books n boys make me smile

Up until a week ago

we hadn't been to the library in ages!

Honestly

the thought of taking these 2 boys

to the library was

less

than appealing.

We decided to give it a whirl.

It's been fun to introduce them

to some of our old favorites.

Charlotte Mason may consider them twaddle.

I don't know.... and I don't really care.

I hadn't told the boys to read;

they just went in

and each picked a book from the library basket

and got comfortable.

A Putter and Tabby for Josiah
and Jeremiah picked his new favorite book

(if you have never read Seven Silly Eaters

you've got to check it out at the library

the illustrations are great!!)

~

Several minutes later

I found them in a chair

together;

Jeremiah 'reading' to his little bro.

that
makes me smile a lot.

cheapest flea control

I'm always trying to figure out ways to

painlessly

stretch our money

further.

Painless is key here.

I mean

we can only eat so many beans....

A few months ago

I hit on a pretty sweet idea.

sweet as in cool - why didn't I think of this years ago

not

sweet as in aww.....

~

I'd already found the cheapest place to buy Frontline

but still - roughly 10 bucks a month per dog?!

So

I added up the weight of the dogs

and bought the appropriate dose for their combined weight.

When it's time to use the Frontline,

we simply pull out the proper dosage for Lola

and put the rest on Donor.

Such an easy way to stretch our money!

~

for more ideas on how to stretch your money further

check out Frugal Friday over at Crystal's

wwjd?

I hate to send a kid to bed hungry.
Now
I know
my children have never been truly hungry,
starving hungry,
but still
I don’t like for them to go to bed with even the littlest pang.
I
don’t like to go to bed hungry.
When I do
inevitably
I wake up in the middle of the night
still
hungry
~
On the other hand
it’s rather frustrating to hear
“I’m hungry”
after I’ve just said,
“It’s bedtime.”
~
Just like I can’t judge their hearts and their motives,
I can’t judge their bellies.
Sometimes
I’m hungry - even after I’ve
‘just eaten’
~
Do I just get snookered?
Would Jesus send them to bed hungry?
Should I just be a drill sergeant?
It is
after all
bedtime.
I mean
would it really hurt them to go to bed hungry once in awhile?
Am I encouraging disobedience
or am I exemplifying patience & kindness?
Will they forever disrespect me because I’m stupid
and play their game night after night?
~

I truly don't know

Mercy triumphs over judgement!
(James 2:13)
~
Sleep well, my boys
Momma loves you so much!

our littlest helper

this video is kinda long
probably no one but family will care to watch it...

We sure are thankful for our little girl!!
(and all our other helpers, too!)

~

speaking of our little girl....
she sure loves her Bubs!
This morning
all three little ones ended up in our room.
They all happen to be in varying degrees of sickness, too.

LilyPie had an especially rough night
(as did her momma...)
so I wasn't quite prepared for her
to be her usual happy self when she woke up.
But, she was.
She woke up, crawled over me and saw the boys.
Her face lit up.
"morning, 'Miah"
"morning, Josiah"
she didn't get a response,
so she got louder,
"good morning, Josiah!"
Oh
I wish you could her all the inflection in her sweet little voice.
I hope I can still hear that voice in my head in 50 years!

refashioning

Central

provided t-shirts for everyone to wear to Racing Day.

Needless to say

they didn't have any sized 24 months

so
inspired by this

I remade Lily's t-shirt into a fun little dress.

~

I

have never seen

anyone

who looks

as hideous in a t-shirt

as I do

so

I refashioned mine

using one of my regular shirts as a guide.

Can't do anything about that bright orange, though....

(lovingly chosen instead of the other

equally bright and unattractive-for-wearing colors

in honor of my boys who love orange)

The Pie
does not want to wait until Sunday
to wear her dress!

back to school

not bad for a
first-day-back

LilyPie reading her note from Papa

Jeremiah's note to Momma ~ much better than an apple!!

ugh....MATH

sorting

Why buy expensive manipulatives
when you can use dog food??

nature walk ~ right outside the front door

how (not) to handle a boat in the water
(they were falling over as I snapped the picture)

last but not least

Physics!

ahhh, naptime

racin' day

Next Sunday is our annual meeting at church.

For the past few years, the staff has gone all out

to make annual meetings

not boring.

This year's theme is 'race day', complete with

pinewood derby racing.

Around here

we take our pinewood derby cars pretty seriously

I think it may have been muttered,
"If the L....'s are making a car,
there's no point in racing."

wwhhhaatt?!

