Elf on The Shelf: Fred's 2012 Debut

Fred, our Elf on the Shelf, joined us I believe it was 2 years ago for his first Christmas with our family, and we have been having lots of fun with him ever since. This year as always we started taking out our decorations the day after Thanksgiving and my husband put up all the outdoor lights since it was such a beautiful day. Fred must have been watching from the North Pole to have seen our lights go up and knew it was time to come back home for the season! Saturday morning after Thanksgiving we woke up and Anya found Fred sitting on the entertainment center holding onto our cake topper from our wedding. She was so excited to see that he was back! Since Avery was only about 6 months when Fred came last time this is really his first real Christmas with Fred and he is already in on the excitement and loves following his big sister around every morning as they hunt for Freds latest hiding spot!

Do you have an Elf on Your Shelf??? If so where does he or she like to hide during the Holidays?

Until Next Time -

Samantha

So Much STUFF

If you have children you are well aware at how much stuff you accumulate. I have no idea where some of it even comes from or how it all accumulates in the house under our noses. But then one day comes along and you look around and well you decide you have had enough and it has to go! We are at that point now and going to do a major purge while we are off with our extra days over the holidays.

Since Anya was born we have both purchased and sold at a local consignment sale and it has been a blessing. We have been able to get name brand clothes with tags at a very low price and have also been able to sell boat loads of STUFF that the kids have outgrown and no longer need enabling us to not have to dig into our pockets to buy the new season and new sizes of clothes.

Here are some pictures of our last trip to the consignment sale!

However - with our son we have been BLESSED beyond measure our friends have been so generous with giving us hand me downs. Avery's closet has been stocked since before he was born. He is 18 months and we are set all the way up to size 3T. So we decided to do something different with his stuff. Good friends of ours just had a new baby boy in August on my birthday :) and our cousins in California also had a new baby over the summer as well. So as Mr Man outgrows his stuff some goes into a box to ship across the country and the rest goes in a bag to be delivered to baby Tyson. We have been blessed and are enjoying being a blessing to our family and friends.

Looking forward to our upcoming purge and teaching ourselves and our children that less is more. Looking forward to blessing others with the things that we don't need. I'm sure we will be making many trips to the goodwill as well as giving to family and friends and hanging a few things up for the next consignment sale

So what do you do with all of the STUFF that overflows in your house?

Until Next Time -
Samantha

Preschool Fun: Making Play-Doh

I've never made Play-Doh before so I thought it would be a fun thing to volunteer to do at the Pre-School for both kids classrooms.

One weekend I got all of the ingredients out and started getting everything ready. I cooked it like it said...but it didn't look right...then I started trying to mix in the food coloring by hand and that went terribly wrong. Instead of a fun day of making play-doh I had a mess in the kitcehn and hives going up my arm....from the Cream of Tartar. So my wonderful husband cleaned it all up so I wouldn't have to touch it anymore and I went back to the drawing board.

So I hunted on the internet for a Cream of Tarter FREE recipe and came across this one which worked much better!

• 1 Cup Plain Flour
• 1/4 Cup Salt
• 3 tsp of vinegar or lemon juice
• 2 Tablespoons of Oil
• 1/2 cup of water
• Food Coloring

Method

1. Mix the dry ingredients in a saucepan
2. Whisk in the water over low heat
3. Mix in the vinegar
4. Pour in the oil
5. Continue to mix over low heat until it forms a playdough texture
6. Split up the dough, and knead in the food color (when it’s cool enough to touch)
   (http://www.naturalparentingtips.com/creative-play/no-cream-tartar-playdough-recipe/)

In about 45 minutes I was able to easily make 3 different batches and colors for the kids to take to school minus the hives! I'm actually going to be making some more this weekend!

Happy Play Doh Making :)

Until Next Time -
Samantha

The Joy on Their Faces

My daughter attends a local preschool at a Methodist Church and this was their last week of "Summer Camp" before they start up for the new school year. They have had water play over the course of the summer and have enjoyed the mud just as much as they have enjoyed the water play. So the teachers decided to concede and let the kids have a mud day instead.

When I heard the news I had a great idea - I could come in and read my favorite book from when I was a little kid. It was a book that I got way back in the 80's as part of the Weekly Reader Book Club. "The Piggy in The Puddle" by Charlotte Pomerantz.

Here are a few lines:

See the piggy, See the puddle, See the muddy little puddle.

See the piggy in the middle Of the muddy little puddle.

See her dawdle, see her diddle

In the muddy, muddy middle.

See her waddle, plump and little,  In the very merry middle.

