An Award!

Awwww, a sweet blog friend of mine nominated me for a blog award! Amy from The Blessed Mom is a sweet friend who also lives/blogs here in New England. She's a wife and Mama to 2 sweet kiddos. I have enjoyed getting to know her over the past several months.

“A Liebster Blog Award is a fun way to recognize your fellow bloggers and get the word out about how much you love them! It’s specifically for smaller blogs and those of us who are just getting started! Liebster is a German word that means favorite or dearest.”

Part of receiving this award is the joy of passing it on to others! So here are 5 'little' bloggers that I absolutely adore ...

Sarah from In Light of the Truth is a Mom of 3 and stay at home wife. We're like the real life friends who never really met in person! LOL She is friends of many of my mutual friends, but she moved WAAAY out to Nebraska before I got the chance to meet her in person. She has a wonderful way of encouraging us to be present with our kids every day, yet often times will be completely honest about the rough days of parenting, I love that she can keep it real!

Mary from A Productive Endeavor is a real life friend. That just sounds funny, doesn't it? Like I have imaginary-blog world friends! hahaha Anyhow, Mary is also a Mom of 3 and to say she takes JOY in her kiddos is a HUGE understatement. It is a blessing to see how much she ENJOYS her kids, even though as we all know, parenting can be tough. =)

The next 3 are little bloggers that are getting bigger and bigger and bigger lately! So maybe they aren't so little bloggers anymore, but I get the biggest smile on my face when they post new blogs and just love 'em all so much that I HAVE to include them here!

Alicia from La Famille is just so super stinkin' cute. As are her kiddos. You have to see her latest blog where her daughter talks about marrying her Uncle - how cute is that? Alicia loves God and is crafty and I just KNOW we'd be best pals if we lived close by.

Jessica from This Blessed Life is another real life friend. In fact she teaches Piano and music to my kiddos! I love her! She inspires me to eat better, be frugal and love the Lord.

Lora from My Blessed Life is a friend that I WISH was my neighbor! If we were neighbors I can just picture having coffee together, our kids playing, sharing homeschooling tips and just talking for hours. She is a kindred spirit who I really hope I'll get to meet in person one day!

So there you go, my 5 nominees ... I just love the connections I've made with so many lovely women through blogging.

MYO Kettle Corn!

MYO Kettle Corn:

Use a large stock pot with a lid {preferably a clear one}

Put 2 TBSP of oil in the pot and turn the heat on high. Also put about 2-3 unpopped kernels in the pot, with the lid on.

While it's heating up measure out 1/4 cup of raw sugar and 1/2 cup of kernels.

When the kernels in the pot start to pop pour in the rest of the kernels and the sugar. Give it a couple shakes so the sugar doesn't burn right away.

The kernels will all start to pop - try to vent the lid just a bit by keeping a slight edge of it open to let the steam out. You can shake it a bit as the kernels are popping.

When the popping has just about stopped removed from heat and keep shaking it up until all the popping has stopped.

Remove lid and add salt to taste.


This was SO yummy and easy. We gave up microwave popcorn a while ago and I will never go back. Homemade is SO much yummier. Until today I had only ever made it with butter but the Kettle Corn was SO good and we all gobbled it up!


ENJOY!!!

A Weekly Plan {Jan. 9-15}

I am happy to say that my weekly plan from last week was a HUGE success! Yes, there were a couple tasks that were left undone, and those will be put back on the list for this week ... but overall having this list on my fridge gave a LOT more purpose to my days!

Once again, here is the chart I'm using ...

Last week I did FIVE days of exercise! Drank more water than I've had in a LONG time and crossed MANY of the items off of my to do list. =)

Here is my plan for this week:

Goals:

Eat well, Exercise, School time, Quiet time

TO DO:

* Get Balcony Girls lesson ready for Saturday

* Mail flowers to Tricia

* Call Keurig {didn't get to it last week}

* Mail out thank you cards {wrote 'em last wk, now just need stamps}

* Go to the library

* Register for scrapbook weekend

* Make photo copies for school

* Go to the bank

My weekly verse this week is the same as last week ... only because I'm trying to work on the Gentleness challenge in how I deal with my kids and I feel that the fruits of the spirit are something I need to daily ingrain in myself.

"But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control." Gal. 5:22

My meal plan for the week is:

Mon. - Homemade Chicken Noodle soup w/ cornbread

Tue. - Turkey burgers w/ Sweet potato fries

Wed. - Awana night {sandwiches or something easy}

Thur. - Eggs and Toast

Fri. - Tacos

Sat. - TBD

Sun. - Shepherd Group

And that's my plan for the week. How are you doing after this first week of January?

