Windermere is Today!

We are so excited! Boy, the year has gone by fast! It seems like we were just there. We will take off today and be home on Labor Day. I will share pics when I get home.

Let me let you in on a little history as to why have gone there for years. When my Grandpa Bearce was alive he was a pastor. Windermere is where he would take part in meetings, camps, and other events. Well, my Grandma and all my Mom's brother's and sisters would go with him and they would play in the lake etc. So this place has been very special to our family to many years.

This is the lodge we stay in.

Hope you all have a great time with your families this week. Our faithful God sure has blessed ours!

Our little BIG Helper

Isn't she doing a good job!!

In our preparations for leaving for our family reunion tomorrow, we decided to wash the car. Livy loved to help. She especially loved getting wet! We even washed the truck. Our vehicles are pretty now!

Kim Took Pictures

We were at my friend Kim's Monday night and she wanted to take pics of Livy on their rocking horse. She emailed them to me today and I fixed them up on snapfish.com. They turned out really good.

Bethany Crawls!

My niece started crawling! Yea!! She is so sweet. She was playing in my brother Jason's DVD's. Say bye bye to the no moving days! Hello getting into stuff!
I really L-O-V-E this!!


Too cute!!

The Chick Got A Facelift!

Not me personally, but my blog. Soooo....what do ya think! I love it! The black and purple was get'n on my nerves. Something had to be different. My so nice friend Adrienne did the title. What a creative chick!

Sunday Greeting

Hello! Good Sunday to you all. What a great Sunday it has been. Church was great! We had a baby parade today to drum up volunteers for the nursery. The kids were so cute! They rode in wagons and on tricycles and played little instruments. It had to be one of the most precious things I have been apart of. God has blessed our church with lots of families with little kiddos. It's wonderful when people in the church get to serve and be a blessing to those little ones.

After a grilled lunch we played in the pool for a bit. Livy had a good time playing sea monster with her Daddy. Of course, John was the sea monster. After a while it wasn't so fun anymore. I think some one was getting sleepy. Then on to story time before nap. She went out during reading. Tired little tooter!

That's our day! Hope your Sunday has been a good one.

Our Little Lady is 19 Months Today

This is a pic of Livy last summer. She was such a precious baby!

This is her today. She is an absolute joy!

Okay...still too young for a phone.

Such a trendy and sassy little chick!

A Must Have!

This is the best popcorn ever!! John calls it "the light and fluffy delight". I'm a kettle corn girl normally, but this comes pretty close to better.

I have been keeping track of my points for the past 3 weeks (i'm doing weight watchers again). It has been going really well. I've lost 10lbs. so far!! Yea me! When John and I did weight watchers before we ate a bag of popcorn a piece few times a week. Typically a bag of popcorn is about 2 points or so. It's a great low point snack. Plus I've changed my eating habits again too. That does make a difference. Another great tip for great weight loss sucess is EAT! Believe it or not your body needs food to operate and don't skip meals, especially breakfast! Also, keep alot of "good snacks on hand" (fruit, low-fat crackers, veggies, etc). I really really love fat-free, sugar free jello pudding (it's my friend!) and ice cream with splenda. So you still can eat some really good stuff. Don't deprive! Of course, you can't have 2 plates of food, eat a lot, etc.. All things in moderation.

Anyhoo...gotta try the popcorn!!

I Love Comments!

Okay family and friends.... I'm sending out a comment request. I got to looking and realized, "i don't have (very few) comments on my blog." Really and truly they aren't the most important thing, but this is just a little survey. If you read "the at home chick" post a comment and tell me what ya think. I love to reading them! I want to keep ya'll up to date about what's going on in our little house in Gassville! John, Livy Grace, Hummingbirds and all! Opening up "comments" is like opening good mail! Thanks fam!! Thanks friends!!

Hey, that's a cute blog title, "the little house in gassville" I still like "the at home chick" better though..

Hummers Eat Sugar~I pay! Cha-Ching..

I thought this was cool so I decided to take pictures. We have 2 feeders and both have like 5 or 6 birds at each feeder. I have to fill them everyday! Sometimes before the end of the day! I spend $$ on sugar, but it's a cheap hobby. Livy points and says "eat food, eat food!" Hungry little boogers!

A Year Of Changes

Next Friday we leave for our family reunion at Windermere on the Lake of the Ozarks. We are so excited! We love this time with family. All 35 of us will be in a lodge have'n fun! Plus there's the lake, and the pool, and lots of awesome food, and other stuff. How things have changed since last year. Livy was just starting to crawl (well scoot really) last year. She was so cute! Jason and Buffy were expecting there first baby. We had a shower for them. I did a game where a put blindfolds on them and had them try different baby foods. They were supposed to guess the flavor. OH YUMMY! There are cousins that are married now and new babies that have been born. Another highlight is that my cousin Evan that is stationed in Iraq was married a couple years ago. His wife Romalyn, from China, will be with us this year. She FINALLY got her it all arranged to be with us. We are praying everything goes as planned. God does a lot of great things in a year. This year will be even better!

Momma Lora's Pizzeria

This was supper and it was muy tasty!!
I even stuffed the crust with cheese. YUMMO! Thought I would do something different.
Livy had ice cream for dessert
The messiness ensued. I'm sure it was very good.

Moeckel Madness!!

The things we do (sigh). Let me set the scene.

