post Easter.

Being that my 'good' camera is currently out of order as we wait for a memory card reader to come to try and retrieve the pictures I lost, so I didn't take a whole lot of pictures. Plus I missed the kids singing as I was in the nursery....where else? {I guess that is part of the job when nursery director}. Another family video taped it though, so I asked them to e-mail it too me. It is always sweet when the kids get up front and sing praises to the Lord.


The morning started off well, considering, and we were well on our way to church when Max lost it. I don't even remember what set him off but he was crying and I said forget the pictures but snapped one last one to document his tears for no reason on this day.

After church though, everybody was eager to get home and enjoy the BEAUTIFUL day we had.
Max, Evan and Justin headed outside while Liam napped,and I began preparations for our Lupper. Max and Ev. brought in some 'flowers'. It's so sweet that they always pick them, and they do it a lot...needless to say we have no weeds in our lawn!

I also attempted easter egg cupcakes...and I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. I'm no artist, but the kids all got a kick out of these, and they were pretty tasty too as I used Sprinkles cupcake mix.


We had friends over for dinner and dessert, and it was a grand time. We are so blessed to have so many incredible friends in our church body, where we really truly love one another and to celebrate the living Savior together was so great.

And the L-man couldn't have been happier to be a part of it all, and stay up until 10PM!

Praise be to God for sending his son to die for our sinful, selfish souls. He's is RISEN! Hallelujah!

Easter Song {by Keith Green--click song title to hear it. It's a wonderful song I grew up with}

Here the bells ringing
They’re singing that you can be born again
Here the bells ringing
They’re singing christ is risen from the dead

The angel up on the tombstone
Said he has risen, just as he said
Quickly now, go tell his disciples
That jesus christ is no longer dead

Joy to the word, he has risen, hallelujah
He’s risen, hallelujah
He’s risen, hallelujah

IKEA.

Nothing brings me greater joy {OK slight exaggeration} than watching someone struggle with an IKEA cart.
The boys and I were sitting in the cafe having a snack over looking the parking lot and I watched this guy struggle, I mean STRUGGLE to get to his car with his cart.
It was an incredible thing to watch. I wish I would've had my flip.

Those things are IMPOSSIBLE to push...apparently it is like a 4-wheel drive cart. I don't get it.

However...this guy might be on to some new olympic event.

the weekend.

I recently {thanks to my VERY generous Father [and mother who allowed it] } came into possession of this little baby:

Last Friday night we met for the first time, and I know I need to get to know her, love her and use her to the best of her abilities. She's a beaut.

And I had this nice, well priced lens for her. A lens that I used to take pictures at my brothers wedding this weekend. Then...

she broke. I was helping Evan get dressed this morning and I hear a horrible crash in the dining room. I rush in and there stood Liam {with an " I know I did something really bad' look on his face } and there sat my lens, broken in two. The camera, remained on the table, intact.

The story does get worse though. I may have accidentally deleted EVERY LAST PICTURE I took over the weekend too.

I was being a moron and I don't even know what I did. I don't have the right size card reader to upload pictures anyway, and so Justin ordered me a new card reader last night and we will attempt to get the pictures later this week.

Regardless of all the photography mishaps, we had an amazing weekend, celebrating my oldest brothers marriage to one awesome girl.

More to come.

thank you Sara V.W. ,you made my day!

Ben invited his mother over for dinner. During the course of the meal, Ben's mother couldn't help but notice how beautiful Ben's roommate, Jennifer, was. Ben's Mom had long been suspicious of the platonic relationship between Ben and Jennifer, and this had only made her more curious.

Over the course of the evening, while watching the two interact, she started to wonder if there was more between Ben and Jennifer than met the eye.

Reading his mom's thoughts, Ben volunteered, 'I know what you must be thinking, but I assure you Jennifer and I are just roommates.'

About a week later, Jennifer came to Ben saying, 'Ever since your mother came to dinner, I've been unable to find the beautiful silver gravy ladle. You don't suppose she took it, do you?'

Ben said, 'Well, I doubt it, but I'll send her an e-mail just to be sure. So he sat down and wrote:





__________________________________________________________

Dear Mom,

I'm not saying that you 'did' take the gravy ladle from the house, I'm not saying that you 'did not' take the gravy ladle. But the fact remains that one has been missing ever since you were here for dinner.

Love, Ben


__________________________________________________________

Several days later, Ben received an email back from his mother that read:
____________________________________________________

Dear Son,

I'm not saying that you 'do' sleep with Jennifer, I'm not saying that you 'do not' sleep with Jennifer. But the fact remains that if Jennifer is sleeping in her own bed, she would have found the gravy ladle by now.

