A new direction...

I have always wanted to be a better person, mother, wife, friend; you name it, just better. What I want is not always possible but I am learning to be what God wants me to be. My very good friend, Trish, introduced me to the online study “A Confident Heart” by Renee Swope. On the sidebar is a link to her site and I highly recommend all women to visit and learn more.

 Blogging has always been something that I have wanted to do for various reasons and hopefully with “His” guidance I can turn this blog into something that is worth your time and visit. In general my views haven’t changed and I am still the same person with the same family, interest and views but I am looking forward to see what God has planned for me and my family. I pray for you all too just trust in the Lord and see what he has in store for you today.

 
God Bless!! Ü

The Necklace

I received this from a friend and had to share.......

The cheerful little girl with bouncy golden curls was almost five. Waiting with her mother at the checkout stand, she saw them, a circle of glistening white pearls in a pink foil box..

"Oh mommy please, Mommy. Can I have them? Please, Mommy, please?"

Quickly the mother checked the back of the little foil box and then looked back into the pleading blue eyes of her little girl's upturned face.


"A dollar ninety-five. That's almost $2.00. If you really want them, I'll think of some extra chores for you and in no time you can save enough money to buy them for yourself.. Your birthday's only a week away and you might get another crisp dollar bill from Grandma."

As soon as Jenny got home, she emptied her penny bank and counted out 17 pennies. After dinner, she did more than her share of chores and she went to the neighbor and asked Mrs. McJames if she could pick dandelions for ten cents. On her birthday, Grandma did give her another new dollar bill and at last she had enough money to buy the necklace.

Jenny loved her pearls. They made her feel dressed up and grown up. She wore them everywhere, Sunday school, kindergarten, even to bed. The only time she took them off was when she went swimming or had a bubble bath. Mother said if they got wet, they might turn her neck green.

Jenny had a very loving daddy and every night when she was ready for bed, he would stop whatever he was doing and come upstairs to read her a story. One night as he finished the story, he asked Jenny, "Do you love me?"

"Oh yes, daddy. You know that I love you."

"Then give me your pearls."

"Oh, daddy, not my pearls. But you can have Princess, the white horse from my collection, the one with the pink tail. Remember, daddy? The one you gave me. She's my very favorite."

"That's okay, Honey, daddy loves you. Good night." And he brushed her cheek with a kiss.

About a week later, after the story time, Jenny's daddy asked again, "Do you love me?"

"Daddy, you know I love you."

"Then give me your pearls."

"Oh Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have my baby doll. The brand new one I got for my birthday. She is beautiful and you can have the yellow blanket that matches her sleeper."

"That's okay. Sleep well. God bless you, little one.. Daddy loves you."

And as always, he brushed her cheek with a gentle kiss.

A few nights later when her daddy came in, Jenny was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed Indian style.

As he came close, he noticed her chin was trembling and one silent tear rolled down her cheek.

"What is it, Jenny? What's the matter?"

Jenny didn't say anything but lifted her little hand up to her daddy. And when she opened it, there was her little pearl necklace. With a little quiver, she finally said, "Here daddy, this is for you."

With tears gathering in his own eyes, Jenny's daddy reached out with one hand to take the dime store necklace, and with the other hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue velvet case with a strand of genuine pearls and gave them to Jenny ...

He had them all the time. He was just waiting for her to give up the dime-store stuff so he could give her the genuine treasure. So it is, with our Heavenly Father. He is waiting for us to give up the cheap things in our lives so that he can give us beautiful treasures.

God will never take away something without giving you something better in its place.

....hope you enjoyed!! God Bless Ü

Lowe's Build and Grow Clinic

Okay, I told you all that our 7 year old has pneumonia, well nothing was going to do but to go to Lowe’s this morning. We are regulars and that is one of his favorite things to do so he had to go. I am glad that we went. This one was huge and he is still playing with it unlike some of the other things that he has made in the past.

Be sure to check back later. God Bless!!

