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Thursday, October 30, 2014

31 Days---Day 30

As the month comes to a close, I've not meet my goals, but I've written a little more than I normally do. I plan to keep posting at least once a week. I am in the process of reading some books that I received from Tommy Nelson Kids, so that I can post a giveaway. I also will be giving away some of Tricia Goyers books over the next few weeks.  We will be on fall break Monday and Tuesday, although they are calling for snow it's still fall break. I will be transferring my blog to an easier to find website. After the transfer is over I will be holding a contest to help increase my followers with a gift card giveaway. I will announce that as soon as the website is up and running.

This week is getting pretty exciting. The sheet rock guys are at the farmhouse. It's getting really close for us to start moving things. I hope to have most of it moved during Christmas break so we can put the other house up for sale. I finally braved up and went to the cellar. It's not as spooky as I thought it was.

Maggie was Mayor of Biztown Monday. Her class had studied all about the workings of a city over the last few weeks. The students filled out job applications and the teachers chose them by interest and personality. Maggie was little upset that she was Mayor at first, but afterwards was very excited to have been chosen for the role.

Michael went back to school this week and other than being tired he has done well.

Mollie played a B-team tournament. She was a nervous wreck at the first game. During the second game she got the ball, dribbled down and passed off to the point guard. She LOVES basketball now she said.

Mattie has been working hard on her part in Once On This Island, JR. My students perform next Thursday. If you're local you will not want to miss out on it and Into the Woods, JR. Mattie is also working on her speech and campaign for Vice-President of the state Beta Club.

We hope to rest some this long weekend between the cleaning and discarding of things we don't need. Here are a current pic of the farmhouse. You can read about the house here.

Have a great weekend!!




The outside still needs a few little things and a Caribbean Blue front door.

The cellar wasn't so bad.

Friday, October 24, 2014

31 Days---Day 23

What a week. In my last post I talked about MagPie's birthday and how she serves Krispy Kreme for her birthday. Well, she decided she wanted a cake with Littlest Pet Shop figures on it. Guess who ate the entire sheet cake by herself, me! Maggie didn't eat a bite, she just wanted the toys.

Michael went on Friday morning to have his tonsils and adenoids out. He has battled lip licking, throat clearing and restless sleep for several years. It wasn't until this year's well child visit that the doctor and I picked up on it being more than just a bad habit. We visited the ENT and he decided we would start with surgery and if that doesn't remedy the issue we will do more testing. We hope to see a change over the next few weeks.

Mattie spent two nights at the National Beta Club leadership conference in Gatlinburg and had a great time. She is Vice-President for her school Beta Club and is running for Vice-President of the state club at convention in November. She along with the other officers and two sponsors enjoyed meeting new friends, enhancing their leadership skills and of course shopping and running around town.

Mollie played in her first elementary basketball game Monday evening. She isn't sure she likes it, yet. She loves soccer. I think she will love it once she gets used to it. Being the baby she is used to everyone picking up her slack. We got all the way to school, 30 minutes from the house, and she begins to cry, again. She was already upset because Michael wasn't going to be there to eat breakfast with her. Maggie works Safety Patrol every morning so she can't sit with her. On Friday, she needed basketball clothes for practice. As we pulled up at school she realized no one picked up her bag. After school I found out that a couple of the other basketball players, both boys,  sat with her because she was crying and they felt bad for her. Maggie's best friend Amanda sat with her all this week.

Saturday morning I received my four week keychain and five pounds lost star at Weight Watchers. I've done Weight Watchers before and didn't stick with it. I gained all that weight back plus some. I lie all the time that I don't care about the number on the scale just the one on the label in the back of my pants. We all know that if the scale goes down the label does too. Although, last time I weighed 157 pounds and wore size 16/18 pants. This time I was at 168 and in size 12's comfortably. I'm pretty sure that is in thanks to kickboxing at Red Dragon Martial Arts, even if it's just a couple times each week. This week I fully expect to pay for that entire sheet cake I ate with a gain.

