For Deb... ♥

Here is the card I made for my son's graduation party/dinner. Deb thought I should post at least the finished product... here you go!!! :-)

Here is the front of the card

Side view so you can see the numbers pop off card.

Inside with information...

Catch Up.....

So much has been going on in my life for the past month. The silence in updated posts is probably a dead giveaway for that though huh?? I have been doing one thing after another for at least three weeks now. I had a friend use our home for her daughter's birthday party. Then the next day we used it for a bridal shower for another friend. Then I had a women's retreat to put together for our church. I was the head of the hospitality team and there was a lot of last minute things to accomplish before the retreat, which was the following weekend. :-) What was I thinking right?? Actually it was not as bad as it all sounds, just busy.

The retreat was a huge success. We had 60 women attend and all of them were changed in some way as they met with God and were open to His leading in their lives.

I am having a small break in time right now, therefore the post.

I do however have cleaning to do for a party we will be having here at the house in 10 days. You see, my son is graduating from high school and then three days later will be leaving for Japan on his mission trip for 5 weeks.

Those of you who know me and my husband know how incredibly close we are to our kids. Ryne being the first one out of the nest is extra difficult for us right now. We are extremely happy for him, but it is also bittersweet for us. When he returns, he will be home for 4 days then off to Colorado then home for another 4 days then off to the Czech Republic for another mission trip. And if that were not enough, he will be leaving to college shortly thereafter. That part might be easy after our summer!! LOL

I am glad to have such a well rounded kid that he has security in our relationship and in himself to feel comfortable leaving to go so far away. He loves the adventure. Not sure where he gets that since we are both "homebodies". haha

I am trying to finish up school with my daughter.... poor thing, she is feeling a little left out right now. School has been on the back burner, so this week we will be busting through some things in order to finish so we can have some type of summer.

As for crafting.... I did get out a few graduation dinner invitations. They were super cute. I also made a few thank you notes and some birthday cards. I need to make some graduation cards for all my sons friends, so the classroom is quite a mess until that is finished. :-) That is okay though. This way I have an excuse to go in there and play. :-)

As I was making the invitations I thought of what my SIL would do. She would take pictures of the whole process. Believe me, I wanted to, but I was just so darn proud I got them done that I did not want to push the envelope any.. (haha - no pun intended)

So..... I hope to have more fun this summer and post a few exciting things, instead of writing them down AFTER they all happen. If there is anyone reading that was wondering how we have been and why the down time, I hope this post fills you in on everything. (Minako)

My love to you all

Liz ♥

Want to say hello to my new friend------

Thanks Deb for the fun gadget idea...

Anyone else want to add it, look here

for some fun blog gadget fun. ;-)

What kind of person are you?

Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Do you enjoy being around people all the time and being the center of attention, or does the very thought of this make your skin crawl?

I have been wondering some things lately about myself. I am very much an extrovert, but I do have introvert tendencies. I think most of us can be both. After a while I need time to just sit alone and be still from too much excitement. When people (like me) who are extroverts do this, others think we are upset or sad about something. They don't know how to react to us.

What do people think when an introvert becomes outgoing? Do they think they are just in a really great mood or something? Or do they even notice as much? Not sure, maybe you can help me with this mind boggling question. :-)

Just a thought for Tuesday......

Ballet..... what does this word mean to you?

Here at our house it means many hours of rehearsals along with lots of emotions. At least lately it has, since we have been getting ready for Savannah's Grade 3 exams.

My daughter has been doing RAD Ballet for 3 years now and we are forever hooked. It takes lots of time and a serious attitude about dancing, but it is worth it.

Below gives you a brief idea about what RAD is......

With over 13,000 members' spread across 79 countries, The Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) is one of the largest and most influential dance education and training organisations in the world.

The Academy's patron is HM Queen Elizabeth II. RAD Membership supports the advancement of dance and includes professional dancers, students, teachers, benefactors and friends.

Established in 1920, to improve standards and re-invigorate dance training initially within the UK, the Academy helps and encourages its teachers to perfect their teaching skills and pass on this knowledge to their students.

