It's the Thought that Counts... Right???

 

Allyssa Got to spend her AWANA Bucks tonight at AWANA! She had $30 AWANA Bucks! She picked out these items for herself and saved an AWANA Buck for a keepsake she said "So through the years I'll be able to remember that I earned AWANA Bucks!"

 

Once Again, Allyssa wasn't just thinking of herself at the AWANA store, she bought this fish figurine for Me!!! How Sweet.

 

But the Best is this... NerdyBird for her daddy! and when she gave it to him she said "daddy I got this for you because.. well... you're kinda Crazy!!" I found that just hilarious! I know she meant it as we say "In the best way possible!" Too funny!
But Bob was sooo proud, he's taking it to work to display on his desk!!
No matter what the gifts I pray Allyssa continues to think of others always!
God Bless!

Our "Girl" Time

 

 

Allyssa had been asking me to teach her how to scrapbook... Sooo I finally bought her an album and we started the process.. It was a lot of fun, we've worked on it a couple of days after school this week, and Allyssa is doing a really nice job! She chose for her first album, Princess our dog!
An added bonus of working with Allyssa on this project was her looking up at me in total adoration saying "Mommy you are sooo Good at this !" If only she would keep this opinion of her Mommy Forever!!! :)

Allyssa's 3rd Place Win..AWANA Grand Prix

OMG!!!! Gpa and Gma Surprised Allyssa this morning coming All the way to Poplar Bluff for Allyssa's Race!!! What Wonderful Parents/Grandparents they are!!! The doorbell rang at our apt. this a.m. and Allyssa says "I'll look and see who's there" so she looks out the window and the look on her face.. kinda shock for just a min. and then a huge smile as she yells... "It's Grandma and Grandpa!!!!!!" That was Great!!!
Allyssa was soooo nervous about the race... but as soon as her first race was over.. and she won that one... she was Very Excited and having fun! It was a double elimination race... Here's Allyssa's results... Won first one... after tie redo... :)Lost 2nd one (to the 1st place Winner):( ... Won 3rd one... :) Won 4th one... :) Lost 5th one(to 2nd place winner).. (after tie redo) :( For a Final of 3RD PLACE!!! :):):) We were extremely pleased!!
Lots of Fun... and NERVES!!!
Afterwards off to McDonald's to celebrate... and Allyssa played to let off built up nerves!
Gpa and Gma came back to the apartment for a short visit and then back to Illinois! What a Wonderful Surprise Visit from them.. God Bless Them!

Figuring out Facebook

Does anyone know how I can have it show a comment on my facebook that I have posted to my blog, without it showing my complete posting on facebook? Help Please!!!

Prayers Please!

I am feeling pretty peaceful today :) Our realtor is doing an open house for our home in Ramsey Today from 1-3 p.m. sooo it's about ready to begin... if any of you happen upon this and feel the desire to lift this up to God in Prayer... We would greatly appreciate it!!
I know that God is in Control... and am confident that in His timing all will work out accordingly... but I also have my desires... and if P. Bluff is where we are to be I am more than ready to begin the process of settling in here... having a house to take care of and pay for back in Illinois makes it very difficult to move forward here with anything other than renting this apartment.. And although I am VERY THANKFUL that we have a roof over our heads and our needs are being met... I would like to be able to buy a home in this nice subdivision we've found and get all of our "things" here with us in "our Home".
But until that time.. I am resting in God's Promise of Peace..direction...love..
Hope each of you have a Wonderful Sunday.. I will let you know how the open house goes when we hear anything! Thanks for the prayers... God is Good!!

Bedtime Prayers

Today has been a long dreary day, raining off and on, chilly and just plain yucky outside. We've been inside this apartment and my mood has been about as yucky as the weather....
But all of that changed at Allyssa's bedtime tonight... I don't think there is anything more precious or that fills me with that "Just Right" feeling, as listening to her praying to God!!! It is Amazing, and gives me great comfort... it completely changed my mood and my outlook on the day, all in a matter of minutes!!
That's Right Allyssa, Stay Close to Jesus... Keep talking to God... Don't Ever Stop!!
Thank You God for trusting me with Your Precious Little One... What a Blessing She is!!! How Blessed we ARE!! Good Night Everyone... God Bless!!!!!