Updates....updates....updates

Hello out there in cyber world. lol There has been so much that has been going on in our little part of the world that the blog has been long forgotten. Our 7 year old son has pneumonia and our 16 year old began her first job, babysitting 2 kids that we go to church with at their home when needed. This time of the year is always bad for us due to my son and myself having asthma and add our daughter to the mix with bad allergies for the 3 of us and it is a mess for about a month or more depending on this crazy weather. You know bad news could go on and on and on. But isn’t it much more fun to focus on the positive. lol

We have watched several new movies since I gave the last update.

1. Tangled

We LOVED this movie!!!! Can’t say enough good about it. Our son is extremely gender specific, meaning he does not like to do anything girly. Well he loves this movie and even used his allowance to purchase the Wii game…..which is fun as well but it didn’t take very long to get through the biggest part of it.

2. Yogi Bear in 3-D

This is the first movie that we watched in 3-D in the theater. Our daughter couldn’t enjoy it because the glasses are a bit heavy and the whole thing gave her a headache. I enjoyed the 3-D but agree with the glasses being bulky and heavy therefore giving me a bit of a headache as well. Dear dad didn’t comment much either way. Our son loved it regardless. He is a very optimistic person and doesn’t complain much at all. He sees beauty in just about everything. It is a massively awesome gift that he has. The movie was good but I would have enjoyed “more”. I can’t explain that much more than “more”. It just wasn’t enough for me.

3. Rango

Okay. Number 1 about this movie, shame on Nickelodeon!!!! Can someone explain to me the reasoning behind the language?? I don’t get it. The movie was good and the kids enjoyed it other than the language. I would have really enjoyed having it without the bad language and we would happily add it to our extensive movie collection. But due to the language……not going to happen!! Shame to, it would have been a great movie and I can’t believe it has been put as high as it has been with the language that is in it. Apparently it didn’t bother many but to me it is a HUGE turn off!! Well that’s a quick update.

Hope you come back soon. God Bless!!

Another New Pet

My son told us that all he wanted for Christmas this year was a kitten. How sweet is that? Well the rabbit that my daughter had in her room is not at papaws. She chose to let it run free on the farm. It seems to be much happier. We had one parakeet left after the last cat got the food door open and ran through the house with the other one in her mouth. My daughter normally shuts her door, I don’t remember why it was open but that doesn’t matter. We took our Peek-a-Poo to be fixed and saw a huge, I mean huge, cage that had 1 parakeet in it. We asked, with my daughter’s permission, if they would like to have another. They agreed and we took her down to them. Theirs was a male and ours female, just what they were searching for, and they hit it off great. So we are now down to the house of dogs. LOL We have my daughters boxer in the kennel outside as well as our 4 year old dachshund and 1 ½ year old Peek-a-Poo inside. I vow that when something happens to these two there will never be another inside dog!! I love them but I hate having them inside.

Back to the kitten. We have 1 pet store in town that opens, closes or goes out of business or switches owners or all 3 and opens again and it does the same thing over and over and over. We had purchased a kitten in there before but the new owner has so many different pets in there that he just finds homes for kittens and cats, no fee. My husband actually picked one out that reminded him of a cat that we had when we first were married and it passed of feline leukemia, horrible disease. I can’t keep going straight through a story; I have to cover all the bases while I am there. LOL Our son agrees to the kitten, he didn’t care what it looked like. We took it home and it was odd from the beginning. It loved to be held and would cry when you put it down. It urinated and did number 2 wherever it felt like. It would pass up the litter box and go to the dog’s pads and relieve itself. When it sat on your shoulder or the chair it faced the wrong way. It was always with its head toward the wall. It would stand and look at the refrigerator or wall or whatever and meow. It meowed all the time. It was a very, very odd kitten. Then a few days into having it it lay down on the floor with its back half under the couch, still not unusual. Then our daughter made the comment that it needed to blink. She had been looking at it for a few minutes and it hadn’t blinked. My husband moved its head and it just let it flop and meowed softly. He hovered over it and told me to come there. I looked and it was dying. I sent the kids into the bedroom and we wrapped it up and I sat and petted it until I was bawling. All of those odd things must have been a sign that something was very wrong with it. I had given it a bath and it was fine. It had walked around and lay on the couch as usual and then just got down on the floor and lay down to die. My husband took it carefully into our storage barn all wrapped up and comfortable and let it pass away and he buries our pets that pass. As you may guess, our kids were devastated.