I enjoyed a day off with Michael this week and then four stress filled days preparing for upcoming choral and drama performances at both middle schools. Someone said this week they wished they taught music so they could sit behind the piano all day. I told them I might think about swapping. I have five performances including a school board meeting between October 30th and November 11th. During that time we also have two days of fall break. Once those are over we start Winter Concert. My evaluations never truly reflect what my students learn, because our performances don't count as part of my evaluation. Yet, I don't worry about the evaluation. The true evaluation is indeed the performances and the great comments I and my students and principals receive in town and the bragging the principals get to do at their monthly administrators meeting.

To end the week I took Maggie and Amanda to a 4-H/livestock meeting last night. We are moving to the city, have three and one half acres zoned agriculture, can have livestock and they want sheep, goats, chickens and horses. I'm not convinced we can pull this off and they aren't sure they want to give up basketball to care for their animals everyday but we will see what happens.

I have a couple of book giveaways coming up in the next few days so be on the lookout for another post. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Thursday, October 16, 2014

31 Days---Day 16

Yesterday was a whirl wind of activity. We had a Student Council meeting afterschool, bought three pairs of basketball high tops and took MagPie for her birthday dinner at Olive Garden. It's a 45 minute drive with the crazy traffic even on a Wednesday evening. Luckily for us, the schools in the county where we attend church was out for fall break, so no activities, we could celebrate. We waited for 45 minutes and as busy as they were we ate for over an hour, mostly waiting on more bowls of endless chicken and gnocchi soup. I about died when we pulled into Krispy Kreme for her birthday doughnuts for her school party today. The hot sign was on. If I didn't have to weigh in at Weight Watchers Saturday morning and hadn't ate three bowls of soup already I would have consumed a dozen right there. I restrained and left them in the car overnight. Bad mistake, let me tell you. The car smelled like doughnuts this morning. Maggie has outgrown her food allergies of white potatoes, mushrooms, peanuts, navy beans and chocolate, but she still doesn't like to eat cupcakes so she always takes Krispy Kreme. The kids at school love it. Many of them never get doughnuts at least not that brand.

Maggie is 11 years old. She is one of the most thoughtful, loving kids you will ever meet. I often tell her it's not fair she's got it all brains, beauty, creativity, athleticism, the works. She can do anything she sets her mind on. She has wanted to be a missionary since she was in the 2 year old Sunday School class with Mrs. Mary. She plans to be a large animal veterinarian so that she can travel oversees and help animals and tell others about Christ. Maggie is the "Mother" to every kid she ever meets who needs one. Maggie is perfect in every way. Happy birthday, Maggie!




   
 

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

31 Days---Day 14

It has rained a lot is an understatement. I'm not sure how we missed out on the severe storms but it had poured rain all day. Fifty-seven severe weather warnings in our area, thunderstorms, flooding, flash flooding for every county.

As we were cooking dinner, I noticed the sun was shining at the back of the house. It was still dark and pouring in the front. I knew there was a rainbow somewhere. When I walked out there it was, not one but two and both ends touched the ground right in front of me.

The girls started walking to see if they could stand where it touched the ground. I just started taking pictures. East Tennessee weather, the beautiful leaves changing colors and God's glorious rainbows.

The last two pictures are pointing west as the rain came to an end. The top layer of clouds was moving from south to north and the orange, fire looking bottom layer was moving west to east. They all were moving really fast.

As wet as I was running in and out of school yesterday morning, changing schools at lunch, to a meeting after school, to basketball practice after that and finally into the house, I was so blessed with this beauty. Life happens, it moves fast, but you've got to slow down and dance in the rain, and admire God's handiwork.

Thank you Lord for you blessing today.





31 Days---Day 12

Sometimes life gives you friends that span generations. The Sweeten's are one of those families. My parents best friends. They travel together several times each year. Their children and I are still great friends although we are grown. Now grandbabies who will grow to be friends.

