Thursday, July 31, 2008

Bird's Eye View



I thought this was a pretty cute scene. The cul-de-sac behind out house is being repaved. Of course, Macho Man and Speed Racer who love all types of cars, trucks, big machinery - you get the picture - were out there to see the action. Creative Genius and Girly Girl were wanting to see the show too. Macho Man invited everyone up in his tree house.



I have to admit that this was the first time I had actually climbed up there!




Let the show begin!

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Courtship


Courtship is a popular topic today, at least in the circles that I have been in. Some Christian families have been trying to move away from having their children "date". Instead, encouraging a Biblical approach where the parents are more involved and the children protected.


In a recent MOMYS (Mothers of Many Young Children, a group for moms that have four or more children under the age of eight, to sign up go here) digest, the question of logistics on the young man's side of things came up. Tina, the ever faithful moderator, added in her testimony of her experience with her oldest son, I believe her third child. I am interested in this because I don't know anyone personally who has gone this route, and with children who will eventually be of this age, I need some good information!


With Tina's permission, here is her post:


[Do you have a process in mind for your son to follow, and is he aware of it? Have you thought and talked about the differences between dating, engagement, courtship and betrothal, and what that means in your definitions?


For us, the process is:Before the young lady is aware:

1. Serious prayer time
2. Serious time with Dad about it
3. Talk to her father/parents

At that point, if the son feels led by the Holy Spirit, has his father's blessing and her parents' permission - then she would be approached. Depending on the relationships, it might be by her father first so that her father has the job of telling the son "no, thank you" on her behalf if that is her wish, and protecting her.

4. The young lady agrees that the young man may try to win her heart.
The idea is to protect her heart. She would, ideally, be unaware of any relationship until the parents were in agreement that the match was viable and had given their blessing. The goal is to protect her.
In our family, after we got through #4, our son gathered the four parents. Chris told us that he thought there were four areas in which he needed to be prepared before they were married. He said he needed to be prepared TO PROTECT, TO PROVIDE, TO LEAD AND TO LOVE.
On the coffee table, he had several small jewelry boxes.He opened the first one. In it was a silver emblem (like you would use for a 'charm' bracelet). It was a rifle and a silver disc that had a scripture verse reference on it - John 15:13. (Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.)

