Book Review

Last month I signed up for this book challenge giveaway at Sarah's blog. Not long after, this book arrived in my mailbox.


So in receiving this book I have agreed to write a review about it. So here goes... (keep in mind that although I love to read I am no English major or teacher. I have a hard time putting my thoughts into words)

I have enjoyed this book. I have to admit I was a bit skeptical at first (but how can I pass up the chance to get a book, I love books) because I enjoy reading "self-help" books and some fiction and this doesn't fall into either of those categories. This is written as a bunch of short stories about the author, Shauna Niequist's, life journeys.
She has lived a very full life and she is still very young. She shares the good and the bad with the reader which made me appreciate her even more.
In one of the chapters she talks about traveling to a foreign country without her parents along. The whole idea of that would have scared me enough to not want to do it but she enjoyed it because her parents had prepared her so well for it.
Another chapter talks about her battle with her weight and not liking her body.
She also has a chapter about a special bond she has created with a group of teenagers, while she was a youth group leader, who have since grown up, married, and started their own families.
I recommend getting a copy of this book for yourself.

Check out Sarah's blog later today for more reviews of Cold Tangerines.

Smiles!

I already miss my Bella!

We put Anna on a plane to Arizona this morning at 7am along with my sister and my niece. They will be staying with my parents for about 10 days. She should be arriving in Tucson around 1:55pm. The pictures is of her flight when I checked on it. Did you know you could do that?I did not. So my Bella is on that airplane getting ready to land.
Smiles!

Wordless Wednesday - Almost

He may just kill me for this. Wink!

See other Wordless Wednesday participants at 5 Minutes for Mom.

A "blustery"day here.

Do I post about the weather too much?
Seriously folks it is 37 degrees today, I have seen some flurries, but the WIND is incredible!

If you are wondering how Zack did last night you can check it out here. Not such a banner night for distance but we expected as much (apparently, I wasn't told that until after the meet). Coach Brandon has been "breaking him down" so that he will be able to peak at the end of the season. I am not sure what that means but that is what my hubby told me so I thought I would include it in case any of you can figure that statement out. With all the weight lifting Zack has been doing he hasn't be throwing much and so hubby didn't expect to see a big toss out of him.
Can I shock y'all with how much my baby can lift? Maybe you won't know what a big deal this is unless you ask your own hubbies for a reference point of what most guys can lift but here goes... Zack can bench press 385#, he can box squat 550#, he can hang cling/military press above head 250#, and full squat 500#. Go ahead and ask your hubbies what they could lift in HS and then tell them Zack just turned 17. I love to see peoples reactions but it is a crazy amount of weight. Good thing Zack understands it is all a God given gift.

Hanging on to the roof!

Smiles!

Gearing up for the Spring sport schedule.

Life is going to get crazy now..

Anna starts soccer practice today.

Kaylyn starts track practice today.

Zack has his first track meet at GVSU for HS today.

Poor Libby is going to get toted around a lot here in the next couple months. Hopefully she will be a good sport about it. She loves to be outside so as soon as it warms up a bit I am certain she won't mind.

I am concerned about how they are going to hold all these practices today WITH SNOW ON THE GROUND! My kids feet are going to freeze.

Zack's meet is indoors so at least he won't have to worry about being cold. Unfortunately though that means he will only get to throw the shot put today and not the discus. The discus can't be thrown inside most building because it goes to far, you need more room.

Here is a little bit of interesting sibling information for y'all. Zack and Kaylyn get at each other more than any of my kids. We can't even get through a dinner without one of them getting annoyed with the other. Yet Kaylyn wants to throw Shot Put and Discus and Zack has been encouraging her to do it. Isn't that great how God is working at giving them a common interest. I love that!

Smiles!

The first day of Spring?

Here is how the first day of Spring is being welcomed in West Michigan....

Severe Weather Bulletin:

From the WZZM 13 On Target Weather Center, here is the latest bulletin from the National Weather Service...

