That I would be less

The wedding

2011-10-14T15:00:00.000-07:00

Sophia was in our friends wedding this past weekend. It was her fourth appearance as a flower girl so is well seasoned. :-) We joke about renting her out with our photography services.

We were doing the photos at this wedding so I was a little nervous how that would all work, helping her and managing to take pictures in a wedding where the time line was super crunched. I was so pleased with how the day went though. The wedding was for our pastors Son and he married a beautiful young lady from our church. So basically our whole church family was there. Sophia sat with a family we love, the Delahunts. I packed a little purse full of snacks, a pen and a piece of paper in case she became restless during the service. She did wonderful and they didn't have to bring out the purse at all! She hung out with her Sunday School teacher, Mrs. Metraus during the Appetizer hour while we took the pictures. (The Bride and Groom didn't see each other until she walked down the aisle, so most pictures had to be taken between the ceremony and dinner)

Here are a few pictures from the day so far, will add more later, we have too many other projects to finish up this week before we can dive into the 2,000 we snapped that day. :-)

Liam is 2!

2011-10-14T14:41:00.000-07:00

Our handsome little Liam turned two yesterday. TWO!! Can you believe it? I sure can't.

This boy is messy. He only know two volumes- whispering or SHOUTING! He is messier than I could have ever imagined and minutes after a bath he is already stinky. He laughs when he toots and has been known to give Wonder Woman a dip in the toilet. He is desperate to be like his big sister and will do anything she does. When given a Cars birthday balloon he told me to "Pop it Mama. I dont yike it. Take it, TAKE IT Mama! I want kitty bawoon!" Sophie had a Hello kitty themed birthday this year and he just wanted to be like her. (He has warmed up to his cars balloon- good thing since my parents brought him one too!)

He is also tender hearted, he trys hard to please us and will run to confess his sins immediately. When corrected he immediately melts, sinks into us and asks for forgiveness. I pray that his heart will stay soft every day. Every night at bedtime he yells for "BIG HUGS!" he just about takes your neck off and will whisper awwwww in your ear as he hugs you. It is so sweet. He teaches me patience. He understands jokes and loves to tell them.

Happy Birthday Liam, we love you!!

Snippets

2011-08-30T08:15:00.000-07:00

Life is so crazy. I say I am going to update our family blog all

the time. Never do!

So here is a quick drive by while I wait for my next assignment today. (Im back to the school district)

-Sophies 4th birthday is Thursday. What?!?! How did t

his happen?! We are hitting Como on Thursday and then the cabin and then doing a small friends gathering at a local pool later in September.

-Liam is almost two. This week he initiated two monumental changes on his own. 1. Pooping in the potty (for which is he SO proud of himself, he thinks he is the coolest dude ever) 2. Got rid of his nuk. Just stopped asking for it. I honestly think he just forgot. Sweet and bittersweet all at the same time, my baby is growing up!

-I worked all summer at Deaf blind services MN, my normal job at ANU and did the photography thing with Kevbo. It was CRAZY

-We did get several trips up to the

cabin. Including one two week trip around the 4th.

-Liam hates the church nursery. Anyone have any advice? I think he will just need to get over this with time. Sigh.

-Busy busy with the photography business. Check out our most recent pictures at www.facebook.com/kjbphotographyanddesign.

-We are having a fall mini special- check it out, theres only a few spots left!

-I am done at DBSM for the most part and am back to the school district in morning kindergarten with one of our DB students.

-Kevin is doing daycare for my friend who is a teacher. He will tell you he is just like any other stay at home Mom, with a side daycare and photography business. :-)

-Kids moved the bunk beds. Love it.

-We need to order Sophias curriculum for this year and get going. She is anxious to resume school activities.

-We are thrilled to be starting back Sunday school in a few weeks with our parenting and marriage young family class.

-We went to the fair once and are dying to go again. If only there were more time and money trees....:-)

-Sophia went to VBS and loved it!

-We hope you all are well, if we have disconnected this summer, we deeply apologize. We still read everyones blogs when able and we think of you and pray for you all often.

Heres a ton of photos to finish it up

(some are cell phone pics, forgive us!)

Where I've been

2011-05-04T12:26:00.000-07:00

I have disappeared off of the blogging grid for a month or more now.

Its been a VERY busy month! :-) We decided to try and dive into full time photography after lots of prayer when Kevin lost his job in March. Its been quite the adventure! Kevin has been snapping and editing and I have been in search of props, poses and clients! :-) We are having a lot of fun. Its so nice to see your husband doing something he loves and is gifted at.

I have also been working my 40 hour a week intervenor job, picked up some home work with some of my old students, and continuing to teach the kiddos and be their Mommy. We have still be doing projects and crafts, I just don't have the energy or time to document and post about that at the moment. :-)

We are thrilled to have some sunny warm weather again. Went to the park and had a picnic with the kiddos today.

Here are a few photos Kev has taken this past month. Check out our facebook if you are interested in more info about us:: www.facebook.com/KJBPhotographyanddesign.com or www.savorthesemoments.com (our not very developed blog) or email us @ Kevinjamesbeyer@gmail.com if you want to set up a session! :-)

Wednesday

2011-04-06T17:23:00.000-07:00

16 lawn bags full of leaves. 8 large trash bags of our clothes dropped off at Families Helping Each Other. Two kids full of fresh air. One Four hour napper. One fridge totally cleaned and wiped down. One new pair of little girl shoes. Four growing feet. One interview complete. Two applications filled out. Loaded with grace. Wednesday.

Seeing Stars

2011-03-31T13:42:00.000-07:00

"Two Men looked out through prison bars; one saw mud and the other saw stars."

Lord, help me to see the stars.

1,000 Gifts

2011-03-28T19:47:00.000-07:00

29. For friends who borrow books, thanks Becky for "Calm my Anxious Heart"

30. For unemployment coming through. His provision never fails.

31. For our Gather Around the Table group from Church and a great time of fellowship last night.

32. For playlands

33. For time with Daddy who "can't go to work anymore. Why won't they let you come to work Daddy?" We are making the most of his time off.

34. For my parents and unexpected gifts in groceries. Generosity and hospitality gifts abounding.

35. For sweet Gabby and Gods hand in her birth. Praying for her to start eating on her own. Praising God for her life.

36. For my in-laws loving on our kids while we were away last night. We love you Grandpa "Keef" and Grandma Pat.

37. For fresh fruit season approaching.

38. For my childrens health. Blessed.

Our past few weeks

2011-03-28T11:45:00.000-07:00

I've been a little MIA here recently. Seems all of us have been sick the past three weeks or so! Started with the kids and I getting a cold, then it lead to Kevin getting sick and then Liam ending up with a sinus and ear infection. Poor guy. Topping it off was a strange fever that's been coming and going for Miss Sophia the past three days. Today was the first day that everyone has been healthy and its been great! :-)

Little Liam just broke my heart being so sick. He is normally the most snugly and smiley guy you could ever meet. But being sick he was either sleeping, crying, or throwing himself on the ground in fits of frustration. It was hard to know how to comfort him. It was also hard for me to know at the end if he was still sick or stuck in the pattern of fit throwing. But thankfully it is over and he is back to being my funny little man.

Some of his favorite phrases right now are:
-"UH-HUH, I DO!!!" This is no matter what you ask "Liam, should we go outside?" "UH HUH I DO!!!" "Liam are you hungry?" "UH HUH!! I DOOOO!" "Liam, do you want to play with trains?" "UH HUH, I DO!!"

-"I'll do it" Anytime you ask anyone else for something he jumps in yelling "Ill do it!!" Too cute!

-"Yah, OKAY!" He walks around repeating over and over "yah, Okay! Yah, Okay!"

-"We'll see, maybe!"

He is just repeating any phrase he hears. It makes us giggle. I post too many Sophia pics and stories and so I included the picture of our sweet Man this morning. Ready for Spring and the Twins to start! Go Twins!!

Flourless chocolate cake

2011-03-28T11:40:00.000-07:00

I've made this cake a few times now and been really impressed. I made an almond chocolate ganache (Chocolate, pure almond extract, cream, and butter) to put on top and then added strawberries. It was great! This recipe would be fabulous with fresh raspberries or a homemade raspberry sauce over-top. Its incredibly rich and dense so I'd recommend that you would cut your slices very thin! Enjoy!! :-)

4 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened)
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder plus additional for sprinkling

preheat oven to 375°F and butter an 8-inch round baking pan. Line bottom with a round of wax paper and butter paper.

Chop chocolate into small pieces. In a double boiler or metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water melt chocolate with butter, stirring, until smooth. Remove top of double boiler or bowl from heat and whisk sugar into chocolate mixture. Add eggs and whisk well. Sift 1/2 cup cocoa powder over chocolate mixture and whisk until just combined. Pour batter into pan and bake in middle of oven 25 minutes, or until top has formed a thin crust. Cool cake in pan on a rack 5 minutes and invert onto a serving plate.

Dust cake with additional cocoa powder and serve with sorbet if desired. (Cake keeps, after being cooled completely, in an airtight container, 1 week.)

(I found the recipe here)

facebook

2011-03-15T14:26:00.001-07:00

Yes I deactivated my facebook a week and a half ago. Yes, I have been meaning to type something up as to why. For now, I'll just say that Im a workin' on time management, self control, and priorities. Spending time with people in real life, investing myself into my kids, husband, home, and others, devotion times longer than 15 minutes, slaying the laundry monster ect. Will I come back? Maybe, someday. But, its kinda nice. Find me here, at my phone number, and email khill8@gmail.com if you need me. Will try to add more photos here too as requested. Love to yall!

Work that matters

2011-03-15T13:22:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I fall into a trap. Its a trap that I set up for myself by looking at parenting blogs or peeking into others lives. I see that their grass appears greener and I try my hardest to keep up. Did you see the curtains she made herself?! Look at how organized their school room is! Their kids sound so brilliant and obedient. I scrub the floors a bit harder, try and make extravagant meals by 5:30 every night, and try to micromanage my childrens behaviors, especially in front of others. Sure, my kids are asking me for the 100th time to play a game or snuggle on the couch but kids, I am busy cleaning for you! I will be right there, reallly, I will. In the end I just feel like I can't keep up and have failed.

In the end, no one will notice (or care) how often my floor has been scrubbed. My family will not starve if we don't eat until 6. But the time I invest in training those little lives means everything. That is my job. I may have to sacrifice my free time. Put down the book. This stage doesn't last forever and I need to make the most of every minute I am given as Sophia and Liams Mama. When I am investing the time in eternity, I feel like a parenting failure much, much less of the time. Because, its worth it. Is it easy? No. Is it pretty? Sometimes not. But, it is required.

Here is an excerpt from "Loving the Little Years" that really spoke to me.

" Dry erase boards and chore charts are all well and good, but it does not change the fact that what you have on your hands is children, not an organizational problem. When Scripture says to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, it is not talking about finding the most effective way to organize them. This is a very easy trap to fall in, because the more children you have the more difficult it is to keep them clean and clothed and fed. Just the basics of life are a full time job. It is also easy for parents to fall into this sort of lifestyle because cleaning and sorting makes you look and maybe even feel like you have your act together,even if you seriously don't. What you are doing is finding a way to contain your children, control them, and keep their sin from making you look bad. But you are not actually dealing with anything....
The more children you have, the more you need to be pastorally minded. Look to each of their souls and their needs. If you are focused on upkeep of the house and the schedule, as long as your child is not interrupting that, you don't worry about it. If you are being a parent who is pastorally minded you will stop whatever it is that you are doing to go see how your daughter is doing up in her bedroom.Be a pastor to your children. Study them, Seek them out. Sacrifice the thing you were doing to work through minor emotional issues. This is why you may have known families who seemed to have it all together. Everyone to his own bunk. Dinner from the crockpot at 6:00pm on the dot. Family worship in the living room. Children quietly doing dishes afterward. Then as the children hit their teen years, you start to see that alongside of all that organization was some serious neglect and hurt. It is possible to organize your children right out of the church. So while your children are little, cultivate an attitude of sacrifice. Sacrifice your peace for their fun. Your clean kitchen floor for their help cracking eggs. Your quiet moment for their long retelling of a dream that a friend of theirs allegedly had. Prioritize your children far and away above the other work you need to get done. They are the only part of your work that really matters."

1,000 gifts

2011-03-14T17:12:00.000-07:00

19. For my sweet husband who took care of me all weekend when I was so miserable and sick. Breakfast in bed, entertaining littles, sending me to sleep and read, cleaning. I am so blessed.

