Emily's 5 pack

So long ago

2010-07-11T14:40:00.000-07:00

It has been so long since I posted anything here. For my birthday in September, Chris got me an iphone. Since then, I hardly ever get on my computer. Everything is on my phone. So here is an update on my family.

Grant is almost 8. It is hard to believe he will be 8 in August. He finished 2nd grade this year and really came a long way in his reading. Reading went from his least favorite subject to his most favorite subject. He is playing baseball again this summer. He plays right field. His batting is really improving this year. Grant also loves swimming. Every time we go to the pool, he has a new trick to show me.

Katie Beth is 6. She is my little mommy. She likes to try and take care of everybody! She finished Kindergarten this year and is really doing well in all of her subjects. She can sound short vowel words out and some long vowel words. She took ballet for the first time this year. She loved it. She is our performer. She loves to go swimming too, but it is more for the social contact. Every time we go, she makes a new friend. She may not know or remember their name, but they are her friend.

Seth is 27 months. He is our comedian. He loves to make everyone laugh. He does everything he can to keep up with brother and sister. Everyday his talking is improving. The cutest thing he says is "I didit!" He is so proud when he can figure something out and do it himself. We have been working on reducing the amount of time he sucks on a Bobby (pacifier), but we have not eliminated it. That is our next step. In fact I am going to cut the tips off of them this afternoon. We have also been slowly working on the potty. He was trying to go on the potty, but now he just sits on it. I'm not pushing real hard, but we are getting used to it.

That is what we have been up to lately in our house.

I Never Knew

2010-01-20T10:49:00.001-08:00

I never knew how hard a miscarriage would be. It has been two months since I had one and I still have times when I feel like crying.

We had debated about having a fourth child. Chris really wanted one, but I was not so sure. I would love another baby, but just wasn't so sure I can handle a fourth. I feel like I am barely holding things together with three. There are also so many things I want to do and being pregnant would make them harder or unable to do them. I want to lose weight, I want to run, I want for Chris and I to take a big 10 year anniversary trip.

The night Chris and I were talking about having another baby, I had a Bible study I needed to do. After we finished talking I went to do my Bible study. The passage of the Bible I was suppose to read was about when the Israelites made the golden calf after they had been delivered from Egypt. In my mind I was thinking how could they do that after all they had seen. Then It was like God was speaking and I heard, "What about you? What about all you have seen? Where is your faith?"

God has seen me and my family through a lot of things. He has been faithful. I know He would be faithful again. So we decided that if it was God's will for us to have another baby, then we would not prevent it from happening. And then I got pregnant. I was excited, but worried. All of my fears about how would I handle four came back. Not to mention I was tired of the question, "Was this on purpose?" It is known of your business is what I wanted to say.

Well about the time I started telling everyone, it happened. I had a miscarriage. I had never had any problems with any of my other pregnancies. I had not even made my doctors appointment yet, because I had never had any problems. I knew they would not have me to come in right away.

For the next couple of weeks I was very emotional. I knew to expect that since my hormones were all out of whack. I finally got over that, but now every now and then, I think I would have found out if I was having a boy or girl. I would be over my morning sickness. I think I would have a baby at the beginning of summer. And I get sad all over again.

I received an email from a friend who had moved away. She had heard about my miscarriage from another friend and was emailing me to see how I was doing. She had suffered two miscarriages recently and knew how I was feeling. After reading her email I was about to cry again. I thought I was over that.

Also when I have my days of frustration with my kids, I think no wonder God did not let me have another one. I can not take care of three I have.

So, now I wonder, was this a test to see if I will follow through with what I think God has told me to do or do I not deserve another child?

My Bible Time

2010-01-13T18:55:00.000-08:00

Ever since my realization that my resolutions are not working because I am not keeping God first, I have been getting up early. And this is what I have decided about getting up early: It is for the birds.

I hate getting up early. The first day I did it, my day went better. I did not get frustrated with the kids. I did not get mad at the kids. We still had things go wrong, like a flood in my laundry room, but I did not get too frustrated with the kids and I had a peace and calm about myself through the day. I was tired though.

The nest day was even harder to get up. I was so tired through the day. I did get a little frustrated, but not as bad. My frustration was more due to being so tired. I have been going to bed earlier, but I am still so tired.

This morning I almost could not get out of bed. I did not get out of bed until after 7:00. Luckily most of my family slept in. Grant did get up, but he is good to leave me alone if I ask him and I have a good reason.

I have started reading the Bible through. My church always encourages us to do this and this year they have provided a devotional to use. So I am reading what the days assignment is and then reading the short devotional. I got started late and have been having to do a couple of days reading everyday. I am almost caught up. Actually if I had gotten up early today I would have had time to read two days today and I would have gotten caught up.

Tomorrow I will try again.

He is being like the President!

2010-01-07T11:34:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning I was feeding everyone breakfast. Seth was eating a lot. He finished one bowl of oatmeal and was fussing. I told him to say "More Please" if he wanted more. His said "no." So I walked around the bar to get him out of his high chair. He started fussing again like he wanted more food and not down. I went ahead and cleaned him up and put him down since he would not respond using words.

Katie Beth answered and said he is being like the President. I said what do you mean by that. She responded that he said one thing when I asked him if wanted more and then changed and said another thing when I went to get him down.

I cracked up. I thought that was so funny for a 6 year old to put that together.

The Crazy Lady

2010-01-06T12:52:00.000-08:00

Do you ever have one of those days where you just feel like a crazy lady? This week has been that way for me.

Katie Beth and Seth have not been sleeping well lately. That has made me so tired. I have not been getting much sleep.

I also have been upset with myself over my New Year's resolutions. I am still drinking coke, a smaller amount though. I have not been running the stairs like I thought I would. We have not been eating out, but we are still eating some of the processed food we already had. And I have not spent anytime with God.

Today I received my Homeschool minute email that is from the Old Schoolhouse Magazine. It talked about our priorities for the New Year. They talked about the verse "Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven and all these things will be added unto you."

It clicked with me. Have I been seeking God first? No, I have not sought God at all. The only reason I have opened my Bible was to work with the kids on their verses. I have not worked on any verses for myself. I picked up a pamphlet at church about reading through the Bible in a year, but I have not even looked at it.

Now it is time for me to get my priorities straight. "Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven!"

One of Those Days

2010-01-04T19:21:00.000-08:00

It has been one of those days at my house. I had such high hopes for today, but I fell flat on my face. I got the kids to bed on time last night. I laid out all of their school work, and I had all of the dishes done last night before I went to bed. Then I could not sleep. Then Katie Beth ended up in our bed. And that was the beginning of it all.

I had a day of Seth getting into make-up, marathon laundry, trying to get the kids to work, and trying to get the house cleaned up.

At the end of the day, I am minus a tube of lipstick and an eyeshadow compact. The kids finished all of their schoolwork. I did not get their read aloud read to them. Almost all of the laundry is washed and folded. The kids did not eat processed food for lunch or dinner. And the house is still a wreck!

I managed to not drink a coke in all of the chaos today. I was about to break down and have one, but I sat down to fold my mountain of laundry and I watched Dr. Oz. He talked about getting rid of sugar and syrups to lose weight. So I never fixed that coke. But I had already eaten a Reeses and I lost count of how many graham crackers I had.

New Year's Resolutions Part 2

2010-01-02T07:14:00.000-08:00

My third resolution is to keep a strict budget. Neither Chris or I are accountant minded, therefore at the end of the month we say, "Where did our money go?" So Chris has made out a strict budget and we are going to stick to it.

