We finally reached the huge rock...it was a rock in someone's yard. Here's Jamison helping her brother up. How sweet!
They've conquered the mountain...so brave.
Amber has a really fun idea for FMM today...20 questions. I am so excited to answer them and read everyone else's entries (because I'm nosey like that!).
1. Do you cook every night? Lately because I've been mealing planning I've been trying to cook every night. I may not cook on a Saturday night if we're running around or something.
2. What kind of laundry detergent do you use & why? I use Tide with Downy mainly because I like the way it smells. I've always wondered what's better...liquid or power. Thoughts?
3. Do you do laundry everyday for loads at a time? OK...I don't do laundry. Aunt Roni does all of our laundry. I told you she's the best.
4. How often do you eat out per week? Currently, maybe once. Before meal planning 2 or 3 times and it was just getting out of hand.
5. Where do you usually eat out? Chipotle, Burger King, McDonald's, pizza or Chinese.
6. What is your favorite retail store? Hobby Lobby and The Container Store. My love for Target is decreasing...sigh.
7. What's your favorite thing to drink? Coke, without question.
8. Do you take vitamins? What kind? No...don't tell my mom.
9. What percentage of the household chores to you do? About 50%. Again, Aunt Roni does most of our daily cleaning. I usually do the deep cleaning, house maintenance, and my room. Rondell cuts the grass and helps me with projects.
10. Do your children do chores? Caleb picks up after himself, but that's it right now. Jamison's job is to set the table with condiments (if needed), close the blinds in the evening, and put all shoes away.
11. Do you go to church? Every Sunday, for the most part. We go to 9:00 service during the summer since my kids are early risers. During the school year we go to Small Group at 9 and then service at 11. I love my church...New Life Gahanna.
12. Do you have a housework schedule? No. I think if I stayed at home I would but I just do things as they need to be done.
13. Do you keep a working budget? I couldn't live without it. Rondell and I are working on it being more detailed. I use Excel right now and it works well for me.
14. What do you do at night as a family? If it's nice we play outside. We might watch TV with the kids or do some kind of art project.
15. How do you prepare yourself for a new week? The Simple Woman's Daybook really helps me. I also look at the family calendar, Rondell's work schedule and the weather to map out what we'll do for the week. I almost always do a new To Do list each week.
16. What do your mornings look like? Dark. Rondell and I get up so early so that he can pick up Aunt Roni and then for us to get to work on time, that it's pretty dark outside. The house is usually quiet because the kids are still sleeping.
17. What time do you get up in the morning? Between 5:30 and 5:45.
18. What time do you go to bed at night? I'm usually asleep by 10 or 10:30.
19. How do you manage all of the paperwork that floods into your household? {bills, school work, magazine, ads, etc} I try and go through the mail as soon as I get home and throw away any junk and separate the bills. I try and do paperless billing so that there's less paper in the house. With Jamison's school work I go through her bookbag daily and secretly throw away any papers that we don't NEED to keep. I'm working out a system I saw here for her permission slips, reminders, homework, etc. I only get one magazine and I usually read it and then throw it away.
20. How do you keep your household organized? Ha! I'm so far from being organized (well, at least the way I want to be organized). I just completed our family calendar and menu plan which is working out really well (you can see it here). And I just bought a wonderful label maker that I know will come in really handy. This will have to be a "to be continued" kind of answer.
Please join us for FMM!
For today...
My mom's co-worker and his wife just had twin boys 3 weeks ago and we got to go and see them yesterday...Isaac and Hunter. They are so adorable and it makes me realize how fast kids grow up.
Sabrina came up with a few games using hula hoops and the kids had a lot of fun doing that. I saw a few parents joining in on the fun too.
Here's Sabrina with Tonya and John (and three of their 5 kids!). Tonya and John attend our church as well and it was nice of them to join us.
Here's Sara's daughter Isabelle holding John and Tonya's newest addition...Titus. Isabelle is so motherly and super sweet.
Jamison joining the picture before running off for more hula hoop fun.
Tonya (my Daniel buddy), Jodie and Karynda
Angela, Sara and baby Titus. He was passed around a lot.
Sara's "baby" Samuel. He's two months older than Caleb and just adorable.
Caleb being pushed around (in a fun way) by Drew, Angela's little boy. They really play well together.
Rondell and Elliott, Sara's husband and our Small Group leader.
What's a cookout without the Grill Masters. There's Dean working really hard. It was very tasty grill food. Thanks Dean!
Here's Caleb enjoying his chips. That's about all he ate. I don't know what I'm doing to do with this picky eater.
