What I Love About….Josiah at 4

Josiah is like a new boy.

Once he turned 4 years old his mind began to grow like crazy!

He seriously says the funniest things. He has the best sense of humor, and the sweetest nature. 

He is sensitive, caring, generous, and sweet beyond words!

I love that his imagination is growing. He comes up with the most elaborate stories about superheros.

Things Jo says:

"Mommy, can I have some CheezeIts? You told me that you need to eat everything when you are hungry. And I am hungry and so I need to eat CheezeIts so I can grow!"

"If I drink your boobie juice I will EXPLODE"

"Adam and Eve were naked. But they had a lot of hair. Pa (his grandpa) has no hair like them."

 ~funny cause it's true~

"Daddy you are not pretty. Mommy is pretty. Girls are pretty and boys are cool. Daddy you are cool."

"I want to go on my honeymoon with "Vee Vee) {Olivia}. But you will have to come with me, cause I don't drive, and I won't know where to go".

"Mommy, I really want to go to Heaven."

"You never pet a cat like this (demonstrating a 'rough petting' motion). Because if you do that they will scratch you in the face. That is why I do not want a cat in my house."

James would play this game with Josiah about the characters on his undies. In a silly voice James would say "Hey…Buzz says it's stinky down here!". Josiah laughs so hard for this nonsense and came up with his own. While wearing undies with basketballs, baseballs, and footballs on them Josiah says "Hey…my balls say it's stinky down here."

"My angel says 'Don't be afraid' ".

James showed a pic of Jesus to Josiah and asked "Who's this?" Josiah said "Looks like grace to me."

Josiah reading to his brother. Moments like this are my slice of heaven.

Things I love about Jo:

I love that he is like a sponge, and can remember almost everything I tell him.

I love that he loves to hear Bible Stories.

I love that he would rather stay home and play with Micah than go to school. Just like his Mommy…wanting to ditch already.

I love that his favorite thing to do is play with Daddy.

I love that he wants to please.

That when he gets hurt, he still thinks my kiss can heal it.

That he is beginning to understand things better. Like what rolls (a ball) and what slides (a book). Smarty pants!

That he know what his vowels are. And recites them at random.

I love that he doesn't like bugs. Can you really blame him?

 Loves to help with his baby sister. He was so proud of himself!

Being silly, as usual.

What I Love About...Coffee Cup Cozy DIY

So this Monday I was feeling a little crafty and was not in the mood to make another hair clip!

So here's what I love about a DIY coffee cozy/sleeve!

It was so easy I thought I'd share how I did it.

Step 1: Trace the pattern of a coffee sleeve from onto a sheet of felt and cut out two separate pieces.

Step 2: Place the two pieces on top of each other and thread together. I used embroidery floss because it's a bit thicker and easier to see than thread.

Using this sort of threading pattern made it easy to pull the two pieces of felt together to give it a little "fluff". Just pull on the thread as you are stitching to pull it together.

Step 3: Tie a knot at in the corner to secure the two strands together.

Step 4: Trim off any part of the felt that doesn't match up perfectly.

Step 5: Cut out a tiny circle and a tiny rectangle in a different color and sew a button to the circle felt.

I use a tiny spool of thread to give me a perfect circle pattern.

Step 6: Hot glue a 1.5 in piece of elastic to the rectangle and glue to the inside of the cozy.

And you're done!

I just love these!

These are going to make a great teacher gift!

What I Love About...Family Photos

Time for another addition of What I Love About Mondays

So here's to what I love about....Family Photo Ops

Over Thanksgiving we had some family in, who of which included James cousin, Amy. She's an awesome photographer and agreed to snap a few shots of the fam for our Christmas card.

And you would never believe it...the kids were on their best behavior. I'm not lying. They just sat there like angels and smiled for the camera and even "posed". It was an act of God. Divine intervention. We spent about an hour getting ready and all of 5 min to get these amazing pics. And it was even on Ella's 6 month birthday. Amazing. These are the best pics we have ever taken!!

What I Love About...Thanksgiving

It has been a CRAZY week.

Family started coming from all over on

Wednesday and we've been going nonstop since then.

It's nice to have a break to "journal" for a moment.

So here's what I love about Thanksgiving....

Big Family Get Togethers

Funny Mug Exchanges

The Kids Table

Cousins Getting Along

Seeing family I rarely get to see

Gorgeous Weather Outside

Pumpkin pie, stuffing, green bean salad...and everything else

The food coma

But the thing I love the most about Thanksgiving is that I am reminded of everything in my life to be grateful for.

