Hellloooo

Let me introduce myself…..
My name is Alisa

Blog Slacker Extraordinaire

So much has happened since we last talked,

but I suppose it is a little late to to talk about our summer plans at this point

seeing as it is now FALL 

like I said……S.l.a.c.k.e.r

Well, if there is anything that would make me want to put actual thoughts into a post and hit publish, it would be this beauty {and the wonderful lady behind the camera}. 
Emily from Life in the Light Photography did such a wonderful job on Britt’s senior pics. She was so easy to work with and she knows the way to a girls heart is through unlimited wardrobe changes and bubbles. It was a great experience and I would highly recommend her  if you are in the Kansas City area.

Seriously….the proof is in the proofs people.
hee hee














What do you think? Which one is your favorite?
We had such a hard time choosing. I wanted to buy all 65 proofs she showed us.


You can check out more of Emily’s work over on her blog Life in the Light {love that name} Stop by and tell her “Hi”.  Tell her how awesome she is! She would love it, I’m sure.

Oh, goodness

It has been a whirlwind of crazy around here lately!
I think it is starting to slow down a bit.  I think….

Does anyone else feel like they are always in go mode with absolutely no time to slow down and enjoy things? I feel like I am always thinking “next week will be more peaceful” and somehow that next week never gets here .  Maybe I am doing something wrong. Please tell me if you know a secret I don’t. I would hug you right through this computer screen if I could! seriously.

I don’t really have much to say because my brain is maxed out, but I thought I would share some pics of what we have been up to.

So ready yourself for random and disjointedness ahead~

We had an Easter egg hunt at church for the first time this year and the kids loved it. It was short and sweet {literally} and the weather was beautiful!

All my handsome guys trying to smile whilst I made them stare directly into the sun :) 

Capturing all three together and smiling is so rare these days. I love this. 


 
More egg hunting at my parent’s house. 

My niece, Maddy, had her first egg hunt, but I think she really liked the mulch better than the eggs. 

We had a lovely day celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ!

Next came prom!!!

Pretty girls!

My grandmother passed away on Good Friday {she was 95} so we have been busy attending memorial services this week. I say plural serviceS because the funeral home totally messed up everything and failed to mention until the morning of the burial that the death certificate was never signed. Who does that?

We also switched over our phone, internet, TV service to another company to save a bundle of cash each month. So far, it’s been a miserable mess. Our internet service has been spotty at best. uugh!

Ooh, I would like to thank whoever the lovely soul is who sent over 3000 visitors to my etsy shop yesterday. I haven’t figured out who you are, but thank you! I think you are particularly awesome!


All in all, I know I am blessed beyond measure. I feel grateful to have a wonderful family, a risen Savior and a home with spotty internet/phone/ TV coverage. Things will never be perfect this side of glory.


"There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind."
— C.S. Lewis

A beautiful day

Did you think I had simply disappeared?
Well, no such luck.
Simply busy with life. 

In the last week we have had freezing temps and 90° weather. We have seen snow, crazy wind, rain storms, and tons of hail {more than I have ever seen in one storm….ever} It has been a crazy start to spring to say the least.

But yesterday,
yesterday was a beautiful day.
Everything was dry and the wind was wippy but not too bad.
68° and perfect.

So we stopped by the park on the way to run some errands. We enjoyed the blooming trees.

The boys had fun playing with our old fashioned toys. I don’t know what you call these other than sticks and rings, but they are lots of fun. Note Josiah’s face as proof.

You basically use the sticks to launch your ring into the air and then catch it with your sticks again. You can play by yourself or as a group.  It was so sunny that it was hard to see the ring once it was launched.  I’m not complaining though.


Josiah decided the other day {when it was raining} that he was ready to do the zip line  All. By. Himself.  He is so so timid in large motor activities, but he did it and was so proud of himself.

Love the concentration on his face.

The boys loved finding these huge acorn tops.  I love those sweet little hands.


It was a beautiful day!

*******

Keep your face always toward the sunshine
and shadows will fall behind you. ~
                                                   
Walt Whitman

The last day

It’s the last day of Christmas break.

So, for the 242nd day in row, the boys are hanging out in their jammies {underwear} playing video games, building with legos and building marble mazes. Brittney is doing what teens do best, sleeping.

It has been nice not having school work to do, but I’m ready for some sort of a schedule to work with again.

My house is a total wreck and yes, my Christmas decorations are still up. I’m going to work on that today. probably. maybe.

Does anybody else still have theirs up? You all are probably too organized and energetic to let something like that happen, huh? Tell me I am not alone. please.

