And she doesn't dissapoint

Good food-



Good friends- Ginger, Mari and Terri




Good times!

Today was the day we got together with Ginger
for lunch. I've been looking forward to meeting her for awhile and she was as sweet as I knew she would be. Ginger is one of those people that lives her faith and it was such a blessing to be able to meet her in person.
If you haven't checked out her blog yet you should- she has great insights and is just a truly sweet person.
We had lots of laughter especially since Terri couldn't keep a straight face when we were trying to take pictures.
What a fun afternoon!

GIMP- first try

Bonnie blogged about working with photos using the free GIMP download. Well here's my first attempt.
Before:


After:




It really is fun to play with.

A little Accent

The girls are obsessed with the Charlie video and now they're talking like him.
I think she does a pretty good job at this accent!

Word Cloud

Here's my word cloud:




I think it's funny that the words Amish and Frosting are in there!

If you want to do it- go here and click custom.

Goodness

What would cause a person to utter the following phrase over and over and over:
"Oh my goodness!"
and when I say over and over- I'm not kidding!

This is what brought this all on:



I'll give you the back story- Mark fixed Nate and Brenda's brakes awhile back. Brenda called me up last week and was all excited because she came up with the perfect payment for that.
They were going to Shipshewana and that's one of our favorite places to go to. There's a little Amish store there that sells Amish frosting. I know it's ridiculous but Mark absolutely loves this stuff. He puts it on graham crackers and I think it brings him back to about age 5!

Brenda brought it over yesterday, so last night I asked him to get something out of the fridge for me. He went into the fridge and saw it and all I heard was:
"Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness!"
Brenda- you would have been laughing your head off- I know I was!

It's now at work with him, never to be seen by me again- I'm giving it 3 days and it'll be gone.

Charlie bit my finger - again !

Julie showed this to me. I laugh every time I see it. Love his accent and watch the babies face.

This is kind of fun

I saw this on Cheryl's site and thought I would do it...

**Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following --they have to be real places, names, things ...nothing made up! You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

What is your name........................... Cheri
4 Letter word................................cool
Vehicle......................................corvette
City.........................................cleveland
Boy Name.....................................carter
Girl Name....................................camille
Alcoholic Drink..............................cosmopolitan
Occupation...................................car detailer
Something you wear.......................... clothes
Celebrity....................................chris everett
Food.........................................cheese
Something found in a bathroom................closet
Reason for being late........................clock not working
Cartoon Character............................casper the ghost
Something you shout..........................come back here
Animal.......................................cheetah
Body part....................................chest
Word to describe you.........................cuddly

Guatemala

Mark and Nick are going on a mission trip together this summer. I'm so excited for them. They are starting to have weekly meetings to prepare for it. Shots are in their future- Nick needs Hep A and Mark was teasing him about it. Well I checked Mark's records and he needs a tetanus- HA!
While they're there they will be building houses for a couple of families. Their houses are 2 room houses- very simple. They are about the size of a large living room. Whole families live in these very simple rooms and they're thrilled with it!

I think this is going to be such an awesome experience for them to share together!

Mark went 2 years ago and it's something that stays with you. He loves Guatemala and I would really like to go on a mission trip there also. Our church does this trip to Guatemala and they also do another trip to Guatemala where you go into the orphanages and just love on the babies. That's the one that I would love to go on!

Here are some pictures from Mark's last trip:




This is part of a carnival that we put on for them. They also share their faith after the carnival


Look at these children- aren't they just beautiful!





This is Mark with Ophelia- she totally stole his heart!

The kids were helping them with the stucco. They would run down the path and bring the guys the stucco for the houses.


How would you like to live this close to your neighbors!



This gives you an idea of the size of the houses:


Recognize the guy in the blue shirt? That's Mari's son Andy- he also went on this trip!

My turn

You might recognize this picture from Terri's blog last week. She had Halle stay overnight. This past Friday night, it was my turn. The girls had a great time- a little too good! I walked into Halle's room and turned around and saw the closet and I wasn't happy!


