Productive Weekend

Well, due to someone pulling the plug on our diesel buses on the coldest day of the winter this three day weekend turned into a 4 day weekend for me. What a productive weekend we had. We got new furniture delivered, and sold our old stuff on Craigslist. We went to a surprise 40th b-day party for my brother n' law. We had a fun family dinner out, saw the movie Pet Hotel (cute movie). We
Poor Mickey was neutered today (but is doing fine):

Lauren had another hugely successful gymnastics class, Luke attended a youth group at church. We had a great time at church on Sunday, had lunch with Tim's parents and had a great dinner with my family this weekend as well.
The biggest accomplishment Tim and Luke had this weekend was finishing his Raingutter Regatta boat for Cub Scouts. Tim was very nervous about this, he had to read online about the rules, etc. He had to carve out a section of the boat to put the metal rutters in:



It turned out great, here is their final product, the S.S. Yankee







Luke will get to race it on Wednesday at his pack meeting so stay tuned for photo's and an update on how he does.

On another positive note, my coworkers husband has had a miraculous improvement and is doing GREAT!!! Thank you for your prayers.

Well, after this wonderful productive weekend, I am back to work tomorrow. I hope everyone has a great week.

Out with the old, IN with the new!!!

Today was the big day, the new furniture was going to arrive. I am a new BIG fan of Craigslist. A college guy showed up yesterday and paid cash for our old sofa and loveseat. Tim's parents are going to take the sofa from our front room so everything old now has a home, READY FOR THE NEW!!!!
They were supposed to be here to deliver anywhere between 8-12 today, we were thrilled when they showed up at 7:45.
Here was the empty room before they arrived (pardon the mess):




Here is our lovely new furniture!!!

New loveseat in the front room:



New (sleeper) sofa (so guests can FINALLY stay with us) in the front room:


Luke enjoying the new loveseat in our t.v. room:


With the new furniture we have a new rule of NO EATING OR DRINKING on the furniture. So we decided we needed some sort of eat in the kitchen option for the kids, so we bought a new island. Here is Lauren eating her breakfast on our new island this morning:



So excited about our new stuff and happy our old stuff has a new home too! I am also super excited about my THREE DAY WEEKEND!

Day of Craziness

Well, I was in the shower this morning and Tim came in and told me school was closed. At first I was shocked it was called so late and disappointed I had already made it into the shower. Turns out some vandals snuck into our bus yard and unplugged the diesel buses, someone REALLY wanted a day off. . . gotta say, snuggling back into bed, wet hair and all felt good this morning.
Luke was off for an inservice day and so we just kept Lauren home and had fun just the four of us. We hit the mall and got TONS of great deals so that was fun.
Tomorrow we have new furniture coming, I am so excited!!!! I posted our old stuff on Craigslist and was amazed and how quickly it went. Tim and I unfortunately just had to move it all out to the garage just the two of us. . . yikes, that was crazy. We got stuck in the doorway with the sofa and as my arms were trembling by lifting the sofa at eye level to try and straighten it out and I didn't think I could possibly hold it another minute I looked over my shoulder and saw my neighbor (with a halo on top of his head : ) saying "do you need some help" talk about divine intervention and PERFECT timing!!! The furniture is outside and we are awaiting the people to come and haul it away (and pay in cash). New stuff will arrive tomorrow morning, I'll update with pics, I am so excited to get new furniture. We also purchased a small island for the kitchen so the kids have somewhere to eat breakfast and snacks with a view of the t.v. because with the new stuff the rule will definitely be NO EATING ON THE COUCHES : )
Well, off to see if our Craigslist people arrive cash in hand. . .. I'll keep ya posted.
Lesley

Gymnastics Today

Today was a big day for Lauren. She has always wanted to be in gymnastics class. We did the cheerleading thing which she seems destined for and today was her first day of gymnastics. I signed her up for a class for 5 years and up. I was worried because as class started she was clearly 2 years younger than all and some girls were even 10-12 years old.
They started off with exercises.




The did splits, backbends, ran around the gym, did back crawls, hops around the gym, skipping around the gym, etc. The poor girl looked pooped, LOTS of exercise and only 10 min. into class. I called Tim and said "wow, is she gonna be tired tonight!".
Then they divided the girls into 4 groups. The first group was the older girls doing cartwheels and roundoffs unassisted. Then Lauren was with the group with one of the coaches:


After her first (perfect unassisted) cartwheel they sent her over with the big girls, I couldn't help but smile!





They officially assigned her to "group 1". They got to go on the uneven bars:


She had so much fun. Even worked on a back bend and a flip before the class ended.

Then they got the parachute out to wrap up class.



Lauren was in heaven and I must say I was a proud mama. Can't wait to see how this progresses. . . .

Lesley

Disney is our Getaway and Safe Haven

People ask me all the time "why do you go to Disney EVERY SINGLE YEAR!?!" I can not put into words the happiness it brings me and my family. Tim put together a video for our trip report this year and I just love it and wanted to share it here. It sums up our happiness/humor/love for Disney. Hope you enjoy it: (shut up and drive is the first song because we have decided to drive this year) Be sure to hit the "pause" button on my music player to the left of this post to stop my normal Jason Mraz music so you can hear the music Tim put to the video before hitting play. ENJOY!!!!

Why?

Why does the Lord let bad things happen to good people? I know as a Christian that there is a message somewhere when these things happen, but it is still hard to wrap my head around. A dear friend of mine and coworker has a husband who is a pastor and is a wonderful man of the Lord. He had routine surgery yesterday that went terribly wrong and is now in a coma with bleeding in his brain and we are praying for a miracle. His poor wife and children have had their world turned upside down. I started taking a collection up for her at school today for gas cards for trips back and forth to the hospital, food, whatever her needs may be. There was a constant flow of people coming in and out of my room today showing genuine concern, saying they were praying for her and giving money. I couldn't believe the amount of money that was raised in such a short amount of time. What a testimony to how many lives they have touched. I have had two co workers loose their husbands in the past year, it is unbelievable. I never want to be in their shoes (even though I know it will be someday). In each of these cases their husbands were taken suddenly and without warning, how scary. All good people, why them??? I am still praying for a miracle for my dear friends husband, please say a prayer for Jim tonight - he and his family need a miracle!

The Great Birthday Party Debate

I often wonder in my kids minds what ranks higher than their birthdays. Every year my kids plan out months in advance, what type of cake they want, what venue they want their parties at, who to invite, etc. etc. Last year Luke had an awesome pirate themed party that took TONS of work to plan, organize, buy themed favors and decorations for, and ended up costing us a fortune. Lauren had a simpler party at an inflatable place that was fun, this year the debate has already started.
Last night we were discussing Luke's birthday that is fast approaching. You should have seen the look in his eyes as we discussed the options. We threw out movie theatre party, swim party at the local rec. center, bowling party, Lazar tag, etc. etc. As I called from place to place to get prices his eyes just got larger and larger. As I would hang up the phone he would say "so give me the options mom" and he said several times as Tim and I were discussing things "well, shouldn't I be the one to decide these things, after all it is MY birthday" : )
Kids, they crack me up. Birthday's are sure getting expensive. I guess it's partly my fault. I prefer to have it at a LOCATION so I don't have to invite people into my home, plan everything, clean everything (before AND after the party), etc. Looks like the going rate for this years shindig will run us around 150, yikes! Actually that's better than in previous years AND I'm avoiding having everyone to the house. Still waiting for a few calls back on prices of places, but I'll let you know where "WE" decide (I guess I mean that "we" very loosely : )