Thursday Thirteen #7

13 Things that prove God blessed me with an amazing husband

1. He does dishes
2. He does laundry
3. He cleans the kitchen
4. He mops floors
5. He (and this is a VERY important thing here!) has become a true father to my children and he's wonderful at it! He loves the kids just like they were his own.
6. He waits on me hand and foot if I'm not feeling well.
7. He constantly tells me how much he loves me and he shows it too
8. He would take care of all the stressful things in life if I let him
9. He cleans toilets!
10. He always asks for my opinion
11. He (and here is another extremely important thing) has brought me so much closer to God in my walk of faith, it's amazing.
12. He watches chick flicks with me
13. He loves me for me...really! He loves me if I put on an extra 10 pounds, or get a bad haircut. He loves me no matter what.

Thursday Thirteen #6

13 Movies I loved as a kid

1. Dunderklumpen
2. Murder by Death
3. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
4. Return to Oz
5. ET (now I can't stand the movie!)
6. The Explorers (bought this movie as an adult and cannot remember for the life of me why I liked it in the first place!)
7. The Pirate Movie
8. The Hobbit
9. McClintock
10. Ghostbusters
11. Jungle Book
12. Cinderella
13. The Goonies

Thursday Thirteen #5

Thirteen Things I love about Fall

1. The amazing color as the leaves start to change
2. Carving pumpkins
3. Decorating for Halloween
4. Da BEARS!
5. College football
6. Curling up in front of a fire
7. All those yummy fall scented oils from B & B Works
8. The smell of fall outside
9. Our annual trip to Traverse City
10. Trick or treating with the kids
11. The family's annual trip to the orchard
12. Fall meals (we're weird, I know!)
13. Baking yummy smelling fall stuff like apple dumplings and pumpkin cakes

Thursday Thirteen #4

13 things that my kids do that make me smile

1. Call me "Mama"
2. Hug me
3. Laugh
4. Spontaneously tell me that they love me
5. Say "Mama you're the best!"
6. Tell me they love God
7. Share any of the biblical knowledge they have gained thus far in life, it's surprising how much they soak in!
8. Draw/paint pictures for me to hang up in my office & to share with my coworkers
9. The way they "take care" of me when I'm sick
10. The way my daughter pronounces the word movie "ooovie"
11. The way my son pronounces the word 2 only when it's following a title like High School Musical 2 "toot"
12. The way they pray at dinner and bed time
13. The way they adore "family time" (I wonder how long that will last!)

Thursday 13 #3

13 Things I love about the start of a new school year

1. Clothes shopping, especially for Ani (girls are so much more fun to shop for!)
2. School supply shopping
3. Getting the kids back into a routine
4. The start of their extracurricular activities
5. Bible club
6. Full Sunday school starts up again
7. JAM with the Fam starts up again
8. Earlier bedtimes :)
9. High school football games
10. Helping the kids with their homework
11. Halloween is not far away!
12. Hearing about how their days went at school
13. The excitement my kids have over starting school (I'm sure this won't last much longer!)

Thursday 13 #2

13 Books/Series that I can read over and over again

1. The Bible
2. Christine by Catherine Marshall
3. Bingo by Rita Mae Brown
4. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle
5. Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery
6. The Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling
7. The Three Sisters Trilogy by Nora Roberts
8. The Key Trilogy by Nora Roberts
9. The Southern Vampire Series by Charlaine Harris
10. The Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Series by Laurell K. Hamilton
11. The Merry Gentry Series by Laurell K. Hamilton
12. The Undead Series by MaryJanice Davidson
13. The Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer

Thursday 13 #1

(Here is yet another thing I'm stealing from Diane...I thought I might as well give it a try!)

13 fun things to do with our kids

1. Take them to concerts
2. Take them to Michigan Adventure
3. Play Jr. Trivial Pursuit with them (since I kick their butts every single time, this might be a little selfish of me)
4. Read the bible together and let them ask questions about the passages we've read. They always come up with REALLY interesting ones LOL
5. Take them to the Renaissance Festival
6. Play volleyball with them (most of them duck from the ball, it's hilarious)
7. Play Harry Potter Scene It! with them...another one I win a lot :)
8. Go swimming with them and play Marco Polo
9. Have a "picnic" dinner in our living room while watching a family movie
10. Take them to the orchard in the fall for all the fun harvest activities
11. Carve pumpkins with them
12. Color eggs with them (though I'd say they still get more color on themselves than the eggs!)
13. Go through all of our photo albums and look at the fun stuff we've done together in the past, the kids can talk about it for hours and it reminds us that we are making wonderful memories for them.