As part of this we are going to save at least $400 each month. In order to do this I am going to have more meals planned, so there is no stopping on your way home to pick up dinner. This also goes with eating better. We are also switching our cable to Dish network. I am also going to open an Etsy store. I have been making beaded crosses that I am going to sell in the store along with any other crafty thing I come up with. I love to be crafty and this will give me a way to make some money on my crafts.

I have not figured out exactly how I am going to accomplish my last resolution. It is to spend more time with God. I am not a morning person, so getting up before the kids to have a quiet time is really hard. Also as soon as I get up early, Seth gets up. So I have to figure out a better time of the day to accomplish this.

This morning it hit me that I have to put all of this into action now. This is January 2nd and that means it is time to start acting on these. We have some PW Apple Cake in an Iron Skillet leftover from lunch at Chris's parents house. I started to have that for breakfast and then I remembered that now is the time to start cutting out the sugar. If I eat one bite of sugar in the morning I will crave it all day. I also woke up with a sinus headache. I want a coke so bad. It would knock this headache out, but no cokes for me today.

Well here is the recipe for the Apple cake for anyone that wants it. http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/09/apple-cake-in-an-iron-skillet/

New Year's Resolutions

2009-12-31T08:26:00.000-08:00

I am either an all or nothing girl. That makes New Year's Resolutions hard for me. I make resolutions and then mess up a couple of days or one day and then give up. I do not usually do resolutions for that reason. I have several things I really want to do this year, so I am going to give resolutions a try again. I am hoping that by listing them out on my blog I will be more accountable. I may even try to do an update each month on how I am doing with each resolution. Most of my resolutions are tied together in some way or another so hopefully listing them out will not be too confusing.

My first resolution is one that everyone has. I really need to lose weight! I never lost all of my weight after I had Seth and it really is starting to bother me. I need to lose about 20 lbs.

What is my plan for this? My first thing is to cut out my daily glass of coke. This is going to be so hard for me. I tried to get off of it before Christmas, but got really stressed out and tired of headaches and after a week I was drinking it again.

My second thing is to cut down on the sugar our family eats. I think as a family we would be so much healthier. We have not had the flue this season, but I am afraid that we are playing with a loaded gun by allowing our kids to eat as much sugar as they do.

And my last thing to do is to cut out or way down on the processed food. This is going to be hard on me with the kids lunches. It is so easy and cheap to fix the kids a box of Aldi Macaroni and Cheese for lunch. Now I will have to plan lunches when I plan our grocery trips. I really do not know what to plan for the kids to eat for lunch. Anyone have any ideas?

My second resolution is to run a 5K. I have always wanted to be a runner, but I never have been. Growing up I was not into sports. I took ballet forever and stayed in shape that way. When I was in college I was a cheerleader and that kept me in shape and before I was married I went aerobics class all the time. Now I can not afford a gym membership and I really need to do some kind of physical activity if I am going to accomplish my first goal.

How am I going to accomplish this? I am not an early riser and I do not like the cold, so I have started running our stairs. My goal is to do this a couple of times a day and keep track of it and run up at least one more time than the day before. If I make up and down 5 times on day one then I want to make it 6 times on day 2.

These are my first two resolutions and tomorrow I am going to post my last two, but now I need a coke and maybe I will run some stairs while I am at it.

Curly Girl

2009-12-30T06:53:00.000-08:00

All of my life I have had straight hair. I mean straight as a board, nothing can curl it hair. If I use hot rollers or a curling iron, it will be straight again before I can get out the door. Back in the 80's, when perms where the thing to do, I would have to get my hair fried to get it to curl. It was bad.

When I found out I was pregnant with a girl in my second pregnancy, I selfishly prayed for her to have curly hair. I prayed for more important things for her too, but I did not want her to have the curse of flat hair. (Now I know some think curly hair is a curse too. I have a friend who has very curly hair and would love to trade me for my very straight hair.) When she was born, she had a full head of black hair. As she got older it got lighter and curlier.

When it got to the point it was very curly, I realized one problem. I had no idea how to take care of curly hair. It is so different from straight hair. My hair is soft and hardly ever gets tangled. Her hair is so coarse and get tangled when you just look at it. She also has a tender scalp, so when we comb it out we have tears and cries of pain and I get very impatient.

I have tried so many things to make it easier to brush out her hair. My hairdresser told me not to use the products that say they will get tangles out. She says they are very acidic. What has worked best for us is during her bath I comb out her hair while there is conditioner in it.

As she has gotten older her hair has become more straight. We have let it grow out long and there is just a wave to her hair now, but it still tangles so easily. And we still have so many problems combing it out.

The other night I was reading Smockity Frocks. She had a link back to an old post she had done about a book called Curly Girl and how she took care of her hair. I found it so interesting that I read all she had on it. So now we are going to try the Curly Girl way. Last night I did not use shampoo on her hair. We just rinsed it and then put conditioner on it. I then combed it with my fingers and then we did a quick rinse. I did not want to rinse out all of the conditioner, but just a little.

This morning her hair is curlier. She is complaining that it is too fluffy and will not go behind her ears, but I do think it is curlier and looks better. We will see what this does and if it makes it easier to take care of her hair. The only problem is that she got make-up for Christmas from her Aunt Sandra and she put glitter make-up in her hair. Just rinsing it in water did not get the make-up out of her hair. I wonder how long it will take to get that glitter out?

Here is the link to Smockity Frocks: http://www.smockityfrocks.com/2007/03/curly-girl.html

Out of the Mouths of Babes

2009-12-29T14:22:00.000-08:00

We spend Christmas Eve with Chris's family. We usually eat dinner that always includes beef tenderloin, then go to church for Christmas Eve services, and then go back to Chris's parents house to open presents.

This year when we went to leave for church, Grant wanted to ride with Chris's brother and their son Jackson. So we took their daughter Caroline in our car with Katie Beth and Seth. When we got to church Caroline said, "I know why we are going to church. We are going to church to celebrate Jesus's birthday." Katie Beth answered with,"Are we going to get cake?" I had to tell her, "No there would be no cake."

Blogging again

2009-12-28T20:12:00.000-08:00

I am going to try this again. I really want to blog, but it just seems to be something else to keep up with. With everything else I have to do, it just seems to get left out. But I really want to do it. So as one of my New Year's resolutions, I am going to try and blog again.

I have several other resolutions that I am going to blog about as I start this again, but for today this is the main one I want to focus on. I think blogging is such a good way to document the things we do in our day to day life, but I have never been much of a writer. Even as a child, I would start a diary, but it would not last long. I received good grades in writing in High School and then I went to college. The teacher I had for composition did not like my writing. I could not believe that I received a B in that class. From then on I have doubted my writing. So I second guess everything I write.

In other news, I was so excited tonight. For Christmas I received a gift card from my parents to buy clothes. I went to Kohls tonight and found an 80% off rack. I bought several things and now I have some new clothes and three pairs of jeans instead of 2. All I could think of was,"Thank you God for providing for my wants and need."

Mom's Soup Pot

2009-07-28T14:13:00.000-07:00

I have been in a dinner rut. I have had no ideas for dinner and have not been to the store, because I did not know what to buy. Everything that I could think of to cook made me think of winter food. I like lighter food in the summer.

I had finally decided on two meals to cook and had plans to go to the store yesterday. Then my oldest came down with a stomach bug. I did not make it to the store. My husband stopped on his way home and bought some essentials and stuff to make quesadillas. That did not sound good to me either, but everyone else like them and they were happy.

Finally today I went to the store. I have been craving an all vegetable dinner. I also saw a recipe on the Crock Pot lady's website for Cowboy beans. And then Pioneer Woman had the best looking potatoes and steak and stuffed tomato on her site today.

