Family~

• Amanda is in Canada! She has been calling & texting daily to tell me of her adventures. She has been shopping, rode a subway, had dinner at interesting places, and is sleeping in a college dorm room on the eighth floor! She is having a good time. She said it is odd to be in a place where everyone speaks french. She cannot read the street signs, etc. The group she is with learned songs in french for church on Sunday. She says they sound good. They have been working on the songs, memorizing the french verses for months.
• Bailey & Emelia are home! It was funny, before they came home I had folded the last load of laundry, cleaned up the breakfast dishes, made my bed… everything was so nice and tidy. That lasted about five minutes after they came home… but it is okay. We all took Izzy out for a celebratory swim.
• Tomorrow (Sunday) is our 18th anniversary. I think we may go out sometime tomorrow. We thought about going out last night, but were too sleepy… and tonight we talked about it again and I ended up making tacos so we didn’t. We’re so exciting, huh?
• Tomorrow is also father’s day! I love my daddy!

kitchen~

• This was a boring food week, I made gyros Monday night because Amanda really likes them and was leaving right after dinner…
• I cooked Tuesday and Thursday and matt and I ate leftovers. Nothing exciting to report on that ).
• I am still really enjoying that freezer! I would recommend this little size to anyone looking at them because it is perfect.

blogville~

• My SIL, Ann, saw that I was thinking of a redo on Izzy’s blog and she offered her assistance. It looks so cute. I had played around with a header and she added to that and did a background too. You should pop over and check it out. THANKS Ann!!!
• Is it just me or does it seem a little quiet in blogville this week?
• I’m still posting the daily diet devos. I hope I’m not the only one really being blessed by them. I am going to continue posting them until it seems that no one is reading them.
• Looks like sweet Carrie is going to pop anyday! We’re all officially on baby watch ).
• This Tuesday for TTT it was suggested we travel back to a memorable or first cooking experience, don’t forget to come back for that.

blessings~

• rain, and lots of it! God is watering my flowers wonderfully!
• church camp!
• homecomings
• fathers
• 18 years of marriage
• 100 calorie packs of snacks… like grasshopper cookies, reese’s snacksters, & sunchips!
• words of faith!
• encouraging comments from bloggy friends
• YOU!

Thanks Judi for hosting weekend reflections!

Family~

• Amanda’s passport came yesterday! I always say everything works for a reason… if we had been in dallas, no one would have been here to sign for it… (it was sent overnight). She is relieved.
• Everyone was packed including us… and no trip to Dallas. It has been a busy weekend anyway, and we really enjoyed church last night. The lesson was about Storms in life and I always relate storms to Izzy’s neurostorms. But, God has been faithful to bring us through a lot of ‘storms’ and I trust Him completely right now.
• Bailey went to camp. I watched him get on the van for the trip. I will miss my little guy but pray he has a wonderful week at camp.
• Emelia was supposed to be on that same van… yesterday at the park she was riding her scooter and it went out from under her. She fell flat on her back and it knocked the breath completely out of her. She was hysterical for a while and then it was better after lots of ice and heat. Well, this morning she woke up with a very sore stiff neck and shoulder. I couldn’t send her to camp like that, so I’m keeping her home to watch her and when it is better we’ll take her to camp (3 hours away).
• Matt is 40 today!
• Izzy went #2 on the real pottie last night. Matt so didn’t want me to blog about that so I’m tucking it here in this list, but in my opinion it is a big deal and I am excited about it.
• Amanda leaves tomorrow for Canada. She is so excited! I’m excited for her!