Today
was workshop day

It was a real challenge for me to just
let them do it...

but I did.
And I'm so proud of them!
They all did a super job!!

we eat dinner in the bathtub

I feel sortof like I belong in Harris's family

you know,

from the book We Eat Dinner in the Bathtub.

~

We've been moving stuff all around for a couple months,

trying to get everything to fit

and

getting things in the most useful spot,

which is sometimes unusual.

(Of course, I think many times

homes are set up to look good, not be efficient.

I've always put my 'sweet spices' in the same cabinet as my mixing

bowls; that's where they're used. Apparently, even that is weird.)

Anyways

we now have a refrigerator in the dining room.

I'll be the first to admit

that is a bit weird.

But

when we got our new freezer (yay!)

and it was so huge that it overpowerd the spot we had for it,

the boys and I decided

hey- let's swap the fridge and freezer.

lot's of times, things go straight from fridge to table....

The idea was so crazy - it just might work!

I think it's going to ~ we'll see

~

Speaking of eating dinner in the bathtub,

we did that once.

For real.

~

We take a special trip with our kids as they are

beginning to experience the changes that come with growing up.

Dad takes the boys, Mom takes the girls

(I get another trip ~ woohoo)

Lana and I decided that for our trip

we would

go shopping!

Lana loves to shop!!

I don't so much. But back then, I didn't hate it like I do now.
~

We didn't pack a thing!
We were going to buy

everything

we needed to wear during our weekend.

We did take underwear

(since those have to be washed before wearing)

and make-up in our purses

'cause we justified

that lots of girls carry make-up in their purses all the time...

~

Our first stop was NBC;

the NBC in Tulsa is about twice the size of ours!

And

they were having a sale.

We spent hours there.

I'll spare you the drama of the heat rash I got

from standing outside at the $1 rack for over an hour

dripping in sweat.....

Long story short

by the time we made it back to our very nice hotel room

we were pretty well exhausted

our feet were killing us

and we were starving!

There was a Pizza Hut right next to the hotel

so we figured we'd just have it delivered.

It was going to be over an hour!

how??

They were right next door!

We'd rented a suite with a jacuzzi tub

so

we decided we'd soak our poor tired feet while we waited.

and waited

and waited.....

By the time the pizza finally arrived

we were so sore & tired

(we'd never marathon shopped before!

or again, for that matter)

that we just got all the way in that big ole' tub

and

we ate dinner in the bathtub.

happy anniversary to us

Twenty-one years
~
Lana & Luke graciously offered to come stay with the kids.
We
of course
took them up on the offer!
Tony & Brandon do great with the little ones
but
to be completely honest
they can be a huge handful sometimes.
lots of times…..
Most of the time…..
Plus
I wouldn’t have been at all comfortable leaving them overnight
without an adult and transportation in the event of an emergency.
~
The last time we got away for our anniversary
was two years ago.
I was newly pregnant with Lily
And Josiah went with us, since he wasn’t weaned yet.
I can’t seem to remember any further back than that right now.
All I know is
it was really nice to go away
alone
with my husband!
~
If you are ever in Tulsa
and don’t mind spending a bit on dinner
You have got to go to Las Cabos
Yumm!!!!
Just consider yourself warned: it might be a bit loud
~

Thanks L & L and T & B for holding down the fort!
Love you all.
And
I love you, Tyler!
Thanks for marrying me

big Pie week

No,
I havent' been baking up a storm

~

This has been a big week for LilyPie!!

She is now completely weaned and she’s figured out
that there ain't much point to waking up during the night
anymore!

and.....

She's a walker!

Lily's walking

Lily's walking

~

we love you so much, LilyPie!

Thank-you, Lord, for our baby girl!!

recipe party

I'm not usually late to a party
sorry!

Now

this is not going to be

the most fabulous food you ever tasted.

But

it's pretty good

and good for you

and it's

real fast!

~

Speedy Skillet Super

~

Throw your skillet on the stove

and turn burner on medium - medium/high.

Open 1 - 28 oz can petite diced tomatoes

& dump in pan.

Open, drain, and add a can of corn.

Give it a stir.

Add a can of drained black beans.

(I think chickpeas would be even better)

Generously add garlic salt & pepper.

Stir.

Throw a few cups of leftover whole wheat pasta

in the strainer you drained the beans in

and run 'em under hot water for a bit.

Add pasta to the skillet and stir.

Grab your bowls & spoons

and serve it up.

It's that fast!

A sour cream smiley face
makes it taste even better!

Head on over to Lana's blog to join the party!

today...

...I am mourning

with those who mourn

and

praying for comfort...