Afternoon Adventures!

We visited the Cartersville library this afternoon for Afternoon Adventures. A friend had told us about it and we needed to go to the library anyway, so we decided to time it so we could participate. We got to the library and returned all our books. My card on my keyring had torn off and gotten all messed up so I went to the front counter to get a new card AND pay my fines. Yep...fines again. Only two days worth but it added up to $4.20! :( It was also $1 for a replacement card, so I took care of that too. *sigh* I'm doing better though! ha ha.

Got all that taken care of and went to the children's department for the program. Afternoon Adventures is a program for kids ages 5 and up. There was a very energetic librarian guy in charge and my kids had a blast! He first did a movement song, then read a book, more songs, another book. Then he led them in performing a little skit complete with reading their parts and props. Katie and Noah were both chosen to participate. There were only about 8 kids there today, so it was a small group, but it was still a lot of fun. After the skits he sang another song and showed them a couple of cute April Fool's Day clips on a screen. Then he had them do "worm art" using yarn to paint on art paper. It went along with one of the books he read about a worm that was an artist. Even though we have to drive to Cartersville, I think we will start going. The sad part is they only have three more weeks of the program before they break for May and pick back up with the summer program in June. Too bad we didn't try it earlier! I took a couple of pictures with my phone:

Can you spot Katie? She's playing the part of a person playing an April Fool's joke on her friends, pretending her head is on backward. She is in the chair with the blanket around her.

This one is really blurry.
Noah is standing in the chair, about to throw "water" (blue tissue squares) on someone.

Another reason we went today was to pick up books for the other reading program we just started. It is called Book Adventure and is an at home "Accelerated Reader" type program. It is sponsored by Sylvan learning centers and other various companies. I created an account and then created an account for each of the kids linked to mine, then they are able to take tests on books they've read to earn points. They can redeem their points for prizes through the website (given by the sponsors) like e-books or coloring books..even a subscription to Highlights magazine is one of them. I can even go in and create my own prizes they can get, which I would provide, of course. I think I will make one for a "$5 movie from Target" or "Brusters ice cream cone" or something. I decide how many points and I have to approve when they redeem points for prizes anyway so I will know when they request the prize and can then get it for them.

The list of books available for prizes is quite extensive. That's one reason I really like it. We sat down together and searched for books yesterday and compared them to the online card catalog for the library and made a list of books to get today. This way they have a lot of books to read that I know will have a test to go along with it and they can earn points. The books can be searched by title, grade level, author, genre, etc. so we found books that I knew each of them would be able to read...well...that Noah would be able to read on his own, ha ha, Katie can read anything. I did limit her to second grade and below for now just for reading comprehension test purposes.

Bad Girls

There is a lot to say in her favor, but the other is more interesting.
Mark Twain
(a quote listed at the beginning of chapter 5, "The First Cut is the Deepest.")

Our book club is reading Bad Girls of the Bible by Liz Curtis Higgs. I have really been enjoying it! I am learning more and more about specific events in the Bible, some of which I only remember ever hearing the "sunday school" version. ha ha. WOW, yeah they are pretty different when you read the "bad girls" version and learn the real stuff that went on!

Each chapter begins with a modernized account of the biblical story. A way to see what that girl might look like around us and in us. Then, she goes verse by verse through the biblical account with insight and explanation. She sums it up with some lessons to be learned and discussion questions.

We are halfway through the book now. Last night we talked about the "woman at the well" and "Delilah."

She pulled some very good lessons from Delilah especially. Lessons about keeping others' weaknesses in confidence and not tearing down our homes with our own hands. None of us intentionally would tear down our own house, but she writes "keep your scissors out of reach." In other words....most people don't go to therapy with a day's worth of damage. It's the daily snipping that tears down the people around us...so we must be careful with our "scissors" (ie, our tongues!).

Proverbs 14:1 The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.

Each bad girl is given a "subtitle" such as "bad for a moment" or "bad for a season but not forever." So far we've read about Eve, Potiphar's wife, Lot's wife, The Woman at the Well, and Delilah. Sapphira, Rahab, Jezebel, Michal, and "the sinful woman" are left. I have really gotten some good insight for myself from stories I thought could/would never relate to my life!

