Christmas Program @ Bible Baptist 2012

We had our annual Christmas Program at Bible Baptist Church last night and the kids did really well!

I was so glad to see some of the bus riders participate!

There are 4 bus riders up there singing with the rest of the children from our church. 4 of the older bus riders were in the audience as they were "too cool" to sing with the the little kids I guess....lol.  4 adults came as a result of the bus riders participating in the program. So glad our pastor preached a good message on the free gift of salvation for all to hear!

Christian has become quite the song bird. Noah is standing next to him but you can hardly see him or hear him in the video below!

Happy Thanksgiving =)

1 Chronicles 16:34

O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.

This Thanksgiving I have so much to be thankful for =)! I am so thankful for my family, church family, and good neighbors =) I love to teach these little ones =) We read about the first Thanksgiving and made turkeys =)

Joshua and Noah working on their turkeys.

Christian and Saige(my little neighbor I am babysitting) cutting their turkeys.

Rachel pretending to cut her pilgrim.

I am also thankful for the opportunity to stock up on some household items at rock bottom prices!

 On my CVS Trip today I spent $26 and got a box of diapers, cereal, 2 lotions, nail polish gift set, batteries, 2 toothbrushes, floss, 2 candy bars, and some head phones.

At Walgreens I got 3 laundry detergents for $2.33 each! 2 girl toys for $3.50 each! 6 packs of batteries for $1.26 each! 3 packs of cough drops for $0.33 each! 3 chapsticks for $0.33 each! 3 scotch tapes for $1.26 each! 3 movie box candies for $0.66 each! 

Then Lot's of Freebies!

Free after Register Rewards deals included:

Herbal essence conditioner

Dr. Teal's Epson Salt

Kids DHA

Women's multivitamins

2 Scuncii ponytail holders

Carmex lip balm

Thermacare Heat pack

2 pack of Gum toothbrushes

Crest 3D white toothpaste

Plus I got 4 coupons for free redbox rentals!!!

Now I am looking forward to eating Thanksgiving Dinner with some sweet friends since our family is 18 hours away!

Happy Harvest =)

I love Fall so much =) cool weather but still nice enough to play outside for hours, pumpkin bread, hot tea, cute sweaters on Rachel, and lower energy bills =)

A friend of mine on facebook posted news that Hobby Lobby was a christian organization standing up against the Godless and unconstitutional healthcare rulings forcing all employers to provide insurance coverage for birth control pills that could kill a baby. http://www.charismanews.com/opinion/34322-hobby-lobby-ceo-christian-companies-cant-bow-to-sinful-mandate
So I knew  that I wanted to support this company the next time I needed some crafts =) So I went out and got some Fall decorations with some of my first babysitting  pay check=)  All of their Holiday decorations were 40% off =)

 This sign actually came from Walmart....before I heard about Hobby Lobby's lawsuit =)

 I planted some mums, they are tiny but hopefully next year they come back bigger =) The scarecrows were only $0.97 at Walmart.

 Can you see Rachel with her cute little crochet hoodie on =)

I put some pumpkins up on top of the cabinets.

I love this little turkey rake that says give thanks from Hobby Lobby.

Then this little flower pot turkey stick also from Hobby Lobby =)

John 4:35 " Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest."

Update on Brownley the Cairn Terrier Chihuahua Mix

Sorry I have been a little absent from my blog lately, between pregnancy, homeschooling, and also I started babysitting during the week too, blogging has been at the bottom of my to do list!

I wanted to do an update on our doggy Brownley the Cairn Terrier Chihuahua mix. When we got our puppy we had no idea what he might look like and so I tried googling pictures but it is not a very popular breed. He is 7.5 months old now and so I am thinking he has his "grown up" dog look now =)

He is very kid friendly, infact he is taking "quiet time" with the 3 boys right now! They are trying to build a lego bridge for him to fit under and he seems to take it all very patiently. He does like to chew on things that fall on the floor mainly pencils and erasers since school started. He is 90% potty trained with only 1 accident in the last 3 weeks! Praise the Lord because I was starting to get a little frustrated potty training him and then he would just come and pee right in front of my face. There were a couple of days I was getting ready to snap a picture of him and post it on Craigslist...lol. He did get chased and nipped by a bad neighborhood pitbull (the same one that bit me in the spring time). Other than that incident he gets along well with other dogs. That is all the info I have for now on this mixed breed =)

Is It a Princess or a Prince?

