Blueberry picking July 14, 2009

Today I took three of the kids blueberry picking at Marymac Farms in Brownsboro,AL.  It was very easy to get to and the couple who run that farm were so sweet and generous.  Armed with our “own containers” as the website said, we headed through the farm.

I have been told that people don’t use monogrammed, feathered pails to pick berries, but I didn’t know- we had never been berry picking before  The pails survived, Cord ate a pound right off the bushes, and it was soooo FUN!

 

We ended up with 7 pounds and 6 ounces of blueberries.  At $1.50/ lb, we only spent $11.00.  We may need to go back one more time.

Daddy’s burban July 10, 2009

As you may know, Eric has a green suburban.  He loves it and much to his happiness, so do all the children.  They love to take rides in it and wash it ( you really can’t tell the difference!)  Well Cord is not great at pronouncing all of his words.  He usually drops a syllable or two.  And so he calls the green truck,”Daddy’s burban”  He talks about it all the time.  “There is Daddy’s burban.”  or “Where is Daddy’s burban?”  I am just warning you that if you hear that he REALLY is talking about Eric’s car!

 

The Power of God’s Word July 9, 2009

In a sermon on Sunday night, our assistant pastor mentioned a quote from Dale Ralph Davis about the power of God’s Word- He said,” It has the power to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.”  What an amazing thing that the very same book can cause uncomfortableness, agitation, sorrow, painful revelation as it reveals the sin in our lives and the pride of our hearts and the degree to which we love ourselves and not our God- and then that same text can bring comfort, encouragement, peace, and freedom as it reveals God’s forgiveness and His Sovereignty over all of life.  The very same person needs both!  We need a kick out of our sins we’ve grown comfortable with and we need restoration that can only come from a perfect God who provides the perfect obedience we need and who takes the wrath that we deserve. 

This is why I love Sundays.  I could write post after post about what I get to hear and how that challenges me and gives me hope- whether it is our morning sermon series on Romans, our Sunday School class on Proverbs, or our evening worship, I am getting to know what God’s Word says and how that applies to all of life.  To hear some of the sermons or read the texts, click on our webpage http://westminster-pc.org.

bike parade and church picnic- happy 4th! July 5, 2009

The kids helped me make the pretzel rod sparklers and were justly rewarded for their hard work!

On Friday afternoon, I decided to email the neighborhood and see if anyone wanted to join a bike parade on Saturday morning- and then I worried that I waited too late and it would only be the Zellner kids. Thankfully the Kennedys were available to come ( we have 4 and they have 4, so 8 kids is already a parade, right?)  Happily, other children showed up too!

A neighbor even made bell necklaces for the children.

We decorated wagons, Barbie jeeps, Dora bikes, and scooters.

I ended up meeting three new families- One is new to the neighborhood and the wife’s father was visiting from Turkey.  They came so that he could see what it looked like to celebrate the 4th of July in America….Yikes! That is pressure

Later that afternoon we headed to a church picnic.  We go every year to Jim and Juanita Service’s house.  They host our whole church.  The adults grill out and talk, while the children play all over.  We are so thankful for all the helpers in our life who keep up with the Zellner children!

This year we added sparklers, poppers and mini fireworks to the fun.  And Rich took children on 4 wheeler rides in the wagon.

Eric fueled his 4 wheeler desires by taking a couple of turns as well.

 Cord thought he was cutting the grass while he sat with his daddy.

Happy 4th to everyone- How grateful I am to be living in this country!

sparkler pretzel rods July 3, 2009

Today I am going to make sparklers for the picnic.  As you know, I seem to have trouble melting chocolate, but I am going to dip pretzel rods in white chocolate and roll them in red and blue sprinkles. 

The other recipe I am trying will be a fruit pizza.   Imagine this with red and blue fruit.

I have an addict July 1, 2009

 

What is this? Cousin it?  No….

