The wait is over!

Something has happened in our garden area that we've been waiting for all summer long.

Want to know what it is?

Nope--it's not the sunflowers, but they are really looking beautiful!

It's not even this corn that has grown so much these past couple of weeks.

And although the potatoes are ready to be harvested, it's not this either.

Okay--you can take a look now:

Yipee! We got our first two eggs. Quentin came in yesterday afternoon and was so excited to show me.

They are smaller than our store-bought eggs, but they look great! Can't wait to use them soon. They should get bigger as time goes on.

I asked Q what chicken he thought gave us those eggs. He thinks that it came from Mary Poppins (the golden one between the two black ones).

As I went around with the camera this morning taking pictures, I had a hard time with the chickens, as they kept following me around. I thought I was going to miss the above shot as they ran towards me so fast! Then, as I zoomed in on Turkey Lurkey, she got really curious with the camera. It took me a few tries to get this picture:

I can't wait until all of the chickens start laying eggs. We're going to have a ton of eggs once they get going. Anyone want to come and get some? We'll have plenty for you!:)

I think I might just have to have one (or a bunch!)...

Some time last week, while I was at home, Q called me from one of his favorite stores--JAX. He told me that they were selling chicks there and that he just had to tell me about them. He has been interested in having a couple of chickens for quite a while now. It would be great to have eggs to enjoy (and some to sell, too.) Plus, I love animals and these critters would be fun to have around.

I really wanted to see the chicks, so we went to JAX today to take a close look...

Aren't they just adorable? There were a few different varieties to look at.

We're not ready to buy any at this time, as we have to get things in place for them. But, oh, I wanted to bring a couple of them home today.

I think this one wanted to come home with us, don't you think?

So, do you think we'll have some chickens some day soon? I'll keep you posted!

Out with the old...in with the new!

When I moved to Colorado thirteen years ago, I came without a car--and even a driver's license! But during that first year of teaching, I worked on getting my license and saved some cash to put a down payment on a used car.

In October of 1998, I came home with this beauty:

It's a 1989 Plymouth Reliant. The Lord gave it to me at an affordable price and allowed me to use it for twelve years.

I remember driving it to work the day after I bought it and sharing with my students how God was taking care of my needs. At the end of the day, I took this picture of them. I let them take turns sitting in the back seat and turning on the motor for them to hear it. They even wanted to hear how the radio sounded and feel the air conditioning. We named my car "Speedy Gonzales" as a joke since it was an older car. Just thinking about this story makes me laugh and brings sweet memories of those kids.

For the last couple of years, I've wondered how much longer old Speedy would last. These past few months, it hasn't done well--stalling and making me so nervous to drive. With our foster-adoption process moving faster than we even thought and with my car not doing so well, we decided to start praying and looking for a newer used vehicle that would suit our needs. We wanted a reliable car that would fit some kiddos safely in the back seats.

We made our purchase today so I would like to introduce our 2009 Honda Odyssey to you (pardon the picture quality--it was taken with my phone since we haven't replaced our missing camera yet)....

Isn't she a beauty?(If you'd like to see a better picture, click here.) We're so thankful to the Lord for providing this vehicle. It is reliable and has low miles in it...plus, we'll be ready for however many kids God gives us!

By the way, we haven't named it yet, but I doubt we will. Getting that first car and sharing it with my students was a whole different story! Oh...and Speedy Gonzalez got traded in at the dealership for a small amount, but he's out of our hands. I don't miss him one bit!;)

Sweet Baby Faces

Don't you just love sweet baby faces? With his big brown eyes, long eyelashes and a winning smile, I couldn't help but take many pictures of my nephew, Eli. These are a few of my favorite pictures from my trip...

I love the spiky hair. ;)

Look at those dimples!

Looking out the window is one of Eli's favorite things to do.

I'm not sure what he was laughing about, but he was sure having a good time.;)

While on the swing, the airplane in the sky caught Eli's attention.

Next up...t-shirt creations with Mia and Jaden.:)

Jaden as Spiderman

One of Jaden's favorite things is super heros. We all laughed as he walked out of his room wearing his Spiderman costume. He's so cute....

I've been awarded...

...with two awards from Amanda at Mommy's Idea Book! I'm really excited because I get to pass on the awards to some fabulous bloggers. 

For the "One Lovely Blog Award" you need to:

1. Give thanks and link to the person who gave it to you.

2. Pass this award on to 15 fantastic bloggers you've recently discovered.

3. Contact bloggers and tell them that they've won.

For the "Beautiful Blogger" award you need to:

1. Give thanks and link to the person who gave you the award.

2. Pass this award on to 15 fantastic bloggers you've recently discovered.

3. Contact bloggers and tell them that they've won.

4. List seven things about yourself.

Here are the bloggers I'm giving these awards to:

*The Norske Castle

* Erin's Corner of the World

* Pharm Girl

*Crafterhours

*Daily Pleasures

*Happy to be called "Mommy!"

