Little Dude's Artwork

Little Dude was one of (15) 3rd. graders to have their artwork picked to be on display at the courthouse. Since school was let out early on Friday, I took the kids up to see it. They were supposed to create a harvest picture. The funny thing was that all the pictures looked pretty much the same. The officer at the courthouse joked that you can tell who lived in the city by how many ears of corn they had on their stalks! Congrats Little Dude...I think you had the best cornstalks, pumpkins and black birds!!!!

Pookie Bear Turns 40

My dear pookie bear turned 40 on Monday! He is so excited! (I can't even imagine!) His mom and oldest sister decorated the front of our house. These pictures do not do it justice. There was an inflatable walker with a panic button (hilarious!), signs all over, caution tape and dangling 40's everywhere. He Loved it. His picture was also in Monday's paper...check it out if you get the local paper. I'll post more photos later of our awesome celebration in Chicago!!! We had a blast (from the past literally!!!)

Carmel Apples

Every year we make carmel apples with the kids. This year we added nuts, mini m&m's, chocolate chips and sprinkles to them. The kids had a blast and everyone enjoyed their gooey snack. Note...Princess accessorized her Daddy for the picture!

That Time of Year Again!

It is Halloween once again. A time to divide people into 3 catergories - those who do celebrate, those who don't and those who just celebrate the fun stuff. Our family has chosen to be a don't. This year we have had more comments made to us about our stance than any other. So, I thought - why not post about it! As children Pookie Bear and I came from families that celebrated Halloween. We went Trick or Treating practically every year. Our church even had Halloween parties inside the sanctuary (yikes-can you imagine!). As teens we went to a few parties, but pretty much never felt like it was something we wanted to do. As parents, we really wanted to not just ban Halloween on the "Because I said so" philosophy, but to give our kids actual reasons behind it (which we do every year). It doesn't matter how much you try to sugar coat the holiday and tell yourself your only doing the fun part of it - the evilness of this day is real. When we begin to compromise we open the door to the enemy to continue to compromise. Once we have allowed our child to be introduced to demonic activity (which happens to many children on Halloween whether it was in doing something fun or not) we have to answer for it. Pookie Bear and I are not perfect parents. We make a lot of mistakes (believe me a lot!). We don't think we are better than anyone else - Far from it! But, this issue rests heavy on our hearts. As Christian parents we need to seek God first on whether this is something He wants us to have our children participate in. The enemy wants only to devour our children - the last thing we need to do is open a door and make it any easier for him under the disguise of "It's all in fun!".

Duff Cake

Our kids love "Ace of Cakes" on the Food Network. It is a show about "Duff" the owner of "Charm City Cakes". He makes the most unusual cakes I have ever seen. They are always making their cakes bigger and better that anyone else. Well, a few weeks ago they had a 5 tiered cake with a hang loose hand on top. Josh kept saying how awesome it was. Then a few days later he handed me a drawing he made of the same cake and said that's what he wanted for his birthday. So, my mind begins to churn out ideas. Since I always make the kids' cakes every year to whatever theme they want I figured I better come up with something good for him. Which led me to my first time use of Fondint. That is one unusual product. It's like edible playdough...way weird...but very effective! After an hour of decorating this is what I came up with. He loved it and was impressed with mom for a minute. Another year older for Josh, another year mom came through and a whole year for him to come up with something even harder for the next one!!!
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Cleansing Streams

This coming weekend Pookie Bear and I will once again be going to Pennsylvania to the Cleansing Stream Retreat. This will be our third time in one year. I am always feeling anxious about this time. On one hand I can't wait to go and on the other I am dreading the preparation and kid shuffling that has to be done.

Cleansing Streams is an amazing deliverance ministry that has not only changed my life but many others around me. We love facilitating the classes and having God use us in ways we never thought possible. God is chipping away at me and reforming me into the daughter He wants me to be. It has been hard and very painful at times but so worth it.

So, as we get ready for another journey please pray for us, our families, all the participants this weekend - and that Pookie Bear doesn't get us lost on the way home!!!!!!!

Frustrated Blogger

Yes I am a Frustrated Blogger. I thought it would be so easy to keep up with posting. I had dreams of taking awesome pictures and writing witty stories to go with them. But, to my disappointment, that has not happened. I take lots of pictures on our new digital camera (thanks to Pookie Bear's Bonus!). Then, I try to upload the pics. It never works for me or the computer locks up. So, I give up, turn the computer off and walk away feeling like a complete blogging failure!!!! But, today is a new day and I am determined to conquer this thing. I will somehow someway someday get pictures on our blog!!!!

What we did this summer

With school quickly approaching I thought it might be kinda fun to remember all the things that happened this summer. So here's a list of the top 20 in no particular order:

1. We built a fire pit for daddy
2. I had my 36th birthday (no tears this year!)
3. We got a new puppy
4. Our church picnic
5. Zoo
6. COSI
7. Great Lakes Science Center
8. Experienced our first Renassaince Festival (that was a little strange)
9. KENNYWOOD
10. Mansoon Lagoon
11. Cedar Point
12. African Wildlife Safari
13. Swimming at Grandma and Papa's
14. Lots of Parades
15. Kids changed their first flat tire
16. Joshua caught his first fish
17. Went to the Mama Lily's Bash of the year (otherwise known as their vow renewal)
18. Pet Stingrays
19. Spent a ridiculous amount of time and money tracking down school supplies for 3 kids
20. Started a blog

So, that's a pretty good look at our summer vacation. I think I'll start putting some pictures up of the different events...some are pretty cute...a couple are hilarious (Just think...Pookie Bear, bucket on his head, a blow-up sword, a princess and a fake water blowing water dinosaur!)

Hello Everyone

We have finally decided to join the rest of the world and start a blog. It will definately be a work in progress. Between working, home, kids, sports, school, dogs and life there just isnt' a lot of time left. And, to be honest, we have no idea what we're doing yet!!! So, check back and see what happens. I know my Pookie Bear will be putting in all kinds of oddities!!!!!