Catching up...

So Thanksgiving came and went - and now we're just a
few short weeks away from Christmas! Seriously -
where have the past few months gone? So in order to catch
you up-to-date on our holiday time, I have just a few pics
to share that are so much fun to look through already!
Our boys had their Thanksgiving Feast Party at school
right before we took off for our trip to the coast - and
although my attempts failed miserably on getting good
video footage, I did manage a few cute pictures of their
program...And then threw in a few pics of our trip to the
coast for Thanksgiving. What a blessed time!
Big Boy took his job very seriously of leading us all in the pledge of allegiance...
I love the look on Big boy's face as Peanut leads us in prayer...So cute!
My awesome 3 guys!
Boys :)
Me and my babies walkin' on the beach
4 Kinney men looking for crows/geese/some kind of bird to hunt on one of our days at the Kinney Ranch...
And the poor "crow-bird" (as Big Boy calls them) that was met his untimely demise due to those 4 Kinney guys... Can you see the look on Peanut's face of "either mom is going to think this is cool like us, OR.... we're in BIG trouble!"

Thankful

I had a wonderful Birthday weekend, thanks to
the wonderful 3 guys in my life and my wonderful
family and friends. It's so nice to feel cherished
and loved, isn't it? I think I really take that for
granted sometimes. So one more year as a "twenty-
something" and then comes the thirties...

At least I have one more year to prepare!

So I went to pick up the boys from preschool
today, to have their teacher tell me a very funny
story about Big Boy. Apparently they were going
around the circle saying what they were thankful
for.

It went something like this:

Teacher: "so what are you guys thankful for?"

Big Boy: "I'm thankful for my mommy."

Teacher: "oh, that's nice."

Big Boy: "But she's not thankful for me!"

Teacher: (knowing there was a story behind this,
she probed further)
"I'm sure your mommy is thankful for you.
Why would you think she wasn't thankful?"

Big Boy: "Well...........She's mad at me because I
pushed my brother and made him cry.
I guess I wasn't using good self-control."
(they have been learning the fruits of the
spirit - Big Boy's most challenging has been
self-control, so he knew this was an area to work on!)

Teacher: "So, maybe if we use good self control, and DON'T push our
brother we will give mommy more things to be thankful for, huh?"

Big Boy: "Ya, I guess so."

Oh, boy. I love this kid - and his heart. Just had to share!

Fall...

These pics were taken at night, thus the blurry edges!

I love fall.

Our beautiful maple tree out front has within a week's time, dumped all her beautiful orange and yellow leaves on the ground
for our boys to jump, roll and play in. *sigh*

I feel so completely, abundantly, full. To overflowing. Full.

I have so much, and yet I feel that within the last few weeks, God has revealed to me a glimpse of His mighty hand at work.

Within my family, within our finances, and within me spiritually.

I have mentioned before the journey our family has been on the last few years in previous posts. Through this journey, I have truly felt like one of those poor wandering Israelites, kicking around the dust and grumbling that I have nothing good to eat and that there seems to be no end in sight to the constant waiting. And wandering.

But amazing things happen when you crack open God's alive and powerful word! I have recently started (for the 2nd time) a Beth Moore devotional called "Living Beyond Yourself." Pretty fitting for a girl who's constant struggle has been to do just that - live beyond my comprehension, and trust that God has bigger plans for me than what I can see.

I started opening my heart to Jesus, and He started showing me where he was going to work. First was with Hubs. We haven't been on the same page financially - well, probably EVER. But through God's gentle nudging and softening of both of our hearts, He's shown us a way to compliment each other and understand each other so much better than we ever have. I'd have to say finances has been one of our major irritations since we've been married. So I guess 7 years isn't bad in resolving a few things??? Ahem... Anyways~

Through the last few weeks, I have felt an indescribable peace that could only come from above. A peace that calmed my heart and assured me that everything was going to work out - and be OK. But in a very real way - not a fleeting moment kind of thing.

It has been almost a year that our home has been on the market. And we have not gotten an offer on our home until just recently, and it was a very humble offer at that. But when I would normally get angry and defeated at our current circumstance, I felt safe - secure - sure of really nothing. Except that God was still in control.