Last night when I could not figure out what to cook, I put as my status on facebook that I did not know what was for dinner. I am friends on facebook with a couple of my friends that I grew up withs parents. One of them sent me an email telling me how she used to freeze all of her leftover vegetables and then make a soup out of them.

That reminded me of how my mom talked about her grandmother's soup pot. She said that she kept a big bowl in the refrigerator and put all of the leftovers in it. Then once a week she made soup out of it. I think that was a pretty common practice. Those women of the Great Depression knew how to not let anything go to waste. They made sure everything they bought for food got eaten. How different is that now? We through food away and do not think a thing about it. It bothers me that I am throwing away food that we paid for, but not enough to do anything about it. I try to make my family eat leftovers, but it does not happen very often. Right now there is a almost whole chicken spaghetti sitting in my refrigerator. It was a new recipe and no one liked it. It tried to eat it, but who wants a whole chicken spaghetti? I think if it is still good, I am going to freeze it and then try and use it this winter for a soup.

Tonight for dinner we are going to have butter beans, sauteed squash, corn pudding, fried okra, and fresh tomatoes. We will probably have leftovers tomorrow night and then whatever is left I am going to put in a gallon Ziploc bag and use for soup this winter. My family may get tired of soup!

What I Have Been Doing

2009-07-20T13:42:00.000-07:00

For the past week I have been cleaning out bedrooms. I started in my daughter's room. I have been wanting to paint her room, but it was so messy that you could not walk through it. We spent one day cleaning out and organizing all of her stuff. That night when I was giving kisses and hugs, my son asked if we were going to do his room the next day. I think he was a little jealous. He usually has the cleaner room of the two.

So, the next day we spent on his room. I thought his room would be easier, but it was actually harder. He had a bunch of little things that were very hard to classify. When it was done, he was glad.

After I had finished their rooms, my room was the messiest in the house. I tried all week to work on mine, but I had one big problem. The baby. His crib is in our room. I work the best while he is asleep. Finally on Saturday the kids had a birthday party to go to. I put Seth done for his nap in the pack and play in the living room and my wonderful husband took the other two kids to the birthday party and I had uninterrupted cleaning time. I was really embarrassed by how much dog hair was on my carpet and my comforter. I had taken my comforter off of my bed to take to the dry cleaners, but my dogs had decided that it made a good bed. One of our dogs is a Chow/Golden retriever mix and she sheds so bad in the summer. After all of my cleaning I finally took my comforter to the dry cleaners today.

In other news. I finally got all of my curriculum ordered. Today Grant's reading books came in and I am really excited about them. I have switched him to Sonlight for reading, but had to order them off of ebay. It took a lot of patience for me to wait until I found all of the books together and at a price I could afford, but I think this reading will be better for him. Last year we did Abeka reading. I love Abeka, but I think he was bored with it. When I started checking books out of the library for him to read, he started reading better. I think he will do better with reading real books instead of readers.

So, my plan for curriculum this year is ABeka for phonics, language, math, and spelling. Getty Dubay for handwriting. Math- U- See for Katie Beth's math. 100 Easy Lessons for Katie Beth's reading. Sonlight reading 2 for Grant's reading. Sonlight Core K for history. Some lapbooks and experiments in a bag for science.

I am still working on putting together our Bible. Last year I used a devotion book that Grant had and their memory verses from Awanas. This year I bought a book called Polite Moments. It is more of a character training book. I think I am going to focus on a "trait" a week and find verses to go with that "trait". I will write about how this goes when I start putting it together more.

In other other news. Our upstairs air conditioner is out again. This is the third time this summer. I am trying to be thankful in all things. I am trying to look to the positive. I put Seth to bed in his pack and play and I am going to go upstairs and clean bathrooms. I usually put this off for fear of waking him. Since he is not asleep up there, I know I will not wake him.

Off to clean bathrooms!

Science Swap

2009-07-13T19:53:00.000-07:00

I am terrible about planning science experiments. When I do get around to planning them, I then realize that I do not have all the supplies, then I forget to put the supplies on my grocery list and I never buy them. So I was really excited when one of the mom's in our homeschool group put together a science swap this summer. At the homeschool conference I went to, I bought several science experiments in a bag from a company called Holy Cow Science, but if I participated in this I could get even more science experiments already planned.

To participate in the Science Swap, you had to plan a science experiment in a bag. You were to put all the supplies you would need to perform the experiment in a gallon Ziploc bag with the directions for the experiment and make enough for everyone in the swap to have one.

Eight families participated, so we made up eight bags of an experiment called bobbing raisins. We all met at a park and the mom that coordinated the swap had eight bags setting out and we put one of our experiments in each bag.

My kids were pretty excited to have some experiments to do and I was really excited to have experiments that I did not have to plan or gather the supplies for.

Yes Ma'ma, No Ma'ma

2009-07-09T09:33:00.000-07:00

I have had a hard time teaching my children to say Yes Ma'ma, No Ma'ma, Yes Sir, No Sir. I have corrected them and corrected them and they still do not seem to get it. I was really getting tired of correcting them and not seeing them get it.

Then one day I was reading one of my favorite blogs, http://www.smockityfrocks.com/. She had a post about using a jar of marbles to give your kids an incentive to do things. I pulled out a jar and a bag of marbles and we started.

Every time they said Yes Ma'ma, No Ma'ma, Yes Sir, No Sir they got to put a marble in the jar. When the jar was full they got to go to Marble Slab for Ice Cream. They filled that jar up pretty quick.

So, the second time around, I made it harder. This time I could take marbles out. I told them if they talked ugly to each other, if they did not obey all the way, right away, or any other thing that I thought was ugly, they would lose a marble. It took them longer to fill it up this time, but it sure is a good motivator.

Yesterday they filled it up and we let them choose their treat. They choose Snow Cones. So last night we loaded up in the car for a trip to the Snow Cone stand. They really enjoyed their snow cones. I just wish I had taken a picture of them with the snow cone juice all over their faces.

This morning I emptied the jar to start over and they already have 4 marbles.

Seth's First Haircut

2009-07-08T07:06:00.000-07:00

I put off getting Seth's hair cut as long as I could. His head was getting so sweaty and we were spending so much time at the baseball fields that I just couldn't postpone it anymore.

We were going to my husband's family reunion and one of his uncles used to be a barber. He always bring his tools because someone always wants a haircut. So Chris (my husband) decided that this would be the best time for a haircut. So after he pried Seth from my arms and I quit kicking and screaming saying, "I do not want my baby to look like a big boy," (Not quite that dramatic, but that was how I felt) Chris and his Uncle Bub got to work and cut off all of my baby's curls.

He looked really cute, but it was hard for me to get use to his new look. I knew it had to be done. I did not have this hard of a time when the other two got haircuts. I do not know what it was about this one, but it was really hard.

I WON!!

2009-07-04T10:56:00.001-07:00

I am so excited. I won a $25 gift certificate to the EcoStore. Now I can not decide what I am going to buy. I would really like to try the pure oxygen whitener, but also some shampoo, but also some soap. I think I will have to study their website more to decide. I will let you know what I try and how I like it.

Michelle Duggar

2009-06-27T13:34:00.000-07:00

I was so excited to meet Michelle Duggar! I love the way her and Jim Bob show their faith for everyone. They are not afraid of what anyone thinks, but God and I believe God has blessed them for that.

Our homeschool group has monthly meetings for the moms called Renews. A couple of the moms in our group know the Duggar's because they worked on the Duggar's political campaigns. They asked Michelle if she would come and talk to our homeschool group. It was one of the best attended Renews we had ever had.

