Graduation 2012

The day finally arrived ~ Our Loo has graduated from high school as of yesterday :) 

She's been waiting and waiting!

We are SO proud of her!

Me, Ben, Grandpa & Grandma Vetter, Heather, Danielle, DJ, Grandma & Grandpa Alexander

Our sweet Loo :)

One of Daddy's girls ~

:)

Loo and I

Ben and Dani

With G & G Vetter

With G & G Alexander

It's very hard to get these 3 to be serious!

I'm so proud to be their momma :)

Sisters and Best Friends :)

Way to Go Loo!!

Hannah, Sarah, Chris, Kimberly, Danielle, Samantha, Heather & Ben

Sarah & Dani

Hannah & Dani

It's official!


We are so proud of the young woman you are becoming Dani! God has great plans for your life ~
We love you :)

Love,
Mom

What About That Table?

Ok, the table went off the to do list. I guess in the back of my mind I knew that would happen all along but.....it was a nice dream :)
The top is ready to be stained and I have the wood and screws for the rest of it. I'm just out of time. 
I will get to that table as soon as graduation is over next week.

We are so looking forward to both of our parents being here for a week! DJ's sister will be here Thursday - Sunday.

                                 Take Care :)
                                  JanMarie 

No Stress When It Comes To Distressing ~

Plain old pine. Not perfectly straight. Comes with some flaws and blemishes.

I could have spent a bit more money for "prettier" pine. But nope. I love plain old pine. It has character ~ character is good :)

I bought 3 pieces of 1x12x8 to make my tabletop.Ben and I distressed them a bit earlier tonight. We used hammers and chisels taking chunks (not to big of course) and knicks out randomly in hopes it will age it even a little bit.

I'm sanding now ~ softening the corners and edges before I start staining tomorrow or Saturday.

This whole process reminds of how we are not perfect ~ we comes with flaws and lots of them! 
BUT Jesus loves us anyway ~ ALOT!
It's a process as He works in our lives chipping away at the yuck as we allow Him to. He loves you and me and desires for us to place our faith and trust in Him alone so He can begin that work in us :)

Will keep you updated on this table journey ~

                              ~JanMarie

An Era Comes To A Close ~ Officially

Well the Soccer Mom Era has officially come to an end ~ At least in this house.
We sold our mini van last week. The soccer mom mini van. I'm glad it's gone but it made me think of the many years we were a soccer family :)
Heather started playing soccer 16 years ago. All the kids started playing soccer at the age of 4 or 5.
DJ coached the girls in Jr. High and I was on the AYSO Board of Directors for 5 years.  Ben quit comp soccer last year so it was 15 years of endless soccer games and tournaments ~ It's one of my favorite sports to watch!
 The bathroom scale had good news for me today :) I am down 11 lbs. now!
 I think my job helps especially busy days like yesterday when I am back and forth all over the store helping customers with framing needs for 8 hours. Plus I don't have time to snack :)
 Out of town family will be here in a week. Dani's Open House is a week from Saturday. No problem. No stress.
Uh, right! There's so much to do. Much of what was on the to do list just won't get done :) The dining room table is still on the list......yeah......hmmmm...........

                         Have a Beautiful Week!
                               ~JanMarie                                                                          

Ben's Track Meet

Today was Ben's second and last track meet for this year. Last week the highest he jumped was 4' 8". Today his best was 4' 10"  :)

Below is the beginning to end run & jump ~

See how black his feet are from the ground? He had a blister on the top of his toe and asked if he could go barefoot. As you can see they said yes ~ It made us chuckle because he hates wearing shoes.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The farthest he jumped today was 16' 8". He said he gets better traction barefoot.  

It's always fun to watch Ben no matter what sport he's involved in. 

Good News! Heather found a job :) Her boss from her first CNA job begged her to come work for him. He's at a new place which is 40 miles south of here. The pay is awesome. Even with the extra gas she will bring more home than before. He also hired her best friend. She is very happy, of course :) God is good! 

I did go to the gym yesterday and my trainer measured me. I'm happy to say I've lost 3" off my waist and 1 1/4 " off my hips. To be honest though, I was thinking if only I had worked harder how many inches could I have lost BUT I'm celebrating this first victory :)

~JanMarie

May Craziness :)

May = craziness this year! 
It's all good craziness though :)

Danielle graduates 3 weeks from today! She is stressed to the max at the moment w/ her upcoming AP tests.
Ben is performing in "Thoroughly Modern Millie" every Friday, Saturday and Monday night until June 2nd. He and the cast are doing a great job! It's a cute musical with some very engaging characters.
Heather was let go from her job last week and is looking for a new job. Her and Danielle just got an apartment.It's close to our house :) It's a 2 bdrm. / 2 bth. for under $600.00! Good location too. Dani will move in on June 1st. Heather moves in this weekend.

A month from now it will be just Ben at home with us ~ 

This month is also full of training for Dani and Ben as they prepare for their Phillipines mission trip the first part of June. I'm so excited to see how God uses this trip to shape their lives!

I meet with my trainer on Wednesdays now. Today will be the first day back in almost 3 weeks. He was gone then my schedule was crazy.
I'm down 8 pounds ~ I'm going to try really hard to get back in the gym on a regular basis.

DJ got his motorcycle running finally and boy is he a happy camper!

This past year has found me dreaming about a rustic farm table I found in my Pottery Barn Dining Room book.
Today I finally went to Lowes and bought the wood to make the table top. I still need to buy the wood for the legs.
I'm going to give it my best shot and we'll see what I come up with!

"The" table of my dreams :) Thank you Pottery Barn for the inspiration ~
I'm staining the table in the same shade as the one in the picture. I'm also spray painting our chairs white and recovering them with more neutral fabric. We acquired an old (as in 100 yrs. old) church pew and it will be seating on one side of the table. Did I mention the pew is 10 feet long? The table will be 8 feet long.
Having a hard time picturing all of this? I will share pictures when it's done!

p.s. I would just move into the above kitchen if I could :) love. love. love.


Below are pictures of Ben at last weeks track meet ~

High Jump ~ He cleared 4' 8". I believe only 1 kid cleared higher than him.

I just LOVE this kid :) He makes my heart happy!

Softball throw

Ben and Dani



Have a beautiful week!
~JanMarie