Roger Ebert I am not!!!

So here is my attempt at movie reviewing! It is something I have always wanted to do but just never took the time to do. Now I realize this is by no means a great review, it's just something I did for fun. Hope you enjoy.

JAWS

Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975) is my favorite movie of all time, I have seen it dozens of times and it never grows tired or old. It succeeds on so many levels but is most effective in 2 major areas; the setup and payoff of the shark, and the establishing of the three major characters.
Alfred Hitchcock once said – “the bomb is under the table and it explodes, this is a surprise, the bomb is under the table and it doesn’t explode, this is suspense”. I can imagine this phrase constantly running through Spielberg’s mind while developing the film. Watching the movie again recently I was reminded how little the shark is seen at all. And what an effective strategy this proves to be. Compared to today’s monster movies where the point seems to be to show the monster as often and frequently as possible imagine a movie where the monster isn’t seen at all until the final act. And once the shark does make it’s appearance it has been built up so well that it makes for a genuine moment of fear (modern filmmakers take note!).

The second major victory of the film is the establishing of the three major characters. Quint, Brody, and Hooper seem like real people who venture out to kill the shark and not just three plot devices that allow the filmmaker a good kill or gross out moment. The movie takes it’s time with each character, giving all three of them reason or motivation for wanting the shark dead. It also wisely gives them all 3 different personalities that allow them to voice dramatic information about the shark that establishes it better in our minds. Consider some of the lines spoken by Hooper the oceanographer – “what you’re dealing with here is a perfect eating machine”, and the brilliant scene in which Brody, the outsider to the Island looks through pictures of shark attack victims to educate himself more about sharks, in one simple scene we learn more about the character and we see the results of the shark attacks which again, builds the shark up in our minds. There are many scenes like this throughout the film so well done that by the time the three characters are doing battle with the shark at the end we understand and care about each person and understand their motivations.

Well I love this movie, and I have so much respect for Spielberg as filmmaker. He proves here as he would throughout his entire filmmaking career that all the action and special effects in the world mean nothing without the storytelling and characters. I love the way Jaws takes it’s time getting to the shark and along the way builds real and genuine suspense, and I love the time and attention given to the characters so that they become so much more than just a chance to show the shark eating someone. As a known movie fan I’ve been asked several times over the years what is my favorite movie of all time, that answer always has been, and I suspect always will be Jaws.

Ready for the fall...

Is anyone else ready for the fall??? We are! I just thought I'd bring you all up to date on what we've been doing. Molly and Ryan worked very hard on Papaw's garden this summer....and by working hard, I mean eating the strawberries off the vine. They had a great time and grew 2 very big pumpkins. We finally picked them last week and brought them up to our porch to get ready for the fall. We bought a few mums last week and then went to Curtis Orchard this past weekend and got gourds for the porch and apple cider slushies for our bellies! We had a great time. Molly and Ryan rode horses, fed goats and ducks and went down a HUGE slide. They really enjoyed it. We're all excited for Halloween with our costumes ordered. All I can say is that Ryan's costume has built in muscles and Molly's going to be a superhero! Yes, I'm shocked too that Molly's not going to be a princess or something that involves a tutu! In other news, we have spotted several "smoosh-ed" frogs and squirrels when we've been out on walks and Ryan's really enjoying inspecting them all very closely and poking them with sticks. The kids are growing like weeds and having lots of fun!

Exciting Weekend Ahead!

We're so excited for the weekend! We'll be coming to Benton on Friday for Wendall's 86th Birthday! How exciting! Uncle Wendall is such a great man and I have so many awesome memories of him in my childhood. My favorite Christmas memory has always been being at Aunt Irene and Uncle Wendall's house on Christmas Eve. I remember sitting in their basement and looking out the window praying to God that it would snow so we could have a white Christmas. I remember Wendall getting so excited when we would all start to sing. Irene's piano always had a special ring to me! I love seeing Wendall directing the singing at Christmas! He's so fun! Happy Birthday Uncle Wendall!!! You are a special man!

On Saturday, we have Awana training in Decatur and then my dad and Karen are coming up to see us! We're excited to spend time with you guys!

On Sunday, we have our Elder and Deacon service which should be a very special day for our church. After church, we'll have a house full of company! We're excited!

I think this weekend's going to be busy, but wonderful! I can't wait!

Misty

Camp Maranatha, we hold you in our hearts.......

So I have really been out of the blog scene for awhile now. After a few half hearted attempts and promises to get back into it this is my official return to the blog world! Last week I attended Church Camp for the 1st time in my life and I have to say I had a blast!!! First of all and most importantly kids got saved!!! This is all you could ask for from Church Camp and everything else was just icing on the cake. My job was recreation which was a blast. It was lots of fun to play games with the kids and going down the giant slide was great as well. We had to bring our kids along with us and they were very good during the day (sleeping at night was a different story!!!). I am already looking forward to next year! My first camp exprerience was definately a good one.

Anyways I am really going to do a better job at blogging. I am even considering trying my hand at movie reviews!!! I am going to try to post a review of my favorite movie of all time this week......if you want to see what that is just stay tuned to the blog (because I know everybody is dying to know what my favorite movie is - lol!!!)

Off to Camp We Go

Just wanted to let you all know we're headed off to church camp for a few days. It started out as Children's Camp, 2nd-5th Grade and now we also have the youth camp going with us. They'll be doing different things at different times, but we'll all be there together. Molly and Ryan will be going with us! It's funny because a few weeks ago, Molly asked if we would take her camping and we both laughed! Andy and I are not campers!!! She even wanted to sleep in a tent. A few days later I remembered that we would be going to church camp and that would be Molly and Ryan's camping experience. We will be staying in a cabin on a campground, but we have a bathroom in our cabin, as well as air conditioning and a refrigerator, etc. It's not going to be "roughing it", but it will be an "outdoorsy experience" for the kids! They are sooo excited! I'm going to be leading the worship for the kids and Andy is handling all the recreation activities. There is a 2 story slide and a water trampoline, a lake and a swimming pool. No, I am not going fishing. We'll let you know how it goes and we'll try to post pictures....however, I haven't been able to upload pictures in months! Onto the church bus and off to camp we go!

We have not abonded the BLOG!