*The Stay-at-home-missionary

*Amy Loves it!

*Having Fun at Home

*A Steady Rain

*Frugal Ideas from the Parsonage

*Indietutes

*Ruffles and Stuff

*Amy's Finer Things

*MADE

Congratulations! You all make my days sweeter when I get to read about your lives, passions and creative ideas.:) And now for the seven things about me....

1. The first part of my name, "Theo" came from two maternal grandmothers. Most people ask me where the name comes from right after I meet them.

2. My favorite color is blue.

3. I was nine years old when I experienced snow for the first time. (I grew up in San Francisco!)

4. I like to organize things--A LOT!

5. I had the honor to sing the National Anthem at a Colorado Eagles Hockey game. 

6. I currently make almost everything we eat from scratch, including, bread, tortillas, ice cream, hamburger buns, granola bars, baking mix, etc, etc, etc,....

7. Being with children gives me a smile inside and out. :)

Have a great evening, everyone! Hope you're enjoying the spring where ever you are.

Our time at the stock show

This past Friday, Q and I went to the National Western Stock Show in Denver. He invited Hugh to go along with us. He is a real cowboy and knows all there is to know about riding horses and roping cattle. He is a funny character and always makes me laugh at church. Today he said, "Hi there, barrel racing girl." We did see some barrel racing girls at the stock show, but I wasn't one of them! I really like horses, but haven't ridden one in a long time. I don't consider myself a cowgirl by any means!

During the show, Hugh talked about how the cowboys were doing things with the animals. He still remembers things from his ranch days long ago.

Along with bull riding, cowboys rode on bucking broncos. I'm glad that some of them chose to wear a helmet. No one got hurt badly, but there was one who had his leg caught under a horse after it fell down. 

Half way through the show, they brought out these beautiful Clydesdales pulling a wagon.

One of the neatest things to watch was two cowboys roping a calf. One would get the rope around its neck while the other got his back legs. The calves seemed so helpless, but they weren't hurt one bit.

Q and I had a great time being together. We also enjoyed our time with Hugh. Ministry isn't just about being an encouragement and help at church. It goes beyond that. I'm thankful that we can be a blessing to others in different settings. With Hugh, we were at a place that was just perfect for him. And that made our hearts smile.

Animal crackers and cocoa to drink

I enjoyed a fun activity with Kyla this week that I just had to share with all of you.....

Animal Crackers

Animal crackers and cocoa to drink,

  That is the finest of suppers, I think;

    When I'm grown up and can have what I please

  I think I shall always insist upon these.

What do you choose when you're offered a treat?

When Mother says, "What would you like best to eat?"

Is it waffles and syrup, or cinnamon toast?

It's cocoa and animals that I love the most.

The kitchen's the cosiest place that I know:

The kettle is singing, the stove is aglow,

And there in the twilight, how jolly to see,

The cocoa and animals waiting for me.

Daddy and Mother dine later in state,

With Mary to cook for them, Susan to wait;

But they don't have nearly as much fun as I

Who eat in the kitchen with nurse standing by;

And Daddy once said he would like to be me

Having cocoa and animals once more for tea!

--Christopher Marley

Aren't her eyes just beautiful? And check out that chocolate mustache!:)

While I read the poem to her, she loved eating this snack after her nap. I'll share the cracker and cocoa recipes soon. Stay tuned!

The best way to lose weight--guaranteed!

As Q has been sorting through things at the church, he's come across some items that will be helpful to him in ministry. He found one thing though that could be a big help to us as we're working hard to lose weight. It's a pretty old weight loss kit--the date on it says 1965! He brought it home one day last week and told me to take a look at it.

It's pretty fascinating, don't you think? See what's inside.....

Funny, eh? It gave us both some chuckles, but I don't think this will really help us out!

What do ya think? ;)

Sweet boy Canon

I'm glad that from time to time, Q and I are able to see our nephews and nieces. We have eleven of them, and they all live in different areas of the country. I had a great time getting to know Canon better during our holiday trip.

He made me laugh by some of the things he said, and also by the things he did. Whenever we rode in the Suburban, I rode in the back with him. One day seemed exceptionally cold, so when I got into my seat I said, "Brrr, I'm cold." Canon said, "I'm not. I'm always warm." Then, he grabbed my hand and said, "Here", as he warmed it with his hands. He looked at me and gave me a cute smile while he did so. I thanked him for making me feel warm again. Isn't that sweet?

