We Have On Our Thinking Caps!

Welcome To Our Classroom!

As crazy as it may sound, I have started "school" with Lula Mae. Our classroom isn't much, just a white board with some border, a marker and cleaning cloth, but it works great for us! I know Lula Mae is only 21 months old, but I think that she needs to learn to sit and listen. At this point I am trying to get Lula Mae to obey simple commands (for instance, "please it in your chair") and "school" is really helping. In a few months she will be moving to the 2's and 3's Sunday school class and I want her to be prepared! We have been doing "school" since the 15th of Feburary, so a little less than 2 weeks, and Lula Mae is hooked! I do not force this on her (just so we are all straight on that), I let her lead me. Every morning after she has breakfast and gets ready for the day she drags me to the board and asks me to move her chair. She is so eager to get started working and I am so thrilled and proud! Every day we go over all the letters, numbers (1-15), colors, shapes and Catechisms. We also go over all the words she can read and add in a few new words to try and build her reading vocabulary (we hope she will be up to 85 words by her second birthday! She is at 65 right now.). It is amazing to me how much joy learning brings to her at such a young age! She usually cries when I tell her it's time to put it up! I don't want to make our "school" sessions any longer than 30 minuets at this point, but it seems to break her heart when I make her go and play. I know there are lots of parents out there who would strongly disagree with our decision to start school so early, but I also know there are lots who would appreciate it too! Take it for what it is worth I guess. We are proud of our daughter and think that she is more than ready for "school" even though she is not 2 years old yet. I will keep you posted on how "school" goes over the next few months :-) Hopefully we will be able to sneak a video of Lula Mae during "school" so you all can see how she is doing!


As for me, I have my thinking cap on too! I have just started a new book that I think is going to really be amazing! I finished the first chapter today and cannot wait to read more! I will write a review of the book when I finish! I hope I learn lots of new things from this book :-)

Just Because You Have A Nice Camera....

Oh, I love my camera! Although having a nice camera does not mean you always get a great picture. I would say out of 30 pictures I take I may get 5 good ones (professional looking). Well this morning Lula Mae's hair looked so pretty so I thought I would try to snap some new pictures of her. This is what I got...

"MOMMY!!!!!"

"Smile!!!"

"Mommy you are sooooo funny!"

People pay lots of money to have those kind of curls!

"Cheese!"

Yep, one worth editing! It isn't a great shot by any means, but it was the only one with her eyes open! My child makes it so hard to get a good picture. So even though I have a great camera, it doesn't mean I take great pictures.... unfortunately. I must admit that toddlers are the hardest things to photograph! Oh Lula Mae, I love you so much!

Hello Third Trimester!

Today I am 28 weeks pregnant! Wow! I can not tell you how fast this pregnancy is going compared to Lula Mae's! Dr. Erickson won't stop Jayce from coming once I hit 36 weeks so I am possibly 8 weeks away from delivery! Although I am 12 weeks away from my actual due date. I must say that I did not go full term with Lula Mae and I don't think I will make it there with Jayce either. He is much bigger and stronger and my belly is HUGE! Well, it is huge compared to what I looked like at 28 weeks with Lula Mae. Maybe it is because my body just knows what to do this time around, I am not really sure! So, what will the next 8 to 12 weeks hold for us? Lots of alone time with Lula Mae (for both Charlie and myself), lots of budgeting, lots of cleaning, lots of organizing, lots of praying, lots of preparing Lula Mae (trying to at least) and lots of anxiety. Yes, I know "be anxious for nothing", and I pray about that every day, but I am only human and I do worry and have anxieties. I hope that everyone will pray for us as we come to the end of this pregnancy. We are ready for this little guy to get here, but at the same time we aren't... I know that sounds confusing but any parent who has welcomed their second baby into the family has probably had these same emotions.



Now I need your help. I am having the hardest time deciding on a bible verse to go in the nursery. I have it narrowed down to a few and I would love to see what everyone else thinks! Here are my ideas:

• Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go. ( Joshua 1:9)

• Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself. (Luke 10:27)

• Be Joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

• I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living my baby you'll be. (obviously this is not a verse, but I love it too)

As you can see there are too many choices!!! I just don't know which one to use! I love all of them... and that is the problem! So leave me a comment and tell me which one you like the best! Also, if you have any other verses that you like that would be good in a nursery feel free to leave that too! I am hoping to get the room painted in the next 2 or 3 weeks (that could be up to my husband and his helper though in all honesty)! I am ready to have the decorating behind me so we can all sit back and enjoy it! Thanks for all your help!

