Ev, the make up artist

So today is my 31st birthday. And I've spent it like any other day, cleaning, cooking and driving Kenzie to a sleepover. So when I put the kids down for a nap at 3 I thought, ok, I'm going to do whatever I want and if that's sit on the couch and watch a cheesy movie and fall asleep then so be it. Well I ended up sitting on the couch trying to catch up with my Bible reading. Our church is reading the entire bible this year and I'm a few days behind schedule. So I read 5 or 6 chapters, get a phone call and then it's time to get the kids up. No big deal, at least I got to eat some white chocolate covered pretzels while I read the Word. So I get Isaac up and turn around to get Evan Grace up, but she's already out of bed and at the doorway just waiting to hear 'you can get up now.'

The light is off in her room and the hallway so I can't see her too well and she has this big dopey grin on her face and I just have this gut feeling that something is up. Of course she hasn't been sleeping or I would have found her still asleep in bed, so I'm starting to wonder what it could be. Just the other day Kenzie let her have pink nail polish for naptime, which I didn't know about, which Evan Grace used on all her fingernails and finger tips the entire nap time.
Ev wants me to pick her up, which I do and then I see it. The blueish-green marker all over her face.
"What did you do?" I exclaimed.
"I wanted to be pretty. I use my marker make-up all over my face."
"Markers aren't make-up, but let's go see how pretty it is."
I took her into the bathroom so she could look in the mirror. She's so pleased with herself and I'm thinking, do I have time to give her a bath and still get ready to go out tonight? Do I have a choice? I can't leave her looking like a blue green marker factory exploded on her face.
"Can you take my picture please?" Ev asks me.
"Sure."
That's when I notice the NOT WASHABLE marker all over her shirt. A fairly new shirt no less. So I took a couple of pictures and then I notice the socks. She didn't go to nap with socks let alone a pair that fits her 5 year old brother, Isaac, who has gigantic feet.

I'm beginning to wonder why I put her down for a nap at all anymore. :)

"I found your photograph....

.....in a cardboard box, in a magazine". That was the song that jumped into my head when I came across the picture below. I was looking through my scrapbook/craft box when I found a old sketch book of my gramma's. When I opened it I found this wonderful black and white photo of her. It was a happy but sad find. And if you look close enough you can see that she was using the picture to trace outline her face so she could learn how to draw it. You can especially see it around the insides of her hair. Wasn't she beautiful?

Here are a few sketches she had in the book as well.

Just thought I'd share them. Why didn't I get any ability to draw??

Play date.

We were watching my BFF's kids Friday night as well as the her dog, Poppy whom I have titled "The Best Dog Ever!!!" and you have to add the 3 ! when you type it or say it. And the kids had a lot of fun.

And if you know me, where I am, my camera is sure to follow so of course I had to snap a few pics.

Kenzie was at a babysitting job she got and which she had a blast doing. It's so nice to have good kids for you're own kids to play with. And a great dog to put my crazy dog in place when she's visiting.

My secret shame.

There are many names I call myself (just a few are bad, but mostly good ones).

Here are some good ones:

Caregiver

Sincere

A decent baker

A better cook

Caring

Watchful

Budget wise

Friendly

Funny

Smart

But one thing that I don't really consider myself is organized. I was thinking about this earlier when I went to find a picture I had been thinking about blogging about. I couldn't put my hands on where I thought it was and then a shudder ran through my body. 'Oh no, it's got to be in the secret shame.' What is that you may ask? I'll get to that. Back to not being organized. I started looking around my house to see if and where I was organized and I was happy with what I found. Then that shudder hit me again and quickly dashed any hope I had of labeling myself 'organized'. Here's some picture proof that I can be organized and do a bang up job at it.

I present states evidence A....

My towel closet....which reminds me

I need to do some laundry.

States evidence B: my kitchen pantry!
(Not to shabby huh?)


State's evidence C:
My kitchen shelves as I call it, where I keep track of bills,
wayward crayons, pictures that need to be filed away and
recipe books that don't fit in the other recipe drawer.
(True it's crowded but you can still see order right? Right???)