Happy Middle of the Summer to everyone! As you can see from the last post, which was June 4, we have been busy...too busy to write and keep you all up to date. Since June 4, we started and finished our tumbling classes (which were fun) and also have enjoyed the library's summer reading program. Today was Molly's last class because we'll be gone to church camp next week and then the summer reading program will be over. We also had an awesome VBS this summer. The theme was Boomerang Express! We went "Down Under" to the Great Outback and it was fun! I participated in the Douglas County Relay for Life. Our team, the Newmaniacs (formerly known as the Newmanites) were third in fundraising and we were definitely the most spirited team. We ended up with 14 members and participated in all the fun laps and games. Molly and Ryan went to their first movie, "Up", which they loved. Since Andy loves movies soooo much, we took them for his birthday and they did great! We're going to try to go see the new Ice Age movie soon. We've had pink eye in our house too...there's nothing like a couple of crusty eyed, sweaty kids running around the house. Thankfully, the pink eye is all gone now! We also had so much fun at my family reunion in Benton. It was so awesome listening to my family sing and play piano and guitar! Family harmony...there's nothing like it! It was absolutely beautiful and made me realize how thankful I am for such an awesome Christian family who helped me understand and LOVE music, especially Christian music - AND love the Lord! Andy and I also painted the whole house a few weeks ago. When we get back from church camp, we are going to paint the whole funeral home...that's going to take a few days! Oh yeah, another really cool thing is that Ryan is about half way through his potty training and we haven't really done anything yet. Molly told him he needed to start going on the potty and she goes in there with him and if he goes potty then he gets a treat and she gets one too for helping him, so of course, they both want treats, so they try to go a lot :) They are tooooooo funny! We hope you're all doing great and we'll try to do a better job of keeping you up to date on what's going on! Have a great rest of the summer!

Leotards & Tumbling

Oh my goodness! I just signed Molly up for Tumbling at the Paris YMCA for the summer!!! She's going every Monday morning at 9:30. I can't believe she is old enough to go to tumbling!!! Of course, I just ordered her a new black leotard! Won't she be cute? She's also going to be going to the Newman Library Summer Reading Program with other 3-4 year olds! I cannot believe she is this big! I am so sad! Next year, Ryan will be old enough to take lessons (of some kind) too. He gets to go to the Lapsit Reading Program this summer at the Library. We will take him and get to hear stories! I do not like this "growing up" thing at all!!! Boo hoo.... sniff, sniff....

Come and See Us!!!

Hello family and friends!!!! We are planning to come home to Benton for Father's Day and the second weekend in July for my family reunion. However, we would LOVE to have visits from any of you this summer. Traveling is really hard on the kids. They don't get to sleep in their own beds, their out of their environment, off of their eating and sleeping schedules, and just aren't always themselves when we're away from home. I hope some of you will come and stay with us this summer, even if it's just for one night! We would love to have you and Molly and Ryan would love to show you where we live and what we do everyday. We can take you to do fun things or we can just hang out at the house. They love and miss you and so do we!

Love,
Misty and Andy

Disney Pictures

I am really trying to load our pictures and I've tried for hours over the last two days and can't get them to load. If you want to see pictures, just let me know and I will email some to you! Hope you are all doing well!

Love,
Misty

The Disney Adventure!

Well, you may be wondering if we survived the Disney trip, and we did. It was wonderful!!! Here are some pictures and a rundown of what we did while we were gone!

We left on Monday and flew out of Indianapolis. We had a great time and the kids did an awesome job flying..no crying, no puking, no screaming...just coloring and relaxing. We stayed at the NickHotel in Orlando, which was awesome. The NickHotel is a Nickelodeon hotel and we chose to stay there so we could meet Dora and the whole Nick Gang. The hotel was very nice. We had two bedrooms, a kitchenette, a living room and a bathroom...just enough room. The pool was HUGE. It had a water slide and water play area for toddlers (which we loved) a water park area for older kids and a gigantic zero depth entry pool with sprinklers, fountains and waterfalls in it. We loved the pool. If you ask Molly and Ryan, they'd tell you they are excellent swimmers now. The NickHotel also allows children under 5 to eat free (just thought I'd let some of you moms know that!)

On Tuesday, we went to the Magic Kingdom. It rained over 4 1/2" that day. We got very wet. The water was literally flowing over our feet...but the kids didn't care and we rode Dumbo in the rain. We met Minnie and Mickey, had lunch with Pooh and his whole gang, met up with all the Disney Princesses and all sorts of people along the way. We had so much fun.

On Wednesday, we ate breakfast with Dora, Spongebob and the whole Nickelodeon Crew. That was a BLAST! We swam in the pool and when it rained (another 3"), Molly got a manicure and pedicure and then we all played in the arcade. Our hotel had a very cool arcade, much like a Chucky Cheese. The kids got to play skeeball and all kinds of fun game and in return they got some cool plastic toys and candy. We relaxed and had a good time!

On Thursday, we went to Disney's Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM) and thought we were going to get rained on again all day, but God allowed the sun to shine, which we loved. We ate breakfast with the Little Einstein's and JoJo and Goliath from JoJo's Circus. Then we saw a stage show with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, The Little Einsteins, Handy Manny and the tools, and Tigger and Pooh. That was awesome! We saw the Voyage of the Little Mermaid and watched a Muppet's 3D Show. We had a very good time. We came back to the hotel and swam in the pool again...what a fun day. About 11:30 Thursday night, we heard Ryan throw up in his bed. We went in there and he was a mess! He threw up until about 4 am. He didn't have a fever, so we thought he got too hot (since this happens to me).

Friday morning, we got up and got our stuff ready for the plane. Molly cried because she didn't want to leave and Ryan was not sick. We got to the airport about 1:30 and there were some very bad thunderstorms. After the storms passed, the fuel pump that provided fuel to all the airplanes quit. Then the planes couldn't leave and new ones arriving had no where to go. Then when the fuel pump was fixed, we couldn't leave because we had no pilot or crew....because they were stuck in other planes on the runway trying to get in. After 6 hours of shoulder to shoulder congestion in the airport, we took off. As soon as we took off, Ryan started puking again and it was a mess!!!! The poor baby and the poor people sitting around us. It was so bad. We were so GLAD to get back to Indianapolis. But then Ryan puked in the car on the way home. We got home this morning about 12:30am. Ryan and Molly both slept like logs and Ryan is doing very well today. He still doesn't have a fever. It could be a bug, or heat, or motion, or exhaustion, or too much chlorine from being an expert swimmer now.

