Just one more...

Since March I've been reading a photo workshop book called Photographing Children given to me by my fabulous sister. Applying the things I've learned has made a vast improvement in my photos. My husband has a knack and a raw talent for photography, he really enjoys it and he's good at it. For me it wasn't so natural and I was having trouble figuring out what I wanted from our family photos. I was also frustrated that we could both use the same camera but my pictures never looked as good as his.

This year it was easier for me to communicate what I wanted. Even though we were not all dressed (coordinated at all) for family photos the ones we took turned out cute and these ones of the kids on the stool are priceless. I finally was able to convey to Adam that I wanted the background out of focus, and he easily did it where it still takes me a minute. I'm slowly learning how to take the photos that I desire.

I just happened to turn the stool backwards when we were just about done and I like it better than most of the ones of their front. Even though it seems like most of the photo is of the bars of the stool, to me it brings the focus to their faces, not their clothes. We were also fighting clouds vs direct sun so without having any excess equipment we did our best. Again I'm using the term 'we' lightly, I really must say thank you to my wonderful husband for being patient with me and truly amazing. He really rocks! It will only take him a minute to photoshop the people in the background out, I'm still a snail at that stuff!

No more pouting about bad photos...

Second Fave!

I know, it's not a typical family photo and when we took it I didn't think I'd like it at all, usually I like the kids to be more prominent. After looking over the more posed pictures I really like that the kids are in the background being natural.

Some silly ones toward the end of our marathon, I don't think the camera wanted to focus anymore by this point!

Wondering What this says about me!

Out of 653 photos my husband took of all of us yesterday, this one could just very well be my favorite.

Something about fall says 'family photos' and after two parks and a ton of casual cute photos this one speaks to me. Maybe I'm just a backwards gal! We did get TONS of cute ones of the kids, SEVERAL out of focus, MANY pouting faces but this is my FAVORITE family shot.

I'll share my second favorite tomorrow :!)

My Knight In Shining Armor

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Ephesians 6:10-18

Whine and Brine

I've done a quick batch of garlic-dill pickle spears. As far as canning goes, it was an easy job, in about an hour they were in bein processed. We'll find out what they taste like in six weeks or so.

I need to put some pictures up here it's not like me to go this long without photos! Today there was a whine fest over here, we all were a bit tired and crabby. I'm grateful tomorrow is a new day, a clean slate to be the Mom I want to be.

Sunday

This is what the LORD says: "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD. Jeremiah 17:5

A wonderful, busy Sunday is winding down and I am counting my blessings. I had the opportunity to be a blessing to others today. I am endlessly tired this week. I'm contemplating things (intentional vagueness) and I'm focused all too much on me and not enough on GOD! I am SO very grateful for my husband, that he understands me and cares for me and is so willing to help me. Enough about me! :-) I'm smiling today on the outside and in.

I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

Brown Sugar and pickles

No, even I did crave anything quite that weird when I was pregnant. I'm not now either but it was a title that connected the two random things I'm writing about tonight.

I am considering making a batch of garlic dill pickle spears tomorrow or Sunday afternoon depending on my cucumber yield and a friends. I've never done pickles before but there's always a first time... I will be keeping you posted as to how it goes.

Something I've been doing over the last year or so is making my own brown sugar. It's so easy and it has saved me a trip to the store many times. It's molasses and white sugar, that's all it is. 1 Tablespoon molasses to one cup sugar (use more molasses if you like yours darker) mix together in a bowl using the back of a spoon or fork to get out all the lumps. Easy and done before you could get your car out of the driveway.

I think we are doing fairly well with the grocery challenge. The only thing non canning related I've purchased since the grocery trip on the first have been rubber gloves (for me an essential for dishes) and laundry detergent an bananas. I know I have made laundry soap before many times but I am only one person and I'm at about my max level now! I've decided not to count the $34 of canning jars, lids, pectin and peaches in my total for the month. This doesn't seem logical since we did spend the money this month but we will be eating the batches of jam and jars of peaches all year so for the purposes of this month I've opted to not count them in my total spending. The savings of canning tomatoes and jams will save us twice as much as I spent (easily) throughout the year so I'm ok with this investment.

We did go out to eat once more bringing our total to $50 for two meals out! Yikes I'm not feeling really good about that. Today though I would call a big success. We went to an event called Art in the Park. It is the big fundraiser for our local art museum, lots of artisans and food vendors. We left there at 5:30pm - very temping to go out. Instead we drove home and ate leftovers and it was all well and good!