Kitchen~

• I love my new little freezer! I bought a bunch of meat on sale the other day and made several bags of hamburger patties, made up a meatloaf and froze it that way, made gyros, I can’t remember what else… but it is really nice to have all that room.
• Letting everyone choose their meals worked great and someone (I think Gail) mentioned that she even let them help on their night so I did! That made it even better.
• I’m trying to watch it in the calorie department… I bought a neat little book yesterday at Mardels that is called daily devotional for dieters. I thought about posting the devotionals on here each day… we’ll see, but here is day one:

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? I Corinthians 6:19

As Christians, we believe that God dwells within us. Our bodies become His home, and it makes sense that we should try to make His surroundings as nice as possible. The temple of God in Israel was kept immaculately clean and pure. Only the most clean and holy of men were allowed to enter it. It was revered by all. The temple was the most holy and special place of all. When we are told that our bodies are the temple of God, it is not an option whether or not we will take care of it; it is a duty. When we care for our physical being, we are making God’s temple a holy and special place.

Todays thought: We diet not only for ourselves, but for God!

Bloggville~

• Well, there have been tons of contests going on including those pretty aprons over at Nan’s. I didn’t win one of them, can’t believe that!
• Got more good mail from Christi & Jenny! Love goodmail!
• Sent out goodmail and bought stuff at Mardels to send out this week.

I’m thankful for~

• God’s faithfulness. There’s no room for doubt when in faith. Think about when the storm came and Jesus was sleeping on the boat. HE wasn’t stressed or doubting His safety… He simply took a rest. This reminds me to chill out and relax, God’s got it covered.
• My family. The kids are all scattering out this week and I will miss them. Mom had her 65 th birthday and I love her.
• My friends. Let me tell you, I have some of the best!
• You. Because you read my silliness and write the sweetest and most encouraging comments and never tell me you are bored. I have the best blog friends too!

One of my favorite blog friend’s, Judi, is hosting the weekend reflections. You can sign up to participate over at her blog, Mommy of Two.

home~

• Refrigerator drama… mine broke, and then was replaced.
• The kids all have friends staying here this weekend and it is a madhouse! I am getting ready to look for a hiding place… if I can get them full long enough… or find enough towels for their many trips to the pool! ugh. Did I mention Emelia handed out my towels to the neighbor kids last week. Since then towels are a precious commodity around our house.
• School is officially out, although Izzy will go on Wednesdays for therapy starting next week.
• We continue to do therapy and lots of standing with Izzy. She is doing very well.
• I finally did a little update on Izzy’s blog!
• Lunch was fun with my brother Mike. I had “evelyn’s pasta” in memory of matt’s grandmother who I loved and who also died recently ). It was penne with lots of grilled veggies along with hot bread. YUM. Mike had marsala chicken which also had penne pasta and shitake mushrooms. We shared so it was fun to try both. Can you believe we didn’t get cheesecake at Cheesecake factory? Hello! I meant to get a slice to go but it was so crowded I just wanted to get out of there.
• Amanda still hasn’t received her passport. Hopefully it will come soon since she leaves next Monday!
• I taught Emelia to do counted cross stitch. She is making a frog. She is doing really well for a 9 year old! She is counting it out and it looks really nice so far.

kitchen~

• the chicken cacciatore was delicious. Everyone loved it. *****
• the crockpot meatloaf was delicious too! *****
• the coconut lime chicken was a HUGE disappointment! It was bland and not very good. I thought it would be so good too!*
• the kfc twisters were wonderful! That sauce that you make with them (mayo, sugar & pepper) made them! I made a big batch and then sliced them smaller and they were gone in a flash. Better than kfc in my opinion… *****
• I made that breakfast casserole last night so breakfast would be done for all the kids this morning. I bought a loaf of jalapeño cheese bread in the bakery at walmart and it was really good. A little spicy, but Matt said it was perfect. Everyone had salsa with it. I also skipped the bacon so I wouldn’t mess up the kitchen last night and just used canadian bacon. It was just as good.

