Life is Full of Ups and Downs

Publix and the Wonders Found Therein

2009-06-30T16:18:00.001-04:00

For several months now I have been meaning to post on the great deals we've been getting at Publix. If you don't already shop there, you should, because our grocery bill has been cut drastically. Now, before I begin telling you of our shopping sprees, I must tell you that because of the current market and our need to pinch every penny we can, we have altered our way of eating. We still try to eat as healthfully as possible, but we cannot afford all of the organic stuff right now.

Every week, when we get the new Publix ad (which runs Thursday to Wednesday), we go to this website: www.southernsavers.com She spells out all of the deals and links to coupons (or tells you of a newspaper coupon) available for each deal. Publix has many items that are buy one get one free (BOGO). They will accept store coupons, manufacturer coupons, and competitor coupons. That means you can BOGO and stack 3 coupons making certain items almost free (and sometimes earning money towards the rest of your bill). Now, here's the deal...once you have been doing this for a while, you will have a nice stockpile of groceries with which to plan meals. In the beginning, you may have to plan your meals based upon what you can get that current week.

Just so you know, we have used coupons for Target and Food Lion as competitor coupons. I have linked to a Target coupon below for the Pepperidge Farm bread. This link will take you to the "Hot Coupon World" website. The page that comes up lists all the coupons available at Target. All you have to do is find the ones that you want, enter the number of coupons (unlimited) in the box, and then click on "Get coupons." Once your page of coupons comes up, you can print them. It's that easy!

Here are some deals that we scored this week. If you want to take advantage of them, you will need to get to a Publix before Thursday.

Arm and Hammer toothpaste is BOGO (normally $2.99 each)
Print (2) coupons here for $1 off each tube (makes them about $0.50 each)

Lipton tea bags (24 ct.) are BOGO (normally $3.99 each)
Get (2) "Family is its own Reward" booklets found in store. Use (2) coupons for $1 off each box (makes them about $1 each).

Post Trail Mix Crunch cereal is BOGO (normally $3.99 each)
Print (2) coupons here for $2 off each box (which EARNS you $0.01 total--FREE plus some!!)

Kraft BBQ sauce is BOGO (normally $1.49 each)
Print (2) coupons here for $1 off each bottle (which EARNS you $0.51 total--FREE plus some!!)

Lawry's 30-minute marinades are BOGO (normally $2.29 each)
Use (2) coupons from the Red Plum 5/17 insert for $0.50 off each bottle (makes them about $0.65 each)

Ragu Pasta sauce is BOGO (normally $2.27 each)
Print (1) coupon (or as many as you want) here (for IE) or here (for FF) for $1 off 2 jars (makes them about $0.64 each)
OR
Use (2) coupons from "Family is its own Reward" booklet found in store for $0.75 off 1 jar (makes them about $0.39 each)

Breyer's ice cream is BOGO (normally $4.25 each)
Use (2) coupons from Red Plum 5/17 insert for $0.75 off each carton (makes them about $1.38 each)
OR
Use (2) coupons from "Family is its own Reward" booklet found in store for $1.50 off each carton (makes them about $0.63 each)

Lysol Bathroom or Kitchen cleaner is BOGO (normally $2.69 each)
Use (2) coupons from Smart Source 6/07 insert for $0.55 off each bottle (makes them about $0.80 each)
OR
Print (2) coupons here for $0.50 off each bottle (makes them about $0.85 each)

Kotex Pantiliners are BOGO (normally $2.95 each)
Print (1) coupon here for $1.50 off two boxes (makes them about $0.73 each)
OR
Use (2) coupons from Smart Source 6/14 insert for $1 off one box (makes them about $0.48 each) ---We did not have this coupon in our insert, but I thought I would mention it for those of you who may have gotten it.

Pepperidge Farm Farmhouse Bread is on sale for $1.99 (normally $3.29)
Print (1) coupon (or more if you like) here for $1 off one loaf (makes them $0.99 each)

If you bought all of this at full price, it would cost you $57.11!!! By taking advantage of the BOGO deals and by using coupons all of this would only cost you $9.80!!! That is a savings of 82.8%!!!! WOW!!!

Our total grocery bill this week (had we paid full price for everything) would have been $225.47. After taking advantage of some BOGO deals and other sale items, using coupons as much as possible ($49.50 is what we used), and even paying full price for some items (like fruits and vegetables) our total bill was only $99.73!! That's a savings of 55.8%!!! Sweet!!!

Now, there are other good deals, but I've just hit some of the highlights of some really great deals. So, check out the current ad and the "Southern Savers" website to see what deals you might like to take advantage of this week.

Happy Shopping!!!

Picture and video catch-up for the last couple of weeks

2009-06-29T16:36:00.000-04:00

Friday (6/26) was Nathaniel's one month birthday, so I thought I would post some updated pictures. He has grown quite a bit in the last couple of weeks. He is almost 12 pounds now! I love the chub! =)

A couple of weeks ago, we went up to my parents' house to spend a little over a week with them. Due to illness, my dad had been unable to see Nathaniel until we brought him. Here he is holding him for the first time.

My niece, Kelly, was smitten with Nathaniel. I think she would have been willing to hold him 24/7 if I had allowed. =) Nathaniel misses his warm, snuggly cousin.

My niece, Sarah, also loved to hold Nathaniel.

My nephew, Bryce, with Nathaniel...

My sister, Kyra, got some snuggle time in, too.

I love how his pacifier flipped up in this picture.

Every time he stretches like this, Jason says, "Touchdown!"

Cute little "Snuggle Bunny"

My mom made some adorable burp cloths for Nathaniel. This is one that has monkeys and says, "Little Monkey" all over. It's really cute!

My niece, Sarah, gave him a teddy bear. He is fascinated with the bow.

While we were at my parents' house and Nathaniel was 3 weeks old, he decided to roll over from his stomach to his back! I didn't catch it on video, but he did it twice in a row. Here are some pictures of him trying again.

Sydney finally lost her first tooth. Unfortunately, I was not present when it actually came out. Alyx decided to be the "Mommy" and pull it without me knowing. =( Oh well, I took this "After photo," and she was thrilled to finally have lost a tooth. She currently has two other loose teeth....when it rains it pours. =) Oh, and yes, she already has the permanent teeth coming in behind the bottom front teeth. All of my girls did that...weird, huh?

We also celebrated Larissa's 8th birthday while we were up there. She chose a Funfetti cake with chocolate Funfetti icing. It was yummy, of course! =)

Another cute "Bubba" picture...

Snuggling with Granny again...

Cuddling with Daddy...

He wasn't quite sure of his Uncle Richard....

He got a little fussy....

...and so did Uncle Richard. =)

Uncle Richard got him his first Nascar outfit...Go Dale Jr! Hey, all I care about is that it's green! =) LOL! Sorry, Richard, it's all about the fashion. =)

Snuggle time with Sydney includes lots of kisses...

He loves to cuddle with Larissa, too....

Little Mommy, Alyx....I'm sure she's seen me do this a million times. I love to sniff the top of his head. As Frank Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond says, "I'm sucking in the youth!" =)

Point in case... He's going to be such a "Mama's Boy!" =)

Jason says he looks like "Uncle Fester" from the Addams Family in this nightgown. =)

Daddy seems to know just how to get a smile out of him.

A few nights ago while we were trying to get Nathaniel to sleep, he was very fussy. He didn't want to be held, he didn't want to lie down, he had already eaten, he had a clean diaper, etc. Jason decided to lay him down on the bed to see if he would roll over. Here's what happened...

Here's Nathaniel on his one month birthday right before we sang "Happy Birthday" to him.

Another sweet close-up...

I tried to catch him smiling in his sleep and just barely caught a glimpse of one. =)

We had our good friends, the Skattebos, over on Saturday and had a great time with them. Eliana has been looking forward to holding Nathaniel for a long time now, and she finally got to hold him. He got a little fussy after I took her picture with him, so she was ready to pass him back to me. She said, "He's a little cry-ey." =)

Snuggling with his "blankie"

Alyx has the touch. She's very good at getting him to go to sleep.

Lazy, sleepy mornings are the best!

He's here!

2009-06-10T22:17:00.002-04:00

This is LONG overdue, but I'm just now getting a little bit of time to do things like this. Our little boy, Nathaniel Bryant, was born May 26 at 12:26pm. He weighed 9 lbs. 6 oz. and was 20 inches long. Check out his "feeding tube"...he ate well, huh?

He has a great set of lungs.

Daddy is so proud of his little boy!

Mommy is in love with her little "Bubba Bear" =)

Granny (my mom) got to hold Nathaniel shortly after he was born.

Then it was time for the "Big Sisters" to hold their little "Bubba." We decided ahead of time (on the advice of my mom) who was going to get to hold the baby first, second and third. That way there would (hopefully) not be any fighting. =) One of our favorite ways to fairly choose who gets to "go first" at just about anything, is to choose a number. Jason or I will decide on a number in our heads, and then the girls will choose their numbers. Whoever is closest gets to go first. It's easy, and they don't seem to have a problem with it. =)

As it turns out, Alyx was chosen to hold Nathaniel first. Look at how she beams!

Sydney was chosen to hold him second. He's almost as big as she is. =) She loves giving him kisses!

Larissa was chosen to hold him third. She said she didn't mind being last, because she figured she would get to hold him longer since no one would be waiting for her to finish. =)

Snuggle time with Mommy...

And Daddy...

The "Little Mummy" =)

Nathaniel's "Going Home" Outfit

Snug as a bug in Granny's arms...

He loves to snuggle with Daddy....

We all loved having my mom here with us for almost two weeks while we adjusted to having a baby in the house again. Nathaniel really loved cuddling with her and really misses her! =( We love you, Mom!

We have already begun teaching him how to play cards. We're big gamesters, so he's gotta learn to fit in. =)

This was the day that Mom left. We were very sad. Look how shaken up Nathaniel was in the 2nd picture. =) (Oh, and Julie, note the laundry on the couch. Yes, I'm normal, too. LOL!)

I love the peaceful, sleeping baby pictures. They always look so cuddly and squishy. =)

Yesterday was his 2-week check-up, and he is already 10 lbs. 5 oz. and 21 1/2 inches long. He's growing fast!

Sorry for the overabundance of pictures. If you only knew how much I had to constrain myself. Erica, I know you understand. =) It's been only 2 weeks (and 1 day) and I've taken quite a few pictures. He's just so cute, and I don't want to miss anything. I hope you enjoyed them!

Big Sister T-Shirts

2009-05-14T13:31:00.000-04:00

As a tradition, I have made "Big Sister" t-shirts for the girls to wear to the hospital for the births of Larissa and Sydney. Obviously, Alyx has had 2 shirts, Larissa 1, and Sydney none. The last time I made them, Alyx was a few months shy of being 3 years old and Larissa was about a year and a half. They didn't really have a clue as to what I was doing, nor did they care to insert opinions as to what they wanted on their shirts.

This time around, I knew that I would not be so lucky as to have such carte blanche. I also suspected that they would want to be involved in the painting process, which concerned me just a little bit. For those of you who have painted on clothing before, you know that it's not an easy task. All I could picture were blobs of paint all over a t-shirt. I decided, though, that I would put my OCD aside and let them at least try.

I had kept a t-shirt that I practiced on years ago, because it had their names and hand/foot prints. I decided to use it again as a practicing area. I added Sydney's name since it was not on the shirt, and the girls each tried to draw simple shapes. Alyx drew a flower, Larissa drew a heart, and Sydney drew a smiley face. They each struggled with controlling the paint flow while trying to make their shape at the same time. As a result, they decided that they didn't want to paint on their actual shirts, because they didn't want them messed up. Whew! I'm glad they came to that conclusion on their own. =)

I pretty much let them choose everything else, though. They chose the color of their t-shirts, the colors and types of paints we purchased, the writing style for their shirts, the designs to be used on their shirts, and the color assignments of every little thing on their own shirts. Wow! Lots of opinions!

