Another One of THOSE Days...

The InsideOutside Bag

2010-09-24T12:49:00.000-07:00

It started out as a dress. I made a dress for a friend's little girl and I had enough scraps left over to make a little purse for her too. I couldn't decide which colors to make the purse so I made it reversible.

Dress and purse--side one of purse.

Then having enough material, I made a bigger purse (more adult sized) with the other scraps because an idea came to me.

Dress with purse--reversible side two of purse. Also shown with larger purse.

The two bags together. On the adult sized one, I made a flap to hold it closed and added a pocket for decoration mostly but it can be useful too. (The flap is open in this picture.)

The reverse of the purses--turning them inside out.

The adult purse can be used with no closing flap as shown here.

Or with the flap which is totally removable.

...and is totally reversible.

The purse inspired me to make a diaper bag (which is slightly small for diapers but not bad.)

This picture shows the three sizes together.

The flap used to close it can also be fastened to the inside as shown here.

Diaper bag side one. (Shown with the flap on the inside instead of outside.)

With the flap on the outside.

With tiny bag for holding loose things on inside.

Diaper bag side two--notice that the bag for the inside stuff is also reversible.

Tiny Man Vest

2010-08-27T09:18:00.000-07:00

We found out that the new baby is going to be a boy and so now we can stop calling him "the new baby" and start calling him by name. :)

I made him a matching vest for the family pictures. This should fit around 0-3 months.

It's reversible too.

Pattern p 2 of 2

Pattern p 1 of 2

Vest

2010-08-25T14:37:00.001-07:00

This was an easy sew. It's reversible too! This fits him now at 15 months and I think will probably still fit until he's nearly 2. I uploaded the pattern and directions below:

Pattern p 4 of 4

pattern p 3 of 4

pattern p 2 of 4

pattern p 1 of 4

Nursing Blanket Pattern

2010-08-24T20:35:00.001-07:00

I've had this pattern in my file for a while but have only just now gotten around to uploading it. I didn't iron this and it has been through two babies already... In case you can't tell from the photos, you put the bib part over one shoulder and you drape the apron part around you and the baby. You can switch it from shoulder to shoulder when you switch sides, but I didn't find it necessary. It's a pretty easy sew. I added a pocket for convenience to hold nursing pads and pacifiers or whatever else. On the bottom I made heart appliqué with cotton and stuffing beads to help weight it against a breeze or the baby's movements. The pattern has 3 pages.

Ring Neck Shirt Pattern

2010-08-24T18:20:00.001-07:00

I made this pattern today during nap time. This shirt fits 3T.

Completed shirt

Pattern pieces below:

page 5 of 5

page 4 of 5

page 3 of 5

page 2 of 5

page 1 of 5

Ring Neck Dress Pattern

2010-08-24T17:54:00.001-07:00

I made this pattern today during nap time. It probably would be much cuter if the ring around the neck was a different color and if the dress had more body and was a little more flowing. This dress fits 2T.

Tutorial and pattern below:

Print pattern and cut all pieces. (additional directions on printed pattern)

Cut the neck ring so it looks like this.

Sew right sides together around inner circle, turn and top stitch around inner circle and hem open edges.

Turn arm holes under and hem down

Attach neck to body and sew side seams

Fold up halfway like this and sew around the bottom like a hem about 1 inch in from folded edge

Turn back down and top stitch along previous hem line

Hem bottom

Attach buttons and button hole.

pattern p 1 of 3

pattern p 2 of 3

pattern p 3 of 3

My thoughts on submission

2010-08-24T09:20:00.001-07:00

I was surfing around the other day, looking for something totally unrelated to the internet page I ended up on. The Christian woman on this page was talking about how a specific couple's marriage was "doomed to failure" (my words, her intent) because they took the submission issue too far. Honestly, after reading her quotations from how they viewed submission, I was shocked she felt that way. I thought that their ideals on submission were spot on and it got me to thinking about what a true marriage submission picture should look like. So here are my thoughts on submission.

I believe that the wife should submit to the husband's leading and authority. Now, does that mean that she has to shut up, smile, and go along with every word he says whether she wants to or not? No. First, and foremost, I believe that if what your husband is telling you to do is in stark contrast to God's word (say sleep around with other men or sacrifice your first born to an idol) then, yes, absolutely fight that to the death. That is very obviously NOT where God is leading and you are called to submit to your husband as he submits to the Lord. Second, if you do not agree, you may present your ideas to him. I do not think you should berate him. Be very careful to present your ideas in a loving, kind, caring manner. Privately. I don't think it does either of you any good to present your viewpoints in public. If after you have come to the point where no more can be said, where you would be repeating yourself to say more (thus nagging) then stop. If he still will not agree with you on the matter but you still feel as though he is not going in the direction God is leading, you must just step back and stop. To go on, displays a lack of trust that God can do what he wants in your lives. To go on, says, "I can and must get my husband to change! It is all up to me!" and does not say, "God, I've done what I can. It's your turn now."

Step back and pray. God is going to do what God wants to do. Period. You or your husband won't change the plan God has for your life. God did not write a "Choose your own adventure" novel for you. He wrote the perfect story and it is not going to skip over some important part that he planned for you. If you are going to go through a storm, God already wrote it, planned it, coursed your path through it and waits to go with you on that path.

Here's the real kicker. If you are doing all you can to be submissive in the manner God wants you to be he's not going to punish you. God desires obedience. In my own marriage, we've been in circumstances where it felt that one of us was riding in the belly of a great fish and the other was cruising on top of the ocean in a first class, plush vacation. I fully believe that God is capable of blessing one spouse and making it rough on the other. During that time, my husband could only see the next big storm looming on the horizon. Everything was hard on him and he was suffering in the fish's belly. I was on the top, with sunny skies and chocolates on my pillow every night. As each storm approached, all I saw was the long line of blessings that had been poured out on us and were being poured out on us during that time. Our eyes were both set on the same horizon but God was teaching us different things. For my husband, it was time to weather the storms and lean on God. For me, it was a time to count the rainbows. In the end, we both ended up on the same beach...one of us walked down the gang plank of the cruise ship with arms full of souvenirs and the other...unfortunately...was vomited in the sand, but we made it there and continued on the road God had planned for us, arm in arm. That, I believe, is the kind of submission God desires from us.

I believe...

2010-08-23T12:38:00.000-07:00

God is not disappointed in the way we are disappointed. (Isaiah 55:8-9) God cannot be. A dog does not love in the way that a human loves. A dog might show you "affection" and "desire" and a dog might even seem to have human-like emotions but a dog is incapable, ultimately, of loving in a way that a human understands love. A human is so much higher than a dog and therefore can love in a way that a dog will never be able to understand. A human has something, inert in their very being that makes them capable of this love that a dog does not. God is the same. God has something much higher than us in him that we are not able to understand. We cannot because we are not the same as God.

God has the sovereign right to do with his creation as he wills. (Psalm 135:6-12) God is not held accountable to anyone for the decisions he makes concerning the creation he made. If you were to go to a car dealership and buy the biggest, fanciest, most expensive car on the lot, pay cash in full for it so you totally own it that day, and then drive it home and park it in your yard and begin to disassemble it, who could tell you that you were wrong to do it? If you were to take every piece down to its smallest part apart and then utterly destroy every last piece bit by bit until it was all completely unusable, who could stop you? Could your neighbor run out and say, "Wait! Wait! Do you really want to do this? I mean come on! It's an expensive car? I'm calling the police if you destroy one more part!" Ultimately, you would have the right to do with your car as you wanted to and not be held accountable for it. God does what he desires with his creation and we cannot always understand it but we do not hold God accountable for it. God had the sovereign right to destroy the world with a flood in Noah's day. God had the sovereign right to send an Israelite army to destroy every man, woman, child, and beast of a city he deemed wicked, and God had the sovereign right to show mercy to the city of Nineveh despite Jonah's feelings on the matter. God has the sovereign right to show mercy to whom he pleases and if he was to save the hardest, most inhumane, criminal in the world, who could tell him differently? "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me."

We are not capable of choosing God. (Eph 1:3-14) We cannot possibly choose God. There is nothing in us that would desire him. If a man was to somehow purchase a pack of completely feral wolves, saying, "I will tame the ones most desirable to me and the rest I will put down." no one would say any different. If over time, he began by watching the wolves, slowly getting closer to them, and letting his presence be known, they might become curious but they would never choose to become loyal to him and not to their own pack. Over time, the man might care for them, bandage wounds, feed them, love them, and tame them. When he finally puts down those he chose not to tame and keeps those he did, he is within his rights to do so. If he now has a wolf that lays its head in his lap, looks up at him with adoring eyes, and does his bidding, it is not because any part of the wolf was capable of choosing the man but because the man chose the wolf and brought it to himself and finally tamed it, making it his own. We, as humans, are unable to choose God. He is beyond our understanding. We may feel as though we chose him, but in reality, we could not choose God if he had not first chosen us and already began the taming process in our own hearts.

God is big. (Rev 22:13) God cannot have something that God cannot do. God cannot have something that God cannot know. God is all knowing and all powerful. God is all present. God cannot love us more than himself. God is the highest thing there is. If God loved anything more than himself, that thing would be God and God would not. Ultimately, God does everything to glorify himself. That sounds selfish but God cannot glorify man because man is not God. God can pour love into man, and God can raise man to a position of glory, but ultimately, God receives all the love and glory. God has to, because if he raised us to a position higher than himself, he would not be God. It's a complicated concept. Can God create a rock that God cannot lift? God cannot. God cannot make something that is greater than him because there is no greater thing than God.

There is nothing in man that would make him worthy of heaven apart from God. (Romans 3:21-26) We are born sinners. We have died with our forefathers from the moment Adam and Eve sinned and no one is born loving God. No one is deserving of God. We can do nothing on our own that merits God's salvation. We are completely and utterly sinners. From the greatest to the least, all have sinned. One lie, or a lifetime of rape, murder, adultery, blasphemy, and idolatry are both equal enough to keep us from God. God does not look at man and think, "He is worthy of coming to Heaven without my help." Man is totally deprived.

God's atonement is adequate for all but is effectual only for some. (1 Tim 1:15-16) Jesus could have died for the entire world. He was capable of it, but he died for only those who would believe. Not all would believe and not all are saved. In a sense, it is to say, "not one drop of blood was wasted." If he had died for all but not all were saved, it would be as though his sacrifice was wasted on those who did not believe. But his sacrifice was exactly enough for all who WOULD believe.

God receives the glory, ultimately, for everything. (Romans 9:10-24) In the end, when God is seated on his judgment throne and he casts all who would not believe in him into Hell, he is glorified in his judgment. He is given glory for his grace and mercy and forgiveness, but he is also given glory for his justice and his punishment. God is glorified because he is God and no one could save but God and because no one else could cast into eternal damnation but God. God is the ultimate determination of wrong and right and is glorified in his display of his justice of such.

