Cowabunga!

Regardless of what you think of the four green guys, my three little ones LOVE them! Saturday mornings around our house feature donuts and 30 minutes of Ninja Turtles. Today, Mason's room became a sewer and some new costumes were made :) How I love being a mom!

A Beautiful New Season

We are having the most glorious August with sunny days and rainy nights. I haven't had to water our grass or garden for days. Gotta love it! We are enjoying our precious last few days of summer just relaxing, knitting, reading and cleaning out closets for the fall. The little ones have rediscovered the "dress-up" box, and have put on several fabulous productions (all of them about beautiful princesses in distress).

Our wonderful garden is giving us tasty veggies for dinner every day. I thought I would have enough cucumbers to make several jars of pickles, but Mason and I keep eating them all! He starts public school in just 13 days :( He is excited, and I now have a peace about sending him off for a few months to try the new hearing aids. We have heard wonderful, wonderful things about his new teacher, and we are expecting a great school year!

Our family is entering a new season as well. Randy and I have known for a long time that we might do long-term mission work in the future. We always assumed it would be in China because of Mason, Molly and Madelyn and our love for the Chinese people. God has changed our focus recently to Africa, and He seems to be opening doors for a work there maybe in the next year or two. Please be praying for us to hear His voice clearly, and for us not to stand in the way of a great work He has planned for our family. We will keep you posted!

I finished Madelyn's shawl this week, and she will hardly take it off (even when it is 100 degrees outside) - lol! I have started Molly's and should finish it in the next day or two. Molly has developed such a love for reading the Bible we bought her for her birthday. It makes my heart sing to walk by her room and find her reading and signing God's Word to Madelyn and Mason. What a destiny God has for this precious one.

New seasons come with great expectations. I pray that God is revealing a new season to each of you!

We're Back!!!

We are back from our blogging hiatus after a whirlwind month of family, weddings, extra pets, and everything else that we normally do :) This summer is zooming by, and quite frankly, I have been a frumpy-grump for most of it. We have been in a dilemma all summer about what to do about Mason's very expensive hearing aids, and I think it has robbed me of most of my joy. Now we have made a decision to place him in public school for one semester to try their hearing aids for FREE. It is a loooooong story about how we came to that decision, but I know that God worked so many things for good to make my "mommy heart" feel better about sending him off to school for a few months. The girls and I will still homeschool, and it has been fun to watch all of their kindergarten and second grade curriculum come in the mail :)

Our garden is overtaking the neighborhood, and we are having a cucumber and zucchini explosion. Last night we grilled chicken, fish and several veggies from our garden - so good! Our Mason still LOVES our garden. Even if I hated vegetables (which I don't), I would still have a garden just for that boy.

We just finished our version of vacation Bible school at out church, and the three M's came home fully equipped with Outback wear. Madelyn puts on her hat, sunglasses, bandana, water bottle holder, and tooth necklace before she goes into the "wild" backyard. She also wants her picture taken with her "cool" look. Pretty cute!

I am still working on bridesmaid dresses, hostess aprons and the wedding quilt, but I am also knitting Molly and Madelyn shawls to snuggle in this winter. The way this summer has flown by, I better get busy - winter will be here next week!

Happy 5th of July!

We got home a little late last night for me to get on the computer and make this an official 4th of July post, so happy 5th of July! We had a great evening of church, Mexican food and then fireworks at a big city park. I remembered the glow bracelets and the bug spray, but I didn't pack enough blankets. A cool front blew in about the time the sun went down and it was chilly!

Today sweet Randy is taking our little ones and three more children to a movie while I paint our master bedroom. Goodbye bright (very bright) blue and hello boring, neutral "honey cream"! The hard part of this paint job will be finding a place to put all the the wedding stuff that has taken over most of our bedroom - lol!

Missy and I had a WONDERFUL day together yesterday. She tried on wedding dresses and I sat there and wondered where the last 22 years have gone. She is such a Godly, beautiful daughter and has blessed our lives in every way. We will have a few more trips to the bridal shop before a final decision is made, and I will love every minute spent with this precious one.

Have a wonderful day sweet friends!

An Outback Serenade

Our wonderful church is having our version of vacation Bible school in a few weeks. We are doing "Outback Adventures," and I have been busy ordering crafts and supplies. Mason, Molly and Madelyn are making sample crafts for the other children to see and have been such a big help. Because of the Australian theme, we have had a lot of discussions about that country and all of the amazing animals that live there. The girls have even been practicing a few original aborigine songs. Tonight was the big concert, and it was a fabulous display of incredible talent :) I know I am a "little" prejudiced, but I think our three little cuties get more precious every day. I also think our three older cuties are more than wonderful.

Our Matthew came home for the week with his dog. In case anyone is counting, that makes 4 adults, 3 children and 4 dogs co-existing in our house. I have always said that I don't like to be bored - lol!

Our plans for the 4th include church, eating out and then heading to the park to watch the city fireworks. Maybe this year I will remember the bug spray :) Have a wonderful holiday weekend surrounded by people you dearly love.

Technical Difficulties

My beloved laptop has been having it's share of issues, but it finally got to the point where I couldn't even turn it on - aaaaaagh! After several frustrating days, I decided to take it to Best Buy and let them send it to the factory for servicing. I won't have it back for a couple of weeks, but it should be as good as new when it returns. In the mean time, I purchased a little - and I mean little - notebook computer that I am rapidly falling in love with :)

Tonight we are celebrating our sweet Memaw's birthday with a picnic at our favorite park. Hopefully we will have pictures to post tomorrow. It's great to be back!

Happy Father's Day Randy!

We are celebrating life with the world's best dad today :) Thanks to Bakerella.com, we found the perfect sweet gift to make together for our dad. We also made a couple extra to take to a wonderful grandfather and great-grandfather who live near us- we love you Granddaddy and Granddad Roger! Papaw, we wish you lived a little closer - we would deliver a "burger meal" to you too :)

Happy Father's Day everyone!