Catch up post!!

 So it's been a few weeks since my last post and I need to catch up a little!!  It's been busy around here and in less than 48 hours from now it's going to get really busy!! Because grand baby #4 will be here!! JUST.CAN'T.WAIT!!!!! So there will be lots of baby pics this week....:-)
But until that time, here's a rundown of what's been going on in my life!  I was baptized last week! It was an awesome experience! It was just something I never did and felt it was time to do.  I can't even explain to you in words how God has taken me from where I was so broken and brokenhearted to this place where I am now(a good place).  I just know it to be true and I am so grateful!

 And I've been spinning at least a few times a week!! I LOVE spinning!! It's a really good workout and I've been going with my youngest daughter so that makes it even more fun!!

 And can I just say, this Fall was just gorgeous!! The weather was so beautiful and some of the trees around my office were just beautiful!!

 I took an art class with some of my friends. Okay, so I'll never be an artist but I had fun and that's all that counts in my book. For two hours I sat there concentrating on this little pink flower thing....LOL  It's good therapy too!!

 My outdoor tree is up. I need to put a few more ornaments on it but I just love the outdoor tree.  It's right outside my sliding glass doors off the kitchen so I can sit in the morning with my first cup of coffee and look at it!!  And the little girls decided Cleo needed to be decorated for Christmas. Let's just say Cleo was less than happy with the idea!   LOL  It's baby week!!!  YEA!!   I'll be back later in the week with photos and updates on the new baby girl!!  Happy Sunday!

IT'S NOVEMBER!!

I really can't believe how fast this year has gone by. Wasn't it just January? We are anxiously awaiting the new baby girl who is scheduled to make her debut in just about three weeks!! Still not sure what her name is but the girls want to name her Savannah or as Syndey says "Cabana". :-)

Life is busy and I'm sure it'll get a whole lot busier with the holidays and new baby coming. I went back to Weight Watchers this week and was shocked at how much weight I have gained so it's back to eating right and exercising again. I've been spinning since this Summer and I do love it, just wish I could find a place that offers a lot more classes & times. And I've been taking Yoga classes all through the Summer and now into Fall but my Yoga instructor is out of town for awhile and I miss it more than anything. Never thought I would enjoy something as much as I enjoyYoga!! :-) Why can't we just eat whatever we want and not gain weight or hurt our health?? LOL It seems to me I could do that back in my 20's.....

Anyway, these are just a few photos of Halloween with my sweet girls!!! Had a blast with them. And I gave them all the left over candy....I'm sure Mom and Dad love me for that!! Happy Saturday!!

Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween everyone!! Aren't these the cutest photos? What do you all have planned for today?  The washer repair men were just here and I will be busy catching up with a week's worth of laundry since it took a whole week for a part to come in for my washer!! I have a pot of chili in the crockpot and am going to Maddie's pre school to watch her class do their Halloween parade in their costumes (so cute). And later on the kids will come over for chili and trick or treating!!  So glad it's my day off work!! It's a busy but fun day!! Have a wonderful and safe Halloween!!

We have a new nurse in the Family!!

 My daughter, Christina graduated from nursing school this weekend!!  The whole family is just so excited for her and her new future as a nurse!  It was a great weekend with the graduation and celebration!! Hope everyone had a beautiful weekend too!!  I just love October in Ohio!!  :-)  Go Nurse Tee-Tee(that's Maddie and Sassy's name for Christina).

What happen to September??

September kind of got away from me.  I really can't believe it's October already!  I went to the beach with my son Jim and his son Cameron last month. It was so much fun and such a treat because I don't get as much time with Cameron as I do with the girls. so it was a week of playing pirates instead of princesses.  Which I wasn't at all used to but it was fun! Here's a few photos of our time at the beach!!

