I started to type "spring cleaning" but obviously, it's not spring, so I improvised! :) Lately we've been working extra hard at getting the church spic and span (I'm sure the pastor's daughter's upcoming wedding has NOTHING to do with it! *wink wink*). Normally I clean the church myself - occasionally someone helps out here and there, but I do most of it. Well, a couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine from church came to me and said she'd like to start helping me with it! What a blessing!!! So we met there today and got TONS done! We did all of the normal stuff, plus a bunch of extra things that needed to be done before the wedding. It was so nice to have someone there to work with!
We still don't have a working washing machine (long story), so I've been taking our laundry to different places (church, laundromat, friends' houses, etc.) to wash it, then bringing it home to dry. Well, I decided to start cleaning out the janitor's closet at church, and throw in all of the nasty mildewy rags with my whites, since they needed to be bleached. Well, dummy me - one of the rags was a dark red color, so guess what color my whites are! Yep - a beautiful shade of PINK!! Lovely! For the most part it didn't ruin anything important - mostly socks and undershirts. I think the only thing I'm going to have to replace is Jared's Patch Club polo shirt. I don't think he's going to want to wear a pink shirt...call me crazy! Lol!! Thankfully, they're only about $7 at Wal-Mart, so the damage wasn't too horrible. Of course, I have to endure the teasing from my husband, but I'm used to that, so no biggie! ;) Hehehe....
Friday, October 2, 2009
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Doctor's office here we come!
We're headed over to the doc's office today for our Laynie girl. She's had this odd rash for a few days now, so I figured we'd better have it looked at. Thank goodness it doesn't seem to be anything serious - I'm just so glad that we get to keep our old pediatrician. We love love love Dr. Benson!! She is just great with the kids, and when we switched to Tricare, I was afraid we may have to switch, but hallelujah - she's in our network, so we get to keep her! Yay!!
I also have to swing by the mall out there to pick up Jared's shoes for April's wedding. Have I mentioned that Jared and Laynie are going to be the ring bearer/flower girl in a wedding next Friday night? I can't wait! I think they'll do great - they did awesome in Holly's wedding (which I JUST posted pictures of - woops!), so they should be fine in this one. I ended up buying Jared's tuxedo (or as HE says "TEXedo). Waaaay more economical! I can rent one for over $100, OOORRR I can BUY one for right around $60, then resell it on E-Bay and get a good portion of that back. Hmmm.....what should I do??? Lol!! Needless to say, I didn't have to think on that one long! The only downside is that it doesn't come with shoes. That's ok though, I'll just buy a pair then sell them with the tuxedo more than likely.
We got Laynie's flower girl dress for $25!! Brand new on E-Bay - I'll post pics of it when I get some - it is absolutely ADORABLE! She calls it her princess dress, and she can't wait to wear it!
I also have to swing by the mall out there to pick up Jared's shoes for April's wedding. Have I mentioned that Jared and Laynie are going to be the ring bearer/flower girl in a wedding next Friday night? I can't wait! I think they'll do great - they did awesome in Holly's wedding (which I JUST posted pictures of - woops!), so they should be fine in this one. I ended up buying Jared's tuxedo (or as HE says "TEXedo). Waaaay more economical! I can rent one for over $100, OOORRR I can BUY one for right around $60, then resell it on E-Bay and get a good portion of that back. Hmmm.....what should I do??? Lol!! Needless to say, I didn't have to think on that one long! The only downside is that it doesn't come with shoes. That's ok though, I'll just buy a pair then sell them with the tuxedo more than likely.
We got Laynie's flower girl dress for $25!! Brand new on E-Bay - I'll post pics of it when I get some - it is absolutely ADORABLE! She calls it her princess dress, and she can't wait to wear it!
Pictures of Holly's wedding
I realized I didn't post any pictures of Holly's wedding, so here are a few!
Laynie decided after she got to the front, that she needed to pick up all of the flower petals she had dropped!
Laynie and Haley
The two most adorable kids in the whole world! :)
The happy couple! (Who had not kissed before this day!)
So cute! :)
Laynie and Haley
My handsome lil man
The bride with the two flower girls
Laynie decided after she got to the front, that she needed to pick up all of the flower petals she had dropped!
