Monroe Family Ramblings

We're moving

2010-07-06T15:59:00.000-05:00

Our blog has a new home here. See you there.

Remember Your First Fish?

2010-07-05T21:34:00.004-05:00

Went over to South Mill Creek Lake this evening. We all caught several fish..............all huge of course..............OK, maybe not. Joshua's fish was about average size for this evening. You can definitely see how proud he is.

"NORA: Practice Makes Purr-fect"

2010-06-11T15:56:00.002-05:00

John's got some competition. This looks like our cat...Smokey.

Swag Bucks

2010-06-07T22:12:00.008-05:00

Today was a great day for Swag Bucks. I won a lot today. If you don't know about it, check out there website on the box below. It's just another search engine like Google or Bing but you get viral money (swag bucks) for your searches.

Swidget 1.0great free widgetsWidgetboxMore info

It's a great way to get gifts for FREE for your family and friends. 450 swag bucks gets you a $5.00 Amazon gift card. The cool thing the more family and friends you get to join the more swag bucks you will get. Check it out. They are having Summer Swag right now with more chances to win.

Featured on Better After

2010-06-03T20:05:00.004-05:00

My bedroom was featured on this website today. So exciting!!

Happy Birthday to you!!

2010-05-21T19:46:00.002-05:00

Steel Cut Oatmeal

2010-05-19T07:37:00.003-05:00

A new favorite at our house is steel cut oatmeal. Steel cut oats are the whole raw oat cut into smaller chunks. It is less processed and therefor better for you. The down side it takes much longer to cook. 30 minutes vs 5 minutes. I found this recipe yesterday for making them in the Crock Pot overnight. They were creamy and delicious. I just added brown sugar, cinnamon and a little milk this morning. This was great!!

You could add anything you like...nuts, raisins, craisins, apples, maple syrup...the list goes on on. Give it a try! It was so easy.

Mulch

2010-05-07T19:23:00.005-05:00

Before and After Photos

2010-05-07T19:15:00.004-05:00

Before

After

I used some more of this. It looks a lot better. I LOVE spray paint.

What turns up the heat in your life?

2010-05-05T14:52:00.004-05:00

While mowing today, I got this call because someone used too much TP. Water was all over the floor. Needless to say I did not extend grace. I was quite the opposite. I did go and apologize for yelling but I wish I could remember in the "heat" of the moment to stop and get a grip. It could happen to any of us.

Reveal of the black paint

2010-05-01T08:47:00.017-05:00

The paint is finally dry. I hate waiting for paint to dry...well I hate waiting in general but that is another topic. On to the reveal......I have been wanting an armoire for my bedroom but I didn't have the money for one right now. I was thinking and this bright idea can to me...(I think it was from God). I have an armoire in the living room. I could move it to the bedroom. I ran it by Matt and he thought it was a good idea too. So that is what I did I moved the armoire from the living room to my bedroom and the dresser to the living room.

Before

After

It looks so much better in black.

To make it work in the bedroom, I had to add a shelf in it. I had some boards left over from the pantry project .

Total cost was the cost of paint....$16.

With dresser

Without dresser. Much more room to move around.

An ah ha moment

2010-04-28T19:47:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, I had one of those moments. I really can't believe I hadn't thought of it sooner. I don't want to tell you about it just yet. I want it to be a surprise.

But I will tell you that it includes some black paint. I'm so excited. Can't wait to paint tomorrow.

Lastest Flea Market Finds

2010-04-24T09:41:00.004-05:00

Games $2 each. The Guess Who game on is a collector game on Amazon for $24.95 and rat-a-tat-cat sells for $9.45.

The boys are having a blast with the Guess Who game. We haven't play the other one yet.

Brand new Skechers for only $2. They are so comfortable. I found them here for $60.

Introducing........Tabby

2010-04-21T19:03:00.003-05:00

Matt got her at work today. Isn't she cute? She's only 5 weeks old. Smokey, our other cat, doesn't know what to think. He does like her food though.

Rusty Registers?

2010-04-19T15:44:00.003-05:00

A little spray paint and you have a new looking vent register.

A Blessing

2010-04-16T16:13:00.007-05:00

A sister of a friend of ours blessed us with a couch. We now have tons of setting for everyone. This will a big change from everyone piling on one couch. God was good to us and kept it dry. It has rained on and off all day. It was raining right before it was dropped off and right after. Thank you Lord for being so very good to us.

