Guess what?

Good Morning!!!
I'm so thrilled to let you in on a little upcoming news. Are you ready????
We have a great giveaway coming. I'm so excited to share it with you.
I'm not even going to give you any hints other then our Kiddo's love it!  :)
Be on the look out!

I'm off to get the house ready, My parents are coming to visit for a few days and we are so excited. the last we saw them was a Thanksgiving!!!

Have a blessed day!!!

Every day life!

  I've been thinking today what to do next, our list are so long that I'd like to get done before "lil Mr." arrives in a few weeks. but what really would honor the Lord the most?
I'm thinking through a normal schedule for our family.  here's what a "Normal" day would look like!
(If it's a Wed. we go to the Library for the morning. but the afternoon is the same.)

7:00 am wake up and Daddy leaves for work around 8.
8~ish Breakfast for the family
8:30~10:00 Get our day going,(  Quiet time for Mama, Laundry started, tidy up, dishes in the dishwasher...)
10:00 ~11:30 Home School with the Kiddo's
11:45 Lunch
Afternoon~ finish Laundry, play with kiddo's till nap time. tidy up again!
2:00 All kiddo's down for naps. 
       Mama... clean bathrooms if it's a thurs. think about dinner if it's not in the Crockpot already. relax a bit for baby. pay bills if it's the first of the month. and if there is "really" nothing to do I get to scrapbook!!! :)
3:00 Start dinner, kiddo's up, fix snack for them.
5:00 Dinner on the table and enjoy dinner with Daddy!
6:00~ 6:45 Family time.
7:00 Bed time for kiddo's and family Devotions.
7:00~ On... Spend time with Hubby and enjoy him!!! Usually I try not to do anything at all work wise when he's here. I want to teach our kiddo's to Honor him in that way, and yes there is times when I "Must" do something, but he is so gracious and doesn't care. but it's still my goal to not do anything but be with him! and I cherish those times greatly!!!
        So often I get into that rut that I forget to ask the Lord what He'd have me to do. so I've set me mind to ask this question daily! " What would the Lord want me to do today?" and leave it open to change if that's what He so desires!
So let me leave this same question with you!!
                “How do you determine which things God wants you to do each day?”
 I'd love to hear from you and how you go about your day, and how you do determine what you will do?
Blessings!!!

Valentines day fun!

This year we did a first for our family for Valentines Day, we made a card box, each time something would come in the mail or they were given something we put it into the box!
So when the big day came we waited till after dinner to open it. It was a blast for the kids.

Here is just a few pictures of our evening!!

                                    One of the cards had a puzzle with a message for each of the kids.

They had a great time opening the cards sent with lots of love and care!
Hubby and I got to do a all day date the weekend before and Sooooo enjoyed our time together!!! it was kind of a " Baby Moon" most likely we won't be able to do it again before the baby arrives here in a few weeks!
Hope you had a blessed Valentines Day focused on the King of kings and the giver of Love!

Blessings!

#489 Down!

Finally I have time to get the up date up with pictures!!! It's been a crazy week already and I just haven't had time to get blogging, so sorry!!!

 So here is the big reveal of " Project #489! ( really, I don't have that many projects to do, It just feels like it! ) :)
Our downstairs bath room was in need of a face lift and it's been bugging me for sometime now and I just didn't know what I wanted to do to it, and hubby is so gracious he doesn't mind if I make changes to anything!!!

Before... Cream walls and stained vanity.

                                      After!!! black distressed vanity and stained and distressed walls for that "Primitive" look that we love so well! and all for free!!! That's right, I used everything that we had around here at the house, and a little bit of hard work!

                                This wall got a switch up of decorations stolen from other areas of the house!

                                    I didn't do much to this wall just change up the decorations!

We still want to do something to the side doors, but I'm not sure what. I don't want to have too much black and tan, but the brown is just not doing it for me. maybe some new doors if hubby has time!!!

So that was the Big Reveal!!!

We love it, When Liam walked in he said " Yuck, it looks dirty!" and Aiden still says "Yuck" every time he goes in, but really we like it! :)

I'm off to put the kiddo's to bed and have family devotions. ( My favorite time of the day, when we get to hear what the kids thought of our day and what the Lord is doing in their little lives!!)
 Blessings!