The baby issue. (Romans 9:15) Many people believe that in order for you to believe God would only choose some people for heaven and some for hell, he would also have to choose some babies for heaven and some for hell. It is possible, but it is not necessary to believe such. The problem stems from the fact that while we can make an educated guess on whether babies are in Heaven or Hell, we cannot know for certain. The fact is, it is just not plainly stated in the Bible that there is such a thing as "the age of accountability". It is hinted at and that is all. So then, if God chooses whom he will punish and whom he will love, how can he thus choose to take all "unaccountable" people into heaven? The same "protection" that is there for sinners could very well be there for all babies. God is God. He does as HE desires and wills. He could very well chose to send ALL babies who die to heave or only some, or even none. I sincerely hope that he does choose babies who have died for Heaven because I have lost some of my own and I'd like to believe they are kept safe from Hell. But, I do know, that if they are not in Heaven, God is glorified in his justice and his mercy and his punishment as well. They would not choose him if he did not first choose them and therefore would be no better off.

The secret things of God are unrevealed to us. (Deut 29:29) God is God. He is allowed to keep secrets. He is not accountable anyone and is not forced to explain to us what he does and why he does it. God is unfathomable, unsearchable, unchangeable, and unexplainable. (At least, he is not nearly fully explainable. We can know only what God has revealed for us to know and if he was to give us everything there is to know about him, it would be too much for our brains. We would die of information overload. We are like a CD with only so much room for understanding in us. We cannot be given the full extent of God's secrets because we could never understand them all, for one, and for another, we are not "built" to attain them all. There are some of God's secrets that we may never know.

God has the power to do anything he wants to do. (Ps 115:1-3) He can stop the sun in its tracks or make it move backwards if he so desires. He can part an ocean so his people can walk across on dry land and he can do it with a mere thought if he so desires (I don't believe he has to use tiresome natural processes like the wind or a sandbar if he doesn't want to.) God give life to the dead, makes the blind see, and causes the lame to walk. God can do what God wants. Nothing is too big for God. There is nothing he could not accomplish if he set out to do it other than make a "bigger god". God, therefore, has the power and ability to stop something from happening if he should choose. When the atrocities against his chosen people happened during WWII happened, he was capable of keeping it from happening; of stopping Hitler's heart with a thought, or of sending angels to protect his nation. But God did not. Not because he is an unloving God. God did not because he is God and he, on some level, wanted it to happen. It is unfathomable to us that God would WANT children to die, tortures and horrors beyond what we can imagine to happen. We do not understand it, but God does. God, knowing every possible path this world could have possibly taken, set it on the one it is on now, choosing the BEST POSSIBLE path and he did it all for...no, not for mankind, but for himself. For his own glory, because remember, God glorifies God.

Flower Boquet Pin

2010-08-23T08:33:00.000-07:00

It did not turn out exactly as cute as I had hoped but it's okay. Each one of those seed beads represents a birthstone and it is for my mom. It has her, my dad, all her daughters and son-in-laws, and all the current grandbabies with a few empty ones for more grandbabies...

When I'm bored...

2010-08-17T08:12:00.000-07:00

I make stuff for the kids to play with or use or whatever.

Coloring sheets (girl paper dolls)

(boy paper dolls)

An "easy reader" page

A simple Math page

The girl paper dolls again (colored)

easy word page

Our memory verse card

Coloring memory verse card

mazes

clothes...

The boy paper dolls colored (no I didn't make clothes for them yet.)

A tracing page for them to practice handwriting

Second tracing page

Random Scripture Memory cards

2010-08-16T11:32:00.001-07:00

Just because I like them and want to share them.

Psalm 95:6-7

2010-08-16T09:34:00.000-07:00

A Clean House

2010-08-16T09:21:00.001-07:00

A few tips: (from my faulty, ever growing experience.)

1. Go through EVERYTHING constantly and throw out anything that is unused, broken, doesn't fit, you don't like it or whatever. Par down!!! No, you will not use it in 5 years...get rid of it!!!

2. Limit your family's clothes. It is FUN to have a million outfits...until you get behind on the laundry and have to do 16 loads almost every week....try boxing up your least favorite outfits and living with only 2 weeks of whatever season's clothes it it for you and the whole family. If after a month, you haven't missed any of what you boxed up, get rid of it. (Remember to keep 2 weeks of Summer and 2 weeks of winter and possibly 2 weeks of in between type clothes.)

3. Do a load of laundry every day. Wash it, dry it, fold it, put it away. If you do one a day, you will have far less days where you have 16 to do that day/week.

4. Keep up with the dishes. Right now, I can do one load of dishes a day and never have left over dishes on the counter (unless we went crazy baking or making something new and exotic). Someday, I anticipate more. Do what it takes to keep your counters clean every day.

5. Find the messiest spots in your house. Look at the types of junk that are accumulating there. If someone is tossing shoes in a corner, put a shoe basket there and you have a cleaner corner. If someone is dropping mail on a certain table, put a mail basket there. It's not plausible to have 16 shoe baskets around the house but some things can be fixed and won't be too bothersome to you.

6. When you find that someone has tossed their clothes on the floor beside the clothes hamper but not in and it was totally empty...remember this...You are going to pick those clothes up and put them in the basket for that person (especially if it's your husband) (if it's your kids, I'd call them and make them try again... lol) because you love them and you are going to serve them. You don't want those clothes to grow 2 and 3 year old legs and walk off so you are going to put them in the hamper so they are less likely to be lost. Then, your husband will know where they are and you can wash them and know where they are...because you love him. Even if that means that tomorrow, he is going to toss the clothes on the floor again...because it also means that he is giving you another opportunity to love and serve him by cleaning up his mess again. Harmony is ALWAYS better than discord.

7. The same applies to squeezing the toothpaste. If you squeeze from the bottom and he squeezes from the middle, brush your teeth after him if possible but just keep in mind, "I'm squeezing this so that he'll have a nice fresh tube to squeeze from the middle again tomorrow because I love him." (And because, really, is toothpaste REALLY a hill worth dying on??? Didn't think so.)

Isaiah 1:18

2010-08-13T10:03:00.000-07:00

A Day in the life...

2010-08-13T09:16:00.000-07:00

When I used to watch shows where the family had quints or more or shows where the couple had like 20 kids, I used to wonder what does a normal day look like for them. Not a GREAT day where they get everything done that they want to (and not a day that they air on TV because I'm sure it is different when it is just the couple and their kids and no TV crew around) and not a TERRIBLE day...

Anyway, if you are wondering, here is what a day in my family's life looks like...it's pretty close to normal, but if you are looking for drama, there is always this day.

Prince Charming wakes up and leaves for work around 7. I SOMETIMES get up that early too. SOMETIMES. Usually I wake up between 8 and 9. I get dressed and shower and all that fun stuff at that time. If I woke up early enough, I get to do it in peace, but usually by 9, the kids are awake and crying to get out of bed or come out to play or whatever so the last part of my shower is usually filled with cries. I dress them. (This can go very quickly or it can last for almost an hour! It just depends on how many of them dirtied a diaper in the night, how many of them are being co-operative and dressing themselves or trying to (and how many are walking away or crawling away, or playing with toys while I'm trying to get them to put an arm in a sleeve.) and although Ana and Eden can dress themselves, they also need lots of prompting sometimes and occasionally still end up with something on inside out or backwards.)

We eat breakfast. The kids at the table and me somewhere else. It used to be my Internet time but I'm trying now to make it my morning Bible time and it seems to be going good so far. :D

After breakfast, I set them up with a movie or send them outside just depending on the weather and the attitudes and whatever else. While this is going on, I get the school stuff ready for the day (We use a lot of worksheets as Write-and-Reuse sheets so I put whatever they are doing in the clear sheet protectors in their notebooks and get out the books to read, etc.) I also do the dishes during this time. (Now, I know some people hate waking up to a dirty sink but not me. I hate spending my evenings washing dishes when I could be watching a movie with Caedon or playing a game or something. So I don't do the supper dishes. I just rinse them off and leave them in the sink for Breakfast time...ask me again later when I have teenagers and more dishes and more helpers if I do them at supper. For now, the answer is "no".) But since I rinsed them, they go into the dishwasher (lifesaver) quickly and I can go make beds or straighten up the house whatever needs doing as the movie is finishing up.

Then we do school. Keep in mind that I'm schooling a 3 year old and a 2 year old so it may or may not be the same later but right now, school is pretty easy. They do their worksheets with a little instruction about what's going on on each sheet from me. We read books, do crafts, sing songs, play games, whatever else I can think of or have scheduled for the day...and move on with life. The preschool curriculum we got is not very strict so we are usually done pretty quickly. Isaac is too young to do school but he "does school" anyway. Usually this comes in the form of him reading a board book or a cloth book (something he can't destroy) to himself or playing with toys or coloring on a paper. (He likes to sit at the table with the girls but if he gets too grabby and gets into their stuff I move him to the floor and he messes around with the toys down there.

When school is done, there is usually time before lunch for them to play for a while and for me to do whatever or catch up on laundry or something. Then I make lunch and we eat and after that we all have a rest time. They go to their room and utterly destroy it...we're working on that...and sometimes all fall asleep...but not always. I do a load of laundry or whatever other house work needs straightening up on. Sometimes I am completely lazy and just watch a movie or write a story or read a book. Also, naptime is a GREAT time to sew or scrapbook as I don't have little helpers getting into my stuff. :D

Naptime is over around 3ish. It is mostly dictated by Isaac right now. He goes to sleep well and wakes up about 2-3 hours later... (He sleeps TONS! This kid has been sleeping through the night from WAY back when. He first slept 8 hrs at night at 3 weeks old for one night a week increasing it gradually until by 10 weeks he was ALWAYS sleeping through the night and he used to take 2 naps of around 2 hours each nap every day...if he was a Dwarf in Snowwhite's world, he'd be Sleepy.)

Usually around this same time Daddy comes home but not always. Sometimes they have a little play time first. But somewhere in there, he comes home and we do our evening stuff. That might be going shopping for groceries all together...or playing in the yard, or doing a game in the house, or just him and me doing something (watching a movie, etc) while the kids play in their room or whatever.

I cook supper, we eat it. I don't do the dishes. The kids play, we play. We do family devotions, and they go to bed (between 8 and 9). After that, we hang out together for a while and go to bed ourselves.

Now, remember, that's normal, but here's the part I'm not sharing. *wink*

During that time, I usually end up with 1-5 accidents in the panties from one or the other of the potty trained children...this is usually due to me forgetting to remind them to go potty and them just going wherever they are. When, oh WHEN, will they start remembering that for themselves? I'm so discouraged on this. I don't want to think for them forever.

Usually I step in a potty puddle at some point and get bent out of shape that someone peed on the floor...AGAIN...

Usually, the boy gets into at least one thing...sometimes it's the trash or the toilet, sometimes it's just that he mashed a button the the movie and turned it off. (He is BUTTON BOY, king of mashing buttons!)

Usually, I have some point in the day where someone is whining and I can't handle it anymore and send them to their room or outside until they can stop whining at me. (Most of the time I try to remember to be gentle about it and say nicely to them, "Talk to me in a normal voice and I'll think about doing whatever you are asking me to do..." but not always.

Usually, as soon as Isaac realizes that I am making food, he sits by my ankles and screams until the food is ready. He is pretty impatient! I don't reward this screaming by giving him ANYTHING ahead of time, even a drink. He often gets moved out from under my feet and sometimes if he persists gets put in the walker or shut in the school room with Daddy or even put in his crib so I can get the food done. He thinks he needs to eat the moment he sees food. Silly boy!

