Home Sweet Home

Since the end of August we have been gearing up for move to Angola, Africa.  We recently decided that it was not the right move for our family.  So, we will be staying home.  :-)  While we were intrigued about this opportunity, we know that we are making the right decision and we are right where the Lord wants us to be. 

Our best friends were giving us a going away party, but now that we are not going, the party will be a staying home party!  Just love them!

Stay tuned!

Valentine's Party!

I have no idea where these past two weeks have went.  I didn't mention it on the blog, but Shawn was gone for 30 days in Angola from the middle of January and returned home on February 15th.  We were beyond excited to have him home!! 

On the day he arrived home, we had planned a Valentine's Day party for us and two other homeschool families in our area.  One could not make it due to illness, but it was still a great time.  I did not go all out on planning it, but I will tell you that I had fun putting it all together.  Most of the items I used were from around the house or the dollar store.  The kids really enjoyed it and that's all that matters!  One of the boys said "it's like Christmas morning!" Melted my heart!! 

All the kiddos enjoyed the sweets and maybe a little too much!  But this was a special get together for them, so why not??

After they ate their goodies, we had a little craft time.  They made bags for their valentines and decorated hearts I had cut out.  Nothing fancy, but they had plenty of supplies and enjoyed making it.

Here are the valentines we made for our exchange.  I found both of the ideas here.

Each homeschooler then passed out their valentines; it was cute!

And no party is complete without an Angry Birds Pinata!! The kids loved this and of course...more candy!

Finally

After 3 months of drooling and teething, we finally have a toothy!!  I have been checking everyday to see if one of them had broke through and today was the day!! It doesn't look like that much, but it is there! :)

He'll be 7 months in a few days and he is getting so big.  Tonight I captured some pics of my little man.  He is sitting up great on his own and is getting upon his knees and rocking back and forth!  I also gave him a sippy cup with water last week to experiment with; he drank out of it a couple of times.

I better post his 6 month pictures before he actually turns 7 months! I know he's my child, but I think he's a cutie!! {The little hat he is wearing was big brother's!}

Long day

This morning we left the house a little after 8:00 am and headed to the west side of town for physicals. Everyone except Shawn (he is all clear) was seen by the doctor. Paperwork x 4 people = yikes!!!! Shawn really did a great job of filling out things beforehand, but they had additional forms waiting on us when we arrived.

I'll spare you the lengthy story, but give you the details. :) I had blood drawn, Ally and Jase each received 2 vaccines, (don't ask how Jase's went :/), I received 3 (lucky me) and we were in the doctor's office for 5 hours. I think that about sums it up! And I had a chest x-ray and an EKG. Oh and I had a pregnancy test before the chest x-ray. Very eventful and long day. I am totally beat! The kids did a great job of hanging out all day. They ended up watching The Lorax twice on our iPad; it's the only movie we have in iTunes! We will definitely be downloading more soon!!! I foresee many more hours of "hanging out" in the airport and on the plane! Oh and my pregnancy test was negative for those with inquiring minds! ;)

Happy Valentine's Day!

I just love setting up the table for Valentine's or any other special occasion. We do not spend a ton of money, but the kids always LOVE it and are so excited when they see it. Allyson woke up first this morning (and has been this week) and stood at the bottom of the stairs and yelled up to Jase to wake up! Ha! She couldn't wait for him to come down and see his gifts because she knew he would love it!

Here are my sweet valentines! They are all getting so big! Jase will be 6 in a little over 2 months...when did this happen?! I started blogging (at xanga) when I was pregnant with Jase!! Hard to believe it has been that long ago!

Videos from this week

This week I was working with Allyson on writing F's. As you'll see, the conversation goes from writing to Star Wars pretty quick.

Star Wars is ALWAYS a topic of conversation with both Jase and Allyson. Even tonight, Jase and I were leaving church and we started talking about our passports and how they worked and Jase asked if we would be putting them in escape pods. I said no, we will keep them with us and whenever we enter another country they will stamp our passports. Then he started talking about putting them on a spaceship. I said "Umm, you know Star Wars is not real, right?" He said he knew that. I just wanted to be sure! Geez!

And here is my little Finn yesterday. He has started laughing so much lately, I just love it! He is such a happy baby and a real joy to be around. {Now if I can only get him to sleep all night in his bed!}

Whole Wheat Banana Nut Bread

I took the trash out this evening and when I came back in I found 2 ripe bananas sitting on the counter. Never fails, every time I take out the trash I always find something else that could have gone in it!

I thought about freezing the bananas and making bread another day, but nah...what fun is that?! I got a wild hair and decided to look up a banana nut bread recipe to see if i had all of the ingredients. I've never made banana nut bread from scratch, so I was going to give it a go!

I found this recipe and I had everything it called for. I substituted applesauce for the oil and didn't quite use 1/2 cup of honey (I did not want the honey to overtake the taste). I put it in the oven and went upstairs to tuck the kids in. After praying with Ally I decided to go downstairs and check on it...I could smell it cooking as I walked down the stairs. Don't you love when your whole house smells scrumptious from baking? Cookies, cake, brownies...I'm not partial, I love it all! ;-) I added 5 more minutes on the timer and went back upstairs and tucked Jase in.

I ended up cooking it probably for 60 minutes; the recipe calls for 50-55. I let it cool and then put Finn to bed. {It's a juggling act these days!} After I laid him down I came back into the kitchen for a little taste test. It was still warm, perfect! I. Am. A. Fan. And some of my walnut pieces were a little chunky and I think those were my favorite bites! Oh and don't forget to top with real butter!

When I bake it next time I think I am going to add some brown sugar in the mixture and on top! It was so yummy I thought I would share!

Sweet Boy

Here is my sweet Finn on Sunday before church. Hard to believe he is 6 months old and nearly sitting up completely on his own...it won't be long! The hat he is wearing was Jase's. :-) And what's even harder to believe is that Jase will be 6 years old in April! Someone pinch me!

Play Ball?

Originally back in the fall I thought we would have been packing up the house and getting ready for Angola at this point in time. Well, things have not happened as fast as we thought they would have. And really that's ok, it just gives us more time to spend with friends and family before we go. But if I'm being completely honest, it would be nice to know a departure date.

We went back and forth and back and forth on signing Jase up for baseball. We did not want to sign him up and then end up leaving in March and he would not even get to play a game. And then on the other hand we did not want to be here in late April/May and he could have played. We waited so late to make up our mind that it was past late registration!

We finally decided: let's do it, let's sign him up! So, that's just what I did on Friday! Then on Saturday we got outside and threw the ball and hit some as well. It's been a while since he's practiced, but it was coming back to him for the most part, which was a good sign!

Shawn, Jase and I are really excited about baseball season!  Shawn won't be coaching this year, so we are waiting to hear what team Jase will be on {they had the draft this past Friday night}.  Can't wait for Opening Day and hear the words "Play Ball!"