Of Germs and Allergies....

So,spring has finally arrived! That is awesome! But with spring come these nasty allergies and this spring brought germs :) Ok,well it wasn't spring that brought the germs,rather my sister! But,like I told her,we still love her :D
We were very happy to have mom and dad,visit...oh and my germy sister too! ;) They were here last weekend and it really was a bummer that she didn't feel well pretty much the entire time they were here :( I think tho' that me and my lil family, along with my mom and sis are on the mend.Hopefully.
After about 3 or 4 days,finally for a whole day Braxton has been fever free! *sigh of relief* I barely dare sigh that relief tho,just in case things take a turn for the worse again! :(
Braxton taught me alot about coping with sickness! He was the most laid back,uncomplaining child! He was so easy to take care of.Asked for a drink and medicine occasionally and otherwise he quietly played or just layed around.
And then I got sick :/ And I was probably the biggest,moodiest,complaining,whiny mom and wife! :( ok,so maybe not quite that bad but I sure wasn't as calm about it as my son.Anyway,thank God I think we're on our way to recovery ;)
This spring has brought such a feeling of ...oh,I don't even know how to describe it.I simply felt/feel like a bear out of hibernation! Hungry,not for fish but BEAUTIFUL weather! And God has blessed us with some AWESOME weather.Wow!And now he's blessing us with rain to get rid of this nasty pollen.
One day I felt like taking the children out to get some pictures.Are they professional? no.Does it portray how happy we felt? yes.I believe it does.I'll share a few with you.

Me and my little cutie pies :)

Brax is in this akward stage right now.It seems he has a problem knowing how to smile correctly for the camera.It comes out a bit funny lookin somtimes,but cute nonetheless :)

It is so much fun havin' mom and dad around and seeing them with their grandchildren! We made a fun day of it and took the children to the park and then went to "unckonalds" (Mcdonalds).Definitley Braxton's favorite ;)

And here is my cute sis who was not in the mood for a picture.Because she was feeling quite germy by this time.She still ended up lookin good for the picture I'd say :)

These flowers are the beautiful flowers that my family sent for my birthday.Mom is good at hittin' every date with flowers.I was happy.They made the house so cheery! The other day I finally threw them away because they were getting quite ugly looking.I explained to Braxton and Hailey that the flowers are ugly now and that's why I'm throwing them away.Braxton responded with one of his witty responses - "Daddy needs to get you more" :) Hhhhmmmm,I'm thinkin that someday he will make a wonderful husband to some lucky girl,just like his daddy is a wonderful husband to this lucky girl!
Our kiddos keep us laughing all the time.

Hailey crawled into Joel's huge lunch box the other night after he came home.It was funny how well she fit in there :)

Good week to all of you!

Gram came to visit!

The end of February my Grandma Lantz along with my aunt and uncle and their family came to visit.I felt quite priviledged for sure that they came and stayed at our house for the night.And I got to feed them and take care of them.
They were here for the night on a Friday night and then Saturday we went to the zoo.I don't know,maybe I'm childish but I just love the zoo! I love taking the children there and showing them all the exciting things and taking them on the rides and so on :)
We had a bit of a time finding the zoo :) but we finally made it there. The animals were active and it was fun watching them.It was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL day to be there!

My aunt Naomi and her family

And my dear Grandma Lantz

It was special to see here again.We hardly get to see her since we never make those trips to PA like we used to.

I guess the toucan is not just a "froot loops" bird :)

Even tho we took the wagon along for the children to sit in,they pretty much refused! Not sure what I'm gonna have to do to get them to stay in wagons and stroller this summer.But somethings gotta happen because they are both to big to be carrying all over the place anymore!

These monkeys were just the funniest thing.They were so riled up and were having a great time being noisy! :)

We payed a HUGE $2 for this tiny cup of nectar but we had fun feeding the birds.Braxton and Hailey were quite taken but they didn't enjoy it when the bird sat on them :)

You can see on Brax' face that he not really quite sure about this.

I don't know why but these giraffes always intrigue me for some reason.They're so pretty in their own way.There was a baby one there that was simply adorable!

Gram and Naomi brought along a yummy lunch of subs and the works.While we were getting set up for lunch this Asian looking guy came walking over and he asked if we're Mennonites.When we told him that yes we are Mennonites his reply was the funniest.He said "COOL!"

Wow,it was kinda cool feeling cool for a little while :)

Me and my little boy

Brax has definitley got "Mast" in him :) He was so intrigued with these chickens.And I always have to think of my BIL Mark when it comes to chickens.It was probably in the first or second year that me and Joel were married,that I remember Mark went somewhere and came home with chickens - for pets.- Yes,you read right,for pets!I thought that was a little weird at the time.I always thought of chickens as a source for eggs and meat,other than that,not to much :) But since I've been married into the Mast family I have learned that chickens are a hobby.And I have learned that there are all kinds of chickens.Did I know that before?Who knows,if I did I sure didn't give it much thought :D

 And I have learned that Joel also likes chickens. It looks like Brax may be headed that direction :) And I don't mind.I'm proud of Joel and I sure don't mind if Brax is like his daddy :) And I'm sure that someday when we finally buy our own place,we will have chickens -for pets- and I hope for eggs and meat too :)

This is the result when you get two little boys to pose for a picture :) Brax in his clumsy way has no idea how to really pose for a picture these days.If you tell him to smile (or say cheese)this is his look :)

And like I said,I loved spending time with my Grandma!

And my aunt and her family.

And I am so thankful that I get to spend the rest of my life with this man.I am so blessed.I hope each of you feel blessed today,and always!

