Celebrating Bean's Birthday

Tuesday was Bean's Birthday. Bean wanted to go visit her Nana for her birthday. This weekend, I am planning on having *little* party for her with a bigger cake. But on her actual birthday we visited Nana. Before we left, I gave Bean one of her presents, which was this:


Nana has a new Puppy named Bindi. She is such a little Sweetie and really good with the kids. The kids love her too.

Nana treated us to lunch at a little restaurant in her "city". Nana actually lives in a forest, so it would be better to call it a community. :)

Bean and Sweet split a Personal Pizza, then we had cupcakes. We sang Happy Birthday to Bean, and many in the restaurant joined us.

Everyone enjoyed their cupcakes. ;-)Bean's favorite Princess is Belle. I don't really let them play with B*rbies, but I guess I make an exception with the Princesses. I just tell them that they can't undress them. That they must stay modest. ;-) So far this has worked, as Sweetie has Cinderella.

At the restaurant they have this gumball machine which has a chicken that "lays" the gumballs. It is hilarious, and Tiny Boy didn't know what to think of it. Sometimes the chicken would move, as it had a motion detector in it. Tiny Boy would walk up to the chicken, and then it would "jump". Tiny Boy, would run away complaining in his baby language. LOL!
Bean got a green gum ball. Which means that if anyone gets a green gum ball they win an order of "Puffs". Puffs are fried dough with either powdered sugar or Cinnamon and sugar. We choose the Cinnamon, and boy was it good!
The girls didn't understand what the big deal about the colors were. Sweetie was proud of her yellow one as well, so she stuck hers in the picture. :)

We went back to Nana's and it was raining heavily by this time. So, the girls watched some children Cable television shows. (We don't have cable so this was exciting to them)

The next day Bean tried to ride her new bike, but the tires were flat. :( Nana let me use the tire pump, but we couldn't get it to work properly. I was having a hard time pumping the air. While I was trying to get it to work, I started to fear that I was an extreme wimp!

So Nana's strong neighbor man came over to help. (Paw Pa was out of town) Even he couldn't get it to work. He suggested that we use his electric air pump, which worked just fine. Except, once we blew up the tire, it fell flat straight away. Arrrrgh!

All of us loaded up in the van and headed to China World, um, I mean W*l-Ma*t. I had left the receipt at home, and I didn't have it with me. We were hoping that W*l-m*rt would just switch out the bikes.

The lady at the customer service desk said that we couldn't do that without a receipt. But thankfully, she said that she would get someone to put a new tube in the tire.

Now the bike is as good as new, and Bean finally was able to try out her new bike.

Tiny Boy tried to be a dare devil though. ;-)

I guess this is a taste of what I am going to be looking forward to, with having a boy. ;-)

Bean's Birthday

Today is my second born's birthday. She turns Four. Where has the time gone, I do not know?(sigh)

I really enjoyed making this for Bean. She loved watching it too. Hope you enjoy it also. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEAN!!! We LOVE YOU!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Changing Things Up A Bit

I have been playing around some more with blog design. This is what I came up with for this month. :)

There are still a few things that I need to do to the template. Every time I change the template I loose some widgets so I have to add those back in.

Next blog change I do, I am going to try and make it so I don't have to change it every month. Maybe every season. ;-) But this gives me good practice as I play around with graphic design.

Sweetie Sewing Sweethearts :)

This week, I decided to start a Sewing Project with Sweetie. This is the first time that she has sewn something, and she did a fantastic job!

For being only five and half, I think she has a bright future of sewing ahead of her. I documented the process of her project, which was a heart-shaped pillow.

We went to the fabric store a few weeks ago, and Sweetie picked out the fabric herself. I think she has an excellent eye for beautiful fabric. And, as you look at these pictures, notice the color of the fabric she chose. ;-) And notice what color she is wearing for these past three days. And No, that wasn't planned. ;-)


Before I had Sweetie Cut out her pillow, I had her practice with these practice cutting patterns. I figured that it would help her with her moter skills when it came time to really cut out her fabric.