And we had a sprinkle for my daughter Melissa who is due with baby girl number 3 next month. Has anyone ever heard of a sprinkle before? I hadn't before this but it's like a shorten version of a shower!! We are getting excited counting down the days till she's here.  Not much else going on with me other than working a lot. It's been a totally beautiful week here in Cincy, just wish it would stay like this all year round!!  Happy Thursday!!  It's almost TGIF!!!! Yea!!

Saying goodbye to the Summer........

 It's been a great Summer and I'm sad to see it go. For me Labor Day always marks the end of Summer.  So since I've been slacking in the blog world this Summer(and past two years), here's a run down of my Summer!! Spending Sundays at my brother in law's house..watching the kids fish and than eating the fish. Great Summer memories!!

 Maddie's 5th birthday...I can't believe my sweet Maddie is already 5 years old. When I tell her and Sydney and Cameron they have to stop growing so fast and stay little, they always tell me"they have to get big"  We'll have a new baby to love on soon!!  :-)

 Christina and I at the Paul McCartney concert. It was so much fun!! And she enjoyed it as much as I did!

 Spending time with my family.....my three grand kids loving on each other....

Learning how to do Yoga... I actually love doing yoga and I've been spinning too..but I don't have a picture of that..LOL

Meeting new friends..I was so lucky to get to go down to Ft. Lauderdale and tour the Oasis and Allure Royal Caribbean ships...it was so much fun and such a treat. I hope to go on one of them some day!!

And just enjoying everything the Summer has to offer. I'm still in a season of trying to figure out some things in my life but I'm getting there..it's slow and there are times I think I should have it all figured out by now but as always in life that's not the case, it's ok because I'm learning to take it day by day.   I had a wonderful Summer and I hope you all did too. Time to start Christmas shopping......:-)

The many reasons why I "heart" my blogging friends!

Blogging friends are always there for you with an encouraging word or two. Blogging friends are always supported and kind. They share the mountains and the valleys of life with you.  When you are on the mountain they share the joy of it with you and when you are in the valley they share the pain and pray for you and encourage you through it.  I didn't even realize that my little blog had an anniversary last week until someone commented on it. It's been five years since I started this little blog on a whim. Never even dreaming that these virtual friends would become real life friends to me. I recently joined Google Plus(which I'm still trying to figure out) and it is connected to my blogger account so it pulled up all the photos I have shared on my blog over five years. WOW!!! There were so many and it was so much fun to look back over them!!
Thank you blogging friends for going on my journey of life with me(the highs and the lows) and all your encouragement and prayers along the way. Thanks for still coming back to this blog even though I am a slacker most of the time(just shows me how faithful you are to a friendship and makes me love you even more). But most of all I thank you for your friendship and how blessed I feel because of it!!

A New Baby......

We are pretty excited around here!! There's a new baby coming and it's a little girl!!! She'll make her debut right after Thanksgiving! The girls are so excited...Maddie insisted that it was going to be a girl before they actually found out(I don't know what she would have done if it was a boy....LOL). So now they are talking names and clothes and all kinds of fun things!! Gommy's excited too! Happy Saturday everyone!!

glitter-graphics.com

Happy 4th of July!! I love the 4th of July, it's one of my very favorite holidays! So what does everyone have planned for this weekend? My family and friends are coming over for a picnic tomorrow so I am looking forward to that. The weather guy says it's going to be hot and muggy! PERFECT!!! LOL
Happy 4th everyone...stay safe!

Today I am.....

Today I am grateful for all my many blessings...except for that wolf spider I just found and killed in my basement......LOL Are wolf spiders in all parts of the country? :-)  I'm not a fan!  Happy Wednesday everyone!!  I'm still working on an update post and still trying to get around to visit everyone!!  Hope you are enjoying this time of year.  I love it! The warm weather, the fresh fruits and veggies, that it doesn't get dark till later and I can sit in my backyard garden and have a nice dinner and the lightning bugs that are slowly coming out when it gets dark and they light up the sky! Love it all!!   That's it for now, Have a great day. I'm off to run some errands and find a good Summer book to read!

