Show Us Your Life - Guest Rooms

This week over at Kelly's Korner it is "Show Us Where You Live" Friday!  The room of choice today is the guest room but, I do not have one :-)  I gave that up when we needed child room # 1! I didn't want you to miss out on the opportunity to see other great rooms though so click on the link above and check them out!

30 Day Blog Challenge - Day 19

Day 19 - Something You Miss

My husband and I were just talking about this the other day.  Something I miss  . . . . this is deep . . .. are you ready?  Shopping as a single person ! :-)  We were sitting here the other night and both commenting on how we were hungry but there was no food in the house.  I said, the one thing I miss from my single days is being able to grocery shop for just me!!  To buy the foods that I like, the  snacks I like, plan meals I like etc!!  PLUS when I bought the snacks I liked, I didn't have to worry about  someone else eating them :-)  Not to mention that some of the things that I love, my husband does not like so I don't get to make them anymore! 

Lets see, I miss our last apartment.  It was brand new, had a great laundry room, a master bathroom and a walk in closet!  Not to mention that someone else did the maintenance!  Granted, we had noisy neighbors and no yard - that, I don't miss!!

I've missed camping.  We didn't go at all last summer - with two babies, it just wasn't something we really wanted to do.  The summer before we went twice but it might as well had been December with as cold as it was!!  Maybe next summer we can pick it back up!

I missed going to Lake Michigan this past summer.  Due to Darryl working two jobs our weekends were quick and we just never made it.  I need to go to the beach and am missing that feeling very much!

I guess I miss more than I thought :-)

Check out Katie's Journey for more links

I never win anything - - well, ALMOST!

My Faith Box

I've talked before about the accountability group that I am in and it is part of Good Morning Girls.  As with lots of blogs that I follow, they do give aways periodically. I, of course, enter with just the slim hope that my name will be randomly picked, which it 'never' is!  Imagine my surprise when I checked e-mail the other night and there it was, an e-mail with a subject line of "You Won My Faith Box"!  I was beyond thrilled to say the least.  Than I checked the blog to see my name "up in lights" as the winner only to discover that the blog post-er (is that a word?) had given one to every one that commented!  You can ready the full post here.  It was really her husband's idea because they feel so strongly about this new parenting tool!

So, this is what I won - "My Faith Book" which can be purchased from here and there is also more information on it as well.

Here is the explaination of the box from The Good Morning Girls Post here

What is the My Faith Box? I’m so glad you asked! Basically it’s a box that you can decorate and place special keepsakes in, BUT the exciting part is what’s inside the box! Inside is the My Faith Book. What I LOVE about the My Faith Book is how as a parent you can record your child’s faith journey! From birth until age 18, you can record each year how you are praying for your child and create an intentional plan of passing down your faith to your child. Each year contains areas for you to record special memories, what they are learning about God, what they are praying for, favorite bible stories etc. As your child gets older, he/she can then start filling in each year. The book also contains areas for photos as well as areas for older children to personally write about their journey thus far with God. What I love is this book helps create a history of your child’s faith that they can turn back to in later years. The My Faith Book is a tool that can be used to help them remember the faithfulness of God as they flip through the pages and see how God has answered prayers that were written down years before

Isn't that awesome?  I already prayer for my boys daily but this will be such a great legacy as well.  I'm so looking forward to getting this great gift!  Once I get it, I may have to purchase a second one if it isn't made to list items for both boys, which is fine since it is such a great thing.  It would also make a great gift for a new parent as well!!

This book is also available through the same site and I already had this written down as a must read.

Now I know I have to get it for my next set of reading materials starting in January.  I thinking building your child's faith is of the utmost importance today.  Too many times, Christianity is made "lite" and things are acceptable now amoung Christians that the Bible teaches are not acceptable.

30 Day Blog Challenge - Day 18

Day 18 - Something you Regret

Since I first read this list, 18 days ago, I've been thinking about this post and one thing kept coming back to me and that is something I learned in college.  That was to live your life in such a way that you have no regrets.  I know that this was taught more in the concept of what choices a person makes - choose those things which are right and Godly so that you have no regrets when you are done.  So, I've tried to live my life in a way to have no regrets - at least the things that matter in life.  Than I tried to lighten it up a little and see if there are things I wish I had done/had not done that might qualify and there are a few.