I drew a heart pattern from a heart- shaped cake pan, on her material. I used a sharpie pen. I know. I should of used chalk, but it worked out just fine. :) Here Sweetie is cutting out the heart. She did an excellent job.
Sweetie learning how to work the peddle on the machine. Push it soft to go slow. Push it hard to go fast. I took the thread out of the machine for this lesson; otherwise it wouldn't be very good for the machine.
When I learned to sew, I remember my teacher using patterns like these to teach me how to steer and control the fabric before I really started to sew. I thought that these cutting practice sheets would work very well. They did.

Sweetie did an awesome job with her hand, eye, feet coordination! I was really surprised, and she was giddy with excitement. :)
The next day, she practiced more on some paper, then she learned how to pin her pillow together. She's coming awfully close to her finger there!

On the third day, she begins the actual sewing. This was a bit more tricky than the paper, but she is getting the hang of it!
Notice how carefully she works.
The last stages of her pillow. Stuffing it was lots of fun!
Another tricky part. Hand sewing. I had to help her out alot on this part. This requires extra fine moter skills. She has really tiny hands.
A job well done, and a little girl who is excited and proud of her accomplishments. She went right to bed and slept with her creation.I do believe she will be a better seamstress than her mommy. And I don't mind one bit. :)

To see what other's are showing and telling about today, please click on the Show and Tell picture at the beginning of my post. Have a wonderful Day. :)

Wordless Wednesday~ A Make Shift See Saw

To see what others are showing at Wordless Wednesday please visit Five Minutes For Mom.

The Business of Being Born

*Remember to pause the music on my blog before you watch...


Wow, there is alot that I could write about with this movie. When it comes out on DVD, which I think it has already with Netflix, (which we don't subscribe to) I am for sure going to be watching this documentary.

Now let me start off with a disclaimer here. :) I am not against hospital births. I had one, and I *needed* it. How do I know that I needed it? Because I, from the start I *wanted* a home birth. We aquired a mid-wife, and made our plans. Unfortunatly, those plans didn't work out they way we had hoped. The reason I knew I needed the hosital birth, was when I said I couldn't take the pain anymore, my midwife agreeded. But I'll share with you why on another day. :)

But, if I didn't have a mid-wife and went with a doctor right away, I know for a fact that I would of had a C-section. Maybe in the weeks to come, I'll share my birth stories with ya'll. But lets just say that, everything that the movie was showing in the clips is pretty true.

When I was transfered from home to the hospital, after a while I was given pitocin. The nurse told me it was because my contractions were pretty strong when I arrived, but then they started to peeter out. She (the nurse) gave it to me when I was sleeping! I didn't even say they could give it to me!Grrrr... Unfortunantly at that point, I could care less. I was tired, and I wanted that baby to get out!

After my hospital birth I went on to have two more totally natural births at home. With Tiny Boy my contractions "peetered"out for about an hour. I realized later, that my body just perhaps does that to rest itself.

In the long run, I *almost* had to "have" a C-section. If I hadn't had my midwife to begin with, I would of been a classic C-section candiate. Why? Well, most Dr's. break the bag of waters right when you get in the hospital. Once they do that, you are not allowed to be in labor for over 24 hours. Then if you are in labor for that long with your waters broken, they would say that you are "failor" to progress, and you "need" to have a C-section. And many times, because the baby doesn't have any more fluid, the baby becomes distressed, cause an "emergency" C-section.

At the time I arrived at the hospital, I was 4cm, my bags of water had not broken, but I had been in labor for 24 hours already. If I had entered the hospital as a planned birth, they would of broken my waters, I would of been in labor over 24 hours, thus needed the C-section.

Thankfully the doctor my midwife recomended as a back up doctor for transfers had a natural birth mindset, and he wouldn't allow them to break my water. I was in labor 12 more hours after that. The Dr. was worried at one point that I would end up "needing" a C-section. But thankfully, he didn't rush it, and at the last minute, I began to progress.

That Dr. stayed at the hospital all night to make sure he delivered my baby. I believe that rarely happens. Or they come to the hospital when the nurses call him and let them know that they are almost ready to push.
He knew my midwife (as he was the dr. that my midwife trained under) and he learned a few things from her about natural child birth.