He gave this to her father saying, "This represents 'TO PROTECT.' When you feel that I am ready to protect your daughter, please give this back to me as your symbol that you see me ready to take the step of marriage."
The second box he opened had another silver disc with a small hammer and the silver disc with the scripture reference
1 Timothy 5:8 (But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.) He gave this to his Dad saying, "This represents 'TO PROVIDE.' When you think I am ready to provide for a wife, then please give this back to me symbolizing that you think I am ready to take the step of marriage."
The third box had another scripture and praying hands.
Ephesians 5:23 (For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. ) Chris said, "I think TO LEAD means spiritual leadership. This belongs to God, and when I feel that He is telling me that I am ready to be a spiritual leader, the ownership of it will pass to me."
There was no fourth box, "TO LOVE." He didn't have it yet and wouldn't say much about it - just got this twinkle in his eye :)
Skip took his role of preparing Chris TO PROVIDE very seriously.
Step one was a real job. Not necessarily a career, but more than part-time work or occasional work from home. Chris, being Chris, made sure he learned all about benefits, insurance, etc. etc. and settled himself into his new role as a pharmacy tech.
Next was a place to live. It needed to be a place suitable for bringing a wife to. So rooming with several guys was not the situation we were looking for, although it was the most economical. (btw, we live in a college town and were amazed to find out that the going thing here is that the landlord puts the roommates together - regardless of their gender; each has a separate lease for a bedroom in an apartment. Times have sure changed.) He found this CUTE little house that was actually a large shed renovated into a one-room bungalow. Perfect.
Then it was show that you can stick this out. The timing was good; his intended was finishing an overseas missions obligation - another 6 months in Africa while they corresponded via the internet and he focused on preparing himself in those 4 areas. It wasn't easy.
Those transitions, leaving home, leaving mom and dad and stepping into independence, the undefinable changes in relationships - even though we were all in agreement and on the same path; it was a rocky path. The changes sometimes came in fits and starts and often very emotionally. It was a GOOD thing that it wasn't happening in rebellion, and even so, it was not a smooth glide.
It was a time of much searching and preparation. Chris & Skip talked often about how do you know when you've heard from God? How do you know when it is His will? How do you know you are following and doing the right thing? (Chris is a high C - there is a right way to do things!) Skip's answer was, 'you'll know.' It's not the same for everyone, but you'll know.
As he passed his twentieth birthday, Dad began to feel like it was almost time. He prepared a certificate of achievement - PROVISION 101. (101 - you don't know everything, but you've made a good start.)It was Friday night; Chris always has dinner with us on Friday night. It is a formal meal, and Skip takes the time to lay hands on each of us and say a blessing on us. That Friday Chris was late. We were waiting. I called him and he said, "I'm having a wonderful time with the Lord." Well, of course, we'd wait, right? So, we waited and he eventually showed up for dinner.
When Skip got around to bless Chris, he slid the certificate in front of him, on his plate under his face where his eyes were closed and his head was bowed. On the certificate was the jewelry box. Chris heard it and opened his eyes. He was overcome when he realized what it was, and stepped away from the table for a few minutes.
It was a happy meal, and then it was over and Chris was leaving. He came back in the house and took his Dad aside privately. He was late arriving tonight, he said, because he was having a great time with God. And on the way over in the car, he thought God had told him, "It's time." Time for what? He wasn't clear, didn't know for sure.
But he was so amazed, that once his Dad had given him the "TO PROVIDE" charm, Chris realized that God had also given him the "TO LEAD" charm. And the sequence of events - to hear from God and then the confirmation of receiving Dad's charm - to confirm that he really HAD heard from God...and then the excitement of earning/receiving TWO charms in one night! That was a happy time!!!
Only a few days later he was on a plane :) Once he had the 4 charms, then they could move to engagement. He had two. Her father had promised to give him the TO PROTECT charm when he had the others. Jerry wanted to be the last line of defense in front of his daughter.
After Thanksgiving dinner with her family and friends (about 30 people), Chris pulled out another jewelry box. This had a heart charm in it. The scripture disc reference is Eph :25 (Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her) He gave it to Stephani telling her, if you take this, it means you think I am ready TO LOVE you for the rest of my life. She took it :)
At that point, another fellow passed Chris the engagement ring that Chris had purchased (high C's take HOURS AND HOURS to choose rings!) and Chris got down on one knee in front her her family and friends and proposed. :)
We were in agreement with her parents that a short engagement period was advantageous in helping them keep physical temptations from becoming overwhelming. Three months later (one month of which we were out of the country), they were married.
Following Dave Ramsey's baby steps, they seem to be doing just fine financially even though they are not earning high dollar jobs. They are trusting the Lord to lead them in this journey.
That was a long way of saying this, when you say your son is not ready to be married. Are you all clear on what is needful for him to be ready? Surrendering to another's authority to decide when one is 'ready' is a huge thing; I think it really helped to have an idea of what 'ready' meant. Knowing clearly what the goals were probably made it more concrete for Chris to choose to stay under authority and continue to press on toward the goal and the prize, as he could see in himself those areas of maturity developing because it was clear what was being looked for.
One thing that blessed all of us, and continues to be a blessing, is that they did not kiss until they had been pronounced man and wife. That was very very special, and we have oodles of photographs of it :) It gives good weight to their testimony and they are able to be an encouragement to others, I think, by sharing it.http://chrisandsteph.wordpress.com/Tina]


Thanks Tina!
*a little disclaimer here - I just can't get the paragraphs to have spaces in between for some reason, this isn't how Tina sent it out, so I apologize to her.*

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

The War

And I'm not talking about Iraq here.

I'm talking the battle of the bulge.

My bulge got seriously out of control somewhere along the line. In the last five years I've been pregnant six times.... I've got four babies out of the deal and a..... um..... little bit (ok, ok, a LOT) more.

I had my little sweetie pie this last March. The first twenty or so pounds came off pretty easily but after that nothing else was budging. So I decided that I needed to get serious about weight loss.

I am one of those that has been on every diet in the world and for those past five years, Weight Watchers had been where I'd run to for a while after each baby (little good it did, I know). This time around I just didn't want to spend the $10 a week to go. I know the deal. I can do it if I really wanted to.