20. For a daughter whose favorite game is "I love you more than __________" and cracks me up with what she comes up with and melts my heart. ( I love you more than 15 glasses of lemonade!! I love you more than 20 ipods!! I love you more than butterflies!! I love you more than inside playplaces Mama!! Sometimes under her breath she will say "Thats a lotta love!)

21. For sickness to remind me that I need work on my patience with the kids and my husband.

22. For above 50 degrees being in the forecast, dare I say SPRING is coming?!

23. For kids who desire to dress themselves. Ahem. So what if the clothes are on inside out and backwards. And that plaids are with polka dots. And that one superhero boot is on with normal clothes. Gotta keep things interesting! :-)

24. For kindles so I can wish to read a book and within 1 minute be reading wise words from wise women (Loving the little years, Moms- read it!!)

25. For a co-worker who kindly took my shift tonight since I am still not well.

26. For playdates in the immediate future and laughter amoung kiddos and Mama friends alike.

27. For his word and an increased desire to read it. Its amazing that once you just.do.it. that you really lose the problem of not wanting to do it, or not finding time.

28. For my sweet Man who just learned his first song. Caught him singing "Jesus loves me" yesterday. Got teary. Yes sir, he sure does.

Wednesday

2011-03-09T06:27:00.000-08:00

marker on the carpet. messy pigtails. hot chocolate slurping. dog whining. snow falling. george in the background. coffee hot. son snuggling. heater chugging. books piled. animals scattered. etch a sketch scribblin. tent hiding.washing machine whirrlin. yawns all around. grace abounding. wednesday.

Keeping Toddlers/Preschoolers busy

2011-03-08T04:37:00.000-08:00

This winter seems like it has lasted 5 years. We are all anxious to get to a park. And soon! Here in MN however, we have more snow coming down this week. Yippee.

Thought I would compile a list of fun things to do for anyone else going stir crazy and for myself on those days when my brain isnt fully engaged and all i can think to do is press play on a movie. again. The ideas come from things I did as a kid, my time working in an ECFE classroom, ideas from fellow Moms, and things we have tried from blogland.

If you have any ideas to add, please comment! I love to hear what other Mamas are littles are doing.

1. Blow bubbles and have a dance party

2. Play dress up

3. Give the baby dolls a bath in a small tub (with a table cloth underneath or in the bathroom)

4. Paint with trucks, trains and cars (picture soon to come)

5. Paint with noodles

6. Dip rubber ducks in paint and create a masterpiece.

7. Hide and go seek

8. Fort building

9. Cook- even the littlest chef at our house likes to mix and play with kitchen utensils.

10. Paint with those kitchen utensils- think potato masher dipped in paint

11. Use whipped cream or shaving cream as a sensory activity

12. Window crayons and markers

13. Read

14. Grab an old spaghetti sauce jar, fill with water, food coloring and fun objects (buttons, bouncy balls, glitter ect.)

15. Use your old egg cartons to make caterpillars, ants, and birds!

16. Make puppets out of socks, your old toilet paper tubes, or brown lunch sacks.

17. Use duck tape to create letter fun

18. Use duck tape to create balance beam lines. Have the kids walk sideways, backwards, or hop down the line!

19. Have a picnic in the living room

20. Pile up some pillows and blankets, pull out the popcorn popper and some snacks and have a movie afternoon.

21. Dye some rice or pasta fun colors. Use a TBSP of white vinegar and then add a few drops of food coloring. Shake up in a gallon sized zip lock-super fun for the kids- and then let dry in the sun or on a paper towel. Use for various art projects.

22. Blow up an air mattress and let the kids be jumpin monkeys

23. Gather some snow in a pail and fill your sink. Give the kids stools and scoops of all kinds and let um at it.

24. Make some hearts or cards with directions on them. Laminate them and put them in a circle. Play some music and have them walk the circle. Like musical chairs, when the music stops, they freeze. Whatever they land on- they must do! (Hop on 1 foot, sing their abc's, do the crab-walk, count to 10, ect)

25. Make marshmallow sculptures. Mini Marshmallow and toothpicks are all they need. See if there are any marshmallows left uneaten, they are irresistible to little ones.

26. Bathtub swimming party! Swim suits, bubbles, and lots of bath toys needed. Food coloring is one of our favorite things for baths. I remember swimming in colorful baths as a kid and my kids ask for colored baths pretty much daily too. (Doesn't dye the skin or the tub, just the water. :-))

27. Make compassion kits- gather some large Ziploc baggies and some supplies (travel toothpaste, shampoo, toothbrushes, socks, hand sanitizer, local fast food gift cards, travel wipes, hats, mittens, little bibles, ect) Have your kids help you put them together and take the opportunity to teach them about serving and have compassion for others. Put them in your car and next time you pull up to someone with a sign- pass them out. (Great idea for a group activity, have each Mom and her children bring all of one item and put your resources together)

28. Practicing sorting- colors, shapes, sizes, ect.

29. Lace. Make your own lacing cards or pick up some Melissa and Doug lacing cards.

30. Games! Some of our favorites include; Hi Ho Cherry-O, Kids Charades, Candyland, Dora and Shrek Memory, and Kids Boggle

31.Make gloop. Mix cornstarch and water. It gets all goopy when they aren't touching it but turns into a putty like substance once they are playing with it. Fun, fun, fun!

32. Pick up a tunnel on the cheap at Ikea and let them crawl through and create their own playland.

33. Kids tents- often on super sale at Target and Walmart. We read in there, it becomes their house, a castle, the possibilities are endless.

34. Puzzles

35. Let the kids "do the dishes" Put out a water table or a large Tupperware bucket and have the kids wash their play dishes and toys. Give washcloths and if you want add antibacterial soap. Fun for the kids and gets those poor neglected slobbered on toys a much needed cleaning!

36. Stuffing activities. Use a empty clear coffee creamer and some craft sticks. Littler ones especially enjoy putting them in and pulling them out. Use a Parmesan cheese container and have kids put pipe cleaners or uncooked spaghetti into the holes.

37. Letter hunt- cut out the clear section on the front of your pasta boxes and glue it to a craft stick. Get really invested and act the part as you hunt for letters. (could be searching for things of a certain color as well)

38. Simon Says

39. Follow the Leader

40. starfall.com

41. Collect scarves and pull them out for fancy dancing.

42. Lego and block building contests

43. Color on the walls- cover your walls with butcher paper and let them at it!

44. Putting away the silverwear. One of Sophias favorite things to do. Helps her to sort and helps me! :-)

45. Washing windows- another one of Sophias most requested house tasks.

46. Sponge play- you can paint with sponges or transfer water from one bowl to another.

47. Listening games. Have the kids close their eyes and guess which sounds you are making. Jingle keys, coins, silverware. Tap on a glass, click your tongue, tap on the window. Whistle, roll a car on the table or open a door.

48. Pillllllllow Fight!

49. Magnetic activities- use your colored rice or pasta and hide things that are magnetic and some that are not. Use a magnetic wand and have the kids fish out what is magnetic and sort.

50. Tea Parties with all the stuffed animals. Get fancy. Make finger foods, and drink lemonade out of tiny cups (or hot chocolate)

1,000 gifts

2011-03-07T09:44:00.001-08:00

13. For provision from God, even when it comes packaged in a way that I would could have never imagined myself.

14. For a sweet girl who asks so many questions that even when I feel my head may explode, cause me to question the important things as well.

15. For my dear friend Michelle and yummy painters mochas from Black Sheep Cafe. Accountability.

16. For our pastor, Steve Lonetti, and his faithfulness to the word and our congregation.

17. For the new class we are a part of and how it causes us to question and reevaluate and ultimately gets us back into the word as we strive to honor God in our marriage and glorify him through what should be a picture of Christ and the church.

18. For fat falling snowflakes that cause me to think of how he washes us white as snow. Undeserved.

10 Points of Joyful Parenting

2011-03-07T09:27:00.000-08:00

In case you haven't been to any of Ann Voskamps blogs, I thought I'd encourage you to check them out! Whoa, huge encouragment. Thoughtful, incredibly well written, word saturated, realistic blogs.

Heres an excerpt from her book that was so helpful to me.

A parenting manifesto of Joy

1. Today, I will make our home a house of prayer. I will pray at set times. And I will invite our children to come move into an interior space that lives with God.

2. Today, I will transfigure all things into beauty, and I will refuse to see anything else.

3. Today, I will not have any emergencies. There are no emergencies! Only amateurs hurry.

4. Today, when stress mounts, I pray to dismount it with gratitude. My stress management plan will be intervention with verbal thanks. I can only feel one feeling at a time, and I choose to give thanks at all times. Fight feeling with feeling!

5. Today, I will pray to speak words that are only STRONG words, words that make these children feel strong. Grace words. Grace is the only non-toxic air. All other words I breathe are death words.

6. Today, I will pray to be consistently consistent. I will create safe rhythms that our children can find security in. I will create daily ceremonies because everyday we are CELEBRATING the gift of now!

7. Today, the moment when I am most repelled by a child's behavior, that is my sign to draw the very closest to that child.

8. Today, I will hug each of my children as many times as I serve them meals -- because children's hearts feed on touch. I'll look for as many opportunities to touch my children today as possible --- the taller they are, the more so.

9. Today, my priorities will be all Things Unseen.

10. Today, I will laugh! And I will let the little children laugh! I will create a culture of JOY!

Classic Cocktail Party

2011-03-07T09:02:00.001-08:00

Our lovely new friends Johanna and Kyle invited us over for a classic cocktail party at their home last week. Everyone dressed in retro digs and the cocktails and hors d'oeuvres were served. Think pigs in a blanket, cream cheese stuffed celery, chips with french onion dip, rainbow jello mold, and a bundt cake! :-) Its a pretty new group of friends and we really enjoyed getting to know each of them! Johanna surely has the gift of hospitality! My photos are taking forever to load, be back to upload them shortly! :-)

Friends

2011-03-07T08:44:00.000-08:00

Our church recently started a young families married and parenting class. It was our third Sunday and we are really enjoying the teaching and fellowship! Great discussions, growing together, accountability, and laughter- what else could you ask for in friendships? This past Friday night our fearless leaders, Doug and Bonnie, had us over for a game night and it was a blast! Everyone got sitters, brought some yummy food and lots of laughter. Thankful for them all. Heres some photos of our evening.

Gratitude and Joy

2011-03-07T08:40:00.000-08:00

"I am more convinced than ever that even in the midst of the mundane, burdensome, and oftentimes frustrating tasks of life allotted to me as a mother, God wants me to find his joy. He wants every single day of my life to be a celebration of his blessings, whether large or small. He wants me to celebrate life ~ the life He has given me.”

~ Sally Clarkson, Seasons of a Mothers Heart

(Loved this quote seen here)

Super Mom vs. Abiding Mom

2011-03-07T06:35:00.001-08:00

1,000 gifts

2011-03-01T12:05:00.000-08:00

I will be starting to chronicle gifts that I have been given in an effort to continually thank God for everything given to me. To produce joy in the tasks of my seemingly mundane everyday life.

1. For the sweetest little boy who greatly enjoys snuggling up with his Mama for more than half of our day.

2. For new friendships (Becky) and play dates with those friends. Thank you Lord for friends who are close by, who love you, and love us.

3. For growing friendships (Em, Johanna, Bonnie, Kelsey and many more) God has blessed me greatly with wonderful women of faith to surround me, encourage me, and uplift me. I pray that I can be a thoughtful, kind and uplifting friend to them.

4. For old friends (Marie, Amanda, Crissy, Tami,Tina) I love that no matter how close or far we live; or how often we see each other, you all seem like sisters to me. We can pick up right where we left off. I pray for you all often.

5. For mail, real life mail. Birthday cards, just because cards, valentines ect. My sweet sister in law and some friends have blessed me recently with cards. This is an area that I personally am weak in, but you guys give me joy at my mailbox and for you, I am thankful.

6. For a husband who stops by the store for milk and comes home with my favorite candy and some new laundry baskets to aid in my killing of the laundry monster. So thoughtful is he.

7. For a sunny, above freezing day.

8. For Ann Voskamp and her blog. http://www.aholyexperience.com/ Seriously, check it out, you will be glad you did.

9. For mocha caramel coffee goodness.

10. For a Mom and Dad who love Christ and love me and my family.

11. For nails and blood. Sacrifice on my behalf. Because without this, I am wretched and hopeless. Without this, I fail. Thank you for everlasting life, for grace.

12. For a women of character. Of hope. Of encouragement. That she is home at last. Whole at last. That her legacy lives on.

