Friday photos

"The Boys" - Luke, Liam & Josiah

Josiah and the girls (Katelyn & Charlotte)

Hours of entertainment - black bean construction site

He's so into construction vehicles right now!

"fishing" at the Children's Museum

Getting Brave!

Family Movie Night - Finding Nemo!  He watched the whole thing with us!

His Storytime Class

Did I mention he likes construction vehicles?

An evening walk to the beach

Two year old Theology

It's awesome to see how to Josiah's faith and understanding of Jesus is already growing! I wanted to document these little conversations from yesterday so i don't forget them!

Yesterday, he had asked me to pray for him because his tummy hurt, but after I did, he said "but Jesus isn't helping me right now because I want him to help Grandma first.". So of course I explained to him that one of the awesome things about Jesus is that He can heal him and Grandma at the same time. But of course my heart just smiled to think that he would rather have Jesus help someone else than himself.

So then He asked "how many Jesus's are there? Because in my Bible, there are lots of Jesus's" and that of course led to me telling him that just like we have lots of pictures of him doing different things even though it's the same Josiah, his bible has lots of pictures of Jesus doing different things. And that even though there is only one Jesus, He can be everywhere. And I told him how He can live in my heart and his heart and anyone else that invites Him in and then he said: "Jesus will you come live in my heart?"
and "when daddy gets home I want him to ask Jesus to live in his heart too."

Last night we were sharing a dessert and when Mike asked Josiah if he wanted the last bite, he said "no, you can have it Daddy.". So I asked him why he gave the last bite to Daddy and he said "because i were sharing and God told me not to be selfish." :) :) just the night before, we had read a Bible story about how Abraham wasn't selfish when he gave the best land to Lot and how that made God happy and God blessed him even more since he didn't just keep all the good things for himself. Apparently Josiah was really listening! :)

Pinterest inspiration

I keep seeing these cute felt flowers on lots of things on pinterest and everyone says how easy they are to make... So I gave it a try! It's true! They are very easy, and I had fun making this wreath during Josiah's nap yesterday. I picked out the colors and then realized I've truly been brainwashed: I managed to subconsciously pick maize and blue... Michigan colors! :)

Smarty & Not-So-Smarty :)

 

Wordless Wednesday :)

Food Food Food

We survived another big cooking day and our freezers are stuffed!  This was one of our most ambitious menus since there were a lot of steps and prep and assembly for many of these recipes, but everything looked so good and I know it'll be worth it as we enjoy all this good food for the next month or two!

Danielle, Stephanie and I for a rough End of the Day shot... and a third of the meals aren't even in this picture!

Not counting the time we spent planning/shopping/prepping, we cooked from 8:30 AM-6:30 PM yesterday.  Talk about tired feet last night!  I was so happy to go out to eat at Gringos down the street when I got home. 

Here's what our hard work and 140 bucks got us (most meals serve 3-4, but a few are bigger):

-20 Breakfast Burritos (ham,sausage, & bacon)  
-12 Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps  
-16 Pizza Roll-Ups 
-2 Spinach Artichoke Dip 
-2 Spicy Sweet Potato Soup 
-2 Beef Manicotti    
-2 Chili       
-2 Bourbon Pecan Chicken    
-40 Chicken & Cheese Pasta Shells     
-2 Pork Carnitas
-2 Martha Stewart's Mac & Cheese
-2 General Tso's Chicken
-2 Beef & Barley Soup
-2 Chicken Pot Pie
-2 Ham & Potato Casserole

Fun, productive and exhausting... but well worth it!  

Happy Valentine's Day!

I spent 26 years of Valentine's Days single, so I've enjoyed making the most of it ever since Mike and I got together.  We had our 2nd annual Valentine's Breakfast this morning.  Between last year's leftover plates & napkins, and these red & white decorations I found at Target for 90% off after Christmas... the whole scheme might have cost me about $1.20.   :)  I made strawberry heart-shaped pancakes with real maple syrup and strawberries, eggs & turkey sausage.... oh and Josiah had a pack of smarties from his little goody bag.  :)  It was fun and simple, and even if I do live with boys, I enjoyed a little bit of creativity and some pink!

Then Josiah and I spent the morning with some of his Storytime friends at Lynnhaven Mall for one of the boys' birthdays.  It was Josiah's first time riding the carousel so that was a treat and they got these fun punching balloons too. Getting them all still for this first photo was quite the feat... and as you can see there was still a balloon in front of one boy.  The second picture was more what they had in mind :)

Tonight, Mike said he's shopping, cooking and cleaning for dinner, so that should be fun!  The only thing I know is that crab cakes are on the menu. 


Mike and I did celebrate with a long-overdue date on Saturday night while Josiah had a sleepover with Grandma & Grandpa.  We had a delicious dinner at Mahi Mah's at the Oceanfront, while watching the little flash-blizzard swirl snow around on the beach, covering the sand & boardwalk.  Then we went to see The Vow, which was a sweet movie.  We sat in the very front row (never done that before, and never again) since even though we had pre-purchased our tickets, the show sold out and those were the last seats left.  Not ideal, but it was better than going back out in the snow and driving 20 minutes to another theater.  Then for the same price as one slice of cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory, we picked up a whole chocolate mousse pie at Harris Teeter and brought it home for dessert.  :)  And there was enough leftover that we've had it every night since...and CONFESSION: I just might have had a little sliver just now as I typed this blog too.

Hope you've had a great day today too!