Thursday Thots

Two warm sunny days in a row?  That's a Minot miracle I do believe!

How is it possible that I'm contemplating sending my kid to camp?  I still think of her as one..ish....

Okay maybe 4-ish but not seven :(

Bless the Lord oh my soul and forget not all His benefits!

We've all had them.....shoes that NEVER DIE.....for me it's the Payless Crocs!  Wear them every day all day in my house....feet never hurt in them and I bet they are 8-10 years old!  WHAT????

Uncle Curtis taught Jonah high five/pound it and now Matt has added "blow it up!" and Jonah opens up his pounding fist and makes his little "poof" or some other such boy noise!  I cannot imitate these noises for anything....so fun to have a boy!

Need a good parenting series?  Raising Effective Children in a Defective World - Chip Ingrim - FABULOUS!  Comes with Book, workbook and Dvds if you like.

Things you should know: 

I won't eat pork n beans

I can't sleep without ear plugs....period.

“God will never take us further than our character will keep us.”

 

 Told Abbigail to go read and when I couldn't find her a few minutes later, I looked out the window and saw this!!

How is it that my one-hour "break" cleaning the house is almost as lovely as going to the spa?  You know you're a mom when......

Love my one-eyed Eli :)

I may need a saw to penetrate this watermelon!  No kitchen utensil is going to work here.....

Gotta love cinnamon toothpaste!

My little Cubbie and Sparky!

Have you tried the Dill and Olive Oil Triscuits?  How about Honey Roasted Peanuts?  You wanna bring some over with a side of pork n beans?  Oh sure!  That would be lovely....minus the beans :)

Mini box of raisins - a mama's best friend when shopping with a toddler.

Have two friends getting married this saturday, May 25th, which is our anniversary...and another good friend and I already share an anniversary!  Popular day!

Recipe of the day:

No Bake Energy Bites

1 cup oatemal

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/3 cup honey

1 cup coconut flakes

1/2 cup ground flaxseed

1/2 cup mini choc chips

1 tsp vanilla

**you can add anything else you'd like - raisins, wheat germ etc....just so they are sticky and roll into a ball.  My kids like to eat one when they get up and are waiting till Breakfast.

Brain wave: I may have to stop garage saling if I ever want the purging to end....sigh....

Can't get enough of my flowering plum tree in the back yard!

Praying for: a treadmill, my friend Karen and extra grace in my parenting.

What did I ever do without my pink phone?

Chicken cooking in the crockpot...Abbigail doing crafts, Littles sleeping.....what to do?  Nap, clean, suntan/read, laundry, purse purge, organize closets, exercise or school prep?  So many options!

Nap it is!

 And don't tell me otherwise!  :)

As my Grandma says, "Sometimes the most Holy thing you can do is SLEEP!"

 

 

 

 

 

Time to Party!

The Question:

Do you want a "lots of friends day party" or a "few friends sleepover party"?

The Answer:

  

We began with a fun game of glow in the dark bowling!

Choosing fun girly-colored balls of course :)

Leah and Ashlyn tied with 70 and Abbigail close behind at 66.  When Abbigail felt slightly bad for .5 seconds.....Leah quickly said, "But it doesn't really matter about who wins and you can have cake first anyhow, Abbigail!"  Sweet friends they are :)

Abbigail wanted me to surprise her with a cake this year.  I had this little wooden jewlery box I had found on clearance at Hobby Lobby one year (or five) ago.....quickly decorated it up with the hot glue gun of course, grabbed a cardboard SEVEN from my scrapbooking stuff, a cute necklace from Ella's dresser and a flower that was going to turn into a hair clip but just never did.....you know how that goes!

She wanted either lemon or white cake - NO CHOCOLATE - (totally NOT my daughter with this statement) so I made a layer of each.  I made a buttercream frosting with lemon flavoring but added some whipping cream to it to make it more fluffy.

 I think it took me about 7.4 minutes to put together!  Voila! With the whip cream in there it was super easy to spread and since it was more of a lacy look it didn't have to be done 'perfectly'.  My kind of cake decorating since I lack the needed patience quality in order to be a master cake decorator!

 Abbigail made some crowns during rest time the week before for each of her friends and herself :)

After playing house for awhile the girls were ready to crawl in for a movie and popcorn!  They watched Horseland on my laptop in Abbigail's room and sipped water from baby sippy cups - they giggled and giggled over that!  

The next day Shiloh joined us for crepes with whip cream and strawberries and strawberry banana mango smoothies!

 Then the girls painted wooden jewlery boxes I got at the dollar store in Winnipeg.  LOVE DOLLAR TREE for craft supplies and a host of other things!

 

Didn't they do a lovely job?!!!  Such creative girls they are!

(I may have laughed out loud at Leahs!)

