River Livin'

I'm currently working on a devotional called "The Love Dare". I've been working on it for a few months now. It's actually only supposed to take 40 days, but it's taking me way longer. I just need time to digest it & take it all in. It's a study on Love (with is a subject that has fascinated me & held my attention since I became a Christian). This devotional has so much yummy stuff in it that I can't help but chew up every sentence... I'll get all the way through it one of these days... for now though I'm really enjoying taking my time with it. 

During my studies recently, something grabbed my attention.... "Life is a marathon NOT a sprint- we must balance, prioritize & pace ourselves." This particular day was talking about the things that cause us to be irritable. The 2 main things are stress & selfishness. It mentioned that when we over load our selves with things we tend to stress out... which results in irritability. 

You would think that since I'm no longer working full time I would have all of the time in the world. Some how though I manage to always have a project or 2 or 3 going at once. It's funny how time is like that... it seems to fill up no matter how much of it you have! But I'm really going to try to do a better job of prioritizing & balancing the things in my life better. When I was working everything was in high gear all the time... go go go. So I guess I still feel like I need to be full speed ahead all the time.... Right now though, I am simply learning to s..l...o...w... it down a a bit & focus on the little things. Focus on them & ENJOY them! 

Jesus said... "I came that you may have and ENJOY life, and have it in abundance." (John 10:10) 

Monday was a very refreshing day for us... I've let this VBS project overwhelm me a bit... Monday was helpful because we ran away for the day. I had family come in from Florida. We spent the day down at my aunt & uncle's place at the river. I love river livin'. It's just something about being at the river that makes my little ol' heart just as happy as it can be! It's slow paced, laid back, relaxing, peaceful... It was awesome to see my family. It was a short visit, but very sweet! We all had a great time. When I was a little girl we had so many fun times down at the river. I have some great river memories & I was thrilled on Monday watching the girls create some of their own... 

(my Little Beach Bum) 

So anyway, stop & smell the roses today, will ya? I'm going to! 

Independence Day 2009

We had a wonderful 4th of July. Stephen spent the day at the beach with the YAM group from church. The original plan was for all of us (minus Maddy, who spent the day with her dad) to go to the beach with them... but on second thought we decided the beach all day w/ the kids (especially on a crowded holiday) was not such a good idea SO I took Reece & Olivia to the local botanical gardens instead... 

They had free admission for the holiday... and I'm so glad they did b/c we had a great time! 

Apparently we made the local news as well. 

It all started under the big tent... We decorated the stroller for the upcoming parade... 

Then in a long line of decorated strollers & wagons we marched through the children's garden proudly holding up our American flags & waving to all the passerby's . Olivia was so sweet... "I've never been in a real parade before mom!" 

as we were rounding the last curve of the parade a gentlemen stopped us & said that I looked mighty festive in my sparkly hat

so he wanted to interview me on camera. As it turns out it was our local 12 news camera guy. Apparently we made the news b/c I got a text from Robin last night at 11:07 "love the hat on tv" & a Facebook message this morning from my cousin "Hey Hollywood... saw you on the news last night". We don't have TV at the house so I asked mom to record it. (well we have TV, but no channels. We watch our few shows online & have the TV for movies). Anyway, Olivia thought it was really cool & she kept calling me a TV star. 

The gardens had a really neat butterfly display. It was a big green house with 100s of butterflies flying around... 

And of course there were a bunch of beautiful flowers everywhere. 

After we went home to rest a bit we met up with Erica & ventured out for fireworks. Can you tell Olivia was the photographer for the evening...

Very lovely Liv! Happy belated 4th everyone! 

Rolling & Recipes

Last Saturday Stephen & Madison went to King's Dominion so Olivia, Reece & I went to the skating rink with Ashley & her 2 girls... 

We had SO much fun. It was the girls first time going to the rink & they did a great job. Ashley & I are old pros. I remember the good ol' days (I say that like I'm 67 or something) when I used to go roller skating every Friday night. Oh man, that was the place to be. 