This weekend, we received 2 new offers on our home. On the same day. Coincidence?

Not only did that jump our chances of actually selling our house (instead of giving it back to the bank) but we may actually see a glimmer of hope that our financial burden of a mortgage is soon to be over.

God is good. All the time! No matter what.

I will never forget His faithfulness to me, even when I am so quick to doubt.

Hyde Park & Other Fun Things

So, last weekend I had the opportunity to participate with a group of
other lady artists, like myself, at an event called "Hyde Park Street Fair."
It started on Friday and went through Sunday at Hyde Park in Boise.
I had never been before, so I was looking forward to the exposure
and the experience. We were by far one of the biggest booths there!
Our space was 24 feet by 48 feet!

I always tend to stress out last minute with these kinds of things -
scrambling to get my stuff "ready" and always feeling like I could
have created one-last-thing...

Needless to say- the hard work paid off (literally-ha!) and it was a
great weekend not only financially but socially as well. I love the
networking that comes with being a part of a group of creative
individuals and seeing what inspires them - and the gifts God
has given them that are so different from mine.

I also must give MAJOR kudos to my husband who allows me to
do these crazy ventures - and whether or not he knows it, is
allowing me to fuel my creative fire by participating but that is
only because of his support. Otherwise there is NO WAY I could
possibly do any event! Can you imagine me carting around my
two monkeys to one of these things? They would get tired and
antsy the moment we arrived... So thanks hubs! I love you!!

On a completely seperate note: my boys are LOVING preschool
this year! I am hardly surprised, as their teacher is SUCH a gift -
and has been blessing me with her ability to get my boys to
learn and mature into such wonderful young men.

So on Tuesday of this past week, the letter of the day was "b"
and so when I came to pick them up they had these rolled up
papers that were as tall as them with a life-size picture of
themselves.

Just too cute, so I had to share...

I can't believe how big they are! And learning so much each day.

Oh - and if you've made it this far.... We find out in 2 weeks!

And I hardly can stand it :)
A view of our tents from a distance
My booth is on the right (crummy picture, I know!)
Big Boy's drawing
Peanut's drawing
My belly shot at 16 weeks

A day of 1sts

Today marked the first day of preschool for BOTH of my kiddos.

*sigh*

They both ran to the door with such confidence and glee that I
was almost too clumsy with my camera to get a good shot of
the historical moment. How did they get so big so fast?

It's amazing to see the difference in Big Boy from his first year
last year to now, and I really can't wrap my mind around how
much they will both change in the coming year.

I am realizing more and more lately that we only have them
in this sweet, innocent stage for but a moment or a breath,
and then they are gone - and no longer need our help with
the everyday things.

Here's to bittersweet moments!

What a precious gift these two are to us. We are so proud of them!

5 stones...

So, as summer winds down I find that I'm looking forward to a lot of things.

-Fall; cooler weather; the leaves turning...
-Both kiddos in preschool - WHAT? (Actually I'm not sure if I'm ready for that one!)
-Anticipation as to what the end of this year will bring for our family - and what next year holds...
-My 20 week ultrasound in Oct. to find out if we're going to have a football team, or another player for the "girl's team..."
-Did I mention fall?

Anyways, you're probably wondering what my title means. Let's just say this past Sunday's sermon, mixed with an insightful Sunday school class led to some really good discussion between Hubs and I about where we're at.

Even though we have yet to see anything major happening in our lives in the areas of finance, and work for Cornerstone, we are
still facing each new day with the expectation of great things. But 2 + years of this can get weary. Lately, Hubs and his partner have been taking on a lot of remodeling jobs which have brought a lot of work - but a lot more stress - because we still have SO much debt.

We thought it would be easy.

Put the house up for sale, start getting creative with jobs, cut back on our budget...

We didn't expect things like: the market to be flooded in our area with close to 700 homes and bare land for sale
Oh, and getting pregnant...

But, in the midst of all of this - we had a light shine on our circumstance in the form of some wise council. A friend of ours asked Hubs what his "5 stones" were. Hubs started to correlate this analogy with one of his favorite Bible stories about David and Goliath and the 5 stones he gathered before facing the giant.