Michelle was great! She was just like she is on TV. She is very sweet and down to earth. She was very encouraging. Unfortunately only Grandma Duggar and the baby came with her. The rest of the family was in Tennessee helping the Bates family build their house. I would have loved to see in person how all of the kids interact together.

What I learned. The one thing that she said that really struck me was that I do not have the right to sleep. She was talking about how at night the older kids come in her and Jim Bob's room to have talks with them. She said that sometimes the girls will talk until 2 in the morning and that she does not have the right to sleep when it is so important to spend that time guiding her children. It really made me think about all the things that I think I have the right too and how I feel offended when I do not have those things. I am a sinner only saved by grace not by what I do, but by what Jesus has done for me. Since that is true why do I feel I have the right to have all the things I think I need. Only Jesus know what I need and the only thing I need is Jesus.

Oh, and I hate the way I smiled in the picture, but it was the only picture I had of me and Michelle.

Bible reading

2009-06-26T19:44:00.001-07:00

I am really behind! I finished up Genesis tonight.

One thing that stood out to me was that Jacob deceived his father and Esau and from then on he was being deceived. It made me wonder what sin I have committed or an committing that will keep coming back to me. My prayer is that God will show me my sins and help me get out of them.

For the rest of the book, I had a lot swirling around in my mind tonight. When I read tonight I was really depressed about some issues in my life. There are some struggles that it seems we can never get out of. I know things can get worse and I do not want anything worse, but I wonder when we can climb out! This may not make any sense to anyone else and I am just rambling, but I need some therapeutic conversation with myself and that is what I am doing.

Arkansas Baseball and The Bible

2009-06-18T06:43:00.000-07:00

What does Arkansas Baseball and The Bible have in common? Nothing except that I wanted to do both last night.

I have been doing my Bible reading at night after the kids are in bed and when their Daddy is home to help if they have any problems. Last night Arkansas was playing in an elimination game at the College World Series. It looked like they were going to lose and then they tied it up in the 9th inning. It then went on until they finally won in the 13th inning. It was about 11 o'clock then. We had let the kids stay up to watch and they both had fallen asleep.

I am hoping to get caught up this afternoon when Seth naps. We do have a busy day though.
This morning we are going to a Science swap. Then we have swim lessons this afternoon and tonight Katie Beth has a tee ball game and I am going to hear Michelle Duggar speak. I am so excited to go hear her.

I will try to write about what I learn from her later.

Day 2 Bible Challenge Genesis 16 - 28:19

2009-06-17T13:19:00.000-07:00

I have many thoughts about Day 2's reading. I hope I can remember all the thoughts I have.

One thought I had was about Abraham's character. He was a foreigner in the land he lived, but when Sarah died the Hittites were willing to give Abraham him any burial plot he wanted. When he found the place, the owner wanted to give the land to Abraham. Abraham had to insist that he wanted to pay for it. Abraham was a wealthy man, so the Hittites knew that he could afford to pay for the land. But I believe that due to the character that Abraham had shown he had won favor with the Hittites.

I had many thoughts about Lot. I do not know if I can express them all in the way I was thinking.

My first thought was when Lot offered his two daughters to the angry crowd. Did he not value his daughters or did he believe the strangers where more valuable?

My next thought was about his future son-in-laws. When he went to them and said that God was going to destroy Sodom and they needed to leave with him, they did not listen. Did Lot not teach his daughters to look for someone with the same values as they had? Did he not teach his daughters that his future son-in-laws should respect him?

My final thought about Lot was when he was in the mountains with his two daughters. He must have taught his daughters about some of his beliefs, but they must have not taken it to heart. They did not trust God to carry on Lot's lineage. Instead of praying to God, they took matters into their own hands. They must have known that their father would not go along with their plan, so they got him drunk in order to carry out their plan. I wonder how he felt after he found out?

The biggest lesson for me in this is to teach my children. To make sure they know all of my beliefs and why I believe like I do. To pray that God will help me teach them and show me all I need to teach them. Then to pray that he will make them take these teachings to heart.

I know I had some other thoughts about Issac and Jacob and Esau, but now I have forgotten what they were.

90 day Bible Challenge

2009-06-16T06:52:00.000-07:00

I have started a 90 day Bible challenge. The goal is to read through the Bible in 90 days. I am praying that I will be able to do this.

Yesterday I read Genesis Chapters 1 -16. The first thing that always amazes me is how orderly and organized God is. And how unorderly and unorganized I am. This is an area I really need to pray over.

The next thing I thought about was how Adam and Eve spent time with God in person, but still managed to sin. How can I expect to do any better, especially on the days I do not spend time with God?

The next area that really stood out to me was when Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham. They had God's promise of offspring, but decided that they did not like his timing or maybe they doubted His promise. So they took matters in their own hands. How many times have I done that? And look at the lasting effects of them doing that. What lasting effects are there when I take matters in my own hands?

Now it is on to the next days reading.

God gives Strength

2009-04-03T09:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday our Bible lesson was about God giving us strength to do the hard things in life. The verse it was based on was Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

When it was time to cook dinner, I had planned on grilling some chicken. The kids were in the backyard riding their bikes. When I went out to start the grill it was cold outside. They were out in shorts and t-shirts. I told them it was cold. When I went back to put the chicken on, the kids told me that God was giving them strength to stay out in the cold. I just laughed. Even if they did not fully understand the lesson, at least they were listening.

School Work

2009-04-02T18:40:00.000-07:00

I am trying to decide what to do for Grant's school work next year. He is not doing as well as I think he should be. Is it that I am biased because of my background? Sometimes I think being a teacher messes me up with homeschooling. I have seen what good readers the ABeka curriculum can produce, but at the same time I also know that not everyone learns the same. I also fear that if I switch curriculum, we will miss learning something or I will mess what Grant has already learned up. I know that different phonics programs teach in different ways.

Next year already worries me. Katie Beth will start Kindergarten and Seth will be more active. I will have to figure out a better schedule for everyone.

Here is what I am thinking for each child. Grant: Sonlight for reading and history, Explode the Code and ABeka for phonics, ABeka for Math, A Reason for Spelling or Abeka for spelling and ABeka for handwriting. I am not sure about science.
Katie Beth: Just about everything will be ABeka. I may add Explode the Code and we just started 100 Easy Lessons. We probably will not be finished with it when we start school next year.

I just started Katie Beth on 100 easy lessons. She is so excited about it. She will be my one that loves to do school, if I keep reminding her that I am the teacher.

Giveaway

2008-12-02T20:26:00.000-08:00

Here is a new giveaway that I really need to win. I need a new stroller!!! On our last trip Chris asked me if I had stroller envy and I said "YES"!!!
http://frugalmommyof2girls.blogspot.com/2008/11/bumbleride-stroller-giveaway-proof.html

Giveaway

2008-12-02T12:52:00.000-08:00

Deal Seeking Mom has a great giveaway! She is giving away a $500 Walmart Gift Card!! That could really help this Christmas, especially since I am feeling myself become a scrooge over Christmas.
http://www.dealseekingmom.com/big-giveaway-500-walmart-gift-card-sponsored-by-nickelodeon/#comment-10302

My Princess

2008-11-20T14:14:00.000-08:00

Sometimes my little Princess just cracks me up. She comes up with some of the funniest things and when she tells me about it she is so animated that there is no way to retell it and capture that animation. So here is my attempt at it because I do not want to forget these things she has said:

Sunday Chris brought her home from choir practice and she runs in the house all excited and tells me "Mom I get to be a sheep and I have a solo." I respond, "You get to have a solo?" "Yes," she replies "and I get to be a sheep!" I think she was more excited about being a sheep.

