Precious to Us

I've got so many things I need to be blogging about, but for now I thought I'd link up with Kelly's Korner SUYL! It's for mom's with all girls to connect.

I've always been very grateful to God for allowing us to raise two girls. We've been homeschooling for the past 4 years and I couldn't imagine not being with our precious daughters every day. It has given Brian and myself a chance to truly know them, not just for a few hours in the evening. Of course, we have our fair share of crazy days, but overall we enjoy our time together very much!

We take plenty of field trips for school and it's nice to be able to go when we feel like it!
We love our girls more than anything!

This is Anna.

This is Holly.

And sometimes we're silly!

Proverbs 22:6

"Train up a child in the way he should go,

And when he is old he will not depart from it."

#258 - Bible Studies and Devotionals

I thought for my daily post that I'd jump on board for Kelly's Korner SUYL - and share the Bible Studies/Devtionals that we do. You can click on each picture for links to Lifeway.

I started reading this one earlier in the summer and love it!

We got our new devotional after our anniversary trip to Tennessee in August. We like the format that these One Year devotionals have. I'll be honest we don't do this every night (we should:), but when we do get to have a devotional together it is always great!
This one for couples is a good one also!

Have a great Friday everyone!

Titus 2:4-5
"Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God."

#216 - Blogging

For Kelly's SUYL this week the topic is blogging tips. When I first started my blog it was to show out of town family and friends what our family was up to. But I've since discovered that with being a homeschooling family blogging is a great way to keep up with what we do and the little extras stuff we want to record. It also helps when we go on our field trips that if I do a post about it, I can always pull it back up for a reminder of the info we've learned.

Also, this year I decided to do a Project 365 where I post a picture a day and journal our activities. I am on day 216 and I have to say it's been a lot of work and some days I may not want to post anything, but I know in the long run it'll be great to be able to look back and see what we've done in the previous year.

So my advice for blogging would be to keep things simple and do it for yourself or family. I tried doing the scrapbooking thing several years ago and I honestly didn't have time to get all of my stuff out and cut and paste a few pages. But with blogging the "scrapbooking" is so much easier because it only takes a second to "cut" and "paste"!!!

A great website I use to make my header for my blog is http://www.scrapblog.com/, most of their stuff is free and you have plenty of options!

And because I haven't posted a picture for today's post here will be mine for the day:)

Next Wednesday Brian and I will celebrate our 15th Anniversary!!!

I also wanted to share this with you! Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is asking for our nation to bind together in prayer this Saturday, August 6th, from 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. You can click on the picture for more information:

2 Chronicles 7:14
"If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

#182 - Honey Bun Cake SUYL

I decided for today's post I would share this recipe again! Kelly is hosting a breakfast recipe for SUYL so I thought I'd share this Honey Bun Recipe!

This is a dessert recipe, but it delicious for a breakfast item also!

THE HONEY BUN CAKE!!! (Pictures below)

*1 package yellow cake mix
*3/4 cup vegetable oil
*4 eggs
*1 (8 ounce) container sour cream
*1 cup brown sugar
*1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Frosting:

*2 cups confectioners powdered sugar
*4 tablespoons milk
*1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350’ degrees. (325' for glass pans)
In a large mixing bowl, combine cake mix, oil, eggs and sour cream. Mix with a mixer or you can stir by hand approximately 50 strokes, or until most large lumps are gone. Pour half of the batter into an ungreased 9x13 inch baking dish. Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle over the batter in the cake pan. Spoon the other half of the batter into the cake pan, covering the brown sugar and cinnamon.

Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes.
Poke holes in the cake and frost while it is still warm.

*To make the frosting: In a small bowl, whisk together the confectioner's sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth.

It truly is one of the easiest cakes I have ever made and it is so so so yummy :P

Pour half of the batter and spread it on the bottom.

Top that with the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture.

Then spread the rest of the batter on top of this and bake.

You can also take a butter knife and swirl the cake before you bake it to give it that "official" honey bun look :)

Whip up the icing while the cake is baking.

While the cake is still warm poke holes all over it and then pour the icing over the top.

I asked Brian to take a picture while I was pouring the icing and my camera was set on continuous shooting so it sounded like the paparazzi was taking my picture. I think he took about 20 pictures :o) I had to stop pouring a couple of times because I was laughing so hard :D


Here is the finale! Very tasty!

