They have tricks

All the boys love jumping off Nana & Pawpaw's diving board. The bigger boys have mastered their "tricks" even Jake thinks his jump is a trick. Caleb is still a little too scared to jump off. It is a little hard to see who is who but I couldn't get any closer without it being super blurry. Austin jumps 1st then Tyler, then Jake, & Caleb is last standing on the board.

Another year...another inch

The past 2 years we have taken a picture of my parents 4 grandsons looking out the back door of their house. The 1st time was really totally spontaneous, but then we loved it so much we decided to continue it every year. Although, 2 new grandsons have been added to the bunch this year we still just have the 4 boys in the picture. It is so much fun to compare the pictures each year.

                                                                2008(Caleb, Jake, Tyler, & Austin)

                                                     2009(Jake, Caleb, Tyler, Austin)

                                                  2010(Jake, Caleb, Tyler, & Austin)

And at the request of Oma here is a front facing picture from this year.

It is so much fun to see how each of the boys have grown. And at the same time so sad...my sweet boy was just a baby when this 1st picture was taken. Amazing how much bigger Caleb was then Jake 2 years ago and how they are almost totally caught up with each other this year. Also too cute that in 2009 you can see the top of both Caleb & Jake's diapers and this year they are both all grown up wearing underwear.

Love these memories and that we can go back to see the change every year. Hopefully when the boys are teenagers they won't get too mad when they have to look out Nana & PawPaw's back window for a picture.

Sister!

Happy Birthday Heather!!!
Today is my youngest sisters birthday..I thought it would be fitting to have a post about her today.

You will never guess what the number 1 question her & I get asked...every time we are together...

Are you guys twins?

Surprisingly there is 5 years between us, but still we are always asked this question. Every.time.

Our babies are only 4 months apart(not planned) and it has been the best thing and probably even brought us closer together. (not to mention all the wonderful hand me downs Jake gets from Caleb).

She is definitely my best friend and we have so much together.

She is a wonderful mother 

Does it all while working a full time job as a CPO (Certified Paraoptometric Tech).

While doing this post I went through tons of pictures of the 2 of us and had a million I was going to post. But then decided to just choose a select few(mostly because I didn't like the way I looked in most of them)

Heather, Happy Birthday...and I hope it is the most fabulous Birthday yet!!!

Daily Moments

Another busy week has come and gone. Of course it wouldn't be a complete Project Life Tuesday post if I didn't miss a day of taking a picture. I have no picture for Monday & honestly I can't even remember what we did that day. But the rest of the week is here. We spent a lot of time with my mom this week as she was enjoying a staycation and we were enjoying time with her.

Tuesday July 20th-as part of my mom's staycation she treated my sister & I to a relaxing pedicure at Polished Beauty Lounge in the West Village. Along with a super yummy lunch at Blue Moon pizza. Thanks mom!

Wednesday July 21st-My friend Vickie & I were taking our children to the Mayfield dairy plant to see how they make ice cream. On our way there her sweet husband called to inform us they didn't do tours on Wednesdays. So off to the store we went to get ice cream sundae ingredients and let them make their own sundaes to enjoy while watching a movie.

Thursday July 22nd-Nana & 3 of her 6 grandsons. Reading a story to some sleepy boys.

Friday-July 23rd- was another treat from mom during her staycation. She took all of us to Lake Lanier Water park. Jake LOVED it!!! His favorite was the wave pool. He loved letting the waves push him over and then laying on his belly while the wave washed into him again. Because I was off being a big kid and going down all the water slides this is the only picture I have from Jake's 1st water park adventure.

Saturday-July 24th-Heather & I took the boys to The Marietta Square Farmers Market...boy was it a super hot day. We had fun walking around and looking at all the fresh produce. The boys especially loved their fresh squeezed lemonade.

 Sunday-July 25th-Daddy & PawPaw took Jake & Caleb to get hair cuts today. It doesn't matter how many times he gets his hair cut every time he looks so grown up. He is getting to be such a big boy!!