A couple of days later she is telling me about her solo and says, "I get to stand in front by the black thing, you know the microphone." There is just no way to show her excitement over this. Later in the day I hear her downstairs playing the CD with her music and yelling the words, "I would sing so quiet." Did you get that? She was yelling, "I would sing so quiet." I told her she needed to use her pretty voice. She proceeded to tell me she was pretending that she was singing in front of everyone and she wanted to make sure they could hear her. I told her she would be singing into a microphone and everyone would be able to hear her just fine.

Another story about her was from the other day in the car. We were on the way to a funeral and she tells us that she has decided she wants to be a missionary. She wants to tell people about Jesus and give them Bibles. About this time Chris and I were pretty proud of her for saying that. She then proceeds to tell us that why she wants to be a missionary is because sometimes at night missionaries eat marshmallows. So my daughter want to be a missionary so she can eat marshmallows. She then tells us she is going to be a missionary around here on this Earth. She is not going to other Earths. How cute is that?

Sethy Boy

2008-11-15T07:36:00.000-08:00

Seth is 7 months old now. He has some new tricks and is working on a few more.

He is crawling like a race car driver. He is also pulling up on everything. The other day Grant and I were playing with Seth in the floor and Seth took a toy from Grant while Seth was standing up holding on to me. When he took the toy from Grant he used both hands and let go of me. He stood there for a few seconds all by himself. Then he realized what he had done and he sat down. Grant and I cheered for him and he had the biggest smile on his face. He was really proud of himself.

Another one of his favorite tricks is to sneak over to the stairs and start to climb them. I think it is time to do some baby proofing around the house.

Another of his tricks is my least favorite. He has decided that he does not like to sleep. He is waking up several times during the night. I try to let him cry it out, but it is not working. After listening to him for 30 min, one of us usually gives into him and picks him up. Then the only way to get him back to sleep is to feed him, even though it goes against everything I know on how to get a baby try sleep through the night. At 3:00 in the morning, when you have had several nights of this and you are very sleep deprived, you will try anything to get them to sleep. I am not one to rush to the doctor, but this is getting old. I am wondering if he has an ear ache or has stomach problems. I pulled back on his baby food thinking maybe he was having an allergy to something, but that has not seemed to make a difference.

Carmel Apples

2008-10-31T15:03:00.000-07:00

I thought I would make Carmel Apples with my kids. I am not very good at involving my kids in cooking or doing special projects. I thought this would be a good way to do both.

It did not go well. I cooked the Carmel in the Crock-Pot. I thought it would not get as hot as a pot. It did get very warm. On the first apple, they both hit the sides of their hands on the Crock-Pot and both decided that they would let me do it all.

Do you like how well I fix my daughter's hair? How about the swimming goggles around her neck?

For directions to how we made the apples, check out my other blog.

Great Giveaway

2008-10-30T20:04:00.000-07:00

Check out the Stealth Goggles over at Deal Seeking Mom. They look too cool, especially when you have a son that loves everything Army.
http://www.dealseekingmom.com/giveaway-eyeclops-night-vision-infrared-stealth-goggles/

Great giveaway

2008-10-20T12:35:00.000-07:00

Mercedes, over at Common Sense with Money, has started a new blog. On her new blog she is reviewing different products. To kick off the start of this new blog, she is giving away a Girl Gourmet Cupcake Maker.

My daughter would love this!! Actually my son would like it too. I hope I win!! Visit this link to enter too!

http://commonsensewithmoneyreviews.blogspot.com/2008/10/product-review-and-giveaway-girl.html

New Blog

2008-10-17T17:13:00.000-07:00

I have started a new blog call Mom, What is for Dinner? It can be found at MomWhatisforDinner.blogspot.com

It is going to be a place to keep my recipes and review what we have for dinner each night.

Target!!

2008-10-17T16:28:00.000-07:00

Target opened last week and I finally made it there. I do not know if I can afford to have a Target in our town. I did buy a lot of things that we have been needing, so I was not looking for deals.

I bought shoes for all three kids, birthday present for my nephew, vitamin water, pacifiers and a new pacifier clip, pizza for dinner and I am sure there was more.

I had a gift card and spent $50 after my gift card. I did get a gift card for $5 back for my vitamin water. I am going to have to watch it when I go there!

No More Fruit Flies

2008-10-15T12:06:00.000-07:00

I have been having a problem with fruit flies lately. I put all of our fruit in the refrigerator or in Ziploc bags and I thought I had gotten rid of them.

Then I went to make Amish Friendship Bread. To make it you have to leave a bread starter out on your counter top for 10 days. Well the fermenting bread starter attracted fruit flies again. I had read somewhere on the Internet of a solution to get rid of them, but I could not remember where.

I remembered the ingredients, but I could not remember the amounts. The ingredients were white vinegar, dishwashing soap, and water. So I poured a little vinegar in a bowl and added a little dishwashing soap, and some water.

Guess what??!! It worked!! No more fruit flies!! Can you see the little bugs in the bottom of the bowl?

Camping

2008-10-14T10:28:00.000-07:00

We went camping this weekend in a cabin! It was a lot of fun. Several families that we are friends with went. It was at MarVal. I had never been there before, but they have camp site and cabins. Several families have campers and they brought those. One family camped in a tent, but with a baby I think the cabin was the best way to go for us.

MarVal was a really neat campground. It was a private campground with a big playground in the middle. They also have a swimming pool and a miniature golf course. For fall they had a hayride. On the hayride you got to plant your magic pumpkin seed and then come back and pick your pumpkin. After you picked your pumpkin you then get to paint it. My kids thought that was great. They do not get to paint very often. While we were waiting to go on the hayride we got two icees to share. Can you tell what color the kids icees were?

Saturday night they go Trick or Treating to all the camp sites. My kids were excited to go Trick or Treating early. Number 1 kept running ahead. He was so excited to get candy. He even left his friend behind.

They also have these tricycles that are very low to the ground and have hand brakes and steering. Number 1 son loved those. Princesses legs were not quite long enough for them.

On Sunday morning we had a mini church service. One of the older boys played his guitar while we sang and then one of the dads gave a short devotional.

It was a great time. My kids did not want to leave!

Russell (Chris's brother) dog sat and house sat for us. I think our dogs probably want us to go out of town more often. Russell fed them a steak!

Where have I Been?

2008-10-14T10:19:00.000-07:00

I have been so busy lately that I forgot to blog. What have I been doing?

1. I have been helping to get things ready for a Women's Conference at my church. Angela Thomas is coming to our church to speak. I have not done one of her Bible Studies, but I have heard good things about her.

2. We went camping this weekend. Camping in a cabin! I will blog about that later.

3. I have been trying to implement FlyLady. If you do not know about FlyLady go to her website here. www.FlyLady.net She helps you get rid of CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome). So far I am keeping my sink clean and making my bed. Yesterday I tried to do the weekly home blessing hour, but I can not figure out how to vacuum my whole house in 10 min. Then baby got up from his nap and it was all over.

Well that is what I have been doing in addition to keeping up with 3 kids and homeschooling 2!

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

2008-09-22T15:17:00.000-07:00

With the start of fall today, I thought I would share one of my favorite pumpkin recipes. This is from my husband's family's cookbook.

1 (16 oz.) pkg. pound cake mix
3 eggs
2 Tbs butter, melted
4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 (8oz.) pkg. cream cheese
1 (14oz.) can condensed milk (Eagle Brand)
1 (16 oz.) can pumpkin
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350. In a large mixer bowl, on low speed, combine cake mix, 1 egg, butter, and 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice, until crumbly. Press into bottom of 15 x 10 - inch jellyroll pan. Set aside.