Project # 489!!!

With under 9 weeks to till Lil Mr.'s due date I have this huge list of things I want to get done.
This weekend is Big project 489!!!
Wahoooo!!! Pictures to come when were all done! hopefully tomorrow. :)

Time is ticking away!

With just 9 weeks to go till our "Lil Mr." arrives I've been waking up at night with all the things that I hope to get done before he comes going through my head, and I pray about it and try to fall back to sleep. but boy! it's been a real challenge for me to not keep dwelling on those things.

One night last week, as I was laying there, Hubby sleeping so quietly next to me and me getting a bit jealous that I can't sleep. the Lord began to do a work in my heart.

" Carra, Do you  looked forward to and prepare for MY return as much as you are for the "Lil Blessing's" arrival here in a few weeks? "

I really had to think and pray about that one and confess that I don't. I get so caught up in the everyday life of a household, and trying to keep life simple that I lose sight of His return.

On our Kitchen wall!

The Lord really made me think and look at my heart... I got up that morning to this reminder on our wall. I see it every day and lots of times too, but I never really stopped to apply it to our lives.
Here's my thought and question for you today... Do you, Are you living each day for eternity, looking forward to His return, so much so that you're preparing for Him?
I'd love to hear how you are going to strive, or you do, to live for Eternity and how your going to Prepare for our Soon and Coming King!!!
Have a Blessed week.

Homemade Yogurt!!!

I'm so excited to share how our Yogurt experience went!!
I was a bit leery about the whole spoiled mike thing, but it turned out great! Thankfully!

Here is the recipe I used. (I can't remember what web sight I found it on, I looked at lots!!! sorry.)

Homemade Yogurt

--8 cups (half-gallon) of whole milk--(I used unpasteurized, Because I know whats in it!!! :)  but do NOT    use ultra-pasteurized.

--1/2 cup store-bought natural, live/active culture plain yogurt (you need to have a starter. Once you have made your own, you can use that as a starter)
--frozen/fresh fruit for flavoring
--thick bath towel

--slow cooker

The Directions.
This takes a while. Make your yogurt on a weekend day when you are home to monitor.

I used a 4 quart crockpot.
Plug in your crockpot and turn to low. Add an entire half gallon of milk. Cover and cook on low for 2 1/2 hours.

Unplug your crockpot. Leave the cover on, and let it sit for 3 hours.

When 3 hours have passed, scoop out 2 cups of the warmish milk and put it in a bowl. Whisk in 1/2 cup of store-bought live/active culture yogurt. Then dump the bowl contents back into the crockpot. Stir to combine.

Put the lid back on your crockpot. Keep it unplugged, and wrap a heavy bath towel all the way around the crock for insulation.

Go to bed, or let it sit for 8 hours.


In the morning, the yogurt will have thickened---it's not as thick as store-bought yogurt, but has the consistency of low-fat plain yogurt.

Blend in batches with your favorite fruit. we did Blueberry/ Raspberry. and the Fave this morning Peanut butter Banana!!

  When you blend in the fruit, bubbles will form and might bother you. They aren't a big deal, and will settle eventually.

Blueberry/ Raspberry



Lets eat!!!

In the Beginning I thought it was a little thin, but after it sat in the fridge it was just about like store bought! 
It's so simple, but takes a while to do the whole process. but sooooo worth it!
The whole batch was about $2 .50 to make!!! so much cheaper to make then to buy, and with this I know whats in it!!! 

Is it time??

I'm so ready for the real "Spring" to be here, I just love all the spring bulbs. Ours are up about 1/2 inch !! Last year I split up all my clumps and so they are everywhere!!! I'm so excited to watch them all come up just to see where I put them all!!

What are some of your Most Beloved flowering bulbs? I'd love to hear about them, and this fall maybe even do a swap,  keep that in mind as all your little beauties come up this spring!!

Blessings!!!

Winter or Spring?

The weather in these parts have been extra mild this year and the kids have missed all the snow, but have loved all the nicer weather too!

This past week I sent them out to play and when I checked on them a few min. later this is what I found!

