Today Sade, Ayodele & I drove up to North Las Vegas to Gilcrease Orchard. We wandered up and down the rows of pumpkins trying to pick out the very best ones! Sade was the first to find hers... it was actually the first one she saw. Ayodele finally found a good one, carried it around for a while, then changed his mind when he found a similar one that was bigger. Kayode's pumpkin took a little longer. Once the bigger kids found theirs, they were trying to help Kayode, but he wanted to find and pick his very own. We finally stopped trying to help and low-and-behold, Kayode found the perfect pumpkin.

After the pumpkin patch, we walked down through the apple orchard and picked a few apples. They are crunchy, sour, good and scrumptious. On our way out of the orchard, we bought some already picked pears and some homemade apple cider.

Who knew there was a real working farm in Las Vegas of all places!

"Beautiful" Day Three

Aren't they "Beautiful?" My children are so precious to me! I hope they all know how wonderful I think they are. Dele left for Nigeria early this morning and these pictures were packed in his suitcase for his family. I realized, last minute of course, that it might be nice for his family to actually see pictures of their grandchildren, niece & nephews. I took these pictures outside our front door, uploaded them to the Walmart website and picked them up on my way home from rehearsal. Thank goodness for one hour photo! :)

Derek...

Determined, eager, ready, energetic, kind

Sade...
Successful, amusing, delightful, enthusiastic

Ayodele...
Amazing, young, open, delightful, energetic, loving, eager

Kayode...
Kind, adorable, young, outstanding, determined, enthusiastic

"Beautiful" Day Two

Although this isn't a fabulous picture, this is truly "Beautiful!" It is a Royal Doulton floral bouquet. It sits in my china hutch which is very close to my computer, so I enjoy it's beauty often. It is especially important to me because of who gave it to me... my Grandma Staniford. She is the best grandma in the world!!! I miss her very much, especially after being with her the year we were up in Marysville. We talk weekly, but it just isn't enough! She is caring, beautiful, strong, dependable, and loving (just to name a few). The kids love spending time with her, too. Before we moved back to Las Vegas, she took each of the three older kids on a special overnight... just her and each of them one at a time! How special! They still talk about their special sleepover with Great Grandma! This porcelain flower bouquet is just one way I can daily remember all of our wonderful times together until we can have another moment to share. We love you, Grandma!

"Beautiful" Day One

With Dele leaving in a few days and the seasons changing, I thought I would challenge myself to find something "beautiful" each day and include it here on our family blog. Today's "Beautiful" is a tree right outside of our apartment. It's a reminder that even though we live in Las Vegas, fall is upon us. It's hard to see, but the leaves on the tree are two different colors, and with the pure blue sky as a backdrop, I truly thought this was a sight to be seen. I look at it every morning after taking Ayodele to the bus, but didn't see the "beauty" of it until today!

The Simple Woman's Daybook...

Okay...you're probably saying, "You, of all people, are not a simple woman!" My husband would agree! :) But, I do try to appreciate the simple things in life. While skimming through the blog-o-sphere yesterday, I came across a wonderful blog called "The Simple Woman" with a wonderful idea...simply enjoying and reflecting on the simple things in our life that we often take for granted! The concept of this is to start out your week reflecting and focusing yourself on the simple things, but I find I need regenerating mid-week, so I'll be surrounding myself with the "simple things" mid-week and hopefully these ideas will let me see God's blessings each day!

For today, Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Outside my window... a beautiful sunrise, blue sky and green trees.

I am thinking... about my two older kids and their recent outbreak of headaches. I hope we can figure out what is triggering the headaches so we can avoid getting them, if possible.

I am thankful for... my family and friends that love me!

From the kitchen... homemade pancakes!

I am wearing... my comfy, cotton, light green PJs.

I am working on... or at least starting to think about Christmas gift ideas. I have hundreds of pictures that need scrapbooking, so I should be working on them!

I am reading... The Love Dare (from the movie Fireproof) with Dele. We each got a copy so we could read it and work on our marriage before, during and after his trip to Nigeria. A definite "must read" for any couple!

I pray... that my mom and Dick are safe on their road trip and that Dele has a safe trip to Africa.

I am hearing... the hum of the computer, the ticking of our clock, airplanes overhead, and the creaking of beds which means someone is waking up.

Around the house... lots of cups... somehow we always end up with lots of used cups sitting around!

One of my favorite things... chocolate!

A few plans for the rest of the week... today: Replace brakes on my car, Children's Night at church...choir and classes; tomorrow: Praise team rehearsal & my first Christmas rehearsal; Friday: Dele leaves for Nigeria for two weeks to see his family that he hasn't seen in three years; Weekend: no plans yet, other than church, maybe I'll take the kids to the farm to pick apples and pumpkins!

A picture thought I am sharing with you...

