Hands of a Child Sale

Due to the new CPSIA law In the Hands of a Child, for the time being, is discounting their Kit Pack inventory in order to lessen their possible loss in the event that an exemption is not granted. Take a look at what they have, if you like lapbooking.

http://www.handsofachild.com/shop

Winter fun

The kids ventured out into the snow and ice today to slide down our drive way. I couldn't believe that they stayed out there for almost 2 hours! They got to warm up w/ hot cocoa when they came in!

And left a big mess for me to clean up!

Actually, they ended up cleaning it up themselves!

My Little Prairie Girls

Sharing

This is what we've been dealing w/ this week:

Snot, snot and more snot! Yuk! This is the only thing that my kids don't having a problem sharing w/ each other.

4th Folder

My friend, Trisha, tagged me to go to my 4th folder and tell about the 4th picture in that folder. This is the picture in that folder:

It was Christmas 2002 and my friend who owns Captured Moments Photography did these for me. I wish I could go back in time for a just a moment and hold these babies again! Sammy was 4, Lizzy was 3, and Sophie was about 10 months old in these.

Here are a few more from that shoot:

Lizzy turned 9!

It is hard to believe that Lizzy was born 9 years ago. Her birthday was Saturday and we had a party for her and took her to Charleston's for dinner. Happy Birthday Lizzy! I sure do love you!



She wanted cheese cake as her birthday cake. She ended up not liking it.

Her sister, Sadie, used her own money and bought her a game.

Her daddy found her this colonial dress.

Doesn't she look pretty.

Cousins and the best of friends.

My new toaster

This is my new toaster:

It was a Christmas gift from the kids this year. It is stainless steel, has settings for bagels, toast, and frozen bread. It can also toast four slices at a time, which you know if much needed in our house. There is only one flaw about this toaster: it has set off our fire alarm EVERY time we have used it so far. It just doesn't toast right, and it is not a user problem. So, I thought I would take a picture of it, because I have a feeling that I am going to go to my cabinet to get it one day and it won't be there, because Aaron will have thrown it in the trash! Thank you kids for my toaster!

WTMI - Way too much information

We have a bible study called "Balancing the Sword" that I do w/ the children every day as part of our school work. It is a really good tool to use, because you go chapter by chapter in the Bible and answer questions for that chapter. We started in the old testament and are working our way through Deuteronomy right now. I guess I didn't realize how much information was actually in the old testament, w/ regards to daily life. Today's chapter covered the topic of "feces" and how to get rid of it in a proper manner. So, as we are reading along and Sammy comes to that word, he of course wants to know what it means. As you can imagine, after answering his question, I lost control of the study for a few moments and then had to field many, many questions. "Why is poop made of? Did they have to poop in front of everyone since they didn't have a bathroom? So, does that mean we are playing in poop outside? and, it goes on and on. By the time I had answered questions to their satisfaction, Sammy puts his hand to his head and says "I think I am poop sick." I sware, I don't know where he comes up w/ some of his sayings. But, he sure gives me a good, private laugh every now and then!

By the way, if you're intested in Balancing the Sword, you can purchase it at www.visionforum.com.

I finally got them hung!

A year ago this month, my mom took me to buy some new curtains for my kitchen for my birthday. Saturday, I finally went out and bought curtain rods to hang them on. Aaron installed the rods on Sunday and they are finally up!

Back into the swing of things

We started back on school work this week, and it has been tough for all of us. We are all used to sleeping in a little bit later (especially mom). I think we should start taking a vacation AFTER the Christmas holiday, because there are too many activities going on. It would be nice right now to go to some exotic island and lay on the beach, not having to go anywhere or do anything for about a week. I think I am going to vote to do that next year, instead of all the gifts and decorations. I will probably get out voted though!

I think this picture I took of Silas this morning sums up how I have been feeling this week :)

Gingerbread Christmas Trees?

I had first bought a Charlie Brown gingerbread house kit, but most of the pieces were broken in it and they wouldn't hold together. Fortunately, I found this tree kit last year (don't worry, I didn't let them eat any of it) tucked back in the pantry. I think it turned out nicely, and was much easier to decorate than the house. The icing was fresh, so they got to swipe a few licks of it!

Christmastime is exhausting!

Drive Donkey or Drive Doggie

I recently had downloaded some music and burned them on a CD, which we have been listening to in the van. One of the songs I downloaded was a Bee Gees song, Jive Talkin'. Sometimes when I am on the computer and reading blogs, I will play music from my downloads, which is what I was doing tonight. So, when this song came on, Henry runs in here where I am and starts singing "Drive Donkey." Sadie quickly corrects her little brother and says, "It is not Drive Donkey! It is Drive Doggie," as she proceeds to laugh at him. Needless to say, Aaron and I got a good laugh tonight. What a crazy bunch of kids I have!

Sammy is now in the double digits!

I can't believe I have a 10 year old! I can't believe it was 10 years ago that I gave birth to this 9 lb. 14 1/2 oz. baby boy! I still remember it vividly, and I hope I always will. Sammy is one amazing little boy, who I know will grow up to be an amazing man that will walk w/ God all the days of his life.

We celebrated his birthday on Thursday and pretty much into the weekend. We had a party on Thursday night w/ my family and then we left for Dallas on Friday to see Aaron's sister and her family. While we were there, we visited the Log Cabin Village in Fort Worth. We had a great time and the weather couldn't have been better. We always take the birthday child to the restaurant the want to go to, and so Samuel chose Red Lobster. I hope it was a birthday that he will remember!

Some pics of the Log Cabin Village:

I think Silas was smitten w/ this little girl.

Sammy and Henry stringing popcorn.

The girls stringing popcorn.

Lizzy is making a tamale.

Sadie making a tamale.

I was showing Silas how to gather eggs. Once he gathered them, he didn't want to let go.

Henry gathering eggs.

Daddy needs to pull down Silas' shirt to cover that big belly of his. Lizzy just loves to have her picture taken.

A decorated cabin for the holidays. They were actually cooking something on the wood stove. It smelled pretty good in there.

I know that look, it means a bad smell it about to overtake us.

The children putting cloves in oranges.

In front of the grist mill. The miller gave each one of the children a bag of corn kernels to plant. I may have corn stalks growing in my yard next year! Won't my neighbors love that!

I wonder what he is thinking?

Fun Day at the Urban's

My friend, Charissa, invited our family and another family over last Thursday for a fun day. We decorated Christmas cookies, made an ornament, and acted out the Christmas story. We all had a great time. Thank you to Charissa for opening your house to us all and to Delahne for coming up w/ the ornament idea. I love the way ours turned out!



Here are some pics of Delahne helping the girls w/ their ornaments:

The finished product! Aren't they cute! The snowmen are the children's fingers.

Here are some of the boys decorating their Christmas cookies:

And, here are some pics of the children acting the Christmas story out. We drew names to see who would play what part:

Charissa read the story out loud while the children acted it out. Sophie stayed on the couch most of the time, because she was scared of the "big dogs."

Liesel was a wise man.

Catherine was the inn keeper.

Samuel Wright was Joseph, Lizzy was Mary, and baby Caleb was of course Jesus.

Here are the goofy shepherds!

Sadie was the angel that appeared to the shepherds.

Silas and Ava were just hanging out doing their own thing. Aren't they adorable!