First Pinterest Project: Rain Gutter Bookshelves

And we have success! I'm tellin' ya, I definitely would not consider myself crafty in the artsy department. That's why Pinterest and me have a love-hate relationship. I pin things that look amazing and super easy, then I find myself walking around the Man Store, Goodwill and Michaels like a deer in headlights. I can't help thinking, "What in the world am I looking for again?!"

Thanks to my bestie, Jay Dawg, I was able to get exactly what I needed for the coolest shelves ever: rain gutter bookshelves. And thanks to my wonderful hubster who measured, printed out exactly what I needed and hung these bad boys, my kiddos have their own personal reading nooks.

It's All Our Fault

Sorry our mommy hasn't been on here writing about stuff, but we keep her pretty busy. :)

Where does the time go...

Any parent will tell you that time flies when you have kids. As you see your kids grow up before your eyes you ask yourself, "where has the time gone?".

Yesterday we celebrated 5 wonderful years with our Lydia Kay. She is such a sweetheart and it is my prayer that we will not waste our time with her, or her siblings, and that we continually teach her about the wonderful work of God and His amazing love toward sinners.

Happy Birthday (a day late) to our baby girl, Lydia.

A little experiment

If you know me, you will know that I talk a lot about ideas on organizing our home. I do not like clutter. Have I mastered this? No way. Are we getting closer? You betcha.

Because I am not task oriented, I went to my dear hubby. He is all about projects and getting them done so he was naturally my best teammate in helping me with my hot button: toys on the floor. No matter how many times a day I ask the children to clean up, there is always remnants of their imaginative play. Play kitchen mixed with dress-up scattered with farm toys littered with books, puzzles, trucks, tractors, doll house....aaaAAAhhhHHH! It's all too. much. stuff.

So, we took out the play kitchen and put the dishes in a bin, dress-up had its own bin, dollhouse was given away (they weren't playing with it) and farm toys were put in its own bag. In a nutshell, each toy had its place. Baskets held trucks, tractors and train sets while plastic bins kept like items neatly together. But it still was too much.

A while ago, my sister was telling me about a program she watched about the people of Denmark, I think, and how they paid outrages taxes but were still able to pay cash for their homes. They were definitely living the Dave Ramsey lifestyle. Not using credit and owning very little. Now I'm not going to rant (I've done that before) about how we consume way too much. Instead, I want to share how we are trying to show our kids they don't need all these stinkin' toys.

My kids' room has been a sore spot with me for some time. I'll get around to getting rid of toys at Christmas and near birthdays, but it's never quite enough. Once the toys get organized, I stop there because I'm satisfied with the end result of the toys being put away properly. Until five minutes later, when they are pulled out again and all over the place.

Okay, back to our experiment. Despite the organized bins and baskets, I still found it wasn't enough to keep the chaos down. So, we brought all their toys into the front room and allowed them to pick out only a few toys each to play with and we bagged the rest. We're talking bare minimum. The girls have one doll each and a stuffed animal. Let me just say that was a HUGE step for them. They have a ton of stuffed animals and all are very special. Micah has a few trucks and two stuffed animals.

That's it for their own personal toys. Now, we still have play sets that belong in bins but they are out of reach so I control when they come down and make sure they are picked up when they are done. It's really hard to appreciate this huge step for us without seeing before and after, but let me tell ya, it's a whole lot nicer around here in the area of clutter.

If toy clutter is your hot button, give this a try. And if you aren't a task-oriented kind of gal, get someone who can help. Believe me, you will need their voice of reason when you find yourself saying, "oh, maybe they can keep this one..." I've been there, done that because once the toys got organized, I would stop and rethink the idea of downsizing. Now that we've succeeded, it feels great.

For great organizing tips and simple living, visit my favorite blog: www.simplemom.net

Celebrating Jesus

Learning to submit to our husbands is not easy. Any woman will admit there are areas that are easier to submit to than others. My husband is very easy going and I know he loves me deeply. He lets me get my way (in a healthy way) most of the time. If there are two events to choose from, he's pretty good about letting me pick the one we should attend.

Tonight, being Christmas Eve naturally there were a couple of things we could do. One option was to join our church family at a member's home and celebrate with our friends. The other was to attend the church in our little town of Banks and fellowship there. I was definitely voting for the former. I love people and parties and celebrating holidays with those I know and love. Going to a local congregation did not appeal to me because I knew I wouldn't know anyone there. This church however, has members and attendees that Doug knows from his childhood. Growing up in Banks that makes sense, right? Well, forget about Doug. I want to go to a place where I know the people and where I can have a good time. See how incredibly selfish I am?