This was just one of the masterpieces I found on the closet doors. They used markers and crayons.
I got out my wonderful mr.eraser and put them to work. They are lucky little girls because it all came off!

Now, If you look at this post from Terri's blog, I think I know who the instigator of -----this was....I'm just sayin.......=

Really, I'm just kidding- when those two get together, you never know what's going to happen- I know Halle wasn't innocent in this either!
Good thing they're so cute!

Slow Cooking Thursday

It's been awhile since I've done a Slow Cooking Thursday but I tried this recipe a bit ago and they were delicious. Normally you come across recipes for BBQ or sweet and sour meatballs. If you like French Onion Soup this is for you:

French Onion Meatballs
2 packages (18 oz each) frozen cooked meatballs
1 jar (12 oz) beef gravy
1/2 package dry onion soup mix

Place meatballs in slow cooker. Mix gravy and soup mis and pour over meatballs. Stir gently to mix. Cover and cook on low heat for 3 1/2-4 1/2 hours- until thouroughly hot. Meatballs will hold on low heat setting up to 2 hours.
Enjoy!
If you want some more slow cooker recipes- hop over to Sandras.
French Onion Meatballs

Can you ever have too many parents?

If I asked Nick that question right now- I would get a resounding YES!!
The reason for that is because a really amazing thing happened the last 2 days. He unexpectedly got 2 extra parents!

You see- Arianna and Halle decided to step up and take this role upon themselves.

Nick came home from work yesterday and came flying upstairs to ask me where his WII was. I didn't know, but told him to look around, I was quite positive it didn't get up and walk away.
Finally after much looking it was discovered that Arianna and Halle decided that he spent too much time playing WII and not enough time playing with them, so they packed it up and hid it!!!!

Nick did not find this amusing, I kind of did, but they had to apologize and life went on.
Until this morning......

I was woken up with an outraged Nick, flying in my room telling me that
"Something has got to be done about this!!!"

When I woke up enough to regain my wits it was explained to me that apparently they did not stop with the WII. They hid his game cube, went through his drawers and hid anything they felt would distract him from playing with them!

Well now they went way too far and they were disciplined and it was explained that they would not appreciate it at all if Nick went through their stuff and hid it!
I do realize it started out as kind of a joke, but this joke went way too far and they had to make amends.

Nick has forgiven them and all is well again. I do believe we are back to having just 2 parents in this house!

A series of events

What happens when you combine the following:

1. Snow

2. Snow

3. Cold weather

4. Snow

5. Snow

6. More snow

7. More cold weather

I'll tell you what happens:

You need to combine the following:

6-10 medium apples
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 t. cinnamon
1 c. flour
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. shortening
1/4 c. margarine

Peel, core and slice apples. Mix together with sugar and cinnamon. Place into a buttered 9x13 pan. Mix together flour, brown sugar, shortening and margarine until
crumbly and place on top of apples. Bake for 30 minutes at 350.

You will get this:



Sorry it doesn't look perfect- we had to take a break from blogging this to eat some first with a little ice cream on top.



What happens following all of the above:

Bowling anyone?

We went bowling with my cousins family and Terri, Dave and the kids on Saturday. It had been over a year since I've bowled, so I was a little worried that I would really embarrass myself. I could envision my throwing the ball backwards, hurling myself down the lane, etc....
I'm happy to say none of those things happened. You can bet if they did, it would have forever been captured on film, because we were all a little camera happy that night.
The kids had so much fun and they all did really well. All of the kids received at least 1 of these:


Nick didn't want himself videotaped so this will have to do:


Here's a picture of the kids together:


Here's a picture of the final score of the adults:


Check it out- Terri came in first and I came in 2nd. Not bad for not having bowled in over a year. I do think there was a lot of luck involved! The men weren't walking quite as tall as when they came-smiles!It was a fun night.