A few days later my mother shows up with 3 very small kittens while we were in a store. I was talking to her on the phone and went out to see them while the rest of the family stayed inside. They were small and cute and I picked the fuzzy one, with the worst case of cold in its eyes that I have ever seen in my life. These are kittens from cats that she is trying to find homes for. One of those places where people decided to drop off cats and kittens and all of a sudden you were feeding 2, of which were yours, and within a few months you are feeding over 13, seriously. So I cleaned it eyes out and wrapped it up and took it into the store to surprise them with. Even my husband had no idea of what I was doing. It was a small consignment shop so she didn’t mind for me bringing it in. Well they loved it and we loaded up, after paying for our purchases, and went straight to the vet. This time we were making sure it was in good health and getting medication for its eyes and treated for fleas as well. It got a clean bill of health except for the cold in its eyes and a regular cold. We took it home and medicated it for a few days and yesterday it was a playful little kitten. It ran all over, tried to climb everything in sight, swatted at the dogs, played with us all and slept on us like a little baby. We have to lock it in the utility room at night until it gets the hang of the litter box. I thought that kittens came out being litter box trained. Boy was I wrong. LOL But I think it will be just fine. Oh, it weighed less than a pound and she clipped its claws, that is something that I am going to keep up with this little one. I don’t want it climbing the curtains like I have had done in the past. LOL

Is that one lazy kitten or what? But cute none the less.

Until next time, take care and may God Bless you all. Ü

You can have an Emergency Storm Shelter anywhere!!

Click on the pictures for a closer look.

You can now have an emergency storm shelter anywhere, at least if you own the land or can dig a really large hole and no one will mind. This is truly one of the most awesome things that I have seen in a long time.

This is from the “Lifesaver Storm Shelters” ad that I picked up while looking at one of these amazing inventions.

Standard Features:
Ø Built in the USA
Ø Shelters meet or exceed FEMA 320 specifications
Ø Heavy duty fiberglass construction
Ø Stainless steel hardware
Ø Gas struts for easy door opening
Ø Screened vents keep pests out
Ø Water-tight door seal
Ø Stainless steel multi-point door locking system
Ø Composite flooring will not rot or rust
Ø Carpeting
Ø Fiberglass non-skid steps
Ø Handrail

Common Applications:
Ø Residential Homes
Ø Manufactured / Mobile Homes and Parks
Ø Small businesses
Ø Day Care Centers
Ø Retirement Homes
Ø RV Parks and Campsites
Ø Churches
Ø US Government & Military Facilities
Ø Local & City Government Facilities

Lifesaver Storm Shelters only protrude eight inches above the ground and can be installed in a single day in most cases without large machinery, meaning there is minimal damage to your lawn or property. As an optional feature, phone, cable / satellite TV or electrical wiring can be added to your installation for your comfort and peace of mind.

They start at the inside dimensions measuring at 4’ long by 5’wide by 5’3” tall and seats up to 4 adults and go to a huge 6’6” wide by 14’9” long by 6’3” tall that seats up to 20 adults.

In our area the one that is the best seller and it is also the one that my family went down into sells for $4,500 and seats up to 6 adults with the inside dimensions measuring at 7’ long by 5’ wide by 5’3” tall.

These are extremely awesome spaces and I would love to hear from anyone that has one so that we can post your opinion here. I think they would be a welcome to anyone that has the space. It could mean the safety of your family in certain circumstances.

God Bless you all and thanks for stopping by!! Please leave feedback; I would love to hear what you think about anything on this blog.

Update on Brodie

Thank you for all of the prayers, they still need them. However, he and his mother are at home and feeling much better.

God Bless and thanks again!!

Nakaylee Jade

Isn't she a cutie!!