I'm going to have to give an exact amount on my spending when I can get downstairs for my receipt. Currently, I'm tired and leaning toward the bed - night!

The alarm is set and I'm in bed!

What alarm you ask? Oh THE most frugal one one the planet, it's not going to call the emergency crews, nor will it wake the neighbors with it's shrieking sounds, but it will not let an intruder out at least not without them getting into a heap of a mess.

Pretty much anyone who would dare to enter my house tonight would find a few 'Home Alone' type encounters.

For example my kids have pretty much trashed the place over the last two days while I've been canning peaches and batch after batch of jam. So if the intruder didn't first trip over a shopping cart or a couple baby dolls they would most likely slip on a tiny car. After the ride into the kitchen they would be stuck to the sticky peachy goo the the dog didn't even lick up and be trapped like spiderman's webbing. Forget about the laundry snairs. Giving us ample time - and warning of his presence.

I'm giddy and tired and my feet are like jello. Pasta and pesto and peaches for dinner, hopefully pesto counts as a veggie lol!

How Deep The Father's Love For Us

How deep the Father's love for us
How vast beyond all measure
That He would give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the Man upon a cross
My guilt upon His shoulders
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no powr's, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

Words and Music by Stuart Townend

Click here to hear

Oh The Blessings!

Alternately titled, Random happenings in our crazy house (mostly in the kitchen)in the last 24 hours!

Last night I made a new recipe I found for chocolate chip cookies, mmm. I needed chocolate chip cookies to get through today!

This morning is when things got busy, it was my first canning day of the season, usually I've canned something by now, not this year though. I have frozen a bunch of stuff, corn, pesto, and two batches or roasted tomato and garlic pasta sauce. So, some of the garden is put up. The list that follows, is not complete, merely things I jotted down throughout the day once I realized I was in a marathon!

Woken by my daughter's soft cry for 'milk please' (it's her cup o'joe) at 6:45am. Opened my eyes to my five year old's return gaze at 7:05am. Actually got out of bed at 7:50 after pestering everyone to be quiet so I could get just ten more blessed minutes of sleep.

Granola (from Mary's book) with yogurt for breakfast, prepared Adam's lunch, got him out the door and made a batch of grape jelly all processed and done by 9:30am.

Everyone dressed for a long walk/bike ride to the park followed by a long swing and park play. Home by 11:20.

My son spread almond butter and jam on tortillas for us for lunch while I started getting stuff ready to make my next batch of raspberry/peach jam. Meanwhile after lunch, the kids played campout in the baby crib and with train tracks and served me crazy smoothies they made in their kitchen. All processed and done my 1:35pm

Ahhhhh, quiet time. My baby nurses to sleep for her second real nap all week, praise God! My son has some Grandma story time (Babar) while I process a batch of tomatoes. Baby awakes at 3:15pm

Prepared and processed a batch of peach jam while the kids watched Prima Princessa presents the Nutcracker! And finally poured out the canning water at 4:50pm.

After the movie the kids chalk painted on the back patio for nearly an hour. My daughter figured out that the chalk gets really pretty when you dip it in the dog's water dish so they had a blast and were entertained while I cleaned the kitchen and prepared dinner.

Threw a peach crisp together with the leftover peeled peaches and prepared dinner. A quick chicken salad with leftover chicken tenders, chopped with an apple, celery, grated carrot, some mayo and salt and pepper. Sliced a mango and carrot sticks and pulled out the leftover Asian Noodle Salad (yup Mary's book again!)from dinner last night and viola dinner was on the table by 6pm.

All dinnered and full of crisp we sang and danced while Adam played the piano a bit and then we opened a box my son has been waiting since his birthday for. Caterpillars! He sat and observed them for quite some time, concerned that they weren't moving, then the big one moved it's head! Yippeeeee! Now we could go upstairs, get washed and ready for bed. There's a Wocket in my Pocket. Prayers. Bed. 8pm. Done!

Heading down to spend some QT with my man and then a shower and my pillow sounds great! The chalk foot/paw print, peach stickiness covered kitchen floor can wait until tomorrow!

Vaseline, Silly Putty, and Lipgloss, oh my!

Thanks to my busy, dirt and mess magnet, typical two year old I thought I'd share some things I've learned recently in the stain removal department..

A couple of months ago she reached the jar of Vaseline off the bathroom counter and it was wiped all over the front of my favorite dress of hers. Here's what worked to get it out:

First I scraped off as much as I could with a metal spatula. Then I scrubbed it with dawn dish soap and soaked for a long time (a couple days) scrubbing every so often. After air drying, I dabbed it with rubbing alcohol. Let dry again, rinse and repeat dawn/alcohol cycle again. An again and again for a couple weeks until it came out!

