Friday, December 30, 2005

13 Things Donna did this year!

1.) I turned 24
2.) I celebrated my daughters 5th birthday and my son's 1st birthday all in one summer!
3.) I celebrated my 5th wedding anniversary.
4.) I went on my first vacation with my husband (alone) in 5 years!!!!!!!
5.) I achieved my heaviest weight, besides being pregnant.
6.) I started my own business as a Tastefully Simple consultant.
7.) I have eaten more Mac n Cheese than ever in my life!
8.) I sent my daughter off to Kindergarten.
9.) I started blogging.
10.) I didn't go see 4th of July fireworks...or even go to a picnic=( We spent the day in the ER!
11.) I love God more than I ever have.
12.) I finally drive a SUV..which I swore I would never do..I'm too small (4'11'').
13.) I accomplished this list!

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

A new member of our family



Meet Preston (Owen Preston). He is my aunt's new little Pomeranian pup. He is about 1 1/2. He was breed from 2 show dogs. One a champion. Some how he ended up being a giant. Show Pomeranians have to be between 4 1/2 and 5 pound. My aunt said the breeder was feeding the moms high protein food and all the pups came out large and in bigger liters than usual. So Preston is the 5th dog at Marsha's house and the 3rd Pomeranian. (One blonde, one red and one black)
Hey Jamie too bad you live too far away Manny would have lots of friends!

Monday, December 26, 2005

Christmas is over!

I really do love the holidays, but am also grateful IT IS OVER!
We always have so many places to go and with 2 kids it is very hard.
Christmas Eve morning we went to the Schusters for a big family breakfast. This year I had two 1 year olds to take with me(to a huge house that is not childproof in any way). We were babysitting for our friends who were in the hospital adding a 3rd little girl to their family. Christmas Eve night we went my Aunt Dona and Uncle Mario's house for dinner, making gingerbread houses and exchanging gifts. So much fun and so past bedtime!


My little penguin


My little princess

Christmas morning we did our gifts as a family


He absolutely loves the vacuum


She loves everything!

These are only the gifts from us...you should see all the stuff they got!
Unbelievable!

and them my parents came over to do our exchange with them and my brothers, and off to Grandma's house for dinner and our exchange over there!
That was not all, Oh no!
We were at my Grandma's by 12:30, we ate at 2, did presents at 3 and had some dessert as we ran out of the house to make it to Josh's family's house by 5 (did I mention the 45 minute drive)
We got to the Schusters by 5 and ate another dinner and did presents and rushed home to put our overstimulated, over tired, screaming son to bed!...yeah the one who was done opening gifts after the second one!

We still had a great time and are thankful for all of our gifts from everyone!
No need for any new toys until next year!!

Thursday, December 22, 2005

My girl


Can you believe my Merci is almost halfway through her year in Kindergarten?
I can't. Let me tell you how much I like her school. I like Merci's school very much=)
They told us that this would be a very accelerated program and that our children were going to come home very tired. They weren't lying. Merci is a handful when she come home from school. And she has homework EVERYDAY! And not just little stuff either.
Let me tell you a little secret. Sometimes she has to find her words in the newspaper or magazine. I personally feel this is way to hard for her, and me. trying to find we was really hard even for me! So sometimes I just do it for her!!! Just so I don't have to listen to her wine!

So anyway, Merci is READING. Can you believe it?
She can even spell pretty well also. Here is a list of only about 1/3 of the words she can read already:
an, am, tan, ham, lag, in, tin, pin,it,pit,hit, him,mom,lamp,limp,the,to,as,has,is, his,its,sit,sat,pig,gas,last,stop,to,if,fit,fin,off,fog,hog,fill,hill,past,fast,of,to

She gets a word list every Monday. When she can read all of the words we send it back. Usually when the list comes home all the words, except one sometimes two are already checked off. I am so proud of her!!
She is also learning to tell time by the hour, add a little, and so many more things. I kind of feel inadequate as a mom...how come she wouldn't learn when I tried to teach her these things? Oh well.

So this post is dedicated to my wonderful little MERCI RAE! I love you baby girl. xoxo


We made a chain to count down the days until Christmas.
On each link we wrote a fun thing to do for that day.
It has been fun to spend some extra time with her!

Monday, December 19, 2005

Tower City

Just got back from taking the kids to Tower City to see the Toy Soldier and all the other excitement down there. This will be a quick post because it is freezing down here in our basement!


Merci learned how to curtsey a few years ago
with the soldier and she was very excited to show off her
practiced curtsey.


My brother Josh handing Ethan over to the soldier.
Ethan is NOT too excited about it.
But his face is so cute=)



Mommy help me!


Merry Christmas!
Happy New Year!









Wednesday, December 14, 2005

The more important things in life

Today I taught my son how to dunk his Oreo cookies in milk!


Oops! Forgot the cookie, dunked his hand instead=)

Had to take the cookie to make sure it tasted good.

MMMMM..sure did like that cookie!


And I forgot to show you the yummy cake I made last week. This is the reason I bought the oreo's in the first place. See I have this rule..NO OREO'S IN THE HOUSE! I cannot control myself when it come to Oreo's and milk!


Homemade Reese's cup cheesecake with oreo crust!
My idea of good food!

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Help PLEASE!

