Church Car Show

Sunday was our church's anniversary service/car show. This is how the auditorium turned out.

Joseph loved the dune buggy class :)

Awww....kindred spirit car show attender! This was one of our faves of course!

We had 57 vehicles in our first ever show! It was sooo exciting to see that many show up. All of them were planning next year's show. It was a great opportunity to meet these guys on a different level. Some were even talking about checking out the church as well :)

We had a local teen band, Columbia's praise team, our youth praise team and our praise team all sing. It was a lot of fun.

Hannah and Joseph watching us sing. Can you tell they wore themselves out? They played for hours on the inflatables and taking hay rides!

One of our winners with his beauty of a Corvette!

I am Down

And it is a good thing. I have started to eliminate sugars and carbs from breakfast and lunch while not having snacks. Dinner I get to have whatever, even dessert. I have been doing this for less than a week. I have lost 3 pounds in the last week and a half. My biggest problem is that there is so little that doesn't have carbs in it for breakfast. I am already getting sick of eggs and meat for breakfast! Any ideas? I have been amazed at how much my cravings have been curbed and my afternoon sleepiness as well. The diet is the Carbohydrate Addict diet. I know my body has a biological problem processing carbs and sugar. My insulin is then hyper activated so therefore I have cravings for food again to match that insulin level. It has not been easy like some of the people supposedly in the book, but it has made sense to me.

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Hannah's field trip

Hannah, her classmate and her wonderful teacher. We are so blessed!

You can see StLouis in the background with the arch!

Here is the cool pumpkin cannon. It was shooting three pumpkins out at one time

Hannah had her very first field trip. We went apple picking. This little boy was in our group

Here we are loading the hay wagon . Too fun!

Miss Hannah picking her apples

Our Happenings

Thursday I had a dentist appointment for me and the girls. Well, Joseph hopped up on the chair and said, "Me next". So, the Dr. Holmen told him to get up there and get checked. It was soo cute. I was so proud of my kids. They said they have never had such good kids in there. Ahhh, I love those parenting moments :)

Here is Hannah getting to cheerlead at the varsity football game. She was sooooo very excited. MawMaw and Papa came. Then we ended up seeing tons of people we know...so she thought tons of people came to see her :) Heather and Pastor David were even there. She did such a great job!

She is just to the left of the pole with the black hair pretty on.

Hannah being very serious about her cheering. She is in the middle.

Tada! She thought this was sooo cool. Actually, I did too. She was so impressed they let her do a lift :)

Last Weekend

Last Saturday Hannah used some of her birthday money to go to a cheerleading clinic. It was hosted by the high school cheerleaders in town. She had a wonderful time. Now she gets to cheer at the Varsity football game on Friday and gets to be in the Homecoming parade. She is so excited.....so are we :)

She did a super job listening to her instructors. She tried to emulate all she saw.

There were quite a few girls that came. She was one of the very youngest as it was k-5th grade and she is one of the very youngest in kindergarten.

This action shot makes me laugh. She is having fun and trying really hard as you can tell from the smile and the tongue :)

Hannah's Kid Bday and My Parents Visit

Can you tell it has been terribly busy around here? I can't believe it has been 20 days since I posted last. Alas, blog worthy things have been going on.

My parents came down two weekends ago to come to Hannah's birthday party and for a visit. They hadn't been down since we moved in the beginning of May. As always it was a super visit that went way to fast that had too much work in it :) Thanks Mom and Dad for ALL the help. The garage looks amazing and the party was perfect...well, except the scorching temp and 100% humidity ...ugh.

Joseph was so tired but he couldn't bare to leave Bumpa's side!

MawMaw and Gamma Vella at the soldier party....no really...that is what Hannah picked for her birthday theme this year ;) Funny girl!

Sami eating her pizza with apple slices lunch. We even did face painting.....don't I do such a super job?! Oh brother good thing it is supposed to look like dirt smears.

Emily is our "Fancy Nancy" she always is dressing up with heals and scarfs. Here she is in a princess dress and camo hat. Balance is key right?

Nanny tying the blindfold on the birthday girl. Here is how good God is to me. I found this missile pinata at a yard sale for $3 last summer but had no idea when I would get to use it. Cool!

Special coloring time with Bumpa

One of Hannah's very favorite people: her cousin Caleb

Aunt Tammy, Papa and Bumpa

We were going to have the party outside (seeing as we expected 12 kids) but hurricane Ike was bearing down and we were to get a lot of heavy rain. Instead it was sunny and 100% humidity...oh well!

Hannah's very favorite gift this year: a scooter!

Hannah helping Nanna bake her own cake. I think they look a lot alike in this picture :)

Oh boy! This boy is all boy. He cracks me up. Mom let Joseph (as seen in his girl apron :P) like the beaters. Well, our neighbor boy came down with a present for Hannah. We were all watching Hannah open. Later we turned to see Joseph (with runny allergy nose) repeatedly rebattering his beater in the cake bowl! Ugh........I am so glad we noticed him doing that. Needless to say, there was no chocolate cake served or even baked for that matter!

Hannah enjoying her birthday decorations right after she got up. I was thrilled that she was thrilled with them. I enjoy making my kids' birthdays special.

Thankfully, my kids are pretty good at sharing. The other two didn't even mind that it wasn't their special day. I am so very blessed!

Oh Not AGAIN!

*Sigh* I don't want to. I don't want to. I don't want to. My kids have been saying that a lot lately and my response is "it doesn't matter if you want to, you gotta do what you gotta do". Well, now I have to take my own advice.

