Church family.

This past weekend reminded me of how much a church can become like family. Saturday night at church I was working on slides for the sermon, announcements and songs. I get very into looking at the monitor while I am doing this and I don't pay much attention to those around me. So, I about jumped out of my skin when Dennis Patty came into the A/V room and said my name really loud...he finds this very funny, because he did the very same thing last week. I would like to think I would remember from week to week that he is going to do this, but no matter what I don't seem to. Well, he thought it was so funny that he told Pastor Kris that he should do the same thing to me. So, Dennis stood down on the stage and Pastor Kris snuck up on me (he was much more sneaker than he needed to be, I had no clue he was even coming up stairs...once again being totally into my work) and he poked his head into the A/V room and yelled my name....I seriously jumped really high! (During this time, Dennis is down on the stage watching me through my window laughing his head off at me as I jumped.) I am really glad they did not have a video camera on me, for fear that it would be posted on youtube by now. I felt like I was being picked on by brothers or something.

Then on Sunday it was nice hanging out with our church family at Arbys. It was nice knowing we were supporting the Pfohl's and we also got to sit around and chat with different friends from church. It has been kind of cool the past 2 weekends the church has done something were we could all get together. I always come away from these times telling Dwayne just how good it feels to belong to a church that we really feel apart of. I think it really helps that we both serve in different areas of the church. I strongly feel the best way to feel like part of a church is to get in and serve...give your time for others, get to know others and it is amazing how much more relaxed you start to feel. I like feeling that I can be myself, no matter how weird that is...and it can be pretty weird. I also like watching how comfortable my children are with everyone. After all the different churches I have been to, it feels really good to be at home.

Sleeping in?

Is it really possible to ever get to sleep in any more? What exactly is sleeping in? What time do you have to stay in bed til to count as sleeping in? I get up every morning to wake my kiddos up, granted it is not really that early in the great scheme of life...just 6:30am. I always have high hopes of being lazy on Saturday morning, but with Angel food last Saturday, my son leaving to go to a circus this Saturday (he has to be at the school by 6:15am!!!), and then most Saturdays my hubby likes to be up bright and early so he can get started on any home projects he might have. He always makes me feel like a lazy bum if I stay in bed...lol. Sunday mornings have been a little on the lazier, sleeping in side for us. I am at Saturday night church pretty much every weekend and lately, Dwayne has been coming as well. So, our Sunday mornings have been nice these past few weekends. You know, even if I could sleep in, I would not sleep past 7am. I have been waking up early for far too long...but that is just the life of a mom...right?

Baklava...

Ok, if you are ever going to make Baklava, I strongly suggest that you buy the phyllo dough that it requires. Don't be a fool like me, I forgot to buy the phyllo dough, so I thought, no big deal I will just make some. It is really hard to roll that dough out as thin as it needs to be for the desired effect in the Baklava. (By the way, everyone in my house has just been going around say BAKLAVA, it is a really fun word to say.) So, anyways, I worked out my arm muscles yesterday rolling out very thin sheets of phyllo dough to layer in my pan, then coat in butter, the real stuff...not margarine, then do a layer of nuts, sugar and chocolate chips, more dough, more butter, another layer of the nut, sugar and chocolate stuff, and then finish off with more dough and butter. I rolled out at least 12 sheets of phyllo dough. But it was all worth it. It tasted really good. It was Greek night at our small group and when someone mentioned that we needed baklava, I instantly volunteered to make it, I have always wanted to try and make it. I also made some Greek like chicken and pork for pita sandwiches, I was suppose to bring lamb, but I could not find what I needed. Our lessons these days are on the book of Hebrews. My hubby was our fathful leader last night and it is very enjoy reading through each verse and discussing them as a group....not only is the food good...the learning is too!

True Test!

Ok, it was a true test of will power for Mindy and I today. I really wanted to stay in bed and be lazy, but instead I went to down to the Pfohl's house and worked out. It can be so easy just to quit something, especially for me, I just seem to always give up after a few times of doing things. I start to make excuses for why I can't do it until I finally convince myself that I have put it off for so long there is no reason to even try and do it any more. I have done this many times with reading through the bible. James is really challenging the youth group to read through the bible in one year. He asked me if I was going to take the challenge as well. I told him I am already doing a challenge with the bible, I started a read through the bible in 90 days thing back last February and I am in Esther right now. I know...not very far for almost a year's time, but I still want to stay with this one. My thought is that so many times I would start over again, because I failed so miserably the first time, but only to fail again. So, I am not starting over until I have totally read through the bible this time. I figure I can start putting stars on the youth group chart when they catch up with me and then try to stick with them...I may actually finish this year, I hope.

