Blessings in Abundance

What's Happening?!

2012-02-07T00:11:00.003-05:00

I've had plenty of things to blog about, but no time to get it published!

So here is what's been happening:

Holly has been taking a cooking class at our co-op and one afternoon she made us some muffins....all by herself!

I've always wanted to try and cook a low country boil and finally tried it out! It was pretty good, but won't be on our regular dinner list. :)

We got to keep Bella one night!

We went to the Capitol for a Right to Life - Rally for Life event to support Pro-LIFE legislation!

On a warm night in.....January.....we had a bonfire and roasted hot dogs and made s'mores! I'm just waiting for the blizzard to fall anytime now!

We also made a trip to Northeast Tennessee last Thursday with some people from our church. A precious lady that we go to church with father passed away and we went to his visitation.

We stopped off to enjoy one of the views on our way there.

Anna painted a sunflower picture for a sweet friend of ours!

That almost catches us up. :) Happy February! Holly will be 10 in about 3 weeks and I can't believe our baby will be double digits!

18 Years Ago

2012-01-29T23:34:00.003-05:00

18 years ago today Brian and I had our first date! I usually always do a post on this day, but I dug out our "old" (haha!) photo album from when we were dating and scanned in a few new pics.

This was the Sweetheart's Dance on February 25, 1994!
In Pigeon Forge, TN April 1994. :)

Brian's HS graduation June 4, 1994!

Holly called this our "Catfish Anniversary" tonight, because Brian ate catfish on that first date (I had lasagna!:) We have now been together longer than we've been apart. And I honestly don't remember much before January 29, 1994. I'm a very blessed woman to have such a godly and humble man to still love me after all of these years!

The Beginnings of a Man Cave

2012-01-27T22:26:00.001-05:00

Tonight I helped Brian put up the first wall for his man cave in his garage. And of course I had to document it! U

Nana's Birthday!!!

2012-01-23T23:13:00.005-05:00

Nana celebrated a very special birthday today!!! She didn't want any fanfare, so the girls and I just took her over some sweets tonight. :) We're gonna treat her to a nice dinner on Brian's next day off.

But we wanted her to know that we love her very much and appreciate the Nana that she is to our girlies!!! She is a very beautiful, sincere, kind, and precious woman that I've always been blessed to call my mother-in-law!

Here are a few pictures:

Happy Birthday Nana!!!!

Extension of My Birthday Celebration!

2012-01-21T00:00:00.001-05:00

Nina, Stacey, and I finally made time for a girls night! For my birthday they treated me to dinner at O'Charleys and after some browsing we enjoyed some froyo at OrangeLeaf! It was a great night and we have resolved to make it a more frequent event. Just love these girlies to pieces!!! (Thanks girls!!!)

Monumental Movie Announcement!

2012-01-19T15:38:00.002-05:00

Kirk Cameron just posted an announcement about his documentary, "Monumental" to the website!!!

For more information you can visit the website:
http://www.monumentalmovie.com/
If you want to read about our trip up to Plymouth when they were filiming you can click HERE!

January is Dental Awareness Month

2012-01-18T23:02:00.004-05:00

I honestly have no idea if it is "Take Care of Your Teeth Month," but it sure feels like it is for our family!!!

In the past 7 days all four of us have visited our dentist! Brian last week for a little issue, the girls went yesterday for a cleaning, and I went today for a cleaning. (And not that I want to remember it, but last January is when I had a few widsom teeth removed. :)

I'm happy to report - no cavities and both girls teeth are growing in straight!!! Another blessing they are gonna get from their Daddy, nice teeth. :D

Sanctity of Human Life and The 180 Movie

2012-01-15T13:40:00.004-05:00

Today is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. I am Pro-LIFE and value life at all ages. If you haven't seen the 180 Movie yet, I highly suggest that you take the time to watch it!
(Please be warned that there are a few graphic pictures involved.)

Jeremiah 1:5
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;...”

http://180movie.com/

Pinterest Nails

2012-01-13T22:42:00.001-05:00

I've seen the neatest ideas on Pinterest and really have to limit my time when I get a chance to check it out! But there are some cool looking ideas for painting fingernails. We tried one the other night and it turned out better than we thought! You just use (sharp) craft scissors to cut tape and place over the nail to paint a different color. We should have used more contrasting colors on Anna's, but we'll know next time.

Kentucky Prayer Caucus - A Call to Prayer

2012-01-10T22:24:00.006-05:00

We went to our State's Capitol today for the Kentucky Prayer Caucus - A Call to Prayer. It was a time to bring the state legislators together to sign a proclamation. It was very encouraging to see many of our Senators and Representatives sign this document and attend this service.

The girls and Sissy
Walking to the front of the Capitol.

This huge quilt is on display when you first enter the building. It shows all of the counties in Kentucky.

There was a pre-session that brought out many legislators.

Hopefully they will pass bills into laws that will honor and glorify God!!!

Just A Few Things

2012-01-07T23:40:00.003-05:00

I wanted to share a few pics off of my cell phone. I haven't taken any pictures with my big camera since Christmas. Shocking I know, but sometimes you just need a lil break. :)

Holly was really sad to put away the Nutcrackers. :(

The girls found the funniest app for their iPods. We have laughed so hard at some of them that I think it warrants a post featuring our funniest pics later on. :) Stay tuned....

A co-worker of Brian's gave us a new rooster! We had 3 last year and after we gave 2 away our remaining one died. And in honor of Brian and the girls buying 4 of my favorite BBC Miniseries for Christmas we named him Mr. George Knightley (from Emma:)!!!

About a week and a half ago the girls and I ran into the library and when we came out it looked like a blizzard! It didn't last long though. :( I am beginning to wonder if we're gonna even have a winter. The temps have been in the upper 40's and 50's for quite a while now.

Anna took the snow pic and the one above. We were driving to Lexington and she snapped this one of a farm on the side of the interstate. She's getting pretty good!

Perfect Day at Perfect North

2012-01-05T22:43:00.001-05:00

We've had the best time today snow tubing at Perfect North! We are completely worn out, but it was worth it! I'm blogging on my phone so I have no idea what order the pics will be in, but here are some snapshots of our day!

(The pic with Brian & Anna beside the green padding is right after they came down the hill linked together and crashed into it. You can see how far they moved it!!! Thankfully they didn't get hurt!)

My Birthday Blessings

2012-01-04T22:59:00.001-05:00

We celebrated my birthday today with a little lunch at my favorite eatery, Papalenos! The girls also surprised me with a new skirt they had made for my sock monkey!

I told Brian that instead of buying me a gift for us to take the girl up to Perfect North Slopes and go tubing! So that's what we're gonna do tomorrow!

Queenie and Her Baby Blues

2012-01-02T22:07:00.001-05:00

Our neighbor's dog Queenie that always visits us recently had a litter of puppies. I took this pic of her about 2 or 3 days before she had them. She got HUGE! She had them on December 23rd and we have yet to see them, but hopefully soon we'll get to make a visit next door to sneak a peek. The picture at the bottom is one I took this afternoon. Anytime she hears us come outside she high tails it over here. We can't figure out if she is just hungry or wants love! I told the girls she may be having baby blues!!!

#365 - 2011 Project 365 Recap

2011-12-31T23:27:00.015-05:00

This year has been pretty amazing! Not as active as last year it seems, but still pretty good nonetheless. (For 2010 recap you can click HERE.)

I started the Project 365 last January 1st and begin with this POST. It's very interesting to look back over the span of one year and see all of the things that we have done. I'll give a little recap for each month with highlights. So here we go!
January

The girls served me breakfast in bed for my 34th birthday!

I had to have my wisdom teeth pulled and cut out. Fun times!

Brian and I celebrated 17 years of being together!

At the end of January we had a pretty decent snow.

February

We attended the Right to Life Rally in Frankfort at the Captiol Rotunda.

And on our way home from the rally we got to see Brian's Dad in his office for the first time.

Brian had to travel to Knoxville for a class so the girls and I grabbed their school work and went with him!

Holly's 9th birthday!

MarchIsabella turned 1 year old! My beautiful niece and Trent got married in Arkansas!

Anna finished with reading the Old Testament. :)

April I went with Nina and some ladies from her church to the Women of Joy in Sevierville, TN! We're going again this next spring and I can't wait!!! April 18th was 8 years without her.

Anna celebrated her 3rd Spiritual birthday on April 27th!

Madison was saved and we were able to see her be baptized! Wonderful!!!

May

Holly's 3rd softball season with the Bees began!

Our niece, Roni, had her baby boy, Sebastian, on May 10th!

My nephew Kevin's baby girl, Saren Juliet, was born May 13th!

The girls were able to be part of the Battle of Richmond Living History where most of the public school 5th graders in our county came to learn what life would have been like in 1864!

We celebrated Mother's Day and went to visit Mama's grave.

The girls' scores came back good from their standardized tests that they took with the co-op. So my job is secure for a little while longer. :)

June

My nephew David's baby boy, Drake Mason, was born June 3rd.

We went camping up at Blue Licks Battlefield State Park.

We celebrated Father's Day with the world's best Dad!!!

Anna had her first swim meet.

We were able to see some friends from Alabama we hadn't seen in 3 years!

July

I got my new camera!!!

We celebrated Independance Day with some pretty great friends!

