The great giveaway is back

Feel like trying to win some stuff? Head on over to the Great Bloggy Giveaway where there are just about a thousand nice bloggers lining up to give you the chance to win cool stuff. In the past I have won some great stuff from this contest. Sometimes I just find great leads to things.

In last Spring's contest I found out about a great CD by Phil Joel called Deliberate Kids. The lyrics are scripture based or just sweet and placed to a grooving, very enjoyable beat! I ended up buying it on iTunes!

This time around I discovered that Natural Value makes plastic kitchen freezer bags made without PVC and plasticizer. While plastic bags may not be very "green", they are really useful for freezer cooking and baking.

My fingers are crossed to win a DYMO label maker, this teething necklace by Smart Mom and a nursing cover.

Nesting

The nesting instinct is pretty strong. Remember that list of stuff that I planned to do to wrap up Spring Cleaning? Well not a whole lot of it got done, BUT I did finally clean out the bathroom closet. I had to make room for all the bathroom baby gear: bathtub, wash clothes, little hooded towels, etc. I rearranged it while I was at it and love the new arrangement.

The other night the four of us sat around the Lego table in the boys' room and played Legos (until way past bedtime by the way!). Everyone kinda had their building project but I on the other hand found myself separating abandoned building projects and sorting Legos by color, and piling them into nice little piles. EH stopped, looked at me and said "stop nesting already!" I guess it's seeping into everything I do. I wearily go to bed each night wondering if this is "the night" or hoping I don't have labor dreams.

My nesting accomplishments:
Bathroom cupboard sorted = check
3 loaves of bread and 2 pizza crusts baked and in the freezer = check
5 meals in the freezer = check
baby girl blanket = nearly done
baby boy blanket = well the top is pieced and the embroidery nearly done
baby crib at right hight = check (thank you EH!)
"what to do when in labor" list by the front door = check
hospital bag packed = nearly done
baby names picked out = oh dear, please pray or we could come home with a nameless babe
read something about nursing, baby scheduling, etc to refresh = check
set up school spot = not so ready
clean my messy house = let's face it, it won't be clean for another 6 months!

E-bay success

I won it on E-bay! I've been in search of a new nursing pillow as my last one bit the dust. I've been watching and bidding on a certain type of pillow all week with no success. Supposedly this pillow is better than the Boppy because it provides back support and has added head support for the baby (though I have no experience with the Boppy to verify this). I love the organic grain filled pillows over at Blessed Nest but concluded that it was just out of the budget. So now I feel great about having stayed in the budget I set for myself, I'm reusing a product rather than always buying new and I got to support an Army wife!

Homeschool room set up

Oh my! That's all I have to say about this homeschooling room from Tot School. (My new favorite kid blog) Seriously, I keep on dreaming about it. It ranks right up there with EH's sister's homeschool room - inspirational and so functional. I love all the stuff from Ikea!

I found a helpful site that lists where to get the best deals on school supplies. I can't believe this person went to all this work but I'm so grateful! Free Crayola markers, dry erase markers, and gel pens here I come!

Agent H's curriculum from Heart of Dakota showed up the other day and after flipping through some of the books he hopefully said "Let's start school tomorrow!" I love his enthusiasm!

Belated birthday post

We celebrated Agent H's fifth birthday at the beginning of last month. I can't believe I'm so late in posting about it! Actually I think I'm still in denial. My firstborn babe, my first personal experience with birth and becoming a mom is actually five years old.

Agent H has a buddy (Agent E!) with whom he shares the exact same birth date - we met up with him and his family at Chuck E Cheese for a joint party. Ah yah, good times!

Then our great extended family came over to celebrate.

Here's Agent H riding his new bike from papa and I.

Waiting encouragement

It is our duty and our privilege to wait upon the Lord in service, in worship, in expectancy, in trust all the days of our life. Our faith will be a tried faith, and if it be of the true kind, it will bear continued trial without yielding. We shall not grow weary of waiting upon God if we remember how long and how graciously He once waited for us.
-Charles Spurgeon

16 days left on that baby counter on my sidebar over there. I just needed a little "waiting" encouragement.

