Painting

I'm not sure why but I tend to do large projects when David is away.  David and Alex went on a trip and I suddenly got the project bug.  I walked by a paint counter at the store and felt it calling my name.  I went over and browsed and was inspired.  That was in the afternoon and by 10:00 that night I had my paint bought and the room prepped and decided to see what I could accomplish.  I wanted to surprise David so I started right in.  He was only gone a couple days so I hit it.   My projects are not without their ups and downs and the streaking on the trim almost sent me over the edge but Grandpa Bill came to the rescue and  with advise from my mom we fixed the problem.  Then between Latisha, Grandpa Bill and myself we were able to get three rooms painted in less then 24 hours, and that was including rest time for a little sleep in the night.  The next day I was painted out and my mom did some touch ups while I did a little shopping for a couple decorative pieces and some curtains.  My dad came and hung the curtains.  Then we finished hanging a couple more things and I picked David and Alex up at the airport at 11:00 p.m.  Crazy but fun. When they came home they walked right pass the painted dining room, saw the curtains and said they were nice.  I turned on the light in the dining room and they were quite impressed.  Then I took them to the girls bath and they went wow.  Next I took them our bathroom and David was a quite surprised and a little concerned about how much painting I had done.  He loved it and my surprise was a success.  It so needed to be done.  There is quite a bit more painting we need to do but it was a good start.  Hope you enjoy the pictures.  Have a wonderful day.

Alicia

getting the bathroom prepped

these are the only before pictures I took

here are the after in the master bath

other side master bath

dining room

girls bath

other side.  

Bellie Boo is Two

Isabella turns two today.  Happy Birthday to my sweet little girl.  What a blessing she is.   One of Isabella's favorite things to do is to grab someones hand and have them walk around with her.  She loves to take you to things and play.  You don't really have to play with her, at times she would prefer you not, she just wants you to be with her.  What a beautiful blessing you are Isabella, we love you so much.  I am still overwhelmed with God's blessing of you to us.  Thank you Father.

Happy Birthday Isabella!

Lauren and Cassandra were playing "Happy Birthday" and singing to Isabella

Still in Love

22 years ago today, on a Monday just like today, I said "I do,"  he said "I do", we were declared Man and wife by my Grandfather, and the adventure began.  6 kids and 22 years later we are still very much in love and blessed beyond our dreams.  God has been so good to us and I am so grateful to be David's bride.  My dream was always to marry a man who loved the Lord and we would raise our children for the Lord.  How blessed I am to be living that dream.  Last year I shared our love story in several posts this year I just want to say "I rejoice in the husband of my youth."  :)  God Bless you all
Alicia

The Man of La Mancha

Alexander just finished his first college production.  It was "The Man of La Mancha."  We watched the old movie of it with Sophia Loren and was a little surprised that this Christian University had chosen this as their production.  I was very pleasantly surprised.  First I have to say the orchestra played beautifully and the actors sang and performed wonderfully.  When the first singer began his song I was so impressed and it just got better.  Then came my son.  He played several roles.  He was one of the prisoners, a man at the inn and the priest.  As a mom there is such a thrill to watch your child perform and this was no exception.  He had several songs with others and even a solo here and there.  It just blessed me to listen to him sing and perform.  I don't know why I get so emotional about it but I do.    

The musical is about a man who is living in an imaginary world, where he sees things as he wishes to, and calls himself Don Quixote.  In the story a young lady named Aldonza works at the inn and is frequently propositioned by men there.  Aldonza is beautiful but thinks very low of herself and life.  Quixote sees her as a princess and changes her name to Dulcinea.  There is much more to the story but the point I was impressed with is how regardless of what Aldonza does or what is done to her, Quixote sees her as his fair lady Dulcinea and wants her as his lady.  To me this is how our God is.  Regardless of what we have done or how we see ourself He sees us as the Prince or Princess He created us to be.  It is our choice to accept him as our Savior and see ourselves as He has created us, no matter what our past is.  Isn't God so wonderful.  In the end Aldonza/Dulcinea leaves her lifestyle, follows after Quixote, and changes her name to Dulcinea.   Let us look forward, not back,  and follow after our God and be the person He knows we can be.  Have a great day. 

This picture is not from the play but was just a fun one.
It is Alex and Latisha  and a couple dear friends, Link and Ivy

Alicia

Another Year Older

The other day I went to get a trim on my hair.  The lady did her usual shock at the number of kids I have and then big shock at how old my oldest child is.  Then came the question "How old are you?"  I told her I just had a birthday and am now 41.  "That is older then me," she gasped.  "I sure hope I look as good as you when I am your age?"  What does that mean?  I'm sure that was meant as a compliment but at "my age" one doesn't like to hear it.  :)  Just thought that was funny.

