Nighty Night

“This bed’s too small,”  said Goldilocks.
“Oh well!  I’ll make do!”
(That would be Ceili Rain’s version of closing her eyes upon my request)
Yes, we’ve had a princess turn two but right now, for some crazy reason, I’ve signed up to do a work-at-home-mom fair the first of April.  I haven’t done any “official” work with my “business” in who knows how long.  Might as well jump in with both feet.  But, I believe it’ll come along.  I’ve got to get my inventory stocked up and dust off my sample cards so my blog posts are going to be sporadic for a week or two until I can get everything ready.
Hopefully, I can get her birthday pictures up soon!

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Polls!

So, the guessing time is upon us.  I’m curious as to when Mr. Bryant is going to let go of things and just take off walking.  Okay, admit it…you’re curious too.

Since he’s broken all sorts of records set by his brothers and sisters it’s anybody’s guess. 

He’s been the youngest to:
Get Teeth (at two months)
Crawl (at five months)
Pull up (at six months)
Cruise (at seven months)

So, what do you think?  Take our poll on the sidebar and make a guess as to when Mr. Bryant will be walking without our help (yes, he takes steps holding hands and is getting quite steady at doing that).

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REVIEW: SpellQuizzer and an Apology

First of all, I have to offer up a deep apology to Mama Buzz and the people at SpellQuizzer.  I know that I have an obligation to Mama Buzz and to the company whose product I review and I am deeply sorry for missing getting this review up yesterday.  I try to be extra careful that I get the reviews in on time.  But, for some reason I missed getting this up.  Please, please forgive me.

Okay, now that that is done, let’s discuss SpellQuizzer.  This is a homeschool mama of many dream if ever there was one.  SpellQuizzer is a software program that allows a teacher (that’d be the mama in most cases) to input the spelling lists from their specific curriculum to quiz a child.  But, they also have spelling lists available online to import or export with other users.

Now I mentioned that this is a good buy for homeschoolers.  But, I believe parents who have children in public/private or any other school could use it as well.  Just import the spelling list and let your student quiz on it.  You can record specific words in any manner wanted or needed.  Silly voices are a must to get your young scholar to giggle and learn the word at the same time.

In our curriculum we use, Spelling Power.  This software would be a great benefit in that I can record their list and they can take their tests on line.  SpellQuizzer is meant to be used with any curriculum.  On their site, they have downloadable lists for spelling words and at least one other homeschool curriculum.

The software can be used in a 30 day free trial and can also be purchased at SpellQuizzer for $29.99.  I highly recommend this and will be using it to aid in our current curriculum.!

Happy Spelling!

*This is a very late MamaBuzz Review and SpellQuizzer was provided free for review purposes.

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Birthday Celebrations

At the end of February, we visited with Ge and Granddaddy.  Not only did we get to visit with them, but we also got to visit with Aunt Yaya and her family.  Well, Aunt Yaya is no longer Aunt Yaya.  Ceili Rain has changed her name to Aunt Chocolate.  That’s because Aunt Yaya (er, I mean, Aunt Chocolate) keeps Ceili Rain well stocked in her favorite dessert in the whole wide world.  In fact, when we came back home, Ceili Rain was playing with a present Aunt Yaya and family gave her for her birthday and Liam asked why we had so many pieces.  I told him it was because Aunt Yaya gave them to Ceili Rain for her birthday.  Ceili Rain turned to me and said, “Choco Mama.  Choco!”  Oh right, Aunt Chocolate, not Aunt Yaya.

So, while were there we got to celebrate two birthdays.

Cousin E is 10!  I still can’t believe he’s that old.  All of the kids made cards and placemats to help celebrate.

He has such a great sense of humor and is almost always smiling!
 Then we celebrated Ceili Rain’s birthday (with Raffie the Giraffe of course)!
Granddaddy helped with the candles (I’m almost certain I flipped and saved this picture…oh well).
No help needed to get the presents though.
Her surprised look!
Bryant decided that Uncle Jay hung the moon.  Every time he saw him he’d start kicking and try to jump out of our arms to get to him.
I mean really, who couldn’t love a face like this!?
The kids, as usual, enjoyed the pond (really, I did flip and save the pictures…what’s up?!?)

