Sweet, Sweet Nieces and Nephew

This past weekend, I went to visit my sister and Mom. It was my first time seeing my new niece-Katelyn. My kids were so excited to meet their new cousin. We also went to celebrate Graceson's (my nephew) 1st Birthday. Both kids are my sisters. Boy does she have her hands full with 2 little ones! We laughed when we took all of the kids out. We had a 4 year old, 3 year old, 2 year old, 1 year old and a 0 year old. We got a lot of strange looks. My niece Layla was the 3 year old and she stayed with us most of the time. She and Ryan are 2 months apart so they looked like twins.

This is my sweet niece Katelyn. She is such a sweet and cuddly baby. I loved snuggling with her this past weekend!

Layla, Ari and Ryan hanging out on the porch...kid style

Layla and Ari in old dance costumes that belonged to me and my sister Leigh Ann.

Ari and Ryan resting with baby Katelyn.

My big helper Arianna feeding baby Katelyn

Graceson eating his 1st Birthday Cake

Me and my sweet baby girl!

I miss my nieces and nephew already!

Field Trip to Krispy Kreme

Today we went with a group of homeschoolers to take a tour of the yummy Krispy Kreme Donut Store. We saw how the donuts were made and even had a chance to decorate our own with chocoloate and fall sprinkles.

Above Arianna is decorating her donut. The best part about the field trip were the free yummy donuts!

Laptop Dreams

Ryan came to me the other day and told me he wanted a laptop. I couldn't undestand why he would want a laptop. So I kept getting him to repeat what he was saying in the hopes of understanding why he wanted a laptop. Arianna finally interpretted for him and told me he wanted a Pop Tart not a laptop. Shewww, that is a much more reasonable request.

Porcupine Hair

Ryan has been trying to grow his hair out so that it is like Zach's (below). Above is Ryan's before picture. Ryan doesn't realize that his straight hair will not likely grow to look like his adorable curly haired friend Zach. But Ryan's hair is still adorable just like it is none the less.

Ryan loves for us to spike his hair after bath. He calls it his porcupine hair. Below is his longer hair spiked up in a style that is all his own.

Relaxing Scrapbooking Weekend

I went on a wonderful getaway this weekend. It was on Lake Gaston. Who can beat this...
Hot tub
Beautiful lake
Beautiful fall colors
Pajamas
Sleeping In
Friends
and
SCRAPBOOKING!!!!
I worked on an album of our Disney Trip. I got 67 pages done.

These are the girls who went on the retreat.

Here is the driveway leading to the beach house.

Below is the back of the beach house and above is the view from the beach house.

If you are interested in a scrapbooking retreat...check out more info at CropCircles Meet-Up Group

Experiment: Candy Freedom

On Halloween night we limited the kids to 2 pieces of candy. They left their halloween bags in the van but rediscovered them on Monday. I decided to try an idea that one of my friends did...let them eat as much candy as they would like from their bag. Her children only ate a few and stopped. I wanted to see what my kids would do with this rare freedom. Would they be responsible? Would they only eat a few or would they eat until they had belly aches? How would they react to all of this sugar? Note that my kids rarely eat candy or sweets.

Results...they looked at me like I was crazy...they kept asking if they could have one more...I would tell them that they could have as much as they wanted...and so they ate and ate and ate and ate...they didn't eat it all but they ate a whole lot of candy. Ari was the first to get a tummy ache. Which I told her was from the candy. She still got another piece:) They chased each other around and around the house. By the time Chris got home they were moving to the crash. Both were whiny and said they had belly aches. But they survived the sugar overdose and lived to tell about it.

I hope my children will learn to make their own choices and to know there are consequences when they make bad choices. I will not always be around to control their decisions. I will teach them as best as possible but ultimately they have to think for themselves and be responsible for their own decisions. I wish many adults would learn that lesson and not blame everyone else for their own bad choices but take personal responsibility.

Anyway I hope that life lessons were learned from this candy experiment. Realistically it will just be another small lesson in the many they face.

I just asked Ari today about what she thought about getting all of that candy she smiled really big and said "I liked it". I asked her how she felt afterwards and she said she had a belly ache. I then asked if she would eat that much again and she shook her head in a fervant YES! I guess the life lessons take a while to set in:)

Goofy Dogs

I had this pile of clothes in front of the washer. I left to vote and came back to this...one of my dogs (Pandora) was frozen next to the drier. All of the other dogs were happy to see us and running around but she wouldn't move. That is when I realized that she had somehow gotten her head into the sleeve of one of Chris' shirts and couldn't get back out. I guess she had already been through the struggling process and had given up. Now she was frozen in place looking pitiful! All of my dogs love to lie underneath a blanket and I guess she was trying to get Chris' shirt around her like a blanket. Silly Dog!!

You Too Can Blog

Many are amazed that I find time to do this blog. Well it really is not very time consuming. It takes much less time than the slideshows that once created.