All in all it was a pretty fun process. I became stressed at some points, especially when Sydney decided that she wanted a teddy bear on her shirt. I was scared to death! For the longest time, I couldn't come up with a really good way (with paint) to make a bear look right. The day I was supposed to paint her shirt, I went to her and relayed my fears and trepidations and asked her if there was anything else she would like on her shirt instead. She put her head down in thought and just had the most pitiful look on her face. I nearly started crying! So, once again, I went to the drawing board and began working on another bear. I finally came up with something that I thought might work, so I got busy painting. When it was all finished, I was thrilled with the results and so glad that I had continued with her desire to have a bear. It was much cuter than I thought it would be. Here it is...

***FYI: You can click on the pictures for a larger view, if you so desire. =)

Larissa decided that she wanted a rainbow with rain drops coming down on some flowers. My first feeling was that rain was going to feel kind of dreary, and I wanted these to be "happy" shirts. After looking through one of my scrapbook doodling books, I came across an idea for a rainbow with heart rain drops. I loved it and showed it to her, and of course she loved it too! =) Her shirt was by far the easiest and least stressful, but I think it turned out to be so adorable. Here it is...

Alyx decided that she wanted a butterfly on her shirt. I told her that it might look better to have more than one and that it's more visually appealing to have an odd number of items together. She said that three would be fine. As I was laying it all out, I decided to add a couple more (after getting her permission, of course.) =) At first, she wanted me to pick all the colors and surprise her with it all, but I ~~begged~~ asked her nicely to help me choose. =) I think she did a great job choosing all the colors. Here is her shirt...

Now that these shirts are done, I feel much better about the possibility of going into labor a little early. The girls have been looking forward to these shirts for a couple of months now, and quite honestly, the due date has just sneaked up on me way too quickly. If I hadn't had these done on delivery day, I would have felt so badly for them. This accomplishment is just one more item marked off of my checklist of things to have done before the baby comes. Yay! I'm so relieved! =)

Great freebie only available today!

2009-05-04T11:46:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since I've posted about any freebies, and this one is just too good to pass up. If your kids are like mine, they like to draw or at least would like to learn how to draw better than they already do. This freebie is from the Homeschool Freebie of the Day website, and it teaches children how to draw various creatures and cartoon-like characters with step-by-step instructions. The "book" is 76 pages long. Many of the pages have instructions for multiple "items" to draw, so there are probably close to 100 different creatures/characters to learn. Something for every child!

I don't intend to print out the entire book right away, but I did tell my girls that I would let them pick a couple of pages that they are interested in starting to learn. This way I don't waste paper and ink on unwanted pages.

Just a reminder...this site only makes their freebies available on one day of the week. There is a freebie for every day Monday through Friday. This freebie is only available today (Monday, May 4), so if you're interested in it, you have to visit the site today to get it. Also, if you are interested in getting updates from them on which freebies will be available during the week, just subscribe to their mailing list, and they will automatically send you an email on Monday morning.

Happy Drawing! =)

Crocheting for "Bubba"

2009-04-30T17:40:00.000-04:00

It has been my tradition to crochet a baby blanket for each of my children before they are born. Alyx's blanket was in a sage green since we didn't know whether she would be a boy or girl and because green is my favorite color. Larissa's blanket was in yellow. We knew that she was going to be a girl, but I was a little hesitant to do a definite girl color. Sydney's blanket was in a lavender. We knew she was going to be a girl, and by #3 I felt pretty sure that we could trust the ultrasound. =)

Since we found out we're having a boy this time around, I was excited at the prospect of making a "boy blanket." Once I decided on the pattern to use, we all went shopping for the yarn. I wanted every one's opinion, since I can't always trust my judgment when I'm pregnant. =) We all chose a blue and white yarn that is supposed to create stripes in certain patterns. I didn't necessarily want stripes, so I was hoping that the pattern I chose would end up a little different. It did, and I love it! The interesting thing is that the border has 2 rounds, and yet the colors still pretty much stayed together. Here it is...

The pattern that I chose called for a certain amount of yarn which required me to purchase 3 skeins of yarn. I crochet pretty tightly which always leaves me with an extra amount of yarn. When I finished this blanket, I had almost a full skein of yarn left. I hated the thought of putting it in a closet somewhere, so I started looking through my pattern books to come up with something else to make. I came across a pattern for a teddy bear and thought that it would make a great combo with the blanket. The pattern projected the size of the teddy bear to be a little bigger than I wanted, so I just decreased the hook size by two sizes and figured that my tight crocheting would also decrease the size of the bear.

Now, for those of you who know me at all know that I have a serious case of OCD. When I first considered making this bear, I wanted to make sure that the colors would all end up in the same place on each side of the bear, but Jason encouraged me to just do it and let it be random. He thought it would be cuter. I trusted him and am very pleased with the results. When the kids saw it completed, they said that we should name him "Patches." If you look closely, you'll see that he has two different colored ears and arms. The legs ended up pretty close to the same, and, oddly enough, I was almost dissappointed that they didn't turn out different. =) The pattern called for buttons for the eyes, but since that's a choking hazzard for little ones, I decided to just hand stitch them. We also had to take a vote on what color ribbon to use. The majority of my family (including my parents, sister and brother-in-law) voted on a red ribbon. So, here he is...

I can't wait for "Bubba" to be able to enjoy his teddy bear, and if for some reason he doesn't, I know three little girls who will. =) Here's one more picture of them together...

Pictures from Easter

2009-04-20T15:58:00.000-04:00

Yes, I know, Easter was last week, but you'll just have to give me a break. I'm moving a little slower with each passing day. =)

When I was a little girl, we always looked forward to getting new white shoes for the season and new dresses for Easter. Some years we would get store-bought dresses, and other years my mom would make new dresses for us. Either way, we loved them! Sometimes, we even got to wear a pretty hat or carry a purse. I love being able to share this excitement with my girls. We are very blessed to receive many "hand-me-down" dresses from my nieces, so I feel like once a year we can splurge on a new dress for Easter. My mom has even made dresses for them some years, and the girls really love and appreciate those, too.

This year we were able to find some dresses on sale at J. C. Penney. It wasn't until a few days after we bought them that one of the girls mentioned to me that they had picked out the same (or similar) color dresses as what they had last year. =) Oh well....there are only so many pastel colors, and the girls each have certain colors that they like and that look best on them. Maybe we'll make a point to really change things up next year. =) That's another thing that I've been thinking about recently. Next year I'll be shopping for a little dress shirt and tie for "Bubba." I hope it's as much fun as shopping for dresses. =)

Here are a couple pictures of us from Easter Sunday. We spaced apart in the 2nd picture so that "Baby Bubba" could be in the picture. =)

Here's what we've been doing...

2009-03-26T15:20:00.000-04:00

At this stage in the game, I'm doing good to get one post up a week. I wish I could keep up with it more often, but life is just too crazy right now. The kids have been sick, I'm becoming more and more uncomfortable and need more rest lately, doctor appointments are coming more frequently, etc... When I have the energy, I feel like I have to stick to the important things, and unfortunately, blogging and facebook are not number 1 on that list. It's actually been kind of nice to take a break from the computer for a while. I miss seeing what's going on in everyone's life, but it's kind of relieving to "simplify" my own life.

We haven't done a lot recently, but I had some pictures that I wanted to share. A couple of weeks ago, Larissa and Sydney got together and wrote out a puppet show--music and all. I decided to set up a little curtain for them to perform behind. This is very easy to do. I simply put an adjustable shower curtain rod (you could use a tension rod as well) between the walls of the little hallway just outside of their bedroom. I then hung a sheet over the rod to make the curtain. If you wanted to make it a more permanent-type thing, you could actually measure the proper length and sew a rod pocket at the top of your fabric. I kind of like the temporary setup, so that I can easily take it down and store it away when it's not in use.

Here they are performing with their sock puppets. The show was so cute and totally hilarious. The first time they performed for us, Jason and I were laughing so hard, and I even had tears streaming down my face.

About a week ago, we decided to go to a park that is just a couple of miles from our house. We all loved it! Along with the usual swings and slides, there was also a rock climbing wall. The kids really enjoyed that. I loved the "beach-y" atmosphere with the palm trees and the sand. The girls and I took off our sandals to feel the sand between our toes. =) Just before sunset, we decided to cross over the short boardwalk-type bridge that passes from the park to the beach. The kids and Jason had fun throwing shells into the water and trying to get them to skip like rocks. The weather was just slightly cool, and there was a nice breeze coming off of the water. It was a totally relaxing and enjoyable experience.

Here are a few pictures that I took while we were there.

For fun, Sydney wanted Jason to hold her on the swings. He's such a great "Daddy"!

Here are some pictures from the beach. It was so beautiful that evening.

Here's a video clip of them throwing shells into the water. Sorry it's so noisy. I didn't realize that the camera was picking up all the wind. Jason tossed one in the water that skipped 7 times. He's so talented! =)

My sweet girls...

I'll leave you with a video clip of Jason and Alyx showing some of their abilities. =) They love to play with these beach-type balls and usually play "Monkey in the Middle," but on this particular evening, they were just tossing one ball back and forth. I suggested that they try to toss two balls at the same time to see if they could catch them. In this video, Larissa refers to the balls as "The Tomato" and "The Pea" and even offers to toss in another ball. =) Oh, and yes, Jason has an afghan on his lap. Here recently I've been freezing everyone in the house (except myself). Baby Bubba is keeping me nice and warm. =)

Discounted Homeschool Products

2009-03-20T15:00:00.000-04:00

About 10 years ago, we got a collection of Patch the Pirate cassette tapes, and over the years, they have gradually worn out to where we now only have about 3 or 4 that "work." There are sections of the tapes that will lose sound completely or will begin pulling the tape from the cassette. This past week, we finally broke down and started pricing CD's online. I had looked once before and found a site that offered a pretty good price on the individual CD's, but for some reason, we couldn't find it this past week. Jason got online for me and found another site that offers them even cheaper. Yay! They also offer the boxed sets which make the CD's even cheaper! Double Yay!! Individually, the CD's are $11.25, which is a pretty good price, but if you buy the boxed set, they are only $9.38 each! Sweet!

The site is http://www.homeschooldiscountproducts.com/servlet/StoreFront

The Patch the Pirate CD's are listed under "Music" subcategory "Majesty Music" on the left hand side of the page. This site offers a good variety of books--both curriculum and reading (Unfortunately, no A Beka Book stuff, though). If you place an order over $50, you will receive one free book, and they're not worthless books, either. I glanced through them, and they have "My Friend Flicka," "Pollyanna," "Swiss Family Robinson," some Bobbsey Twins books, and other various books on history, science, animals and crafts.

In the 25% off retail section, there were some books that caught my eye. They are entitled, "Draw Write Now." They teach the child how to draw and write using characters and stories from history, science, weather, etc. My girls love to draw and learn new things about history and science, so I thought that this might be a good way to "kill two birds with one stone." Individually, these 8 books are $11.25 each. If you buy the boxed set of all 8, they average only $8.44 each.

They also have sections for their 30% off, 50% off and 75% off merchandise. Many of these items are priced under $5.00, and some are even hardback. I always like to find books that are educational (both academically and spiritually), and one book that caught my eye in the 75% off section was entitled, "God's Smuggler." It is a hardback book that is only $4.99. Here is the description that they include:

by Brother Andrew

As a boy, Brother Andrew dreamed of being an undercover spy working behind enemy lines. As a man he found himself working undercover for God. His was a mission filled with danger, financed by faith, supported by miracles.

Told it was impossible to minister behind the Iron Curtain, Andrew knew that nothing was too hard for God. Crossing "closed" borders, he prayed, "Lord in my luggage I have Scripture I want to take to Your children. When You were on earth, You made blind eyes see. Now, I pray, make seeing eyes blind. Do not let the guards see those things You do not want them to see." And they never did.

