Country Blessings

Safe For My Family AND a New Business!

2012-02-11T09:56:00.000-08:00

Since having kids, I have really become more aware of a lot of the products that we use in our home. I try to find things that I know are safe to use around them and are healthy for them. Before Mark and I got married, he was a preferred customer in a great business that carried a variety of products that are very safe. We continued to use these for a number of years, but then I set out to find ways to save money and make things myself so we stopped purchasing. I have found a few homemade things that work well, but with our many little ones running around and trying to keep up with our schooling, I just don't have the time to make them myself. There's nothing like running out of laundry detergent in the middle of wash day or remembering you used up the last of your deodorant after your workout. ;) It's so much easier to just have them stocked in my pantry instead of finding time to make more. There were also a lot of things I couldn't make or they didn't work the way I hoped and so I was still purchasing a lot of things. So we decided to become preferred customers again. I love so many of their products! They have this amazing lotion that is one of our favorite products. It is great on my kids' dry skin and has even cured the cracks Mark gets on his feet when nothing else has helped. I have been getting some deep spring cleaning done this week and the kids love to help. I feel completely safe letting them use the cleaning products because they are all natural! They have a complete line of cleaners, nutrition supplements, first aid products, hygiene products, and makeup/skin care products. All of them are completely safe and healthy for my family. Another bonus is that I can still order online and do my shopping in my pajamas! :)

In signing up again, I was also introduced to the home based business aspect of this company. Because Mark was already signed up when we got married, I hadn't heard too much about how easy it was too have my own business at home. Well, now I know, and we have decided to supplement our income a bit (or hopefully a lot!) by starting our own home based business! I can do as much as I want or as little as I want or as time allows with our busy schedule. I can even do almost all of it using just my computer and phone! I would love for all of you to come check out our new site at AdvancingWithUs. Whether you are just interested in purchasing safe products for your home, starting your own home business, or both, please stop by and learn more. You will be asked for your contact info (it will only be seen by me) so I can give you more information about it, but if you prefer you can email me at mmtolsma at juno dot com and I can also give you more information. If you would like to see a good video about it on YouTube, you can watch this one that I found. It has some great information too. I would love to help you find safer products for your family or help you easily earn money from your home.

Blessings,

Indescribable

2012-02-05T13:36:00.000-08:00

My kids love talking about space, the stars, planets, etc. It seems that many times we get off topic in school and end up talking about what's in space instead. Every time we do, I am reminded of the great you tube video series I shared on my blog long ago. I recently went back to watch them and found that those specific ones are not available anymore, so I thought I would share different ones (of the same series) here and so any of you that missed them the first time will be able to see them. His speech is divided into 5 parts, each about 10 minutes long, so you don't even have to listen to it all at once if you don't have time. It is a good reminder of how insignificantly small we are in comparison to the rest of God's creation, yet He still cares for us so much more than anything else! He truly is indescribable! Enjoy!

Tasty Tuesday: Slow Cooker Saucy Pork Chops

2012-01-31T06:02:00.000-08:00

Last summer we raised a couple pigs for meat, so we have been enjoying all the pork in our freezer. Prior to this, though, I haven't cooked much with pork, so I have been on the look out for good recipes. I recently found this one for Saucy Pork Chops and it turned out so good! It is done in the crock pot so the chops are so tender they just fall apart. And using the crock pot is always nice so I don't have to worry about getting dinner together later in the afternoon when it seems like everyone gets a tad bit cranky. I will be making this one often!

Ingredients
4 bone-in pork loin chops (8 ounces each)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 cups ketchup
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon Liquid Smoke, optional

Directions
Sprinkle pork chops with garlic powder, salt and pepper. In a large skillet, brown chops in oil on both sides; drain. In a small bowl, combine the ketchup, brown sugar and Liquid Smoke if desired. Pour half of the sauce into a 3-qt. slow cooker. Top with pork chops and remaining sauce. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours or until meat is tender.

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The Sanctity of Human Life

2012-01-29T08:48:00.000-08:00

(Peanut at about 20 weeks)

Last Sunday was National Sanctity of Human Life Day and this week marked the anniversary of Roe Vs. Wade, which made abortion legal. It is so very sad that our nation has gone so far from the morals our founding father's built this country on that is it now legal to kill our unborn babies. 54 million innocent babies have lost their lives just so their moms can have rights and freedom. What about the baby's rights? Please continue to pray about and fight this slaughter of our nation's babies.
I want to share something with you that I read recently in a book called Raising Kids Who Hunger For God by Benny and Sheree Phillips. It is about how our kids hold a unique part in God's agenda. The authors ask us to consider two crucial times in Jewish history-the story of baby Moses and baby Jesus. In Moses' time, he was spared from the slaughter of the Israelite baby boys to become the leader of the Israelites. 2000 years later, Jesus was spared from the slaughter of the boys under two years old to become our Savior. And 2000 years later, in January 1973 our nation's highest court ruled that it is legal to slaughter innocent children. "Could it be that, just as with Moses and Jesus, Satan has become aware of the deliverance God intends to bring to our society, not through one man, but through a generation of children who will be "mighty in the land" (Psalm 112:2)-ones who will stand to see the nations reached for the Gospel, and thus hasten Jesus' return (2 Peter 3:11-12)?" This gives us as parents a challenge to raise our kids so that God can use them to be a counterculture to this fallen world rather than be used by Satan for evil. A hard challenge, but one with so many good rewards!

A Bit of Our Week

2012-01-28T13:30:00.000-08:00

We had another great week of school this week. Lovebug learned about the letter R. He really likes using our Hot Dots pen to try to match up the lower case with the upper case letter.

He had fun using tongs and scoops to be creative with the pom poms.

He matched up the letters in the word "rainbow"

He practiced tracing some stars.

He used a toothpick to poke the letter R.

And he practiced some cutting/

Sweetie worked on learning her ordinal letters this week.

She also unscrambled words to make a sentence.

Buddy had fun reading a book about ships to Lovebug/

And he worked on his spelling words.

He also loves to play chess, so he jumps at any chance to play it!

We tried out some abstract painting since we are studying Georgia O'Keefe.

And Peanut got to practice her coloring while safely strapped in her chair away from the paint! :)

We also have learned about why Jesus is called the Lamb of God and so we made handprint lambs with cotton balls glued on.

And Peanut hung around watching and playing with anything she found interesting.

On Friday, we took a break from the books and headed up to the farm show with daddy. Poor Lovebug was so overloaded with tractors he didn't know where to go first! He loved sitting on all the tractors and usually forgot about staying with us and just headed off to the next one as fast as he could! The older two had fun collecting candy, pens, balloons, and tons of other promotional stuff from all the booths.

Tasty Tuesday: Baked Spaghetti

2012-01-24T07:53:00.000-08:00

(Photo courtesy Allrecipes.com)

When I made this tasty casserole a while back, my kids gobbled it up! It is very cheesy and yummy! It makes quite a bit, so I actually divided it up between 2 8-inch square pans and popped one in the freezer to save for a quick easy meal another day. There was still plenty because most of us had seconds and there were still some leftovers!

Ingredients

1 (16 ounce) package spaghetti
1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (26 ounce) jar meatless spaghetti sauce
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
5 tablespoons butter, melted
2 cups small curd cottage cheese
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1.Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the spaghetti sauce and seasoned salt; set aside.
2.In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, Parmesan cheese and butter. Drain spaghetti; add to egg mixture and toss to coat.
3.Place half of the spaghetti mixture in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish. Top with half of the cottage cheese, meat sauce and mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers. Cover and bake at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes. Uncover; bake 20-25 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.

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I Will Rise

2012-01-22T14:33:00.000-08:00

This is one of my favorite songs. I am so thankful to my Savior for the victory he gives us over the grave.

The Randomness of Catching Up

2012-01-21T21:08:00.000-08:00

Once again, it has been a while since I've posted about what's happening around here! We have such a good routine going that time is just flying by and all of a sudden I realize I've been ignoring my little blog here. So here is another catching up post with some of the things that have been keeping us busy.

A few weeks ago, we were having such beautiful weather and most mornings we had sunrises like this.

Hubby and I's Christmas present to each other was a night away in Seattle without the kids (thanks to our parents!) and we scored a great deal on Priceline to get a room with a view like this

We had fun riding the monorail, which was just a block from our hotel, to the Seattle Center where we watched the new Mission Impossible movie in the IMAX. If you love thrilling, almost-give-you-a-heart attack kind of movies, you really should go see that one on a really big screen!

And of course, good weather never lasts right? On Monday we got snow! But since this is the first snow this year and it was really pretty, I didn't mind too much.

The heifers had fun checking it out.

And so did the kids.

But then this pretty white world...

...turned ugly with a Northeaster that blew in a few days later.

So we stayed in for a while and just watched from the window (except poor Hubby who still had to work out there).

Even a little bird wanted in and sat on the deck chair for quite a while, just teasing our cat. (and yes that is a dryer on our deck. That one died a couple weeks ago and we didn't get it moved to the dump before the snow hit)

And one of the great things about homeschooling is that we can still get our work done on a snow day and we don't have to make up for it in the summer! We just finished the first half of our curriculum and we are still having loads of fun with it.

Lovebug is still working through a letter a week and loves having his own boxes (trays) with work that is just for him. This week he worked on the letter Q.

Sweetie is always the most eager to do school. She begs to read more books and work on more worksheets. I wish all my kids were as excited about it as she is! This week she worked on sorting, so she sorted buttons by color.

She has also been asking me to teach her to sew, and I have been putting it off because I don't really know how to hand sew. But I finally looked up a few basic stitches online and taught her how to outline with embroidery thread. She also still LOVES her ballet dress and wears it at least once most days!

Buddy has really been working on his reading skills. All of a sudden Sweetie can read most of the books he does, so I think that is motivating him to try and read more and get better at it.

We have been learning about living things in science and learned that everything has cells, so we made a model of a cell using jello and fruit.

We have been getting a little stir crazy being stuck inside with the snow, so I pulled out a few Michael's craft kits that I had been saving for times like these. Sweetie made a necklace and Buddy colored and put together a wooden race car.

And of course this little Peanut is usually hanging around looking for some kind of trouble to get into. :)

Last month Peanut had a bad reaction to something, we think it is something she ate, but still don't know what. We've tested for a few things but so far haven't figured it out so we will keep trying. We are just hoping that she doesn't get like this again before we do!

And that is about it. Not an exciting life, but it is one I love! I do have a few yummy recipes and some DIY things I want to share so hopefully I will get those up soon!

When the Soul Mends {Review}

2012-01-08T14:37:00.000-08:00

A while back I reviewed Cindy Woodsmall's book When the Heart Cries, which is the first book in the Sisters of the Quilt series. After reading the second book on my own, I was given the chance to read and review the third book, When the Soul Mends. This was such a great series! I couldn't wait for the next book when I was finished with the previous one. When the Soul Mends brings Hannah Lapp back to her Amish family after an emergency call from her sister, Sarah. Hannah had found a good life as an Englisher and is torn between returning home to help her sister battle mental health issues. After leaving her Amish home and fiance Paul, Hannah began a career in the medical field, which was a long time dream of hers. She also met and fell in love with Martin and his niece and nephew that he is raising. When Hannah returns home after two years, she begins working with Paul to help her sister and discovers that she is feeling a call to return back to the Plain life. She must make a decision between the Englisher and Plain worlds as well as which man she loves.

I think the third book was as good as the first and highly recommend the Sisters of the Quilt series or any of Cindy Woodsmall's other books. I'm not sure this series could be read as stand alone books, but after reading one, you will want to read the rest!

I received this book for free for review from Waterbrook Multnomah.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T08:58:00.000-08:00

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Luke 2:13-14

May you all have a blessed Christmas!

Our Little Ballerina

2011-12-18T16:46:00.000-08:00

Sweetie has been begging to learn ballet for a couple years now and this past fall she began taking lessons. Last night she had her first recital and she did so good! I'm not sure ballet is as exciting as she thought it would be and wasn't sure she wanted to continue lessons, but once she got her recital dress she changed her mind really quick! She loves her fancy dress and was so disappointed that she couldn't take it home until after her recital! Now she wants to keep taking lessons so she can have more pretty dresses.

Waiting backstage

She is the one right next to the teacher

It was so fun to watch her and she did great! She was so excited to finally take her dress home and show it off to us.

