Does anyone know what time it is???

FOOTBALL TIME!

I really like my Red Sox...even my husband is a closet Red Sox-lover (though he'd never admit it!)

But nothing is quite like football! Patriots kick off on Sunday against the New York Jets!

The Art of Pizza Making

Today, we went to CiCi's Pizza with our homeschool group. We were able to see how they mix soda, how they make their dough (50 pounds at a time!), how they press their pizza, and how they make and cook the pizza! They even got to see the giant walk-in refrigerator.

After the tour, we came out, and we were able to roll out our own pizza dough and then mark them. We had a lot of fun....and ate A LOT OF PIZZA!

Aaaah! The fruits of our labor! Yum!

Making Baby Food

Before I spend a small fortune buying baby food from the store, I thought to make my own. So I did. The only thing I have to do now is get Jamison to eat it.

If you've never done it, it is so worth it. Just buy whatever fruit is in season, then you peal, core, boil, puree, and freeze. When they are frozen, just empty out the ice cube trays into a ziploc bag, label it with the date and what it is and put it back into the freezer. Whenever baby is hungry, take out however many cubes they might eat and put in microwave for 20 seconds at a time until thawed.

Here are just a few pics of the process. I already made bananas and pears...next are nectarines. I bought them for 65 cents a pound....a lot cheaper than 68 cents for a 6 ounce jar!

Here are the finished nectarines....sharing an ice cube tray with pears:Here I am...Nolan took this picture! I love these aprons!

Legos and How I Met Your Mother do Les Mis

I love Les Miserables....and I found these and thought them worth sharing, lol. Enjoy!

D. James Kennedy 1930~2007

“Now, I know that someday I am going to come to what some people will say is the end of this life. They will probably put me in a box and roll me right down here in front of the church, and some people will gather around, and a few people will cry. But I have told them not to do that because I don’t want them to cry. I want them to begin the service with the Doxology and end with the Hallelujah chorus, because I am not going to be there, and I am not going to be dead. I will be more alive than I have ever been in my life, and I will be looking down upon you poor people who are still in the land of dying and have not yet joined me in the land of the living. And I will be alive forevermore, in greater health and vitality and joy than ever, ever, I or anyone has known before.”


- D. James Kennedy

Baby Training, Day One and Two

Jamison is just about 9 months old. When he is awake, he never sits still. He is always moving. When it is time to pick him up, he squirms and arches his back and will often let out a groan of disapproval.

This has to stop. I want him to be content and quiet while sitting on my lap. Especially since we are taking him to the upcoming Desiring God Conference. I would like to be able to hear the speakers!

Yesterday was day one. It was 4pm. I had just nursed him, so I knew he wasn't hungry, and he was freshly diapered. The other boys were playing nicely, so I knew I would have some time.

I sat on the couch with Jamison facing me. I knew I would have to be consistent and patient and outlast him. I knew there would be some fussing.

I was ready.

I gently put his head down on my chest and said "head down". When his head popped up again, I put his head back down and said it again..."head down". Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

30 minutes later, a little crying, a little fussing, a lot of patience, and a lot of "head down's " later...he was sleeping. This is the child that hates to be held still.

It worked. He even laid on me quietly, sucking on his fingers before he fell asleep...and I didn't even have to hold onto him...he just laid there.

Even now...he is laying on my chest...he just fell asleep again! This time after only 15 minutes. There was no crying or fussing second time around, and not nearly as many "head downs".

Just last week, I was getting leery of his strong will showing face more than normal. Wouldn't it be great to overcome that will before he is even a year old???

The First Day of School

My Nolan is 5 now. I waited as long as I could....but it was inevitable, school had to start.


Yesterday was the first day of Kindergarten. He loved it. I have to say that I was a little nervous. I didn't want this to be a battle to get him to do his school work. There was no need for me to worry....he loved it. He reveled in it. And when he discovered that he gets to do school work 5 days a week....you'd of thought I told him we were going to Disney world!


He was very quick to tell his younger brothers that he is 5 and gets to do school work, and since they are younger, they have to wait to start Kindergarten. He felt very important sitting there, pencil in hand, doing his work. Then we played ABC Bingo and did watercolors (Gideon and Haddon joined in).


It was a great morning, and I am so happy that I have been blessed to be able to stay home and teach my children.

Works-For-Me-Wednesday

I would have to say that this is my list of brand name must-haves....

1. Arby's has the best Mountain Dew. It must be the way they mix it.....cause it is sooo good. Granted, I don't go there very much, but it brings a smile to my face when I think about it, lol.

2. Sonic slushes....nothing quite like them.

3. Aristocrat coffee syrup....other brands can be okay, but nothing like the real thing!

(is it just me or is everything I like consumable?)

4. Foreign cars....Honda, Toyota, Nissan....We've never had a problem with any of these manufacturers.

5. Colgate toothpaste. My dad will use nothing but, so there is always this stigma that if I use anything but Colgate, then he will know.

6. Huggies diapers....everything else leaks badly. It might be my kids, but I like to think it is the diapers.

7. Lasinoh nursing pads...no other is equal.

8. And check out my freebies...I love getting to try out new brand name items...what better way than when they are free!

(edited to add)

9. Marshmallow Fluff! No other marshmallow cream will do...my boys love this and wouldn't want me to forget it!

Thanks Rocks in my Dryer :)

And feel free to add your own!

