What a Testimony

Through a fellow homeschooling friend I was introduced today to the Smith family, who is featured in the videos above and below. Todd, Angie, Ellie, Abby, Kate, and little Audrey. All I can say is wow, what a testimony. What an honor it is to now 'know' them. I sat for a very long time just reading their story and wiping away tears. To have the sweet, precious spirit Angie has, all while going through what has to be the most gut-wrenching pain... wow. She is an excellent writer and shares the very rawest of emotions she is experiencing. How many of us would be willing to do the same? She's so real, so honest, so human. Through her pain and honesty she has encouraged and blessed me!

Enough from me. Go meet them yourself, and prepare to have your heart squeezed, tears to fall, and be challenged in your own walk with your Heavenly Father.


Smith Family Story from Matthew Singleton on Vimeo.

The Deals Were Slim Pickins This Week

I don't mean for this blog to become nothing more than me posting my CVS (and other) deals but it seems that is what I've been doing the most of lately. I apologize for that. This decluttering stuff is a lot of long, hard work and I promise that I will be back to my regular blogging about homeschooling soon. I get next to no comments, so I don't even think anyone really reads my blog anyway, so I guess it really doesn't matter what I blog about, does it? LOL.

Oh well, for my own enjoyment and pleasure, I present myself with the few deals I was able to get tonight.

First up is my big CVS trip. Don't let the massive amount of items overwhelm you!

I didn't have any Extra Bucks to start out with, so I had to spend some to get some. And they were out of the Softsoap Body Wash AND the Alavert D I had planned on getting. So, this was it for this week.

The regular price for everything would have come to $25.92 plus tax.
I paid $8.84 plus tax.
I earned $5.99 in ECB's.

The Herbal Essences shampoos and conditioners were Buy 1 Get 1 Free, so I only paid for two bottles out of the four ($4.29 each). But I had TWO $3.00 off of 2 coupons which made the two I was paying for only $1.29 each! So all four bottles cost me a total of $2.58! (No ECBs on these).

The deodorant was $3.99 and I had a $1.00 coupon. So I paid $2.99 and earned $3.99 back in ECBs.

The Zone bars were $1.59 each for a total of $4.77, but I had a coupon for $1.50 off 3 bars. So I paid $3.27 and earned $2.00 in ECBs.

My receipt printed out with the following extra coupons:
$10 off $50
Save $2.50 on any pain reliever purchase of $10
Save $3.00 on any Revlon cosmetics


This second picture is of the deals I got at Wal-Mart tonight. In all the years I've been shopping at Wal-Mart this is the first time I've actually used coupons there! I can't believe it!

The regular price of everything would have been $24.37 plus tax.
I paid $5.62 plus tax.

*The cereal was $2.88 each; I used two $1.50 coupons making each $1.38.
*The pastas were 1.50 each; I used three $1.00 coupons making each $.50.
*The Fabreeze Noticeables was $6.97; I used a $5.00 coupon making it only $1.97!
*The three bottles of body wash were .97 each; I used a .75 coupon and a $2.00/2 coupon making them all come to a positive .06!
*The Zantac was $4.23; I used a $5.00 coupon leaving me with a positive .77!


Overall, I'm very pleased with my shopping trips this week. The regular prices from both stores comes to $50.29 plus tax. I paid $14.46 and earned $5.99 in ECBs. That's a savings of $35.83 not counting the ECBs! I hope this encourages someone else to put a little time into getting those deals and be a good steward of what God has blessed you with!

Spring Cleaning Help

Ahhhh... spring. I love it. It's always been my favorite season. Open windows, gentle breezes, flowers and trees blooming, new life, fresh smells, school winding down, kids going outside. Can anything get any better?

And spring cleaning. It feels so good (once it's over) to have a nice, clean, fresh home. With my recent de-cluttering/straightening kick, my home will soon, once again, be a place of CLEAN peace and enjoyment. Happy sigh...

If you need help with your spring cleaning then check out these great places...