We are glad to be home and we hope you enjoy the pictures!

Muddy golf shoes, naps, and trekkies

Just like Misty said, it's been a long time!!! I feel like I've been cheating on the blog with my facebook! It's been very busy and crazy around here but I did find time to have an awesome weekend! First of all my Dad came up on Thursday night and we were planning on getting up early on Friday morning to golf. Little did we know that it would rain an inch on Thursday night! Regardless we got up at 5:30 and played 18 wet, muddy, soppy holes of golf. That afternoon it was cloudy and rainy so everyone in the house got a great nap in. We followed that up by going to the late show of Star Trek on Friday night. I guess it's been a while since I've been to a big movie on opening night because I was surprised to find that the 9:00 show we wanted to watch was completely sold out so we had to go to an even later show and didn't get home until almost one in the morning! (I will try to post a review of the movie on the blog this week!). On Saturday I helped Misty out at Church for the mother-daughter banquette and ended up having a great time. Saturday afternoon/evening my mom watched our kids so Misty and I got to go out and celebrate the 10 year anniversary of when we started dating. It was a great couple of days and I promise to try and to a better job of blogging!!!

Wow! It's been a while!

Hi! It's been a while since I've posted anything. We've been so busy with ending the AWANA Year, JOY Groups, Sunday school and all kinds of exciting things. I am not going to post any deals tonight because I'm just trying to relax. I just wanted to say a few things...that's what this BLOG is for, right?

First, I am so thankful for my husband and my children. To have a godly husband, is such a wonderful gift. My husband loves and cares and provides for me. He prays for me, encourages me, and makes me feel better when I am down. He always makes me laugh and he is by far, the best father of all time. He is my best friend, I am so thankful for him. I love you, Andy.

Second, my children are my joy! I know, my kids stress me out, just like your kids stress you out. But at the end of the day, is there anything better than to have one of your children look at you and say, "I love you" or ask you to sing "Twinkle Little Star" one more time, or ask you for one more hug. Ryan fell today at church and scratched up his knees and as much as he doesn't want to be my "baby" boy, he always will be. Molly is my princess and Ryan is my handsome Ogie (that's short for Ogre). What joy they bring me. While I'm talking about children, please pray for a sweet couple at our church. Bob and Vivalee Smith lost their only son two days ago to cancer. He was a doctor in Decatur, had a wife and two sons, ages 10 and 13. How difficult this must be for Miss Vivalee to lose her son two days before Mother's Day. Dr. Bob Smith's funeral is Tuesday. Pray that they have peace in such a difficult situation. I pray that the Lord returns before I ever have to go through such heartache of burying one of my children. They are so sweet, so loving, so pure, so wonderful!!! I am so thankful!

Next, I am so thankful for wonderful Christian friends and family. When your day hasn't been great, it's a blessing to have Christian friends to encourage you and lift you up! When your day has been wonderful, it's a blessing to have someone to share that joy with you! I am thankful to all of my Christian friends for their love, encouragement, prayers and for all the fun times. I think it's funny that people think that being a Christian just isn't fun. I have the most fun life of anyone I know and I can tell you that I find that joy and fun in Christ and through my daily walk with Him and through the wonderful husband, children and friends He has given me. It never fails, God is always faithful to His children. He has provided us with such wonderful Christian friends and family. I've so enjoyed being re-aquainted with my cousin Abbie. What joy to know that a cousin I had lost touch with and hadn't talked to in years, has been saved and is raising her children in a godly home. My friend Mandy and her daughter Skylar, as well as my mom and mother-in-law went to church with us today. What a great way to celebrate Mother's Day! That was a wonderful gift. I have a great step-mother who is so wonderful to my dad and the rest of our family. She is a true blessing to us! Our friends Jason and Jessica stopped by for a suprise visit today too. That made my night! I needed some encouragement and we enjoyed visiting with them and playing raquetball, went to Pizza Man and just had a good time with good friends! I remember when we first moved here, I didn't feel like I know anyone and prayed and prayed for God to provide me with good Christian friends and a good church homeand He did. I left an awesome church and great life-long friends when I moved here . God has allowed me to keep those friendships I left and provided me with even more Christian friends. He is always faithful to provide for our needs!

As I close tonight, I'm going to ask you to pray for a few things for me. First, please pray for my Uncle John Smith. He is the pastor at Ten Mile Baptist Church in McLeansboro, IL. He has cancer and has been battling it for several years now. A few weeks ago, he had to have a pacemaker put in and found out he has Lyme Disease. He is still working, preaching and writes a daily online devotional. Please pray for his healing. Second, please pray for my Sunday school class at church. We have a wonderful group of women who come each week to study God's Word. Pray that we continue in our church and Sunday school class to grow in number and Biblical understanding and knowledge. Third, please pray for our JOY Group. This is the Bible study we have in our home every other Thursday night. We are averaging (adults and children) about 18 people per week. Please pray that God would bring more people to our study and help us to learn and grow in Him. Please also pray for my Aunt Colleen who will begin radiation treatments very soon for breast cancer. She is such a godly woman who follows Christ with her life and I pray that she is healed.

Thanks for reading this tonight. I hope you can see how thankful I am to God for my family, friends, husband, children, church, life, and everything else he has given me.

9,582

Okay, I was wrong...and underestimating myself! It is 9:20 pm and I still have plenty of things to do and I've already walked 9,582 steps. I did walk for about a mile tonight when the rain let up. However, I guess chasing a 2 and 3 year old around all day does produce more steps than I thought!

10,000 Steps a Day?

Does anyone else out there wear a pedometer? I have been wearing this podometer all day long. I have walked only 5,000 steps (at 3:15 pm). Seriously, I have not sat down all day long...I have been on my feet walking around, cleaning, etc. I was just wondering if any of you wear a pedometer and walk 10,000 steps a day? I mean, if I walk for 2 miles tonight, I'm sure that's going to help, but since it's raining, I doubt that will happen. Anybody else on a regular old day take that many steps?

Misty

Migraines!

I have not had a Migraine in 2 weeks! Praise the LORD!!! And....thanks to Dr. Hemmer in Tuscola for your help!

