Sunday, January 31, 2010

Monday Again

Well, it is the beginning of another week, and I have LOTS to do! Anna's room is literally IN our Living room because Scott is painting and putting up crown moulding in her actual bedroom! Hopefully it will be finished soon, so we can get everything back to normal!
As for ME... I am {once again} embarking on a fitness and healthy eating regime! I will be spinning at 8:15am followed by a workout with my personal trainer tomorrow. Be gentle, Sharon!
I am setting a goal this time! Shae graduates on June 1st, so that seems to be a reasonable amount of time to get this body into shape so I can be sporting a cute dress to watch my girl walk across that stage!!
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Thursday, January 28, 2010

Studying for Anatomy

When you are having trouble memorizing something....make it a song!!!
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Tuesday, January 26, 2010

More Homecoming...

For the Aunties...Here are some more pictures of Homecoming. We wish you could have been here! Maybe one day we will ALL live down the street from one another!
Shae Marrin
I am so thankful for the influence of these wonderful grandparents in the lives of my girls!
Lindsay LOVED Homecoming, especially staying up "weawy wate"!
and she is such a great hugger!
The social butterflies had fun running around and eating sour gummy worms (I looked the other way when I saw HOW MANY they had!)
I knew the shoes wouldn't last long!
Friends for life!
Here is the float the seniors BUILT! It is just amazing! You can sit inside and it looks absolutely authentic to a real cable car in San Fransisco!
High school is so much fun, I am so thankful that Shae has had some wonderful friends to experience it with!
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Monday, January 25, 2010

Homecoming 2010

Homecoming 2010 was a fun time! Shae was one of the Senior class princesses along with Rachel, Maeghan and Sarah.
In true Maeghan/Shae form, while the pre-event "princess" pictures were being taken (boys were playing the basketball game) they managed to get their crowns tangled up in each other's hair!
Fun Girls
Here are the pictures of each couple as they walked to the stage. This part was so strange for me because it seems like I was just sitting in the stands with my little 6th grade Shae-Shae watching the children of my friends walk onto the stage thinking how weird is must be to have a high school aged child!
Jon and Maeghan
David and Sarah (Sarah ended up being the Queen)
(Jon and David are twins...Shae and the boys met in the church nursery as babies!!! Goooood boys!)
Andrew and Rachel (Andrew ended up being the King!)
Daniel and Shae
As each couple walked toward the stage one of their teachers read their GPA, a list of activities they have been involved in along with their college plans and favorite Bible verse. THAT part got me! Oh my, to hear it read in front of everyone that my daughter is planning on going to Liberty University in VIRGINIA made it so REAL! How will I get along without her?!

The 2010 Homecoming Court
Maeghan, Shae and their Dads.
Every weekend Shae is either at Maeghan's house, or Maeghan is at our house. I.Love.That.
Shae with her Grandma's BFF, Carolyn and Anna's BFF, Chloe (Carolyn's granddaughter)
Yep...we brought the whole family! Lindsay was up until midnight that night! Brad was able to come after work but Beckie couldn't find a babysitter so she wasn't able to make it.
Shae has made us so proud. What a great young woman she has become. My prayer is that she will continue to make right choices and follow God's will for her life. She has a tender heart and we are so excited for her future. She plans to study Education, teaching special ed. or working with visually impaired children! (which should come easily since she has had so much experience right at home with both!)

(I will do another post with more pictures either later today or tomorrow...maybe if you leave comments the next post will come sooner!! heehee)
She will always be our princess!
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Thursday, January 21, 2010

Spirit Week

It is Spirit Week at Shae's school this week. That means dress up days, competitions, float building and Homecoming. Here are 3 of the 4 senior class princesses on "Cowboy Day".
Today was "Movie Character Day". Here are Andrew and Maeghan as Noah and Allie from
The Notebook.
Anyone recognize these three?
Bryce, Shae and Daniel
As Edward, Bella and Jacob!
Daniel is cracking me up...Look at the vampire angst on his face! (Bryce got a spray tan..which also cracks me up! Hahahaha!)
Tomorrow night is The big Homecoming celebration. Shae is walking in with Daniel and she is so glad he is tall, so she can wear heels! WooHoo!
It will be a very late night, but so much fun (and Shae gets to take the SAT on Saturday morning). I will be there WITH MY CAMERA, already got that battery a'chargin'.
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Tuesday, January 19, 2010

In the Oven Today...

My house smells yummy!!  I am making,
 
Baked Steak Soup

3 lbs. stew meat (I used New York steak)
3 large carrots, peeled and sliced
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1 yellow onion, diced
2 large potatoes, peeled and diced
28 oz. can tomatoes, crushed with juice
10 1/2 oz. can beef consomme
1/4 cup white wine (water can be substituted)
4 Tbs. Tapioca (I couldn't find this, so it's not in mine)
1 Tbs. brown sugar
1/2 c bread crumbs
1 Bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste
peas, canned or frozen, added toward the end of cooking (I didn't use)

Mix, cover and put in the oven at 250 for 6-7 hours.

