MOPS Convention

I left home for FOUR days in September!!! I hadn't ever left all three kids and Daryl hadn't had all the kids like that before. The church offered to pay for the steering team for MOPS to go to the convention in Nashville, TN. Wow!! We figured in order to save money, we would drive the 14 hours there. 8 of us went: 6 drove in the church's van and 2 flew. I was quite leery of leaving at 3 in the morning - since I am SOOO not a morning person. Well, this was the most fun I have had as a person - me, Angela - not as a mom, not as a wife - just ME in as long as I can remember!!! Probably since Daryl was gone on deployments!! I had a blast!!! The 14 hour drive was the BEST part. Being with 6 wonderful girls trapped in a car with nothing to do but talk for 14 hours!! That is what every mother of preschooler DREAMS of! :)
We stayed at the Gaylord Opryland Resort. I have always wanted to stay at one and I got to stay there for free!! Five years ago, while we were in Fort Worth, Daryl promised me we could stay at the Gaylord Texan if he got promoted. Well, he got promoted but we moved so quickly after that that we couldn't fit it in. I finally got to do it!!! And it is an amazing place! Huge, plush, very nice service, excellent food - but a cup of coffee was $3.22 - BLACK!!! They accommodated our 4000 people seemingly effortlessly They are used to that types of crowds.
The convention itself was awesome!!!! MOPS International did a wonderful job! The speakers were Godfilled and spoke like they were talking only to me. The worship was AWESOME!! Matt Redman, Plumb, Christy Nockles (of Watermark), Natalie Grant and Matthew West. Couldn't believe it. We had great breakout groups. I went to a session on telling God's story in you, Creative Concoctions - cheap homemade activities and crafts for kids, being a discussion group leader, being a Green Mama . . . I guess that was it. I loved it. It was talking to me as a Christian. Not solely focused on me as a preschooler's mother. How I can reach others for Christ - right here where I am.
I love the girls I was with. I have been here only a year but I feel like these girls are my soul mates. I haven't felt that way in a LONG time!!! So excited to be serving my Lord with these ladies!!! Watch out world!!! MOPS at NSBC is out to change the world - NO mom left behind!! :)
Oh, D and the kids did GREAT!!! Didn't act like they missed me at all! :) SO can I do it again next year???? :)

New School Year!!

I love the start of a new school year. To me, it is the new year and that is when I have MY New Year Resolutions. This year, I will try to sleep more, be more organized, and exercise more!
This summer did not go the way I originally intended! I did not plan on breaking my leg!! What a way to spend a summer! But we did survive! One thing I planned on doing was getting caught up on my blogging. I guess my aspirations are too high. So I will start right now with a clean slate! I did post a lot of pictures on facebook so you can check out those.
September is a jammed packed month. We came back from Idaho on Labor Day weekend. School started on Tuesday morning. Not even a chance to breathe! Riley is so excited about her teacher, Mrs Donegan. I can’t believe she is in 2nd grade!
This month is the start of all MY activities: MOPS, PTO and planning for the CNY Navy Family Support Group. In MOPS, I am a discussion group leader. At first, I was upset about that seemingly small job. But now I realize how important it actually is!! It is where you learn about each mom and can encourage her, pray for her, help her. I am so EXCITED!! And this year, I am going to convention!!! In Nashville! I will be leaving the family for the first time! Wonder how Daryl will do in MY job?? MOPS is so important because we need to be building up families. Families are falling apart all around us! Need to shine the light of Jesus to other moms. YES, this is hard work but SOOOO important!
I am the secretary for Riley’s school’s PTO. Another job I feel called to do!!! I know people are busy, but it is so important to be involved in your child’s school. I love being there and helping the people who are educating our future!!
Daryl and I are working on creating a group call CNY Navy Family Support Group. Long name, but you know the mission! J We had a family picnic in June and I was shocked at how little the Reservists family’s knew about the military! So I told Daryl I wanted to do something about that. Some of my closest friends are from our military travels. These people (thought I don’t talk to them all the time) are my closest friends. They understand about so many things that nonmilitary people have no clue about. Our first thing is planning a Deployment Brief for the group of Sea Bees who are getting ready to deploy. Wow! I feel like I bit off more than I can chew – at times. Just have to trust God in my efforts and know that anything is more than these people have heard.
Finally, Daryl and I will attend a Bible Study called iMarriage by Andy Stanley. I took the class this winter while Daryl was attending all of his schooling. Now we can go together! :)
I’ll close my rambling!! Need to wake the kids from nap. D is salmon fishing. He is doing that a lot this week – and then he had to remind me that he won’t be doing it for at least 5 months this winter! :) Love to all!
P.S. I have met a wonderul lady who is helping me watch the kids during the week - as needed. She is an answer to prayer - both of ours!! She needs to make extra money but has small children. I need someone to watch my children and she has instant playmates!! :) Her youngest two are closest to Bodie and Kaylee. They have wonderful times together and she is an inspiration to me! God is so good!