When the Heart Cries {Review}

2011-12-12T20:09:00.000-08:00

This is another great Amish story by Cindy Woodsmall. I think she has become my favorite Amish author. She does such a great job writing her stories that I never want to put them down! When the Heart Cries is about Hannah Lapp. She comes from a strict Old Order Amish family, but she has found love outside her family's communtiy with her neighbor's grandson Paul. Before return to college for his final year, Paul proposes and Hannah agrees to marry him, knowing full well that her family will not be happy. On her way home, however, tragedy strikes when Hannah is attacked and raped. Hannah's dad convinces her it is best to keep the attack quiet, and while her siblings know something happened to Hannah, they don't know all the details. While Hannah recovers, her sister has to bear more of the workload of the household chores and resents Hannah, spreading rumors about her. Not long after her attack, Hannah's brother and future sister-in-law are in an accident and Hannah's brother places the blame on her. With her world seeming to fall apart, Hannah's only hope seems to be to hold on long enough for Paul to graduate and then they can marry. But then even worse things happen and she even faces losing Paul.

I highly recommend this book. It is the first in the Sisters of the Quilt series and I can't wait to get my hands on the second one to continue to story!

I received this book for free for review from Waterbrook Multnomah.

The 21 Day Dad's Challenge {Review}

2011-12-12T20:03:00.000-08:00

So, clearly, I am not a dad. But when I was given the opportunity to review The 21 Day Dad's Challenge, I asked my husband if he would be interested in reviewing it and writing a guest post for me. He thought it looked like a good book and agreed to write this review for it. So here is his review:

The 21-Day Dad's Challenge is a book written by a group of dads and published by Focus on the Family. It is a book that has simple, easy to understand tips for having a better relationship with your kids. Each chapter is short so it does not take too much of your time. At the end of each chapter, it gives you a challenge of something that you can do with or for your kids and space to write out a plan of how you will carry out the challenge. Most dads should enjoy it because it is written by semi well know christian men. Each chapter is written by a different man. Former Colts coach Tony Dungy, former Seahawk MVP Shuan Alexander, Josh McDowell, Randy Alcorn, Carey Casey, Jim Daly, Stuart Briscoe, Chip Ingram, Dr. Gary Oliver, Dr. Gary Rosberg, Gracia Burnham, Joe White, Michael Catt, and Dr. Ken Canfield Their advice is based on the unique experiences that these great men have. I really enjoyed this book and had fun trying out some of the challenges with my kids. It is great to intentionally take some time to have a better relationship with them. The 21-Day Dad's Challenge is a great read for any man who wants great advice from men with a broad range of backgrounds.

I recieved this book for free for review from Tyndale House Publishers.

Golden Birthday!

2011-12-04T21:17:00.000-08:00

Yesterday our Lovebug had a great day celebrating his golden birthday! After opening presents in the morning Grandma and Grandpa took him out for breakfast.

We went out for donuts for lunch and then to the tree farm to pick out a Christmas tree. Then we spent the afternoon decorating the tree and house. After heading out for dinner, we went to lighted Christmas parade. And then home for cake and ice cream!

We had lots of fun celebrating with him and getting ready for Christmas at the same time. I can't believe he's three already and he is getting to be such a big boy!

Future Pianist

2011-11-25T14:39:00.000-08:00

Our little Peanut loves to sit at the piano and "play and sing." We aren't quite sure yet what the songs are that she is singing, but she gets better every day! :)

Doodle Roll Winner!

2011-11-25T14:32:00.000-08:00

Thank you to all those who entered the Doodle Roll giveaway! I used random.org to pick the winner.

Congratulations to Amari! I will be emailing you and you will have 48 hours to respond or I will have to pick a new winner.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T10:04:00.000-08:00

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”

Psalm 100: 4-5

This year I am so thankful for the many, many blessings God has given us. Most importantly, I am thankful for my heavenly Father who provides for all our needs and so much more. My wonderful husband works hard to provide for our family and still finds time to have fun with the kids and me. My kids are growing daily and have been healthy and happy. They are doing so well in their school studies and love having fun with each other. We are blessed to live near so much of our extended family, so most of our parents, grandparents, and siblings are a big part of our lives and the kids love having them around. We are never wanting for food, warm clothes, or shelter. We truly are blessed with so much more than we need.

Once again, Conny has been hosting her 30 Days of Thanks for the month of November. Unfortunately this year I just haven't gotten around to participating until now. After you finish reading my post, stop by and visit her to see what everyone else has been thankful for.

I pray that each of you has a blessed Thanksgiving!

I Love to Read!

2011-11-21T22:04:00.000-08:00

If you haven't figured out yet from all my book reviews, I really love to read. When I was younger and before I had kids, I read TONS of books. After having kids, I really slowed down. The obvious reason being that I didn't have as much time for it. Another reason though, was that I just didn't get to the library as often for books. Not the adult section anyway. We do get to the library about once a week, but have you ever tried taking four young kiddos into the adult section and expected them to stand quietly while you browse for books? It just doesn't happen. If they aren't pulling out books or tearing pages out of magazines, they are pushing buttons on the computers or climbing on chairs to look out the windows! Once in a while I remember to request a book and have it ready for me, but for the most part I gave up my reading time and figured I could start again when they are older.

But, enter the world of technology! Last spring, my wonderful hubby surprised me with a Kindle when I was laid up with my kidney stones. I have read more in the past 6 months than I have in the past 6 years! I really didn't think I would like using an electronic reader, but it has turned out to be better than I expected. There are tons of books on Amazon that can be sent right to my Kindle. I think that I have close to 200 on there right now. You're probably thinking that they are too expensive and then you still have to buy the books to read. Well, the initial investment of the reader is pricey, but Christmas is coming. :) Amazon recently released newer versions of the Kindle and they are quite a bit cheaper than they used to be. And once you have that, you can get all kinds of free books. I haven't paid for a single one of mine. Amazon has a large free section and also will have special books free for a certain time. I have found a site at No Ordinary Moments that is regularly updated with some of these free ones, usually Christian ones. So unless you are looking for a certain book, you can get all kinds of free stuff to read. I don't know about your library, but ours has recently started lending electronic books too, so that is another place to borrow for free.

If you still don't want an electronic reader, I have also found that purchasing books online is another great way to get books for a great deal. There are lots of sites that have great books and often offer discouts and specials. One of my new favorite places is Vision Forum. They have a great selection of Christian books that are so good for building up your home and family (and they also have tons of other fun stuff!). I love looking up their deal of the day everyday, just to see if it might be something fun the kids would love for their next birthday or Christmas. Currently they are having some amazing giveaways that you can check out HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, or HERE.

If you don't want to purchase new books or are looking for a place to get rid of your old books, PaperbackSwap is a great site. The way it works is that you send books you have to people that request them (you pay the shipping which is usually around $2) and then you get a credit. You can use your credit to request books from others and they will send them to you for free! I have been using this site to get most of the books we use in homeschool to help bring down the costs of curriculum and it has been working out great so far! Swap Books for Free - PaperBackSwap.com

If you love reading too, hopefully this has helped inspire you to find ways to fit it in even if you have kiddos climbing all over you while you do. :)

An Amish Wedding {Review}

2011-11-21T21:12:00.000-08:00

An Amish Wedding by Beth Wiseman, Kathleen Fuller, & Kelly Long is a book of three short novellas. I've read a few books that contained several short stories, but the stories have never connected together before. In An Amish Wedding, they do. The three authors did a very nice job weaving them together to write this great book about three friends. I really like Amish stories and these three made me want to find more by these authors.

In The Perfect Storm by Kelly Long, Rose is engaged to Luke. They have been best friends for a long time and Rose agreed to marry Luke because she thought that friendship was a good thing to base their marriage on. But sometimes she wonders if there is something missing in their relationship. Then she discovers that Luke has a secret and wonders what he is hiding.

In The Perfect Match by Kathleen Fuller, Naomi, the matchmaker, seems to be content being single. When Zeke comes to town, she tries her matchmaking skills again, but soon her friend is turning the tables and trying to get Naomi to see that she is the one who should be getting to know Zeke.

In The Perfect Plan by Beth Wiseman, Pricilla and Chester are planning their wedding, but everything seems to keep going wrong. Soon they begin to wonder if it is God's will for them to marry.

I received this book for free for review from BookSneeze.

Get Swagging! {You Could Earn $300!!!}

2011-11-19T20:47:00.000-08:00

I am just a few Swagbucks away from cashing in for my 60th $5 Amazon.com gift card. That's $300!!! And it was all for free! The Amazon gift cards are good for anything on Amazon, so I have gotten some great stuff for free or very cheap. Comes in handy around birthdays and Christmas time. ;) Swagbucks also has loads of other prizes you can redeem your bucks for too. What are you waiting for? Go check out how you can earn free stuff too!

His Mighty Warrior {Review}

2011-11-19T20:29:00.000-08:00

I recently received His Mighty Warrior by Sheri Rose Shepherd to review. It is a pirate themed devotion book for young boys, encouraging them to be warriors for God. Each page includes a letter "from God," a Bible verse, and also a prayer that ties into the message of each letter and verse. Here is an example of the first letter:

"My Son,
I have chosen you to do something great for my kingdom. You are not just a boy - you are a child of the King and I am your Father in heaven. I want you to know that I am the same God who chose King David when he was just a little boy, and I have chosen you to show the world who I am. I will give you all you will ever need to conquer and accomplish the mission I have for you. Never forget who you are or who I am, and you will become a strong and mighty warrior for me.
Love,
Your King and Father in heaven"

That is followed by Deuteronomy 7:6 and a short prayer. All of the pages are filled with good Biblical advice to help young boys grow in their faith.

Buddy has been reading one each night and has loved having his own special devotion book. He is even able to read the majority of it himself and understands it easily. He also loves the pirate theme through out the book. This is definitely a book he will enjoy reading through again and again. If you are looking for a good Christmas gift for a young boy, His Mighty Warrior would make a great one!

I received this book for free for review from Waterbrook Multnomah.

Doodle Roll {Review & GIVEAWAY!} CLOSED

2011-11-11T12:59:00.000-08:00

My kids love to color and do crafts so I am always on the lookout for things I think they will love. I try to stick with ones that don't make a big mess though, because, while I love their creations, I don't love cleaning up messes they make. One product that I recently received for review has been perfect for their creativity without creating a mess, the Doodle Roll. The Doodle Roll is a portable craft kit that contains a roll of paper and crayons.

The Doodle Roll is so easy to use, my kids started playing with theirs right away. They can pull out as much paper as they would like to use and can doodle away!

The crayons have their own separate place that the kids can easily open on their own. There is also a cutting edge to tear off their pictures when they are finished but it is all made of plastic and very safe. My kids have been having so much fun creating pictures, banners, cards, and much more.

The Doodle Roll comes in two sizes, 4 and 6 inch and either is great for slipping into your purse or car to take along to an appointment, out for dinner, or any other place you would like to keep your kids occupied and quiet. I think it would also make a great stocking stuffer, gift, or party favor. If you would like more ideas for the Doodle Roll or find out where to purchase your own, be sure to visit the Doodle Roll site. You can also find them on Facebook or Twitter.

Doodle Roll has generously offered one of my readers the chance to win their own Doodle Rolls! To be entered, leave a comment letting me know your favorite craft to do with your kids (or grandkids, friends, etc). Be sure to leave a way for me to contact you if you win! This giveaway will end on Nov. 25, 2011 at noon. I will draw a winner using random.org and winner will have 48 hours to respond to my email. This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents.

This is a MamaBuzz review. The product was provided by Doodle Roll for free in exchange for this review.

Great Photography

2011-11-10T16:03:00.000-08:00

My friend Sara is a photographer. She started her own photography business a while ago and I think she does a great job! If you remember, she took some newborn pictures of Peanut for me. She is trying to spread the word about her business, so on her Facebook page, she is having a fun little contest. If you would be so kind as to go check out her page and let her know I sent you, I would appreciate it! Whoever has the most mentions will win a photo shoot with her and we could really use a good recent family picture. Maybe then we could even get a decent Christmas picture this year. :)

7 Years Old Already!

2011-11-10T15:50:00.000-08:00

Buddy turned 7 on Sunday and we had a great time celebrating with him!

I think I say it every year, but I can't believe how old my kids are getting and that I've been a mom for 7 years already! God is so good and we pray he blesses us with many more happy years together!

Cleaning A Gas Stove

2011-11-03T21:05:00.000-07:00

I love cooking with my gas stove. I grew up with it and when I had to use electric when we first got married, I had a hard time getting used to it. I was very happy to have it once again in our current home. One thing I hate though is trying to clean the metal grates and pans. With as much cooking as I do, it is inevitable that things will get spilled or splattered on them. And then when it gets cooked on, it sure doesn't want to come off. I am a little embarrassed to show you this picture, but this is what my stove looked like a couple days ago.

