Family Pictures

Things have been a little quiet here on the "blog-front" this week. We have had a busy week filled with sick children, teething, potty training, family pictures, and some other fun activities. To say the least, things have been a little crazy around here.

I wanted to share with you all some of the family pictures that we had taken this last week. Some of you have already got a glimpse of them, but here are just a few more.

Our good friends Brad & Laura were kind enough to come to one of our local parks with us and take some pictures of us. I was reminded of how hard it is to get five people all smiling at the same time. About 250 pictures later I think we got some good ones.

Daddy's Helpers!

A few weeks ago Chris came in after mowing and told me that he had both of the girls helping him with mowing. I was sad that I did not get to see it or take a picture of it. Well, today they helped daddy again. Here are two of the pictures that I took of Madisen and Miriam helping Chris mow the lawn.

Going back...
..... and forth

Thankful For The Little Things

There is a new appliance in my kitchen. It is drifting such wonderful smells of fresh baked goods through my house. We even woke up to fresh baked bread this morning because of it. This new appliance is a bread maker. We have one thanks to my sister who found one 50% off at Wal-mart. 

I love fresh baked bread but have never been good at baking. The whole yeast in warm water, first rise, second rise, it never seems to turn out right. With the bread maker I have enjoyed making bread, rolls, pizza dough, and cinnabun coffee cake. I never realized all that you could make with one machine, and it does all the work for you. I am looking forward to trying new recipes and, in the weeks to come, sharing some of our favorite bread machine recipes. I think I might just start with the cinnabun coffee cake recipe!

If any of you have ever thought of getting a bread machine, I have heard that thrift stores are a wonderful place to find them, as many people purchase them and never use them. Or if any of you have one sitting in your closet, take it out, dust if off, and get baking. There are whole cookbooks just for bread machines. It is so easy and I'm sure you and your family will enjoy the end result!

Picture thanks to Allposters.com

Painting Fun!

We were given the easel pictured below about a year ago. We used the side with the chalk board but it was not until a few weeks ago that I finally ordered some paint supplies, so that the girls could have fun painting their beautiful paintings. Here are a few pictures of their painting fun!

Enjoying the black paint!

Here finished masterpiece! (As you can see in the picture all the colors had to be separate, no colors touching each other. So her picture was done when there was no open space left)

Painting is serious work!

While Madisen painted, Miriam went in to get her camera and with ohs and ahs took pictures of her sisters painting.

Oh, and she had to take one of mommy.

Maddie's finished masterpiece!

One Of Those Days

Yesterday, was one of those days that seemed to bring one interruption after another. I just could not seem to get done those things that I had planned. Kristin Chesemore over at Girl Talk offered a great reminder in her post "Dealing with Interruptions", of how we should look at these interruptions. As C.S. Lewis once said they are "sovereign deliveries". Even though we might not have planned on them, God did. If you have a minute head over to Girl Talk for a wonderful reminder.

My Little Big Helper

About a week ago I was getting ready to vacuum the living room and my little four year old daughter Madisen, told me that she wanted to vacuum. So, I thought that I would let her try and she would be done trying in just a few minutes. You have to understand that I am pretty sure the vacuum is heavier then her and stands taller then her. Well, she vacuumed the whole living room and then wanted to vacuum the play room. This trend has continued all week and when ever it is time to vacuum she is there helping. As you can see from the pictures, she has to throw her whole body into it. I feel bad having my four year old do the vacuuming around here but she enjoys it, and what great exercise, and a can you think of a better way for her to get all of her energy out?