#4 ?

Well....we usually don't like to do this quite so early but we decided this time we would like the prayers of our friends and family early on :)
We are hoping in December to welcome baby #4. As many who know me....I have ALOT of pregnancy problems! This is our 10th pregnancy....sometimes it is hard to believe! God has seen fit to bless us with 3 beautiful children which I am so thankful for. I love being a mother!!! Hubby and I would be so thrilled to have 4 children. I am experiencing some issues already though. We have seen a heartbeat which is wonderful news but there are some concerning things we would really like you to pray about. God knows and He has it all planned out....for now we just wait, hoping and praying that all will be well.

Prayer

I would like to request prayer for some issues I am dealing with right now. It is an anxious and worrisome time at the moment and I could really use the prayer of friends and family right now. I appreciate all who come by regularly to visit my blog and I'm encouraged by all the comments I receive daily!! You are an encouragement to me!!

Finally fishing!

Hubby has been promising to take the kids fishing for the past several weeks now. Saturday was just a beautiful day, so we headed to the park for an afternoon of fishing. The kids just loved their first fishing adventure!! Our daughter had just thrown in her line and caught a Brim within the first few seconds of arriving. She was excited but grossed out by the fish :) Later on she ended up reeling in a stubborn turtle who wouldn't let go of her kernel of corn....haha. They all got a good laugh from that one! Our son wasn't so lucky this time but enjoyed just sitting there and watching the turtles poke their head out of the water. I think our youngest wanted to get into the action and was not amused that he was buckled into the stroller. Soon, my boy!! We are anticipating our next fishing trip very soon!! Maybe we will have a little more success.....but what an enjoyable time with the kids :)



Her first fish!

The turtle hanging on to the kernel of corn!

first order!

I'm delivering my first cake order today. It is for a girl's birthday and she loves horses! Her favorite colors are also pink and purple. So this is the result! I really hope they are happy with it....I'm a little nervous *grin* It is exciting though and an answer to prayer. I'm thankful for the opportunity!

Sunbathing!

I didn't realize birds liked to sunbathe! This silly woodpecker was basking in the sun, sprawled out on the ledge of the deck. It was soooo funny. I actually thought he was dead at first. He didn't mind me taking pictures of him, but I guess he got fed up with the interruption and flew off. That is just too funny :)

New bird!!!

I need help finding this bird's name. It was beautiful! I have not seen this one before.....It sat with its back to me for the longest time. It is black and white, then it turned around and wow!!! What a beautiful red streak down the front. Looks like it is mostly on the neck area. Does anyone know what it is??

Just found it!! Rose breasted grosbeak.....how cool. It is a member of the cardinal family. I am just loving researching all these birds.

Ramblings...

So, it's been a busy week. Little of this, little of that..... I'm starting to work on a cake for the weekend. I'm making some characters to go on top of the cake and faces are always difficult, so I want plenty of time to try and perfect it! It's going to be a cute cake when it's done. My first paid order!!! Yippee :)

Other than that we've just been busy with school. The kids are still so enthusiastic and having fun which is great for me!

I did finally snap a picture of our bluejay friend. He usually only visits in the morning so I rarely get an opportunity to get a picture of him.

The pesky squirrel finally broke our big bird feeder....bummer. I don't know if he took a tumble to the ground or not but our feeder sure is busted. Still have to figure out a way to squirrel proof the deck :)

ttfn...ta ta for now

Baked Spaghetti

Here is a great recipe! We enjoyed in again tonight :) I can not take credit for it though....it is my sister-in-law who finds all these great recipes! This one is for baked spaghetti and it is delicious!!

Ingredients:
1 (16 ounce) package spaghetti
1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (26 ounce) jar meatless spaghetti sauce
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
5 tablespoons butter, melted
2 cups ricotta cheese
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:
1. Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the spaghetti sauce and seasoned salt; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, Parmesan cheese and butter. Drain spaghetti; add to egg mixture and toss to coat.
3. Place half of the spaghetti mixture in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish. Top with half of the ricotta cheese, meat sauce and mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers. Cover and bake at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes. Uncover; bake 20-25 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.

Fruits of our labour...

