Spring & Stuff

...has sprung and brought us snow! Even though I'm not a lover of snow or winter, I must say it was gorgeous this morning as it was all over the trees and everywhere. We went into church, and when we came out it was bright and sunny--almost a summer-looking sky and the snow was already in fast melt. As I type, it has almost melted away to reveal that green grass underneath.

What else...we have been enjoying the first steps of getting the garden/landscape ready to plant in a few weeks. New urns & a fountain have been purchased. We have moved a bridal wreath bush and some sedum to different spots. We have plans to move some more items as well as line our pathway with brick edgers. In garden news....Aliyah is happy to have some of her seedlings sprouting! We have about 1/3 of the cups that have sprouted. We'll see how many more grow. In the meantime, we have purchased some Marigold seeds as well as wave petunias to plant in the next few days. If I am correct, Marigolds & Petunias sprout and grow much quicker than impatients.

This has been an interesting year in the way of people visiting the area. We've had a sitting President (Bush--twice & Obama--once) visit, Extreme Home Makeover, Michael Jordan, and most recently Mikhail Gorbachev. He was in Peoria on Friday to speak at the Reagan dinner. Interesting, he is one of the first world leaders that I remember learning about (aside from Reagan) as I was in 5th grade or so learning about the Cold War and Communism.

My parents went to a garage sale yesterday and found the girls some American Girl items. They found a Bitty Baby crib for $5 and a BB changing table for $3. This is great because Aliyah had a crib, but not Keirah. When we were going to buy it for Keirah for Christmas, it was sold out. The changing table has been a huge hit with them also especially since Keirah is such a little mommy. She loves to pretend to change the diapers. The prices couldn't be beat that's for sure!! They also found them some Gymboree clothes (mostly for Keirah). I'm not one who likes going to garage sales very much, but I love it when you can find good stuff like they found yesterday!

Yesterday, I went to a thing called the Home Life Cafe'. It was about life in the home and discipline. Anyway, the girls were so excited because they had to take sack lunches with them. They haven't ever had to do this b/c Aliyah doesn't go to traditional school --she is homeschooled, and obviously Keirah is only 2. Aliyah told us what she wanted in her lunch. We went to pick them up and Aliyah still had a lot of hers left (probably b/c she eats like a small mouse). As I went to pick up Keirah, they informed me that she ate ALL of her lunch--I had to laugh. I'm sure she did! They are so different. Keirah can tell me a good portion of the names of kids in her class (that's probably like me). Aliyah can tell you the names of a couple (that's like Josh). Kiki tells me details like what color carpet square she sat on, that Rachel was crying, they watched Veggie Tales, what they had for snack, that they turned out the lights during the movie, that she played with Play-Doh, puzzles, etc... Aliyah knows details, but only shares them as she sees necessary. Every now and then she talks about it a whole bunch. My parents/grandparents knew she could read because they see her pore over books for hours and get corrected if they mis-read a word, but hadn't heard her read to them until recently. Josh tells me this is how he was as a child. She is all about asking questions like...how do they get the movie on the DVD, what's a laser do, how does the weatherman know it's going to snow etc...Josh gives her scientific answers which she loves.

Well, my little household chores are calling me--LOUDER & LOUDER! Time to get them done!

Full Week

With work and meetings at church it has been quite a full week. A sampling of today...get up, go to work, Josh took my car to the dealership to get tires and an oil change after he got off work, I got off work, we picked up the car, came home, made tacos for dinner, freshened up a bit, rushed out the door to Target to pick up diapers and such, made a return to Gymboree, went to meetings at church (left early b/c of Josh's work meeting), came home, Josh off to his meeting, tidy up the kitchen after dinner, throw in a load of laundry, help the girls straighten their room, pay bills, and check blogs (where I am now again).

I am constantly thinking about Stellan. If you haven't you can read his story at www.mycharmingkids.net. It's quite a story and miracle. Please pray for him. He and his family need our prayers so much!! What an awesome thing that people from all over the world literally are praying for this little baby and as the Bible says "where two or three (or hundreds of thousands) are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them".