Usually, I get hit up for requests to refill drinks...about a dozen times a day per kid. (My kids are GREAT at hydrating and STILL eat well, what can I say? That's not an exaggeration.)

I usually have 6-10 diapers a day. It depends on who all is wearing them. Back when I was still training Eden, she and Isaac did close to a dozen a day!

I often have one extra mess each day that I have to clean up because someone, somewhere was getting into something they weren't supposed to be getting into...

I sometimes have to dole out varying disciplines (sometimes several in a row) throughout the day...but most days are actually good and I look back and think, I didn't get onto a single kid all day...Wow!!!!

Mix in a few of the above items and now, THAT is a more normal day.

Sweeping Ants

2010-08-12T14:05:00.000-07:00

When we lived in Charleston, we had ants. Tons and tons and tons of ants! We would poison them but, as a friend once said, "the entire state is one big ant's nest..." so it never really seemed to work. They would get it in their heads about 2-3 times a summer to move their nest from the backyard to the front yard and would then do it...in one long unwavering line of ants. What was so bad about this was the fact that they would decided to go the shortest route from the back to the front...which happened to be straight through the house. So, 2-3 times a summer we'd have a trail of ants moving from one yard to the other straight through the house, down the halls, and back out the other side of the house. We tried all kinds of things to get rid of them. We'd poison the nest, spray the trails, bait them, whatever, but when they were on the move, they would not stop to eat poison, they'd just adjust their trails to go around the spray, they'd do whatever it took to get to their destination despite our efforts to get rid of them.

Worse yet, they were biting ants and I had a crawler so she was constantly in their trails.

I would sometimes just take the broom and sweep them up as fast as I could. Now, since I'm pretty sure you've never swept a trail of ants, I'm going to describe it for you. First of all, it's a lot like sweeping marbles. They just go wherever and not where you want them to. Secondly, they have legs so they go back where they were when they reorient themselves. So, yeah, it's pretty pointless, but I was desperate! (I did discover that you can vacuum them successfully!)

Anyway, all of that is to say this: sometimes trying to get all three of my kids to go somewhere or do something at the same time while keeping them OUT of everything else is like sweeping ants. They go where they want, they are unwavering, not distracted, and not easily relocated.

Psalm 73:28

2010-08-12T09:34:00.000-07:00

This is my husband's favorite verse.

When God spoke...

2010-08-12T08:37:00.001-07:00

I've only had a few times in my life when I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God spoke to me. No, it wasn't audible but I know He spoke. There have been other times when I feel He impressed something upon me but not with so many words that I could "hear" with my heart. I'd like to share a few of those times.

One time, we had this long, hard, rough month around 7-8 months after we had first got married. We lost our first pregnancy 11 weeks into it and our dog died in a few short weeks of each other. It was hard. During that time, my soul was so torn but God gave me the verse: Job 1:21. It says: "The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." I know that doesn't sound that encouraging, but for me it was exactly what I needed to hear. While I was grieving my loss, I was being given assurance that, yes, God was still in control and God was still on His throne and, no, nothing that had happened had surprised God.

Another time, we had been trying to conceive a baby for several months and had failed. I was starting to get depressed and despondent about it. (Which is dumb because the baby in question is 15 1/2 months younger than the one above him...so, like, what was I thinking???) But mainly, we knew we had a big move coming up the following year and we were praying, "God, please give us a baby now or not for the next few months because we don't want to have a baby in a moving van somewhere in the middle of nowhere." At one point, my husband said to me, "Hey, wanna go make a baby?" I told him flat out, "We can't. It's been two weeks since I ovulated. No. It's impossible." At that moment, in my heart, the words came, "With God all things are possible." (Mt 19:26) I responded back in my heart with, "Yeah. Right. That would take a miracle. God doesn't do those things often anymore." I was wrong. We found out we were pregnant shortly after that. The dating ultrasound put my ovulation (which was always like clockwork) 2 weeks behind on that cycle and looking back, I know that we only made that baby on the day I heard from God...not any other time in that time frame did we even try... I know God gave me that baby and I know that He worked a "miracle" to make my cycle "wrong" so that He could give us a baby in His timing. He wanted us to know that we had not made the baby on our own but in His power.

The final time I am going to share with was this: Once, not so long ago, my husband was without work. We had gone from being full time active duty military to just part time reserve and were looking for jobs. We had filled out tons (and I do mean tons) of job applications but the job was not coming. The economy had "crashed" and no one was hiring. We had not been paid in weeks and the military travel pay we were supposed to be getting was still weeks off. We were down to our last diapers. Yikes! I remember going through the house, wondering if I could use towels or old shirts or something and somehow tie them around the kids until the travel pay came through. The people at our church knew about our situation and we had been offered food from the food pantry and hand-me-down clothes but that was not what we needed. Our pantry was full and our kids overflowing in clothes. I remember coming home from church, fixing something for the kids to eat and then just going upstairs to my room and collapsing into a pile of laundry I needed to fold and put away. I tried to pray but no words would come. We had been talking and I knew that if something didn't give soon, we'd be selling the car, moving in with family, doing whatever it took to get by. It was one of the lowest moments in my life. I remember just sitting there sobbing with these big, body-wracking sobs and the only words my heart could form over and over and over were, "Oh God! Oh God! Oh God!" Then, quietly into my heart came His answer. "You heard my cry." I did not know at the time where it came from in the Bible but it was enough. I dried my tears and went downstairs and put my last diaper on whichever kid was dirty. I asked my husband if we had any change lying around, or any money in any account (I knew we didn't...hadn't for weeks...) and if there was any way at all that we could go get diapers. He agreed to check the online banking again but we both knew it would be empty. While he was checking, the phone rang. After a short conversation, he hung up the phone and closed the computer. Turning to me he said, "I have a job. I start tomorrow. And the travel pay came through early. We have money." "You heard my cry." The words kept reverberating in my heart. "You heard my cry." We went shopping but as soon as I got the chance, I looked them up. They came from Jonah 2:1 and it said, "From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. ² He said: 'In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me, From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry." I love how it says, "Jonah prayed to the Lord HIS God..." It said to me, "This was a personal, close relationship. Not just some deity that was out there somewhere who if you appeased just right, it might move in your favor." I also loved how he was at the lowest of the low...from the depths of the grave and God heard his cry.

John 3:16

2010-08-11T11:41:00.001-07:00

Isaiah 9:2

2010-08-11T11:38:00.000-07:00

Isaiah 29:16

2010-08-11T11:34:00.000-07:00

Spanking

2010-08-11T11:04:00.001-07:00

It's that thing we are terrified to talk about in this day and age for fear someone will take our children from us. Currently, your right as a parent to use spanking to discipline your child is covered in every state in the US. (If you are from somewhere else, sorry, I don't know anything about all that...)

The way that we spank at our house is like this:

We have a spoon hanging on a nail at a height that Ana and Eden (and unfortunately Isaac) can all reach. Above the spoon is a little card that I made. The card has drawings of the kids (with the fourth still unknown baby on it as well) and hearts around showing that this is a loving verse to my non-reading kids. The verse I have printed on the card is Proverbs 13:24 and in case you can't read it in the picture above, it says: "He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him." (NIV)

Honestly, I don't think that spanking need be done in every circumstance and notice that the verse said "careful to discipline" so it could be a lot of ways including spanking.

When one of the kids misbehaves, we send them for the spanking spoon. They go and get it (and if they don't, which is rare, we go and get them and go with them, holding their hand to get the spoon). When they bring us the spoon, we lay it aside and talk to them telling them exactly what they did wrong and what was expected of them. They are usually quite repentant at this point but not always.

We tell them things like, "Jesus wants you to obey and you were disobedient. You were sinful and tacky. Because you didn't obey, you are going to get a spanking. I don't want to spank you, but I have to obey Jesus and Jesus tells me to discipline you. It hurts my heart when you don't obey. It hurts Jesus. You have to be obedient. I'm going to spank you now. Are you ready?"

Usually the answer is "no" but we do it anyway. We tell them to bend over and they do or we help them along and give them a spanking. Then we lay aside the spoon again and take them in our arms and tell them that we love them very much and that we spank them because we love them and want them to be good and obey. Then, when we have cuddled for a moment, we give them the spoon and they return it to the nail.

It's all done in love and they dread it but at the same time, they seem to know even at 2 and 3 that we love them and want the best for them. They don't run and hide but if they did, we'd just go get them and walk with them hand-in-hand to get the spoon.

Now, about the spoon. Honestly, I don't use the spoon just because I've heard all that about not using your hands...you know, "your hands are for love not discipline, use something else for discipline". I don't really buy all that. I was spanked with whatever was handy, including hands and I never felt unloved. I use the spoon because it gives them some sense of ownership of the wrong...or something more like that. I can't explain it. Anyway, all that to say, yes, when we are out or if the spoon is not handy, we use a hand. No, I don't think it is going to damage our loving relationship to use a hand and I don't think it is bad if you never use anything but your hand the whole time you discipline.

Anyway, I just thought I'd tell you how we do spanking at our house. It seems to be working so far and even my "harder headed one" seems to be learning her lesson. Eden came to me last night a short time after a spanking and said to me, "You broke your's heart, Mommy? You broke your's heart? Emma was tacky and you broke your's heart?" I told her, "Yes, it hurt my heart that you were bad but I forgive you now and you are going to try to behave, right?" She said, "Yes." and she did well remembering what she was supposed to be doing.

Chocolate Cheesecake Recipe

2010-08-11T10:50:00.000-07:00

Crust:

(Honestly, I don't know how much of each ingredient I use...I just kinda dump it all in and add more flour/milk for consistency...and use the other ingredients to taste.)

Flour (probably around 3 cups)

Butter (around 1/4 cup-1/2 cup)

Brown Sugar (around 1/2 cup

Sugar (around 1 cup)

Milk (around 1-1 1/2 cups)

1 (3 oz.) pkg. chocolate pudding (I use instant but it might work with the other kind too)
3/4 c. sugar
1 c. milk
2 (8 oz.) pkg. soft cream cheese
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp salt

Mix pudding, sugar and milk in a pan and cook until it boils. Set aside.

Mix all remaining ingredients together, when well blended add pudding mixture and blend again.

Put crust mix in pie pan. Pour cheesecake mixture into pan. Bake at 350 degrees on lower rack for 1 hour.

Diaper Bag (extras)

2010-03-29T16:45:00.000-07:00

You may remember I made this bag a while back.

With three pockets on the inside...

I decided to make all this extra stuff to fill it! Pictured here with the bag from Left to Right:

A small bag with extra pockets for things like extra clothes or random small stuff to keep it from floating around, burp cloth, identification holder, recieving blanket, a dirty diaper/clothes holder, a changing pad, a wipes box (didn't make that. lol) and three rings for pacifiers, keys, and toys (didn't make them either)

First, I'm going to show you the changing pad. It folds up nicely and has a cute heart on the outside. :)

I took a pillowcase and stuffed it with a towel cut to size and sewed in along the edges. Then I tacked it down with the heart appliqué on the back. To the front, I added a piece of shower curtain cut to fit and sewed down. I was really easy...now it would look way better if it wasn't wrinkled.