Our friend continued to elaborate on what he meant by his question, and proceeded to say that even though David had the courage and strength of the Lord on his side, and he knew God was going to be victorious, he still gathered 5 stones. In his mind he must have thought that there is no harm in being prepared. Maybe he even thought it could take all 5 stones to kill Goliath. But with and intense faith, he picked those stones and looked at this "giant" of a situation, and what did he do next?

He ran. Full speed. At the giant.

And God was victorious! And it only took one stone.

To wrap this all up for you - I just feel like no matter what our circumstances, God has called us to be obedient and to sometimes just wait on Him. But that doesn't mean that we can't be prepared when he calls us forward to face our giant to be able to reach into our pocket and feel the smoothness of those stones and to know that no matter what happens, we are the vessel and God will be victorious through our sufferings if we allow His hand to lead us.

What are your 5 stones?

Peanut turns 3!

Well, after a LONG, but good week of VBS (vacation bible school) at our church, we wrapped up the weekend with Peanut's 3rd birthday party! We've been talking for about the last month on what kind of cake he wanted to have, and all he would say was "fireman" or "firetruck"... So I opted for the firetruck cake - since it seemed a wee bit easier to me than trying to make a person out of a cake! Sheesh!

So, I must say, Peanut was a hoot. He reacted to opening his gifts and cards like you would hope any little kid would (but usually doesn't) in that every single thing held the same exact excitement in his mind and he LOVED everything! All of the grandmas and aunts had HUGE success with the cards they gave - in fact he could have been completely satisfied by the cards alone! He loved them!!

He's an easy-to-please kid right now and I love it!! It was so fun to watch him in the moment.

Let's just say the highs of yesterday's events took their toll today, in that we had a few too many meltdowns for no reason whatsoever. It was when we realized he wasn't getting his way today, like he did yesterday, that things started to turn ugly. We have an unsaid rule on birthdays that typically you can get away with a lot by just saying, "but it's my birthday" or in Peanut's case "it's mine and I don't want to share" and for one whole day we allowed it.

So really don't feel too bad for us! By allowing the "it's your birthday rule" -a.k.a. "you don't have to share with your brother," we unknowingly set ourselves up for a VERY emotional day today! AND it didn't help that my husband also called me "hormonal" today - but that's another story entirely...

Anywho - here's some pics from the big day!
Madagascar 2!
The cake...
Our b-day boy!
Blowing out the candles
Cake time!

Gone Fishin'

So we decided it would be a total blast to wake up early Saturday morning, before the intense heat of the day, and head over to our sub's fishing pond. The boys had been talking about catchin' a big fish all week, so we figured it was time.

Let's just say early morning must be best, because there was definitely no lack of bites! The boy's lines barely hit the water when I heard a giddy scream coming from Big Boy "I caught one! I've got a big fish - look, look!!" It was at this time that we had to remind Big Boy that in order to catch the fish, you couldn't drop your pole and dance around, you had to REEL IT IN!!

That's my boy.

It wasn't 2 seconds later that peanut had a similar reaction and reeled in his fish too.

Unfortunately, given the extreme excitement due to fish literally jumping on the bank - once the bites stopped, so did the attention spans. But we gave it a good go, and stayed for about an hour, testing every hole and secret spot there was.

Still, we only came home with 2 little guys.

Hubs went to filet the first fish to find that the meat would equal MAYBE one bite, and decided to give up and tossed the fishies in the trash.

In our 100 degree garage.

Let's just say my smeller's a little sensitive right now anyways, and I could've done without the rotting fish carcases in our 100 degree garage for, let's say, FOREVER!!!

Our garbagemen are going to love us tomorrow when they find the surprise! Bleh!

I also forgot to mention in previous posts, that Hubs had given Big Boy permission at one point (when I was gone for the day) to go potty outside - as long as it was next to a bush. Well, let's just say we have been caught off guard multiple times when Big boy decided to go potty out in our front yard next to the water feature while cars drove by... Well, this fabulous day was NO EXCEPTION in that 5 minutes after we arrived, we heard a sweet, innocent "mom, dad, can I go potty?"

And much to my dismay (because our sub's fishing pond is right out in the big wide open part of our sub) Big Boy goes over to the most indescreet spot, pulls his pants down and continues to go for about 5 minutes. Because at this point anything is more fun than not being able to catch anymore fish.

