A Day At The Park!

We had a really nice day at the park yesterday. The sun was shining and it wasn't freezing cold. We had to get out of the house. We are all so ready for spring and being cooped up in the house with four kids can get CRAZY! To start out with we almost had an episode... Brett started to have a fit so he got to go sit all alone at the picnic table. I told him I was going to take his picture while he was pouting so everyone could see. I don't think he believed me...

Brett Pouting At The Picnic Table...

Brett Still Pouting...

And still...

.....

This was so sweet. Logan decided to go over and talk to Brett to try to encourage him to stop crying so they could play and have a good time.
And it worked :) Brett stopped pouting and it was time for fun.

Emily on the swing.

Emily taking a picture of me on the swing.

Emily is getting really good at her picture taking.

This is another picture Emily took. It's my favorite of the day.

Taylor getting to play with the big kids.

Me taking Taylor down the super big slide. This slide is really tall so I couldn't let Emily take him down.

After a long day at the park he was ready to have his bottle and nap.

Winter Depression...

This time of year is always a struggle for me. I thank God that he's shown me this weakness and I'm able to fight it. It's hard to fight when you don't even know there's a battle taking place. It was about four years ago that I realized I have this weakness. For some reason I just tend to get depressed around this time of year. Maybe it's because I am longing for spring who knows. I just know right now I'm am at a low point.

I've struggled with drugs and alcohol in my life. I've been sober for ten years... there has been the rare occasion that I've stumbled with alcohol but God has always led me back to him and my stumblings don't last long. I haven't had a relapse in over four years thanks to the fact that I finally realized my times of depression were a cycle. I am able to ask for prayer and tell my husband that I'm struggling and this has helped me get through some hard times.

I know without a doubt that if I didn't have a constant friend in Jesus that I would never be where I am right now. He has kept me together when otherwise I would have fallen to pieces. The Bible says he will never leave me. I believe it. I am so thankful that my salvation is not dependant upon my own feelings. Right now I feel worthless. I feel like nothing I do is good enough. I feel ugly. I feel numb. I know that these feelings will pass and it's all part of being human. I know these feelings are not reality. I'm not worthless and I do matter. Knowing and feeling are so different aren't they?

I used to think that depression was a choice, that people chose to be depressed. I didn't have a clue what I was talking about. I don't choose to feel this way. If I could will myself out of this depression I would do it right now, but I can't. All I can do is pray and wait it out. I have to be strong and not give in to temptation and self pity. Does anyone else go through this like I do? I'm not even sure why I'm sharing this other than to say thank God I have Jesus, without him how lost I would be.

One of my favorite hymns....

Without him I would be nothing...
Without him I'd surely fail...
Without him I would be drifting...
Like a ship without a sail...

Jesus Oh Jesus...
Do you know him today...
Do not turn him away...
Oh Jesus Oh Jesus...
Without you how lost I would be...

Seeds & Mirrors

I'm so excited, spring is just around the corner. I am going to try growing my own vegetable plants this year from seed, instead of buying plants. I ordered heirloom seeds so I will be able to save the seeds out of the plants I grow and hopefully not have to buy more seeds again next year. Today we planted all our tomato seeds. I'm excited to see if I can actually do this. If I fail I can always buy plants in the spring and try again next year. We have the green house effect going on with the zip lock bags as you can see. I also finally bought some berry bushes too. I always say I'm going to do this and never get around to it in time. So I have two each of blackberry, raspberry and blueberry. I planted them in pots to begin with and when the weather is warm enough I'm going to transplant them outside. Chris is going to help me build raised beds for most of my gardening this year. I'm so excited!!! Did I say that already?

Yesterday we went to some thrift stores and I found this amazing mirror for our bathroom. We were going to have to buy one anyway and all the nice mirrors I've like have been in the $200 range! Who would have thought a bathroom mirror would cost that much. Well this mirror was like brand new. There are no scratches anywhere and it has a solid frame that matches the bathroom perfectly. It was only $40!!! I was giddy all the way home over getting it... It will hang long way over the bathroom sink.

Risin' & Shinin'

Good Morning From Emily, Logan, Brett & Taylor!!!

This was such a good morning. I'm not much of a morning person but I've been trying to form new habits lately, and one of those habits is to wake up earlier to have a little time to spend with God before the chaos begins. Last night it snowed and when there's snow on the ground everything seems so quiet. This morning was so peaceful and quiet. I think the kids can tell when I've had time to "wake up" before they get up because then I'm cheerful and it helps them to be also. So Good Morning From US :D

Taylor is ready for some breakfast!

Emily

Brett
Logan

My New Favorite Picture!!!

This Photo Was Taken By Emily!!! I LOVE IT LOL

Why Do Babies Have To Grow???

If I could keep Taylor at this age for a few years I would sooooooo do it! This is my favorite baby age. He is so fun! Each morning if he isn't the first one awake then he has an audience watching him rise and shine. The other kids are in the room giggling and watching him until he peeks his eyes open and starts grinning and begging to be picked up. Then they all try to get their faces as close to him as they can so he'll choose to look at them. I get to listen to them all morning... "Nugget won't look at me," because he's looking at someone else.

The rest of the day in between his little baby naps he has everyone wrapped around his finger. I have to fight to get to hold him or play with him! I've never seen a group of kids so thrilled with their sibling! I'm waiting for Taylor to get to the stage where he is into everything and then I'm sure he'll have some doors closed on his nose. Then again they might spoil him even more! If this boy grows up to be a spoiled rotten snot I swear it's not my fault... it's his brothers and sisters fault!

