Best Friends

Would you believe I have 3 Best Friends?

They are my Hubby, my Mom and Wendy.

Today I want to tell you about one of them.

Growing up as the youngest of seven was lots of fun, but came with its challenges too. We moved a lot. We stayed mostly in the same rural county in Pennsylvania, but sometimes a school change was necessary.

When I was in second grade it was one of these times. We were changing schools... and in a big way. We went from a huge Christian school in Maryland (to which Mom drove us 1 hour each way... every day) to a tiny Christian school in Quarryville, PA.

That was where I met my best friend.

I arrived, midway into my second grade year, to find the only other second-grader praying for me!!! As the only one in her grade (the class held first through third grades) she had been praying for another student to come.

Be careful what you pray for because the Lord may just answer "yes!!"

We could not have been more different.

She was quiet and reserved. I was loud and obnoxious.
She was a girly girl. I was as boyish and they come.
She liked to swing and talk at recess. I played ball.
She loved dressing up. I hated every moment of it.
She took school seriously and excelled. I tried to slide by.
She was always early. I was mostly late.
She had well-balanced adorable lunches. I had teen-aged boy size lunches.
She was Baptist. I was Methodist.
She liked to please her teachers. I liked to aggravate them.

And we could not have been more the same.

We had looooong straight blonde hair. Hers always longer than mine by a good 10 inches. (today mine's longer!)
We were short. We are still short, almost the same height.
We loved the Lord.
We stuck together.
We stuck up for one another.
We could talk for hours.

Miraculously, we got along perfectly!!

Our teachers had nick names for us because we were always together (wish I could remember one of them right now!! Perhaps someone could help me with this.) One year we were even the two Angels in the school Christmas Play. Can you imagine me in a halo! I'm sure they were laughing their heads off about it! I still remember where we stood.

Second grade has been a few years ago for us now. We are still friends. .. close friends. We email and facebook all the time. We still talk over our days with each other.

Our subjects have changed from boys and clothes, to our children and laundry.

She has a little girl with curly, blond hair and I have 2 little blond boys. It seems fitting.

We still chuckle about ME turning out to be the "Pastor's Wife". You just never know what God has for your life! He certainly has a sense of humor!

I made Wendy's Home-made pizza last week because she's much more domestic than I am. (This is only my second time making pizza from scratch. Last time was over two years ago and I used her recipe then too.)

So here's the pizza that started this whole blog post!

Toppings:
Pineapple
Onions
Green Peppers
Ham (leftovers from the freezer)

Here's the dough that I hand kneaded. I must say it was a really good stress reliever and I was a little dissapointed when the timer went off, yes, I timed it so I wouldn't knead it too much or not enough...

Gabe put the cheese and toppings on his all by himself. Gideon did too. They really loved it!

Here's ours! MMMMmmmm

The only problem I ran into was that we had to eat pizza a few more meals after this!! It makes a ton!! Next time cut recipie in half!!

Isn't it crazy that I found my life-long best friend all the way back when I was a little second grade "Tom-boy."


Lots of fun and so yummy! Thanks for the recipie and your friendship Wendy.

With permission I am posting the recipe:

Pizza - 2 Large
2 pkg dry yeast
1 1/2 C warm water
1/4 C sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 C oil
4 C flour

Sprinkle yeast on warm water and dissolve. Add sugar, salt, oil and mix. Add flour (one cup at a time) stirring till stiff dough forms. You may need a little more flour. Knead on a generously floured surface for about 5 minutes. Let dough rest 15 minutes while you prepare topping ingredients. Divide dough in half. Makes 2 large pizzas. Grease pizza pans. Stretch dough to fit pan. Top with toppings. Bake 400 degrees approx 15 minutes. Check for brown bottom.

Gideon is 5 !!

He was just a few hours old here. (Before I even had a digital camera!!!... we bought our first when he was about 4 months old!!)



We've had a great day! Gideon chose where we would eat Sunday lunch... McDonalds! Then we came home and opened gifts, then we ate cake. The boys are playing with all the Birthday loot right now and later we are going to watch the new "Thomas" movie with popcorn.

Here's his reaction to .....




His Cake!! He chose Lightening McQueen. I tried to make the corner of the racetrack but I was too exhausted from the busy day to pipe it properly.



I think Gabe enjoyed it too!!


His favorite gift!! The new "Thomas the Tank" movie came out Sept 8th just 5 days before his big day!! Thankfully we were able to get one!! Monroe target was using rain checks!!



A squinting, happy boy!!


Handy Manny...



Gabe stole it right away!!


A happy boy and his Puppy. (Puppy sang "Happy Birthday" to Gideon after the family did!!)



Contentment.



What a precious 5 year old we have. Just before eating his cake he said, "Mom, Dad, Thank you for giving me such a nice surprise Birthday!" And then he came to me and wrapped his arms around my neck and gave a wet smacker on the cheek and said, "I love you Momma"

He says he'll always hug and kiss me even when he's taller than me..... and I'm going to hold him to it.

Happy Birthday to My Sweet Husband

My wonderful husband turned 33 Yesterday. It is just a little bitter sweet this year. I can't stop thinking about the rare cancer that took Rodney's Dad away so young. As a matter of fact Robert Earl did not make it to his 33rd birthday. He died when he was 32. Actually, he had just turned 32 July1st and died August 2nd after over 3 years of battling the cancer.

Rodney was only 5 years old and yet he remembers the day his Daddy died so vividly.

I can't help but wonder what his life would have been like had his father lived. Would Rodney have felt the call to preach so young? Would he have grown into the man he is today if his life had not held such heartache?


This is a cherished picture. The last professional one made while Robert Earl was still living. It was an orangy sort of dingy looking color so I scanned it in and black and whited it and put it in a new frame for a surprise for Rodney.


Lest this all be sad I want to show you some pics from our celebration. My Sweet man wanted to take the whole family to ride a train for his birthday.


This is Sunday Morning when he got home from Brotherhood. The boys helped him open presents.

I cooked him some favorite foods. Parmesan Chicken, Garlic new Potatoes, and old fashioned green beans.

Here he is with the requested cherry cheese cake.




What can I say. He is a precious gift from God.

Something Cute

This is my first little fellow. He was a few hours old here.

Here he is again with his haggard mother. Notice the relieved look on our faces.

Here's little fellow number 2.

This little fellow apparently didn't appreciate the birthing process. As I looked through my photos I realized that a good picture of him was hard to find. Poor guy looked like he had a rough time.

We couldn't figure out what color his hair was, but he sure was a sweetie.


So there's your dose of cuteness for today.
Carry on with life as usual.

250 Guests!!!!

Thanks to everyone for reading my silliness! I can't believe that I've hit 250 already. I have my Hubby to thank for featuring me on his Illustrious Blog!! :) I have a confession though. Since I didn't get the counter put on until a few days after I began the blog I started it at 20. So my number may be a little off!!! I'm excited anyway. And thanks for reading and especially for commenting!

Who's Who??

Here are our boys at 5 months old.
Can you tell which one is which??


Picture #1

#2

#3

#4

Post your answers in the comments section and let's see who can get it right!!