recent pics of the boys...

Jackson had a little Kung Fu Panda dinner party Saturday...these were a few of our practice pictures for his cake. (more pics to come!)

Peter 2 years old (25 months)

Jackson a few days shy of SIX!

Vicki Dees...

Me and Vicki October 2010

Me and Vicki Fall 2008

This morning I found out some news...news that I had been waiting to hear for a week or so, but didn't want to hear at the same time. A good friend went to be with the Lord early this morning. Vicki was certainly like no other woman I had ever met before...and I mean that in the best way possible! When I first met her I thought she looked identical to my Aunt (who was also an amazing woman and there was no one like her!) that passed away while I was in college....so my first few thoughts of Vicki involved lots of tears. It's amazing that she was just so similar to my aunt, played the piano, teacher, loved children, RED hair, love to sing hymns. Then she dyed her hair blonde and I could get through a service without crying again :) She did go back to red, but it wasn't hard that time! Then I joined her Sunday School class, WHAT A CLASS! But at first I thought (remember Vicki was different) who cries during a Sunday School lesson? Often Vicki would get so emotional about her love for God and I have to admit it was contagious! She opened my eyes and God opened my heart so much through her. Her love for our Heavenly Father was BEAUTIFUL! I loved being in Vicki's class, though I had seasons when I was there every week for months and then missed for months due to having babies/sick kids/youth and I really really missed those mornings. Then after that we started volunteering with the youth and we met at the Dees' house and that was GREAT! we got to spend every Sunday evening with them for almost a year! It was a sweet sweet time...she loved on my new baby girl and hugged her, smiled and cooed with her every Sunday. It meant so much that she would play with her (esp since I was one tired exhausted momma, trying to do too many things at one time with two small kids....which I still have a problem with except it's 3 kids). I wish I had taken more time to get to know her better, but my life was pretty nuts and I missed out on much I am sure. Anyways....fast forward a couple years and she had a terrible diagnosis of cancer(which my aunt also died from at a young age), but you wouldn't have known it was terrible by her spirit. It was a time to grow even closer to our Lord and to minister to others! See she was different! you heard right....during her illness she spent her time speaking to women about how good the Lord was! and about how good He was to her. Oh I defiantly have been inspired, touched, blessed by this woman. I am teary again as our relationships ends, but this time it's more of a symbol of just feeling richly blessed by my Lord and thankful she is where she has always longed to be! She was 'born to be eternal"- a quote by Vicki Dees during her last few days and she was!

Thank you Lord for her life and letting me see YOU in her! Please comfort Kerwin and the rest of her wonderful family during this time. I know they are rejoicing over Viki being home, but I know that it will be still be hard some days....she is irreplaceable!

here is a link to her blog so you can read more about her beautiful journey. I will miss her sweet spirit and beautiful smile so much already.

www.vickidees.blogspot.com

Peter is TWO!?!?

We had a fun sports ball themed party, he loved it!

my big TWO year old!

playing ball!

High Five!

Construction work with Cooper...so appropriate! (his Dad is apart of DBC!)

Rarrrr! he loved his tiger light! and roared at everyone with it!

learning to catch with Jamey! yea!!!

the three of us!

Peter had is tongue out all day for some reason...so we joined in!

eating his own cake!

the crew!

best buds!!!

Lauren turns 4!

I have tried posting pics from her birthday party several times....but for some reason they wouldn't post. Today was my day I guess! We had a GREAT celebration and I can't believe she is FOUR!!! Happy Birthday Lauren!

sweet pics of my little girl!

homemade decorations!

Mommy's first homemade birthday cake! Lauren loved it!

Our sweet family!

So glad Paw Paw and Zan Zan could come!

most of the kids!

Lauren with Lauren and Anna!

More of the crew!

my big 4 year old!

With Roger and Judy...we love them so much!

Oh my! love it!

One of my Favorites!

This is one of my favorite comfort food casseroles...certainly not calorie free! :) Hope you all enjoy, we love it!

• 1 (16 ounce) package spaghetti (I like angel hair)
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 (26 ounce) jar meatless spaghetti sauce (I love Prego)
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt (I never use this, but I am sure it would be good....there is plenty of flavor in the sauce)
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 5 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 cups small curd cottage cheese
• 4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the spaghetti sauce and seasoned salt; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, Parmesan cheese and butter. Drain spaghetti; add to egg mixture and toss to coat.
3. Place half of the spaghetti mixture in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish. Top with half of the cottage cheese, meat sauce and mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers. Cover and bake at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes. Uncover; bake 20-25 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.

*this is also a GREAT dish to make 24 hours before cooking....just store in fridge! perfect for entertaining!

they grew! 100 days!

Randomly we decided to grow some seeds in baggies about 10 days ago and oh my, Jackson has LOVED this! The pictures are the true joy he expressed when opening the seeds to check on them! no posing at all! I am really starting to think I might have a little scientist on my hands! Which will be hard if we home-school forever since neither Dave nor I excel in science. Jackson loves nature, animals, math and science and we aren't even 6 years old yet! Tonight for a new movie on netflix he picked a documentary about big cats in Africa. He and Lauren both loved it (even the part where they talking about eating the animals they caught...they both tell me it's just the way it is!).

Today we also celebrated our official 100th day of school....even though we are closer to 115/120, we just didn't mark it everyday. when we started this counting journey our fist day I didn't know if I could even make it to the hundreds column in our notebook...and here we are...and that is ALL GOD! Here are few things we have accomplished so far...

-Adding (10 and 10's)

-counting money

-reading beginner books, phonics on all letters

-level 2 of Hooked on Phonics

-almost finished writing a simple book about Jackson

-doing well at handwriting

-learning about nature (he is really into bids now and learning how to identify them)

-working on wood projects

-thinking about the big pictures in life

-reading the Little House on the Prairie Series, he LOVES the adventures they go on! We are on book 3 now...and I love it too!

I truly love homeschooling as tiring as it is....I do look forward to the days when there are no babies and can really focus on the school, some days it's VERY hard to get past the everyday stuff and do school. We have been doing some sort of school since Jackson was 3, he was just ready for something more and we just started and it's so neat to see things we started 3 years ago come into play and what a blessing it is that I get to see all this happen!