Some of that is fresh and would scrub off, but most of that is pretty well stuck on. I have spent hours (literally) and tried every cleaner I could think of the try get them clean, all with no success. Until today, that is! I came across a very handy tip last week, gave it a try, and now my stove looks like this:

Amazing! And hardly any scrubbing was involved! Want to know this amazing trick so your stove can sparkle too? :) Ammonia is the answer. With little kids in the house, I don't normally keep ammonia around, but I ran out to get some just for this. All you have to do is put the grate in a gallon zip lock bag along with 1/4 cup ammonia, seal it up, and let it sit overnight. (I recommend putting it out in the garage or on your deck.) The fumes from the ammonia will do all the work for you and in the morning, all you have to do is wipe it off! A couple of the most stubborn spots took a little elbow grease, but for the most part, it all came off so easy! Now you too can have a sparkling clean stove!

God Gave Us You {Review}

2011-11-03T20:56:00.000-07:00

As you may remember, my kids love books. I think most kids do. Whether they will sit and listen for just a short time, or longer amounts of time, I think they all love snuggling up and listening to the voice of someone they love. Something that makes reading time even more special is having a good book that hopefully they will remember for a long time. God Gave Us You by Lisa Tawn Bergren is one of those great books. A young polar bear cub asks her mama "Where did I come from?" Mama bear explains that Papa bear and her were alone and wanted a baby, so God gave them the bear cub. Then she goes on tell how they waited and prepared while the cub grew in her tummy. Each page is filled with beautiful illustrations and the story is very sweet and age appropriate. All of my kids loved this book and thought is was a great story. We have already read it quite a few times in the short amount of time we've had it! My favorite part of the copy we received for review is that it is a board book, so hopefully it will stand up to the wear and tear my kids put on books and last us for a long time.

I received this book for free for review from Waterbrook Multnomah.

Catching Up

2011-10-23T17:49:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted much, so I thought I would get you all caught up on what's been happening around here the past few weeks. The kids and I have been in such a good routine for school and we have successfully stayed on schedule for the first 7 weeks already! I'm having so much fun watching the kids get excited about what we are learning and the new skills they are accomplishing. We still have managed to get in a nature walk/fun adventure on Fridays and so the kids love it when Fun Day Friday comes each week!

One week we headed to Hovander Park to play on the old farm equipment and see the animals.

The kids also had a ton of fun posing for pictures around the barns and kept running to a new spot and calling for me to take their picture.

I thought maybe I could get in a good one of all four for a Christmas picture, but it is impossible to get all of them looking and smiling by myself!

We also went to Stoney Ridge Farms for a day. The kids liked looking at all the animals.

We even made it through the corn maze without finding a dead end or getting lost.

Last week, we took a break from school so Hubby and I could get away for a few days and finally celebrate our anniversary this past summer. Only 3 months late, not too bad. :)

We headed up to Victoria and had a beautiful day to ride the ferry.

We stayed in a waterfront hotel, but the water view rooms where kinda pricey. Our view of the city wasn't too bad, though.

This is the roof top of the lobby right under our balcony so we had a nice view of some gardens too.

The government buildings were very old and impressive looking.

Unfortunately, our camera battery died and I forgot to bring the cord to recharge it, so we didn't get any more pictures. We went to the museum, walked around the harbor, took a water taxi across the harbor, and mostly just relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. I even managed to painlessly pass two kidney stones while we were there! They were quite big too, so I'm surprised they didn't bother me much, just had to use the bathroom quite a bit (ok, a LOT!) the first day. Here is a picture of one next to a dime to show you a size comparison.

Wish they were all that easy and hopefully I won't get any more!

Anyway, it's back to school and hopefully back into our routine quickly this week!

The Fruits of Our Labor

2011-10-06T20:49:00.000-07:00

I think that it is finally time to put my canners away and start enjoying the fruits of our labor.

Top to bottom, left to right: Zucchini pickles, sweet relish, zucchini salsa, pears, apple pie filling, cherries, potatoes, beans, carrots, applesauce, jams/jellies, tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Along with the berries, corn, pork, and beef that are stuffed into the freezer, I think we are set for the winter!

This year, Sweetie was a good helper and I had fun teaching her some of the basics of canning. She calls herself the canning princess.

This year I also discovered these great reusable lids from Tattler and am hoping to switch over to them for all my canning next year.

What did you get preserved this summer to enjoy in the coming winter?

Waiting For Morning {Review}

2011-10-06T20:36:00.000-07:00

Karen Kingsbury is one of my favorite authors. I have read almost every one of her books. I read her book Waiting For Morning a couple years ago, but when I had the chance to read it again for review, I took it. It was just as good the second time! Hannah Ryan unexpectedly loses her husband and daughter to a drunk driver, and her other daughter survives the accident with injuries. Hannah becomes so obsessed with making sure that the driver gets his punishment that she forgets about God and neglects her surviving daughter. Hannah must learn how to forgive and trust in God again. I love how Karen Kingsbury uses a crisis to show how God can bring someone to a place of forgiveness and peace.

As Hannah Ryan waits for her family to return home from a camping trip, she realizes she has everything going for her—a husband other women admire, two charming teenage daughters, and a loving Christian home. As the sunny afternoon turns into twilight, her uneasiness grows along with the shadows. Then a car pulls into Hannah’s driveway, bringing two police officers...and devastating news that shatters her life forever.
In the days that follow, Hannah struggles with unspeakable feelings of sorrow and rage—feelings that fuse into one chilling purpose for living: revenge against Brian Wesley, the drunk driver who has caused all her pain.
In her fury, Hannah shuts the Lord out of her life. She’s determined not to forgive Wesley or the God who allowed this tragedy to happen. Can two caring people help Hannah rediscover her faith...before bitterness destroys her?

I received this book for free for review from Waterbrook Multnomah.

My Baby Girl Is 1!!!

2011-09-28T22:18:00.000-07:00

Our little Peanut turned one yesterday! I don't know where the past year went, it seems like we just brought her home from the hospital! She is getting to be such a big girl though. She started walking last week and has been cruising around everywhere trying to keep up with her big siblings. She really loves all the baby dolls and is usually carrying one around and giving it kisses. Sweetie is her favorite playmate and she loves trying her best to get into the middle of what everyone is doing. We had fun celebrating her first year and she was more excited about trying to get the candle than actually eating her cake.

We can't wait to see what the next year brings!

Raising Real Men {Review}

2011-09-27T21:52:00.000-07:00

I have been blessed with two beautiful boys. They are very typical boys who love trucks, dirt, and working on the farm with dad. So far, most aspects of raising boys haven't been too difficult for me to understand, but as Buddy is starting to get older, I am definitely finding differences between boys and girls that I'm not always quite sure how to handle. I want to raise them the way God instructs us too. The book Raising Real Men by Hal and Melanie Young has been a great way for me to begin to understand my boys a little better. As I read this book, I kept thinking each chapter was my favorite so far, but then I would read another and found it even better! There is so much good stuff I can say about this book, but I will try to just give a few highlights and let you read the rest for yourself.

Hal and Melanie have 6 boys of their own, so they have much experience in this area and are very qualified to write this book. They have a very easy to read style and share personal experiences from their own lives along with many scripture references to back up what they say. A short list of the many topics they touch on includes role models, weapons/violence, leadership, discipline, finances, homeschooling, manners, housework, courtship, and even choosing a college (or not) with your son. This book is loaded with suggestions on how to handle so many different situations you and your sons will encounter as they grow. The Youngs are so encouraging in the way they write also. I did not end this book feeling discouraged and wondering how I would be able to get my sons through tomorrow, much less the rest of their lives! No, I was so encouraged through out the whole book and know that with God anything is possible, even raising our boys for His glory.

I highly recommend Raising Real Men for any parent of boys, whether you have 1 or 10, younger or older, homeschooled or not, you will find many applicable resources. This is a book that will be staying on my bookshelf where I can easily reference it for many years to come!

If you wish to purchase your own copy of Raising Real Men, please visit Timberdoodle. You can also find more Parenting Help, Boy Friendly Outdoor Learning, or to request a free catalog.

As a member of Timberdoodle's Blogger Review Team I received a free copy of Raising Real Men in exchange for a frank and unbiased review.

ZooTime!

2011-09-19T21:21:00.000-07:00

This week we have a week off from school so I can finish getting all my canning done, but first we decided to take a field trip to the zoo. The kids had lots of fun and it was a great day! The weather was perfect and since most other kids are in school, there was hardly anyone there.

Sitting on a turtle

Looking at lizards up close!

Riding the train

Watching the lions get fed

Lunch break

A cheetah

Mountain goat

Hippos

Moose

Riding the bus through the bear pens

Black bear

Bison

Running down the track

Riding a horse

What a great day it was!

WonderMaps {Review}

2011-09-19T21:02:00.000-07:00

My kids love maps. They like looking at them and finding where we live or where a place is that we are learning about in school. They love feeling the bumps on our globe where the mountains are. They like finding rivers and lakes. Maps make learning fun for them. Many times I will try to find a certain map to go along with what we are studying, but have often found it challenging to find exactly what I need. Thanks to WonderMaps, that is no longer an issue! I can very quickly find a map customized to what we need.

WonderMaps, from Bright Ideas Press, is a collection of 360 maps that can be customized to your project with a few easy steps. It is a program that is installed on your PC and has 60+ maps of the world, 60+ maps of the US and 125 historical maps. They can be customized to include any or all of the following: historical or modern-day maps, outline, reference, political, or topographical maps, black-and-white or color maps, and features including names, borders, rivers, cities, physical features, and graticules. It also has complete map sets from The Mystery of History and All American History curriculums, so if you use either of those, this could be a big help to you!

I love how easy WonderMaps is too use. The maps that we have already used, I have very quickly found within several clicks of the homepage. And once I find what I want I love that I can easily make it color or black and white so my kids can color it, add names or leave them off to test my kids' knowledge, or even add or leave off borders to show how the map compares historically verses modern. Here is a picture of a historical map of Revolutionary War battle sites with all possible options on:

And here is the same map with the cities and modern state lines turned off and it only took two simple clicks:

There are even more features that I haven't explored yet, but I can tell that this will be so useful in the years to come for our homeschooling. You can even register your product on Bright Ideas Press and you will receive updates when they are available! Even if I purchase a new Atlas, it will probably be out of date very soon, so this is a great resource to have current information.

Recently we studied Christopher Columbus and one of the maps was his voyages across the Atlantic. It was so easy to find, print off, and have ready for the kids to look at while I read to them.

So far I haven't found anything that I don't like about WonderMaps, so I highly recommend it for all your map needs!

For more information or to purchase WonderMaps please visit Timberdoodle or Bright Ideas Press. While you are there, be sure to check out some of their Hands On Geography or Geography Puzzles, or to request a free catalog.

As a member of Timberdoodle's Blogger Review Team I received a free copy of WonderMaps in exchange for a frank and unbiased review.

Don't Throw Out Those Peels! {Fruit Peel Jelly}

2011-09-16T20:09:00.000-07:00

A couple months ago, I read a post on Raising Homemakers about making peach jelly. They showed how to use the peels and pits to make it and I thought that was a great idea since I usually can or freeze some peaches every year. So I bookmarked it and was going to try remember to do it when it was time for peaches at the end of summer. As I started working with some of my other fruits a couple months ago, I began to wonder if you could do that with more than just peaches. So I gave it a try and it works great! I didn't remember to take any pictures until I did my peaches this week, but I also tried cherry, apple, and pear jelly and I just used the same process for all of them.

While you are canning, freezing, drying, or just using a good amount of fruit, remember to save the peels and pits or cores in a large pot. Then cover it with water. You will need about 4 cups of juice, so add at least that much water for each batch you want to do. Then bring it to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes. After that let it cool a little. You can continue on from there or let it sit for a while. I usually did this right before bed and then let it sit all night because after a day of canning or freezing, I wasn't really too excited to start a batch of jelly too.

Then you will need to strain out the juice. You could use cheesecloth or a jelly strainer, but I have quite a few birdseye cotton diapers that I have never used, so I usually use one of them and it works just as well. Then you need to measure out 4 cups of the juice. Put it in a large pot and slowly stir in a package of fruit pectin. Bring that to a full rolling boil. While I am waiting for it to heat up, I usually get my jars and lids ready. Then add 5 1/2 cups of sugar quickly to the boiling juice.

Bring that back to a rolling boil and boil it for 1 minute. Then ladle into your jars, wipe the rims, and add the lids. Water bath the jars for 10 minutes, then let the jars sit on the counter for 24 hours. (My pear jelly didn't set the first time, so I just followed the directions in my pectin box for what to do if that happens and then it set.) Then admire your pretty jars of jelly and get excited about all the delicious toast and jelly you can eat this winter!