Enjoying

Some things I’ve been enjoying

We all went to see the new Narnia movie on Friday night. To say that it was great would be a serious understatement. I thought it was a little dark compared to the first two, but Josiah seemed un-phased by the battles and serpents . He said “they aren’t real mom” when I told him I thought they were a little scary. Kids are funny.  

I spent a good deal of my weekend right here. I’m not complaining one ounce. I love it.

Sunday evening we went to see the Kansas City Ballet’s Nutcracker. It was  beautiful. I think it was a little different version than we had seen in the past.

My kids all bundled up after the Nutcracker. It was so cold and windy. I don’t mind it unless I have to go outside. duh.

I ordered this twine from The Twinery the other day and it finally came. Love it. The colors are so vibrant and the twine is sooo soft. I’m dreaming of all the things I can do with it. The aqua one is my favorite. What would you do with all this twine? I hate to cut into it, it’s just so pretty.

This sweet puppy, even though she makes keeping my house clean twice as difficult.

What are you enjoying right now?

Blessings~

Silence is golden…

That’s what they say anyways.

I’m pretty sure it doesn’t apply to keeping up a blog though.

The last week has vanished and I haven’t even stopped in to say hello. Shame on me.

I did go out of town for a couple of days. A college visit with Brittney and a few of her friends and then onto Ozark Christian College for a high school youth group retreat event thingy.

It was a great time, but I was super tired when all was said and done. Even the extra hour of sleep Saturday night didn’t help much. I am old….and sleepy.

Brittney {right} and a couple of her best friends. As much as I hate that these girls are getting closer and closer to college, I can’t wait to see how the Lord is going to use them to further His kingdom.

They were also inducted into the National Honor Society last night. We are so very proud of Brittney and her friends. {She thinks we are sooooo annoying when we tell her that, but we really are proud of her.}  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On a totally different note, I completely missed my 2 year blog anniversary last week. ooops! I have a couple of giveaways lined up for you all so be sure to check back.

I for the life of me can’t understand why ya’ll read my gibberish, but I’m sure glad you do. It makes this whole bloggy thing more fun than just talking to myself.  There are currently 445 google followers and well over 600 subscribers to my little ol’ blog.

That sincerely amazes and humbles me! Thank you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One more thing.

Are you following along with the 12 days of handmade Christmas?

They are currently on day 10 so there are already lots of great ideas for gifts you can make. Go get your creative self over there and make something! I know I’m going to. 

“Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.” 
~ Albert Einstein

“When we engage in what we are naturally suited to do, our work takes on the quality of play and it is play that stimulates creativity.” 
~  Linda Naiman

Blessings~ 

BBQ at it’s best

at least we think so.

Kansas City has some pretty amazing BBQ goin’ on, but this place is one of our favorites.

Don’t let the name fool you, this smoky goodness was born on the Kansas City BBQ competition circuit {yes, we are that serious about our meat}.  There was once a store in Oklahoma, but they closed it up and moved it all to KC. 

What to choose? So many choices and I’m sure they are all great, but I ALWAYS get the same thing.

Pulled pork on a bun please!

Oh, it is so tender and smoky, it really doesn’t need any sauce, but the sauce is so good you’ll probably want some anyway.

Yum, and the onion rings are crispy delicious. You should dip them in mustard because that is the proper way to do things. My hubby might try to convince you otherwise, but he’s wrong.

All 5 of us got pulled pork {because it’s that good}.  Hubby’s is the monster sized version.

My girl is trying to be clever with her one eye. Someday she is going to look back at all her goofy pictures and wonder what she was thinking {or maybe not….who knows}.

Case in point.

I’ll just keep snapping away and maybe I’ll get a smile someday.

I hope you all have a sunny weekend and if you can find some good BBQ in your neck of the woods, I encourage you to consume some.

Back to school and not so back to school

Last week Brittney started her Junior year. She is a confident, smart, funny, beautiful young lady and we are so very proud of her.

Ready for homeschool, bed head and all.

I started homeschool with Corban last week too. We are just reviewing material from 4th grade right now, but so far so good. He has had a great attitude and has come up with many reasons why he loves homeschool over public school. There has only been one major melt down and I consider that a great accomplishment. He used to melt down anytime homework was even mentioned.  

Josiah could be going to kindergarten this year, but we chose to hold him back a year since his birthday is so close to the cut off date and we have all day kindergarten here. He is so NOT ready for all day school. He would be fine academically, but socially he is just not there yet. He will be starting Pre-k in a couple of weeks and he is very excited about it.  Josiah has been enjoying doing some school work right along side Corban during the day. He is showing a great deal of interest {and ability} in reading so I think we will start working on that this week.

I hope everyone’s school year is off to a great start!

Blessings-