mealtime

Took these of Sweet Pea at dinnertime on the webcam. She's so cute!

Hmmm, I think she thinks her toes are yummy!

weird dreams

Ok so I was craving egg salad sandwiches this week. Now on to the weird dreams. I know for a fact I am NNNNOOOOOOTTTTT pregnant but boy, weird.

So, the dream last night. We were looking at an older house to rent or something. The realtor took us to the house and began to explain that it may not be in the best shape because of the circumstances surrounding the situation. For some reason I'd figured out that it was a homeschooling family with 8 children and the mother had recently passed away. Understandable why the house wouldn't be completely picked up! And for some reason in my dream I'd heard of a family in that situation so though I didn't know them I'd heard of it all, if that makes sense. (In real life recently a homeschooling mom around here did pass away but I am not sure how many children she left behind).

We looked through the house and eventually children kept popping out of places. They were all shy. We never did see the dad but for some reason we saw the Mom!!! How is that possible when she was dead???? But then I got to thinking maybe she was helping out the family and how she looked so much like Michelle Duggar!

We were then left alone with all these children, plus our own were somewhere in the mix. We ended up staying and having a blast with the kids and spent the night. For some reason I was really mad at Zach about it all because I remember waking up in the morning (in my dream) mad at him. He was downstairs in the house cooking pancakes for the brood of kids- 12 total kids! Eventually they all arose and then my dear Sweet Pea woke me up IRL (in real life) by pulling my hair. So I have no idea what happened. It was a strange one!

a recipe to share

Last night I tried a new recipe that's in my Southern Living at Home cookbook. I love that cookbook. It's called Busy Moms or something like that so all of the recipes are super easy. This pasta dish was SOOOO yummy!!! I told the kids we were eating at ''Mommy Pasta Garden'' and were just lacking in the breadsticks and salad! I didn't have spinach so I substituted with green peppers. I also added extra cheese on top since we're all cheese lovers. I don't like to be chopping away in the kitchen much (thankfully I have a food chopper) but this one was worth it all! Oh, and I didn't have a food processor for the cottage cheese so I tried my blender but it wasn't working right. It was still delicious. Even as leftovers today for lunch it was scrumptious. You can find how to make this dish here!

spiritual food

Lately I've been into God's Word more than in the past. It helps when you have a friend to hold you accountable to reading! That's what started it all. We read Romans and now we're in Ephesians. Great books! My mom's church has been reading Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby. My mom has been telling me for some time what a great book it is and how much she is learning. It is great to see how much their church is growing spiritually! I knew we had the book but kept forgetting to look on the shelves for it. Finally, I dug it out and opened it up. Yesterday before I did anything else I was in God's Word, reading Ephesians and Experiencing God. And you know what? My day was SO much smoother! Now it is hard to get into the Word right away in the morning with 4 kids. That was probably a fluke thing! It's almost 2 and I've read most of a chapter in the book and haven't done my Ephesians study yet. But I really wanted to share some things that spoke to me from the book. I'm only on the second chapter, but these really stuck out to me:

"God will never give you an assignment that He will not, at the same time, enable you to complete."

"If you were to do everything that Jesus tells you one day at a time, you always would be right in the center of where God wants you to be. Can you trust God to guide you that way?" (italics mine)

Whew, it's 'common sense' stuff but it really spoke to me! I have such a hard time focusing on one day at a time! Especially lately when I think of Zach being gone so much within the coming months. There was probably more I was going to say on it all but my children are being rather rude and interrupting me.

learning

Maybe one day I'll learn to shop alone. This, of course, is difficult with four young children. Maybe I should've learned after my last fiasco when I was dress shopping for myself at Kohl's. My mom bought the kids some clothes and I wanted to try to get Sweet Pea's dresses in a size larger so thought I'd venture to Kohl's. Not alone but with my little ones along. Uh! The girls were good but the boys were just rambunctious. I am exhausted from that little trip! I'm pretty bummed that the particular dresses SP had didn't come in any larger sizes. I could have gotten a different dress but I wanted to get the same ones my mom had gotten her. So I guess I better just wear them on her and pray the weather warms up so she can wear the more summery one. Boy I wish I had oodles of money to spend at that place! Such cute girl clothes, for both baby and Chatterbox. I can't ever find much for my boys though. SP's up, gotta run. Maybe a rest on the couch is in order!

for all you deprived...

who haven't experienced a pasty look here

do you ever wonder just what to title a post?

Last night I went to a homeschool group meeting. I'd invited a few different friends but nobody was able to make it. It was ok. I saw a lady there that I met back at the September meeting (I haven't been to one of their meetings since November). It was nice to see a familiar face amidst a room of unknown people! As I said before, people here just aren't as open or something. It's like people know people but don't realize if you're a new face. So it was nice to 'know' Angela. I also knew another lady. Guess what she told me? A grocery store here carries PASTIES!!! Her mom is from the U.P. and when we went home I'd brought back a couple of pasties for her mom, who lives here now. So to hear that Dahl's has pasties...I need to head over there soon and get some! What a treat that will be!

