Devotions

I have wanted to do devotions with my children for some time now. I just really didn't know where to start/what to say/what to do. I came across this site tonight and think that I will start using it.
http://www.heavensinspirations.com/childrens-devotionals.html. God has really been laying it on my heart to set an example and to be a witness to my children and others. I think this will be a good start. My desire is to have a closer walk with God.

I also came across Confessions of a Homeschooler tonight. While I don't believe that I'm ready to home school my children, she is such an inspiration and has great craft ideas for children.

Ok, guess I should probably head to bed now. It's getting very late at 12:46 am (way past my bedtime) and I have to get up in the morning to get Tyler ready for school.

b is for boat

Today the girls made a boat out of a lowercase b. This came from No Time for Flash cards. This isn't the best picture but it was the only one my camera would allow be to take before the battery went dead.

All about food!

This post is going to be more about food then anything else. I just wanted to share a terrific recipe that I had for dinner tonight. If you don't know by now, I'm a Tastefully Simple consultant. We sell items that require no more then 2 ingredients to prepare. Super easy and very delicious. Well, for dinner tonight we had Creamy Artichoke Chicken. I omitted the swiss chess because it was plenty cheesy on it's on. Here is the recipe:

Creamy Artichoke Chicken
Submitted by Rosemary (MN) HQ Resident Chef

Ingredients
1 packet Artichoke & Spinach Warm Dip Mix
8 oz. cream cheese, cubed
1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1/2 cup chicken broth
4 oz. shredded Swiss cheese
Prepared baked potatoes, pasta or rice

Directions
Combine first 4 ingredients in a greased slow cooker. Cover, cook on low for 3-4 hours. During last 30 minutes of cooking, stir in Swiss cheese. Serve over hot baked potatoes, pasta or rice. Makes about 6

You can also find it here: http://www.tastefullysimple.com/Cultures/en-US/Recipes/recipes.htm?rid=8574&src=s

We also had roasted red potatoes with butter, TS Seasoned Salt, TS Garlic Garlic, and TS Onion Onion. Then to top it off a nice salad. I made my own Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing and drizzled that on top. I'm usually a Ranch girl (the homemade kind) but I also like some Balsamic type dressings.

For dessert I had Betty Crocker® Cookie Brownie Bars



I love these things! I can't have brownies in the house often though because I can't control myself. I can eat almost all of them in just a few days!

Usually when I do have brownies in the house they are Tastefully Simple Truffle Fudge Brownie Mix which are just divine but I didn't have any and saw these at the store. I have had them a few times before at playdates with the kids but this was the first time I had bought them for myself.

I guess I should share a picture tonight of something other then my brownie/cookie mix. :)



This is Tyler, Tatiana and I at the Zoo Easter weekend. It was the most crowded I had ever seen the place. Hubby says we're not going back on a Holiday weekend ever again.

Mother's Day Gift

I'm not going to post what I did here, because it will spoil it for my Mom. I did make something this year though and I think it turned out very cute. I will try and remember to post a picture of it after Mother's Day. I did make it today and it was super fun and easy. We also went to a birthday party today. He was born on the same day as Tatiana. Tatiana had her party last weekend and he had his party this weekend. Today I will post a picture of Tatiana and Tyler. Jalita took these pictures a few weeks ago and I have yet to put in my order. I need to do that soon. Go here to visit her site. http://www.photosbyjol.com/

Lazy 5 Ranch

Today I took Tatiana to Lazy 5 Ranch. Tyler got to go a few weeks ago with his school on a field trip there. He really enjoyed it. It has probably been 15 years or so since I've been there. When attending school at the local community college I worked at an After school and Summer program at one of the Elementary schools. We took a trip there during the Summer so as you can see my memory is a bit foggy. Well today on the way there I got pulled over. I was trying to figure out why I was seeing the blue lights because I didn't think I was speeding. When I was pulled I got asked to show my drivers license and registration which is normal. He then told me who he was and why he pulled me over. My tags had expired and I had no idea. My inspection had also expired and I had moved and not changed the address on my drivers license yet. He told me that he was just going to issue the citation for the tag. Whew! I don't guess I'm doing too bad though, I'm 33 and this is my first ticket. It still means that I'm going to have to go to court. :( He said I probably could get out of it if I went to court since it was minor. I guess I will do that instead of pay $150! On a more positive note Tatiana and all the other kids in our Mommies group seemed to enjoy themselves at Lazy 5. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Lazy 5, it's kind of like a zoo I guess. There are wild animals but they roam around. You have the option of riding in a horse drawn trailer or taking your own car through. We opted for the trailer ride. It was a bit bumpy, but a lot of fun. Here are a few pictures.