Bodie is FOUR!!

Kaylee has to be in the middle of everything!

All the Presents!

Happy birthday, Dear Bodie!


The Bouncy House!

His favorite gift, from Mimi and Granddaddy

Our crew on the Maine Narrow Gauge RailRoad

He called her "Mavis"

SOOO proud of his ticket

"Can we put it on the 'frigerator?"

He is FOUR!

Fancy "Old Coach"

I can't believe our little boy is FOUR! His birthday was actually July 24th but we didn't let him know because we were in Maine. Birthdays at our house mean cake and presents and we didn't want to do all that in Maine! We did do something on his birthday just for him. We went to the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum. Got to look in old coaches and ride the train in the pouring Portland rain.

When we got back to New York, and while Mimi and Granddaddy were here, we celebrated his birthday in style! I asked him what he wanted to do and the perfect 4 year old answer- Have a Bouncy House! We invited all the neighbor kids and a couple of families from church. Grilled hotdog/sausages, veggies and ranch dip, watermelon and cupcakes/icecream cake. What else could a 4 year old want! :) He got so many presents, I was overwhelmed. It was a GREAT day.

CRANKY

Hello World!
I don't know if anyone even reads this but I SOOOO love reading everyone else's blog. I would write more often but I don't even know if anyone reads this. So for the moment, I am posting that I am cranky. Tired of having a hurt leg, tired of wanting to have help. My kids are cranky because I can't do what they want. It's finally hot outside and no one wants to be out there - we LOVE cool NY!!! Kaylee is such a stinker and KNOWS I can't chase after her when she is doing something bad. I hate feeling like I am always yelling at my kids. Just plain frustrated!!! How long does it take to heal a hurt leg?? The bone doesn't hurt as much as the ligaments around my foot. Want to be normal and not use crutches BUT should use crutches so it doesn't hurt. AAAAGGGGHHH! Am so appreciative of all the help I have gotten and hate to ask for more help. I h ave not been treating my husband with the utmost care he deserves. He has done a great job of taking care of all of us. I'll just go away and go eat worms right now!! (Actually, I'll just go look at pictures to order for our visit to the in-laws next week.)

Fun with Bugs!!

We have been having fun with bugs the last few months! In May, I ordered a butterfly garden, ladybug farm and an earthworm factory. The kids LOVE it!!! We received the butterfly kit and ladybug kit on the same day. The butterflies arrived a small caterpillars in a plastic cup. They looked like they were sitting on brown sugar. After reading the instructions, I learned that that was their food that they ate until they built their chrysalis's. These things ate and ate and ate for days! As they ate, they spun webs for them to crawl around on. The caterpillars looked huge and I couldn't beleive the webs could hold them up. After 2 weeks of eating, they crawled to the top of the cup and hung down and turned into these coccoons right before our eyes!!

taking abreak to head to Maine for vacation!!