Then I found Calorie Counter Plus. It's like Weight Watchers online but FREE. Go over and make yourself an account. It'll tell you how many calories to eat a day to get to the weight you want to be by the date you want to get to it by. You can log in your foods and it will automatically give you a calorie count. I even loaded the tool bar so I can just point and know how much I've got left for the day. In the exercise log, it will tell you how many Big Macs you worked off for the exercising you did. My very favorite feature though, is the weight log. It gives me a nice graph of my weight loss.

I've lost 54 pounds since March (and that's like, what, 216 sticks of butter?!) And if I can, you can too!

GREAT SALE!!!!

Hey, everyone, you need to check this out! Crystal at Money Saving Mom is running a HUGE sale tomorrow, July 30th. I have personally bought Supermarket Savings and have used it for my oldest daughter as curriculum for a homeschool course. It is easy to use and a wonderful addition to any high school girl's skill set or for a woman who wants to save more $$$ at the grocery store.

Here's what Crystal says about the sale....

ALL of our ebooks, downloadables, and audio workshops--including our best-selling Supermarket Savings 101 eCourse--will be on sale in one package deal for $5.97. Yep, you read that right--only $5.97! That's over $100 worth of products for less than the cost of one ebook!

Take a look, using this link:

Click Here!

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Disease Proof?


I just finished this book... it was interesting, you should consider checking it out at the library. But if you want me to sum it up for you and save you hours of reading time, here's the gist of his message:

1. Dairy and meat are bad (he says cancer, ADD, ear infection, asthma and eczema causing even, from cited studies).
2. We (Americans) are killing ourselves with fast food.
3. Plant based diets are good, especially fruits, vegetables, nuts and beans.
4. Breastfeed! It's good for you and your baby.

Although I am ready to take my family totally off of all things animal derived, there were some things to think about here. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Refreshed

We had such a great time on our little mini vacation. It was so great to see all of our old friends. It has made us realize how much we really miss them all.

On our drive home, everyone was listing some of their favorite things from the weekend. The beach was a big hit. Sissy got to bring along an old friend of hers. They had a great time chatting and catching up. Speed Racer loved the boat ride over to the island. But I think that Creative Genius had the best time of all, he spent hours finding and sorting shells. I haven't uploaded my pics yet, but thanks to my SIL, who sent me these great pictures, you too can re-live all of the excitement. I especially love the last one with Hubby and Sweetie Pie.
I was able to get together with some of my homeschooling mommy friends on Friday night. They have a wonderful home church. My dear friend Lanita has been blogging about it!
Saturday morning we jumped out of bed bright and early. Dad took the boys to synagogue. (BTW, my brother runs the 20's group at BHS and I happen to think this is a great website, he really keeps it up well) The girls, Grandma and I were able to catch up with some old friends at a VBS program we attended for years. Then it was off to a baby shower.
We met up again that evening at Great-Grandma's house for dinner.
This morning we enjoyed the service at the church we used to attend in Everett. We sure miss everyone over there!
Hope we can see you all more often. I know that Thema is planning a big get-together for Labor Day.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Road Trip


We're leaving tonight to take a little drive to see friends and family. Over the river and through the woods (and a mountain pass) to Grandmother's house we go.
It sure does take a lot of prep to get a family of eight out the door. How do the Duggers do it, anyway? I've spent all afternoon putting an outfit for each activity and occasion in a ziplock bag for each child: Friday morning at the beach, Friday night fellowship, Saturday morning synagogue, Saturday afternoon baby shower for the girls, Saturday night at Great-Grandma's, Sunday morning at our old church. Whew! Not to mention all the food and extra junk a family like our seems to need at every turn. Maybe I'll stay home while everyone else has fun over there. That would be a real vacation!

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

A Little Reflection


Tomorrow is my oldest child's birthday. She's growing up to be such a sweet and lovely young lady.
I was just sitting here thinking about the day she was born. We happen to have a video tape with us at the hospital. I was so very young! If I (me now) saw a girl at nineteen having a baby I would just shake my head, wondering if that child would even have a chance.
But somehow, motherhood changes most of us. I was a rebellious, rude and obnoxious (at best!) teenage girl. As soon as I had that baby though, I looked out at the world through different eyes some how. Isn't weird how that works?
This baby was such a gift from God. I am so very thankful.