I shot the Sheriff and his Deputies!The girls were able to participate in an acting workshop with our homeschool co-op at the Pioneer Playhouse in Danville.

August Brian's Papaw fell and broke his hip.
We celebrated Dad's birthday.

Brian and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary with a trip to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg!!!

Our niece Kathryn Reese celebrated her 1st birthday! The girls were able to participate in the one room schoolhouse at the

Battle of Richmond Re-enactment.

We kicked off our school year with a traditional field trip! We went to the Salato Center in Frankfort and seeing all of the sights in Frankfort we haven't been to before.

September

We began our 4th year of homeschooling!

Holly celebrated her 3rd Spritual birthday on September 17th!

Anna's 12th Birthday!

Brian wanted to set up a trail cam at his Papaw's farm for a project with the girls for school. It was a lot of fun to see the various pictures that would show up on there!

October Brian took the girls to play golf at the Par 3 course and gave them some lessons! Anna gave Papaw his painting of his pond while he was still having rehab at the nursing home. He LOVED it!!! The girls and I had our annual photoshoot!

The girls and I stopped by to see some friend's from church while they were making apple butter the old fashioned way and we were able to help!

We went on a field trip with our co-op to our local water treatment plant. Very interesting!

We went on a field trip to Natural Bridge.

Holly - 4th grade Anna - 7th grade
The girls' official school pictures. :) We took them at co-op for the yearbook.

November

We saw the results from the Sheriff shooting event!

Brian finished with his certification for work!

(He'll start on his advance classes in the spring. :)

We had the best time when Vicki, Trent, & Aidan came up for Thanksgiving!!! We can't wait for them to come back. :) (Vicki - hint, hint!)

December

The girls and I watched the Christmas parade while they sported their new hats.

The girls did a great job in the church's Christmas play this year! Pa and Nana came to watch them!

Christmas morning 2011.We've had a very blessed year and I'm so grateful for the good times and the bad. I'm glad that I participated in this Project 365 and am able to look back at our year in detail. It is very interesting to see how we spent our year. I pray that we've glorified God in how we've lived our lives. My prayer is that we'll glorify Him even more in 2012!!
Numbers 6:24-26

‘“The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’

#358-364 - Christmas 2011

2011-12-29T00:43:00.006-05:00

Our Christmas celebrations started on Christmas Eve at my Dad's house. We all decided that instead of exchanging gifts for the kiddos that we'd just make an ornament/craft. We did it last year and the kids really enjoyed their time doing this. So that is what Anna was prepping in my last post. :)

Celebrating what this season is really all about! Jesus was sent so that we may live!!!!

The girls at Dad's working on their stuff! Love that even after these cousins don't see each other for a little while that they just pick right back up where they leave off. So sweet!

This was Christmas morning. Please notice all of our grandchildren and their gifts sitting in front of them. :) From left to right we have: Jubilee (non-visible sitting on the other side of Anna), Elizabeth (propped up by the trusty snowman:), Anna, Holly, John John (in blue), Sarah (with pink hat), and Liberty (in white pj's:)! The girls made their gifts.:)

The one and only thing the girls really truly cared about and asked for was an iPod Touch. We got them a few other smaller things too. Wow - the older they get the smaller and more expensive the packages get!

Holly LOVES nutcrackers and has always wanted a bigger female one. We surprised her with one this year! Her name was Clara Chubby Nutcracker - how sad. So Holly renamed her, Cathy.

And Miss Jubilee finally got the glasses she has been needing! :D

The girls took us by complete surprise and gave us these sock love monkeys! They asked about 2 months ago if they could go into the dollar general store without me. So for the first time ever :) I parked the van up by the door and let them go in by themselves. Little did I know that they would be working hard on these little monkeys for us! They even put velcro on their hands so they would be able to hold hands. This was truly the best gift ever!!!!

We went to our Christmas service at church that morning and then afterwards went to Pam's for Christmas at her house.

Nana and her grandgirls!

Bella LOVES the girls and is always fascinated by everything they do!

They wanted me to get a few pictures of her in a new outfit, but she was not having it. I got a few cute ones and I liked this one the best. It's like she is peeking around the tree to see if she had any more presents!

Brian's grandparents Christmas was on Monday night.

We stopped by their house on Christmas Eve to take their presents early since we were having Christmas at another location. So we snapped our annual picture of Ginny and Papaw with the girls.

We love them so much!

I pray that everyone had a wonderful time celebrating Jesus and all the wonder that comes with Christmas!

I'll try to do an annual recap to round out my Project 365 this weekend if our computer will let me:) I've gotten behind this past 100 days or so, but I'm really glad I did this. And now that I can blog on my phone I'll continue to blog more. Probably not the P365, but more than before. :o)

James 1:17
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning."

#357 - Christmas Eve Eve

2011-12-24T01:44:00.001-05:00

I'm blogging on my phone so I have no idea what order the pics are gonna be in! So I'm giving a summary of our day. Pics below!
The girls got to open up one of their presents tonight! We had gotten them some Christmas socks to wear tomorrow! Anna has become my little elf - she painted some gift bags for me. :) Suse also came over tonight and visited with us. She got the girls some goodies and one included a marble game. They had a lot of fun playing! We hope you all have a wonderful CHRISTmas and remember it's all about JESUS!!!

#356 - Christmas Prep

2011-12-23T00:55:00.008-05:00

Today has been all about the prep work for celebrating CHRISTmas this weekend!

Last year we started the tradition of making ornaments at my Dad's house with all of the grandkids instead of them drawing names and exchanging gifts. They loved it and so this year we decided to make it a little more simpler!

Well....I should say Anna is!

I saw this craft/ornament on Pinterest (love that site!) and thought it would be an easy and fun one to do. Anna was painting all of the Marys' and Josephs'!

Pretty cute!

For one of the other ones we decided to make little birdie ornaments that we're gonna stuff and then sew. Anna designed the bird and cut them all out also! I can't wait to see how they turn out. :)

I got this recipe for Sugar Cookie Truffles from guess where?!.....Pinterest! They are really good too! Here is the link:

Source: munchkinmunchies.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

And to make it a little easier I just did my normal pb and crackers dipped in the white chocolate. Yum!

And we can't leave out good ol' fashioned peanut butter fudge!

We'll have plenty to take to family get togethers this weekend and I'm gonna take some to the office tomorrow.

Merry Christmas Eve Eve Eve!

I remembered doing that when I was little.......okay....

I said it today! :D

Matthew 3:3
"This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’”

#355 - A Small Lesson

2011-12-21T21:41:00.004-05:00

Brian made the girls para cord bracelets and Anna wanted hers just a little bit more loose. So he showed her how to redo it.

He had to burn the ends to seal them. It did not smell good. :P

But they loved their bracelets!!!

Psalm 122:8
"For the sake of my family and friends,
I will say, “Peace be within you.”

#354 - A Few More Pics

2011-12-21T00:08:00.006-05:00

I went through the pictures on my phone and here are a few that I thought I'd go ahead and post. :)

Anna's ornaments she decorated at Nina's house.

And her self portrait that she drew on our classroom board. I felt bad erasing it, so I took a picture first.

There is a house in Richmond that they've synchronized the music with Christmas lights. It is very neat! The girls and I drove by the other night after we had finished our Christmas shopping and we didn't want to leave! I found a video from 2009:

We were in Sportsman's Warehouse and Anna showed off her cute little pinky finger in a pair of man gloves. :)

Then we couldn't find Holly?! Do you see her?!

Hehe!

We had a little too much fun in SW!!!

Galatians 3:14
"He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit."

#340 - #353 - December's Super Blog Post

2011-12-19T19:41:00.008-05:00

Okay, I've finally got a minute to get a post together!!! This month has been super busy and honestly I've just had many other things to get accomplished before the blog got any attention. :)

But I thought I'd do a recap post of our month....so far! Hang in there with me!

Our homeschool co-op had it's Christmas party and had lots of fun for the kiddos. Inflatables and snacks, along with making Christmas cards for some soldiers away from home. If you'll remember my post about Nina and I making those corn starch ornaments, we had a get together with them and Stacey, Jason, and the kiddos! Stacey made this ^^^ Christmas Crack and let me just say it was fabulous!!! She got the recipe off of Pinterest and they definitely gave it the right name. :P

Nina with Carson, Canaan, & Sissy decorating their ornaments.

Miss Kensey with the girls!

One Saturday that we actually had nothing planned we put out some decorations!

Then we went driving around looking at other lights and decorations......

And Holly fell asleep! Check out her sweet little nose. :o)

Brian dug a fire pit in our back yard. We're ready for some bon fires now!

We got to keep Bella one night. Or I should say Anna and Holly kept Bella. :) She slept with them in their room.

She had the cutest glow in the dark pj's on!

Holly was playing on my phone and Bella just walked up to her and started giving big time hugs and love!

Our Christmas play was last night at church. The girls have been practicing so hard on their lines and they both did a great job!!! We have a lady in our church that writes and directs the plays and in my opinion this year was one of the best ones!Holly portrayed the Holy Spirit and did a fantastic job on her lines and acting! We're gonna have to find some plays for these girlies to audition for. :)

Pa and his grand-girls!

Nana and her baby girls!

It's been a super blessed month and we are looking forward to celebrating the birth of our Savior next weekend. I'll try to do another post with some iPhone pics tomorrow or Wednesday.

