Totally Normal!

In case anyone thought that I wasn't a normal mom (I have NO idea why someone would think this, but just in case!) this is what I did in a fit of frustration this morning. I truly get tired of saying the same things over and over (ie. nagging) and yet things don't change the way that I think they should. This morning C.12.B. got upset because P.9.G. left her shoes under the table and he went to put them IN her bed and write her a note as a "reminder". So, this prompted me (in my anger :( ) to write them all a note! Then, it kept going and going. I decided I would keep these up for a few days so that I didn't have to repeat myself.

I then repented of the anger, asked for forgiveness, and am moving on. I left the notes up though. Better than me nagging, right?!


The notes say things like: feed your dogs, train your dog, pick up your things; don't wake up in the morning only to lay back down on the couch, don't dump out milk, don't ask or expect to eat out each week, etc.

***Edited: A friend emailed me laughing at the advertisements on our sticky notes, considering we have 5 children! LOLOLOLOL This cracked me up, too, because I didn't even realize what I had written on. My sister works at a doctor's office and brings us sticky notes - which we use for everything. I grabbed the smallest one I could find (out of my newly cleaned out junk drawer) and started writing! It NEVER occurred to me what the advertisement was for. LOLOLOLOL I'll just say that we don't use medicine in our home, unless someone is really REALLY ill (coughing uncontrollably or with a serious infection), and that's all I'll say about that! LOLOLOL***

On a sweeter note, here's a pic of Baby A (5 months) in the swing when I took him out on Saturday.

Scrapmatters Birthday & Fireproof

Scrapmatters is turning 1 year old. Of course, I haven't been digi-scrapping that long, but I have found a great place to hang out (and purchase some great goodies when $ and needs permit). I have received a ton of freebies for doing various challenges around the forum as well.

Anyway - here's the link to Scrapmatters blog, the forum, and best of all the shop! They have a collab and a blog train and and! LOL

We've got a big day ahead of us, so I won't be able to participate in the chats and such. We are doing a lot of work around the property and the house. And we will be leaving at 1:45 to drop the little boys off at my in-loves hose and we are going to the movies! yes! Fireproof comes out today. Please be in prayer for this movie and those who will see it. The salvation message in this movie is HUGE. Pray specifically that Satan will not have a foothold at all anywhere near the theaters it is showing in, that it will do awesome this weekend and will thus go into other theatres, and that God will receive all the glory!

My Moma's Birthday

Now, you might notice that Mama is spelled Moma in my title. That's because that is how my Mama always spelled it, and still does. Except I noticed that she left a comment on my blog one time recently and spelled it M-A-M-A. She can't do that! LOL I almost didn't know it was from her! LOL

Anyway, today is her birthday. Although I know that she wouldn't care if I said how old she was, I won't. She might not want everyone to know. (53 :))

Yes, my mama is still young! I made this page of her and B.4.B. because although I have already scrapped that picture, it was just too beautiful not to put on a page by itself. I wanted a simple layout to highlight such a beautiful moment. My mom loves blue and looks great in it, too. It's her favorite color. She was and is a wonderful mother who took my sister and I to church every Sunday. I learned what it meant to be steadfast from my mom. When I was itty bitty, she took me to church on the back of her bicycle. Somehow she managed to juggle a full time job with being a mother who always had time to listen and talk to me. We used to sit on the couch on Saturday (after we cleaned!) and I would put makeup on her or play with her hair and do funny things to it. She would fall asleep and I would take pictures of the mess I had made. I used to sit in the bathroom with her while she took a bath and I would tell her how I was going to buy her a diamond ring when I grew up. She thought it was sweet. I love my moma! God knew exactly what He was doing when He gave me to her (or her to me!). She's always supported me in my calling as a wife and a mother and loves her grandchildren - and is always willing to welcome more.

Mom, I love you! Happy Birthday!!!!!!

