God's grace

I got up early this morning to a dark rainy sky. I settled down with my coffee at the computer, to catch up with what's going on. I had no idea what God had in store for me. A friend had shared this blog with me a few days ago. The author is a mom who homeschools her children and they live in Canada. I began to read through a recent post and the author's words stung my ears and my heart. I do hope you have time to read her post and her thoughts on grace. I was very moved by what she had to say! Click on the title "God's grace" to read her post.

Our week so far!

We have had a busy week so far and it is not even over! Jesse and Isabelle have been attending a basketball camp in Harrisonville. They are sore each morning but are eager to go back each evening! At the same time Courtney, Sarah and Seth have been attending a VBS. They are having a lot of fun! I have had alone time each evening from 6-9pm and go figure I haven't had much to do! I did pick blackberries at a friend's house one night. The next evening I went to dinner with my two best friends! After that I have been coming home and cleaning, laundry and such! I guess I lead a pretty dull life. Tim has been working in the evenings helping all of our friends remodel their homes. I guess they are all spending their tax rebate checks? They are keeping him very busy!

On Tuesday I took the kids out for breakfast. We actually had a free dozen donuts coupon that Jesse had won on his birthday (April). It was going to expire soon, so it was actually his treat! We got our donuts and took them to the park. I won some serious "Mom you are so cool" points! We even had chocolate milk! I stepped way out of the box!

On Thursday I took Courtney and her friend Alex out to lunch at Courtney's favorite restaurant "Mi Mi's Cafe". Courtney's birthday was last week and I like to take the kids out by themselves if I can. This time we took a friend along and it was a lot of fun! There are new pictures in our photo album so take a look!

Our Day

I thought I would share about our busy day, today. We started out around 7:15am and headed for our favorite u-pick blueberry patch. For those of you who know us well, you know we do this every year. We love blueberries and they are so good for you. Usually we take along our book Blueberries for Sal and read it, ( one of the kids, not me, I am driving) on the way. Somehow I forgot this year so, I will probably read it before bed tonight. Anyway, we headed out and had such a good time with some good friends picking bluberries. We picked 40 lbs.! Our freezer should be happy! So will our tummies. We love blueberry pancakes, muffins, banana blueberry bread, and blueberry scones! I can't wait to get started.

Our next adventure today was to the water park Adventure Oasis. We once again were joined by some good friends. We all enjoyed the water slides, water falls, lazy river, and just being together! I have put pictures of our day in our photo albums. You can click on the link photo album to see them!

Back to blogging

It has been so long since I have posted on my blog I can't even begin to try to catch up. We now have high speed Internet. So I probably will be keeping this up a little better. We are all doing great. We just returned from a trip to Texas. We saw a lot of family. We had a really good time.
Summer is definitely in full swing. The kids swim just about every day. Tim traveled to Washington D.C. for work and that was a new but good experience for him. I am just busy mothering, and managing our house. It keeps me fairly busy. I still like to scrapbook when I can. I have also tried to read a little more just for fun. I am finding that my taste for the mystery/ thriller has grown! Anyway I guess that's all for now! More coming soon.

What we have been up to.......

Where do I begin, we have been very busy this fall. School is going well and I miss the kids everyday. Seth, Sarah, and I have fun while Jesse, Isabelle and Courtney are at school. We clean the house, run errands, go to story time at the library, and sometimes make it to the park ( see photo albums).


Our neighbors are an elderly couple who are 91 and 88 years old. He has been ill so we have also been giving Gladys rides back and forth from the hospital, nursing home and the hairdresser! This has been a good experience for all of us. We dearly love Dick and Gladys. They are so sweet and patient with the kids.


Our family went apple picking several weeks ago and just had a blast! We had to drive about an hour and a half to find apples. We had a very late spring frost and most of the fruit was lost. Pomme on the Range survived the frost so off we went! See our pictures in Our Photo albums.


We also went camping a couple a weekends ago. It was just perfect! The weather was great, hardly anyone else was there, and the campgrounds were pristine! You can see our pictures in our photo albums!


Isabelle has a new blog about something exciting in her life. If you click on her blog spot then you can find out what it is!



Now, last but certainly not least we went with Tim to an antique tractor pull. Most of you know Tim has an Antique tractor. It is a Massey Harris 30 ( I think). It is actually in pieces in our garage but it ran when he bought it. Anyway, some of his friends wanted him to pull their tractor at this tractor pull. We have never all gone to watch because they are so long. Well, now we can say, we have gone. It really wasn't that bad, but it was long. Tim did not pull until 1 a.m. The tractor he was pulling is very heavy so it was one of the last to go. Needless to say the kids were asleep, except Jesse and Courtney, and I was ready to go! We did have a little fun and I hope we get to go again when Tim's tractor is up and running. There are some pictures in our photo albums but brace yourselves we look like a bunch of rednecks!

