Nap Time

I saw the mess these two little girls had made today.  I shut the door and asked them to clean up before nap time.  When it was quiet for a few minutes and I knew they weren't cleaning, I went in and this is what I found: 

Good thing Daddy made those shelves sturdy!!  :)

Back in the Saddle

We just got back from a fun week with my mom's family in Georgetown and Salado.  We celebrated upcoming babies being added (3 within 5 months in 2010), Thanksgiving, remembered my sweet Mawmaw, and got to hang out and eat and watch some good sports. My sister, 4 cousins, a friend and I went and saw New Moon last night and it was good!  I read the books so fast, I couldn't remember when it ended and the next began.  When it was over, I was like, that's it??? I didn't feel like 2 hours at all.  I think Breaking Dawn should be a 5 hour movie personally :).

I hope to get back in the saddle.  I have knit 3 really cute (in my opinion) baby hats in about 4 days of travel and car-riding and I'm proud of my first attempts.  I'm almost done with my knitting Christmas gifts, and have a few more sewing Christmas gifts to finish up, and I'm done! :)  I can't wait to attempt some new sewing projects for my etsy shop!  And, I need to start and finish my new advent calendar I'm making for our family!  :)  Gotta get on that and finish it by the 1st!! 
I hope that our family gets back in the swing of things.  That we finish this holiday season off well and back in a good routine.  Doing quiet times and family devotions, spending time together and just relaxing and enjoying every moment we're given--and we hope you do the same!  

10 years baby!

Today is always bittersweet.  It is 10 years since Miranda's funeral.  I cannot believe how long it's been.  It's also 10 years since Eric and I started officially 'dating.'  He came to the funeral with me (which was the day before Thanksgiving), and then went to his house, while I went to Georgetown with my family for Thanksgiving. 

Later that night, I was on IM with him and finally asked him if we were ever going to 'date'.  Most of you know his sweet answer ;) "Yeah, I guess we can be boyfriend/girlfriend, but I don't think it'll last long."  He still says 'it's not long yet', haha.  Anyways, Eric, thank you for the past 10 years.  You've stayed by my side through all the 'hard stuff' and continually cause me to grow and change.  You are an awesome family leader and companion.  I love you more today than 10 years ago! 

Good Word

My friend Meredith always says that, when she thinks I say something useful :), which probably isn't often, ha!  Anyways, we're accountability partners, and for going so strong a few months ago, I just have let up in my digging into God's word.  Sleep has gotten the better of me, and when I should be reading and meditating on God's word, I end up sewing, or knitting or cleaning.  Not bad things, unless I am not focused on my priorities.  Anyways, I've been reading through a few Psalms lately to get back in the swing of things, and wanted to say how blessed I've been.  I read Psalms 18 last Monday as I was preparing for a hard week.  My best friend died 10 years ago in the A&M bonfire tragedy, and we were heading to remember her with her family and friend up in College Station on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Sunday I got the call that her mom's brother, her Uncle Alan, had passed away from a heart attack.  My heart was so sad for this family, and the timing of these events!  But, Monday morning as I was reading through Psalm 18, I was reminded how the

"Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.  He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold."

He is always there when we need Him, even if we can't feel him comforting us.  And I bet you can guess one of the passages of scripture that was read at the funeral on Thursday.  I love it when God reminds me over and over how aware He is of ME and my life.

This morning I was reading through Psalm 19 and two things spoke to me (don't get me wrong, the whole chapter is good!):

Verse 1 "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands."

Verse 14 "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer."

The first helps to remind me that God is in every thing he made, how beautiful our world is!! 

Now confession time, I prayed verse 14 over my day today.  I have lots to do before we go out of town on Wednesday, but I wanted today to be a day of prayer and  living well!  Well, before the kids even woke up, I called the post office to find out where a package I mailed 6 days ago could possibly be.  After finding out what I feared, that it had been handled wrong, I took my frustration out of the lady on the phone and hung up.  UGH.  How can I pray one minute and act like that the next.  I have been practicing patience and getting much better at it, but in that moment, I just did what I wanted, didn't even stop to think.  And even worse, she doesn't know me, she was just answering the phones.  She didn't take part in my mistake.  So today, I will continue to pray that prayer, as well as confess my falling short!  God, be near me today and let me be a ray of light in this dark world, not a frustrated mom taking her feelings out of anyone!

The Ultimate Cloth!!

This is a Mama Buzz review. The product was provided by the makers of the Ultimate Cloth for this review. I was not compensated for this review - just asked to give an honest account of my experience with this product.