Simply put

Free book

Hope Again by Charles Swindoll

In this uplifting book, Chuck shares the tremendous gift of hope that God wants to give each of us. No matter what obstacles we may be facing, God does not abandon us, and He does not want us to remain discouraged.

here

Free Chinese silk scarf

Request a free tour package and you will receive a specially designed Chinese Silk woven handkerchief. This $10 value is yours free for requesting our brochure.

here

Two free samples from Walmart

You can find a free sample for dry cleaning cloths and Listerine whitening strips here.

About Abraham Piper

'LET THEM COME HOME'

At first I pretended that my reasoning was high-minded and philosophical. But really I just wanted to drink gallons of cheap sangria and sleep around. Four years of this and I was strung out, stupefied and generally pretty low. Especially when I was sober or alone.

My parents, who are strong believers and who raised their kids as well as any parents I’ve ever seen, were brokenhearted and baffled. (See sidebar.) I’m sure they were wondering why the child they tried to raise right was such a ridiculous screw-up now. But God was in control.

One Tuesday morning, before 8 o’clock, I went to the library to check my e-mail. I had a message from a girl I’d met a few weeks before, and her e-mail mentioned a verse in Romans. I went down to the Circle K and bought a 40-ounce can of Miller High Life for $1.29. Then I went back to where I was staying, rolled a few cigarettes, cracked open my drink, and started reading Romans. I wanted to read the verse from the e-mail, but I couldn’t remember what it was, so I started at the beginning of the book. By the time I got to chapter 10, the beer was gone, the ashtray needed emptying and I was a Christian.

The best way I know to describe what happened to me that morning is that God made it possible for me to love Jesus. When He makes this possible and at the same time gives you a glimpse of the true wonder of Jesus, it is impossible to resist His call.

Looking back on my years of rejecting Christ, I offer these suggestions to help you reach out to your wayward child so that they, too, would wake up to Christ’s amazing power to save even the worst of us.

1. Point them to Christ. Your rebellious child’s real problem is not drugs or sex or cigarettes or porn or laziness or crime or cussing or slovenliness or homosexuality or being in a punk band. The real problem is that your child doesn’t see Jesus clearly. The best thing you can do for rebellious children—and the only reason to follow any of these suggestions—is to show them Christ. It won’t be simple or immediate, but the sins in their life that distress you and destroy them will begin to disappear only when they see Jesus more as He actually is.

You can read the rest of the article here.

Can I even laugh at this?

I got out of bed this morning and got the kids up. Nolan exited his room telling me how he was playing "Tom dies on the cross." (from Tom and Jerry)

I mean, it's great that he is so interested in the Bible and loves to read it. But should a five year old be reenacting the death on the cross with a cartoon character? and is it bad to say that I laughed at the obsurdity of the imagination of my oldest child?

Ay yi yi.

Monkey Bread

3-4 packages Pillsbury biscuits (store brand works fine)

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 stick margarine



Cut biscuits into 4 pieces each. Put sugar and cinnamon in a medium sized bowl. Stir biscuits around in the bowl until they are coated and place them in a greased bundt pan. Melt margarine and brown sugar. Pour over bread. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.



When it is done, invert onto a large plate!

Chicago Pizza

Do I really need to say more?

Ever been to rural Illinois?

Let me give you a detailed description of what it's like.

To the right....corn fields. To the left....corn fields. If you look behind you....more corn fields. If you look ahead....you guessed it...more corn fields.

A trip to the Brookfield Zoo

We had a great time. Each trip has it's moments that make it that much more memorable...like how we booked a room that we thought was a two room suite, when it was really one huge room. (Unless you have more than 2-3 kids, you know what I'm talking about when I say that bedtimes aren't too smooth when you are all sharing a room.) Or how when you want to go to the Chicago zoo....you make sure that you get a hotel near the actual zoo. Chicago traffic is a nightmare.

The kids loved going to zoo. I dressed the kids in matching shirts and shorts to make them easy to see in a crowd. I recommend orange shirts to anyone with small kids going anywhere crowded! We spent the entire day there....we were sooo worn out! I can still hear Gideon's squeal as the sea lion swam by him over and over and over again!

I love that we were given the opportunity to make these sort of memories with our boys. They are still talking about the things they saw...though Nolan was disappointed there were no dinosaurs, lol.

Here are some pictures of our day :)

I think this is the only picture of all six of us!

Jamison was happy as long as he had a never ending supply of Cheerios!

In the kangaroo pouch...

See the camels!

Gideon loved the Giraffes!

PSA....Earth day is everyday!

Gideon was getting quite squished by his brothers

It's been a long day...time for sno-cones!

Petting the goats!

A quote

“Pride is when sinful human beings aspire to the status and position of God
and refuse to acknowledge their dependence on him.” --CJ Mahaney in Humility

Overheard yesterday at the ZOO

"Mommy, I hope there are dinosaurs here!"

"Can I play with the zebra?"

"Can I please play with the lion?"

"Mommy, look, there is the donkey. Oooh! And there is the donkey's poop!!!"