Sunday Evening Post

Hi! I didn't leave a post last night with Deals of the Week because I didn't get home from church until late and I physically was just too tired to do it! Last night was our AWANA Awards night, which was great. It's been such a great year with AWANAs. 20 children accepted Christ as their Savior, which to me, is just amazing! Last night we honored all of our clubbers with their ribbons, trophies, awards, etc. It was fun!

I am tired because I don't think I've rested/slept/taken care of myself/exercised....or anything else that I should have been doing in at least 4 months! Today is a new day. I knew if I could make it through the last week that I'd be fine! Ryan's bday was this past week and we had the Mommy and Me Sale on Saturday, which was a HUGE success. I made over $500. Just in time for Disney :) City Council (Andy is on this) sold porkchops in the park on Saturday to benefit Newman's Summer Rec Program, and, we had the AWANA Awards Night last night (on top of ten thousand other little things that had to be done this week). I am PRAISING God that he helped me through the last 4 months, really....last 14 months! The Party Girls business was very tiring and we're taking a break on that! We still have weddings for this summer but are not trying to grow our business or book any more parties. We both are very busy with other things that are more important.,...family and church being two of those things. The business actually grew way faster than we were ready for. I suppose that is a VERY good thing in this economy. We just couldn't give any more time and the demand was very high! I have been way to busy doing too many things. I am tired and exhausted and I am finally going to relax. Have you ever been to that point? When you just say, enough is enough? Andy started calling me a robot because I never rest and now I feel like one too...I'm all stiff from being on my feet for all this time with no rest.

SO- today I slept in til 9am (thank you Andy) and now I'm getting ready to go get a manicure and pedicure....it's been almost a year since I had a pedicure and at least 3 years since I've had a manicure...this coming from someone who used to go every other month or so....As you can imagine, I am looking forward to this treat!!!

Next week, I'll be back with the Deals of the Week...but you'll have to listen to a little church too because we start our Revival next Sunday....I'm sure by Sunday night when it's time to post this blog that I'll be full of things to share with you!

If you want, come out to our revival. It's next Sunday, May 3- Wednesday, May 6. We would love to have you come!

Thanks for reading this rambling today! Have a GREAT week!

Don't Worry Blog Peeps........

I'm still alive and well!!! I know all my blog followers (which are to numerous to count!) have been worried since I haven't posted in several days. Just to let everyone know since I posted last I survived a night with just me and the kids, and have since had Easter and Ryans 2nd Birthday party at our house, as well as having Mistys nieces visit for a week, city council meetings, AWANA's and various other activities to keep me from meeting the demands of the blogging public. So I promise a new post will be forthcoming. Have a great night and don't forget we have JOY group tonight at 6:00pm! Attend if you can, pray for it if you can't!!!

Talk to you soon,

Andy

Praise!

I have to take a second to give some Praise to the Lord! I have not had a migraine since last Sunday. I have not gone without a migraine for a week in I don't know how long! Praise the Lord and THANK YOU for your prayers! The Lord answers us when we call out to Him!

Why pay more, when you can pay less? Is this someone's slogan already?

Funny slogan, but so true...who's slogan is this anyways? Is it Payless or someone else? I don't know. Anyways, here are the deals I've come up with for this week. Enjoy!

1. GM Cereals are 2/$4 at IGA (8.0-12 oz) and at Meijer's (8-14.2 oz)
2. Strawberries are 3/$4 at Meijer's (1 lb container)
3. Gound Chuck (85%) is $1.99 at Meijer's.
4. Lots of clothes, shoes, pillows and drapery are Buy 1, get one for $0.88 at JC Penney's.
5. Coke Products are 4/$12 at Target (12 packs)
6. One Gallon of Milk is $1.98 at Meijer's
7. Power Wheels Barbie Jeep and Jeep Rubicon are FINALLY $219 at Toys R Us...after I already bought one at Wal-Mart last week and burnt the box it came in.
8. Large Eggs are $0.98/dozen at Meijer's.
9. Yoplait Kid's or Trix Yogurt are 2/$4 at Meijer's.

Only Nine this week are worthy of mentioning.....If you have any others that are great in your opinion, please feel free to post them! Hope this helps and hope you have a GREAT week!

Misty

Top Ten Deals of the Week!

Happy Easter!!!

Okay, I have to clear a few things up...First, I do a "monthly" shopping trip. By that, I don't mean that I only go to the store one time a month. By that, I mean a make a monthly menu and then go to the store and get all the main ingredients for those items. Then, every week, I go to the store and get milk, fruit , bread and some meat. I will not eat bread or milk that's been frozen so I have to go every week. Still, I am not going to the store every other day and I do go in with a very specific list every time I go in.

Next, you can buy milk because it's on sale and stock up. However, milk is on sale every week at Aldi, so I never buy extra. However, if you choose to do this, pour about a cup out of the gallon before you freeze it because the gallon will expand. Then freeze it and you have several days after it's thawed to drink it.

Okay...here goes...

1. Milk is $1.99 at Aldi's.
2. Kellog's Cereal is 5/$10 at Meijer's (up to 16.9 oz)
3. Kellog's Cereal is 2/$4 at CVS (up to 15 0z) (I just thought you might not need 5 boxes)
4. Smart Ones Frozen Meals 6/$12 at Meijer's
5. Canteloupe is 3/$5 at Meijer's
6. Green Grapes are $1/lb at Meijer's
7. Blackberries are 10/$10 at Meijers (5.6 oz - this is a GREAT deal)
8. Hunt's Ketchup is 10/$10 at Meijer's (24 oz bottle)
9. Hellman's Real Mayo or Light Mayo is 4/$6 at Meijer's (15 oz)
10. Rold Gold Pretzels (up to 16 oz) or Cheetos or Fritos (up to 9.25 oz) are 3/$5 at Meijer's
BONUS - I always get extra thirsty after shopping...or maybe I'm just addicted to diet coke, but fountain drinks are HALF PRICE at Sonic and Steak and Shake from 2-4 every day.

I hope you had a GREAT Easter and have a GREAT Week!

Misty

One Wild and Crazy Guy!!!

