Pictures of our new home!

We are all settled into our new home, so I thought I'd share a couple pics.


Jim has done a TON of work on the landscape of this place. Here he is working hard:

Happy Memorial Day

Freedom Is Not Free

I watched the flag pass by one day.
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine saluted it,
And then he stood at ease.
I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
With hair cut square and eyes alert
He'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers' tears?
How many pilots' planes shot down?
How many died at sea?
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No, freedom isn't free.

I heard the sound of taps one night,
When everything was still
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
That taps had meant "Amen,"
When a flag had draped a coffin
Of a brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, freedom isn't free.
~Kelly Strong

Have you hugged a veteran today?

Cupcakes

My cupcakes turned out delicious!! The peanut butter icing was EXTREMELY rich, so I ended up covering them with vanilla icing, then adding a small amount of peanut butter icing on top of that. I would share a pic, but they were eaten up way too fast! So instead, I'll just share the recipe.

Peanut Butter Icing
1/2 C peanut butter
5 Tbsp butter, softened
1 C powdered sugar
1 Tbsp milk

Mix the peanut butter and butter, then add in the powdered sugar. If icing is too thick, add milk a little bit at a time.

Remember, to start with just a little bit! Enjoy :o)

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY HONEY!!

Woohoo! Today is our anniversary! My, how time flies! I have been craving chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter icing for months, I kinda thought if I bought all the ingredients to make them, then my kids would surprise me. They did - they've been whiny all day because they think they should never spend a moment at home. They all want to go in different directions. So, I sent them in the other room, and I'm making my cupcakes myself! I'll let you know how they turn out :o)

Boring

Not a very good title for a blog post - but that describes how I've been lately. For three days I barely even left the couch - my legs and feet have been severely swollen and it even hurt to try to walk. I went to the Dr. yesterday and he gave me a water pill - which is working hehe. I went grocery shopping today and I haven't had any pain at all! Hope everyone has a GREAT Memorial Day weekend!

Great Wolf Lodge

Our neighbor works there and gave us passes to the swim park so we decided to go last Sunday. Man was it fun!! We arrived about 11:30 and stayed until 7:00 that night! That's why I haven't blogged - I was so worn out! The only thing I personally would change would be to make ALL the stairs into ramps. My legs are still sore from going up all those stairs. But hey it was free (thankfully) and tons of fun! The kids would love to stay in a room, but they are soo expensive, and we'd stay at the waterpark most of the time anyway, so I'm happy that we live close enough to one that we can all come home and sleep in our own beds! Here's a link to their website: Great Wolf Lodge

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN!

I cannot believe it - my baby is 9 years old!! Where has time gone? He is such a little man, he is sweet and courteous (just don't ask his sisters about this), and well-mannered. We had his birthday party this afternoon and now we're off to pick up Grampa P to go out for birthday dinner! Ryan spent yesterday with Gramma P, his party today, and we are going to the Great Wolf Lodge to go swimming tomorrow! Whew, I'm exhausted and we're only halfway through the weekend!

We're back online!!

Yeah! We've been able to re-connect to the internet!! The children have missed it more than not having cable. Will be posting pics of the new house soon. Stay tuned :o)

Too funny

I read this on Angela's blog, and just had to post it. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

A man died and went to heaven. As he stood in front of St. Peter at thePearly Gates, he saw a huge wall of clocks behind him.He asked, "What are all those clocks?" St. Peter answered, "Those are Lie-Clocks. Everyone on Earth has a Lie-Clock. Every time you lie, the hands on your clock will move.""Oh," said the man, "whose clock is that?""That's Mother Teresa's. The hands have never moved, indicating that she never told a lie.""Incredible," said the man. "And whose clock is that one?"St. Peter responded, "That's Abraham Lincoln's clock. The hands havemoved twice, telling us that Abe told only two lies in his entire Life.""Where's Hillary Clinton's clock?" asked the man."Hillary's clock is in Jesus' office. He's using it as a ceiling fan."

Yard Sale

Just what everyone who has just moved wants to do - we're having a yard sale! So much for cleaning and emptying boxes, but we needed to make more room and it's a gorgeous weekend.

Homeschool Joke

I read this on Michelle's blog - I thought it was just too funny to pass up.


A woman talked at our homeschool meeting last night about getting your kids into college. She used this joke to illustrate, that the academic part isn't the problem:Q: How does a home schooler change a light bulb? A: First, mom checks three books on electricity out of the library. Then the kids make models of light bulbs.They read a biography of Thomas Edison and do a skit based on his life. Next, everyone studies the history of lighting methods, wrapping up with dipping their own candles. Next, everyone takes a trip to the store where they compare types of light bulbs as well as prices and figure out how much change they'll get if they buy two bulbs for $1.99 and pay with a five dollar bill. On the way home, a discussion develops over the history of money and also Abraham Lincoln, as his picture is on the five dollar bill. Finally, after building a homemade ladder out of branches dragged from the woods, the light bulb is installed. And there is light.

Is it Christmas?

We had everything in the house pretty much unpacked so Jim decided it was about time to start tackling the garage. WOW, I knew I had a lot of Christmas decorations but I never imagined I had this much! We moved all of them into the living room so I could go through all of it and determine which ones I could part with. It is impossible to sit in the living room now! That is a LOT of decorations. Guess I'm going to go through it all today (or that is the plan anyhow) and put a bunch of it in our yard sale tomorrow. Hopefully people will buy it in May if the price is cheap! I have no where to store it!!

Moved!

We moved last Saturday - it was totally amazing how fast and easy everything went. We had several families from church show up and things went really smoothly! We've unpacked a little each day and the house is really starting to turn into our home! The bad thing is we had the internet disconnected, and havent decided on when/if we will have it turned back on. Just wanted to post a quick update!