We had so much fun today!  Thanks to all my fun shopping as AC Moore we ended up winning tickets for 4 to go see Thomas the Tank Engine at Strasburg Rail Road.  We had so much fun together!  I can’t wait unti the kids get older and we start doing more fun family things!

Bensen was so into the day, it was great!!!  I would have never gone on our own, but thanks to God’s good gifts to us and AC Moore, we had an amazing family day together.  This was actually the first time as a family of four we have done any kind of big event.  It was just so neat to see Bensen so into it!  Check out a few pics…

Our family of four waiting to ride on Thomas :)  So much fun, did I mention that already??? ;)

I love this shot of Bensen!  Thomas in the background and the awe of the day through a 18 month old’s eyes!

Bensen and Daddy watching Thomas pull out, Bensen held onto his toy Thomas train the WHOLE day!  When we left the house this am we gave it to him…He played with it the hour and a half there, held it the whole day while at Strasburg and then didn’t even want to put it down to eat dinner and played with it most of the trip home.

We truly enjoyed the day.  We rode on Cagney and another litle wooden cart electric train and went into the gift shops and I got my little pressed penny to add to my penny collection.  My favorite soveneire from any place, and it usually never costs more than 51 cents!  I just love collecting them, it’s a great way to keep something small and in scrapbook or something and its great! I love it!

After Thomas we went to Cici’s for the pizza buffet which totally excited me, I love that place and there aren’t any close to our home, so exciting for me.  We also stopped by Best Buy, Border’s and AC Moore and had fun looking and getting inspiration for future projects we have going on.  Wonderful for Sean and I! :)  I even bought a Xyron sticker maker for only $13 today!  Totally excited me!

Ok, well that was our super fun day!!!!!  I am still on a high and just jumping around our house like I’ve had too much sugar or something… it was truly such a blessing to me though that I have this wonderful and cute little family of 4 and we got to have this wonderfully fun day together and I can’t wait for them to grow and do more as they get older!

Praising God for these wonderful MOMENTS and ALL that He has given us that I haven’t even recognized!!! Praise Him Praise Him!

I totally had a fun day! Today was one of my bestest friend’s bdays so we hired sitters and had an AMAZINGLY fun day! We went out for a nice lunch to Olive Garden and shopped the day away! We only “made it” to three stores! NOT ENOUGH TIME! So sad. But so fun! We got some really great clothes for ourselves, Becca got this adorable dress and I was all over this shirt/shirt outfit! And as always, great conversations and just having fun being together! I hope she enjoyed her birthday! She is such a special friend to me and I really wanted her to know how much she means to me!

I’ve been so behind in wanting to keep up…I keep saying this, I want to do this so badly, yet I’m just having such issues doing it.

Bensen is becoming hysterical when it comes to singing. I love it so much! These moments are going by so fast, I don’t have a clue how to handle it!

We sing Deep and Wide, he does all the hand motions and sings “Deept” for the entire song. God is So Good he points up and sings Good, good good. This is the Day, of course he chooses just to sing the word Day. This Little Light of Mine is still my favorite song because he won’t let satan “woofft” it out and blows on his finger so cutely! I just love him to itsy bitsy pieces!
Of course with all this cuteness also comes a new level of will and “stinkerness”. He’s really learning his will and loves to test me. Daddy he’s much quicker to obey then myself and I can’t quite figure out why. He still is so good when it comes to sleep/nap time. All you have to do is ask him if he wants his binky or to go night nights and he either goes back and stands at his crib or rubs his eyes and holds his cute little hands up to you for you to pick him up. He is so precious. He now loves to be outside “shoushide” and loves to play with these glass beads from a stepping stone I had out there. They are like his little treasures. He loves to play with the garden hose or his little bucket of water. His 4 wheeler is a favorite and he is such a dare devil on that thing it practically gives me heart attacks. He has figured out how to stand on the handle bars and reach for things, or he stand on the seat and presses the red button and rides around while standing on the seat. He’s also mastered standing on the handle bars and reaching his hands up in the air and clapping. Scares me to death!

So anyway, I guess that sums him up right now and all his sweetnesses, (of course one little blog post is never enough!)

Miss Jenavieve however, she is almost 6 months old already!  Where has the time gone?????