So Misty is down in Southern Illinois for the night helping her niece celebrate her 16th Birthday. And I am here in good old Newman, IL watching the kids. And how does one spend a gloomy friday afternoon/evening with his two kids??? Well for starters as soon as Misty left I sat in bed and watched a scary movie (Silence of the Lambs to be exact....still awesome after 18 years and numerous viewings) which if anyone knows Misty knows that the viewing of a scary movie can only take place when she is out of the house!!! So after that I had an exciting dishwasher unloading/reloading session, followed by an equally exciting bill paying extravaganza (Jealous yet?). Once the kids woke up I made supper and tried to hold back my looks of disgust as they basically ate nothing but ketchup with a spoon for their entire meal! So next on the agenda is kitchen cleanup and then I am going to call up to the Sugar Shack (the local ice cream shop in Newman which is awesome!) and hope that they decided to open early! After that we are looking at bath time, bedtime, and house clean up time. Then I am debating between watching another scary movie, or busting out the x-box 360 and/or wii for a mad video game session. I'll keep you posted at to which one wins out..........Here's hoping your night is as exciting as mine.

Have a good night!

Andy

We're Goin to Disney!

WooHoo! After years of NEEDing a vacation, Andy and I decided today to take the kids to Orlando. We were planning to wait for 2 more years to go there, but where else can you go on a vacation with kids that small and actually find something for them to enjoy? Seriously, there is almost nowhere that they would REALLY enjoy. AND, if they're bored on the vacation, you know they're going to drive you crazy being bored and whining the whole time! Of course, you all know that Disney has a lot of big rides and a lot of Hannah Montana junk for the older kids. SO, we decided to stay at the NickHotel. Dora and Boots are there as well as all the other Nickelodeon show characters and they have huge waterslides, which Ryan will LOVE! And of course, we're going to go see where Mickey Mouse and the Princesses live! We can't wait for that either! We are going May 18-22 and we are SO excited if you can't tell.

Another piece of advice for you. We booked our trip through a lady from our church who is a travel agent. She has a business called Stellar Tours and Amish Adventures. Her website is www.ytbtravel.com/stellartours. She is about the same price as Travelocity, but the advantage is that I KNOW her and if I need anything I can call HER and not an 800 number. So, if you're planning a trip, need a hotel room, etc, check out her site.

Okay, I better get back to clipping coupons so we can have money for our trip...Hahahaha!! Just kidding! You know I've turned into a Frugal Frannie, so this is quite exciting for me! WooHoo!!!

Deals, Deals, Deals!

Okay, it's Sunday night and it's time for the Deals of the Week! Let me first start by saying a few things...

1. God is good...if you treat your money like it is His (which it is), He is going to take care of you! Andy and I have been very, very careful with our budget this year, in order to be able to give more back to God. You know, you can never outgive God. If you don't currently tithe (give 10% of your income) and give offerings (gifts over and above your 10%), then I'm going to challenge you to do that. God says He will provide for us and that if we give, He will take care of our needs. Now, I'm not saying if you put a check in the plate that you're going to get a new Mercedes and the Publisher's Clearing House van is going to show up at your door....I don't expect the Cadillac dealership to drive up and give us our car back...BUT, God says He will supply ALL of your needs, according to His riches in glory...so try it out! God has been amazing to us, throughout our marriage - how many of you reading this can say you've never actually had to write a rent check? We've saved money we've gotten as gifts, we've worked for our rent, we received generous gifts from our parents and family, we've done all kinds of things, we live in our business we pay for, but NEVER have we ever had to write a rent or mortgage check! Thanks to generous family members on both sides for allowing God to use you to supply our needs for the last NINE years! God is good and has been amazingly good to us in recent days and we just want to praise Him for that! Thank you Lord for supplying our needs and being so wonderful to love us. You are the creator of the universe, You WERE, before there WAS anything. You are the Beginning and the End and YOU care enough to supply our needs! Amazing!

Okay, back to the deals now...thanks for hanging on there with me through my Praisefest! Next on the list of things to tell you....
2. BUY a Sunday paper or two. If it's too late, go to the newspaper office and pick one or two up. In the Champaign paper, there are 4 sets of coupons today and there are some GOOD coupons!

Disclaimer: Before you go out and buy all of these things, please see my original post from last Sunday...it's silly to go to multiple stores - SO-price match, use coupons, go to Wal-Mart! It's going to save you money!

Drumroll please.......here are the deals of the week!
1. Strawberries are 3 for $4 at Meijer's (1 lb containers)
2. Coke 12 packs are 4 for $10 at Meijer's
3, Nabisco Triscuits or Wheat Thins are 3/$5 at Meijer's (7.5-10 0z)
4. Milk is $1.99/gallon at Meijer's
5. One dozen eggs are $0.88 at Meijer's
6. Coke 2 Liters are $1 at Dollar Store
7. Oreos and Chips Ahoy are 2 for $4 at Dollar Store
8. Cheerios are 2 for $4 at Dollar Store
9. All DVDs are on sale at Toys R Us, Buy 1, Get 1 Half off (athough Walmart does not honor Buy One Get One Sales) Some games, blocks and toys are also Buy One Get One 1/2 Off, too.
10. Step 2 Neighborhood Wagon is on sale for $39.99 at Toys R Us (Normally $70). This wagon has 2 seats, seatbelts, and cup holders...it's very nice!

Wal-Mart also has some AMAZING deals this week...Philadelphia Cream Cheese is $0.89 per package. That's a really good deal! I don't list Wal-Marts prices because I shop there and know that's where I can save the most money...I just compare everyone else's prices to theirs.

So, this week, I did list some non-food items, but it's almost Easter and the Easter Bunny comes to our house....so I had to add some toys. We already have a wagon, but it was such a good deal that I couldn't resisit putting it in in case any of the rest of you needed it.

A LOT of you don't live where there is a Meijer's, but there might be a Kroger, Save A Lot, Aldi, Piggly Wiggly, whatever...just get their sale bill and compare it with Wal-Mart's. Wal-Mart will match the competition's ad! Try it and you will get GREAT satisfaction knowing that you just saved that money and all you had to do was tell them about the sale.

Happy Shopping and Happy Easter!