It is so great to see the kids putting into place the things that they are learning. It makes me feel good as their teacher to see that they really are absorbing material they are learning, and it makes me feel proud as a mom to watch them grow and mature. We really have been enjoying our 21 Rules books I spoke about in an earlier post. We are on rule 18 and I hear them throughout their day telling each other 'that's one of our rules remember'....
Our 3 1/2 year son is starting to use his knowledge of words and spelling and has been reading ads and products around the house. Today as we sat at the kitchen table eating breakfast, he was reading the Rice Krispies box and said 'Mommy, that says POP'. So I asked him to sound out another word (we've only been working on 3 letter words so far) and he sounded out SNAP by himself. The other day there was an ad on the table and he read NOT in the title....gets me very excited!!!
Our 6 year old daughter is learning vocabulary words this year. We are going through the Wordly Wise series. A word last week was 'ape' which is a large animal related to a monkey or to copy the actions or speech of another person. While the kids were playing the other day, I heard her say 'look at baby brother trying to ape what I'm doing'....it was soooo funny because I didn't expect her to use the word like that at her age.
I will never get tired (although you may!! hahah) of telling others and encouraging people to really consider homeschooling. It is a truely wonderful experience and way of life for the family!!

Antichrist....Lightbulb!

Have you heard of the term lightbulb moment?? It's when the little switch in your brain goes....oohh yeah! I had one of those today. Hubby and I were talking about a message he heard a few days ago on the radio about the antichrist. My thoughts (maybe like some of you) was that there was going to be an antichrist born. A single person in history who would be taken over by Satan at some point. When will he be born? No one knows.......
Well...when you think about it....does Satan know when the end times are? No one knows the day nor the hour....that must include Satan. It makes sense that Satan probably has been molding many many people all through the generations so he can be ready for his moment....a moment he doesn't know when will happen. With each new generation, he may have an individual picked out, preparing that individual........just my thoughts, but a way I hadn't thought of before...interesting!

Thief!

We've been noticing for the past week or so that there has been a thief among us :) We fill the bird feeder to the top and by the next morning it is empty! We have alot of bird visitors throughout our day, but NOT that many!! We couldn't figure out how our thief was accomplishing his or her task. The bird feeder is strung up high on a pole and hangs out from the deck. Plus we have a slinky strung around the pole so nothing can climb up it.

Well, today I captured our thief on camera. He has been found out....sneaky fella. He jumps from the ledge of the deck ONTO the feeder, hangs by his legs upside down!! and snacks. What nerve!!!

We need to figure out a better approach :) Any ideas?

Another year

Does time go by faster the older you get? Sure seems like it!! Today I turn another year older :) As I look back over the years, I can not believe all that God has done for me! He has blessed me with a wonderful husband and best friend, 3 beautiful children, family who are loving and supportive, a great church family, great friends. God continues to meet our every need and showers us with blessings even though we are so undeserving! What true joy I have....only found through the Lord! It truly is a Happy Birthday....

Duggar family news

If you keep up with the Duggar family, they have recently come out with some exciting news :)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Today we were able to get school done early and we took an afternoon nap....love those days!! I was never a morning person. I could sleep in till noon if I was able to. But with children and now schooling, I have had to become a morning person :) So those afternoon naps are REALLY nice!! We have enjoyed our first month of schooling. I think we have gotten into a good routine for the most part, trading off seatwork so I can work with the others etc. It has been working so far so we'll continue with it for now!

I was able to get another picture today of a different woodpecker. Our usual visitor is a small, round, plump, feathery guy but this one is a slender, sleek, bigger one.

It was funny the other night when we had the thunderstorm with the hail. Our kids got upset thinking about the poor birds outside in all the bad weather. It was sweet to see their concern.

So that was our day today...now to enjoy our evening!

Birthday fun

The kids were excited about celebrating Grandpa's birthday today, so I thought I'd have a little fun with the cake. He's an easy going fella and I thought he would get a kick out of seeing Nana on the hood of his convertible. He turned 55 today if you can't tell :)

It got a good laugh from everyone....
Happy Birthday Dad!

Things I love

I love to watch my children sleeping so peacefully. What 3 beautiful blessings :)

Today's thoughts...

Today was running around doing this and that. We are preparing for Resurrection Sunday tomorrow. I have quite a busy day with playing the organ, singing in the ensembles, and looking forward to enjoying lunch with family and friends! Couldn't pass up an opportunity to make a cake of course....nothing fancy at all...

We have also discovered a few more birds in the backyard. I believe this one is the white throated sparrow...I think it looks so cool with the yellow above its eyes! We also have 3 different types of doves as well!! There is one with the red belly (below). We also have a gray one with white on the tip of its tail and then an all gray one. They are hard to take pictures of.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter Sunday! I am so thankful my Saviour died on the cross to save me from the wrath of God! He paid a debt I could never pay because He loves me! What a wonderful thought. Thank you Lord Jesus!!

Rain...hail...lightning...