Tatiana feeding the Giraffe


The Buffalo/Bison opened it's mouth and stuck out it's tongue. You then were supposed to put the feed on it's tongue, lol!


An Ostrich pecking away at the food. Watch your fingers!


Me and my kiddos minus Tyler.

Mod Podge

I have discovered Mod Podge and I love it! There are so many different things/crafts you can do with it. Just do a search for DIY Mod Podge and you shall see. Teacher appreciation week is coming up, so I made my first clipboards for Tyler's teachers at school. I also made myself one and will be doing several others. I use clipboards for my Tastefully Simple parties, so these will look much better then the basic clipboards. They are so much fun though. All you need is some Mod Podge and some scrapbook paper or fabric. I think I will also add some ribbon to the top of these. This is the tutorial that I used for the clipboards. http://littlemissmomma.blogspot.com/2010/03/mod-podge-clip-board-tutorial.html



This is the front of my first one that will be used for Tastefully Simple parties.



This is the back of that one.



These are the two for Tyler's teachers.



and these are the back of those two.

Tatiana's Birthday!

Today is the big day! Tatiana is 4 years old. We celebrated her birthday with a party on Saturday. It was at the gymnastics studio where she takes gymnastics at. We had a good turnout and the party was a hit. I thought her cake turned out super cute also. I ordered it from http://www.cakesbykimnc.com/ out of Winston.






Tatiana posing on the mat





The party favors, handmade coloring books with crayons.

Yesterday after church we went to eat lunch with some of our family at Cracker Barrel. Afterward we went to MaMa and Papa's to hang out. I decided to take a few pictures.



Darlene (my Aunt), My Mom, and my MaMa



Eli and Tyler looking for bugs.



I liked this picture of Tyler with the mountains in the background.


Tyler, Tatiana and Eli

PaPa's Birthday

We went out to dinner tonight for PaPa's birthday. This is my Mom's Dad. God had truly blessed our family to be so close knit. I had the kids make him a birthday card that I found from http://www.allkidsnetwork.com/crafts/birthday-cards/candles-birthday-card.asp.



The inside of Tatiana's card. On the outside, I just typed in Happy Birthday PaPa! We Love You! and then printed it out. The outside of the card could have been decorated with that moved into the inside but I'll take what I can get. :)



This is the inside of Tyler's card to PaPa. He drew birds and ducks on the top of the card. He also ended up writing his name right under the candles.

I have slacked off on the exercise. I didn't do it today either. I have to do it again tomorrow though! Ugh, just to get into the swing of things then I will be ok. I've got to do this!

My babies birthday party is only 2 days away. She will be 4 in only 4 days! Crazy, crazy!

Tax day!

It's tax day! I'm so glad we already have ours filed. We are just waiting for a refund now. We e-filed, so we should be getting them back soon. At least we should be getting Federal back soon. Who knows how long it will be before we get our state refund back.

Well, I slipped up yesterday and didn't do my daily run. I'm sore from the day before yesterday though. I've got to get in done today though, soreness or not. I was pooped after the kids left yesterday then last night we had our Wednesday night church service. I took the kids over to a play date yesterday which they really enjoyed then I also worked on Tatiana's party favors for her birthday party on Saturday. I decided to put something together this time instead of buying the little trinkets that eventually get tossed. I'll post pictures of it after her party.



Today I'm sharing a picture of Elise (one of the girls I watch) and Tatiana. This was taken outside before my Dad so kindly came over and used the leaf vac to pick up our leaves.

We have gymnastics today, so we will be getting ready soon to head there. Tomorrow night I have a Tastefully Simple party, Saturday is Tatiana's birthday party and Sunday is church. Busy weekend ahead! I would rather stay busy then sit around though.

Trampoline

Andy put up the trampoline today with a little help from me. The kids had a blast on it.



I'm tired after a long day, but decided to go ahead and post on here anyway. I'm enjoying this. I did my couch to 5K running plan again today. I've decided to step it up a notch from what is suggested though. I'm afraid if I go at the rate it suggest I will not be ready to do the 5K by June. So, yesterday I ran/jogged 1 minute then walked 1 minute for 20 minutes. Today I jogged 2 minutes and walked 1 minute alternating for 20 minutes. I've been running some around the house and some through the neighborhood. It just depends if my hubby is home or not. The run through the neighborhood is toughest because there are several hills. It is good practice though because I'm sure there will be some hills in the 5k. I also did my 50 sit ups again today. I didn't struggle as much with them today as yesterday, thankfully. I can already tell that my abs are sore though. It will probably be a little harder tomorrow for my abs.