In a large mixer bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually add sweetened condensed milk, then eggs, pumpkin, remaining pumpkin pie spice and salt. Mix well. Pour over crust. Sprinkle nuts on top. Bake 30 minutes or until set. Cool, then cut in bars. Store in fridge.

You can leave the nuts off if you are allergic or do not like nuts.

Be Careful With Your Pronunciation

2008-09-22T10:13:00.001-07:00

I use to be a children's leader at Bible Study Fellowship. One week when we were planning our lesson about the woman at the well, the leader's manual said to be careful and say well not whale. Make sure the children understand it is a well.

I thought that is silly. The children would not confuse well and whale, but I made sure and explain that it was a well were they would get their drinking water in biblical times. That they did not have water faucets like we do.

Well, the very next Sunday when we were leaving church I asked my son what his bible story was this week. He said it was about Jesus and a Dolphin. My husband and I looked at each other very confused and wondered what they were teaching our children. Well, we went through a list of things that we thought the story could be about and he kept insisting it was about Jesus and a Dolphin. Then I remembered my Bible Study Fellowship lesson. I then proceeded to ask him if it was about Jesus and a whale. He said yes that was it! Well my husband and I had to reteach the story to him and make sure he understood what a well was not a whale.

So the lesson I learned, so well from my son, was to watch the way you pronounce things. You never know who might think you are talking about Jesus and a Dolphin.

Another great giveaway

2008-09-22T10:07:00.000-07:00

Thrifty and Chic Mom has done it again!! She has a great giveaway over at her blog for some FuzziBunz. I really hope I win!! I have been wanting to try cloth diapers, but afraid to spend the money on them. So go check out her blog if you would like to win some too!!
http://www.thriftyandchicmom.com/2008/09/fuzzibunzonlinecom-giveaway.html

Fruit Smoothies

2008-09-20T15:22:00.000-07:00

Last night I had a bad night with baby. I do not know how many times I got up to put his pacifier in his mouth and pat his back. When he got up at his normal wake up time of 7:00 I nursed him and put him back to bed. He was so tired from his night that he went back to sleep.

My wonderful husband got up with the other two kids and they had planned to go pick up Chick-fil-A breakfast. Well, they got sidetracked and when baby and I got up at 9:00 they were still home. I suggested we put some biscuits in the oven and make fruit smoothies. I have never made fruit smoothies, but I figured it could not be hard and I was right.

So here is what I did:
1 small container of frozen sweetened strawberries
1 banana
1/2 lg container of plain yogurt
a little milk

I put 1/2 of the strawberries in the blender and pureed them. I then added a banana and mixed them together well. Then I added the yogurt and a splash of milk and mixed well. I wanted a more strawberry flavor so I added the rest of the strawberries at this point. Then we poured it into glasses and enjoyed!!

It was much cheaper than Chick-fil-A and probably healthier. Of course the canned biscuits with butter are not that healthy, but they were good.

Another giveaway

2008-09-17T07:20:00.000-07:00

Here is another neat giveaway. Check out Thrifty and Chic Mom. She is giving away a cute minky bunny from Whimsical Stork.
http://www.thriftyandchicmom.com/2008/09/whimsical-stork-giveaway.html

Giveaway

2008-09-16T18:24:00.000-07:00

Check out Mommies with Cents. She is giving away a spa playset. I hope I win one. That would be a great Christmas present!
http://www.mommieswithcents.com/2008/09/review-giveaway-spa-fantasy-playset.html

Black Bean Salsa

2008-09-15T11:31:00.000-07:00

I just returned from my weekend away. Well, it was kind of away. It was only 30 minutes away and baby went with me. It was still a good time and break. There was no house to be cleaned, no dinner to be cooked, no laundry to be washed, and someone else cooked for me. I had girl time all weekend long. It is nice to have time to just spend with friends.

We all bring snacks and I had a request to bring this dip. Everyone always want the recipe for this, so I thought I would post it.

2 cans black beans, rinsed
1 can white shoe peg corn
1 can rotel
1/2 red onion chopped
6 tbs olive oil
6 tbs lime juice
6 tbs Italian dressing
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup chopped cilantro (optional)

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Refrigerate overnight and serve with chips or wrap in soft tortillas.

Walgreens

2008-09-12T07:27:00.000-07:00

I had a great week at Walgreens. I made two trips this week.

I went on Sunday and had two transactions.

My first transaction consisted of the following:

3 Robitussin @ 3.99 each

1 Chex Mix @ .99

I had 3/$3 Robitussin coupons

1/$1 Chex mix

I spent 4.13 with tax and received $10 RR

My second transaction consisted of the following:

3 Dimetapp @ 3.99 each

1 Chex Mix @ .99

I had 3/$2 Dimetapp coupons

1/$1 Chex mix

I spent 7.13 with tax and received $10 RR

I went back on Thursday and had a big trip.

Visine 3.99

Tylenol cold 4.99

2 Tylenol Allergy 4.99 each

2 Windex wipes 2.49 each

Pert Plus 3.79

2 Windex spray 2.49 each

Shout 2.49

2 Scrubbing Bubbles action scrubber 3.79 each

Crest Pro Heath mouthwash 4.49

3 Hand Sanitizers .99 each

I had the following coupons:

2/2.75 Scrubbing bubbles action scrubber

2/1.00 Windex spray

3/1.00 Tylenol

2/.75 Windex wipes

1/2.00 Pert Plus

1/3.00 Visine

Wags IVC Tylenol 3.00

Wags IVC Visine 2.00

2/$10 RR

My total with tax was 12.89 which I used my gift card and received $2 RR, $4.50 RR, $4 RR, and a $10 RR. I also have a wag rebate for the Pert Plus and MIR rebates for the Action Scrubber.

And to think I almost skipped Walgreens this week. I was worried about having enough money this week, but it turns out they paid me!!

busy days

2008-09-10T20:02:00.000-07:00

I just realized it is Wednesday night and I have not posted anything this week. What have I been doing?

We have been schooling everyday this week. I think this will be our first full week of schooling. We are starting to see some new things introduced and Number 1 son had his first phonics test of the year. He did great on it.

Another thing I have been doing is Walgreens!! Walgreens has had some great deals this week. Check out MoneySavingMom.com and CommonSensewith Money.com to see all of the deals. I am planning a big trip tomorrow with spending little out of pocket. I will post pictures and detailed explanation of what I have done tomorrow night.

And my last thing that has kept me busy is I am planning a weekend away from my family. There is a group of girls from church that I go scrapbooking with for a weekend twice a year. I will not be totally away from my family. Baby will have to come with me since he is still nursing, but he is such a good baby that I think I will be able to get something done. Another one of the girls has a baby that is a month younger than Seth and he will be coming too.

I am planning on posting a couple of recipes soon. Be sure to come back and check those out.

A chair full of clothes

2008-09-04T11:54:00.001-07:00

In our town we have a biannual kids clothing sale. You can sell the clothes that your kids have outgrown and buy new ones for the next season. The clothes have to be free of stains and tears.

I have been participating in this sale since it started. Before we had one here I would travel to one that was held in Little Rock. I love that I can buy everything my kids need for the season at once. Before there was not much for bigger boys, but this year I found more for number 1 son than anyone else. I was so surprised!!

Last night when I brought all of these home my kids were so excited. Number 1 son was the most excited. He had to try on everything. He kept saying, "Thank you Mommy, Thank You!"

So for all of these clothes, enough for 3 kids, I paid about $300. I also bought some shoes that I did not get in the picture. These clothes are all name brand too!! They are Gap, Old Navy, Gymboree and Children's Place. Sometimes you can even find boutique brand clothing.

You can choose to sell your clothes at 1/2 price on the last day of the sale. I did not find many pajamas and I also need a play coat for princess. I am going to try to go back on Saturday and see if I can find any more bargains.