First Day of School

Last Wednesday was our first day of school. I think we all were excited about school starting. Jesse is in the fifth grade. He has a seasoned teacher who loves to educate children. Isabelle is in the third grade. Her teacher is teaching for the first time this year. She is Korean. She came to the USA as a foreign exchange student about five years ago. She loved it so much she decided to stay. I am sure Isabelle will learn a lot from Ms. Han this year. Courtney started kindergarten. It is only a half-day program, 8:15-11:15. Her teacher actually has a combined class. She is teaching kindergarten and first grade together. I think this will help Courtney, having the older kids in her class. I have posted pictures of their first and second days of school in our photo albums. I had to take pictures the second day because it was chapel day and the girls always wear their cute plaid jumpers.

Toy and Miniature Museum

In Kansas City there is a Toy and Miniature Museum. I had never been there before, but I have always heard it was worth a visit. This summer the museum has been advertising an American Girl Doll display. Several of my friends and I took our daughters out to lunch and then to the museum one Sunday afternoon after church. We ate at a local favorite, Winsteads. It is a soda fountain type diner. We treated the girls to Skyscraper shakes for dessert! They were just amazed when the shakes were set in front of them! (see photo) After lunch we headed to the museum. The American Girl display really wasn't much but the girls loved the museum anyway. They had tons of huge dollhouses. All of the girls ran from house to house exclaiming " This is my dream house". It was really cute. We had so much fun I can't wait for our next Mom and Daughter outing.

Adventure Oasis

The kids have been begging all summer for me to take them to a big water park. Oceans of Fun is one option, but it is so big that I really did not want to tackle it all by myself. I found a smaller, but just as fun, water park called Adventure Oasis in Independence. We went there on a day where the temperature was 100 degrees! We only stayed two hours because of the heat but we had a lot of fun. There were big water slides that Jesse and Isabelle enjoyed. There was also a lazy river that they floated around in. The three little ones and I stayed in the kiddy area. It had slides, water fountains, a pool, and a big bucket that would dump about 200 gallons of water every 7-10 minutes. We all loved that! There are more pictures in our photo albums!

Overland Park Arboretum

Not very far from our house is a beautiful place to visit. It is called the Overland Park Arboretum. It is a 100 acre park that is set aside just to show the natural beauty of our area. It is actually in Kansas so a lot of the plants and displays have Kansas themes. I have taken the kids to the arboretum before but it has probably been at least three years since we have visited. The day we decided to go was very hot, 98 degrees. We did not stay but a couple of hours but we had a lot of fun, looking at the insects, flowers, water features, and such. We even took a picnic that was much appreciated by the local bees! There are more photos in our photo albums.

What's going on!

This summer we have stayed busy doing the usual stuff ( playing in the pool, going to the park, having sleepovers with our friends, and VBS). I haven't kept up with our blog very well because I am so tired at the end of the day. This week I added some pictures in everyone's blog and some in our photo albums. We went to the T-Rex cafe when Aunt Ann was here and had a lot of fun. Courtney's birthday was on the 18th. She is five now! School starts in two weeks , so we are trying to get everything ready to send three kids this year! I don't know what I am going to do with only two at home during the day.

Family Heritage

About 15-17 years ago, when I was just a teenager, I used to love to dig through thrift and antique stores with my friends. I came across a plain white/cream colored, slip type of dress. I just fell in love with the dress. I didn't know its history or even if it was an antique. I just loved the simplicity of the dress. I thought one day God would give me a little girl. I could dress her up and take her picture in the dress. The dress is handmade and very simple but I knew that one day my daughter's beauty would make the dress beautiful. Well, I have been blessed with three beautiful daughters. I decided to take them at age one, to one of my favorite places in Kansas City, Loose Park, to take their pictures. I started with Isabelle when she was just one year old.

I also took Courtney when she was one. Her birthday is in July so the roses in the garden were in full bloom!

Now, I have taken Sarah. She is two and half and the dress still fits! It is a lot shorter on her but still just as beautiful!

I love looking at these pictures and seeing the girls similarities and differences. I also love looking at them in amazement, an realize how blessed I really am!