BIG News!

I have FINALLY set up my Etsy shop! I have been talking about doing this for the LONGEST time and I finally got my act together and did it!

My shop is called Ranunculusly Cute Creations and yes I realize that's a mouthful. The shop is named for my favorite flower, the Ranunculus. =)

In the future I will have some shop giveaways here on my blog, but for today I just wanted to introduce it to all of you and give you a chance to check it out. Right now there are only 2 types of products; fabric covered notebooks and fabric flower pins. But don't worry, I'll be adding more and more stuff soon!

Here are a couple pictures of my items and the link for the shop is below. I'd be honored if you'd check it out and share it with your friends! THANKS!

Ranunculusly Cute Creations on Etsy

I am a Genius!

I am one of those people who is never very consistent with chore charts and such. We start them, we do OK, we get lazy and stop them, etc. There have been times we've had them every week, times we've had none at all, times when we pay a weekly allowance, times when we pay nothing at all. You see what I mean about being very inconsistent?!

The other day I got thinking and came up with what I *hope* will be a brilliant idea in our home.

Here are some known truths around here:

* my kids want to be on the computer more
* I need to get off the computer more
* my kids want to 'earn' for helping with chores
* right now our budget is really tight so I have no real means to 'pay' for such chores

So here is the plan ... for each chore they complete, they earn a certain amount of minutes on the computer! So simple, right?!

I have yet to write up an actual chart, and I might not even bother, but let's say they unload the clean dishes from the dishwasher, then reload the dirty ones - I might 'pay' them with 10 minutes of playing on the computer.

The beauty in this plan is:

1. I'm getting the help I need around the house
2. They're getting the time they want on the computer
3. When they're on the computer - I'M NOT! - which is brilliant cause it keeps me off it more often and doing other things around the house that I should be doing! {We only have ONE computer, so if they're on, I'm OFF!}

I actually spent a huge chunk of my afternoon yesterday crafting because I wasn't wasting my time browsing facebook!

I really am a genius ...




And I will let you know in a couple weeks whether we're still sticking with it and if it's still working out well. =)

2011 Booklist

In case you're curious, here is a list of the books I read in 2011 ... if you could care less, well then I guess it's just a good reminder to myself! haha!

The Thorn by Beverly Lewis
A Merry Heart by Wanda Brunstetter
The Traveler's Gift by Andy Andrews
The Heart Mender by Andy Andrews
The Judgement by Beverly Lewis
The Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult
The Gift of an Ordinary Day by Katrina Kenison
The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks
Looking for a Miracle by Wanda Brunstetter
Plain & Fancy by Wanda Brunstetter
Crazy Love by Francis Chan
Kaleidoscope by Patsy Clairmont
Bertie's War by Barbara Blakey
Leaving by Karen Kingsbury
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
A Sister's Secret by Wanda Brunstetter
The Mercy by Beverly Lewis
The 5 People you Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

18 in all! There were times when it felt like it took me FOREVER to finish a book so I'm sort of surprised that I ended with a decent number. That's more than one per month! Which for this sleepy Mom who can't keep my eyes open for very long at night I thought I did pretty good!

As you can see when I like an author I tend to read their stuff A LOT. I thought all the books this year were good, I especially loved The Heart Mender, the Plain Truth and The Help.

The 5 People you Meet in Heaven was OK, not my fave but I managed to get through it.

This year I already have a long list of books I want to read. Most of which I would call 'self help' or books that encourage my spiritual growth. Unfortunately those are the ones that take me awhile to get through because I want to take it all in and chew on the knowledge to be gained, so I won't read them at night when I'm sleepy. And during the day it's tougher to make time to read. But I hope to! I plan to! We shall see!

How 'bout you? Read anything great in the past year?

A Weekly Plan {Jan. 2-8}

Being that my word for the year is SIMPLIFY, I figured a weekly plan was in order. For me, there is no better way to simplify than to have a PLAN of action!


First, I am using this template to keep my week in order.

My goals for the week are:

Set up my ETSY shop

Meet my neighbors

Get lots of school work done with the girls

Exercise

Eat well

Have consistent quiet time

My TO DO list for the week is:

Grocery shop

Library

Call Jess about piano

Make dinner for neighbors who just had a baby

Make food for Memorial service on Friday

Call Caroline about setting up Blessings party

Schedule our next Balcony Girls

Call Keurig!!

