Beautiful Ice Balls

I love Pinterest. I am trying hard to use more of the things I pin. 

So after days of being stuck inside because of sick children and bad weather I decided we needed a fun activity. This is so easy and honestly they turn out beautiful. Fill balloons with water and a couple of drops of food coloring. Set outside to freeze. 

 I was thinking it would only take a few hours,  over night at the most. It took several days and that was with below zero temps. 

We then brought them in and pulled off the balloons. That was it, they were beautiful. 

Feeling Beachie

The statements: 1. I _want to lose weight___ but not _by exercise, isn’t there a magical pill I can take so I can eat a cheesecake. ____ 2. _Cheesecake__ is my favorite __dessert_and I do not care if it is turtle cheesecake or plain cheesecake._ 3. When it _snows__ I __stay inside and look at how pretty it is but I do not go out on the roads because I am a wimp.__/li> 4. Once upon a time __is a show I started watching to see if it was okay for my daughter________ but now ___I cannot stop watching it. Why do I get sucked into this stuff. I watched all of Lost because my son wanted to watch it.________ Okay, I love number 4 so I am going to do it again. Once upon a time, I was not a mother, but now I am the mother of seven and my life has never been better. Once upon a time, I was single but now I am happily married and I would not change that for anything. Once upon a time, I was lost. But now I am free and saved.

Waffles

When we moved into this house we decided to downside on things. One of the things that we decided was to get rid of cable. Which means we have been watching a ton of Netflix. 

 The other day we watched about food trucks. Our favorite food truck was the waffle truck. One of the waffles had peanut butter and bananas on it. I could not wait to wake up the next morning and make waffles. So I made waffles for breakfast and some to freeze. 

  It was nice to make something to put into the deep freezer. I cannot wait to re stock our deep freezer. 

And in case anyone wants to buy me anything I would love a food truck. 

Pamela 

Weight Loss Update

I did not post last week, mostly because I was embarrassed to admit that I have not lost weight. I do okay during the week but then loose it on the weekend. I am determined to start excercising soon. This week I have made better choices. I chose a banana and a bottle of water instead of a candy bar and soda. I passed on the Mountain Dew at small group. That does not mean every choice was good but I am trying to think through it. 

I also broke down and went to the doctor for a breast infection I have been fighting for over a week. Part of getting healthy is taking care of my whole body. I also started visiting a chiropractor this week.

Oh my weight, I weigh 205 now. Down 12 pounds.  

Pamela

Time Alone

I wonder if I will ever get more than a few minutes alone in the bathroom alone. My children have learned to use the baby for there benefit. Yesterday this little darling looking around the door at me. How can I take 2 minutes to brush my teeth when he is looking for me. When I finally opened the bathroom door he was setting there waiting on me. 

I don't mind because he is so snugly these days.

Pamela

Our Baby Octapus

This boy is my love. I love nursing him. He has to be touching my face when he nurses and I love him. Even when he is setting in my lap he always touches my face. When I sneak out of bed in the morning my husband says he becomes a octapus reaching for me. 

Pamela 

Praise or Complain

This boy keeps me going. Every day we tell him he has to get dressed before coming downstairs. Every day he comes downstairs with his pants on backwards. He is really working on it. So when he came downstairs with his pants on inside outwards I did not say run back upstairs to change. I praised him for trying and let him wear these pants all day.pamela

Teaching Jacob to Walk

Grace has decided that Jacob needs to learn to crawl. So she put all of his toys on the floor and tried to get him to move. When he would not crawl she picked him up and asked him to walk. He was not thrilled. 

Chickens and Painting and Water oh my

Life has been crazy around here. This weekend we ordered our chickens. I am beyond excited.

We finished up the painting in the kitchen

And my amazing husband installed a water filter for the house. Ahh the smell of clean water is amazing. 

This amazing man has been working non stop around the house. His back is aching and he is tired yet he still keeps working for us. 

Pamela

Curtains

Curtains have been a issue in this house. I do not like any of the curtains that came with the house. We do not have neighbors so if it was up to me we would not have curtains downstairs. This was our compromise. I made valances and then added a sheer curtain under it. We have 6 windows in the front of the house. 

Medicine

I know we have all seen this trick on Pinterest. It worked great for us when we had four on antibiotics. My addition is I colored the caps. That way I knew I was grabbing the right child's. I am still shocked even my teen got the pink stuff instead of pills. 

Pamela

Chicken and Potatoes

I found this recipe on Pinterest and made it fit our family. This recipe is so easy. Cube potatoes and lay in a 9*13 pan. Cut up chicken breast or tenders into bite size pieces. Add a cup or two or three of cheese. Top with a stick of butter cut up.  Bake for one hour or until done. The recipe I saw on Pinterest called for green onions and bacon and heavy cream. I think those are great but I did not have them. This is a great meal for these cold winter days. 

Allergic to Animals

The puppy is not suppose to be upstairs, the child is suppose to be doing school but I cannot bring myself to fuss at either of them. 

  Hope is our animal lover. Can't stand to know that animals are outside in the cold right now. Will hide bugs if means mom will not kill them.

   Hope got some bad news this week. For the last couple months she has been getting rashes/blisterers. She told us it was after she loved on the cat and dog but I could not believe it. This week the doctor confirmed that she has become allergic to animals. 

  She told me mom do you know I may have to take shots for my entire life if I want to be a vetinarian. 

 So today if she needs a little extra time with her puppy then I will let her have it. Even if it means more blisters. 

Pamela

Before He Is Grown

Sometimes life is busy. Sometimes life is hard. Sometimes I just need to take a moment and watch this blessing sleep. I have realized that he will not always want me to snuggle him. One day he will be too big for my arms. So today I will love on him and hold him.