Psalm 21:2-4
"You have granted him his heart’s desire
and have not withheld the request of his lips.
You came to greet him with rich blessings
and placed a crown of pure gold on his head.
He asked you for life, and you gave it to him—
length of days, for ever and ever."

#339 - Prep Time

2011-12-08T22:14:00.003-05:00

We are getting together with some friends this weekend for a little early CHRISTmas celebration! Today the girls and I went over to Nina's house to help her bake some ornaments for the kiddos to decorate!

She made them out of corn starch, salt, and water. It was a pretty neat process!

Then I came home and made a special treat for the get together! Oreo truffles!!!

Psalm 56:12
"I am under vows to you, my God;
I will present my thank offerings to you."

#338 - Snow & Stockings

2011-12-07T23:09:00.002-05:00

We had a little shower of snow today!!! Not enough to get too excited about, but enough for Holly to try & catch!

And tonight at church our missions class put together stockings for some nursing home patients. We're going to take them next week!

James 1:27
"Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world."

#337 - Soup & a Few Presents

2011-12-06T23:45:00.002-05:00

Today the girls and I got a lot of school finished and we made a huge pot of veggie soup!

We also wrapped one of Brian's presents!

I got my present early! I told Brian I was just gonna wrap the box up....hehe! But he and the girls went and did a little secret shopping for me tonight. I told them not to!

John 1:14
"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

#336 - A Dress for a Little Girl in Haiti

2011-12-06T00:40:00.005-05:00

Anna really enjoyed her handicrafts sewing class with our co-op this fall. Later on I'll do a post with all of the stuff that she has made. But I wanted to go ahead and share this because she took it back today to co-op. It was our last day and we were having our CHRISTmas party. She made this little dress out of a pillowcase and it was going to be sent to Haiti!!!

I'm so proud of her!

Proverbs 31:20-21
"She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.
When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
for all of them are clothed in scarlet."

#335 - Some Pretty & Sweet Kiddos

2011-12-06T00:23:00.002-05:00

My good friend Stacey asked if I'd snap some pictures of her {most adorable} kids and of course I said YES!

Her only request was if we could get them all looking at the camera with smiles. This was the best we could do ^^^! :) The girls helped me get their attention and we ended up with some really cute ones! I'll have to share more later when I have more time.

John 10:14-15
“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep."

#334 - Shopping and a Parade

2011-12-03T20:33:00.010-05:00

Brian was working dayshift today, so the girls and I ventured to Lexington to pick up a few Christmas presents. And just to look around a bit at some stores Brian usually doesn't like to go to. :)

We grabbed a bite to eat at our favorite - Chick-fil-A! Can't beat Christian chicken. :)

We made it back into town just in time for the Christmas parade. The sky during the sunset tonight was amazing! The clouds looked like cotton candy.

The girls before the parade started.

Nina and Greg's church had the neatest float! It says - "God's greatest gift - Will you receive it?" They made giant hands and had a Nativity scene below it and then the cross. Sissy and Eli were shepherds. In the center of our town is this HUGE tree that the city decorates for Christmas every year. There are also smaller trees that line the main street through the college and they always put lights on those too. I just love this time of year!

John 6:35
"Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

#333 - Movable Classroom

2011-12-02T23:19:00.003-05:00

Wednesday the girls decided they wanted to do their school work in the living room - by the warm fire and the tree! :) Who can blame them?!

After taking a few pics of them Anna showed me this in her English book. We thought it was funny because we've been expecting a few packages in the mail this week and as soon as our mail runs we run out to check it! So we're constantly asking each other - "Did you hear the mail truck?"

Proverbs 14:29
"Whoever is patient has great understanding,
but one who is quick-tempered displays folly."

#332 - Decorating for CHRISTmas

2011-12-02T22:52:00.005-05:00

The girls and I had a late start getting our decorations up for Christmas, but we worked hard on Tuesday and finished pretty quickly. Of course it's much easier on me nowadays.....

Hehe!

They put almost the entire tree together! We considered getting a real tree this year, but after checking prices we decided to just use our ol' faithful! This tree ^ is the one I got the CHRISTmas I was expecting Holly. So this is the 10th year we've used it!

Of course Holly's nutcracker collection keeps growing!

We decided to decorate it a little different this year. For years past we've used a pearl garland with pearl and green balls, but this year we used a neat red checked fabric and some grapevine for the garland. We also mostly used more primitive/country looking ornaments. I love how it turned out! I also used some of the leftover fabric for the tree skirt.

Brian's sister gave me the church in this set a couple of weeks ago and his mom had given us the other buildings several years ago.

And upclose view of the fabric/grapevine garland and some of the ornaments!

They had the idea for this picture! Love it!

Proverbs 3:3-4
"Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.
Then you will win favor and a good name
in the sight of God and man."

#331 - Photos of the Addingtons!

2011-12-02T22:33:00.005-05:00

We had such a great time when Vicki, Trent, & Aidan stayed with us last weekend! We can't wait for them to come back and see us again! She had asked me to take some pictures for them for Christmas, so we ventured out Friday to snap a few. :)

Aidan might have been bribed with a giant sucker that they got at Cracker Barrel for all of these great cheeses he was giving us!

Isn't he just darling?! We got to get lots of love from this sweet boy!Love his face in this one!Precious little family! My all time favorite! I called this my money shot of the day. :)

And here is his reward! "Cheese for a sucker!" was what he said during almost every picture and it paid off!

So happy for Vicki and the path that God has her on. Their little family have a heart for God and I just know that He has great plans for them. We miss them so much, so don't be surprised if we make a trip to Atlanta in the near future. :)

I'm also happy that they started a blog!!! Here is the link:
http://trentaddingtonfamily.blogspot.com/

Hebrews 1:1-2
"In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe."

#326 - #330 - Scenes from Our Thanksgiving

2011-12-01T01:12:00.003-05:00

After this post I've got some stuff tomorrow night I'll catch up on :) Seems that all I've been doing is playing catch up!

But for my memory sakes I'm gonna list them (in no particular order) so I won't forget:

1. Vicki, Trent, & Aidan's photo session :)

2. Anna's sewing projects

3. Decorating for Christmas

Now for our Thanksgiving scenes!

Uncle Brian and Miss Bella. :)
Aunt Trish and the girls The girls kept Bella entertained while we were at Nana's house! Or I should say - Bella kept all the girls occupied!

Daddy and Holly

The plethora of desserts!

Bella's favorite game of hide in the closet!

Vicki, Trent, & Aidan came up on Thursday night and stayed with us the weekend! We had a great time and I cooked our Thanksgiving meal on Saturday. I also took their pictures on Friday. More to come of those pics!

I didn't get any other pics of the food other than these of my pecan pie and.....

Apple pie. Recipes courtesy of The Pioneer Woman!

Psalm 100:4-5
"Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations."

#325 - Thanksgiving Blessings

2011-11-28T23:06:00.002-05:00

We've had a great Thanksgiving weekend! I have lots of pics to post, but for now I'll just post one of Vicki, Trent, & Aidan! They stayed with us for a few days and we enjoyed their visit very much! I'm editing pics that I took of them right now :) And Brian and I finally upgraded to iPhones, so this will be my first post using it!

#324 - Our Twinkie Girls

2011-11-23T23:38:00.004-05:00

Our girls have never really looked exactly alike, but sometimes Holly will put on a pair of Anna's glasses and she surprises us!

These girls are a hoot!

We're looking forward to Thanksgiving! We've had a busy week cleaning and getting our house ready for company. But Brian and I did manage to get a date night Monday night and we got some Christmas shopping done! He also bought my present early. :) I've been needing an external flash and they were on sale and I had a coupon, so we saved over $50! The girls had a sleepover with Nana and Aunt Pat that night. :) And last night Erica and I had a girls date night, complete with dinner and a movie!

My niece Vicki, Trent, and Aidan are coming tomorrow night and staying until Sunday! We are so excited :) They want me to take Christmas pictures for them on Friday and I plan on cooking our Thanksgiving meal on Saturday. Tomorrow we're going to go to Brian's mom's house and then to see his papaw. I'll probably do a recap post on Monday night with lots of pics from our weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Psalm 100:4-5
"Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
For the LORD is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations."

#323 - From 2009

2011-11-19T23:36:00.005-05:00

I took pictures today of a family and I didn't want to post their photos on my blog without permission, so I went back into my archives!

I found this picture that I took on this day in 2009! Our crawlspace access is under our porch and we got tired of crawling under our porch everytime we needed to do something. So Brian cut out an access from our porch.

I know, how exciting to post it 2 years later! Haha!

Proverbs 1:5
"A wise man will hear and increase learning,
And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel,"

#313 - #322 - Our Last Few Weeks in Cell Phone Pics

2011-11-18T23:23:00.001-05:00

I figured the easiest way to catch up with my P365 was to upload some pics from my cell phone that I've taken from the past few weeks! Then I can start fresh tomorrow. :)

The girls in their first ever paddle boating adventure.....by themselves! This was at our homeschool co-op fall cookout.
We went up to fill Granny's cooler with corn so she could feed their ducks.
One really nice afternoon we loaded up the bikes and went to a walking trail in town.
We attended a county fiscal court meeting. Uncle Larry (Poppy's twin brother) is the one on the right side in the pink shirt. Papaw got to come home today!!! He broke his hip on August 3rd and has been in the hospital, Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation, & a health care center since then. He was more than ready to be back home!!! The girls and I made some posters and we hung up some balloons to surprise him! :)

Psalm 30:4
"Sing praise to the LORD, you saints of His,
And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name."

