A pointless post...

Carter & Mason LOVE Blueberries!!!

Joni picked up a 10 lb. box for us from Troyers, and we are lovin 'em! This was a picture of the boys when I brought them home! You wouldn't believe how many of these they could eat before we see any "after effects" :-)

A loaf of bread.

Sunday, the William Fiechter family is getting together for a reunion. I was asked to bring bread. All week long I planned to make yeast rolls, but never got around to it. This morning, I got motivated to make them, but only have time for one batch in the bread machine. So I thought, well better some than none...So I started my batch - then explained to Nick that I don't know what to do b/c I only have 24 rolls.

His answer: "So...bring a loaf of bread."

There ya have it. Wisdom from a man. Why do I go through the work to make yeast bread!?! (Oh, yeah...b/c I like it!!!!!) And he appreciates it too, he just has that "fix it quick" mindset when I bring him problems ~ and I can appreciate that!

Love you, honey!

A new experience...

EDITED TO ADD:
Okay so is this cool, or what!!!!I just got an email from Sierra. This is what it said:

Hey Jessica!

I just wanted to tell you a quick little story that I forgot to mention when you and Nick came home. This is the conversation me and Carter had while he was setting up the memory cards:

Carter: "So did Jonah dissobey God?"

Me: "Yes he did. But we need to obey and listen to what God tells us to do."

Carter: "I listen to Him and I uh..I diss..no..I.. (wasn't quite sure what the word was that he wanted to use :)

Me: "Behave?"

Carter: "Yeah. I behave Him".....(silence)....... "I am a good guy right?"

Me: "Yes Carter. You are a good guy!"

How cool! Love it......

BAck to the original post:

Well, last night our family had a new experience. We hired a babysitter for the first time EVER! Now, we've had several babysitters, but we knew them well (mostly all family).

I almost hesitate to tell you who she is b/c I don't want her stolen! ;) She is a girl from our church named Sierra. When we moved in to our new house she wrote us a very sweet letter offering to babysit for us if needed (she lives in the neighborhood). Nick was SO impressed and we were all excited to meet her. She came over last week to meet us all and babysat for 3 hours last night!

It went GREAT! Carter had talked all day long about what all he was going to do that evening with his new friend Sierra. I think he fulfilled most of his tasks...I hope they didn't ware her out too much! They played outside and in the basement, and when we got home they were in the middle of a game of Memory (of course, Mason doesn't play - so she was reading him a book and playing at the same time!) Carter says he had "lots and lots of fun!" and can't wait for her to come back!

Thanks, Sierra!

What a Blessing...

This afternoon Carter, Mason, and I were reading on of our favorite books together, "Why I love you, God".

It goes through lots of things we are thankful for like smelling roses, eating chocolate, etc. then goes on to being thankful to God for sending His son, and dying on the cross.

When we got to this page, Carter said, "Look mommy, its like the song (as he begins singing) 'Jesus died on the cross to save us from sin, everybody ought to love Jesus!' ".

It was just so neat for me to see that he can connect the words in the song to the picture of Jesus on the cross. I just always kinda wondered if he actually knew what the words on the radio were saying or if it was just words that sounded catchy. Ya know? Now, I know that he kinda understands what the words in the song are saying. Now, I know he doesn't really, really, understand but we are making progress! It was so special. Made my mommy heart melt!

A few pages later, this page came up:

This is the conversation that took place next:

Carter: Pointed to the biggest red heart and said, "Look mommy! I have a heart like this in here (pointing to his chest)."

Me: "Yeah, that's right!" and thinking he'd say something like love, happiness, etc. I asked him, "and what is in your heart?"

His Replay:

"Jesus."

Basement Progress #2

The bedroom is coming right along - and so is the living room!

Wednesday: Steve glued/screwed these strips onto the wall so that the drywall can be hung.


Thursday: He took a day off to be with his other grandchildren. :)

Friday: Steve brought my nieces and nephew with him to work all day. Nick was supposed to be off of work too for 4th of July, but he had to go in to finish a project. :( We had fun anyway and got lots of work done.


Steve did the ceiling in the bedroom - which was quite a process. Can't explain it in words... Then he drywalled the whole room/closet! WOW! It really made a difference!



Saturday - Sunday: We all took off! :)

Monday: Back to work. Steve and I met at Lowe's to pick out lighting for the living room, more drywall, doors, nails, electrical wiring, outlets, light switches, insulation, etc. This took so long! (and sooooo much $$! eek!)

Tues - Saturday: We worked on the living room. Here are some pics from the process. Oh and by the way - I've added one more job title for myself: electrician. I now know how to wire a can light! Woo hoo! (call me if you need a can light in your home, I'm sure to "screw" something up!)

THis is me nailing the wires to the frame...and a very sad Mason who wants mommy to stop working!

Here is my handy-man Hubby wiring up the box for our can lights!

THis is an upclose picture of one of our can lights after Nick and I wired them up!