What are you thankful for today?

Last time

2011-03-01T11:23:00.001-08:00

I changed our blog name. For the last time. Promise. First we were the Beyer family. Well, we still are the Beyer family, but really I was the only one writing and it wasn't perfect. Then I found a passion for teaching the kids and discovered some lovely blogs along the way. One described what we did every day as Tot school and I wanted to focus on the kids and our daily life. So "Me and My Tator Tots" is what we became.

It still wasn't right. I've pulled back a bit on the uploading of every.single.school picture we take. While I will still document projects, ideas, and fun we have, it wasn't my passion and my heart cry. It wasn't the root of what we do every single day.

I want to live life Praising God, glorifying Him daily, and giving thanks no matter what. In the midst of a foul diaper change. While finding crayons on the wall. When scrubbing behind a toilet that no one will ever notice got cleaned. When battling the laundry monster and never winning. While wiping a nose. As I notice dog urine on my freshly mopped floor. As I get down and look a defiant toddler in the face and run out of the right words. I want to glorify Him. I want me to shrink back and my kids to only see God. I want to point them to Him and only Him. I can't save them. I can only be an instrument in His symphony.

So, as I read my bible this afternoon it came to me. One of my favorite verses, John 3:30 "He must become greater; I must become less.”

Lord, if anyone were to ever take comfort or advice or encouragement in this journal, I pray that you would be that comforter, that you would be where people turn when looking for answers.Thank you for your grace. Help me to live a life that is more of you and less of me.

Going home with great anticipation

2011-02-22T13:19:00.000-08:00

My Great Aunt passed away Saturday night. She had esophagus cancer and it was expected. Very sad for the family but oh marvelous for her to enter into eternity, pain free and whole again. To be with Jesus. I can't imagine.

When my Grandma went to see her a week or so before her passing they went to hug and Fran said to my Grandma "See you in Heaven" Grandma Shirley responded "Ill be right behind you!" The two of them smiled as those around them cried and they told them "This is a happy thing you guys!"

What a fabulous perspective. I'd love to say that I will respond that way when I am ready to enter into eternity. I do look forward to heaven, greatly. But, I feel like part of me will be sad to be leaving those around me. Maybe its my age, but I should be heavenly focused all the time.

If you think of it will you pray for the family with me? The wake is this Friday and funeral this Saturday.

I am so thankful for Fran, my Grandma, Kevin's Grandma and others we have witnessed anticipating heaven joyfully.

"What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”[b]—
the things God has prepared for those who love him"
1 Corinthians 2:9

So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable; it is raised imperishable; It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that, the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

I declare to you brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed - in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with the immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."

"Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?"

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:42-57

School

2011-02-22T13:04:00.000-08:00

I haven't been posting as many pictures of school on the blog because I haven't been taking any. I realized I was often slowing up the process or stopping her creativity to say "say cheeeeese" "show Mommy your paper!!"

I will still have ideas, finished products and some pictures but much less than I was posting.

We are on the H unit for one more day. Our verse is Exodus 20:12 "Honor Your Father
and Mother." The other day she proudly recited it for me as "Abhor your Fadder and Mudder." Lol, I laughed pretty hard. Then I had to explain the big difference between Honor and Abhor.

We made an 'H' house and a little 'h' horse (Yes, we realize most houses are not pink and orange and most horses are not green and yellow, but it was the sturdiest paper we had! :-P) We practiced cutting our verse, talking about how to honor your father and mother, practiced writing h's and had fun hopping.

Favorite new snack

2011-02-22T13:01:00.000-08:00

We are huge popcorn lovers over here. One of our favorite new ways to eat popcorn is thanks to my friend Johanna.

We start by making homemade kettle corn

Pour oil into your pan. Put two kernels in and when the oil is hot enough you will hear your kernels pop and then add in 2/3 cup of your kernels and 2/3 cup of sugar. Shake the entire time popcorn is cooking so as not to let the sugar burn or clump together.

Right after your kettle corn has finished popping pour into a bowl and immediately top with salt, cinnamon, cardamom, and chili powder. Yum!!

Orange Chicken

2011-02-22T12:56:00.001-08:00

Ever since we cut gluten out of my husband and daughters diets, we have greatly missed Chinese food. Most soy sauce has wheat in it and other things, like orange chicken and egg rolls are also deep fried and wheat filled. Last week I scoured the internet and found this fabulous gluten free, baked orange chicken recipe. I modified it a bit and it was a HUGE hit!

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 2" cubes (I used cage free)
1/2 cup flour (or organic rice flour to be GF)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice (I squeezed two fresh oranges in)
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce (I used gf garlic soy sauce)
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon finely minced ginger
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons green onion (didn't have any so I omitted this)
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup water

Heat oven to 350. In a shallow dish combine the flour, garlic powder and pepper. Dip each piece of chicken in flour mixture and coat evenly.

Melt butter and pour into a shallow baking dish, large enough to accommodate chicken in a single layer. Arrange chicken in pan and bake uncovered for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan combine water, fresh orange juice, rice vinegar, soy sauce, orange zest and whisk over medium heat for a few minutes. Then stir in brown sugar, ginger, garlic, and green onion.

After chicken has baked the 30 minutes, turn each piece over and pour 1/2 sauce mixture evenly over chicken. Bake another 30 to 40 minutes basting frequently.

Serve chicken over rice with extra sauce on the side.

Boys Vs. Girls

2011-02-11T14:50:00.000-08:00

I had to laugh. Liam begged to wear one of big sis's princess dresses this week. So I let him. And posted pics to facebook. Yeah. Some people didn't like the sight of that(<3 Dad!). Yes, I know, we need some boys costumes. Later that afternoon I pulled a ton of our manly toys out and put them all together to make up for it. (cars, GI Joes, Legos etc.) This was the result that cracked me up.

Bedtime routines

2011-02-11T14:41:00.002-08:00

What helps your little's go to bed? For us it has ALWAYS been consistency and schedules. We used to do baths EVERY.SINGLE.NIGHT. And for our oldest that worked wonderfully. Its a bit much for our two dry kiddos nowadays. But we still do basically the same thing. Dinner, bath or jammies, Quiet play in their room, bible story/book time, (sometimes guitars worship time with daddy) prayer and bed. We read "Jesus Loves you Most of All" by Noel Piper a lot when Sophia was little and so she still yells "But Jesus loves us most of all!!!" most nights when I am walking out saying "Mommy loves you, and daddy loves you..."

We changed their room around this week and put her bed near the window. I really like it and window crayons which allow her to look at her favorite bedtime verse nightly. It says "I lay down and sleep in peace, Lord, only you keep me safe."

I love to hear the sweet sayings, verses, or routines friends have with their kiddos. So, whats yours?

Its almost Valentines Day!

2011-02-11T13:59:00.001-08:00

Its been a pretty laid back week over here. We have played our hearts out, gone to the Library, worked on Valentines day crafts, reorganized the kids room, and reviewed letters and verses. I caught the kids reading together in Sophie's bed several times and it was way too cute to pass up a picture(I know, I know, I never pass up any picture opportunities....)

We also made some fake snow for the kiddos to play in by cutting open a diaper and then pulling out all the stuffing. I asked Soph how much water she thought the snow would hold and after her original answer of "Ummmm a lot??" She guesstimated 4 cups. It held a bit more than that ( I didn't really know when to count that it had stopped soaking in. :-)) Idea for the diaper snow and heart valentines found here.

We had a bit of a "If you give a cat a cupcake" theme since Sophie has been really into the "If you" books and I found these cute printables for some additional fun. We made some grape scented playdoh and used it to make "cupcakes" in some cute spring looking cupcake liners we had and put candles in them. All of us had birthdays this week!

My Birthday

2011-02-05T18:22:00.000-08:00

The big 28 is coming up.

How dorky is this:: I want a laminator for my birthday. Lol. My good friend Marie would probably tell me to plug my nose while I say it.

Oh how things change.....:-)

Verse Review Video

2011-02-04T11:00:00.000-08:00

We have had three weeks of verses so I decided to do a review so she doesn't forget past weeks. Here she is saying her hidden verses up until now.

Valentines day Crafts

2011-02-04T10:22:00.000-08:00

I planned on starting all of our valentines day crafts, cards, and decorations next week but couldn't wait. (Whats new...)

We made a cute kissing bird valentine for someone we love (shhhh don't tell, you never know who its for! :-))

We also made our love vase. I found these printouts here. The hearts each have love qualities on them from 1 Corinthians 13. We put ours in a heart shaped vase and on green pipe cleaners. It gave us a really good chance to talk about what love is and what love is not. Sweet girl asked me "If I am doing something sinful or unloving then we can come look at these again Mom and I can work on hiding them in my heart!!" So sweet.

Those heart shaped erasers are also coming in handy for love/valentine days activities. Here we worked on counting them!

I have lots more ideas packed away for next week- will make another post then. I am thinking of just talking about biblical love and having fun all next week and postponing the next RRSP unit until the following week.

Exodus 20:15

2011-02-04T09:39:00.001-08:00

We started working on our 'T' unit this week. Our verse was exodus 20:15 "Thou shall not steal" and we also talked about tigers, trains, and turtles.

We started by painting the trains that we received in our gift bags from our friend Maiya's birthday party! Sophia started asking the minute we got home from the party to paint them and its been a long two weeks until we actually did! I knew the T unit was coming up and so we held off for a few weeks. Anticipation for school stuff is good! :-) So of course this was the first thing on our agenda the minute I mentioned it was 'T' week!

She really enjoyed learning about the verse and learning what not stealing really meant. In our "ABC Bible Verse" Book we read about a little girl stealing flowers from a neighbor. Soph was convinced that she had NEVER stolen anything in her life. We had to really go into depth about what stealing was. She has since given a few toys back to her brother with wide eyes saying "I just stole this Mommy!" Its pretty neat to watch when your kids start really hiding Gods' word in their hearts and applying it to their daily life.

I found the pack of heart erasers at Target dollar spot and they have come in handy from counting turtles to sorting by size/shape/color.

Her scissor work is improving when cutting her verse out but it is still a source of frustration for her. Need to include more activities to help her improve and gain confidence in this area. Any suggestions on activities that will help?

Resources found at::

href="http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/RaisingRockStarsPreschool.html "
target="_blank">src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv250/carisafrank/RRSP150x150.jpg"/>

L Unit Wrap Up!

2011-02-04T09:26:00.000-08:00

We sorted ladybugs by size, practiced writing L's on our chalkboard with q-tips and water, used our L playdoh mat, hunted for big and little L's, and had lots and lots of fun! :-)

Best Chocolate Chip Cookie bars known to Man

2011-02-01T13:08:00.000-08:00

No, seriously. They are the best chocolate chip cookie bars ever.And Im not just talking gluten free. In a very gluten filled world, these would take a prize! I got the recipe from another blogger and she has both the vegan and gluten free recipes on there. I used the gluten free version and turned them into bars. I'm the only one who has tried them so far but I'm sure my family will chow them down once they are up from nap and home from work. (If I don't before that)

If you and your family eat a gluten free diet, you know that baked goods are hard to come by. They are mostly dry, metallic tasting, gritty and gross! Give these a try, I'm guessing you have missed a good cookie!

http://silkiecook.blogspot.com/2010/03/vegan-double-chocolate-chip-cookie-with.html

(Oh and the only thing I omitted was the cocoa powder- I just forgot it! :-))

Lists

2011-01-26T07:27:00.000-08:00

Things I am happy about::

-A trip to IKEA today, its been a while, and though I can't spend much, its a fun place to go with the kids. (not to mention some awesome friends are meeting us there)

-A baby shower for a fabulous friend tomorrow night. Need to pick up one more game prize today at IKEA.

-Our Gather around the table group on Saturday. It will be a nice time of fellowship and getting to know some new people and our pastors better.

-Womens Fellowship tonight! Seriously, one of my favorite nights of the month. I learn so much from these women. We are reading "12 extraordinary Women of the Bible" by John MacArthur. Its been a great book and this week we are discussing Mary.

Things I am praying about::

-Our friend Alex had a stroke on Saturday night. He is 26. He is ok but it will be a long road of recovery for him. His caringbridge is here::http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/alexwhitworth

-My cousin is on bedrest. She is 26 weeks along and her placenta is sitting right on top of her cervix. This could mean early labor and that would NOT be good. Praying that her placenta moves before her next u/s and that they would figure out how to do bedrest with a busy 14 month old at home.

-For wisdom, patience, and organization for myself. In the area of parenting and homemaking.

