Lookie what we got!!

We've been watching this set for a while, cause it was my favorite, but cost a bit more than we wanted to pay. I checked online this morning and found that the price had dropped again quite a bit for a Labor day sale; so I called to see if they still had it in stock and the only one left was the floor model and it was even cheaper! Yeah!!!! Anyway, we're going to use it in our bedroom rather than as patio furniture for the time being, because our bedroom is rather large and the only thing going in it is our bed since we have a big closet and won't even be having dressers. I've been wanting to make "an area" for Joey and I to have some alone time, maybe share devotions or whatever and didn't want to pay for 'real' furniture - so this was a perfect compromise! I'm just so stinking excited! 11 days till I have a house!!!

First day of school

Welp, today was our first day of school - 3rd grade for Anna and Kindergarten for Lil. I would not say it went well. Understandably learning a new system is difficult - so I expected that it'd take a while to settle into the actual school program. But I was completely astounded with how consuming it is. It basically took the better part of my day to accomplish 2 subjects with Lily and 3 with Anna. Right now, I have no idea how anything will ever get accomplished around my house until about June. The set up we have for the girls - sharing our home computer in our bedroom - is not going to work well. I did try printing off more of their work for tomorrow, so hopefully we can split them up a little and have them both working at the same time. Add to the mix, that tomorrow is Joey's birthday and I have to run to the store for the ingredients to make a fantastic meal, and clean up the house for our dinner company, and wash and clean the car for my "acts of service love language" man. It's a good thing that there's a holiday next week, so hopefully we'll catch up with the schoolwork that I'm struggling to accomplish this week. And hopefully I'll get the rest of my materials soon too, cause that's creating yet more difficulty in following the lesson plans. I am so not cut out to be a teacher. Public school is looking better all the time. I'm feeling pretty discouraged - (pms not playing a factor at all I'm sure!).

Some flower pictures...

The last week has been pretty busy; we had a wedding on Saturday, I did a friend's hair on Sunday, visited some friends for dinner Monday and we start school tomorrow. But before I get too lost in the shuffle, I wanted to post some pictures of some of the flowers we've done this last week! The first two are of the actual wedding flowers; the next one is what I did with the left over flowers from the wedding; the next one is some of my garden flowers that I put together for a friend who was throwing a bridal shower; and the last one is an arrangement I made for my mom to give a sick friend! Busy, busy, busy!

Growing up...

Anna just turned 8 this summer, but she is a very mature 8. She is very aware of everything around her, and I can often see her little mind cranking away; sometimes with understanding clearly dawning and other times with questions in her eyes that never cross her lips. We've touched on the topic of "maturing and developing" briefly over the last year, and lately she had really latched onto the idea of spending some quality time with mom and having some "girl talk". I've been planning on setting aside a day for our mother-daughter date, but it just hadn't worked out yet. But today, I was going to finish up some school shopping, and pick up some groceries and my sister was going to watch the 2 younger girls. When I dropped Eva and Elley off at Livie's, Lily got drawn into playing right away and asked if she could stay too. Liv was happy to keep the three, so we decided to have our special day today! We headed to the Gilbertsville Tea Room, where we were thrilled to find that it was so empty - we had a room to ourselves! We ordered our lunches, and over our scones and iced tea, we flipped through an American Girl book that focuses on a girl's changing body, laughing at some of the illustrations and talking about appropriate ages for leg shaving and makeup, as well as the more *delicate* details of a maturing female. To be honest, I was expecting more blushing and giggling, but she handled herself like quite a young lady. Over our quiche and grilled cheese, we also talked about boys, ("I want to marry a boy who wants kids, cause I want to be a mom like you; and it wouldn't be good if he didn't want to spend time with the kids too."), and college, and even love languages. After lunch, we did the rest of our shopping and running around, just the two of us. I was continually amazed at her maturity and thoughtfulness. And, just so I didn't get too teary thinking about how grown up she is - I was quickly reminded that she's only 8 when she was picking out all Hannah Montana school supplies! She has grown into such a beautiful and sweet little lady, who I am very very proud of and who I enjoy immensely. I am feeling so blessed to be a mother today.

New life

Tonight Luke and Miranda came over for dinner and a nice long visit. We've been close with them as a couple for about 8 years I think, they're like family. They've been around to watch our girls grow, Miranda was at Eva's delivery. And now they're preparing to welcome their own little one any day now. Seeing her beautiful round tummy, and watching and feeling those squirms and kicks made me really miss being pregnant. I am really looking forward to having that experience again - I love being pregnant; feeling that life, wondering who that little person is.... it's fantastic. But, right now, I'm so very excited to be watching one of my best friends get to experience what I've enjoyed over and over. I'm so anxious to meet this little one too - almost like my own little niece or nephew! Though, I'm putting my money on a boy..... we'll see soon!!! Motherhood is such a precious gift.

We received our first shipment of the girl's school stuff yesterday! So, now we have one computer that needs to be stored somewhere for a month. Oh well. I am starting to feel a little more relaxed about the whole school thing. I'm really anxious to get the rest of their supplies though, to get an idea of how the first couple of weeks will look, and hopefully the girls will be so excited about it that maybe they'll want to work ahead and put some hours on reserve for when the house stuff takes over for a couple days/weeks. I have to say though, that after helping Jessi set up her school area the other day, I'm really looking forward to creating our own school room in a few weeks too!

Happy Birthday to me!

