Busy being sweet

 Whether swinging on the swings

 Or helping mommy make bars

mmmmm.....she did a good job too!

 Your mouth is drooling isn't it....yes they were that good.

Reading books and acting them out

Or playing hair dresser

She is busy having fun!

Pumpkin muffins

When I cleaned out the deep freezer, I found a bit of pumpkin left from last year.  Seemed like a great time to use it up.  I decided to make pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.  Oh boy, did I ever make muffins!

The "liquids"

This is my stand mixer mixing bowl.  I do have two of them...but do you see a problem?

I had 8 cups of flour plus the other "dry" ingredients to add:

By hand, I mixed in my largest bowl.

Ready to make some muffins?

Before I ran out of muffin cups, I had over 5 dozen regular sized muffins and 2 dozen mini muffins.  I had more mini cups and got 4 dozen more mini muffins.  So glad it is our month to serve at fellowship, nice to have a ready made way to share many with others.

Our own little pumpkin patch

We did not head out to a local pumpkin patch this year, but we did make our own, and we did buy a few pumpkins through Bountiful Baskets.  We think it's the best little pumpkin patch on the block!

Ordinary? I think not.

Every day, you and I do many things that are pretty automatic.  Answer the phone while ironing, if you iron that is, I don't, very often. Find the flung shoe or toy while driving while never taking your eyes off the road.  Well those are a few things moms have a tendency to do.

There are other things, like washing your hands.  Frequently ( I hope! Flu season is among us people, wash your hands.) something we all do.  Not much thought has to go into that task, we commit to washing our hands and do it. No great debate on the temperature of the water,  just what your preference might be.

We have our routines, such as which sock one might put on first.  Which again does not require much thought, and we can easily carry on a conversation while putting socks on.

How about turning a light switch on or off when entering or leaving a room?  No big deal right?  Pretty automatic, painless, and really, very easy.  Wouldn't you agree? Even the "clap on" method doesn't take much effort.

Have you ever considered that there might be a different way to handle light switches?  One that would require fore thought and could challenge you?  Heck, have you ever considered making turning on and off light switches into a form of exercise?

No?

Oh.
You think we're good with the current method?  Well, not at our house.  But then again, we never claimed to be ordinary or "box" fitting people.  We do like to push ourselves to be our best and think outside the box.  Of course you may also push yourself, probably just in different ways.

I present to you a new option when turning your light switches on or off:

All this requires is a quick hand stand, a bit of hand walking then looking up at your feet and flipping the switch with your dirty toes.  Or your toes could be clean. Hers are just typically dirty.

Light switches in any room are privy to this new method.

If I was better prepared I'd have a video for you.

Okay, not EVERYONE in our house does this.  Sweetness seems to know her limitations however, Kjetil makes a very solid attempt. If he was taller he might actually be able to do this.  I am personally satisfied with the status quo on this one and will continue to use my fingers.  

CJ also no longer walks down the hallway.  She does cartwheels or stops and does handstands counting to see how long she can hold it.  I now plan an extra 5 minutes for her to do anything as she is distracted by her need to be upside down and how it slows her down in all tasks.  Her coaches have talked to me about her incredible flexibility, strength, natural talent, and passion.  She needs to get a "thicker skin" though as the world of gymnastics is tough! But that is their only request and concern with her at this time.  So she has been moved to yet another new class. Third class in three months.

One might expect a five year old to be thoroughly worn out from an intense 90 minute gymnastics workout.  But she is not, ever.  As Dave Ramsey says (and I paraphrase), one could do one's passion 24/7 and not be worn out.  This might be her passion.  On the way home the other day from gymnastics, the topic of sports came up.  I told CJ that gymnastics is a sport.  Her passionate and honest response, "Gymnastics isn't a sport! It's just something you do."  That made me chuckle.  No honey, not everyone can "just do" the splits like she can or do the splits and put her tummy flat as a pancake to the floor, or turn lights on and off with their feet.

One more note before I close this post.  The other night, on her way to bed, doing a cartwheel she managed to break the corner off an outlet plate.  She felt bad about it, and I think got a small scrap on her side from it.  However, it looks like she will get to learn some basic home repairs through gymnastics.  Yes, I am that kind of mommy who will make her use a screw driver and fix the plate, once I pick up a new one.  I hear rumors from the big girls at gymnastics of holes in the dry wall...drywall patching may be in CJ's future as well.

Go find your passion and refuse to be ordinary!

A sweeter world

Whenever a grandma comes to visit, the world is a little bit sweeter!  Here is just sampling of some of our fun times with Grandma Martha.

 Must have Craft time with Grandma!

Grandma, Grandma, over here, Grandma, Grandma

 Everyone got in the action!

GAMES!  Don't forget we played games.

And wrestled 

 Who me? I wouldn't put Grandma in a headlock, unless I got the chance.

 Cuddles and stories, the best things about grandmas.