-That my family (Kev and kids) would once and for all get rid of this cold and be back to their happy selves!

Thing I am working on::

-my organizational binder. I started a binder this past weekend. It has a schedule for me, my goals for the kids this winter/spring, our weekly goals and schedule and every printable I would need for that week. I am planning on doing two weeks at a time. Right now I have this weeks L unit and next weeks T unit. I plan on printing things only on the weekends now. Every other weekend I will sit down and print, plan and reevaluate how everything is working.

-A big compiled list of all the meals I make. This will make it easier for me to pick from when I do menu planning.

-A year bible study online. Check out youversion.com.

-"A word filled Family" by Dr. John Barnett.

- Losing weight. A knowledgeable friend agreed to be my "Jillian" and keep me accountable and whip me into shape. Upcoming goals are 10 year hs reunion and my 5 year anniversary.

Things I am keeping my out for::

- A new couch/ love seat/ chaise

- A white board

- ABC cookie cutters

Gluten free Easy Pot Pie

2011-01-20T14:10:00.002-08:00

My cousin Heather gave me this recipe and I modified it to make it gluten free and we absolutely LOVE it! We gobble it all up in one meal and my husband requested last night after he realized there were no leftovers that I double the batch or make two next time. Its so yummy! :-) And very easy. I based it off this recipe.

I start by boiling my chicken. Its quick, easy and falls right apart after a 20 minutes or so. Then I shred it.

Put it in a casserole dish. While the chicken is cooking I make a homemade cream of chicken sauce. I use a bit of butter, cornstarch, cream, garlic, salt and pepper, and chicken stock. I mix the chicken, sauce and loads of veggies. Then I mix up the egg, milk and gluten free Bisquick and pour over top. Definitely a winter comfort meal that my family goes wild for!

Brown Bear Fun

2011-01-20T09:08:00.000-08:00

My kids ADORE Brown Bear. Thats an understatement actually. Its one of our most worn in books and both kids can recite it. Sophia has it memorized and Liam knows a lot of it. It has a lot of our sight word for the week which is "See" So we read it and did the corresponding tot book found here.

Sophia worked on sorting by size. Matching heads and tails. Counting. ABC's. Colors. She really enjoyed it! And it helped enforce our sight word of the week.

Flashcard Games

2011-01-20T09:00:00.000-08:00

Sophia loved pulling out the flashcards and playing a matching game with them. I lined up the big letters and had her match the little letters. She kept asking where I got this new game and thanking me. So funny, we have had the flashcards forever but usually just use them for letter bingo. When we play letter bingo I spell her name or another word she knows well and then show the flashcards. If it matches a letter on her paper she crosses it off. Once her whole name or word is crossed off she yells Bingo and gets a sticker. Trying to brainstorm more fun flashcard games. Do you have any that you like to play?

RRSP L Unit

2011-01-20T08:47:00.000-08:00

We started the L unit on Tuesday. I am figuring out that it takes Sophia about a week and a half or so to finish a unit. I'd rather spread it out and have her still enjoy it than force her to sit when she "needs a break Mom!!"

We made these cute ladybug snacks that I saw on here

I brought out Lions that I got here and let the kids sponge paint on a plate to make fun 'L' masks. Sophia loved wearing hers and walking around roaring. Little teething Liam wanted nothing to do with wearing it and I felt so badly because I was trying to put it on him and he slammed his face on the ground and got a bloody lip. Mommy fail. :-( He did like painting it.

Heres a little video of her saying her verse and painting.

RRSP A unit part 2

2011-01-20T08:27:00.000-08:00

I had mentioned a few posts back that we were doing the Raising Rock Stars Preschool and casually started the A unit that I had printed before our book came. Amazingly, our book showed up early, half way through the week! Heres some more of what we did. She got pretty good at writing A's!

We found this A astronaut unit here and decided to add that in too since my little Princess tells everyone that after she is a doctor that shes going to be an astronaut and, "Don't worry Mom, everyone can come in my rocket, Ill have lots of beds!" We kept a lot of the pages and when we get back to the full A lesson I will bring the rest out.

I figured since we did this with a wreath, why not an apple! We also ate lots of apples and ant on a log!

Clothespin wheels

2011-01-11T06:58:00.001-08:00

We printed off the Color wheel, Shape Wheel and ABC Wheel that I found on 1+1+1+1. I pulled out the ABC clothespin wheel and it was harder than I thought it would be for Sophia. This is a good thing! :-) She has so many activities that she is a pro at, that its a good thing when I find an activity that uses the skills she needs to work on! For this reason we got about 9 letters on her first time and then took a break and we moved onto the color wheel. She flew threw that! We will be going back to the clothespin wheel today! It challenged her letter recognition and fine motor. Getting the clothespins open was hard for her. She did giggle as she called them alligators eating the letters. Maybe I'll make some green with teeth??:-)

We also worked on stringing fruit loops with patterns. We did one with two colors and then with three colors. She really enjoyed that!

I also have this tin and put some scrapbook letters in it. While I was setting up one of the activities I let her pull out the letters and make piles. Left side was letters she knew and right was the I need to work on pile.

She did that while I finished creating the winter counting sheets. My wonderful Mother in Law brought over a huge bag of scrapbook scraps, a circle punch and a snowflake punch and some other great additions to our school room! I used the punches to create a winter counting activity. I printed the numbers 1-5 onto paper and let her count out snowmen and snowflakes to match. She could use all of one or mix and match. She stuck with one, my little orderly lady! :-)

Sophia RRSP

2011-01-11T06:52:00.000-08:00

We went looking for the Susan Hunt My ABC Verses last week (we being my Mom, thanks Mom!:-)) and had to order it online. Free shipping equals pushing the official date of starting (with the letter L) to next week! I already had printed out the A unit and then found out the verse matched our verse of the week at church! So I decided to go ahead and do this unit casually and then will do the big full start next week.

Proverbs 15:1
A soft answer turns away wrath

We talked a lot about our words of the week and what kind of words Jesus would use or be pleased with us using. Then we cut and paste them together on this work sheet. We did some role playing and I was happy that Sophia seemed to get it!

Liam

2011-01-10T12:18:00.000-08:00

Since we have a theme of green this week Liam sorted some green stuff into our new muffin tins; here he sorted green pom-poms, green pony beads, and green fruit loops. He also started "beading" for the first time. I had him put fruit loops onto pipe cleaner and although he did need my assistance, he really enjoyed himself and looked quite proud. One of his new phrases is "good job!" and he said it A LOT! LOL

Some of the skills he used were sorting and this really helped with his fine motor skills. Picking up those pony beads was challenging to his little fingers. He also is learning/working on his colors. I would recommend only putting in 3 things to sort so they don't get overwhelmed at this age (14.5 months)

Winter sensory bin

2011-01-07T12:26:00.000-08:00

I started our first ever sensory bin this week! We didnt have any clear bins that weren't already being used so I used a wooden box that the kids got for Christmas that had math blocks in it. We moved the blocks to very large clear bin since there were two sets and these were sitting around just waiting!
Wasn't sure exactly what I would muster up to put in but the few things I did have to put in were a hit!
I found a few boxes of window plastic for winter time that never really were functional so I used that for a base and also threw in:: White and blue pom poms, a snowman globe, some glittery pipe cleaners(which you can see make fabulous mustaches :-)) , blue and white feathers, and a snowman figurine. Ill most likely add some snowflakes of some sort at some point here but for now the concept was new and fresh and the kids had a good 15 minutes of exploration. :-)

Planning

2011-01-07T12:08:00.000-08:00

Just printed off 21 pages for next week! Love having my ink cartridges back!! Starting next week we are moving from random teaching to more intentional teaching with Sophia. We have a lot of fun doing the random crafts and projects that we do but I'd like to focus more on scripture learning, character building, abc recognition, and number recognition. Along side some other skills areas that need growth; scissor use, and handwriting/drawing.

I found the perfect package to use. Its called Raising Rock Stars and the name is taken from two different verses;
Philippians 2:15
so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.

Matthew 7:34
Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

You can read more about the program here.

The only thing I can't decide is if I will start at her unit one which is the letter L or just start with A... there is a method to why she creates the units in that way. She wants her kids to learn to write each letter so L is a very easy word to start with. Of course, I printed the A unit this morning but think I will be back to the printer before Monday to print out the L packet. I'll need them both anyhow. :-)

I will continue on with Tot school for Liam. They have so many cool packages and lapbook ideas for him but hes just a little young yet and my thought of the day is that I don't want to wish away any of my childrens developmental stages because I am so busy anticipating the one to come. So he and I will just have fun doing what we have been doing. :-) He is so much fun and learning so quickly at 14 months! I thought he only knew 3 or 4 animal noises and started teaching them more intentionally yesterday only to realize he knows dog, cat, sheep, monkey, fish, squirrel, cow, duck, Lion, tiger, bear turkey, dinosaur, and bird already! So I guess we move on to horse, owl, and elephant! Also cracking me up from smarty pants is the fact that now when we say, "Liam, count" He veryquickly says "one, two, free!"

So thats whats on our plates starting next week! Keep checking back for some (hopefully) more organized teaching and learning photos! :-)

Our week

2011-01-07T11:57:00.000-08:00

I am a homebody. I love to be home with the kids working on this stuff. I love my friends and other family, but there is something so wonderful when you have tiny ones to be close to everything you may need and beds for nappers. Getting out 1-2 times during the week is enough for us! :-)(We do LOVE visitors)

Heres a few more of the things we have been up to this week! We had a bit of a "The Very Hungry Catipillar" theme that we saw here. I didnt do all that they have but just took a few ideas since we just got the book (thanks Mom! :-))

Sophia has also been sorting pom poms in a veggie tray. She is using a pretend pair of plyers here but has been using the ice bucket tongs to help her with fine motor. Liam isn't the best helper since he puts them in no order, but if they are sitting together having fun, I'm not stopping them!!

We also picked up some sponges this week and as you can see in a previous post did some sponge water tissue paper art. Then we took two bowls, put water in one and had her use the sponge to transfer water from one bowl to the empty bowl. Once it was full and the original empty she wanted to do it again! So easily entertained. This was a hit and we will do it again.

Names?

2011-01-06T17:34:00.000-08:00

Do you use your childrens real names on your blog? I had until my Tot school post a few days ago. It seemed so odd to use fake names. I'm back to their real names already. So, if you don't reveal their identity, why? Should I not?

Adventurous edible art!

2011-01-06T17:14:00.000-08:00

Today was all about edible art. We started by having a friend over and making mini marshmallow hearts. Unfortunately my pictures disappeared on my phone so all I have are the finished product pics. I really need to start using the real camera more, we actually have a very nice camera! If you notice a few of my pics look much better than the rest, that is why.

Anyhow, we had the girls first sort the pink hearts out of the pack (It was a 4 pack, multi flavored, and yes, I did have more marshmallows eaten than crafted from my tiny marshmallow monsters....:-) ) Then they put glue around the edge of the heart and stuck the little mallows on. Later this evening our little scavenger did eat half of the marshmallows (and the glue) and we narrowly avoided a meltdown when big sister saw what he did -thankfully this is a QUICK craft to redo.

This afternoon we moved on to edible paint. I used pumpkin and apple baby food for Liam to paint with. I am always worried about him eating paint and no matter how much supervision I provide, he still trys, so I was so excited to see this idea here. For Sophia I took "whupped cream" and added a few drops of food coloring and let her finger paint with that. The kids both had a blast! One tip is to make sure to tape their paper down before letting them start.

These are nothing to hang on the fridge, lookwise, but fun! So have fun, take a pic when your done and let them get messy!

Menu Plan

2011-01-05T13:25:00.000-08:00

Trying to get some sort of Menu Plan going and I figured here was as good a place as any to write it down!

Wednesday:: Buffalo Chicken Mini Burgers, salad, sweet potatoes
Thursday:: Tortilla Soup with toasty bread
Friday:: Party- we will bring a gf dessert (undecided)
Saturday:: Gf pizzas
Sunday:: Crockpot Bacon and Cheese Chicken
Monday:: Creamy Tomato topped chicken with rice and green beans with almonds
Tuesday:: Beef Stroganauff with salad

Buffalo Chicken Mini Burgers

2011-01-05T12:52:00.001-08:00

We are making these again and thought they were good enough that I should share the recipe!