*Cindy's Porch
*Spring Cleaning: A Complete Checklist
*Woman's Day Printable Spring Cleaning Checklists (very pretty!)
*All Things Frugal

Oh, and yes, that really is me in the picture above. I just simply ADORE doing housework in my high heels and pearls!

Anti-Procrastination, Declutter, WHATEVER... It Just Feels Good!

I had, a little late, joined Anti-Procrastination Week (see my first project here), and now Crystal's got a Clear Out the Clutter Challenge going on. It doesn't matter WHAT it's called, I just know that I need to join them ALL!

We are a family of 6 living in a house that is less than 1000 sq. ft. so needless to say, we don't have a lot of room for ANY kind of clutter. However, it somehow always seems to find its way here.

So I am once again (I seem to do this at least once a year) in the middle of de-cluttering/reorganizing our entire house and getting ready for a sale... on-line AND in my front yard!

So here is the next 'before' and 'after' pictures. This is our linen closet/blanket closet/all-extra-medicines-and-other-personal-items closet. When I couldn't put the extra blankets away that the kids had used to make tents without them all falling down on my head, I knew it was time to tackle this mess.

Before...

...and after.

Let 'Em Go!

We have now received everything I ordered for our next school year and the kids just couldn't wait. When our Math-U-See box came the other day, Reece Cup and Princess went on and on for about 10 minutes, whopping and cheering. They were SO excited! So today, everyone started on their new math books! I didn't make them. In fact, I told them they didn't have to. But they wanted to so I figured, why wait? If they're ready and asking to do it, why in the world make them wait until August? Because that's just 'the way' it's supposed to be done?

I challenge that reason. That's just 'public school' thinking. It's just the way it's always been, the way most of us have always learned and gotten use to. But as homeschoolers we're called to be different anyway! The kids are finished with this year's books and they have their new books and they wanted to start them. So instead of forgetting what they've learned over the summer and having to recap in August, now they'll be four months into their new books!

If I haven't said it before... I LOVE homeschooling!

Update On My Doctor's Visit

Well, my dream did not come true. There's actually something 'wrong' with me, thank goodness! LOL!

Seems that first of all, I have too much estrogen. The only natural way to bring this down is to watch the meat and milk that I consume. There are such high levels of added hormones that I need to make sure I'm eating and drinking organic meat and milk. Yeah, the grocery budget's going to love that! Oh, and make sure my bowels are moving regularly. Ok, moving on.

Secondly, I have nearly NO progesterone. A normal level is 10 and she expected mine to come back around a 4. She said she was shocked when my level actually came back at a 0.8! So tonight I begin using a liquid progesterone that I rub in on the inside of my forearm at bedtime. She said that it will help me sleep better and deeper, I will dream more vividly (don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing), that I will be more calm and patient (a collective 'YAY' erupts from my entire household), and that I will be ABLE to begin to lose weight! (A big ole' loud YIPPEE erupts from me!) She said that no matter what I did right now to try to lose the weight that is simply would not come off. HELLO! Thank you very much. I knew it wasn't all just in my head.

My sugar was also just slightly high, but it wasn't anything to be too concerned with right now. As the weight begins to come off that should correct itself.

It feels SO good to finally have someone take me seriously and be willing to work with me to find out exactly what's going on in this old body of mine. Oh, and speaking of old body, I asked her what exactly would cause my progesterone level to be so low. She said, 'Getting older'. Getting OLDER? OLDER?!! I'm ONLY 32. Please tell me she was just kidding! I've always been 'young'. I can't be on the 'getting older' boat. Not yet! Great. What's next? Geritol?

Sigh... well, anyway. I just thought I'd update you and let you know that I'm on my way to being fixed! I hear so many women talk about feeling some of the very same things I've been experiencing. I sincerely hope that if you're one of them that you can find someone who's willing to listen to you and actually work to find what's going on. I'm so excited to start feeling good again. It's been a very long time.

I've Joined Anti-Procrastination Week

I'm a bit late in joining in the 'fun', but Mrs. Byers over at 'A Complete Pantry' has motivated me to stop procrastinating and just get up and do the things that need to be done!