The hole in our Gospel

I am reading a wonderful book called "The Hole in Our Gospel" by Richard Stearns, CEO of World Vision. It is an excellent book!! I want EVERYONE to read this book. It is changing the way I am shopping!! It talks about how we as Americans are so blessed and don't always share that blessing with others.. If a family's income is $50,000 a year, that family is wealthier than 99% of everyone else in the world!! I have slowly read the book and am wondering what more we should be doing as a family. We have SOOOOO much!!
D and I just completed the Dave Ramsey course on Financial Peace. He talks about building your wealth in a Christian manner along with tithing. I don't know if I can build my wealth without tithing MORE. Why should I "build my wealth" when so many people are dying without having clean water, starving, can't feed their children. There must be a balance somewhere and I am trying to find it.
Early in the year, I decided 2009 was going to be a year of gratitude. I have been journaling along with this theme and trying to let my family know how much I am thankful for. Instead of always grumbling. I would rather be thought of as a happy person! So that is one reason I wanted to read this book! I want to share our blessings! I want to train our kids to think of others more than themselves so I need to show that I do that in my life too.
I am not going to list all that we are doing because I don't want to appear that I am bragging but what kind of things does your family do??

Update on the Garden

It is now about 2 months after we put the garden in. Everything that we planted from PLANTS is growing so well - lettuces, tomatoes, celery - but absolutely NOTHING that we planted from seeds even sprouted!! So I added several bags of new potting soil and tilled it in. Then I planted new seeds in teeny pots to see if they would sprout from there. So I just added tiny carrot, more lettuce (since it grows SOO well here!), green beans and sugar snap peas to the garden. I guess they will now be ready in September.
We went strawberry picking two weeks ago. I briefed the kids before we left. "What color are strawberries??" Well, Bodie loved picking the green ones!! "We don't have enough green ones!!" Everyone in the patch started laughing each time he said that! I guess Kaylee was out of her element because she just stood in the patch screaming for me!! We picked 10 quarts of berries!! Yum. I canned for the first time and made 16 jars of strawberry jam. I was so proud of myself!! :) I felt like a pioneer woman. Maybe I could survive 100 years ago! We will go blueberry picking at the end of July when my parents are here. I LOVE New York!! :)

Working with Riley's class

While we were in Texas, the parents had to work a set amount of hours volunteering at the school. Yorktown Christian Academy was a wonderful school for us to be starting all of our academic careers (Riley as a student and me as a parent). Plain and simple, they expected the parents to be involved!! Such a difference when we came here!! Just put your kid on the bus and away all your responsiblity goes with the bus?? After a couple of weeks, I couldn't handle it! At YCA, we talked to the teacher everyday as she walked the child to our car. . . more later. . .family calls. . .
Now a month later - I am finally sitting down to work more on my blog!
SO I went in to talk to Riley's teacher. WE all LOVE Miss Buckley!! She is a wonderful teacher, calm, quiet but loves the kids. We decided that I would come in a couple of times a month and make crafts with the kids. We made peppermint cocoa mix for Valentine's Day, rainbow fruit salad for St Patricks' Day, handprint bunny's for Easter, Mother's Day brooches and Key chains for dads. I also went in as a mystery reader. I read a few Eric Carle's books and then ended with the Very Hungry Caterpillar. Then I left them with a kit of caterpillars that would develop into butterflies! They loved it!
I also joined the school's PTO because I read that it is important to show how you value's your child's education. I had no idea what a PTO does!! Last school year, our PTO raised something like $22,000!!!! for our school use!! Without the PTO's money, the school would be without many programs!! No exciting morning programs. The district has cut field trips so the PTO provides the money to bring special programs to the school - like a traveling zoo, plays, naturalist, etc. I CAN'T believe what all a PTO does! SO get involved in your child's school!!
Well, at the end of the year, Miss Buckley wanted me to come in so the class could thank me for all I did. I wanted to help out the class 1) because Riley wants me to, 2) I enjoy it, 3) I want to be a help to Miss Buckley and 4) because I realize that this is a way to shine my light to children who might not see much of Jesus in their everyday life. Well, I was NOT expecting what Miss Buckley and the class did for me!!! They had a large cake that said "Thank You Mrs Lierman", she made a book where all the kids drew a picture and wrote what they liked doing the most with me, made me a picture frame with a picture of all the kids and all the kids signed their names AND THEN she gave me a Vera Bradley bag!!! What!! I was trying to help her out and show her MY appreciation for being a wonderful teacher to all these kids!! I just can't believe it! :) Let's see what I get done next year!! I am looking forward to it! :)

