Rejoice in the LORD always

Rejoice in the LORD always and again I say REJOICE.

We have been singing this song today. Because if we are rejoicing in the LORD we will not be able to throw fits or whine or complain or be mean!!!


It have been sung a lot already!! It is only 2:00pm. It has stopped a few tantrums, but not all.

Pumpkin Pancakes

Can you tell I really like Pumpkin? My kids love it too. They want me to buy a million cans of it so we can have pumpkin all of the time.


Pancakes
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1 cup pumpkin
2 eggs
1/2 cup orange juice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

combine all ingredients. You may need to add extra orange juice. These tend to be pretty thick. Cook on medium hot griddle. Enjoy with real maple syrup.

Again, I forget to tell them they are healthy!!!

Pumpkin Muffins

I made these delicious pumpkin muffins for breakfast. They did not last long. Should I tell them they are healthy? Probably not!!





2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 cup pumpkin
2 TBSP coconut oil
3/4 cup honey
2/3 cup vanilla or plain yogurt
1 tsp vanilla if using plain yogurt
1 egg
1/2 cup craisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Mix wet ingredients together, Mix dry ingredients together. Combine just until mixed. Bake 375 for 20-25 min.

They are best after cooling completely.

The Joy of the LORD is my strength

The joy of the Lord is my strength,

The joy of the Lord is my strength,

The joy of the Lord is my strength,

The joy of the Lord is my stength!

He gives me Living Waters and I thirst no more,

He gives me Living Waters and I thirst no more,

He gives me Living Waters and I thirst no more,

The Joy of the Lord is my strength.




It does not come from having a well mannered boy who loves to have fun and usually chooses to do the right things.


It doesn't come from an extremely talented girl who loves nothing more than to be swinging from a high bar trying the latest release moves.




It does not come from having a very outgoing boy who wants nothing more than to be the class clown.







It doesn't come from a beautiful girl who wants to give you just about anything as long as she does it her way.










It does not come from the greatest husband know to woman.






Or the big house with nice cars in the drive way.





It comes from the LORD. Serving Him alone. Not trying to have the family who people see as a "nice family", or having the nice things of this world


Choose for yourself this day whom you will serve. As for me in my house we will serve the LORD. Joshua 24:15

Well, It has been too long

I just looked at this and decided, "If I am going to have a blog, I should be giving it my best." Well, I have not been doing that, and I am sorry. Will you please forgive me?

See you soon! Like tonight or in the morning. :)

Happy Birthday Grace!

Eight years ago today, God blessed our family with Grace Margaret Shanahan. She has been an amazing gift!

Today, She got to pick all of the food and activities. She chose cinnamon rolls for breakfast, no lunch, and O'Charley's for dinner. The activity was ice skating! What fun that was. Grace discovered even though she can flip and twist, walk and flip on a balance beam, she is not the best ice skater. By the end of the trip she was ok.

Cameron did ok. He was able to stay up most of the time, but didn't like the way his ankle felt after 40 minutes!

Ellie stated, "I do not like ice skating!!!" after completing two laps attached to Mama!

Cail, he just might be the next Apolo Ohno!! He got on that ice and didn't look back! Started running and lapped us at least twice! He did not want to leave. Still keeps asking me if we can go back!

Mama is a lot like Cameron. I did ok. Well, since I was holding someone else up, I'd say I did well! I won't be a professional skater for sure!









Happy Birthday To Youoo! Happy Birthday To You!


And She Blew Them All Out!

I Just Can't Stay In Any Longer Mom!!

I looked out the window this morning and what did I see??? Two little helmets and some bicycles staring up at me!!

I think they are tired of the snow. It was fun to watch them, oh it was. I wish I was young and crazy enough to play out in 23* weather!! Nope, I'd rather stay inside nice and toasty!!

The Glasses Are In

Remember me telling you about Gracies Glasses?? Well, they came in today! She loves them. Even though she really only needs them while reading, she is wearing them all day long. We'll see how long that lasts :)

I wish they made those hot pink specs in my size!!!

Last Meet of the Season

This morning, after a wonderful evening with friends. We were able to wake up with those friends, have breakfast, get ready and leave. One car off to church, the other off to the gymnastics meet. Level 6 today!! The girls have been working hard for this day. Their goal is to score a 31. This will allow them to move up to Level 7 in the fall. L7 is where the fun is. They get to make up the routines.

They did it!! A tie! Both girls scored 33.9! Not too bad for their first try. They tied for second place all around. It could not have come at a better time. Those two take turns winning 1st AA and 2nd AA. Today was a gift from God!! They shined bright and tied. Each girl strong in different ways. Not one better than the other today. Equal! I love it. Can't wait to see next year!!







Ellie watching patiently!


A proud Coach!


A little pre meet fun!

Saturday night fun!!

My Friend Jessica lived across the street from me when we lived in Greenfield. I have missed her dearly since our move to New Palestine. I keep trying to get her to move here with me! We got to be good friends when our 8yr olds were just tiny babies! We walked every morning in the summer and spent most of our days together. Her husband works as a project manager for an environmental clean-up company. This really just means he is gone for 3 weeks at a time. Then home for a week. Well, her husband is gone, and so is mine!! We decided to have a sleep over! What fun it was. The kids played all afternoon long. Took some baths and went to bed! They really went to bed! No fussing or arguing! Can you believe it?