The back of the changing pad.

The ID holder

The dirty diaper/clothes bag (This is also a shower curtain sewed to this shape)

The small inside bag for extra stuff.

With the flap open

showing off the pockets

Look at everything in the bag! :) And it's not any bigger than any bag I usually carry. :)

Inside with the flap of the smaller bag opened.

Closed with everything tucked away inside it.

Displaying the bottle pockets.

Heart appliqué on the outside of bag.

Cute big button

I confess...

2010-03-19T10:38:00.000-07:00

*I haven't seen the sun beyond the confines of my yard for 8 days and I miss it. I confess that's not totally true. I went to the Doctor a few days ago but I went straight there and straight home so I'm not counting it. I confess I wanted to drive around all over town on that trip just to be OUT and "who cares if all three diapers leak out and I have to wash three carseats!" DID cross my mind.

*I feel like such a shut in. My conversations are with toddlers and mostly concern poop or vomit.

*I confess I have been depressed over the last week. I have laid on the bed twice and cried and cried and cried, not fully sure why I was doing it.

*I confess, I'm getting phobic about germs. I have caught myself washing my hands at the THOUGHT of changing a diaper.

*I confess I have my potty trained Abby in diapers right now...poor thing. I confess I HATE changing diapers! Currently I have 3 in diapers... /sigh/

*I have sprayed the whole house with rubbing alcohol and water, and then again with bleach and water. Yes. I did. ( I used like an entire bottle of rubbing alcohol in the girls room alone...)

*My house is sooooooo neat right now (except for the office/school room/man cave) but I don't even want to be here.

*I have halfway wondered if I could get out of scrubbing another floor by burning the house down...it would kill the germs better...okay, that's not really true. I didn't WANT to burn the house down...or maybe I did. LOL You'll never know for sure.

*I've scrubbed so many floors, sheets, and clothes and I'm wondering why they don't have holes in them yet from being washed so much this last week.

*I've felt overwhelmed.

*I've watched Cinderella about 30 times in the last few days and that's just one movie. I don't even want to count the others we've seen 6 million times.

*We've had to miss church, bible study, a birthday party, and more...

BUT

*I confess I've had some of the sweetest moments this week.

*Lying on the bed, crying my eyes out, I found the warmth of a tiny body curled up next to me. She touched my face sweetly and said, "Don't cry Mommy. I love you." Another time she ran to get her Daddy, "Daddy, hurry! Mommy is sad!"

*We've spend TONS of time together, the kids and I, more than we'd probably have spent otherwise.

*We've played on the swing.

*We've sang at the top of our lungs.

*We've danced ourselves silly.

*We have had a ton of tea parties and picnics.

*Emma can count to 20! (when she wants to...)

*Isaiah can say "Mama, Dada" (and sometimes Abby and Emma...)

AND

*I've been thanked for random Mommy chores countless times this week by a three year old and a two year old...unpromted!

Yeah, despite it all, I would not trade this week...not really...because it's been a blessing too.

Going to the store with three small children...

2010-03-12T12:45:00.000-08:00

I think..."I'll just run to the store for some milk and bread....save my husband a trip..."

Then I think...

"I have to find 4 pairs of socks that match AND fit everyone....

I have to find and put on 4 matching pairs of shoes....

I have to fasten three carseats....

I will probably have to find shoes and socks at the store...

for all three of them...

because they will be lost in the floorboard...

I have to get a cart for them and get them into it without getting anyone run over...

(very dangerous these days...lol)...

and I have to get them into the store and out of the store without buying extra stuff that gets tossed in by my helpers or loosing what I came for...

and without one of them getting crushed under all the groceries that have to fit in that same cart...

or murdering each other because they don't have much room....

and I have to rescue hotdogs from being eaten plastic and all...

and I have to pay...

(which might work or it might not...stupid debit card is demagnetized or something....)

and get home...

and put on the shoes and socks AGAIN to go in the house...

and then unload the car...

and put the stuff away while keeping them from running outside...

or whining about being tired and hungry...

or eating my groceries...."

so then I think...

"Where's the phone? I'm going to get my husband to do it."

Something Old Becomes Something New

2010-02-17T13:02:00.001-08:00

I'm going to show you how I made this....slightly baggy but otherwise cute dress...

out of....

This adult sized shirt. It began as my shirt. But see, I have this problem called pregnant belly where the extra skin is not covered unless my shirt is also covering my rear. Since this one did not cover my "beautiful" belly and since I didn't really like this color on me anyway, I decided to make it into something for the person I did like this color on. Also, since she and her sister both need more dresses...I decided to do a dress.

First I turned it inside out and laid a dress that did fit my 2 yr old on top.

Using her dress as a guideline, I cut the sleeves off of my shirt like this. Also, since she has a smaller shoulder width than me, I cut in the shoulders.

My three helpers watching me. They love being where I am.

I cut the sleeves down for her size, also based on how they lined up with the dress. I cut mine with a tiny flair because I thought it might be cute. (As the dress turned out big on her, the flair doesn't show well but I have an idea that her sister would fit this very nicely. Also, notice that I cut it from the already hemmed part so I would have less to sew.

So now I have three pieces...two sleeves and the body.

Pin the sleeves on. I left the bottom seam of the sleeves open for this dress at this stage.

Sew the sleeves on. Leave about 1/2 inch to 1 inch (depending on how much seam allowance you left) on the sleeves.

Sew from the cuff of the sleeve to the armpit, then turn and sew down the side of the dress to the bottom hem. Repeat on the other side.

Now, we have our basic, plain dress. If I had a patterned shirt to begin with, I might have left it like this...especially if it was for jammies...but since it's not, I wanted to add embellishments to it.

I did not have a ribbon that matched this so I crocheted a chain of white yarn and sewed it around at the chest line for a high waist. Before you ask, no, I don't know how to crochet anything but chains. That's my sister, my mother, and my grandmother's hobby, not really mine but I find chains come in handy for attaching mittens together to slide through the sleeves of a coat or for belts on a dress, etc.

I added two flower buttons to the shoulder to dress it up.

...and one flower button to the knot at the "belt."

Here's the back view of the completed dress. It didn't take long at all and I'm pretty proud of it even if it is a little big. She'll grow into it and in the mean time, she can share it with her sister who is in desperate need of dresses.

Of course, my model had to cheese for the camera so I didn't get a good shot of the dress on her.

There you have it. An old, never worn shirt becomes a dress.

Elijah Lapbook

2010-02-16T13:33:00.001-08:00

This is all my work. I don't mind if you use it. Tell me what you think! :) I created this Elijah Lapbook for preschoolers but I think older kids could use some of the elements in it anyway.

Coloring page Elijah Lapbook

Sizes page Elijah Lapbook

Fun facts and cut outs page Elijah Lapbook

Matching Game 1 page Elijah Lapbook

Practice Handwriting page Elijah Lapbook

Bible Verse Page Elijah Lapbook

Mini Layer Book Page Elijah Lapbook

Folder Labels Page Elijah Lapbook

Memory Game 2 Page Elijah Lapbook

Did I ever tell you how easy it is to become pregnant?

2010-02-16T11:34:00.001-08:00

My husband and I should tour the US and speak up for abstinence. LOL

First, we got pregnant on birth control. I was taking the pill as directed. I had been bleeding off and on since I started taking the pills and I felt horrible. They kept having to up my doses because I was bleeding all the time. When the bleeding finally stopped, we found out we were pregnant!

Second, we got pregnant the first time we ever had sex. Yes...yes we did. You see, when I went to the doctor a few weeks before getting married to get birth control pills, it was my first exam ever and I was sooooooo nervous and so modest. I was so tight he could barely do the exam but what made it worse was the fact that he looked at me and said, "Your hymen is so tough it is going to hurt the first time you have sex more than normal. You might want to bring a heating pad or some ice packs on your honeymoon." So I mulled this over and over and over in the weeks leading up to the wedding. I knew a girl who was in tears for months after her honeymoon because they had not been able to have sex and she found out she was too small. She had to wear a tool to stretch her out and was so stressed. Maybe some of her stress wore off on me too because when we were unable to have sex during our first months, I figured either my hymen had not broken and we could not break it, or that I was too small. We went to the doctor again 4 months after we were married and he told us that the problem was with me. I was so worried about it hurting that I was clenching up and keeping my husband out. That totally crushed me! It was awful! Our first half year was filled with tears. While we were able to satisfy each other in other ways, the one way we wanted most...the way we were designed to complete each other, was denied us. I felt like it was all my fault as we worked through the exercises he had given us to help calm me down and tried various things. It's probably the worst feeling in the world to be so close to the "forbidden fruit" and know that it is no longer "forbidden" and yet still be unable to taste it. When we finally did have sex the first time, 6 1/2 months after we were married, we got pregnant. I know it was that time because that was the ONLY time in 8 months that we had ever had sex. Just because we got to do it once, we were still working through issues that made it impossible for me to do it again.

We miscarried that baby and I had to have a D&C. Recovery for that took a while but, surprise, surprise, we were pregnant again before we knew it.

We've never tried very hard to become pregnant. Since birth control was messing me up so much, we quit when we first found out I was pregnant and we never went back. We got pregnant twice without my period coming back from breast feeding. We got pregnant on the tails of a miscarriage which the doctor told us was highly unlikely to happen and he was surprised it had happened.

Anyway, all that is to say this...

Yes, we are pregnant again! This makes 6 pregnancies in less than 5 years! We don't really want to stop having kids yet. We are happy with them. When we decide we've had enough, we'll get one of us fixed. For now, however, we are expecting our fourth baby in early to mid October!

Once Upon a Naptime...Dress Pattern

2010-02-11T12:43:00.000-08:00

The dress is on the far left. This is size 2T. Sorry you can't see it well. I need a better picture.

Once Upon a Naptime...Shirt Pattern

2010-02-11T12:39:00.001-08:00

The pattern below is for the shirt on the far right. The shirt is size 3T.

One Upon a Naptime...overalls pattern

2010-02-11T12:20:00.000-08:00

My neighbor came over and started talking to me so it was dark by the time we got the pictures taken...

These three outfits took two naptimes to complete. From drafting to the last button. They are so easy and yet look good together with the right accessories. The overalls are size 3-6 months.

The outfit on the left is the dress. The one in the middle is the overalls (this is the post for the overall patterns) and the one on the right is the shirt.

The Kloie Bag

2010-02-11T11:43:00.000-08:00

Okay...these got out of order and I don't feel like fixing them. This is the first pattern piece.

This is the bag I made for my pregnant sister.

Here is the finished product without anything in it. It folds up really small because I didn't line it with anything. If I make another I might add batting between the inside layer and outside but I also like that this won't be bulky so I don't know for sure.

A view of the inside. I tacked the inside lining by hand so that it wouldn't move around.

