I love family days

***the pictures on this post are totally sized weird.. I apologize!!***

Last weekend we took the time to just spend the days as a family (with the exception of church of course). Too often we get caught up in being busy and running here and there that we don't just spend as much time together as we would like.

So Saturday morning we just hung around lazily until Rielly had ballet class and we all took her to it. Jon and Reese went to get sodas while I waited for the class to end (that's our Saturday tradition.. ballet and QT!).

Then when she got done, off to the pumpkin patch we went. I wasn't impressed with the pumpkin selection but the kids had fun and we got to take a hayride and feed the animals and just hang out for a bit. We didn't buy a pumpkin there.. we went to WalMart and picked out 2 (3.50/each!). Then Jon and Reese carved one while I worked on Riellys class Halloween treats.

Me and my honey!Here is Jon with his finished pumpkin!

This is Riellys preschool class treat.

I would post more but Reese just sprayed 5 squirts of my Sangria Scentsy spray and if you know anything about that- it's stinkin STRONG and it's filling up the whole house. I HAVE A HEADACHE!

More pics and stuff to come when the air clears!

PS- from earlier blog

I am a McCain/Palin voter in case you were wondering. I just posted that video cuz I thought it was pretty darn funny!!!

Unseen Footage

She will be in our prayers... (don't forget to turn off the music at the bottom)

I've been infested....

So another holiday is upon us and if you know me, you know it means I have to send SOMETHING to the kids classes. So here's what I made for Reese's classmates...

Sorry the picture is kinda dark but that's 23 yummy york spiders waiting to be torn apart by 5yr old fingers!!

I think with Riellys class, I may do something with playdoh. Stay tuned.....

Goodnight, Good Morning, Riellykins

So it's Thursday night... no actually Friday morning and I've been up since 3:30am! I can't sleep!! I'm having a major allergy attack only on the left side of my face. Weird huh? My left eye is swollen, my left nostrel is plugged and the left side of my throat hurts! So the left side of me won't let the rest of me sleep. Not cool!!!

So since I had some time to myself and I've already showered and swept the kitchen floor (heaven knows I should be doing more!), and watched an episode of Girls Next Door, I thought I'd take a moment and blog (sorry Misti- I know you hate that word but it's now a part of everyday household vocabulary).

Test results came back on me and everything is honkeydory. YAY! We decided to wait a few months to start fertility. We have to have one more test done that insurance doesn't cover and it's just a bad time of yr to be doing that so we'll wait and see. And surprisingly I'm really okay with that!

Prayers go out to my Grandpa Les at this time who is not doing so well. He decided it was time to just let nature run it's course and sadly nature always does. He stopped dialysis and now it's a matter of time before he returns to our Father in Heaven. He's had a good life and I will miss him so. I regret I can't be there to see him one last time. I know he will return to good hands and soon he'll be able to see my dad again and for that, I'm rather envious. But I pray that he won't be in a lot of pain and that they (grandpa and grandma and everyone else) and myself will feel comfort at this time. I also pray he has a little more time...that we all have a little more time.

Rielly had her little photo shoot at the dance studio last week. She just got to play and they took pictures. She had a ball! You can check out her 2 pics on the website (I thought theyshould've picked better ones but what to I know!) at http://www.woodstockdance.com/ under the mommy and me section. Someday I'll be listed under the faculty/staff section but I have yet to give a bio.

Anyways here's some of her shots!

A little Sunday drive

While dinner was cooling off, the kids and I decided to go for a drive through the "countryside". So we hopped in the van and drove to Red Top Mtn. How have I not been going there ALL THE TIME!!!??? With the leaves changing, it is just so beautiful! Sometimes I get so busy in life that I forget to just take time to marvel at all the beauty around us here. I realized just how much I have been missing out on because I don't look. There is good everywhere- we just need to look and find it.
I wish I had my camera with me but my camera phone had to do. I think next week we're going to go on a picnic up there after church so I'll get better pictures then. But we went at the perfect time to be able to watch the sun start going down. Wow!

These poor guys were out fishing in a boat pretty close to the shore and I'm sure my kids scared their fish away with the rock throwing. But they just couldn't resist.

I have to admit I've had a rough couple of days.. just being a downer and stuck in a rut and this was what I needed. Just to enjoy some peaceful time with my kids. A perfect ending to the weekend. It would have been even better if Jon was with us but that's okay. Fall has just begun!

My budding musician!

As you all know, I play and teach piano. So of course any sign of a musical talent in my family just thrills me. So today after church, Reese decided he wanted to write a play and he even wrote the musical score. He never finished the play because he got distracted by a computer game but I wanted to share with you what he wrote for my part of the play. This is a kid who has never had a piano lesson (YET).

The lines means I need to hold the notes down:) Pretty clever huh? He even tried to make a treble clef!

Tagged Again!!

I was tagged by Khourt.. Thanks girl. You'll get yours!!!

Rules: All you have to do is go to your 6th picture album folder, pick the 6th picture and post it. After that, tag 5 friends

I had to use my album on facebook...
This was from Christmas last yr.