Visions of a Leading Man

Only a few short weeks left in the Completing Him Challenge. I am going to really miss this challenge when it is over. This weeks challenge is Support his vision.  Discuss with your husband his vision for your family. Where does he see your family in 1 year, 5 years, & 10 years? Then share how you let your husband lead.





Ephesians 5:23-24-For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives submit to their husbands in everything.

Letting Jason lead is so hard for me sometimes most of the time. I am a typical type A personality. Wanting to be totally in control of everything and everything being the way I think it should be. Over the last few years I have had to really work on this in our marriage (umm...still working I should say).

I did a Denise Glen Bible study called "Wisdom For Mothers." In this study she says that if your husband is ok with you being the leader then you need to squeeze behind him no matter what and let him lead. This really opened my eyes to things that I just take over and do. Never even thinking about considering Jason's opinion.

Soon after this study I did Elizabeth George's "A Wife After God's Own Heart." This is what I am striving (stumbling) to be each day in my marriage. If you have not done this study before I suggest you pick it up very soon. It will transform your view as your role as a wife.

With Jason being gone so much sometimes it just seems easier for me to take charge and do what I think is right. Or do what I want. Never even running it by him 1st.
My solution to this has become for my answer to be "let me talk to my husband about that." No matter what the "that" might be. I now try & remember to check with him even when I am planning a day with friends or an evening out with my girl friends even when I know he won't be home. Just a quick conversation with him lets me feel like he is leading our family.

There are so many other areas of our marriage that we are still working on me taking a step back and letting him lead. I am really praying through my control issues. That is what it all comes down to in the bigger picture. Me wanting to be in control All.the.time.

And as crazy at it might sound(in 2010) I really do want him to be the leader. Not in a doormat wife kind of way, but as him being the head of our household Biblical way.  I just wonder if I would be so willing to let him lead if it was regarding a big decision that would change our lives. Until we have to come to that type of decision I can pray that I will let him lead.

Because Jason was off on a work trip to Las Vegas for most of last week I wasn't able to cook for him. So last weeks challenge of cooking your husbands favorite meal and the bonus of making his favorite foods all week will also be continuing into this week.

Jumpin' Good Time

We celebrated my nephew's 3rd birthday at Jump 4 Joey's. A big in door bounce place with lots of bounce houses & inflatable slides. The kids (and even the adults) had a great time running and jumping.

Caleb is only 4 months older then Jake. Since my sister & I are so close they really have no choice, but to spend lots of time together. We hope they will always be close friends even when they aren't forced to hang out with each other.

 Love this picture Jason, Jake & Heather

Addicted

I am totally addicted to canning!!!

After canning one jar of banana peppers a couple of weeks ago we decided to try our turn at salsa.

And from there my addiction has been born. I just keeping thinking of things I want can. And wondering how many more tomatoes we will get from our garden. But I am even at the point of thinking about what I can buy from the store in bulk to can too.

Love it!!

For our Salsa we used the zesty salsa recipe that came in our canning kit we bought a few weeks ago.
5 cups chopped/peeled tomatoes

2 1/2 cups chopped onions
2 1/2 cups chopped green peppers
1 1/4 cups pepper(we used a combo of jalapeno and banana peppers both from our garden)
2/3 cup cider vinegar
a dash of hot sauce(we used tabasco because we were out of regular hot sauce)
Bring all of this to boil in a pot. Then reduce heat and simmer/low boil for 10 minutes.
Fill Jars leaving 1/2" headspace

Boil in a hot water bath for 20 minutes

We were able to get 1 pint and 5 1/2 pint jars. We ate a jar Sunday and it is so yummy!!! Not to mention the jars look so pretty in sitting in our pantry.

I got several more jalepanos from the garden today so I am thinking pepper jelly is on my list to can this week. And I know I will be doing freezer jam one day soon(not really hot water bath canning, but still as much fun). I am going to do apple butter too and probably applesauce. Depending how many more tomatoes we get from our garden I would love to make tomato soup and can diced tomatoes as well.

Date nights in the kitchen are so much fun. We had fun spending time together at home while Jake was upstairs sleeping. Lots of work, but great conversations and tons of fun!!!

