Blessed

I darn well know I'm blessed materially. We have more than we ever dreamed we would have when we married over 26 years ago...but I am continually AMAZED at how blessed I am as a Mom.
My sweet girl is such a delight to me. She is loving and kind and continually surprises me with the woman she is growing into. Last night she drove all the way back home from college with two friends to pick up a teammate who had flown into Wichita. That is a six hour round trip drive. They didn't get back to college until after 1 a.m. She is really a great friend to her friends.
I love how she calls me to check in every morning or texts with a "Good Morning Mommy". That makes my day.
I adore how she has been best friends with the same sweet girl for over 15 years. How they are thick as thieves and have such a fun shared history.
My sweet Miss M is such a good girl too. I know that other college kids are fiddling around with drinking and bad behavior but she is not into that and I really admire her for standing strong in her convictions.
Every day I thank the Lord that he allowed me to raise a daughter like Maggie. She is truly the icing on my cake and makes me so proud.

REALLY BACK to BLOGGING!

This is it...do or die time on the blogging business. Ha! I don't know where the last few months have gone. Guess I just haven't had a lot to say. My sweet girl left for college and my darling boy went off to high school and life got SUPER busy.

Miss M's volleyball team finished SECOND in their conference for volleyball! We were so proud and spent many evenings traveling to games and tournaments. So much fun to be a volleyball parent. We truly love it.

Big D's so involved with our church that it feels like it might be his second home. He loves it and loves the people and that makes me so happy. He also has spent hours learning (self-teaching really) himself to play his acoustic guitar. He is such a great musician.

It is exciting to be heading into the Christmas holidays. I have the tree up and decorated, the mantle decorated and my centerpieces made for the coffee table and dining table. Gorgeous if I do say so myself.

My projects this fall have included organizing my VAST collection of books. Ugh. That has been a labor of love (and sometimes hate!), trying to pull off life as the Mama of a college girl and high school boy, attending the bestest Bible Study ever at my sweet Carole's house and trying to write. The writing is proving the hardest. I just don't think I have a lot to say right now or at least a reason to say it. My biggest project has been writing letters to my immediate family for Christmas. I'm excited about that.

Okay..that wasn't so hard. I love my blog. Truth be told, it is the pictures and loading them to it that do me in. So maybe the goal here is not so many pictures and more words.

Glad to be back!

I'm ALIVE!!

So much to say....not enough time today to say it but I feel horrible guilt over the way I let my little blog flounder and collapse. So many things have happened over the last few months..my baby has gone to college and my babiest baby is a highschool freshman. Anyway..this is just to say "I'M BACK!" elipses and all! Ha!
Can't wait to start blogging again on Sunday.

Dogs, Neck Pain, Headache

Those three words so describe my life today.
Dogs: I am having to have the carpets cleaned in my downstairs today because the house smells very doggy and my parents are coming this weekend. It looks and smells ALOT better. As a matter of fact, they just finished and it looks INCREDIBLE!!
Neck Pain: I have either slept goofy on my pillows or have a sinus infection or an inoperable brain tumor but MY HEAD IS SPLITTING and has been for the last three days. I know seasonal allergies are VERY bad right now but it feels like it's in my upper back. I don't know...it's bad.
Headache: Explained above.
I have lost the cord for my camera/computer link up and need to load the pictures of Maggie's signing on my blog and facebook. That's the next order of business today.

Dodge City!!!

This has been the biggest whirlwind week of our lives! Maggie signs her letter of intent for Dodge City Communty College today! We are so excited for her! Jim is in Seattle so will miss the big moment but I am planning on taking TONS of pictures. We have cookies from Connie's, a cookie cake, punch and all the purple and gold and white accessories we could find! After this morning she will officially be a Dodge City Community College Conquistador (or Conq for short).

This is a picture of the campus. It looks very brown in this picture but it really wasn't this unattractive in real life.


And this is her wonderful Coach, Shaun Pohlman. He's going to be a great Coach for Maggie and so encouraging and nice. We love him and his sweet family!


After today...my baby girl will be college bound. I plan on celebrating with a lot of chocolate and my bed tonight. I'm worn out from all the excitement!

Spring is Here!

These were the shoes I wore for Easter. I think they are SO cute! Best yet..they were pretty comfy. I can't wait to wear them all summer long...I just think they are wonderful and I love that metallic silver. I desperately need to update my capri's and t's wardrobe. Plus I love having a few cute flowy skirts to wear in summer. Oh! I just can't wait until summer really hits.

I know spring has really sprung when I start seeing these in my garden. Peony shoots.


It won't be too long until they look like this...

It's almost always right before Memorial Day here. Even though they are always covered in ants..I always bring them in and enjoy them in bouquets. I have a system for getting rid of the ants. I drown them. Fill your kitchen sink with soapy, warm water and then submerge the peony heads for a few seconds. This kind of stuns the ants and you can shake them (or they float) right off. It takes care of all but the most stubborn little stinkers.

My kids are off school today (yahoo!) so we are going to enjoy our long weekend together with mowing and cleaning up. I will enjoy that..I'm not sure about them.

Easter

We have had a fabulous Easter! What a great day! We got up this morning and thoroughly enjoyed church. Joe and Maggie came with and we all enjoyed the incredible music, sermon and whole experience. It was so worshipful. I was in tears the whole time, overcome with the sovereignty of the service.

We came home and I cooked a ham, hashbrown potato casserole, asparagus, peas, broccoli/cauliflower salad, rolls and lemon pudding souffle cake with whipped cream for dessert. We colored eggs..the kids ate alot of chocolate and it's been an all around great day.

Happy Easter dear friends. I hope you all have a moment to recognize the brevity and joy of the day. The chocolate eggs are pretty yummy too!