Random Pics of the week

Here are a few glimpses of life this week.



This treasure was Ian's gift at a white elephant exchange. Still in the original box and looking brand new, it's a flashlight and vacuum cleaner combo! I can't imagine how I've lived this long without one. :P



A couple of kiddos in front of our tree...



A cutie pie who will be FOUR months old in two days.

Time is passing too quickly.



And a little princess who learned that her new chapstick was purple instead of clear...I think she'll use a mirror next time. :)

Between moving and Christmas coming up, I feel exhausted. Blogging about anything of interest would take brain power I just don't seem to have right now. Hopefully things will return to a normal pace soon.

House Pictures

We took a couple of things over to the new house yesterday so I was able to snap a few photos!


This is a front view...


This one is from the side looking into the backyard...


This is from the back yard looking at the back of the house...


There is a gas fireplace in the family room (and a silly boy!)


oops, I mean TWO silly boys ;)


This is a view of the living room (and more silly children...)



I think they are happy and like the new house! :)

I'll be taking pictures as we move in so check back for more!

A meme to help get into the Christmas spirit

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? .... wrapping paper

2. Real tree or Artificial? .... REAL all the way!

3. When do you take the tree down? ... probably the first week of January

4. How do you like your eggnog? .... none, eww.

5. Do you have a nativity scene? .... no, but I used to have one, it broke (porcelain) and I have yet to replace it. Maybe this year?

6. Describe this year's Christmas cards? .... FREE photo cards I ordered from www.seehere.com :o)

7. Favorite Christmas Movie/Cartoon? ...I like VeggieTales Star of Christmas

8. When do you start shopping for Christmas? .... Usually in November

9. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? ....I plead the 5th.

10. Lights on the tree? .... yes

11. Favorite Christmas song (s)? ....Mary did you know!

12. Angel on the tree top or a star? .... star

13. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? .... morning, after breakfast

14. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? .... long lines

15. Favorite ornament theme or color? .... snowflakes

16. What do you want for Christmas this year? ....to be in our new house!

17. Favorite thing about Christmas? .... watching the kid's excitement

18. What decoration do you put on your door? .... I always think about putting up a wreath and then never remember to do it.

19. What strange gift have you bought this year? ....can't think of one, all mine are normal.

20. Do you buy Christmas stuff the January following Christmas? ....clearance candy!

Now, copy this and add your own answers if you like. :)

The house closing date has been set!!

Boy, when the ball starts rolling it really picks up speed!

I'm starting to realize that the next few weeks are going to be BUSY! We are scheduled to go in and sign all of the paperwork to finalize the house purchase on Thursday.

Which means we can start moving in anytime after that but I'm considering painting a couple of the bedrooms first.

I'm sure my kids will love to help me with that. :)

So, check back at the end of the week and I (hopefully) will have pictures to show you!!!

Check out Sarah's giveaway!!

I don't think it's much of a secret that I LOVE coffee and Starbuck's just happens to be a great source for that addiction of mine. :o) Well, Sarah is having her monthly birthday giveaway and this month's prize is a good one....go ahead....check it out....or don't (and then I have a better chance of winning!).




Click on the picture above and it'll take you there.

Good Luck!

Because I'm all about peer pressure....

Or rather, I'm feeling pulled in many different directions and this gives me something to blog about without using much brain power! :)

Thank you Leanne & Emily for this.

You're supposed to do a one word asnwer for each of these questions...uh, I don't think it's possible. (right Leanne?)

1. Cell phone: I wish I still had my old one, the new one completely confuses me.

2. Hair: yes, I have hair.

3. Father: The Lord is my Father.

4. Favorite food: It's been pizza for a loooong time, but as of late I'm a bit addicted to Pad Thai.

5. Dream from last night: bizarre

6. Favorite drink: Diet Coke

7. Dream/goal: to make it through today...and then tomorrow...and then the next day.

8. What room am I in?: Living room.

9. Hobbies: What? People have time for hobbies?

10. Fear: All kinds involving my children.

11. Where do I want to be in 6 years? settled.

12. Where was I last night? At Awana's with the kids.

13. Something I am not: OCD.

14. Muffins: Peach please.

15. What is on my wish list? I'd love an Ergo carrier.

16. Where did I grow up? Washington

17. Last thing I did: Got the baby off of the dishwasher door, he was standing on it removing all the cups & tossing them on the floor.

18. What am I wearing? Jeans and a grey t-shirt and a purple hoodie.

19. TV? rabbit ears.

20. Pets: Nope.

21. Friends: Some far (too far!) and some near.

22. My life: I love it.

23. My mood: Pleasant.

24. My vehicle: Dodge Ram 15 passenger van, white w/blue stripe...hard to miss, it's huge.

25. What am I NOT wearing? a bikini...never again.

26. Favorite store: I like Target, though I rarely go there.

27. Favorite color: YELLOW.

28. When did I last laugh: I'm sure I chuckled at a few things but my last belly laugh was when my daughter came up with our new family motto.

