420-430

420- Great advice :)

421- Sleeping Beauty

422- This was our favorite sign after endless driving :)

 

 

423-Window Markers!! Makes learning ABC's and new spelling words SO much more fun :)

424- This owl mirror is a must get for any baby :)

 425- No words needed :)

426- Skylines of new cities

427- Red Sox won game 4!

428 & 429- Protein Bites & Candy Bark
(Protein Bites are a Pintrest find - tweaked :)
Mine have: 3 scoops of Choc Peanut Butter Whey Protein Powder, 2 big scoops of Peanut Butter, lots of honey, some sunflower seeds, chocolate chips, dried cranberries & oatmeal. They are super messy to mix together, but super worth it!
Candy Bark: White chocolate melted, and smoosh crushed Halloween Oreos, Candy Corn, Crushed Pretzels & M&Ms in it, let cool for a while, then break into delish pieces :))

 

 

430-


What were you blessed with or blessed by this week?
What a great day to sit back and reflect on this awesome Multitude Monday - the last one of October :) (What!?!?! Where is our fall going!!?)

XO

Burnt already & LOVIN' it :)

Arrived Saturday mid- day safely!!
Thank you for praying for us :)

We spent all day outside, in the pool, on the sand, in the waves yesterday! We got good color- or should I rephrase, I have a lobstah for a hubby, and the rest of us got bronzed :) We are all enjoying our time! My mom joins us in a couple days & we have enjoyed being our fab 5 for a bit!

We traveled across Central FL today to the other coast to see some old friends at a church in Fort Pierce ( 3 hours each way!- but SO SO worth it!!!). Brings back happy childhood memories.

We are getting ready to enjoy a normal week here with work for Matt, school for all of us and lots of crawl time for Hudson. No more long car trips until we leave here - except for the 72 mile trek to Disney at some point :) That's not thaaat long in comparison to the trekkin' that's been going on over here :)

Sad Red Sox game last night - but excited for another game tonight! YAY for the Pats- they beat the Dolphins :)

Computer issues so no pic, they will come on Multitude Monday

XO

Road Trippin'

We embraced another long journey- this time somewhere warm! We are headed to my parent's condo in Madeira Beach, FL. We left Thursday mid day, drove til dark, and stayed safely in TN. Today we woke up refreshed and ready to tackle another day- and we are soo close to our condo- just 2 hours away- but we prefer to drive in daylight only- so made a stop for the night and SO cant wait for tomorrow's end: THE BEACH! 

Prayers appreciated :)

XO

 

Perfect Fall Dessert

The Logbook: perfect fall day.
Click above to be brought to my friend Becky's blog . The recipe for the BEST apple dessert is there:) I made it tonight to celebrate the Red Sox first World Series game :) which they won- so maybe I should make it for every game !!?? Super easy. Super fall. Super delish . But be warned it's super calorie filled:)

410-420

410- Red Sox advance to the World Series.... all because of this little fan being their good luck charm ;)

 

411- Pretzel Bun Cheeseburger from Wendy's

 

412- Prayers answered about getting involved at Pacific Garden Mission! Thursdays will be the time to help out with kids- sunday school lesson, craft & snack. So excited!!! The need is great. Touring there today made be realize we take SO much for granted and are SO blessed!

 

413- Florida countdown is in single digits- 3 days!!

 

414- We got on the activties calendar for a local nursing home. The teacher in me wants to do a Gingerbread house party, so what better way to spread holiday cheer? :) We will do houses on a Friday the 13th of Dec ( prayers welcome!) and sing Christmas Carols there on Saturday the 14th.

 

415- Love packages in the mail from Memere & Pepere

 

416- Encouraging verse: Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.    Psalm 27:14

 

417- Our little friend Browyn, who was mentioned in earlier blogs, got an encouraging Dr visit and can go home pending feeding issues resolve! Can you imagine the balancing act of being home & the hospital every single day for a month +?? Wow. God is giving them much help & grace.

 

418- Cold fall days = no more bees!

 

419- Outfits for our immediate family picture are organized, hoping for a fun neon color scheme on the beach in FL :) We are still working on the colors for the picture session in late Nov, with my mom and brother. Ideas??

