Our weekend and some randoms

I am a little behind on blogging as you can tell ha!  We had a great long weekend and enjoyed time with my sweet little ones and hubby. 

Brayden made this on his 100th day of school...

 My sweet hubs brought these home to me on Thursday night for no reason.  He knows how to bless me! :)

Jay loves the show Dangerous Grounds about a man who has a huge coffee company and goes into all these dangerous countries to find the best coffee available.  Jay watched the episode and then ordered these bags from Papa New Guinea, Madagascar and Ethiopia.  Obviously they were very convincing ha!  The coffee was really good but not as good as the Keurig.  I have found nothing that matched it yet!

Thursday night Nonnie came to stay with us on her way to North Carolina to spend a week with her sister, Aunt Judy.  We loved having her here!

Lucy made this for Lolli the other day...

Friday and Saturday night we went to a parenting conference.  We haven't been to one since Karis was a baby and there was a free one in our area so we wanted to go.  Nobody can get enough parenting advice right?!  I always leave feeling like I am a horrible parent and with a huge long list of things to work on!  It was really good.

Friday night on our way to the conference we stopped at the good 'ole Cracker Barrel.  Can't go wrong...everybody loves it!  We had a little father son football game while we were waiting on our food....

 Numerous morning I find Lucy here in Jay's recliner.  She gets up to go potty and just goes back to sleep here....precious.

Saturday we did grocery shopping and some errands and had to stop by here for lunch because kids eat free on Tuesdays and Saturdays!

 The boys did errands while the girls went grocery shopping.  The boys had a good time.  Thankful Jay invests in the kiddos and spends quality time with them!

Saturday afternoon we had some friends come over for some backyard shootin' and dinner before we all went to the parenting conference. 

We got to hang out with these sweet girls Syndey and Meredith...

And their sweet momma Hannah who has the coolest hair around (dreadlocks) who is pregnant with their third due in August!

Sunday morning I got to hang with these cool cats...

Lucy was playing with play-doh and brought me this and told me it was ONLY for Pop!  So sweet!

Great weekend!  MLK day fun post coming soon!

Our first snow day of 2013 school year

Well maybe I should rephrase that because although it was an "inclement weather" day, it wasn't for snow.  It was for ICE!  The kids got out on Monday 2 hours early and this is what Karis thought about it...a big THUMBS UP!

 

There was an Ice Storm Warning and we anticipated getting out of school the next day but of course didn't find out until the last minute.  And we officially had Tuesday off, our first snow ice day!

The kids had to get creative with their time off, not that we were complaining!  They performed several "shows" for us including this one, "Yankee Doodle went to town, riding on a pony, stuck a feather in his hat and call him macaroni!"

 We had family Monopoly night....

Karis made a "horse"....

We spent much of the day preparing for the power to go out...taking showers while we still had hot water, washing clothes, running the dishwasher etc.  But thankful we never lost power!

Brayden counted his seashells for his 100th day celebration...

We made some homemade crayons...

 The kids had a sibling sleepover in Karis room and I loved it when this happened...

 Wednesday we had a 3 hour delay and the kids didn't have to go until almost lunch.  They spent the morning looking for icicles and exploring the damage outside.  They were thankful that they got to go in to school late however Brayden would have preferred the whole day ha!

It has been days since I got out of this house and I am starting to go crazy.  I need to get out soon!

Randoms

 I have random posts all the time and half of them I end up deleting because they are so out there.  But I decided, random or not, I'm posting it.  

Thursday was the kids first day back to school for the 2nd semester.  They weren't exactly excited after having such a nice, long break but they managed fine.  Besides, it's only a 2 day week!

Lucy loved her bitty and me clothes my mom got off of Zulilly....

I thought of several friends that would benefit from reading this...

 I love my new Chronological Bible study and have enjoyed reading it afresh and anew in Genesis again.  No matter how many times I read it, I still learn something new or see things differently than I have in the past.  I am so thankful for that!  Here are some of my favorites for this week...

Read the explanation and comment below this pic...so good!

 One day this week Lucy chose one beautiful outfit...she's got style I tell ya ha!

She also said some pretty funny things this week...

Friday was a hard day for me and Jay cooked dinner so I wouldn't have to.  He told the kids if they ate their entire plate he would buy them a pack of gum.  Karis was determined not to lose the bet (she is SOOO me!).  She did it and daddy owes her some gum!

Karis left me a sweet note in our room...love her big heart!  She asked me if she could write me a note and this is what I saw...

I learned how to make your own app with the click of a few buttons.  There is a commentary that I love and couldn't find an app so I made my own using Safari. You can learn how to do it here.

I found out this week my blog was featured on The Time Warp Wife here. Pretty cool!

Random I told ya!  Over and out.

Random iphone pics

Karis made this at school the other day (this was her rough draft so I kept it) and I thought it was so sweet!

Brayden has been into making things lately....like all the time it is kinda driving me crazy.  Paper, staples, glue and markers I find everywhere however I thought this was one funny.  He made a book and says this was us on the front.  Not sure if I look like a pickle but good job B!

