What do we keep?

The boys have big plastic tubs in their closets that they keep all their papers in throughout the year. It is easier that arguing over weather they should keep them or not. The trouble comes when summer hits and we need to go through all the papers and projects and keep only a short stack. Andrew enjoys setting all of his out and posing for a picture. This year Braden wanted the picture and then proceeded to display all his Pre-K 4 work around his room. It was tough to get him to realize that we are cleaning out and getting ready for Kindergarten! It is hard to recycle so many wonderful treasures, but we just can't keep it all! I have file folders for each of them for the year. They are filling up fast! I know we can't even keep all of that! I try to take pictures of the bigger things and then get rid of them.

Anyone have suggestions of what to keep and how to store it?

Makin' my blog all fancy!

I've been having fun with my blog lately! It is just plain fun and quite addictive! I have a new look that will probably keep changing and when you go to my site you can now hear some of my favorite tunes! For those of you who get my blog sent by e-mail, you will need to get on the net and check out all my fanciness! :)

http://leimkuehler.blogspot.com/

Shop till we drop!

The boys save up the gift cards that they get for their birthdays and Christmas each year until summer. Then we pick one day where they get to shop till they drop! It is like Christmas all over again! We spent 5 hours going to Toys R Us, a stop at Burger King where we met Daddy for lunch, and Walmart! Wow! It was surprisingly fun! Of course it was all about the kids, so they were well behaved and we had a great time perusing the toy isles and electronics! They each ended up with way more than they needed and we took time to talk about wants vs. needs and blessings. I would recommend this to anyone! Plus, when they wanted things between the holidays and Christmas, I just saidk, "Keep that in mind for our gift card spending day!" :)

Thanks Gramby, Pa Pa, Uncle Tim, Aunt Laurie, Ben, Brian, Nick, Stephen, Michael, and an anonymous friend for the gift cards! So fun to spend them!

Road trip to Columbia!

During the end of our month in MO, the boys and I packed up and took a road trip to Columbia, MO! Oh the memories of 7 wonderful years spent there! An awesome college town that is growing each time we visit. More importantly, it is home to some of the most amazing families we know. The Joos's: Steve, Karma, Jacob, Bekah, Lily, and Jordan are Andrew's sponsors and the Darts: Scott, Amanda, Alex, Austin, and Abby are Braden's sponsors. It is always such a joy to spend time with them. If we could only figure out how to live closer to each other.... Being together always brings out the best in me and my kids! I love that! I always gain new incite into myself and leave striving to be better. This trip I came away with a new passion to "cook" for my family. :) We'll see how long it lasts! During our visit we missed Tom lots, but we did enjoy meeting up with Amanda, Karma and all the kids at the pool and then to Bucks for homemade ice cream that they make on the MU campus. Tiger Stripe ROCKS!!! The boys and I headed to the Dart's home for a long visit and a yummy hamburger dinner and monster cookies! We spent the night and following day with the Joos's. Awesome pancakes, Karma! My boys just love their time with all of these friends. They sort of trade off playing with each other and it always works out so well. Braden got a big dose of pretend play, Andrew got a HUGE Lego trading fix, and Colton had fun with all the toys and reading books with Abby in her bed. I, of course, couldn't get enough of my grown-up visiting time!!!

Thanks for a great visit! We love and miss you!

"A friend loves at all times." Proverbs 17:17

The blessing of time with family

"From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another." John 1:16

Most of our times spent in Missouri are about family. The month we spent there this summer was no exception. Each "event" was full of laughter, lots of food, frustration, smiles, a few tears, exhaustion, surprise, wonder, excitement, pure joy, blessing, and gratefulness. Although tough to be away from home for a month and away from Tom for 2 1/2 weeks, our time there was well worth any hardship. To be there for the birth of our nephew, Griffin, was awesome! The time we spent with our family will be priceless memories gratefully stored for a lifetime!

Thanks Gramby and Pa Pa for taking such great care of us for a whole month; for cooking our favorites, giving the boys ice cream at night, providing Disney channel, playing ball in the backyard and games in the new room! Thanks Nana for letting us help cook an awesome spaghetti dinner and for time to play at your house and going out for frozen custard! Thanks Aunt Tammy and Uncle Big Tom for joining us for ice cream and pizza and letting us come and see your weights and watch "The Wizard of Has" and for letting Braden spend the night in the Wizard of Oz room! Thanks GG for the snacks and letting Colton play with your oxygen. :) Thanks Opa for teaching us how to fish and play chess and taking the boys to pick out their b-day gifts. (We wish we could have seen more of Mincy!) Thanks Aunt Cassie and Uncle Matt for including us in this amazing time in your lives. It was fun to eat custard on your front porch and Braden and Colton like your cats! Thanks to all the extended family on both sides for taking time to see us and always having a ready hug! :)

We really missed Uncle Tim, Aunt Laurie, Ben, and Brian and pray that you will be able to visit us in TX for Christmas! :)

Love and miss you all so much!!! :)

Teamwork!

"Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds." Hebrews 10:24-25

We showed "teamwork" in several ways while we were in MO! Gramby, the boys and I brought Aunt Tammy Lion's Choice for lunch and then stayed to help her get her classroom organized for the new school year! The boys and I went to the Science Center with Nana and had an awesome time building the "Arch" out of big foam blocks. Since I was so short, we couldn't quite finish until some strangers demonstrated "teamwork" and helped us complete the Arch! How exciting! Andrew and Braden displayed "teamwork" while building a really tall tower! Uncle Big Tom and I took turns riding Colton on our shoulders while we walked to Lyon's Frozen Custard one night. :) It took Gramby, Nana, little friend, Jenna, Andrew, Braden, Colton, and I to eat two HUGE root beer floats at Fitz's Root beer! Yum!

I'm happy to be on God's team and be able to pass on a spirit of teamwork to my kids!

Magic House

While we were in MO we went to the Magic House with my dad. We had so much fun! The boys loved the HUGE sand castle, playing in the imaginary play centers, watching the ball in the window sculpture, rolling balls in all sorts of mazes, going down the 2 story slide, pretend fishing with magnetic fish, etc... But my favorite part was reliving my childhood and going to the static ball and having a button made of me and Colton with our hair sticking up all over! :) Mom and Dad's company is doing work on more exciting features to the Magic House, so we look forward to visiting again next time we are in town!