It was a wonderfully cold day!

Angel Food went great. I put on a couple of extra layers, Dwayne set up heaters and all the different church's trucks blocked the wind. All this equals a tolerable cold morning. I had my new no fingers gloves that helped. I must say by the time we got to the last few items, my fingers were a little on the numb side. Handling frozen foods when it is already freezing outside, well...it just makes hands really cold. I got to meet some new people yesterday and finally meet some people who had been there for the last few months, but I am always to busy to actually meet them. It is funny they always know my name. It is kind of like when you around parents and kids, you always know the kid's name, because the parent is usually constantly calling the kid's name, but you never know the parent's name, because all the kid ever says is mom or dad. Well, I guess I am like the kid who the parent is constantly calling...the really bad kid, I guess...lol, because you hear my name being called a lot. The kids did a great job and I even heard one man comment that he could not complain about the cold, because he had not heard the little red head, my Dora, complain yet...lol.

Then it was on to the movies. It was great fun to sit in a theatre full of people from church. As we were getting ready to head into the theatre, Tobi commented that she was seeing so many people she knew from church. I told her, yes honey...it is an all church movie day. I really hope we can do this more often as a church. It was just so nice to see our church family out away from church and just to have a few moments to catch up with them and chat.

After the movies it was on to Jo-Ann Fabrics. I am looking into more material for some new pieces of clothing for our re-enacting this year. I am getting so excited about re-enacting already. Patty has been filling me in on some possible day trips that we can do as families, so that helps the excitement build. Dora is very excited about our 1812 re-enactment in October, we go Thursday thru Sunday, and Friday will fall on her birthday. She will get a period correct birthday party this year...she can't wait.

Saturday night was church...I love working up in the A/V booth, but on Angel food Saturdays I usually start to crash by the time we hit service time. Poor Bruce had to do with me not quite keeping up with him when it came to words of the songs. But I did not do too bad keeping up with Pastor Kris and the sermon...lots of slides there to work with. The sermon was great! The kind that you walk away from saying..."Yeah, what am I here for...what should I be doing...Come on...let's get going!"

Friday night we had a great time with the Pinkertons. We had them over for dinner and then the guys were suppose to play video games while Tonya and I scrapbooked. Well, we got into some serious games of Farkle, and I ended up being the only real loser of the night. Tonya won the first game, James the second game and Dwayne the third game....me....I lost all 3 games....but I am use to being a big loser. Just wait, we will have to meet up with them again and have a rematch...I have to win sometime...right?

Tomorrow is Angel Food.

It is really cold outside. It is going to be REALLY cold tomorrow morning. Angel Food is tomorrow. Tomorrow morning I get up at 5:30am to go stand outside of the church. As the pallets of food are taken off the delivery truck, Pastor Jeff and I keep order by making sure each church that is picking up at our church, usually about 6 churches or so, get just the right amount of items that they need. I know this sounds fairly easy, but when you have a bunch of people who just want to get done so they can get back to their own churches it can get a little out of hand. Most times I have to open boxes and bags, to get to the individual items to pass out to the churches, so they will have the correct number needed. The bad thing about that is that I can not wear gloves...no gloves on a freezing cold morning, working with frozen foods....brrrrrr.....very cold. Last month I found that I could wear some fingerless gloves and still get my work done. I love doing this work, just not the really cold days as much. I do have one blessing for tomorrow, my wonderful hubby went to his father's house yesterday and picked up an outdoor heater that we will be using tomorrow morning. I have a feeling I will not be the only person singing his praises tomorrow. I love hanging out with all the different people from the different churches. I must have a kick me sign on my back, because it never seems to take a new person long to figure out that I am the prime person to make fun of...lol. Another great thing about Angel Food is watching my son, Brighton age 12, and my daughter, Dora age 8, getting involved. Even if they stay up way late on Friday nights with friends, even if it is freezing out, no matter what it takes, those two get up with me at 5:30am and they really help out. Trust me, they work for me, when I count out our items they take them inside and working for your mom is not always easy, I am always harder on my children than other people are. I have gotten tons of comments on how good of workers they are and they would never forgive me if I did not wake them up to go work. I love to see how they are using the the serving heart God has given them. It makes working in the really cold weather even more worth it for me.