Lucy picks out her clothes most days.  She likes dressing herself and since we are at home during the day, I let her most of the time within reason of course.  But thankfully it was cold one day last week and I had to tell her to change because it was too cold!  Yah!

Trampoline static hair...

Karis wrote this in her journal at school.  When we went for curriculum night, I read this and it made me a proud mom!

Brayden last week started reading books from school.  He fretted about it but FLEW through it...no biggie.  Bring on the harder books!  But he was oh, so proud!

Because Lucy sees Karis and Brayden reading every day, she has started "reading" herself.  She gets on the "reading stool" and makes stuff up like she is reading.  It is precious.

However, the other day I happened to be recording it so I could show you how sweet and priceless it is and this is what I recorded (2nd video)....hahaha!  She had me laughing so hard I couldn't contain myself.

IMG 4116 from Amanda Lemonds on Vimeo.

IMG 4120 from Amanda Lemonds on Vimeo.

Iphone/Instagram dump

Sorry for the lack of posting.  I tend to still take lots of pics but only download them in bulk and then I have umpteen pics to blog about!  I have to get better...but I guess better late than never right?!  Oh and if you follow me on instagram, this post may be repetitive for you, sorry.  And if you don't, follow me at @amandalemonds.

Update on Karis...remember that math we were worried about (due to bad grades last week) and WE studied our tushes off?!  Well all that studying paid off because she got a 96!  And she actually missed another one (#21) that wasn't counted wrong but even counting that one she STILL would have made an A!  So proud of my girl!

We went grocery shopping one day last week and this is the scene when I parked my car.  WOW!  I "instagrammed" that it looked like the stairway to heaven but thankful I don't have to climb them and work my way to heaven.  I am absolutely, positively sure of my salvation!  Do you know?!

Jay was out of town at a meeting for several days this week and Karis read our Bible study.  She did a great job and Jay would have been so proud!

Sometimes (well more than I want to admit) I would like for God to give me "the handwriting on the wall" kind of answers like he did to King Belshazaar.  However I wouldn't want his kind of news!!!

A compilation of my friends' instagram pics of the sunrise the other morning....GORGEOUS!

Lucy was in the other room when I was cleaning the kitchen the other day and honestly I didn't know what she was doing.  I heard her say, "Oh Jesus, heal our hearts."  I came around the corner to see what she was doing and she was reading her Bible Deuteronomy 6:5 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind."  She had no idea the significance of that statement!!!

I made a recipe the other night from Pinterest and it was SOOO good and easy. The kids even loved them.  I will make it again but will alter a few things I think.  Make, tweak, learn.  You can find it on my main dish Pinterest page here or on the original site here.  My altered recipe is...

This recipe will make 6 large sandwiches (using hamburger bun style hawaiian rolls) or 12-18 mini sandwiches (perfect for a tailgate or football party!).

Hot Ham & Cheese Sliders

For the Sandwich:

Rolls (see above for amount)

3 slices of ham per sandwich (2 slices for smaller sandwiches)

1 slice of provolone cheese per sandwich (half a slice for smaller sandwiches)

Mayo

For the Sauce:

1/2 stick of unsalted butter

1 tablespoons minced yellow onion

1 tablespoons poppy seeds

1 tablespoons yellow mustard

1/2 teaspoon worcestershire sauce

Assemble sandwiches: put mayo on both sides of the roll.

Meanwhile, in a microwave safe bowl, melt butter. Whisk in onion, poppy seeds, mustard and sauce.

Put sandwiches in a pan or baking sheet where they will fit tightly together. You don't want space in between the sandwiches. Pour sauce (as much as you'd like) IN (or on top) the sandwiches. Sauce recipe is enough for 12-18, or you can use it on 6 large sandwiches.

Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 20 minutes + or until the cheese has melted.

Sidenote: If you don't like swiss, I've made these with provolone and they are still very good!

Friday night Jay cut the grass and then we spent the evening at the park.  Everybody got a turn to ride with dad.  :)

Beautiful sunset!

God has such a sense of humor!  On days when I am struggling, I come across verses like this...

Today after church, we went to our usual Taco Bell visit with the Burnetts.  Lucy and Story can't even go in a restaurant without those hip-hugging babies!  :)  

Jay gave Brayden a pair of his old sunglasses yesterday and he wants to wear them everywhere.  He looks so much like his dad with them on.

Ok totally random...but at the gas station today I looked over in the car next to us and this is what I saw...kinda frightening huh?!  I was scared at first and then laughed out loud.  Brayden kept saying, "What is that thing hanging out of his mouth?!" haha

Today after church a few of our families did a "kid swap."  Karis went home with Morgan W., Lucy went home with Story and these two came to our house!  Brayden has been dying to have his best friends over!

Have you ever googled yourself?!  I don't often but got the urge the other day and I came across this.  It is a website called www.ratemyteachers.com.  I had no idea this even existed and that I was on there!  Kinda crazy!  At least it was good info!

Sorry so random!