I was so excited to be able to photograph them Sunday. It was pouring rain and the park we wanted to use was a muddy mess. We made the best of it and luckily they have a wooded area across from their house so we stood in the carport and used it as a background. Here are a few of my faves.



 




Thursday, October 9, 2014

31 Days---Day 9

No matter what, I'm behind. Instead of trying to get caught up I'm just going to skip the last two days. Today is fall picture day at my afternoon school. Teachers are suppose to wear either black or white shirts and our neon accessories will be supplied. I'm interested to see how this works out with that lovely blue background. The yearbooks will be neon so that explains the theme. I wish I had past yearbook pictures to post so that you could see just how goofy I used to look. Even now they are pretty goofy. Since we've just come off of Spirit Week and Literacy Day I thought I would post a goofy picture of my kids, three nerds and a hillbilly. They won't make it into their yearbooks in those outfits but they will be in there in plenty of other pictures. Here's to all those yearbook pics!




Wednesday, October 8, 2014

31 Days of Life---Day 6

In my Bible reading today my question for the day was about facing addictions. Being totally honest here, I have several addictions. I'm addicted to Facebook, Pepsi, Mountain Dew Icees, Fudge Rounds...do you see a trend. I have been back on Weight Watchers for almost two weeks. It's a struggle, but class makes me accountable.

But my greatest struggle isn't with food. It's putting Bible study before Facebook surfing. Today I prayed for the many prayer requests I saw posted on Facebook but as I read my Bible after surfing I came across this verse in Psalm 109:30. It says, "With my mouth I will greatly extol the Lord; in the great throng I will praise Him." Verse 21 says, "But you, O Sovereign Lord, deal well with me for your name's sake; out of the goodness of your love, deliver me."

I need someone to keep me accountable that I read and do my Bible study before Facebook. As I think about what my mission on Facebook is I believe I need to be posting more verses and encouragement. Yes, my family is crazy and I don't mind to tell it on there but I think I can help others with a daily verse. An accountability factor that I've had to study and read before I can post it.

Have you read today? What verse stuck out to you?

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

31 Days of Life--Day 5



Nothing exciting happened on Sunday and I'm still trying to catch up. This is from Mother's Day this year at my parents. Mollie couldn't take a picture without making a face if her life depended on it. We love being able to visit all of our grandparents. They are just 20 minutes away. We don't get to see them as much as we would like, but have a great time when we do. Mikie and I are both fortunate to have Christian parents who raised us in the Lord and made sure we had everything we needed. We didn't always have everything we wanted but we never needed anything. Watch for more family photos from the other side of the family in the upcoming days.

Monday, October 6, 2014

31 Days of Life--Day 4

So these two went to the UT/ Florida game Saturday afternoon. Maggie has never been to a football game except middle school games. Kellie's family has UT season passes. Of course this was the game they would checkerboard Neyland Stadium. They were prepared. Excited was an understatement. Kellie's Mom, Wendy, caught this pic before they headed out the door. Wendy is one my best friends and an awesome photographer. Check out Wendy's photos at her website Wendy Iven's Photography. The girls had a great time and Maggie can't wait to go to another football game.

Friday, October 3, 2014

31 Days of Life

I'm three days behind, because, well, life happens. I am attempting again this year to blog for 31 days as part of The Nester's 31 Days of Writing Challenge. My posts won't be long, some days just a picture, uploaded from my phone. I'm hoping to document our life. My word for 2014 was live. You can click here to read why. I've attempted to take a picture everyday to put in my journal. I haven't blogged much this year because we have been living. I haven't posted here but have posted snippets on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. I'm having problems linking to those at the moment. I'll try to revisit and link up later. Wish me luck as I attempt to succeed at 31 days of blogging life happenings in our family.

31 Days---Day 4

31 Days---Day 5

31 Days---Day 6

31 Days---Day 9

31 Days---Day 12

31 Days---Day 14

31 Days---Day 16

31 Days---Day 23

31 Days---Day 30

Saturday, September 6, 2014

They Hear What They Wanna Hear

I overheard the kids about 7 this morning playing a game. Michael was giving them definitions/examples so the girls could guess the word. The conversation went something like this. 