Manic Monday

Does the thought of tax evasion scare you? I hope so! It scares the pants off me. Well, you can then understand why when we received a notice of seizure this weekend for our house, we took it pretty seriously. See, a couple of years ago I was going to have this little home business where I sold homemade wheat bread and jam - and we were going to make tons of money off of it. Well, one morning at 5 am while getting ready to sell said stuff, I burned my little guy's leg with hot jam, because I was trying to do too many things at once. 'Nuff said, huh?! And I decided right then that after I got rid of that stuff that day, that I wouldn't have another home business before my youngest child was 5 years old. Now, since we believe that our quiver will be full when God closes my womb, who knows when my last child will arrive.

Now, that was with the fine print of "unless anything serious happens to Big P and he cannot work or provide for us" and that I would revisit that later. So, right before coming to that decision, I opened a DBA for this little business. But, since we never did anything with the business and never made any money, I figured there was nothing more that I needed to do. Mawhhhaaahhaaa (that's that creepy laugh).

So, today, I called to find out what was going on and what I needed to do to stop it and then proceeded to take Baby A with me to run all over the county filling out and filing that form and this form. I closed the DBA and filed a couple more papers, but was basically told that they didn't know what was going to happen. Big P was sooo good about it. He said "well, worst case scenario is that we will owe $3000." Oh, yea, no biggie! LOLOLOLOL I just prayed!!

They called me later and told me that all had been cleared up and that we wouldn't owe anything. Thank you Jesus! And Yes, that's exactly what I told the lady that called "Thank you Jesus - and thank you so much ma'am for helping me today." Still thanking Jesus!

On to another note - I love Yin's digiscrapping templates and have used them a lot. Here's what I was surprised with this afternoon (after that horrid ordeal of a morning): http://simplyyin.blogspot.com/ - you'll see several of my layouts for my current album on there. This is a sneak peak, because remember, I'm not revealing much of that album until it is done.

DH just celebrated 10 years with his company, so we celebrated with his boss and co-workers last week at Chipotle. That was a special treat. I've not met many of his co-workers, and with the various changes in the company, they come and go - but these he's actually had for a while.

Here's what I made for him.

My Bubba's Blog

You've got to check out my Bubba's blog! Great pics and info on his "new release". Oh, and PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE leave him some comments! :)

Wrapped Up In History

Wild weekend

It's been a wild weekend and its only Saturday night.

Friday we spent much of the day at the JBF Sale! Woohoo! Got some great deals, but determined with Big P that next season, I need to work the sale - for the volunteer pre-sale. Much of what was there, even on the first public day, was picked over. I couldn't believe how overpriced some ladies were on their stuff. But, I didn't buy the overpriced stuff, because I wasn't desperate, so.... But really, last season I consigned, which got me into a pre-sale and it was wonderful. Volunteers get into a even earlier pre-sale. A will be older, so Big P said he could stay home while I did the 5 hour volunteer.

C.12.B. picked up a Fireproof poster while we were there. He's really psyched about the movie. He wanted to hang the poster over his bed, but then P.9.G. wanted it over her bed! LOL I said - ya'll have the same room (all of them share a room). I told little P, "hey, he's closer to marriage - let him pick where he wants it!" We all got a laugh out of that. She informed that just because he was older, didn't necessarily mean that he was closer to marriage. Hello!

On the way home, we stopped by walmart to grab some water and necessities in case the power went out. Actually, Big P called it yesterday and said "we'll lose power tomorrow." He's so smart! And the most incredible man in the world (see previous post).

We had determined that we were going to do everything possible to get C.12.B. to Dallas Heritage Village today for him to volunteer his time and for his Junior Historian meeting. It was raining and we didn't exactly know what the day held, but really wanted to get him there. We are really working on establishing trust with our children. Showing them that we will make every effort to do what we say we will do, get to church on time, etc. (ackmm, check out the time, gotta get to bed!). I called him to check on him after we ate lunch. He was having a grand time in the DHV library, even though he didn't have any tours today. He started telling me all about his meeting and what the plans are for this season at DHV. It made me cry when I got off the phone - he's growing up so much!