blogville~

• I got some good mail this week! First from Tori, she sent the cd her husband made of beautiful instrumental music. Then a package from Elastic Waistband Lady. She sent ME stationary and post it’s they are so cute! They say “anything is possible” and then she even sent Izzy her own good mail of goodies. So sweet! That envelope alone was good mail. Catherine sent a postcard from the museum of Automobiles! Thanks guys, these were so much fun to get, I love good mail! I have some packages ready to send out too!
• TTT went well last week, remembering our first dates, although most of us remembered or traveled back to our first dates with our husbands… makes it easier I think, especially for those of us whose husbands read our blogs.
• This week for TTT we will travel back to special times with our fathers since father’s day is around the corner and then the next week we will travel back to our favorite vacation (Julie thought of that one!)
• Haley sent a package today, it actually just came so I haven’t taken a pic of it yet… but if you remember she had a coach purse giveaway? Well, she mentioned she found something else and sent it (it was a purple dooney purse & wallet) and she made some adorable flower pens, and there was beads for izzy and bracelets and keychain for amanda and post its that are so cute and body spray. It was a plethora of goodies. Thank you Haley and fyi, Amanda has claimed that purple purse as hers! I didn’t have a chance )
• I’ve really been getting to know some blog friends better this week. Blogging is deeper than just silly little memes, I love a meme… don’t get me wrong. But, I have met some of the neatest people from so many places it amazes me. The encouragement I was given when I spoke my beliefs the other day was such a blessing.

i’m thankful for~

• God’s love.
• God’s promises.
• My children.
• My parents.
• My friends.
• working appliances.
• YOU!

Visit my friend Judi over at Mommy of Two to see more weekend refections and sign up to write your own.

Family~

• Friday was the last day of school
• I made these for Izzy’s teacher’s and therapists.
• My mom & brother Mike ate lunch at Old germany, it was good. I was going to take a picture of my food but I ate it before I remembered (oops!).

Here is Mike in front of Old Germany…

Here is the front of the restaurant…

Here is mom waiting for our food.

• Mom & I hosted a going away party for my aunt Colleen, she is moving to Denver, Colorado where her (grown) children live. She and her husband moved to Choctaw years ago to be close to some of her siblings (like my dad) and a few years ago her husband died (of cancer) so she has decided to move back to Colorado.

Amanda, mom & Colleen

Here’s the spread of food we had (yum)!

• Then… Matt’s mom and her husband John came over for the afternoon …
• John cooked penne pasta with greek olives, sun dried tomatoes, artichokes, and lots of garlic! I made my famous garlic bread!
• They brought a box full of brownies from panera bread.
• Do you see her ears… the decision was to give them to her! (the earrings)

Here is Gram with Emelia

Paula, Amanda, and John

Food~

• I followed the mpm pretty well, except didn’t make the chicken caccitore… Jenna’s spaghetti was good again (Matt really enjoyed it).
• I made this for the brunch today….If you look at that table full of food, I’m sure you’ll be surprised to hear this was the only thing that was completely gone when the party was over. It was good….
• Here is the recipe! I used some jalapeño bread and it was really good.

Blogville~

• I got some good mail from Judi & Angel & Annie!
• Jenna sent me a really neat believe sign & a pretty bow for Izzy!
• Time travel Tuesday was good this week, lots of people played along!
• Next Tuesday we will travel to a first time something happened in our lives… can you guess which one?

I’m thankful for~

• Church at Cornerstone.
• Summer
• family
• good mail
• blog friends
• irl friends
• you!