There are currently over 1,000 students in full-time or part-time teacher training programmes with the Academy and each year, the examination syllabus is taught to more than a quarter of a million students worldwide.

The Academy maintains close links with all those involved in the industry, at every level. From the internationally recognised 'Faculty of Education' degree programmes to those younger students participating in our summer schools. At whatever age or stage, anyone with an appreciation of classical ballet and jazz is able to participate in the work of the Academy.

Each class has its own syllabus that is taught in every studio around the world. Therefore no matter where we live, if Savannah wants to continue in ballet, she can pick up the same exact lessons no matter where she lives. Also, in Great Britain they have her registered and track all of her accomplishments in each grade level. So, as she moves up the ladder, they will know where she should be and how well she has done at each level. The Queen herself actually signs her certificate of completion (it is a stamped signature, but still, pretty cool!!)

This next year in Grade 4 we are hoping she will actually go "on pointe" (toe shoes). This is something she has been looking forward to for a while now. Actually i think every little girl thinks of ballet that way. The ballerina spinning around on the tips of her toes.

Here is Savannah with her partner and her instructor before entering the exam room

A little pose in their character skirts.

Another pose.

Since the exams are closed and only the examiner and the pianist are allowed to enter the room, Miss Kelly (her instructor) gives the girls two chances to show their work to their families throughout the year. Once at Christmas time with the classic Nutcracker and then another summer performance which changes each year. This summer they will be performing The Wizard of Oz. Should be fun for them all. Stay tuned for rehearsal pics and maybe some sneak peaks of costumes.... ;-)

Worship

Just sitting here on a late Friday night listening to my husband's awesome voice upstairs as he is worshiping our Creator. So nice. I love it when he has time to just sit and sing.... :-) ♥

Relaxing day to read..... maybe!!

I had the day all planned out for reading the latest book from my favorite author...

But, I have kids and sometimes they have needs that require my attention... :-)

My son's truck needed a jump because we thought the battery was dead, so I spent my morning and into the afternoon getting that taken care of since he had to work... all to find out he needs a new starter. Thankfully we have a friend who not only can fix cars, he is very generous to fix ours as well. So, Tim will be headed that way tomorrow to get that fixed with Ryne.

Back to my day..... time to read now. For those of you who are curious, my all time favorite author is Francine Rivers. She is a Christian fiction author and I adore her writing style. I learn so much about history and God through her books. She has not had a new release in about 4 years, maybe longer, so you can see why I am a bit anxious to get started..

Until next time... :-)

Distractions

Do you ever sit down to get something done and twenty other things come up??

This happens to me all the time!! I have every intention of doing said task, but somehow children, husband, bathroom, pets, or phone all get in the way.

I am planning many things for our Women's retreat at church and no matter how hard I try to move forward and plan, something always interferes and it does not get done.....so, here I am on my blog (distraction) asking you..."What do you do so this does not happen to you??"

Suggestions??

Lizzy's Boutique Bargains

I have an eBay store!!!

http://stores.ebay.com/Lizzys-Boutique-Bargains?_rdc=1

Actually I have had it for a while now, but I need to do a little advertising, so I thought this was a great place for that.

I sell dresses. All types of dresses. From formal to casual to work attire to business to special occasion. I usually have new items each Sunday.

I find them at a great clearance house that Nordstrom's has and they are all in GREAT condition and are usually listed for around $150 - $250 each on their website. Pretty pricey huh?

Well, you won't find them that pricey in my ebay store.

So, next time you are looking for something to wear to that oh so special night or even just a new dress for dinner out with your hubby, come and check out my store. You won't be dissapointed. :-)

Been a couple of crazy busy weeks... Nothing big out of the ordinary, but lots of "stuff" to get done.

Every year around this time, our family hosts a student from Japan through a homestay program from Young Life Japan that our church supports. This year, we did not host a student... there were a couple reasons why.

1.) There was not a girl visiting this year and we prefer a girl since I am the one who is with her

most of the time.

2.) Amazingly enough God knows what he is doing and knew we would be busy and not have

time to host this year.