Dice 1 celery stalk finely
Dice 1 onion finely

Add in a bowl together

Chop one handful of fresh parsley and add to bowl
mix in 1 egg and 1 lb of ground chicken
Add sea salt and pepper to taste
Add 1 Tbsp of Tapioca flour to help mold together (you probably could use regular flour, this just happens to be a gluten free recipe)

Mix will still be soft
In a skillet that has hot EVOO and hot EV coconut oil put in mini burgers. I did about 2 TBSP worth of meat together. Mixture made about 18 mini burgers.
Top with Franks red hot sauce

We ate them with lettuce surrounding them and just plain. So good!

I think tonight we will pair them with salad and maybe sweet potatoes?

Tot School

2011-01-03T18:50:00.000-08:00

While sitting around trying to recuperate from this KILLER cold, I have found some blogs that I have fallen in love with. They pretty much put a name and much more organized picture of what I have been doing with the kids. So I am going to link up and join "Tot school" and use some of the BRILLIANT ideas these women have posted! Check out Carissas blog to see more. From there you can link up with some other fantastic blogs, like Totally Tots and homeschool creations as well as one of my favorites Delightful Learning. Theres a lot more that you can find and get lost in.

We have been out of printer ink so I haven't been able to print out some things that will allow me to use a theme and lessons. Therefore today we just did some fun random things and will try a unit next week. So here was today's random Tator Tot School at our place.

We made a homemade skeeball game for girlie spud. This gave me the chance to give her several directions at once, "Pick up the green ball, take three steps back and put it into the number 2 hole."

This morning we did some tissue paper painting. We used some leftover tissue paper we had gotten in some birthday and Christmas gifts. Then we got a sponge wet and painted the peices onto the paper. Little spuds Man needed more help holding the pieces down while he sponged it. Girlie was able to figure it out pretty quickly.

We also have been collecting some bottles, caps, buttons, egg cartons ect from family and this morning we used a Nesquick bottle to play a sorting/stuffing game. It was mainly for Spuds Man but Big girl felt the need to help. He had a blast! He became a bit frustrated at first when things were too big but after a while would throw them to the wayside and find more to stuff in. By far his favorite part was dumping out everything once he was satisfied with its fullness and starting again. What a boy.

The buttons you see are from girlie and a random triangle that appeared. She spotted it and excitedly exclaimed "Mom! Its a button triangle!" I was proud of her shape recognition and so we worked on doing some more. I wanted to get to a rectangle and oval or diamond but she got distracted by some math blocks Grandma got them for Christmas.

2011 Wants

2011-01-02T17:19:00.000-08:00

I am sitting on in the recliner sick as a dog and trying to do as much as I can from this spot. I am reading tons of blogs about tots and preschoolers and doing school for them. So many FABULOUS ideas. Very inspiring. (last week when reading some I was feeling let down, like, I could never do that! I could never be that organized!) this week I put on my optimistic thinking cap and am taking it all as inspiration. I am wanting to ramp up our school room and thinking of activities to have ready ahead of time.

So for my own purposes here is a list of things I want to pick up:
A sensory table
Bean bags
Velco
Dot Painters
IKEAS fun shaped ice cube trays
Some of the bins that stack with little drawers to have drawer activities for both kids
the magnetic puzzle for Liam from Target- Doug and Melissa
White Board
Push Pins
Contact Paper
Cotton balls
The Book shelves like they have in classrooms
A few more little wooden chairs- found some on craigslist
Black and White ink cartridge

Husband just came home with::
Clothes pins
A Clearance Easel with white and chalkboard
Mini Muffin tins
Sponges
Coffee Filters
Color cartridge
Sister in law picked up some BOGO Foam paper to share! <3 Thanks Stephie!

I picked up::
Beans- large for counters
Beans- lentil for crafts

Fun with Egg Cartons

2010-12-30T12:35:00.000-08:00

I have been asking people to collect egg cartons and other various household items for me (bottle caps is another we are trying to get a ton of) and some family members donated some empty cartons to us at Christmas time so we have spend the morning working on some egg carton creations. I got most of the ideas from http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/ (my new favorite blog!) It was Liams first time painting! Up until now I had been worried about him eating the brush or something. He did really well! He was a little more interested in painting the table after about 2 minutes on the project but all in all, not bad for a 14 month old. :-)

A few recommendations for you:: For the caterpillars (affectionately named Charlie and Kaity after one of our favorite books "Charlie the Caterpillar") I would leave the carton together while painting for the ease of the little ones and cut it afterwards. I would make sure you have nice sharp scissors. Also, I wished I would have cut the holes for the ant legs before painting. My cartons seemed a little soggy and I wished they'd have been firmer for easier cutting. I want to still get some string or something to hang the birds. I have also seen the bird eyes used on an old oatmeal carton to make monster looking faces and may do that when we finish off our oatmeal.

Too much work

2010-12-21T08:31:00.001-08:00

We decided to make a handprint wreath this week. Yikes! That was a lot of cutting for Mommy! While its cute, I don't think I'd make it again. Sophia got bored after I traced her hands even though she was helping glue on the paper plate. With all the crafts we do, some are bound to fail! I much preferred the tearing paper wreath we made a few weeks ago!

TP Octupus'

2010-12-21T08:29:00.001-08:00

This was a quick and easy craft we saw on the notimeforflashcards.com site. We cut a tp tube in half. Covered it in construction paper and cut the legs. Then we added googly eyes and a smile. Sophia did the gluing and the cutting (great fine motor!) We talked about tentacles and where octupus' live.

Bear

2010-12-21T08:23:00.000-08:00

I have always been one who thinks some dogs are cute, but not really wanting one in my home. I am very picky about what I think is cute. Kevin and I have pretty different taste in dogs as well.

I knew Kev and the kids both were really wanting a dog. Then I got my hairs cut on Friday from a friend. I knew she had bought a dog this summer and asked how it was going. Not so well, she said. The dog is 6 months old and she lives in a little apartment. She also works long hours and was feeling bad that she wasn't home often enough for him. She asked if we knew anyone interested in finding Bear a good home. He is a Pomeranian and chihuahua mix. Kevin LOVES Pomeranian. So I called him. Sunday we went to meet Bear and ended up driving home with him.

He is a great fit for our family. Almost NEVER barks (I've heard him bark 2 times in the few days he has been here) He is playful and crazy and snuggly and sweet all at once. He sleeps well in his own bed in his own room without crying (he had been crying for her lots, so he ended up sleeping with her) He is getting better about pottying outside.

He is kind to the kids and they really like him!

Win Rosetta Stone!

2010-12-13T07:05:00.000-08:00

Other Such Happenings is giving away a whole Level 1 Language Program! What an awesome deal. Head on over and check out the deal!! :-)

***
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By helping us spread the word you can win a Rosetta Stone Homeschool Edition Level 1 program, language of your choice, valued at $249.

This is a computer based curriculum and Rosetta Stone will also include a headset with microphone, and a supplementary “Audio Companion” CD so you can practice lessons in the car, on the go, or where-ever!

Students participate in life-like conversations and actually produce language to advance through the program. Rosetta Stone incorporates listening, reading, grammar, vocabulary and writing along with speaking and pronunciation lessons. For parents, the new Parent Administrative Tools are integrated into the program to allow parents to easily enroll up to ten students in any of 12 predetermined lesson plans, monitor student progress, grade completed work (the program grades the work automatically as the students progress), and you can view and print reports for transcripts. Homeschooling a lot of kids at your house? This program is designed to enroll and track up to ten students (five users on two computers) and will work for nearly all ages — from beginning readers up to college students.

To win this program, copy these paragraphs and post them in (or as) your next blog post, and/OR post about this contest on your facebook page. Then go to the original page at
http://www.othersuchhappenings.com/2010/12/rosetta-stone-giveaway-yay.html
and leave a comment saying that you’ve posted about, or have linked to, the contest. Please make sure the link works to get back to the original contest page when you post, and good luck!

Random crafts

2010-12-10T13:44:00.000-08:00

We recently made an Advent chain::countdown to Jesus' birthday after seeing our great friends Amanda and Addie over at @walkbyfaith post their pictures. Thanks for the idea, friends!

Also made some fun and easy stick people that we love (we will add more, but our printer ran out of ink)

You can see a reindeer near our stick people. We used Sophias hands to make antlers and glued it onto a brown felt triangle and then added googly eyes and a red nose. Fun, easy and quick!

One project we tried was a flop! Well, mostly. I let S paint snow. I heard it was fun and cool to watch it melt into colorful puddles (on a pizza/cookie pan) Mostly it was tricky, cold and then Liam got into it when I forgot to put it away and after S alerting me I found green speckles EVERYWHERE in the kids room. Yikes. Luckily most of them came out. I should have taken a picture. But I was frantic when I saw it so I didn't stop. :-)

Bachmanns Idea house

2010-12-10T13:29:00.000-08:00

I went to Bachmanns Idea house with some of the ladies in my family this past weekend. The junk Moms have helped them out so everything is re purposed antique/ vintage/ thrift. I LOVED it! Got lots of good ideas.

A few things I loved::

I think I actually will attempt the calendar made with scrap booking paper and plexiglass and the bent spoon/fork/knife apron holders.

I highly recommend you take a walk through their idea house, its $5 and a lot of fun!

Blowing your budget

2010-12-10T13:20:00.000-08:00

I got to go out grocery shopping by myself last night! Sophia was going to join me but decided she would "Miss the boys tooooo much!" so she stayed back with them. Funny the things we get excited about as parents. Time alone!!?? At the grocery store?! So much fun. :-)

However, at the end of EVERY grocery trip lately I come home feeling like a failure of a Wife. I have gone over budget the last five times I have gone out. I try so hard to stick to my budget. I don't buy frivalous snacks. I make a LOT from scratch. I didn't buy the grass fed beef last night because of the incredible price difference and wanting to honor my husbands wishes to stay under a certain amount. I put back a few things that only I could eat (filled with gluten) And yet, I went over. By $34. I even had coupons. I never have coupons. Maybe I thought the coupons would add up to more savings? This just isn't a skill area for me. Kevin is a GREAT shopper. At any point in our shopping trip he can tell you, almost to the penny, what your total is. Its amazing, really. But, by the time he comes home from work the last thing he wants to do is go back out again. So, I end up being the primary grocery shopper in our house. Also, since I am doing the brunt of the cooking (although, again, Kevin is the better chef) it helps for me to know what to get. I have done the most research on gluten free options and so that is another reason I go.

I asked on facebook for suggestions from people on not blowing your budget. Got lots of good responses and helpful hints. When I went to look at some of the blog sites I realized that we actually spend WAY less than a lot of families with 4. There was a site that claimed to help people by providing a weekly menu and shopping list with sale items from certain stores. Great idea! Great site. Backed by Dave Ramsey. But when I looked at their regular options and gluten free plans I realized I spend WAY less than their schedules so pay $5/month to get the plan really isn't worth it for us.

So, how do you keep your grocery costs down? Do you coupon? How do you do that without it eating up a bunch of time? Where do you shop? What is your budget? Do you stick firmly to it?

Letter Jumping

2010-12-10T13:15:00.000-08:00

This morning we made duct tape squares with letters in each and played some fun learning games with Sophia. First I just asked Sophia to quickly find a letter and jump on it. That was fun. Then I asked her to try and think of some things that started with those letters while jumping on them. Then we did some fun silly spelling of her name. Quick the 'A' 'N' and then quick back to the 'A'!

I let her direct me then to find the letter my name started with or whatever letter she wanted. I find that anytime she starts to get tired of a game or activity if I get more involved at the level she is and let her direct me a bit she gets much more into it and I can keep her interested much longer.

Letters Index

2010-12-08T12:18:00.001-08:00

Two of the things we are working on is scissor use and letter recognition so I started a box of index cards for this purpose. We pick our letter of the day and I have Sophia look through a magazine with me and we try to find the letters themselves or things that start with said letters. Today was our first day and so, of course, we started with A! It was pretty easy for her to find the A's (first letter of her first name so we work on it lots!) but she needed some encouragement with finding things that start with that letter. I give options like "Do you thing that girls Nose starts with A? Lets sound it out, how bout' her arms?" She could usually pick out which matched the correct sound. I let her cut and use a glue stick to stick them on. Can't decide if I want to move onto B tomorrow or do another A card, we will see if she can remember why we put the pictures on and the sound A makes tomorrow and go from there! :-)

Texture play

2010-12-08T12:10:00.000-08:00

We did a few different texture play activities today. First we emptied a noodle box (see I spy post to see what we did with the box then) and we put the noodles into a bowl. I gave both of the kids different sized measuring spoons and we practiced moving them from one bowl to the other, feeling and sorting by color (we used tri-colored noodles)

Then, thanks to the recommendation of my friend Marieke from church, we took out a cookie sheet and filled it with flour. I let Sophia practice writing her letters into the flour. We only worked on 5-10 but that was plenty for today. She had fun but started getting a little frustrated by the end of the newer letters and went back to "just doing O, Mommy" Liam kept trying to get his grubby little fingers in too, so I gave him a paintbrush and let him swoosh some flour around the table with that. It was messy but we have some mats under the kids table so that helped for cleanup.

