jesus loves me

Taylor sings "Jesus Loves Me" about 20 times a day, or more.

It's the 2nd song that she has learned all the way through and can sing all by herself.

The first song was the Barney "I love you" song.

I heard her singing and playing the piano and chatting away on her phone the other day and like many other times, I ran with my camera to try to catch some video. But usually that causes her to stop what she's doing.

This day, she continued, and it made for a funny little video.

You may not find it as hilarious as Dave and I did....we literally were crying we were laughing so hard when we played it back (the last 10 secs. are the best).

Here's a transalation if you need it:

"Hey Papa, want me to sing Jesus Loves Me?"

(after the song, she dials Papa again)

"Hi....what you doing at your house Papa? Singing and Dancing? Oh. Bye."

Oh what a silly, silly girl.

You know you're in Kansas when....

there are chickens waiting to greet you at the gas station.



(this was taken on a quick stop on our way home from Kansas City)

weekend getaway

Our community life group took a little trip this weekend....adults only.
Well, except for Esther, but she doesn't count, she's only 2 months, and she may just happen to be the most perfect and happiest baby ever...I seriously forgot she was with us ALL the time.

This year, rather than country or lake life, we chose the city life....and headed to Kansas City.

My mom (Mima) came to stay with our kiddos while were were away!!! Thanks Mom!

Our trip began at The Legends - an outdoor shopping area by the racetracks.

We played at Dave & Busters...


The girls did some dancing...

and yes, Kendall WAS hip-hopping! (to Mozart)

the guys did some shooting...

it's a little bit scary how much Bill is enjoying this game! Bill, surely you have never done this before!??!?

Dave told me after playing this that a person walked by, he saw them out of the corner of his eye and really thought they were part of the game and he aimed his gun to shoot at them.

The guys did this....

While the girls did some shopping.
They got smart later and went on to Cabela's to pass the time.

We had dinner at Buca Di Beppo's on the Plaza...

me and my man...


The wonderful couples we are blessed to be in a group with...

Bill and Olivia (Esther got to stay with some friends so Mom and Dad could have the evening off)

Joel and Kendall

Aaron and Shannon.....Aaron loved his new shirt so much he just couldn't stop staring at it.



We were missing one couple who we were very sad could not join us. Hopefully ONE of these years we can make it as a complete group!


Our night continued at the Comedy City Club where we saw a great improv comedy show
We rented the room just for US....it was a private show!!

Just kidding!

Good thing we showed up to the show, otherwise the 4 other people next to us would have been the only audience.....AWKWARD!!!!

We were a bit worried at first. I was quite nervous that because there were only 12 people in the whole place, my chances of getting picked on, or called out to be a volunteer or something crazy like that were much higher. Luckily, they chose Olivia and Aaron and I got left alone. Thank goodness.


It was really quite fun....we laughed A LOT!! I wonder if you don't laugh at all, if they give you your money back?


Our night ended with a round of Battle of the Sexes and yummy treats, that were completely unneccessary, back at the hotel.


A highlight of the trip....sleeping in with no kids to wake us. AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!


And as if we hadn't had enough food on this trip yet, we started our morning out with a HUGE breakfast at IHOP.


AND as if we hadn't done enough shopping, that continued on Sunday as well.
Dave came out of the trip as the biggest shopper...can you believe it!??!?
No really, I'm not kidding. Old Navy had 50% off all men's stuff, so a few new shirts and pants will now get him through for another 5 years.
That's just SICKENING to me!! Why can't it be that easy for girls to shop like that?

No trip to KC is complete without a stop at The Children's Place Outlet.
Dave wandered to a nearby store and found this...


I'm not quite ready for Taylor and Mason to have a pet of their own....maybe someday.

It was a SUPER weekend with great friends!! We are SO blessed to have these couples (and their kiddos) in our lives!!

tigers

After my mom watched the kiddos for the weekend while we were on our small group trip, she stayed an extra day for a little bit of fun.

We made it to the zoo for the last time before our pass expired. FINALLY, to see the new tiger exhibit.



Such amazing creatures. I think they are fascinating!

I'm not sure what I was thinking. It was already nice and humid outside (we had worn layers because it was cool in the morning but we hadn't stripped them off yet), and then I go and suggest we go through the jungle.

By the time we made it out, I was dripping wet of sweat. It was pretty much miserable in there and I will remember NOT to suggest that again unless it's November.



This colorgul guy was just chilling and had several people standing within inches away from him.

It was great having Mima here to go to the zoo with us!
Now our pass is expired. We'll wait till it's not so hot anymore to get another one.

happy birthday nana!