PS...have no idea why this pic is showing so big.......

Because God loves Me........

Because God Loves Me 1st Corinthians 13:4-8

Because God loves me He is slow to lose patience with me.

Because God loves me He takes the circumstances of my life and uses them in a constructive way for my growth.

Because God loves me He does not treat me as an object to be possessed and manipulated.

Because God loves me He has no need to impress me with how great and powerful He is because He is God, nor does he belittle me as His child in order to show me how important He is.

Because God loves me He is for me, He wants to see me mature and develop in His love.

Because God loves me He does not send down His wrath on every little mistake I make, of which there are many.

Because God loves me He does not keep score of all my sins and then beat me over the head with them whenever He gets the chance.

Because God loves me He is deeply grieved when I do not walk in the ways that please him, because He sees this as evidence that I don't trust Him and love Him as I should.

Because God loves me He rejoices when I experience His power and strength and stand up under the pressures of life for His Name's sake.

Because God loves me He keeps on working patiently with me even when I feel like giving up and can't see why He doesn't give up with me, too.

Because God loves me He keeps trusting me when at times I don't even trust myself.

Because God loves me He never says there is no hope for me; rather, He patiently works with me, loves me and disciplines me in such a way that it is hard for me to understand the depth of His concern for me.

Because God loves me He never forsakes me, even though many of my friends might.

Because God loves me He stands with me when I have reached the rock of despair, when I see the real me and compare that with his righteousness, holiness, beauty, and love. It is a moment like this that I can really believe that God loves me.

Yes, the greatest of all gifts is God's perfect love.

Courtesy of Dick Dickinson.

I posted this a few years ago and had found it looking back over my blog.  It's an oldie but goodie and one that I need to hear from time to time. Hope everyone is well and safe. Will try to do an update post on what's going on in my life soon!

Easter, a Birthday and Women of Faith!!

I'm a week behind in posting my Easter photo but better late than never!! That seems to be my motto lately..... Here's the three munchkins on Easter right before we had brunch with Great Papa.  It's getting so hard to get a decent photo of all three of them anymore. No one will hold still for me to take photos!  :-)  It was a good Easter weekend, very busy with family but so good!

And my son, Jimmy had a birthday last week so we all went out to eat dinner at one of his favorite places here in Cincinnati. It's a good thing they put us in the corner and that it was a busy place because these three were bouncing off the walls. Probably all the cake and cookies we had!  :-)

And last weekend I got to go to a Women of Faith event in Columbus, Ohio.  I've never been to Columbus and it's just two hours away from me. It's a great city and this event is AWESOME!! I loved it!  The funny thing is I went all by myself, I might have been one of the few women who were not part of a big group there and they put me right on the floor in a really good spot and I was next to the camera guy(who was so sweet to me) and Natalie Grant's body guard, who might have been the body guard for all the event speakers and singers. I never did figure that one out.  I (and the other thousands of women there) cried when Angie Smith told her story of her sweet baby girl and Sheila Walsh is just a terrific speaker. It was just a great time of learning and drawing near to God and I hope to go again next year!!
That about sums up the past week.  Not much planned for this week so far except getting my hair done and starting a work out routine and my regular work schedule(ha!). I hope to get out in the yard this week but the rain has been never ending here in Ohio. My poor little new bike is getting no action these days...the rain has to stop sometime, right?  I hope everyone has a great week planned!! Happy Monday!

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter!!  I love Easter and the WHOLE meaning of it. I hope everyone has a wonderful day planned with family this weekend!. I am going to Easter service tonight at my church and to Easter brunch with my Dad tomorrow and hopefully(if the weather cooperates) an Easter egg hunt with the grands tomorrow afternoon.  Busy weekend but so much fun!!  Happy Easter blogging buddies, I hope you have the best day!  P.S.  I took this photo at our Cincinnati Zoo this week( on one of the few days without rain and storms), they have Zoo blooms every year at this time. It is so beautiful!