"This is what mom would be if she didn't teach."

 "A stay at home mom."

"I'd like that but no. It's what Mrs. Wendy is after she takes pictures."

"Uh?"

"What she does to the pictures."

"Make them skinny." "Give them teeth." "Cut out the background ?"

"What's she called? Ok ok mom does this to our stories." 

"She fixes our mistakes. You know she doesn't really wanna teach English and Mrs Wendy doesn't add English to her pictures."

"Good grief! She wants a corner office with all windows where she can wear her jeans and flip flops everyday. So what does she wanna be after she retires from teaching?"

"Oh she wants a corner office on liberty hill so she can write and embarrass us the rest of our lives."

"You're close."

Time runs out...an editor. The word was editor. 

"Michael editors don't write, they edit. They don't get to embarrass the people they love. And they don't get to wear jeans to work. Mom can't be an editor she hates tights."


Hmm...they do listen. 


Friday, April 25, 2014

Happy Project--April 25

Mikie and I are headed to Georgia to run our first mud obstacle race...the Superhero Scramble. Love coming through the Gorge at the Tennessee/North Carolina line. 


Monday, April 21, 2014

Happy Project--April 21

Mollie came off the bus carrying her Bible. So I snapped this pic. Later in the afternoon I was on Instagram and her teacher had snapped a pic of her open Bible on her desk. 


Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Me Happy Project--April 15

I just can't get the hang of posting every single day or even once a week for that matter. I'm going to try to post once a week a picture that makes me happy and brings me joy. My goal is to work my way up to a post a day...a quote, a picture, a real post by the end of summer. Maybe you can help make me accountable and join me in my "Me Happy Project."


Michael struggles with reading. He got excited when his book came...The Dangerous Book for Boys."        



Sunday, February 9, 2014

Chicken Parmesan-RagĂș Style


RagĂș has some awesome new recipes they have been promoting on the RagĂș Facebook page and on RagĂș's official website. I was recently challenged by RagĂș to prepare an "Official New Tra-Dish." I was provided a recipe and a gift card to use to purchase RagĂș Old World Style Traditional Sauce of my choice. Each jar of RagĂș Old World Traditional Sauce is packed with 11 juicy tomatoes, making it richer, thicker and just taste better.

Having four kids I always have help in the kitchen. We decided since we had never tried this particular recipe to keep it as it is, except we used fiesta cheese instead of mozzarella. The challenge was to make it fit my busy life style and our eating habits. 




The recipe is below and you can find the nutritional value here Ragu No Frying Chicken Parmesan.


Ingredients:
  • ¾ cup plain dry bread crumbs
  • ½ tsp. Italian seasoning
  • ¼ tsp. garlic powder
  • 6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 2 ibs.)
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 jar (1 lb. 8 oz.) Ragu® Old World Style® Pasta Sauce
  • 1 cup shredded Fiesta cheese
Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 400°. Combine bread crumbs, Italian seasoning and garlic powder in shallow dish. Dip chicken in egg, then crumb mixture; turn to coat.
  2. Arrange the chicken in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish. Bake 20 minutes.
  3. Pour Pasta Sauce over chicken; top with cheese. Bake an additional 10 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked.

Just a side note before I poured the pasta sauce over the chicken, I removed the chicken from the pan, poured out the chicken juices, then put the chicken back in the pan. Then I poured the sauce over it and put the cheese on top. I wanted to be able to use the sauce that dripped off also and didn't want it to have the chicken juices in it. 


Dinner was a success. We placed it on a bed of spaghetti with brussel sprouts on the side. Even my pickiest child who doesn't like tomato based sauces loved it. This is a keeper on my menu plan. Ragu has a lot of great tasting sauces and this meal would go great with any of them.

Moms this is a quick easy meal that your kids will love. Give it try this week for dinner. 


