A noisy day

A couple of weeks ago we started yet another project around here. We bought pavers at a really discounted price 2 years ago to redo our back patio. It was in really bad shape, cracked and sunken down in places. Last year Johnny attempted to build some forms and was going to go over the patio with the pavers but that was going to end up being way too high so we didn't end up getting it done last summer.

He decided to rent a jackhammer and get the concrete out of there. He had four hours to get it out so he took no breaks, kept that thing going the entire time. It did not look like any fun at all to me...

the kids and i were the rock carriers. trey stuck with it all day! the other two were kind of in and out.

ethan found a way to move the rock...he made trip after trip this way

this is what raegan though about the jack hammer

this is what our patio looked like at the end of the day. all of those rocks are now removed and in a massive pile in the backyard. phase one of the project is complete. phase two is getting the rock out of here and dumped! phase three will be building the new porch, our old one had rotted, (it's amazing someone had not fallen through it) and then finally phase four will be getting the new pavers down! The plan is to hopefully be able to get to enjoy the completed back porch and patio area this summer!

Easter 2011

Easter morning was actually a somewhat relaxing morning. We went to later service since i had nursery duty, so we had plenty of time to get up and around and get some pictures. Raegan couldn't wait to wear her "princess dress". (anything that somewhat twirls is a winner in her book)

me and my girls

daddy/dad and his boys

they always have to get their crazy one in

after church we went to grandma and grandpa's house for lunch and the easter egg hunt

johnny's mom made him some banana bread to celebrate his birthday. he doesn't like cake so he requested banana bread.

the kids filled their baskets

and then checked out their loot! raegan obviously enjoyed every second of it!

Hope you all had a very nice Easter!

Answers

Well the responses to this post were underwhelming, ha... but i said i would answer them today so here goes...

1. What color are my eyes? green

2. What is my natural hair color? blonde (i have only highlighted it once in my life but as my color is becoming more and more gray that will have to be done more frequently i think!

3. How many did i have in my graduating class? uno, one, me myself and i (i went to a very small private school)

4. What college did i sign a letter of intent to run cross country for? Hutchinson Community College (though i ended up at the very ended changing my mind and going to Bible College)

5. How old was i when i married my crazy husband and how long have we been married? I was 20, he was 21 (we had trouble getting a rental car) and we will be celebrating 16 years on May 20!

6.What is my life long dream? to run the New York City Marathon!

7. What is one of my habits? (this could be a scary question to ask) i bite the inside of my cheeks when i am nervous, bored, upset, busy...pretty much all the time!

8. What is my dream vehicle? a brand new Honda Oddyssey with a dvd player to entertain the kids! (i'm a minivan gal!)

9. What was my average weight gain with each pregnancy? 40 whopping lbs

10. What number of blog post is this? i believe this is 902

Bonus question

11. Where did i go on a missions trip to in high school? i went to Moscow, Russia! We took a ton of Bibles to hand out and ran out soo quickly! We held open air meetings at an amusement type park, I remember being a little freaked out when a policeman came right up to me outside of a subway station (all i could think of was the books we read when i was younger about secret police in Russia) He was asking so kindly for a Bible! It was an awesome experience that i would never trade and i will encourage my teens some day to go on a missions trip as well!

The power of the cross

I'm going to link to a song that i have posted before. I thought i would post it again with today being Good Friday. All you have to do is click on the title of my post "the power of the cross" at the top and it will play. I was posting it on facebook earlier and as i was playing it Raegan hopped up on the desk with me and was watching it also. Towards the end her face got very serious and with a shaky little voice she said "that makes me so sad" and buried her head in my chest and bawled her little eyes out.

Ethan was right with us as well and quickly told his little sister "but it's ok Raegan he didn't stay dead, he came alive again after 3 days...he's not on the cross anymore, he's in heaven!" (proud momma moment)

She calmed down after we talked for a bit and she wanted to watch it again...then she went on with her day and playing.

It made me think. It broke her little heart that Jesus died on the cross and that people did that to him. It made her bawl her eyes out! Shouldn't it break our hearts more often? Shouldn't we take it less for granted what he did for us that day? Shouldn't we shed a tear thinking about the pain and suffering he went through for us?!

It may be different for others but sometimes just sitting and listening and watching this is the best tool for me to reflect and really think about what He did for me!

I Corinthians 15:3-4

I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.

How well do you know the blogger

It's game time! 10 questions about me...how well do you know me...most of the answers have been answered in a blog post at some time over the years.

Immediate family will obviously know most of these answers so don't read prior comments until you give your own answers...or cheat if you want i suppose ;)

Here we go...cmon if you read this blog and have never commented today is the day...dive in :)

1. What color are my eyes?
2. What is my natural hair color?
3. How many did i have in my graduating class?
4. What college did i sign a letter of intent to run cross country for?
5. How old was i when i married my crazy husband and how long have we been married?
6.What is my life long dream?
7. What is one of my habits? (this could be a scary question to ask)
8. What is my dream vehicle?
9. What was my average weight gain with each pregnancy?
10. What number of blog post is this?

