Let's Celebrate

Today is a day to celebrate your marriage because I do not think it is celebrated enough :)  I thought it would be great to honor what we have with our husbands or to honor someone else for the commitment you see in their marriage.  I just really love the beautiful and challenging man/woman relationship God has given us to navigate.
Please share your story!!  I want to start the week off being encouraged about other beautiful and refining marriage stories.  My hope is that the tides are changing and more marriages would stay together than to fall apart.

Our Story

I have been married to Big Daddy B for 6 years now and it has been anything but easy.  We have definitely had to work very hard at the relationship we now have today and I am sure we are going to have to keep working hard for the years to come.  We go through so many seasons that we need to continually work through the new season we have come into.  We have both had to eat alot of humble pie!!!  Most of the time the things that anger me about him are the very things I do myself.  I have chosen to let God work on me and to make me a better spouse instead wasting my time trying to change my husband.  It's a hard thing to do because you have to put down your pride, but it is most definitely worth it.

I want to take a second and honor both of our parents.  Big Daddy B's parents have been married over 30 years and mine just celebrated their 30th this year.  What a blessing it has been in our lives showing us what it looks like to work at marriage and stick it out through the thick and the thin.  My parents have weathered many storms and there is one decision that trumps all the rest.  That one decision they made has impacted the rest of my life so deeply that I do not have words to express to them the gratitude in my heart.  Big Daddy B and I have had some great examples of commitment, not perfect marriages because they do not exist.

I am really looking forward to hearing your story...please share it by posting a comment.  Below is a beloved group that God has brought together for the past year and a half.  We all did the bible study Fireproof together here at our house. (Highly recommend the movie "Fireproof")  They are five more examples of committed relationships in the sight of a Holy God that are being refined even as we speak.

Your Super Power

Being a mother of four very vibrant children always leaves me thinking of the super powers I wish I had to be able maintain sanity in our home :) Here are my top two:

1. To see through walls....I would know where each kid is at all times and what they were doing
2. To multiply 2 arms into 8 (the key here is that I can go back to 2 arms whenever I wanted to)....I would be able to be the ultimate multitasker :)

I would love to hear all of your creative responses so please share your Super Power if you have ever thought of it.

Fall in Ohio

Isn't this just beautiful? Its just one of God's amazing fingerprints here on this earth.

I have to admit I love Ohio for its four seasons of weather and at the same time sometimes I really dislike the four seasons of weather. I love when the season changes the most but the winters get kind of long. I was kind of sad this year as Ohio seemed to almost skip Fall and go right into Winter...it has just been so cold already. But God gave us a beautiful break in the weather today and tomorrow. Here are some fun pictures of the kiddos enjoying our Fall weather while it lasts for two days :)

Look how cute Little Bub and Big Daddy B are....just precious.

Above is our cute little home and below is our neighbors house. I just had to take a picture of it with the beautiful red trees.

The 60's Party

My mom and dad had their a Halloween/Fall party this year. The theme...the 60's! We originally we going to go as the Flinstones but it was way to cold to go walking around with no shoes and a sleeveless costumes so I resorted to a more creative costume. Since there are 6 of us we decided to go a the "Six" T's" to the Sixties party :) We had a fun time painting our faces and watching everyone try to figure out what we were. Good party Kone Family!!!

Below is a short little video of a couple of games the kiddos played. The doughnut on the string game is classic :)

As a Christian family, each year we are confronted with trying to figure out how to celebrate Halloween when we know its roots and with some of our convictions. My friend Kristi posted a great blog on this issue that I really appreciated.

http://runwatchplaywait.blogspot.com/2009/10/navigating-through-halloween.html

I also really liked and I identified the most with the Classic Housewife.

She said, For the past few years, we’ve put more effort into celebrating Autumn as a whole. God is sovereign over all seasons. He causes the trees and plants to die so that their seed may spread, hibernate over the winter and grow again in the spring. Not only is this symbolic of our lives in general (change is necessary, the “death” of some things is necessary for the life and growth of others) but this is also symbolic of the greatest sacrifice ever made. Jesus had to die (autumn), spend three days in the tomb (winter) in order to rise to life again (spring.) There are so many wonderful things to make, see, do, enjoy during this time of year. Many wonderful crafts to be made, activities to be done, places to go– devotionals ready at your fingertips.
The kids and I will bake cookies, do crafts, enjoy the great outdoors, and Halloween will come and go pretty much like another day. We’ll indulge in some candy, we’ll spend time with family. But we will not attend parties on that day, because for us, it’s not about Halloween itself. We all know that actions speak louder than words. Our actions and our words show what is in the heart. I want my actions and my words to show what I am celebrating, what I am truly worshiping. Not only on that day, but on every day. To that end, the Halloween “holiday” really has no true place there, you know?'