Visit Judi for more weekend reflections…

Family~

• I posted an update on Izzy’s blog earlier about her week…
• The 3 year anniversary of Izzy’s near drowning came and went…
• Bailey got an award for all A’s & B’s! He is not the studier of the family so this was great! Although he is very smart. He just doesn’t ever bring homework home… hardly ever….
• I know it is almost Summer, the kids are out playing and riding bikes until dinner and then out again. They take time out for a quick swim and play more. I love this time of year when the weather is so nice for outside play time. It is so much better than being stuck in front of a video game or television set.
• Matt and I did two fasts this week and I really felt like they were beneficial to our spiritual lives. I think there is a lot of power and revelation in fasting.
• I got my hair cut Thursday and my eyebrows waxed… yeah!
• Amanda made a 100 on her Algebra III test today!
• Emelia wrote me a note for mother’s day that she forgot to bring home for several days after mother’s day but this is what it says…
• I love my mom because she makes me good food. She helps me learn stuff. she is very nice to me. Love, Emelia.
• Amanda left a handwritten card on the table (she cleaned the house while we were in Dallas) and bought me a elephant candle at target… Her card says:
• HAPPY MUTHA’S DAY!
• XOXO
• AMANDA- (yes, I assume my NHS straight A valedictorian daughter does know how to correctly spell mother… oh well, we take what we get right?)

Kitchen~

• I stayed with my menu pretty well this week… except on Tuesday it was so hectic I didn’t get the chicken roasting in time so we had it Thursday… but I invented another recipe I have called “sloppy burgers.”
• The rosemary chicken was delicious by the way. I usually make it in the roaster, but did it in the crock pot instead and it was fabulous!
• I blogged the other day about the new immersion blender from kitchen aid… it is really wonderful. I love it. I have made Izzy’s shakes and it works so well. I used some of our spaghetti and veggies tonight and was able to make perfect food for her with that thing and then used it to make Matt & Amanda homemade cookie blasts (like sonic).

Blogville~

• I’m enjoying the time travel Tuesdays… we went to 18 years old this week and next Tuesday we are planning to go back to our first blog post, post it and then tell about how and why we started blogging. I’m always up for suggestions on travel destinations btw.
• got tagged by K.C. and Lori to do the 7 random things meme …. I’ve already done it, but here are 7 bonus facts you will be dying to read about me!
• I love Sung perfume. I use it pretty much everyday (I’m out of laugh/Brighton my favorite btw)
• I am very good at french braiding. I used to braid everyone’s hair for basketball games and at church camp. I taught myself on my mandy doll.
• I make a killer spinach dip! I’m kinda famous for it even though it is almost exactly what is printed on the knorr soup mix (just a few secrets).
• My laptop died several months ago and I couldn’t find anyone to work on it, so after I found out from Dell it had just run out of warranty… I took it apart and fixed it (Matt helped me solder the part) and reassembled it all by myself by looking at the schematic on the dell website and then reloaded all the drivers by myself!
• I buy most of Izzy’s clothes at gymboree, usually online. I love their outfits and matching everything and they are soft and comfy for her.
• Most of my good IRL friends have been my friends for a very long time.
• I like to fold t-shirts directly out of the dryer martha stewart style. They look so nice and neat.
• I joined up with the good mail girls and have mailed out about 7 or 8 packages this week. It is so much fun to send things out and I know it will be fun when mail comes here too!

I’m thankful for~

• Beautiful days.
• Happy kids.
• healthy kids!
• Air conditioning.
• coke with sonic ice.
• my friends IRL and bloggy ones too.
• God’s love!
• you, for reading all the way down to the last line ).

Thanks Judi for hosting WR.

Family~

• Amanda was inducted into the National Honor Society Tuesday evening. She will now begin doing hours of community volunteer work. She will be able to count her hours in Montreal (mission trip) and also hours doing therapy with Izzy.
• Make a wish foundation volunteer came over this week to get information to plan Izzy’s trip to Disney world this Fall. We will be gone for 7 days/nights! Very exciting.

Kitchen~

• I actually followed my menu plan completely this past week.
• The chicken cream cheese enchiladas were delicious! and I made a little extra chicken and used it for taquitos to freeze. They were great too.
• The pork chops & mushrooms were really good too, the family loved them! I served them with baked potatoes and there was a lot of gravy.

Blogville~

• I got a new template from bluebird blogs, Susie does awesome work!
• Time Travel Tuesday got off to a good start, this Tuesday will be ‘sweet 16.’
• Coach Jenny answered questions.
• Carrie showed her goat face.
• Jenna flashed a smile!
• Julie had a baby boy!!!