Did I mention how much I love Valentines Day?

Well as I said in earlier posts, Mark and I usually don't do anything for Valentines Day. However, this year my awesome daughter Arianna came home with a present for me.
I got a coupon book good for 4 breakfasts in bed. Mark got a coupon book good for 4 shovelings (is that a word?) of the deck.

Well last night she was asking me what I would like for breakfast. I jokingly said an egg mcmuffin and hash brown.
We all laughed about it and that was the end of it.

Nick had to go to work this morning at 8:00. About 8:15 (yes, I was still in bed) this tray came into me and it looked like this:

What a nice way to start my day!! I think I'm going to like this coupon book- we'll see what other breakfast ideas I can come up with!

Flower Update

Here's Arianna with her flowers. She was so excited. She's got them down in her room now.
I'm so glad the girls loved them so much- so much fun!

Sweet Dad

The girls got a nice surprise tonight. Well at least Halle did, Arianna will get her surprise tomorrow, because she's got a sleepover tonight.
Mark came home with flowers for the girls. It was so sweet. Halle was quite excited and I know Arianna will be even more excited. I was so bummed when I realized that she would be gone already before Mark got home with them.
What a fun thing to watch her face light up when Mark gave them to her.

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day!
Mark and I never make a big deal out of Valentines Day. I feel like it's a commercial day and we should show love to each other daily.
I am going to dedicate this post to Mark though.
I usually don't blog about him, not on purpose but it's usually the kids doing cute things for me to post about.
Today though it's all about my husband.

We met on a blind date- I know- but it actually worked! It's kind of a funny story- we went out with the couple that set us up and Mark had arranged a signal to them- if he didn't like me he was going to smoke because the other couple new I didn't like smoking. He didn't light up and quite for good soon after!

I knew soon after we started dating that I was going to marry him. I had my pearl 1 month into our relationship and 6 months down the road he proposed to me. We were married a little over a year from when we met.
In April it will be 17 years!

God has blessed me with a wonderful husband who always puts our needs before his own. He goes into work around 5 in the morning so he can get done what he needs to and come home at 5 and not miss time with the kids at night.
He has been my rock through these years. When we had miscarriages and lost our twins it was one of the hardest times in my life. Mark was strong for me and patient to let me grieve as long as I needed.

This summer when I was struggling with health issues- I was a mess. Again, Mark let me lean on him and stayed strong for me.

The kids are blessed with a dad who loves to play with them and spend time with them.
He's involved at church and works with the youth and really enjoys it. I'm glad my kids have an example of a dad who loves the Lord and tries to live a life that shows it.
I love you hon- Looking forward to another 50 years or so of Happy Valentines Days!

What's your blog rated?

I saw this on Heathers site and I just had to know.
Glad I rated ok- check yours out. Just click on the rating and it'll take you to the site.

The sleepover

The girls have been begging me more a long time now to have some friends overnight.
I decided this past weekend was when it was going to happen. They each got to have a friend over- it worked out much better that way.

They did really well and alot of laughter was heard through out the night.
We rented "The game plan". Very cute movie if you haven't seen it yet- 2 thumbs up.
The only thing that happened was that my darling husband called me at 5:00 to inform me that they had a hot part that needed to get out and since he was on call he had to stay at the shop because they can't have the machinist there by themselves for safety. It would be an all nighter and he wouldn't get home till 6:30 in the morning.
I find this a little suspicious that he has to stay at work all night the night that we're having a sleepover!
Actually it was totally legit and I'm really fine with it- it was just a great opportunity to tease Mark!
Everything went great and the girls had a great time. Here's all 4 girls together:



Here's Halle's friend Lydia:


Here's Halle:

The older girls did play outside for a little while but mostly they were in Arianna's room doing "older girl" things, like painting nails etc...