Kitchen Paint * warning bright paint*

2010-04-16T11:59:00.010-05:00

Here is my inspiration photo. (I like it a lot better than my kitchen.)

I painted the kitchen, but I don't like the paint. It is too bright for my taste. I'm going to leave it like this for awhile though. I will repaint this summer. It does look cleaner and fresh. I do like that.

Before

After

(The plates are under the table/island because I paint it too.)

Kitchen

2010-04-11T18:25:00.007-05:00

Here is a photo of our kitchen before we moved in our house. It was so totally gross. I can't believe we wanted to buy it. Look in the window......2 air fresheners. Yuck!!

Here is a photo of what it looks like now. It is okay but quite plain. We were planning on selling our house, so we stuck with neutral colors.

But I'm in the mood for change. Since the bedroom painting turned out good, I want to paint my kitchen now. I'm thinking green. Here is a photo that I like.

Bedroom Before and After

2010-03-18T12:19:00.010-05:00

Sept 2002

Oct 2002

2009

March 2010

I have completed what I can for now on my room. There are a few more things to do but I will have to wait. I want to get an Armoire for our clothes and get rid of the dresser. The dresser takes up way too much floor space. We need to go vertical with the Armoire and have more floor space. I also want to paint the mirror black and frame some Paris photos, get another nightstand for my side of the bed, and an area rug. Most of those are wants that will have to wait.

(you can click on the photos to make them larger.)

It took me a while to find a pillow that matched that I liked. Many stores were visited but I finally found the blue pillow at Pier 1 on clearance. It was a little pricey at $19.98 on clearance but it was the last thing to buy and it was exactly what I wanted so I got it. I love the beads.

Here's a run down of the costs:
nightstand- $10
lamp- $10
lamp- $2
candles-$3.50
candle holders- $1
sea shells-$3
curtains- $3
vase- $1
mirror- $20
chair- $7
black pillows- $20
blue pillow- $20
comforter- $37 (clearance + 20% off)
throw- $23
sheets- $10
paint $15
Total $194.50

Trying to be more organized

2010-03-18T10:05:00.005-05:00

This a really hard part of life for me. Trying to be more organized in school, with our money and time.

I must admit, school has been too loose this year. John has been doing most of his school by himself which is okay for him. But we are starting way too late and not very organized at all. Joseph does all his school with me and I feel he is on track. I don't know if it is where John is working on his own that I feel like he is not learning anything. Time will tell on that because we had testing last week.

Being better stewards of what money God has given us. We are very loose in this area too. We are currently working on a budget and envelopes to pay cash for things like food and gas. Matt has reread Dave Ramsey's The Total Money Makeover and has me reading it too. We are realizing we are not planning very well at all and need to make big changes in this area. We are working on paying off our house and hope to be done this year. Then on to saving for a van, retirement and college. It really doesn't look like Matt will ever be able to stop consulting but maybe slow down some.

Planning my time. I have got to start a schedule, planning meals and not just let things happen. Things seem to get done but not like I would like them too. I send way too much time on the computer.

Well, you can see I need lots of prayer. God does have the grace for me to do it. I just need to trust him more and prayer harder for sure.

Flea Market Style

2010-03-02T15:09:00.002-05:00

Flea Market Style is a new magazine. You can check out their blog here. They also have a huge list of blogs you can read here. I will definitely be checking out the blogs. It's fun to get inspiration from other people's hard work.

Bedroom Redo

2010-03-01T13:56:00.008-05:00

I'm in love with Pottery Barn but not in love with the Pottery Barn price. I want to recreate the Pottery Barn look and feel on a low budget in my master bedroom. As many of you know, I have had a deer mount in my bedroom for many years but with some rearranging of our house, it is no longer in my room. With that said, here is one of my inspiration rooms. I have several rooms with the overall same feel. I love this color. It feels so calm and cozy.

So far I have painted the walls Bridgewater blue. It's a medium gray blue. (you can see the color in a few of the pictures below)

Here are some of the deals with their price that I have found to decorate my room so far. The cabinet that I am using as a night stand is my best deal. I love thrift store shopping.

I can't post a photo of the whole room. I haven't got new bedding yet. So here is a sneak peak.

Visitors

2010-03-01T13:56:00.000-05:00

Here some our new visitors.... They really like Joseph's corn.

