Time for change

Things are changing in my life. Tomorrow I start a new job! Nothing too major- I'm just starting to work at Arby's. I'm looking forward to it though. One of my friends works there and they people seem really nice so it should be good.
I was working in real estate but obviously the economy hasn't been good to that line of work and I was really tired of having to be attached to the phone 24/7 and the compensation wasn't worth the time I was putting in once you took taxes out.

It was getting really frustrating to be making supper and having my phone ring or doing homework with the kids and constantly getting interrupted.
When I'm at work- I want to work and when I'm home- I want to be home.

So this will be a big change for me- I haven't worked anywhere other than daycare in my home for about 13 years now. I'm nervous but I think it will be fine. The hours are good because it's for 4 hr shifts so the kids should be fine alone for that time period. My kids are all excited about it and Nick is looking forward to the food discount :)

So if I'm not around much for awhile- you'll know why- this is going to take some adjusting!

And we have a winner!!

It's time to draw a winner for the gift certificate for Wolfies and the winner is.....

Ginger!!

Ginger- privately send me your address and I'll mail you the certificate!!
Congratulations!!

Made me wonder...

This morning in my devotions something really hit home with me. I struggle all too frequently with giving over my worries to God but then taking it back.

This is what I read this morning:
If my life is surrendered to God, all is well. Let me not grab it back, as though it were in peril in His hands but would be safer in mine?!?
Give your life, your hopes, and our prayers to the Lord, and, by doing so accept His will and His peace.

When it talks about taking back your worries as though you can handle it better than God- Wow!! I had never thought about it like that before- but it's so true! What more could I want than God handling my concerns.

It really made me think and maybe it'll touch you as well!

A great Restaurant I want you to try....Plus a Giveaway!

Mari and I had such a nice day on Friday. We went to one of our favorite restaurants for lunch. You may have already heard of it- it's called Wolfies.
It's in Zeeland and it's a wonderful family place to eat but it's also a nice place to go when you want a more quiet, cozy dinner. Mark and I also love to go here because it's just something a little different to enjoy. The girls love to go there too because if they eat their kids meal nicely there's a fun little treasure chest they get to pick out of for a reward.
Come in and let me show you what I mean:




See how cute it's decorated! The painting is just amazing and it has such a nice warm feel to it. There's lot's of wood so you kind of feel like you're in a log cabin.
They have a variety of options for food choices- here's part of their menu:


The other part of their menu is all sandwiches- wraps and panini's. I always get the panini's. They are so delicious!!
Check out what I had today:


They also come with this delicious little treat of trail mix:


The serving sizes are large and we're thinking we might have to split a sandwich next time and try one of their delicious desserts!

I highly recommend you try Wolfies- you will be back over and over.
While we were there I thought it would be really fun if they would give me a gift certificate to give away on my blog.
The owner- Tom- was very kind and offered up a $10 gift certificate so 1 lucky winner will get to enjoy some of this yumminess for free!!!!
All you need to do is leave me a comment with your name and way to contact you if you win. I will be drawing for a winner on Thursday.
Good luck to all of you!!

The deal of a lifetime

Saturday I got the best deal I'm pretty sure will ever happen to me.
We love Lowes. We go there and wander around frequently. I always check the carpet remnants they have and about 2 weeks ago I found some nice carpet that was the right size for either Nick's or Halle's room. The carpet in the kids room is original to the house and needed to be replaced. Anyway- they had it for $75. I thought that was a good price so this weekend when Mark needed to borrow a trailer for something else- I said lets go look and see if it's still there.

Well it was and actually it was in the center clearance aisle- marked down to $50!
I was so excited. We went to check out and the scanner wouldn't work so they punched in the number and it came up to $7.50. They called the manager over and she punched in the number again and I jokingly said "that price works for me!"
The manager then informed me that actually if that is the price that is in the computer then that is what they have to sell it for.

I couldn't wipe the smile off my face! I couldn't hand over my $10 bill and get out of there fast enough before they changed their minds!
So I got brand new carpet for Seven dollars and Ninety Five Cents!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Halle ended up getting it because Nick didn't want to deal with cleaning his room to get the carpet installed (typical teenager!)
Mark installed it yet Saturday afternoon. We haven't put up the trim yet because I decided to paint.

What a great deal- Now I really love Lowes!!!

Halle's New Look

Finally the glasses have arrived and she is quite excited.
I think she looks really cute. The only difficulty is having her remember to put them in the case when she's not wearing them so they don't get broken.

Smoky Mountain Trip

We had a great time in Tennessee. Everything went well except the one day we had snow!!! Actually it wasn't too bad. It snowed a bit at night and on and off throughout the day but the next day it was back to nice weather.
This is the day Mark and the kids went horse back riding through the mountains. I was a bit nervous about the girls doing this but they did great and all enjoyed it!