Today was not a good blogging day. It has been miserable for most of the day. It hailed for just a moment which the kids got a kick out of...but the thunder and lightning was not accepted very well. We had some nervous kids :) There was one boom so loud, I even jumped!! Not sure where the lightning hit but it was close! The power flickered several times, turning the computer off, so here we are at 10:30pm and there seems to finally be a calm outside. There were 2 tornado watches in the area tonight which frightened our daughter. I have noticed over the past year or so she has become scared of things. Is it because she is becoming more aware of her surroundings?....I don't know. But it was a great opportunity to talk to her about God being in control. We needn't fear anything when we know our creator is in control. Not just concerning weather, but daily life....(I am speaking to myself).
I've been in quite a battle ground lately with myself. Struggles that I KNOW I shouldn't be dealing with because my God is in control, yet my flesh decides otherwise. Anticipating the storm instead of allowing God to work, trying desperately to have control instead of allowing God to take the reigns. I do this so often, KNOWING it is wrong, and constantly praying for God's peace..... BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD! I repeat these words over in my mind....and hum a tune "Peace, peace, wonderful peace....."

3 year old's spell??

This was not planned today in school! Our daughter was taking a little too long doing her Math, and my 3 year old was waiting for big sister so we could do our next subject....so while we were waiting I grabbed a sheet of paper and wanted to see if he could write some words all by himself. This ended up turning into a spelling test!! He did this all by himself....I gave him a word and he wrote it! (No help!) I was so proud of him! This is going to become a regular part of our day now (we will use proper lined paper and pencil next time :) I am amazed at how much these little minds can progress if you give them a chance. We need to be using every opportunity to educate our kids....not just in the 3 R's....but in every area. A 3 year old is not too young to be given the salvation message, not too young to be trained on how to become a gentleman/lady, not to young to learn responsibility, they soak it up. NOW is the time!

click on it to view a bigger image

Addiction?

I can't stop taking pictures of birds! I think I have officially become a bird watcher :) We will be in the middle of a lesson and one of the kids will shout....BIRD! and we all run to the window (usually scaring the bird away!) I had a thought today and it was quite an interesting experiment. I opened the kitchen window which looks right out at the bird feeders, I then went to the computer (which is located just off the kitchen)...turned the volume HIGH and played bird calls. You should have seen the birds that came flocking to our deck and feeders. It was quite humorous and we had a ball watching them, identifying them, and trying to take pictures. If you ask my 3 year old what his favorite bird is he will tell you 'the titmouse...but I like the chickadee and the goldfinch too' :) What a learning experience it has been for them as well! We've been desperately trying to get a picture of the bluejays...they are quick and don't come right up to the feeders often. They like to stay in the trees. I first of all played the bluejay call on the computer with little effect outside. I then tried the cardinal call and we had the female and male cardinal come right up to the deck! It was so cool!!! The cardinal call also brought many of the other birds closer as well. When I switched to the bluebird call, that's when our bluejay's appeared! We finally got our photo of them! The woodpecker also dropped in and from the pictures, you can see we are feeding him well....he is getting fat!! Hope you enjoy our pictures and can help us identify our new bird today.

Woodpecker

Bluejay

Female and Male Cardinal

Unknown

In the twinkling of an eye

(picture taken last night at dusk)

When I was young and I first saw this sort of imagery in the sky....I thought this was the way the Lord was going to come back for us :) The sky is full of clouds but right there.....an opening with the sun rays poking through....that must be what the rapture is going to look like! :) I was quite young I remember, but EVERY time I see this, I think back to those thoughts as a child. I really don't think it is much longer do you???

Be still

I sit here and listen...the window is open. The wind is whipping hard outside but the birds are sweetly chirping. I hear children playing in the livingroom, quietly and together....bringing a smile to my face. I think about our day, how smoothly school went, the naps we were able to take this afternoon, how refreshed I feel at this moment. I am happy :) I think about my husband coming home soon, how we will all share supper together at the table and talk about our day. I look forward to evening! I sit here with sweet thoughts mingled with anxieties....but remind myself that my God is in control! I'm humming a song that will be sung this Sunday for our Easter service. I think about friends and family, how God has blessed. I pray while typing of those things that God brings to my mind about others. I am peaceful, I am loved, I am safe. I hear a sweet voice calling....'ma-ma'....I am needed :)

Mountains

Saturday afternoon we took the kids up to the mountains. I don't think we've been up there with any of them!! It was a beautiful afternoon and the kids had so much fun at Caesars Head. They especially liked walking through the 'Devil's Kitchen' which is a huge crevice between 2 rocks. We then went to the visitors center and bought a magnet to put our family photo in.

Happy Birthday Baby Brother!

hehhe...flashback! 1977!! My baby brother has turned one....ahhh how sweet! I love looking back at old photos. This is such a sweet one too. I hope you have a wonderful birthday today!