What do you do on another cold night in Iowa?

Well, you get out that bouncy house in the garage, turn on some music, and sit back to watch the kids bounce, giggle, and wrestle, of course!

Josiah's on a ROLL!

Josiah is a Bible Verse Machine... Here he is!!  He is ON A ROLL!! Way to go, Buddy!

Way to go, Bro!

I will be the first to admit: my girls are NOT normal girls!  They are totally into imaginary play, they memorize lines from TV and movies and rehearse them over and over, they can play “people” or “furniture” for hours, they love to have costumes on, etc.  But sometime in the fall they discovered a new obsession: WILD KRATTS!  Wild Kratts is a show on PBS that shows the adventures of two brothers who use the powers of different creatures to learn more about animals and to save some and how they live and thrive.  These adventures teach many interesting facts about animals and are pretty entertaining.

Since that day in the fall, our girls can be heard calling, “Way to go, Bro!” and other quips from the show.  They call each other Chris and Martin and pretend to go on the adventures as they do in the show.  I will sometimes call for the girls, but they will not come.  They will reply, “Don’t you mean you need your SONS to come?!” HA… they are constantly pretending and I don’t always know what character they will be!

For their birthdays, we added to the insanity by getting them each a Creature Power Suit (the costumes that the brothers wear on the show) along with 10 of the Creature Power Discs to go on their shirts!  As you will see… they were IN LOVE from the very beginning!

They each had a bag in the color of their Kratt Brother – Green for Chris and Blue for Martin!  (They picked up on that right when I gave them the bags!)

I love that you can tell Hannah is smiling from behind her shirt! :)

So what is in the next bag, Mom?

Here are the discs that go on the shirts!

 

 

“See you on the Creature Trail!”

Mind Blowing…

That is the only way that I can describe the deal that I got at Target on Tuesday night.  For those of you who know me and read this blog often, you know that I LOVE getting a good deal and using coupons is a way of life for me!  When my husband wants to show his love for me, he uses a high value coupon!  HA!  We keep track of these, and last year saved $2500 in coupons… not in sales, just those silly paper coupons that I cut out of the paper and print from the internet!  That is A LOT OF SAVINGS!

Well, Tuesday was one of those times that I was practically giddy leaving the store as I was adding up the savings and eager to add the savings to my coupon total!  I will try to give you the details in a simple way so you can follow… but put on your thinking caps!

Right now, there is a great deal at Target.  If you buy three of their selected Pantene Shampoos or Conditioners, you will get a $5 Gift Card to use on your next purchase!  In the same ad from the newspaper, it shows that those same Pantene products are $4.99!  So… if you buy three of them for $4.99 each for a total of almost $15, then you will get a $5 GC… so in reality the three Pantenes would be $10!  That is GREAT!!  BUT… the newspaper this week had a coupon for $5 off if you bought three Pantene products.  Use that coupon and you would get the three Pantenes for $5!  AMAZING…

That is a great deal… but you know me, I can always sweeten things a little more!

When I was at Target on Tuesday, I found MANY bottles of Pantene on CLEARANCE for $4.54… and they were the HUGE ones that are 29.2 fl ounces with a pump!! !  BUT THEN I found an associate there and ask him to scan those to see if they were in on the deal for the week… he said that they were AND they were actually just clearanced again… they were ringing up at $3.22!!!!

SO… are you following me?

I was able to get the Pantene products that I wanted for $3.22 x 3 = $9.66 – $5 coupon – $5 GC…. I actually got them for FREE!!  I was able to purchase 9 of them and paid $4.94 cash (when you factor in the tax) and then have $5.12 in gift cards to spend!  (Are you following me that I actually was paid $.18 for the 9 bottles?)  It was exciting!! 

For my critics that are wondering how I am ever going to use that much… remember that I have myself and two long-haired girls that I must care for as well!  We WILL go through that easily – in less time than you think!

Here is what I got:

A close-up to show that these were 29.2 FL OZ!!!!

Oh, how I love getting deals…

Women in America

I believe women in America have it all wrong… they are doing the wrong things, thinking the wrong things, saying the wrong things!  They just don’t GET what it truly means to be a woman… more specifically a MOM!

You see, women in America THINK that they can have it all and do everything without sacrificing anything.  They think they can work, have a family, make lots of money, live in the best neighborhood with a FABULOUS house and the best school system, drive the best SUV or luxury minivan (HA), etc – with or without a husband!  They are delusional to think that they can have it all…SOMETHING HAS TO GIVE and that is USUALLY their FAMLIES!!  Why don’t we have a strong country?  We don’t have strong families… and I believe that moms should share in this blame!

I have been working through a Bible Study by Elizabeth George called A Mom After God’s Own Heart. She writes this:

“Being a mother is a commitment, a responsibility, and a calling from God… for a lifetime.  And being a mom is our highest joy and our greatest challenge.”

“Divided loyalties lead to diluted living.”

“Dear one, realize too that on every single one of your days, the world will be sending you signals that you are a nobody unless you are a focused, sold-out working woman. The world says that being a mom is old-fashioned.  That you need to take care of yourself. That you’re supposed to be Number One. That your kids will make it just fine without your constant care.  But the world is wrong!  You can rest in your heart and know with all of the confidence and strength in the world who you are and what it is you are to do.”