#312 - He's Finished!

2011-11-18T00:00:00.005-05:00

The girls and I are very proud of Brian! He has been taking classes at Eastern for his work during the past 2 years and he got his certification tonight!

I love this man! :)

Ephesians 5:33
"Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband."

#311 - The Final Product

2011-11-17T23:44:00.003-05:00

Remember back in the summer when "I shot the Sheriff"?

They used that picture for their 2012 calendar!

We tried to get Brian's dad to stand to the side, but he just wanted to blend in. He is 3rd from the right in the second row.

Exodus 14:14
"The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”

#310 - Official School Pictures

2011-11-17T00:30:00.003-05:00

I'm helping with our homeschool co-op's yearbook class and we've been taking the individual pictures. Here are the girls' "official school pictures" :)

Holly - 4th grade
Anna - 7th grade

Psalm 119:105
"Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path."

#309 - Natural Bridge Field Trip

2011-11-16T01:12:00.010-05:00

Last Saturday we took a little field trip to the Natural Bridge State Park. It was a beautiful day!

Here are a few pics from our day:

Even though we've been exercising more - that hike just about got me! Holly stayed back and hiked with me while Brian and Anna waited for us at the top!

The girls squeezing through - "fat man's misery!" on the side of the bridge.

The other side.

On top of the Natural Bridge.

We hiked on around to the rock behind of Holly in this pic.

Loved this tree :D

The girls standin on the rock with Natural Bridge behind them.

Brian and me

The last time we were here was on our 1st wedding anniversary! I'll have to find that pic and scan and post it!

Natural Bridge

Enjoying the view!

Very close to the bridge was the Red River Gorge area. There is a really neat train tunnel there.

Inside the tunnel.

One of the really neat rocks at the gorge.

It was a fabulous day and I can't wait to go back!

Psalm 119:18
"Open my eyes, that I may see
Wondrous things from Your law."

#308 - Our Family's Biggest Loser

2011-11-16T00:56:00.005-05:00

Two weeks ago yesterday I had to have a physical for our health insurance and my new doctor told me about a website that helps you track your daily calories and exercise. So Anna and I started doing it that very day I went to the Dr. and we've been doing a lot of exercising! But it also means that I've been getting up earlier and going to bed earlier, so my blogging time has been cut a little bit. :) We've also been busy and I'm going to try to get everything posted and caught up by the weekend.

Last Tuesday Brian thought of the idea of doing a biggest loser for our family. So we separated into teams with Anna and me on one team (since we had kind of already started) and Brian and Holly on the other. The goal is to see which team can lose the most percentage body fat by April 1st, 2012. The winners will receive some $$moolah$$ :) We had our first weigh in last night and Anna won for the week! We've just been eating healhier and trying to get back into the habit of eating better foods.

Here is my progress and widget from the site:

1 Corinthians 6:19
"Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?"

#307 - Water Treatment Plant Field Trip

2011-11-06T23:34:00.009-05:00

I'll eventually get caught up with my P365...maybe. :)

Last week we went with our homeschool co-op group to our local water treatment facility. Anna is taking a chemistry class and one of her teachers set it up for us. It was very interesting and we learned a lot.

I'm going to share what I remember about the process, just so we'll have something to look back on and review. Just bear with me. :)

Our city gets it's water from a lake reservoir that is pumped into another spring fed reservoir, that eventually ends up at the treatment plant. The picture I took from the first room/stage it comes into had some kiddos from our co-op in it and I didn't want to post without permission. But just imagine a room with two HUGE tanks :)

At that step they add chlorine and some other chemicals to the water to make the organics all clump (technical term: coagulate:) together. The above ^ picture is what the water looks like with all of the "organics" rising to the top. The organics included leaves, dirt, fish particles, etc. Swimming is not allowed in the reservoirs and there are no streams leading into it, so it is truly clean(ish) water when it gets to the treatment plant.

The men that work there and gave us the tour called this nice stuff - "sludge!" In the picture above, that top layer of sludge is being poured off of the water.

Then the water is transferred into several different tanks where it goes through another filtration process. It is pushed down through several layers of charcoal/sand/etc? to be cleaned.

While we were there these cleaning tanks were getting backwashed. Kind of like when you backwash a swimming pool pump. I think they said that each tank gets backwashed every 48-52 hours.

These pumps were at the bottom of those filtration tanks. There the water was pumped into water lines that infused more chemicals and sanitized it. From there it was pumped into a huge underground pump up on top of a mountain beside the plant. Then it will eventually end up at our house! We normally buy water bottles and even after knowing all of the steps they carefully take to insure our drinking water is safe.......I'll probably still buy our drinking water!

After our tour was over we walked down to the sludge ponds.

This is the stuff that was poured off of the top in that first picture. :) These are holding ponds that get emptied every so often by someone that comes in and pumps it to a farm. Believe it or not there is some great nutrients in that sLuDge! The trees were still pretty and if you didn't know any better you'd think this was taken at a pretty lake and not at a holding pond for this stuff......

Ha!

It was a great day and we were excited that Brian got to go along with us!

Very interesting to know that all of the water that was created @6000 years ago on this earth is the water that we use today. It is always going through the water cycle.

Genesis 1:1-10
The History of Creation
"1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.
6 Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”
7 Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.
9 Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.
10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good."

#300 - #306 - Catching Up!

2011-11-02T21:39:00.005-04:00

Wow, it feels like I haven't blogged in forever! It's just been a busy week and our computer has been doing crazy stuff again! Something about a drive not being installed properly, so another re-boot is coming it's way soon. :)

So to catch up:

Last weekend I took pictures for some friends and their precious little girls. We had a great time and I've spent a lot of time this week sorting and editing the 767 pictures that I took.

Sunday our morning worship was great and after church Brian thought of the idea for everyone to write down 2 things we wanted to do and whatever was picked out of the bowl we'd do. So the first thing out was "go to the mall" :)The second one picked was "go to the mall!" Hmm.... Then we picked a third thing in case we had time to do something else and "Best Buy" was the next one drawn! So to Lexington we went. Of course, just to look, not to buy anything. Anna had a little b-day money that she was able to spend, but she decided to keep saving up for something bigger. And I just drooled over the external flashes at Best Buy.

Monday our homeschool co-op was cancelled because of halloween so after some school we headed over to the farm to check the trail cam. We just viewed the pics on my camera and left that memory card in the trail cam, so I'll be sure to post those 30 pictures of 3 black cows that were captured next time.....haha! But on our way back out of the "holler" Holly almost stepped on this tortoise/turtle (I should know the difference being their teacher, but I won't lie - I have no idea!) But check out it's eye ^!So after taking turns holding it we headed on home.We don't celebrate Halloween, but we did buy some candy to have on hand for this cutie when she came by.

The girls are always dressing up and they both did dress up on Monday as Nancy Drew so Bella could see them, but they ended up changing before she got there.

Yesterday we toured our local water treatment plant with our co-op and I'll do a post on that soon. It was very interesting! So I think that pretty much catches us up for the last week.

1 Thessalonians 5:22
"Abstain from every form of evil."

#299 - The New Hats

2011-10-27T23:32:00.002-04:00

After the girls made their sock monkeys, we've been on the lookout for sock monkey winter hats. We've seen them on people, but just not in stores. Last night we ran into Walgreens for something and we finally found some!

Anna got the sock monkey of course, but...... Holly chose the frog! :D
They drew these pics yesterday of them sportin' their new finds!

Ephesians 6:17
"And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;"

#298 - Making Old Fashioned Apple Butter

2011-10-27T10:15:00.005-04:00

We go to church with the sweetest couple that makes apple butter every fall the old fashioned way.....

Over a fire!

They made it on Tuesday and started in the morning and let it simmer over the fire all day. They had some help from a few neighbors with the stirring. We got there right before it was finished, so we got to help with the canning process.

They add red hots for flavor and coloring.

Holly and Anna wiped the rims of the jars. Big time hands on lesson!

We took 3 jars home and we now officially have 2 1/8 jars left. :P

It's very good!

This is the view from their subdivision. It was a clear and gorgeous day!

Psalm 40:5
"Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works
Which You have done;
And Your thoughts toward us
Cannot be recounted to You in order;
If I would declare and speak of them,
They are more than can be numbered."

#297 - Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

2011-10-25T22:09:00.005-04:00

This weekend a friend of mine gave me the recipe for homemade dishwasher detergent! I was so excited that I had all of the ingredients except one. I bought the Lemi Shine at Wal-Mart for $2.96 (it was right beside the dishwashing soap.)

Here are the ingredients. 1 cup of Kosher Salt (I think you can use regular salt too.)2 cups Washing Soda

2 cups of Borax

The entire bottle of Lemi Shine.

Mix all of this together and voila ~ ready to use!

I poured some back into the Lemi Shine bottle to make it easier to pour into the dishwasher.

Another tip is to use vinegar in the rinse container in your dishwasher! I tried this last night and it works great and helps to clean your dishwasher also!

After making my laundry detergent and loving it, I'm going to try all kinds of homemade recipes now!

