Chocolate Chicken

Yep....you heard me right CHOCOLATE CHICKEN!!

My children have 2 favorite aunts (politically correct statement) and 1 of those aunts LOVES to take care of these rascals when she is in town! Well is almost seems that at the very time she has planned a vacation to Alex, my need for a babysitter is exaggerated!! Isn't that convenient?? haha.

Well......during this last trip my boys became extremely ill and Auntie P. took care of them during frequent trips to the Dr. and ER.

Upon returning from 1 visit, the kids met me at the door jumping up and down talking about chocolate chicken. Yep....you heard right, they had chicken nuggets with chocolate dipping sauce.

Ah..the joys of being able to spoil and them and then leave......thanks P.

Now we have to have chocolate chicken EVERY day..:)

Hannah's Visit From Santa Claus!

Hannah had a visit from Santa at her school. It was so sweet that Santa brought the children wrapped books!


Did I mention Hannah is half puppy these days?

With an unspoken effort to shy away from the commercialism of Christmas this year, Santa knew just what to bring. He brought her a pop-up nativity story! It was such a CUTE book! In fact all the other children were crowding around Hannah and I to read her book. What was funny was that all the other books that we saw were about Santa and toys and the North Pole.

Maybe we shouldn't judge children so quickly.

Just maybe if they had the chance to really choose......

......................they would choose to celebrate the real Reason for the Season

.....go figure.

You're Gonna Miss This

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RpBRkEahVw

Please click on the link above to watch my babies in a wonderful clip

This past May my children had the privilege of being part of a video that was played for our church on Father's Day. They first time I saw it, I was moved to my core. I do not want to miss anything. I do not want to have anything that I would have done differently. I want to LIVE in the moment, loving my husband and my kids with wild and wreckless passion. I want to tune out the chaos and tune into the joy and playfullness in each of my children's eyes. I CAN and AM teaching/leading/guiding them with love.

I LOVE YOU FOWLER FAMILY!!!

The Best Christmas Pagent Ever

Here is Abi and her friend K. They are so funny when they get together! Oh, I can hardly keep up!

I am SOSOSOSO proud of my little darling Abigail! She was in our church Christmas play this year and had such an antimated part!! She has always had a very playfully sassy attitude and we knew if God did not use it for his glory then it may give us trouble in her teens.

Here Abi is playing the bully part of Imogene Herdman

Well in my opinion God did use it for his Glory as she was cast as Imogene in the Best Christmas Pagent Ever!! It was hilarious! I could not stop laughing!

Here is Hannah and her little friend K. (Thanks Kayla, I totally stole your pics)

Hannah was quite upset (jealous) because she was not on stage. She actually cried after the play and said "Now Abi is not my sister anymore!" Then when we started to watch the DVD again yesterday and she went and sat down, facing away from the the t.v. and crossed her arms. Would not even watch the DVD....HAHA!! What a riot.

Toilet Paper

Abigail and I were unloading groceries before we headed out the door for her play practice the other night. When I returned I asked Hannah - my born organized child - to go arrange the toilet paper in the bathroom. I knew that with her extreme sense of order she would take the paper out of the package, place it on the shelf and throw the plastic wrapper in which it came into the trash.

She very politely did as she was asked then soon returned to playing with William.

An hour or so later I walked into the bathroom to find all of my toilet paper arranged....:)

haha

Happy Veteran's Day

This past Veteran's Day was spent with our most favorite Veteran of all!....POPS!

After he got over us waking him up early for donuts, he was happy to be with us too!

John Deer Green

William got a John Deer Tractor for his birthday...........and a mud cake

Here are some pics from his party::

Still Adding More Pics

A Calling

Have you ever felt like God was wanting to take you to a place you hadn't ever been? I am there. I have these thoughts and desires that God is calling me to be consecrated/set apart/devoted to God. I mean REALLY devoted. The only problem is that I am not totally sure what that means. I have these crazy desires to throw out the t.v., home school, have a life centered around the Bible, to have my children wake up with the sounds of their parents travailing on their behalf. (The only problem is I dont really know how to travail. I really only barely know how to pray. There are even times I feel weird when I am calling out to God. How can he really hear me through this ceiling? How can he really heal someone? How does he have that power?)