One thing that really is a pet peeve of mine is, that women blindly follow their doctor's advice, and just do what the doctors tell them to without thinking one thing about it. I really could care less that woman choose to have hospital births. There are times when I believe it is absolutely needed. There are times when pain relief is needed. (Hey I asked and took that opition when I was in labor with my first. My midwife agreed with me.) And there are "true" emergecy situations that do require C-sections.

But the majority of the time, women just follow the dr's orders and don't research their options or statistics on their own. And if they do, they get frightened by "horror" stories, and "what if they were not at the hosipital, when they were giving birth?" by well meaning friends and relatives. Thus they greatly increase their chances of having an un-needed C-section.

I am really trying not to sound judgmentle here over women that have hosptial births. I am not trying to make it sound like I am better than you. I really don't think that way.

I just wish that women would research more. We all must choose for oursleves and what is best for our own families. What I want to do, is inform you, so you can make that decison based on facts, rather than emotional manipulation that the medical community often does use. I know because I too have been subjected to that. ;-)

Anyway, please don't take this the wrong way. I'll still love you if you had your baby the conventional method. ;-) But at the same time, try to reasearch your options based on facts. :)

A Beautiful Bouquet of Roses

This was given to me by a sweet blogging friend Mica Garbarino from The Child's Paper. Her blog is so nice to visit. She has beautiful pictures up, and has some wonderful ideas. She passed this on to all homeschooling mamas. Here is what her post said about the award:

From A View from the Pews : I have the utmost admiration for all mothers who decide to educate their own children at home. What an onerous task and at times a thankless one I should think.When one looks at the way schools are being run today you have to weep at the absurdity of the Political Correct movement which has infiltrated many schools.By educating your own children you are arming them to face the world and their future with confidence and a great deal of kowledge that many schools dont teach anymore, such as history.These mothers are selfless in their devotion to educate their children as it should be done. I am also sure that many of these homeschooling mothers have moments of tiredness, they may feel run down and depleted yet they continue. That is courage. That is selflessness. It is love.So please all blogger homeschool Mothers accept this bouquet for a job well done. Bravo to you all. YOU deserve it.Anyone who visits this blog, please pass this Bouquet to All homeschooling Moms. I have chosen the links below because they are wonderful blogs who will spread the word to homeschooling Moms.

Thank you soo much! I am honored to be counted as a homeschooling mama. :)

I was asked to give the award to all homeschooling momas I know.

So here are the ones that I know deserve this award:

Mrs. C at Riverbend Ramblings

Diane at Tomato Soup Cake

Heather at Being Mrs. Momma

Kelli at There's No Place Like Home

The Hernies.

A Valentine Day

Well, I know I said that I would have a new post. There were two things playing into why one wasn't up sooner. One, I took pictures *all* day yesterday, and somehow they got lost in technology. They weren't on my disk when I went to upload my camera. I was sooo upset, because I had some really nice ones to share! :( Oh well, that can't be helped.

The second reason was, I was too tired to, and then my hubby got home from work.

Our day went very nice. I made the children a heart shapped breakfast. I took a heart cookie cutter, placed it on a plate, and filled it with scrambled eggs. It looked soooo cute, but alas,, my camera wasn't behaving.

After breakfast we did some chores. Then we made cupcakes with pink icing. I also packed a basket filled with tea items. We planned on having a suprise Valentine Tea Party with my Grandmother. After that, and getting dressed, we headed to Chick-*-A. The girls most favorite fast food resturant. ;-)

One message board that I am a part of had a Valentine Day Card Swap with the children. So after our lunch, the girls opened their cards. It was lots of fun. :) They then played on the playset for about 10 more minutes.

After our lunch and opening of cards, we headed out to go visit my Grandmother for afternoon tea. She was very suprised to see us, and I believe her spirits were lifted. She is a sort of a shut in. She can't drive, and she doesn't get to go out much. We live about a half hour away, which means we don't see her very often.