Laynie and Haley
The two most adorable kids in the whole world! :)
The happy couple! (Who had not kissed before this day!)
So cute! :)
Laynie and Haley
My handsome lil man
The bride with the two flower girls
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Off season clothing...UGH!!
This was always a time I absolutely DREADED when I was a kid! When the weather started cooling off, my mom would pull out the huge bins of winter clothes, and we'd have to try EVERYTHING on to see what still fit and what needed to go to Goodwill, so we could figure out what we had to buy for the season. Now it's time to do it with my kids, and I still hate it!!! I pulled out everything today, and the good thing is that I have nice winter coats for the kids that fit great, so that is one thing I won't have to buy this year - yay!!! I was able to find several outfits for Laynie when I was out shopping yesterday, so I shouldn't have to buy too much for her, they're both set for winter jammies, and I think Jared is good to go. He may need a couple of new pairs of jeans, but I think that's all - shew! This year looks like it will be pretty easy in this department.
Well, I'd better scoot. Church is tonight, so I need to get J's Patch Club outfit ironed, and figure out what Laynie and I are going to wear to see if anything else needs to be ironed! Maybe...just MAYBE, I'll have time to squeeze in a little nap today!
Well, I'd better scoot. Church is tonight, so I need to get J's Patch Club outfit ironed, and figure out what Laynie and I are going to wear to see if anything else needs to be ironed! Maybe...just MAYBE, I'll have time to squeeze in a little nap today!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Homeschooling has begun!!
Well, we finally got school started for Jared - yay!! He's doing well with 1st grade, and enjoying his new teacher. We still feel like he isn't being challenged enough in the reading part of his videos, so I decided to remedy the problem! I called my mom (who is a teacher at a Christian school), and got the reading list for their 4th graders, and we're going to start working through it. Right now he's reading Charlotte's Web, and it's going great. This is definitely more of a healthy challenge for him, and we feel like he is learning more this way.
I just started today teaching Laynie to read. I'm using a book that worked really well with Jared, called "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons." The first few lessons are super easy, so we did the first 3 today, and she absolutely loved it! She's a little on the young side (not quite 3 1/2), so we'll probably go pretty slow, but since we are starting so early, we have plenty of time!
We also did some "Mommy/Daughter" shopping today - it was a lot of fun! Laynie is in desperate need of shoes (I swear the child's feet NEVER stop growing - she grows out of shoes so fast!!). So we hit 2 children's consignment stores and Payless. I ended up finding 3 pairs of shoes for her, plus several wintery outfits (since her legs also seem to never stop growing, and her dresses get too short before I can even blink my eyes!). She did get a little frustrated that I wouldn't let her buy flip flops at Payless. Crazy kid - she has such an obsession with flip flops! She couldn't understand that pretty soon it would be too chilly to wear them - they were pink and sparkly, so she thought she needed them!
Speaking of shopping, I NEED to go shopping for some things for myself. Seriously...my wardrobe is seriously lacking...the thing that stinks is that my absolute FAVORITE clothing store - CATO, doesn't have any branches close to me. Well, there is one that is 40 minutes away, so I'll probably just have to bite the bullet and make the drive out there. They have such cute things for so cheap!! If anyone knows of any other good clothing stores, let me know! I like stores that have cute modest clothes at reasonable prices. I'm NOT one to spend $20 on one shirt - I know that doesn't sound like a lot to some people, but it is to me, and I just can't spend that. So any suggestions would be great!!
Oh! We also found out yesterday that we will be having a baby NIECE in February!! We are so excited! Justin and Jacqueline went in yesterday to have the gender ultrasound, and from what they could see (or rather, COULDN'T see, hehehe...) they predict that the baby is a girl! I can't wait to meet her - I just love love LOVE babies!!!
Ok, enough babbling for now! Hope everyone is having a great week! :)
I just started today teaching Laynie to read. I'm using a book that worked really well with Jared, called "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons." The first few lessons are super easy, so we did the first 3 today, and she absolutely loved it! She's a little on the young side (not quite 3 1/2), so we'll probably go pretty slow, but since we are starting so early, we have plenty of time!