I'm so lucky I got to try one of these cloths for free over the past few weeks!  Here is what the company says about their product:

What is the Ultimate Cloth?


The Ultimate Cloth is eco-friendly solution for homes as well as a money and time saver. The Ultimate Cloth is a brand new technology – in fact, it is the only cloth to receive a new patent in the last 25 years. The Ultimate Cloth is a simple, green and effective one-step cleaning process. The Ultimate Cloth cleans any hard surface – glass, wood, granite, stainless steel and many more – with just water! No longer do you have to use harsh chemicals in your home, nor do you need spend hundreds of dollars per year buying them. The Ultimate Cloth has been lab tested to remove 96% of bacteria, without the use of chemicals. And, can cut 50% off your cleaning time. The Ultimate Cloth is truly the ultimate in green cleaning.
 
Sounds a little too good to be true, huh?  I really put my cloth to the test, the first thing I did was sweep my ceramic tile in my breakfast nook, which does not get mopped near enough, WHATSOEVER!!  But this is not a post about how bad a housekeeper I am....
 
So anyways, I got down on my hands and knees and went tile by tile cleaning all the built up GUNK on my floor.  It had been too long.  And all I did was wet this little cloth that almost felt like paper, wring it out and got to work.  I only rinsed it twice doing the whole breakfast nook, and it just kept on cleaning.  You could tell how much dirt and grime it picked up, here's an after picture (it was a white cloth when I got a hold of it). 
 

I felt like it was too disgusting to clean anything else with after that, so I through it in the wash with my whites and then hung it out on the clothes line to dry. 
 
A couple of days later I used it to clean my granite countertops in my kitchen, then my glass breakfast table, then some spots on our bathroom counter....it worked on everything!! And it's only $6!  No more nasty chemicals. I will say there were a few tough spots that I just had to use some handy elbow grease ;) to get up, but I didn't have any problems (besides my previous lack of cleaning) :).  Right now they are giving away one FREE, just follow them on twitter or become a fan on facebook.  I was supremely surprised in my pack when it said it should last for 5 years!!  I hope it's right, because so far I'm hooked!

Misty's Blessings Blog!

I wasn't sure if I've mentioned it here before or not....but I have a blog for my etsy store, which can be found here.  If you'd like to follow it, so you can see my very random and not frequent updates....be sure to do so...I have a giveaway up my sleeve as soon as my followers reach 10 on the etsy blog!! :)

Teeth!

Before I forget....man is Micah ever following Cara almost identically in the teeth department.  He got his first 2 at 8 months ( she got them at 7), the two bottom teeth, and now, at almost 13 months (When did THAT happen!), he broke through with one more bottom and his first top on Sunday and another top yesterday!  And the rest of his top and bottom are almost all swollen.  She broke through with 2, then 6, then another 6!!  So, we will wait and see....and stock up on teething tablets and motrin :)

Little to update!

For once I am not blogging because there is truly little update :).  I've been reading the twilight series. Thoroughly enjoying them, wretchedly disliked the movie.  UGH, totally didn't follow the book. Eric was VERY tired of hearing that as I yelled at the TV on Sunday evening.

We had a great trip to Georgetown this weekend.  My mom had a half day, so she came by to pick us up and after an hour of loading her car, taking off, having it shake like crazy on the highway, come back, get my van, reloading it, switching over carseats (thank goodness I had went ahead and already purchased a new battery after lunch with Eric, just in case he didn't have time this weekend), and hitting the road again, we arrive safely.  We had car drama on Friday, Eric also had a flat tire and ended up having to get 2 new tires! 

I have not been good at keeping up with my giving as well as I should, since I haven't been blogging every day.  I have made some more meals and breakfasts and took some to my grandpa.  I've been in prayer for friends and family.  I've been working on being more gracious with C & A.  They have been soooo sweet at times, and yet so hard too.  I've been trying to spend as much cuddle time with little man as for some reason I feel that is drawing to a close.  I've been trying to focus my energy on my marriage and how I can continually improve on that.  I've gotten back into cooking (though my husband did request something BESIDES chicken for once).  I can't help it if it is SOOO easy! :).  I have truly enjoyed making the things by hand I have been working on for Christmas.  If you know me well, you know that I'm a planner and have to get things done early, you also know I'm HORRIBLE at having a gift ready and not being able to give it.  I'm having to hide them away in a back closet so that I'm not tempted to pull them out! :)

Well, that's all for now.  Off to sew!