Whew, they work! :o)

And this is where we are now! Hopefully, tonight I Steve will drywall the ceiling and finish preping the walls!

Go Tincaps!

The Actuarial Dept. at Lincoln held an event Monday night at the Fort Wayne Tincaps baseball game. Nick and I went and took Carter (We left Mason w/ G-ma Fiechter - didn't think he'd enjoy it much ;) ). We had a great time! Nick is really loving his job - praise God for that! His boss is great and he is really enjoying his coworkers. A special thanks to Brent (and the rest of the social committee) for organizing the event! Enjoy the pics from the evening! We didn't get many....

What would a baseball game be w/o a $1 hotdog?

This is Lexie and Hunter, Brent's (Nick's coworker) children with "Johnny" the mascot. Carter was too scared to give him a high 5...Maybe next time...

Carter and Nick ran the bases after the game with Lexie & Hunter

Carter again - he loved this part!

By the way - I should post that the Tincaps WON! woohoo! The new Parkview stadium was really, really nice and the game was really fun - filled with lots of entertainment between innings. Hopefully we'll go again someday!

Basement Progress #1

This week my step-dad, Steve, began finishing our basement. We are really excited! I thought it would be fun to keep a running update on the progress. This may take a really long time...we'll see.

Monday: Purchased material for bedroom and carried down to basement.

Tuesday: Framed wall and closet. (I'm not about to let him work w/o eating so, we ate too! Chicken casserole (from DD4, of course) , steamed broccoli & cauliflower, and banana nut muffins)

This is Steve, the fix it, build it, design it, anything man.

This is Nick and Steve working on building the wall.

This is the bedroom wall and closet up and ready to be drywalled!

Just to show you how talented Steve is, he built this train table for our boys as a Christmas gift last year without any plans or anything. I gave him a picture and said I want it like this...

Hope you enjoy this long, grueling process with us! We could probably hire someone full time and have it done in a few weeks, but this way is MUCH cheaper! ;)

Permanent Marker

Arg! You'd think after our first incident (yesterday, coloring all over his left arm) we'd learn our lesson.

Nope. Not Mason. Not me. As I was distracted by a darling little baby (babysitting for my sister - she is a foster mom) Mason was up to NO good.




Yesterday when I found him with marker all over his arm I was so thankful that he didn't get it on anything else. Like his clothes, his face, the carpet.....................


Today, I'll be thankful that it isn't on his face?????? Or maybe that it isn't on his shirt? (b/c it IS on his pants AND my carpet!!!)


Ahhh...the joys of motherhood. I love my job. I love my job. I love my job. ;)

I really, really do love my job. Even on days like today. God bless!

Our Getaway...

We're home! Nick and I had a great time away! We stayed at the Embassy Suites by the river in Covington, KY. (aka Cincinnati)

When we got in on Friday, we decided to eat out at Macaroni Grill. We've heard that this is a fabulous place to eat, so we were super excited! We searched for it on our GPS - located one about 9 miles south and hit the road...........Only to arrive at a CLOSED Macaroni Grill 20 minutes later..........We were NOT excited. But we decided to have good attitudes and head for the Olive Garden we passed on the way (Italian really sounded yummy...). The food was wonderful and we even had enough left overs for lunch the next day! (this made my financially conservative husband VERY happy!)

Then we headed back to our hotel to order one of those "showing in theater" movies they provide on the TV. We rented one and enjoyed the evening together NOT playing Go Fish, NOT wiping noses, NOT changing diapers, NOT pouring yet another cup of milk, NOT spending 40 minutes brushing teeth, going potty, reading stories, and tucking in our boys. Now - don't get me wrong. I LOVE doing all these things and wouldn't change it for anything, but boy was it nice to get a small break! :)

On Saturday, we spent most of the day relaxing at the hotel, laying in the sun, and shopping. Sunday, we visited the Creation Museum. It was really cool! We loved the planetarium. For anyone who hasn't visited the creation museum, we highly suggest it!

Because it was only the 2 of us, we didn't take many pictures. Carter is into dinosaurs, so we did take some pictures by the dinos for him.

CAUTION: We are acting out for a 3 year old...These pictures are highly silly and we look really dorky...

Summertime Fun

The boys and I have really been having fun this summer. I LOVE being outside (as long as I am near water!) and so does Carter and Mason. Last week, we went swimming at Aunt Lynn's house. We had a great time, but we also got fried! Therefore, we spent several days inside recovering.

I seem to be getting a lot of the above faces lately...

This week, we went to the Gerber Pond with Amy, Hudson, and Cline and had a great time. Carter and Hudson are buddies - they played so well together.

This picture is of the boys playing in Hudson's "ocean". So funny!

On Tuesday evening, we went out to the new Splash Pad with Jenny & Kaden. We had a great time (despite the black bird that almost attacked the boys and DID attack a lady there...)






Well, Nick and I are off to Cincinatti this weekend. We will be visiting the Creation Museum and hopefully a water park or something. We are so excited! Have a good weekend!