Suzanne Griffin

The kids and I are headed to my parents this afternoon...for 18 days! Allen will be coming up for the weekend as it is the town's Good Ol Days festival. This is one of our favorite weekends. They get it off with a parade on Friday night and then the entire downtown area is blocked off for a chicken dinner and dancing with live bands. Saturday there are 3 blocks of craft booths, the car show, sometimes a bed race, the kids rides, entertainment and and old fashion red garter saloon. When I get back I'll post a picture of the summer I was a saloon girl. Not to mention the food...funnel cake, homemade pies and ice cream, kettle corn. I plan to shopping with one sister on Friday and then we are having a girls night with my sisters and cousin. After the festival we've made it a little tradition now that the kids and I stay for 2 weeks following and all the cousins have sorta cousin camp at my mom's. We take the kids to swimming lessons in the morning and then the community c...

As I sat nursing 8 week old Wyatt, that unmistakable gurgle hit my gut. As the evening progressed so did the seriousness of my ailment. As I sat on my porcelain throne trembling and worried with trash can dumped out on the floor for a make shift bucket, I debated whether to call someone for help to watch the kids. They hadn't read the manual of how to act when momma is sick. Instead they were running in to tell me "Brian changed the channel on the TV" and me saying "I don't care". Them running in to ask "Are you done yet? We have to go potty", me saying "I DON'T care, go upstairs". Them running in to tell me, "Brian dumped out the bottle of glue on the chair in the office" Me yelling, "I DON'T CARE!" I summoned my oldest, Makensie age 7, and asked her to call daddy and tell him to pick up the pace and get home that I was really sick. Unfortunately Allen was still about 30 minutes away. I also asked her for a ...

This is my final day of posting my thankful list. I should have posted yesterday, but it was a crazy day. Thankful for my friends in my life, whether they are family, close friends, online, of just occasional. Thankful for the book of Proverbs and the Holy Spirit wispering wisdom from those verses when I need them most. Thankful for when I peek in the crib and Wyatt is sweetly asleep with both hands raised over his head. Thankful for when Makensie gives me a toothless grin. She lost 4 baby teeth all right in a row and is still working on getting the adult teeth in. Yesterday was the day I was running errands. Nothing yesterday morning went as planned, Wyatt wanted to nurse more, the kids weren't getting their chores done and were fighting constantly which required many correction sections by the time we left he house it was 1:15 and when we got in the van all 3 of them started complaining that they were hungry. And they should be, as crazy as it sounds, I completely forgot about ...

The smell of food on the grill After shower clean feeling The 1st peak of sun in the mornings The sound of a Whipporwill The taste of a cold clean water I lost my journal and of all the things that could have happened my mentor was the one who God pointed it to and she is bringing it to me today.

I was talking with my friend and mentor this morning. She was sharing about her garden. She has added a fountain, has flowers planted, a garden growing, a sitting area there to enjoy and admire the fruits of her labor. As I was on the phone with her I walked outside to sit and look at my own yard. Now remember that I did attend college for horticulture/ floriculture . However, my yard looked as if an abandon home had it's yard mowed. My rose garden is completely overran with weeds, the English Ivy has taken over the fence and all the bushes that landscape the front porch, the birdseed feeder is gone, the naked ladies, iris' and tulips are not blooming. It is really quite a sad sight. My husband is wonderful at making sure our yard is mowed and the edges trimmed so that we aren't fined for having a pasture in town. I am not committed to following through with the little extras that turn our yard from just serving a purpose to being a delight to the senses. I have no natura...

Dinner with good friends Kids playing in the yard after dark. It reminds me of my childhood. Someone else doing the dishes Neck rubs Pretty table clothes

Our huge front porch. Shade. Margaritas. That feeling of laying down after a purely exhausting day. Soaking my feet at the end of a purely exhausting day.

While yesterday from 8-4pm was suppose to be yard sale day, it really ran from Friday noon-2am this morning so I didn't get to post yesterday. The yard sale box balancing at the end of the day. Selling a lot of stuff so that we don't have to pack it back up. Being able to bless some other families in need with some donations. Tarps. A beautiful Day.

This is day 2 of the 7 day challenge. 1. coupons in the sunday paper 2. dirty feet on the kids from playing outside all morning 3. All my carpets vaccuumed 4. Yard Sales 5. The way Brian runs down the stairs each morning and hollers "mommy!" as if I had been gone for a long time then gives me a big hug and kiss.