For 35 years, Brother Andrew's life story has inspired millions to step out on their own journeys of faith. This young Dutch factory worker's near-incredible adventures testify to God's step-by-step guidance and hour-by-hour provision - available to all who follow His call.

I'm not sure what the recommended reading age is on this particular book, but I figure I can get it, preview it, and then decide whether or not it's appropriate for them.

There is a section under the categories that list Favorite Authors including C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Louisa May Alcott. Another section is Favorite Series, which includes Anne of Green Gables, Betsy and Tacy, Boxcar Children, Little House Books, Sugar Creek Gang, and the Trailblazer Books (stories about missionaries).

Orders placed with a total less than $150 have a minimum charge of $4.00 or 5% of the order total. Orders priced at $150 or more have free shipping.

I haven't had a chance to look through the entire site, so if you look through it and find something that you would recommend, please let me know. Thanks!

Pictures

2009-03-10T18:07:00.000-04:00

Well, I thought I would share some pictures from the last couple of weeks. The weather has been beautiful recently, so we've tried to take advantage of playing outside as much as possible. I took the girls to the community playground one day, and they really enjoyed playing in the sand...probably more than actually playing on the equipment.

Alyx made a Florida snowman. =)

The sand was very therapeutic. It made me feel like I was at the beach. The kids loved playing it, burying themselves in it, throwing it in the air, etc...

Last week was rather chilly, but we still found some time to spend outside. Isn't Florida great? Where else can you get away with wearing Bermuda shorts/capri pants and sandals while wearing a jacket?

On this particular day, the temperature was in the 50's, so the girls had to move around a lot to stay warm. They came up with some sort of tag game and really enjoyed playing that. I love the pictures of them looking over the water, and I had a hard time narrowing them down. That's why there are several of them. =)

Last Thursday, Alyx and Larissa sneaked off into the back bathroom and decided to try to pull Larissa's "loose tooth." When I realized that they were back there, I called them out thinking that they were playing and making messes or something. Larissa came walking out holding a washcloth to her mouth and proceeded to tell me that Alyx had pulled her tooth. Let me tell you, that tooth was not that loose. Larissa has a high threshold for pain. She kept telling Alyx that it was tickling her. She never cried or moaned at all. Here are a couple of pictures of her current toothless grin. (The missing tooth is on the top right.)

I have really come to appreciate the fact that I have older children who are capable of really helping me out when I need it. Some days I just don't even feel like getting up to fix my lunch. Alyx is so sweet to fix me a sandwich on these days, and I think she likes feeling important and needed. She makes the best sandwiches, too. =)

It's okay to be dependent...

2009-03-04T12:52:00.000-05:00

Those of you who know me well, know that I am not an independent person. I greatly rely on other people, especially Jason, to help me get through each day. All my life, I've always felt that this was some sort of "disability" and have wished many times that I could be more of an extrovert. Don't get me wrong. I love who I am and am very thankful for the life that God has given me, but I always felt like I needed to "work" on this personality flaw. This morning, as I was reading in Ecclesiastes 4, I came across a couple of verses that made me stop and think.

Eccl. 4:9-10:
Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.

For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.

Wow! So many thoughts ran through my mind when I read this passage, but I think the thing that struck me strongest was that in actuality it's the independent spirit that needs to work on becoming more dependent. Who hasn't at some point in time needed someone to be there for them? I know I have many times, and I am very blessed to have an awesome group of family and friends to support me. If we all need the support but no one is willing to do the "supporting," then who will help?

For the first time in my life, I actually view my dependence as a blessing not a curse. Working with other people not only makes the job easier, but it also allows you to be a blessing to the other person by helping and supporting them.

Update with photos

2009-03-03T18:07:00.001-05:00

Wow! I can't believe that it's been over a month since I've posted. I'm such a slacker! =) Well, I am alive...I've just been busy (and a little sick).

As of today, I am 6 months (27 weeks) pregnant. How time flies! According to the pregnancy calendar I created at parenting.ivillage.com, the baby is approximately 15.3 inches and a little over 2 pounds. No wonder I've been feeling him kick around a lot more recently. =) Here are some pictures that we recently took, just to give you an idea of what we're all looking like now. I finally had to break down and buy some maternity clothes a couple of weeks ago. He seemed to have a major growth spurt in the course of just a couple of weeks, and my belly seemed to just "pop." =)

My latest crocheting projects

2009-01-28T10:02:00.000-05:00

Here recently, I've been in a crocheting mood. Maybe it's the maternal instinct kicking in causing me to want to "nest" or something. =) A couple of years ago, I started crocheting a shrug/sweater for Sydney with the yarn I had left over from her baby blanket. Before I started, I wasn't sure how much yarn I would need, because I was combining two patterns which were for adults (but could be made in any size). At the time, she was only 4 years old, so I didn't figure I would need very much. Unfortunately, I ran out. I tried for several months to find some more yarn to match, but because there was a dye lot for the yarn and it had been 4 years since I bought it, I couldn't find any. As a result, it got packed away until I could decide what I wanted to do with it.

Last week, I received a package of yarn from my mother-in-law that I had asked her to buy for me at Hobby Lobby. The store near her was the only one that was carrying the yarn I wanted, so I just sent her the money to get them for me. When I got the yarn, I was reminded of the second shrug/sweater that I started which was to be for Alyx. I had also run out of the yarn for that one and had to just pack it away until I could get the yarn to finish. Since I got the yarn in the mail, I decided to try to finish the shrug. When I pulled it out, I saw the little one that I had started for Sydney and decided to finish it off the best I could to let her play with it with her dolls.

Here's a picture of it "finished." It's made with a light purple, baby soft yarn. The unfinished portion is the cuff on the sleeves. There should be a ruffle very similar to the pattern on the collar.

Sydney decided that she wanted to put it on her bunny. Look how cute...

After I finished the purple one, I decided to finish the green one that I had started for Alyx. I knew it was going to be too small for Alyx, so I just finished it off and tried it on both Larissa and Sydney. It fit Larissa the best. This yarn is a fuzzy, eyelash-type yarn that has flecks of other colors woven into the strands. I used the same combination of patterns as I did with the purple one, but because the yarn is so different, it doesn't show the detail of the stitches as much. Oh well, it's soft and warm, and the kids love it! That's all that matters, right? =)

This picture shows more of the true color (at least on my computer). The other two are kind of muted and have almost a hint of blue, but it's green...somewhere between a pea green and lime green. The last picture shows more up close detail of the collar and tie as well as the flecks of color in the yarn.

I've already started on Alyx's shrug/sweater, but it's not anywhere near "picture ready." =) She chose the same kind of yarn as the green, but she wanted it to be in a light blue. Sydney has chosen a dark purple in the same kind of yarn. I can't wait to see how the different colors will look.

After I finish the shrugs, I will make a backpack for Alyx and Larissa. I made one for Sydney a couple of years ago, and made different style purses for the other two (that was their choosing, not mine.). Now, Alyx and Larissa want a backpack, too. =) Here are some pictures of the one I made for Sydney. I love the pom-poms! =)

Revival Meetings

2009-01-27T15:52:00.001-05:00

We are planning to leave tomorrow afternoon to head up to my parents' house for a week and a half. My dad's church is having their winter revival with Evangelist Rich Tozour. Rich and his wife, Angela, have another couple (Michael and Candace Wessberg) that travel with them to coordinate and run the children's ministry during the revival services. Candace was my roommate during my freshman year at college, and I always enjoy catching up with her when I get the chance.

If you are interested in hearing any of his sermons, you can download them at this site:

https://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?SpeakerOnly=true&currSection=sermonsspeaker&Keyword=Rich^Tozour

I downloaded the first one entitled, "Prayer that Prevails," and I have been listening to it today. I am really looking forward to these services, knowing that there is always room for improvement in my Christian walk. If you are interested in attending any of the services, the revival will be held at New Testament Baptist Church in Floral City, FL (Call the church office at 352-726-0360 or just ask me for additional info.). Services will begin this Wednesday night, January 28th, at 7:00pm and will run through the following week, ending on Friday, February 6th (I think. It might go through Sunday, Feb. 8th). Usually they don't have services on Saturday, but services during the week will all begin at 7:00pm and on Sunday will be 9:45am for Sunday School, 11:00am for the morning service, and 6:00pm for the evening service.

For those of you who live in the Tampa area, it's only about an hour trip north. If you can make it, I'd love to see you there! If not, we'll see you when we return. =)

Spice Tea

2009-01-16T15:43:00.002-05:00

This is a recipe that I meant to post a month or two ago before the cooler weather started, but as you all know, my life has been a crazy, busy mess. With the cold front coming through this weekend, we will be starting our second pot (of the week) tonight. =)

This warm, comforting drink has been a family favorite ever since I can remember, and now that we've made some changes to our eating habits, we have also made some changes to this recipe and still thoroughly enjoy it! Let me know if you try it and how you like it...

Ingredients:
*14 cups water
*12 regular-sized tea bags (We use a lemon herbal tea to cut out caffeine. FYI: Decaf tea only decreases its caffeine content by 2% from regular tea.)
*3-6 cinnamon sticks (I use 6 to make sure we can taste it...it's not too strong.)
*2 cups sweetener (We have used evaporated cane juice, but to eliminate glycemic index concerns, we use agave nectar. I haven't been able to tell a difference between the two.)
*3 cups unsweetened orange juice (We like it with extra pulp, but you can get it without if you don't care for that.)
*1 cup unsweetened pineapple juice (We get the big cans and then freeze the leftovers in 1 cup portions so that they are ready for the next batch.)
*3/4 cup lemon juice

Boil water, tea and cinnamon sticks for 7-10 minutes. Remove tea bags and sticks and add sweetener. If using a granulated sweetener, stir until dissolved. Add juices and heat just to boiling. It's now ready to drink...Enjoy!

It's a ???????

2009-01-06T20:26:00.001-05:00

Well, for those of you who may not have known (or maybe had forgotten), today was my ultrasound at which we could find out what gender the baby would be. Two of my girls were happy with the results, one was not. =) She has since warmed up to the idea, but was at first disappointed.

Are you ready to find out?

Well, you'll have to wait just a little bit longer. (Don't skip to the end! That's cheating!!!) =)

Here are some pictures to whet your appetite...

You can see the bones of the baby's hand in front of it's face.

In this one, the baby brought it's hand up to it's face...maybe sucking on some fingers?

Here's the baby's profile.

Baby's profile in sepia.

You can see the baby's leg in this profile shot. It was kicking around quite a bit during the ultrasound. =)

Are you ready now? It's a....

BOY!!!!

Happy Birthday, Alyx!

2009-01-06T12:18:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Alyx's 9th birthday, but we actually celebrated with my family this past Saturday. We usually let each child pick what kind of meal they want for their birthday party and what kind of cake they want as well. When I asked Alyx what she wanted for her meal, she said, "Macaroni and cheese!" As you know, we have gone dairy-free, but we've decided that for special events and holidays, we'll let the rules slide a little bit. =) Since that was all she requested, we built a meal around that one dish. My mom fixed some BBQ beef that we put on toasted sesame seed buns and a big pan of baked beans. My sister, Kyra, brought a big pan of macaroni and cheese made with Fusilli pasta (you know, the twirly corkscrew stuff). Macaroni made fun! =) It was all very DE-lish!

She chose a chocolate cake with white frosting, but while we were at my parents' church celebrating the 30th anniversary of the church, we had dinner on the grounds and had a piece of Mississippi Mud cake. Alyx decided that she wanted that instead of a regular cake. Fine by me! =)

She wanted to be the one to put the candles on her cake.

While she was doing that, Jason was trying to get her to group them more together, so it would be easier to blow them out. She insisted on putting them in a straight line.

It wasn't until she turned the pan that we realized what she was thinking. She's pretty smart...

Make a wish!

She got 'em all...

You gotta lick the candles...

"Sisters, sisters...there were never such devoted sisters..." (Have you seen White Christmas?)