So we FINALLY got a set date for the house - September 11th, my birthday! Though it's about 2 weeks later than we had expected, at least we finally have a definite date. So, the girls should be able to get in a good 2 weeks of regular schoolwork, and get a good feel for the system, before things will get totally crazy with the house. So, September will end up being our wild month, but at least it will be a little cooler while the work is getting done. And, let's face it - bottom line - I'M GETTING A BRAND NEW HOUSE FOR MY BIRTHDAY!!!!! I am definitely seeing the silver lining here....

Busy Busy!

I didn't fall off the edge of the world - just got a little overwhelmed with life last week. But, here's some of what we were doing:
Radiant heat is down and ready for the concrete to finish the basement floor.

(Yeah - I think he's hot stuff)

We also threw a baby shower for my sister in law yesterday, which went really well. I had a great time putting together the game and decorations; and my mother in law took care of all the food - so it was a win/win situation! We decided on a candy theme - "Welcoming our September Sweetie". Here's the centerpieces:




And here's the silly fill in the blank game that I made:
Once upon a time, Cammi met a Big Hunk and fell in love. He promised to cherish her, both Now & Later, and when he leaned in to give her a Kiss, Cammi was sure that she heard a Symphony play and saw Starbursts in the sky. When they wed, kisses and Hugs were Good & Plenty in their home.
After a while, Cammi began to suspect that Steve was going to be a Sugar Daddy. Not sure if Steve would be a Jolly Rancher or if he’d go Nutrageous, she prepared to give him the news. “Honey, how do you feel about adding some Sugar Babies to our family?”
Happily, Steve took the news in Stride. “Cammi, if we were computer Nerds and lived on 5th Avenue, we could afford to go on shopping Sprees for the baby, but we’re not, so we’ll just have to watch our budget on PayDay and get the necessities for our little Sweet-tart.”
When they started discussing baby names, Cammi quickly vetoed Steve’s suggestion of Whatchamacallit and they agreed on Baby Ruth for a girl and Oh Henry for a boy. If they were to be blessed with twins, they chose Mike & Ike, but if triplets surprised them, they would require some Extra time to name the 3 Musketeers.
Friends and family enjoyed watching the Mound of Cammi’s tummy growing, and their predictions of baby’s gender and size often brought Chuckles and Snickers. They also offered the parents-to-be much advice; like “Epidurals are Lifesavers”, and laundry secrets for all the MilkDuds that she’d be dealing with.
The summer heat is always hard on pregnant women and Cammi’s feet swelled until her once feminine piggies looked like big Mentos. But Steve always knew he could Skor some points by offering a foot rub.
With only a few weeks left till delivery, Steve knew it was Crunch time and was a little nervous that he’d be a Butterfingers when handling the baby. But we all know that Steve and Cammi are both Smarties and they’ll figure out their parenting style without a problem. The years will pass quickly, and soon their little Kissable bundle will be able to declare what a cool mom he (or she) has and that his (or her) “Pop Rocks”!

I am freaking out....

I thought I'd sit down and try to get a handle on how this school thing was gonna play out. Uhh - who said this was no problem?! Good glory, I am feeling totally overwhelmed, and really rather stupid! I am so confused by the set up, and it's totally flipping me out. Jess, Kristine - am I completely simple-minded?! Do you get this stuff?!

Joelle came across one of my wedding photos today and we had this conversation:

J: "Mama, when did you get married?"
M: "A long time ago."
J: "Was I there?"
M: "No."
J: "Aw, man, I missed it...."

Smore cupcakes

I found this recipe for yummy smore cupcakes and tried it yesterday for our fellowship picnic. They were super easy, and mine looked just like the picture when I was done! But then I had to transport them to Jessi's house in my van with no air conditioning, and they ended up looking a bit more like a melted marshmallow with a smear of chocolate on top, and I nearly cried. BUT, they were a hit none-the-less. They are truly yummy - but would definitely not fit into a "healthy" category! Here's the recipe: You can use any chocolate cake recipe for the cupcake part - I used a Devil's Food Cake mix.
For the icing:
1/2-3/4 lb. (2 or 3 sticks) butter, room temperature
1 lb. (2 cups) confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
16 oz. tub of marshmallow cream (I recommend Fluff)

Cream the butter on high until it's light and fluffy. Add the confectioner's sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, and beat until fluffy each time. Beat in the vanilla until incorporated. Then dump in the Fluff and mix it up 'til it's all creamy. Transfer to pastry bag (if desired) and pipe onto cupcakes! (I cut the corner off a Ziploc bag and used that instead.) Dust with crushed graham cracker crumbs and top with a square of chocolate.

Dentist

Part of the girl's enrollment for school requires that they have a dental exam. I have not been to the dentist in about 10 years, and so my kids have never been either. I've been dreading this part; mostly because we don't have dental insurance and I was afraid to find out how much it would cost us. But, I could avoid it no longer. So, this morning I found a dentist that I am really pleased with. We do have a sort of savings plan thing, so I was looking through their participating dentists and chose a couple to call. The first one I called, I got the machine. The second one I called because it was a woman and I thought that might make the girls more comfortable. I was able to talk to a very friendly woman on the phone, who went over the cost involved with their check-ups, and was able to get them an appointment in 10 days! I was really put at ease by her, and feel a huge relief to have this done. AND the cost involved is not nearly what I'd expected! Praise the Lord! If it goes well with Anna and Lily, then I'll also plan to take Joelle and myself back too. This is really something I've been stressing about for a long time and now I'm rather excited to get it taken care of!