Timberdoodle: I Can Trace & Primsacolor Colored Pencils

Another hit out of the ballpark on things I get to review!  I absolutely love this book, and Cara now asks for it by name, daily, the I Can Trace 'lesson' as she calls it.  I was really hoping I'd get this review, because I have tried quite a number of tracing/handwriting books in the past.  Having a mom and sister as elementary teachers, they often give me books to try with Cara.  My mom just gave quite a few fisher price tracing books, in sets of 2 so I can do them with Aynslee and Cara, and neither girl seemed very intrigued, or they started above their level.  But, I pulled out the I Can Trace book for the first time a few weeks ago, and Cara was in love.  It starts off very easy (just simply drawing straight lines-as you can see in the picture in activity 1) and the best part about it is how colorful EACH page is.  This particular book has LOTS of animals throughout it and Cara just absolutely loves that.

As a mom, I love how at the top of each page, it gives a little direction.  Like the first 7 lessons say to get the child to trace the various lines (straight, zig-zagged, curvy, etc) with their finger before trying with a pencil.  Then, on lesson 8, it says see if they can draw the lines without tracing with their fingers first.  Then, it starts into the extension activities we can do at home!  I love these.  After the end of the lesson, it says, "When your child is done with the activity, he or she can do the extension activity on page 197."  And then, back on page 197, it gives you a list of ideas to do with your child, with normal household items, for use with each set of activities.  I also LOVE that in the back is a wipe it clean page where they can write and doodle over and over!  There are so many other great books in Timberdoodle's series, "Big Skills for Little Hands," like cutting, pasting, folding, coloring and drawing....maybe need to nudge the grandparents for Christmas :), I think it is definitely worth the listed price.  It has 90 activities on colorful page, and then dozens of additional ideas on the extension pages to do at home! 

In this packet, we also received the set of 12 Primsacolor colored pencils, and they are currently listed for only $8 on timberdoodle's site!!  These are amazing.  Just note, they are unsharpened, so don't get your child all excited about using them unless you have a pencil sharpener already waiting at home to be used ;).  The color transfers very well to all the different kinds of paper your child can use, unlike most dollar store brands, that you have to press VERY hard to see any color!  My girls (Aynslee included) really enjoy these, they are SO vibrant and primary.  The book is for ages 2+, and I would recommend it to any friend who wants to get their child interested in working on their fine motor skills and writing.  What a fun book and colorful set of pencils.  I am so lucky to be able to get to try out all these neat products! 

(Disclosure: We were provided with these products, free of charge, by Timberdoodle, in association with MamaBuzz.)

Big Thoughts for little People

* Mama Buzz, and reviewers, were provided with a complimentary copy of this book for blog tour purposes*

Big Thoughts for Little People by Kenneth N. Taylor

Ages 3-7

Hardcover retails for $14.99

I can't tell you how much I loved this book.  We still go back to it over and over to remind Cara of things we learned.  It is a book with 26 pages, one for each letter of the alphabet.  It has the large alpha on the left side of the page, which is great for little hands to trace with their finger.  Then it has a little poem at the top, a paragraph, 3 questions about the full page picture on the opposite page, and a bible verse.  From a 'preschool / homeschool' perspective, it has letter recognization, bible verse memorization, picture comprehension, and the list goes on!  As parents, we loved it because the illustrations definitely caught Cara's eye, and it helped us to remember to go back to that and say, "Remember the K picture" and she could actually tell us what she remembered.  We focused on 1-3 letters a day, usually reading 1 or 2 before nap and 1 or 2 before bedtime, so it took us around 2 weeks to get through the whole book.  Now that we are finished however, she still asks for the 'letter book' and we usually let her pick a letter each night to re-read before bed.  Here is the little poem on the top of the K page....something we are still working on with our 3 year old ;)

K is for kindness

To Grandpa and Gram.

Be helpful to others.

Be sweet as a lamb!

And the verse for this theme was Colossians 3:12, "You should practice tenderhearted mercy and kindness to others."

This book would make a great gift for the children in your life, or for the church in need of updated books in their preschool classrooms! 

BOOKS

Here is what I'm sure will be my new obsessions starting tomorrow.  All my female cousins that I will see over Thanksgiving are in love with the series, and I'm sure our yearly movie will be New Moon.  So instead of grumpily going and not knowing what it's about, I will start the books tomorrow.  I've put it off because I kinda have an obsessive personality (ha, if you know me in real life, this is no surprise), and I have so many other things I need to be spending my time on, I didn't want to 'waste' my time.  But, whatever, here's to diving in! :)

Thanks Mere for letting me borrow them!

