Happy Valentine's Day!

Loving my precious family this day and everyday....praying that they feel the Love of Jesus as they take each step today.


Chocolate chip muffins to start their day. {They were a healthy version}

My love brought me beautiful red roses. Thank you, Ron!

Lucey and I have been working on this little craft project. While she was sick, this kept us occupied.

She loves to cut! She is quite good with her scissors too. She is careful.

Our cardboard heart is ready.

We have three colors of tissue paper....red, dark pink, and light pink. I wonder how many tissue paper squares we cut for this endeavor?

Have you ever worked on a float or made other projects requiring pomping? We used the end of a pencil, wrapped our tissue paper square around the end and dipped our tissue in glue. Lucey loved doing this. I must be a little nuts...not remembering how time consuming this is. I think I made our cardboard heart a little too big. ;-)

It took a few days.....every so often we would sit and pomp. It was a blessed time with Lucey. She is such a talker and there is always so much to talk about. These times with her are so precious to me. Lucey and I love the song by Taylor Swift...."Never Grow Up." The words can choke me up. For Lucey--she just loves the tune and when she sings it...she sounds so cute.

"Oh darling, don't you ever grow up, don't you ever grow up, just stay this little. Oh darling, don't you ever grow up. Don't you ever grow up, it could stay this simple

The final project complete and hanging on our living room mirror. Whew...I don't know that I will ever do this project again but I will always remember my time with Lucey when I hang this up over the years to come.

Wishing you the love of Christ on this Valentine's Day! xoxo

Snow Princess

It snowed on Sunday night. We woke up to about a 2 inch layer of the best snow to make a snow ball with. Little miss Lu could not wait to make a snowman. Or should I say snow princess. We went to her room and found the accessories. Isn't she beautiful. :-)

This little snow princess is most beautiful! Rolling the ball of snow.

Very heavy!

Just about complete....the pink gloves made the outfit! See above photo.

"I've fallen and I can't get up!" Our snow creation only lasted 4 hours. The sun came out and warm temperatures began rolling in. I explained to Lucey that this was going to happen. She was such a good sport. She was okay with this. We laughed!!! Lucey makes everything so much fun!

Juicing For Health

Last October Ron ordered a juicer. He did a lot of research and found the one with the best reviews and lowest cost --making sure we would actually use the thing. It really was not that expensive and, so far, it has worked beautifully...it even juices greens well. Ron and I are sliding towards that big number.....and it does not begin with a 2, 3 or 4! :-) Ron turns that big milestone this year and he is very proud if it. (I love his attitude...I'm not quite as enthusiastic about that number as he is...I'm just not going to think about.)

Anyway.....The above picture is of one of the first recipes out of his juicer. Sweet potatoes, an apple, carrots, and some greens. I had some Cinnamon from an Amish Farm that I had visited in Kansas and we sprinkled some on. It was so delicious!!! The kids loved it.

Ron does everything in a big way. He went into research mode and specifically looked into recipes that would focus in on each of our health concerns. I'm so appreciative of that. He researched the heck out of my health and it's "female" in nature if you get my drift. I think he knows more about me that I do. So he added black strap molasses (organic, unsulfered) to our mix along with some Apple cider Vinegar (organic, with the mother...are you laughing? We were until we researched...."the mother"...it all makes sense) to a few of our juices.

He quickly learned it was going to take a whole lot of produce to make a pitcher of juice....because he can't just make one glass. Remember...everything in a big way! But with our house full, it does not sit in the refrigerator long. Andrew and Christian have asthma and allergies so he researched that. We've made some big changes to their diet and they have been fairly compliant.

In November we had some very good friends stop by for a night. They have a big organic farm and they brought us TONS of fresh produce to include a lot of beets. I was not too excited about the beets but Ron loved them and they are so healthy. I wish I had a picture of the big pumpkin they brought...it was huge!!! Yes....Ron juiced most of that too! It was good! They also brought us a BUNCH of apples! Apples make every juice palatable. Especially the greens.

When Adam came home in December we introduced him to the juicer (I should come up with a cute name for him (the juicier....not Adam) since he has become such a huge part of our family. Adam loves to make fun of us...in a polite, sarcastic kind of way ....and he had some funny things to say about our altered diet (and our age). But he had fun juicing with Ron (we all take turns...Lucey is his most faithful helper) and quickly enjoyed sipping juice with us.

Like I said....Ron can't just make one glass or one pitcher...he makes two and three pitchers at a time. I just let him go with it. He also does all the clean up. I love my guy!!!

Kay--if you are reading this I wanted you to know I specifically was thinking of you and your juicing when I wrote this post. If we still lived across the street...we would have to swap recipes and sip juice together! Please know I think about you and pray for you all the time! We miss you both! I hope you don't mind me asking all those who stop by here today to say a prayer for you. That was on my heart! xoxo

The Crud

The Crud--every year we get some version of an upper respiratory infection and, at some point, we all end up with it. Last week it started with Christian. Towards the weekend the rest of us were feeling achy and not quite well. Christian missed one day of school last week. Andrew missed on Monday. I have laryngitis...every infection I get always starts there and then moves down. Poor Miss Lu is so congested and has an ear infection. Andrew is back at school. I'm feeling a wee bit better and Miss Lu, I think she is finally feeling a little bit better too.

What I'm really struggling with is whether to give her the antibiotic? Yesterday I took her to the pediatrician and he said she had the beginning of an ear infection. I really don't want to give her the antibiotic. But, with just one ear, what to do? She was supposed to get a tube in that precious ear last October but ended up having the emergency surgery on her teeth last September moving up the date for surgery and the ENT was not able to squeeze time in to put the tube in. I'm not sure if this makes any sense....so....anyway.....

I thought I would give her Kefir for the probiotic (while giving her the prescription) and then read that I can't give this to her while on the antibiotic. Ooops.... if I decide to give her the antibiotic then I will give her the probiotic after she completes the entire 10 day course.

I really respect the advice written here on Dr. Mercola's site.....Mercola.com

Any suggestions? Do you give your kids antibiotics for ear infections? Lucey also started swim lessons last week and was doing so well. Of course we have not been this week. She is so disappointed. Mom's of kiddos with microtia...what do you do? Do you go the added extra mile to protect that one ear? Lucey had so many ear infections last winter and spring....I thought the tube would be the answer.

Thanks for your help!

PS...Lucey's lips and nose are so sore...she loves her Hello Kitty chap stick...I think that's safe enough. ;-)

PSS...Ron has been on a business trip for the past 8 days. He is coming home today! I'm so happy. I told him he may want to wear a mask. :-)

A Welcome Change

I finally took down my pine wreath...those darn pine needles were collecting on my rug. I think it was time to say-goodbye. Not to mention it's February. I remembered I had this pretty metal decorative cone in the basement.

I added a pink ribbon in honor of valentine's Day. A little touch of Spring to the entry way.

I couldn't resist adding this cute picture of sweet old Max. I was at the table adding pictures to my computer and there he sat--waiting for some attention.