Next it was silly putty on a leg of pj's that my MIL noticed when she was folding the already washed and dried laundry (yup, I'm spoiled, she folds my laundry!!!). To remove the silly putty I first tried freezing it like gum but it was very stubborn. Then we read online to use hand sanitizer. My friends, it literally took all the gooey stuff right off! Then dawn again to get out the rest of the stain perfectly!

Next she found a glossy lipstick and painted it all over the front of a dress grandma made her! So to get out my glossy lipstick first I dusted it with cornstarch and rubbed it in a bit to absorb any excess so the stain wouldn't spread or bleed. Then I scraped it off a bit a put it through the wash cycle. Then I scrubbed the remaining stain with my current favorite grease stain remover. Yup, dawn dish soap is pretty high on my list at the moment!

A bonus tip that my Mom shared with me is that one package of lemonade kool-aid will take the hard water stains off my dishwasher. It did! And I'm not planning on ever drinking it again because I don't think my plumbing needs such a thorough cleaning thatnkyouverymuch!

So just in case anyone else out there has a child who seeks out the hardest to remove stains, it's out here!

So...

Well, I've failed and succeeded already. Yesterday we all went shopping as a family and it went mostly well. $160 for a lot of staples and fruits - two bags of peaches to make jam with and $20 worth of rice milk all included in that. I'm figuring the rice milk will last most of the month but I'm not really happy about how expensive it is.

I've always known the price and always look to see which carton has the best price per ounce. It's funny but the store I buy it from (Winco) changes the prices a bit every month or so and every other time the smaller cartons are cheaper and then the larger ones are, it's so silly.

Another thing about Mary's book that is really opening my eyes has been starting a price book. There was something about coming back home and writing that price down, really taking ownership of my purchase so to speak, that drove home just how much money I save on months when I make my own. I think I know most of the best deals on what we use but for some reason just the sheer price of rice milk is hitting me hard today. I mean paying $5.14 for 62oz is really expensive.

I have made it from scratch before and I think my cost is about $1 for the same amount. It tastes a bit different but the savings, oh, the savings. I thought about making it this month for a fleeting moment before stocking my cart. Then I remembered the canning of tomatoes, peaches, jam and decided it was an ok indulgence.

I also totally jinxed us because someone came to look at our house last night right at dinner time. After a quick tidy and putting away groceries we went to a pizza place down the road that has "toss up Tuesdays." I gave up really trying to go frugal at this point, got both the kids their own pizza's because they let them put the sauce and cheese on it at the table and then watch it go into the brick oven. Adam and I each got our own and in the back of my mind I hoped we'd win the coin toss to offset it. And we did! So we got one pizza for free! Plus the kids and I ate the leftovers for lunch today. $30 (((ouch))) on dinner out, a pretty pricey day.

Tonight's dinner was a summer pasta with garlic, basil, tomatoes, olive oil and a tad of balsamic vinegar. Sliced cucumbers, salami and tomatoes with cheese as sides. Since the garlic, tomatoes, basil, and cucumbers were all from the garden there was a very small price tag on today's meals! Phew, hopefully I can pull a month more days like this together!

The Bare Necessities

We took The Jungle Book out at the bookmobile on Saturday and I was reminded what a fun movie it is. Not to mention how awesome having a bookmobile within walking distance once a week is - now I have no excuse for fines.

Back to the movie though, with it's musical tunes it held even my daughter's 'too busy for TV' interest for some of the time. Except for the snakes, she came into the kitchen with two bowls asking for raisins saying, "nakes, no like nakes." But then she cautiously carried two bowls of raisins back to the couch offering one to her brother and sat and watched some more.

The lyrics to the bare necessities song reminded me of Mary's grocery challenge next month .... ah, yeah Heidi, that's tomorrow! Adam and I will talk later today about what our goals for the month are. For us it's usually the temptation to go out to eat. Especially since people seem to want to look at our house a few times a month between 5-6pm with little notice. It sorta throws a wrench in even my best plans for dinner. But those are not the only times we are lured by restaurant food so if we could cut back all together we'd save quite a bit.

I know one of my goals is to install a money program and use it to more thoroughly track all of our money expenditures especially our food items. I've gotten out of that habit and need to start it up again!

