Spring Break

Wow!  Where does the time go?!?  We are in-between sports right now so there should be time somewhere but I’ve seemed to have lost it!  It seems like March was just beginning.  I was so excited for spring to start and here it is already April and Easter right around the corner.  What happened to the Passion Week plans I was making for my family?  Here it is… Passion Week half over and we haven’t done a thing!  I need to spend some time with God showing me how to be a better time manager because obviously I’m way off!

Spring break came and went so quickly, we barely had time to enjoy it.  It was the middle of March.  My original plans were for a major de-cluttering, organizing, and cleaning in each of the three kids’ bedrooms.  I briefly mentioned to my mom back in the winter that maybe we could take a trip to Illinois to visit family over spring break.  I hadn’t been up there in awhile.  Well, as you can guess… mom’s plans over-ride my own.  So with three kids in tow, I head to Missouri Saturday for a big family get-together.  My parents just got back from their winter stay in Mexico.  Every year, they host a big pizza party so they can see everyone again.  As always, I had a delightful time catching up with everyone because I hadn’t seen them since Christmas.  I love this picture of Robbie with his little cousin Abbie.  She was born with a cleft lip.  Poor little thing has been through more surgeries in her four years of life than most adults will ever go through in their life time.  She is a sweet, beautiful thing and such a fighter too!  There is little evidence now of her cleft lip.

Sunday morning, we head out with Mom for Peoria, IL.  That is where all her family lives.  Along the way, we found this wind turbine farm.  It was awesome for us to see.  I finally realize what those long things are that we see semi’s carrying.  Haha!  We had to go down a few country side roads to get these pictures, but I LOVE country side roads!

While in Princeville, we came across this memorial for veterans of the town.  My Granddad and all my uncles served in the Navy and all were Seabees.  I discovered that my great-uncle, my granddad, and my uncle all served in World War II.  Two of my uncles served in Viet Nam.  My great-grandfather and great-uncle served in the Civil War.  Those that are still alive have never talked about wars so I had no idea.  I felt such pride when I read through the names.  I wish I could hear their stories of courage.

We didn’t do much sight-seeing on this trip.  It was all about visiting family and of course lots of food is always involved when my family gets together.  A little shopping with my aunts was thrown in also.  We all had a great time, even the kids.

We headed back home on Wednesday and stopped in St. Louis to see the arch. 

You don’t realize the massiveness of this unique monument until you stand beside it.

The water was up slightly at the riverfront.  Lol!  This is a Lewis & Clark statue.

It was nice to get out and stretch for awhile and break up the long trip home.

Since this was sort of a last minute trip decision, Rich had to stay home and work.  I was so thankful to have my older two kids to help out with the young one.  Ryan and Robbie have a wonderful relationship and I’m so thankful for it!  You wouldn’t have thought it would turn out this way because Ryan wanted nothing at all to do with Robbie when he was born.  Nothing!  Now, I have to practically tear them apart when they’re wrestling and playing.  So this picture is very dear to me.  Also, the little Mickey Mouse that Robbie is holding Ryan won for him in one of those little machines at a restaurant.  Robbie never laid it down for a second the whole time on the trip.  He kept thanking Ryan for winning it for him.  It was so cute!

We had a wonderful time on our trip.  I know the kids enjoyed this way more than cleaning their rooms.  It was a very long 12 hours from Princeville, IL to Bruner, MO to Catoosa, OK.  That’s when I really missed Rich the most!  My mom doesn’t like to drive so it was me all the way.  My back and bottom were so sore.  Ha!  What surprised me the most was how well behaved the kids were all the way home.  I did more complaining than they did.  I had to have more pee breaks than them.  I’m still bewildered about it!

I'm grateful for time that God allows me to spend with my family and I'm grateful for a family that I desire to spend time with!

The beach and a few pelicans

The sun streaming down on your face, the sand squishing between your toes, the waves crashing on the shore, the palm trees swaying in the slight breeze... as close to paradise as I have ever been.

I love this picture of my sister Jodi and Dad.  I thought they were discussing something serious.  When I came upon them, they were just chit chatting about the beautiful beach.