The outside when full. It can hold a TON... It's bigger than I thought it would be. I was afraid it would be a one child diaper bag but turns out, it can hold quite a bit more. That's 6 yards of fabric wadded up and stuffed in there... LOL

A view of the bag when empty from the inside

The rest of the pattern pieces are below. I didn't really leave instructions on how to do it. Hopefully you can figure this out. I sewed the heart on the outside, then sewed the outside front to the bottom and did the same with the outside back. I added the side bottle pockets "aplique style" onto the sides. I did the same with the inside that I had done with the outside, sewing on the inside pocket first. I then tacked it by hand to the outside around the seams so it wouldn't move around. I sewed the flap together and the strap and turned them right side out. Then I turned the inside and outside down and pinned them together with the flap and strap and sewed it all together around the top. I went over the straps a few more times to make it stronger. I added the button hole and the button and was done.

Freshen the house

2010-02-09T11:02:00.000-08:00

When my house smells a little "used" or "stale" I often take a spray bottle filled with one load's worth of fabric softener (laundry soap works as well but fabric soften seems to last a little longer) and I fill the bottle the rest of the way with water. I shake it well and use it on everything fabric in my house. It works well and costs very little so I can go crazy and use the entire bottle if I want. :)

A Mother's Prayer

2009-12-04T13:19:00.000-08:00

God, grant me patience-
*for the times when everywhere I turn mess is all I see
*for when my towels smell funny because Ilet them sit in the washer too long
*for when my speghetti noodles are spread all over the floor
*for stubbed toes in dark, toy strewn bedrooms
*for when my toddler tries to change her own diaper
*for when I don't feel like cleaning even one more thing today
*for when my pregnant nose can't handle the smell of ketchup
*for when the dishes are still dirty and my family is hungry
*for when I don't get much "me" time and I'm tired of cartoons and toys.
*for when I'm asked to read the same book a million times
*for when my toddler keeps sneaking out of bed
*for when they just won't listen

*for when everything is going wrong and I just want to cry......

because toddlers don't last forever
and cuddling will soon be gone...
because I love them more than myself....
and that's really all it boils down to each day anyway.

I made this for my sister's little girls.

2009-11-20T13:44:00.000-08:00

Simple doll pattern. This is the little doll in the pictures below.

This is the same pattern from the blue dress several posts below. I just made it smaller for the baby size.

The little baby doesn't come out of the blanket. She also has a rattle in her. :)

Layer Books

2009-11-10T09:07:00.000-08:00

I have a file on my desktop that I've called Homemade Curriculum.... In it there are picture books I've made, coloring pages I've made, and crafts, etc.... I made these Layer Books and decided to share them with you. They are good for collective projects (like Lapbooks) but you can also just print them out and cut them up and cover them with clear contact paper and use them as regular books or they can be for a church bag or a quiet bag for the car. Oh the possibilities! :) Anyway, they should be pretty self explanatory. If you click on them you'll get the full 8x10 version.

Dress Pattern...sewing

2009-11-05T20:21:00.001-08:00

First cut out your pieces. Sew them together as dirrected on the pattern.

Attach top to bottom. Add Buttons and button holes.

Sew hearts end to end all the way around the dress.

Model! (My model was tired and ready for bed so I stopped sewing the hearts around the bottom and took the picture anyway.)

Here are the pieces for you to make this dress. Should fit a size 2T. Click on the picture for a large image.

NOTE: because he skirt is longer than one piece of paper, I made a little coffee cup symbol that you need to overlap and tape in order to have the complete page.

Hope you like it. If you use this pattern and blog (etc) about it, comment so I can see! :) I'd love to see how you did it. Feel free to mess around with the pattern.

Doll Purses...Pattern

2009-11-05T11:56:00.000-08:00

I made this pattern myself. It is a doll purse. I think if I do it again, I will alter it a littlebit. The way that the hair went on the doll looked funny in the end and they needed something to support their necks so that their heads didn't flop. Otherwise, for better or worse, here is the pattern I made.

Isaiah 9:6

2009-11-05T11:52:00.000-08:00

genesis 1:27

2009-11-05T11:51:00.000-08:00

Genesis 6:9

2009-11-05T11:50:00.000-08:00

Genesis 15:6

2009-11-05T11:49:00.000-08:00

Psalm 95:6-7

2009-11-05T11:39:00.000-08:00

Awesome Homeschool Craft...School

2009-11-05T10:19:00.001-08:00

This is super easy, very in expensive, and wastes very little. First, cut an apple up into chunks of different shapes and sizes. (If you have cute little cookie cutters, you could do that to it, but I don't have them) Next, mix a package of koolaid with a few table spoons of water so that it makes a thick substance. Finally, get paper (or paper bags) and stamp the apples into the kool-aid then onto the paper.

When you are done painting with apples, you can eat the apples. They are a little sour with the koolaid so you might want to dip them in a plate of sugar but my kids ate them with out the sugar and without a single complaint...like they were candy...so you might not have to use sugar to make it a good snack...my tongue just curled a little with the sour.

I didn't have trouble getting the koolaid out of anything or off the table but you might want to put on clothes you don't care about just incase and you might want to lay a big trash bag on the table to catch "missed stamps" just in case too. Again, I didn't have any trouble with it coming up though so this should be an easy craft for you.

So, there you have it. It's a craft and a snack rolled into one! :)

Amazingly Tender Roast, Ham, Turkey, or Chicken...Recipe

2009-11-05T09:46:00.000-08:00

You CAN'T mess this up!

WARNING: If you are looking for the prettiest turkey (ham, roast, or chicken) to serve, this won't be it. If you are looking for a turker to "carve" this won't be it. If you are looking for medium cooked roast, this won't be it...but it might just be the tastiest, most tender, fall off the bone meat you've ever eaten.

It will be SUPER EASY. You will be able to fix it and forget it until it is time to eat it. You won't even have to check it and it will come out perfect everytime. (If you are good with plating a meal, it will look prettier, and it will be fall off the bone easy to serve up.)

First decide whether you want to mak eyour veggies now or later. (I make potatoes, carrots, and sometimes peas, beans, green beans, or corn all together but not every one like sthe sublte flavoring of meat in their veggies.)

Next, find a pan big enough for whatever meat and/or veggies you are making. Place the meat (frozen works JUST as well as unfrozen...I NEVER defrost my roast, turkey, etc anymore. What a waste of time.) into the pan and add the potatoes and carrots, etc (if you are going to make them this time. ) Fill your pan with enough water to cover the bottom of the pan about 1 inch deep.

Now, season your meat (and whatever else is in the pot)...You can use whatever spices you like best. You will want to "over do it" a little bit. Beliee me, it takes a LOT more seasoing than you realize to season a "big" meat. Cover the pan with foil, creating a "moat" around the outside edges so that the juices will "rain" back down into the pan and not into your oven.

Set your oven temperature. At my house we set the oven to about 150 and cook it ALL NIGHT LONG...the we eat it for lunch. You could do the same thing by preparing it in the moring and eating it for supper. I usually use the "night before" method for Sundays. Then I can put it together after I put the kids in bed and cook it all night and durring church and it will be waiting for us when we come home. Hey, we can even bring frineds home for lunch! If you cook it at this low of a temperature, you won't even have to check it (but I usually do just because I can't stand to leave things alone...however, I've never had to add more water or anything.)

It will fall off the bone easily and will fork up easily when it is done. To complete the meal, you can heat up some frozen rolls or something and have company over. (Remeber, if you plate it prettily, it will look much better. Then you can pretend that you worked and slaved over it all day. Shh! It will be our little secret. LOL)

NOTE: if your meat is almost the same size as the pan, you might have to check it to remove water as water cooks out but this is a rare occurance if the pan has enough room/veggies to soak it all up.

Easy Fish, Potatoes, and Veggies...Recipe

2009-11-05T09:35:00.000-08:00

I had a friend who took his girlfriend on a date somewhere romantic and outdoorsy. He first wrapped fish with spices in foil and potatoes with butter and spices then he put the foil packages on the engine block of his car so that it cooked on the ride there. Now, I don't recommend you doing that because I have no idea how hot an engine block gets or how long it would take to cook it, or even if your fish would be DONE when you got there. HOwever, I'm telling you this becaue it is kind of where i got the idea for this recipe.

First, put a smal amount (about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon per fillet) of olive oil on a pice of foil. (You can wrap each fillet indivitually or together.) Next lay the fish fillet (mine was frozen) on the foil and season it however you desire. Flip it and season the other side as well. Fold the foil closed around the fish. (Try to seal it completely.) Place on a cookie sheet (in case of leaks) or dirrectly on the oven rack. Bake it until it is done. It will easily fall apart when it is done. This meal can be "ready when you are"...if you cook it at a very, very low temperature, (say 150) you can bake it all day and eat it for supper but if you want it NOW, cook it at 350 for around 15 minutes...(it will depend on the size of the fillet)

For the potatoes...I slice whole potatoes in halves and make criscrossing cuts into the potatoes insides L(not cutting them all the way through but mostly...) Then I lay them skin side down on a pice of foil and tiop them with butter (this works to keep them from sticking to the foil) cheese, sour cream, bacon bits, salt, pepper, or whatever other things I desire for flavor. Then I roll them in foil as I did with the fish and bake them until they are done.

I also serve mixed veggies with this meal. I took a piece of foil and put a teaspoon of oil our butter on it. Then I dupm a package of frozen beggies on the foil and season them to taste. They bake in the oven with everyting else until they are done...which honestly mostly depends on when the potatoes are done. :)

We eat them out of the foil so we have very few dishes for this meal.

I never tried it yet, but I have a feeling you could do the the same thing with chicken or beef...you'll have to experiment and tell me how it goes...or wait for my experiment.

Decorating on a budget...the bathroom

2009-11-05T09:15:00.000-08:00

It's the little things that count...

Ugly cup of toothpaste and toothbrushes.....

Hide it behind a cheap picture frame. (That's a greeting card framed up there... and yes, it is crooked... the kids have broken the back so it doesn't stay closed anymore and the picture slides around...)

Ugly 80's mirror. (Complete with missing handles....and coated with rust on the inside of the sliding part....) (Hey, just keeping it real... we rent. We are poor. ;) )

Dress it up with fake flowers and cute things. Candles and ribbons would also be a good idea here. Would you believe the mirror doesn't get any cleaner than that? I wouldn't either. Nice try though.

Ugly towel closet thingy.... complet with chipped paint... (Not ours so we can't get rid of it...) Dress it up with fake flowers (vines) and picture frames... See the "vase" at the top? It is a glass milk jar we spray painted. Not pictured are two dollar store picture frames we also spray painted to match the "vase". In them are framed calendar pages from an old calendar. They match the framed greeting card above so they "fit" the decor.

At least now I can stand to be in my bathroom without hating it.

Art...

2009-11-05T09:09:00.000-08:00

Sorry...This is going to be really random...But I wanted to show them off just because I think they are AMAZING!

My mom drew this for me of the girls when they were little.

She also drew this one of me and my husband when we were little. We didn't know each other at this age but we both happened to have had pictures taken on the SAME day. So she took the pictures and put them together like this for us. Cute!

So, inspired by my mom...and yes, she taught me how to do it. I have NEVER done anything this good before, I drew this one of Caedon! I am so proud of it! I really need to get it matted though because it looks goofy in the frame like that.

