Ella

When I orginally started this blog, one of my objectives was to tell all of the hilarious stunts Ella pulled regularly. Now these were also naughty things, but once reflected on, funny. Fortunately for my sanity, she has improved immensely, but once in awhile will still resort to old habits. Shawna has one of her "comments" on her blog of Ella from Bloom Christmas. Here are two more stunts from this past week:
I think it was Christmas Eve night after we had put all the kids to bed, I realized that I had heard the bathroom sink on for quite awhile. I knew who it probably was and asked James to go and check on her (as he usually has more patience). HE did as i asked and a couple of seconds later , said, "Eryn, come up here and bring the camera" , which in our house means, she did something naughty, but we will take a picture to remind us later it was funny at the same time. So I ran up the steps with the said camera to see Ella standing on a stool in front of the sink, soaked from shoulders to head, covered in shampoo. She looked at me and smiled,"I washing my hair!" I snapped a couple of pictures before she was cleaned up and put back into bed.
Last night, we went to some friends house. They have 4 girls and my kids love playing over there. They all behave really well together , so we let them play and we play our own game. Ella came in toward the end of the evening and wanted James to come with her. James asked me to go, so I followed her and noticed she was slapping water everywhere from her socks. And then i noticed she was soaked all over. we went to the bathroom and the sink was on and overflowing EVERYWHERE!! The bathroom sink had clogged (which was probably really fun at first) and the water had nowhere to go but up and over. THe water was dangerously close to coming out into the hallway, but we had caught it just in time.
She is a handful, but we wouldn't have her any other way.

Ice Storm

A few weeks ago, we had an ice and snow storm, more ice than snow. We, with a couple of thousands of people, lost power, but we had fun with it. Here are some of the pictures I took.

Christmas Pictures

Well, I am joining the masses and putting up our attempts to get the perfect Christmas picture. Of course, the one we chose isnt up here. I ended up using all the copies, sorry.

Elana's Blog

My beautiful sister Elana and I.
James getting pulled around by Brennan the dolphin
What in the world is that black thing across the picture?
The sweetest picture.


My sister Elana just started her own blog after my incessant begging. She lives in Florida with her Air Force husband. This is such an easy way to keep in touch , plus she does wonderful photography and now we can all see her pictures. Check her out at www.powerfulnews.blogspot.com

More Florida Pictures

Patrick gets to hold a 7ft python after the older boy chickened out.
James was so proud, I thought he was going to burst. Patrick wasnt scared a bit. His favorite channel IS Animal Planet.
Mexico Beach in Florida.
The python moves in for a kiss/sniff.
A large shrimp I found but James bravely picked up.

Thanksgiving in Florida

I really thought ella would be scared, but she did great.
Patrick loves animals and could barely wait his turn.
James, dad and erica "swimming" with brennan, the dolphin.


This thanksgiving we drove 13 hours to Panama City, Floida to visit my sister Elana and her husband Mike. Mike is in the air force there and they are loving it. we had a wonderful time visiting them, the beach, Gulf World and outlet malls! many more pictures will be coming as i get them developed (i still use the old fashioned camera) but here are some from Gulf World where the kids LOVED seeing the dolphins and James got to "swim" with a dolphin. He was in the water with 5 other people and they interacted with Brennan, a female dolphin that the navy retired 5 years ago.

Birthdays and Halloween

Patrick got to invite two friends to spend the night on his birthday, he picked his cousins Eliot and Isabel.
James and I love this face!
Happy 5th Birtday, Patrick! He wanted a baseball cake and a baseball ceiling fan, he got both!
A kitten and spiderman came for a visit on Halloween.

Hot Chocolate Mix

25.6 oz nonfat dry milk
11 oz coffee mate(non dairy creamer)powder
15 oz nesquick chocolate(powder)
2 cups powdered sugar

mix well in stock pot and put in air tight plastic container. for normal 8oz hot water, use 4-5 tablespoons or to taste.

this recipe is from my mom and people really seem to love it. everytime people come to my house and i offer hot chocolate, they ask," is it your moms?" sad to say, it never was. but i have finally wisened up and got the recipe from her. this is really creamy and i like more chocolate flavor, so if you do too, i would add another 7-8 oz of chocolate mix. i end up using lots of this mix for my hot chocolate so dont feel like you didnt make it right if you do too. this makes 8 quarts so it should last the whole winter.
enjoy!

our weekend

we had a wonderful time in topeka this past weekend. i just want to thank the rex bloom family, the degroffs, and the everharts for putting together a fun and inspiring weekend. james and i came away with so much and it was really great to see people that we hadnt in a while.
saturday was the marriage conference. it was all day but i know it couldve gone longer. steve price and john heller were well prepared and were so interesting. you could tell these men had godly marriages and were just brimming with biblical advice to share.
sunday we stayed an extra couple of hours and went on rex and shawna's date night with them. we had a wonderful time, (thanks to dave and rachel who watched rex and shawnas kids for us). we drove to kansas city and went to the melting pot. it was sooooo good. it was rex's first time and he really enjoyed it, i hear. we didnt get home til 1:30am but it was worth it. james and i had a wonderful, refreshing weekend together. we feel ready to tackle marriage and family once again.

this was patricks first year playing soccer. he LOVED it. he also turned 5 one weeks ago. it was sad for me but he had a great time, i will post pics of his birthday later.

ella loves her dance bag and dance class.