Playdough


Ever try to mix some fun together for your little ones and end up with a pile of gloppy wet mess? Not all playdough recipes are created equal - and that stuff they sell at the store is less than desirable. Try my tnt (tried and true) recipe and see if you like it as much as I do.

Kool-Aid Playdough
  • 1 1/4 cups flour
  • 1/4 cup salt
  • 1 pkg. Kool Aide, any flavor
  • 1 cup boiling
  • 1 1/2 tsp. oil
Mix dry ingredients. Add boiling water and oil, stir. Mix well, kneed as it cools.

Store in a ziplock bag. Pull out your cookie cutters, potato masher, butter knives, rolling pins and the like. Hours of fun for any preschooler.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Love This Little Book


My dear husband found
this book
for me at a yard sale this weekend for all of a dime. It was so fun to read, chock full of scripture, poems and little encouragements to the homemaker.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Making Yogurt

Making yogurt is one of the things that I never thought that I could do. Then I tried it. Easy! You can do it too!
You need:
a gallon of milk and about 8 ounces of yogurt Everything I've read says that you should use Dannon plain when starting out but I used Safeway brand and it's turned out just fine.
The first time I made yogurt, it turned out a little thin. I read that you can add 2 Tbs. of powdered milk to your cold milk to make a thicker yogurt. That little trick works well.

Directions: Pour your milk in to a pot. Put a thermometer in with the lid on. I use a metal stemmed meat thermometer but candy thermometers work well.

Turn your burner on to medium heat. I used to stand there and stir, which took forever, now I just leave it alone and it's fine. While you are waiting it to reach the right temperature, go fill your sink with cold water.

and a cooler with hot tap water.

When the yogurt temperature is up to 185, it's done. Place it in your cold water bath.


When the yogurt is cooled down to 130 degrees, mix your yogurt in. Incorporate it well.


Pour it in to your jars. Don't forget to make one specifically to start your next batch. I always label it and hide it in the back of the fridge.
Here I am using old jars. When I was taking all these pictures this afternoon, I broke my favorite gallon jar that I use for yogurt! I hope that one on the left doesn't turn out to be pickle flavored!


Place your filled jars in the hot water bath in your cooler. Don't touch for three hours. If you leave it longer, it turns out fine. Place in the fridge. And there you have it... a gallon of fresh yogurt for the same price as you paid for a gallon of milk!

Great New Blog!

Check out my daughter's new blog!

http://femininityinafeministworld.blogspot.com/

I'm so proud! Sniff, sniff.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Summer Goals For Your Teenager

Copyright Patti Chadwick - http://historyswomen.com - Used by permission

Life with teenagers is hectic. The school year is especially busy with studies, sports, and extra-curricular activities. During the school year it is hard for your teen to find time to work on personal growth or to pursue special interests. With the summer coming and the school year coming to a close, now is the time for your teenager to work on personal development -- and you can help them!

While both you and your teenager will want some free time in the summer to just "be", if you don't plan for developing special interests or personal growth, you will spend most of the summer idle. Remember the old sayings "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail" (A Mother's Summer Survival Manual, p. 8) and "If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time!" Don't fall into that trap. Here are some ideas to help both you and your teen "plan your work and work your plan." 1)

1. The Parent's Goals
In order to plan for developmental and personal growth in your teens over the summer break, you will need to think about what areas of their lives need to be concentrated on. Think of where your teen is intellectually, physically, spiritually, socially, emotionally, and in terms of practical living skills. Ask yourself where would you like your teen to be in each of these areas by the summer's end.

2) Ask Your Teens for Input
Since they are no longer little children, but young adults, it is very important to discuss these plans with your teenager. What goals do they have for the summer? What would they like to learn? What athletic abilities would they like to hone? What special interests would they like to pursue? What practically living skills do they wish to attain?

3) Determine How Goals Will be Measured How will you measure progress?
Remember, each teen is an individual and will grow at his or her own pace. It is wise to be flexible as you work together toward these goals.

4) Write Down Goals
Writing down goals will provide the structure needed to keep you and your teen moving toward the goal and provide a framework for activities you will plan. When deciding on the interests to pursue and what you both would like have accomplished over the summer, you need to keep two things in mind: your objective and your plan to reach those goals. To help you get started, I've included a sample "Summertime Personal Growth Goals Worksheet."