I did have a very nice birthday.  It is always such a blessing to me with my family.  We had my parents, my sister and her family, my in laws, and my son's friend.  I got clothes, money and even a chair reupholstered.  My children got me a new pair of slippers.  I am very hard on slippers and was thrilled with the new ones.  The ones I got for Christmas had already worn out (thanks in part to our new puppy) and the new slippers are great.  Fondue is my birthday dinner, here are some pictures and recipes.  Latisha made a wonderful checker board cake orange and chocolate flavors.  Very fun.  Enjoy.  Thank you Lord for a new year.

fondue

Cassandra helped me open presents

My lovely cake

Latisha made sure to put the right number of candles.  So we had a slight fire.

But I was able to get them all out in one breath

The inside of the cake.  Soooo good.

Choco-Scotch Mallow Fondue
1 14 oz can sweetened Condensed milk
6 oz butterscotch pieces
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 7 oz jar marshmallow cream
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
Combine ingredients in crockpot.  Heat through on low to melt chocolate and butterscotch.  Stir thoroughly.  Add more milk if fondue becomes too thick.  (We doubled it of our party)  We dip cut up fruit (bananas, apples, oranges, and strawberries.)


Apricot Cream Fondue
1 30 oz can unpeeled apricot halves, drained
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tblsp cornstarch
3/4 cup whipping cream
1 Tblsp lemon juice
Blend apricots in blender until smooth.  In fondue cooker (crockpot) combine sugar and corn starch.  Stir in puree apricots, cream, and lemon juice.  Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.   We dip cut up fruit.

Shrimp and Cheese Fondue
1 can cream of shrimp (if we can't find it we just use cheddar cheese soup and small can tiny shrimp)
1 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
garlic salt and onion powder to taste.
Heat to melt and dip cut up french bread.  This is another one we double.  

Week in Revue

Fun week for starting off so crazy.  Saturday the girls had a Bible quiz match.  It went well as far as I could tell.  I woke with a cold that got worse and worse as the match proceeded.  The cold stuck around for a couple days before finally easing up.  

Sierra's team.  It was mixed up clothes day.  This is not how they normally drew

Danika's team

Tuesday night we had a great (double) date night with some dear friends.  We called them at the last moment and they were able to get away.  They brought their adorable baby, who is 3 months old.  She was a delight all evening and we so enjoyed time out with good friends.

Wednesday was shopping day.  Danika and Cassandra went with me.  Cassie was insistent of brining her little Bible with her.  This was of concern to Danika.  But it was so cute.  Cassie walked around the store proudly caring her beloved pink New Testament Bible.  She looked adorable.

Here Cassandra on her big wheel, wearing her brother hat and singing away.

Next we had a beautiful snow fall on Bright Lights day.  The day started off with a little sprinkle that turned into a dusting and then layers of beautiful white snow.  A bit of a surprise.  But the girls loved going out and shoveling in preparation for our group.  Our meeting went great.

 Then as an early Birthday gift, today my lovely daughter Latisha gave me a wonderful pedi and mani.  How fun.  She did a wonderful job as always.  She is so artistic and paints on cute little flowers and swirls. It is definitely a gift she has.  I normally don't paint my fingernails because with all the cleaning and wiping I do they don't look good long.  I'll be careful and maybe they will be good for a couple days.

Now the snow is mostly gone and maybe spring is about to move in.  Hope you are all having a great day.

God Bless.

Alicia

What Did She Just Say?

Cassandra is constantly bringing me such joy.  I love that time when kids start to embrace vocabulary and come up with their own funny twists on word interpretations.  When Cassandra asks me a question if my answer is "I don't know, we'll see" or "Maybe later,"  her reply is "so, that's a yes Mom."  Then we have a conversation of how that is a not yes but a let me think about it and I'll get back to you.  She just can't grasp that and says "So, it is a yes."  Let your yes be yes and your no be no.  Right?  The other one that confuses her is "Tomorrow."  She will ask "is it church today?"  I'll say "tomorrow."  She says, "so after breakfast?"  "No, after we go to sleep and wake up."  "The next day then."  "Yes, the next day."  The funny thing is we have had this conversation more then once.  

Cassandra Saying cheese

 Isabella on the other hand doesn't talk.  She show's little interest in talking and prefers to just scream for things.  We say "Drink, you want a drink?"  and she replays "aaaaahhhh".   The other day she caught me totally off guard.  Cassandra and Isabella were eating pancakes and I asked Cassandra "Are the pancakes good?"  To which Isabella replied "pancakes good."  Cassie's mouth dropped and said "Mom!"  I said "yes, it sounded like Isabella said pancakes good."  

Her vocabulary might improve if she didn't have her thumb in her mouth so much.

Latisha trying a cute bun and braid combo.  Real cute.  She does a lot of cute things with her hair.

 Oh and last but not least, I finished my blanket.  I made it for our church's Girls Ministry fund raiser.  I had some yarn left over so I decided to start another blanket.  Of course that is kind of silly because I will have to go and get more yarn and hope they have the same color.  But I really enjoy trying out new patterns and it relaxes me as I listen to the girls read.

The finished product.

 Well, now were off to another fun filled weekend.  The conference last weekend was very good.  This weekend Sierra and Danika have their last Bible quiz match of the season.  Have a great weekend.

God Bless
Alicia