Happy Birthday to my hubby!!!

Today is Lee's birthday, and although he has to work, we were able to celebrate this past Wednesday by going to one of the Movie Taverns where they have dinner and a movie!!! We hadn't been to a movie in forever, and we got a gift card to that specific movie theater!!! It was great, because sometimes it feels like too much time to do both separately, but this time we could have both together! We were a little worried that the food would be less than because it wasn't the top priority, but it was actually really yummy!!! We watched The Dark Night!!! What a blessing to have a date night! Don't know why we didn't get a picture, but we forgot! Haha!

Earlier in the week, I tried out a recipe for those cakeballs I keep blogging about!!! They worked great!!! The girls helped me with some strawberry ones so I could test it out, and then I made the lemon ones! Fun! They ended up working great and they tasted yummy!!! Another GREAT thing is that they weren't as hard as I thought they would be! I am so excited! I will no longer have to pay someone else to make them!!! One cake box makes about 48 cake balls, so needless to say, we have cake balls coming out of our ears (making it hard to be good on my no sugar/white flour diet)! Thank goodness Sundays (and bdays) are spurge days! Hehe! Anyway, here are some pics!!!





















The strawberry ones have fall leaf sprinkles on regular and white chocolate and the lemon ones are just plain! Yum! We'll obviously be freezing some! :)
The last picture is from our date on the 17th in celebration of 11 years of dating!!! Sooo fun! I can't believe we've had two dates so close together! :) Our 8th wedding anniversary is coming up in another week! :) I hope it's cold like the day we got married! I love fall!
Lee, Happy Birthday!!! I am sooooo glad that you were born!!! You are such a wonderful husband and my best friend!!! I thank the Lord for you every day!!!

School Days

A lot has gone on the last few weeks here! It seems that time has flown, since we are in the 4th week of school! It has had it's challenges and successes! One thing I did not anticipate was the challenge it would be for them to have to stick to a subject. I am learning that the more prepared I am for their school, the easier it is for them to attain all of their stickers for their charts!!! :) I am progressively getting better at being prepared, and the kids are getting better at knowing what is expected! :) The great thing is that they have prizes that they can attain for participation, and they get small prizes at the end of each day and bigger prizes at the end of the week if they get the whole week filled up! It only took the first week for Lenci to realize that she really didn't get her prize! It's been harder on her, just because she is much more stubborn, and she's a younger, but I know that this structure is good for her! She has actually been falling asleep during nap time since we started school. Not every day, but I think all of the thinking and concentration is burning some of her energy. :) I am so amazed by them every day! Asher is a hand full and makes our day much busier, but he has sooooo much fun doing school! I have a video of them singing their days of the week song and pledging, but it's really dark, so I'm going to try it again in a more well lit room or something! It's too funny! :) Even Asher is into it! One day I ended up having to do school during Asher's nap time, and it went much smoother, but he loves it so much and I really think it's good for him to be involved. :) I obviously have three different levels to accommodate, making it even more of a challenge, but it is a fun one! We have had field trips, done art projects, made stories, and learned many new things! Here are just a few of the pictures!!! :)



























I will leave you with these!!! Haha! I know there are tons of pictures, and there are many others that didn't make the "cut"! ;) I'll have more later! I just waited too long to post, so this is what happens! :) Oh, and I helped them with their playdough prizes (butterfly, car, teapot)!!! :) Have a blessed week!

Hosanna

I'm not sure if this song is new or old, but I have found it to be very inspiring!!! When I think about what I complain about or think I need, songs like these put things into perspective, for sure! :) I really needed this the other day! I have been really dealing with trying to stay content! Getting ready to have our 4th baby, I have started to feel cramped in our little house! I am reminding myself everyday that being content where I am now will make whatever is next even more of a blessing! :) It's just not God's timing for us to move yet. Thinking of the greater plans of life is very comforting and gives me something to put my mind on (things above)! :) This song is in my list of songs by Christ Nockels! :) Here are the lyrics! :)

Hosanna

I see the King of Glory
Coming on the clouds with fire
The whole earth shakes
The whole earth shakes

I see His love and mercy
Washing over all our sin
The people sing
The people sing

Hosanna
Hosanna
Hosanna in the highest

I see a generation
Rising up to take their place
With selfless faith
With selfless faith

I see a new revival
Stirring as we pray and seek
We're on our knees
We're on our knees

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love
Like you have loved me
Break my heart for what breaks yours
Everything I am
For Your kingdom's cause
As I walk from earth into eternity

Today was the first day of school!!!

Today was our first day of school!!! Zoe started Pre-Kindergarten and Lenci and Asher started Pre-School!!! :) They had sooo much fun! I have been preparing for a while, but like my typical self I stayed up until 2am setting everything up for calendar and weather stuff for them!!! That got me really excited!!! I'm very proud of my official looking "closet school board"!!! We don't have an extra room for school, so I put all of the school calendar stuff inside the closet and all of their work on the outside of the closet!!! :) I decided to copy my friend, Katie, and do yummy chocolate doughnuts on the first day of school!!! They were soooo excited! :) The way the calendar was set up, the kids couldn't even see that there was a class in the closet, so when we opened the door they were sooooo surprised!!! Zoe started jumping up and down!!! The curriculum that I have is a unit study curriculum that lays everything out for me, so it went very smoothly because I filled in my lesson plans for the week with her stuff and then did extra things that I knew the kiddos would love!!! :) I had to tweek a few things for Asher and Lenci, but they had so much fun! Asher even participated in saying the pledge!!! It was so cute! I need to get them on video after we say it a few more times! So sweet! I was glad that I had a participation chart, so that they had to participate in each activity to get an apple sticker for their apple tree!!! It really helped them to stay on task and not just wander around like they are usually allowed to do, for drinks or blankets or whatever! I know tomorrow will go even smoother because now they know that they get a sticker for participating, whereas today they weren't sure what I meant! It still went EXTREMELY well considering!!! I am just soooo thankful that we recovered from the stomach bug we had over the weekend in time to start school!!! I could not believe when Zoe got sick on Friday and then it was me on Saturday!!! I'm the one it has taken the longest to get well, but that just goes with being pregnant I guess!!! :) I know it wasn't very smart to stay up until 2am, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do, and boy was it worth it this morning to see their faces!!! :) I can't wait until tomorrow!!! So much more fun stuff to learn and teach!!!