April 28, 2011

Finally, finally after all the storms we had a beautiful, gorgeous, get-out-there-and-enjoy-the-sunshine kind of day!!!!

We decided, since all of the rain the past few days, that it was a good time to turn the soil and trim the bushes.







I think I only have one picture of Margaret working. . .those who know and love her won't be surprised. . .

 

But she did a good job keeping everyone hydrated and fed!

They all really did do quite a bit of work. . .it's so nice having older kids to help with all of this!!!

 

 We headed to Lowe's after taking Thomas to soccer practice but didn't find anything to plant.  We met Tom there and headed on to a local garden center but they were closed when we got there (6:30!). . .one last-ditch effort at a Wal-Mart on the way home and score!!!  We found some things to plant.  Hopefully they'll get in the ground before they die. . . (i.e. this weekend)

I love the look on Frederick's face in this picture. . .he was posing of course.

I'm loving that WINTER IS OVER -- Praise God for His seasons, that Spring and Summer always arrive (even if just a little late this year).

And lastly, I wasn't fair to Margaret. . .she posed for a working picture too. . .

Such a pretty girl!  With a very short attention span. . .

January picture(s) of the day

One of my "resolutions", or goals, this year is to get a Picture of the Day each day of this year (2011).  I haven't known what I was going to do with these pictures. . .it was just an excuse to make sure I used my camera a lot :)  Anyhow, today we were at Sam's Club and I saw a great little scrapbook, all set up ready for pictures and thought, "Aha!  This is it!  The kids can help with this. . ."  I don't even think the pages are supposed to come out -- it's a 12x12 softcover thing with extra letters and stickers in the front.  For $13 I figured it is worth a try. . .

An hour or so ago I got online to check e-mail (it's kinda backed up) and saw a promotion that Snapfish is running now so I decided to start going through my 2011 pictures. . .

Ugh.  It took me an HOUR to go through all my January pictures.  On some days, there are just too many to choose from so I went ahead and chose a couple to print.  Either we'll put more than one on a page or we'll just decide when we get to that day.

I have three or four with Miss Marie and her puzzles. . .ha!  She is one who really keeps me "on track" with my picture-of-the-day adventure.

I also found through these pictures that the weather changed dramatically in January.  I know the dates on my pictures are annoying, but they help *me* stay on track.  The above one of Thomas and Frederick was the 23rd of January.  The next one was taken on the 26th of January:

Yea, can you believe it?  Then keep going. . .the next is three days later:

 So. . .kinda fun looking back.  And seeing the trampoline go up (on the 23rd) and being used all these days after!

There are some days that I see I'm missing. . .but know I took some on my cell phone too so will need to look through and see if I can fill in.  Some are very "mundane" pictures (doing schoolwork) and one day I took a picture of the day on the calendar, the time on the clock, then went around and snapped a picture of everyone in the house at the time.  I'll have to remember to do that again!

Let's see. . .and hour to go through and download pictures for one month, and another hour to blog about it. . .I have some mighty time on my hands!!! 

Glad to have the luxury of a little time to record these memories for my family :) 

Blessings,
Jenni

From 40 degrees to 80 degrees

Well, the misery continued at the garage sale on Saturday. . .temperatures were in the 40's and besides the on-and-off drizzle/rain it was also windy.  We started outside (guess the sky should have given us a clue)

but soon had to move in.

The kids' goal was $50 on Saturday (everything was 1/2 price too) and they made $49.50.  I'd say it was a success!  This is all that was left. . .down from four tables to one.  Whew.

 We'll take the shoes and clothes to our church's Care Center and take the toy/book odds-and-ends to the YMCA YPlay area where I work.

And the weather did NOT improve. . .however the U10 and U12 soccer games still went on. . .ugh!  It was COLD out there -- and it's mid-April!!!

 That's the coach of the U10 team (none other than TOM -- ha!) just trying to keep warm.  I think maybe his best players were too cold to come out??? They were creamed. . .11-0.  But ask the kids -- they had fun :)

Here's one of the good players that showed up. . .Frederick (in the white shinguards). . .and another of Tom's players. . .

Beautiful Erin.  (You can see Tom's asst. coach bundled up by the goal!)  All this rain is good for some greenery though, huh?

Now, on the field right next to it, playing at exactly the same time were the other two kiddos.  The blessing in all of this is that the games *were* at the same time and so we didn't have to endure two hours of the cold and rain -- ha!