My beloved awesome husband surprised me and cleaned the house this afternoon. What a treat. It has been straightened each day, but vacuuming and dusting--not this week--until today. We were gone on the weekend, so that took away some cleaning time. No sweat, the cleaning is always there when you get back--lol!

These meetings have been awesome and definitely something I need. I know the girls and Josh have been enjoying them also. Aliyah's age group's focus is on obedience. You can't ever learn to much about obedience. They learned the definition--doing exactly what your told to do, when you're told to do it, with the right heart attitude. Their stories go along with it of course. It's been awesome to have immediate & cheerful obedience from her. The adults get a few topics each night, uplifting & awesome music, and lots of prayer. It's cool because it is emphasized over and over that we aren't looking at how my friend, relative, neighbor needs this, but how "I" need it.

We have several more things on our list for tomorrow to add to our full schedule week: haircut for me (can't wait), a trip to Lowe's for some stuff we need outside, lunch at Chili's, a trip to W for some special bricks, the grocery store, work outside in the afternoon, and off to meeting tomorrow night. I'm hoping to cross several things off that list!!

Squeezed

We are having a series of meetings at our church called "the Summit". It goes from 3/23-4/05 with a few days off in between on Fridays/Saturdays. Anyway, one thing I wanted to remember and keep in mind from tonight was ....when I get "squeezed", what comes out? Obviously, when you squeeze an orange, juice would come out because that's what is inside. When we are "squeezed", what is truly inside comes out. Is it anger, impatience, unkindness, bitterness, my rights, pride, unhappiness??? Or is it patience, understanding, sacrifice, rejoicing, happiness, humility, peace??

Circumstances don't make you what you are, they reveal what you are.

I want the latter to be what comes out when I am squeezed. Of course, we are all a work in progress and I'm no different. Another thought I had on this same line--not mentioned was --if something is rotten on the inside--nothing but rotten and stench could come out. I want to be like the fresh orange when squeezed and have the good, fresh desirable things come out.

Weekend

We had a very nice weekend up in the burbs. The hotel was awesome--the room was a king suite and had french doors to the other room. We loved it. The girls enjoyed swimming in the pool.

Since we got home and it was still light out, we took the opportunity to move a few plants to an area that we are working on landscaping. After that we came inside to do the weekend recovery clean-up--lol! The girls went to bed and Josh and I watched the State basketball championship game. Oh yes, did I mention that Michael Jordan (THE MICHAEL JORDAN) was in town??? Yes, he was and so was his ex-wife. This area hosts the high school basketball tournaments for the state championships. Being as he is MJ, he has a couple of sons that are basketball players. Imagine that?? The best bb player of all time has sons who play--lol! Well, his younger son plays for the school that was in the championship game. They won, BTW. Awesome team for high schoolers--they really look like college players. Then again, several of them are already Division I recruits. It brought back a lot of the memories of the Chicago Bulls glory days for us.

You know, we always happen to see strange things or what-not going on. This morning on our way to church, we had driven about 1.5 miles from our house when we saw a lot of lights and didn't really know what was going on. We drove past and couldn't figure out what in the world it was all for on a Sunday morning. There were police, fireman, and most interesting of all...a US Homeland Security vehicle that was about the size of a motor home. Well, who knew they had US Homeland Security vehicles?? We didn't! We figured out why this afternoon. It turns out that a suspected Al-Qaeda terrorist from 9/11 is now in the local prison awaiting his trial to begin in this area. Is that crazy or what?? I hope it's well secured that's for sure. Yep, it's Al-Marri and he's here. I hope he's gone soon! Come on, we live in a city (a smaller city), but now there's a 9/11 terrorist living among us--AAGGHH!

Well, I will leave you with my terrorist story. Interesting ins't it???????? Moral is...if you see a US Dept. of Homeland Security motor home or bus or whatever it is, you know what's coming!

Off...