Thank you cards

My weekly verse {going along with the Gentleness challenge} is:

"But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control." Galatians 5:22

And my menu plan is:

Mon - Rotini Casserole with salad

Tue - Homemade Chicken pot pies w/veggies

Wed - Awana night - sandwiches

Thur - Italian Chicken pasta

Fri - Chicken Chimichangas

Sat - Beef Pot Roast & Baked Potatoes

Sun - Leftovers {or go out}

This simple little piece of paper is already helping me immensely! I keep it posted on my fridge and check things off as I do them. It helps me keep track of drinking enough water and I'm also writing little things like when I floss on it. {I need all the reminders I can get!!} Even tracking when I change the bedsheets is a good thing for me as too often our week gets to busy and I forget.

How about you? Do you have a weekly plan?

January Challenge{s}

I have two things that I would LOVE for you to join me in this January.

The first is The Gentleness Challenge from the WomenLivingWell blog. And basically we are taking the month of January to focus on dealing with our children in a gentle manner. I know I have been guilty of getting angry and yelling SO often and I know it doesn't help the situation AT ALL when I do. I am going to do my very best this month to model the fruits of the spirit to my girls, because how can I expect them to be patient, kind, gentle, etc ... if they don't see it modeled by me?

Have you ever noticed how Michelle Duggar deals with her {19!!} children? She is always so kind & patient and uses such a calm, quiet voice with them! And they LISTEN TO HER! I am always impressed by her. I would like to parent just like that.

The next challenge I'm taking part in is 31 Days to Pray for your Spouse Challenge. Here is the link to find out more. I am guilty of not praying for my husband nearly enough and would like to take this month to be better about that.

So how about you? Would you like to join me and many other women in becoming more gentle with your kiddos and praying for your spouse daily? I feel like this will be such a big month of change for me and I'm very excited about it!

Grief, Loss & Finding the way to Joy again ...

As I look back on the year of 2011 I can't help but see two things ... a year of loss and grief AND a year of finding joy and contentment. Now honestly, if I were reading this I'd be like 'you're crazy, the 2 cannot be intermixed!' But they can ... and this year I found out firsthand exactly how.

First, a quick run down of just a bit of the grief we have gone through.

*the end of November last year Bob's Grandma died
*early in January my friend Jen's husband died, leaving a young wife and 2 young boys behind
*in the spring we had to put our beloved dog down after 12 yrs
*in the summer we learned that some of our closest friends would be splitting up {much more heartache involved in that but I would rather not share any further details of it}
*also in the summer Bob's Grandpa died, just about 9 months after his wife
*in September a lady I knew from camp growing up died from breast cancer, leaving her hubby and 10 kids behind {5 biological and 5 through foster care adoption}
*in the fall a lady we knew through college friends died of breast cancer - leaving her 5 young daughters and less than 2 yr old baby boy {and husband} behind
*and then the week before Christmas one of my hubby's childhood friends died, leaving his young wife and 2 young children behind.

And that's when I fell apart. For about 3 days straight I cried off and on throughout the day. I would pull myself together anytime someone saw me or when I needed to take care of my kids. But whenever no one was looking my eyes would fill up with tears and my heart would fill up with pain and sadness and grief.

And even though I have never, ever questioned my belief in God, or wavered in trusting Him ... during that time I will admit that my faith was shaken. And I cried out to God asking WHY?! How dare you? How could you? Why would you think that these young children and these young wives/husbands would be better off WITHOUT their mother or father or spouse here in this life??

At that point it would have been so easy to run from God, turn my back on Him and blame Him for all the sadness. I could have said 'I can't do this anymore' and walked away. I could have chosen to give up on church and following the Lord. But I decided to keep putting one foot in front of the other, and that included going to church that following Sunday.

Now you have to know {if you haven't already figured this out by now}, I'm a very emotional person. And even going to church on a normal week makes me emotional at times. The worship music will often make me cry, just being overwhelmed with emotion of what my Savior has done for me. So heading to church this particular Sunday was going to be tough. I knew they would say something about this friend of Bob's who had died because he grew up in that church and his parents still attend there. I literally came to church with my purse full of tissues {just in case}.

Yes, our pastor did talk about the young man who had died. Yes, I cried a little. But then things took a different turn as this week's sermon was about "The Gift of Joy". {Isn't it wonderful how the Lord orchestrates these things, HE knew this was a sermon that I and many others would need to hear on this exact day!} Here are a few things I noted about the sermon that day ...