God has blessed me in more ways than I could ever imagine.

What I Love About....Lasagna {with recipe}

Weird title I know.

But it's Monday again and it's time for what I love about...

And today I love my lasagna.

Not just my lasagna...but the people who eat it.

The kids saying a prayer before we eat.

"God our Father. God our Father. We thank You. We thank You. For our many Blessings. For our many Blessings. Amen. Amen."

See...it is a good lasagna.

Everybody loves Ella

Mushy Snuggles

You know you have a messy child when he is dirtier than a 15 month old. I love Micah : )

I am SO blessed to be in an amazing Bible Study. It was such a "God Thing". James and I were just not connecting with our Church and felt God calling us to leave and join a church closer to our home. The first Sunday we attended we met the Wurth's. I bonded instantly with Lori, and joined their small group. In the three years that we have been a group people have come and gone, but we have stayed as a team.

They have all encouraged my walk with Christ and we have all bonded through various challenges and difficulties.

What makes our group fun is that we are all in the same "stage of life". There are 5 couples in the group with 14 kids. This is a pic of 11 of the 14 kids eating dinner at my house on Sunday night. It was SO loud, but I love the fellowship!

This is a rare moment of calm...yes it was before a giant storm of noise!

Ella really wanted to take a bit of the lasagna. She is her Mommy's daughter

Our current group is SO strong. We have a core of strong believers who are hungry to learn about the Lord. I am so blessed by them. Right now 3 of the couples are on a volleyball team (we suck...it's true). But the "team dinners" before the games sure are fun.

Enter...Lasagna.

THE. BEST. LASAGNA. EVER.

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef
• 3/4 pound bulk pork sausage
• 3 cans (8 ounces each) tomato sauce
• 2 cans (6 ounces each) tomato paste
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 3 eggs
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
• 3 cups (24 ounces) 4% small-curd cottage cheese
• 1 carton (8 ounces) ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 9 lasagna noodles, cooked and drained
• 6 slices provolone cheese
• 3 cups (12 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided

Directions

• In a large skillet, cook beef and sausage over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Add the tomato sauce, tomato paste, garlic, sugar, seasoning, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
• In a large bowl, combine eggs and parsley. Stir in the cottage cheese, ricotta and Parmesan cheese.
• Spread 1 cup of meat sauce in an ungreased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Layer with three noodles, provolone cheese, 2 cups cottage cheese mixture, 1 cup mozzarella, three noodles, 2 cups meat sauce, remaining cottage cheese mixture and 1 cup mozzarella. Top with the remaining noodles, meat sauce and mozzarella (dish will be full).
• Cover and bake at 375° for 50 minutes. Uncover; bake 20 minutes longer or until heated through. Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting. Yield: 12 really hungry adults servings.

Taste of Home

I hope that our group will stay strong and that our friendships will last a lifetime. God has been so good to us! It is my strong belief that all Christian couples should join together and form friendships and "do life" with each other! I hope you have found strong friends you can rely on as well!

What I Love About Ella

Here's to what I love about...

Baby Ella

11 days

1. Her super chubby cheeks (it's the only chub on her entire body)

5 months

2. Her wiggle abilities (out of every pair of jammies we own)

3. How she loves to be startled (BOO!)

4. That she has her Daddy's smile

5. She has her Mommy's eyes

5 months

6. She gets bored if she's not around her big brothers

7. That she LOVES to eat (we're currently loving bananas and oatmeal)

3 months

8. That when she gets a cold she loses her voice and it gets a little raspy (seriously adorable)

9. She is super attached to Mommy and Daddy at the moment (and I love it!)

10. She can almost sit up all by herself

11. That she sucks her thumb (even though it's very naughty)

3 months

12. She will roll to wherever she wants (it's quite impressive)

13. That she is so tiny (she will feel like a baby for longer)

14. That she is (and will always be) our little angel

13 days

15. That she looks amazing in everything girly (purple is definitely her color)

But the thing I love the most about Ella is...

Her easy going personality and her love for her family.

She's still so young (5 months), but we can tell she's fun loving, easy going, and thinks her brothers (especially Josiah) are so funny!

5 months

I can't wait to watch her grow up....well I guess she can take her time with that one.

I'm also linking up with Miss Mommy for Tuesday Ten (plus a little extra for my baby girl). I guess it's more like Tuesday 15 : )