Thursday, November 29, 2007

Dates

Pin It Now! Guys usually get a bad reputation for being a little slow in the date-remembering department, but not my guy. He remembers every important date having to do with "us".

I get so consumed with remembering the gazillion birthdays, appointment dates, special event dates, sport dates, and every other misc. date on the calendar, that I do tend to forget those special, romantic dates that happened forever ago. About a week ago, my dear husband blogged about one of those "dates". If you are curious and haven't already read about it, go here.

Thanks, Babe, for remembering stuff like that!

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Dreadfully Busy!

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"Busy, busy, dreadfully busy.
You've no idea what I have to do.
Busy, busy, shockingly busy.
Much, much too busy for you!"

This is the Veggie Tales song that has been playing over and over in my mind like a broken record since Thanksgiving! (I have made the assumption that all of my readers know what a record is.) I have been busy decking our halls with Christmas decor, getting my kids back in home school mode after a 4 day weekend, wrapping and packing up presents that need to be mailed to what seems like a galaxy far, far away, cleaning and scrubbing, planning for Friday dinner guests, updating addresses for Christmas card mail outs, gathering up recipes for a baking day with my mom and sister, etc, etc... All good and fun things, well most of them anyway, but still all things taking up every precious moment of my time. Blog land had to be put on the back burner.

So glad to finally have all of our Christmas decorations up. The kids had a fun time trimming the Memory Tree. I love Christmas ornaments! Good thing, too, because several of our beloved family members give us each new ornaments every year! We all anxiously anticipate what they will be and can't wait to find a spot for them on the tree.





Mark and I also like to exchange ornaments with ourselves and the kids. From now on we will open up our ornaments from each other right before we decorate the tree,instead of waiting until Christmas, so we can enjoy them all month long! This year I gave Mark a Smore basketball player and a Starbucks mug. He gave me a jeweled cross. Mullin got a Smore baseball player, Lincoln a Smore soccer player, and Shiloh got three since she hardly has any ornaments to her name yet--Wish Bear, Strawberry Shortcake, and a Victorian baby buggy.
We all LOVE the ornament tradition!!!








For a more thorough post on our family's Christmas decorating weekend, see my husband's post.


Friday, November 23, 2007

Thanksgiving Memories

Pin It Now! Mark with Livi and Shiloh. The only girls!
My mom and me. Thanksgiving was at her house.
My sister and her husband enjoying turkey and cider.
The 2 girls have their very own princess table! Shiloh loved it and couldn't wait to show her cousin!
The boys table--where goofiness abounds!! They had so much fun together. Tried to get pictures of them playing football with Grandpa D, but they didn't turn out. :(
And here are those adorable twin faces!! They are both walking around and getting into everything! Though they are identical, Kenny (right) is always full of smiles and Ryan is a bit more subdued.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Gingerbread Cutouts

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My sister asked me for my gingerbread cookie recipe, so I decided to share with all of you.

Gingerbread Cutouts

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
1 tsp. each--ground cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vinegar
5 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
Red-hot candies
White icing if desired


*In a large saucepan, combine the butter, sugar, corn syrup and spices; bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and cool to lukewarm. Stir in eggs and vinegar. Combine the flour and baking soda; stir into sugar mixture to form a soft dough. Chill for several hours. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/4 in. thickness. Cut with a floured 2-1/2in. gingerbread man cookie cutter and place on greased baking sheets. Use red hots for eyes and buttons. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 min. Remove to wire racks to cool. Yield: about 6 dozen.


* I also like to use the tiny 1-1/2 in. gingerbread man cookie cutter. Every year My kids and I like to make gingerbread houses out of graham crackers and frosting. These little guys are the perfect size to use with these edible homes!

A couple of years ago we had a little gingerbread house-making party. Hard to see, but in one of those green bowls are a bunch of those tiny, homemade, gingerbread men. They are so cute!!
I hope they turn out for you, Brooke!

33 Christmas Shopping Days Left!

Pin It Now! I am almost certain that most of us will not be thinking about Christmas shopping tomorrow. I know I will be busy baking and preparing a few dishes to take to my Mom's house for a delicious Thanksgiving feast! Mmm, I can't wait.

Don't mean to take your thoughts from mouth-watering turkey, tangy cranberry sauce, and sweet pumpkin pie topped with whipped cream, back to the fact that there are only 33 shopping days left, but Black Friday is only 2 days away! How many of you plan on facing the endless sea of humanity? Wouldn't it just be easier to shop from the comfort and quiet of your own home? I think so!

