Thursday, January 27, 2011

And the winner is.....

Okay, I'm not near as good as the lady on The Today Show.  
Some of your low guesses made me feel like I need to do better next time :)  

Here are the results....

Price before coupons or store specials:  $116.38

Total Paid after Savings:  $49.46

That is a savings of $66.92!!!!

Winner:  Allison with a guess of $52.00

I have a yummy special treat to send your way.  
Allison, please message me via Facebook with your home address.
CONGRATS!!

Friday, January 21, 2011

Crazy morning that I don't care to repeat...

two kids under anaesthesia
8 fillings
1 gap created between front teeth

$1,294 later and now we are home.  Glad that is over!

Monday, January 17, 2011

Accomplishmet

I finished reading the Bible yesterday.  It was my goal for 2010.  I didn't quite make my timeline...but I'm not at all disappointed.  Yesterday when I read the last chapter of Revelations I had tears in my eyes.  I couldn't believe I actually did it.  It was everything I hoped it would be and more.  I feel like I want to start over and read it again.....but I am starting two new Bible studies this week so I know that I will have new things to fill that gap.  Was it worth it.....ABSOLUTELY!  Are you thinking about doing it?  What are you waiting for?  Are you sure that day will actually come? 

I have not kept up on the Bible blogging.  I am planning to go back to Luke and pick up where I left off.  Blogging about my reading helped me swallow it all up.  I look forward to working on that again.

If you are considering reading the Bible I suggest you get a reading plan.  The plans made it easy.  I usually read for 15-20 min. a day.  Most days it was the highlight of my day.  It has considerably changed my life.  Where you invite God in, He will bless!  I have experienced that first hand.

Here is a plan.....

http://www.wmhk.com/reading-guide.htm

"We have not made constant use of the Scriptures to distinguish good from evil.  We are still dependent on others for our knowledge, as children are, in danger of being misguided by those who sound knowledgeable but may be as ignorant as we.  We must do the job ourselves instead of expecting a pastor or teacher to do it all for us.  We must read the Bible.  We must digest it, meditate on it, memorize it, understand it.  God does not want us to remain spiritually immature."  -Barbara Bush

My prayer for myself is that I continue to mature in faith.  I want to eat the solid food!  (Hebrews 5:11-14)

New Year's Eve

I think this will be my last catch up post.

The day after we pulled in from Illinois I went to pick up some Illinois visitors from the airport.  We kept very busy for the next week.  Little Man did not appreciate having more little people around to mess with his toys.....we had issues....but we had fun too!  I didn't take many pictures while they were here but I do have some pics from our little New Year's Party.  We had awesome food, the men put on a great fireworks show in the street, and we counted down at 9 p.m.  It was my kind of New Year's!!
















Thursday, January 13, 2011

Randoms from a dark hotel room....

That title sounds creepy.  It's really not creepy here.  We escaped the house and headed to the Great Wolf Lodge for the night.  After last weekend, 4 snow days, and then the upcoming 4 day weekend......we had to "get out of Dodge".  We are only here for one night and we are having a ball.  I think Little Man has had a smile of his face since we pulled in.  And of course, we forgot the camera. 

Everyone is now asleep and I am sitting in the dark room not feeling sleepy at all. 

Since our district has teachers institute tomorrow, the rest of the world is in school.  This place is very quite and the water park is not busy at all.  Just perfect.  I wish I could take credit for the idea, but we joined in on the plans that our good friends, The Lenders, already had. 

The last few days had it's ups and downs.  Snowday #1 was fun.  Cookie baking, hot chocolate, fun in the snow.....all the perfect ingredients for a great snow day.  Day 2....I felt very trapped.  The kids were climbing the walls and therefor I was pulling out my hair.  Day 3:  Ben got my car down our steep, very icy drive and we were able to head to the mall.  (There is a very good reason why I don't go the the mall often.  Dave Ramsey would not have been proud of me.  But....that day was so much better than Day 2!)  And then Snow Day #4:  we ended up here.....so life feels much, much better.  Daddy will gone working tomorrow so I will have all 3 at the waterpark by myself.  I think it will be fine.  The girls will just have to stick together.  Little Man and I will hang out.   

Here is what else is going on:

Little Man is obsessed with finding out where this baby is going to come out.  Daddy took him to the hog house over Christmas and let him watch baby pigs being born.  B/c of this he has questions for me daily.  I'm very open about that type of stuff with the girls....but I'm not ready for my 3 year old boy to make any announcements at preschool. 

I did not finish reading my Bible last year as planned.  I now have less than 100 pages to go.  I sneak it in when I can.  I was sitting in the bathroom reading Hebrews just before I jumped onto the computer.  Reading through the Bible has been one of the best decisions of my life.  I can't wait to get back to the blog and make up for lost time.  I want to make sure I get all of my thoughts written down.  Then after I finish blogging the New Testament I look forward to digging in deeper.  I start two small group studies next week.  Good stuff ahead!!

My pregnancy book says I start my 3rd trimester Tuesday!  Yeah, the final stretch.  I had a 7 pound gain this last month.  The holidays did a job on my rear end.  Oh well....

Why do hotel TVs have a dark blank pause between channels.  So annoying!  It takes forever to flip thought channels. 

My mom got me a panini press (Is that how you spell it?) for Christmas.  I think it's the best thing ever!  I have been making some awesome restaurant quality sandwiches this week.  I'm in love!

I guess I should try to sleep since the rest of this room is out like a light.  I assume my hubby fell asleep with Little Man b/c I have not heard a peep from that end of the room in a very long time. 

Goodnight!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Home for the Holidays-Part 5

Another Christmas Celebration...





























We were missing two important members of our family that day.
It was for a REALLY GOOD REASON.....

Welcome to the newest little cousin!


Home for the Holidays-Part 4

Christmas Day
Uncle E gave the girls Just Dance for the Wii.  
Aunt Sarah and I had just as much fun (maybe even more) as the girls.   







Our Family
(Does Jonah look "all boy" or what?)

























One of our newer traditions for Christmas evening is Make Your Own Pizza.
We had some delicious combos going.

I'm hungry now just thinking about it!