Sky Top

We enjoyed Sky Top. It was so much fun to pick an apple and eat it. It's amazing how apparently different each type of apple tastes. Even though we got lost on the way there it was a great memory. Bentley enjoyed his first tastes of apple. He has never had any fruit until then. I can't wait to go back!

Co-Op

Earlier this month a science, art, and PE co-op was started. I am excited about teaching art. I have about 14 different lessons already picked out for my students. They did great with their first lesson: monochromatic drawings. They were asked to pick a favorite summer memory and draw it in color and then just one color. Some of the children surprised me, what was amazing was everyone understood the concept. Here are some snapshots of my students. Next time I will have to take picture of some of the actual art work. Overall, I can't wait unitl the next one!

Whew!

Alright, it's been a while since I last posted anything. We have had two+ weeks of sickness for Bentley. I'm ready for him to be back to his oldself again! Let's see, we went Goodwilling on last Saturday, were we bought several old Disney soundtrack records, a cooking for two cookbook, and frutics hair wax/gel (a target donation -- which we paid more for than the target clearance price!). We did go apple picking "with our care group" on Sunday. We got terribly lost (it's becoming a tradition), but eventually found it, thank you Tony! It's beautiful there and we can't wait to go back in a couple of weeks for a pumpkin!! So here a a couple of my favorite pictures from the past two weeks.

My way of keeping Bentley occupied on the floor: Dump all the toys on the floor. He has a lot of fun rummaging from toy to toy.


Homemade pretzels and white pizza - I used the basil from my garden to make the pesto.


The morning that Bentley woke up with another fever.


Bentley trying to find the deals for me!


The boys hanging out on the couch.


The bedtime express. After cleaning up all Bentley's toys, I put him in the hamper and push him to bed.


Trying to break his fever a few days ago. Yes, he is sitting up on his own!


Well, that has been the past two weeks in a nut shell. Time flies!

Sobering thoughts on Sleep

There are just some days when I feel like I could sleep all day long. I was reading in the Valley of Vision -- a favorite -- and came across a prayer on sleep. I hope that one day I can have such a holy mind. It reminds me of 1 Peter 1:13,

"Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

The Puritains sure knew how to connect so many things in their life to preparing their minds. Even something as seemingly innocent as sleep.

Here is the prayer:

Sleep

Blessed Creator,

Thou hast promised thy beloved sleep; Give me restoring rest needful for tomorrow's toil; If dreams be mine, let them not be tinged with evil. Let thy Spirit make my time of repose a blessed temple of his holy presence.

May my frequent lying down make me familiar with death, the bed I approach remind me of the grave, the eyes I now close picture to me their final closing. Keep me always ready, waiting for admittance to thy presence.

Weaken my attachment to earthly things. May I hold life loosely in my hand, knowing that I receive it on condition of its surrender; As pain and suffering betoken transitory health, may I not shrink from a death that introduces me to the freshness of eternal youth. I retire this night in full assurance of one day awaking with thee.

All glory for this precious hope, for the gospel of grace, for thine unspeakable gift of Jesus, for the fellowship of the Trinity.

Withhold not thy mercies in the night season; thy hand never wearies, thy power needs no repose, thine eye never sleeps.

Help me when I helpless lie, when my conscience accuses me of sin, when my mind is harassed by foreboding thoughts, when my eyes are held awake by personal anxieties.

Show thyself to me as the God of all grace, love and power; thou has a balm for every wound, a solace for all anguish, a remedy for every pain, a peace for all disquietude. Permit me to commit myself to thee awake or asleep.

What a heavenward perspective on sleep!

What a week...

Well, this has been an week of surprises!

Sunday after church I actually went grocery shopping. That is not a normal occurance and it won't ever be. But, we had plans for Monday and we needed food for Tuesday so...I went shopping. Between, Bloom, Publix and CVS I spent $104 for two weeks of groceries, but the best part is that I saved $158! I saved more than I spent! Woo Whoo! Some of the things that I bought were: 5 lbs of chicken breast BOGO, 4 lbs of ground beef BOGO, 6 boxes of Barilla pasta BOGO plus $2 off 6 boxes, 2 Glade Scented Oils plus 4 packages of refills all for $2.75! I made $.45 on Smart Balance Butter! Couponing and buying sales is worth it.

We had a fun Monday because Danny was off. Bentley and I enjoyed hanged out with him and the Johnsons. Dave and Danny played with Danny's keyboard while Becky and I hung out with the kids and talked sewing! It was a lot of fun.

Wednesday came around and I had childcare and snacks for Care Group. I made a few things, but the surpising thing was that it was all eaten! Yay! Another good thing about Wednesday was... I actually ran around my neighborhood with out stopping, it took me about 18 minutes!

Thursday I made some bibs for friends and family. I'm still working on some of the designs. That evening Bentley came down with a fever.



Friday morning his temp was 103F so I took him to the doctor. Poor baby has strep throat. He is so sad when he's sick. Today he is doing much better, he's on antibiotics, but his fever is gone. He's crawling and playing again yesterday he just laid there sucking his thumb.

And we will see what tomorrow brings... that has been a quick update of our week.

We'll see how next week falls into place, since I have no grocery shopping to do and we start a little co-op!

Playing catch up...

As you can see, I've done a lot of posting today. I want to get caught up so I can start fresh next week. The last couple of weeks I have been able to learn new things. Like cooking from scratch is not that hard, working with our new budget, the wonderful world of couponing, becoming friends with my new care group, that God cares about the "little things", and ways to be a better wife and mother.

I am having so much fun learning more about cooking. One of the things that really encouraged me was my friend Ann. She cooks many things from scratch. Things just taste better.

The new budget has been a long time in the making. Well, it's finally here and it works. I am having fun figuring out how to stretch a dollar. Especially with all the couponing deals at Publix, CVS and Walgreens.

I love our new care group. We have a such a wonderful time in the short amount of time being there. We had a great discussion about hormones last Wednesday. More to come about that.

It's so much fun learning about God and what He cares about. I love this life, but I am looking forwar to the next life too.

Each day it is a wonderful time when Danny gets home. For one, my husband is home and two Bentley just loves to hear the door unlock and start perking up to see where Daddy is. I love it. It's probably my favorite time of the day. God has so richly blessed my life with these two boys!

Here are some silly pictures of Bentley from yesterday, waiting for Danny to get home. He is growing up so fast. I love his sweet soft little face.







Here is a slide show of my lastest projects in the kitchen!

A Walk in the Park

Last Saturday it was so nice out, that we decided to go for a walk in the park. Bentley enjoyed his first time in a swing. He was skeptical at first, but enjoyed it. He also puked after we stopped swinging him. Sorry Buddy! Here are some pictures from the evening. Oh, we saw two large wild turkey... and no we weren't looking in a mirror!