Time Flies When You are Having Fun!

It's been a long time since I've been able to sit and blog! We are so glad the snow days are over and the spring time sun has arrived. The trees in the back yard are becoming greener everyday. It's fun to see the leaves on the trees budding, the grass growing (our first spring in our new house with a yard!), and preparing to enjoy our screened in deck! We have had some fun things going on over the last few months...

The beginner violin we started Isabelle in just wasn't very well made causing LOTS of frustration as the strings would break & it would easily go out of tune. So we ventured to a wonderful Strings shop where we were able to rent a better violin for her to continue her lessons. She LOVES the violin and we are blessed by her music. She has uncovered a little hidden talent we didn't know she had! Her teacher is thrilled with her progress! It's fun to see her really enjoy playing this instrument.

John Michael turned 7 on March 16! Boy, was he excited. He had 2 family parties with all his grandparents - one in KC & one at home. Nana made him a monster truck cake & as you'll see below it was a theme. A few weeks before his b-day he went to a monster truck show in KC. It was a little boys dream!

One of his favorites desserts is oreos - so I made him an oreo ice cream cake! It was deliciously rich and absolutely tasty! We've never had an ice cream cake before, but it was great because we stored the leftovers in the freezer and didn't feel a rush to eat it quick.

This was his first year to celebrate at school. Thanks to my friend Bonnie, who is a fabulous trained baker for introducing me to brownie pops! JM wanted me to make these SO bad. The turned out so well, the kids at school loved this unique different treat that tasted a whole like a soft oreo!

Yes, my attempt at turning a pastel colored melting chocolate to red didn't work. They were more of a pink color - but JM didn't care one bit. When we ran out of icing we made a powder sugar icing and sprinkled them with chocolate sprinkles!! YUMMO!!!

JM also started soccer this month. He is enjoying playing this spring with kids that he knows from our community. It's fun to play with kids from his class.

Just last weekend, I had the privilege of attending a leaders retreat for Moms In Touch International. Moms in Touch is a prayer ministry designed to pray specifically for our children and their schools. It is an amazing ministry. You should check to see if you have a group in your area for your school. If not, start one! You can be public, private, or homeschool. You can be a grandma, aunt or teacher - it just takes 2 to pray together for a group! http://www.momsintouch.org/

I am leading a group in our community! We are SO excited to see all that God will do!

Our retreat was held in our state capital - Topeka. We had the honor of meeting with our governor, Sam Brownback. He is a Christian who is seeking the Lord for His leadership of our state. It was an awesome experience to see a man in public office who has reverence an awe for the One who put him in office! I can't wait to see all that God has in store for our state.

This is the State Senate - the original pieces from our original senate. The cushions on the front are where the pages sit. The Senate & House allow students to come and page for them starting at the age of 12...In the near future we will have pictures of Isabelle sitting right there. She is SO excited to be a part of history in our state government. This picture was just for her!

Today we participated in the Global Orphan Family 5K...check out http://artsfororphans.blogspot.com for pictures & updates....