Disclaimer: I was compensated with a gift card to purchase the Ragu sauce of my choice for this meal. The recipe was supplied by Ragu and I could have changed it if I had wanted to. All opinions in this post are mine. 

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Snow Days 2014

I remember growing up getting lots of snow. I just want my kids to experience a huge snow like those that we got several times. But we have to settle for 1-4 inches. It doesn't stop the fun though. Here are some pics from our snow days this month.

Snow days week 1: 
Mattie doesn't do snow. 

Mollie doesn't do shoes. 

It was cold enough to freeze snot!

Waiting on her BFF to get here. 

We made a movie. These were their costumes.



Snow days week 2:

Gathering snow for snow cream

This sled is older than me. LOL


Praying this is our last winter here. Gonna miss the hills though.

Perfect road to sled. 

Great day to mend Teddy.
We are still out, but the sun is out, snow is melting off the grass, even though it's still on the roads. Maggie is gone to a friends and Mollie has a friend here. We've decided we probably should wash sheets and clean a little today. We just wish Daddy hadn't went to work yesterday and could have stayed and played. Hope you are enjoying your winter wonderland!

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Bible In a Year--Review and Giveaway


The cover of this Bible just draws me in. It says pick me up and read me every time I pass by.  I received a copy of this Bible from Tommy Nelson to review as a Tommy Nelson Mommy. It is a New Century Version and is a Bible in a Year. It is set on a fifth grade reading level so all of my kids can read it, no matter their reading level. It's easier for some and a little challenging for others. It is divided into daily selections from both Testaments, Psalms and Proverbs. It also has extra insert pages. We are currently using this Bible for our daily reading. It is great for our evening Bible reading and helps us fulfill our schools daily reading requirement.

I would love for you to join our family as we read through the Bible in 2014. Will you join us? Enter below to win a copy of your own for you and your family.











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Every Day a Blessing--Review and Giveaway

Every Day a Blessing is a wonderful book of short devotions for elementary aged children. Although I would also recommend it for younger children. You can even get it for kindle. It isn't dated and has daily and weekend devotions, scripture and ways to see blessings in your life or to be a blessing to someone else.

I'll be honest with you there was a little argument when this book came. We looked through it, read a few of the devotions to see how we liked it and then two of the kids decided to take off with it. They finally decided they could share it and both of them could be blessed. But then we had younger visitors who got really excited about the cover of the book. So we added this book to their collection. We hope they are blessed and bless others every day because of it. And I'm going to purchase a copy of it for those two kiddos who know they did the right thing but really want that book.

Would you like to bless a child today with this book? Just enter below!

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Tommy Nelson to review. All opinions are my own and no monetary compensation was given.

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My Friend Jesus--The Gospel for Kids--Review and Giveaway




I received a copy of the book My Friend Jesus-The Gospel for Kids by Kathryn Slattery to review. My kids loved it! All four of my kiddos have asked Jesus in their heart and have been baptized. 

This book is written in such a way that children can understand. It has no denominational affiliation so no matter what church you attend this is a great book to tell the gospel story about Jesus. It also has a prayer at the end that helps guide children in their relationship with Jesus. 

The illustrations are absolutely beautiful. My kids decided to share this book with a younger friend who knows about Jesus but hasn't asked him in to his heart. We hope that this book will help him out.

Would you like to share this book with a child you know? Fill in the entry form below. One winner will be selected randomly. Contest ends Friday, January 31st.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book to review with my family from Tommy Nelson because I'm a Tommy Nelson Mommy. Opinions are my own and I received no monetary compensation.


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One God, One Plan, One Life--Devotional Giveaway

I have four books from Tommy Nelson to give away. I'm behind so I'm posting all of them this afternoon in separate posts. Be sure to check out all the new posts from today and register to win!

Max Lucado has a new devotional for teens. This is his first devo for teens. One God, One Plan, One Life offers teens 365 days of guided quiet time. It also includes two Bible reading plans in the back of the book. As I've read through some of these devotions I love the questions that follow each day's reading. It really encourages teens to pull God into their everyday lives.

