The Big day!

Well .. today is the big day! When my honey gets off work, we are headed down South! I can't wait to see everyone! It's been a whole year since I have been home and it feels much longer than that. Jonathan and I loaded all the wheat, corn and all the other stuff last night. We were worried about not having enough room. Once we get the luggage in there, we will be cramped but we will survive. :) Emma helped me pack her suitcase last night so she is all ready to go. She said she was bringing her little lamb along. She loves "Mary had a little lamb" and when she pretend plays she say's "I'm Mary" and off she goes and plays with "little lamb". :) Abigail is sure to try and take her host of stuffed animals and blankets. I am going to have to keep things at a minimum because the more you take, the more you have to keep up with and God forbid we should leave "puppy" or "snugbug" behind.

We have had alot of rain in the last few days and the creek is up. WAYYY up. We are supposed to be getting some snow today - needless to say I am glad I'm leaving. I am sooo ready to see SUNSHINE; something we don't see often enough up here during the cold months.

I better get going. I still have Abbi, Jonathan and myself to pack.

The joys of traveling

Two days ago I said I will "blog more later" and I never got back. *sigh* I have been very busy. 2 more days and Jonathan, the girls and I are leaving for our trip! I have been cleaning house like mad, determined to come home to a clean house.

This evening, after Jonathan came home from work we rushed right back out the door - for the 1 hour drive to the "Country Variety Store". This is where I get my whole wheat berries and a bunch of other GREAT stuff from! :) They have the best Amish cheese and candy! Anyways - the weather was nasty and we weren't sure we were going to make it, but thankfully we did and I puchased my 200+ lbs. of wheat and a "bunch of other stuff"! No, No - the wheat wasn't all for me. It's for 2 of my sisters and my dear mother. :)

On our way home from the Country Store - all of a sudden I was having second thoughts about the long drive ahead of us. I am busy "helping" Jonathan drive, when I can't help but tune into Emma and Abbi's "argument" :

Emma: no! mine!

Abbi: NO! MINE!

Emma: no! mine!

Abbi: NO! MINE!

Emma: no! mine!

Mommy: *thinking... "oh Lord - what are they arguing about now??"

Abbi: NOO! MY BUUTS! (boots)

Then it hit me... Emma took her rain boots off and set them in the middle between herself and Abbi, and Abbi was quick to claim them; or atleast try to. :)

*sigh* Tis the joy of traveling.

I wonder what they will find to argue about the whole way down South?!?

Well - it is 10:45 so I better get me some sleep. Another long day ahead tomorrow. I have so much more to write, but it will have to wait for another day. :) Emma and Abbi are doing too many cute things these days. I can't keep up!

Busted!

This past weekend, the night before we were leaving for Columbus to attend my nephews 10th birthday party (HAPPY B-DAY JARED!!) I was in the kitchen making Whole Wheat Cookies (YUMMY). Once I started the mixer I thought it strange that Abbi didn't come running around the corner to "help mommy" as she usually does. So after a few minutes of no sign of her, I decided to venture out to make sure she's just fine. No sooner do I turn the corner I find her sitting on the floor, cutting paper! haha... the look on her face was so funny - she was NOT happy when she was busted! Funny how, I never took the siccors from her and said "NO" but yet she still somehow knew that she was doing something she thought she wasn't supposed to do. I don't mind her using Emma's "kids" siccors because it causes her to be creative. :) I just had to grab my camera and take these pictures - they are priceless. She was so concentrated with cutting the paper she didn't realize I was standing there until the flash went off. :)

On a seperate note - Abbi will be 2 years old 1 month from today! WAAHHHHH *sniff sniff* My BABY girl is growing up. :(

Bri, Hailey and Cody will be here soon, so I must go. Will be blogging more later!

Don't step on the ducks!

Three women die together in an accident and go to heaven. When they get there, St. Peter says, "We only have one rule here in heaven ... don't step on the ducks."