State's Evidence D:
My homeschool cart/shelf.
I've blogged about this before, I've kept up with
it pretty well I must say.


So what's all the hub bub about? Why all this worry about being organized and shudders at the words 'secret shame'. Because I look at the very last picture of this post and think to myself, how did it get this far, can I ever get it back, will someone find me if I get lost, and are there cockroaches in there????

So without farther adu, I present to you what I refer to as my secret shame. Only my husband, mom and oldest daughter know of my secret shame. And I thought it was time I bravely blogged about this to my blog buddies. Maybe someone can give me guidance, tips, advise on where to begin, some system to try or maybe just come by my house and toss me a rope if they haven't heard from me in a few days.

Ladies and Gentlemen...may God have mercy on your souls.....My secret shame.

It's the closet in my bedroom and yes I am ashamed....very very ashamed........help...

David as King

Here's the next craft in our 'suppose-to-be-Advent-Bible-Stories-Calender-but-turned-into-Bible-Lesson-with-Craft'. We read 1 Samuel 16:1-13. I thought about making a crown for this one, or even a jar tipped over on it's side with oil pouring out but since David was out taking care of the herd of sheep when they had to run and fetch him I went with this one. I think it's more kid friendly. :)

I love the new google eyes they are coming out with. No more black and white eyes, there are blue, green, yellow and pink to choose from. Much more fun for the kids and let's face it, me too!!!

Ahh birdseed!

My mom blessed me with a Family Fun subscription for Christmas and though I haven't received the first issue yet my best friend Erin had an extra Feb. copy and brought it to me a week or so ago.

I ADORE this magazine. It's full of lots of crafts that you can do with your kids, some complicated, some easy, but all very cheap and fun. I pulled this one out of the Feb issue and thought....why not do it now.

So Monday, we all crowded around our small kitchen table and made birdseed feeders. It was so easy and messy and everyone had fun with it, even Matt. The hardest part was having to wait while they baked in a low temp oven for an hour before we could thread them and hang them outside for all the birds.

Don't' let Kenzie's face fool you. She was bothered that the birdseed mixture was sticking to her fingers. She's always liked doing crafts with us and I'm thankful that this magazine has crafts that older kids can do as well as younger.

I think we might just keep this craft going all year around for the birds. That is if we can keep the squirrels off of them. We even made a few and set them aside for Pawpaw...per Evan Grace's request. So dad, you'll be getting some too!!!

Ev, my sidekick.

No matter what I do throughout the day I always have a little helper by
my side. It's sweet at times and then at others I wonder if I didn't give birth
to some form of human leech. I had just finished my make-up, yes, which she had to help me with and put her own on as well. And Kenzie and I were studying Science in my room while Evan Grace decided to hang on me to finish my make up while studying. Thus this picture was born.

I must say, I think she's going to be the mother of the group. I think all my kids will end up with families of their own, but if one of them would make the choice early to stay home with their kids I think it'll be Evan Grace. She practically does all the housework with me already, including laundry and putting up groceries.

"I'm stronger for that." I don't know how many times I hear that during the day when she's trying to convince me that she can handle a task I'm doing on my own.

So here's a great picture of my 3 year old sidekick.

Bowling

Matt and I took the kids bowling Sunday. We had to call ahead and reserve a lane at 7:30 and we really did have fun. Isaac loved it and Evan Grace seemed to like it. She thought every time someone picked up a ball it was her turn but a few frames in she started getting the hang of it. Mackenzie couldn't figure out how to roll the ball so she ended up doing this throw,drop thing that I was sure was going to get us kicked out for damaging the lane. But Isaac got the award for most surprising incident that night. He wanted to go up and do it all by himself so we let him and of course I'm sure you can see it coming but we didn't. He THROWS the ball, like it's a football onto the lane. I know everyone knows that cracking sound of a bowling ball being thrown and did it sound throughout the building. Matt and I were so insync with what he just did that we responded in unison, "No." We had to laugh.