My best bargain was the coat I bought for Number 1 son. It is a wool coat that looks brand new for $5. I was so excited. I even found a similar one for baby. Now the boys can dress alike. I also found a corduroy blazer for Number 1 son that looks just like one his Daddy has. they can dress alike too!

God is good

2008-09-01T10:30:00.000-07:00

This year I was not very excited to start schooling. I think I have mentioned before that we have had a lot going on lately. We had a baby and moved and I was also planning on starting Princess on some schoolwork. I have been just worn out lately and the thought of shipping my kids off to school somewhere has been very appealing.

But then God is always so good to show me why I need to keep on homeschooling. First an email was sent out on the homeschooling email list that I am on. It was a devotional from Crosswalk Homeschool Encouragement. In this email the author talks about how she had lost her joy in her daily activities as a Mom. She kept hearing in her mind that she should put the kids in school and be a career mom. That she was failing at teaching her kids. That she was doomed to failure. Then one day one of her children thanked her for teaching them. It was then that she realized that she had let the enemies voice in her head. She wondered how well things would have been going if she believed that her homeschooling venture was a success.

Another day I was looking through some blogs and I found a link here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh2VFkF7NLo to an interview with Steven Curtis Chapman about the loss of his daughter. From there I watched a music video dedicated to her. These made me think about how short time is with our kids. How I should cherish all of the time I have with them. God has given the desire to homeshool to my husband and I and I should thank him for that added time I have with my kids. The Bible clearly states that children are a blessing. Why would I want to send my blessings to someone else? Why would I let someone else have the blessing of watching their faces light up when they learn something?

So from there I started homeschooling last week. It went better than I could ever imagine. Both kids were excited and enjoyed it. Baby napped while we were working and I had plenty of time with both big kids.

So just as always God is so good to provide the encouragement that is needed just when it is

needed!!

Great giveaway

2008-08-30T20:28:00.000-07:00

I am so excited!! I won the Smart Mom jewelry. When I receive it, I will have to take a picture of it and post it.

Now maybe I can make it all Sunday without having to take off my necklace

funny quote of the day

2008-08-30T20:21:00.000-07:00

This week Number 1 was invited to a birthday party a Chuck E. Cheese. We decided to make a family night out of it and have dinner there.

Princess has always been afraid of the guy in the Chuck E. Cheese costume, but she loves going to Chuck E. Cheese. So the whole time there she is on the look out for him.

Well while we were there she was sitting in my lap while we were waiting on Daddy to order our pizza and get some tokens. She turned and looked at me and said, "Mommy I am not just scared of Chuck E., I am afraid of him."

Busy Days

2008-08-30T20:08:00.000-07:00

It has been very busy around here. We started school this week and so far both kids are excited about their new school work. Princess loves getting to do her own schoolwork and Number 1's work is just a review right now. His work is so easy for him that I am having him do more than one page in his books.

We also had a garage sale this weekend. We got rid of quite a bit of stuff, but we still have quite a bit more to go. My Mother in Law said she is going to have a sale later this month. She told us to box everything up and put it in her sale. I am thinking about just taking it to Goodwill. Some of this stuff has been around for three sales now.

This next week is the kids consignment sale in our city. I have been busy getting clothes ready to sell there. I also will have a busy week this next week with that. If you volunteer to work at it, then you get to shop first. So I will be working Tuesday night and then shopping on Wednesday. I love to buy my kids clothes there. I can buy all of their clothes for the season and get name brand clothes for a lot less.

We also have a field trip with our homeschool group on Tuesday. We are going to visit a canning plant. They can pickled watermelon rinds. I have never had a pickled watermelon rind. It is not something I think I want to try. I have been told that they give away the fruit part of the watermelon for free. My kids will be trying to load up the car with watermelon. I will try and get some pictures of that!

baked oatmeal

2008-08-27T06:23:00.000-07:00

My family loves this baked oatmeal. I found the recipe over at Money Saving Mom. I thought I would put a link to it on my blog, because I can never seem to remember if it is at Money Saving Mom or Biblical Womanhood.

http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/2008/08/frugal-breakfas.html

great giveaway

2008-08-25T19:19:00.000-07:00

I just found out about a great necklace that your baby can chew on. They are giving one away over at Thrifty & Chic Mom.

http://thriftyandchicmom.blogspot.com/2008/08/giveaway.html

Anti-Procrastination Day

2008-08-25T16:25:00.000-07:00

Well today at Biblical Womanhood it is Anti-Procrastination Day. I decided to take the challenge. Since we have moved in our new house I have had a lot of things I have been putting off.

One is the continual pile of mail that has been sitting at the end of our bar. Now instead of one big out of control pile, it is two small piles. One pile is bills that need to be paid and the other is papers that my husband need to go through. Well cleaning off that area meant a lot of things got stacked up on my desk. So then I cleaned up my desk.

My next chore was to finish tagging clothes for the Growing Kids Sale. There is a kids clothes sale in our town twice a year. I am usually able to sell enough clothes to pay for the clothes I buy. I do not think that is going to happen this year. I am saving most of Number 1 son's clothes for baby and I am going to be buying more clothes this year with three kids to buy for.

My next procrastination chore was the kids toy closet. When we moved in I just had the kids take toys to the toy closet and their rooms. I did not have the time or energy to sort through toys in the middle of moving with a 6 week old. Well then when I would have them clean up their toys they never cleaned up very well. So today I tackled the toy closet!! Here are the pictures to prove it!!

before

after

They Are Here!!

2008-08-25T16:15:00.000-07:00

Look what the UPS man brought today. We know what that means. It is time to start school!

my sweet kids

2008-08-21T17:54:00.000-07:00

Last night number 1 son and princess went to new classes at church. Number 1 went to Sparkies and princess went to Adventure Land.

In Sparkies they earn "money" for memorizing Bible verses and bringing friends. The first friend he thought of to bring was his sister. They really are becoming best friends.

That is one of the advantages to homeschooling. They spend everyday all day together, so they have to be good friends. If they were not they would have no one to play with.

Princess loved her new class too because they sung songs. Anything to do with music and she loves it!!

And Baby got to stay with me. He has been teething and he ran a slight fever on Wednesday. So he got to go learn about home management. He was pretty good in there. I hope he did not distract too many.

school

2008-08-18T08:23:00.000-07:00

Well school started today for public school in our city, but not in our house. Our new school books have not come in yet. One of my friends, that homeschools, said she is waiting until after Labor Day. Maybe I should do that? It would probably be better for me to just jump in as soon as we get the books in.

There are many times I doubt myself about homeschooling. Am I warping my kids? Am I stunting their academic growth? Am I a good enough teacher for them? Should I just give up and send them to public school?

Then I have to go back in my mind to why we decided to do this. To protect our kids. To teach them the things that we want to teach them. To teach them not only to read and write, but to teach them to love God with their whole heart.

I can only do this with God's strength, guidance, wisdom, and grace.

Being a Stay at Home Mom

2008-08-13T10:28:00.000-07:00

I recently read a great article on a blog that I love reading. She expressed so many of my thoughts about being a Stay at Home Mom. So many people think it is easy and we do it because that is all we are qualified to do. Or we do it because our husbands make a lot of money and we do not need to work. We do it because we believe with our whole heart that it is what is best for our child!!

Read the article here at Biblical Womanhood: http://www.biblicalwomanhoodonline.com/labels/Mothering.html

funny quote of the day

2008-08-12T11:58:00.000-07:00

As we were watching the Olympics the men's diving came on. K.B. looks at the guys in their speedos and says "Why are those boys wearing panties?"

It is never a dull moment around here!