Each day also has a daily verse. These are great to work on memorizing verses, because most of them are short. Not only can teens spend time with God even with their busy schedule but they can also increase their memory bank of verses too.



Do you have a middle or high schooler that you would like to share this book with?  Just click through the rafflecopter below and enter to win. 


Disclaimer: As a Tommy Nelson Mommy, I receive books for my use and to review at no charge to me. All opinions are my own and I receive no monetary compensation.

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2014--My Word of the Year--Live

I've prayed for the last year that God would show me ways to not regret. Not regret the past, not regret lost time, not regret saying yes or no, not regret decisions made. I've searched for a word, was simplify it? Was it "No"? No to extra things taking my time, no to people, no to ministry opportunities, no to extra school activities. But the answer, the word, wasn't no. Last Friday the Lord dropped it on my heart. I wasn't sure exactly what the word was but I knew He was telling me to get off my phone, limit my time on social media, protect my family time, reserve Sunday for Him, family, friends and fun, say no when my heart tells me, yes when He does and put Him and family before others and extras even if it means I'm not in charge of something or can't help someone do something. He wants me to pray before I say yes or no, quit planning every minute of every day and LIVE.

So that was it, that was my word? Live...to be alive, to maintain oneself, to attain eternal life, to remain in human memory or record and finally to have a life rich in experience. Wow, those are just a few of the definitions I found in Merriam-Webster's wonderful book of words, the Dictionary.

What does live look like in my life right now? Um, boring. It's more like the antonyms, deactive, ineffective, asleep, stagnant, unproductive. But what can I do in 2014 to make live look like it's true meaning?

Sundays--
God, Family, Friends, FUN--No Internet, no phone except in case of emergency and I will decide whether your emergency is my emergency too.

Everyday--
Hubby and Kids and family first after God. They are my life. More time with them. I often put other people's needs or things I think need to be done before my family. I'm not apologizing for telling people no. Look people in the eye when I talk to them, especially my kids, in the same room, not from across the house. I even miss out on family time with parents, siblings and our niece and nephews because I'm busy doing something someone else thinks I should have or make time for.
I'm not saying I won't do things to help people. But I will pray and seek God's will and take into consideration my families thoughts and needs before I commit.

Let Go--
I made my own planner/journal in December. I know God was preparing me to live as I worked on it. It has a calendar for each month, but no hourly schedule. It's more of a journal to record what we do each day after it's done. I want to remember these times, but I'm not going to be tied to a schedule, or to journaling everyday. Live in the moment. Even behind my camera I can live and the kids and I can record our year of memories in our Project Life Book.

Simplify--
Schedules, basketball ends next week. Other than Mattie running track and field sports are done until next basketball season. The kids are pretty athletic, but our lives aren't going to be run by sports. We hope to move this summer. A big yard sale will follow. Mikie spends every day off remodeling, the kids and I fill our off days with things that don't always help our family or fit into our family mission statement.

Social Media--
None on Sunday and limited time the rest of the week. I have some sponsored posts for the blog coming up. Time spent on social media needs to honor God and help my blog, not my nose problem.

Health--
I can't live if I'm not alive. Healthier eating, more exercise, less crap, less stress. In the words of Dave Ramsey, "Live like no one else, so that later you can live like no one else." I know he is talking about budgeting, which we already do, but it applies to my whole life.

So in 2014, I will live, live for God, live for now, love for the future, live for my family, friends and fun. Live like there's no tomorrow. Live with no regrets.

What's your word?

Disclaimer: I didn't take time from my family to post this. I'm enjoying a second sick day this week, thanks to strep and a fever. So other than sleep, no one was neglected.



Saying goodbye to the old and looking forward to the new!



Thursday, January 2, 2014

In Progress

I'm currently working on updating the blog layout and the post themselves. I have several books to give away from Tommy Nelson Books. The kids are going to the Grands for the weekend so hopefully by Sunday I'll be done. Thanks for your patience, browse awhile and then come back to see what's new!