Aside from it costing us $40 to bowl one game...yes $40....we really did have a good time. I just wish it were cheaper so we could go more often.

~Jess

Our bible story crafts.

Ok, so I've added something else to our busy homeschool days and schedule. I wanted to do some form of an Advent Calender with the kids or a Jesse Tree. But never got the chance or the time to plan it out and follow through. So I thought....why not just make it a craft felt Bible story every week. So this is what I came up with.

I got two foam sheets at Wal-Mart, blue for Isaac and white for Evan Grace. I used tacky glue and glued on fuzzy pompoms so they can hang their crafts on them. I started out with 6 of them and decided I can glue more on up the sides of the foam paper as we go.

The first day we had our bible study on Creation and made a felt sun. (I pre-cut 6 felt craft ideas and stored each one of them in a ziploc bag with a sticky note that has the subject and bible verses to read.)

The kids had such fun with it that they asked to do another one immediately so I went ahead with the Noah and flood story. I cut 'U' shapes out of different colored felt, applied the glue for them and had them press them on in order. I think it's a fun way to go over bible stories and so far Evan Grace has went up to her Foam Board and explained to her dad what the sun and rainbow were all about. :)

Mackenzie, being 12 is going to paraphrase the bible stories in her own words in a written paper. Thanks to my mom's idea she might even end up teaching some of the bible stories to Evan Grace and Isaac instead of writing it. That way maybe my house doesn't drown in all the mess I can't seem to keep up with. :)

I'll post pics of the next craft we do. I'm excited it's going so well. I pray it lasts!!!!

Left alone.

This is apparently what happens in my house when I leave my 12 year old alone with my 5 year old. No wonder they were so quiet. I don't get the impression that Isaac had as good a time as Mackenzie did.....but it is funny.

From my husband

First, some back story. Matt and I have amazing friends, Doug and Erin, whom we co-op our kids with every Friday (if possible). This Friday, if they are still free, is mine and Matt's turn to drop our kids at their house and go out for our date night. My hubby gets so excited over these things that he spends the few days leading up to it, saying, 'what do you want to do,' or, 'I was thinking we could do this.'

So today when I get an email from him with suggestions for our date night I had to post it to my blog. :) What a great catch I made huh?

And before you have to ask, 'kitzel' is the term we use for that fingertip tickle rub thing. Please try and keep your minds out of the gutter people, we're suppose to be Christians!!!!

Without further ado....my husband's email to me!




i was thinking we could do this on Fri.

go price your tattoo... if the price is right we'll go ahead and get it done...

you'll tell me how awesome a husband i am, and that you love me...

we'll go to dinner somewhere easy... el palacio maybe...

i'll tell you how wonderful and sexy you are and that i love you...

we'll go do something like look for a movie etc...

you'll tell me how sexy i am and that you love me...

we'll go get the kids put them to bed and veg out...

I'll tell you how happy i am to have you and that I love you...

I'll kitzel you and take you to bed...

we'll tell each other good night...

and that we love each other...

sound good... did i leave anything out :)

Whisk!!!

Honestly, I had just gotten her out of bed and she's so in love with this kitchen set I got her
for Christmas that she apparently needed her whisk to help her wake up.

FIRE!

Mackenzie set fire to a kitchen towel the other day while scrambling eggs. I had to laugh. It so reminded me of growing up with my mom and her kitchen mishaps. I vividly remember my dad rushing out the back door into the yard with whatever she had set on fire held out in front of him. Once the fire was out he'd come back in the house shaking his head and as if he knew he was up against something that just couldn't be changed said in a defeated voice, 'Karen.'

So when Kenzie started her small fire, I grabbed up the towel and ran out my own back door, just like dad use to. :) Laughing the entire time and fighting flashbacks I came back inside and said defeatedly, "Mackenzie." I think Kenzie was just in shock that it happened so fast, but lets face it, she was just glad she hadn't set fire to her wonderful outfit!!!!!