Daily Moments (7/12-7/18)

Another week is here. I feel like life is going so fast. I really feel like every time I blink it is a new day. And every time I blink I miss something. This Project Life Tuesday with The Mom Creative has really helped me to capture every day. Just the normal, silly, & fun of each day. I pay attention a little more so that I can be sure and capture that day on camera. And then the parts that I don't capture on camera I try to take a minute and breath it in. Store it away in my memory to the "I won't ever forget this" place.  Here is a look at this week. Unfortunately Sun. I didn't get any pictures.

Monday-July 12th-Just hanging out on the couch...I love that he thinks he is grown and has to cross his leg while he is sitting there. And this scrunched up eye smile is his new "cheeeeeeese" every time I pull out the camera.

Tuesday-July 13th-We have this spray bottle to keep the humidity right in the snake cage. It is filled with water and Jake loves to spray in the snakes cage...every time he is up stairs. This day he came walking down the stair spraying it in his mouth...of course he thought it was so funny.

Wednesday-July 14th-Jake is just hanging out at the pool. He didn't really want to be in the water, but was fine just sitting on the chair. (this was taken with my phone so it is terrible...can't wait until the iphone comes to verizon in January)

Thursday July 15th- Got this beach ball in the dollar section Target(love that place) Jake loves the ball. And thought it was great to sit on and do his exercise like mommy. Until he discovered it was even more fun to roll backward off the ball and fall down. Again here is his "cheeeeese" face.

Friday-July 16th-Jake helped me make chocolate banana bread & by help I mean he stared into the mixer asking me if it was down and could he lick the "mixing thing."

Saturday-July 17th-Date nights in the kitchen are so fun. Jake was sound asleep in his bed and Jason & spent time in the kitchen together. Making the most delicious homemade salsa. We were able to get 5 half pint jars and one pint jar. Not to mention fun conversations while chopping, mixing, cooking, canning, and hot water bathing.

Sunday-July 18th-again another day with no photo. We spent the day at my parents. Since the weather was yucky you can picture us playing scrabble for the grown ups & junkyard operation with Jake.

Feed Him Well

 

I didn't get a post done for last weeks Completing Him Challenge. Jason & I had lots of conversations about last weeks challenge (priorities). But I never got around to posting about it. So we will skip right along to this weeks challenge which is: Make your husband a priority. Ask him what his favorite dinner, dessert drink are. Be sure to serve him all 3 one night this week. Bonus: make his favorite foods all week.

This weeks challenge is going to have to carry over to next for us. I won't be able to cook Jason's favorite meals all week so I will be doing this all next week too.

I will be making meatloaf, steamed squash, & rice for dinner tonight. One of his favorites.

And I have made pumpkin muffins for breakfast tomorrow. Jason likes most anything pumpkin and thanks to his mom has a huge appreciation for real from the pumpkin not canned pumpkin. During the fall we have started cooking and pureeing pumpkin to keep in the refrigerator all year long. I love being able to pull out a container and make a pumpkin pie in the middle of the Spring or a pumpkin cheesecake during the summer and not have to use canned pumpkin.

Jason's most favorite meal is grilled steak. I have no clue how to use the grill and really no desire to either. Jason is a master at the grill and makes the best stuff. I am sure one day this weekend he will enjoy a grilled steak...me grilled chicken and he will cook it. But truth is he enjoys grilling and would probably be annoyed if I tried to grill for him. I will make his favorite side dishes to go along with his grilled steak.

And then through next week will include the things that I can make that are his favorites for him to enjoy.

Oh and his favorite drink is sweet tea...the sweeter the better. And honestly this is probably pretty high on his list of priorities for me to have a gallon of sweet tea in the refrigerator all the time!!

I love cooking for my family and trying new recipes so it will be so much fun going through the recipes this week and talking to Jason about what he wants to eat each night.

Closed

8 years ago today we closed on our very 1st house.

What an exciting time it was for us.

So much has happened in our 1st home!