The girls...minus Angela. In the back: Karynda, Me, Tonya, Meredith, Vanessa. In the front: Sabrina, Sara and Jodie.
The future generation...Reese (Jodie's daughter) and Isabelle in the back; Madeline (Sara's youngest daughter), Jocelyn (Tonya's daughter and Caleb's girlfriend) and Jamison in the front.
"Watch out!" The kids (and a few adults) had a water fight with water guns and spray bottles. It was so much fun to watch them run around spraying one another. I got sprayed a few times!Our Small Group starts back up in a few weeks and it will be nice to reconnect again. This was a great evening and I'm glad so many people were able to come.
Here's my baby...oops, first grader, with her Life cereal. That was her request for breakfast.
My first grader!
Here she is walking to the bus stop with Caden, our neighbor. Caden is going to Kindergarten.
** I am thankful for Rondell asking me "is there anything you need me to do?" yesterday when I was focused on getting everything ready for today. That meant the world to me.
** I am thankful that our Small Group is getting together tomorrow for a fellowship.
** I am thankful that BSF is getting ready to start soon. My discussion leader called me this week! I can't wait. We are studying the book of John this year.
My almost first grader!
Give this girl a pair of sunglasses!
Posing in front of Red Lobster...she had the popcorn shrimp.
Jamison and her personality twin...Daddy.
Here's a picture of them last year. Wow, how time flies.
Isn't she beautiful? Wanna know the best thing about her...she was only $9.99 (you can see details about her here). Originally she was $39.99 and this week she's on sale for under $10 (don't you just love how they advertise that way). My honey ran out last night and got her for me and I can't wait to start labeling!
I will say I've been slower at breaking in my Cricut than I thought I would be. I guess because it's new and sometimes new things make me nervous.
Here's Toshianna's name tag.
I had Rondell laminate them for me and then I used a hole puncher to make a hole and then tied on some ribbon so that they can hang on their doors.
Here's what Jamison came up with.
I'm happy with the Cricut so far, but of course now I want more cartridges and they aren't exactly cheap. Once I get back into scrapbooking I will use it much more and I have some thoughts running through my head for some fun fall crafting. My only complaint is that I don't care a lot for the sticky sheet you have to put the paper on because then you have to pull it off and it curls the paper. It's a small complaint compared to how much I know I'm going to love it.
So, I'll say...to be continued!!!
2. Crafting. This summer I was able to really dive into my love for crafting and learn new things. I have been able to use great tutorials and even come up with my own ideas. This is a start of a wonderful hobby.
3. Staycation 2009! We had the best time on our week off in June this year. We're thinking of doing it again next year.
5. Sunflowers in my window.
6. Reading. I made a reading list that was supposed to be for the summer but I'm sure it will move into the other seasons as well. I have enjoyed quiet evenings with a good book.
7. The Beth Moore Daniel Study. I'm not done with it yet but I have truly enjoyed this study so far and would say it is a highlight of my summer.
8. Discovering Stampin Up. This is a great company and I found a wonderful representative (you can check out her blog here). It has been fun to see all that can be done with its products. I've decided to make the invitations for Jamison's birthday party and this past Friday I was able to get together with my rep and she helped me (a ton) start them. I'll be sure to show you the finished product once I've mailed them out.
9. The purchase of my Cricut. Can you tell that I've really enjoyed crafting this summer? I got my Cricut for an amazing deal that I just couldn't pass up. I haven't done a lot with it yet but I'm sure we'll have many dates in the future. Tomorrow I'll show you the first real project that I completed using the Cricut.
10. Family Sundays. Rondell and I decided that he would not work at Best Buy on Sundays and we have just been having some great family time. It nice to have a guaranteed day that we're all at home (if the kids aren't at his mom's).
I created by first digital scrapbook piece. I am beyond excited! I saw this fun idea here (of course) to make a bookbag tag for Jamison. I had this cute picture of Jamison and her new teacher and thought that it would be a good picture to use so that when she's trying to find her class for the first few days the helpers will see who her teacher is (sorry for the bad grammar). 
** I am thankful for the Beth Moore Daniel Study. This is my second Beth Moore study and I am in love. I did Psalms of Ascent last year through my church and it didn't quite hit home for me, but this one is striking me right in the heart, down deep. I love learning all of the history and Beth (I can call her Beth because we are like this and she tells me she loves me all of the time) really makes the scripture come alive. It is amazing to me how people can pull out the lesson that scripture is teaching. God has truly given her a gift.
Here they are watching a Backyardigans DVD. Notice Caleb is not too far away from the girls. It was hard trying to keep him out of the middle.
Here are the girls set up in the tent watching another movie. They said it's like a campout.