Do you know what happens when you just refer to the place you are meeting for dinner as the "Mongolian BBQ"??? d
Well, it ends up that there are 2 "Mongolian BBQs" on Rock Road.

There were 11 of us that were meeting in Wichita to celebrate Dave's mom's birthday. We were coming in 3 different groups. Our group arrived at Hu Hot (the place that I had suggested that we all eat - it's our new favorite place!) and began to wait for our seats.


I called Stef to tell her there was no hurry, if they wanted to take their time getting there....

Here's a recap for our conversation....

"Hey Stef, we are having to wait 30-45 minutes to be seated"

"Well, we're already seated!

"Who's seated?"

"All of us"

"HUH???? Where are you?? I don't see you. We're sitting right at the bar""

"We're over to the left when you come in"

"Left? There isn't really a left when you come in?

"Where ARE you?"

"We're a Hu Hot."

"OOOOHHHHH, we're at.......ummm, we're at.......Kwan's Kitchen, oh no! I thought you said the Mongolian BBQ!"

"yeah, that's what Hu Hot is"

So we packed up the kids, with a little meltdown involved...

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, I wanna eat a HUHA!!!"

and headed towards what was actually called Ginghis Grill. It took us a little bit to actually find out where they were...Kwan's Kitchen? Ginghis something? Stef didn't really know...she just knew they were at a Mongolian BBQ. The bartender at Hu Hut helped confirm where we were wanting to go.

Yeah, so good thing, the surprise was ruined earlier in the week, because otherwise it would have been ruined anyway! Definitely a memorable night!

Dave's sister, Stef, and our adorable niece and nephews were enjoying watching the food being cooked!




At least she was surprised when the restaurant staff sang to her!

Giving grandma birthday cards...

Paige, Stef, Tyler, Steve and Jaden

Taylor with 2 of her cousins....Jaden will be 4 in July and Paige will be 3 in June. They have lots of fun together!

Such goofy kids...and I really have no clue what they are holding...something out of the back of someone's car, I didn't really catch that story.

Don't ask me HOW we got so lucky to get all the kids looking in the same direction....oh wait, that would be the abnoxious noises that we were making.

Happy Birthday Jacquie (Nana)....WE LOVE YOU!!

I'd say getting a cute picture of you with all 5 of these kids looking at the camera in pretty much ONE try...is a great birthday present!

fun with friends

It seems like not long ago and everyone we knew was kid-less, including ourselves.


But that is NOT so anymore.

There are kids everywhere, and they keep on coming!


Last week we had a playdate with some teacher friends of mine...Kara, Kendall, and Shannon.


Kara had a little boy, Braden, 2 days before Mason...you may have remembered him in a previous post. They moved to Nebraska, and were back last week, so it was fun to get together and see how the boys have grown and changed so differently but yet so the same!


We played outside, then came in for lunch...

Mason's in the highchair, then Taylor, Braden, Eli and Ollie.

Come on, Lily, hurry and grow, Taylor needs another girl to play with!!

Then the "big" kids decided to perform...

(also known as yelling and pounding as hard as you can!)

They wanted to share their first "single" with you....be watching for an album coming soon! (sold in combo with a bottle of Exedrin Migraine)


We're excited for lots more fun with friends this summer!

Mason's new "do"

This little guy has a new look...

Well, he still has that ornery look...nothing's changed there....


But obviously, as you can tell from this picture, he is in need of a new hair-do.

I KNEW he needed a haircut, but it's crazy how fast it sneaks up on you. Just this week I've been noticing it was getting pretty long again. But with a week as busy as this one, I didn't notice how bad it REALLY was, until we got to church. Being dressed all cute made his shaggy hair a little more noticeable...or A LOT!

We got told he looked like a girl. (haha, I know it was a joke...but obviously, we're not gonna wait another day after that!)

I just wanted to trim it with scissors again. Like last time...just a trim around the ears, in the back and his bangs.

(here's the before picture)

Daddy had other plans....that included a buzzer.

I fought and fought, but lost this time.

Do you see all that hair!??!?! That beautiful head of hair....just being buzzed right off!!

While Mason is being lulled to sleep with the feeling of the buzzer over his head, I just started laughing....you know, that laugh you do when you can't believe what you're doing....a nervous laugh, because I didn't know what else to do or say...I just laughed and kept snapping pictures.

I was laughing so hard, my eyes began to water and KEPT watering. Until it was no longer a laugh. They were REAL tears! Dave didn't know if I was laughing or crying.....I didn't know either. But the tears kept coming, and slowly as more and more hair was being buzzed off, the laughing stopped.