Here is the recipe again:
2 cups Washing Soda
2 cups Borax
1 cup Kosher salt
1 bottle of Lemi Shine

Jeremiah 2:22
"For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap,
Yet your iniquity is marked before Me,” says the Lord GOD."

#296 - Trail Cam Update #4

2011-10-25T21:36:00.003-04:00

We went over to check our trail cam a couple of nights ago and we got a few different critters this time!

A couple of coons!

And....

A coyote!

It was so pretty with the trees all changing!

We have the trail cam a pretty good distance from the main road and have to hike down a huge hill. Which means we get to hike back up it on the way out! :P

Brian and the girls had moved the camera the last time we were over there. This time we moved it back because we hadn't gotten any good deer pics. The sisters. :)

Helping Brian test out the camera.

Pretty trees.

And the hill we get to journey back up! It was a nice afternoon and we finished the night with a visit to Papaw. We showed him some of the pics that we've captured on the trail cam and he loved seeing them!

Psalm 96:11-13
"Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad;
Let the sea roar, and all its fullness;
Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it.
Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice
before the LORD.
For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth.
He shall judge the world with righteousness,
And the peoples with His truth."

#294 - #295 - Co-op Cookout

2011-10-22T21:18:00.005-04:00

The girls and I went over to my sister's last night and had a girls night! We had a lot of fun!

Today our homeschool co-op had it's annual family cookout. We had so much fun! The girls even got to do the paddle boats (by themselves:) in the river. The pics of that are on my cell phone, so I'll add them later on. The cookout was at a Christian camp near Lexington and it is really beautiful there.

Psalm 1:3
"He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper."

#291, #292, & #293 - The Past Few Days

2011-10-21T00:54:00.003-04:00

We've had a busy, but non-eventful past few days. :)

Anna got a belated, but great birthday gift from her aunt that lives in Louisville. :o) Aunt Tracy gets all of the fun stuff the girls always LOVE! I've been wanting to buy a puzzle for a while and last night after church when we went to Wally World - I got one! We started out with a 500 piece and may eventually work up to a larger number. The four of us started on it this afternoon and after the girls and I went to get our hair trimmed we came back and finished it! Bring on the 1000 piece....maybe! We've also been switching out Holly's summer/winter clothes. Anna had already finished her closet a few nights ago. Everytime we do this I get sad, because it shows how quickly our girls are growing. There used to be about 8-10 totes of hand me down stuff of Anna's we'd save for Holly and now we are down to less than 3 totes. They are almost wearing some of the same stuff. Time, please slow down!!!

Psalm 40:8
"I delight to do Your will, O my God,
And Your law is within my heart.”

#290 - Another Round of Golf

2011-10-18T00:35:00.002-04:00

After our homeschool co-op this afternoon we went to the Par 3 course and this time I got to join in on the fun!

We were able to warm up on a putting green before we played. I snapped a few pictures here because I didn't want to pack my camera around the course. Brian has been teaching the girls all kinds of tricks. :) Holly looks like a pro! Hehe!

We played on teams - Anna/Me and Holly/Brian. Holly and Brian beat us by 4 strokes. :) Anna and I were actually up for 2 holes, but we couldn't hold on for the win!!! It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to go back again!

Psalm 27:14
"Wait on the LORD;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the LORD!"

#289 - Trail Cam Update #3

2011-10-17T00:16:00.003-04:00

After Brian and the girls got finished playing golf on Friday they ran over to the farm to get the pictures off of the trail cam. To their surprise there were 23 pictures this time! The last time we didn't get one single picture of a deer. :( But this time was a different story!

Out of the 23 pictures about 18 had deer in them!

Of course, these deer must know that they'll never be harmed by us. Or why else would they pose for our camera so much?!
Psalm 18:33
"He makes my feet like the feet of deer,
And sets me on my high places."

#287 & 288 - Golfing with Daddy

2011-10-15T22:24:00.008-04:00

Brian took the girls golfing yesterday at the Par 3 course at Gibson Bay. They had a good time and remembered to get some pics for me. :)

Brian said that they did pretty good too!

They want to go back soon and I can't wait to join them.

While getting these pics off of his phone I came across this little gem of a photo: She is so funny!

2 Samuel 7:22
"Therefore You are great, O Lord GOD. For there is none like You, nor is there any God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears."

#286 - Sock Bun Results

2011-10-13T21:23:00.001-04:00

Since Anna has been fixing Holly's hair so much, I asked her to help me straighten mine with the Chi the other night. I helped her get started and then she did the rest. When I usually try to do it (which isn't very often:), it takes over an hour! So it was nice to have some help! That night I did the sock bun curling method.

To sum it up - we straightened my curly hair, just so I could re-curl it. :)

Here is the results! It looked very different. It's nice to have a change occasionally, but I'm ready for my mousse and spritz!

#285 - The Painting of Papaw's Pond

2011-10-13T00:04:00.004-04:00

Anna finished Papaw's watercolor painting! She took two different pictures that I had taken of him and his pond and combined them to paint this:

We took it over to Hobby Lobby to have it framed this afternoon and then took it by to surprise him. He loved it! Anna was pointing out what details she had put on there. :)
This makes my heart smile. :D
And there just so happened to be a spare nail on the wall in his room that was strong enough to hold his painting.......temporarily, until he gets home!

Loved this one! :)

Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope."

#284 - Queenie

2011-10-11T16:32:00.004-04:00

Our neighbor's dog, Queenie, has almost become our dog. :) She stays at our house more than she does anywhere else. Most of the time that is okay with us, but when she barks beside our bedroom window at 3:00 a.m. she is welcome to go back home. :)

I was searching for a picture earlier and found this one that I took of Queenie a few years ago :

♥

She really is a sweet and very smart dog.
Sunday when the girls and I were having our photoshoot, she just couldn't stay away! I don't think she could believe that we'd be outside and not paying her any attention. The nerve we had. :) I finally just started snapping away with her in some of them.

Psalm 148:1
"Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD from the heavens;
Praise Him in the heights!"

#283 - Some Random Things on a Monday

2011-10-10T23:16:00.004-04:00

During co-op today Anna made a spoon person and she chose Mary from "The Little House on the Prairie" show! We checked it out last week from the library and the girls are addicted to watching it now!

While taking pictures yesterday I snapped one of Danforth Chapel. :) It's where we got married!
And this is completely random, but I LOVE this soap!

Proverbs 19:20-21
"Listen to counsel and receive instruction,
That you may be wise in your latter days.
There are many plans in a man’s heart,
Nevertheless the LORD’s counsel—that will stand."

#281 - 282 - A Weekend of Pictures..... Literally

2011-10-10T01:22:00.009-04:00

We've had a very blessed weekend - in pictures that is!

Saturday the girls and I went over to Erica's house to snap a few pictures of her and the kiddos.
Then today the girls and I had our annual fall photoshoot!

Here is a preview:

These next two were strictly for fun!

Pucker up, Holly!

Watch out, Anna!

Proverbs 19:20-21
"Listen to counsel and receive instruction,
That you may be wise in your latter days.
There are many plans in a man’s heart,
Nevertheless the LORD’s counsel—that will stand."

#279 - 280 - Rounding Out the Week

2011-10-08T02:09:00.004-04:00

Tonight was our last night of revival and it has been quite a revealing week! As believers we must truly die to self daily and let Christ live through us. It is much easier said than done, because of this rotten flesh that we live in. But with His grace and mercy we can do it!

Bro. Kenny wanted me to take a picture of Bro. Butch after church so I snapped a few of the girls and Brian as we were waiting. We're planning on having a pretty laid back weekend and maybe get a few fall pictures of the girls in too. We'll see. :)

Psalm 37:3-6
"Trust in the LORD, and do good;
Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
Delight yourself also in the LORD,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the LORD,
Trust also in Him,
And He shall bring it to pass.
He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light,
And your justice as the noonday."

#278 - Wednesday Revival

2011-10-06T00:13:00.005-04:00

Tonight was the fourth night of our revival and the last night Bro. Bill Stafford was scheduled to be with us. We'll have another evangelist tomorrow and Friday night. We've had a great week so far and I'm excited about what God has in store for us. We're praying for a revival for our whole entire city that will spread across the state and nation! This country needs another great awakening!

Bro. Kenny, Bro. Bill, & Bro. Larry David tonight after our service.
The girls with Bro. Bill.
He has definitely been a huge blessing to us at Bethel and we're going to miss him!

Isaiah 26:4
"Trust in the LORD forever,
for the LORD, the LORD himself, is the Rock eternal."

#273 - #277 - Courageous, Burning Bush, & Revival!

2011-10-04T22:35:00.012-04:00

I've gotten a little behind with my daily posts. :) We've had a busy weekend and week!

Our revival at church started Sunday and it is going wonderful! Bro. Bill Stafford is the evangelist for 4 days of it. Neat fact about him - he was the older neighbor to Kirk Cameron in the movie Fireproof.

{Photo Source}

Here is a recap of our past few days:

We've had a small mice issue. We've set traps, sticky pads, etc. This one under this plastic ice cream container chewed it's way off of the sticky pad. Long story short - it didn't make it. Not that I was trying to save it's life. I know that we are suppose to love all of God's creatures, and I do, but the ones that carry disease and invade my kitchen I'm going to claim dominion over!