Gardening

Since we live in such a wonderful climate, we have decided to start a vegetable garden!! Daryl and I spent one weekend preparing the area. We borrowed a rototiller from the Albert family and Daryl rototilled the area. I raked the soil after him and picked up TWO large BUCKETS of rocks from the area. The builders must have put as must rocks in the yards as soil. :{ Daryl used the rocks to line our front flower beds. I am trying to grow as organically as I can. We bought cucumbers, celery, tomatoes, basil, several types of lettuce and dill from the farmers market. Then we planted pumpkin, green bean, sugar snap peas, and carrot seeds. We seeded a potato and planted that too. I used marigold to edge the garden since it and the dill are natural bug and deer repellents. I hope something grows!! I am worried because nothing has sprouted yet but Daryl is reminding me that it hasn't been very warm yet and two nights have been frosts. I love it!!! The kids love going out and helping me water. I think it will be such a great learning experience for all of us!! I want to learn to can and make jellies and pickles. I won't post pictures until things actually start growing. I do hope they do!!

Spring is full of Sickness!

We have never been so sick since we moved up here!!! Probably from all the new bugs around here. Since we got here, we have had 6 bouts with the stomach bug, unknown cold - which turn into sinus infections, Kaylee has had at least 1 ear infection a month (WITH tubes), Daryl gallbladder problems and surgery, and the latest is his back (bulging disk). Ugh. So many weeks full of sick kids. Not fun.
Riley is not sleeping well so that in turn wears her out. So then she ends up getting sick on Friday night and is sick all weekend. I am praying to how to help her! Before she goes to sleep, we talk about the blessings in our lives. We have memorized the 23rd Psalm and then I have talked about the meaning of the verses and why it is so special. We have a list of my favorite Bible verses that deal with comforting and peace so she can read and memorize them. We don't read scary books or watch anything remotely scary. I do not know what is bothering her!! I talked to the school counselor and she will be in a life skills counseling session next year. I LOVE her school!! They really work with you!! And I love her teacher!! The counselor said it might be such a shock to her that she came from such a small Christian school where the parents HAD to be involved and kids were to act a certain way and now she is in a LARGE public school where there is almost no parental involvment and kids come from all types of families. Keep praying on that one!!
Kaylee is seeing an immunologist to see why she is getting sick so much. It has been continual!!! We are trying a few things and are also to get a complete bloodwork test done on her - but haven't done it yet.
Overall, Bodie's asthma is much better here!! His body likes the dry air and we can tell by his breathing when it gets more humid outside.
Our pediatrician knows us VERY well. The office staff love us. The pharamcy tech doesn't even ask our names when we come in and she hands us lollipops when we leave. On a monthly basis we see - along with our regular ped. - a GI specialist, pulmonologist, ENT dr, and now an immunologist!! Thank goodness we have insurance!!!

Where do I begin??

I just looked and realized I haven't posted in a while! Need to get caught up with the 20th century! :) I'll summarize the last two months and then post pictures as I find them on the computer.


Things have been going GREAT here!! Spring has come to central NY and it is beautiful!! It took a long time but I am so glad it it here. I relish being outside and seeing all the green! I am so glad to finally see all the trees with leaves on them. Our tulips, hyacinths and daffodils were beautiful. The kids love being outside every day. I LOVE it too! :) It is not hot and muggy like TX. I can see why people love it here.


