Yes, it is March 12 and I'm just now posting what we did for Valentine's Day.  I had so much fun planning everything.

The day before I made these cute cards I found on someone's blog.  (Unfortunately, I can't give credit since all of that info was saved on my Blogger dashboard that I cannot access.)

Cupcakes and sugar cookies with messages written on the back.

Everyone found these cards at breakfast time next to their plate.

But the supper meal was where I was wanting to plan something unique for our family. I wanted it to be simple and I wanted to serve the meal in different rooms of our house (imitating those suppers where you travel to various houses for each course).

The meal consisted of:

Green Tossed Salad w/ homemade Ranch Dressing

Grilled Pita Pizzas (everyone builds their own)

Mini-Cheesecakes w/ Blueberry Topping

The meal began in my bedroom.  Serenity did the set-up.

I served the salad and then we played a few rounds of Worst Case Scenario.  I knew as soon as I walked into the room with the salad that this was going to be a very special memory for me.  Tears came to my eyes as I looked around at my  blessings.  They were all so good about mommy and her "dreamy" plans.  After this picture Zachary and Wesley, of their own choosing, went and put on red shirts. ( Oh, my heart doth melt to think of it once again!)  I even had romantic music playing.  I told them I have to do things like that to help their "softer" side so they'll know how to plan for their future sweetheart.

When we finished we moved on into the kitchen where everyone made and grilled their own pizzas.  We played a few hands of Phase 10 that time.

Then for the dessert course we headed for the boys' room where we ate mini-cheesecakes and shared with one another things we appreciate about them.  It was a full 2 hour meal. Whew!

The kids had a most wonderful time.  They all told me thank-you and said how much fun it was, etc.  I just love planning and making memories like this. 

One more picture, pleeease?  I want to give Serenity a rose-bud for all her help; she is one amazing girl.  The picture I want to show you is the plate she decorated for me for breakfast.  Serenity, always so thoughtful and sweet.

Copyright 2008 Treasuring the Moments

Posted by Elisabeth at 2 comments

Copyright 2008 Treasuring the Moments

One of my reasons for blogging was to record little moments (and big) of my children. I'm just now getting to writing about Audrey (3yo) who made me smile a few months ago when I came into the room and found her with my camera. Sometimes I find the strangest pictures on the camera card. Pictures of the side of a head, a leg, a portion of the piano - multiple shots of each object.

This day when I walked in she said, "Mom! I'm going to take a smile of you."


Another day, she brought in a bunch of parsley from the garden and presented it to me. I said, "That's so nice." Her reply? "That's precious." I just had to chuckle. Her voice inflections were too cute. "That's preee-cious."


Every Sunday after Sunday School, she gets a candy from the teacher. For some reason she had two yesterday. I asked her if the sucker was mine. She said, "No. You can't have it because you might get sick." She then went on to tell me that she wouldn't get sick because she would eat it like this - with the wrapper around the sucker. LOL!

The majority of the time she sleeps with my husband and I. Many times she goes to sleep laying on one of our arms. Last night, while laying on my arm, she wanted to put hers under my back. I told her I was too heavy for her arm - it might hurt - but she really wanted to. We repositioned and I ended up resting on a little 8" arm for awhile. How preee-cious.


I must mentions Justus (5yo,)too. Russell tells him frequently, "I wouldn't trade you for all the tea in China," and "I wouldn't trade you for all the cows in Texas."

One day he said to his daddy, "I wouldn't trade you for all the tea in Texas!" Oops, not too much tea there!





Kids are adorable, precious and beautiful, and little for such a small season. Sometimes it's so easy to get caught up in the day to day tasks and miss the little things. Make today different. Get down at their level and look them in the eye. (I'm just talking to myself here, friends.) Make today a day where we tie strings of fellowship.

Posted by Elisabeth at 1 comments

Copyright 2008 Treasuring the Moments

Girls usually are more inclined than boys to want fancy things and just have a innate desire to make things look nice. For example my daughter, at age 10, did a post on her blog on how to make a goblet look even better. From quite young she's tried different hairdo's. Like this one... (a little dark but can you see all the barrettes and tall ponytail sticking up?)