Which ever color balloon we blow up will determine the baby's gender =)

 Poor Chris really wanted another little girl!He is still in denial we will have 4 boys come February!

Pregnant is not a good look on me especially when blowing up a balloon! A very cute idea from our photographer though =)

So we will have to paint Rachel's room a neutral color because I am not putting my baby boy in a pink room!

Look how teeny tiny but still has all the feautures of a full term baby at only 19 weeks! How could
anyone ever doubt that this is a LIFE!

Thanks Rebecca @Road of Life Photography!

Neighbors Kitchen Order Restored!

My next door neighbor is a working mother and she really wanted to get her kitchen in order. I told her I would come over and help one day and so she finally invited me over to help clean up the kitchen! Even though we live right next door to each other in the same neighborhood our kitchens are totally different! Her biggest complaint was she has no pantry =(  I didn't think her kitchen was as unorganized as she made it seem! I think we all are very critical of ourselves especially before we let someone else see it for themselves. And she really didn't even need my help she did most everything all by herself!

The condiment/baking cabinet was not functioning to it's full capability!

She picked up these mesh containers to store her packets of gravy and whatever at Target I think. It made a big difference so they don't fall all over the place anymore.

She had a ton of bakeware!

 We just wiped out the cabinets and lined it with some liners she picked up at Dollar Tree. Then put the bakeware back in more neatly!

Her daughter has a bit of an obsession with water bottles....lol. I think my neighbor tossed some of these out!

So much better!

I couldn't believe all the kitchen utensils and gadgets she had!

Of course all of these utensils and gadgets were of great importance and she could not part with any of them! She did pick up the utensil caddy to make a little more space but overall I was stumped as to what to do with all these things in an orderly fashion! Feel free to leave a comment of suggestion for the utensil drawer because it is so overflowing that a utensil divider will not work! 

Also this was done in April or May and I am just curious to see if she kept up with her cabinets or if her daughter bought any more water bottles...lol =)

Consignment Craziness!! A review of the Just Between Friends Sale

Here in Springfield, Missouri we had 2 HUGE consignment sales! I shopped at the first one put on by the Trading Hands Kids Sale and got some pretty good deals! Then I participated in the Just Between Friends Sale as a consignor. It was pretty exciting. It kind of felt like black Friday...lol =)

I didn't have much to consign as I am waiting to get rid of or keep my baby girl things; after our sonogram on Wednesday! I made my own price tags with barcodes at home with the JBF website and safety pinned them on. The inspection process was very meticulous and if your clothes didn't look brand new they were not taking them! My 3 boys are pretty hard on their clothes and I thought I only picked out the best of the best and put the rest in the donate bag..... Needless to say even though I cleaned and ironed the outgrown clothes some were rejected =(. My friend at church gladly took the rejects and her son is now wearing them though =) All together I had 12 items of boy clothes, 3 slippers, and a few books. They sold all 18 items!!

The sale was soooo massive there were mountains of boppy pillows and buckets and buckets of shoes in every size possible and jam packed clothing racks! 

Since I was a consignor I got to shop before the public. I was really excited about this until I realized that the shop before the public day was a Tuesday when hubby would be gone with the car =(. My pastor's wife came to the rescue and dropped me off to shop and ran errands with my 2 little ones. I got this nice Gap Maternity Pea Coat for $40. Not the cheapest thing there but I figure I can resell it for around the same price next year =)

I love yard sales and consignment shops because you can find things that are hard to find in stores nowadays like skirts for little girls that go below the knee =) This Children's Place skirts was $3 and will be going to my nieces until it is time to pass it back to my baby Rachel =)

The JBF consignor website updates at the end of each sale day to display what items have sold!

They sold all of my items that passed inspection for $76.75! I will get 60% of that minus the $10 consignor fee. So in about 2 weeks I should be getting a check for around $36! That is waaaayy more than I could have made at a yard sale!

I would definitely do this sale again next year!!!

The JBF is a nationwide franchise you should check out their site to see if they have one near you!

http://www.jbfsale.com/default.cfm