Welcome Strawberry

Today was GPD - Guinea Pig Day.

We have been talking with the kids about getting a guinea pig for a while now. Having planned quite some time ago to be away last weekend, we told the kids that when we got back from this "vacation" we would go ahead and get it.

It was decided that Saturday (today) we would go and get their first pet.

Tuesday night while I was at a Bible study Dave and the kids went and got the cage and other needs for her home. Thursday night Matt and Dave assembled the cage.

After Tball practice, we headed to the one PetSmart store that sells female guinea pigs (all the others sell males). Sadly, they didn't have any and wouldn't have them until Thursday. The kids were disappointed. We came home to make a few calls and found 3 females at a local PetCo.

We headed there and there she was - Strawberry Oreo Wessel. The "oreo" was decided due to her look of brown on both ends and white in the middle. The kids got to pet her then she was put into her box and brought home.

Strawberry has to be in her cage for a day or so so she can get use to her new surroundings. The kids haven't left the basement since she came home except to bathe. Every now and then I hear them talking to her and I did hear Matt reading her a story.

I think Strawberry is going to be a good fit into the family!!! :)

TBall Begins

This week Matt started Tball practice, his first practice being Monday night.

We decided to have Matt do one more year of Tball as he only started playing last year.

He is loving it!!! He so enjoyed practice Monday and was ready to do extra practice at home. This afternoon he had his second practice and was excited to go.

Monday's, Dave is still still at work when practice happens, so I get to go those nights BUT Saturday is his day to help out.

Emily and I had a few errands to run and then met up with them at the field.

I love watching Dave and Matt together on the field.

The kids are doing so well and enjoying every minute of practice. We have some awesome coaches!!

It All Begins With a Picture

Today Emily and I made a trip to the Lodi Municipal Complex. Emily received a Social Studies assignment where she has to make a 3D rendering of a building in the community. Of course, Emily drew the town hall. Oh boy!!! Why not Dunkin Donuts?!!

Our Lodi town hall is the middle part of this building. Thankfully, I have become a pro of cutting foam board and Emily loves crafting and creating. We got the board in order to make the model today. It is going to be a busy couple of weeks for us. The project is due March 29th. We will see how close a rendering is produced. Wish us luck!!!

The Greatest Show on Earth

On Friday, Matt had his school field trip to the Ringling Brothers Circus.

I think the last time Matt was at the circus was when he was 3 years old.

It was a great show. Matt's favorite parts were the Ninja and Shaolin warrior performances and then of course the motorcycle cage.

I was able to go with him as a chaperone for the event.

What surprised me most was that the souvenir Matt decided to get was the program book. I think he is starting a "program" collection. He now has one from the circus and Monster Tuck Jam.

A "Clear" View

Yesterday the weather here in NJ was beautiful so I took advantage of the opportunity to clean all the windows in the house.

Later as I admired my handiwork (and soothed my sore muscles), I thought about what people see when they look through our windows. Hmmm?? How do they see our family, how we interact with each other? Of course, this made me look internally at how I "look" from the outside.

Do people see that I am a child of God? Do I reflect the relationship I have with my God? When I interact with Dave and the kids, do they see my love for them?

God has really been working on my relationship with Him. As I grow closer with Him, I have an even greater desire to show Him through my daily interactions. God has been giving me opportunities to be bold in my faith and I've been doing just that, being bold. I'm sure He has provide opportunities before but I either wasn't listening or was "afraid" to step out.

I've always been ready to "serve" my family but I think it was more out of my obligation as a wife and mother not really in the submissive way God desires. I'm realizing more and more the joys and blessings God provides in the daily in and outs.

I love the saying that "When we put God first, all other things will fall into their proper place." Does it mean things will be easy? Not necessarily BUT if God is first in my life what He is sending is right. It may not be part of my "plan" but it is God's and that is SO MUCH BETTER!!!

I'll leave you with this thought, "What do people see when they look in your windows?"

Yard Work the Hard Way

The kids love being outside and the warm weekend has gotten them into the "gardening" spirit.

After practicing for T-Ball tomorrow and a game of flag football, Matt got busy helping Dave with weeding while Emily finished her homework.

When she finished her work, Emily headed out to help and get in a little scootering and bicycling.

At one point, Dave and I were working on something in the house and after a period of time I decided to check on the kids.