Last Saturday we met another couple from our church at the movies in Lexington to watch Courageous. It was a REALLY good movie! It is a life changing movie and every parent needs to watch it! We love all of the movies that the Kendrick brothers have written and made. So very excited about the lives that this movie in particular will effect. May God have all of the glory! After the movie we ate at Raising Cane's and did a little bit of shopping. Sunday is when our revival started. After lunch and a trip to check on the trail cam (no pictures of deer:( we went to Brian's granny's house. He did a few errands for her and the girls played with her kitties. This is Oliver after waking up from his nap. Brian's papaw is still having therapy at a local nursing home and is doing really good. He'll be home soon, hopefully. Anna is painting a picture of him and as soon as she is done I'll scan it in and share!
Monday the girls and I didn't go to co-op. Brian was off work and we stayed around the house and enjoyed the beautiful weather!

Brian cleaned up the some tree limbs and burnt some brush at the very back of our yard.

I took this panorama shot of the back of our lot.

We are really excited about how our revival is going so far and we pray that the rest of this week will truly begin revival in our church and community!

2 Corinthians 3:5
"Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,"

#272 - Apple Pizza

2011-09-29T23:48:00.008-04:00

I've been in the mood to bake something with apples. So tonight I concocted a little recipe of my very own. It turned out pretty yummy. And, it's low(er) in fat than most other apple desserts I've tried in the past. In case you're wondering what's on it, here is rundown:

Baked some pizza dough and let it cool.

Mixed up about 1/2 cup of softened cream cheese, 1 cup of powdered sugar, and about 2 tablespoons of milk and spread it on the dough.

Then I chopped up a granny smith apple and spread it over the pizza.

Poured caramel over this and then sprinkled some chopped up Rolo candies on top.

I chilled it in the fridge for a little while to firm up the caramel.

I got thumbs up from la familia!

Proverbs 25:11-12
"Like apples of gold in settings of silver
is a ruling rightly given.
Like an earring of gold or an ornament of fine gold
is the rebuke of a wise judge to a listening ear."

#271 - Laundry Detergent Finale

2011-09-29T00:34:00.005-04:00

After making the laundry detergent last week, I left it covered all night and this is what it looked like the next afternoon: It was kind of clumped, but after a quick stir it had a better consistency. I just ladled it into one of my smaller detergent bottles that was filled with about 1/4 warm water and gave it a good shake. I've washed about 7 or 8 loads of clothes so far and I think it does a good job.

And because I didn't want to just post a picture of gloopy detergent :o) here is a picture of a wildflower that we took on one of our trips to check the trail cam. Psalm 29:2
"Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name;
Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness."

#270 - Courageous

2011-09-27T22:30:00.005-04:00

The church that has produced Flywheel, Facing the Giants, and Fireproof have a new movie coming out this Friday, September 30th! It's called Courageous and we can't wait to watch it! We're going with another couple from church to watch it this weekend. For more information you can go to the website:
http://www.courageousthemovie.com/

This is the opening scene from the movie:

I would encourage everyone to check out any of the movies that Sherwood Pictures has made! It would be an awesome thing for Courageous to have a blockbuster weekend to send a message to the "Hollywood" industry that this is the type of movie that America needs and wants to see! So go support it!!!

Joshua 24:15b
"But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

(This is not a paid advertisement. :) I just support this ministry 100%!)

#269 - Trail Cam Update #2

2011-09-26T21:45:00.005-04:00

We've checked our trail cam a couple of times and here are some of the pics so far:

Still holding out for a picture of a bear! :)

1 Thessalonians 5:23
"Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

#268 - Monumental Year

2011-09-25T22:33:00.004-04:00

We've had a great Sunday! We had wonderful services at church and a little shopping in between for a few things. Tonight I realized I hadn't taken a picture... :( So I thought I'd pull up to see what we were doing last year on this day - September 25th - and this is where we were:

In Plymouth, Massachusetts at the Forefather's Monument!

We had gone up there with the precious Pinson family to be part of the documentary Kirk Cameron is doing called - "Monumental Movie" about America's true providential history. That was such a wonderful trip! They are finishing up the movie within the next month and it is due out in 2012. For more info about the movie you can click HERE. And if you want to see more pics from that trip you can click HERE.

"O Lord, forgive what I have been, sanctify what I am, and order what I shall be."
~Thomas Wilson

#267 - Love Can Build a Bridge

2011-09-24T23:13:00.001-04:00

A few months ago Erica asked me if I wanted to go see the Judds in concert. I said - sure! Growing up I loved their songs and sang, "Young Love" more than a few times! So tonight was the "Evening with Wynonna" over at Eastern's new Center for the Arts. Mama Judd wasn't there, but Wynonna did a pretty good job.

Erica and I had a great time even though she never sang, "Young Love." :(

1 John 2:5
"But if anyone obeys His word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in Him:"

#266 - Anna's 12th Birthday

2011-09-24T00:53:00.002-04:00

We celebrated Anna's 12th birthday today. Still can't believe our sweet little baby is already 12 years old. Instead of having a big party she decided to do a small cake and have a sleepover with Sissy. And tomorrow she wants to go bowling. :)

Brian's mom is in Florida with her sister and they sent Anna these gorgeous roses today. It was Anna's first time getting flowers delivered to her. She LOVED them!
Both of our girls always request a homemade cake instead of a store/bakery bought one. For this birthday Anna wanted a chocolate cake, so I made one of those "better than anything" cakes with the devil's food cake, caramel, sweet cond. milk, cool-whip, crushed toffee bars. It was pretty yummy! Our sweet birthday girl! Suse, Ryan, Amber, & Bella came over and we ended up having a mini-party.
Sissy made her this sweet card and.....

....got her a washer/dryer playset for her Barbies!

We got her a gift bag with a variety of stuff and I ordered her the new Just Dance 3 Wii game that comes out on October 7th. I printed the receipt out and put it in a box in her gift bag!

For a little while Bella decided to color with her Uncle Brian. :) Brings back sweet memories.

Ryan surprised the girls with this Barbie RV! It was from Nana too. They LOVED it, but I think Bella may have gotten a little attached to it also!

Happy 12th Birthday to our sweet young lady! I thank God for blessing us with such a kind, pleasant, patient, caring, and precious daughter!!! We love you, Nunu!

Luke 9:23
"Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me."

#265 - I Finally Made Laundry Detergent

2011-09-22T21:59:00.008-04:00

I'm not sure why I've been so intimidated by making this homemade laundry soap that everyone has been making since the Duggars' first introduced it. But today I finally did it! And guess what?! - It is super easy! :)

The recipe I got from a dear friend on Facebook:

1 Fels Naptha Bar

1 cup Borax

1 cup WASHING Soda

Grade the Fels Naptha bar up with a cheese grader or food processor like above^.

Fill a medium saucepan with hot tap water and add the shaved soap and heat on medium until it starts to dissolve.

I just kept stirring it and making sure the small pieces were dissolving.

When it is dissolved take a clean 5 gallon bucket and fill it halfway with hot tap water.

Then add the melted soap and stir.

Next add the cup of Borax and the cup of WASHING Soda:

And stir!
Then fill the rest of the bucket up with hot tap water.
And stir some more!
Her instructions said to put the lid on the bucket and let it sit overnight. That it would be a little gooey and lumpy. You just need to stir it again and break up the clumps. I've been saving my ALL detergent bottles so I'm going to fill a bottle with about 1/4 water and then add the detergent mixture to it and shake away! I also got some fragrant oils to add to the individual bottles in case I want to make it smell a little better. I can't completely quit cold turkey with the scent thing. So in the next few days I'll add some pictures of my finished product and give a review of how well we like using this new and cheap laundry detergent!

I had the girls help me do the math (school work!) on how much it costs to make a batch and here is what we come up with:

Borax = 8 ounces $.42

Washing Soda = 8 ounces $.57

Fels Naptha = $1.03 (w/tax)

Total for 5 gallons (640 oz.) = $2.02

1 Peter 4:10
"Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms."

#264 - Birthday Prep

2011-09-22T00:09:00.005-04:00

Anna will turn 12 (gasp) on Friday. Did I just really type that out?! Wow!

Anyway, I've been looking through pictures and I came across this one tonight:

We took these around her 1st birthday. At the time we were huge UK fans and one of the requirements for having a family picture taken was if we all wore Wildcat blue. :o)

How cute is she in her little cheerleader outfit?!

I can't believe that she'll be turning 12. years. old. Just doesn't seem right.

She is such a blessing to us and I praise God for her.

2 Corinthians 6:18-19
"And, “I will be a Father to you,
and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.”

#263 - An Impromptu Photoshoot

2011-09-20T23:43:00.004-04:00

We were able to keep Bella this afternoon and the girls took her outside to play so I just grabbed my camera and had a little photoshoot with her. :)

She didn't care much for Jonathan (the girls' name for our neighbor's horse.)

Most of my pictures look like this ^ With her either running away or to us!

But we did manage to get a few good ones. :)

Proverbs 22:6
"Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it."

#262 - Sock Monkey

2011-09-20T00:03:00.002-04:00

Today in Anna's co-op handicraft's class they worked on their sock monkeys.

And tonight she made one with Holly. :)

They did almost the entire thing all by themselves....and did a great job too! It's not quite finished, but they'll add the ears, eyes, and lines for it's mouth tomorrow.
So right now it's a monkey that can see no, hear no, and speak no evil....hehe!

