Dinner Party Rules

I have a rule when we have company over.  To not be a Martha when guests are in my home!  (Luke 10:39-42)

We had friends over for dinner one Friday evening.  There were a total of 16 of us!!!!  We've done it before.  But we don't do it nearly as often as we should. 

One thing is for sure though.  

The time sitting around visiting and playing games and listening to the (10!!!) kids play is far more important than doing the dishes while they are all here.

My awesome husband told me to come to bed after they had all left.  I was a little uncomfortable with this as I was leaving in the morning with some kids from church to attend a kids conference.  (working on not being as much of a Martha with my family!) But I went to bed and then left the mess and came home that afternoon to it all cleaned up.  Bonus!!!

One of those days....

Morning snuggles and giggles with BuhBuh and Little Dude. 

My Sweetie making breakfast.  

Enough time before the bus to read two stories from our Children's Bible (which means more snuggling).  

Little Dude entertaining himself nicely so the Mommy could be productive.  

Pumpkin Farm visit.  

Bunnies. 

Goats.  

Chickens.  Cows.  Horses.  

Hay Bale Maze.  

 Apple Orchard.  Treats. Llamas, donkeys, more goats, more chickens, more cows.

First 100% on 2nd grade spelling test.  

Play outside.  

Leaves.  

Photo Ops.  

The Boy going to fall Dance and last home football game. 

Little Dude falling asleep early.  

Watching a movie with BuhBuh and My Sweetie (more snuggling).  

Bedtime conversation. 

BuhBuh: "This was a GREAT day!!!" 

Me:  "Why is that?" 

BuhBuh:  "Because I got an A on my spelling, you picked me up from the bus stop and I got to watch a movie all by myself with you and daddy." 

I'd have to agree.  

 

 It was a GREAT day!!

Mother's Day

"Happy Mother's Day, Mom" The Boy said. It was well after midnight and we were returning from a Youth Camp/Retreat. We had just drove past a Walgreen's and he read that it was Mother's Day. Regardless, it was sweet.

I feel into bed well after 1 and by 3 Little Dude was screaming. I gathered him up and snuggled him in my bed.

By daybreak I had a toothless grin peering down at me whispering "Happy Mother's Day" It was BuhBuh. He had given me the gift he made me at school on Friday because he was too excited to wait.

Adorable.

A week prior we had purchased a new clothes line and I told My Sweetie that would do for a Mother's Day gift.

I watched a video of BuhBuh and Little Dude making a cake for me while I was gone.

My Sweetie also baked me a Rhubarb Pie.

We had pancakes, pie, and bacon for breakfast before Church.

We managed to get ourselves to church on time despite my lack of sleep. But it was Mother's Day and I intended to spend it enjoying my kids.



After Church I sat on the couch with BuhBuh and look through an I Spy book.

I played outside with Little Dude and tooke him on a short walk.

I had hopes for my Mother's Day being spent away from the house doing something as a family. As the afternoon wore on, and my requests weren't granted, I attempted to hide my disappointment. But the only reason I was disappointed was because I had expectations of how I wanted to spend the day as a family and they weren't happening. It had nothing to do with anything anyone else was or wasn't doing.

Then....TIMBER!!!!!!

My father-in-law and My Sweetie decided they were going to take down a tree in the back yard.

OH GOODY! I thought!!! We'll never get to go do anything.

But as soon as the tree was down, I saw 8 pair of wide eyes and 4 huge smiles.



I live in a house of all boys....of course they were thrilled to have a big tree to cut up.

So I sat and watched them climb on the fallen tree,


watched them run around in amazement at "how well it fell" watched them carry sticks to the burn pile


and logs to the log pile.


They were having so much fun. How could I not enjoy sitting there watching them. In watching them enjoy their day, I too enjoyed mine.

Isn't that really what makes us moms happy, afterall??? To see joy and happiness in the little loves of our lives?

All I wanted was to spend time with my family and have everyone happy. That is exactly what I got.

To the dinner table we all gathered to share another meal; one My Sweetie prepared with very little help from me. We ended the day with a game of ladder ball, showers, more reading and then tucked the kids into bed.

It was simple. I spent the day with my family. I couldn't have asked for more.

Like Father, Like Son???

My Sweetie: **Putting on the new suit he just picked up from the store yesterday and admiring himself in the mirro** Man! I'm gonna have to beat the ladies off with a stick today.

***10 minutes later***

Me: You're Handsome

BuhBuh: Huh, huh....I know

The Celebration

My Sweetie has often said how much he dislikes birthdays.

It comes from one particular birthday when he received a wallet and a broken watch. I think it was his twelfth. He says it has been all down hill since then.