It’s Cord, the paci addict!  He lost his last paci a couple of weeks ago.  He now goes to nap and bed without a paci to comfort him, but he lives in a house with a one year old who still has hers.   He has a new trick of hiding beneath the blanket with Lucy’s paci in his mouth.  It is like he is getting his fix!  He hides there until I discover him and finally realize what he is doing.

 

This is just further proof – the part that he knows is wrong he continues to try to hide.  What a walking lesson he is for mommy.

Dot dot and C dub June 30, 2009

 

The past two days, the oldest two have been at their grandparents’ house: dot dot and C dub.  What an amazing time they had! They caught fireflies (something we don’t seem to have at our house!), saw a groundhog and a mole’s hole, dug in the compost and found worms, went for early morning walks, saw a bluejay’s eggs, got to see their cousin Bailee play softball, buy popcorn and hamburgers at the ballpark, and eat doughnuts for breakfast.  They didn’t go to bed until 11:30! If you know Eric’s mom and dad, you know how wonderful their yard is.  Dot used to teach 2nd grade and one of her specialities is teaching about how God’s creation works and really showing children the beauty of the details in creation.  C dub is a great storyteller.  My girls love to sit in his lap and hear stories about how he grew up and about the mischievous funny things he did   The girls howl laughing and make him repeat those stories over and over.

Today they brought the girls all the way to our house because they knew it would be naptime for the other two.  When Emma walked in, she had new tennis shoes that are so cute

I can’t believe all the amazing memories that must have been made on this trip.  I absolutely LOVE that my children get to spend quality time with their grandparents.  Eric and I are blessed with such incredible parents and I want my children to know them, love them, have specific memories with them, and learn from them.  That is exactly what happened the past few days and I am so very grateful!  thanks Dot and Wayne!

July 4th yummies June 29, 2009

I need some ideas!  We are going to a church picnic on the 4th and I was thinking of trying something festive!  Any ideas for something to bring to the party?

Reasons to love 2 year old boys June 24, 2009

They finally say,”Mommy I love you.”

You hand them something and they say,”Tank you mommy.”

They can’t tear their eyes away from the train at the Botanical Gardens.

They literally hop up and down showing you how much energy they have.

They copy their daddy’s humor.

They ask if the man next door is going to “CUT THE GRASS” every single day.

And when you rock them at nap time, they look you in the eyes and say, “Pway” which you slowly realize means “pray”.

that’s why I love my 2 year old boy.

Local journalists June 22, 2009

Olivia, Emma and I have been reading one of the American Girls’ series Meet Kit.  I have told them that if they would like to have one of the dolls that they have asked for, then they have to read the stories first.  We tried to start a series at the beginning of the year, but they just weren’t that into it.  So we are starting again- this time with Kit.  

 I am reading a chapter to them a day and hoping that the craft that we are doing will encourage them to want to know more about the story, the characters, and the time period.  Today we made our own newspaper like Kit does.  The girls took turns typing in a Word document what we did today and then we added some clip art.  Nothing fancy- but hey, there were some computer skills being used!

They printed it out and showed it to their daddy, just like Kit does in the story.  I would say their interest level was about mediocre for the project- not begging to do it again tomorrow, but mentioning it every once in a while the rest of the day.  Of course, my desire is that they will think this is the best thing that they have ever done and they will want to make it bigger and better tomorrow and read all about what Kit does too.  Maybe I should lower my expectations   Below is a copy of the newspaper.  We probably need to work on adding enough detail so that our reader can understand what has occured.  We went to some outdoor fountains today and there were games nearby that you could put money in and win prizes.

A DAY OF GAMES

 

June 22, 2009

Today we went to the fountains.  We played in the water with our cups.  The cup went  up on the water. 

   

There were games by the water.  The game’s voice said,” No chance what you’ll win.”

So  I shook the handle really hard, but nothing came out.

Cord played a game too.  Cord put his face down and the water came up.  We laughed.

It was a hullabaloo.

 

 

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