Bonus question

11. Where did i go on a missions trip to in high school?

Ok, i decided the fact is no one is going to make a comment that long to answer all of these! So, if you want to play pick one or two to answer...i will give the answers tomorrow.

Look who is 37

Johnny got to celebrate his birthday by working a 13 hr day today. The kids all had cards made for him and stuck on the front door when he got home. We went out for dinner and when we got home Ethan had the paddle in hand waiting to give daddy his 37 spankings and a pinch (which i gave and will pay for dearly come August). No, we don't use the paddle when we give the kids their "birthday spankings" but ethan thought he needed the paddle i guess.

Happy #37 Johnny! You are an awesome daddy, a wonderful husband and the kids and i appreciate everything that you do for us! Your sense of humor keeps the mood light in our house and yet you take things that need to be taken seriously serious. I appreciate and am very thankful for your desire to be a godly father and husband.

And now i will sit back and enjoy the next four months that i get to be "a year younger" than you! Happy Birthday old man! ;)

Spring game

We have started an annual tradition of heading to Nebraska to watch their spring game each April. Last year we left the two youngest with Grandma but this year Ethan was pretty excited that he was going to get to go too. We left by 7 in the morning. We usually take food and grill out but we decided since the day was going to start out pretty chilly that it didn't sound very fun to eat outside and freeze so we ate at Applebees before the game.

the kids are die hard Nebraska fans just like Daddy. Johnny would like me to be a little more of a die hard fan than i am but it's a slow process...i'm getting there. i did wear my jersey too! it warmed up a lot and there was hardly any wind once we got in the stadium so we were actually pretty warm throughout the game.

ethan thought it was the coolest that "everybody there was cheering for Nebraska!" he loved it!

i'm really glad daddy has someone to discuss the game with now cause i really am quite clueless when it comes to football...i do get the basics, i like to see a touchdown...but all that in between stuff...kinda boring (did i type that out loud??)

the kids do a drug free pledge at half time. we got onto the field right as they were ending it! that's how many people were trying to get on the field!

johnny stays on the field until the yellow jacket guys come start chasing everyone off


we let the kids play around a little before we headed to the car...they checked out the nose bleed section

all ethan wanted all day was a cob hat! thank goodness we found this one that he could model for a picture and that satisfied him...no way was i spending $22 for a corn cob for my childs head!

Trey bought himself a souvenir (the visor) and we scored some free food from a place that must have been trying to use up their stuff. It was a fun day and it remains to be seen if #4 will join the crew heading to Nebraska next year.

Track meet #2

Wednesday Trey had another track meet. I have found it is very hard to keep track of which place they come in on the relay teams unless you know what all the team member look like and i don't know all of his relay team members...he had smooth transitions on all his handoffs...

he got done with the 4x200 m relay and had to go straight over to line up for the 800 meter race. He is consistent, he held 6th place the entire run until the very end and this guy in the purple passed him. Trey said he "just didn't have it to pass him back" I could tell he didn't, he was worn out. He didn't hear his time when he crossed so not sure how that was compared to his last 800.

You did a great job Trey! We were very proud of you!

Grandpa and Grandma Seaba came out to watch him run

and dad took off work a little early so that he could make his meet too, thank goodness because he is soo much better with the video camera than me! i tend to forget that i'm videoing and jump around and well let's just say my futute would never be in videography if that's even a word

A couple more meets to go...track is going to be over before we know it...school is going to be out before we know it!

Spring days

Winter is great on Avery's little lungs but those spring blossoms take quite a toll on her. After picking her up on Friday from school for wheezing and listening to her cough and wheeze all weekend (and lot's of breathing treatments) we headed to the allergist on Monday.

They always get a plan right into place and get her on the right track. I have to sit and take notes during the visit to make sure i get everything straight, when to do what and so on...

Her small airways (these are details for me down the road) were at 62% as opposed to 79% in the fall so the dr said she appeared better than what she sounded like inside!

peakflows, weekly allergy shots, claritan, zyrtec, hydroxyzine, asmanex, prednisone, singulair, pataday, protopic, xopenex inhaler, albuterol for her nebulizer...these are the things that are making her spring days tolerable...making it so that she is able to go outside and play.

Her eczema had (almost) completely gone away over the winter. I was getting high hopes that this might be it for her. It has come back some but not nearly as bad as she used to have it so far. We will see what the next couple of months brings.

This was at the allergist on Monday. They gave her a breathing treatment while they were getting all of her medicines and prescriptions together...

