qotd

On the way to my niece Tori's high school graduation I was describing the spread their Aunt Leann has planned for the open house the next day. I was telling the kids about the mexican food, cake, cookies and the chocolate fountain.
Annie pipes up" Can I drink from the fountain?"
That's a girl after my own heart.
Aunt Leann assured her it would be ok as long as no one saw her doing it, I quickly nixed it.
BTW Tori's graduation from Lawrence North High School was a new experience for me. 700 kids graduated at the Pepsi coliseum. Pretty cool. Way to go Tori- we are proud of you.

Quote of the Day(qotd)

Andrew: "Mom, don't ever buy a donkey"
Mom: "Why "
Andrew: "It might kick the car"
This conversation was had while driving home from the bank. Where does he come up with this stuff?
He is standing here while I am posting this and said "I'm hilarious"

Oreck

I am not sure if you are all familiar with the vacuum cleaner company Oreck. They have some annoying commercials? Anyway, I love their products. I trialed my first vacuum 5 years ago (to get a free lamp) and loved it. I, however, did not love the price of $500. so I sent it back after the 30 day free trial. I have been pineing away over it and finally trialed it again ( to get a free cordless iron). This time we have a dog in the house and even more active kids. It was awesome, I moved ALL of the furniture in the house to vacuum under it before I sent it back. I cannot justify $500. Joe even gave me the ok to keep it. My giddiness makes him happy I think. You see, I vacuum almost every day. I admit I am a little OCD.
After I reluctantly sent the vacuum back, they sent a flyer in the mail for a special. "For Oreck owners only: you may buy one additional vacuum for $199." I jumped at the chance. I got it on tuesday and have been, again, giddy with excitement. My family thinks I am nuts. My rationale for $199 is this: you not only get a great vacuum, but also yearly tune ups and belt changes and can trade it in at any time. You don't get that with a dyson. I just vacuumed the upstairs, now off to do the downstairs. Happy Vacuuming!

A Blessing

To the left of this post Joe has started a list of 5 ways to Bless your child. At church this sunday the sermon was about this. We went to Andrews preschool recognition service at Hazel Dell Christian Church. Very nice church, the people there are great. It was a great reminder of the ways to bless your child. Our kids were in the service with us, which is unusual for us. The older 2 were funny listening. Blessing your kids is very "intentional". On our own we would be selfish pigs. We really have to be "intentional" about touch, praise, prayer etc. It gets busy at our house and I sometimes go to bed and think: "did I laugh today?, did I hug the kids today? " I tend to beat myself up a lot. I really need to remind myself regularly of Gods Grace. My kids will "turn out" fine without me. God has big plans for them- we tell them this often. I need to beleive it and get out of His way.

Raccoon

Well we caught another coon. Joe had an interesting day "disposing" of it. I was crying at work, I was laughing so hard. Ask him about it if you see him. We will continue to set the trap. One of our neighbors said he caught 30 last summer. I sure hope we don't have to catch that many.

cubs fans

First place.... and the SECOND best record in Baseball on May 19th. Lou's boys are playing well!!!!
this is the year!!!!

busy weekends

9:30am, 10:30 am and 2pm on Saturday were the times of our soccer games. We had a baseball game at 5:30pm. Then on Sunday we had a recognition luncheon at Andrew's School (hazel dell christian church) Then soccer games at 1, 2:30 and 4pm and baseball doubleheader at 2 and 4.

Very hectic!!!

But I really enjoy the weekends and the time at the kids activities. Whenever I share with people our weekends they look at me with disgust or despair, I cant tell the difference sometimes. I actually enjoy the coordinating of the schedules with Tia and watching the kids play.

I often talk aloud to God to give us discernment as we go through our weekend. To use the busy times for good talks. Anyone else feel like they are being pulled a lot of different ways yet enjoy every minute of it???