Uncle Richard (a.k.a. Uncle Ritardo) is the all-time cake cutter, because he's the BEST!! =)

After we (throroughly) enjoyed the cake, it was time to open presents. The gift that I was most excited about giving her and that (I think) was her favorite was a new digital camera. Since I got her a scrapbooking kit for Christmas, I thought that it would be nice for her to be able to take pictures that she could use on her pages. Here she is with her camera (which is in her favorite color no less, RED!!)...

Post-Christmas Activities

2009-01-05T20:28:00.001-05:00

The day after Christmas, the girls were able to try out their skates for the first time. They were thrilled! Alyx and Larissa did pretty good. Sydney couldn't hold herself up, so in order for her to "skate," we had to basically carry her weight around (Not very good on the back). At first, Larissa had some balance issues, but I gave her a broom to carry around with her. That helped her to keep her balance and figure out how to skate. Here are some pictures of Alyx and Larissa skating around my parents' driveway.

Sydney is not always the most graceful creature on earth. =) She tends to be kind of clumsy, but I guess most kids are. She kept falling and getting all kinds of "boo-boos" which necessitated many band-aids. She took off running outside one day and tripped and fell on the driveway. Granny's colorful band-aids helped to ease the pain. =)

Mom took me out to her "green house" to show me some flowers that survived the winter. Here is one that actually blooms this time of year. It's called a Christmas cactus.

My mom had been working on sewing some blankets for the girls and finished them up the week of New Year's. She used coordinating flannel fabrics to make them two-sided. (Click on the pictures to get a closer view.) Sydney's has frogs on one side and dots and stripes on the other. Larissa's has flowers and butterflies on one side with stripes on the other. Alyx's has flowers on one side and stripes on the other. I may have to borrow hers. It has some of my favorite colors. =)

Christmas Day

2009-01-05T17:52:00.002-05:00

It has been our tradition to spend Christmas with my parents. We could not imagine it any other way...we LOVE having all the family around!

Ever since the girls have been old enough to get up and leave the bedroom on their own in the morning, I've had to tell them to wait for me to get up on Christmas morning so that I can see their reaction (and get pictures) of all the presents and stuff. My kids don't wake up at the crack of dawn (and I don't sleep in), so it's not like they have to wait long. In fact, I woke up just before they did this year.

Here they are on my bed just before we headed out to see the presents. They're not excited or anything... =)

Here they are checking it all out...

My kids must not be normal, because every year we give them the option of either opening their presents or eating breakfast. What do you think they choose? Breakfast!!! Every time!! So, we head into the kitchen to have our annual treat of sausage balls. Yummy!!

After breakfast, the kids dug into their stockings. They got some new "lip stick," stickers, candy (organic), notepads and pens, various toys and jewelry, puzzle books (word search, sudoku, etc.).

As a tradition since I was a kid, we have always let each child take a turn opening a present, so that we can see each one and the reaction to each (and of course to get a picture). Whenever they get an identical present, we let them all three open at the same time, because they will know after one is opened what the other two are. One of these such presents was a pair of roller skates for each of them. Needless to say...they loved them!

Larissa loved the pillow that Alyx made for her. Look how sweet they are...

The girls enjoy picking out a present for each other. This was one that was given to Larissa from Sydney (I think). I just thought it was so fitting for her since she has always been our mischievous one. She's trouble, alright! =)

Alyx got a scrapbook kit. Maybe if I have a scrapbooking buddy, I'll be more apt to keep up with my own scrapbooks. =)

Sydney got a "Cookin' Cookie" game from Larissa. It's a cute, fun game. The kids really enjoyed playing it.

Another gift that they got alike was a pack of glitter glue. Yay! Lots of fun crafting in our future! =) I guess it's better than loose glitter being sprinkled on glue. =)

Sydney was too young when the older two girls got their "real" tea sets (non-plastic), so she's really been begging for one of her own this year. She finally got it...

Papa was the official tape cutter for the girls' boxes. =) Thank you, Papa!

The girls are freezing cold every morning (even in the summer). They say it's because they have cold milk in their cereal and then drink cold juice, and for 30 minutes or so after breakfast they will huddle under blankets. I decided that they would probably enjoy some robes to help keep them warm. Here's Alyx and Sydney with their robes...

What's in the big bags from Granny and Papa?

It's American Girl dolls!!! They did not expect these, but they really wanted them. Boy, were they surprised! Thank you, Granny!!

The girls and I enjoy the "Anne" movies, so I thought that we could read through the books as a "bedtime story" kind of thing.

Here's the aftermath... =)

When things had time to settle down a little bit, this is what I found Alyx doing. They each got a book with their American Girl dolls, and she was snuggled on the couch reading hers. =)

We had a very, merry Christmas with our family! I hope you all did as well!

Pre-Christmas stuff at my parents' house

2009-01-05T16:04:00.001-05:00

Alyx decided that she wanted to try to complete one of her crocheting projects to give as a Christmas present. She was only able to finish one for Larissa, but is in the process of finishing one for Sydney. Maybe she'll be able to give it to her in the next month or so. I was just proud of her for being able to do it and for thinking of her sisters in the first place. =)

Here she is working on the pillow that she gave to Larissa. She sewed and stuffed the inner pillow and then finished crocheting the pillow closed.

While we were at Mom and Dad's house, my niece, Kelly, came over to make cookies with the girls. They had a lot of fun helping, and we all enjoyed eating them. =)

One of my main "Christmas goodies" assignment has been to do all the "dipping" of candies/treats in chocolate and white chocolate. We always do waffle pretzels (which is pictured below...Alyx is helping), peanut butter balls (buckeyes/golf balls) and mint patties (like York peppermint patties...soooo good!). Larissa is allergic to peanuts, so we decided to make almond butter balls for her this year, and they turned out really good. She was happy...so I was happy! =) There were so many other things that we fixed (and ate), but I'm not going to list them all, because I don't want you to know just how "sinful" we've been in the last few weeks. =)

Sydney's Birthday (and a tooth fairy pillow)

2008-12-19T16:57:00.002-05:00

This past Monday was Sydney's birthday, and we went up to my parents' house to have a family party and spend the week with them. My mom's birthday was yesterday, so we were able to spend the day with her as well. We just returned today for the weekend, because the kids have their Christmas program on Sunday night and a rehearsal tomorrow morning.

When I took Sydney shopping to pick out her birthday decorations, she said that she wanted Strawberry Shortcake stuff. Well, as we walked through the party section of Wal-mart, she spotted some snowman plates with coordinating napkins that had polka dots (Soooo Cute!) and decided that she wanted that. It's a good thing she found (and liked) these first, because the "kid's section" of party decorations did not have Strawberry Shortcake. Well, we proceeded to pick out balloons and stuff and found that Wal-mart only has one brand of balloons now. Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought they used to carry a wider variety of balloons. Anyway, we got some blue and white balloons that matched Sydney's snowman theme.

Well, we will NOT be buying these balloons again! Apparently, Larissa is now allergic to yet another thing. Look what blowing up balloons did to her...

I asked her if she could smile for me...here's her attempt...

We don't know if the balloons had latex or what and if that's what she's allergic to, but her face blew up like a balloon (no pun intended). She was pretty miserable for the rest of the day and even into the next day.

My niece, Kelly, decorated a banner for Sydney's party. I thought that was really sweet of her and that she did a great job on it.

Sydney chose a carrot cake for her birthday cake. The cream cheese frosting looks like it was melting off of the cake, but it wasn't. =) It just wasn't as thick as a regular frosting for some reason, but it tasted great!

We used to just get those number candles for the girls' birthdays, but for the last few years, they've been requesting the individual candles. Sydney had a hard time getting all of them blown out at once. Here's attempt number one...

Here's attempt number two...

That last one just doesn't want to be blown out....

Finally...she got it! =)

Licking the icing off of the candles is a MUST and is sooo much fun! =)

Here's all the cousins. You can see the snowman plates and dotted napkins on the table...they were sooo cute! =)

Among Sydney's presents was a new outfit that Alyx helped to pick out for Sydney. It was a Hello Kitty shirt with some khaki pants. This was one of my favorites, so that's why I'm highlighting it. =) I thought it was really cute, because the picture on the front was in reverse on the back side of the shirt. Here she is right after she opened it...

Here she is the next day, modeling the front and back of her new outfit. I know...her hair is hanging in her face. She really doesn't like for me to put anything in it, but sometimes I just have to make her, because I get tired of not being able to see both of her eyes all the time. =)

On a side note, I just recently finished Sydney's tooth fairy pillow. She was thrilled with it and is now excitedly awaiting her first loose tooth. =) She chose the same type of yarn that Larissa did, so it's very fuzzy and difficult to make out the tooth fairy angel on the front. They love them, and that's all that matters. =)

Our Christmas Trees

2008-12-19T15:56:00.001-05:00

We have been blessed over the years to have been given (artificial) Christmas trees by both of our parents....We've never had to buy one! =) Since we've had two-story houses for the last 3 or 4 years, we've been putting our "regular" Christmas tree downstairs in the living area and a Christmas tree upstairs for the kids...they LOVE this! Here's some pictures of them in front of "their" tree. It has teddy bears, blocks, Disney-themed bells, sleds and other various hand-made ornaments.

Here's our family picture in front of the Christmas tree that is downstairs.

We took a lot of pictures and the kids were getting pretty sick of it. =)

Sydney was the most patient, but even she gave up after a while. =)

Baby update

2008-12-04T06:04:00.000-05:00

For those of you who aren't on Facebook (and missed my update there), I had a doctor's appointment this week, and the doctor was able to find the baby's heartbeat! =) He said it sounds great! My first sonogram is scheduled for January 6th, and they should be able to tell the baby's gender (if the baby cooperates). We were "on the fence" early on in the pregnancy as to whether or not we wanted to know ahead of time, but now, we are all just too curious and will definitely try to find out. =)

I'll keep you updated...

Planets

2008-12-03T18:01:00.000-05:00

Did you see Venus and Jupiter earlier this week? That was pretty cool. It was hard to get a good picture, though, because there were a lot of clouds in the sky. Here's the best one out of all the ones I took.

I wish I could have gotten a closer view of it, but every time I zoomed in on it, it got too blurry. =( I guess that's why I need a DSLR, huh? Oh, well, it was still pretty awesome.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-03T15:45:00.001-05:00

We were able to go up to my parents' house Wednesday evening, spent all day Thursday with the fam, and then had to leave Friday afternoon to do a little moving before the BIG move on Saturday.

Even though we only had a couple of days with my family, we really enjoyed the time that we did have. While we waited for "Thanksgiving Dinner," my dad gathered the kids in the family room and told them some stories from some books that he's had for many, many years. I remember reading from them when I was a kid. They are stories about jungle animals that teach morals to young kids. He was able to remember quite a few of them and really entertained the kids. Here are some pictures from "story time." =)

My dad really gets into the stories with motions and character voices. He's the best! =)

Mom and I usually go all out decorating the tables for dinner, but there just wasn't time this year. We were too busy with food preparation, and that's more important to us. =) Mom did a great job substituting sugars and oils in her recipes. She made some pie crust dough for two apple pies and a mince meat pie. We usually just use the jar of mince meat to put in the pie, but it's full of stuff that is not good for us. So, Mom found a recipe that had better ingredients, and the pie turned out great! Jason worked on the crust and made leaves and berries out of the extra dough to put on top of the pie. Look how pretty!

Does anyone else like mince meat pie? I'll have to get the recipe from my mom and post it. We top it with what we call "hard sauce." We leave out the ingredient that makes it "hard." =) It's basically a confectioner's sugar frosting. We found a confectioner's sugar made from evaporated cane juice that worked perfectly. We'll definitely be repeating this recipe for Christmas.

I hope you all had a great holiday with your friends and family.

