What do I do?

While sitting at breakfast this morning, 

the kids were discussing what kind of oatmeal they like.

The apple cinnamon kind

or

the cinnamon roll.

But, Ben and Chloe most definitely agreed that they DO NOT LIKE GRITS!

I can't believe my own children would betray me!

Isaac, who was enjoying the whole conversation

but just wasn't sure which way he was leaning on the whole grits thing...

Looked up and said

"What do I do, Mamma?"

HA.

Have a great Saturday!

Bible Time.........

We do Bible time at night before bed now.

We used to send the younger two to bed as they don't really listen anyway.  

Just pick their noses.

My kids pick their noses a lot.

It's embarrassing.

But, I had bought Iz and Ty their own Bibles about a year ago and just recently gave Isaac his since he graduated from nursery to big Sunday School.

So, they like to come to Bible time.

It's a big deal!

And they like to pray.

Though, Ty sometimes gets confused.....

and a little bored....

And then starts to hit Isaac....

or some other such nonsense.

Like pick his nose.

He has ADD.

It's not his fault.

He was rushed out of the womb via emergency C~section.

He's been rushed his whole life. 

He's having a hard time coping with it all.

Beautiful Day.....

It all started last night while talking to my Mother~in~Law.

Little Ty had woke up from his nap and had a fever.

So I knew I couldn't take him to church.

We decided to keep him at home last night.

I was feeling sad, discouraged in the Lord, etc.

So, I called my Mother~in~Law, who is Woman the Encourager personified.

And, boy did she encourage me.

I could literally feel my heart changing.

Some bitterness and anger, just gone.  

Now, I know, lest she read this, that it wasn't her, it was God working through her.

So, this morning instead of being the angry mom and wife that I have seemed to become lately,

I woke up and became excited about our day!

I told the kids to get ready!!!!

I had already determined that today we were going to go order the curriculum for their school next year.

And that was in Cleveland.

Well, there are also malls in Cleveland!

And we hit three of them today!

OH YEAH!

And it was such a beautiful day.

I felt like I had the joy of the Lord back in my heart.

I have four beautiful kids!

Who are all healthy.

And stinkin' adorable!

Every one of them!  

I am so blessed!

They kept saying "Thank you Mamma."

Not because I bought them something, but for the fun day!

I think I may have been a bit too grumpy lately.

This toy store was just awesome!

I loved the architecture of it!

The lights!

The colors!

Beautiful!

My lil' boys about died when they saw the train table.

Then I reminded them that we have one just like it at home. 

HA.

They are so easily excited.

Outside the mall is a cute little fountain!

I couldn't get them all to smile at the same time.

This will have to do.

And I bought myself a Beautiful Day candle.

Because it was.

Amen.

Life altering moment.....

Forgive me for looking so scary in this picture.

It was in THIS VERY SEAT that I had a life altering moment.

Ever have one of those?

Yeah, well, I did.

I was sitting here letting Titus take a little nappy noo.

He was so tired at the Idlewild park.

He couldn't take it anymore.

Not one more stinkin' minute.

I think you get the point.

So, I sat down with him.

While sitting there, I watched a Mom holding her 5 or 6 year old daughter,

who was kicking and screaming....

she carried her into the bathroom while the Mom was yelling
"I can't take this anymore!  I can't live like this anymore!"

Etc. and Etc.  

All the while, the little girl was yelling...

NOOOO

NOOOO

Wow.

I thought to myself....

"That lil' girl's gonna get an attitude adjustment."

And I went on about my business letting Ty nap.

Ok, maybe I napped too, it's all so blurry.

About 15 minutes later...

The daughter and mother came out again...

and sadly it was the same scene.

Mother screaming,

daughter screaming...

Why was this life altering to me, you ask?

It clearly defined for me why I believe in disciplining my children.

I don't want to be to the point of Motherhood where I am screaming "I just can't take it anymore."

I want to love being a Mommy.

And part of that is having good, obedient children.

Now, you that know me, know that my kids are not (by any stretch of the word) perfect.

I don't want to sound self-righteous.

I don't have it all together.

Have I ever felt like giving up on being a Mommy.

Yes.

Since Isaac was born.

HA.

