Congratulations Baby Girl!!!

 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11

I can't believe how fast the time has gone by.

Kids have so many firsts, so many milestones, and I know that this is just one that we will add to her list of accomplishments.

I am so proud of her.

She is my neat freak, my exercise-fitness buff and more than that she is my sweet baby.

I hope she knows that while we want nothing but the best for her, God wants even more for her.
He wants her to be successful in all that she does and happier than we can ever imagine.

While we love her more than anything imaginable, he loves her even more, because he is her heavenly father, and we are just her parents.

Eighteen years have flown by, I can't wait to see what the future holds for her.

Congratulations Baby Girl, we love you and couldn't be prouder!!!

Weekend Ramblings

Whew!!

What a weekend!

Sweet Baby boy turned 21, the dog hasn't been eating, and Baby girl is mad she
has to work every weekend.

Yea, sounds rough doesn't it.

We (meaning mostly Mr. Wonderful) has been working so hard to get our floors done.
I can't wait to show them to you.

Just a preview.

This is in the kitchen and we did the living room, kitchen and hallway.
But we are minutes away from being done!

We cooked out for the boy's birthday with family and friends, that is always
a good time.

The dog got probed at the Vet's office to make sure he didn't have heart worms, and he doesn't.  

That's good news.

And Sunday was filled with church, and family time and more church so all in all
we had a very full, yet productive weekend.

Happy 18th Birthday BG!!!!

I can't believe it's been 18 years!!  

Time really does fly.

It seems like just yesterday you were a baby.

And then you start growing and changing.

Sometimes I think you changed overnight.

You can be a handful at times, but you are always a joy!!

Happy 18th Birthday my sweet Baby Girl!

We love you and are so proud of you!!!

PS  She does own nice clothes, but she won't smile when she wears them.

Tuesday Thoughts

I can't believe it has been so long since my last post, so I just thought I would let you know what I've been up to.

First, this past weekend I started another paint project, still not finished so you'll have to wait for that one.

Also, the basement is getting a serious cleaning out, already made one trip to Goodwill and have some things I am taking to Hospice also.

Since I sold all of my frame equipment I have been trying to sort through all of the prints that I have left and decide if I am going to use them or scrap them.  

I love that Fall is here, it hasn't turned completely cool yet but it's getting closer.

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year, everything seems so crisp and new.

Life seems to be getting busier instead of slowing down, Baby Girl is a senior this year, so while I am enjoying her last year in high school, I am busy, busy, busy with stuff seniors do.  And, going broke in the process.

So, I think I will just slow down, and take the time to enjoy what is.

Schools Out!!

Today is Baby Girls' last day of school!

Next year, she will be a senior.


I can't believe it!!


Sniff sniff.


But besides that, the weather this weekend was amazing.  It was absolutely gorgeous!!!


I painted my small cabinet that I got for my mom.


Pictures to follow because we are painting at her house this weekend and I can't wait for you to see what a difference that will make.


Mr. Wonderful and I spent last night taking off the border in the kitchen.  Actually Baby girl helped with that too, she really did more than Mr. Wonderful.


YUCK!!!!


I was exhausted, but we got it off.


Mr. Wonderful and I are taking shag lessons with a group of friends.


WHAT A HOOT!!!!!


But it was fun.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

I can't believe you are 17!


Really?


Has it been 17 years since we brought that sweet little curly haired girl home from the hospital?


It really doesn't seem like you should be that old.


So, just for the fun of it, here are 17 things that I love about you.