I LOVE looking at 'Before' and 'After' pictures, so this morning I went through the house and took 'before' pictures of all the areas I need to tackle and as I get each of them done I'll take 'after' pictures and post them in hopes of motivating all of you!

The funny thing is, I know the messes are bad, but they look so much worse when I see the pictures of them! Yikes!

So, here's my first set of before and afters. I decided to finally tackle my kitchen, which I'm embarrassed to say, had been neglected WAY too long. I've had a mountain of dishes gradually growing each day and it was hard to get anything done. They were getting really gross, my stovetop needed scraped, and the floor was nasty. What makes it even worse is that we do our schoolwork in the kitchen so it was making each day start out on a very sour note. I can't believe I let it get this bad. I vow to work hard to keep it clean now that it's done.

Before. (Believe me, the picture doesn't do the mess justice. It was much worse than it looks.)
And after.

So, what do you think? Doesn't it look GREAT?! I LOVE when my kitchen is all clean and shiney. After wiping my counters off I spray and wipe them with Lysol Kitchen cleaner and they just sparkle! It's the cleanest room in the house. I just want to stay there. LOL!

Ok gals. Now, get motivated with me. You know there are projects you need to tackle too. There's no better time than now to just get up and do it! I promise, you'll be SO happy you did. So what are you going to start with? And don't forget to take those 'before' and 'after' pictures for me!

Only A Homeschooler...

This is just WAY too cute. I know you'll enjoy reading it. Here's a snippet, but it gets much, much cuter...

Your 3 yr old son looks up from the leggo universe he’s building and suddenly notices that a math book in the bookcase has his name on the spine. Said son stops everything, grabs the book, and runs to mom.

“MOM! This has my own name on it! It’s my homework?! I can do this book?! It’s for me?! You got this for me?!”

I tell him that, yes, that will be his book when he turns 4 years old. When his birthday comes on __ he can have his own math book!

A crestfallen Tobey, “Oh. Not for me right now? Not until I’m four? I’m not four yet.” Eyes are starting to fill with tears. “I can’t do math yet?”

Two Pair of $25 Slippers for Only $1.06!!

Big, HUGE thanks go out to Michele (who got the idea from Nichole) about the awesome deal going on over at Victoria's Secret... on their SLIPPERS girls. On their slippers.

You can get TWO pair of slippers that normally retail for $25.00 EACH for only $1.06!! And I can confirm it because I've already placed my order!

Here are the details:

Go to the Victoria's Secret website (you will not want to have any little eyes watching over your shoulder when you do this).

Click on the Sales and Specials page.

Go to the 70% off clearance section and click on sleepwear in the drop-down box. They are clearanced at 2 for $6.

Choose your size and if they have any left (in your size) you will find them on page 4 or 5.

Upon check out enter the following two codes:
Free shipping code: TRYVS
$5 off your first purchase code: SP810573 (expires 4/23)

Have fun!!

Now I KNOW I'm Crazy!

Remember my post about finally finding a female doctor who said she's going to FIX me? Well, I must be more anxious to find out the results of my blood work than I realized because I had a dream a couple nights ago about it.

I dreamed I went it to see what my blood work had shown, what my new favorite doctor had discovered was wrong with me and how she was going to fix me. But do you know what she said to me when I got there? She said, "Well, we've checked everything and can't find anything wrong. Everything's completely normal. It's just you." I was shocked to say the least and couldn't believe what I was hearing. I left the doctor's office babbling to myself saying things like, "It's all your fault. You're just a big fat lazy cow. All your problems are because you're lazy and overweight and if you'd just get up off your butt and lose weight everything else would be fine and you'd feel normal again and all your other problems would disappear".

Ouch! I sure was harsh on myself. Let's hope Friday's appointment doesn't go anything like my dream!

How crazy. I'm HOPING the doctor finds something wrong with me!

I'll keep you updated.