Mary's book Frugal Feasts for $75 a Week has awesome tips and one that is helping me lately is not just not going to the store right away when I need something. (To avoid other frivolous spending.) I now need six essentials though so I'm going to plan a couple weeks of meals tonight and go tomorrow am or maybe by myself tonight! Eggs and rice milk have been out for a couple days and those are now necessary! We've also cooked several dishes from the cookbook that are terrific!! Thanks Mary for adding some yummy goodness to our lives as well money to our pockets!

One of my favorite things about the recipes Mary shares is they use mostly fresh and scratch ingredients instead of processed or canned ingredients (like cream of whatever soup)which are of course more economical and more healthful too. I'll keep you updated on our progress throughout the month and am looking forward to reading about what others are doing too. I'm sure we all will still be well above the bare necessities of life!

Look for the Bear Necessities,
The simple Bear Necessities,
Forget about your worries and your strife!
I mean the Bear Necessities,
It's why a bear can rest-at-ease
With just the Bear Necessities of life!

Give Me a High Five!

It's birthday season in the cocoon here and my son's birthday comes just eight days after his baby sister's. (Incidentally, mine is eight days after my husband's too - unless it's leap year.) Now I've got a five year old. It's just too surreal the changes in him that have happened this summer.

He just loves to make his sister laugh. Learning to tell a few jokes and he's pretty good at delivering the punch line too. A couple favorites? Why do gorillas have big nostrils? Because they have big fingers. And what did one volcano say to the other? Do you lava me like I lava you?

Ha, ha!!! Seriously,he is full of energy and spirit and love. While he really does find joy in making the rest of us giggle and belly laugh he also loves to read and Ralph S Mouse is our current adventure. So much fun. I'm so grateful to get to see all this learning and changing daily! He adds so much color to our daily life and so much love. I love you my great big five year old. You are my little knight in shining armor and I adore you!

A conversation between my Mom and him the other day:

Granny: How does it feel to be five for a whole day?

Son: Great! Am I going to be five all day?

G: you are going to be five for a whole year.

S: I just can't believe it!

--------

Between My son and I last Saturday:

Mommy, is tomorrow church?

Yes

Great! I can go and play with my friends and sing and praise God!

-------

Instead of saying triple, he'll say, "look it's a double three."

------

Five seems like one of the launching pads to independence and it is great! Almost every day he does something that I have to fight away a tear in my eye lately. Leaps more independent than how he was last year and even this past winter. It's been a very big summer, taking off training wheels, pumping on the swings and full of watching things just "click" and him really "get it".

Besides him physically changing is the things that he's into, he loves to play superhero it's a fun game for when I'm actually stuck in the kitchen cooking or doing dishes. We'll pretend I'm stuck in a cage, a sinking ship, a stinky shoe or wherever else our imaginations go and he'll come to my rescue.

Or with his sister he'll pull all the little chairs into the living room and have a show. Puppet, rock star, who knows what but they both like to get it all set up and organized. Tiny legos, superhero action figures, it all seems so big boy to me. Yeah, he's even starting to get that sweaty little boy smell after playing outside. I guess it's official, he's a boy!

We all love you my little BIG boy!

Perhaps the caption:

"What to do when you find those extra stubborn dandelions" is fitting.

My Baby Goose at Two

I thought it a bit funny several months back, that my daughter's first sentence was to our dog. "No lyler eat, MINE!" She emphatically proclaimed in the dining room. The dog's name is Tyler by the way and since then she has been just a chatterbox at trying new words. Not hard to fathom in our family where her older brother just proudly admitted to his Granny tonight (after she explained what the word speechless meant) that no he'd never had that happen because, "I talk really a lot." At least he told the truth!

Last week my baby girl turned two. Twos are fun, great and full of learning. Lots of giggles and a love of life now that more understanding is taking place. I find it amusing how people always comment on how quiet she is when we go places. Well, other than chattering in the middle of church I guess! LOL! My son too was quite the observer at this age.

I love watching this learning, absorbing and watching with all present eyes. I think we could learn more about other adults to practice this every so often. My true joy however comes when we are at home and her true personality comes shining out. And shine I do mean, everything about her is a ray of light to every family member. She babbles and chats and smiles and giggles and sings and yells and happily attempts to recite bible verses (a couple words anyway.) We've affectionately nicknamed her the hurricane because you never know where she's going to go next or what she'll find to tear apart and play with, climb on, or fit inside.