This picture was taken by my mom and her husband on their "Around the USA in 50 days" trip. How amazing to me that someone could ingenious the idea of carving a man and his horse out of the side of a mountain. This is only the beginning of "Crazy Horse," but how wonderful it is already!

A beautiful gift...

Sade and the Alleluia Choir sang their "famous" Lifesong at church this morning. About 15-20 members of the choir showed up to sing at 8:30 and again at 11 am. They had the congregation on their feet before they were done! What a blessing these kids are, worshipping God in such a wonderful way! Sade has been blessed with a beautiful gift and I thank the church for allowing her to share it!

Our Wednesday Nights...

Wednesday nights are a busy night at our house! Derek is usually exhausted from football practice and gets home around 4:30, Sade gets home around 3:45 after Seussical rehearsal and school and Ayodele arrives home at the same time as Sade (either Dele or I pick them up). We have to rush to get homework done and leave for church no later than 4:45.


Wednesday nights are Children & Youth Education Nights at church. From 5:30-6:30 the kids have choir. Ayodele and Kayode participate in the children's choir which is now up to 30-35 kids ages 4 to 3rd grade. They sing at both the 8:30 and 11am services usually the 3rd Sunday of each month. Sade sings with the Alleluia Youth Choir which is grades 4-12. They also sing at both services usually the 2nd Sunday of the month. Next week they are singing "Lifesong" from the musical they just performed and Sade's going to sing the solo at the beginning.


From 6:30-6:45 the kids get to eat a pizza dinner. The older kids meet in the Fellowship Hall and eat and the younger kids eat in "Creation Station." They get 2 slices of pizza, apples and water to drink. Usually we feed about 25 kids and 15-20 youth. We go through lots of pizza!!


From 6:45-8:00 the youth meet for what's called "Wednesday Night Teens." Our church has "Youth Group" on Sunday afternoons, but it's basically the same idea. Sade loves it, especially since I won't drive her back to church on Sunday afternoons... it's just too far away with the price of gas! At the same time, the younger kids gather for Pioneer Club. We currently have three groups: The Scooters - ages 4-K (which I co-teach), the Voyagers - grades 1 & 2, and the Pathfinders - grades 3-5.


I'm not exactly sure how I got reeled into helping. Maybe it's because I drive the kids over for choir and I accompany the Alleluia Choir and sometimes the Children's Choir, too. I guess they decided we needed to be more involved this year! So, I said I would help and that I'd teach the little guys! What was I thinking? A room full of 4 & 5 year olds? We actually have 11 of them! They are so smart, and know so much already about Jesus, it's a blessing to work with them! Even though I don't work out of the home, I'm exhausted by 8pm. I don't know how the other teachers do it after "working" all day!


Tonight was the 4th week, which meant they earned their first badge! We've been learning about the bible, so they earned their "Our Special Bible" badge. I think we learned tonight that as long as you keep the activities moving (and have lots of them), they are better able to pay attention. We filled in a chart on the white board (they got to draw), the other teacher and I acted out a bible story, we played a clapping game, we drew pictures, made chariots, recited our memory verse, "Your Word is Truth - John 17:17," made scrolls to remember our memory verse, made chariots out of cookies and pretzels and passed out their badges... all in one hour!!! They were awesome!

I'm exhausted even before I go, but once I'm there I am so blessed by the knowledge and love these little people have for Jesus that it is so worth every minute I spend planning and the hours I spend recuperating!

Making breakfast

This morning as we were getting ready for church, Dele decided he needed to make us breakfast. We continued to get ready and he went to the store, bought some yummy food, came home and had Ayodele help him prepare our breakfast! What a treat! Usually I make some pancakes and call it good, but this morning we were treated with scrambled eggs, bacon and hashbrowns. Thank you for a great breakfast!

Aribibola's Favorite Recipes

I've decided that I need to get rid of my old raggedy cookbooks. Some of my cookbooks are in storage, others are falling apart and still others are just never used. I started a new blog to keep all of my favorite recipes in one place. www.aribibolarecipes.blogspot.com Now I can either print out the recipe or copy it down and throw it away when I'm done with it instead of stacking them up in my cupboards and making a mess. So far I've added what I've got at home... Now I have to go to storage and find my box of cookbooks. Then, I'll have to go through all of my Taste of Home magazines and decide what I'm going to do with them. I love my Taste of Home magazines, but I've got so many of them! I think organizing them online on my blog will help me find the recipes a little easier! If you take a look at the blog, you'll probably find that I love baking and that most of my recipes are for "sweet" treats! This is probably because I've got picky children that don't allow me to try new things! Once I go through my magazines there will be lots of recipes I've never tried, but am looking forward to making once the children move out! I know it will be a long time from now, but the time will come! Hmmm... maybe I should back all of this up somewhere just in case... I'll have to figure that out too!

Happy Cooking!

Happy 13th Birthday, Sade!