Help Me

When I changed our URL, I lost all of the blogs that I had on my blog roll. I was needing to re-do my blog roll anyway, so it forces me to do so.

If you have a blog, will you leave a comment with your blog address so that I can add it. I would love to add all of you, even if I did not have it before.

Also, you can change my URL if you have it on your page. Thanks!

Slowly, I will get things back in order. Ha!

Motherhood is Humbling

Yes, in fact, it is.

Especially when you pull to the drive through at Sonic and you are trying to have conversation with the window attendant and the boy in the back-seat is YELLING, "Mom? Mom? Mom, is that person a boy or a girl? Mom? Excuse me Mom! Mom, please tell me if that is a boy or girl. Excuse me, are you a boy or a girl?"

Yes, in fact, that is humbling.

So Pleased

Look what came...

Isn't it perfect?

The canvas turned out great!  I ordered an 11 x 14. 

If you have not already taken advantage of this offer, you should. 

Why Chicken Noodle Banana Pasta, you ask?

Chicken Noodle Banana Pasta is a made-up saying we say

It started with my three-year-old one extra silly day.

It made his little sister giggle, she started saying it too

And before long they yelled it to the lion at the zoo.

The lion roared, the children laughed, and grabbed their bellies tight,

They whispered the words after bedtime kisses that same sleepy night.

The mommy and daddy smiled inside as they closed the door

And turned to look at each other and said the silly saying once more.

After that day, it just became something the family said

at breakfast, lunch, and dinnertime, but especially when going to bed.

In some ways, it means I love you for we say it to those we hold dear.

And in some ways it means keep your head up, for we say it throughout the year.

It always brings comfort, encouragement, and smiles to the family in this home

because most of all it means we stick together, we will never journey alone.

It is the silly memories like this, that will always bring me back to this day

When my windows were covered with fingerprints of little ones home at play.

When my children are grown and have families of their own, I can hug them tight and say

Chicken Noodle Banana Pasta and then be on my way.

When days are gloomy, hearts are sad, and frustrations come to you

say the same four silly words and you can smile too.

Because Chicken Noodle Banana Pasta sometimes describes our life;

It’s a normal, yet extraordinary; simple, yet filled with strife.

Our God has a heart of creativity and desires to give his people

More than a life of knowing him inside of a building with a steeple.

He desires to know us deeply, and us him in return.

He wants to give our hearts freedom and a passion for which to yearn.

At times, we do not understand God, but we can rest in knowing what is true

If he created Chicken Noodle Banana Pasta, he did much more when creating you.

It you feel distant and forgotten and these four silly words come to mind,

Please turn your gaze to Jesus for it is only in Him you will find:

a love beyond measure, a heart after you, a calling to come away

With The God who made your inner being because, he may want to say

Chicken Noodle Banana Pasta,

I love you, my silly child, forever.

A New Decision

I had made the decision to make my blog private.  But to make a blog private, one can only invite one hundred readers. Between the comments, phone calls, emails, and facebook messages I would have to eliminate over seventy of you sweet souls from reading this lil' blog.  That was not my intention.  I have enjoyed the 'community' that has come from this place.  I gain so much from you all.  


My motive for switching to a private blog was merely for protection. Mainly, I do not want my blog to pull up in search engines.  I do not like the idea of my name being googled and my blog (with thoughts and glimpses into my life) pulling up for the world to easily access.  It's the easy access part that I don't like.  I can deal with access, just not easy access.  


I think I have reached a new decision.


I am going to change our blog's URL so that it does not include any part of our name.  It is for protection and will keep my family from being too easily accessed, yet it will allow our blog to be public and still read by more people than a private blog allows. 


Sometime this week, I will email you with our new URL.  From there, you can continue reading our public blog under a new name.  


If you have not already left your email address for me, please do so. I will not be posting the new URL on here, I will only be emailing it to the addresses that I have. 


Thank you for wanting to continue to look into our life!