My parents were here for a few days in March. We went to the zoo, toured Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame, volunteered at Riley's school and just enjoyed being together. While they were here, both Bodie (on the way home from Cooperstown) and Kaylee have a bad stomach bug. :{


We have spent many weekends exploring our area. Toured around Oneida Lake and tried to see the salmon running up river to spawn. Didn't see much salmon but the kids LOVED throwing sticks and rocks into the water.


We went hiking around Pratts Falls and the kids also enjoyed throwing sticks and rocks into the water (seeing a pattern??) :) That was our first hot day here! Almost 90 degrees but it only lasted a day.


Next weekend we went to the farmers market downtown and got beautiful plants for the front flower beds and vegetable plants for our new garden. I was amazed at all that was there!Then we ate lunch at our lighthouse restaurant on the lake. Yummy sweet potato fries. That evening was the Armed Forces night at the local Syracuase Chiefs baseball game. We invited the Albert Clan and some of them joined us. It was in May but very cold and rainy. Riley LOVED watching the game and was into all the stats. Really surprised me!! bodie loved that the stadium was right next to the trainyards and he could see engines passing by. Kaylee enjoyed wearing out who ever was in charge of her for the moment. :{ She wanted to go up, down the stairs, in and out of the seats, on and on. . . Daryl had hurt his back that weekend and he stayed home and was on muscle relaxers all weekend. The next day was Mother's Day and my birthday so we just stayed home becuase I didn't want to stress myslef by getting everyone ready for church. That evening we had my typical and FAVORITE meal - steaks ala Mark Miller style (good TX buddy), potatoes, ceasar salad, asparagus, fresh bread and yummy Carvel ice cream cake!!! Per request, not many gifts for me. That suits me just fine!! I got a few Target gift cards that I will uses to buy nice knives with and my mom got me a Starbucks card and Lands End card. Can't get better than that! :)


The next weekend was the "New York" party hosted by Joe Albert's sister. Wow!! They went ALL out!! The menu was centered around foods made here in Syracuse or known from the state of New York. Let's see if I can remember some - Hoffmans hotdogs, Long Island duck, chicken riggies, salt potatoes,Carvel ice cream. What a great time and a great idea!! We are so blessed to know this family!! And to think that we met under such tragic (at the time!) circumstances!!

I'll stop here and then add photos and then keep working on a different post!


Sickness

A Perfect Day!

We had the best day ever! The day started with me making a big batch of cinnamon toast and cheesy scrambled eggs. Our normal Saturday breakfast. Then Daryl and Bodie took Riley to her ice skating lessons. While they were gone, Kaylee napped and I talked to Aunt Kara on the phone.
Today was absolutely beautiful!!! so we left the house as soon as everyone was done with their morning activities. The high today was 65 - we haven't been that warm since we left Texas!!! We headed to the lighthouse restaurant (don't know the real name- that's what we call it) at Onondoga Lake Park. Excellent food! We at on the deck with a rainbow umbrella and got there RIGHT before the crowd hit! The girls and I shared the seafood sampler with clams, scallops, haddock, shrimp and THE BEST sweet potato fries you have ever had! Not a crumb left. Then we headed to the park. It was like the entire town woke up from winter hibernation and hit the park!
The Onondoga Lake Park is obviously on Onondaga Lake in downtown Syracuse. It is a huge park with a skatepark, doggie park, paths around lake, and a huge kids playground. It is also a handicap accessable park. The kids all had fun running from around the different playgrounds, swinging on the swings (Kaylee didn't want to get off but there was a long line, only 6 swings for the ENTIRE park) and throwing rocks in the lake. Kaylee is such a sponge. All she does is watch her siblings and then follow their examples. That is either good or bad! :) It was so good to be outside without coats!! You can tell everyone else in the city was enjoying it too, since they were all out with us! I will be so excited to see all these trees with leaves on them!
After naps (I grocery shopped with my usual Starbucks peppermint mocha), we explored another park - to get the most out of this BEAUTIFUL day. We went to the North Syracuse Plank Road Park. Did you know that North Syracuse had the first plank road in the US in 1846? Well, we went to the memorial park today. We drive by it on our way to church and I have always wanted to visit when the weather got warmer. The park isn't as well taken care of as it should be! But it still is neat. A great playplace for the kids, monkey bars and swings. But no toddler swings for Kaylee. :{ There is an old trolley car, a toll road booth and an old one room school. The kids saw robins, 4 stray cats, chased a pair of geese, squirrels and a woodchuck. So much fun!!
For dinner, we went to a local mom and pop restaurant- Barberi's. Kaylee had excellent homemade mac and cheese with ham chunks. Riley and Bodie shared a cheese pizza. Daryl had spaghetti and meatballs. And I had the chicken marsala. All wonderful!!! The house italian dressing is so good we had to order an extra salad!!! I really wanted to try the red velvet cake for dessert but we noticed the Big Dip ice cream stand was open. Ice cream season has started - didn't know there WAS a season! :) Oh, it was SOOO good! Amazingly. I guess it should be because the stand is on the side of the road and there was a line around it! It will be a new family tradition for us!
The day was so good AND so fast, I never even got to take pictures! It was a beautiful day.
We are loving watching our flower plants peek out of the ground. When we moved in last fall, Bodie and I planted tulip, hyacinth, and daffodil bulbs. We are so excited to check on them every day!
That was a wonderful spring day! As an aside, last week on the second day of spring, it snowed and should snow again on Monday!! Spring had not fully sprung in central New York but it is on it's way! :)
We love it here!

