, I haven't been doing the best job at that.  I'm sitting here in a nursing cami (IE, sooo unattractive!) and pj pants.  I may not look attractive, but I sure am comfortable :)  Have a wonderful Friday, everyone!  STAY DRY!  :)

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Life as I like it...crazy :)

We have been super busy these past few weeks.  I wish that I had more time and motivation to blog on a regular basis.  I really do enjoy it!  But my "free time" is precious and like the title says, life has been crazy!  I like to be busy.  I really do.  And as long as the boys are well behaved, I enjoy the chaos too!  I think I'll take today to just recap what we've been up to.
Sweet T has been obeying much better lately.  It's such a nice break from the constant disobedience.  That was ROUGH!  He is growing up fast and is super excited about his third birthday party next month.  We have started buying decorations and have the...FIRE STATION...reserved for his party :)  He is learning to write his name.  He can do the first two letters, which look very similar to each other, ha!  But he actually does a good job, considering he's not even 3.  We have decided to start him in Cubbies this year at our church.  They usually want the child to be 3 by September, but all of his little friends are starting this year and he's very smart.  The leader thought he'd be fine starting early.  So, he's all signed up! 
Little L is busy walking, exploring, and getting into as many things as possible.  His favorite place to play is the toilet.  It's nasty!  My Sweet T often forgets to flush, put the lid down, and close the bathroom door.  Yeah, it's fun...  L is definitely more content to play at my feet than T used to be.  I was able to cook dinner yesterday without many distractions.  Both boys lost it at the end, but over all, I was pleasantly surprised at how happy L was to just play with pots and pans.  He said his first word on Sunday.  I'm sad to admit that he said "Dada" first.  T said "Dada" first too.  I was really hoping L would say "Momma" first.   Oh well.  He throws the cutest fits and is learning to express his thoughts.  I'm sure these fits would be as adorable in another few weeks, but for now, I just laugh.
My wonderful hubby had his interview with the Top Secret people.  I'm not really sure if that means he's getting close to officially getting his clearances, but it's nice to see they're working on it.  I saw a couple men walking around all dressed up a couple weeks ago and wondered if they were Top Secret people too, asking questions about J.  Good thing we know a lot of our neighbors and get along well with all of them.  J is exploring the possibility of going back to school.  He probably will, we just aren't sure when or where.  He has also been working hard to get home repairs done.  Poor guy has a list out to the moon of projects he needs to get done.
As for me, well, I'm back in school too.  I started my first class on L's birthday.  I've been able to keep up with the assignments so far.  I wouldn't say I enjoy it, but I really feel like it's important to finish up.  I have also started walking with my very favorite neighbor almost every morning.  It's been hard this week, with all the rain, but besides that, we have gone every day.  Oh, we also realized that we're cousins!!! How cool is that?  She has researched her genealogy all the way back to England, and my uncle has researched ours.  Our great, great, great (times however many) grandfather is Thomas Bingham, a 17 year old who came over from England with his mom.  Our lines split from there, but it's still really cool.  I have kept all of my goals that I set in January in my mind as I go about my day and overall, I think I've made a lot of progress.  I'm nowhere near where I want to be.  Not even close.  But I've stepped in the right direction. 
My Sweet T is craving attention.  The stinker seems to be ready to drop his nap :(   So I should run and show him that he is more important than this silly old computer.  Hopefully I'll write more tomorrow :)