"Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah, Zip-a-Dee-Eh. My Oh My What a Wonderful Day"

 Last weekend was a great weekend for me!!  So I am singing "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" out loud!  Despite being sick, we went garage saling (our favorite sport), had a 3.5 hour date night, installed two windows, processed 30 pounds of chicken, cooked two gourmet meals, played with my kids tons, and installed two "new" cabinets in my laundry room!

Having cabinets in there is a dream come true.  We keep our dogs in there too, and our pooches are very dusty and cover everything in dirt.  Yuck.  For only $30 dollars, Michael did a laundry room make over.  Yes, we found two beautiful enormous cabinets at a garage sale and bought them right up.  (Thanks Amy!)

And yes, I plan on keeping my laundry room this clean and organized every day! :-) Thanks to my new Simplify My Life skills.

Levi at 2 Months Old

My baby is already growing up way too fast.  He's about to burst out of 3-6 month old clothes.  I took him to the doctor this week and got his stats.  This future linebacker is 15 pounds 12 ounces which is off the charts still.  His height was 24.5 inches which was at the 95th percentile.  He's smiling more and fixating his gaze more than ever.  I know if I blink he'll be all grown up.  I try to kiss him at least 1000 times a day.  I want to always remember those sweet butterball cheeks.

 Mr. Chubs

 Levi was sucking on Clark's face during this photo.  Clark thought it tickled. Levi was disappointed.

How did I get the boys to look at me and smile?  

I hate to admit it, but I did tooting noises with my mouth.  It worked.  Boys are so funny. 

What Would You Do With 30 Pounds of Chicken Breast?

This is maybe half of the chicken I bought. 

I am certifiable crazy.  I admit it. I love to save money and get good deals.  This is what we do to save money and time.  I hope this will help someone who is need of more time or more money or both.

We found skinned boned chicken breast for 99 cents a pound, and I had a $5 coupon.  So I bought over 30 pounds of it!!!

So I spent several hours pulling off chicken skin, de-boning, and slicing.  I boiled half of it for future chicken tacos, chicken spaghetti, chicken and dumplings, etc. I bagged and froze it.

One of my three pots to boil the chicken.

Then I took the rest of it and bagged it with marinades and special spices.

Bags full of seasonings and sauces

Next time I grill, I'll just pull out a bag and be ready to go.

 It's a lot of work, but it makes life easier in the long run. :-)

Happy cooking and saving, everyone!

When Pigs Fly!!

We have a sloped backyard that's really not usable for play, so we decided to build a playhouse for the kids to utilize our space.  A week after Levi was born, Michael and his dad began working on the boys' playhouse/swing set.  We sold our utility trailer for extra cash and used left over boards from pool deck.

 The men worked in 40 degree weather and rain to get as much done as possible while Grandpa was here.

Grandpa, who is 75, was on top of the building roofing; I was praying.  It's more than 20 feet up in the air.

 Today, here's the finished playhouse with the main architect (Michael) taking a break.  We have a few more things to tweak, but we're calling it "DONE".  I'm so glad that pool is gone.  We'll use this playhouse all year!  It's 8 foot by 8 foot with a 2 ft. by 8ft. covered porch.  In the bottom of my picture is our veggie gardens.

Michael designed easy to climb stairs, a dutch door, 5 stations for swinging, and a covered porch.  It also has a easy to  use window for drive in window play!

 

Here's the boys smiling for Grandma, and on the right is their bell--a pig with wings.

When pigs fly, our kids can say that we don't love them or spoil them rotten.

Pictures of Levi--7 weeks

 This picture shows off his chipmunk cheeks!

Why Me??

I CAN imagine what it must have been like to be in Tuscaloosa on April 27 holding on tight to my children and praying to be spared from nature's wrath.   I can imagine this very vividly because I was in this city right before it was ripped apart. 

Not knowing what the weather held and going against every gut feeling to stay home (aka Holy Spirit), my family of five decided to travel from Chattanooga through Alabama to Mississippi on Wednesday.  The first minutes of the trip started off with us running into a public restroom for safety as a tornado was reported not far from our location in Chattanooga.  After the storm passed, we headed back home to regroup.  Our electricity was off, and we made the decision to go on with our trip even though everything in me said stay.

After studying the radar, it seemed that we needed to hustle through Alabama to get past the upcoming storms.  We actually set the goal to get past Birmingham to be safe.  We made good time, and once we were past Birmingham, we were out of gas and hungry.  Tuscaloosa was our next option for stopping.  We love this city.  We have stopped here along our trip to get a coffee and let the children play at a wonderful park.  But today something in me told me to keep going. 