Love, Mom

LESSON OF THE DAY -
NEVER LIE TO YOUR MOTHER

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Well I tried. I thought with a little luck of the Irish I could maybe pull off some cute cookies.

Instead I ended up with some green blobs. It was fun anyway, and I had a good excuse to make them as we have small group at our house on Wednesday nights.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

spring.

Last Friday night at our casa

NBC rules!

Brian Williams was on 30 Rock last night. His line: "Hey CNBC, Nightly News RULES!"
Have you ever seen that show? I never had, and it was pretty funny. But back to Brian...I love Brian Williams!He holds a special place in my heart. Since the passing of Peter Jennings it was hard to find a new news anchor to love and along came Brian Williams to fill that void.


Here is another couple great quotes from 3o rock.

Liz {Tina Fey}"The hug plane is coming in for a landing."

Jack {Alec Baldwin}"You're cleared for approach."

"He could be a serial killer. He could wear a thumb ring." - Liz

Quote from Evan.

"Mom! Look at that shirt!"

"Aw, that's cute."

"No, no, not cute Mom, cool."

well, eeexxxcccuuuuuseee me Evan.


Our voicemail.
"Call received at 3:07 PM, from phone number eight five nine, five, five, five, one, seven, O, O. ?!"
What?! It is ZERO, ZERO!!!

Which reminded me of this great clip:



Happy Friday!

gas station fun

who knew a trip to the gas station could turn into such a gas...yeah, I made that joke.

Just before I need to go get Max from school, EJ, the L-man and I head to drop off some dry cleaning and fill 'er up.
So here I am minding my own business, pumpin' my gas, and these two guys are trying to get the bucket to this sign. They determine they need to move the truck to a better position and the one guy starts backing that baby up and the other in the truck is yelling," hey, Hey, HEY!!!" and bam...right into the coke machine. And...he throws 'er in park. Doesn't bother moving her away from the machine, and gets out and meanwhile the bucket guy is trying to move the bucket out and up to change the gas prices on the sign. He is bobbing up and down, all over the place...it did NOT look exactly safe, or right, but I had to take a picture.
EVERYBODY there was staring at these two, and the best part was that they were oblivious to that as they were so focused on their work.
Maybe you had to be there, but it was a gas!

What is this you ask?

Looks like a poorly made bed, you say.

While you would be right in saying that this bed is indeed, poorly made, it is what lies beneath the bed that I want to direct your attention to.
No, I'm not talking about the Target PILLED{bummer} birdie pillow {which I do love by the way}....I'm talking sheets.
The sheets that I HIGHLY recommend.
The sheets that Justin and I would never ever take off the bed if it were possible. {which I suppose it is, but that's gross}
The sheets that cost me a total of about $23.00 and are nicer than the Ralph Lauren and Pottery Barn sheets we received from our wedding.
SO, what are they?
They are Martha Stewart sheets, and I should add we have a king bed and this included the flat, fitted, and pillowcases.
And,where did I get them?
Macys.
I LOVE Macys, because so often they are practically GIVING things away. These sheets, originally marked $120 for 500 thread count, {which WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?}....were marked 75% off, and then an additional 25% off that.
I hesitated buying them, but decided we could use a newer set for that price, and that night after I had put them on Justin got into bed and commented;
"What are these sheets? They are the most comfortable sheets in the world!!!"
And they are, I don't even know why they are so much more comfortable but sleep has never felt sooo good.

HAPPY MONDAY!

Dad for President

dadforprez., originally uploaded by olives on a monday.

This brought tears to my eyes when I pulled out of Maxwell's backpack this afternoon.

I recently listened to a sermon given by Tim Keller that my cousin, Nicole sent my way. It was REALLY great, and I suggest the listen. I probably rewound this part about 30 times, it was REALLY helpful for me to hear.

"No one has lived properly. No one can pass any moral evaluation of any sort.
OK. So many people say;
'Alright, alright I get it, but here is the thing I don't understand.
This this idea of debt, A debt that has to be paid for.
Surely if there is a God, goes the objection, God can just forgive it. God can just forgive, can't he?'

Listen carefully.
This is the answer.
NO.

What I mean is, he just can't forgive the payment.
I beg you to think about this with me for a second, this is very important to understanding this whole thing.

First of all let me ask you psychologically,
If someone really, really wrongs you. REALLY wrongs you What happens?
I would suggest, and I think unavoidably, there is a debt. There is something between you and the person who has seriously wronged you.
And it can't be wished away, it can't be ignored.
It's a debt, and there are only two things you can do with a debt.