Well, let's just say you need to check out the last picture to get yourself a pretty good chuckle - as you'll see Hubs doing while trying to look like a professional fisherman.

Love this kid!
So grown up next to his daddy
My Men
Daddy showing Peanut how it's done
Hmmm... Just had to share! Gotta love boys :)

Life's Many Surprises!

Well,

We've known for awhile now...

But have decided to wait until the right moment...

God has chosen to bless us with many things - but He really thinks we should be
extra - special blessed in a certain area.

Give up??

Kinneys are offically going to be a "party of 5" come February 27th!

Here's our little teddy graham size baby as of Monday of this last week.

We could not be any more excited for this new little edition to our lives - granted, the 3rd unexpected kiddo to date!

We LOVE surprises :) And can't wait to meet this little one!

Snake River Stampede 09'

So hubs and I, plus the two crazy kiddos we get to call our own ventured out to our annual Snake River Stampede night (aka rodeo). We make a night of it not only to see the crazy rodeo clowns and bull riding, but for a little thing we like to call "free dinner."

That's right.

Free.

Albeit hotdogs, hamburgers, pop and some potato salad - let's just say we have some connections in the Pioneer Title biz, and they like to invite us for freebies whenever possible...Along with hundred of other people. But hey, it's free!

We made it through 102 degree weather to a nice, air conditioned building just in time to watch "mutton-busting."

You didn't know they have cruelty to animals at these things, did ya? It's actually just little kids anywhere from 6yrs old to 10 that sign up to ride wired and crazy sheep (aka mutton) as long as they can until they fall off. It's really quite entertaining!

Our Big Boy said he'd like to do it someday...We'll see...

Anywho - here's some pics from the night! Giddy-up!

Homemade Zuppa Toscana Soup = One Happy Mama

So - if you have never been to Olive Garden and tried their "Zuppa Toscana" soup you have missed a bit of heaven (in my opinion!) I just recently went with some girlfriends, and had to ask our waiter for a bowl "to-go" because I love it so much.

I got home, and definitely hid the container in the back of the fridge - so that hubs wouldn't think he could take it to work with him the next day for lunch...

I'm a bit obsessed.

Then I start thinking...."why haven't I googled this recipe before? I'm sure someone has cracked the code on the yumminess of this soup..."

So I tip-tappittied away to find my beloved Zuppa Toscana soup.

To hubs delight (but not my children - their tastebuds haven't developed yet...) I made the sacred soup tonight, with a little caesar salad, and sourdough bread...

There was a twinge of guilt as I slurped my bowl down to nothingness... "I must share this recipe with the world, so that others, too, may enjoy a much cheaper bowl of yummy goodness also known as Zuppa Toscana."

So, because I haven't written in awhile, I decided to do a food post as a peace-offering to you all. Please make this soup! It's SOOOOOoooooo yummy.

Here it goes:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Makes: 6-8 servings

INGREDIENTS

1 lb ground Italian sausage
1½ tsp crushed red peppers
1 large diced white onion
4 Tbsp bacon pieces
2 tsp garlic puree
10 cups water
5 cubes of chicken bouillon
1 cup heavy cream
1 lb sliced Russet potatoes, or about 3 large potatoes
¼ of a bunch of kale
Sauté Italian sausage and crushed red pepper in a large pot. Drain excess fat, refrigerate while you prepare other ingredients.

In the same pan, sauté bacon, onions and garlic for approxiamtly 15 mins. or until the onions are soft.
Mix together the chicken bouillon and water, then add it to the onions, bacon and garlic. Cook until boiling.

Add potatoes and cook until soft, about half an hour.
Add heavy cream and cook until thoroughly heated.
Stir in the sausage.
Add kale just before serving. Delicious!

Buon appetito!

Mawage...

"Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday... And wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva..."

Confused? Perhaps it's time to watch "The Princess Bride" one more time - and then you might get that whole thing...

Anyways, today marked a wonderful day in the Kinney household, and that would be 7 blessed years of mawage, I mean marriage. :)

We woke up, got some breakfast with the kiddos, and then Hubs took the two boys with him on a "daddy work day" to leave me with a whole afternoon of "mommy time." It was a little slice of heaven.