This is what I found them doing.....trimming the needles on the pine tree with their "school" scissors. So funny!!!! Matt was putting them in a bucket...I have no idea why.

Emily decided to move her small painted birdhouse from the front of our house into the pine tree - see the red inside the tree? She figured that a small bird will love it as their new home.

By the way, both kids are wearing their new Crocs......Matt's are red and Emily chose these mustard yellow ones, she loves bright colors!!

Book Report #2 - Done!!!

Thankfully by Thursday night Emily had completed all of her work on her second book report for the school year. She worked very diligently on it every night last week so that it would be done before we left for our weekend getaway.

Today when we got back home all we needed to do was put it in the binder and attach the pictures. I think making the pictures is Emily's favorite part of doing the book reports.

It is due tomorrow so it is in her backpack ready to be handed in.

Going Hawaiian!

Emily was in "paradise" this weekend when she was able to get Hawaiian pancakes for breakfast. It was a short stack topped with pineapple and whipped cream, sprinkled with flakes of coconut and dusted with powdered sugar. She LOVED them!!

Emily told the waitress that they should have Parisian pancakes. Her suggestion was that they could make an Eiffel Tower out of bacon.....only Emily!!!!

A Weekend Away

We love our family get aways. This weekend we headed back to the timeshare in Pennsylvania where we stayed in December. This visit we were able to stay in the newer development.

The kids were very excited to go. Emily already had her clothes packed on Thursday after school. The only thing they had to get together Friday after school were their backpacks and videos for the DVD player.

Dave was able to go into work early so he could get out early which allowed us to make great time getting there. After dinner, the kids and Dave headed to the pool while I got to relax in the quiet of our unit.

Funny thing was when they came back from the pool Emily had what looked like two black eyes. I asked what happened....it turns out she had her swimming goggles on so tight that she broke the blood vessels under her eyes -the left eye being worse than the right. Emily has learned the value of concealer at the age of 9.

Yesterday we went out to a local pancake place, went to one store then the kids wanted to go back to the snake and animal farm we went to during our last visit. When we got back to the resort, Dave took the kids to the game room. Emily is quite good at Guitar Hero. For dinner, the kids chose to have sushi so that is what we had. The kids got in pool time again after dinner - Emily didn't wear goggles.

Check out was at 10 this morning and thankfully we remembered to change the clocks so we made it out on time. After breakfast, we headed to the outlets to get Matt his Crocs for the summer - it is the only shoe he wears then. We also went to Totes to see about rain gear for the kids.

Sadly, when we got home and got everything unpacked, the kids were forced back to reality with having to complete their homework for tomorrow.

We had a wonderful time and the kids are anxious to go back. Matt told Dave last night he was "stressed because he didn't want to leave Pennsylvania". You've got to love his sentimental attitude.

A New Avenue

Friday was a great day for me. I was able to get my "required" cleaning done early and spent most of the afternoon crafting between packing for our mini family weekend get away.

I'm always trying to make different items. A few months back on a trip to my favorite craft store, Hobby Lobby, I purchased a plain wooden cross. I ended up being very pleased with the outcome. The cross is painted a beautiful chipotle red which coordinated very well with the scrapbook paper that I chose. The paper is actually from a Christmas collection and is called "Figgie pudding". To make it a little "special", I took some garnet gems and placed them on the cross sections of the circles and also some larger gems at the top, bottom and sides.

This is definitely an item that I will continue to make. I may just have a wall dedicated to crafted crosses in my house.

Almost Over!!

I told you about what has been keeping me busy during the day time hours but I must elaborate on the night time tasks.

Just before Winter Break, Emily was assigned another book report that had two required study guides along with the actual report. Thankfully we had the two second study guide, which was due Tuesday, done and ready to be turned in by Sunday.

As for the report, we are headed away for the weekend leaving Friday and coming back Sunday, so Emily had to have everything done by tonight - she wasn't to thrilled with the time crunch but it was either getting it done or not go away. Monday was writing the setting and creating the cover and setting picture; Tuesday was the main characters report and Emily wrote out her summary on the book; Wednesday, we reviewed and rewrote the summary (we kept the work simple so she could make it to AWANA); tonight Emily wrote out her book review.

Thankfully her regular homework load has been light this week so we could stay focused. BUT I still have Matt which means helping him with his homework, so you could say I am glad this report is almost over!!