Before you finish your on-line shopping, stop by CouponChief to get some great coupons. You can find coupons for almost every store imaginable! It's not just limited to coupons, though. The site gives you a heads up on great deals offered by different stores. These tips can help save you money!!

Besides Christmas shopping, I need to finish buying my daughter winter clothes, and I could definitely use a $5.00 coupon to Target! They really do have some cute, affordable toddler clothes. Books always make great Christmas gifts, and our family can never have enough of those! Check out Barnes and Noble for some great deals. I was just at that store and saw so many books I would love to own. I thought about buying my husband a Paula Deen cookbook, since he is totally hooked on her show!

So remember, after enjoying a satisfying Thanksgiving feast, sleep in the next day and finish your Christmas shopping on-line, but not before arming yourself with coupons


Works For Me Wednesday: Movie Review Site

Pin It Now! If you guys are like me, then you want to know what's in a movie before you see it. I don't want to pay $ for a movie and have to walk out of the theater, or rent one only to have to stop watching half way through due to inappropriate viewing material.

Screen It is a site that reviews movies in great detail. This is a free service. You do have the option of joining for a price, so if you don't want to just scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click the "No Thanks" button. After that you are ready to start "screening" movies.

I have tried to use Christian sites in the past for this, like Focus on the Family, but I always felt that the reviews were not detailed enough for me, or that the reviewer gave too many opinions instead of just sticking to the facts.

Screen It has definitely worked for our family! If you know of any more sites out there like this one, please pass it on!

For more tips visit Rocksinmydryer.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Want to Win $50.00?

Pin It Now! Mel in a Nutshell is giving away $50.00!! Here is what she has to say about her contest:



Yep, you read right! I am giving away $50 (USD). Why you ask? Well, this money is purely money ive earned doing paid posts & in order to get more paid posts i need to increase my google page rank. So in an effort to do that im puting a competiton on here - got to spend money to make money right?First off let me say that you absolutly have to have a pay pal account to enter this comp, payment will ONLY be made via pay pal. You also need to have a blog - but thats it.So what do you have to do to enter? Two things - First write a short post linking to my main page http://www.melinanutshell.com/ including info on this competition. Then stick my cute little badge somewhere on your site, heres the code:













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Lincoln is such a great big brother. He loves to play with his baby sister. He is such a big helper when he entertains her. This is what I saw when he came downstairs the other day. I asked him if I could take his picture, and he said okay. As I was pressing the camera button, Mullin blurted out, "She's gonna put it on her blog, Lincoln!"

So this is the face the camera captured!!

Too funny!


Monday, November 19, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving!

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"No matter what happens, always be thankful." 1 Thes. 5:18




While I am thankful all throughout the year, it is nice to have a holiday set aside specifically for focusing on all of God's blessings.




I like to do "holiday" research, so here are a few links if you would like to check them out.




















My flesh loves to complain, but I know that I have so much to be thankful for.


As I have said in another post, I am so thankful for everything God has done for us in AZ.


I am thankful for my family's health and well-being.


I am thankful for my faithful and hard working husband.


I am thankful for our TN family and AZ family and CO family.


I am thankful that I can home school my kids.


I am thankful for a lot of the freedoms that I have.


I echo my 5 year old in saying that I am also and most thankful for Jesus dying on the cross for my sins.


The list could go on and on I have so much to be thankful for!

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Christmas Decorating

Pin It Now! Don't panic! It isn't December yet--still just the middle of November, but we are a little excited about putting up our decorations this year since we weren't able to at all last year. My mom has wonderful decorations, but it just isn't the same when they are not your own!! I usually like to wait until after Thanksgiving, but really, putting up decor a little at a time is a lot less stressful, at least for me anyway.
We even turned on some Christmas tunes, and Shiloh wanted to dance with Daddy. Oh that face--it's adorable!
Lincoln was in charge of putting on the very top part of the tree.
Daddy and Mullin check to see if the colored lights still work. Most of our white lights didn't. The ones that did, Mark decided to put on a tree outside.
Silly Shiloh. Lincoln calls her "Samanthaclaus". I have no idea why? She is cute whatever her name is, though!
Lincoln holds the chair still while Daddy strings the lights around our tree out front. Mullin helps with light hanging. What a team. Momma's inside giving Shiloh her bath.
That's it for now. Will post more as we continue the decorating process...


Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Works For Me Wednesday--Scripture Memory

Pin It Now! *Updated 10/20/10--This is a very old WFMW post, but I wanted to share it since this has been a favorite way for my kids to memorize scripture!

**Also, please take a moment to enter my FRESHhanger giveaway

Linked to Raising Homemakers







Sword Fighting has been such a blessing for me and my kids, so I thought I would share it with you all.