The move and the new house

2008-12-03T14:19:00.002-05:00

Here's the understatement of the year: "I've been busy!" I'm so far behind in blogging and have so many things to share, so I'm just going to do my best to fill you all in as soon as I can. For those who hadn't heard (since my last blog entry), we were not able to get possession of the house until last Tuesday, so we didn't actually move until this past Saturday. The move went as smoothly as it could have, and there were minimal "tragedies/casualties." =)

I'm very pleased at how quickly our house is getting into a functioning order. Last night Jason helped me put my desk area together and set up my computer and printer. I'm very excited, because the bonus room that is upstairs is going to house my desk, Jason's desk, the school stuff, and the kids toys and books. =) We have an awesome view of the natural lake behind our house from this room, too. Check it out...

This one was actually taken through the window.

Yes, that's an island in the middle of the water.

These were taken at sunset last night.

As always, God's timing was PERFECT! We were not as ready as we thought we were two Saturdays ago, so we are very thankful that it didn't work out until this past weekend. We were initially concerned that with it being the Saturday after Thanksgiving we wouldn't have anyone to help us, but we ended up having more guys help us than we would have had the previous Saturday. There were right around 15 adults and 5 children (yes, the kids carried stuff, too.) helping us with the move. We are so blessed to have such an awesome group of friends in our church. I hope we can still call them friends after this move. (We have some monster furniture.) =} Seriously, though, we really appreciate all of you who came out to help us and those of you who were unable to help but prayed for us and the move. We couldn't have done it without you...You're the best! =)

Here are some shots of the house in case you're curious. You'll have to overlook the mess of boxes everywhere, but a least it will give you an idea of what it looks like.

This is the entryway with a living room/dining room on the right.

The dining room

This is the view into the family room from the entryway.

The family room with sliding glass doors to the back porch, door to the master bedroom, and stairs to the bonus room.

The view of the kitchen from the breakfast room. The living/dining room is through the arched entry on the left. The family room is on the right. The arch on the right leads to 2 bedrooms and a bathroom.

The breakfast room. Laundry room is on the right.

The laundry room.

You know me...I have to take pictures of flowers and plants, so here are a couple of pictures of what is already existing in my yard. If you can identify the little cluster of pink flowers in the first picture, I'd love to know what they are.

After the move on Saturday, my friend, Peggy, and her boys kept me company while I waited for the cable guy. The kids had a blast out back. There was a nice breeze, so they were able to fly the kites. Here are some pictures...

This just in...

2008-11-18T15:41:00.001-05:00

I'm taking a break from packing to fill those of you in who haven't heard yet. We're moving! This weekend! No, we did not plan it this way but were unfortunately forced into it. For the last couple of years, we've been renting our house with the intention of saving up and building in the next year or so. Circumstances (including my medical bills and the poor economy) have kept us from being able to proceed in the time that we had hoped to, but we were willing to be patient and stick it out in our current home.

A month or so ago, our landlord decided to put our house up for sale but promised to honor our lease which is not up until June of next year. With the news of the baby (which is due June 3rd) and the possibility of being booted out of our house, we began to consider our options. We knew we couldn't afford to build the house we wanted right now, so we thought about buying this house when our lease would end. Our landlord knew that we were considering this and said he would give us first dibs. As a precautionary move, we began casually looking at other homes (both sale and rent). We found a few that we were interested in, but we weren't going to consider a move this close to the holidays.

As it turns out, we're not in control of our lives, and God had other plans for us. =) We had been praying over the weekend that if our decision to wait until the new year was not what God wanted that He would show us in a very definite way what we should do. Yesterday morning, our landlord called Jason and informed him that he had let the home go into foreclosure and that it was currently in short sale. He asked that we move out by Dec. 1st. Well! If that's not a sign, I don't know what is! =)

So, yesterday afternoon, we looked at 3 rental homes that we had found and chose one of them. We let the realtor know that the monthly cost was a little higher than we wanted to pay, so she called the homeowner and he knocked off $125 to put us right where we wanted to be. So, we will now be saving $225 per month, and we will be gaining 600 square feet of living area! Sweet! God is good! We may not understand His timing right now, but we can trust that He is in control and that this did not surprise Him.

Our plans before all of this happened were to spend the week of Thanksgiving at my parents' house, and we would still like to do that. That is why we have chosen to move this weekend. Please pray for us that we will be able to get everything packed and moved by this weekend and that everything will go smoothly and relatively stress-free. =}

Orange-Honey Chicken

2008-11-14T20:22:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've shared a recipe, so I figured it was about time. The last couple of months have held many food aversions (due to my pregnancy), so we've had to revamp our meal plans. This recipe is one that we recently tried, and we all really like it. Enjoy! Oh, and FYI, I did not take the picture seen below. That came with the recipe. =)

Ingredients:
4 chicken legs with thighs (we actually use 5-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts)
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp. dried parsley
1/4 tsp. pepper

Preheat oven to 375 deg. F. Grease a baking dish. Arrange chicken in prepared dish. Combine orange juice and honey in a small bowl; mix well. Stir in parsley and pepper. (Basting sauce can be prepared up to 4 hours ahead.) Brush honey mixture over chicken, covering completely. (Pierce the chicken with a fork over entire surface before putting sauce on to allow sauce to soak into the chicken.) Cover with foil. Bake chicken until cooked through, basting occasionally, about 45 minutes or until juices run clear when pierced with a knife. Remove foil and continue baking for another 10 minutes.

Weekend Events

2008-11-10T22:03:00.001-05:00

We had a really good time at my parents' house this past weekend. Saturday was spent with the family. We had taco salad stuff for lunch, and Jason made his homemade tortillas for those that wanted burritos...they were yummy! He also made a pan of brownies for my "birthday cake," and we topped it with some (non-dairy ice cream) Cookie Avalanche made by Purely Decadent. It was really good!

Before we served up the brownies, I decided that since it was my birthday (which means I can basically do what I want for the day), I was going to play the "thankful game." You know, the one you usually play at Thanksgiving with your family? So, after they sang "Happy Birthday" to me, I proceeded to name several things that I am thankful for, including my family, Jason and the girls, God's blessings...etc. Then it was my girls' turn to share something they are thankful for. Watch the video clip below to see what they had to say...

My girls made me very proud. Who knew they were capable of keeping secrets at their age. They knew for several weeks and attended church many times and never spilled the beans (as far as we know, that is. Did any of you know?). God's timing is perfect, and we are trusting in Him to work out every detail. We are very excited and feel very honored and blessed that God is entrusting us with another sweet little one. As usual, your prayers are greatly coveted. Right now the due date is set for June 3. So far, I have never made it to a due date. Alyx was 3 1/2 weeks early, and Larissa and Sydney were both 1 1/2 weeks early. I'm imagining this one won't be any different, so we'll be adding another May birthday to the family calendar. =) (For those who don't know, May is the busiest month in our family when it comes to birthdays and anniversaries.)

I hope that none of you are offended that I did not personally call or talk to you, but I felt like this was the fastest and easiest way to get the word out. =)

And thus the ride begins...

2008-11-06T14:39:00.000-05:00

Have you been to Busch Gardens and enjoyed the ride Sheikra? One of the last times we went, we rode it about 8 times in a row. The ride is so much fun! It has the usual slow rise to the top of the hill with all the "clink-clinking" of the mechanisms that pull you to the top. This is when my hands usually start getting a little bit clammy, and I begin to question my sanity as to why I even entered the ride to begin with. Once you reach the top of the ride, there is a small half-circle that you ride around before you get to the "drop-off." It really is breath-taking to be able to look all around the park from that high in the air. As you near the end of the half-circle, the screams begin to arise from those riders who are anticipating the impending doom. When the car comes to a stop, you find yourself perched on what feels like the edge of a cliff in a 45 degree angle, and you continue dangling in that postition unable to see the track ahead of you for about 5-10 seconds before the car finally lets loose and you drop in a true 90 degree angle. Wow! What a rush!

Right now, I feel like I'm perched at the top of that "drop-off." This week begins the craziness of the holidays that will not end until after my oldest daughter's birthday at the beginning of January. My birthday is this Saturday, and, yes, I'm finally turning 20. What?? I can't pass for 20? Oh well... Birthdays are not as fun as they used to be, you know? Why does that number have to keep getting higher and higher? I don't feel my age. In fact, sometimes I still feel like I'm in high school or college. Not that I'm wishing to be back there, mind you. I love my life the way it is right now, and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Here is a picture from the surprise party my husband and dear friends cooked up last year. I couldn't believe they were able to surprise me! Notice all the toys and books my kids and Jason were carrying. I thought we were just going over for the afternoon to have a cookout and play games, so I wanted the kids to have stuff to play with. How funny! I think the kids were just as surprised as I was, especially when we saw my parents, my sister and brother-in-law and their 4 kids. They all kept the secret very well.

We will be heading out of town tomorrow afternoon to go visit my parents for the weekend. Family is the best therapy when you're feeling depressed about getting older. =) All I have to do is look at my brother-in-law, Richard, and I think, "Wow, I'm not so bad after all!" LOL!!! =D Just kidding, Richard!!! I love you!!! Please don't butcher my hair!!!

What do you have planned for the weekend? I hope you all have a great time, whether you're with friends and family or your just cleaning out the garage. =) See you when we get back!

Check out my adorable nieces!

2008-11-04T17:20:00.001-05:00

I don't know how my sister, Laura, ever produced such cute kids. =) Just kidding, Laura...you know I love you! I received these pictures in the mail and had to scan them, so the quality is not that great, but you can still see how beautiful they are.

Dakota (left) is 4 1/2 and Macon (right) will be 3 this month.

Look at those angelic faces!

Happy Election Day!

2008-11-04T12:58:00.000-05:00

We just voted. Have YOU yet? Don't forget to! You CAN make a difference!

Our voting precinct is always such a pleasure to visit. We've never had to wait in a long line, and we're pretty much in-and-out every time. When we used to live in Valrico, I remember having to wait in lines for hours (WITH the kids!)...that was not fun! Now that the kids are older, they are much more tolerable of these type of situations, and they make us proud of the way they behave.

I'm not sure if this is standard among all precincts, but the man that was handing out the "I voted" stickers gave one to each of the girls as we were leaving. I thought that was very sweet of him, and the girls loved it. They've really gotten into the whole election thing this year. I guess they are either becoming more aware of the world around them, or they are becoming more nosey to conversations between Jason and myself. I'm leaning towards the latter. =) They understand that we are voting in a new president, and they are very excited. All morning they've been chanting and cheering for McCain...it's really quite adorable. =)

There little minds have somehow connected religion with politics (not a completely bad idea). I think they believe that we are voting for our choice because he is "good" and not for the other because he is "evil." One of my girls voiced their concern that the other candidate (which they can never remember his name or how to say it) didn't know or believe in Jesus. How sweet is that? Even though she knows that we don't agree with him, will not vote for him and she considers him the "bad guy," she's still concerned about his soul. My heart swells! I hope she never loses that tender spirit.

Now go vote!

P.S. Happy Birthday, Richard! We love you!

Have you had your vitamin P today?

2008-11-03T14:15:00.000-05:00

For those of you who go to the same church that I do, you already know what I'm talking about. Yesterday, our pastor and his family were out of town, so the assistant pastor and youth pastor took over the morning and evening services in his stead. The assistant pastor preached Sunday morning, and during his sermon, he made a statement that was not necessarily profound, but it compared the importance placed on taking care of our physical needs (ie. taking vitamins and other supplements) to the importance of taking care of our spiritual needs (ie. spending time in the Word). He said that along with all the vitamins that he takes in the morning, he makes sure to get a good dose of vitamin P---that's Proverbs.

Proverbs has always been one of my favorite books to read in the Bible. Every chapter seems to be filled with a little bit of something for everyone, and it doesn't matter what trial I seem to facing or what sin I seem to be struggling with, God finds a way to speak to me on such a personal level. Today's Proverbs contains two very well-known verses that are some of my favorites.