Then we reunited right before dinner, with my boys safely placed in grandma and papa's care, and off we went to one of our favorites, Asiagos.

Then a movie.

Then dessert.

Then to a quiet house, and the knowledge that we get to sleep in a little in the morning! (our normal wake up time with the boys these days is around 5:45 - 6:03).

What a lucky girl I am on this fine day!

Hubs & I at the Cheesecake Factory for dessert! Yum!

Waiting room

So we've all been to one - and they can have some of the best people watching around... Sometimes they're a bit uncomfortable, especially if you have a squirmy little one wanting to explore around - when we all know that exploration out of our own chairs will draw attention - and then WE are the ones people are watching!

This all happens in the "waiting room."

So, though I've had my fair share of waiting rooms (you definitely rack up waiting room visits when you have kids or become prego!), this story is more a figurative story of the "waiting room" of life.

I feel like the last 2 years has been a season of waiting - relying - stretching - mourning - hurting - & blessed time altogether.

But it is easy to become weary in the waiting, and I must say - that has been my biggest struggle. You become dull to your circumstances and feel like no one REALLY wants to hear your sad sob story one more time, that it would be best if you just shuffled along - weary and burdened, but ready for change.

This last Sunday was Pentecost Sunday. This last week leading up to Pentecost Sunday was a week of Hubs and I praying for patience and wisdom during "the waiting".

Pastor's sermon on Sunday dealt with WAITING.

Is there a theme here?

Pastor spoke on the 120 people waiting, as Jesus told them to, in a room - which lasted for 10 days. Can you imagine being in a room with 120 people? Can you imagine the EXPECTATION of what Christ was going to do? I can't get over their faith. In today's culture to be asked to wait, we commonly reply "what, like 5 min?" And even that in our minds is too long.

Imagine being asked to wait for an undisclosed period of time. In this case 10 days. For many of us, we would have to quit our jobs, close up shop, find some pretty good babysitters..... You catch my drift.

Here is the really cool part.

It came like a "mighty wind" upon them... The Holy Spirit, that is.

How exciting is that? But yet how easy is it to be sitting there, staring at the same dusty walls for 10 days straight - it would be enough to make you want to lose your mind. They may have thought they were seeing things - as it says that "tongues of fire rested on each of them, causing them to speak different languages."

But you can see God's hand in motion as:

The apostles received the Holy Spirit and were miraculously enabled to go out into Jerusalem prophesying and speaking in languages that all the visitors to Jerusalem could understand as told further in Acts 2:5-6: "Many religious Jews from every country in the world were living in Jerusalem ... they were hearing everything in their own languages." The noise and activity attracted a huge crowd and the Apostle Peter preached a sermon to the crowd with some effectiveness, as Acts 2:41 reports: "On that day about three thousand believed his message and were baptized."

THREE THOUSAND were baptized! Can you imagine? What a mighty reward for waiting, in reality, such a short amount of time.

But to us 10 days would seem like a lifetime. Maybe even as bad as 2 years...

I sit here today, and find that my faith must be greater than my need, because without HIM, I am nothing but a nobody - staring at a dusty wall - "people watching" from my stiff waiting room chair.

I know that I can wait expectantly - but that I can't expect HIM to do what I think should happen. I should live in the expectance of knowing HIS will and way are best, no matter how long it takes to reveal itself.

He is my Rock and Fortress, He is all I need - and what better friend to wait with than the ruler of the universe? The one that holds time in his hands?

Cardboard Testimonies

I had the opportunity a few weeks ago to give a form of my testimony for our church's current sermon series. The series is called "transformed lives" - and I can honestly say, it is one of the best series I've ever been able to be a part of. The series started Easter Sunday, and let's just say - the bar was raised pretty high - I don't think there was a dry eye in the place.

So the Sunday service had a portion of it called "cardboard testimonies." Basically a group of very brave individuals walked across the main stage holding a piece of cardboard - with one side having a few words describing their past sin. One individual's read "alcoholic." He flipped his cardboard to read what he had been redeemed of - the flipped cardboard read "sober 6 years."

