On My Mind...

St Patrick's Day 2010...

3 Corn beef briskets cooked in the pressure cooker

2 heads of cabbage

3 bags new potatoes

Never ending green beer

House full of family and friends

One uninvited but very stylishly dressed donkey showing up to the party

Leprechaun trap made by the kiddos

Cream puffs that Emily makes...WONDERFUL!

Shamrock sugar cookies

*click on picture to enlarge

Goin' to State...

My daughter heads to "state" next month with her school for her awesome job at regionals! We are so proud of her! I have yet to hear her speech...I don't know how speaking in front of family could be different than in front of strangers :) but I'm just so proud of her!

Congratulations Emily!

The good, bad, and ugly...

Good - hours of conversations with my sister, visiting with family I don't see often enough, laughing with grandma, digging through fabric at Grandma and Grandpa's house, seeing my Grandpa eat and keep it all down, listening to stories that only families can tell, hearing Grandpa laugh, seeing Grandpa smile, sewing on Grandpa's sewing machine - just like heaven I tell ya

Bad - Grandpa in the hospital, worrying thoughts of every kind...

Ugly - carrying wood - from under enclosed area, not from the pile out in the open, my imagination running wild that the skunks were going to come running as we are pulling out wood, or that snakes would come out to see what was going on

Snippets of what we have been up to...

• best smoothie - spinach, blueberries, strawberries, agave nectar, flax seed, oj, and some grape juice - will have your 4 year old asking for more as long as you keep the spinach hidden
• why have underwear on the table?? - to accurately draw superman of course!
• flower bows...found all over the blogs - so quick and fun to make
• sprouts grown on the counter - stir frys, on bagels, in sandwiches...
• more snow and ice!
• I try to remember the feeling of seeing snow when I was young and trying to be a fun mom even if it is cold outside...I'm much more fun in 120 degree weather
• groundhog day
• eating snow ice cream with snow that we froze - Tanner was way more impressed with the idea of making it than actually eating it 

• Chinese checkers with a big sister
• beautiful bird out back that I need to figure out what it is
• heart garlands...seriously addictive...they look great everywhere!
• nothing better than a good book..."If you give a..."
• something about the sound and smell of dinner in the pressure cooker...good childhood memories
• a little something I have been working on...I'm loving having my sewing machine out where I can use it anytime I have a few minutes!
• mousetrap...don't understand the playing of it, but it sure is cool to play with!
• everyone at the table working on Valentine's...she's got her own way of spicing everything up...joined people holding hearts, modge podge tissue paper...amazing girl with creativity
• heart garland...I told you it was addictive!

For the Jones group...

Windows look familiar?  Courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa and some work from my honey to put the three windows together and add a shelf.  Love it!  I will be sending a picture of it to Grandma and Grandpa...i'm sure they will be running right out to the barn to create their own version!

Year ending...and other thoughts...

I haven't blogged in about a month!  It needed to be quiet around here.  We had some family changes going on and those can be very tough to write about...life is calm for now and we are looking forward to what 2010 will bring!  Our family is praying a Novena to the Holy Family at the suggestion of my loving sister.  She  always knows just what to say when a prayer is needed!  Thank you!  Our prayer is that by the end of next week a long (3year) wait will be over! 

My husband and I are officially able to have our marriage blessed in the Catholic Church!!! Last year my honey took many many hours to fill out all the paperwork, and we got the official letter in the mail just a few days before Christmas that the process is over!  We will be meeting with our Priest hopefully within a week or two.  When I called my sister to let her know - her family has been praying for our marriage even before my husband turned in all the paperwork- she told her children that our marriage would soon be blessed and all that could be heard were "YAY"!!!!  My thoughts exactly!

I can't believe that our youngest will be 4 in about a week!  Where does the time go?  These babies just grow up so fast, I want to slow down time and just enjoy him every second...except when he has down the acting like a 4 year old...I will keep time at the normal pace.

St Dymphna...

Lord God, Who has graciously chosen Saint Dymphna to be the patroness of those afflicted with mental and nervous disorders, and has caused her to be an inspiration and a symbol of charity to the thousands who invoke her intercession, grant through the prayers of this pure, youthful martyr, relief and consolation to all who suffer from these disturbances, and especially to those for whom we now pray.

We beg You to accept and grant the prayers of Saint Dymphna on our behalf. Grant to those we have particularly recommended patience in their sufferings and resignation to Your Divine Will. Fill them with hope and, if it is according to Your Divine Plan, bestow upon them the cure they so earnestly desire. Grant this through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Seeing the beautiful...

When I struggle, and question what direction I am to go in, I am told to find the joyful, the lovely, the beautiful.  I am told to surround my family in beautiful, lovely sights, beautiful, lovely smells.  Find the joyful in it all...

 

dancing, singing, twister playing with a 3 year old help find the lovely when my heart is full of questions

As the days cool down...

With our days beginning to cool down, it means more time inside for things like...

matching bears that play football...

pictures...

 

painting after rest time...

 

evenings of making cool stuff with a daughter who is at school all day...

*Halloween garland found here!

 

making cookies first thing in the morning...

 

dreaming about the rag rug...

found these at a junk store after I had just fell in love with the idea of making a rag rug from Amanda Soule's book!  Seriously how lucky am I??? 

 

dreaming up ideas for our bedroom...it's the one room that almost has almost nothing on the walls...

What's going on at the kitchen table...

Our table sees alot, it is rarely lonely or empty!  We eat all of our meals as a family at our table, it's a great place to sit and watch the birds out back, many times throughout the day it is a meeting place for a game, crayons, markers, play dough, or small things that want to be played with but can't be on the floor so that a baby doesn't eat them :)  This school year it seems that Emily has had more projects that require poster board and the space of the table to work on.  Tanner loves to hang out at the table with his sister and find some projects to work on near her.

*project for Emily's french class

*Tanner working on miscellaneous projects over the last couple weeks - he has discovered that oil pastels are "really cool"