Anyway... I seriously had way too much fun (I've got a monster blister to prove it too!) As a matter of fact we had so much fun that we're in the midst of planning an 80's skate night with the BFFs. (Bffs if you are reading this... be expecting an Evite very soon! Carmen you can be our cheer leader!) I can't wait... 

Olivia managed to give "Mr. Roller Skating Teddy Bear" a hug...

This was major! She has had a horrible fear of big headed characters like this ever since she was very little. ("hiding under the table, violently shaking, don't even think about coming a step closer or I'll pass out" kind of fear) Even though we've told her that they aren't real the closest she has gotten to one of these things was when we went to Disney about 4 years ago or so... Tigger bounced & carried on with her for about 10 minutes (as she held the death grip around Stephen's neck) until she finally gave him a very brief high five. We've prayed that she'd get over this fear & it seems as if she has! Thank you Jesus!

She also won the sock race (they must have not seen her sneaky corner cut... lol)...

After skating Ashley's husband came over...

By that time Stephen & Madison were home. I cooked this parmesan crusted chicken w/ white cream sauce recipe. I made parmesan/pine nut couscous instead of rice though (right out of the box baby!).

I also made the asparagus, but I cooked it my own way...

• Preheat oven to 400
• wash the asparagus & cut the ends off a little   
• Melt about 3/4 a stick of butter in a sauce pan on medium heat, mix in 2 cloves of minced fresh garlic
• drizzle garlic butter over a handful of asparagus & then roll the asparagus in the mixture so it gets nicely coated
• sprinkle a bit of salt on top 
• cook on a baking sheet in the center of oven for 20 minutes

The tips got a bit crunchy... it was so yummy! 

OK, this wasn't really MY asparagus. It's actually a random pic I found online. I  didn't take a picture of mine... so we'll just pretend, shall we? 

These, however, are my pictures. Enjoy... 

& yes, this is me on the floor with the stroller. Good times I tell ya! 

In Kasie's Kare

OK, so I'm not starting a daycare or anything, BUT if I was that sure would be a cool name for it, huh?... 

I did start the childcare thing this week though & I must say I have had a wonderful week. I love being home with the kids & they seem to love it as well.. mom's not such a fuddy duddy after all... thank-you-very-much!

Meet Israel: 

I will be keeping him Monday-Thursday & occasional Fridays. He's one of my Bff's little boys. He has been such a good boy this week & we've had lots of fun hanging out with him. 

I decided it would be a good idea to start the day off with an outing or something fun around the house, then eat lunch & then nap time (time for me to study, blog, clean, sleep, whatever!) 

We had a great first week....

MONDAY: 

Went to the park to take grad pictures of my little bro & "just because" pictures of my mom (pictures to come).

Then we found the perfect spot for a picnic...

Then we fed the animals (no geese were involved... trust me!) ...

TUESDAY: 

Grocery Store... OK, not so fun, but when I told Israel that we were going to the grocery store & it may be a bit boring he said... "It's OK Ms. Kasie, I'll go to the grocery store with you everyday" He's such a sweety! 

WEDNESDAY: 

I met up with another one of my Bffs Robin (& her 5 kids) for a fun trip to the library. You should have seen us with all 9 kids... who says a library needs to be quiet?!? Not me! 

The kids signed up for the summer reading program, which has been the hot topic of discussion for Liv this week. She is very excited about this & has started her first book "Curious Goerge visits the library". 

After the library we came home & made pizzas for lunch. 

THURSDAY: 

We spent some time at the pool. 

FRIDAY: 

We didn't have Israel today. I watched my friend's 3 daughters this morning though. We made vanilla waffles & watched movies. 

This little doll... 

helped me stir the waffle mix... 

while bug washed the grapes...

What a great week! I know I've said it a million times, but I am so excited to be home this summer! Lots more summer fun pics to come! 

(I've also been doing a little bit of photo editing (www.picnik.com) Can you tell?)