The students and their leaders came and after seeing them again, I realized how much I love the Japanese people. Not that I know very much about them, but every person I have met from that country has been wonderful. The people that my son meets there has been wonderful.

They are so fun and interesting and willing to learn. They are respectful and courteous and I adore listening to them talk. Everything about them makes me want to live in Japan just so I can get close to them and learn and teach and grow.

I am thankful my son will be going there this summer and if I he decides to stay and live and grow and start his life there, then I could not have picked a better place for him...

Great new blog to follow

Here is a fun blog to follow. Lots of new things to do and make for

your home. Plus they look like two fun girls as well.

I am looking forward to making some of the flowers they demonstrated

today.

Have fun. and happy blogging :-)

College Bound!!

It is official, look what came in the mail today.......

The school he wants has accepted him.....so proud!!!

Now we can decline the other offers :-)

Babysitting

My friend and her husband went out of town overnight this past weekend for a (late) Valentine date. Not that big of news right? Wrong! They have two young ladies that needed attention whilst they were out on their "tryst". Enter Me!! :-0

They arrived Sunday afternoon (11:30 to be exact) and left me their two little people. One young lady is 3 and the other lady is 10 months old. Now, let me remind you that my youngest is going to be 11 years old in a few months. It has been a LONG time since I have had such a big task in front of me.

We had all sorts of plans for the park and a picnic, but it rained and stopped that from happening. So, we got to hang out here around the house, which turned out okay, but things could have been a little more fun. My daughter helped with pretty much everything we did, so that was a big help. :-)

My friend picked them up again Monday evening around 8:30, so they were here for only 33 hours, but let me tell you that I have forgotten what it is like to be a mother of young children. Getting up at 4 in the morning and watching everything they do. No freedom to yourself.....I have regained my respect for young mothers and wonder what in the heck I did with my kids when they were little and how did I handle it??? I guess it is because I am older now and selfish and have self sufficient children. A person can get set in their ways you know??

Now, before I go on much further and this starts to sound like I had a bad time... let me just say that I LOVED every minute of it. (except the 4 am stuff). They were fun and funny and a joy to be with. I will also go publicly on the record here for the world to hear (well maybe not the whole world, since not that many people follow my blog) that I can't wait until I have grandkids of my own. :-) I have officially passed into the next phase of my life.... :-0 eek!!

So, I guess I have a point to this post.... for each of you reading, encourage a young mom when you see one. If possible, help them out with a few hours of watching their kids so they can get some time to themselves. Or, if you are a young mom yourself, God Bless you, you are doing a great job and you are loved! Thank you for pouring your heart into your little peoples lives.

A few pictures to share.....

Play with me Miss Liz

This was taken right before she jumped on Tim

and then her sister followed right behind her

Who couldn't love this face???

♥ ♥

Lindsey's attempt at self photography...

cute that she wanted to take this picture with her new best friend.. ;-)

A Party to Celebrate Life

As you may have already read, "the boy" turned 18 yesterday... and he had a HUGE party to celebrate the occasion. It was his planning and his doing, but we went along with it and it turned out great.

Over the period of the evening there were probably 30 or more people in my house. They went through 17 pizzas, 13- 2 liter bottles of soda and 2 cake mixes worth of Cake pops(future blog post on these).

The party began at 4 and went until around 12:30. By the looks of my house when I woke up this morning, a good time was had by all. This will probably be the last "birthday party" he will have, so I guess it was okay that a few things were thrashed. It did make me miss the days of a two hour party out in the back yard with goodies bags and a jumper and then everyone went home. :-)

Here are a few shots taken from the evening.......

My Son is...

"18"

My son's birthday is today and as you can tell by the title of this blog post, he is 18 years old now.

This means he can vote, go to war, serve on a jury, file a lawsuit, buy cigarettes, get a tattoo, get piercings (the latter three I cringe at). Most importantly though, he can move out and live on his own. He is officially a man!

Gasp!!

Where did the time go? It feels as though he was just born. 9lbs 2oz of pure delight!!

Sitting up on his own at 4 months old, walking at 9mos., potty trained at 19 months. Talking, learning, growing. Bringing joy to our hearts each and every day.