Why when so many are starting to step away from the standards of the old church, am I being pulled towards them? I struggle/even fight against, on some level, the desires that are pulling at me. Is this God calling me to be seperate? Is this me just...........what? What else could it be? How do I break the habits that in some ways have me bound and keep me from taking those first steps? What really are those first steps?

I was baptized and got the Holy Ghost when I was 7. Billy got the Holy Ghost this past July 13 after coming to church for almost 5 years.

Starting last fall we began to really set our sights on God and started making decisions to raise our family in a way that would honor him. There was a momentum that built and we could just feel the intensity every Sunday. As we were down in the altar, we could tell God was changing our lives. After July 13th, everything went downhill. We just let life take over. I was pregnant, then we had Wyatt, then school, then fall festivals, then illnesses, then......yadda....yadda...yadda.

Yesterday was the first time I felt the power of God moving in my soul, urging me to continue on the path we started on last year. I prayed "God, give me the strength and courage to raise these children the way you want me to." I am so scared. Scared my friends/family will think I am fanatical, scared my kids will be bored without the t.v., some things sound so trivial writing them here. Fact is, I need a confimation that these desires are from God.

Sorry to ramble but I had to get this out.

Scavenger Hunt

My Man is "2"

Richard Robert William Fowler

November 21, 2006

I cannot believe that my baby boy is now 2. I can remember when Bill and I wanted to have another baby (right after we had Hannah) and it was just not happening. We wanted them back to back....so close in age you would think they were twins. Then, just after we decided that another baby must not be what God wanted for us, we got pregnant. We were so excited! Then 9 months later we had a baby boy that was named after both his daddy and his grandfathers.

He is my prince charming.

William is such a noble name, I love it!

Prince William

He will place his hands on either sides of my face and talk to me so seriously while looking me deep in the eyes.

He still cries when I leave him.

When he wants to sleep with us he knows to ask mommy not daddy.

I thought when I had Will that he was a gift to my husband. What I now realize is that he was a gift to me.

A momma's boy through and through.

Now that little man that changed my life turns 2.

Oh Lord please dont let the next 16 years go by as fast. I want to slow down enjoy those moments reading to him and listening to his explainations as to why all the pretzels or crackers are all over the floor.

Oh my baby boy......Thank you for letting me be your mommy.

Mommy will always love you!

Keepers At Home

We have decided to implement a "girls/boys" project night on Monday nights. This will be a time for Billy and I to share/define the male/female roles in our home. For the girls I am taking my version of "Keepers at Home" and teaching the girls how to do things that will be required of them when they have their own home. This mainly focuses on the fun things in homemaking. Decoration/not really so much cleaning.

Well this first Monday we decided to conquer wreath making. We collected many pine cones out of the front yard. The tree we have produces HUGE beautiful pine cones. Seeing as I have made many a wreath from grapevine and latex flowers, I decided that we should make pine cone wreaths for the doors. Well we started to make them one way.....then that wasnt working, so we tried another way.......well needless to say after you see the pics............It just didnt work out so well.
The lesson for our first "Keepers at Home" club meeting was: When something you are making does not work out, have fun, and remember next time to find some directions.....hehehe

Marching into Fall

Yes I know I am WAY behind on my blogging but there are a few stories that are worth sharing.

My Ol'Goat* is alway one to try to make any type of work fun. As he pulled out the scarecrows (Nov 1) to put in the yard, he let Hannah and Will each pick their favorite one. Then he proceeded to lead the children in a "March of the scarecrows."

They marched from the back storage area, around the side of house, and into the front yard where the scarecrows were placed and were to remain until Christmas decorations went up.

