remember perfection?

I remember playing Perfection as a kid and being totally freaked out at that annoying timer:  tick, tick, tick....

The thought of that board popping up, causing an explosion of shapes was a fearful thing for any elementary school kid.  And do you remember that one stinkin' macaroni shaped piece?  That's the one that always got me!

After a long and close game of Settlers, where Fox took the win (ugh!), we whipped out a new game for a little competition.

Some notes on the pics below:

1- Allyson looks way to calm.  How annoying!  Then again, she beat the timer with room to spare so I guess her calm expression makes sense.

2- Becky looks panicked, though she beat the clock with plenty of time to spare.  No need to panic Fox!

3- Me - well I look panicked too, but like the other girls, I beat the clock so why the worry?

4- Pat looks calm but surprisingly, he is the one that needed to look worried.  After all, the first two times he played, the game beat him!

how do you eat an oreo?

Like this of course....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

stinkin' cute

I love this picture.

monday, monday part 2

In addition to having a leaf-jumping, playground swingin', pot-drummin' sort of day.....I took Stephen out for a photo-shoot.  Abs joined us, naturally.  She had to weasel herself in a few of the shots.  :-)

Here are some of my favorites:

 

monday, monday part 1

Matt home for the day + perfect fall weather = fun family day for everyone!

We hit the playground first and the kids ended up playing in the leaves more than anything:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the playground and leaves came lunch at Chili's (thank you Steve & Angie) and then back home for naps and drum lessons.

Since my pots and pans are old and icky and because I had a 30% off coupon and $10.00 off at Kohl's, Matt gave me the go ahead to purchase a new set.  The OCD in me could not wait to pack up my icky set and reorganize the new set.  That stinkin' kitchen cabinet that is a terrible mess would finally be clean and would now house a shiny set of new cookware.  Woohoo!  I took Stephen and Abs with me and with the help of a fellow shopper, who was a complete stranger that I quickly befriended, I chose a Food Network Stainless Steel set.  It's a beauty and I can't wait to cook something, though part of me does not want them to ever get dirty!

In the process of removing the icky set, Azariyah woke up from her nap so I brought her down for a little drum lesson.  Surrounded by pots and pans, she joyfully and violently drummed away until the plastic spoon actually broke!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then, next thing I knew, she sat inside the steamer part of the stock pot and actually got stuck!

A Call for Help, part 2

Created by Stephen Smith.

a call for help

My Stephen-boy (11) recently had to write his first persuasive paper for English class.   I thought he was going to write about the importance of choosing a mac over a pc, but he chose a much more important subject:  the need to help orphans.  I love my son so much and I am thankful to God for the sensitive and caring heart He has placed in Stephen.

Here is his paper!

A Call for Help, by Stephen Smith

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have no mom and/or dad, no clothes, no home, no food and living on the street?  Well kids that are orphaned usually live with this every day!

Most kids that are orphaned usually lose one or both parents and live on the street until someone finds them. There are over 45,000 kids in Ghana,Africa that are abandoned and/or homeless. In Uganda, Africa the churches face major challenges because of AIDS.  In Ethiopia, Africa, there are more than 1.2 million AID orphans. If you think that sounds bad, more than 10.6% of the adult population has this disease as well, which will only increase the future number of orphans.

UNICEF (which stands for United Nations Children Fund.) states that the worldwide number of orphans, from all causes and not just by AIDS is now 132.7 MILLION KIDS!  Out of that huge number, over 132,000 orphans reside right here in the United States of America.  We can`t wait one, four, or eight years to do something about this.  We need to act now!

Even God calls us to react. In John 14:18 Jesus says “I will not leave you as orphans I will come to you.”  Just as Jesus said ‘I will not leave you as orphans‘ we should listen to God. In James 1:27 we read that “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God,the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”  It is clear that God cares about these often forgotten ones and that is why we should care too.

There are lots of ways that you can help orphans.  You can sponsor an orphan on a monthly basis so that their basic needs will be met.  You can also donate money to help cover costs of building, toys, beds, food, etc. to organizations that are serving in orphan ministries around the world.  There are always opportunities to go and serve in building an orphanage or child’s home as well as helping to care for the children on a short or long term basis.  Another great way to help is by choosing to adopt a child in need.  Above all, the most important would be to pray for the safety of kids all around the world until someone finds them and cares for them. Helping orphans is away we can reflect Christ`s love.

special spot with my special girl

Abs is growing up.  She's a whopping 8 years old and is my adventurous child.  A special date with her, I have found, is best when it includes two things:  moving and nature.  So...we set out on a little hike to a special spot and I captured some keeper photos.









I love my little weasel!