Thankfully, my husband said no to my request to party at the Bauman's and insisted we attend the candlelight service at Dayspring Church. And boy am I glad he did. I was so blessed tonight as we were surrounded by people who celebrated Jesus. The music was joyful, yet spoke a message. The admonition from the pastor was loving but purposeful. I heard the gospel tonight and rejoiced in it.

As we closed the service with our candles in hand, the song we sang was Shine Jesus Shine. What a great way to end this night with our minds focused on the work of the Son, the One who overcame the darkness of sin! Here are the lyrics. May you rejoice in the Light of the world tomorrow and celebrate the birth of our risen Lord and Savior.

Lord the Light or Your Love is shining,
In the midst of the darkness shining,
Jesus light of the world shine upon us,
Set us free by the truth You now bring us,
Shine on me. Shine on me.

Shine Jesus shine
Fill this land with the Father's glory
Blaze, Spirit blaze,
Set our hearts on fire
Flow, river flow
Flood the nations with grace and mercy
Send forth Your word
Lord and let there be light.

Lord I come to Your awesome presence,
From the shadows into Your radiance,
By the blood I may enter Your brightness,
Search me, try me, consume all my darkness,
Shine on me. Shine on me.

As we gaze on Your kindly brightness.
So our faces display Your likeness.
Ever changing from glory to glory,
Mirrored here may our lives tell Your story.
Shine on me. Shine on me.

BFF's

Emily loves her best friend, Becca Jay Kimmel and last night Emily got to spend the night. Jen informed me that they woke up bright and early at 6am!! After getting sent back to bed, they tried to be quiet, but to no avail.

This morning, Emily said to Ms. Jen, "We stayed up all night!" Well, Jen has this great picture proving they did in fact sleep.

10 Weeks Till Christmas: Start (or finish!) Your Gift Shopping

Here's another great post from one of my favorite blogs: Simple Mom. It's hard to believe that Christmas is only 10 weeks away. And, those ten weeks are going to fly by-as usual. Before you read the article (which I hope you do-great stuff), I thought I'd share what we decided to do a couple of years ago concerning Christmas presents.

Each family is certainly different and this is not intended to make you feel bad about what you do, or make it seem that we have the best plan. This is what works for us and if it can encourage anyone out there wondering how to purge the lists and decrees the stress, I'm more than happy to share.

Two major problems come with Christmas and Christians. In the hub-bub of gift-giving we a) miss out on the true meaning of Christmas and b) add more stuff to already full houses. I can even add a third. We feed our kids and ourselves with the never-ending desire to have more. The ugly, "ALL ABOUT ME" disease rears its ugly head in the weeks, days and morning of Christmas.

First, let me paint a picture of our family situation. I live next door to my husband's brother and family and next to them is Doug's parents. My mom lived with us up until a few days ago. But, she didn't go far-only two houses down to live with Mom and Dad. We truly are a compound and I love it!! My sister and her family live only 30 minutes away. Depending on the year, we get to celebrate with Doug's sister who lives two hours away. With all this family around, we could potentially be buying gifts for 28 people! Assuming we spend $20 per gift, that's $560! AND, that means we've only purchased one gift per kid and doesn't include any friends.

I don't need to tell you that the family budget can go out the window during Christmas and I'm sure you have your own dilemma when trying to figure out what to buy and whom to buy for.

We have gone from drawing names, to buying for adults only, to homemade gifts only and the last, buying for our immediate families only. This has proven to work great in the last few years. Not only is it easier on the budget, but we can control what our kids own. And, the most important is that we can make much of Christ. When we finish opening gifts at our own home, our kids know we are heading to Grammy and Big Papa's, not to open more gifts, but to celebrate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. My desire is that our kids see the truth that God became flesh to redeem a people for His name. We felt we could do this much easier if we decreased the amount of gifts our kids received.

I will say this wasn't easy at first for some real gift-givers in our family. The solution: shower your love on birthdays. Christmas is about Jesus. Let's focus on Him. Birthdays are a day to thank God for life, so give away. For our kids, we ask that they receive no toys, only educational gifts. My kids have never been disappointed in receiving new crayons and a coloring book. Obviously, this is age-dependent, but the idea is to give them things that encourage their hobbies and talents-not fill their toy boxes.

One last thing. We also do a major purge before I even think about shopping for my kids. If they haven't played with the dollhouse, it's gone. If they are into their dolls, I'll perhaps add to their doll wardrobe. I want to teach my kids how to de-clutter and be charitable with what God had given.

Okay, to the article. I love the practical tips she provides leading up to Christmas.

Enjoy!


10 Weeks Till Christmas: Start (or finish!) Your Gift Shopping

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Family Time

After suggesting we actually spend some quality time with our kids, Doug pulls out the ultimate surprise. Camping indoors. The kids were thrilled.