Budear and Hoody

2010-02-17T19:29:00.005-05:00

Does your kids have funny names for things? My 2 year old has all kinds of funny names, but right now my favorite is Budear and Hoody. He really does love them too.

Snowing In Alabama

2010-02-12T18:00:00.003-05:00

Here's some pics from my sister and brother-in-law. They live in Southern Alabama about 30 minutes north of Florida panhandle. They are freezing down there. The last snow they had was in 1993.

Thankfulness

2010-02-11T08:41:00.008-05:00

Things I am thankful for:
1. Loving husband
2. Warm house
3. Health
4. dh jobs
5. Pretty birds
6. Boys laughter
7. Food to eat
8. Blogs to read
9. Time together
10. The most important reason of all...God that knows the best for us.

Wouldn't this be nice right now

2010-02-10T19:38:00.000-05:00

Monroe Funnies

2010-02-05T14:41:00.007-05:00

To Make your own funny go to Befunky.com.

The secret is out

2010-01-22T15:58:00.003-05:00

This is one of my favorite websites. All the recipes have ratings, comments of changes people have made, you can search by the title of a recipe or you can search by the ingredients you have. That is the best. If you have chicken, cheese, and mushrooms, you can search for recipes with those ingredients. How cool is that?

Question: Do Asian Lady Beetles like Maple Cotton Candy?

2010-01-20T20:13:00.004-05:00

Answer: Yes............ that is what they are all piled on in this photo. Joseph thought that his little friends would like to share his special treat that I picked him up at the Pennsylvania Farm Show. They had a sugar buzz for a couple of days after, ha ha

Website

2010-01-14T19:15:00.004-05:00

A neat website for tracking your weight goals, exercise goals and even keep a food journal. SPARKPEOPLE is also free to join.

Exercise

2010-01-13T08:57:00.004-05:00

So it's January and it's the time we all set new goals. I want to get more exercise and make better choices to become healthier. This is day 2 of my workout on my new Wii exercise program. I can't say it's easy....even though I am using the easy exercises, but moving any is a plus above nothing.

Thanks to my hubby for encouraging me to be a better person...physically and spiritually. Love you so much.

2010-01-10T11:19:00.004-05:00

Photos made with Photoscape.

Photo Editing

2010-01-10T07:58:00.003-05:00

I found a cool free photo editing software program. I used it to make our new blog header.

Photoscape is a fun and easy photo editing software that enables you to fix and enhance photos.

Key Features

Viewer: View photos in your folder, create a slideshow
Editor: resizing, brightness and color adjustment, white balance, backlight correction, frames, balloons, mosaic mode, adding text, drawing pictures, cropping, filters, red eye removal, blooming
Batch editor: Batch edit multiple photos
Page: Merge multiple photos on the page frame to create one final photo
Combine: Attach multiple photos vertically or horizontally to create one final photo
Animated GIF: Use multiple photos to create a final animated photo
Print: Print portrait shots, carte de visites(CDV), passport photos
Splitter: Slice a photo into several pieces
Screen Capture: Capture your screenshot and save it
Color Picker: Zoom in on images, search and pick a color
Rename: Change photo file names in batch mode
Raw Converter: Convert RAW to JPG
Paper Print: Print lined, graph, music and calendar paper
Face Search: Find similar faces on the Internet

SNOW!!!

2009-12-19T10:07:00.003-05:00

Really coming down out there. Looks like we have about 15" and it's still pouring. Not sure what we'll end up with by the time it quits.

My Smokey

2009-12-16T07:16:00.005-05:00

Smokey is the sweetest cat I have ever seen. He loves to be UP close.

Before and After Hunting

2009-11-28T13:21:00.002-05:00

Joseph and school

2009-11-03T10:33:00.005-05:00

Here is a funny for you.

I asked Joseph if his i's were touching the dotted line and stopping at the bottom line.

He said, "God only knows if they are touching."

He was really serious about his answer.

(I normally circle the ones that are really good. I guess he liked the ones on the first row best, since he circled them for me.)

Happenings

2009-11-03T09:53:00.019-05:00

Well, I haven't posted in awhile......I have photos to share.

Joshua's mess....this didn't end in the bathroom. It was all the way down the hall to John's room.

Photos from our annual trip to Canaan Valley.

trees behind house

scavenger hunt

Big cheese

Classic Joseph

Our pumpkins

Joseph lost his first tooth.
Please overlook the Kool-Aid mustache.