Decorating on a budget...Wall Names

2009-11-05T09:01:00.000-08:00

If you are too poor to buy wooden letters at, what, $6-10 a letter plus the supplies to decorate them...but you want your kids names on the walls in their bedroom...

I took scrapbook paper (12x12 sheets) and cut letters out of it. I decorated the letters with buttons, ribbons, etc. Then I glued them onto another piece of scrapbook paper and cut it out again for the outline. It also added stabilty to the letters. I put masking tape on the back and hung them on the wall. (Out of reach of course... buttons, etc could be a choking hazard.) The total cost...well for me nothing because I already had all the scrapbook stuff. But probably cheaper than it would have cost to do the same thing with wooden letters paint and ribbons...maybe.

Recipe...Pigs in a blanket...

2009-11-05T08:54:00.001-08:00

This isn't really a recipe I guess. But this was a really fun activity for the girls and I to do together. If you do this, however, I'd strongly suggest spacing them MUCH MUCH further apart than they are pictured here. I was having a brain problem this day and I left them as is...so they all baked up into one big glob... but they were still animal/people shaped. I mean, come on! I know better. I make the normal kind all the kind and don't have a problem with spacing.... Anyway, just thought you'd like to see them. Cute huh?

Ana's birthday!

2009-11-05T08:36:00.000-08:00

So Ana had her third birthday recently. It was a mess! I mean, it went really well. We don't do big parties...just us but I was expecting my parents to come in (they ended up being snowed out but I was cleaning and making beds and stuff all the same)...

For whatever reason, the cake I made Ana fell. I think my first mistake was allowing her to choose which pan she wanted for her cake. She didn't want the bear pan or the square pan...she wanted cupcakes...which I decided to stack up so that they looked like a castle....that was of course before they fell... I don't know if it was my oven or the freezing cold outside (I actually had the window open by the stove because I was hot...) or if it was something else....but they fell flat... I think the third mistake was me deciding to go with it anyway.

So...Caedon walks in from work to me, trying despretly to fix this mess........He tries....and it gets worse. By this time, I'm crying in the chair. Ana is excited because she just loves her cake anyway but her mommy and daddy are trying to make life perfect...go figure. She loves it and we can't stand it.

Being the sweet husband he is, Caedon goes to the store and gets a new cake mix, icing, and a castle pan. Then CAEDON makes the cake and decorates it! Seriously! This was the work of my wonderful prince! I was so impressed. I think I'm going to have him do all the cakes from now on! :)

By the way...Sewing

2009-11-05T08:13:00.000-08:00

I got a new sewing machine!!!!! Yay! My sweet husband surprised me with it! I came home from Bible study and the UPS man met me at the door with my new machine! I thought I'd share some things I've made Past and Present to give you some ideas...

This is the cover of a quiet book I made.

One of the pages... A lot of the pieces were lost in the toybox when I took these pictures. *sigh* That's the one bad thing about quiet books....lost pieces....

Build with shapes and a bed for a small doll.

My personal favorite....dress the baby and the flaps on the diaper, arms and lets are not sewed down so they move!

Jungle animals...I took animals from scraps of cloth I'd used for a dress. I apliqued them onto cordory and they became part of the book. The Hill on the right page is a pocket that they can hide behind. There are rocks trees, etc that are loose for hiding behind too.

A pocket with tiny puppies that can also play in the jungle animal part. A dog with a mouth that opens...

A backpack for carrying a bible to church in...

Doll purses!

On the day I got my new sewing machine, I whipped up two princess dresses for the girls! (I didn't use a pattern and I discovered that there are a few mistakes because of that and because I was holding Isaac a lot of the time...)

The second princess dress.

A baby blanket...

I made these dresses following the pattern exactly and sewing to the size the girls were when Ana was 15 months old and Eden was just a new born. They came out soooo huge! The girls have thus worn them for a long time and they are just now starting to fit... Sometimes I hate how "NB" on a pattern really means "almost 24 mos".... Seriously! The one thing I didn't like about this pattern was that it called for 1 1/2 in buttons but the straps are so thin that they follow the button through the hole all day long and are constantly pulling funny. I tried the pattern again with tiny buttons and it worked much better.

Sewing...a gift for a friend

2009-10-28T17:18:00.001-07:00

I made the dress for a friend's baby and I sewed bows on the arms of the shirt I found to match the dress. I made my own "card" too. It was a "tag card" for this event. Cute huh?

Yay! I have a SCHOOL ROOM!

2009-10-23T12:36:00.000-07:00

We've been doing school at the kitchen table but needless to say, when the kids get it into their heads that it is time to "do school" and it is actually not, I have a mess to clean up. I recently switched the girls room to the old office and the office to the girls' room. Because of the change, I was also able to convert a portion of the office into a school room! Here you can see my girls sitting on the window seat doing puzzles. (The windowseat has become a perfect place for school)

Here Ana is reading to Isaac and Eden. Though the room looks cramped, it's actually bigger than it seems with plenty of floor room.

Another shot of them doing school in the windowseat.

I still have my craft stuff and we still have room for the books and other things. We even have Isaac's swing in here.

Standing in the doorway looking into the room. It looks EXTREMLY claustrophobic from this point of view but it's really not that bad.

There are days...

2009-10-23T12:27:00.001-07:00

So, after dodging boxes falling out of the over full pantry.....

Milk and stuff falling out of the over full freezer door.... (Do you like my husband's "fix" for the top shelf? I guess I can't complain because at least now we can USE the top shelf...but still...it is just a little trashy...)

...and, yes, after dogding junk falling out of this part of the freezer too.... (Can you tell we bought a few more things than we needed?)

I found THIS mess of my neatly folded/sorted laundry piles......

...and I heard the dog whining in the garage... she doesn't go in there? What??? So I opened the door to find THIS... The garage door that opens into the backyard had blown open in the wind and she had come in there and tore open the trash! Dumb dog, anyone want her? LOL.

So...there are days you just want to start all over again...thankfully THIS day was not quite SO bad.

2 Cor 10:3-5

2009-10-23T12:16:00.000-07:00

I find scripture memory easier when I make pretty "cards" for them. I do this for the verses the kids memorize in Homeschool as well. I hope to post a lot of them for you to see eventually.

I am so sad!

2009-10-23T11:37:00.001-07:00

My close friend of almost two years is dead. Yes, my sewing machine is broken and I currently don't have the money to fix/replace it...so I have to probably wait until after Christmas. I got this cute fabric to make costumes for the girls for our church harvest party but my machine would not give me even one stitch without locking up. So, saddly, I have to buy costumes instead. I'm itching to sew! I'm sitting here staring at the cloth....*sigh*

Such a cutie!

2009-10-22T20:54:00.001-07:00

Sewing...More of the family

2009-10-22T17:06:00.001-07:00

After making a daddy doll, of course, I needed to make a mommy doll and a baby doll. LOL. The strange looking one on the left is my first attempt.

Photography...just more pictures

2009-10-22T17:01:00.000-07:00

Dolls

2009-10-22T16:40:00.001-07:00

If you are about to bring a new baby into the family and you are worried about how your toddler will react, here is a tip I learned. If you buy a baby doll for your toddler and save it until the day you bring your baby home it helps. I recommend finding a very lifelike one that fits real baby clothes. When Ana was wanting to sit on my lap but I was nursing or otherwise occupied with the new baby, I'd suggest, "Can you go get your baby? Can you put your baby in the swing? Can you feed your baby with that bottle? Can you find a dress for your baby to wear?"

As you can see the baby is still a pretty good "friend".

We did the same thing for Eden when Isaac was born. Neither of my kids experienced any jealousy that I could see.

Photography...Birth Announcement Pics

2009-10-22T16:26:00.000-07:00

I took several of each kid in different poses and just picked the best ones. I hope this gives you some great ideas to try it yourself.

Sewing...Daddy Dolls

2009-10-22T16:19:00.000-07:00

When my husband had to deploy, I was afraid that my then 13 month old daughter would forget about him or be "different" around him when he came back. So I made this Daddy Doll. It was easy enough to make. I bought iron on transfer paper, printed a picture of him, ironed it on to a plain white sheet, colored the sheet with orange crayons (not on his face) to make it skin color, ironed the sheets to set the crayon in, made a rag doll body, and then made clothes for it.

Sewing...matching sister dresses

2009-10-22T16:17:00.001-07:00

About a year ago, I made matching dresses for the girls. Here Ana is displaying hers. I love sewing for the kids because it seems to last so long! They both still fit their dresses with plenty of room to spare.

Recipe...Fried Tacos

2009-10-22T16:10:00.000-07:00

Not a healthy recipe by far but it is soooo good and it is inexpensive.

First, brown hamburger meat and season it as you would for tacos.
Next, cover the bottom of a skillet with oil and put corn tortillas in it. Cook on about medium for a minute or two and flip the tortillas.
Spoon hamburger meat onto the tortilla and add shredded cheese.
Fold together and place on a plate (if you cover the plate with paper towels first, it will remove some of the grease and oil)
Serve as is or with guacamole, sour cream, salsa, etc.

Ana's achievements

2009-10-22T16:06:00.000-07:00

Analyse will be 3 in just a few short days. I am exceedingly proud of her school achievements so far.

In case you can't see it, this is a person! She drew her daddy! I didn't even know she could do that! She actually drew 5 people (one for each of us.)

Doesn't she look so proud showing off her work? She's my big girl!

Haha!

2009-10-22T16:04:00.000-07:00

My profile combined my birth year of 1983 and my age of 26 to come up with : Age 1926! I can't really fix it either. I guess that's life. LOL :)

Household Tip...Pizza..

2009-10-22T15:47:00.000-07:00

I just learned this today! For rewarming Pizza, since the microwave ruins it and it takes a while to warm the oven for leftovers...try putting the pizza in a covered nonstick skillet. Cook on medium for about 5 minutes! The Pizza comes out hot and crisp! Try adding parmesean, oregano or basil to the pan first for extra flavor!

Photography...some highlights

2009-10-22T15:31:00.001-07:00

The lighting is not good in this one but their faces were cute.

*And, no, they don't always smile or look at the camera or "be good" for me.... Just so you know...*

School...Workbooks (Write and Reuse)

2009-10-22T15:18:00.001-07:00

I LOVE dryerase workbooks! They are the best! I can get tons of use out of them and the kids can get lots of practice doing a certain activity for very low cost. However, the world of reusable workbooks is limited. So I took a College presentation folder (you could do the same thing with sheet protectors and a three ring binder) and I put the worksheet pages in the page protectors. The kids can use either dry erase or washable markers on them and all you need is a wet or dry paper towel to erase them.

Decorating...The Bedroom (redone)

2009-10-22T15:09:00.000-07:00

I wanted a change. It had to be inexpensive. So here we are. I took the spare lamp from the livingroom, and bought a shade for it. The shade matched the bedspread that I also bought. Both of these were the MOST expensive purchases in the room. Totaling $50! I bought a cheap red sheet and cut it in half and hemed the cut edge, then sewed the top down creating those curtains for $2 plus the rod which just happened to match the lamp we already had (I don't remember the rod's price...)