This is my husband’s cousin’s daughter. We (my daughter and I) like to claim her when we can. LOL

My son doesn’t care for her at all. She is the first “baby” that has been around for me to give attention to and he became extremely jealous very quickly. I have reassured him that mommy loves him and that he is still my baby. He is okay with her being around now but still doesn’t want anything to do with her. LOL

Just wanted to let you all see her. She is a cutie and is normally a very happy baby, although she is getting that bit of attitude to know that if you move her and she didn’t want to be moved, she starts crying until you put her back in that position or one close to it. She loves looking around, like all babies. My daughter went over to their house yesterday and was holding her and her mommy put “Finding Nemo” in. She said that she just starred at the TV. Too cute. And she loves my daughter. She can make her laugh and she just smiles when she sees her. Of course she is a super great girl as well. Love my kids!! God Bless!!

Corn Hole Game

Our son will be 7 in a couple of weeks are we are hosting a backyard carnival style type party. This is the 3rd theme but due to the work on this one and we only have a few weeks to go, we are sticking with this one. LOL

This is the corn hole game that my husband made, pretty good for his first attempt, don't you think? We will use this for the party but it will bring a lot of fun afterwards as well. Ü When I went to the store to purchase the fabric to make the corn bags I didn’t get what I wanted, but I got what they had. Originally I went for solid colors such as the blue and white, U. K. colors as the boards are. What I came out with would have worked, if the one solid fabric would have been a bit more pliable. I’m not sure what type of fabric it is but it has more of a plastic backing, like it is melted together. The other is an outdoor fabric as well but is soft and much more flexible. After trying them both out I returned for more fabric. I can not wait to go shopping somewhere else this summer!! I will re-do these bags. I have a white with the outline of blue flower and a burgundy and white stripped material. While at the sewing department at Wal-Mart the first time I purchased the “outdoor” thread for $4.44 a spool. What a waste of money. It was horrible. It frayed sooooo utterly badly that it was unreal. After suffering through 4 of the 6 bags I had had enough and went to upholstery thread, which didn’t do any better, granted I have had it for about 3 years though. I finally went to regular thread and it worked great. At one point, while using the outdoor thread, I sent my husband out to our storage barn to find my old sewing machine. I was thinking it had to be the machine catching or something and was ready to throw it out the window. LOL Do you have one of those short fuses? I do! Ü Sometime this summer while we are out and about I hope to find some really nice colors to choose for outdoor fabric and make new corn bags for the game. It really doesn’t matter I just want everything to match, that OCD thing again. LOL

There are other games that my husband has made that we will be using and I will be putting pictures of those on as well as tons of pictures of the party in the coming weeks. Thanks for stopping by and please come back again soon and as always God Bless. ÜÜÜÜ

Bill Schedules and Payment Plans

Having OCD tendencies I have issues when it comes to bills and list. While talking to my good friend Trish I found out that not all people have the same ideas about bill paying and list as I do. Who would have thought! LOL

Instead of just knowing that this check pays this bill and this check pays that bill I have a very detailed list that goes along with mine as well as a notebook that helps keep me inline. My bill folder and bank statement folder are my 2 that are updated monthly, if not more often. I know that a lot of people have their banking online, I do as well. However, I still like to have it in black and white and don’t trust just leaving them in a folder on the computer, hackers and all. So each month I print out my statement and put it into a folder so that I have copies of my checks as well as any information that I need in the blink of an eye. That one is pretty simple. Each year I take the previous year out and file it in the filing cabinet with the corresponding year and simple title: Bank Statements. That just eases my mind and I have hard copies to go back to whenever I need them quickly.

My second folder is a bit more complicated and in depth but I couldn’t do without it. Recently we have had a huge surge in our electric bills. I am aware that it was winter and that the heat was on. However, we use the air, a lot!! We have also been through 2 winters in this home and know that last year was no where close to this. Even though we did have a rate increase I go by KW used instead of money, which will throw your electric company for a loop when you call and complain and you have the KW instead of the money amounts on hand to rattle off and have compared them to previous years. This to me was normal.

As soon as I get the file completed, so that it is not catered to my family only, I will put it on here so that others can hopefully use it. My own personal household/family notebook is in the works and I will put in on here along with pictures as soon as that is finished. We would love to hear your ideas and see your pictures as well. Please feel free to comment and send your pictures in.

Thanks for stopping by and God bless you and yours.