I've been trying to really make them special in some way for him over the past few years because he is so special to us. As you saw I get the kids involved as well.

He was late returning home the evening of his birthday (March 16th). He is the soccer director of our rec. league and had a planning meeting that went a little longer than he anticipated.

Little Dude hadn't had much of a nap that day and started heading to bed on his own around 8:15 p.m. He just couldn't wait any longer.

I did allow the other two boys to stay up so we could celebrate.

The Daddy came home to a decorated house, gifts of some of his favorite things and homemade chocolate pie.

and a big gift of something he wanted....


Our other grill we received as a wedding gift.....almost 14 years ago. It was time for a new one.

Little Dude woke up the next morning asking if Daddy was home. When I said yes, he darted out of his bed and down the stairs and dashed into our room to announce that it was Daddy's birthday and that he needed to get up!!!!

He had been part of the planning and preparation all day long and didn't get to celebrate. He didn't realize that the rest of us stayed up to celebrate.

But he did get to enjoy part of Daddy's gift.

My Sweetie commented, more than once, on how great of a birthday he had this year.

Birthday Preparation

For each birthday The Daddy comes up with a new, amazing creation of what I like to call "Steamer Art". Last year he made Herky the Hawkeye for The Boys birthday and he made a Light Saber on our ceiling for BuhBuh's birthday.

I thought it would be fitting to have the boys decorate for The Daddy's birthday.

Did you know that you can get 8 rolls of streamers and two rolls of tape from the Dollar Tree for only$6????

Do you know what happens to your house when you give 2 boys each 4 rolls of streamers and a roll of tape???





And leave the roll of duck tape in reach and turn your back for a moment???

Oh, yeah....it was WRAPPED around the bottom side of the table a couple of times.




Me: BuhBuh, Tell me about your streamer art...



BuhBuh: 'Da blue ones are for each time daddy yelled at me and 'da red ones are for 'da happy days.



Me: Which color has more??

BuhBuh: I donknow....dey about equal

I think they both have a new appreciation for what their daddy does for their birthdays each year.

BuhBuh asked, "How long does this take daddy to do for us?"

The Boy had lots of frustrated grumbles.

But in the end I think they both had a sense of pride about the streamer art they created for The Daddy to come home from the end of a long day to see.

35 Reasons why I LOVE My Sweetie

1. He's put up with me for 15 years. (Some days I'm sure it's harder than others.)
2. He calls me multiple times a day
3. He's spontaneous
4. He's always coming up with new ideas
5. He's my best friend
6. He spoils me (rotten and I LOVE IT!!!)
7. He is smart
8. He makes me laugh everyday
9. He looks GREAT in a suit....and I get to see him dressed up at some point during the day about 6 days a week
10. He allows me to use him as a giant teddy bear while we watch TV at night
11. He will stop at the store a hundred times a week to get that "one more thing" that I forgot at the store just so I don't have to go back into town and I secretly look forward to seeing what the "extras" that ended up in his cart are because they are always things I would never buy
12. He loves to buy me gifts.
13. He makes FANTASTIC pancakes
14. How hard he tries to push The Boy to be the best we know he is capable of
15. How he can get BuhBuh to do chores and do homework better than I can
16. Watching him be a dad to a third boy is just as fun as is was the first two times
17. How good he is coaching on the soccer field.
18. Watching him sing at Church
19. Hearing him lead prayer. (He doesn't do this at home, so when he does it at Church I just love it.)
20. He didn't use to talk about God or Jesus with me or around our kids. Now he does.
21. The affirming words he speaks to me....they fuel me more than I think he'll ever know.
22. His kisses....always in 3's
23. He's a beer snob and proud of it
24. He has a better sense of style than I do.
25. He works hard for our family
26. He is a kid at heart....that's why he's such a great dad.
27. He plays with each one of our kids in a way that speaks to each of their hearts. I hope they always remember how much their daddy loved having fun with them.
28. He cleans up after the kids throw up because he knows I can't handle it
29. He knows how to fix things around the house. Some guys don't. I'm glad mine does!
30. He is generous
31. He is supportive of my choices
32. He's a great role model for our boys. I know they will be great husbands and fathers because of him
33. He delivered two of our boys.
34. He takes great photographs
35. He makes me feel like a princess even on days when the house is a mess and I haven't had a shower.

Wordless Wednesday

Race Day

It is always a much anticipated Scouting event.

The Pinewood Derby!!!!!!

I'm not sure who enjoys it more....the kids or the dads....but it's a fun event nonetheless.

This year it was BuhBuh who was participating.

It's been several years since our last Derby as The Boy only did Scouts for a couple of years. But The Daddy broke out his handy dandy Derby Tool Box. Complete with wheels, axles and weights.

