finish line...

almost finished...

{5} days left

i can do it!

i [THINK} i can finish packing up the house with a [WILD] 2 year old!

after its all over with i {WANT} a vacation!

picture perfect...

i'm not sure how but we managed to squeeze in a photo shoot of the family this week.

bedtime routine...

chad is the one that puts the boys to bed while i finish cleaning the kitchen or doing some kind of house work before i head to bed.

i like this because i am with them all day & this gives him some good time with them... talking, getting lots of hugs & kisses, reading stories & praying.


last night he was tired & asked me to do it.

really it was more like, after kissing them goodnight, "mom will be in here in a sec to read to you"


he walked into the living room & said read, "the very hungry caterpillar" & they will be out by the end of the story"

i laughed & said "ya right"

i went to find the book because i was tired & wanted to get to bed soon so i followed my wise & the bedtimer {PRO} advise and...

HE WAS RIGHT!!!

i don't say that very often... haha

but last night i was glad to say it!!!

i'm not sure what is it or why they fall asleep to this book but i'm glad he shared the secret with me.

so the next time your ready for bed & its your turn to read stories to the kids, go find this book & hopefully it will work on them too.

or what is something that puts your kids right to sleep???

my day on monday packing boxes went great!


i packed close to 30 boxes that day.


yesterday {tuesday} not so good...


4 boxes totally i packed... not so good at all, huh?!??


and i only have ONE reason why... BROCK


don't let that cute face & dimple fool you. he was a {MESS} all day!

• found him outside naked jumping on the trampoline
• changed clothes about 5 times
• dumped out my laundry detergent... TWICE
• found the winter gloves & had to wear them ALL
• climbed to the top of the boxes in the garage
• rode his 4 wheeler into the boxes

{CRAZY} boy!

the countdown begins...

14 days

april 6th is when we close on our house.

so you all know what i get to do for the next 2 weeks...

PACK!!!

i will be doing most of it by myself since chad has jury duty this week & a conference next week.

{all planned before}

but in the middle of that i still have to catch up on laundry,

keep my niece,

soccer practice & game,

fine arts friday & saturday,

church,

hopefully my boys will be angles {ha ha... i am praying for the impossible!}

is anybody feeling sorry for me & wanting to come over & help?!?!

together again...

this picture is a new favorite of mine...

the boys were so {HAPPY} to see each other.

k was in georgia with my parents & b stayed in edmond with chad's parents.

it was a GREAT sbc {problemly the best ever!}

{very} tired

i have lots {and i mean LOTS} of clothes to wash

but i am getting {lots & lots} of

hugs & kisses from my sweet boys...

so glad to be back together again!!!

so long....

farwell....

i'll see you in four days {thursday}

we leave today at 9am for sbc

{spring break camp}

hope you all have a GREAT week!

new discovery...

i have found quite a few wonderful $$$ saving blogs lately... so great!!!

they find the deals, post them & i get the benefits of cheap or even better FREE items.

on all of the blogs they talk about the magazine ALL YOU...

they only carry it at wal-mart... have you seen it???

the awesome thing about it is it has TONS of coupons in it each month.

this month over {$51.00} worth of coupons!!!

i got excited {& made me buy another one!} is the FREE sexy curves mascara!!!

{$6.47} value... that is something to get excited about! ha

cheap is good but FREE is better!!!

i love....

chad's sermon last night in ignite was great!!

i am guilty of hearing sermons & then doing nothing with what i had just heard. ((( i could write a whole post about this!))) is this only me???

he talked about how we say "i love" for any & everything that we really, really like...
i love chocolate
i love lucy
i love my new flats
i love this song
i love summer time
i think you get my point

we also say "i love God" but we shouldn't be putting Him in the same "i love you's" with all the rest of these things.

he encouraged & challenged the students & adults in the room to be "captivated" by God. instead of saying "i love God, say "my heart is captured by Him"

that we should not be just camping out enjoy life, but we are working hard at knowing Him more. that we need to do things in life to get close to God, sacrifice some things, some sleep, some meals. alot of times we say we want to be close, want a heart like God's but our actions don't follow thru.

i went to bed thinking about this & woke up still on my mind.

i know there is a WHOLE LOT more i can be doing for my heart to be all His.

no clue...

this past sunday i was doing grocery shopping for small groups that night. it was going to be larger than normal because we were combining the 3 of them so i needed alot of food. (((50 hot & warm cookies, 4 bags of chocolate, 2 bags of chips, 5 two liters, a fruit tray, & lots of pigs in a blacket all gone in no time )))

to save time washing dishes later that that night i picked up these ((( selfish of me, huh?!?! )))...



i just liked the color (((they matched the plates i had already picked out))) & just glancing at them i thought the blue sticker was a coupon!!!! ((( i'm a little obsessed with finding coupons! )))

i get them home to discover that you PULL the blue sticker off & underneath is a black square for you to write your name with your fingernail.