Psalm 15:1-3
"LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle?
Who may dwell in Your holy hill?
He who walks uprightly,
And works righteousness,
And speaks the truth in his heart;
He who does not backbite with his tongue,
Nor does evil to his neighbor,
Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend;"

#261 - Family Fun Day

2011-09-19T01:13:00.003-04:00

Our church held a Family Fun Day today at a park close to our church. It was so much fun! There was tons of games, puppets, fellowship, and of course yummy food!

Anna was showing off her artwork that a sweet little 2 year old painted on her face!
Holly won a medal for the hoola hoop contest and she also got to enjoy a ride in a wheelbarrow!

It was a great day and the rain held off to make the weather near perfect! Now to get ready for a (kind of:) busy week!

1 John 1:7
"But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."

#260 - Holly's 3rd Spiritual Birthday

2011-09-17T21:07:00.008-04:00

On this day in 2008, Holly accepted Christ and she became our little sister!

Here she is the night she got saved:

And this was taken last week. :)

Psalm 18:35
"You have also given me the shield of Your salvation;
Your right hand has held me up,
Your gentleness has made me great."

#259 - Trail Cam Update

2011-09-16T23:17:00.003-04:00

Brian and the girls went this afternoon to check the trail cam and found this on there!

Then we went back early this evening to take a couple of mineral blocks and some more apples. In the three hours since they were there these two lovely ladies showed up:

We were so excited! I can't wait to see what is on there next!
Who knows what it'll be?!!

:)
Psalm 13:4-6
"Lest my enemy say,
“I have prevailed against him”;
Lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved.
But I have trusted in Your mercy;
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
I will sing to the LORD,
Because He has dealt bountifully with me."

#258 - Bible Studies and Devotionals

2011-09-15T20:38:00.008-04:00

I thought for my daily post that I'd jump on board for Kelly's Korner SUYL - and share the Bible Studies/Devtionals that we do. You can click on each picture for links to Lifeway.

I started reading this one earlier in the summer and love it!

We got our new devotional after our anniversary trip to Tennessee in August. We like the format that these One Year devotionals have. I'll be honest we don't do this every night (we should:), but when we do get to have a devotional together it is always great!
This one for couples is a good one also!

Have a great Friday everyone!

Titus 2:4-5
"Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God."

#257 - Backyard Habitats

2011-09-15T00:02:00.003-04:00

The girls had an assignment to observe the habitats of a square yard in our backyard.

They were all business!

Isaiah 32:18
"My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation,
In secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places,"

#256 - BBC Mini Series

2011-09-14T01:38:00.005-04:00

Since watching a few of BBC's Jane Austen mini series, we are hooked! :-) Both of the following are based off of books/essays written by Elizabeth Gaskell and I recommend them highly!

I absolutely fell in love with this:

{Photo Source}

We checked Cranford out at the library last week and watched it tonight:

{Photo Source}

The fun part is that the girls love to watch them as much as I do! Brian does too! A lot of times there are teaching moments throughout the episodes. Tonight we were almost finished with the first episode of Cranford and Holly made a comment about the plot that baffled me. :) I hadn't even figured out that part of the movie yet! Most movies and t.v. shows are so inappropriate anymore that it is very refreshing that we can all enjoy something wholesome and somewhat educational too!

Hebrews 13:5
"Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

#255 - 1st Day of Co-op

2011-09-12T20:27:00.007-04:00

Today was our first day of our homeschool co-op for the fall semester. I took this pic of Anna and Sissy after all of our other kiddos had gone to class. :)

They all liked their classes so far. :D

Anna is taking P.E., Handicrafts (sewing), and Chemistry Concepts.

Holly has Recycled Art, P.E., and Civil War.

I'm helping the high school aged kids with the yearbook. I'll be taking pictures (surprise, surprise:) and helping with the individual portraits of each class. It should be interesting!

Philippians 4:4
"Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!"

#254 - Wildlife on the Farm

2011-09-11T23:04:00.007-04:00

This afternoon after church and after visiting Brian's papaw we headed over to the farm to see if we had any pictures on the deer cam. This is all we had:

Just a leaf falling. :(

But we moved it to hopefully a better location and we'll check it in a few days.
We saw some interesting and wild looking critters today. This picture above is some type of fuzzy worm. Who knows what kind?! I just love wildflowers!

I'm also wild about our girlies :)

And sisters wild about each other!

And much to the happiness of the girls this little foal wasn't very wild! :)

Proverbs 21:19
"Better to dwell in the wilderness,
Than with a contentious and angry woman."

#253 - Cake World

2011-09-10T23:55:00.004-04:00

For one of our assigments this week the girls were suppose to bake a cake and decorate it with the ocean and continents. We hadn't gotten a chance to do it yet, so we had a little school on a Saturday night! Last year I found the girls a little baker set and the shape of the pan was perfect for the world!

Anna mapping out Australia.

Our icing bag got a little messy!

The finished product.

Psalm 89:11
"The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours;
The world and all its fullness, You have founded them."

#252 - Don't Step in a Cow Pile

2011-09-10T00:33:00.007-04:00

We went over to Brian's grandfather's farm tonight to set up a trail cam. Brian wanted to do a little lesson with the girls about wildlife.....and maybe get some cool pictures of a deer or two.

We had Sis and Eli with us for a little while tonight. Hehe - can you tell this pic is totally posed?! :)
This picture turned out a little blurry, but Brian was getting it secured to a tree.

Then he asked the kiddos to walk in front of it and play the part. :)
So here is Anna playing the part. I never knew that deer stick their tongues out!
The lighting and background were great here, so I couldn't resist. :)
When we were leaving this llama wanted to follow us out.

I'm so glad that our school doesn't end at 3:00 p.m. on Fridays!
Psalm 50:10-11
"For every beast of the forest is Mine,
And the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know all the birds of the mountains,
And the wild beasts of the field are Mine."

#251 - Flashbacks

2011-09-08T23:30:00.004-04:00

My sister came over tonight and had a cd with pictures on it from about 4 years ago. I copied some of them, because I had never seen them! Love these!

My, oh, my, where has the time gone?

Hebrews 13:8
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."

#250 - Adoniram and Ann Judson

2011-09-07T22:53:00.010-04:00

We are using My Father's World curriculum this year and we have a book that we're studying called, Hero Tales. I have also used it for the missions class that I teach on Wednesday nights. Tonight's lesson was going to be about the first American foreign missionaries, Adoniram and Ann Judson. It was a couple from Massachusetts that set out originally for India, but by God's providence ended up in Burma (now known as Myanmar.)

Then I remembered something familiar about their story.

When we went on the first trip to Plymouth, MA in 2009 we visited Burial Hill where many of the Pilgrims were buried. While there Joel told us about a memorial that belonged to the first American foreign missionary in the early 19th century.

I went hunting a picture that I had taken while we were there and sure enough. We had been to Andoniram's memorial. He had passed away while sailing back to America and they had buried him at sea. Ann had passed away while they were still in Burma.

But the story gets even better! When my older sister was ready to graduate high school my family visited a college in Alabama and guess what the name was.......Judson College! She didn't end up going there though. :( But the college was named after Adoniram's wife, Ann. Judson University in Illinois is named after him. Isn't that neat! We will definitely be doing some more research about this couple that did so much for missions work such a long time ago!

Very inspiring!

His memoir:

"The prospects are bright as the promises of God."
~Adoniram Judson

#249 - Breakfast Treat

2011-09-06T22:28:00.004-04:00

Since Brian worked the weekend and we didn't get to spend a lot of time together he wanted to take the girls to breakfast this morning. So we delayed school by a few hours while we ate at the Cracker Barrel and then got to visit with his Papaw for a little while. Who is doing good by the way. It's been a little over a month since he broke his hip and is doing therapy at a local rehab. His spirits are getting a little low, but his fight to get home soon are as strong as ever!

Snapped this pic with my cell phone. :)

We did get our schoolin' in this afternoon by the way.

Romans 12:9
"Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good."

#248 - 4 Years of Homeschooling

2011-09-05T20:14:00.005-04:00

I was glancing back at pictures of the girls on their first days of school from the past four years and couldn't believe the changes!

2008

Anna - 4th grade, Holly - 1st grade

2009

Anna - 5th grade, Holly - 2nd grade

2010
Anna - 6th grade, Holly - 3rd grade

2011
Anna - 7th grade, Holly - 4th grade

Wow! So hard to believe that this is the 4th year we've been doing this! We love it and even though it gets tough sometimes, I wouldn't change a thing. :D

3 John 1:4
"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth."

#247 - Never Before Seen Picture

2011-09-04T18:30:00.002-04:00

Our computer is acting up and it forced me to merge some files into our hard drive, just in case it crashes. During this process I come across this picture that I'm pretty sure I've never posted. Brian and I got the girls these dresses last year in Panama. They are the dresses the Ngöbe-Buglé ladies wore.

We've had a great sleepy, rainy, restful Sunday and now we're getting ready for a fun week of school! Have a great week!

John 3:16
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

#246 - Dog Days of Summer

2011-09-03T22:31:00.006-04:00

It was blazing hot today and the girls waited until late afternoon to swim, but the pool was in need of some chemicals and frankly it's too late to keep putting money into it. Especially with temps forecasted to be in the 70's next week! Woohoo!