Starting On The Nursery

This is the first thing I have done for the nursery and I love it! This is the sign that will hang on the door. I got a plain piece of wood from Lowe's and painted it myself. Then I added the decal that I bought off of Etsy (I found a lady who sells decals for $1.00 a word!!!). Lula Mae and Jayce are going to be sharing a room for a while so I had to come up with a neutral theme. I did not want to do yellow or green with animals or anything like that. So, I decided to go with gray as the room color with light pink accents on her side and light blue accents in his side. The furniture is white so I thought that white lettering throughout the room would be a nice touch. I am going to do each of their names above their cribs in white and also a bible verse above the changing table in white. I can't wait to see the finished product. Although, I am going to be sad painting over Lula Mae's pink walls. I can remember picking that paint color out with Charlie and working so hard on her nursery to make it a special place for her. It really feels like just yesterday we brought her home... but in just 3 months she will be 2 years old. I should be thrilled (and deep down I am) to see her growing and changing, but I am also sad to see her as a "big girl". I really don't know when she changed from "baby" to "toddler"... I blinked and missed it I guess. So getting started on the nursery has been a little emotional, but it is also very exciting! It is the start of a new chapter for our family! I will post pictures as soon as we get more work done on Lula Mae and Jayce's room!



*This is just my artistic picture :-) I like that the word "prayed" is the word in focus... I thought it was pretty!

200 Challenge: February

Our Menu

2/15: Out to Eat (buy one get one free coupon for Ruby Tuesday's)
2/16: Chicken quesadilla pizza
2/17: Shrimp, pasta salad
2/18: Brinner (biscuits and gravy)
2/19: Date Night!!!
2/20: Chili, corn bread
2/21: Asian Chicken Dinner
2/22: Left Overs
2/23: Pigs in a blanket, tator tots, baked apples
2/24: Cheesy chicken and rice, veggie
2/25: Zesty chicken, potatoes Au gratin, veggie
2/26: Left Overs
2/27: Baked potato soup, rolls
2/28: Brinner (pancakes, sausage)

Several of these meals are things that I need to use out of my pantry, which will cut down on our total cost this month. Also, we typically would not have two out to eat nights like this, but since Charlie has been gone for 3 weeks we are going on a nice date night :-) We have used the Ruby Tuesday's coupon before and spent right at $12.00 for both of us to eat (after tip) so it is well worth it for us to use that coupon and enjoy a night without cooking! I shopped at Aldi first and got all but a few things on my list (Yay!) and our total was $58.71. I got the other items at Wal-Mart and spent $19.62. Charlie was gone the first 2 weeks of February so I spent $51.73 on things for me to eat and stocked up on Charlie's Diet Mountain Dews for the month while they were on sale. I am guessing that we will need to go to the store one more time to get milk before the month is up, but our total for this month so far is $130.06. Looks like we will make it under budget this month! Good thing too because Charlie needed a new battery for his car so it will more than cover that. I will update my post with my final total on March 1st! Can't wait to see how we all did this month!

Too Cute For Words

Diaper And Wipe Case

Yesterday I felt the urge to get crafty. I love to sew! It is so nice to take a piece of nothing (fabric) and turn it into something! I have always wanted one of those diaper and wipe pouches for the diaper bag, but couldn't get myself to spend the money for one. So I finally made one. I made mine much larger than the ones that they sell (I wanted to be able to fit more than just one diaper and some wipes in it!) plus I added a handle so it can be hung in a public restroom. I like the idea of being able to put all of Lula Mae's bathroom necessities in this and grab it out of the diaper bag to take her to be changed, instead of lugging the entire diaper bag in there and having no where to put it! Plus Lula Mae won't need a diaper bag much longer, but Jayce will. I wanted to be able to put Lula Mae's things in the diaper bag too without things getting messy and cluttered. I have to say that I love to sew, but I am not very good. I would never try to sell this to someone because there are several obvious flaws. I have to admit that when I sew I don't use patterns. I cut out my pieces and figure out how to make it on my own. I like it that way. It is like a puzzle and works my brain. Anyway, enough about all of that! Here are some pictures of my finished product. I thought it turned out pretty good!

Total cost of my project: $7.32
Price of a diaper and wipe case on ebay: $19.99 plus $4.00 S&H

I saved $16.67! Take that ebay :-)