Right before calling him, we lost power. Yap, Big P called it! It was out for about 6 hours. We had the windows cracked to get a breeze in, which helped, but made it pretty soggy feeling in here. We survived. tonight, after the storm had died down, but we still didn't have electricity, Big P started asking what we were doing for dinner. Well, I didn't have any real plans, because I didn't really think we would lose power. We thought about picking something up for dinner, but after evaluation of our budget, we realized that we shouldn't. We had the cash, but had more resolve to not! Yea!! We determined that a dinner of eggs with cheese and mac and cheese, made outside in the camper with the propane would do just fine. Big P and P.9.G. went out and made that. After dinner, the power came on! Hallelujah! (hear the music?! :))

And meanwhile during the day we also put up 23 lb. of okra and cleaned out the dreaded 2 junk drawers!!!!! They are BEAUTIFUL!!!! We also did some laundry (folded) and rested and read, and played. :) It was a crazy, wild, wonderful weekend.

And tomorrow we get to go to church and worship the Lord as a family. I love it!!!

Most Incredible Man and Speed Scrap

Have I mentioned lately that I'm married to the most incredible man in the universe? Now, I know that many of you will argue with me, but he's really the most incredible man FOR ME! Today, I made lunch early and we got most of our schoolwork done, because I wanted to participate in the Speed Scrap at Scrapmatters. We had a lunch of yummy totally from scratch chili with beans. After lunch we were able to have a great Biblical and theological discussion with our big kids, which was absolutely wonderful. We even got to practice our verses of James 1:1-11 with Dad. Then the big kids cleaned up while I nursed Aiden. Big P put the little boys to bed and then we had about 30 minutes to sit and talk, with just the two of us! He helped me get ready for the speed scrap, because he knew it was important to me!!! I just love that about him!

And the speed scrap, which was my first by the way, was soooo much fun! You are giving 7 instruction 10 minutes apart. Then after the last instruction is given, you have 1 hour to complete your layout. Your are to be working on gathering your things as the instructions are given. Today's instructions were to pick a piece of paper using 1 color from your country's flag to commemorate 9/11. You could only use 1 photo, but had to use it twice on your layout. You had to use 4 flowers, frames on each photo, fasteners (I used the tape), some bling (I used the glittle swirly and the beads), and have wordart, but no journaling. It was a fast paced race, because you were trying to anticipate where she was going with the layout. Above us what I came up with and I'm so excited about how it turned out. It was a challenge and took me outside my box.

And it happens to feature my #1 fan and THE MOST INCREDIBLE MAN IN THE WORLD!

The wordart reads: Having a child fall asleep in your arms is one of the most peaceful feelings in the world.



Credits for the layout: blue paper - Vickie/A Work in Progress/Boys will be boys; frames - Sailor and Lula Designs; flowers - scrapgirls; twigs - ScrapWright Designs; glitter scroll - Flergs; love always string - ellie lash; wordart - elegant wordart

Please pray for the grasshopper, Mommy

We've prayed with our children for a long time, as they were going to sleep. Recently we started praying with each one and saying their name several times during the prayer. We need to pick this back up with our big kids as well.

Anyhow, tonight when I was getting ready to pray with Brason, he said, "Mommy, can you pray for the grasshopper?" I said, "yea, that's fine. Why?" He said, "He bit my finger." Okay. "Lord, please watch over Brason tonight as he sleeps and help him to feel better tomorrow and please watch over Brason's finger. And Lord, please watch over the grasshopper that bit him and help him not to be mean tomorrow. Amen." As I opened my eyes, I smiled at Brason and he says, "Mommy, I killed the grasshopper, I'm sorry." Hello!!!!! Guess I should have prayed that the grasshopper was saved! LOLOLOLOL I'm totally kidding about the salvation part! LOL

A Flerg giveaway

This kit makes me go OOOOHHHH, AHHHHH. I love the colors they are just my favorites. So, they are giving away this kit and a mini kit at this magazine, Growing in Grace. I've never heard of the magazine before, but happened upon it looking at Flergs blog. Of course, the title intrigued me, and so I'll be able to peruse it this weekend.


But, check out the kit. Even if I don't win, I think it would be a great investment - it's only $6. I've saved Big P that much easy in just two weeks of not going to SB. Oh, I can't believe I did this, but on Tuesday night I bought an SB. I got a surprise $5 in the mail and briefly put it in the money jar. Then I got it out, and wish I hadn't. :( Okay, not again. And that's enough about that.