The only way to get rid of the barrier on the one hand you can make them pay it down.
In other words, you can hurt them, you can berate them you can find ways of making them suffer, you can exclude them, there are all sorts of things, and as you see them paying it you sense the debt being payed down at a certain point it's gone.

Now, by the way the Bible says if you do it that way, if you make people pay for what they have done it will turn you into a hard person.
It will dehumanize you. But that is not our subject today.

Nevertheless, you can make them pay it,
OR
the other thing you can do, you say, well, why don't you just forgive?

OK. That is the right thing to do, but let me tell you what forgiveness is made of.

To forgive them means;
when I want to hurt them, I don't.
When I want to slice up their reputation, I don't
When I want to just think hateful thoughts, and how have they done these awful things and what awful people they are, I don't!
And if I do that, if I refuse to do that, you will find, as time goes on that your anger subsides and why?

Because YOU are paying the debt down yourself.
YOU ARE PAYING it DOWN.

It is costly, it is difficult, but the fact of the matter, it doesn't go away,there is no way emotionally psychologically when a real wrong is done, it can just be forgiven.
Somebody has to pay the debt. They have to pay it, you have to pay it, SOMEBODY has to pay to pay it or the barrier is there. "

-Tim Keller, The Story of the Lamb

Bourbon Drive-in

I HAD TO drive out to Paris {Par-ee as we like to call it} to visit Chad & Mel in their Ol' Kentucky Home before they left later today, and there is an old closed drive in on the way, so I HAD TO stop. I also got some fun horse shots, those will come soon!



Wouldn't you be SO MAD if a big ol' train came roaring through in the middle of your movie? Maybe that's why the place went belly up!

Can't you almost see cars here? The year: 1958. HOT DATE NIGHT at the drive-in!


I used the word Ol' TWICE in this post. Unnessesary.

a hard goodbye.

Our first Sunday at Providence I had met Melody in the nursery. She was so sweet, so southern. I remember asking her when she was due, perhaps in three to four months. NOT SO!
She had the cutest little belly with her firstborn arriving in a month! ONE MONTH!
I actually didn't get to meet Chad our first Sunday there, but Justin did saying he seemed like a cool guy. {Funny thing was, I had sort of met Chad before as I had seen him at Starbucks {where he worked} and had once complemented him on his watch}
I remember leaving that Sunday saying to Just that this was going to be our church home. I just knew it.
We have been blessed with an AWESOME church family, but I'll save that for another time. For now it's all about the Mondragons.
I never could have imagined the friendship that would SO quickly develop. We had been in Lexington for about 8 months and still were searching for our church home when we found Providence.

fall 2008 {a little over a year of when we first met}

A few weeks after we started attending Providence, and a couple of weeks before Melody was due they had us over to our house.

Now, before our big dinner night you should know that EVERYBODY at church was telling us how GREAT our dinner would be at their home. How they were the best cooks and that we were so lucky to go have dinner with them.

We get to their house anticipating a amazing 5 course meal,the meal of a lifetime, and Chad says;
"I hope you guys don't mind but we ordered Donato's pizza. "

We laughed and told them how everybody had talked up their mad cooking skills and how we were anticipating the meal of a lifetime. Of course we didn't mind, Mel was ready to give birth at any given moment and we hadn't had Donato's before, so it was fun to try a local pizza place that we now LOVE.

They have since made us more wonderful meals than I can recall.

We have always teased each other whenever one of us had other people over.
"Oh, so what? THEY are your new best friends? You are replacing us?!"

We have had some REALLY great times together. They are the kind of friends that you laugh so much with, so much so that your stomach kills after you spend a night together.

I still remember when we told them we wouldn't be settling down in Lexington for only a few years, and they told us that they wouldn't let us leave, that Justin would have to find another company to work for here.
Little did any of us know that they would be the first ones to depart.

When they first told us that they felt called to plant a church in Colorado, a place where Chad has always had part of his heart {born and raised there} and still has his Mother, Grandmother, sister and nephew there, I hardly believed it.
I left their house that night is a state of shock and excitement for them and this new adventure, along with sadness that they would be leaving us.

{I love this picture...like our times together it is chaotic, yet so fun}

As the months have passed and Chad has made several trips and connections in Centennial, where they will live and launch Sola Community Church it has been amazing to see Chad and Melody get excited to go out there, to be involved in the community there and to reach out to people and raise up new disciples for the glory of Jesus Christ!

This morning I am watching their girls for one last time while they finish packing up and tommorow afternoon they will begin the trek out west. I'm glad I have a fresh box of kleenex handy, because I'll be needing them all week.

