American Girl....

Keri's birthday. I'm a bit behind on my posting so let me catch you up. Keri's birthday was at the end of May but because of our trip to Arizona/Nevada we celebrated her birthday after our vacation. She turned 9.

She reminded me several months ago that when Katie turned 9 that I took her on the train to Chicago and bought her an American Girl doll. She decided that this was what she wanted me to do for her as well.

Train tickets $21.50, brunch at American Girl Cafe $76, American Girl doll $90, the day with my daughter....priceless!!!

If you're a Mom and you've never done this with your daughter you really need to do it sometime. It's a girl's fantasy land! All dolls, all pink, all girl! Even Katie still enjoys going to American Girl and she's getting a little old to be playing with dolls. I seriously saw adult women buying dolls for themselves and having lunch with their doll in the cafe. It's completely crazy! Keri had asked her relatives to give her money for her birthday so she could buy clothes and accessories for her doll and she spent every bit of it at this store.

We rode the South Shore into Chicago in the morning and we walked the 5 or so blocks to the store and spent the entire day shopping and eating. We got back into South Bend from the train around 7pm and we were exhausted!

Happy Birthday Keri! I'm glad that you wanted to spend a day with me doing "girl" things!

Arizona/Nevada

We recently took a trip to Arizona and Nevada to see relatives and just have some fun family vacation time. This was the first time that my daughters had ever flown. They were really excited and nervous about it.



We landed in Phoenix, rented a car and followed our Mapquest directions to Jon & Brandie's apartment. We stayed at Jon & Brandie Yoder's while we were in Arizona. They moved to Scottsdale a year or so ago and we had never been out to see them. They were planning on moving home next spring/summer but Jon was offered a job back in Indiana and he took it so he wasn't even in Arizona when we went. Thankfully Brandie was still there otherwise we would have been looking for a hotel!

We did the normal touristy things while we were in Arizona. We went shopping, drove go karts, rode bumper boats, and played mini golf. The kids were in heaven. I have another cousin, Barry Anglemyer, that lives in Chandler, Arizona so the second day there we went over to his house to visit with him and his family. They have a pool so the kids spent the day swimming and we had a great time just being together and catching up. Barry's kids are so cute and growing so fast! We had a cookout for dinner and then we all went out for ice cream.

We really enjoyed our short stay in Arizona and we would love to go back and spend more time there.

On Memorial Day we made the drive from Arizona to the Grand Canyon and then on to Las Vegas. The drive to the canyon was really scenic. We drove through Sedona to see the Red Rock Mountains and the girls were really impressed by them. Again, if we would have had more time it would have been nice to spend the day there and see the sites!

Once we got to the canyon we were all ready to be out of the car and stretch our legs! The canyon was really spectacular. I honestly didn't think that I would react to it the way that I did. It really amazed me that God had created something so amazing! It was so much more breathtaking than I had imagined it would be. If you haven't seen the canyon in person you need to add it to your list of things to do. (your bucket list)

Onward to Vegas! What an exhausting day of riding in the car! This is something that I would not really want to do again. Although it was beautiful scenery I was getting tired of looking at mountains and the winding roads were making me car sick.

We spent three nights in Vegas (but we didn't get there unti after 9pm the first night) and crammed in as much sightseeing as we could during our two days there. The kids were exhausted, we were exhausted, and by the time we got home we needed a vacation from our vacation! Ever felt like that? Now I'm looking forward to our next adventure with the kids. It really is fun to see their reactions to things.

Almost a whole month....

I can't believe how busy this month has been! I also can't believe that my last post was on May 1st. The spring/summer insanity is just beginning!

Last week I went to Vancouver for work. Keri had a softball game on Monday night and we didn't get home until aroud 9:30pm. Then I continued to do laundry and pack my suitcase. Don drove me to the airport Tuesday morning at 5:00 am. While I was gone he managed to get the kids off to school each day and cart them to their softball games, shop for a birthday present for my niece, and go to a birthday party. He also picked me up from the airport on Sunday night. My flight didn't get in until 10:50 pm! Now he has a little bit of a taste of what I go through everyday with the kids' schedules.