The Best-Kept Secret to a Clean Home

Nothing new, but a great reminder!

The Best-Kept Secret to a Clean Home

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Celebrating a Day Early

Today, my sweetie surprised me by coming in the door (with the kids) singing Happy Birthday. Here's what they carried in:
A beautiful bouquet of two dozen roses, my favorite chocolates, a balloon that Micah loves to run around the house with, two stylish umbrellas and a very sweet card (not pictured).

They smell wonderful.

When I asked why he was giving me my gifts today and not tomorrow, he said it's the only way to really surprise me. a huh. Sure.

He thought it was today. :) Okay, he wasn't sure if today was the 1st or not. So, at least he doesn't think my birthday is Sept 30. :)

Cha-Ching

Here lately I've been finding hidden treasures while cleaning and purging. The first was $17.00 in a jacket pocket and the second was a $5.00 gift card to Starbucks in my junk drawer.

Well, the latest was quite the shocker. I convinced my sweetie to help me move a bookcase into the other room so I could move my love seat closer to the wood stove. As you can imagine, that takes a lot of work to remove everything off the shelves and of course force you to dust and clean them.

As Doug was dusting (something I doubt I will ever see again), he discovered a $50 bill hidden in bowl! WOW! How in the world did we hide that??? I have the slightest memory of putting it there about a year or so ago. Guess it worked to hide it.

We're going to be the old folks who hide their cash under the mattress and forget about it. :)

Why we homeschool

Today at Costco the gal behind the counter asked my girls if they were excited that school was starting. After receiving blank stares, she asked if they were going to school this year to which Emily replied, "We home school." I interject a little chuckle that we have already started and that they really hadn't gotten away from it. I further explained that because baby is due in late December/early January, we are trying to get ahead instead of trying to catch up.

I was surprised at the condescending tone that said, "So, your kids really haven't had a summer have they?" To that, I laughed a real hearty genuine laugh and said, "Oh, yes, they most certainly have. We just try to plug through because idle hands are no good." By this time I had my receipt in hand and that was my cue to leave.

As I walked to the truck I found I was defending myself and having an imaginary conversation with this woman. We home school because I have a desire to teach my kids. I don't hate the public school system. I certainly think it's flawed, but right now I am enjoying the freedom I have in America that says I can teach my children. And, believe me, our system is flawed too. No method is perfect.

If God calls you to enroll your children in private school, home school, public school or military school, do it to His glory, not to gain bragging rights. The Lord has really opened my eyes to my judgmental attitude that often comes with homeschooling.

Why are we here? To bring glory to God. Do that in ALL you do-including the education of your children.

So, why do we home school? Because we can! Oh, and we really believe this is what God would have us do at this time. :)

Little Man in Training

My little Micah is growing up so fast. He will be two in less than two months. Every parent will agree that the time goes by so quickly and it literally seems that one day we turn around and we're asking ourselves, "Where did my baby go?" For that reason, I am so thankful for the technology we have to document these precious moments of seeing them change, grow and explore new things.

Here's Micah shooting his first gun. Okay, I realize it's not technically his first time "shooting", but he's well on his way.


















We're serious about safety. :)



















Doug has been working away at removing tree stumps and there is one that's not making it easy on him. Micah enjoys sitting in the tractor as Papa hacks away at the stubborn roots. Apparently, this day proved to be too much.























I've heard it said often, "Enjoy your kids while you can, you don't know how long you will have them."

Go out and enjoy your treasures from God.

Rules

At the end of the message this past Sunday morning, we heard a very timely reminder that we as parents need to be aware of our children at all times while at church. I sat convicted as I have been too relaxed at times and have allowed my children to run in church. Once, my youngest had made it out the front doors and was brought back into me by another church member.

At lunch, we took the advice of our elder to talk with our children and remind them about the rules we have concerning church behavior. I felt it was profitable.

On the way home I overheard Emily telling Lydia some rules:

Emily to Lydia: "Don't let go. You can't run into someone. And Mommy, there's one more."
Me: "You can't run outside." (I assumed she knew I meant no more running by the front doors).
Emily: "No, Mommy, I'm telling her the rules of flying a kite."

Oy.

Well, not all was lost because the girls told Nana that they aren't allowed to run in church when she asked them what they learned in church.

It's a Parent Thing

Today, well, more like this evening, Emily lost her first tooth! Let me start by saying that when we discovered the wiggly tooth I was not thrilled. In fact my tummy sort of did a weird cramp, flop thing. I don't do blood so thoughts of my childhood came to mind and all I can remember is blood and the anxiety of it all. But, God's grace is sufficient and yes, I do praise Him for what seems to be small and to some, not that big of a deal. If you are a parent, I trust you got (or will get) as excited as I did when you saw the time had come for your baby to lose her/his first tooth.