Oh, and how could I forget?! Last night we had our last meal together at our house.

And what else could we have had, but Donatos.

Mel,
So, SO thankful that the Lord brought us together. I'm so AMAZED at how God has used you in my life, knowing that I could talk to you about anything. I have LOVED watching you become an awesome Mother and a dear friend. It makes me glad how much my heart aches, as it proves the deep love I have for you guys. I thank the Lord for such wonderful friends.
We are going to miss you all so much, but know that Justin and I will be praying for you and Chad, Juj, Addie, and Brek as you embark on this journey. We are SO thankful for the time we had with you all. We have been VERY blessed by not only your friendship, but your testimony in our lives.
You all will always hold a special place in my heart.
LOVE you.

Anne

ps- I will never forget the first time I heard you say olive oil..."olive ole" or "pi" {pie} I'm going to miss you.

ready for the weekend.

To wrap up this week:

Evan slammed the toilet seat down on his P again...and being the awesome Mom I am I couldn't help but laugh as I consoled him. He's done it TWICE now!

Liam has mastered the one handed sippy cup drinking technique.

Max had ANOTHER snow day. He also got 105% on his first ever spelling test! WOOT!
I cooked a couple of really fun and quite tasty meals this week.
One was Chicken Pozole which is an awesome and healthy meal.
Thanks to my soon to be sister-in-law for hooking me up with Simply Recipes.
I LOVE to cook, and hope I can develop my cooking skills even more this year.

Justin is LOVING his new{ish} position, and so, we will be in sexy Lexvegas a bit longer.
{which we both are happy about...have I mentioned our ROCKIN' church body ?! }

And....last but not least. I'm sitting at a stoplight this morning{belting out some My Morning Jacket...I've given up on caring if people think I'm weird} , after a quick run to the ole' Tar-jay and I hear a honk next to me.
The woman in the passanger seat signals for me to roll down my window.
"Do you know where the nearest Starbucks is?" asks the driver.
"Oh sure," I'm tempted to reply I know where EVERY Starbucks within a hundred mile radius is, so if they will need another soon I'm their gal. "it's blah, blah...."
"Thank you!!!"
And I roll up my window, and their signal to turn left turns green.
As soon as they turn off, I realize that the two SURE looked like Usher and his Mom.
AND there was an adult in the backseat who COULD BE a bodyguard.
You DO NOT EVEN KNOW how tempted I was to go to that Starbucks and see if it really was him.
Seriously unless it was Bradley Cooper{i love the guy} I would NOT EVEN recognize a celebrity if I had a ten minute conversation with him/her.
So if anyone out there knows if USHER was passing through Lexvegas this weekend, {or if you are reading this USHER...e-mail me} ha! Of course then again, maybe I don't want to know. Because I'll be disappointed if I'm wrong, and if I was right, I'd be disappointed I didn't get a picture.

Happy WEEKEND everybody!

check it.

My cousin Sara and I have started a 5 day a week photo blog{inspired by NIE}, just for fun. We live so far apart, that we figured this would be a fun way to keep in touch, and for our family all over the country toc check out. {click picture to get to blog}

training for toiletry

If you can recall, Evan enjoyed playing in the toilet now and again.

But, Liam?
Liam is in LOVE with the toilet.
Liam plays in the toilet as if he were training for the Olympics.

He is QUICK too. If the bathroom door is open at all, he is getting in there, guaranteed.

Here is the short list of things I've fished out:
-a WHOLE roll of toilet paper
-3 toothbrushes {that were immediately disposed of}
- a shirt
- a pack of unopened wipes
- toy cars
-a bath towel {yes, he stuffed the ENTIRE towel in}

Maybe there is something the rest of us are missing out on, but in the meantime, I make sure I clean the clean the toilets slightly better than before knowing the L-man will most likely soon be bobbing for apples it it.

This kid is whack.

snowy river

snowy river 2.18.2010, originally uploaded by olives on a monday.

really?

For this season of lent, I am doing the unthinkable.

Giving up STARBUCKS.

It started of as a passing thought when I commented on Annika's facebook post.

Later I received a message from Annika talking further on the subject.

I knew I had to do it.

Like Annika, Starbucks had become a "my time" thing.

It was a stress reliever, my time of day to just relax and let it all go while sipping my latte.

Years ago, when I worked at Starbucks, at a time when it was all you could drink, it was an innocent addiction. That was when the addiction was free.

Sure it was still innocent enough when I would go to Starbucks once a week, but it has gotten to a point that it is an automatic stop whenever we leave the house.