Aren't they just some stinkin' cute kids!!!

*Ol'Goat is Billy's self-selected "papa" name. We decided to go ahead an implement it so that it will have years of practice before the first grandbaby arrives. The funny thing is that it will end up being "Ogo."

A MEME

All you have to do is copy from my blog to yours and place 10 items you have done at the end of the list. Bold ALL the items that apply to you (inc the ones you added)

Come on and have a little fun!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea (from the beach)
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Built a snow man
101. Been Snorkeling
102. Have let your kids go to bed dirty
103. Been to New Hampshire
104. Watched the Twin Towers fall - Live on TV
105. Drove Lombard Street in San Fran
106. Drove through Pebble Beach
107. Pumped my own gas at a full service stop
108. Been to Carmel California
109. Drove coast to coast
110. Taught my kids to say "Yes maam/No maam"

What Do you do?

Seriously, what do you do when.........

........your kids are sick
........you've been up 6 of the 8 hours of sleep time with a baby
.......there are dishes in the sink
.......there is laundry in baskets needing to be washed
........there is laundry on the couch needing to be folded
.......there are scarves/hats/mittens to be made
.......I owe people bows
.......my husband is not coming home on time

You laugh...........there is always tomorrow!

Scheduling

I do not know about you other mothers but I have a hard time finishing everything I need to get done into one day. In an effort to solve this problem I have taken on the task of scheduling my home. Bill has helped me to get a temporary schedule in place while we use trial and error to finalize it. THIS is the main reason for my absence on my blog....*sniff*sniff*. Although my housekeeping is almost completely caught up, my kids are well-fed, well-clothed, and my holidays are almost planned, oh and I am almost done with another denim skirt I am making for Abi, my blog time is often squeezed out with things I truly "have" to get done. My schedule is very pretty and so far it is fairly acurate.

We took all the things (ALL OF THEM) that we wanted to accomplish in a day or a week and placed them into 1/2 to 1 hour squares then glued them onto a huge sheet of paper with 24 hours, split into 1/2 hour blocks of time. It was so funny when after the paper was full, we looked down at all our little 1/2 hour projects that we wanted to put onto the schedule. No wonder we are stressed! We have 30 hours of work planned for 24 hours! HAHA. Of course we put the most important things on the schedule first. I did allow myself 30 minutes a day to blog but it just has not worked out in my favor yet.

On another note......I think I am going to rearrange the kids rooms. I have a few problems that need to be solved:
1. The kids always want to sleep together.
2. They do not sleep well when they are in seperate rooms.
3. I have a hard time keeping their clothes separated,organized, put away, and off season clothes kept in an acceptable place (ie. NOT a wet storage room).

SO....since we only have 2 bedrooms for the 5 kids ...hahaha.....I thought I should let them have a sleeping room AND a dressing room. I can put all the bunk beds and cribs in the large room then all the dressers and clothes in the smaller room. This can almost become like a huge closet where I can store the off season clothes, put up the large metal hanging racks for all the kids. When Abi or Payton (the only two who need privacy) are dressing, they just go into the "dressing" room and lock the door. It will also solve my problem of where to hang the clothes to dry that is not in plain view of everyone entering the house.

Any suggestions on this topic would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Mother-to-my-five

The scheduling book I chose to use was Managers of their Home from Titus2.com

Fulfilled

There is nothing better than feeling like you are doing what God has called you to do. I truly feel that as I endeavor to love my kids more, kiss my husband more, keep my home a more peaceful place, I am reaping the rewards of a content heart by doing what I am called to do. This is my calling. I am a homemaker. Whether or not God will ever have me work, I am not sure. For now though, I am building a home. The cleanliness, nutrition, knowledge, love and atmosphere of my home is MY responsiblity. I have a whole lot to learn, but am finding even the journey of discovery so fulfilling.

I have never felt more conected with my home. As I am cleaning the floors and throwing out the clutter of my physical home, I am doing the same with my heart. Although there are several uncertain situations in our life I have a peace.