I Spy

2010-12-08T11:55:00.000-08:00

Here is an idea for fun and easy way that we practiced letter recognition today. We took a pasta box that had a clear front in it and cut it out. Then we glued that onto a Popsicle stick.

I walked around the room with Sophia and got my cheesiest voice out so we could pretend we were spies on a letter hunt. She ended up calling it her "Super letter spying tool" I let her either find the letter we were searching for itself or something that started with that letter. Even Little Man got giggly and enjoyed himself with us. He was walking around copying big sister and saying 'Ba, ba, Ballll!" or whatever letter sounds she was making.

Blonde Moments

2010-12-08T08:34:00.000-08:00

Its cold today. Really cold. Like -4 wind chill.

Wind chill. Just learned thats what it was called last year, at the age of 27. Thats right, for 27 years I thought it was called Wind Shield. Yup. Wow.

Still call it that in my head....:-)

Advent/ Devotionals

2010-12-03T07:56:00.001-08:00

How does your family do devotions together? We wondered for a long time what family devotions looked like. How do you start? What do you do with little ones? How do we best teach our kids the word alongside us and keep their attention....I had picked up the book Word Filled Familes while visiting some friends in California and visiting the awesome church and library at Grace Community Church this fall. It gave Kevin and I good starting place for the two of us and we also started the devotional "Tying the Knot Tighter" together as well.

In mid November we finally just went for it with the kids! :-) We bring the kids little chairs and have them sit with their guitars and bibles. From mid November until Thanksgiving we read Psalms 23 and then did some worship songs with Kev leading on guitar. Then starting after Thanksgiving we bought a Nativity set (the Fischer price one has been on sale for $13.99 @ Target) and started reading the Christmas story out of Luke before worship. We sing away in a Manager, one hymn, and then whatever other Christmas or worship songs the kids are asking for.

I know that kids are sponges but it still shocks me how much of the Luke passage Sophia already has memorized. She asks immediately after dinner now for the bible and singing which is really nice. Liam will stay in the chair for half of the time on a good night. I try to keep him on my lap if he will let me, but sometimes we just let him wander in their room while we do this.

I thought about printing out something for Advent, I know there was a free Jessee tree advent reading people were talking about, I looked at it, and thought it didn't meet our families needs this year so we are sticking with our schedule. After Christmas I am going to be on the lookout for a discounted Advent calendar.

I have no idea what passage we will move to after Christmas....

So, what does your family do? We'd love to hear your ideas?

Photobooth Friday

2010-12-03T07:43:00.000-08:00

I just love my family. Sophia just said, "Mommy we are really blessed to have a warm house, a good Mommy and a good Daddy AND Liam! " It melted my heart to hear her say that. And she is right, we are blessed. Here are some recent photos, the pj photos are today, I declared a pj/cocoa/snowday here. A day to just be lazy and cozy and do laundry and be ok with it. Back to school stuff/cleaning ect on Monday. :-)

Another thing I love about the photos is it shows what pals Liam and Sophia are.

Intervenor- what???

2010-12-01T18:52:00.000-08:00

I get a lot of questions when I tell people my profession. I am an Intervenor. I work with individuals who are Deafblind. Here are a few videos that may help. :-)

Chrismas pics

2010-12-01T18:33:00.000-08:00

So we still would like to get one of our uber talented friends to take our Christmas card pictures but we do have some (see title pic above) from a day at my Grandmas. We were there to take pics of my Grandma with her Great Grandkids. Here are some of the pictures from the day

Our classroom

2010-12-01T13:40:00.000-08:00

We have found some great uses for egg cartons and old baby food jars! Now we are on the hunt for more jars of different sizes to help us organize and work on fine motor and sorting skills! Have any great ideas, share them here

Egg carton activities have included sorting by color, shape, or size. Also math/number work of getting the correct number of "things" into the right hole.

Baby jars/mason jars are currently holding:: button assortment, googly eyes, cord, colored Popsicle sticks, glitter starts and sparkles, feathers, and pom poms.

Different activities pictured below: 'A' apple art, cut an apple in half and paint with it! Wreath making- tearing paper is fun and great for fine motor skills. Number match game somehow makes numbers fun and accessible for Sophie, I want to get them laminated and have a few sets for when friends come over and can make it a game. Rhyming worksheet was easier for her than I anticipated. Circling shapes by sizes was enjoyable but too quick. The leaves on the ceiling was our project in the month of November, we each wrote things we were thankful for daily on the leaves and then attached them to the ceiling until Thanksgiving came. I am thinking of either stringing them together to keep or putting them into a small memory book.

Here we go

2010-12-01T10:34:00.001-08:00

Its been over a year since we updated, and boy has it been a busy one. I've toyed with the idea of changing the name of our blog to fit with our family more but haven't decided on a name yet. Something about our gluten free challenges in the last 6+ months. Or something about the great home-school debates, discussions, and decisions happening over here.

We figured out last Spring that Kevin and Soph can't eat gluten. It seemed like an impossible challenge for me. E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G has gluten in it. But with a whole lot of research, advice from friends, and too many hours lost in gluten guru's blogs, we have figured it out (I think...)! We have experimented and had some awesome discoveries and gigantic mistakes along the way. More on these and our favorite products soon. Many thanks to family and friends who have helped us make this transition. It has made us much more aware about our health and what we are putting into our bodies. We tend to shop on the perimeter of the grocery store now (like we should have been all along) and avoid the middle as much as possible. We have grown to love Fresh and Natural in Hudson, Taylor Made in Woodbury, and Whole Foods in St. Paul, and Cub Foods in WSP, for their nice selections of healthy food. We also recently switched to eating grass fed beef and organic fruits and veggies as much as possible. Free Range chicken is our next switch. It is pricey to eat well, but we are preventing our health and future health care costs. We also save a lot of money not eating out and not buying the junk!

We recently pulled Sophia from her two day a week preschool in order to use the $90/month for a newer car payment. (our vans transmission is dying....again. Plus its a 1996 without a/c and with limited heat, not so dependable for hauling our precious cargo) We are currently researching the best minivans and crossover vehicles in our price range. My current favorite is the Chrysler Pacifica.

Another reason we felt peace about pulling her from preschool is because I can do pretty much everything her teachers were doing with her, plus devote more one on one time to areas she was struggling with. I really have enjoyed doing the at home work with her. We are having a lot of fun, she is learning tons and we are bonding in the process. I was one who was VERY against homeschooling for a long time. Kevin was homeschooled and has always wanted that for our kids. I told him no way. Its been a very recent switch in my mindset that I may really enjoy this. Here is my current list of pro's vs. Con's

PRO's
We can build character in our children:: I have met so many well balanced kids and adults recently that were educated at home and I have been blown away by them. They are kind, compassionate, smart, and totally normal and socially adjusted.

We can teach bible to our kids without it cost the $7,000+ a year tuition that a Private Christian school would charge.

Our kids would have the opportunity to bond more than kids who are separated most of their time.

Pretty much everyone we know is planning on or already educating at home and we would have such a strong community of help, encouragement and resources. Not to mention the social interaction that we could give them in field trips and team taught classes.

My husband would like me to. The bible calls me to be submissive to my husband and this is an area I can't really argue. We have spend time in discussion and prayer in this area. He is not pressuring me to or forcing me, but I would like to honor his wishes.

It would seem that God is greatly working on my heart in this area as it has been SUCH a drastic change in thought. I need to follow his leading, my husbands leading and do what is best for our kids.

CONS

My family is VERY against homeschooling. I think this is mostly because we were not around people who have home schooled successfully. The two situations that they have witnessed have not been positive. I am very concerned for how the reaction would be and if we would be supported at all. My husbands family is very supportive as is our friends and church family.

Can I do it? Sometimes I wonder. Am I skilled enough? How would I teach math to a high schooler? From what I hear from families who have home-schooled their children, you learn along side your child. Also, that is part of the beauty of co-ops and friends. People with strengths can team teach different subjects.

Money. Homeschooling curriculum cost money. Field trips cost money. Supplies cost money. Much less than a private school, or even less than the public preschool Sophie was attending, but still it is a consideration. It could also be factored in that I wouldn't be able to go back to work if the kids stay home. Fortunately, I have been very blessed to have a job right now that allows me to work overnights and then be home with the children during the day. I pray that this continues so that I can help provide for my family and stay home to train my children.

And that is where we are at. More posts to come with some fun activities and "school" that we have been working on.

Marking a year

2009-11-28T13:22:00.001-08:00

I was asked this morning if yesterday was a hard day for me. It took me a while before I realized why I should have been sad yesterday. The memories then came rushing back.

One year ago yesterday (black Friday) I snuck out to get donuts for Kevin. What I didn't tell him was that I was also going to be picking up a pregnancy test. I got back and set the donuts on the counter and was able to take the test while he was still showering. I surprised Kevin with the news that we were again blessed with a child! Number two was on its way. While not planned, we were overjoyed.

We blissfully celebrated the next few weeks before I started bleeding a week and a half before Christmas. It led us to the ER where my Mom and I stayed for a few hours waiting for news. We saw a precious heartbeat and were reassured that while there was a small tear in the uterine wall- things would likely be okay. The doctor reaffirmed that the baby would be just fine a few days after our ER trip. We praised God and the bleeding had mostly stopped.

Then came a call that they wanted to set up a follow up ultrasound on Christmas Eve and so we did. I remember telling Kevin that he wouldn't believe how little this baby was- we hadn't gotten to see Sophie until much later in our pregnancy. Most of you know how this story ends, as the u/s tech furrowed her brow and stayed silent- I had already seen the baby's body- broken in two and the heartbeat extinguished.

It was a hard holiday for us.

Until it was brought up this morning however, I hadn't thought about it at all. I truly think Christmas Eve will be much harder for us this year. But, if our precious one wasn't taken to be with God- we wouldn't have our Liam. Born October 13th, weighing in at 9 lbs 9oz.

When busy with our two blessings yesterday, how could I be down? There is a song that really hits home for me. It explains how we can be healed from the pain of losing a child. It reminds me who my healer really is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvIEJ_PmqJ8

"Healer" Kari Jobe

You hold my very moment
You calm my raging seas
You walk with me through fire
and heal all my disease
I trust in you, I trust in you

I believe You're healer
I believe You are all I need

And I believe your my portion
I believe You're more than enough for me
Jesus You're all I need

You hold my very moment
You calm my raging seas
You walk with me though fire
And heal all my disease
I trust in You, Lord I trust in You

I believe You're my healer
I believe You are all I need
Oh, I believe

Nothing is impossible for you
Nothing is impossible
Nothing is impossible
You hold my world in Your hands

Recent random thoughts and doings

2009-08-26T11:35:00.000-07:00

Its been awhile again...I am not so good at this keeping our blog updated thing. And I am guessing that once October comes I will get a lot worse!!

I have been very busy the last few days working on switching over the kids rooms. We moved the crib and changing table into the play room and moved some of the girlie toys back into Sophies room along with her brand new big girl bed! It is so strange. Sophie and I had to run to Target to pick up sheets for the bed while Kevin was setting it up. When we got back it was all set up and he also had moved the glider up to our room for when Liam is sleeping up there in the bassinet. For some reason I hadn't thought about moving that out yet and silly as it is, I cried! Her room looked so different and it seems like just a second ago that I sat in her beautiful bee room organizing and reorganizing her little things. I can envision myself holding her tiny little body and rocking her to sleep night after night. And now, two years later- its all changed!

I know its a good change, and she LOVES her new room, but its just all moved so fast! I am trying to remind myself that I will be rocking in that chair again very soon with a tiny little man!

Next Tuesday marks her 2nd birthday! We are having a small family gathering on Saturday where we will have a little cake and maybe bonfire. The weather is suppose to only be up to 65 that day. BEAUTIFUL! I love fall. Kevin and I had a lovely bonfire just the two of us last Saturday night. We were so relaxed and the weather was crisp and perfect. We envisioned our backyard lined with lights strung, so hopefully we will get some lights and string them up before Saturday.