i dont remember who gave this to me, maybe rachel or her parents, but i just found it in my Bible and couldn't resist putting it up on my blog. obviously, it was taken some time ago, we were maybe 6 or 7. that is me on the far left, then tracie allan, some girl i can't remember and then rachel (then renes). the picture is cute and hilarious at the same time. enjoy!

ok, moms out there, i need your help. i am confessing to a serious lack of quiet time with the Lord. yet, i know that to do anything successfully as a mother and wife, i need Him. so my questions are; when do you do it? in the morning before the kids wake up? at nap time, before bed? HOW do you do it? do you just open up and read? have a devotional book? journal? bible study book? i am really interested in just studying the bible on my own without a book, but am at aloss as to how to do this. any suggestions, tips etc would be greatly appreciated. be as detailed as you want to be. my kids wake up anytime from 7 to 8 am, so i am not keen on getting up at 6:30 to beat the kids at getting up, but i am starting to feel i should.
thank you!

last week, patrick and i had many conversations about heaven, all started by him. i was a very proud mama that my boy was so interested in what heaven was, how you got there and what would be there and who. but as i explained how you got there, i kept getting stuck.....i kept thinking i was missing something. surely it wasnt that simple? surely i was leaving some vital part out. can the gospel really be that simple that a child could understand it and receive it?
YES! it is and it can. underneath it all, i knew i was telling him the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. and i think this happens whenever i give the gospel. it just seems too easy, too simple. but explaining it to my child, i wanted to present it just right, get all of the componants in there. and i am pretty sure i did.
praise the lord that we can all come to him with the understanding of a child! that his gospel is simple, easy and nothing that we need to do of ourselves to make him accept us other than believe what he has told us.
now, patrick did not fall on his knees and accept Christ vocally, but later that day at a store, an employee came to check on us and asked us how we were. patrick looked up at her and said, " i' m 4 and i am going to heaven!" the poor woman looked so surprised, she had no idea what to say and eventually came up with,"....well....., good boy!" and i am tearing up with joy and laughter.
so at this point, whose to say? but God knows, and i wont let up on the amazingly, simple, gospel story.

My beautiful family in the summer of 2006. Poor Patrick was almost cut out of the picture, but isnt that the cutest smile?

this past saturday, we had a neighborhood bbq. my neighbor and i organized it. i think it went really well, it rained all morning but the afternoon turned out really well. my kids even got a little lesson in prayer. together, the 3 of us, on the way to the grocery store, asked God to not let it rain and postpone our picnic. later that night i reminded them how God had answered our prayer and we praised him together.
a lot of the neighborhood came out and we met some new people and got to know others better. james and i realized how much of an opportunity we have to be witnesses for Christ right here in our little community. we are becoming good friends with our next door neighbors, mark and margie. they are in their 40's but have a 8 month old son, adam. please pray for them if you think of it. they have already come to our church bbq and were very impressed by how "young" our church was and they couldnt get over how nice everyone was. this was so different than the churches they were used to. i think they are interested as they keep asking questions, but margie was a little put off when she realized women were not allowed to speak during the meetings.
i think neighborhood bbq's are wonderful ways to get to know your neighbors and get an "in" to be able to let your neighbors know you and be a witness. even if you have lived in your neighborhood for years, throw a block party! get to know your neighbors! get interested in their lives, show them someone cares, show them why your family is different.
some things we did was, block off a section of our street so everyone could be in one place. we got a firetruck to come for the kids (and james, he got to dress up in all the gear, i got a picture of it to post later). we set out games of washers, had water balloon tosses, sack races. it was old time fun.
well this is long, so i will stop, but start planning a block party and/or bbq for next spring!reach out to the people closest to you.

we are in the process of reconstructing a whole new kitchen. everything in it is new and redone. we moved in in july and tore the existing(pitiful) kitchen out, and have since been slowly redoing it. our cabinets are in, our floor is tiled and monday james put in the new window. this wasnt just any window. it is a HUGE window. we made it the same size as the old window, which was VERY old and falling apart. the length of this window is 96"! it really adds a lot of light to my kitchen . putting this monster in was a process. poor james had to spend 2 hours grinding out brick to make the window fit from the outside. red dust everywhere! and today, the granite countertops! this is what i have been waiting for! finally, a usable kitchen. for with the countertops, i can finally have a sink, diswasher, use my stove and put things in my cabinets. the guys were here for 3 hours and it looks fantastic. james got a good deal on the slabs, it really helps to know people in the home remodeling business. so after my pilates, i am going to finally bring up those boxes from the basement and set about to put my kitchen in order. it wont be finished by any stretch of the imagination, but it will finally be useable. my cabinet hardware is still to come in, the backsplash has yet to be tiled. we have mudding, sanding and painting to do on walls and ceilings and the poor window still needs some work around it. when the kitchen is finished i will post the before and after. it is already unrecognizeable from its humble beginnings.

ok, yeah! i think i did it. super cute pictures of patrick and ella with some of my sister,erica, in the background. these kids are so fun and funny. they keep me on my toes and laughing. they are both full of energy and so i have had to find ways to direct it. ella is in gymnastics and dance and patrick is also in gymnastics and soccer. they are loving it. patrick scored two goals at his game on saturday. he is still telling everyone he knows.

i have been saying i was going to get one of these going, but was afraid i wouldnt know how. i still dont know if this will turn out, but i had some time on my hands and threw caution to the wind.
i tried forever to come up with some wonderful, spiritual name for my blog, but decided, if i had to try so hard to be spiritual, perhaps i should quit. so, the name isnt a work of genius, but hopefully easy to remember.
i will try to put up some pictures, but it might take me awhile to figure it out.