We also did some "Mommy/Daughter" shopping today - it was a lot of fun! Laynie is in desperate need of shoes (I swear the child's feet NEVER stop growing - she grows out of shoes so fast!!). So we hit 2 children's consignment stores and Payless. I ended up finding 3 pairs of shoes for her, plus several wintery outfits (since her legs also seem to never stop growing, and her dresses get too short before I can even blink my eyes!). She did get a little frustrated that I wouldn't let her buy flip flops at Payless. Crazy kid - she has such an obsession with flip flops! She couldn't understand that pretty soon it would be too chilly to wear them - they were pink and sparkly, so she thought she needed them!
Speaking of shopping, I NEED to go shopping for some things for myself. Seriously...my wardrobe is seriously lacking...the thing that stinks is that my absolute FAVORITE clothing store - CATO, doesn't have any branches close to me. Well, there is one that is 40 minutes away, so I'll probably just have to bite the bullet and make the drive out there. They have such cute things for so cheap!! If anyone knows of any other good clothing stores, let me know! I like stores that have cute modest clothes at reasonable prices. I'm NOT one to spend $20 on one shirt - I know that doesn't sound like a lot to some people, but it is to me, and I just can't spend that. So any suggestions would be great!!
Oh! We also found out yesterday that we will be having a baby NIECE in February!! We are so excited! Justin and Jacqueline went in yesterday to have the gender ultrasound, and from what they could see (or rather, COULDN'T see, hehehe...) they predict that the baby is a girl! I can't wait to meet her - I just love love LOVE babies!!!
Ok, enough babbling for now! Hope everyone is having a great week! :)
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Homeless no More - praise the Lord!!!
Shew! We now have a home! The Lord gave us an absolutely AWESOME house - yes, I said HOUSE!! Not an apartment - wonderful! Also, since our church is in a pretty nice area, we had pretty much resigned ourselves to the fact that in order to be close to church, we'd have to go w/a 2 bedroom in order to find something in our price range. Miraculously, we found a THREE BEDROOM house with a huuuuuuuuuuuge yard and tons and tons of storage in our price range!! Granted, it was at the tippy top of our price range, but when we went to sign the lease papers, our landlord told us, that he and his wife had decided to drop the rent to lower than what they originally told us! Can you believe that?!?! We hadn't even asked if they'd be willing to take less - we were just so thankful to find something so wonderful that was w/in the price range. God is so good to us!
The last couple of weeks we have gone about furnishing our house. The only furniture we had was a dining room table (no chairs), a mattress and box springs for the master bedroom, and a bed for each of the kids (though no mattresses for them). We had pretty much gotten rid of everything when we moved out of our apartment back in January, because we had decided to use Michael's signing bonus to treat ourselves to some new furniture. (Something we've never had in 9+ yrs of marriage!) Over the last couple of weeks, we've hit Craigslist and yardsales, and gotten some AWESOME stuff!! I'm telling you - the stuff we have found may as well be brand new, and we've gotten it for a FRACTION of the cost! I am just amazed at the wonderful deals the Lord has dropped in our laps! I tallied up everything - figured out how much it would have cost to buy everything we have brand new from the furniture store - it came up to just under $6000 - we have spent only $675!!! We have a beeeeeeautiful armoire entertainment center (the kind that has doors you can close, which is what I've always wanted!), a beige microfiber dual reclining love seat, a beige microfiber couch, a burgundy rocker recliner (something else I've always wanted and never had before!), an antique desk that we are using for a computer desk, as well as two freestanding islands and a very nice solid wood (heavy!) toy chest for Jared's room! I'll try to take pics in the next couple of days and post them!
So that has been our lives the last couple of weeks. I finally got Jared's school stuff ordered, and it all came in yesterday, so we will be starting school on Monday! Not too bad - just about a week behind when I wanted to start, so I'm pretty pleased w/that.
