Busy week

As the title says, this week has been busy...busier than normal. Especially today. Wednesday Joe had two of his wisdom teeth out. We decided to head to Macon and stay with my parents so we wouldn't have such an early morning. The kids did a great job as we waited in the lobby for Joe to come out. It was pretty fast, actually. Joe has had a rough time recovering, though. He had a lot of nausea and some sickness. We ended up staying with my parents for an extra night so I could have a little extra help. I was thankful for it! We headed back today and little man had his 6 month check up.

It's hard to believe that we've come from 7lbs 4oz and about 19 in to 16lbs 12oz and 25 1/4 in....wow...my little man has grown! He's doing well (except his ear thing...fluid) and thriving! I'm so thankful for his sweet, smiley personality. He really brightens my day. So does my Sophie girl. I'm thankful for my kiddos.

Hope all of you are having a great week. God bless!

Fun for kids...

I love fun music for kids. Especially when I can hear my Sophie girl singing along. When we were in the car a few weeks ago with my mom and niece, my sister had purchased a music cd and we were listening to it in the car. I had never heard of this musician, but a lot of the songs were very cute. Apparently she is on the show/channel Noggin. We don't have that channel, so I had never heard of her. Her name is Laurie Berkner. I am going to attempt to put in a video from You Tube (something I've yet to figure out). If you know how to do this and I'm not successful...please tell me! :-) Here goes...
Ok...I don't know what I'm doing. Oh, well. But I thought you might enjoy the recommendation.

Another fun website that I love to recommend is http://storyplace.org. It's a fun website that you can use to make up funny stories with your kids/students. I used this a lot when I did ESOL and when I taught in a regular classroom. Hope you enjoy it! Here are some other websites that I've loved over the years:

• http://www.brainpop.com : this site has some great funny/educational videos. Unfortunately, to view all of them you have to subscribe. But it's still fun to look at the free ones.
• http://www.lemonadestands.com : great for teaching economics as you run your own lemonade stand via computer for 30 days. Lots of fun!
• http://www.noggin.com : fun stuff for kids
• http://www.pbskids.org : the only kids channel we have is PBS, so I love the shows on there. Especially Franny's Feet...that is such a cute show! You could easily do social studies lessons with this...and even do your own version at home! (Franny's grandfather has a shoe repair shop and with each pair of shoes Franny goes on an adventure and always comes back with something to put in her shoebox of treasures. I think it's adorable!) We like Super Why, Sesame Street, and some others, too.

If you have any to share, please feel free. I know there are more out there that I enjoy...just can't think of them all right now! Hope you enjoy these!

Blessings!

Loaves and Fishes

It's been a busy weekend, but not too busy. We've had some good relaxation time, and also some good fellowship time. After being gone last week on vacation, it was great to be back at our church and see our church family. I feel very blessed to be in the church that we're in. Our pastor is a wonderful leader and teacher, and most importantly, a man who loves the Lord. Joe and I also enjoy and appreciate the other staff members. It's great to be in a church that has staff that work well together. Tonight while we were at church, we started a new dollar offering. Every Sunday night our church does a special offering in which members are encouraged to give at least a dollar to a different ministry. This month it's a ministery called Loaves and Fishes International. It's an orphanage/foster home in China that ministers to children with special needs. We watched a short video about this ministry and it brought tears to my eyes. To see these precious little ones--their names and faces--spoke to my heart. I am praying that God would affirm to Joe and I if adoption is in His plan for our family and when/where He wants us to adopt from. We are open to what He leads us to do. Here's the link to loaves and fishes:
http://www.loavesandfishesintl.com/ . If I count it out, I know and am friends with at least 9 families who have adopted children. I don't think that is a coincidence. We'll see what God does. I would love your prayers!
On a totally different note, I told a friend of mine that I would give her a homemade granola recipe that I had. I thought it might be good just to post it on here. I thought I had posted it before, but I didn't see it. So...hope you enjoy! This is a great snack or breakfast granola. It's also good on top of yogurt or ice cream.
Homemade Granola:

• 3 cups oats
• 2 1/8 oz sesame seeds
• 1 pkg. salted sunflower seeds
• sliced almonds
• 1/2 cup coconut
• 3/4 cup honey
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup dates

Combine first 5 things in a large bowl ( I don't really care for the seeds, so I usually leave those out...you can basically pick whether or not you want the seeds, almonds or coconut, but you must have the oats!). Combine honey and next 5 things in a bowl. Pour honey mix over oat mix and stir. Spread mixture in a pan (I usually use a cookie sheet that has the sides on it so nothing will run over into the oven). Cook at 325 degrees for 20 min (I usually get it out after 10 min, use a spatula and flip it over as best I can and then let it cook another 10 min). Add raisins (and I guess the dates, too) after cooking.

This has got a great taste to it! Hope you like it! God bless!