I’m thankful for~

• God’s promises.
• My family.
• My IRL friends.
• My bloggy friends.
• Y-O-U!!!

Judi is the sweet hostess of weekend reflections, you can visit her to sign up and see more!

Family~

• I had Izzy’s IEP Tuesday. It went well, and we are excited for her to go spend some time in the regular pre-k class next Fall.
• Emelia had land run day at school. It was quite an experience Friday morning getting her dressed like a pioneer woman and then getting her stick horse, lunch, blanket for the picnic, and wagon all ready to take to school.
• Bailey is finished with track, and he is pretty happy about it. I am glad he stuck with it and he ended up enjoying long distance running as well as pole vaulting. He is so thin right now from so much running.
• Amanda made a 109 on her biology test!

Kitchen~

• I’m not making chicken pockets this week … I am not tired of them, but I think everyone else is ).
• I ended up inventing a new recipe… you can read about it here.

Blogville~

• Enjoyed the fun purse tag…
• let off a little steam…
• Amberly started a new meme called Friday Favorites.
• I’ve been out an about working on signatures which is fun… like coachj’s and karen’s
  
• My friend Julie is about to have her 7th baby, anyday!

I’m thankful for~

• Izzy’s health & the rest of our family’s health!
• Izzy’s teachers and therapists & bear & heath.
• My parents who are always there for me and have shown me unconditional love my entire life.
• My friends who listen to me ramble and love me anyway.
• My blogfriends who are quick to offer encouragement and teach me new things everyday!
• A God who loves me and forgives me.
• You~ for taking time to read this ).

Thanks Judi for hosting weekend reflections.

Family~

Tuesday was our appointment for castings that didn’t quite goes as planned, but thankfully God took care of it and we even had lunch free… you can read about that here!

Wednesday we saw Bear again. He did really neat things with Izzy and we are excited to have him working with her.

Thursday Izzy had a good day at school!

Bailey brought home all A’s & B’s. He’s been working hard to keep his grades up. Amanda has always gotten straight A’s and been in honor classes, she works hard! She has piles of notecards all over her room, and she studies late into the night for tests. Bailey on the other hand, never brings homework home and never really studies. We try very hard to stress the importance of good grades to him so he has been trying to keep his mind on his business. (He is so smart!)

Emelia has been my therapy helper all week, during assisted crawling in the evenings. Mom fell on the ice a few months ago and it hurts her knee to get on the floor so thankfully emelia is usually around!

Friday my friend Melody came over during her lunch hour so I could highlight her hair. She comes over about every other month and I do the foil highlights for her. (I am not a professional and basically do it for family and close friends). She wanted a lot of hair cut off this time and it looked really cute. I meant to take a before and after pic to post but didn’t …. I’ll ask her for a pic. Mendy who is another lifetime friend was in town for a funeral and wanted to come visit so she came while Melody was here and decided to have highlights and a trim too. We played beauty shop for a few hours. Everyone looked beautiful (‘cept me )…

Kitchen~

The chicken squares are evolving into a masterpiece )…. I added sun dried tomatoes this time and boy were they yummy. You might even see them again on this weeks menu, who knows what I’ll find to add next …

The fajitas in the crockpot turned out good. They were to liquidy. You just never know with individual crock pots how it will turn out. Next time I will know to put just a little liquid. They were still good, Matt loved them, and I will make them again.

I still haven’t made that Italian Wedding Soup! Everytime I say that is for dinner, Matt says, “Let’s have something else.” I finally asked him what his problem was with this and I guess the name made him think it was a little thin soup… so now it is called hearty italian stew and it is cooking right now in my crock pot.

Bloggville~

I was so amazed at the response to Heather’s Love Offering! I think the last time I looked the total was well over $15,000.00! That is so awesome and I am really proud to be a fellow blogger!