I feel privileged to have been blessed to be his mother. To take part in watching him love others with a heart so big it pours out into everything he does and says. To make friendships that have lasted years. To watch God use him to bring His own love in a tangible way to those around him. To see his mind shape and grow and learn new things. Playing baseball, teaching himself to play guitar and writing songs that touch the deepest part of your heart.

From first sleepovers when I thought I would die not knowing what was happening in his life at that moment to seeing him board a plane all the way to Japan to reach others for Christ. Such extremes yet so much growth going on to prepare him for the life God has laid out for him. He has used the talents he has been given to bring joy to others.

Adjusting through geographic moves from town to town / church to church / school to school. Watching him adapt to new people and new circumstances. Seeing him get his first job and hearing the praise from his boss at what a terrific worker he is (even if he can't keep his room clean). Hearing that he is responsible and other oriented, receiving a promotion and hearing praise from his youth leaders.

Watching him struggle with God and his faith. Learning to make it his own, not just his parents and then ultimately understanding the love the Father has for him. Seeing him share that love with others here and in other countries and in his very own home to me. Watching his heart be broken in love yet seeing him mature through the changes it brought.

He has taught me to love others even when I did not want to. When I would question his motives, he would always shock me with where his decisions truly came from. Whether it was sharing his lunch or sharing his guitars, he always seeks after the hearts of those he reaches out to, knowing God loves them and he should to.

Now the next step in his journey..... he is off to college next year. In the next step, he will probably meet someone and be married and have kids of his own. I pray that the legacy I have left in his heart is one of pure love. Love for him and Love for God. That he would love his kids the best way he knows how, just the way I love him.

Happy Birthday to my sweet little "peanuter butter" I love you

Mom ♥

5 years old

17 years old.

Homeschooling your kids can be difficult some days it is true. However, there are some things that are not so difficult...

Today Savannah and I had the pleasure of doing our schoolwork in the beautiful afternoon spring time sun. We donned our bikes and backpack full of books, blanket and camera and headed to the park to enjoy the weather.

Our bikes (self explanatory) :0

Blanket and books.. again self explanatory

pencil bag (needs explaining)

Again, no explanation necessary

We began with spelling. Today was her first day with this new spelling list so I thought I would try something new. I asked her to spell the words for me before she wrote them all down and she only got 2 wrong!! Did I mention it was her first day?? Ya, I thought so. :-) She is the speller in the family.

Language words on this weeks list

After spelling it was time for a little teeter/totter break. Savannah says that this is the "best teeter totter ever"

Fun, Fun, Fun

I was not about to just take her word for it...of course I had to join her. You can't be a teeterer unless you have a totterer... :-)

Pic of me is a bit out of proportion, my buttocks and hips are not that big (I hope!)

I had to scoot up onto the side bars so Savannah could at least come close to hitting her tires. I am much bigger than her remember

notice how far she is from the tires... LOL

Then it was back to some math work, vocabulary, language and reading before we headed to join our friends for a lunch break. So, back on our bikes we went for the rest of the trek north to Target.

My view for the bike ride

It is a Super Target, so they have a little cafe and lots of yummy salads just perfect for a couple of girls getting in shape. Then of course what would a trip to target be without walking through the store to look at clearance items? Exactly!!

Here are our lunch dates. Shannon and Lindsey (Lacey is behind in the stroller)

So, that was our day today. Not bad for homeschooling huh? As a little note I will say that this is the first time we have gotten out like this in a LONG time. It was a great time and much overdue. I am thankful that I have the opportunity and freedom to have this type of fun and still make sure my kids receive a great education.

Delivery for the Normans..... :-)

Yeah, we made a new purchase last week. It was a needed purchase which is not always exciting, but this one was exciting..... well sort of. :-)

My new front loader. "smile"

All the buttons and gadgets

It was a GREAT price at Spencers. It was a trade in that was marked WAAAAYYYYY down, and we were able to take advantage of it which is nice because it seems we never find great deals when we need them. :-) We took their quote to some of the other stores to see if they could match it and they were not even able to come close and said we should snatch it up because we would never be able to find that price again. "Yeah"

Thank you so much to Shannon and Allen who have been letting us borrow their washer while we were waiting to purchase this one. Also, Kerry and Bruce who were willing to give us their old washer so we could stay on top of the dirty clothes around here. We will be making return deliveries as soon as we can unlock Ryne's truck..... that is for another post!!! UGH!!