Just tears....from Mommy AND Mason.

That's right....NO ONE asked him how he felt about getting rid of his gorgeous hair and when he realized what happened, he was NOT happy!

Do you see this look of utter shock!??!

He lost SOOO much hair...


Here's the after...

I almost couldn't even take pictures as I just looked at him in pure shock.

He looks SO different. He looks SO much older.

He does look like he's ready for summer though, huh?

It's growing on me. Dave admits he even shocked himself when he really started buzzing off those long locks!

All in all, Daddy likes it, Mommy had a rough time, but is semi-okay now, Taylor likes it, and well, here is how Mason feels about it...

(these pictures aren't completely depicting this story correctly....although he did get a little upset towards the end of the cut, that was because he was ready to get down, not because his hair was gone....he really had no clue and still has no clue what happened. He could care less. But I thought his cute little expressions would make for more of a dramatic story.)

my lifesaver

I've wanted to blog about this for awhile now, and am finally getting around to it, after several of my friends have blogged about getting organized.

I have this little handy notebook in my house that has made my life SO much easier.

Well, part of my life, anyway.

It's my Meal Planning Notebook.
(actually, this is the one that I made for my friend Jess, but it's almost just like mine, just different recipes and hers is cuter)


No more "what's for dinner tonight?"
No more "well, can't make that because we don't have _____"
No more trips to the grocery story just to cook dinner.
No more of those "stuck in a rut-can't think of anything different to cook" moments.
No more searching through cookbooks trying to figure out how I can change things up
No more wondering "since when do I only know how to make 5 meals (because that's all we ever eat)"
No more wondering "where in the world is that recipe?" followed by a search through a book with notecards, torn papers, napkins, full sheet, half sheets, torn and stained sheets, burstin out of the seams and falling out everywhere each time it's opened.

Dinner at our house is one thing I do not stress about anymore, and one less decision I have to make and plan each day.

I by no means am saying that I have the best system ever....I know there are tons of less detailed and more detailed systems that work. I like mine, because it works for me.

I have it divided into sections: quick menu, calendars, grocery lists, main dishes, sides/apps, deserts. You could have a section for coupons if you wanted too. And I'm thinking about extending this notebook and doing a section for household chores - a list of daily, weekly, monthly chores and possibly a schedule.

Whether I am planning meals for 1 week, 2 weeks or the whole month...here's where I start...

I call this my QUICK MENU.

Just like going to a restaurant and seeing a list of all the things you can order.
This is a list of all of our typical meals, our favorite meals, the no brainer meals that I make without a recipe, and even some newer ones that I list, just so I don't forget about them and remember to try them. All of the possible meals that I would ever want to make are on this list. THIS is why I don't get stuck in a rut of making the same things all the time and not able to think of other things.

Notice that the ingredients are listed after each meal...this helps me make my grocery list!

I grab my calendar, scan my quick menu, pick meals and start writing them on my calendar, for however far out I'm planning. It will be fun with the kids can start picking what meals they would like from this list too.

I found this template online for Jess's notebook and I think I may try it....it's just for one week. But I think it will help me plan breakfasts and lunches a little better too. I don't think I will plan specifics for breakfast and lunch, but I can write in "PB&J, mac and cheese, nuggets, fruit, cottage cheese, green beans" across the whole week, so I'd at least know what our options are. Same for breakfast. If I don't like it, I'll just go back to my month calendar.


I also have a quick menu for sides and deserts. I don't do well with changing up our sides very much. So I love to scan a list and see things that I would maybe not think of otherwise.

I don't make deserts too often. But I LOVE having a list of all my favorites for those times I do make one, or need to take one somewhere. Again, before my notebook, I'd either choose to make the fabulous go-to pan of brownies, or I'd search recipes forever trying to come up with something new and exciting. Now I just scan my list of deserts and pick one!

Once my meals are planned.....time for the grocery list.

I LOVE that my quick menu lists all of my ingredients for me. No searching for recipes, no trying to remember what all I need for a particular meal. The quick menu allows me to see exactly what I need.

I found this grocery list online.

The purpose is to take this to the store with you. How wonderful, because it's divided into sections of the grocery store...so no more going back and forth from isle to isle! So I may start check marking each item that I need based off my quick menu (less writing). Or I may just end up using it as a visual for each grocery trip...I'll refer to this to make sure I'm not forgetting anything, but I may still write my lists out the way I'm used to. Haven't decided this yet.

