Official Notice!

It's official.  I've wanted to do this for so long!
I am on YouTube! (((Yay Me!)))
Please check out my first two of MANY videos and let me know what you think!

SweetSmilinSteph
No "g"

I'd LOVE ideas too(though I have about 30 ideas already!)

Happy Independence Day!

The Last Days of Junior High

Meet Lyle & Ottis

Meet Lyle & Ottis
Ottis is the cow on the left
Lyle is the cow on the right
Ottis belongs to us
Ottis is too cute!
Too Bad
We're gonna eat'em!

White & Black

Some recent artwork from Bethanne and Rachel....Enjoy!

The owl was done by Rachel.  It is a "scratchboard" art piece.  The white background is covered in a black substance you etch off.  Basically you're doing a pen/pencil drawing in reverse.

To learn more about Scratchboard art click here!

The Seahorse was done by Bethanne.  She hand drew the seahorse and used a technique called "Pointalism" to create the effects you see.  All the shading is created by the dots of a black pen.

To learn more about Pointalism click here!

Easter Treat

      He is RISEN!....He is risen INDEED!

Here is a little treat you can make for the kids OR with the kids OR geesh!....
they can make them themselves!

White Melting Chips, melted & sweet
Fried Chow Mein Noodles, crunchy & salty
Cadbury Mini Eggs, chocolate surprise!

Kickin' It Farm Style!

It's that time of year at the Ruffs....time to do a major project either in our house or yard.  This year: a Gigantic Garden! (we gotta feed these kisds!)  We rented a tractor and removed a whole bunch of trees and leveled our back yard.  Here are pictures from our first weekend of work.

Those darn tree stumps are hard to get out.....

....we resorted to using hand shovels!...then we rented a stump grinder...that didn't work....hired a guys with a massive stump grinder...that worked! 

The Ruff Girls: doing some Spring clean-up.  They fastened a large tarp to the back of the mower and drug it around; collecting pin needles.

Dave taught Adam to drive the Tractor.  Adam spent probably 12 hours on this machine!  He has a natural gift, he's all grins!

3 dump trucks full of compost.

That's ME!  Dave taught me how to run the tractor too!  I spent about 45 minutes running it. 

Look at the giant stump I dug up and pulled out!

Gotta end the blog with a little SugarBeeps!!!

Beautiful Breezy Beeps!

Aren't They So Cute?!!

The newest additions to our everchanging small zoo!  This is what happens when Dave takes a day off....he and Adam go buy some critters somewhere!

These aren't just any 'ol rats either....they're "Fancy Rats"....heehee....actually they are very sweet and surprisingly love to be with people.....(what do you think now Laura?!)

Cortana is the one on the left.  Saphira is on the right.  Bonus points for whomever can guess where their names came from.  Hint: Adam named them.

Pushing the Envelope

    So, I was telling my girls that it didn't look lady-like to have notes written on their hands.  This is what Rachel's foot looked like when she came home from school one day last week...the photo needs no explanation....Teenagers!....always pushing the envelope!

On to STATE!

My Destination ImagiNation team placed 1st at our Regional Tournament in the "Triple Take Road Show" Challenge!  They also received the Renaissance Award. Very Awesome!  Now it's off to the State Tournament.
Visit Destination ImagiNation to learn more!

So Beautiful

Organized Chaos: Tip of the Week #8

Family Business Cards!

Think about it, how many times have you scribbled your families information on a church bulletin or some piece of paper torn from your grocery list you found in your purse?

Now you'll have something nice and neat to hand out to your new aquaintances.

  It says, "We're organized!"......at least on the outside!

Jesus Freaks

        We surprised the kids and drove them to the Tri-Cities to attend the WINTER WONDER SLAM! This concert was really amazing. We had awesome seats as you can see by the photos. I'd say maybe 30 feet from the corner of the stage. And we had aisle seats so Dave could sit on the end and poke his legs out into the aisle.
      All 3 bands, you can tell, actually-really LOVE THE LORD!  Toby Mac has an amazing way of turning his concerts into worship and praise. The whole evening must have been pleasing to the Lord! It was kind of weird for me and very cool at the same time.  You all know Toby Mac was in DC Talk.  DC Talk was one of my very favorite bands when I was in JH and Highschool.  Now he's been on his own and Toby Mac is one of our kids favorite bands.  Toby will be 47 this year!....his love for music and his love for Jesus has affected two generations...not bad!

 HOUSE of HEROES...very awesome band! This is the kind of band I like to exercise to (when I exercise!)

 The guitarist on the right of this photo has an AMAZING voice!

 We would have gone to this concert just to hear BRANDON HEATH!  One of his songs is Dave's ringtone on his iPhone: Give Me Your Eyes. He also gave a shout-out (unpaid) to Young Life and one of it's camps, Malibu.  I loved going to Malibu.  That is where he got saved.

 This was actually Adam's first concert! All the kids LOVED it!

 Our Beauties!

 2 Old People! heehee

 :43 seconds to GO!

 Oh Man! DIVERSE CITY!

 TOBY MAC himself!

That's right, Label us JESUS FREAKS!

Basin of Beauty

I've needed a new kitchen sink and faucet since...well, when we had the house built!  I remember my In-Loves came and peeked through the kitchen window when the house was being finished. When we talked next, the first thing they said was..."they put the tiniest kitchen sink in...how are you going to be able to cook and clean for 5 people with that?!" Of course, it's just one of those things that winds up last on the list of house "change-orders" when you're having a house built. I'd rather have AC, wouldn't you?!
So 6 years later we were done with that old beast.  Right before we changed it out, my dad was in my kitchen and snickered about how "well used" the sink was.  So now I have this beauty!  Composite granite: won't chip, fade, stain or rust! And a new faucet that turns on and off when you touch it! And it has a sprayer and a dish soap dispencer and this thingy which tells time! (Just kidding on the last...a little leftover Christmas humor from The Christmas Story) And of course, in true Stephenie form, I got the faucet on clearance!
Dave says: "You can put a whole cookie sheet inside and wash it!" 

Our CHRISTmas