The only sad thing about it was that was a really great drying towel for the dishes...lol.

One of our favorites.

Easy Cheesy Manicotti.
My family loves this recipe so much I thought I'd share it with all my blog
friends. Plus I wanted to play around with the pictures I took of it to see if I could
type up recipes like this. Wouldn't it be neat to have an entire cookbook set up
like this? If you try it please post a comment and let me know how you liked it.

Grace and Peace to all,
~Jess

No laughing!!!! (I mean it)

Ok, so I've always wanted those Space Bags you see on TV, just to see
if they would actually work and shrink up like they say they do. Well
little did I know, Wal-Mart actually sells them, at a higher price than on
TV, but still. I got two of the Large size bags for $8, came home, and
stuffed some clothes inside just 'to see.' Well as you can tell from the pic,
it worked.

Those of you that have had the pleasure (ha) of coming into my little house
know how hard up we are for storage and just space in general. We have
a small storage building on the other side of the carport and it's just crammed full of stuff. Mainly Kids Kloset clothes that I'm storing for the next sell, all the kids baby stuff like the bassinet, and high chair. The stuff that I'm not ready to get rid of yet because I feel like it's only a matter of time before I pull that stuff back out again to use it.

To make a long story short, I'm so glad these things work. I really think these bags are going to save us some space. I don't know how much but I'll take whatever I can get!!!!

~Jess

More?

So it was time to make more homemade laundry detergent and the
two younger kids got in on the stirring action this time. :) And I think
it made a difference!!! This batch seems much more gelled.

I added 25 drops of lemon oil to the batch this time for a stronger,
cleaner smell and I love it!!!!!!

In looking for the essential oils I discovered a great health food store in
Huntsville, off of Oakwood. Ok, I didn't discover it but I had never been
there before or knew they existed. :) Good prices too and wonderful
organic yogurt covered pretzels.

I made my own Febreeze and antibacterial counter top spray the same day
I don't much like the smell of the antibacterial spray (it has Tea tree oil
in it and I just don't like the smell of that stuff) but the Febreeze rocks. :)

~Jess

7 X 7

My take on the 7x7. I hand wrote them and taped them up on the walls in the rooms of the kids, one on the bathroom mirror, the other on the wall beside the table. And instead of just me praying this over my kids I have them pray it as well. :) It's a great reminder for me and these are verses I want written on my kids hearts as well.

Sponge Dryer Sheets....Sponges I mean!!!

What's this picture you might ask? Well I posted sometime ago about the Homemade Laundry Detergent I've been making and using and loving. And now I've found the next best thing to go with it. Instead of Dryer Sheets I use sponges. Yep. That's right.

You take Fabric Softener, the cheap cheap cheap kind, or your favorite kind with a great smell, and pour 2-3 cups of it into a container with a lid on it.

Then add equal parts water and stir it like crazy or shake it if you have a super tight lid. (If you're like me, and can't take a heavy perfume smell on my clothes because of migraines then add 5-6 cups of water).

Then buy some good sponges (not the ones with the scouring pad on them) cut them into 4 pieces and throw them in the fabric softener, water combo.

When you're ready to use them, take one sponge piece, wring it out and toss in with a load of wet clothes. When you're laundry is dry just add the sponge back to the bucket to reuse again.

Side Note: I tend to do only Super sized laundry loads at my house, so I use two of the sponge pieces. If you're like me, then I would recommend cutting your sponges in half instead of in 4 pieces. That way you don't have to search for two sponge pieces while you're folding laundry. I love this and it works amazingly well!!!!

Cost Break Down:
Cost of 2 pack 4 quart plastic storage containers with lids: $2.12
(I'll use the other one for homemade antibacterial wipes)
Cost of 6 pack of sponges: $2.68
Cost of Fabric Softener: $3.48 (and you don't even use half the bottle!!!!)

I've got to start keeping a count of how many loads of laundry I can dry with the amount I have in the bucket below!!!!!!