Holiday Spice

Have you tried the new Holiday Spice smoothie from Tim Horton’s? Very yummy!! It’s my new favorite treat! Makes me want to crank up the Christmas music, maybe make some cards, wrap some gifts , make some cookies and DECORATE!!

You should try it!

Making plans!

Mackenzie started in a Sunday School class this September. She names all the kids in her class as her friends, but she has been especially taken with Caleb. (Or as Travis calls him, “the Little Isaac–he can never remember his name!) I was looking at blogs this morning and was reading some comments, so up came of picture of Caleb’s family.

“Mommy, can I see the picture bigger?” So we brought it up bigger.
“I like Caleb.”
“You do like Caleb, don’t you, Mackenzie, he’s one of your friends in your class.”
“Yeah, I’m gonna marry him!” (Which she hears from her brothers, who are always teasing each other about who they’re going to marry!)

Well, you just never know, do you?

Cozy at last!

Our woodstove is finally hooked back up! Which also means that the tiles are down in the living room. And I have to say that I just love them! Ray did a great job! Slowly our living room is coming back together. The next big step is finishing the crack filling and then painting. Then it’s just trimwork and putting down the rest of the new flooring. My goal is to have it done by Christmas!

So tonight the fire is burning, and I am finally cozy. We’ve had some chilly nights and early mornings here, so it’s nice to finally have the woodstove going again! And I love the sound of the wood crackling, and the smell outside of wood burning. And even the extra work that it causes is worth it!

It’s been a great weekend here! Getting caught up on stuff and just spending it together! We went for a nice drive today, the kids fell asleep, so it was a chance for us to chat without constantly being interuppted. Much needed! Unfortunately, since Mackenzie doesn’t usually nap anymore, she’s not settling down tonight. I can hear her in her room having quite the conversations with her dolls, telling them that they really have to go to sleep now, that they need to obey and settle down. I guess she really does listen when I tell her something!! Ray is over watching football with Randy and as soon as Mackenzie goes to sleep, I’ll enjoy some quiet “alone” time here! Maybe I’ll have a hot bath with a cup of tea! Doesn’t that sound wonderful!

Our Own Superwoman!

So I had Kelly and Sara over for lunch today. (Okay, let me re-phrase that!) Kelly and Sara dropped in today just before lunch time, and they brought lunch with them for us all. And I must say my kids enjoyed it much more than the peanut butter sandwiches and the vegetable soup that they were going to have. Still, it sounds much better to say that I had them over for lunch, then that they brought lunch themselves! And, just so I don’t sound like a complete loser, I was going to invite them for lunch today, but time got away from me as I spent the morning cleaning, and going through my kitchen cupboards, getting rid of junk! So Kelly, thank you! I owe you lunch at my place someday that I actually cook!

We had a nice time this afternoon, sipping tea and talking, and I just want to share with you that Kelly is so touched about the album that we are puting together for her. She told me that no one has ever done an album for her before! She is so looking forward to seeing all these pages made with so much love for her and to seeing and hearing about other peoples feelings and reactions to her cancer, and how it has touched our own lives.

I, personally, just want to say that I am honored to be able to take part in something so wonderful for such an amazing woman!! Our own Superwoman!!

Potty no more!

Horray!! Today was our “Big Garbage” pick-up. I love to see that big pile out there, knowing that it’s a step towards getting rid of all the junk that we’ve accumulated over the years. (Ray and I both have pack rat tendencies, but we’re working on that!) But I was most excited to see on the top of the pile our potty. Yup, no more potties in our house! Mackenzie is pretty much trained, we just use pull-ups at night, and for long car rides. And she’s been using just a little seat on top for a while now. Funny, I thought it would bother me to be getting rid of baby things now as we finish with them instead of saving them “just in case”. But it really doesn’t. Oh sure, there are days when I wish that there would have been another baby before my surgery, and even now when I see a tiny one, but that is just an instinct, and some people say it will never go away. But I will never regret only having 3 kids. Our family is perfect, 3 healthy active kids, all we have room for anyway! Those of you who have more than 3, how I admire you! I can hardly keep up on the laundry with just 5 of us, and I’m forever calling my kids by the wrong name. I grew up answering to Lisa, and I still answer to that sometimes! Guess that’s a normal thing!