Update

There were a number of you that thought Mack should be allowed in the living room.
Well here you go:


The reason for this was because these were on my counter cooling:



Let me just tell you that you HAVE to make these! They are so delicious.
I got the recipe from Sandra

You can find the recipe here:

Too bad you all don't live closer- Since Mari is just around the corner and she worked so hard today, Mark and I ran some over for her and Bob to enjoy.

Hope you all have a nice warm night!

An announcement to make

I have an announcement to make- it's quite surprising yet I have come to the conclusion that I'm really close to being ready for spring-ok maybe I am indeed ready for spring!
This is what it looks like here right now:

Keep in mind that it was calm when I took the picture- we've had winds up to 50 mph and snow. Now, I'm not complaining- I didn't have to get out in this, I'm just saying spring can come anytime now. Not summer- I don't want anything over 70 but some sun and 50-60 would be lovely! I know I'm a very picky person when it comes to temperature. I really am glad I live in a state with seasons. I love that we have changes- I really do like all the seasons, summer just happens to be my least favorite.

Since it's -oh 1 degree outside- I'm not kidding- I have a visitor in my kitchen again. It hasn't been all smooth going today. He tried to sneak outside and since I wasn't sure if the fence was locked I didn't want him going. He ended up knocking over his 5 gallon pail of water all over my floor and it spread onto my carpeting in the living room. What a mess- thank goodness it was water!
He is quite a helper though. We had ham for dinner and Mark was bagging up the leftovers and look who's right there to assist in this process:


Just so you know- he was rewarded quite handsomely for all his efforts!

A little Ginger anyone?????

Well maybe not that kind of ginger-I'm so excited- and you all should be very jealous of myself, Terri and Mari.
We finally have a date scheduled to meet the famous, very wise, beautiful Ginger!
Not only do we get to meet and enjoy great company together, we're meeting at a wonderful restaurant and will be partaking in things like:


and a little of:


Truly, I can't wait to meet her- I love her blog. She is truly a woman who loves the Lord and is a testimony to all who read her blog.
Can't wait till the 28th- should be a great time. I'm sure people in the restaurant are going to wonder what all these women with their cameras are all about!

Andy- This one's for you!

Halle drew a bunch of pictures yesterday- but I had to post this one.
She had random pictures- flowers, aliens and a princess. Then she showed me this one and I thought it was so cute.





Now please excuse the grease marks on the paper- she set it on the table after supper while I was doing dishes. Obviously, I hadn't washed the table yet!

This is a picture of Andy in his helicopter but look at the bottom- that's Halle with her sad face because she had her suitcase but she couldn't go with him.
She sad it was just for a visit not forever- phew...I'd be pretty sad without her around here!

Apparently, Andy's missed quite a bit!

More winter weather!

Well I can't believe it, but they're predicting another storm for tonight. About 12 inches of snow by tomorrow is what they're saying including some ice.
I'm not going to complain because I do love the winter. I don't have to go anywhere tomorrow, so I can stay tucked in nice and warm tomorrow. It does make me nervous for Mark who has a 30 minute drive into work.
Drive safely everyone if you have to get out tomorrow!

Fun with Dad

On Saturday, Mark decided to take the girls sledding. They went out to a popular sledding area and what fun they had!
The girls had been waiting patiently- well almost patiently for Mark to take them sledding so finally the big day came.
Poor Nick had to work and I was getting groceries, so it was nice Daddy-Daughter time.
Here are a couple of pictures- he didn't get alot of shots, because he was busy going down the hills too.




On a different note, Thanks so much to all of you who prayed for my brother in law Bob over the weekend. I'm so glad he's home and all his tests came back fine.
It's wonderful to have friends praying through hard times.

Prayers please

Just a quick request for prayers please. My sister Mari
is at the emergency room with her husband Bob who is having chest pains.
Please pray that they get the answers they need and that the Dr's are confident in their findings. Thanks so much!

Update: So far all the tests have come back good. They said though that it was good he was there, they feel something is going on so he will spend the night and have a stress test in the morning.