When we left Grandma's the kids were all high on sugar; some were grumpy. Some were crazy. Some were sleepy. ;-)

We arrived home, andI gave the girls their baths, then put hot water on the stove for Spaghetti. I made Garlic Green Beans, and Garlic Toast to go with it.. Sweetie ate all of hers. Bean was picky as usual.

The children to went to bed after supper, and I browsed around some blogs. My husband has been having a more than normal workload for the past month. His manager got a position at another company, and the lady that shares his work load in on maternity leave, so he was late in getting home.

When he did get home, he had this beautiful card for me.

This is really funny. It *is* handmade, and I thought that maybe, perhapes, he actually did make it. (Like he went online and tried to find a tutuorial and made me one.) But then he explained that a lady at his work made a bunch of these cards, and sold them to all the men who forgot to buy their wives a card! LOL! I told him that I thought that he made it, and he said, "No, I bought it, because I am not *that* guy." LOL. If you watched the Dream Guys video on my blog last week, you would understand what I am refering to.

But it really was a nice card, and when I read what he wrote in it, I started to cry. I forgot all of what the card had said, but then after hugs and kisses, I remembered he said, "I hope you like these gifts". So I asked him what that meant. He then went outside, and brought in two big bags from Ma*y's I could hardly believe it! What was inside? Well....

This is a rice cooker. I have heard all sorts of wonderful things about these. To make matters even better, the same lady who made the card above, always raves about her rice cooker. So my husband was very familiar with these. He was joking with my mom about a certain fancy shmancy resturant that my Dad should take her to for Valentines Day. He has been there for work functions and really enjoyed it. I then turned to my mom and jokingly said, "See mom, he gets to have all the fun, while I sit at home and eat Peanut Butter sandwiches." Hubby then said, he would take me there someday. He then starts telling me the prices, and I said, "Forget it! I can think of *alot* better things to spend money on, then to spend that kind of money on food." So my husband asked me what kind of things. So I then begin to list all these wonderful things. Including a rice cooker. Which he rememebered. I never believed that he would of bought me one!

He also gave somthing "un-practical" too, LOL! When we were courting he told me he liked perfume. (He likes all kinds of good smells. He even loves candles!) I hardly wore perfume, so I asked him to pick something that he liked. This is the fragrance he picked. Ironically I just ran out of my orginal bottle. (I was *very* frugal with it LOL) But whenever I smell this fragrance, I always think of my husband, and our courting time. :) Now I love it!

So we had a fun day yesterday. :)

To see more show and tell items please click on the Show and Tell Button at the beginning of my post. Have a wonderful day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Romans 5:7-8
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet preadventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.


I John 4:9-11&16
In this was manifested the love of God twoard us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us, God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
Table all decorated with everyone's Valentine's Day goodies


A girl M&M candy thingamajig on top of a small box of chocloates. Sprinkled with heart confetti, and home-made Valentine cards nestled beside the candy for a the little girls valentine.

A boy M&M figure, same as girls for tiny boy.


Good morning everyone, and Happy Valentines Day! This morning I was pondering how the world really miss-uses the word LOVE. This misuse can be so damaging too. People expect LOVE to be the way that the world protrays it to be. And when "love" isn't dished out the way one expects it to be, disapointment follows. And many times tradedy. Before you think I am being mellow-dramatic, I have seen what this type of worldly "love" can do.

The "only" love that is "true" and real, is the Love of God. No person has ever done for us what God has done. And no person could! Instead of growing discontented over how we are not "loved", (like the world defines love) let us look to the cross. That is where "true" and the only kind of love was demonstrated. You are loved! With the deepest, truest love there ever was, is and will be.

The verse above then says, because God has loved us with this kind of love, we should love one another. It doesn't say we "deserve" this love. We need to focus on God, then on others. And be glad that we are loved so deeply by our creator.

We are designed to *need* love. But only God can truly fill that need. People can try, but we will always end up disspointed or hurt at some time or another with people, and even our loved ones. But God is always love. He is always faithful, and His love never ends.

If you are reading this, and want to know more about the love of God, please email me, and I will be happy to tell you more about it. :)

Come back latter this evening or tomorrow. I will be posting what I did with the children. Have a Happy Valentines Day!