Copyright 2008 Treasuring the Moments

Christmas is over and the new year has already begun. We started 2009 off with a watch night service at our church which was just lovely. The next day I was only half there, of course. My Mom and Dad were here spending the week with us after Christmas. What a treat! Then we received company New Year's Day afternoon from Colorado – a family that has 7 children. The kids were so sweet and well-behaved, everyone helping each other. It was really great to see.

Most of what I do see, especially when out shopping are things like this. In C*STCO yesterday there was a mom in front of me having a time of it. She was not at all discreet as she fumed at her daughter. "I told you 10 minutes ago to stop acting like a brat," and on and on she went. The little girl was sitting on the floor right where I needed to sign the receipt, tears running down her face, and actually not saying a word. It was only as we were all walking out that I heard her saying, "I have to goooo." Her mother was still steaming and venting. No wonder the mother has problems with the child – she cannot even control herself.

On to some home news - My son got a gun for Christmas and one night while we were sleeping it went off – repeatedly. I'm glad to tell you that it was only a toy gun! My hero husband went to investigate, found the gun, smacked it a few times but to no avail. It had to be taken outside where it kept shooting the rest of the night for all I know. Who knew guns could go psycho?! J

We had another kid (it was a goat that had the kid – not me J) born over the holidays for a total of 2 born in December and we've added a pig to our farm, as of Friday, for my son's 4-H project. We are having a rather difficult time (once again!) with the cattle that are grazing nearby. They are not ours but are owned by a rancher who lives over the hill. Since our property is not completely fenced off they can come over to visit as often as they like - which is everyday. They have broken down the pig's pen once already so they could eat the straw for goodness sake! The kids are threatening to chase the cattle into the next county if they keep this up.

That's about all I have for updates – except did I tell you how my garage sale went? From experienced garage sellers, I hear I did quite badly. $40 was my grand total at the end of 2 days. The last day was cold and windy so maybe that had something to do with not getting much traffic. I had fun though.

Wishing you a great week and much joy in the Lord for the year 2009.

What a memorable Saturday we had this past weekend.  Some friends of ours put on a dinner banquet for about 35 couples.  The location couldn't have been better.  It was held at the ranch of one of the prior owners of the St. Louis Rams.  (She passed away this past year.)  They liked to host parties at their place and had built a replica of an old west town complete with a mini-hotel and Victorian furnishings. 

A few ladies went early to help with the dinner preparations.  That's always fun.

Of course we cooked till the last minute, then we explained to the servers what to do and left the kitchen in the capable hands of young people who would be taking care of us the rest of the evening.  We then dashed upstairs to one of the hotel rooms to get ourselves in order.  We descended the long sweeping staircase in a completely different manner than we had ascended, looking composed and refreshed - with no curlers in sight.  Ahhh, this was going to be a grand evening.

We had our picture taken with our husbands in the lobby of the hotel, complete with Victorian furnishings.  Then we followed the boardwalk, that was lined with street lamps, from the hotel to the Opera House where our dinner was to be held. 

To the right of the picture below was the stage where a baby grand piano was set.  The acoustics in the room were excellent.  The lady who had built this loved to sing and her husband was a concert pianist so this room was built with that in mind.

There was a second floor with more tables which we did not use.

The servers did a superb job keeping our  punch glasses filled and good food coming.  The meal was served in four courses.  Each server had a specific table to wait on.  Zachary sailed by our table at one point in the evening and said, "This is fun!"

Oh, my!  That chocolate cake is calling me.  It was good!

We had such an entertaining evening with so many good laughs.  Everyone was able to relax and just enjoy the whole night.

Our servers did a lot of  work.  Wesley not only served but I caught him drying dishes at the end of the night.  Way to go Wesley!  Be a blessing. 

Some stayed in the kitchen all evening washing dishes.  When they got home they needed a nice warm foot bath to ease their tired and sore feet.

