Dress Up

Almost every time Kaitlyn takes her turn to watch the boys she plays dress-up with them. In fact, today she did such an awesome job dressing the little boys up that some of the older kids decided they wanted dress up too.

Here's what my kids have been up to today...

Jonathan as "Superman"

Kaitlyn says that Joshua is a "coach"

(why he has no shirt on, I don't know).

Matthew as a pirate.

Micah as a knight.

Kaitlyn as a cowgirl.

Josiah as a spy.

Wordless Wednesday - My Birthday

A dear friend made this for me. It was delicious!!

Turtle Ice Cream Cake!

iPhone 3GS!!!

Tuesday's Tip - Homemade Playdoh

I know that Play Doh is cheap and many people would rather just buy it than make it, but it's just so fun to make. We go through Play Doh so quickly in my house that it really doesn't pay to buy it, especially when I have all the ingredients here to make it.

Yesterday, we made a double batch and the kids helped add color. They loved it, in fact, even the big kids got in on it. By the time we were done we had seven different colors.

It's really easy to make and if you never have you ought to try it. You can make it plain and paint (the salt dough) later or you can color it like regular Play Doh with food coloring. Keep in mind that even though these ingredients are edible the dough is not edible. Here are a couple of recipes for you to try.

Salt Dough

3 cups flour

1 cup water

1 cup salt

2 tsp. oil

Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix. You can add food coloring or leave it plain. You can also bake this at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

(Taken from www.raisingolives.com)

Cooked Flour Play Dough

3 cups flour

1.5 cups salt

6 tsp. cream of tarter

3 Tbsp. oil

3 cups water

Pour all ingredients into a large pot and stir constantly over medium heat until a ball forms. Knead the play dough until the texture matches conventional play dough (1-2 minutes). Add food coloring if you want colored play dough.

Store in plastic container. Should last for at least 3 months.

(Taken from www.naturemoms.com)

Powder Face

Friday night, Joshua got a hold of the baby powder and poured a pile onto the bed of the fold out couch. He then, for some odd reason, shoved his face into the pile of powder. When he came to Jim and me this is how he looked.

Joshua looking like the Phantom of the Opera.

Jim gently blowing the powder out of his eyes.

Did you get it all?

Much better.

Motherhood

A few years back a very dear friend of mine gave me this wall hanging. I have treasured it not only because of who gave it to me, but because of what it says. It reads, "Motherhood, God's highest calling."

I love having this reminder in my home everyday, for there are some days that I forget how privileged I am to be a mother. I forget that it is a high calling and a gift from God, that my children are His reward.

I wish every mother could have one of these in her home to remind her of how blessed she is to be a Mother. Today, I pray for God's blessing on you and your home. May you be reminded today of the high calling of Motherhood and that your children are His reward.

Have a blessed weekend everyone.

"Lo, children [are] an heritage of the LORD: [and] the fruit of the womb [is his] reward."

Psalm 127:3

Time for Bed...or Not

In case some of you are wondering how it's going with Joshua sleeping in his toddler bed, I thought I'd give you an update. Challenging! That's my word for how it's going :) The books worked for one night and one nap and that was it. The second night Christiana tried to get him to stay down but he wouldn't get still enough to go to sleep. Finally, after pointing to her table, she figured out he wanted the radio on and then he tucked himself in and fell asleep. Since then it has been a guessing game as to what will make him go to sleep. Sometimes singing to him works, sometimes reading a book, sometimes having me just sit next to him works, and sometimes it feels like a wrestling match trying to keep him in bed. In fact, the reason I didn't get a post out on Tuesday was because I was trying to get Joshua down for his nap and was so exhausted afterwards that I fell asleep as well.

My napping buddy on Tuesday.

Today, I'm letting Joshua stay up and play outside during nap time in hopes that he will fall asleep quickly tonight. I am so looking forward to warm days outside where he can release his energy and be ready to sleep at nap and at night. I think that will make a world of difference.

So, for those of you who may think that with eight children I have it all figured out, now you know. I'm still learning and always ready to receive wisdom from those who have insight into what I don't. Obviously, getting a child to stay in his bed at bedtime is one of those things I haven't figured out yet. And of course, what works for one child may not work for another. I sure hope there's a grading curve on this one.

Any advice on what worked for you? I'm open.

Wordless Wednesday - Wacky Kids

I asked Christiana to take pictures of the kids loving on each for our Valentine's Day blog. Of course they couldn't resist the temptation to take some silly pictures while they had the camera.

Show Me the Love

Happy Valentine's Day, Everyone. May you feel loved.

Jonathan and Matthew

Kaitlyn and Jonathan

Josiah, Christiana and Joshua

Matthew, Micah and Jonathan

Christiana and Micah

So Tired

When Joshua missed his nap one day this is how we found him later. He was so tired that he didn't even lay down. He stayed in this pose the whole time he slept. I thought it was funny because this little guy doesn't slow down much. He's usually full speed ahead. I guess this day, since he didn't go to sleep, he was just completely tuckered out.

