So my friend over at The Powells wrote about her 5 year old asking for more violence in her cartoons and such, and I just did not get, it I guess? Well I had a small episode of that myself. I am trying to get my 5 year old to remember what the lowercase "f" looks like and told her to try and remember a fish hook for Fish, and it looks like an upside down fish hook. She told me "It is also like Captain Hooks hand," and for the crossing she said as she is drawing "he has caught Tinkerbell, and he is stabbing her." "Oh," I said, "that is just sad." All the while her oldest sister is just laughing. Talk about violence!!!

A first for me.

Today we had a special day. Daddys' job rented out the Ariels Gymnastics, and had Santa, face painting, treats, and a band to play while everybody else played on the Gym things. With my 2 oldest daughters anytime we took them, when they were little, to see Santa they would cry and not want to sit with him. But the baby today, when it was her turn she walked right up to him with arms open wide and gave him a great big hug. I was shocked. We had a good time, the girls got their pictures on their face, and I think we will not hear teh end of it until they get to do gymnastics.

Insomnia

I do not like insomnia, and with this baby I am having that bad. Then all I want to do is sleep during the day. With 3 kids and homeschooling and keeping what house I can you can guess that does not work out so well. Then when I take meds. to help me sleep, I am drowsy all day the next day. Oh well, I guess I just need to deal. Stop complaining about it and just deal with it. I will talk to my doc. on Monday, baby was sick so I rescheduled my appt. from today til Monday, "Pow" says maybe it is low iron. So maybe it will get better.

The funny thing is I do not remember being this tired with any of the girls. I have not had morning sickness. So maybe it is the boy we are wanting. Everything is different. Jan 7th I am going to have an ultrasound, and definately should be able to find out if the baby is a boy or a girl.

Christmas Decor.

Now when I first started thinking about this post I was going to say that this was our first Christmas Decoration, but it is not. It is our third for the season. My mother made us a new wreath for our front door, and my niece made me an ornament for our tree when we get that put up this weekend, just wait "til you see a picture of that :) So this is our third decoration, and the girls and I made it. I think I might change the ribbon, but right now that is the only one I had. I used one of my old vases and we went for a walk and gathered all the things for it. Red wood chips, pine cones, and then the green pine needles. The pic. I saw that gave me the idea looked a little better, but ours turned out preety good, and the girls had fun helping. When we finally get our tree up, I will take pics of that too.

A Contest for free Amazon, woo-hoo.

This website, teeny manalo is holding a contest for two chances to win a $50 Amazon gift card and one grand prize of $150 Amazon gift card. Hustle over and leave a comment and they will put your name in the drawing for one of them. So far there are not very many entries. Good Luck.

Happy Thanksgiving. We had a great time fixing all our food. My girls did a great job helping. Here is our spread. Quite a lot, for the 5 of us. Ooooh, but it was good. And I am looking forward to BBQ Turkey sandwichs, and cold Turkey Sandwichs. So how was your Thanksgiving. I hope it was great!!!
edited to add: I need to learn how to flip my pictures before I upload them. Sorry about the sideways looks.


My girls, great helpers.
Bella, the new gravy queen
Brisa, and the deviled eggs. Is that how you spell that?
Sharing the wisk.
Our fancy dessert. The girls wanted to use the wine glasses, cute huh?
Bella catching some relaxing time, :)
Yummy, Yummy Turkey. Good color!
Bellas picture of our spread.
Bella showing off our spread.
Mamas shot of our spread. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Pa Pow and Pow

I love my Pastor and his wife. They are great teachers and listeners. My favorite thing with my kids and them is every single one of them, when they were little at least, would just v-line it straight for them and give them the biggest hugs everytime they saw the Powells. Now that my 2 oldest are just that, older, they do not give as many hugs and as excitedly as when they were little, but they still do give hugs. Now my youngest is not even 2 yet and she has a fondness for the Pows as well. That is not a typo, that is what she calls my Pastor and his wife, they are Pa Pow and Pow. Everytime we see them she shouts, "Pow" for Mrs. Powell and "Pa Pow" for Pastor Powell. It is very funny to walk into church and hear her shouting, "POW." Just imagine this little thing, I say little but she is far from little, shouting. I laugh everytime and I am not the only one, Mrs. Powell I think has taken a liking to it too. Now here is the kicker. Everytime we leave the house now, even if it is to go outside to play, Meaghan shouts "Pow" and she thinks we are going to see them. This means one of two things, either we see an awful lot of the Powells, and we really do not see them that often, just the stuff we do revolves around church. I like that. It is Bible Study and church and every once in awhile a play day with other ladies. But really just Bible Study and Church. And of course we see the "Pows" there. Very funny.