Greenbrier County

2009-10-31T18:09:00.003-05:00

John and I were out doing some consulting work today in Greenbrier County, WV. Here's a couple of photos we snapped while taking a break

Happy Birthday Matt!!

2009-10-09T14:08:00.003-05:00

Youth Squirrel Hunt

2009-10-04T12:57:00.006-05:00

John shot his first squirrel yesterday. I don't know who was more exited Matt or John!!

Cat Nap

2009-10-04T12:54:00.003-05:00

Smokey Monroe

2009-09-27T12:21:00.003-05:00

Say hello to our new little boy.

Ash Lawn- Highland - President Monroe's Home

2009-09-16T10:12:00.013-05:00

Driveway to Ash Lawn

White section of the house is the original Monroe home

Yellow section was added later after a fire destroyed part of the original home (years after President Monroe's death)

After our trip to Ash Lawn, we went to a nearby orchard. The boys really had fun picking the apples.

Joseph in front of the vineyard located at the orchard.

GIS Guru

2009-08-25T13:16:00.006-05:00

From Matt..................

Saw this for the first time today...........Great looking map of Brighton Park in Moorefield, WV that someone created. If you click on the second picture and look closely at the bottom, you can see who. I am so proud of her!!!

2009-08-23T17:32:00.001-05:00

Beach

2009-08-15T18:56:00.005-05:00

We are leaving for the beach tomorrow morning!!
Time to relax and have fun with family.

I love a sharp dressed man!

2009-08-04T20:36:00.005-05:00

Guess Who?

2009-07-29T12:04:00.003-05:00

2009-07-27T08:17:00.003-05:00

Trip

2009-07-17T18:56:00.009-05:00

View of hotel from room

Our room
The view every night from our window

After Matt's meetings, we had a little surprise for the boys........

Joseph's yummy breakfast at Cracker Barrel............Cherry Pancakes.

Swimming Lessons

2009-07-08T10:30:00.007-05:00

John has been taking swimming lessons the last couple of weeks. He has really enjoyed himself. I can see a big difference in his swimming skills.
He jumps off the diving board in 11ft and swims to the side with no help.

You can see his smiling face as he goes down the slide, which just two days ago was a crying face. Now you can't get him to stop.

Happy 2nd Birthday Joshua!!

2009-06-27T19:34:00.006-05:00

A cool find

2009-06-24T17:48:00.007-05:00

Look what we found by the road today.........for free.............Jennifer you know the spot. John was so excited. It was new in the box. We put it together this afternoon........now we don't know where to put it?
We also got this shelf. It was a little dirty but cleaned up very nice.

A Funny

2009-06-08T08:40:00.002-05:00

Our Trip

2009-06-07T13:41:00.009-05:00

Matt had a job to do yesterday in Pocahontas County (beside Droop Mountain) and we tagged along. While Matt and John did work, the rest of us enjoyed a day at Watoga State Park. Here is some photos from our day.

New Flea Market

2009-06-03T12:46:00.003-05:00

Last week the boys and I made our biweekly trip to Wal-Mart. On the way there, we decided to go by this new flea market. They had a lot of stuff, pretty much everywhere. I looked around not really finding anything that I wanted to purchase, but then I saw this chair. I was so excited.....I had been to a friend's house and saw they had one of these cool chairs. I had researched them. But I couldn't remember the price, I thought it was around $100.....so I decided to buy it for $10. That is pretty high for me to spend at a flea market but I thought it was a good deal. I looked it up when I got home....Amazon sells them for $249 and other sites $299. Thanks to God for another great find.

Wasting our lives

2009-05-27T07:43:00.005-05:00

For months now I have looked at the cover of the book Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper and felt a need for me not to waste the life God has given me. I am a whiner for sure...constantly complaining about something: the house being dirty, the boys not obeying, not moving and the list goes on on. I don't want to be that way.
This morning as I looked at my blog list, I went to one of my favorite blogs and she had a post about Wise-Worded Women and a link to this very powerful video. This is a great video but with a warning, it is very sad. The woman speaking, Rachel, has terminal cancer and only has a short time to live. It spoke to my heart.....it's not my life to live but for me to live a life of service with joy for God's glory. How easy it is to forget the joy part. May God change my heart to one of joy.
As we drove home, this time from our trip to see family.(It's always nice to see everyone.) I was reminded how blessed we are for the church that God has placed us in and especially our caregroup. And their desire to be more like Jesus. It is so refreshing.......it's so different than the world's view. Thanks guys for encouraging us and your love of the Lord!! May we grow together for God's Glory!!