So we said goodbye to the potty today, and with the end of each stage comes a new equally exciting one! I can’t wait to see what we’ll be up to next!

I Didn’t Want to Know!!

(May as well make it a 3 post day!)

I found out something today that I really didn’t want to know! A few days ago, Muffin brought a dead little gopher in the house. This is very strange for her, she usually eats everything outside (gross, I know, but it’s gonna get worse! Erin, you may want to stop reading now–if you don’t, please don’t say I didn’t warn you!) Luckily, Ray was home, so he quickly scooped it up and discarded it outside. The other strange thing was that when she brought it in, she just laid it on the floor, and then sat beside and watched it. Ray and I both wondered later if maybe she had brought it in for her kittens, but they were all asleep.

Well, today it happened again. I saw her outside waiting to get in with something in her mouth, so I didn’t let her in. But, of course, she got in a little later with it. Once again, all she did was lay it down and then wait. This time her kittens were awake, and it didn’t take long. Over they came. The amazing thing is that she let them all have a turn with it, and she’d stop them and give another one a turn after. If you know of my fear of mice, any kind of rodents really, you can imagine just how difficult this was for me to have going on in my house. I’m trying to get it away from them with a shovel, and of course, only their mother could make them let go, and hey, she was teaching them an important life lesson, so she wasn’t going to stop for the crazy woman with the shovel!

Finally, enough was enough! In between trying not to cry, scream and gag, all at the same time, I managed to nudge the “lucky kitten” that had it out the door with the shovel. Then I made the boys take over. If she let go, they were to quickly scoop it up in the shovel and get rid of it, if she managed to eat it all (gaaaaaaggggg!!), they were to send her back in the house, but under no condition were they allowed to touch the mouse, or her when she had the mouse in her mouth (I was afraid of her getting mad and attacking them!), and she was not to leave the deck! This one is one of the few kittens that I have found a home for–no way am I going to risk losing it!

Boys being boys, this was great fun for them! The reports started–”Mom, I just heard him crunching something.” Back out to watch, then “Mom, the tail”s gone now!” Then , “Mom, she’s even licking off the blood!” Finally, they brought her back in, “Mom, she ate the whole thing!”
Thank goodness that is over! And thank goodness I have little boys here who were thrilled to take charge out on the deck, so I didn’t have to stay out there!

I’m sitting here now, still feeling VERY queasy, and yet you know what amazes me? That Muffin knew to bring that in here to teach her babies something! Absolutely disgusting, and yet she knew to do that instead of eating it herself! Only God, who created everything perfect, could ensure that even animals knew how to teach their young.

Still, it’s something that I didn’t want to know about cats!

Don’t Let the Mink Out!

Mackenzie has discovered today the joy of stamping. (She’s also discovered the joy of make-up as you can see in the picture–Goodbye Mommy’s eyeshadow!) I was making a few cards this morning and she wanted to help. She picked up the stamps and examined them quite closely. So I explained what they were for. Then she went on to pick up the inkpad. “That’s the ink, Mackenzie, do you want to try a stamp?” Proceeded to start to open the stamp pad. “No don’t open it”, this said in a panicked sounding voice. “Why not?”, I wondered. “Don’t let the mink out!!”

She doesn’t know exactly what mink are, except that they’re animals that live at Sara’s house. (Sorry, Kelly, I meant to say in Sara’s barn!) She must have thought they were pretty tiny if they could fit in an inkpad!

After she realized that there were no “mink” in the stamp pad, only ink, she really enjoyed stamping! 

A City Named After Me!