Who Knew...

Who knew grocery shopping could be an exciting night out? I told Dwayne yesterday morning that I needed to go to town to do some grocery shopping and he was like..."Wait until after 5 and I will go, too" The poor man so badly needs out of the house that he will even go grocery shopping with me. That is fine with me, because he also took me out for dinner. My poor kids had to stay home and have leftovers, but I got treated to a nice dinner with my wonderful hubby. We certainly don't get out that often these days and we have to take advantage of the times we have. Does it mean we are getting old when we turn grocery shopping into a date night? I think I always spend more at Aldis when Dwayne is with me...wait, I think that I always spend more every where when he is with me...lol.

Another workout...

So, I didn't do the homework and I am paying this morning. Of course, if I had done the homework, I would have been paying yesterday and today, probably. It is really hard to get in shape. If I did not have a person encouraging me, waiting on me to come to her house to workout and asking me what we were going to do the next time...I would not be following through on this. It reminds so much of what Pastor Kris just said this past weekend about needing a group to keep us accountable....he is so right, we need people around in so many of areas of our lives. I can assure you that if it were not for Mindy, I would not have worked out 3 times in the past week...I thank God for her, it is good for me to finally be working on becoming more healthy. This experience is just a good reminder how important a growth group can be to every person.

Homework?

Ok, I actually got homework today. I went to work out with Mindy and she kicked my butt at this high impact video. We had to switch to slower video for me, so she sent home the other video with me so I could practice. I am so uncoordinated and I am sure that I looked very funny trying to keep up. I guess I will have to start practicing.

On another note, last night at youth was very good. After James took a beating for the fact that his team beat the Colts...now really is that his fault? Wouldn't it be more the Colts fault? Anyways, after everyone hit him with dodge balls we got started in on the lesson. It was a very good reminder how we need to spend time with God. And how every time we have that thought in our head that we should take time to be with God, but then choose not to, we are hardening our hearts. When you think of it that way and then think about what happened to people in the Bible that harden their hearts, it is kind of scary. I really hope that I will be getting better at paying attention to those thoughts that instead of playing online or whatever else I might be doing, I will want to take time to spend with God.

Workout time!

I worked out for the first time ever this morning. This little guy was my helper. I went to Mindy's house and we tackled our workout together. I get a lot of comments on the fact that I am small and thin....and just how lucky I am. Well, I have always hidden behind the fact that I am naturally thin whenever my hubby would even suggest that I should maybe workout a little. Because trust me, I am very much out of shape. I really felt how out of shape I was at the Rock the Cat box New Year's Eve party. I love jumping up and down to the music, but I was getting out of breath so easily and then, my calves were killing me for the rest of the week. So, when Mindy mentioned that she was going to start working out and I thought...hmmmm...maybe it is time for me to get into shape, so we started today. Yeah, I was dying and she was laughing at me. I really am looking forward to doing it more often and maybe...just maybe...I will be able to keep up with my hubby.

My new favorite shopping bags...

I hate bringing home tons of those plastic bags every time I go shopping. There is never enough things to do with them. Well, Meijer has come out with very easy to use and reuse bags for a low price. I have bought a few of them. They are so much easier to carry than the plastic bags, much easier to use and then I just put them back in the van for the next trip. The real fun will be when I take them with me to Walmart some time...lol. I am not sure how they will like, but it is worth it to me not to lug home so many plastic bags, I really hate it when stores put 1 or 2 items into a bag...what a pain.

On another note, the kitties are settling in fine around here. They really like Tobi's bed for some reason and Tobi does not really like sharing. Dora is really wanting them to figure out how to get into her bed, which they finally did today.

The little kiddos had fun playing today. Brooklyn loves exploring Tobi's bed too...not sure why her bed is so popular. Tobi and Claudia have had lots of fun either playing or just making a mess, I am not sure which.

Back to School.