I don't know if you could tell by this picture what it is we're doing, but we're having a "cross-eyed staring" contest initiated by Canon. He's such a nut! I'm so glad we had some real fun times together.

Q and I pray for our nephews and nieces on a regular basis. We primarily pray that if they're not saved yet that they would be saved soon. We pray that God works in their young hearts. 

We're thankful for the few days we got to spend with Canon. We love him to pieces!:)

Church service by...flashlight?

We had a great Sunday--the morning church service went well and the weather was beautiful. Around four o'clock, a few friends of ours from Fort Collins came down to join us for an early dinner and evening church service.

While Q was leading songs, I sat in a pew with our friends, the Russell's and Heather Berger. Something we do on Sunday nights is choose favorites from the hymnal to sing. It is always a neat time that we have singing praises to the Lord. 

We had just begun singing one of the songs when all of a sudden, the organ stopped working and all the lights went out! The sound of voices fainting in the darkness was surreal. There was hardly any light from outside, so it was pitch black in the church auditorium. As soon as this happened, one of the church members started singing a little tune to the effect that "when the lights were out, the preaching was over!" Everyone roared with laughter!!

While Pastor Kemper, Q and a couple men went to see what to do, we continued singing songs a cappella. They tried the breaker downstairs, but there was nothing wrong. One look outside told us that the electricity had gone out in part of the neighborhood. It also meant that the power outage had affected the parsonage, too--our house! I had a quick thought that perhaps we could finish the service at our home, but now knew it wouldn't work out.

After finding a few flashlights, the service continued. It was suggested that we sing, "Send the Light!" and perhaps the lights would go back on. But then someone else said that it should be our prayer. We all giggled at that one, too. After the special number, Pastor Kemper gave his sermon with a flashlight at the pulpit. We sang a closing hymn and prayed. It was such a fun and interesting church service. I'm sure it will be one that we and our friends won't ever forget!

Because there was no electricity at our place, Q and I decided to drive around because there was nothing we could do in the dark (except sleep, but it was too early) while we waited to see if the electricity would come back on. We ended up at Borders and then at Red Robin for a snack. When we got home, everything was in working order! We were thankful that we'd have heat and working appliances through the night.

Have any of you ever had an interesting and/or funny church service like what we had last night? I would love to hear your stories!

The funny things kids say, part 2

It's the end of "back to school" week, so I wanted to end this series of posts the same way I started them. I hope the ideas given were a help to you! 

So here you go....more funny things kids say from the kindergarten classroom:

"Miss Padilla, I know what pretzels are made of." 

"What?, I said.

"Wood."

The same boy said later, "Miss Padilla, I know where skittles come from."

"Where?", I said.

"Rainbows."

During center time, one of the boys said, "Look at David. He's a working man." This was so cute because David was building something with blocks.

One day after lunch, I was helping Joseph tuck in his shirt and I commented on his pull-up pants. I told him they were neat to have because they were easy. Then he said, "Do you have some pull-up pants?"

Daniel said, "Do you know what I want to be when I grow up?"

"What?", I said.

"A man."

After recess one day I told David that his hair was sticking up because he had been playing so hard outside. He agreed with me and said, "My hair sticks up because it's like straw."

One day in class, I told the students to draw a picture of a sound they hear at night (i.e. trucks, owls, crickets, etc.). One girl, Maddie, drew a picture of a night sky. I asked her what sound she heard at night. She said, "I can hear the stars go 'twinkle, twinkle, twinkle'."

Jimmy told me that some people live to be one hundred, and some do not. He said that when I reach one hundred years of age, the school is going to have to get a new teacher for the class.

We had a lesson with one of our readers. The story was called, "Come back, bug." We had a discussion about bugs, mostly about ants. I started mentioning fire ants to the class when Hunter raised his hand. He asked, "How do ants shoot fire from their mouths?" Of course, I had to explain what fire ants did to be given that name!

One day in Bible class I said, "What did God give Adam that He didn't give the animals?" The real answer is "a soul that can never die." Alysia raised her hand and said, "A wife!"

Have an enjoyable and fun school year!

The funny things kids say

It's "back to school" week here in town, so I wanted to dedicate these next few posts to anything and everything that has to do with school. I'll share some memories of my teaching, along with some fun activities, new and old that will be helpful. If you're a teacher or home schooling parent, I hope I can be a help to you this week!

I wanted to start off by sharing with you something that I began doing when I first started teaching. This journal you see was a gift to me and in it, I recorded funny memories that I had with my students. I still laugh when I read them now.