Sweet Linda over at Ribbon Rock Star gave me the thinking blogger award! Thank you Linda! I didn’t pass it on the last couple of times, but I think this time I want to send it to Sheryl who not only has a really cute blog, but is also very thoughtful; Irene-the green greek is always making me think and I love to hear all about Greece!; Karen, Irritable mother is a new blog friend and she has great posts! I’m loving reading her!; Haley, who makes me think about what it was like to be young and starting my family; and Jenny from Gus’ Gang who makes me think about all the children that need prayer and is so sweet to post updates on Izzy regularly. So, girls, now you can nominate five thinkers yourselves, and display the thinking blogger award in your sidebar.

There are a lot of fun parties still going on around blogworld… like Amy’s and Haley’s!

This has been a good week, there is so much to be thankful for! You can write your weekend reflection & go over to Judi~Mommy of Two to see more!

Family~
Monday Izzy met ‘Bear.’ You can read about that here…

Tuesday Amanda got her driver’s license!

Here’s Izzy at Heath (the chiropractor) on Tuesday too!

Friday evening we headed to Dallas. There were tornados all along the path we were to be traveling, so we got a slow start and they had all passed through. Whew, what a long car ride! Emelia said, “this was the longest four hours of my life.” I don’t know about that, but it sure did seem long.
Saturday we went to see Thurman Scrivner (tlsm.org). This lasted all afternoon, but was great teaching and information. After the teaching was over we spent time with some of the key people working with that ministry team. It was really a great experience and I’ll write more about it.
After we left I took the kids for some El Fenix. I got hooked on this place when we were in dallas for the 8 weeks after Izzy’s near drowning.
We headed home Sunday afternoon to help celebrate my brother Mike’s birthday. I didn’t stay long because Izzy was pooped out from the trip, but there was much food to be had there! My mom is the best cook!
The pics of Bailey and Emelia are at El Fenix (with my phone camera).

Kitchen~
The chicken squares I made on this week’s Menu Plan Monday were so good I am planning to have them again this week ). I made a double batch and used 8 oz. of cream cheese. I also added green onions rather than dried and some real bacon bits.

Bloggville~

First I want to mention Heather. I am praying for Heather and know that the bloggers are rallying to support her and her family.

The thinking blogger award has come back to me again ~ twice! Thank you so much Kim (Kim’s Candor) and Catherine (Edward & Catherine Carmichael).

Last (but not least) one of my favorite people has started a blog. You should stop by and welcome Melody! We’ll be working on beautifying her blog in the next few days/weeks ).

Well, thanks Judi for hosting weekend reflections. It is great to sit and remember all the great events of the past week.

Family

• Izzy’s botox procedure went well, and while results of hip x-ray could have discouraged our family… it didn’t! We are just more aware of the fact the God is in control of our lives and has increased our faith & prayers.
• Izzy’s dentist follow up went very well. Dr. Jerome Miller is an excellent dentist and did a great job! Praise God that we are out of the dental nightmare and it is behind little Izzy. Her new smile looks great and she is adorable as always. The most important thing is we know she is not in any pain from her teeth.
• Amanda was awarded a certificate for Oklahoma High School Honor Society at a luncheon this week at her high school. She has a 4.0 gpa.

Kitchen

• The past week’s recipes were all great! I tried three new recipes this week that I ran across on Menu Plan Monday’s around blogville… they were all two thumbs up!
• I stuck with my menu except for Friday, there was so much slow cooker lasagna that we had leftovers (I had a baked potato).

Blogville

• I was given the thinking blogger award from Lauren! I had a hard time just choosing five people to pay it forward to, because everyone I read regularly makes me think.
• Carrie sent this shout out to Izzy (with Sadie’s help)!
• Jenna’s posted about who she’d like to meet on Tuesday after her IRL friends Mandalyn and CoachJ posted some pics of her.
• Mandalyn shared a great story about an answered prayer.

Don’t forget to hop into Judi’s blog “Mommy of Two” and sign up for weekend reflections.