Registry

A couple weeks ago, Heather and I took the afternoon off work to have a lunch & registry date! We grabbed lunch at Flarah's...awesome!
...and then headed over to Babies 'R Us to get registered! We parked right up front, thanks to Heather!

It took us a couple hours and I still don't think we are finished, but we got our list started! I tested out this jogging stroller in the store...it should work great! (I refer to it as a "running" stroller, not a jogging stroller)

We have 3 registries going right now:

(Mom, I added links, just click on the name and it should take you to our registry)

Babies 'R Us:

Target:

and Amazon.

I think we have most everything covered, any suggestions about must have items for soon to be parents?

Riley's new toy

We went to a friend's garage sale last week and got a ton of baby stuff (thanks Elizabeth!), as we were unpacking the garage sale finds, we found a green bouncy dice at the bottom of the bag. Heather bounced it on the floor and discovered that it lights up. Riley instantly fell in love!
She chews on that little dice and makes it light up. She will paw at it...

she grabs it in her mouth and then tosses it in the air...

so far, it has been hours of fun for her and lots of entertainment for us!

We are hoping Elizabeth's kids don't notice that this green dice is missing because we would have to pry it from Riley's jaws to return it!

Book Review: Tithing

I just finished reading Tithing by Douglas LeBlanc. This was the last book in the Ancient Practices series that I had left to read and I thought it was very good.
LeBlanc, I feel, takes a fresh perspective on tithing with this book, he thinks the answer to tithing is clear in Malachi 3:10, where God tells us, "Test me in this." and he points out that it is the only place where God tells us to test him. Yet, LeBlanc doesn't unpack a sermon about why we should tithe, instead, with each chapter he profiles people who have tithed and tested God in their tithing and the effect on their lives has been profound.
Though each chapter, LeBlanc shows us the true impact of tithing in action in real lives. He interviews a vast array of different people from different backgrounds living in different communities, but the one thing that they all have in common is the joy that they have found in tithing.
I really enjoyed reading each chapter and discovering how God is changing lives and impacting the world. This was a fast book to read but it also challenged me to look where my money is going...who is getting my "first fruits"?
"'Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,
' says the Lord Almighty, 'and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.'" -Malachi 3:10

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

May Day Baskets

I know this is about a month behind, but Heather and I sent May Day "baskets" to our nieces and nephews. We started with these Caffe Frappe glass bottles...
peeled the labels off and spray painted the lids silver...

added some treats, fabric, twine and a tag...

and we have fun May Day baskets.

I also thought it would be fun to cut out vinyl letters and use those to write a fun message on the bottles.

Happy Birthday Aaron

Last week was Aaron Siskow's birthday, to celebrate we went to Felix and Oscar's for some deep dish pizza.
Aaron, Derek and I are in a book club and Aaron is the last one of us three who doesn't have a pipe yet, naturally, that is what Derek and I got him for his birthday!

...now we can smoke our pipes while we discuss books! (and by this picture, gaze off into the distance)

No birthday is complete without birthday cake...DQ ice cream cake to be exact!

That gals are pretty excited that we all now have pipes!

Happy Birthday Aaron and welcome to Pipe Club!

WWHPBMD?

Garden Club

This summer, Heather and I have joined a Garden Club. Well, that's what we are calling it anyway. We decided to plant a garden with the Pines and the Schardts, Derek volunteered his backyard (less area to mow). We marked off some plots along the fence line and started digging up the grass.
Then we tilled the soil, big thanks to my dad for letting us borrow his tiller!

We also set up a rain barrel, to collect rain water to use to water the garden! We got all that done on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

The next day the sun came out and we got the garden planted! Joni, Isaiah and Heather brought us ice cream for a mid-day treat!

The garden starting to take shape.

We made stakes to mark the different veggies we have planted...

Derek getting his hands dirty in some good old fashion soil.

Derek and Graham planting a few tomato plants.

Derek stringing up some twine to encourage the beans and snap peas to climb!

...and the final product, all the beds planted, the rain barrel painted brown and that's me giving the plants a little root start! Now we wait to see if anything will grow...

From our own garden, our peonies are in full bloom!