So here you go...a few of the funny things kids say:

During one of my third grade teaching years, I was teaching the class the four kinds of sentences. I was demonstrating an imperative sentence by singing, "Smile, you're on candid camera!" Time passed, and I decided to say, "Smile..." and the class concluded, "you're on candid camera!" It was very hard to stop laughing!

One of my students said, "In kindergarten, I never wanted to take a nap. Now in third grade, I can't wait to."

When talking about oysters in Science class, I asked the students to share an example of an irritation they encounter now, which turns out for the better in the end. I called on Danny and he said, "GIRLS!"

And now, some from those cute kindergarteners I had!

One of the boys was behind the bench at the playground. I asked him what he was doing. It looked like he was "stretching out." He said he was pumping up his legs to run faster!

At the beginning of the year, I kept emphasizing the importance of "ladies first." So at the playground, I'd remind the boys of that and they would always let the girls pass the gat first. Then, one day, the boys let the girls in, then they went in except for one boy. I said, "Derrick, don't you want to go in and play?" He said, "You said to let the ladies in first, so go on in." My heart just melted.

One day during Bible class, we were talking about all the animals God led into the ark. I asked the class if they thought fish were put in the ark. Most of them said "no," but then one of the boys had an interesting comment. He said, "Noah could have had a fish tank inside the ark!"

One day Phillip said, "Miss Padilla, I ordered a peroni pizza for lunch. I love peroni pizza!" 

One of the boys said, "Miss Padilla, don't we get a surprise for cleaning up the toys fast?" I said, "I don't always give treats for that, but if you know Jesus, then one day when you're in Heaven, He'll give you a reward." Then his face lit up and said, "YEAH! I'm getting candy when I get to Heaven!"

Derrick said to me, "You're awesome!" "I am?" "Yes you are," he said. "You have the same kind of glue stick as me!"

Stick around this week, and I'll share some more cute and funny sayings that my students said later! Hope your kids and grandkids are enjoying going back to school.:)

My Garden: the wildflower update

The wildflower seeds that we planted are growing more and more all the time. We've had a mixture of rain and sun lately--so wonderful for growing plants.

I can't wait to see what happens with these flowers. Right now they are nothing but green stems and lots of leaves.

I wanted to show you these growing plants, but the real reason for this post is to show you something else that's been lurking around my garden...

I have seen this same squirrel a few times hanging around our place. When I had the tomato plants in the pots, I caught him digging dirt in one of them! This picture of him rubbing his belly on the fence is just too funny! I'm glad that the tomato plants are in our friend's garden, but I still have to be careful. I don't want him getting into my beautiful strawberry plant. Yikes!

I was featured!

I knew it was going to happen soon.

You want to know what it is?

Well, I was featured for the third time in All You Magazine! I sent in a tip a few months back and they liked it. They told me in an e-mail that it would be featured in their July issue. I signed up to be a "reality checker" a couple years ago, so I get e-mails every now and then that ask several questions. I answer whatever I can and see if it will get published.

My tip and picture are on page 21. The article is called, "Slash your grocery bills in half." I wrote about how I make mixes and staples in my kitchen to save money.

This is the cover of the issue which is available now for purchase at your nearest Wal-mart! What I enjoy about the magazine is that it has tips for lots of areas of your life. From recipes, to saving money, to health and beauty, this magazine has it all!  And it's cheap, too! Even if you use only a couple of the coupons inside, you'll probably pay for the cost of it--and maybe more. Sign up to be a reality checker and you'll also get a surprise package in the mail around Christmas time. 

I've been thinking about writing a post about things we've been doing to save money, and I will definitely write my tip that I gave All You Magazine. Be on the lookout....

A conversation with Mia

I love talking with my five-year-old niece, Mia.  She is one bright and inquisitive girl. I had a fun talk with her yesterday on the phone, and I thought you all would enjoy a bit of our conversation.

Hi Mia.  How was school today?

Good.

Hey, did Mommy show you the pictures of the snow that I sent her in that e-mail?

Yes, but you know what?  It didn't look real to me.  It looked like pretend snow.

Well, it wasn't pretend, Mia.  It was the real thing.

But it's not winter anymore.  It's spring.  It can't snow in the spring!

Yes it can.

But how did it do it?

Well...it just happened.  God made it snow.

Oh.... Guess where I'm at.

Okay.  Are you in your bedroom?

No.

Are you in the play room?

How did you know?

Um...you told me to guess, so that's what I guessed.

Well, I've got to go. I love you. Bye!

I laughed after having that little talk with her.  She's so funny!  She wants to see snow so badly, so I've invited her to come to Colorado any time she wants.  Someday she'll see that the snow here is real and not pretend.

The picture below of her and Uncle Q is priceless.  I don't remember what they were talking about, but they were sure having a good time.

Sweet, isn't it?