I'm giving away Amy! (Closed)

THIS GIVE AWAY IS NOW CLOSED. Thank you to all who entered! One blessed winner gets to bring home Amy Grant's Rock of Ages. I love my copy and I guess I liked it so much I picked up a second copy - hmmmm - who knows! (THE FINE PRINT: The jewel case has a crack in it but otherwise it's new and still in its plastic wrap.)

Short and sweet - 'cause for those of you going through the list of 1300+ giveaways at Bloggy Giveaway you're probably a little cross-eyed.

Leave me a comment - tell me if your dishes are done or not. Currently my husband is doing the dishes. Neener neener neener!

I'll do the drawing between Saturday night and Sunday night. I'll ship to the US and Canada (cross my fingers that it doesn't break the bank).

Hey, don't forget to stretch your arms a bit and focus your eyes on something across the room. I'm sure there are more give-aways being added by the minute and you don't want to go permanently numb or blind, cause of course that could make future blogging difficult.

Thanks for stopping by.

Congrats Bro!

This December my brother will be a married man! Last night our family celebrated with him and his lovely fiance and her family. It's wonderful to see them in love and we're happy to be welcoming her and her children to our family.

Dinner dress

We have a special dinner to go to tonight so I did a little shopping for something to wear. I came home with black and gray . . . again. Someone really needs to hit me with a rainbow.

Claw Monet

Agent H is enjoying his classes at co-op. He's usually singing his songs from music class for a couple days after class. Yesterday afternoon he asked me if I knew that Claw Monet (insert him clawing the air here!) and De . . on . .ardo La . .Vi . .n . .ci were artists. I love it!

Bosch results

I don't have any pictures to show off my labors but I did get to put my Bosch to work this week. I made 3 loaves of bread with winter white berries (next I'll try winter red berries), a pizza crust for the freezer and a big batch of parmesan herb dough for calzones. Yum, yum, and yum some more. I love that the house smelled so good for EH when he walked in the door after work.

Up for air

The new Lego Magazine just arrived in the post - Agent H will come up for air in a few days.

Homeschool Co-op & a book bag

I'm so glad that I followed through on the encouragement I received to join up with the homeschool co-op at our church. Every other Friday morning we'll meet up with other homeschoolers and Agent H gets to hang out with other K and 1st graders. He has PE, art, and music. Ebug has joined the preschoolers class. He's a little young but the teacher says we'll just see how it goes. I'm working in the nursery for a couple of hours and then I get to go rub shoulders with the veteran homeschoolers and get ideas (and a few other newbies!).

Agent H needed a book bag and I still have fond memories of the Holly Hobby one my mom made for me back in the day so . . . I was convinced I needed to make him one too. He was all about doing stunts and tricks for the camera. At least you can kinda get the idea. It's a messenger bag - I found the tutorial at Lang Lang Creations. We repurposed an old jean skirt for the outside and lined it with some !TOTALLY COOL MAN! car fabric. Agent H picked out his favorite car and we sewed it onto the front of the bag. Ebug keeps asking for his so hopefully I'll get one made for him to show off as well.

Muffin Tin Monday: Take 3

The boys were giddy with excitement to devour their lunch today. The MTM theme was Halloween. Since we don't do scary my plan was to make their lunch of healthy food look like a plate of candy. Hmmm . . . I really wish EH was around during the day to do photo shoots - his shots always turn out better than mine.










Apple slice with a grape on a stick = lollypop
P&J sandwhich roll = candy bar
(that really doesn't look like one cause the boys were super hungry and I couldn't putz anymore)
Cheese borings = marshmellows
Hot dogs (turkey) and raisins = worms in dirt
(okay, admittedly not candy-like but fun)
Sunflower seeds (in stripped green paper stick) = sugar stick
and the candy corn are just that!

Glass bottles

I have been read reviews trying to figure out what type of "healthy" bottles to replace my plastic ones with. After drooling over all the super adorable ones I ended up ordering the cheap Evenflo glass bottles. As I placed the order I felt bummed not to get the ones with the cute bug designs or neat rubber covers. Sigh . . . But, as I pulled my Evenflo from the box (thank you amazon.com) I fell in love with their simplicity. The bottles have embossed measuring markers on the sides and they really are so very lovely!

Now hopefully I can find replacement nipples for them as LE won't stand for the silicone ones that came with them. As a side note, I found out that the Medela plastic bags that I store my milk in don't contain BPA so I can still use my drop-in bottles with the latex nipples.

Milling & Mixing

EH snapped this pic as I was reading manuals and wondering what on earth I just bought and how operate these beasts! I think I even impressed him with my 800W (insert Tool Time grunting here) Bosch mixer and Nutrimill flour mill. I can whip out 6 loaves of bread or 3 loaves of bread, 2 pizza crusts, and a batch of cinnamon rolls with this deal. Last night I milled up my first batch of soft white wheat berries. Hopefully early this week I'll get a batch of bread made up. We broke in the Bosch with a batch of apple/raisin/oatmeal cookies which really didn't even last long enough to know that they ever existed. Delicious!

Muffin Tins: Take 2

Once again I'm really late in posting this but really it's not entirely my fault. I can't download photos to my computer from the camera right now . . . I won't go into it because I really don't understand it. I just nod my head and smile when my dear EH tries to explain it to me. Thank you sweetheart!

* Grapes/Just Fruit Munchies (depending on the kiddo)
* Hard boiled eggs/cheese & crackers (again depending on the kiddo)
* pb&j rounds (cut with an apple corer)
* delicious (!) apple, raisin, oatmeal cookies

More at Sycamore Stirrings

The Loving Brothers

I love you well, my little brother,
And you are fond of me;
Let us be kind to one another,
As brothers ought to be.
You shall learn to play with me,
And learn to use my toys;
And then I think that we shall be
Two happy little boys.