 Ella L.O.V.E.D being included in the mix and it sure made it easy on me!  

Then came THE PROMISED RINGS....no not promise rings....the rings I had PROMISED them for their jewlery boxes!

I explained in my previous post how I had made them......clear gems, nail polish and rings attached with hot glue.  What little girl doesn't like some BLING!  I know my girls have been guarding theirs with their life!

 

I saw Ashlyn's Grandma K with one on at an outing the other night. I must admit I stole one of Ella's rings to go with a dress I wore the other day!

 

Fun fun!  Mama may have needed a bit of a recovery nap after they all left but hearing the giggles of my Abbigail and seeing her smiles made it totally worth it :)

 

Happy 7th Birthday to my lovely firstborn, 

 

Abbigail Joy

 

 

Thursday Thots Reborn

Please excuse the lack of posts but my only Thursday Thot (or any day for that matter) since we returned from Mexico has been.....

Why oh why am I not still on a beach reading a book with my only two cares being.....

1. Do I have enough sunscreen on?

2. Which buffet should we eat at tonight?

I must say it's taken quite sometime to come back into reality!  You know.....the reality that sunscreen will not be needed till at least late July at this rate and that the Berube kitchen is certainly NO buffet!

Well alas....here I am....back to it......

* Did you know that camels have THREE sets of eyelids so that they can be protected from desert sandstorms?  I kinda wish I'd been a camel on that terribly TERRIBLY windy day a few days back in that gas station parking lot with gravelly sand whipping around!  

(A permanent "water bottle" on my back would be nice too :)

*Did Jesus Wear Blue Jeans?  Book of Bible questions kids ask that we are reading right now.

*Pretty sure I could never live without my glue gun.  Oh how many times it's come to my rescue!

*I'm a homemade granola hogger.....there I said it!  I make a batch (or a double one) and just cannot make myself share it with the kids!  Partly cause of the expense of making it.....party cause of the time to make it.....partly because I'm not a big fan of any other kind of cereal and partly because it's SOOO good I have a hard time parting with it :)

*If you have girls 7-16 ish who are into jewlery, they might like this little craft!  Super fun and easy and uses up the stashes of old nailpolish - score!  My girls are certainly enjoying their new bling!  Thank you Pinterest.  

http://pinterest.com/pin/71353975318423123/

 

*Why is it that my devos the last two days had to be on the topics of Orderliness and Patience.....the two things that try as I might, I just can't master?  Oh that I would understand it's not a checklist.....my type A personality likes to cross things off a list and say "DONE!"  Living by the Fruit of the Spirit is daily work.....never fully done.

*Girl Guide Lemonade Cookies.....have you tried these???  Oh I may have left earth for a minute!

*Still praying for : a treadmill and my 30 year old friend Karen who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

*Thankful for: new $100 garage sale couch.....and Lysine pills for my nasty could sore!

*"You may not want to hear this, but raising safe Christian kids is a spiritual disaster in the making."  Tim Kimmel's book Grace Based Parenting has certainly challenged me in many areas of parenting - a thought-provoking read.

*Excited for Jonah to be done with whole milk.....it's the little things when you are a stay at home mama :)

*Done whole milk = 2 years old - not my baby!  That part is less exciting.....:(

*Starting a new Math with Abbigail (From Abeka to Math U See) - I am determined to "get" math this time around and maybe even enjoy it a tad?  

*So thankful for all the women in my life who have "gone on before".  Love to learn from them.

*I do believe it's closet purging time again.....yes Hub.... the college shirts are going this time!  Yikes! 

* So blessed that my kids know three of their great grandmas!  It was really special to be able to visit them all this last week.

 

*Here's a little checklist for the week!

Romans 12:9-

-Don't just pretend to love others - really love them!

-Hate what is wrong

-Hold tightly to what is good

-Love each other with genuine affection/take delight in honoring them

- Never be lazy but work hard serving the Lord enthusiastically

- Be patient in trouble

-Keep on praying

- Be ready to help those in need

- Always be eager to practice hospitality

-Bless those who persecute you and pray for them

- Be happy with those who are happy

-Weep with those who weep

- Live in harmony with eachother.

- Don't be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people

- Don't think you know it all!

- Never pay evil with evil

- Do things in an honorable way

- Live in peace with everyone

- Never take revenge

- If your enemies are hungry/thirsty, feed them

- Don't let evil conquer you but conquer evil with doing good

*Lastly it looks as though we are all the same.....Adam and Eve hid their shame in fig leaves....Jonah hides his in duct tape! 

 This pic does not do the mess justice but he found a bag of toilet paper beside his crib at Uncle Curtis' and proceeded to rip it all to shreds instead of napping!

God's grace extends to us all.....Mommy's grace didn't come quite so naturally!

There is always tomorrow.