Had An 'Ah Ha' Moment Today

We are very laid back homeschoolers and always have been. I'm not a big one on text books and tons of busy work. So with our Rod & Staff English we do most of the work orally. Usually I have the boys do something small with English that requires writing to help practice their handwriting. You know, kill two birds with one stone?

And with Baby Girl, if there's a worksheet that goes along with her lesson (not all lessons have a worksheet) we do the questions from the book orally together and then she does her worksheet.

But today her lesson was on doing an outline (again). She had read about them a few times, and we've discussed them, but I never had her actually do one. But today she was frustrated with reading about it again and said she just didn't get it. So, I walked her through an example outline and had her do one herself. It took her a while to complete it, but do you know what she said to me when she was finished?

"I finally feel like I've actually done something today". And she didn't even have a bad attitude about all the writing she did! She actually ENJOYED doing it! Talk about an 'AH HA' moment! She has no idea what she has done.

I'm looking forward to making her 'happy' again tomorrow!

We Are Now A Webkins Family, With A Ducky Cake!

Here's just a couple pictures I wanted to share with you. The first one is the newest members of our family... (L-R) Snowball, Spot, JoJo, Rory, and Cookie. We're a bit late jumping on the Webkins bandwagon, but a dear friend of ours bought the kids their first one, JoJo, and that started it. With two birthdays last week, our little furry family has grown. The kids love playing on the Webkins website with their new friends, but unfortunately, for whatever reason, that website causes our computer to shut down after about 5 minutes of play every single time. Not much fun for little Harpo. (Pop quiz: What movie is that line from?)


This second picture is of the cake the boys picked out for Baby Girl to have on her actual birthday (last Sunday). Isn't is just the cutest?

My Precious Boys

I snapped this picture last night when I went to check on the boys. They were fast asleep, arms locked. It was so precious I had to capture the moment. So what if the flash woke them up (it didn't), this was a moment I didn't want to forget. It was so cute.

Tonight however, they both got in trouble for talking during children's choir practice. We've warned them over and over and it was just time for a little more 'reminding'. Daddy took them into their room and talked to them and then gave them their 'reminder' while I sat in the den, my heart ripping out of me. Handsome was crying before they even went in there saying how sorry he was. Gosh this parenting stuff is hard sometimes. But we love our kids with a PASSION and we know what we do now will ultimately affect them for the rest of their lives.

Afterwards, Reece Cup came out to me with this pitiful little face and said, "Mom, thanks for loving us enough to make us gentlemen" and hugged me. Oh-My-GOSH! Talk about gripping your very insides and making you gush with pride at the same time!

I absolutely LOVE being a mom and I'm so thankful God saw fit to bless me with four of the greatest kids in the whole entire world!

Phew! I Survived.

The first two weeks of April are always busy for our family. Handsome's birthday is on the 9th and Baby Girl's is on the 13th. So when April rolls around we can always be found planning two birthday parties, and usually two sleepovers. I always plan our Spring Break for the week of their birthdays as well and it's such a nice break, well, from schoolwork that is. There is no rest for mom that week.

Here's a couple of pictures from each of the kiddo's birthdays...

When did my baby boy get so big? Sigh...


Don't let them fool you. This is one wild bunch!


Baby Girl with her cake.


Looking Fabulous!


These are the sweetest bunch of girls!

I'm Happy to Announce...

I am once again in love with CVS! Every single transaction I did yesterday went through perfectly. Well, almost. But we won't dwell on that last one in which my ECB's didn't print like they were supposed to and the manager had to come up and couldn't figure it out and wound up just giving me money back instead.

Anyway, here's my stash from this past week. Crystal does a much better job at explaining everything pertaining to CVS, but I'll explain to you what I did on this trip.

First of all, I plan my trip before I leave the house. I write down what to buy, what coupons to use, how much it should cost me (approx.) and how many ECB's to use and how many I should earn back. This saves me lots of time and confusion. I take my ads with me just in case they're out of something I had written down to purchase so I can rework my plans.

Ok, so here's how this trip went...

I started my trip out with $11.97 in ECBs.

