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Strawberry Pie Time!

My first Strawberry Pie of the year!!!  

I make Strawberry pies for my family, usually all during the Summer months - but with the weather being so nice -  FINALLY with NO SNOW on the ground - and temperatures above freezing, I decided to make them early this year  . . . .  and NO ONE in my family was complaining about it, either!  

Fridge Art Friday!

Peter's crazy-art kit allowed him to make some pretty cool pictures! 

Volcano (stenciled) a Long Neck Dinosaur, 

a Pteranodon, a Stream and Dino Foot Prints:

"Daddy" Spider, a "Mommy" Spider (next to the tree), a "Baby Spider"

a "Big Boy" Spider and, of course, a Dinosaur Foot Print:

Try-Something-New-Tuesday

My 'TSNT' idea was a new recipe from a new cookbook!

Cookbook:

White Chocolate Chip, Banana, Coffee Cake Muffins:

They were DELICIOUS! 

Mix the following in a small bowl and set aside:

2 1/2 C flour

1 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

In another small bowl, mix:

1 T instant coffee granules 

1 T hot water

 . . . stir until dissolved, then add 2-3 mashed bananas

Cream together the following until light and fluffy:

1 C softened butter

1 1/4 C sugar

1 egg

Add banana mixture to sugar/butter mixture.  Add flour mixture and stir well.  Add 1 cup of (I used white) chocolate chips.  Divide evenly among muffin tins and Bake at 400 for 25-30 minutes.

Family Day!

Tim and I received a lovely card from a family at our church, for Easter, with money in it.  It was super generous of them!  Tim and I used about half of it for a date night - at a wonderful SIT DOWN restaurant and had a really nice time together, talking, eating SLOWLY. . without having to feed someone else first!  We took a stroll after dinner and stopped at a bookstore where I bought a baking magazine (one of my favorites!) and then we went into one of my favorite coffee shops - Caribou Coffee!  We sipped on a hot cinnamon latte walking around the outdoor shopping mall, and just enjoyed each other's company.  Later, in the evening, we stumbled by a store and decided to take a quick look to see if they had any nice Easter dresses.  I hadn't bought one yet, and I wasn't planning on it this year, but we thought we would look anyhow.  Not only did they have a huge selection, but I bought my dress and dress jacket together for only $47!  What a steal!!!   Nothing excites me more than a good sale!!!

We also wanted to have a family night with the boys.  So, the following day we had a couple of errands to run  - and the kids acted SO well.  We picked up some food at Wendy's and then headed to a local park.  The kids played for about an hour and really had a blast!  It was perfect weather too!!   After the park, we had one more errand that we had to run (a favorite of the kids . . . Sams Club) and then we topped off our evening with Cold Stone ice cream!!!

Peter, taking a picture of  . . . Peter.

James . . . . trying to copy the mad skills of his brother. 

Each of the boys got a scoop of Cotton Candy Ice Cream, both topped off with lots of sprinkles!  They ate every bite! (which is saying a lot for my boys, who dislike any form of dessert)  

It really was a perfect weekend!!!

Showers of Blessings

A  Open House Shower is being held for

Kimberly Cornett

on

Friday, April 16th

 from 6:30 – 9:30pm

4011 Willowcreek Drive

Dayton, OH 45415

(home of Michelle Shaeffer)

On February 1st, the attic of the Cornett home caught fire and destroyed most of the kitchen and dining room area.  Further damage was done due to water and the freezing temperatures.  We will be hosting a Pampered Chef party for Kimberly, to help replace those things that were lost due to the fire, as well as welcoming any new or gently used books to replace the ones ruined.  Gift cards of any kind are also greatly appreciated!