I have gained back 30 pounds of the 45 I lost a year and a half ago. I am irritated with myself as it was such a waste of such hard hard work. Well, Allen and I have been talking that we have to do something (but I don't want to). Then my assistant pastor's wife asked if I wanted to be in a new group "'fit for the Father". I felt the tugging.....it will be good for me (gag). That was of course after the slightly offended feeling I had at being asked :P Then my heels have been hurting so bad. Well, I went into the chiropractor, and I have plantar fasciitis with falling arches. That is why my feet have grown in the last couple of years. My ligament is tearing away from the bone. And yes, it is painful. One big thing to do to take the strain off this ligament is to lose weight. ALRIGHT ALREADY! I guess I always want the writing on the wall....guess writing in the medical chart will have to do :)

So, here I go again. Not sure what exact approach I will be taking. But I will be having weekend weigh ins on Sunday evenings at my meeting. So I will post for all to see!

Please pray for me. I love food, am addicted to carbs and love sugar. I don't feel like nor do I have time for exercise. Yeah, I am in need of a lot of prayer!!!


PS. Could you, would you not call the house from 12-3? This is nap time, housework time, and my devotional time, get snack ready time, figure out dinner time, and run out to get Hannah time. I love and appreciate all of you, but could really use this time as uninterrupted as possible :) Thanks!

Salvation Comes Early

On the Sunday before last, we were reading the story of Adam and Eve again for devotions before bed. We were talking about how all sin has a punishment. We talked about Adam and Eve had to pay for their sin by leaving the garden. So, we started to touch on our sins and that there is a payment needed for our sin and that the only way for us to pay for our sins is by going to hell. Yes, I tell me kids the whole truth even when it is at times scary! Then we were telling them (Hannah mainly as the other two had lost interest) that the good news was that Jesus wants to pay for our sins for us so we can go to heaven.

Hannah was really getting it. She told me immediately that she didn't want to pay for her sins herself. I didn't want to push or anything. So we put them to bed.

The next morning Hannah jumped in my bed. The first thing she told me was that before she went to bed the night before she prayed and ask Jesus to pay for her sins! Praise God!!! It is that simple. She knows she sins (she even can name them :P), she knows sin needs a payment/punishment, she knows the only way to pay it herself is in hell, she wants Jesus to pay her debt so she can go to heaven to be with Aunt Annie :) Precious......she asked me right away if Aunt Annie was paying for her own sins. I was happy to tell her that Aunt Annie had asked Jesus to pay for her too.

Thank you, Lord!!!!

Labor Day

Monday we went to the Labor Day parade in Belleville with Papa. He was a union operating engineer for many many years. So we got to ride in the parade with his union. We got tons of free stuff like the new tshirts, hats, frisbees, water bottles, chip clips. It was terribly hot but we had a great time!

Waiting for the parade to start. We even got to ride on the retiree wagon instead of having to walk in the parade when it was 90 out.
Trying out some cool equipment!

One thing that I didn't like was the behavior of a lot of the parade goers. They were so ungrateful and actually rude. They wouldn't pick up the candy thrown. They were yelling what item they wanted us to throw to them...."give me a frisbeee, give me a frisbee" Then some were even picky! "No...I want a green ruler" Unbelievable. One lady with barely any teeth didn't get all the frisbees she wanted for her group so she was following next to us lisping that she needed some more frisbees, "Heey, I love to play wit a fisbee....give me anotha one" White trash at its finest. People never cease to amaze me

Thank you, Papa for taking us with you to your fun parade!

Hannah Turns 5!

Friday was Hannah's 5th birthday. I can't believe it. I decorated the kitchen area for her while she was sleeping. The theme she picked for her birthday this year.....soldier! Ok, whatever she wants :) So we had lots of camo and patriotic things

My birthday princess with her special waffle ice cream sandwich for breakfast. My mom used to let us have this as a treat when I was growing up. This is one of the best picture smiles I have gotten out of her in a LONG time!

I let her open one gift before school. It was a military flight suit for dress up. My kids are passionate about dress up. Anyone have any brilliant ideas how to keep all this dress up organized? I have them stuffed in bins in the basement and they scatter it all to the wind every time they play. At least they are being creative!

Papa with his party hat with Emily.

We invited Kenny and Heather over to spend the night. Her cousin/kid party will be in two weeks

MawMaw, Papa and Auntie Karen came over to help celebrate. I think Papa was starting to like that hat :)

Hannah's musical scooby doo card. That was the hit...way more excited over that than any of the presents I painstakingly have picked out. Oh well.

My big birthday girl with her new helmet on with Auntie Karen. That is a orange W on her shirt UW fans....I at first thought she was a Badger fan too :) It is her new school shirt

Ah yes, Miss Diva Emily. It is sooo funny to see their personalities as they get older. She is so the girly girl. She was riding her bike while calling Nanny (for the 4th time that day). Next she will be driving and putting on lip gloss :)

MawMaw made her a soldier cake. The crown was from her teacher. Let me just say a word about her teacher....she is GREAT! She even emailed me a pic she took of Hannah with her crown and bday cupcakes at school on Friday evening. How thoughtful!!! She also told me that she has her devotions every morning before work. Then she informed us that she makes a scrapbook for each kid in her class. Could God have given us a better teacher for our family?!

Happy Birthday my dear Hannah. We love you so very much!