So they enter heaven, and sure enough, there are ducks all over the place. It is almost impossible not to step on a duck, and although they try their best to avoid them, the first woman accidentally steps on one. Along comes St. Peter with the ugliest man she ever saw. St. Peter chains them together and says, "Your punishment for stepping on a duck is to spend eternity chained to this ugly man!"

The next day, the second woman accidentally steps on a duck, and along come St. Peter, who doesn't miss a thing, and with him is another extremely ugly man. He chains them together with the same punishment as the first woman.

The third woman has observed all this and, not wanting to be chained for all eternity to an ugly man, is very, VERY careful where she steps. She manages to go months without stepping on any ducks, but one day St. Peter comes up to her with the most handsome man she has ever laid eyes on ... very tall, tan, muscular, and with good hair. St. Peter chains them together without saying a word.

The woman remarks, "I wonder what I did to deserve being chained to you for all of eternity?" And the guy says, "Well, I don't know what you did, but I stepped on a duck."

* Hope you got a good laugh - as I did. :)

Another Typical Day

Today was another rather typical day. It's 7:45 and I am sitting down for what I believe to be the first time today. I went to bed late last night,(again) and had interrupted sleep by Emma 2 times, not to mention the constant nightmares I had. (one of those nights) For some reason Emma decided to wake up and come crawling in our bed. Something she has never done before. After about an hour she said "I'm going in my own bed". A couple hours later she woke me up because she needed me to help her get her pajama's on right. She had the sleeve's turned inside out so she was having a bit of trouble getting dressed after going potty.

It was a most beautiful day today! It reached 65 and sunny. Will probably be the best day we have for months to come. I baby sat as usual, and it was nice to take all the kids out again. Even 8 wk. old baby Cody enjoyed the great outdoors! :) He is so cute! Makes me want a BOY!:) But.......... girls are sooo sweet!! After sitting down not too long ago, Emma comes to me, throws her sweet little arms around my neck and said, "I wuv you sooooo MUCH!" It was sooo sweet!! And of course, Abbi tells me that every night... "Goo nighhh.. I wuv yooouuu". Nothing sweeter than hearing those words from my sweet little girls!

If I wasn't so tired I would make another batch of soap. I have only made 2 so far, which I am happy to announce that we have started using my first batch and we love it! Lathers soo nicely and for some reason I no longer have to use lotion. :) Jonathan won't go back to the "store bought" soap. My 2nd batch "Coco Butter Almond" is still curing, but makes my laundry room smell delicious. I can't wait to try that one out, which has a couple more weeks to cure.

I think my next batch will be "baby grand". A super mild soap for my babies. I also plan on making a shampoo bar real soon. Hopefully I can get these done before going home for Thanksgiving.

Abbi is demanding my attention so I must go. :)

Abbi's Snugglebug

For those of you who do not know who "snugglebug" is - (read the story below) I am including this picture - snugglebug isn't the handsome fellow in this picture... that is my husband. :) Snugglebug is the little guy on Abbi's back pack. This picture was taken in July, but I wanted to include it to introduce "Snugglebug". On this particular day Abbi was all ready to go shopping with her Daddy, and of course she had to bring Snugglebug along. :)

*notice: the date is wrong on the picture; it should be 2006

Ok.. now I am going to bed FOR REAL!

Abbi's latest adoption

This is Abbi's latest "adoption". She found this little "puppy" - as she calls it, in the bottom of the toy box yesterday and hasn't let go of it since. For those of you who know Abbi - you know how much she loved her "snuggle bug" and would sleep with NOTHING else! Well, it looks like she adopted the puppy into her Abbi/Snuggle Bug family. Tonight she went to sleep with BOTH. :) Speaking of sleep it is 12:33 A.M. eekk.. I better get to bed! :)

Fall - gone already!

Well - seems like Fall's spectacular colors have come and gone too quickly. This is about all that is left of the beautiful leaves on the trees. This picture is our creek that runs along the back of our yard. I am already looking forward to Spring, when the birds will return and I can go sit on the brick wall and "bird watch". It's so sad to see all the leaves gone and Winter setting in. Usually this time of year I do look forward to the first big snow fall. For some reason - I am not looking forward to it this year. I am however looking forward to going home for Thanksgiving! :)

You make me sad

This is a story that happened a several days ago, but I kept thinking I must blog this - so I will never forget it.