Surprise Blessing

This week Jim came home with an awesome blessing. This commercial copier, scanner, printer that also works as a fax machine was a total blessing. I'm so excited about it.

With all the copies I make for homeschooling and the fact that our businesses (www.homesecurity4life.com and Kingdom Security) are picking up and getting busier, it's exactly what we need.

I love how God provides exactly what we need exactly when we need it. It's just another example of how God takes care of us when we trust in Him.

Matthew's Understanding

Sometimes I can't help but laugh when my kids say things because it's just so cute. Matthew is our four year old and his understanding of things is quite different than ours. On the Monday that we were headed to the birthing center to see if I was ready to have our baby, we told the kids that we needed to get ready to go to the birthing center. We told them we were going to see if Mommy's water was ready to be broken so we could have the baby. Later when we asked Matthew if he knew what we were doing he said, "We are going to the Birthday Center to break mommy's cup of water." We all got a good laugh and I made a mental note so that I would remember to write this down as part of Kyle's birth story.

Joshua and His Toddler Bed

So sorry that I didn't get a blog out Friday or Monday. Things are starting to get back to normal (whatever that is) with school and every day scheduling. The only difference is that the times I would usually sit down to do a quick blog I'm now sitting down to nurse Kyle. Not that it is a bad thing, I actually love nursing and spending time with him. I've done this enough times now to know that it is over way too quick, so I like to savor this time. So, please forgive me if I don't get a blog out each week day. I promise that I will try. I guess, for now, there may be days that I just don't get to it.

So, that being said, we have just recently gotten Joshua into his toddler bed. Since Kyle is sleeping with us in our bed we decided to just convert the crib into a toddler bed. Joshua has been sleeping in his crib with the mattress lowered all the way on the floor because he kept crawling out of the crib with the mattress in the lowest position and we were afraid that he would hurt himself when he climbed out of his bed. We had planned on making the switch from crib to toddler bed before Kyle was born but it just didn't happen. So last night Jim and Josiah were able to make the switch. The only thing left to do was to see how Joshua would do. Would he stay in bed or continually climb out?

Here's what we did once bed time arrived. We put him in bed and had his sister's watch him and encourage him to stay in bed. That didn't work too well. So, I decided to go upstairs and read him some books. I noticed that he seemed to be getting tired so I left a couple of cardboard books with him in his bed and headed downstairs. Before I went to sleep I went upstairs to check on him and he was sleeping soundly. The girls informed me this morning that they had to read to him a few more times before he was settled, but that he stayed in bed and went to sleep. (I did put up a guard rail before I left the room keep him from falling out of bed, this may help in keeping him from getting out of bed as well).

At nap time today Josiah put him in bed (put the guard rail in place) and the kids gave him plenty of books. Sure enough he's upstairs sleeping right now. He didn't even try to get out of bed :)

This is what he looks like...

We will make sure that we continue to switch out the books so he doesn't get bored with the same ones. And for those of you wondering, no we do not let him sleep like this, we do remove the books from around him so he doesn't hurt or choke himself while sleeping.

We shall see how tonight goes. Hopefully, it will continue to be this easy to get him to stay in bed :)

Above Rubies Magazine

I love Above Rubies and the encouragement that they give to Mothers. So, I was wondering how many of you out there may not be familiar with them or their magazine, and I wanted to tell you about them. Here's a quote from their website that explains who they are:

Above Rubies is a ministry to encourage women in their high calling as wives, mothers, and homemakers. Its purpose is to uphold and strengthen family life and to raise the standard of God's truth in the nation.

You can subscribe to their magazine (which is free) and also to their newsletters from their site. They are so full of encouragement no matter where you are in motherhood. If you ever think you are alone in certain situations, you learn that you're not and find encouragement from other Mom's who have gone through the same thing. You learn that God is your strength in all situations and help is just a scripture away.

I love how this ministry has ministered to me and I'm sure it would you too. To learn more and/or request your free magazine go to http://www.aboverubies.org/.

Wordless Wednesday - Lost His First Two Teeth

Jonathan lost his first two teeth in the same week just a couple of days apart. He's so excited.

Thankful

I just wanted to take a moment today to thank everyone who brought meals to our house after Kyle was born. What a blessing to be able to rest and not worry about meal planning. I'm so thankful for wonderful friends and church family.

I have rested like I was suppose to and have healed nicely. Kyle is doing great and growing too fast already. The kids love to hold him and love on him smothering him with hugs and kisses.

Words can't express how happy I am to have Kyle here and part of our family. He is such a precious blessing and I am so thankful that God saw fit to let me be his Mom.