Craft Time, Concerts, and Construction Begins!

Well, February is not yet over, and I am actually writing a Post.  I am already doing better than last year!  Yippee!!  This month has been filled with a LOT of exciting moments.  Get ready for lots of pictures.  I don't want to forget these special memories. 

Craft Time at Crystal Bridges!

Wow, I am so lucky to live in a town where we have a state of the art museum that offers FREE craft programs for this kids.  We had so much fun making movable doll people and touring the museum exhibits.  

This was my favorite piece during our tour.  I am not sure of the artist, but I know it took her about 6 months to paint it and each color represents how she was feeling at the time.  Caleb was very enamored by it.  He liked to turn upside down and view it from different angles.

The boys and their Daddy left this sweet note on my windshield  one evening.  I am one BLESSED mommie!!

CALEBS 2nd GRADE MUSICAL!

The theme this year was Disney through the years and I loved seeing and hearing the kids belt out their tunes.  Caleb sang his heart out on every song, except for Frozen's, "Let it Go." He said that was a "girls song." Ha!

Caleb wants to be Woody from Toy Story.  This was the closest we could come from our closet.

This is one of Caleb's best Friends, Leyton.  We love their friendship!

I wish you could have seen their frowning faces before we "made them" take this picture.  Neither wanted to be with the other, but they faked it quite well for their Mommies.  Emery is such a precious young girl, and we love her family very much.  We are so glad they are in the same grade.

Shopping can be fun!

After looking at ALOT of furniture stores, the boys found a way to salvage their boring day!
This brought back some really happy childhood memories!

VALENTINES 2015!

Richard gave me these beautiful flowers!  They just make me smile so MUCH!

This is the sweet Widow that my family has been visiting for over  8 years.  We delivered her a rose to show her how much she means to us.  We love her very much!  She is such a blessing to our family!  She loves the LORD so very much and teaches us more about loving HIM each time we meet together.

James 1:27 (NIV) Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Caleb's Class Party was a Blast!  I am so glad I was able to attend.

I LOVE THIS BOY!!!

SCIENCE TIME

The boys wanted to try to make a crystal out of water and sugar.  We mixed, and stirred and mixed and stirred and mixed and stirred.  Sadly, the crystal never really formed, but we had a lot of fun trying!

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CONSTRUCTION BEGINS!

We are so excited! We cleared the land this month where our future home will sit.  It is exciting to see how God is working in our lives.  We have been in our Cozy Cottage (less than 900 square feet :) for almost two years now.  It has been an adventure.  During our clean up, we have discovered some fun finds.  See below.

The previous owners of our land were canners.  Look at all these fun Mason Jars we found.  They were full of yuck, but we have been working to clean them up.  I plan to use them in various ways in our new home.

Its STEAKED!! 

Can you see the Chimney in the background? We knocked it down and are in the process of breaking apart the bricks. We are going to use it in various ways in the new home, for either a wall, back splash or as a floor.   I love repurposing. 

This is a before picture.  We had to remove some trees, which made me sad.  Most of those we had to cut down were dying  We have already planted two new trees and plan to plant more trees or shrubs of some kind in the future. 

 Ephesians 3:20 (NIV) Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.

I can't wait to post more updates as we make progress on our new home.  Our prayer is that it will be a place to share God's love to all who walk upon the land and through our doors.  

Until next Month, 

Berkli :)

2015: Mommy/Son Time, Turning 8, Back to School, and the Flu!

Wow!  I cannot believe it is 2015!  It feels like just yesterday I was changing diapers and teaching the boys their colors.  Now they are the ones teaching me!

I haven't written in a while, and I won't promise that I will write more regularly now, but some exciting things have happened and I wanted to make sure I documented them.  I am just so proud of my boys that I could burst and I want to share what I have been learning from them.

Its Mommy Time!

Heading to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse

As I have mentioned before, I try each month to take each of my sons on a Mommy/Son Time (they won't let me call it a date :).  Caleb and I usually go to Village Inn on Free Pie Wednesday.  Yum Yum!  Clay and I used to go to the Mall Chinese Place in the food court, but it is gone now, so in honor of our ALS 2 mile race (where we received 2 Free $25 Gift Cards), we went to Ruth's Chris.  Super Yum!