I've read the book a few times to Anya, and thought how much fun it would be to go to school and read it to her and her friends before they went out and played in muddy puddles. So this past Wednesday I had the privilege to read to 18 kids between the ages of 2 & 5 about the piggy in the puddle. They were all so well behaved and listened to every word I said, it was great and Anya was smiling ear to ear with excitement that I was there to read to her and her little friends. When I left they all told me thank you for coming to read to them and I even got a couple of hugs from Anya and some of her friends. What a great way to start the day and a great reminder of what's really important in the midst of living in a chaotic world.

Until Next Time -

Samantha

Products I Love: Allermates Wristbands

As a mommy of two children with food allergies I've quickly learned that you can never be too careful when your children aren't with you. Our 3 year old is pretty good at understanding that she can't have Peanuts, she does a pretty good job at asking questions and staying away from foods and people with  Peanuts. Our 1 year old however doesn't have a clue that he is allergic or a way to tell people.

When we first found out that Anya had a Peanut Allergy I stumbled upon this website and immediately bought her these wristbands that she now wears all of the time when she isn't with us.

Her brother will be starting preschool with her in the fall and will be getting the egg and milk ones too!

Of course we still have to rely on others to pay attention that they are wearing these wristbands - but at least I know I am doing everything in my power to make them aware and keep my babies safe!





Until Next Time -
Samantha

Morning with God

Tuesday morning was like any other morning - got up a little bit late, got the kids dressed and ready for daycare and preschool, got them fed and checked their bags. Out the door we went to a day that was semi-sunny in one part of the sky and kind of a dark grey on the other side with a light rain falling. As we pulled out of our development we looked ahead and saw the most beautiful rainbow I've seen in a long time. I wish I had my regular camera with me but all I had was my phone with me - so the picture really does no justice to what we saw with our naked eyes. The sky was somehow creating a reflection of the rainbow in the sky right behind it which you can see very faintly in the picture. It follows right along the rainbow but the colors are going in the opposite order - Amazing! So on our journey I took the opportunity to talk with Sunshine and ask her if she remembered where rainbows come from. She immediately answered with God which made me smile. She couldn't remember exactly why so we talked about Noah's Ark and how the rainbow was a sign of God's Promise to never flood the earth again. So we watched the rainbow all the way to daycare where we dropped off her brother - she was so excited about it.

On our way to preschool we talked a little more about the rainbow and thanked God for showing us one that morning and then we heard a song that she loves to sing on our local Christian Radio Station - so as we drove down the road with the windows down I could see her little head bobbing up and down singing "My God Is Not Dead He's Surely Alive He's Living on the Inside Roaring Like a Lion" nothing better than doing a little morning worshipping with your daughter on the way to preschool to start your day!

Like a Lion by the David Crowder Band

Verse:
Let love explode and bring the dead to life
A love so bold
To see a revolution somehow.
Let love explode and bring the dead to life
A love so bold
To bring a revolution somehow

Pre- chorus
Now I'm lost in your freedom
                                                                 This world I'll overcome.[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsty.com/david-crowder-band-like-a-lion-lyrics.html ]
Chorus:
My God is not dead
He's surely alive
He's living on the inside
Roaring like a lion

Verse 2:
Let hope arise and make the darkness hide
My faith is dead
I need a resurrection somehow

Bridge:
Let Heaven roar and fire fall
Come shake the ground
With the sound of revival

Like a Lion by the David Crowder Band

Until Next Time -

Samantha

Visits to the Dr Do They Ever End?

So my family and I are on an HSA medical plan which makes things interesting to say the least. For those of you that don't know an HSA comes with a High Deductible but EVERYTHING counts towards your deductible, presriptions and all which is great. I was so excited when February came and not one of us had made a visit to the Dr outside of well visits. I couldn't believe it.....then February came and it all went downhill and downhill fast.

Sunshine started with a bad cough about two weeks ago - went to the dr they said she had an ear infection. So on antibiotics she went. A few days later her cough kept getting worse instead of better so back to the dr we went. This time they said her lungs sounded a little funny, the weren't sure but thought she might have walking pneumonia so on a 5 day medicine she went. The cough faded away some but not totally. In the meantime Lil Buddy started to get a really bad cough, congestion and runny nose so off to the Dr he went on Thursday, turns out he too had an ear infection so more medicine to add to our neverending pharmacy here at home. With Friday I thought they were all on the mend and that things were looking up until that afternoon when Sunshine started pushing her shoulder up into her ear telling me that it hurts. Now she isn't one to complain about pain so I knew there had to be something wrong and in a big way. So that afternoon back to the Dr she went and well she had 2 ear infections one full blown and one just starting. What a great way to start the weekend for the kids. Friday night she had a birthday party to go to at a Dance Studio which under normal circumstances would have been wonderful and a great new experience for her. But with her ear bothering her she didn't really enjoy herself. Luckily after a good night of sleep she seemed a little better.