Micah's 1 year stats

I just realized I still haven't posted pictures from Micah's birthday party.  Here are his 1 year stats so that I don't forget (or lose the paper)!

Weight: 22 pounds 8 ounces (45%)
Height: 30.25 inches (64%)
Head circumference: 18.25 inches (50%).

He's 'tiny' compared to Cara at one year :).  But he gained 2.5 pounds since his 9 month appointment.  I can't wait to post his 1 year pictures we had taken at JCP on Monday!

Updated, well he's not tiny.  He's 5 ounces less, the same height and has a bigger head.  Man, the things you remember are really different than in actuality. I guess her percentages were always SO much higher because she's a girl?? :)

Sweet girls

Blessed to hear this conversation/situation come out of Cara's room today (though, wish the pushing hadn't happened):

Girls playing sweetly with the little people house and castle....
A starts crying...I wait instead of rushing in....
C: I'm sorry Aynslee, I didn't mean to push you.  I'm soo sorry.
A: it's ok
C:  You're so beautiful, I hate to see you cry
Me: AAAAWWWWWWW :)

Baking day

I was all set to bake the day away this morning, when right after breakfast I realized I was totally out of eggs!!  So, I loaded the kids up and we went to the store.  Got some eggs and a few other things (chocolate chips and a large can of pumpkin), then came home and unloaded.  I decided it was too gorgeous a day to spend the whole day inside, so we met our friends at a local park for playgroup, and had a great time.  The weather is just gorgeous recently!!  We came home, had a light lunch (no one was really hungry, yogurt and an apple) and I put Micah down.  The girls colored for around 30 minutes and played, and then I laid them down.  I found these recipes from MoneySavingMom's baking day yesterday, and decided to try them.  I am knee deep in cheap bananas, so I wanted most of my recipes to have banana in them.  I doubled this recipe and oh my goodness did it make a bunch.  I ended up having to split it up in the mixer, my bowl was FULL!  It ended up making over 120 mini muffins, 24 or 36 regular sized muffins and by then I was tired of putting batter in tiny muffin pans, so I made the last bit into a loaf!!  Then, I used this recipe and doubled it.  It made one large loaf and 2 small loaves.  I was all set to make this recipe next, but I needed a shower before church and the kids were still asleep, and I never know how long that'll last! :)  So, I will try to make it tomorrow during nap and let you know how it goes.  As you know, my best bud just had a baby girl, so I took her over some muffins and a loaf of (slightly burned) banana bread tonight, and have tons to share with a friend from church who is going through a rough marriage patch.  I also have some healthy breakfasts in my freezer now instead of having leftover birthday cake for breakfast ;). 

And what was I blessed with today?  The sweetest note from a friend who moved far far away earlier this year.  You made me cry bud!!  I miss you guys so much and can't wait to see you in January!!!!! :)  Blessings to your family, and thank you for your encouraging words!

This is part of Works for Me Wednesday, because baking in bulk and pulling from my freezer WORKS FOR ME!! :)

Kids Conversations!

If only, when I sat down at the computer, I could remember all the hilarious things these kids in my life say!!


Here is one I had today.

Me to the girl and boy who are playing doctor: "Let's not pull our shirts up anymore.  I know you're only showing your belly, but still it's not appropriate."
Them: "Yes Ma'am"

5 minutes later, I walk into the room
C: "I wasn't lifting my shirt up, we were just playing doctor, but J did."
J: "Yeah, we're just being sassy.  Do you know what that means?"
Me: "Um, yes, I know what sassy means.  Please stop lifting your shirts up."
J: "The mystery is the history!"

These silly kids, I wonder what they think of us sometimes, because sometimes, I just can't figure them out!!! :)

I'm giving of my Aynslee-free time today.  Her mom stayed home with her today because she was running a slight fever yesterday, and I really appreciate it!  So I took Cara to dance, and it was nice just having to get one little girls ballet, and then tap shoes on!  :)  So now I'm watching Jack and Sam while Val visits her new baby girl in the NICU, for hopefully the last day or 2.  Cara and I had a great morning and I've been doing some tracing worksheets in a book I got to review, and goodness she LOVES them.  She gets upset when I let her only do one or two! :) 

Anyways, it is such a blessing to watch my kids play with their best friends, and I am so thankful for the friendship that has formed in the past couple of years between my family and hers.  Val--I love you girl and can't wait to meet that little miss! :)