I just love thse next 3 pictures:









I have to tell you the story behind these 2 pictures. One day Mark wanted to go on 1 more trail he found that led to a waterfall so just our family took off in the morning. We got there and I found out it was a trail you had to walk to get to the waterfall- I had thought it was a drive by trail. I had worn my crocs! It had snowed the night before so there was snow on the trail. I said to still go and do it. It started not so bad on the way to the waterfall- besides being long-it took 1 hr to go 1 way- we eventually made it. However on the way back everything began to thaw and it turned into a real nightmare. It was all mud and it was like walking on ice. I really was near tears at a couple points along the way back. I was literally hanging onto Mark's back and inching my way along and I can't tell you how many times I almost fell. A few times I started slipping and had to run because I couldn't stop slipping. Keep in mind we are on a mountain and it's a long way down on 1 side! My legs were shaking by the time we got back and the next day my whole body was aching. Mark felt terrible but we had no idea what we were getting into.
Look at the picture of the Llamas. They carry supplies up the trail- look how muddy the one behind is- that's what we all looked like when we finally got down. Now I can laugh about it- not so much then!!









On one of our days we went to the Aquarium. It's a great aquarium and the kids all loved it. This is how Halle and Shaelyn were throughout the aquarium and the whole week- they can't get enough of each other. It's so cute to see.






The aquarium had a tunnel that you could walk under so this shark picture was in that tunnel:








We had a hot tub at the cabin that we all enjoyed- I do have a picture of Terri and I in there but I don't want anyone having bad dreams tonight :)

Just in case you remember- we took Oscar along with us on this vacation- he did great! Look at how comfortably he rode:



Lastly, I'll show you some of the beautiful waterfalls we saw. I have to give Mark a shout out for taking the waterfall pictures- he did a great job! I said to Mark- I can't help but think this is God's country when you witness the incredible beauty that is there. We didn't see any of the bears that we wanted to see- but it was a great vacation!!

Easter

What a beautiful day we had to celebrate Easter and Mark and I's 18th Anniversary!
The sun was shining so it was wonderful to be able to have our annual egg hunt for the kids outside this year.















Arianna found the "golden egg". Every year there is 1 golden year and the kids have to take turns finding it. It has $5 inside so it is a real treasure to find!







Each of the girls found one of these special eggs. It has a cross on it and it's empty- signifying the empty grave which is the REAL reason we celebrate this day!!



I hope you had a wonderful day today and I'll be back tomorrow with pictures from our vacation.

Back in Awhile.....

I am off to relaxation, nature, family fun, laughter, beauty, possible bears!!!!

We're leaving for vacation to the Smoky Mountains. Be Back to tell you all about it on the 13th.

Have a great Spring Break!

How can it be?

How can this adorable cuteness:




Turn into this:



Thank goodness within a few minutes he was dry and back to the cute little fluff ball again!
I hope he doesn't hold it against me for posting him in this not so flattering light!

The newest member to crawl into our family

Oh the joy I feel (said with sarcasm dripping from my voice)
Arianna's class has been doing a special section in school dealing with habitats, characteristics etc of animals. To help them with this they got frogs, snails and crabs delivered to school. The great
news came when Arianna came home a few weeks ago and said they could have one of the animals to bring home! Oh how my heart leapt for joy! not so much.....
There was NO chance of a frog coming into my house- I can't stand them so we ended up with a crab.
Sadie the crab now resides down in Arianna's room and she is totally her responsibility. Arianna absolutely is thrilled so that makes me smile- the crab- she's going to have to grow on me- still not so thrilled on my end :)

Birthday Party

While we have Andy home we wanted to get a Birthday party in so last Saturday we all went out for pizza and did some celebratin!


Looks like Bob's having a good time! (sorry Bob- I couldn't resist)



Here's the whole gang



These 2 always have a great time together




Here's Andy


One of the Birthday's we celebrated was my dads. Here he is opening our present to him. Nick made that clock for him.




Here's a closer look. I think he did a great job!!

Relief

For about 1 1/2 months now Halle has been having headaches. Scary headaches that she was telling me would make her vision blurred.
I brought her in to the Dr and her neurological exam was fine and he thought it might be pressure from sinus issues.
She occasionally still complains of them so the next step was the eye Dr.
I just got home from the appt and Halle has glasses coming her way. She is a bit far sighted but what we think is causing her problem is what they call
convergience insuffiency.
From what I understand when you try to focus on something your eyes have to go inward a bit to "converge" or focus on the words you're trying to read.
When you have this problem the muscles are a bit too weak to do that easily so it causes extra strain on the eyes to work properly.
Apparently it's a common problem and not too big of a deal. Kids quite often grow out of it but in the mean time glasses with a special prism lens will help. If she continues to have headaches there are eye exercises also.
The Dr feels confident this is what is causing her problem and when she complains of blurry vision she is probably seeing double.

I'm so relieved. When your kids are having health issues- I don't think there's anything worse. Even though I figured it had to do with her eyes there's always that nagging fear in the back of your head that it's something much more serious.

We picked out glasses- They were the first ones we put on and they are SO cute on her and bonus- they were the cheapest ones- way to go Halle!!!!
She is actually very excited about them now that she has seen them. She wasn't before we went so this is good. Hopefully we get them before Spring Break Vacation.
She only has to wear them while at school and reading- not when she's outside so hopefully they won't break within the first month!

It's that time of year

A little team work:





Makes for a lot of fun!!