I Love Sundays!

I might have said it before but I'll say it over & over....

I just LOVE me a Sunday!

My husband is always off work on a Sunday and it is the very best thing having all my loved ones wake up in the morning together. :) It's a relaxing day for the most part.

I love our Church family. 

I love praise and worship at Church. 

I leave Church feeling completely filled to the rim with joy and it's a wonderful start to the busy week.

I also love Sundays because I know so many people are worshipping God as well. 

That makes me happy! 

And I know that God loves Sundays as they are the Sabbath day. 

"Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy as the Lord your God has commanded you."

-Deuteronomy 5:12

Happy Sunday!

Jamie :)

Friday Favorites!

It's Friday again!  

I'm linking up again with these fun ladies...

Andrea from Momfessionals, 

Narci from Grace and Love Blog 

and Erika from A Little Bit of Everything blog 

for Friday Favorites.

Here we go 2 of my favorites episodes/movies I've watched this week...

{#1}

I've been inspired, you all! :) In a great way!

I watched an episode of Tiny House Nation last night HERE.

Please watch their episode. I think you will be inspired as well!

Ryan and Kim Kasl downsized their home big time for an amazing opportunity. 

The love this family has for each other is so evident. And they seriously are one of the sweetest families I know. I thought it was so inspiring because I think about the wonderful closeness a family is able to encounter by being in a 207 square foot home together.
 I am so excited for them.

Check out Kim's blog HERE.

 I was thinking about it last night while I was upstairs watching the episode on my computer as well as cleaning up the dining area. My kids were in different areas of the house. The future was brought to my mind... about one day when I will miss the times we are at home *close* together. My kids mean so much to me and I want to be the very best Mom possible. I want to be 100% present, too.

I also got to thinking about all the "stuff" we have. Bins of toys that are not played with and so many books. Last night Troy helped me get a bag of toys and books to donate. We need to clean up more as well. But you know the moment you start taking a toy no one has played with for months is the moment the child wants to play with it. Happen to you? :)

Tonight we are having a fun family night! I can't wait!

{#2}

This week we rented & watched "Heaven is for Real." And I loved it! You can buy it HERE.

Tears were welling up in my eyes for most of the movie. All of the amazing talk about Heaven just made me have tears of joy. Heaven will be such a beautiful and wonderful place one day. I loved how vibrant the colors in Heaven were when Colton was there. 

It was a very well made movie. I enjoyed all of Austin's great questions during the movie, too. 

Check it out!

See ya!

Date night with my oldest son

School started for Austin last week. So this past Saturday I took full advantage of a free evening to spend with him. This past Monday my sweet Austin was sick at school with a fever. He stayed home yesterday and today and will be home tomorrow, too. Which makes me even more grateful that I got the chance to spend time with him last Saturday

I told him I was going to take him on a "Date night with Mom." 

He didn't like that title so he called it a "Fun night with Mom." 

Whatev, I'll still call it the Date night :)! Sweetness with my big boy.

I was brainstorming all sorts of things we could do...

-Go to the Ninja Turtle movie

-Go out to eat at Applebee's

-Get ice cream

-Go fishing

Then I thought that if it's a date night with A--I should let HIM decide what we are going to do. Am I right?

So he didn't want to go to the movie but wanted to go to DQ and get a chicken strip basket with their special toast. He is his Father's child...they both love that meal.

:)

Unfortunately, the DQ in the town we were going to was not one that had the chicken strip basket. A was bummed but agreed to Culver's since they had some of the same things.

On our way there it was so nice just A and I in the car. I can't even remember the last time it was just us without the littles.  I mentioned to him that before Troy was born it was just us 3 (Austin, Daddy and I). all the time. We talked about when he was born and how excited we were to have a baby boy.

Topic of conversation during our supper....fishing, football, farts, school, pop and a secret. Haha!

 He talked nonstop and I LOVED it! It was so sweet just him and I. He's grown into such a handsome young man. 

We got some Concrete Mixers. Yummy! He got Reese's PB cup and I got a Pumpkin cheesecake one. So SO good!

He was opening up the door for some people because I try to teach him about being a gentleman. He asked if Daddy opens the doors for me. Ummm....sometimes :). 

We stopped at Gamestop to look at the Cabela's hunting games for the Wii. Winter is acoming and that's the time he likes to play the Wii. He has barely touched it since last Spring. We scored a game for $3.99. Niiice!

Before coming to Nanny's to pick up the little ones, we went fishing for a bit. No catches but I got some grand pointers from A. He really does know what he's doing. He can cast like a pro...no lie! :)

It brought us closer. I love him. I realized we need to do this way more often.

Jamie :)

Friday Favorites!

Helloooo friends! 

What a {fun and busy} week it has been! How about for you?

I'm linking up again with these sweet ladies...

Andrea from Momfessionals, 

Narci from Grace and Love Blog 

and Erika from A Little Bit of Everything blog 

for Friday Favorites.

{#1}

This yogurt is totally delish! I love most yogurts but this one was so creamy and sweet... instant favorite! I love the Strawberry Rhubarb flavor and Raspberry (and probably all of them :) ).