Thanks for coming to visit. The time went by too fast!  Oh and you "accidentally" left a couple of shirts here, and we are refusing to mail them to you, you'll have to come and get them!  Grandma Martha got to see both the girls do their gymnastics, at home and at the gym.  She went to church with us and we at lunch at the Olive Garden. Lots of walks, 10 quarts of tomato sauce, painting, decorating, it was a wonderful visit.  Come back soon!

Determination

This little man has determination like no other.  He is insisting on keeping up with his big 5yr old sister on everything she does, and she is also a very determined little girl.

After hating the noise of the vacuum, recently he has decided that this is his task and his alone.

 The leg lift to get a bit more momentum to move it forward.

Corners are hard, but his independent nature won't let him accept help.

His enthusiasm makes sure that no corner or floor is missed.

The girls used to fight over taking turns vacuuming, but now they both plead with their brother for a turn. This is one of the bigger fights that happens at our house.  At least the floors are vacuumed and they all serve with a joyful heart when it is their turn.  Now, if I could get those joyful servant hearts to pick up toys.

The Children's Museum

 We visited the local children's museum with several friends and as a bonus, Grandma Martha was able to go with us as well!

Squishing virtual bugs. The only thing that got him out of the train room

From one room to another, there were wonderful discoveries made.

She couldn't stay off the wall, does this surprise anyone?

 

Mesmerized by the trains...oh the trains!

Her heart beats like a big bass drum!

Just the right size for little feet to enjoy, and I don't think we mixed up too many of the exhibits.

A lovely surprise

A friend of mine has recently tagged this blog as:

What an honor!  Thank you Wendy. I enjoy her blog as well, Recipe Cut Outs

Here's how the award works:

1. Accept the award. Post it on your blog with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.
2. Pay it forward to 5 other bloggers that you have newly discovered.
3. Contact those blog owners and let them know they've been chosen.

1. Questioning my intelligence

2. Slaters in Ames

3. Blog full of letters

4. The Ouderkirks'

5. Minnesota Rixens

This was hard to choose because there are many lovely blogs out there, and each for their own reason. 

Imagine.. . . .

 

God can do anything, you know - far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams.  Ephesians 3:20

What are your dreams?

I took two days to attend wonderful speakers, uplifting music and a great group of gals to remind me, that not only are all things possible through God, but more than I can even imagine!

Can you imagine that?

Twenty seven ladies from my church, our friends and family members attended.  Within our group we had four mother daughter duos/groups, we had long time friends and we all made new friends on the trip.  We had new members from our church, non members of our church, and women in all various phases of life. 

My Aunt Karen and I

We had an adventure to get to Phoenix. My car left late, by 25 minutes, which meant we avoided sitting on the interstate for 5 hours, as 3 cars from our group had to do.  I also gave my Aunt a ride home on Saturday which put us about an hour later than the rest of the group in leaving Phoenix, that meant we could see the dust storm that was approaching Phoenix and elected to stop, eat and let the storm pass.  We drove home with, a bit of wind and some rain, but over all great visibility.  The cars that left right after the conference, drove in the dust storm most of the way home, ugh!  I am a firm believer in listening to the Holy Spirit.

Wonderful and emotional speakers.  Karen James said, "We can curl up or look up". She is the widow of Kelly James, the only hiker found in the Mt. Hood tragedy in December 2006. Two of my long time favorites, Luci Swindoll and the quote I wrote down from her was "Don't wait, enjoy today". Don't we all need that reminder. And my favorite this year, Sheila Walsh, of which I was too busy trying to catch every word she shared and forgot to write much down.  Her Biblical and historical knowledge is not only impressive but refreshing. I have already dove into her book, "Beautiful things happen When a Woman Trusts God". A lesson many of us struggle with daily.

We had the best seats in the house, as far as we were concerned.

That's right, we had nice chairs, that moved, a table to write on and our own little screens, in case the jumbo-tran wasn't big enough for you.  It was really nice to have a bit of space and not worry about bothering others if we needed to step out.

What was unimaginable is the price of these seats for Suns games.  This sign was on our table. I kindly asked an usher if this was the sale price and the seats would be mine forever, or just the season tickets price.  It's just seasonal!  I can not imagine EVER spending that kind of money on sporting tickets even if cash flow was of no concern.  But there is that word again, Imagine.  Just because I can't imagine it, doesn't mean God can't, or someone else.  They are, really nice seats though.  I only asked, because I couldn't imagine anyone pay that kind of money for tickets, seasonally or for life.

4 seats for a season. OR a down payment on a house, or a car, or a year of private school.

Imagine. Imagine if you let go trying to control things and allowing God to be in control. Imagine your dreams coming true, but beyond your wildest dreams. Imagine knowing that God weeps with you and knows your struggles and brokenness. And offers you more than a hand, but a new opportunity. Imagine giving up trying to portray an image of perfection and instead allowing yourself to feel, to heal, and to enjoy life.  God has more in store for you, than you can imagine!  

Don't wait, enjoy today!