Anyway, back to the meeting. They broke up into groups and shared some of the curriculum they use and what they like about it. I saw My Father's World up close. It looks really, really good. I really like what we do now but after seeing MFW I feel like I could switch! I probably won't but its a thought! I also learned about a few other interesting books.

This group is a big Charlotte Mason type group. Which is fine but I'm not quite as CM as most of those people. And not like it matters because I won't be joining it next year anyway. I think I'll join NICHE just to get the discounted price for the conference, but I have to make sure I can go to that first!

I was changing Sweet Pea's diaper a bit ago and noticed she's going to have a tooth popping through soon! Her gums have been swollen for some time now but its really white now, you can see the tooth just underneath the gum. My little baby is growing up way too quickly!

I know there was more I was going to write about but I seriously can't remember what I wanted to say. Obviously nothing real important! I finished the Glenn Beck book already (its on my reading list) and recommend it. It was real good. I think I'll just go kick back and read for awhile while the kids play. Maybe I'll think of something exciting to write later.

Oh, but I'll leave you with this. It's from Glenn Beck's book:

Sometimes the hardest part of the journey is believing that you're worthy of the trip.

Love that.

**Let me clarify that the Glenn Beck book was 'The Christmas Sweater' and not a Mormon book!

Teenpact

Here she is all dressed up and ready to go!

Here's the pictures she took (just a few) while she was gone!

Hannah and her friend, S.

think spring

I used up all the eggs today and Booty Shaker took the egg carton so I thought we'd make some caterpillars. Sad to say I'm not sure I've ever done this with my kids before! They were so excited! I earned 'Cool Mom Points' today! Score!

friday's fun

Uh oh! Sweet Pea had a gun so we were all making guns!

Here's the fun we had on Friday while friend, J, joined us!

Silly Boys!

Had to throw these ones in of Junior Squirrel and Sweet Pea. I seldom get pictures of the two of them for some reason. So sweet!

snowy sunday

I finally finished the last of the Twilight books. Now I want to finish up reading Edward's take on things online. I was sad to see it all end but I'm ready for a new genre of books for awhile! On my list are a book by Glenn Beck, Miserly Moms and Pride & Prejudice.

Last night I went to visit my friend Emily. It was such a wonderful time of fellowship, one that I really needed. We talked, broke out the Bible, drank tea, talked, prayed (Zach laughed and wondered how that could be fun!!! Men have such different ideas of fun than us women!). I honestly can't remember the last time I had such a blessed time with a friend. I came home feeling such peace as I haven't been very peaceful feeling lately! I praise God for putting the friends in my life that He has. It was exactly what I needed.

Today we have white stuff on the ground again. Oh how I wish for the south! It's nice in a way in that I feel all cozy warm in my house today. But I really am ready for spring and summer! I hope this doesn't last long!

Sweet Pea has been sitting so well lately! She is growing up way too quickly. She's such a delight! I think how boring life would be if I didn't have children!

Daisy's leg seemed better but today she was running and began crying. I may have to get that leg checked out after all. She gets the last of her shots tomorrow so we'll talk to the vet about it then. Poor pup. I thought maybe she was all better but she seems to have hurt it again. Drats!

I made Red Beans & Rice for dinner last night- something I never make! It was pretty good! I really must be missing the south, although I never did eat it while in the south! It's just such a southern dish! Tonight on the menu is Pizza Casserole.

It's been a relaxing Sunday. I didn't plan on going to church because of the weather and it was cancelled anyway. I vacuumed, did a few loads of laundry, read, the kids and I read the Bible and prayed (I would have sang with them too but I'm too croaky still). I haven't done much of anything and its nice. I needed a day like this to do nothing! Now I need to get school lessons ready for the week. It doesn't take long to do, but normally its met with interruptions so we'll see when I get that finished! I want to plan some Easter things for us to do this week also. It's hard to believe that its next weekend!

the quietest sleepover

Yesterday Chatterbox was gone all day to Teenpact. She went with some of our friends. She had to write up a bill for it, in which she said every home in the state should have a pet (it didn't have to be a serious bill). She had a few other homework assignments to do as well. I missed her terribly when she was gone! I had my friend's 4 yo boy here that while so the boys had a blast playing! I was so excited to hear how her day went. One of the first things she said was, "My bill passed!" Way to go CB! Maybe she'll be a Senator or Congresswoman one day:) Haha She got to tour the capitol and took some pictures. I'll have to share some with you when I load them on the laptop. She sure had a fun day! Thanks for taking her along, Janis!