But you know all of the servers and kitchen help had the best time, too.  They all remarked on how much they enjoyed it.  I was really glad the young people were asked to be a part of it.  They really shined and did a tremendous job.  I was proud of every one of them. 

Copyright 2008 Treasuring the Moments

After a little less then 2 weeks of travel and over 5000 miles driven, we're back home.  My contribution to the driving was 3 hours and my son 5 hours.  DH got to do the rest all by himself.  He does wonderful but for one part of his anatomy that gets quite sore. 

Miss Audrey was a trooper, riding many long hours in her car seat. 

When we left Arizona we drove to Missouri where my nephew was getting married.  Justus was asked to be the ring bearer.  He was so scared embarrassed (I'm not sure what.) but he was like a soldier walking down the aisle so very stiff and he never did relax ...

except when we got to the reception hall.  While I was conversing with those at my table I was tapped on the shoulder and asked "Is that your little boy?"  I almost didn't need to look to know it probably was but I did and sure enough it was my little dear.  He was descending from the 2nd floor but instead of walking down the stairs normally he was on the outside of the banister walking on the edge of the steps.  At least he didn't try sliding down the railing!  Of course, I didn't get overly excited about it since this was pretty mild boy stuff for my guys.  (But being a responsible mom I did tell him "No more doing that kind of thing.")

Leaving Missouri on Sunday afternoon we drove to meet my parents in a little town of Illinois.  They were brave enough to say "Yes, we'll ride with you 15 hours to Pennsylvania and back."  We were supposed to get a motel Sunday night but for whatever reason we didn't.  I never did find out since I was already sleeping.  My mom was like a little owl and stayed up ALL night watching whoever was driving.  She doesn't want to do any driving but she can't sleep either. 

So we pulled in to my sisters driveway in Pennsylvania early Monday morning the same day as Serenity's birthday. 

Serenity is now 11 and is such a blessing in our home. 

My brother-in-law thought that for fun(?) (ha, ha, just kidding Jon) we could repaint his living room and lay wood flooring, so that afternoon some of the preparations were made for the rest of the weeks work. 

You know how hard it is to figure out what color of paint to use.  Well my sister is no exception.  Check out that back wall.  It's starting to look like an artists palette with all the different paint samples on it.

Whenever family comes to our house and sometimes even friends(!) we have a work project planned.  We've completed all kinds of things during these times.  It gives the guys something to do since we usually don't want to load all 25 of us in vehicles to go somewhere.  They have a good time working together - at least they've never told us differently.  Ignorance is bliss, right?

Wednesday was Audrey's 3rd birthday.  I determined to finish her baby quilt, that I started about 3 years ago, before we left on our trip.  I gave it to her and she loves it.  I was wondering if it wouldn't meant much to her since she's bigger, but happily that wasn't the case.

I used a pinwheel pattern and tried stippling for the first time.

Audrey found a mini Mickey Mouse cake pan and asked her daddy if he would make a cake with her.  I love that my husband is such a good father.  After they baked the cake they cut it up into pieces (no icing) and Audrey carried the plate around to everyone asking if they would like a piece of her birthday cake.  At least if she didn't say all that that's what she meant!

Thanksgiving was so nice.  Food and fellowship with friends, topped off with some music at the end of the evening.

Our week ended with a visit to an Amish family that we've met a few times on our visits to PA.  They served a supper of soup, crackers, a veggie tray and homemade pretzels with a sweet and sour dip.  The pretzels are top notch and easy to make too.  I wrote about it once before on one of our past trips to PA.

What was interesting about the evening beside their using gas lights(!) was the amount of people they had come.  In addition to the 24 of us they had many other family members come for supper and many that just dropped by for part of the evening.  They also enjoy having a good time with simple amusements.  I LOVE that.  In this video-game, movie crazed generation it was completely refreshing.  I didn't see any whining from the children either.  I wonder how they prevent that?

My husband is a great storyteller of things that has happened to him in the past, and it was sort of humorous, but they gathered around him wanting to hear more funny things.  And they remembered stories from the previous years. 