This recipe is from a cookbook called "Herat & Soul" by Among Friends.  Everything I have made from any of their cookbooks has been delicious!  I have made this soup several times and it has always been a hit.  Today I am sure my peeps will LOVE it because there are 50 mile and hour winds and pouring rain here!


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Friday, January 15, 2010

Hoping for Snow

This girl would LOVE for it to snow this weekend up at camp again!  She accompanies Scott up the hill" whenever there is snow forecasted.   He is going up tomorrow and there is a storm brewing, and i would LOVE to be home all by myself wouldn't it be so fun if he took the girls with him?!
This is Anna at "The Inn" at Lassen Pines.  The Inn looks absolutely dreamy when it is snowing!
We're in for some big storms for the next few weeks.  We desperately need the rain and snow.  I know some little girls who are praying for some cold air to move on in with that moisture!!
{Did you notice that I learned how to 1. Enlarge a picture on a post 2. Do a strike through 3. Change the font all on this one post! Now, if I could get my signature to stop being weird...anyone know what to do about that!?  I hope I can remember how to do this again!}




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Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Valentine Banners

Now that all your Christmas decorations have been put away maybe you feel the need to brighten things up a little. Valentine's Day is quickly approaching, do you need a banner to make your home festive again?

I am trying to get an Etsy shop under way, but until I get the kinks out, here are some banners that are available for purchase here on my blog. If you are interested just leave me a comment with your e mail or you can e mail me at ingerluff@yahoo.

{1}Love banner with hearts $15.00close up view

{2}Love banner without hearts $12.00

close up view

{3} Skinny Love banner with hearts $15.00

close up view

{4}Be Mine banner $15.00

close up view

Shae and I have been busy thinking of ways to earn $$$ for her upcoming senior trip, so we are giving these a try. We can also make them for birthdays and baby showers or any other occasion you may like one for !

I am still trying to get the silver stamped necklaces going too. My friend,Nikki, made the most precious ones and has been helping me get started. What a chicken I am! Gotta develop some confidence!








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Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Randomness...

Over Christmas vacation Scott and I stopped at the Ikea in San Fransisco!!
Seriously, I see beams of glorious light and hear choirs of angels when we pull into the parking lot of one of these stores! Um, I really do! Scott does NOT share my love affair with Ikea.
I love the bedroom set-ups! Isn't this one precious?! I am getting ready to re-do my bedroom in white, so this one really made me anxious to get started on my room makeover. On this trip we bought Anna a bed (headboard with footboard for $87!!!)

See, I told you this is random.
Lindsay "wow-ed" us with her spelling one day while we were at Grandma's house. It really IS exciting when she does something like this. We never thought she would learn to spell or read.

Keeping with the random tone of this post, here is a picture of my nephew Gavin's room with his little Christmas tree. Beckie is not afraid of painting like I am. I LOVE all the different colors she has in her house.
Lindsay loves her counting bears, but she always wondered why there were no orange ones. Our dear friend (and babysitter) Shannon teaches at a pre-school and found some orange bears in a catalog. She ordered them and gave them to Lindsay for Christmas. How fun is that?!
Lindsay has lots of new "countable" toys. I have been cleaning out closets and organizing toys this week so I rotated some of her favorite things out so she can play with the new stuff for a while. This makes "old" toys seem fun and new again when you rotate them back in.
I am working on simplifying my life. Less is more (and easier to keep clean!).






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Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Gifts

When we were on our way home from our little shopping trip to Sacramento Lindsay looked out her window and said, "Daddy, did you see the beautiful sunset?"

~WOW~

What a gift that she could SEE the sunset.

What a gift that she KNEW what a sunset was.

What a gift that she is ours.

When she was so sick and we listened to the doctors tell us of the damage to her brain, we heard LOUD and CLEAR that she would be severely visually impaired (which she is) and possibly completely blind (she is not!).

She doesn't see well, but she can see sunsets. Thank you, Jesus, for answering the prayers of an undeserving Mama! I will always trust YOU to take care of Lindsay as YOU see fit! Here are a couple gifts we received for Christmas that I thought were so cute! Good gift ideas, too.I got the girls umbrellas with their monogram on them! Target had these nice "Totes" umbrellas that have a button to put it up and take it down!!(they are on sale now!) Shae's is zebra and I also got houndstooth and plain black. The embroidery was done here in Redding at Dan's Trim Shop. (I have been there ALOT!)



My sister-in-law, Laurie ALWAYS finds the cutest things. Her gifts are just about always my favorite! She is one of those people who can get something at the Dollar Store and you just LOVE it! She is extremely creative and wraps things so beautifully!

She got all the girls (SILs and all) these darling stationary sets! Shae's is so so so cute! The background says "Liberty University" all over and her name is on the top. Mine are pink with all our names written in the background and "Luffs" written across the top. So Cute! She got them at a craft show but there is a website where you can order them:


Laurie always comes for Christmas, and we LOVE it when she is here! I hate that we don't live closer. She is the closest thing I have to a sibling. She lived here when I had Shae, she even came in the delivery room with me and stayed to watch her first niece be born! She was with me when I had Anna too, but Dottie came in with us when Lindsay was born because Laurie was teaching in Korea then.
How lucky I am to have her in my life!





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