And Happy Birthday to Great Grandma K.! Today is my husband's Grandmother's birthday.

*The Spell checker isn't working right on blogger. *Please* forgive me for my bad spelling. I wasn't the best speller in school. I am slowly getting better as I get older, but I still make mistakes.

I'm Getting Better!

I have been playing around with making more banners. This time I desgined the banner for my other blogging friend Being Mrs. Momma.

She told me that she liked Black and White and Bright Colors. I wasn't sure what to do with that. But as I was looking for black and white pictures, I saw brightly colored Tulips. I knew exactly what to do after that.

I designed it without more information from her. She said she would look for pictures that she liked. But I had the time today while the kids were taking their rest, so I just played around and came up with this. If this isn't what she had in mind, that's ok, I'll just change the title. ;-)

I got a Blessing and Some Love!

Recently from the Bloggy Giveaways, I "met" another blogger who's contest I had entered. I did not win anything, but I got something *much* better. A new friend! Rachel from A Romantic Porch visited my blog through my comment when I entered her contest for a really cute tea towel. She liked my blogs "atmosphere" so much that she gave me this outright without even getting to "know" me first. :) How sweet is that?

As we have been emailing each other, we have found out that we have *much* in common. And this was *truly* a blessing. I view it as Love from the Lord also. The Lord reaches us right when we need it, and shows his love through his people.

Thank you so much Rachel; it really means alot to me!

When you get the chance, please visit Rachel's blog. I am sure you will love it. The atmosphere on her blog is as equally great. Rachel is also new to blogging;just one month, so please welcome her aboard the blogging community. A Romantic Porch's link is in my sidebar, and also in this post.

Have A Wonderful Day!

You're Invited To...

This is going to be sooo much fun! Click on the banner above to see the details of this party.

Playing Around with Blog Design

Ok, this is totally addicting! But how could it not be, since it is soooo much fun?! I made this banner (just for fun), for a friend's blog. She doesn't have to use it if she doesn't like it, but it's hers if she wants it. ;-)

My husband helped me out with the special effects this morning. I did the layout out, so I am learning a few things. Hopefully, I can play around with the special effects in the days to come.

So here it is!

The *Evil* Look

*Remember to Pause Music Before you Watch! :)*

This Is Sooooo Cool and Beautiful!

*Remember to pause the music on my blog. :)*

Wordless Wednesday~Before & After

For More Wordless Wednesay pictures visit Five Mintues For Mom.

Dream Guys

My friend at A Cup of Joy, had these videos on her side bar. She is doing a whole series this month of romantic ideas. Visit her blog to see. :)

I thought that these videos were just too funny to not share with those who visit my blog. :)

*Remember to pause the music on my blog before you watch these.*

Tiny Boy's Birthday

We celebrated Tiny Boy's birthday Saturday. I spent too many hours decorating his cake, but I enjoyed it. My poor sister in laws must of been bored to death, as I was doing it when they were here. And all the husbands were out having "guy time".

But here is the result of my efforts. I know it doesn't look too professional, but I thought it turned out cute anyway! :) I tried making a radio control tower out of ghram crackers, but it kept sliding and falling, so I said, "forget it!":)

We had a campfire, and roasted hot dogs, (Kosher hot dogs, mind you. :) ) with cake afterwards.

Here is Tiny Boy seeing his cake as we sing happy birthday to him.

After we sang, Daddy sprayed silly string on him. This was his reactionHere he is trying to blow out the candles

He needs a little help!

Evidence he enjoyed the cakeMy sister and brother in law, came the night before and stayed the night with us. They brought their baby, Little guy. My sister in law blog's at Proud To Be A Mommy. Here is Little Guy. He is soooo adorable and sweet! He hardly ever cried the whole time he was here.

And he has red hair just like his cousin Bean. Although I think his hair is going to be a little more red than hers. My sister-law's father has red hair, so we know where Little guy inherited from. Bean on the other hand, probably got it from my Great Grandma.

My children had their turns holding Little Guy. The girls LOVED it. Tiny Boy on the hand, wasn't too sure about it, LOL!