If you go to their website HERE there's a coupon to print. Win!

{#2.}

This Clif Kid Z Bar in chocolate chip is awesome. 

Austin is a 1st grader so he brings his own snack every day. 

I was looking for an extra good snack that is healthy and yummy yet filling. He loves these bars and I was a happy Mom. I even tried one and they are really good. 

He now refers to them as the "Kid's healthy bar." I love it!

Check out their website HERE.

{#3.}

My lovely friend, Crystal, is having a Bible Study at her home once a month. It started last month and it was wonderful to spend time with such lovely ladies who all want to grow in their faith together. Praise God!

We've been reading this book along with the book of Matthew in 
the Bible for our next meeting. This book is filled with amazing truth about the real Jesus. I am loving it. 

You can find it HERE.



And we have already ordered our 
set of Bibles study books to dig into for the following months. They are from The Women of Faith Study Guide Series. And I love "Women of Faith." It is such a fun conference to attend. 

Super excited about these!! 

You can see them HERE.





Have a great weekend !!

Jamie :)

Labor Day Weekend

Last weekend was the perfect ending to a wonderful summer! 

School started on Tuesday for Austin.

 It was great to be *busy* because I think it kept my mind (and kinda sad heart) off of the cry wagon of Austin entering the FIRST grade! My how time really does fly by. And also for him to stay busy with all the fun with family! 

We went on tractor-trailer rides. The kids loved that. They got to spend some time with out of state cousins and family which was amazing!

A kick-ball game was played and that was a blast to watch. 

Austin doesn't love me taking lots of photos of him, so this is him pointing at me to put the camera down. He played so well!

Here are the other men in the outfield waiting for the ball.

Morning breakfast of champions...Reese's puffs. Austin loves that cereal.

He even knows the song on the commercial for the cereal. It's really cute, it was a surprise when I heard him singing it because I didn't know he knew the song. 

He didn't mind me video-taping it either :).

Sunday evening we cleaned up our camp stuff and went home. These were the clouds by our house. I've never seen them like that before. It rained a lot but we were safe in our home :)

Jamie :)

Frogs, Fishing and The First day of First grade

I want this to be my online family album of special memories, thoughts, praises, growth and faith. 

I love my sweet family so much!

Today I am talking about some of our special moments.

We went to the State Fair last week. 

Austin and Troy (& Boppa) loved going to the DNR building and seeing all of the fish. 

And we all loved to eat some good food, too!

Yesterday was Austin's very first day of first grade! He went to bed the night before happily and woke up happy! We prayed a couple times before he went onto the bus, for him, his friends, the teachers and school. 

On the bus he went. 

He had a wonderful first day and I was so happy. 

After school picture. Smiles!

If I could use some words to describe our summer, some of them would be FROGS & FISH.

The kids caught 5 frogs and 3 salamanders at the camp site one day. They were so happy!!

This boy brought this tree frog all over the place. And put it on his head...

on his fingers and arms.  

He EVEN brought it into the house because he couldn't let it go he loved it so. And after our fun weekend of camping with family....I found it on the wall by the front door.

 Troy must have left it in the house when we left. Silly boy! I thought he let it go. 

This big boy caught this bass! Daddy and him went out fishing last Sunday morning and caught this one all by himself. Daddy landed it for him. He was one happy 1st grader!! :) And we were so proud of him.

We all went out on Labor day and Troy fished.

Daddy caught this fish when we were getting ready to call it quits for fishing. My happy & handsome boys!

Hope you had a wonderful summer, too!!

Jamie :)

Inspirational Monday #4-Glory to God

Hearing my kids sing worship songs is the very best thing! 

*Beautiful music to my ears*

(Photo credits to Crystal's photography)

I just love hearing their sweet little voices singing praises to God who made them :).

Last week we were driving and all of a sudden I hear Austin singing "Glory to God!"

And "Hey Mom! I know this song! I learned it in Sunday School!" 

He then keeps singing louder and louder...

"Glory to God, Glory to God, Glory to God FOREVER!"

Tears came to my eyes. I smiled at him and said that was awesome that he knew the song. I told him that God loves it when we sing along with worship songs. 

KTIS (MN radio station) I LOVE YOU! :)

I love to be able to listen to great and upbeat songs that are safe for my kids to listen to. And MOST importantly that the songs glorify God! Amen to that!

I do love country music as well but some of those songs are no good for little kids to listen to. Especially when they talk a lot about getting drunk. I can just picture Austin asking me "What is getting drunk?" How do you explain that to a 6 year old? And there is much worse things they talk about than that for a little kid to hear. I know that they will eventually hear all about that, but for now if I can protect them from it, I will. 

 I know that Austin forever has the love for The Lord in his heart. And he is not afraid to show it. 

I pray that that love grows stronger and stronger daily.

I want my boys to be strong and mighty men of God. 

(Photo credits to Crystal's Photography)

I am SO grateful for Christian radio!!

Kids are always listening, they are like little sponges absorbing everything they hear.

Jamie :)