Transaction #1:
*Buy 3 Excedrin @ 1.99 each = 5.97
Use (3) 2.00 coupons = +.03
Earn 3.00 ECBs
(I only bought 3 instead of the limit of 5 because I only had 3 coupons)

*Buy 3 CVS Pain Relief Gelcaps @ 3.99 each = 11.97
Earn 11.97 ECBs

*Buy 3 sets of Essence of Beauty toe dividers @ .99 each = 2.97
Earn 3.50 ECBs (this was supposed to be $5 ECBs back, I just noticed this...hmmm)

Total before coupons = $20.91
Total after coupons = $11.92 (I also used a $4 off $20 CVS coupon)
Used ECBs to pay entire amount
Spent out-of-pocket: $0.00
Earned $18.47 in ECBs (should have been 19.97 ECBs)


Transaction #2:
Couldn't do what I had planned because they were out of the Softsoap Spa Body Wash, but had they not been I had planned on buying 4 of those at 4.99 each, making the total 19.96 plus tax, using my 19.97 in ECBs to pay for them and earning 19.96 in ECBs back.


Transaction #3:
*Buy a Precision Xtra Diabetic kit for 19.99
Use ECBs
Spent out-of-pocket: $1.52
Earn 19.99 ECBs back


Transaction #4:
*Buy 1 Swiffer Sweeper Starter Kit @ 8.99
Use 1.00 coupon = 7.99

*Buy Swiffer Dust refills @ 5.99
Use 1.00 coupon = 4.99

*Buy Febreeze Fabric Refresher @ 3.99
Use .50 coupon

*Buy Febreeze Noticeables Starter Kit @ 6.99
Use 2.00 coupon = 4.99
Use coupon for Buy Starter Kit Get 1 Febreze Air Freshener Spray FREE!

Total before coupons = $28.46
Total after coupons = $21.46
Used all of my $19.99 ECBs plus $1.98 out-of-pocket
Earned $10.00 ECBs back


Now, the SMARTEST thing to do is to roll those $10 ECBs over to my next trip to start out with, but I made the mistake of going down the dollar isle. I bought a 10-pack of tissues so I could stick some in my purse, a pair of men's dress socks as a joke for Sweetie because he's forever looking for dress socks (that match!) so I told him I'd rather spend $1 a day on new socks instead of constantly finding his matches that seem to disappear all the time, I bought a lint roller Sweetie has mentioned we need, Baby Girl asked for a bag of pretzels, and I bought a shower curtain. All of that came to $8.67, so I'll be starting out with pretty much no ECBs again, but you can't beat the deals I got. I'm just going to have to discipline myself to SAVE those ECBs for the next trip because it really does save more money in the long run.

My total out-of-pocket this trip was a whopping $3.50! If I were to buy everything in the picture at their REGULAR (not on-sale) prices, without any coupons or ECBs, my total would come to $161.90!! I saved $158.40!! Now THAT'S what I call a bargain!

So, all-in-all I am a very happy CVS'er! And this week I had two wonderfully sweet ladies checking me out and that made my trip even better.

Sigh... I'm a happy gal I am.

She's Gonna FIX me!!

I went to see a female gyn. doctor last Friday and do you know what she said to me? She said that she's going to FIX ME!!! YIPPEE!!! I'm so excited!

Why do I need fixed you ask? Well! Just sit right down and let me tell you. How long do you have?

Six years ago this past January I had my fourth and final baby. I also had a complete tubal ligation. Oh how I wish I hadn't gone that route. But that's another story for another day.

Anyway, I have not felt myself since. I have felt like I was going crazy. I'm always tired. I forget everything, even very simple things like what was coming out of my mouth! I'll just be talking and then I'll go, 'mmmm mmmm', trying to get the right word to come to my brain so it can send it to my mouth. Most of the time other people finish what I was trying to say. It used to be funny, but it's not so funny anymore. My weight gain is horrific, which has caused me to develop sleep apnea, which causes me to be even more tired. I'm always so hot. In fact, I sleep in shorts and a tank top with the ceiling fan and another small fan on my bedside table blowing on me... even through the coldest winter months! I'm constantly thirsty. I'm very emotional (weepy, grouchy, angry, hateful... you name it) and a while back my MALE doctor, whom I do really like but whom I know just doesn't GET women problems, put me on an anti-depressant because I sounded 'depressed'. HELLO! No, I'm not depressed. There's way more going on here! But anyway, I have been taking the prescription he gave me because it's the only thing that helps keep my emotions under control. One day without it and I don't even want to be around myself!