Since she didn't' have a birthday party I'd told her she could have her friend spend the night after Teenpact. Being that our church is a ways away I said she could stay until Sunday and we'd just take her to church (church is actually closer to us than S's house). She was really excited! She's only had one other person sleep over before and that was probably 2 years ago. I remember that sleepover clearly. I heard her friend, R, giggling all night long and repeatedly had to tell them to quiet down (the boys room was right next to them). Last night the girls were so quiet. I imagine it helped that they were up early for Teenpact and busy all day. We made some brownie cupcake things last night from one of CB's cookbooks. They are yummy! Make a box of brownies in mini cupcake pan. When they come out of the oven top with 2 teddy grahams, 3 marshmallows and 5 chocolate chips. I think they're called S'more Brownies. They're so good! The girls are enjoying their last hours of playing. We're supposed to get a snowstorm so I won't be going to church tomorrow (and if I didn't mention before Zach has a concealed weapons class so he'll be gone all day tomorrow) so S will have to go home today. At least the girls got quite a bit of playing in.

ah ha

So maybe part of my problem is the lack of warm weather. I lived in the south for 6 years. I've recently been thinking about how we rarely had to wear pants down there. My kids' pants now have holes in the knees and are getting too small. I keep thinking I can put off getting new ones since summer is around the corner. Then I remind myself I'm not in the south but in Iowa. Where it's cold. And won't be warm for awhile. Even Sweet Pea doesn't have a lot of warmer clothes, rather she's got quite a bit of dresses and summery type of clothes. I miss warm weather! Weird to think I miss something of that place I used to live, but more and more as I think on things there are things I miss. I really miss our house we owned there more than I ever thought I would. I wish we still lived in it! I think I liked it better than I like this house! Anyway, I'm sure the cold days don't help my happiness;) Just a thought! I hope they come soon though, not only for me to be a little happier but so little miss Sweet Pea can wear her cute clothes!

love the little baby antics

Let me tell you that I am so in love with my dear little baby. She is such a delight. You know one thing I just adore? When she's nursing she oftentimes looks for my hand and just wants to hold my finger. Or she'll rest her hand upon my breast or hold on to my shirt. I just love the tenderness in those touches. I love how she'll gaze up at me with her baby blue eyes and get a bit of a smile on her face. I love the little crease in her wrist where the fat is and her chubby little fists that hit anything that gets in the way. I'm so in love with my baby!

the cupboards have eyes

Yesterday the kids were playing and for some reason Booty Shaker said something about a monster or some such thing and pointed to this cupboard in the kitchen, saying something about its eyes. Sure enough, it does look like it has eyes! I just had to share! The imaginations these little ones have! I would never have noticed that my cupboard had eyes!

depression

I am just in a rut. A serious rut. I feel stuck. I'm so ____ (I don't know the word). I just want to see change in my life. I want to be happy again. Then today the state of Iowa ruled that same-sex marriage is OK. Sick. I sure hope some gay couple doesn't move down the street like happened in Mississippi! This world is so close to hell. I wish the Lord would just take us up in His glory. It would end the sick, perverse things of the world as well as my funky mood. Well, the baby needs me.

Chatterbox's 9th birthday

Opening her bathtub! She was SO excited!

The boys watching CB. No idea why once again this picture is like this on the bottom. And it took like 4 tries to upload it! Grrrrr

Sleepy baby

Cake time!!!!

Blowing out her candle (we luckily had 1 candle so Zach made a 9 to put on it). No idea what JS is doing in the background!

I let CB pick out Sweet Pea's outfit for the day. She looked cute and they both matched. I didn't get a picture until later that night and it didn't turn out the best but I still wanted to share.

To see them all click here

Beautiful baby wearing a dress from Aunty Amie

These shaggy boys need haircuts!

Playing with her toesies

Mommy & her baby (this outfit was Chatterbox's)

You can go here to see more.

almost friday already?

This week has FLOWN by. It has been so busy for us over here! I've been meaning to blog but never did find time so this morning I told myself first thing I'm going to do is blog. I didn't even go to facebook yet! haha

• Chatterbox had a great birthday. We had Sonic for lunch and sloppy joes for dinner. One of our friends came over, bringing her a gift and cupcakes! Her friends from across the street brought a gift over in the evening, which was very sweet of them. We watched Chrissa, the new American Girl movie and I played Clue with her. She had a great birthday!
• Yesterday was her 'second birthday' as she calls it. It was 2 years ago that she was baptized, 'reborn'!
• Was hoping to get quite a bit of school done yesterday since we didn't do it on Tuesday but that didn't happen. Sweet Pea still hasn't been sleeping well at night so I finally decided to take her to the doctor. Poor girl has an ear infection.
• In addition to that Junior Squirrel has the fever thing going on now. His appetite seems better but he's still getting fevers a bit off and on.
• I thought Daisy may have hurt her leg or foot. Well, she did hurt it. She went to the groomers yesterday (its in the same place as the vet). I told the groomer how my son threw her (YES, he THREW our dog and got in a lot of trouble) and how she was limping at first, but running now but sometimes whining about it. The groomer didn't see anything wrong with it and didn't have the vet look at it or I would've had to pay. I'll just keep an eye on her and see how she does.
• I bought some Silver Biotics yesterday and took some and today I feel SO MUCH BETTER! I SWEAR by SILVER. That stuff is just amazing! I don't think I'd feel as well as I do if I didn't take it. I contemplated buying it because it was expensive but I knew it'd be worth it. After all its for our well-being.
• Going to try to get some pictures on here today. It's been awhile.