My Sister's Bird

This past weekend I went to my sister’s house and saw her bird. She has had her for awhile but I have not seen her before this. She is one of those, I don’t know exactly what kind, that lives over 100 years and you need to will to someone. Whoever had her in the beginning didn’t check the sex, apparently, before naming her “Bud”.

When I walked in she said, “Hi Bud” and had other things to say such as “Move it”, “Let me out of here” and more. Some of it I understood but they understood what she said due to being around her all the time. She is pretty cool. Oh, she laughed as well. LOL

Take care and God Bless!!

We Found the Easter Bunny

Just thought I would introduce you to the newest member of our family, “Snowball”.

My husband and daughter went to Tractor Supply and I received a phone call, “Mommy, we are at TS and they have a white bunny rabbit. How much money do I have in my bank in my room?” She had nearly $60 and wanted the rabbit and the cage kit that they had. This is the 2nd rabbit that she has had. However, this one definitely has a much larger personality and is very friendly. She is going to be a rather large rabbit, you can already tell and she eats very well.

Our son wanted to know where we were going so I told him that they had found the “Easter Bunny” at TS. LOL He was ready to go. We are such an animal loving family.

Food Labels for Picky Kids

Our son is an extremely picky eater. In hopes of helping him see how limited he is and possibly getting him to try new foods I have devised a system for him.

First I took pictures of all of the foods that he will eat, which didn’t take too long. After taking the pictures I printed them out on Kodak paper and cut them to size. For the labels I used a really cute large font that I had found earlier on the computer and printed out breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack. To attach them to the refrigerator I found magnetic tape strips for $1.17 at Wal-Mart that has 18 adhesive strips measuring 0.5 in x 4 in long, plus they are peel and stick which is even better.

After getting everything cut and laid out I began placing the magnets on the backs of the pictures and labels. DS had his large metal dump truck by my desk so I tossed them onto it and they stuck. That caught his attention and to the truck he ran to grab each one and take them to the refrigerator where he arranged them to his liking.

The plan is for him to go to the refrigerator, before breakfast, and place the magnet or magnets for each meal under the label and follow through with his picks, no changing. He then has choices as well as responsibility.

Pictures are shown for anyone that is interested in how it is done. I am sure that we will make changes in the future to it but the idea is to have something that keeps him interested.

Thanks for looking and have a great day. God Bless!!

Pictures of his foods

Magnets found at Wal-Mart

I suggest using tweezers to get the backing off of the magnets. It just made it easier. And the strips can easily be cut to the length that you need.

This is our refrigerator after he placed them all on it last night.

His choices this morning....biscuits consisted of biscuit and gravy.

Family Fishing Outing

We have wanted to go fishing and while out I asked, “Would you all like to go fishing?” The immediate yeah and sure were the answers that rang in the van. When we went home to grab the gear and head to the lake it looked like it was going to down pour so we put it off to the next day. So hubby went to school and after he came home we headed out. At the first stop the water was down so far that we were going into the mud trying to get to the water. You could see the fish jumping high but we couldn’t get near where they were. So we loaded back up and headed to a boat dock. Normally we wouldn’t fish off of the ramp however there were only 2 vehicles in the lot and no one in sight. The water was down so low that the dock was sitting in the mud as well, pictured below. It was a nice day to go and practice your cast but unfortunately that was about it. We have gone for 2 years, this being the 3rd, and haven’t caught a fish yet. I know they exist because my bother in law fishes with his dad all the time and they have them mounted all over the house. LOL They are there just apparently not where we are. LOL This year we are going to go until we catch at least one each.

It is hard to see but our little one made the biggest catch of the day, a piece of wire!! LOL

Our daughter went hunting for goodies to put into her jar that includes sand and shells that a friend brought her back from the ocean. Sadly we haven't gotten the kids to the ocean as of yet. That needs to be a goal. Humm!!

Hubby and lil' one trying hard to catch anything, but wire. LOL

What was coming at us.

