A few little things that help keep my sanity...

Recently I enjoyed my friend Lindsey's blog post about staying organized. It reminded me that I've been gathering some pics to show you a few little changes I've done around here to help keep my sanity... ;o)


My favorite little organization tool I've implemented this year is this plastic drawer stand. It sits on a small cabinet in between our washer and dryer, and it holds everyone's socks. I LOVE not having to carry socks upstairs and put them in dresser drawers. Not that they were heavy ;o) it's just that we don't seem to come up with as many loner socks if they don't leave the laundry room until they're worn! The top two drawers also hold Seth and Haddie's underwear.

Don't worry. This spaghetti jar in particular isn't still in our fridge! I did start putting the date on opened jars in the fridge this year. It is effective especially for pickle jars, which we don't seem to use up very quickly. Now I don't find myself wondering how old the pickles are anymore! Hehe! It's easy to know if I need to throw something out!

Maybe this is something lots of people do and I just didn't find out about it until a couple years ago... I'm not sure. Anyway, I used to save my plastic grocery bags for other uses, but they were always such an eyesore... overflowing from a corner of the pantry or falling out of a cabinet. A couple years ago I noticed my friend Marcy kept her plastic bags in an ice cream pail with a slot cut in the lid. I tried it and it works great! (I just realized that you can't put the bags inside each other or they don't come out.... you have to lay them on top of each other like Kleenex in a tissue box.

When I was 7 months pregnant with Haddie we decided it was time to move Seth from his crib to a toddler bed. Considering his extremely determined personality, along with the fact that I was too exhausted by the end of the day to make a dozen trips back up the stairs to put an escapee child back in his room, this half-door was a huge blessing!! A man from church made it for us. Seth was comforted by the fact that he could see out, and we were comforted to know that he wouldn't be wondering around the house at night. If he needed us during the night, he simply called and one of us would go to him. Once we put this little door in, Seth transitioned quite quickly.

View from inside Seth's room. We always left the big door open at night and shut the little door.

My final item on this post is a table cloth I purchased at the local dollar store. When Haddie was just starting to wear underwear, I was really determined to not have any accidents on the couches, as we were fortunate to get new furniture for the first time in our married life this past winter! First I tried having her sit on a garbage bag, but that was way too slippery. Then I found this table cloth. One side is some kind of wipeable, water-proof plastic (but it's not slippery like a gabage bag), and the other side is soft, kind of like flannel, so it stays in place. Although Haddie ended up being trained really quickly and didn't need the cloth on the couch for long, I thought it was perfect and I will definitely use it again if we have any more children!

Of Lakes and Corn Bins, Weddings and Little Friends ...

Hi all! We've been away a lot lately squeezing in some special time with friends and family before summer is over. Here's a picture gallery to give you a glimpse of where we've been and who we've seen! :o)

We spent a week at a lake with Steve's parents, his sisters, and their families!

Here are the cousins on their way to go swimming! (They loved the kick boards!) Haddie and Seth are in back, but in front you can see Antonio and Hayden.

Grandma and Grandpa with the grandkids.

Out of many attempts to line up cousins on the couch, this is the best one I got. ;o)

Seth having fun with his new hat and fishing pole.

Haddie and Seth.

We had a fun time even though there were a lot of cool days. We were thankful to have a great cabin with a big living room. Here is Aunt Buzzy (Samantha) coloring with the kids.

Steve on the paddleboat with Haddie and Seth.

One of the highlights was feeding the ducks bread.

Dad and Haddie watching the ducks.

The previous weekend Seth and Haddie stayed at The Farm while Steve and I went to a wedding. Here they are with Grandpa Dewey, Grandma Sheila, as well as some boys who were visiting for a week to have a chance experiencing life outside of "the city".

Here I am with Anna, sister of the bride. ;o)

My friend Naomi and me the morning of her wedding. She married a great guy named Gabe. Steve and I were honored to be involved in their wedding. I did Naomi's hair, as well as her sister's, and Steve did the welcome at the beginning of the ceremony. It was so fun to see how happy they both were to get married!

Here's Haddie looking out at the horse pasture the week before we headed off on our adventures.

Seth on the tire swing. :o)

This rooster in front is fondly called "My Boy" by Seth.

Haddie enjoying one of the kittens.

These next few pics aren't in the right order. Here Seth is getting hosed of with air by my dad after he and Haddie spent time playing in a nearly empty corn bin.

Haddie peeking out of the corn bin. (My mom said, "Make sure if you put up pictures of this that everyone knows the kids were carefully supervised while they were in the bin!!" No problem mom.) :o)

Seth having a blast on a little corn mound in the bin.

Steve was an usher at the wedding of his friend, Richie, recently. Here we are at the reception. We had lots of fun seeing Rich and Rebecca get married, visiting with old friends, and making new ones.

Here's Steve with his friends. First Steve, then Erik, then the groom, Richie, and then his friend Buzz.

Lastly, here's a couple pics of my dear friend Kelly's little girl, Anika, along with Haddie.
They live a ways away, so it is always a treat when we get to spend time together.

Seth, Anika, and Haddie at Kelly's parents' house. :o)



Well, that's a wrap! Hope you are all well! Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to view this post!

You Might Be a Redneck...

... If, to escape the heat of your non-air conditioned home, you grab leftover pizza from the fridge and sit in lawn chairs in your front yard (because you don't actually have an adult-sized picnic table) and eat your supper while the neighbors drive by and look at you and your kids alternate between eating their food and jumping in the near-by kiddie pool to cool off.

Ah, yep. That would be us. :o)

Joyful Ride

The fresh August wind was blowing through our open windows, swirling my hair around my face as we drove down the county road. I didn't mind though. It was such a beautiful day, we couldn't help but drive with the windows open.
The music from Seth's current favorite song poured out our speakers and we all grinned as he sang along. (To get a better taste of what our drive was like, click here and press the "play" button to listen to the song Seth loves when you finish reading this post!) :o)





The sun warmed our arms as they rested on the open windows, and we looked out at the lush green fields with keen awareness of God's majesty reflected in his creation.

Pausing from his singing, Seth belted out, "Hey mom, I love God!"

As soon as the sentence had left Seth's mouth, Haddie piped up joyfully, "I love God TOO!"

Steve and I immediately looked at each other with smiles on our faces and joy in our hearts.

It was a beautiful day.

And this was a joyful ride.

Hooray! He's Home!

Last night we were THRILLED to welcome Steve home after being gone for 11 days! He had been leading a group of youth on a mission trip to Galveston, TX to do hurricane clean up. We missed him so very much! We're so thankful for a successful trip for them, and also that the Lord brought the crew home safely. There were many difficult moments here on the home front (and I definitely applaud single parents who manage to do the work by themselves!) but God was also gracious to us. Overall the time went by fairly quickly, nobody broke into the house while we were sleeping (my biggest fear when I'm alone!) ;o) and we tried to stay busy so we wouldn't think about missing Dad so much! ... It was priceless to see the looks of joy on Seth and Haddie's faces when their daddy stepped off the bus! (Grandpa Dewey was also on the trip and they were excited to see him too!)

The work crew did a lot of demolition and new construction for the people of Galveston whose homes had been damaged by hurricane Ike. Here's a little video to give you a glimpse. (Steve is in the blue shirt and wearing a baseball cap. The others are boys from youth group.)

Sometimes....

Sometimes...

When Steve is gone...

And I'm home alone..

And I'm up late...

I do something crazy...

;o)