Sophie was a flower girl in my brother in laws wedding this past weekend and did so well! She made it down the aisle wonderfully and had did great staying mostly quiet during the ceremony. After Kevin got done playing the guitar she yelled out "GOOD JOB DADDY!" It was pretty cute. She also found great joy in yelling "AMEN!" at the end of EVERY prayer prayed during the wedding.

Poor baby is sick today. She has a cold and a slight fever. Its really a bummer because she was sick for her first birthday as well and I am praying this all goes away by Saturday. Well, at least it gives us more snuggle time right?

I've really been enjoying Chris Tomlins new song "God of the City". Our church is moving to St. Paul sometime this next month and it makes me even more excited to be out there serving the community and spreading the gospel. I've been really enjoying our church home at Beacon and feel very blessed by our pastor and his wife. Also looking forward to the MOMS group starting at Bethlehem soon. I hope to make it to many more this year.

a few new pics4th of Julya weddingMy best friends baby

2009-07-16T16:01:00.003-07:00

Beautiful powerful truth, Barabbas Gospel video

2009-07-16T16:01:00.001-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toEdT0VEHKI&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fhome.php%3Fref%3Dhome&feature=player_embedded

Some recent photos

2009-06-27T08:57:00.000-07:00

Here are some of our summer time photos. Included are our first trip to the drive in, the cabin, playdoh fun, baby Liams room in progress (currently the playroom) and a few random others.

In the Valley

2009-06-16T19:21:00.001-07:00

When You lead me to the valley of vision
I can see You in the heights
And though my humbling wouldn’t be my decision
It’s here Your glory shines so bright
So let me learn that the cross precedes the crown
To be low is to be high
That the valley’s where You make me more like Christ

Let me find Your grace in the valley
Let me find Your life in my death
Let me find Your joy in my sorrow
Your wealth in my need
That You’re near with every breath
In the valley

In the daytime there are stars in the heavens
But they only shine at night
And the deeper that I go into darkness
The more I see their radiant light
So let me learn that my losses are my gain
To be broken is to heal
That the valley’s where Your power is revealed

© 2006 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI).

Treasuring Him

2009-06-12T07:12:00.001-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBJzUnxiKwA

Death is not dying, a faith that saves

2009-05-23T08:47:00.000-07:00

Over the course of the last few weeks I have been receiving emails, reading blogs, and hearing people rave about a video that has recently come out. Its about 55 minutes long, so I haven't found the time to sit and listen. Until right now. With tears streaming down my face, I would like to encourage you to carve an hour out of your day to listen to Rachel, a woman who is dying from breast cancer speak about death. Her message is so powerful and hit home. It is gospel saturated.

Check it out.

Its a new day

2009-05-22T04:38:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been feeling convicted about my priorities. I spend far too much time doing things that matter not, and not nearly enough time doing things that are eternally important.

I have been praying about how to remedy this. Besides just giving myself a swift kick in the pants. So, this morning I deleted my facebook account. I erased the link to another site I spend way too much time on. Is facebook bad? No, not at all- but for me- I don't have the discipline needed to get off of it as much as I should. It took away from my time as a wife, mother and a Christian. It also caused for some selfish thoughts. I may see someone from high school and think, "phew, I am doing way better than they are." Or I would put up pictures of me and my family and just wait for someone to lavish words upon how cute we are. My motives were not in the right place and so as hard as it was, I think it was necessary.

I also started something new. I will now be getting up at the wee hour of 5:30am! Yikes! This is to allow me time to do a good devotional reading, take a quick shower, and make breakfast for my husband before he gets out the door in the morning. I am so encouraged by a blog I came upon, girltalk. It is written by the Mahoney women. Carolyn Mahoney gets up at 5:30 am and then gives her daughters a wake up call so they all can get up and have a good quiet time before their kids get up and everyone starts their day. This is something I have known that I should be doing (getting up before Sophie) but really struggling with. So now, I am just doing it! Please encourage me to do so, hold me accountable, and ask me how it is going!

Well, I have a little one who is asking me for "buttered toast" over the monitor so away I go.

Got my baby back!

2009-02-06T06:09:00.000-08:00

New of the week:
As of yesterday- Sophia is finally better! It had been nearly three weeks that she was sick and it killed us to see her so miserable. It had gone from the flu to a terrible cold and she wasn't hardly sleeping at all. I was at my wits end and thinking she would never go back to our happy healthy girl. All of this was coupled with the fact that we had no health coverage since Kevin had been laid off. That was incredibly hard. I almost felt neglectful not taking her in. We were fairly certain that it was just a terrible cold but on Monday or Tuesday I began doubting that and wondering if she had strep or an ear infection. Well she is finally back to our happy girl and it makes me so glad! I missed her!

She has since become our curious George. Tricks of the day included climbing from her little potty (new in the bathroom) onto the big potty, into the sink....etc. Also climbing in the dishwasher and up to the counter. She also learned how to open the toilet seat and we heard a little voice saying, "Splish, splash!" YUCK! Babies R'US here we come for a toilet seat lock. I just think of Amy Pohler in Baby Mama when she can't get it open and pees in the sink. Bad news. :-)

In other amazing news- Kevin was hired by Allina! Better yet, they don't want him to start until March 2 so he can finish full time at Desiring God this month. God's timing amazes me.

Also, for my work we are doing a Biggest Loser contest. I am the only one not paying but simply tracking my numbers with the rest of them (the accountability of everyone seeing my weight does it for me:-) ) This week I lost the most at 4 lbs! It was week one. I am hoping to have a repeat performance. The contest goes for 4 and a half months and my goal is to lose 35-40 lbs. That would be fabulous!

Well, those are my random thoughts of the day, hope you have a great weekend!

Oh and I think I am going to start something called Featured Friend Friday so today I want to feature my wonderful friend Marie. She is an amazing woman of God. She has always been a fabulous listener and is so fun to be around. She holds me accountable which is great since that is something thats not easy to do with friends. We pray together, have some sweet coffee dates after the babies are asleep and she loves my kid! She is constantly encouraging and giving. Oh, and I think she is funny! :-) That is why I love Marie!

Friday featured family: My Aunt Jammie and Uncle Louie. My Aunt Jammie has always been like a second Mom to me. We look more alike than my Mom and I. They were gracious and let me live with them for a while a few years ago. They love my daughter lots and lots. One of my favorite stories about Louie is that my Aunt Jammie told him that we were having a girl and he got upset saying that he wanted to be surprised. I thought that was funny because I wouldn't have thought Louie would have had such a strong opinion about that. When I went back to work at first this summer Sophia stayed with Jammie on Mondays. It was rough at first but Jammie fought through the tears and by the third week Sophie had a blast playing at Aunties house. This past week my Uncle brought a bag of meat home for us and had my Aunt put it in our car. It was such a blessing for us as money has been tight with the layoff. I love them and appreciate them so much!

I'm sure your name will be on my Friday Featured friend or Friday featured family soon since pretty much everyone reading this is a blessing to us!

Another challenge and lesson learned

2009-01-31T11:13:00.000-08:00

On Thursday I was headed to work in our trusty Tracker (the one and only car to our name now) when I heard a LOUD squealing noise. I quickly pulled off the exit when smoke came pouring out of the entire car. All these lights went off and it was nearly impossible to turn into the nearest parking lot. Thankfully I did make it in the lot before she died.

It was the breaking point for me. I have held it together pretty well for all of the challenges presented to us this month but this was the straw that broke the camels back. Well, emotionally anyways. While I waited in the chilly doorway I mentally began to make a list of things that have gone wrong lately. It got fairly long and the complaints wore on in my head. By the time my poor Mom got there I was sobbing. At work it continued, every time someone new walked in an asked how I was I lost it again.

I kept telling myself to pull it together woman! What kind of witness to God was it when I was a puddle. I should instead paste a grin on my face and say, "Well...its ok!" as I have been for the last month and a half. As the day went on and I was able to go home and reflect on the day with Kevin and have a nice quiet time I realized that I don't have to paste that smile and attitude on to be a good witness. The truth is, his strength can only be shown in our weaknesses. His perfection in our sin. This verse popped out to me:
2 Corinthians 12: 9-10
9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Wow. The lessons that we have learned this month have been irreplaceable. The scripture memorized, worth it.

At the end of the day Kevin received a phone call letting him know that he has full time hours at DG, his part time job for the month of February! Not only that, but he will have a laptop to do his work from home, enabling him to continue staying home with Sophie on the days that I work. What a blessing. We know that our earthly needs will be met this month. Thats all we can take it is day by day. Also, he had an interview with Allina on Wednesday and by next Wednesday should know what the verdict is there.

It has been so interesting how our needs have been met this past month. Where the encouragement has come from has astounded me. I have received encouragement cards in the mail this month from people I would have NEVER expected. I thank God for each and every one of those people who have had kind words and prayers to brighten our days. Also, on a monetary level we were so blessed when a complete stranger (well "real life" stranger, but internet friend) felt God calling them to send us a check. It was incredibly humbling to us to accept money from someone we had never met before but as it was the exact amount needed for my car payment that day and we were just wondering how to pay it this month we knew God had answered that prayer. What a lesson. It surely has taught us to let go of our worry and more importantly our ties to anything we own. It is not our, nor has it ever been.

Bummed

2009-01-23T10:57:00.000-08:00

Yesterday our whole house came down with the flu. I already had a terrible cold so it was double misery for me. And poor little Sophie. We were both covered in vomit head to toe several times since she can't warn us when she will get sick. A little moaning sick baby is one of the saddest things ever- especially when you and your husband are miserably sick too. I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

The big bummer for us though, was that we missed the rally at the capital yesterday for Life. It was the anniversary of Roe Vs. Wade so many gathered in peaceful rally at the capital.

One of the biggest criticisms I heard when I am talking about Life issues with Pro-choicers is that "we" pro-lifers do nothing besides rally against them. That we don't do anything for pregnant Women out there who need help. This argument always really bothers me because many of us are out there doing what we can for mothers who need the help and need options, support and encouragement about choosing Life. Here is just one tiny way you can help if you are interested.

Why I hate Sanctity of Human life Sunday

2009-01-19T07:49:00.001-08:00

We just read Russell Moores article about why he hates Sanctity of Human life Sunday, check it out!

Also, we will be marching at the Capital on Thursday (January 22-the Roe Vs. Wade anniversary) a bus will be leaving from Bethlehem Baptist Church at 11pm and I believe it will arrive back at the church around 1pm. Please join us! Let me know if you have any questions!

Bumbleride Indie Twin Stroller Giveaway at I Never Grew Up

2009-01-18T18:13:00.000-08:00

Vanessa at I Never Grew Up is hosting such an incredible giveaway right now! She's giving away a Bumbleride Indie Twin Stroller, which is an amazingly cool ride for two kiddos. While I don't yet have two, I'd love to win this for when I do! Check out her giveaway for the chance to win! Non-bloggers are eligible to enter.

Our pastor about the Economic downturn

2009-01-16T10:23:00.000-08:00

As most of you know Kevin was laid off from his job a week ago Wednesday. Are we wondering about how the ends will meet? Of course. But we have been clinging to Matthew chapter 6 since we found out. We are reminded that there has NEVER been a time when we have not been provided for. Ever. Wow. Our pastor recently posted this video on his blog and it spoke to our hearts. I know lots of people out there are experiencing a job loss or pay downgrade etc, so be encouraged!

2009 Goals

2009-01-12T08:42:00.000-08:00

Another year has begun and it has been a tough start for us already! God is surely working in our lives and we are growing through every challenge brought to us. A friend commented that He never gives us more than we can handle, but don't we wish he thought we could handle less sometimes. :-)

In 2009 we are challenging ourselves to:

-Memorize more scripture. Our church does a fighter verse each week and it is week two. Its amazing how helpful having scripture memorized can be! I have always been the person who, when a friend is talking about a challenge I say well you know that one verse....and then misquote it entirely or forget half of it! Its awful! So it is so past time that we make it a priority to memorize scripture. It has been encouraging to our family and I have had the opportunity to speak the word into others lives already!

This weeks verse is Isaiah 43:10
"Fear not for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I am with you, and the rivers, you shall not be overwhelmed, and when you walk through fire, you shall not be burned. The flames shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the holy one of Israel, your Savior."

We are walking through those flames right now but can know with confidence that we will not be burned! And when we feel as though our heads are going under and it is all we can do to doggy paddle we can firmly say that we will not be overwhelmed. For we have the the Lord our God with us at all times.

-Clip more coupons. I am such a slacker at this but recently have started using them and what a difference. Wanting to be good stewards of the money we are given.