~SM

Laundromat...

...is not what I had in mind for this morning!
But what do you do when your washer gives out in the middle of a load of wash?
So with a good attitude I fished out the soaked wash from the washer,rang them out by hand and headed to the laudromat in town. :)

Thank goodness I'd taken our own snack along :) The children spotted the vending machine,but since we spent $8 on three loads of laundry,I thought it'd be better to just stick with the one chex mix bar we had along :)

Things happen :) You can't help it.What you can help is how you respond :)

Hoping all of you have a great day!

My attempt at blogging :)

Well,here I am. It took me awhile till I got things up and going here. :)
I started this blog thinking it's a great way to keep everyone (especially faraway family) updated our lives.And just because I started this with family in mind doesn't mean that no one else is welcome.Relax,we'll love ya even if you ain't family! :D
Family and friends are very important to me and sometimes it seems like I have a hard time keeping up like I want to with each one.My "mommy life" just gets so packed full in a day that sometimes even to pick up the phone and call is a dread for me,because that is the very moment when children need a drink or start screaming and fighting!And my kids sometimes think they have to talk to the person on the other end of the line.Which is fine if it's Grandma, but it doesn't work that way with every call :D
So I hope everyone enjoys seeing into our life.Our two little ones keep it quite interesting and I see this as a good way to kinda keep a diary of our lives too.
This January and February have been so full of fun and action! So much has happened in the last couple of months.It seems like New Years was a long time ago in some ways but the it seems like it just was in other ways.
My sis was here to visit us for a whole week! Imagine.That's amazing and fun.The children loved having her here (and so did we of course :).
While she was here we had an ice/snow storm go through here.It's nothing like some of you are used to but it was enough to drive this mamma crazy.Everything around here shuts down and it's just miserable.

So we bundled up and took of down the road to go find some adventure.Everything was fine.Not a whole lot of adventure but we did end up at some friends house down the road.that is always fun.And if I remember correctly we ended up having a pizza party there :).

One Wednesday eve the children's class at church made snowmen like this.They don't attend until they are 3 years old so Brax didn't have any.It was hard on him to see his little friends run around with snowmen so I told him that I can help him make one sometime.He was thrilled.And they are so easy to make!Just a sack lunch bag for the body and the rest is just as easy.Since then we've made little puppies like this (out of the paper bags) at the library storytime.

I was so tickled to have a trip home in February.I got to be in Texas for 1 whole week.So much fun! We got to spend Valentines there so I had fun making a big feast for my family and my grandparents.Everyone seems to enjoy it.I had a ton of fun making it!

My Grandpa also enjoys cooking. I think so anyway.What he doesn't enjoy is when his grandaughter comes in and makes a big "noodles ran-over mess" in the kitchen.:) He was quite gracious about it tho' and seemed to overlook it at the moment.

We got to be there for my dad's open house with the Chamber of Commerce.It was interesting.Didn't last long and there was ALOT of red involved! :)

The kids loved playing on the playsets while we were there.Dad is a salesman for my uncle's mini barn business.They sell swingsets and lawn furniture too.

One day at my grandma's house she wanted to show me a box of stuff that she made over the years.My Grandma loved to sew crafty things.She'd see a pattern of something she'd like and she'd make it.I have memories of Grandma making things with us.And when I got to use her sewing machine I was HOT STUFF! :) We had some fun with some of the items.One of them was a bonnet/apron.You could button it up and it was a bonnet to wear in the sun and unbutton it and "walla" you have an apron to wear in the kitchen.

I am ready to hit the beach! LOL

I really do think this thing had some dorky powers in it.Ok,so maybe not.Maybe me and my mom are just naturally dorks :D Whatever the case,it was fun.Poor Hailey looks like she's wondering what is going on!

Yes,Grandma made anything.

My mumsy dear and Gram.

I just had such a wonderful time hangin out with my Grandparents.They're awesome! ;)

We had fun hangin out with these people...

and these....

and these and more that I do not have pictured here.It was just a fabulous week we spent in Tx.Seeing old friends,making new friends.Aaaah,wonderful,refreshing,relaxing vacation.

Brax had fun playing with my sister's kids ( the kids she babysits that is :)

Funny little guys!

One day we helped my mom sort through years worth of junk.Stuff we had piled in the mini barn while we were in Africa.It was interesting.Some things were way to funny.I think the funniest thing we found was the note my sister wrote to Santa Claus. It read :

Dear Santa,bring me a gift,ok?

To:Santa

From:Angela

And yes,we were taught there is no such thing as a Santa Clause but I guess for a child there is reason to hope :)

And with all the junk we found we decided to do a last minute garage sale so this is how our drive ended up looking.They say one man's junk is another man's treasure! :)

:)

This house is where all my growing up memories are stored.I love this house more than even I myself know.It's always fun to go sleep in my old room and see the wall paper that I got to choose.Quite interesting I must say but I was in love with it when I chose it.Like I said,I love this little house.

And a 1/2 mile up the road is my grandpa's house.This place has lots of memories for me too.This is where my grandpa's lived ever since I was a wee lil' tyke.I spent many,many hours here!

It was hard driving away and saying good bye to these places but I am thankful that I get to go visit.At least it's not like they're way across the waters! :)

Hailey gettin' some love from Great Grandma.

I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend.I have more to post about but I think I shall do it a little later.

My Aunt and her family along with my grandma came to visit us last weekend and we hiked off to the zoo so there are more pictures to come at a later date or time :)

May the rest of your day be filled with laughter and much love!