This is the reason that we are on a boat ramp fishing. Where is the water??? LOL

Good Lesson from The Disney Channel

In the past day or so I have noticed that The Disney Channel has began to make commercials trying to remind or let kids know that what they post or say on the internet can be hurtful to others and that it stays out there. My first reaction was; what a great lesson and a great place to put it for kids to learn. Kudos to Disney!!

One in particular that I have seen today was where 2 friends are texting each other on their phones. The one girl asks the other not to be mad at her, and she asks why and so on. The point is that because of pier pressure the one girl told a secret to the world about her friend having a crush on a boy on his profile page. This caused hard feelings and embarrassment. However the way in which TDC portrayed it the one girl forgave her friend and she was very happy that her friend could forgive her and that she saw how good of a friend she really was and how foolish her actions were.

It is a great lesson for all kids these days. Kids today as young as 5 have cell phones, I’m guilty my 6 year old has one that the most he does is call mamaw on it every few days. But many end up on the internet and texting way too much and telling things they shouldn’t be telling anyone about themselves and their friends and family. I know that many parents have lectured and lectured their kids about who they talk to and how much information they give out, although I don’t think you can ever remind them to much on that topic, I am glad that they are making points like this on a children’s channel.

God Bless .^_^.

Nutritionist and www.NutriMirror.com

My husband had an appointment yesterday, his 40th birthday as well, with the nutritionist at the local hospital due to his lipid panel. When he returned home he had several papers as well as a “Portion Pack” that I will make up my own version of and have as a free download soon. This is broken down into 3 meals and 1 snack color coded cards for your easy use. For example the green card = Non-Starchy Vegetables. The explanation on the card is as follows: 1 serving equals: (choose one) ½ cup Cooked Vegetables OR 1 cup Raw Vegetables OR ½ cup Tomato/Vegetable Juice. It goes on to explain: Non-Starchy Vegetables include: asparagus, green beans, beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, cucumber, eggplant, greens, mushrooms, okra, onions, pea pods, peppers, radishes, lettuce, sauerkraut, spinach, summer squash, tomatoes, turnips and zucchini. So everything is on the one card and when that blue card shows up during the day you are to eat 1 serving from something on that list. I know that there have been color coded card or something, it seems like it may have been Richard Simmons, in the past and I don’t remember the details but these are very well explained or spelled out.

While I was reading through the new material he called back and asked about a food and exercise journal, as the papers states to use, but the didn’t offer one and actually had never been asked that question so was unsure as to how to answer. So what do you do when you need to know something? Google it! Or at least we do. I really, really, like Google. Anyway, my husband did and found www.NutriMirror.com right off the bat. We signed the 3 adults up; well my husband, myself and our semi-adult daughter ….. Against the website we fudged a little on her age. However, I set it up and have the user ID and password and it will be under my supervision. Her file is mainly to log when she exercises and so forth, a great homeschool tool! Physical education, check. Whereas my husband and I will log into the full program and take advantage of what it has to offer. Did I mention, it is FREE! 100% FREE of charge. If you haven’t checked it out, do so. It is complete with tips, tutorials, meal plans, recipes, goals, the entire kit and caboodle.

In today’s society healthy habits need to be stressed more and more and we need to be setting a better example, as a whole, to our children when it comes to leading a much healthier lifestyle. The US has a growing obesity problem, of which I am sadly in the ranking. We need to do what we can to help turn this problem around. Have you seen the movie Wall-E. I love the movie for the simple fact that I can see our world becoming so computerized and technologically efficient that we are a nation or world of those obese individuals on the floating chairs, unable to walk or move about on their own and oblivious to the problem. That would be awful!! So, these are our baby steps to helping our kids become aware of healthy eating habits and forming a daily exercise regimen. Hope you join in and I will be working on those cards, if you are interested.

God Bless and have a wonderful day. Spring is near!! Yippee, bring on the warm weather!!