New fun layout

I've been working on organizing my digi supplies again, but couldn't help but take a break and make this layout. i've been working on it on and off since yesterday. It was a template challenge at Scrapmatters. I think I've picked Scrapmatters as my one place to hang out and do challenges. The challenges are fun and you get freebies. For this one, you got two freebies - the template and then a participation prize, which is a black plastic alphabet. But, I think from now on, when I do the challenges, I'm going to aim to use the photos for the album that I am currently working on. Kill two birds with one stone, per say. P.9.G. shot most of these photos the other day. I made B "pose" by doing the walking away photo that is blended into the paper on the bottom of the layout. I think the photos are absolutely adorable, and made even better by a fun layout. Have I told you lately that I'm completely hooked on digi scrapping? This layout won't go in my current album, because I'm only doing that one up through his first birthday.

Okay, so the layout... (would love to know what you think)



The journaling says:

Brason gets on these kicks where he may be a mail carrier one day, an entomologist the next, and then a cowboy the next. It's so precious. All other things stop when he gets an idea in his head. He gets very creative and will craft up any sort of costume out of anything that he can get his hands on. For this ensemble, it started with Christian's fedora. He turned it into a cowboy hat. He then wanted his jeans on and later found Paige's boots. After that he grabbed some paper and rolled it up and stuck it in his pocket. I'm not sure what that was, but he thought it was very important. And alas a hanger became his gun. What a creative boy he is. And he's silly, too.

Fireproof - The Movie

I want to share about the new movie from the creators of Facing the Giants. It's called Fireproof and I think it is going to be incredible. I believe it is going to change lives and marriages!!! We are going on the 26th, the day it comes out and my parents are coming with it. Watch the trailer and tell me you aren't excited about this! And with all this fire stuff, C.12.B. has finished the script for his movie. We'll be shooting that soon!

Oh, I also have to say that there is a kissing scene in the movie and you'll notice that Chelsey is not Kirk's wife in the movie. Yet, he won't do a kissing scene with another woman. So, what did he do, you may ask?! He flew Chelsey in to do the shadowed kissing scene. What a guy! My Big P would do that for me!!!! :) I'm so blessed!

Camping

We had a great time on our camping trip this weekend! It was just one of the best camping trips we have ever been on. The weather was great, the bickering was not tolerated, and we relaxed a lot!

I took so many pictures, but I'm going to limit it to just a few.






Friday we set up camp, relaxed a bit, then headed to walmart. I don't know why we always end up at walmart, but we did. I wanted to get some butter to make popcorn that night.





















On Saturday we got up and had an easy breakfast then went to a little consignment shop where we found a like new Jumperoo for A for $40. We used to have one that my mom gave us. Those guilty of leaving it outside in the rain while it was waiting to be put into the barn shall remain nameless.



























It was off to the Children's museum, but not before a stop to a little coffee shop where we got a yummy cold coffee. Didn't get any pictures of that, but I should have, since we don't buy coffee out anymore! Heehee! All the children had a great time at the museum. We were there for about 3 hours or more!


That afternoon Big P took the bigger 4 swimming at the lake. No pics. :(

On Sunday morning we had another easy breakfast and then a devotional from Big P. We studied about the story in Acts about the man and the wife (can't remember their names) that lied to Peter about selling their land and how much money they had made off of it. They were lying to God as well! It prompted a nice discussion about how many people choose different convictions to live out - but that when people don't feel like living out a certain conviction, they will sometimes say "I don't feel led" or "God has told us such and such" or "I wasn't cut out for that". And if it doesn't agree with the Word, then God didn't say it. But, instead we should say that WE don't feel like doing such and such. I mean, let's be honest. It doesn't mean that we need to condemn others who don't do the things that we do - but it's a pet peeve of mine when people lie. It was a great discussion!
















We went ahead and started breaking camp. Then big P took the older 4 fishing (see pic at top made with Terri's template). I did the rest of the breaking down in the camper. It took us all of an hour (and maybe 1/2) to get home and we LOVED that part!!

Kangaroo Giving Birth

We are studying about Marsupials currently and we found this video that was just too cool not to share!