*I tried to put these pictures in order but for some reason this program

kept moving them. See if you can tell who's who?*

Redneckin' in the backyard

We spend a lot of time in the backyard. Now, that we have a pool again we spend even more time there. The kids swim at least once a day, sometimes more. Almost every evening after supper they want to swim, until they just wear out. One night while Aunt Ann was here we decided to roast marshmallows for s'mores in our flower bed, turned weed patch. In no time at all we had a small fire going and then, yummy s'mores. Everyone loved them! Sarah, who is not a sweets eater, even joined us for some chocolate. I know this is not the classiest story about our lives, but it is real. I do hope one day the kids will glean out of their memories some sort of standard but hey, we do live in a town named, Peculiar!

Deanna Rose Farm/ Courtney's Birthday

Nanny and Aunt Ann wanted to celebrate Courtney's birthday while they were here so we planned a fun day at the Deanna Rose Farm. We packed a picnic lunch, grabbed the presents and were off. We had so much fun just being together. The weather was hot but not unbearable. We did take advantage of the air conditioned areas at the farm. The kids loved seeing everything. You can see all of the pictures from our day if you click on the the link to Our Photo Albums!

Family Reading

We have read some good books together this summer as a family. We are currently reading "Indian Captive, the story of Mary Jemison" by Lois Lenski. It is based on the diaries of a girl who was taken captive during the French and Indian war. We have also read "Strawberry Girl" by Lois Lenski. It is one of my favorite books. It is about a girl living in Florida in the early 1900's. We have also read" The Apple and the Arrow" by Mry and Conrad Buff. It is the legend of William Tell and his son. This was an exciting book. We also read "Mr. Popper's Penguins". This was a funny book about penguins who live in someone's basement. I don't know what we will read next, maybe "By the Great Horn Spoon". I can tell you this we love reading together and we look forward to every chapter each night!

Fourth of July

Oh, my what a week! We all had the stomach flu/virus the week of the Fourth. Nanny and Aunt Ann came for a visit, also. So far they have not caught the bug from us. It makes for a long illness when you have so many people in one house. No one ever gets sick at the same time. It just gets passed around one at a time. Anyway, I think we are on the mend. Because of the holiday we still had a lot of fun. On the Fourth we went to all the thrift stores (my choice) because everything was half-price! We also grilled in the backyard and the kids swam. Later in the evening we went down to Grandma and Grandpa Nash's to shoot off our fireworks. It was raining off and on. Jesse and Tim were the troopers, and stood in the rain to shoot them off. After that we went to Harrisonville to watch the city's fireworks. They were really pretty. If you want to see all the pictures from the Fourth click on the link to Our Photo Albums.

Belton Community Days

The town our church is in, Belton, holds a summer festival called Belton Community Days every year. Our church always sets up a booth and has a entry in the parade. The past few years we haven't participated because the kids were so small. Now that they are getting older we walked in the parade. Isabelle, Courtney and Jesse rode on the trailer and threw candy at the crowd. Seth, Sarah and I walked behind with some of the other moms! It was actually a lot of fun!

City Market

One of our most favorite things to do is to go downtown to the city farmer's market. The kids love looking at everything. I let them each pick one item ( fruit, vegetable, or baked item) to buy. We love to go home and sample it all together. Sometimes we sample at the market or on the way home. Sarah ate almost her whole pint of blackberries before we even left the market!

Tim and Bonnie celebrate 12 Years!

Tim and I celebrated our 12 year anniversary back in June. We did not do much to celebrate. Just went out to dinner at a restaurant that we loved back when we were dating. We have had a great marriage so far, and are looking forward to many more years together. God has truly blessed us with each other!

Vacation Bible School

Back in June our church had its Vacation Bible School. The theme was "Game Day Central-Where Heroes are Made". It was a sports themed week, full of fun! I taught the preschool class. I had between 10-14 kids a day. I had a lot of fun, and I know all of my kids did too! There are some pictures of the closing ceremony and just some snapshots of my kids in the room where I worked. You can see them if you click on Our Photo Albums.

Thankful for healthy kids!

This is a fun picture of some of our kids and there friends at the park! We met several friends there after one of the little girls in the photo was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes. We have such a good support group of friends and family who support us in everything we need or want! Just remember there are always people out there who are struggling with health issues or heart issues. I guess I am saying all this because little Alyssa story touched my heart and allowed me to see how I could care more and love more. I hope seeing these smiling faces will encourage you to be thankful for the healthy children you have. Maybe it will also encourage you to reach out to someone who is not as fortunate as you are, and love or care for them as Christ loves and cares for you!