BRILLIANT idea!!! no more running around to find a permanent marker!

i had no clue that these simple cups that i picked up by accident would be the hit of the party with all the teenagers.

every time one would walk into the kitchen, another student would tell them about how cool they were. it was really funny to watch them all talk about cups.

just a reminder that:
its the small & simple things in life that make us smile!

our future...

our life, simple but fast pace life here in edmond is changing.

we will be moving in june to tulsa to be apart of a church plant. we have along side us three other wonderful couples that we know will be lifelong friends on this journey we are about to begin.

((( i will share the long verson of this story another day )))


when you move that mean... you have to sell your house. we thought at first we would try to sell it ourselves but we quickly changed our minds about that idea. we have been doing house projects around the house since january to make it "ready" to sell.


((( living in crazyness begins here )))


* last monday morning chad woke up & says to me, "its march, we need to get our house on the market"

* that evening he tells me a realtor is coming tuesday afternoon at 1pm to take pictures of our house, for us to sign paper, etc, etc...

*by 4pm on tuesday there is a "for sale" sign & flyers out in our yard

* wednesday at 3:30 our house is shown

* thursday - chad goes with a guy in the church to buy carpet. they are back by noon & they start to install it in the 3 bedrooms. we all work NON-STOP moving furniture back & forth out of rooms because at 5:30 the house is getting shown again.

* that evening kaden has his first soccer practice.

* friday - the house is shown at 3pm & 5:30.

* at 9:20 friday evening we get a call from our realtor with a contract!!! and for more than what we are asking for!!!

*saturday at 9am kaden has his first soccer game. ((( won 5 -1 )))

* as soon as the game was over we went to the realtors to sign the papers!

* so we have contract on the house (after 3 days for being for sale!) & we close april 6th! ((( that was CRAZY fast! ))) we were not expecting that AT ALL!

* the GREAT deal on the carpet, selling the house so quickly just reassures us that we are doing the RIGHT thing. that GOD is in this move & He wants us in tulsa.

* we are tired , excited & still in shocked that we are homeless in a month. ((( we will live with my in-laws until june )))

* we have so much to do & so little time. march is a busy month for us & the youth... spring break camp, fine arts, youth conference, & i will have to pack up my WHOLE house in between all of that. ((( i see A LOT of late nights in my future! ha )))

* please keep us in your prayers as our new journey is about to begin.

whirlwind...

this week has been one big blur... life is moving fast, really fast.

so fast that i haven't been home to even write here or read your blogs.

i hate not doing this & feeling disconnected with all of you.

that is why i'm up now (6am) trying to catch up & read because we have another busy day.

kaden started soccer this week... first game this morning.

so i hope i haven't lost any readers/friends... i am still here, wanting & thinking about blogging just didn't have the time for it.

come back tomorrow (i have church & lunch first) then i will be able to write about our WHIRLWIND OF A WEEK!

mavs fans...

some friends of ours gave us 4 tickets to the thunder/mavs game last night.

i'm talking AWESOME seats... 7 rows behind the thunder team.

i know we live in oklahoma & should be have cheered for the home team but we didn't.

we are HUGE mavs fans, & even BIGGER dirk fans for two reasons: (1) my oldest brother works for the mavs & gets us cool apparel for us to wear. the boys were head to toe mavs out! (2) my little brother looks just like dirk. so every time i get excited about something he did i feel like i'm yelling for lance! ha

don't you agree... they look A LOT alike???

we (the mavs) didn't win but we had a GREAT time!

your help... please!

when it comes to cooking i'm no good, not even close to good!

i do try to cook somewhat good & healthy meals for my family several times a week.

recently, a family in the church gave us a WHOLE LOT of meat, but i have not a clue how to cook it.

i have tried looking up recipes in cookbooks & on the internet but can't seem to find anything worth trying or doesn't included 50 ingredients i have to buy.

this is where i need your help... please!

the meat we were given:
beef steak / round steak / beef chuck roast / bone steak

if you have a good & EASY recipe you don't mind sharing or know of a site please tell me.

thanks so much (in advance!)