SAMPLE SUMMER GOALS WORKSHEET

Intellectual Goals
Objective: Increase Vocabulary
Plan: Read 4 books this summer, one being a classic.

Physical Goals Objective: Improve Soccer Skills
Plan: Play in a summer soccer league.

Spiritual GoalsObjective: Learn more about the life of Jesus.
Plan: Read all four Gospel accounts.

Social-Emotional Goals
Objective: Give back to the community.
Plan: Volunteer two times per week at the YMCA.

Practical Living Skill Goals
Objective: Get Driver's License
Plan: Drive with parents 2-3 times per week and learn how to do a 3-point turn, and parallel park.

*This is just a sample. Use this worksheet as a guide, but be sure to add to it or delete from it. Whatever works best for your family. Now, armed with these examples, find the time to get alone with your teenager and make plans on how, as a team, you can make the most of summer vacation. While you are at it, why not make plans to work on your own personal growth this summer!

About the Author: Patricia Chadwick is a freelance writer and columnist in several online publications. For her free weekly newsletter, go to http://www.historyswomen.com

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Organizing for Schooling






Some of my friends have been in a getting-rid-of-more-is-better mind set lately. Me, I tend to drift toward the use-what-you have camp. Making due with what you already own saves resources and time.



One important first step to schooling your children is organizing all of the stuff. Toys, books, games, puzzles, endless pencils, erasers and loads of loose lined paper. What do you do with it all?



My younger children especially look forward activity times. It's easy for me to pull out a box. Each child can sit at the table with a box and play with the items in it. When they are done they load it all back in the box, snap on the lid and it's ready to be put back where it belongs.



My older ones know their assignments for school a week ahead of time. They can go to the shelf and find their school books easily. They pull out a pencil from the pencil box and can get to work quickly. When they are finished with their school work they are able to pull out a game with the pieces and play it together.



Does this sound impossible to you? It's not. It just takes some planning and organization. If you spend a few days or even weeks now, this next year's schooling can be much, much easier, possibly even (should I even say it?) a breeze.



The first step is to get all of the toys and activities organized!



No adult, let alone child, wants to face an overflowing toy box with parts and pieces of every game you ever owned in it. It's overwhelming. Decide what you want to keep. Ask yourself what toys your children love, what toys do you love (or hate!). Donate the things you just don't want or need anymore. The rest of it can be put in to containers that you will label. As you see in the picture above, I use clear, plastic containers. For years I used shoe boxes and cardboard boxes. They both work. I've printed off labels from the computer and used clear contact paper to attach them to the boxes. The contact paper comes off easily if you need to rearrange. Simple. You can even add pictures to your labels. Order a Lakeshore catalog, it's free and has beautiful color photos of many items that you many have. One key here - you don't let your children play with all of this stuff alone. It's for school time. These are used one at a time and then put back one at a time. You're there so you know it's all getting put back cleaned up.



Once those toys are more orderly, take a look at the game closet. Need a little clean sweep action there too? For me, games and headaches used to synonymous. Until I found this little system, that is. One day, tootling around Fred Meyer in the automotive department I laid my eyes on the most beautiful answer. I'm pretty sure it was designed to hold nuts and bolts but it spoke to me and that's not what it was saying. All those little drawers would be perfect to hold game pieces. I took it home, dumped out all the games and one by one, using a Sharpie marker, labeled each one of those drawers with the name of each game. In went the multitude of little markers, spinners and dice. I took each game board, labeled it with the name of the game and stood them up long ways in a basket. Ta-da! No more mess.



Now on to all of those school supplies. I've used drawer organizers for some of the small things, like paper clips, sticky notes, erasers, pens, etc. For things that I needed more room for, I bought some containers at Goodwill. You know the little ice containers (not trays) that are in the fridge to catch the ice made by the automatic ice maker? I guess a lot of people get rid of them because I find them all the time. I have one for markers, pencils, tape, staplers, on and on. Again, I just printed off labels using regular printer paper, cut them out and using clear contact paper, stuck them on. Beautiful.