This one is for daddy

2009-05-25T19:01:00.002-05:00

Does this look familiar to you?

Birthday Boy

2009-05-25T18:56:00.004-05:00

Joseph had a great birthday party. He was really surprised. Thanks to Jennifer for helping with the decor.

Gardening Friend?

2009-05-18T18:25:00.003-05:00

I hope this guy doesn't come back for lunch in our garden. We haven't planted any plants in the garden yet. We did plant some seeds (lettuce, spinach, and a few different herbs) Saturday. Hoping to get some tomatoes and summer squash in the near future. We planted a lot of things last year but we are not going to this year.........deer, some kind of vegetable rot got most of food......so it will be simple this year. Happy Gardening!!!

My find

2009-05-17T17:41:00.006-05:00

I found this bench at the flea market last time I was over there for one dollar. I couldn't believe it. I painted it yesterday.......a yummy Chocolate Truffle.......John picked the color. I love his choice of color.

BEFORE

AFTER

Does this remind you of anyone?

2009-05-14T07:58:00.004-05:00

If you remember when John was little, he was always lining up his trucks. He didn't really play with them just lined them up for some reason......maybe he wanted to be a car dealer. Not sure but now Joshua is doing it.....no one showed him.......he just started it on his own.

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T06:31:00.004-05:00

Hope your day is as blessed as mine. This was my delicious breakfast!!!
Thanks to my boys and their ever faithful dad.
I love you guys soooooooooo very much!!!
Mommy

Big Boy Bed

2009-05-09T12:30:00.004-05:00

Joshua is growing up on us. He moved to the big boy bed today.
I don't know how nap time will go. Will he stay in bed ? We shall see.......

Lego Death Ramp

2009-05-09T11:42:00.004-05:00

Me and daddy made this crazy video.Tell me if you like it.

My mom's sister

2009-05-02T12:25:00.012-05:00

For those of you that knew mommy, doesn't Mozella look like her? Mozella was a very nice lady that was always smiling and laughing. She was mommy's best friend.

__________________________________________________________________

Mrs. Mozella Trimble
(September 7, 1934 - April 29, 2009)

To view "A Journey of Remembrance" tribute memorial DVD of Mrs. Mozella Trimble: Please Click Here.

Mrs. Mozella Trimble, age 74 of Elkfork, Kentucky passed away Wednesday, April 29, 2009 in the St. Claire Regional Medical Center in Morehead, Kentucky.

She was born September 7, 1934 in Morgan County, Kentucky; daughter of the late Howell & Stella Buckner Cassity.She was also preceded in death by four brothers Carl, Ivan, Glen & Walton Cassity and two sisters Juanita Cassity & Estella Cassity.

She was a homemaker and a member of the Straight Creek Enterprise Baptist Church at Elkfork, Kentucky.

Surviving is her husband; Albert Trimble of Elkfork, KY and five children; Diana Crace of Elkfork, KY, John David & Lennie Trimble of Elkfork, KY, Danny & Denise Trimble of Wayne, OH, Mary & Jim Barker of Greenup, KY, Welma & Artineus Henson of Elkfork, KY, special grandchild; Alex & Kristy Cantrell, Grandchildren; Johnathan Wesley Trimble, David Wade Trimble, Ann Amanda & Carl Dybas, Angelia Nicole Adkins, Jamie Lynn Barker, Kimberly Michale Adkins, Steven Trimble, Adam Trimble, Jennifer Trimble & Cierra Henson. One great-grandchild; Evelyn Cassity LaShay Dybas, one sister; Ella Moore of Hillsboro, KY, one brother; Earl Cassity of West Liberty, KY.

Funeral service will be conducted 11:00 am Saturday, May 2, 2009 at Herald & Stewart & Halsey Chapel with Bro. Cortis Ison & Bro. Roger Ball officiating. Burial will follow in the Day Cemetery at Elkfork, KY.

Visitation after 6:00 pm Friday at Herald & Stewart & Halsey Funeral Home in West Liberty, Kentucky.

Pallbearers: Friends & Family.

Happy 5th Birthday Elijah!!!

2009-04-23T06:38:00.004-05:00

We hope you have a great day. We miss you and can't wait to see you!!! Hopefully that will be very soon.

