Pictures from Sunday

After church our Sunday School group went to the local park for lunch. The weather was perfect and everyone had a great time.

Here is Jasmine and Cash hunting down some poor man trying to fish in peace. He'd quietly pick up his stuff and move down a little and they'd just follow him. When I finally reached them and steered them in a different direction you could see his sense of relief.

Daddy and the guys threw the football around

Jasmine playing in the sand in the horseshoes pit

**and was not too happy when the guys decided to play horseshoes**

***to their credit she had moved on until the horseshoe game started and then plopped herself down in the end zone again***

The park has a FREE water area for the kids. And since the kid's had changed out of their church clothes, I told them to go for it. So much fun for them

And I hear a rumor we are getting one of these parks in our small town...

After the kids were done playing in the water and in dry clothes, they decided to watch for fish...

In her Easter dress :(

** Love this one **

Keepin Busy

Another weekend behind us and it was another great one.


Friday when I got home Joe had picked up the kids, cleaned the kitchen and made dinner...
I heart him!


Saturday we did not have anything until the evening so we spent our day chillaxing at home. I sat out on our porch swing and read a book while the kids played. I also made a dump cake for the evening and it was smelling up the house something good. While it was cooling Jasmine (at least that's what Joe told me--he may have been a little guilty too) decided to give it a taste test. After that I covered it up and took it to the van...and locked the doors (not a practice we generally exercise in the country)! BTW - it turned out REALLY good and is soo easy.

Here is the recipe...


Dump Cake


1 can cherry pie filling
1 can crushed pineapple
1 box yellow cake mix
1 stick margarine
1/2 stick butter


Dump cherry pie filling and crushed pineapple into baking dish. Stir together. Sprinkle cake mix over the top of the fruit. Slice margarine and butter and distribute over the surface of the cake mix. Bake this sacrilege at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour.


Saturday evening we went to some friends house and had a total of 7 children there....it was LOUD! Below is a picture of the end of the night. We were all trying to round up our kids and they insisted the puzzle had to be put together before we could go. Catch is, I know I put the same state in at least five times. They just kept taking them off the board to prolong the process. Sneaky little suckers!

Sunday was great too, I will post about it with pictures tomorrow.

Outta time -- gotta go for today!!

O Praise Him

OK, dang it, I've been trying to post a You Tube video and it continues to give me an error message...so I just had to post the link. This video from the David Crowder Band is so great.
I love love love it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpVsF4W8V2Y

Along the same lines as the video...I was in the copy room the other day and had quite a stack of stuff so I took my music and headphones with me. I was tapping my foot and singing along when one of the other manager's said rather loudly 'Good Song??' OH YEAH!!

Flowers

Indian Paintbrushes

These were my favorite when I was young.

Jasmine and Cash picked me a bunch the other night and I must say, they are just as beautiful as these that Joe bought me for our Anniversary in March.

I am Loved!!

Blessed Beyond Belief!

Thank you Lord Jesus!!

AWANA Awards Ceremony

Sunday evening was our awards ceremony for AWANA's. I had six kids at my table, but only five made it to the ceremony. Here are some pictures of my group.

OK, so they started with the high school age kids first and worked their way down to Kindergarten....can you tell they were getting a little restless?

And below we are finally getting ready to go up on stage and I told them to get together for a picture...the girls struck some very awkward poses while the boys paid me no attention.

**I wish I had pictures of us on stage, but Joe was in the back of the auditorium with Cash and I was on stage handing out certificates to my group :( **

After the ceremony there were cookies and juice for everyone and I tried to get a good picture of Joe and the kids

Take 1
Take 2

Take 3

**and this is as good as it gets**

Love them!

Community Outreach

This weekend was another super busy one. Most the day Saturday we were at a community outreach with our Sunday School class that was amazing, truly amazing.

Our church has built a Community Center in a low income neighborhood not too far from the church. The church supplied the food and our class really stepped up and reached out. We all had a great time and planted a seed in the hearts of a lot of people. We are hoping to do something in this community on a monthly basis and I am looking forward to building relationships. Here are just a few pictures (I think I had a total of 75)!

