GRANDPARENTS

I found the greatest website. It is called grandparents.com and it gives you ideas of what you can do with your grand kids. I think it would be great for families too. It has a down loadable book that has 100 free things you can do with kids and then special searches for things in your zip code. It also has places for grandparents to ask questions and check on different development stages and it has a gift finder. Check it out!

The Rules We Break

Any one who knows me knows that I love the beach. Anytime I get to choose where we go that's the place I choose. I love the sand and the waves and the smells ( well most of the time the smells) and everything else. I love it when it storms and when it is sunny and when it's in between. Last summer my husband took me to the beach for our anniversary. Even when we try to behave we still break the rules. We had a lovely time. I lit a candle and sat in the Jacuzzi tub and relaxed. We stood on the balcony and watched the waves come in and out. We had a blast watching the sea gulls and feeding them. The next day as we were getting ready to go I read a piece of paper that was on the counter in the kitchenette. Among other things it said that we were not allowed to burn candles in the room or to feed sea gulls on the balcony. Oh well! If you didn't know it was a rule is it OK to break it? That made me think about my Christian life. When we first got saved I didn't understand much about the RULES we were supposed to live by. I had never heard of not wearing pants or not wearing a white shirt without an under shirt. I often felt uncomfortable and bad because I didn't understand. Many people went out of their way to make me feel even worse. Now I understand that a true Christian doesn't judge someone by what they wear or even how they look or act. A true Christian actually tries not to judge any one. I have learned it is better to build people up than to pull them down. Don't get me wrong. I'm not perfect but I do think that I am much, much better than I was when I was first saved and I keep growing every day. Thank-you Jesus for helping me to be all that I can be.

WORLDS MOST ROMANTIC HUSBAND!

Thursday I got an email from my husband asking me if I would like to go to Seattle for the week end. He had Monday off and thought that if we left Sunday after church we could get a room fairly cheap. I checked out our Starpoints (we earn these from our American Express card) and we had enough points for 2 nights at the Westin with upgrades. What a wonderful trip. We loved the headboard on our bed and Jerry is going to make one when we move if we have a room that is big enough we can put the bed diagonal. We went to the Seattle Aquarium where we watched divers feed the fish in the dome (inside out fish bowl), then we went on a harbor cruise of Elliot Bay, next we went to the Pacific Science Center where we saw and awesom 3-D movie about sea life and many other intresting exhibits, and then we finished our trip at the Boeing Aviation Museum where we got to go onboard the Air Force One used from 1957 until 1972. My favorite was the the 3-D movie, Jerry's was the Aviation Museum. We ate dinner at PF Changs one night and at County Cousins another. We sat in the hot tub and went swimming. We rode the monorail and walked down to the waterfront thru Pike Street Market. I have decided that I like short vacations better than long ones because you don't get nearly as tired.
One thing about Jerry you never get bored sitting in the same place to long. What a wonderful romantic way to spend Valentines Day week end.

Thank you to my best friend and favorite husband.

SICK KIDS

There is nothing worse than having a sick kid. You feel helpless. It breaks your heart to see them uncomfortable and you don't know what to do to help them. It's even worse when they can't talk yet. They can't tell you what hurts or whats the matter. You don't want to be one of "those" parents who run to the doctor for everything but, you know if you wait to long it will be worse. 103.7 fever seems like a lot. It must be. Then the doctors office sounds so calm and you feel like your over reacting. Well the best thing you can do is follow your instincts. God gave you that child to care for and he will guide you. I remember people criticizing me when Cassie was so sick all the time. " You run that child to the doctor for everything", they would say. I found out the hard way that she couldn't fight anything on her own. She needed the doctor to help her body to get well. If I didn't take her at the first sign of sickness she would end up in the hospital every time. To all you young mothers, follow your gut. Do what you think is right. God has given you a special bond with your babies and he will help you take care of them when you need him.

ENDLESS GIFTS LIST

Sandrah Santaguida posted this link to a family website. It is amazing to me that the story of a person I never met can affect me so much. It is about a man who has brain cancer and tells his story but the truly amazing part is that the site is a list of gifts that God has given them. They are listing all the little things that God has given them every day. It is very touching and inspiring. Check it out at: http://www.eloefamily.com/endlessgiftslist.html.

Wedding Pictures!

I have to say that even though I love my daughters very much I am so tired of downloading wedding pictures, and then finding the ones out of hundreds I should post at facebook. My computer recently picked up a virus and the best way to fix it was to wipe it out. We had saved tons of photos on cds but they weren't categorized. I downloaded about 10 cds of various photos on my computer and then sorted them all out. After I was done with that I posted some on facebook. It brought back alot of memories but it was time consuming and boring. Glad that job is done. Now if you ever want me to find a particular picture it will only take me hours instead of day.

Bolens Bounty

BREAKFAST

Over the years I have tried many times to get my family to eat breakfast. I myself could never do it. Something about eatting as soon as I got out of bed made me sick to my stomach. My husband and I have been on a diet. Ok, well, a life style change. One thing that we had to do was eat a high protein breakfast. Every morning for the last 5 weeks I have gotten up and fixed us 2 or 3 eggs and some fruit. After a few weeks we could have fruit smoothies for breakfast. The first time I made them we went about our business and drank them as we got ready. The next day my husband asked for eggs. He liked the smoothie but every day he wanted eggs. It suddenly dawned on me that he wanted the fellowship we shared as we sat at the table and ate our eggs. What a blessing to share a few peaceful momments together before our busy days interferred. Thank-you God for that.

Tuesdays!

Tuesdays are one of my favorite days. I have so much fun going to Value Village looking for $.99 treasures. Sometimes I buy alot and sometimes I don't buy anything. Any time you can get a boutique candle for $.99 its a good deal. I have collected may items over the past year but one of my favorites is something my husband found. It is a woven vase ? I got it for $.99 and then went to the Dollar Tree and got some dried stuff to put in it. It turned out really great.

Decorating for the holidays!

I love to decorate for the holidays. Even when I worked full time I would still spend time decorating. One thing I do is go shopping after the holiday to get items cheap. A couple of years ago I got these Valentines Day plates for $1.00 each. I like to set our kitchen table because it is so center to our house and because it keeps us from piling stuff on it (an idea I got from Mrs. Vicky).

SuperBowl Sunday=)

For the first time in 14 years we attended a Super Bowl Party. This was possible because our new church doesn't have a Sunday night service yet. One of the couples from the church opened their home up and invited all of us to a Super Bowl Party. We had tons of food, a couple of Wii's, board games, and of course a big screen TV. I'm not much of a football fan but it was really fun watching with everyone cheering or moaning for their favorite team. It was also nice getting to know some of the members of the church better. During the half-time we all wore our 3-D glasses and watched the Intel sponsered commercial. What a blessing to have fun with friends.