You can click this link for more breakfast recipes: Kelly's Korner ~ Show Us Your Life

Proverbs 16:24
"Pleasant words are like a honeycomb,
Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones."

Couponing Tips - SUYL

I'll admit that I have a coupon binder, complete with the baseball card sleeves. I'll also admit that I have expired coupons in there from June. :) So to say the least I am not an extreme couponing mama, but I do love to save money when I can and when I have the time to organize my binder! :o)

Here are a couple of great websites that have a lot of awesome information!

#1 - http://printable-coupons.blogspot.com/
This blog always has the most current retail/restaurant coupons listed! Along with tons of other coupon stuff. I always check this site before we go shopping.

#2 - http://www.stockpilingmoms.com/

One of these ladies is from our hometown and I've attended a couple of her couponing classes and they have some great tips and info on their website too!

#3 - http://www.luvabargain.com/

This website always has great offers and freebies listed! Along with upcoming sale listings for the major drugstores.

Thanks for stopping by ~ Have a great weekend!

For a link back to Kelly's Korner you can click HERE

SUYL - Side Dishes

For this week's SUYL Kelly is hosting our favorite side dishes!
Here are a couple of my favorite go-to recipes for sides. The veggie rolls are good for appetizers also! (Sorry there are no pictures, but trust me these are yummy!)

Veggie Rolls
8 oz. cream cheese (softened)
8 oz. sour cream
8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
1 stalk of broccoli
6 carrots (about 1/2 bag of baby carrots)
1 stalk of cauliflower (optional)
Hidden Valley ranch dip mix
Package of large flour tortilla shells

Mix cream cheese, ranch dip, sour cream, shredded cheese together.
Chop all of the vegetables and add to the mixture. Spread it on tortilla shells and roll up. Place
them in an air tight container and freeze them. Take them out and cut them 1 hour before serving.

Chinese Cole Slaw
1 bag shredded cole slaw
6 green onions
2- 3 oz. Ramen Noodles (Oriental)
2 small pkgs. sliced almonds
2 small pkgs. sunflower seeds
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup white vinegar
Combine cole slaw and green onions in large bowl. Add sliced almonds and sunflower seeds. Add crumbled Ramen Noodles.
Combine oil, sugar, vinegar with oriental seasoning packets that comes with the noodles. Pour over salad and toss right before serving.

Thanks for stopping by and I pray you have a super blessed day!

Blogger Roll

For Kelly's SUYL this week we are to share our favorite blogs. I was going to re-post all of the ones on the right side bar because they are all truly some of my favorites! So you can check them all out!

But I had to include a couple that will bless you!

The first one is written by a young mom in Colorado who lost her husband suddenly last December. When I first read her posts about his death and the following days after, it just made me appreciate my family and especially my hubby so much more. She is a gifted writer and puts words on her posts with such emotion, that you can't help but to pray for her and grieve with her:
http://teachingtuckandty.blogspot.com/

This is a sweet young lady that I know personally and is such a wonderful inspiration to my girls and me:
http://steppingheavenward-ellerslie.blogspot.com/

And this last one is a precious lady that we are blessed to be members of the same church body with. She has such a huge heart for Jesus and missions and she is really funny too!
http://myheartishisthrone.blogspot.com/

I hope you enjoy these blogs as much as I do and I look forward to meeting some new "bloggy" friends myself! I just love the world of blogging where you can meet like minded people from all over the world!

And I know it's not really a blog, but am I the only one totally addicted to Pinterest?

Our Church

For Kelly's Show Us Your Life this week we are sharing our churches.

We LOVE our church and I can't wait to share with you! We live in a small town and feel very blessed to be part of our congregation. Bethel is an Acts 1:8 church that supports and takes part in many missions that are local, national, and international!

Our pastor is one of the best pastors in the entire world! Bro. Kenny has such a caring and compassionate heart along with a strong desire to be a godly servant for Christ! We love him dearly!

(This picture was taken last spring when he had just performed a very country wedding! Our girls dressed old fashioned too and I had to get a picture of them together!)

Our youth/associate pastor is a great guy too! Bro. Larry David does such a wonderful job with the youth and filling in. We love him bunches too!

We love being part of our church! As a Christian we are suppose to come together and be part of a group of like minded believers with a soul purpose of serving Christ while bringing glory to God. Plus, they make living this sometimes difficult life so much easier!

Here is our website - Bethel Baptist Church and our Blog!