(The Pampered Chef party will also be open for you to purchase items for yourself)

Below are listed a couple of idea’s of books and other interests:

         ROSS – 7yrs:  

Cowboys, horses, Batman

         DYLAN – 7 yrs: 

Super heroes, science/nature, animals/rabbits

         LYDIA – 4 yrs: 

Princess’, Tinker Bell, babies/dolls

    (All – anything Disney or Disney characters)

Ricky & Kimberly:  Devotional or Daily Devotion books

We hope you can join us for this celebration and help us pour

Showers of Blessings on Kimberly, for her and her family!

[s\

Refreshments will be provided.

Please RSVP to Stephany Weldon, by email:  Sonaip88@yahoo.com

Or to Michelle Shaeffer, by phone: 890-3892

Funny and Not So Funny

So, we get the kids' Easter pictures taken, and at the photo shop the photographer was talking about how much Peter and James looked alike.  I chimed in with this comment . . .

"Yes, they do - except they have completely different personalities, different hair styles and different fathers"

 . . . no one laughed.  Obviously, that was only funny to me!

I had to quickly announce that I was joking.


It really made me think, however, about how truly blessed I am.  Blessed that the man that I fell in love with 12 years ago is the caring and involved father to my children and a faithful, loyal and loving husband to me.  To see our decision, to live pure before marriage, as a good decision, and to be able to experience all of the many wonderful and amazing blessings that have come from that decision.



Wow.




Just wow.

Spring 2010

Happy Easter!

Odd Order

For the last couple of weeks, Tim and I have been gradually teaching James how to drink out of a 'big boy' cup - no lid, no straw.  We are also going to be potty-training him soon . . . and at that thought, in the words of James . . "I don't WANT to go potty in the big boy potty!" . . . so, this should be interesting.  The cutest thing that he now does is order.   We have taken him to a couple of restaurants where he will order his entire meal - super cuteness!!!  Here's a one example . . . .

Waitress:  And what would you like for lunch?

James:  Grilled cheese sanmich.

Waitress:  Would you like fries with that?

James:  No. . . . FRENCH fries.

(Mom:  What do you say?)

James:  Please.

Waitress:  Sure!  What would you like to drink with that?

James:  Um . . . . . barooni and cheese (macaroni and cheese).

Mom:  No, James - what do you want to DRINK.

James:  OH . . . . .(thinking, thinking) . . . barooni and cheese.

Mom:  (to the waitress) . . . Chocolate milk, please.

We thought it was pretty funny - but, he now does this every time he orders.  We're hoping it's just a cute stage and that he doesn't actually want to drink mac and cheese!

Jameser . . . The Bruiser

Mommy let James take some pictures with her camera . . . guess who he loves the most?

HIMSELF!!!!!

(but with cheeks like those, who wouldn't?!?!)

~New Fun Thing For James' Mouth~

That's right . . . . . that's potpourri! *yuck*

Funny Catch-Up's

So, I'll catch you up - quickly - on some funny things that the boys have said or done . . . . .

James:  It took us about 2 months to get this kid to STOP eating our CHRISTMAS TREE!  If you've ever seen Elf the movie - he's exactly like Buddy when he kept stuffing cotton balls in his mouth, so quick, that his dad couldn't stop him - THAT'S James!!!  He would run up to the tree . . . stop in front of it, look at me.  I would say something like, "Don't you dare, Mister . . . ", at which point he would grab a handful of needles, yank them off of the tree and stuff them in his mouth and run!  Most of those times I got him to spit out at least half of the needles - the other times . . . well, let's just say it was good fiber!!  

Peter:  We have been having Peter sit with us during Communion service.  It is SO very important to Tim and I to raise these boys as Christ has called us to - in the Lord, loving and serving Him, His children and the world with the love of Christ and in mission to reach out to others.  I had the privilege of explaining to Peter what it meant to take Communion.  How this is very sacred.  What you need to do to be able to partake in it.  What it means, and so on.  He was so intrigued.  He noticed that the church people were taking the bread (aka crakcers) and the cup (aka juice) then bowing their heads.  Peter looked up at me with a concerned face and asked, "Since I'm not eating the crackers, do I have to close my eyes??"