Wild Hare

You may remember last year when looking out the kitchen window there was a cow that had busted through the fence to graze in our backyard. Well this is what we saw the other day when looking out the window. We have a whole family of wild rabbits living under our building -- drives Dali nuts. He is constantly trying to catch one to no avail. Last week while eating dinner he was standing at the windows in the dining room whining and crying and when we peeked out there were two just sitting there, taunting him.

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** On another note **

Does this look like a good idea to anyone??

(an open bubble container sitting on top of a crackers box in the pantry)

While making Jasmine's lunch the other night, I reach into the pantry for a fruit roll-up and this is what I see...now I'm not sure the circumstances that led to this (and I didn't even ask), I am just thanking the Lord above I found it before it became a big 'ol mess.

A Few of My Favorite Things

Superhero Confusion

It's a bird...

It's a bat....

It's um, what the heck would you call that...SuperBatman???

So How Was Your Weekend....

So Saturday I was offered OT at work, which is VERY unusual and I jumped at the chance. I got up at the crack of dawn and drove downtown so I could get it over with and back home to the fam (which is where I should be on the weekend). Well, while I was slaving away at work Joe packed a lunch & took the kids to a park. While at the park they went on a nature hike along the path and played on the equipment (of course). After the park they were headed to the $1 movie and passed a Dairy Queen and sense they had some time to kill guess where they stopped. So with a belly full of ice cream he took them to the $1 movie and then they headed home. They got home less than a minute before I pulled up the drive and this is what I saw....

Good Job Daddy -- they were good and tired.

Saturday we had great weather, so after getting home I put on some shorts, grabbed my headphones and a bottle of water and jumped on the riding mower while Joe did the weed eating. I know I mentioned it last year, but I just LOVE riding the mower. Seriously, I'm in my own world out there. I have a chance to reflect on what is going on in our lives and the many blessings we have to be thankful for. I have my praise music going -- good thing the mower is loud enough to drown me out cause I'm singing at the top of my lungs -- anyhooser's you get my point, I dig it! As I was finishing up Joe started grilling some burgers outside, so by the time I showered and such dinner was ready...which was awesome.

Sunday after church we grabbed a quick lunch at Subway (super yummy) and then headed to our Nursing Home Ministry. Joe played an African Conga drum w/ some of the other's in our Sunday School while Jasmine danced.

She was really getting after, here is an action shot.

The Nursing Home Ministry is once a month and this is the third time the kids have attended. Jasmine truly shines when we go. She is so loving and gentle with the people and makes sure to give them hugs. She even knows a couple by name and looks for them each time we go. Cash is not quite as outgoing as Jasmine and was continually asking if we could go to Blockbuster. Towards the end of the hour I told him they were playing their last song and when they were finished he said loudly, 'Are they done now!' (in the 'can we go yet' tone). A couple of the musicians got a kick out of that.

Last night was our last AWANA club which consisted of an Ice Cream Party -- complete with sprinkles, chocolate syrup, caramel and whipped topping -- YUM! Next week is the awards ceremony, that should be interesting.

Two Little Monkeys Acting Silly After Bath...

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Funny how they become hard of hearing just about the time I say,

'OK, pick out your books for bedtime.'

You'd think I was saying,

'Free for all! Run and scream and act like raving lunatics!'

To Get a Professional Pedi, or To Not Get a Professional Pedi...That is the Question??

Oh how I love sitting in that big chair with the massager going and my eyes closed and someone else doing my toes....Heaven! BUT....I am now deathly afraid of going to those places because of all of the stories that have come out of infection and fungus popping up on unsuspecting people. And most recently a cousin of mine who has had health issues within the last year has reason to believe a pedicure could have been the start of her new issues. So, even though I really really really love someone else doing my toes, I'm afraid I will be doing them at home for a long time to come...and that's OK! Gives Jasmine and I some girl time!!