Thomas. . . although he didn't score for his team this week, he did assist in an awesome goal with a corner kick!

And Miss Marie is playing with him on U12 this spring too.

She's the only girl in this picture right now.  Really, only one of three girls on a team of 16 kids!  She holds her own though.  Fortunately, she blocked the ball in this penalty kick. . .unfortunately it was called a hand ball (and I'm just now noticing that her hands were in her pockets at this point) and another penalty kick was given, which gave the other team their second goal.  But we prevailed. . .and won 3-2. . .our coach thought that was the first time in two years that we've beat that other team so "yea!" to JJ's U12 team!!!

That evening the girls and I got to do something special. . .

There was a women's ministry dinner at our church that night and our Children's Director's daughter hosted a table for the "little" girls so my girls were invited to that.  The topic was on inner beauty, which was perfect for everyone.  It was one of those dinners where the hosts of the tables decorate in a theme. . .Marie and I walked around twice. . .the second time taking pictures. . .here are some of our favorites (although every one of them was amazing):

 The table below won "most elegant"

 I think the table the Red Hat Society put together was one of Marie's and my favorites:

 I wish my picture did this table more justice. . .Marie and I thought this one was the most elegant.

 I think the centerpiece on this one gave it so much *life*!

 And this was the display set up right next to it for drinks and dessert. . .

 The girls' table had a candy theme:

And ours a "springtime" theme:

It was a super night!  Thank you, Janna, for inviting us to be your guests!


Sunday, finally, the sun came out :)  The girls had some friends over and they planted some seeds that Margaret has wanted to get started for a couple of weeks now.

I read somewhere to start seeds in egg shells, then when you are ready to plant in the ground, you plant the entire thing.  Guess we'll see how it works. . .I've been saving egg shells for weeks now. . .and Margaret picked out some flower varieties at Wal-Mart.

We'll see how it goes. . .

And then, Monday, this. . .

O.K., not the most flattering/attractive picture (just out of the shower) but. . .it's my picture-of-the-day. . .me submitting my final theses paper!!!!  Yes, yes. . .all 40 pages of it :)

Tuesday we finally had an 80-degree day -- yea!!! 

And now it's Wednesday and the cold and rain is back. . .the couple days we had were nice though :)  Here we go, embarking on Easter Weekend, who knows what the weather holds?  It's not about the weather, though, is it?  (Although it seems that way for me. . .) 

We'll see family, eat lots of good food, and have some time off together.  That and getting to celebrate the reason we're Christians --  
because He is ALIVE!!!  We serve a RISEN Savior!!!!

Blessings to all,
Jenni

Garage Sale - Company Girls 4.15

The kids have begged and begged.  Today was the big day -- GARAGE SALE DAY!!!  A friend down the street and I organized a "neighborhood garage sale" to make the drive out here worth it to more people.  We think about 8 families were planning on participating (there are 53 houses in our neighborhood). 

 The kids were up by 6, and although the ad run for the neighborhood had a 7 a.m. opening time, they started dragging tables out at 6:40.  We were able to have the tables and such in the driveway for a little over an hour, then the rain came.  Then the thunder to drive even the heartiest of souls away. 

This is what they're doing now:

They absolutely refuse to close up even though the red hanging from our mailbox used to be a posterboard:

Oh yea, on top of it all, we had a showing for the house today.  Like getting ready for the yard sale wasn't enough.  The real estate company left a message for me yesterday and I called the secretary back to tell her we would be here and explained the situation but said we would not be in the house.  The time they gave us was "between 9:30-11:00 a.m.".  Wouldn't you know, they showed up at 9:20 -- as I was walking up the stairs to do one last check. . .one of the kids hadn't made (his) bed. . .quick threw that cover on and made sure the toilet was flushed. . .the people were here for less than 5 minutes though so I guess it didn't really matter.  Now the house is ready -- anybody else want to come by????

Looks like we might be in for a wet weekend.  There isn't much on the calendar, though, and I'm thankful for that.  Will finish my theses and turn it in FOR SURE this weekend.  The girls and I have a ministry dinner to go to at our church Saturday night.  That's it. . .so nice :)

For any Company Girls visiting, you might be more interested in a post I put up a day or so ago about my Prayer Warriors.  What a gift the Lord has given us in these children.

Link up and visit with the rest of us if you have some time!