Lollipops As BIG as their Heads!

My sister-in-law was nice enough to send me these pics in a text message so that I could see Arlie and Hannah enjoying their lollipops!!! How cute... those things were huge! I'm so glad their momma has a sense of humor towards their silly Aunt Heather!!!

Easter Goodies From Aunt Heather!!

 
 
My treats to my nieces and nephews was a tub of Cotton Candy and a HUGE lollipop! Sugar..Sugar.. and more Sugar, and a Sticky Mess to go with it!! As you can see, Arlie Boy just Loved his Cotton Candy... and as soon as he was finished I was sure to scoop him up and wash him off so his Momma wouldn't have to... since I was the foolish Aunt that gave him cotton candy... that's not the bad one of the two though... he had to wait on the lollipop... that's for another day Mommy said!!! :)

Easter Sunday!!!

Easter Morning Allyssa woke up to find that the Easter Bunny had gotten into the cookies she had baked and he was a little messy while eating them because he left crumbs on the kitchen floor... then she was off to find her easter basket... that Easter bunny hid her basket in the fort she had made the night before to play in! The Bunny also hid the Eggs that Allyssa had colored the day before! Allyssa thought that was all hilarious and she like her Easter goodies both from Daddy and Mommy and the Easter Bunny... so all was well, we went to Church and then to my parents for the noon meal and Egg hunt. What a fun day we had together, the weather was just beautiful!! Praise God for All our Blessings!! Bob had Monday as a holiday and Allyssa was off school, so we didn't have to rush back to Poplar Bluff on Sunday, we waited until Monday to come back, so that was very nice!

Grand Prix Car in the Making...

 
 
Allyssa's AWANA group at Church here in P. Bluff is having a Grand Prix Race and Allyssa had said from the get go that she wanted to do a car.. and every time I'm like, "I can help you memorize your verses, I can make sure you take the things you need to take to AWANA to get your AWANA Bucks, I can go to AWANA when parent's are invited to attend.. etc. but I CANNOT make a Race Car... Sorry..." and Allyssa would just frown with them big ole sad blue eyes ripping my heart out!!! Well, finally one night they mentioned the Grand Prix thing and Bob was there with us and Allyssa turned and gave that pitiful look and Bob said "Oh alright... I made one for Chris when he was little, I can make one for Allyssa too!" Talk about Happy, Allyssa was extremely happy! So they have been working on this Hot Pink Ride for a little over a week now... Race Day is a week Away!!! Let's just hope that Allyssa stays as happy even when her car doesn't WIN!!!!

Egg Coloring and Hunt at Bonner Stokes Park in Ramsey

Allyssa had fun coloring Easter Eggs, it seems a little sad for me to see her be the only one sitting at the table coloring eggs with just her dad and I, but Allyssa doesn't seem to mind.. so I guess that's good! In her mind.. More eggs for her to color.. no having to share 'em!
After coloring we went to Bonner Stokes Park in Ramsey and had the Easter Egg Hunt. Gma Peggy brought Jacob, Hannah,and Arlie for the Hunt... Allyssa had fun with them and she also got to see her "old" best friend Emily there, so that was nice.
But once again, Allyssa did not get the Golden Prize Egg!! Every yr. she sees it but someone is either faster than her, or last yr. they were taller than her, she got there first but couldn't reach it :( So the boy got it down out of the tree! This yr. was another tough loss.. Her cousin Hannah got the Prize egg... but Hannah was so sweet.. she shared the peeps out of the basket of goodies she got! What a loving Cousin!!! (From an Aunt's point of view.. I'm not sure it made Allyssa at 7 yrs. feel any better about the loss.. :) LOL!