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

I love these verses, because they not only remind me that I'm not in charge and that I need to trust the Lord with everything, but they also give me a promise from the Lord that if I do trust in Him and acknowledge Him in everything I do, then He will show me the way that I should go. As those of you in our Sunday School class know, we requested prayer for some decisions that we will be facing in the next few months. These verses were an encouragement to me, because I felt like God was gently reminding me that He's got it all under control and there's nothing for us to worry about. Praise the Lord that He loves and cares about every little detail of our lives (Luke 12:6-7)!

Make sure that you take the time to get a dose of vitamin P today!

Is it normal...?

2008-11-01T07:12:00.000-04:00

...For the "tow truck guy" to get to know you? Well, ours does! I think we have to put him on our Christmas list now. =)

Last week, Jason was driving home from an appointment and noticed that the gas prices at Wal-mart had drastically dropped. He decided that he would take my truck out after the kids were in bed and fill it up. 45 minutes after he left, he was still not home. I tried to call him, but he did not answer. I became a little worried since Wal-mart is only 5 minutes up the road. I walked past one of the windows on the front side of the house and noticed my truck pulling up to the mailbox very slowly. It stopped, and I saw Jason talking to someone that I didn't know. Come to find out...Jason had never even made it out of our subdivision. The truck broke down just before the entrance, and this guy (that I saw Jason talking to in front of our house) had offered to help Jason push the truck back to our house. It took them 45 minutes to push that monster of a truck all the way back to our house. Wow! Good Samaritans do still exist! Thank the Lord, He was looking out for Jason that night.

Long story short...we had the truck towed to Car Max (again), had it checked out and got it "fixed"...AGAIN!!! We picked it up last Saturday, drove it to church on Sunday and didn't have any problems...UNTIL....

Wednesday, when I had my doctor's appointment, I drove my truck to the doctor, but when I went to leave, it wouldn't start! Aaargh! I wanted to cry...I felt so betrayed by my beloved truck. Jason was unable to come to my rescue right away, because he was an hour and a half south of us and still had something he had to do before he could break away. He did, however, call Car Max and the tow truck guy to get everything scheduled for me. The tow truck guy said he could be there in 20 to 30 minutes. I really didn't want him to, because I didn't want to go back in the waiting room with all of our paraphernalia or sit in the parking lot waiting for Jason to come get us. I immediately started praying that God would work out the timing, so that we could wait in the truck. It was 65 degrees outside, so we just propped open a couple of doors and felt great. The girls and I ended up having to wait about 2 1/2 hours, but I didn't mind too much. God did work it out so that the tow truck guy pulled into the parking lot just a couple of minutes before Jason arrived. Isn't God great? He cares about the small stuff. =)

The tow truck guy waved as we were walking to Jason's truck and said, "Sorry we had to meet like this again." How sad is that? He knows us.

We are very thankful that we decided to purchase the extended warranty on the truck when we bought it from Car Max. We only have to pay $50 for each trip to the shop, and the amount that we payed for the warranty has been well exceeded in the cost of the repairs.

We're not sure when (and if) we're going to go pick it up. It's (supposedly) fixed right now, but we are seriously considering a trade-in with both vehicles. Since Jason has a company vehicle again, we don't need his truck (except when mine breaks down), so we thought we could save some money by trading them both in on a more reliable vehicle. Pray for us that we'll make the right decision and that God will lead us to what we should do.

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T19:18:00.000-04:00

We don't do the whole trick or treating thing, but what kid doesn't enjoy dressing up? In the spirit of frugality (and recycling), I came across an idea for a curly wig that the kids could make. Check them out! Aren't they cute?

They were really easy to make. We started out with a plastic grocery bag. Cut off the handles and bottom seam of the bag. Cut down the side seams to use only one side of the bag (depending upon how large the child's head is), and while holding down the bag on their head, tape a circle all around their head beginning at the forehead and angling back just over their ears and an inch or two above the base of their skull. Once you have the circle complete, begin filling in the entire center of that circle, making sure to keep it snug on the child's head so that it will hold it's shape. The directions I had said to use masking tape, but I had more packing tape, so that's what I used--it worked fine. Here's what it should look like after you tape it completely.

Remove the "hat" from the child's head and trim off the excess bag. The directions said to use newspapers or other "curl-able" paper, so I used some old CVS ads for extra color. I cut them into 1/2 inch to 1 inch strips using my cutting board and left the fold intact so that it would open up to a longer strip. You can use a closed pair of scissors to curl the strips.

Attach the curls starting at the bottom edge of the "hat" and working up to the crown by using either double-sided tape (or create your own by rolling the tape into itself). Here are the girls "hard at work" on their wigs. =) They really enjoyed themselves and really love their creations.

Fall craft ideas from Highlights

2008-10-23T10:16:00.000-04:00

This scarecrow is absolutely adorable, and kids would love to make one! If you wanted to make it more "outdoor-friendly," you could use yardstick-type sticks in place of the paper tubes, use some rafia in place of the yarn, use felt or some other stiff fabric (or a real hat) in place of the paper hat and use a plastic or styrofoam plate instead of the paper plate.

This pie-tin decoration reminds me of some things that my dad has made. He's really good at woodworking and has made many, many things for my mother and us kids over the years. He made a cabinet for my mom that has the tin-punched panels in the door. Here's a picture of it in the background from the post I did about the girls' sewing project.

This twirler looks super easy to make and actually reminds me of something you might make for the 4th of July or something, but maybe if you use fall-colored ribbons or attached some fall leaves (real or silk), it would look more fall-like.

This pumpkin-patch ring toss game is a really neat way to reuse those water bottles that we occasionally accumulate. We usually recycle the bottles, but if you held on to a few of them, I bet your kids would really enjoy this game. We would have to come up with another idea for the rings, because I don't think we would ever have 8-10 plastic coffee can lids. If you don't either, maybe you know someone who drinks coffee that would be willing to give you the lids when they finish the canister. I have some from when I used to drink coffee, but I use them for storage. We put the kids markers in one, some decorative scissors in another one, etc. I got that idea from my mom. She's so smart! =)

This Jack-o'-Lantern looks really cute and seems very easy to make. Since we don't drink soda, we would probably use an aluminum food can or maybe some glass jars. If you use varying sizes and heights, you could do a cute little grouping of them. Remember, pumpkins aren't all the same size and shape. =)

These bead rings are another great way to recycle some things that you may ordinarily discard. Plus, it's jewelry, and what little girl doesn't LOVE to make jewelry? =) The only thing I might try differently than what the instructions tell you to do is to twist the wire ends together (once all the beads are on and it's the size I want) and then try to work the wire ends back through a couple of the beads so that you don't have to worry about the end scratching or using unsightly tape on the back side. Does that make sense? One wire will go in one direction and the other wire will go in the other direction. The only problem would be if the holes in the beads aren't large enough to hold two widths of wire.

Here's the complete list of all 12 of this month's craft ideas. I'm sure you'll be able to find something that your child will enjoy. =)

Were you wondering? Well, I'll tell you anyway...

2008-10-21T14:50:00.000-04:00

My goodness, I cannot believe that it's been almost a week since I posted last, but to be quite honest, not much has happened around here. Jason loves his new job and is already doing great--Praise the Lord! We don't see as much of him during the day since he's busy with appointments, but he doesn't have to work late nights with this job, so that's great! There were many nights that I didn't see him until midnight when he was working for Sears, so the kids really enjoy being able to tell their daddy "good night" at bedtime instead of at 4 or 5 o'clock in the afternoon. =)

Today is the first day that all 3 girls have felt up to getting up off of the couch. Yesterday was quite miserable for Sydney. She started complaining of her ear hurting, and I just knew for sure she would end up with an ear infection (she's notorious for that). I put some over-the-counter ear drops in her ear, gave her some ibuprofen and told her to go to sleep. After much crying and moaning, she finally was able to go to sleep, and BOY did she sleep! She fell asleep in the 2 o'clock hour, and I had to wake her up close to 6 o'clock so she could eat something before she needed to go to bed.

Just about the only thing I enjoy about my kids being sick is the fact that they become much more cuddly. Alyx took this picture of Sydney resting on my lap. Isn't she precious? =)

Poor thing! She ran a fever for several days, and in this picture she woke up from a nap drenched in sweat. She's attempting a half smile--what a sweetie. It looks like she had been crying, but I think her eyes were just watering. She looks pitiful nonetheless.

Thank you for those of you who prayed for them. They seem to be doing much better today. They still have their coughs and sniffles, but I haven't heard any complaints about earaches and they've been up playing around, so they must be feeling somewhat better. =) I've been popping the vitamin C like crazy in an effort to keep myself from getting sick. My throat has been sore for several days, and I just CAN'T get sick! Please pray that it will just clear up so that we can get out of this house. I'm going a little stir-crazy! =}

We're still alive...barely

2008-10-16T09:14:00.002-04:00

I'm beginning to get a little bit concerned about the coming cool weather and the sickness that it inevitably brings. My girls seem to be catching everything that's going around. This is the third time in the last 2 months that they have been sick. Sydney is running fever again, and they have that deep, painful-sounding cough. I hear that other people in the church have the same thing, so I guess that's probably where they caught it.

This has served as a reminder that I need to teach them (again) about germs and the importance of washing hands and keeping their hands out of and away from their mouths. You would think that once they get past the baby/toddler phase of putting everything in their mouths, you wouldn't have to stay after them quite so much, but I have caught them so many times just this week sticking one or two fingers in their mouths. Ewww, gross! I can't stand it!

Do you think they could be doing it on purpose? They know that when they are sick, we don't do school, and they get to lay around and watch movies. Surely they aren't that smart, yet! =)

Oh, well...this too shall pass. Please pray that they get better soon. I think I'm going to go work on some crocheting. I recently started Sydney's Tooth Fairy Pillow, because we anticipate her losing her first tooth in the next few months. We're enjoying "Toy Story" right now, so...."To infinity and beyond!" =)

Hand Shadow Puppets

2008-10-13T20:55:00.000-04:00

When I was a kid, I loved shadow puppets. I remember all the common ones going around...the eagle, the dog, the bunny, etc. This puppet show would have blown me away! It's pretty amazing--this guy is definitely talented. How in the world he was able to do "Satchmo" is beyond me...

This video clip was included on the "Homeschool Freebie of the Day" website because Tuesday's "freebie" is an ebook of hand shadows. Be sure you check it out tomorrow, if you want to download it. My kids loved the video, so I'm sure they will love to attempt some puppets of their own.

God is amazing!

2008-10-11T14:01:00.000-04:00

We are just dumb ol' sheep, but we have a loving shepherd who loves and understands our human nature. Is it just my personality, or does everyone stuggle with waiting on the Lord and understanding His timing? I think as humans we have become increasingly impatient and want things done "our way right away". (Do we all aspire to be burger flippers at Burger King? "Ding! Fries are done! Ding! Fries are done!" Have you heard that parody? So funny!)

Yesterday, God revealed Himself to us in a very real way. Our prayer for the last month has been that God would bring the perfect job to Jason, and that God would not allow any job to accept Jason unless it was God's perfect will. Jason applied for this job on a whim. The company is only a few miles from our house, plus Jason knows fences inside and out and knew he could do the work. There were some concerns discussed before he decided to call them the other day, but we decided to just leave it in God's hands and if He didn't want that job for Jason then it wouldn't work out.

When Jason met with the owner last night, the owner looked at him and said, "I've met you before." He proceeded to tell Jason that when he first started his company 4 years ago, he was "shopping" the competition and requested a fence estimate from Danielle Fence. Who do you think the salesman was that "just so happened" to meet with him? It was Jason! (Okay, that was obvious.) He said that Jason's presentation that day was really impressive, and he could tell that Jason knew what he was talking about.

Later in the interview last night, the owner told Jason the story of what happened the day Jason sent in his resume. When the resume came off of the fax, the guy (who Jason would describe as a sales manager) took it and was walking through the hallway of the office. He met the owner in the hallway and said, "I just got a resume from a guy who used to work at Danielle Fence." The owner asked what his name was, and the other guy said, "Jason Downs." The owner immediately said, "Get him in here now!"