I nailed a sheet to the wall ($2) and found those two wall candle holders for $15 each. Yay for a new room instantly at a very low cost! A few accents can be added later to tie it together for the full affect but that's not bad for an instant change.

School Stuff...Felt Board

2009-10-22T14:54:00.001-07:00

When we do school, Isaac usually sits nearby in his swing or highchair surrounded by toys.

We were studying Baby Jesus on this day. Here is the finalized version of the felt board after we had our fun playing with it and doing the story. Eden's favorite part is the Mary with the Jesus that fits into her arms.

Here the girls are showing Isaac how the story goes.

Here they are playing with the pieces.

If you don't have one, I STRONGLY reccomend getting a felt board. If you can't afford one, I'd say google different pictures and copy them to paint or some other photo editing place. Cut the backgrouds out and resize them to be the same size, then print them. Glue them to pieces of felt and just buy the back grounds.

Decorating...The Living Room ReDone

2009-10-22T14:08:00.000-07:00

Same shelf, standing up on end now with a sheet nailed to the back to hide the brace I also nailed to the back of it it nail it to the wall. Also note the sheet nailed to the wall beside it. That acts as "paint" where we can't paint and hides the stupid fan cord that they ran from the ceiling down to the outlet since we aren't allowed to fix that on our rent house. Hey, just keeping it real.

I covered a rickety TV stand with a sheet for now to hide the ugliness of it. there's the same chairs covered in sheets so that it could blend in with the couch. I found that cute leafy candle holder on the wall for sale at Michael's.

The second chair and candle holder (also from Michael's). I put a sheer cloth for a curtain on the window by the door. I don't like people seeing in though so the sheer will have to go. I have all my movies in DVD binders in the light brown tub which is a Plastic tub covered in sheets. (Hey, when you are poor, sheets are the best you can do...) I have all of the video games in dvd binders in the Dark brown tub which serves as an ottoman too. Nifty, huh?

And here's the famous, milk and chocolate stained couch that we bought all these sheets to match.

Another view of the living room. I'm pretty impressed with the results. The sheets for this living room cost a whoping total of $8! Wow! What a deal!

Decorating on a budget....The bedroom

2009-10-22T14:05:00.000-07:00

Not allowed to paint? No problem. Just get a sheet and pull it tight across the wall. Nail the corners down. Ta dah! Pretty and leaves only 4 small holes when you move out.

Household Tips...Potty Training

2009-10-22T10:20:00.001-07:00

I start by just putting my kids on the potty chair or the toilet with a child seat adapter around 12 months. I do this when I am running bath water since they are naked anyway. It is mostly just to give them a chance to get used to sitting over the "scary" hole. If they happen to make a potty in the chair, I praise them highly but at this point, I don't expect it. When they start trying to do it on purpose, I start rewarding their efforts with candy, stickers, and sometimes small toys. I also draw a smiley face on one finger each time they make a potty or a poop. That way, at the end of the day, they can show Daddy how many potty people they have. It is fun for them and it washes off easily enough.

Photography...Around Our House

2009-10-22T10:15:00.001-07:00

You turn your back for just a moment...

2009-10-22T10:07:00.001-07:00

I put the girls outside to play. I went to the freezer to get a Popsicle and when I returned, (seriously at MOST 5 minutes later) I found this! Oh the joys of motherhood!

Photography...Mar 07

2009-10-22T10:03:00.000-07:00

Again, done with natural light. We covered the coffee table with a sheet and sat on it. Draped the background over a bookshelf, and set the camera to timer mode.

Photography...Ana as a baby Feb 07

2009-10-22T09:56:00.000-07:00

I did these in her room. I opened the windows so that I would get natural lighting. It was an overcast day so there weren't harsh shadows. I folded a blanket and put it in her carseat, then I draped the carseat with a sheet. I draped the crib with the background sheet and set the carseat in front of it.

Decorating on a Budget...The Baby's Room

2009-10-22T08:57:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you. Maybe I'm just weird. But I HATE looking at STUFF. I don't mind pictures and pretty things like that, but I hate seeing the things I HIDE away in cabinets. I can't stand glass cabinets for dishes for example. Sure, a pretty hutch with pretty dishes and stuff in it...but I don't want to look at my everyday dishes. I had this open changing table and I hated seeng all the diapers, wipes, lotions, creams, etc, all the time. Sure, I could go buy pretty baskets and hide it all in the pretty baskets, but hey, I'm poor. I don't have money for pretty baskets and I'd like a fix NOW. I was given a TON of pink girly blankets so I just took one of them and hung it over the edge of the table like so. To keep it in place, a few well placed safty pins did the trick. Ta dah! Hidden stuff and it doesn't look too trashy. (Okay, so I admit, it does need more work, but it's a start.)

I couldn't afford curtains or cute matching bed sets. So I took cheap sheets and hung them over the curtain rods. I used the fitted sheets that came with the flat sheets to make the bed skirt for the crib and sewed matching sheets, blankets, etc for the crib sheets.

Stools!

2009-10-22T08:47:00.000-07:00

I fully believe in teaching my children to help me do the chores NOW while they think washing dishes and sweeping floors is FUN. Therefore, I strongly reccomend some high stools or chairs for your kitchen. My girls push the stools around (often underfoot) to help me do everything. Even when there are times that I don't want/need help. I usually let them pull up a stool to help me cook (if it's a dangerous job, I let them pull up a stool to watch...sometimes from across the room...) On this day, I must have been loosing my mind because I had a lot to do and I needed to get the dishes done too. So, to keep them OUT of my baking, (yes, I said, OUT) I set them up with stools at the sink. I filled both sides of the sink with bubbly warm water and gave them the cleanest of the dirty dishes to let them "wash". Of course, that means I also had to mop up the floor and rewash the dishes, but it was helpful in keeping them out of my way so I could get other things done. I think it was worth it.

School Stuff....Counting

2009-10-22T08:40:00.001-07:00

There are times when I HATE these "Legos"... Like when I step on one in the middle of the night or when I have to carefully stack them together to put them away because they only fit in the box EXACTLY right....But I found a good use for them. Today, we practiced counting in school, among the other activities we did. This was a fun one for a long time! We lined them up and counted them, we stacked them and counted them, we counted the red ones. We counted the yellow ones. We had a LOT of fun counting!

Decorating on a Budget...The Living Room

2009-10-22T08:21:00.001-07:00

We don't have a lot of money and we have never owned our own house yet so this is a decorating challenge (for me at least)... But I'd like to share some ideas of how we did things to make our house more homey.

Candles and cheap lamps that matched! The toys are in a pretty basket. In the corner you can see my "home made ottoman". I took a cheap plastic tub and put a fitted sheet over the bottom, tucking it into the tub and pulling a pillowcase over the lid to make the top.

Our "knick knack" shelf. We collect a rock from every state we visit. I write the state's name on it with a permanent marker. It makes for a free souvineer, and it is also interesting to look at when placed among the other pretty things. Notice how the chair looks. None of the furniture we were given matched so we took sheets (yes, sheets!!!! They were about $5 for the Full size set) and we used them cover the chairs so that they matched the couch. Put the fitted sheet on the seat and push it into the cracks around the sides and back. leave the rest hanging down like a bed skirt across the front. Take the flat sheet and spread it hanging over the back of the chair and tuck it into the cracks too. Mine rarely has to be readjusted...and I mean RARELY... and I have toddlers!

Here's a shot of the whole living room. Still kind of bare. If I was still living in this house, I'd probably find some sheets to make curtians with and some fake flowers or more wall hangings or something.

What is a Button Soup Recipe?

2009-10-22T08:19:00.000-07:00

I call a recipe that I threw together with whatever ingredients we had in the house a Button Soup Recipe. I don't post all of the recipes that we did this with. Some of them were kind of gross! :) But the ones that were AMAZING...those are the ones I'll share.

Sewing Projects...Doll Clothes

2009-10-21T10:38:00.001-07:00

I made some cute pioneer style dresses for my girl's dolls. Complete with aprons. I had to show them off.

Button Soup Recipe...Lettuce Wraps

2009-10-21T10:37:00.000-07:00

Lettuce Wraps (Inspired by Pei wei...but nothing like them... LOL...another button soup recipe)

Wash and separate your lettuce leaves so that they make "boats"
Cook rice until done
Brown hamburger meat and season with soy sauce and sesame seeds
Make this veggie mixture in a different pan: Carrots, peas, green beans and potatos (we used a can of mixed veggies) soy sauce, sesamee seed oil, peper, ginger, and Far East (seasoning we bought at Wal-mart... sort of a spicy Chineese seasoing)
For the Ginger sauce water, soy sauce, far east, ginger, and pepper in a pot and boil.
Spoon the meat, veggies, rice, and ginger sauce into the lettuce leaves, roll them closed and eat.

Button Soup Recipe...Taco Soup

2009-10-21T10:36:00.000-07:00

Taco Soup (This is a button soup recipe we came up with out of odds and ends in the cabinet one day. It was very good!)

Cook hamburger meat as if for tacos (seasoning as you would for tacos...we use the little McCormick? packages)
Put the meat in a soup pot and add the following ingredients:
1 can of tomato soup, 1 can of black beans, 1 can of tomales (cut into "coins") add water until it's the soupy consistancy you desire. Cook until hot. Top with cheese!

Another thing you can do is crush up corn chips and top it with them...or dip them into it.

Button Soup Recipe...Angel Hair with Artichokes

2009-10-21T10:34:00.000-07:00

Angel Hair with Artichokes (Inspired by Jonny Carino's...mine and Caedon's version)

Boil Angel hair pasta until it's ready. (As much as you want)
Pour into a mixing bowl and add enough olive oil to make the noodles kind of wet.
Add a small can of sliced black olives, about 1/2 a jar of capers, two tomatos (finely diced) and a can of artichoke hearts. Mix well.

We add chicken to ours. Take two chicken breasts, seasoned to taste (my favorite flavors on them are garlic, basil, onion salt, and rosemary...sometimes I put parmesan on them too.) fry them or grill them (I grill them on the indoor grill thingy. lol) cut the cooked chicken into strips and serve on top of the angel hair mix.

Sewing Projects...Blankets

2009-10-21T10:19:00.001-07:00

I've been making blankets for friends for Christmas.

Photography...my secret hobby.

2009-10-20T20:44:00.000-07:00

I'm not very good at it. I've never taken any classes and I'd like to get a better camera and lights someday.

When you have three under three....

2009-10-20T20:31:00.000-07:00

-there are lots of times when you don't know where someone is or what they are doing
-I promise all the stains on my couch really are chocolate
-occasionally you wake up to a child who tried unsucessfully to change their own diaper
-you feel light headed and realize you didn't eat when you fed the kids
and worse:
-you try to remedy the situation by eating your energy food of choice: Peanut Butter
-sometimes you put the kids in the tub and just let them play and count that as a bath
-a bazillion speghetti noodles poured on the floor is a game of pick up sticks you don't want to play
-you actually enjoy kids shows/movies again
-sometimes facebook, etc is almost as good as a vacation
-you find all of your folded laundry unfolded
-your shoes walk off by themselves
-if you can't find something you go look in the toy box first
and worse:
-cleaning to your kids means hiding your things in their toy box and hiding thier toys under the bed
-dandelinons are beautiful!
-a quiet house is a bad thing. It means someone is doing something.