The Harvest of Grace {Review}

2011-09-15T20:10:00.000-07:00

When I received the chance to review The Harvest of Grace by Cindy Woodsmall, I was so excited! I loved the first book of hers that I read, A Bridge of Peace. Even though these are the 2nd and 3rd books of the Ada's House Series and I missed the 1st, they were still very easily read and I didn't feel lost. The Harvest of Grace is about Sylvia, who loves working with her family's dairy cows. After her old beau marries her sister and they find a dangerous connection between them, Sylvia moves away to help the aging Blanks run their farm and try to save it from losing it to debt. Shortly after, the Blank's son Aaron returns to the farm from rehab with the goal of selling the farm and moving his parents to an easier lifestyle. Sylvia believes the farm can be saved and the Blanks are stubbornly refusing to listen to Aaron. When Sylvia and Aaron discover that they are growing fond of each, they must figure out at way to find common ground.

I highly recommend The Harvest of Grace, even if you haven't read any other books in the Series. I am looking forward to finding more of Cindy Woodsmall's books soon!

This book was provided to me for free from Waterbrook Multnomah in exchange for this review.

Our Nature Walk for the Week

2011-09-04T11:54:00.000-07:00

So far this year, we are off to a great start with school! We have two weeks done and have found a pretty good routine that is working for us (until Peanut decides she's done with morning naps and throws a wrench in it!) This is by far my most favorite time of the year to be homeschooling. The kids are still excited about all the new stuff and the weather is still nice enough to get outside a lot. The local schools started up this week and there have been so many facebook updates have been about how sad they are that they have to bring their kids to school and they cried all the way home or as they watched their little ones get on the bus for the first time. I am so thankful that I don't have to experience that! Not having to send my kids away to spend the best part of their day with someone else sure makes all the hard work of homeschooling worth it!

This week we headed to Tennant Lake for our nature walk. The kids had lots of fun checking out all the wetland plants and even a few animals.

They loved climbing up the look out tower.

It has a great view of the wetlands and all the water lilies!

So excited to run down the path

I wasn't sure how they would do walking the raised boardwalk though the water, I sure didn't want to have to try jump in after someone, especially with Peanut in the back pack! They did great though and walked slowly and carefully!

At one place there was a huge dragonfly that kept hovering right in front of us like he was showing off. He is about in the middle of the next two pictures.

Lovebug was constantly laying down to look over the end and see what was under the walkway.

It was amazing how many lily pads there were!

Wordless Wednesday: First Tooth!

2011-08-31T06:24:00.000-07:00

Some of My Summer Reading

2011-08-31T06:20:00.000-07:00

I've been reading quite a few books for review lately, some great, some not as great. Here's a couple of my reviews:

Thunder Dog by Michael Hingson with Susy Flory

I think most of us remember where we were on Sept 11, 2001. I know I do, and I wasn't anywhere near New York or connected to anyone who was. For those who were there and went through the attacks on the Twin Towers, I'm sure they remember much more about that day than those who weren't. Michael Hingson was one of the survivors who was in the first tower that got hit. He was up on the 78th floor and was able to walk all the way down the stairs and get out. If that doesn't make his story amazing enough, he did it blind, using his guide dog Roselle to guide himself and others out and to safety. The story goes back and forth between Sept 11 and Michael's past as he tells about how his blindness and his guide dogs have shaped his life, but it was still very easy to read and flowed together very nicely. This was a great true story and as the 10th anniversary of the attacks approaches, it is a good reminder of all that happened on that day, how many people were killed, and how many people made it out safely.

I received this book for free for review from Booksneeze.

Dry As Rain by Gina Holmes

When I first started to read Dry As Rain, I wasn't really sure if I was going to like it. It is written in the first person from a male perspective, despite the author being female. As I got into it however, I found that Gina Holmes did a great job writing it. It is a story of betrayal and a broken marriage. When the story begins, Eric and Kyra are already separated with little hope of reconciliation. But when Kyra loses her memories of the separation in a car accident, Eric sees it as a second chance from God to try and save his marriage. Slowly she regains her memory though and also finds out about Eric's infidelity and kicks him out of their house again. Eric finally faces the fact that he needs to be completely honest and write Kyra an apology letter for all he has done to break down their marriage. You will have to read the book yourself to see how it ends up! This book has some good lessons about honesty and forgiveness and is a good reminder to have good communication and not take your marriage for granted.

I received this book for free for review from Tyndale House Publishers.

First Week of School

2011-08-26T22:02:00.000-07:00

On Monday we started our homeschool year again. I think the kids (and me) were really ready to get back to having a little more of a set schedule of things to do. Even though Buddy claims he doesn't want to do any school, I know they were all getting a little bored and so far are having fun with our new curriculum. Of course I still can't get in the habit of taking pictures while we are working, so I don't have much to show for the week except what we did today. We have decided to stick with My Father's World again and this year we are doing the Adventures in My Father's World for our combined subjects of history, geography, science, etc. Buddy is doing 2nd grade math, reading, and spelling, and Sweetie is doing 1st grade. I have been doing a combination of Tot School printables from 1+1+1=1 and Confessions of a Homeschooler for Lovebug and then he also joins us once in a while for the other stuff so I try to find a picture to color or something related to what we are doing that he can do. On Fridays we get to spend most of our day doing a nature walk or studying nature some way and then making a page to put in our nature notebooks. Since the weather is so nice, I decided to head up to the hills today and let the kids do some exploring.

Right away the kids found a little green frog. It was so tiny and just kept jumping out of their hands, so I couldn't get a very good picture.

We brought along some clipboards so the kids could draw some of the interesting things they found.

There were quite a few slugs and Sweetie wasn't going to try pick any of them up.

The kids found some good climbing trees. This was an old stump with lots of smaller trees growing out of it.

This is a natural spring coming out of the ground.

This tree had a hole in it and it took a bit for any of the kids to get brave enough to look down into it. We could only see some sticks and leaves.

We found this creepy crawly guy just before we left.

Everyone had lots of fun, so hopefully we will have good weather on Fridays so we can always head out and do some nature exploration!

Tasty Tuesday ~ Zucchini Salsa

2011-08-23T06:22:00.000-07:00

Is it weird that I love standing in my pantry staring at my slowly filling shelves, planning where the next canning project will get lined up? Does anyone else do this? No? Well, I guess I am weird, but I love seeing my hard work lining the shelves and deciding where it should all go! Last week I had fun trying out a new canning recipe for zucchini salsa and it is pretty tasty! We always have loads of zucchini and so do most other people I know, making it hard to even give it away so I thought I would find something new to do with it this year. I've also done zucchini bread and butter pickles for the first time this year and they turned out pretty good too. Here is instructions for the salsa:
Ingredients

10 cups chopped zucchini (you can peel and/or shred it if you want, I didn't because I'm a little lazy like that)

4 chopped onions

2 chopped green peppers

2 chopped red peppers

8 chopped jalapeno peppers (I left the seeds in one and removed them from the rest and this produced a meduim salsa, you can adjust according to your taste or leave out altogether)

1/4 cup pickling salt

1 tablespoon pickling salt

2 tablespoons dry mustard

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon cumin

2 cups white vinegar

1 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon pepper

5 cups chopped tomatoes

2 tablespoons cornstarch

12 ounces tomato paste

Directions: In a large bowl combine: Zucchini, onions, green pepper, red pepper, jalapenos and the 1/4 cup salt. Mix together cover and let stand over night.

The next day rinse, drain well and put into a large pot (or 2 if you don't have a really big one like me) then add mustard, garlic, cumin, vinegar, brown sugar, pepper flakes, remaining salt, cornstarch, nutmeg, pepper, tomatoes and tomato paste.

Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.

Pour into sterilized jars, add lids and rings, and water bath jars for 15 minutes. Remove from water and listen for that magic pop, pop, pop of sealing jars!

This makes about 12 pints, but I put a lot of mine in 1/2 pints because we don't eat that much at once.

Linked up with:

Waving the White Flag

2011-08-21T21:20:00.000-07:00

This is a guest post by Brook, author of Warrior Prayers: Praying the Word for Boys in the Areas They Need it Most. I personally already have this book and have loved reading through it and using it to pray for my kids. I highly recommend it for all parents and would encourage you to sign up!

Are you the mother of boys who
often finds herself ready to wave the white flag in defeat?

Do they drain you, overwhelm you, steal your heart, break your heart and cause you more
anxiety than you ever dreamed possible?

Maybe you only have one boy amongst a sea of estrogen and you just can’t figure out how
to respond to him in a way that affirms all that is good about his masculinity.

You're not alone.

Last May, over 1300 women and a few dads in SEVEN different countries joined together to
pray purposefully and passionately for the hearts of their sons in a challenge called
21 Days of Prayer for Sons. 21 Days is based on the
best-selling eBook Warrior Prayers: Praying the Word for Boys in the Areas They Need
it Most.

Even our best parenting efforts don't come with a guarantee. As much as we
might wish we could change their hearts of stone to hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26), we
can't. But we serve a God who can. Knowing this, it becomes quite clear that there is
only one thing we can do…

Plead with God.

Pray.

“The fervent
prayers of a righteous man avails much.” James 5:17.

It’s our hope.

The next 21 Days of Prayer for Sons challenge starts
September 6 and ends September 26, 2011. How can you participate? Easy!

Purchase your own copy of Warrior Prayers: Praying the Word for Boys in
the Areas They Need it Most (just $5.97 as a PDF download or on
A
mazon Kindle!) You could, in theory, participate in the challenge without a
personal copy, but your experience will be much deeper and richer with it.
Commit to praying for your son(s) or grandsons 10 times a day for 21 days
straight. This is a huge commitment, so if you feel God leading you to participate, pray
and ask Him to give you the strength and endurance you need.
Consider leading your own group on your blog or in your
community!
Sign-up HERE!

Get inspired by recent participants!

“This challenge…has given me my joy back in mothering” ~LaToya

“Thank you for giving me a tangible method for transformation in my family!!”
~Anne

“Thanks, Brooke for your help. I’ve always known that God was listening; I just
didn’t know what to say!” ~Laurel

“So many heart changes are going on in our home and I’m just so thankful…”
~Ashley

************************

Brooke is a
mom of two young boys who leave her desperate for God’s grace. Her pursuit of being a
better mom has left her at the foot of the cross, knowing that if God doesn’t show up …
nothing happens. This dependence upon God to turn hearts of stone to hearts of flesh
leads her to her knees in prayer. She’s the author of the best-selling eBook Warrior Prayers:
Praying the Word for Boys in the Areas They Need it Most, creator of
the 21 Days of Prayer for Sons
challenge and co-founder of the well-loved online community for mothers of boys, the
M.O.B.
Society. She offers hope for change to the hearts of women at her main blog,
A
Life in Need of Change.

Frugal Friday

2011-08-12T20:39:00.000-07:00

As you may remember from my shampoo experiment, I love to find ways to save money. (By the way, I am still using the baking soda & vinegar and it is still going great!) Awhile back I experimented with making my own dishwasher soap and although it was cheaper, it didn't clean worth beans. I was constantly having to rewash dishes and so I figured wasting my time wasn't worth the money savings and I went back to my dishwasher tabs.

Recently, however, I have found a way to cut the price in half! Did you know that you can cut the tabs in half and get two loads out of one?!? And it works just as well. I have been cutting them in half for a while now and still rarely have to rewash a dish! I would recommend cutting (knife or scissors equally work well)them while they are still in the package because they get kinda crumbly as you cut and can make a mess. That way you can just dump half the package in the dishwasher, crumbs and all.

Tasty Tuesday ~ Homemade Vanilla

2011-08-09T10:32:00.000-07:00

Did you know you could make your own vanilla? It's really easy. The hardest part is buying the vodka that you will need. But if you send your hubby, then there is no hard part. ;) All you need is vodka and vanilla beans. The amount of both will determine how strong your vanilla is. This is the first time that I've tried it and I used a bottle of vodka (750 mL) and put in seven vanilla beans which is all that I could fit in the bottle. You will need to slice open the beans length wise before you put them in.

Then just shake it up and put it in a dark place for 4-6 months. You should shake it up every once in a while. Then after you have patiently waited for what seems like forever, strain your vanilla through a coffee filter in a colander and then you are ready to go! Mine turned out a little on the weak side compared to the pure vanilla that I bought from Costco, so next time I will probably use a few more beans and put it all in a bigger jar. If you make it really strong (like 20 beans in 750mL) then you will only need to use about 1/2 of what the recipe calls for. If you like using real vanilla, this will save you a ton of money because real vanilla is pricey!

A True Farm Girl!

2011-08-03T09:57:00.000-07:00

Peanut can't get enough cheese! She loves it and gets so excited every time I take it out of the fridge. She gobbles it up so fast that I couldn't even get a decent picture because she wouldn't sit still! (And I'm not sure what is up with the foot!)