Migraine Medicine Coke Burp Rags PullUps Really Fluffy Comforters

I am not a scrapbooker . And I have to admit that often times I feel like I'm really missing out. I've attended parties and by no fault of the hostess, the spark just wasn't there. I don't take pictures very often and then if I do get around to developing the film it is doubtful that I'm going to have the time, patience or money to take all my kiddos over to Hobby Lobby to try to find the right paper, stickers and embellishments for the page. Plus, my creative skills are not so great, so finding the right embellishments for the page just seemed overwhelming. However, I did attend a card party with Stampin Up a couple of years ago and found my soul mate in the crafting world. I wanted to buy everything. I have found it great therapy for me. I can use anything I find to throw on the cards, but just the thought of adding pictures seems too daunt ing . I also have privately journaled for years and I would say that I have close to 15 journals completely filled with not...

We were on our way back to college after a fun weekend trip to a friends home. The windows were down to allow at least the breeze in since it was scorching hot outside and this car had no air-conditioning, in fact, we were lucky it ran at all. And with the windows down, we actually had a nice cross breeze with the holes in the floor board.We were singing to whatever song we could find on the stations in the middle of Kansas on some little mostly unknown highway. It was the quickest route between Manhattan and Wichita. There are many things in life to fear and many things to fear in the flat lands . I had been in Wichita on two separate occasions when there were tornadoes , but this threat was even worse. On a long stretch of quiet highway we enjoyed the beautiful sights of the pastures and sky. There were several tractors working in the fields and mowing in the ditches. Up ahead of us, there was something covering the entire road for as far as we could see. As we neared, it lo...

Not me! At a function last night, an older man, a complete stranger walked up and asked where Allen was and then asked which kids were ours, then as he pointed at my stomach asked, "And your due again when?" I let him know that I was just fat. Then he said, "wow, 4 kids, you guys need a bigger tv." I wanted to smart off and let him know that his tummy might be more easily mistaken for pregnancy than mine, but I didn't. I just pointed him in the direction of my hubby. I was more shocked by the 2nd comment than the 1st, as we were at a home-school event and at a church that truly believes that children are a gift and you don't turn down a gift from God. 11 of the probably 20 families participating had a minimum of 4 children. When he said this, I was waiting in the refreshment line with the girls. I had previously while waiting been debating with myself as to whether I really wanted to use my points on cake or not. I decided that I did. Not only did I...

...just because a 4ft branch will fit up the dryer vent doesn't mean it's a good idea. ....just because there is a small hole in the wall doesn't mean we put all our toys and silverware in there! ....just because you have a pocket knife doesn't mean it's ok to burrow a small hole in the wall. ...just because you found scissors outside doesn't mean that we cut all the leaves off my plants. ...just because your screen is cut doesnt' mean that we throw our toys out the 2nd story window. ...just because you found the scissors upstairs doesn't mean that you cut the screen and throw the scissors outside. ...just because our couch is fraying doesn't mean it needs a hair cut. ...just because you have (now had) scissors in your school box doesn't mean they are for cutting hair, your's or Gabby's, hence the flat top you now have. ....just because there is toothpaste in the bathroom doesn't mean you squirt it all out. ....just because there are ...

1. Make a paper chain for counting down the days left of summer. 2. Make a what to do box with ideas for when kids are bored. (add a few chores) 3. Get 365 3x5 cards, put the date on the top of the card. Each day add one memory or what you are thankful for. Can add to them each year. 4. Start an insect collection/display. 5. Make and decorate beach bag tote. 6. Make some homemade Father’s Day cards 7. Decorate a cake together (time not perfection is the goal) 8. Go camping in the back yard. 9. Go to the park 10. Set up an obstacle course in the yard and have a competition 11. Have a block party potluck on the 4 th of July. 12. Color with your kids. 13. Face painting…and arm…and back… 14. Decorate a T-shirt 15. Visit a nursing home. 16. Make personalized kids stationary. 17. Paint the bathtub with tempera paints. 18. Decorate your flipflops . 19. Watch a train pass by and count the cars. 20. Read outside on a blanket in the yard. 21. Play a board game outside on a blanket in the yard. ...

I just love May Day. The memory of picking fresh flowers from the yard (aka weeds and dandalions) and making a clumpsie paper basket to hang on our neighbors doors just so we can ring the bell and run. It was silly and fun then and still is now. Today is May Day and in place of sunshine we have a wonderful spring rain. The kids enjoyed some time outside splashing around enjoying the showers. We also made 3 dozen flower shaped sugar cookies and decorated them. This will was an all day event and will be an all day clean up event tomorrow. We even decorated 8 small boxes with scrapbook paper and a ribbon for a handle, tucked the cookies inside some wax paper, topped them with some tissue paper and stamped a little notecard that says, "Love your neighbor as Yourself, Happy May Day, The Griffin Kids. We finally loaded into the van after girl scouts at 8pm tonight to take our deliveries. Some to neighbors, some to friends, some to elderly. The kids loved it and I loved watching the...