Pamela

Feeling Beachie

The statements: 1. Tomorrow is _the day we file our taxes___ did you _file your taxes yet and if so what will you do with your return. ____ 2. I really think I need a __mothers helper, someone willing to play with the kids and do some tutoring ___ 3. I would never own a _pool, I am too lazy to keep it cleaned out and all the chemicals where they should be___/li> 4. The craziest gift I ever got was purple roses from my husband, crazy because he knows I do not like flowers for a holiday. Can I just take a moment to encourage you to head over to Feeling Beachie and look at the amazing book she wrote? She wrote a book!!!!

My Snuggle Bug

I love this little boy, I love how he has a southern accent and none else does. I love how he is independent and strong. On this partial day he had already had his breakfast but decided he needed to share my oatmeal with me. Only I had to blow on each bite first. 

Silly Boy

Someone has learned what a camera is. Every time I try to get a picture he turns and looks at me. Such a silly boy. I think I need to pull out a different camera.

Staying Healthy

We have been sick for almost a week. I am doing everything I can to keep the rest of us healthy. I love that I can use my oils and not worry about it affecting the baby. The lid to my diffuser was lost in the move so my amazing husband made me one using a soda lid. 

Crime Scenes

Have you heard how you can take kool aid and use it as spray paint in the snow. My kids loved the idea. It started nice they made a angel and said it had the blood of Jesus was near the angel. By the end of the time they had made crime scenes in the back yard. 

Pizza Waffles

I am going to try to get better about sharing some of the fun new things we are making. I saw a recipe for pizza made on the waffle maker. It turned out amazing. I used store bought dough but will make my own next time. 

Do you actually use or try the pins you pin. I am trying hard to try more of them. 

   I remind myself that the more interesting I make our meals the less likely I am to want to eat out. 

Five Months and Counting

Five months old. I cannot believe it. He can now set on his own for several seconds at a time and while he does not do it often he can roll over. 

He still sleeps with momma and thinks he has to nurse constantly but I don't mind. He loves to snuggle and be held. I can't tell you how he sleeps at night because it changes nightly but rarely more than a couple of hours at a time. 

Pamela

Safety Above Beauty

This man has been working nonstop on our house. I decided that I wanted the bookshelves anchored to the wall. I love our new house but it almost a 100 years old and the floors are not exactly level. 

 I told him that as calm as this baby boy is he will be the one to climb the bookshelves when I am not looking. 

Nursing and Feeding

This is my life. My life revolves around feeding this little blessing. I schedule my day around when he needs fed. I stop whatever I am doing whenever he wants to feed him. You know what I do not mind. He needs me and I love that. I love that he holds on the whole time. I love that he puts his little hand over my mouth when he is nursing so I cannot talk. This is the perfect time to talk to him, to pray over him. I have been nursing on and off for 17 years and I am still amazed that my body produces milk and I can feed my children. 

We started the other kids off on cereal at four months. This little one is five months and I am just not ready yet. I think this time we will let him decide when he wants real food. He did have several bites of dad's Greek yogurt the other day. I was nervous because that seems so harsh but it did not bother him one bit. 

   When did you start your kids on baby food? 

Pamela

Happy Valentines Day

How did you spend valentines day? We had to replace a toilet. So I decided if we were replacing the flooring we might as well replace the flooring. When I saw the floor up I decided we should go ahead and paint. It was all good until someone used the potty before it was installed and someone spilled nail polish on the new floor before it was finished. 

So glad I have a husband who is so patient and willing to keep working. I love the flowers he got me but I love that he is such a amazing father to our children more. I love that he is spending his four day weekend making sure we have a safe house. 

Pamela

Bread is Gross

I recently found a storage container from our move. Inside the container was Hershey kisses and half a loaf of bread. What is scary is that the bread had NO mold. That means this bread is over a month old and still looks good. 

  I am so glad I am able to make us fresh bread again. 

Feeling Beachie

The statements: 1. Valentines is a scary day of the year for _all of the spouses who are still deployed, no waking up to flowers or kisses or breakfast in bed. But waking up and checking email in hopes of a message that he is safe another day. _______ 2. Since Valentines is a sign of __love____ I___made sure to have all my hubbies favorite foods like steak and strawberry cake______ 3. _Waking up ___ with _a baby in your arms___ is a great way to __start the day.___ 4. Sometimes I _go to the bathroom just to not have someone touching me___ when I _am feeling over stimulated with life. ___

Working Together

I am often asked how I get my kids to do chores. It is easy it starts when they are little. Everyone thinks it fun to help momma. James kept telling me it needed fixed. He was trying to tell me the washer was done. The big kids have learned if they let the little kids help then one day they will have real help. 

   I remind my kids that we are a family and part of a family is working together. 

Dressing for the Weather

Slowly but surely we are getting use to this crazy cold weather. The kids crack me up because they think playing on the ice is fun. We have been watching man, woman wild so now my kids think they need to play survival. Survival scares this momma.

How to Hang a Picture

Another wonderful Pinterest idea. Put toothpaste where you think the nails should be and put the picture on the wall.  That way you know exactly where the nails need to go. 

  I bet we have hung 50 pictures so far in the house. 

Pamela 

Feeling Beachie

The statements: 1. Do you remember when _you had to carry the phone around the house. Which means you could never sneak and make a phone call.___ 2. I use _Doterra oils because I do not have to go to the doctor or worry about what I am putting in my body.__ 3. The best part of the day is __when I sneak downstairs at 6am leaving the baby in bed. The house is quiet and no one needs me___ 4. If I hear one more thing about _the snow ____ I am going to _scream, I just need someone to start talking about sunshine.____