Wow! Isn't it amazing to watch God work? He had that all planned out 4 years ago! During the last 6 months to a year, we've questioned many things, like...why things turned so sour all of a sudden at Danielle Fence and why God led Jason to Sears just to make us feel like we were stranded with no income. The thing is, Jason probably would not have made the decision to move to another fence company while he was at Danielle Fence (for loyalty reasons), and if life had been "peachy keen" while he was working for Sears, he would not have felt the need to look for another job.

After interviewing for 2 hours and 40 minutes last night, the guys told Jason that they would let him know by noon today whether or not they would want to bring him on. Jason felt pretty sure that they would hire him, but we still continued to pray that if it wasn't God's will for him to work there, then we didn't want them to offer it to him.

Today, just a little before noon, Jason got the phone call, and they did offer him the job. Yay! Jason was asked how soon he could start, and Jason was able to tell them he could start Monday morning. Once again...another work of God. Sears is planning a computer training for Monday through Wednesday for their salesmen, so there are no appointments scheduled for those days (as well as NO PAY!). He verified with his manager at Sears that it was okay for him to start on Monday, and it is.

Praise the Lord! We are beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Thank you for all of your prayers. We really appreciate the love and concern that has been shown to us in the last few weeks.

Update on Jason's job situation

2008-10-10T13:34:00.000-04:00

So far, Jason has interviewed for 2 jobs and has applied for over 50. Times are becoming desperate, so he called up a local, reputable fence company, since that is something that he really knows. This is kind of funny, so I'll share the story...

When he called, he asked to speak with the hiring manager. The man who answered asked how he could help Jason. Jason asked if they were currently hiring, and the guy said that they really weren't, but he could send in his resume to be kept on file. Jason said, "Well, I have sales experience. Does that help?" The guy responded, "Yeah, sales is good. We're just not looking for anyone right now." Then in desperation, Jason said, "I worked for Danielle Fence for 3 1/2 years..." The guy said, "Oh, well, send in your resume, and I'm sure someone will be calling you." Jason immediately faxed over his resume, and he was getting a phone call within 5 minutes! LOL!!!

The guy that called him talked to Jason for about 20 minutes and set up an interview for today at 4:30pm. He seems to think that Jason will be a perfect fit for them, because Jason loves to do residential appointments and the other salesmen don't---they prefer the commercial side. I don't know if I shared this before or if you already knew this, but one of the main reasons Jason left Danielle Fence is because they made him move to the commercial side and wouldn't let him move back to the residential side. The commercial side was just too slow, and the sales just weren't there. The guy told Jason that he could almost guarantee him 5 appointments a day! Wow! That's more than he's getting in a week right now with Sears...He's lucky if he gets 1 a week!

Anyway...If you could pray for Jason (again) that the interview will go well and that if it's God's will he will get the position, we would appreciate it. We'll keep you updated...

Catching up on Pictures (part 2)

2008-10-09T18:35:00.000-04:00

Here are some pictures of the girls at our house during the last couple of weeks...

As I'm sure you already know, my girls LOVE to read! Here is Sydney curled up with her teddy bear and one of her favorite books--a treasury of Curious George stories.

One of the girls' favorite things to do outside is to ride their bikes. Here's Larissa...

Alyx has decided that she loves to wear one of my old hats and has worn it just about every day since ~~I gave it to her~~ she took it from me. =)

Jason was helping Sydney air up the tires on her bike.

Here are some flowers that are still blooming in my yard.

After riding bikes, we like to go to the backyard to play Frisbee, jump rope or catch bugs. Here's Larissa throwing the Frisbee.

Sydney loves to jump rope.

Larissa is the bug catcher. Here she's trying to get a dragonfly.

Here's a dragonfly down by the water.

Look what I got, Sydney!

Wanna hold it?

Here it is...

Can you believe I'm holding this, Mommy?

Here's Alyx catching the Frisbee.

She really gets into it.

This was Larissa's "Big Catch."

Catching up on Pictures (Part 1)

2008-10-07T14:41:00.000-04:00

The last couple of weeks feel like a blur, and I just realized the other day that it's been a while since I've shared pictures of the kids. Not a lot has been going on, but there have been some fun things worth taking a picture of and worth sharing. =) I will have to split them up into different posts, because (well, I'll just be honest) I take a lot of pictures and don't have the time to weed through all of them and work up one post all in one sitting. I want to feel like I've accomplished something, you know? So, here goes...

As you know, we visited my parents about 2 1/2 weeks ago for Jason's 4-day weekend. It was a nice relaxing time, and, of course, we didn't want to leave. =) We sat around and played games a lot. This picture was not intentional, but right as I picked up my camera to take a picture, Richard brought a handful of M&M's to his mouth...Busted!! Love you, Richard! =)

The kids even enjoyed playing games together...

The kids always enjoy seeing their cousins and look forward to pestering their "Uncle Retardo." Okay, I must explain...My brother-in-law's name is Richard, and as a joke we started calling him "Ricardo." At the time, Sydney was struggling with saying any "c" or "k" sounds and would pronounce them as a "t." As a result, when she said "Uncle Ricardo," it came out as "Uncle Retardo." Well, Richard loved that! He's a good sport, you know. Here are some shots of the kids with Richard. He was growing some facial hair, so Larissa was rubbing on his chin in the last picture.

My camera has a night vision setting, and Richard wanted to see how it worked. We turned off the lights, and here is his best "Deer in the Headlights" pose.

The girls (and Jason) love to go swimming in the cousins' pool. Sydney is a little timid when it comes to the water, so she sticks to the steps or occasionally floats on a raft. She also enjoyed "shooting" everyone with the water gun from the outside of the pool. Everyone enjoyed throwing (or pegging, if you're Jason) the balls and having a water gun war. The girls also enjoyed piggy-back rides on Jason.

My niece, Sarah, cracked me up when she came up out of the water one time and started quoting (in her most noble voice), "Fourscore and seven years ago..."

And what would a day in the pool be without a good cannonball? This one was thanks to my nephew, Tavish. He was trying to peg his twin sister, Sarah, who is on the right side of the picture.

Here's the whole group. Aren't they cute? =) They all had lots of fun.

The day was quite overcast, so after a couple of hours in the pool, Larissa and Sydney were so cold that their lips began to turn bluish purple. Poor things!

We also had fun in Granny's yard. The girls love to pick flowers (usually of the weed variety) and collect pine cones, and Jason (of course) had to try to peg the girls with the pine cones. He's so nice! (Still a boy at heart!) =)

I had to snap some more pictures of some flowers and critters that I didn't get the last time we were there. Mom has some very interesting things growing in her yard. The most interesting of all, though, has to be the starfish flower. Notice on the picture with the bird that there is also a dragonfly on the top of the branch. Enjoy!

Freebies, Samples and other Cool Stuff

2008-10-06T07:39:00.001-04:00

Before I start my list of samples, I want to give you some suggestions for these freebies. Some of the samples you come across may not strike YOUR fancy, but have you ever thought that someone else may enjoy them? Have you thought about donating things to the missionary closet at church or even helping out a college student? My sister is doing this for her daughter who is in her 1st year of college. She will request the sample for herself with one email address, and then request a sample for her daughter with a separate email address. I think it's a great idea! I am naturally a hoarder and can't stand the thought of passing up a freebie. If I can't use or don't want something, I will still request the sample and just pass it on to someone who can use it. This is a way to be a blessing to other people (in a small way) without having to spend a penny. =) Now, on with the list...

Mary Kay is offering a sample of mascara here.

Money Saving Mom has compiled a list of 10 feminine product freebies here. These are awesome! You get enough of these, and you won't have to purchase them for a while.

Schick is offering a free razor or trimmer sample here.

I love freebies that help me with homeschooling! Here are some free activities from Creative Teaching Press. There are ideas for a variety of subjects and grade levels. There are even some science experiments included.

Get a free Oatmeal Dark Chocolate cookie from Kashi here. I'm not sure of the ingredients, but if it has something that we can't have, I'll just give it to someone who can. =)

Check out the Storyline Online site for a listing of over 20 books being read by members of the Screen Actors Guild. Obviously, if you don't know anything about the book, you may want to listen to it before you let your kids listen. Each story begins with the actor introducing him/herself. There is an option to view the text as the actor reads, or you could turn it off and just listen. Pictures from the book are shown and even some light sound effects/music are included to give even more interest. Each story also has an activity guide with suggested things to do after reading the story. There is also a list of other books by the same author in case you like their style of writing.

How cool is this??? I love taking photos (as you well know, if you've been looking at my blog for any amount of time), and this would be really neat to try. I love the black & white and sepia effects, but I wonder what it would be like in color.

This Kids' Puppet Show Curtain is adorable and super easy to make! My kids would love it! They are constantly wanting to put on shows, and this would be a great way for them to do that.

I constantly find myself having little balls or scraps of yarn left over from some crocheting project and am never quite sure what I should do with it. It goes against my grain to just toss it out, so it just sits in a bag in a closet somewhere waiting for me to come up with an idea. Well, here it is! This is like making your own funky variegated yarn, and I'm going to have to try it.

Prayer Request Updates

2008-10-03T11:38:00.001-04:00

First of all, I want to thank you for all of your prayers this week. Last night, we called my brother-in-law, Richard, and he said that Kelly's surgery went just as planned (with the exception that it took an hour longer than expected, totalling about 9 hours, I think.) She doesn't seem to be struggling with pain at this point, so that is a good thing. The next couple of months will be rough, though, as she begins to heal. The surgery she had done was an oral surgery which now requires her mouth to be wired shut for 6 weeks. The only way she can eat is through a straw. After they open her mouth up, she will only be able to eat soft foods for a couple of weeks. If you think of her, please continue to pray that her swelling will go down quickly and that she won't have a lot of pain to deal with.

Thank you also for praying for Jason as he had an interview this week. The interview went fine, and he is actually on a "ride-along" today to see if it's something he would be interested in doing. He feels pretty sure that they will offer him the job, but we'll just have to see if it's what God would have for him. He did get a call yesterday from another company that he applied with, and they want to talk to him. That position seems to be better than the one he's trying out today, so he may just have to wait until he talks to them before he makes a decision about this first interview. Please continue to pray that God will lead Jason to just the right position to take.

Philippians 4:19 - "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

Matthew 6:34 - "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

Last minute request

2008-10-01T11:39:00.001-04:00

As some of you may already know, Jason's work has been dwindling over the last couple of months. In general, the leads have just become very scarce for all the salesmen, so as a result, Jason has been looking for another job. He's got to feed the "hungry mob" at home, you know. =) Yesterday, he got a call for an interview, and it was scheduled for Thursday afternoon at 1:00. This morning he got a call from the actual guy that would be doing the interview and was asked if the interview could be moved up to today at 1:00 instead. Well, since there are no leads at Sears (meaning, Jason has no work today), he gladly accepted the change.

Please pray that God will give Jason the wisdom in knowing what to do (or not to do). Our goal is not for him to "jump ship" on his current job unless we are absolutely sure that it is God's will, but at the same time, he can't just sit around and expect God to drop something in his lap.

This "trial" has taught us (yet again) that we have to relinquish ALL control to the Lord, and even though we may not understand His timing, we can praise Him for the fact that He is in control of everything and He will not forsake us. He loves us and cares about our needs. How awesome is our God!

Prayer Request

2008-09-30T19:35:00.000-04:00

My niece, Kelly (the one on the right), is going in for surgery tomorrow morning around 10:30. Please pray that all will go well, that the surgery will be effective and that she will recover quickly.

Free Children's Audiobooks

2008-09-29T15:07:00.000-04:00

Audible Kids is offering free children's audiobook downloads. Scroll down and click on "Free Downloads for Chidren's Literacy" in the lower left-hand corner of the website. There are 9 books available including Rapunzel (Brothers Grimm), The Emperor's New Clothes (Hans Christian Anderson), Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (Rudyard Kipling) and Rip Van Winkle (Washington Irving). You will need to create a free account in order to download the free audiobooks, but you are not asked for your credit card number or mailing address.