1.  Your honesty.  (Sometimes that can get us into trouble but I love that about you.)
2.  Your a self motivator, and while at 17 you may not think much of that but it will come in handy and you get older.
3.  You are not afraid to try new things.  This too will come in handy later on.
4.  Even at 17, you still like to hang out with your family.  Maybe not all the time, but I think you still enjoy our company.
5.  You are compassionate to others.  It is a wonderful quality to have.
6.  I love your hair.  At your age I paid good money for hair like that.
7.  You are a hard worker and not afraid to get your hands dirty.
8.  You know that true beauty comes from the inside.
9.  You are a very good judge of character, even though I don't always give you enough credit for that.
10.  You are the least lazy teenager I know.
11.  You have a great big heart!
12.  You feel bad when you hurt someones feelings and that says a lot about your character.
13.  If you say you will do something, then I know I can count on you to do it.  That one will get you a long way in life.
14.  I love how you still like to watch movies and shows with me.
15.  You are the first one to get ready and always push me to be on time.
16.  You love Jesus.
17.  You make me want to be the best mom I can, you are so encouraging, loving, faithful, and just make being your mom my pleasure.


I love you!!  

Chasin a chicken

This weekend we lost one of our chickens, and since we only had one more laying hen left, we decided to move her to the barn.

Here's where the fun comes in.

BB couldn't catch the chicken, but my little runner, she caught it in no time!

Believe it or not, she has already asked when she can get more chicks?

Toby  was a little bit scared of the old red hen.

Just an ordinary day

Yesterday, Baby girl had a cross country meet about 45 minutes away.


And just so you know, it rained most of the day yesterday.


So, they all got pretty wet, and muddy!


Running will do that to you in the rain.

Encouraging words

This year my daughter has decided to give Cross Country a try at school.  


She is pretty athletic so I try to encourage her to give 100 % to whatever sport she happens to be playing at the time.


But this sport is different, well I should say it is different from the other sports she has done.  


She has a great relationship with her coaches, and her teammates seem to make a point of cheering each other on instead of beating each other down.  This isn't to say her other sports were bad experiences because they weren't, everything she does, she genuinely likes to do.  It's just that this group of kids and coaches have been so encouraging.


I overheard some girls talking about how much better they feel if the coaches encourage them with kindness instead of yelling at them about what they are doing wrong or could even do better.


While everyone wants to succeed, isn't it nice sometimes to just do something because it's fun.  What happen to that in sports?  Everything seems to be so competitive.  Kids should not be stressed about sports.  It is suppose to be fun.  Remember fun?  


I remember when we went for her physical and the Dr. asked her what sport she was doing.  When she said Cross country, the Dr. said how she loved Cross Country because there was such a camaraderie with the kids who ran.  They seemed to encourage each other, really build each other up.


What a difference words can make.  


They have the power to build us up or knock us down.

Picking out shoes

Baby Girl is running Cross Country at school this year, and while she has always been a runner.  Running long distances is beginning to take a toll on her chins.  So I thought we would get new shoes.

These just look like they would be great running shoes don't they?  

How about these?

I just thought they were adorable.  But I won't be running.


These look like good running shoes and they come in various arch sizes.

And of course there are these,

What is it about Nike that makes us think we can run faster, jump higher, and just plain kick butt?


I guess deep down we all wanna be like Mike.

Shooting Hoops!

Getting ready for a weekend filled with this. . . 

A new Bible

This past weekend, my daughter and myself went out shopping for a new bible and this is what she picked.

It is a really cute bible, but she kept asking me why doesn't it say Bible on the front?


Hmmm, I guess since it's for a teenage girl, maybe it was made so it didn't look like a bible, I don't really know if that's it or not but it kind of made me wonder.

Sweet 16!

Happy 16th Birthday!!!

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.  Proverbs 22:6

Movie Review!

This weekend, Mr. Wonderful and baby boy went down east to do a little fishing.


Well, you know the old saying,  While the cat's away. . . .  me and baby girl will play!!!


She has been asking to go to the movies but I just didn't want to see Charlie St. Cloud.  I am sure it is a good movie, but it looked a little sad and I don't really want to pay $8 to go sit in the theater and cry.  So I talked her into something even better.


The Other Guys!!!!

What did we have to lose?  Will Ferrell is super funny and Mark Wahlberg was easy to look at.  So you can safely say it had something for everyone.


It was well worth my money, I thoroughly enjoyed it.  So did BG!  It was funny and it even had a good story.


So I'd give it a definite Thumbs up!!!!