29. My BFF: so far away *sniff*

30. When did I cry last? I tend to cry often but I had a big cry this weekend.

31. The place I go over and over: Aldi & Wal-mart.

32. Person who emails me regularly: The Library, they're always wanting their books back. What's up with that?

33. Favorite place to eat: Anywhere that I am not required to do the dishes.

Steal this and let me know so I can read YOUR answers.

In Limbo

Things are still looking like we'll be moving next month, though nothing is finalized yet. I find the whole buying process a bit irritating really. It's like you are supposed to take steps forward assuming the whole thing will go through without any problems. But what if it doesn't and I've put in all this effort? I surely don't want to undo everything, but I also don't want to wait to do anything and have to rush. Err. *sigh*

So, I'm just going along assuming.

In the meantime my basement looks like this:



Most of these are empty, the packed ones are in the back right corner. I still have a lot of work to do!

Possible change is becoming Most Likely Change

In my previous post I listed out our housing options and said we were leaning towards buying. Well, we've made an offer on a house and it was accepted! Now, we are in the waiting period. Waiting for final approval of the loan, inspections on the house and the house appraisal. I'm going with the assumption that things will go through, but also trying to not be too excited as you can never be sure until it's all said and done.

All of that has made me feel a bit anxious about how the next month or so will go. I do not want to fall behind with the kids' schoolwork or let my house get chaotic (more than it already is!). So one thing I think I can do to help things go smoother is to prep more meals. I read several blogs of women who do batch/freezer cooking so they are really my inspiration!

Here's my goal of what to make for today:

2 meatloaves
3 lbs. meatballs
3 lbs. hamburger cooked and portioned in 1 lb. bags for nachos & hamburger stroganoff
1 pan homemade macaroni shells & cheese
4 dozen muffins (1/2 pumpkin butterscotch & 1/2 banana choc. chip)
2 batches waffles
2 batches pancakes
2 loaves pumpkin bread

All total that would be 7 dinners & 7 breakfasts that can be made with minimal thinking!

Hopefully I'll be back later and be able to post a picture of my efforts to prove I accomplished something ;)

Possible change

Last year when we made our big move across the U.S., we moved into a house with a one year lease. That lease will be up in the middle of November. Which brings about a new decision.

Do we:

A) stay put and continue to rent this current house

B) find another rental (cheaper)

C) buy a house

We are very heavily leaning towards option C, buying a house. We've checked around for the last couple of months, driving to different parts of town, surrounding small towns...all just trying to decide what we really want. If we are going to buy we want to go into it with a long term mindset.

Which brings us to the present time. I have a really hard time not getting anxious when the ball is started rolling. I want decisions made...like, NOW. ;) I don't like the 'in limbo' feeling.

So, I'm trying to remember to pray every time I feel anxious... I'm praying often! :)

Happy Birthday Abram!

October is a two birthday month for us...this time it's Abram's turn.

Today he's four years old.

Four seems so much older sounding than 3. He's moving out of toddlerhood into childhood and the time just seems to be going WAY too fast!

Abram is a very happy go lucky kid, full of smiles and laughs. He cracks me up.

He's also very brave or fearless...upon meeting him I've had people tell me things like, "I see stitches & broken bones in his future." Having older brothers to imitate only intensifies this. :)

I feel very blessed to be able to watch him as he grows!!

Yesterday morning I attended a moms group (similar to MOPS). During the course of the morning we came to the prayer group segment. The larger group divided up into a few smaller groups and we went around the circle talking about our prayer requests. As each of the ladies took their turn it struck me how similar we all are as moms.

We all wanted prayer for training our children.

We all feel inadequate.

We all feel like we need more patience, more consistency, more effective discipline.

One woman would speak and there would be a round of "ditto", "me too", and "yeah, write that for mine".

It's moments like this that make me lean on the Lord the most. Moments when I feel so weak. When I feel like weeping.

I know that I don't have the strength, but HE does!

So I pray.

Are you with me? Would you like prayer too?

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

-Philippians 4:13

Today is my son Kenny's 8th birthday,

For the kids' birthdays I try to make meals that they choose, so today's menu will be:

Breakfast: pancakes with blueberry syrup & whip cream

Lunch: Giant soft pretzels with cheese dip

Dinner: Homemade sausage pizza

Dessert: Chocolate cake, white frosting w/a picture of a cornucopia (that's what he picked?? because it's fall I think.) and chocolate chip mint ice cream

Happy Birthday Big Guy!!!