Down to the nitty gritty, the actual school work. I used to try to use a teacher's planning book. That did not work for me. I got a great tip from a long time homeschooling mom. She would type out each weeks work for her children. So Monday through Friday, each subject would be listed with what they were to complete. They could work at their own pace, checking off items as they were completed. At the end of the week mom filed the sheet so she had a record of what they did. No more keeping all of those papers. Yahoo! I just made a form in Word and print it off each week. I hand write the assignments in. They know what is expected.



Each child keeps their school books on the shelf in a magazine organizer. I've also labeled each one with their name. A friend of mine uses old laundry detergent boxes that she covers with patterned contact paper. She cuts the box with an exacto knife so that the front and top are open. She says that are sturdy and last for years. Each child has a specific place to put their books and papers and can find them again easily when needed.



Ah, don't you feel better already? Having systems in place for save so much time and energy. Consider putting forth a little effort now and you will be so glad you did!

Preschool for the preschoolers

In our country we think preschool is all important. We have federally funded and state funded programs to send "needy" children to preschool to get ahead before beginning school. Hillary Clinton thinks early schooling should be available to all children and wants to add classes for four-year-olds to every school.

Me? I went. I remember cookies and juice and playing Farmer in the Dell. Can't say how much farther I was along academically by my attendance.

When I think of the preschool years for my own children. I would like it to be a time to lay a broad, strong foundation in which to build upon in the schooling years that are to come. I want them to have a basic knowledge of the Bible: including Bible stories and an understanding of how to love their neighbor (literally the ones that they will go through life with, their siblings), servant hood and age-appropriate self control. In addition to that all important topic, I try to provide different pre-math, pre-writing and creative activities for each of them.

I spend about an hour a day with three of my children doing what we call preschool time. I read them picture books to teach Bible stories, memorize scripture with them, sing songs, do some calender and weather charting activities and provide some hands on preschool-type activities each day. Although I looked at many preschool curricula, I decided that I could do it myself better and cheaper.

I just love the preschool years. I especially love being home to teach my preschoolers. I do cherish that hour that I've set aside to be with them at their level. I'm shocked and so very surprised at what they can memorize and retain. My little Girly Girl just had her second birthday this last weekend and can spout off all sorts of memory verses. Who would have known?

In upcoming posts I plan to go further in detail about what I've done for preschool, recipes for all of the fun concoctions, and hints and tips for the preschool teacher. Stay tuned!

Monday, July 14, 2008

What Are Your Children Reading Tonight?


At our house, we have two voracious readers under the age of 18 and three more who will sit for hours to be read to. As they've gotten older, it's been much more challenging to keep them in books than it has been to keep them in shoes.


Why is it so hard to find wholesome and worthy reading material for children these days? Well, I guess they are out there and easy to come by if you are independently wealthy.


So, what's a mommy to do? One of my major projects has been to beef up my children's library, especially the chapter books beyond easy readers. Here are a couple of things I've done so far...


Do you know about paperback swap? The gist of the system is this. You post 10 books that you no longer want. Anyone who has credit can request them. You send them, paying for shipping (around $2.25 per book using the U.S.P.O. Media Mail rate). When they receive their books, you get credit. The beauty of the whole thing is that you can do the same, request books and someone else pays the shipping for them. It's huge, thousands of books to choose from. Give away your old paperbacks, get a treasure trove of new and exciting books to read.
Are you hooked in to freecycle? I've gotten some books that way too. Just find the Freecycle group in your area via the Freecycle website and join the group. You'll get posts with things people are getting rid of. You just contact them and go and pick the item(s) up for free. The best part about it is that you can also post all of your junk and people come right to your door to pick it up. It's great.


And, of course, for a mommy like me, there are always thrift stores to search and yard sales to scour for those little gems. I've gotten more great books for my children that way than any other.


Books that I am currently collecting for my children: Childhood of Famous Americans, American Adventure, Boxcar Children, Elsie Dinsmore, Anne of Green Gables and other Anne books and Christian Heroes Now and Then.
What about you? Got any good tips that I need to know about?


Meet the Fam



Here we are in all our glory. My wonderful husband and I with our children: Sissy is standing next to me and hubby is holding Girly Girl. In front of us (left to right) are Speed Racer and Creative Genius. Down in front are Macho Man and my newest little one, Sweetie Pie. Nice to meet you.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Bloggin'


I've finally set up a blog, it's something I've wanted to do for a long time. I have a lot to say! Won't you come along for the ride and keep me company?