Thank you God for such a feeling! I never realized that living for you would be so rewarding. Thank you for showing me that you love even me.

The Votes Are In

Well I must say this is a new feeling for me. I am dissapointed that McCain did not win this very important election. The news this morning is sending a very heroic message. They are calling Obama a "World Leader." They are showing countries around the world rejoicing for his victory. Has the Bush administration really been this bad? In my little home with my 5 children I have enjoyed not worrying about my country as much because in my core I trusted President Bush. Even though I have not understood all the things that have happened in Washington, I know he hit his knees before making any decisions. Have I missed something or is this all just part of God's plan? This morning Abi was so dissappointed when she found out Obama was our president but I reminded her of what we said yesterday, "We are trusting God and whatever happens is his will." It was harder to say that today when we are living in a country that did not elect the candidate with more "Christian values." God has not changed and what we trusted him with yesterday, we can trust him with today.

God bless President Obama. Quicken his heart to hear your voice.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Voting

Bill and I usually divide up the kids to go vote with us. This year I took the boys and William got to push the buttons. This was his first presidential election. Abigail went with her dad and Hannah decided she just wanted to play outside.

Actually I realized that I have given birth to 3 children since the last presidential election! WOW! I have a productive term! I will truly miss President Bush.

Election Day

There are many days of the year that I love but Election Day is one of my favorites. This is a day where we are able to make a difference in our country. Voting allows us to play a part in where our country is going. I do believe that God has everything in control and ultimately our country's future lies with him, however, he requires us to do our part to stand up for moral values!

This year we decided that our volunteer work for the McCain/Palin and the T.A. Messina campaign would be sign waving. Usually we pass out fliers to area homes and people we know, oh and we always have signs.

Abi and I started about Noon and waved signs until 3:30 at the corner of Jackson and Macarther. Wyatt was tucked away in his little chest carrier. We were out there with the best of them! Shannon Gremillion and Triston Knoll both made appearances. The Obama supporters turned out in great numbers! I was a little sad that the McCain campaign only had US to wave signs. That is part of the reason why we stayed so long.....and we just love yelling at people as they drive past!

Mary Katherine joined us in the afternoon...

Then just as we were about to leave a film crew shows up and starts interviewing people. He walked up to us and asked if he could ask a few questions, and ofcourse I said sure! We proceeded to talk about my beliefs and how they are affecting my vote. We talked about several issues including Palin's religeous beliefs. I really nailed his questions and felt like God actually used me to almost witness to this guy. I hope I will have time to share with you all what I said later. He was doing a documentary on the McCain/Obama presidential race. You neve know, ol'Ashley may end up being on T.V.!!!!

Lots of love, we are off to the Messina Party and then to the local McCain party.

Dr. Seuss

My Honey reading to the children.

Bill read The Cat in The Hat to Hannah because she is learning to rhyme. Anytime you say anything that rhymes, her eyes get really big and she says "That rhymes!" It is so cute!

William kept smiling at the camera saying "CHEEZE!!"

Abi, Wyatt and I just sat in "our chairs" and enjoyed the story as well.

"Boo" Outfits

I love making custom clothing for my kids. I would sell them if I had the time but right now Billy says "No way!" I made Hannah and Cecilia (our neighbor) a custom outfit for halloween. It was SO cute. I am going to make one for Thanksgiving - with a turkey; and about 3 for Christmas - a Christmas tree, candy cane, and maybe a gold star. I love everyone oohing and ahhing over the clothes I make......Yeah me!! (in a very humble spirit)

Mr. Bumbo

Mr. Bumbo is a little name we like to call the Bumbo seat. This seat enables your baby to sit up as soon as he/she can barely hold their head up. Last night we introduced Wyatt to Mr. Bumbo and he LOVE IT.....

For a little while...........

Welcome Back from the Closet Mr. Bumbo!