Remember Queenie? Our neighbor's beautiful doggie.

We hadn't seen her in a very long time, because she had been kept up. But in the last few weeks she has been coming over to visit us.

I caught her mid-yawn :) She got tired of me taking pictures and not rubbing her noggin'! Since the girls didn't get to swim, I just sprayed them with the water hose. I just loved this pic of Holly. :0)

Isaiah 18:4
"For so the LORD said to me,
“ I will take My rest,
And I will look from My dwelling place
Like clear heat in sunshine,
Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”

#245 - Friend's Anniversary

2011-09-02T22:04:00.002-04:00

Today has been a typical Friday. Work. School. Rest. :)

But today is also our best friend's 16th anniversary!

Nina and Greg have been our best friends for a long time and we love them dearly! I'll forever be grateful for their matchmaking skills with Brian and myself. :)

1 Corinthians 13:13
"And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

#244 - Tree of Life Homeschool

2011-09-01T18:27:00.005-04:00

This is our 4th year homeschooling and we have decided to come up with a logo for our school. We named our homeschool, Tree of Life, when we first started back in 2008 and have thought several different times about designing a logo. After our field trip the other day Brian suggested that we get t-shirts made. So this afternoon we all drew our designs on the board and now we just need to get one finalized and have some made up!

In case your wondering about who designed which one, clockwise is: Mine at the top, Brian's, Holly's ("Tree of Life" is on a banner being pulled by a flying bird beside the tree:), and Anna's. Anna also drew the tree in the very middle just for another example. Can you tell who the artists are in the family?!

We like different elements of all of the designs, but we all agree that we like the tree from the cover of Pride & Prejudice:

Only maybe with some roots showing on the bottom; signifying our roots are going to be firmly planted in the Word of God!

I also wanted to add that along with our renewed car tags last month we also got a new license plate!

Psalm 62:8
"Trust in Him at all times, you people;
Pour out your heart before Him;
God is a refuge for us. Selah"

#242 & #243 - First Day of School Field Trip

2011-08-31T23:36:00.017-04:00

We started off our school year yesterday morning just like any other school year. :) This year the girls have to wake up by themselves, get dressed, make their bed, eat breakfast and be in the classroom by a certain time. A few times in years past we have taken field trips on the first day of school. But this year the girls had no clue that we were going to go on one! We did everything that morning just like normal and then we made the excuse up that we had to take Nina's birthday present to her before lunch. However, we forgot the GPS at home so after going back home we headed back toward town to "run some errands." They still had no idea!

I'm forever saying things like, "Hey girls, guess what.....we're going to the beach!"

The girls, "REALLY?!"

Me, "No, I'm just kidding!"

Girls, "Oh Mom! That's not funny!"

So after we got on the interstate yesterday I say, "Hey girls, guess what - we're going on a field trip and picnic." (I had hidden the picnic stuff in the back of the van.)

Holly immediately says, "Mom, don't be a wolf!"

(Reference to the boy that cried wolf, of course:)

Me, "Okay, you'll just see!"

In class before we left.

A few weeks ago while visiting Pier 1 in Lexington I tried a sample of this lotion and loved it! But they didn't have any individual bottles. So after getting off the exit in Frankfort we told the girls the reason for going there was to get my lotion! They believed us! Hehe!

(Seriously though, it is the best smelling lotion!)

But then we revealed that we were, in fact, going on a field trip and picnic! They finally believed us. :) The Ky Dept. of Fish and Wildlife has a great center that has a lot of neat stuff to do. It's called the Salato Wildlife Center and it had been a while since we were there.

Our picnicka.

Group shot!

The girls feeding the ducks our leftover bread crumbs.

The front of the center.

Holly having a stare down with a snake inside. Yikes!

Anna weighing the fish she "caught." :)

Photo op in front of the Ky Afield poster.

In behind the center they have different animals on display. We always love seeing the Bald Eagle!

They also have a black bear and before when we went he was always being lazy and laying in the shade. But on this day he was playing around and being mischievous.

He was trying to get this drain cover off!

He even got on top of it and was trying to pull it with his front paws.

Then he gave up and went back to chewing on the sump pump he had.

Next up was the elk. They also have buffalo, but we couldn't see them real well.

Then the dragonfly marsh.

My loves.

The wildcat. This is actually UK's official mascot.

The girls checking out a buck deer.

He says, "Hi!"

The baby deer!

After we left the Salato Center we headed to downtown Frankfort. This view was from the Frankfort Cemetary.

We saw William Goebel's grave and monument. He was Kentucky's 34th Governor and was the only state governor to be assassinated. Ever. In all 50 states.

He and I share a birthday. Only a few years difference.

Next up was one of the reasons for going to Frankfort.

Daniel Boone's grave.

One day our girls will be so glad I made them take so many pictures. :)

He and his wife, Rebecca, had both died in Missouri, but were moved to Kentucky in 1845.

These are the picture details on his marker.

This was on Rebecca's side of the marker.

We thought this headstone was really pretty!

We stopped by the Old State Capitol, but it was closed. :(

Gov. Goebel was shot in front of the building.

Of course we can't go on a homeschool field trip without stopping by a bookstore. :o)

But we didn't buy anything in there. They didn't even acknowledge our presence. Not even a hello, so I don't feel bad for not buying anything.

We drove past the Old Governor's Mansion.

This is Orlando Brown House. He was the son of the first US Senator John Brown from Kentucky. Gov. Brown's house, Lincoln Hall, was closed for renovations and we didn't get to see it.

This is Orlando. Brian and I kept wanting to call him Orlando Bloom. :D

And his sons: Orlando and Mason.

Outside was the largest Ginko tree we had ever seen!

The girls love the seashell shaped leaves.

We drove by the new Capitol building and saw the flower clock.

Then Brian drove me by the house that Frank Lloyd Wright designed. It is the only Frank Lloyd Wright designed house in all of the state of Kentucky. Considering the architecture of all the houses in this area around the Capitol, it was definitely an out of ordinary design.

After leaving Frankfort we stopped by Orange Leaf for a yogurt dinner! (The pics of that are on my cell phone. :)

It was a great first day of school and we are looking very forward to this year!

Proverbs 22:6
"Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it."

#241 - A Few More from the Battle of Richmond

2011-08-29T22:15:00.005-04:00

We plan on starting school tomorrow and we've been super busy today, so I'm just gonna post a few more pics from Saturday's reenactment at the Battle of Richmond!

Ephesians 2:19-20
"Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,"

#240 - My Sunday Morning Helper

2011-08-29T10:25:00.004-04:00

Every Sunday morning before Sunday School Anna helps me fix Holly's hair. She is such a big help! Sometime she gets a little resistence from her client. :)

Proverbs 7:4
"Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
And call understanding your nearest kin,"

#239 - The Battle of Richmond Reenactment 2011

2011-08-27T23:55:00.005-04:00

We've had a wonderful day at the Battle of Richmond reenactment. Here are some pictures from today:

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
"To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born,
And a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;
A time to kill,
And a time to heal;
A time to break down,
And a time to build up;
A time to weep,
And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
And a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones,
And a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace,
And a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to gain,
And a time to lose;
A time to keep,
And a time to throw away;
A time to tear,
And a time to sew;
A time to keep silence,
And a time to speak;
A time to love,
And a time to hate;
A time of war,
And a time of peace."

#238 - BORA Weekend!

2011-08-26T23:24:00.000-04:00

This weekend is the Battle of Richmond Civil War reenactment and the girls are participating in the one room schoolhouse! They're really excited to actually be a part of it and not just a spectator! I'm glad they got to do the Living History in the spring, because it just prepared them for tomorrow!

I did a little editing on this photo I took a few years ago. I thought it turned out neat looking!

Proverbs 11:2
"When pride comes, then comes shame;
But with the humble is wisdom."

#237 - Some More Orange Leaf

2011-08-26T23:18:00.001-04:00

We took the girls over to Orange Leaf tonight and surprised them! It's a good thing it isn't located in our town or we'd be in trouble!

My favorite is the coffee and caramel! Low-fat (minus the chocolate chips:) and extremely yummy!

Isaiah 26:3
"You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You."

#236 - A Basket Full of Sunflowers

2011-08-24T23:19:00.001-04:00

Our sweet college friend, Amanda, asked Anna to paint her a picture so she could show her art professor! Anna worked very hard on this basket of sunflowers and it turned out beautifully! (I forgot to scan it in, but Anna took a picture of it with my phone on the way to church tonight!)

Psalm 90:17
"And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us,
And establish the work of our hands for us;
Yes, establish the work of our hands."

(Prayer request: A very close friend's little boy was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes today and we'd appreciate the prayers if he comes to mind. After finding out he said, "It'll just be something to add to my testimony!" He is 8 years old and God has a big plan for his life! :)

#235 - A Little Switch-a-roo

2011-08-23T23:07:00.000-04:00

We did a little switching of the t.v. back into the living room tonight. We haven't had one in here since we started homeschooling over three years ago. We also haven't had satellite since then :o) and we don't miss it! In fact, the one reason we moved the t.v. back in here now is because there will be more room to exercise with the Wii! Hopefully.

Psalm 119:165
"Great peace have those who love Your law,
And nothing causes them to stumble."