Tomorrow is a big day!

Yikes!! Where did the week go??

Today is Friday! I worked all day long! No, really, I went to the hospital and put in my 12 hours then came home to a huge mess!!! MeMaw watched the kids for a couple hours after they came home from school. She brought fried chicken, pancakes, and purple slurp(aka grape soda)!!! Oh! Did I mention the pancakes were chocolate chip? I think the cocoa was the only fruit/vegetable they received tonight. But, they survived, and know they are loved by many!! I must now get some rest. I am pooped!!!

This is the Day!

This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.

Today was like so many in the recent past. NO SCHOOL! Again. So, What will we do? Rejoice and be glad God has given us another day!!

We went to the gym again today. This time to play in the kids area. They had fun I'm sure. Then off to Sam's club. Apparently, the kids like to eat food, and they reminded me we had none at home. But, what a blessing that trip was. They eye doctor was not busy and I decided to act upon an idea God had given me.

You see Grace is having some difficulties with reading. She is improving everyday. One day while we were talking about her school work, we discussed what the words looked like to her while she was reading. "They kinda get jumbled around. I read the same words twice." I too remember having this difficulty. I didn't get glasses until I went to college. It was a whole new world!!! I suddenly enjoyed reading!

Well, I spoke with the doctor and asked her to check her again. This time too look for an astigmatism. Wouldn't you know it, she does have one popping up on us. With that, I decided it was worth the $50 and get the glasses, however slight it may be. I hope it helps.

We packed up and went to MeMaws for dinner. Pizza, Cail's favorite. We also played some board games and did a puzzle. It was fun.






Then off to MOPS. It was Coffee Shop Night. What fun. We listened to some music by Josh Meyer and Rob Doyle. Of course we talked and drank some yummy drinks and ate some nice pastries.


Home at last. Good thing we have a 2hour delay in the morning. It is almost 1000pm already!


Good Night my Love

Mama

Here's our day in a nutshell!

It all started with a phone call at 0515am. "New Palestine Elementary classes have been canceled today due to weather." Mama slept in!! I was aroused by two children at 0715 who were worried about not getting up in time. Who knew they loved school so much. So instead of getting ready for school, we just took our time and relaxed.

We started to venture out to the Children's Museum. That was quickly rerouted to just lunch, bowling at Family Fun and Fitness and an early team practice for Grace.

After dropping her off, the boys went sledding, and played Wii with the neighbors.





Ellie took a long nap. Awakening just before our return trip to get Grace!



Grace is working on her Level 6 routine. She has only worked these routines for about 5 weeks. She is ready to compete on Sunday they tell me! Who would have known. She just has to score a 31 and she will move on to level 7 for next year.



She did not feel well toward the end of practice. But she still gave all she had! What a trooper!!




Can't wait to see what blessings tomorrow will bring!

Only 20 more days till we pick Glenn up after his trip around the world. Really, his flight pattern will take him 22000 miles around the world. I am so very jealous.

Mama

Why I Haven't Bought New Laundry Baskets

Over the past 12 years of marriage I have gone through about 7 laundry baskets. Currently we are down to one! I have had this basket since college. It is a trooper! Hard plastic, stiff, ruff and tumble. Well built. Since technology has advanced, the structural durability has decreased. Yesterday, I broke down and bought three new ones. But, here is why I haven't bought them before!

100th Day of School

Today was the 100th day of school. Can you believe the school year is more than half over? How quickly it goes. The kids have really grown this year. Grace has brought her reading level almost up to where it should be. Cameron is learning to take it slow and get it right the first time. Cail has learned his Kindercore words, now working on Snoopy 220! Ellie has improved her spelling, writing, and pretend play.

Cail Counted out 10 sets of 10 Cheerios and made a necklace to wear today. He promptly ate it upon returning home from school today!

My Little Homemaker

This is Ellie. She is an amazing gift from God. She has her own style and definately her own way of doing things. She really likes domestic activities. She likes to cook, sew, and best of all scrub the sink and put the dishes away!! Can you believe it? But she sure is cute doing it!!







Watch out! That tower just might fall over!


Whatever!


Now, let's see who we can call!




She LOVES fried chicken too!

No School

Here in New Palestine, IN we have no school today in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Who would have ever thought?? But we have had fun! Edin came to spend the day with us. She lives just across the street. With all of our running around, we don't get to hang out with the neighborhood kids a lot. This was a good treat!

We milled some flour for brownies. Yummy!! And practiced violin. Did some dancing, and just hung out!

Almost done!

Glenn has been across the world on a business trip. We sure do miss him! But today is Sunday, and he will be home in 6 days. I can not wait.

The kids were able to spend the weekend with friends, because Grace and I had a gymnastics meet to participate in. It was exhausting for us. We were able to have some alone time though! It was worth it. Ellie spent two days with Mary Ella, what fun they had!


Cameron and Cail both spent the night with friends. There are no pictures to post of them...they probably just sat around all day and played video games!

But, now they are back in their beds. Safe and warm. Except Cameron. He is watching TV. Going to have some time with Mama!











So they are not really sleeping yet, but it will come soon. They are very tired!!