Christmas Giveaway at 5 Minutes for Mom

5 Minutes for mom is hosting giveaways until Nov. 25th, All kinds of giveaways, so click above, or follow my link in my sidebar, and check out the giveaway daily. The first is from a mom owned store and she has offered a snazzy new diaper bag, or a gift certificate for her site in the amount of $116. Just in time for Christmas, definitely, and who could not use a chance to have an extra $116.

My smoking.

I am not doing as well as I thought I would. On the 3rd I took my patch off and had 4 cigarettes. The 4th I only had 1, today I have had 3. I guess that is better than the normal 10-12 daily, if not more. Keep praying for me. I need all the prayers I can get I think. I know eventually I can quit altogether, it just might take longer than I thought. I have to remember baby steps, right? Some new things I started that I have stuck to daily is with my morning coffee, I take out my devotional that I got from my friend the day I got baptized, my bible, and a journal that I started. I have read my devotional, bible and have written in my journal first thing in the morning, everyday, and plan on doing it continuously. So there are a couple of things that are good that have come out of this.

Today is my day.

Today is the day that I quit smoking. I bought the patch yesterday, hoping it will take the edge off so I can stay calm, not fidgety, or anxious. I started smoking when I was in 5th or 6th grade. I rode the city bus back and forth to school. There was 6 or 7 kids who did the same and one of the girls smoked, and I started then. So it has already been about 18 years and now on baby #4, I am really done. The last 2 days I went all day without "Iggy-Ciggys" and then when hubby got home I smoked one. Actually the first day, Nov. 1st, I went until like 10:00 at night before I smoked a cig. and got a little cranky, then I smoked it. Yesterday I lasted until hubby got off work and the minute I got in the car I smoked one. So today, I have thought about it a couple of times and I have only been up for 2 1/2 hours, and the patch is itching. The package says the spot I put it on can get itchy and red but it should stop after a few hours. If it gets worse I cannot use them. So hopefully it does not get worse. Hubby is quitting too. He bought 2 packs of "Iggy-Ciggys" yesterday, and after today, he is not allowed to take them out of his coat when he gets home and I asked him if he would go outside. When I do not see the ciggys it helps me not think about them. Hopefully me not smoking will help him cut back and quit too. He is taking the Chantix pill. I notice that he does not reach for the "Iggy-Ciggys" as often so soon I think he will be done also. And he has been wanting to start walking after dinner so maybe I can try to bring that up more too. And I started a journal, I know some people use their blog like that, but sometimes I need to say stuff that is between me and God. You know? So that is where my journal will come in, So hopefully I can do this. I am ready, I just hope that it is not as difficult as I have always heard it is. You know I just thought, I have stopped doing things willingly that I actually enjoy, and I do not even enjoy smoking. It was just something to do, and after a while it felt like something I needed. So I am praying. Will you say prayers for me too? Thanks, I hope you all have a most wonderful weekend and great Sunday.

Guess What?

October 11th, was the day that I started my blog a year ago. And I also missed my 100th blog entry. So this is #154, and I am past a year. Pretty neat, I guess. I did not even realize it though. Anyway, thanks for reading, and keep reading, I am bound to get some good blog fodder eventually. My kids make for good stories but most the time by the time I get to my blog I have forgotten what it was they said that made me think it would be a good story for ya' all. by the way, I already won one of the giveaways at the Fall Ya' all giveaways. There were so many wonderful giveaways. Maybe I can win more, Thanks and you will read me later, hopefully.

Our Halloween.

These are our pics. from Halloween. We always have such a good time and this year my girls got even more candy than normal. The baby caught on really quick. When she said twiceet (trick or treat), she got candy, and she thought that was awesome. So here are me and the girls.
This is my oldest daughter,
This is the baby, sorry the pic is twisted, did not know until it was too late.
My 5 year old was She-Ra, she is He-Mans sister. You can see her costume with all of us together. It was a fun night.

A Fall Ya' All Giveaway.

If you participated in the Dogs Day of Summer giveaway, then you know what this is all about. Hop on over, and look. There are more than 300 blogs participating. There is bath goodies, candles, chocolate, books, scrap booking, oh my. Head over and see if anything catches your eye. It is a lot of fun. Last time I did not win anything, maybe I will have better luck this time.

The Golden Compass.

Before you read the following, which I received in my email, I wanted to let you know that this was something my husband and I talked about a couple of weeks ago when I saw the movie on "E" or some show like that. I thought, ooh a new kids movie, with books too. Then he told me what it was about. I thought that it was kind of freaky, to say the least. Now other than that I have not read anything or heard anything else about it. I have thought about reading the books myself that way when my oldest asks if she can read them I will be able to talk to her about it with a little back ground knowledge. Is that supporting the books? I do not know if I will yet but if I do, I will certainly let you all know what I think. Anyway read the following, and take heed, I do not think this sounds nice.