This is a great read. She also writes some fiction....such as the story of Ruth set in "olde Scotland" which sounds very intriguing to me! I love to find a new Christian author!

Strawberry Goodness!

I made some DELICIOUS strawberry cupcakes last night! I found an egg free recipe because my friend's son is allergic to eggs. I was surprised at how delicious and fluffy these were...without any eggs! Then I found a separate recipe for frosting, which I accidentally messed up by doubling the mashed strawberries! So, I just piped it into the middle as a filler and put a strawberry on top to cover it. I am freezing them for Friday's Easter Egg Hunt with our homeschool group, but I had enough extra to make a thin square cake and a couple to sample earlier. YUM-O!

Those photos were taken with my phone. Corey thought they were chocolate because they are dark. That just goes to show you how much COLORING is in things you buy at the store that are "strawberry flavored." These are 100% preservative and coloring FREE!

Here are the recipes:

Egg FREE Strawberry Cupcakes:

Unbleached All Purpose Flour (I used bleached) 1 and 3/4 cups

Sugar 3/4 to 1 cup

Baking Soda 1 teaspoon

Frozen/fresh strawberries, pureed or crushed 8oz (I used 14 strawberries)

Vanilla Extract 1 teaspoon

Canola Oil 1/2 cup

White Distilled Vinegar 1 tablespoon

Yield: 12-16 cupcakes or One 9 inch loaf cake.

Preheat the oven to 350F/180C for 15 minutes. Grease/line a muffin tin or grease a 9 inch loaf pan.

2 In a large bowl combine together the flour, baking soda and sugar.

3 In another bowl, mix the oil, vinegar and vanilla. I pureed the strawberries in a blender, because I was not sure if my son would like to bite of chunks of strawberry in the muffin. Add the pureed strawberry also to the oil mixture and stir to combine.

4 Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients. Stir together but do not overstir.

5 Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tins. I got exactly 12 muffins.

6 Bake for about 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If baking a loaf bake it for 40-45 minutes and check for the doneness.

7 Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. When cool, frost the cupcakes and top each with a whole strawberry.

The Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

• 1/4 C butter (room temperature)
• 1 8 oz package cream cheese (room temperature)
• 1/2 C strawberries, mashed up in a food processor
• 3 to 4 C powdered sugar

1. Cream butter and cream cheese.
2. Mix in the strawberries.
3. Add the powdered sugar to the taste and consistency you prefer.
4. Add to your favorite cupcakes!

(double the amount of mashed strawberries to make a filling instead of frosting! lol)

Mothers and Sons

I have such a wonderfully sweet little boy! He is so precious to me. I feel sorry for moms who don't have sons because there is something so special between a mom and her son.... just listen to this example...

The other day I was in the bathroom doing my makeup. The kids were both in the kitchen finishing up their lunch. We were headed somewhere after lunch I can't remember where...anyway..he loves to help out and one of the things is the best at is sweeping the kitchen for me. He is only five but does a fantastic job! He loves to feel grown up. (not like my daughter...a totally different story!)

He came back into the bathroom and said, "Mom...I think the trash is too full.... I'm going to go ahead and tie it up so we can take it out."

Did my mom heart just melt?! NOT!

I didn't miss a beat with my response....

"I want you to go get your sandwich out of the trashcan right now and eat it. And don't try to trick me like that ever again."

Oh, the brokenhearted downcast look I got in response...."Okay" he replied....tragically.

But he did obey.

Am I a bad mom for making my son eat a sandwich out of the trash can? Oh puleeze! It's not like we have poopy diapers in there anymore! Nah, we got much bigger problems than that to tackle... problems like a very smart boy!

Want another example of his extreme talent?

We were sitting at a restaurant and discussing Katie's "love list" (yeah another story there, how do they think of this stuff?). I don't remember how we got around to it but someone asked Noah if he had or who his girlfriend was or something to that affect. His response????

"I have two girlfriends....there and there..." (with a cunning smile and big blue eyes...pointing to his MOMMY and his sister!)

Does he know how to work a room or what?

Yeah....we have MUCH bigger problems than poopy diapers!