It makes me think of my husband's family - when we get together we just have a grand time listening to the brothers reminiscing about stories from their childhood and beyond - and boy do they have some. 

But back to our trip.  We left PA Sunday morning at 5a.m. and drove straight through to Arizona, except for a 3 hour nap on the side of the road .  45 hours.  You wouldn't want to see a picture of us after 45 hours.  You talk about bad hair.  We looked pretty rough.  If somebody had driven by our breakfast stop yesterday morning, when we were parked under an overpass (doesn't that sound like an ideal location?)  I'm sure they would have thought we looked like homeless waifs.

Today the house is permeated with an egg smell or devilled egg smell (depending on who you talk to) since the water hasn't been turned on for a while (maybe something to do with our water softener).  At least our hair will look better after our showers.  I'm not making any promises though on how pretty we'll smell.

Copyright 2008 Treasuring the Moments

Well I'm off the hook for the garage sale I was going to do with a friend.  At least for now.  She wasn't quite ready - still had closets to go through - so we put it off for a few weeks.

Thanks for those who left suggestions.  I listened and have included some of the items mentioned and have been inspired by the others to look for more things.

I did find this link "How to Generate More Cash This Christmas" that I thought had good suggestions.  Some of the things mentioned I had already cleaned out of my closets and given to thrift stores and to missions in Mexico.  But it still gave me food for thought.

The end of this week has been rather busy.  My husband poured concrete for a driveway here at our house yesterday and didn't finish up until about 6:00 last night.  We had a family over for supper and then after that a whole passel of young people came over to play some walleyball.  They were here till almost midnight.  Then Seth and my hubby left on a bull elk hunt this morning.  (This is Seth's first bull elk tag and so he's quite thrilled.  It's hard to get drawn for these hunts here in Arizona.  I don't think he got any sleep last night because he had to pack and then they left at about 2a.m.)  We've had 3 people we know pass away.  I'll be preparing some food for one of the memorial services. 

So I think it was just as well that our garage sale was cancelled until next month.

Here's some pictures of the concrete pour the boys and Russell have been doing.

Sometimes you just need a little bit more weight on the end of your pole.  So Audrey got a free ride!

Copyright 2008 Treasuring the Moments

This week, if my friend and I get our act together, we will be having a garage sale.  Now, I've never had one, have high doubts of making anything, and can't imagine anyone wanting my 'precious possessions' but I'm going to give it a whirl.

I spoke with a lady this week that said her and a friend paid their way to Taiwan by having 5 garage sales over the course of the year.  They sold some of their own things as well as what people donated from their church.

Now, I'm not planning any trips to Taiwan but I am trying to follow Dave Ramsey's advice and save me up $1,000 for an emergency fund AND I would like to declutter.  Oh, would I ever like to declutter.  But what do I have that people might actually be willing to pay me a few $$?

Maybe it's this little beauty that will be the hot seller of the day.  I've had this treasure for almost 20 years.  (bestowed upon me at my wedding)  I'm sure it would look gorgeous in somebody's home, wouldn't you agree?

Or maybe I've picked a winner here with this slide projector, circa 1970's,  which my husband says was very specialized.  It's a tandem-matic.  Ohhhh.  Now, I've got you drooling.  I bet you wish you had this to sell at your garage sale.

Or maybe it will be my jogging stroller that's slightly cockeyed from being bumped into with a diesel truck.  (Do you see new driver written all over it?)

I don't know.  Help me out here folks, pretty please.  What kind of things do people actually buy at garage sales?  Books?  I've heard tools are good but I don't think hubby's going to let those go!

Ideas??

Copyright 2008 Treasuring the Moments

I made a visit to Holy Experience and read this post.  It's beautifully written and tore at my heartstrings.  Savor the moments with your children - they are so fleeting.  The little one who pulls at your skirts, who wants your time, will not be that way for long.  Savor every precious moment.

Copyright 2008 Treasuring the Moments