It was a good last weekend of the holiday break, but back to school the kiddos went this morning. Tobi is back to being home with only mommy...well, until my nephew gets here, and also we do have the cats around for her to play with. I am working really hard at cleaning out some huge junk collecting spots and either throwing things away or putting things out onto the new shelves Dwayne and I put together in my laundry room. It is nice having some extra storage areas. I am really amazed at some of the silly things I keep in some really weird areas. Although, my hubby has noticed this about me for many years. I am a bit of a pack rat and I am trying very hard to change that about myself, but man...it is a hard thing to change. Every time I think I am getting better...I run into yet another pile, another corner, or another box shoved underneath something. I will just have to take it one junk pile at a time, I guess.

Guy's Night!

My hubby had a guy's night last night. I think it is really good for men to be around other men. Plus, the kids and I enjoy going out on our own and having some fun. So, like a good wife, I made up some snacky foods for the guys. This was not easy because my bread machine decided to die on me last night and not finish making my dough for the little sausage wraps. But, still I got everything made, loaded up all my kiddos, my nephew and headed into Muncie for our night of entertainment. I was planning to run in, get dinner, do a little bit of shopping, drop off my nephew to his mommy and then head back and hang out with Mindy. That did not happen...do you know how long it can take four kids to agree on a place to eat? We never made it to Mindy's house, because we did not even leave Muncie until after 9:30pm. We had a good time and the kids got to do a little bit of shopping, but I was ready to drop when I finally got home after 10:00pm. My wonderful hubby had the kitchen all cleaned up, the dishes all done and the living room looking like it did not even just have 4 guys in it. He had a great time hanging out with the guys. I think next time we will have to plan for all us girls to get together at one house and the guys at another...

Remmy and Oreo

Check out the new kitties on the block at the Lott household...

Remmy

Oreo
The kids and I are very excited....Dwayne on the other hand is just putting up with them. So far though, he is handling it all well. The kitties are taking a little bit of time getting use to their new home and 4 kids who constantly want their attention. The kids are doing really well at letting them get use to their new home and trying not to overwhelm them with attention.

Fish and Cats.

We have had some gold fish for over 4 years now. 3 fish that just will not go away. I can leave the tank uncleaned for longer than I will ever say and they just keep living. But today...I hate to say it...today the fish tank was beyond the normal dirty...it was so brown I could not see the fish anymore. Now I know that is horrible and it is more than unfair to my poor fish, but you see, I have these massively big gold fish. They no longer fit into the little fishy net thing you use to get them out of the tank. So, when I clean out the tank and I have to take the fish out, I use this little net to get these big fish out and hope that I don't drop them on the floor. Today was the day for a good tank cleaning. So, out they came, of course they had to chill in a small bucket, but out they came, I cleaned their tank very well and back in they went...all I may add, without dropping even one of them on the floor. Their tank is sooooo clean that you can actually see the wall through it now.
Here are what happy little fish look like...

Of course, my kids are accusing me of cleaning the fish tank, so that the fish will be more visible to the new cats we should be picking up tomorrow. I have decided to get 2 cats to add to our household and if everything goes right, I should have them tomorrow. Now if by some odd chance the fish do get eaten by the cats....well, hey....that is just how the world works sometimes.

The week of Christmas.

Wow...it has been over a week now since I blogged last. It has been a very busy time here at the Lott house. I spent Dec. 22nd cooking and preparing for Dec. 23rd.

Dec. 23rd we had a total of 17 people in our house including kids. My mom, dad, brother, my brother's girlfriend, Dwayne's mom & dad, Dwayne's sister, her hubby & 2 kiddos, Dwayne's little sister, her son and then all of us. It was a full house! I made a full dinner for everyone to enjoy and then we had a few little gifts to open. Dwayne's mom always gives one gift at this dinner and it is always pjs.

Dec. 24th, my parents and my grandma came over for a brunch with homemade quiche and to open gifts. The kids and I had just finished up washing all of the dishes from the previous night and were ready for some fun with the grandparents. Dwayne had to work on and off on the 24th, so he would come in a play Santa passing out gifts and then running back out to check on his work. Can I just say, him working at home is absolutely wonderful!!!! I mean it is just great that he could spend time with us and get his work done at the same time. Fabulous! After the grandparents all left, the kids and I did dishes again...it has to be done. I must say, I love doing dishes with my kids. I could just leave it to them to do, but I love talking with them while we all work together, I am a very lucky mother to have such good kids. The rest of the 24th was a relaxing day for us, just some down time before we headed into Christmas day.