Caedon's Job!!

2009-10-20T20:07:00.000-07:00

Caedon had interviewed for a job a few weeks ago and they had been very impressed with him but the guy who conducted the interview was not able to hire him and found out that his boss had already hired a different person for the job. Today we got a call telling us that Caedon had been hired! He starts tomorrow!

The Things God Has Done

2009-10-20T19:58:00.000-07:00

To preface this, let me begin by saying, God has blessed us more richly than we even know. We have never been without food. Although there are times when we may want something other than what we have, we have never gone hungry. We have never been without clothes. We have not even really had to buy clothes for ourselves or our kids. So far, we've been blessed with so many clothes from friends, family and so on that we have mostly only bought clothes for the want, not the need, and rarely at that.

God has written for us the most excellent story and we are merely along for the ride. I keep a document on our computer about things God has done for us and to give you some ideas how he has provided abundantly in previous years here are a few examples from the document. Once when I was in college, I had no money in the bank and my car was running on empty. It had been for a few days and I knew it had to be bone dry. I wasn't sure if I would make it out of the driveway each day. I went to school and while I was at school, I was praying, "God, please, please provide gas for me. I don't think I even have enough to get to work today and then back home after that." When I left the school building, I found an envelope on my car with $100 in it!

There were several other times during college when God provided the money I needed to pay for something or when I went to pay my school bill and found an anonymous donor had paid a part of the bill for me. Getting to Bible College in the first place was packed full of Acts of God. We had car trouble, road work, spilled drinks (which were too messy to drive on without cleaning up first), more car trouble, and other things happening to make us later and later getting to the airport so I could fly to Dallas, but despite all of that there were flight delays and things like that working in our favor to get me there.

At Bible College I met my husband and I count that as an Abundant Blessing also. :)
All that was just to tell you that God has richly blessed us and I know he will work all things out to his Glory. Moving here, things fell into place and God moved to get us here, even sooner than we had thought it would happen. We have been extremely blessed to have had a few extra months here to prepare for Isaac's birth and settle in before he came rather than moving here the month after he was born like we had first thought.

We have had problems with the insurance and billing and there was a part of the pregnancy where I was not covered by any insurance at all so we were praying that Isaac would NOT come during that time because we could not afford it. God worked out all of our insurance problems and we had Isaac in his perfect timing.

We had a hard time finding a job when we first got here. (I want to add here that we have been richly blessed financially through relatives during this point but even they could only do so much for us.) Caedon must have filled out a million job applications! No one was hiring. I remember coming home from church one Sunday after getting food and clothing offers from friends at church and just feeling unusually low. I kept saying, "We're going to lose our house or our car before we need food and clothes. We need a job!" At one point, I was crying in my room, unable to even form a prayer from my broken heart. I cried out in my spirit over and over "Oh, God! Oh God!" I remember telling Caedon that I was putting the girls in the very last diapers we had and asking him to see if we could scrape up some money ANY money, from somewhere... I remember sitting on the stairs in our house and listening in on his phone conversation when the phone rang. A job he had applied for a while back was calling to offer him a position! I remember feeling elated and crying with joy but the blessings of that day didn't end there. Caedon has online banking for us and when he went to check our account, he found that our Military Travel Pay had FINALLY come through! We quickly went to the store to grab more diapers! When I think of that day, I think of Jonah saying, "Out of the depths I cried to you and you answered me!" (my paraphrase)... That is how that day felt.

That job ended up not being a permanent one for Caedon but it was a blessing all the same. Caedon's next job was a sales based commission pay job. He was selling window cleaning for a company but in this economy, window cleaning is the last thing most people wanted so he was spending more money on gas than he was making. We had to quit that job as a matter of survival. lol. Even in that, there were blessings. His boss bought us a case of Angel Food (or something like that. Supposed to feed a family of 4 for a week but it has lasted a little longer than that)...

Caedon is currently without a job. He is part time Reserve Military so he can go to school but because of some lost paperwork and other problems the military was having (Loopholes ??) He fell through the cracks and currently is not a member of any base so we don't get paid by the AF until that gets resolved...which isn't happening very quickly despite our best efforts. Because he quit his other job, we have no current income. He has put in several resume's and applications but hasn't received any call backs and has no leads right now. We know God will take care of us. He has proven himself to us over and over and everything works for HIS glory so we are not afraid. But we would appreciate some prayers in the way of his finding a job.

I fear that job finding might be even harder now that he has signed up for more classes this semester in college. He has to go full time to get the benefits and so we have to take classes but it will be hard to find a job that will fit around his school hours. As for the benefits...we are still waiting on some of that to come through as well.

We got to a low point this week where we thought we might have to sell the Explorer and squish into our tiny cavalier for a while just so we could pay rent. Our bills were stacking up and we had no money. (Our phones actually got turned off.) We thought we were past due on a car payment as well but found out we only owed the current one. (Praise the Lord!) We are currently waiting on the Air Force to fix the paperwork. We are waiting on a job for Caedon. When the Air Force fixes the paperwork, we will be waiting on the Air Force to send him to training school for this new job that could take anywhere from a month to a year...but we're hoping for sooner rather than later.

Yesterday, we went to Denver. The VA office has been so backed up that they didn't get all of the money out that was needed to pay for school, etc. Because of that, they were cutting checks for $3000! We were able to pay all of our bills for this month and are currently out of the hole we were in...(until next month. lol) We are hoping and praying for a job to come through for Caedon before the next set of bills are due so he will have time to earn enough to pay for the next bills.

So if you want to pray for us, pray that he will find a good job soon, pray that the Air Force will fix whatever paperwork needs fixing soon so that we can get paid by them soon, and pray that the Air Force school will come through quickly. Ultimately though, we know that God will do everything for His glory and we are not afraid even if that means we do not see the results WE want.

Thank God I'm A Mommy!

2009-10-20T19:42:00.000-07:00

First, let me back track just a little bit to yesterday afternoon when I was making supper. I was running the Microwave and the toaster at the same time. I do that all the time so I thought nothing of it but apparently that day, it decided I wasn't going to run the microwave and the toaster at the same time so it tripped the breaker. (That threw off the PERFECT timing of my meal and the main course got cold while we waited for the biscuits and steamed veggies to get ready on the stove and in the oven...) Caedon checked the breaker box but none of them appeared to be tripped so he took an extension cord and checked various outlets in the kitchen trying to see if they were tripped too. None of the appeared to be tripped. We went ahead and flipped the various kitchen breakers off and then back on but it didn't work and our outlet was still broken. Caedon checked the outlet on the other side of the wall in the laundry room. It was out too but the washer and dryer still worked. Odd, but not something we couldn't live with until we figured out what was wrong.
The next thing that went wrong... That night, for whatever reason, I forgot to put Analyse in a pull up for bed. She was wearing big girl underwear so...of course...she wet the bed. I'm sure you can imagine everything that goes into THAT tale....
So after that, I woke up this morning, took a shower to the sounds of Analyse crying because she was wet, Eden crying because Analyse was crying and because they were baby-gated in their room. (I didn't know Analyse was wet so I didn't do anything about it yet. I'm used to ignoring them while I shower.) and Isaac crying because he wanted to be held...and his stomach hurt...but I didn't know that yet either.
I got dressed and was nursing Isaac, still ignoring the girls for the minute. I kept thinking, "Wow! It's sooo hot today! I must have taken a hotter than usual shower! Wow! It's hot!" I got Isaac happy and put him in his swing and went to fix the girls. Discovered Ana's mess...changed them, dressed them, etc. Went into the kitchen to make them drinks and breakfast. That's when I checked the thermostat for the AC... it said it was 78! (Okay, that not HORRIBLE but remember upstairs is even hotter!) So I tried to turn it back on because it said it was off but I'm so confused by the stupid thing... It has some sort of schedule thing so you can set it to go off when you leave and I couldn't get it to go on once I figured it out.
I ran a load of dishes. No big story there. Just the usual...a couple of nasty fermented milk cups that got found under a bed or something...nothing out of the usual.
Then I went to check on Isaac. He had thrown up all over himself! It was bad. So I fixed that. After that, I went upstairs to pack our suitcase for our trip to visit Mom and Dad. I pulled the chain on the light in the upstairs closet. It didn't come on. Okay...the bulb's burned out. Odd because it's new and it's a CFL but okay...so I go to fix it and things start clicking in my head... "You've got to be kidding me! They DIDN'T wire the house like this! Surely not! You've GOT to be KIDDING me!" (For your information, this house is kind of dumbly designed...there aren't any ceiling lights except for the hallway and the bathroom...you have to plug in something for light. The disposal is plugged into a plug...directly, (I mean DIRECTLY) under the kitchen pipes...because you KNOW that's safe.. stuff like that...) So, apparently, the kitchen plug, the laundry room plug, and the upstairs closet light are all on the same circuit...It makes no sense but whatever floats your boat...
I go out into our HOT garage and look at the circuits again thinking maybe I'll flip the ones for upstairs since it is wired crazy. I flip the one labeled utility room...just in case. Then above it I notice the one labeled furnace. "Okay. I'll flip that one too." So I barely touch it. It springs over to the off position. "Oh! so it was tripped! It just didn't move the switch. Okay." But it is broken now. I can put it in the on position and it "appears" to be on but the slightest touch springs it to off.
So I gave up on that venture and went into the house. The closet is super dark and I still need stuff from there for packing and the stupid door closes on it so I had to prop the door for some light, got the things I needed and went into the bedroom. There, I managed to break a hanging candle holder cup when I knocked it off the wall. I went to vacuum the glass up with the hose and it snagged a sock out of the partly open sock drawer and...yep! it went all the way up the hose to the top! I had to disassemble the vacuum to fix it. I FINALLY got that fixed, changed Isaac's clothes again...poor baby...and discovered that Eden had been changing her own diaper while I was fixing other things....and it was a POOP diaper! So poop was all over the place and all over her. Ana in the mean time was running around the house unrolling all of my Christmas present ribbons. I yell at her to stop doing that as she passes by but it's too late. She is now holding an empty cardboard spool and about 100 yards of ribbon is trailing around my house...
I put Eden in the tub and for good measure, Analyse too. Then I grab up all the ribbon and toss it on the table and clean up poop. Isaac has meanwhile made a bad poop diaper and needs a bath too. So I just wipe him off and put him in the tub with the girls, clean him up, and put dry clothes on him. He is hungry so I nurse him while they bathe. I'm seated on the couch so I can see their heads and they won't drown but I can't really see in the tub beyond their shoulders. That's when Ana says, "Mommy, I need a toilet paper!"
I think I just almost cried then. "Oh Ana!" I put Isaac down and go look to find the world's largest poop in the tub with them. I grab them out, clean them off with a spit bath. Eden is at this point peeing on the floor.... I clean the poop out of the tub. (Ana flushes a wipe down the toilet...I sure hope that doesn't come back to bite me today too!)
I look at the clock. Would you believe it's only 11:30!
But after ALL of that...yes, Thank YOU God! I AM a mommy! Someday, they will all leave me and I will long for days like this...maybe...just maybe...