When Emma does something "bad" or doesn't listen and do what I tell her I say "Emma.. you're not listening to mommy and that makes me very sad" - which in turn she follows directions because she dislikes making me "sad". So the other day she asked me if she can have icecream. I said, "no honey - you can't have icecream right now because it's almost supper time and I don't want you ruining your appetite". She looks up at me, with tears in her eyes and her arms stretched out at her sides and said "Mommy.. you make me so sad".

?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

:)

Fellowship and Giggles

Today turned out to be a chilly, but beautiful day! My friend Miriam and her daughter Rachel came over and spent a few hours with us. We had lots of pictures to look at and alot to catch up on. We had a delicious lunch - and wonderful fellowship! Emma, Abbi and Rachel all got along so well. The house was full of laughter and giggles - music to me ears. :) Emma and Abbi just went down for thier naps. They will be lucky to get an hour in; when Jonathan gets home, we will have to rush out the door to Stephen and Aaron's basketball game, which they are playing in Lima tonight. So I better get going and tidy up the house, while I can.

Busy Day

Right now, it is 10:16, my girls are sleeping and it is 27 degrees outside- supposed to drop down to 22. My lemon tree is out in the sunroom, which is not heated - hopefully I will rememeber to bring it inside before going to bed. I am too lazy to do that right now, and too cold. Today was a rather busy day. It started with taking Emma to school, doing laundry, cleaning house, having someone come over to give us an estimate on 3 picture windows that need replacing. (especially 2 out of three, which lost thier seal) It pays to get more than one estimate. This guy is almost half of what another guy wanted. One thing we have found out is that windows AREN'T cheap! They leak cold air so with Winter weather upon us they MUST be replaced :(

I am having a friend over tomorrow for lunch so Jonathan and the girls helped me whip up a batch of whole wheat cookies! They turned out great! YUMMY! I will have to get up and knead a batch of bread before heading off to Emma's school for a 9:30 meeting. So - I am thinking I better get to bed. :)

Little Mommy

Abbi is up from her nap and doing what she does best, outside of being ornery. Being a little mommy to her baby - with Hot Chocolate all over her shirt. :) She loves kissing, and cuddling her "babies" and "Snuggle Bug". (Snuggle Bug is her snuggly stuffed lamb she sleeps with) :p

I just had to take this picture and blog it!

Turtle Creek Fleamarket

This past weekend we went to a fleamarket down below Dayton called Turtle Creek. It is a big fleamarket and we covered alot of ground. I found a few necessities such as fresh organic apples, turnip roots and fresh farm chicken eggs. The apples are divine and the eggs are scrumptious!

Jonathan and I have also been looking to buy a bike trailer for the kids and we found one that looks like this one. But- we only paid 35.00 so we got a much better deal. :) It was a nice little weekend trip - of course the girls had to go away with something too, so they each bought them a little bouncy ball with a string on it - courtesy of thier own money. :) I am having company over tomorrow for lunch, so I must get off the computer, plan and clean while my kids are taking thier afternoon naps. :)

*COMING SOON: About; my 2nd bacth of homemade soap.

Child Like Faith

Emma loves going to school and each morning she wakes up ready to eat breakfast, get dressed and rush out the door for School. Yesterday morning, we were actually running ahead of schedule so after her getting dressed, we didn't rush out the door. So - she goes ...

Emma: Mommy - come on.. let's go to school

Mommy: wait honey - it's not time yet

Emma: yes it is

Mommy: no honey - we can't leave now... your teachers aren't at school yet. It's too early.

Emma: *sigh* Mommy...

Mommy: yes?

Emma: Let's pray that my teachers will come to shcool - and then they will be there and we can go!!

How sweet is the faith of a small child. *smile*