This and That...

Thank you for all my birthday wishes. I had a very nice day! Don't you all think I married the absolute BEST man in the world? He totally surprised me with his "post" on here.

I need to make something clear. Someone told me the other day, "You just have the perfect family and life. Your kids probably never do anything bad." (stop laughing, Elise) So for the record, we DO NOT have perfect kids. We are trying to raise them to be good people, but they are still just kids. Yes, I have to scrub marked up walls, clean up broken eggs off the floor, have "talks" about being nice to each other and some days, it seems like that's all I get done. But if I'm going to take time out of my day to share with you, I'm not going to dwell on the bad things.... :) So that's why you'll mostly see fun things on here, because I like to think about good things. :) I mean the Bible even says, "Whatsoever things are...good...think on these things." (okay, so that might be stretching it a little) So I hope you enjoy our blog anyway.

We have been blessed with a little man in our lives. He is the only boy out of 12 girls on both sides of our family, including Megan and Kristyn. But he is not the bravest little man you've ever seen. He doesn't like the dark, or anything scary. The other night I went to check on the kids before I went to bed and he wasn't in his bed....this is where I found him. :)

Last Saturday we went to the creek for a picnic and this is what greeted us. (just so you know we went to an entirely different part of the creek before letting the kids walk in the water. ) If we've ever had a "perfect" afternoon, this was it. :)

Kristyn is related to her Mommy and loves to look for neat rocks. :)

I was trying to take Owen's picture and all of a sudden he said, "There's a bear!" I think he was trying to distract me, so he could get out of getting his picture taken. He is so hilarious!!

Keith had the wonderful idea of taking the tripod to get a family picture! What a guy!
Thank you for stopping by. I hope you have a great day!!

Happy Birthday

Crystal,

Just in case everybody doesn't read the comments, I wanted to wish you a Happy Birthday. You turly are the woman of my dreams and I am proud to say I am Crystal's Husband. Sweetheart, you are so special and you just get sweeter with time. I love you more that these words can says and I am looking forward to spending the rest of our lives together.

Yours only always and forever,

Keith


This picture was take by our budding photographer, Kristyn. Crystal with her Brithday flowers.
The happiest day of my life, when I married my sweetheart and best friend

"Peanut"...

A lady "rescued" this little critter and decided Kristyn needed it. (thanks alot!!) Keith and I both desperately tried to see the beauty in her and was just having a hard time of it. We couldn't quite see past the dirt and "yucky-ness" of her like Kristyn could. :) Keith decided we would have a "trial run" and see how she did. After only having her a few hours, I reminded Kristyn that we were just keeping her for a while to see if she liked us, but we might have to give her back. Immediately, the storms clouds blew in and the the tears started flowing. I told Keith he'd better have a really good explaination for her, if the dog had to be given back.

So we started out with this.....
For being a "kennel dog" her whole little life, she was so good with the kids and being led on a leash.
Kristyn was just sure this little dog was a gift straight from Heaven to her. She affectionately named her "Peanut." By the second day of having her, she had gone on wagon rides, had a tea party, been wrapped in a blanket, went on numerous walks around the yard and brushed from head to hind-end at least a few dozen times.
A lady offered to cut her hair for us. The dog had already had 4 baths, even with whitening shampoo and we all decided that she was just stained. So Keith wanted her completely shaved. "Start out fresh and new."

This is what she brought back.......
Can you believe it? Talk about 'Extreme Pet Makeover'!!! She looks big in the pictures, but she's only about 10 lbs. They told us she was a cockapoo (cocker spaniel/poodle), but we don't know for sure. Definately not our "dream dog", but she's an answer to many of Kristyn's prayers. :)
On a completely different note, we had our darling niece Tori here Sunday. She came up with her grandparents and she spent the afternoon with us. The kids had a great time.

Isn't she precious?
Mr. Cheese!! (he had some safety goggles on his head.....I have no idea why :) )
Megan sporting her two top teeth that she just got last week. She really wasn't screaming, I think the flash startled her.
So there you have it, all in a nut shell. :) Thanks for stopping by!

For my Mama....

This post is strictly for my mother. :) I saw a picture the other day, that I really liked in a Christian bookstore, of course, the price was WAY more than I could afford, so I decided to do my own. On the way home from the store, I took this picture and after getting the kids to bed, I added the Bible verse to it. I made this for a dear friend of mine that is going through some dark valleys and this is her favorite verse. I don't like bragging on myself, or having a "look what I did" attitude, but my mom wanted to show this to someone, but was having problems downloading it, so she asked me to put it on here.

Afterwards, I got this frame to put it in. I thought it just set it off. :) (I know the verse is off-centered...I'll fix it. :) ) It looks kind of dark in this picture, but it looks really nice "in real life." :)
So there you have it, Mom! :) Hope the rest of you enjoy it too.

I don't have any pictures to share from this week. It has rained and rained. (I could have taken pictures of the mud "fight" the kids had, or Kristyn's "pet" worm that she found and pulled apart because "I decided I wanted 2 pet worms, Mommy." Hmmmm...why didn't I think of that?? ) Hopefully, sunny days are ahead and more pictures coming. :)

Catching Up...

I know it's been a long time since I've updated, so I'll "tell" you all about what's been going on. (But like my dear hubby tells me, just let the pictures do the talking!!) :)


Nothing like a good old swing!

Arthur's 14 lb cat fish! Can you tell he's proud of it? Good job, Arthur!
Berry pickin' time! These are little plums. We picked LOTS of them. Now we have to figure out what to make with them. :)

Fall is definately in the air. The nights are getting cooler and the flowers are starting to fall. :(

There's nothing quite like running through a field of flowers on a sunny day!
Gathering eggs at a friends house. She really took it seriously! :)
Owen found himself a friend.....one that would drive him around the yard over and over again. Can you tell he's pleased?

Over Labor Day weekend, we went to a reunion and took our tent this time. We had such a great time.

Getting ready for the day.
Our little "tent-ville"
The kids had a great time playing in the creek!
Does anyone claim the person in the back of this picture??? (A-hem...that would have been a great picture)
Kaylee and Tori!

Well, that just about does it, I think. Thanks for checking in on us. While you're here leave a comment, we love to read them!

Corn...

Well, before I get started on corn, I thought I'd share this with you.


How do you go from this precious scene, (Kristyn loves to feed Megan).......

....to this? Kristyn's only explaination was, "Well, she wanted to feed herself!" Hmmmm......
Happy as a little bird. :)
Okay, now to the corn. Do you ever wonder how the corn goes from the corn field to the neat packages in the freezer?

First you shuck it...
Then you cut out the bad parts....
Nibble on some of it....

Feed the donkey.....
Wash it....

Put it in boiling water for about 10 minutes....
Cut the kernals off the cob....
Put it in bags and mark them....
And finally, off to the freezer...
So now you can appreciate all the work that goes into the cute little package of corn that you grab out of the freezer. :)