Photo Story: State Park Day with Family

(Family Photo)

(Daddy with his girls)

(Making a splash)

(Leading the way)

(Cousin Sam with the girls)

(Aunt Melissa with the girls)

(Whoa mom...I'm getting dirty)

(This place is huge!)

(Beautiful Cave, great day with family)

Life Lessons: Purity

I recently purchased this book for my oldest daughter who is 4 years old. When I told my husband that I was buying her a book about purity he seemed surprised. I really started to think about that and felt even more convicted to start now. She absolutely loves this story and asks that I read it to her often. I do realize that the concept is above her complete comprehension however each time I read it we talk about how special her first kiss is. I keep it simple but emphasize the main theme each time, which is purity. In the story the first kiss is a gift from God and it is a glowing light that is shown in the story. The princess meets many suitors who would like the kiss but she saves it for the man she will marry. Not to mention that she can see through the other suitors shallow attempts to gain that kiss. I can't tell you how much I already treasure this book and I pray that she will desire to remain pure until her wedding day. If you have a son and would be interested in this type of a book the author Jeannie Bishop does have another book called The Squire and The Scroll.

My thought this evening as I write this post is that it is never too early to start teaching your children about purity and self-respect. I realize that if I don't teach it to them they will lose sight of what it most important and not give themselves the respect that God intended for them and their future spouse. It's a priceless conversation that can start at any age.

Soaking Up the Sun and Having Some Free Fun

The girls and I have been trying to get outside and enjoy this wonderful summer weather. Even though they enjoy their swing set both of them do like to see new things and tryout new playgrounds. We have really tried to take advantage of the free activities in our area. I think that with the economic problems of today parents have to be more creative with how we entertain our children and how we can have a fun summer even if we don't go on vacation. Here are some fun things that we have already enjoyed this summer:

*Trips to the Library (You can't beat free movies, books and Cd's)
*Exploring different parks in the surrounding areas
*Mall play areas on those rainy days
*The fountains at a local outside shopping center (they even offered free juice boxes and towels to borrow for when your kiddo gets wet.)
*Play dates with friends in someones back yard
*Bike rides in the neighborhoods

I realize that all of these activities listed are not entirely free (taxes paid for the library, gas money to drive, lunches to be packed, etc.) it is nice realization that we can travel local and enjoy them without pay cash out each time we visit them. I just wanted to mention this is something that we do in an effort to spend less and save more. You can still have fun even if you stay at home or vacation locally.

Read and become a child again

(image is a trademark of C.S.Lewis Pte Ltd. and Disney/Walden)

As I get older I am reading more for entertainment and for a temporary escape, t.v does me no good since I am usually disappointed in the shows that I try to watch. Reading has been very fulfilling to me especially with having small children who require so much out of me during the day. I have found that my new favorite reads are books in a series. After I finished the Twilight series I was looking for something new to get into. Several people have told me Harry Potter was the way to go but I wasn't sure I would have the time or the interest. I wanted to read another children's series before I begin the Potter one and ended up reading the Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis. I just finished book seven today and I loved it. Thanks to my local library I was able to get each book for free and didn't have big stack to stare me down. I found the stories interesting and short so reading them didn't take me long at all. The best part was feeling like a kid again as I enjoyed the adventures in each of the stories. Reading these books in particular also generates some great conversation among other adults who have also read this series. I had never heard of this series as a child so this was a great discovery for me as an adult. One that my child will not miss!

I now know that reading more children's adventure stories will be good for my spirit and moral when being a grown up "is just plain boring." I also love a hobby that my children can see and mimic as well. My oldest would ask me several questions about the story and say "mom tell me more about the jungles of Narnia." I loved this experience and will hopefully as time allows continue to enjoy many more adventures to come!

A random post to catch you up

I had no idea that the combination of being pregnant and beautiful summer weather would consume my life. I have missed blogging however my days (when I do feel good) have been outside with the kids and the evenings (when I feel terrible) I spend in bed. There has been little motivation on my part to blog. I think that is why Facebook is so appealing to me. I can quickly catch up with my friends and see what everyone else is doing in less than 5 minutes. Twitter has worked for me as much and I am one of the many members that has maybe posted once or twice. I think Twitters long term existence will not be as good as Facebook.

I am 13 weeks pregnant and really excited about this baby. My two girls are also excited which keeps everyone around here happy. It is funny how they want the baby to come out now. I spend many days explaining that there is a time for everything and mommy and daddy need time to prepare for this little baby. Some other cool news in my life is that we declined to take a vacation this year and instead purchased new appliances. I think our dishwasher as 30 years old! With this decision I told my husband that we needed to do fun things around the house since we are not leaving on a big trip. Two weeks ago we camped in our back yard. That worked our pretty well even though the two year old and myself ended back up in the house around 1:30 a.m. Then this past weekend we took them to an amusement park that I use to frequent as a child. It was awesome to see them ride the same rides that I did as a child.

Life has been good and I am really trying to focus on being a better mother. I am learning many things from my mistakes and I am trying to do better. I am seeing the foundational elements of good character that I am trying to teach my girls and sometimes they get it and sometimes they don't. Through my pregnancy laziness I have watched more t.v. than I typically do and watching the downward spiral of Jon and Kate Plus 8 has just been nothing but disheartening and sad. I just can't imagine how something that started out so good has turned into something so terrible. But isn't that how sin works? I mean we start out with something that seems good but unless we practice self-control and discern out what is truly good it can/will consume us. Not to say that their choice to go on the show is "sin" per say I can see the parallel which is gives me a practical application for my life.

O.k. enough about my random rants. I'm so glad to be back and I hope that I can get back into blogging. Something that I love and miss. I always have so much to say I just need faster fingers to type it!

Have a fantastic day! I'm off to the doctors office.

So much to say

I couldn't believe how long it has been since I last posted. I have been so busy with kids, life, family, projects and many more things I could add to my list. I can say that this post will not be one to complain about my busy life, I actually love it! My husband has been so wonderful to work with me to get a long list of projects completed around our house. The kids have been enjoying the warm weather and now that we only own a desk top my time on the computer has diminished to a simple facebook check, email and maybe a quick blog read. I do love to blog and I also enjoy reading others but getting my life and priorities in the right order is what is most important to me. I also should mention that I am pregnant. We are so happy about this and feel very blessed to be able to expand our little family. We should meet our new little one around Christmas time.

I wanted to add some photos of some of the fun times we have been having on my days off the the web. Flower planting, enjoying some corn on the cob. I hope that you are out enjoying this beautiful time of year. It seems to pass by so quickly so don't forget to get out and enjoy some sun. It's time to get back to party planning (5 year old party this year and sister's wedding shower.) Busy times and I love them!

Spring Fun

Making the most of every moment is something I try to remind myself of everyday. The weather has been so nice that the kids and I have been playing, and painting and enjoying life. I do miss blogging and reading other blogs but my time with these little ones goes by so quickly that I am doing my best to enjoy it. This past week my mother came up for a visit and we went to the zoo. The kids had a great time and here are some pictures from our trip there. The one thing that I have to mention is that both girls were determined to ride the carousel and once we were on riding it they both became upset and my youngest began to cry. I started to work on distracting them in order to get rid of their fear. It worked and it worked so well that they wanted to ride again but we said only "once" for today. Fun times, trying not to forget them. Happy Weekend!