Vegas!! (long post, be warned)

On the road.....

Thumbs up ready to get to Vegas!!!

We headed out early Friday morning for our 19th Anniversary trip to Vegas. I was feeling under the weather, but Tim was stoked to be going. He stopped for coffee and I got cold medicine. Not a good sign.

We stopped at Hoover Dam on our way in.

We tried to get a "dam" picture, but my eyes were closed.

The "dam" tours were $30 each.

Okay, enough "dam" comments

Tim's family will enjoy this.. :-)

We got into town around noon, so we went straight to our hotel. The Hard Rock Hotel to be exact. Our room was not ready yet, so we headed to the casino...... We lost $40 right away, some on the Wheel of Fortune slots and the rest on roulette. That was enough for me, so we put our stuff in the room and headed up to the strip....

Our room (notice the wall Deb just like the paper)...lol

So much to see and do. We headed to Ceaser's Palace first. You can get lost in that place (we actually did). Then it was off to the Mirage and Treasure Island where they had a free show with two ships outside. It was pretty cool, but a little raunchy as well. As the sun set, the weather really cooled off, so we headed indoors to The Venetian. Talk about a beautiful hotel!! So much to see. Lots of shopping and eating and of course gambling.

Trojan Horse inside Ceaser's

Tim on the phone with Carrie - cute story they share!

Nice pic outside The Mirage

These waterfalls light up at night for a great volcano/waterworks show

A small glimpse of part of The Venetian outside

re-creating the canals in Venice

This was a great place to eat dinner while musicians played.

Aww... another pic of the cute couple :-)

We watched the live statues, this guy kept moving and twitching. funny

It was getting late, so we head on back to the hotel. Tim was lucky enough to get us a spot in a time share program, so we had to be up early for that. (notice the sarcasm?)

Here he is standing in line waiting for our spot....

3 1/2 hours later with $50 toward dinner and $80 in casino money we were off to have another look at the strip. Was not the best part of the weekend, but I was able to get over my attitude and have fun anyway. :-)

Our first stop was New York, New York. We had a good time and an even better time eating. I bought a bracelet and Tim bought some pizza. :-) We then headed over the bridge to the Luxor, Mandalay Bay and MGM Grand. We hit some stores too. Did you know they have a 4 story M&M store? Talk about crazy!! They also had a 4 story Coke store Annie.

Self explanatory...

Pretty cool huh?

Sandwich we shared

Me and Miss M&M

It was getting late and we needed to head back to The Venetian to see the Blue Man Show. We had okay seats, but before the show started, one of the ushers asked if we would like to be part of the show. Imagine that, Tim and I, you know how much we hate attention... lol. So, we said yes and they upgraded our seats for us in return for our cooperation. You will have to ask me for details of the show in person if you want to know what actually happened.

Tim entering the theatre

Us in our seats (the bad ones)

Blue Man stage

After the show we went for our free dinner with the certificates we received after listening to our wonderful time share information. We ate Chinese in Bally's (no other choice sounded good on the freebie list). Then we did some gambling with the hotel's money. We faired pretty good, Tim won $52 and I won $12, not bad for two people who don't gamble at all.

We woke up Sunday morning and headed to the Bellagio for the water show, but found out it would be a 1 1/2 wait, so we did a little more sight seeing at the hotel instead and then it was time to head home.

The trip overall was good, there is a lot to do in Vegas, not exactly my cup of tea, but I am thankful for my husband who loves me enough to plan a wonderful getaway. I wonder what we will do next year for our 20th? :-) ♥

gorgeous picture of the Bellagio from the fountains

Eiffel Tower across from the Bellagio

Where the fountain show would have been in front of Bellagio