James:  After going through (what looked like hundreds and hundreds) of amazing pictures of Aunt Eleanor, for her memorial service slide show - we came upon a couple of these - of TIM . . . guess who James takes after????!!!!????

 this is Tim

  this is James

(now - Tim was older than James at this point, but you just wait!! 

- we are going to get one that makes them look like twins!)

  

Peter:  He recently turned 5.  That's right - 5!!!!!!  One whole hand!  He's half way to double digits.  It frightens me and, at the same time, excites me to see what he'll be interested next.  To watch him play sports.  To see him go to school for the first time.  He's going to have a LOT of 'first time' experiences this year!  He asked for a Semi-Truck birthday party.  Do you know how hard it is to look for SEMI TRUCK THEMED PARTY SUPPLIES!?!?!  I'll tell you. . . . impossible.   I found construction truck themes, monster truck themes, fire truck themes - NO semi-truck anything!  So we made up our own version!  . . .. for starters - as in tradition in our home - and birthday boy gets to pick out which flavor of cake he would like - so, Peter picked Strawberry (which is REALLY good, for those of you who are ever looking for a good quick dessert to make!!).  So, he got his Semi-Truck - ALL eatable - Birthday Cake!

He loved it!!!  He wanted the front grill and a tire for his first piece!

 . . . . more to come!!!

We're Back!!

My, oh my . . has it been an eventful February.

And, not a super-go-lucky-fantastic February either.

It all started about 3 weeks ago. . . on a Thursday morning.

   I have a Women's Bible Study, hosted at my mother-in-law's house - every Thursday morning.  I dropped off the boys at church, for their play time, as usual.  Once I got to Dot's house, I was greeted at the door by our Pastor's wife who informed me that Aunt Eleanor (Great Aunt Eleanor) had had a heart attack and was just taken by ambulance to a local hospital.  Dave and Dot were upstairs getting things ready to take to the hospital for Aunt Eleanor.  This was a surprise to us all.  Thankfully, Dot caught this attack at the forefront and was able to get the EMT there quickly while she was still experiencing pain in her chest.   We decided to have our study as usual and to clean up/lock up for Dot.  I called Tim to let him know and we called Dave and Dot to get an update.  According to the doctor's she had a mild to moderate heart attack and she had to undergo a procedure to determine how bad the blockages were.  I told Tim to call his dad to invite them over that evening for dinner - to make sure that they eat and get out of the hospital for at least a little while.  We had a lovely dinner with them and really enjoyed our evening together.
   The next day, Friday, we got the results back from the tests and they showed more than 5 blockages, all ranging from 60% blocked to 90% blocked.  Surgery, at this point in her life, was a high risk.  At 95 years old, not many things are 'as normal'.  The other option that the doctor's gave us was to let her die peacefully and give her medications to subdue any pain.  Not caring for either of these options, Dot opted for the third option - a small balloon that would be inserted into the veins to open the arteries.  Again, there was a low risk of death due to her progressed age, but it was the "leaser of evils".
   I called Tim to let him know the update.  She was supposed to go in at 2:00PM that afternoon.  However, we waited and waited.  It was quite delayed.
   David called me at 4:00 to let me know that she still had not gone in.  So, we just continued to pray and wait.
   Tim called me around 4:15 to let me know he was on his way home and asked if I still had the phone numbers of some of the companies that had contacted him about other job openings.  I hesitated to answer knowing, very well, why he would be asking me this - now.  Sure enough, Tim was laid off (again!).  His contract ended and the company decided not to continue any contracts.  To be honest with you - Tim was quite relieved.  We have had some reservations about this specific company.  They were not at all honest with their consumers and were 'cutting corners' just because they weren't being caught in the act.  So, Tim had a real sense of the Lord's perfect timing on this one.  As hard as it was to hear that he was out of work, again, so soon - we have a peace.
(funny fact . . . this was the exact same day - February 19th - that he was laid off last year)
   We had planned on going on a date night this evening, since the boys were with my parents for a sleepover.   Tim told me that we were going as planned, though.  We desperately needed a date night, so we were really looking forward to eating at the Cheesecake Factory - despite the events of that day.
Dave called around 5:00 to let us know that they took Aunt Eleanor in for the procedure and that they would let us know as soon as she came out of the OR.
   I called some family members and our Elder and Pastor to let them know about Tim's job, so that I didn't have to put it on the prayer chain, in case it would get back to Dot.  We didn't want her to know yet.  She didn't need any more stress in her life at this point.
   We went to the restaurant and had a lovely dinner.  As soon as we were done, we packed up all of our leftovers for Dave and Dot to enjoy and went to the car to leave for the hospital.  Dave called to let us know that Aunt Eleanor made it out of the OR and was in the recovery/ICU room and gave us the room number to her room.  Tim and I really felt a sense of relief that she made it through - and we assured them that we were on our way.