I thought I would take a moment to do a quick how to for those other Mom's who just don't have precious time. I hesitate to do this since my method is so elementary compared to those of you who are pro-bloggers.

Note: If you are one already have a blog, please feel free to share any tricks you have learned. I myself am new to this so would love all the help I can get!

How to do a simple and easy blog
1) Go to Blogger.com and set up an account (there are other blogging websites but just using this one since it is all I know how to use at this time)
2) Personalize your blog however you choose. It can be simple. It can be complex.
3) I set up the option to send email to 10 people when I post to my blog. This option is at blogging.com under customize (in upper right corner)/Settings/email
3) Download Picassa photo software (free)
I use my blog mainly to share pics with friends and family so this makes it easy to upload photos. If you only want 1-2 pics then skip this step and just add image to the new post as you go.

Now you are ready to begin...this is how I do a single blog using Picassa
1) unload camera
2) launch picassa
3) choose pictures that you want to include in your blog and put them in the "hold" basket. Note: It only will upload 4 pictures at a time so if you want more then it is a bit more tricky but it is possible. For simplicity sake, I will exclude for now this how to.
4) Click on "Blog This" button
5) Choose a layout
6) Type in whatever you want to say above and below photos
7) Click publish post.

I usually blog when I unload my camera. That is why I post several at a time.

Give it a try. You will be surprised how quick and easy it is.

Ari's 1st Find

After church today, we went Treasure Hunting (geocaching). Arianna found her first cache all by herself. It was next to the tree under the leaves and old sticks. In the picture above, she is pointing to it with her pine needle stick. She is really getting an eye for the treasures!

Ryan was excited about his new "computer". Arianna picked out a kazoo from the treasure chest.

Arianna signed her name in the log book for her first find. Great job Arianna!!!!

If you are interested about geocaching, you can find out more at www.geocaching.com. This is one of our favorite things to do as a family!

Sorry for the low quality pictures; I took them with my camera phone.

Storybook Tales

We went to a ballet today with some friends. There were 3 stories in the performance; Fancy Nancy, Jonathan and the Gingery Snare and Snow White. Arianna enjoyed the perfomance and really got into the storylines of each performance. The costumes were beautiful! We also got a copy of the Fancy Nancy book which the illustrator signed for Arianna.

Above is Arianna with Snow White. Below is Arianna, Alana and the Wicked Queenn.

Below is Arianna with Fancy Nancy.

Arianna and Alana with the Special Blue Butterfly from the Fancy Nancy Performance.

Our home

I thank God for our home! I love the country but am stuck in the city due to my husband's profession. God had the perfect house picked out for us and I am so glad to be living in it. It is as close as we can get to being in the country but still be near Chris' job. We live in a cul-de-sac off of a cul-de-sac which means we have very little traffic. The kids love to ride their bikes around the cul-de-sac. They also love to climb the trees in front of our house.

We enjoy are large backyard and the privacy of our home. We have this huge Sugar Cane area at the back of the yard that the kids enjoy playing in the middle of. The cane has so many uses anything from a sword to a walking stick. We pulled out some of the old canes to dry out to make fishing poles. I can remember fishing with my Grandfather using a cane pole.

This bridge is on the other side of the cane growth. I am very thankful for our home! I love that our kids get to enjoy the outdoors!

Morning Devotionals

We have begun a new tradition in our house. The kids are having a daily morning devotional with me. We sing songs together about God. Then we have a short lesson and a memory verse. I created a devo basket that has books about God, Bible coloring books, Bible puzzles and journals in it. After our short lesson, they can choose something out of the basket to do. While I have my quiet time the kids have their own quiet time. Then we pray together afterwards. I have really enjoyed the fruits of this new tradition. The kids love to learn new things about God and His Bible. Arianna's prayers have already grown. It is amazing how their little minds can memorize scripture. This has also helped the kids to really be thinking about doing what is right and being nice to each other throughout the day.

Happy Trick or Treating

We had a great time Trick or Treating last night with friends! Arianna was Daphne from Scooby Doo and Ryan was Batman. While trick or treating, Arianna was on a mission and wanted to speed door to door but she had to slow down to wait on her friends. It reminded me of Easter when she found a ton of eggs. She gets a task in her head and is obsessed with it. Ryan enjoyed getting candy and hanging out with friends. Both kids really enjoyed Halloween!

In the wake of many choosing not to celebrate Halloween because of what it "celebrates", I am glad that we chose to continue to celebrate Trick or Treating. I honestly don't think our kids are celebrating or supporting Satanic rituals. It was just innocent fun to dress up and spend time with friends. Halloween continues to be one of my favorite holidays.

Solution for loose markers

I have been trying to find a solution for all of our markers. I have tried different solutions but finally found one I like. I found this marker set at Target for $12.99. It comes with all of the markers and is made of plastic and therefore is reusable for other brands of markers. It allows the kids to see the different colors to choose from and it also encourages them to put the lids back on the markers. We ended up going back and getting a second set for the playroom.