There were about 20 different testimonies like this. Everyone having a different story - and yet, you connected with each of them.

Testimony is one of our most powerful weapons in this life against the enemy. Once you experience someone's vulnerability, like the sharing of a testimony, you find that maybe you might be a little bit more willing to be open yourself.

Having been moved by the openness of the people who shared on Easter Sunday, I feel God prepared my heart to say "yes" when I was asked to give my testimony in the form of an interview of sorts that was video recorded.

Those of you that know me well, you would know that I am usually not that bold.

Ok - I don't really have a bold bone, muscle, fiber in my body - at least not yet. Maybe that is what God is working on in me right now.

Anyways, the original interview was 16 minutes - but they cut and pasted it together to be only about 2 minutes. So no worries, if you choose to watch it, it won't take all night!

I don't know where you are at right now in life. Maybe times are great, and you are feeling His abundant blessings, and life seems to be more full than ever. Or maybe you have never felt so stretched in your life, and you feel like you're holding on by a thread.

Or maybe you're somewhere in between.

No matter where you find yourself, I hope that you know you have a loving Father in heaven walking through each step of life with you.

He knows your name.

He knows your every thought.

He sees each tear that falls.

And He hears you when you call.

Click HERE to go to our church webpage that has all of the testimonies listed. Mine is the 3rd one.

Or you can watch it here, but it's a little slow...

Birthday Fun

Today marks four sweet years of having our first child. What a gift! Big boy is growing up so fast - I can hardly believe how much he's grown up in just this last year. So - as customary in our home on birthdays, Big Boy got to choose his birthday cake design......

"mom, I want a train cake - a blue and black one, with LOTS of trains." Makes sense, no?

So, I set out on an expedition to find the perfect train cake - on a budget :D

After a few good Google searches, I found the perfect recipe - and set my mind right on doing it. Then I got a silly notion that maybe I should do a little "step-by-step" tutorial on how to make the perfect train cake for a 4 year old.

WARNING***** many pictures to follow!

So - without further ado, Happy 4th Birthday to my Big Boy! We love you!!

---------------------------------------------------------

The Perfect Train Cake

What you'll need:
2 boxes of cake mix (I used Duncan Hines Yellow & Swiss Chocolate mix) & 2 loaf cake pans
2-3 containers of ready made frosting (I used cream cheese, coconut, and chocolate)
4 -5 different types of candy to decorate train (like gummy worms, licorice, reeces,
sour patch kids, oreos, choc covered raisins)
plastic ziplock baggies, or decorating icing tubes
candles
some sort of plate, or cardboard to cover with foil to use as your tray for the cake

Ok..... Here it goes!

Bake your 2 cakes each in a loaf pan - and then cool completely. When cooled, place these in the freezer for 20 -30 minutes
to harden the cake and make it easier to cut and frost.
Take a serrated knife and cut the top off of each cake as shown. I like to keep all the cake scraps and put them in a freezer bag for a different dessert recipe later on.
Next cut the loaf in half, and then in quarters.
For the engine car, cut the two sides (as shown).
Next cut the front so that the engine comes to a point.
Cut a little square notch out as shown reserving the cut out part
with a little frosting used as glue put the cut out part on top as shown to give dimension to the engine car.
Mix your frosting with whatever color choices you want, I did 2 shades of blue and then chocolate
Next, crumb coat the train cars so that our final coat will be nice and smooth.
here's what they look like after the crumb coat
And the engine car...You can definitely see the "crumbs!"
I like to stick the cars in the freezer to allow the frosting to harden to make the final coat easier to put on. While you wait for that to set up, you can fill your frosting decorating bags with the different colored frostings - and then we can assemble our base tray.
I cut the tip off of a ziplock bag to use for the train tracks that you can draw on the tray - this allows us to know where to place the train cars.
Here's what they look like finished. You can also write a saying in the middle with frosting. As you will see later - I didn't like how the words turned out, so I redid that part and did it a little differently. That's the bonus with frosting, it's very forgiving!
Now you can place your train cars on the tracks to get ready to decorate!
The final product! AND 2 very happy boys :D
the finished cake
Big Boy blowing out the candles!
My 2 precious boys
Peanut and Sophie awaiting their piece of cake!