Golf Clubs, Easter Bunnies, and Spiderman Jeeps

What a great weekend we had, and we still have Church tomorrow to look forward to. Friday we decided to take a spontaneous trip to Champaign and eat lunch at Chillis. We followed that up by paying the Easter Bunny and visit at the mall. The kids were really good and excited to see the EB. Today for the first time in forever we had nothing to do on a Saturday so I took advantage of the nice weather and golfed for the first time this year. For those who care I didn't shoot to bad for the first time out. My goal is to be under forty this year! We will see and I will keep everyone posted on my progress (because I know you care!!!!). Then tonight we were able to further take advantage of the nice weather and take the kids outside where they got to ride the jeeps outside for the first time as well as try out their set of mini golf clubs we bought for them last year. What a great weekend and praise God for the nice weather!!!

Andy

Add another one to the Book!

Add another one to the book? I am referring to the Lamb's Book of Life. That's the book that God will or won't find our name in when we have to stand in front of Him. Either we chose to confess our sins and commit our lives to Christ on earth or we didn't...it's that plain and simple...if you did, your name is in the Book, if not, you're not there and God will say, "Depart from me, I never knew you."

Just wanted to let you all know that a little boy named Christian asked Jesus into his heart tonight. His name is now in The Book! He looked right at me and told me he knew he was a sinner and he needed to ask Jesus in his heart and then he was going to get baptized! This little boy is in the third grade and just started coming to our AWANA program about 3 weeks ago. He's learned over 20 verses already- in 3 weeks! That's incredible! I am so proud of him. God is really moving among us at FBC Atwood! If you're counting, this is 22 salvations since February! That's insane! That's only something God can do! We're going to have another baptismal service on Easter Sunday. I am asking you to pray for Christian and the other boys and girls who have been saved recently in our church. We have 3 weeks left before Awana lets out for the summer. Please pray that we have an opportunity to lead at least one more child to the Lord in each of the next three Awana meetings. I could handle 25 to round out the year! Thank you for praying for us and for the kids at AWANAs. Please pray for our Children's Church program and our Church Camp this summer too... we can always use your prayers. Besides, you know that camp and I just don't always mix...bugs, sweat and heat...Gross! But it's going to be great and we're actually staying at a camp that has mattresses this year! Yippee!!!! Thanks to all of you for your prayers and support! We love you!

P.S. If you don't have somewhere you're going to church on Sunday, come with us! We would love to have you! God is moving, don't miss out on the action :)

Misty

+ 5

So, last night was the Biggest Loser! I knew from the previews that a previously eliminated contestant would get to come back into the game so I was looking forward to tonight. I had even told Misty that this could potentially change the entire game! Nicole got to come back after losing a ton of weight at home and everybody seemed to view her as Tara 2.0 (including Tara 1.0) and it seemed like it would be a whole new game...............Until she got on the scale and gained 5 pounds and got eliminated!!!. So after all the excitement we are right back to where we were. I still have my money on Tara and am looking forward to the home stretch! Let me know what you think.

Andy

Refrigerator Failure!

This morning, as I was trying to get ready to leave for my monthly shopping trip, I noticed that there was a puddle under our refrigerator. I asked Andy to look at it. He opened the freezer door to find that everything in our freezer was complete mush and the ice in our icemaker was melted and pouring out onto the floor. Immediately, I was frustrated and then the peace of God came over me and reminded me of two things!

1. This happened the day that I have to do my monthly grocery shopping...There could not be a day when we would lose LESS food than we would have today. Our refrigerator and freezer did have lots of stuff in them, but not a month's worth!
2. We have an extra refrigerator in our funeral home that is RARELY used. It is a blessing that we don't have to buy another one!

God is so good to take care of us. Here is my verse for the day:

Philippians 4:19 God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Savings...

It's Sunday night and I'm doing what I always do now on Sunday nights. I am going through sale bills that came in the Sunday paper. At the beginning of this year, our church decided to Tear Down the Wall of Debt. We owe money on our building and it's better to pay it off so we're not paying interest and so we can have more money to use in service for the Lord. So, Andy and I took a serious look at our budget, sold our Cadillac (which was on our last nerve anyways), traded it in for a used Mercury Sable (which we LOVE) and got a new outlook on our finances. We decided that just because we had the money to do certain things, doesn't mean we had to "do it" or "have it". I am not saying that we aren't going on a great trip next year for our anniversary, because we are...but we can be doing so much more to better ourselves, our future and our church if we'd just pay a little more attention to our finances. So, I have some friends that do the same, so I'm going to be posting the best deals I can find each Sunday night to share with all of you.

If you don't know, Andy and I make a monthly menu and doing the bulk of our grocery shopping at the beginning of the month. We do this for several reasons:

1. We don't have a grocery store in Newman anymore.
2. You save money if you're in the store less.
3. You save time by not having to go the store several times a week.
4. I'm an organized nerd :)

So, now that we've established the reason for the monthly shopping, I'll tell you how I do it. At the first of the month, we take out money that is set aside for groceries and baby supplies. That money goes into an envelope. At the end of the month, when that money is gone, it's gone...you don't want to be out of money at the end of the month because you'll go hungry!

We price compare. I do all of our shopping at Wal-Mart. If you go to Wal-Mart and tell them that Pepsi is on sale at Meijer's 2-24 packs for $10, they will match the price. And just in case you're wondering, Pepsi is on sale at Meijer's and I'm getting in on that deal tomorrow. They do not match 1/2 off or percentage off prices or buy 1 get 1 prices. However, if Meijer's has a super special, like 10 tubes of Crest toothpaste for $10, you can get that at Wal-Mart. Last week, I went to Wal-Mart, told them about the toothpaste special and also had 7 coupons for the toothpaste. The toothpaste should have cost me about $25. I spent $4.50 on 10 tubes of Crest Whitening Toothpaste with Scope. (6.2 oz tubes). That's a pretty good savings!

Don't be so brand specific! I must confess that I like my brands...I like certain kinds of cheese, Diet Coke, name brand frozen products, etc. However, I've learned to try new things, and if I don't like them, I cut back on the budget somewhere else so I can have my name brand item. However, I have learned to like many of the store brands...Now, I am not and wasn't ever a total brand snob, but I have learned to live with more store brands, which has saved us a lot of money.