She melts her fathers heart with her hugs, cuddles and smiles. Not to mention tickles and running hugs! She makes her brother's day by not backing down from a good ol' fashioned rough and tumble. Not to mention the fun those two are starting to have together, man I can see that she will follow along with him for awhile but she won't hesitate to assert herself either. She's got to stand up to her very bossy big bro and she's got the skills! She melts my heart with her giggle and smile she literally is my burst of sunshine. I love her giving spirit, constantly asking "help you" and wanting to do everything big brother does!

So as my second hits her second birthday I am amazed at the hand of God and so thankful he has blessed our family with this baby girl.

I wish you my sweet spunky one the happiest of happy birthdays and you are adored and loved with all our hearts.

Things we want to remember about you at this stage:

• You lift your leg behind you when you stand around holding onto a wall or Grandma's gate.
• You'll just start doing little sashes out of the blue like life is a song you hear.
• At times you are still a bit attached to Mommy (and I rejoice in it, even revel) and enjoy our extra cuddles as we extend or nursing out a bit longer than average.
• When I lay you in your crib you ask for "ov me" (Jesus loves me) one more time while you nod your head at each "yes" at the and for the last the bible tells me sooooooo!
• "Written Down" over and over and "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word will by no means, pass. a..way!" You've got those down!

I Finally Finished a Book!!!

The pile of books to be read (or reread) on my night stand keeps growing and finally in the last month or so I have been able to slice some reading (for me) time back into my crazy life. My friend Mary Ostyn's book (it's the cute pink one on top) A Sane Woman's Guide to Raising a Large Family was one of the first on my rather long list. She's the author of the blog Owlhaven but you probably know that already!

It is a fabulous parenting book full of really sound advice. I say this not because she goes into many researched and clinical details as other parenting books I've read, but really because she doesn't. Her advice is real, mom to mom, down to earth and enjoyable to read. The theme that spoke most to me was to focus on the stuff that matters most (to me.)

Mary's words flow nicely and the information she shares is obviously very personal and gained from her own parenting experiences. Even the times when someone (who shall not be named) kept stealing my bookmarks and I would read the same sentence or paragraph over and over, it was fine. I'm learning how God works and there was a reason I needed to read these particular passages over and over and really, I was delighted to do it! I mean how could I not be...

"Kids grow fine sharing rooms, and God does fine at stretching budgets. In fact, I suspect He takes delight in surprising us with just how well He can provide." pg 35

Each section of the book has a sense of warmth and care for the children of the family, while keeping things practical for mom and fun for all. Obviously my two kids puts me nowhere near having a large family and I don't have some of the unique challenges that comes with it. Even still, I have taken much from the book and never felt excluded because of my small family size. It was nice to gain an insight into what happens in large families. In fact I think no matter the number in your family, creating a unique bond with each child and having more time to do it is something we all are looking for.

I'm very eager to read and start tasting recipes from her new book Family Feasts for $75 a Week which is now available! My plan is to start in September when Mary is doing her grocery challenge and I'll tell you about all the yumminess! After all if a Mom of ten recommends it, I'm at least going to try it out for size!

Ants

Hopefully NOT in their pants! ;-)

I didn't even notice that they were both sitting the same way when I took the picture.

Hey Diddle Diddle

Yesterday we had a fun day searching for wild huckleberries. We found and picked for awhile with some friends. I also use the word "we" rather loosely as it was our friend who found the berry plants on what we affectionately now refer to as huckleberry hill.

If you've ever read that book with little Sal on Blueberry Hill our experience was remarkably similar. Minus the bears, thankfully! My daughter ate berries right off the bush and my son would collect them in his cup until there were several and then he would eat them. Let me tell you, it takes awhile to pick a pint of huckleberries!

The hilly terrain was fun to hike around including a brief rainfall where we all stood under a densely branched pine tree. The kids are still talking about the adventure of the day, how when my son hiked with the boys to the top of a slope I looked this tiny (holding his fingers a couple inches apart.) And exaggerating slightly I'm sure! Also my baby keeps asking for more 'huhuberry' and 'up mountain.'

A funny conversation between my son, husband and I ensued since the land where we were looking had many groups of free roaming cattle.

"Cows can jump really, really high."

Adam and I replied in near unison, "Well, actually cows don't jump at all."

His sincere reply, "how do they jump over the moon then?"

A Gift

Steph from Adventures in Babywearing wrote yesterday about 'This is the day' and it spoke to me. Especially the following paragraph:

Who am I to lament the day I did not create? I only live in it. I am so blessed to live in it.

Thank God that we get to live in it!! I'm reminded again how encouraging it is to read other blogs, so real and what a blessing these other Moms are. Even if I don't know them in real life, there's still a connection through writings that I'm so grateful for!