Raider Family Farm

Yesterday our neighbor asked us if we'd like to go out and visit a farm in town that had family activities. They had a bunch of cool things. Lots of places set up for photo shots, big bins of corn or soy beans to play in, a giant sand box, hay bales to climb on & animals to pet. We opted out of the pumpkin patch since it was REALLY muddy and decided against the corn maze ($5 a person seemed too spendy!)

We did get the hot apple cider though and the kids rode on the Caterpillar Train. :)




I think it was run by a Christian family too, since I saw the sign (bottom left of the collage) posted on a wall. It's a cute little poem titled "A Christian is like a pumpkin".

All in all it was a pretty fun day!


(and a special thanks to Melissa for her tutorial that she posted awhile back on how to make photo collages!!)

***Also, I now realize that I ended up with two of the same photo in the collage. I just didn't have the time or patience to fix it once I noticed it. Oh well.***

Head bands

Every time I see a little girl with a headband, I just think it looks so cute! I've searched through Etsy stores and drooled over quite a few but I'm just too cheap to spend $10-$15 for one. So last time I was at the store I bought some flowers for $1.99 and some elastic for $2. Then I made three, one for each of my girls.





Not bad for $3.99 eh?

Thursday Thirteen

Today I'm going to list 13 things I'm thinking about or thankful for in no particular order.

1. My kids LOVE going to Awana's each week, seeing them that excited about learning/memorizing scripture just amazes me.


2. I like the clearance section here but also they give teachers/home educators a 20% discount, you gotta like that!


3. Starfall.com is a great site for pre-school & K levels. Right now my 3 yr (almost 4) is really into this.

4. Email is nice but there is just something special about getting mail the 'old fashioned' way.


5. My crock-pot, oh how I love thee. ;) Makes the dinner hour go so much smoother when things are already cooking away....



6. The Shred. NOT something I'm sure I like, but something I'm thinking about doing anyway thanks to Emily's influence.


7. Kathleen likes this sling and so do I. It's comfortable to wear and easy to get on & off. That makes it a winner in my book.


8. Babies. I love them and they seem to be everywhere lately! I have one, Michelle just had one and my sister just had twins!

9. Fall, it's a very pretty time of year.

10. With fall comes cooler temps, which make it possible to wear COMFY SOCKS!



11. Coffee is a staple for me, I don't function as well without it. But, coffee isn't tolerable without...

12. Pizza. I.want.some.now.

13. Books. Good books, big stacks of ones to read. I love to read and love to see my kids read. The only downfall is library fines...we always seem to acquire those. :(

6 weeks

I'm trying to be intentional about taking pictures. It doesn't always come to my mind, but I don't want to fail since time flies past me. So this morning I took out the camera and snapped a few of Kathleen. She is the most content like this, with her binky :)




and looks like this when you try to remove it....



But I did manage to get a few nice ones without the orange thing covering half her face!





Isn't she sweet?


She was being so good at this point I grabbed a couple of things and went outside for some better lighting to get a few more pictures. I think they turned out well, but I want to edit some in photoshop. I'll be posting them later ;)

Ramblings and more pics :)

I have hopes of making it on here to blog more often, but it seems that lately I've been pretty consistent with once a week posts. That's okay, right? Better than none altogether. :)

All of my days seem to be kind of blurring together. Not because of lack of sleep (baby girl is letting me sleep quite well!) but just because we are busy. We have a few things that started back up this fall. Two bible studies, Awana's for the kids and of course the biggest being homeschool with the kids.

This year I am teaching four in our little school. Amanda is a fourth grader, Kenny is in third, Stephen is in first and Jessica is our kindergartner. I was a bit concerned at the start how we'd be able to get anything done with the littles, but doing most of the work during their naptime has been working.

I also started having the kids be more responsible for cleaning their rooms. I had read (on a blog of course) about a family who was having their kids team up and kinda compete with each other for who could have the cleanest room. So, I talked with the kids and now they do 'clean room challenge' each morning after breakfast. Girls vs. Boys. After 15 minutes I go inspect and choose a winner. I've had to decide based on things like a bead on the floor or a gum wrapper behind a door...seriously, they have been doing a fabulous job!

Wow, I'm looking back at what I've written and I think that the coffee this morning has put me in a super positive mood. :)

To balance things, I'll just add that I've been kept on my toes by a busy 2 yr old that keeps finding new things to get into. Like yesterday, I found him hiding in the laundry room eating ice cream out of the tub with his fingers. :P

~~ Lifes Good! ~~

Now, I'll show ya just a couple more of those photos!

Family Pics

It has been a really long time since we have had a nice family photo taken...a LONG time. We've had a few snapshots here and there but nothing nice. So this weekend Emily came and we asked her if she would take some photos with her Big Daddy camera. I think she did an AMAZING job.

Take a look:

This is a reality one...me trying to get Noah to stay put. :)

There are many more that I love but I'll spare you from looking at 100's of pictures! Thank you Emily!!!