* We need to realize and recognize the true source of JOY. It doesn't come from US, it comes from God. Back in the fall when I did the whole month series on being a Joyful Wife and Mother I think I really missed the mark on this point. I noted far too many times that joy is a choice WE make as if it fully depends on US. However, I think I failed to point out that true joy comes from the Lord. From knowing Him, following Him and having a relationship with Him. HE created JOY, HE gives us JOY.

* Joy is not dependant on what we DO. It's based on what He's already done! Our Heavenly Father created this amazing world and gave up His only Son to die in our place and that alone should bring us JOY! Joy should not depend on how I feel today or what I have or don't have ... it should be a gracious acceptance of this amazing gift the Lord has given to us.

* In the midst of sorrowful times, I need to pray 'Lord, give me joy ...' And He will. He knows our hearts, He knows our pain and He is faithful to bring joy into our lives again.

* Don't trade joy for amusement. Sometimes I'm guilty of making this mistake. I confuse good times or fun events for joy. And even though those things can make me happy and bring fun and laughter into my life - they may not be sourced in the true giver of Joy - which is Jesus. Ask yourself, is my joy sourced in Jesus?

* I need to find my joy in Jesus ... even when other people might seem to have it better than me. There will always be someone who is thinner, prettier, has a bigger/better house than mine, etc. But if I'm hanging my joy on those things than I will ALWAYS fall short.

Nehemiah 8:10 says, "The joy of the Lord is your strength."

So this year, I pray that I will learn to find all my joy from the Lord. To accept His gift of salvation and grace and gratefully remember that HIS joy will be my strength, no matter what events happen around me, no matter how I feel, no matter how much grief comes into my life.

It doesn't mean this life will be easy. There will ALWAYS be pain, sadness and grief. I don't understand it. I don't know why the Lord allows these things to happen. But I DO choose to keep trusting in Him.

Jesus says in John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

I could choose to walk away from the Lord and blame Him for all the pain in this life ... but where would that leave me? Angry, bitter, dwelling in grief.

Or the alternative is to trust God, follow Him and have true PEACE and true JOY and know that I have the HOPE of eternity in heaven to look forward to - where I will JOYfully be reunited with all those beloved people who have gone before me. And that my friends, is what I choose.

I pray that no matter what 2012 holds for you {and I} that we will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that our Heavenly Father loves us and will take us through those painful times and will be by our side through it all.

Christmas Memories 2011

We had an absolutely WONDERFUL, peaceful, family-filled Christmas! I want to document all the memories here for the sake of journaling / memory keeping [because my memory just isn’t what it used to be and a couple months from now I will forget all this!]

On the Sunday before Christmas our church had an all-Church carol sing. They have all the kids [except babies] come up from all the Sunday school classes, stand on stage and sing with the whole congregation. Our church has 3 services on Sunday mornings and this was just the amount of kids from ONE service! It’s always a special Sunday for everyone.

Afterwards, I took a picture of the girls and some of their closest friends. They are so blessed with so many great Christian friends! 

We had a very quiet, relaxed week after that. No school. In fact we’ve done very little school this month. We’ve been busy crafting and shopping and baking and doing many other little things. I always feel like it’s OK to take such an extended break because we’ll have lots of cold winter days in Jan and Feb when we can do plenty of school work.

So on Monday we took the girls out for lunch and then to Cabela’s. It’s a bit of a drive from our house but we had never been there before and kept hearing how cool it was. It did not disappoint! It was a very cool, very fun store. We actually didn’t buy a single thing there, but just enjoying looking around at everything!

On Thursday the girls went to my MIL’s house so hubby and I enjoyed a lovely winter walk in the woods. It felt SO good to get outside and use my muscles!

I have been enjoying the glow of the lights for weeks now … I’ll be sad when we take our tree out … I guess I’m not the only one who enjoys it!

On Christmas Eve I prepped everything in advance so we wouldn’t have to do much on Christmas day. I got the table all set and ready to go …

This ‘bouquet’ cost me about $7 at the grocery store … then I just spruced it up a bit with some pine-y greens from our yard. I put pines all down the center of the table, then stuck small glass votive holders throughout the greens. Added red or white votive candles and voila, a pretty tablescape!

Our church did 3 services on Christmas Eve and just one on Christmas day. That way if you chose to stay home with family on Christmas day you could have gone on Christmas eve instead. So our daughters were part of the service on Christmas eve … they both sang in the Praise Kids group, then our oldest was one of the narrators. They both did an amazing job and did not seem nervous at all!

When we got home from church we took a couple pictures…

[Bob had already changed out of his church clothes before I could get my camera out!]