Well sadly my family doesn't think that my grandfather will make it until Christmas. And sadly I don't even know my grandfather. Yes I have met him numerous times. The last time I saw him was on Christmas Eve 2 years ago in the hospital. He has been sick since then. He has been an alcoholic all his life. My father used to take us to see him at the bar when we were kids because that is basically where he lived. I have always felt this love towards him, though I don't know him, and haven't heard the best stories about him.

So this is where I need your help. How do I go see him and tell him about Jesus?? There may not be many more chances for me to do this. I am scared, but I know I am the only one who can deliver this message to him. Help I need scripture I need truth to tell him and I am at a loss. Call me, HELP me. I know God gives grace to those even seeking him with their last breath. Just like Kenny was teaching about awhile back. He may not have the biggest crown. But I just need to help him.

Thanks guys! Please pray for him (Jack Harper) and my family.

sidenote:
If this happens before Christmas my dad is going to have a really hard time ( my daddy isn't saved either). My father lost his mom to cancer at the age of like 15 or 16. That is why I have her name. He still has never visited her grave it is so hard for him to this day. He always had nightmares when my parents were first married at the age of 18. So I am very concerned for my father.

Saturday, December 10, 2005

Hearing

Well it's been a little while. Just hanging on day by day, doing the same old things. Josh is supposed to be reading the book Waking the Dead for his class at church...and he hasn't been. It has just been laying around, so I picked it up and started to read it. I really like it so far. The first chapter is about how we as Christians are at WAR!! Does that not explain everything?? We are at war in everything we do. God loves us and has so much for us, but unfortunately we have to fight for it. So fight is what I am going to do!

After I read the first chapter I was laying in by bed and I was just praying... I think I was praying that I would just HEAR God speak to me. Let me just confess I have a horrible problem with too much peacefulness when I pray. I tend to fall asleep a lot when I pray. And let me add one more thing yesterday I was so "busy" cleaning and getting this house under control, that I didn't spend any time with God or with my little Ethan. I just went about doing what I had to do. God spoke to me and said, "Why would you want to be so busy cleaning and taking care of stupid stuff instead of resting in my Peace." HMMMMMM! Yeah why would I?? Well anyway. I was praying to hear God and that I would spend more time with Him. I fell asleep and like 2 minutes later was abruptly awoke by...the heater going on..and a booming voice saying "You will hear my voice" and boy did I hear it! So it is good to know God is speaking. I just need to take time to hear Him.

After last week when Kenny had us write down some things to give to God this season and to just have him be our foundation. I have been striving to do so. Let me share with you one thing I wrote down.

Let me love Josh's family as I would my own.

I think ( I hope..just so I am not the only one) a lot of us have trouble loving our spouses family.
I have trouble with this a lot. I do love them and care for them...but do I show it or act like it. No I complain..especially around holidays. Oh we have to go so many places, your family does stuff so differently than mine, blah blah. Well within hours God gave me a chance to do this. We went to the Schuster's for our monthly family dinner. Well Josh's Grandma was feeling pretty sick,s o she didn't come. Later in the day she called wondering why nobody called her to let her know they missed her. I felt really bad because we all go about our lives not really caring that she is old and lives alone and needs some companionship sometimes. I immediately felt like I should go see her in the morning since she lives right by Merci's school. Now I don't usually just go visit my husbands Grandma. I don't feel like I even know her very well. I was kind of nervous. I went and bought her some Italian Wedding soup..which I know she likes from a trip to a restaurant one time. I also got her a fresh roll and some OJ. Some nice comfort foods when you are sick! Well I went over there and she wasn't very well at all, but she was still doing her laundry, pressing her clothes etc. She looked very sick and you could tell she was very weak. Did I say she is in her late 80's?? I felt so bad, but everything I offered to do she wouldn't let me. Stubborn old people..no offense to anyone. Well I just sat and talked to her for awhile, and I hugged her and very truly felt love for her. I offered to help her with ANYTHING even when she wasn't sick and I think this made her day. Not that she will ever let me help, but it is the thought that counts. She called the next day sounding soooo much better. I would like to think that my love for her made her all better!

I love you Jesus! Keep working on me. I am not giving up this race!

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Heavenly



I was having a down day yeturday so Josh got a babysitter and we just went to the mall to hang out. He took me to Vicoria's Secret to but me some cute, warm PJ's. And then we went to Godiva. I was at the mall awhile ago and saw Danny V. making these yummy treats, and I have been talking about them ever since. Josh bought one for me, him and Merci. Dark chocolate cup filled with juicy raspberries and white chocolate! Yum, Yum, Yum!!

She thought she was cool

My daughter is hilarious. She loves to dress up, do her hair and makeup but yet doesn't know what looks good and what doesn't, and I pray that someday she will learn!

Merci likes to do some pretty weird things. Like the other day we were at Walmart. Merci found an eye liner pencil on the floor and put it all over her lips. Oh I forgot to say it was a black eyeliner pencil. I just couldn't yell at her I was way too busy laughing my butt off. When escorted to the mirror by my wonderful husband and asked if she looked pretty she replied "YES". I replied with
"Merci, do you see anyone else walking around with black stuff all over their lips?" she realized she hadn't. Oh my! What a long road ahead of us.

Here is a funny picture of my pimped out, hoe, ballerina following the yellow brick road with her ruby slippers! This is after she was asked to go get her pajama's on the other night!