Very Joyful Muddy Kiddo's!!

They had a blast, and I guess I could say that it was "a Muddy good time"! :)
Blessings!

Creating!!!

 Liam has been play lots of Lego's he was so proud of himself as he came to show me his first real creation,

he called it " Flying Buddy" It didn't last very long with little brother around, but he was so excited!

I love to see his creativity and imagination, begin to work in his little head. Just a norther picture of how God created us and His AWESOME imagination!
Have a blessed day!!!

30 Weeks!!!!

It so hard for me to believe that this weekend marks the
"30 Week " point for my pregnancy!! In just about 10 weeks we get to meet this "lil' Miracle" in my tummy!!
It's gone by so fast, I'm so thankful that he is growing healthy and strong, yesterday at the Dr. appointment his heart beat was 148 and we were measuring right on target!!
The kids are so excited to meet him, when we went by the Hospital  yesterday day Liam said " Mama, can we go get our baby now, I'm ready to see him?" I wish it was that easy to just go get him! :) and maybe someday we will be just go get a new baby from the hospital if we adopt!! We'd love to some day!
But with just 10 weeks~ish to go here are some of my goals to done before he gets here!!!

*1. Spring clean our house!!!
         ( it's in desperate need of it!)
*2. Make him a baby blanket of some sort!
*3. Finish his baby book up to a year old,  that way all I need to do it add the pictures!
*4. Buy a few more cloth diapers!!
*5. Encourage Daddy to get the boys bunk beds finished!
*6. If the weather is nice I just might have a garage sale!!

I think that's about it! I'm sure little things will come up between now and then, and I've got a few big things done already.
Here's a few things that I've got done so far!




                                                     Cloth wipes!! I love the Green and Brown!

                                                                    Nursing Smock

                 I had a cover before and always felt like my back was sticking out at church, so we'll give this one a try!


 And it's cute little matching bag to keep it in for the diaper bag!!

 I also made Lanna a " Moby Wrap" for her babies to give her at the hospital. but I can't put pictures on just yet cause they look with me on the blog all the time. but it turned out  really cute! I'll post pix. later of her with it!

Well I'm off to clean house, we have friends coming over for a game night tonight! we love having people over for fun, fellowship and food!!! :)
Blessings!

Alexs House!!!

Our Church has had the awesome privilege of going to Haiti a lot in the past few years to help out in an orphanage called Alex's House!!!
We have such a huge burden for what the Lord is doing over there and how He could use us to help the kiddo's over there.
Our family loves to hear about all the stories of our friends when they come home of how the Lord has used the team.
I wanted to share just a few pictures of the precious kiddo's over there!

On one trips already this year our church group has got to start helping building part of the new orphanage about 2 1/2 hours away from there current location. We are so excited for the kiddo's to have a safer place to live and a place to call home!!!

here's just a pix. or two of some of the new work being done!!!

We are so excited to see what the Lord is going to do this year at Alex's House.

Would you like to follow and see as well? here is the link to where you can got to see what the Lord is doing and how you can play a HUGE part in the lives of these precious kiddo's.

Have a great week!!!

Blessings!

Dusting Rags!

Lemon Dusting Rags!


I try to avoid using chemical cleaners if possible.
I'm trying to get everything in our cleaning box to be safe to use and wouldn't kill our kiddo's if they were to accidentally get it. Baking Soda, Vinegar, and Lemon go a long way!

These lemon dust cloths take just minutes to prepare and can be stored in an airtight jar until you're ready to use them. Sometimes dusting with a dry cloth does more harm then good as it moves the dirt around instead of catching it. These cloths are damp and infused with vinegar to help catch and kill the bugs at the same time. The addition of olive oil and lemon rind bring a soft polish to your furniture.
 You'll need six things:

1 cup vinegar

1 cup water

1 tsp olive oil

1 lemon rind

2 dust rags

1 glass jar with lid


Mix the vinegar, water, and olive oil together. Soak the rags in the solution. Ring out until damp-dry. Alternate rinds with rags inside your jar and seal the lid tightly.
Blessings,
Happy cleaning!!!


Do you have any natural cleaning solutions to share? I'd love to hear some new ideas!!!