7 Tigers!!!

Allyssa's Elephant Ride

Circus 2009 Poplar Bluff, MO

Bob and I took Allyssa to the circus last night here in Poplar Bluff! There were 2 show times to choose from 4:15 p.m. or 7:00 p.m. I was telling Bob that I got the tickets on Tuesday and he's like "Okay.. let me know if I need to get a ride home from work from someone.".. I'm looking at him w/ a confused look.."Why won't I just come get you like I've been doing?" (He still doesn't have his truck back at this point) Bob says "well if you go to the 4:15 p.m. show you will be at the circus when I'm getting off work!" i'm beginning to understand.... "Oh NO NO NO Honey, You are going to the circus with us!!!!" I'm cracking up at this point! Bob slowly begins to understand.. and slowly the smile appears on his face "Funny, I don't recall saying I would go!!" As I'm walking away cause the conversation is about over I call back over my shoulder cracking up..."That's because I didn't ask you.. I just got you a ticket!!!!" So once all of that was cleared up, we picked him up from work and chose the 7:00 p.m. show! Allyssa had alot of fun! She rode the elephant, a horse, got souveniers... and enjoyed the show! When we got out of the circus and back in the car Allyssa said "I think I've figured it out, when I get around all those people and nervous I have a lot of tics.. but now I'm not having any!" Yep! She's exactly right, during the circus she was ticcing alot... but once out of the colosseum almost immediately they were gone! Bob told her "You know what Allyssa.. when I'm around that many people.. I about start ticcing myself!!" :)
But another fun Family Night enjoyed! I will post a few videos of Allyssa at the circus next!

Last Minute Get Togethers turn out THE BEST!!!!

What a FUN FUN FUN FUN day we had!!!! At the last minute Allyssa and I decided to get Hannah, Arlie, and Jacob for a few hrs. in the afternoon for some fun at Ramsey Lake State Park.. while we were waiting for 1 p.m. to come to pick them up we decided to go to PawPaw and Mamaws and see what they were doing, well we ended up kidnapping Mamaw for the rest of the day!!! We went to the community sale and walked through and it was time to pick up Jacob, Hannah, and Arlie... so after getting them loaded up, looking back to be sure everyone was buckled.. I realized I now had enough room for 2 more!!! YEAH!!! I finally have a vehicle that will haul my nieces/nephews!!!! I'm SOOOO EXCITED!!! A call to my sister-in-law Jennifer to meet us by the sale if Jenna and Carter want to spend a few hrs w/us too! Yes!!! We all fit... (Chris,Rachel, and Tabitha would have to ride on the luggage rack I suppose if they were joining us) :)
The kids played and played and played... Jenna even did a few acrobats on the slide bar for us! :) Jacob got a little tangled up in the swing.. being silly!!!
What a beautiful day for enjoying outside at the Lake with my family!! I SOOOO enjoyed it! And I think the kids did too, but maybe not as much as ME!!!! It's amazing, I'm not sure the day could have turned out better if we had actually planned it beforehand!! I love it when everything falls into place at the last minute!! I Thank our Wonderful God for Treasured Memories Like these!!!!

It's Been Busy

Well, we made it to Illinois and back again, and while in Illinois last weekend I was able to spend a little "girl" time out with my life long friends!! That was so nice!!! We also celebrated my nephew Carter's 12th birthday at his house on Sunday. Sunday Morning at our church was Youth Sunday... Allyssa recited the 23rd Psalm and My niece Hannah recited the Lord's Prayer... they both did a really good job! Jacob was part of the youth that made breakfast for the congregation.. and they did a good job as well.
We've been some what looking for a new vehicle for a while now, and yesterday we got It!! I was a little nervous about making the deal on April Fool's Day.. but it all worked out well... I am now driving a 2007 GMC Yukon Denali.. I really like it! It's kinda golden/beize.. i'm not exactly sure what you'd call the color of it.. but anyway I LIKE!
Wednesday evening was AWANA at church and today Allyssa and I had to get up bright and early to take bob to work since we traded his car and my escape for the Yukon, he will be driving his dodge truck again, as soon as we get it out of the shop... probably next week sometime, getting tires and tuned up since it's been a while since he's driven it.. So that will be our routine for a few days... taking him to work and picking him up... which I need to be going to get him.. So Bye for now.