Molly & Myles Visit the Fort 'O Fun

Today my littlest sister, Molly and her 1-month-old baby, Myles came to visit. Mom & dad came along to see us, too. We had a nice time together, playing outside on the swingset, Olivia rode her bike with Grandma Hunteman, and then we met Dan for lunch at McAllister's. 

After lunch we walked around Jefferson Pointe and checked out some stores (Mainstream Boutique, Von Maur, Old Navy, and Michael's). 

Then mom & dad took Olivia & Gabe back to the house to nap while Molly, Myles & I continued to shop. It was great sister/nephew time! 

Next time we will venture down to Indy and visit them, but we are glad they came this way today! 

Blessings,

Amy

Power of Prayer

This is just a post of thanks for answered prayers. The answers may not always be exactly what I want but it is all part of God's great plan! 

Thanks be to God! For God, friendship is laying down your life for someone else out of an abundance of love. 

Jesus laid down his life for us, and his command is that we follow his example. In prayer, that means we lay down our worldly passions and become preoccupied with God’s glory instead. That is what it really means to pray in the name of Jesus. 

Amen

8th Wedding Anniversary in Pictures

We celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary at Joseph Decuis. It was absolutely lovely! Highly recommend!

Our day in pictures

Today started out with taking Winston to get groomed. Our vet recommended a place called Paws n Claws Pet Palace,  so we tried it and I was very impressed with their service all around. It's really clean inside, the workers are professional and attentive, and it's reasonably priced. 

Then we ran a couple errands at Meijer. I needed to get printer ink and of course Olivia & Gabe needed to ride Sandy. We were able to see Grandma Rhonda at her work, which the kids loved. 

Then we came home to have arts & crafts time, where we painted sun catchers. This was actually a fun, not too messy craft that the kids enjoyed. 

Afterwards they insisted playing with Play-Doh, which is a mess, but they enjoyed themselves and that's all that matters. 

I tried to clean while they played. Then I was called to pick up Winston from the groomer. He looked incredible! 

Then I fed my kids lunch and Dan came home to see us during his lunch. The kids took naps and I worked on my own things. 

Their naps ended sooner than expected, so I let them play outside while I worked on the deck. It was a beautiful day! 

Then after playing it was time to get to church for a meeting. The kids played in the nursery with our awesome nursery volunteer (Beth). She's such a blessing!

Olivia talks so much about her and how much she enjoys seeing her.

After the meeting got out we sat out back and enjoyed the rest of our evening watching O&G jump on the new trampoline and play in the swing set. 

I just love summer, time with the kids, and serving our wonderful parish! 

Well it's getting late so I better get some shut eye but tomorrow will be our 8th Wedding Anniversary! There are so many things to be thankful for in this life! Gabe just turned 3 (which I will blog on tomorrow). There are endless ways in which the good Lord has blessed us abundantly! Open your heart to HIM and your cup shall overflow with joy!

Green Thumb Challenge

I've never been able to keep my hanging flower baskets alive. I water them, give them plant food, put in the right extra soil to pot it correctly, and I'm still killing the poor hanging baskets. I've killed 2 already this season. Any advice??? I love the look of hanging baskets on my front porch and am near to considering artificial plants in the hanging baskets. Wouldn't that be a something?! Ha! I need help please~

Broken ipad

I knew the day would come but I just didn't want to acknowledge that my intuition was a reality...Olivia dropped my ipad on the tile floor, cracking the screen all across the front.

You see, it's honestly my own fault for letting her play with it. They really do have great learning apps for preschoolers that she enjoys. Well, apparently she liked my ipad so much that she took it with her to the BATHROOM and dropped it. Little did I know that she had it in the bathroom with her because I was letting the dog go potty. Oh the great juggling act~

Then I had to face the music and tell Dan....luckily he was nice enough and wanted me to find out a way to get it fixed.

Here's where it gets tricky. I called Apple, and because its out of warranty, they'd charge me ~$250 to send it back to them and have them fix it. Or I could drive to an Apple Store and pay to get it fixed (too far away at 2 hours away for any stores). Or I could buy a new screen on the internet and repair it myself (looks too tricky). Or they suggested getting a new ipad which was not my plan bc then if be looking at way more than I wanted to spend to fix this mistake. OR, the rep told me that he can't "officially recommend" this but I should look into a local electronic repair place and get it fixed that way. He suggested that I call Best Buy to ask them where they'd recommend.

So I did and apparently the ONLY local repair shop of that kind is called Cell Tech at Glenbrook Mall (across from Radio Shack). My first impression of this place was not so good. It's like a convenient store, cell phone accessories, and cell/ipad repair store all rolled into one. I got a quote of $125 to fix it and was told it would take a couple days, as there were 2 iPads in front of mine. I gave him my ipad to fix.

I honestly wasn't sure if I'd ever see my expensive device again. I had Dan remote erase my ipad data. Then several days went by and I still hadn't heard from Cell Tech, so I called them and they said it would be ready the next night.

I picked my ipad up tonight and had to wait because the tech broke my screen again once he fixed it. But long story short, it's finally fixed and I'm going to get a better case on it and not leave it with the kids!

Lesson learned~