Tasty Tuesday ~ Fresh Cherry Coffee Cake

2011-08-02T09:52:00.000-07:00

This month I've started filling up my empty freezer and pantry shelves with frozen and canned goods. It's exciting (at least for me) to see all my hard work being lined up on the shelves for winter. A couple weeks ago we picked a bunch of cherries that I canned and dried. I had a few left over that I used to make this tasty coffee cake. Hubby said it was one of the best he's had because it was really moist.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups cherries, pitted and halved
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cup melted coconut oil or butter
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk (Twin Brook Creamery is the best!)

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and lightly flour a 10 inch tube pan. Place cherries in a bowl and toss gently with 2 tablespoons flour. Set aside. Stir together the flour, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Beat together the oil (or butter), eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, and milk until smooth in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the flour mixture until smooth. Fold in the cherries. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean, about 60 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a serving plate or wire rack.

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A New Button and a Winner!

2011-07-29T08:51:00.000-07:00

So I think that most of you prefer the picture of the cows for my button, so I will stick with that one. Thanks for all of you who have grabbed my button before and I would love it if you would grab my new one now!

And now, thank you to the two ladies who entered my Twin Sisters Productions giveaway. Unfortunately only one of you gets to win and I used random.org to pick who it is:

Comment #1 is:
Farmin chick said...

Miss M's favorite song for the longest time was Amazing Grace:) We would sing it every night before bed:) I loved hearing her sing the words, knowing them by heart.

Congratulations! I will be contacting you soon!

My First Hands-On Bible {Review}

2011-07-29T08:50:00.000-07:00

I recently received My First Hands-On Bible for review and I have been having lots of fun reading it with my kids. It is filled with Bible stories that the kids love and each story has hands on activities that you can do as you are reading. The kids really enjoy these activities and it helps the stories come alive for them. The activities range from counting out something, pretending to be an animal from the story, acting out part of the story, and much more. At the end of each story there are also two more activities to review or reinforce the story. After each story there is also a "Jesus Connection" which connects each story to Jesus even if he wasn't in the story to show that Jesus is the center of all of Scripture. Each story also ends with a short prayer you can pray with your kids. This book is intended for ages 3-6 and I think that is a pretty accurate age range because my kids have really enjoyed using this book with me. Some of the activities are really simple and Buddy found them a little boring, and some are a little harder and Lovebug found them difficult to understand, but for the most part Buddy, Sweetie, and Lovebug have all loved reading and doing the activities together.

From the publisher:
My First Hands-On Bible is the preschooler version of the popular Hands-On Bible, which has sold over a half million copies. Jesus taught with hands-on lessons and illustrations; My First Hands-On Bible uses the same experience-based learning to communicate God’s Word in an active, understandable way. My First Hands-On Bible is a fun and simple yet meaningful way to engage preschool, pre-K, and K children (ages 3-6) with the Bible while helping them build a solid faith foundation. Each lesson focuses on a specific Bible point through a variety of activities in order to reinforce and help young children remember the stories and lessons. Using common household items, you can help your children have a “hands-on” learning experience while engaging them in 85 key stories from the Bible. My First Hands-On Bible doesn’t just retell the Bible stories; it also includes actual Scripture from the easy-to-understand and easy-to-read Holy Bible, New Living Translation. In addition to the stories and activities, there are fun illustrations, prayers, and a special Jesus Connection feature.

I received this book for free for review from Tyndale House Publishers.

The Lion's Deceit {Review}

2011-07-29T08:49:00.000-07:00

The Lion's Deceit by Mpho Otukile is a story about a lion who is very lazy and doesn't want to go hunting for his food. He comes up with a plan to trick the other animals into coming right to him, but will he get away with it?

This is an easy to read short story to help teach children about the consequences of being lazy. After reading it with my kids, it provided a way to discuss working hard and being truthful. My kids liked the story and asked to read it several more times. It is filled with bright beautiful illustrations that my kids enjoyed looking at.
About the author: Mpho Otukile comes from Botswana, in the Southern part of Africa where she grew up listening to stories told by the village elders at night while sitting around an open fire. As much as she was entertained, these stories also instilled some moral lessons about life.
The author now lives in Winnipeg, Canada and is writing these stories to pass them to her daughter and other children.
If you are interested in purchasing this book you can get an autographed copy from Village Life Books or you can purchase Creatspace eStore where you can use the code 2LU4EXJM to receive 10% off your purchase.

This is a MamaBuzz review. The product was provided by Village Life Books for this review.

New Name

2011-07-24T20:16:00.000-07:00

I've recently made some ID cards for myself and the kids (like other kids get from school) and I needed to give our homeschool a name to put on it. I asked hubby for some ideas, but neither of us is too creative. Finally we came up with Country Blessings Academy. I think it fits our family well since we live in the country and God has blessed us with so much. I also like it better than Munchkin Farm, so I am changing the name of my blog to Country Blessings. To go along with the new name, I am making up a new button. When I showed it to Hubby though, he wanted me to stick with the picture of the cows. So I need your help! Let me know which of these two pictures you like better (or neither!) so I can get a new button made.

Restless in Carolina {Review}

2011-07-24T15:11:00.000-07:00

Restless in Carolina by Tamara Leigh is about Bridget, a tree-hugging, animal loving, widow of 4 years, who is trying to find an eco-friendly buyer for her family's large estate. When J.C. Dirk becomes interested in purchasing the estate, Bridget finds herself interested in him. First though she needs to get over her grief of losing her husband. But J.C has a secret that could ruin everything Bridget is working for.
I have to admit that after the first couple of chapters I was ready to quit reading this book. It was really hard for me to connect with Bridget's character. I'm glad I kept with it though because it did get much better as the story went on. There were some humorous parts and the other characters were interesting, but overall it was a fairly predictable story. If you are looking for an easy summer read, give Restless in Carolina a try, just don't give up after the first few chapters!

I received this book free for review from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers.

Curing An Ear Infection Naturally

2011-07-19T22:18:00.000-07:00

I know this is an odd post to write in the middle of summer and especially when most of the country is in the middle of a heat wave. But it seems that global warming has forgotten our little corner of the world and it still feels like the middle of spring here. Our neighbors have been pumping water out of their blueberry and potato fields for the past week! And since the weather is crummy, my kids thought they would help contribute to the overall crumminess (is that a word?) of our wet summer and get colds. So on Friday, I wasn't too surprised when Sweetie told me her ear hear really bad. The last thing I want to do on a Friday however is go to the doctor's office. I've made that mistake before. So I hopped on the wonderful world wide web to see if there was anything I could try at home first. I figured there had to be something people used years ago before they could just run to the doctor like we can now, right? So I found quite a few sites that had natural remedies using garlic and olive oil. This site was the most helpful with quite a list of things I could try. I didn't have any fresh garlic on hand, but I did have olive oil and lavender essential oil. So I tried mixing a drop of the lavender in about 20 drops of oil, putting a couple drops in Sweetie's ear and then massaging it in. Within 1/2 an hour she said her ear was all better! I was amazed! Since most of the other kids had all the makings for developing ear infections, I headed to the store for some fresh garlic, since that seems like it is the most effective option.

And it was a good move, because on Saturday night, Sweetie's ear hurt again and on Monday morning, Lovebug said his ear hurt. Both times I heated a clove of garlic in a little olive oil, placed a couple drops in their ears, and massaged it. And both times it was gone within an hour! Hopefully this means no more doctor visits and antibiotics for ear infections for us! (Disclaimer: I am not a health care professional. I am only sharing what worked for us. Please do your own research or consult your doctor to make your own decisions on treating your children!)

Linked up with:

Raising Homemakers

Healthy 2day Wednesday

Twin Sisters Productions Bible Stories {Review and GIVEAWAY!}

2011-07-14T11:03:00.000-07:00

We have officially been on summer break for about a month now, but I have still been encouraging the kids to practice the skills they have learned by doing things they think are fun. That way they don't always realize they are doing math, practicing reading, etc and it is much easier to get them to do it. Twin Sisters Productions has a lot of great products that are perfect for this and recently they sent me their Bible Stories workbook and music cd for review. The kids have loved listening to the songs, many of which are familiar, but also a few new ones they have enjoyed learning. The workbook contains 14 mini Bible story books that each go along with a song, finger puppets, Bible story starters, some easy crafts, and some suggested Bible verses for the kids to memorize. The kids have been having fun coloring the books and Buddy can easily read them to everyone.

They have also loved the finger puppets and are constantly retelling their favorite Bible stories with them. A large part of our curriculum during the school year has the kids retelling me stories after I read them to make sure they catch the main ideas of the story. The kids don't really like doing this unless I give them an exciting way of doing it like acting out the story. I think these puppets will come in handy next year to have them retell me Bible stories in a fun way.

This is the second product I've reviewed for Twin Sisters Productions and both times have been very pleased with the products. They offer many educational music products on their site and I think my kids would have fun with a lot of them and not even realize they are learning at the same time!

Currently they are having an Old MacDonald Had a Farm video contest on their Facebook page. This is a cute opportunity to share a video of your kids' creativity! Head over to their page to get all the details and also a promo code for a free download of Old MacDonald Had a Farm!

Twin Sisters has also graciously offered one of my readers a $10 gift certificate to their site! To be entered please leave me a comment letting me know your kids' favorite Bible song. Please leave a way for me to contact you if you win!

For extra entries you may do any of the following, but be sure to leave a separate comment(s) for each entry!

1. Visit Twin Sisters Productions and tell me your favorite product (1 entry)

2. Like Twin Sisters on Facebook (1 entry)

3. Enter their Facebook video contest (5 entries, leave 5 separate comments!)

4 . Follow or subscribe to my blog (1 entry)

This giveaway will end on July 28 at noon and I will draw a winner using random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be picked.

I received this product for free for review from Twin Sisters Productions. All opinions are mine. Thanks Twin Sisters!

A Place Called Blessing {Review}

2011-07-12T18:03:00.000-07:00

A Place Called Blessing by John Trent, Ph.D. with Annette Smith is a great story of blessing and forgiveness. I really enjoyed it and could hardly put it down. It is a sad story of how a little boy becomes angry and alone after years of being in the foster system. Then he finds a family who continually offers him love despite his rejection of it. The end had a great twist that I didn't see coming at all and it ended the story so beautifully. I highly recommend this book.

Book Description

Five-year-old Josh and his two older brothers lose their parents in a drunk-driving accident. A series of foster homes and a shocking tragedy eventually separate them, leaving Josh alone, angry, and distrustful of most everyone. At age eighteen, Josh strikes out on his own to find work. With only a high school education and few life skills, he is one step away from homelessness when Providence brings him to a place where he finds much more than physical shelter. For the first time in his life, Josh receives unconditional love and something every human being craves, the gift of "the blessing."

The book includes an introduction and reader’s guide designed to identify and discuss the five elements of the biblical blessing that every person needs. Through the power of Josh's story, readers are shown how to give this gift to their children and others as outlined in the more than one million copy bestseller, The Blessing.

I received this book for free for review from BookSneeze.

10 Years Ago

2011-07-06T23:22:00.000-07:00

I married my best friend.

Wasn't he so handsome? Good thing he still is! :) Can't wait to spend the next 10 years with him too!

Tasty Tuesday - 5 Minute Ice Cream

2011-07-05T21:50:00.000-07:00

I recently found this easy soft serve ice cream recipe that only takes 5 minutes to make so I tried it with the kids yesterday and it was so simple and fun!

Ingredients
1 cup Half and Half (Twin Brook Creamery is the best!)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup salt
Ice

Put the half and half, vanilla, and sugar in a small ziploc plastic bag, close, and mix together. Put the salt and enough ice to fill it half way in a larger ziploc bag. Place the small bag inside the bigger bag with the ice and close. Shake, toss, play catch, have your kids jump on the trampoline with the bag, do whatever you want to shake it up for a few minutes, then remove the bag of ice cream and enjoy! We made 3 of the small bags of ice cream so each of the kids could have their own and they loved it!

Addie Slaughter {Review}

2011-06-29T15:39:00.000-07:00

As a homeschool mom, I am always on the look out for books that my kids would enjoy to encourage their love of reading. When I heard about Addie Slaughter, I thought it would be one that Buddy would like. And I was right. Addie Slaughter by Susan L Krueger, ED.D. with Dr. Reba Wells Grandrud is based on stories from the life of Addie Slaughter, daughter of the famous John Horton Slaughter, a Texas Ranger, famed Cochise County Sheriff and an early settler of the San Bernardino Valley in the late 1800s. It tells about about her move across the wild west and some of the advertures and experiences she had. Escaping a stage coach robbery, escaping falling buildings in an earthquake, and meeting Geronimo were just a few. The chapters were quick and easy to read and the kids always begged to keep reading more. It even contains real pictures from the Slaughter family photo albums. In the back of the book there is also a curriculum guide that could be used to turn this into a unit study or a supplement to part of a another study in your homeschool.
If you want more info or are interested in purchasing Addie Slaughter for $15.95, you may do so at Five Star Publications.