A Fella's quilt

Thanks to my mom for helping out with the piecing (not my favorite sewing task) a little fella's quilt is coming along. Now I get to have the fun of stitching.

Potty 's coming!

"Potty 's coming!" Little E's quote of the week/month (?). This last Monday (after 5 wet diapers) he actually made it to his potty on time 4 times! We came up with a little chant based on one of his favorite books. "Stop potty, Stop!" (as we race/lumber up the stairs) and then "Go potty, Go!" (when he's sitting). Know the book? Go Dog, Go! It's hit or miss as to whether he remembers the potty but it's encouraging that he's becoming more and more conscious of what's going on. I was not going to try potty training him just before this baby is born . . . but if he's interested I think we'll go for it.

A good deal

Hey,
In case you're in the market for some diapers, natural baby products, or BPA free bottles, check out diapers.com. They have ads in lots of magazines offering $10 off and free shipping on your first order of $50. Those of you who buy diapers know that doesn't take long. I ordered up a case of Seventh Generation (because they are chlorine free) newborn size at a low price I haven't seen anywhere. What did I spend my free $10 on? Another package of diapers. :) Use the code "cookie2" for the special deal when you check out.

For those of you who are curious what happened to my cloth diapers, I'll still be using them but my smallest size still swallows up a little newborn so I'll use disposable for just a bit before he/she get swaddled up in all the cottony goodness of my cloth ones.

Putting that crock pot to use

I found a fun blog about crock-potting! I'm planning some meals to make up ahead of time for when this babe joins us on the "other side". Most of my plans are coming from the book The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet but the crock pot is another good way to go without heating up the kitchen with oven use. This lady is using her crock pot every day for a full year and is posting all her recipes. Wow! Anyway, here's her blog, A Year of CrockPotting, if you'd like to get in on the action. Tonight we're going to try her Peppercorn Steak. Enjoy!

Coming home

This is it. The end of a very long week. EH has been up serving at camp since last Sunday and I'm very relieved that he will be home tonight. Of course it would be a bit premature for our babe to be born right now but each time I go to the doc they keep saying "if labor starts now, we're not going to stop it", which of course gets the "what if" factor going. Each morning this week I have breathed a sigh of relief to have made it through another night with no midnight run to the hospital.

The boys and I kept busy doing who knows what all week and Agent H got to spend the weekend up at camp with EH. (Thank you SO much to Auntie J who brought him up and big cousin A who talked Star Wars robots the whole way up with him!) So this weekend Little E and I have been hanging out together. We hit up a parade yesterday and went to visit a friend who had a booth at a craft show yesterday. (She makes and sells the best cards I have ever seen with her Stampin' Up products, check out her blog here) This morning we joined my parents for a service at church.

At long last I can blog about being home alone, if anyone wants to come rob a helpless pregnant woman they have exactly 6 hours to do so! Be my guest but I'll warn you I have a diaper pail of nasty cloth diapers that I can hurl and Little E's got a good bite!

See you soon sweetheart!

Summer snacking

Our popsicle molds have been put to good use this summer. Cascadian Farms frozen juice concentrates are on sale this month at the co-op so we're stocking up so we can keep the freezer stocked with ice cold treats. Another one of our favorites are these freezy type treats by Cool Fruits. They're not organic but they don't contain any added sugar or artificial colors. They are on sale at our local co-ops as well this month. How could I forget . . . our Snoopy Snowcone maker! Another favorite summer treat. We just squirt the juice concentrate over the crushed ice and it's delicious.

Strawberry picking

Cool breezes, quiet conversations among pickers, the warmth of the sun pressing against our backs and the sweetness of fresh strawberries.That was yesterday morning. My mom and I went strawberry picking at a local farm. I did some research on the farm and their website says they try to practice "green" farming and are moving in that direction more and more every year. Since strawberries are considered to be one of the crops most highly treated with pestisides, organic berries are very important to me. My freezer is now packed with strawberries ready for making our favorite smoothies. This afternoon I'm going to try preparing some freezer jam. I found a type of pectin, Pomona's Universal Pectin, that doesn't call for the huge amounts of sugar normally required, actually it said I could use honey so I'll try that. Don't you dare try using Splenda or I'll personally come and knock you upside the head! The why not is here.