Mardi Gras Party

mask parade

Making the masks

cajun turduckin

baby in the king cake



buffet line




We hosted a Mardi Gras party on Feb 21st for the entire Albert family. (Joe and Anne Albert are the ones whose son was hit by the car in Nov of '07 in Corpus. Daryl helped them out while he was in the hospital and now he is completly normal getting ready to deploy to the Gulf! God is an awesome God!) The entire Albert clan has welcomed us with open arms and had us over for Thanksgiving and Christmas. So I was thinking "What can I do to for them? Lousie Albert is a wonderful cook." They are a strong Catholic family so I decided to have a Mardi Gras party. I made shrimp creole, red beans and rice and Daryl prepared a shrimp boil. Anne made a traditional king cake. Riley had fun shopping for decorations and beads with me and then she helped decorate the house. She was excited about the party all week! We had 17 family members with four kids under 10 - not including my three. I must say the food was EXCELLENT! Makes me want to make that stuff again! The kids had fun looking for the baby in the cake. Anne did a great job on the king cake! The only problem was that the "baby" was an old fisher price little people and took up three pieces of cake. The kids were all upset that they didn't get the baby and wondered "who will host the party next year?" The kids all had fun making masks and then went on a light stick parade around the house. All the kids cried when they left! I had so much fun and think everyone else did too!

Valentine's Day

Yes, I know I am late wishing a Happy Valentine's Day! But hope you had a great day! We started off the day as we do all Saturday's - at ice skating lessons!! The kids LOVE them! Riley practiced turning around and Bodie skated across the entire rink! But he has as much fun falling down as actual skating. Baby K enjoyed walking up and down the bleacher steps and "talking" to all the other parents. Daryl had to give an inspection of the Central New York Sea Cadets (basically navy boy scouts) so he had to be at work all afternoon. After naps, we all went grocery shopping and then out to eat at a new (to us!) pizza place. Daryl really enjoyed his first pizza after his surgery! Then we came home and had a treasure hunt for the Tub of Love(toys and other surprises)!! Bodie REALLY enjoyed the hunt, Riley enjoyed reading the clues and Kaylee was always lagging behind since she couldn't keep up with the other two. For days afterwards, Bodie asked for "more clues!"

I am entering the 21st Centry!!

Hello Friends!
I love reading other people's blogs so I decided to start my own! What a wonderful way to stay in contact and hear about others' lives. It will take me a little time to get set up like I like but keep coming back for more. :)