This week I have mounds and mounds of laundry to contend with in the evenings, softball games, basketball practices, etc. We leave Saturday morning for our family vacation to Arizona/Nevada so I've got to re-pack the luggage, clean up the house, finish the laundry, go to the ball games, etc. On top of all that I am in charge of our 20 year class reunion and I still have invitations that need to get mailed out and a few have come back to me with the wrong addresses. I'm feeling quite stressed!!!

So that's how the month of May has been going for me. I have to consult the calendar every morning to see what the game plan is for the evening! There's never enough hours in a day. Good thing I'm a night owl and I can get by on 4-5 hours of sleep! I don't anticipate June to be much better so don't expect any great blogs!!!

Find your verse....

Several weeks ago I challenged my small group of 8th grade girls to find a verse that they could carry with them over the next few years. We've been talking recently about setting our own personal standards and sexual purity.

I really thought that this would be a tough subject to talk to them about. What I wasn't prepared for was their honesty and vulnerability to come out as we had our discussion. We shared tears and testimonies, laughed at ourselves and each other, and had a remarkable bonding experience. It will be a night that I won't forget.

A few of the girls have actually received purity rings from their parents and have made their vow to God to save themselves for marriage. Wow! I can honestly say that I don't remember having any of those types of conversations with either of my parents at this age. Things are happening so much earlier these days. It's really scary!

Wednesday night a few of the girls remembered our talk about finding their verse and this is what they shared....



Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future".


Proverbs 4:23

Above all else, guard your heart,
for it is the wellspring of life.


1 Corinthians 15:33

Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character."


Deuteronomy 31:8

The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."


Acts 2:21

And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.


If you have a life verse or a verse that has special meaning to you please share it with me so that I can pass it on to these girls. It's been a real blessing to me to be able to spend this time with them and they all hold a very special place in my heart. It would be great to have the same group again next year!

Growing up....

My girls are growing up. It's been a while since we've done pictures (other than school pics) so I had the girls scheduled to have pictures taken on Saturday morning.

Unfortunately the weather wasn't very cooperative in the morning to get some good outside shots. It was really cold and it was really windy. Their hair is blowing all over in all the proofs.

Once we got home the sun came out and the wind died down a bit so I decided to take them over to my neighbors house to get some outdoor pictures with my own camera. My neighbor has a great backyard. It's all lined with pine trees (which blocked the wind) and she has flowers and fountains. They really have a great green thumb and I don't!

I think I got some good shots. You can tell I'm not a professional because I didn't pay attention to shadows and seeing my reflection in Katie's glasses.....but to the unprofessional (like myself) I think they turned out pretty good.

Chuck E Cheese....

Saturday we went to Chuck E Cheese for our small church outing. It wasn't high on my list of fun things to do over the weekend but the kids had a great time!

Keri had Nicole Flickinger come with us and then she spent the night with Nicole. All the kids had a lot of fun playing games and then picking out their goofy prizes. Did you know that for $20 you could get a pair of designer glasses like the ones that Keri has on?!

If you haven't been to Chuck E Cheese in a while let me just tell you that it's exactly as you remember it......LOUD!

Stubborn....

Two days ago my husband managed to drop a concrete block on his foot at work. I'm pretty sure that at least two of his toes are broken!

This man is so stubborn that he will not go seek medical attention for his foot. He's in so much pain that he rummaged through the cupboards until he found some Darvocet that I had taken for pain management when I had a root canal. Now don't you think that if he's in enough pain to take that heavy of a pain killer that he'd seek some medical attention? Heck no!

He told me that he was unloading this concrete from his work truck and he lost his grip on one of the pieces and it landed right across his toes. At the time he knew that it was bleeding because he could feel the warmth from the blood in his sock. This happened right around 7:00 am. Did he take his shoe and sock off to see how much damage had been done? No! He sat down for a moment to catch his breath and then he continued to work......all day long! He didn't look at his foot until he came home that night!

He literally cannot put any pressure on the front of his foot and he walks to the side of his foot so that his toes never touch the ground. I'd say this is a problem. He's stubborn as a mule! The next time you see him tell him he should go have the Dr. take a look at it!!!