Lolli's Cooking

 I still can't believe I'm a Grandma!  I mean, Lolli!  It's so  fun having such a precious granddaughter. So much joy!  When Liberty comes through the door, everyone greets her, talks to her in silly voices and tries to get her to smile. We love her!

She started rice cereal not too long ago.  Tabitha says that she is doing great and loves it.  Last week, I volunteered to watch Liberty for a youth activity.  You know what that meant?  I got to feed her her cereal.  I was so excited!!!

I mixed it the exact way her Momma told me to.  I put on her cute bib, and put her in the cute seat I bought for her.  And we were off...first bite was....a little scary.  She gave me the funniest look.  It was so adorable!


She kept up with the faces.  It was sad and cute all at the same time.

Then, she started to make pitiful gagging faces.  Wait a second little girl....I've mixed up cereal for several babies, including your Daddy!  But, for some reason, she wasn't too crazy about Lolli's cooking.  I was tempted to add in some yummy sweetness!

When tears came, I decided to forget the cereal.  We made a nice bottle and I got to cuddle this sweet baby girl.  I have to say, that was pretty awesome, too.

Loving being a Lolli!!

Happy Friday!

What a week!!!  I started off the week telling Patrick that we didn't really have anything scheduled this week other than the norm.  Oh boy!  A week of relaxing?  Not quite.  Always busy around here with much to do!  We are now in the homestretch of the school year.  So exciting!  We've decided to condense things a bit and try and double up...that's the life of a homeschooler! This Momma's brain is tired!  But, we are making it, and it feels so good to get so much done.  We've done some projects around the house and outside.  God has poured unspeakable blessings on us and answered prayers that only He could answer have come to fruition.  It's been a good week.  Memorable and blessed.

Oreo Experiment ~ Family Fun Night

Have you seen the new oreo flavors that have come out?  To be honest, I'm not a fan of oreos, but my family sure do love them!  When Micah and I saw the new flavors at Winn Dixie, we decided to buy all three and have a taste test.



We had everyone try the oreos and guess the flavors.

The cherry coke flavor was easy to guess.  Plenty of cherry flavor and the cool thing is that the cream has pop rocks in the middle so it fizzes like soda.  Neat and yummy!

The Pina Colada was a thin cookie.  Which I liked.  It had a coconut/pineapple flavor that wasn't too overpowering.

The Kettle Corn had a strong scent of kettle corn, but the flavor wasn't as strong as I thought it would be.  It had more of a butter flavor.

And the family favorite?  Everyone liked a different one!
Although this was fun, I think they still prefer regular oreos....except me.  I'll take a nice homemade sugar cookie or snickerdoodle anyday!

Our blessing for summer

I mentioned in a couple of posts back, that God had provided a special blessing for us.  Now, to reveal that blessing. :o)  When we were given a giftcard to spend on our family, we knew we wanted to try and get an above ground pool.
 Summer is coming. 
Junior Camp is in the summer. 
Swimming is at Junior Camp.
My babies need to learn to swim! 

They've loved the water ever since they were little, but strong swimming skills haven't been mastered.  It's time!

We found a really great deal on craigslist from a family selling their pool.  My sweetie worked at prepping the area and getting is all set up.  He even built a deck from our back door!  There's still a little left to be done (like finding a real pool ladder) but we have already enjoyed several hours in our pool!  Yay for summer on the way!!

VSIBC, moving along!

God knew we needed a church family.  God knew the people, the place, all the things that we needed.  I am so thankful for VSIBC.   The church is doing well and our core is growing in number, but more importantly, spiritually!  Exciting times here!  It is so neat adding a choir to the ministries of the church.   Choir practice really is a blast.  I'm in between two of the funnest people.  My poor choir director (AKA, my son Joshua) puts up with a lot of giggles and laughter.  It's a wonderful Sunday afternoon.  And I love singing!  He's picked out some great songs to praise the Lord!

These two.  They really bring me so much joy.  Tabitha brings so much to our church.  As the Youth Director's wife, she has so much love for her teen girls.  It's not always an easy ministry.  There has been some heartache as she bears the burdens of those God has called her to serve.  She willingly gives of her time and the time of her husband.  She is so faithful.  And so amazing.
And Liberty...do I really need to say more?  :o)  She has stolen the heart with every member of VSIBC!  Just looking into that adorable face makes me smile even as I type!!  Yes, I'm quite smitten!

We even had a little play for Easter.  The kids did great!