Cinderelly

My sweet little girl has fallen in love. She's in love with the movie Cinderella. Every day she requests...at least once....to watch Cinderella. She'll say...I want to watch Cinderelly. Yesterday she and I were in her room and she started singing one of the songs in the movie, "Sing Sweet Nightengail." It was one of the sweetest things I've heard! What a sweet little voice she has. Some time I'm going to sit down and figure out how I can relate Cinderella to something Biblical...but for right now, I'm going to sit back and just take it in. In fact, we're watching it right now. Another bonus to having a good movie for Sophie to watch....Mommy gets some down time. Gotta run....it's bibbity-bobbity-boo time. :-D

New things

It's a week of new things around here. Last Saturday, as I mentioned, I got a new haircut. Here it is! I'm enjoying having short hair and new color. Hair is one of the few things that you can change quickly about your appearance...and for some reason, I often need a change just to break the daily cycle. My husband also likes the new do, so that makes me feel good!

Another ongoing challenge is trying to potty train Sophie. I honestly have not been very consistent. It's been hard since Isaac has been with us. It never fails that I'll be nursing Isaac and Sophie will say, "Mommy, I need to go potty." Usually when Sophie needs to go potty, she doesn't actually potty. She just sits there and wants to play with the toilet paper. But I would really love to have just one child in diapers instead of two. That would be nice. Sophie has actually gone potty before, too. It's just not consistent. So this morning we got up and I took her straight to the potty. She sat there, looked at three books, played with the toilet paper, and by that point I was hungry and tired myself. Isaac was making some noise, too, so we had to move on. But we did something new. I let Sophie put on her little cotton training panties this morning. I put the portable potty on the floor along with a couple of Walmart bags and told her she either needed to sit on the bags or go potty. She did well. She didn't mess up her panties...but she didn't go potty either. Any advice on this would be appreciated. I was thinking today that just when you've got your child past one hurdle, the next one comes up. I guess it'll be like that, though. It's part of being a parent, I'm realizing. It's so much harder than you think it'll be!

Little man has being doing something new, too. He's been sleeping in his "big boy" bed this week for the first time! He's actually done really well, to my surprise! We've had him in our room for 6 months in a pack and play so that he would be close when I needed to feed him. It was actually kind of hard to move him into his room. I kind of miss seeing him at night and hearing him breathe so close to me. But, it was time. Joe and I needed our space. I also think that this will help with getting Isaac into a better routine. He's finally been going to bed before midnight (yay!) and he's also being doing something else new...eating baby food! This boy has been eating! Big time! The new food intake has agreed with him and he's sleeping more. I think this was just what he needed. Here he is sleeping in his room. I didn't get him in the picture very much...I didn't want to wake him up.

So that's what's new with us. What's new with you? Thanks for reading and God bless!

Back from a great week!

I think our vacation last week was one of the best. I've called it a "stay-cation" instead of a vacation because we stayed with different family members instead of staying in hotels. Most of the time you use the term staycation when referring to staying at home instead of going somewhere. Well, we didn't stay home...we just stayed with other people! One reason I loved it was because we were able to see family members and do things with them. Another reason is because we had all the conveniences of home...a kitchen, washer/dryer, fridge, dishes, etc. This is a great thing when you have kids!

We started the journey with a visit to Statesboro where Joe's sister, Susan, lives. We had fun visiting with her and her kids, Ally, Tres, and Taff. We took our time getting there and Tuesday we loaded up and drove to Tybee Island to spend some time at the beach. It was Isaac's first time at the beach! Then Joe, Sophie, Isaac, and I went to downtown Savannah, at supper at 5 Guys Burgers and Fries and walked around. We had dessert at my friends, Catherine and Josh's house. I was in Thailand with them. It was so fun to see them and their kids.

The next leg of the trip was driving to Macon to stay at my parent's house. We had a great time relaxing, sitting in their new hot tub, and watching tv. Thursday we drove to Stone Mountain to see the lazer show. We picked up my sister and her little girl on the way up. It was great when we got there, but started pouring rain for a few minutes. We had to pack up our picnic supper and eat in one of the buildings. But the girls loved it anyway! It did stop and clear out long enough for us to set up again in time for the show. It was really fun. The girls seemed to enjoy it! We got back late that night, so we rested the next day and took Isaac and Sophie swimming at my aunt and uncle's house. Sophie loved being in the water! The rest of the weekend we rested and went to church with my parents. This vacation was fun and restful...which is not that common when you go out of town! Plus we came home with almost all of our clothes washed...thanks, Joe, for doing the laundry! I also was able to go to Target (yay!) and get my hair cut. My mom and sister colored it that night. Very different look for me, but I really like it! It's fun to get a new do!

God bless!

Resting up and getting ready

I'm so glad that this weekend we haven't had to go anywhere. Don't get me wrong, I love to hang out with people and do things, but lately we've been going like crazy! I was really getting worn out. Next week we'll be on our first "stay-cation". Well, we're not staying at our house, but we're staying with other people and doing little day trips from their houses. I think it'll be a lot of fun! We will hopefully hit the beach for a day, do something in Atlanta...we're thinking the zoo, a Braves game, or even Stone Mountain. The main thing is that we'll be together. We enjoy spending time together! So you might not hear much from me for a while...we'll be staycationing :D. God bless!