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Courageous Trailer

Mark and I are so excited about Sherwood Pictures (the “company” that made Facing the Giants, Flywheel, and Fireproof), next film.  It comes out in September and the focus, this time, is on fathers.  Take a look at the preview and get excited with us!

Courageous – In Theaters September 30

And if you just can’t wait for a Christian film until September (well there is one coming out in April but we won’t go see that…too much skin for us), go this week to see The Grace Card.  The theme is about forgiveness and overall it’s a good movie.  A little cheesy at the end, but the message makes up for it!  Yep, sappy me cried a few times.

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Welcome to the World

Miss Maggie MAC is here! (This is the little one we were welcoming yesterday…well, not yesterday but last month)

Psst:  I made her hat!  My second attempt at crocheting!

Oh yeah, she’s beautiful!
Proud Mama, Tracy checking out my first attempt at crocheting…a baby blanket!  I have no idea what I was thinking starting with that.  Apparently, she didn’t know what to think either!
Yep, Aunt Abbie was super thrilled to hold this precious one.  Can’t get enough of these sweet newborns!
Ace enjoyed holding her too.
Liam thought it was pretty fun as well.
She was making a cute face and I couldn’t quite get it.  Oh well…here’s a better picture of her hat.
What can I say?!  Our family loves babies.  Welcome to the world sweet baby Maggie MAC!

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Babies are dirty…

That’s why we women like to get together and give them showers.  So, my friend, Tracy, needed a shower for her new baby.  I was happy to oblige.  This was the first shower I’ve hosted all on my own..  It was a lot of work (only because I probably went over the top) but it was a lot of fun too.

My first try with fondant!  I made this adorable elephant by watching a youtube video (be forewarned:  the artist is wearing a low cut shirt…but the music is fun to dance to while you’re making the elephant).  Okay, if you folks don’t say it, I will…I think she’s adorable.  I didn’t make her on my own though.  I shaped her and Zoe helped stick her body parts on.  Zoe also is responsible for cutting out almost all of those polka dots.

 The grammas with the mama!

I made that pennant up there too.  That was super easy!  (I would include the directions I used but I can’t seem to find them…anyway, it’s basically cut out the pattern from paper/newspapaer…that’s a triangle, put a heavy weight fusible interfacing on the bag and fold a ribbon in half and sew it on each triangle and tie together…tada!)

Chocolate party favors (via chocolate candy bars with personalized wrappers).
Oh, made the table runner too!

 Fun game of match the socks!
This isn’t Tracy’s baby…but she is just as adorable!

Okay, baby girl clothes are just too adorable!
It was a brunch, so I had plenty of brunch food…but apparently I had not set anything out when we took the picture…trust me, there was lots of food!
Did I mention that Super Wy was there?
He liked the chocolate best of all!
I loved giving her this shower.  I know that it’s faux pas to celebrate babies past the first one.  But, I truly believe (and know) that children are gifts from God and each one should be celebrated.  And what better way to celebrate than by having a bunch of ladies get together to eat, laugh, and play silly games!  Zoe was a great help and loved hosting with me.  I loved having the extra help. 

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Time to Get Out!

I couldn’t stand it anymore.  Our streak of beautiful comfortable weather has just continued and continued.  So, one day last week, we escaped for lunch and a trip to the locks.  Where we live there is a man made canal.  There’s a beautiful area that is where the locks are and the gatehouse for the canal.  It really is truly beautiful. There’s a bike/walking trail that runs from the gatehouse to the end of the canal too. k We’ve never biked it all the way, but we have gone down some of it.  It’s truly gorgeous.  The kids enjoyed being able to breathe fresh air and play on the playground and I loved the scenery.

Just chillin’ in the swings.

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