 

My brother Daryl was the only one of us to swim in the ocean.  I had my swim suit on, but I didn't go swimming.  I really enjoyed wading and letting the waves crash up against me.  That was good enough for me.

The buildings were so colorful, so bright.

I just love how the beach is set inside the mountain. It's a perfect little cove.

There is a restaurant on the right side of this island.  We never made it out there.  My mom is not a fan of water or boats.  We thought it would be so cool to go exploring the island, but definitely not at night!  It is eerie dark at night, you can't even see the island from the shore.

He he!  I love the expression on this pelican.  It's almost like it has a sly grin.

Oh man, I was so engrossed in the pelicans!  They were so much fun to watch.  I so wish my kids could have been there.  The pelicans let you get within a couple of feet from them, then they start walking away as they keep an eye on ya.  There were seafood vendors on the beach.  You pick out your shrimp or fish, they load up kabobs and stick em on the grill while you wait!  The "excess" gets thrown to the pelicans.  You always knew where the seafood vendors were... look for the hoard of pelicans.  In this picture they are grabbling for a bite.

This one looks like he's coming right for me!  They will knick you with their wings when they fly in.  We got hit a few times and boy does it sting!

Okay, the feeding frenzy is over... time to go back to the ocean.

This lucky pelican was able to grab some seafood!  Look at that other one just standing there patiently watching and waiting for a chance to grab a bite.  Yeah, I know it's gross.  Jodi already told me that.  But I thought it was cool how their neck swelled up when they got a bite.  That's why I needed my kids.  I know they would have thought it was cool too.

A perfect landing and even a beak full...

Fish for lunch... check out that tail sticking out of that beak.

Don't they just make the cutest little tracks...

Up close and personal

I love the cross on this mountain.  Can you see it in the picture?  It's right smack dab in the middle.  Almost every single village you come across will have a memorial like this.  This one was actually closed for remodeling so we didn't get to walk up to it.  But as you travel the mountain up to the cross, you will come across the 13 stations of the Catholic faith.  How neat to be on the beach-- as you glance over toward the mountain and see the cross.  What a sweet reminder of God loving us so much that He sent His only Son to die for us.  Not only was I surrounded in God's beauty, but I had a neat reminder any time I looked up the hill.

For a perfect ending to our afternoon on the beach, we had a little fresh fruit.  Now when I say fresh fruit, I mean FRESH!  I have never tasted any fruit so tender, so sweet as the fruit we had in Mexico.  My, I miss it sooooo much already!  The vendor carved out the inside of the pineapple.  Crushed it with some ice and put it back in.  Then he added whatever fruit we wanted.  Jodi chose coconut.  I chose watermelon and oranges.  Two straws, two spoons  and we were set!  Delicious!

"Farmer Man" enjoying a pineapple chunk that was carved out of the middle of our drink.  Dad wore that John Deere hat (that Rich gave him) everywhere we went.  The Mexicans, Americans and Canadians alike were calling him the farmer man.  "Hey farmer man, how you doing?"  Dad would just wave and smile.  I think he rather liked all the attention he received.  Don't you just love this picture?

We ended this day with a trip to the pizzeria.  Unless you've been there, you have no idea how nice it is to sit in an open restaurant on a beautiful moon lit night.  I was trying to steal a picture of that sweet fire-brick oven that was cooking our pizza.  They saw what I was doing and had me come up by them.  He said "Your pizza, your pizza."  They posed with our pizza.  Too funny!  Yum, it was so good!

I'm grateful for the reminder lesson that I learned on this day.  Even in the vastness of the creation, God chose me.  He created me and loves me even though I am so undeserving of His love.

This Christmas...

5 days till Christmas!  Wow!  Where has the time gone?  Where has the year gone?

My Holiday tree that is kept up year round in my dining room is decorated with cookie cutters, homespun, a few fabric hearts and a Christmas present from my dear friend, Donna-- the adorable Gooseberry Patch Cookbook ornament!  I LOVE it!  It's so cute!  Thank you Donna!

A few things sitting on my husband's grandmother's hutch.  I decorated with fresh greenery all over this year and I love the pine smell!

My very favorite Christmas piece was made by my mom in 1986.  She made six of them!  One for each of her children!  Although it would be a decade later before I married, I have treasured it because I know how much love and time was put into this beautiful village!

