WE thought it was funny

In the car, on the way home from the store:

Daddy: "...... well, the Bible teaches us that if we believe that Jesus is God's Son, and that he came to earth to save us, then we will go to heaven to be with God."

Nat: "Well, you know what Pop-pop teaches?"

Daddy and Mommy: a nervous "uhmmm"

Nat: "Tic Tac Toe"

Daddy and Mommy: Big smile.... "phew"

We Love Preschool!

Here are some pictures of our Valentine's party at preschool on 2/13. We read some stories about love, played a heart-hunt game where the girls had to find hearts hidden around the house BUT they could only pick up the hearts with their initial on them.

Next, we worked on a special project for each child to give to someone they love. They glued conversation hearts on a picture frame then put hand prints on card stock inside a heart shape. Here are some pics of the girls working on them and some pics of the finished products. (Well, my girls' finished products. Everyone else's are a nice light pink, which I preferred as I felt it matched the hearts better. Nat preferred the bright hot pink and insisted on painting hers and Julia's that color. I figured that it was HER project for HER daddy... so I let her go to town. ) As you can see, Nat would rather not be bothered with pics..... she's got a job to do.

Then, the girls enjoyed some Valentine decorated donuts. You know MY girls love donuts, so I thought it would be a good treat and accepted by moms for this special occasion. I will say, there were some comments on how rapidly and how efficiently Nat ate HER donut.

Finally, they exchanged Valentine's with each other and posed for a final picture.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here are a couple ways we let people know that we love them this year. We sent out some homemade Valentine's to Grammas and Grandpas and our neighbors. On the left is a pic of some of them. On the back of each card is a hand-print of each girl with their name and date.
On the right hand side is a photo of the mobile Natalie and I made for Daddy. Double click on the photo to see it better, but here is what it says. Across the top, it says "I love it when we..." Then, in the hearts at the bottom, I wrote 5 things Natalie said she loved to do with Daddy.
I had to do a lot of the cutting and tying work, but I love it because of what Nat said: I love it when we..... "Play" "Cuddle" "Wrestle" "Walk on the sidewalk with Jazzy and walk up hills and up mountains" and what was the FIRST thing she said she liked to do with Daddy? "Watch Cops" =)

More Birthday Pics

Here we are in the "Party Room, eating pizza and cake. We REALLY enjoyed it =)

I love this series. Pic 1: Nat isn't sure about this Bounce U guy getting so close to her. Pic 2: Ooooh! It's time to sing Happy Birthday to lil' ol' ME! I guess that's not so bad!

Rewind - Natalie's Fourth Birthday Party

In addition to the little family affair we had on her actual birthday, we had a party at Bounce U for friends. At first, I was going to have the party here at the apartment. Natalie insisted on inviting all her little friends .... and their moms... and their siblings =) I was totally going to try to swing it and even had all the cute little invitations made. As I'm gluing the last bow on the last invite, John says something like, ".... how many girls? and parents? and your parents? ... You're crazy" "No, it will be fine," I said, "you'll just have to do exactly as I say and not be a party pooper. I figured we'd have nail painting in the bathroom...." "No, this is crazy," he said, "and your poor dad stuck in here? He'll have to leave..... I'll have to leave!"

By the end of the conversation, I agreed to look into Bounce U. As luck would have it, they had our date open and in the end, we were both glad we went that route. We enjoyed an hour of bouncing and then had Pizza Hut pizza and homemade cupcakes. They did all the clean up, served, and even wrote down the each gift and giver.

I think the kids had a good time. I know I did. Oh, and all the parents got to participate too! It was really fun seeing all these moms and dads letting loose! John and I even did a Tug-of-War game. I will let you guess who won, but I will tell you that it involved one of us flying through the air. =)

Big Winner!!!

Well, not really THE big winner, but John did win something with the buck he shot during archery season near Pittsburgh.

He entered a big buck contest and out of about 1000 entrys, his buck scored #14!!!

He won $99!

It will probably all end up back at the archery shop, ... but that's okay with me=)

John's New Favorite Song

A few days ago, John turned on the country music TV channel when a song I'd never heard came on. John said, "Oh, this is my new favorite song. As we listened together on the couch, I grabbed his hand and held it tight.

The song is by Josh Turner and here are the lyrics. Click here to listen (the video you see is not the real music video):

I got a home down on the river
I’m married to the woman of my dreams
Got a good truck that gets me down the highway
Everything is perfect or so it seems
Momma and daddy come by sometimes
And everything is fine

My old dog does a little singing
Late at night when the moon gets bright
Sunday morning hear the church bells ringing
Let us go and see who’s getting baptized
We gonna take us a Sunday drive
Cause everything is fine

Everything is fine, fine, fine
Through the sunshine and the rain
I got a peace of mind
You know I can’t complain
I make it a point to thank the Lord
When I got Him on the line
I’m feeling good and everything is fine

Got the same job down at the warehouse
Ain’t never been rich but I sleep at night
Got a little girl that looks like her mamma
She likes it when her daddy tucks her in real tight
One night this week we’re gonna have a fish fry

Cause everything is fine, fine, fine
Through the sunshine and the rain
I got a peace of mind
You know I can’t complain
I make it a point to thank the Lord
When I got Him on the line
I’m feeling good and everything is fine
I make it a point to thank the Lord
When I got Him on the line
I’m feeling good and everything is fine
I’m feeling good and everything is fine

As we contemplate where we should move once he finishes his required time here in the 3Hs, the lure of amenities, more money, career advancement opportunities, etc. do tempt us from time to time. We just keep coming back to this same idea: We just need a simple life. We already have the best things this life can offer ... right here between the four of us.