Goodbye, Papa

 Tuesday, my Papa passed away suddenly. This week has been one full of emotions and memories. My Papa was a man loved by many, me included.  He was a picturesque grandfather.  He always had time for his grandchildren and taught each of us countless life skills.  He taught me to drive, he attended everything that I took part in, and since I have had my own family, he often took us to dinner or visited during the day to play with the kids and encourage me in motherhood.  Each time I saw him, he told me how much he loved me and how proud I made him.  He made me feel like the most beautiful girl in the world, often to a point of embarrassment. He was not just a special person, but a very big part of my life.

It is never easy to loose a loved one, but God has continued to prove himself faithful and good to my family.  There have been so many acts of love and miracles in the midst of tears.  We are not forgotten, but loved more tenderly at this time.  My Papa is rejoicing in heaven and for that, my heart can only rejoice as well.   Just three days before he passed away, we spent the afternoon together and small details of that day are so clear in my mind. I have a sweet bouquet of flowers on my kitchen table that he brought me that day, each time I look at them, I am reminded of his love. God has heightened my, already fond, memories of him and I have those to cling to and pass on to my children and grandchildren.  I am sad that he will no longer show up unexpectedly at my door in the afternoons to play with, read books with, or love on my children.  I'll miss his hugs, the way he reassuringly squeezed my shoulder, his smile, and having someone call me Addy, but I am comforted by my hope in seeing him again one day!

To the many of you who have called, sent emails, cards, texts, flowers and prayers for my family and I... thank you! Jesus has shown his kindness to me through you.

Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of Brad's grandfather passing away. We were very loved grandchildren!

Going Private

Even though I can find many positives to have a public blog, I have decided to make mine private. I will share my reasonings once I make that change.

I will leave the blog public for about a week and then.... no more public access.

If you would like to continue reading this blog, it's easy.

-Leave a comment with your name and email address.
-Even if you do not have a blog or username, you can leave a comment as 'anonymous.' Just make sure to sign your name and leave your email address.
WITHOUT AN EMAIL ADDRESS, I CANNOT INVITE YOU TO READ THE BLOG.
Soon, I will email you a password that will allow you to access the Ingram Gang.

Happy day of love!

Bargain Buy

Old Navy has these lace camis on sale for $2 right now.

That is $10.50 savings on each one if you bought them at the regular price of $12.50.

The sale started yesterday, but goes through the 11th so there is still time for you to make it in if you are interested.

I went yesterday and bought one in most every color. They have brown, charcoal, white, pink, yellow, blue, green, red and purple. I wear a camisole or tank under most everything, so for me this was an incredible deal.

Happy shopping!

I'm Seeing White

It snowed last night. Again.

Sheesh, the snow keeps coming and coming. I actually enjoy the snow so I'm not complaining, but my little go-getters just don't really understand all of our time indoors lately. Kayt is determined that if we really wanted to, we could go to the park. At least for a little bit. Yesterday as I was changing a diaper and I heard a noise coming from the garage, the poor things were trying to ride their Jeep cars in the garage and they said they were pretending they were outside. They are desperate.

I've given up on keeping the house clean. I know that by the time I turn around my cleaned attempts will be undone. So, I've just let it be until we can have a playground other than the living room.

Cleaning house while kids are growing

is like shoveling snow while it's still snowing.

The relevance of this is apparent both inside and outside of my windows right now.

This is the view out of our window.

I will save myself some embarrassment and let you use your imaginations on what it looks like inside of our window.

So Excited!

I ordered this sweet picture (by my friend, Lezlie) of our Emmy on a canvas. It will be the perfect finishing touch in her room.

I saw the offer for a free or discounted canvas on Kelly's Korner and I was so excited because this was *exactly* what I had in mind.

You can get a free 8x10 canvas or $55 off a larger sized canvas.

Go get your free canvas!

It's That Time

I wait all year for this

and this.

Neither of which should be a part of my post-pregnancy diet,

but they are oh-so-good!

Speaking of post pregnancy, I want a pair of skinny jeans. Not now, but when I am skinnier. In the past I said that I wouldn't do the skinny jean thing because I did not think that they would look good on me, but I'm ready to eat my words and try them. It will be so much more convenient with my boots plus styles are much cuter now than when they first came out.

Any suggestions on places to look for a great pair? I'm sure it will take several stops to find the perfect fit, but after I loose my pregnancy weight this is going to be my reward to myself.

I'm all about self rewards.