Tuesday, October 28, 2008

ten plus smile tuesday!



just a little libber face that makes me smile! :)


here i am...back after disappearing for the past week! i promise, it was with good reason. we've been playing and giggling, reading and snuggling, spending time at the lake (for the girlies) and enjoying a weekend away (for mommy and daddy!). here are just a few of our many, many smiles....

1. filling up the van for $1.99 a gallon. i mean, for real, less than $2.00 a gallon; i was sure we'd never again see that, but i did, just this morning. and it did put a smile on my face. (interestingly enough, gas was 40 cents more a gallon just 10 minutes down the road....how crazy is that!?) ***update...i found gas for just $1.83 to fill up the car this evening!

2. the mail. this week i received two packages of fabric scraps for the tidbits swap....so now i just need to find the time to think about projects and get started. then, i arrived home from our weekend away to find a delightful little package from chelle in the mailbox...the starbucks giftcard i won during her birthday giveaway, and along with that some chocolate, music and stickers. she included a cd with the song "glory baby" by watermark. i found my box of tissues and simply listened over and over again...

3. kite flying fun...elizabeth and miranda made and decorated kites for "k" week, and, of course, we had to go outside to see if they would fly! :) fun times!



4. lib's loon lake leaves. because, of course, this week is "l" week...so what better project than creating and playing with the autumn leaves grandmommy and poppy helped her collect over the weekend!




(mom...check out the concentration...she has her tongue out...just like poppy!)




5. wagon rides...

6. sidewalk chalk....(and other outdoor fun!)



7. hanging with jill and brennan. the girls and i needed to kill some time between dropping daddy for a half-day at work and picking him up to head out of town, so what better than killing time with a couple of our favorite friends (especially when pumpkin spice lattes and freshly baked cookies are involved!). :)

8. a fabulous hubby who is able (and willing) to fix leaky toilets...even after a weekend out of town! :) (this necessitated a family trip to lowe's sunday evening, and that too is a smile...seriously, everyone in the fam loves lowe's...elizabeth and kate go crazy for the race-car cart (if you haven't seen these they are quite fun...they aren't a car cart like the grocery, but an actual race-car, and if its any indication of future driving habits, we'd better watch out...kate is quite the crazy driver! as for elizabeth her favorite lowe's feature these days are the big Christmas inflatables....especially the one of santa on the ark (such an odd combination). we aren't big on santa at our house though, and after seeing him on the ark, she simply assumed he must be "noah"...since that makes SO much more sense! now anytime she sees an inflatable with santa, she calls him noah..."mommy, there's noah and the reindeer. and there's noah and the chimney, and noah and the tractor....." someday i suppose we'll have to teach her distinction, but for now i think i'll just giggle and call it cute!

9. a weekend with grandmommy and poppy (for the girls...and mugho too!)...including pumpkin carving, kitty cat hunting, collecting leaves, lego playing, and just plain having a fabulous time. THANKS POPPY AND GRANDMOMMY!





10. smile #9 means that mike and i had an entire weekend to ourselves. we actually went to a "weekend to remember" with familylife. it was a fabulous time...a good reminder of "the basics" and plenty of time for communicating, evaluating, and spurring us on in marriage. and, of course, it was lovely to simply be away...to enjoy a few nights in a hotel, have a great date night saturday evening (and we just happened to be in my hometown for the conference...meaning we were able to go to one of my old favs for dinner...YUM!), and simply relax away from the "stuff" waiting for us at home. it was splendid! :)

11. one last smile...i almost forgot, but the lovely shanna awarded me the kreative blogger award...and i promise to follow the instructions that come with it in a later post (probably tomorrow) and pass it along! :)


14 comments:

Lisa said...

ooohhh, a weekend with no kids - I bet you guys had a fantastic time!

and I have to admit I laughed out loud at the picture of Elizabeth workind so very hard on her leaf project - she is adorable!!!

Rebecca said...

oh what fantastic smiles! and beautiful pictures! love the face libs is making in the 2nd picture. priceless! and i am so jealous of your gas prices. we are getting taken advantage of here as gas is still over $3 (3.29 when i was out yesterday).

how fun to have a weekend away with your hubby. we are hoping to be able to maybe have at least a night away before nadia comes along...we shall see.

Jacy said...

It sounds like you guys had such a fabulous time this week and the weekend with just the two of you how nice!
We were actually able to find gas for $1.90 over the weekend, I was shocked!
I have always wanted to go to a weekend remember I have heard nothing but good things come from it! I am so glad you guys go the chance to go I hope it was very rewarding for the both of you!
Here's to many more smiles this week
Love you!

Cottage Mommy said...

My little Addison has the same cute little pullover your little one is wearing in the top photos! They are so cute! I got your package today! Thanks for the yummy chocolate treats - they won't last long with me! I am excited to get started! I love that song "Glory Baby" in fact I love Watermark! They have so many songs that minister peace to my spirit. Have a wonderful day!

Amy's Blah, Blah, Blogging said...

Sounds like a great week of smiles! I've always wanted to do one of those weekend to remember...maybe down the road, sounds so great!

We've done leave projects too, Lilla keeps asking for more, apparently she is loving the crafts like Momma! :)

I can't believe you found gas for that cheap, I thought I was doing good at $2.29...love not paying $50 to fill up!

Nancy M. said...

Wow! Lots of things to smile about. Glad you were able to get away for a little bit. That can be so renewing. I like your gas prices even better than ours!

Michelle said...

wow what concentration! Love the tongue hanging out! She's definetly one of us. You stink by the way, gas is at 2.57 finally here. love ya
katers looks just like you. she's so cute! :)

Anonymous said...

LOVE the sidewalk chalk pictures! Those are always some of my favorites of my own kids...
I'm glad the scraps made it there! :)

Jackie said...

So glad your blog abscense was filled with such fun times! And seriously? 1.83? I am in shock. I just sent an IM to my brother to ask him what he has been paying and he said 1.99 in the city. Craziness!

I was going to tell you I looked up the Aveda salon online and am so giddy at the great deal they offer. I am pumped about checking it out next time I'm home!

Wendi@EveryDayMiracles said...

Dave and I had the opportunity to go to a weekend to remember last March and it was so great for us! We especially loved the opportunity to just get away and conncect. So gald you guys were able to go too!

We just got excited to find gas for 2.45. :) Maybe it will continue to go down.

Wonderful post Amanda!

This is so bizarre, but I had a dream last night that I took the boys to AWANA at our church and you were there. :) I know - so funny, but it was really cool.

Anonymous said...

I received the fabrics today and I KNEW I should have put a little note in with the package I sent. I handed it to the postal worker when I remembered then debated on whether or not to ask for it back to get something in there quick.

It was So sweet of you to include the little gift along with it - I think though that they made someone elses' day because they weren't in there when I found the package (opened) on my front porch! HAHA no biggy I hope someone enjoyed them as much as I'm sure I would have ;) Very thoughtful!!

Now that I have all my packages I'll have a full weekend of projects! Yay! :)

creative gal said...

Beautiful!! Thanks for sharing!! :o)

Jacy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jacy said...

thank you for the Tag, Amanda you are so sweet, hope you guys had so much fun trick or treating :)