This is where we came the night we got married before leaving on our honeymoon.

This is where we found out we were expecting our 1st baby.

And then again where we brought him home to from the hospital.

Not to mention all the not so big, but still wonderful memories we have here in our 1st home.

Our neighborhood is wonderful....and I have met some of my very best friends here.

Jake has friends to play with

And we are happy here in our 1st home!!

I can't believe how different everything looks!

Look at our tiny Japanase Maple tree and how big it is now...not to mention the rose bushes we have planted with it now

Daily Moments

Linking up for another week of Project Life with The Mom Creative 

This week was super busy which made for a couple days with no pictures. Here is a short recap of the week. Wed night Jason's truck wouldn't start. He had to get a ride home from work and Jake & I had to drive him to work on Thursday morning. Thankfully it was only his battery and it is up and running now. Friday I took Jake to his mawmaw & papa Jack's. When I got in my car to leave it wouldn't start either...again the battery. 2 dead batteries in one week. Thankfully I was at my inlaw's house and they were able to help me with my car. I had wedding rehearsal Friday night for a wedding I was in Saturday. Friday night on my way to the rehearsal I got a phone call that they were taking my sister in for her c-section. She was 25 weeks pregnant with twin boys and had been in the hospital for a week. They were able to hold off labor until Friday when her contractions started again. She delivered Luke Stephen(1.5 pounds & 12") & Logan Michael(2 pounds 13") Friday evening.  The boys are doing as well as could be expected, but they will have a long stay in the nicu. Then Saturday I was in a friend from high schools wedding and Sunday we ended the weekend celebrating my nephews 3rd birthday. To say this has been a busy week is an understatement. But it was filled with so many blessings too!!! Here are pictures from the week(at least from the days that I have).

Monday July 5th- we were still celebrating 4th of July. We roasted marshmallows on the grill and made s'mores. But eventually just eating the marshmallows on the stick were better then the rest.

Tuesday July 6th- My Good Morning Girls group came over to hang out. We had such a great time!! I made these super yummy Martha Stewart s'mores cookies.

Wednesday July 7th-no picture for today...picture Jason's broken truck sitting at work

Thusday July 8th-again no picture today

Friday July 9th- Today we welcomed 2 tiny new nephews. Although, I have some pictures of them I wasn't sure if I should post them. If you are a praying person please pray for these tiny babies. But thankfully I have a super cute picture of Jake to share. He has been really into superheroes lately. Not a specific one, but he loves to run around the house yelling, "Superhero saves the day." His Mawmaw made him this super cute superhero cape with a J on the back. He loves it!!!

Saturday-July 10th- Here we are all dressed up after my friends wedding. It is such a joy to attend and be a part of a wedding.

Sunday-July 11th- Happy Birthday Caleb Reece today you are 3 years old. (of course the birthday boy is the one not looking...this was the best of like 5 pictures) We celebrated at Jump 4 Joey with a John Deere theme.

That is our week in a nutshell!!

S'more Goodness

Several years ago we would spend 4th of July weekend camping. I loved it...almost everything about it...including sleeping in a tent. The bugs I could do without, but I loved camping. We are thinking about taking Jake later this summer and looking around for good places. I love camping and want Jake to experience the fun of camping(in a tent).

But whenever I think of 4th of July I think of those years spent camping and remember the fun of roasting marshmallows and making s'mores. Although, we weren't camping I thought it would be fun for Jake & my nephews, plus a girl(the older boy's cousin)(ok, and me too) to roast marshmallows and make s'mores even without the camping.

We had to be innovative since we didn't have a fire pit or a place to build a fire....so what is a girl in a back yard to do? Hello, my new friend gas grill. I will admit I have never cooked on a grill before. Jason is the master of the grill and enjoys cooking on the grill. So all of our meals on the grill are left up to him. But it might be my new favorite outside toy!!

They s'mores weren't as good as the original over the fire roasted marshmallow kind, but they still had their gooey deliciousness to them.

At one point it became more fun to just add a piece of chocolate to the marshmallow skewer and it that way. Forgot about the graham cracker.