BuhBuh actually received a lot of help on his Derby Car this year from his PaPa. But he did get to use some power tools I hear. It was also BuhBuh's idea to have a skateboard car rather than your "normal" lookin' derby car.

He won two of his heats. But they go by overall time and he didn't make the cut. But, it was fun watching his skateboard car race down the track and beat the other cars he was racing.

Little Dude was fascinated with the race. He sat and watched the entire thing and cheered his little heart out.

The Boy was acting like a cool 13 year old. BuhBuh was bored out of his mind. It was nice to see the boys bonding in their boredom.

The cool thing about the derby is after the boys all race there is an open race for dads, siblings, moms, whoever. The rules aren't as strict and it is just as much of a much anticipated race, if not more so.

My Sweetie was thrilled to hear this and spent a lot of time working on his car. He hand carved it and put lots of hours into getting it just right.

Can you figure out which one it is????

He was hoping there would be a prize for the "best looking" car. But there wasn't.

He spent so much time making it look good that he wasn't sure how well it was going to race. It raced....but.....it wasn't the fastest on the track. He did, however, get lots of compliments on his design.

We are unsure of BuhBuh's Scouting career and whether or not we'll be at next years race of if we'll have to wait a few more years until it's Little Dude's turn.

So long October...

Soccer is done. Football is done. First quarter report cards were good and so were conferences. This has been a busy start of the year. Our trip was refreshing and just what I needed to hopefully carry me through the holiday hustle. It has taken me this long to get back into the swing of things though...but we've managed to finish out October.

We had a day which the weather was perfect and the leaves were beautiful. I tried to get some good fall pictures of the boys.



The Boy had is fall music concert. He's once again in both choir and band.

We attended a family Halloween party. The party was at 4 on a Saturday. At 1 in the afternoon we still had no costumes. We bought all of the camo gear that the Good Will Store we visited had on its racks.

I turned 33. My Sweetie bought me all kinds of goodies for me feet. Then he and I drove an hour and a half away from home to an Italian restaurant. The drive was lovely, the food was great. We also celebrated with a Sunday brunch with my mom, dad and brother.

This past weekend was Halloween. The boys were adorable as always and we now have a TON of candy. I sent two gallon sized Ziploc bags with My Sweetie to work. We still have two large bowls of candy.

October was Ministry Appreciation month. I sent out 31 cards of appreciation and thanks to different people in our church.

Here we are in November. I'm sure the next two months will fly by. Looking forward to all the fun upcoming events in the next couple of months but I'm also looking forward to the months of January-March when life kind of slows down for the winter.

What a Good Sport!

A fundraiser was held yesterday for a program that benefits needy families with in our school district. My Sweetie was asked if he would be in the dunk tank. He graciously accepted.

For about 30 minutes he sat and watched as his children and even his dad threw balls trying to hit the bulls eye that would send him for a plunge.

The Boy spent some of our money, some of his grandpa's money and some of his own money trying SO hard to dunk daddy to no avail. BuhBuh however did get to send daddy into the tank thanks to how close he was able to stand and the nice lady who let him keep trying.

My Sweetie got dunked several times by others and I'm sure he got the funds for the cause we were supporting off on the right track. Scheduled for later in the day were all three school principals and the superintendent.

He kept a smile on his face the entire time and had a great time doing it.

Happy Birthday, Babe!!!!

My Sweetie, My Best Friend, The Daddy to my boys, turned 34 on Monday. He always goes out of his way to do special things for me that I decided to give back to him this year. So, he got an early birthday gift this year. I set up a Cubs/Sox Spring Training trip to Vegas for him and a buddy. They saw 2 Cubs/Sox games, ate at a lot of buffets in Vegas, did LOTS of walking up and down the strip, saw some cool things, went to the Hoover Dam, and enjoyed some "man" time away from their wives and kids. They both had a GREAT time I think. But still missed their wonderful wives not being there with them. What sweeties.



On Monday after Little Dude's doctor appointment I took the other two boys to the Dollar Tree to pick out birthday decorations. I had put them both in charge of decorating a room for The Daddy. They both did a great job!! They also each bought The Daddy a gift....CANDY!



We had dinner, and dessert and played some games. I was in charge of dessert and instead of making My Sweetie a birthday cake, I made him cupcakes!
He said he was probably THE ONLY 34 year old who was excited to have Cookie Monster cupcakes. He loved them!
Overall, I think he had a good birthday. I enjoyed doing special things for him. I realized that I have been blessed to celebrate 14 birthdays with him!!! I look forward to celebrating the amazing man he is everyday for many more years.