As the weekend progressed though neither of them seemed to be getting better as we would have expected taking antibiotics and Sunshine was having GI Tract issues with the new stronger antibiotic they put her on since she had just been on Amoxicillan the week before. It made Sunday a very long day. After talking to a nurse on the phone from the drs answering service we were able to get her fixed up and the night ended on a happy note.

This morning we made yet another trip to the Dr's office only this time we didn't mess around we went straight to the guy that has the most experience. After about an hour and a half of being at the Dr we left armed with new prescriptions and actual answers. Turns out the ear infections for both kids were SECONDARY issues to problems they were  having in their lungs/chest so he gave us an inhaler for them both to use, some medicine to help their lungs along with a new antibiotic for Sunshine that isn't as strong that will hopefully help her and leave her GI tract alone.

Hoping that in the next few days we see a big change in their health for the better.

Until next time

-Samantha-

Holding Me Back

When you turn 18 here in the land of plenty your mailbox starts filling up with pre-approved credit card applications. 14 years ago that happened to me. I lived at home with my mom, had my own car, had a job, paid my own bills and was attempting to pay for myself to go to college - stupidly one day I sat down and signed my name to one of those pre-approved credit card applications and the downward spiral began. There was a rough patch in life where my parents got divorced, grandfather passed away and then my big sister moved out. At some point in that timeframe my happiness revolved around material things - I unfortunately didn't have a relationship with God at that time so I honestly didn't know any better. I wasn't really thinking about how what I buy today would affect me 10, 15, 20 years down the road.

I would gain weight and lose weight and with each time I would buy a new wardrobe, I wanted to go to Disney World, on a Cruise or to take my mom on a birthday trip for her 50th birthday I did - all courtesy of the plastic in my pocket. I had sneakers that matched every outfit in my closet, more CD's than I had places to put them and went to every concert that I wanted to that came into town. And the bills piled up. They have always been paid on time and never has anyone bailed me out to do so.....but the balances just kept growing.

I'm now 32 years old, married with 2 children under the age of three, have a home and we have 2 cars, one that's paid for and we actually own and one that well the bank owns and we buy a little piece of it each month with our payment. We stopped using our credit cards, well for the most part there is the occassional purchase, 2 or so years ago. We closed most of the accounts and even managed to workout payment plans with a couple of the banks where we were able to cash-in on lower interest rates and a set monthly payment that would guarantee payoff of those bills within 5 years. We started the Total Money Makeover with Dave Ramsey and started making some serious changes to the way we do things. There is now a no joke light at the end of the tunnel and each month when the payments go out the light gets a little brighter.

But until then I feel held back. I've always been a giver and a helper and well I can't give or help the way I want to when the money already has a name on it before we even earn it. I've always wanted to be a stay at home mom and be the one that raised my children until they went to school and to be able to go on the field trips and be a room mom - well that has been taken away from me too thanks to our debt. In the last few years I have also come to have a relationship with God that grows by the day and our debt holds me back there as well. I can't give or help or participate in all of the ways that I feel God is calling me to do because the bills have to get paid. I know throwing myself a pity party isn't going to change anything. The only thing that will change our situation is paying the bills off and NEVER going back into debt again.

But I will say this - on this financial journey I have learned a lot of very important things. Happiness doesn't come from things - it comes from first a relationship with God and second relationships with family and friends. And by the way paying for a concert that you went to when you were 20 when you are now 32 isn't that great either. So take a word of advice - don't get that first credit card and do things that are more important with your money.

My new mantra is this:  Don't just spend your time, money, energy, life......Invest It

Helpless Feeling

There is nothing worse than feeling helpless especially when it comes to your children. My daughter had an ear infection got her the antibiotics and she got better. Then she came down with a cough - a horrible cough. Starting sometime this past Saturday she started coughing and well it seems to be a never-ending cough. Everytime she coughs her whole little 3 year old body seems to convulse and I feel horrible that there is nothing I can do to make it stop and to leave her alone. We took her to the Dr on Tuesday afternoon and found out that she potentially has walking pneumonia, and we were given a new medicine for her. Off to the pharmacy we went for the 5 days worth of medicine. So now all we can do is give her the medicine and pray that whatever she is sufferring from is quickly healed by rest and the medicine that she has.

The poor little thing woke up at 5 am this morning crying because she missed her friends at pre-school the day before and missed her Valentine's party at school. I'm guessing she had been dreaming about it since she woke from a dead sleep and sat up and said it. 15 minutes later she calmed down and went back to sleep. So far the coughing seems to come less often today so I'm hoping that the medicine is starting to work.

Until next time

-Samantha-