I now tag: Sarah Y, Jill, Laura, Melissa B, Jamie S.

I am thankful for.... Tuesday

They stink... are messy and HAVE to hate their jobs but today I am thankful for garbage men! You know-- those poor guys (okay to be politically correct.. and girls) that get the unfortunately task of picking up our weekly waste and drive around with it in the back of their trucks all day. Some friends and I were talking the other day about how back in the west, our garbage trucks have arms on them that actually pick up the garbage cans and dump them so there is no manual touching of the germy cans. It was fun to watch BUT that was also the reason why we could only fill the can and have no bags laying next to it. Now out here, the guys actually RIDE on the back on the nasty nasty trucks and pick up our garbage cans and then do whatever they do to it. We can also have a bunch of other garbage bags next to the cans which makes it so nice for us but can't be all that pleasant for those folks taking it away.

So here's to the garbage men in our lives and the homes they stink up after work! SERIOUSLY what would we do without you?!?!?!?

Takes my breath away!

To me, there is not much hotter than a guy in the kitchen. Especially when the girl can't cook so well! I have an amazing husband who is my equal (well.. as much as a man can be right?). And bonus! He cooks better than me too! He doesn't love cooking but he'll do it about just as much as I do and his food is a lot more edible than mine.

He made breaded chicken that night! YUMMY!!!

Anyways it's the little things like this that remind me just how lucky I am!

I love love love love love this picture!!!

My little ballerina

Rielly started ballet lessons at the Woodstock dance and music academy and absolutely loves it! This is the school that I teach at on Mondays so she's able to get her lessons 1/2 price. Her teacher called me the other day and asked if she can use Rielly as a model for their mommy/me class on the website so we're excited about that. Anyways here's some pictures of her in all her ballet glory!

Rielly and Ms Neta

And I can't post a picture of one without the other.

My dr appt... fertility mentioned

Man I can't believe I'm posting this in a public blog but it's a big part of my life so why not?
I had a dr appt today with my lady dr... always a fun treat right? I wanted to talk baby talk. And so we did. Because of my irregularity, chances are I'm not ovulating. I had a hunch time I temped for awhile and never saw a regular pattern but man that was frustrating and exhausting in itself. So now she wants to check my hormone levels, do more indepth thyroid testing, make sure I'm not diabetic since it runs in the family, make sure my ovaries work, etc... luckily it's just blood tests. If all is as it's expected to be, we'll start a few months of clomid. Of course the risk of multiples is increased but only by 7-8% so I can handle that. I think if nothing happens with that and I'm not pregnant at the end of 5-6 months, we're just gonna let it go sadly. The dr said they would then refer me to a fertility specialist but honestly, I don't want to do that. The expense alone would be very hard to swallow. I think clomid is enough "help" for me. So I'm praying it works.. and if not, it'll be a sad day but like I have said before, we have been blessed so much already that we'd be okay.

I'm grateful for.. Thursday

Today I am extremely thankful for service. Not just the service I recieve from others but the service I am able to give to others. Lately I've been thinking more about this and wondering.. is too much service a bad thing? Is it wrong to be so willing to serve others? Nay I say.
Service comes in so many ways. A card to brighten someones day. A phone call (or text sometimes) just to check and see how someone is doing. Volunteering to watch children or running to the grocery store. Playing the piano for a special number, smiling at someone in the hall for no reason, taking a friend out to lunch... I can go on an on. And all these things- giving and receiving them are irreplacable!
The other day, a great friend of mine Cheryl asked to take me out to lunch. She probably has no idea how much that meant to me for her to think of me and want to spend her time and money to take me to lunch and be able to talk. That was a wonderful act of service on her part and at the same time, I feel by listening and talking and just being a friend that I in return gave service to her.

Today I saw one of the greatest acts of service I have seen and felt in a long time. A dear friend of mine has a very special occasion happening tomorrow. Her husband is getting baptised. This is something they have been waiting for for so so long. And of course as anyone would be who is having a big event, family coming into town and friends coming to visit, the little things that need done have been weighing on her. So myself and 2 other dear friends offered to come over and help get her place together-- to help with those little things that are often overlooked in general housecleaning. And we all worked together and had such a lovely time-- it didn't seem like work at all! And it was done in a few hrs and gave her time to get the other important things that needed attended to. She is our friend.. we love her. So cleaning to us seemed like such a little thing to do but to her, it was HUGE! She was so grateful and so relieved and it felt so good to make our friend happy. And little did she know- she was offering service to us by allowing us to do this for her and to be able to spend time with each other and to talk and just to be.

I have so many examples of various types of service... sadly sometimes I do things grudgingly. Sometimes I complain. But I could say no. Yes I do hate saying no to people and letting people down. But I could. However that isn't who I am. I am one who wants to make people happy. I am one who wants to be friends with everyone. I am one who will do anything for any of my friends. It's the small acts of service that make me who I am. And that in the end makes me happy. Maybe sometimes it's not in the beginning or in the middle but reaping the rewards of service, that makes me happy. And it makes others happy. And that's what compassionate service is all about.