Movie Review: Princess and the Frog (2009)

We rented The Princess and the Frog from redbox the other night. I wasn't overly excited about seeing it since I had read about it on pluggedinonline and heard from friends that weren't crazy about it.
A lot of people were really excited about this movie coming out because it would feature Disney's "first dark princess." (nevermind Pocahontas I guess, or Esmerelda, the hispanic toned one). ANYWAY, it was neat to see a new "regular" animated movie come out at all since lately everything has been Hannah Montana concerts or Pixar stuff.

This movie was so extremely disappointing! I know I went into it without expecting much, but it really didn't defy anything I had heard about it.

It pretty much makes fun of EVERY subset of people possible... from the blonde haired rich southern belle family to the poor "working class" darker skinner people and everyone in between! The stereotypes were out of control! For a film that was supposedly breaking race barriers, it totally did not live up to that AT ALL in any other way. Other than portraying the main girl (Tiana) as working hard for everything rather than "wishing" for things to happen, everything else was just ridiculous. They run into Bayou dwellers who are SO HILLBILLY it was not funny, you couldn't understand a single word of their cajun accents!

The innuendo was heavy throughout. Jokes about kissing were too often, as in a "getting their entire tongues tangled up and then joking about it suggestively" kind of way, not in a "kiss the girl" kind of way.

The worst part about all of the groups of people they run into and mock (in my opinion) it doesn't even turn out to be funny or interesting. The jokes aren't funny. Corey said there were a couple of things that were funny but I can't remember what they are. It's kind of a slow movie.

OH, and one of my very favorite things about Disney movies are the songs! These songs weren't catchy. Yeah, they were 'Nawlins inspired, jazzy type tunes...and I LIKE that kind of music. From the time the first song started it seemed like each song was just a continuation of the last and not that different. Disney songs are supposed to be the kind you sing around the house later even after the first time you see the movie.

Now, here is the last straw: the Voodoo. It was the source of all the magic and evil in the movie. I know Disney movies always have the evil and magic element and I have known many people who don't allow their children to see ANY of the Disney movies for that reason. I can totally respect that and understand and respect them for giving any thought to what their kids are watching. BUT, there has to be a line drawn between pure "imagination and childhood magic" and "real evil stuff that has you truly messing with the other side." That's where we draw the line and why we skipped one complete scene where the bad guy is making his deal with the other side. We paused the movie and had the kids go brush their teeth for bed and change, and we just skipped to the next scene. It didn't even influence the understanding of the movie one bit. We didn't even watch it later ourselves...who cares? We didn't!

We will not be buying this movie. We probably won't even watch it again. If somewhere they go decides to show it to the "group" I will have to speak up and say I object. It's just one of those movies that isn't worth it.

My New Love!

FIRST: A Happy 30th Birthday Shout out to my husband's best friend of about 25 years:
Mr. Andrew Freeman!
We met up with them and some of their family at Big Pie in the Sky pizzeria in Kennesaw...yes, home of the 11 lb carnivore pizza challenge! We didn't take the challenge, but all enjoyed a TON of pizza and cake in celebration of Andy's 1 score and 10 year birthday! Corey will be hitting that milestone in just a couple of months himself. Thanks for all you do Mr. Freeman in the US Air Force and for being a great friend!

After our dinner, we headed over to Trader Joe's in Marietta. The store has been bragged on by a few online friends and another local friend, so I had wanted to visit for a while now... but we just had the opportunity tonight. IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!

It isn't a big store, but it seemed to have all the basic things you would want or need to buy on a normal trip to the grocery store with plenty of selection.

We are consciously trying to do everything we can to buy healthier foods, but the price tag is often not cooperative. This place has the best prices on healthy food I have ever seen! The very first find was right inside the front door of the store.... organic hamburger buns with NO corn syrup....for only $3.29! I haven't been able to find a single brand of buns in the local store with no corn syrup! Now, $3.29 isn't super cheap (if you are comparing it to the 0.99 store brand bun) but for what you are getting, that is a great price!

Here are some of my other favorite finds:
Organic and/or natural snack chips and crackers: $1.19-$1.99/bag/box
2 lb bag organic fuji apples: $2.49
Organic natural salted chunky peanut butter: $1.79
Organic concord grape jelly (no corn syrup) $2.99
Organic spaghetti noodles: $1.29
Organic cereal bars: $1.69

We got a lot of other stuff too, really we got all of our weekly groceries because none of it was more expensive than Kroger and most of it was cheaper!