This is such a wonderful way of memorizing scripture--if only I would have thought of it sooner. I have always had trouble committing Bible verses to memory long term.

Following the suggestions in the book, I wrote the temptations on an index card. Then, I wrote the matching verses on swords, which I cut out in the shape of Sting, Frodo's sword. The boys really liked that!



Though, Shiloh isn't memorizing just yet, she enjoys handing out the temptations to the boys on Fridays. (We have already completed the entire book, so on Fridays we just do a review.)



The book contains 52 temptations and verses, so you memorize one a week. Each day you read a Bible story that corresponds to that particular temptation and verse. It really is a great way to teach kids how to specifically apply God's Word when dealing with temptation.



I love this way of learning Scripture so much that I plan on using this technique to write out more temptations and matching verses when I have the chance.



*If you do click on the above link, it will take you directly to Karyn Henley's site. She is the author of the book. You can just type in Sword Fighting in the search box on her site.



To read more great tips visit RocksinmyDryer.



From Bare to Beautiful

Pin It Now! If your garage looks anything like mine-plain, old, bare concrete with a few oil stains here and there, then you might want to consider installing garage flooring for an attractive, new look.

Diamond garage flooring is very popular and comes in some really snazzy colors and patterns, and for me, the fact that it contains no toxic chemicals or hazardous fumes is a huge plus!

Don't need new flooring? Well how about protecting the floor you already have by coating it with epoxy. Click link to go to site for detailed instructions on how to apply.

It is better to give than to receive, right? So, share your holiday cheer this season by giving gift certificates for all new garage flooring to all of your loved ones with cracked, stained, or bare cement garage floors.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Autumnfawn

Pin It Now! One of my friends has asked from where the name "Autumnfawn" comes.


So, here in this post I shall reveal its origin.



Once upon a time, there were 2 very best friends. One was tall and lean with dark, brown eyes, long, autumn-brown hair and a freckled nose. The other was short and petite with a silky, blond mane and watery, blue eyes.



On the outside, they both appeared to be your typical, model students. They were smart, responsible, and very well behaved. On the inside, though, they were really just silly, little, giggly high-school girls with wild and fanciful imaginations.


They shared so much in common, even their love of American Indian culture. Mostly, it was just an infatuation with the romanticized version of that time period in American History. They read lots of books, fiction and non-fiction alike, and imagined that one day dark, handsome Indian Braves would carry them off into the sunset upon beautiful, wild horses. They even learned how to speak a few Cheyenne words and went to local Pow-wows.

To make their vivid imaginations come even more alive, they decided to give themselves "Indian" names. The blond was given the name, Sky Dancer, because of her dancing, sky-blue eyes, and the other was given the name, Autumnfawn, because of the shape of her face, coloring, and freckles. Such fun times--they even began signing all of their notes to each other with these names. To make it even more fun, they gave their other friends and even all of their secret "crushes" Indian names, too. "Wounded Doe" was one of their sisters who always seemed to have some sort of ailment, "Flaming Hair" was a red-headed friend, and I believe "Tall Oak" was one of their secret "crushes", just to name a few.

Many years passed and Autumnfawn and Sky Dancer eventually went their seperate ways, but Autumnfawn kept her name in order to keep her cherished memories alive.

To Be Smart, Or Not To Be Smart

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Mullin doesn't particularly like dictionaries. He knows how to use one, but just doesn't like to use it.
Well in English class for the past couple of days we have been studying how to use a dictionary on a deeper level, and of course Mullin is rolling his eyes throughout the lesson and slumping his shoulders a bit to show his displeasure.
So I say, "Using a dictionary can help you to be really smart."
Mullin replies, "I don't want to be really smart."
With a confused yet concerned look I say, "What, Why not?"
Mullin answers, "I want to know how to put my pants on."
Okay, now my brow is really furrowed, my eyes are all squinty, and my nose is wrinkled up. "Huh" is about all I can manage to get out.
After a brief pause, it hit me. Einstein.
"Are you referring to the story I told you about Albert Einstein?" I asked. (This was not a recent story, either.)
"Yeah," Mullin simply stated.

I am not sure what the moral of this story is. Maybe it is: When you are telling your kids about Einstein, leave out the part about him having no common sense.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Park Day

Pin It Now! Ate lunch at a park last week with my friend Staci and her 2 cutie pies, Benjamin and Kaiya.
So glad God has blessed my with an Arizona friend. Well, acutally she isn't from Arizona--she just moved here from Colorado. We met at church and found out that we have so much in common. I am used to being the youngest in my circle of friends, but this time I am the older one. :(


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