-Use our time more wisely. We are getting rid of cable and this will help so much! We are also called to be good stewards of our time and in this we fall short. We need to be in the word more often, having more family time, and fellowshipping with those around us.

-(This is just Kelsey) Being a woman of action. I often think that I should bring that new family in our neighborhood a wreath (a cinnamon bread thing my Moms always made and passed out to neighbors) but never do it. Or to bring a new Mom dinner, or a grieving friend some coffee. Mostly this comes down to money for us and I am praying that I will soon have enough funds to bless those around me in the way that I have been blessed. It is simple enough to send a card out when I am thinking of someone. I have a few friends who are so good at this (Amanda and Marie are two that come to mind) and I want to follow in their lead. I want to move from the desire and good intentions of doing these things to DOING them!

-Keep up on cleaning more. Our house is generally tidy. If you came to visit it probably would look pretty clean. This is because we can't stand clutter. But I need to get better at deep cleaning. I have already improved in the last few weeks! Whoohoo!

-Take a stand for life. If you read our previous post you would see how. I joined the sanctity of Life take force at our Church and want to help more at New Life family services in Minneapolis. Its so easy to say that you are Pro-Life but its the actions again that mean anything. What are we doing for young pregnant women? How are we showing that we don't support abortion? Are we on our knees praying that God will end this horrible act? Are we on our knees praying for these women?

I am mostly putting these out there for us to be reminded so way to go you if you read this far! Praying for a fruitful year!

40 days for Life

2009-01-07T08:34:00.000-08:00

We are gearing up here for the 40 days of Life campaign. The campaign starts on February 25 and ends on April 5th. If you have never been involved in 40 days for Life (like myself) before here is an explanation of what goes on.

40 Days for Life is a focused pro-life campaign with a vision to access God's power through prayer, fasting, and a peaceful vigil to end abortion in America.

The mission of the campaign is to bring together the body of Christ in a spirit of unity during a focused 40 day campaign of prayer, fasting, and peaceful activism, with the purpose of repentance, to seek God's favor to turn hearts and minds from a culture of death to a culture of life, thus bringing an end to abortion in America.

1. Prayer is at the center of 40 days for Life. During the campaign, we are calling on prayer warriors across the nation to fall on their knees before the Lord, asking him to hear our plea and heal our land. Pray at church. Pray outside an abortion facility. Pray at work. Pray in the car. Pray at home with your family. Pray!

2.Fast. People of faith are also invited to fast throughout 40 days for Life. Christ said there are demons that can only be driven out by prayer and fasting. A fast is not a Christian diet; it is a powerful means of drawing closer to God by blocking out distraction.
Fast from certain foods. Fast from television. Fast from apathy and indifference. Fast from whatever it is that separates you from God.

3.The visible, public centerpiece of 40 Days for Life is a 40-day, round the clock prayer vigil outside a Planned Parenthood center or other abortion facility in your community. It is a peaceful and educational presence. Those who are called to stand witness during this 24-hour-a-day presence send a powerful message to the community about the tragic reality of abortion. It also serves as a call to repentance for those who work at the abortion center and those who patronize the facility.

What will we do?

If you live here in the twin cities we will be praying outside of Regions hospital on St. Paul. They not only preform abortions at the hospital but also have a special training program that trains surgeons how to preform them.

Our church will be taking April 3rd specifically and we will be there for 24 hours in prayer outside of the hospital. If you would like to join us we will likely have a shuttle leaving from the church and taking many trips back and forth. I have not yet decided on the hours that I will be there but I am sure that I will spend a good part of the day there. If it is warm out- which I sure hope it is on April 3rd we will likely pack up Sophia to join us as well. There are so many of us who are like minded about life but not many of us stand up and do something about it. I have felt tugging on my heart and conviction about this so now I am doing something, won't you join me?

I will be fasting for the first time in my life during some of the 40 days. Be it from food or computer etc.

Please join us in prayer during this time! "If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

In every trial and loss, my hope is in the cross

2008-12-29T16:28:00.001-08:00

Out of the depths, O Lord, I cry to You
When I am tempted to despair
Though I might fail to trust Your promises
You never fail to hear my prayer
And if You judged my sin
I’d never stand again
But I see mercy in Your hands

So more than watchmen for the morning
I will wait for You, my God
When my fears come with no warning
In Your Word I’ll put my trust
When the harvest time is over and I still see no fruit
I will wait, I will wait for You

The secret mysteries belong to You
We only know what You reveal
And all my questions that are unresolved
Don’t change the wisdom of Your will
In every trial and loss
My hope is in the cross
Where Your compassions never fail

Hard night

2008-12-29T09:08:00.000-08:00

Its been a rough night and morning so instead of focus on that- here are some wonderful Christmas pictures!

The Lord gives and he takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.

2008-12-25T17:58:00.000-08:00

As I sit and reflect on our past two days of Christmas celebrations I want to take a minute to really remember and take note of the gift of a baby. God sent his only son to become a man. I think of that night, of the joy brought to the world in this tiny package. This baby who was, and is our salvation. What joy that night held for Mary, Joesph, the Shepard, Kings and stars!

Luke 2:10

And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

As many of you know we are blessed with a beautiful healthy 16 month old daughter, Ana Sophia. She is so precious to us- what a joyful Christmas we all had together. We praise God for her birth and for the gift of entrusting this child into our hands to raise her to be a Godly woman, who glorifies him. As many of you also know, on Black Friday we learned that we were again blessed with a child. While we were surprised we found so much joy and excitement in this as well. Last Wednesday some complications arose but we were able to see the first pictures of this beautiful little one and the tiny precious heart that fluttered at 144 beats per minute. Our doctor, whom we saw on Friday was optimistic that we would continue on to have a successful pregnancy and delivery. He simply wanted us to have a follow up ultrasound done this week. The clinic called us on Monday and asked if we could come in early Christmas Eve morning. I thought this would work out nicely as both Kevin and I were off of work, as was my Mom to watch Sophia. There was a tiny part of me that thought this could not be such a joyful Christmas if the news was bad. But our doctor had been SO optimistic! So, I agreed and the appointment was all set up for 8:30 Wednesday morning. Kevin had not been with me on Wednesday to see the first ultrasound so he was very excited to see that little heart beating still to reassure him the way I had been reassured just one week prior. We had the pictures hanging on our fridge and had been praying daily for this little bean but nothing beats seeing it for yourself. As the ultrasound started I had an uneasy feeling. It all looked different than the week before. Our technician was so very quiet. Her brows were furrowed as she asked me to move this way and that, lift my hips up here and there. The tears began to roll down my face. I realized that beautiful heartbeat of 144 was extinguished. The precious body, once whole, was now in two separate pieces and the tear that they had seen so tiny was taking up a large part of the photo. Our baby, gone. God is sovereign, God is good. These are things we continued to say as we waited in the "holding cell"...I mean, "Hold and call waiting room" for our doctor to reach us. Finally they did. Numbly we left the hospital- opting not to have the D &C surgery and not to take the pills that flush the baby out. We opted to do this naturally. How could we tell our family members, all who were so excited for the addition to the family, worst of all on this joyous celebration of Christs birth?! We headed back to my parents house where we quickly nodded that it was not good news. Phone calls where made, whispers heard in the house to not bring it up. We continued on with the celebrations, laughing, eating, singing, celebrating another baby gifted to us. The gifts under the tree for the new baby or for the "Beyer babies" were swept away as though they never existed in the first place. But I knew, I saw the gaps under the tree- so similar to the new gaps in our hearts now. It isn't until right now as our daughter is down from her sugar high and sleeping peacefully in bed that I really get to sit and reflect upon it all. Its all about the gift of a baby. Gods son, Christ, the gift we don't deserve. How precious is he. We deserve nothing, yet are SO BLESSED. He gives and he takes away- BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD!

Praying you are able to truly celebrate what Christmas is all about. I know that for us, it came in an unexpected way- but celebrating the gift of a baby was so different and dear to us this year.

"I think my wifes a Calvanist."

2008-12-22T17:52:00.000-08:00

This had us laughing pretty hard.

The holidays

2008-12-22T08:58:00.001-08:00

These pictures range from Thanksgiving when Sophie helped me lick the potato beaters clean to enjoying snow and the weeks leading up to Christmas!

Update and video!

2008-12-19T18:42:00.000-08:00

Well God is good! Today we had a doctors appointment and he was very optimistic that this pregnancy will continue successfully! We will go in for another ultrasound next week and learn more while there.

Also, don't pay any attention to my voice in this video but our Ana Sophia has been enjoying singing Christmas carols before bed in front of the lit tree nightly so here is just a snippet of her melt your heart singing. Merry Christmas!

Prayers Coveted

2008-12-18T08:24:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I started bleeding and cramping so I was sent to the urgent care then to the ER. The ultrasound looked good in that the baby was measuring right and had a heartbeat of 144. I had a ovary pregnancy cyst (apparently this is good) and my HCG level was at 3,500 so right on. However, they noticed the sac was tearing away from the wall. So they said there is a 50/50 % chance that the baby will reattach or completely tear away (thus becoming a miscarriage) They want me to be on bedrest just till I go to the doctor again tomorrow where they will retest my HCG level and see if it went up or down.

Scary and nerve wracking. With Ana Sophia I sailed through pregnancy effortlessly. But I am thankful for a sovereign God who is the only one who can change and impact this situation. I am taking comfort in knowing this child is in his hands.

My Grandparents are amazing and took Sophia today as I found that being on bedrest with a toddler is pretty close to impossible. I have some awesome family and friends. We are so blessed.

Books we are currently reading!

2008-12-17T07:43:00.000-08:00

We are currently reading the Excellent wife and Exemplary Husband books together. They are so good (convicting to the core..)We will be doing a mens and womens study of them come January if you are interested in joining, let me know- and start reading now!

I am also reading Shepherding a Child's heart. Its a fantastic look at parenting and raising your children to be Godly and using Gods standards for parenting. It has helped me immensely already and I am only 7 or 8 chapters in!

Our fall and winter pictures!

2008-12-17T07:30:00.000-08:00

Please be patient with me as we learn how to use the blog site, it took me quite a while to find how to add pictures! Some of these are a little old because sadly our professional Canon camera broke last month. We were really bummed but the good news is that we just sold the body and some equipment for almost as much as we bought the full camera for! Praise God because now we are buying a less expensive but still nice camera and have a little leftover to do some Christmas shopping that we hadn't planned on. God is so sovereign and his plan is great, its hard to know and take comfort in this sometimes when the road is bumpy and so many challenges are arising but thats what we are called to do!

Here we go!

2008-12-15T14:10:00.000-08:00

After saying we didn't need any other online sites to be on and updating, then reading some encouraging blogs from people we love....here we are!

That I would be less

The wedding

Liam is 2!

Snippets

Where I've been

Wednesday

Seeing Stars

1,000 Gifts

Our past few weeks

Flourless chocolate cake

facebook

Work that matters

1,000 gifts

Wednesday

Keeping Toddlers/Preschoolers busy

1,000 gifts

10 Points of Joyful Parenting

Classic Cocktail Party

Friends

Gratitude and Joy

Super Mom vs. Abiding Mom

1,000 gifts

Last time

Going home with great anticipation

School

Favorite new snack

Orange Chicken

Boys Vs. Girls

Bedtime routines

Its almost Valentines Day!

My Birthday

Verse Review Video

Valentines day Crafts

Exodus 20:15

L Unit Wrap Up!

Best Chocolate Chip Cookie bars known to Man

Lists

Gluten free Easy Pot Pie

Brown Bear Fun

Flashcard Games

RRSP L Unit

RRSP A unit part 2

Clothespin wheels

Sophia RRSP

Liam

Winter sensory bin

Planning

Our week

Names?

Adventurous edible art!

Menu Plan

Buffalo Chicken Mini Burgers

Tot School

2011 Wants

Fun with Egg Cartons

Too much work

TP Octupus'

Bear

Win Rosetta Stone!

Random crafts

Bachmanns Idea house

Blowing your budget

Letter Jumping

Letters Index

Texture play

I Spy

Blonde Moments

Advent/ Devotionals

Photobooth Friday

Intervenor- what???

Chrismas pics

Our classroom

Here we go

Marking a year

Recent random thoughts and doings

a few new pics*4th of July*a wedding*My best friends baby*

Beautiful powerful truth, Barabbas Gospel video

Some recent photos

In the Valley

Treasuring Him

a few new pics4th of Julya weddingMy best friends baby