Summer Fun!

What comes to mind when you think of summer time  treats?Poppsicles, tart lemonade pie,peanut butter pie, or how about snow cones?! Ice cold goodness, sweet , flavorful and colorful. During these hot summer evenings post dinner we have been making snow cones with my pampered chef shaved ice maker. The recipe is super simple:


1c water
2csugar...we used one
 4tsp koolaid

Bring water and sugar to a boil, remove from heat , then add kool aid , cool in cute glass containers until ready for dessert,


The kids love taking turns , turning their ice into shreds..it us such a sweet refreshing dessert that is really cheap and easy   to  make.


This  summer Aunt Krista has also constructed an elaborate tape highway on the ground of our dining room. The kids imagined for hours with their barn, airport and Legos. Also, we have been busy over here in the Ippel  home this summer making homemade play dough with kids and an instant bakery was constructed. I love their active imaginations!Reading stories, watching afv together and movies, the aquatic center is a blast as well...yes, Santa we have stayed  busy this summer as the kids transition to their new school next week. I am excited or he things God will be doing in their hearts over his next year. I will miss home schooling them for  second year ,but I need to concentrate on therapy now so I can be the best wife nd Moama to them in the future. I know that this school is the tbest place for them this next year.

Take Time

 

photo credit

Take time to play, create. imagine, pretend, listen, encourage, love because life slips between our fingers like sand on a beach and you  cannot grasp it all...Your children need you present in their lives, focused, attentive. Playing barbies with them today translates to deep talks in their teens, listening to their latest victory on a star wars videos game translates to opening their heart when it is hurting.

    Being a mom is so beautiful, if we only take the time to enjoy, take in thew noise because someday it will be silent.I am thankful for my calling it is so much pressure am I good enough at setting a godly example ?answer no. Yet, through a lot of trial end error and failures I'm trying to find who God desires for me to be..hardest thing ever.

Happy Birthday Everyone!!!

Austen 7

love her shirt and expression

Jay is 9!

Riah 5

Patience Is Not For the Faint of Heart

   I have had to learn a lot about patience over the past fourteen months. Many times it's been incredibly hard to feel as  life is passing me by.Yet, God knows what he is doing and I need to trust him..his timing is better than mine ever will be. The three oldest start school in three weeks....I still can't believe it;,I  continue to pray that I can  be able to home school them again next year with the right tools to make our life more  efficient, well planned,organized. I cannot explain how terrible I feel sometimes when I leave them to go to therapy.I  miss them, their smiles, stories,laughter, screeches,jokes, everything I miss!

   I am convinced, the calling of wife and a mama is one of the  highest callings,I could have ever been given. I am so thankful for the opportunity to invest in my family .Just right now it doesn't look the same as it will.So, I wait patiently to return to being a full time stay at home mom. managing my home with ease.I want to be able to look back on my life with my family and say I gave it everything in me to be a good example ,not perfect....then,my life will have so much fulfillment .I fought hard and long for this family.I love my husband and children so very much .Thy are the best parts of my life and I am so blessed.I do not think I will ever say I wish i did more with my life..I will say with confidence, I gave it my all even when it was hard. I love listening to the boys talk about their interests...even though, I can find myself having a hard time focusing when a detail about Luke Skywalker gets brought up thirty times In one conversation, I treasure their bed time kisses even Moriah's hard  ones where I need to brace myself for  a very firm smothering of five year old love, Ezekiel's  wet slobbery kisses,who needs a puppy when I have a baby who will put his bib in his mouth as a chew toy ?.?I sure as heck do not.

   I continue to put one foot in front of the other, not knowing what the future holds.. But I trust God's plans for me are good and he will  restore the years the locusts have destroyed ."JUst keep swimming, just keep swimming,swimming,swimming.."=Dory

The Scorpion and the Cricket-A Tale of friendship

   The rain fell hard yesterday.A beautiful sound of rain flooded the streets, thunder rolled in the distance.Early that morning, Riah had spotted a scorpion in our home , a huge fiasco of capturing it ensued...with Hannah screaming from the kitchen. once captured the scorpion was placed in glass bowl in the garage.Meanwhile later that night, a cricket was found in our home so we decided to capture thstand put it with the scorpion to give him a friend. Unfortunately, the scorpion was never taught proper friendship etiquette and immediately brought his stinger out to subdue the cricket .Yet, one sting was not enough to hold our faithful friend down.He got up, much to the amazement of the scorpion , and began chasing him energetically around the bowl(with even a handicap, he had a broken leg).this game of cat and mouse went  on for a lengthy 10 minutes. The kids all laughed at the scorpion with his stinger down running from a cricket. Then finally, the scorpion decided it was worn out and hungry so he slowly reached out and grabbed the cricket with his pincher and stung him once. Poor thing didn't' fare so well from that sting and then he set him. Much to the amazement of the kids, we had never seen how a scorpion eats before. So, the moral of the story is if you treat your friends with kindness , you will always have someone to play with. Unfortunately, the loner scorpion is one again all alone in his glass bowl, with no one and unable to escape.

Ezekiel-8months

    Ezekiel, you are crawling like a wild man,escaped from a prison, nothing  is off limits to you.I love watching you maneuver around the house.your smiles are contagious, you bring so much joy to my heart. I love you more than anything. how did I get to  be so blessed to end our family with  you ??You hate peas  and  carrots, mixed together and give a very mature disapproving face. Also, you love sweet potatoes,bananas, fruit and cheerios; l love going to get you when you wakeup from you naps and you are standing up  staring at the door with   your binkie in  your mouth. You have the  most beautiful blue eyes ever,  the sweetest round head , two razor sharp teeth that are  reminiscent of a toothless beaver. Some of your favorite toys are a pink princess wand with glitter and floating the day away in a flower raft....sorry, you have two older sisters, who love you passionately.I love this picture because you have tired old man eyes and more cheerios in your lap than  in your mouth...Your babbles are sweet music to my ears.I hope my short paragraphs of your life will be sufficient for you.I miss you so much as I go to therapy full time from a stroke that  tried to steal us from each other...but guess what?God won...we are both  still here and stronger for it..yes, recovery has been harder than I could ever explain...but you are worth it!Oh my "Zekie"I love you!!!