This is a MamaBuzz review. This book was provided by Five Star Publications for review. All opinions are mine.

The Birthday Princess

2011-06-28T22:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we celebrated Sweetheart's 5th birthday!

She had fun opening gifts at breakfast

Her favorite was a beach ball sprinkler

In the evening our families came over for a barbeque to celebrate with Sweetie and her Uncle Mike who share a birthday.

Today the kids decided to brave the cool weather to try out the sprinkler ball. They only lasted a few mintues!

Hopefully we will start getting some warm enough weather soon!

Penticton

2011-06-26T21:30:00.000-07:00

We had a lot of fun on our vacation this past week! We managed to get everything (and everyone!) packed into the car

The kids did really well on the 4 1/2 hour drive there and we got to see some beautiful views as we drove through the mountains. (Sorry for the poor quality pics through the car windows!)

We stopped for a couple breaks

We even found this really pretty log barn near one of our pit stops

On our first day there, we drove up to a view point of the lake and town

It was pretty windy and the water still really cold, so the kids just played in the sand on the beach.

There was a neat old paddle boat next to the beach

Checking out a rose garden

Playing at a playground

We stayed at an older hotel that is being upgraded so our room was really nice. It wasn't a typical straight building, but was shaped like an S so the halls were curvy.

Getting ready to ~~go to sleep~~ stay up way too late!

We picked our hotel because the website said it had a waterslide and we thought that would be really fun for the kids to play at while Peanut was napping. Unfortunately they had closed it 2 weeks ago because it was getting too old and they are going to remodel that area. We were pretty bummed that we missed it, but they still had indoor and outdoor pools that the kids loved playing in.

Everyone had a great time, the kids did so well, and we are thankful that we could have a few days away!

Relaxing

2011-06-22T15:51:00.000-07:00

The Inconvenient Marriage of Charlotte Beck {Review}

2011-06-22T15:30:00.000-07:00

I love historical romances, but when I first read the title and description of this book, I thought it sounded like it would be a little too cheesy. But I was wrong! The Inconvenient Marriage of Charlotte Beck by Kathleen y'Barbo is one of those books you just can't put down! Charlotte Beck and Alexander Hambly can't stand each other, but when Alex is faced with financial ruin and Charlotte desires to go to college more than anything, the solution Charlotte's father comes up with is marriage. Alex and Charlotte secretly agree to plan an annulment, but then Alex changes his mind and makes Charlotte furious!
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and even laughed out loud a few times! This is actually the third book in a series, which I didn't realize at first, but it is a great read all by itself. I recommend this book and look forward to reading more by Kathleen Y'Barbo.

I received this book free from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing for this review. All opinions are mine.

First Pack of Diapers

2011-06-22T10:07:00.000-07:00

We had a great last week of school last week. Buddy and Sweetie each finished up their lessons for 1st grade and kindergarten, completed their swim lessons, and Buddy also passed his next belt test in Tae Kwon Do. To celebrate we decided to take our family vacation this week, so we are enjoying sunny Penticton. While my Peanut is napping and the others are swimming, I get to spend some quiet time catching up on reading and computer stuff. When preparing for our trip, I went and bought some disposable diapers to take along and as I was doing that, I realized that that was the first pack of diapers that I have bought for Peanut since she was born! I had purchased one newborn pack before she was born, but nothing since then. That is all that I have had to buy for my little Peanut in NINE MONTHS!!! Since we started using modern cloth diapers for Lovebug about 2 years ago, I have been able to reuse all of the ones that I've used on him. I have also used about 3 other packs of disposable diapers that I had left from Lovebug or were given to us as gifts. I used to spend $40 a month on diapers and since the price has gone up even since we quit using them and we now have 2 in diapers (but hopefully not much longer!), I can safely say that we have saved thousands, not to mention how much healthier it is for our kids! I am so glad we made the switch!

Peanut in a BumGenius at 3 days old

I was most nervous about cloth diapering a newborn, but I used a combination of cloth and disposables and it really wasn't that hard! If you are thinking about switching to cloth, just remember it doesn't have to be all or nothing, you can do a mixture of both to make it work for you. And I still use disposables for vacation because I don't want to have to wash diapers because then it wouldn't be vacation, right? :) I have tried a lot of different brands and styles of cloth diapers now and if you are interested I would be more than happy to share what I like and have found works for us. You can also read through some of my older posts about cloth to get an idea of what we use. I have even ventured into the wonderful world of wool by crocheting up a few wool soakers (covers) for leakproof nights.

Peanut in a Bum-Ware at 7 months

Linked up with Raising Homemakers

We have another climber!

2011-06-12T21:08:00.000-07:00

Peanut has hit a few new milestones this past week and today this is what I found her doing:

Later she even made it all the way to the top before we caught her! I guess it is time to get out the gate! She also has found out how to pull herself up to standing in her crib and throw her pacifier over the edge and she also popped out her 3rd tooth. (Which has made for one crabby little girl!) Has anyone ever heard of teeth coming in out of order? She has the bottom two and the next to come through should be her front top two, but instead the second (or maybe even third?) one on the top right has come through. That or she is gonna have to see the orthodonist a lot when she is older!

Tasty Tuesday ~ Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

2011-06-07T06:49:00.000-07:00

My kids have never been fans of oatmeal (probably because I'm not) so we don't eat it very often at our house. So when I saw a picture of this Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal with Buddy once, I was surprised that he thought it looked really yummy and wanted to make it. We gave it a try and I am glad we did because everyone loves it! It is also really easy and the kids love to help.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/4 - 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon

2 cups chopped apples

1/2 tsp salt

3 cups rolled oats

My eager helper, Lovebug

First melt together the honey, coconut oil, and cinnamon over medium heat

Once it starts to boil, add the apples and salt

Return it to a boil and stir in the oatmeal.

Reduce heat and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5-10 minutes.

We all like it different ways. Some of us add milk, blueberries, raisins, or cranberries and some add all of the above! I've even made it without the apples when we were all out and it still tasted really good!

Linked up with:

A Lucky Horseshoe Winner!

2011-06-03T12:41:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who entered the A Lucky Horseshoe giveaway! If you weren't lucky enough to win, I would still encourage you to support this great business and purchase some cute wall decals for your home. I used random.org to pick a winner and here is what it said:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

Timestamp: 2011-06-03 19:34:09 UTC

Comment #8 is:
Kelsey said...

I think the pinwheels are so cute:) This is a fun website!

Kelsey

Congratulations Kelsey! I will be contacting you soon!

First Wagon Ride

2011-06-02T21:10:00.000-07:00

Peanut took her first ride in our little wagon yesterday and she LOVED it! She kept giggling and laughing the whole time! It was so cute! I got a video of her, but can't figure out how to get it on here. (Isn't is a little sad that she still needs a hat in JUNE!)

First we walked out the field to watch daddy plowing.

Lovebug got to stay with him and go for a tractor ride.

Then we went and visited the chickens to see how big they were getting.

They are almost full size so hopefully they will start laying some eggs soon! (The bigger white bird in the back is one of our turkeys)

Tasty Tuesday ~ Chicken Alfredo

2011-05-31T06:19:00.000-07:00

I LOVE alfredo, especially the chicken alfredo from the Olive Garden. I've tried a few recipes in the past, and none have come close to theirs, but I finally found a really, really good one. Too bad my hubby doesn't like it so much. (Actually that is probably good, so I don't make it too often, it's not exactly low fat.)

Ingredients
2 cups uncooked noodles
2 cups cooked cubed chicken (turkey works well also)
2 cups cream
1/2 cup butter
1 clove of garlic
2 Tbsp plain yogurt or cream cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a medium saucepan, start water heating to boil your noodles. In a small saucepan stir together cream, butter, garlic, and yogurt or cream cheese. Bring to a boil and turn down heat and simmer about 2 minutes. Add Parmesan cheese and stir until melted. Continue to simmer about 15 minutes until it gets thicker. Meanwhile, add your noodles to the boiling water and cook according to the directions. Drain noodles and add chicken. When sauce is done, pour over noodles and stir. Heat over low until hot. Try not to eat the whole pan full by yourself.

Linked up with:

Love Food & Live Well {Review}

2011-05-31T06:15:00.000-07:00

I recently read the book Love Food & Live Well by Chantel Hobbs to review. Since I love food, but I am still working to loose the rest of my pregnancy weight, I thought this might be a good book with ideas for trying new ways of accomplishing this. After reading the book, however, I was a little disappointed. Most of it seemed pretty common sense to me. Chantel Hobbs writes from her own experience of losing 200 lbs and how she is now maintaining a healthy weight. She shares that losing weight is not only about the food you eat, but about the way you live your life and surrendering it to God. Moderation is the key to losing the weight and we need to have disciple when it comes to eating. But we don't need to totally give up the foods we love, just follow the 80/20 rule of eating healthy 80% of the time and allowing ourselves to splurge the remaining 20%. She shares which types of food our body needs, some recipes, and exercises.
If you have trouble with dieting or keeping weight off even after you've lost it, I would recommend reading Love Food & Live Well. It is very easy to read and really could be applied to many areas of our lives.

I received this book for free for review from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

Quiet Time

2011-05-25T21:23:00.000-07:00

Since having Peanut, I've really struggled to find a good routine for my quiet time. I really prefer to have it in the morning, but Peanut is a pretty early riser and often it seems that no matter how early I get up, she (or one of the other kiddos) is up within minutes of me! I think they just know when someone is up and need to be up too. (I've often wondered if they conspire together to take turns getting up early and in the middle of the night. They probably have a whole schedule planned out. "You get this morning, this morning, and this night, and I'll take these. Maybe we'll give her a night off here, but then you can have this one again. We gotta keep her tired, that's how we can get away with things!") I have kind of settled into a pretty regular quiet time at night now once the kids are asleep, but by then I am beat and ready for bed! Recently Jodi posted about having a comfy chair in her room for her quiet time and I think that I might have to give that a try. If I can get a nice place set up in our bedroom, then maybe the kiddos won't hear me up and I can get my quiet time back to the morning. Even when I do find some quiet time, it can be hard for me to focus and not be thinking about what needs to be done around the house or something that is happening with the kids. This past Sunday our pastor said that if you have a hard time focusing, start asking yourself questions about what you are reading. I have tried this and it really helps, so I may start writing down more stuff also as I'm reading.I have been reading through the Bible chronologically this year and that has encouraged me to at least get that done everyday. I have also been reading through A Wife After God's Own Heart, 31 Days to Clean, As Unto the Lord, and For Instructions In Righteousness (to plan out some character training to do with the kids.) I have a journal to write prayers in and may start to use it (or another one) to write my reading notes/questions. I have a couple other free e-books, Maximize Your Mornings and Mission Statements for Moms on my reading list. I recently found this cute basket to keep all my books in so they are at least in one place and ready when I have some time.

Do you have a quiet time? What works for you? For other ideas, check out Jodi's post that I am linking up with.

More Butterflies! {A Lucky Horseshoe Review and Giveaway!} CLOSED

2011-05-20T08:14:00.000-07:00

If you remember from last week, we've been fascinated with watching our butterflies for Sweetie's homeschool lessons. Well, this week we were able add some more permanent butterflies to our house. Last year when Sweetie moved into her new bedroom to make room for the baby, I painted her room a rather neutral green color. Sweetie wanted it pink, but I really didn't want to have to repaint it if the boys ever needed to move into that room, so I told her we could find a cute stencil or something to add a nice girly touch to the room. Well, baby came along and we just never got around to it. When I received the chance to review one of the wall decals from A Lucky Horseshoe, I knew that would be a great time to give Sweetie the girly touch she wanted. After looking around A Lucky Horseshoe, though, I knew it would be tough to pick just one thing for her room. There are so many adorable decals that would look great in many different areas of our house!

There are many different quotes that would fit in well around our family room

This quote would be great in our kitchen!

These safari animals would make great decoration for the school room

This one would be cute in the bathroom

And I know Buddy would LOVE these jets for his room!

We finally decided on the group of butterflies. When the package arrived, I was even more excited to find out that A Lucky Horseshoe is a local business! I always think it's great to be able to support local businesses! The pack of decals came with a very detailed instruction sheet for putting them up. Following the clear instructions made it super easy to put the decals up and once I got the hang of it, they all went up pretty quickly.

They look so cute in Sweetie's room and she loves them!

A Lucky Horseshoe is owned by Rebecca, a 14 year old, who is trying to save up money for college. She loves horses and doing horse shows so that is why she chose the name of her store. She began her business in 2009 and loves the feeling of getting a gift when she receives an order. I think it is great that Rebecca is already working hard for her future! Her products can be found on her site or on Etsy.