(Every day my son, 6, wants to know if it is going to be warm enough in the next few days so that we can go swimming. He is a water dog!! LOL)

Backyard Carnival or County Fair Birthday Party

My son will be turning 7 at the end of April. We were researching on having a Lego party and I was really getting ready for that. However, my son wasn’t saying that much. Yesterday he was playing on “Playground” after his homeschooling on “Time 4 Learning.com” and loves the PBSKids.com site that offers the games. He really enjoys watching PBS and will pick it over SpongeBob…how great is that!! So he played and played with Curious George. All of a sudden it hit me, “Honey, would you rather have a Curious George Birthday Party?” His face lit up and I knew that was it. While researching this morning I was reading about parties and one of them had that they included a Backyard Carnival into the theme and they had a blast. That sounds even more awesome. Back to my son, “Would you like to add that to it but still have it Curious George?” This time the sparks were flying. He was thrilled. We finally hit it on the head. Within 3 hours my husband has been volunteered to make such items as a Plinko board, Corn Hole game and the best, he is the person that is going to sit while the kids are throwing whipped cream pies in his face. You have to love a man that will do that, even though he hasn’t said the word yes, we know he will. LOL

Our daughter’s birthday is in December and I have wanted to have a carnival ever since she was born and she will be 16 this year, no, that is not possible!! That kind of hit like a brick!! Okay, I have months left before that happens, back to this party. We are planning more games than we will probably have kids for. LOL

If you have any suggestions, ideas, comments, anything, I would love to hear them!! You will be seeing more about this and I will have picture overload when the party has ended. I almost forgot. The reason for the "County Fair" in the title is because we live in the country and if I could somehow fix it to have a greased pig, it would be a county fair for sure. LOL I've never actually seen one but I am sure it would be great.

Take care and God Bless

The creek in our backyard....

I love this picture!! One side is frozen, one side is flowing and a large Valentine's Heart in the middle. DS and I walked over onto this snow, way beyond and everything and it just did not appear as a heart until it was downloaded. Awesome!!

Just a pic down the creek.

This is "Kitty". She is suppose to belong to a neighbor but never goes near them. She came to our house and has stayed. DS has now decided to change her name to "Whiskers". Sorry, after calling her Kitty for so long, she will remain as Kitty.



Another down creek shot.

Cami found out that after walking on the frozen water that there were actually wet places in there as well. Quick back u and found another way to shore. LOL

Have fun.....God Bless!!

Candy making with the kids

My littlest chef mixing up the peanut butter center for our candy.

My niece adding the powdered sugar.

I let the kids go wild with the cookie cutters.

Now doesn't he look like an intense chef?

This is my real back up chef. She is the one who takes over and helps out when mom needs it. She loves to watch cooking shows and try new things. They had a really good time making the candy and then covering it with chocolate.

Actually once the chocolate was melted and my son knew he was ready to be done with the peanut butter center, he was ready to cover his fingers, candy, or spoon, whatever in chocolate. He is a true chocoholic!

They had a blast. It was a mess but well worth it and my niece said it was one of the most fun things she has been able to do and was going to go to school and tell all of her friends.

We are in snow, just like the rest of the nation, and they are calling for 6-8 more inches in the next 15 or so hours so I don't know when she will be going back to school. My poor kids don't have to worry about how much it snows. The only time they get out of school with bad weather is when I agree to take in a child or 2 so the parents can go to work or do whatever they want to do. Homeschooling has many advantages; my kids would probably say that is not one of them. LOL

Have a great day and God Bless!!

Heart I-Spy Bag

Trinkets that I am adding to the bag.

Finished product.


I have seen several blogs where moms make these cool I-Spy bags for the kids to pass time. This was a very rushed job so it is definitely not the best. This was a last minute Valentine's Day morning gift. The kids were playing games, my niece was keeping my son busy and my daughter was in her room just chillin and watching TV.

While they were all busy I printed off 2 heart templates from the first site that I could find and resized on Word. Cut the felt around, 2 layers thick and cut the vinyl the same size as the smallest of the 2 hearts. This was a very, very rushed job. This is the first time I have tried sewing with vinyl but it really wasn't that bad. We had went to Hobby Lobby and between the Easter section, jewelry, crafts, doll house section (miniature dice and cola cans that are really cute), bugs, and buttons I came up with the items to add into the bag.
The next time I make a I-Spy bag I will take time, plan it out and close it much better than the quick seam on the side. However, this was fun for them to play with and try and figure out what all was inside.


Having fun at home.........God Bless!!