1. I loved where I went to college and that in itself is not a regret but I wish I would have known more about what was needed to get a state teaching certificate - so one regret I have is that I was not able to get state certified, therefore limiting where I could teach.  I probably need to look into this again as sometimes state guidelines change and I might be able to get this?? Who knows.
2. I regret that I ever signed up for my first credit card AND that I used it!  My husband and I are determined to teach our boys how to manage money from the time they start getting their first allowance.  I think it is so much more important now than it was when he and I were young because credit is so available now.  We are now working diligently to pay off what debt we have and not add anymore.
3. I regret that I allowed myself to get behind on Scrapbooking - I am working to get current so we can enjoy the albums of our kids while they are still kids!

Check out Katie's Journey for more posts!

Worship Wednesday - Kutless

Yeah!  I'm actually posting this on Wednesday!  I don't have a specific song this week but a group.

(Sorry, this is a video image - it doesn't actually "play")

Kutless is a group I forget about until I hear a song from them and they are one of my favorite groups. They are more upbeat, which I really enjoy when I'm in the car or at home listening to music, but their songs also speak to me as well.  So, I heard them on the radio this week and thought - "I need to find a song from Kutless for my playlist!"  They have taken the #1 place on my play list so for those of you that listen - there is finally something new!!

Enjoy :-)

A Transportation Themed Birthday Party

We had a big birthday party this weekend!  The big Number "2" was celebrated with great style :-)

First, I had to make some things in order to have the perfect set up!

Things like, the perfect "2" shirt!

A great Name banner!

Some awesome Photo Holders:

We also played this awesome game!

It was the "Car Game"!  I found 12 pictures of various Muscle cars and had them developed.  I taped them to two doors in our home and numbered each picture.  The guests had to list the year, make, and model of each vehicle.  As far as points, they received a total of three points for each "car" (one if the year was correct, one for the make and one for the model)  The high scorer got 22 points :-)  Lots of laughs with this game!

I ordered all of my plates, cups, silverware and the tablecloth all from Birthday Direct  I was very happy with the prices and the over all quality.  The plates were more "cardboard" than most so I wouldn't use them for a really heavy, wet dish though!

Of course, one of the most important thing is the cake and I had a lot of fun creating these adorable things!

I used Tonka trucks that we already owned.  Than, I used Candy Corn to look like the orange work barrels to outline the "road".  The sand on the road is brown sugar and I used mini-chocolate chips for the dirt along the road.  And the Dump Truck was dumping M & M's to build a new road!  I used some frosting to stick M & M's inside the dump truck to look like it was in the process of dumping :-)  I was very happy with my cake! 

And, I must say, the best place very to get balloons?  The Dollar Tree!

I asked the clerk at Dollar Tree how much the balloons were (I know, dumb question) and she said "One Dollar" to which I replied, "Does that include the helium?" LOLOLOL  Seriously!  I couldn't believe it.  I love the Dumb Truck Balloon - it fit in perfectly with our theme!

For a few other decorations, I used some 12 x 12 and 8 x 8 scrapbook pages on the windows as well as the Halloween Costume Pictures that were taken last weekend. 

I'll be posting the instructions for my crafts - the shirt, the photo holders, and the banner over the next week or so. They were all very easy to do!

30 Day Blog Challenge - Day 17

Day 17 - Something you are looking forward to

Have you taken time to read some of the posts over at Katie's Journey?  There are some really great links to each of her "30 day challenge" posts. 

So . .something I am looking forward to?  I think probably the most important thing is watching each of these two little animals grow up!

My Little Elephant

My Little Giraffe

Now, some little things I'm looking forward to!
1.  Starting to babysit a friends 2 1/2 month old baby in just one week!  I'm so excited :-)
2. Learning whether or not my husband will still have a job once the company is taken over by new owners in a few weeks. (Yes, Looking forward to this so that the speculation can stop and we can move on and make plans)
3. Christmas!!!! I love everything about Christmas - the True Meaning - The Birth of Christ and what that means, the decorations, the cookies, the songs . .everything!!
4. The beauty of fresh fallen snow
5. Getting  something in the mail I just won!!!  I'll be blogging about it later this week :-)  I can't wait to get it!