Here is more from the rest of her post:

http://www.classichousewife.com/holidays/2009/10/19/halloween-at-our-house/

Courtney posted this that I thought was helpful also.

http://womenlivingwell-courtney.blogspot.com/2009/10/christian-view-on-halloween.html

I love how Courtney says, " So that's what we do - but like I said - I believe this is a matter of conscience so do not follow my lead here - follow your husband and the Holy Spirit. Pray and do what God lays on your heart this Halloween."

My main goal is to honor the God I love, I don't do it perfectly but it is what I want to strive for and I am trying to see where Halloween fits into this goal.

Sweetest Day

We celebrated Sweetest Day actually yesterday because Big Daddy B said he could not wait :) We are so blessed to have such a husband and father in our home. By no means is he perfect but he is a man after God's heart and I see him grow more and more. He also has the beautiful challenge before him of taking care of, providing for and dating 3 of his most special women....Me, Peanut and Baby B.

These pictures below are of the girls receiving their flower (ones that we so nicely preserved by God outside). Big Daddy B explained to Peanut that Mommy gets the most (I got a small and beautiful bouquet that I forgot to take a picture of) because she is my wife but you two daughters are important also and I love you.

I thank God for a husband who continues to try and learn the emotional world of a woman and how loved we feel from simple little gifts that are just a reminder that you are loved.

Ebay: Even A 5 Year Old Can Do It!

I have funny story to share with you.

Yesterday, Peanut was having her quiet time and her quiet time happens to be in the same room as our computer. I was looking up a food processor and following it so I stayed logged on and left the room.

Later I came back to the computer and saw a screen that read, "Congratulations! You just won the auction!" I never bought a $13 pink Ty beanie baby. It took me a second to try and piece together what had happened. Then it struck me....Peanut must have seen a picture of the cute little bear and clicked on it to see it like one of her little computer games. I knew it was her because it was just the kind of bear she would ask me for if we saw it in the store.

I asked her about this when we woke up this morning and this is what she said, "Oh yeah! I did click on the pink bear and also a blue one for Caleb. I thought they were free." The part I can't figure out is how she actually clicked all the right buttons to be able to purchase the bear. You have to go through a series of screens to actually bid on the auction.

So moral of the story:
Ebay is so easy that even a 5 year old can do it!!!

Fruit of the Spirit Tree

This week in school we decided to focus on apples after attending the Ciderfest. I got most of these ideas from a friend and then built on them.

http://runwatchplaywait.blogspot.com/2009/09/apple-day.html

We actually drew a tree and used an apple cut in half as a stamp to make an apple tree. From there we wrote a fruit of the Spirit by each apple and talked about what each of them meant. We also talked about the bad fruit that can come from our lives if we choose not to listen to God.

We also made an apple book. You will see many books posted on here because that is what my kiddos love to do.

These are now our fall decorations in the living room so we can remember what fruit God can produce in our lives if we let him.

Little Bub's 2nd Birthday!

Our two October birthday boys. Big Daddy B turned a whopping 32 on the 3rd and Little Bub turned two today. (This celebration was on the 3rd)



Here is a cute clip from dinner tonight:

This is a cake that Grandma Kone made because Little Bub loves trucks.

This is some of the family celebrating Little Bub at Parasson's Italian Restaurant.

I thought this was a neat picture of Little Bub and Papa.

What a great cake substitute....peanut butter and jelly and look how cute the little Peanut hostess is.

Typical Little Bub! We actually had a dual party with Big Daddy B about two weeks ago so tonight was actually Little Bub's birthday. We went to Parasson's for dinner and he was wild as ever. He also had to be sick on his birthday :( He had croup pretty bad the day on the 14th and spent 5 hours in the emergency room with Big Daddy B and got an oral steroid. No fun but he is doing better.

Little Fingers

I am amazed when the kids start writing. These are a few of Big Bub and Peanuts drawings. Big Bub's are first and just looking at them I can invision his little tongue sticking out the side of his mouth and his eyes intent on the paper as he creates his masterpiece.
Peanut has been writing for some time now but she still amazes me at what she can draw for a 5 and a half year old. Below are a couple of her creations and let me tell you, this little girl has such a creative mind. I wish I could show you everything she does from loading her purse each day to these little mini books she creates. I love watching this little one.






This last one she did at church about a week ago.

CiderFest 2009

Each year our friends have a Ciderfest where they make cider from the 20+ apple trees that conviently grow right in their own backyard. It has become one of our family traditions. The kids look forward to it every year.

Fun Family Fact: About two years ago, I actually went into labor at night with Little Bub after climbing and picking in the apple trees.

This was one of the biggest apples picked the whole day and Peanut found it :)

The boys were driving the tractor.

Baby B even got in on the fun this year. She is grabbing at everything.

This is the only picture I have of Big Bub with the apples. He was more interested in

the sweets in the house and the playground.

Here goes Little Bub...he is so cute. He liked picking the apples but the

branches kept poking his face.

We will be spending the week making every kind of apple recipe you can think of. We made some applesauce tonight and will be making some more tomorrow along with some apple butter. I have this real handy dandy apple corer/slicer/peeler that makes preparing the apples a breeze.