Furthermore, and I would like to quote Annika here, and I hope she doesn't mind that;
"I think, also, that we need to think of it as 'Is God more important to me than my runs to Starbucks? Could I let this go if God asked me to?' And as much as I want to say...'But it's just coffee!' I find that my initial response was, 'Oooh, it would be REALLY hard for me to give that up.' Even for JESUS, for crying out loud?"

hhhhhmmmmmmmm...yeah. Her message to me was like she was reading my mind. So I knew it had to be done. As much as I didn't want it to be, and as much feet stomping and groaning that accompanied my decision I know that it is the right one. My bank account {and husband} are already thanking me.

So Tuesday, as I spent the remainder of the gift card Megan had so generously sent me, {and yes I thought of you, thank you!} I unknowingly sipped my last Starbucks non-fat latte until April.
If I would have known it was my last, I probably would have gone back two more times that day.
For now though, I'm happily making good coffee at home, I have a great little frother that does a great job, and plenty of non-fat milk.
I wanted to make changes for the better in 2010. To strive to be MORE Christ like.
And while this may seem small, for me, it is a BIG start.

l-a-z-y

Justin shoveled the top half. I shoveled the bottom and the sidewalk.

As for the middle?

What's the point? :)

blizzard. 2010

We have NOT had a mild winter here in any way, shape, or form. This is the SOUTH!
However,

today is no exception.
We woke up to this:

We are SNOWED in, and I don't mind one bit.
On NPR this morning they said;" Just stay home."
And that, is what we plan to do.
I'm going to make a big breakfast, start a fire and enjoy the day together.

In fact, Justin, Max, and Evan are still in bed. And it's 10am.

The L-man and I don't mind one bit.

mpls.

Have I ever mentioned I LOVE big cities?
Well, I do.
Something happens to me when I'm in a big city. It's hard for me to be upset about anything.
I think public transportation is awesome, and I love seeing people hustle and bustle about.
Not that people aren't in a rush in my small city, it's just a different.

Last Friday I flew up to Minneapolis.
Two of my brothers live there, and my parents drove up from Wisconsin. I also got to go to a tea party {an event that will NOT soon be forgotten..it was hillarious, I wish I took more pictures} to celebrate my soon to be sister-in-law's {who is really awesome I might add} marriage to my brother, Alec.

They make a great couple. :)
It was a whirlwind of a weekend, flew in on Friday and filled every waking moment with something until I left again early Sunday.
It was a good weekend.
I felt a bit like a tourist snapping photos with my little point and shoot, but what can I say?

Big cities do that to you.

can I be good at SOMETHING?!!

image:bakerella.com

Adorable right?

Looking amazingly scrumptious?

I'm telling you Bakerella is one talented lady.

Like Martha Stewart talented.

Sometimes I think I'm Martha.

But, I'm nowhere close.

{along with the fact that I have no staff}

Anyway. I decided to try and take a crack at the cake pops Bakerella has so beautifully featured.

Looked easy enough.

Here is how mine turned out...

sigh.
{at least they tasted good...I think}

I think first of all I made my cake pops a little too large.

My chocolate adding technique needs so SERIOUS help.

I was pretty disappointed in how LAME mine turned out.

It was a process just to get them to stick on the stick!!!

They pretty much looked like the 47 Christmas ornaments Justin has from his younger years of a clay ball on the end of a popcicle stick.

L-A-M-E and ugly. {no offense to your lovely ornaments Justin}

So I was bummed...and who knows if I will give these a go again.

I want YOU to though, and I want to see how AWESOME and incredible yours turn out...because you can't really do any worse than my 1st grade level ones.

Happy {almost} weekend!

I'm out for the weekend in MINNEAPOLIS while Justin stays home with the boys.WOOT!

Pray for his sanity.

{HEY, I'm giving in to his begging for a flatscreen...so it's a good deal for him}

only evan.

Last night, around 4a.m. I hear a thud and a short cry. I really didn't think anything about the thud and thought the cry was Liam.

About fifteen minutes later Evan comes to our room quietly crying. I hear Justin ask him; "What Happened?!"

I look over and he has blood all over his face, what did happen?!

We take him into our bathroom, he has blood all over his face and arms, I couldn't even tell WHERE he was bleeding from!

I got a warm washcloth and wiped his face off {while he was still half asleep!} and we discovered he had punctured just below his bottom lip with a tooth when he fell.

It was gross...but he was pretty much sleeping though it all. When Evan is asleep, he is ASLEEP.

We cleaned him up and put some liquid bandage on it to seal it, luckily the hole was fairly small, but sheesh,

ONLY Evan.