All three of us were outside throwing a frisbee and playing when I looked at John and said, "I just want to run and jump in the pool." He was like, "Okay let's do it." I told him that I would have to get the big bugs out of the pool so....I started taking them out. John told me to get the big bug that was under the beach ball. So I listened. I have no idea why!!! Then as I was bending over to get it he proceeded to push me in. Luckily I caught myself and he fell in, then I jump in on top of him. By that time Livy comes running over and screaming with excitement like, "AHHH MOMMY AND DADDY ARE IN THE POOL! I WANT TO GET IN TOO!" So she jumped in! John and I then took turns running and jumping in. Why not! We were wet anyway...These are pictures of the madness. It was very funny! Why we did it? Who knows. I thought it was humorous enough to blog. I have no earthly idea what possessed us! Just for the heck of it I guess.

Livy's First Day Back

Today not only did school start today for the area schools, but Livy went back to Mother's Day Out today. She looked so cute. She trotted (really she did) in the building and went into her classroom. When she realized that she was going to stay and Mommy was going to go, she was a little reluctant to go in. She did great! She went in and started playing with the other girls. I went to talk to a friend that is a teacher there and then peeked through the glass in Livy's room on my way out. She was rocking her bunny and chewing on his foot. My heart just melted and I had a little moment. She is such a go-getter though! I know she needs to be around other kids and make new friends but I just want to pick her up and take her home. But I know I shouldn't do that. This is so good for her and the people there are awesome! Well Mommy needs to have her day so I'm going to get! Have a great day!

A Spontaneous Day

Saturday morning we woke up and decided to go to Branson. It was a great day to be out and about. The weather was PER-FECT! I don't know how much more perfect it could have been. Very pleasant. We decided to give my brother Jason and his wife Buffy a ring to see if they wanted to meet us for a picnic and SDC. Jason had to do some video work in Branson that day so he couldn't meet us (or so we thought). Buffy came on the picnic with us and she said that Jason would be at SDC doing some video work that day so he would meet up with us. The girls had a good time and did so well. Livy loved riding the rides and through a fit when she had to get off, but good ol' Daddy took her again. After SDC we went to Lonestar Steak House to eat with Jason and Buffy. We didn't expect to do that either (we did some eating out this weekend.. not good for my weighwatchers thing)but we had a good time. Talk about a totally spontaneous day. We had the best time. I'm glad that God gave us a lot of unexpected blessings that day. Those are the best kind of days.

Praise the Lord and Pass the Rolls!

I must say it's about time we got a good place to eat here in Mtn. Home (beside Chili's of course). John and I ate at the Colton's in Springfield quite a few times when we lived there. I love the rolls! And the honey! Anyway, we were invited to eat there Friday night with our friends Joe and Kim and Kathye. Had a good time. The night wouldn't have been complete without a game of nerts at Mike and Kathye's. Nerts is tons of fun!

More Cuteness From My Niece

Okay I couldn't help it. This one's cute too!

A Late Happy Birthday!

Happy late birthday to my fren. Love you Kim!

Glorious Day!

It is a great day! It's raining! Typically, I wouldn't be that excited about rain, but we really, really needed it! We shut off the air and opened all the windows and let the nice cool air come in. The hummingbirds are love'n the rain too. They are going crazy around the feeders! It is the type of day when I want to sleep super late, but I didn't. Livy did. Tonight we are going out to eat with some friends and then go play cards. We love to play cards. Hope your day is going great!

Fixed Memories

I love fixing my pictures up! It has become a fun past time of mine. I go on snapfish.com and sit! I could be on there for hours fixing up my memories and making them look cool. There are a few pictures on here (is 10 or so a few??) so please look. Hey, this took a while! Plus I like showing them.

So funny!

My niece Bethany is a drama queen but so cute! My sis-in-law Buffy taped her. Enjoy!
It's so cute!

Congrats in Order

Congrats to my friends Nathan and Adrienne!! Adrienne will be entering Mommyhood for the first time March of 2009! I am so excited for you guys! You will be great parents. We love you!

A Good Weekend and Other Painful Stuff..

This weekend we when to John's parents. While we were there we went to the creek to eat some hot dogs and played. Livy loves the water!! Granny and Gramps came too. The rest of the weekend was restful. Josh and the kids came out for a while Sunday to eat lunch with us. (Missed you Libby. Hope you get to feeling better.) We watched a lot of the Olympics. My personal favs are the gymnastics and diving. We came back Monday evening. Anyhoo, had a good time and visit.

The part that stinks is that when we got home last night I hurt my back. Oh joy...I was playing with Livy and turned to pick up a block (a block, who knew??) and my back went out!!I think was from the cartwheels I was doing in John's parents living room. Anyway that's what Chiropractor Joe says. He said that probably what started it and then just the slightest twist finished it. I felt like I was walking funny on Monday but thought nothing of it. Joe gave me some therapy and a back adjustment this morning. Still sore though. Oh well...you just deal with it and go on. John is helping me at home today. I love that man!

3 Weeks Away!!!

Our family reunion at Windermere on Lake of the Ozarks in not far away. YEA!! We always have a great time together. This pic the year before last with my Mom and Dad and bro's and sis's (I was pregnant with Livy). For some reason we didn't take good pics last year. Hmmm..


This is all my cousins. Love them!!



My Mom with all her bro's and sis's and their spouses.

We stay in a big lodge and eat, and laugh, and swim, and eat (I mentioned that one). We have a great time! Can't wait!!

A Pool and Two Cuties

Today my friend Meredith and her 3 year old cutie Abby came to play in Livy's pool. They ate lunch with us too. Me and Mere got in for a little bit (it's too hot just to sit!!). The water felt really good! After pool time we put the girls in tub so they would be clean and nap well. Thank goodness for good naps!