Christmas morning, ummmmm....maybe around 3ish...I woke up. I tried to be good. I tried not to bug Dwayne too much, not sure if I succeeded or not. Around 4am, I joked with Dwayne asking if I could just get the kiddos up....finally around 5am he relented, he told me I could get up. I started the coffee, got out the homemade cinnamon rolls, started the wonderful icing, turned on all the Christmas lights, and then went in and started waking up kiddos. I actually woke up Dora & Tobi, but Sari & Brighton were both already awake when I got to their rooms. We had a great time opening stockings and then moving on to gifts. An interesting twist to Christmas this year was the short scavenger hunt my kids got sent on.

Their 1st clue?

Here is the first of many hints

next look among your presents
for the clue to come
you won't look dumb
you will feel great pleasure
as you begin to look for treasure.

Then they each got a small gift from under the tree that had different clues that led to our songbook where we had to sing the song mentioned in their clues before they could get the next clue...here they are:

Tobi's clue
sing a song of a baby boy
born with much joy
In a manger he lay
asleep on hay?
Dora's clue
glory these angels sing
to a new born king
inside the songbook
is a clue if you look.
Brighton's clue
To find your song
you don't want to be wrong
Delight for this Planet is your clue
I am sure you will have to think for a few.
Sari's clue
the next clue you want to find
You will really have to use your mind.
in the song book so neat-o
will be a song of a Monarchial trio.
Then they all had the same clue again...
To the store, to the zoo
where ever we go, whatever we do,
if you want to find your lootie,
look where you always set your patootie.
next:
Back inside to hear the reason for today
and eat some breakfast, don't delay.
When story and food are all done
look for a way to continue the fun.

Here Dwayne took the time to read from the bible and I got breakfast all ready and put onto special plates, because underneath the plate was the very last clue...

What to find before you rest?
Something to make shopping best!
you will find it under your pillow so nice,
you will want to thank your parents twice!

And what did they find? Money to use to buy up some great deals after Christmas. It was lots of fun for us and the kids. One nice thing about getting up so early is that we had some good down time before we headed over to my grandparent's house to spend Christmas day with my dad's side of the family. Still once the day was over, I think we were all in bed by like 8:30pm...another good thing about getting kids up so early, they were all ready to go to bed early...lol.

Dec. 26th....not a good day for Dwayne, the poor man woke up very ill. He must have come down with 24 hr flu...he did not move much at all.

Dec. 27th, Christmas with the Clouses...lots of fun. I got the most fabulous artwork from Matt to hang on my wall. A personalized painting and he did a fantastic job on it.

Dec. 28th, our last Christmas of the year. We spent this night with Dwayne's family and had a great evening of leftovers and pizza. Our van was so full leaving grandma's house, we barely had room for the kids.

Dec. 29th...time to spend all that new Christmas money. Of course, Sari, being a teenage girl, out clothing shopped the rest of us. I think we were all ready to smack her if she suggested one more clothing store...lol. Tobi, on the other hand, walked away with tons of barbie deals from Target. I think the barbie population in our house has exploded. Brighton and Dora bought a few video games, but no clothing.

Dec. 30th, Dwayne and I decide to go to a little shopping without 4 kids. My goodness, I am not sure why, but those silly kids seem to get bored going to Lowes. So, off to Lowes for Dwayne so he could use his new gift cards and pick out what he wanted for Christmas. Oh yeah, and then over to Toys R Us to get the really big toy he wanted, a new Xbox 360. I am going to go and get my gift sometime this week. I am going to turn in an application to get a new pet for the Lott family. I can't believe I am trying this again, but with older kids and Tobi has never had a pet, I have decided to get a cat, or maybe 2.

Dec.31st...A fantastic evening at church at ROCK THE CAT BOX!!!! What a great evening. I took lots of video and pictures. I headbanged with Dora. It was a great evening.

Today, Jan. 1st 2008, yeah...the real fun begins. I will be taking down the Christmas tree and possibly, if I have the energy, take 2 teenage girls shopping....whew...maybe I will take a book.

Have a wonderful New Year's day!!!!