Matt's Trip to the bay

2009-04-18T11:14:00.004-05:00

One of Matt's bay buddies took him on a trip to see how the fish are doing. I guess they can call it research.........

Don't follow this leader

2009-04-17T17:24:00.004-05:00

I don't really know what Joseph was thinking when he did this. I asked him and he said he was going to fight........so I guess it is war paint. Of course little brother is always not too far behind. There is also some X's & O's on his arms and legs..............wouldn't you know it won't come off.

What will they think of next?

2009-04-16T18:53:00.002-05:00

Want to move to the mountains?

2009-04-13T06:45:00.006-05:00

Our friends are selling puppies on their blog, so why not a house.........

http://www.coldwellbanker.com/servlet/PropertyListing?action=detail&ComColdwellbankerDataProperty_id=38283636&page=property&brand=CB

2009-04-12T19:11:00.000-05:00

Wind Advisory

2009-04-05T18:45:00.003-05:00

The Weather Channel warned that it was going to be windy on Saturday, April 4th.................

Not sure what the actual wind speed was, but I almost got knocked down a couple of times, and had to lean in to the wind, to stay standing.

Pantry

2009-04-01T07:27:00.006-05:00

As most of you know, we have been working on building a pantry in our kitchen. I was going to wait until we had it totally finished before posting some pictures, but here are a couple anyway. We just have to get the door on and some trim. It will be a little bit before we can get that completed because we had a small calculation error on our door measurement and need to get the trim boards planed first.
Matt did a good job even if he doesn't think so. I love it.......I have so much more space.

swagbucks

2009-03-30T11:56:00.006-05:00

Check out this cool site. You can search it like Google,but you can win swagbucks to spend at the swagbucks store. Just click on the link below to send you to swagbucks.You have to sign up first though.

What a day!

2009-03-27T14:42:00.007-05:00

I spent the morning taking Joseph and Joshua to Wal-mart, while Matt and John went to a property to do some work. On our way home we saw a plane landing at the airport. Joseph is always wanting to go see them land.....so we drove over to the airport.

Joseph really enjoyed watching a plane land and take off. Since we were so far up the airport road, we decided to go the back way home.

We were driving and enjoying the beauty.....cows, horses, red tail hawk flew right in front of the van, and then at the top of a hill I saw this..................I can't believe I had my camera. I'm sure paw paw will like this one.

Best Rio Mall Find EVER!!

2009-03-21T09:11:00.003-05:00

John found a Mummy Sleeping Bag that looks like it has never been used, that would retail for about $120.00 to $160.00.

Rio Price - $2.00

Early Spring Hike

2009-03-07T17:04:00.003-05:00

Filling Daddy's Shoes

2009-02-13T10:16:00.005-05:00

Can anyone ever really fill daddy's shoes? He does so much for us. He is always there to help when we need it. If it be a call at work for some help with disciple or the dishes, he is always the first to say I will help you. We couldn't do much around here without the help of our daddy. He is the best in the world. I am so thankful for him. I love him more than he will ever know!!!
Happy Valentine's Day My Love!!!

God's Beauty

2009-02-03T10:38:00.006-05:00

Leap Frog worked for Joseph

2009-01-22T19:24:00.004-05:00

For the past week, I have let Joseph watch the Leap Frog - Letter Factory while I was getting ready for the day. I was really impressed today when I was reviewing his letter sounds with him. He knew almost all of them (it wasn't too long ago that he only knew about 5 or 6)

This evening Matt started writing C A T on the board and showing him how it works to put the sounds together..... in about 10 minutes this is what Joseph was doing...........

Joshua is feeling better

2009-01-14T14:07:00.003-05:00

New Year

2009-01-12T13:22:00.008-05:00

The new year is here. Hoping for a healthy one. Someone in our house has been sick since Dec 20. I'm really tired. Long nights, doctor visits, ER run, coughing, runny noses, crying, whining, you name it and we have had it.
Matt is the last of us to get sick and yesterday he starting feeling bad. John is back to somewhat normal. Joseph is still taking long naps and coughing. Joshua is feeling better today.....no fever but still coughing and runny nose now. I think the croup has went to a cold.
Through all this, I have been thinking you know some people have children who are terminally ill and some people live where there are no doctors. Our family is so blessed with health, doctors who can help us and friends who are willing to serve us. Matt came home yesterday with lunch that someone at church had given us and another friend called to bring us supper tonight. How blessed we are!!!