Because we were going some place fancy, I wanted to make this Mommy Time a little more special.  So, I decided to make our time together meaningful by having interview questions.  I chose to have Clay complete the 5 Love Languages for Kids Survey.  I also created some other questions, sort of a parent evaluation.  I certainly learned a lot.  I sure love this precious boy.  I cannot believe he is almost 10.

I had guessed completely wrong about what love languages Clay scored the highest on.  I was so surprised to find that he was an Acts of Service and Words of Affirmation child.  It really helped me understand why Clay takes criticism so hard.  That is the opposite of affirmation, even if it is necessary.

If you have not had your child complete this survey, I highly recommend it.  Its Free and Clay really enjoyed the conversation it sparked.  We talked about my love languages too. I had the most amazing time getting to know Clay better and letting him know how special he is to me.  The food was pretty good too.  Clay ate his entire filet and would have eaten more if I would have let him.  He says his favorite food is steak!  I might have to get a job to keep my growing boys fed! Ahhhh.  

Isn't he adorable.  His smile is so infectious. 

Something cute this photo reminded be of from this special night.
Clay was most excited about the live lobster living in the tank to our right.  He could care less about the fancy table cloths and decor.  He just loved watching that lobster. So cute.

 James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

Clay is certainly a gift from the Lord! I love him so much.

Caleb Turns 8! WOW!

Words canon begin to describe how proud of this little boy I am.  When he first planned his party, he was positive that he wanted his theme to be, not surprisingly, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  Then one night, while I was tucking the boys into bed, he turned to me and said.  I have decided that I want my theme to be "God's Not Dead."  I asked him why, and he told me that there was a little boy that he wanted to invite to his party that didn't believe in God.  I love his heart for the Lord.

Jeremiah 29:11, For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.

God has BIG plans for this young man.  I pray his heart will always remain focused on the Lost.

Sicky/Hairy Richard's first day without fever and his first time out of the house in a week.
He only stayed for a little bit, but he didn't want to miss out on Caleb's big day.

I am so grateful that my parents always make the 6 hour trip to come to my boys parties.  They have even started boring my nephews who live ini their hometown.  It brings such joy to my boys and to me.  I love them very much.

I love that Caleb still likes to take baths.
This is what our tub looked like after he played with his new bath toys.  (Great idea Sarah Vizena)

IMPORTANT NOTE: A special THANK YOU to Sarah Vizena for taking photos during the party.  Richard had the flu and was out of commission and I had my hands full.

LAST DAY TO SKATE

Clay and Caleb love to ice skate.  It was such a beautiful day and Richard was finally fever free for 24 hours, so we headed outdoors for some fun and Vitamin D.  It was such a great family time and I was so empresses by how well the boys have improved since last year.  We only go once a year, so they don't get a lot of practice.  As you can see, it was super crowded.  What a blessing to live in a town that offers such exciting and low cost ($5 for skate rentals, free if you have your own skates.)

After 7 days on the couch, it was so nice to have Richard back with the family.  We sure missed him.

BACK IN SCHOOL ACTION

I can't sign off without mentioning how proud I am of my boys and their hard work and effort in school.  Both boys have a reading goal each year and both boys met that goal this month, receiving their special Award, AR (Accelerated Reader) T-Shirts, at back to back Rise and Shines (each week there is an assemble where awards and other special recognitions are made).  This was especially exciting for Clay, being that he typically reaches his goal in June.  I am so excited that both my boys are  learning to love reading.  It is a definite passion of mine.

Clay is in the black and red jacket walking this way. January 12, 2015

Caleb could not wait to put on his T-Shirt.
I think he had on three shirts plus his jacket that day.  January 20, 2015 

Seriously, I just had to include this Photo Bomb picture of one of his classmates.  ADORABLE!

HEADING BACK INSIDE

Who knows when I will be Back in the Yard again.  I hope it will be sooner than later, but life happens.  Until then, I pray God continues to bless my sweet family and yours and that you will draw upon His WORD in all you do.

Berkli