So anyway, I told all of this to my new best friend and she took me seriously and said she's going to fix me!! She drew blood that day and I have to go back in next Monday for them to draw some more so she can check for levels of all kinds of different things! (The different blood draws are so they'll be on different days of my cycle. How cool is that?)

Words just can't describe how excited I am! I miss myself and I can't wait to feel normal again! It's been far too long. My kids will think they've been given a new momma!

I'll keep you updated.

I Don't Understand Why They're Not Excited!

Since we have been homeschooling (going into our 7th year), I have never bought anything brand new as far as curriculum goes. I always shopped for the best bargains, which usually meant buying used. I'm totally fine with that. I LOVE good bargains!

But this year, I did something I've never done and oh my gosh was it fun!! We got a really good tax return this year and even though we could have used it all to pay down our debt (which we are doing with the rest of it), for the first time I simply listed what we needed for next year and went to a few different websites and BOUGHT it... ALL NEW! I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it!

However, when I thoughtfully shared my excitement with my children, who, might I add, are actually the lucky recipients of everything I ordered, they seemed somewhat less than enthusiastic. I don't get it. Don't they understand how FUN this is? Don't they get all giddy when they think of opening a BRAND NEW math book? And the look and feel and smell of fresh, unopened handwriting books and science books and history books! Oh my!

I just don't understand kids these days.

Anyway, I was talking to a very dear friend the other day who uses a boxed curriculum and I have a sister-in-law who uses another boxed curriculum and I am just shocked at how much these types of curriculums cost! Don't get me wrong, I don't think they're bad choices, we've even used some of each of them in the past and like both. However, using them for our entire curriculum was never an option for our family simply because we couldn't afford them. When you have four children things tend to get a bit expensive.

We've always been more of an eclectic homeschooling family anyway. Early on I wrote down the subjects I felt we needed to be covering and then took them one by one and researched until I found what I felt was the best fit for our family. We've had some duds, and some winners we've stuck with the entire time. And every now and then we'll add something and sometimes we replace something else. But we have reached a pretty happy medium and usually stick with most of the same things.

Anyway, here's what I bought for next year and this covers all four kids. I'll share the prices with you as well so you can see approximately what homeschooling costs our family.

*Above and Beyond Five in a Row
Bought from the Five in a Row digital store
$19.00

*Rod & Staff English
Bought from the Rod & Staff website
3rd grade student book
3rd grade teacher's manual
(2) 3rd grade worksheets
7th grade student book
7th grade teacher's manual
7th grade worksheets
$77.50 plus $8.61 shipping

The following items were all ordered from Rainbow Resource:

*Handwriting Without Tears
My Printing Book
Regular double line notebook paper (ream)
Wide double line notebook paper (100 sheets)

*Sequential Spelling
Level 3

*Apologia Science
Exploring Creation with General Science
Daily Lesson Plans for Expl. Creation w/Gen. Science

*Truthquest History
Ancient Egypt/Ancient Greece

*Bible Study Guide for All Ages
(3)Intermediate student pages for lessons 27-52

*Audio Memory
World Geography Songs kit with CD

Total for Rainbow Resource order: $154.45 (free shipping!)


*Scienc Kit
ordered from Home Science Tools
$22.50 plus $7.97 shipping

*Math U See
I haven't ordered this yet but hopefully will be this week. This can be purchased from the Math U See website.
Alpha Student Kit
Gamma Student Kit
Delta Student Kit
Epsilon Student Kit
Epsilon Teacher Kit
Fraction Overlays
$145.00 plus $12.50 shipping
(I acutally AM trying to find a deal on this since it is a tad expensive.)