...for a weekend trip after work tomorrow. This has become quite typical for us in the last several months. Now it is becoming more frequent, but hey it's fun! The girls are excited because there is quite a nice looking pool at our hotel as well as the Rainforest Cafe to eat at nearby. Time to break in those new swimsuits that we bought for them. Once the weather gets warmer, we will start going to downtown Chicago again more regularly. That means visits to Lake Michigan, trolley rides, and all of those fun things that you can do in Chicago.

We worked our tails off this week. There have been plenty of things to be done at home both outside and inside. Work for both of us has been getting busier and that is a definite positive. It makes the days go by in a flash that's for sure. I can't wait to cross off the stuff on the to-do list that's on my counter!! Hopefully, we will be able to squeeze some of that in this weekend as well--am I dreamin?
I'm off to switch out the laundry. Have a nice weekend!!!!!

Silence

It is quiet here. Actually ever since we got home it has been pretty quiet. I told Keirah to go lay down and she did and fell asleep a few minutes later. Aliyah has been in a book reading/game playing mode--by herself and is quiet. She has become fascinated with board games at my mom's house. She likes Monopoly--A LOT and today she brought home Jenga. If no one is playing, she comes up with her own things to do. Monopoly is especially great because she counts the money which of course comes in varying denominations--which keeps that brain working even though we are finished with school.
Have I mentioned that the timing of finishing school has been WONDERFUL! We finished just in time for it to get nice outside and for daylight savings to begin. Everyone in our house is thoroughly enjoying it.

Aliyah joined me for about 5 minutes outside, but determined that the ever so slight sprinkle of rain would drench her. Nevermind the fact that I had been out there for about 30 minutes prior to and 45 minutes after and am not even damp. It was hard work out there, but quiet and enjoyable. I was enjoying the simple fact that I wasn't inside the house bored to death and cold. We cut a large amount of limbs/branches out of 2 of our trees back in Feb. The yard waste collection did not begin for us until today. We had 4 cans of branches already so I had to finish off the pile. I had to cut and "stuff" them into the cans. Yes, I fit them ALL in those cans. I raked some more junk out of our back line and then proceeded to dig up a rose bush and put out some pots. Along with that, I stood back and surveyed the garden to see what I want to change and tweek for this year.

Yesterday was the MOST gorgeous day in March that I can remember since living in Florida. It was like 78 degreese. Hello--that is just peachy!! We got up early and ate breakfast with friends and our house. Following that, we went to Lowe's to pick up a few things. We spent the rest of the daylight time outside working and enjoying sunshine.
Josh took down shutters, I painted, and he put them back up. I think I did 16 yesterday!! My trigger fingers are sure feeling it from all of the spraying. They were actually turning into a hot pink or magenta color from the fading. Sorry, not for my house. Now, they are "red wine" in color and we love them. The top floor shutters will be done--when we get the chance next.
Everyone got a chance to jump on the trampoline yesterday as well.

We did another finishing touch in the kitchen. Yesterday, we found a pendant light to hang over the sink. It looks awesome and we love it.
Oh yes, not to be left out, the girls picked out watering cans at Lowe's. One is Sponge Bob and the other is Dora. They spent a lot of time yesterday watering various things--even though we don't really have anything in need of it--lol!

Breakfast

Tomorrow morning, my childhood friend/college roommate and her husband are coming over for breakfast. On the menu: breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls or coffee cake, fruit, and juice. Hungry anyone?? They live in Florida and are here to visit her family until Friday.

I am beside myself with excitement--the weather has turned GORGEOUS!!!!!! We have been able to begin working on the landscaping and prep for flowers. It is therapeutic. More importantly, the girls have been able to play and jump and swing. I even woke up over an hour early today. I would attribute that to the nice weather.

Don't laugh, but once again, we have a weekend trip planned. My brother has an event in Schaumburg with school. While we won't make it to any of that, we are going to meet up with my family to shop and have dinner plus spend the night. We got a great deal on the room with Hotwire--$39 at Sheraton suites. Unbeatable if you ask me! This one is a family pleaser because it has PF Changs at the mall as well as Rainforest Cafe'. Our girls LOVE RC. Josh and I love PF Changs. Oh yes, and many of our FAVE stores as well. Okay, DWTS is on and I wanna watch!