Oh, I failed to mention that Emily got a Social Studies assignment on Monday which requires her to make a 3D model of a building in Lodi - she drew from the options the Town Hall. I know you saying "but it is crafting which is right up your alley" but did I mention it is due March 29th and Emily has to present it to the class. One assignment ends, another begins. Oh 3rd grade you are haunting me so!!! :)

A New Order

I've been meaning to get on here to blog but my days and nights have been filled with a flurry of activity.

Monday I started a new cleaning schedule as suggested in this book "The Good Wife's Guide" by Darlene Schacht. It seemed pretty straightforward and not as labor intensive.

A few tasks are done every day such as making sure beds are made, dishes done and laundry. Then throughout the day, you complete three 10 minute "tidy sessions" and one "shed your junk" session. Each day has a main task......Monday, the first day of the week is the bathrooms - my most disliked task!!! Tuesday the bedrooms, Wednesday the kitchen, Thursday grocery/errand day and Friday vacuuming and mopping all floors plus cleaning any common rooms that haven't been completed. Saturday is for outdoor yard work, garage and car clean up.

Sunday is church and family day.

I was excited to start it and even after a very full week (with one day and the weekend to go), I'm still pretty happy with the schedule.

Here is my issue which I'm sure all of you are well aware of my issue.....I can't just do things on a small scale.

The bathroom day was pretty straightforward. Did I like it....not in the least!! LOL!! I was able to spend my afternoon cutting the materials I needed for a banner I have to complete by Friday for a bridal shower. Oh, did I mention that I spent up until 11 shopping for cutting blades for my Cricut so I could cut above said materials. Cleaning started later than what I wanted but it got accomplished!

My big issue came on bedroom day. One of the things I love that she suggests in her book is that the bedrooms should be clutter free and havens for rest. Well, I'm not a clutter person but my book collection has grown and my dresser top was getting a little over taken by things. So, I was determined to clear things out. Our bedroom alone took me most of the morning. Boy, that doesn't sound like it should be that big of a deal but I failed to mention that this "decluttering" led to cleaning out the linen closet, my entire bedside table and the storage area behind our bed. I was able to do a quick dusting and vacuuming of the kids rooms....thankfully their rooms were still intact from the deep clean we did during winter break.

Yesterday was the kitchen...once again I couldn't do it small.... I ended up cleaning out all the drawers, the snack area and the cabinet above the fridge. Relocated some small appliances. Of course, I had to reorganize my cookbooks located in the dining room cabinet and because I had a few in the storage cube in the living room that became a cleaning target also and the rest of the books located in the living room. I told you I can't do SMALL!!! I did get time before getting the kids to do some more work on the banner - which I completed while the kids were at AWANA last night and delivered this morning.

Today I did the grocery shopping, ran a few errands then came home to work in my craft room. I have some "undone" projects that I wanted to get working on and I started cleaning out unneeded scrapbooks now that I will be doing Project Life.

So, as you can see my days have been filled and my nights well lets just say homework and dinner.....that pretty much sums up the evenings.

I do think this new schedule will get easier after all sooner or later I will have simplified our home so much I won't be able to go BIG!!! Yeah, right ......I'll always be going big if not in my home, someone else's.

Matt the Celebrity

Matt told me when he came out of school on Crazy Hat day that he was going to be in the newspaper. I questioned his comment a little and asked if someone took his picture in school. He told me again "I'm going to be in the paper." The next two days he looked at any paper he found here in the house.

Last night Dave was reading through his newspapers from the week which included our community newspaper. Sure enough there Matt was.

Thank you crazy hat day!!!

Reading More

In the last week, I've been trying to "unplug" and do more reading of books that status updates. I have also started leaving the house at 2:30 to go to the kids school and read while I wait for their 3:05 dismissal.

One of the books I completed just the other day is this book by Sara Horn called "My So-Called Life as a Proverbs 31 Wife".

It is a light read of a woman doing a year long experiment on trying to emulate the Proverbs 31 wife and her results.

My usual book selection are ones where I receive directions or useful tips that I can implement in my life. It wasn't until the final chapter that I found my "tidbit" of wisdom to write down, post and live by. Here it is: "Saying we need balance implies making things equal. And God is not equal with anything. Or anyone. God comes first. Period. And by placing Him first, the rest comes together."