Rebecca has also graciously offered one of my readers a $25 gift certificate to A Lucky Horseshoe! To be entered, please take a look around A Lucky Horseshoe and let me know your favorite decal. Please leave a way for me to contact you if you win. This giveaway will end on June 3, 2011 at noon and then I will pick a winner using random.org. Open to US and Canada only. If you have already won from another Mamabuzz review of A Lucky Horseshoe I will have to pick another winner.

This is a Mamabuzz review. The butterfly decals where provided by A Lucky Horseshoe for this review.

No-Work Spanish Giveaway Winners!

2011-05-20T08:06:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who entered the No-Work Spanish Giveaway. There were 4 entries, but last week when Blogger was down for a couple days some of the things on my blog where lost and the first comment (which was the only one at the time) was one of them. That is why there only shows 3 comments, but I still have the email notification from Jacki for her comment, so hers is number 1 and the 3 on my blog are numbers 2-4. Sorry for any confusion this causes. I used random.org and it picked number 2 and then number 1.

Congratulations to Cali and Jacki! Cali would like Yaks March on Washington, so Jacki will get Poster Girl. I will email you and you will have 48 hours to respond.

Butterflies!

2011-05-14T15:13:00.000-07:00

The caterpillar to butterfly transformation is amazing! This week Sweetie has been learning about butterflies for the letter B so we ordered some caterpillars to be able to watch the whole process. We received 5 teeny tiny little ones. I forgot to snap pictures of them, but it was amazing to see how small they were and how fast they grew! After 2-3 weeks they climbed to the top of their little container, hung by their tail, and turned into cocoons.

Then we transferred them to a larger mess container to watch them when they were butterflies. This little guy had crawled out of his cocoon about 5 minutes before I snapped this picture. We fed the other butterflies this morning and our last cocoon was looking really dark colored so I told Sweetie he would probably come out today. A few minutes later I happened to glance at it again and there he was!

Here are the old cocoons. After they emerge, they sometimes have extra orange coloring that comes out their tails which is what all that coloring is on the white paper.

The kids have had lots of fun getting fresh flowers every morning for them and watching the whole process. Unfortunately, I don't think the weather is ever going to warm up enough to be able to let them go outside so they will just have to live in their little home for a few weeks. But that just means we get to enjoy them longer, too.

A Sour Deal!

2011-05-13T20:11:00.000-07:00

Check out this great deal I scored at the discount bin this week!

A huge bag of lemons and limes for only $2.50! You are probably wondering why I would want that much sour fruit, right? Well, I often come across recipes that call for some lemon or lime zest and I rarely have any since I don't often remember to buy lemons and limes. I don't want to run to the store just for one or two (or for anything if I can help it!) and then just use part of the peel, so I like to grate off a bunch of the zest.

Then squeeze out the juice.

And then freeze the juice in an ice cube tray, and put the zest and the frozen cubes into freezer bags to keep in the freezer. When I need a little zest or juice I can just pull out what I need, let it unthaw, and it is ready to go!

Tasty Tuesday ~ Super Easy Chicken Pot Pie

2011-05-10T21:20:00.000-07:00

I made this pot pie last night and it was so easy and really tasty!

Ingredients:
2 cups diced cooked chicken

1 medium onion chopped
4-5 cups mixed veggies (I used a mixture of home canned and frozen beans, carrots, and corn)
2 cans cream of mushroom soup (or thick white sauce with a can of mushrooms added)
1 can cream of celery soup (or white sauce)
1/2 c. chicken broth
Crust:
1 cup of milk
1 cup of mayonnaise
1 cup of self-rising flour (or 1 cup all purpose flour plus 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt)

Place chicken and onion in a large greased casserole dish. Mix soups (or white sauces), broth, and veggies and pour over the chicken. Mix milk, mayo, and flour and spread evenly on top. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30-45 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

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National Day of Prayer

2011-05-05T19:09:00.000-07:00

Today is National Day of Prayer and I just wanted to share a couple quotes that I recently heard or read that I really like.

First is one that I read in The Prayer Factor by Sammy Tippit. It is a quote by Andrew Murray: Prayer is the pulse of life: by it the doctor can tell what is the condition of the heart. The sin of prayerlessness is a proof for the ordinary Christian or minister that the life of God in the soul is in deadly sickness and weakness.

And second is one that I heard on our local radio station: When we get to heaven and see what prayer has done, we will be so embarrassed we didn't pray more.

Having young kiddos can make it difficult to find a few quiet moments during the day to spend in prayer, but the rewards of making the time for it far out weigh the ease of skipping it!

No-Work Spanish {Review & Giveaway!} CLOSED

2011-05-05T09:42:00.000-07:00

Living in the agriculture industry, it is inevitable that we come into contact with Spanish speaking people. If they don't speak any English we have a difficult time communicating with them, and this is especially challenging if they are one of our employees! Needless to say, none of us speak Spanish very well. Hubby and I both took Spanish in high school, and while I could read and write it quite well, speaking it was a whole nother story! When I was given the chance to review No-Work Spanish Audio books, I thought this might be a great way to learn a little better and also get my kids started hearing it while they are still young enough to learn it more easily. No-Work Spanish are audio books that are stories read first in English and then in Spanish. This is done so that your mind can connect the English and Spanish without thinking about it. After each chapter is read in both languages it is then read in just Spanish to help reinforce it.
We received the books Yaks March on Washington and Poster Girl for review. The first time I listened to them was really hard. I didn't get anything out of it and couldn't understand any of the Spanish! I thought, there is absolutely no way I am going to learn anything from this! But Anne from No-Work Spanish let me know that this happens often the first time and will get easier and easier the more you listen to it. And she was right! I've listened a few more times and have picked up a few of the phrases. I am much more of a visual learner however and found it very helpful to print out the words, which are found on the CD or on their site. My hubby and kids have also listened to them several times and seem to be picking up a few things as well. Hopefully when we start some Spanish for homeschool, this will make it a little easier for the kids to catch on to it. I'm not sure I personally could learn Spanish solely from the No-Work Spanish audio books, but I think they are a great addition to what I already know and will help with speaking Spanish and not just reading and writing it.

For more details, to learn how to try it for free, or to buy any of the audio books, please visit No-Work Spanish.

Want to win a copy of Yaks March on Washington or Poster Girl? Anne from No-Work Spanish has generously offered to give two of my readers one audio book each! One winner will receive Poster Girl and one will receive Yaks March on Washington. To be entered, please leave me a comment letting me know which story you would most like to win. Please leave a way for me to contact you if you win! This giveaway will end on May 19 at noon, when I will pick two winners using random.org. I will try to get the winners the book of their choice, but if both want the same book, the first winner drawn will get it and the second winner will recieve the other. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to my email or a new winner will be picked. This giveaway is open to US residents only. If you have won a No-Work Spanish audiobook from another MamaBuzz giveaway, I will have to pick a new winner.

This is a MamaBuzz review. These audio books were provided by No-Work Spanish for free for this review. Thanks No-Work Spanish!

Wordless Wednesday - Sitting Pretty

2011-05-04T09:55:00.000-07:00

Grocery Shopping in My Pajamas

2011-05-01T16:06:00.000-07:00

I really dislike having to go to the grocery store. Unless I can go by myself. But having 4 kids pretty much makes that impossible unless I go late at night and I would much rather go to bed than the store. So I have found a few sites online that have pretty much solved my problem and now I can do most of my grocery shopping in my pajamas (not that I really sit around in my pajamas all that often)! I also think that shopping online helps me save money, because then I buy only what I need/what's on my list instead of seeing stuff at the store and being temped to buy stuff I don't really need! For those of you who prefer to stay home than haul all your kiddos through the store, I thought I would share with you my favorite sites.
First up is Amazon. Did you know that Amazon has a whole grocery section? Well, it does! I especially like their subscribe and save option, which can make some really good deals. I also love to use my Amazon gift cards that I earn using Swagbucks to get stuff even cheaper! A lot of things have free shipping also.
Next is Alice. It can have some pretty good deals on stuff and is usually very comparable in price to the stores. You have to purchase at least 6 things, but shipping is always free! One of the things they have that I always order is Rockin' Green laundry detergent, the detergent I use for my cloth diapers. Most other stores have a hefty shipping charge since it is heavy, but not Alice.com! (And if you sign up through my referral link, you will get a $10 credit once you spend $50!)
My other main shopping site is Azure Standard. They have a huge variety of stuff including fresh produce and frozen and refrigerated items. This is more like a co-op though and doesn't ship directly to my house. They have a set route with drop points and I happen to live only about 2 miles from our drop point. This is still much easier than going to the store because everything is boxed together and ready to be loaded into the car. If you like to buy organic, a lot of the stuff they carry is organic and still cheaper than non-organic at the grocery store! They do have a drop-point and individual order minimums, so check out their site to see if there is already a drop-point near you or how to get one set up.
Costco is still one store that I need to go to, but it would be so nice if they would set-up a Click-n-Pull like Sam's Club does!
Do you shop online? What are your favorite stores?

Silent Auction at Happily Domestic

2011-04-22T21:04:00.000-07:00

I am trying to help spread the word of an upcoming Kolcraft Silent Auction that will be benefiting the Michael Dayne Morgan Memorial Fund on the Happily Domestic blog starting April 25th. Beth at Happily Domestic has a very close friend, Lori, who just lost her husband to cancer. Lori is a stay at home mom to their 2 young daughters. However, with all the medical expenses and no income (there was not even a life insurance policy in place) this family is in a great need for help. Kolcraft has generously offered up a few of their awesome products for a silent auction to help the Morgan family.

Please take a moment to help spread the word on your blog, facebook, twitter or via email to your friends and family. They may not be interested in personally bidding on these baby items, but may know someone else who would be. Donations are also being accepted to help this family who needs support during this devastating time.

You can read more here about the silent auction as well as the Morgan family's story. Thank you for helping to spread the word!

Items to be auctioned:

Contours Optima Tandem Stroller

Jeep Overland Limited Jogging Stroller

Preferred Position 2-in 1 Bassinet & Incline Sleeper

Contours Innerspring Organic Cotton 2-Stage Infant-Toddler Mattress

A Bridge of Peace {Review}

2011-04-14T20:09:00.000-07:00

I have recently been staying up way too late. I just couldn't put down the book I was recently reading! The Bridge of Peace by Cindy Woodsmall is such a good book. I've read a few of Cindy's books and was excited to get the chance to read another because she is a great author. Even though this is the second book in the Ada's House series, it can easily be read alone. Lena is an Old Order Amish school teacher who finds herself in trouble with the school board and community due to her use of non-traditional Amish ideas. Grey is struggling in his marriage and after his wife passes away, lives with a lot of guilt. Lena and Grey are brought together through their difficulties and tragedies, but still need to face the community who expect Grey to be mourning his wife and are unsure if they can trust Lena as the school teacher. With a few other side characters and story lines, Cindy Woodsmall has written a very good book of hope, forgiveness, suspense, and romance. I can't wait to read the next book in the series!

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Tasty Tuesday ~ Peanut Butter Honey Fudge

2011-04-12T20:29:00.000-07:00

Sweetie had lots of fun making Peanut Butter Fudge with me since it is so easy that she could do it almost all by herself! I had recently seen this recipe on Heavenly Homemakers and thought it looked really simple and delicious, so we tried it out. It doesn't really taste much like fudge, but it is chocolaty (is that a word??) and delicious!

1 cup peanut butter (creamy or smooth)
3/4 cup honey
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Melt all together in a small sauce pan, stirring until combined. Pour into a 8x8 square dish and chill until firm. We store it in the refrigerator to keep it firm also. Enjoy!

Linked up with:

Free Narnia DVDs!

2011-04-04T20:29:00.000-07:00

My friend Conny over at The Life of an Ordinary Hausfrau has recently been given a large amount of the first Narnia DVDs to giveaway for free. She is looking for homes for all of them, so if you want a copy of this great movie, head over to her blog and leave her a comment!

6 months!

2011-04-01T20:25:00.000-07:00

My little Peanut is six months old already! I think this has been the fastest 1/2 year in my life, I can't believe she is that old already! She is getting so big and, although not crawling yet, she is quite mobile. She never stays where I lay her anymore. She can roll or spin around to get to many things that have previously been out of her reach. She has also been able to sit for just a few seconds on her own before slowly slouching forward and tipping over. She loves watching her siblings play and gets so excited when they talk and smile at her. We can't wait to see what the rest of her first year brings!

Tasty Tuesday - Homemade Sour Cream

2011-03-29T06:18:00.000-07:00

I recently tried making some homemade sour cream and it was super easy! It is very similar to homemade yogurt. All you need is 3 Tbsp of store bought or previously made sour cream and 8 oz of cream (Twin Brook Creamery cream is best!). Gently stir the sour cream into the cream and then let it sit on the counter for 24 hours. Put it in the fridge to chill for a couple hours and it is ready to go! When you have used up all but about 3 Tbsp, add some more cream and repeat.
This is really tasty with chips and salsa, Taco soup, or Crockpot Chicken Tacos!

