Got my internet back...YEAH!!!!!

Last Wednesday, a storm came thru that sent a surge thru my phone line into my modem and then on thru to the ethernet cards in both our computer and Emily's computer. It fried all three items and thus began the process of replacing them all. This should have been a simple thing, just call the phone company and have them send a new modem out and then replace the cards in the 2 computers. HOWEVER, my computer has Windows Vista on it...big pain in the butt!!! We were able to check email and such thru Delmar's wireless laptop and by "borrowing" a connection from a neighbor but updating the blog was not able to happen because of the spottiness of the connections.

But, all is well now and we are once again connected to the world. So, let the blogging begin!

Have a blessed day,

Menu Planning/Kitchen Work

I've been working this week on getting food into the freezer and planning menus. Since Delmar was gone over the 4th weekend shooting fireworks in Southern IL, Emily and I decided to make him a special dinner last night. I loaded up 4 kids and off to IGA we went to by steaks. This was miraculous two-fold. First of all, many of you know that I don't travel too much with the babysitting kids, it just makes me nervous and secondly, I rarely buy steaks and NEVER full price... It was indeed a special day! With the steaks, I made cheesy tater tots with onions and peppers and fresh green beans - from my garden :o) - made with soy sauce, olive oil and fresh garlic. YUMMO!

I have also been freezing blueberries. Last week Kroger had them for $1.25 a pint!!! I bought 16 pints and have frozen 12 of them to enjoy later this summer and this winter. MMMMM, a cup of coffee with a homemade blueberry muffin.....sorry, I got lost there for a moment! The rest we have been nibbling on here and there.

Also, when we came back from Florida on vacation (yes, it was over a month ago), we stopped in Georgia and bought a 25 lb. bag of Vidalia onions that we split with the Shews. (I'm sure that Sharon has had hers in the freezer for weeks but I am just getting to mine.)

The time you save by chopping all at once is amazing! I've been doing this with green peppers for a couple of years now and it's so nice to be able to just grab a baggie of chopped veggies and just throw it in whatever you are making. It's also a good way to take advantage of the discounted produce at the store. Our Save-a-Lot almost always has packages of bell peppers that are on the edge, maybe with a spot or something on them. Usually they are packaged in 4's for around a $1.00 and are a mix of green, red, yellow and orange. I'll buy these, cut out the bad spot and chop, slice and chunk them for different recipes that I work with.

While working on my onions this morning, I've also prepped my onions for tonights dinner and now just have to work on the potatoes.

Gotta head for now, about time to get the kids ready for Lunch Time Bible Club!

Have a blessed day,

Vacation Bible School

Emily has loved VBS this year. Thru school, she knows many of the kids, which makes her want to go even more. Tristin even got in on it a couple of days and then got nervous about going. They had theme days and were able to dress appropriately each day. We missed the theme for Monday which was hat day.

Tuesday was crazy hair day. You can't tell in the picture very well but Tristin's hair is spiked:

Wednesday was mismatched or backwards clothes day. As you can see, Emily chose to do both:

Thursday was beach day. Tristin was dressed for it but decided at the last minute, he wasn't going to go:

Today, Friday, was PJ day. (I didn't get a pic before she changed.) Emily LOVES PJ days! She was able to wear them all day a couple of days of Kindergarten and 1st grade. The fun continued into VBS.

The kids were also raising money thru offerings to help Barb O'Donohue's work with Pokot children in Africa. According to a newsletter, if their goal of $1111.00 is met, Ernie (the children's minister) will dye his hair blonde! The must be really getting behind this since as of yesterday, they were at $904.27 and the last 2 day's offerings were over $300 each!!! GOOOOO KIDS!!!!

We may have to go to 1st Christian this Sunday just to see Ernie!

Next week starts Lunch Time Bible Club at the Baptist Church, Emily is excited about this too. I'm also considering sending her to Camp Osage at our local Y several times during the summer just for something else to do.

Must run for now, she will be getting of the VBS bus in about 15 min and I like to have her lunch ready for her or otherwise she wants to go out to play and then eats too late!