How true is this!!! When our focus is on God, everything else in life will come together just as He has planned......not always as we had planned but if we are walking with Him and in Him what we have "planned" is what God has planned for us.

Oh on a side note - my "unplugging" is from my MAC and Facebook not from my new Kindle Fire where I am downloading new reading material. Also, I have a new commitment to making sure I keep blogging to keep you all up to date. You can still call and talk to us though, even though you know most of the happenings of our lives. :)

The Things Kids Say...

This morning while I was buttoning Matt's shirt before church I told him he was such a handsome boy and that some day a girl was going to fall in love with him and marry him. I also told him he could be a dad just like his dad. Then I asked how many kids he would have and he said "1,000". I said, "1,000?" He then said, "1,000 boys and 100 girls". I reacted with "that's a lot of kids". He responded, " I don't want to be a dad, I want to be a fireman." Our boy is very consistent in his future career. I did tell him he could be both...a dad and a fireman - no response from him. Matt always makes me smile with the things he says ..... he is my personal humorist.

Ahhh....More Organization!!!

If you know me at all, you know how much I love to organize and be organized.

I've been wanting to find a way to store the pictures of the items I've crafted. I like having a hard copy of them in case I need to show anyone what I've done. I so didn't want to have a bunch photo albums, they take up too much space.

So, my solution was I sorted the pictures by category (picture frames, photo cubes, letters, etc.) then I hole punched them and attached them with binder rings. The binder rings make it very easy to add more photos.

I am actually pretty please with this solution.

Project Life Begins

Scrapbooking has begun again here at the Wessel home.

I opened the packet of Project Life materials and started by putting together the happenings of last week's Winter Break. It was a little difficult. There is a limit of how many pictures you can use and then there is the "limit" of how the pages are set up for vertical and horizontal pictures. Also, my digital photos are not the typical 4x6 size they are a little smaller so I had to make up for that "lost" space. The nice thing is I am able to use the paper and embellishments I am already well supplied with. My lack of scrapbooking these last few years sadly didn't stop my purchasing of materials when my "creative effort" was on hiatus.

Doing this layout will make me more deliberate with my photo taking. I will definitely be doing an equal amount of vertical & horizontal photos - I've noticed I like to take most pictures horizontally. Also, I will take more day to day photos too.

The best part is that I was able to get it all completed, journaling included, in one day.

I do plan on working forward and backward at the same time.....should be interesting but it has to get done. Glad to be back in the groove.

Mr. Clean Is Back!!

Matthew is a boy after my own heart, he loves to clean. This morning he had another "moment" of cleaning. He pulled out the Wet Jet and felt the need to mop. This is a new Wet Jet.....I had to toss the other as it seemed that in addition to spritzing it was leaking cleaning fluid out the bottom. When Matt pulled it out of the closet, he noticed it was different and said "mom, I love the design on this".

I just pray the design continues to fuel his desire to clean!! Thank you for your service, little man. ;)

The Pain of Learning!

On Thursday after we got home from school, I heard a very loud, upset "oh no" from Emily who was in her room. She came out almost in tears showing me this gaping hole in the bottom of her backpack. Emily asked if I could fix it and I told her honestly that I just couldn't.

There have been times, more than I care to count or admit to out of the premise of abuse, where her backpack has probably weighed more than her. I feel so bad when I see her hunched under the strain of the materials in that bag.....which in the morning usually includes a full lunch bag.

Thankfully, she still had her messenger bag which she had started with at the beginning of the year, but switched to the backpack because of how heavy the bag was all the time.

Lets face it March is really not the time to be looking for a school backpack, so I am hoping that she can make it through these last 4 months with the messenger bag. She is willing to try but I have a feeling I will be lugging that bag from and to the car on a daily basis. Not only will she need a chiropractor to align her, I will too! Oh the pain of learning....who knew it would be so literal.

Obsessed with the Lorax

The kids have been eagerly anticipating the release of the Dr. Seuss Lorax movie.....it has been marketed very well and my kids have taken in every advertisement.

This week at school they had their annual book fair. On Monday, Emily received a pamphlet of the books that would be available for purchase. Matt made sure he perused Emily's as his wasn't sent in his folder that night.