Being a mom is a HIGH CALLING… it is JOY… it is a COMMITMENT… it is a GREAT RESPONSIBILITY… it is a CHALLENGE!  I don’t think many moms really know what they are getting into when they become a mom.  Everything changes… or everything SHOULD change.  The old, easy life is gone.  The selfish life is gone.  There is now a small human being that needs YOU.  God designed THEM for YOU…. and YOU for THEM.  So… stop living like you don’t really want that child… like they are a nuisance, like the suck the life out of you, like you really didn’t want your life to change, like life was so much better without them. Stop finding excuses to drop them off at Daycare so you can have some mommy time… AND LOVE YOUR LITTLE BLESSINGS INSTEAD!!!

My kids are wonderful…and I desire to be with them.  And even though that is old-fashioned in today’s world, that is OK with me!  I know who I am and to WHOM I have to give an account some day.  So I will keep on loving these kids…I will keep on giving them my time… I will keep giving them my best hours and the best of me… I will keep on loving their daddy… I will keep on telling them about Jesus and His Word… I will keep on… I will keep on! And when I have “one of those days”  I will refuse to give up!  Instead, I will take those little ones in my arms, snuggle with them on the couch and Thank God for His abundant blessings! THEY ARE WORTH IT!

Too much for a Monday?

There were several things that I needed to get ready for the girls party last week… things that I wanted to do and things that I needed to do.  We started off Monday morning with a whiney Caleb so I put him down for a nap which isn’t too uncommon for a Monday.  With Caleb occupied, I decided to get one of the big items checked off my list: Making the piñata with paper Mache’!  There were more than a few times that I asked myself, “Is this TOO MUCH FOR A MONDAY?”

I mixed up a batch of “glue” with flour and water and then gathered and cut the newspapers into strips.  We used one of the balloons that the girls had from the mall on Sunday and covered it with the strips of paper and glue… it would soon transform into a Bee Hive!

The Finished Bee Hive – with yarn on it to make it look a little more real.

The girls had such a BLAST making this that they weren’t sure about hitting it at their party, but I was able to convince them that this is what it was made for!  So, they gave in a made several great hits at the party… more of that to come!

Seven is Heaven…

Grace turned Seven just two weeks ago… my baby is SEVEN!  That is really hard to believe.  She is just wonderful and we are incredibly blessed to have her as our daughter.  Because her birthday came on a Sunday this year with Life Group in the evening, we had to be a little creative with how we celebrated her special day…. we just made it into a whole weekend event.  On Saturday we spent the day together as a family and then had her special dinner of Hard Shelled Tacos.  For an added surprise, our friends from Kansas were in town and had dinner with us… it was great catching up with them again!  Grace LOVED her dinner… and ate SEVERAL tacos with rice! 

We started off the next morning with some presents from us, Grampa and Nanna, and MomMom.  She had to open the card from Grampa and Nanna before any of the other gifts!The card from Florida DID contain SEVEN dollars… Grace was hoping for that, expecting that, and she was NOT disappointed!

MomMom sent a nice card and a Dalmatian costume… she loved it and immediately tried it on!  I KNOW she will use that over and over again to play puppies, their favorite game!

Grampa and Nanna sent some great things to use in the coming spring… spring IS coming, right?  Grace loved her butterfly net and bug cage…oh, the fun she is going to have finding bugs, putting them in the cage, and then observing them like a real scientist!

She also got a container for growing seeds where you can see the roots growing and then some gardening gloves to use to do the planting!

As a gift from us, we got her a gift card to go to Build a Bear to make an animal of her choice.  It was to be a special girls date… lunch after church and then to the mall.  She had never been there before so this was going to be real treat!!! 

For breakfast, she and I made cinnamon rolls… her absolute favorite, but I wouldn’t let her have seven even though she BEGGED!

Then the girls and I went to church without the boys – they were not feeling well.  I had to teach a class, so I HAD to be there – Danny had the day off except for Life Group that night!

After church, the girls and I went out for lunch… a really big treat for the three of us to be on a date.  The girls LOVED getting to have soda as well – Grace picked Diet Coke to be just like her Daddy!  I guess that is what a grown up girl drinks!

Then we headed to the mall to go the Build A Bear Store… in the very last bin of the store, Grace found what she was looking for.  She found a DALMATIAN!  I knew that is what she was looking for…. she needs another one for her collection… her family of dogs that she sleeps with each and every night!   She was delighted to see its black spots, and she named him LUCKY after the dog in the 101 Dalmatians Movie.  First she stuffed the dog and then she made a wish on a butterfly to add to the inside of the dog.  The lady from the store sewed up the puppy and gave us his birth certificate.  Next, Grace found some clothes for him… pajamas actually!  Here she is dressing him for the first time!

Meanwhile, Hannah patiently waited!  She was SO EXCITED to do this some day for herself!  :)

The finished product!  She was so proud of her new family member… Lucky was happy to be home with his mom, dad, brothers and sisters!

She had a wonderful birthday weekend… and totally thinks that SEVEN is HEAVEN!!  :)

Happy Birthday, Sugar!