 

420- Tuesday is tomorrow = Tabata!

 

 

 

Prayer Warriors Unite!

Today was a rainy cold truly fall day here in IL, with temps in the low 50's.
We can embrace the cold & the kids love the rain- especially Miss Green Boot Sportin' Hannah- who found every puddle today and jumped in it. Such joy!
It was a poignant day- somehow a rainy day and sadness go hand in hand and today was that day..we were witnesses to our neighbors will signing. She is in her mid 50's and has breast cancer. Please pray for Michelle. She is a sweet neighbor, and has been my parents neighbors since they lived here, but she is bitter and totally against hearing the good news about Salvation. Today we saw her and she so close to death it is heartbreaking. Sitting at the table, I wondered what she was thinking. Knowing her liver is now failing, her skin is getting yellow, the will has been signed, and she has what to look forward to???? The verse that comes to mind is : ⁶ For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
  Ohh the sadness. The heart break to know that she is still lost & God could save her!! Pray for us to be able to break that barrier somehow and to tell her about the best news ever! Pray for her husband Dan and their 2 teen kids.¹³ For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Pray tonight for this family. 

 Pray for the gospel being preached at the Pacific Garden Mission downtown with Matt & Kerwin.
For more info about this amazing outreach center click here:www.pgm.org
A good friend Lydia, once wrote this verse on a card of encouragement to us, and I LOVED it then and I LOVE it now! Will pass it on to you for encouragement too :)

 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
¹⁵ And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

(Romans 10:14 & 15) 

Pray for my meeting with Brother Casey and the lady who directs the Children's & Women's side of PGM. I go downtown to chat on Monday early afternoon. How amazing it would be, to be a homework helper, a Bible story reader, a craft helper etc to these homeless kids who seek refuge there each night. We are so blessed to have a home- to have stability & routine & love & to have CHRIST!  Let us all be thankful- not proud- not full of judgements, but thankful and willing to be a blessing to anyone who needs it. 

Pray for us to know the right schooling option for Mr. Harrison. He really longs to be back in school - to have recesses & to be in a class setting where he can compete and succeed. He has both Matt & my competitive nature, and he thrives when other kids are around. Just does. So....we are on  board with that, but that will limit the traveling we had wanted to do. Funny how we are continually reminded that God's ways are not our ways & that we just need to ask God and he will direct us-  soo we are in that stage, and would love your prayers for us & for Harrison if/when he does begin school- as a new-comer, mid year, new school, new state, new curriculum= lots of adjustments for our 8 year old! But he is SO up for that!!

(Ps this was written yesterday, Thursday, but posted Friday- there were 350 men who listened to the gospel last night. Our God is mighty to save!!)



XO

Happy Faces

Some happy faces at the Hymn Sing & Shoe Box Party :)

(Katie & Marsh & Dustin)

 

 

   Josie, Asher, Ashtyn & Ca

 Field Trip at Wheaton College Music Conservatory

The theme was Cultures Around the World, and this song took us to Antartica, and the conductor was a penguin and all the musicians had penguin hats. Too fun!

 

 

 

 Harrison's last dodgeball day

 

 

Multitude Monday strikes again! 400-410

Happy Fall ya'll!! We are truly embracing this thing called seasons, and love the Fall colors and temps out here in the midwest. We are noticing there are many more bees out here than we had in AZ, sad for us all, but yay for Dad the bee killer, as one was really loving the "nest" of Hannah's hair. YIKES!!GROSS!!PANIC!! :) :)