There will be a new children's movie out in December called "The Golden Compass". The movie has been described as "atheism for kids" and is based on the first book of a trilogy entitled "His Dark Materials" that was written by Phillip Pullman. Pullman is a militant atheist and secular humanist who despises C. S. Lewis and the "Chronicles of Narnia". His motivation for writing this trilogy was specifically to counteract Lewis' symbolism's of Christ that are portrayed in the Narnia series.

Clearly, Pullman's main objective is to bash Christianity and promote atheism. Pullman left little doubt about his intentions when he said in a 2003 interview that "my books are about killing God." He has even stated that he wants to "kill God in the minds of children". It has been said of Pullman that he is "the writer the atheists would be praying for, if atheists prayed."

While "The Golden Compass" movie itself may seem mild and innocent, the books are a much different story. In the trilogy, a young streetwise girl becomes enmeshed in an epic struggle to ultimately defeat the oppressive forces of a senile God. Another character, an ex-nun, describes Christianity as "a very powerful and convincing mistake." In the final book, characters representing Adam and Eve eventually kill God, who at times is called YAHWEH. Each book in the trilogy gets progressively worse regarding Pullman's hatred of Jesus Christ.

"The Golden Compass" is set to premier on December 7, during the Christmas season, and will probably be heavily advertised. Promoters hope that unsuspecting parents will take their children to see the movie, that they will enjoy the movie, and that the children will want the books for Christmas.

Please consider a boycott of the movie and the books. Also, pass this information along to everyone you know. This will help to educate parents, so that they will know the agenda of the movie.

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I have not done "Thankful Thursday" in a while, I just always forget it is Thursday, until it is Friday. Did that make since? Anyway, I am reading this book that I heard about on one of the Christian radio stations that I tune into while I am driving and it is called "Having a Mary heart in a Martha World." Now when I first heard it I thought Mary was Jesus mother, and I thought Martha was Martha Stewart. Boy was I wrong. The Mary and Martha that she (the author, Joanna Weaver) speaks of are the 2 sisters in Bethany mentioned 3 times in the bible. Now most of you know, here is Jesus and all his disciples that are welcomed into this home, and Martha is hard at work cooking and preparing things for the company; and there is Mary kneeling at Christs feet just listening to him. The writer of this book, adds a lot of detail to this part and it probably puts it into great perspective. Martha is extremely busy, bustling around getting food and drinks, probably making sure everyone has a good place to sleep, probably delegating so many things, running around like a chicken with her head cut off, She is looking for her sister, and finds her sitting on her rump, and in Marthas eyes, doing NOTHING. So she pleads to Jesus, pretty much saying, see my lazy sister, don't you care? And Jesus tells her that she worries to much, (not a direct quote from the bible, but the jift of it) and that Mary has chosen the better part of what is going on. So here is what I am thankful for, I am totally THANKFUL that I am not a worrier. Never really have been, until the last couple of years of my life. Things just seem totally and completely out of my control, and lo and behold, they are. That is always the hardest part for me, but most the time I can release my little worries over, and then I forget about them, they just "poof" go away. I will reiterate, MOST OF THE TIME. There are a couple of issues in my life that I still struggle with letting go completely to God. Anyway, I am thankful for the fact that I am not a Constant worrier. I do not let my imagination get the best of me. I do not let the things that COULD happen stop me from living. There are many people who are chronic worriers, and what a burden that is to carry. They let their "what ifs" stop so much. So I am thankful, and I thank God, that if I worry my worries are pretty normal, and not OCD type worries. Now for my friends and fellow readers, if you are a worrier, I hope I did not offend, may I just say though, go get this book from your library, I am just on Chapter 2 and there are so many good tips on how to identify if you are a chronic worrier and tips on some release. Go get the book and read it.

A Tutu giveaway.

Does your daughter love dress up and dancing as much as mine? If so this would be a great hit. Hop on over and enter for your chance to win a beautiful Tutu from Polka dot platypus.

right brain, left brain?

Which way do you see the dancer turning? Your answer tells you if you are a right or left brain user.

updated to add: Yesterday I saw counter clockwise, and today i saw clockwise, Now that is weird.

Cool giveaway.

Hop over here, and enter in for a nice baby sling. I have seen these just on other sites, but the one they are giving away is really cute. So hop on over and enter your name, and good luck.

So this is my new do. Again!! I really like it, and it is very easy to take care of, and with my 3 little girls, I need that. They each have very long hair and it is hard to take care of. So I found this snazzy little do and I really like it. What do you think. Here is a pic of what it was like before my cut.

How to's...

I found a neat site that has some really nest blog layouts, and I would like to try a new one. However I do not want to lose all my links and widgets. So what is the easiest way to "transfer" all my groovy things to a new template? Do any of you know. Or maybe your hubbies? Let me know, thanks.