But seriously...

it was painful to watch that.

They were on vacation.

Supposed to be having a great time.

Instead there were tears shed from both mom and child.

I don't want to feel out of control with my children.

I don't want them to feel like Mommy just might loose it some day.

And, that is my life altering moment.

Thanks for listening.

Now I am going to go eat some cheesecake. 

And...back to the vacation.....

We were able to go on vacation just before Dad passed for three days.

We decided to go somewhere close.

Somehow traveling the world with four little kids just doesn't sound fun anymore.

It lost its glamor somewhere around number 3.

So, we went to Story Book Forrest in Pennsylvania.

It's in Idlewild Amusement Park.

I have around 300 pics just of the vacation, so I might be blogging for a while.

I would seriously suggest to every parent with little kids that you go visit this park!

It's very kid friendly.

I think Ty was tall enough to ride most of the rides (and he's 2.)

But there were roller coasters as well that still thrilled the older two!

So fun!

Poor innocent little Ty.

Thinks he's in for a great adventure!

"Uh, what?

How long is this slide?

Do I have to?"

And then HIS OWN MOTHER put her foot on his head

and away he went.

Notice, he's screaming!

Sorry about that Ty.

Have I scarred you for life?

I'm kinda rethinking the whole foot on the head situation.

Maybe that wasn't my best idea after all.

Of coarse they have a ball house.

It's actually quite deep.

So, Daddy had to go in and find our children.

It's times like these that I am thankful

the Lord gave us redheads.

I can always find them.

They stick out like a sore thumb er....well, I don't mean that in a bad way.

These little scooters were pretty cool.

As long as you keep the handles moving back and forth, they kept moving.

I love this shot of my kids' heads.

I don't know why.

I'm sorry I shared it.

You may not love it as much as I do.

To be continued.......

Reminiscing about Dad.

One of my favorite parts of Dad's passing

happened 2 days after he died.

Bro. Moffett was picked to do the funeral.

We just love him.

He came over on Saturday morning

and all 11 of the Snow's (and some of us spouses)

sat around the front lawn and reminisced for over an hour!

This was a moment that (I hate to be overly dramatic)

changed my life.

Never once did they mention

how much money Dad spent on them.

A restaurant they went to eat at.

Or a monetary gift.

It was all about Dad's time.

I believe every one of his children had a wonderful memory of Dad that they shared.

We laughed....

And cried.....

Heard some stories about Dad that I had never heard before.

Learned some things about a great man of God.

Who, so often, went unnoticed.

Watched my Mother~in~Law laugh, time after time.

She NEEDED this time.

I think we all did.

Bro Moffett kept saying "I don't think I can cover all of this."

But the stories kept coming.

What a legacy this man left.  

11 kids who think the world of him, even as adults.

11 kids who will take care of his wife for the rest of her days.

11 kids who sat around laughing and talking about their Dad just days after he died.

I don't think there are many men in this world who could be that lucky.

I feel blessed just to have been a listening ear.

And I know, as he was looking down at this very moment, he must have been so proud of his children.

The Lord giveth, and He taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

For the last couple of years, my husband has really been burdened about

the little amount of time that we were able to go 

see his parents who lived 6 hours away.

So, we decided to make as many trips as we could.

We used to only go once a year.

Since January, we had 2 planned trips and one trip where we just decided the day before that

we were going to drive 6 hours one morning, visit, and then drive back that night.

Now, you know me.

Or maybe you don't.

But, I did NOT want to take that trip.

I have written down in my Bible my New Years Resolutions.

Top of the list this year 

was to give up my wants and desires and concentrate more on my husbands.

Boy, am I glad I kept my mouth shut!

That was the last time that we saw him my Father~in~law alive.

I am so thankful to God for that one last visit. 

I wonder, did I hug him enough when we were there?

Did I joke and tease him?

I don't honestly remember.

Though, Justus says he is pretty sure I did.

The last bits of advice he was ever able to give his son.

Our last picnic.  

Isn't it sad how much we take for granted?

All I could think about the morning that we found out Dad had died

was that I hadn't hugged him goodbye this day.

I got the kids in the car and jumped in so that we could quickly get down the road.