After the kids that I watch left, dinner was cooked and I bathed my kiddos. I cooked something simple tonight, baked spaghetti. After this I needed to pick up a few groceries. I decided to go to Kohl's since I was going to be out. I had $10 Kohl's cash which I used for a pair of Bermuda shorts. Retail was $30, sale price was $14.99 then my Kohl's cash for $10. Which means I just paid $5 and some change for them. I love a deal! I also picked up some things for Tatiana's birthday coming up at Wal-mart and The Dollar Tree. I can't believe my baby is about to be 4! Where does time go? Signing out for tonight. It's almost midnight and I need to be in the bed.

Running

I'm wanting to do my first 5K in June so I need to really get on the ball with running. I am attempting this program.

http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml?act=AFC-SocialMedia&Property=CoolRunning&Sport=Running&PageType=Content_Articles&Emp=TO&PostType=Profile_Link&Site=C25kfacebook&Dy=8_11_09&Note=C25kfanpagelink

I did it once last week, but know that I need to be doing it everyday in order to be ready for the 5K in June. Yesterday I walked/jogged again which is part of the program. I'm so out of shape, so I'm hoping this program will help motivate me to work out again. I also did 50 sit ups. I was struggling towards the end of them. I know it will get easier though.

Today I will share a photo of one of the kids crafts. I have been using the site No Time for Flash Cards for lots of great ideas for crafts with the kids. http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/ We are doing the letters of the alphabet, upper and lowercase. As you can see in this picture we made a Bee out of the letter B.

Sunday

We attended Church this morning then again this evening. I actually made it to Sunday school this morning. I really enjoy going and the kids like it too. I need to try and get there every Sunday for Sunday school. We were a little late, but better late then never, right? This morning Brother George who is our youth pastor and also our associate pastor informed us that we would have a prospective pastor visiting soon. I'm looking forward to hearing him, so I don't want to miss out on that service. This afternoon we went with my parents to Cana, VA. It's right across the state line, so only about an hour away from our house. Mom and Dad picked up a new cement bird bath. It was outdoors where this man had made lots of cement sculptures. He gave Tyler a little fish sculpture and Tatiana a little bird sculpture. Tyler found a Cardinal that he had to have, so Granna agreed to get it for him. Tatiana then woke up from her nap and got to pick out a sculpture. She chose a squirrel.

I didn't take any pictures today, but I will try to post a picture of something every time I post. This is a picture of Tatiana's first haircut. Yes, she is almost 4 and this is her first one. She wasn't very happy about having it cut. We even went to one of those fun kid places, still not happy. The was between 3-4 inches cut off and this was about a month ago.

This is a picture of her during the process.



This is the end result. This is as close as a smile that I could get.

My first Post!

With all the other blogs I've been checking out, I decided to start my own. I don't know how often I will be able to update it, but hope to periodically. I will share pics of the family here. I will also include links to crafts that I want to try out or have already tried. I've really got back into a crafty mood, so I'm going to go with it.

A few days ago I came across this. How to make a gift bow from a magazine bow from the blog, How about orange... http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2009/10/make-gift-bow-from-magazine-page.html

I've made 3 of them so far. They are super easy and don't take much time. I took a picture of the first one.




A little about what we did today... We pretty much just hung out around the house most of the day. I made an attempt at straightening up our computer/hobby/craft room up. I'm wanting to start sewing again, but I need to get some things put away first so I'll have some room. We went to the park briefly and Tyler wanted to go to go see the creek there before we left. So, we went down to the creek and several boys were playing in the creek with their shirts off. I was a little surprised since the weather today was only in the low 70's. Whatever flips your boat though. Of course Tyler was interested in doing the same thing. I told him that it was too cold to get in that water today. Maybe that will hold him off for a little while. We then stopped and got ice cream. Tatiana decided she wanted Rainbow sherbert. I was a little surprised she wanted to try something new, but I let her. She ate a few bites of it and decided she didn't want it anymore. I threw the ice cream out because she usually likes the cone the best anyway. She decided she was finished. Tyler was walking around with his cone of vanilla and dropped the whole thing. He wasn't very happy either, but I had already told him to sit down. I was the only one who was able to finish mine. I had a chocolate milk shake. Yummy!