Thanks for stopping by and I pray you have a blessed weekend!

Acts 1:8 "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

SUYL - Books

For Kelly's SUYL we're sharing our current book list. I've been on a Francine Rivers kick this past few months! With homeschooling our two daughters I don't have a lot of free time to read, but I have managed to squeeze in a few this year.

Her Lineage of Grace series are wonderful! They are historical fiction novellas and aren't very long, but give you a little insight about what their lives may have been like.

The Atonement Child was a really good book. It told about redemption and salvation that only God can give. I won't go into any more details, but definitely check it out!

And in case you're wondering what we've been reading in our school! Carry on Mr. Bowditch is a wonderful biography about Nathanial Bowditch!

Thanks for stopping by and I pray you have a blessed weekend! I'm looking forward to adding some book titles I may be able to read one of these days!!!

Show Us Your Life - Laundry Room!

This week for Kelly's Korner Show Us Your Life it's all about the extra rooms!

Here is our laundry room in all it's glory....haha!

We use this door as an entrance, because it is right off of our carport.

So although it usually smells good in here - it's not always neat :D

I've always loved my rooster :D


And here is the "other" side to just keep things real.......

We were going to have some cabinets made for the other side of the room, but that keeps getting put on the back burner of the priority list!

Thanks for stopping by and hope you have a super blessed weekend & Thanksgiving!!!

The Lofty Room

For Kelly's Korner - Show Us Your Life this week we are sharing our children's rooms!

When we bought our house there was a huge room (16'x30') upstairs with it's separate bathroom. We decided to have our girls share this room and they have for the most part loved it. It has a spiral staircase going up to it and I think it has always made them feel like princesses :D

After a couple of years we decided to hang this gorgeous (ha!) curtain up between part of their room so that they could have their own private space. The rest of the room holds their closets and the bathroom. This picture is from last year because honestly right now we are in the process of purging out toys and clothes that are no longer needed. So needless to say you would not want to see a picture of that!

Hope you have a super blessed weekend!

And don't forget to exercise your right to vote on November 2nd!!!

The So Called "Guest" Room

For Kelly's Korner this week we are sharing our guest rooms. Since our girls share the big loft room upstairs, when we decided to homeschool we turned our guest/3rd bedroom into a classroom! It works perfectly because we can shut the door and get down to business!

Here is a picture of our first day of school way back in September 2008 in our new classroom!

This is what the room usually looks like :)
We have added a bookshelf since this picture to help with the organization a little bit!

Here is the front of the classroom and where I stand most of the day!

Hope you all have a great weekend and please make sure you exercise your right to vote on Tuesday!!!!

Kiddo Activities

(Sorry I forgot to put the ages:) Our girls are 8 and 10 years old!)

For Kelly's SUYL this week we are sharing our favorite activities for kids.

*Summertime is always fun because there is plenty to do outside. But our girls LOVE to read and usually they join the summer reading club at our public library. This summer it has been kind of crazy busy, and they have been reading a ton, but we have yet to make it up there to officially sign up! But when we do their cards will fill up fast. Most libraries have these book clubs for all ages too!

*Of course summer = swimming and we do plenty of that!

*Our girls love taking colored cardstock and making crafts. In our classroom I have some plastic drawers that have nothing but stickers, paper, and various craft supplies for them to use any time they want to. They come up with some pretty neat stuff and usually make decorations for whatever holiday is coming up.
(You can get the cardstock at Hobby Lobby when it is 50% off or use the 40% off coupon this week! Click HERE)

*A few years ago when we went to Disney World I made each girl a personalized folder with coloring sheets and activity pages that I had printed off for the road trip. I also took a random toy that they had not played with in a long time and put it in a small brown paper sack and stapled the top. Then every 100 or so miles I'd let them open up a new "surprise" (old) toy! They loved it! I threw in some brand new toys that I had picked up at the dollar store for added excitement!

*When they were younger I would pull crafts off of the DKLT.com website! This is a great free site that has TONS of cool crafts and coloring sheets. Another website I love is Danielle's Place!

Have a blessed weekend!!!

Psalms 28:7

Psalms 28:7

"The LORD is my strength and my shield;
My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped;
Therefore my heart greatly rejoices,
And with my song I will praise Him."

This has been my favorite Bible verse since I was around 10 or 11 years old! I got a bookmark with this verse on it from my best friend for my birthday and I have claimed this verse many times!!! The Lord truly is my strength and my shield!!!!