Since most people who read this know exactly what I mean when I say that Thursday nights at our house are extremely hectic, I’m not going to go into a lot of detail. I will say though, that last night was extra hectic. I spent all day at a CPR/First Aid course, and didn’t get home until after 4, and Ray got home around 5:40, just in time to hop in the shower and head up to the church for AWANA. It was sandwiches for supper for the kids (since I forgot to take anything out of the freezer!), and nothing for Ray and myself. And even then, it was a rush to get up to the church. So right after AWANA, it was into town to grab a few pizza slices for us. And before I forget, AWANA was excellent last night, the kids were so excited about the new contest and store night–it’s amazing how the exhaustion that you’re feeling when you get there just goes away while you’re there!! Comes back full throttle and then some after, of course, but while you’re there, it’s gone!

So we get home, down some pizza, get the kids to bed and it’s off to bed ourselves. And since that was the first time that Ray and I really had a chance to talk all day, I started talking. And talking. And talking some more. Well apparently, he really just wanted to go to sleep. Finally he turns to me and says, “You know, Honey, I didn’t realize they named a city after you.” I start trying to think of some romantic sounding or sweet sounding city name, sure that must be what he means, when he tells me what city. Babylon. Yup, Babylon! (Babble-On!)

After I finished laughing, my first response was , I can’t wait to blog that tomorrow! And then I started talking again. Hey, I gotta live up to my name!

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!

Just wanted to let everyone know to not expect any new posts from me this weekend, and probably no comments on anyone else’s blog! I’m going to be too busy.

Too busy roasting a turkey, cutting up bread cubes for dressing, peeling vegetables and making pies.

Too busy spending time with family, maybe tossing the football with the boys and looking for pretty leaves with Mackenzie, and maybe even getting in a few final games of washer toss.

Too busy being thankful for the many blessings in my life, rejoicing in the Lord for all He has done, and enjoying His beautiful creation.

Yes, it’s going to be a busy weekend! And I can’t think of any other way I’d rather spend it!

“Too Big to Miss”

I was in the Christian Bookstore in New Minas a few weeks ago, and since they’re closing out, there were lots of great deals. I found a bin of their demo CD’s for $5.00 each. That was exciting enough, but when I got digging, I found 2 Mark Lowry CD’s that I didn’t already have. And that was very exciting for me! I really enjoy Mark Lowry. If you’re not familiar with him, he sings with the Gaither’s, but he’s also a Christian comedian. And I have to say that he is hilarious! His singing voice is just amazing, and he sings some really wonderful songs. (There’ll probably be more posts from me about his songs, because there’s a few that have really touched me.)

So this song is called “Too Big to Miss”, and I have to admit that the first few times I heard it, I really didn’t pay much attention to it. I usually pick up on the music, tempo, etc. first, and that is often the way that I judge whether or not I like a song until I have a chance to really listen to the words. And this is not the kind of song that I would normally listen to. It’s mostly a very upbeat speaking song, with a short sung chorus at the end. Well, I really listened to it one day (it’s now Travis’s favorite song, so we now listen to it all the time in the truck!) It’s a speaking song about the story of David and Goliath, and since Mark is also a children’s author, it’s really geared toward kids. It talks about how David told his brothers that he was going to hit that giant with his his slingshot, and his brother’s response was “Listen little David, you ain’t thinkin straight, that giant’s up there ’s too big to hit, and your body he will mutilate!” David’s response? “Listen big brother, I’ve seen worse than this, that giant up there ain’t too big to hit, that giant’s too big to miss!”

The singing bit at the end goes like this:
“That giant up there ain’t too big to hit, that giant’s too big to miss. So whenever a giant gets in your way, you just remember this. That the God who invented giants is big enough to whip ‘em all. And a stone hurled from the hand of the Lord will make any giant fall.“

As most everyone who reads this knows, my friend Kelly is facing a huge giant in her life right now. We’ve all faced giants, but I know that for myself, nothing I’ve ever faced can even come close to fighting cancer. That’s a great big mean nasty giant (to put it in “Giant” terminology). Isn’t it wonderful to know that God is even bigger than that–He’s bigger than anything we can possibly face! And that God has the power to conquer anything–even cancer. Kelly, I think of you every time we listen to that song (which is a lot, thanks to Travis!) We love you and we’re praying that your giant will be “too big to miss”!