I just downloaded several of these and look forward to listening to them with the kids while we crochet or work a puzzle.

Thanks to Freebies 4 Mom for this great tip!

Easy, Recycled Sewing Ideas

2008-09-26T15:11:00.000-04:00

The last couple of days, I've run across some cute ideas for recycling items of clothing to make into tote bags. I love tote bags, and couldn't resist the thought of making one (or both) of these.

The first tote bag idea comes from Jo-Ann's website and is made from a t-shirt (new or used). Personally, if you're going to go buy a t-shirt, I would just buy a tank top, so you don't have to fool with the cutting and sewing of the sleeves and neckline. Read the Customer Reviews to get more suggestions and ideas for this project. This project would be very simple for kids to do, and they would love the finished product, I'm sure.

Jo-Ann's website has a large collection of projects. I love looking through the craft projects for kids. My only suggestion is that you read the customer reviews before you purchase all the materials for a certain project. I have noticed on a few projects that customers have complained about the instructions being vague or not complete, so just check it out completely before you get started.

The second tote bag project comes from Instructables.com and is so adorable! The creator of this bag says that she got a skirt from someone that did not fit her, but she fell in love with the floral embroidery detail at the bottom of the skirt. She decided that instead of getting rid of it, she could turn it into a tote bag.

I've got a bunch of skirts that are too big for me, now that I've lost so much weight, so I'm going to have to go digging through my closet for some skirts to turn into tote bags. =) I imagine this could also be a great project for young girls. When they outgrow a favorite skirt (or other do-able outfit), they could just sew it up into a cute little handbag or tote.

Coupons and Other Deals of Note

2008-09-25T21:09:00.000-04:00

Here's a printable coupon for 50% off at Michaels.

Smithsonian Magazine is offering (for this Saturday, the 27th) free admission to hundreds of participating museums. Click here to get your admission card.

Check out the deal you can get through Shutterfly right now! 50 free prints and free shipping! Read about it on Money Saving Mom's site.

Here's a Johnson's Buddies coupon. My kids love the bar soap! You can also try this link. I have trouble printing with Firefox, so I'll have to try it in Internet Explorer later.

Here's a coupon for $1.00 off of any Windex product.

Here's a $5 off $20 Walgreens coupon that is good Friday and Saturday only (26th and 27th).

The Tooth Fairy must have been busy last night...

2008-09-24T12:52:00.000-04:00

Before we went to my parents' house this past weekend, Larissa showed us that she had a loose tooth. It wasn't about to fall out, so I figured it could just wait until we got back home to pull out and put in the Tooth Fairy pillow. Well, she could not leave it alone, and by Sunday evening, it was sticking straight out only hanging by a thread. We teased her that Papa (my dad) was going to have to get the pliers after it. That's how he used to pull some of our teeth when we were kids. Larissa didn't care though--she has a high tolerance for pain and has not cried once during a tooth-pulling session. When she showed Papa her tooth, he said, "Aw, we don't need the pliers." He reached in and pulled her tooth out without any trouble. He did it so quickly and effortlessly that I actually had to ask him if he got it. =) Larissa was thrilled! Here she is with Papa...

We decided that we didn't want to do the whole Tooth Fairy thing until we got back home, so we told Larissa that the Tooth Fairy wouldn't come to Granny and Papa's house and that we'd have to wait until we got home. =) She was fine with that--I think she was just glad to get that tooth out of her mouth.

We got home Monday evening and honestly forgot about the tooth. I spotted it just after I had put the girls to bed last night, so I took it in their room and gave Larissa her Tooth Fairy pillow to put in bed with her.

This morning when I came into the kitchen, Alyx looked at me wide-eyed and said, "Did you hear the news?" I had no clue what she was talking about. She proceeded to inform me that the Tooth Fairy did not come last night and that Larissa still had her tooth.

Oops! I wondered if that would ever happen. We've been so good about remembering in the past. I guess we were just extra tired last night and forgot to go back in there after they went to sleep.

They were all venturing guesses as to why the Tooth Fairy had not come. Alyx thought that maybe since it had rained during the night, she didn't want to get all wet. They also thought that maybe the Tooth Fairy had too many kids to go to last night and just wasn't able to make it to us. I said that maybe it was because we did it at the last minute and it was so late.

She better not forget tonight! I don't know what I'll say to them. =)

Here she is sticking her tongue through her two empty spaces.

The BEST Spaghetti Sauce You'll Ever Taste!!!

2008-09-23T15:27:00.001-04:00

I can't take a lot of credit for this recipe, since Jason's mom gave it to us. She had never tried it, though, so we were essentially the "guinea pigs." =) We pretty much followed the recipe, only deviating a couple of times. There are some herbs used in this recipe (parsley, oregano and basil) that we did not put in individually. We had a mixture of herbs called ***"Herbs of Italy" that we used in the place of the total amount of herbs in the recipe. The recipe calls for a total of 5 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. of the herbs, so we just put in 6 Tbsp. of the "Herbs of Italy." We also added 1/4 tsp. - 1/2 tsp. of red pepper flakes. We like the extra kick, but this is certainly optional.

This recipe will make enough sauce to cover 2 lbs. of spaghetti. We add a couple of pounds of our homemade sausage to the sauce as well. Yummy!!!

Ingredients:
6 medium onions, finely chopped
8 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 c. olive oil
4 cans (1 lb. each) tomatoes
4 cans (15 oz. each) tomato sauce
2 tbsp. agave nectar
1 1/2 to 2 tbsp. salt
3 tbsp. parsley flakes (or ***"Herbs of Italy")
1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. oregano (or ***"Herbs of Italy")
1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp basil (or ***"Herbs of Italy")
1/4 tsp. to 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes (optional)

In a large pot, cook onion and garlic in oil until tender. Stir in remaining ingredients and simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Unless you are feeding a big crew of people or you want to have leftovers for 2 weeks, you will want to (after it is made) divide it in half and only serve one half of the sauce over 1 pound of pasta. You can freeze the other half for another time. I don't generally add the meat to the sauce until I'm ready to have this as a meal. In other words, I don't freeze the meat with the sauce, but I'm sure you could if you wanted to.

Once you've added the meat to your sauce, go ahead and combine it with the cooked pasta, and don't forget to saute some mushrooms in a little bit of olive oil to put on top of your plate of spaghetti. Enjoy!

The Homeless: Meeting their Physical Needs is not Enough

2008-09-23T10:49:00.000-04:00

There are mixed emotions that well up inside of me when I see a homeless person begging on the side of the street. Usually, my first reaction is sadness and compassion for that person, and I inwardly begin kicking myself for ever having complained about some petty problem or inconvenience in my life. After all, compared to them, I live like a queen! There are times, however, when I see the same person "working" the same corner almost every day that I get annoyed and wonder why they don't just put that same effort into getting a job that would possibly earn them more money and definitely earn them more self-respect.

The bottom line, though, is that they have a soul just like me that needs the Lord, and if I'm not willing to share that with them, then how can I complain about their lack of will-power? The Lord can change people and give them a reason for living.

"The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD's, and he hath set the world upon them." I Samuel 2:7-8

Whenever possible, we have determined to help those people. Since I don't know what they would buy, I refuse to give them money or even store gift cards, but I see no problem with giving them food along with a "plan of salvation" tract.

"If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother: But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth. Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto. For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land." Deuteronomy 15:7-8, 10-11

The other day, when we were leaving town to go to my parents' house, we had the truck loaded up with all of our stuff (including some groceries), but we needed to swing by a store on our way to pick up a couple of things. As we approached our turn into the store parking area, we saw a homeless person standing in the median with his sign. Because of traffic and the fact that we were turning, I wasn't able to get something together quickly enough, so I just prayed as we turned that if the Lord would work it out for him to still be there and for the traffic to be clear (since it was a busy road) when we left the store, then we would share something with him. While Jason ran into the store for me, the girls and I set to work getting together what we needed. The only food I had available to eat right at that moment was bananas. I had packed a lot of ingredients to make things, but they weren't prepared yet, so I figured, if he was really hungry, he would enjoy a banana. =)

The Lord did work everything out! When we pulled up to the red light to turn onto the main road, the traffic just seemed to clear, and we were able to go across 3 or 4 lanes of traffic to get to the median, hand the guy his banana and a tract and go back across those 3 or 4 lanes to get into the turn lane for the entrance ramp to the interstate without any vehicles getting in our way! That was indeed a miracle, especially since it was a busy part of Tampa.

The girls giggled when we handed the man the banana and tract. I guess they thought it was funny to see him waving the banana at us and shouting as we drove away, "Thank you, and God bless you!" They may think it to be strange right now, but I hope that as they grow, they will adopt the attitude of love and compassion for those souls just like Jesus had when he was on earth.

"And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things." Mark 6:34

Samples and other good deals

2008-09-18T17:48:00.000-04:00

I haven't been keeping up with posting about deals, coupons and such recently. I'm going to try harder...honest. =) Here's a quick list of some favorites I've seen going around. Enjoy!

Sears is having an online sale on women's clothing. More than 10 t-shirts are less than $2 and almost 200 items are less than $5.

I love tote bags!!! If someone is going to give me one just for signing up for an email newsletter, I'll take it! Nature's Bounty is giving away a tote bag and $1 off coupon for doing just that.

Yogi Tea is offering their tea samples again. I got this sample earlier this year and really enjoyed it. The Mexican Sweet Chili is really good...it has a little kick to it. You ought to try it!

We buy a 5 lb. package of Perdue boneless chicken breasts at Wal-mart that costs about $15 (that's $3/lb.). Publix has that same chicken on sale this week for $2.49/lb.

Wal-Mart always has the best samples. Check out their current list. Make sure you look at the "More Samples" list on the right-hand side of the page. Also, the Gain "sample" is just a scent card, so unless you want that, don't request that sample.

It's that time again

2008-09-18T14:50:00.000-04:00

These 4-day weekends are coming faster than I would have expected them to. Mind you, I am not complaining, and even though we haven't been able to take very many "Getaway Trips," we are still enjoying them. This weekend, we have decided to go back up to my parents' house. I know, I know...we were just up there, but before this last trip, it had been a while since we had been up there. Plus, this last trip was not very relaxing, since Mom and I were busy helping the girls with the sewing project and Jason was commuting to work each day. This time we would like a more "vacation-style" trip. You know...sitting around playing games with the family, working crossword puzzles, eating =), etc...

So, that's our plans. What's yours? I hope you all have a great weekend, and we'll see you when we get back.

My husband never ceases to amaze me...

2008-09-16T10:52:00.000-04:00

I'm not a "flowers and candy" kind of girl, but would gladly accept them if given to me. We don't needlessly shower each other with expensive gifts and treats--even on birthdays and other holidays. We acknowledge milestone events with a little more celebration, like our 10-year anniversary and our 30th birthdays (I know, I know, we don't possibly look like we're in our 30s, do we? =) We don't feel like it, anyway.).

To us, we feel like you should celebrate and honor each other all year round. I much prefer that to just getting a dozen roses and a box of candy on Valentine's Day every year. That kind of gift takes very little thought or sacrifice. It's the everyday attentiveness to one another's needs (without even having to ask) that takes thought, love, time and sacrifice. That kind of gift shows you really care.

Monday morning as I ambled down the stairs in my usual half-awake fashion, my eyes popped open when the distinct smell of cleaner filled my nose. When I came into the kitchen, it was sparkling! Jason had white-gloved the stove-top, counters and sink and had swept the floor. Wow! I was thrilled! This morning when I came down, I found him in the living room folding a basket (or two) of laundry! He's wonderful!

There is no greener pasture in my perspective. Jason is the absolute best husband for me. It can never be said too often, and I'm sure I don't say it often enough. Thank you, honey, for giving me such great gifts all the time. I don't deserve you, but I do love and appreciate you! =)