-Mother Goose

About today

What I love about today . . .
- agent H asked what LE's last name is
- watching Ebug's little "crack" bob about the yard as his pants weren't staying up
- the merry little breezes were busy playing in the trees and sent down lots of lovely leaves
- realizing that it's been over a week since LE's been sleeping 7-9 hours at night
- reading about the escapades of Peter Cottontail while Agent H curls up next to me to ward off autumn's chill
- finding a tender poem about brothers that I hope to stitch

Measuring cups

Does anyone else wonder where on earth their measuring cups have gone to and then you find them in the bag of flour in the freezer . . . you would think I would eventually think to just look in the freezer. I've heard this is called "mommy brain" and it manifests itself in ways too numerous to count.

CM & Classic Children's Literature

I'm seriously interested in Charlotte Mason's educational philosophy. I have yet to actually read any of her work though. Tonight I found a very nice webiste (Ambleside Online ) with great CM resources. One of them is a link to her six volumes written in modern English.

Also listed is a link to The Baldwin Project. A collection of children's classic texts online. You will never retell the story of The Three Little Bears the same after reading this version. It's delightful for the ears and imagination!

Here is their book-list recommended for kindergartners. Library, here I come!

12 years

My EH and I celebrate 12 years of marriage today. I second Agent H's response to the news . . . "Saaaweeet!"
I love you dear EH!
xoxo

Sleep Tight

The crib was over there.
The rocker was over there.
The clothes were over there.
The diapers were over there.
Just no baby. Until last night. . .

Sweet LE slept in his big crib last night . . . across the hall . . . over there. Not in the bassinet snuggled in the corner of our room. Sigh . . . it was time. Of course I checked on him at some blurry-eyed time of the night and he was sleeping peacefully with no concern about being . . . over there. He even slept a full 7+ hours and woke up a bit chatty, a hungry chatty, but happy hungry chatty. After filling his belly he was all smiles. Can I keep him forever?

Note: Last night was LE's second night snoozing in his crib and he slept a solid 9 hours!

100 Buffalo

"I'm as hungry as 100 buffalo!"
"I'm as hot as 100 buffalo!"
"I"m as thirsty as 100 buffalo!"
"I'm as tired as 100 buffalo!"

-spoken by Agent H at any given moment . . .
must be all that bison we're eating with our tacos.

Computer time with Ebug

Tuesday nights Ebug, LE and I see Papa and Agent H off to AWANA. EH and a buddy go shoot trains (photos that is) while Agent H hangs out with friends for the evening.

Ebug has a hard time seeing them leave, so to help ease his sorrow I have been suggesting that we go for a walk to which he replies "Oh YES Mama, good idea mama, thank you mama!" for the next 20 minutes. Really! It melts my heart how something so simple means so much to him.

The rain kept us from walking tonight so we played on the computer. I really haven't had him on the computer yet, probably because Agent H usually lays claim to it. Here are some of the places we checked out:

Goldenbooks.com (Fairly nice educational games - skill levels are a little beyond his 2.5 years but we found some fun games and really cute printables)

Starfall.com (Phonetic games and some fun activities like decorating a pumpkin online or creating a winter scene - there is so much at this place, I should really do this with Agent H too).

Kidzclub.com (Online children's stories to listen to, nursery rhymes/activities, and cool flashcards. Be sure the check out their "Story Links" on the Stories and Props page!!)

Oh my goodness I can't wait to do petertherabbit.com with Agent H - it's so lovely! The music and graphics just make me all oohy and goohy.

LE's Dedication

The rain cleared and provided a moment for us to dash to "our outlook" at the Rum River with family where we praised God for our dear LE and to dedicate ourselves to training up him in our faith. He unashamedly slept through it all.




Thank you for the precious prayers dear family and for once again showing your love and support for us.







Last night EH asked what I was so happy about . . . all I could say was that "I'm just happy, I feel content". I saw an old aquantence the other night and he too commented on how happy I looked. I'm so grateful for this fullness of heart!

French Peasant Bread

Can you smell the warm, yeasty aroma of this peasant bread? I enjoyed this recipe because it was a simple no knead bread. I found it at Confessions of a Bake-A-Holic. I served this with chef salad for dinner and then I sent a wedge of it filled with raw cheese and bacon with my husband for his lunch the next day. It made one of his photos of the day. It's a new family favorite!

THEY called

I received a call from Planned Parenthood today. They wanted to know who I was going to vote for in the senate race. The caller's response to my answer was "Well thanks anyway." My vote . . . I sure hope it makes a difference, I know they say it does but sometimes you wonder. Maybe it's just the discouragement that comes from living in a lefty state.

While I'm at it (sorry folks), why is it that if you're interested in living "green" it's assumed that you're also a liberal. Grrr . . . and grrr some more. I hope my lefty friends still like me . . .

Muffin Tins

I love this idea! I think we'll jump on board with Muffin Tin Monday over at Sycamore Stirrings. Of course it's Wednesday but I did serve this on Monday for the boys' lunch. The theme this week was shapes.

Circles: rice crackers with PB or PB/apple sandwhiches
Squares: Late July cheese crackers
Triangles: cheese
Ovals: grapes and raisins

Yes I know that I didn't actually use muffin tins. :) This will be the best I can do for a bit as my tins are not fit to eat from and I'm out of paper cups. Actually I really like these!