The last couple of weeks we have gone about furnishing our house. The only furniture we had was a dining room table (no chairs), a mattress and box springs for the master bedroom, and a bed for each of the kids (though no mattresses for them). We had pretty much gotten rid of everything when we moved out of our apartment back in January, because we had decided to use Michael's signing bonus to treat ourselves to some new furniture. (Something we've never had in 9+ yrs of marriage!) Over the last couple of weeks, we've hit Craigslist and yardsales, and gotten some AWESOME stuff!! I'm telling you - the stuff we have found may as well be brand new, and we've gotten it for a FRACTION of the cost! I am just amazed at the wonderful deals the Lord has dropped in our laps! I tallied up everything - figured out how much it would have cost to buy everything we have brand new from the furniture store - it came up to just under $6000 - we have spent only $675!!! We have a beeeeeeautiful armoire entertainment center (the kind that has doors you can close, which is what I've always wanted!), a beige microfiber dual reclining love seat, a beige microfiber couch, a burgundy rocker recliner (something else I've always wanted and never had before!), an antique desk that we are using for a computer desk, as well as two freestanding islands and a very nice solid wood (heavy!) toy chest for Jared's room! I'll try to take pics in the next couple of days and post them!
So that has been our lives the last couple of weeks. I finally got Jared's school stuff ordered, and it all came in yesterday, so we will be starting school on Monday! Not too bad - just about a week behind when I wanted to start, so I'm pretty pleased w/that.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Homeless!
Yep, it's true - we are officially homeless! Lol!! Michael is officially done with AIT, and is awaiting orders for the next part of his schooling. They've told him pretty certainly that no more schooling will be done before the start of 2010, so we're in the process of finding a place to live - preferably close to church. (Any prayers regarding this matter would be HUGELY appreciated!)
At this moment, we are at my parents' house - we've been in GA for the past couple of weeks, and TN (visiting Michael's sister, brother-in-law, and nieces) the week before that. We had to come back to MO to get some of our things, though we can't get all of it just yet, since we have nowhere to put anything! Lol!! I think for now, we'll be staying at an extended stay hotel (probably just for a week, maybe two at the most), until we find the home where we will live. We've been searching diligently. Even from here in MO, we're still checking listings online, and making calls left and right! I must say, I'll feel much better once we get all settled.
I haven't even ordered Jared's 1st grade school curriculum yet - ugh! I'd love to get started, but I'm afraid we'd get started, just to have to take a few days off to get moved, so I'm just going to wait until we're all settled in to our permanent home then start him. He's a sharp cookie - we'll get caught up in no time!
Oh, and I have MORE big news!! In my last post I announced that my sister-in-law (brother's wife) is expecting their first baby. Since that post, we've also found out that one of my OTHER sisters-in-law (hubby's sister) is also expecting!! Woo hoo!!!! This pregnancy is a particularly special blessing, as it was not planned by anyone other than God!! I just love surprise pregnancies!! Anyway, Angel and Ken are super excited, though somewhat shocked!! Their little bundle of joy is due at the end of March. I can't believe I'm going to get TWO little nieces and/or nephews in a period of 2 months!!! I can't wait!! Now, if Jen and James, and Holly and Jim could just get on the ball, we could up that number to 4 - hehehe!!!
At this moment, we are at my parents' house - we've been in GA for the past couple of weeks, and TN (visiting Michael's sister, brother-in-law, and nieces) the week before that. We had to come back to MO to get some of our things, though we can't get all of it just yet, since we have nowhere to put anything! Lol!! I think for now, we'll be staying at an extended stay hotel (probably just for a week, maybe two at the most), until we find the home where we will live. We've been searching diligently. Even from here in MO, we're still checking listings online, and making calls left and right! I must say, I'll feel much better once we get all settled.
I haven't even ordered Jared's 1st grade school curriculum yet - ugh! I'd love to get started, but I'm afraid we'd get started, just to have to take a few days off to get moved, so I'm just going to wait until we're all settled in to our permanent home then start him. He's a sharp cookie - we'll get caught up in no time!
Oh, and I have MORE big news!! In my last post I announced that my sister-in-law (brother's wife) is expecting their first baby. Since that post, we've also found out that one of my OTHER sisters-in-law (hubby's sister) is also expecting!! Woo hoo!!!! This pregnancy is a particularly special blessing, as it was not planned by anyone other than God!! I just love surprise pregnancies!! Anyway, Angel and Ken are super excited, though somewhat shocked!! Their little bundle of joy is due at the end of March. I can't believe I'm going to get TWO little nieces and/or nephews in a period of 2 months!!! I can't wait!! Now, if Jen and James, and Holly and Jim could just get on the ball, we could up that number to 4 - hehehe!!!
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