10 minutes later, we received the devastating news that Aunt Eleanor's blood pressure plummeted and she had just passed away.  We were in pure shock.  We even asked "What?" as if he weren't telling the truth.  We let them know we were minutes away - then there was just silence the rest of the way there.

   We got to the hospital and just sat and grieved with Dave and Dot.
   It was a day full of sadness, shock, sorrow, grief, questions.  But, we delight in that Aunt Eleanor is with her Savior.  And that she got to hear Him calling her Home.
   This was the end to our day.  We left the hospital and went to Dave and Dot's house to sit with them.  We made them eat something and left the rest of the leftovers at their house.  We talked until midnight.  We laughed and laughed.  I think it was just what we all needed after such an eventful day.

Snowy Pictures

Snowy Day!

It was a lot of effort.  

It took a long time JUST to get ready for.  

But, totally worth the freezing temperatures.

The boys had a blast and a half today!

Mr James told me that he was 'all done' . . . so, I took him inside, pulled the boots off his little feet, rolled up his pants so that the snow wouldn't touch his skin as I took them off, took off his coat, gloves, hat and socks . . got him new pants, new socks, warmed him up - JUST IN TIME for him to ask me to go BACK OUTSIDE to play in the snow!  Ahhhh!!!!!!!

Throwing some good snowballs at Daddy.

Payback . . . 

Snowball FIGHT!!!

Making the largest Snow Angel known to man!

Playing 'Snowball' (instead of baseball!)

Peter got some really good hits in.  I was quite impressed!

Afterwards, I made everyone some nice, hot chocolate and we all 'melted' until dinner was ready.  

It was a good day for mac and cheese!!!!

Snow Storm ~ 2010

We got about a foot/foot and a half of snow in just a couple of hours .  . 

here are some pictures I took around our house and neighborhood.  

Our Trash Cans:

Our Front Tree:

The Bird Feeder:

Front Bushes:

Our Neighborhood: 

The Tree in the Backyard:

It sure was beautiful - but things were definitely slippery and dangerous out there.  Tim came home on Friday night, during the snow storm, and announced to me that he had made plans for a sitter to come over to watch James and he was going to be taking Peter and myself to see a movie.  As surprised as I was, I felt the need to remind him that there was a major snow storm going on outside.  He insisted that we get out of the house and spend some Mommy/Daddy time with Peter, and told me to trust him.  So, I did.  We left an hour of time for our (usually) 20 minute drive.  We made it there safely and, not to my surprise, were the ONLY ones in the theater.  We didn't even have to turn off our cell phones!!!  We watched Alvin and the Chipmunks, the "Squeakual".  It was hilarious!!!  Peter actually laughed out loud a couple of times and later said that it was the funniest movie he'd ever seen!  We had a wonderful evening, which is exactly what we would need later on - we ended up getting the stomach bug last night, and we're all under the weather now.  God has a way with plans, doesn't He?!?