Me time

2008-08-12T09:33:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been contemplating "me time." I used to have it, but now I do not. Is it that important for a Mom to have me time?

My children used to go to Mother's Day Out at our church 2 days a week from 9:00 - 2:00. I would spend those days running myself to death. I would either run all over town to get all of my errands taken care of or I would clean my house from top to bottom. Then after I picked my kids up I was either so tired I could not stay awake or I did not want to bring the kids home because I did not want them to mess up the house.

Now my oldest is too old for Mother's Day Out and we have started homeschooling and we moved to the other side of town and I would spend 30 minutes taking and picking up kids.

So in order to have "me time" I would have to put my oldest in school and my two others in Mother's Day Out. But what would this mean for my kids. It would mean that my oldest would be in public school. My husband and I would lose all control over what he is taught. We would lose all control over the influences in his life. It would mean that my two oldest children would not spend as much time together and their friendship would probably suffer. It would mean that my baby would grow up not having his loving brother and sister hovering over him all the time. It would also mean that I would have to pay $36 a week for childcare plus the gas it would cost to get to Mother's Day Out.

Is that worth it for "me time." I do not think so. I was recently reading a book called Passionate Housewives Desperate for Christ. It makes the point that as Christian we no longer own our lives or our time. We are bond servants of Christ and my job for Christ right now is to make sure my children grow up learning all they can about Christ all day long.

So for now I will try to focus on the time I get with my kids while they still want to be around me. And not focus on my toenails that desperately need a pedicure or my gray hair that needs to be covered. I will focus on the beautiful smiles I get to see everyday.

Food Glorious Food

2008-08-09T10:26:00.000-07:00

We started our baby on food last night. On Wednesday we went for his 4 month check up. The doctor said we could start him on cereal anytime between now and 6 months. We decided since he was so big we would go ahead and start on cereal now.

I was not sure how he would do, but he has been very interested in food lately. My first child I waited until 6 months for food. My second I waited until about 5 months. So I wondered if he was really ready.

Well he was. He gobbled down that cereal. A lot of what went in his mouth actually stayed in his mouth. I was pretty surprised. I think he actually enjoyed it.

Walgreens great deal

2008-08-08T11:19:00.000-07:00

I read this morning on one of my favorite blogs that there is a glitch in the Walgreens RR. The Kelloggs RR are printing out 2. Even though I have a strict policy of not taking my kids to Walgreens, I could not pass up this opportunity. So I loaded up the car and off to Walgreens we went. On the way there the kids got a speech about how we were only buying certain things and to not beg for anything and we were not looking at toys. Well the kids were really good especially when they saw what I was buying. I do not usually buy these kinds of treats. I figure my kids get enough sugar and do not need any sugary treats.

So here is what I bought:
2 boxes of Cheese-Its
2 boxes of Rice Crispy Treats
1 box of Pop tarts
2 boxes of dried cranberries
1 coke

I did not have any coupons, unfortunately.
I spent $14.67 and got back 2 $5 RR.
I was so excited I called my husband and asked him to stop buy and buy so more!

The blog I read about this on is www.moneycommonsense.blogspot.com.

6 years

2008-08-06T15:10:00.001-07:00

Our 1st baby is six years old now!! Grant had a birthday on August 2nd. I does not seem like he should be 6. I am learning how important it is to enjoy each day, because before you know it they will be in 1st Grade.

Today we went and ordered books for the new school year. It seems unreal that we are ordering 1st grade books. It seems unreal that he will be able to do all of the things in these books by the end of the year.

So in two weeks, ready or not Grant, we will start 1st grade!!

Recipe flops

2008-08-06T14:51:00.001-07:00

I tried some new recipes last night. They did not get quite the praise I was hoping for. Chris and I liked them, but the kids did not. Chris said they may not be keepers because we couldn't get the kids to eat.

This month's issue of Southern living has some recipes for vegetable plates. I thought I would try them because I keep reading that one way to cut your grocery bill is to not have meat every meal. I made Not Yo' Mamma's Mac and Cheese, Squash Casserole, and green beans.

The Mac and Cheese is very rich!! The kids did not like it at all. It makes a big casserole size dish. So with Chris and I being the only one eating it, we have a whole lot of mac and cheese left.

The kids did like the squash casserole, but not the green beans.

We usually eat leftovers every other night, so tonight the kids will have sandwiches with squash casserole. Chris and I will have a whole lot of mac and cheese!

Blueberry biscuits

2008-07-26T06:48:00.000-07:00

We just had the best blueberry biscuits for breakfast this morning. I found the recipe on one of my favorite blogs Biblical Womanhood. Here is the recipe:

2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp. baking powder
1/4tsp baking soda
mix together in a bowl

cut in 4 tbs butter

add in
1 cup milk

Stir until lightly combined, then fold in
1 cup blueberries

Pat out carefully on a heavily floured surface until 3/4 inch thick. Cut out biscuits with a biscuit cutter and place on a heavily buttered baking sheet. Bake at 425 for 10 - 15 min. or until lightly golden.

While biscuits are baking stir together the following ingredients for a glaze:
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 -4 tbs milk
1/4 tsp vanilla

Drizzle glaze over biscuits as soon as you pull them out of the oven. Serve hot with butter.

Diaper deals

2008-07-25T09:59:00.000-07:00

I hit the diaper jackpot today!! My husband is amazed that I bought all the diapers I bought for the amount I spent. Walgreens had diapers on sale this week for 5.99. They also had a coupon in the July Easy saver catalog and the August Easy Saver Catalog. Today and tomorrow you can overlap coupons in both catalogs. So this morning I meet several friends at the 24 hour Walgreens. I bought 6 bags of diapers for about $8. Plus got back $10 in Register Rewards that I used to buy some other things that the coupons overlaped on. Then I went to the other Walgreens that opens at 8:00 am. There has been an elusive pharmacy coupon that I have not been able to find. Well they had it. With all three coupons I had an overage. I added some thing for free!! In my first transaction I bought 3 packages of diapers and two boxes of sidewalk chalk. I spent .26. In my second transaction I bought 3 packages of diapers 2 boxes of crayons and 2 candy bars. I spent $1.19!! Plus with each transaction I got $5.oo in RR. Yay!! My husband was so amazed. Now not only do I have plenty of diapers for awhile. I also have some to donate to the Pregnancy Crisis Center!!

Mother's Day

2008-05-12T19:48:00.000-07:00

Well it has been awhile since I added to this blog. A lot has changed since my last post. We had our baby and moved into a new house. I will write about those later

Yesterday was Mother's Day. We spent it at my husband's parents. My parents came over too. Our kids also sang at church last night. I think that is Katie Beth's favorite thing in the world. She loves being on stage.

For my Mother's Day present my wonderful husband bought me a new chair. I had picked it out, but didn't think we would get it right away. I wanted it for our bedroom, but I love it so much it is in the family room right now. Right in the middle of the room. I have to figure out a better arrangement in that room.

Taking the plunge

2007-11-12T20:19:00.000-08:00

Well, I am taking the plunge into blogging. I am not computer savy, so this is a stretch for me. My blog will be about my life as a wife, mother, and a new homeschooler.

I have titled this Emily's 5 pack as a description of our family. I am married to a wonderful husband and we have 2 precious children. Grant who is 5 and Katie Beth who is 3. And you maybe thinking that is only 4, but we are expecting the fifth member around the end of March or beginning of April. We also have 2 dogs, but I wasn't sure I would be talking about them that much. Their names are Duchess and Colby. They are both mutts that we got for free. Of course they didn't stay free for long, but I still wouldn't give them up. My husband on the other hand???

I hope you enjoy reading about my life as I start this new idea!