04:09 AM EDT Fri-Mar-21
The Weather Service has issued a WINTER STORM WARNING

Michigan counties

ALLEGAN, BARRY, CALHOUN, KALAMAZOO, VAN BUREN

SNOW ADVISORY

Michigan counties

IONIA, KENT,OTTAWA

Yes indeed! We are under a Winter Snow Advisory. Go figure!

Smiles!

Spring Cleaning-Anna's room

Yeah! One more room to check off my list. I am losing my momentum, can you tell?

Before picture:

After pictures:

The beads hanging in the doorway are Anna's personal alarm system. She can hear from anywhere in the house if someone goes in her bedroom because the beads are making noise. Including the poor dog who Anna does not like getting on her bed.Look at all those soccer balls under her saucer chair. Just how many soccer balls does one girl need?Yes, my daughter loves to hunt. These are her own mounts. She even saved up money to pay for them herself.
Isn't this a cool wall? Anna painted it herself. I think she did an excellent job! That circle on the wall is a glare off her mirror.

Some of what was done:
-Stripped bedding and washed it
-moved bed to clean and vacuum under it
-washed window inside and out (Can't get that cling on paint stuff off her window. I think I will make the Auntie that gave it to her come over and clean it.)
-dumped trash
-washed marks on wall with the wonderful "Magic Eraser"
-organized her stuff

Want some inspiration? Visit Monica at The Homespun Heart to see how others are doing with their spring cleaning.

Smiles!

Absolutely Incredible Kids

Mari has declared it "Absolutely Incredible Kids" day. Here are some pictures of my 4 incredible kids...

This one has a funny story behind it... Zack did really well at the final State Meet for indoor throwing a couple weeks ago. It was late getting home because of the blizzards that we kept hitting. Aparently Zack was too tired to change out of his clothes. I had to be to a church meeting early the next morning and his car was still at school. I told him if he wants his car he needs to be ready to leave at 8:30am to get it or he will have to wait until Dad gets home from work to go get it. I guess he wanted his car because this is what I found waiting for me that morning, medal and all.


Here is Anna warming up for her basketball game. As of last nights, very intense game, they are still undefeated with only 2 more games to go.


Here is Kaylyn, and Libby, while visiting with their Great-Grandmother a couple weeks ago. Kaylyn loves to go visit people. As you can tell my Grandma was happy to see them also. I wasn't with them but I am guessing my Grandpa must have said something funny because that is the direction they are looking.

Here is Libby and me at her Valentine's Day Party at school. I love being able to help in her classroom and getting the opportunity to get to know her classmates.

Head on over to Mari to see some more incredible kids.
Smiles!

Excited Auntie here!

I got my sister to send me a picture!

I probably should have warned her that I wouldn't be able to not blog about it. She actually sent me 3 pictures.
One was labeled "What the general public sees" (that is the one below), one was "What the cleaning ladies and unexpected company sees" (her in sweats and a t-shirt squeezing over her growing baby belly), and one "What only Leo, the doctor and I see" (her bare baby belly, oh I just love that one). Isn't she a hoot? Doesn't she look great? I am so excited to hold that baby girl and love on her. We only have a little over 2 months to go.

Check it out, I found a picture of me (looking thrilled to have my picture taken I might add) 7 months pregnant with my first baby 17 years ago. The sweater must hide more because I was huge with Zack. I actually had a lady ask me if I was expecting twins when I told her I was only 7 months pregnant. Isn't that awful. The things some people say. My doctor did an ultrasound on me on my first 3 pregnancies because I always measured big. By the 4th I guess he had it figured out and didn't bother. He said I have a lot more amniotic fluid than most. There is your useless info for the day.

Smiles!

How-to for scripture frames

A couple ladies commented on wanting to know how I did the scripture frames. Well I am not a teacher, I usually self teach myself things through trial and error, so I will give it my best and hopefully you can get the idea.

