Gratitude

grat·i·tude

ˈgratəˌt(y)o͞od/

noun

1. 1.

   the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.

The past few weeks in church we have been discussing Gratitude.  Last Sunday was an excellent sermon. It was about the impact of ministry and how what we do as a church, matters.  I have been thinking about the sermon all week and the best way to share it.  Today, I went to my church's website and downloaded the sermon.  I hope it works :)  and I hope you find 20 minutes of your day to watch it. I know I'm going out on a limb here, but I promise you, it will be worth your time, and I can guarantee you will be a changed person after you sit through it.  It was the most touching sermon.  Ten minutes into the sermon, several members of our church share their stories through poster boards.  The front of the board is the beginning of their story, than they flip over the poster board......you will just have to watch.  It made me think about all the things my poster board would say.  It made me realize that we are all going through something in our life, and how important it is to be there for others, and what a blessing it is to have God help us through it. I am so thankful for my faith, and how it has helped me through the toughest times in my life.  I often wonder how I would survive if I didn't have it.  I was also reminded of that while watching this video. 
On another note, I have had a few people over the years ask me why I feel the need to go to church every Sunday.  It's sometimes hard to sum it all up and answer that question in one sentence, especially if you are caught off guard, but today, I would tell them....its because I would miss life changing sermons, like this one.....

Office Organization project - check!

New Year means organize right?

Me and Mike have been saying little things over the last few months as we think of things like..

I want to build on to our patio someday

We need to organize where we put the trash cans and lay a cement slab over there

We need a new camera

Lets put speakers in the kitchen

When is vacation again?

etc etc etc

I remember my mom had a huge old cork board she was going to throw away and I also remembered that we now have a huge blank wall in our office.  I thought it would be fun to make an organizational board for our office.  I would print out 6 months worth of calendars so we could write down different dates and plan out trips, etc.  I would also put a Walmart list place so we would have an official place to write a Walmart list.  Also, a place to put a to do list.  Also a Dream Big list, which is more like projects to do around the house someday, also a Wish list - which is more of a list of things we just need to buy when we have the extra money.

I went to hobby lobby and bought a role of cheveron ribbon for $3 and got a hot glue gun and just attached the ribbon to the board.

I made a bow out of red burlap for the top and I had a burlap ornament that me and Kelley made in December I thought would be perfect for the other corner!

Didn't it turn out cute?  I love it. Mike actually likes it too.  Its a great way for us to just stay organized and simplify our lives.  I always tell people I am less stressed than most because I plan and think things out - so when the time comes to do them, its easy sailing and you get to enjoy the event, etc instead of being stressed out about it, etc. 

Here's to a more organized 2014!!

January Date Night

Boys head to MiMi and PawPaws = Friday night date night!!

We ended up eating at Olive Garden, which was delicious, I can't believe I didn't take a picture.

After Olive Garden it was movie time.  We didn't make the first movie option so we had to hit the late movie and see option B.  Since we had some time to spare in the middle, we decided to go to Chuckee Cheese.  I know what your thinking, why in the world go to Chuckee cheese wtih no kids on a Friday? It actually was pretty fun and not busy at all.  Me and Mike already had the tokens (I keep a pretty good amount at all times in the car so I can take the boys) and we felt like some fun competition would be good for us.

Mike hit the bulls eye on the bow and arrow game.  I was a little embarrassed because the lights and sounds all went off and Mike was extremely excited which included jumping up and down.  It was a fun way to start off our chuckee cheese night for sure. Of course we had to take a picture of all of Mike's tickets.

Next up - football game.  Mike needs some practice :)

Of course I had to play deal or no deal

Mike tried to hit the bulls eye again :)

Thank you to MiMi and PawPaw for watching the boys.  We had a lot of fun just spending some quality time together.  Dinner out, games, and a movie made for a pretty fun Friday.

Carter sleepover

Carter Fox turned 5 in July, and is one year ahead of Max in school.  The boys have spent a lot of time with Carter over the years since we're good friends with his mom and dad.  This was our 2nd Carter sleepover. The boys enjoyed having Carter over and had fun.  There were a few hiccups - 1.  Poor Carter is not used to having a younger sibling in the house so he was introduced to that real fast 2. I started bedtime at 9pm, by 10:30, a 3rd bed, in the movie room, with a lamp, and a phone call to his daddy....I finally got him to sleep around 10:30. Other than those two things I think the sleepover went pretty smoothly especially when you remember their ages are 2, 4, and 5 and all boys. They enjoyed playing with Max and Alex's new toys from Christmas and Carter brought over his Christmas present....skylanders. 

dinner time

nighttime with the dream lights

pancakes and sausage!

I finally got Carter to bed by offering him the prize bucket - I told him he could pick any prize he wanted...he was asleep 5 minutes later so I guess it worked.  He remembered too, it was the first thing we did after breakfast

pizza for lunch

Finished the day off with some skylanders

Snow Day

The day before the kids were suppose to return to school from Winter break - Sunday January 5th - here comes the snow, and bitter cold temps. 

We didn't get a ton of snow, but bitter cold winds and -20 wind chills caused them to cancel school both Monday and Tuesday.  On the Monday the conditions started to get better AND The Championship football game was that night so Jennie packed up the girls and headed over to meet me and Mike and the boys and we followed each other out to Sonora.  Slowly but surely, we safely made it to Sonora.

the cousins enjoyed being together.  Here is Max and Laney playing an ipad game

I put sunglasses on the American girl dolls :)

Mary Frannie carrying Alex - who is losing his pants, lol

Tuesday morning, Mike headed to work so we took the kids to Walmart to get some ideas for Max and Laney's 5th Birthdays coming soon (February 12th and 16th)

Laney picked Hello Kitty

We took over the party aisle

Thought this was cute...Mary Frannie found something for Max so she told him to close his eyes as she took him to it

Walmart didn't have any Transformer decorations, so we needed to head to Party City.  Before PArty City we ran through McDonalds.  $5 for 20 nuggets goes a long way to some hungry kiddos.

We found some Transformer Decorations!  These things are hard to find.  They are only at Party City - not Walmart or Target etc.

It was fun to have a snow day in Sonora with all of the cousins together. We also had fun looking around for Max and Laney's Birthday.  I can't believe they will be 5 in just a few weeks!