Digital Gift

I made this for my friend yesterday when we went to visit. When we were talking the other day, she mentioned to me that she was holding onto this verse while they were in the hospital. We've been studying 1 Thessalonians on Sunday mornings and learning how to love.

I made the word art from scratch and when I figure out how to offer a freebie, I'll offer it here along with another fun word art I created a while back.

This was fun to work on and it blessed her yesterday. I picked up a $2 frame and viola - a nice gift for less than $5 (including the 8x10 print).

The page kit paper and elements are from Irene Alexeeva's kit Crazy Crayons. The paper clip is from Christina Brown's Charleston Collection.

Digi Scrapping is Devine

Have I told you lately that I love digi scrapping? Ooooh, I do!

With our break this week, and in between cleaning sessions and loving on the littles, I've been able to get some things done. I have a total of 5 pages done in B.4.B.s album. I'm working on the pages for the next layout - pages 6 and 7.

I really love 2 page spreads. They are just my favorite to work on. I think this is why I love Yin's templates and I found a site that has a ton of 2 page sketches (click on the right sidebar where it says 2 page sketches). I think that it is so much easier for the layout to flow, the colors, etc.

I'm really trying to stick to a color scheme throughout this album, but finding it more challenging than I thought it would be. I thought it would be easier, but it is making things go a bit slower, so I think I'm going to throw caution to the wind and just do whatever! I'm sticking with oranges and blues - because he loves orange so much - but I'm not going to do all the same orange and blue.

Also, I placed my order for my Missouri album pages directly through Scrapbooks to Share on Friday. Even with the holiday, I had them on Tuesday!!! I'm simply thrilled with how they turned out. The colors are vibrant and they were very inexpensive. They are laser printed on cardstock - so they look great and will last a very long time (more than likely longer than a photo), but they are stiff and are more like a traditional scrapbook page.

Big P will be getting up soon, so I better finish up my kitchen org project so that we can work on getting ready for our camping trip. We will leave tomorrow around noon. B.4.B. is so excited. It's been a bit cool here, because of Gustov, but I think we'll still plan to go swimming. High is 87 - now we're getting into my kind of weather. This weekend I won't be scrappin' of course, but I'll be taking tons of pics to scrap. :)

What a week...

Oh my, what a week it has been. We are taking a planned week off of school to get caught up on some necessary decluttering as well as getting ready for a camping trip this weekend.

Saturday we attended the funeral for a beloved brother in Christ from our church. Although we were unable to hear the service, we were able to get to know a family at church, whom I know are to become bosom friends.

This same family were in the midst of a catstrophe Sunday after church when they second youngest son was hurt in the parking lot. It was no ones fault and things like this just happen sometimes. I won't go into all the details. Let's sum it up like this - they are home, God is good and has given us a miracle and we are forever thankful.

I've started a new digital scrapbook. This was is a 1 year album on our 2nd son (3rd child) B.4.B. It will run from preparing for his birth to his 1st birthday. I've done the first page, but nothing will be divulged until it is finished. This is going to be a fun one!! He's a fun boy who is really funny!!

This week I'll be working primarily on the kitchen. Everything from top to bottom will be decluttered and cleaned. I'll start that after lunch today when the littles are down for a nap. I'm also working on coordinating some meals to bless the family at our church which will hopefully help them get things back to normal at home.

So, although it is a break from school - we aren't really stopping! LOL

**Okay, coming back to finish this post. I got all the littles down for a nap, then the big kids and I got to work. We cleaned out 8 cabinets that held my spices, oils, and such. There wasn't much to get rid of in those cabinets, but we consolidated spices, wiped down the cabinets, doors, etc. and got everything reorganized.

Now for a little break. The big ones are going to watch a movie - The Last Sin Eater - and I'm going to scrap.

We'll pick back up after the movie with doing the dishes. Our water was out for an hour or so. We are having storms over here, and I'm wondering if they were having problems with the pumps or something. We're good now.

I would like to finish all the top cabinets today and countertops. Shouldn't be a problem. Tomorrow we'll do drawers and bottom cabinets and pantry. Thursday I'll like to clean the floors really good and pull out the oven and clean under it. With the big kids' help, it isn't so hard.