I purchased the "Clip Frames" at Hobby Lobby. They are normally $2.99 but all frames were 50% off this week. I love that. Then I picked out one sheet of scrap booking paper in each child's favorite color.


At home I selected a verse for each child and then "personalized" it. If you read the verse out of your NIV bible and compare it to how I wrote it for each child I think you will get the idea.

Then I typed it up on the computer and matched the color of the child's name to the color of the paper for each name and printed it off on regular printer paper. Note: space it all out enough so that you can have enough room to cut them out separately. (Can you tell that was part of my trail and error process?)

I cut both the child's name and the scripture out using the same width to give it some unity.

To make it a little more fancy I used a corner punch on each of the white name and scripture squares. (Out of my scrap booking/card making supplies)

Next I used a double-sided sticker (from scrap booking supply) to attach the name and scripture to the colored paper. Again, to give it some unity, I kept the same distance from the edge of the colored paper to the edge of the white paper on the top(header) and bottom(footer).


Reassemble the frame following the directions on the back. I also added bumpers on the to side clips so that the picture hangs nice and to keep the metal clips from leaving marks on my walls. I already had some of these in the house but I am thinking we bought them at Wal-mart.


Smiles!

Spring Cleaning-Kids bathroom

Before picture:

I didn't dare go much further in for the picture for fear of terrible embarrassment. My husband and I both refuse to use the kids bathroom because they don't clean up after themselves and they don't seem to have very good "aim". Ewww.

After pictures:

I went shopping to Target (new rug) and Hobby Lobby today to make some fun things for the walls now that the bathroom is so shiney clean.

Speaking scripture into my children.

In case you can't read them I will type it out for you...

Zachary
That whatever Zachary does, he will work at it with all his heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since he knows that he will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ he is serving.
~Colossians 3:23-24

Georgiana
Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, may Georgiana clothe herself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
~Colossians 3:12

Kaylyn
Let Kaylyn not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time she will reap a harvest if she does not give up.
~Galatians 6:9

Elizabeth
That Elizabeth will be strong and courageous, and do the work. That she not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, her God, is with her. He will not fail her or forsake her until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished.
~I Chronicles 28:20

We have always had the towel hooks hanging in the bathroom but I decided to "spruce" them up a little.

Some of what was done:
-remove shower curtain and launder it
-scrub shower/tub
-empty trash and soak trash can (why can't kids put gum in tissue before dumping it?)
-wash down toilet
-wash mirror
-empty drawers, wash them, replace only essential items (how many toothbrushes can one child use anyway?)
-empty cupboards, wash them, replace only essential items (what do they do with the rocks I found in cupboard?)
-wash down walls where needed
-wash door
-hand wash floor
-spruce up a bit

Smiles!

Just for Laura...

I thought I should prove to Laura that she is not alone. You will have to go here for an explanation of why my fingers and toes often go white and numb when I get cold, just like Laura's. I should note it was much worse than this but after I ran house and searched for the camera I improved some of the blood flow. This has only been happening to me for about the last 6 or 7 years. My kids get a chuckle out of seeing one of mom's fingers randomly going white. It is so attractive don't you think?
BTW- Thanks Laura for giving me a name to go with my "weird finger/toe thing".

Be sure to visit Angie. She is having a Max Lucado book giveaway.

Smiles!

Wordless Wednesday

See other Wordless Wednesday participants at 5 Minutes for Mom

Spring Cleaning-Master bedroom and bathroom

"Before" pictures of the Master bedroom:

My sweet husband makes the bed for me every morning so this really is how my bedroom looked the morning I started. If it was left up to me the bed might not get made until right before I crawl into it at night. Silly yes but it is nice to get into a made bed so yes if Mark isn't home to make it I do make it before going to bed.

Another view before the "cleanfest".