I KNEW I hadn't hugged him

I even thought maybe I should have Justus stop so I could get out and hug him.

It would have taken 2 seconds!

But I didn't. 

I was so blessed!
And, I didn't even realize it.
Isn't that how it so often is?

My Mom died 5 years ago with breast cancer.
One of my sister~in~laws asked me which was harder?
Knowing she was going?
Or getting a 2 minute phone call?

We had 2 1/2 years of little pieces of my Mom's death.
We got those just one piece at a time.
Cancer.
Very rapid growing cancer.
Spreading.
And then no chance of survival.

With Dad, it was literally a 2 minute call from my husbands brother.
"Dad's dead."

The phrase I heard so many times that day:
"I just can't believe it."

And we couldn't believe it.
Shock.
Just plain shock.

I will write more about the next couple of days tomorrow.
If you don't want to read it, that is fine.
I am writing this all out for us to have.
I have asked Justus what he remembers...it's barely nothing at all.
I would like for him to have some memories.
Thanks for listening.

Starbucks Frappucino

Thanks to my friend Atina Merhalski for this lil' ditty that is sure to make your day happy!

3 cups espresso or very strong coffee

3/4 cup sugar

4 cups cream (half and half or heavy cream or even milk.  Whatever works for you.)

6 TBSP Starbucks Mocha Powder

whipped cream for topping

Instructions:

1.  Make coffee

2.  Mix coffee, still hot and sugar and Mocha Powder until sugar is dissolved.

3.  Add milk and stir for one minute.

4.  Pour mix into a sealable container for easy storage.

5.  Store in fridge until ready to use (good for as long as you would keep the milk that is in it.)

6.  To make drink, combine equal parts mix and ice in a blender and blend on high until smooth.

7.  Pour into glass!

8.  Top with whipped cream.

9.  Reply to this post and tell me how you enjoyed it!

Says Isaac.....

We were all in the back foyer

doing laundry and such.

I have my two brooms in a corner...just waiting to be used.

I noticed Isaac was being a tad bit quitter than Isaac usually is.

So I look his way.

To notice him standing in awe....

Looking at my brooms.

and he says:

"Where'd you get two of those things, MOM!"

Hahahhahahaha!  I love that kid!  

Truth is, I'm gonna buy one more.

One that will have HIS name on it! 

The other two are named

Ben

and 

Chloe. 

hehehehehe

Have a great day!

A lot has been happening lately....

I didn't mean to neglect my blog at all! 

Life has been crazy!

I'm not quite ready to blog about my father~in~law's passing just yet.  

That will come. 

I hope to be able to share the story with you soon.

But until then, I need to catch you up!!!

On Monday June14th, we left for vacation.

We went to Pennsylvania to Idlewild Amusement Park!

Soooo fun!

They have Story Book Forrest.  

Just wonderful for little kids. 

Since I took about 500 pictures this month, I will give it to you in small doses.

I would definitely recommend taking your kids there.

Very family friendly.

The first night of our vacation, we were privileged to be invited to my friend Kat's house.

And she invited our other friends Dave and Angela over too!

It was so nice to be able to hang with my peeps!  HA.

And there we are.

For those of you who gasped, I will definitely be talking to a plastic surgeon about the shape of my neck.

Thanks for noticing.

For the first time in my life I played Catch Phrase. 

Between the game and Kat, I almost wet myself laughing.

I need that!

My abs (if they are still there) hurt when we left.

My Chloe on the right and her Libby! 

They were so cute together.

Best friends who couldn't remember eachothers names. 

HA!

Isaac and Angela's boy Logan.

They are a month apart in age. 

Angela and I have been pregnant together 3 times!!!!

So fun to see our kids who are almost the same ages.

Though, she saved her girl for the last one.

Smart of her to do, don't'cha think?

Here are our husbands.

And boys.

Being boys.

They had a great time too.

And Kat's Pastor came over as well!

It was soooo fun getting to fellowship with like~minded people.

I could do that every night of the week!

As long as Kat kept her jokes clean! 

Love you Kat!

Then we went back to our motel and swam!!!!

And swam.

And swam.

And swam.

And the rest of this month will have to wait.

To be continued.

I've missed you all!