We were dining with our friends, the Nelson's, and I heard the familiar groan from Emily that told me she had forgotten about her tooth and bit into food with it. This happens a lot. But this time I saw the thing pushed out toward me and I knew it was time to come out. Surprisingly, I didn't freak out-probably because I was at someone else's home. I took a napkin on the advice of Chuck (father of 4 teenage girls) and gave it a gentle tug. It was so easy and painless. And very little blood. Everyone around the table gave a hearty cheer and kept telling Emily how great it was. She was thrilled.

So, we had to come home and document this momentous occasion with pictures, magnets and cute ceramic boxes. All are below. Hope you enjoy this very joyous parent moment with me. My baby is growing up. :o)


Isn't she cute? :D

This picture is going to bug me because November is crooked. And we didn't move our K4T magnet. :o/

This little box was a baby gift from Emily's baby shower. It was fun to bring out.

Laziness

Okay, it's one thing for your laziness to affect yourself, but when that laziness affects those you love, well...it makes you feel terrible.

Such a feeling came over me this week. I took Emily, my five-year-old, to the dentist. This was her second time going in and they did x-rays this time around and found decay. I was bummed because I am the one who brushes her teeth. But we don't floss. So, sure enough she had a cavity at the back molar between the teeth. Had I flossed her teeth regularly, I'm sure she wouldn't have a cavity. She hasn't complained about pain and the hygienist said it's a very small amount of decay. I hate that word-decay. So, we headed off to Target and bought some ACT mouthwash and these great little flossers for kids. They're neon colored and are very easy to use. Mind you this will increase our bedtime routine by several minutes. But, I'm convinced the oral health of my children is more important than my time.

Here is a video of my little Micah Man(17mos) getting his teeth brushed:

Remember, floss 'em or soak 'em. Courtesy Chris Merkel. :o)

Double Digits

This past Wednesday, October 1, I turned 33. My birthday happened on the most busiest days of our week therefore, I'm posting about it 3 days later.

Birthdays bring reflection. Or tears, but I'm not that old yet. I can say I have a memory from 30 years ago. When I was 3 my mom made me brownies for my birthday. I remember her telling me not to touch the pan because it was very hot. Somehow I touched the pan. Memories are often remembered because of their significance. Fast forward to the summer before my 11th birthday. My mom, sister and step-dad relocated from my home state of Texas to the best state in the union, Oregon. I consider myself a Tex-Oregonian. I'm fond of this beautiful state because it is here that I saw my need for my Savior, Jesus Christ. It is here that I met my wonderful husband, Doug. It is here that I have welcomed three beautiful children into the world. And it is here that God has me to grow in sanctification and each day I'm reminded that I need His strength to be a godly wife, mother, sister, aunt, daughter, friend, neighbor, member of society.

Anyway, these are the random thoughts that came to mind as I reflected on another year that God has given me. May I take to heart the very sentiments I give others on their birthdays, "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ."

Here are some wonderful gifts of love that I received:

The beautiful bouquet of roses is from my dear husband.

The cards are from my daughters and their friends. The night before my birthday, I was at a ladies bible study with Jen and Doug watched her 4 girls and then of course, had our three. I woke the next morning to a pile of adorable scribblings and drawings made from little hands and received with much love. Because my kiddos have all-access to construction paper, I received cards throughout the day. My aunt from Connecticut sent a very loving card and if you'll notice, Dress Barn didn't forget me either. I also received other cards(with cash!), emails, phone calls and e-cards that made me feel loved.

The last gift was probably my favorite from my in-loves. Each were picked with a purpose, assembled with love and delivered with joy. Thank you, Mom and Dad for blessing me with this beautiful display of God's provision.

Thank you, Lord for a wonderful day and another year to be sanctified. May I not waste my life!

Baby Chicks

This past spring, Doug and I thought it would be nice to have some chickens. The eggs would be nice to have and it would give our kids a job to do. My biggest complaint with chickens though is the smell of the coop. So, after doing much research, Doug found a portable hen house that will enable the chickens to move around the yard but still be protected by varmints.

So, I asked my dear husband to please not order the chicks until the portable coop (also known as The Chicken Tractor) was built for obvious reasons. It's never a good thing to get the cart before the horse.

Well...you guessed it. Chicks came before the coop. They arrived last week and now we have baby chicks that aren't so little anymore and my dear sweetie is out right now desperately building our coop. Oh, I forgot to mention we went in with others on the chicken order, so there is a need for three coops.

I'm not going to say it...

Below are some videos of the little darlings on the day they arrived.