So all together, not counting the math yet, I have spent a whopping total of $290.03, and that includes shipping, to homeschool all four of our children next year! Not too shabby if you ask me!

So how about you? What does it usually cost you to buy your curriculum for the school year? Do you have a monthly/yearly school budget?

I Almost Gave Up on CVS

I went to CVS this past Monday and left more irritated than I've been in a long time. Let me just say, we do not have the most friendly CVS employees. And their expressions and attitude let me know loud and clear that they don't have the time nor the patience to deal with those of us who are still just learning the in's and out's of shopping at CVS. I was overly-nice and apologetic, even returned the $4.00 too-much-in-change they gave me! So much for a smile being contagious!

Anyway, because my ECBs weren't printing like they were supposed to and some of the deals I had read others had done that I was trying to copy but the sweet, friendly CVS girls wouldn't let me do, I got a bit confused and flustered along with the icy-cold looks I was getting, I wound up spending $16.33, NOT what I had planned! But I also used $28.97 in ECBs and earned $11.97 in ECBs back. I'm lucky I made it out of there with anything because I was very tempted to simply say, 'Forget it!' and walk out leaving my buggy full of stuff behind.

Hopefully next week will be better. Think I'll go at a different time of day and hope I get more friendly workers.

To learn all about shopping at CVS, stop by Crystal's blog and click on 'New To CVS'.

Youth Trips and Doctors and Birthdays, Oh My!

So, this is NOT the way to get more people to visit your blog (for those of you who are looking for more traffic). Not blogging isn't very interesting for your readers.

I am the biggest homebody ever, and I hate busy-ness and running constantly. But I'm learning that no matter how much I kick, I'm not going to be able to stay in my comfy cozy home all the time like I'd like to. Having kids has a way of doing that to you.

Last weekend I took Baby Girl, and four other young ladies, on an overnight trip with our church to a youth conference.


(Baby Girl is on the left.)

The church that held the conference is a 2 1/2 hour drive away and on Friday night we had 48 people from our church in attendance! I am so proud of our church people, they're the best.



(Nothing better than a bunch of bellies full of White Castles at midnight, aye?) We stayed overnight and I have to brag on our teenagers. They are just a great bunch of kids. They love to laugh and have a good time, but it's all innocent fun and they are not ashamed to praise and worship the Lord!

The youth choir also visited another church and sang last night and will be doing so again tomorrow night, and Baby Girl is a memeber.

And for some reason we have been visiting the doctor and dentist over and over
lately. Sinuses, check-ups, braces, regular cleanings, hormone level testing, etc. I think we have more appointments this month than we've ever had. Sigh... not settling too well with this homebody.

And then the birthdays. Handsome is having his Golden Birthday next week. He'll be 9 on the 9th! And since his birthday falls on a Wednesday this year, he is having a slumber party tonight, as I type this, with Reece Cup and four other little (loud) boys. But they're having the time of their lives; running, yelling, shooting each other, playing basketball and video games, building marble runs, playing Battleship, and eating homemade pizza and chocolate chip cookies. Tomorrow we'll have his party with his friends and family.

Then on the 13th Baby Girl turns 12. She will be having her party next Friday followed by a slumber party with 6 or 7 of her girlfriends. Yes, it's hectic and loud and tiring around here the first two weeks of April, but I love seeing my kids having so much fun with their friends. They're all good kids, either cousins or kids we go to church with, and I don't mind one bit having them here. We've never had any problems out of any of them and they make us laugh. Life is good when you're a kid, isn't it? I'll post pictures soon.

Oh yeah, I'll also have been married to the greatest man in the whole entire world for a whopping 13 years on the 22nd of this month as well.

Sigh... life is good.

Don't Forget to Sign Up for Book It!

We have participated in Pizza Hut's Book It program for a few years now and it is such a nice treat to take the kids out for lunch once a month or so and reward them for their hard work.

Registration is now open for K-6th grade students for the 2008-2009 school year, but be sure to sign up by June 13.