I Love His Little Baby Teeth!!!
He Didn't Get His Hair Combed Today!

Ok Lady Enough With The Flash!!!

Scary Sleeping Positions...

My little 8 month old son scares me with his constant desire to sleep on his tummy. I think he's past the stage where I need to worry about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome but I'm still paranoid. He insists on sleeping on his tummy, sometimes with his face buried in the covers. I wake up in the middle of the night and flip him over onto his back just to have him turn right back onto his tummy and smoosh him face into the covers. He has done this since he could turn over on his own. I guess I'll continue flipping him over and pray there's no SIDS risk.

Money money money....

Anyone who knows me very well knows I'm always trying to earn extra money. I am a stay at home mom. Chris and I have four great kids and I enjoy every day I get to be home with them. We have made many sacrifices to enable me to be home with them. When money gets tight I always start to feel guilty for not having a job. Chris has been wonderful in helping me get over that guilt by letting me know how much he enjoys me being able to stay home. So instead of sitting around feeling guilty all the time I am constantly trying to earn extra money.

One way I've found is my ebay store. I sell Christian books and make a little extra money. It is more a ministry than a profitable expedition, because I try to sell the books as cheaply as possible to help others afford these great books.

I hit the yard sales looking for good deals on misc. things to resell on ebay. One time I found some Evil Knievel toys at a yard sale for $3 and resold them for $84!!! Another time I found some white curtain panels for .50 cents and resold them for $40. Things like that are awesome but it doesn't happen as often as I'd like and with the slower economy I've noticed things take longer to sell.

Since November I've been selling Hickory Nuts. I stumbled across this when we were involved in harvesting Black Walnuts. That was such a chore!!! I discovered my in-laws have an abundance of Hickory Nuts that were never harvested. So I checked to see if things like that were selling on ebay. A tip I would give everyone wanting to sell on ebay is to check EVERYTHING! You never know what is selling unless you check. Anyway back to the Hickory Nuts. My kids and I have been picking up the nuts for the last few months and selling them on ebay. A 10 pound box sells for $16.95 and it costs $11 to ship it. So every ten pounds we sell we make $5.95. It doesn't seem like a lot but it's more than we'd make not doing it, and it's good for us to get out right! Oh and Grandpa Jim enjoys harvesting Hickory Nuts too so thanks to him for helping us out :) I also shell the nuts and sell the meats. This is probably the more profitable way to go when I have the time to shell them. I sell them by the pound and they usually go for $15 - $25. Hickory Nuts helped us have more Christmas money this year!

My blog has become another possible source of the ever sought after extra dollar. I've had the google ad's on here for over 2 years and generated a whopping $17.56! Yee Haw! They don't even send you a check until you reach $100... LOL. So all you loving relatives who occasionally read my blog, click on a link before you leave and send me a penny :p I don't believe my blog will ever become a profitable thing but I do enjoy it. I am a big journal freak, I have a journal for every member of my immediate family and myself plus this blog. I enjoy going back and reading old posts. Some of them I want to slap myself for posting... Why did I write some of that stuff?

Anyway back to the money money money. I believe I've inherited this ambition to earn extra money from my Dad. He has always been coming up with ideas to make extra money. So if you have any idea's for me I'll try it!

My Aunt Sonya gave me the best advice of all. She says the best way she's seen to earn extra money is to save money. She is the most frugal person I know. She always knows what's on sale and where to get a good deal. She's also one of the most encouraging people I know. So on that positive note I end this money rant.

My Nugget!!!

Yes I've nick named my baby boy. First he was Tater Tott, then Tater Nugget, now he's just Nugget! He's such a sweety and I think Nugget is the perfect nickname!

Egg Rolls!!!

We conquered Pizza's and now we can add Egg Rolls to our list. Misty and I made 90 Egg Rolls. We were able to get the chicken and cabbage on sale and figured each egg roll cost about .27 cents to make! That beats any price I've seen for egg rolls! When hamburger goes on sale we're going to tackle Meatballs. We also want to try breakfast burrito's, I've heard these freeze nicely. Also we still want to get together and try making our own laundry soap and maybe even bar soap if we're ambitious!

Logan's Pictures

Logan was taking pictures of little Taylor bouncing in his johnny jumper. So here is the Tator Tott from the Logster perspective.

PIZZA!

My sister Misty and my aunt Crystal came over today and we made massive amounts of PIZZA! The other day at the grocery store I was looking for something fast and easy I could make the kids when I got home and I was getting mad at how expensive all the frozen pizza's were. So when I got home I called my sis and told her we needed to get together for a pizza makin' day. That way next time I needed something fast and easy I wouldn't have to go spend $6 for tiny frozen pizza at the grocery store. We spent the day making 43 pizza's! It was lots of fun and we each took home our share for our families. Yummy Pizza.

Misty and I with our first batch of Pizza Dough.

Misty & Crystal posing with more Pizza Dough.
Our Pizza's! We made 43 total.

Misty all flowered up.

Misty posing with a packaged pizza!

Happy Birthday Brett!

Brett finally got his birthday!!! He's been asking since Logans birthday in September when his birthday would be. So he turned 4 and got his "green incredible hulk" he was a happy boy.

Brett's Cleanex....

It's portable... and easy to use... Don't you wish you had this talent???

Thirsty Anyone???

Okay Okay I know what it looks like but I was just cleaning up after dinner at church :D