If you can, go to a warehouse store like Sam's Club. There are lots of things at Sam's that can throw you for a loop...Do not buy soda there...or milk...it's cheaper to price match at Wal-Mart! But, the macaroni and cheese is a great deal. We don't eat the generic mac and cheese and they have a great price on Kraft. So, we buy 12 boxes at a time...the kids eat that much macaroni and cheese. They have great deals on pasta, chips, crystal light, diapers, wipes, razor blades, etc. The bad things about Sam's is that they don't take coupons! The only coupons they take are manufacturer's checks for formula. Our kids aren't drinking formula, but you might be interested to know that.

Cut Coupons! Wal-Mart ALWAYS takes coupons. Wal-Mart does not double coupons like some other stores, but I know that you will not save more by going to Kroger's. Their store brand prices do not compare and their regular prices are more too. If you go to FBC Atwood, there is a coupon box in the foyer. I cut out Sunday coupons and I know Jenny and Adriane do as well. We put coupons in and take coupons we need. This box is open to anyone in the church that needs to use them...that's what they're there for!

Another thing, I know I refer to Meijer's a lot in here, but don't shop there. They have good prices on a few things each week, but for the most part are MUCH higher than Wal-Mart. I know many of you like to shop at Aldi's. Aldi's does have some good items. However, with a 2 and 3 year old, I don't have time to go to multiple stores. That's why I go to Wal-Mart and get it all. With the price matching and coupons, I truly don't think you can beat them!

So, without further ado...I am going to list of the Top 10 best finds in the papers. You may not care for some of these...these are my favorites...you may like store brand frozen vegges, for example and I don't...but these are my favorite finds for the week.

1. Milk is always $1.99 at Aldi's.
2. Green Giant Frozen Fresh Steamers are 10/$10 at IGA.
3. Doritos and Ruffles are 2/$5 at IGA.
4. Kraft Shredded Cheese (2 c. pkgs) are 3/$5 at Target.
5. Velveeta Blocks are $4.49 at Meijer's.
6. Post Cereal is 3/$6 at Meijer's.
7. Kellog's Cereal is $2.29 at IGA.
8. 24 Pk of Pepsi Products are 2/$10 at Meijer's.
9. Yoplait Yogurt is 10/$5 at Meijer's.
10. Strawberries are 2/$4 at Meijer's.

Okay, now, you go out and shop and get all the good deals. If you are looking for something else, let me know and I can tell you if it's on sale somewhere. I have a 3 page grocery list...so I better get some rest before I have to shop tomorrow!

Don't forget to cut coupons! The coupons in today's paper weren't great...but they'll be better next week! There is a Subway coupon in today's paper....Andy LOVES Subway!

If you want to go to Sam's Club, I'm leaving tomorrow morning and then going to Wal-Mart (and Hobby Lobby too - all their Easter stuff is 50% off). It should be fun!

Happy Shopping to you all and post a comment if you know of more ways to save, good sales, etc.

The Capital of Maine is Montpelier Vermont

So for those who don't know by far and away my favorite tv show of all time is The Office. The Title of this post is one of my favorite quotes from the show (if you are not a fan that will make no sense at all, if you are a fan do you know what episode that's from and who said it???). Anyways if you have never seen it I highly recommend you check it out, it's on Thursdays on NBC and 8:00. I love it and I think this has been a great season, I couldn't believe what happened last Thursday and I can't wait to see where the season ends up with only 7 episodes left!!! Let me know what you think of the Office!

Andy

Migraine Help!!!!

Okay, so I've been having all these migraines off and on for the last several years..lately they have been really, really bad, several times a week. Two weeks ago my vision started going crazy. So, the dr sent me to the ER last Monday. They did a CT Scan and my brain was still there :) and they didn't see anything. They gave me a shot, which really didn't help, and sent me home. I had an appointment with my dr this past Monday. He gave me Imotrex and said that is the tried and true and it should help. Wednesday morning I woke up and my head was throbbing...so I took an Imotrex...never again will I do that. If you don't know me well, you don't know that I HATE medicine. I took one of these and my shoulders and neck got soooo tight! I was so uncomfortable. I got out the packaging and it said that less than 1% experience stiffening of the neck and shoulders...lucky me:) So, the medicine gave me a stiff neck and shoulders and knocked me out for 4 hours. I woke, up, still had the headache, still had it Thursday and still have it today. I have taken Ibuprofen, Vanquish, Tylenol (no more Imotrex) and I refuse to take the Vicodin...that's ridiculous...However, my head hurts so bad, I can't stand it. I want to know if there are any "home" remedies that I should be trying. Is there ANYTHING you can think of? I'll try it! Give me some help, please! :)

Bible Study Tonight

This is a just a reminder for those of you who read this blog and come to our Bible Study. We're having dinner tonight at 6:15 and the Bible study at 6:45. We are studying Cries from the Cross by Dr. Erwin Lutzer. You do not have to have studied the handouts to come. It's helpful, but you are still more than welcome to come and discuss and study with us tonight. If you have questions, just let us know. If you don't come to the study or live too far away to come to the study and are interested in what we're studying, we can email you the study so you can follow along at your own pace. Have a great day and we look forward to seeing you tonight!
~Andy and Misty

3 More and That Makes 20!!!

What is better than a pizza party and chocolate? I'm about to tell you...3 more kids asked Jesus to be their Savior tonight at Awanas! That makes 20 for this year...just in AWANAs. That's unbelievable. Really, that's 20 in the last month! We had another little girl get saved a few weeks ago in children's church, too. If you're counting...that's 21! How cool is this? God is really moving in our church and we couldn't be more thrilled! If you don't have plans on Sunday, come to our church. We would love to see you there...we'll even save you a seat if you'll tell us you're coming. If you want to know why I asked about pizza and chocolate, it's because tonight was our Pizza Party at AWANAs. Craig and Cheryl Chapman bought pizza for all 86 of us from Monical's Pizza and it was good! We all had a great time tonight! Thank you to all of you who pray for us and for the AWANA ministry! We appreciate it and God is hearing your prayers!

"My Son is 18 years old - he's an Idiot" (aka the Biggest Loser is Awesome!!!)

TGIT - thank goodness its Tuesday!!! Because the Biggest Loser is on Tuesdays and Misty and I get so excited and so into it. Now I know for a fact that some people who have a chance to read this blog (Butch, Leslie, Bynette...I'm looking at you!) watch the BL so we want to know what everyone thinks. Who do you like, who don't you like, who do you think is going to bring home the bacon (figuratively speaking of course) and win it all. My money is on Tara but you never know, I was not very sad to see Aubrey go home tonight and am looking forward to seeing who gets to come back next week. Anyways let us know what you think!!!