Annual Christmas Lights Trip

2008-12-24T11:16:00.004-05:00

We went for our annual trip to Welton Park last night.
The lights were as always very pretty. It was extra cold this year.

(If you look really close at Joshua's hands, you can see a new trend..........a sock on one hand and a glove on the other. One glove got lost on the way there, be we found it in the driveway when we returned.)

Christmas Play

2008-12-22T07:48:00.010-05:00

Saturday night and Sunday morning, we had our Christmas play at church. It was wonderful once again. Everyone did a really good job.....as for our family......Matt was awesome on the drums and John did a wonderful job on his solo. There were a couple of technical problems but it worked out just fine.
Here is a photo of all the kids singing at the beginning of the play. Joseph is on the first row on the left(third person) and John is on the third row on the right side(fifth person from the right).

Here is a picture of John in the small singing group. They sang Tell Me the Story. Doesn't he look so handsome and grown up in his shirt and tie?

Christmas Cookies

2008-12-10T16:42:00.007-05:00

The boys had fun decorating cookies today. They turned out really good.
Joseph really likes to put on the gum drops...........I mean he REALLY likes to put them on. His one cookie had 6 gum drops on it's face. You can see it in the bottom left corner.

Mommy had fun too........

The Monroe Dance Team - Merry Christmas!

2008-12-08T15:29:00.002-05:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Family Photo

2008-12-08T15:25:00.006-05:00

It's always a challenge for us to get a good family photo. There is always someone who is not looking at the camera or in my case making a really crazy face. This year was not different. Here are a couple of takes.

SURPRISE!!

Joshua getting away.

Matt after several takes.

The finished product.

Christmas Time is Here

2008-12-02T10:57:00.007-05:00

Christmas is going to be here before you know it. The boys decorated the tree last night....well at least John and Joseph...........Joshua was the undecorator....you can see him reaching for the snowman.

We were enjoying the new CD Matt's mom got us, while we were decorating.........

John's favorite

Christmas Give Aways

2008-11-29T09:21:00.001-05:00

5minutesformoms.com is having a big Christmas Give. Check it out.

2008 Hunting Camp

2008-11-26T20:09:00.003-05:00

Hunting camp was very fun this year! We got to hunt in real snow, and to top it off, Dad and I both got bucks. He got his Tuesday morning, then I went and set in his spot Wednesday morning and killed mine about 50 feet from where his was standing.

Like I said, there was some snow...............about 10 inches on the picnic table when we arrived on Sunday, and we got about 4 more inches while we were there. Tuesday evening and night, the wind gusts were between 40 and 50 mph. By Wednesday, there were some serious drifts.

Jonathan's big buck

2008-11-24T07:55:00.004-05:00

John's 9th Birthday

2008-11-22T08:56:00.010-05:00

John was really scared that his friends were not going to come over, because this is what we woke up too. But it worked out.........all the snow was gone by the time they came.

We can't believe our baby has grown so much. He's quite the little man.

John (2 months)

He had a great birthday. His highlight was spending time with his friends. It was really nice. I am thankful for the great friends God has given to him.

Joshua's "New Groove"

2008-11-22T08:41:00.004-05:00

Joshua was born with a groove in his step. He loves music and loves to dance.

Jonathan & Amanda's Engagement Photo

2008-11-20T14:58:00.005-05:00

Wedding Date: Sept 5, 2009

Bird Watching

2008-10-30T09:40:00.008-05:00

We are studying birds in Science this year. We have been making bird feeders, putting out seed and watching to see what birds come by. John and Joseph are enjoying it very much. They like to look at things up close and personal.

New Hair Do

2008-10-29T09:50:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, I decide to try a new hair style. I cut it myself, if you didn't guess. When I came out of the bathroom John said "did you cut your hair?". It is at least 4 inches shorter in the back but the front is the same. Joseph didn't even notice.

Matt's Manly Ride

2008-10-29T06:34:00.004-05:00

As most of you know, Matt hit a deer a couple of Saturdays ago with his truck. Because the truck was not worth much and our insurance didn't cover any of the damages, we have decided to go ahead and get Matt a different more Manly truck. It's definitely not new but it looks new for a 1999 and has pretty low miles. I'm sure when you see Matt driving he will have a Really Big Smile on his face!