Now, how is this compared to coupon shopping? Well, it is more expensive. But, that depends on what you are comparing..... I recently got NON organic frozen vegetables, on sale with a coupon for 0.90/bag. Yes, that is cheaper than the $1.99 I spent on a bag of green beans tonight. Here's the difference: the ones I got tonight were organic, and they were twice the size bag that I got with the coupon.
I won't stop cutting coupons...because it is still worth it to me....especially if I use the coupon previews to decide which weeks have coupons that I will really use. For items like toothpaste, razors, deodorant, Eggland's Best eggs, scented candles, etc., I will always come out better with using the coupons and buying the papers. Although, with cleaning out the snack cabinet and pantry tonight to make room for all our goodies, I did see what "free" items went bad before we could eat them. A lot of stuff I could have donated if I had known we wouldn't eat them by now....

I have decided to not cut coupons for things that will be unhealthy for us to eat. Sometimes I will cut ones that I know will eventually be free, even if I just donate the items to our church food bank.
But, for us, we have decided that buying healthier foods is worth a little extra for most things, and with the addition of a freezer to the basement, we are going to try to come up with a better schedule for buying up foods so that we can include trips to places like Trader Joe's to buy the things that will be cheaper there. Maybe something like: meat from Cosco once every few months, a trip to Trader Joe's for non-perishables one week a month... then fill in with fresh stuff and random things we need weekly from the local store. And, of course, scoring on my coupon buys too!

If you have one of these stores near you, I a SO envious! The best thing about the trip was that Corey REALLY loved it too! He couldn't believe how great the prices were on stuff that was good and healthy! He really loved that because the snacks in our house have been very few and far between lately since I have taken a stand against pure junk food! ha ha!
Since he loved it so much it will be very easy to work out getting down there...since I will have his 100% support with working out a time and/or taking me himself! :)

Busy Mom's Bible-Zondervan (review)

About a month ago I received an email offering me the opportunity to receive a free copy of the new "Busy Mom's Bible" from Zondervan, if I would read through it and post a review on their website for others to read. I have now had a chance to look through and read many of the devotions, so I want to share my review at this time....

First Look:
I received my copy soon after signing up and was immediately impressed with how lovely and feminine it is. The cover is cute and modern with the two tone pink and brown design. The size of the Bible is small and easy to carry with you, but not so small that the type is too tiny to read like many compact Bibles I have seen.

Inside the front cover is a feminine designed dedication page, decorated with bright flowers and pink designs. This same design style is found on the devotional pages throughout.

The Nitty Gritty:

The devotionals dispersed throughout the pages are what make this Bible different, qualifying it as the "busy mom's" edition. There are thirteen pages of topical devotions throughout. Each page focuses on the one topic (like emotions) with four different devotions, two on front, two on back. They each have the choice of a 1-minute, 5-minute, or 10-minute reading or exercise related to the topic, so if you chose to do each of those activities on a different day, then you could have up to 156 different daily devotions. In my opinion, that is a very realistic amount of daily devotions when you factor in that sometimes you may not take the time to sit down with this particular devotional Bible at all, or if you participate in other Bible studies or groups with your local place of worship. You could even schedule to do one of the readings per week, which would use all of the pages in a year's time.

The topics are very well chosen for the typical "Busy Mom" and address things that I find come up often in my ladies' book club as things we struggle with regularly. With pages addressing topics like "Raising Your Kids" and "Your Spiritual Life" you can see that a wide variety of real life stuff is covered.

In addition to these colorful devotion pages, there are reading plans in the back of the Bible that go more in depth studying the life of Jesus and another studying women of the Bible. Another great resource to extend your yearly devotional plans. A concordance and color maps in the back complete this edition.

My "fav:"

I love that it gives three choices for each devotional based on a given amount of time. It allows for flexibility without missing out. You aren't wasting that book you bought with a year's worth of 5 minute devotions when you may only have 1 minute some days! My favorite feature in The Busy Mom's Bible is the fact that I can take any amount of time I have and get a really great reading about a real life problem I am having...the guides give you scripture and insight into dealing with real life stuff. No excuses about not having time to read the Bible! Thanks Zondervan!