Have a blessed day,

Happy Birthday Emily Rose!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, today our baby is 7 years old. It amazes me how time flies. Every year on her birthday, I recall the day she was born and the horrible time she had just trying to breath. I remember laying in a hospital bed after a C-section being told that my baby, just hours old, would need to be flown from from Effingham to Springfield because they didn't have the equipment or doctors needed to keep her alive and the aweful feeling knowing I couldn't go with her. I can picture in my mind, the first time I got to hold her 2 days later, on MY birthday and thanking God for the most wonderful birthday present ever and for having the best husband in the world after hearing that he didn't let ANYONE hold her, not even himself, knowing that I should be the first. Then, after a week, the IVs came out and we got to take our baby girl home.

And now, look at her, she can read her own birthday cards:This morning, we tried to convince Emily that she should wait to open her presents at her party but she told us, "But we always have a party in the morning!" So, she opened her presents from us this morning and was very happy with her new Littlest Petshop Clubhouse and Dora Leapster game.

After unwrapping the gifts, Emily and her cousin Baylee, who is with us for the weekend, decided it was time to wrap up daddy!

I will post more pictures of the party later.

Have a blessed day,

Miami Vacation 2009

Yes, we have already had our summer vacation for the year. We were supposed to go to Hilton Head, SC in August but due to Sharon's pregnancy and being due just a few weeks from when we were supposed to be gone, we bumped it up a bit. And, as you can see from the post title, we went to Florida AGAIN!!! This time, however, we went down to Miami. All I can say about Miami is....NEVER AGAIN!!! I would rather go to Disney World every year for the rest of my life than go back to Miami. It rained and rained and rained. And this was not your typical "Florida rain", no, it hung around pouring for hours at a time. Every time Sharon and I stepped foot outside in out bathing suits, within 30 min. the clouds, thunder and lightening were there, few people spoke clear English and I do not know any Spanish. But, I can say that dispite all the bad, we had a good time spending the week with the Shew's and I'm sure that Emily appreciates not being the only child on vacation with boring mom & dad.

So what did we do you say? Well let me tell you.

Our first desination was an overnight in Nashville then up at the crack of dawn to set out for Savannah, GA. Delmar made a point to allow time for us to be able to eat at Paula Dean's restaurant, "The Lady & Sons". Sharon and I were so excited and I think Delmar was too. Well, we got there and the first thing I notice is the sign saying that they were taking no more reservations for the night. :o( BIG DISAPPOINTMENT! But, we did end up eating at Uncle Bubba's Oyster and Seafood House which is her brother's place and then we went back to downtown Savannah to have our pics taken in front of Paula's place and shop in her store.

The next day, we headed to Miami. While there, we went to Miami Beach (it was cloudy the whole time), went to Key Largo and road a really big glass bottomed boat out to a coral reef and saw a bunch of coral, fish and even a shark. I believe that night I came down with food poisoning and spent the night nausious and vomiting and was out the next day too. While I was down, everyone when swimming. We spent a day at a really cool indoor/outdoor mall-of course it was sunny while were there in the morning and we went back to get into the pool and it started storming again. GGGRRRR!!!!!!! One night, the resort offered a sitter service for the kids and we adults went out to eat. Emily and Alexis enjoyed spending time with Gloria, the lady that was on staff to do crafts and stuff with the kids. They got to do face painting, make a wind chime and several other things. She was really good with them and would just come out of her room to the pool and ask if they wanted to come in and do something.

By the time Friday rolled around, we were ready to head home. Delmar also arranged for us to have extra time in Chattanooga, TN to stop at Ruby Falls and Lookout Mtn. We had talked about doing it for years but we were always too tired to stop. So allowing time to do that was good and we all had a great time going down into the cavern and then walking up to Lookout Mtn.

Here is a video I put together of our trip.


Sandage/Shew Vacation 2009
Click the above link to see video.

Have a blessed day,

Emily's Photo Opportunities

Over the course of the last few weeks, Emily has had many professional pictures taken for one reason or another. Thought I would share them.

This first picture is from casual picture day. For some reason, getting your picture taken in the fall at school is not enough these days. Now they have spring pictures taken too and they are allowed to bring in props. Emily's theme this year was her frogs. We tried to follow thru with her clothing too.

The next picture was from dance pictures. She is in her bridal costume for recital. This picture is a candid shot, we won't get the actual pictures back until recital day.Finally we have a picture that was actually not scheduled but we happened to be at the church when they were doing them. This was another fundraiser for Ted & Kim Treadway, our missionaries to Guatamala. They did a similar one back in July of last year when we had the old fashioned photos taken.

ENJOY!

Have a blessed day,