I am so very thankful for this Christmas compared to last Christmas. Last year I had to work more days at my part-time job. I was working four days a week. This year I am only working two days a week. It has been so wonderful to accomplish so many things I wasn't able to last year because of time restraints. Even though my job is part-time, working retail at Hobby Lobby is hard work! Most especially at Christmas time and the month following it! I work in the Seasonal department and it is ever evolving! Constant change is going on. Right now we are in the process of setting out garden and spring items. Valentine's has arrived also! As much as I despise pink (sorry for all you pink lovers!), I am always so delighted to see some pink after all that red and green!

Anyway, it has been a most enjoyable Christmas for me this year. I have been able to focus more on Christ and share more of Him this year. That is always such a thrill for me! My most favorite thing about Christmas is spending time with family and friends. I had a wonderful weekend full of these! Some of my girlfriends and I had a cookie swap Friday night hosted at my home. We had a most enjoyable time... staying up till 1:35 AM catching up on each other's lives! We finally divvied up the cookies at 1 AM! Haha! It was fun and such sweet fellowship. Saturday night, we hosted the main course of a progressive Christmas dinner for our church youth. It was a house full! I was worried about 50+ people having room to sit down and eat dinner, but it worked out. Good times for sure!

After a week of baking and partying, I am ready to focus on a week of my kids being home on Christmas break. Together, we are going to build a gingerbread house (that was actually bought last year, but we never had time to put it together), make jelly and mini bread loaves to share with our family, wrap presents, watch Christmas shows snuggled up on the couch eating popcorn and nestle by the fire drinking hot cocoa. Now that is a Christmas I can enjoy instead of being wore out from working so hard!

Thank you Lord! I am most grateful for the joy in my heart this Christmas!

Wishing you and your family a most warm and blessed Christmas surrounded by lots of love!

Going Home

What a grand weekend I had "going back home".  Although I have been gone from Bruner, MO for almost 14 years-- it will always, always be home to me.

My boys and I arrived Friday evening just in time for dinner with my parents and my brother Daryl at China House.  Love their cashew chicken!  Ryan loves their crab legs that are only out on the buffet on Friday nights.  Needless to say, he was quite happy about the restaurant choice.  We stole Mom away and headed to Branson to see the Silver Dollar City lights.  You would think that living there for 25 years and going back numerous times over the past years that there would be one season in the past 40 years that I would have made it to see the SDC lights.  But no...  This was my first year!  And boy was it magical!

You just gotta love a twinkling parade at night!

The stores were all decked out in beautiful Christmas displays.  Robbie had to have his pixie stick from the candy store with him at all times.

The next morning bright and early I met my dear girlfriends, Donna and Jeanna, for breakfast.  Time spent with those two are truly priceless!  Why does time have to fly by so quickly when you just wish it would stand still?  I guess that's just a daily reminder for us to enjoy what we have when we have it.  There is always so much to talk about and never enough time to get it all in!  I am blessed to have been re-connected with them this year!

From there, I went to my niece's home to watch the small town Christmas parade with lots of heart!  My little great-nephews were in it and they were oh so proud to throw us lots of candy!  After the parade, we all gathered in her home for homemade cinnamon rolls, brownies, hot chocolate and cider.  It was nice to relax and fellowship with my loved ones!

That evening was our family Thanksgiving dinner.  We normally have it the Saturday after Thanksgiving but my parents were going to be out of town then so they moved it back.  I'm glad they did.  It was a very nice and enjoyable weekend for me!  As always, their home was full of family and love... and food!  With 6 kids, 16 grandkids, 15 great-grandkids, and all the spouses... we most definitely have family gatherings full of love!  For Rich growing up with one brother, he gets a little overwhelmed at times.  But I wouldn't have it any other way!  =]

To celebrate one of the two new additions that will be added to our family soon, we celebrated with a baby shower on Sunday.  What a nice way to end the weekend full of family and love!

I am grateful for a large family that truly loves one another, helps one another and gets along so well.  When I only get to go back home once in awhile, I miss them so.  Thank you Lord, for such a sweet and loving family!