School Shopping Success!

School starts Aug. 24. That's less than a month away, and I have 2 girls this year that are going to school. Lilah will be in 1st grade, and Celeste will go to pre-school 3 days a week. So, school shopping is a must! On Wednesday, I packed up my girls and headed to the mall to get some clothes and shoe shopping done. I was at the mall at 9:55, and waiting for my favorite store to open because they were having the best sale ever, and I had an extra 20 % off coupon! Let me just tell you that things went horrible. My children ran around crazy, pulled things off the racks, fought with each other, and acted very naughty. I quickly gathered them up, and headed straight out the door of the store and mall with nothing accomplished. I was so embarrassed and frustrated. I'll just say when we got home, the girls had to go straight to bed and take a nap. I then worked up the courage to go yesterday, and it was soooo much better. I had very well behaved little girls who listened to their mama! We got so much accomplished, and we got everything they need for school.

Lilah is at the age where she likes to pick out her own clothes, and doesn't like a thing that I like. So she told me that Gymboree is a baby store, and she didn't like it anymore. My mouth dropped and I wanted to cry. What did she mean "a baby store". I love this store how could she not like it anymore? Well anyway I still managed to get her to like this outfit...

and Celeste got the same outfit plus this dress that I loved...

My next stop was Lilah's new favorite "non-babyish" store, and this is just some of the many things she got to pick out...

The Children's Place was next, and here is just some of things I picked out for Celeste...

We went to a few more stores with no problem, and them my favorite stop....SHOES!!! Last year we went to the Stride Rite's buy 1 get 1 50% off sale, and stocked up, and those shoes lasted them most of the school year. So this year we did it again and got some of these...

You can never go wrong with plain white Keds...They go with everything! Then I picked out these pink ones...

and finally I let the girls pick out one pair that they really liked, and they picked out the same...

Not what I would have picked, but they loved them, and they look cute wearing them. We went to a couple of stores after this, and then after almost 4 hours we were headed home with a successful school shopping day!

Revival Week continued...

Well we missed Tuesday night's service. An unexplainable illness got to me and Trinity late in the afternoon, details will be left out! All is better and last night I only got a picture of my two little girls before church. Lilah didn't want to take a picture because she was sill waking up from a nap. I think they got distracted because they saw a dog across the street. Too cute!

(taken with my phone...camera at job site AGAIN..)

Last night we had a great service. There wasn't any preaching until the end, just a good Holy Ghost service. The Lord really came by and blessed. I kept hearing the song that says, "He touched me, oh, He touched me, and oh the joy that floods my soul. Something wonderful happened, and now I know He touched me, and made me whole!" As I began to think about this song it reminded me of the night some years back when I accepted salvation. The Lord truly touched me that night, and made me whole! I have been through trials, and valleys, but He always sees me through, and make me whole again.

The scripture that was read at the end of service was out of Acts 10:38. It says, How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with them.


God is still in the healing business, as my husband always says. The stripes He endured on His back are for our healing. Nothing is to hard or great for God. Let Him do a work in you. People were healed in the shadow of Peter....imagine what can happen in the presence of God.

Revival Week

Our church is in revival this week, and we are blessed to have a really great preacher and his wife here from Missouri to minister to us. I want to share just a little bit everyday this week about what was preached the night before.

I got to snap a quick picture of my girls before church.


Doesn't this little lady look too cute?

The scripture was taken from John chapter 21. Verses 12-14 say, 12: Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask Him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord. 13: Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise. 14: This is now the third time that Jesus shewed Himself to His disciples, after that He was risen from the dead.

Jesus not only showed Himself to His disciples and others after He was risen to fellowship with them, but to show them that He is alive and still Lord! Jesus is not in the grave nor is His body. He is alive and seated on the right hand of God in heaven making intersession for you and me. I can remember countless times He has showed Himself real to me. Times He has showed up to heal, deliver, and set free. A little reminder that He is alive and cares for me and my family! Can you think of the times that Jesus showed himself real to you?

Beach Bums

Practically every vacation chance we get we travel to Florida to the beach and spend about a week. Ahhh, that sounds perfect right about now. Well, we actually live about 30 minutes from the beach here in Texas, not quite as beautiful as the white sandy beaches in Florida, but just as fun for our family! Saturday morning my husband and I decided to pack up the girls, toys, food, and a few fishing poles and headed to the beach. At the particular beach we went to vehicles are allowed to drive on the beach, so we drove for miles until we found a spot that looked like "good fishing waters" according to my husband. How he knows that is beyond me because water is water and in my opinion the fish will swim wherever they can. Anyway, we went in the late afternoon, and it was absolutely perfect. The sun was going down, it wasn't hot, and less crowded. The girls immediately jumped out of the truck and ran to the water with their toys and "surf boards." (that's what they call their boogie boards).