Love my church family!  No place I'd rather be!

First fruit...or rather cucumber!

My garden is taking off!  Sort of.  We have a cucumber and a big one!  It was so yummy.  We have lots of tomatos starting to grow and some pepper flowers as well.  And we even have a....pumpkin?  When I bought the plant it said zucchini, but I don't think that's what it is. Oh well.  Pumpkins in May.   I guess that works!

Riches

It is said that if you tried to measure all the grains of sand on the earth (which is impossible) there is roughly 8 quintillion grains.  What's a quintillion anyway?  A lot!  There are so many grains of sand that they are past finding out, unsearchable.  Just like the riches of Christ.
 "the unsearchable riches of Christ" (Ephesians 3:8)

In Ephesians, Paul says that his job was to preach about these "unsearchable riches."  Seems to me that's pretty much my job, too....to tell others about these riches that my God has.  As a Momma, mostly my time to influence others is spent in the home.  I am blessed to be able to share these riches with the precious treasures God has given to me, my children!

What is He rich in?

Rich in Mercy - Ephesians 2:4
Rich in Goodness - Romans 2:4
Rich in Forbearance - Romans 2:4  (tolerance, self-control)
Rich in Longsuffering - Romans 2:4 
Rich in Wisdom - Romans 11:33
Rich in Knowledge - Romans 11:33
Rich in Grace - Ephesians 1:7, 2:7
Rich in Glory - Ephesians 3:16 ( dignity, honour)
Rich in Kindness - Ephesians 2:7

We serve a pretty rich God, don't we?  And when we have a need in our lives, God says that He'll supply everything according to His riches! (Phil. 4:19)  When we need mercy, He's got it!  When we need kindness, He's got that too!  When we need wisdom, grace, and goodness...He's got it all!

So the next time I head to the beach (which I hope is soon!)  I want to pick up a handful of sand and think about God's riches that are unsearchable, uncountable, and so many that I just can't comprehend it.  What an amazing God that we get to serve!

Blessing on the way....

...And just in time for Summer!  A sweet lady from our church gave us a gift card with a nice amount of money for our family to buy something special.  We found just the thing on craigslist!  She was so excited when we told her what we bought.  Patrick had fun borrowing a tractor to prep the area.  Pics coming soon!

And the 6 things I wanted to buy for Storybook farms haven't happened yet.  I'm still on the lookout and hope to have them soon.  What a busy, fun filled summer ahead! But first, this homeschooling family needs to wrap up school!!

Lovers Key State Park

While we were in Fort Myers, we decided to head over to Bonita Beach and visit Lovers Key State Park.  I had been here when I was a kid, but it had been a while.  We enjoyed it so much!  So glad Denise could come along with us! 

The beaches were absolutely gorgeous.  They really did rival the caribbean.  The water was clear and blue/green.

We found many treasures!  Sand Dollars....which stayed on the beach of course.  You're not supposed to bring those home!

Lots and lots of beautiful shells.

We also saw Momma birds protecting their young.  It was so adorable.  I think I could have watched them all day.

Momma bird is in the middle.

The boardwalks were very nice leading towards the beach and walking across the back bay.

We even saw some shark egg casings.  Cool!

They had a great sign full of the shells you could find and identify.  My kids loved it!

 We swam and enjoyed some sun.  Lots of  sun!

We even saw a Momma Osprey guarding her nest!  How cool!
I love how Florida State Parks are so diverse.  I feel like they are a homeschooling class all in themselves. 
Loving the great outdoors!!

Callie's Day

My Callie had a very sweet birthday.  It was a little different than her normal birthday.  I was asked to speak at a Ladies Banquet in Fort Myers.  It just so happened to be on her birthday.  But, Fort Myers means we were able to see family, so that made it fun!

As usual, we tried to see as many of our family as possible.  Just love it! And as usual, my Dad gave Callie her flowers. :o)  I love that too!

Then we invited my sisters and their family over for cupcakes.  Cousin time is fun time!

The banquet went very well.  Winkler always decorates big and many of the ladies dressed up for the 50s theme.

Callie was happy to see some of her friends.

We sang, "Sisters Keeper"

And I spoke to the ladies a devotion on "More than an heirloom"  And, of course, I told everyone that it was my Callie's birthday! :o)

Then, we drove the 5 hours back to our home.  Tabitha had made a Cherry Chocolate Cake for Callie.  It was amazing!

My sweet 8 year old girl.  She had a great day!