Sure enough, there it was a book "Look for the Lorax". This along with "If You Give a Dog a Donut" were the only books Matt wanted.

On Wednesday, he went down to buy his books but the Lorax book wasn't in yet. So, he brought his money home. At night, I asked him if he still wanted to get it and sure enough he did. Back the envelope went in his backpack.

I got a call midday from a friend working the sale who advised that the book still wasn't in and wanted to make sure that was the only book he was to get. Silly me, I forgot to cross off that he already got the other book.....he did tell them he got it but they wanted to be sure.

Matt came out of school with these little trees he made at school. Oh, this week has been the celebration of Dr. Seuss's birthday too. Of course, the movie is about trees. As he got closer to me, he was all excited he told me he got his book. Of course, I told him no it was coming tomorrow and he corrected me......they did get a shipment in late in the day and my friend, Dawn, made sure he got it.

Dawn called me later that afternoon to tell me that I have a hilarious son. She had told him the day before he would get it today, so when he went to get the book he went straight to her and said "you got my book". She had to tell him "no" assured him he would have it Friday. Dawn said he wasn't happy that the book wasn't in. Later when they did get in, she said the look on his face was priceless when he saw she had it. He was ecstatic. Matt's teacher told her that when he came up from the sale he said "man, they still don't have my book".

Now back the the trees. As we were getting out of the car after school, I told Matt that the "trunks" look like bees - black and yellow. He was quick to show me his book and say "mom that is the color they are suppose to be....see". Sure enough they are black and yellow. I guess he does pay attention to detail.....I know he pays attention to advertisements.

Matthew the Slug

Since the kids returned to school on Monday, they have been moving very slowly in the morning. Funny how when they were on break they had no trouble getting up every morning before 7 but now getting up before 7:30 is impossible and pure torture.

Matt definitely favors sleeping in. His new waking routine includes coming out of his room under his Wall-E blanket and scooting down the hallway. He comes to the kitchen, gets his breakfast plate, takes it under the blanket and scoots back to his room. Basically he eats breakfast in bed.

The one morning as he was making his way down the hallway, Dave said he moves like a slug......hence, he is now "Matthew the slug".

Who knows when this phase will end but in the mean time so long as we get out the door for school on time I'll go with the flow.

God's Got This!

I've come to the realization that since October of last year God has and still is stretching my faith. It is not that I did not have faith in Him before but I did tend to only come to Him when things were in a bad way, not in the good times. I admit my relationship with God was not what it should be and I am still working daily to make it what it should be.

Within the last month, I feel like God has been talking to me through different situations. He has been putting things on my heart and leading me to focus on why I am here on this earth. My life is not for my purpose, it is for His purpose. In the last two weeks, I have been blessed with opportunities where I could be bold in my faith, I feel the stir in my heart to step out and praise God He has given me the courage to be bold and speak.

Our pastor has been preaching a series on "worry" and "casting our cares upon Him." The problem is that I tend to take the worries back when I don't see God working....but the truth is He doesn't say how things will work together for good and He's not "required" to give me a time frame either.

Dave still doesn't have a permanent job - God's got this!

We have no medical insurance as of March 13 - God's got this!

God has shown me ways of provision over the last few weeks and He is telling me "just trust me" and so I lay these situations at His feet.

With Dave's employment future still unknown but in God's hands, we find ourselves stepping out in faith regarding our children's education. Recently Dave and I both have felt the desire to send Emily and Matt to Hackensack Christian Schools. Yesterday I visited the school and got the information regarding tuition. I sit here smiling because I know logically this is so not the "time" to be bringing the expense of private school on our plate and yet I feel God saying this is what He wants for them and us. So, we are stepping out on faith, trusting that if this is what God wants to happen He will provide. Will it be an easy provision, probably not but in the "uneasiness" of this God will receive all the glory.

My reason for writing this post is not to make it sound like I've become the "perfect" Christian and that I will never have moments of worry, I've had moments even in the weeks God has been working in me but when I feel those moments arise I know where to go, to God in prayer.

I wanted to share this decision regarding the kids schooling with you so that you who will will lift our decision and the financial provision up to God in prayer. God will have them at that school next year if this is what He wants for them.

Please continue to uplift our family in prayer as we pray for each of you in your lives and the situations God has you in. Remember as Christians our life is not our own, all is for bringing about glory and praise to HIM!!!