Lilah really did good on her own even with all her hair in her eyes.

Trinity was so funny, she saw her sisters in the water with their boards so she decided to try herself.

She loved it so much she probably stayed in that same spot for about half an hour. She would laugh and giggle every time a small wave would splash her. My husband decided that he was going to swim out to the second sand bar to throw his rod...I was so scared when I looked up to see him like this...

I'm not quite sure if it was successful, but he did make it back in without the help of the coast guard! The girls then decided they were going to watch one of his fishing poles, so they pulled their chairs up and sat next to it and waited.

No action...so it was time to play.

Trinity is totally laughing in this picture although it looks like she is terrified. I promise she wasn't! She kicked her feet every time a wave came through. Lilah did a little collecting, and this is what she found...

The starfish we kept, but the clams got thrown back into the water to avoid future stink in the house!

One of the girl's favorite things to do at the beach is to feed the seagulls. I don't like this at all because hundreds of them fly over and fight over one cheeto. So I told Celeste to walk over to a group of seagulls a few yards away to throw them a piece of bread....

After the bread was devoured by a bird the birds thought she had more so they started flying towards her, and she turned around and booked it back...I have never seen her run so fast! I even caught a picture with her in mid air!

She safely made it back...I'm not sure if she will do that again. We had such a great time and after about 3 hours the girls were exhausted and slept on the way home!

Favorite Things Friday

Homemade Peach Pie

Yuuuummmmm! I love this recipe. It is a family recipe, and it is soooo gooood. Ok its very easy, quick, and simple. Promise all of you will love it. This recipe is also found in our church cookbook which I use all the time!

This particular recipe calls for store bought frozen pie crusts thawed and rolled out which works, but I like to make mine homemade! So if you are short on time the store bought crusts work well. The first recipe is for the crust.

Water Whip Pastry:

3/4 cup & 2 T of Crisco

1 T of milk

1 tsp of salt

1/4 cup of boiling water

2 1/4 cup of flour

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir until dough like. Separate dough in to two equal parts. Roll out each half using flour so dough won't stick on rolling pin and surface. After dough is rolled out place dough in a pie plate (tall fluted plates work best). Set aside.

Peach Pie Filling:

1 (29-oz.) can of peaches

1 (15.25 oz.) can of peaches

1 3/4 c. sugar

1/2 c. flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/3 stick of margarine, cut in pats

1 1/2 tsp. of sugar

1/2 tsp. of cinnamon

Drain peaches and put in a medium to large bowl. Add 1 3/4 cups of sugar, 1/2 cup of flour and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Mash peaches with potato masher until sugar, flour and cinnamon are mixed in well.

Pour into uncooked pie shell. Place second rolled out dough over the top of filling and pinch the edges of the two crusts together until sealed well. Cut several slits in top crust with a sharp knife being careful not to cut down into the bottom crust. Top with pats of margarine, and sprinkle with the 1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar and the 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon.

Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes. Crust should be golden brown. Place foil on bottom rack while baking to catch juice that may spill over.

Enjoy!

Swimming Lessons Update!

Well it has been 6 weeks since the girls started swimming lessons. They have come a long way in just these few short weeks. Lilah has gone from needing floaties in the pool to being floatie free!!


She has learned free style, diving, swimming under water, and diving for these rocks at the bottom of the pool...

I'm probably the most proud of her learning the backstroke and swimming it all by herself!

I started to record her swimming, but my battery died in the middle, so maybe in a few more weeks I'll record her again! I think next year she will be ready for swim team! Job well done and we still have about a month left of lessons!

Celeste has really improved A LOT since day one of lessons. She would barely put her head in the water and blow bubbles. Celeste would want to stop her lessons half way through because she didn't want to swim anymore. Now, she is doing great.

Her favorite part is still the goggles! Celeste has learned to kick big splashes with the kick board by herself!

I think she looks so cute in this picture with her tongue out. It looks like she is really concentrating on what she is doing. She has also learned to swim a little ways without floaties! Celeste learned how to float on her back, and again...I just love the way she looks in this picture!

After working hard during her lesson she gets to jump in a few times, and she always smiles while jumping.

Good job Celeste you are doing great!

Some of you might be asking, "Where is baby sister during all this swimming?" Well this is what she does during this long hour...first she splashes her feet in the water until mama gets to hot and wants to go inside.

Next, she tries to play with a dog that has absolutely NO interest in her. She gave the dog a lot of toys but Blue just looked the other way.

And finally, Trinity's favorite part of swimming lessons are the lollipops she gets for doing absolutely nothing!

We sill have a month left of swimming lessons, and I am curious to see how much more they will improve in swimming, diving, and for the little one, lollipop eating. I hope all of you are having a great summer and are trying to stay cool in this 100 degree weather.