We had a fun and relaxing night with my in laws and brother in law here. We had pizza and other snacks, the guys watched the Patriots game, then we played Christmas bingo and Apples to Apples [which was a family gift that we let the girls open].

Every year on Christmas Eve we give the girls a ‘spiritual gift’. This is to celebrate them accepting the Lord as their Savior. My oldest accepted the Lord on Christmas Eve when she was 6 and my youngest accepting the Lord on Dec. 2nd when she was also 6. So each year we want to honor those ‘birthdays’ with a small gift.

This year I had made the girls some cute aprons and gave them with a cookie cutter, some sprinkles and a wooden spoon. I asked my daughter ‘why do you think this might be a gift for your spiritual birthday?’ and she said ‘because we could make cookies to give to someone else’. YES!! So happy to have sweet, caring daughters who really get it and want to serve others!

After the girls went to bed we brought out all the gifts and got them all situated under the tree. I was so tired and ready to call it a night at that point!

Christmas morning! I woke up thinking I was the first up, then discovered that my Mother in law and daughter were already up. My Mom arrived shortly after and then my other daughter got up. We ended up having to wake my hubby and Father in law cause they just kept sleeping and sleeping!

We had coffee and got breakfast in the oven. My girls were being SO patient and didn’t even ask about when we could do gifts! It ended up breakfast was ready by the time the men got up, so we decided to eat first while things were hot. We had an amazing breakfast casserole, fresh pineapple and a delicious Apple bread/danish thing that my neighbor gave us. Everything was so scrumptious!

After that we finally let the girls get busy opening things. We start with stockings and let each person go one at a time so we can all see what each other got. [Hubby was still half asleep! haha!]

One of my FAVE gifts … the girls painted 2 of these pieces of driftwood … they are beautiful! I have several items of the girls artwork in my home and always love when they make us something. They take art lessons from my FIL and are very talented [as is he].

When my brother in law arrived we did a family devotion time. We read some verses and the story of Jesus birth from Luke 2. Such a nice reminder of what it’s all truly about.

I was SO impressed with how good the pup was on Christmas! Even with lots of people here and food and gifts and all kinds of craziness she was an angel. She did so well!

Later in the day the guys watched the Celtics game. This family is so into sports it’s not even funny, so it’s to be expected that on holidays they will be found in front of the TV watching a game. I have learned to accept it. ;)

So I took some pics while everyone was kind of just doing their own thing. The girls played together with their new things ALL day! They never fought, argued, nothing! They were just do happy with all their new stuff!

Here is my lovely Mom with the girls.

My in laws.

Hubby and I.

My brother in law, Aaron [with Gracie]

Bob’s new ski goggles, he LOVES to ski!

Joy and I.

Hope and I.

My Mom and I.

The guys, all fixated on the game.

We didn’t buy or get anything electronic this year. No movies, no CD’s, no wii games, no ipads, no DS’s, no kindles, NOTHING. The girls didn’t ask for any of that and we figured we didn’t need any of that. The girls wanted, get this …. pretend food. And a pretend cash register. YEP! They still love to play restaurant and stuff like that. I LOVE that they still love to use their imaginations. I almost thought they were getting too grown up for that stuff, but they were THRILLED when they opened those gifts and haven’t stopped playing with the stuff.

Now, I’m not saying we are anti-electronics around here. We have a wii, the girls have DS’s … BUT as much as they would love an itouch, ipad, kindle, etc … I feel like why would they need ANOTHER electronic game device when they already have one? And I loved that they weren’t sitting there glued to a video game – instead they were PLAYING! I feel like simple, imaginative PLAY is becoming a lost art in our society. So anyway, sorry, that was my little soap box moment … hahahaha.

 

Speaking of FUN and PLAYING … later that day we did some Minute to Win It games. It was SO.MUCH.FUN! You have to try this stuff with your family. We chose 3 simple games and it was a blast! I took video of the first 2 games, but then my video camera died, so the last game is here in pictures. You have to get a cookie from your forehead into your mouth without touching it with your hands. [In less than a minute!] It was HARD and so, so hilarious!

So, that’s about all. After my in laws and brother in law and my Mom went home we just relaxed with the girls. We put a movie on to watch and of course *I* was the one who fell asleep. Just so exhausted after a couple of busy days. It was a very memorable Christmas. I am blessed and I am thankful.

PS. My fave gift that I got was a Rotary Cutter! Now I can cut out the circles for my fabric flowers so much easier and faster! I am SO excited. One of my goals for January is to get my etsy shop up and running so stay tuned for that! =)