400- Etsy
401- Captain Phillips (Must see movie)
402-Glitter tape ( Most amazing accessory to any party ever!)
403- Chevron straws
404- My mom's pumpkin cream cheese log cake
405- New couches for our basement hang out
406- Lemon Endust ( If you havent embraced this dusting magic spray, you must. Your house will smell so fresh & so clean, and it's even better when little hands do the spraying & dusting!!:))
407- New friends stopping in & spending the night with us
408- The Chicago marathon.... sadly no running for me this year... maybe I'll run it again, but as I hear about the hub-bub, I sit back and think about the great 3 years that I was part of that hub-bub :) and I remember the early 4am wake ups on that marathon morning, and the agony I was in for the next 2-3 days post run... but the finish line joy is just amazing & icy hot makes everything ok! Congrats to the Kenyan dude who ran 26.2 miles in.... 2:03:42!!!!!! W.O.W!!!!
409- Operation Christmas Child Shoebox party was a SUCCESS!! The generosity of our friends was overwhelming, and the joy of being together for a fun, hymn filled night (with Baseball too - YAY Red Sox!) was so so so nice.
410- Our first home-school group field trip is tomorrow! We are meeting 67 other home-school families at the Wheaton Conservatory of Music's Children Concert. (Not my typical field trip, I may fall asleep,  as much as i love music, i love to be up and out doing zoo field trips or pumpkin patches instead, BUT, I am super duper thrilled for Harrison to meet and greet with new peeps, and for me to as well !)

390-400 :)

390- Sugar Bliss Mini Cupcakes

 391- Fresh Dahlia's

392- Buckingham Fountain

393- Mimi's Birthday

394- Pumpkin Patch

395- Family Strolls by the Lake

396- Hudson

397- Quarters for the horsie

398- Hannah

399- Father-Son bond

400- Harrison

What a week! (Oops! Forgot to post on Monday :))

Multitude Monday and I cannot wait to share how awesome our God has been!!
380- My brother  Dustin is here with us in IL! Our family is complete. Praising God.
381- We had an encouraging weekend with a Bible conference here in IL
382- The foods I baked for breakfast, desserts and snacks were edible! PTL:) Sometimes Pintrest recipes can be duds....but so far so good :)
383- Our house was full with Christian friends all weekend
384- Harrison is learning cursive and is rockin' it!
385- Esther, our awesome babysitter here in IL, watched our littles on Saturday, so Matt & I could be almost front row, just listening and soaking in Bible truths. Bliss.
386- Dustin and Harrison are inseparable, and another true Patriot fan was cheering with us last night & the Pats took home yet another victory. Woot woot!
387- iPhone 5C. My cracked, beyond crazy ghetto phone is now Hannah's play phone and she texts Emma every day :) I am lovin' the tekkiness of my neon pink phone.
388- Matt's virtual job. Every day I am thankful for this.
389- Mark & Jenn came for the weekend! So awesome to see AZ friends here!
390- Pen pals.

Happy Homeschool Moments

This school year has been sooo outta our norm! So many awesome days, so many drag our feet days. We began school on August 7th, and now it is nearly 2 months into it, and we are all surviving :)  With the aid of Pintrest, my H-Drive and some awesome workbooks, we are truly making our  Switched On Schoolhouse Curriculum - ours, and it is working :)
We are thankful for the opportunity to teach Harrison more Biblical truths, spend more time together as a family & progress at our own pace. Another huge perk are the opportunities for real life learning adventures. Wednesday was our 1st official field trip to the Science Museum!

We learned ALOT together- and Hannah enjoyed the museum as much, if not more than Harrison (The rock climbing wall & discovery zone aka playground were her faves). Here are some of our WOW moments :) *We learned that burning lithium creates a hot pink flame, and that burning copper gives off a green flame. This is how fireworks are made (The crazy scientist really did make huge colorful flames in the lobby of the museum- it was so so cool!!)
 * We toured a Coal Mine which was 600 feet below the museum (or it REALLY felt that way even if it was "just" a tour- REALLY felt claustrophobic, and can you believe that back in "the" day, the wages for a ton of coal were 17 cents!! Insanity. We really loved this tour, despite the L*O*U*D noises (poor Hudson) and dark scary train ride, because Harrison JUST took a test on Mining Communities. Love how he made real life connections. He got a piece of bituminous coal too, which was his highlight! * We got to make slime and take it home.
 *My highlight was the  toy factory! We bought a Gravitron- which is a fancy top. We got to see it being built step by step by robots and then after 13 steps, it was packaged for us to keep. I am such a hands on- visible- learner, so it was so fun to see how toys get made and packaged! (And we got a keep sake out of it too:))

Here are some happy homeschool pictures :)