The blueberries and raspberries are supposed to be ready in another week or so . . . if I still feel like moving (which isn't very often with 4 weeks to go till the babe's due) I hope to go load up on those too.

Politeness in the midst of illness

This last week we've been fighting a bit of a cold bug. Agent H had the worst of it. He's always been susceptible to getting a cough when he gets a cold. He gets himself all worked up into a coughing fit and it just goes on and on. Poor fella! I've been experimenting with the whole idea of putting Vick's vapor rub on your feet to help with coughs. I'm using a more natural product but it seems to be helping.

In the middle of one of his coughing fits he worked himself into tossing his Fourth of July dinner back up. He was so sick. At one point as I dashed to get into position with the "catching bowl" I just barely reached him in time. Through his misery, he looked up at me said, "Good catch mom!" What a trooper! In the midst of his illness he was even excited that he got to sleep on the floor of the bathroom that night.

In the middle of all this, the neighbors were still busy setting off fireworks . . . until 1:30AM! Poor Little E woke up crying nearly every hour as he couldn't settle down from all the noise. It wasn't a great night.

Grocery shopping on a budget

Eeeew! That summed up my feelings regarding grocery shopping on a budget. How on earth am I supposed to keep track of all that goes into my cart while maintaining the management of my children. I might add that being 8 months pregnant has made any task that I do physically uncomfortable and take longer.

We've been watching our Dave Ramsey videos so I felt I was up to the challenge of grocery shopping -it helped knowing I have a good friend who is also doing this with me! I have come to the conclusion that I actually kind of like it. It felt really empowering to know that I was shopping with a very specific plan and knew what I was spending rather than the inward groan I would often feel as I heard my total announced at the checkout.

We still have some bugs to work out of the system, like our TP dilemma of last month but we're up to tackling another month. I still don't feel like we're coming out ahead as this takes a lot of patience. There are so many things I'd like to order/buy to prepare for this coming baby or for homeschool but I'm having to learn to wait. It's partly the organizer in me that wants it all done ahead of time. Ah well, like DR is so well known for saying, right now we're going to "live like no one else so that later we can LIVE like no one else!"

Ultimate Homeschool Expo

I had hoped to make it to a homeschool conference this spring but it just didn't happen. So, I was intrigued to hear about another conference that I could attend online. It was The Ultimate Homeschool Expo hosted by Cindy Rushton of Talk-a-Latte Cafe. I hemmed and hawed over spending $40 for this conference - I am not super into virtual stuff so I was a bit leary. I took the plunge and am so very happy that I did.

I had the option of attending the conference online (via magic that was beyond me) or to download all the completed lectures via iTunes. I think I even impressed EH will all the downloading I was doing. Besides all the podcasts (200+), there was the mommy grab bag. It was links to TONS of free copywork pages, notebooking pages, legal advise, home and school worksheets, ebooks, and so much more. My trusty iBook was really put to the test and the hard drive is packed!

In the evenings I am frequently found planted on the couch stitching a baby quilt and listening to the podcasts (as EH catches up on the latest Deadliest Catch). I'm now hugely intregued by the Charlotte Mason way of schooling, finding meal planning/baking inspiration, parenting advise, children's learning styles and so much more. I think the money was very well spent. By the way, even though the event is over you can still buy a ticket and download all the lectures (and I think the grab bag stuff). It is possible that the price has gone up though . . . not sure. Thanks to Supermom's for the tip on this convention!

Girly reading chart

I can't stand how darn CUTE this reading chart is! Necessary Chocolate made it and has it available to download for free on her blog. I really haven't done as much reading as I'd like to this summer and don't anticipate that to change but I just like looking at the little graphic of the girl in her hammock reading a book. Such a delight!