Twinkies

I picked up Avery from school early today to see her allergist and we had a few minutes to kill before her appointment so we made a little stop at one of my favorite stores. Avery picked out a cute shirt and we just so happened to find one in a smaller size as well! The girls just had to have them! And mommy just had to have some pictures of them in them...

Days like today when Raegan is playing with Avery's hair on the way to school and they are getting along like best little buds are awesome...

they make up for the times when raegan has thrown herself out of her bed onto the floor and i come in and avery say's "she does this all the time, she's just trying to get my attention"...

i love hearing them call each other little nicknames like "avy" and "raeg" so affectionately

makes up for the screams of "don't touch my stuff!" or "get out of here" and i have to do reminding that the room belongs to both of them!

i love their feisty spirits even though some days i don't like having to deal with those feisty spirits...they are both two determined little girls

I can't wait to see where they go in life. I will pray that they continue to love Jesus with all of their hearts most importantly! And i will pray pray that Jesus will guard their hearts as they walk through life. Sometimes it's a little scary when i think about the responsibility of raising girls in today's world but then i have to remember that we gave these girls right back to God after they were born and we will do our best to raise them right but they are always in God's care! And i know he has great plans for their lives!

Track meet #1

Trey had his first 6th grade track meet yesterday. He ran the 4x100 relay, the 4x200 relay of which i got no pictures of and then he ran the 800m

The guys were all getting ready to be called to the starting line for the 800m

the starting line for the 800

the finishing stretch of the 800, if you click on the picture you can see him better but he is the second boy in the picture. He took 6th place in the 800 with a time of 3:15. He said he was super nervous yesterday and now he knows what to expect so won't be as nervous next time.

His next meet is next Wednesday so hopefully it will be another nice day like it was yesterday!

Loved watching him run! Great job Trey!

Edited archived post

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

The first part of this post is the original post i wrote in 2009 and at the end i added to it today...

So where do you

shop? If you are like our family you are starting to frequent (even more than normal) Target and Walmart as shopping days are quickly winding down!

I'm a Target shopper, i love Target pretty much everything about it! I even grocery shopped their UNTIL that is Super Walmart came very near to my house and i had to give it a try (groceries). So much drives me crazy about Walmart...the carts weigh what feels like 200 lbs and when you fill them with groceries and put that 24 pak of water on the bottom...that's it, there is no more steering capability...add on a kid or two riding on the end of the cart and my patience is shot (ha, like that takes very much). Where are the help boxes (push that lovely little button and help comes a runnin), no no help boxes at Walmart...you just learn to shinny up the shelf and grab that pack of size 4 diapers a half mile back on the shelf!

But, did i stay with buying groceries at Target? After a few times of shopping at Walmart i did go back and try Target again and of course was happy to be back in my "comfortable turf" with the plastic carts that didn't weigh 200 pounds! The price difference for groceries and this money saving momma's good conscience sent me shopping for things to fill my hungry's kids tummy's back to the 200 pound cart land...please tell me i'm not the only one that has trouble pushing these...am i really that weak? I continue to wait in the god forsaken long lines that Walmart seems to think might be good for your health or something, and as i stand their i daydream about how if i was at Target they would be jumping on other lanes to ease the lines.

But, all in the name of money i go and i go again, week after week...pushing my 200 pound cart with my 24 bottles of water on the bottom, two kids hanging off the end of the cart doing my one-stop, get everything shopping trip!

So where do you grocery shop...do you go to 200 pound cart land? Or are you a lover of the Target handy dandy help box? Oh trust me, i go to Target still a plenty, just not for the groceries.

Edited 04/05/11

I was recently talking with a friend and we were talking about grocery shopping. She told me about a study done recently that resulted in Target being a percentage cheaper than Walmart for groceries! That was all it took for me to give it another try Plus i signed up for the Target debit card where it comes directly from your checking account and you save 5% on all purchases.

Last night i calmly meandered around the Target grocery with the super light cart (even with the 24 pak of water) giving it a go again to see if i could stay within my budget at the place that i would rather shop!

The results? Most everything that i buy from week to week was the same price with the exception of about three or four items that were a little higher. But, in the end after my 5% savings i stayed within my budget range AND i went to get in line behind two people and someone quickly opened up the next lane and someone came and said "i think this lane will be quicker if you would like to move over here" SOLD! I'm going back! Sure i'm sure i will get a few groceries here and there at Walmart but my big weekly shopping trips i'm heading back to Target...the always find a parking spot, help box for when your lost or need help reaching somehting, toiletry item section that you don't have to walk a mile across the store to get to with a full cart that you can no longer steer, people that are quick to ease the lines, did i mention the light carts???, and a debit card that saves you 5% on your shopping trip! Oh and light carts, but i think i already mentioned that...

I heart Target! I think they should pay me for this :)