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A Kitchen Meme

2011-03-28T13:47:00.000-07:00

Well, the kidney stone that I thought was out and gone apparently is still partially there. It's been bothering me since Friday night so in between the bouts of pain and nausea, I've been getting a little bored. When I saw Jaime Lynn's kitchen meme post on her blog this morning, I thought it would be fun to share with you about my kitchen. I love to see other people's kitchens, so if you share about yours, please leave me a comment with a link to your post so I can check it out!

Do you have magnets on your fridge?

Yes - lots of random ones and some for the kids

Do you have a calendar in the kitchen and if so, what is its theme?

Yes, it is scenes of California

What is your favorite kitchen gadget or tool?

That is a toss up between my KitchenAid mixer and my Nutrimill grain mill

Are you lucky enough to have a pantry of some kind?

Yes, I am very blessed to have a huge walk in pantry (it is also our laundry room) so I have tons of room for canned foods or to buy things in bulk!

What is your favorite appliance?

My dishwasher!

Do you have an eat in kitchen?

Yes (sorry for the dark picture, I couldn't get a good one with the bright windows in the background)

Do you have a bread box?

Do you have a picture of your kids on the fridge?

Yes, several

Do you ever cook breakfast in your pjs?

Do you have a favorite cookbook?

Yes, my Betty Crocker one. If you don't know how to cook, this is a great book. It is very detailed in how to do even basic things and has great recipes!

Are you lucky enough to have recipes that were passed down from your mom and grandma?

I have a few from my mom, but I'm not sure if she got them from my grandma

What’s your favorite food?

Ice Cream!

What’s your favorite thing to cook?

I love to bake bread or anything sweet!

Is your coffee pot electric or stove top?

We don't have a coffee pot

Do you make your own bread?

Yes! You can see my favorite whole wheat recipe HERE

Does your kitchen have a theme?

Is there a clock in your kitchen?

Yes, 4 of them! One on the wall, stove, microwave, and radio

Do you have a bowl of fruit on your table or counter?

No, we keep most of our fruit in the fridge, but there is usually a bunch of bananas sitting on the counter

What type of canisters do you have?

None

Name one thing you have hanging on the wall in your kitchen.

This framed cross-stitch we received as a gift for our wedding

What’s for supper tonight?

Probably leftovers since Hubby is probably the only one who will eat much of anything since the kids are at grandparents' houses and I'm not too hungry these days

Do you have enough cabinet space?

Plenty!

Does your family use paper plates?

Only for picnics or if we have lots of people over

Do you have a good set of china packed up?

I don't have any china, so our china cupboard makes great storage for our homeschool stuff

Do you wear an apron to work in the kitchen?

Once in a while, depending on what I am making

Name one thing you would change about your kitchen if you could.

That it would be self-cleaning! :)

Memorizing Scripture

2011-03-27T10:46:00.000-07:00

As part of Buddy's curriculum this year he is learning a new verse from Proverbs each week. One week to learn and remember a new verse is kind of fast for him and Sweetie, so I wanted to find a way to help them remember the verses even after we were done studying them. At first we reviewed all the verses that we had previously learned each day, but that started taking quite a while once we had gotten a few months of school in. Then I came across this site about memorizing scripture and thought that would be a great way for us also. I changed it a little to fit our family better, but if you want to do it they way they describe, there is a link to printable divider cards at the bottom of the page. We use a recipe file box with 26 divider cards labeled Daily, Odd, Even, Sunday thru Saturday, and numbered 1 & 16, 2 & 17, 3 & 18, etc until 15 & 30 and the last one is 31. Then when we are learning a new verse, I write it on an index card and it goes behind the Daily tab to be repeated daily. We usually have 2 or 3 verses there. Once the kids have them down, they get moved behind either the Odd or Even tab so that we can review it every other day, depending on if the date is an odd or even number. Once the kids know them better, they get moved behind one of the days of the week tabs so that they are reviewed once a week. By this time the kids know them pretty well and then they get moved behind one of the tabs with 2 numbers on so that they get reviewed twice a month. For example the one behind the 1 & 16 card gets reviewed on the 1st and 16th of the month. We haven't learned enough yet to have any behind the 31 card, but it will be one that they know really well since that one will only get reviewed 7 times a year!

Amai-mal Company {Review & Discount Code!}

2011-03-25T15:13:00.000-07:00

Meet Saru, Tora, and Kuma. These are the cute characters of the Amai-mal Company. Amai-mal (pronounced a-my-mal) is a cute clothing line created by Randal Sahara. They recently sent us some of their t-shirts for review. When the package arrived the kids where so excited to each get their own shirt with one of the cute characters on it!

The kids look so cute with Saru, Tora, and Kuma on their shirts! (They were all in a goofy mood when I was trying to snap these pictures, so that is why they all look a little cheesy!) The designs are playful and fun! The sizes we received were perfect for the kids and they have been worn and washed several times now and the pictures still look crisp and new. They are 100% cotton and seem to be of good quality.

The Amai-mal Company was created to feature adorable characters which represent specific personalities and moods with which we can relate to. Amai means sweet in Japanese and each character has its own sweet candy design on its tummy. They represent a sweet and innocent outlook on life. If you would like to read more about each character you may do so HERE. Besides shirts, Amai-mal also sells plush blankets and bags.

If you are looking for some adorable gifts for the little ones in your life, I highly recommend the Amai-mal Company! And just for my readers, Amail-mal Company had generously offered a 15% discount when you use the code kuma on your purchase!

I received these shirts for free for review from Amai-mal Company. All opinions are mine.

It's Out!

2011-03-25T08:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I spent a relaxing day at the ~~spa~~ hospital with my mom, complete with a nice long nap, fuzzy brown slipper socks, and bedside service while my amazing hubby stayed home and watched the munchkins. It was finally time to get rid of that kidney stone and stent! Everything went really smoothly and I went home pretty much pain free. Things got a little uncomfortable as the evening wore on, but the stone finally popped out late last night and now I am feeling so much better! Thank you to everyone who was thinking of and praying for me!

FOOD!

2011-03-23T17:52:00.000-07:00

Peanut got her first taste of food this week!

After her first taste her face looked like this:

But soon it turned to this:

(Give me more mom!)

And as she gobbled up her sweet potatoes, she soon looked like this:

She loved it and has also tried some banana too, which was just as good! I think she is going to be a great eater!

Reverse Thinking

2011-03-17T08:30:00.000-07:00

SafetyTat Winners!

2011-03-16T20:31:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who entered the SafetyTat giveaway! There were a total of 10 entries and random.org picked numbers 6 & 9!

Comment #6 said:
Princess Mom said...

I'd like the boy and girl variety pack since I have 2 boys and a girl.

Comment #9 said:
Alicia C. said...

I like the Rocket/Dog combo SafetyTats

Congratulations! I will be emailing you and you will have 48 hours to respond or I will have to pick a new winner.

Stents and Stones

2011-03-14T15:39:00.000-07:00

My monster kidney stone has had me down and out for a week now. I went for a walk with the kiddos on Monday and I carried Peanut in the Moby wrap and I think that is what caused the stone to start moving. By Tuesday it hadn't let up, so I saw my doctor and he ordered a CT scan and referred me to a urologist. I saw her on Fri and she said that the stone was way too big to pass on it's own and would need to be blasted, but the lithotripsy machine would not be in town until Wed. She was very concerned that I would get an infection so we decided to get a stent put in Friday night. While waiting for that at the hospital the urologist there told me I actually have 5 stones, one blocking and three in my right kidney and one in my left! All of them "good sized" with the biggest about 12 mm. I don't think any stone is a good size to have! So now I am just taking it easy at home with my Peanut and crazy cat. I used to feel bad for her when the other kids tortured her all day long, but now I know she needs it. She is attacking anything that moves and it is driving me crazy! I'm getting a few books read, movies watched, and crochet projects completed. My kids are going to have a hat for every day of the week and Sweetie's doll might have a complete wardrobe by the time this is all done! Anybody need me to whip something up for you?

Tasty Tuesday - Crockpot Chicken Tacos

2011-03-08T18:22:00.001-08:00

Tacos are one of our favorite foods and the kids always gobble them up when I make them. I came across this chicken taco recipe a while back and thought I would try it out. Everyone loved them and said they were as good as regular tacos. They are so easy and really tasty!

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts

4 cups salsa

2 cups frozen corn or 2 cans of corn, drained

2 cans of black beans, undrained

Directions:

Dump everything in the crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. I used frozen chicken breasts and cooked them for about 9 hours. Shred the chicken with forks and serve in tortillas with your favorite toppings.

Lady In Waiting {Review}

2011-03-08T18:22:00.000-08:00

After romance books, my next favorite kind of book is historical fiction. Combining the two is even better! I had never read any books by Susan Meissner before, but have heard lots of good things about her books. When I had the opportunity to review her newest book, Lady in Waiting, it sounded like it could be a good combination of romance and historical fiction. It is about 2 Janes, Jane Lindsay, who lived now and Lady Jane Grey, from the 16th century. Jane Lindsay's husband recently left her after 22 years of marriage and as Jane is trying to figure out what to do, she comes across an old ring in a box at her antiques store. The name Jane is engraved in the ring and as Jane searches for clues to who the ring might have belonged to, she is drawn to the life of Lady Jane Grey. Lady Jane's story is told through her dressmaker Lucy and is a story of how Lady Jane's life was controlled by politics with no option for her to choose to marry for love. In the end, both Janes realize that they do have a choice in how they live their life, even when it seems like things are out of their control. The book switches back and forth between the two stories, but it is very easy to follow both of them and pick back up where they left off. I really enjoyed Lady in Waiting and will be looking for more of Susan Meissner's books to read soon!

I received this book from Waterbrook Multnomah for free for review. All opinions are mine and I get to keep the book.

Country Blessings

Safe For My Family AND a New Business!

Indescribable

Tasty Tuesday: Slow Cooker Saucy Pork Chops

The Sanctity of Human Life

A Bit of Our Week

Tasty Tuesday: Baked Spaghetti

I Will Rise

The Randomness of Catching Up

When the Soul Mends {Review}

Merry Christmas!

Our Little Ballerina

When the Heart Cries {Review}

The 21 Day Dad's Challenge {Review}

Golden Birthday!

Future Pianist

Doodle Roll Winner!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I Love to Read!

An Amish Wedding {Review}

Get Swagging! {You Could Earn $300!!!}

His Mighty Warrior {Review}

Doodle Roll {Review & GIVEAWAY!} *CLOSED*

Great Photography

7 Years Old Already!

Cleaning A Gas Stove

God Gave Us You {Review}

Catching Up

The Fruits of Our Labor

Waiting For Morning {Review}

My Baby Girl Is 1!!!

Raising Real Men {Review}

ZooTime!

WonderMaps {Review}

Don't Throw Out Those Peels! {Fruit Peel Jelly}

The Harvest of Grace {Review}

Our Nature Walk for the Week

Wordless Wednesday: First Tooth!

Some of My Summer Reading

First Week of School

Tasty Tuesday ~ Zucchini Salsa

Waving the White Flag

Are you the mother of boys who often finds herself ready to wave the white flag in defeat?

You're not alone.

Plead with God.

Get inspired by recent participants!

Frugal Friday

Tasty Tuesday ~ Homemade Vanilla

A True Farm Girl!

Tasty Tuesday ~ Fresh Cherry Coffee Cake

A New Button and a Winner!

My First Hands-On Bible {Review}

The Lion's Deceit {Review}

New Name

Restless in Carolina {Review}

Curing An Ear Infection Naturally

Twin Sisters Productions Bible Stories {Review and GIVEAWAY!}

A Place Called Blessing {Review}

Book Description

10 Years Ago

Tasty Tuesday - 5 Minute Ice Cream

Addie Slaughter {Review}

The Birthday Princess

Penticton

Relaxing

The Inconvenient Marriage of Charlotte Beck {Review}

First Pack of Diapers

We have another climber!

Tasty Tuesday ~ Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

A Lucky Horseshoe Winner!

Random Integer Generator

First Wagon Ride

Tasty Tuesday ~ Chicken Alfredo

Love Food & Live Well {Review}

Quiet Time

More Butterflies! {A Lucky Horseshoe Review and Giveaway!} CLOSED

No-Work Spanish Giveaway Winners!

Butterflies!

A Sour Deal!

Tasty Tuesday ~ Super Easy Chicken Pot Pie

Doodle Roll {Review & GIVEAWAY!} CLOSED

Are you the mother of boys who
often finds herself ready to wave the white flag in defeat?