"After" pictures of the Master bedroom:

A partial list of what was done to it:
-stripped the bedding and washed it
-picked up the matress and box springs and everything that had found it's way under the bed and vacuumed
-removed everything that didn't belong in the room (look next to the bed on my side, pack rat)
-swiffered the walls
-removed and washed the light fixture and cleaned the ceiling fan
-washed the windows inside and out (they tip in for easy cleaning)
-dusted the blinds
-cleaned out the dresser drawers and dumped things with holes in them (I'll spare you the pictures)
-made a new bedskirt and put it on
-bought a pretty basket to hold blankets (instead of the plastic laundry basket)
-vacuumed the lampshades

"Before" picture of Master bathroom:(Note the cracked toilet seat and the new one waiting to replace it still in the box leaning against the tub. How long do those projects wait to get done in your house?)

"After" pictures of the Master bathroom:

This second "after" pictures is just to show you another tip for making the most out of your mirror. I buy suction cup hooks and hang my jewelry on them on the mirror. I just bought some more to do the same in the kids bathroom. It works really well. I even hang my glasses there while I am not wearing them.

Some of what was done:
-washed down bathtub/shower
-removed and cleaned furnace vent
-hand washed the floors and cabinet faces
-cleaned the mirror
-dump out-dated toiletries/medications
-washed the rug and toilet cover
-replaced broken toilet seat

Now it is on to the kids bathroom and Anna's bedroom to catch up on my goals. Yikes I am running a bit behind.

Want some inspiration? Visit Monica at The Homespun Heart to see how others are doing with their spring cleaning.

Smiles!

How is it going you ask?

I've got my cleaning supplies in hand and I am plugging away.

I have come to realize that I set quite an aggressive goal but I am not allowing myself to become discouraged. I would rather have each area really deep cleaned then to rush through it now to stay on schedule.

( Confession: I really would like to have that outfit. I love the look of that era's dresses.)
I have gotten through my bedroom and bathroom. If you look at the list I should also have conquered Anna's bedroom and the kid's bathroom. I may get those two done today. I am holding off on pictures because I am also sewing a new bed skirt for our bed and Anna's bed. I had already bought the fabric for ours I just hadn't gotten to making it yet. What better time to remove the old bed skirt than when I have the mattress off the box springs right? We have a king size bed so I picked up the box springs so that I could vacuum under the whole bed.

Back to cleaning...

I also just realized that it is the 8th and I need to update you on how I am doing on my 8 in 2008 intentional living goals....

1. Keep up our 1,000 Gifts List
-We (I) have been adding more things to our 1000 gifts list.
2. Work @ becoming a Proverbs 31 woman
-I don't have a tangible way to measure this but I feel I am making progress.
3. Consistant quiet time/devotions
-I am blessed by the fact that my quiet time is becoming much more consistent.
4. Memorize scripture weekly
-I have memorized a couple of verses since last month. But probably not weekly.
5. Spend 1 on 1 time with each child
-I did take Zack out to lunch yesterday since he had a half a day of school but other than that it has been a pretty busy month.
6. Complete sewn gift for Julie and Leo
-Haven't touched this because I am working on a baby gift for them.
7. Build up to run with Anna this summer
-Well this is going to be a huge challenge. I haven't done anything and summer is coming. Yikes!
8. Complete knitted gift for Crystal and Jeremy
-This one is getting really close to being complete. Yeah!

So there you go. I am so happy that this month's "check-in" was much better than last month's "check-in".
Smiles!

Spring Cleaning Motivation

I could use a little motivation. How about you?

Look what Monica from The Homespun Heart is doing.

Click on the image to check out how she plans on motivating us.

Here is my plan:
Master bedroom and bathroom - 3/6
Anna's room - 3/7
Kids bathroom - 3/7
Kaylyn/Libby's room - 3/12
Landing closet and staircase -3/13
Living room and Dining room -3/14
Computer/Sewing room -3/19
Kitchen -3/20
Back bathroom/Laundry room -3/21
Stairs and downstairs living room -3/26
Zack's room -3/27

It seems a little daunting to me but it would feel great to accomplish it. Wish me luck.

Smiles!