I have another form I use to make my lists that just reminds me to think about lunches, breakfasts, snacks, household stuff, drinks, etc.

WHALAH!!! You are off to the store with your list that matches your meal calendar.
This has helped the grocery budget a TON!

In the back of my notebook are all of my recipes!!! Of course, I don't need a recipe for tacos or spaghetti (but these are still listed on my quick menu. For some reason, if they aren't listed, I sometimes won't think of them). But my big, messy stack of recipes are now nicely typed out and organized in ABC order in the back of my notebook.



I love these cute, colorful tab dividers from Walmart. I love that a few of them have pockets. You could go with the non-cute ones and get pockets in all of your dividers. This is nice to stash away new recipes. I found that after about 6 months, it was time to update my notebook with new meals that I found in my Kraft Food and Family magazine, or ones I've gotten from friends. I'll add them to the quick menu and to the recipes in the back.

OR sometimes I will just add a new meal to my quick menu, because I can do that faster, and then make reference to what magazine or cookbook I can find the recipe in, if I don't have time or don't want to keep up with typing out recipes.

Now, how can you NOT want to plan meals when you get to look at a notebook this cute!??!?

It's just so nice to grab my notebook, sit in front of the TV or relax on the couch and be able to have everything at my finger tips. The only thing I have to get up for is to check to see if we already have things in the fridge or cupboard and don't need to buy it. And sometimes I've even gotten Dave to stand at the cupboard and I call out things for him to check on, while I'm making the list.

So there it is. My Meal Planning Notebook.

I used to struggle in this area as a wife and mom. I never felt like I was doing a good enough job for my family. There are so many other things we have to think about during the day, that sometimes dinner is the LAST thing on our minds. Until it's dinner time....then I was scrambling, stressing and feeling like a failure as I reach for the frozen pizza or we head out-to-eat. Oh, and I don't think I mentioned that this system has helped us cut back on eating out as much too....since many times we would eat out just because I didn't know what to do for dinner!

I love it because it works and it's something that stuck and I can't live without now!

If you need help or have questions making one for yourself, I'd be happy to help!

did you know?

Did you know that the zoo closes at 5?
Do zoos everywhere close at 5?

We didn't know this.
We planned all day to go after naps. And of course, this day, the kids chose to sleep extra long.
But at the time, we didn't see this as a huge problem.

We got them ALL pumped up to go....Taylor's only request was that we DO NOT see the monkeys again (one of them attacked the glass in rage RIGHT at Mason's face last time)...I was even scared, you can only imagine Mason. And obviously Taylor was bothered by it too).

We arrived at 4:57...and I thought to myself "there sure are a lot of people leaving the zoo at the same time"

When we reached the ticket counter, my heart sank. March-October the zoo closes at 5pm. That just seems so early, doesn't it? There are still several hours of daylight!

OH NO! What now? Dave asked if we could just go in really quick (ONLY because of our pass, otherwise we would have never paid to do this). I assumed we'd run in, see the flamingos which are RIGHT by the entrance and leave. But there were still LOTS of people filing out, so why not just go in the opposite direction of all the traffic until someone stops us?

We tried the petting zoo....until the sign "Farm Animals released to pasture for the night"

Dave thought we should try to get back and see the Tigers...it's a brand new exhibit the opened TODAY and the big reason we went. I was afraid if we tried to get back there, we wouldn't be successful and then have to leave and not see anything. I thought we were safer trying to see what we can see close....so at least the kids would be satisfied.

We saw lots of geese families...


We got a MAJOR close-up of Mr. Elephant...

I just kept looking at Dave and asking "do we try to go further?"

I think the giraffes were headed in for dinner...

And this guy was quite close too, he just stared at us......until he did something very inappropriate.

We were getting closer and closer to the tigers...still no one to tell us to leave, and still seeing others walking towards the exit. We figured at anytime we could turn around and join the exiting crowd...but didn't want to join them till we had to.

The tiger exhibit was in sight!!!
And so was the zoo keeper lady on her golf cart.
We finally had to turn around and head out....slowly.

We were SOOOO close, but too late. Luckily the kids did not really know where we were headed or why. They were happy with all the animals on the way.

So Dave was right...we could have walked STRAIGHT to the tigers, and then have seen all these other animals on the way out. But I wasn't expecting to get 30 minutes at the zoo either. But it's way better than 3!!!

Taylor almost had a meltdown in the parking lot until I told her that the restaurant we were going to would give us some chips! Thank you On the Border!!!

So, in case you didn't know before...now you know the zoo closes at 5. Plan accordingly.