Ryan is bad on Wednesdays?

Molly said something funny on Sunday night and I've been thinking about it since...Sunday, as we were getting ready to walk out the door for church, Andy got a call for the funeral home so Molly, Ryan and I ended up going to church to that evening together. We were in the car and I was teasing with Ryan and he said, "No, no, no Mommy" and then laughed. I repeated back to him using his name and we laughed and did this several times. Finally, Molly looked over at him and said, "Ryan, Mommy is the boss. You should be a better listener"! I said to her, "Molly, we were just playing". She said, "Well, Ogie was talking back". I explained to her that he was playing but sometimes she talks back too. She told me that Ryan is bad sometimes and I explained to her that sometimes she didn't have good behavior either. I told her that everyone has bad days sometimes. She looked at me and said, "Well, why does Ryan have a bad day every Wednesday?" I just laughed! She doesn't know the days of the week...somewhere along the way she's heard the word "Wednesday" and thought that must be the name of the day that Ryan is bad. I was just sitting here with her, thinking about what we had to do tomorrow and realized, it's almost Wednesday, SO we better be on good behavior tomorrow!

Wii, myself, and I

So, something I've really been enjoying lately is our Wii. I don't know who out there has one but I would highly recommend one! I personally have been enjoying the Wii Fit (not that you can tell!!!), and I recently got to spend a couple of days playing Mario Kart Wii with Misty's cousin Drew when he was here for a visit and that is one of the greatest games of all time (I of course dominated him in every race!!!). If anybody has a wii and has any good game recommendations please let me know!

Andy

Facebook

Oooh yeah...I forgot we also got into this century this week by getting a facebook page. Okay, I never thought I would - but I am interested in keeping up with everyone so I thought I'd just do it. Besides, my children are so darn cute, I think everyone I know deserves to see their adorabe faces :) I am so silly! Can you tell I love Andy and the kids??? Check us out if you have a facebook too!

Please comment to Andy - He's amusing himself!

If you've read Andy's cool list of favorite musical groups, you have to be guessing who most of them are. He's dying for someone to ask :) He is so funny! I am just married to the funniest man of all time - and I'm not even being sarcastic...I love him!

Lists, Lists, Everywhere there's Lists......

OK so I figured if we are going to have a blog I might as well put it to good use. I thought every so often I would post a list of top 5's of whatever topic comes to mind. I thought this might be fun for people to look at, and hopefully people will post comments about it. Anyways I think it will be fun, hope you do to.

Andy's Top 5 Favorite Bands/Musical Groups
1.Power of Praise
2.Flame
3.Zack Attack
4.Jesse and the Rippers
5.En Fuego

A Blog Rookie!!!

Hi everyone! This is Andy posting his first ever blog entry!!! I just wanted to say hi and hope you enjoy our blog! We are finally catching up with technology (sort of).

Survey

Hi! We have added a survey to our blog. It's at the bottom. Take the survey if you want. We can't see who gives what answers. That's between you and God and no one else. After you've taken the survey, read below. We're truly sharing this with you because we love you!

Stand Up for Life!

PRO LIFE! All of the below ramblings are based on a forward I got from my dear friend Adraine. Please read below:

Jeremiah 1:5"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,and before you were born I consecrated you;I appointed you a prophet to the nations."If you believe that the Bible is true, then you cannot deny what this verse says. BEFORE God formed us in the womb, he KNEW us. It doesn't say He thought about making us if He got around to it. It says that He knew us. If He allowed us to be conceived then it was on purpose!

I also think it's amazing that the gov't allows people to kill babies through abortion and that should be perfectly fine with us, but if a woman is murdered and is carrying a child, it counts as a double murder! That's a double standard. They don't believe a fetus is a person until it is born and can breathe on it's own in the case of abortion. However, if the baby's still inside a woman and she's murdered, the fetus counts as a human being?

Please read the email below. I have 73 envelopes that are red and I am sending them. I got this forward and thought, where in the world am I going to find red envelopes? I found 47 that I had left from last Christmas and then I found an old pack of envelopes that I bought at Hobby Lobby. If you can't find red envelopes, then you can go to Hobby Lobby or any craft store and they'll have them in their cardmaking section. If you can't find a red envelope, color one with a marker. My friend Stacey told me she went to Hallmark and they sold her red envelopes for $0.03 each. This is an opportunity for us to go straight to the top with our plea. The address is there, the day to mail them and the information that goes on the envelope.

Thanks for reading and I hope you'll help! Please send this to any of your friends or family that may be interested in helping with this!

Red Envelopes Represent Abortion Deaths

staff reports

'Maybe it will change the heart of the president.'What began as one box of red envelopes has become somewhat of a cultural phenomenon.Christ Otto has been involved in the pro-life movement for nearly 20 years. As the pro-abortion Barack Obama took office, Otto was rightly concerned and rightly praying about the situation."I believe God gave me an interesting idea," he says.

Enter the box of red envelopes. Otto, 37, wants Obama to receive hundreds, thousands, millions, of empty red envelopes, symbolizing the moral outrage of abortion."I wish we could send 50 million red envelopes, one for every child who died before having a chance to live," he says. "Maybe it will change the heart of the president."Otto says it's a small act that could make a big statement."People are not going to get into an argument," he says. "They're not going to stand in front of an abortion clinic. But they are going to buy an envelope and cast this vote for life."

"The plan is simple: On March 31, mail an empty red envelope to:

Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500

On the outside of the envelope, write:

"This envelope represents one child who died in abortion. It is empty because that life was unable to offer anything to the world. Responsibility begins with conception.

"FOR MORE INFORMATION: Visit the Red Envelope Web site. Also, check out the dozens of Facebook groups devoted to the cause. Just type "Red envelope" into the search box.(NOTE: Referral to Web sites not produced by Focus on the Family is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily constitute an endorsement of the sites' content.)

A New Day, A New Blog

Hi! Andy and I have decided to create a blog so you can see what we're doing and what's going on in our lives. Of course, if you know us, you know you'll see new pictures of the kids, find out what's going on at the funeral home and find out what's going on at our church. We hope you enjoy this new way to keep in touch with us!