So we decided to keep going, and we coasted into a gas station on fumes to refill a little ways down the road from Tuscaloosa.  When we were filling up, the air was hot and sticky and the sky was churning like we were in the middle of a whirlpool.   It made me nervous, and I rushed the boys to hurry and get going again.

We ended up not going very much further until we had to seek shelter as we entered a dangerous supercell that had produced a deadly tornado.  I huddled up my little family in the corner of the building and listened as the wind slammed into the wall of the building.  I remember praying to be spared.  I looked at the faces of my little ones as if it might be my last.  I made plans to do everything I could to save them.  I waited as I knew I was not in control of my fate. 

After two and half  hours of waiting out these powerful storms, the winds calmed and the skies cleared.  We were okay.  But so many people just miles up the road were not.  Hundreds lost their lives.  Over 600 were hurt.  Many lost their homes, businesses, and friends and family. 

I couldn't help but wonder why me???  Why were we alive and okay?  Moms just like me were clinging on to their children and babies and praying, but they didn't make it.  There are no answer to my question except pure humility and gratitude.  I was reminded through this humbling experience that life is short and we are not in control.   We are incredibly fragile, and we are not in control. 

Eternity is on my mind a lot right now.

I have to confess that I have wondered when I die what if I realize Heaven is not there, and this religious thing is just a make believe story to give people comfort.  My answer is I don't care if I'm wrong.  I will have lived my life in peace, hope, security, and love.  Serving others and believing in miracles will be the worst outcome.  But what if I'm right....then death is not the end.  I put my hope in that Jesus was telling the truth, and there is a paradise waiting for us if just accept His gift of LIFE.  That's too good to turn down. 

I hope that the lives lost this week are not really lost, but they are now in a beautiful Heaven with no tears, regrets, pains, or sorrow.

And the why me??  I may never know, but I know that it's my responsibility to live life to its fullest.  I will love deeply, apologize quickly,  live in grace, serve as I can, and tell others of the hope that fills my heart because of Jesus Christ.

Easter Part 1

 

It's Saturday of Easter weekend, and we are full swing in celebrating my birthday and Easter!

Thanks to Aunt Diane and Uncle Danny's care package, we dyed eyes, and then transformed them into dinosaurs!

 

On Saturday, our MOPS church had an egg hunt and pony rides.

Clark has been asking to ride a horse for months.  Today he got his wish.

Joel wasn't quite sure what he thought about the horse.

Resurrection Rocks

 

Easter is a big holiday around here, and today we painted resurrection eggs.  The idea hit me last night when I was reading the The Very First Easter, and I was pondering how do I teach this to my little guys in a concrete way.  The stone is a very big part of the story.  The rock rolled was the first noticeable things to indicate the RESURRECTION had happened.  Wow, I wonder what was like to have been one of those ladies and to discover that huge stone moved? The shock, wonder, fear, and excitement they must have felt that morning!!!!   So after reading the story and talking about the stone, the boys painted their rocks today.  They had fun painting, and I had fun talking about how each color represented something as I told the story again.

 

Here's our Resurrection Rocks in our garden.  I sealed them with a spray sealer, so I'm hoping they'll survive the spring rains.  My hope is they'll serve to remind us of the Resurrection each time we see them.

What a month!!

 Levi is now one month old. I think he looks a lot like Michael's baby pictures.  

He has such chubby cheeks which are great for smothering with kisses.

He's 22 inches long now which is in the 95th percentile.  And he is off the charts with his weight.
The doctor said that they don't make "them" that big. He weighed 12 pounds and 15 ounces which is four pounds and 1 ounce gain in one month.  No wonder I've been craving butter cream icing. :-)

Wow it has been a month, and my head is still spinning from family visiting, surgery recovery, new baby, baby blues, building a tree house, yard work, starting our garden, and everything else we've been into.

Here's my attempt at taking pictures of Levi and failing miserably.  Joel would not leave us alone, so I took pictures of Joel getting in the way.  He loves to tell me how cute Levi is.  Little does he know Mommy thinks he and Levi both are deliciously cute.  I love my boys.
(Yes that's water guns beside Joel. Poor baby Levi will have to grow up fast to keep up with big brothers.)

  The doctor predicted Levi will have blue eyes even with our family history of hazel eye color. 

Only time will tell.

 

My four boys

I am totally outnumbered four boys to one girl.   

It's a good thing I like shooting guns, fishing, camping, and doing anything outside. :-)

Thanks Grandma and PawPaw!

In anticipation for Levi's arrival, Michael's mom and dad came to stay with us to help out while I healed.  They were troopers by letting us sleep in late and take naps, cleaning the house, taking care of the boys, and doing various other house chores.  Pawpaw and Michael spent the last week building a playhouse in the rain.  Their 3 week stay flew by.   Thanks Grandma and Pawpaw for loving on us and taking care of all five of us.