She is developing her own little will too.  We now call her our Screetching Teradactal because whenever she is upset or wants something she goes into this high pitch screetching fit.  She just started to get a light flick on the cheek for it and she usually stops, looks at you like “why did you do that to me” and then lets out a real cry of discomfort for about 10 secs.  Then she is usually onto the next thing to look at or try to pick up.

She is so good at picking up her binky and putting it in her mouth.  Her fine motor skills really impress me.  Great with toys and little objects and she’s good because she doesn’t put a whole lot in her mouth.  She still loves to have her blanket right next to her face which now that it’s summer months is becoming a problem with sweat.  Most naps she wakes up sweaty, stinky and wet, but oh well!

These kids are such sweet hearts!  I wish I could write down all the little moments that melt my heart each and every day!  Like when Bensen holds Jena’s hand or walks in the room with a BIG smile and says “Hiiieea”  the way he says Jena or Jenaveive’s big open mouth smiles and belly gigles!

Just the other night it was late,  everyone was in bed, Sean and I were watching tv in our bed and the kids woke up.  They both came into our room and layed in bed and watched tv with us.  It was the most heart melting moment!  I just grabbed both of my babies and held them tight and kissed their head and praised God for giving them to me!  How good He is to us!!!  A few nights later I was out and came home after the babies were already in bed.  I couldn’t help but sneak into Bensens room and give him a kiss!  Sean soon followed behind me and it was the sweetest moment standing at Bensen’s crib with Sean’s arms around me and we prayed together in a light whisper for Bensen and Jenavieve.  How much I love them and want to raise them to fear, love and trust the Lord.  It’s so hard!!!  Oh how much I love these times though and how I want to remember them and make them last forever.

If I can enourage anyone to take time out of there day just to enjoy the moments, do it!  Enjoy The Moments has almost become my new closing to any blog post I write now.  Just a reminder that there are a million little moments in every day that too often we forget to stop and look at, let alone embrass and hold dear.  I have a hard enough time remembering things on my own, but if I can just stop for a few moments each day, reflect and PRAISE GOD for all He has given me and these Wonderful moments I have right in front of me. WOW!  What a wonderful day it can become!

I really am sitting here on the sofa completely zoned out.
I had some tests done at the Reading Hospital this am and since the blood work they did had to be done while fasting, I passed out soon after the 8th vile of blood was drawn! Fun times fun times. I am just so tired and while I want to write I’m not even sure what all to say once again.

I’ve been reading for a while during kids nap time this afternoon and loving this book “The House That Cleans Itself” by Mindy Clark. It’s really giving me some great tips for getting the house in order. I got a really great start on the kids room “zone” today too. I’m excited I got a lot of their winter clothes put into boxes and organized. Also, a little secret about me is I LOVE to buy kids clothes at the end of season sales for next season. Both kids practically have all the clothes they will need for the fall/winter season already, and they are in bins in their closet. I just can’t resist buying kids clothes a head of time. My favorite two places to buy kids clothes, Children’s Place and Target, both do seriously awesome clearances and I buy stuff for as cheap as $0.49!!! LOOOVVVE IT! Total weakness!
So, I got a lot accomplished today with that. I also did another 3 dozen votives for my sister’s wedding. Only 6 dozen more to go!! Woohoo! I really can’t wait to post a video on how I’m doing them on AboveRubiesStudio.com…it’s coming it’s coming! Actually I am really hoping that Sean and I will be able to work on the site tonight and do some videos together.

I read all of Psalm 66 today and wanted to leave you with verse 20
“Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from me!”

I was reading Psalms this morning to Bensen during breakfast, and I sorta did a rewind after he was finished. I went back and really started reading into Psalm 73 in a “deeper” light. How awesome is Psalms? I think that and Proverbs truly are my two favorite books of the Bible! I’m selfish, I like to see other peoples struggles and watch them cry out to God and then see them go to Him! That’s exactly what Asaph did. Admitting how he slipped and how he was basically jealous of others and their riches and even their wickedness. He felt like giving in and basically saying “what’s the use God?” Then in the end he admits his foolishness and arrogance. He realized he was like a beast before God, which is what I am so often! And it’s not always easy for me to admit that either. What inspiration to me to see him come back to God and to say,
“Nevertheless, I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand. You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.” (vs. 23&24)
Then verse 26 - “My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever”

I feel so blessed to have picked that to read to Bensen today. I hope it blesses you too!