Randon Acts of Kindness

For Kelly's Show Us Your Life this week we are to share "random acts of kindness" ideas. After reading a blog a few months ago about a mother that for her birthday did a huge list of RAOK all in one day! It has inspired me to extra things to help out my neighbors (read: any stranger I might come in contact with:)

Here are a few that I think is neat:

I have gone through the drive-thru at a fast food place before and paid for the lunch of the car behind me. I also gave a salvation tract to the worker and asked them very politely to hand it to the person when they drove up to pay for their meal.

Another idea is to help carry out groceries for an elderly person or a mom wrangling a few kiddos at the store!

Or if you have the extra $$$ you could pay for their groceries! Buy a gift card and go back into the store and find someone you can tell is struggling with choices and few items in their cart and give them the gift card.

Clip coupons (preferably free ones) and randomly hand them out while shopping. Or even lay them on the items they belong to. We do this at Hobby Lobby all the time! I love the look on people's faces when I hand them that 40% off coupon!!!

Buy a restaurant gift card and drop it off at a table of a a sweet elderly couple or a family with children. Put change in the meters of the ones that are getting ready to run out of time.

Take a special tray of sweets to a local elementary school and ask to leave them in the teacher's lounge.

Hand out waters to runners you see on the road. Especially the ones that are drenched in sweat.....ha!

Have your children write/make special thank you notes for our men and women in the armed forces and buy a gift card to attach to them. When you randomly see one out in public give them a thank you card!

I LOVE this idea of RAOK and would love to see my family doing more of it! I can't wait to read some more ideas too! Hope you all have a super blessed day!!!

The Proposal

For this week's SUYL over at Kelly's Korner we are sharing our proposal stories!

Brian and I were high school sweethearts and got engaged Christmas of my Senior year. While most people told us we were crazy and were way too young to even think about marriage, we both knew it was just right. This past January we have been together 16 years and in August will be married 14 years!

Now onto the proposal story.......

Nothing really fancy or super exciting happened. Other than the fact that he picked out my ring all by himself and I LOVED it! I think it is about .75 of a carat but that totally didn't matter to me!
We were at his house a few weeks before Christmas and he brought the ring over to me and in the sweetest voice simply asked me to marry him. It was just the two of us and was a very special night and one that we both will always remember!

I have a diamond wrap that Brian gave me our second Christmas after we were married, but the band broke this past winter and I have yet to get it fixed. But I love the simplicity of a simple band and engagement ring too!

Here are a few scriptures that are beneficial to marriages:

Matthew 19:6
“So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”

Hebrews 10:24
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”

Proverbs 12:18
"So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing."

Ephesians 4:15
"Speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is that Head, that is, Christ."

1 Corinthians 13:5
"Love is not rude, it is not self-seeking; it is not easily angered; it keeps no record of wrongs."

A Few of My Favorites

For this week's SUYL at Kelly's Korner we are to show our favorite things. I have many favorite things, but I'll just share a few with you!

I took this picture about 2 years ago when I first got my DSLR camera. I absolutely love Hydrangeas and have always loved this pic. A fave for sure. :)

When I was about 9 years old I had this super fantastic rabbit fur coat. I honestly wore that thing out. I'm not kidding. Patches of fur started falling off. So it ranks up there in my list of lifelong favorite things.

Dogwood blooms are also a favorite of mine.

Another favorite is when the air starts to get cooler and all of God's creation begins to change colors and transform.

My favorite picture of Holly is this one that I took at my sister's wedding. This was right before the ceremony began and I was shooting with my film camera. So it's a scanned pic and not great quality, but hopefully you can tell why it's my fave.

My favorite picture of Anna is this one. This was the spring that my Mama passed and my sister had gotten the girls two ducks, Pete & Mossy. Anna's sweet innocent face and the way she is gently making sure the duck doesn't make a dash off her lap, I just love, love, love! Such a sweet memory in such a sad time.

This is also one of my favorites! He is wonderful hubby and daddy to our girls and I love him bunches!

Last, but certainly not least is my favorite Bible verse:
Psalm 28:7

"The LORD is my strength and my shield;
My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped;
Therefore my heart greatly rejoices,
And with my song I will praise Him."


Hope you all have a great Memorial weekend and remember to appreciate our freedoms from those who have sacrificed so much!